Part Forty-Three, Chapter Three - Some Sort of Castration Ritual

Gris opens the chapter by assuring us that he found an "omen of success" regarding his mission to kill the Countess Krak, then gets distracted for two and a half pages.

He still needs to raise two thousand dollars, but Pinch and Candy haven't made use of his, ahem, "services" lately because they're still upset about those fleas.  And no, Gris can't go to Octopus Oil and talk to Bury or anything.  Nor can he hit the Apparatus office for some petty cash.  The plot requires him to have sex with former lesbians.  To make money.  Yeah.

Gris attempts to get back into his victims' good graces by showing an interest in their redecorating efforts - they're preparing for an "open house" - and so asks about a poster that he takes for a shaving cream ad.  It's actually an image of the goddess Aphrodite, which Pinchy praises for its composition ("The sea, the undulant waves repeating in sensuous curves, the phallic symbols stabbing nobly upward, the foam.") while Candy relates how the Greek patron of love and sensuality was born from divine castration.  Pinchy likes the story, Gris slinks away.  

[...] I withdrew to a corner to think this over.  I knew the Greeks, aside from producing fleas, engaged in sacrifice.  Now, I could not quite remember if they were animal sacrifices or human sacrifices.  Then the horrible thought struck me that here on Earth it wouldn't matter.  They believed that men were animals so they probably practiced both without much compunction.

Even though Gris spent months and months living right next door to Greece, and just passed through Greece on his way to America, he isn't sure whether or not they still practice human sacrifice.

Also, Hubbard remains incensed that modern science classifies humans as animals rather than some sort of demigod.  The problem is that none of his characters do anything to make a case for mankind's inherent nobility.  You could argue that the Earthlings are all living down to the standards suggested by those godless psychologists, except the aliens who have not had this indoctrination are just as bad, if not worse.  In short, Hubbard has filled his story with murderers and rapists while complaining that mankind doesn't get the credit it deserves.

As for why Gris the unrepentant rapist and murderer actually gives a damn about human sacrifice:

What the Hells was this "open house" they were going to hold?  Some kind of mystical sacrifice in which they cut off my testicles?  It worried me, especially since there wasn't a Voltarian cellologist handy to grow me any new ones.

So he stays well away from Candy and Pinch until they fall asleep, fearing for his mighty, scientifically-enhanced testicles.  Instead of just asking them what the Hells an open house was.

He finally gets around to catching that omen by turning on the viewscreen, where in an amazing coincidence the Countess Krak has just awoken from an "AWFUL" nightmare where she was paralyzed under an "awful-looking" monster, and a voice told her that Heller had died.  Heller comforts her after hearing this, pointing out that there are no monsters about and he isn't dead.

She threw her arms around his neck convulsively.  She said, "Oh, Jettero, this planet makes me afraid.  If anything happened to you, I think I would just die.  I couldn't stand it.  If I can't live with you, I don't want to live and that's all there is to it."

Krak was rejected from Twilight tryouts for having too much personality.

"There, there," he said.  "You know that I love you.  We'll succeed."

"Jettero," she said, crying again, "please, let's hurry up and finish and go home.  I have an awful feeling something dreadful is going to happen to me and to you."

Even though it happened the other way around in her dream.

But Gris is satisfied.  He's had his portent, he knows that dreams are omens.

There was not the slightest doubt left in my mind.

THE COUNTESS KRAK WAS GOING TO DIE!

Except back in Book One, Gris is able to dissect one of his dreams based on his subconscious desires, as taught by psychology.  He doesn't view it as an omen that he's going to encounter a Manco Devil.  So he shouldn't have any reason to believe that someone else's dream is an actual omen of the future.

But he dearly wants something to happen, so he's going to take another person's unconscious brain activity as proof that the thing will happen.

Gris isn't consistently a psychologist, but he is consistently stupid.


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