“I can ride a horse again,” Suzl added, “and it’s only three days. We want the child born there. It’s in Flux, so there’s no real danger or pain.”
“I was thinking about the journey. Maybe you can ride, but Spirit can’t. And she’s certainly in no condition to run.”
“She’s in great shape and she can make it. Just sure and easy. Don’t worry so much. You’re going to be a grandma.”
Suzl appreciated the special saddle that allowed her to ride normally once more. Spirit knew where they were going, somehow—she always knew, it seemed—and led them back to the main string. She was using her Flux power to compensate for her off-balance condition, but kept a steady walking pace.
Spirit was feeling wonderful these days. Suzl was her rock and link to humanity. She knew, too, that Suzl was at last at peace with herself, and that was wonderful. The dugger’s bizarre and sexually provocative appearance was somehow wonderful, too. She was unique and different, as Spirit was unique and different. She loved every bit of Suzl, particularly that restored and strong self beneath that odd exterior. She felt Suzl’s love and devotion and, yes, strength, and returned it in full measure. They would not just have a child; they would have a lot of children. The new life beginning inside her excited and thrilled her.
Suzl had wondered, and continued to wonder, what the child would look like. Would the genetics be Dar’s, or those of her old self, or the way she was now? Mervyn had said that if it had been in Anchor the genes would be Dar’s, but in Flux it could be any way at all.
They turned off the main string which was leading them to Anchor and headed directly for their new haven. Although neither realized it, within half a day they approached the huge caldera that was the Hellgate itself. Once Spirit saw it, though, she felt curiously drawn to it. Suzl, in all her years in Flux, and never seen one, so they let curiosity get the better of them.
At one point along the huge, concave dish-shaped depression there was a metal ladder. Suzl, with her short arms and prominences, did not like the idea of climbing down that ladder, and even less did she like the idea of a pregnant Spirit descending it, but Spirit was adamant and so she had no choice.
In the center was a smaller hole, with another ladder going down. Suzl feared the Guardians, fierce creatures none had ever lived to tell about, who blocked this way into the gates, but she also knew from Cass’s experiences that, when you were with a Soul Rider, the guardians let you pass.
The ladder this time was very short, and when Spirit reached bottom, the whole section of tunnel glowed. Suzl could only follow and worry. As they walked, the glowing section in back of them would fade out and the one ahead would glow. Finally they reached the end of the tunnel, where they saw a whirling vortex of pure energy spiraling not inward but outward and then, to Suzl’s eyes, vanishing in the tunnel. To one side was a large console with a tremendous number of buttons and controls that softly hummed.
Spirit went right up to the vortex, and Suzl feared that she would try and step inside, but she stopped just in front of it. Spirit alone saw and felt the vast amount of energy coming from that whirling fury. She saw it, felt it, and let it soak into her. Suddenly she turned and seemed, even to Suzl, to be even more beautiful, even more alluring than ever, and she was somehow glowing.
Make love to me. Now. Here. With all your passion.
All thoughts but that vanished from Suzl’s mind. She felt the roaring energy now, but had no thoughts, only emotions.
All that binds me, I keep. All that I have to give I give to you, freely, now and forever. Together only we are one, indivisible.
It went on for hours and hours, until both passed out.
Suzl awoke first, sat up, and shook her head. She remembered what had happened, and where, but she could not understand why. Her first fear was for the baby, and she looked around and saw Spirit sleeping soundly on the floor of the tunnel, looking apparently unhurt. But Suzl also saw more, things she had never seen before.
Something had been done to them; something had been radically changed, and it required thought. Suzl could see the complex lines of force linking herself with Spirit and could see the massive rush of energy emerging from the vortex outward and into the very wall of the tunnel. She knew she was seeing what wizards could see, but she saw more than they usually did. Although few had ever been inside a Hellgate and even fewer had survived to tell about it, she knew the general layout. What she hadn’t expected to see were four outlets arranged around the vortex between the machine and the swirl itself, one on each wall and one on the ceiling and another on the floor, each forming a unique pattern of its own. It was, she thought, something like a children’s connect-the-dots puzzle. You just stood there and traced the proper pattern and . . . what? The thing opened, and it took you to Anchor.
