'I did not ask for this.'
'You should have,' said the woman, so softly that he could barely catch the words. She extended the little finger of her right hand, then touched her lower lip with it.
Taita started. It was the recognition signal that Colonel That had shown him. The woman was one of his people. Without another word she walked on, leaving the scroll on his table. Taita wanted to call after her, but restrained himself and watched her leave the room. He went on reading his own scroll until he was certain that he was alone and unobserved, then rolled it up and set it aside. In its place he opened the one that the librarian had brought him. It was untitled and the author
was not named. Then he recognized the hand that had formed the unusually small and artistically drawn hieroglyphics.: 'Dr Rei,' he whispered, and read on quickly. The subject that she1 was addressing was the replacement of human body parts by the process of seeding and grafting. His eyes skipped down the sheet of papyrus. He was intimately familiar with everything that Rei had written: her coverage of the subject was impressively detailed and lucid, but he found nothing new until he was almost half-way through the scroll. Then Rei began to describe how the seedings were harvested and prepared for application to the wound site. The chapter was headed: 'Selecting and cultivating the seedings'. As his eye ran on, the enormity of what she was so coldly enumerating crashed down on him like an avalanche. His mind numb with shock, he went back to the beginning of the chapter and reread it, this time very slowly, returning time and again to those sections that were beyond rational belief.
The donor should be young and healthy. She should have demonstrated at least five menstrual periods. Neither she nor her immediate family should have any history of serious disease. Her appearance should be pleasing. For reasons of management she should be obedient and tractable. If any difficulty is encountered in this area, the use of calming drugs is recommended. They should be administered with care so as not to contaminate the end product. There is a list of recommended drugs in the appendix at the end of this thesis. Diet is also important. It should be low in red meat and milk products, which heat the blood.
There was much more in this vein. Then he reached the next chapter, headed simply 'Breeding'.
As with the donor, the impregnators should be young and healthy, without defect or blemish. Under the present system they are usually selected as a reward for some service to the state. Often this is for military accomplishment. Care must be exercised to prevent any establishing emotional ties with the donor. They should be rotated at brief intervals. As soon as the donor's pregnancy is confirmed she must be denied any further contact with her impregnator.
Taita looked up sightlessly at the shelf of tablets directly in front of him. He remembered the stark terror of little Sidudu. He recalled vividly
her pathetic plea: 'Please, Magus! I beg you! Please help me! If I don't rid myself of the baby they will kill me. I don't want to die for Onka's bastard.'
Sidudu the runaway had been one of the donors. Not a wife or mother, but a donor. Onka was one of her impregnators. Not her husband, lover or mate, but her impregnator. Taita's horror mounted steadily, but he forced himself to read on. Trie next section was headed 'Harvesting'.
Some phrases seemed to leap at him from the text.
The harvesting must take place between the twentieth and twenty-fourth week of pregnancy.
The foetus must be removed intact and entire from the womb.
Natural birth should not be allowed to take place as this has proved to be detrimental to the quality of the seedings.
As the chance of the donor surviving after the removal of the foetus is remote, her life should be terminated immediately. The surgeon should usually take measures to prevent unnecessary suffering. The preferred method is to place the donor under restraint. Her limbs are pinioned and she is gagged to prevent her screams alarming the other donors. The foetus is then removed swiftly by frontal section of the abdomen. Immediately this has been carried out the donor's life should be terminated by strangulation. The ligature is kept in place until the heart has stopped beating and her flesh has cooled.
Taita hurried on to the next chapter, entitled 'The foetus'. His heart was beating so rapidly that he could hear it resonating in his eardrums.
The sex of the foetus appears to be unimportant, although it seems logical and desirable that it should be the same as that of the recipient. The foetus should be healthy and well formed with no detectable deformity or defect. If it does not conform to these criteria it should be discarded. For these reasons it is advisable to have more than one donor available. If the area to be grafted is extensive there should be a choice of at least three donors available. Five would be a more desirable number.
Taita rocked back. Three donors. He remembered the three girls in the waterfall on the day of their first arrival. They had been brought as sacrificial lambs to provide a new eye for Meren. Five donors. He remembered the five girls whom Onka had been bringing up the mountain when
they met him on the pathway. Had they all died of strangulation in the approved manner? Had it been one of them he had heard weeping in the night? Had she known what was about to happen to her and the babe in her womb? Was that why she had wept? He jumped up from the table, rushed out of the building and into the forest. As soon as he was hidden among the trees he doubled over and retched painfully, vomiting his shame and guilt. He leant against the trunk of one of the trees and stared down at the bulge beneath his tunic.
'Is this the reason why those innocents were slaughtered?' He drew the small knife from the sheath on his girdle. 'I will hack it off and force it down Hannah's throat. I will choke her with it!' he raged. 'It is a poisonous gift that will bring me only guilt and torment.'
His hand was shaking so violently that the knife slipped from his fingers. He covered his eyes with both hands. 'I hate it — I hate myself!'
he whispered. His mind was filled with violent and confused images. He remembered the frenzied feasting of the crocodiles in the azure lake.
He heard the weeping of women and the wailing of infants, the sounds of sorrow and despair.
Then the confusion cleared and he heard again the voice of Demeter the savant: This Eos is the minion of the Lie. She is the consummate impostor, the usurper, the deceiver, the thief, the devourer of infants.
'She is the devourer of infants,' he repeated. 'She is the one who orders and directs these atrocities. I must turn my hatred for myself upon her. She is the one I truly hate. She is the one I have come to destroy.
Perhaps by grafting this thing upon me she has unwittingly given me the instrument of her own destruction.' He lifted his hands from his eyes and stared at them. They were no longer trembling.
'Screw up your courage and resolve, Taita of Gallala,' he whispered.
'The skirmishing is over. The battle royal is about to begin.'
He left the forest and made his way back to the library to retrieve Dr Rei's scroll. He knew he must read and remember every detail. He must know how they desecrated the bodies of the little ones to create the vile seedings. He must make sure that the sacrifice of the infants was never forgotten. He went to the worktable where he had left the scroll, but it was gone.
By the time he reached his own rooms in the sanatorium the sun had gone behind the crater wall. The servants had lit oil lamps, and the bowl that contained his evening meal was warming over the glowing charcoal in the copper brazier. After he had eaten sparingly, then brewed and drunk a bowl of the coffee grown by Dr Assem, he settled himself cross-legged on the sleeping mat and composed himself for meditation. This was his nightly routine, and the watcher at the hidden peep-hole would find nothing unusual in it.