Free 02. The Shadow Dancers by Jack L. Chalker

next switch module. Go through."
    He turned some funny dial and one of the black faces opened up and we walked back into the quiet cubes with the many mirrors again.
    The flashin' pictures on the walls, though, were different now. We sure wouldn't come out in no Oregon no more if we walked through one. The skies looked different, somehow, and the land was flatter, the green stuff a darker green. The trees looked big but all twisted 'round, and their leaves, when they had them, were real dark.
    Now, some of them paths was just to different exits, but some of the places now already didn't look much like what I knew back home, even if they was Africa or Siberia. It was kinda wild to look at them and know that on most of 'em there was billions of folks all goin' about whatever normal folks did there, livin' and lovin' and dyin' and havin' babies and all the rest, all thinkin' they was the center of creation.
    We went through three more switchin' stations, each one with a man or woman or something like that at the controls, but only one was what we'd call normal, and that's only from what I could see. She was kinda plain but with bright orange spiked hair that matched her eyes, so you can see what I mean.
    This time, though, she was more of a boss lady than just a worker. "You are authorized onto the headquarters siding. When you get there, follow all instructions. No exits other than headquarters entry will be permitted from this point."
    "I understand," Bill told her, and we went on. The Labyrinth took on a real odd look from this point, though; suddenly the walls of the cubes didn't just look like mirrors reflectin' strange places, they was mirrors, and they reflected back just us, then us again from the other sides, and so on, so there was thousands of smaller and smaller "us's" just goin' back until we got so small we disappeared, and that was on all the walls 'cept only the one ahead, which was black. Suddenly, though, we stepped out and into a really big cube that was all mirrors-even the way we came in was a mirror.
    "This place gives me the creeps," Sam muttered, and sounded normal.
    "It's designed to unnerve people," Bill replied. "It getsmore unnerving as you go along. This isn't the Labyrinth anymore-it's a special security entry room. We're here."
    "Identification and purpose, please," came a real boom-in' man's voice from all 'round us, kinda like the Voice of God. I jumped.
    "Bill Markham, Brandy Horowitz, Sam Horowitz, on Security Committee business. We are expected."
    "Remove and drop all clothing and anything else brought with you to the floor and stand at least arm's length from one another," the Voice commanded.
    "I wondered why we didn't even bring a suitcase," Sam muttered.
    "He means everything?" I asked, seein' Bill already droppin' his pants in public.
    "Everything," Markham replied. "Except for special communications channels and the area for cargo quarantine and inspection, nothing is allowed in or out. Don't worry-we'll get new clothes when this is done."
    "But what 'bout my glasses?" I protested. "I'm damned near blind without 'em."
    "Those, too, I'm afraid. They'll fix you up when we get through."
    Well, I never was all that shy, so in a little while there the three of us were, stark naked, and spread out in a room that reflected us in all directions into forever. I couldn't see none too good-even Sam was a little blurry and he was closest -but I could see what happened next.
    Suddenly the place was filled with a whole series of colored lights. They didn't feel like nothin', but one or two tickled some, and they seemed to come like see-through globs of color from all the mirrors. The first one was kinda lavender, then pink, then purple, and there was reds and blues, too. Then they switched off, and the mirrors did, too. Now it was a creamy white all 'round us, and I looked and our clothes and stuff was gone. I didn't know how they did that and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
    A part of one wall went