"Oh, now you"re being cruel! I"d rather you didn"t mention..."
"Of course." Now he looked beyond her right shoulder. "A tragedy."
"It"s not that I-I mean, I don"t like to think. I was badly let down by Dafnish and by Snuffles, in particular. How was I to know that... Well, if you hadn"t consoled me then, don"t know what I"d have done. But I wish you wouldn"t bring it up. Not here, at least. Oh, people can be so baffling sometimes. I"m not perfect, I know, but I do my best to be tactful, you know. To look on the bright side. To help others. Betty used to say that I ought to think more of my own interests. She said I wasn"t selfish enough. Oh, dear people must think me a terrible fool. When they think of me at all!" She sniffed. "I"m sorry..."
She craned to look back, following Doctor Volospion"s gaze.
Li Pao was nearby, bowing briefly to Doctor Volospion, making as if to pa.s.s on, for he was apparently in some haste, but Doctor Volospion smilingly called him over.
"I was complimenting our host on his collection," he explained to Li Pao.
Abu Thaleb made a modest gesture.
Miss Ming bit her lip.
Li Pao cleared his throat.
"Aren"t they fine," said Doctor Volospion.
"It is pleasant to see the beasts working," Li Pao said pointedly, "if only for the delight of these drones."
Doctor Volospion"s smile broaded. "Ah, Li Pao, as usual you refuse amus.e.m.e.nt! Still, that"s your recreation, I suppose, or you would not attend so many of our parties."
Li Pao bridled. "I come, Doctor Volospion, on principle. Occasionally there is one who will listen to me for a few moments. My conscience drives me here. One day perhaps I will begin to convince you of the value of moral struggle."
An affectionate trunk nuzzled his oriental ear. He moved his head.
Doctor Volospion was placatory. "But I am convinced, Li Pao, my dear friend. Its value to the 27th century is immeasurable. But here we are at the End of Time and we have quite different needs. Our future is uncertain, to say the least. The cosmos contracts and perishes and soon we must perish with it. Will industry put a stop to the dissolution of the universe? I think not."
Miss Ming patted at a blonde curl.
"Then you fear the end?" Li Pao said with some satisfaction.
Doctor Volospion affected a yawn. "Fear? What is that?"
Li Pao"s chuckle was grim. "Oh, it"s rare enough here, but I think you reveal at least a touch of it, Doctor Volospion."
"Fear!" Doctor Volospion"s nostrils developed a contemptuous flare. "You suggest that I-? But this is such a baseless observation. An accusation, even!"
"I do not accuse, Doctor Volospion. I do not denigrate. Fear, where real danger threatens, is surely a sane enough response? A healthy one? Is it insane to ignore the knife which strikes for the heart?"
"Knife? Heart?" Abu Thaleb lured the persistent elephant toward him, holding a bunch of grapes. "Do forgive me, Li Pao..."
Doctor Volospion said softly: "I think, Li Pao, that you will have to consider me insane."
Li Pao would not relent. "No! You are afraid. Your denials display it, your posture p.r.o.nounces it!"
Doctor Volospion moved an overloaded shoulder. "Such instincts, you see, have atrophied at the End of Time. You credit your own feelings to me, I think."
Li Pao"s gaze was steady. "I am not deceived, "Doctor Volospion. What are you? Time traveler or s.p.a.ce traveler? You are no more born of this age than am I, or Miss Ming, here."
"What-?" Doctor Volospion was alerted.
"You say that you do not fear," continued the Chinese, "yet you hate well enough, that"s plain. Your hatred of Lord Jagged, for instance, is patent. And you exhibit jealousies and vanities that are unknown, say, to the Duke of Queens. If these are innocent of true guile, you are not. It is why I know there is a point in my talking to you."
"I wish not be condescended to!" Doctor Volospion glared.
"I repeat I praise these emotions. In their place-,"
"Praise?" Doctor Volospion raised both his hands, palms outward, to bring a pause. His voice, almost a whisper, threatened. "Strange flattery, indeed! You go too far, Li Pao. The manners of your own time would never allow such insults."
"I do think you"ve gone just a teeny bit too far, Li Pao." Mavis Ming was anxious to reduce the tension. "Why are you so bent on baiting Doctor Volospion. He"s done nothing to you."
"You refuse to admit it," Li Pao continued relentlessly, "but we face the death of everything. Thus I justify my directness."
"Shall we die gracelessly, then? Pining for hope when there is none? Whining for salvation when we are beyond help? You are offensive at every level, Li Pao."
Miss Ming was desperate to destroy this atmosphere. "Oh, look over there!" she cried. "Can it be Argonheart Po arrived at last, with the food?"
"He is late," said Abu Thaleb, looking up from his elephant.
Li Pao and Doctor Volospion both ignored her.
"There is hope, if we work," said Li Pao.
"What? This is unbelievable." Doctor Volospion sought an ally but found only the anxious eyes of Mavis Ming. He avoided them. "The end looms-the inevitable beckons. Death comes stalking over the horizon. Mortality returns to the Earth after an absence of millennia. And you speak of what? Of work? Work!" Doctor Volospion"s laugh was harsh. "Work? For what? This age is called the End of Time for good reason, Li Pao! We have run our race. Soon we shall all be ash on the cosmic wind."
"But if a few of us were to consider..."
"Forgive me, Li Pao, but you bore me. I have had my fill of bores today."
"You boys should really stop squabbling like this." Determinedly Mavis Ming adopted a matronly role. "Silly, gloomy talk. You"re making me feel quite depressed. What possible good can it do for anyone? Let"s have a bit more cheerfulness, eh? Did I ever tell you about the time I well, I was about fourteen, and I"d done it for a dare we got caught in the church by the Reverend Kovac I"d told Sandy, that was my friend-,"
Doctor Volospion"s temper was not improved. An expression of pure horror bloomed on Miss Ming"s round face as she realized that she had made another misjudgment and caused her protector to turn on her.
