163 The Humble Servant

"I love it," declared Sergeant Arjun Varma. His eyes were glowing with enthusiasm.

His eyes weren't the only things that glowed in his face. In the center of his forehead, a softly shining blue spot indicated the presence of a timon implant.

Half an hour earlier, Samir had ceremoniously implanted the sergeant, and issued him with his very own hiber bed. He assured Varma he would watch over him, and took a chair while Varma lay down on the silvery mat in preparation for his first journey to the New World.

All of Kulaba was waiting for him there. He was given a pair of goatskin shorts and treated to a bowl of stew and offered a cup of weak wine that Kali had made from wild berries. Then he was shown around the village, and led to the house that had been built especially for him. It had a floor of ceramic tiles, and walls of mud brick.