Hannah considered the question seriously, then replied, 'I think that orgasm may already be possible, but it will be some time before ejaculation is achieved.'
'Perhaps we should put it to the test. What do you think, Doctor?'
They were conducting the discussion in cool impersonal tones. However, the unfamiliar sensations that Dr Lusulu was creating with her simple hand movements were so pervasive that Taita was thrown into a state of confusion. He had no idea where or how it would end. For someone who was accustomed to being in full control of himself and all those about him, it was an alarming prospect. He reached down and removed her hand. 'Thank you, Doctor,' he said. 'We are all impressed by Dr Hannah's surgical brilliance. I certainly am. Nevertheless, 1 feel that the test that you are suggesting might better be conducted in a less public environment.' He straightened the skirts of his tunic and sat up.
Dr Lusulu smiled at him and said, 'I wish you much joy.' From the look in her eyes it was plain that she did not subscribe to the philosophy on dalliance that Dr Hannah professed.
Now that Taita had access to the great library, the days passed quickly. As Hannah had remarked, a lifetime would be too short to take in all of the knowledge that was stored there. Oddly, he mustered no interest in the locked and barred room. Like the weeping woman in the night and many other unexplained occurrences, the thought simply receded into the mists of his memory.
When he was not studying, he spent much time in discussion with Hannah, Rei and Assem. They took turns to guide him through some of the other laboratories where they were engaged in a number of extraordinary projects.
'Do you recall Dr Lusulu's question regarding replacing bodily parts with improved versions?' Hannah asked. 'Well, let us consider a soldier with legs that can carry him at the speed of a horse. What if we could grow him more than one pair of arms? A pair to fire a bow, a second to wield a battleaxe, the third to swing a sword and the last to carry a shield. Nothing could stand against such a warrior.'
'A slave with four strong arms and extremely short legs could be sent
into the most confined stopes in the mines to shovel out the gold ore in great quantities,' said Rei. 'How much better if his intelligence was reduced to that of an ox, so that he was inured to hardship and would work in the harshest conditions without complaint? Dr Assem has grown herbs that will achieve that mental effect. In time Dr Hannah and I might be able to create the physical improvements.'
'No doubt you saw the trained apes that stand guard at the entrance to the tunnel that leads into these gardens,' Hannah said.
'Yes, I have seen them, and heard them referred to as trogs,' Taita replied.
Hannah looked a little annoyed. 'A term coined by the common people. The name we use is troglodyte. They were originally derived from a species of arboreal apes that inhabit the great forests in the south. Over the centuries that we have bred them in captivity we have been able, by surgical procedure and the use of certain herbs, to enhance their intelligence and aggression to the level at which they are most useful to us. By similar techniques we have been able to manipulate them until they respond completely to the will of the person who controls them. Of course, their minds are rudimentary and brutish, which makes them much more susceptible than humans to manipulation. However, we are experimenting with the same techniques on some of our slaves and captives. We have had exciting results. Once you are a member of the Guild I will be pleased to show them to you.'
Taita was sickened by these revelations. They are discussing putting together creatures that are no longer men, but aberrant monstrosities, he thought, but he was careful not to express his horror. These people are tainted with the evil of Eos. Their brilliance has been perverted and corrupted by her poison. How I miss the company of decent, honest men, like Meren and Nakonto. How I long for the fresh bright innocence of Fenn.
Some time later when they were returning from the library, he raised again with Hannah the subject of when he would be allowed to leave the Cloud Gardens and return to Mutangi, even for a short time. 'My companions must be much distressed by my continued absence. I should like to reassure them of my safety and well-being. Then I would be happy indeed to return here to begin my initiation into the Guild.'
'Unfortunately, my lord, the decision does not rest with me,' she replied. 'It seems that the Supreme Council wishes you to remain in the Cloud Gardens until you have been fully initiated.' She smiled at him.
'Be not downcast, my lord. This should not be longer than another year.
I assure you, we will do all in our power to make the time you spend with us as fruitful and productive as possible.'
The prospect of another year without being able to see Fenn or Meren appalled Taita, but he took consolation from the thought that the witch would not wait that long before she made her decisive move in the game she was playing with him.
His grafted parts continued to grow with amazing rapidity. He remembered Dr Lusulu's advice: 'You must learn to enjoy the manly parts that Doctor Hannah has returned to you. You must learn to delight in them, to glory in them.' Alone on his sleeping mat in the night he began to explore himself. The sensations aroused by his own touch were so intense that they intruded into his dreams. The lascivious devils that the imp of the grotto had set loose in his mind became more insistent and demand'
ing. The dreams were at once shocking and fascinating. In them he was visited by a beautiful houri. She displayed her womanly parts shamelessly to him, and he saw that they were as perfectly formed as an orchid. The woman smell and taste of her was sweeter than any fruit.
For the first time in almost a century he felt his loins erupt. It was a sensation so powerful that it went far beyond ecstasy or even agony.
He awoke panting and shaking, as though in fever. He was drenched in sweat and his own bodily fluids. It seemed an age before he could return from the far borders of his imagination to which the dream woman had transported him.
He rose and lit the oil lamp. He found the silver mirror that Rei had given him and went back to kneel on the mat. By the light of the lamp he gazed with awe at the reflection of his genitalia. They were still tumescent, and as the imp had shown him in the waters of the pool: perfectly formed, majestic and weighty.
Now I understand the urges that govern all natural men. I have become one of them. This thing that I have been given is the beloved enemy, a beast with two faces. If I can control it, it will bring me all the joy and delights that Lusulu spoke of. If it controls me, it will destroy me as surely as Eos plans to do.
When he returned to the library later that morning, he found it difficult at first to concentrate on the scroll that he unrolled on the low worktable in front of him. He was very much aware of a glow in the pit of his belly, and the presence
