Blade stripped the dead soldier. Under the coveralls, it wore a reinforced garment covering torso and groin, like an armored vest from Home Dimension. Under the vest, it was naked. Blade was not surprised to see that it had neither navel, breasts, nor any visible sex organs. It didn't even have any body hair, except a sparse growth on the head.
He was able to pull on both the vest and the coverall and still breathe and move comfortable. He put the helmet on his head, tightened the chin strap, and looked at himself in the cab of the truck. The woman's pistol had shattered or cracked half of it, but there was still enough left to give Blade a good image of himself. His complexion was hopelessly wrong, but otherwise he'd do well enough, at least in the darkness. He wasn't going to be roaming about this city by daylight until he'd asked somebody a few pointed questions about the androids and a good many other things!
The next thing to do was to get the woman some place that was out of the rain and where they wouldn't be interrupted or bothered by anyone, human or android. He remembered the rod she'd been tapping against the door. He picked it up and went to work on the door, feeling with one hand and using the rod with the other. At last be felt a circular panel sunk a fraction or an inch into the door. He pressed the rod hard into the center of the panel.
The third time he pressed, the door quivered, then slid gently aside. It was solid metal, nearly a foot thick, and Blade heard faint grating and grinding noises as its immense weight moved. It revealed a long corridor, bathed in pale blue light, with a number of rooms opening off each side. It looked remarkably like one of the corridors in the building by the Wall. Blade pulled on his pack, lifted the woman in his arms, and carried her inside.
As if his appearance had conjured them out of the air, two of the blue-clad worker androids popped out of the nearest doorway. The combination of blue light and blue coveralls made their waxy complexions look even ghastlier than usual. Both of them stopped and looked at Blade, but neither of them said a word. Blade would have given a good deal for those totally expressionless faces to show some emotion he could interpret, but they were as blank as ever.
After a moment one of the androids went over to the doorway and pressed his hand against a plate set in the wall beside it. The door slowly closed behind Blade. In silence he walked down the corridor. The androids stood like a pair of sentries at the end of the corridor until they seemed to realize they weren't going to get any orders from Blade. Then they disappeared back into their room.
The rooms along the corridor were all very much like what Blade had seen in the building by the Wall-large, clean, shabby, and sparsely furnished. In the center of one room, an intricate sculpture of silvery metal spirals stood on a stone pedestal. The metal sculpture was the first really decorative object Blade had seen in this whole Dimension. Somehow that made him feel more at home, so he chose that room.
The woman was still unconscious when Blade laid her down on the bed. Her hair was a sodden mess, but her coverall was as dry as if she'd been taking a walk on a spring morning. The material seemed to be water-repellant to an extraordinary degree.
Blade made no effort to undress the woman. Instead, he propped her head up on several pillows, then tied both her hands and feet as securely as he could without making the knots painfully tight. After that he searched the room.
He learned nothing he hadn't known before, until he came to the wardrobe. This one also opened itself at his approach, revealing a dozen robe-like garments in as many different lengths and colors. Several were nearly transparent, and two looked as though moths had been at them for years. They were more holes than fabric.
Blade took off his helmet and pulled on the largest of the robes. It concealed the red coverall completely. He took one of the moth-eaten robes, cut it into strips with his knife, and carefully gagged the woman. She might not be able to order the worker androids to fight him, but she could probably order them to call the soldiers or other humans.
Finally, Blade pulled the blankets over the woman until only her head was visible. Then he took his sword and rifle and went out into the corridor. The woman looked as though she'd be quietly unconscious for another couple of hours. That would be plenty of time for him to get around and do a little exploring on his own. He might find a few of the answers he was looking for. That could put him in a stronger position to get the rest of the answers from the woman when she woke up, without having to do anything drastic to her.
Chapter 13
One of the workers was moving down the corridor with a box in its hands as Blade came out of the room. It stopped and said, «What will please the Master?»
It seemed the workers would take him for a Master, now that he had a Master's clothes on. Good. Apparently a Master could go anywhere-unless he ran into a mad soldier and all he had to do was give orders.
«I wish you to take me to the top of this building,» he said. «I will be pleased to walk about in it.»
The worker was silent for a moment. Then it said, «That is Physical.» The emphasis it placed on the word implied the capital letter.
Blade sensed he'd done something that wasn't part of the android's notions of a Master's behavior. But he wasn't going to sit on his arse simply to keep these damned androids happy
«I will be pleased to walk about in the building,» he repeated. «Your orders are to please the Masters.»
The android nodded slowly. «This is a House of Peace. Does the Master wish assistance with the Inward Eye?»
«No, I do not wish assistance. I wish to walk about in the building.»
«That is Physical,» said the android again.
Blade was tempted to ask why something being Physical was so important but decided against it. That might reveal a degree of ignorance sufficient to make even a worker android suspicious.
He shook his bead. «It will not be pleasing to the Master if you do not obey. Is this clearly understood? If you do not take me where I want to go, you will be unreliable.»
The last word did the same thing to the worker as it had done to the soldiers on the city wall. The android stiffened and quivered all over. «The Master will be pleased,» it said unsteadily.
«Good,» said Blade. «Lead the way.» He pointed with the rifle. The android turned and headed down the corridor. Blade followed it to the far end and through a low archway. Beyond was a large, square room with a railed, circular metal platform in the middle. The android went over to the platform and beckoned Blade up onto it. He looked up and saw a circular shaft slightly larger than the platform rising up into the darkness above it. Then the android gripped a section of the railing and twisted it. The platform shot straight up from the floor and into the shaft with a faint humming sound.
Blade gripped the railing and watched the walls of the shaft flow past. At intervals they shot through large, square rooms like the one on the ground floor, so fast that it was impossible for Blade to see what was in them. Apparently the android was taking Blade's wish to go up to the top of the building as a literal order.
Several minutes later Blade finally saw the sheen of a metal ceiling above him. It grew rapidly larger, until he could make out patterns of metal ribs. Then the platform soared up out of the shaft, lurched sideways, and thudded down on the floor, nearly knocking Blade off his feet.
Blade stepped off the platform and looked around. His first impression was that he'd wandered into the middle of a high-society orgy. On a low dais piled with rugs and pillows, a couple was making love. A red-haired woman lay naked on a mat on the floor, while an android wearing only blue shorts straddled her buttocks and back, massaging her steadily and expertly. Three other people-two men and a woman-stood chest deep in a large glass tub. Two androids were scrubbing them with sponges on long handles, while a third played a hose over them. Blade caught a heavy scent of perfume from the water.