Or were they? There seemed to be confusion among the men on the tower. Two of them seemed to be arguing with the man who'd fired. The wind blurred the words past understanding, but they all seemed to be thoroughly excited about something. Their lean bodies were taut, and their arms waved about frantically. It looked as though something unexpected had happened. Could it be Twana's death-if she were dead? Blade risked stepping over to the edge of the wall and looking down. After a moment he looked away. Even from up here he could tell that he'd brought Twana to her death. She lay face down, her head twisted at an angle to her body that nothing living could ever take.

As Blade stepped back from the edge of the wall, the soldiers started disappearing from the top of the tower. A moment later a door opened onto the top of the wall, dilating like the lens of a camera. Five soldiers filed out and came toward Blade. All of them were carrying their rifles at the ready. The one who'd fired trailed a little behind the other four, and Blade saw the others looking uncertainly back at him. Blade relaxed slightly, but did not sheath his sword and went on willing the soldiers to come closer. If they kept on, they'd be so close that they could hardly use their rifles without hitting each other. He would have no such problem with his sword.

The soldiers came on. Their boots, coveralls, and helmets were all fire-engine red. Apparently they'd never heard of camouflage, or else had no need of it. Their rifles were streamlined, with silver barrels and stocks and b.u.t.ts of dark-blue plastic. They carried black truncheons and small cylindrical green boxes on their web belts. The faces under the helmets ....

The faces had human shape and human features, but all five sets of features were as identical as so many stamped coins. The skin of their faces and hands flexed and creased like living skin, but it had a waxy sheen that Blade had never seen, except in the skin of a dying man or a corpse.

More robots. No, not robots-androids. Artificial beings in human shape, perhaps organic, perhaps with all the parts and processes of a human being. Nonetheless, artificial creations of a biological science generations beyond that of Home Dimension. Were they programmed like the robots, or had they been given human intelligence to match their human forms? Certainly their greater physical versatility would make them more formidable opponents than the Watchers.

Blade decided to take the initiative and see what came of it. As the androids approached, he raised his sword and held in out in front of him, barring the androids' path.

"Halt! What is your business here?"

The five androids stopped as if they'd run into a stone wall, and the one who'd fired raised his rifle to his shoulder. One of his comrades grabbed it by the barrel and, with an angry growl, drew it down again. "He commands like a Master, (a meaningless gabble that might have been a name or a number)," the restraining android said sharply.

"He is not a Master," said the other.

"We do not know that."

"Ask him, then," said a third android. All of them spoke without changing the expressionless blankness of their faces. They all spoke in a clipped, almost comically precise fashion, biting off their words so quickly that Blade had to listen carefully to understand what they were saying.

"You need not ask," he said. "I am a Master."

"You are not of the Authority," said the one who'd fired. He did not raise his rifle, but now his voice held a distinct note of anger that Blade didn't like. "No Master who is not of Authority leaves the Houses of Peace."

"I am of the Authority," said Blade. "I have been ordered to travel beyond the wall of the city. The Master you killed was with me. The Authority will not be pleased at what you have done."

This had no effect on the hostile android, but the other four looked at each other. Finally one of them said, "We must keep you here and call the Authority. They will tell us who you are."

"You doubt the word of a Master," said Blade. He made it a statement, not a question. He also made his voice flat and cold, deliberately menacing.

"Yes," said the hostile android. The others were silent and seemed to be thoroughly uncomfortable about the whole situation.

"It is not permitted to doubt the word of a Master," said Blade sharply. "Since you have done that which is not permitted, you shall give me your weapon." He shifted his feet slightly apart, into combat stance, and watched the android's hands and eyes. From long experience he knew that dividing one's enemies and setting them against each other was always a step in the right direction.

"I-will-not-give-it!" said the android. Each word was at a higher pitch than the one before it, until the last one came out a shrill scream.

