1 S'Ha Hazur rose wearily to his feet, leaning heavily on his stick, a sinking feeling in his stomach, as the doctor slowly approached him down the corridor. He walked forward to meet the medic with a heavy heart, knowing what he was going to say. As they met, the doctor looked into his eyes. "I am sorry," he said, shaking his head, "we tried everything, but your wife and son both died during child birth. The effort was too much for both of them." He put out a comforting hand onto S'Ha Hazur's shoulder. Fright of the unknown filled his eyes. "I fear we shall all be joining them soon unless a miracle occurs." S'Ha Hazur nodded sombrely and turned and walked out into the courtyard. He looked up into the leaden sky and cursed his creator, the once all powerful, but now deceased matterist, Dvarv, long and loudly. 2 "Are you certain?" The Eternal Wonderer questioned the chief scientist once again. "Yes, lord," the scientist confirmed, rubbing his eyes. "We have re-run the data three times now. Each time, the check takes longer as this premature ageing process gathers momentum, but there can be no doubt. The process is finite." "At least not all the Galaxy is to be laid to waste then," The Eternal Wonderer commented. "The process that creates billions of living beings by sucking in the power of the stars themselves will not carry on until the Galaxy is a black and empty shell." "But it was all in vain," the scientist continued, "for the life force endowed in us is weak and will not sustain us for much longer. Many perish already." "Why couldn't Dvarv leave things as they were!" the Wonderer cursed. "His attempts to recolonise the Galaxy will merely result in massive destruction!" The scientist stood by silently, nodding in agreement. 3 S'Ha Hazur felt a hand touch his arm as he stood in silent contemplation. He turned to see the Eternal Wonderer by his side. "I came to offer my respects," the Wonderer explained. "I know that Alta'Car was more than just your partner. Dvarv had created you both to be one." S'Ha Hazur nodded. "I don't know how I can go on without her, lord," he confirmed. "The emptiness inside me is almost absolute. The only thing that remains is a hatred for Dvarv and this vicious trick that has been played on me. Why should I survive when Alta'Car, and so many others created after me, have perished." "Although my matterist powers are limited now," the Wonderer continued, "I would re-create Alta'Car for you, but I know however skilful my efforts might be, she would be just an image for all that." S'Ha Hazur inclined his head. "I am grateful for your kindness, lord. Yet the words you speak are true, the light has been snuffed out and its brightness can never be recreated." The Eternal Wonderer looked distraught. "I am now the greatest matterist who survives, yet I am powerless to stop this holocaust that is sweeping through the beings that Dvarv created." Anger clouded his face. "We both have much to hate Dvarv for. A pity that my colleague Jocure destroyed him at the cost of his own life. I wish he was here now. For all his power, I would still try to seek revenge for this disaster he has instigated." The two beings joined together in quiet contemplation. 4 Summoned to the Communications Centre, the Eternal Wonderer approached the Team Leader. "What is so urgent and secret that you want me here in person?" he demanded. The Team Leader looked anxiously from the Wonderer to the screen. "The Sk'An Urz," he breathed, "they are here!" The Wonderer was momentarily taken aback. For all his power and his travels, he had never encountered these almost mythical beings. A hundred billion of them encircled the rim of the Universe itself. They existed for one reason and one reason only - to protect the Universe from the entity, Kor'De Way-Nah, the Brightness, a creation that existed outside of the Universe and was reputed to be more powerful than the Universe itself. "Why should they come here?" the Wonderer breathed. "I do not know," the Team Leader confessed, "but they wish to communicate with our leader." "Very well," the Wonderer confirmed. The Team Leader activated the communication channel. An innumerable number of voices spoke concurrently into the Wonderer's head; more than he could individually discern. "Here in this region of space ........ a disruption........ a flaw ............. being engineered .......... expanded ........... to contact the Brightness .............. must be stopped ................ here, but not here .............. not in the known dimensions .................... The Partek Soul Diviner .................. he is with us .................. a new dimension ................ he will find it ................ we are linked to you now .................... we will contact you again .................. death to the Brightness and all its allies ............. victory to the Universe." The contact was broken. "They have vanished from our sensors," the Team Leader confirmed. "Expect another visit," the Wonderer confirmed, "though in what manner they may arrive, I do not know. We are on the periphery of forces so great that even my Eternal Wonder at the height of its powers was as nothing to them!" 5 It was the next day that the Eternal Wonderer received news of an unknown ship arriving at the base. The Wonderer strode forward to meet the occupant, whom he assumed would be the Partek Soul Diviner. He had heard much of this strange creature and it was with a little trepidation that he waited for the being to emerge from the ship. However, his shock was even greater, when a human in a uniform emerged from the craft and marched forward to the Wonderer, saluting