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To appease the people, who were boiling with rage, he stepped up his
preparations for a disintegration war, promising that the ban on roundheads
having children would be lifted after the successful end of the war and the
resettlement of the victors on the overseas continent.
Alongside this, he muffled the discontent of the toilers with
adventurist plans for the transfer of the roundheads to the planet Mar,
where they would be free of all prohibitions (as if it was simply a matter
of resettlement!).
He therefore encouraged the conquest of space and promoted the creation
of Space Station Deimo near Mar. The Culturals already had a base there
named Phobo. Yar Jupi even agreed to declare Outer Space "peaceful", since
the interests of the proprietors clashed mainly on Faena.
However, the great learned Elder Um Sat, who had solved the mysteries
of matter, could not fathom the depths of unscrupulous politics. For him,
the "problem of overpopulating the planet" really blotted out everything
else, although, in fact, it merely aggravated the burdens of the toilers and
their struggle with the proprietors, not to mention the hostility of the
proprietors amongst themselves. Evidently, in order to be a true Elder, it
was still inadequate to be learned in one specific branch of knowledge.
No one had expected to see the cautious and calculating Yar Jupi at a
session of Peaceful Space. He was too afraid of assassination. Obviously, it
was not for nothing that Yar Jupi had chosen a place for the session near
the Lair. The Temple of Eternity communicated with the former monastery by
an underground passage.
During the session, Yar Jupi suddenly appeared out of the wall with two
impressive robot bodyguards.
He was a tall, well-built Faetian with a long, clean-shaven face, a
small dark beard, a hooked nose, a narrow, harsh mouth and suspicious,
restless eyes that looked out from under the zigzags of irregular eyebrows.
His egg-shaped skull, clean shaven on purpose, was considered to be of
impeccable form among the Superiors. There was something bird-like and
predatory in the expression on his face.
Yar Jupi addressed those present with a pompous speech in which he
spoke about the innate striving of the Superiors for peace and about his
agreement with the project for resettling Faetians on other planets to avoid
war on Faena.
He had brought as a gift to Peaceful Space an interplanetary ship.
Quest, ready for immediate lift-off together with an experienced astronaut
commander; he offered Um Sat the opportunity to lead the expedition to Terr.
Then he announced the Council of Blood's decision to consider Um Sat an
"honorary longface" with rights of the Superior amongst the Superiors. The
basis for this was research by the "historians" of Blood, who had
established that the name Sat in honour of the planet, marked with a noble
ring, was only given to the purest longfaces.
Um Sat was flabbergasted. The expedition to Terr was a reality. On
Danjab they had merely been arguing over how much to allocate for an
interplanetary ship for Terr, whereas he could now lead such an expedition.
But ... that falsification by the "historians"! The Dictator had not
disdained to use it so as to take Um Sat from the roundheads. The learned
Elder's first impulse was to turn down the Dictator's gifts; anyone else in
his place would have acted likewise, but he refrained. After all, he stood
for reconciliation, for the settlement of Faetians in space. How could he
say no to the Faetians and refuse to survey the planet Terr, which could
become their new home? Had he the right to display personal or racial vanity
to the detriment of all Faetian society? Would it not be more reasonable to
demonstrate the feasibility of space resettlement and divert the interest of
the workshop proprietors to building spaceships instead of manufacturing
torpedoes for a disintegration war?
In his answering speech, Um Sat controlled himself and expressed his
gratitude to Yar Jupi both for the interplanetary ship being handed over to
Peaceful Space and for the high rank bestowed on him, Um Sat. He promised to
think about the possibility of personally taking part in the expedition.
He despised himself, but considered that he was making a great
sacrifice.
The Dictator grinned and vanished through the gap in the wall with his
robot bodyguards. Overseas technology never failed.
Dm Sat announced an intermission in the work of the Peaceful Space
session. He needed to pull himself together and justify himself to himself.
Of course, he was still the same roundhead-true, inwardly confused,
devastated and now the owner of rights he did not need at all.
But these rights proved particularly necessary to his former pupil and
favourite, Ave Mar.
Dobr Mar, Ave's father, the Ruler of Danjab, felt ill at ease in the
round office with the vaulted ceiling. He was the
nine-hundred-and-sixty-second ruler who had moved in there.
An angular chin and a bony jaw on the intelligent face spoke of will
and energy; the fine mouth, turned down at the corners, testified to worry;
the bags under the eyes and the balding head with its remnants of greying
hair, to a hard life. He had been given the name Dobr (Kind) for his
coming-of-age. Until then he had borne his father's name. Terrible Mar, with
the addition The Second Junior. The Ruler was thinking of his son on the
barbarians' continent, where an explosion could occur at any time...
In spite of himself, there arose in his mind's eye, in all its details,
that accursed day half a cycle ago, when he had decided on an act for which
he could now find neither justification nor forgiveness.
The robot secretary reported that Kutsi Merc was in the waiting-room.
Since the time when Dobr Mar's predecessor had been shot in that very office
by his own secretary, the Grand Circle had decreed that only robot
secretaries should work in the Ruler's Palace. And now the "intelligent box"
had shown Kutsi Merc on the screen. While waiting to be received, Kutsi had
not noticed that he was being watched, but he was naturally alert. A typical
roundhead, he had a face like the disc of Lua, Faena's eternal satellite.
His narrow eyes were looking sideways at the door.
Relations were complex between Dobr Mar and Kutsi Merc. Only Kutsi knew
how the Ruler had come to power. Dobr Mar had formerly been a "friend of the
Ruler", and by law had to occupy the "first chair" in the event of his
death.
No one abused the "mentally unstable" assassin more than Dobr Mar. He
swore to pursue the same foreign policy as the late Ruler: the eternal
hostility with Powermania was to be tempered and everything possible should
be done to reconcile the planet's two continents and deliver the Faetians
from the horrors of war.
Not long before the assassination of Dobr Mar's predecessor, Kutsi Merc
had handed him the terrible conditions on which he could become Ruler: he
must be the first to start a disintegration war.
Once he had taken his predecessor's place, Dobr Mar was in no hurry to
pursue the lunatic policy of the "mortally unstable" who demanded that the
war be won with disintegration weapons.
Dobr Mar ruled Danjab, finding work and living accommodation for the
ominously growing population. He tried to reduce the tension in relations
between the continents, put through a law making old goods subject to
destruction so that new ones would be acquired and managed things so that
Yar Jupi, satisfied by the cut in the import of overseas goods, was even
forced to agree to joint actions in space.
...Dobr Mar had guessed why Kutsi Merc had come and what he was going
to say. After all, the Ruler had not yet met the "special conditions". And
on the eve of the elections, Dobr Mar was afraid of possible denunciations.
What if he struck the first blow?
When he went into the office, Kutsi Merc halted. Squat, but well-built
and broad-shouldered, almost without a neck, he looked like a wrestler
before a match.
The match took place. Dobr Mar went trustingly towards him.
"The councillors of the Grand Circle are troubled by the information
obtained by Kutsi Merc to the effect that the barbarians have mastered and
even improved on the automatic machines they originally obtained from us, so
that they have become dangerous."
"The Ruler is right. The automatic machines are dangerous. I have a
reliable agent in the Lair."
"What guarantee is there that the automatic machines won't function by
accident?"
"They're almost the same on Danjab."
"That's not enough! The barbarians must not be allowed to keep them.
Such is the decision of the Grand Circle."
"I bow before the will of the first proprietors. But the barbarian
automatic machines are under the Lair. Even a snake couldn't get through
there."
"A snake couldn't, but Kutsi Merc could. Besides, he has a reliable
agent there."
Kutsi Merc understood everything. Dobr Mar needed to show the
proprietors that he was carrying out their conditions, and at the same time
he could get rid of Kutsi Merc by sending him on an impossible assignment.
After his inevitable failure, Kutsi Merc could no longer prevent Dobr
Mar from being re-elected.
Not a line moved on Kutsi Merc's face.
"It is clear," he said respectfully. "Penetrate into the Lair and
destroy it and its automatic machines by using a disintegration charge." He
thought for a moment and added almost casually, "A reliable cover will be
needed."
"Fine," agreed the Ruler, walking round the horse-shoe table and
settling himself in the comfortable armchair. Many of his predecessors had
used that chair and he intended to keep his place in it for a long time to
come.
"The cover would be Ave Mar."
"Ave Mar? My son?" Dobr Mar rose abruptly to his feet.
He turned away to hide his wrath. This experienced spy was playing an
unworthy game with him, hoping that the father would not risk his son's
life.
Before Dobr Mar had thrice put up his candidature for Ruler and had
been defeated for refusing to become the "Ruler's friend", he had been the
owner of vast fertile fields. His son Ave had been born in those fields,
close to nature. He had been given his name Ave (Welcome) when he reached
maturity. As a little boy, he had run around with half-naked children of
roundheads working in his father's fields.
He had not only gone fishing with them to help them fill their bellies
at least once in a while, he had climbed trees for the nutrient buds, but,
like all generations of children, he had played at war.