Blade took a step sideways and got ready to drop his sword and close with the hysterical android. Before he could do anything more, the android went into action. The muzzle of its rifle swung toward Blade. Blade started to drop to his knees, ready to go in under the rifle with the sword. Before either the android or Blade could complete their movements, one of the other androids leaped forward. The hysterical android fired by sheer reflex. The white beam of the rifle took the second android in the head at a range of no more than a single foot. His mouth sagged open, his eyes dissolved into pulp, blood gushed from his nose. He went to his knees, dropping his own rifle. One hand clutched at his killer's belt. Then he went forward on his face in a widening pool of silver-tinged blood.

Blade dropped his sword and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the fallen rifle. Before he could bring it into action, another android closed with the killer, grabbing his rifle and shoving the muzzle skyward. The killer held on grimly and tried to back away, dragging his attacker with him. Blade and the last two androids raised their rifles and sighted on the killer. Before they could fire, the killer whirled around, swinging his attacker with him. The other android gave a tremendous heave, pulling his opponent off his feet but going down with him.

The two androids rolled over and over, kicking and clawing at each other, so thoroughly tangled together that Blade and the other androids didn't dare fire. The fighting androids rolled over several more times, reached the edge of the wall, and vanished over it. Unlike Twana, they did not scream. There was a moment of ghastly silence, then a double-barreled thud, and the crackle of one of the rifles fired by dead fingers. The rifle fired until the air reeked of ozone, then died away, leaving silence behind it.

Blade was the first to break the silence. He pointed his rifle at the last two androids and spoke sharply. "You will give me your weapons. You will go into the tower. You will stay there until the Authority gives you an order to leave. You are all unreliable." The two androids shuddered at the last word. Blade wondered if it had some special meaning in their programming or training.

"We shall please the Master." The two androids knelt, put down their rifles, and remained kneeling while Blade picked up the weapons. He examined them, found the power sources, and removed them. Each power source was a small red box, about the size of a pocket calculator. Blade put both boxes in his pack, then hammered the rifles on the top of the wall until they broke apart.

"Now I shall go down from the wall and go to the Authority," he said. The androids nodded. Still kneeling, one of them touched the top of the green cylinder of his belt. Blade heard a faint hiss and saw a ladder reaching all the way to the ground slide out from the inner face of the wall.

"I am pleased," he said. "You may now go to your tower." Blade waited until the androids had vanished, then scrambled down the ladder.

The two fallen androids were both as dead as Twana. Blade left them lying where they'd fallen but took the power cells of their rifles. Then he lifted Twana's body on his back and carried it a mile toward the city. Inside a circle of close-grown trees, he used the girl's own sword to dig a grave. When the grave was deep enough, he laid Twana in it, with her weapons beside her. Then he pushed the earth back over her and finally piled heavy stones from a fallen wall on the grave. When he'd finished, he was filthy and sweating, and he suspected he'd taken more time than he should have.

He also knew that he could have done no less. His good intentions had only brought Twana on a long and futile journey to a wretched death and a lonely grave far from her own village and her own people. He could at least give her a decent burial.

Then he washed himself off in the nearest pond, gathered up weapons and pack, and headed toward the city.

Blade followed an intricate path through the gardens, keeping under cover as much as possible. He hoped he'd kept the two androids on the wall from sounding the alarm or setting up ambushes for him, but he didn't trust them. He did not intend to be an easy target for any of the city's defenders-robot, android, human, or anything else.

Apparently there were some living human beings in this city, or at least there had been within the memory of the androids. He'd be more careful and conciliatory in his approach to these humans, if he found them. He'd also have a few things to tell them about their pet android soldiers!

It took Blade several hours to creep to the edge of the city. By that time it was getting dark, and a rising wind hinted at another storm coming. Blade started looking for an intact, but uninhabited, building to shelter him for the night. Before he entered the city, he stopped and tied one of his spare knives to the muzzle of his rifle with a length of cord. It was an improvised and precarious bayonet, but enough to be a thoroughly unpleasant surprise to any enemy who came to close quarters.

With the rifle held ready, Blade entered the city. It was silent except for the eerie piping of the rising wind, and there was nothing moving-not even a rat or a bird. But this was not a dead city. Shabby, certainly-like the building by the Wall, there were stains and patches and signs of neglect and wear in every street and on every building.

