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of symbols, sat behind the desk.
This was Shegnif, the Grand Vizier.
A moment later, Ghlikh was ushered into the room by an officer. He was grinning, and part of this
pleasure undoubtedly originated in relief at the unbinding of his wings. Part of his pleasure also came from
anticipation of humiliation, and worse, for Ulysses.
Shegnif asked Ulysses some questions in a voice deep even for the thunderous-throated Neshgai.
Ulysses answered them without hesitation and truthfully. They were mainly requests for his name, where
he came from, were there others like him, and so on. But when he said that he came from another time,
perhaps ten million years ago, and that a lightning stroke had "depetrified" him, and that he had come here
through The Tree itself, Shegnif seemed to be struck with a lightning bolt himself. Ghlikh did not like this
reaction; he lost his grin and began to shift uneasily on his big bony feet.
After a long silence broken only by the stomach rumblings of the three Neshgai, Shegnif removed his
great round spectacles and polished them with a cloth the size of a large throw rug. He put them back on
and bent over his desk to look at the human standing before him.
"Either you are a liar," he said, "or an agent of The Tree. Or, just possibly, you are telling the truth."
He spoke to Ghlikh. "Tell me, Batwings. Is he telling the truth?"
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Ghlikh seemed to shrink within himself. He looked at Ulysses and then back to Shegnif. It was obvious
that he could not make up his mind whether to denounce Ulysses as a liar or to admit that his story was
true. He would want to discredit the human, but if he tried and failed, then he would be discredited.
Perhaps being discredited among the Neshgai meant death, which would account for the sweat over his
body in this cool morning.
"Well?" Shegnif said.
The advantage lay with Ghlikh, since he was known to Shegnif. On the other hand, Shegnif may have
had his suspicions about Ghlikh and his kind.
His remark about "an agent of The Tree" must mean that he considered The Tree to be an entity, a
hostile one. If this were so, then he must have his ideas about Ghlikh's motives, since he must also know
that the bat-people lived in The Tree. Or did he know that? The Dhulhulikh could have told him they
came from the other side of The Tree, and he would have had no way of checking up on them. At least
not until Ulysses showed up.
"I do not know if he lies or not," Ghlikh said. "He told me that he was the stone god come to life, but I
did not see him come to life."
"Have you seen the stone god of the Wufea?"
"Yes."
"And did you see the stone god after this man appeared?"
"No," Ghlikh said hesitantly. "But then I did not look in the temple to see if he was still there. I took his
word for it, though I should not have done so."
"I can question the cat-people about him. They will know whether or not he is the stone god," Shegnif
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said. "Since they acknowledge him as the god come to life, I do not believe that they will call him a liar.
Let us assume that his story is true."
"That he is, indeed, a god?" Ghlikh said, unable to suppress all the scorn he felt.
"There is but one god," Shegnif said, eyeing Ghlikh closely. "Only one. Or would you deny that? Those
who live on The Tree say that The Tree is the only god. What do you say?"
"Oh, I agree with you that there is only one god," Ghlikh said quickly.
"And that is Nesh," Shegnif said. "Right?"
"Nesh is truly the only god of the Neshgai," Ghlikh said.
"That is not the same thing as saying that there is only one god, the god of the Neshgai," Shegnif said. He
smiled, exposing a white-walled mouth, white gums and the four molars. He lifted a big glass of water in
which was a glass tube and sucked water through the tube. Ulysses was surprised; he had seen the
Neshgai suck water up their prehensile trunks and blow it into their mouths. But this was the first time he
had seen one use a straw tube. Later, he saw them drink directly from glasses which had narrow mouths
designed to go between their tusks.
Shegnif put the glass down and said, "Never mind. We do not require that non-Neshgai worship Nesh,
since his concern is only with the worship of his sons and he would refuse to be worshiped by any but
them. I find you to be rather shifty, Ghlikh. Be more direct in the future. Leave it to us slow-moving,
slow-thinking Neshgai to be circuitous!"
He smiled again. Ulysses began to think that he could like the Grand Vizier.
Shegnif asked Ulysses more detailed questions. Finally, he told them that they could sit down, and the
officers let themselves down gently into the chairs. Ulysses sat on the edge of one, his feet dangling. He
did not look as small and pitiful as Ghlikh, however, who resembled a small bird squatting at the entrance
to a large cave.
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Shegnif put the tips of his banana-sized fingers together and frowned as much as an eyebrowless person
could frown.
"I am amazed," he said. "You must be the living source of a myth which originated unguessable millennia
ago. Although I should not say myth, since your story seems to be true. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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