'Possibly,' said the creature.
I looked over the rail at the marvellous complexity which confronted me.
'But it would not have mattered,' said the Priest-King.
'No?' I asked.
'No,' it said.'Only the Nest matters.'
My eyes still did not leave the dominion which lay below me. Its diameter might have been ten pasangs in width.
'This is the Nest?' I asked.
'It is the beginning of the Nest,' said the Priest-King.
'What is your name?' I asked.
'Misk,' it said.
Chapter Eleven: SARM THE PRIEST-KING
I turned from the railing to observe the great ramp which for pasangs in a great spiral approached the platform on which I stood.
Another Priest-King, mounted on a low, oval disk which seemed to slide up the ramp, was approaching.
The new Priest-King looked a great deal like Misk, save that he was larger.I wondered if men of my species would have difficulty telling Priest-Kings apart.I would later learn to do so easily but at first I was often confused.The Priest-Kings themselves distinguish one another by scent but I, of course, would do so by eye.
The oval disk glided to within some forty feet of us, and the golden creature which had ridden it stepped delicately to the ramp.
It approached me, its antennae scrutinising me carefully. Then it backed away perhaps some twenty feet.
It seemed to me much like Misk except in size.
Like Misk it wore no clothing and carried no weapons, and its only accoutrement was a translator which dangled from its neck.
I would learn later that in scent it wore its rank, caste and station as clearly on its body as an officer in one of the armies of Earth might wear his distinguishing braid and metal bars.
'Why has it not been anaesthetised?' asked the new creature, training its antennae on Misk.
'I did not think it would be necessary,' said Misk.
'It was my recommendation that it be anaesthetised,' said the newcomer.
'I know,' said Misk.
'This will be recorded,' said the newcomer.
Misk seemed to shrug.His head turned, his laterally opening jaws opened and closed slowly, his shoulders rustled and the two antennae twitched once as though in irritation, and then idly they began to examine the roof of the dome.
'The Nest was not jeopardised,' came from Misk's translator.
The newcomer's antennae were now trembling, perhaps with anger.
It turned a knob on its own translator and in a moment the air was filled with the sharp odours of what I take might have been a reprimand.I heard nothing for the creature had snapped off his translator.
When Misk replied he too turned off his translator.
I observed their antennae and the general posturing and carriage of their long, graceful bodies.
They stalked about one another and some of their motions were almost whiplike.Upon occasion, undoubtedly as a sign of irritation, the tips of the forelegs were inverted, and I caught my first glimpse of the bladed, hornlike structures therein concealed.
I would learn to interpret the emotions and states of Priest-Kings by such signs.Many of these signs would be far less obvious than the ones now displayed in the throes of anger. Impatience, for example, is often indicated by a trembling in the tactile hair on the supporting appendages, as though the creature could not wait to be off; a wandering of attention can be shown by the unconscious movement of the cleaning hooks from behind the third joints of the forelegs, suggesting perhaps the creature is thinking of grooming, an occupation in which Priest-Kings, to my mind, spend an inordinate amount of time; I might note, however, in deference to them, that they consider humans a particularly unclean animal and in the tunnels normally confine them for sanitary purposes to carefully restricted areas; the subtlety of these signs might well be illuminated if the indications for a wandering of attention, mentioned above, are contrasted with the superficially similar signs which give evidence that a Priest-King is well or favourably disposed toward another Priest-King, or other creature of any type.In this case there is again the unconscious movement of the cleaning hooks but there is in addition an incipient, but restrained, extension of the forelegs in the direction of the object toward which the Priest-King is well disposed; this suggests to me that the Priest-King is willing to put its cleaning hooks at the disposal of the other, that he is willing to groom it.This may become more comprehensible when it is mentioned that Priest-Kings, with their cleaning hooks, their jaws and their tongues, often groom one another as well as themselves.Hunger, incidentally, is indicated by an acidic exudate which forms at the edges of the jaws giving them a certain moist appearance; thirst, interestingly enough, is indicated by a certain stiffness in the appendages, evident in their movements, and by a certain brownish tarnish that seems to infect the gold of the thorax and abdomen.The most sensitive indicators of mood and attention, of course, as you would probably gather, are the motions and tensility of the antennae.
The translator, incidentally, supposing it to be turned on, would provide only the translation of what was said, and the words, unless the volume control was manipulated during the message, would always occur at the same sound level.An analogue to listening to a translator would be to imagine words as pictures which, in the same type face and size, flash serially on a screen.There would be no clue in the individual pictures, per se, of the rhythm of the language or the mood of the speaker.The translator can tell you that the speaker is angry but it cannot show you that he is angry.
After a minute or two the Priest-Kings stopped circling one another and turned to face me.As one creature, they turned on their translators.
'You are Tarl Cabot of the City of Ko-ro-ba,' said the larger.
'Yes,' I said.
'I am Sarm,' it said, 'beloved of the Mother and First Born.'
'Are you the leader of the Priest-Kings?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Sarm.
'No,' said Misk.
Sarm's antennae darted in Misk's direction.
'Greatest in the Nest is the Mother,' said Misk.
Sarm's antennae relaxed.'True,' said Sarm.
'I have much to speak of with Priest-Kings,' I said.'If the one whom you call the Mother is chief among you, I wish to see her.'
Sarm rested back on his posterior appendages.His antennae touched one another in a slightly curling movement.'None may see the Mother save her caste attendants and the High Priest-Kings,' said Sarm, 'the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Born.'
'Except on the three great holidays,' said Misk.
Sarm's antennae twitched angrily.
'What are the three great holidays?' I asked.
'The Nest Feast Cycle,' said Misk, 'Tola, Tolam and Tolama.'
'What are these feasts?' I asked.
'They are the Anniversary of the Nuptial Flight,' said Misk, 'the Feast of the Deposition of the First Egg and the Celebration of the Hatching of the First Egg.'
'Are these holidays near?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Misk.
'But,' said Sarm, 'even on such feasts none of the lower orders may view the Mother - only Priest-Kings.'
'True,' said Misk.
Anger suffused my countenance.Sarm seemed not to notice this change but Misk's antennae perked up immediately. Perhaps it had had experience with human anger.
'Do not think badly of us, Tarl Cabot,' said Misk, 'for on the holidays those of the lower orders who labour for us - be it even in the pastures or fungus trays - are given surcease from their labours.'
'The Priest-Kings are generous,' I said.
'Do the men below the mountains do as much for their animals?' asked Misk.
'No,' I said.'But men are not animals.'
'Are men Priest-Kings?' asked Sarm.
'No,' I said.
'Then they are animals,' said Sarm.
I drew my sword and faced Sarm.The motion was extremely rapid and must have startled him.
At any rate Sarm leaped backward on his jointed, stalklike legs with almost incredible speed.
He now stood almost forty feet from me.
'If I cannot speak to the one you call the Mother,' I said, 'perhaps I can speak to you.'
I took a step towards Sarm.
Sarm pranced angrily backward, his antennae twitching with agitation.
We faced one another.
