by John F. Carr
As I opened the portal I kept my stun gun ready, but I saw no one nearby. I entered first and Lyonella followed behind. I moved cautiously because Crusaders might be here even if Errox was not. I didn't have complete confidence in Lyonella's psychic connection to Errox. I knew that it had worked previously when I was in the corridor outside Hushel’s previous dwell, but I couldn't be sure it was still working. Cainenol effects wore off with the passage of time; perhaps the same was true of psychic connections.
Slowly and carefully we checked out the entire building and found no evidence of anyone other than ourselves in the Palace. We both relaxed, our nerves stretched tight from the strain of the search.
Lyonella asked, "Where else would he go?"
"I don’t know."
Lyonella said, "I first saw him when we had dwells in the same urbode. I never saw him anywhere except in an urbode. Where have you seen him?"
I thought about the various times I had seen Errox. I answered, "The last time I saw him was at Boget’s dwell. Just before that I saw him at the dwell of Dreena the smitty. Before that I was here in the Simulike Palace with him until the VIS arrested me. Before Transit Day I saw him in the two dwells he found for me and in Hushel’s dwell when he gave me his wristlock."
"Where did you first meet him?" she asked.
I must have been experiencing some sort of memory block that kept me from reviewing the details of my bad experiences of the Rainbow Room in the Color Wheel. I said, "It was at the Color Wheel. It's shut down now but he must have some way inside. He certainly knew the layout and he managed to get to the center of the Color Wheel, where the winner's circle is. I'm sure he didn't get there by taking chances in an environment where you risk your life."
"Let's try the Color Wheel, then," she suggested.
It was the most logical thing to do. I knew that I was resisting the idea because I didn't want to refresh the worst memories I had of this life. I finally agreed.
I spent the time on the slidestrips steeling myself for the unwanted sight of the Color Wheel. When it came into view, I felt nauseated. We got off the slideway using the Color Wheel access slidestrip. I took several deep breaths before I was ready to approach the building. This was the biggest challenge that I had faced in my life as Rathe, confronting the site where I had almost died.
I looked at the Color Wheel as if it were a dwell for my own private demons. I had to deal with the internal conflict to proceed.
Lyonella noticed that I was having difficulty. She asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?" "I'll be all right. Let's go slowly. Tell me the moment you receive any indication that Errox is inside."
As we approached the Color Wheel we were careful to stay close to the surrounding buildings in case there were people watching. If Errox was there he might have posted a sentinel to warn him of anyone approaching.
When we got close enough to have a clear view of the closed public entrance, Lyonella said excitedly, "He's here!"
We had located Errox. I was as sure of it as I was of the bond between Lyonella and me. I said to Lyonella, "We need to notify the Alliance that Errox is here. I may be able to talk him into surrendering and ending this futile conflict. I can tell him that even if he defeats Wanklurm he'll never be able to rule the planet because the VIS people in the Alliance will stop him. If you're willing to take the news to the overseers' urbode so they can send some backup, I'll stay and watch to see if he leaves."
I don't know if Lyonella would have agreed to that plan or not because as the words left my mouth, we saw a group of about six white caps get off the slidestrip. I motioned to Lyonella to follow me and I lowered myself into the wide gutter that carried water away after the area was cleaned. When we were both horizontal we could peek over the edge of the gutter to watch the scene unfold. I recognized the man leading the white caps as Wanklurm, my first sighting of the man who had tried to have me killed and who would probably try again if the opportunity arose.
He and the white caps were all armed with bolt guns. Wanklurm posted one guard near the slidestrip apron. Then he and the others started moving toward the building. He was looking at something he held in his hand and walking toward the main portal of the Color Wheel. I realized that he was looking at a tracking device. Somehow he must have gotten a spike mike planted on Errox, maybe by turning a disgruntled or disillusioned Crusader into a supporter of the guards.
