'There always has to be a first time,' he said gravely, 'when the computer will fail. When they won't be able to take contact.'
The Russian lit his pipe again. He took his mug of wine and went to the balcony and peered out. It was beginning to get dark. It was a trick to keep Blade from seeing his face and there was nothing Blade could do about it.
'Tell me, old man - can a dead man be transported back to your Home Dimension? A body?'
'No. A man is dead when his brain dies. The computer can't alter dead cells.'
A blare of weird music came from the courtyard beneath the window. Blade could see torches weaving patterns in the gloom. The Russian came back to the center of the room.
'That little celebration is for us,' he explained. 'For you, really. I had mine when I first arrived. But we are reunited now, twins who love each other, and they will really turn it on tonight. Feasting, dancing girls, the whole lot. Afterwards you will have your audience with El Kal. That will be rather important, you know. The Kal is going to decide which one of us remains as consort to Canda - and which one goes into exile. Classic situation, eh?'
Blade kept his face impassive. This was a new situation, an abrupt volte-face, and he needed time to cope. At the same time he was a trifle angered and let it show through.
'Canda? Who the hell cares about Canda? I thought we were discussing a serious matter! About your possible defection - you may not have all the time in the world, you realize? When the computer really finds us - '
His double smiled with all the Blade charm. 'Oh, that. No problem there, old man. Of course I'll defect. I had already made up my mind about it. You have my promise as of now. What you don't understand is that we have to stay alive until the computer finds us. And you say that you can't know when that will be?'
Blade shook his head. 'I can't. It might be in the next second. Might be a year. All I know is that they are trying - We've both had the pains. But I don't understand - '
'About Canda? And death? No, of course not. So listen to the morbid news, old chappie. El Kal runs the Moghs and Moghland, but Canda runs El Kal. But good, as the Yanks say. No mistake about it. What Canda wants Canda gets. And Canda wants both of us.'
Blade, still puzzled, shook his head. 'So? Still nothing but a trifle - surely an arrangement can be made.'
The Russian went back to the couch and sank onto it. He filled his mug again. 'One would think so. One would be wrong. There are several good reasons why - the chief one being that exile, here, is just another word for murder. Mogh law is very complicated and tricky. As I have good cause to know. God - they haven't found the wheel yet and they have a legal system that makes ours look on kindergarten level. All based on ignorance and superstition, but laws just the same. Unwritten laws are just as binding as the written ones, maybe more so.
'Anyway - any suitor for a royal Princess who is refused is sent into exile. Naked. Literally. Stripped of all his possessions. They give him a day's start. Then the pursuit starts - there is a nomad tribe, called the Ouled, who make a specialty of tracking down these poor bastards and killing them. They bring the head back and El Kal sticks it on a pike on the wall. This, mind you, is supposed to ensure a happy marriage.'
Blade stared. 'A happy marriage!'
'Yes. The rival is dead, you see, and can never trouble again. Mogh women are very highly sexed and very promiscuous. But that particular suitor will never cause trouble - his head is the proof of that.'
'But - '
'Hear me out, old man. Under Mogh law a Princess can have only one consort.'
Blade's smile was limp. 'And Canda wants both of us?'
'That is the bind, old bean. She says she can't make up her mind which of us is better in bed. I would gladly surrender the honor to you, but she isn't having any.'
'For my part,' said Blade, 'you can have the honor.'
The double sighed loudly. 'Like something out of the Arabian Nights, isn't it? But it does have its compensations, eh? That Canda is a bit of all right, no? One beautiful bird! But damned if I want to die for a bit of quiff. I want to stay alive and defect.'
All Blade could say was that he would be eternally goddamned.
'I don't know about that,' his double said, 'but I do know that we are both in a spot of trouble unless we can figure something out. One of us is for it. Are you sure there is no way you can hurry that computer?'
'I am positive. It may never find us. I told you that.'
The Russian agent stood up and raised his glass to Blade. 'Well, here's to us. I hate to be smug about it, but at the moment I am the front runner. I left Canda just before I came here and she seemed very much satisfied. Of course it won't last You'll have your chance tonight after your seance with El Kal.'
'Seance?' Blade thought it a strange choice of words.
'You'll find out,' said the double. He poured them more wine and raised his glass.
'They'll be coming for us any moment now, I expect Cheers, old man.'
Blade drank. The wine had gone bitter.
Chapter Twenty
Richard Blade stood alone in the great echoing hall of the temple. Torches guttered feebly here and there. The temple, like all structures in El Kal - the city took the name of the current emperor - was built of mud brick. A feat of architectural genius, turreted and spired and buttressed all in mud. Huge frescoes covered the inner walls. Most of them, Blade judged, were portraits of the reigning El Kal. As was the giant image he now confronted.
The idol was fifty feet high and squatting as Buddha squats. There was a great convex belly and above that the head. The carven face was familiar to Blade. Equebus.
