'He is new in the tunnels,' said the second slave.
I was curious.I looked directly at the first slave.'She had good legs, didn't she?' I said.
He seemed puzzled.'Yes,' he said, 'very strong.'
'She was attractive,' I said to the second.
'Attractive?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Yes,' he said, 'she is healthy.'
'Perhaps she is someone's mate?' I asked.
'No,' said the first slave.
'How do you know?' I asked.
'She is not in the breeding cases,' said the man.
Somehow these laconic responses and the unquestioning acceptance of the apparent barbarities of the rule of Priest-Kings infuriated me.
'I wonder how she would feel in one's arms,' I said.
The two men looked at me and at one another.
'One must not wonder about that,' said one.
'Why not?' I asked.
'It is forbidden,' said the other.
'But surely,' I said, 'you must have wondered about that?'
One of the men smiled at me.'Yes,' he said, 'I have sometimes wondered about that.'
'So have I,' said the other.
Then all three of us turned to watch the girl, who was now no more than a bluish speck under the energy bulbs far down the hall.
'Why is she running?' I asked.
'The journeys between portals are timed,' said the first slave, 'and if she dallies she will be given a record-scar.'
'Yes,' said the other, 'five record-scars and she will be destroyed.'
'A record-scar,' I said, 'is some sort of mark on your records?'
'Yes,' said the first slave, 'it is entered on your scent-tape and also, in odour, inscribed on your tunic.'
'The tunic,' said the other, 'is inscribed with much information, and it is by means of the tunic that Priest-Kings can recognise us.'
'Yes,' said the first slave, 'otherwise I am afraid we would appear much alike to them.'
I stored this information away, hoping that someday it might prove useful.
'Well,' I said, still looking down the hall, 'I would have supposed that the mighty Priest-Kings could have devised a quicker way of transporting scent-tapes.'
'Of course,' said the first slave, 'but there is no better way, for Muls are extremely inexepnsive and are easily replaced.'
'Speed in such matters,' said one, 'is of little interest to Priest-Kings.'
'Yes,' said the other, 'they are very patient.'
'Why have they not given her a transportation device?' I asked.
'She is only a Mul,' said the first slave.
All three of us stared down the hall after the girl, but she had now disappeared in the distance.
'But she is a healthy Mul,' said one.
'Yes,' said the other, 'and she has strong legs.'
I laughed and clapped both of the slaves on the shoulders, and the three of us, arm in arm, walked down the hall.
We had not walked far when we passed a long, wormlike animal, eyeless, with a small red mouth, that inched its way along the corridor, hugging the angle between the wall and floor.
Neither of my guides paid the animal any attention.
Indeed, even I myself, after my experience with the arthropod on the platform and the flat, sluglike beast on its transportation disk in the plaza, was growing accustomed to finding strange creatures in the Nest of the Priest-Kings.
'What is that?' I asked.
'A Matok,' said one of the slaves.
'Yes,' said the other, 'it is in the Nest but not of the Nest.'
'But I thought I was a Matok,' I said.
'You are,' said one of the slaves.
We continued on.
'What do you call it?' I asked.
'Oh,' said one of the slaves.'It is a Slime Worm.'
'What does it do?' I asked.
'Long ago it functioned in the Nest,' said one of the slaves, 'as a sewerage device, but it has not served that function in many thousands of years.'
'But yet it remains in the Nest.'
'Of course,' said one of the slaves, 'the Priest-Kings are tolerant.'
'Yes,' said the other, 'and they are fond of it, and are themselves creatures of great reverence for tradition.'
'The Slime Worm has earned its place in the Nest,' said the other.
'How does it live?' I asked.
'It scavenges on the kills of the Golden Beetle,' said the first slave.
'What does the Golden Beetle kill?' I asked.
'Priest-Kings,' said the second slave.
I would surely have pressed forward this inquiry but at that very moment we arrived at a tall steel portal in the hallway.
Looking up I saw beneath the square of scent-dots fixed high on the steel door the stylised outline picture of what was unmistakably a human being.
'This is the place,' said one of my companions.'It is here that you will be processed.'
'We will wait for you,' said the other.
Chapter Fourteen: THE SECRET CHAMBER OF MISK
The arms of the metal device seized me and I found myself held helplessly by the arms suspended some feet above the floor.
Behind me the panel had slid shut.
The room was rather large, blean and coated with plastic.It seemed to be bare except that at one end there were several metal disks in the wall and, high in the wall, there was a transparent shield.Viewing me antiseptically through this shield was the face of a Priest-King.
'May you bathe in the dung of Slime Worms,' I called to him cheerfully.I hoped he had a translator.
Two circular metal plates in the wall beneath the shield had slid upward and suddenly long metal arms had telescoped outwards and reached for me.
For an instant I had considered scarmbling out of their reach but then I had sensed that there would be no escape in the smooth, closed, carefully prepared room in which I found myself.
The metal arms had locked on me and lifted me from the floor.
The Priest-King behind the shield did not seem to notice my remark.I supposed he did not have a translator.
As I dangled there to my irritation further devices manipulated by the Priest-King emerged from the wall and extended towards me.
One of these with maddening delicacy snipped the clothing from my body, even cutting the thongs of my sandals.Another deftly forced a large, ugly pellet down my throat.
Considering the size of a Priest-King and the comparatively small scale of these operations I gathered that the reduction gearing on the mechanical appendages must be considerable. Moreover the accuracy with which the operations were performed suggested a magnification of some sort.I would learn later that practically the entire wall which faced me was such a device, being in effect a very large scent-reinforcer.But at the time I was in no mood to admire the engineering talents of my captors.
'May you antennae be soaked in grease!' I called to my tormentor.
His antennae stiffened and then curled a bit at the tips.
I was pleased.Apparently he did have a translator.
I was considering my next insult when the two arms which held me swung me over a metal cage with a double floor, the higher consisting of narrow bars set in a wide mesh and the lower consisting simply of a white plastic tray.
The metal appendages which held me suddenly sprang open and I was dropped into the cage.
I sprang to my feet but the top of the cage had clicked shut.
I wanted to try the bars but already I felt sick and I sank to the bottom of the cage.
I was no longer interested in insulting Priest-Kings.
I remember looking up and seeing its antennae curling.
It took only two or three minutes for the pellet to do its work and it is not with pleasure that I recall those minutes.
Finally the plastic tray neatly slid out from beneath the cage and swiftly disappeared through a low, wide panel in the left wall.
I gratefully noted its departure.