Later, at Chanapar's office, the minister said: "You did not come out so strongly for the flat world as my master, reading a transcript of today's proceedings, would have liked."
"You didn't warn me I was to be cross-examined. I had to evade those unforeseen questions as best I could without preparation."
"True; that was an oversight. The Heshvavu would have withheld the copy of the chart; but I persuaded him that, since the copy had been completed, it were pointless not to give it to you. Here you are."
"Thanks," grunted Mjipa, carefully folding the large sheet until he could insert it into his wallet. "With your kind permission, I shall set out for Zhamanak at daybreak tomorrow."
Ten days later, Mjipa and his Krishnans arrived again at the borders of Mutabwk. When the blue-painted officers recognized him, he drew forth the folded copy of the genealogical chart.
"Here!" he said. "This is what your Heshvavu demanded as the price of letting me through. May I now proceed?"
"Not yet," said the commanding officer. "First, this paper must be taken to Yein for the government's approof."
Mjipa groaned. "Do you mean another of those breakneck all-night rides?"
"Ye need not go. Spisov! Take this paper forthwith to the Minister Zharvets. If he approve, return hither post-haste with a written authorization to let his Terran and his escort through." The officer turned back to Mjipa. "Ye might as well dismount and make yourself comfortable, Master Terran. 'Twill be at least two days ere Spisov can return with your permission."
Silently fuming, Mjipa slid from his mount. At last he said:"Is there a good, strong drink of kvad anywhere? I think I've earned it."
III
CONFRONTATION
When Percy Mjipa had called upon the Heshvavu of Kalwm, he had been compelled to leave his sword with a guard at the door, this being a normal precaution in audiences with Krishnan rulers. He did not mind, since he always felt awkward wearing medieval weaponry, as if caught in a fancy-dress party from which he could not escape. When he visited the Heshvavu of Mutabwk, he had been relieved both of sword and of dagger.
The guards at the chamber of Khororsh, Heshvavu of Zhamanak, not only took his sword and dagger; they also searched him, hoisting his kilt and taking an unseemly interest in the details of his anatomy. Hence Mjipa was not in the best of humor when ushered into the presence. Sweat beaded his black skin, not only because of the steamy heat but also from his apprehension of a difficult task.
Like other Zhamanacians, Khorosh was naked but for a belt holding small personal possessions, and for a gaudy array of body paint in scarlet and gold. His scalp was shaven. As an old Krishnan hand, Percy Mjipa was used to nudity. But his Terran prejudices took a poor view of the Zhamanacians' custom of painting their sexual parts in contrasting colors. It was, he could not help thinking, in bad taste.
Mjipa dutifully touched the ground with his forehead. When commanded to rise, he studied the Krishnan before him.
As nearly as he could judge, Khorosh was relatively young, of slender, almost fragile build. Like other Khaldonians, Khorosh's organs of smell, the feathery antennae, were longer and more luxuriant than those of the more northerly races. These appendages were now lowered, so that the Heshvavu peered out from under a dense hedge of eyebrow and antenna. After a long silence, during which Mjipa had the feeling of being X-rayed by the king's piercing eyes, Khorosh said:
"O Terran, what wouldst?"
The tenseness of the voice suggested to Mjipa that this native might prove difficult. Squaring his broad shoulders, he said:"May it please Your Awesomeness, I have been sent by Novorecife to look into the report that you are holding a female Terran against her will."
The Heshvavu kept another long silence, then said: "We hear you. We also smell you. What then?"
"Well, are you holding her?" snapped Mjipa, inwardly seething at the allusion to his body odor.
Up went the feathery smelling plumes. "That is no affair of yours. As sovran ruler here, we hold whom we wish."
"My fellow Terrans," said Mjipa, "take a serious view of such detainments. They have authorized me to ask you formally, are you holding Alicia Dyckman?"
The Krishnan gave the ghost of a Krishnan smile. "What if we are? She came hither of her own accord, without invitation or safe-conduct from us."
Mjipa said: "I have here a letter from the Comandante at Novorecife, protesting this treatment of a Terran citizen. It is in Gozashtandou, because there was nobody at Novorecife competent to translate it into good Khaldoni." He handed over the letter, adding: "Permit me to ask, sire, what has Mistress Dyckman done to merit incarceration, which amongst us Terrans is deemed a punishment for crimes?"
"We have heard of you Terrans' curious notions of justice. We in Zhamanak deal with the matter more cheaply, expeditiously, and effectively. When we catch a felon, we simply smite off a foot, a hand, or in serious cases a head. None of this nonsense of locking him up, feeding him for years, and releasing him to prey some more upon his fellow beings. Were you Terrans not so puffed up with self-conceit, which tells you that you have the right to conquer and enslave the universe, you could learn lessons from us true human beings."
"But that has nothing to do with Alicia Dyckman—" The Heshvavu held up a hand."We tolerate not argument, Terran. We are who we are! So guard that saucy tongue of yours, an you be not fain to suffer one of our forms of justice. But, foe though you be, your talk summons a thought to mind, as the trumpet of Qarar summoned the spirits of the dead to battle the phantoms evoked by the Witch of the Va'andao.
"At the last conference of the Khaldoni kings, we fell into a dispute with Vuzhov anent Terrans. He'd have it that they belonged to divers species, citing differences in size and color amongst them. I refuted this, pointing out equal variance betwixt, say, the Khaldonians and the folk of Dur. But this prolixious ancient maintained that the gap betwixt persons like you and other Terrans was, rather, like unto that between us here and the tailed wild folk.
"Never would we trust Vuzhov's judgment since, like some other monarchs of this world, he's blind to the menace of the Terrans. Still, you come at an opportune time, to furnish us with a key to this mystery. We are fortunate in that the differences betwixt you and the other Terrans we have seen are greater than any we have observed amongst these others. If you can interbreed with these others, then little doubt remains that all Terrans are of one species.
"So you shall presently encounter this female Terran. You shall, moreover, monstrate to our satisfaction whether you and she be interfertile. Seize him!"
Three guards threw themselves upon Mjipa, grabbing his arms. With a bellow of rage he shook them off, hurling one against the wall with such force that the flimsy structure of the palace shook. But others rushed upon him, until several hung on each limb, holding him helpless.
"Novorecife shall hear of this!" he roared.
The slim, youthful Heshvavu smiled coldly. "Put him in the detention chamber with the other Terran. Make sure the door be well secured."
Mjipa found himself carried supine along the hallway by eight or nine Zhamanacians. After several turns and passing through chambers and doorways, he was borne into what seemed a small apartment filled with daylight. He heard a sharp cry in a feminine Terran voice.
The Krishnans holding Mjipa began swinging him back and forth, while someone counted: "Bur ... aka ... wch!" At "wch" they all let go. Mjipa flew through the air, to crash down on the floor in the center.