Thief of Llarn by Gardner F. Fox

Author:Gardner F. Fox [Fox, Gardner F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gardner Francis Fox Library
Published: 2017-04-15T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

TWO LEVELS below the throne room we were ushered into a system of interlocked caverns filled with machinery and the smell of chemicals. This was the atmosphere plant that kept the underground living quarters of the Avokoom filled with sweet, cool air. A low throb of pulsing engines indicated how smoothly the air was pumped from the surface, down through the filtering tanks and then upward into the dwelling caverns themselves.

The officer turned us over to a simple panar whose tour of duty made him supervisor of the great machines which hummed so steadily and so softly as they pumped and purified, drew in and exhaled air. It was like being inside a mechanical lung, far down in the depths of the planet.

“These are new slaves, assigned to the plant engines," announced the korbar. "Keep them busy.”

The panar grumbled, "I could use ten times these two. Keep them busy! Have you any idea of the work we have down here?”

The officer laughed. It was no concern of his, what headaches the panar might have. He had brought him two slaves, and now he washed his hands of the matter. The panar glared after his retreating back before he turned to us.

“Come along, you two,” he said. “I’ll put you to work right away. Work, work, work. Saw you ever such a task for one man?”

I sympathized with him. I so admired his knowledge of the huge plant that he began to grow expansive and boast of his technical skills. He was the only man of all the Avokoom who was familiar with the great purifier tanks, with the intake valves and the exhalators. As a result, he was imposed upon, day and night.

"If a break occurs, I'm the man they rouse out of bed. I'm the one who does without sleep. I'm the scapegoat when a leak occurs.”

“It isn't fair,” I nodded. He smiled faintly. "We'll get on, you and I—if you can follow orders. Mostly the slaves I get are a sorry lot. They have no brains, no ability even to obey a command. I have to overlook everything they do.”

"And yet you rule a world, down here,” I told him. "You are more powerful even than your dagan.”

He nodded. "I have thought of that, not that the knowledge does me any good. I am kept too busy to enjoy life.”

"I may be able to help you. I am familiar with machinery. Explain to me how the plant works.”

Instantly he was suspicious. “Why should you help me?” I spread my hands. "I am a slave, true. But a slave can enjoy a few luxuries—good food, some wine, perhaps even a slave girl to while away the night hours. You could see that I get these luxuries, Ovu Truv."

The man grinned. "I could, indeed. Down here I am like a dagan. Nobody comes here any oftener than can be helped.” He put his thumb and forefinger to his nostrils. “The smell keeps them away.”

Ghan Karr and I went to school for a few hours with the panar as our teacher.

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