Results

Sarm

Book 3. (500 results) Priest-Kings of Gor

Chapter #	Sentence #	Quote	Confidence
18	1	I Speak with Sarm In the next days, when I could escape from the attentions of Sarm, on occasions when he was undoubtedly drawn elsewhere by his numerous duties and responsibilities, I searched the Nest by myself, on a transportation disk furnished by Sarm, looking for Misk, but I found no trace of...	10
27	167	Once again Sarm leaped in, his bladed projection lifted to strike, but this time Misk suddenly straightened himself promptly on the leg which had seemed to fail him and whipped his antennae back behind his head an instant before the stroke of Sarm's blade and when Sarm struck he found his appendage ...	10
27	170	Then, with a force that might have been that of clashing, golden glaciers, Misk's jaws tightened and turned and suddenly Sarm was thrown to his back beneath him and in the instant Sarm struck the floor Misk's jaws had slipped their grip to the thick tube about which hung the string of Tola's silveri...	10
14	156	I would learn later, however, that this simple fact was indeed almost incomprehensible to Priest-Kings, and that Misk, though he readily accepted it as a fact in his mind, could not bring himself, so to speak, in the furthest reaches of his heart to acknowledge it as true, for were not both he and S...	10
27	41	His head was garlanded by a wreath of green leaves as had been that of Sarm, and also, like Sarm, there was about his neck, as well as his translator, the ceremonial string of tiny metal tools.	10
27	155	Again Sarm charged and again I saw a long greenish-wet opening appear as if by magic on the side of Misk's huge golden head, and again Sarm, whose speed was almost unbelievable, leaped away before Misk could touch him and was again circling and watching.	10
27	168	Sarm seemed to tremble and he struck with his other foreleg but this one too Misk seized with his other foreleg and once again they stood rocking on their posterior appendages, for Misk, having learned their strengths in the first grappling, and lacking the swiftness of Sarm, had decided to close wi...	10
27	273	Misk's message to Sarm was carried on Sarm's own translator.	10
28	8	Thinking to overcome us with little difficulty, the forces of Sarm, mounted on transportation disks, swept through the tunnels and plazas, but the Priest-Kings of Misk, hidden in rooms, concealed behind portals, firing from the ramps and the roofs of buildings in the open complexes, soon took fierce...	10
29	41	I knew nothing of the armament of the ships of Sarm and I knew I had only the silver tube in my own craft, a weapon far outclassed in destructive potential by the gravitational disrupters mounted in the ships of Sarm.	10
30	63	It turned out that Misk, not trusting Sarm from the very beginning, had prepared a disruption device which he would not have used had it not been for Sarm's employment of that devastating weapon.	10
30	177	For some reason Vika's attentions to Sarm irritated me and undoubtedly I failed to conceal this sufficiently because Sarm often required this task of her in my presence and, I noted with fury, she seemed invariably delighted to comply with his request.	10
31	51	Sarm had disappeared and with his disappearance, and presumed death, the opposition to Misk evaporated, for it had been held together only by the dominance of Sarm's mighty personality and the prestige that was his in virtue of being First Born.	10
32	28	Misk, carrying Sarm, and the other Priest-Kings and humans, including Vika and myself, made our way from the Power Plant and back toward the complex which had been the heart of Sarm's territory.	10
10	108	"Sarm thought the anesthesia would be necessary," it said.	10
10	109	"Is Sarm a Priest-King?" I asked.	10
11	1	Sarm the Priest-King I turned from the railing to observe the great ramp which for pasangs in a great spiral approached the platform on which I stood.	10
11	43	"I am Sarm," it said, "beloved of the Mother and First Born".	10
11	45	"Yes," said Sarm.	10
11	47	Sarm's antennae darted in Misk's direction.	10
11	49	Sarm's antennae relaxed.	10
11	50	"True," said Sarm.	10
11	53	Sarm rested back on his posterior appendages.	10
11	55	"None may see the Mother save her caste attendants and the High Priest-Kings," said Sarm, "the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Born".	10
11	57	Sarm's antennae twitched angrily.	10
11	64	"But," said Sarm, "even on such feasts none of the lower orders may view the Mother—only Priest-Kings".	10
11	67	Sarm seemed not to notice this change but Misk's antennae perked up immediately.	10
11	74	"Are men Priest-Kings?" asked Sarm.	10
11	76	"Then they are animals," said Sarm.	10
11	77	I drew my sword and faced Sarm.	10
11	79	At any rate Sarm leaped backward on his jointed, stalklike legs with almost incredible speed.	10
11	82	I took a step toward Sarm.	10
11	83	Sarm pranced angrily backward, his antennae twitching with agitation.	10
11	89	Sarm saw that I did not intend to advance further and his agitation decreased, although his general attitude of awareness was not relaxed.	10
11	90	It was at this time that I first saw how Priest-Kings breathed, probably because Sarm's respiratory movements were now more pronounced than they had been hitherto.	10
11	92	Usually the breathing cycle, unless one is quite close and listens carefully, cannot be heard, but in the present case I could hear quite clearly from a distance of several feet the quick intake of air through the eight tiny, tubular mouths in Sarm's abdomen, and its almost immediate expellation thr...	10
11	93	Now the muscular contractions in Sarm's abdomen became almost unnoticeable and I could no longer hear the evidence of his respiratory cycle.	10
11	96	Sarm's antennae were calm.	10
11	101	Suddenly Sarm's antennae pointed at Misk.	10
11	105	I felt that I had betrayed Misk's trust in me, that I had behaved as a not fully rational creature, that I had behaved as Sarm had expected me to.	10
11	106	"I'm sorry," I said to Sarm, resheathing my sword.	10
11	108	"It's dangerous," said Sarm.	10
11	110	"What is that?" asked Sarm, lifting his antennae.	10
11	112	On the receipt of this information Sarm did not shake nor did his antennae curl; rather the bladelike structures snapped out and back, and his antennae twitched in irritation.	10
11	114	"Mount the disk, Tarl Cabot of Ko-ro-ba," said Misk, gesturing with his foreleg to the flat oval disk which had brought Sarm to our level.	10
11	116	"He is afraid," said Sarm.	10
12	6	"We must hurry," said Sarm.	10
12	13	"Let us leave the plaza," said Sarm.	10
12	20	"Perhaps not," said Sarm.	10
12	24	"Why not?" asked Sarm.	10
12	26	"What has she to do with it?" asked Sarm.	10
12	28	Sarm seemed puzzled.	10
12	33	"For what purpose was he brought to the tunnels?" asked Sarm.	10
12	35	"I am the First Born," said Sarm.	10
12	37	"Very well," said Sarm, and turned away.	10
12	41	A shudder of repulsion seemed to course through Sarm.	10
12	47	Sarm, who stood in the long room on an oval dais, seemed satisfied with this transaction.	10
12	53	"The scent-tapes are silent," said Sarm.	10
12	55	"What is to be the disposition of this creature?" asked Sarm.	10
12	58	"You speak much for one of the lower orders," said Sarm.	10
12	63	"If I had my wish," said Sarm, "he would be sent to the Vivarium or the dissection chambers".	10