Dobr Mar was proud of his son, although the boy had inherited his curly
hair from his roundhead grandmother and his girlish curved eyelashes and his
clear gaze from his mother. The father didn't particularly like his son
looking at the world too ecstatically, naively believing in justice and the
ancient laws of honour. Life had punished him many times for this
old-fashionedness. But the father was flattered that his son worshipped him
for his efficiency and love of peace. However, the son sometimes behaved
rashly. On leaving his teacher Um Sat, "not wishing to serve the science of
death", he openly spoke up against the fact that the decisive role on both
continents was being played by the proprietors of the fields and big
workshops who had profited from the over-populated lands and the labour of
those working for the proprietors. Fortunately for him, as his father knew
from the secret reports, he never managed to attach himself to the "current
under the ice" of young people threatening to break through even here, on
Danjab, in a new Uprising of Justice. Ave himself often heard seditious
remarks by disciples of the Doctrine of Justice, but he didn't consider it
necessary to report them to his father. Ave knew about the secret meetings,
the participants in which as in token of greeting used to touch their right
eyebrow with their left hand. But he was not admitted to these assemblies.
The toilers apparently did not trust him because he was the Ruler's son. It
never entered his father's head that Ave Mar's friends could safeguard him
as a capable scientist. After leaving Um Sat, Ave devoted himself to the
problem of a possible life for the Faetians on other planets. Dobr Mar knew
but did not really understand his arguments that the authorities on
astronomy were wrong in affirming that life was impossible anywhere except
on Faena, since the other planets were either too far away from their star
or, like Merc, Ven and Terr, had been incinerated by its rays. The Faetians
had nowhere to go if they fled from their own planet, if you discounted the
grim planet Mar, which was hardly capable of supporting life and had been
earmarked by the Dictator of the barbarians' continent as a place of exile
for roundheads. It turned out that the only means of purging the planet for
future generations might be war and war alone. Ave, however, affirmed that
the temperatures there were not as high as might be expected from its
proximity to Sol, its star. What was decisive was the carbon dioxide
content, which created the greenhouse effect, preventing the excess heat
radiation into space. This effect made it possible for life to develop on
Faena. On its horizon, the star rose solely as the brightest star, whereas
on Terr it must have been a blinding disc to look at. Ave held that if there
was less carbon dioxide than on Faena, there would be no greenhouse effect,
the superfluous heat could be dissipated and any life forms could develop on
its surface.
Ave's views were rejected by the experts as absurd. He became
disillusioned in the Elders of learning, in the teachings and in himself,
lost heart and began to pine away.
His father merely shrugged his shoulders. He would have preferred a son
more adapted to life, although he loved and pitied him.
And now Kutsi Merc was demanding a sacrifice... To carry out the task,
Dobr Mar must risk his son's life.
Kutsi Merc was certainly calculating that the Ruler would back down,
but he was mistaken. The Ruler, too, was cornered.
...As he remembered all this, Dobr Mar, "defender of the right and
culture", did not know what to do. He did not know how the operation on
Powermania was going to turn out. Would the crazy mission succeed? Would the
dangerous Kutsi Merc be eliminated, and would Ave survive?
Chapter Four
Every evening, when bright Jupi began shining over the Dread Wall,
Mother Lua conducted the alien Ave to her charge.
She kept watch for them with the hunchback, who always accompanied his
master. The nurse and the secretary did not get on very well with one
another. The hunchback was trying to get Mother Lua to take him somewhere,
but she was frightened.
One evening, Ave came into the garden looking downcast.
"What's the matter?" asked Mada in alarm.
Ave Mar confessed that he had to leave the Great Shore on the following
day. The travellers were not allowed to stay any longer near the Dictator's
palace. Kutsi had spotted that they were being trailed.
The young Faetians, as at their first tryst, were standing in the
shadow of the trees. Mada rested her head on Ave's breast and wept. He
stroked her hair, not knowing what to say. It was obvious that they loved
one another and could not bear to be apart.
Mada held her head back and looked up at Ave. His curly hair blotted
out the stars.
"Everything'll sort itself out," he said reassuringly. "We must use
certain of your father's oddities-his attachment to the old customs, for
instance. He refers in his teaching to the former monarchs; he even
remembers that intermarriage between the children of hostile kings used to
stave off war. I'm going to my father. I shall ask him to approach Yar Jupi
with an offer of alliance between us."
Mada shook her head.
"What? Get married now?" Ave had read her mind.
"Yes. Before you leave."
Mada said this firmly, almost imperiously.
"You mean tonight?" asked Ave, perplexed. "But who's capable of
marrying two polar opposites of hostility?"
Mada laughed, although her face was still wet with tears. Ave had an
odd way of putting things in a foreign language.
"You just don't know the ways of the Superiors. It's the roundheads
that need permission from the authorities to get married. But we longfaces
are free. Any of the Superiors whose age exceeds the combined ages of the
lovers can pronounce them man and wife."
"But where are we going to find such an elder? Ave is only a guest of
the Superiors."
"What does 'guest' mean? Are you helpless to find an answer?"
Ave flared up.
"I was a pupil of Dm Sat himself, the first Elder of learning on the
planet. He is old enough and he lives here."
"But he's a roundhead," said Mada disappointedly.
"Urn Sat has only just been proclaimed 'honorary longface' in
Powermania. He is equal to the Superiors amongst the Superiors."
Mada pushed Ave away from her, but clasped his hands in hers as she
looked adoringly up at him.
"Hurry to him! You're a true Faetian and you'll be able to convince
him."
Bowing low, the hunchback Kutsi Merc conducted the young Faetian into
Dm Sat's cell.
"Ave Mar? You have returned to your teacher?" said the Elder,
half-rising from his chair to greet them.
"Yes, I have-at a most difficult moment in my life."
"You speak as though it were a matter of life or death."
"No!" Ave vigorously shook his head. "Much more. A matter of
happiness!"
The Elder looked intently at his pupil's face.
"So that's it! But how can I help?"
"By using the rights bestowed on him by the Council of Blood, Dm Sat,
by the law of the Superiors, has the right to join together for all time Ave
Mar and she whom he loves more than life."
"The clear-thinking Ave Mar has chosen none other than the daughter of
Dictator Yar Jupi, the beautiful Mada, in spite of the obstacles,"
interposed Kutsi Merc in the flowery language of Powermania.
"What? Roundhead Sat is to use the rights of the oppressors?" The old
man was outraged.
"It is not just a matter of love," interposed Kutsi Merc again. "The
marriage of the son and daughter of the rulers of two continents will help
to avert a war... That is what Yar Jupi says in his teaching."
The cunning Kutsi knew how to convince Um Sat. The Elder became
thoughtful.
"He talks sensibly. Though burning with shame, I did not reject the
gift of the barbarians solely because I was thinking of how to avoid war."
"Then use your rights and help us to be happy!" responded Ave.
"What must I do?" asked the Elder.
"The ceremony is quite simple. Mada's nurse and Kutsi Merc will be the
witnesses."
"Is that enough?" The Elder was amazed.
"Yes, for the age of Um Sat exceeds the combined ages of the lovers,
and he has the right to join them in wedlock."
"So the man who created the doctrine of matter, the man who refuted the
religions of the past," said the Elder with a smile, "will have to perform
almost the function of an unworthy priest..."
"And, what is more, in the shrine of a former temple," interposed Kutsi
Merc.
"Then let the marriage truly serve peace and remain a secret for the
time being," decided the scientist. "The wedding will be announced when Ave
returns to Danjab. May it help the father to come to terms with Yar Jupi, if
the Dictator is really in the traditions of the ancient monarchs."
"So be it!" announced the hunchback.
"I will persuade my father. He's a politician and won't miss such a
chance," said Ave warmly in support. "However, the ceremony absolutely must
take place tonight."
"Why the hurry?" said Um Sat with a frown.
"Alas, travellers, even distinguished ones, cannot stay for long near
the Dictator's palace. Besides ... it was Mada's request."
"There is no Faetess more beautiful and intelligent! She thinks of
everything," commented Kutsi Merc.
"Well, then..." Um Sat shrugged his shoulders. "The shrine is empty.
And old men don't need such a lot of sleep."
Ave silently embraced his teacher. Um Sat gazed sadly at him for a long
time.
The Blood Door opened once again. Mother Lua, as usual, was waiting for
Ave and Kutsi in the half-ruined portico. The three of them went into the
ancient monastery garden, lit now by the faint light of Lua. The dangling
lianas didn't look like snakes any more, they suggested the cords of costly
curtains screening off the garden. The trees resembled colonnaded galleries.
There was a fragrance of rotting leaves and something strange and
gentle-perhaps the flowers that Yar Jupi used to grow with such passion.
Mada was waiting for her beloved and rushed to meet him as soon as he
walked through the Blood Door.
"Has he agreed?"
"Urn Sat has so far created reactions of disintegration, but now (may
Kutsi Merc be forgiven for this!) he will have to accomplish the opposite,"
joked the hunchback, and he grinned, but quickly changed the grin into an
ingratiating smile.
It had grown dark in the garden. The silver light had faded. Lightning
began flashing beyond the outer wall, casting dense black shadows onto the
shrubbery. One of the trees seemed to leap out of the darkness and blaze up,
its white bark shining.
A bellowing noise came from somewhere far away. It was as if an
enormous, lumbering machine had gone out of control and had finally plunged
down into an abyss, deafening and blinding all like a disintegration blast.
Mada huddled closer to Ave.
It was now totally dark; the avenue colonnades and the tree with the
white bark had disappeared.
"What a thunderstorm!" whispered Mada ecstatically.
"We'll be soaked as we go round the Dread Wall to the Temple of
Eternity," observed the hunchback.
"Should we put it off till tomorrow, perhaps?" asked Ave cautiously.
"Never!" exclaimed Mada. "Are we going to be stopped by the thunder of
heaven? As for the rain wetting our clothes, my nanny can take care of
them."
"Of our clothes?" inquired Kutsi Merc. He held out his hand and felt
the first raindrops fall on to his palm. "Yes, she'll have to take care of
them."
