Lomax waited until the Anointed One's flagship retreated to New Gobi, leaving its disabled companions behind, before he jettisoned the body of the dead crewman. Then, because he was a cautious man who had every intention of surviving, he waited a few hours more.

Finally, when he was all through waiting, he requested permission to land and touched down at the tiny spaceport about two hundred yards from the Iceman's ship.

He spent a few minutes clearing customs, then made arrangements to refuel the ship and house it in a hangar. There were a pair of groundcars waiting outside the observation tower, and he got into the nearer of them.

“Where to?” asked the driver.

He summoned up Penelope Bailey's address from the computer's directory.

“I took someone out there yesterday,” remarked the driver, as they began racing past the endless pastures and fields that lined the road.

“Old fellow with a bad leg?” asked Lomax.

“That's the one.”

“Do you know if he came back?”

“If he did, he didn't rent a vehicle to do it,” replied the driver.

Lomax checked his laser weapon, and made sure that the charge was full.

“Did he say anything to you?” he asked.

“Just that he had some personal business to take care of,” said the driver. “Funny thing, though: he had me let him off about a mile short of where he was going. Guess he felt like taking a walk.”

“Probably,” said Lomax noncommittally.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, until at last the geodesic dome came into view.

“Well, there it is,” said the driver. “Are you the walking type too?”

“No, I like my comfort.”

The groundcar pulled up to the house a moment later. “Should I wait for you?”

“It'd probably be better if you didn't,” answered Lomax. “I'll call you if I need you.”

He got out of the groundcar and walked up to the front door. It was locked, and the security system, which didn't recognize him, refused to let him in, so he cautiously walked around to the back of the house.

He found what was left of them by the pond. Not much, but enough to identify them. The back door of the house was unlocked, and inside it he found the Iceman's vest, loaded with explosives. Try as he would he couldn't reconstruct what had happened, although the climax of it was there for anyone to read.

He found a tool shed hidden behind some bushes, broke the lock on it, killed the ensuing alarm siren with his laser pistol, and searched through the tiny building until he found a shovel. He picked a shady spot under a huge tree by the pond, dug a shallow grave, and buried what he could find of them.

He filled in the grave, then tried to decide how to mark it. He doubted that either of them wanted a religious symbol, and he had no intention of remaining on Mozart until a headstone could be created and delivered. Then his gaze fell on something small and fluffy lying on the ground. He walked over and picked it up; it was the shredded remains of a small doll.

He tried to imagine what the doll might have to do with either of them, and finally gave it up with a shrug. Besides, it didn't really matter: except for the vest, which was too dangerous to leave behind, it was the only object around with which to mark the grave, and so he skewered it on a short branch and stuck it into the ground.

It wasn't much of a marker, he knew, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances. He went into the house and summoned the groundcar via the vidphone, and twenty minutes later he was speeding back to the spaceport.

Five months had passed, and Lomax found himself, much to his surprise, on the world of Sweetwater, being served a mixed drink by a robot.

“That will be all, Sidney,” said Robert Gibbs, and the robot bowed and left the room.

“All right, Mr. Gibbs,” said Lomax. “You got me here. Now suppose you tell me what this is all about.”

“It's about a crazed fanatic called the Anointed One,” said Gibbs, “a man with whom I believe you have been associated in the past.”

“What about him?”

“We want him.”

“We?” repeated Lomax.

“The Democracy,” answered Gibbs. “I've been reactivated and put in charge of my old department, although they've allowed me to operate out of my own home for the time being.”

“Then let the Democracy go out and get him,” answered Lomax. “He thinks I'm dead, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a healthy relationship.”

“I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation, Mr. Lomax,” persisted Gibbs. “This man is a threat to survival of our government.”

“He's just a man,” replied Lomax calmly. “You've already survived the most serious threat you're ever going to face.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Penelope Bailey.”

Gibbs shook his head. “She's been dead for four years. She died when Alpha Crepello III was destroyed.”

“She died five months ago, when an old man with one leg hunted her down and killed her.”

“You mean Mendoza?” asked Gibbs, startled. “He's dead?”

Lomax nodded, and took a sip of his drink. “He's dead. And so is she.”

“But life goes on, Mr. Lomax, and right now more lives than you can imagine are being threatened by the man known as Moses Mohammed Christ.”

“You survived her,” said Lomax. “You'll survive him.”

“I am prepared to offer you five million credits for your services,” said Gibbs. “One-third now, the remainder upon completion of your mission.”

“Not interested.”

“Then why did you come here?” asked Gibbs. “You must have known the kind of offer I was going to make.”

“I just wanted to see the man who started all this.”

“All what?”

“You kidnapped Penelope Bailey when she was six years old,” said Lomax. “You weren't Robert Gibbs back then, but it was you.” He paused. “You know, if you had left her alone or had made some effort to win her confidence, you wouldn't have had to depend on men like the Iceman and me to do your dirty work for you. She could have told you the outcome of every election, predicted the results of every battle, and if you didn't like the course events were taking, she'd have found a way to change them. You could have had all that, and because you never learned the secret of the stick and the carrot, you let it slip away.”

“If she was so infallible,” scoffed Gibbs, “how did the Iceman manage to kill her?”

“I don't think he did,” answered Lomax thoughtfully. “I think she just got tired of fighting—like me.”

“You're not quitting,” said Gibbs. “Men like you and Carlos never quit.”

“No, I'm not quitting,” said Lomax. “But I'm not fighting your battles, Mr. Gibbs. If you've ever got a personal grudge against someone, you know where to find me. But don't expect me to fight every enemy the Democracy has created through its arrogance or its stupidity.”

“We didn't create the Anointed One or the Bailey girl, damn it!” snapped Gibbs.

Lomax sighed. “Mr. Gibbs, you've created every enemy you've ever had.”

“You've been with the Anointed One, spoken to him, seen him in action!” continued Gibbs. “Surely you realize that he must be eliminated!”

“He's a religious fanatic, and he's probably every bit as power hungry as you think,” said Lomax. He paused and smiled. “Do you know who he reminds me of?”

“Penelope Bailey?” suggested Gibbs, surprised by the question.

“No, Mr. Gibbs,” answered Lomax. “He reminds me of you, and I say a pox on both your houses.” He set his drink down. “And now, if you'll excuse me, I have something important to do.”

“You can't walk out of here!”

“Certainly I can,” said Lomax. “Somewhere out there, on a world you've never heard of, there's a grave that's marked only with a rag doll. It doesn't mean a damned thing to you, not any more, but I'm going to deliver a headstone to it.”

“Seven million!” said Gibbs.

Lomax smiled and walked to the door.

“You'll be back,” said Gibbs confidently. “Carlos always came back, and so will you.”

“You have enemies, Mr. Gibbs,” said Lomax. “You'd better hope I don't come back.”

And then he was gone.