12	65	"I see," said Sarm.	10
12	67	"Of course," said Sarm, "for the wish of the Mother is the wish of the Nest".	10
12	69	"Yes," said Sarm, and the two Priest-Kings approached one another, bowed and gently locked their antennae.	10
12	70	When they disengaged themselves, Sarm turned to face me.	10
12	73	"I should have been consulted," said Sarm, "for I am First Born".	10
12	75	Sarm looked down at me.	10
12	80	"And it curled its antennae at me," said Sarm.	10
12	82	"Yes," said Sarm.	10
12	84	Sarm then turned from me and with his left, forward supporting appendage depressed a recessed button in the dais on which he stood.	10
12	86	At a signal from Sarm they leaped to their feet and stood alertly beside the dais, their feet spread, their heads high, their arms folded.	10
12	87	"Behold these two," said Sarm.	10
12	95	"You may speak," said Sarm.	10
12	103	I turned to Sarm.	10
12	106	I had intended my remark to be rather vicious but Sarm took no offense.	10
12	115	"Can you guess," asked Sarm, "which one has been synthesized?" I must have given quite a start.	10
12	116	Sarm's antennae giggled.	10
12	117	"Yes," said Sarm, "one was synthesized, beginning with the synthesis of the protein molecules, and was formed molecule by molecule.	10
12	123	"It too," said Sarm, "is not without interest and is also bestowed upon us by the avocational whims of Kusk, one of the greatest of our Nest".	10
12	125	"No," said Sarm, "it is the product of genetic manipulation, artificial control and alteration of the hereditary coils in gametes".	10
12	127	"Not the least interesting aspect of this matter," said Sarm, "is the match".	10
12	129	"That is the evidence of real skill," said Sarm.	10
12	131	"Which of these slaves," I asked, "is the one who was synthesized?" "Can't you tell?" asked Sarm.	10
12	133	Sarm's antennae shivered and wrapped themselves about one another.	10
12	137	"Yes," said Sarm, but he seemed in no hurry to conclude his gloating.	10
12	140	I wondered about what Misk meant by 'processing' but Sarm's words irritated me, as did the two grave, handsome fellows who had so spontaneously groveled before his dais.	10
12	142	"Is it not obvious?" asked Sarm.	10
12	144	"They are symmetrically formed," said Sarm.	10
12	146	Sarm seemed to wait for my reply but there was none.	10
12	147	"And," said Sarm, "they live on fungus and water, and wash themselves twelve times a day".	10
12	151	"Why do you curl your antennae?" asked Sarm.	10
12	153	"Of course," said Sarm.	10
12	156	"The most perfect human being is of course the most perfect slave," said Sarm.	10
12	166	Sarm's antennae twitched angrily.	10
12	167	"Why do you not," I challenged, "have your Kusk, or whoever he is, synthesize a Priest-King?" Sarm seemed to shiver with rage.	10
12	171	Sarm turned to Misk.	10
12	173	"Would the Mother object if its organs were damaged?" asked Sarm.	10
12	175	"But surely," said Sarm, "it can be punished".	10
12	177	"Very well," said Sarm and directed his antennae at the two shaven-headed, plastic-clad slaves.	10
12	178	"Punish the Matok," said Sarm, "but do not break its bones nor injure its organs".	10
12	179	No sooner had these words been emitted from Sarm's translator than the two slaves leaped toward me to seize me.	10
12	194	I looked up at Sarm and Misk, who, observing, stood in that slightly inclined, infuriatingly still posture.	10
12	197	"Perhaps the Matok is right," said Misk to Sarm.	10
12	199	"Perhaps," admitted Sarm.	10
12	208	Sarm regarded the two slaves.	10
12	215	My eyes were fixed however on Sarm and Misk.	10
12	217	Sarm seemed puzzled.	10
12	222	Sarm and Misk touched antennae.	10
12	224	"True," said Sarm.	10
12	226	Sarm then turned to the two slaves.	10
12	240	"Of course," said Sarm.	10
12	257	The two Priest-Kings had watched this small concourse with some interest, but now the voice of Sarm's translator was heard: "It is growing late," it said, "let the Matok be processed".	10
14	124	"It was slain by Sarm".	10
14	139	"I was on an errand for Sarm," said Misk, "which took me to unfrequented tunnels and for company I took the girl with me.	10
14	144	It was the same day that Sarm ordered her given five record-scars for the growths on her head and had her destroyed".	10
14	147	"I do not know why Sarm acted as he did".	10
14	148	"It seems to me," I said, "that you should not blame yourself for the girl's death, but Sarm".	10
14	151	"Is it not possible," I asked, "that Sarm wished you to die by the Golden Beetle?" "Of course," said Misk.	10
14	153	I puzzled to myself why Sarm might want Misk to be killed.	10
14	155	To my human mind, used to the cruelties with which selfish men can implement their schemes, I saw nothing incomprehensible in the fact that Sarm would have attempted to engineer Misk's death.	10
14	159	Only Sarm and I are left of the Five".	10
15	67	"Occasionally," said Misk, "an egg occurred which was female but these were ordered destroyed by Sarm.	10
15	86	"Would Sarm have this male killed if he knew he were here?" I asked.	10
15	105	"Customarily," said Misk, "the mnemonic plates are standardized by the Keepers of the Tradition, chief of whom is Sarm".	10
16	25	"Why destroy a city?" "To conceal our motivation from Sarm," said Misk.	10
16	36	"From Sarm's point of view of course your utilization there was simply to curtail the spread of the Empire of Ar, for we prefer humans to dwell in isolated communities.	10
16	104	"I have been working against Sarm and the others for millennia," said Misk, "and at last—more than three hundred years ago—I managed to obtain the egg from which this male emerged".	10
16	163	"Was the fact that I was placed in the chamber of the girl Vika of Treve considered?" "Sarm suspects," said Misk, "and it was he who arranged your quarters, in order that you might succumb to her charms, that she might enthrall you, that she might bend you helplessly, pliantly to her will and whim a...	10
16	197	"Sarm must die," said Misk.	10
16	198	"I have no wish to kill Sarm," I said.	10
16	222	"All Priest-Kings are not as Sarm," said Misk.	10
17	4	In fevered sleep it seemed I saw Sarm's great head with its powerful, laterally moving jaws hovering over me, that I heard the cry of larls and saw the burning pupils of Parp's eyes and his reaching toward me with instruments and a golden net, and I found myself chained to the foot of Vika's couch a...	10
17	8	"Greetings, Noble Sarm," I said.	10
17	9	"Greetings, Matok," said Sarm.	10
17	11	"He has duties elsewhere," said Sarm.	10
17	13	"It is near the Feast of Tola," said Sarm, "and it is a time of pleasure and hospitality in the Nest of Priest-Kings, a time in which Priest-Kings are well disposed to all living things, whatever be their order".	10
17	15	"What are the duties of Misk which keep him from his chamber?" "In honor of the Feast of Tola," said Sarm, "he is now pleased to retain Gur".	10
17	17	Sarm looked about himself.	10
17	20	"I want to be your friend," said Sarm.	10
17	21	I made no move but I was startled to hear the Gorean expression for 'friend' emanate from Sarm's translator.	10
17	24	Literally what hearing the expression from Sarm meant was that he had had the item specially entered into his translator tapes and correlated with a random odor, much as if we had decided to invent a name to stand for some novel relation or object.	10