He was vicious. "The role of diplomat, Miss Ming, does not greatly suit you."
"Oh!"
Abu Thaleb became aware, at last, of the ambience. "Come now..."
"You will be kind enough not to interfere, not to interject your absurd and pointless anecdotes into the conversation, Miss Ming!"
"Doctor Volospion!" It was a shriek of betrayal. Miss Ming took a step backward. She became afraid.
"Oh, she meant no harm..." Li Pao was in no position to mediate.
"How," enquired Doctor Volospion of the shaking creature, "would you suggest we settle our dispute, Miss Ming? With swords, like Lord Shark and the Duke of Queens? With pistols? Reverb-guns? Flame-lances?"
Her throat quivered. "I didn"t mean..."
"Well? Hm?" His long chin peinted at her throat. "Speak up, my portly referee. Tell us!"
She had become very pale and yet her cheeks flamed with humiliation and she did not dare look at any of them. "I was only trying to help. You were so angry, both of you, and there"s no need to lose your tempers..."
"Angry? You are witless, madam. Could you not see that we jested?"
There was no evidence. Miss Ming became confused.
Li Pao"s lips were pursed, his cheeks were as pale as hers were red. Doctor Volospion"s eyes were hard and fiery. Abu Thaleb gave vent to a troubled muttering.
Miss Ming seemed fixed in her position by a terrible fascination. Mindlessly she stared at the eyes of her accuser. It seemed that her urge to flee was balanced by her compulsion to stay, to fan these flames, to produce the holocaust that would consume her, and her mouth opened and words fled out of it, high and frightened: "Not a very funny joke, I must say, calling someone fat and stupid. Make up your mind, Doctor Volospion. Only a minute or two ago you said how nice I looked. Don"t pick on little Mavis just because you"re losing your argument!"
She panted. "Oh!"
She cast about for friends, but all eyes were averted, save Volospion"s, and those pierced.
"Oh!"
Doctor Volospion parted his teeth a fraction to hiss: "I should be more than grateful, Miss Ming, if you would be silent. For once in your life I suggest that you reflect on your own singular lack of sensitivity-,"
"Oh!"
"-on your inability to interpret the slightest nuance of social intercourse save in your own unsavory terms."
"O-oh!"
"A psychic cripple, Miss Ming, has no business swimming in the fast-running rivers of philosophical discussion."
"Volospion!" Li Pao made a hesitant movement.
Perhaps Miss Ming did not hear his words at all, perhaps she only experienced his tone, his vicious stance. "You are in a bad mood today..." she began, and then words gave way to her strangled, half-checked sobs.
"Volospion! Volospion! You round on that wretch because you cannot answer me!"
"Ha!" Doctor Volospion turned slowly, hampered by his robes.
Abu Thaleb had been observing Miss Ming. He spoke conversationally, leaning forward to stare at her face, his huge, feathered turban nodding. "Are those tears, my dear?"
She snorted.
"I had heard of elephants weeping," said Abu Thaleb with some animation, "or was it giraffes?-but I never thought to have the chance to witness..."
His tone produced a partial recovery in her. She lifted a wounded face. "Oh, be quiet. You and your stupid elephants."
"So, all our time travelers are blessed with the same brand of good manners, it seems." Volospion had become cool. "I fear we have yet to grasp the essence of your social customs, madam."
She trembled.
"Childish irony..." said Li Pao.
"Oh, stop it, Li Pao!" She flinched away from him. "You started all this."
"Well, perhaps..."
Abu Thaleb put a puzzled tongue to his lower lip. "If..."
"Oh," she sobbed, "I"m so sorry, commissar. I"m sorry, Doctor Volospion. I didn"t mean to..."
"It is we who are in the wrong," Li Pao told her. "I should have known better. You are a troubled young girl at heart..."
Her weeping grew mightier.
Doctor Volospion, Abu Thaleb and Li Pao now stood around her, looking down at her.
"Come, come," said Abu Thaleb. He patted the crown of her head.
"Oh, I"m sorry. I was only trying to help... Why does it always have to be me...?"
Doctor Volospion at last placed a hand on her arm. "Perhaps I had best escort you home?" He was magnanimous. "You should rest."
"Oh!" She moved to him, as if to be comforted, and then withdrew. "Oh, you"re right! You"re right! I"m fat. I"m stupid. I"m ugly." She pulled away from him.
"No, no..." murmured Abu Thaleb. "I think that you"re immensely attractive..."
She raised a trembling chin. "It"s all right." She swallowed. "I"m fine now."
Abu Thaleb gave a sigh of relief. The other two, however, continued to watch her.
She sniffed. "I just didn"t want to see anyone having a bad time, hurting one another. Yes, you"re right, Doctor Volospion. I shouldn"t have come. I"ll go home."
Doctor Volospion replaced his hand to steady her. His voice was low and calming. "Good. I will take you in my air car."
"No. You stay and enjoy yourself. It"s my fault I"m very sorry."
"You are too distraught."
"Perhaps I should take her," said Li Pao. "After all, she is right. I introduced the original argument."
"We all relieve our boredom in one way or another," said Doctor Volospion quietly. "I should not have responded as I did."
"Nonsense. You had every reason..."
"Boo-hoo," said Miss Ming. She had broken down again.
Abu Thaleb said coaxingly: "Would yon like one of my little flying elephants, my dear, for your very own? You could take it with you."
"Oh-ah-ha-ha..."