"I can do without that care," grumbled Mother Lua. "I'd do better to
take you there under cover."
"What d'you mean?" asked Kutsi Merc, suddenly on the alert.
"It's all quite simple," explained Mada. "An old underground passage
leads from here to the Temple of Eternity. The priests used it once, but now
we're going to walk along it. Nanny knows everything and will open the doors
as we come to them."
"Does the passage run from the garden?" inquired Kutsi.
"Yes, we can go into it not far from here. Nanny will show us."
The rain began, a downpour from the start. They all ran, stumbling over
the tree roots. Lua went in front, with Kutsi, Mada and Ave following on
behind.
"This way! It's no darker here than outside. The old passage isn't much
to look at. I'm sorry to say," said Mother Lua as she led them further.
"Still, it's better than in the rain," responded Kutsi.
Ave could smell the damp. When he touched the wall, it was wet and
sticky. With the other hand he tightly squeezed Mada's fingers.
"Wait," came Lua's voice from in front. "I must make an effort."
"Does the good lady need a hand in lifting something?"
"I must concentrate."
It turned out that Mother Lua had to use will-power to open a certain
door that would obey her brain biocurrents.
The young Faetians saw a bright rectangle in front of them, with Lua
and Kutsi sharply silhouetted against it.
Mada and Ave went into a spacious underground, plastic-lined corridor.
"Aha!" said Kutsi Merc. "The ancient priests knew their materials."
"We turn left for the Temple of Eternity."
Kutsi Merc stopped and felt a thick cable in red braiding.
Mada firmly squeezed Ave's fingers in her little hand.
The footsteps of the Faetians rang under the low ceiling.
Ave looked back suspiciously to where the corridor made a turn. The
light that had automatically come on when they appeared had already gone
out.
Twice the Faetians were confronted by a blank wall, and each time, in
response to Mother Lua's mental command, the barrier disappeared to let them
pass through.
"I wouldn't like to be left here without our companion," commented
Kutsi Merc.
"Has the visitor from Danjab no more to say than that?" said Lua
reproachfully.
The secret passage had branches, but Lua confidently walked past them,
leading the others along a route with which she was thoroughly familiar.
Finally, she stopped again before a blank wall and looked intently into
the centre of a spiral ornament. This was enough for the wall to divide, and
Lua let the young Faetians go first with Kutsi Merc, then went into the
familiar shrine herself.
Mada huddled closer to Ave. She had not been scared of going along the
underground passage, but the ancient temple with its shrine and a roof that
disappeared into unseen heights had a disturbing effect on her imagination.
Something stirred in the semidarkness and a voice rang out:
"I welcome the happy ones! I guessed that because of the bad weather
you would use the tunnel by which the Dictator of Power-mania came to the
session."
Mada Jupi looked in agitation at the tall figure of the great Elder of
learning, who was standing on a dais. She thought of the High Priest of the
temple who used to deliver his invocations from that spot. And his voice had
echoed under the dark vaults then as now, when Um Sat began addressing the
young Faetians.
The Elder of learning tactfully performed a rudimentary wedding
ceremony, ending it with the words:
"So be it!"
His voice echoed and re-echoed in the depths of the shrine, as if the
ancient priests were chanting the responses.
Then Um Sat embraced each of the young Faetians and wished them
happiness.
Ave wanted to take his leave of Mada, but Kutsi intervened, exchanging
significant glances with Mother Lua.
"Isn't it worth going by the underground passage so as to see the young
bride off? She will let us out through the Blood Door."
"Through our Blood Door!" said Mada, looking at Ave.
Mother Lua stood meekly beside Kutsi, as if entirely dependent on him.
And again Ave acted apparently of his own volition, expressing his
willingness to go by the underground passage.
Mother Lua heaved a sigh. She had devoted her whole life to ensure that
Mada took after her mother and not her father. What lay in store for the
girl?..
Kutsi Merc was content and did not hide it.
Chapter Five
Yar Alt, Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard, was proud that, on his
coming-of-age, his strength of character had earned him the name of his
maternal uncle, Yar Jupi himself.
He lived up to his nickname in the contingents of the Blood Guard, to
which he had been appointed by the Dictator. Coarse, hot-tempered, ready to
strike and even to kill, he despised the views of others and could not bear
objections.
That was why the Dictator had given him the more important assignments.
And it had certainly not been by chance that Yar Alt had met on board ship
the son of Danjab's Ruler arriving with his secretary. Camouflaging himself
with the rudeness typical of the security officers, he had been "checking"
the new arrivals, having decided not to let them out of sight.
Finally, as Yar Alt had been expecting, the young Faetians and their
companions entered the shrine through a gap in the wall.
During the improvised wedding ceremony under the temple vaults, apart
from the nanny and the secretary, there had been one invisible witness. He
had been unable to suppress a groan, as if echoing, like the officiating
priests, the Elder's cry:
"So be it!"
Yar Alt had failed to win "full psycho-life contact" from Mada, while
this foreign half-breed had achieved it without effort. In the depths of his
soul, Yar Alt considered that he could have become a totally different
Faetian if his love had been reciprocated. Tenderness, sensitivity and
goodness would have blossomed in him if the beautiful long-face of his
choice had not responded to him with proud disdain. That was why Yar Alt had
come to hate the world.
And now, in fear and shame at having groaned aloud, he kept himself in
hand so as to carry out his duty.
He waited until Mother Lua led the newly-weds and the hunchback into
the secret passage, watched as Um Sat retired to his cell, and only after
that did he risk going to the hidden door. He strained all his will as he
ordered the wall to divide. And he sighed with relief. The wall parted to
form an opening. Yar Alt dived through it.
The criminals shouldn't have gone far. The biocurrents of the Supreme
Officer of the Blood Guard were effective. He would find the intruders while
they were still underground and not give them a chance to shelter in the
palace.
He ran along the passage, but the cursed lamps were coming on and going
out again of their own accord. He stopped, realising that they would give
him away. All it needed was for one of the party to look round...
If only the lovers could have suspected what they were walking past!
The galleries of the Central Console! The heart of the disintegration war!
Why hadn't the alarm gone off? Or was it all because of the brain
biocurrents of the roundhead woman whom the automatic machines recognised as
friendly, just as they recognised him, the Supreme Officer of the Blood
Guard?
So reasoned Yar Alt as he hurried in pursuit of the departing group.
Suddenly, he stopped abruptly.
To one side, a gallery sloped steeply downwards; along it ran a cable
in red braiding. It seemed to Yar Alt that the light had just gone out in
this gallery, which certainly didn't lead to the Dictator's palace. Had the
hunchback turned off for the Central Console? Why?
Yar Alt caught his breath. Enemies were sneaking up to the Console! It
was not just a matter of purity of blood, but of a threat to the whole of
Powermania!
Without another thought, Yar Alt also turned off into the gallery and
ran headlong down the slope. He was blocked by a blank wall. The light
switched itself on and a spiral, the symbol of the Superiors, became visible
on the smooth surface.
Yar Alt had never been here before and did not know whether he would be
able to open the door in the Wall. Terror and fury made the force of his
gaze ten times stronger as he fixed it on the spiral. The moment before the
automatic machines began working seemed agonisingly long. But the Wall
divided. His status as Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard had helped. The
biocurrents of his brain were familiar to these machines too.
Yar Alt rushed through the gap.
After a short while, he saw the secretary and the nanny walking ahead
of him.
He drew a pistol loaded with poisoned bullets. Even a light scratch
would stun a man.
Without warning, Yar Alt fired at the hunchback from behind. Kutsi
started, but stayed on his feet. The bullet had ricocheted off his hump into
the wall.
Alt fired again and yet again. The shock of the bullets threw the
secretary onto his knees this time.
Yar Alt slowly walked up, waiting for his enemy to breathe his last.
But the other, who was lying on his back, suddenly kicked the weapon
out of Yar Alt's hand. It clattered over the flagstones.
Alt flung himself on the enemy as he struggled to get up and tried to
pin the hunchback down to the floor.
Kutsi Merc was unarmed. He had intentionally not brought a weapon with
him, anticipating possible searches which could have ruined his whole plan.
Endowed with exceptional strength, he would easily have coped with a lighter
opponent had it not been for the heavy burden on his back.
Yar Alt drew a long stiletto that served him as a personal antenna in
the Blood Guard communications system. Embracing the hunchback with one arm
and breathing heavily into his face, he drove the stiletto into his back.
But the point slid over something solid, slitting the cloth.
Yar Alt thought only of bullet-proof armour and of nothing else. This
spelled disaster, and not only for him.
Almost without hope of success, Yar Alt stabbed his foe in the chest.
Strange to say, the hunchback had no frontal armour. The stiletto went
straight into Kutsi's heart. His grip loosened and he fell backwards. A pool
of blood spread over the stones.
Yar Alt jumped to his feet and prodded the hunchback with his foot.
Only then did he turn to Mother Lua.
But she was not there. She had snatched up Alt's pistol and disappeared
during the brief struggle so as to warn Mada and save her life.
Yar Alt ran forward and immediately came up against the blank Wall. He
fixed a malignant glare on the centre of the spiral, but it never budged.
Yar Alt realised that Mother Lua was standing on the other side of the door
and by effort of will was commanding the door not to open. That was why the
automatic machines were not reacting to his own command!
A struggle began between Yar Alt and Mother Lua. Separated by a solid
barrier, they glared furiously at the centres of the two spirals. The
programmed machines were paralysed by the opposing wills.
Yar Alt was bathed in drops of sweat and his lips were flecked with
foam.
