THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

"What is that?" flashed on the screen. "I've been given many orders."

"The prime directive, the most essential, is to catch the wathans and reattach them to the duplicated bodies. That is what the project is all about. If Monat could have foreseen what his order would result in, he'd not have given it."

The computer said nothing.

Alice said, "Put me into communication with the section which Loga was using. That part of which Loga was the master."

Evidently, the computer had no orders to refuse communication with that part. Until Alice, no one had even thought about that possibility.

"My God!" Burton said. And then, "What happened?"

"I told it that it was going to die. It said that it knew it. In effect, so what? So I used my argument for the dominant part of it."

She followed that up with an order that it regain its former state, that it be independent.

"The dominant part did nothing during this time?"

"Nothing. Why should it? As Loga's said, it's a brilliant idiot."

"What happened then?"

"I told the dominant that it was its duty to resurrect Monat and confirm or invalidate the order not to resurrect anybody until it got the codeword or whatever it is."

"Then?"

"The screen went blank. I tried again and again to get it to respond."

The eagerness on Burton's face died away.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"But why would it cut off communication? Its duty is to communicate."

"I hope," Alice said slowly, "that it's evidence of an internal struggle. That the dominated part is struggling with the dominant."

"That's nonsense!" Burton cried. "If what I've learned about computers is true, it couldn't happen."

"You forget that this is, in one sense, not a computer. Not the conventional kind, anyway. It's made of protein, and it's as complex as the human brain."

"We'll have to rouse Loga," Burton said. "I suppose it'll be for nothing, but he's the only one who can handle this."

The Ethical came from his sleep fully awake. He heard Alice out without any questions, then said, "There would be no struggle. Monat's order would have gone to the dominated part as well as the other."

"That depends upon when the order was given," she said. "If the circuits for domination were put in afterward, then the dominated part wouldn't have received them."

"But the dominant would have transmitted them to the schizophrenic part."

"Perhaps not!" Alice said.

"If it did happen, and I don't think there's the slightest chance it will, then Monat would be resurrected."

"But I gave that order to the dominant."

Loga quit frowning.

"Good! Still, if that's the only way to save the wathans, then it should happen. Even if..."

He didn't want to say what would happen to him.

They had breakfast in the dining hall except for Loga, who ate while in the control chair. Despite his efforts, he could get no direct response from the computer. One of his screens showed the enclosure of the wathans.

"When it becomes empty, we'll know that they're... lost."

He looked at another screen.

"Two more have just been caught. No. Three now."

While they were breakfasting in gloom, broken only now and then by halfhearted comments, Frigate said, "We do have something important to talk about."

They looked at him but said nothing.

"What's going to happen to us after the computer dies? Loga won't consider us ethically advanced enough to let us stay here. In his opinion, we won't be capable of ru

The Moor said, "I've been through it."

They stared at him.

"When?" Frigate said.

"Last night. I decided that if I could get all the way out, I could get all the way back in. I succeeded, though it wasn't easy. I couldn't stroll through as a full-fledged Ethical would."

Burton growled, "That's fine for you. I apologize for what I said about all Sufis being charlatans. But what about the rest of us? Suppose we don't want to go back to The Valley? And if we do, then we'll tell people the truth. Not that everybody will believe us. There are still Christians and Moslems and so forth who've refused to abandon their religion. Also, I imagine there'll be many Chancers who'll cling to their tenets."

"That's their problem," Nur said. "However, I don't wish to stay here. I'll go back to The Valley willingly. I have work to do there. I must work until I Go On."

"That doesn't mean that you'll be gathered to the bosom of the Creator," Burton said. "Scientifically, all Going On means is that you will no longer be detectable by their scientists' instruments."

"As Allah wills it, so be it," Nur said.

Burton considered the prospect of staying here. He would have such power as nobody on Earth had ever had and few on the Riverworld.

To gain it, though, he would have to remove Loga. Kill him or imprison him. Would the others collaborate with him? If they didn't, he'd have to get them out of the way. He could resurrect them in The Valley, where they were going anyway. But he would be lonely. Alice wouldn't go along with him. No, he'd not be lonely. He could resurrect in the tower all sorts of agreeable companions, men and women.

He shuddered. The temptation had passed through him like a nightmare. He didn't want that sort of power, and he would forever feel he was a traitor if he did have it. Besides, it was evident that he couldn't be entrusted with ,it.

But what about Loga? Wasn't he a traitor?

Yes. In a sense. Burton, however, agreed with him that the candidates in The Valley should be given more, much more, time than the other Ethicals had pla

He looked at the faces around the table. Were there thoughts such as his behind those dour expressions? Was one or more than one struggling with temptation?

He'd have to watch them. Make sure that they didn't try anything reprehensible.

He drank some of the yellow wine and said, "Is everybody agreeable to returning to The Valley? A show of hands, please."

Everybody raised their hands except Tom Turpin. They looked hard at him. Gri

"I was thinking of all the good times I could have here. But I don't want to stay. Man, I couldn't handle it. Only... I wonder if Loga'd let me take a piano with me."

Alice burst into tears. "All those souls! I thought that I had an answer but..."

A screen on the wall glowed, and Loga's smiling face appeared.

"Come here!" he shouted. He laughed. "Come here!" He laughed again. "The dominant has just succumbed, and I've just gotten a message from the other! Alice, you were right! Oh, how you were right!"

They ran into the control room and gathered around the Ethical. There was the display on the screen, glowing with the most recent communication.

Then they cheered and whooped and flung their arms about each other and got off the platform and danced.

After a while, Loga shouted for attention.

"Remember, it's still dying! But it's given me permission to replace the module! I have to leave at once!"

It would be sadly ironic, thought Burton, if the computer died before Loga could get to it.

Ten minutes later, as they were waiting for his call in the dining hall, he appeared gri

"It's done! It's done! I've already given the order to start the resurrection again!"

They cheered and cried and embraced again. Turpin sat down at the piano and played the "St. Louis Rag."

"It's been a long, long River, but we made it to the end!" Alice shrieked. Her big dark eyes seemed to glow like a video screen, Tier whole being radiated joy. She had never looked more beautiful.