I smiled.
Sarm saw that I did not intend to advance further and his agitation decreased, although his general attitude of awareness was not relaxed.
It was at this time that I first saw how Priest-Kings breathed, probably because Sarm's respiratory movements were now more pronounced than they had been hitherto.Muscular contractions in the abdomen take place with the result that air is sucked into the system through four small holes on each side of the abdomen, the same holes serving also as exhalation vents.Usually the breathing cycle, unless one is quite close and listens carefully, cannot be heard, but in the present case I could hear quite clearly from a distance of several feet the quick intake of air through the eight tiny, tubular mouths in Sarm's abdomen, and its almost immediate expellation through the same apertures.
Now the muscular contractions in Sarm's abdomen became almost unnoticeable and I could no longer hear the evidence of his respiratory cycle.The tips of his forelegs were no longer inverted, with the result that the bladed structures had disappeared and the small, four-jointed, hooklike prehensile appendages were again fully visible.Their tips delicately touched one another.Sarm's antennae were calm.
He regarded me.
He did not move.
I would never find myself fully able to adjust to the incredible stillness with which a Priest-King can stand.
He reminded me vaguely of the blade of a golden knife.
Suddenly Sarm's antennae pointed at Misk.'You should have anaesthetised it,' he said.
'Perhaps,' said Misk.
For some reason this hurt me.I felt that I had betrayed Misk's trust in me, that I had behaved as a not fully rational creature, that I had behaved as Sarm had expected me to.
'I'm sorry,' I said to Sarm, resheathing my sword.
'You see,' said Misk.
'It's dangerous,' said Sarm.
I laughed.
'What is that?' asked Sarm, lifting his antennae.
'It is shaking and curling its antennae,' said Misk.
On the receipt of this information Sarm did not shake nor did his antennae curl; rather the bladelike structures snapped out and back, and his antennae twitched in irritation.I gathered one did not shake and curl one's antennae at Priest-Kings.
'Mount the disk, Tarl Cabot of Ko-ro-ba,' said Misk, gesturing with his foreleg to the flat oval disk which had brought Sarm to our level.
I hesitated.
'He is afraid,' said Sarm.
'He has much to fear,' said Misk.
'I am not afraid,' I said.
'Then mount the disk,' said Misk.
I did so, and the two Priest-Kings stepped delicately onto the disk to join me, in such a way that one stood on each side and slightly behind me.Scarcely had they placed their weight on the disk when it began to smoothly and silently accelerate down the long ramp which led toward the bottom of the canyon.
The disk moved with great swiftness and it was with some difficulty that I managed to stand on my feet, leaning into the blast of air which rushed past me.To my annoyance both of the Priest-Kings seemed immobile, leaning alertly forward into the wind, their forelegs lifted high, their antennae lying flat, streaming backwards.
Chapter Twelve: THE TWO MULS
On a marble circle of some half pasang in width, in the bottom of that vast, brilliantly lit, many-coloured artificial canyon the oval disk diminished its speed and drew to a stop.
I found myself in some sort of plaza, surrounded by the fantastic architecture of the Nest of Priest-Kings.The plaza was crowded, not only with Priest-Kings but even more with various creatures of other forms and natures.Among them I saw men and women, barefoot with shaven heads, clad in short purple tunics that reflected the various lights of the plaza as though they might have been formed of some reflective plastic.
I stepped aside as a flat, sluglike creature, clinging with several legs to a small transportation disk, swept by.
'We must hurry,' said Sarm.
'I see human beings here,' I said to Misk.'Are they slaves?'
'Yes,' said Misk.
'They wear no collars,' I pointed out.
'It is not necessary to mark a distinction between slave and free within the Nest,' said Misk, 'for in the Nest all humans are slaves.'
'Why are they shaven and clad as they are?' I asked.
'It is more sanitary,' said Misk.
'Let us leave the plaza,' said Sarm.
I would learn later that his agitation was principally due to his fear of contracting filth in this public place.Humans walked here.
'Why do the slaves wear purple?' I asked Misk.'That is the colour of the robes of a Ubar.'
'Because it is a great honour to be the slave of Priest-Kings,' said Misk.
'Is it your intention,' I asked, 'that I should be so shaved and clad?'
My hand was on my sword hilt.
'Perhaps not,' said Sarm.'It may be that you are to be destroyed immediately.I must check the scent-tapes.'
'He is not to be destroyed immediately,' said Misk, 'nor is he to be shaved and clad as a slave.'
'Why not?' asked Sarm.
'It is the wish of the Mother,' said Misk.
'What has she to do with it?' asked Sarm.
'Much,' said Misk.
Sarm seemed puzzled.He stopped.His antennae twitched nervously.'Was he brought to the tunnels for some purpose?'
'I came of my own accord,' I avowed.
'Don't be foolish,' said Misk to me.
'For what purpose was he brought to the tunnels?' asked Sarm.
'The purpose is known to the Mother,' said Misk.
'I am the First Born,' said Sarm.
'She is the Mother,' said Misk.
'Very well,' said Sarm, and turned away.I sensed he was not much pleased.
At that moment a human girl walked near and wide-eyed circled us, looking at me.Although her head was shaved she was pretty and the brief plastic sheath she wore did not conceal her charms.
A shudder of repulsion seemed to course through Sarm.
'Hurry,' he said, and we followed him as he scurried from the plaza.
'Your sword,' said Misk, extending one foreleg down to me.
'Never,' I said, backing away.
'Please,' said Misk.
For some reason I unbuckled the sword belt and reluctantly handed the weapon to Misk.
Sarm, who stood in the long room on an oval dais, seemed satisfied with this transaction.He turned to the walls behind him which were covered with thousands of tiny illuminated knobs.He pulled certain of these out from the wall and they seemed to be attached to slender cords which he passed between his antennae.He spent perhaps an Ahn in this activity and then, exasperated, turned to face me.
I had been pacing back and forth in the long room, nervous without the feel of the sword steel at my thigh.
Misk during all this time had not moved but had remained standing in that incredible fixity perhaps unique to Priest-Kings.
'The scent-tapes are silent,' said Sarm.
'Of course,' said Misk.
'What is to be the disposition of this creature?' asked Sarm.
'For the time,' said Misk, 'it is the wish of the Mother that it be permitted to live as a Matok.'
'What is that?' I asked.
'You speak much for one of the lower orders,' said Sarm.
'What is a Matok?' I asked.
'A creature that is in the Nest but is not of the Nest,' said Misk.
'Like the arthropod?' I asked.
'Precisely,' said Misk.
'If I had my wish,' said Sarm, 'he would be sent to the vivarium or the dissection chambers.'
'But that is not the wish of the Mother,' said Misk.
'I see,' said Sarm.
'Thus,' said Misk, 'it is not the wish of the Nest.'
'Of course,' said Sarm, 'for the wish of the Mother is the wish of the Nest.'