I had many names.

The Samburu called me Malima Temboz, The Mountain That Walks, for I towered above all others of my kind, and always I would climb the next hill or cross the next valley to see what lay beyond.

To the Kikuyu I was Mrefu Kulika Twiga, Taller Than Giraffes, for I could pick succulent delicacies that were beyond the reach of the largest of animals, and no shadow was as long as mine.

The Makonde knew me as Bwana Mutaro, Master Furrow, for wherever I went my tusks would plow up twin furrows in the hard African earth, and my spoor could be mistaken for no other.

In Maasailand I was Fezi Nyupi, White Gold, for a veritable fortune protruded from my mouth, a fortune such as no other member of my race had ever carried.

And now I am known only as the Kilimanjaro Elephant, my true name lost on the winds, my body decayed, my bones turned to dust. Only my spirit remains, restless and incomplete.

It was a typical night on Athenia.

The storm had reached gale force. Dark clouds of methane swirled about the sky while tidal waves of ammonia raced across the oceans and crashed resoundingly against the jagged cliffs. Bolts of blue lightning gave the clouds an eerie glow, and the endless claps of thunder seemed to herald an imminent and unpleasant Day of Reckoning.

Once, many centuries ago, the Democracy had possessed a mining colony on Athenia, and the tallest of the planet's mountains, which had been given the less than original name of Mount Olympus, was still honeycombed with hundreds of miles of tunnels and shafts as testimony to that bygone era. Then other worlds had been opened up, richer worlds whose resources were easier to plunder, and the miners had moved on, leaving the mountain -- and the planet -- completely deserted.

It had remained deserted for almost a millennium, until the day that Tembo Laibon claimed it as his own, erected a dome at the very apex of the mountain, and called it the House of Blue Lights, in acknowledgment of the eternal storm that raged overhead. The House of Blue Lights was ostensibly a tavern, but of course nobody came to the ninth planet of distant Beta Greco merely to drink. In fact, it was precisely because Athenia was so far out on the Galactic Rim and so far from humanity's seats of power that the House of Blue Lights flourished, not so much as a bar but as a meeting place for outlaws and fugitives of all races. The many-limbed Kreboi, who inhabited Beta Greco III and had no love of the Democracy, gave Tembo Laibon permission to operate and extended their protection to include his world.

And now some two dozen humans and nine non-humans sat in the main room of the tavern, ignoring the brilliant blue explosions that illuminated the atmosphere outside the dome. Two men sat huddled with a trio of elongated, crimson-skinned, narrow-eyed Canphorites, negotiating the price for a secret cache of laser weapons; a flashily-dressed silver-haired man was telling two slightly-bored companions fantastic tales of the Dreamwish Beast and other myths of the spaceways; a delicate, crystalline being from the Atrian system, his body enclosed in a suit designed to muffle potentially dangerous sounds, sat motionless in a corner, staring balefully at the airlock for no discernable reason; a pair of elegant women, exquisitely coiffured, were bartering their services to a quartet of men who obviously had no need to haggle but seemed to enjoy it anyway; two furry, tripodal Lodinites were arguing with a corpulent and obviously unsympathetic man over the price of a rare Doradusian carving that sat on the table before him.

In a corner four men, another Canphorite, and a Kreboi were playing jabob, a card game that had been invented half a galaxy away. The game was entering its seventh month and had had a total of 403 participants. When a player was broke, or tired, or hungry, or decided that he had business elsewhere, he turned his seat over to the next in line. Three men currently sat at an adjacent table, each waiting their turn to join the game.

But despite all this activity, everyone knew that there was another game going on behind locked doors in Tembo Laibon's back room -- the game.

The room itself had always been the subject of much speculation, for it was here that Tembo Laibon kept his storehouse of personal treasures. Above the hand-carved bar were four mounted heads of hideous, flesh-eating beasts from Earth itself, while pelts of still other animals covered the entire back wall. There were a score of long metal spears on display, as well as a number of small wood carvings locked inside a glass case. And, finally, there were the twin pillars of gently curved ivory that dominated the room, towering above everyone, man and alien alike, who was permitted to see them.