17	25	I wondered if Sarm had much idea of the meaning of the expression "friend" or if it were merely used because he calculated that it would produce a favorable impression on me.	10
17	27	The occurrence of the expression on Sarm's translator tape, simple as it was, indicated that he had gone to a good deal of trouble, and that the matter, for some reason, was rather important to him.	10
17	30	Sarm looked at the case.	10
17	33	"You may have more than one if you wish," said Sarm.	10
17	34	"Sarm is generous," I said, "but I decline his kind offer".	10
17	37	"What would you like?" asked Sarm.	10
17	39	"Perhaps these things can be arranged," said Sarm.	10
17	41	"Tell me why you have been brought to the Nest," said Sarm, and suddenly his antennae snapped downward towards me like whips, and now rigid, they seemed to be trained on me, as though they might be weapons.	10
17	43	The antennae quivered briefly in anger and the bladelike structures at the tips of Sarm's forelegs snapped out and back, but then the antennae relaxed and once again the four hooklike grasping appendages at the termination of each foreleg lightly, almost meditatively, touched one another.	10
17	44	"I see," came from Sarm's translator.	10
17	46	"Misk has had time to speak to you," said Sarm.	10
17	48	"Nest Trust with a human?" asked Sarm.	10
17	50	"An interesting concept," said Sarm.	10
17	52	"Of course," said Sarm, "please do".	10
17	54	If these tactics were calculated to have some effect on Sarm, I think they most miserably failed of that effect, for during the entire time I took, which was considerable, he stood motionless in the room, save for an occasional movement of his antennae, frozen in that maddening, immobile but alert p...	10
17	56	"I want to be your friend," said Sarm.	10
17	58	"Perhaps you would like to see the Nest?" asked Sarm.	10
17	60	"Good," said Sarm.	10
17	61	* * * * I did not ask to see the Mother, for I knew that was forbidden to those of the human kind, but I found Sarm a most attentive and gracious guide, quick to answer my questions and suggest places of interest.	10
17	68	I would have thought that some type of cells for avoiding collisions when the accelerator strips are depressed might have been useful or that a bumper of gas, or a field of some sort, might have been practical improvements but Sarm felt that such refinements would be excessive.	10
17	70	At my request Sarm took me to the Scanning Room, whence the surface of Gor is kept under selective surveillance by the Priest-Kings.	10
17	72	I suggested to Sarm that satellites would be less expensive to maintain in flight but he denied this.	10
17	74	"The reason for observation within the atmosphere," said Sarm, "is that it is simpler to get more definition in the signal because of greater proximity to its source.	10
17	79	"We use random scanning patterns," said Sarm, "for we find in the long run, over centuries, they are more effective than following fixed scanning schedules.	10
17	81	"Did you make a tape," I asked, "of the destruction of the City of Ko-ro-ba?" "No," said Sarm, "it was not of sufficient interest or importance to us".	10
17	82	My fists clenched, and I noted that Sarm's antennae curled slightly.	10
17	84	"Is that mechanism also in this room?" "Yes," said Sarm, indicating with one foreleg a quiet-looking metal cabinet to one side possessing several dials and knobs.	10
17	85	"The projection points for the Flame Death are located in the surveillance craft," said Sarm, "but the coordinates are fixed and the firing signal is relayed from this room.	10
17	91	I was told by Sarm that there were four hundred such cubes in the room, and monitoring each, I could see a Priest-King, tall, alert, unmoving.	10
17	94	"This might interest you," said Sarm, indicating one of the observation cubes.	10
17	99	"You are seeing through the eyes of an Implanted One," said Sarm.	10
17	101	Sarm's antennae curled.	10
17	109	"Of course," said Sarm, "but such an instrument, if it were to be a genuinely satisfactory substitute for an Implanted One, would have to be extremely complex—consider provisions for the self-repair of damaged tissue alone—and thus, in the end, would itself have to approximate a humano...	10
17	114	"Sometimes there is a struggle to resist the net or regain consciousness," said Sarm.	10
17	115	"Could a man so resist you that he could throw off the power of the net?" "I doubt it," said Sarm, "unless the net were faulty".	10
17	116	"If it could be done," I said, "what would you do?" "It is a simple matter," said Sarm, "to overload the net's power capacity".	10
17	117	"You would kill the man?" "It is only a human," said Sarm.	10
17	118	"Is this what was done once on the road to Ko-ro-ba, to a man from Ar, who spoke to me in the name of Priest-Kings?" "Of course," said Sarm.	10
17	120	"I suppose so," said Sarm.	10
17	122	"No," said Sarm, "I am a Priest-King".	10
17	123	* * * * Sarm and I passed further on down one of the long levels, looking into one or another of the observation cubes.	10
17	138	"Forbidden weapon," said Sarm.	10
17	147	"He may have been carrying on forbidden experiments for years," said Sarm.	10
17	152	"Of course," said Sarm, "he broke the law of Priest-Kings".	10
17	154	"The right of a higher-order organism to control a lower-order organism," said Sarm.	10
17	157	"They are sentient," said Sarm.	10
17	159	Sarm's antennae curled.	10
17	162	"You could eat fungus and other vegetables," said Sarm.	10
17	164	"The truth is," said Sarm, "that the human is a dangerous and predatory species".	10
17	166	"Is that so important?' asked Sarm.	10
17	168	"What if I claimed it was?" "Then I should reply," said Sarm, "that nothing below a Priest-King is truly rational".	10
18	2	I knew only that he had been, as Sarm had put it, pleased to retain Gur.	10
18	17	"No," said Mul-Al-Ka, "we were given by Kusk to Sarm as a gift".	10
18	23	"Then," I said to the Muls who rode with me, "you are spying on me for Sarm".	10
18	26	"But," said Mul-Al-Ka, "should you wish to do something which Sarm will not know of, simply let us know and we will avert our eyes".	10
18	85	* * * * I did not object to the time I spent with Sarm, however, for he taught me far more of the Nest in a much shorter time than would have otherwise been possible.	10
18	88	"Sometimes this is spoken of as the Home Stone of all Gor," said Sarm, as we walked the long, winding, iron spiral that clung to the side of a vast, transparent blue dome.	10
18	90	"The analogy, of course," said Sarm, "is incorrect, for there is no Home Stone as such in the Nest of Priest-Kings, the Home Stone being a barbarous artifact generally common to the cities and homes of Gorean humans".	10
18	91	I was somewhat annoyed to find the Home Stones, taken so seriously in the cities of Gor that a man might be slain if he did not rise when speaking of the Home Stone of his city, so airily dismissed by the lofty Sarm.	10
18	93	"A cultural oddity," said Sarm, "which I understand perfectly but find slightly preposterous".	10
18	95	"Of course not," said Sarm.	10
18	98	Sarm stopped on the narrow iron railing circling the huge, glassy blue dome and straightened himself and turned to face me.	10
18	101	"That is very different," said Sarm.	10
18	103	Sarm regarded me for a moment and then turned and continued to lead the way.	10
