Childe looked at the goblet again. It was not quite as dull as ithad been a moment ago. It flickered when he looked at it. When he looked away, but could still see it out of the corner of his eye, it became dull once more.
"When will I find out what all this means?" Childe said. "Perhaps during the ceremony. It is better that you...remember." "Remember?" Pao did not offer to explain. Childe smelled the liquid. Its odor
was winey, but there was an unfamiliar under-odor (was there such a word?) toit. The under odor evoked a flashing image of infinite black space with stars hereand there and then another image of a night sky with sheets of white fire andgiant red, blue, yellow, garnet, emerald, and purple stars filling the sky. Andthere was a fleeting landscape of red rock with mushroom-shaped buildings ofwhite and red stone, trees that looked inverted, with their branches on the groundand their roots feeding on the air, and a thin band with scarlet, pale green, and white threads, something like a Saturn's ring, arcing across the sky nearthe horizon.
He drained the tiny goblet with one gulp and, feeling hungryimmediatelyafterward, ate the, sandwiches. The meat tasted like beef with bluecheese.
When the goblets had been passed around, and everybody wasstanding as ifwaiting for something to happen--which they were, Childe supposed-Pao raised his hands. He spoke in a loud voice: "The Childe must have power!"
That was a funny way to refer to him, Childe thought. The Childe? The crowd answered in a loud chorus, "The Childe must havepower!" Pao said, "There is but one way in which The Childe may gain thispower!"
The people echoed, "There is but one way in which The Childe maygain thispower!"
"And grow!" "And grow!" "And become a man!" "And become a man!" "And become our Captain!" "And become our Captain!" "And lead us to our long lost home!" "And lead us to our long lost home!" "And permit us to triumph over our enemies, the Tocs!" "And permit us to triumph over our enemies, the Tocs!" "Through the nothingness and the utter cold he will lead us!" There was more, none of which made any sense to Childe except for
the reference to their enemies, the Tocs. These must be the people ofwhom he had so far met only three. The three who had rescued him from, Vivienne andreproachedher for breaking the truce.
The liquor was making him feel very heady by then. And the foodhad infused him with strength. He looked at the goblet, which glowed as if hisgaze beamedradium at it.
Pao finally finished his chanting. Immediately, the crowd becamenoisy. Theystarted talking and laughing. And they were also stripping off theirclothes. Panchita Pocyotl shed her gown, revealing that she wore nothing underit exceptlong stockings held up by huge scarlet garters. Vivienne was not farbehind her; she wore a garter belt and stockings. The snake-thing had withdrawn; her auburn bush looked very attractive.
Pao, naked, his skinny dick dangling halfway down between histhighs, said, "Would you please undress, Captain?"
Childe, feeling dizzy, rose. He said, "Captain?" "You will know what I mean--I hope," Pao said. Childe remembered with a pang of dread his treatment at the hands
of the enormously fat Mrs. Grasatchow when he was a prisoner in Igescu'shouse.
He said, "Am I to be abused?"
"No one would think of that now," Pao said. "Vivienne made a verybad mistake, and if we did not need her so much, we might have killedher. But she was overcome by your power, and that is a reasonable excuse for heractions. Nevertheless, she will not be permitted to touch you tonight."
Childe, looking at the naked and superbly shaped woman, felt hispenisrising. The liquid seemed to have gone down warmly to the placebehind his navel and there caught fire. The blaze spread out, up, and down, but mainlydown. The base of his cock was rammed with a boiling and heavy liquid metal; itexpandedupwards, filling out his cock, lifting it up, and making it throb.
He said, "All right," and he undressed.
Pao took his clothes and left the room. Childe, standing there, felt foolish, and so he sat down. The others seemed to know what wasexpected ofthem; they began embracing and caressing each other, standing up, orlying downon the floor, or on the sofas. They were not putting their wholehearts into their lovemaking, however; they were waiting for someone orsomething.
Pao returned. He walked up to Childe, took his hand, and said, "Your blessing, Captain."
He placed his long slim peter on Childe's upturned palm, and thedead worm came to life. It became red and swollen and rose up off the hand asif launched. Pao backed away and bowed and kissed Childe's hand where his peterhad lain.
"I thank you, Captain," he said.
There was a scramble among the couples after that. They arrangedthemselves in a double line in an order of precedence which they seemed to knowwell. There was no quarreling or struggling to get ahead of one another.
The first two in line were Panchita Pocyotl and a big blond manwith Scandinavian features. They stood before Childe, between him and thegoblet inthe cube.
The man said, "Your pardon, Captain," and took Childe's hand andclosed the fingers around his half-erect dong. At the touch, the big-knobbeddong filled up like a blimp being engorged with gas. It lay hard and throbbing inChilde's hand, and a small drop of fluid oozed out of the slit in the glands. The man stepped back and Panchita got down on her knees and took Childe'spenis in onehand and kissed it on the head and the shaft. Then she arose, lookedonce into his eyes with her large luminous dark-brown eyes, and withdrew withthe man.
Childe watched them. They walked to a sofa and lay down on it. Panchita spread her legs out and over his shoulders, and he inserted himselfinto the thick black glossy bush and began pumping. His red Swedish ass wentfaster and faster and then, suddenly, both groaned and writhed. After they hadcome, theylay quiescent and then, a few minutes later, he was fucking her dogfashion.
This excited Childe, who wanted the next woman kissing his cockto continue. But she backed away, murmuring, "Thank you, Captain," and went awaywith her squat Indian partner and his thick stubby penis.
The couples came quickly, the men laying their dongs in his handsand the women kissing or licking his cock. There were exceptions, however. Some of the men also got down and kissed or even sucked briefly on him, and someof the women took his hand and placed it on their cunts.
Childe had been slightly repulsed by some of this at thebeginning. But asmore couples approached him, as more couples began fucking orsucking, heaccepted it as something natural to him. He began thinking of it ashis due, andthen as something old and familiar. The flashes of the exotic andextraterrestrial landscapes occurred more frequently, each timecoincident with the placing of a dong in his hand or the slide of lips over the headand shaft of his cock.
The goblet had increased its illumination during this ceremony. As each couple passed, it shone a trifle more brightly. And the white glow inhis skull was exceeded only by the hot whiteness in his penis. It was so stronga sensation, he was disappointed when he looked down and did not seeglands andshaft radiating with a white light.
Pao, he noticed, had no steady partner. He wandered around, andwhen he found a vacant cunt or empty mouth, he filled it. He did not seem tocare whether or not the other was male or female. He came each time he rammed his partner with a few strokes, and then he would withdraw his drippingbut still rigid dick and go on to the next person.