by John Norman
Samos then held up his left hand. Slowly, not speaking, he pointed in successionto four fingers. He then held the small finger of his left hand in his righthand. "Tal," he said. Then he held up the index finger of his right hand. "Tal," he said again.
Then, slowly, the smaller of the two creatures began to move. I felt goosepimples. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
It turned about and bent down, and picked up a large shield, of a sort adequatefor such a creature. It lifted this before us, displaying it, horizontally,convex side down. We could see that the shield straps were in order. It thenplaced the shield on the floor, to the side of the table, to their left. It thenwent back and again bent down. This time it brought forth a mighty spear, sometwelve feet in length, with a long, tapering bronze head. This, with two hands,holding it horizontally, across its body, it also displayed, lifting itceremoniously upwards and towards us, and then drawing it back. It then put thespear down, laying it on the floor, to their left. The shaft of the spear wassome three inches in diameter. The bronze head might have weighed some twentypounds.
"They honor us," said Samos.
"As we did them," I said.
The symbolism of the creatures action, the lifting of weapons, and then thesetting aside of them, was clear. This action also, of course, was in accordwith the common Gorean convention in proposing a truce. That the creatures hadseen fit to utilize this convention, one of humans, was clear. I found this awelcome accommodation on their part. They seemed concerned to be congenial. Iwondered what they wanted. To be sure, however, it was only the lighter colored,and smaller, of the two creatures, that with rings in its ears, which hadperformed these actions. It might, indeed, be, for most practical purposes, adiplomat. The larger creature, the Blood, had stood by, unmoving. Yet clearlythese actions had been performed in its presence. This, then, was sufficientevidence of their acceptance on its part. I noted, the sort of thing a warriornotes, that the spear had been placed to their left, and that its head, too, wasoriented to their left. It was thus placed, and oriented, in such a way that theBlood, which stood on the left, from their point of view, if it favored theright hand, or paw, as most such creatures do, rather like humans, could easilybend down and seize it up.
"I see they have not come to surrender," said Samos.
"No," I said. The shield straps, which had been displayed to us with the shield,the shield held convex side down, bad not been torn away or cut, which wouldhave rendered the shield useless. Similarly the shaft of the spear had not beenbroken. They had not come to surrender.
The lips of the smaller of the two creatures drew back, exposing the fangs.
Samos stepped back. His hand went to the hilt of his sword.
"No," I said to him, quietly. "It is trying to imitate a human smile."
The creature then detached, from the broad strap, which hung diagonally aboutits body, from its right shoulder to the left hip, an instrumented, metallic,oblong, boxlike device, which it placed on the table.
"It is a translator," I said to Samos. I had seen one in a complex; some yearsearlier, in the north.
"I do not trust such creatures," said Samos.
"Some of them specially trained," I said, "can understand Gorean."
"Oh," said Samos.
The smaller of the two creatures turned to the larger. It said something to him.
The speech of such creatures resembles a succession of snarls, growls, rasps andthroaty vibrations. The noises emitted are clearly animal noises, and, indeed,such as might naturally be associated with a large and powerful, predatorycarnivore; yet, on the other hand, there is a liquidity, and a precision andsubtlety about them which is unmistakable; one realizes, often uneasily, thatwhat one is listening to is a language.
The larger one inclined its huge, shaggy head, and then lifted it. The tips oftwo long, curved fangs, in the position of the upper canines, protruded slightlyfrom its closed mouth. It watched us.
The smaller of the two creatures then busied itself with the device on thetable.
Lowering the head is an almost universal assent gesture, in dictating submissionto, or agreement with, the other. The dissent gesture, on the other hand, showsmuch greater variety. Shaking the head sideways, among rational creatures, maybe taken as a negation of assent. Other forms of the nonassent gesture can beturning the head away from the other, sometimes with a gesture of the lips,indicating distaste, or even of ejecting an unwanted. Substance from the mouth,backing away, or lifting the head and extending the neck, sometimes baring thefangs and tensing the body, as in a variation on the bristling response.
"To be sure," I said, "it is extremely difficult for them to speak Gorean, oranother human language." It was difficult for them, of course, given the natureof their oral cavity, throat, tongue, lips and teeth, to produce human phonemes.
They can, however, sometimes in a horrifying way, approximate them. I shuddered.
