Kelly looked up at him again, but did not answer immediately. She seemed to be struggling with a difficult decision.
Daniel waited. Look here, Kelly said at last. You want to know about the Bambuti. All right, what would you say if instead of talking about them I actually took you into the forest and showed you?
How would you like to film them in their natural surroundings?
I could show you things that nobody else has ever filmed, sights that very few Westerners have ever seen. I'd jump at the chance, Kelly.
Hell, I can't think of anything I'd like more, but isn't there just one little problem? President Taffari hates your guts and will hang you from the highest tree the moment you put one foot across the border.
Kelly laughed. He was beginning really to enjoy the sound of her laughter. It had a delicious purring quality that made him feel good and want to laugh in sympathy. He's not much into hanging, is our boy Ephrem. He has other little tricks he prefers. So, how would you manage the guided tour of Ubomo without Taffari's blessing? She was still smiling. I've lived in the forest for almost five years.
Taffari's authority ends where the tall trees begin. I have many friends. Taffari has many enemies. How will I contact you?
Daniel insisted. You won't have to. I'll contact you. Tell me, Kelly, why are you risking your life to be back?
What work is so important that you must do it without a field grant, without any kind of support, and under the threat of arrest, and possible death?
She stared at him. 'That's an amazingly stupid question.
There is enough work in the forests to keep me going for a lifetime.
Amongst other things, I'm doing work on the physiology of the Bambuti. I have been studying the dwarfism of the pygmies, attempting to determine the cause of their stunted growth. Of course, I'm not the first to do this type of research, but I think I've come up with a new angle. Up until now everybody has concentrated on the growth hormone .
. She broke off and smiled. I won't bore you with the details, but I believe it's the hormone receptors that are lacking. Oh, we aren't bored. Bonny made no effort to veil her sarcasm. We're fascinated.
Do you plan to give the pygmies an injection and turn them all into giants like the Hita? Kelly refused to be annoyed. The small stature of the Bambuti is a benevolent mutation. It makes them ideally suited for life in the rain forests. I don't understand, Daniel encouraged her.
Explain how being small is a benefit. Okay, you asked for it.
Firstly, there is heat dissipation.
Being so tiny they can shed the heat that builds up in the humid windless atmosphere beneath the forest canopy. Then again, their size makes them agile and nimble in the dense tropical growth. You will be astonished to see how the Bambuti move through the forest. The Egyptians and the early explorers truly believed that they had the power of invisibility. They can simply vanish before your eyes. Her own lovely eyes shone with enthusiasm and affection as she talked about these people whom she had made her own.
Daniel ordered dessert and coffee, and Kelly had still not exhausted the subject. The other area of my research is even more important than growth hormones and receptors. The Bambuti have a marvelous knowledge of plants and their properties, particularly medicinal properties. I estimate that there are well over half a million different species of plants growing in the rain forests, hundreds of them with already proven properties beneficial to man. I believe that the cure for most of our ills and diseases might be locked up in those plants, a cure for cancer, and for AIDS. I've had promising indications in all those directions.
Science fiction, Bonny scoffed, and filled her mouth with chocolate ice cream. Do shut up, Bonny, Daniel snapped at her. This is fascinating.
How advanced is your research? Kelly pulled a face. Not as far as I'd like. I have the old women of the Barnbuti helping me gather the leaves and barks and roots. They describe their properties and I try to catalogue and test them and isolate the active ingredient, but my laboratory is a thatched hut, and I am fresh out of money and friends.
.
. Still I'd like to see it. You will, she promised, and she was so carried away by Daniel's interest in her work that she laid her hand on his arm.
You'll come to Gondola where I live? Bonny was watching the other girl's hand on Daniel's tanned and muscular forearm. It was a small hand, like the rest of her body, neat and graceful. Sir Peter would be interested in the formula for curing AIDS, Bonny said, still staring at the hand.
BOSS could market it through their pharmaceutical company. It would be worth a billion--2BOSS? Sir Peter? Kelly jerked her hand off Daniel's arm and stared at Bonny. Sir Peter who? Which Sir Peter?
Tug Harrison, ducky, Bonny told her with relish. Tug is bank-rolling the production that Daniel is going to shoot in Ubomo. The idea is that Danny and I are going to show the world what a hell of a job BOSS are doing. They are going to call it 'Ubomo, High Road to the African Future'. Isn't that a cute title? It's going to be Danny's masterpiece Kelly didn't wait for her to finish. She leapt to her feet and knocked over her cup. Spilled coffee spread across the tablecloth and cascaded into Daniel's lap. You!
Kelly stared down at him. You and that monster Harrison! How could you? She whirled and ran from the restaurant, shoving her way through a pack of American tourists who were blocking the aisle.
Daniel was on his feet mopping the coffee that had soaked his trousers.
What the hell did you do that for? he snarled at Bonny. You and the tree doctor were getting just a mite too chummy for my taste. Damn you, Daniel flared. You've screwed up a chance to film something unique I'll talk to you later. He strode angrily after Kelly Kinnear.
She was not in the hotel lobby. Daniel headed for the front entrance and called the doorman. Did you see a woman- He broke off as he spotted Kelly on the far side of the road. She was astride a dusty cc Honda motor cycle, and at that moment she jumped on the kick-starter and the engine shrilled to life. She swung the handlebars hard over, banking the cycle into a tight turn, the engine whining and popping jets of oily blue exhaust smoke. Kelly!
Daniel shouted. 'Wait! Give me a chance. I can explain. She wrenched the throttle grip fully open and the