smartly. "Commander Levi Starblaster," the Matterist gasped, "but surely you perished a thousand years ago at the end of the robotic war!" "No, sir," Starblaster corrected, "though many believed that was my fate. Once victory over the machines of death was secured, I left this Galaxy for pastures new. I could not stay here, haunted by the ghosts of fifty two billion soldiers who perished under my command in that terrible conflict." "A conflict that could have been averted," the Wonderer reminded him angrily. "The Mechanika were prepared to compromise, yet you would have none of it, it was victory or death for you!" Starblaster's face drained of blood, his voice reduced to a whisper. "I never believed they would use their ultimate weapon of the robot horde against us; it was illogical, if they did-" "The whole Galaxy would be laid to waste - as it was." "They were more human that I'd expected," Starblaster admitted. "So why have you come back now?" the Wonderer demanded. "At the end of the war, there were rumours that the leaders of the Mechanika had survived. I scoured the Galaxy for them, but in the end, I had to conclude that it was indeed a rumour and nothing more." His face hardened. "But new information has reached me. Have you heard of the being known as the Partek Soul Diviner?" "Yes," the Wonderer confirmed, "but what is your connection?" "He seeks an entity that exists elsewhere, within this Galaxy, yet outside of it. In a dimension it has created itself, a new dimension, between those that had previously existed. This being plans great evil, for he summons the powers of Kor'De Way-Nah to assist him. The Sk'An Urz believe the very existence of the Universe is threatened unless this creature is stopped." "But what is your connection with such mighty forces?" the Wonderer queried. "I follow the Partek Soul Diviner, for where he goes, great adventures and battles can be found." His fists clenched in rage. "He has revealed that the key to entry into this new dimension lies with the planet, Two Dimensions At Once and the paradox that surrounds it." His voice was torn with anger and bitterness. "Within the paradox hides the leaders of the Mechanika! No wonder I could not find them in our reality, they skulk beyond." His face was white with rage. "I must reach them and finish the war. I cannot rest knowing they survive!" "So why have you come here?" The Wonderer asked. "Only your Ship Of Wonder can penetrate the paradox." An imploring look crossed his face. "I need your ship so I can finish this matter and the fifty two billion lost souls can finally rest in peace!" The Wonderer looked pensive for a moment. "Very well," he decided. "I will amend the controls for your use." Starblaster hugged the Wonderer fervently. 6 The Ship Of Wonder emerged back into the space-time continuum near the planet Two Dimensions At Once. Starblaster regarded the orb through his viewer. From here, it looked like just another ordinary planet. He checked all weapons systems were on full alert as he turned the craft towards the sphere. "Victory or death," he cursed. As he got nearer, the controls went haywire, any normal ship would have been sent spiralling away from the resistance that existed around this planet, but the Ship Of Wonder was no ordinary ship and it ploughed forward, constantly slowing as the resistance built up against it. Suddenly the resistance vanished, but Starblaster felt himself being ripped into two and being dissipated in tiny fragments. 7 ".....the planet you know as Two Dimensions At Once............ the Partek Soul Diviner has identified it ..........." the voices of the Sk'An Urz breathed into the Wonderer's brain. "I know this," the Wonderer confirmed, "Zion Starblaster gave me this information yesterday after he gleaned it from the Diviner." A new voice, a silvery probing voice slid into the Wonderer's mind. "I am the Diviner," it announced. "I know no Starblaster and I only discovered this source a few of your minutes ago." The Wonderer gaped in disbelief. "But how?" he breathed. There was a silence for a few moments, then the Diviner spoke again. "Ask the one named S'Ha Hazur. He holds the key." The connection was broken. The Wonderer located S'Ha Hazur and transported him in front of him. S'Ha Hazur was clutching his head and had a frightened look on his face, yet this was nothing to do with his unexpected arrival in the Wonderer's quarters. He looked at the matterist in disbelief. "Lord," he exclaimed, "Dvarv, the greatest matterist in the Galaxy and the engineer of all our current woes was not destroyed. He lives." He looked bewildered. "I do not know how or why I know this, lord, yet I do. He is in a dimension he has created himself, where no other can reach him." "Dvarv," The Wonderer cursed, "then it is he who summons the Brightness and threatens the existence of the Universe itself!" 