The Dogtown Tourist Agency Read Online Free PDF Page A

bantlings and martial zeal in the adult warrior. The thought of
chir
dominated the lives of the Gomaz. The bantlings in their mock battles ingested the
chir
of those they had bested and killed; in the adult battles the warriors performed the same act and were thereby exalted, strengthened and endowed with a mysterious
mana
;
chir
conceivably fertilized the zygotes.
    The Gomaz used a few glyphs and symbolic objects, but knew neither a written language nor other than the most primitive mathematics, for which telepathic facility was held to blame.
    Geison Weirie, the renegade Gaean, had discovered Maz sixty years before, and had recruited a force of Gomaz warriors for use as shock troops against Sercey, his native planet. The Gomaz, quickly grasping the potentialities of Gaean weaponry, subordinated Weirie and his band of cutthroats to their own purposes; they captured a fleet of space ships and set forth to conquer the universe. Their raids took them into the hitherto unknown empires of the Liss and the Olefract; eventually forces of the three empires acting in concert destroyed the Gomaz fleet, captured Geison Weirie, built the Exhibitory to hold him, and placed a permanent injunctive agency of three parts upon Maz to prevent future irruptions. The Gomaz returned to their previous mode of existence, paying the Triarchy the ultimate insult of indifference.
    Hetzel glanced through the rest of the pamphlet, which listed the septs, described their peculiarities, and located their home castles on a map of Maz. The Gomaz language, which they used in conjunction with emotional keys or colorations transmitted by telepathy, consisted of whistles, grindings and squawks incomprehensible to both the Gaean ear and mind. Communication with the Gomaz was achieved through the use of micronic translators.
    Gomaz weapons were few: a three-foot staff attached to a ten-foot bolo, to assist in trapping the enemy; tongs worked by motions of the forearm; harpoons of three flexible barbs; a short heavy sword. Elite warriors employed wings to hover and swoop; on the rare occasions when a castle was to be stormed, the Gomaz built siege engines of great ingenuity. For transport they used wagonspulled by domesticated reptiles; their diet consisted of substances gathered or harvested by the bantlings, who performed all the work of the sept.
    Hetzel returned the pamphlet to his pocket and called for a second mug of ale. He asked the bartender: “At a guess, how many local people work for Istagam?”
    “‘Istagam’? Who’s he?”
    “The Istagam Manufacturing Company.”
    “Never heard of it. Ask Byrrhis across the square; he knows everything.”
    Hetzel finished the ale and went out into the street. The bartender’s advice had much to recommend it, and if Vv. Byrrhis were unavailable, he could always put further inquiries to the dark-haired girl in the tourist office.
    Hetzel crossed the square to Byrrhis Enterprises and tried the door which, somewhat to his surprise, opened. Hetzel stepped inside.
    At a desk, speaking into the telephone, sat a stocky man with a square, muscular face and a mane of lank black hair parted in the middle and cut square above the ears, in a style currently fashionable among the planets of the Fayence Stream. Byrrhis’ nose was long and straight; his eyes were small and steady; his chin was massive. He wore a loose shirt of embroidered green velvet, breeches of purple- and yellow-striped whipcord, and a fine scarf of white silk knotted to the side of his neck. The garments were informal, almost festive; the man’s expression was agreeable enough; his voice was soft and pleasant as he spoke into the telephone: “…very much the same idea…Exactly. I’ve got a visitor; I’ll call you back.”
    Byrrhis rose to his feet and performed a conventionally polite salute. “What can I do for you, sir?”
    Hetzel thought that Byrrhis had terminated his telephone call somewhat abruptly. “Quite honestly, I don’t know. I’ve