05. Children of Flux and Anchor (33 page)

Sondra looked at Dell and sighed. "Well, it's no binding spell, but it's too strong for you to break on your own. It's full of traps and it'll take experts to unravel. Those two really know their business."

"It's damned embarrassing," Dell muttered. They had taken him in the air and forced him down in a duelling posture. The two of them were far too strong and experienced for him, and had him in a matter of minutes. After that, they'd thrown this spell on him and sent him back with a message. The spell had been designed to embarrass him, and to limit his future effectiveness. Above the waist he was his normal, slightly hairy masculine self; below, however, he now was sexually female and had coming down the longest,
sexiest
smooth women's legs ever seen. Worse, he found himself compelled to keep his lower half exposed. Shirt, yes; pants, no. The final insult was that they gave him, immediately, a crampy and bloody period he couldn't stop with Flux power.

He still had his power, but it could be directed only to others, not to himself. As Sondra said, it was full of traps. He'd merely examined one and suddenly had to fight the urge to put on makeup and high heels. He didn't want to examine any more.

"They said they only let me go because there was no other good way to send a message out," he told them. "They really wanted me for my power, but they want somebody else more. They say they detected Spirit's transmissions, waited at the spot, then traced them back in to her. They've got her, that's for sure. They told me where they found her and it matched what we know. They say they can remove the conditionals, which, inside there, would turn her into an Eve forever. They want a swap, and they're giving you only twelve hours to do it."

Matson leaned back and sighed. "What do they want for her?"

"They want you, Matson. For some reason, they want you."

Instead of being shocked or dismayed, the old stringer legend took out a cigar, lit it, and actually smiled. "So they want me, huh? Well, that's just right. They figured now that they can't beat New Eden without me."

Sondra and Dell both stared at him. "Of all the egomaniacal—you act like you
expected
this!"

"Daughter, if this hadn't happened, I might have had to arrange it somehow."

Sondra started to say something, then stopped. She knew her father very well. "All right—what's the plan? You've been setting this up for some time, anyway. I figured you were starting something when you let Morgaine go down."

"Well, first of all, I'm not being as egotistical as you think. Habib wasn't much of an officer—just brute strength and kill anything that moves. You could see that by the way his folks acted in New Eden. They bought some real military background with those three Liberty wizards, and you could see that in the Flux part of the attack on the Garden, but those are all wizards, not street fighters. They lost half their ground troops and the other folks weren't even shooting back! They know it. That's partly what the Garden attack was all about. A preliminary test against a strong but not unbeatable foe. They need an experienced line officer, and Suzl only knows of one in the neighborhood. Me."

"And you're going to do it?" Dell asked, appalled. "After all this stuff? All those bodies, the mutilations. . . ."

"It's a rough world, Grandson. Does it really make any difference whether you're blown apart by an organized army because you were in the way of the battle or by some half-organized mob? Those folks over there aren't any more evil than the soldiers are. They're just
amateurs.
The thing is, they know it, and they know they'll have to face some damned fine professionals. The enemy is New Eden, boy; always has been."

"But then why. . . . ?"

"Look, you two. If we needed to, I could tie into the Signals emergency net and call for strength. I'd get every wizard and army unit in the area, however many that is, as quick as they could get here. In two, three days I'd have a hell of an army. In a week, I'd have more power than we'd need to knock them over even
with
their projector, since their actions with it are now totally predictable. Hell, boy, that shield of theirs
moves.
That means it's porous. There's a dozen colorless, odorless gasses that'll do anything from put you to sleep to kill you ugly that we could send right through there. If I'd wanted them knocked out, I could have done it at any time."

Dell's mouth hung open, but Sondra just nodded. "I wondered why you were letting this go on once they settled in one spot."

Dell shook his head. "Maybe this spell's made me worse than I thought. Are you saying you could always take them out?"

"Sure."

"Then why can't you take New Eden out?"