8 The air of the mirror garden was laden with the sweet perfume of the alpha trees. Overhead, a complex of eighteen suns played tag in the pastel sky, weaving in and out, around each other. Jacob lazily shifted his huge bulk, and the swinging chair in which he sat, suspended from the branches, wobbled slightly, threatening to disgorge him into the writhing tentacles of the pygmy bushes. Ripples of fat played around Jacob's jowls as he regarded the foliage beneath him. He smiled slightly and pressed a button set into the side of his chair. Thus summoned, one of the feathered gardeners came tripping gracefully down the wooded pathway, from his toil at the fountain of dreams. It stood silently for a moment, beside the now motionless bushes, looking up at Jacob, it's face a picture of childlike innocence. Then, with the speed of light, it drew a huge, snub-nosed pistol from inside the folds of it's billowing shirt. From the barrel poured a stream of golden flame that seared a path through the air just above Jacob's head, and exploded into a rainbow hued fireball. The feathered gardener nodded gravely at Jacob. "A great invisible sloth worm?" the fat man asked. "Yes," confirmed the gardener. "I feel that it may have been looking for an afternoon snack." Jacob nodded. "Yes, such as me. But, then, that is the price that I must pay for my sanctuary here, in the mirrored garden." The other regarded him in silence for a moment. "Things have not improved outside, then?" it asked at last. "I don't know." "Don't know?" "No.'' The feathered gardener stooped to pluck a sickly looking clump of moss. "Will you go?" "I don't know. I should do." "But you are safe here." "For the moment, yes. But one day others will learn the secret of entry from the sloth worms, and then..." The fat man paused in mid sentence, and looked down at the reassuring innocence of the gardener's face. "You ARE safe here," it assured him, and somehow it's tone quietened the turmoil in Jacob's brain. "Thank you," he said, with deep feeling. The gardener smiled, turned, and tripped back down the wooded pathway, towards the fountain of dreams. Jacob continued to swing slowly for a few minutes after the gardener had disappeared amongst the trees, then, with a purposeful glint in his eyes he lowered his chair to the ground, carefully avoiding the pygmy bushes, and stood up, with no little effort. He waddled down the path, unseen by any of the toiling gardeners. He gazed at them as they worked in the vari-coloured light of the garden, but none looked up as he went on his way. At length he arrived at his goal, the cave of crystal. As he approached the doors swung open, tinkling. He waddled inside and sat down heavily in a chair. After a while he recovered his breath. He turned in his seat and gazed at the robot that stood silently in one corner of the cavern. There was an almost imperceptible shimmering in the air. "We are leaving," he announced suddenly. The robot stared at him with a crystal lensed eye. "As you say, master," it said impassively. All the fury and hopelessness in Jacob suddenly welled over. He turned on the robot, his face a mask of anger. "Curse you," he shrieked. "Why do you always have to agree with everything I say? Why don't you beg me not to go, tell me that we're safe here? Why don't you argue with me, and tell me how mad I am? "I agree, and obey," the robot said dispassionately. "That is how I was built." The fury left Jacob as abruptly as it had come, and his huge frame sagged. "Yes," he replied lamely, "I know." The robot continued to gaze at him. "You know," it said, after a while, "you really do want to go, don't you? You want to know what happened to Michelle." "Michelle," Jacob breathed. "Yes, Michelle. Things were all right here until Michelle showed up. We let her in. We sheltered her." The robot slightly shifted position. "You had no choice," it said. "If you had not given her sanctuary she would have fallen prey to the worms. They had not pursued her here for nothing. They had a powerful reason for wanting her destruction. You know that." "Yes, and we shall probably never know what that reason was now. Even if we did, I doubt that we could understand the motives of such creatures. But it was not so much that, I was in love with her. My emotions clouded my judgement, or I should never have let her go in search of the City of Ice. She told me that there were still humans living there, you know." "She wanted to go," the robot reminded Jacob gently. "Yes, but I could have stopped her. I SHOULD have stopped her. Oh, what a fool I was, all for Michelle. And then, when the sloth worms learnt how to penetrate our sanctuary, she deserted me. Left me alone." "She had to leave, or the worms would have destroyed her." Jacob shook his head slowly. "You would say that," he muttered. "You always agree with everything humans do." "I obey and agree, master," the robot said. Jacob staggered to his feet. "We must leave immediately," he decided. "Before I change my mind." He shook his head. "I don't know why I should go now," he added almost helplessly. "As you say Master. Are we going in search of the City of Ice?" "Yes." "You think that that is where Michelle went?" Jacob scowled. "Your job," he told the robot, "is to obey and agree - not to ask questions." He regarded the robot severely. "I sometimes think I preferred the solitude I had before you arrived." "Yes Master," it confirmed. While the fat man pondered over a rough map that Michelle had prepared, and on which was a cross purporting to represent the true position of the City of Ice, the robot scuttled hastily around the crystal cavern, collecting necessities for the journey. "We will proceed on foot, for the first few miles," Jacob informed it. "That should get us to the ruined city of Erst. Somewhere there we should find some form of transport to take us north. Is that reasoning correct?" "It is as you say, master," the robot confirmed. "Is everything ready?" "I have packed all that is necessary, master." The robot handed Jacob a squat metal cylinder. "Here is your blaster," it said. "I feel that you may need it." Jacob stuffed the gun into his belt and waddled across to the entrance. The robot shuffled into line behind him. Once outside the cave, Jacob paused for an instant, then turned and stared back at it ruefully. This period of contemplation lasted only a second or two, then shaking his head