Cally recited the legend of the Thaarn, the oldest story in the Book of Auron, thus:
The story goes back to the mists of time, to the Dawn of the Gods. There were seven gods who discovered the planet Auron, and on it left the first man and woman. A million years went by. The gods returned. They were no older, even though a million years had passed. The gods returned and were pleased with what they saw, and they bestowed on the people of Auron great gifts - new types of crops which ended hunger, constant peace, and telepathy was promised. But one of the gods was very jealous - he didn't believe that the people of Auron deserved all this. He was frightened that they would one day become so powerful they would challenge the supremacy of the gods themselves, and in his rage he killed another god. The five remaining gods were so angry they built a chariot for him, and sent him beyond the threshold of space and time. The mad god swore a terrible vengeance. He said that he would return again. He said that he alone would discover the eternal secrets, and become the one great Master of the Universe.Cally compared the Thaarn with Earth stories of dragons and unicorns, and added that on Auron the Thaarn was "a symbol of darkness and evil".
As encountered by the crew of the Liberator, the Thaarn was still pursuing his plans of conquest, having developed a gravity generator on the principle that "he who controls gravity controls everything". At least some of the people he had captured with this device had been promised planets of their own to govern, and he offered to make Cally "queen of a thousand worlds". His operations were based on Crandor, described by his chief executive the Caliph as "palace of the Lord Thaarn, Master of the Universe".
| He took especial interest in Cally, detecting her presence soon after Liberator was pulled off course by the gravity generator. He told her he was "so alone" and claimed to have waited for her for "the time it takes light to cross a thousand galaxies". She persuaded him to turn off the energy isolaters, allowing Liberator to escape, and Crandor was destroyed soon afterwards. The Thaarn managed to get away. Cally saw the Thaarn, despite his insistence that she shouldn't, and found a withered diminutive humanoid with an enormous cranium. She later denied to the crew that she had in fact seen him. | |