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On one wall of the cave there was a drawing It was vaguely oval, with three little extensions at the top-the est of the three-and three at the bottoer andof a turtle

"Of course he'll go to Ephebe," said a mask "He won't dare not to He'll have to dam the river of truth, at its source"

"We must bail out e can, then," said another mask

"We must kill Vorbis!"

"Not in Ephebe When that happens, itenough"

"Will we ever be strong enough?" said a mask Its owner clicked his knuckles nervously

"Even the peasants know there's so You can't stop the truth Dareat force Didn't we find out about Murduck? Hah! 'Killed in Ephebe,' Vorbis said"

"One of us o to Ephebe and save the Master If he really exists"

"He exists His nae naered, you know"

"Theyhim back here, if possible And the Book"

One of the ain

"But will people rally behinda book? People need more than a book They're peasants They can't read"

"But they can listen!"

"Even sothey need to be shownthey need a symbol"

"We have one!"

Instinctively, everyon the wall, indistinct in the firelight but graven on theirat the truth, which can often impress

"The Turtle Moves!"

"The Turtle Moves!"

"The Turtle Moves!"

The leader nodded

"And now," he said, "ill draw lots"

The Great God Om waxed wroth, or at least made a spirited attempt There is a limit to the around, but he was right up against it

He silently cursed a beetle, which is like pouring water onto a pond It didn't seem to make any difference, anyway The beetle plodded away

He cursed ahappened He tried a plague of boils The htly

Just because he was teht it could take advantage Well, when Ohtful shape and power, he told himself, Steps would be Taken The tribes of Beetles and Melons would wish they'd never been created And soles Andand there would be a holy co ofboy arrived back with the waxy-skinned man, the Great God Om was in no mood for pleasantries Besides, from a tortoise-eye viewpoint even the most handsome human is only a pair of feet, a distant pointy head, and, so end of a pair of nostrils

"What's this?" he snarled

"This is Brother Nhumrod," said Brutha "Master of the novices He is very i me some fat old pederast!" shouted the voice in his head "Your eyeballs will be spitted on shafts of fire for this!"

Brutha knelt down

"I can't go to the High Priest," he said, as patiently as possible "Novices aren't even allowed in the Great Teht the Error of My Ways by the Quisition if I was caught It's the Law"

"Stupid fool!" the tortoise shouted

Nhumrod decided that it was time to speak

"Novice Brutha," he said, "for what reason are you talking to a small tortoise?"

"Because- Brutha paused "Because it's talking to meisn't it?"

Brother Nhu out of the shell

He was, by and large, a kindly hts in his head, but he saw to it that they stayed there and he did not in any literal sense deserve to be called what the tortoise called hiht was so to do with feet And he ell aware that it was possible to hear voices attributed to deods Tortoises was a new one Tortoises ht of as an a asked of hi out the cesspits and bull cages, out of a strange belief that holiness and piety had so up to your knees in dirt Brutha never volunteered, but if he was told to do so he did it, not out of any desire to impress,

but si to tortoises

"I think I have to tell you, Brutha," he said, "that it is not talking"

"You can't hear it?"

"I cannot hear it, Brutha"

"It told me it was" Brutha hesitated "It told me it was the Great God"

He flinched Grand heavy now

"Ah Well, you see, Brutha," said Brother Nhu is not unknown a men recently Called to the Church I daresay you heard the voice of the Great God when you were Called, didn't you? Mmm?"

Metaphor was lost on Brutha He rerandmother He hadn't been Called so much as Sent But he nodded anyway

"And in yourenthusiasm, it's only natural that you should think you hear the Great God talking to you," Nhumrod went on