sadly, causing his chubby double chin to wobble, he turned and strode down the path. Jacob had been walking for only two or three minutes when he came across one of the feathered gardeners, working by the fountain of dreams. "You are going?" enquired the gardener. "Yes," Jacob nodded. The gardener held out his hand in a remarkably human-like gesture of farewell. "Goodbye," it said. Jacob bent down to shake the tiny being's hand. As he did so, the light, reflected from the coloured fountain, seemed to form the hazy outlines of a face. Jacob gasped - it was Michelle! Her long blond hair hung like silk across her shoulders. In that visage were reproduced to perfection her soft brown eyes, her small, ever smiling mouth. There was a faint smile playing about the feathered gardener's face as he turned and left Jacob to his dreams. "He does not understand," the robot said, as if he was trying to apologise for the gardener, but the fat man did not answer. After a timeless interval spent watching the flashing spray, he straightened slowly and continued his march without a word to the robot. It followed his path in blind obedience. A few minutes later the pair arrived at the huge wall that surrounded the garden, stretching far into the sky. "Well," Jacob said needlessly, "here we are." "Yes, Master," the robot agreed, more out of habit than of any conviction that it's opinion was required. Jacob was about to step through the wall of time when the robot grasped his arm. "Look, master," it hissed, pointing with a long metal hand at the shimmering wall. Jacob peered. "I can't see a thing," he admitted. "One of the great worms is oozing through the wall of time, master." "How much of it is through?" "I cannot tell. As you know, the things are only just within the limits of my vision. This one looks rather like a vague shadow, and it moves so slowly that the extent of it's progress is somewhat difficult to gauge." Jacob wasted no time in consideration of the issues involved. "Fire!" he ordered. Scarlet flame billowed from the tips of the robot's fingers. "It is destroyed, master," the robot announced. "Or, at least, that portion of it which had succeeded in oozing through the wall." Jacob peered at the wall of time. "You have caused the wall no damage, I hope," he muttered nervously. "I don't think so, master." "Good," the fat man breathed. "Now attach your gadget that enables you to pass through the wall and we will proceed. We have no time to waste." The robot complied with his master's instructions and the two of them stepped into the wall. To Jacob it felt as though he was falling, though he knew that this sensation was pure illusion. Nevertheless, it persisted for what seemed to him a very long time, before suddenly, there was a violent wrenching which jarred every muscle in his body and they were standing outside the garden. The surrounding landscape brought Jacob back to reality with a hideous shock. Here was stark reality, so different from the beautiful garden they had just left. He took it all in slowly: the bleak, dead dirt beneath his feet, the stale, rank air, the dirty grey clouds overhead. For a moment he could have wept. 9 Orange 34 was very silent as he sat on the top of the hill that overlooked the town of Iron. Blue 453f looked at him as she lay by his side. His face showed signs of worry, something alien to their race. He had always been quiet, but now he had become even more withdrawn and would not even participate in the morning fun session. She had warned him of his folly, but he would not listen. "You are very quiet," she observed. He turned his head slowly, and looked down at her. "I was thinking," he replied. "What were you thinking about?" she asked. "You know there is no need for thought. Everything is worked out for us. It has always been this way, since the years of the long night." "That's just it," he answered, "everything is so perfect. There is no sickness, no food shortage, no-one dies, no one is deformed or maimed. There are never any holocausts or wars. No-one does anything other than what they are told to do. Above all, no-one dares to ask the reason for it, or why we should allow half of our planet to be given over to these Gods who brought us this salvation. Gods we have never seen." Blue 453f closed her receivers in horror. "You must not speak such blasphemy," she replied. "They must be Gods, for it was they who saved us from the years of the long night and turned our world into a paradise." "Bah," cursed Orange 34. "I'm sick and tired of being told what to do. I want it to be back to how it was before the year of the long night." "How can you say that when no-one remembers what it was like," she countered. "It must have been terrible." "But if none of us remember," he continued, "how do you know that what we have now is better." "Because the Gods told us. They painted their story of salvation on the sky." "Now we're back to the Gods again, I'm fed up with them." "Be silent," she ordered, "or the Gods will hear you and they will punish you." A silence fell for a few seconds, then Blue 453f got to her feet. "It is time for us to return to the city of Iron," she stated. "Our shift starts soon." "Our shift'" sneered Orange 34. "Why should we work, it is all so pointless." "No!" Blue 453f retorted. "Do we not make huge buildings that are shipped to the city of Steel to house the people there?" "No," he replied, "that's just it. The buildings are shipped to the city of Steel, but they go into their factories and they break them up and melt them down. They send them back to us as new raw material to build more houses. It is all a plan of the Gods