Free Spartan Planet by A. Bertram Chandler Page A

The one who was dragged out of the chamber?"

    "He will he beheaded, probably. But he is lucky."

    "Lucky?"

    "Yes. If he were not a doctor and a councilman, he could have his arms and legs lopped off before being exposed on the hillside with the defective children."

    "You're joking, Brasidus!" exclaimed Margaret Lazenby.

    "Joking? Of course not."

    The Arcadian turned to Grimes. "John, can't we do something?"

    Grimes shook his head. "Anything that we could do would mean the death of more than one man. Besides, our strict orders are not to interfere."

    "It is expedient," said Margaret Lazenby bitterly, "that one man should die for the good of the people."

    "Careful, Peggy. This place may be bugged. Remember that we aren't members of the Council."

    "Spoken like a true naval officer of these decadent days. I often think that the era of gunboat diplomacy had much to recommend it."

Chapter 12

    THEY RODE BACK to the spaceport almost in silence. Brasidus realized that the two foreigners had been shocked when told of the probable fate of Pausanius. But why should they be? He could not understand it. Surely on their world, on any world, insolence toward the King himself must result in swift and drastic punishment. To make their reaction even stranger, the doctor had spoken against them, not for them.

    They sped through the streets of the city, one chariot rattling ahead of the hovercar, the second astern of it. There were more people abroad now, more sightseers; word must have gotten around that aliens from the ship were at large. Citizen and helot, every man stared with avid curiosity at the Arcadian.

    Margaret Lazenby shuddered. He muttered, "John, I don't like this planet at all, at all. I'd have said once that to be one woman in a world of men would be marvelous. But it's not. I'm being undressed by dozens of pairs of eyes. Do you know, I was afraid that the King was going to order me to strip."

    "That shouldn't worry an Arcadian," John Grimes told him. "After all, you're all brought up as nudists."

    "And I don't see why it should worry him," Brasidus put in, "unless he is ashamed of his deformities."

    Margaret Lazenby flared, "To begin with, Sergeant, I'm not deformed. Secondly, the correct pronouns to use insofar as I am concerned are 'she' and 'her.' Got it?"

    "And are those pronouns to be used when talking of the other spacemen who are similarly . . . malformed?" asked Brasidus.

    "Yes. But, as a personal favor, will you, please, stop making remarks about the shape of my body?"

    "All right." Then he said, meaning no offense, "On Sparta nobody is deformed."

    "Not physically," remarked Margaret Lazenby nastily, and then it was the Sergeant's turn to lapse into a sulky silence, one that remained unbroken all the rest of the way to the ship.

    Brasidus left the spacemen at the barrier, then reported to Spaceport Security. Diomedes was seated in his inner office, noisily enjoying his midday meal. He waved the Sergeant to a bench, gestured toward the food and drink on the table. "Help yourself, young man. And how did things go? Just the important details. I already know that the King has agreed to let Grimes carry out some sort of survey, and I've just received word that Pausanius has lost his head. But what were your impressions?"

    Deliberately Brasidus filled a mug with beer. Officers were allowed stronger liquor than the lower-ranking hoplites, even those with the status of sergeant. He rather hoped that the day would soon come when he would be able to enjoy this tipple in public. He gulped pleasurably. Then he said, "It must be a funny world that they come from. To begin with, they didn't seem to have any real respect for the King. Oh, they were correct enough, but . . . I could sense, somehow, that they were rather looking down on him. And then . . . they were shocked, sir, really shocked when I told them what was going to happen to Pausanius. It's hard to credit."

    "In my job I'm ready and willing