It is a way, a convenience, a kindness.' It took the Owlbrit about thirty seconds to scrape, in a sound like wood being gently sawn, but it had taken the last thirty years for the xenolinguists to argue over. 'What is necessary? Is life necessary? Necessary to what? No, sacrifice is not necessary, it is only recommended. 'Not necessary,' the Old One had scraped with his horn-tipped tentacles in a husky whisper. The question had been directed to the last surviving Owlbrit in its tiny round house near the temple. 'Necessary?' the linguist had asked, relying heavily upon his Alsense translation stage to convey the meaning of the word. Every word the Owlbrit had spoken from the moment the first settlers met them had been preserved in digifax on the information stages, and among the few intelligible exchanges with the last Owlbrit was the reference to sacrifice.

What wasĬertain was that sacrifice had been recommended by the Owlbrit themselves. The first mention of it was in the logs of year three. Some people claimed the rite had been continued from the time the last Owlbrit died, though no mention of the ritual appeared in Settlement One logs of years one or two. No one remembered exactly when the settlers had begun offering sacrifices. It was housed in the temple the Owlbrit had built for the purpose, a small round building kept in reasonable repair by the people of Settlement One under the regulations of the Ancient Monuments Panel of the Native Matters Advisory of Authority. The settlers on Hobbs Land, who rather enjoyed using what little had been preserved of Owlbrit language, called the God by his name, Bondru Dharm, or sometimes, though only among the smart asses, Old Bondy. All but one of them had died soon thereafter, so there hadn't been a lot of opportunity to clarify the meanings of the sounds they made. Only a handful of the Owlbrit had been still alive on Hobbs Land when it was settled by Hobbs Transystem Foods. Noonday Uncovered was the most frequent guess, though Noonday Found and Noonday Announced were also in the running.

Hobbs Land ONE The God's name was Bondru Dharm, which, according to the linguists who had worked with the Owlbrit before the last of them died, meant something to do with noonday.

George Seferis, 'Mycenae' Collected Poems, Princeton University Press Wounded by my own soil tortured by my own shirt condemned by my own gods, these stones. Sinks whoever raises the great stones I've raised these stones as long as I was able I've loved these stones as long as I was able these stones, my fate.

Sheri tepper raising the stones