Those Who Watch

by Robert Silverberg

  “Yes, David?”

  “Look, I’m here to see somebody else now, Leonore. I didn’t know you lived here. I — I’ll see you some other time.”

  She pouted. “All right. Who are you visiting?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “I was just wondering. Maybe it’s someone I know.”

  “It isn’t, I assure you. I—”

  Bridger’s words died away. Something small and cold was pressing against the meat of his back. A low male voice said, “Get into the car, Kranazoi, and don’t make trouble. This is an antipersonnel grenade, and I’ll use it on you right out here if you resist.”

  David Bridger — Bar-48-Codon-adf — felt the sidewalk turn into a yawning gulf beneath his feet.

  “No,” he said. “You’re making a mistake. I’m not Krana — whoever you said. I’m David Bridger of San Francisco, and-”

  The low voice cut in. “We can smell your miserable Kranazoi stink a block away, so save your breath. You’ve been caught, and get used to it. Into the car, now.”

  “This is an outrage,” Bar-48-Codon-adf said thickly. “I’m merely checking on a covenant violation. Three Dirnans unlawfully descended to Earth, and obviously there were more than that. You’ll all be brainburned for this! You—”

  “Into the car. Ten seconds, then you get the grenade. One? Two? Three? Four?”

  Bar-48-Codon-adf got into the car. Not his own, but one he had not even noticed, that had come quietly up the street while he was eyeing the Falkner house. For the first time he saw his captor: a big, blocky Earthman who clearly was no Earthman at all. He sat beside Bar-48-Codon-adf, holding the grenade lightly but alertly. The girl he had known as Leonore was in the front seat. She still looked youthful and innocent, but Bar-48-Codon-adf realized that she must be a Dirnan agent too, and had deliberately picked him up so that she could check on his identity. This planet must be crawling with them! If he ever had a chance to file a report, he’d have to let the Kranazoi authorities know that the Dirnans were flagrantly breaking the covenants. But he suspected uncom-fortly that he never was going to get a chance to file that report.

  There was a third person in the car — an older woman. Bar-48-Codon-adf watched dismally as she got out, walked across the street, and rang the bell of the Falkner house. He had tracked down one of the lost Dirnans, all right. But he had found her only to lose her to her own devilish kind.

  Nineteen

  Glair listened apprehensively to the melodious chime of the doorbell. Who could that be? Not Tom coming back; Tom would use his thumb-print to open the door. A salesman? A poll-taker? A policeman? She froze. She was in the bedroom, practicing her walking. Tom had warned her not to open the door to anyone. The chime sounded again, and Glair walked warily over to the scanner and switched it on.

  An Earthwoman in middle years stood in front of the house. Glair’s first reaction was to shut the scanner off and wait for the woman to go away. Then the plump, pleasant outlines of the visitor’s face registered on Glair’s memory hanks.

  Thuw? Was that Thuw standing there?

  Thuw belonged to the Sartak-Thuw-Leenor sexual group. Glair had known them some years now. They had all been on Ganymede together during their last rest period. In fact, she and Sartak had—

  But the tiny gray viewing field of the door-scanner, no more than three inches in diameter, might be misleading her. Glair peered intently at the uncertain image. If she were mistaken, there would be trouble.

  “Who is it?’she said.

  “Glair?” came a warm voice. “You can open up. We’ve found you, Glair.”

  The voice was speaking in Dirnan.

  “I’m coming, Thuw! I’ll be right there!”

  Glair hobbled to the front door, unsealed it, waited in joyous suspense as it all too slowly rolled back. An instant later she was in Thuw’s arms, and the sweet scent of her own people flooded her nostrils, and she trembled with delight and relief, and also with sadness.

  Thuw stepped inside. Glair closed the door and sealed it again.

  “We have a car outside,” Thuw said. “Sartak and Leenor are waiting in it.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “It wasn’t easy.” Thuw laughed. “Actually, what we did was put a fat Kranazoi spy on your trail, and then followed him. It was Leenor’s idea. Wasn’t it clever?”

