“As you wish, Protector.” Gar bowed him on. The guards fell in to either side; Dirk and Gar fell in behind him.
“He’s right, you know,” Dirk said softly. “This kind of mercy is foolish.”
“Perhaps,” Gar returned, equally softly, “but he hasn’t met the Guardian and his robots yet—or his human jailer.”
A band played a solemn air as the Protector marched to the table in the center of the square, where Miles awaited him. People lined the walls of the surrounding buildings five deep, people hung from every window to watch, and soldiers stood stoutly in front of the crowd, to restrain anyone who became too exuberant—but no one did. There were two thousand people, at least, watching that day, and not one of them cheered or shouted; there was only a constant hum of muted conversation as they talked to one another in wondering tones about the unbelievable event they were witnessing.
Miles bowed as the Protector came to the table and handed him a quill pen. In loud, ringing tones, he declared, “Protector, you have read these documents in the privacy of your chambers. Will you sign them?”
“I haven’t much choice, have I?” the Protector said, with full sarcasm.
“You have every choice!” Miles orated. “If you do not wish to sign, you shall be treated with every bit as much respect as though you did!”
“Or every bit as little,” the Protector retorted. “And if I don’t, what shall you do then?”
“We shall declare your government to be null and void by the will of the people. Then we shall continue as we have planned, to hold elections. Everyone shall place his ‘vote,’ a slip of paper containing his choice, through a small slot in a locked box. These votes shall be counted, and the will of the people thus determined.”
The Protector yanked the quill from his hand. “Enough! I’ll sign. Whatever excuse you find for your rhetoric, it won’t be me!”
He bent over the table, dashed off his signature with a flourish, then straightened and handed the pen back to Miles—and the crowd cheered.
They cheered wildly, explosively. Their shouts of joy rang off the marble façades of the buildings all around the square, beating at the Protector, deafening him with rejoicing, and for a brief moment, he looked uncertain. Only for a moment; then he turned back to Miles with a sardonic smile, waited till the cheering had slackened, and cried out in a voice even louder than Miles’s, “Now! Take me to my prison!”
He was horrified when the crowd cheered again.
The Protector halted and stared in amazement at the opalescent walls rising high above the trees. “What city is this?”
“One that was lost,” Orgoru explained to him. “Our ancestors built it when they first came to this world.”
“That’s a fairy tale—that our ancestors came from a star!”
“It’s quite true, and the biggest of the ships in which they came lies beneath this city—but you’ll learn all that from its Guardian, if you wish to.”
“Only a fool doesn’t wish to learn!”
“Then you’ll have every chance you want,” Orgoru assured him. “Come, let me introduce you to your host.”
“You mean my jailer for the rest of my life, don’t you?”
“As you wish.” Orgoru stepped forward and gestured to the stocky man who awaited them in the stone gateway. “Protector, this is Master Bade.”
Bade held out a hand, but the Protector’s lip curled in scorn. “Come, now! You don’t expect me to shake hands with my jailer, do you?”
“I see you have the courage to stare at the unvarnished truth.” Bade withdrew his hand.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“Not at all, which is why the harshness of your government drove some of us to seek refuge in delusion. We came here to live a dream life, convinced that we were truly princes and lords.”
“A fairy tale indeed! What brought you from it?”
“A giant,” Bade said, “but we don’t know how.”
For a moment, the Protector’s eyes fired with hatred. “It seems I owe him even more than I thought.”
“Don’t let it bother you—he doesn’t insist on his due. Will you come up to the top of the wall with me, Protector? I have a sight to show you that may interest you.”
“My cell?”
“No, you shall have a palace for a prison. The only hardship is that you shall dwell in it alone.”
“Then show it to me quickly, so that I can begin planning my escape!”
“Let me lead you to the last men who said that.” Bade led the way onto the top of a tower. The Protector stepped out—and saw a gleaming skeleton. He stared, horrified. “You wouldn’t even bury them?”
“ ‘Them’?” Bade looked up. “Oh, those aren’t skeletons, Protector, only robots. Don’t worry, in a few days you’ll scarcely notice them.”
Horror of horrors, the skeleton moved—but the face it turned on the Protector was a featureless eggshell. He shrank back, but noticed how casually Bade went on, and followed him, but with wary glances at the robot, especially as it turned to shadow him.
They came out onto the parapet, and Bade gestured. “There they are.”
The Protector looked down—and saw hundreds of men in red robes, with here and there a blue one, even one or two in the plain homespun of a peasant or an inspector-general. His heart sank as he realized he was looking at his kidnapped magistrates and reeves.
CHAPTER 24
Before the horde of magistrates, Bade stood wearing a black robe, though it was decked with silver trim. Solemnly, he raised his right hand; the multitude in front of him rustled as they raised their arms in imitation. “Do you swear loyalty to the Council of Reeves?” Bade asked.
“I do so swear!” the magistrates answered as though with one voice.
“Will you uphold their declarations and enforce their laws?’ I do so swear!”
“Will you defend and uphold the Charter of Human Rights?”
“I do so swear!”
“Welcome, brother officials of the New Order,” Bade intoned. “Leave this city now, to take up your offices under the Reeve of Reeves. Miles, your new Presiding Magistrate, shall soon send you your true wives, those with whom you have felt the actual bond of marriage. Those of you who have found no true wife will not be obliged to take one; you may serve the realm as magistrates anyway. All other wives who do not join their former husbands shall, as we have promised, continue to be supported by the Realm.”
The magistrates cheered and began to file out through the gate by which the Protector had just come in. He watched them go, his face ashen.
“All of those men have been my prisoners for at least a year,” Bade told him. “Some of them have lived here for five years. With a whole city to roam; they haven’t had close confinement to complain of, but they’ve tried to escape continually, even after I told them that whoever could learn more than the Guardian would be allowed to go free. None did, of course, but they were still trying when Miles sent word that they could go free, and could become magistrates again if they liked. You will have to be ingenious indeed Protector, to develop a scheme none of them has thought of.”
The Protector felt the truth in the words, and felt his heart begin to sink.
“Come, now.” Bade beckoned. “Let me introduce you to the Guardian.”
The Protector met the bodiless intelligence that greeted him courteously and answered every question he could ask. When he left the chamber, his heart could sink no lower.
Outside the city, Orgoru hurried to join Gilda and the aloof giant who watched their embrace. “It’s done,” said the former madman.
“Don’t tremble so, husband.” Gilda said into his shoulder. “You know it’s kinder than death, and that we had no choice.”