But most of the dark windows held their gla.s.s, the tightly closed doors stood straight, the gra.s.s of the lawns was neatly clipped, and the streets were swept free of dust and debris. In one street Blade found five six-wheeled trucks parked, and each one was as clean as if it had just come out of a dealer's showroom. They had clear bubble cabs and fat tires that seemed to be made of some sort of woven metal mesh. He could not tell what sort of engine drove them.

There was life in this city-hidden, or perhaps asleep, but certainly there. Blade kept scanning the windows, hoping to surprise some lurking observer. He saw nothing. The streets were bare of cover, and Blade began to feel disagreeably naked and exposed to whatever might be waiting for him.

By now it was almost dark, and he felt a heaviness in the air that told him the storm was close. He came to a ramp leading down to what looked like the mouth of a tunnel and went down into it.

He'd just discovered that the tunnel was barred off by a metal screen, when he heard two sounds. One was the swelling hiss of rain; the other was the unmistakable whine of an engine and the whisper of tires on the street. Blade raced back up the ramp, in time to see one of the six-wheeled trucks roll by. Inside the cab were four figures-one of the android soldiers, two men in blue coveralls, and someone in black with golden hair shining under a green cap. Blade lay flat at the top of the ramp, watching the lights of the truck fade away in the rain.

To his surprise, it stopped no more than a hundred yards down the street. Blade remembered there was an open courtyard with a lawn just about there. Then he dimly saw people climbing out of a cab and flitting about.

At this point the rain started coming down so hard that Blade could no longer see clearly. He smiled, for he'd seen enough. It looked as though some of the people in this city were coming to him, instead of his having to go search them out. He stood up and strode through the rain toward the truck's dim lights.

Chapter 12.

Blade was halfway to the lights when they suddenly moved off to the left and out of sight. He crossed the street and used the wall of the building there for cover. He stalked up to the entrance to the courtyard and peered around the edge of the building The truck was parked at the inner end of the courtyard. The two men in blue coveralls were unloading cylindrical containers from the back platform. The man in the green cap was standing by a small, glossy white door. The soldier android sat in the driver's seat of the truck, its rifle across its knees.

Hard common sense told Blade to pick off the soldier first, from cover. The hope of good relations with the people of this city, or at least information from them, told him otherwise. He compromised by unslinging the rifle and inserting a fresh power cell. Then with the rifle held ready, he stepped out into the courtyard.

The android was the first to spot Blade and the quickest to act. It leaped to the ground, raising its rifle as it did. Blade didn't let the android complete the movement. His own rifle snapped up, and its beam flared white, reflected from the rain and lighting up the whole courtyard. The android was knocked back against the truck, then slumped to the ground. Blade dashed toward the truck, water spraying from under his boots.

The two laborers dropped their loads, turned and ran. As they pa.s.sed Blade, he saw that their faces had the same ma.s.s-produced appearance and waxy sheen as the soldiers'. So the laborers were androids too! Before Blade could learn any more about them, they dashed out of the courtyard and vanished into the rain.

Blade reached the truck as the man in the green cap flattened himself against the white door and fumbled in a pouch at his belt. Blade held his fire. The man's face had high cheekbones, a fair complexion flushed with excitement, and large, dark eyes that looked at Blade without flinching. This was a human being, not an android. Blade didn't fire; he didn't want to chance the effects of the shock rifle on a human system.

Instead, he stepped out from behind the truck and advanced toward the man. The man jerked a metal rod out of the belt pouch and pressed the larger end against the door. Nothing happened. Desperation flashed across his face. He dropped the rod and jerked something like a short-barreled pistol with an oversized cylindrical b.u.t.t. Blade dove forward and down as the pistol came up to bear on him. Something went whee-whee-whee very rapidly just above his head, and behind him something else went crannnnng!

Then he was rolling, coming up under the man's defenses, ready to use the rifle b.u.t.t to strike a disabling blow. With astounding speed, the man leaped clear over Blade and aimed an expert kick at his exposed back. Blade twisted aside just in time to take the kick on his hip. If it had struck where it had been aimed, it would have cracked his spine.

