«No sound,» said Blake, «or I'll have your throat out. You know who I am?»

The guard nodded. He was typically Gnomen, bald and hairy, squat and muscular. He did not show fear nor was he inclined to make a fight of it. He stared up at Blade with dull brown eyes and nodded. «I know. You are the man Blade.»

«Right,» said Blade. «Do you want to die?»

The guard made the sign of the fylfot on his bald head. And answered calmly enough. «Not if it can be avoided.»

Blade held the torch so it revealed his face. He smiled. «It can-if you answer me truthfully and cause no trouble. Who are those women? Why are they guarded and where do they go?»

To his surprise the Gnoman chuckled. «You of all people have a right to know that, man Blade. They are the women who have missed their bloody time. Or so Jantor says. They are with child, or so Jantor believes, and he sends them far down for protection and safety. So whatever happens they will have their babies and the Gnomen race will go on.»

«I believe that,» said Blade. «But why? What is it that threatens them and the children they may have?»

«There is much activity on the Moon,» said the guard. «Jantor fears that they will invade or drop a destroy bomb. He is not sure of this, but he takes precautions. It is hard to tell about the orbfolk-they may do nothing.»

«That,» said Blade aloud, but to himself, «is all I need now, an invasion by the Selenes.»

The Gnoman was silent. Blade punched the spear bar a bit into his throat. «Where is Jantor now?»

«Up in the city of the Morphi. All the best warriors are. I, curse it, was not chosen. Instead I have to guard women. I am missing everything, the killing and the rape. All my life I have dreamed of having a beautiful Morphi woman even when it meant the pits to even think so. Now when there are thousands of sleepers ready for the taking I will miss it. I swear by every damned fylfot that it is unfair.»

Blade knew a momentary sickness in his guts. But this was Dimension X. He had seen worse. He made his voice casual. «Jantor gives his consent to this?»

The Gnoman shook his head. «No. Not to the rape. But what of that? Jantor cannot be everywhere. As for the killing of the Morphi males, he has ordered it in person-not all, of course. We Gnomen will need slaves when we take over.»

Jantor would have his hands full, Blade thought. He remembered thousands upon thousands of Morphi women up there in the city, all lovely and helpless sleepers. No wonder Jantor had forbidden rape. How could you keep an army together and under discipline in such circumstances?

He pressed the spear bar deeper into the man's flesh. For the first time the Gnoman showed fear. «You are going to slay me?»

«Maybe not. Do you know of the girl Norn?»

«I know of her. If she is anything to you I feel sorry for you.»

«Why? Where is she?» Blade scowled and poked again with the spear bar.

The Gnoman hesitated and his eyes turned shifty. «I had forgotten. It was whispered that she was something to you. If I tell you, will you spare me?»

Blade kicked him in the face. «You are in no position to make bargains. Tell me before the count of three.» He leaned on the bar.

The Gnoman guard, gasping for breath, spat out the words. «She is in the city, in the Hall of Entertainment, suspended over the mole rat pit. I would like to see that too, but I never will. It is said that the Morphi kept a hundred mole rats in that pit at one time. Starved them, studied them, watched them eat each other.»

Blade eased the pressure on the bar. «Jantor thinks I will come to save Norn. Is that it?»

«How would I know that, man Blade? I am only a sewer guard who does what he is told.»

Blade reasoned that for the moment Norn was safe enough. Uncomfortable, certainly terrified, but safe. Jantor was using her for bait, not for the mole rats. He would not destroy her until he was certain the ruse had failed.

He prodded the Gnoman. «How would you like to go up to the city and get your share of the sleeper women? Even join in the killing?»

The man grinned. «I would like it, man Blade. But how? My subchief gave me orders. If he finds me disobedient, he will kill me.»

«That is your concern,» said Blade. «You should be able to evade him. And if you do not take this chance, I will kill you now. So what do you say?»

«I will do it, man Blade. But what must I do?»

Blade took the man's bar and hurled it far down the tunnel. «Get up now. How are you called?»

«I am Dork.»

«Then listen well, Dork. You will lead me to the city level by the shortest way, avoiding the main sewers. You will walk two paces before me. No more, no less. If you turn, or drop your torch, or shout, or in any manner betray me I will put my bar through you from behind. You grasp all this?»

Dork nodded. «And if I serve you well?»

Blade prodded him back to where he had stomped out the torches. «Pick up one torch and light it from this one. If you serve me well, I will give you freedom when we are up in the city. What you do then is your own concern. You agree?»

Dork nodded. He lit the torch. «I will serve you, and hope my subchief does not catch me. It will be worth the risk for a chance at a Morphi woman.»

Blade prodded him again. «Then we go. You do know a short way up to the city?»

«Of course I know, man Blade. I have lived in the sewers all my life. And I will not betray you. For one, I do not want a spear bar through me and for two, I have been badly cheated by Jantor and my chiefs. I would kill you if I could, man Blade, but since I do not think I will get that chance I will serve you and also serve myself. I will show all that Dork is not to be cheated of his share of killing and loot. Mind it now-we turn off just ahead.»

As Blade followed Dork along an upward-slanting, narrow passage, dank and slippery underfoot, he debated whether to kill Dork when the guard had served his purpose. He decided not. One more rape or killing would not make all that difference in the vast carnage he knew he would find in the city.

Dork led him into a subbasement, up ladders and stairs into a full basement where maintenance sleepers lay about, so far unharmed by Jantor's hordes. They were one floor below city level now and Blade kept his bar point close to Dork's back. If the Gnoman had treachery in mind, it would come soon.

There was an open freight elevator stalled halfway between floors. Blade bade Dork haul boxes and they climbed by means of them atop the elevator. From that vantage, they could just peer out at ground floor level. They were in an apartment house and the front doors were open. Blade made Dork lie flat on his belly while he, Blade, popped his head up for a quick look. The sound of the dying city was now loud, now fading, as the Gnomen shattered the silence with their cries of fury and triumph, an incessant babble of savagery.

A score of sleeper bodies were piled in the lobby. Blade, in one fast glance, noted no females among them. They were all the beautiful male sleepers and they had all been mutilated-either the power stud behind their ears had been gouged out or the heads had been cut off. Jantor knew what he was about. Even were the power to come on, these poor corpses could not be reactivated.

The bodies were naked. The Gnomen would be casting away their denim breeches and donning Morphi garb. Blade ducked down and told Dork what he had seen. Dork nodded and said, «What else? The time of the Gnomen has come at last. I have kept my word to you, man Blade. Can I go now and see to my share of Morphi women and loot? You promised.»

«In a little time,» Blade promised. «I need you still. Come. We must go higher.»

Dork nodded. «Only hurry or I will lose out.»

Blade peered into the lobby again. A band of Gnomen rushed past the open doors, screaming in fierce glee. Several had the heads of Morphi males impaled on their spear bars. Many carried cans of intoxicant and drank as they ran. One Gnoman came staggering along with a case of the stuff.