“What are you doing up in that scroll repository?” the man asked.
“I just want a good place to watch the action.”
“What’s wrong with the grandstand?”
“I get dizzy from being high up and being crowded by people. Anyway, is there a law against it?”
“Not at all,” the man said. “But you’d better watch yourself up there. The flooring is none too secure. Hasn’t been permanently bonded yet with reality cement. You could say it’s held together by spit and prayer.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
Theseus went upstairs. He waited a few moments, but no one followed him. He set up the thunderbolt on the window ledge, carefully zeroing in the crosshairs. Now he was ready! His pulse started to quicken. He was going to get the Minotaur at last!
Within a few minutes crowds had begun to gather on the street. Most of them took seats in the hastily erected grandstands on either side. There was a distant sound of a brass band. The Minotaur was coming! Little children ran up and down the street, blowing penny whistles. Theseus watched carefully, bent low over his thunderbolt launcher. He didn’t want to blow this one! Then the procession came into sight. He could see the leading chariot, filled with classical secret operatives. They were armed with small bows and arrows.
The procession drew near. Theseus let the secret service chariot pass, the one with the press corps. The third chariot drew near. It was filled with cheerleaders from Classical High School. He let that one go by, too. Now, coming up quickly, he could see another chariot approaching. The Minotaur was in it, huge, blue-purple in color, foam-specked as usual, smiling like he owned the world, waving to the crowd. How happy he looked! Theseus watched, feeling almost regretful over what he had to do. Almost but not quite. He sighted through the crosshairs, took aim as the chariot drew near, then found that his position wasn’t quite as perfect as he’d like.
He could see that the further window would give him a better shot. He picked up his thunderbolt and started across the creaking floor.
He was almost in position, when suddenly, with a heavy tearing sound, the whole construct gave way. Theseus realized too late that he had stumbled onto an unjustified spot. He tried to backpedal, but it was too late. Suddenly he was falling.
Theseus fell through the gauzy descriptive materials that the maze was constructed of. He passed quickly through a region of colossals, cylindrical in shape and gray in color, stacked with their cognates against a lurid background of horrifics. Then he passed through a region of nanoseconds and standard hesitations, and then through some oddly shaped slights, and, after them, a warehouse full of grandioses and etioses.
None of these materials looked like much close up. But it was amazing what Dædalus had done with such uncompromising materials.
Then the maze machinery kicked in and Theseus found himself standing on a standard classical city street. The premise could be seen wavering, there were repercussions of a rhetorical nature, and the author could be glimpsed, a ghostly figure of unbelievable beauty and intelligence, trying desperately, despite his many personal problems, to put things together again.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1990 by Robert Sheckley
Cover design by Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN 978-1-4804-9679-8
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Minotaur Maze Page 9