The Last Protector (40 page)

Half an hour later, it still hadn't. Scrornuck crouched in the small space next to the earthmover's power plant, twisting yet another length of wire onto the starter. He'd scavenged the wire from one of the other machines and hooked together a dozen energy-storage cells from his boots to create a battery. In theory, the earthmover ought to start, but so far it hadn't even cranked. “Try it now!” he yelled.

Jape, sitting at the controls, pushed the black button again. “Nothing. Are you sure you can get this thing started?"

"Just a matter of time,” Scrornuck said, reversing two of the cells and re-twisting a wire.

"We've got power!” Jape called, as the gauges on the instrument panel suddenly lit up.

"One second.” Scrornuck made one more adjustment to his makeshift battery. “Hit it!"

Jape stabbed the button. The engine groaned as it cranked over for the first time in a century. Dust fell from nooks and crannies and a few sparks jumped between wires. Scrornuck felt the energy cells in his hand grow warm, then hot, almost too hot to hold. “Come on,” he whispered, “don't make me walk...” The starter's groan rose in pitch, becoming a hum and then almost a whine. “Fire in the hole!” He pulled on the throttle linkage, and with a sudden roar and a cloud of smoke from its exhaust stack the ancient turbine came to life. After a minute of ominous shaking and a few frightening blasts of flame from the air intakes, the engine settled down to a smooth rumble. “All
right!
I knew she'd run!” He eased his way forward and elbowed Jape out of the driver's seat. “I get to drive!"

"Do you know how to operate one of these?"

"I'll learn!” Scrornuck flipped switches on the control panel until the earthmover's headlights flooded the tunnel with light. He mashed the clutch and yanked the shift lever, and after a few seconds of awful
graunching
noises the aged transmission went into gear.

"Yee-haw!” he shouted as the machine lurched forward, seemingly with a destination of its own in mind. Jape and Nalia held on for dear life as Scrornuck struggled with a steering wheel that kept trying to pull itself out of his hands. After several seconds, a hydraulic pump made an ugly groan, settled down to a smooth whine, and the power steering consented to work.

At the earthmover's top speed of twenty miles an hour, it took about three minutes to get through the tunnel. The far end was blocked by another wooden wall, with an open door that was ludicrously small compared to the machine. “Are you planning to stop?” Jape shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of the engine.

"Haven't figured that out yet!” They ducked behind the dashboard, and in a cloud of dust and splinters the earthmover crashed through the wall into daylight. As he fought to keep the machine on the path, knocking a chunk from a monorail-support tower, Scrornuck looked over his shoulder and called, “Well, did we?"

"Did we what?” Nalia shouted back.

"Did we come out the lizard's ass?"

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"Look at all this stuff,” Scrornuck said, eyeing the well-stocked shelves of the
Camp Five Trading Post.
They'd followed the line of concrete towers down around the mountain, at one point crashing the earthmover through another locked gate, and reached this small store just in time for dinner. “Where does it all come from?"

"I told you,” Nalia said. “These things are the Gifts of Spafu."

"And I told you,” Scrornuck said, “the lizard's just—
aha!"
Something more important than theology caught his eye. “They've got a shower!” He pointed to a stall in a corner of the store. “And a laundry!” He undid the first buckle of his jacket. “Jape, I need..."

Jape sniffed and held his nose. “Do you ever.” He reached into his purse, coming up with a handful of copper coins.

Scrornuck limped outside to the earthmover, returning with the dirty laundry and a change of clothing. He started the washer and ducked into the shower booth, where he quickly undressed and tossed his filthy kilt, shirt and jacket over the partition. “Throw these in the machine, too,” he said, “and if you need me, call."

Jape laughed. “I can see it now: you come running out of there butt-naked..."

"Just stay where I can hear you.” Scrornuck shoved a copper piece into the shower's coin slot. The hot water quickly relaxed the sore knots in his back and legs as it sent the grime of the last few days down the drain. He carefully peeled back the tape over a cut in his leg. The wound felt gritty, as if dust had blown into it. He scrubbed harder, ignoring the stinging as the shower sprayed directly into the cut, but no matter what he did he still felt some sort of grit. Giving up with this wound, he tried another, finding the same thing. After more examination, he found that while his wounds were free of infection and appeared to be healing rapidly, they all contained some sort of grit that wouldn't wash out.