I had, once or twice, heard such creatures speaking Gorean. It had beendisconcerting to hear human speech, or something resembling human speech,emanating from such a source. I was just as pleased that we had a translator atour disposal.
"Look," said Samos.
"I see," I said.
A small, conical, red light began to glow on the top of the machine.
The slighter of the two monsters then drew itself up. It began to speak.
We understood, initially, of course, nothing of what it said. We listened to it,not moving, in the dim, pale-yellowish, flickering light of the unshuttered darklantern, amidst the dark, dancing shadows in that abandoned tam complex.
I remember noting the glinting of the golden rings in its ears, and themoistness of saliva about its dark lips and on its fangs.
"I am Kog," came from the translator. "I am below the rings. With me is Sardak,who is within the rings. I speak on behalf of the Peoples, and the chieftains ofthe Peoples, those who stand above the rings. I bring you greetings from theDominants, and from the Conceivers and Carriers. No greetings do I bring youfrom those unworthy of the rings, from the discounted ones, the unnamed andcraven ones. Similarly no greetings do I bring you from our domestic animals,those who are human and otherwise. In short, honor do I do unto you, bringingyou greetings from those who are entitled to extend greetings, and bringing youno greetings from those unworthy to give greetings. Thus, then, do I bring yougreetings on behalf of the Peoples, on behalf of the ships, and the SteelWorlds. Thus, then, do I bring you greetings on behalf of the cliffs of thethousand tribes." These words, and word groups, came forth from the translator,following intervals between the creature's inputs. They are produced in a flat,mechanical fashion. The intonation contours, as well as meaningful tonalqualities, pitches and stresses, from which one can gather so much in livingspeech, unfortunately, tend to be absent or only randomly correlated in such aformal, desiccated output. Similarly the translation, it seems, is oftenimperfect, or, at least, awkward and choppy. Indeed, it takes a few momentsbefore one can begin to follow the productions of such a machine coherently but,once this adjustment is made, there is little difficulty in comprehending thegist of what is being conveyed. In my presentation of the machine's output Ihave, here and there, taken certain liberties. In particular I have liberalizedcertain phrasings and smoothed out various grammatical irregularities. On theother hand, given the fact that I am conveying this material in English, at tworemoves from the original, I think that the above translation and what follows,is not only reasonably adequate in a literal sense, but also conveys something,at least, of the flavor of the original. On the other hand, I do not claim tounderstand all aspects of the translation. For example, I am unclear on the ringstructure and on the significance of the references to tribal cliffs.
"I think, Samos," I said, "You are expected to respond."
"I am Samos," said Samos, "and I thank you for your cordial and welcomesalutations."
Fascinated, Samos and I listened to what was, with one exception, a successionof rumbling, throaty utterances eman
ating from the machine. The machineapparently accepted and registered Gorean phonemes, and then scanned thephonemic input for those phoneme combinations, which expressed Gorean cognitiveunits, or morphemes. In this way, morphemes, per se, or linguistic cognitiveunits, at least as comprehended units, do not occur in the machine. With a humantranslator sound is processed, and understood morphemically, which understandingis then reprocessed into the new phonemic structures. With the machine thecorrelation is simply between sound structures, simpliciter, and it is theauditor who supplies the understanding. To be sure, a linguistic talent of nomean degree is required to design and program such a device. We did hear oneGorean word in the translation. That was the name "Samos'. When the machineencounters a phoneme or phonemic combination, which is not correlated with aphoneme or phoneme combination in the new language it presents the originalinput as a portion of the new output. For example, if one were to utter nonsensesyllables into the device the same nonsense syllables, unless an accident or acoincidence occurred, would be played back.
The creatures, then, heard the name of Samos. Whether they could pronounce it ornot, or how close they could come to pronounce it, would depend on the sound andon the capacity of their own vocal apparatus. This is different; it should benoted, with the names of the two creatures, "Kog' and "Sardak'. These names weregiven in Gorean phonemes, not in the phonemes of the creatures' own language. Inthis case, of course, this made it clear that these two names, at least, hadbeen programmed into the machine. The machine, doubtless, had been altered to beof aid to two particular individuals in some particular mission. PresumablySamos and I could not have pronounced the actual names of the creatures. "Kog' and "Sardak', however, doubtless correlated in some fashion, given some type ofphonemic transcription found acceptable by the creatures, with their actualnames. There was probably, at least, a syllabial correlation.
