Venus On The Half-Shell by Philip Jose Farmer

Author:Philip Jose Farmer [Farmer, Philip Jose]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-12-13T07:20:59+00:00

Chapter 14

Off to See the Wizard The queen and her granddaughter were fluent and charming talkers. Simon spent many an hour, lying side by side with themthough not at the same timehis tail entwined with theirs. But neither of them had the answer to his primal question.

Nor did anybody else he met in the capital city. Finally, he asked to have a chance to meet the great sage Mofeislop. Shintsloop, The Great Tail Himself said he had no objections. He was so cooperative that Simon wondered if he was glad to get rid of him. Maybe he suspected something, though if he did he showed no resentment. Simon had not yet learned that a Dokalian could control his facial muscles but could not keep his tail from expressing his true feelings. If he had, he might have noticed that Shintsloop's tail was held straight out behind him but twitched madly at it's end.

Simon sent another messenger to the ship to ask Chworktap if she wanted to go on the trip with him. The messenger returned with a piece of paper.

/ Can't come with you. I think Tzu Li does have self-consciousness but she's afraid to reveal it. Either she's shy or she mistrusts humans. I've told her I'm a machine, too, but she probably thinks it's a trick. Have a good time. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Love and Kisses Simon smiled. She got very upset when she thought that he might regard her as a machine. But if it would gain her something to admit that she might be, she would not hesitate. This was so human that it certified her as human.

The trip on the railroad took four days. At the end of the line was a wall of yellow bricks two hundred feet high, stretching as far as Simon could see.

Actually, it surrounded the Free Land and was a work equivalent to the Great Wall of China. It wasn't as long but it was much higher and thicker. It had no gates, but it did have brick staircases on the outer side every mile or so.

These were for the guards, who manned the stations on top of the wall.

"How many men would it take to guard the prisons if the criminals were put into them instead of being sent into the Free Land?" Simon said.

His escort, Colonel Booflum, said, "Oh, about forty thousand, I suppose. The Free Land is a great saving for the tax-payer. We don't have to feed and house the prisoners or pay guards or build new prisons."

"How many soldiers are used to guard these walls?" Simon said.

"About three hundred thousand," the colonel said.

Simon didn't say anything.

He climbed to the top of the wall with Anubis behind him and Athena on his shoulder. Three miles away was the inevitable tower of the Clerun-Gowph. Beyond it for many miles was the top of Mishodei Mountain, his goal. Between him and it lay dozens of smaller mountains and an unbroken forest.

Simon and his pets got into a big wickerwork basket and were lowered by a steam winch.

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