Vengeance of the Dancing Gods (26 page)

The computer, though, had particularly fascinated him; as he was getting warnings that his funds were going to dry up if he didn't decide to do something useful, he enrolled first in a quick and intensive course in how to type, then in a London computer school. For all of its inanities, magic was mathematical and he seemed to find in computer programming the same sort of relationship.

He dropped the year-long course after only three months, not because he had lost interest but because he had already progressed, not only beyond the brightest pupil at the school, but beyond the brightest instructors as well.

And then, quite suddenly, he informed his benefactors that he no longer required any of their help or support Page 138 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods and that he had obtained sufficient funds to live on. They were baffled by this, but, a few days later, Esmilio Boquillas vanished from their surveillance and they found no sign of him for almost three years.

Exactly what he was doing at that time was a mystery, although he seemed to have spent some time with English JACK L. CHALKER 177 and Welsh mystics, mostly cult and lunatic-fringe people, the sort of professional characters that Britain seemed to grow best in all the world. Then he came to the United States, partly to the south, then to the San Francisco-San Jose, California, area, where he emerged once again in public view—very public view—as a faith healer.

"He's a whatT' Joe asked incredulously.

"A faith healer. It appears now that he spent some time looking for Earth individuals with some of the magical talents. There are some—more than you would think— but most have no knowledge of their abilities and thus are undetected even by themselves. Others, when the powers come out involuntarily, believe they have had profound religious experiences, or been involved with alien civilizations, or things like that. He wanted people with sufficient power to handle at least minimal spells, but they had to be people who really believed they could do sorcery —hence his interest in cults, witches, and the like.

Apparently he discovered one woman at some Satanist group in southern California who had some real powers.

A hostess of a television collection of old horror movies, I believe, who went under the stage name of—pardon— Shockarilla, I think it was. He was at that time employed as a programmer in the San Francisco area, but abruptly both she and he resigned their positions and she went to join him. Soon after, they began doing guest appearances at local churches of no real denomination—there are quite a number of rather bizarre yet still mainstream churches in the area—and their reputation for truly curing really caught on..

"The old boy's very charismatic," Joe admitted. "A lot of folks carry off that faith-healing business with no real chance at success—just people believing so hard they sometimes cure themselves. Just enough of 'em to keep 'em going and keep their credibility up. But the Baron, now—if he had somebody with the power, he could really do it, couldn't he? I mean, restore a lost limb, make blind eyes see, all that..

178 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS "He could indeed, as you well know. There really aren't any physicians in Husaquahr as such; the healers are magicians who specialize in healing potions and spells.

Boquillas is a genius with a photographic memory, who might well know just about every spell ever written down; and those he couldn't remember, his fine mathematical Page 139 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods mind could create," Poquah admitted.

Joe sat back against the headboard, looking a little dazed. "A guy who could really do healing miracles—he could write his own ticket! They'd flock to him to be cured! And if he told them they had to stand on their heads and recite 'Mary had a little lamb' three times backwards for the cure to work, they'd do it! Oh, man!.

"And it would not take much of an additional string on those healing spells to make them devoted worshipers,.

Tiana added. "They would already be most of the way there, out of sheer gratitude and physical proof..

"That is the way of it," the Imir admitted, "although I am not certain that his female adept really has the ability to do much more, even with the spells he supplies..

"And that's where Dacaro comes in, I bet," Macore put in. "If you already have a good scam going, then sticking in a world-class wizard at the right moment is the smart thing to do." "The computers," Joe said, still thinking of the implications.

"I just can't figure—or can I? I don't know much about computers, and I don't know just how easy to get they are, but I'll bet you he's got one hell of a computer somewhere that's not only got all the spells but all the formulas to make whatever he wants. Maybe he's rigged one back where he used to work. I know the dispatcher before we left always had a computer terminal in front of him, and so did the one when we arrived at the other end, and both were connected to the same computer someplace over the phone..

"I fear it is far easier than that today," the Imir told him. "Today you can purchase a computer with enormous memory and power for about half the price of an auto- 179 JACK L. CHALKER mobile, as rugged as a typewriter and not much larger. If he had enough capacity to store his programs, he would need no more space than it takes for that television set over there. And, of course, spells here are mathematically quite different from spells where we come from. The computer would automatically be able to translate one complex spell into another. The only thing he did not have was someone with sufficient power and training actually to cast complex spells. Now he does..

"What did he want the gold for, then?" Macore asked Poquah. "I mean, it sounds as if he's got a hell of a scam running just where he is..

"He required it, apparently, to purchase a large block of land in a very rugged section of northern California. It was owned by a lumber company that was stopped by the actions of some nature lovers from doing any more tree cutting in the whole area. They were faced with having it taken over by the government and were happy to sell it for what Boquillas could offer upfront, particularly Page 140 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods in gold. He and his lady friend incorporated a nonprofit religious foundation to own it—a very easy task in California, it seems. They are, of course, the head of that foundation. Although the land is heavily restricted from any public access, he apparently mollified the nature organization and guaranteed preservation of the land.

Everyone is delighted with him, even the country, for while he pays no taxes as a religious institution and retreat, they would have received none from the government condemnation, either—and now they receive substantial contributions to public welfare. The Baron is also a good politician..

"Yeah, okay, so he's got a cult, a following, and a little kingdom of his own. So far I can follow that. But what goes with Dacaro on television?.

