The Gates of Creation

Wolff could not see the others, who were behind him. He was fac­ing the archway towards which he had struggled. He tried to move his arms and legs and found that he could make a little progress. With a vast effort, he could shove himself forward less than an inch. Then the jelly, like a tide, moved him back again and settled around him. There was nothing he could do except wait for his air supply to run out. The breathing system was a closed system, one that reused air and did not dissipate the carbon dioxide. If it had been an open system, he would have been dead already. The jelly closed in around so tightly that there would have been no place for the breathed-out carbon dioxide to go.

He had perhaps a half-hour of life remaining. Vala would be laughing now. And Chryseis, great-eyed beautiful Chryseis, what was she doing? Was she being forced to watch this scene? Or was she lis­tening to Vala's descriptions of what Vala intended for her?

Fifteen minutes passed by with his every thought seeking a way out. There was none. This was the end of over 25,000 years of life and the powers of a god. He had lived for nothing; he might as well never have been born. He would die, and Chryseis would die, and both would be stuffed and mounted and placed on exhibit in the trophy hall.

No, that was not true, at least. Vala would have to abandon this place. The waters roaring through the permanent gate at the top level of the palace would ensure that. She would be denied this pleas­ure. His body, and Chryseis', would lie beneath a sea, in darkness and cold, until the flesh rotted and the bones were tossed back and forth by the currents and strewn about.

The waters! He had forgotten that they were racing through the halls of the levels above and down the staircases. If only...

The first rush half-filled the corridor beyond the archway and ripped out a chunk of jelly. The corridor was quickly filled, and the jelly began to dissolve. The process took time, however. The waters crept towards him, eating their way and turning the jelly into a green foam that was absorbed by the liquid. More than half an hour had passed since he had estimated that he had about thirty minutes of air left. He felt that every breath would be his last.

The jelly became green foam and obscured his vision. The thick stuff melted away, and he was free. But now he was in as much dan­ger as before. Submerged in water, he would drown as soon as the air ran out.

He swam towards the others, whom he could see through a green veil. He yanked them loose from the jelly that still held them, only to find that Rintrah was dead. He had gotten his mask on in time but something had gone wrong. Wolff gestured at Theotormon and Luvah and swam towards the other exit. It opened to their only hope. To try to go through the door through which the seas were pushing was impossible because of the current. They were carried, like it or not, towards the other archway.

Wolff dug at the jelly which clogged the doorway until it broke loose, and he was carried headlong into the next room. His brothers came at his heels and slid on their faces across the room and piled into him against the opposite wall. They rolled out of the stream and were on their feet. Wolff turned the air off and lifted his mask. He not only had to speak to them, but there would be a minute or two before the room filled in which they could conserve what little supply remained in the tanks.

"Urizen told me that there is a secret door to a duplicate control room! He had it prepared in case somebody ever did get into the main control room! It has controls which will deactivate those of the main room! But to get to it, we have to go through the doorway with the heat-ray trap. He didn't have time to tell me how to turn off the heat-rays! We'll put our masks back on when the water gets too high and then go through. The water should knock the projectors out! I hope!"

They placed the masks over their faces and crouched in a corner near the archway to gain protection from the full force of the cur­rent. The sea struck the wall opposite the archway and then raced off down the floor and through the door. Seeing that the water was not activating the rays, Wolff hurled his stone axe towards the door. Even through his closed lids, he saw the dazzle. When he opened his eyes, the water was boiling. The axe had been swept on through the arch.

The waters rose swiftly, carrying the treading Lords up towards the ceiling. When there was only a foot of air between the sea and the ceiling, they put on their masks. Wolff dived as close towards the floor as he could get and began swimming. Suddenly, the air shut off. He held his breath and continued swimming. There was a glare of light that blinded him, and the water seemed to burn his exposed hands and back of neck. He bumped against the side of the arch and was borne out into the next room. Here he shoved his feet against the floor and propelled himself upward. He held his hands out to soften the impact against the ceiling, which he could not yet see.

His head bumping against stone, he removed his mask and breathed in. His lungs filled with air, then water slapped him in the mouth and he coughed. His vision returned; Theotormon and Luvah were beside him. Wolff lifted his hand and pointed downward. "Fol­low me!"

He dived, his eyes open, his hands sliding along the wall. There was a green jade statue, a foot high, once an idol of some people in some universe, squatting in a niche. Wolff rotated its head, and a sec­tion of the wall opened inwards. The three Lords were carried into the large room. They scrambled to their feet, and Wolff ran to a con­sole and pulled on a red-handled lever. The door closed slowly against the pressure of the water, leaving a foot of water in the room. Identifying the console Urizen had told him about (there were at least thirty), Wolff pressed down a rectangular plate on which was an ideogram of the ancient writing once used by the Lords. He stepped back with the first smile he had had for a long tune.

"Vala not only won't be able to use her controls any more," he said, "she's trapped in her control room as well. And all gates of es­cape in the room are deactivated. Only the permanent gates in the palace, like the gate to the waterworld, are still on."

Wolff reached towards the button that would activate the view-screen in the other control room. He withdrew his hand and stood in thought for a moment.

"The less our sister knows of the true situation, the better for us," he said. "Theotormon, come here and listen carefully."

Wolff and Luvah hid behind a console and peered through a nar­row opening between the console and its screen. Theotormon pushed the button with the end of his flipper. Vala was staring at him, her long hair dark-red with damp and her face twisted with fury.

"You!" she said.

"Greetings, sister," Theotormon answered. "Are you surprised to see me still living? And how do you feel knowing that I have sealed off your escape and rendered you powerless?"

"Where are your brothers, your betters?" Vala said, trying to see past him into the room.

"They're dead. Their airtanks gave out and so did mine. But this body that our father gave me enabled me to hold my breath until the water washed away your jelly."

"So Jadawin is finally dead? I don't believe it. You are trying to play a trick on me, you stupid slug!"

"You're in no position to call names."

"Let me see his body," she said.

Theotormon shrugged. "That's impossible. He's floating some­where in the palace. I barely made it to this room myself. I can't go out to get him without flooding this room."

Vala looked at the water on the floor and then she smiled. "So you're trapped, too. You fish-stinking idiot, you don't even have the brains of a fish! You just told me what your situation is!"