Carmody decided the Kareenan was no immediate threat.  He continued his examination of the room by flashlight.  At one end was an archway with steps leading upward.  Above, projecting from the wall at a height of about forty meters, was a balcony.  It was capable of holding about fifty spectators on its banked array of seats.  The wall at the other end had a similar archway and balcony.  That was all.  The room contained only the gigantic statue of Boonta, the altar and candleholder, the chair, and the man - god? - in it.

Yess, or a decoy?

"I am truly Yess," the Kareenan said.

Carmody was startled.

"Can you read my mind?"

"Don't get so panicky.  No, I cannot ready our mind.  But I can perceive your intentions."

Yess swallowed the bite.  After sighing, he said, "The Sleep of my people is troubled.  They are having a nightmare.  Monsters are thrusting upward from the depths of their beings.  Otherwise, you would not be here.  Who knows what this night will see?  Perhaps... the time for Algul to triumph?  He is impatient with his long exile."  He made the circular sign.  "If Mother so wills it."

"My curiosity will be the death of me yet," Carmody said.  He laughed but cut the laugh off when the cachinnations were hurled back at him from the far-off walls.

"What do you mean by that?" Yess asked.

"Not much," Carmody replied.  He was thinking that he should kill this man - god - while he had the chance.  If Yess' retainers appeared, they could make it unhealthy for the man who intended to assassinate their god.  On the other hand, what if this Kareenan was not Yess but only a stalking-horse or bait?  It would be best to wait a while to make sure.  Besides, this might be his last chance to talk with a deity.

"What is it you want?" Yess said. He bit of a small piece of the candle and began chewing.

"Can you give it to me?" Carmody said.  "Not that I really care.  I'm accustomed to taking what I want.  Charity - in giving or in receiving - is not one of my vices."

"That'd be one of the few vices you don't have," Yess said.  He looked calmly at the Earthman, then smiled.  "What do you want?"

"That reminds me of the story of the fairy prince,'' Carmody replied.  "I want you."

Yess raised his feathery eyebrows.  "Not really.  It is obvious you're a disciple of Algul.  It shines out from every pore of sour skin, it radiates with every beat of your heart.  There is evil on your breath."

Staring, Yess cocked his head.  Then he closed his eyes.

"But yet... there's something."

He opened his eyes.  "You poor devil.  You miserable suffering conceited cockroach.  You're dying at the same time you boast you're living as no other man dares to live.  You..."

"Shut up!" Carmody shouted.  Then he smiled and softly said,  "You're very good at needling, aren't you?  But you'd never have stung me if it weren't for what I've gone through, for the hellish effects of this Night.  Enough to drive many men mad."

He pointed his gun at Yess.  "You'll not get a rise out of me again.  But you can congratulate yourself on having done what few have - although those few aren't alive to brag about it."

He gestured with the gun at the candlestick in Yess' hand.

"Why in the name of insanity are you eating that?  Church mice may be poor.  But gods that live in temples are poor also?"

"You have never eaten such rich food," Yess replied.  "This is the most expensive candle in the world.  It is made from the ground-up bones of my predecessor, a flour mixed with the wax excreted by the divine trogur bird.  The trogur is sacred to my Mother, as you may know.  There are only twenty-one of these most beautiful of all birds living on my planet, or anywhere in the universe, and they are tended by the priestesses of the temple of the Isle of Vantrebo.