Jack Vance - Gaean Reach 01 Read Online Free Page A

domesticators—if they conceive the erjins to be no more than clever beasts.”
    Schaine said: “I can’t understand how erjins can be tamed; in fact, I can’t believe it! An erjin is ferocious; it hates men!”
    “Sim and Slim are quite docile,” said Valtrina. “As to how and why: I can’t even guess.”
    Sim the erjin footman once again passed by, splendid in its livery. Meeting the opaque orange gaze from among the black optical tufts, Schaine received the uncomfortable impression that it understood all which transpired. “Perhaps it would prefer not being gelded or altered or brainwashed—whatever the Wind-runners do to it.”
    “Ask it,” Valtrina suggested agreeably.
    “I don’t know how.”
    Valtrina’s contralto voice became lofty and careless. “So why worry? They’re free to leave whenever they like. I don’t keep them in chains. Do you know why they work here? Because they prefer Villa Mirasol to the deserts of Uaia. No one complains except the Association of Labor Guilds which feels a threat to its absurdly high wage structure.” Valtrina gave her head a lordly jerk and stalked across the room to where a pair of Uldras formed the nucleus of another group.
    Gerd Jemasze spoke to no one in particular: “I won’t say that all this talk is a waste of time, because people seem to enjoy it.”
    In a frigid voice Glinth Isbane said: “Words are the vehicle of ideas. Ideas are the components of intellectualization, which distinguished men from animals. If you object to the exchange of ideas, then—in essence—you reject civilization.”
    Jemasze grinned. “Not such a bad idea as you might think.”
    Glinth Isbane turned away and went off to join Valtrina. Jemasze and Kelse sauntered to the buffet where Alger supplied them refreshment. Schaine went to inspect a pair of Uldra lamps, carved from blocks of red chert in the distinctive Uldra style of reckless asymmetry. Elvo Glissam came to join her. “Do you like these lamps?”
    “They’re interesting to look at,” said Schaine. “Personally, I wouldn’t care to own them.”
    “Oh? They seem very dashing and adventurous.”
    Schaine gave a grudging nod. “I suppose it’s a prejudice left over from my childhood, when everything Uldra was supposed to be erratic and uneven and wild. I realize now that the Uldras consider uniformity a kind of slavishness; they express their individualism in irregularity.”
    “Perhaps they try to suggest regularity by presenting something else: a very sophisticated technique.”
    Schaine pursed her lips. “I doubt if the Uldras would reason so methodically. They’re extremely proud and truculent, especially the Retent Uldras, and I suspect that their art-work reflects as much. It’s just as if the lamp-maker were saying: ‘This is how I choose to make this lamp; this is my caprice; if you don’t like it, seek elsewhere for light.’”
    “That’s the effect produced, certainly. At best: magnificence. At worst: a kind of strident peevishness.”
    “Which, in fact, expresses the Uldra temperament.”
    Elvo Glissam looked across the room toward the two Uldras. Schaine studied him from the corner of her eye. She liked him, so she decided; he seemed gentle and humorous and subtle in his perceptions. Additionally, he was nice to look at, with his soft blond hair and pleasantly regular features. He stood perhaps an inch taller than the average; he appeared athletic, in an easy loose-limbed fashion… He turned to find her eyes on him and responded with a self-conscious smile. Schaine said rather hurriedly: “You’re not a native to Szintarre?”
    “I’m from Jennet on Diamantha. A dreary city on an unexciting world. My father publishes a pharmaceutical journal; right now I’d probably be writing an article on the latest foot powders if my grandfather hadn’t given me a lottery ticket for my birthday.”
    “The ticket paid off?”
    “A hundred thousand SLU * .”
    “What did you do with it?”
    Elvo