She frowned. This was all new to her, and although she’d heard Cass tell the tale of her own entry, it had never been this clear or this obvious. She was lousy in math and had nearly flunked geometry, but she had instantly recognized and grasped the purposes of the four outlets through which the power flowed. Flowed, in fact, into the temple basements, where it was tapped and stepped down and converted into usable electricity for each of the capitals.
The machine was another story. Always the conventional wisdom and the teaching of the Church had said that those machines sealed the Hellgates to prevent the return of the evil ones—but it wasn’t so. It was, in fact, obviously the vortex that prevented it. The free energy was far too violently agitated to permit any sort of passage. It would instantly atomize anything solid and scramble any energy pattern. The key to unlocking the gate, if in fact it was a gate and there was another side, was just as obviously not a combination of button and switch pushing on the machines, but something far more complex, something having to do with the vortex itself.
Part of the machine’s job was to tame and route the energy that flowed from the vortex as an escape valve for its own situation, but that was only part of it. The machine blocked and directed the energy flow, but the four waveform groups were each rearranged into a complex pattern, probably the most complex type of pattern possible. And yet—each pattern was only superficially similar. Each was also unique.
With growing wonder, she thought she had the answer. Anchors were not distinct from Flux; they were a part of it. Just as wizards created Fluxlands out of their own minds, so the four Anchors were created by the builders of the machine and were stabilized by it. She thought of the fear most Anchor folk had of Flux and Fluxers and of the terrible prejudice they had shown her, and she had to chuckle. They and their world were as much a Fluxland as, say, Pericles—only, since they were fully determined by machine, the Anchors were unvarying and rock-stable.
All this was new to World’s knowledge, as far as she knew, and yet it seemed so obvious to her, totally new and untrained. Obvious . . .
She directed her new sense inwardly and saw the tangled mass of spells that had been heaped upon her, starting with that idiot curse. The intricacies had baffled the best wizards, including Mervyn, but they were perfectly clear to her. She formulated a complex series of strung-together counters and sent them down, and watched the patterns neutralize, dissolve, and vanish. As she did, she felt a little dizzy and shook her head. When it passed, she looked down at herself again.
There was no penis. The breasts were large, but about the size they had been eighteen years ago. She was chubby, just like then, but that was all. With a feeling of horror, she realized suddenly what she had so casually done. All the spells were gone. All of them—except one. The odd linking spell to Spirit remained, rock-solid and beyond her newly found power and understanding to undo. It was, in fact, still oddly familiar, and she looked back up at the great machine before the vortex and saw what it was.
The spell was of the same type as those being generated by the machine. Oh, infinitely simpler, but still of the same type and of the same oddly inhuman pattern. Was in fact the Soul Rider not a creature at all, but an extension of another machine somewhere?
Spirit moaned and turned slightly, bringing Suzl back to her immediate situation. She’d dissolved all the spells, and she was now, physically, an eighteen-year-old totally female female. All the physical and mental spells that had created a weird, artificial freak were gone. All that effort on Mervyn’s part had been totally wasted.
Or had it? She wondered about that for a moment. She had made the choice to remain a freak forever, and that was important. Nor had she regretted it one bit. Spirit had known and understood the sacrifice. She had also forced Cass to stare at her own human weaknesses and prejudices, and to overcome them. That, too, was important.
And now Spirit had brought them both here, had drawn in and diverted a fantastic amount of power from the primary source. The Soul Rider might have determined the route, but she was absolutely certain that Spirit had understood exactly what she was doing. Suzl stared at the sleeping pregnant woman again, knowing that her love was still firm and her commitment sure. She looked inside, beyond, following the linking spell to Coydt’s spell. No, it wasn’t quite. Mervyn was right, although he hadn’t put his finger on it. The spell was only superficially Coydt’s. The evil one’s work was overlaid on another spell—a machine spell. She followed Coydt’s work and easily stripped it away, leaving only the actual spell in place. She examined it and saw that it was related to the others. That was why Spirit was immune to most spells. In a sense, she was as stabilized physically as an Anchor.
