Dr. Kang spoke before Gary could answer. "It would be useless, Lark. They would only catch us again. As serfs we cannot expect freedom. We might as well wait and let them sell us to whomsoever they will. If we cause no trouble we can more easily learn that which we need to know." Gary said, "The cart's gone. That's a bad break. With it were our cached arms. We're helpless now, trapped in the middle of Khundru--" "Hush!" warned Nora. "Here comes our guard again, with the auctioneer." * * * * * It was so. Apparently the soldier had argued to the tradesman the necessity of selling this quintet immediately. For though the auctioneer grumbled and complained, he led the five to the dais. His shrill singsong resumed its wheedling chant. "And now, O nobles and freedmen," he whined, "a special consignment from the chattels of the _kraedar_ Pridu, Captain of the Royal Guards. A family of Taborians, newly come to our city from years of talented service in the Twilight Zone under the deceased _kraedar_ Alisur. Said family consisting of one elderly male in good physical condition, two young and sturdy males, and their mates, two fine, fertile females. How is your wish? Have I a bid on this family as a lot?" "Fine and fert--" began Lark O'Day, outraged. Kang silenced him with a gesture. There came no bid from the assemblage, but a voice cried, "We want no job lot goods in muffled packages. Bring them out one at a time, and let us see them. The females first." "As you wish, my lord," agreed the auctioneer. "So be it." And he reached down from his dais, seized the wrist of the lovely Martian, Pen-N'hi, and hauled her to his side. "Behold, O wise purchasers," he cried. "Here is one of the females. A fine, staunch creature in the bloom of her young womanhood. Lovely and graceful as the fleeting _catooni_[11] but yet--" And he winked lecherously at the mob--"not _too_ young to be acquainted with the Lore of a Thousand Delights, in which she was well trained by her late master." [Footnote 11: _Catooni_: a Magogean woodland beast similar to the Virginia red-tailed deer, but with six legs and two sets of vestigial wings.--_Ed._] "Rat!" grated Lark between his teeth. "Another crack like that--" "Silence!" whispered Kang. "His words mean nothing. It is written, 'Speech will neither spot the lily's face, nor hide the leper's sores.'" A voice raised from the audience. "Two hundred _dwari_, Tisru!" Tisru's sharp face looked grieved. "Two _hundred_, sire? For a beautiful mistress such as this? Two _thousand_, you mean. Behold this graceful throat, this slender waist ... these tiny hands which can thrill with a thousand caresses--" "Three hundred," cried another voice. "Four hundred." "Five hundred." "Six." The auctioneer's oily insinuations did not lack the power to titillate his listeners. A flurry of interest sharpened the bidding. "Eight hundred" ... "Nine!" ... "One thousand _dwari_!"