identical pyramid-shaped block hung in the air with no visible means of support. Unlike the starkly bare chamber inside the ziggurat, this one seemed to be undergoing some kind of highly technological construction. Cables and glowing plasma conduits snaked across the floor, and a towering rack system housed a complexly sophisticated biode. A large disk-shaped object some thirty feet across was being assembled in sections directly beneath the floating pyramid.
Showcross Gee's only companion in the chamber was Stent. It was starting to look as though the metaphysician was using the metal man as a permanent bodyguard. Reave was curious to know what the man thought he had to fear. There was no sign of any of the other metaphysicians, and it had to be assumed that this chamber was not the only space they occupied in the Great Pyramid.
'I understand that you have seen the enemy.'
Reave looked slowly around the chamber and nodded.'That's right. We went to their camp.'
'And I also understand that the beloved Master is having a little trouble discarding his illusions.'
Renatta regarded the metaphysician with deep suspicion. 'You seem very well informed.'
'We loosed a few snoopers into the environment of this pyramid. These people have no means of detecting them, although why they should even bother is debatable. They are incapable of keeping secrets.'
'So you only use the snoopers for a little electronic early warning?'
Showcross Gee nodded. 'Exactly.'
'Then you most probably heard what we were discussing in the anteroom.'
'We cannot release you from your contracts at this time.'
Blaisdell gave him a hard look. 'You can't expect us to simply stay here and die.'
Reave glanced at Lister Stent. 'Where do you stand in all this? Still just carrying out orders?'
The metal man inclined his head slightly. 'Quite the reverse. I'm with you in this. I cannot see how we can legitimately be ordered to remain here under the current situation. We have the right to protect our own lives in a set of circumstances that are quite beyond our control.'
Showcross Gee looked from one contract warrior to the next. 'Your lives will be preserved. You have my guarantee.'
Reave did not look as if he believed a word of it. 'You seem to be hanging on to a few illusions of your own. That's Vlad Baptiste up at the other end of the settlement. He's pathological about you people, and he isn't going to stop until you're all dead. We have no way of protecting either you or ourselves unless the Palanaquii wise up.'
Showcross Gee waited a full ten seconds before he spoke. He slowly extended a hand in the direction of the half-completed disk. 'All we need here is another forty-eight hours to finish our work.'
Billy Oblivion swayed. 'What the hell is that? An old-time flying saucer?'
Showcross Gee ignored him. 'When our work is done, there will be a unique escape route for all of us.'
Reave was unbending. 'This city won't hold for forty-eight hours. There's a chance that Baptiste may have a couple of aircraft.'
That was obviously news to the metaphysician. He was silent and thoughtful. 'It would be a mistake to leave here at this time.'
'It'd be suicide not to.'
'I've already told you that we can take control of the Great Pyramid and seal ourselves in.'
Reave was shaking his head. 'I don't know.'
'Consider this. There is one thing that could make Baptiste negotiate with the beloved Master.'
'What's that?'
'Us.'
Reave knew that he should have thought of that himself. It was glaringly obvious.
'You think that Parshew-a-Thar would ask Baptiste to spare the city if he turned over the metaphysicians?'
Showcross Gee half smiled. 'The metaphysicians and their seven mercenaries.'
'Okay, everyone's ass is on the line.'
Having made his point, Showcross Gee went on. 'I think it's almost a certainty. The court of Palanaque may be blinkered and stupid, but they're clutching at straws. It's bound to occur to them. It they don't think of it, Baptiste certainly will. You've described how his men are close to exhaustion. He may see it as a way to avoid an immediate direct assault on the city himself.'
'He'll never keep his word.'
'Of course he won't, but the Palanaquii will want to believe him so badly that they'll go along with any nonsense. Once he's disposed of us, he can destroy the city and its population at his leisure.'
'I still think our only practical option is to leave immediately. '
Showcross Gee was being unusually patient. 'Let me make a suggestion.'
Reave raised an eyebrow. 'An offer?'
Showcross Gee looked at him coldly. 'A suggestion.'
Reave sighed. 'Okay, a suggestion.'
'You will hold to your contract for two more days. Military contact with Baptiste's raiders will be strictly at your own discretion unless we are directly threatened. Your only duties will be to protect us in any situation where our lives and liberty are at risk, regardless of whether the threat comes from Baptiste or the Palanaquii. The moment the situation in the city becomes untenable, we will retreat in here and seal the pyramid.'
'All of us will retreat into the pyramid?' Renatta asked.
Showcross Gee eyed her curiously. 'You don't trust me at all, do you?'
'Should I?'
'I'm afraid you may have to before this thing's over.'
'So do we all get into the pyramid?'
'If it is humanly possible. You have my word.'
'And once inside you will include us all in this mysterious way out?'
'That's correct.'
'Do you want to explain this escape route to us?'
Showcross Gee shook his head. 'Not yet.'
'Just another item that we have to take on trust?'
'For the moment.'
Reave turned to Stent.'How does all this sit with you? You're the one with the fine-tuned sense of duty.'
Stent raised a metal hand. 'Under the terms of our contract, it sounds like a legitimate request.'
Reave scowled. 'And if it was couched as a direct order, you'd be compelled to enforce it.'
Stent reluctantly half bowed, his armor making a soft, sad squeaking noise. 'I'm afraid that I would.'
Reave faced the metaphysician. 'It looks like you have your two days.'
Showcross Gee laid a calming hand on his arm, 'You shouldn't take it all so personally, Reave Mekonta.'
Reave's shoulders sagged. He was suddenly very tired. Although he hated to admit it, the metaphysician was right. The man was doing the best he could according to his own weird priorities. 'All we can hope is that Baptiste takes his time coming.'
As it turned out, Baptiste took a day and a night to reach the city. There was plenty of warning of his approach. General Zeum had organized a system of signal fires all along the river, starting just a few miles below the rapids. As Baptiste's force was sighted, the fires were lit and those who had been keepingwatch made themselves scarce. From the intervals at which new fires flared in the dark, it seemed that the raiders were moving very slowly. The moment the first signal was sighted, Reave, along with the Minstrel Boy, who also seemed unable to sleep, climbed to the same vantage point on top of the gatehouse from which they had watched the parade of the Grand Army. They stared silently at the pinpoints of flame in the dark. The beloved Master had ordered the pseudostars extinguished for better visibility, and the night beyond the lights of the city was black as pitch. Reave could imagine the line of ragged men with their cruel, hard faces and worn-out mounts. In his mind's eye he could see the drooping necks of the spavined lizards as they dragged themselves toward yet another slaughter.
'This has got to be the end to it, one way or another.'
The Minstrel Boy, who was watching from farther along the parapet, straightened up and looked at him. 'You say something?'
'Just talking to myself.'
