Jag Jaganig was no less pessimistic. "We will never see the w.a.n.kh. Why else do they maintain the w.a.n.khmen, except to stand between themselves and Tschai?"

"We shall see," said Reith.

The morning pa.s.sed. The Lokhars slumped torpidly against a wall. Traz, as usual, maintained his equanimity. Contemplating the boy, Reith could not help but wonder as to the source of his fort.i.tude. Innate character?

Fatalism? Did the personality of Onmale, the emblem he had worn so long, still shape his soul?

But other problems were more immediate. "This delay can't be accidental," Reith fretted to Anacho. "There must be a reason. Are they trying to demoralize us?"

Anacho, as peevish as any of the others, said, "There are better ways than this."

"Are they waiting for something to happen? What?"

Anacho could supply no answers.

Late in the afternoon three w.a.n.khmen appeared. One of these, wearing thin silver greaves and a silver medallion on a chain around his neck, appeared to be a person of importance. He surveyed the group with eyebrows lofted in mingled disapproval and amus.e.m.e.nt, as if at naughty children. "Well then," he said briskly, "which among you is the leader of this group?"

Reith came forward with as much dignity as he could summon. "I am."

"You? Not one of the Lokhars? What did you hope to achieve?"

"May I ask who adjudicates our offense?" Reith asked.

The w.a.n.khman was taken aback. "'Adjudication'? What needs to be adjudicated? The only point at issue, and a minor one, is your motive."

"I can't agree with you," said Reith in a reasonable voice. "Our transgression was a simple theft; only by sheer accident did we take aloft a w.a.n.kh."

"A w.a.n.kh! Do you realize his ident.i.ty? No, of course not. He is a savant of the highest level, an Original Master."

"And he wants to know why we took his s.p.a.ceship?""What then? It is no concern of yours. You need only transmit the information on through me; that is my function."

"I'll be glad to do so, in his presence, and, I hope, in surroundings more appropriate than a back alley."

"Zff, but you are a cool one. Do you answer to the name of Adam Reith?"

"I am Adam Reith."

"And you recently visited Settra in Cath, where you a.s.sociated with the so-called 'Yearning Refluxives'?"

"Your information is at fault."

"Be that as it may, we want your reason for stealing a s.p.a.ceship."

"Be on hand when I communicate with the Original Master. The matter is complex and I am certain he will have questions which cannot be answered casually."

The w.a.n.khman swung away in disgust.

Zarfo muttered, "You are a cool one indeed! But what do you gain by talking to the w.a.n.kh?"

"I don't know. It's worth trying. I suspect that the w.a.n.khmen report only as much as suits their purposes."

"That's understood by everyone but the w.a.n.kh."

"How can it be? Are they innocent? Or remote?"

"Neither. They have no other sources of information. The w.a.n.khmen make sure the situation remains that way. The w.a.n.kh have small interest in the affairs of Tschai; they're only here to counter the Dirdir threat."

"Bah," said Anacho. "The Dirdir threat' is a myth; the Expansionists are gone thousands of years."

"Then why are they still feared by the w.a.n.kh?" demanded Zarfo.

"Mutual distrust; what else?"

"Natural antipathy. The Dirdir are an insufferable race."

Anacho walked away in a huff. Zarfo laughed. Reith shook his head in mild disapproval.

Zarfo now said, "Take my advice, Adam Reith: don't antagonize the w.a.n.khmen, because you can't win but through them. Ingratiate, truckle, fawn-and at least they'll bear you no malice."

"I'm not too proud to truckle," said Reith, "if it would do any good-which it won't. Our only hope is to push ahead .... And I've come up with an idea or two which may help our case, if we get a chance to talk with the w.a.n.kh."

"You won't defeat the w.a.n.khmen that way," gloomed Zarfo. "They'll tell the w.a.n.kh only as much as they see fit, and you'll never know the difference."

"What I'd like to do," said Reith, "is work up to a situation where only the truth makes sense and where every other statement is an obvious falsity."Zarfo shook his head in puzzlement and walked to the spigot to drink.

Reith remembered that none of the group had eaten for almost two days; small wonder they were listless and irritable.