"The Baron is quite—in English I believe the slang word is 'slick'—with his theology. It is particularly insipid, bland, and nondenominational. Although he's associated himself up to now primarily with offshoots of Christian 180 JACK L. CHALKER 181 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS religions, he seldom if ever mentions anything beyond 'God' and 'the Lord.' His charm or charisma, as some call it, is sufficient that almost every authentic pastor he meets seems not only charmed by him but convinced that his theology and theirs is a near-perfect match. He knows the truth of oratory—it is not what you say but how you say it that counts for everything. Consider just how little a politician actually says, as compared to what his or her listeners believe about that politician. And because so many of the sincere and legitimate broadcasting preachers here are so affluent and so conspicuous in their success that they are the target of many attacks by cynics and government, they are likely to rally around any preacher they feel is being persecuted, even if that individual is clearly a fraud. The Baron's Open Path movement has already been the target of many such attacks, which has won him notoriety beyond California and a great deal of sympathy from those who see themselves, wrongly, in him..

Macore nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, it's always that way. You get some sincere people with good ideas making a real go at it and the con artists and the charlatans aren't far behind..

"You should know," Poquah responded acidly.

Macore grinned sheepishly. "Hey! I only go for the rewards! I don't want the end of the world!.

The Imir frowned. "What is this about the end of the world?.

Macore repeated to him the first verse of the oracle.

"Then it is Armageddon at the end! I wonder what Page 141 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods those sincere men and women of religion who defend him would say if they knew?.

"They always used to tell us the end was close at hand,.

Joe noted. "I don't know if they believed it, but somehow I don't think they'd be surprised if it came. I knew a preacher once, one of the hellfire-and-brimstone types, who dropped dead right in the pulpit while preaching a sermon. Heart attack. It wasn't instant, but they said that, just before he died, he didn't look sad or angry or upset— more like disappointed it was just him..

"Hmmm... well, give me the second prophecy, then, thief, and we will see if we can put the two together..

"Yeah, sure. It's lousy poetry." He recited the longer, more complex verse on how to avert the doom.

"The early part is clear enough," the Imir noted, "and now you three are here, so we've gone that far. Unfortunately, the rest is still unclear to me. The way to solve the problem is there—but unless we can solve the prophecy itself, we will not know the way. Still, this is not a one-sided conflict, or it would be unnecessary. The indications are there that Heaven will aid us as Hell is aiding the Baron..

"You mean angels for the demons and like that?" Joe was interested in the prospect.

"No. It never works that way, particularly not here.

Providence will guide the elements we need into place for us. If we take those elements and then apply them in the pattern established by the verse, we will win. If we do not, then the Baron will win and we will all die..

"Whew!" Macore said nervously. "It sounds like it's real easy for them and nearly impossible for us. We get one right way to play the hand, and a crazy poem as our only clue, and they get a stacked deck!.

"Evil wins out much of the time because it is so easy,.

Poquah noted. "Good wins because it is earned and deserves to. That is the test, don't you see? Every once in a while an individual or group must face the ultimate evil. A test, as it were. This time it is we who are chosen to do so. Heaven and Hell are betting on our outcome.

If we prevail, we prove that good is still superior to evil and the stronger of the two. If we lose, then we prove that the time for Armageddon is indeed nigh..

Macore looked at the faces of the others in the room.

"Who? UsT JACK L.CHALKER 183 CHAPTER I 2 PROVIDENCE, GHOSTS, AND PETER PAN Page 142 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods Those who insist on living in the past have no future.

—Message found in a Chinese fortune cookie ALTHOUGH THEY TRIED TO TALK MARGE OUT OF IT, SHE would not be restrained from going out that evening and visiting some of the old places where she'd lived much of her life. She was quite confident of herself and won out when she argued that she'd better find out now if she couldn't fool the people of her old world when it would just be an incident and not a deadly blunder.

In fact, it was useful to allow them all out for a while in Earth society, if only to get accustomed to a new and different world. Joe and Tiana, who was now humanappearing once more, decided on some evening shopping to fill out their wardrobes; Poquah took Macore in tow, although the little thief somewhat protested, to get him oriented to the basic rules of survival on Earth. Macore, after all, had never seen a stoplight, didn't know from which direction traffic came in this world, and had to get used to this funny worthless paper being treated as if it were something of value.

For Marge, it was a matter of flying over the area andover the area and seeing how much had changed and how much had stayed the same over the years. She had been bom and raised in the area and knew it and the nearby town of Odessa like the back of her hand. It did, of course, look different 182 from the air, and the sights, sounds, and even odors seemed more chaotic, more irritating, than she remembered. This was the true Texas, though; flat and dry, with an economy based on oil, gas, and cows, now pretty much in that order.

Her grammar and high school were still there, but they'd torn down the old junior high and the neighborhood in which she'd been born and raised seemed less tranquil and dirtier than she remembered it.

The feelings and the sensations of the people below were almost overpowering to her. If this place was typical of Earth, the amount of misery, guilt, and anger radiating from the relatively peaceful city below would keep a thousand Kauris busy for the next century. She would have no trouble feeding here; indeed, the problem would be not taking on such a load that it weighed her down and made her ponderous and depressed, for she could not cleanse herself of any excess.

Her thoughts turned to Roger, and she couldn't help wondering if her ex-husband still lived in the same mobile home and the same trailer park outside of town. He wasn't given to taking chances or doing anything without being forced to—she had even had to propose to him—so it was quite likely. She circled around and headed southwest.