It had been easier to kill Kutsi Merc than to cope with this damned
witch. He knew that she composed forbidden songs. Her kind had once been
burned at the stake.
Finally, the Wall shuddered and parted to leave a gap, but slammed shut
again. Yar Alt just managed to catch sight of the nanny. Fortunately, it
hadn't occurred to her to shoot at him. At the mere thought of this, Yar
Alt's skin crawled. He had not noticed how exhausted she had been.
The Wall shuddered and was still by turns. Yar Alt ground his teeth.
Mother Lua's mistake had suggested a plan of action. He wanted very little
now: it was for a gap to open for only a fraction of a second. He himself
would not, of course, be in front of it.
The perspiration streamed into his eyes. In a wild frenzy, he continued
drilling the centre of the spiral with his eyes, commanding the Wall to
open. He made ready, drawing his left arm back in order to throw the
stiletto.
Mother Lua was almost losing consciousness. Her arms hung helplessly by
her sides. She knew her own life and that of her favourite depended on her
will-power.
The nanny swayed. The Wall opened just a little way. Yar Alt waited for
the right moment and hurled his stiletto through the gap. It pierced the
roundhead woman in the throat. Her eyes went blank and the Wall divided.
Yar Alt jumped over the fallen nanny. He tugged the stiletto out of her
throat and started racing down the corridor. After a few strides he suddenly
realised that he had not retrieved his pistol from Mother Lua. He was about
to go back, but changed his mind, hurrying to catch up with Ave Mar and
Mada. The traitress who had led the evildoer towards the Central Console had
already received her deserts!
Yar Alt ran along the underground passage and the lighting went on as
he approached and went out again behind him.
The Wall directly before the palace barred his way once again, but
opened as soon as he glanced at the spiral.
He was now in the palace. The monastery building, reconstructed for the
Dictator, still bore the features of the old architecture. Low vaulted
ceilings, slit windows from floor to ceiling.
The rooms were sumptuously decorated for ceremonial assemblies that
were no longer held for fear that the Dictator might be assassinated.
Yar Alt knew how to get through to Mada's chambers. Subtle taste and a
woman's hand had completely transformed the austere cells and oratories. Yar
Alt burst into one that had been decorated with pale blue fabric and silver
cords, and it was there that he found Ave and Mada.
Mada was doing her hair. Beside herself with fury, she turned round and
stamped her foot.
"How dare you burst in on me, you despicable robot of the Guard?"
Yar Alt showered Mada with threats.
"Silence, you boor!" exploded the furious Ave Mar, drawing himself up
to his full height.
Mada shielded him with her body.
"Get out of here, you filthy robot! You're not worth a hair of my
husband's head!"
"Husband?" Yar Alt bellowed with offensive laughter. "They are no
longer alive, the unscrupulous witnesses of your ignominious ceremony under
cover of which the enemies of the Superiors planned to wipe out our
continent!"
"Blood on your hands and slander on your tongue-that is all you stand
for! What can you know of goodness, love and nobility?"
Yar Alt pushed Mada roughly out of the way and hurled himself with his
stiletto on the unarmed Ave. The other fended him off with a kick. As he
fell, Alt seized hold of Mada and tried to stab her.
Ave Mar gripped his arm and twisted it so that the weapon tore Yar
Alt's own tunic.
Yar Alt was an experienced fighter. Ave Mar was an experienced athlete.
They locked in combat, rolling about the ancient oratory and leaving a trail
of bloodstains on the carpet.
Mada stared transfixed and could not tell whose blood it was. Ave Mar's
face was smeared all over with it.
Yar Alt stabbed Ave several times, but could not draw his hand far back
enough for the fatal blow. Ave Mar sprang to his feet, seized a heavy chair
and hurled it at his opponent. The other tried to dodge it, but a leg caught
him on the head and he fell onto the floor. He nevertheless managed to draw
back the stiletto, taking aim for a throw at Mada.
Ave Mar struck Yar Alt on the temple. His enemy was flung backwards,
but threw out his legs and locked them round Ave's ankles. Turning with a
jerk, he threw Ave to the floor, then, getting up onto his knees, raised the
stiletto. Ave knocked the weapon out of his hand.
Two shots rang out in succession. Mother Lua crawled through the door,
a pistol dancing in her hand. Yar Alt reached for his stiletto again to
finish Ave off.
Mada rushed to Lua, snatched the weapon out of her failing hand and
pressed the firing button. Yar Alt jerked convulsively, slumped, and lay
still.
"He loaded it with poisoned bullets himself," gasped Mother Lua. "My
dear, what will become of you?.."
Ave Mar rose to his feet and, breathing heavily, looked in amazement at
the body of his adversary and at the unperturbed Mada. But she suddenly
threw the pistol aside with revulsion.
"Blood! Blood!" she said in despair. "Now there can only be death. They
will tear you to pieces, my husband. No one will believe it was I who did
this."
Ave Mar himself couldn't believe it as he stared in bewilderment at his
bloodstained hands.
Chapter Six
Mada Jupi was, of course, a pampered child. Her every wish was
fulfilled, she was glorified and bowed down to. But she had nevertheless not
become spoiled and capricious, or incapable of doing anything but give
orders. Mother Lua, who preserved the wisdom of the people, had managed
after the death of Mada's mother to inspire the girl with the idea of equal
rights for all Faetians, whatever their outward appearance. Restrained,
always calm. Mother Lua had the rare talent of the story-teller and an
innate gift of influencing the minds of others. In another country, at
another time. Mother Lua would have been the pride of the people; but on the
barbarian continent of Power-mania's Superiors she was only a nanny-true, of
the Dictator's daughter. She had always held up the girl's own mother as an
example, convincing her that the daughter should follow suit.
Mada grew up resembling her mother, but she also took after her father
to some extent. Perhaps in her ability to love and hate to extremes.
Consequently, the meeting with Ave swept her right off her feet. She fell in
love, and a soft tenderness was combined with ruthless determination, and
bewilderment with irrepressible daring. She had shot Yar Alt as if he were a
mad beast, yet she was dismayed at the sight of his body.
The nanny was dying. Mada kneeled in front of her, listening as she
whispered something almost inaudible.
"Nanny is talking about her son. And she says that Yar Alt murdered
Kutsi."
"Where? How?"
But Mother Lua could not say any more. Her strength had ebbed away. No
efforts on Mada's part were of any avail, neither the kiss of life nor heart
massage. The nanny's eyes closed and her body stretched out The hand that
Mada had been holding began to turn cold. There was no pulse any more.
"It's the end," said Mada, and she burst into tears.
Ave now saw his companion as a weak and helpless girl. Like a child,
she shook her nurse, kissed her cold hands and tried to wake her up.
Finally she turned her tear-stained face to Ave.
"My nanny is dead. She was so kind and clever! And we are finished."
And she glanced at Yar Alt's contorted body. "Just think! He was my cousin."
"Maybe we should try and help him!"
Mada shuddered.
"The bullets were poisoned. I don't know how my poor nanny came by his
pistol." She began sobbing again.
Ave decided that he must do something. He lifted up the dead Alt, who
had stiffened in his last convulsions, and carried him into a corner of the
room behind the curtains.
Mada stood up determinedly and threw her head back.
"It's no use. The Guards will be here soon, and then my father." She
picked Alt's pistol up off the floor. "Forgive me for taking charge of our
last step. There is no need to fire a bullet. One scratch is enough. Death
will be instant. We shall hold hands with a bullet in our palms. We shall
leave this world in which there is no happiness for us."
Ave looked into her face: determination in her was struggling with
despair.
Mada took the last round out of the pistol. The bullet was silvery and
its sharp prickles were brown where the poisonous coating had been applied.
Ave resolutely gripped Mada's hand.
"No! Faetians don't give in so easily. We can still renounce life, but
happiness... No!"
"There is no happiness in this world," replied Mada.
"Show me the way into the garden," said Ave masterfully, "and then
through the Blood Door."
"You think we can flee somewhere? Dawn is near, the last in our life.
Can you hear the birds singing? I shall follow you because you are my
husband. But we shall take the prickly bullet with us. It will be a safe
protection for us."
"Lead the way," urged Ave.
Mada looked at him curiously. Until now, she had thought herself the
stronger.
They carried Lua's body to a couch and Mada spread over it a pale blue
coverlet from her bed. Then she showed Ave a low door leading into a narrow
passage that ended in a steep ladder.
Just before dawn, the garden had changed completely. A silvery cloud
had filled the avenues, hiding the bushes and tree-trunks from view. It
seemed to Ave that he and Mada were walking into another world above the
clouds. He clasped her slender hand more tightly.
The quivering mist at their feet seemed treacherous, weightless and yet
dense. It was as if there might be water under it one moment and an abyss
the next.
Mada stepped fearlessly into the swirling mist and took Ave with her.
The obedient Blood Door opened in front of her.
A dense mist had enveloped the ruins of the old shrine under the Dread
Wall. As they walked breast-high through the cloud that lay on the stones,
Ave and Mada seemed to be fording a river of foam.
Mada knew the way. They came surprisingly soon to the black building of
the Temple of Eternity. Ave thought that the unfortunate Kutsi must have led
them the long way round. Poor wretch! It cost Ave an effort to restrain
himself; he did not even allow himself a sigh, but he felt sorry for the
man.
Ave despised his own habitual changes of mood. But now he was firm and
knew what had to be done. That was why he was taking Mada to Um Sat.
The Elder was astounded when he saw the newly-weds on the threshold of
his cell once again.