He dried off and wrung the better part of the water from his hair before slipping on his last clean shirt and setting about the task of pleating and donning the great plaid, a task that took several minutes in the tiny stall.

"Well,” Jape said as Scrornuck stepped out, “at least you smell better."

"Like a wet dog?"

"Like
my
wet dog.” Nalia said, planting a pretty serious kiss.

Jape rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to complain, but an electronic
ping
cut him off. “What the...” He glanced at the Traveler hanging from his belt. A yellow light flashed as it made another, more insistent
ping.
“Would you look at that,” he said softly. “A time-displacer's operating somewhere close by. Something—or somebody—has just arrived from another world."

"I thought you Rangers were the only ones who did that,” Nalia said.

"We're
supposed
to be the only ones doing it.” Jape studied the display and pointed to the back of the store. “This way."

They hurried to the back of the store, where a burly, round-faced man stood in front of a door that led to the store room. “And where are
you
going?” he demanded, pointing to the sign that read
Employees Only.

Jape quickly reached into his purse. “Two gold pieces says we're temporary employees."

The shopkeeper did a double-take and said, “You're hired.” He watched as Jape followed the Traveler's readings through the dingy back room, past boxes of merchandise, sacks of flour, and a small-scale beer-brewing machine. In time they came to a large, stainless-steel cabinet bearing the UniFlag logo, complete with its image of Spafu.

"Wow.” Jape walked around the side of the cabinet and pointed to small, shiny plaque that identified it as a
General Temporatics Model D952 Fixed-Field Temporal Displacer.
“I said UniFlag thought big, but this...” He turned to the shopkeeper. “Would you be so kind as to explain to my friends what this does?"

The shopkeeper scratched his head at the odd request. “Well,” he said, “every morning I tell the Dragon what I'll be needing.” He pointed to a grill on the side of the cabinet. “And in the evening, when the light goes on, I open the door, and the Gifts have arrived.” Since the light was on, he opened the door, exposing several large chunks of refrigerated meat, along with fruits, sacks of flour, and a couple cases of those magical beer bottles, ready to be filled by the brewing machine.

"The Gifts of Spafu.” Nalia's voice mixed reverence and surprise. “I thought they only arrived at the Temple."

The shopkeeper laughed and pointed at Scrornuck. “That's why we can serve this guy. We know all about what he did in Taupeaquaah, but we're not dependent on Rosaiah for our supplies. We'll serve anybody we please!"

Scrornuck stared at the cabinet. “I'm lost."

"It's the supply system, Mister Saughblade,” Jape said, resting a hand on the cabinet. “UniFlag didn't want their Guests to see farms, factories, trucks running up and down the roads, anything that would dilute the magic. They must have built a whole second world to supply this one. And then they set up these little Travelers to bring stuff in. Magnificent, just magnificent..."

"If that box goes to another world,” Nalia said, “I want to see it. C'mon, let's go."

Jape shook his head. “These are cargo models. They aren't designed to carry anything living."

"That's convenient,” she retorted. “You keep trying to tell me these things aren't the gift of a god at all..."

"What's this?” the shopkeeper demanded. “Somebody's speaking blasphemy at the Gift Altar?"

"Uh, no,” Jape said quickly. “Wouldn't dream of it.” He started back toward the public part of the store. “Thanks for showing us. Now let's get some dinner. I'm hungry."

"You and me both!” Scrornuck agreed.

They enjoyed a fish dinner with wine at a picnic table next to the earthmover. After dinner, Scrornuck laid his boots on the table and carefully set a dozen new energy cells in a neat row next to them. “Gotta be careful,” he said, noticing Nalia's interest. “These things store a lot of power.” He pointed to a black, scorched area on one boot. “Once I put one in backwards. It shorted out and caught fire.” He pointed to a rough burn-scar about the size of a gold piece on his right leg. “Lucky for me it was almost empty. If it had had a full charge it would have blown my leg off."