  “A — Kranazoi spy — ?”

  “He’s outside in the car, too. Sartak’s got him covered with a grenade. He must have come to Earth to find the three of you, and managed to pick up rumors about an AOS officer who had found something in the desert. He traced you to here. We followed him and took custody.”

  Glair caught her breath. “So it’s that easy to find out about me and Tom?”

  “Tom?”

  “The AOS man.”

  Shrugging, Thuw said, “It’s possible to find anything out, with work. The important thing is that we’ve located you, now, and you’ll be safe on Ganymede in a little while. How badly were you injured when you landed?”

  “I broke both my legs. Tom’s been taking good care of me. As you see, these bodies heal fast.”

  “Well, you’ll be getting a real medical going-over at the base.” Thuw looked around. “Where’s your suit?”

  “It’s hidden away,” Glair said. “I can get it. It’s in good shape, except the communicator broke when I landed.”

  “So we discovered,” said Thuw. “Well, get it, and I’ll take it out to the car. And put some clothes on, so we can drive you through the streets without being arrested. We’ll take you to the rendezvous point in the desert, and in another hour you’ll be on your way to — “-

  “No,” Glair said.

  “No? I don’t-”

  “I have to wait till Tom comes home,” she said. “Sit down. Talk to me a while, Thuw. There’s no rush to leave, is there? You haven’t said a word to me about Mirtin and Vorneen, Are they alive? Do you know where they are?”

  “Mirtin’s back on Ganymede already,” Thuw said.

  Glair shivered in relief. “Oh, wonderful! He wasn’t hurt, then?”

  “His back was broken. But he’s recovering well, A differ-! ent search group spotted him a couple of weeks back. His communicator was still operating, only the signal was distorted, and a team working down from Sante Fe found him in a cave in the desert near one of the Indian villages. I talked to him. He sends his best, Glair.”

  “And Vorneen?”

  “We’ve traced him ourselves. He’s right here in this city, or rather in the suburbs of it. He’s been living on the northern outskirts, in the home of a woman named Kathryn Mason.”

  Glair laughed. “Good old Vorneen. He’d find himself a woman any time, on any world! Have you been in contact with him?”

  “Not yet. But we’ve scouted the house. He’s limping, but he seems to be in good health. So the three of you came through a rough time without any real damage. And now you can all relax a while.”

  “Yes,” Glair murmured. “We can relax. How did you find Vorneen?”

  “Through the local Contact Cult, as a matter of fact,”

  “Really? You mean, the woman he’s living with is a member, and told the cult about him?”

  “Evidently she didn’t tell the cult anything,” Thuw said. “We aren’t sure. What we did was monitor the visitor lists of the cult office, on the assumption that anybody who found a stranger from another world would check with the cult for information. We tapped their computer bank, took down a list of everyone who had been at the office since the night of the crash, and checked them all out. Kathryn Mason was about the hundredth one we surveyed. The neighbors said she’d been acting strangely. A couple of gossipy ones let us know that she was living with a man. We put a peeper through the window last night, and there was Vorneen. Now we can pick him up, and—”

  “What about this woman?” Glair asked. “What do you know about her?”

  “She’s a young widow with a small child.”

  “Th
at’s all? What’s she like? Why did she give shelter to Vorneen?”

  “We’ve had no contact with her,” said Thuw flatly. She looked at her watch. “When is this Earthman of yours going to come back, anyway?”

  “Not until four this afternoon.”

  “But that’s—”

  I know. A long time from now. I can wait. Take your Kranazoi away and do whatever you’re going to do with him, and come back for me after four. I can’t leave without saying goodbye to Tom.”

  Thuw gave her a searching look. “Out of gratitude, Glair, or out of something else?”

  “Something else. Something deeper. I came to be quite fond of him.”

  “In love with an Earthman, Glair?”

  “Thuw, be a good girl and don’t ask questions, will you? Just go away and come back later. Come back at five o’clock and I’ll be ready to leave then.”

  “Very well. We’ll pick up Vorneen in the meanwhile.”

