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as far away from the other man as possible.
Without meaning to he glanced back, and found Griffith gaz-
ing after him, the complete, deliberate neutrality of his ex-
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pression more frightening than any degree of emotion. Anger, or hatred, or
contempt. Infinity might have confronted. The neutrality could not even be
commented upon, though Infin-
ity knew, and Griffith knew, that it meant: I notice you. I'll watch you, if
it pleases me.
Someone toward the front of the room noticed Kolya. Flor-
rie continued to tell her story, but people were distracted by the unexpected
appearance of the cosmonaut. They began nudging each other, glancing back,
exclaiming softly in sur-
prise.
As far as Infinity could tell, no one else paid the least attention to
Griffith.
Kolya acted as if he never noticed that anyone had noticed him. He hunkered
down in a clear space and listened. Infinity wondered if Kolya found it
amusing to hear Home's tale of a failed fling with communism in the
mid-twentielh-cenlury
United States. If he did, he was too well mannered to laugh in any of the
wrong places.
When FIorrie finished, her audience applauded and Kolya unfolded to his feet.
People made way for him- He stopped beside Stephen Thomas, who still knelt in
front of FIorrie.
'*! brought you both small gifts of welcome," he said to
FIorrie and to J.D. He handed FIorrie the package. "It is rather delicate."
As she opened it, her fingers trembled. Infinity was afraid she would slip and
drop it, whatever it was, but the wrapping unfolded and floated to the floor,
leaving a delicate, intri-
cately painted eggshell in her hands.
"A souvenir," Kolya said. "I believe that they do not make them in my country
anymore. Or, if they do, they do not export them."
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"Why, thank you, Mr. Cherenkov," FIorrie said.
Kolya handed J.D. a slip of paper. J.D. unfolded it, read it, and looked up.
"Thank you,'* she said softly, and buttoned the slip of paper into her shirt
pocket.
FIorrie held the eggshell up and looked at it against the light. Infinity
wondered if she understood what giving gifts meant here. Gifts were, more
often than not, nonphysical:
oners of help or time or the gift of a skill. The kind of thing
Kolya, apparently, had offered to J.D. People did not have many things to
give, up here. Kolya probably had fewer than most. He had not, as far as
Infinity knew, been back to earth in two decades. Other people returned to
earth on leave and came home with full allowances; Kolya lacked this luxury.
Perhaps he had brought the egg into space with him on an eariy trip, or the
last one.
FIorrie looked around. "I don't know where to put this,"
she said. "If I were back home I'd put it on the mantelpiece, but I have none
here."
"There is a thread strung through it, to make it easy to hang up."
"In the window, then."
"Oh " Kolya stopped. He looked uncomfortable, un-
happy, but he said nothing more. Infinity had no idea what troubled him.
FIorrie rose and turned toward the window, looking for a place to hang the
egg. Before she found one, Griffith ap-
peared. Infinity had not even noticed him move. Griffith took the egg from her
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hand.
FIorrie reacted to Griffith even more negatively, more no-
ticeably, than Infinity had. She drew back; the egg would have fallen and
shattered if Griffith had not taken it carefully from her hand. He was more
concerned about the eggshell than he was about FIorrie, for he showed no
reaction to her fright.
"Sunlight will fade it," Griffith said. He took the eggshell to the corner
farthest from the window, stretched up, and hung it from a hook set into the
ceiling.
FIorrie *s aesthetic sense was better than Griffith's. The egg-
shell looked odd and lonely high up in the comer, where it was safe. It would
have looked fine in the window, but not
152 vonda N. Mcfntyre at the expense of its existence. Infinity could see that
some-
one would have to build Florrie a table or a stand or a little cabinet for the
egg, maybe with a bit of mirror behind it.
"Well!" Defending herself with indignation, Florrie sat
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Both relieved and embarrassed. Kolya offered Florrie a small bow.
"I hope you will be happy on our expedition," he said. "I
hope you will be happy, too, J.D."
"Thank you, Kolya," J.D- Sauvage said.
In a moment the cosmonaut was gone.
Though the party inside took a little while to ease again, the party outside
had loosened up considerably. As the light faded to dusk, people put lines out
to Arachne for music.
Couples and groups danced on the grass, unsynchronized, each to a different
interior melody. Infinity would have to reseed the center of the yard, after
all. He did not mind too much.
He kept an eye on Griffith, trying to figure out what both-
ered him about the man. After Kolya left, Griffith acted like everyone else,
mingling, chatting. But every so often, when
Infinity glanced around, he found Griffith gazing at him with that scary
neutral expression.
Infinity went inside. Florrie sipped lemonade. Stephen
Thomas still knelt at her feet as far as Infinity could tell, he had not
moved. They chatted.
Infinity admired Stephen Thomas's new earring. He won-
dered who had made it and whether they would make a sim-
ilar one for him, only with synthetic rubies instead of emeralds.
He joined Florrie and Stephen Thomas.
"You let me know if you get tired, Florrie," Infinity said, "and I'll chase
all these folks home."
She peered out the French doors. "Who is that man?"
Griffith stood alone on the porch.
"He said he's with the GAO," Infinity said.
"The GAO!" Victoria frowned, doubtful. "What's he do-
ing, auditing our books?"
"Could be, I guess."
"He's a narc," Florrie said.
"What?"
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"A narc."
**I heard you, I just don't know what that means."
"Is the government going through anti-drug hysteria again?" she asked. "I gave
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up reading local news years ago."
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"The main tantrum the U.S. is going through right now is about Sfarfarer and
the expedition," Infinity said. "Plorrie, please, what's a narc?"
"Be careful around him," she said. "If you use any kind of drugs, he'll put
you in jail."
Infinity and Stephen Thomas looked at each other, con-
fused. What kind of drugs could get you put in jail? Most recreational
substances were designed so their effects wore off quickly, and anyone who
chose something more powerful ought to have the sense to check out their
tolerance for it and make adjustments. Infinity had known people who too fre-
quently sought out effects that were too strong watching them was one of the
reasons he did not drink but he could not imagine involving the law in the
problem. A supervisor, or a doctor, sure. Even the community council. But the
law?
"You don't know much history, do you?" Florrie said.
"Not enough, I guess," Stephen Thomas said politely.
"You be careful. If you do anything they don't like, if you make trouble,
they'll accuse you of using drugs and they'll ruin you. They take a real