caught up with the people, who
had stopped to rest and eat. The babies and old people for whom Kieran
had felt a worried pity were in much better shape than he. He drank from
the river and then sat down. Paula and Webber sat beside him, on the
ground. The wind blew hard from the desert, dry and chill. The trees
thrashed overhead. Against the pale glimmer of the water Kieran could
see naked bodies moving along the river's edge, wading, bending,
grubbing in the mud. Apparently they found things, for he could see that
they were eating. Somewhere close by other people were stripping fruit
or nuts from the trees. A man picked up a stone and pounded something
with a cracking noise, then dropped the stone again. They moved easily
in the dark, as though they were used to it. Kieran recognized the
leader's yellow-eyed daughter, her beautiful slender height outlined
against the pale-gleaming water. She stood up to her ankles in the soft
mud, holding something tight in her two hands, eating.

The sweat dried on Kieran. He began to shiver.

"You're sure that patrol ship won't come back?" he asked.

"Not until they can see what they're looking for."

"Then I guess it's safe." He began to scramble around, feeling for dried
sticks.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting some firewood."

"No." Paula was beside him in an instant, her hand on his arm, "No, you
mustn't do that."

"But Webber said--"

"It isn't the patrol ship, Kieran. It's the people. They--"

"They what?"

"I told you they were low on the social scale. This is one of the basic
things they have to be taught. Right now they still regard fire as a
danger, something to run from."

"I see," Kieran said, and let the kindling fall. "Very well, if I can't
have a fire, I'll have you. Your body will warm me." He pulled her into
his arms.

* * * * *

She gasped, more in astonishment, he thought, than alarm. "What are you
talking about?"

"That's a line from an old movie. From a number of old movies, in fact.
Not bad, eh?"

He held her tight. She was definitely female. After a moment he pushed
her away.

"That was a mistake. I want to be able to go on disliking you without
any qualifying considerations."

She laughed, a curiously flat little sound. "Was everybody crazy in your
day?" she asked. And then, "Reed--"

It was the first time she had used his given name. "What?"

"When they threw the stones, and we got back into the flitt