The Dogtown Tourist Agency Read Free

Axistil, blurred by the haze, were perceived only as a set of unlikely silhouettes.
    Hetzel met no one along the way; indeed, during his entire stay, the disparity between the monumental structures of Axistil and the near-absence of a population produced a unique, almost hallucinatory quality, as if Axistil were no more than a titanic stage-setting bereft of players.
    The Last Mile ended at the plaza. Here a sign read:
    You stand at the edge of the Gaean Reach, and are about to enter Triarchic jurisdiction. Conventional behavior is required and will usually provoke no unforeseen inconveniences. It is most wise, however, to obtain a copy of
Special Regulations
at the Triskelion or at your hotel, and be thereby guided
.
Urgent warning:
never venture into enclaves of the Liss or the Olefract, at the certain risk of profoundly unpleasant consequences including but not limited to death
.
Attempt no familiarity with the indigenous Gomaz! At Axistil they are normally not aggressive; however they react unpredictably to attempts at social intercourse. You may observe them as closely as you like, but do not touch them or attempt conversation. The Gomaz are adept telepaths; the extent, however, to which they can comprehend human thought is still a matter of conjecture
.
Most important!
Do not offer, present, display, barter, or sell weapons to the Gomaz! The penalty is confinement for life in the Exhibitory. There are no exceptions; the regulation is strictly enforced by the Triarchs, two of which are Liss and Olefract. Neither sympathizes with adventurous folly or drunken bravado. If you violate this rule, your visit to Maz will surely terminate in tragedy
.
    A rather dampening notice, thought Hetzel. The ordinary touristic pleasures all seemed punishable by death, lifetime imprisonment, or unpredictable attack. Still, this very thrill of danger no doubt accented the pleasures of a visit to Maz.
    Hetzel took a step forward and thereby departed the Gaean Reach. He walked out upon the plaza, an expanse paved with silver-gray schist which seemed to give off a glimmering light of its own. To one side loomed the spires, domes, eccentric columns, and asymmetric blocks of the Triskelion: a structure designed in three segments by the architects of three races, a remarkable edifice. Beyond the Triskelion, to southwest and northwest, lay the Liss and Olefract sectors, each with its cluster of buildings. At the north side of the plaza, opposite the Triskelion, stood a pair of monuments which the three empires had conjoined to maintain: the Rock of Pain, where the Gomaz chieftains, numb with the weight of disaster, had surrendered to the Triarchy; and the multicelled slab of glass and black copper known as the Exhibitory. Both objects were encompassed within a small park, where a few trees with egg-plant purple foliage grew from a dim green sward. To the northeast rose the sober façade of the Beyranion Hotel, to which Hetzel now directed his steps.
    The Beyranion Hotel and its precincts constituted the smallest independent principality within the Gaean Reach. A garden of three acres surrounded the hotel proper; to one side stood the new garden annex. Hetzel registered at the main desk and was conducted to his suite.
    Hetzel discovered his quarters to be more than satisfactory. The sitting room overlooked the garden: a place of odd colors, bizarre shapes and nose-twitching scents. Black spindle-trees as tall as the hotel shaded tussocks of purple-black moss; from a pond grew clumps of horsetail with pewter stems and orange whisks. There were banks of blue geraniums, twinkling candle-blossom and Maz mint, all of which added pungency to the smoky-sour reek of the moss. Newly arrived tourists now roamed the garden, marveling at the exotic growths and unfamiliar odors. Hetzel inspected the bedroom, and discovered a view across Dogtown, which he would visit later in the day. First to business.
    He went to the telephone and put a call through to the