Shirna.

Pletrak moved over to Vorg and Shirna.
Kalik and Orum followed him.
Pletrak handed back the datastrips.

"These are in order. But the tribunal
requires to know the purpose of your
machine."

After numerous stops at the many bars
and taverns that surround the markets,
they had finally gone for a late supper
into Saint-Anthony's Pig, the most popular
tavern in the neighborhood, Vorg having
reconciled himself to waiting for the
result of the great Larva, which would
not be revealed until the following day.

The stain that was indifferent to language
shifts imperceptibly inside the organ
of the Larva. As Levi Strauss says,
"It speaks itself."

The Larva itself is lined with eggs.
Even before completion. In just one,
the yolk turns into a full-grown human,
a face with scowling eyes and shouting
maw. The dentils or teeth are the maw's
tusks. The face's cheeks turn into mustaches
that flow down into curls outside the rim
of the shell-helmet and meet the points
of the claws, which are now also
exaggerated into realistic weapons
with long prongs.

Shirna removed a string mass
from her trochili.