05. Children of Flux and Anchor (27 page)

"It
is
true," Morgaine agreed. "To lock yourself in, as you are, forever—it's just not humanly possible."

"Uh huh. And look at the both of you now. Both Dell's and Sondra's times will come eventually, too. If not on this trip, then sooner or later. Me, I've got almost no power, but nobody can force a binding spell on me, either. Anything done to me can be reversed."

"Yeah. Like Verdugo," Morgaine responded.

"Even him—if we ever figured out which one he was, and if anybody was so inclined, which I'm not. When I discovered he was carrying a signal tracker, I handed him a knotted noose, and the damned fool stuck his head in it. I had to do it. I discovered he was sending back position reports using a clever communications gadget. There's been a New Eden force trailing us almost since the start, a couple of days back so we didn't realize it. I suspected something when he started bragging too much to Morgaine, but it wasn't until the two of you went off a couple of days ago that I had a chance to really search his stuff and find it. It was pretty well concealed."

"I still can't help but pity him, though," Spirit said. "He was the product of his culture and didn't have much choice."

"None of that!" Matson snapped. "Yeah, his attitudes were shaped by New Eden, but you got to
volunteer
for internal security duty. He could have had a thousand decent jobs, but he was the type that
liked
lording it over helpless people. He was the closest thing to a Fluxlord you can have in Anchor. He had plans for all of us we wouldn't like—bet on it. Some people are just born bad."

"Well, he won't have any more plans now," Sondra noted. "It's my guess that he's about to be co-opted by the enemy."

Both Spirit and Morgaine looked up at her. "Something happen?" Spirit asked.

"Yeah.  We found out what they were waiting for. Three bright creatures, the strongest power links I've
ever
seen, Mervyn included. They came out of the sky while you were in there getting made over, and went through the shield like it wasn't there. They were expected."

Matson nodded. "Either Ayesha or Suzl has realized that time is running out for them. They're not going any further—whoever they were heading for has been sent for and summoned to them. They now have enough wizard power in there to withstand a major siege. My guess is they'll take on the gods of the Garden because that increases their power even more, then build a new Fluxland at this point, larger and stronger. They'll have all the slaves they need to do their bidding for them and enough brains and protection not to worry about outside attacks for a while."

"We should have taken them on when it was just Suzl and the mob," Dell said morosely. "Hit 'em early when they were still weak."

"Yeah. Just like Morgaine," Matson responded. "Liberty tried it, too. The only time they were vulnerable was when they were just outside New Eden, and at that time we were locked in by Morgaine and considerations about Suzl. When they moved out fully into Flux, we didn't have a prayer, because anyone who could get close enough to do 'em real damage could be pinpointed and neutralized by that projector. No, we're stuck. We don't even know who that is in there now, or who's really in charge. If there were only some way to get somebody inside. ..."

"It seems hard to believe," Sondra put in. "A whole world full of people, including enough wizards to demolish that camp down there even with their additions, and we're the only ones doing a damned thing and it isn't much."

"Nobody seems to learn anything from the past except better and more efficient ways of killing or enslaving other people," her father agreed. "The records are incomplete, but it looks like the world I grew up in—the world of stringers and the Holy Mother Church and the rest—was actually created out of Flux by only a couple of crazy people. Except for the stringers, the remains of the old Army Signal Corps, they froze everybody in their crazy dream for twenty-six hundred plus years. The people back then understood a lot more about their machines than we do now, but they still let it happen. They knew about the threat and they knew who to watch—Haller's journal makes that clear—yet they didn't unite to stop it. You expect their descendants to be any more united, to really believe the threat, any more than
they
did back then?"

"They united against the
Samish
,"
Dell pointed out.

"Yeah. Twenty-six hundred years of scare propaganda, with good reason, left no doubts in anybody's mind that something nasty was out there. Even then, the real powers didn't start for the Gates until the ships were physically docked. These are lords of Flux versus lords of Anchor. They won't cooperate on anything because they're afraid the other fellow's gonna get the projector. They're waiting for the big fight, like always, prepared to pick up the pieces. Only there ain't gonna be no pieces to pick up this time."

