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a heathen, looking over our shoulder, making decisions for rea-
sons of its own No! Who knows what motives such a one might have? They would
be as much an enemy as the one we seek!"
"Sacrilege," Manya rasped. "This is an Arm of the Gods!
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We act not just on our own but as the extensions of the Lords of Creation!
What if this creature, this heathen should re-
verse our finding? It is giving Hell an absolute veto over the gods' Such a
thing is irreconcilable with our own holy infalli-
bility!"
Morok's birdlike head listened impassively to the arguments and pleas, and
waited for the din to die down. Finally, unfazed, he said, "The arguments are
correct and well taken, but they have already been argued before a Grand
Council of the Mizia-
plan itself. Theologically, it was rightly determined that, as an
Arm, we act with supernatural aid. Are the heathen not also subject to the
ultimate will of the gods? If not, why do we try and convert them? Are they
not of the same seed as the majority of the Mizlaplan. ignorant of the truth
and as such given to allow
Hell equal weight, yet hardly damned. If we do the work of the gods, then the
gods must also be trusted to have influence over the observer. That was how
the treaty was enabled and how our ancestors could agree to it in the first
place, and, overall, it has worked out well."
"But a heathen'." Manya was livid.
"It is not as bad as all that," Morok soothed. "In several hundred such cases,
when the Exchange has had no stake in the outcome, they have virtually always
come down on our side.
They are not a pleasant people nor from a pleasant culture, but something in
their souls impels them towards the side of the gods when it is us versus the
satanists. They resist us, perhaps even fear us, but they truly dislike the
Mycohl. It might even be argued that the Observer works in our favor. We only
have to prove interference; by virtue of their protestations of innocence and
ignorance of this affair, the Mycoht do not even get to tes-
tify."
"Unless," the captain noted, "the fellow really dropped dead of natural
causes."
He drew icy stares but otherwise silence.
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Krisha alone among the clerics had not argued. Now she said, "There is no use
in arguing, nor in raising false fears. We have to accept the Observer; to do
otherwise would be to hand the world to the Mycohl by default. It seems clear
to me that we have a nearly impossible task as it is and will need
supernatural aid. From what I hear, I am convinced that this was in fact a
plot; that they perceived a weakness in our legation and ex-
ploited it. Commit one murder sure to bring suspicion and a
THE DEMONS AT RAINBOW BRIDGE 157
reaction, as the captain said. Then draw our people into making an accusation,
forcing us to prove murder by their agencies, under conditions where that is
next to impossible, or to surren-
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der the planet without a shot. It is diabolically clever; exactly what I would
expect from them."
"Do we know who the Observer will be?" Savin asked un-
comfortably.
"I have his name and dossier," Morok responded, as the others continued to
seethe but kept silent. They had no choice but to accept; the decision had
been made by Divine Council.
The gods themselves had accepted, and so, as far as they were concerned, had
decreed the Observer, and above all else the gods must be obeyed. "It's
probably phony, of course. The Observers are supposed to be disinterested
judges, usually political officers or diplomats, but we never send an amateur
when we are re-
quested to send an Observer, and we assume the same of them.
We can expect this Observer to actually be someone from the espionage or
military branch, who will be most interested in our methods and attempt to
build information for his own side from our investigation. Captain, you have
been an Observer, have you not?"
All eyes turned to Gun Roh Chin, who sighed and nodded.
"Yes, Holy One- Twice. Needless to say, neither of the others will accept a
cleric from us, since how could any of you rule in favor of Mycohl?"
That seemed to shock them. "Could you do so. Captain?"
Krisha asked, finding it inconceivable.
"I can and I have, in one of the two cases," Chin responded, seeing the
expressions and enjoying them. "My oath and my honor required it no matter
what my personal revulsion. A par-
ticularly clever Exchange corporation, which coveted a new and rather
unpleasant world for certain unique products possible there, spent a great
deal of time and money creating the ap-
pearance of an indigenous and invisible alien life form that slowly and
methodically wiped out a Mycohl hive that's what they call their
political-tribal groups. It was a brilliant and insidious plan, particularly
ugly in operation, whose motive was sheer greed, the ultimate curse of the
Exchange and its culture. My presence and status allowed the Mycohlian
operatives at the Exchange to gather the evidence, and on the worid itself I
was then able to observe a clever trap laid with knowledge that presented me
with
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the Mycohlian accusations. It was most unpleasant, but an education."
"To cause the death of satanists is no evil, no matter what the motive," Manya
rasped. "To find for the Mycohl is to serve evil'"
The captain was unruffled. "Neither my Holy Lords nor the
Exchange saw it that way, nor do I," he responded calmly. "I
was taught that personal honor and oaths before the gods are inviolate, the
highest standards. To have lied or condoned mass murder knowingly would have
violated both of those and made me no better than the Mycohl. Such are the
tests the gods give us, or so I was instructed. To have found against evil, no
matter what my personal feelings, would have made me indistinguish-
able from the satanists. Such rulings are difficult, knots that defy tidy
untying. That is why judges are so often necessary, and why they are so well
respected and live such stressful lives."
"The captain is quite correct," Morok told them. "It is why he is so valuable,
and why such as he are members of the Arms even though not of the clergy. We
must never lose sight of the fact that the souls of the Mycohl are the souls
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of the damned, continually reborn into evil, beyond any hope of redemption,
but always attempting to gain more converts to their sort. It took great
courage for the captain to go in there at all, to be totally surrounded by a
demonic society, and not to fall into their mas-
ters' moral trap. Captain, it will be your task, as one who has been in that
position, to keep the Observer straight and to the task, to facilitate his
job, while also making certain he leams nothing but what he is sent to
observe."
Chin nodded- "I understand perfectly. This is not done every day, you know.
Requests for Observers are extremely rare. It is likely that I can quote
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