Thassa.'
I saw the lips of the two creatures draw back. 1, too, smiled. Samos wascautious, indeed. What would the Council of Captains know of such creatures, orof the warrings among worlds? He had not identified himself as being among theparty of those forces arrayed against the ravaging, concupiscent imperialism ofour savage colleagues. I myself, whereas I had served Priest-Kings, did notregard myself as being of their party. My lance, in such matters, so to speak,was free. I would choose my own wars, my own ventures.
'I bring you greetings, too,' said Samos, 'from the free men of Port Kar. I donot bring you greetings, of course, from those who are unworthy to greet you,for example, from our slaves, who are nothing, and who labor for us, and whom weuse for our sport and pleasure.'
Kog briefly inclined his head. I thought Samos had done rather well. Slaves onGor are domestic animals, of course. A trained sleen in a sleen market willusually bring a higher price than even a beautiful girl sold naked in a slavemarket. This is doubtless a function of supply and demand. Beautiful femaleslaves are generally cheap on Gor, largely as a result of captures andbreedings. It is not unusual, in most cities, for a prize tarsk to bring ahigher price than a girl. The girls understand this, clearly, and it helps themto understand their place in the society.
'I speak on behalf of the Peoples, on behalf of the Steel Worlds,' said Kog.
'Do you speak on behalf of all the Peoples, on behalf of all the Steel Worlds?' asked Samos.
'Yes,' said Kog.
'Do you speak on behalf of all of those of the Peoples, of all of those of theSteel Worlds?' asked Samos. This, I thought, was an interesting question. Itwas, of course, subtly different from the preceding question. We knew thatdivisions as to tactics, if not ultimate objectives, existed among parties ofsuch creatures. We had learned this in the Tahari.
'Yes,' said Kog, unhesitantly.
When Kog had made his response to the question I was, by intent, watching nothim but the other of the two creatures. Yet I saw no flicker of doubt oruneasiness in his eyes, nor any incipient lifting of the broad ears. It did,however, draw its lips back slightly, observing my attention. It had apparentlyfound my attempt to read its behavioral cues amusing.
'Do you speak on behalf of Priest-Kings?' asked Kog.
'I cannot,' said Samos.
'That is interesting,' said Kog.
'If you would speak with Priest-Kings,' said Samos, 'you must go to the Sardar.'
'What are Priest-Kings?' asked Kog.
'I do not know,' said Samos.
Such creatures, I gathered, had no clear idea of the nature of Priest- Kings.
They had not directly experienced Priest-Kings, only the power of Priest-Kings.
Like burned animals they were wary of them. Priest- Kings, wisely, did notchoose to directly confront such creatures. Not a little of the hesitancy andtentativeness of the militaristic incursions of such creatures was, I suspected,a function of their ignorance of, and fear of, the true nature and power of theremote and mysterious denizens of the Sardar. If such creatures should come toclearly understand the nature of the Priest-Kings, and the current restrictionson their power, in virtue of the catastrophic Nest War, I had little doubt butwhat the attack signals would be almost immediately transmitted to the steelworlds. In weeks the silver ships would beach on the shores of Gor.
'We know the nature of Priest-Kings,' said Kog. 'They are much like ourselves.'
'I do not know,' said Samos.
'They must be,' said Kog, 'or they could not be a dominant life form.'
'Perhaps,' said Samos. 'I do not know.'
The larger of the two creatures, during this exchange, was watching me. I smiledat him. Its ears twitched with annoyance. Then again it was as it had been,regal, savage, distant, unmoving and alert.
'Can you speak on behalf of the men of the two worlds?' asked Kog. This was areference, doubtless, to the Earth and, Gor.
'No,' said Samos.
'But you are a man,' said Kog.
'I am only one man,' said Samos.
'Their race has not yet achieved species unification,' said the larger of thetwo creatures, to his fellow. His remark, of course, was picked up by thetranslator and processed, as though it had been addressed to us.
'That is true,' said Kog. I wondered, hearing this, beasts, either, had achievedspecies unification. I was inclined to doubt it. Such creatures, beingterritorial, individualistic and aggressive, much like men, would not be likelyto find the bland idealisms of more vegetative organisms interesting, attractiveor practical, Logical, and terrible, they would not be likely to find thefallacy of the single virtue, the hypothesis of social reductivism, alluring.
All creatures are not the same, nor is it necessary that they should be. Junglesmay be as appealing to nature as gardens. Leopards and wolves are aslegitimately ingredient in the order of nature as spaniels and potatoes. Speciesunification, I suspected, would prove not to be a blessing, but a trap and abane, a pathology and curse, a societal sanitarium in which the great and strongwould be reduced to, or must pretend to be reduced to, the level of theblinking, the cringing, the creeping and the tiny. To be sure, values areinvolved here, and one must make decisions. It is natural that the small andweak will make one decision, and the large and strong another. There is nosingle humanity, no single shirt, no correct pair of shoes, no uniform, even agray one that will fit all men. There are a thousand humanities possible. He whodenies this sees only his own horizons. He who disagrees is the denier ofdifference, and the murderer of the better futures.
'It is unfortunate,' said Sardak, speaking to Kog, 'that they have not achievedspecies unification. Else, once the Priest-Kings are disposed of, it would beeasier to herd them to our cattle pens.'
'That is true,' said Kog.
What Sardak said seemed to me, too, likely to be true. Highly centralizedstructures are the most easily undermined and subverted. Cutting one strand ofsuch a web can unravel a world. One hundred and eighty-three men once conqueredan empire.
'Can you speak on behalf of the Council of Captains, of Port Kar?' asked Kog.
'Only on matters having to do with Port Kar, and then after a decision of thecouncil, taken after consultation,' said Samos. This was not exactly correct,but it was substantially correct. It seemed to me a suitable answer, under thecircumstances. The creatures, of course, would not be familiar with councilprocedures.
'You do, however, have certain executive powers, do you not?' inquired Kog. Iadmired the creatures. Clearly they had researched their mission.
'Yes,' said Samos, guardedly, 'but they are not likely to be involved in mattersof the sort with which we are here likely to be concerned.'
'I understand,' said Kog. 'On behalf of whom, then, do you speak?'
'I speak,' said Samos, rather boldly I thought, 'on behalf of Samos, of PortKar, on behalf of myself.'
Kog snapped off the translator and turned to Sardak. They conversed for a momentin their own tongue. Kog then snapped the translator back on. This time, almostinstantly, the small, conical red light began to glow.
'It is sufficient,' said Kog.
Samos stepped back a bit.
Kog turned away, then, to a leather tube and, with his large, furred, tentaclelike digits, with their blunted claws, removed the cap from this tube.
I suspected that the two creatures did not believe Samos when he protested tothem that he could speak only on behalf of himself. At the least they would becertain that he would be significantly involved in the affairs of Priest-Kings.
They would seem to have little alternative, then, to dealing with him.
From the long, leather tube, Kog removed what appeared to be a large piece ofclosely rolled, soft-tanned hide. It was very light in color, almost white, andtied with string. There was a slight smell of smoke about it, probably from thesmoke of the turl bush. Such hides may be waterproofed by suspending them from,and wrapping them about, a small tripod of sticks, this set over a small fire onwhich, to produce the desiderated smoke, the leaves and branches of the turlbush are heavily strewn.