She realized with a sudden shock that Spirit had no Flux power. Yes, the Soul Rider was still there, its aura creating a curious double image of Spirit if looked at in a wizard’s way. All of Spirit’s power, and perhaps more considering the overload, had been transferred to her. She knew that this was impossible—it was known by all that Flux power could not be transferred, conferred, increased or decreased in an individual—but that’s what had happened. And Spirit had known she was doing it, even if the Soul Rider had told her how.
Tears came to Suzl’s eyes as she realized that Spirit had made the ultimate sacrifice for her, just as she had made her choice in Pericles for Spirit’s sake. But the Soul Rider, too, had won and beaten Coydt’s game.
It was suddenly quite clear who was feeding all this understanding to her and why she had such easy use of the power. The Soul Rider, prevented from using the power through Spirit, now could deal, by virtue of that linking spell, through Suzl.
We are one . . . Indivisible.
Now Suzl had the power and Spirit had the Soul Rider with the knowledge of how to use that power. Apart, the Soul Rider was powerless, and Suzl’s power would be meaningless, since, as she had reflected, she was poor in those very aptitudes and skills so needed to make use of it. On a practical level, Spirit would be entirely at Suzl’s mercy in Flux, while her own demonstrated physical skills would make her the boss in Anchor. Spirit would still see the things in nature and have the joys she had, and Suzl would be her connection with humanity. It was a perfect partnership, with one hitch. She no longer had the one thing that would make them opposites.
Spirit stirred, moaned a bit, then opened her eyes and looked at Suzl, who felt sudden apprehension and fear. But Spirit smiled and her face took on the look of childlike delight. That special bond of communication through the linking spell was still there.
It worked! Spirit did not say it, nor were words communicated, but the idea and the excitement came through.
Suzl nodded. Yes, but . . .
Spirit sat up, then got unsteadily to her feet with Suzl’s assistance. The bulging stomach was something of a problem on a rounded surface, and they were still in a tube. This is what you are really like.
Suzl nodded again.
You are cute/attractive/erotic. She halted for a moment. Did you fear I would no longer love you?
Suzl acknowledged the fear she knew Spirit had already sensed and understood. Somehow, the new wizard understood, Spirit retained that ability to look at people and things in ways no other human could.
You are the same inside.
But not outside.
There was a slight blurring of the double imaging, and along the linking spell floated a few more patterns. Suzl received them, and instantly she knew them for what they were and felt both silly and relieved.
She had the power. Lots of it. If Kasdi could change into a half-bird and if wizards could change people into plants or substitute wheels for legs or merge human and horse, then what was a simple sex organ? She was back to basics, but her dual nature was still there if she wished or needed it. She could be anything she needed to be—providing somebody, the Soul Rider or another wizard, told her the spell. Spirit had realized this from the start, but she had been blind to it. It wasn’t the same as Mervyn’s neutralization, for she had the power. In point of fact, to all those with strong Flux power, sexual identity and appearance was merely a matter of personal preference, like the kind of clothing you wore or the kind of food you liked.
Suzl suddenly felt better than she ever had in her entire life. She was free, totally free, and in love, and she had the power! She wondered suddenly if power flowed both ways along that linking spell, and tried it. It did, indeed. Spirit, then, was not totally powerless after all. She could still read the strings and take what was needed—from Suzl. They needed each other more than ever.
We should go now.
Spirit agreed, and they made their way back along the fearsome tunnel. Suzl found it much easier to go up ladders now, and she led and got to the top and started to haul herself out when something made her stop and look around. What she saw made her duck back down, almost kicking Spirit in the face.
Up on the rim, near the far ladder, were a whole host of human figures, most on horseback. They weren’t alone.
Spirit sensed the danger and quickly went back a bit in the tunnel, but Suzl decided to risk another peek. If the Soul Rider was willing, she’d like to know just what was going on up there.
She risked poking her head up and wished for some way to find out what all that was about. Not only did she want to know for curiosity’s sake; she also knew that she’d left her horse tethered to that ladder up there, so they must know that someone was down here.
