"Hmph!" he snorted. "That's a pretty strange way to look for awatch, riding up and down in a jeepster."

"I could see the light shining off it that way," I offered,lamely.

"Well, it's starting to get dark," he observed. "No sense lookingany more today.

"Throw a dust sheet over the jeepster," he directed a mechanic.

He patted my arm.

"Come on in and get a shower, and something to eat. You look asif you could use both."

Little fatty flecks beneath pale eyes, thinning hair, and anIrish nose; a voice a decibel louder than anyone else's...

His only qualification for leadership!

I stood there, hating him. Claudius! If only this were the fifthact!

But suddenly the idea of a shower, and food, came through to me.I could use both badly. If I insisted on hurrying back immediately Imight arouse more suspicion.

So I brushed some sand from my sleeve.

"You're right. That sounds like a good idea."

"Come on, we'll eat in my cabin."

The shower was a blessing, clean khakis were the grace of God,and the food smelled like Heaven.

"Smells pretty good," I said.

We hacked up our steaks in silence. When we got to the dessertand coffee he suggested:

"Why don't you take the night off? Stay here and get some sleep."

I shook my head.

"I'm pretty busy. Finishing up. There's not much time left."

"A couple of days ago you said you were almost finished."

"Almost, but not quite."

"You also said they're be holding a service in the Templetonight."

"That's right. I'm going to work in my room."

He shrugged his shoulders.

Finally, he said, "Gallinger," and I looked up because my namemeans trouble.

"It shouldn't be any of my business," he said, "but it is. Bettysays you have a girl down there."

There was no question mark. It was a statement hanging in theair. Waiting.

Betty, you're a bitch. You're a cow and a bitch. And a jealousone, at that. Why didn't you keep your nose where it belonged, shutyour eyes? You mouth?

"So?" I said, a statement with a question mark.

"So," he answered it, "it is my duty, as head of this expedition,to see that relations with the natives are carried on in a friendly,and diplomatic, manner."

"You speak of them," I said, "as though they are aborigines.Nothing could be further from the truth."

I rose.

"When my papers are published everyone on Earth will know thattruth. I'll tell them things Doctor Moore never even guessed at.I'll tell the tragedy of a doomed race, waiting for death, resignedand disinterested. I'll write about it, and they will give me moreprizes, and this time I won't want them.

"My God!" I exclaimed. "They had a culture when our ancestorswere clubbing the saber-tooth and finding out how fire works!"

"Do you have a girl down there?"

"Yes!" I said. Yes, Claudius! Yes, Daddy! Yes, Emory! "I do.but I'm going to let you in on a scholarly scoop now. They're alreadydead. They're sterile. In one more generation there won't be anyMartians."

I paused, then added, "Except in my papers, except on a few piecesof microfilm and tape. And in some poems, about a girl who did give adamn and could only bitch about the unfairness of it all by dancing."

"Oh," he said.

After awhile:

"You have been behaving differently these past couple months.You've even been downright civil on occasion, you know. I couldn'thelp wondering what was happening. I didn't know anything matteredthat strongly to you."

I bowed my head.

"Is she the reason you were racing around the desert?"

I nodded.

"Why?"

I looked up.

"Because she's out there, somewhere. I don't know where, or why.And I've got to find her before we go."

"Oh," he said again.

Then he leaned back, opened a drawer, and took out somethingwrapped in a towel. He unwound it. A framed photo of a woman lay onthe table.

"My wife," he said.

It was an attractive face, with big, almond eyes.

"I'm a Navy man, you know," he began. "Young officer once. Mether in Japan."

"Where I come from it wasn't considered right to marry intoanother race, so we never did. But she was my wife. When she died Iwas on the other side of the world. They took my children, and I'venever seen them since. I couldn't learn what orphanage, what home,they were put into. That was long ago. Very few people know aboutit."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be. Forget it. But"--he shifted in his chair and looked atme--"if you do want to take her back with you--do it. It'll mean myneck, but I'm too old to ever head another expedition like this one.So go ahead."

He gulped cold coffee.

"Get your jeepster."

He swiveled the chair around.

I tried to say "thank you" twice, but I couldn't. So I got up andwalked out.

"Sayonara, and all that," he muttered behind me.

"Here it is, Gallinger!" I heard a shout.

I turned on my heel and looked back up the ramp.

"Kane!"

He was limned in the port, shadow against light, but I had heardhim sniff.

I returned the few steps.

"Here what is?"

"Your rose."

He produced a plastic container, divided internally. The lowerhalf was filled with liquid. The stem ran down into it. The otherhalf, a glass of claret in this horrible night, was a large, newlyopened rose.

"Thank you," I said, tucking it in my jacket.

"Going back to Tirellian, eh?"

"Yes."

"I saw you come aboard, so I got it ready. Just missed you at theCaptain's cabin. He was busy. Hollered out that I could catch you atthe barns."

"Thanks again."

"It's chemically treated. It will stay in bloom for weeks."

I nodded. I was gone.

Up into the mountains now. Far. Far. The sky was a bucket of ice inwhich no moons floated. The going became steeper, and the littledonkey protested. I whipped him with the throttle and went on. Up.Up. I spotted a green, unwinking star, and felt a lump in my throat.The encased rose beat against my chest like an extra heart. The donkeybrayed, long and loudly, then began to cough. I lashed him some moreand he died.

I threw the emergency brake on and got out. I began to walk.

So cold, so cold it grows. Up here. At night? Why? Why did shedo it? Why flee the campfire when night comes on?

And I was up, down, around, and through every chasm, gorge, andpass, with my long-legged strides and an ease of movement never knownon Earth.

Barely two days remain, my love, and thou hast forsaken me. Why?

I crawled under overhangs. I leaped over ridges. I scraped myknees, an elbow. I heard my jacket tear.

No answer, Malann? Do you really hate your people this much?Then I'll try someone else. Vishnu, you're the Preserver. Preserveher, please! Let me find her.

Jehovah?

Adonis? Osiris? Thammuz? Manitou? Legba? Where is she?

I ranged far and high, and I slipped.

Stones ground underfoot and I dangled over an edge. My fingers socold. It was hard to grip the rock.

I looked down.

Twelve feet or so. I let go and dropped, landed rolling.

Then I heard her scream.

I lay there, not moving, looking up. Against the night, above, shecalled.

"Gallinger!"

I lay still.

"Gallinger!"

And she was gone.

I heard stones rattle and knew she was coming down some path tothe right of me.

I jumped up and ducked into the shadow of a boulder.

She rounded a cut-off, and picked her way, uncertainly, throughthe stones.

"Gallinger?"

I stepped out and seized her by the shoulders.

"Braxa."

She screamed again, then began to cry, crowding against me. Itwas the first time I had ever heard her cry.