“And they are the key to physics,” mused Alen. “A scientist here is dead-ended forever, because their materials are all insulators! Glass, clay, glaze, wood.”
“Funny, all right,” yawned blackbeard. “Did you see me collar him once I got on my feet? Sharp, eh? Good night, Herald.” He gruntingly hauled himself into the hammock again, leaving Alen to turn off the hissing light and cover the slow-match with its perforated lid.
They had roast fowl of some sort or other for breakfast in the public dining room. Alen was required by his Rule to refuse the red wine that went with it. The trader gulped it approvingly. “A sensible, though backward people,” he said. “And now if you’ll inquire of the management where the thievish jewel-buyers congregate, we can get on with our business and perhaps be off by dawn tomorrow.”
“So quickly?” asked Alen, almost forgetting himself enough to show surprise.
“My charter on Starsong, good Herald—thirty days to go, but what might not go wrong in space? And then there would be penalties to mulct me of whatever minute profit I may realize.”
Alen learned that Gromeg’s Tavern was the gem mart and they took another of the turbine-engined cabs through the brick-paved streets.
Gromeg’s was a dismal, small-windowed brick barn with heavy-set men lounging about, an open kitchen at one end
and tables at the other. A score of smaller, sharp-faced men were at the tables sipping wine and chatting.
“I am Journeyman-Herald Alen,” announced Alen clearly, “with Vegan gems to dispose of.”
There was a silence of elaborate unconcern, and then one of the dealers spat and grunted: “Vegan gems. A drug on the market. Take them away, Herald.”
“Come, master trader,” said Alen in the Lyran tongue. “The gem dealers of Lyra do not want your wares.” He started for the door.
One of the dealers called languidly: “Well, wait a moment. I have nothing better to^ do; since you’ve come all this way I’ll have a look at your stuff.”
“You honor us,” said Alen. He and blackbeard sat at the man’s table. The trader took out a palmful of samples, counted them meaningfully and laid them on the boards.
“Well,” said the gem dealer, “I don’t know whether to be amused or insulted^. I am Garthkint, the gem dealer—not a retailer of beads. However, I have no hard feelings. A drink for your frowning friend, Herald? I know you gentry don’t indulge.” The drink was already on the table, brought by one of the hulking guards.
Alen passed Garthkint’s own mug of wine to the trader, explaining politely: “In my master trader’s native Cepheus it is considered honorable for the guest to sip the drink his host laid down and none other. A charming custom, is it not?”
“Charming, though unsanitary,” muttered the gem dealer— and he did not touch the drink he had ordered for blackbeard.
“I can’t understand a word either of you is saying—too flowery. Was this little rat trying to drug me?” demanded the trader in Cephean.
“No,” said Alen. “Just trying to get you drunk.” To Garthkint in Lyran, he explained, “The good trader was saying that he wishes to leave at once. I was agreeing with him.”
“Well,” said Garthkint, “perhaps I can take a couple of your gauds. For some youngster who wishes a cheap ring.”
“He’s getting to it,” Alen told the trader.
“High time,” grunted blackbeard.
“The trader asks me to inform you,” said Alen, switching back to Lyran, “that he is unable to sell in lots smaller than five hundred gems.”
“A compact language, Cephean,” said Garthkint, narrowing his eyes.
“Is it not?” Alen blandly agreed.
The gem dealer’s forefinger rolled an especially fine three-fire stone from the little pool of gems on the table. “I suppose,” he said grudgingly, “that this is what I must call the best of the lot. What, I am curious to know, is the price you would set for five hundred equal hi quality and size to this poor thing?”
“This,” said Alen, “is the good trader’s first venture to your delightful planet. He wishes to be remembered and welcomed all of the many times he anticipates returning. Because of this he has set an absurdly low price, counting good will as more important than a prosperous voyage. Two thousand Lyran credits.”