His niece and her lover were not so sure that anything had been changed. If he couldn’t cut his way out of the cube, they couldn’t cut their way in. Especially when they didn’t have a beamer. But the pipe which was Ore’s life supply was of copper. After the robots got some more tools, Kickaha slicked off the copper at the junction with the impervium which projected outside the cube.
This left an opening through which Ore could still get air and also could communicate. Kickaha and Anana did not place themselves directly before the hole, though. Ore might shoot them through it.
Kickaha said, “The rules of the game have been changed, Ore. You need us, and we need you. If you cooperate, I promise to let you go wherever you want to, alive and unharmed. If you don’t, you’ll die. We might die, too, but what good will that do you?”
“I can’t trust you to keep your word,” Ore said sullenly.
“If that’s the way you want it, so be it. But Anana and I aren’t going to be killed. We’re having parachutes made. That means we’ll be marooned here, but at least we’ll be alive.”
“Parachutes?” Ore said. It was evident from his expression that he had not thought of their making them.
“Yeah. There’s an old American saying that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And I’m a cat-skinner par excellence. Anana and I are going to figure a way out of this mess. But we need information from you. Now, do you want to give it to us and maybe live? Or do you want to sulk like a spoiled child and die?”
Ore gritted his teeth, then said, “Very well. What do you want?”
“A complete description of what happened when you gated from the control chamber to this trap. And anything that might be relevant.”
Ore told how he had checked out the immense room and its hundreds of controls. His task had been considerably speeded up by questioning robots One and Two. Then he had found out how to open several gates. He had done so cautiously and before activating them himself he had ordered the robots to do so. Thus, if they were trapped, they would be the victims.
One gate apparently had access to the gates enclosed in various boulders scattered over the planet below. Urthona must have had some means of identifying these. He would have been hoping that, while roaming the planet with the others, he would recognize one. Then, with a simple codeword or two, he would have transported himself to the palace. But Urthona hadn’t had any luck.
Ore identified three gates to other worlds. One was to Jadawin’s, one to Earth I, and one to dead Urizen’s. There were other gates, but Ore hadn’t wanted to activate them. He didn’t want to push his luck. So far, he hadn’t set off any traps. Besides, the gate to Earth I was the one he wanted.
Having made sure that his escape routes were open, Ore had then had the robots, One and Two, seal the control room.
“So you had our torments all fixed up ahead of time?” Anana said.
“Why not?” Ore said. “Wouldn’t you have done the same to me?”
“At one time I would have. Actually, you did us a favor by letting us loose so we could savor the terrors of the fall. But you didn’t mean to, I’m sure.”
“He did himself a favor, too,” Kickaha said.
Ore had then activated the gate to Earth I. He had stepped through the hole between the universes, fully expecting to emerge in a cave. He could see through its entrance a valley and a wooded mountain range beyond. He thought that it was possibly the same cave through which Kickaha and Anana had gone in southern California.
But Urthona had set up a simulacrum to lull the unwary. To strengthen its impression, Urthona had also programmed the robots in case a crafty Lord wanted to use the gate. At least, Red Ore supposed he had done so. Ore had ordered the robot called Six to walk through first. Six had done so, had traveled through the cave, stepped outside, looked around, then had returned through the gate.