water would
accomplish little and might add infection to their other troubles.

"I'm only sure of one thing," Jason said. "They're slaves. I don't
know why they are here, what they are doing or where they are going,
but their status is painfully clear--ours, too. Old Nasty up there on
the hill is the boss. The rest of us are slaves."

"Slaves!" Mikah snorted, the word penetrating through the pain in his
head. "It is abominable. The slaves must be freed."

"No lectures please, and try to be realistic--even if it hurts. There
are only two slaves that need freeing here, you and I. These people
seem nicely adjusted to the _status quo_ and I see no reason to change
it. I'm not starting any abolitionist campaigns until I can see my way
clearly out of this mess, and I probably won't start any then either.
This planet has been going on a long time without me, and will
probably keep rolling along once I'm gone."

"Coward! You must fight for the Truth and the Truth will make you
free."

"I can hear those capital letters again," Jason groaned. "The only
thing right now that is going to make me free is me. Which may be bad
poetry, but is still the truth. The situation here is rough but not
unbeatable--so listen and learn. The boss, his name is Ch'aka in case
you care, seems to have gone off on a hunt of some kind. He's not far
away and will be back soon, so I'll try and give you the entire setup
quickly.

"I thought I recognized the language, and I was right. It's a corrupt
form of Esperanto, the language all the Terido worlds speak. This
altered language plus the fact that these people live about one step
above the stone-age culture is pretty sure evidence that they are cut
off from any contact with the rest of the galaxy, though I hope not.
There may be a trading base somewhere on the planet, and if there is
we'll find it later. We have enough other things to worry about right
now, but at least we can speak the language. These people have
contracted and lost a lot of sounds and even introduced a glottal
stop, something that _no_ language needs, but with a little effort the
meaning can still be made out."

"I do not speak Esperanto."

"Then learn it. It's easy enough even in this jumbled form. And shut
up and listen. These locals are born and bred slaves and it is all
they know. There is a little squabbling in the ranks with the bigger
ones pushing the work on the weak ones when Ch'aka isn't looking, but
I have that si