He was aware that he'd lost duoconsciousness again, but his other senses were enough to take him to the limits of ecstasy. The future would have to take care of itself. At this moment, he had Kadi, and that was enough for any man.

Gradually Rimon became aware that the thundering in his ears wasn't just his racing pulse. "Horses I Kadi, wake up!"

It was close to sundown. They scrambled to their feet, stepping hastily into their garments as they turned to face a group of five riders approaching from the east. Rimon was relieved to make out five Simes. It wasn't a Gen raiding party.

The three men and two women reined in too close to where Rimon and Kadi stood, and then, without even reading the fields, Rimon knew they were being hazed.

The shortest of the three men asked, "Mind saying what you're doing here?"

"Does this land belong to you?" asked Rimon, feeling naked in such an exchange for the first time in his life. How can you tell what they mean if you can't zlin? No wonder Gens are so scared all the time.

"Don't belong to n.o.body," said one of the women. "What we asked is what you're doing here."

"Building a house."

The five of them burst out laughing. It was an ugly sound, but Rimon hadn't judged laughter by sound in so long, he had no idea what they meant. He put a protective arm about Kadi's waist, willing her not to be frightened.

"They're building a house, Risko, did you hear that? Farming, now I can understand that if you've a pa.s.sel of Gens to feed till you can get 'em to market. But-"

"Quiet, Flieg." One of the women edged out the man's horse and confronted Rimon. "You get a good crop to sell, you come into town and see me. I run the holding Pen in these parts, do a little breedin' on the side. You got any Gens, you sell 'em to me. You got any grain, you sell to me to slop my Gens. I give a fair price. But I don't want no compet.i.tion. Understood?"

She gave Kadi a penetrating look. "What happened to that one?"

"Nothing," said Rimon, grabbing innocence around him like a cloak. He wasn't sure who or what he was dealing with, but he knew that they had no chance against these Simes. This far from any real civilization, there was no law but the whip, and each of these under-fed but strong Simes was well armed. He even saw a dagger at the waist of one of the women, and shuddered. No self-respecting Sime would carry one of those.

"Well," said the lead woman, "if she doesn't recover, come see me. If I'm in a good mood, I may extend you credit. If not-well, I can always use workers."

The Simes whirled their horses and rode on into the west. Kadi turned into Rimon's arms, shaking but not crying. Somehow that made Rimon wonder all the more urgently if they'd chosen their neighbors,wisely.

"Rimon. Wake up, Rimon," Kadi said, poking him.

Rimon stirred and pulled her into his arms. She pushed away, saying, "Wake up! Someone's coming.' Can't you hear it?"

"Yeah," he said, immediately alert as he recognized the sound of hoofbeats, but even as he was reaching for his clothes, the rider came around the bend, and they saw that it was Del Erick. Rimon sank back under the blanket with Kadi.

Del pulled Lightning to a halt, jumped down, strode to the edge of their makeshift bed, and stared down at them. "You did it again," he said flatly.

"Yes-of course... but Del-" Rimon broke off in mid-sentence, propping himself up on one elbow to peer at his friend. Del had said he could never come back. Yet here he was.

Del followed the thought. "I-ah-I got to thinking about you and Kadi out here alone like this. What if what if you'd-Kadi-I mean it wasn't like with Billy. You've loved Kadi all your life!"

Rimon put an arm around Kadi. "And I'll love her all the rest of my life, Del." There was an awkward silence until Rimon said, "Anyway, welcome back."

"Look, I-ah-I'm sorry I left like that. What happened wasn't your fault. I'd have come back sooner, only I found a town down the road, with a saloon and I got drunk on porstan. I don't remember much about the last three days, until I woke up this morning."

"You really thought we couldn't do it again?" asked Rimon.

"I'm glad I was wrong!" Del said. "And now you can throw me off your land if you want to!"

Kadi said, "Of course we're not going to throw you out, Del. We're glad you came back. Look, want some breakfast? We're starved-I am, anyway."

"And," said Rimon, "when Kadi's hungry, everybody's hungry!"

"Oh, I couldn't eat-" Del started, then reconsidered, looking at Kadi. "On second thought-" They laughed together, and then Del said thoughtfully, "I haven't eaten since-since before-" He broke off, and n.o.body wanted to finish the sentence as his eye strayed toward Billy's grave.

Kadi said, "Rimon, where's my jumpsuit? You're letting all the cold under the blankets!"

As she dressed, Del frowned at Rimon, zlinning him closely. "What's wrong, Rimon?"

"Huh? Nothing's wrong. Things have never been righter!"

"Your fields-there's something-Rimon, you're still hypo!"

Rimon shrugged. "I can't zlin right now, but it comes back in a day or so."

"I never heard of such a thing!"

"Neither did I," said Rimon. "Del, we're the first, Kadi and I. And you-"

"No! Oh no, Rimon, I'm never going through that again!"

"But... you came back."

"To help you if you were in trouble. Since you're not, I can at least give you the rest of the money I owe you."

