"I can believe that Sybil might engage in some daisy chains," Childe said. "But I can't believe that she'd let Vivienne even get near her. Thatsnake-thingwould horrify her."
"When Plugger is charging you, you get excited enough to do a lotof thingsyou wouldn't otherwise do," Pao said. "I have no reason to lie toyou. The truthis that Gilles was driven out of his mind--he doesn't have much, anyway, just apiece of brain tissue in that little skull, he doesn't even know hisown name and his talking is automatic and unintelligible even to him...Anyway, he went out of his head, too stimulated by Plugger, I suppose, and bit yourwife's rectum. He tore out some blood vessels, and she bled to death. Shekept moving and responding to Plugger's electric discharges even after she died, which was why neither Plugger nor Vivienne knew what was going on."
Childe felt sick. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his headbent. Pao stood silently.
After a few minutes, Childe looked up at Pao. The man's face wassmooth and expressionless. His yellow skin, thin-lipped down-drooping mouth, thin curved nose, high cheekbones, slanting black eyes, and black hair with itswidow's peakmade him look like a smooth-shaven Fu Manchu. Yet the man--the Og, rather--must be very anxious behind that glossy sinister face. He could not usethe usual methods to force cooperation from Childe. Even the worst of torturescould not extract the power for Grailing or star voyaging from a Captain. Underpain, theCaptain was incapable of performing his duties.
Childe thought of Vivienne, Plugger, Gilles de Rais, and thecreature that had metamorphosed itself to look like Sybil. What was its name? Brueghel?
O'Brien had left. Had he gone out to kill Breughel? Pao swallowed and said, "What can I do to make this up to you?" What he meant was, "What kind of revenge do you wish?" And he was
thinking, must be thinking, that Childe would hold him responsible for Sybil's death.
Childe said, "I only require that the snake-thing be killed." Pao looked relieved, but he said, "Vivienne will die, too!" Childe bit his lip. The revenge he was planning did not involve
killinganybody except the snake-thing, and that thing could not be called anentity. Not a sentient entity, anyway. He wanted the thing killed, but hewanted Vivienne alive to appreciate what had happened to her and the otherOgs.
"Bring Vivienne in," he said.
Pao left and a few minutes later returned with Vivienne behind him. O'Brien and several others also entered.
"I need a butcher's cleaver and bandages and ointment andmorphine," Childesaid.
Vivienne turned pale. She alone seemed to grasp what he intendedto do. "Oh, yes, and bring a wooden stool and a pair of long pliers," he
said. Trembling, Vivienne sat down in a chair. "Stand up and take your clothes off," Childe saidShe rose and slowly removed her clothing. "Now you can sit down there," he said. O'Brien returned with the tools ordered. Childe said, "I saw the film where you bit off Colben's cock with
your falseiron teeth. So don't plead with me." "I am not pleading," she said. "However, it was not I who bit hiscock off." "I won't argue. You are capable of doing it; you probably havedone that, and far worse, to others."
He wished that she would weep and beg. But she was very dignifiedand verybrave. What else could you expect from the woman who had once beenJoan of Arc?
"Hold on to her," he said to the others.
Pao and O'Brien pulled her legs apart. They were beautiful, perfect legs, with flawless white skin. The bush on the mound of Venus was thick and auburn. She probably had the most attractive pussy that he had ever seen. There was no hint of the horror that lived coiled inside it.
Childe felt like ordering one of the men to take the next step, but if he had the guts to order this, then he felt obliged to have the guts todo it himself.
Carefully, he inserted the pliers. Vivienne started and beganquivering, butshe did not cry out.
He pushed the pliers in and felt around. His original intentionto close the jaws of the pliers around the head now seemed foolish. He could notget themopen enough, and that thing was too active. But he could drive itout, and hedid.
Its wet, black-haired and black-bearded head shot out past thepliershandles. Its tiny mouth was open, exposing the sharp teeth. Itsforked tongueflickered at him.
With his left hand, he caught it behind the head. He pulled itout slowly asit writhed and then placed the head and a part of the body on thestool.
Pao sucked in his breath. Apparently, up to that moment, he hadexpectedChilde to yank the thing out by its uterine roots and so disconnectthe parts ofVivienne again.
Childe said, "Hand me that cleaver." Vivienne watched him take the chopper. She did not blink. "Inject the proper amount of morphine in her," Childe said to
O'Brien. "You do know how to do it, don't you?"
"I do," O'Brien said. "So, you've recognized me. Did I ever treatyou? No. Anyway, morphine will do no good. She is resistant to it."
"I don't want to inflict physical pain on her," Childe said. "Aslittle as possible, anyway. What kind of anesthetic do you have? I do want herto see this. She is not to be unconscious."
"Never mind that!" Vivienne said. "Get it over with! I want to feel the parting in its fullest!"
He did not ask her what she meant by that. He looked down at thesnake-thing, which twisted and hissed. Then he raised the cleaver andbrought itdown hard across the flexible spine.
Blood spurted out across the room. The head rolled off the stooland fell on the floor. Pao picked it up and put it beside the still bleedingtrunk. The head moved its mouth several times, and its eyes glared up at Childe as ifwishinghim evil even after its death. Then the eyes glazed, and the lipsceased to work.
Vivienne had turned gray. Her eyelids were open, but her eyes hadrolled upto expose only the whites.
O'Brien smeared an ointment over the amputation. The blood quitflowingentirely. Probably, that ointment was not known to Earth doctors norused byO'Brien in his Beverly Hills practice.
O'Brien bandaged up the body, and Vivienne was carried out on thechair. The snake body dangled down and scraped against the floor until one ofthe men coiled it up in her lap.
Two women came in and began to clean up the mess. Pao said, "Whatshall we do with the head?"
"Put it down the garbage disposal." Pao said, "Very well. Will you be ready for the ceremony
tonight?" "I'll try," Childe said. "Of course, Breughel emptied me." "Breughel maintains that you asked him to go to bed with you,"
Pao said.
"I would think that his duty would have been to find some excusefor puttingme off. He knew that I should be full again for tonight."
"That is true, but the temptation is very great. And you did askfor what you got. However, if you require it, Breughel will be killed."
"Let him live," Childe said. "Now, if you don't mind, I wouldlike privacy. Complete privacy. Turn off everything, except the intercom, ofcourse. Don't bring me anything to eat until I ask for it. I want to meditate andpossibly tosleep later on."
"As you wish," Pao said.
Childe sat on a chair for a while. He had considered doing whatthe Ogswished, up to a point. He had intended to land them on some otherplanet. Maroonthem. They would find themselves on a world which could support lifebut would offer them little except hardship. And he would go on.