18	110	"No," said Sarm.	10
18	115	Sarm had pointed to his eight brains.	10
18	117	Sarm regarded me.	10
18	119	"It is well," said Sarm.	10
18	122	Sarm, standing on that high platform with me, over the bluish dome, over the refulgent power source so far below, lifted his antennae and turned, sweeping them over this vast, intricate, beautiful, formidable domain.	10
18	123	"Yet," said Sarm, "there are those who would destroy all this".	10
18	124	I wondered if hurling my weight against Sarm I might have tumbled him from that platform to his death far below.	10
18	125	"I know why you were brought to the Nest," said Sarm.	10
18	127	"You were brought here to kill me," said Sarm, looking down.	10
18	131	"The Nest is eternal," said Sarm.	10
18	135	"You understand, Tarl Cabot," said Sarm.	10
18	138	"You would not wish to see this beauty and this power pass from our common world, would you?" asked Sarm.	10
18	142	"Precisely," said Sarm, "and yet there is one among us—himself incredibly enough a Priest-King—who could betray his own kind, who would be willing to see this glory vanish".	10
18	144	"Of course," said Sarm.	10
18	148	"I see," said Sarm.	10
18	153	"The girl Vika of Treve has never failed me," said Sarm.	10
18	156	"After a time, perhaps a year," said Sarm, "when you were ready, I would free you on the condition that you would do my bidding".	10
18	158	"Slay Misk," said Sarm.	10
18	160	"That would be murder," said Sarm.	10
18	163	"There can be no Nest Trust between a Priest-King and a human," said Sarm.	10
18	165	I looked up at Sarm.	10
18	166	"And supposing I had agreed to do your bidding, what would have been my reward for all this?" "Vika of Treve," said Sarm.	10
18	169	"She is only a female Mul," said Sarm.	10
18	172	"Yes," said Sarm.	10
18	175	"Good," said Sarm, and we began to trace our way downward around that vast bluish globe that sheltered the power source of Priest-Kings.	10
19	3	Sarm did not act as quickly as I had anticipated and from the room of the power source had simply returned me to Misk's compartment, where my case was kept.	10
19	5	Why had we not gotten on directly with the business at hand? In the morning, after the hour of the first feeding, Sarm entered Misk's compartment, where I was waiting for him.	10
19	8	"It is the Feast of Tola—the Feast of the Nuptial Flight," said Sarm.	10
19	13	"Good," said Sarm, and went to one of the high cabinets in Misk's chamber and touching a button in a certain sequence of long and short presses opened it.	10
19	14	Sarm was apparently familiar with Misk's compartment.	10
19	17	From the high cabinet Sarm withdrew my sword belt, my scabbard, and the short, sharp blade of Gorean steel which I had earlier yielded at the request of Misk.	10
19	19	I calculated the distance between myself and Sarm and wondered if I could reach him and kill him before he could bring his jaws into play, or those formidable blades on his forelegs.	10
19	20	Where would one strike a Priest-King? To my surprise Sarm then jerked at the door of the compartment from which he had withdrawn my sword.	10
19	23	"I am making sure," said Sarm, "that no one will lock your sword up again in this compartment".	10
19	27	"Why," I asked, "are you adorned as you are today?" "It is the Feast of Tola," said Sarm, "the Feast of the Nuptial Flight".	10
19	29	"We grow them in special chambers under lamps," said Sarm.	10
19	32	Sarm's foreleg touched the metals dangling from his necklace.	10
19	35	"More than that," said Sarm, "look at them closely".	10
19	36	I approached Sarm and regarded the pieces of metal.	10
19	39	"Long ago," said Sarm, "in Nests long before this one, in times of which you cannot conceive, it was by means of these small things that my people began the journey that led in time to Priest-Kings".	10
19	41	"These things," said Sarm, "may even be older than the modifications of the net.	10
19	44	Sarm's antennae twitched irritably.	10
19	45	"We had to pick them up and use them, and later make them," said Sarm.	10
19	47	"The matter is obscure," said Sarm.	10
19	49	Sarm's bladelike projections snapped into view and disappeared again.	10
19	50	"Very well," said Sarm, "the true source of the Priest-Kings' power lies in the microparticles of the universe".	10
19	52	I was pleased to note that it was only with genuine effort that Sarm managed to control himself.	10
19	55	"By the way," I asked, "how does one kill a Priest-King?" As I asked this I found myself unconsciously measuring my distance from Sarm.	10
19	56	Sarm relaxed.	10
19	58	"You mean I could simply butcher him?" "Strike at the brain-nodes in the thorax and head," said Sarm.	10
19	62	Then it occurred to me that there must be some vital center not mentioned by Sarm, probably a crucial organ or organs for pumping the body fluids of the Priest-Kings, most simply something corresponding to the heart.	10
19	70	"Will you accompany me," I asked, "to the slaying of Misk?" "No," said Sarm, "for it is Tola and I must give Gur to the Mother".	10
19	72	"It is not a matter of concern for humans," said Sarm.	10
19	74	"Outside," said Sarm, "you will find a transportation disk and the two Muls, Mul-Al-Ka and Mul-Ba-Ta.	10
19	77	"Of course," said Sarm.	10
19	81	Sarm's antennae curled.	10
19	84	"Yes," said Sarm, "to ensure that you do your work well".	10
19	86	"No," said Sarm, "for I have instructed them to report to the dissection chambers following the completion of your work".	10
19	88	"Kusk," said Sarm, anticipating me, "may be displeased for a time, but it cannot be helped, and he may always produce others if he pleases".	10
19	90	"Besides," said Sarm, "he gave them to me and I may do with them as I please".	10
19	92	"Do not worry about Kusk," said Sarm.	10
19	94	Sarm pranced backwards on those long, delicate, jointed legs, clearing the passage to the door.	10
19	98	"Sarm is most generous," I said.	10
19	99	"Sarm is your friend," came from the Priest-King's translator.	10
19	100	As I turned to leave the chamber I noted that the grasping appendages on Sarm's right foreleg turned off his translator.	10
19	104	It was a very simple message and was of course not carried by Sarm's translator.	10
20	155	"Precisely," said Mul-Al-Ka, "she whom Sarm promised to you as part of the riches accruing from your part in his plan to slay Misk".	10
20	176	You have proved to me that Sarm does not intend to keep his promises, that he will betray me".	10
20	179	"We only promised Sarm," said Mul-Ba-Ta, "that we would not tell you".	10
20	183	"That is the weak part of Sarm's plan," said Mul-Ba-Ta, "for you would never go to the tunnels of the Golden Beetle to seek a female Mul".	10
20	184	"True," said Mul-Al-Ka, "it is the first mistake I have known Sarm to make".	10
20	188	"Sarm is wiser than we," said Mul-Al-Ka.	10
20	219	"You have proved that by informing me of Sarm's intentions".	10
21	7	"He is here somewhere," said Mul-Ba-Ta, "for so we were told by Sarm".	10
22	30	"Sarm should have had those bars checked," said Misk.	10
22	61	"But did Sarm not send you?" "Yes," I said.	10
22	65	"On the other hand you will now be killed by Sarm".	10
22	71	"Sarm will have to dispose of them also," he observed.	10
22	86	"Yes," said Mul-Al-Ka, "find yourself some secret place and stay, and perhaps someday Sarm will succumb to the Pleasures of the Golden Beetle and you can emerge in safety".	10
