Stark paused. "The old man died. The boy went through his sham. And that was that."
Again there was a flat silence. Luhar crouched over the table, his face avid with hope. The woman's eyes dwelt on Stark and did not turn away.
Then, suddenly, Kynon laughed. He roared with it until the tears ran.
"It was a good show, though," he said at last. "Damned good. You'll have to admit that. The crowd swallowed it, horns, hoofs and hide."
He got up and came round to Stark, clapping him on the shoulder, a blow that would have laid a lesser man flat.
"I like you, wild man. Nobody else here had the guts to speak out, but I'll give you odds they were all thinking the same thing."
Stark said, "Just where were you, Kynon, during those years you were supposed to be suffering alone in the desert?"
"Curious, aren't you? Well, I'll let you in on a secret." Kynon lapsed abruptly into perfectly good colloquial English. "I was on Terra, learning about things like the Purcell electronic discharge."
Reaching over, he poured wine for Stark and held it out to him. "Now you know. Now we all know. So let's wash the dust out of our throats and get down to business."
Stark said, "No."