Tembo Laibon himself was there, all six foot nine inches of him, his black skin shining like polished ebony, clad as always in the pelts of alien animals. He sipped a green concoction from a tall glass, wiped his lips, and looked around the table as he began shuffling the cards.

To his immediate left was the alien known only as the Gorgon, a huge, purple-skinned monstrosity who claimed to be from the New Roanoke system. Everyone knew that the New Roanoke system was uninhabited, but one look at his bulging muscles and protruding fangs was sufficient to convince them to suspend their disbelief and inquire no further into his origins or past. Nobody knew how many sentient beings the Gorgon had killed, but rumor had the total well above one hundred.

The Gorgon had been losing heavily for the past two hours, and, not much of a talker to begin with, he had grown increasingly sullen.

Not so the Iron Duchess. More machine than woman, her metal hands were busy putting her winnings into tidy little piles, her titanium teeth reflected the lightning as she smiled, her artificial heart pumped chemically-enriched blood through plastic veins, and her mechanical voice filled the room with the strange melody of her happy chatter. Tembo Laibon studied her out of the corner of his eye, and wondered how much of her was actually alive.

One who was unquestionably alive, and reveling in it, was the creature who sat to Tembo Laibon's right. Nobody knew what it had been originally, but somehow, somewhere, as it wandered down the highways and byways of its life, it decided that it wanted to be on the winning side for a change, and had undergone a series of surgical alterations that left it looking like a misshapen human. Its eyes were orange, its nostrils were too far apart, its ears were too flat against its head, one could still see where extra fingers and opposing thumbs had been removed from each hand, and it continually shifted its position on its chair, for it had not yet adjusted to the way its new body bent.

It spoke in exquisite Terran, as if it had spent its formative years in an exclusive school on Deluros VIII or even Earth itself, it brushed its locks of false hair back from its reconstructed forehead, it drank dry martinis and tried to hide its expression of distaste, and, when it felt no one was watching, it turned to admire its reflection in the glass of the reinforced viewport that Tembo Laibon had inserted on one wall of the room.

It called itself Son-of-Man, and thus far this evening it was playing as if a more revered Son of Man were standing by its shoulder and bringing it luck.

Sitting directly across from Tembo Laibon was Buko, the red alien from Sigma Silani IV. His lizardlike skin looked slick and moist, and glistened in the dim light of the viewport, and his face, which was incapable of expression, bore a striking resemblance to the dragons Tembo Laibon had read about when he was a small child. Buko was totally naked, and his skin exuded a too-sweet odor of alien oils. Perched motionless between his shoulder blades, its transparent claws and long beak buried deep in his flesh, was a tiny featherless birdlike creature that lived in some bizarre kind of symbiosis with him.

Finally Tembo Laibon put the cards down on the table and shifted his weight on his chair, which hovered a few inches above the floor. The ship carrying the last two players had just docked, and he had suspended the game until they arrived at the table.

"I'd like a drink, please," said Son-of-Man, flashing him a smile that displayed a mouthful of carefully-chiseled purple teeth.

"Same as last time?" asked Tembo Laibon.

"But of course," replied the thing that looked like a man. "Alien drinks are so... so gauche." It wrinkled its artificial nose distastefully.

"Anyone else?" asked Tembo Laibon, watching an exceptionally violent blue explosion through the viewport. He wondered idly if the lightning above the sprawling Serengeti Plains was as foreboding, and decided that it couldn't be.

"Last call for drinks."

There was no response, and Tembo Laibon tapped out an order on the panel in front of him. A moment later a robot entered the room, bearing a single glass on a polished silver tray.

"Thank you," said Son-of-Man as the robot placed the drink on the table.

"You are welcome, Honored Sir," replied the robot in a grating monotone.

"He looks so ludicrous!" tittered Son-of-Man as the robot walked away. "A metal monstrosity shaped like a man!"

