Logan Trilogy (49 page)

A robot stepped toward them, indicating that they should follow.

Back to the corridors. Down a long slipway into the heart of the building. Along another hall. Very dim lighting. Silent. Sepulchral. A drifting odor of incense. An atmosphere befitting the God of Gods…

Then—a tall door filigreed in silver. It fell back with the faintest hiss of sound, and the robot nodded them forward. "He awaits you."

Were they to meet him now, the real Sturdivent—or would this be another of his clever manifestations?

They stepped inside.

The room sparkled with crown jewels, reflected in the gleam of oiled canvas along the walls, paintings by the giants of each era. Greek sculptures flanked a huge desk of veined marble. At this desk, this throne, sat the Godhead, the Master; the supreme ruler of Nirvana.

Sturdivent.

Not a God, a man. He stood to greet them, tall, massive of shoulder, deep-chested, his corded legs booted in silver, his tunic black velvet stitched in crimson, his fingers ringed in diamonds, a circlet of jade at his cat-muscled waist.

"Welcome to my city," he said, looking at each of them with eyes that possessed and dominated.

Logan felt the heat of these eyes move across his body. Never had he faced a more compelling presence. A man, yes, but a God in bearing and stature.

Sturdivent directed them to be seated, in a half-circle facing him, in carved oak chairs of classic design.

The Master resumed his place at the desk, his eyes never leaving their faces. "In each grouping at

Godbirth," he said, "I select a dozen unique individuals. This selection is carefully made."

His voice was deep, as magnetic as the man himself. It did not require amplification; the tone was riveting.

"You have, each of you, proven your worth as superior Sandmen—the pride of your Complex. Francis and Logan from California…Beaudry and Lef-Eorts from Paris…Hennessey and Collins from London…all of you, from Tokyo, Berlin, the Netherlands—outstanding in your areas."

Again he measured them with his eyes, and Logan felt the power of this man; it was as if Sturdivent could look into his soul, as if he could read Logan's deepest thoughts.

"From this city I now control the Central Computer," he told them. "The treasures of this world are mine—but they are not enough. To build power I have had to use subterfuge, remaining cut off from Earth, in isolation here. But this will soon end." His eyes continued to sweep them, hold them. "With my Gods, with you and others like you as leaders in this mass action, I plan to assume personal rule on this planet. The stage is now set. We will strike from the sky at key points around the globe, eliminating the nominal base of authority…DS…Federal Police…and after we have established total control I will suitably reward each of you. You will rule Earth with me."

Replacing one form of corruption with another, thought Logan. As Gant had hoped to do at Crazy Horse. Logan glanced covertly at the others. They were impassive. Nothing Sturdivent told them elicited an emotional response. They would obey his orders without question.

Sturdivent swung his gaze to Logan as he opened a drawer in the desk. He withdrew a heat-penetration handgun, placed the burnweapon on the desktop, and leaned forward.

"Take it," he said to Logan.

Logan walked to the desk and picked up the weapon, waiting for Sturdivent to speak again.

The Master rose and walked toward the group. "Any one of you must be prepared to die for me at a given command," he said. Sturdivent placed his ringed hand on the shoulder of a husky, thick-necked DS man.

"Stand up, Hennessey 4," he said quietly.

The big man obeyed.

Sturdivent turned, smiling, to Logan. "Burn him"

Logan found it almost impossible to maintain outer coolness, to appear indifferent in the wake of such an order.

Do it, he told himself harshly. Don't let your face betray you. Stay cold, emotionless. Don't think about it, just do it. Hennessey wouldn't be here, in this room, in this city, if he wasn't a notorious killer. He's Gunned dozens of runners—and he deserves to die.

You've killed before. You can kill again.

And if I don't, Logan told himself, I'll be the one to die. I'll never live to see my son…

Do it!

Hennessey regarded him with flat, opaque eyes. No fear. No recognition of impending death.

Logan raised the burnweapon.

And fired.

The heat charge struck the big man at shoulder level and the body exploded into ruin, toppling to the chamber floor. A thin gray smokemist hovered above the charred corpse as Logan calmly returned Sturdivent's weapon to the desktop.

