Which meant that perhaps it was untrue that the Arcturans had killed most of humanity in that year. The terrible slaugher might never have happened. In fact, anything he had heard about the years 1983-2008 might be a lie. Yet, there was Monat. He was not a Terrestrial. There was no reason to believe that he had not come from a planet of the Bear Watcher.
For the present, there was no way to explain his presence on The Riverworld.
Meanwhile, Burton had two means for catching ah Ethical. Kazz was one; the 2008 story was another.
However-humanity lived not only in an as-if world, it was a but-if world, too-however, just possibly the agents had been recruited from a time past 1983. So, their stories could be true.
There were so many possibilities. For instance, how did he know that Monat, Frigate, and Ruach had told him the truth about what had happened to them when they were away from him? There was that incident when Frigate had claimed he had met the publisher who had cheated him on Earth. Frigate said he had gotten a long-delayed revenge by punching him on the nose.
There were bruises on Frigate, supposedly gotten during the fight with Sharkko and his gang. Those could have come from conflict with others, though. Frigate’s nature was such that he dreaded violence, physical or verbal. He might fantasize revenge, but he would never carry it out.
Suppose, just suppose, that the agents adopted disguises based on real life Terrestrials. What if there was an actual Peter Jairus Frigate somewhere on this planet? The pseudo-Frigate could be pretending to be the man who had had such an intense interest in Burton’s life. That would be one means of getting close to Burton, of making sure that Burton would let him attach himself to Burton. After all, it would be hard for any man to be indifferent to his biographer, to a person who seemed to worship him.
Yet, why would it be necessary for an agent to adopt such a disguise? Why not make up one from whole cloth?
Perhaps it was not necessary, it was just easier, more convenient. As for an agent encountering the person he was pretending to be, that was highly unlikely.
There were so many potentialities, so many questions to be answered.
Alice said, “Dick! What’s the matter?”
He came out of his reverie with a start. Everybody except his crew and the man whose boat had been stolen had fled. The man looked as if he would like to ask for reparations but was hesitating because he had no one to back him up.
A wind was whipping the waves of The River and ruffling the thatches of the huts. The Snark thumped against the bumpers of its dock. The light had gone from brownish-yellow to pale grey, making the faces around him even more ghastly. Across the water lightning flashed its fiery tooth, and thunder bellowed like a bear in a cave. Kazz and Besst were obviously longing for him to give the word to look for shelter. The others were only somewhat less nervous.
“I was thinking,” he said. “You asked what we’d do if King John doesn’t have room for us? Well, monarchs have means for making room if they wish to do so. And if he refuses, I’ll find some way to get aboard. I’m not going to be stopped by anything or anybody!”
Lightning struck nearby, cracking as if the back of the world had broken. Kazz and Besst led the headlong flight for the nearest building.
Burton, standing in the heavy rain that had immediately followed the bolt, laughed at them.
He shouted, “On to the Dark Tower!”
28
In the dream, Peter Jairus Frigate was groping through a fog. He was naked; somebody had stolen his clothes. He had to get home before the sun rose and burned the fog off and exposed him to the derision of the world.
The grass was wet and scratchy. After a while he got tired of walking on the shoulder of the road, and he stepped onto the asphalt pavement. Now and then, as he trudged along, the fog would thin a little, and he could see the trees to his right.