least lead to another signpost, since it cannot actually lead to nothing. Let's try that.
Soon they reached another junction with just two paths leading from it. However, the sign was of a different kind. To the left it said NOT THIS WAY, while to the right it said DON'T FOLLOW
THE OTHER SIGN.
'What is this - something from Alice in Wonderland?' Peri said.
'The two cancel each other out,' Jaharnus observed, becoming interested in the puzzle despite her professional preoccupations.
'They don't tell us anything.'
'Not quite,' said the Doctor. 'The right-hand sign does not mention a direction but merely the other half of the sign, so it's actually self-referential. I think we should treat it as a double negative.'
They proceeded to the left.
'What if the next sign says "Ignore last sign"?' Peri asked.
Arnella stared at a sign that said THIS WAY to the left, and FOLLOW THE OTHER SIGN to the right.
Thorrin fumed. 'We cannot even be sure of the solution. How deep should we assume the deception runs? Childish puzzles!'
'But you're not going to let that stop you from solving them?'
Rosscarrino asked mildly.
'What? No, no... of course not. But they are most trying.'
'Exactly. Perhaps that's the point. A lesson that we have to abide by Rovan's rules.'
Brockwell spoke up, and Arnella realised he was trying to soothe his irritable employer's ego.
'They might be deliberately insulting our intelligence and trying to get us angry in the hope that we'll make a foolish mistake. But you're not going to fall for that sort of trick, are you, Professor?'
He lowered his voice. 'And remember, all this is being recorded.'
He tilted his head at the DAVE drone hovering a few metres away.
Thorrin scowled, but then recovered himself and sniffed thoughtfully. 'Yes, you could be right, Will.' He looked at the sign again. 'Well, clearly, taken as a whole, it indicates we should go right.'
'I agree,' said the Marquis with a smile.
Arnella knew her uncle was also trying to keep Thorrin in a tolerable humour. They still needed him until they reached the treasure. After that, of course, they would need no one's charity ever again.
Eventually Qwaid called them to a halt. They were back at the junction of four paths, which they had left ten minutes before.
It had seemed to say that the central path had been the right one... or perhaps the wrong one, looked at another way. He was getting sick of neatly painted signposts.
'I've had enough of this. I don't care what that woman said, we're going to take a short cut.' He took out a miniature inertial compass and looked at the sun as it sparkled through the branches.
Then he pointed between two of the paths. 'Right, that's the same line as the first path that led in here, so we'll stay on that.
If we keep going straight ahead we're bound to come out somewhere soon enough.'
'But she said it was dangerous to leave the paths,' Gribbs reminded him, peering anxiously at the tangle of lush greenery ahead of them.
'How do we know that?' Qwaid retorted. 'Maybe that was a lie as well, just to get us running around like rats in a maze while they laugh at us. Perhaps working it out is part of the test, and this is how you're meant to go.' Gribbs still looked unhappy.
Drorgon shrugged his massive shoulders. 'Anyway were all kitted up for trouble, aren't we? Maybe we can't use our guns on the others, but nobody said we couldn't use 'em on anything else that gets in our way. Go to it, Dro.'
Drorgon's huge machete with its ultra-fine diamond slick coating hissed effortlessly through a hanging tangle of creepers, and they marched forward off the path and into the green-tinted shadows. Gribbs held his own blade ready and hacked nervously at an innocent bush. In two minutes they had passed through the spur of wood and came to a path that crossed their line of travel. Unhesitatingly Qwaid led them across it to the next wall of green.
Down at the end of the path they saw the figures of Thorrin's party
Soon they reached another junction with just two paths leading from it. However, the sign was of a different kind. To the left it said NOT THIS WAY, while to the right it said DON'T FOLLOW
THE OTHER SIGN.
'What is this - something from Alice in Wonderland?' Peri said.
'The two cancel each other out,' Jaharnus observed, becoming interested in the puzzle despite her professional preoccupations.
'They don't tell us anything.'
'Not quite,' said the Doctor. 'The right-hand sign does not mention a direction but merely the other half of the sign, so it's actually self-referential. I think we should treat it as a double negative.'
They proceeded to the left.
'What if the next sign says "Ignore last sign"?' Peri asked.
Arnella stared at a sign that said THIS WAY to the left, and FOLLOW THE OTHER SIGN to the right.
Thorrin fumed. 'We cannot even be sure of the solution. How deep should we assume the deception runs? Childish puzzles!'
'But you're not going to let that stop you from solving them?'
Rosscarrino asked mildly.
'What? No, no... of course not. But they are most trying.'
'Exactly. Perhaps that's the point. A lesson that we have to abide by Rovan's rules.'
Brockwell spoke up, and Arnella realised he was trying to soothe his irritable employer's ego.
'They might be deliberately insulting our intelligence and trying to get us angry in the hope that we'll make a foolish mistake. But you're not going to fall for that sort of trick, are you, Professor?'
He lowered his voice. 'And remember, all this is being recorded.'
He tilted his head at the DAVE drone hovering a few metres away.
Thorrin scowled, but then recovered himself and sniffed thoughtfully. 'Yes, you could be right, Will.' He looked at the sign again. 'Well, clearly, taken as a whole, it indicates we should go right.'
'I agree,' said the Marquis with a smile.
Arnella knew her uncle was also trying to keep Thorrin in a tolerable humour. They still needed him until they reached the treasure. After that, of course, they would need no one's charity ever again.
Eventually Qwaid called them to a halt. They were back at the junction of four paths, which they had left ten minutes before.
It had seemed to say that the central path had been the right one... or perhaps the wrong one, looked at another way. He was getting sick of neatly painted signposts.
'I've had enough of this. I don't care what that woman said, we're going to take a short cut.' He took out a miniature inertial compass and looked at the sun as it sparkled through the branches.
Then he pointed between two of the paths. 'Right, that's the same line as the first path that led in here, so we'll stay on that.
If we keep going straight ahead we're bound to come out somewhere soon enough.'
'But she said it was dangerous to leave the paths,' Gribbs reminded him, peering anxiously at the tangle of lush greenery ahead of them.
'How do we know that?' Qwaid retorted. 'Maybe that was a lie as well, just to get us running around like rats in a maze while they laugh at us. Perhaps working it out is part of the test, and this is how you're meant to go.' Gribbs still looked unhappy.
Drorgon shrugged his massive shoulders. 'Anyway were all kitted up for trouble, aren't we? Maybe we can't use our guns on the others, but nobody said we couldn't use 'em on anything else that gets in our way. Go to it, Dro.'
Drorgon's huge machete with its ultra-fine diamond slick coating hissed effortlessly through a hanging tangle of creepers, and they marched forward off the path and into the green-tinted shadows. Gribbs held his own blade ready and hacked nervously at an innocent bush. In two minutes they had passed through the spur of wood and came to a path that crossed their line of travel. Unhesitatingly Qwaid led them across it to the next wall of green.
Down at the end of the path they saw the figures of Thorrin's party
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