THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

Burton sighed. She was, on the whole, sane. But she was a religious fanatic who managed to ignore the facts of-life and also the contradictory elements in her faith. In this, she was much like his wife, Isabel, a devout Roman Catholic who had managed to believe in spiritualism at the same time. Croomes had been strong, enduring, uncomplaining, and always helpful during their struggles to reach this place except when she was trying to convert her crewmates to her religion.

Through the port he could see the gray-metaled corridor which Paheri had described. Of his companions who had collapsed near its end, there was no sight. Paheri had been too frightened to follow the others. He'd stayed in the boat. Then Akhenaten and his people fell to the floor, and the port had swung shut as silently as it had opened. Paheri had been unable to find the cave, and he had finally gone over the first of the cataracts in his boat and had awakened on some far bank of The River. But now there were no more resurrections.

Burton unbuttoned the strap on his holster.

He said, "I'll go first."

He stepped up over the threshold. Moving air warmed his face and hands. The light was shadowless, seeming to emanate from the walls, floor, and ceiling. A closed door was at the end of the corridor. The entrance port had been opened by thick gray-metal curving rods that disappeared inside a sixfoot-high cube of gray metal by the outer wall. The base of the cube seemed to be part of the floor. No welding or bolts held it.

Burton waited until Alice, Aphra, Nur, and de Marbot had entered. He told them not to go more than ten feet from the port. Then he called out, "You fellows bring in the small boat!"

Tai-Peng said, "Why?"

"We'll wedge it in the door. It should keep the door from swinging shut."

Alice said, "But it'll be crushed."

"I doubt it. It's made of the same substance as the grails and the tower."

"It still looks awfully fragile."

"The grails have very thin walls, and the engineers in Parolando tried to blow them up, to crush them with powerful machinery, and to dent them with triphammers. They had no effect whatsoever."

The corridor light shone on the faces of the men in the boat below. Some looked surprised; some, delighted; some, emotionless. He wasn't able to determine by their reactions who X might be.

Only Tai-Peng had questioned him, but that didn't mean anything. The fellow was always wanting to know the why.

With the help of all, the vessel was lifted up and gotten halfway through the port. It was just wide enough to stick in the middle of the O, leaving room for those outside to crawl in underneath after they'd passed in the packs and tins.

Burton backed away as they came in one by one. He held his pistol in his hand, and he told Alice to bring hers out. The others, seeing the weapons trained on them, were astonished. They were even more so when he told them to put their hands on top of their heads.

Frigate said, "You're X!"

Burton laughed like a hyena.

"No, of course not! What I'm going to do now is to root X out!"

45

NUR EL-MUSAFIR SAID, "YOU MUST SUSPECT ALL BUT ALICE OF being X."

"No," Burton said, "some of you may be agents, and if you are, speak up. But I have seen the Ethicals in their Council, and there are only two in this group whose physiques resemble the person I think might be X!"

He waited. It became evident that if any were agents none was going to admit his or her identity.

"Very well. I'll explain. It seems obvious that X was Barry Thorn and perhaps Odysseus. Thorn and the self-proclaimed Greek were short and very muscular. Both had similar features, though Odysseus' ears stuck out and he was much darker. But these differences could be due to disguise-aids.

"The two Ethicals who resembled them were called Loga and Thanabur.

"Two of this group could be either. Or both. I believe, however, that the engineer Podebrad, who was killed on the Rex, was Thanabur. I admit that it could have been Loga. In any event, we're not going one step further until I question— most severely—two of this group."

He paused, then said, "These are Gilgamesh, the self-proclaimed king of Uruk of ancient Sumeria, and Ah Qaaq, the self-proclaimed ancient Mayan!"

Alice said in a low voice, "But Richard! If you press him too hard, he can just simply kill himself."

Burton roared, "Did you hear what she said? No? She said that all X has to do to escape is to kill himself! But I know that he isn't going to do that! If he does, he can't carry out his plans, whatever they are! No more raising from the dead for him!

"Now... I've finally taken action because we are at a place where we can go no further without him. Only X knows how to cancel the gas or supersonic frequency or whatever that felled the Egyptians. And I want answers to my questions!"

"You're desperate, man!" Tom Turpin said. "What if none of us is X? You're skating on mighty thin ice."

"I'm convinced that one of you is he," Burton said. "Now... here is what I plan to do. If no one confesses, then* I'll knock you, Gilgamesh, and you, Ah Qaaq, out. You're my prime suspects. And while you're coming out of unconsciousness, I'll hypnotize you. I found out that Monat Grrautut, the Arcturan, and the men who claimed to be Peter Jairus Frigate and Lev Ruach had hypnotized my friend Kazz. They're not the only ones who can play at that game. I'm a master hypnotist, and if you're concealing something, I will get it out of you."

In the silence that followed, the others looked uneasily at one another.

Croomes said, "You're a wicked man, Burton! We're at the gates of Heaven, and you talk of killing us!"

"I said nothing about killing," Burton said, "though I'm prepared to do it if I must. What I want is to clear up this mystery. Some of you may be agents. I implore you to step forward and confess. You have nothing to lose and much to gain. It's too late now to attempt to hide things from us."

De Marbot said, sputtering, "But.. .but, my dear Burton! You hurt me! I am not one of these damnable agents or Ethicals! I am what I say I am, and I'll strike the man who calls me a liar!"

Nur said, "If one or both of them is guiltless, then you will have injured and insulted an i

"I hate doing this as much1 as any of you," Burton said. "Believe me when I say that. But an Ethical would be an excellent hypnotist himself, and no doubt his powers of resistance will be very strong. I must knock these two out so that they won't have these powers, catch them when they're half-witless."

Alice said softly, "It is terribly brutal, Richard."

"Now," Burton said, "I want you to take out your weapons and drop them on the floor. Do it one by one and do it slowly. You, Nur, you be the first."

The knives and pistols clattered onto the gray metal. When they were all disarmed, Burton told them to step back while Alice picked up the weapons. In a short while there was a pile of them against the wall behind him.

"Keep your hands on your heads."

Most of their faces showed anger, indignation, or hurt puzzlement. The faces of Ah Qaaq and Gilgamesh were iron masks.

"Come to me, Gilgamesh," Burton said. "When you're five feet from me, stop. Then turn around."

The Sumerian walked slowly toward him. Now he was glaring. He said, "If you strike me, Burton, you will have made an enemy forever. I was once the king of Uruk, and I am the descendant of gods! No one lays a hand on me without punishment! I will kill you!"

"I am indeed sorry to have to do this," Burton said. "But surely you can see that the fate of the world is the issue. If we were in each other's shoes, I would not blame you for what you were doing to me. I'd resent it, yes, but I'd understand it!"