Fodor sighed. "I guess the party is pooped. Help me collect the bottles and glasses. Fergus, pay the people off." He scooped up the cards, put them back in their box, and handed the box to Alicia, saying: "Take! They are your lucky cards, and they will remind you of Attila Fodor."
Walking Alicia back to her room, Reith said: "Hey, Wart Hog! There's more to this than meets the eye. What cards did you hold on that last hand?"
"You could have paid to see them."
"Oh, come off it! We're old co-conspirators."
"Well, then," she said, "I had three jacks."
"Not much, for a game and a pot of that size. Any idea of what the King of the Huns had?"
"I'm sure he was bluffing. Maybe king high or something."
"How on Krishna did you know that?"
"Because I'd been studying his style. Sivird would have cleaned out the Cosmic people, because they're not used to Krishnan facial expressions and body language. But I kept taking chips away from him almost as last as he won them, because I'm used to Krishnans and Terrans both. Besides, you don't think I wore this dress just to look pretty, do you?"
"I've been wondering why. Hoped it was to please me."
Alicia smiled. "Besides, I knew the men from Cosmic weren't used to Krishnan styles and would spend more time gaping at my contours than studying cards. It didn't work with Cyril and Jack, because Cyril got too drunk and Jack has inhibitions. But it hit the shaihan's eye with Attila."
Reith chuckled. "You she-devil! That dress sure paid for itself tonight. Where did you learn to play poker like an old pro?"
"In Montecito, with the movie people. After losing a month's salary, I learned the tricks. By the way, will you take charge of these cards Attila gave me? I really don't care for card games."
"From what I saw tonight, you could make a living gambling."
Alicia shrugged. "Not how I want to spend my life. I came only because Attila told me you'd be there."
"Son of a bitch! I came because he told me the same about you. Bet I know why he pulled that nutty stunt with his mistress. He thought if I was kept busy all night with her, I wouldn't be around to interfere while he turned tricks with you."
"Dear Fergus! With Fodor at large, I'd have been delighted to have you around to interfere."
They reached Alicia's door. Realizing that this would be his last chance for many days to ask his unfinished questions, Reith put his hands on Alicia's shoulders and turned her to face him. Holding her at arm's length, he drew a deep breath and said: "Dearest Lish, how would you like it if—"
"Ah, there you are!" A mellow actor's voice wafted lightly along the corridor. Randal Fairweather, as tall as Reith and much handsomer, approached with long strides. "Alicia darling! If I'd known you were wearing that dress, I'd have crashed Attila's party." He turned to Reith. "Hear you're going back to Ruz, Fergus. Is that right?"
"Yes," growled Reith.
"Well, keep your ass covered old boy. We can't afford to lose you. Say, is it true that you two were once married to each other?"
"It is," said Reith, wishing for some magical spell to make this charmer vanish in a puff of smoke.
"Reminds me of the time," Fairweather rattled on, "when I was married to Nadya O'Brien, who played the lead in Sweat and Lust. We stayed pals for years after we split. I was with the Loathsome Creatures—"
"You were what?" interrupted Reith.
"A Loathsome Creature. It was a dance band; I played the electronic banjo. You know, Fergus, you did the entire male sex a favor by breaking up. No one man should monopolize such a gorgeous woman."
"I'm not polyandrously inclined, Randal," said Alicia, "if that's what you're hinting at."
"You might give it a try, my fairy princess," said Fairweather. "Take my colleague, Gina Petrovsky ..."
As he chattered on, oozing charm, it became obvious that the actor was waiting for Reith to set out for his ranch, so that he could make a pitch for Alicia without competition. Reith stubbornly stood his ground, matching anecdote with anecdote and joke with joke, until Alicia, patting a yawn, said: "Good night, boys!" She closed her door firmly, and Reith heard the snick of the bolt.
Reith said: "Care to come out to the ranch, Randal? I have some good drinking kvad, and I can easily put you up."
"Thanks," said Fairweather, "but I think I'll turn in. We've got to be up with the aqebats tomorrow."
When Reith still did not move, Fairweather cast a look at the bolted door and laughed. "Okay, I'll come! We'd look pretty damned silly, standing here all night, each waiting for the other to go. Let me get my kit."
In the courtyard of the Visitors' Building, noisy confusion reigned. Climbing into the omnibuses, some Cosmic employees jostled one another for better seats. Others fretted lest any of their belongings be left behind.
On the pavement below them, Krishnan drivers and workmen shouted. Impatient ayas shook their horns, pawed the ground, and bleated. Valdez and Ordway yelled at the heavy-laden porters.
Reith stood moodily scowling with vexation at having muffed another opportunity. He roused himself when he heard Ordway's voice, turning Cockney under stress.
"No, no, you've got it all wrong, mate! Hey, Strachan, can you explyne to this bloody wog that he's got to unload the wagon and start over?"
"And tell him," shouted Valdez, "that if he drops a camera, it will explode and blow us all to pieces!"
This, if an exaggeration, was not altogether untrue. While Interplanetary Council rules had been somewhat eased since the days when nobody might take any mechanism more complex than an abacus out of Novorecife, cameras and other advanced equipment were fitted with self-destruct mechanisms. If some inquisitive Krishnan tried to take one apart, either to discover Terran technical secrets or just to satisfy his curiosity, the machine would fly apart into hundreds of components, which no Krishnan could ever reassemble.
"Easy, easy," came Strachan's deep voice. "Ye'll frighten him so he'll drop something for sure." Strachan then spoke in Gozashtandou, and the reloading proceeded.
Reith saw that Ordway had recovered from his excesses, save for a pair of bloodshot eyes and a lump on his forehead. He had to admit that the Londoner was effective in bringing order out of chaos.
Roqir stood well up in the greenish sky when the last piece of freight had been checked aboard and the last passenger who had wandered off while waiting had been rounded up. Ordway swung up on the foremost wagon and stood looking aft. He called out: "I say, Alicia! Will you please for sweet Jesus's sake get aboard? You'll have time for that sort of thing at Zinjaban!"
"That sort of thing" was a parting embrace between Alicia and Reith. When they kissed, the passengers, leaning out to watch, sent up a ragged cheer. As he and Alicia pulled apart, Reith caught remarks amid the buzz.
"She's his ex-wife, you know."
"Hell, I wish my ex-wife would treat me like that!"
"She can be my ex, any time she likes!"
Ordway blew his whistle. The drivers cracked their whips, and the vehicles lurched, groaned, and rumbled into motion.
When the last wagon had swayed out through the gate in the compound wall, Reith turned to Timásh, who held the bridles of three ayas, one of them hitched between the shafts of Reith's gig. Reith climbed into the trap and, followed by Timásh riding one beast and leading another, guided his gig out the gate. Instead of taking the river road to Qou, however, he headed north towards Rosid.
VIII - The Dasht of Ruz
At Avord, the innkeeper Asteratun, he of the ragged antennae, said: "Hail, good Master Reef! Come ye with other Ertsuma this time?"