01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
CHAPTER 16
"We must immediately satisfy our curiosity concerning the artefact."
Satisfying immediate hunger would have been more to the point, all the walking had made
breakfast a remote memory. The artefact had waited thousands of years, it could have waited
a few more minutes. Steve suddenly remembered another old autocrat, one of his Martian
tutors - Praetor. He had said: 'Two forces drive the young, food and fornication'. Zayez smiled
as he leaned back against the wall. He gestured to one of his Adepts. Steve watched the man
make his exit, he couldn't figure those two. They hadn't uttered a word since he had met them,
not even in greeting. It was the most alien thing he had encountered so far.
After some considerable time, which was spent in silent contemplation, the Adept reentered.
He was carrying a small package. It looked as if it had been retrieved from some
murky hole where it had rested for ages past. Steve was conscious of his heart beginning to
thump. The Adept deposited the package on the stone slab next to Zayez and then he and his
companion bowed silently and left the room.
Zayez took the package and turned it around a few times. It reminded Steve of the way
he had handled the Pentacle. The old man began to unwrap it, layer after layer, it was like one
of those joke presents which end up with nothing but wrapping. Someone had made a good
job of this one. Cloth after cloth was removed and the bundle grew smaller with each layer
gone. It was as if someone had wanted to bury the contents from his sight.
The Pentacle on Steve's chest became consciously warm. He moved uneasily, aware of it
and trying to attribute the change in its feel to his own body heat. He watched the slow
unwrapping process and then, finally, Zayez grunted with achievement. Zayez held it up for
them all to see. Its shape was identical, it was a duplicate of the Pentacle laying against
Steve's chest. Zayez extended it towards Steve. His flesh wanted to retreat from touching it
but his mind compelled him to accept it. There could be no doubt that it was identical in
shape and material to the one he wore. He held it against the light from one of the long
windows. Once again, the effigy of a man was imbedded within the clear material, it had the
identical posture.
Steve could hardly breath but it didn't seem to be important, he focused his eyes on the
features, not knowing what he expected to find. He felt an unaccountable disappointment -
once again, the figure was male and nude but it wasn't a replica of the cat man. This was a
different physical type. This one reminded him of pictures from Old Earth of lean, arrogant,
Semitic featured men. Wild and wandering tribesmen with sharp features, piercing eyes and
an almost beak-like nose.
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