The Gates of Creation

"But we went through the right-hand gate," Rintrah said.

Vala laughed and said, "Our father has played us another grim jest. Both gates of a pair lead to the same cylinder. I suspect that they all will."

"He's not playing fair!" Ariston said. At this, Wolff and Luvah laughed, and presently the others, Ariston excepted, had joined him in his mirth.

When the howling-which had a note of despair in it-had died, Wolff said, "I may be wrong. But I think that every one of these thousands of cylinders in this-this birling world-has a set of gates. And if we continue the same behavior, we'll go through every one of them. Only we'll die before we get a fraction of the way. We must think of something new."

There was a silence. They sat or lay on the hard gray shiny metal while they whirled around, the cylinders above them rotated about each other in a soundless and intricate saraband, and the twin hex­agons at the end hovered and seemed to mock.

Finally, Vala said, "I do not think that we have been left without a way out. It would not be like our father to stop the game while we still have an atom of breath and of fight in us. He would want to drag out the agony until we broke. And I'm sure that he plans on allowing us eventually to find the gate that will conduct us into his stronghold. He must be pla

"So, I think that we have not been using our wits. Obviously, these gates lead only to other sets on other cylinders. That is, they do if we go through the regular way, through the side which is set with jewels. But what if the gates are bipolar? What if the other side would take us where we want to go?"

Wolff said, "I tested the other side when we first came through." "Yes, you tested the initial gate. But have you tested any of the double gates?"

Wolff shook his head and said, "Exhaustion and thirst are robbing me of my wits. I should have thought of that. After all, it's the only thing left to try."

"Then, let's up and at them," Vala said. "Summon your strength; this may be our exit from this cursed birling world."

Once more, they corraled the twin hexagons and seized them. Vala was the first to go through the side opposite the gem-set side. She disappeared, and Wolff followed her. On coming through and seeing another cylinder, he felt his spirits dissipate like wine in a vacuum. Then he saw the gate at the end and knew that they had taken the correct route.

There was only one golden hexagon. It, too, hovered a few inches above the surface. But it spun on its axis, around and around, com­pleting a cycle every second and a half.

The others came through and cursed when they realized that they were still on a birling. But when they saw the single rotating gate, some brightened up; others sagged at the thought of facing a new peril.

"Why does it whirl?" Ariston said weakly.

"I really can't say, brother," Vala said. "But, knowing Father, I would suspect that the gate has only one safe side. That is, if we choose the right side, we'll go through unharmed. But if we take the wrong side... You'll observe that neither side has jewels; both are bare. So there's no way of distinguishing one side from another."

"I am so weary I do not care," Ariston said. "I would welcome death. To sleep forever, free of this agony of body and mind, that is all I desire."

"If you really feel that way," Vala said, "then you should be the first to test the gate."

Wolff said nothing, but the others added their voices to Vala's urgings. Ariston did not seem so eager to die now; he objected, saying that he was not fool enough to sacrifice himself for them.

"You are not only a weakling but a coward, brother," Vala said. "Very well, I will be the first."

Stung, Ariston started towards the spi

Ariston arose without looking at the others or replying to their taunts. He walked up to the gate, bent his knees, and dived through. And he came out on the other side and fell on the gray surface. Wolff, the first to him, turned him over.

Ariston's mouth hung open; his eyes were glazing; his skin was turning gray.

Wolff stood up and said, "He went through the wrong side. Now we know what kind of gate this is."

"That bitch Vala has all the luck!" Tharmas said. "Did you notice which side she went through?"

Wolff shook his head. He studied the frame in the pink dusk. There were no markings of any kind on either side to distinguish one from the other. He spoke to Luvah, and they picked up Ariston's body by the feet and shoulders. They swung it back and forth until, at Wolff's shout, they released the corpse at the height of its forward swing. It shot through the frame and came out on the other side and fell on the surface.

Wolff and Luvah went to the other side and once more swung his body and then cast it through the frame. This time it did not reap­pear. Wolff said to Rintrah, "Are you counting?"

Rintrah nodded his head. Wolff said, "Lift your finger, and when the right side comes around, point it. Do it swiftly!"

Rintrah waited until two more turns had been made, then stabbed his finger. Wolff hurled himself through the frame, hoping that Rin­trah had not made a mistake. He landed on Ariston's body. There was the sound of sea and a red sky above. Vala was standing nearby and laughing softly as if she were actually enjoying their father's joke.

They were back on an island of the waterworld.

XIV

The other lords came through the gate one by one, rintrah last. They did not look as downcast as might have been expected. At least, they were on familiar grounds, almost home, one might say. And, as Theotormon did say, they could eat all they wanted.

The gate through which they had entered was the right one of an enormous pair. Both stood on a low hill. The immediate terrain looked familiar. After the Lords had gone to the shore to quench their thirst, they cooked and ate the fish that Theotormon caught. They set up a guard-rotation system and slept. The next day, they ex­plored.

There was no doubt that they were back on the great island the natives called the "Mother of Islands."

"Those gates are the same ones that started us off on the not-so-merry-go-round," Wolff said. "We went through the right-hand one. So, the left one may lead to Urizen's world."

Tharmas said, "Perhaps... well, this is not the most desirable of worlds. But it is better to enjoy life here than to die or live in pain in one of Urizen's cells. Why not forget that gate? There is food and water here and native women. Let Urizen sit in his seat of power for­ever and rot waiting for us to come to him."

"You forget that, without your drugs, you will get old and will die," Wolff said. "Do you want that? Moreover, there is no guarantee that Urizen will not come to us if we don't go to him. No, you may sit here in a lotus-eater's dream if you want, but I intend to keep fighting."

"You see, Tharmas," Vala said, smiling crookedly. "Jadawin has stronger reasons than we do. His woman-who is not a Lord, by the way, but an inferior breed from Earth-is a prisoner of Urizen's. He ca

"It's up to you to do what you want," Wolff said. "But I am my own master."

He studied the red heavens, the two huge-seeming planets that were in sight at this tune, and a tiny streak that could have been a black comet. He said, "Why go through the front door, where Urizen expects us? Why not sneak through the back door? Or, a better met­aphor, through a window?"