me.
Li and Ubatu were still talking. They'd got no response from the Balrog, but that didn't slow them down. "...pleased for the opportunity on this historic occasion..." I slipped away, my boots making no sound on Zoonau's pavement. When I looked down, I saw that my footfalls were being muffled by moss: the Balrog wasn't getting out of my way, but was helping keep my escape silent.
To the best of my knowledge, I was the first person to walk on the Balrog without getting bitten. Such an unprecedented distinction filled me with dread.
As soon as I rounded a corner, the spores pulled back from my feet; once again, I was on bare pavement. It seemed the Balrog didn't like being stepped on but had tolerated my boots in the interests of a quiet departure. I mouthed the question Why? but got no answer: just a mossy nudge against my leg, urging me forward. I began running.
At the next intersection, I checked my Bumbler for which way to turn. Tut's blip was close to the heart of Zoonau. Since every knot city had the same general plan, I knew Tut must be approaching the central square, where the most prominent feature would be a ziggurat: a huge terraced pyramid with gardens at various levels, plenty of open areas for performances, and at the top, a raised pulpit where prophets could shout sermons to the populace. I could picture Tut jogging along the ropeways, heading for the pulpit where he'd... where he'd...
I couldn't guess what he'd do. And I couldn't get there in time to stop him. He was almost at his goal, while I was still blocks away.
But even as that thought sparked through my brain, a mass of spores rose before me, pushing up from the ground like a pantomime demon making its entrance through a trapdoor. The spores arranged themselves into a shapeless blob twice my height; then suddenly, the blob smoothed out into...
...a perfect moss-replica of my most recent egg sculpture. A tall slim egg with a single barred window, the bars wrapped with holy guardian snakes. One of the snakes lifted its head and winked at me; then the front of the egg swung open like a door, inviting me to step inside.
What's this? I mouthed. A carriage? Once again, no answer... but the Balrog's intent was obvious. It wanted me to climb into one of my Gotama prisons. Once I stepped inside, the door would lock behind me. Then I'd presumably be transported to Tut, carried into the city center fast enough to participate in whatever happened next. The Balrog was giving me a chance to make a difference in Zoonau's fate.
But I knew this was more than an offer of transit. I had to make a choice: I could join forces with the Balrog, volunteering to help in whatever the mossy alien was up to... or I could walk away and forever hold my peace.
My teachers at the Academy had warned about such situations—when a smarter-than-human alien asked you to buy in or opt out. There was only one reason you'd ever be given such a yes-or-no choice: because you risked getting killed if you did what the alien wanted.
Suppose the Balrog foresaw such a threat to me. Then the League of Peoples demanded I be offered the chance to say no. Otherwise—if the spores just grabbed me against my will—the Balrog would be guilty of dragging me into a lethal situation without option of escape. In other words, murder. The Balrog would catch trouble from the League unless I willingly stuck my head in the noose.
Which was where I was at that moment. If I stepped into that big mossy egg, I doubted I'd have another chance to back out. These things were almost always onetime offers. Like swallowing a porcupine—once you started, you had to keep going till you got it all down.
I hesitated. League law said the Balrog couldn't lure me into certain death—there had to be a chance I'd survive. Maybe a good chance. But there was also a chance I'd die. Too bad the Balrog wasn't obliged to explain what the percentages were.
Whatever the chances were, I knew what I was going to do—not
Li and Ubatu were still talking. They'd got no response from the Balrog, but that didn't slow them down. "...pleased for the opportunity on this historic occasion..." I slipped away, my boots making no sound on Zoonau's pavement. When I looked down, I saw that my footfalls were being muffled by moss: the Balrog wasn't getting out of my way, but was helping keep my escape silent.
To the best of my knowledge, I was the first person to walk on the Balrog without getting bitten. Such an unprecedented distinction filled me with dread.
As soon as I rounded a corner, the spores pulled back from my feet; once again, I was on bare pavement. It seemed the Balrog didn't like being stepped on but had tolerated my boots in the interests of a quiet departure. I mouthed the question Why? but got no answer: just a mossy nudge against my leg, urging me forward. I began running.
At the next intersection, I checked my Bumbler for which way to turn. Tut's blip was close to the heart of Zoonau. Since every knot city had the same general plan, I knew Tut must be approaching the central square, where the most prominent feature would be a ziggurat: a huge terraced pyramid with gardens at various levels, plenty of open areas for performances, and at the top, a raised pulpit where prophets could shout sermons to the populace. I could picture Tut jogging along the ropeways, heading for the pulpit where he'd... where he'd...
I couldn't guess what he'd do. And I couldn't get there in time to stop him. He was almost at his goal, while I was still blocks away.
But even as that thought sparked through my brain, a mass of spores rose before me, pushing up from the ground like a pantomime demon making its entrance through a trapdoor. The spores arranged themselves into a shapeless blob twice my height; then suddenly, the blob smoothed out into...
...a perfect moss-replica of my most recent egg sculpture. A tall slim egg with a single barred window, the bars wrapped with holy guardian snakes. One of the snakes lifted its head and winked at me; then the front of the egg swung open like a door, inviting me to step inside.
What's this? I mouthed. A carriage? Once again, no answer... but the Balrog's intent was obvious. It wanted me to climb into one of my Gotama prisons. Once I stepped inside, the door would lock behind me. Then I'd presumably be transported to Tut, carried into the city center fast enough to participate in whatever happened next. The Balrog was giving me a chance to make a difference in Zoonau's fate.
But I knew this was more than an offer of transit. I had to make a choice: I could join forces with the Balrog, volunteering to help in whatever the mossy alien was up to... or I could walk away and forever hold my peace.
My teachers at the Academy had warned about such situations—when a smarter-than-human alien asked you to buy in or opt out. There was only one reason you'd ever be given such a yes-or-no choice: because you risked getting killed if you did what the alien wanted.
Suppose the Balrog foresaw such a threat to me. Then the League of Peoples demanded I be offered the chance to say no. Otherwise—if the spores just grabbed me against my will—the Balrog would be guilty of dragging me into a lethal situation without option of escape. In other words, murder. The Balrog would catch trouble from the League unless I willingly stuck my head in the noose.
Which was where I was at that moment. If I stepped into that big mossy egg, I doubted I'd have another chance to back out. These things were almost always onetime offers. Like swallowing a porcupine—once you started, you had to keep going till you got it all down.
I hesitated. League law said the Balrog couldn't lure me into certain death—there had to be a chance I'd survive. Maybe a good chance. But there was also a chance I'd die. Too bad the Balrog wasn't obliged to explain what the percentages were.
Whatever the chances were, I knew what I was going to do—not
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