As Lyonella and I watched from our hiding place, Wanklurm used his rainbow wristlock to open the main entrance to the Color Wheel. Wanklurm gave some instructions to his guards that I couldn't quite hear and they all went in—all except the guard he'd left at the slidestrip exit. That guard represented a problem for Lyonella and me. How could we get a message to the overseers' urbode if we couldn't get past the guard to the slidestrip?
There was no way to get close enough to the guard to use a stun gun without him seeing us first. And if he saw us first, he might fire his bolt gun before we could stun him. Suddenly the lights came on in the Color Wheel. The outside building lights illuminated the gutter that Lyonella and I were hiding in. The guard near the slidestrip advanced toward us, his bolt gun in his hand aimed toward us.
"Come out of there with your hands up where I can see them," he ordered.
Knowing that we had no chance of stunning him before he could fire, Lyonella and I, as if by telepathic communication, both put our stun guns into our waist pouches before complying with the guard's order.
When we stood up, he asked, "What are you two doing here?"
Lyonella answered, "We were on our way to a jarva jump in the automatic factory session, when we saw some people with bolt guns. We got off the slidestrip and hid."
The guard asked, "Were those people Crusaders?"
Lyonella answered, "I don't know who they were."
"Were they wearing white caps?"
"No."
"Where did they go?"
"They went around the Color Wheel and then I couldn't see them anymore."
"All right. Both of you walk to the Color Wheel entrance. I'll be right behind you. If you try any tricks, you'll find out how fast I am with this gun."
We complied. My mind was churning out possible escape plans. None of them seemed feasible. I tried to remember everything I knew about the Color Wheel, hoping that something would suggest a plan. Kahalyton had told me that there was a choice of environments in the Color Wheel, all of them dangerous. I knew the dangers of the Rainbow Room but I knew nothing but the names of the other choices—the Mirror Maze, the Vibration Vessel, the Laser Lobby, the Hunting House, and the Bouncing Ballroom. I didn't know enough about those areas to make a plan.
I would have to be alert for any opportunity for us toescape. If we didn't, it was highly likely that my life would end here in the building where, as Rathe, my life began. Lyonella and I entered the building with the guard right behind us. As soon as we were inside he ushered us through an open access door with a smashed portal plate into a dimly lit, curved passageway with doors on both sides, doors that appeared to have no locking devices. I knew our guard was looking for Wanklurm and I was mentally searching for a way to avoid such a confrontation when we saw another guard ahead of us.
The man guarding us called out, "I've got two prisoners here. They were lurking around outside."
The guard ahead of us shouted, "Look out!"
We heard the thunder of a bolt gun followed immediately by the sound of the guard behind us falling to the floor.
As if we were one entity, Lyonella and I went through an unlocked door and found ourselves in a maze where all the surfaces were mirrors. We moved through the maze together putting distance between us and the killing in the corridor. The room was quiet except for our breathing. I listened for the thunder of bolt guns but didn't hear them. There were no mechanical sounds in this maze of mirrors. Evidently whatever life-threatening possibilities the room held were only activated when someone used a wristlock to enter as a contestant, someone who wanted to ri
sk a life in the pursuit of an illusion.
Everywhere I looked I saw our reflections in the mirrors. Then I heard a bolt gun blast, followed by the sounds of mirrors cracking and broken glass falling. I grabbed Lyonella by the hand and we started running. I didn't know whether the shooter was an elite guard or a Crusader but I knew we had to get out of this room. Hoping that my sense of direction was accurate, I kept us moving toward the wall opposite the door through which we'd entered. The next shot of the bolt gun shattered the mirror directly before us, exposing an access door just like the one we'd used to enter. Lyonella and I dropped to the floor. We couldn't see the shooter. A second blast shook the door loose from its hinges.
We leaped up, ran through the door, and rushed down the curving corridor. We stopped running when we heard gunfire in the passageway. We looked for a way to escape.
The only door off this section of the corridor opened to our touch. We stepped in and the door slammed shut behind us. I looked around and saw familiar sights. We were in the Rainbow Room in the same spot where I had been dumped to die.