Matson sighed. "Grandson, it's the numbers. Old Adam Tilghman knew that when he took a big risk to make the whole Cluster Anchor. Inside that giant Anchor they got twelve or more million people, sixty percent of them Fluxgirls. You realize that?"

"I—I really hadn't realized it, even though I've been through there for years."

"Uh huh. And most of them are baby factories, putting out an average of a dozen kids each in twenty years or so. Some more. Now add to that their culture. Every man's technically in the army. The whole nation can be mobilized in a day if need be, and if all the phones work. Their regular army's a quarter of a million and that's bad enough, but the reserves still train and drill and are pretty good themselves. Army service is required, so they all had active duty. They rent out whole divisions as mercenaries to other Anchors and Fluxlands to blood them. See?"

"Go on."

"Well, so they got twelve projectors and thirty, forty wizards. Hell, I bet we could get a
hundred
female wizards alone who'd go against 'em, all world-class and with lots of training, and we could easily match their probable two forward divisions, maybe ten thousand men. Projectors or not, we could probably wipe 'em clean. Not without cost, considering those projectors, but we'd win. So what would New Eden do? Sit back, wait for half a year until they had more projectors, then send out thirty more wizards and another two divisions. Maybe wait a year and send out twenty-six projectors, sixty wizards, and a hundred thousand troops. They gain a bit, but we stalemate them. They wait another year—and so on. They lose men, but one fellow can make seven girls pregnant in seven days. Meanwhile, their untouched population base, industrial base, research and development base, transportation base, and the like keep growing. See?"

"Then they're—unbeatable," Dell responded. "My God!"

"Uh uh. I thought so, until I checked in with the stringer headquarters in Logh Center and talked to a bunch of folks about what to do. You remember—when I went to send a message to Cass and the girls."

"Yeah, I remember. So that's what took so long!"

"Well, anyway, they were coming to the same conclusions and weren't all that upset to see the projector stolen, either. We knew the raiders were too uneducated, too wild to be able to really handle it, and the fact that all but Habib were women implied it was more than just wildness but some kind of anti-New Eden thing. They needed some technology experts fast, and there were only three sources. New Eden was out, obviously, and they weren't the sort to come to the Guild, so that left the third. Coydt van Haas's elusive research Fluxland that Sligh tapped as well. We've been looking for it ever since Coydt died, but we never found it. Traces, some, and bits here and there, and occasional folks who knew somebody who knew somebody from there, but nothing else. With a projector, we figured that if these raiders didn't know exactly where it was, the van Haas people would find them. Unfortunately, the latter happened first, so we still don't know where it is. That's what we were trailing them for."

"What good would they do in all this?" Sondra asked, fascinated now. Her father wasn't disappointing her.

"Well, somebody up in the Two-Six Gap, within the last year, managed to launch a couple of things clear out of this world and into space. Just like a military powder rocket, only big and strong enough to carry beyond the atmosphere. We monitored it, but by the time anybody got there all traces had been erased. We have to assume they weren't just throwing stones out there. Any rocket or other vehicle that can go that far and hit where it's aimed is not just transportation, either. Pack it with explosives, launch it from Flux, and make it hit anywhere you want. Space is a real big place and it takes a hell of a lot of speed to get something out there. Considering that, hitting any place you want inside New Eden would be child's play."

Sondra gave a low whistle. "And that's what they have? A projector and these rockets?"

"Well, they have a projector, and they have folks there who know about those rockets or whatever they are. Spirit mentioned the Seven. Where else would they hide out to plot something new except at Coydt's old place? So, since they didn't give us the keys to Coydt's front door, we'll have to make sure they win. And make sure those bad ones down there have to bring up the rockets. To make them use the rockets, we first have to crush the initial thrust of New Eden and its projectors. It's those projectors Coydt's folks are coveting, anyway. I'd bet my last cigar on it. Crush New Eden, grab those projectors, and they've neutralized the Guild and any masses of wizards. No competition, no threat, and they get all the goodies in the bag."