He gave Mada a seat in an armchair opposite the table at which he had
preparations for a disintegration war, promising that the ban on roundheads
having children would be lifted after the successful end of the war and the
resettlement of the victors on the overseas continent.
Alongside this, he muffled the discontent of the toilers with
adventurist plans for the transfer of the roundheads to the planet Mar,
where they would be free of all prohibitions (as if it was simply a matter
of resettlement!).
He therefore encouraged the conquest of space and promoted the creation
of Space Station Deimo near Mar. The Culturals already had a base there
named Phobo. Yar Jupi even agreed to declare Outer Space "peaceful", since
the interests of the proprietors clashed mainly on Faena.
However, the great learned Elder Um Sat, who had solved the mysteries
of matter, could not fathom the depths of unscrupulous politics. For him,
the "problem of overpopulating the planet" really blotted out everything
else, although, in fact, it merely aggravated the burdens of the toilers and
their struggle with the proprietors, not to mention the hostility of the
proprietors amongst themselves. Evidently, in order to be a true Elder, it
was still inadequate to be learned in one specific branch of knowledge.
No one had expected to see the cautious and calculating Yar Jupi at a
session of Peaceful Space. He was too afraid of assassination. Obviously, it
was not for nothing that Yar Jupi had chosen a place for the session near
the Lair. The Temple of Eternity communicated with the former monastery by
an underground passage.
During the session, Yar Jupi suddenly appeared out of the wall with two
impressive robot bodyguards.
He was a tall, well-built Faetian with a long, clean-shaven face, a
small dark beard, a hooked nose, a narrow, harsh mouth and suspicious,
restless eyes that looked out from under the zigzags of irregular eyebrows.
His egg-shaped skull, clean shaven on purpose, was considered to be of
impeccable form among the Superiors. There was something bird-like and
predatory in the expression on his face.
Yar Jupi addressed those present with a pompous speech in which he
spoke about the innate striving of the Superiors for peace and about his
agreement with the project for resettling Faetians on other planets to avoid
war on Faena.
He had brought as a gift to Peaceful Space an interplanetary ship.
Quest, ready for immediate lift-off together with an experienced astronaut
commander; he offered Um Sat the opportunity to lead the expedition to Terr.
Then he announced the Council of Blood's decision to consider Um Sat an
"honorary longface" with rights of the Superior amongst the Superiors. The
basis for this was research by the "historians" of Blood, who had
established that the name Sat in honour of the planet, marked with a noble
ring, was only given to the purest longfaces.
Um Sat was flabbergasted. The expedition to Terr was a reality. On
Danjab they had merely been arguing over how much to allocate for an
interplanetary ship for Terr, whereas he could now lead such an expedition.
But ... that falsification by the "historians"! The Dictator had not
disdained to use it so as to take Um Sat from the roundheads. The learned
Elder's first impulse was to turn down the Dictator's gifts; anyone else in
his place would have acted likewise, but he refrained. After all, he stood
for reconciliation, for the settlement of Faetians in space. How could he
say no to the Faetians and refuse to survey the planet Terr, which could
become their new home? Had he the right to display personal or racial vanity
to the detriment of all Faetian society? Would it not be more reasonable to
demonstrate the feasibility of space resettlement and divert the interest of
the workshop proprietors to building spaceships instead of manufacturing
torpedoes for a disintegration war?
In his answering speech, Um Sat controlled himself and expressed his
gratitude to Yar Jupi both for the interplanetary ship being handed over to
Peaceful Space and for the high rank bestowed on him, Um Sat. He promised to
think about the possibility of personally taking part in the expedition.
He despised himself, but considered that he was making a great
sacrifice.
The Dictator grinned and vanished through the gap in the wall with his
robot bodyguards. Overseas technology never failed.
Dm Sat announced an intermission in the work of the Peaceful Space
session. He needed to pull himself together and justify himself to himself.
Of course, he was still the same roundhead-true, inwardly confused,
devastated and now the owner of rights he did not need at all.
But these rights proved particularly necessary to his former pupil and
favourite, Ave Mar.
Dobr Mar, Ave's father, the Ruler of Danjab, felt ill at ease in the
round office with the vaulted ceiling. He was the
nine-hundred-and-sixty-second ruler who had moved in there.
An angular chin and a bony jaw on the intelligent face spoke of will
and energy; the fine mouth, turned down at the corners, testified to worry;
the bags under the eyes and the balding head with its remnants of greying
hair, to a hard life. He had been given the name Dobr (Kind) for his
coming-of-age. Until then he had borne his father's name. Terrible Mar, with
the addition The Second Junior. The Ruler was thinking of his son on the
barbarians' continent, where an explosion could occur at any time...
In spite of himself, there arose in his mind's eye, in all its details,
that accursed day half a cycle ago, when he had decided on an act for which
he could now find neither justification nor forgiveness.
The robot secretary reported that Kutsi Merc was in the waiting-room.
Since the time when Dobr Mar's predecessor had been shot in that very office
by his own secretary, the Grand Circle had decreed that only robot
secretaries should work in the Ruler's Palace. And now the "intelligent box"
had shown Kutsi Merc on the screen. While waiting to be received, Kutsi had
not noticed that he was being watched, but he was naturally alert. A typical
roundhead, he had a face like the disc of Lua, Faena's eternal satellite.
His narrow eyes were looking sideways at the door.
Relations were complex between Dobr Mar and Kutsi Merc. Only Kutsi knew
how the Ruler had come to power. Dobr Mar had formerly been a "friend of the
Ruler", and by law had to occupy the "first chair" in the event of his
death.
No one abused the "mentally unstable" assassin more than Dobr Mar. He
swore to pursue the same foreign policy as the late Ruler: the eternal
hostility with Powermania was to be tempered and everything possible should
be done to reconcile the planet's two continents and deliver the Faetians
from the horrors of war.
Not long before the assassination of Dobr Mar's predecessor, Kutsi Merc
had handed him the terrible conditions on which he could become Ruler: he
must be the first to start a disintegration war.
Once he had taken his predecessor's place, Dobr Mar was in no hurry to
pursue the lunatic policy of the "mortally unstable" who demanded that the
war be won with disintegration weapons.
Dobr Mar ruled Danjab, finding work and living accommodation for the
ominously growing population. He tried to reduce the tension in relations
between the continents, put through a law making old goods subject to
destruction so that new ones would be acquired and managed things so that
Yar Jupi, satisfied by the cut in the import of overseas goods, was even
forced to agree to joint actions in space.
...Dobr Mar had guessed why Kutsi Merc had come and what he was going
to say. After all, the Ruler had not yet met the "special conditions". And
on the eve of the elections, Dobr Mar was afraid of possible denunciations.
What if he struck the first blow?
When he went into the office, Kutsi Merc halted. Squat, but well-built
and broad-shouldered, almost without a neck, he looked like a wrestler
before a match.
The match took place. Dobr Mar went trustingly towards him.
"The councillors of the Grand Circle are troubled by the information
obtained by Kutsi Merc to the effect that the barbarians have mastered and
even improved on the automatic machines they originally obtained from us, so
that they have become dangerous."
"The Ruler is right. The automatic machines are dangerous. I have a
reliable agent in the Lair."
"What guarantee is there that the automatic machines won't function by
accident?"
"They're almost the same on Danjab."
"That's not enough! The barbarians must not be allowed to keep them.
Such is the decision of the Grand Circle."
"I bow before the will of the first proprietors. But the barbarian
automatic machines are under the Lair. Even a snake couldn't get through
there."
"A snake couldn't, but Kutsi Merc could. Besides, he has a reliable
agent there."
Kutsi Merc understood everything. Dobr Mar needed to show the
proprietors that he was carrying out their conditions, and at the same time
he could get rid of Kutsi Merc by sending him on an impossible assignment.
After his inevitable failure, Kutsi Merc could no longer prevent Dobr
Mar from being re-elected.
Not a line moved on Kutsi Merc's face.
"It is clear," he said respectfully. "Penetrate into the Lair and
destroy it and its automatic machines by using a disintegration charge." He
thought for a moment and added almost casually, "A reliable cover will be
needed."
"Fine," agreed the Ruler, walking round the horse-shoe table and
settling himself in the comfortable armchair. Many of his predecessors had
used that chair and he intended to keep his place in it for a long time to
come.
"The cover would be Ave Mar."
"Ave Mar? My son?" Dobr Mar rose abruptly to his feet.
He turned away to hide his wrath. This experienced spy was playing an
unworthy game with him, hoping that the father would not risk his son's
life.
Before Dobr Mar had thrice put up his candidature for Ruler and had
been defeated for refusing to become the "Ruler's friend", he had been the
owner of vast fertile fields. His son Ave had been born in those fields,
close to nature. He had been given his name Ave (Welcome) when he reached
maturity. As a little boy, he had run around with half-naked children of
roundheads working in his father's fields.
He had not only gone fishing with them to help them fill their bellies
at least once in a while, he had climbed trees for the nutrient buds, but,
like all generations of children, he had played at war.
Dobr Mar was proud of his son, although the boy had inherited his curly
hair from his roundhead grandmother and his girlish curved eyelashes and his
clear gaze from his mother. The father didn't particularly like his son
looking at the world too ecstatically, naively believing in justice and the
ancient laws of honour. Life had punished him many times for this
old-fashionedness. But the father was flattered that his son worshipped him
for his efficiency and love of peace. However, the son sometimes behaved
rashly. On leaving his teacher Um Sat, "not wishing to serve the science of
death", he openly spoke up against the fact that the decisive role on both
continents was being played by the proprietors of the fields and big
workshops who had profited from the over-populated lands and the labour of
those working for the proprietors. Fortunately for him, as his father knew
from the secret reports, he never managed to attach himself to the "current
under the ice" of young people threatening to break through even here, on
Danjab, in a new Uprising of Justice. Ave himself often heard seditious
remarks by disciples of the Doctrine of Justice, but he didn't consider it
necessary to report them to his father. Ave knew about the secret meetings,
the participants in which as in token of greeting used to touch their right
eyebrow with their left hand. But he was not admitted to these assemblies.