"Thank you, Logan 3," said the Master, turning from the group and walking out of the room.

"You may leave now," said the guide robot.

Logan did not look back at Hennessey's body as they exited the jeweled chamber.

THE DREAM QUARTER

That night: a celebration.

"To welcome you and the other new Gods," the unit robot told them as the skycity pulsed with light.

The radiant domes and illuminated towers bathed them in brightness as a flowbelt took their group along a central passway toward the Palace of Celebration.

Logan felt numb; the kill he'd been forced to perform for Sturdivent left him depressed and enervated.

He regretted killing Hennessey. I should have turned the gun on Sturdivent, Logan told himself; he's the one I must destroy to end this thing.

But the robots would have burned me down if I'd attempted it. His guards would never have allowed me to kill him. You don't shoot God with his own gun. I'll have to find another way to deal with him.

Another way…

At the Palace of Celebration—an open-court, triple-tier structure in the heart of the city—Logan was impressed with the number of "Gods" in attendance.

Sturdivent's plan for world domination seemed sure to succeed; here were gathered over a thousand ex-Sandmen, best of the best, each of them pledged body and soul to Sturdivent's service.

The new Gods were toasted with wine, and formally welcomed to Sturdivent's kingdom by the DS

men of senior status. To Logan, the celebration was a travesty and a perversion—since all its participants remained in a mind-drugged state. They ate and drank and conversed in emotionless, mechanistic fashion. And in the midst of such a distorted celebration Logan's depression deepened.

Suddenly Francis was beside him, a wineflask in hand. He offered the wine to Logan. "Safe to drink it," he said quietly. "It's not drugged."

Logan was startled. "You're—"

"Normal." Francis nodded. "Their drug didn't affect me. I've been able to resist it. But I wasn't sure about you. Not until earlier today—when you killed the Sandman."

"How could you tell I wasn't drugged?"

"I was observing you closely," said Francis. "You hesitated for a fraction of a second just before you fired. No one else in that room would have hesitated. That's when I was sure of you."

"Did Sturdivent notice my hesitation?"

"I'm certain he didn't. He's too secure in his own massive egocentricity. After all, you did kill the man.

That was enough for Sturdivent. Your act was foolproof."

"Well, you haven't been doing so bad yourself," said Logan. "I was convinced you were like all the others. How did you overcome the drug?"

Francis smiled. "We're both strong men, Logan—stronger than Sturdivent counted on. The elixir produced hallucinations, but I came out of them—just as you did. We're special, Logan. Two of a kind."

But, Logan responded silently, I had the shielding, and you didn't. How did you manage to do what no other DS man has done?

"We can work together," Francis was saying. "Since we're among Sturdivent's 'elite' we have much more freedom and flexibility than the others."

"How do you know Sturdivent isn't having us watched?"

"Oh, he is—but superficially. At night, in our units. Basic wallscreen observation. But we're free to roam the city. Without observation."

"You've done it…checked it out?"

"Absolutely. No one's bothered me or followed me or questioned me. We're safe from suspicion so long as we act like the others."

"What about the robots?"

"They've been programmed to leave us alone unless we violate a basic city-law," said Francis. "If we're

careful, they'll be no problem." He looked hard at Logan. "The main thing is, Sturdivent must be stopped. He's out to destroy DS."

Logan's depression lifted; he was no longer alone. Francis, for whatever his reasons, was going to help him accomplish the aliens' mission. They would work together again as a team. And together, on this Earth or Logan's, they had been unbeatable. If Sturdivent could be stopped, they'd stop him.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Logan.

"First, we have to escape the city," said Francis. "And I think I've found a way out. If we can steal two antigrav units we can exit through the Dream Quarter."

"What's that?"

"At the far end of the city. Come on, I'll show you. But keep the act up. Move slowly. And don't say anything to me on the street."

"Right." Logan nodded.

They crossed the wide night city, riding the belts in silence, allowing the domed buildings to flow past them in luminous procession.

Logan had been mentally charting the days, sunrise to sunset, since the aliens had sent him to Earth.

