"Yeah," Mattern grunted, "fair enough." His mind was working busily: _Captain Schiemann is dead, and so is Balas, so I can't do anything about that. A man's got to have some kind of business. Why shouldn't I go on trading with the xhindi, since I seem to be one of the few people lucky enough to be able to do it? Besides, from what the mbretersha said, I couldn't get out of it even if I wanted to. So why fight? Ethics aside, it's a good deal. I'd make more money that way than any other way. I could see a lot of Lyddy._ He caught a flicker in the shifting planes of a grayness that the kqyres had become, according to promise. "I'm thinking the way you want me to think--right, Lord Njeri?" Mattern asked self-mockingly. "You are thinking the way any reasonable being would think." Left to his own devices, Mattern would have disposed of the gold as quickly as he could, and then gone back to Erytheia to spend it all on a year or so with Lyddy. She came that expensive. "And then what would you do?" the kqyres queried. "Well, then I'd go out to hyperspace and make more, I guess. I know it's a little tough on you," Mattern added apologetically, "but you know how it is; I'm crazy about that woman." The kqyres evidently did not know, but he made an effort to understand. "And, meanwhile, she will go back to--doing what she has been doing, with other men?" Mattern frowned. "Yeah, I guess so." "This procedure is acceptable in terms of your culture?" "Well," Mattern said, "for women like Lyddy, sure. I mean--oh, hell--it's hard to explain." "But it doesn't disturb you?" "All right," Mattern said sullenly, "so it disturbs me. So what can I do about it?" "Would it not be wiser," the kqyres suggested, "for you to wait until you can get enough money so you can have her for yourself alone? After all, how long would it take for you to get together a sufficient sum at that rate?" And the kqyres indicated the gold. "You got a point there." Mattern could see that the xhind was right. It would be a lot more sensible to make a few more trips and get himself a sizable bankroll before going after Lyddy, so he'd never have to share her again. Otherwise it would be back and forth, back and forth, until it sent him off his mental course. * * * * * So, as soon as he disposed of the gold, he went back with another cargo, and then another. Waiting for Lyddy wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, because he could talk to the kqyres about her. He'd never had somebody he could really talk to; even Captain Schiemann hadn't really been a companion. The kqyres always seemed interested in what Mattern had to say. He never talked much about himself, but he listened patiently to Mattern's description of Lyddy's talents, and charms, including some which, as a non-human, he could understand only intellectually, if at all.