The toilers apparently did not trust him because he was the Ruler's son. It
never entered his father's head that Ave Mar's friends could safeguard him
as a capable scientist. After leaving Um Sat, Ave devoted himself to the
problem of a possible life for the Faetians on other planets. Dobr Mar knew
but did not really understand his arguments that the authorities on
astronomy were wrong in affirming that life was impossible anywhere except
on Faena, since the other planets were either too far away from their star
or, like Merc, Ven and Terr, had been incinerated by its rays. The Faetians
had nowhere to go if they fled from their own planet, if you discounted the
grim planet Mar, which was hardly capable of supporting life and had been
earmarked by the Dictator of the barbarians' continent as a place of exile
for roundheads. It turned out that the only means of purging the planet for
future generations might be war and war alone. Ave, however, affirmed that
the temperatures there were not as high as might be expected from its
proximity to Sol, its star. What was decisive was the carbon dioxide
content, which created the greenhouse effect, preventing the excess heat
radiation into space. This effect made it possible for life to develop on
Faena. On its horizon, the star rose solely as the brightest star, whereas
on Terr it must have been a blinding disc to look at. Ave held that if there
was less carbon dioxide than on Faena, there would be no greenhouse effect,
the superfluous heat could be dissipated and any life forms could develop on
its surface.
Ave's views were rejected by the experts as absurd. He became
disillusioned in the Elders of learning, in the teachings and in himself,
lost heart and began to pine away.
His father merely shrugged his shoulders. He would have preferred a son
more adapted to life, although he loved and pitied him.
And now Kutsi Merc was demanding a sacrifice... To carry out the task,
Dobr Mar must risk his son's life.
Kutsi Merc was certainly calculating that the Ruler would back down,
but he was mistaken. The Ruler, too, was cornered.
...As he remembered all this, Dobr Mar, "defender of the right and
culture", did not know what to do. He did not know how the operation on
Powermania was going to turn out. Would the crazy mission succeed? Would the
dangerous Kutsi Merc be eliminated, and would Ave survive?
Chapter Four
Every evening, when bright Jupi began shining over the Dread Wall,
Mother Lua conducted the alien Ave to her charge.
She kept watch for them with the hunchback, who always accompanied his
master. The nurse and the secretary did not get on very well with one
another. The hunchback was trying to get Mother Lua to take him somewhere,
but she was frightened.
One evening, Ave came into the garden looking downcast.
"What's the matter?" asked Mada in alarm.
Ave Mar confessed that he had to leave the Great Shore on the following
day. The travellers were not allowed to stay any longer near the Dictator's
palace. Kutsi had spotted that they were being trailed.
The young Faetians, as at their first tryst, were standing in the
shadow of the trees. Mada rested her head on Ave's breast and wept. He
stroked her hair, not knowing what to say. It was obvious that they loved
one another and could not bear to be apart.
Mada held her head back and looked up at Ave. His curly hair blotted
out the stars.
"Everything'll sort itself out," he said reassuringly. "We must use
certain of your father's oddities-his attachment to the old customs, for
instance. He refers in his teaching to the former monarchs; he even
remembers that intermarriage between the children of hostile kings used to
stave off war. I'm going to my father. I shall ask him to approach Yar Jupi
with an offer of alliance between us."
Mada shook her head.
"What? Get married now?" Ave had read her mind.
"Yes. Before you leave."
Mada said this firmly, almost imperiously.
"You mean tonight?" asked Ave, perplexed. "But who's capable of
marrying two polar opposites of hostility?"
Mada laughed, although her face was still wet with tears. Ave had an
odd way of putting things in a foreign language.
"You just don't know the ways of the Superiors. It's the roundheads
that need permission from the authorities to get married. But we longfaces
are free. Any of the Superiors whose age exceeds the combined ages of the
lovers can pronounce them man and wife."
"But where are we going to find such an elder? Ave is only a guest of
the Superiors."
"What does 'guest' mean? Are you helpless to find an answer?"
Ave flared up.
"I was a pupil of Dm Sat himself, the first Elder of learning on the
planet. He is old enough and he lives here."
"But he's a roundhead," said Mada disappointedly.
"Urn Sat has only just been proclaimed 'honorary longface' in
Powermania. He is equal to the Superiors amongst the Superiors."
Mada pushed Ave away from her, but clasped his hands in hers as she
looked adoringly up at him.
"Hurry to him! You're a true Faetian and you'll be able to convince
him."
Bowing low, the hunchback Kutsi Merc conducted the young Faetian into
Dm Sat's cell.
"Ave Mar? You have returned to your teacher?" said the Elder,
half-rising from his chair to greet them.
"Yes, I have-at a most difficult moment in my life."
"You speak as though it were a matter of life or death."
"No!" Ave vigorously shook his head. "Much more. A matter of
happiness!"
The Elder looked intently at his pupil's face.
"So that's it! But how can I help?"
"By using the rights bestowed on him by the Council of Blood, Dm Sat,
by the law of the Superiors, has the right to join together for all time Ave
Mar and she whom he loves more than life."
"The clear-thinking Ave Mar has chosen none other than the daughter of
Dictator Yar Jupi, the beautiful Mada, in spite of the obstacles,"
interposed Kutsi Merc in the flowery language of Powermania.
"What? Roundhead Sat is to use the rights of the oppressors?" The old
man was outraged.
"It is not just a matter of love," interposed Kutsi Merc again. "The
marriage of the son and daughter of the rulers of two continents will help
to avert a war... That is what Yar Jupi says in his teaching."
The cunning Kutsi knew how to convince Um Sat. The Elder became
thoughtful.
"He talks sensibly. Though burning with shame, I did not reject the
gift of the barbarians solely because I was thinking of how to avoid war."
"Then use your rights and help us to be happy!" responded Ave.
"What must I do?" asked the Elder.
"The ceremony is quite simple. Mada's nurse and Kutsi Merc will be the
witnesses."
"Is that enough?" The Elder was amazed.
"Yes, for the age of Um Sat exceeds the combined ages of the lovers,
and he has the right to join them in wedlock."
"So the man who created the doctrine of matter, the man who refuted the
religions of the past," said the Elder with a smile, "will have to perform
almost the function of an unworthy priest..."
"And, what is more, in the shrine of a former temple," interposed Kutsi
Merc.
"Then let the marriage truly serve peace and remain a secret for the
time being," decided the scientist. "The wedding will be announced when Ave
returns to Danjab. May it help the father to come to terms with Yar Jupi, if
the Dictator is really in the traditions of the ancient monarchs."
"So be it!" announced the hunchback.
"I will persuade my father. He's a politician and won't miss such a
chance," said Ave warmly in support. "However, the ceremony absolutely must
take place tonight."
"Why the hurry?" said Um Sat with a frown.
"Alas, travellers, even distinguished ones, cannot stay for long near
the Dictator's palace. Besides ... it was Mada's request."
"There is no Faetess more beautiful and intelligent! She thinks of
everything," commented Kutsi Merc.
"Well, then..." Um Sat shrugged his shoulders. "The shrine is empty.
And old men don't need such a lot of sleep."
Ave silently embraced his teacher. Um Sat gazed sadly at him for a long
time.
The Blood Door opened once again. Mother Lua, as usual, was waiting for
Ave and Kutsi in the half-ruined portico. The three of them went into the
ancient monastery garden, lit now by the faint light of Lua. The dangling
lianas didn't look like snakes any more, they suggested the cords of costly
curtains screening off the garden. The trees resembled colonnaded galleries.
There was a fragrance of rotting leaves and something strange and
gentle-perhaps the flowers that Yar Jupi used to grow with such passion.
Mada was waiting for her beloved and rushed to meet him as soon as he
walked through the Blood Door.
"Has he agreed?"
"Urn Sat has so far created reactions of disintegration, but now (may
Kutsi Merc be forgiven for this!) he will have to accomplish the opposite,"
joked the hunchback, and he grinned, but quickly changed the grin into an
ingratiating smile.
It had grown dark in the garden. The silver light had faded. Lightning
began flashing beyond the outer wall, casting dense black shadows onto the
shrubbery. One of the trees seemed to leap out of the darkness and blaze up,
its white bark shining.
A bellowing noise came from somewhere far away. It was as if an
enormous, lumbering machine had gone out of control and had finally plunged
down into an abyss, deafening and blinding all like a disintegration blast.
Mada huddled closer to Ave.
It was now totally dark; the avenue colonnades and the tree with the
white bark had disappeared.
"What a thunderstorm!" whispered Mada ecstatically.
"We'll be soaked as we go round the Dread Wall to the Temple of
Eternity," observed the hunchback.
"Should we put it off till tomorrow, perhaps?" asked Ave cautiously.
"Never!" exclaimed Mada. "Are we going to be stopped by the thunder of
heaven? As for the rain wetting our clothes, my nanny can take care of
them."
"Of our clothes?" inquired Kutsi Merc. He held out his hand and felt
the first raindrops fall on to his palm. "Yes, she'll have to take care of
them."
