Ellik told me that it was because all their speech was based on the one universal humanoid sound, "mama." Everything good in the way of nouns and verbs (there were no other particles of speech) was some inflection of "m-m" and everything bad was "uh-m-m."
Ellik was pretty "uh-m-m."
I was plenty "uh-m-m." I threatened their jobs, they thought.
They were a real miserable bunch of slobs, those Indigos.
We passed through the wide places between the houses—I wouldn't call them streets—and saw a lot of Indigos crouched in doorways, watching us, and Azures being toted around.
The clothing they wore was also pretty universal for sentient bipeds—a tunic or sarong, kind of. For the Azures, it was smooth and colorful; and for the Indigos, a loincloth of some rough, dun-colored stuff.
Ellik chinned off his translator switch and leaned down toward my ear. "They are two distinct races, Johnny. Notice that all the Indigos are menials. There does not appear to be anything to correspond to a freedman or even a higher-ranked house servant. The Azures treat the Indigos only as animals."