I felt panic stricken. I could feel my heart beat frantically.
Lyonella squeezed my hand. I took deep breaths and tried to calm my jabbering mind.
Lyonella asked, "Can you tell me what you see?"
"The seven colors of tiles. The display board. The door at the small end of the room."
Lyonella, in a very calm voice, said, "The tiles are stationary. The display board is blank. The door at the small end of the room is open."
She was right, panic had affected my senses. I shook myself as if to loosen the anxiety, took a deep breath, and said, pointing to the open door. "Beyond that door is the passageway that leads to the center of the Color Wheel. Let's move across the tiles as fast as we can and get through that door." We ran.
As soon as we got through the door I held Lyonella close to me and said, "I'll be all right now. I hope from here we can find a way out of the Color Wheel. Then we'll go to the overseers' urbode and report that both Errox and Wanklurm are here along with a few supporting troops, the ones who survived the headquarters battle."
To our right was an open portal marked with an encircled rainbow. I remembered it from my previous time here. It was the portal to the winner's circle. Perhaps there was an exit there. I put my finger against my lips to signal silence to Lyonella.
She nodded, showing that she understood.
I took the stun gun out of my waist pouch to be ready to deal with any Crusaders or guards with bolt guns. Lyonella was ready with her stun gun too. I was surprised as I looked into the winner's circle to see Errox sitting in a throne-like chair. His left arm was in a blood-stained sling. His left leg, partially wrapped in a bloody piece of tunic material, looked mangled, incapable of supporting his weight.
His right hand held a bolt gun that he was pointing straight ahead. He saw me but the gun never wavered. I took two steps forward to see his target. It was Wanklurm who was holding a bolt gun pointed at Errox. Errox glanced in my direction just long enough for Wanklurm to notice and say, "Welcome. You’re just in time."
Wanklurm saw me, recognized me as Tannet, the man he'd tried to kill, and cried out, "You!"
As he focused the bolt gun on me, Lyonella and I fired our stun guns at the same instant. Wanklurm collapsed. Errox's bolt gun fired, too late to hit the stunned Wanklurm who had fallen to the floor. The noise of the bolt gun was followed by the sound of someone running.
Zuelda, the tall albino with the kinky hair who was Errox's second in command, entered the room in a rush with a bolt gun in her hand. There was a bandage around her head that covered one eye. She asked Errox, "Are you all right? I heard the gunfire."
"Yes. They stunned Wanklurm before he could kill me. My shot missed him."
If Errox recognized Lyonella he gave no indication of it. Errox looked at me and said, "Thanks for saving my life. We're even now."
Zuelda pointed her bolt gun at Wanklurm's chest and fired. The VIS commander’s chest exploded with a spray of blood and gore.
She turned to Lyonella and me, "Thanks for stopping him from killing my lover. Who are you?"
She kept her bolt gun ready and kept shifting the focus of her one good eye between us and the door where someone might enter.
"Just two people who want to stop the fighting," I answered.
Errox put his bolt gun in his lap. With his right hand he reached into the container beside his chair and pulled out several multi-colored wristlocks. "I found the storage bin for removed wristlocks, the ones the winners turn in for new ones if they survive a visit to the Color Wheel. Now I can go into the wristlock business in a big way."
I wondered if his wound was affecting his thought processes. He had to have some idea of all the trouble he was in, even with Wanklurm dead.
Zuelda said, "There are only a few Crusaders and guards left. They are all someplace in the Color Wheel. We're here in the winner's circle, but there aren't going to be any winners today. The building is surrounded by VIS officers who are staying out of bolt gun range. Both the Crusaders and the white caps have lost. That last explosion at Wanklurm's headquarters wounded both of us. Even if we could escape from the guards and elude the VIS, we'd be captured as soon as we sought medical help."
Errox shook his head. "It isn't over yet."
Zuelda replied, "No, but it soon will be."
