sound so bad. But he began to wonder, in a quiet
sort of way, just what was going to happen to William Forrester,
acolyte and history professor, when Forrester/Bacchus had became a
reality. With a blunt shock he knew that there was only one answer.

William Forrester was going to die.

It didn't matter what the verdict of the Gods was. There were more tests
coming, he knew, and if he failed them the Gods would kill him quite
literally and quite completely.

But, he went on, suppose he passed the tests.

In that case he was going to become Forrester/Bacchus, a substitute God.
Plain old Bill Forrester would cease to exist entirely.

Oh, a few traces might remain--his Beta curve, for instance, whatever
that was. But Bill Forrester would be gone. Somehow, the idea of a
revenant Beta curve didn't make up for the basic loss.

On the other hand, he reminded himself again, what choice did he have?

None.

He forced himself to listen to what the Gods were saying.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Well, I think that closes the subject. Am I
right, dear?"

"You are," Hera said.

"Very well," Zeus said. "Then the subject is closed, isn't it?"

Hera nodded wearily.

"In that case, we can proceed with the investiture. Hephaestus, will you
please take charge of the candidate?"

Hephaestus/Vulcan sighed softly. "I suppose I must." He swung off the
couch and stood half-crouched for a second. Forrester looked at him
blankly. "Well," Vulcan said, "come on." He jerked his head toward
Forrester. "Over here."

With one last backward glance at Venus, Forrester walked across the
room. Vulcan turned and hobbled ahead of him toward the wall. Forrester
followed until, almost at the wall, a Veil of Heaven appeared. Feeling
almost used to the thing by now, Forrester followed Vulcan through, and
he didn't even look behind him to see if the Veil had vanished after
they'd come through. He knew perfectly well it had. It always did.

The room they had entered was similar to the others he had seen, but
there was no change of colors. The walls glowed evenly and with a
subdued light that filled the room evenly. And, for the first time, the
walls weren't simply blanks that became things only when approached. The
strangest-looking objects Forrester had ever seen filled benches,
tables, chairs and the floor, and some were even tacked to the glowing
walls. He stared at them for a long time.

No two were alike. They seemed to be all sizes, shapes