And he did know. He trusted and admired Lord L. And yet he did not really believe.

Lord L hobbled back into the office and waggled a finger at Blade. «I have the cycle upcoming on the machine. Half an hour. You had better get ready. Unless-you've changed your mind?»

«No,» said Blade.

J came to shake hands. «I don't believe I'll go with you to the computer room this time, my dear boy. Not in person, at least. But I will be-well, you know.»

«Of course, sir.»

They shook hands. «Bless and keep,» said J.

Lord L glanced at his wristwatch. «Best get a move on, lad. If we miss the cycle it will be a lost twenty-four hours. And since you're so dead set on going now. .»

Blade grinned. The old man died hard. «I am,» he said. «Let's go.»

As Blade followed Lord L through the maze of corridors and past the various security checks into the computer complex, he conceived the weird fantasy that Lord L was not really Lord L at all, but a white-smocked Apollyon leading him into the Pit. Which might well be. You never knew, until you had gone through the computer and landed in Dimension X, whether it was to be hell or paradise. In most cases it was a bit of both. Which this time, and in what proportions?

They passed the final security check and walked amidst the smaller computers, heading for the room that housed the monster machine that would launch Blade. All around him the lesser brood hummed and clicked and flashed and rang bells and made complex decisions in a billionth of a second. The big man felt his usual antipathy taking over; he did not like computers and no use pretending he did. Now and then, when they passed a white-smocked figure in attendance, a human being in charge of all these electronic brains, Blade felt a small positive charge of relief. The machine had not entirely taken over. Not yet.

At last they came to the central room that housed the master computer. Lord L did what he had never done before: he followed Blade into the little disrobing cubicle. The old man talked as Blade stripped and donned a loincloth and began to smear himself with the tar salve that prevented computer burns.