NORTHWORLD

an answer. He'd been a powerful man, a few minutes ago. In some ways—in some
circumstances—the most powerful man on Annunciation. He looked at the things
beside him in the car and wondered whether any man in the Consensus really
had power. The spindles were shrinking. When Hansen first saw the creatures,
they had been taller than he was; now they were only about the length of his
thigh. They sputtered like electronics on the verge of failure, and the scenes
within the fabric of their bodies were becoming increasingly clear. Hansen looked
away. The tunnel ended in a white-tiled rotunda which appeared so abruptly
that Hansen felt the car braking before his eyes focused on the change in scenery.
Two figures waited for them, both human— not human. Both of the figures were
male androids. One was as beautiful as the dawn, while the other was a squat,
hideous travesty of humanity with thick, twisted limbs. They might very well
have come out of the same production batch. The rotunda had a high, domed
ceiling. There were eight archways leading from it—all of them closed by bronze
doors, including the arch by which the aircar had just entered. "Please get out,
Commissioner Hansen," said the voice in Hansen's skull. The aircar bobbled a few
centimeters above the floor instead of settling with the shut-down fans. "This way,
please, sir," said the handsome android. He had to shout to be heard over the
racket the car made. The android was speaking with his mouth. At least that was
a change for the better.... Hansen got out of the vehicle. It sped off into—
through—another doorway. The spindles who'd escorted the Commissioner had
shrunk to hand's breadth height. They were giving off sounds of sizzling, fiery
anger as they disappeared. The rotunda was almost silent when they and the
aircar were gone. "This will only take a moment, sir," said the misshapen android,
raising the flared nozzle of the apparatus he carried. "Please hold still." "What are
you—" "Please hold still," said the handsome android as the nozzle hissed an
opalescent bubble which wobbled and grew without detaching itself from the