“Karfedix Seaton, nothing could please us more than to have such a ceremony performed in our palace. Marriage between such highly-evolved persons as are you four is demanded by the First Cause, whose servants we all are. Aside from that, it is an unheard of honor for any ruler to have even one other karfedix married under his roof, and you are granting me the honor of two! I thank you, and assure you that we will do our best to make the occasion memorable.”
“Nothing fancy, please,” Seaton said. “Just a simple, plain wedding will do very nicely.”
“I will summon Karbix Taman to perform the ceremony,” Roban said, paying no attention to Seaton’s remark. “Our customary time for ceremonies is just before fourth-meal. Is that time satisfactory to all concerned?”
It was entirely satisfactory.
“Dunark, since you are more familiar than I with the customs of our illustrious visitors, you will take charge.” Emperor Roban strode out of the room.
Dunark took up his microphone and sent out call after call after call.
Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. “They must be going to make a production out of our weddings, Dick—the Karbix is the highest dignitary of the church, isn’t he?”
“Yes, as well as being commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of Kondal. Next to Roban he’s the most powerful man in the whole empire. They’re going to throw a brawl, all right it’ll make the biggest Washington wedding you ever saw look like some small fry’s birthday party. And how you’ll hate it!”
“Uh-huh, I do already.” She laughed rapturously. “I’ll cry bitter and salty tears all over the place—I don’t think. It’s you that will suffer—in silence, I hope?”
“As silently as possible—check.” He grinned; and she became, all of a sudden, serious.
“I’ve always wanted a big wedding, Dick—but remember I wanted to give it up and thought I had.”
“I’ll remember that always, sweetheart. As I have said before and am about to say again, you’re a blinding flash and a deafening report—the universe’s best.”
As Dunark finished his telephoning, Seaton spoke to him.
“Dottie said, a while back, she’d like to have a few yards of that tapestry-fabric for a dress . . . but, says, she’s going to get one anyway, only finer and fancier.”
“Just so,” Dunark agreed. “In high state ceremonials we always wear robes of state. But you two men, for some reason or other, do not wish to wear them?
“We’ll wear white slacks and sport shirts. As you know—if you can find the knowledge—while the women of our race go in for ornamental dress, most of the men do not.”
“True.” Dunark frowned in perplexity. “Another one of those incomprehensible oddities. However, since your dress will be something no Kondalian has ever seen, it will actually be more resplendent than the robes of your brides.
“I have called in our most expert weavers and tailors, to make the gowns. Before they arrive, let us discuss the ceremony and decide what it will be. You are all somewhat familiar with our customs, but on this I make very sure. Each couple is married twice. The first marriage is symbolized by the exchange of plain bracelets. This marriage lasts two years, during which period either may divorce the other by announcing the fact.”
“Hmmm . . .” Crane said, “Some such system of trial marriage is advocated among us every few years, but they all so surely degenerate into free love that none has found a foothold.”
“We have no such trouble. You see, before the first marriage each couple, from lowest to highest, is given a mental examination. Any person whose graphs show moral turpitude is shot.”
No questions being asked, Dunark went on, “At the end of the two years the second marriage, which is indissoluble, is performed. Jeweled bracelets are substituted for the plain ones. In the case of highly-evolved persons, it is permitted that the two ceremonies be combined into one. Then there is a third ceremony, used only in the marriage of persons of the very highest evolution, in which eternal vows are taken and the faidon, the eternal jewel, is exchanged. I am virtually certain that all four of you are in the eternal class, but that isn’t enough. I must be absolutely certain. Hence, if either couple elects the eternal ceremony, I must examine that couple here and now. Otherwise, and should one of you be rejected by Tarnan, not only would my head roll, but my father would be intolerably disgraced.”
“Huh? Why?” Seaton demanded.
“Because I am responsible,” Dunark replied, quietly. “You heard my father give me the responsibility of seeing to it that your marriages, the first of their kind in Kondalian history, are carried out as they should be. If such a frightful thing as a rejection occurred it would be my fault. I would be decapitated, there and then, as an incompetent. My father would kill himself, because only an incompetent would delegate an important undertaking to an incompetent.”
“What a code!” Seaton whispered to Crane, under his breath. “What a code !” Then, to Dunark, “But suppose you pass me and Tarnan doesn’t? Then what?”
“That cannot possibly happen. Mind graphs do not lie and cannot possibly be falsified. However, there is no coercion. You are at perfect liberty to elect any one of the three marriages you choose. What is your choice?”
“I want to be married for good, the longer the better. I vote for the eternal, Dunark. Bring out your test-kit”
“So do I, Dunark,” Dorothy said, catching her breath.
“One question first,” Crane said. “Would that mean that my wife would be breaking her vows if she married again after my death?”
“By no means. Young men are being killed every day; their wives are expected to marry again. Most men have more than one wife. Any number of men and women may be linked that way after death—just as in your chemistry varying numbers of atoms unite to form stable compounds.”
Crane and Margaret agreed that they, too, wanted to be married forever.
“In your case rings will be substituted for bracelets. After the ceremony you men may discard them if you like.”
“Not me!” Seaton declared. “I’ll wear them all the rest of my life,” and Crane expressed the same thought.
“The preliminary examination, then. Put on these helmets, please.” He handed one each to Dorothy and Seaton, and donned one himself. He pressed a button, and instantly the two could read each other’s mind to the minutest detail; and each knew that Dunark was reading the minds of both. Moreover, he was studying minutely a device he held in both hands.
“You two pass. I knew you would,” he said, and, a couple of minutes later, he said the same thing to Crane and Margaret.
“I was sure,” Dunark said, “but in this case knowing it wasn’t enough. I had to prove it incontrovertibly. But the robe-makers have been waiting. You two girls will go with them, please.”
As the girls left Dunark said, “While I was in Mardonale I heard scraps of talk about a military discovery, besides the gas whose effects we felt. I heard also that both secrets had been stolen from Kondal. There was some gloating, in fact, that we were to be destroyed by our own inventions. I have learned here that what I heard was true.”
“Well, that’s easily fixed,” Seaton said. “Let’s get the Skylark fixed up and we’ll hop over there and jerk Nalboon out of his palace—if there is any palace and if he’s still alive—and read his mind. If not Nalboon, somebody else. Check?”
“It’s worth trying anyway,” Dunark said. “In any event we must repair the Skylark and replenish her supply of copper as soon as possible.”
The three men went out to the wrecked spaceship and went through it with care. Inside damage was extensive and serious; many instruments were broken, including one of the object compasses focused upon Earth.
“It’s a good thing you had three of ’em, Mart. I’ve got to hand it to you for using the old think-tank,” Seaton said, as he tossed the useless equipment out upon the dock.
“Better save them, Dick,” Dunark said. “You may have use for them later.”
“Uh-uh. All they’re good for is scrap.”
“Then I’ll save them. I may need that kind of scrap, some day.” He issued orders that all discarded instruments and apparatus were to be stored.
“Well, I suppose the first thing to do is to set up some hydraulic jacks and start straightening,” Seaton said.
“Why not throw away this soft stuff and build it of arenak?” Dunark suggested. “You have plenty of salt.”
“That’s really a thought. Yes, two years’ supply. Around a hundred pounds, at a guess.”
Dunark”s eyes widened at the amount mentioned, in spite of his knowledge of Earthly conditions. He started to say something, then stopped in confusion, but Seaton knew his thought.