Energy flowed from her directly to the rim, and she found that she had limits that seemed contrary to logic. She could not make out any of the words being said, but she could see them clearly, and she saw at once that they were all wizards of great power. Two had, in fact, discovered her horse, and they were obviously discussing its implications. She hoped and prayed that they wouldn’t draw the correct conclusions, and cursed her inability to make out the words.
“. . . Queer saddle. Must be a strayed dugger or some thin’.”
“Gotta be really monstrous to set in a get-up like that,” another noted. “What d’ya think happened to him?”
“Looks like he went down and got creamed by the Guardian,” yet another voice put in. “Sure isn’t anywhere around here. I’d know if it was. I don’t like it bein’ here, though. I smell trouble. After all this, I’ll take a look down the hole and see if we can get us a spy. It’d be just like one of those damned Soul Riders to horn in on this.”
“Why not take a look now?” somebody suggested.
The man sighed. “Because my going in there is the whole point of this exercise, Stupid! Right now, just post two good riflemen up here at the ladder and have them blast away at anything they see down there.”
“Sure thing, Coydt!”
Suzl felt frustration at not being able to make out the words, but she recognized the leader’s face when she saw it. She began to wonder if the Soul Rider had directed them here for this purpose rather than the other. Were they really free? What terrible plot were these wizards hatching with this prince of evil? More immediately, how were they to deal with the riflemen, even if everybody else went away?
* * *
“All right, everybody! Listen up!” Coydt called out. “Now, you all know the plan or you wouldn’t be here in the first place. This is phase two of a feasibility study. The first phase is done. All of you are top wizards, Fluxlords mostly, who’ve been trampled on by that little bitch in the tattered bathrobe. All of you know what’ll come next, once she’s beaten the last of you. Her power and the power of those who back her will be put into making this one big Holy Mother tyranny. One by one they’ll wipe you out as they feel like it, and then they’ll turn you and yours into scripture-quoting slaves. You all know what it’s like to have great power. All you have to do is put yourselves in her place and you know what’s got to be coming down the line.”
It was a good argument, particularly when each of them was, in fact, the kind of person who’d act just as he said.
“Now, I’m gonna show you how it’s done. She preaches revolution, so let’s give her a taste of revolution. All of you have Fluxlands and those Fluxlands have limited borders. Why? That’s all you can protect, defend, and hold. Now, she’s taken so much of World that there is no way in Heaven or Hell that she can protect, defend, and hold it all. Break her in pieces, scurry all those forces and wizards all about as you strike and run, and you demoralize her whole empire. Soldiers won’t keep marching hundreds of kilometers to fight when they know their own homes might be overrun. Wizards can’t keep you in line while they’re rushing around defending first this place, then that. And any church that can’t stop all hell from literally breaking loose in its own backyard isn’t gonna have many converts or keep the faithful in line. So that’ll provoke her into repression right off and, in turn, swell our own armies.”
“We know all this,” somebody shouted. “But we still doubt it’s possible.”
Coydt chuckled. “Oh, it’s possible, all right. Now, first I went into her own home Anchor and snatched her kid in broad daylight, then turned her into a nature fairy. They couldn’t stop me and none of my people even got a splinter. That sowed doubt and also took her mind off empire and towards revenge. She hasn’t taken a new place since. Next we recruited all over Anchor and Flux. We have a real army ready and willing at my signal to converge on the target. They’re mean, nasty, and full of hate. None of them could resist the idea of being able to loot an entire Anchor at will.
“Now, for my next trick, I’m going to demonstrate to you how to get in and out undetected. A selected sample of you will remain here. I’m going in that big hole over there and I’m coming back out by way of Anchor. I’m not going to be electrocuted or ripped to pieces or anything else either. And I’m taking two of you with me to show you how easy it is. Now, you’re welcome to try it yourself, but don’t kid yourselves. The Guardian is real and it’s deadly. Without me, all the Flux power in the world won’t save you. That’s why we’ll be able to get to them, and get out, at any time we want, but they won’t be able to get us. When I return here, you’ll know the whole plan will work. Then we can set a date and a target.”