'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.'
'The Mother is the Nest and the Nest is the Mother,' said Misk.
'Yes,' said Sarm, and the two Priest-Kings approached one another, bowed and gently locked their antennae.
When they disengaged themselves, Sarm turned to face me. 'Nonetheless,' he said, 'I shall speak to the Mother about this matter.'
'Of course,' said Misk.
'I should have been consulted,' said Sarm, 'for I am First Born.'
'Perhaps,' said Misk.
Sarm looked down at me.I think he had not forgiven me the start I had given him on the platform high above the canyon, near the elevator.
'It is dangerous,' he said.'It should be destroyed.'
'Perhaps,' said Misk.
'And it curled its antennae at me,' said Sarm.
Misk was silent.
'Yes,' said Sarm.'It should be destroyed.'
Sarm then turned from me and with his left, forward supporting appendage depressed a recessed button in the dais on which he stood.
Hardly had his delicate foot touched the button than a panel slid aside and two handsome men, of the most symmetrical form and features with shaven heads and clad in the purple, plastic tunics of slaves, entered the room and prostrated themselves before the dais.
At a signal from Sarm they leaped to their feet and stood alertly beside the dais, their feet spread, their heads high, their arms folded.
'Behold these two,' said Sarm.
Neither of the two men who had entered the room had seemed to notice me.
I now approached them.
'I am Tarl Cabot of Ko-ro-ba,' I said to them, extending my hand.
If they saw my hand they made no effort to accept it.
I assumed they must be identical twins.They had wide, fine heads, strong, broad bodies, and a carriage that suggested calmness and strength.
Both were a bit shorter than I but were somewhat more squarely built.
'You may speak,' said Sarm.
'I am Mul-Al-Ka,' said one, 'honoured slave of the glorious Priest-Kings.'
'I am Mul-Ba-Ta,' said the other, ''honoured slave of the glorious Priest-Kings.'
'In the Nest,' said Misk, 'the expression "Mul" is used to designate a human slave.'
I nodded.The rest of it I did not need to be told.The expressions 'Al-Ka' and 'Ba-Ta' are the two first letters of the Gorean alphabet.In effect these men had no names, but were simply known as Slave A and Slave B.
I turned to Sarm.
'I assume,' I said, 'you have more than twenty-eight human slaves.'There were twenty-eight characters in the Gorean alphabet.I had intended my remark to be rather vicious but Sarm took no offense.
'Others are numbered,' he said.'When one dies or is destroyed, his number is assigned to another.'
'Some of the low numbers,' volunteered Misk, 'have been assigned as many as a thousand times.'
'Why do these slaves not have numbers?' I asked.
'They are special,' said Misk.
I regarded them closely.They seemed splendid specimens of mankind.Perhaps Misk had meant merely that they were unusually excellent representatives of the human type.
'Can you guess,' asked Sarm, 'which one has been synthesised?'
I must have given quite a start.
Sarm's antennae giggled.
'Yes,' said Sarm, 'one was synthesised, beginning with the synthesis of the protein molecules, and was formed molecule by molecule.It is artificially constructed human being.It is not of much scientific interest but it has considerable curiosity value.It was built over a period of two centuries by Kusk, the Priest-King, as a way of escaping in his leisure hours from the burdens of his serious biological investigations.
I shuddered.
'What of the other?' I asked.
'It too,' said Sarm, 'is not without interest and is also bestowed upon us by the avocational whims of Kusk, one of the greatest of our Nest.'
'Is the other also synthesised?' I asked.
'No,' said Sarm, 'it is the product of genetic manipulation, artificial control and alteration of the hereditary coils in gametes.'
I was sweating.
'Not the least interesting aspect of this matter,' said Sarm, 'is the match.'