Didyak beamed at him. The sight was remarkably unpleasant, involving as it did the disclosure of the Tr'en fifty-eight teeth, mostly pointed. Korvin stared back impassively. "I have been ordered to come to you," Didyak said, "by the Ruler. The Ruler wishes to talk with you." It wasn't quite "talk"; that was a general word in the Tr'en language, and Didyak had used a specific meaning, roughly: "gain information from, by peaceful and vocal means." Korvin filed it away for future reference. "Why did the Ruler not come to me?" Korvin asked. "The Ruler is the Ruler," Didyak said, slightly discomfited. "You are to go to him. Such is his command." Korvin shrugged, sighed and smoothed back his hair. "I obey the command of the Ruler," he said--another ritual. Everybody obeyed the command of the Ruler. If you didn't, you never had a second chance to try. But Korvin meant exactly what he'd said. He was going to obey the commands of the Ruler of the Tr'en--and remove the Tr'en threat from the rest of the galaxy forever. That, after all, was his job. * * * * * The Room of the Ruler was large, square and excessively brown. The walls were dark-brown, the furnishings--a single great chair, several kneeling-benches and a small table near the chair--were light-brown, of some metallic substance, and even the drapes were tan. It was, Korvin decided, much too much of a bad idea, even when the color contrast of the Tr'en themselves were figured in. The Ruler himself, a Tr'en over seven feet tall and correspondingly broad, sat in the great chair, his four fingers tapping gently on the table near him, staring at Korvin and his guards. The guards stood on either side of their captive, looking as impassive as jade statues, six and a half feet high. Korvin wasn't attempting to escape. He wasn't pleading with the Ruler. He wasn't defying the Ruler, either. He was just answering questions. The Tr'en liked to have everything clear. They were a logical race. The Ruler had started with Korvin's race, his name, his sex--if any--and whether or not his appearance were normal for humanity. Korvin was answering the last question. "Some men are larger than I am," he said, "and some are smaller." "Within what limits?" Korvin shrugged. "Some are over eight feet tall," he said, "and others under four feet." He used the Tr'en measurement scale, of course; it didn't seem necessary, though, to mention that both extremes of height were at the circus-freak level. "Then there is a group of humans," he went on, "who are never more than a foot and a half in height, and usually less than that--approximately nine or ten inches. We call these _children_," he volunteered helpfully. "Approximately?" the Ruler growled. "We ask for precision here," he said. "We are scientific men. We are exact." Korvin nodded hurriedly. "Our race is more ... more approximate," he said apologetically. "Slipshod," the Ruler muttered.