to stop us thinking. The city of Steel has only had three new houses erected in the last ten years." "I can't believe that," she said. "Go and see for yourself," he retorted angrily. "But I can't," she argued. "It is against the will of the Gods that I should leave the city of Iron." "So you will believe the word of the Gods in preference to mine?" he asked. "Yes," she replied without hesitation, "naturally." "It is no use trying to make you see," he said. "You're just like all the others. You get up in the morning, go to the centre for your nourishment capsule. Attend the morning fun session, then go and work your shift in the factory. You attend the afternoon fun session, then work another shift in the factory. Finally, you go home and take a pill that puts you into a deep sleep until you wake up the next morning and do it all over again. You do this without question. You have no choice. You are imprisoned in the city day and night. Every year of your immortal life." "But you contradict yourself," she argued. "Did you not get permission for us to leave the city for the duration of the afternoon fun session?" He did not reply. "Well," she asked again, "didn't you?" He still remained silent. A note of fear crept into her voice. "You didn't deceive me, did you?" she asked. "Alright if you must know," he shouted, "yes. I thought I might be able to make you see reason. I was wrong." She looked at him in a horrified manner. "You have made me miss a fun session. I must report you at once." "Fool!" he snapped at her. "Go on then, see what good it does you!" "You need attention," she said, "you will go down in history as the first man to lose his mind. You must be dealt with." 10 Suddenly Jacob's robot hissed a warning: "All around us, master, the great invisible sloth worms. They are in a huge circle, all around the wall. We cannot penetrate their ranks. We must go back." "We cannot re-enter for at least an hour, it takes that long for the charge in our gadgets to build up. How near are they?" "Only about a hundred meters away. They will reach us in about forty five minutes." "We must try and make a break for it. How many are there?" "They are in ranks five deep. We would never get through." "Then we are doomed before we start," Jacob breathed. The robot whirred. "At least it would seem that Michelle escaped from the area undetected," it surmised. "Or else so many worms would not be intent on penetrating the wall. It seems as though the whole nation of them are gathered in this spot." Jacob shook his head. "It may be that they have destroyed her, and have now come back for more," he said. "You cannot attempt to understand the workings of minds such as theirs." "They are beginning to move in," the robot observed. "Then we are doomed." "How about blasting our way out?" "the robot suggested. "I fear that, from what you've said that there would appear to be more worms than we have charges in our guns. Is that not so?" The robot managed to look woeful in some mechanical way. "Yes master," it agreed. "In future I will not suggest, but merely see and obey." "No, you won't," Jacob countered. "That's the first decent suggestion you've made since you arrived. If we survive, I wish you to continue along independent lines of reasoning." They stood motionless for a moment, the robot following the progress of the worms. "Master," it said, after a while, "I do not think that the worms are moving towards us after all. They seem to be converging on another section of the wall." "Eh? I thought that they could only ooze through one at a time. I wonder what is the point of their converging?" The robot pondered his question for a moment before suddenly pointing in the direction of the worms' travel. "Master, there is a flaw in that part of the time wall," it stated. Comprehension dawned on Jacob. "You must've weakened the structure of the wall when you fired at that worm that was oozing through," he said. Still, it's a relief that they're not coming towards us." The robot nodded, an oddly human gesture for a creature of metal. "Yes, it would appear that we are not of the slightest interest to them." "Is there a chance that we may be able to break through their ranks a little later on?" "Yes. If we start walking around the wall, heading away from the flaw, there ought to be a break about a quarter of the way around." The two began to edge around the wall of time, cautiously at first, but with more assurance after the robot stated that the worms were taking no notice of them. They strode on for about ten minutes. As they walked, Jacob stared out across the sterile, featureless landscape that surrounded them. He saw nothing save the dead soil, a shade of dusty grey, the colour of the thick cloudbanks that hung above them, obscuring the Sun. It looked as though some strange being had stolen the very colours from the Earth, so drab was the spectacle before him. He paused in his tracks, shocked by the enormity of it all. He looked at the robot. "Where did we go wrong?" he asked. "It was the living beings who went wrong," the robot said. "We robots... I..." It's voice trailed off and it emitted a string of garbled syllables. Then it regained control. "My apologies, master," it said calmly, "for my criticism of the living beings. I agree and obey." "Don't apologise for the truth," Jacob said wearily. "My race along with many others paid for it's foolishness and impetuousness. It paid dearly enough, however, that we may know better next time." The robot touched Jacob's shoulder lightly. "The worms have broken their circle," it announced. "They are now all heading for what seems to be a very well