Jumper Cable (34 page)

In the morning they ranged out, looking for local people. There were several paths winding through the fen as if exploring it. They decided to go out in pairs. Jumper went out with Wenda, who just sort of

stayed with him. They encountered a young man who was sitting by his fishing line.

“Hello. My name is Jumper, and this is my friend Wenda. I am looking for some equipment. Do you know where any is?” This seemed inane, yet how else were they to proceed?

“I have no idea,” the man said, gazing at Wenda with perhaps a bit more than passing interest. “I am Ande. But I want your promise not to take our trea sure.”

“We’re not looking for trea sure, and if we were, we wouldn’t take it from anyone else.”

“So you promise?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe my brother Bruce will know. He can see almost anything.”

“Thank you. Where can I find him?”

“Just a bit farther along this path.”

Wenda smiled at Ande, tacitly rewarding him for his assistance.

“Thank you,” Jumper repeated, and they walked on. Soon they came across a man carving a toy boat from wood.

“Bruce?” Jumper asked.

The man looked up. His gaze fell on Wenda, and he paused, seeming slightly dazed. “Yes.”

“I am Jumper, and this is Wenda. We are looking for some equipment. Your brother Ande said you might help.”

“Well, I can help you look,” Bruce said. He reached up and touched Jumper’s forehead.

Suddenly there was something odd about Jumper’s vision. He seemed to be seeing right through Bruce. “What is this?” he asked, alarmed.

“I just lent you my talent of seethrough,” Bruce said. “Now for a while you can see through anything you wish to. Just focus carefully.”

Jumper looked around uncertainly. He discovered that he could see right through trees when he tried, or not through them when he relaxed. He looked at Wenda, at first seeing through her, then curtailing the effect until he saw only through her outer clothing. There were her bra

and pan ties, nicely filled. He blinked and moved on. Now he had a notion why Bruce had seemed dazed. He had been looking at Wenda’s underwear.

“Uh, thank you,” he said. “This should help my search.”

“Maybe sister Clare will be able to help you,” Bruce said as his gaze lingered on Wenda’s skirt, or more likely through it. “She’s not far beyond here.”

“Thank you. We’ll ask her.” They walked on along the path.

“That man made me ner vous,” Wenda confided when they were alone. “The way he looked at me.”

Should he tell her? He concluded that honesty was best. “He was looking through your clothing at your underwear.”

“Oh!”

“I can see it too, for now. It’s in good order.” That was an understatement; the Good Magician had given her compelling flesh.

“Thank yew,” she said, not perfectly reassured. They came to a woman peeling potatoes. She was well formed under her clothing. “Clare?” Jumper asked. “I am Jumper and this is my friend Wenda. Your brother Bruce said you might be able to help us look for some equipment.”

“Perhaps,” Clare agreed. “Do you know anyone who knows where your equipment is?”

“No.”

“Then I can’t help. My talent is to tap into the memory of any creature, and then relive that memory. I can share that experience with another, just as Bruce can share his seethrough talent. Stop looking at my bra.”

Jumper looked away, embarrassed. “I apologize.”

She laughed. “Don’t bother. Every man does, when he borrows that talent. He can’t help himself. I was just letting you know I know.”

“Yes,” Jumper agreed weakly. “I think we should move on.”

“So what do you think of it?”

Jumper hesitated. “Of what?”

“My bra, of course.”

“It is spectacular.”

She smiled. “Correct answer. So I’ll tell you something. Beware of my sister Dele. She can change a person’s age.”

“You mean, make a person older?”

“Or younger. She may or may not elect to change that person back. So try not to annoy her.”

“I will certainly try not to,” Jumper agreed, shaken. They walked on along the path. “I dew knot like these people,”

Wenda said. “There is something odd about them.”

She was evidently more observant than he. “How so?”

“There is something false. I dew knot know exactly what, but they are knot exactly what they appear.”

That made him ner vous. “Should we break this off and seek elsewhere?”

“No. The cable might bee here. But we must bee careful.”

“Agreed,” he said, unsettled.

Dele was a fairly pretty young woman in a nice pink bra (he just couldn’t help looking) sewing a blanket. “Hello, strangers,” she called as they approached.

