This time the sloshing was done more quickly, the wiping away more efficiently. This panel was not crowded between bronze pillars, more cleaners could work at once, and they were falling into the routine of it. Everyone saw armored figures moving out from the ship, crushing any who stood in their path. In the picture, one of the Pistach carried a lance with a Jaupati head on it, and when he saw this, Chiddy stopped translating. He was shaking. The Pistach do not weep outwardly, Benita knew, but something very similar was going on with him.
“Third panel,” cried T’Fees. “Read!”
“The Uniting of the Tribes,”read the curator. “Seeing the peaceful Pistach willing to help them, the tribes voluntarily gave up their independence to join into a union . . .”
On the wall, they saw the tribes united, by force, and marched off into the next three panels,Peaceful Work, Civilization an dThe Offerings, w here they saw slaves laboring for the Pistach to build mighty monuments and estates and finally a great palace.The Offerings w as panel number six, and it purported to show the voluntary offerings of the Jaupati to King Mengantowhai at the time of his crowning. It was, however, the Jaupati who were being offered up, and in panel seven,The Adoration, the Jaupati were being slain at Mengantowhai’s feet. Among the slain was the leader Bendangiwees, and dragged along to observe his murder was his obviously pregnant mate.
Panel eight was the Birth of Kasiwees.The mother was the same female as in the preceding panel (the Jaupati had distinctive skin markings that enabled one to identify individuals). When the soot was removed, they saw the gifts brought to the child by his family, many types of blades and weapons, sharp edges to turn against the conquerors who had murdered his father. Panel nine,The Evangelism of Kasiwees, could have been better named the Vengeance of Kasiwees, for it showed the young Kasiwees raising up a rebel force under a banner bearing the wordUmaPokoti, or Avengers.
‘We were told the Pokoti were another people entirely,” whispered Chiddy in a depressed and horrified voice. “We have been taught they were envious of the peaceful Jaupati.”
“It looks like to me they were simply fighting against invaders,” said Chad. “But that was centuries ago. Many races begin as warlike.”
Chiddy was not comforted. And so it went through panels showing the kidnapping of Mengantowhai, the rescue of Mengantowhai by Canthorel, the reprimands given to Mengantowhai by several of his own aged athyci who told him slavery and murder were wrong. It was impossible to misunderstand the panels, for many of them contained written quotations of those pictured.
In Panel fourteen,The Fearful Faithless, the abolitionists left the planet at the head of a schism that erupted over the question of slavery. The teaching of the panel had always been that these were traitorous Pistach, afraid of the Pokoti. In Panel fifteen,The Blessing ofCantborel, w hich was supposed to show Mengantowhai’s work affirmed and blessed by Canthorel, it actually showed him confessing to Canthorel that he had underestimated the Jaupati’s desire for freedom, that more force and greater atrocities would be needed to put down the rebellion. This was clearly conveyed by a transcript of their conversation written down the sides of the panel, no interpretation needed. In panel sixteen,Departure ofCantborel, Canthorel left the planet after telling the Jaupati they had been greatly wronged. And, in the final panel, between the left and center doors, the one called theMartyrdom o/Kasiwees, they saw Kasiwees being murdered yes, but by Mengantowhai himself. Around Kasiwees were scattered the stones and arrows of his battle, and he held a long dagger in his hand. In the upper left, they could see the last of the Pistach flying away, and in the middle foreground stood a device easily identifiable as aplanet stripper, one that would destroy all life upon the Jaupati world.
This was the story Canthorel had painted in the House of the Fresco. No matter how one looked at it, it was an accusation and a warning. It said as clearly as paint could say, “Woe and Tribulation, this is an offense before the universe, do not do this again!”