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The Very Young Man make a quick decision. "If we go out the way we came, it will take a very long time," he explained. "And we might be seen. I think we'd better take the quick way; get big here get right out," he waved his hands towards the roof, "and make a run for it back to Arite." He made another calculation.
"Well, little brother, we got you back, didn't we?" Aura stopped suddenly. "Look there at Arite," she said, pointing up at the horizon ahead of them. Far in the distance, at the edge of the lake, and beside a dim smudge he knew to be the houses of Arite, the Very Young Man saw the giant figure of a man, huge as himself, towering up against the background of sky.
"Based on the size of a normal Oroid adult, and using the terrestrial standard of feet and inches as they would seem to us when Oroid size, I should say the distance from Arite to the surface of the ring would be about one hundred and fifty to a hundred and sixty thousand miles." "Holy mackerel!" exclaimed the Very Young Man. "Don't let's do much walking while we're small."
Each of the other cities governs itself in so far as its own local problems are concerned according to a somewhat similar system, but all are under the central control of the Arite government." "How about the country in between, the the rural population?" asked the Big Business Man. "It is all apportioned off to the nearest city," answered the Chemist.
Nearer to them was a broad, sandy beach behind which, in a long string along the lake shore, lay the city. Its houses were not unlike those of Arite, although most of them were rather smaller and less pretentious. On a rise of ground just beyond the beach, and nearly in front of them, stood an elaborate building that was Targo's palace. "We daren't go much closer," the Very Young Man said.
His name is Targo he is a Malite full-blooded I believe, although he says not. For twenty years or more he has lived in Orlog, a city some fifty miles from Arite. His wife is an Oroid. "Targo, by his eloquence, and the power and force of his personality, won a large following in Orlog, and to a lesser degree in many other cities.
Lord knows it must have been obvious enough what I was going to do, when they saw me stride away, a being four hundred feet tall. "Their enthusiasm and thankfulness now were so mixed with awe and reverent worship of me as a divine being, that when I advanced towards Arite they opened a path immediately. The king, accompanied by Lylda, met me at the edge of the city.
Overhead hung a gray-blue, cloudless sky, studded with a myriad of faint, twinkling, golden-silver stars. On the lake shore lay a collection of houses, close together, at the water's edge and spreading back thinly into the hills behind. This they knew to be Arite the city of their destination.
But suppose he saw these two giants coming to the rescue? The Very Young Man knew that probably the boy would be killed before he could save him. That way would not do. He would have to get to Orlog unseen rescue Loto by a sudden rush, before they could harm him. But first it would be necessary for him and Aura to get out of Arite quietly without causing any excitement.
"As a sort of congress, the king has one hundred and fifty advisers, half of them women, who meet about once a month. Lylda is one of these women. He also has an inner circle of closer, more intimate counselors consisting of four men and four women. One of these women is the queen; another is Lylda. I am one of the men. "The capital of the nation is Arite.
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