He was running out of time. Less than twenty-four hours remained before he'd be abandoned here forever, with no hope of returning to his home world.

To Jess and Fennister and Mary-Mary, to the Wilderness People at Maincamp, I'm already dead, thought Logan. Lost in the sky, gone without a trace. He knew that Jess would be grieving for, him, desolate that Jaq would never know his father. Therefore, one thought was a twisting knife in Logan's mind, repeating itself over and over: I must get back to them…I must get back to them…

Francis stepped from the belt, Logan following. They waited in shadow until a unit robot had passed, then entered a squat copper-colored utility structure built over a complex cross-hatching of wide metalloid struts.

"These support the solar powerhousing," said Francis when they were inside. He tapped one of the

struts. "This one leads directly to a booster cone that has a utility-repair exit port. Once we have the flybelts, we can leave through the port without attracting attention. Sturdivent will never know we're gone."

"When we're out—what then?"

"We alert central DS to the truth about what's going on up here," said Francis. "Once we've shattered the Godbirth myth, with a few squads of armed DS in skybugs we can knock out this city and finish Sturdivent."

Logan was uncertain. "And what happens to all the brainwashed ex-Sandmen?"

"They die, of course," said Francis flatly. "And the Dreamers with them."

"Dreamers?"

"That's why they call this area the Dream Quarter. Because of them."

"You know a lot that I don't," said Logan. "Who are these Dreamers?"

"Sturdivent's special slaves," said Francis. "Kept down here away from the other Gods. One of the robots told me about them."

"Are they ex-DS?"

"Maybe. Don't know."

"I want to see them," said Logan.

"But, Logan—"

"Do you know where they are?"

"Yes, but it might be dangerous," Francis objected. "We can't afford to risk—"

"I want to see them," Logan repeated.

They did not have far to go. The Dreamers were housed in a subterranean section of a building directly adjoining the main utility block.

"What about guards?" Logan asked in a whisper as they moved along a narrow metal walkway leading to the ventilation tunnel.

"According to the robot, they keep two. One inside with the Dreamers, and another outside the door.

We can avoid them if we use the tunnel."

At the ventilation shaft, they loosened a wallplate, pried it off, and quickly climbed inside. The shaft tunnel was high enough to permit them to move rapidly through it in a running half-crouch.

"What we're doing is crazy, Logan. We should be using this time to prepare our exit from the city.

Why are you so determined to do this?"

"Because I have a hunch about the Dreamers," said Logan. "I don't think they're DS men."

And they weren't.

"Women!" marveled Francis, peering down at the dreaming figures. The ventilation tunnel passed directly through the large, dim-lit Dream Chamber—affording Logan and Francis a clear view of the Dreamers below. Fifty of them. Lying in easy-breathing rows of five, their nude bodies in fetal position, supported by webbed straps. A delicate mesh of golden wiring encased each of them, from throat to ankles, in a pulsating electronic womb.

"I know those faces!" whispered Francis. "I've seen them before."

"On scanboards at DS." Logan nodded. "Runners who got away."

"So they didn't vanish after all!"

No, thought Logan, they're here—all of them—taken up to this skycity by Sturdivent's "Gods" to satisfy the Master's sexual desires. All of them…

Including Jessica!

She lay just below him, her body cocooned in metal filaments, her eyes closed in dreaming sleep.

A robot guard walked the rows, checking, adjusting body-contact points, making certain that each female was properly tuned to the machine that spun out endless electronic dreams.

Logan gestured Francis toward the exit.

Back on the walkway, Logan did not mention having recognized Jessica, but his face was tight-set; he knew he must find a way to release her. He could not abandon her here.

"Change of plan," he said. "We don't leave the city."

Francis stared at him. "But that's the only way! If we don't alert DS to what's happening up here—then Sturdivent wins! He's ready to make his move."

"There's another way," said Logan. "We'll do it another way."

The two unit robots assigned to guard the Dreamers were Q-9 W2 models, the latest in the Q-Series Defense Machine development line. In outer appearance they were identical to earlier models: wide, reinforced steelloid bodies with featureless mirror-bright faces behind which computerized relays directed their actions. In overall design, however, they were much more sophisticated.