t, garbed in long robes of garish color. Sibilant voices
cut through the evening air like thin-edged knives clashing against the
grating screech of the ungreased wooden wheels of dak carts. Odors of
smoke, cooking, spices, perfume and corruption mingled with the
all-pervasive musky stench of unwashed Vaornese bodies.

It was old to Albert, but new and exciting to the Zark. Its taps on
Albert's sense organs brought a flood of new sensation the Zark had
never experienced. It marveled at the crowded buildings studded with
jutting balconies and ornamental carvings. It stared at the dak caravans
maneuvering with ponderous delicacy through the swarming crowds. It
reveled in the colorful banners and awnings of the tiny shops lining the
streets, and the fluttering robes of the natives. Color was something
new to the Zark. Its previous hosts had been color blind, and the
symbiont wallowed in an orgy of bright sensation.

If Albert could have tuned in on his fellow traveler's emotions, he
probably would have laughed. For the Zark was behaving precisely like
the rubbernecking tourist he himself was pretending to be. But Albert
wasn't interested in the sights, sounds or smells, nor did the natives
intrigue him. There was only one of them he cared to meet--that slimy
doublecrosser called Shifaz who had nearly conned him into a one-way
ticket.

Albert plowed heedlessly through the crowd, using his superior mass to
remove natives from his path. By completely disregarding the code of
conduct outlined by the IC travel bureau, he managed to make respectable
progress toward the enormous covered area in the center of town that
housed the Kazlak, or native marketplace. Shifaz had a stand there where
he was employed as a tourist guide.

The Zark, meanwhile, was not idle despite the outside interests. The
majority of its structure was busily engaged in checking and cataloguing
the body of its host, an automatic process that didn't interfere with
the purely intellectual one of enjoying the new sensations. Albert's
body wasn't in too bad shape. A certain amount of repair work would have
to be done, but despite the heavy padding of fat, the organs were in
good working condition.

The Zark ruminated briefly over what actions it should take as it
dissolved a milligram of cholesterol out of Albert's aorta and
strengthened the weak spot in the blood vessel with a few cells of its
own substance until Albert's tissues could fill the gap. Its know