"The Benares cremation barge. It floated to the comet."
Float was hardly the word for the intricate process that had taken place. Rains could see the comet, and he had known all along that the barge was on it.
"What do you know about the cremation barge?" he asked.
Gowru fondled the bottle. "One day I was swimming in the Ganges and an alligator—"
"There are no alligators in India."
Gowru Chandit gestured in defeat. "If you must know, I didn't have a job and each night I swam out to the barge to sleep. I slept late one morning and the crew found me and tossed me off. I had to swim in."
"But you always swam in anyway."
"Makes no difference," said Gowru. "So, when they left that night, I projected a shield around the barge. Come to think of it, it was probably like the one I've got around the temple. Anyway, in the morning the barge had disappeared and no one, including me, knew where it went—until now. The city had to buy another one to replace it."
Rains looked at him dazedly. That's what he'd seen in the psiscope—the barge—and it was for this reason he'd come to Benares. But it wasn't a teleport that was responsible; it was his own guide, Gowru Chandit. Gowru hadn't known because he hadn't told him.