'Children?'
'Those barely able to walk. They are examined by the priests and, if found to be without flaw, are bound to the Temple.' Her hand rose to touch the place above her left breast. 'If accepted they bring honor.'
Dumarest said, 'Who are these devotees? The Original People?'
'Who are they?'
'A religious sect with a mania for secrecy. They neither seek nor welcome converts; new adherents are gained from natural increase.' Watching her, he quoted, in a tone which held the roll of drums, 'From terror they fled to find new places on which to expiate their sins. Only when cleansed will the race of Man be again united.'
Karlene said, frowning, 'What does it mean?'
'It's part of the creed of the Original People. Do you recognize it? No? A pity. Once things happen as they say there should be a paradise like the one you've described. The Temple,' he explained. 'I can't understand why anyone should want to leave it.'
'Are you saying I lie?'
'I'm saying I'm curious. You agreed to talk. What happened? Why did you leave?'
'I didn't fit. I wasn't wanted.' Her tone was tense, hurt. 'And I grew worried. I kept feeling that thing in my mind. At first I asked about it then I just kept it to myself.'
'Why?'
'They told me I was imagining things. That I was contaminated. I knew what happened to contaminated things and I was frightened it would happen to me. I thought it was going to happen, that I was going to die in the fire like the other things. The dead animals and spoiled fruits so… so…' She broke off and took a deep breath. Then, in a calmer, more adult tone said, 'So I left. I disguised myself and mingled with a bunch of worshipers. I was lucky-when a man discovered I didn't belong I made him believe I was on a secret mission for the Temple. He aided me.'
As had others in ways and for reasons Dumarest didn't go into. The charlatan had provided a temporary refuge. Rauch Ishikari a more permanent one. But what was his real interest in the Temple?
'He wanted me to describe it,' said Karlene when he asked. 'In detail. He wanted to know all about me, everything I'd done. He made me tell him about the rituals and-'
'Made you?'
'He kept on and on. It was easier to talk than remain silent. Anyway, I owed him. He was good to me. I wanted to help as much as I could. Then, I guess, he must have lost interest or grown tired of asking questions because he let me live much as I wished.'
The dancer finished her performance to a burst of applause and left the floor, bowing, an assistant gathering up the coins thrown in appreciation of her skill. A tumbler replaced her, a man who spun and twisted in a glitter of sequins. One who kept shining balls balanced in the air above head and feet.
As Ishikari had kept the truth spinning just beyond his reach.
It had to be Ishikari.
Dumarest looked at his hands, at the goblet he held between them. Wine he didn't want but its price had paid for the shelter of the tavern, the privacy he had needed. Time to learn what he could away from prying ears and eyes but it had been little enough, as his host must have known. Was he even now smiling at his jest?
If so it was time to wipe the grin off his face.
* * *
He sat in the chamber with the vaulted roof, the panes now dark with the nighted sky. Lanterns glowed from brackets set high on the walls, their light adding to the nacreous glow from the computer. Limned against the screen Ishikari looked thin and insubstantial, then he moved, light splintering in dying reflections from gems and precious metal, the braid edging the fabric he wore so that, for a moment, he was adorned with glinting scales.
'My friend.' His gesture dismissed the guard attending Dumarest. 'You are impetuous.'
'Impatient.' Dumarest strode closer to the screen, his host. 'Why did you lie?'
'Did I?'
'The conditioning-'
'Was applied by me, true, but did I ever tell you otherwise?'
'You told me she had been conditioned when a child.'
'As she was. Surely you must have realized that. How did she describe the Temple? As a paradise, right? Warm air and gentle winds and all the rest of it. What else was that but a picture impressed on her mind when young? Tell a child often enough that dirt is bread and he will believe it. Heat will become cold, stench become perfume, pain turn into pleasure. As for the rest?' Ishikari shrugged. 'A man is a fool who doesn't guard his treasure.'
'You sucked her dry,' said Dumarest. 'Learned all you could then made sure she wouldn't be able to talk to others. Why didn't you stop me? You must have known I'd taken her to the monks.'
'Of course. I would have been disappointed if you had not.'
'You wanted me to question her?'
'I want you to believe,' said Ishikari. 'In her. In me. In what I have to tell you. Cerevox is real but, like Earth, not easy to find. Did you ask her where it was?'
'She didn't know. She thought the world and the Temple had the same name.'
'They haven't. Cerevox is located on Raniang. It is a world of the Sharret Cluster.'
'As Threndor is,' said Dumarest. 'She didn't travel far.'
'Farther than you think.' Ishikari touched a button on the computer. As the screen flared he said, 'The Sharret Cluster.'
The answer came in a mellifluous female voice which matched the graphic symbols illuminating the screen.
'The Sharret Cluster: central coordinates 42637/ 69436/83657. A collection of thirty-eight suns in close proximity together with strands of cosmic dust. There are a multitude of worlds most of which have neither been explored nor noted. A total of twenty-seven are habited some with only minor installations. In alphabetical order they are-'
'Cease! Name only major worlds.'
'In order of population-destiny based on the latest almanac-entries: Dorgonne, Brauss, Stimac, Berger, Threndor-'
'Cease! Where does Raniang lie? In population order?'
'Nineteenth.'
'Position in relation to Threndor? In spatial terms.'
'Almost diametrically opposite in cluster.'
'A long way,' commented Ishikari as the computer-screen resumed its blank glow. 'And none of it easy. Can you imagine what it was like to a young girl, frightened, totally unsuited to what she went into? It must have been a living nightmare.'
One Dumarest had known. He said, 'What is your interest in the Temple?'
'The same as yours.'
'I doubt it. I want to find Earth. I think you want to find something else. Why else all your questions as to robes and rituals? Just what does Cerevox mean to you?'
For a long moment Ishikari made no answer, then, abruptly, he said, 'You know of the Original People?'
'Yes.'
'Their creed?' As Dumarest nodded, he continued, 'From terror they fled. Terror. Or maybe it should be Terra. Another name for Earth as you must know. A slight change, natural enough, but one word becomes another. Now, if we say, From Terra they fled-you grasp the significance?'
'They left Earth, yes.'
'But why?' Ishikari leaned forward as if he were a snake about to strike. 'They fled-from what? They ran and settled on other places. Those other places could only have been worlds. And the cleansing they mention. The