"I bring you greetings," said Samos, "from the Council of Captains, of Port Kar,Jewel of Gleaming Thassa."
I saw the lips of the two creatures draw back. 1, too, smiled. Samos wascautious, indeed. What would the Council of Captains know of such creatures, orof the warrings among worlds? He had not identified himself as being among theparty of those forces arrayed against the ravaging, concupiscent imperialism ofour savage colleagues. I myself, whereas I had served Priest-Kings, did notregard myself as being of their party. My lance, in such matters, so to speak,was free. I would choose my own wars, my own ventures.
"I bring you greetings, too," said Samos, "from the free men of Port Kar. I donot bring you greetings, of course, from those who are unworthy to greet you,for example, from our slaves, who are nothing, and who labor for us, and whom weuse for our sport and pleasure."
Kog briefly inclined his head. I thought Samos had done rather well. Slaves onGor are domestic animals, of course. A trained sleen in a sleen market willusually bring a higher price than even a beautiful girl sold naked in a slavemarket. This is doubtless a function of supply and demand. Beautiful femaleslaves are generally cheap on Gor, largely as a result of captures andbreedings. It is not unusual, in most cities, for a prize tarsk to bring ahigher price than a girl. The girls understand this, clearly, and it helps themto understand their place in the society.
"I speak on behalf of the Peoples, on behalf of the Steel Worlds," said Kog.
"Do you speak on behalf of all the Peoples, on behalf of all the Steel Worlds?" asked Samos.
"Yes," said Kog.
"Do you speak on behalf of all of those of the Peoples, of all of those of theSteel Worlds?" asked Samos. This, I thought, was an interesting question. Itwas, of course, subtly different from the preceding question. We knew thatdivisions as to tactics, if not ultimate objectives, existed among parties ofsuch creatures. We had learned this in the Tahari.
"Yes," said Kog, unhesitantly.
When Kog had made his response to the question I was, by intent, watching nothim but the other of the two creatures. Yet I saw no flicker of doubt oruneasiness in his eyes, nor any incipient lifting of the broad ears. It did,however, draw its lips back slightly, observing my attention. It had apparentlyfound my attempt to read its behavioral cues amusing.
"Do you speak on behalf of Priest-Kings?" asked Kog.
"I cannot," said Samos.
"That is interesting," said Kog.
"If you would speak with Priest-Kings," said Samos, "you must go to the Sardar."
"What are Priest-Kings?" asked Kog.
"I do not know," said Samos.
Such creatures, I gathered, had no clear idea of the nature of Priest- Kings.
They had not directly experienced Priest-Kings, only the power of Priest-Kings.
Like burned animals they were wary of them. Priest- Kings, wisely, did notchoose to directly confront such creatures. Not a little of the hesitancy andtentativeness of the militaristic incursions of such creatures was, I suspected,a function of their ignorance of, and fear of, the true nature and power of theremote and mysterious denizens of the Sardar. If such creatures should come toclearly understand the nature of the Priest-Kings, and the current restrictionson their power, in virtue of the catastrophic Nest War, I had little doubt butwhat the attack signals would be almost immediately transmitted to the steelworlds. In weeks the silver ships would beach on the shores of Gor.
"We know the nature of Priest-Kings," said Kog. "They are much like ourselves."
"I do not know," said Samos.
"They must be," said Kog, "or they could not be a dominant life form."
"Perhaps," said Samos. "I do not know."
The larger of the two creatures, during this exchange, was watching me. I smiledat him. Its ears twitched with annoyance. Then again it was as it had been,regal, savage, distant, unmoving and alert.
"Can you speak on behalf of the men of the two worlds?" asked Kog. This was areference, doubtless, to the Earth and, Gor.
"No," said Samos.
"But you are a man," said Kog.
"I am only one man," said Samos.
"Their race has not yet achieved species unification," said the larger of thetwo creatures, to his fellow. His remark, of course, was picked up by thetranslator and processed, as though it had been addressed to us.
