THE PERFECT BRAIN
THE song that had been upon her lips as she entered died there--frozen by the sight of horror that met her eyes.In the center of the chamber a headless body lay upon the floor--a body that had been partially devoured--while over and upon it crawled a half a dozen heads upon their short, spider legs, and they tore at the flesh of the woman with their chelae and carried the bits to their awful mouths.They were eating human flesh--eating it raw!
Tara of Helium gasped in horror and turning away covered her eyes with her palms.
"Come!" said her captor."What is the matter?""They are eating the flesh of the woman," she whispered in tones of horror.
"Why not?" he inquired."Did you suppose that we kept the rykor for labor alone? Ah, no.They are delicious when kept and fattened.Fortunate, too, are those that are bred for food, since they are never called upon to do aught but eat.""It is hideous!" she cried.
He looked at her steadily for a moment, but whether in surprise, in anger, or in pity his expressionless face did not reveal.Then he led her on across the room past the frightful thing, from which she turned away her eyes.Lying about the floor near the walls were half a dozen headless bodies in harness.These she guessed had been abandoned temporarily by the feasting heads until they again required their services.In the walls of this room there were many of the small, round openings she had noticed in various parts of the tunnels, the purpose of which she could not guess.
They passed through another corridor and then into a second chamber, larger than the first and more brilliantly illuminated.
Within were several of the creatures with heads and bodies assembled, while many headless bodies lay about near the walls.
Here her captor halted and spoke to one of the occupants of the chamber.
"I seek Luud," he said."I bring to Luud a creature that Icaptured in the fields above."
The others crowded about to examine Tara of Helium.One of them whistled, whereupon the girl learned something of the smaller openings in the walls, for almost immediately there crawled from them, like giant spiders, a score or more of the hideous heads.
Each sought one of the recumbent bodies and fastened itself in place.Immediately the bodies reacted to the intelligent direction of the heads.They arose, the hands adjusted the leather collars and put the balance of the harness in order, then the creatures crossed the room to where Tara of Helium stood.She noted that their leather was more highly ornamented than that worn by any of the others she had previously seen, and so she guessed that these must be higher in authority than the others.
Nor was she mistaken.The demeanor of her captor indicated it.He addressed them as one who holds intercourse with superiors.
Several of those who examined her felt her flesh, pinching it gently between thumb and forefinger, a familiarity that the girl resented.She struck down their hands."Do not touch me!" she cried, imperiously, for was she not a princess of Helium? The expression on those terrible faces did not change.She could not tell whether they were angry or amused, whether her action had filled them with respect for her, or contempt.Only one of them spoke immediately.
"She will have to be fattened more," he said.
The girl's eyes went wide with horror.She turned upon her captor."Do these frightful creatures intend to devour me?" she cried.
"That is for Luud to say," he replied, and then he leaned closer so that his mouth was near her ear."That noise you made which you called song pleased me," he whispered, "and I will repay you by warning you not to antagonize these kaldanes.They are very powerful.Luud listens to them.Do not call them frightful.They are very handsome.Look at their wonderful trappings, their gold, their jewels.""Thank you," she said."You called them kaldanes--what does that mean?""We are all kaldanes," he replied.
"You, too?" and she pointed at him, her slim finger directed toward his chest.
"No, not this," he explained, touching his body; "this is a rykor; but this," and he touched his head, "is a kaldane.It is the brain, the intellect, the power that directs all things.The rykor," he indicated his body, "is nothing.It is not so much even as the jewels upon our harness; no, not so much as the harness itself.It carries us about.It is true that we would find difficulty getting along without it; but it has less value than harness or jewels because it is less difficult to reproduce." He turned again to the other kaldanes."Will you notify Luud that I am here?" he asked.
"Sept has already gone to Luud.He will tell him," replied one.