"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 10 - The Yoke of Shen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

Alas, he was indeed at the end of the cycle. It was not
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the delights of the flesh that Hinun craved, but this delicate black orchid's mind.
Ah, and her face had changed now; she was pleading. No doubt promising. Hinun looked away. Did she not know
that he could not hear her-a useless butterfly under glass?
Hinun sank back. Reaching above him, he grasped the helmet-shaped crown attached to the high back of his godly
 seat. He eased it down over his divine (and balding) head. For the third time spidery fingers walked the gem-stones
adorning his throne-chair's arm. This time he de-pressed the emerald positioned between ruby and opal.
A scream, a woman's agonized scream into the face of death, filled the throne room despite the sound-muffling shell
of plass. Hinun did not hear.
The Great God of Shen was oblivious to all. While his bound prisoner expired in a delirium-like horror, the De-vourer
of Souls dined-he feasted on the mind of this one who had been a spacefarer.
In an electric ~deluge, all that had been the woman he called Midnight Flower poured into his brain. Hinun soared,
reveling in the ecstasy of the invigorating flow, the total union of minds.
From the instant of birth to her final outcry, she melted into the mind of a god who had reigned for a thousand
years. She merged with that multitude of souls who had met a similar fate during that millennium. Her essence, her soul
was devoured. It became his. She was no more. She was but a small portion of the ever-expanding mind of a minor
deity forgotten amid the parsec abyss except on this one insignificant ball of clay.
Her joys, her pains, her loves, her angers . . . Hinun took and savored each. Relishing the delightful variety that had
flavored her short, though full life! This instant was supreme! For this and only this Hinun existed. The union of
minds, the gathering of their total experience. This was
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the reason why Hinun had first stepped onto the surface of Shen. In the union, the Great God was fulfilled.
Hinun's age-wearied eyelids opened with a flicker of vitality that had been missing only moments ago. Even this
close to the end of his unending cycle, the union brought a renewal of strength. A pleased smile lifted the comers of
his age-spotted lips.
His gaze shifted to the still form beneath the encasing bubble of crystal plastic. He thumbed the opal. The shell rose
from the altar of steel and slid back into its resting place. The woman it had pleased him to call Midnight Flower did
not move. Strange, that though undiminished physically, she looked smaller! Only the rise and fall of breasts like
eggplants gave indication that she still lived- physically.
Mentally, Midnight Flower was no more. Her brain had been drained, fed into the mind of the Great God Hinun. Her
existence had ended.
Those on whose minds Hinun dined were not allowed to retain one flicker of memory. Their memories, their life
experiences could belong to one and only one being, for Hinun was a jealous god.
The biologically alive remains of the woman from the spaceways would not be required to endure physical
hard-ship or torment. A benevolent serenity masked the ancient face that stared at her.
For I am not, after all, a cruel god, he mused serenely.
He waved a robed arm at the naked stillness that sec-onds ago had been a functioning human being. "Remove that.
Have your way with its shell and then dispose of it. That can no longer serve Hinun-but she who inhabited that shell
has been exalted by him!"
The sole deity of Shen did not consider the use of Midnight Flower's mindless body by thirteen men-perhaps more
than once each-as either torment or abuse. After all, she was no longer present in that shell.
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And I have exalted her. I have made her part of the Great God.
Replaying memories, sampling the life that had been Midnight Flower's in his mind, the Devourer of Souls watched
his Hinuri lift the limp body from the altar and bear it from the throne chamber. His smile of pleasure widened as he
closed his eyes to immerse himself in the fresh sensations and emotions that were now his, of this unphysical and yet
total union.
How different she was! So delightfully different!
Oh, Hinun knew. He had dined on countless minds from among his Shenese worshippers. They were usually