"So much for that," he muttered. "All right, let's go in the other direction."
He turned and backtracked, but when they came to the triangular building, everything seemed different.
"Something's wrong," he muttered, looking around.
"What is it?" asked Dante, who was bringing up the rear.
"That alley," said the Bandit, pointing. "It wasn't there before." On a hunch, he turned to his right, toward the entrance. It was gone. "Okay, so you weren't exaggerating."
Suddenly a creature the size of a child emerged from the shadows and approached them. It was covered by dull gray fur, and its face was long and angular, with wideset green eyes and a broad purple nose.
"Need a guide?" it hissed in a sibilant whisper. "Need a girly-girly house? Need a trip to Dreamland? Like to make a bet? I take you anywhere you want for 20-credits-20."
The Bandit tossed a coin to the Lab Rat. "Tell him," he ordered Blue Peter.
"I'm looking for a friend," began the alien.
"No blue girly-girly houses in the Maze."
Blue Peter shook his head. "This is a human friend. He's been locked up. His name is Virgil Soaring Hawk. I want to find him."
"I must search," said the Lab Rat. "I tell you soon."
"Should we wait here?" asked the Bandit.
"Go wherever," said the Lab Rat. "When I am ready, I find you."
He shambled off and scuttled around a corner.
"No sense following him," said Blue Peter. "When you get to the corner and look for him, he won't be there."
"Then let's walk around and see what the Maze is like, as long as he says he can find us," said Dante.
The Bandit agreed, and the three of them set off. The farther into the Maze they got, the stranger it became. Streets ended inside buildings, or curved and twisted back onto themselves. Buildings were all shapes; some seemed to blink in and out of the men's dimension, though when they approached them they seemed solid enough. There were doorless, windowless buildings from which peals of human laughter emanated, and stores that sold objects that were totally unfamiliar to Dante. There were brothels showcasing males and females of a dozen different races, and gambling dens with long, winding, seemingly endless tunnels leading to individual games. They followed a corridor, found a room with aliens playing jabob, retraced their steps, and found themselves inside an alien shrine that featured an altar stone still wet with blood. They walked out the exit, and found themselves blocks from the gambling den, on a four-level avenue covered by a building that rose from the ground on both sides of the street, leaned toward the middle, and joined about ten feet above the top level, forming a huge triangular arch.
"This gets weirder and weirder," said Dante.
"This is the ordinary part," said Blue Peter. "It gets really weird about three blocks from here."
Another Lab Rat, this one light tan with large black spots on its fur, approached them. "Psst!" it hissed.
"Go away," said Blue Peter. "We've already got a guide."
"Psst!" it repeated. "Your guide has deserted you. I will never do that. I offer the unusual, the exotic, the bizarre. All for only 20 credits."
"Not interested," said the Bandit.
"For you, 15 credits," said the Lab Rat. It pulled its thin lips back in a distorted smile. "Eat at Joe's."
"If we want a restaurant, we'll find one without your help," said Blue Peter irritably.
"Not like Joe's," said the Lab Rat. "Your meal is lightly basted and still alive. You can listen to it scream as it slides down your gullet."
"Forget it."
"It is forgotten," said the Lab Rat. "Psst! Girly-girly house of cyborgs, only 12 credits."
Their own guide suddenly appeared. He stared at the other Lab Rat and growled deep in his throat. The new Lab Rat hissed at him. A moment later they were roaring and screeching, jumping up and down and making threatening gestures. Finally, as the noise reached a crescendo, they both stopped at the same instant, and the new Lab Rat raced away.
"Do not let my brother disturb you," said their guide. "I will kill him later."
"He's your brother?" asked Dante.
"Probably," was the answer.
"Did you find Virgil Soaring Hawk?" asked the Bandit.
"Ah, the unfortunate Virgil," said the Lab Rat. "Yes."
"Why 'unfortunate'?" asked Dante.
"He is guilty of sins for which they have not yet created any names," replied the Lab Rat. He turned to Blue Peter. "You helped."
"Take us there," said the Bandit.
"They will not release him."
"That is not your concern," said the Bandit, tossing him another coin. "Just take us there and then leave."
"If I leave, you will never find your way out."
"That is our concern," said the Bandit.
"You will die of old age here, all but the blue one," warned the Lab Rat.
"Why not me?" asked Blue Peter.
"The Maze finds your presence offensive. It will throw you out."
"How do you know?"
"The same way I know how to find Virgil Soaring Hawk," replied the Lab Rat, as if that answered everything.
"But—" began Blue Peter.
"Shut up," said the Bandit. He turned to their guide. "No more talk. Take us to Virgil."
The Lab Rat stared at him, gave a shrug that rippled down its entire body, and headed off down a dank, twisting alley. The Bandit and his companions fell into step behind the furry creature, following as it turned one way and then another, seeming to follow no rational course—but they noticed that while they were constantly backtracking, they never passed the same street or building twice.
Finally the Lab Rat ascended two levels, walked a block, climbed back down to the pavement, and waited for his party to assemble.
"Here we are," he said.
"Where are we?" said the Bandit.
"You wanted to find Virgil Soaring Hawk, didn't you?"
"Yes."
The Lab Rat pointed to an unmarked door. "Just walk through there."
"There are 50 identical doors on this block," said the Bandit. "How do you know it's this one?"
"Because."
"All right. Open it."
"I am done. You are not paying me to stay."
"I paid you to find Virgil Soaring Hawk. You're not done until I know he's inside."
The Lab Rat turned to him. "Have I ever lied to you?"
"You haven't said five sentences to me."
"There. You see?"
"Open the door."
"I weep at your distrust."
"You'll do more than weep if he's not in there."
The Lab Rat stared at him for a long moment. "This door," it said, walking to a door next to the one it had originally indicated.
"I thought it was the other door."
"I changed my mind."
The Bandit opened the door and turned to Dante. "Keep an eye on him until I make sure that Virgil's here." He entered the building.
"What's behind the first door?" asked Dante.