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. Presented as a gift to His Majesty by a groul> known as the Knights of the Terra Nera. Have you ever heard of them?"
Tusk and Dixter indicated that they had not.
"The name means Knights of the Black Earth." D'argent translated the Latin, and such was the secretary's charm and skill that he managed to impart the knowledge without sounding condescending. He seemed to imply that the other two knew the translation all along, were merely testing him. "Gutierrez is known for his planetscapes. This is a representation of Earth, along with its moon."
"Doesn't look much like it," Dixter said, eyeing the painting. "The last I saw of old Earth, it was all kind of gray and mottled."
"This is ancient Earth," D'argent explained. "When it was known as the 'Blue Jewel' of the galaxy. Actually, this painting came with rather a strange message: 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also rises.' That's the translation. From the Holy Bible, of course," he added offhandedly, confident that they had both recognized it. "Ecclesiastes."
Tusk nodded, said, with all seriousness, "Ecclesiastes. I think he was one of my old drill sergeants." D'argent smiled politely.
Dixter wasn't smiling. "'One generation passeth away.' That sounds like a threat."
"It does, doesn't it?" D'argent agreed. "We ran it through security
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