"What's wrong with metal?" asked the Iron Duchess, as the reflected glow of a blue lightning bolt illuminated her platinum nails and titanium teeth. "It wears a lot longer than flesh."

"Oh, my dear lady!" said Son-of-Man. "I meant no disrespect, truly I did not. Please believe me."

She stared at him coldly, her pupils contracting slightly as tiny microchips within each eye made instant adjustments to the light of the explosions just beyond the viewport.

"I forgive you," she said at last.

"Thank you. I assure you that--"

"I forgive you," she repeated. "That does not mean I believe you."

"Enough talk," rumbled the Gorgon. "It is time to play."

"In a minute," said Tembo Laibon, calling his consciousness back from the green African savannah where it spent most of its time. "Two more participants have arrived."

"Can they afford the game?"

"Nobody gets into this room without an invitation," Tembo Laibon assured him. "They can afford it."

There was a momentary silence, and then the panel in front of Tembo Laibon flashed a silent message. He frowned and looked up.

"My robots tell me there are three of them out there."

"Who is the third?" asked the Iron Duchess.

"They're not sure. She looks likes a human female, but the readings are all wrong."

"I hope she's pretty," said Son-of-Man with what it thought was rugged masculine enthusiasm.

Tembo Laibon tapped a message on his panel. "Let's let them in and find out."

A moment later the door slid back, and two men and a woman stepped into the room. One of the men was powerfully built, broad and burly, with curly black hair and small dark eyes; he was Ajax the First, the brawn of the pair. The brain was small and wiry, and sported a bushy red beard; he was Ajax the Second. More than twenty outpost worlds had posted rewards for their capture, and yet they moved freely across the Outer Frontier and the Rim, and more than one bounty hunter who had tracked them down had wished he had gone after easier prey.

The woman, dressed in a glittering metallic blue gown, had long blonde hair piled high on her head, and wore a necklace of gleaming bloodstones from the mines of Altair III.

"Gentlemen, please introduce your companion," said Tembo Laibon, frowning.

"I am Helen," volunteered the blonde woman.

"She's our wife," explained Ajax the Second.

"Our wife?" repeated the Iron Duchess, arching an artificial eyebrow.

"His and mine."

"She's married to both of you?"

"That's right."

"She was not invited to participate," said Tembo Laibon. "She must leave the room."

"She's only an android," explained Ajax the First. "She won't bother anybody."

"Please deactivate her," said Tembo Laibon.

"I'd like to watch," said Helen.

Tembo Laibon look at her. "Because of the stakes involved in this game, there must be no hint of impropriety," he explained. "You must be deactivated."

"How can there be any impropriety if she sits behind me and watches?" asked Ajax the First.

"I have no idea," replied Tembo Laibon. "Perhaps she can see through the backs of the cards. Perhaps she will compute the odds and find some way to relay them to you. It makes no difference. Tempers can run high in a game like this, and for your own sake I would not want it said that you took unfair advantage of your fellow participants."

"What about the little animal on his back?" demanded Ajax the First, pointing to Buko. "How do I know that it isn't helping him?"

"It is a symbiotic life form that oxygenates my blood when I am on low-gravity worlds," replied Buko.

"This isn't a low gravity world."

"It is to me."

"If you are through arguing," said Tembo Laibon patiently, "you may deactivate the android."

Ajax the First shrugged, then looked directly at the android.

"Go to the corner, Helen," he ordered, and she promptly walked to the farthest corner of the room. He then uttered a brief command in a tongue that was unfamiliar to Tembo Laibon. Helen's eyes closed and her head sagged on her chest.

"Satisfied?" said Ajax the First, turning back to the table.

"How do we know she is not still operative?" asked the Gorgon suspiciously.

"Devise any test you wish and apply it," said Ajax the Second.

"That will not be necessary," said Tembo Laibon. "The house rules that she has been deactivated." He turned to Ajax the Second. "She is new," he noted.

