They were walking through the central market, buying samples of the local carvings for their stock of primitive specimens, when Lyra called to her husband. As usual he’d left the trading to her and Homat, being more interested in the stones that had been used to pave the street.
“What is it? Lyra, did you know that some of this might have been quarried out of a pegmatite dike?”
“Sure I did,” she replied sardonically, “but I’ll try to forget it for now. Come over and listen to something.”
She stood before a very old Mai. Trying to muster some interest, Etienne observed that the wrinkles on the Mai face formed whorls with age instead of lines.
“Only two hundred legats up the Skar,” the oldster declaimed, “lies the place where it is joined by the great Au-rang.”
“He says,” Lyra told him, usurping the old one’s tale, “that the Tsla have a major town not far up the Aurang.”
Etienne eyed her uncertainly. “How far is not far?” She gave him a figure in legats and he converted the native measurement in his head. “Between eight and nine hundred kilometers. That’s a hell of a ‘not far.’ Our itinerary calls for us to follow the Skar to its origin, mapping and taking notes along the way. Nothing was said about making any major detours.”
“It would give us the chance to study a wholly new race, Etienne, examine an entirely different culture. We have to make contact with the Tsla sooner or later.”
“I thought the plan was ‘later.’”
“But it’s such a wonderful opportunity! I’m told the Tsla build very few centers and that this Turput is one of the main ones.”
“It would still mean a radical change in our plans,” he argued. “Lyra, not a day’s gone by since we set down on this world that you haven’t been able to wallow in your work, whereas I’m still waiting to reach the point where the Barshajagad narrows enough for me to do some serious research and studies in my specialty.”
“If we go to this Turput, you’ll have that chance, Etienne. They can’t live in the river valley.” She exchanged some rapid-fire chatter with the oldster. “His description of Turput’s location fits what we’ve learned about their ecological niche. Turput’s at least three thousand meters above the Skar. Apparently the Aurang hasn’t cut nearly as deep a canyon. You should be able to dive into your studies sooner if we visit Turput than if we avoid it.”
He considered carefully. “I know that we’re supposed to make detailed studies of the Tsla as well as the Mai, but the plan was to do that during our return journey, after we’d attained the other major objectives.”
“Etienne, my primary interest in coming here is to see how several entirely different cultures coexist side by side in separate habitation zones. To do this I need to observe how the Tsla live and react to the Mai.”
“Can’t it wait until we’re on our way back?”
“We owe ourselves the detour. At three thousand meters above sea level the temperature will drop at least forty degrees from what it is here on the Skar, with a corresponding fall in humidity. For the first time since touchdown we can slip into real clothes and dispense with air conditioning. Doesn’t that interest you?”
He had to admit that it did, but there were other factors she hadn’t mentioned, possibly by design.
“From what this old one said, Lyra, Turput lies only eight hundred kilometers upstream from where the Aurang enters the Skar, right?” She nodded. “Okay. That means climbing three thousand meters up the canyonside over a short distance. Too steep a slope for the boat to navigate and too far to run on repellers.”
Lyra pointed to the old trader. “Ossanj says there’s a decent-size town at the confluence of the two rivers, called Aib. He says we might hire them to watch the hydrofoil as well as find porters to ferry supplies up to Turput.”
“Really? Does he happen to have any relatives in Changrit?”
“Etienne!” She sighed with exasperation. “We’re far beyond Changrit’s influence. You know that.”
“Maybe so. Pardon me if I seem excessively cautious. It’s just that we haven’t done so well where local help’s been involved.”
“Come on! You know we can take enough precautions to ensure the safety of the boat.”
“Granted that we can, I’m still not sure I’m ready for a three-thousand-meter hike. That’s going to make hash of our itinerary.”
“Our itinerary’s not graven in stone, Etienne. If the weather’s bad when we come back down the river we might not be able to make the climb at all. We can’t pass on the chance. The weather’s favorable now. Surely we can hire some kind of local transport so we don’t have to make the entire climb on foot.” She turned back to the trader. “Tell him about Turput, Ossanj.”
“A most delighted wondrous place,” declared the oldster. “Mysterious are the workings of the Tsla.” He made a gesture to protect himself from any interested spirits. “Their fields climb the sides of mountains. They grow there delighted fruits and vegetables that wither here by the river.”
“How do you know all this, Ossanj? I thought the lands of the Tsla too cold for your people to tolerate.”
“With much clothing to keep warm, we can visit there for short times.”
“And we’ll be comfortable, Etienne,” Lyra added encouragingly. “Doesn’t that sound inviting?”
“Not as inviting as continuing Upriver.”
“But that’s just my point. Here’s a chance for you to see some real topography.”
“Lyra, I’m sick of river valley, you know that. But we ought to stick to our itinerary.”
She drew away from him. “I see,” she said coldly. “Fine. You continue Upriver with Homat. I’ll take enough of the trade goods to tide me over until you return and I’ll go up to Turput myself. Meet you on the way back.”
He sighed. “Lyra, you know that’s no good. What about the cultures Upriver from here? Am I supposed to do your fieldwork as well as my own?”
She shrugged. “Okay, then take a month or two and go where you wish, study what you want, and come back for me. But I’m going to Turput tomorrow, Etienne, while I have the opportunity and while the weather’s good.”
“Damn you,” he said quietly. “You know the dangers in splitting up. You get your way, as usual. I’ll come with you. But I won’t like it and you’ll have to listen to me bitch about it all the way up the canyon.”
“I’ll suffer it.” She smiled triumphantly at him. “Consider it serendipity instead of an enforced detour. Many important discoveries are made because of serendipity.”
“Bullshit. You’ve just decided that you want to go now.”
That prompted a glare that chilled the air in the marketplace. She didn’t speak to him for the rest of the afternoon.
Homat would have voted for staying on the river. Though he had eaten the produce the Tsla traded with the river dwellers and had heard much of their marvelous accomplishments, he’d never seen one and didn’t care if he ever did. He thought that de-Etienne should have argued more powerfully with his mate, and if that had failed, given her orders. But it would seem that male-female relationships among the off-worlders were very different from those among the Mai. He spent a whole morning making signs and attempting to propitiate the proper spirits before they set off Upriver once again.