Blade bounced to his feet and thrust at the man with his bayonet. The man danced aside as expertly as before and raised his pistol. Blade slammed the barrel of his rifle across the man's wrist and saw the gun drop to the ground. He also saw something else. In all the confusion, the man's cap had fallen off, and his hair had come down. It shimmered like raw gold in the light from the truck's cab. Now that he could see the hair, the full face, the outline of the body under the black coverall, Blade realized he was fighting a woman.

He also realized that she was as determined to kill him as any opponent he'd ever met, and probably a good deal more capable of doing so than most.

The woman jumped backward a good three feet and turned to s.n.a.t.c.h up the android's rifle. She was diving for it when Blade aimed his own rifle at the fallen weapon and fired. His beam triggered off the power cell. There was a whoooffff, a shower of white sparks, and a cloud of greasy smoke. The rifle flew apart into two blackened pieces.

The woman somersaulted completely over the destroyed rifle like a trained tumbler and came up as though she had steel springs in her legs. Blade raised his rifle to avoid spitting her on the bayonet as she came in. She detected the movement almost the instant it began. Blade took another jarring kick on his thigh but couldn't fend off a flattened hand slashing painfully into his ribs. He realized that, if he weren't going to shoot the woman, he'd better drop the rifle and get both hands free. He let the weapon fall and grabbed for the woman. His hands closed on empty air as she danced back out of reach, aiming a kick at his kneecap as she retreated.

Her timing was a little off. Blade sidestepped completely and clamped one hand on the woman's leg. The material of her coverall was as slick as gla.s.s, and she twisted furiously, breaking Blade's grip. She kicked again, driving Blade back as she went over in another somersault and came up again facing him.

At this point Blade decided he'd better not take any more chances with the woman. She didn't seem to be at all interested in any sort of friendly relations with him. She was also one of the fastest and deadliest opponents he'd ever faced in unarmed combat.

This time when the woman came at him, Blade struck first. He kicked out in the same moment she did, catching her off balance, bringing her down. She was on her feet before he could fall on top of her with his two hundred and ten pounds, but not before he was inside her defenses. She brought her knee up into Blade's groin but not hard enough to cripple him. Blade clamped both arms around her and pulled her against him. She tried to b.u.t.t him under the chin with her head. He grabbed her hair with one hand, pulling her head back far enough to keep her teeth from his throat. Then he jabbed three fingers of the other hand into the pit of her stomach. It was like jabbing a plate of flexible steel, but for a moment she stopped fighting. He was able to get his hands around her neck and apply his thumbs to the great blood vessels there. At last she went limp. Blade lowered her to the ground, made sure she was still breathing, retrieved the rifle, and stood up again. It was a couple of minutes before he caught his breath and felt entirely steady on his legs.

This hadn't been the best way to introduce himself to the human population of this city. However, what was done was done. The next thing to do was get some clothes that might discourage the soldier androids from shooting at him on sight. Of course! What better disguise than the red coveralls and helmet of one of those same androids!

Blade stripped the dead soldier. Under the coveralls, it wore a reinforced garment covering torso and groin, like an armored vest from Home Dimension. Under the vest, it was naked. Blade was not surprised to see that it had neither navel, b.r.e.a.s.t.s, nor any visible s.e.x organs. It didn't even have any body hair, except a spa.r.s.e growth on the head.

He was able to pull on both the vest and the coverall and still breathe and move comfortable. He put the helmet on his head, tightened the chin strap, and looked at himself in the cab of the truck. The woman's pistol had shattered or cracked half of it, but there was still enough left to give Blade a good image of himself. His complexion was hopelessly wrong, but otherwise he'd do well enough, at least in the darkness. He wasn't going to be roaming about this city by daylight until he'd asked somebody a few pointed questions about the androids and a good many other things!

The next thing to do was to get the woman some place that was out of the rain and where they wouldn't be interrupted or bothered by anyone, human or android. He remembered the rod she'd been tapping against the door. He picked it up and went to work on the door, feeling with one hand and using the rod with the other. At last be felt a circular panel sunk a fraction or an inch into the door. He pressed the rod hard into the center of the panel.

