Rynason frowned. The interpreter automatically translated terms which
had no reliable parallel in Terran by giving two or three related words,
and usually the concept was fairly clear. Not quite so with this
sentence.
"God and knowledge are two different words in our language," he said.
"Can you explain your term more fully?"
Horng shifted heavily on his seat, his blunt fingers tapping each other.
KOR WAS IS EXISTENCE WHICH WE WORSHIP OBEY ADMIRE FOLLOW. ALSO ESSENCE
CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE SCIENCE QUESTING.
Rynason, watching the stylus, pursed his lips. "Mm," he said softly, and
shrugged his shoulders. Kor was apparently some sort of god, but the
interpreter didn't seem capable of translating the term precisely.
"What were the sciences of Kor?"
There was a silence as the stylus finished moving across the paper, and
Rynason looked up at Horng. The alien's eyes were closed and he had
stopped the constant motion of his leathery grey fingers; he sat
immobile, like a giant statue, almost a part of the complex of the hall
and the crumbling domed building. Rynason waited.
The silence remained for a long time in the dry air of the empty hall.
Rynason saw from the corner of his eye one of the dark little scavengers
darting out of a gaping window. He could almost hear, it seemed, the
noise of the brawling, makeshift town the Earthmen had established a
little less than a mile away from the Hirlaji ruins, where already the
nomads and adventurers and drifters had erected a cluster of prefab
metal buildings and were settling in.
"What were the sciences of Kor?" Rynason asked again, not wanting to
think of the cheapness and dirt of the Earth outpost which huddled so
near to the Hirlaji domes.
He felt Horng's quiet gaze, heavy with centuries, resting on him. THEY
WERE ARE THOSE SCIENCES QUESTINGS WHICH KOR PROCLAIMED INFORMED WERE
SACRED PART OF THE ESSENCE.
"Part of Kor?"
Horng's head dipped to one side. APPROXIMATELY.
"How is this known? Tebron broke the power of the priesthood, didn't
he?"