THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

Or had Clemens not considered that?

That wasn't probable. As anyone who'd read his works knew, Clemens was a master psychologist.

It was possible that Clemens had given McKe

King John gestured at the corpse and said, "Throw that filth into The River."

It was done. Burton would have liked to find an excuse to have the body taken to the morgue. There he could open up the skull and inspect the cerebrum for a tiny black ball. Too late. McKe

Whatever had happened, it was over for McKe

Burton thought that the deserters, if they'd had their wits about them, would have made provisions to sink the craft before leaving. Then neither it nor the airplanes could have pursued them. But they were agents, loathing violence though able to deal with it if the situation required.

There had been only one way to make sure that McKe

One thing was certain. Podebrad and Strubewell were not saboteurs.

But why had they stayed aboard?

He thought about the problem, puzzling over it a while, then said, "Hah!"

They were volunteers. They'd elected to remain with the boat because there was someone or someones on the Not For Hire whom they wanted to make contact with. He or she or they might be enemies or friends, but the two had their reasons for wanting to get hold of the person or persons. So, they'd made the very risky decision to stay with the Rex through the battle. If the Rex won, which it might, though the odds now seemed against it, then the two, if they survived, would be able to get to whoever it was that was on Clemens' boat.

But... how would the two know that the whoever was on the Not For Hire?

They might have some secret method of communication. Just what, Burton couldn't imagine.

He got to thinking about the agents who'd deserted. Did they know about the boats in the cave on the shore of the polar sea and the door at the base of the tower?

He hoped that they hadn't heard Paheri's tale. As far as he knew, only he and Alice, Frigate, Loghu, Nur, London, Mix, Kazz, and Umslopogaas knew about the ancient Egyptian's discovery. That is, they were the only ones On the boat who had. There would be others, perhaps many many people, who had heard Paheri's tale first-hand and then second-, third- and fourth-hand.

However, for all he knew, X was among the deserters. Which meant that the agents would know about the hidden entrance, too.

Not necessarily. X might be posing as a friendly agent. He'd fled with them but pla

Or perhaps... Podebrad and Strubewell somehow knew that

X was on the Not For Hire.

But... either one of the two could be X.

Burton shrugged. He'd just have to let events take their course until he saw a chance to influence them. Then he'd pounce like an owl on a mouse.

That wasn't a good simile. The agents and the Ethicals were potentially more like tigers.

It didn't make any difference to him. He was going to attack when he had to.

Again, he considered telling King John everything. Thus, he'd insure that the captured agents would not be executed on the spot. Of course, the agent would have to be knocked out before he could commit suicide. But with twelve to seize, fourteen if Strubewell and Podebrad were included, surely at least one would be unconscious... well, he'd wait a little more. He might not have to divulge anything to John.

The boat had stopped to anchor again while the scuba divers had inspected the hull. It had then resumed its up-River course at top speed. But it put into shore again to hook up the metal cap to a grailstone. Dawn came; the stones thundered and lightninged. The cap was swung back into the boat, and it sped after the deserters once more. Shortly after breakfast, the motors of three planes were warmed' up. Then Voss and Okabe took off in their biplane fighters and the torpedo-bomber roared out of the swung-open stern section from the launch dock.

The pilots would be able to spot the launch within an hour or two. What would happen after that was up to them, within the limits of John's orders. He did not want the launch sunk or badly damaged because he needed it in the expected battle. The planes could fire on the launch and keep if from continuing up-River, if possible. They must delay it until the Rex could catch up with it.

An hour and twenty-two minutes after flyoff, Okabe reported in. The launch was sighted, and he'd tried to talk to the deserters by radio. He'd gotten no reply. The three planes would swing down over the boat in single file and fire machine guns at it. Not for long, however, since the lead bullets were too valuable, too needed for the fight against the Not For Hire. If a few bursts didn't make the deserters surrender or turn down-River or abandon the launch, then bombs would be dropped near the vessel.

Okabe also reported that the launch was several miles past the point where The Valley suddenly widened out. This was the area to which the launch had gone two months ago during the rewinding. Its crew had talked to many of the titanthrops, in Esperanto, of course, in an effort to recruit about forty as marines. King John had envisioned closing in with the Not For Hire and sending the forty ogres over in the van of the boarders. Two score like Joe Miller would wipe the decks of Clemens' boat clean in short order. Nor would the mighty.Miller be able to withstand the onslaught of so many of his fellows.

Much to John's disgust and disappointment, his men had discovered that every titanthrop interviewed was a member of the Church of the Second Chance. They refused to fight and in fact tried to convert the crew.

It was probable that there were titanthrops who had not succumbed to the preachings of the missionaries. But there" wasn't time to look for them.

Now the airplanes lowered toward the launch while the people on shore, part of them average-sized Homo sapiens, part veritable Brobdingnags, lined the banks to watch these machines.

Suddenly, Okabe said, "The launch is heading for the right bank!"

He dived but not to fire. He couldn't have hit the launch without also hitting many locals, and he was under orders not to anger them in any way if he could help it. John didn't want to go through a hostile area after the Rex had sunk the Not For Hire.

"The deserters are jumping out of the launch and wading to the bank!" Okabe said. "The launch is drifting with the current!"

John cursed and then ordered the torpedo-bomber to land on The River. Its gu

"The deserters are mingled with the crowds," Okabe said. "I imagine they'll head for the hills after we've left."

"God's teeth!" John said. "We'll never be able to find them!"

Burton, in the pilothouse at this time, made no comment. He knew that the agents would later steal a sailboat and continue up-River. The Rex would overtake it, if the Rex wasn't sunk or too damaged to continue.

A few minutes after the launch was reberthed in the Rex and the two fighters had landed, a light on the pilothouse radio glowed orange. The operator's eyes widened, and he was so astonished he couldn't speak for a moment. For thirty years he and his fellow operators had waited for this to happen, though they'd not really expected it would.