The third time he pressed, the door quivered, then slid gently aside. It was solid metal, nearly a foot thick, and Blade heard faint grating and grinding noises as its immense weight moved. It revealed a long corridor, bathed in pale blue light, with a number of rooms opening off each side. It looked remarkably like one of the corridors in the building by the Wall. Blade pulled on his pack, lifted the woman in his arms, and carried her inside.

As if his appearance had conjured them out of the air, two of the blue-clad worker androids popped out of the nearest doorway. The combination of blue light and blue coveralls made their waxy complexions look even ghastlier than usual. Both of them stopped and looked at Blade, but neither of them said a word. Blade would have given a good deal for those totally expressionless faces to show some emotion he could interpret, but they were as blank as ever.

After a moment one of the androids went over to the doorway and pressed his hand against a plate set in the wall beside it. The door slowly closed behind Blade. In silence he walked down the corridor. The androids stood like a pair of sentries at the end of the corridor until they seemed to realize they weren't going to get any orders from Blade. Then they disappeared back into their room.

The rooms along the corridor were all very much like what Blade had seen in the building by the Wall-large, clean, shabby, and spa.r.s.ely furnished. In the center of one room, an intricate sculpture of silvery metal spirals stood on a stone pedestal. The metal sculpture was the first really decorative object Blade had seen in this whole Dimension. Somehow that made him feel more at home, so he chose that room.

The woman was still unconscious when Blade laid her down on the bed. Her hair was a sodden mess, but her coverall was as dry as if she'd been taking a walk on a spring morning. The material seemed to be water-repellant to an extraordinary degree.

Blade made no effort to undress the woman. Instead, he propped her head up on several pillows, then tied both her hands and feet as securely as he could without making the knots painfully tight. After that he searched the room.

He learned nothing he hadn't known before, until he came to the wardrobe. This one also opened itself at his approach, revealing a dozen robe-like garments in as many different lengths and colors. Several were nearly transparent, and two looked as though moths had been at them for years. They were more holes than fabric.

Blade took off his helmet and pulled on the largest of the robes. It concealed the red coverall completely. He took one of the moth-eaten robes, cut it into strips with his knife, and carefully gagged the woman. She might not be able to order the worker androids to fight him, but she could probably order them to call the soldiers or other humans.

Finally, Blade pulled the blankets over the woman until only her head was visible. Then he took his sword and rifle and went out into the corridor. The woman looked as though she'd be quietly unconscious for another couple of hours. That would be plenty of time for him to get around and do a little exploring on his own. He might find a few of the answers he was looking for. That could put him in a stronger position to get the rest of the answers from the woman when she woke up, without having to do anything drastic to her.

Chapter 13.

One of the workers was moving down the corridor with a box in its hands as Blade came out of the room. It stopped and said, "What will please the Master?"

It seemed the workers would take him for a Master, now that he had a Master's clothes on. Good. Apparently a Master could go anywhere-unless he ran into a mad soldier and all he had to do was give orders.

"I wish you to take me to the top of this building," he said. "I will be pleased to walk about in it."

The worker was silent for a moment. Then it said, "That is Physical." The emphasis it placed on the word implied the capital letter.

Blade sensed he'd done something that wasn't part of the android's notions of a Master's behavior. But he wasn't going to sit on his a.r.s.e simply to keep these d.a.m.ned androids happy "I will be pleased to walk about in the building," he repeated. "Your orders are to please the Masters."

The android nodded slowly. "This is a House of Peace. Does the Master wish a.s.sistance with the Inward Eye?"

"No, I do not wish a.s.sistance. I wish to walk about in the building."

"That is Physical," said the android again.

Blade was tempted to ask why something being Physical was so important but decided against it. That might reveal a degree of ignorance sufficient to make even a worker android suspicious.

He shook his bead. "It will not be pleasing to the Master if you do not obey. Is this clearly understood? If you do not take me where I want to go, you will be unreliable."

The last word did the same thing to the worker as it had done to the soldiers on the city wall. The android stiffened and quivered all over. "The Master will be pleased," it said unsteadily.