He carefully aligned the new cells, checking their polarity once, twice, three times before slipping them into pockets on the boots. The last cell in place, he slipped the boots on, stood and wiggled his toes. The boots responded by unrolling up around his knees to grip his lower thighs. He did a small test jump, onto the fender of the earthmover. “Long as I'm up here,” he muttered, and climbed back to the engine compartment. His makeshift battery looked pretty sad: several of the cells were bulging and pitted, the result of overloads and arcing. Still, when he touched two wires together he got a fat spark. There was enough juice to start the machine at least one more time.

He dropped from the fender and made a perfect landing next to Nalia. “Good as new,” he said. “All they need now is a little sun."

"Sun?"

"These things are magic,” he said, pointing to the blue-black squares that covered much of the boots. “They capture the sunlight, and the cells hold onto it until I want to make a jump. But these are new cells, and they're pretty empty. A few hours of sunshine and they'll be all ready to go."

As the red and purple of sunset faded to black, the proprietors of the little store and the few travelers who'd be camping this night gathered for small talk by the parked earthmover. Eventually the conversation turned to the situation in Taupeaquaah. “No doubt about it,” one remarked, “things are getting strange. Some folks say it's the end of the world."

Jape's ears perked up. “What's happening?"

"Well, first the Perpetual Storm up and ended. Just like that, it was gone. The dust settled in less than an hour, and you'd never believe what was at the middle of it.” He leaned a little closer and whispered, “My throat's getting a little dry.” Scrornuck shoved a beer into the traveler's hand, and he continued. “The dust settles, and there's this big black castle! It's got a tower in the middle, almost as high as City Hall. And when the sun went down last night, there was this weird purple light around the top of the tower.” Scrornuck nodded as Jape's lips formed the word “Orb."

"Then there were the kidnappings. It was bad enough when the Squatters were disappearing, but last night raiders went through the city and kidnapped close to a hundred people."

"These raiders,” Jape asked, “what were they wearing?"

"All black armor—including black helmets that covered their faces. Some people said the armor had an image of the Friendly Dragon pressed into it, and now the priests can't decide if we should fight them or accept them as the second coming of Spafu's Helpers. The Guards can't do squat against them. Rumor says the Guard Captain was kidnapped—nobody's seen her for days. The Mayor's telling everybody to keep calm—not that they're listening—and this morning he announced he's raising an army. He wants at least a thousand men, says they'll attack the castle Friday morning. I don't know about you, but I'm getting away from town for a while..."

Whatever more he might have said was lost in the roar of the earthmover's engine. With a loud
graunch
of gears, the machine lurched forward, made a hard turn and headed north.

The traveler stared as the machine disappeared into the darkness. “Damn, the least you could have done was bought me another drink."

Illuminated by the nearly full moon and the flickering campfire, the earthmover looked like a mythical beast sleeping on the hillside, waiting for the morning sun to awaken it. Scrornuck knew better—he'd driven the thing too hard and burned up its transmission. Tomorrow was going to be a long, tough walk.

And tonight was going to be a long, tough night. Despite Scrornuck's best efforts to keep him away from the beer, Jape was getting righteously shitfaced, sinking into a soggy blue funk. Worse, his depression was spreading to Nalia as she sat by the fire listening to him mumble.

Scrornuck sat on a log, directly opposite Jape, looking through the flames at his partner's glum expression. He let his fingers rest on the Setron's grip, and as he watched Jape finish another beer, he felt the instrument suggesting a song. “I think we need some music,” he said.

Jape opened another longneck. “Trying to improve my attitude?"

"Couldn't hurt.” Scrornuck played the soft, lilting Irish ballad that Jape had asked for the previous Friday night. Maybe it was the beer, or the song, or perhaps that tiny twang buried in the harmony. Whatever, by the time he finished, Jape looked like he just might make it through the night.

Scrornuck put the instrument down and looked into the Ranger's deep blue eyes. “I think you have something you want to tell us."

Jape stared into the fire. “I'm not sure you'll want to hear it."

"All the more reason to tell us. Now, repeat after me: once upon a time..."