"Money? Where did you get-?"

"I don't remember it all too clearly, but sometime in the last couple of days there was a race. I rode Lightning, and I won. I must have-I ended up with more money this morning than I had before I arrived in town!"

"I didn't know anyone could get that drunk on porstan!"

"Oh, I remember someone playing shiltp.r.o.n, too... I think. Anyhow, I managed to blot out some. time. There are parts I wish I could remember, though. At some point, I saw some wild horses in the hills, and that gave me an idea. I think I can capture some mares and start a herd."

"You're not going home?" asked Rimon.

"No-your dad knew I always planned on getting my own place."

"Won't you stay with us, Del?" asked Kadi. "At least for a while?"

His warm brown eyes looked into hers. "I can't, Kadi. I can't live like you and Rimon, so I can't live with you. But there's more land around here, good land for breeding horses. I'm going to claim some of it and in a few years I'll have the best herd in the Territory!"

"We can at least be neighbors, then," she said.

"Friends," a.s.serted Del with a smile.

They shared breakfast and made plans.

A few days later, Rimon and Kadi went with Del to help capture some of the horses he'd found; then Del helped them plant Kadi's kitchen garden. The soil was rich, a pleasure to work with. Why had no Simes settled here, even if it was near the border? Certainly such fertile land was worth the effort of defending it.

Perhaps, though, it was simply that no Simes interested in settling down had come this far before. The riders who had stopped to laugh at Rimon and Kadi had scoffed at the idea of farming-and Del had described the nearby town as hardly more than a few huts thrown up as saloons and gambling places to milk the money from the Simes who hunted Gens across the border.

They saw the town for themselves a few days later, when they went with Del to pick out the land he wished to claim. Kadi shuddered as they pa.s.sed the Pens on' the outskirts, where dispirited Gens watched them pa.s.s, not even curiosity showing in their eyes. The town was a shabby place indeed, a block-long street of mud bordered with ramshackle buildings. There was a general store, stocked only with goods one might require on the trail, all grossly overpriced. Loud voices and music coming from some of the other buildings told where they might encounter trouble.

In the store, the two men flanked Kadi as she chose a few supplies. Noticing the outrageous price of trin tea not even a good brand-Rimon hoped that the annual variety Kadi had just planted would produce well enough to see them through the coming winter.

The proprietor zlinned Kadi as she looked about. Finally Kadi turned and looked the scrawny, unkempt Sime woman up and down, then glanced at Rimon and Del on either side of her, both strong and sleek, with glowing skin and hair, the product of Farris' regimen. Rimon caught Kadi's warm, protective pride-but so did the Sime woman. "Take that Gen b.i.t.c.h outside," she said. You got no right bringin' it in here."

Rimon bristled. "I can take her anywhere. She's my-"

"She's his property," interrupted Del, "and he can do what he wants with her. You know the law."

"Law!" She laughed. _"No law out here but what we make for ourselves. I know what you are-couple of fine, high-minded lawbreakers yourselves, takin' little sister to the border! Got no tags for her, do you, boys?"

"As a matter of fact," said Rimon, "I have." He pulled Kadi's tags and papers from his pocket. "Not that it's any of your business, but in case you were thinking of sending the sheriff chasing after us, don't bother."

"Sheriff? Got no sheriff here, an' don't want none. You goody-goodies better keep on goin', 'fore someone takes that pampered Gen away from you."

Rimon wanted to lash out, but Kadi's discomfort faded as she looked at him... and suddenly the whole scene was vastly amusing. His anger evaporated. "No one would want this Gen," he said. "She doesn't know how to be scared."

The Sime woman broke into helpless laughter. "Oh, that's a good one!" she gasped. "A Gen that doesn't know how to be scared!" Rimon felt Kadi's amus.e.m.e.nt go from forced to real-and realized she was using her own emotions to affect the Simes. The atmosphere in the store remained one of high good humor as Rimon paid for their purchases, the Sime woman wiping tears of laughter from her cheeks as she took his money, still muttering, "Oh, that's a good one!"

They left, got on their horses, and rode to the edge of town before Rimon reached over and took Kadi's hand. He was laughing now from his own genuine relief. "Kadidid, that was beautiful!"

"I can't believe it," said Del. "I saw it, and I can't believe it! Kadi, you're safe from Sime attack. You can make an attacker laugh himself to death!"

"It's more than that, Del," said Rimon. "Kadi protected us! We could have ended up in one shendi-fleckin' fight back there if she hadn't turned the whole thing into a joke. But Kadi," he continued, "be careful. That woman was pre-turnover. I'm not sure what would have happened if she'd been in need."

"Or if she'd reacted like your father," said Kadi. "Don't worry, Rimon. I'm not going to take any foolish risks."

As they left town, they splashed through a small creek, following a well-worn trail across the ford, and came to another small settlement. "What's this?" asked Kadi. "Del, you didn't say there were two towns."

"I wasn't over here," he said. "I remember now, though-somebody said some out-Territory Simes had settled here."