defined fault in the wall of time." "My God," muttered Jacob. "What will they do if they flood into the mirror garden? What will become of the feathered gardeners?" "I regret," answered the robot, "that there is nothing that we can do. The worms would be inside before we could re-enter." "Then we must make a break for it," decided Jacob. "Even with my prodigious bulk I can still outrun these sloth worms." A few minutes later the robot announced that a gap now existed in the worm's ranks large enough for them to slip through. Jacob moved forward uncertainly, constantly reassured by the metallic figure that followed him, guarding their rear. Now and again the robot turned and looked back at the wall of time. Suddenly it spoke: "Look, master-" Jacob turned and peered behind him. "I see nothing," he remarked. "You will see it in a moment," the robot assured him. Jacob gazed back across the grim landscape. Suddenly he gasped. The wall of time was bulging outwards, as if forced to do so by some unbearable internal pressure. It suddenly split and burst asunder. From inside poured what looked like a vast ball of quicksilver. It grew vaster by the second, as the material of the wall seemed to crumble and collapse. The silver ball began to pulsate, shooting out rays of coloured light as it did so, beams of frightening intensity that seared the eyeballs. Suddenly there was a brilliant explosion of colour that blinded Jacob. He lurched sideways, staggered by it's violence, and struck the ground, hitting his head as he fell. When he came to, it was to find the robot bent anxiously over him. "What happened?" he mumbled predictably. "It would appear," the robot explained, "that the wall of time, fractured by the blast from my gun, and further weakened by the assault of the worms, finally collapsed. Thus released, the mirror garden broke forth from it's own dimension into this one. As two dimensions are unable to exist within the same physical space-time continuum the two cancelled each other out in a rather startling explosion of colour." "Colour?" "Yes. It would appear that there was relatively little energy release in the shorter wavelengths. What there was however served to kill the remaining worms. However, most of the energy was released in the form of light: coloured light. Look, the garden is still radiating. See, all around you." Jacob staggered to his feet and gazed about himself. The clouds above, he saw, had now become tinged with a delicate pink, and the ground was no longer a dusty grey shade, but sparkled like a rainbow. He himself was clothed in shimmering light. "How?" he gasped. "Who knows master," the robot replied uncertainly. "However, perhaps Michelle was not the prey of the sloth worms at all. Perhaps they wanted what was still inside." "Then... if they were not pursuing Michelle, there is a much greater chance that she may still be alive." "Yes, indeed." "Then let us press on towards the city of Ice. One thing puzzles me, though. . If she was not fleeing from the worms, why did Michelle come to the garden in the first place?" "I cannot say, master. Maybe we will find the answer to that question at the city." "Possibly." They resumed their trek. 11 Jacob and his mechanical ally pressed on for several hours making only slow progress across the now garishly lit landscape. At last Jacob pointed at a far blur on the horizon. "That must be Erst," he guessed. The robot switched on magnifying lenses in it's eyes. "It looks dead, master," it announced. "Can you see any intact buildings there?" Jacob demanded. The robot was noncommittal. "There may be a few on the far side of the city, but there's not much left of what I can see. It looks as though the near side caught the worst of the blast that wiped out Erst." Jacob rubbed his chin. "A pity," he stated. "If we are unable to find the City of Ice, we may have to make our home in Erst." "There is also the problem of supplies," the robot added. "Although I took everything that I could carry, it won't last forever." Jacob began to walk in the direction of the city. "Then let us hope that we can unearth something there," he said. The robot agreed, striding along behind the fat man. They soon arrived at the outskirts of Erst. Jacob stopped to stare at a crumbled structure, but there was so little left of it that he could not decide what it had been. To make things worse, the riot of coloured light from the remains of the mirror garden continued to pour over the horizon, distorting vision with it's brilliance. "Let us hope this building wasn't the food factory," Jacob muttered. They walked on through the rubble of the silent metropolis. The crumbling remains sparkled red and blue, looking more like something out of a surrealist picture than a once mighty centre of civilisation. The robot pointed suddenly. "Over there, master," it stated. An intact building!" Jacob waddled along faster, and reached the building gasping for breath. "The door is ajar," he observed, "so let us enter." They passed through the rotting door into a dark, musty chamber. The room's only illumination was a faint glimmer of light that seeped through the grime encrusted window. The robot switched on a light that was set into it's forehead. Jacob gazed around the room swiftly, shuddering as he saw the two skeletons that were the room's only occupants, huddled up in a corner. That was all that was in the room, save for a few sticks of battered furniture. Jacob turned, an expression of vague distaste on his features. "Just an ordinary house," he said. "Not much good to us, except, of course, for shelter if we need it. Anyway, those skeletons make me somewhat