Chapter 9
Wayne was not expecting what he saw. According to Rondel’s notes, the city of Urba was supposed to be ultramechanized, spotlessly clean, a technological masterpiece running with clockwork precision. It had been created by the Wizards using all the engineering skills at their disposal, and was as glittery and artificial as a display in a toy store window at Christmas. The city of Urba ran from beginning to end as a masterpiece of silent efficiency.
Rondel had transformed the entire place. While keeping the same mechanistic foundation, he had changed its emphasis from temporal to spiritual. Crosses were everywhere—over doors, in windows, on street lights, and displayed in the center of the broad streets which, not incidentally, were paved with gold. The people, hundreds of them,