There were a number of homes cl.u.s.tered together behind a stockade. Although the gate was open, the place did not appear inviting to strangers. Rimon and Kadi peered in as they rode past, seeing neat houses with gardens, and children playing in the central green. Around the community lay carefully tended fields, a few Simes working in them.

Feeling a wistful envy in Kadi, Rimon said, "If they're from out-Territory, they grew up with Gens, expecting to be Gens. It makes sense that they'd want to learn not to kill Gens."

"You'd better wait until you know how you do it, Rimon," said Del.

"I think-Well, I guess we don't have the answer for sure, yet," Rimon admitted. "But I am going to find out exactly how Kadi and I do it!"

They did it again at the end of the, month, easily this time, with the same deliciously inevitable transition from transfer to lovemaking. This time they did it indoors, in their own house, in their own bed-the one piece of furniture Rimon had gotten built so far. Resting contentedly, aglow with the joy of their double celebration of life, Rimon looked around at the home they'd built, with Del's help. It was a small cabin, just one room, but well made and weatherproof. A barrel Del had brought from town served as table and lamp-stand. Since there was as yet no storage s.p.a.ce, most of their belongings were stored in the root cellar, as Kadi preferred to speak of the hole in the side of the hill. They had built their cabin flush against the hill, using the hill as one wall of the cabin.

Del and Rimon had dug the root cellar as a hiding place for Kadi. The packed dirt walls were insulation enough of her selyn field, and they had spent several days working with the doors, shooing her in and out, zlinning, adding insulation until she could hide there if necessary, safe from detection. Then they camouflaged the doors; once they were pulled shut from inside, they appeared to be a part of the natural hillside.

Some hours after their transfer, Kadi finally fell asleep, and Rimon soon joined her. When he couldn't zlin for a day or two after their transfers, he seemed to sleep undisturbed by the world of shifting selyn fields he was accustomed to, unaffected by the physical stimuli that were of secondary importance to a Sime.

"Rimon! Rimon, wake up! Someone's coming!"

He was awake instantly-nothing wrong with that Sime faculty-to find Kadi dressed. Pulling on his clothes, he found he could still not zlin, but he could hear Wolfs barking in the distance turning from curious to challenging to angry, charged with growls and snarls as he came back toward the cabin. His retreat was accompanied by the sound of a large number of horses, riding hard from the border.

Kadi edged up to the side of the window and peeked out the crack between the curtains. Ten or twelve Wild Gens galloped into view, Wolf trying unsuccessfully to drive them off. Kadi asked, "What do we do?"

"Stay low. They can't zlin us. Pretend there's no one home." Rimon whispered.

The Gens were all carrying guns. Rimon watched anxiously as they looked around, shouting to one another. The only word he could make out was "Sime."

Then, suddenly, all the guns were pointed at the cabin. Rimon thrust Kadi to the floor, falling on her as bullets raked through their house, making the curtains wave as if blown by a brisk wind. All went over their heads. Wolfs growling became a roar-punctuated by a sharp yelp, a howl of pain... and silence.

"Wolf!" cried Kadi. "They've shot him!"

"There's nothing we can do," Rimon said grimly, holding her down. "They'll shoot us if they figure out where we are'"

The rain of bullets continued for a few moments more, then stuttered to a halt. There was more shouting, followed by footsteps cautiously approaching the door. It was barred, and in the noise of the Gens shaking it, Rimon and Kadi scuttled into the root cellar and pulled the door shut behind them. They had insulated the door so well that they could barely hear what was going on outside-except the slam of their front door being battered down.

"The worst they can do is steal what's out there," Rimon murmured.

"Almost everything is in here," Kadi replied in the dark.

"Everything that matters," said Rimon, holding her close. His breathing became irregular as they waited. The palms of his hands were damp on Kadi's arms, and he found himself trembling. I've forgotten what it's like to be in the dark and scared.

Presently, when it grew quiet, she said, "I think they've gone."

"No, we'd have heard or felt the hoofbeats."

"What's that?" asked Kadi, alarmed at a m.u.f.fled roar outside.

Rimon pushed the door open a crack, and then slammed it shut again as smoke and a blast of scorching heat poured .through.

Kadi cried, "They're burning our house!" Smoke poured through their small ventilation slits. "Rimon, will the door burn through?"

"No-it's mostly mortared rock, remember?"

Kadi began to cough. Rimon pulled off his shirt and put it over their faces. "Get down on the floor," he said. "The smoke will rise."

But he, too, was seized by a fit of coughing and choking as they fell to the floor, clinging to one another, eyes smarting, each breath a fresh torture to their throats and lungs.

Kadi clung to Rimon, but he could do nothing but hold her. Is this why I brought her here, learned not to kill her, just to have her die of suffocation? He felt her go limp, unconscious. So much for the grand scheme to make friends with the Wild Gens. So much for all my grandiose schemes to change the world-when I can't even protect the woman I love.

Chapter Seven.

FORT FREEDOM.