"That is true," said Kog. I wondered, hearing this, beasts, either, had achievedspecies unification. I was inclined to doubt it. Such creatures, beingterritorial, individualistic and aggressive, much like men, would not be likelyto find the bland idealisms of more vegetative organisms interesting, attractiveor practical, Logical, and terrible, they would not be likely to find thefallacy of the single virtue, the hypothesis of social reductivism, alluring.
All creatures are not the same, nor is it necessary that they should be. Junglesmay be as appealing to nature as gardens. Leopards and wolves are aslegitimately ingredient in the order of nature as spaniels and potatoes. Speciesunification, I suspected, would prove not to be a blessing, but a trap and abane, a pathology and curse, a societal sanitarium in which the great and strongwould be reduced to, or must pretend to be reduced to, the level of theblinking, the cringing, the creeping and the tiny. To be sure, values areinvolved here, and one must make decisions. It is natural that the small andweak will make one decision, and the large and strong another. There is nosingle humanity, no single shirt, no correct pair of shoes, no uniform, even agray one that will fit all men. There are a thousand humanities possible. He whodenies this sees only his own horizons. He who disagrees is the denier ofdifference, and the murderer of the better futures.
"It is unfortunate," said Sardak, speaking to Kog, "that they have not achievedspecies unification. Else, once the Priest-Kings are disposed of, it would beeasier to herd them to our cattle pens."
"That is true," said Kog.
What Sardak said seemed to me, too, likely to be true. Highly centralizedstructures are the most easily undermined and subverted. Cutting one strand ofsuch a web can unravel a world. One hundred and eighty-three men once conqueredan empire.
"Can you speak on behal
f of the Council of Captains, of Port Kar?" asked Kog.
"Only on matters having to do with Port Kar, and then after a decision of thecouncil, taken after consultation," said Samos. This was not exactly correct,but it was substantially correct. It seemed to me a suitable answer, under thecircumstances. The creatures, of course, would not be familiar with councilprocedures.
"You do, however, have certain executive powers, do you not?" inquired Kog. Iadmired the creatures. Clearly they had researched their mission.
"Yes," said Samos, guardedly, "but they are not likely to be involved in mattersof the sort with which we are here likely to be concerned."
"I understand," said Kog. "On behalf of whom, then, do you speak?"
"I speak," said Samos, rather boldly I thought, "on behalf of Samos, of PortKar, on behalf of myself."
Kog snapped off the translator and turned to Sardak. They conversed for a momentin their own tongue. Kog then snapped the translator back on. This time, almostinstantly, the small, conical red light began to glow.
"It is sufficient," said Kog.
Samos stepped back a bit.
Kog turned away, then, to a leather tube and, with his large, furred, tentaclelike digits, with their blunted claws, removed the cap from this tube.
I suspected that the two creatures did not believe Samos when he protested tothem that he could speak only on behalf of himself. At the least they would becertain that he would be significantly involved in the affairs of Priest-Kings.
They would seem to have little alternative, then, to dealing with him.
From the long, leather tube, Kog removed what appeared to be a large piece ofclosely rolled, soft-tanned hide. It was very light in color, almost white, andtied with string. There was a slight smell of smoke about it, probably from thesmoke of the turl bush. Such hides may be waterproofed by suspending them from,and wrapping them about, a small tripod of sticks, this set over a small fire onwhich, to produce the desiderated smoke, the leaves and branches of the turlbush are heavily strewn.
Kog placed the roll of hide on the table. It was not rawhide, but soft-tannedhide, as I have suggested. In preparing rawhide the skin, suitably fleshed, ispegged down and dried in the wind and sun. The hide may then, without furtherado, be worked and cut. This product, crude and tough, may be used for suchthings as shields, cases and ropes. Softening a hide, on the other hand, is amuch more arduous task. In soft tanning, the fleshed hide must be saturated withfats, and with oils and grease, usually from the brains of animals. These arerubbed into the hide, and worked into it, usually with a soft flat stone. Thehide is then sprinkled with warm water and tightly rolled, after which it is putaside, away from the sun and heat, for a few days. This gives the time necessaryfor the softening ingredients, such as the fats and oils, to fully penetrate theleather. The skin is then unrolled and by rubbing, kneading and stretching,hand-softened over a period of hours. The resulting product ranges from tan tocreamy white, and may be worked and cut as easily as cloth.