However, the situation could have been a great deal worse. He himself was still alive and no longer alone. Even the support of fifty or so well-intentioned amateur revolutionaries was better than nothing. If they would take his advice, he might be able to help them become a fairly potent force.
Except for the robot and android factories, all the important installations in Mak'loh were now held by Geetro's people or by androids who would take orders from no one but Geetro. The androids would stun any other Masters and kill their soldiers outright.
In fact, Geetro had a considerable edge in android fighting strength. By a strange irony, most of Paron's experimental androids had been assigned to the Power Guard after being confiscated. So Geetro had most of Paron's own android brain children as part of his fighting force. These androids were capable of using grenade throwers-at least on other androids. They could also act as sergeants and even officers to other androids.
Paron, on the other hand, had nothing except conventional androids on his side. «That's not entirely accidental,» said Geetro. «We were watching him rather closely for any signs of more experiments in android training. If he'd done anything unusual, we might have moved against him at once.»
«That would have been wise,» said Blade. «Also, what happens now, when Paron still controls the robot and android factories? You can no longer keep watch on him. What happens if he starts producing androids capable of killing Masters?»
That remark produced a dead silence. Geetro swallowed. «He would not take the risk. The people of Mak'loh would turn against him in a moment if he did.»
«The people of Mak'loh aren't going to be turning anywhere except over in bed for several weeks,» said Blade sharply. «Plenty of time for a desperate man to do a great deal of damage.»
«He could not possibly become that-«
«He certainly could become that desperate,» said Blade. «He has only two choices now-win or die.» He paused, then added in a level voice, «So do we.»
The others looked blankly at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. Geetro was the first to speak.
«Very well, Blade. You of England seem to know more of this sort of thing than we of Mak'loh. You promised us your help to save our city. Tell us what to do, and we shall listen.»
Chapter 18
Blade expected that open war would explode throughout Mak'loh within a few days. Blundering and inept warfare, perhaps, with both sides learning as they went along, but savage. Armies did not have to be skilled in order to be bloodthirsty.
In fact, almost nothing happened for several weeks. Each side started by establishing a sort of fortified camp, too strong to be attacked by the other without heavy losses. Each side took care to block off the underground tunnels leading into their camp, so that any attacks would have to be delivered on the surface.
Paron made his camp in the robot and android factory. Geetro made his camp in the power plant. Each side tried to win over as many as possible of the uncommitted Authority people. Each side sent out patrols through the city, on foot and in trucks, and occasionally sent flyers over the other's camp. Each side sniped at the other's androids, sometimes hitting them, and collected as many weapons as they could.
Neither side seriously tried to inflict casualties on the other's humans. Neither side tried to interfere with the movements and work of the uncommitted Authority people. The Walls were as well patrolled and the Houses of Peace as well served as ever.
It was a classical stand-off. Blade realized that neither side could think of a way to gain an advantage that didn't risk leaving the city defenseless or destroying something vital. Only part of this was a reasonable concern for their fellow citizens in the Houses of Peace. Much of it was a continued fear of rocking the boat too badly-even it it were sinking under their feet.
Left to himself, Blade would have organized a full-scale attack on the robot and android factory. He was reasonably certain that the Power Guard androids would give Geetro's side a decisive advantage. Of course, there would still have to be a pitched battle, and the factory might even be destroyed in the fighting. Blade certainly hoped so. He didn't want to destroy the androids and robots already in existence. They were too badly needed for too many essential jobs and would be needed for many years to come. But if no more were manufactured for a generation or two, Blade couldn't see any harm in that.
Geetro, however, wouldn't accept such a bold plan. Sela might have done so, but she was being very careful to avoid the appearance of allying herself with Blade against Geetro. The man's jealousy could too easily warp his judgment and put Blade in danger.
It was amusing to realize that Geetro might be the first man in Mak'loh to «fall in love» in the past century or so. It wasn't so amusing that it added one more complication to Blade's job, when he had enough already.
In spite of Geetro's refusal to plan a major offensive, Blade did not let time go to waste. All the sudden uproar and confusion in the city drew the notice of several thousand people from the Houses of Peace. Many of them wandered out into the streets of Mak'loh for the first time in a couple of centuries, willing to exert themselves Physically to satisfy their curiosity. Most of these wanderers met Geetro's people first.
Blade and Sela were able to recruit several hundred of them for Geetro's little army. They didn't try talking about a duty to the future of Mak'loh. The more intelligent ones would figure that out for themselves, and trying to convince the others would be a waste of breath and a waste of time. Instead, Blade and Sela pointed out that staying awake and moving about freely for a whole month could offer a whole new set of sensations, different from any available on an Inward Eye tape.
«And if there is fighting against Paron's androids,» Blade added, «you will be in combat. Combat gives incredibly vivid sensations, like nothing else in the world.» That was the truth, if not exactly the whole truth.
The new recruits were enthusiastic, but they had to be trained completely from scratch. «They hardly know which end of the rifle to hold and which to aim,» was the way Blade put it. He found himself having to spend several hours a day training the new recruits until they were at least as dangerous to the enemy as to their own comrades.
Fortunately, the rest of Geetro's developing army did not require Blade's help. With only a few orders and a minimum of supervision, the Power Guard androids could train other androids well enough. Geetro's personal followers spent so much time on patrol duty that they learned the business of soldiering almost in spite of themselves. Blade actually had time to spare, and he put that time into improving the weapons of Geetro's army.
The rifles and grenade throwers were good enough for the jobs they were designed to do. Paron's androids had carried away much of the reserve stocks of weapons and ammunition, so for the moment they were somewhat better armed than Geetro's people. But Geetro had the weapons factory, and the assembly lines were being reprogrammed and started up again. Geetro would soon have an advantage in «conventional» weaponry.
What Blade wanted to create was something unconventional-at least in terms of this war and this Dimension. So he reinvented the mortar.
As he explained it to Geetro:
«It's just a metal tube, closed at one end. You put a can of explosives-called a shell-into the tube. Then you fire it. The shell rises high into the air, so the mortar can even be hidden behind a building. When the shell lands, it explodes like a grenade, only it's much bigger and more destructive.»