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doorway, where the massive bronze doors stood ajar, his arms outspread
to receive her. He was clad in the latest style, neo-archaic, with tunic,
cloak and sandals all in gold-trimmed white, his red hair neatly cut so it
hung no lower than his earlobes.
William and Vala embraced and kissed with hungry violence as Chief
Running Water watched them emotionlessly.
"Come, darling. Talk to me," she said, as she led William toward the
slightly raised platform where Urizen, reclining on white cushions,
awaited them.
They paused a moment to bow and say in unison, "Our King," then
Urizen gestured for them to be seated. Urizen, as usual, wore no clothes,
but his bearing was kingly, commanding more respect than the most
costly crown on the head of a lesser man.
"What news from the empire?" Vala demanded. Between themselves
the three spoke English so no one else would understand.
"The empire& " William chose his words carefully. "& is imperfect."
Urizen laughed. "For the moment, perhaps. But since my plan is
perfect, the result of my plan will also be perfect."
"But when?" asked William.
"All has gone well so far, has it not?" Urizen said playfully. "We set the
world to uniting itself under a single capital, then, when that single world
capital in due time came into being, we took that capital for ourselves.
That was my plan a simple one really and here we are, exactly where I
expected we'd be. Politics is like farming, my friend; you plant a seed, then
wait."
"I've flown over Oothoon," William said bleakly.
"And you found?"
"A land of death eternal. Nothing human lives over there, not on the
northern continent nor on the southern. There are trees, animals, but& "
Urizen leaned forward, saying seriously, "What do you want? A world
split in half? A world like the one before the Great Change where the
United States and Russia stood facing each other with drawn knives for a
hundred years? If one world is what we want, there must be one power,
not two or ten or a hundred, one power with the means and the courage to
exterminate all rivals."
William glanced at Chief Running Water. "Not everyone would agree."
Urizen said, "Are you speaking of the Chief there? Believe me, he is only
too glad we captured him in the early stages of the war, before the plague
infected him. Here, it's true, we make a clown of him, forcing him to
parade around for our amusement in the costume of his savage ancestors,
though we know well enough that before the war he dressed the same as
any good citizen of Albion." Urizen turned to the Chief and called, "Hey
there, boy! What were you before the war?"
The answer came without hesitation. "A college professor, my lord."
"And tell me, Chief, where would you rather be? Back there before the
war, teaching college, or here, as you are?"
"Here, my lord."
"You see?" Urizen said.
"What other answer could he give, and live?" demanded William.
"You're so sour," Vala said, pouting. "You should stay here with me, not
go bouncing around the world so. It isn't good for you."
"I am the Prime Minister," William reminded her. "Someone must go
about and see that things are as they ought to be."
"You sound as if you have still more complaints to make," Urizen said
languidly.
"There is unrest in high places and low," William said gloomily. "The
officials in the temple of Isis complain that you have no priestess at court."
"Hey Vala," Urizen called. "Would you like to be a priestess?"
"You swine," she cooed affectionately.
William went on, "The nobility complains that you fail to give proper
respect to the king and queen."
"Proper respect? It is against my better judgement that I let those royal
schemers live, and as for the nobility, they must be aware by now that I
preserve them only as one preserves the last examples. of some nearly
extinct species, for the amusement of the zoo-going public."
"And there are riots," William continued doggedly. "Not only in distant
parts of the world, but in the very streets of Golgonooza itself. The young
roam the streets like packs of wolves and every wall is covered with
obscene scrawls. Golgonooza was to be a city of art& "
"It will be a city of art, William," Urizen said soothingly. "Patience. We
have visited the future. We know that these dark times will one day end.
There is a perfect world uptime from here, and we visit it when we make
our spot-checks. It's there, William, the prize that makes it all
worthwhile."
"But& " William began to object.
Vala touched his lips with her fingertips. "Hush now, darling. Don't be
so serious."
William sighed and smiled. "I suppose you're right."
"The important thing is that you're home," Urizen said heartily. "It's
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