"Danisha," Shavash started speaking in the receiver in several seconds, "what happened to DJ securities?"
The receiver quacked.
"I'll show you three sets of books," Shavash screamed. "I'll show you taking the license away! You will bring me the fine, they paid you, personally. And you will bring me, what Giles paid you! You will bring it in an hour or you can go away to Inissa as a cheese inspector in two hours."
Shavash threw the receiver down.
"Not convincing," Bemish said.
"I have nothing to do with it," Shavash snorted. "I just introduced Danisha to this scoundrel of Giles."
"And the Red Sun article is not yours."
"Come on!" Shavash drawled. "That's disgusting sleaze. I would sue them but I don't want to get my hands dirty."
"Well, this article came out just right for you. Now, you can refer to the article to say, 'if I sell this company to Bemish, I will lose my reputation."
Shavash shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't even want to listen to you, Terence. Red Star is the zealots' newspaper. They tried to assassinate me twice."
"What zealots?"
"You saw them yourself while walking with Kissur — remember the iron people show?"
Bemish shuddered slightly. As if it's not enough, that Shavash already knew who and when anyone visited Kissur's villa in Assalah! What's he doing — does he follow Bemish's every step?
"Where did this iron men story come from?"
"It was an old book," the finance vice-minister smiled, "with an iron braggart story. There was a prophecy at the end of the book, that at the world's end, plagues, hail and dishonest officials will come, and the iron men will crawl out from the underground. I have to say that every time rebellions or barbarian invasions happened in the Empire, the rebels were thought to be the iron men. However, once the rebels took power, everybody would immediately realize that they were not the iron men. As for the Earthmen — you don't grab the power and don't hang your enemies. Can't you be anybody else but the iron men?"
"The ones that crawl out from underground?"
"The ones that crawl out from the underground, eat children's brains, and carry naeve peasants and officials underground, down their bewitched halls, to inflict visions on them."
"And how many people believe it?"
"A lot of people," Shavash said, "peasants, officials, artisans. Hey, I fired my secretary, Akhhar, because of that, right after our US tour."
Bemish finally realized that Shavash was making fun of him.
"Well," he said, smiling, "you secretary, having flown to Earth, is unlikely to think that we crawled out of hell."
"My friend," Shavash said, "Akhhar just considers it to be an allegory, the wisdom of our ancestors who possessed the hidden knowledge and warned us about the danger. You see, when you talk about science, you either understand how a nuclear reactor works, or you don't. A myth, meanwhile, is capable of joining together the most different people's groups and minds. A simple peasant understands the prophecy literally, while an educated man interprets it metaphorically."
"And how," Bemish asked, "do the preachers understand the prophecy?"
"Oh, while talking to the authorities, they claim it is an allegory! Are they idiots to admit that they know the real truth about the iron men?"
"It's incredible," Bemish muttered. "Can't you explain to your crazies what's really going on?"
"It's impossible to explain to them, it's only possible to hang them. I think, however, that if we start hanging people for believing Earthmen to be demons, than you, the demons, will raise a horrible buzz."
Bemish lowered his head.
"Don't feel bad. These people have a special gift of quarrelling not only with the state but also with each other. Take cars, for instance. One sect will believes that cars don't exist, that they are demonic phantoms, and that you are not moving in a car but rather are moved by a demonic force. Another one believes that the ancestors themselves sent us the cars, but the iron demons grabbed the gift on the way and used it illegally."
Shavash picked the newspaper up, waved it at Bemish's nose and said.
"I am explaining all this to you, Bemish, so that you understand how difficult it would be for me to get an article published in Red Star, where, on the top of it, they christen me," Shavash squinted slightly and started translating the text, "a foul dung beetle, "a cockroach with a sack of gold instead of the heart," and "the foam of sacrilege…"
Shavash paused for a moment and unexpectedly added.
"You know, what my conclusion from the article is?"
Bemish couldn't help but glance. The dirty article, as it has been mentioned, was accompanied by the picture of Shavash naked and Bemish imagined for a moment, what he would feel if he appeared on a newspaper page in such a saucy way.
"My conclusion is that I should lose some weight. It's a shame of a picture, don't you think so?"
Bemish was leaving the mansion when a dark skinned servant reported to him, bowing.
"The mistress is expecting you in the Blooming Plums Gazebo."
Bemish walked into the garden. The woman that had withdrawn from the room before the dinner was now walking on a white garden path, overcast with sideways moon shadows, and the lace decorating her dress sleeves resembled moon rays coiling around her wrists.
Bemish bowed shyly and said.
"Believe me, I am very sorry that you didn't dine with us."
"Men and women do not eat together," Idari objected. "Are you the Earthman that has been buying Assalah via DJ securities?"
"You are informed surprisingly well," Bemish muttered abashedly, realizing that the Idari's husband is unlikely to even know that DJ securities exist.
"Well, if women eat separately from men," Idari smiled, "it doesn't really mean that they don't know anything. Are you married?"
"I am divorced."
"Did your wife love you?"
"She loved my bank account."
Idari sat down on a bench in a fluid catlike motion and Bemish heard a hydrangea bush rustle against her skirt. Idari gestured Bemish to sit next to her.
"I appreciate everything you have done for my husband," Idari said.
"I haven't done anything for him," the Earthman objected, "while he has done a lot for me."