The Gates of Creation

Theotormon gaped. He said, "But... but..."

"You may think you have me in your power," Vala said. "And so you do, in a ma

Theotormon scratched the fur on his head with the tip of a flipper. "I don't know."

"Oh, yes, you do! You're stupid, but not that stupid! You'll make a trade with me. You let me out, and I'll let you leave with me in the ship. There's no other way out for either of us."

Wolff could not see Theotormon's expression, but he could deduce from his tone the cu

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't, any more than I can trust you. We'll have to arrange this so neither of us can possibly trip the other up. Do you agree?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"This control room won't be harmed if the seas get a mile high and sit forever on the palace. I have food and water enough for a year. I can just sit here and let you die. And then I'll figure some way to get out, believe me. I'll discover a way."

"In that case," Theotormon said, "why don't you do it?"

"Because I don't want to stay in this room for a year. I have too many things to do."

"All right. But what about Chryseis?"

"She comes with me. I have plans for her," Vala said.

Her voice became even more suspicious. "Why should you care about her?"

"I don't. I just wondered. Maybe... maybe you could give her to me. From what Jadawin said, she must be very beautiful."

Vala laughed and said, "That would be one form of torture for her. But it isn't enough. No, you can't have her."

"Then it's not a deal," Theotormon said. "You keep her. See how you like being cooped up with her for a year. Besides, I don't really think you can swim to the spacecraft The water pressure will be too much."

Vala said, "You stupid selfish slimegut! You'd die yourself rather than let me have anything! Very well, take her then!"

Wolff smiled. He had told Theotormon to bring up Chryseis and so take her mind off him. This business about Chryseis was just irrel­evant enough and so Theotormonically selfish that she might be con­vinced that he was not hiding the truth.

Theotormon clapped his flippers together with glee. Wolff hoped that his joy was all act, since he was not sure that Theotormon might not betray him at the last moment. Theotormon said, "All right. Now, how can we get to the spacecraft?"

"You'll have to release me first. I'm not going to tell you and then have you take off without me."

"But if I open the door to your room, you'll be able to get out ahead of me."

"Can't you set the controls so they'll open the doors by the time you get here?"

Theotormon grunted as if the thought were a new one. "All right Only, you'll have to come out of the room with absolutely no clothes on. You must both be nude and emptyhanded. I'll come out of my room weaponless. We'll both leave at exactly the same time and meet in the corridor that links the two rooms."

Vala gasped and said, "I thought... ! You mean you knew all the tune how to get here ... so that's where the other controls are! And I thought the other end of the corridor was a wall."

"It won't do you any good to know," Theotormon said. "You can't get out until I let you. Oh, yes, strip Chryseis, too. I don't want you to hide any weapons on her."

Vala said, "You're not taking any chances, are you? Perhaps you're more intelligent than I thought."

What was she pla

The truth was that Wolff, Luvah, and Theotormon knew where the ship was. Theotormon had pretended ignorance only to seem to give her an advantage. She had to be lured out of the room, otherwise she would never come out. Wolff knew his sister. She would die and take Chryseis with her rather than surrender. To her it was inconceivable that a Lord would keep a promise not to harm her. She had good reason. In fact, Wolff himself, though he never thought of himself as a genuine Lord anymore, was not sure he would have kept his word to her. Certainly, he did not intend that Theotormon adhere to his assurances.

Then what did she have in mind?

Theotormon went over the method of conduct with Vala again, pretending that he was not quite sure. Then he deactivated the screen and turned to Wolff and Luvah. Wolff opened the door into the cor­ridor so that he and Luvah could go out ahead of time. As Theotor­mon had said, the corridor linked the two control rooms. Both con­trol rooms and the hall between were in an enclosed unit of fourteen feet-thick metal alloy. The unit could hold any pressure of water and was resistant even to a direct hit by a hydrogen bomb. The interior wall was coated with a substance which would repel the neutrons of a neutron bomb. Urizen had placed the secret control room in this unit, near the main control room for just such situations as this. Anyone who managed to get into the main room would not know that there was an exit to the corridor until part of the seemingly solid wall of the main control room opened.

The corridor itself, though an emergency convenience, had been furnished as if a reception for Lords were to be held in it. It con­tained paintings, sculptures, and furniture that a Terrestrial billion­aire could not have purchased with all his fortune. A chandelier made from a single carved diamond, weighing half a ton, hung from a huge gold alloy chain. And this was not the most valuable object in the corridor.

Wolff hid behind a davenport covered with the silky chocolate-and-azure hide of an animal. Luvah concealed himself behind the base of a statue. Theotormon made sure that they were ready and re­turned to the control room to inform Vala that they could now pro­ceed to meet each other as pla

The wall at the other end of the corridor slid upwards. Light poured out of the opening, and Vala stuck her head cautiously around the frame. Theotormon did the same from his door. He stepped out quickly, ready to hurl himself back if she had a weapon. She gave a low laugh and came out of the doorway, her hands held out to show their emptiness. She was naked and magnificent.

Wolff gave her a glance. He had eyes only for the woman who fol­lowed her. It was his Chryseis, the beautiful huge-eyed nymph with tiger-striped hair. She, too, was unclothed.

"The Horn of Shambarimen," Theotormon said. "I almost forgot! Where is it?"

"It is in the control room," Vala replied. "I did not bring it be­cause you told me to be emptyhanded."

"Go get it, Chryseis," Theotormon said. "But when you return with it, hold it up above your head at arm's length and do not point it at me. If you make a sudden motion with it, I will kill you."

Vala's laughter filled the corridor. "Are you so suspicious that you suspect even her? She would not hurt you! She is definitely not going to do anything for me!"

Theotormon did not reply. Instructed by Wolff, he was playing the role of the overly alert Lord to keep Vala from suspecting any treachery. If Theotormon had been too trusting, she would have scented something foul at once.

Vala and Theotormon then advanced towards each other, taking a step forward slowly and in unison. It was as if they were partners in a formal dance, they moved so stately and in such matching rhythm.

Wolff crouched and waited. He had taken his suit off so that it would not hinder his movements. The sweat of tension covered his body. Neither he nor Luvah were armed. They had lost all their own weapons before they reached the secret room. And the room, to his dismay, had contained no arms. Apparently, Urizen had not thought it necessary. Or, much more likely, there were weapons hidden be­hind the walls, accessible only to one who knew how to find them. Urizen had not had time to give that information-if he had ever in­tended to do so.