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lies near the roots of whatever modest stock of wisdom I possess."
There was at first no answer from the creature on the high inhuman chair, and
Daedalus pressed on. "Because I
can learn something, does that mean I must? Should
I not count the price?"
"There is no price, for you."
"Bah."
"What is the price for a man who stum-bles upon great trea-sure, if he sim-ply
bend and pick it up?"
"A good question. I will think upon it."
"But the cost to him is all the treasure, if he refuse e-ven to bend."
He knew he had no particular skill in intrigue, and was afraid to do anything
but carry the whole truth back to Minos. The King of course gave him no way
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out, and next
Daedalus was forced to enroll. He had no black sail to hoist, but simply
walked to the
White Bull's apartments again and said, "Well, here I am."
"Good." He could not tell if the Bull was gloating. "First, a re-fresh-er
course." And shortly Daedalus was walking into a classroom where Theseus and
Phaedra sat side by side among other young folk. Daedalus took his place on a
bench, endured some curious glances, and waited, gnarled and incongruous,
until the Bull entered and began to teach.
This was not instruction in the human way. Daedalus knew that he and his
fellow students still sat rooted to their benches, with the tall shaggy figure
of the Bull before them. But there came with the sudden clarity of lightning a
vision in which he seemed to have sprung upward from the ground, flying at
more than arrow-speed into the blue. The Labyrinth and the House of the Double
Axe dropped clear away, and his view carried over the whole fair isle of
Crete. Its mountains dwindled and flattened, soon became almost at one with
the fields and orchards, and very quickly the sea was visible on every side.
Other islands popped into view, and then the jagged mainland of Greece. Then
the whole Mediterranean, with a sunspot of glare on it bigger than lost Crete
itself, then Europe and much of Africa, and then a hemisphere the shared
experience was too much for some of the students and there were outcries and
faintings around Daedalus. He was a little shaken himself, though he had seen
this much during his previous enrollment.
Eventually the first day of his renewed schooling was over, and in due time
the second and third had passed. Lessons came in a more or less fixed plan.
Seldom were they as dramatically presented as that early one that indicated
the size and complexity of the world. Mostly the students studied from books,
hand-copied for them by students more advanced, who also did much of the
teaching. And there were tests.
QUESTION: THE WORLD ON WHICH MEN LIVE IS:
A. Bigger than the island of Crete.
B. Approximately a sphere in shape.
C. In need of cultivation and care, that can be accomplished only through
education, if it is to support properly an eventual population of billions of
human beings.
D. All of the above.
"Are these the secrets of the stars and atoms, Bull?"
"Pa-tience, Dae-dal-us. One step at a time. Tra-di-tion hal-lows the mode of
tea-
ching."
"Bah."
"Now you are a stu-dent. Dis-re-spect low-ers your grades and slows your
pro-gress."
Theoretically his attendance was to be for half a day, every day except the
rare holidays. But it was tacitly understood between the Bull and Minos at
least
Daedalus hoped it was that Daedalus in fact kept to a flexible schedule,
spending whatever time was necessary on 'the King's projects, the catapults,
the life-like statues, to keep them progressing. His days were more than full,
though he could have done all the school-work required so far with half a
brain.
Meanwhile the White Bull seemed to be keeping his part of the bargain. One of
his chief acolytes, Stomargos, an earnest mainland youth, frail and clumsy at
the same time, explained to Daedalus how Theseus was being shunted into a
special program.
"The Prince will be allowed to choose both his Greater and Lesser Branches of
learning from courses that have not previously been given for credit," said
the young man, whose own Greater Branch was, as he had proudly informed
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Daedalus, the
Transmission of Learning itself. "Since Prince Theseus seems fated to spend
most of his life as a warrior, the Bull is preparing for him courses in
Strategic Decision, Command Presence, and Tactical Leadership these in
addition, of course, to those in
Language, Number, and the World of Men that are required of all first-year
students."
"I wish the royal student well." Daedalus paused for thought. "It may be
foolish of me to ask, but I cannot forbear. Where and how is the course on
Tactical Leadership to be conducted?"
"All courses are conducted within the student's mind, Daedalus." The answer
sounded somewhat condescending. Nonetheless Daedalus pursued the matter, out
of concerned curiosity, and found out that the Labyrinth itself, or some part
of it, was to be the training ground. Beyond that Stomargos knew little.
Back at his workshop that afternoon, Daedalus found a message from Icarus'
teacher awaiting him the boy had run off somewhere, playing truant. It was the
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