Sondra nodded. "So at last this goofy expedition of ours makes sense. All right, I have the basics now. Just what do you plan to do?"

"Well, first, sexy-legs here isn't fit to try any physical transformations on himself at the moment, so he gets on a horse with a bunch of messages and he rides until he reaches one of our friendlies. Then he hitches a ride to Guildhall and gives those messages to the general staff there and sees their wizards abut getting that spell removed. Dell, they'll explain the rest to you when the time comes, and although you aren't a stringer, you're the son and the grandson of stringers, so they'll let you in on the finish. Jeff and the rest of the brood, too."

"And me?" Sondra asked him.

"You, Daughter, have a more complicated mission that'll take some time to explain, but it's one of the reasons I particularly wanted you along without the immediate family."

"Uh—Granddad?" Dell put in. "You know they'll have to turn you into a girl."

He shrugged. "I always had a fondness for the ladies," he responded, puffing on his cigar. "And I sure as hell been a lot worse at one time or another." He paused, then grew more serious. "Listen, you two. Now that Morgaine's out of the way, we can really prepare. I'm sorry after all this we have so little time, but this caper's gonna be so dangerous that it'll take a lot of work—fast—and be more dangerous than Spirit's noble effort."

A lone figure on a large black horse made its way out of the void and onto the semi-distinct apron of the Fluxland whose name he didn't even know. He knew he was expected; although he couldn't do anything about it, even false wizards could
see
Flux activation, and he knew the projector had put a monitor there, waiting for him.

The other side wasn't long in coming. Just two figures, one a naked, blond Eve on a somewhat-symbolic white horse; the other a larger, more garish figure with heavy makeup, red hair that looked like a wig but was not, and dressed in gold and crimson that revealed a less-than-desirable figure beneath. The pair stopped just inside the shield, the Eve making no comment or even looking curious.

"Well, damn me if it isn't Chua Gabaye!" he exclaimed, although he didn't really sound so surprised. "And who's the other one who came with you? Tongloss?"

"Ming,
darling!
Ming Tokiabi! We're the last ones, you know. And you're something of a last of your kind, too. We've never met before, I don't believe, but we have so
much
in common in our pasts. You will never know how absolutely
delighted
I am to have you in this position!"

"What's your beef, Gabaye? I saved your ample ass back at Gate Four. You were all set to join the little furball zombie brigade."

"You and that little twit who saved me condemned me to forty-seven long additional years of
boredom,
darling! This is the most fun I've had in simply
ages
!"

"If that's your complaint, I can end it all for you right here," he suggested helpfully.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Oh, my, no! Not now! Not when it's getting a wee bit
interesting
again."

"Let's get this over with," he said impatiently. "How do I know that's Spirit?"

Chua looked shocked. "Would I
lie
to you?" She stopped for a moment. "How silly! Of
course
I would! But,
darling,
suppose it isn't? What in the
world
could you
do
about it? Conjure up a transparent dragon? How absolutely
frightening!
Or, perhaps, bind me with those cute little strings of yours?"

"Personally, nothing," he admitted. "However, I assume that this area is being monitored using the projector, and for something like this I expect Suzl on the other end. Somehow, I don't think Suzl wants Spirit in this any more than I do. Not at this stage and in that condition. And I have a few little surprises I'd rather not discuss until I need them. So, prove to me that this is an honest swap."

Chua turned and merely glanced casually at the Eve. Intelligence and awareness of it all seemed to flow into the woman like liquid into a bottle, and she looked at the scene with bright, intelligent eyes and realized what was going on. "Dad! Don't do it! Not for
her
!"

"I'm not doing it for her, I'm doing it for you—partly," he assured her. "Don't worry, honey. They aren't gonna mess with my mind. They need me to show 'em how to beat New Eden."

"You
know
how to beat New Eden?" Gabaye asked, seemingly honestly.

"I've got a pretty good idea. It's an interesting challenge, anyway. Spirit, I want to know the name of the chief gardener in New Pericles."