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THERE WAS NO RESPONSE fro Blaine did reply, it was not ords Instead, the walls, floor, and ceiling began to lose their color and solidity again In a space of ten seconds the Barony Coach had once h the ray peaks rushed toward them at suicidal speed, then fell away to disclose sterile valleys where gigantic beetles crawled about like landlocked turtles Roland saw soe snake suddenly uncoil from the mouth of a cave It seized one of the beetles and yanked it back into its lair Roland had never in his life seen such aniht off his flesh It was inimical, but that was not the probleht have transported them to some other world

"PERHAPS I SHOULD DERAIL US HERE," Blaine said His voice was er heard a deep, pulsing rage

"Perhaps you should," the gunslinger said indifferently

He did not feel indifferent, and he kneas possible the cos in his voice - Blaine had told theh he was sure the computer could lie, Roland had no reason to doubt it in this case If Blaine did read certain stress-patterns in the gunslinger&039;s voice, the game was probably up He was an incredibly sophisticated ht not be able to understand that huh with a course of action even when all their eainst it If he analyzed patterns in the gunslinger&039;s voice which indicated fear, he would probably assuet them all killed

"YOU ARE RUDE AND ARROGANT," Blaine said "THESE MAY SEEM LIKE INTERESTING TRAITS TO YOU, BUT THEY ARE NOT TO ME"

Eddie&039;s face was frantic He nored him; he had his hands full with Blaine, and he knew perfectly hat he was doing

"Oh, I can be much ruder than I have been"

Roland of Gilead unfolded his hands and got slowly to his feet He stood on what appeared to be nothing, legs apart, his right hand on his hip and his left on the sandalwood grip of his revolver He stood as he had stood so ot-ten towns, in a score of rock-lined canyon killing-zones, in unnumbered dark saloons with their smells of bitter beer and old fried meals It was just another shon in another eh It was khef, ka, and ka-tet That the shoays came was the central fact of his life and the axle upon which his own ka revolved That the battle would be fought ords instead of bullets this time made no difference; it would be a battle to the death, just the sa in the air was as clear and definite as the stench of exploded carrion in a swae descended, as it always did and he was no longer really there to himself at all

"I can call you a nonsensical, eant machine I can call you a stupid, unwise creature whose sense is no more than the sound of a winter wind in a hollow tree"

"STOP IT"

Roland went on in the sa Blaine completely "Unfortunately, I am somewhat restricted in my ability to be rude, since you are only a et&039;"

"I AM A GREAT DEAL MORE THAN JUST - "

"I cannot call you a sucker of cocks, for instance, because you have no mouth and no cock I cannot say you are viler than the vilest beggar who ever crawled the gutters of the lowest street in creation, because even such a creature is better than you; you have no knees on which to crawl, and would not fall upon them even if you did, for you have no conception of such a human flaw as mercy I cannot even say you fucked your mother, because you had none"

Roland paused for breath His three co, was Blaine the Mono&039;s thunderstruck silence

"I can call you a faithless creature who let your only cohted in the torture of the foolish and the slaughter of the innocent, a lost and bleating oblin who - "

"I COMMAND YOU TO STOP IT OR I&039;LL KILL YOU ALL RIGHT HERE!"

Roland&039;s eyes blazed with such wild blue fire that Eddie shrank away froasp

"Kill if you will, but cootten the faces of those who made you! Now either kill us or be silent and listen to er, and lord of the ancient lands! I have not come across all the ! Do you understand? Now you will listen to ME!"

There was a moment of shocked silence No one breathed Roland stared sternly forward, his head high, his hand on the butt of his gun

Susannah Dean raised her hand to her ht feel so - a hat, perhaps - to ht She was afraid that this was the end of her life, but the feeling which dolanced to her left and saw Eddie regarding Roland with an arin Jake&039;s expression was even simpler: it was adoration, pure and simple

"Tell hiht!"

"You better pay attention," Eddie agreed "He really doesn&039;t give much of a rat&039;s ass, Blaine They didn&039;t call hi"

After a long, long moment, Blaine asked: "DID THEY CALL YOU SO, ROLAND SON OF STEVEN?"

"Itcalmly on thin air above the sterile foothills

"WHAT GOOD ARE YOU TO ME IF YOU WON&039;T TELL ME RIDDLES?" Blaine asked Now he sounded like a gru past his usual bedtime

"I didn&039;t say ouldn&039;t," Roland said,

"NO?" Blaine sounded bewildered "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND, YET VOICE-PRINT ANALYSIS INDICATES RATIONAL DIS-COURSE PLEASE EXPLAIN"

"You said you wanted theer replied "That hat I was refusing Your eagerness has made you unseemly"

"I DON&039;T UNDERSTAND"

"It has made you rude Do you understand that?"

There was a long, thoughtful silence Then: "IF WHAT I SAID STRUCK YOU AS RUDE, I APOLOGIZE"

"It is accepted, Blaine But there is a larger problem"

"EXPLAIN"

Blaine now sounded a bit unsure of himself, and Roland was not entirely surprised It had been a long time since the conorance, neglect, and supersti-tious subservience If it had ever been exposed to sio

"Close the carriage again and I will" Roland sat down as if further argument - and the prospect of immediate death - was now unthinkable