The Spiral Labyrinth

“We should be frank with each other,” Lavelan said.

It had been my experience that most conversations that were launched on such a declaration represented an attempt by the initiator to gain far more information than he intended to give.

I had no doubt that there was madness here. How could it be otherwise in a cosmos that was ordered solely by will? It did not mean that the insane would automatically rise to the apex of the social order; their efforts would be diffused by the randomness of the impulses that drove them. But those whose extraordinary powers of will propelled them to the heights of power and rank would always be vulnerable to going further than they should. And there would be none but their equally mad rivals to restrain them.

“You ask if anyone has ‘tested the concept.’ But why would anyone test reality? Reality is not for testing, but for living with.”

“I detected some quavers in his voice that indicated stress. But I would not say that he lied.”

“Though it was not the whole truth.”

“It never is. The ‘whole truth’ starts with the beginning of the world and its telling takes an inordinately long time.”

“Often, when a stranger says, ‘Trust me,’ a wise man puts his hand on his purse and backs away.”

Persons who disguise themselves when they go out into the world rarely do so for innocent purposes. At best, they mean to pull some merry prank; all too often, they intend a considerably deeper mischief.

“I do not wish to experience that again.”

“Some people claim that the occasional exposure to fear enhances their enjoyment of more tranquil circumstances.”

“Some people ought to be confined for their own good,” my assistant said, “and to prevent them from spreading dangerous inanities.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he answered.

“No. It is so far from obvious that it has gone right through obscure, breezed past unfathomable and is now completely beyond the reach of my vocabulary.”

But in this age, logic was a flame that must be frequently starved of fuel.