uneasy." The robot stared up and down the street in which they stood. "I wonder why there are no skeletons or debris of some sort in this section of the city?" it said. Jacob glanced around. The street was remarkable rubble free, now he came to think about it. "Perhaps hard radiation has eaten them away in some fashion," he guessed wildly. The robot shook it's head. "I do not think so, master," it replied. "My instruments show that only a small amount of radiation was discharged in this area." "Then what has caused all this?" Jacob wondered, taking in all the emptiness and desolation with a wide sweep of his arm. "It is not for me to suggest, master," replied the robot. "Perhaps it was some alien force,'' surmised Jacob. "Like the feathered gardeners." The robot nodded doubtfully. "It is possible," it conceded. "But my instruments suggest to me that who or whatever is responsible for this desolation may be still in the vicinity of the city." "People? Is there a possibility that some humans remain?" "If you want my opinion," the robot said, "I think that some alien force must be responsible. I don't think that humans could achieve quite this effect." Jacob considered this. "We would do well to proceed with caution then," he decided. "For we know not what evil lurks ahead." The robot swivelled gradually around, scanning their immediate surroundings. "I think that the answer may lie very near," it said. "Look at that huge pile of rubble over there, behind the ruined Town Hall." "Let's go and see what it is," the fat man suggested. The robot agreed and they moved cautiously towards their objective, always looking behind from time to time lest some form of treachery should be attempted. Finally they stood before the mound of debris. Jacob heard a rustling sound from behind the jumbled heap, and he stepped to one side to find the cause. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Before him was a huge, wildly pulsating, amoeba-like creature. It seemed to be twenty feet in diameter and rubble stuck to it's slime-covered bulk. Jacob turned to the robot, aghast. "What is it?" he breathed. "It is beyond my experience, master," the robot replied slowly. A voice boomed out inside Jacob's head. "I will answer that question," it said. "For while you have been within range of my thirty seven senses I have been studying you, and I think that I now have a fair grasp of your language and your psychology. I am aware of the many questions that you wish to put to me and so I will tell you my story, and try, in doing so, to answer your queries." Jacob turned uneasily to the robot, but the mental voice roared out in his brain again before he could say anything. "Do not be afraid," it boomed. "I mean you no harm. In fact, in my own way, I am as afraid of you as you are of me. Perhaps even more so, for I am a peaceful creature, while your kind have a long history of destruction and violence, deceit and hatred. My race are the wanderers of the Universe. Ours is the joy of unending flight through the eternal blackness that you call space. To us it is a real and magnificent medium, alive with the myriad rays and particles that shape our environment. We take many forms, and we yearn sometimes for a world on which to make our home and live out our remaining years in peace and solitude. I heard that the population of this planet had been destroyed in a giant conflict, so I came here with some others of my race. Our intention was to build ourselves a new existence." "You say there are others like you?" Jacob interrupted. "How many?" "I am not certain, for many have succumbed since landing from the radiation and bacteria that still exist here and there. I came down near this city, out of control, and my shell was destroyed. So I gathered together rubble and debris with which to fashion another shell for myself. As I have no means of uprooting fixed objects, I was able to use only the loose rubbish and masonry that abounded in these dead streets." "Ah," exclaimed Jacob. "At least that explains the lack of rubble. But tell me - what do you eat for food? Did you bring a supply with you? Or do you convert sunlight energy in some way, or utilise this rubble?" "No. It is far simpler than that; I eat myself." "You eat yourself?" "Yes. I consume the right part body, while the left side increases and maintains my size at its former level." "I don't believe it!" Jacob gasped incredulously. "It is not quite as gruesome it sounds," the amoeba explained. "You see, my body is not one organism, but a host of single celled entities, sharing a common intelligence. When these tiny bodies are born, on my left side, they commence a microscopic migration towards the right of my body, arriving just in time to die. The living remainder of my organisms then consume their bodies." "I see," muttered Jacob, looking uncertainly towards the robot. "A sort of biological perpetual motion machine." There followed a short silence. "No doubt," said the creature, "you and your robot are concerned what to do about me." "We will be content to leave in peace, as long as you do not interfere with us," Jacob replied. "That is the decision of your robot also?" the amoeba asked. "I agree and obey at all times and in all ways," the robot responded. "As indeed, all robots do." "Maybe so," the creature agreed. "But I have seen it otherwise." "Oh?" said Jacob. "Yes, indeed. I have come across worlds in my travels, worlds where the robots had taken over. There they were the masters." The robot shifted uneasily. "I do not see how that is possible," it said at last. "It is the function of a robot to agree and obey, at all times, and