“Perhaps she was afraid of something else.”
Trompe shook his head. No, the girl had not been frightened of anything else. Whatever that strange mix of feelings meant, it had been occasioned by these, these beautiful people.
“Well then,” said Lutha, intensely matter-of-fact. “She is awestruck because they are taboo. That is why she told us to stay upon the porch, behind the rail. To prevent our contravening some local custom.”
Trompe nodded soberly. “If she prevents our contravening something, it’s something more than mere custom.”
Chur Durwen of Collis, who had without the least concern dipped deep into the King of Kamir’s coin to pay for a hundred-year sanctuary leasehold on Dinadh, now considered whether he might not have been cheated on the deal. After three days’ travel, he seemed no closer to his goal than he had been in Tasimi-na-Dinadh. Now they were stopped at yet another hostel, and Chur Durwen carried his belongings into the place in sullen silence.
“How much longer?” he demanded of the guide when he returned to the vehicle for another load.
The guide shrugged. “It depends how much sun on the car. It depends how fast we go. It depends whether all the bridges are passable.”
Chur Durwen turned to Mitigan and made an angry face, hiding it from their guide. “They ought to homo-norm this world!”
“Have you noticed that the herds are almost the only animals on Dinadh. I’d swear this place has already been homo-normed, despite the denials of every Dinadhi I’ve asked. What hasn’t been done will no doubt be done, in time.”
“In time! Everything’s in time! Forever time!”
“There, there,” soothed the man from Asenagi as he removed his belongings from the vehicle. “We’ll get there when we get there, colleague.”
The other snorted. “When we get there, we won’t be any closer to where we want to be than we are now!”
“Patience! Eventually, we’ll learn where Bernesohn Famber had his leasehold, which could be where Leelson Famber is or was, if the Haughneeps haven’t killed him elsewhere already. That place will probably be where Famber’s child or children are.”
“We should have picked up some rememberer and shaken the information out of him.”
Mitigan shook his head with an amused smile. “How would we know which one to pick up, which one had the ‘files’ we’re interested in? Ah? They don’t all remember everything, obviously.”
“Surely the ones who remember were there in the port, where we arrived. I mean, Famber had to come through there, just as we did.”
“I have no idea. We’re not sure Leelson ever came here! Our informant at Alliance Prime said Leelson’s family was coming here, but we’re not sure when. We’re sure Bernesohn Famber came, but that was a hundred years ago. One pleasant thing about this rememberer system of theirs is that it is self-limiting. Old stuff gets weeded out as rememberers die.”
“If Leelson Famber or his son came here, it was recently. He wouldn’t be weeded out! If he’s here, these people would know where!”
“Right. So we pick one at random and ask him? Without being discovered? Without any suspicion attaching to us? And with one carefully guarded port the only way off Dinadh?”
“Not a good idea,” admitted Chur Durwen.
“Not unless we want our exit slammed in our face. No, if we want to ask a rememberer, we’ll have to go to their central place, their capital or holy city, where their so-called index men dwell. Of course, we have no idea where that is. Assuming we can find out, assuming we can get there, then we’ll need to abduct one of the index men, hoping he’s the right one, one who can lead us to the rememberer we need. He might only lead us to a local subindexer. It might take as many as four or five steps to get us where we want to be.”
Chur Durwen grimaced.
The other said, “I think it’s simpler just to do as we planned. Go where they send us, keep our ears and eyes alert, ask questions. When we’ve got a clue, we’ll leave. These canyons will be easy to get lost in. We know how to live off the country. Nobody’s going to find us unless we want them to. Eventually, we’ll find who we’re after. King Lostre set no time limit. We’re being paid for our time as well as for the job, so we’re in no hurry. It’s always safest to take one’s own sweet time.”