Spirit had been quiet, lost in thought and ignoring the conversation. Now she said, "If you're convinced that they're really going to attack the Garden, then
I
could get inside. I can return any time. I look just like all the other Eves there, and it is a condition of my spell that if I return I will be subject to the master spell. There would be no way for any of them to tell who or what I was."

"But you wouldn't remember, either!" Morgaine protested. "You'd be just another brainless nobody! What good would
that
do?"

"Only so long as the master spell held," she pointed out. "If they break it, I will be once again as I am now."

Matson shook his head negatively. "Uh uh. Forget it. The wizards in there would spot you as a wizard in a minute and figure 'spy.' You could stand up to any one of them, but you couldn't stand up to the trio in the Garden, let alone what's in there now. They're gonna run a hell of a spell on everybody there and you know it. Fight it and you're exposed anyway. Don't fight and you become one of them. Besides, you said yourself you can't lie, cheat, or steal. This job might require all three."

"There are problems, yes, but there is a solution. A series of conditional spells. I would remain Eve, or become whatever they command, but retain a subconscious memory of everything I see and hear. Only when certain conditions are met would I reconnect and become myself, and I would disconnect automatically at any problem. I would never be sinful, because I would be totally true in both cases."

"You might never have the conditions to switch," Morgaine noted worriedly. "Besides, how could you get messages out to us? And if they run a physical change on everybody, you'll stand out and they'll know at least you used to be a wizard and they'll probe and finally find the spells. The only way you could save yourself from being converted is to run a binding spell that would make you literally become Eve—forever."

"There's always a big risk in doing something like this," she pointed out. "—Being executed, being permanently turned into something hateful—all sorts of things. There will be thousands of Adams and Eves. They won't have the time or take the trouble to run a restore on more than a few. I'm much more at risk as an Adam than as an Eve from this bunch, anyway. They won't be expecting a spy. And if I wind up an Eve forever, at least I'll be happy. Whatever, if I can get in and get information out it might make the difference between a New Eden victory, or their victory, or stopping both of them. It's better than sitting here. If anybody has any other ideas, please tell me."

She looked around at all their faces but found no answer.

"All right, then. Help me work out all this complicated conditional stuff, all of you. And, Dad, you put one of those strings on me like you have on Suzl. If they
don't
change the Eves, I want you to be able to find me in the mob." She stopped a moment. "Come on—I'd rather be Eve forever than one of those New Eden Fluxgirls. Besides, in the end, Suzl would never hurt me."

"Suzl," Morgaine pointed out, "didn't even know I was there."

"It's just too damned dangerous," Matson told her. "It's out."

"We'll see," Spirit replied. Still, she and the others discussed the various spells that would be needed and how best to do them. It could be done, but there were so many variables it was extremely risky.

Later on, Spirit took her normal turn at guard, but when Dell returned from patrol he found no one awake and Spirit gone. He quickly roused the others. Sondra went down to the Garden area, but found only a horse there.

Matson was visibly upset, and Morgaine was almost beside herself. Still, the patriarch of the clan had to adjust, as always, to new situations.

"O.K., she's in, and she's left us a string, and we have to assume she's using the conditions you so obligingly worked out with her. We have to accept the fact that the most level-headed person in the family has gone crackers and go from there."

Still, he couldn't get the tremendous worry out of his voice.

"What if they don't attack the Garden?" Morgaine grumped worriedly. She hadn't fought to get her mother out of there only to have her march back in of her own free will.

"Then these two and you will have to follow her string in and haul her out again," her grandfather replied. "I don't think there's much danger of that, though. I think I understand all they've done so far, and they might have surprised me here and there but they never disappointed me. I—"

He stopped dead as Dell's great flying form came in, circled, landed, and blurred into his own familiar form. He wasn't due off patrol for a couple of hours yet, so they knew something was up.

