United States or Réunion ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Thalvan Dras had stopped talking and was looking at them in annoyance. "I have to go to Headquarters before we leave. It'll save time if you come along." "Oh, no, Vall!" She looked at him in consternation. "Was that Tortha Karf, calling?" She replaced her plate on the table and got to her feet. "I'm dreadfully sorry, Dras," he addressed their host. "I just had a call from Tortha Karf.
When we recruit Fourth Level Primitives, we take whole tribes, and they come willingly. And " One of Thalvan Dras' black-liveried human servants, of the class under discussion, approached Vall. "A visiphone call for your lordship," he whispered. "Chief Tortha Karf calling. If your lordship will come this way "
That jab, Vall thought, following the servant out of the room, had been a mistake on Jard's part. A music-drama, for which he had designed the settings, was due to open here in Dhergabar in another ten days. Thalvan Dras would cherish spite, and a word from the Mavrad of Mnirna and Thalvabar would set a dozen critics to disparaging Jandar's work.
What does he think this is, a Fourth Level dictatorship?" "What kind of a claim, now?" Yandar Yadd addressed Larv, ignoring Varkar Klav. "Consolidated Outtime Foodstuffs one of the Thalvan Interests companies just claimed forty thousand P.E.U. for a hundred slaves bought by one of their plantation managers on Third Level Esaron from a local slave dealer.
"Beside, we need a certain amount of human labor, for tasks requiring original thought and decision that are beyond the ability of robots, and most of it is work our Citizens simply wouldn't perform," Thalvan Dras added.
In fact, it seems slightly indecent to them for anybody to want privacy." One of Thalvan Dras' human servants came into the room, coughed apologetically, and said: "A visiphone-call for His Valor, the Mavrad of Nerros." Vall went on nibbling ham and wine sauce; the servant repeated the announcement a trifle more loudly. "Vall, you're being paged!" Thalvan Dras told him, with a touch of impatience.
On the other hand, maybe it had been smart of Jandar Jard to antagonize Thalvan Dras; for every critic who bowed slavishly to the wealthy nobleman, there were at least two more who detested him unutterably, and they would rush to Jandar Jard's defense, and in the ensuing uproar, the settings would get more publicity than the drama itself.
Putting it in his pocket, he hurried to an antigrav shaft and floated up to the floor on which Tortha Karf's office was. Tortha Karf was asleep in his chair; Dalla was eating a dinner that had been brought in to her something better than the sandwich and mug of coffee Vall had mentioned to Thalvan Dras.
We sell them coal and manufactured goods, mostly in exchange for foodstuffs and tobacco. Consolidated Outtime Foodstuffs has the sector franchise. That's one of the companies Thalvan Dras gets his money from." They had run down through the civilized Second and Third Levels and were leaving the Fourth behind and entering the Fifth, existing in the probability of a world without human population.
Thank you. Drenth." Kandagro, his human servant, admitted him to the apartment six floors down. "Mistress Dalla is dressing," he said. "She asked me to tell you that you are invited to dinner, this evening, with Thalvan Dras at his apartment." Vall nodded. "Ill talk to her about it now," he said. "Lay out my dress uniform: short jacket, boots and breeches, and needler."
Word Of The Day