“You must be Dele,” Jumper said. “Clare said you could change a person’s age.”

“Yes. Is there some age you would prefer to be?”

“We are satisfied as we are,” Jumper said quickly. Now he was aware of the subtle wrongness about her. Wenda was right.

“Too bad. What brings you here?”

“We are looking for some equipment.”

“You haven’t seen enough?” she asked, inhaling. Obviously she knew. “Apology,” he said. “I’m not used to . . . I can’t seem to help—”

Dele laughed. “Which is why Bruce lent you the talent. It is his idea of a joke. Clare and I are used to it.”

“Thank you,” he said uncomfortably.

“Can you describe this equipment?”

That was awkward. How could they keep it secret? He concluded that they couldn’t. They had been warned to beware

of children, but these were adults, so maybe it was all right. “We are looking for a section of cable. We need it for a repair.”

“Did you talk to Ande?”

“Yes. We promised him not to take your trea sure.”

“Then talk to Enze.”

“Who?”

“Our fifth sibling, who guards our trea sure.”

“But that’s not what we want.”

“We’ll see. Do you know the consequence of breaking a promise?”

“We’re not going to break a promise,” Jumper said.

“Enze can change a person’s gender.”

“We dew knot want to change,” Wenda said.

“That’s the least you will suffer if you break a promise to Ande. That’s his talent: virtually unbreakable promises.”

Another person appeared. Jumper wasn’t sure whether this was male or female, and his view through the clothing didn’t seem to help. So he thought of male, for want of certainty.

“Enze, show them our trea sure,” Dele said.

“This way.” He led them to a house, and into it, to a curtained room. There was a single large chest. He lifted its lid. Inside was a length of intricately wound metallic cable. Both its ends were torn and twisted, as if it had been ripped from a longer section. It must have been a considerable impact, because the cable was about a foot and a half thick.

“That’s it!” Jumper exclaimed. “That’s the section of the broken cable we need to repair the original cable.”

“That is our trea sure,” Enzi said.

And they had promised not to take it.

Wenda was quicker on the uptake than Jumper. “Can we make a deal for it?”

“There is only one deal we want,” Enze said. “To return to our youth.”

“But you’re not old,” Jumper said.

Now the others appeared. “We are all children,” Ande said. “But we were curious about the adult state, so Dele changed us all to young

adults. It was a disappointment. Then we discovered that we couldn’t change back.”

“How did yew get the cable?” Wenda asked.

“We found it lying in the forest where it had landed. It has an aura of power about it, so we decided to keep it and trade it for our lost youth.”

“We can’t give you that,” Jumper said regretfully. He thought of Olive and her imaginary friends, but suspected that none could duplicate the age-changing talent. Because this was supposed to be a difficult obstacle, and such a friend would make it too easy.

“Then go your way,” Clare said.

What could they do? They left the house and cable. They couldn’t take it, and couldn’t trade for it.

“Does this mean we can knot complete our mission?” Wenda asked disconsolately as they returned to their base camp.

“I am afraid it does,” Jumper said. “That has to be the missing section. Without it, we can’t repair the main cable.”

“The others will knot bee pleased.”

He was sure she was right. “I am not pleased either. But I can’t break my word. I don’t care what horrendous penalties there may be; I wouldn’t break it anyway.”

“Beecause you’re a good person,” she said tearfully.

“I almost wish I weren’t.”

“I wood knot break it either.”

He truly appreciated her support. “Wenda, I love you.”

“I love yew,” she repeated. “Dew yew want to take me?”

“No. I want you to be happy with your prince. But I want always to be your friend.”

She was happy to accept that. “Then kiss me, and we will tell the others the bad news.”

He kissed her, and she was wonderfully soft and sweet. But as his hands pressed against her back, he paused, startled. The back of her shirt was loose, covering nothing. “Wenda! Your back is gone!”

She felt behind her with her own hands. “Oh, no! I have reverted. Because it was only for the mission, and the mission has failed.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

“We will all be sorry,” she said tearfully. “We will all lose what we borrowed.”

They disengaged and trudged sorrowfully back toward the camp. Jumper realized that probably they would not have to tell the others; they would already know, because of the effects on them. All because he refused to break his word. He was ashamed.