"I can do without that care," grumbled Mother Lua. "I'd do better to
take you there under cover."
"What d'you mean?" asked Kutsi Merc, suddenly on the alert.
"It's all quite simple," explained Mada. "An old underground passage
leads from here to the Temple of Eternity. The priests used it once, but now
we're going to walk along it. Nanny knows everything and will open the doors
as we come to them."
"Does the passage run from the garden?" inquired Kutsi.
"Yes, we can go into it not far from here. Nanny will show us."
The rain began, a downpour from the start. They all ran, stumbling over
the tree roots. Lua went in front, with Kutsi, Mada and Ave following on
behind.
"This way! It's no darker here than outside. The old passage isn't much
to look at. I'm sorry to say," said Mother Lua as she led them further.
"Still, it's better than in the rain," responded Kutsi.
Ave could smell the damp. When he touched the wall, it was wet and
sticky. With the other hand he tightly squeezed Mada's fingers.
"Wait," came Lua's voice from in front. "I must make an effort."
"Does the good lady need a hand in lifting something?"
"I must concentrate."
It turned out that Mother Lua had to use will-power to open a certain
door that would obey her brain biocurrents.
The young Faetians saw a bright rectangle in front of them, with Lua
and Kutsi sharply silhouetted against it.
Mada and Ave went into a spacious underground, plastic-lined corridor.
"Aha!" said Kutsi Merc. "The ancient priests knew their materials."
"We turn left for the Temple of Eternity."
Kutsi Merc stopped and felt a thick cable in red braiding.
Mada firmly squeezed Ave's fingers in her little hand.
The footsteps of the Faetians rang under the low ceiling.
Ave looked back suspiciously to where the corridor made a turn. The
light that had automatically come on when they appeared had already gone
out.
Twice the Faetians were confronted by a blank wall, and each time, in
response to Mother Lua's mental command, the barrier disappeared to let them
pass through.
"I wouldn't like to be left here without our companion," commented
Kutsi Merc.
"Has the visitor from Danjab no more to say than that?" said Lua
reproachfully.
The secret passage had branches, but Lua confidently walked past them,
leading the others along a route with which she was thoroughly familiar.
Finally, she stopped again before a blank wall and looked intently into
the centre of a spiral ornament. This was enough for the wall to divide, and
Lua let the young Faetians go first with Kutsi Merc, then went into the
familiar shrine herself.
Mada huddled closer to Ave. She had not been scared of going along the
underground passage, but the ancient temple with its shrine and a roof that
disappeared into unseen heights had a disturbing effect on her imagination.
Something stirred in the semidarkness and a voice rang out:
"I welcome the happy ones! I guessed that because of the bad weather
you would use the tunnel by which the Dictator of Power-mania came to the
session."
Mada Jupi looked in agitation at the tall figure of the great Elder of
learning, who was standing on a dais. She thought of the High Priest of the
temple who used to deliver his invocations from that spot. And his voice had
echoed under the dark vaults then as now, when Um Sat began addressing the
young Faetians.
The Elder of learning tactfully performed a rudimentary wedding
ceremony, ending it with the words:
"So be it!"
His voice echoed and re-echoed in the depths of the shrine, as if the
ancient priests were chanting the responses.
Then Um Sat embraced each of the young Faetians and wished them
happiness.
Ave wanted to take his leave of Mada, but Kutsi intervened, exchanging
significant glances with Mother Lua.
"Isn't it worth going by the underground passage so as to see the young
bride off? She will let us out through the Blood Door."
"Through our Blood Door!" said Mada, looking at Ave.
Mother Lua stood meekly beside Kutsi, as if entirely dependent on him.
And again Ave acted apparently of his own volition, expressing his
willingness to go by the underground passage.
Mother Lua heaved a sigh. She had devoted her whole life to ensure that
Mada took after her mother and not her father. What lay in store for the
girl?..
Kutsi Merc was content and did not hide it.
Chapter Five
Yar Alt, Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard, was proud that, on his
coming-of-age, his strength of character had earned him the name of his
maternal uncle, Yar Jupi himself.
He lived up to his nickname in the contingents of the Blood Guard, to
which he had been appointed by the Dictator. Coarse, hot-tempered, ready to
strike and even to kill, he despised the views of others and could not bear
objections.
That was why the Dictator had given him the more important assignments.
And it had certainly not been by chance that Yar Alt had met on board ship
the son of Danjab's Ruler arriving with his secretary. Camouflaging himself
with the rudeness typical of the security officers, he had been "checking"
the new arrivals, having decided not to let them out of sight.
Finally, as Yar Alt had been expecting, the young Faetians and their
companions entered the shrine through a gap in the wall.
During the improvised wedding ceremony under the temple vaults, apart
from the nanny and the secretary, there had been one invisible witness. He
had been unable to suppress a groan, as if echoing, like the officiating
priests, the Elder's cry:
"So be it!"
Yar Alt had failed to win "full psycho-life contact" from Mada, while
this foreign half-breed had achieved it without effort. In the depths of his
soul, Yar Alt considered that he could have become a totally different
Faetian if his love had been reciprocated. Tenderness, sensitivity and
goodness would have blossomed in him if the beautiful long-face of his
choice had not responded to him with proud disdain. That was why Yar Alt had
come to hate the world.
And now, in fear and shame at having groaned aloud, he kept himself in
hand so as to carry out his duty.
He waited until Mother Lua led the newly-weds and the hunchback into
the secret passage, watched as Um Sat retired to his cell, and only after
that did he risk going to the hidden door. He strained all his will as he
ordered the wall to divide. And he sighed with relief. The wall parted to
form an opening. Yar Alt dived through it.
The criminals shouldn't have gone far. The biocurrents of the Supreme
Officer of the Blood Guard were effective. He would find the intruders while
they were still underground and not give them a chance to shelter in the
palace.
He ran along the passage, but the cursed lamps were coming on and going
out again of their own accord. He stopped, realising that they would give
him away. All it needed was for one of the party to look round...
If only the lovers could have suspected what they were walking past!
The galleries of the Central Console! The heart of the disintegration war!
Why hadn't the alarm gone off? Or was it all because of the brain
biocurrents of the roundhead woman whom the automatic machines recognised as
friendly, just as they recognised him, the Supreme Officer of the Blood
Guard?
So reasoned Yar Alt as he hurried in pursuit of the departing group.
Suddenly, he stopped abruptly.
To one side, a gallery sloped steeply downwards; along it ran a cable
in red braiding. It seemed to Yar Alt that the light had just gone out in
this gallery, which certainly didn't lead to the Dictator's palace. Had the
hunchback turned off for the Central Console? Why?
Yar Alt caught his breath. Enemies were sneaking up to the Console! It
was not just a matter of purity of blood, but of a threat to the whole of
Powermania!
Without another thought, Yar Alt also turned off into the gallery and
ran headlong down the slope. He was blocked by a blank wall. The light
switched itself on and a spiral, the symbol of the Superiors, became visible
on the smooth surface.
Yar Alt had never been here before and did not know whether he would be
able to open the door in the Wall. Terror and fury made the force of his
gaze ten times stronger as he fixed it on the spiral. The moment before the
automatic machines began working seemed agonisingly long. But the Wall
divided. His status as Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard had helped. The
biocurrents of his brain were familiar to these machines too.
Yar Alt rushed through the gap.
After a short while, he saw the secretary and the nanny walking ahead
of him.
He drew a pistol loaded with poisoned bullets. Even a light scratch
would stun a man.
Without warning, Yar Alt fired at the hunchback from behind. Kutsi
started, but stayed on his feet. The bullet had ricocheted off his hump into
the wall.
Alt fired again and yet again. The shock of the bullets threw the
secretary onto his knees this time.
Yar Alt slowly walked up, waiting for his enemy to breathe his last.
But the other, who was lying on his back, suddenly kicked the weapon
out of Yar Alt's hand. It clattered over the flagstones.
Alt flung himself on the enemy as he struggled to get up and tried to
pin the hunchback down to the floor.
Kutsi Merc was unarmed. He had intentionally not brought a weapon with
him, anticipating possible searches which could have ruined his whole plan.
Endowed with exceptional strength, he would easily have coped with a lighter
opponent had it not been for the heavy burden on his back.
Yar Alt drew a long stiletto that served him as a personal antenna in
the Blood Guard communications system. Embracing the hunchback with one arm
and breathing heavily into his face, he drove the stiletto into his back.
But the point slid over something solid, slitting the cloth.
Yar Alt thought only of bullet-proof armour and of nothing else. This
spelled disaster, and not only for him.
Almost without hope of success, Yar Alt stabbed his foe in the chest.
Strange to say, the hunchback had no frontal armour. The stiletto went
straight into Kutsi's heart. His grip loosened and he fell backwards. A pool
of blood spread over the stones.
Yar Alt jumped to his feet and prodded the hunchback with his foot.
Only then did he turn to Mother Lua.
But she was not there. She had snatched up Alt's pistol and disappeared
during the brief struggle so as to warn Mada and save her life.
Yar Alt ran forward and immediately came up against the blank Wall. He
fixed a malignant glare on the centre of the spiral, but it never budged.
Yar Alt realised that Mother Lua was standing on the other side of the door
and by effort of will was commanding the door not to open. That was why the
automatic machines were not reacting to his own command!
A struggle began between Yar Alt and Mother Lua. Separated by a solid
barrier, they glared furiously at the centres of the two spirals. The
programmed machines were paralysed by the opposing wills.
Yar Alt was bathed in drops of sweat and his lips were flecked with
foam.
