THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

"That is strange. That sounds more like a name which King John would pick."

"From what you tell me of this John, he may have killed Clemens and taken over the boat. Whatever the truth, I want you to meet the boat at the border."

"Me?"

"You knew the men who built the boat. I want you to get aboard it at the border. You will find out what the situation is, what kind of people live on it. Also, you will estimate its military potential."

Herma

"Now, Fenikso, you have told me of the story which this giant long-nosed man—Joe Miller?—told Clemens and which Clemens told others. If it be true, there is a great tower in the middle of the sea at the north pole. These men mean to enter it if they can. I think their intent is evil."

"Evil?"

"Because that tower is obviously the work of the Ethicals. These boat people wish to penetrate that tower, to discover its secrets, perhaps to take captive or even kill the Ethicals."

"You do not know that," Herma

"No, but it is reasonable to suppose that."

"I never heard Clemens say that he wanted power. He just wanted to get to the headwaters."

"What he says publicly and what privately may be two different things."

"Really, Jacques," Herma

The bishop leaned forward, his huge brown hands gripping the edge of the desk. He stared at Herma

"There is something wrong in this world, grievously wrong! First, the little resurrections have stopped. This seems to have happened shortly after your last resurrection. You remember the consternation that this news caused?"

Herma

"So was I. But, as archbishop, I had to reassure my flock. However, I had no facts to use as a basis for hope. It was possible that we had been given the time we needed. All who were going to achieve Going On had done so. The rest would also die, and their kas would roam the universe, forever beyond redemption.

"But I did not think so. For one thing, I knew that I was not ready to Go On. I have a way to go, perhaps a long one, before I have done that.

"Yet, would the Ethical have picked me to found the Church if I were not a strong candidate for Going On?

"Or, and you can imagine my agony at this thought, had I failed? Had I been appointed to show others the way to salvation and yet I had to remain behind? Like Moses who led the Hebrews to the promised land but was forbidden to go down into it himself?"

"Oh, no!" Herma

"It could be," Viro said. "I am only a man, not a god. For a while, I even thought about resigning. Perhaps I had allowed myself to ignore my own ethical progress because I was too busy ru

"No, do not protest. I was seriously considering that. But then I told myself that I would be betraying the trust given by the Ethicals. And perhaps there was another explanation for this terrible event.

"Meanwhile, I had to make some sort of public explanation. You know what it was; you were among the first to hear it."

Herma

Many had asked Herma

Some had not accepted this. Bitterly denouncing the Church, they had left it. The majority, however, had remained. Surprisingly, many new converts had been made. These had come in through fear, fear that perhaps there really was a second chance to attain immortality and now their time to do it was short. This was not a rational attitude, since La Viro had said that the resurrections would come again. But they were taking no chances of losing their chance.

Though fear did not make a long-term believer, it caused a step toward the right direction. Perhaps true faith would follow.

"The only statement in my message which was not strictly true," La Viro said, "was that about the interim being a test. I had no direct authority, that is, no direct message from the visitor, that such was the case. But, in a sense, my statement was not a pious lie. The stopping of the resurrections is a test. A test of courage and belief. It does indeed try all of us.

"At that time, I thought that it was being done for some good purpose by the Ethicals. And it may well be that that is so. But the visitor did tell me that he and his fellows were no more than human despite the superpowers available to them. They could make mistakes and errors. Which means that they are not invulnerable. Accidents can happen to them. And enemies could do harm to them."

Herma

"I ca

"I find it hard to believe that the Ethicals would not have invulnerable defenses," Goring said.

"Ah!" La Viro said, holding up a finger. "You forget the ominous significance of the tu

"Perhaps it was one of the second-order Ethicals, a renegade agent," Herma

La Viro was horrified. "I... I should have thought of that! But it is so... unthinkable... so perilous!"

"Perilous?"

"Yes. The agents have to be more advanced than we, yet even they... wait."

La Viro closed his eyes, holding up his right hand with the thumb and index finger forming an O. Herma

"If it should be, we must face all its implications and be ready," he said. "Reality be Thine... and ours.

"However, back to the main reason I sent for you. I want you to get on that boat and observe everything you can. Find out the disposition of the captain, this King John, and his crew. Determine if they are a threat to the Ethicals. By this, I mean, do they have devices and weapons which might conceivably allow them to get into the Tower."

La Viro frowned and said, "It is time that we took a hand in this matter."