GODS OF RIVERWORLD

"I suppose we could remove the navigational tapes," he said, "and that would keep the Snark from using the spacecraft. But I'm sure that they'll be recorded. All he'd have to do would be to have the Computer run off new ones."

"Why would he want to use a spaceship?"

"I don't know. But I'd like to throw a monkey wrench in his plans, upset him somehow."

"The bite of the mosquito."

"That, I'm afraid, is all it would be. However, a mosquito may kill a man if it gives him malaria."

He was not expressing pure bravado. He believed that there must be a weakness, a hole, however small, somewhere in the Snark's defenses.

They sped on their chairs to the centrally located shaft and dropped to the level just below the top one. They entered a circular area with a 150-foot diameter and 500-foot-high walls. Twelve square metal doors were set equidistantly in the walls. Each, according to the Computer diagrams, gave entrance to a triangular chamber, pie-slice-shaped, which was 5.4 miles long and 401 feet high. The tip of each was blunted somewhat, ending in the walls of the central circle.

When Burton had viewed the diagrams, he had meant to ask the Computer about the contents of the vast chambers. An urgent matter had interrupted him before he could do so, and he had forgotten to return to his question. Now, while here, he would see for himself what they held.

Each door bore on its center a gold symbol indicating the identity of the member of the Ethical Council of Twelve whose property was beyond the door. The symbol directly in front of Burton was two horizontal bars crossed by two longer vertical bars. This was Loga's symbol. It could, Burton thought, be called a doublecross.

Burton gave the codeword that identified him, and a glowing screen formed above the bars.

"I wish to enter the room behind this door," Burton said. "Do I need a codeword to open the door?"

The screen displayed: yes.

"What is the codeword needed to activate the door?" Burton said.

He had expected that the Computer would reply that that information was unavailable to him. It flashed, however, in Ethical characters: loga says.

"That, it is simple enough," de Marbot murmured.

Burton, hoping that the words were not keyed to Loga's voice-print, pronounced perfectly the Ethical phrase.

The door opened outward, revealing a small, bare well-lit room. At the farther wall was a staircase to a small platform. The two went up it, and Burton pushed in on the conventional oblong door. The area beyond was bright, the light having come on just as the door was opened. They stood blinking for a while before they grasped what they were seeing.

Though they must be standing next to the outcurving walls, they were under the illusion that the walls stretched for miles to right and left. The horizon seemed very far away.

The distance ahead of them was no illusion, however. This vast room was 5.4 miles long.

"It's a little world," de Marbot said softly.

"Not so little."

Most of it seemed to be a great well-kept park with many trees and clipped grass. Ahead, seemingly about two and a half miles away, was a sloping hill on top of which was a building gleaming in the noon sun. The villa was probably real; the sun was undoubtedly simulated.

"It looks rather Roman," Burton said. "I'd wager, though, that if we got close, we'd see a difference in the details."

Their chairs would have gone through the doors, but Burton decided not to explore. They returned to the central area and asked the Computer for the codeword to the chamber next to Loga's. This had been the property of Loga's wife and had the same kind of anteroom. But it opened to a vista that bewildered them. The entire Brobdingnagian area was a labyrinth of small and large mirrors in a complex arrangement that they could not figure out. Their images were caught by near mirrors and reflected inward for as far as they could see. The source of the light was not apparent; it seemed to come from everywhere. Far off, dimly seen, was a circle of pillars. These, too, were reflected, but the arrangement was such that they saw their own tiny figures standing inside the pillars.

"What is the purpose of this?" de Marbot said.

Burton shrugged and said, "We'll have to find out. Not just now, though."

The next chamber admitted them into what seemed to be an Arabian desert. Under a hot sun was an expanse of sand and rock, mostly a plain but with hills here and there. The air was much drier than that in the first two places. About three miles distant was what looked like a large oasis. Tall palm trees grew from grass, and the moving waters of a lake in the midst of the trees gleamed in the midmorning sunlight.

Near them were the skeletons of three animals. Burton picked up a skull and said, "Lion."

"C'est remarquable," de Marbot muttered, reverting in his wonder to his native tongue. Then, in English, "Three different worlds. Lilliputian, yes. Yet large enough for all practical purposes, though I do not know about the practicality."

"I'd venture that these are ... were ... retreats for the Council," Burton said. "Sort of, ah, vacation areas. Each made his world according to his wishes, his own temperamental inclinations, and retired here now and then for spiritual and, of course, physical satisfaction."

De Marbot wished to look into all of the vast rooms, but Burton said that they had plenty of time for that later. They should continue their patrol.

The Frenchman opened his mouth to say something. Burton said, "Yes, I know. But what I'd like to do is see all that we can as swiftly as we can. It's better than having the Computer show us everything while we're lolling about in our rooms. Besides, how do we know that the Computer is showing us everything? It can delete as the Snark wishes it to, and we can't be sure that it's not doing so. We have to make a be-there visit. We'll make a flying patrol, be birds, get an overall view of everything. Then we can take our time and get the details."

"You mistake me," de Marbot said. "I was merely going to comment on the state of my stomach. It is complaining of its emptiness."

They took their chairs through the tube in the center of the floor to the next level, went down a corridor to the nearest door, opened it, and walked inside. It was a suite unfurnished except for a converter against a wall. De Marbot selected for lunch escargots bourguigno

"Some day, I'll order a deliberately badly cooked meal just for the sake of variety," Burton said. "Don't you find all this exquisiteness, this perfection, tiring? Every meal is a gustatory triumph."

"Never!" de Marbot said. He rolled his eyes on seeing Burton's eclectic choice, buttermilk biscuits and squabs marinated in cream and a schooner of dark beer.

"Barbaric! And I thought that you did not like beer?"

"I do when I eat ham or squabs."

"De gustibus non disputandum. Whoever said that was an idiot."

A section of wall folded out to make a table, and they ate.

"Delicieux!" De Marbot cried, and he smacked his lips loudly.

Until three weeks ago, he had been whip-thin. Now his face was becoming moonlike, and a slight roll was entrenching itself around his waist.

"There is a glace de viande I must try," de Marbot said.

"Now?"

"No. I am no pig. Later. Tonight."