The cemeterium's manager called himself Brother Song, and he looked old unto death. "Bidwel Ducanh?" His gaze slid nervously away from Sammy. Brother Song did not recognize Sammy's face, but he knew the Forestry Department. "Bidwel Ducanh died ten years ago."

He was lying.He was lying.

Sammy took a deep breath and looked around the dingy room. Suddenly he felt as dangerous as some fleet scuttlebutt made him out to be.Godforgive me, but I will do anything to get the truth from this man. He looked back at Brother Song and attempted a friendly smile. It must not have come out quite right; the old man stepped back a pace. "A cemeterium is a place for people to die, is that right, Brother Song?"

"It is a place for all to live to the natural fullness of their time. We use all the money that people bring, to help all the people who come." In the perverse Triland situation, Brother Song's primitivism made a terrible kind of sense. He helped the sickest of the poorest as well as he could.

Sammy held up his hand. "I will donate one hundred years of budget to each of your order's cemeteria...if you take me to Bidwel Ducanh."

"I—" Brother Song took another step backwards, and sat down heavily. Somehow he knew that Sammy could make good on his offer. Maybe.... But then the old man looked up at Sammy and there was a desperate stubbornness in his stare. "No. Bidwel Ducanh died ten years ago."

Sammy walked across the room and grasped the arms of the old man's chair. He brought his face down close to the other's. "You know these people I've brought with me. Do you doubt that if I give the word, they will take your cemeterium apart, piece by piece? Do you doubt that if we don't find what I seek here, we'll do the same to every cemeterium of your order, all over this world?"

It was clear that Brother Song did not doubt. He knew the Forestry Department. Yet for a moment Sammy was afraid that Song would stand up even to that.And I will then do what I must do. Abruptly, the old man seemed to crumple in on himself, weeping silently.