Slaves, matched and mated by the decisions of the Great Master.
Then I saw the big figure of Torkine. The colored tubelight gleamed on his leering face as with his arm around the trembling Dora he led her up onto the marriage dais and faced the glowing spread of the Supreme One.
It was a fantastic, weird ceremony. The varicolored tubelights gleamed down upon the couples who stood ranged along the front edge of the dais. Men and women of three great planets, facing the gruesome multiple monster which here on its own little world was Omnipotent. Its toneless voice was droning now with the ritual it had devised; and at intervals, trained by the Physicals, the couples on the dais bowed, gestured and then knelt with foreheads to the ground in supplication and homage to the Supreme One. Little grey-skinned Venus girls in their gaudy robes; brown-skinned, black-haired young women of Mars; the Earth-girls and young men.
But I had eyes only for Dora, as she knelt with the big Torkine beside her. The light gleamed on her long, pale-blonde hair which fell in great gleaming ripples over her shoulders. Then she and Torkine and the others stood up; and I saw her terrified face.
At the window Johnny and I stood breathless. Watching us, Physicals were ranged across the dim room behind us. I had no thought of them. Helpless, utterly despairing now, I stood gazing out at the weird, eerie night-scene. The group of Torkine's men still gathered at the back of the dais. Their muttering voices mingled with the drone of the Supreme One. Abruptly my heart leaped. One or two of the drunken men had started to climb to the dais. And one suddenly called:
"Why wait, Torkine? Why—"
Like a spark in gunpowder. The Supreme One's voice droned on; but one of the Physicals jumped and jerked the man from the dais. It made a commotion off there. Two others of Torkine's men reached and plucked at the flowing robe of a Venus girl. The man being married to her turned with an oath, jumped and dealt a blow with his fist. There was a scuffle, and the Venus man was pulled down from the dais.
Suddenly there was a milling, spreading chaos. In a fringe at the edge of the light-sheen the spread of rocks was filled with a watching, motley crowd of humans from the three little villages. I saw the crowd wavering; the front ranks pressing backward and those behind shoving forward, trying to see better.
Like fire in prairie grass the milling movement widened. Human voices shouting in terror, and in drunken anger. Darting little Physicals, with popping, commanding voices. Then one of the Physicals emitted a flash. A man screamed and dropped.