CHAPTER 27 

They were striding down a hallway, narrower and not as high as the corridor through which Dennis had been led to the assembly chamber. It was bland—but bright and cheerful, filled with the same diffused light as the larger volumes. 

"Here, this will do," Aria said. Another door opened—would they do that for him? "Just ask for what you need, bath, clothing—whatever. Everyone's waiting in the assembly hall, but you needn't rush." 

Her face lost its look of superiority though not the bitter humor that had always underlain it. "We have plenty of time here in Rakastava." 

"Ah..." Dennis said. Chester could help him figure things out. Aria certainly wasn't coming into the room with him. He'd never thought that she would, never... "Thank you." 

He stepped into the room. Its walls were sand colored, the hue of the shaded side of dunes in late afternoon. 

"You aren't like most of the wanderers we see here," Aria said. "Vagabonds, really." 

"Pardon?" 

She turned away. Her skirt flowed silently as she swept back up the hallway. "It doesn't matter," she tossed over her shoulder. 

"How do I close the door, Chester?" Dennis whispered to his companion. 

"Tell the door to close, Dennis," the robot replied. 

"Ah, close, door." 

"If you meet a beautiful woman," Chester went on as the wall spread itself back over the door opening, "prove that your control over your body is greater than hers." 

"Hush, Chester." 

The room had a bed of modest size and what seemed to be an empty sideboard. There was no bath. 

"Ah, bath, pour yourself," Dennis ordered. One of the beige walls quivered. Water gurgled beyond it. 

Dennis whisked aside what turned out to be drapery rather than a solid surface like the other three sides. A tub shaped in the gentle curves of a half clamshell was filling, apparently by osmosis through its glistening body. 

The tub was full by the time the youth had stripped off his clothes to get in. Not much in the way of clothing had survived the weeks since he left home, he admitted ruefully. He supposed he could wear leaves or bark... something, at any rate... if he were to spend the rest of his life in the jungle. 

The water was hot but not quite uncomfortable. It had a slight scent and astringence which suggested that it already contained some sort of cleansing agent. He wished he had a proper bath sponge, but the multiple scabs and scrapes he could reach with his bare hands softened pleasantly as he rubbed them. 

"Chester," he said. "Should I stay here? Or should I go back to Emath now?" 

"The one who asks foolish questions wearies those around him," said the robot, his outline blurred by the steam rising from Dennis' bath. "Who but yourself knows where your heart is?" 

"I can't see—spending all my life in the jungle," the youth went on. "This place is—very wonderful, in some ways... But there's something about it I don't like. And back home, well, I was right to leave and I don't think I want to go back just yet. 

"I think—" Dennis closed his eyes and rested his head and arms on the edge of the tub for a moment, luxuriating in the warm cleanliness. "—that we'll stay in Rakastava for a while and learn a little more about it. And then we can go on if we want to." 

"If you ask for clothing, it will appear in the cabinet, Dennis," Chester said. 

Dennis rose in the tub and stepped out. The level of the water began to drop immediately. "Clothes, appear," he said tentatively. 

A set of bright yellow garments rose from—through—the bottom of what he had thought was an empty sideboard. 

"Wow!" he breathed aloud. "Ah, and a towel?" 

When the towel—dark beige like the room's walls—appeared, he realized that he should have asked for a sponge before he got into the bath. 

The garments were slippers, a tunic and loose trousers—all of a soft, slick fabric that was similar to silk; but not silk, and not any textile with which Dennis was familiar. 

"Do you suppose all the rooms in Rakastava are like this, Chester?" he asked as he slid the tunic over his head. 

"All the rooms are like this, Dennis," the robot replied. "Except that they may be finer." 

The slippers fit perfectly. "That's amazing," Dennis said. "And none of it costs anything." 

He looked at the blank wall and said, "Door, open!" 

Behind Dennis as they strolled toward the assembly hall, Chester said quietly, "It would indeed be amazing if there were no costs, Dennis."