Three w.a.n.khmen appeared. The official who previously had spoken to Reith was not among them. "Come along. Look sharp, now; form a neat line."

"Where are we going?" Reith asked, but received no reply.

The group walked five minutes, through odd-angled streets and irregular courts, by acute and obtuse angles, past unexpected juts and occasional clear vistas, through deep shadow and the wan shine of Carina 4269. They entered the ground floor of a tower, entered an elevator which took them up a hundred feet and opened upon a large octagonal hall.

The chamber was dim; a great lenticular bulge in the roof held water; windblown ripples modulated light from the sky and sent it dancing around the hall. Tremors of sound were barely audible, sighing chords, complex dissonances; sound both more and less than music. The walls were stained and discolored, a fact which Reith found peculiar, until looking closer he recognized w.a.n.kh ideograms, immense and intricately detailed, one to each wall. Each ideogram, thought Reith, represented a chime; each chime was the sonic equivalent of a visual image. Here, reflected Reith, were highly abstract pictures.

The chamber was empty. The group waited in silence while the almost unheard chords drifted in and out of consciousness, and amber sunlight, refracted and broken into shimmers, swam through the room.

Reith heard Traz gasp in surprise: a rare event. He turned. Traz pointed.

"Look yonder!"

Standing in an alcove was Helsse, head bent in an att.i.tude of brooding reverie. His guise was new and strange. He wore black w.a.n.khman garments; his hair was close-cropped; he looked a person worlds apart from the suave young man Reith had encountered in Blue Jade Palace.

Reith looked at Zarfo. "You told me he was dead!"

"So he seemed to me! We put him out in the corpse shed, and in the morning he was gone. We thought the night-hounds had come for him."

Reith called: "Helsse! Over here! It's Adam Reith."

Helsse turned his head, looked at him and Reith wondered how he ever could have taken Helsse for anything but a w.a.n.khman. Helsse came slowly across the chamber, a half-smile on his face. "So here: the sorry outcome to your exploits."

"The situation is discouraging," Reith agreed. "Can you help us?"

Helsse raised his eyebrows. "Why should I? I find you personally offensive, without humility or ease. You have subjected me to a hundred indignities; your pro-'cult' bias is repulsive; the theft of a s.p.a.ce vessel with an Original aboard makes your request absurd."Reith considered him a moment. "May I ask why you are here?"

"Certainly. To supply information in regard to you and your activities."

Reith mulled the matter over. "Are we so important?"

"So it would seem," said Helsse indifferently.

Four w.a.n.kh entered the chamber, and stood by the far wall: four ma.s.sive black shadows. Helsse stood straighter; the other w.a.n.khmen became silent. It was apparent, thought Reith, that whatever the total att.i.tude of the w.a.n.khmen toward the w.a.n.kh might be, that att.i.tude included a great deal of respect.

The prisoners were urged forward, and ranged in a line before the w.a.n.kh. A minute pa.s.sed, during which nothing happened. Then the w.a.n.kh exchanged chimes: soft m.u.f.fled sounds at half-second intervals, apparently unintelligible to the w.a.n.khmen. Another silence ensued, then the w.a.n.kh addressed the w.a.n.khmen, producing triads of three quick notes, like xylophone trills, in what seemed to be a simplified or elemental usage.

The oldest w.a.n.khman stepped forward, listened, turned to the prisoners. "Which of you is the pirate-master?"

"None of us," said Reith. "We are not pirates."

One of the w.a.n.kh uttered interrogatory chimes. Reith thought he recognized the Original Master. The w.a.n.khman, somewhat grudgingly, brought forth a small keyed instrument which he manipulated with astonishing deftness.

"Tell him further," said Reith, "that we regret the inconvenience we caused him. Circ.u.mstances compelled us to take him aloft."

"You are not here to argue," said the w.a.n.khman, "but to render information, after which the usual processes will occur."

Again the Master uttered chimes and was answered. Reith asked: "What is he saying, and what did you tell him?"

The senior w.a.n.khman said, "Speak only when you are directly addressed."

Helsse came forward, and producing his own instrument, played chimes at length. Reith began to feel uneasy and frustrated. Events were ranging far beyond his control. "What is Helsse saying?"