"Good," said Blade. "Lead the way." He pointed with the rifle. The android turned and headed down the corridor. Blade followed it to the far end and through a low archway. Beyond was a large, square room with a railed, circular metal platform in the middle. The android went over to the platform and beckoned Blade up onto it. He looked up and saw a circular shaft slightly larger than the platform rising up into the darkness above it. Then the android gripped a section of the railing and twisted it. The platform shot straight up from the floor and into the shaft with a faint humming sound.

Blade gripped the railing and watched the walls of the shaft flow past. At intervals they shot through large, square rooms like the one on the ground floor, so fast that it was impossible for Blade to see what was in them. Apparently the android was taking Blade's wish to go up to the top of the building as a literal order.

Several minutes later Blade finally saw the sheen of a metal ceiling above him. It grew rapidly larger, until he could make out patterns of metal ribs. Then the platform soared up out of the shaft, lurched sideways, and thudded down on the floor, nearly knocking Blade off his feet.

Blade stepped off the platform and looked around. His first impression was that he'd wandered into the middle of a high-society orgy. On a low dais piled with rugs and pillows, a couple was making love. A red-haired woman lay naked on a mat on the floor, while an android wearing only blue shorts straddled her b.u.t.tocks and back, ma.s.saging her steadily and expertly. Three other people-two men and a woman-stood chest deep in a large gla.s.s tub. Two androids were scrubbing them with sponges on long handles, while a third played a hose over them. Blade caught a heavy scent of perfume from the water.

That was just a start. The room was more than sixty feet on a side and not only clean, but luxuriously furnished and well maintained. There were about forty human beings in it, and more than a hundred androids at work bathing them, ma.s.saging them, serving them food and drink, even carrying them about in small sedan chairs of light metal and plastic. It was not an orgy-only one couple was making love-or any sort of party that Blade could imagine.

He sniffed the air carefully for drugs but could detect none. Yet all the people were dull-eyed and languid in their movements, as oblivious to his presence as if he'd been another of the androids. Something certainly had their attention fogged and confused, even if it weren't drugs.

As Blade finished his tour of the room, the redhead who'd been getting the ma.s.sage turned over and looked at him. She lay with her chin in one hand, obviously trying to decide whether to invite him to join her. Finally, she shook her head. "No," she said in a sleepy voice, "no, I have taken it only through the Inward Eye. It would be too Physical to change the way now." She rolled back over on her stomach and seemed to drift off to sleep.

There was that "Inward Eye" again, whatever it was. Mystery was piling itself on mystery. Apparently the Inward Eye could be a s.e.x subst.i.tute, but so could a great many other things. The redhead hadn't told Blade very much!

Then he realized, with a mild shock, that even if the woman had beckoned to him, he wouldn't have gone. Not that she wasn't attractive. In fact, she was breathtakingly beautiful-long-limbed, exquisitely curved, with great green eyes, that flaming head of red hair, full lips, everything she needed.

In fact, she was too beautiful, too perfect. She was like one of those fashion models turned by make-up, diet, and exercise into an Image of Beauty rather than a living woman. Blade had never cared for that sort of woman in Home Dimension, and this woman was even worse.

Blade looked around the room again, and with a further shock realized something he hadn't clearly noticed before. Every woman and every man in the room had that same quality of unnatural beauty, health, and personal perfection. The more clearly he realized this, the less plausible it seemed.

The android who'd escorted him was standing by the platform. Beyond the platform another corridor opened off the room. Blade could see lighted doorways on either side. He headed off down the corridor, determined to explore further.

He found himself moving through an even stranger world than the big room. All the rooms here were also spotlessly clean and beautifully kept, with a decadent display of cushions and tapestries, jewels and polished metal, weird abstract sculptures, and still more weird and abstract paintings, carved and inlaid furniture.

In the center of every room was an enormous bed. About half of these beds were empty, although some had androids busily at work on them. The others were occupied, always by a single person who was apparently sound asleep.

All of these sleepers wore metal mesh helmets on their heads, with solid, heavy bands around their temples. All wore black masks over their eyes. Otherwise they were completely naked.