22	96	"Sarm if he finds you are alive will simply bring about your destruction as soon as possible".	10
22	102	"What was sad," said Misk, "was that I might not have been able to give Gur to the Mother, and that thought troubled me grievously for the days in which I retained Gur, but now thanks to you I will be able to give Gur to the Mother and I will stand forever in your debt until I am slain by Sarm or su...	10
25	21	I worried, for where could I find such a place? By now it might be well known to Sarm that I had refused to slay Misk and the Nest would no longer be safe for me, or for anyone associated with me.	10
25	50	It had been Sarm's intention apparently that I should enter the tunnels of the Golden Beetle and die there and so I thought it expedient to allow him to believe I had done so.	10
25	122	As I gazed on this strange assemblage of creatures in the tiered cases it seemed clear to me that I must be gazing upon one of the vivaria of which I had heard Sarm speak.	10
25	139	The last time I had seen this woman conscious had been in the chamber where she had tried with the snares of her beauty to capture and conquer me for my archenemy, Sarm the Priest-King.	10
26	36	"You will be a girl brought from the surface," I said, "for you are still unshaved, and you are to be delivered to the Vivarium on the orders of Sarm, the Priest-King".	10
26	55	On the orders of Sarm shave her and clothe her suitably and place her in a breeding case, alone and locked.	10
27	13	The clerk, at my request writing the expense down to Sarm, informed me that I would promptly have to have the new tunic imprinted with the scent-patterns pertaining to my identity, record-scars, etc.	10
27	29	They, like myself, having disobeyed Sarm, were now outlaws in the Nest.	10
27	92	If Sarm had killed them, how was it that the Mother had not learned of this and had him destroyed? Or was it her wish that there should be no others? But if so why was she, if it were true, in league with Misk to perpetuate the race of Priest-Kings? I looked again through the grille on the shaft.	10
27	113	The Nest, had said Sarm, is eternal.	10
27	116	I strained my eyes to see if I could pick out either Sarm or Misk in those golden rows.	10
27	118	Then almost at the same time I saw Sarm and Misk together.	10
27	119	The rows of the Priest-Kings separated forming an aisle down the middle of the chamber and the Priest-Kings now stood facing this aisle, and down the aisle together came Sarm and Misk.	10
27	120	I gathered that perhaps this was the culmination of the Feast of Tola, the giving of Gur by the greatest of the Priest-Kings, the First Five Born, save that of that number there were only two left, the First Born and the Fifth, Sarm and Misk.	10
27	123	If Sarm were disturbed at finding Misk, whom he thought to have had killed, at his side, he gave no sign to this effect.	10
27	127	Now did Sarm, the First Born, approach the Mother and dip his jaws too to the golden bowl and stalk to the Mother and place his antennae gently on her head, and once again the old creature's antennae lifted but this time they seemed to retract.	10
27	128	Sarm placed his jaws to the mouth of the Mother but she did not lift her head to him.	10
27	132	Once again Sarm thrust his jaws at the face of the Mother and once again she moved her head away from him.	10
27	135	Sarm pranced backwards from the Mother.	10
27	142	Once again Sarm retreated.	10
27	143	Now there was no movement among the rows of Priest-Kings and they stood in that uncanny frozen stance regarding Sarm.	10
27	144	Slowly Sarm turned toward Misk.	10
27	145	No longer was Sarm trembling or shaken but he had drawn his frame to its full and golden height.	10
27	146	Before the Platform of the Mother, facing Misk, rearing perhaps two feet over him, Sarm stood with what, even for a Priest-King, seemed a most terrible quietude.	10
27	147	For a long moment the antennae of the two Priest-Kings regarded one another and then Sarm's antennae flattened themselves over his head and so, too, did Misk's.	10
27	149	Slowly the Priest-Kings began to circle one another in a ritual more ancient perhaps even than the Feast of Tola, a ritual perhaps older than even the days and objects celebrated by the string of metal tools that hung jangling about the neck of Sarm.	10
27	150	With a speed that I still find hard to comprehend Sarm rushed upon Misk and after a blurring moment I saw them on their posterior supporting appendages locked together rocking slowly back and forth, trying to bring those great golden, laterally chopping jaws into play.	10
27	152	Sarm broke away and began to circle again, and Misk turned slowly, watching him, his antennae still flattened.	10
27	154	Suddenly Sarm charged at Misk and slashed down at him with one of those bladelike projections on his forelegs and leaped away even before I saw the green-filled wound opening on the left side of one of those great, compound luminous disks on Misk's head.	10
27	156	Once more Sarm leaped to attack and this time a green-flowing wound sprang into view on the right side of Misk's thorax in the neighborhood of one of the brain-nodes.	10
27	162	Cautiously Sarm watched Misk's fluttering, piteous, exposed antennae.	10
27	165	Perhaps so too had Sarm.	10
27	166	I wondered if Sarm, considering Misk's desperate condition and plight, would offer quarter.	10
27	171	In that instant I saw the bladelike projections disappear from the tips of Sarm's forelegs and he folded his forelegs against his body and ceased resistance, even lifting his head in order to further expose the crucial tube that linked thorax with head.	10
27	173	Sarm was his to kill.	10
27	174	Though the translator which still hung about Sarm's neck with the string of silverish tools was not turned on I would not have needed it to interpret the desperate odor-signal emitted by the First Born.	10
27	177	Misk removed his jaws from the throat of Sarm and stepped back.	10
27	179	Misk slowly turned away from Sarm and with slow, delicate steps approached the Mother, before whom he stood, great chunks of greenish coagulated body fluid marking the wounds on his body.	10
27	182	My interest was more with Sarm, whom I saw lift himself with delicate menace to his four posterior appendages.	10
27	186	Sarm had drawn himself up again to his full height and like a golden blade he stood behind Misk and before the Mother.	10
27	190	But Sarm looked about himself to the golden rows of immobile Priest-Kings who watched him and then, satisfied, he opened those great, laterally moving jaws and advanced slowly on Misk.	10
27	191	At that instant I kicked loose the grille on the ventilator shaft and uttering the war cry of Ko-ro-ba sprang to the Platform of the Mother and in another instant had leaped between Sarm and Misk, my sword drawn.	10
27	201	Only from Sarm's translator came a message.	10
27	203	"No," said the Mother, her message being caught and transmitted by Sarm's own translator.	10
27	204	"Yes," said Sarm, "it will die".	10
27	205	"No," said the Mother, the message coming again from Sarm's translator.	10
27	206	"I am the First Born," said Sarm.	10
27	208	"I do what I wish," said Sarm.	10
27	211	"I do what I wish," came again from Sarm's translator.	10
27	218	Sarm's bladelike projections snapped viciously into view and remained exposed.	10
