Civitatis Ar, Plus!

Central Cylinder

War Office

This afternoon, on the Avenue of Turia, a cart, putatively carrying the records of the veterans of the delta, supposedly on its way from the house of records to the war office in the Central Cylinder, had been surrounded by a group of youths, crying out against the veterans of the delta, almost as if it had been months ago, a time in which there had been several abusive demonstrations against the delta veterans, whose crime seemed to be that they had been loyal to the Home Stone and that they had been so foolish as to have served Ar, and suffered for her, in the north. Those demonstrations, of course, had been instigated at the behest of Cos, and carefully planned and organized by Cosian agents. Such demonstrations, in spite of the apparent beliefs of many of their participants, do not somehow materialize by magic, in response to some requirement of appropriateness. They are structured events, serving certain purposes. In brief, however, these lads, some dozens of them, had surrounded the cart and its guards, screaming out reproaches against the delta veterans, spitting on the records, and such. The guards, I think, Cosians, were not certain how to respond to the demonstration. They tried to push back the youths, but their lines were crowded through, while they themselves were being greeted as friends and brothers, saluted as allies and hailed as heroes. Soon one or two youths, seemingly overcome with hatred, had leaped upon the records, and were tearing them apart and hurling them to the gathered crowd. In another moment a torch had been brought. Marcus and I, knowing the movement was to take place, and, indeed, it had been on the public boards, had come to watch. Men drew swords but the officer restrained them. The papers had then been burned and the youths had withdrawn in triumph, singing songs to the glory of Cos. I had recognized the first youth to spring upon the cart. It had been he who, some days before, had cut the defiant delka deeply into one of the public boards on the Avenue of the Central Cylinder.
"Those are brave lads," I had said to Marcus later.
"But surely," he said, "the destroyed papers were not the records of the delta veterans."
"No," I said. "They would have been moved secretly."
"What was the purpose of all this?" asked Marcus.
"Many associate the veterans of the delta with the Delta Brigade," I said. "This was undoubtedly a trap set by Seremides. In pretending to move the records, records from which the identities of the delta veterans might be obtained, to a place of safer keeping, he hoped to lure an attack by the Delta Brigade. Certainly there were many guards, near the cart, far more than one might expect, and there were a great many others, if I am not mistaken, in the crowd, in plain garments, with concealing cloaks. They moved, at any rate, with the cart."  MAGICIANS OF GOR-, (25) Pages 238-239

"You are confident you can recognize the records?"
"Not at all," I said.
"Surely you do not expect to carry them off?"
"Not at all," I said, "that would be impractical."
"You are going to burn them?"
"Yes," I said.
"How will you know what to burn?" he asked.
"I do not think that will present a problem," I said.
"Why not?' he asked.
"I plan on burning the entire building," I said.
"I see," he said. "What if the fire spreads throughout the entire district, and then burns down Ar?"
"I had not considered that," I admitted.
"Well," he said. "It is hard to think of everything."
"Yes," I granted him. He was right, of course.
"What if the records are in the Central Cylinder," he asked, "already at the war office?"
"That is where I suspect they are," I said.
He groaned.
"But they may be here."
"You are not planning on burning down the Central Cylinder, are you?" he asked.
"Of course not," I said. "If they are there, with their facilities, they have probably already been copied, and perhaps more than once, and who knows where those copies might be stored, either there or about the city. Besides there are slave girls there."
"Such as the Ubara," he asked.
"Yes," I said.  MAGICIANS OF GOR-, (25) Page 241
 

Kudos to you, Mr. Norman for writing the Gorean series!
A rich, yet utterly simple saga; a world, a time, a people;
those of the Counter-Earth .. the planet .. Gor.
Thank you!

The material presented herein was researched and compiled by me, naia{Saul}.
The material referenced comes from John Norman's Gor Series, The Counter-Earth Saga.
This is a work in process.
Please, do not take, copy, duplicate, or use this work as your own.
If you find it valuable enough to share, please .. share the link to this page.

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