  “Don’t do that either,” said Glair.

  Thuw looked annoyed. “Why not?”

  “I’ll be the one to get Vorneen. He’s my mate, remember? I’ll claim him. And I want to speak to the woman he’s been living with, too. Just keep away from both of them and let me handle it.”

  “Honestly, Glair—”

  Glair took her by the arm and gently led her to the door. “Darling, it was wonderful of you and Sartak and Leenor to trace us like this. But there are certain things we have to handle for ourselves. Please: just go away and come back later.”

  Thuw looked bothered by it all. But she left; and the moment she was gone, Glair sealed the door and sank down on the hall divan, quivering with tension.

  So it had happened. They had found her. That much was inevitable. And before long she’d be in hospital on Ganymede, having the lingering effects of her crash-landing combed out of her system. Fine.

  Mirtin and Vorneen were alive. Glorious!

  And now — all she had to do was say goodbye to Tom—

  It would be painful. Farewells always were. But he had already begun to brace himself against the certainty that she must leave him. What they had built, the bridge between Earthman and Dirnan, was by its nature unstable, doomed to fall. Only… so soon?

  She knew that in a few weeks she would remember him only as a kind, troubled man who had helped her in a moment of stress. What she thought of as her love for him would fade to mere affection, once she was back among Vorneen and Mirtin, to whom she was linked by the deepest of bonds. But what about him? How would he react, cast back into the depths of his despair, all his certainties shattered by this encounter? He had not even believed in his despised Atmospheric Objects when he had found her. And now he knew more about the watchers than any man on Earth, and knew at first hand what it was like to hold a being from the stars in his arms and listen to her cries of pleasure. How could he return to ordinary life after that?

  Glair thought she knew a way to help him return. It was worth trying, anyway. It might heal him in a way that her own relationship with him could never have done, and healing, after all, was her specialty.

  She waited the long day through.

  And then at last he was here, unsealing the door, coming into the house, taking her in his arms, crushing her up against him. She waited until he had kissed her, until he had shrugged out of his coat, until he had unburdened himself of a few hundred words about the stupidity and blindness of AOS. She listened, beaming.

  Then she said in a cool, level voice, “Tom, my people came for me today. I’m going home,”

  Twenty

  Night had fallen. Jill had been given dinner and was asleep; Vorneen, moving more agilely than ever, was testing his healing leg; Kathryn had programmed the dishwasher and was finishing her last household chores. The evening was theirs. She had begun to feel married again, in a curious way, and she liked the feeling. Now that all the barriers were down between herself and Vorneen, including the physical ones, she had ceased to fear him and could no longer deny that she was in love with him.

  Of course, he seemed terribly strange to her, and always would, when she paused to think about his strangeness. Kathryn realized that there was no way to forget that he was human only on the surface, or that he had been born before George Washington lived, or that he had seen other suns, other worlds. Yet these things could be overlooked. There he stood, handsome, too handsome, tender, sympathetic, vastly interested in her, a god of love who had dropped from the skies.

  She had always wondered if she would feel guilty about Ted the first time she fell in love again. Now she had the answer: she did not. She still loved the memory of Ted, and always would; but her dead husband’s hand did not hold her in a chilly grip, as she had feared. Ted was gone. Vorneen was here. Simply thinking about tonight sent a warm flush of excitement spilling through the conduits of her body.

  It had surprised her that he could have sex with her; that his imitation body could perform and react as if it were real. His did. Oh, there were differences, and certain aspects that were missing and that always would be; but they did not matter. Vorneen surged with erotic vitality. Kathryn suspected that on his own world he was a devil with the women … if they had anything corresponding to “women’ there.

  She was happy, at any rate.

  She tried not to ask herself how long it would last. A time must come when she could no longer hide Vorneen in her house. He would have to affiliate himself with outside life, in some fashion, if he meant to remain here. And if he did not mean to stay here—

  Kathryn’s mouth jerked into a tight line. It was unrealistic to think that he would stay with her forever. But he was here with her now. That was what counted. He was here with her now.