27	219	I had seen Sarm in action and I knew that his speed was incredible.	10
27	222	"How is it," asked Sarm, "that you have dared to come here?" "I do what I wish," I told him.	10
27	223	Sarm straightened.	10
27	226	"It seems that one of us must die," said Sarm.	10
27	228	"What of the Golden Beetle?" asked Sarm.	10
27	232	Sarm moved back a step.	10
27	237	Sarm moved back another step.	10
27	242	"I spoke in jest," said Sarm to the other Priest-King, who made no response but, unmoving, regarded him.	10
27	243	Sarm approached me again.	10
27	248	"If you are dead," I asked, "how will you have them sent to the dissection chambers?" "It is a great crime to kill a Priest-King," said Sarm.	10
27	250	"He is a traitor to the Nest," said Sarm.	10
27	252	"It is Sarm," I called, "who is a traitor to the Nest, for this Nest will die, and he has not permitted the founding of a new Nest".	10
27	253	"The Nest is eternal," said Sarm.	10
27	254	"No," said the Mother, and the message again came from Sarm's own translator, and was echoed a thousand times by those of the other Priest-Kings in the great chamber.	10
27	255	Suddenly with a vicious, almost incalculable speed Sarm's right bladed projection flashed toward my head.	10
27	258	And when the swift living blade of Sarm was still a full yard from my throat it met the lightning steel of a Gorean blade that had once been carried at the siege of Ar, that had met and withstood and conquered the steel of Pa-Kur, Gor's Master Assassin, until that time said to be the most skilled sw...	10
27	260	In an instant I was again on guard, my vision cleared, but I saw that Sarm was now some fifteen yards or more away and was slowly turning and turning in what must have been some primitive, involuntary dance of agony.	10
27	264	Sarm had thrust the stub of his foreleg beneath his shoulder and it seemed frozen there in the coagulating green slush that emanated from the wound.	10
27	271	He regarded Sarm and his cohorts, and his great laterally chopping jaws opened and closed once.	10
27	272	The golden Priest-Kings behind Sarm did not advance further.	10
27	275	Sarm said nothing.	10
27	278	Sarm seemed to tremble and so, too, did those Priest-Kings who stood behind him.	10
27	279	"We will bring silver tubes," said Sarm.	10
27	282	I could not understand this but Misk, paying no attention to Sarm, or his cohorts or the other Priest-Kings, rushed to the Platform of the Mother.	10
27	320	"Long ago," she said, "Misk, my child, stole the egg of a male and now he has hidden it from Sarm and others who do not wish for there to be another Nest".	10
27	324	"I said nothing to him but I considered what he had said, and I thought on this matter, and at last—in league with the Second Born, who has since succumbed to the Pleasures of the Golden Beetle, I set aside a female egg to be concealed from Sarm beyond the Nest".	10
28	2	After the death of the Mother, Sarm and those who followed him, most of the Priest-Kings for he was First Born, fled from the chamber to fetch, as it was said, silver tubes.	10
28	10	On the second day of the second week of battle, after the forces of Sarm had withdrawn, I, armed with sword and silver tube, mounted a transportation disk and swept through the no man's land of unoccupied tunnels toward the Vivarium.	10
28	163	The battle would, I supposed, given the undoubted stores of food available to Sarm and his forces, ultimately hinge on the firepower of the silver tubes, of which Misk's side had few, but still I conjectured that the skills and courage of former Muls might yet play their part in the fierce issues to...	10
28	164	* * * * As Al-Ka had predicted, the energy bulbs in the Nest, except where they had actually been destroyed by the fire of Sarm's silver tubes, came on again.	10
28	170	In the third week of the War, equipped with the armored transportation disks, we began to carry the battle to the forces of Sarm, though they still outnumbered us greatly.	10
28	173	For example, at different times, returning from a raid, perhaps bringing another captured silver tube, no longer needed by one of Sarm's slain cohorts, I would find myself unremarked even by Misk though I might stand but feet from him.	10
28	182	Indeed, in my opinion, the greatest mistake of Sarm in the War in the Nest was in his poor handling of the Muls.	10
28	186	Further, from reports of these incoming Muls, the food sources of the Priest-Kings of Sarm were not as extensive as we had supposed.	10
28	187	Indeed, many of the canisters of fungus now in the stores of Sarm were reportedly canisters of simple Mul-Fungus taken from the cases of Muls who had been killed or fled.	10
28	188	Rumor had it that the only Muls whom Sarm had not ordered slain on sight were the Implanted Ones, among whom would be such creatures as Parp, whom I had met long ago when first I entered the lair of Priest-Kings.	10
28	240	Unfortunately Sarm's cohorts, and perhaps fortunately, most of Misk's, did not suffer from this perilous inhibition.	10
28	244	Accordingly it seemed to Misk, and I concurred, that an ultimatum should be issued to Sarm's troops and that, if possible, the ship should not be used in battle.	10
28	254	"Sarm could destroy the Nest," said Misk, "even the planet".	10
29	1	Anesthetization "Sarm is destroying the Ur bonding," said Misk.	10
29	40	In less than a few Ihn I had brought the ship into the large Nest complex where the ten ships of Sarm still followed their grim, precise, destructive pattern, as placidly and methodically as one might paint lines on a surface or mow a lawn.	10
29	42	Moreover, I knew that the cage plastic with which my own ship was protected would be no more protection than tissue paper against Sarm's weapons, the nature of which was not to pierce or melt but, from a given center, radiating outwards, to shatter material gravitationally, breaking it apart and sca...	10
29	44	None of the ships of Sarm had apparently noted me.	10
29	49	I hoped Sarm himself might have been in that flagship.	10
29	74	My heart leaped! Ground fire! I could imagine Misk hastening to his tools and the vast assemblage of instrumentation in his shop, or perhaps sending an outraged Priest-King to some secret arsenal where lay a forbidden weapon, one to which Misk would never have had recourse were it not for the hideou...	10
29	75	The first ship to near the exit seemed to burst into a cloud of powder but the next four ships, and myself, who had fallen into line with them, pierced the veil of powder and found ourselves coursing through the tunnel back toward Sarm's domain.	10
29	96	The silver tube still lay intact in the firing port but its power was so considerably reduced that it was no longer a menace to the ships of Sarm.	10
29	98	The ship of Sarm passed overhead like a hawk and then began to circle.	10
29	105	The other ship of Sarm was turning slowly, deliberately, on its fellow.	10
29	169	Standing nearby I saw Sarm, and behind him the creature Parp, he whose eyes had been like disks of fiery copper.	10
30	1	Sarm's Plan "You have been implanted".	10
30	32	Otherwise I would be used as a weapon by Sarm, used to injure and destroy my friends.	10
30	50	The disk itself lay in Sarm's command headquarters and I think that he was pleased to have it so.	10
30	53	Sarm brandished the appendage, more golden and fresh than the rest of his body.	10