"We commissioned her about a year ago. She was completed last month, and she's been with us ever since."

"Why would anyone want to marry an android?" asked Son-of-Man curiously.

"Why not?" responded Ajax the Second. "We like a little pomp and ceremony from time to time."

"How very interesting," said the thing that looked like a man. "By the way, we haven't been introduced. I am Son-of-Man."

"We are the Aiantes," said Ajax the Second.

"I beg your pardon?" said Son-of-Man.

Ajax the Second smiled. "You haven't read your Homer, have you?"

"Who is Homer?"

"I've read him," interjected the Iron Duchess. "And to the best of my memory, there was only one Ajax in the Trojan War."

"Then your memory deceives you," replied Ajax the Second. "There was Ajax, son of Telamonian, a giant warrior who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Odysseus. That's him. But there was also Ajax, son of Oileus, who was small, slight, and the most accurate of spearthrowers. That's me. Together, they were known as the Aiantes."

"I'm absolutely fascinated by names," said Son-of-Man enthusiastically. "How did you happen to choose yours?"

"Athenia offers us a safe haven, so whenever we're in this sector, we take Athenian names in gratitude," said Ajax the Second.

"But why the same name twice?"

"Why not?"

"It is very confusing."

"Not to us, it isn't," replied Ajax the Second.

"What names do you use in other sectors of the galaxy?" asked Son-of-Man.

"That's none of your business."

"I was just making conversation," said Son-of-Man petulantly. "There's no need to be rude."

"I wasn't being rude, just cautious," responded Ajax the Second. "If you're so interested in the genesis of names, why not ask the others?"

"There's no need to," replied Son-of-Man. "Buko and Tembo Laibon are proper names, and the origins of the other two are obvious."

Ajax the Second smiled. "Out here no human uses his own name."

Son-of-Man turned to Tembo Laibon. "Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Then what does Tembo Laibon mean?" asked Son-of-Man.

"In an ancient dialect called Swahili, it means Elephant Chief."

"What is an elephant?" asked Son-of-Man.

Tembo Laibon smiled. "Do you see those two pillars of white?" he said, pointing to the ivory.

"What is their relationship to you?" asked Son-of-Man.

"They belonged to the greatest elephant of all," said Tembo Laibon. "I am descended from a race called the Maasai. They used to hunt elephants with spears such as you see on the back wall." He paused. "The last elephant was killed four millennia ago."

Son-of-Man got to its feet and walked over to the ivory.

"They look like wood," it said at last.

"Once they were white, and gleamed like silver in bright light."

"This must have been a very large animal," continued Son-of-Man, obviously impressed. "Are these its ribs?"

"They are its teeth."

Son-of-Man threw back its head and laughed. "You have a remarkable sense of humor!"

"They are its teeth," repeated Tembo Laibon.

"No animal that ever lived had teeth half so large," retorted Son-of-Man. "You are making fun of my ignorance."

"I am enjoying your ignorance," replied Tembo Laibon. "But I am telling you the truth."

"Ridiculous!" muttered Son-of-Man, returning to its seat. It focused its orange eyes on Tembo Laibon for a long moment. "Why are you the Elephant Chief? Your teeth are no longer than mine."

"I am the Elephant Chief because I say I am," answered Tembo Laibon with some annoyance. "Do you plan to spend the rest of the night disputing my right to call myself what I wish, or are you ready to play cards?"

"Cards, by all means," said Son-of-Man. "I have better luck with them than with getting you to answer a civil question."

"Same rules as always?" asked Ajax the Second.

Tembo Laibon nodded. "No currency presently in use in the Democracy will be accepted."

"Not even Stalin rubles?"

"None."

"You let us use them last time," complained Ajax the Second.

"They were all you had last time," replied Tembo Laibon. "And I told you then that they would not be acceptable again."

Ajax the Second frowned. "What about Maria Theresa dollars?"

"Only for the amount of gold they contain."

Ajax the Second muttered something under his breath. "This could be a short night," he said more audibly.

