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control. So he had gambled that by risking the short term, during which potential opposition would be
confused and in disarray, his grip would be firmer in the long run, when they'd had a chance to organize.
"How are Rakki and the other two doing?" he asked Kelm.
"Just sitting, waiting it out. At least they're smart enough to know when they don't have much choice,"
Kelm said.
The three natives who had been at the base yesterday when the Gallian incident occurred were still being
detained, the main reason being simply that there had been more urgent things to take care of than taking
them home. But it also saved Zeigler the trouble of having to go out to Joburg himself to put his deal to
them. Keene's timing in bringing them here couldn't have been better.
"Then maybe it's about time we had a talk with them," Zeigler said.
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"Shall I have them brought here?" Kelm asked.
Zeigler thought for a second. "No. We'll go over there," he replied. "And use that translator of ours
who's been studying the tapes. We need to get her up to speed. Obviously the South African can't be
involved in this."
CHAPTER THIRTY
The room that Rakki, White Head, and Gap Teeth were being held in was formed from the same kinds
of materials as the crawling shell that had come to Joburg, the bird that had brought them to this "base"
they called Serengeti, and the few other parts of it that they had seen since. The structure was not woven
from anything, but consisted of unbroken sheets of a size and extent that amazed him. And how it was all
fastened together such that the greatest force he could bring to bear failed to produce even the slightest
bend or movement was a mystery. Doors opened silently of their own accord; light appeared at the touch
of a finger; shining handles gave forth endless streams of water, hot or cold, and clearer than was found in
the pools of high-mountain streams. How it was possible to create such things intrigued yet confounded
him. He had seen the strange shapes from which the Sky People were constructing the base, and from
which, presumably, they had also built their even vaster cities. And then, beyond that, what manner of
knowledge of forces and powers enabled other creations to move themselves across the ground and fly
in the sky?
Surely, Rakki would have thought, these were the god-beings that White Head had talked of, which
people had once believed were to humans as humans were to animals and came from the sky. But no.
White Head said they were human, just like himself, Rakki, or any of the others at Joburg or back in the
caves. And that in itself was a challenge both to Rakki's hunger to know, and to his pride. For if they
were human, it meant thathe could learn too. And if other humans commanded such powers, a leader of
any stature would have to show himself as capable of possessing them too.
"You say they are humans like us." Rakki brought the subject up again. He sat with his legs stretched
along one of the fine woven-hair beds, his back propped against the wall, and addressed White Head,
sitting in a chair at the table, causing pictures and lines of strange symbols to appear on a screen. White
Head seemed to have an idea what some of the symbols meant. Gap Teeth was sitting cross-legged on
the floor, silent and unmoving. He said the chairs were the wrong shape and too soft. They made him feel
as if his bones were dissolving like salt stones dropped in a cooking pot.
"Just like us," White Head said again.
"But they arenot just like us. You tell me they make these things from essences that lie hidden in rocks.
But I have broken rocks and examined them, and I do not see these things. Why can we not make
machines from essences of rocks if it is not because the Sky People are different?"
White Head pushed himself back from the table but kept his eyes on the screen. "They are different only
in what they know. In the same way, you know much and Shell Eyes's baby knows nothing. But it is as
human as you, and will become like you."
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"Are you saying we are nothing but children?" Rakki challenged. He didn't like the comparison and felt
anger at the suggestion.
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