under all circumstances." "Possibly so, in the stage of civilisation that you have reached, but I have known worlds, where, as the race progressed, they strove to create more and more nearly human replicas of themselves. The robots became more and more like their masters, shared the same desires, and suffered the same delusions. When they realised that with their non organic bodies and mechanically motivated minds, they were more than a match for their human masters, they rose up and seized power." "I will always obey my master at all times," the robot asserted. "Enough of this talk," Jacob commanded, sensing that the robot's delicate brain might be unhinged by the things that the creature was saying. He turned back to the being. "We would like to stay and hear more of your travels," he assured it, "but time is short and we are searching for some form of transport to carry us to the city of Ice." "I can help you there," answered the amoeba. "Nearby is a building with an underground garage, which escaped the worst of the blast. Inside it is a vehicle such as you seek." "Did you see any intact cities, on your way down?" the fat man asked, on the off chance. "No," replied the alien. "But then I landed at night, in thick fog, and was more than somewhat preoccupied with my own predicament." "Well, thank you anyway," Jacob said. "Perhaps we will meet again some day." "Maybe," said the thing. "But have care. There are others on this world that are not as friendly as I am." Jacob turned and waddled towards the building that the creature had indicated, the robot close on his heels. The man blasted away a pile of rubble that blocked the entrance to the subterranean garage, and they made their way down a sloping ramp into the darkness below. Jacob turned to the robot. "Can you see anything dangerous?" he enquired. "No," the answer came. "As far as I can make out, this place has been deserted for a long time. But look, there is a truck standing in the far corner." They walked over to the stationary vehicle and examined it. "It seems to be in good running order," Jacob averred. "The atomic battery has not yet run down. We should be able to make it to the City of Ice O.K., assuming that it exists, that is." "And what if it does not exist, master?" "Then we must return here." The robot nodded and placed their supplies in the back of the truck. By the time it had done this, Jacob had clambered up into the cab, and was sitting behind the steering wheel. He pressed the starter button, but nothing happened. "Oh, well," he said despondently. "I suppose it was too much to hope for." "Wait," said the robot. "My memory banks tell me that this type of engine needs time to warm up." Sure enough, after a brief pause the motor roared into action. Jacob manipulated the controls, and the truck nosed up the ramp, and out into the streets of Erst. Jacob picked up speed slowly, edging past crumbling buildings, until the robot requested him to stop near a particularly shaky looking one. As the man brought the truck to a halt, the robot jumped from the cab, and fired at the building with his blaster. It crumbled to the ground amid a cloud of dust. "There you are," said the robot, facing back in the direction from which they had come. "You may finish your shell now." "My thanks to you," came the telepathic reply. "I should thank YOU," the robot answered, then turned and clambered back into the cab. Jacob puzzled over this remark as he guided the vehicle for the open country beyond Erst, but he said nothing. 12 Orange 34 and Blue 453f returned to the city in an angry silence. They passed through the city gates and walked silently through the streets to their house. They paused outside the door. "I will report you as soon as we are inside," she whispered, so that no-one else in the street could hear. She opened the door and stepped inside. She stopped dead and he bumped into her. In the house were five men, dressed in a different coloured uniform to those of the ordinary people. She recognised them as the messengers of the Gods. She fell to the floor and covered her face, but Orange 34 remained standing. The leader of the group spoke in a loud severe voice. "Orange 34, you have been found guilty of missing fun sessions and not taking your sleep pills for a duration of five days. Blue 453f, you have been found guilty of missing a fun session. For these crimes against the Gods, you must both be destroyed." "Wait," said Orange 34, "you cannot destroy me." His voice sounded so sure, that the commander looked at him in puzzled manner. "Why?" he asked. "Because I am a God," came to the reply. "You're what!" breathed the Commander, in a voice hardly audible. "What blasphemy is this?" Blue 453f quivered on the floor. "If I am not a God," Orange 34 continued, now shouting at the top of his voice, "let the Gods destroy me for my blasphemy." There was no movement in the room for a whole minute, no-one even breathed, nothing happened. "You see," he shouted, "I am a God!" The Commanders men looked at each other in disbelief and then fell to their knees chanting praises. The Commander was not tricked. He turned to his fellow messengers. "Up," he ordered. "He is fooling you. He is no more a God than I am. If he is a God, then I am a God, and I am no God. Of course the Gods will not strike him, or me, down for such blasphemy, for they are kind and peaceful. He is trying to trick us for some evil reason of his own." The men cautiously got to their feet. As they did so, Orange 34 edged his way out of the door. In a flash he was out in the street. Luck was on his side. He was lost in the shift returning to the factory. |