"Since I do not wager, but only deal the cards," said Tembo Laibon, "I will relent if your opponents will accept your currency." He looked around the table.

"Not a chance," said the Iron Duchess. "I spend most of my time avoiding the Democracy."

"We all do," chimed in Buko.

"And some of us," rumbled the Gorgon in his deep, growling voice, "have very little confidence in the Democracy's longevity, and hence in the value of its currency."

"I hate to vote against my fellow man," said Son-of-Man with false regret, "but currency is too easily traced."

Tembo Laibon looked at Ajax the Second. "There you have it," he said.

The small man nodded his head. "All right," he said. "You've made your point."

"Buko," said Tembo Laibon. "Your game, your ante."

Buko snaked a hand into a pouch that was made of a pelt which bore a striking resemblance to human skin and withdrew a small sparkling gemstone. He stared at it for a moment, then shoved it to the center of the table. "Krinjaat," he announced.

"Please refresh my memory," requested the Iron Duchess, and Buko launched into a brief explanation of the rules of krinjaat, a card game that traced its origins to Binder X on the Inner Frontier, deep at the core of the galaxy. When he had finished speaking, she looked totally confused and decided not to pay the ante.

Son-of-Man sorted through his pile of winnings and finally withdrew an exquisite gold figurine. He held it up for Buko to see, then pushed it next to the gemstone after the red alien nodded his acquiescence. The Gorgon and the Aiantes followed suit, the former with an uncut diamond, the latter with a delicate crystalline sculpture, and finally Tembo Laibon dealt each player six cards, three face up and three face down. Bets and card exchanges ensued, and finally the Gorgon claimed the pot.

Tembo Laibon took a small crystalline pendant from the pot, held it up for the Gorgon's approval, and appropriated it for the house's commission. He then looked across the table at the Iron Duchess.

"Your game, your ante," he announced.

"Draw poker," she said, tossing a diamond bracelet onto the table.

The game proceeded for another ninety minutes, with Son-of-Man and the Gorgon doing most of the winning, the Iron Duchess breaking even, and the Aiantes losing so heavily that toward the end they paid the ante only for card games of human origin.

Then, as the storm continued to pound against the viewport, illuminating it with a series of ghostly blue lights, Tembo Laibon declared a ten-minute break.

The Gorgon immediately stood up and lumbered through the door and out to the main section of the tavern.

"But we just got here," complained Ajax the First.

"Some of us have been sitting at this table for four hours," said Buko, getting up and stretching his reptilian arms.

"Right," chimed in the Iron Duchess. "If Tembo Laibon hadn't called a break, I would have done so myself." She began flexing her fingers one by one, studying them with the interest of a master mechanic.

"I could use a drink myself," said Ajax the Second. "I think I'll pay a visit to the bar."

"What the hell," said his partner. "I might as well join you."

The Aiantes walked to the door, which slid open long enough for them to pass through.

"They haven't gotten any better since the last time," remarked Buko with a smile.

"You've played against them before?" asked the Iron Duchess.

"Twice," said Buko. "You'd think they'd have learned their limitations by now."

"The larger Ajax is the poorer player of the pair," added Son-of-Man. "He bluffs when he should fold, and folds when he should bluff."

"Perhaps I should only invite card players who are better than you," suggested Tembo Laibon wryly.

"That's not necessary," said the Iron Duchess. "Just keep 'em dumb and rich and we'll get along fine."

"If they lose two or three more hands they'll be destitute," observed Son-of-Man, getting up and walking over to examine the ivory more closely.

"Then they will rob another bank to replenish their funds," said Buko.

"Is that what they do?" asked Son-of-Man.

"When they're not losing at cards," replied Tembo Laibon.

"I suppose there's no immutable law that says a competent criminal must necessarily be a competent gambler," said Son-of-Man thoughtfully. It turned to Tembo Laibon. "Is that why you only deal and never become an active participant?"

"I take ten percent of every pot," responded Tembo Laibon. "Why should I gamble?"

