hair was uncombed.
I esped out to see what was troubling him, breaking the
rule which I had established of my own accord. I violated
him.
On the surface of his mind, it floated in horrid detail.
The thought symbol his psyche had given it was a bloated
body floating in a pool of blood. Beneath the image, I
read it: WAR. The rumors were not just rumors any
longer. Brushfire stuff had gotten hotter, though the details
seemed vague in his mind. A black, rotting corpse, floating
in clotted pools of blood …
Extremely shaken, I sat down at the table and looked
across at Morsfagen. There were tiny beads of perspira-
tion on his chin and forehead. His big hands were full of
communiques, and they seemed to shiver just the slightest
bit.
Damn them! Damn them all!
“The details?” I asked.
“Alliance troops attacked the Chinese division which
had crossed the Amur River, drove them back into
Chinese territory. Forty-seven Chinese killed. Four Japa-
nese. Seven Alliance troops: two American, one British,
and the rest Russian. An hour later, Zavitaya ceased to
exist. No radio in or but. The nuke missile site there does
not respond to calls. Belogorsk reports a tremor and a
play of odd lights in the sky. Seismographs say it was a
pocket-bomb, a very low-yield nuke. The troops at the
border no longer report back. The Asians have moved
into Russian territory with a vengeance. No confirmation
yet. But you can bet on it.”
“I’ll help,” I said.
“You’re damn right you will.” His face was not pretty.
“Is he ready?”
Morsfagen looked at Child. “Tranced,” he said. “We
were waiting for you before administering the Cinnamide.
What have you come up with overnight? What do you
think about yesterday?”
I shrugged. “Nothing more than what I’ve already said.
He threw me out because I was reading some thought
stream he did not want me to see. It was easy for him,
because I never expected it. I was still underrating his
potential. I won’t do that again.”
“Certain?”
“As certain as I can be.”
“How is that?”
“Very.”
“Let’s begin, then.”
“Some things have to be done first,” I said. “Wake him
from the trance. Tell him I have not been here yet. Tell
him I’ve disappeared and that, until I’m found, you’ll have
to go on without me. Tell him you’ll be interrogating him
while he’s drugged and that he better come across if he
knows what’s good for him. Ham it up a little. But make
it sound convincing. After he is tranced and drugged
again, I’ll go in secretly. Maybe he won’t even know that
I’m there.”
A black, bloated body (Melinda) floating…
Damn them to Hell!
Morsfagen attended to removing the mutant from the
room and going through the procedure I had suggested.
“Are you sure of yourself, Sim?” Harry asked. He
sounded as if he wanted me to quit. But we both knew
that was impossible. Only Child could develop the ultimate
weapon, a weapon that would make war obsolete. I had to
go in there until he formulated it—possibly urge him into
it if he was unwilling. But there was no backing down—
not with the world and Melinda hanging on everything
that transpired in this room.
They brought Child back in ten minutes. He was
tranced and be was drugged.
The world was heavy on my shoulders and Death was
walking with me…
…and …
… like a cat with cotton feet, I went quietly, quietly,
quietly. . . .
Like a ghost in an old house, I went without form.
Like the breezes of spring, I walked softly.
There was no echo of my steps, and the labyrinth was
wanner than usual. The walls were actually unpleasantly
hot to the touch, a strange change from the clinging cold
that had infested the place. I rounded a bend and saw the
Minotaur sitting on his haunches, unaware of my presence.
He was reading a leather-bound Bible, completely absorbed
in whatever the verses had to tell him.
Slowly, so as to disturb nothing, I passed. He never
looked up.
Pasiphae, here is your unholy child.
Minos, your labyrinth is ugly. It needs a paint job and