30	56	How much of what Sarm told me in those days was true I could not be sure but I was confident of a few things, and others I learned inadvertently from the reports of Priest-Kings and the few Implanted Muls who served him.	10
30	60	Still, for some reason, Sarm had not activated the control net and sent me to do his bidding.	10
30	64	But now that Misk's forces possessed a similar weapon Sarm, in fear, set his own similar devices aside.	10
30	65	There were new ships flying in the Nest, I understood, ships that had been built by Misk's men and disks that had now been armored by those of Sarm.	10
30	68	Not long after the failure of his gravitational disruption attack Sarm had spread throughout Misk's portions of the Nest various disease organisms, many of which had not had a free occurrence in centuries.	10
30	76	It was not more than a day later before one of Sarm's own scouts laid aside his weapon and, as the Priest-Kings say, succumbed to the Pleasures of the Golden Beetle.	10
30	77	Now the Beetles roamed at random throughout the Nest, more of a threat to Sarm's own forces than Misk's, for now none of Misk's Priest-Kings ventured abroad without a human to protect it should it encounter a Golden Beetle.	10
30	78	In the next days the Golden Beetles began, naturally enough in their hunt for food, to drift toward those portions of the Nest occupied by Sarm's Priest-Kings, for in those portions of the Nest they encountered no shouting humans, no jabbing cattle goads.	10
30	79	The danger became so great that all the Implanted Muls, including even the creature Parp, were sent into the streets to protect Sarm's Priest-Kings.	10
30	80	Oddly enough, to human thinking, neither Misk nor Sarm would permit their humans to slay the Beetles, for Priest-Kings, for a reason which I will later relate, find themselves normally unwilling to slay or order the destruction of the dangerous, fused-winged creatures.	10
30	81	The Golden Beetles, free within the Nest, forced Sarm, in sheer regard for survival, to turn to humans for help, for humans, particularly in the well-ventilated areas of the Nest, are relatively impervious to the narcotic odor of the Beetle's mane, an odor which is apparently almost utterly overpowe...	10
30	82	Accordingly, Sarm broadcast throughout the Nest his general amnesty for former Muls, offering them again the opportunity to become the slaves of Priest-Kings.	10
30	86	Whereas I would not have abandoned Misk and freedom to join the forces of Sarm, I was forced to admit that the probable victory in the end would be his, and that his proposals might well be attractive to some former Muls, particularly those who had occupied a position of some importance in the Nest ...	10
30	104	"Do not yet injure him severely," said Sarm, standing to one side.	10
30	106	Sarm's antennae curled.	10
30	107	"He will be delivered to you only after my victory," said Sarm.	10
30	117	Sarm stalked over.	10
30	121	Sarm then strode to a panel set in one wall.	10
30	125	"These preliminary tests are simple," said Sarm, "and may be of interest to you".	10
30	128	Sarm turned a dial.	10
30	131	Sarm was regarding me closely.	10
30	132	"Perhaps more power," said Parp, raising his voice so that his words might be carried by Sarm's own translator.	10
30	133	Sarm, at this suggestion, touched the original knob again.	10
30	147	I saw that Sarm had turned off the machine.	10
30	148	"What do you remember?" asked Sarm.	10
30	150	"We will check sensory data later," said Sarm.	10
30	152	"Yes," said Sarm, "you have done excellent work".	10
30	153	Sarm then turned and left the headquarters room.	10
30	164	Parp had again been sent into the streets to fend off Golden Beetles, should they approach too closely any of the Priest-Kings of Sarm.	10
30	165	I learned from conversation in the headquarters room that not many of the humans who fought with Misk's forces had responded to the blandishments of Sarm, though some, like Vika of Treve, had deserted to cast their fortune with what appeared to be the winning side.	10
30	166	From what I could gather, only a handful of humans, some men, some women, had actually crossed the lines and taken service with Sarm.	10
30	167	Sarm, one day, brought down from the Halls of the Priest-Kings above, all the humans who were quartered there, mostly Chamber Slaves, to aid his cause.	10
30	174	Sarm, who was normally in the room, seemed to take great pleasure in Vika's baiting me, for he would stand by, antennae curling, as she would insult me, taunt me, sometimes strike me with her small fist.	10
30	176	"What a piteous thing you are," she said to me, "and how golden and strong and brave and fine is a Priest-King!" And Sarm would extend his antennae down to her that she might delicately brush the small golden hairs which adorned them.	10
30	185	Meanwhile, slowly, incredibly, the War in the Nest began to turn against Sarm.	10
30	186	The most remarkable event was a delegation of Sarm's Priest-Kings, led by Kusk himself, who surrendered to Misk, pledging themselves to his cause.	10
30	187	This transfer of allegiance was apparently the result of long discussion and consideration by the group of Priest-Kings who had followed Sarm because he was First Born, but had at many points objected to his conduct of the War, in particular to his treatment of the Muls, his use of the gravitational...	10
30	191	Growing more desperate, Sarm rallied his forces and armored six dozen transportation disks and swept into Misk's domain.	10
30	194	It now became clear that Sarm was on the defensive, for I heard orders being issued to block the tunnels leading into the areas of the Nest he controlled.	10
30	199	And I noted that some of Sarm's Priest-Kings were less golden than I had known them, having now a slightly brownish cast on the thorax and abdomen, signs I knew to be associated with thirst.	10
30	201	At last Sarm made clear to me why I had been kept alive, why I had not been destroyed long ago.	10
30	205	"If there is Nest Trust between you," said Sarm, his antennae curling, "Misk will be ready to die for you".	10
30	207	"His life for yours," said Sarm.	10
30	209	"No," cried Vika, who had been standing in the background, "he is mine!" "Do not fear, Little Mul," said Sarm.	10
30	211	"Sarm is treacherous," I said.	10
30	212	"Sarm is a Priest-King," he said.	10
31	1	Sarm's Revenge The place of meeting was arranged.	10
31	2	It lay in one of the plazas in the area controlled by the forces of Sarm.	10
31	3	Misk was to come alone to the plaza, to be met by myself and Sarm.	10
31	5	Misk would surrender himself to Sarm and I, theoretically, would then be allowed to go free.	10
31	6	But I knew that Sarm had no intention of keeping his part of the bargain, and that he intended to slay Misk, destroying hopefully thereby the effective leadership of the opposition, and then either keep me as a slave for Vika or, more likely, killing me as well, even though that might disappoint the...	10
31	7	When I was unchained I was informed by Sarm that the small box he carried activated my control net and at the first sign of disobedience or difficulty he would simply raise the power level—literally boiling my brain away.	10
31	9	I wondered what Sarm would say if he knew that Parp and Kusk had not actually implanted me.	10