"They're going in!" he shouted. "You ought to
see
it! It's damned impressive! They've contracted the shield to cover no more than a hundred meters, and they're lined up in formation. All women, I think, and almost all mounted. Only three infantry units, all no more than a company each. They were spreading out when I left."

"Wizards?" Sondra asked.

"One strong at the rear, one medium at the point position in each of the three formations. I figure it's the three newcomers and the three from Liberty."

They all nodded. "A good system. Apparently they knew more about the rulers of the Garden than we did," Sondra said approvingly. "Each of them is one and a half versus the three inside, but it'll take two out of the three Fluxlords to defend any position, leaving one weak and one penetrable. And Suzl behind her own shield doing searches until she finds and neutralizes each of the Fluxlords."

"I almost feel sorry for them," Morgaine noted, sounding a little surprised at herself. "They almost went nuts rationalizing
me.
How does an omnipotent God explain why it suddenly has no powers at all?"

"The war between Heaven and Hell, good and evil," Matson told her. "It's an old theme. They're not going to be any pushovers. They're crazy enough that they have total emotional commitment to their world view. This will enrage them, create a fury, and make them much stronger than usual. You see any of the chief wizards' faces and forms, Dell?"

"You kidding? Big tits and swivel hips look great on some people, but I can't see myself wearing 'em."

"Fair enough.
Damn
this sparkling shit! I'd give anything for a clear field and one good hill to look down from right now."

"I'm going up," Sondra told them. "I think maybe I can use some binoculars to get a better view. I want to know if we know those big powers down there. If not, we should."

"I'm going back, too," Dell announced. "See? That's why we never voluntarily take binding spells. We don't need hills to get a good view."

"You two be real careful and keep well away from either side," Matson warned them. "Both sides won't know who you are if you're detected and they'll act against you as an enemy."

Sondra nodded, although she was clearly eager to see some action after all this time in the void. "Don't worry. If Spirit couldn't even handle those nuts in the Fluxland, both of us couldn't handle either side now. They're going after a Fluxland, though. They won't even check their backs."

"Famous last words!" Morgaine called to them, and they were both transformed, airborne, and gone.

The battle had commenced by the time Sondra and Dell got to the area, and it was fascinating to watch. Sondra had seen the raiders one time as defenders, but this was the first time she'd seen them in an attack. The situation was quite different than before, because their primary weapon, the projector, could be used only when the shield was weakened enough to allow its signals to penetrate and override the master spell, or program, that created and maintained the Fluxland.

"I still can't figure out why they're doing it at all," Dell called to his mother. "There are easier targets that will yield more than this."

"Experiment and practice," Sondra told him. "Everybody's scared to death of a dozen or a hundred New Eden projectors being deployed, but they have to know just what that really means. The projectors don't amplify, so they can't break a strong shield any more than we can. Everybody's been talking about the New Eden threat like it was running a master Anchor program, like they did to create New Eden in the first place. They can't do that—they don't have all the masters and they don't know where they fit together—so this will tell the raiders just what would be faced in a Fluxland situation. The Garden has no allies, no friends, and won't accept any, but it's no pushover. They didn't want a pushover. They wanted them against power with no surprises."

The three groups below had deployed in traditional triangular fashion. The Garden was large enough that no leg could actually see the other, but they could get pressure on three points at once, using Suzl and the projector to reinforce any weaknesses.
That
was the value of the projector: one strong wizard, sitting in one place, could apply his or her power wherever needed.

That the ground troops, which would move in to occupy any point where the shield contracted, were heavily armed was no surprise, either. A Fluxlord pressed to the wall was still absolute; those Adams and Eves could quickly become an army of God—devout, fanatical, even suicidal, and armed with whatever the Fluxlord provided. It was only now that the two circling wizards realized just what sort of risk Spirit had taken.