Mac slipped in front, protected it with his body. Evans called out, “Better look at this.”
Evans had him covered with a small but businesslike gun. “We go a lot of funny places, brother, but we go prepared. You damage that recorder, or hurt one of us, and you’ll be sued from here to breakfast. It’s a serious matter to interfere with a news service, brother. The public has rights, you know.” He raised his voice. “Ellie! We’re leaving.”
“Not yet,” she answered dreamily. “I must steep myself in”
“Right now! It’s an ‘eightsix’ with the Reuben Steuben!”
“Okay!” she snapped in her other voice.
Rod let them go. Once they were over the wall he went;back to the city hall, sat down, held his knees and shook.
Later he climbed the stile and looked around. A guard was on duty below him; the guard looked up but said nothing. The gate was relaxed to a mere control hole but a loading platform had been set up and a power fence surrounded it and joined the wall. Someone was working at a control board set up on a flatbed truck; Rod decided that they must be getting ready for major immigration. He went back and prepared a solitary meal, the poorest he had eaten in more than a year. Then he went to bed and listened to the jungle “Grand Opera” until he went to sleep.
“Anybody home?”
Rod came awake instant!y, realized that it was morning and that not all nightmares were dreams. “Who’s there?”
“Friend of yours.” B. P. Matson stuck his head in the door. “Put that whittler away. I’m harmless.”
Rod bounced up. “Deacon! I mean ‘Doctor.'”
“‘Deacon,'” Matson corrected. “I’ve got a visitor for you.” He stepped aside and Rod saw his sister.
Some moments later Matson said mildly, “If you two can unwind and blow your noses, we might get this on a coherent basis.”
Rod backed off and looked at his sister. “My, you look wondeful, Helen.” She was in mufti, dressed in a gay tabard and briefs. “You’ve lost weight.”
“Not much. Better distributed, maybe. You’ve gained, Rod. My baby brother is a man.”
“How did you” Rod stopped, struck by suspicion. “You didn’t come here to talk me into going back? If you did, you can save your breath.”
Matson answered hastily. “No, no, no! Farthest thought from our minds. But we heard about your decision and we wanted to see yous o I did a little politickmg and got us a pass.” He added, “Nominally I’m a temporary field agent for the service.
“Oh. Well, I’m certainly glad to see you . . . as long as that is understood.”
“Sure, sure!” Matson took out a pipe, stoked and fired it. “I admire your choice, Rod. First time I’ve been on Tangaroa.”
“On what?”
“Huh? Oh. Tangaroa. Polynesian goddess, I believe. Did you folks give it another name?”
Rod considered it. “To tell the truth, we never got around to it. It . . . well, it just was.”
Matson nodded. “Takes two of anything before you need names. But it’s lovely, Rod. I can see you made a lot of progress.
“We would have done all right,” Rod said bitterly, “if they hadn’t jerked the rug out.” He shrugged. “Like to look around?”
“I surely would.”
“All right. Come on, Sis. Wait a minute I haven’t had breakfast; how about you?”
“Well, when we left the Gap is was pushing lunch time. I could do with a bite. Helen?”
“Yes, indeed.”
Rod scrounged in Margery’s supplies. The haunch on which he had supped was not at its best. He passed it to Matson. “Too high?”
Matson sniffed it. “Pretty gamy. I can eat it if you can.
“We should have hunted yesterday, but . . . things happened.” He frowned. “Sit tight. I’ll get cured meat.” He ran up to the cave, found a smoked side and some salted strips. When he got back Matson had a fire going. There was nothing else to serve; no fruit had been gathered the day before. Rod was uneasily aware that their breakfasts must have been very different.
But he got over it in showing off how much they had done potter’s wheel, Sue’s loom with a piece half finished, the flume with the village fountain and the showers that ran continuously, iron artifacts that Art and Doug had hammered out. “I’d like to take you up to Art’s iron works but there is no telling what we might run into.”