31	10	In spite of the agreement about arms, Sarm hung from the back of his translator strap, invisible from the front, a silver tube.	10
31	14	"I wish to see my Master triumph!" she begged, and that argument seemed to sway golden Sarm, and Vika found herself a member of our party.	10
31	15	I myself was forced to walk perhaps a dozen paces in front of Sarm, who held his grasping appendage near the control box which would, he supposed, activate the golden net he believed to be fused into the tissues of my brain.	10
31	21	When he was still out of range of the silver tube of Sarm but close enough, I hoped, to be able to hear me, I ran forward, throwing my hands high.	10
31	24	I heard Sarm's translator behind me.	10
31	26	I turned and I saw Sarm, his entire golden bladelike form convulsed with rage.	10
31	28	"Die, Mul," said Sarm.	10
31	30	It took Sarm but an instant to realize he had been tricked and he hurled the box from him and it shattered on the tiles of the plaza.	10
31	31	I stood ready now to receive the blast of Sarm's silver tube which he had whipped from its place of concealment and trained on my breast.	10
31	32	"Very well," said Sarm, "let it be the silver tube".	10
31	35	Once again, desperately, Sarm pressed the firing switch.	10
31	36	"It does not fire!" came from Sarm's translator and his entire frame was startled, shaken with incomprehension.	10
31	41	"I do not understand," came from Sarm's translator.	10
31	44	"I do not understand," came from Sarm's translator.	10
31	46	Sarm hurled the silver tube at my head and I ducked and heard it clatter across the tiles of the plaza for perhaps a hundred yards.	10
31	47	Then to my amazement Sarm turned and though I was but a human he fled from the plaza.	10
31	52	The Priest-Kings who had served him had, on the whole at least, believed that what they were doing was required by the laws of the Nest, but now with Sarm's disappearance Misk, though only Fifth Born, acceded to the title of highest born, and it was to him now, according to the same laws of the Nest...	10
31	53	There was a greater problem as to what to do with the former Muls who had deserted to join the forces of Sarm, for the blandishments he had offered, and because they had thought that his side was the one which was winning.	10
31	103	"Sarm is not dead," said Misk.	10
31	115	I saw no sign of Sarm.	10
31	120	I looked up to see Sarm on that narrow passage that traced its precarious way around the great blue dome that covered the power source.	10
31	122	Running irregularly, dodging bursts of fire, I ran to the side of the dome where Sarm, from his position somewhere above, would not be likely to be able to reach me with his fire.	10
31	126	Then Sarm seemed to lose interest in me, perhaps thinking I had been slain, more likely to conserve the charge in the silver tube for more important matters, for he then began, methodically, to fire at the paneling across from the dome, destroying one area after another.	10
31	128	Then he fired a burst directly down into the power source and it began to rumble and throw geysers of purple fire up almost to the hole which Sarm had burned in the globe.	10
31	131	I knew that somehow I must try to stop Sarm but what could I do? He was armed with a silver tube and I with nothing but the steel of a Gorean sword.	10
31	132	Sarm kept firing long, persistent bursts of fire at the paneling against the walls, undoubtedly attempting to destroy the instrumentation.	10
31	135	I climbed the walkway rapidly and soon could see Sarm clearly at the very top of the dome, whence he had once displayed to me the majesty of the Priest-Kings' accomplishments, where he had once indicated to me the modifications of the ganglionic net by means of which his people had won to the enormo...	10
31	140	Twice more Sarm fired and twice more I scrambled about on the walkway trying to keep the two surfaces of the globe between myself and his weapon.	10
31	144	I wondered what more Sarm could do now.	10
31	149	Sarm seemed in no hurry.	10
31	156	A drift of dust from the rubble obscured Sarm's figure for a moment.	10
31	160	"It has sheltered the Nest of Priest-Kings but now there are no more Priest-Kings—only I, only Sarm is left".	10
31	165	"You have destroyed the Nest," said Sarm, looking wildly down at me.	10
31	168	"But now," said Sarm, "I will destroy you".	10
31	170	Sarm reached to the steel bar that formed the railing to his left on the walkway and with the incredible strength of Priest-Kings with one motion twisted and tore free a length of perhaps eighteen feet.	10
31	173	I stepped back and Sarm advanced a delicate pace.	10
31	174	"Primitive," said Sarm, regarding the club of steel which he held, and then he looked down at me, his antennae curling, "but fitting".	10
31	175	I knew I could not retreat back down the walkway for Sarm was much faster than I and would be upon me perhaps even before I could turn.	10
31	177	And ahead of me stood Sarm, his club ready.	10
31	180	If I had dared to take my eyes from Sarm I might have looked about at the wonder of the Nest and the destruction in which it was being consumed.	10
31	186	Sarm lifted the bar and I sensed the murderous intensity that transformed his entire being, how each of those golden fibers like springs of steel would leap into play and the long bar would slash in a blur toward my body.	10
31	188	But Sarm did not strike.	10
31	189	Rather to my wonder the bar of steel lowered and Sarm seemed frozen suddenly in an attitude of the most rapt perception.	10
31	199	The steel bar fell from Sarm's appendage and slid from the top of the dome to fall with a distant crash far below in the rubble.	10
31	200	"Kill it, Cabot," came from Sarm's translator.	10
31	207	"It is not done," I said to Sarm.	10
31	209	Slowly the heavy body with its domed, fused wings pressed past me, its tiny, tuftlike antennae extending towards Sarm, its long, hollow pincerlike jaws opening.	10
31	210	"Cabot," came from Sarm's translator.	10
31	213	Then to my amazement when the Beetle neared Sarm the Priest-King sank down on his supporting appendages, almost as if he were on his knees, and suddenly plunged his face and antennae into the midst of the waving mane hair of the Golden Beetle.	10
31	218	Sarm's antennae lay immersed in the golden hair of the Beetle; his grasping appendages with their sensory hairs caressed the golden hair; even did he take some of the hairs in his mouth and with his tongue try to lick the exudate from them.	10
31	219	"The pleasure," came from Sarm's translator.	10
31	225	Once, as though by some supreme effort of will, Sarm, who was a great Priest-King, lifted his head from the golden hair and stared at me.	10
31	228	The last sound I heard from Sarm's translator was—"The pleasure".	10
31	229	Then in the last spasmodic throb of death Sarm's body broke free of the jaws of the Golden Beetle and reared up once more to its glorious perhaps twenty feet of golden height.	10
31	234	With my foot I tumbled its heavy body from the walkway and watched it slide down the side of the globe and fall like Sarm to the rubble below.	10
32	4	I looked to the body of Sarm, golden and broken, lying among the rubble on the floor, half covered in the powdery dust that hung like fog in the room.	10
32	16	I turned back only in time to see Misk leap from the panel and rush to the body of Sarm lying among the rubble.	10