Then she looked first at Lyonella, then at me, and said, "There's a way out of here for you. I'll show it to you in appreciation for saving Errox."
She turned to Errox and said, "Hold onto your bolt gun and watch the door. I'll be right back."
She led us out of the winner's circle through a small passageway into a large sloping room with a chute at the lower end. It looked frighteningly familiar. She flipped a switch on the wall.
She said, "All will be ready soon. I'll have just enough time to get back and end the Crusade."
"How?" Lyonella asked.
"I'll fire the bolt gun into the container of wristlocks. They'll explode and destroy the entire building. Errox and I and all the other Crusaders will be reborn in the Free Land."
I realized that Zuelda was a true believer in the lies that Errox told about the Freedom Crusade. I knew there wasn't anything I could say that would change hermind. Instead, I asked, "How do we get out?"
Zuelda said, "Go to the far end, and wait by the chute. After I hear the water rush in, I'll set off the explosion."
She turned and left.
As Lyonella and I hurried toward the chute, I said, "I can’t swim."
"I can,” she said. “Just stay close to me."
We heard the boom of an explosion as the water rushed in and swept us away.
TWENTY-FOUR
A wave of water came like a returning nightmare and swept me away. I was better prepared for the ordeal this time. I kept my mouth closed, my head up, holding onto Lyonella. She was a skilled swimmer and steered us away from some of the walls I’d banged into before, although I did hit my head hard against some protrusion. We eventually reached a channel with shallow water, one we could stand up in as the current diminished.
We staggered to the bank, wet and dripping. We hugged each other, very glad to be alive even though we were somewhat battered and bruised.
The persistent hum in the air reminded me that we were in the automated factory section. When I had been here before, Errox had led the way out by a complex route that I had not been able to commit to memory. My mental map didn't include much about the autofactory areas. I asked Lyonella if she knew how to get to the overseers’ urbode from here.
She said, "I know we’re somewhere near the building where the drummers play. The nearest slidestrip isn’t far but I think we should go to the Medical Complex first. The back of your head is bleeding and I think I have one or two broken ribs."
I held her gently and kissed the top of her head.
"We’ve got to tell the Alliance what happened,” I said. “They don’t know t
hat Errox and Wanklurm are dead.”
"They probably suspect that both of them were killed in the explosion. Zuelda said that VIS personnel had surrounded the Color Wheel."
I remembered Zuelda saying that and I wondered how the Alliance had learned where Errox and Wanklurm were. I asked Lyonella, "How do you think the Alliance found out where the Crusaders had gone?"
"I don't know but I'm sure we’ll find out. Medical Complex first."
With Lyonella leading the way we went past a dozen or so of the large autofactories to the nearest slidestrip and got on. I pressed a piece of my ripped tunic against my head wound in an effort to reduce the bleeding. By the time we arrived at the Medical Complex I was shaky and weak from loss of blood. My eyes wouldn't focus right. I seemed to be experiencing double vision.
I passed out in the lobby.
* * *
When I returned to consciousness, I was on an individual sleep platform in unfamiliar surroundings and Lyonella was sitting beside me. A surge of joy went through me just to see her. I reached out to take her hand.
She said, "Welcome back. You suffered a concussion."
"How long have I been gone?"
"Several shifts."
"How are you?" she asked.
"I’m still sore, but my two cracked ribs are mending."
"Does the Alliance know what happened at the Color Wheel?"
"Yes. I reported what we witnessed. I also found out how the VIS learned that Errox was there. A scout saw Wanklurm using a tracking device and was sure that Crusaders were being tracked. She saw Wanklurm enter the Color Wheel and reported it to the VIS in the overseers' urbode."
"The fighting is all over?" I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
"Yes. Most of the Crusaders and guards who survived the battle at Wanklurm's headquarters were killed in the explosion. The survivors have been arrested. The Counter Colors have joined the Alliance. Together they've set up a temporary governing body to handle the transformation. Nobody knows what comes next, but it will be better than this false existence."