"Silence."

"At least inform the w.a.n.kh that we have a case which we want to present."

"You will be notified if it becomes necessary for you to testify. The hearing is almost at an end."

"But we haven't had a chance to speak!"

"Silence! Your persistence is offensive!"

Reith turned to Zarfo. "Tell the w.a.n.kh something! Anything!"Zarfo blew out his cheeks. Pointing at the w.a.n.khmen he made chirping sounds. The senior w.a.n.khman said sternly: "Quiet, you are interrupting."

"What did you tell him?" asked Reith.

"I said, 'Wrong, wrong, wrong.' That's all I know."

The Master spoke chimes, indicating Reith and Zarfo. The senior w.a.n.khman, visibly exasperated, said: "The w.a.n.kh want to know where you planned to commit your piracies, or, rather, where you planned to take the s.p.a.ceship."

"You are not translating correctly," protested Reith. "Did you tell him that we are not pirates?"

Zarfo again made sounds for "Wrong, wrong, wrong!"

The w.a.n.khman said, "You are obviously pirates, or lunatics." Turning back to the w.a.n.kh, he played his instrument, misrepresenting, so Reith was sure, what had been said. Reith turned to Helsse. "What is he telling them? That we are not pirates?"

Helsse ignored him.

Zarfo guffawed, to everyone's astonishment. He muttered in Reith's ear: "Remember the Dugbo? Pinch Helsse's nose."

Reith said, "Helsse."

Helsse turned him an austere gaze. Reith stepped forward, tweaked his nose. Helsse seemed to become rigid. "Tell the w.a.n.kh that I am a man of Earth, the world of human origin," said Reith, "that I took the s.p.a.ceship only in order to return home."

Helsse woodenly played a set of trills and runs. The other w.a.n.khmen became instantly agitated-sufficient proof that Helsse had translated accurately. They began to protest, to press forward, to drown out Helsse's chimes, only to be brought up short by a great belling sound from the Master.

Helsse continued, and at last came to an end.

"Tell them further," said Reith, "that the w.a.n.khmen falsified my remarks, that they consistently do so to further their private purposes."

Helsse played. The other w.a.n.khmen again started a great protest, and again were rebuked.

Reith warmed to his task. He voiced one of his surmises, striking boldly into the unknown: "Tell them that the w.a.n.khmen destroyed my s.p.a.ceship, killing all aboard except myself. Tell them that our mission was innocent, that we came investigating radio signals broadcast a hundred and fifty Tschai-years ago. At this time the w.a.n.khmen destroyed the cities Settra and Ballisidre from which the signals emanated, with great loss of life, and all for the same reason: to prevent a new situation which might disturb the w.a.n.kh-Dirdir stalemate."

The instant uproar among the w.a.n.khmen convinced Reith that his accusations had struck home. Again they were silenced.Helsse played the instrument with the air of a man astounded by his own actions.

"Tell them," said Reith, "that the w.a.n.khmen have systematically distorted truth. They undoubtedly have prolonged the Dirdir war.

Remember, if the war ended, the w.a.n.kh would return to their home world, and the w.a.n.khmen would be thrown upon their own resources."

Helsse, gray-faced, struggled to drop the instrument, but his fingers refused to do his bidding. He played. The other w.a.n.khmen stood in dead silence. This was the most telling accusation of all. The senior w.a.n.khman shouted: "The interview is at an end! Prisoners, form your line! March!"

Reith told Helsse: "Request that the w.a.n.kh order all the other w.a.n.khmen to depart, so that we may communicate without interruption."

Helsse's face twitched; sweat poured down his face.

"Translate my message," said Reith.

Helsse obeyed.

Silence held the chamber, with the w.a.n.khmen gazing in apprehension toward the w.a.n.kh.

The Master uttered two chimes.

The w.a.n.khmen muttered among themselves. They came to a terrible decision. Out came their weapons; they turned them, not upon the prisoners, but upon the four w.a.n.kh. Reith and Traz sprang forward, followed by the Lokhars. The weapons were wrested away.

The Master uttered two quiet chimes.

Helsse listened, then slowly turned to Reith. "He commands that you give me the weapon you hold."