A naked child, diminutive and
golden-furred, darted between two of the chinked pebble-houses, and
disappeared, spilling fragile laughter like breaking glass.
A little beast, half snake and half cat, crawled across a roof, spread
leathery wings, and flapped to the ground. The sour pungent reek of
incense from the open street-shrine made my nostrils twitch, and a
hulked form inside, not human, cast me a surly green glare as I passed.
I turned, retracing my steps. There was no danger, of course, so close
to the Trade City. Even on such planets as Wolf, Terra's laws are
respected within earshot of their gates. But there had been rioting here
and in Charin during the last month. After the display of mob violence
this afternoon, a lone Terran, unarmed, might turn up as a solitary
corpse flung on the steps of the HQ building.
There had been a time when I had walked alone from Shainsa to the Polar
Colony. I had known how to melt into this kind of night, shabby and
inconspicuous, a worn shirtcloak hunched round my shoulders, weaponless
except for the razor-sharp skean in the clasp of the cloak; walking on
the balls of my feet like a Dry-towner, not looking or sounding or
smelling like an Earthman.
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