They were very close to the pillar now. “That’s odd,” observed the elder, peering in apparent confusion at the floor. “Where did you say your luggage was?”

“Just there,” Ryo told him encouragingly, “just back in the shadows.”

Desperately he tried to swing the ready foothand at the elder’s neck, but his quarry was far away now, far away on the other side of the jungle, across the raging Southern Jhe, looking back at him curiously and making sad sounds as he faded into the distance.

Then someone threw the terminal floor at him. Very unfair, he thought, damnably unfair to throw an entire floor at a drowning soul. The floor pressed him down, down into the depths of the thundering, roiling river …

The one thing he would not have expected to feel on a return to consciousness was sunshine. It warmed his eyes and forced him to turn away from its brilliance. He was suddenly sick, but there was nothing in his gut for him to throw up.

A gentling voice said, “You slept an entire day and night. About time you woke up.”

Ryo sat up very slowly, rolling onto his side and raising his upper torso. At once he became aware of several things that in combination nearly overwhelmed him: an impression of subdued wealth, morning sunshine, and the wonderful, throat-rending aroma of freshly cooked food.

“I would ask if you’re hungry, but the answer is clear from the moisture at your mandibles.”

Ryo searched for the source of the voice. Standing close on his right was the old Thranx he’d encountered in the transport station. For an instant Ryo froze. But the elder didn’t seem at all concerned. Slightly amused, if anything.

“Well, are you hungry or aren’t you?” He turned away, his back presented fearlessly to the figure on the lounge. “Of course if you’re not I can have it thrown—”

“No, no.” Ryo scrambled off the sleep lounge. “I am hungry.”

“Of course you are,” the elder said pleasantly as he led Ryo into the eating area.

It was beautifully appointed, with that same clear eye for good taste that had been evident in the sleeping chamber. The central table was of laminated hardwoods that were a rainbow of natural colors. The walls were compacted natural earth, glue-bonded and inlaid with crosswise metal strips to form an ocher and silver dome overhead. No natural light penetrated here.

Ryo attacked the waiting banquet with utter lack of shame. His belly screamed its needs at him and they would be satisfied at the expense of etiquette. The elder looked on interestedly.

When his insides finally signaled enough and he leaned back in the comfortable saddle, Ryo thought to study his host. Yes, he was the same Thranx who’d nearly met an early end in the terminal. The inlays on his abdomen were the same, as was that peculiar forward inclination of the skull. At first Ryo had thought the cranial tilt an affectation. Now he saw that it was a permanent part of the elder’s physiognomy.