  As she finished in the kitchen, she heard the sound of a car door opening and closing outside the house. Footsteps came, and then a ring at the door.

  The scanner showed her the face of a young blond woman.

  “Who is it?” Kathryn asked.

  “Mrs Mason? My name’s Glair. I’m a friend of Vorneen’s. May I come in?”

  Glair. A friend of Vorneen’s.

  He had mentioned that name in his delirium. Kathryn heard the brittle silent sound of a shattering world within her skull. Leadenly she unsealed the door.

  Glair was short, full-bodied, beautiful. She looked like a screen star — like a female equivalent of Vorneen, in fact, with the same radiant flawless attractiveness. Her eyes were warm and kind, and her skin was creamy-pale and without blemish. Kathryn knew that if she put her hand to Glair’s skin, she would find it as smooth and cool and unearthly as Vorneen’s.

  For a long moment the two women faced one another. Then Vorneen emerged from the bedroom, leaning on his cane, and said, “Kathryn, did 1 hear the door—”

  “Hello, Vorneen.”

  “Glair. You.”

  They did not run toward each other, as Kathryn had feared they would. They remained fifteen feet apart, and whatever passed between them was unvoiced, hidden from her awareness. For the first time Kathryn realized that Glair was supporting herself on a pair of aluminium canes. Into the deafening silence Kathryn said, trying not to shout it, “I guess you’ve come to get him.”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs Mason. Kathryn. I know exactly what it’s like for you,” Glair told her softly. “How could you know?”

  “I know. Believe me.” Glair looked at Vorneen. “Mirtin’s alive too. They’ve already picked him up and taken him offplanet. Does she — ”

  “Know? Yes. She knows enough.”

  Then I can speak freely. There’s a ship waiting for us, Vorneen. They came for me earlier today. I’ve been living in Albuquerque. Someone was kind enough to take me in and care for me until I was well.”

  “You look fine, Glair,” said Vorneen.

  “So do you. Obviously you’ve had good care.”

  “The best.” He glanced at Kathryn. “I’ve had wonderful care.”

  Glair said, “That’s good to hear. Vorneen, will you go into the
other room? I want to talk to Kathryn for a few minutes. Then I’ll let the two of you be alone a while. For as long as you like. I’m not going to rush you. I’ve just been through the same thing myself.”

  Vorneen nodded. Without a word, he turned and went back into the bedroom, closing the door.

  Glair regarded Kathryn steadily. “Do you hate me very much?” Glair asked.

  Kathryn’s lips trembled. “Hate you? Why should I hate you?”

  “I’m going to take Vorneen away from you.”

  “He belongs with his people,” said Kathryn. “I’ve got no claim on him.”

  “Except the claim of love.”

  “How do you know I love him?”

  Glair smiled. “I have certain gifts, Kathryn. I can see how you feel. I see that he loves you, too.” Awkwardly she sat down and put her canes aside; then she reached her hands toward Kathryn’s and took them. Glair’s skin did not feel cool against hers, Kathryn noticed. Which must mean that my own skin is very cool right now. Glair said gently, “Aside from what I can see, Kathryn, I have other ways of knowing. 1 told you, I’ve been through the same thing myself. A man took me in. I lived with him. I — loved him, if it’s possible for one of us to love one of you, and I think it is. And then my people came, and said they had found me, it was time for me to go. So I know how it is.”

  Kathryn felt as though her brain were swathed in layers of thick wool. She was scarcely reacting at all. This had happened so swiftly that the severing of her link to Vorneen had not yet become real to her.

  She said, “Vorneen and I were very happy together. But he — he’s yours, isn’t he? You’re his mate?”

  “One of his mates. There are two of us. Did he explain that to you?”

  “A little. Not too clearly.”

  “I want him back,” Glair said. “You can understand that. You know that, because you know him. Will you forgive me for taking him away?”

  Kathryn shrugged. “It’s going to hurt. As soon as I — as I realize that it’s happening. Will he go tonight?”

  “It’s best that way.”