Var was well, though weak. His arm and leg and gut had healed, and he was now able to eat without vomiting and to eliminate without bleeding. But he did not trust this man, and he missed Soli, who had not come again since the time she kissed him and cried.
lvflle girl-what is your relationship to her?' the man asked.
'We are friends.'
'You speak with a heavy accent. And you appear to have suffered serious radiation burns at one time, and childhood deformities. Where do you come from?'
'Crazy demesnes,' he answered, remembering Soli's term.
The man frowned, 'Are you being clever?'
'Some call it America. The crazies share it with the nomads.' -
'Oh.' The man brought him strange, elegant clothing. 'Well, you should be advised that this is New Crete, in the Aleutians. We are civilized, but we have our own conventions. The girl understands this, but feels that you may not.'
'Soli-where is she?'.
'She is at the temple, awaiting the pleasure of our God. You may see her now, if you wish.'
'Yea.' Var still did not like the man's attitude. It was not exactly cynicism of the Helicon vintage, but it wasn't friendly either.
He dressed, feeling awkward in the long loose trousers and long-sleeved white shirt, and particularly in the stiff leather shoes that hurt his clubbed feet. This was not what Var considered to be civilized attire. But the man insisted that he wear these things before going out.
They were in a city-not a dead badlands city, but a living metropolis with lighted buildings and moving vehicles. People thronged the clean streets. Var felt less uncomfortable when he saw that most men were garbed as he was.
The temple was a tremendous building buttressed by columns and a high wall. Guards armed with guns stood at the front gate. Var, so weak that even the short walk fatigued him, and weaponless, felt nervous.
Within the temple were robed pilests and elaborate furnishings. After several challenges and explanations, Var's guide brought him to a chamber whose center was crossed by a row of vertical metal bars, each set about four inches from its neighbor.
Soli entered the other half of the room. She saw Var and ran up to the bars, reaching through to grasp his hand. 'You're all right!' she cried, her voice breaking.
'Yes.' He was not so certain about her. She looked well, but there was something wrong about her manner. 'Why are you here, behind these bars?'
'I'm in the temple.' She was silent a moment, just looking at him. 'I agreed to do something, so I have to stay here. I can't see you again after this, Var.'
He was not facile with words. He did not know how to protest eloquently, to make her tell the truth. Particularly not with the stranger listening. But he knew from her tight, controlled, desperate manner that something terrible had happened while he lay sick, and that Soli expected never to see him again.
And she did not want him to know why.
She had been alienated from him as surely as had the Master-and also by the agency of some third party.
'Good-bye, Var.'
He refused to say it to her. He squeezed her hand and turned to go, knowing that this was not the occasion for effective rebuttal; He knew too little.
And during the walk back he worked out what he had to do.
'You will have to go to the employment agency and make application for training,' the man said. 'Even the menial jobs will be complicated for you at first.'
'What if I want to leave here?' Not without Soli, though!
'Why of course you may-if you