"For the thrill, of course," said Son-of-Man.

"I find other things more thrilling."

Son-of-Man gestured to the four mounted heads. "Such as killing animals?"

"If it's done honorably," replied Tembo Laibon.

"I trust that the killing involves more honor than your obviously exaggerated recounting of it," said Son-of-Man. "Imagine hunting something with teeth like this" -- he laid a hand on the ivory -- "armed with only a spear!"

"You'd be surprised at the damage a spear can do," said Tembo Laibon calmly.

"Have you ever hunted with a spear?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?" demanded Son-of-Man.

"It is my heritage."

"I suppose these tusks are part of your heritage too?"

"They are."

Son-of-Man stared at the ivory. "Where were these elephants found?"

"In Africa," said Tembo Laibon.

"Ah, Africa!" said Son-of-Man with an expansive smile. "The mysterious Dark Continent, covering twenty percent of the Earth's surface. Home of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Sahara Desert."

"You've done your homework well," remarked Tembo Laibon.

"But of course," agreed Son-of-Man. "It's my heritage, too."

"Africa?"

"Earth."

"Have you been there?" asked Tembo Laibon.

"Certainly," said Son-of-Man. "Haven't you?"

Tembo Laibon shook his head. "Not much to see."

"My dear fellow, you're absolutely wrong! Earth is a veritable paradise!"

"Then why has almost everyone left it?" asked Tembo Laibon sardonically.

"Because Man always rises to challenges," replied Son-of-Man. "I wouldn't be anything else."

"So I gather."

"Really, you must go there sometime."

"I don't think so," replied Tembo Laibon. "They've built a city where my people used to live."

"Where was that?"

"At the foot of Kilimanjaro."

"Ah, yes," said Son-of-Man, happy to display its knowledge. "The city of Nyerere, climbing halfway up the side of the mountain: population two million, four airports, one spaceport, and home of the remarkable Waycross Sculpture." It paused. "Surely you would enjoy seeing such a wonder!"

"No."

"But why not?"

Tembo Laibon's dark eyes suddenly flashed with the fire of an ancient hatred. "Because Julius Nyerere was a Zanake, and the city bearing his name was built on Maasai land."

"The city of Nyerere was built more than three thousand years ago," pointed out Son-of-Man. "What possible difference can it make at this late date, especially to someone who has never even been to Earth?"

"I am a Maasai," said Tembo Laibon firmly. "It makes a difference."

"You are a Man, and all men are brothers," said Son-of-Man. "It is the aliens we must worry about, not each other."

"Spoken like one who knows," replied Tembo Laibon with a touch of irony.

The Gorgon reentered the room and plodded over to his chair, and a moment later the two Aiantes, fortified by alcohol, also returned.

"Are we ready?" asked the Iron Duchess, who had finally finished checking every artificial bone and mechanical joint.

Tembo Laibon nodded and took his seat.

"We are ready," he agreed, turning to Ajax the First. "Your game, your ante."

"5-card stud poker," declared Ajax the First, taking a diamond ring from his finger and putting it in the center of the table.

Tembo Laibon dealt out the hands, then settled back to watch the players.

The Gorgon, he decided, was like the extinct rhinoceros: huge, hot-tempered, subject to sudden rages, but too stupid to survive against such warriors as Son-of-Man and the Iron Duchess. He was a holdover from the bygone days when a direct approach was the only effective one: he never bluffed, never tried to cut his losses, but simply bulled ahead. If luck was on his side, if the sun was in the warriors' eyes or they could not sidestep him in the tall grass, he would carry the day and win the battle, as the Gorgon had done earlier this evening -- but he would never win the war.

Ajax the Second studied his cards, then shook his head and withdrew from the play. He is the silver-backed jackal, thought Tembo Laibon; confrontation simply isn't in his arsenal. He circles, he hides, he beguiles, he cajoles, but he never looks the larger predators in the eye as he waits for his turn at the kill. Still, sometimes cunning isn't enough, and tonight the jackal will go hungry.