8. RAND
The stately Curienese majordomo was entirely too welled dressed for what was essentially the Alabama of the South Pacific. He also seemed to be of two minds as to whether he wanted to impress his Occidental visitors, or imply that he had no interest in kowtowing to them. He wore a bright red sarong, but also had an extremely wide and poorly tied necktie hanging down to his waist. A ceremonial gold (probably gilded) kris hung at his side, but for reasons known only to him and his island gods, he wore a top hat. Rand didn’t know whether to laugh at the poor bastard or weep.
As they reached the broad, temple-shaped doors to the throne room, the majordomo deigned to interact with him for the first time since this long death march had begun. The little Malay put an unwelcome han
