B656 <=> B658 (BTG XXXV Change in course of Karnak, p. 657)

Chapter XXXV A Change in the Appointed Course of the Falling of the Transspace Ship Karnak

AT THIS point of Beelzebub’s conversation with his kinsmen, he was told that the captain of the ship sought permission to speak with him personally.

Soon after Beelzebub had given his consent, the captain entered and with a respectful salute addressed Beelzebub and said:

“Your Reverence, at the beginning of our journey you condescended to let fall a word which hinted that on the return journey you would perhaps decide to stop on the way at the holy planet Purgatory to see the family of your son Tooilan. If this is indeed your intention, then it will be better if you give me the order to do so now, because we shall soon be passing through the solar system Khalmian, and if having passed this system we do not direct the falling of our ship immediately more to the left, we shall greatly lengthen the path of its falling.”

“Yes, please, my dear Captain,” Beelzebub replied. “There is nothing against stopping on the way at this holy planet. No one knows whether there will be another such happy occasion for me to go there and visit the family of my dear son Tooilan.”

When the captain saluted and was on the point of going out, Beelzebub suddenly, as if remembering, stopped him and addressed him in the following words:

“Wait, my dear Captain, I want to ask you to accede to yet another of my requests.” And when the captain, drawing nearer, had sat down in his appointed place, Beelzebub continued thus:

“My request to you is that you consent after the visit to the holy planet Purgatory, to give our ship Karnak such a course of falling that on the way we may reach the surface of the planet Deskaldino.