Explorers of Gor Read Online Free PDF Page B

involved in its founding. The Voyages of Acquisition, of Priest-Kings, I knew, had been of great antiquity. These voyages now, as I understood it, following the Nest War, had been discontinued.
    “Kurii came later for the ring,” said Samos. “Gyges was slain. The ring itself, somehow, was shortly thereafter destroyed in an explosion.”
    “Interesting,” I said.
    “That left two rings,” said Samos.
    “One of them was doubtless the Tahari ring,” I said.
    “Doubtless,” said Samos.
    I looked at the ring on the table. “Do you think this is the fifth ring?” I asked.
    “No,” said Samos. “I think the fifth ring would be too precious to be taken from the steel world on which it resides. I do not think it would be risked on Gor.”
    “Perhaps they have now learned how to duplicate the rings,” I ventured.
    “That seems to me unlikely for two reasons,” said Samos. “First, if the ring could be duplicated, surely in the course of Kur history, particularly before the substantial loss of their technology and their retreat to the steel worlds, it would have been. Secondly, given the secretive nature of the rings’ inventor, Prasdak of the Cliff of Karrash, I suspect there is an additional reason which mitigates against the dismantlement of the ring and its consequent reproduction.”
    “The secret, doubtless, could be unraveled by those of the Sardar,” I said. “What progress have they made with the ring from the Tahari?”
    “The Tahari ring never reached the Sardar,” said Samos. “I learned this only a month ago.”
    I did not speak. I sat behind the table, stunned.
    “To whom,” I then asked, “did you, entrust the delivery of the ring to the Sardar.”
    “To one of our most trusted agents,” said Samos.
    “Who?” I asked.
    “Shaba, the geographer of Anango, the explorer of Lake Ushindi, the discoverer of Lake Ngao and the Ua River,” said Samos.
    “Doubtless he met with foul play,” I said.
    “I do not think so,” said Samos.
    “I do not understand,” I said.
    “This ring,” said Samos, indicating the ring on the table, “was found among the belongings of the girl in the tharlarion cell below. It was with her when her ship was captured by Bejar.”
    “It surely, then, is not the fifth ring,” I said.
    “But what is its purport?” asked Samos.
    I shrugged. “I do not know,” I said.
    “Look,” said Samos. He reached to one side of the table, to a flat, black box, of the sort in which papers are sometimes kept. In the box, too, there is an inkwell, at its top, and a place for quilled pens. He opened the box, below the portion containing the inkwell and concave surfaces for pens.
    He withdrew from the box several folded papers, letters. He had broken the seal on them.
    “These papers, too, were found among the belongings of our fair captive below,” said Samos.
    “What is their nature?” I asked.
    “There are passage papers here,” he said, “and a declaration of Cosian citizenship, which is doubtless forged. Too, most importantly, there are letters of introduction here, and the notes for a fortune, to be drawn on various banks in Schendi’s Street of Coins.”
    “To whom are the letters of introduction,” I asked, “and to whom are made out the notes?”
    “One is to a man named Msaliti,” said Samos, “and the other is to Shaba.”
    “And the notes for the fortunes?” I asked.
    “They are made out to Shaba,” said Samos.
    “It seems then,” I said, “that Shaba intends to surrender the ring to agents of Kurii, receive fees for this, and then carry to the Sardar this ring we have before us.”
    “Yes,” said Samos.
    “But Priest-Kings could surely determine, as soon as the switch was depressed, that the ring was false,” I said. “Ah, yes,” I said.
    “I fear so,” said Samos. “I suspect the depression of the switch, presumably to be accomplished in the Sardar, will initiate an explosion.”
    “It is probable then,” I said, “that the ring