Tau's hand
closed about Dane's wrist and the younger man looked around, startled,
to see that the medic's eyes were alight, that he was watching the
assembly with the alertness of Sindbad approaching prey.
"Calculate the stowage space in Number One hold!"
That amazing order, delivered in a whisper, shocked Dane into obeying
it. Number One hold ... there were three divisions now and the stowage
was--He became aware that for a small space of time he had escaped the
net being woven by the beat of the drum, the drone of voices, the
nodding of heads. He moistened his lips. So that was how it worked! He
had heard Tau speak often enough about self-hypnotism under such
conditions, but this was the first time the meaning of it had been
clear.
Two men were shuffling out of nowhere, wearing nothing on their dark
bodies but calf-length kilts of tails, black tails with fluffy white
tips, which swayed uniformly in time to their pacing feet. Their heads
and shoulders were masked by beautifully cured and semi-mounted animal
heads displaying half-open jaws with double pairs of curved fangs.
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