It had been easier to kill Kutsi Merc than to cope with this damned
witch. He knew that she composed forbidden songs. Her kind had once been
burned at the stake.
Finally, the Wall shuddered and parted to leave a gap, but slammed shut
again. Yar Alt just managed to catch sight of the nanny. Fortunately, it
hadn't occurred to her to shoot at him. At the mere thought of this, Yar
Alt's skin crawled. He had not noticed how exhausted she had been.
The Wall shuddered and was still by turns. Yar Alt ground his teeth.
Mother Lua's mistake had suggested a plan of action. He wanted very little
now: it was for a gap to open for only a fraction of a second. He himself
would not, of course, be in front of it.
The perspiration streamed into his eyes. In a wild frenzy, he continued
drilling the centre of the spiral with his eyes, commanding the Wall to
open. He made ready, drawing his left arm back in order to throw the
stiletto.
Mother Lua was almost losing consciousness. Her arms hung helplessly by
her sides. She knew her own life and that of her favourite depended on her
will-power.
The nanny swayed. The Wall opened just a little way. Yar Alt waited for
the right moment and hurled his stiletto through the gap. It pierced the
roundhead woman in the throat. Her eyes went blank and the Wall divided.
Yar Alt jumped over the fallen nanny. He tugged the stiletto out of her
throat and started racing down the corridor. After a few strides he suddenly
realised that he had not retrieved his pistol from Mother Lua. He was about
to go back, but changed his mind, hurrying to catch up with Ave Mar and
Mada. The traitress who had led the evildoer towards the Central Console had
already received her deserts!
Yar Alt ran along the underground passage and the lighting went on as
he approached and went out again behind him.
The Wall directly before the palace barred his way once again, but
opened as soon as he glanced at the spiral.
He was now in the palace. The monastery building, reconstructed for the
Dictator, still bore the features of the old architecture. Low vaulted
ceilings, slit windows from floor to ceiling.
The rooms were sumptuously decorated for ceremonial assemblies that
were no longer held for fear that the Dictator might be assassinated.
Yar Alt knew how to get through to Mada's chambers. Subtle taste and a
woman's hand had completely transformed the austere cells and oratories. Yar
Alt burst into one that had been decorated with pale blue fabric and silver
cords, and it was there that he found Ave and Mada.
Mada was doing her hair. Beside herself with fury, she turned round and
stamped her foot.
"How dare you burst in on me, you despicable robot of the Guard?"
Yar Alt showered Mada with threats.
"Silence, you boor!" exploded the furious Ave Mar, drawing himself up
to his full height.
Mada shielded him with her body.
"Get out of here, you filthy robot! You're not worth a hair of my
husband's head!"
"Husband?" Yar Alt bellowed with offensive laughter. "They are no
longer alive, the unscrupulous witnesses of your ignominious ceremony under
cover of which the enemies of the Superiors planned to wipe out our
continent!"
"Blood on your hands and slander on your tongue-that is all you stand
for! What can you know of goodness, love and nobility?"
Yar Alt pushed Mada roughly out of the way and hurled himself with his
stiletto on the unarmed Ave. The other fended him off with a kick. As he
fell, Alt seized hold of Mada and tried to stab her.
Ave Mar gripped his arm and twisted it so that the weapon tore Yar
Alt's own tunic.
Yar Alt was an experienced fighter. Ave Mar was an experienced athlete.
They locked in combat, rolling about the ancient oratory and leaving a trail
of bloodstains on the carpet.
Mada stared transfixed and could not tell whose blood it was. Ave Mar's
face was smeared all over with it.
Yar Alt stabbed Ave several times, but could not draw his hand far back
enough for the fatal blow. Ave Mar sprang to his feet, seized a heavy chair
and hurled it at his opponent. The other tried to dodge it, but a leg caught
him on the head and he fell onto the floor. He nevertheless managed to draw
back the stiletto, taking aim for a throw at Mada.
Ave Mar struck Yar Alt on the temple. His enemy was flung backwards,
but threw out his legs and locked them round Ave's ankles. Turning with a
jerk, he threw Ave to the floor, then, getting up onto his knees, raised the
stiletto. Ave knocked the weapon out of his hand.
Two shots rang out in succession. Mother Lua crawled through the door,
a pistol dancing in her hand. Yar Alt reached for his stiletto again to
finish Ave off.
Mada rushed to Lua, snatched the weapon out of her failing hand and
pressed the firing button. Yar Alt jerked convulsively, slumped, and lay
still.
"He loaded it with poisoned bullets himself," gasped Mother Lua. "My
dear, what will become of you?.."
Ave Mar rose to his feet and, breathing heavily, looked in amazement at
the body of his adversary and at the unperturbed Mada. But she suddenly
threw the pistol aside with revulsion.
"Blood! Blood!" she said in despair. "Now there can only be death. They
will tear you to pieces, my husband. No one will believe it was I who did
this."
Ave Mar himself couldn't believe it as he stared in bewilderment at his
bloodstained hands.
Chapter Six
Mada Jupi was, of course, a pampered child. Her every wish was
fulfilled, she was glorified and bowed down to. But she had nevertheless not
become spoiled and capricious, or incapable of doing anything but give
orders. Mother Lua, who preserved the wisdom of the people, had managed
after the death of Mada's mother to inspire the girl with the idea of equal
rights for all Faetians, whatever their outward appearance. Restrained,
always calm. Mother Lua had the rare talent of the story-teller and an
innate gift of influencing the minds of others. In another country, at
another time. Mother Lua would have been the pride of the people; but on the
barbarian continent of Power-mania's Superiors she was only a nanny-true, of
the Dictator's daughter. She had always held up the girl's own mother as an
example, convincing her that the daughter should follow suit.
Mada grew up resembling her mother, but she also took after her father
to some extent. Perhaps in her ability to love and hate to extremes.
Consequently, the meeting with Ave swept her right off her feet. She fell in
love, and a soft tenderness was combined with ruthless determination, and
bewilderment with irrepressible daring. She had shot Yar Alt as if he were a
mad beast, yet she was dismayed at the sight of his body.
The nanny was dying. Mada kneeled in front of her, listening as she
whispered something almost inaudible.
"Nanny is talking about her son. And she says that Yar Alt murdered
Kutsi."
"Where? How?"
But Mother Lua could not say any more. Her strength had ebbed away. No
efforts on Mada's part were of any avail, neither the kiss of life nor heart
massage. The nanny's eyes closed and her body stretched out The hand that
Mada had been holding began to turn cold. There was no pulse any more.
"It's the end," said Mada, and she burst into tears.
Ave now saw his companion as a weak and helpless girl. Like a child,
she shook her nurse, kissed her cold hands and tried to wake her up.
Finally she turned her tear-stained face to Ave.
"My nanny is dead. She was so kind and clever! And we are finished."
And she glanced at Yar Alt's contorted body. "Just think! He was my cousin."
"Maybe we should try and help him!"
Mada shuddered.
"The bullets were poisoned. I don't know how my poor nanny came by his
pistol." She began sobbing again.
Ave decided that he must do something. He lifted up the dead Alt, who
had stiffened in his last convulsions, and carried him into a corner of the
room behind the curtains.
Mada stood up determinedly and threw her head back.
"It's no use. The Guards will be here soon, and then my father." She
picked Alt's pistol up off the floor. "Forgive me for taking charge of our
last step. There is no need to fire a bullet. One scratch is enough. Death
will be instant. We shall hold hands with a bullet in our palms. We shall
leave this world in which there is no happiness for us."
Ave looked into her face: determination in her was struggling with
despair.
Mada took the last round out of the pistol. The bullet was silvery and
its sharp prickles were brown where the poisonous coating had been applied.
Ave resolutely gripped Mada's hand.
"No! Faetians don't give in so easily. We can still renounce life, but
happiness... No!"
"There is no happiness in this world," replied Mada.
"Show me the way into the garden," said Ave masterfully, "and then
through the Blood Door."
"You think we can flee somewhere? Dawn is near, the last in our life.
Can you hear the birds singing? I shall follow you because you are my
husband. But we shall take the prickly bullet with us. It will be a safe
protection for us."
"Lead the way," urged Ave.
Mada looked at him curiously. Until now, she had thought herself the
stronger.
They carried Lua's body to a couch and Mada spread over it a pale blue
coverlet from her bed. Then she showed Ave a low door leading into a narrow
passage that ended in a steep ladder.
Just before dawn, the garden had changed completely. A silvery cloud
had filled the avenues, hiding the bushes and tree-trunks from view. It
seemed to Ave that he and Mada were walking into another world above the
clouds. He clasped her slender hand more tightly.
The quivering mist at their feet seemed treacherous, weightless and yet
dense. It was as if there might be water under it one moment and an abyss
the next.
Mada stepped fearlessly into the swirling mist and took Ave with her.
The obedient Blood Door opened in front of her.
A dense mist had enveloped the ruins of the old shrine under the Dread
Wall. As they walked breast-high through the cloud that lay on the stones,
Ave and Mada seemed to be fording a river of foam.
Mada knew the way. They came surprisingly soon to the black building of
the Temple of Eternity. Ave thought that the unfortunate Kutsi must have led
them the long way round. Poor wretch! It cost Ave an effort to restrain
himself; he did not even allow himself a sigh, but he felt sorry for the
man.
Ave despised his own habitual changes of mood. But now he was firm and
knew what had to be done. That was why he was taking Mada to Um Sat.
The Elder was astounded when he saw the newly-weds on the threshold of
his cell once again.
He gave Mada a seat in an armchair opposite the table at which he had