He was standing with his face pressed up against the wire screen, peering through the gaps, when Grant and Brigid appeared next to him. They turned to him, ready to ask the meaning of his actions.
Kane turned and savagely gestured them into silence. Then he calmly kicked the door open. The lock made a sound like a wet stick snapping. Still following the pipes, he walked into a high-ceilinged chamber, or series of chambers adjoined by partitions. Ahead of him he saw a cylindrical filter tank about twenty feet high. Its white surface glistened with moisture, beaded with condensation. Four of the pipes fed directly into steel-collared sockets at its base, and the other four bent away at a ninety-degree angle. He sidled silently around the curving wall of the tank.
Kane heard the familiar voice again. The musical, fluted tones were unmistakable. Slowly he eased his head around the cylinder for a view. He saw three men in gray bodysuits, and he recognized them from the night of his initiation into the Trust. The small man with the beginnings of a paunch was named Guende. The balding Asian was Ojaka. The tall one with the weather-beaten face and gray crew cut was Abrams. They were members of Baron Cobalt’s inner circle.
They stood in a semicircle around a man whose excessively slender figure was draped in a golden robe. He wore a tall, crested headdress that exaggerated the elongated contours of his skull. His pale golden skin was stretched tight over facial bones that seemed all brow, cheeks and chin. The eyes were large, slanted and a yellowish brown in color.
Baron Cobalt faced a man that could have been his exact duplicate except for his bright blue eyes and shorter stature. He wore a tight-fitting silvery gray bodysuit that seemed of a metallic weave. Kane spotted the plastic tubular holster strapped to his upper thigh. Both men moved with a swaying motion, like reeds before a breeze. The movements were very precise, very ritualistic, and Kane knew it was a form of ceremonial greeting.
The man was saying in a high, lilting voice, “I regret not locating the document in question, Lord Baron, but I was interrupted by an intruder.”
“An intruder?” Suspicion colored the baron’s voice.
“Yes. Though I caught only a glimpse, I believe he was in the attire of one of your Magistrates.”
The baron’s swaying motion paused, then began again. “I was not informed of this by my subordinates. Abrams, what do you know of this?”
Abrams answered brusquely, “Nothing, Lord Baron. Salvo is the officer in charge, though at last report, he is still incapacitated.”
Baron Cobalt brought a narrow hand to his chin. “When we return to the ville, I want him brought before me. On a stretcher if necessary.”
One more of their group bustled into view, wearing a suit of baggy coveralls. When it spoke, the voice possessed a definite feminine timbre. “We are behind schedule, Lord Baron. Your bath loses its potency.”
“Matters of my office must be addressed.”
“Not here.” The female swayed to and fro in agitation. “The Directorate is very exact on these matters. Nine days to bathe nine barons. The schedule cannot be adjusted for one without adjusting it for all.”
Baron Cobalt’s reply was polite, and cold. “I regret the delay. However, inasmuch as I serve the Directorate and you serve me, not only am I aware of my responsibilities, but you are dangerously close to exceeding yours.”
The female fell silent and stepped back. Baron Cobalt and his staff followed her out of the range of Kane’s vision.
Brigid tapped his shoulder from behind. “What’s going on?”
“Get back to the gateway,” he whispered. He leaned forward.
Her hand landed on his arm, but Kane shook free and turned to face her. “Damn it, I said get back to the gateway!”
“No,” she whispered fiercely. “The way you’re acting, you’re going to get us all chilled.”
“Not if you and Grant do as I say.”
“We came here together,” Grant whispered. “We leave the same way.”
There was no time and no point in arguing. “The baron is here. Lakesh probably knew he would be, and he probably knew we’d encounter him. Or he hoped we would.”