“There are rumors that the hostages have been betrayed and transformed,” she told them.
“I’m afraid it’s true,” Mervyn replied. “I have some information sources available to me and they have pretty much confirmed it.”
“Hadley” nodded solemnly. “I, too, have confirmation of this. Who would have thought it possible? Over eight hundred thousand people transformed in a matter of days? An effective Fluxland covering thousands of square kilometers! It is staggering!”
“Yes, and without cost,” Mervyn responded bitterly. “The fools just wouldn’t listen! The worst part is, if we could undo it and give them a vote, a fighting death or that, the vast majority would vote to return to their New Eden state!”
“I fear so,” the High Priestess sighed. “I fear for poor World. Why is the Goddess suddenly so cruel?”
“Perhaps,” said Ivan slyly, “because you have been looking for Hell in the wrong places. Hell is not at the Hellgates. Hell is New Eden transforming World into its own dark vision.”
She looked at the strange man and frowned, but did not reply.
“At any rate, I need to get passed through into Flux as quickly as possible,” Mervyn told her. “I’m afraid I might have some internal bleeding and possibly infection. We must move, anyway. At nightfall their newly transformed population will stream through the gates led by top officers. They will drive the remaining defenders here like a moving wall, or pull their men back and set up progressive death rays near all opposition.”
“At least they will have some problems starting up again,” the High Priestess noted. “By what they did to the women they’ve closed off half the skilled work force.”
“The other half will train the new. Don’t get your hopes up. We managed some minor damage to a number of installations, but nothing that can’t be fixed in a few weeks or months,” the old wizard told her. “No, Tilghman’s won and we’ve lost. Best cut and run while we can. Please—I am in terrible pain. Get me to Flux!”
A number of hefty temple wardens who’d fashioned a litter for him carried him down to the basement to where Flux fed Anchor. One spot, round and about three meters across, was the invisible connector, then one spot of Flux, the only point at which Flux intersected Anchor internally. It was from that area that power was drawn for the capital’s and temple’s needs.
It took only a minute for Mervyn to heal himself as he stood there, and appear again as he was, robes and all. Ivan tensed, knowing that, at this moment, Mervyn could sign his death warrant and it would be instantly carried out.
But Mervyn. as he had counted on. was not one to do such a thing, and reached out his hand. Together they traced the mental pattern that was etched somewhere on the old floor below them, and found themselves in a moment transported to the mouth of the Hellgate itself.
Zelligman Ivan looked around at the round tube-like tunnel which terminated at a great machine with a vast number of controls on it, and beyond that to the source of Flux itself, a swirling mass of pure energy.
“Don’t get the urge to punch in the combination now,” Mervyn said lightly. “I have no wish to survive what we just did only to be instantly vaporized.”
Zelligman Ivan laughed. “Don’t worry! I have no desire for that either! Not now. But consider, my old foe—consider what we barely survived by luck and guts today. New Eden is going to win. They will be so strong that nothing in the end will stop them. Tilghman will never civilize them. World will fall into a dark age from which it may never emerge. The animals are overrunning the light, Mervyn! Sooner or later the few of us who are left with our own minds may turn those seven locks in desperation alone, aided and abetted by all that is sane.”
Mervyn sighed. “I pray you are wrong, but at least things have now forced themselves into clearcut positions. I prefer to always deal with the devil I know; you are so repulsed by that devil that you prefer the devil you do not know and possibly cannot comprehend. I may fail, but I would rather fight something I can at least comprehend than something I may be powerless against.”
“Well, perhaps. But you created the system that created these men, and then you disrupted that system and taught them war, revolution, and empire. Now you reap your own havoc. Now you see the basic difference between us, and why we feel we are right. You have sown this horror, and yet you feel you can reverse it. You must understand that the difference between us is fundamental. The Nine are incurable optimists!”
Mervyn looked at the other wizard. “You realize, of course, that after this we are even once more?”
“That, sir, goes without saying,” replied Zelligman Ivan.
It took a bit over ten days to secure the Anchor, although there was scattered resistance going on for quite some time afterwards. It was still extremely easy to subdue, for it was simple to determine the “loyal” from the “disloyal” population by appearance and attitude alone.
Sorting out, classifying, and assigning the population their roles was far more complex, but it was something New Eden had had a good deal of practice doing, and they did it very efficiently. Turning the mighty industries back on would take far more time, but it could be done. New Eden had done what it had to do.
The bulk of the army, strengthened by a hundred thousand of Anchor Nantzee’s men whom initial interviews had determined to be “nonessential.” moved immediately south to Anchor Mareh. They hoped that word of what they had done to the Nantzee population had not yet reached the lone remaining independent in the cluster, but knew it probably had, and that, in the end. it made no difference. Mareh was not an Anchor whose population had essential and irreplaceable skills. They would submit, or New Eden’s forces would kill every human being they encountered. General Champion had a dislike for long campaigns.
Adam Tilghman remained behind, mostly because Cassie was due at any time. He was determined to get back to his own home as quickly as possible, but he wanted no chances, even in Flux. He killed the little time remaining by tending to routine duties, one of which proved a bit more than that.
He had presided over a thousand court-martials and civil trials, but this one was unusual in that he knew the defendant and had placed him in command. He felt personally betrayed, and somewhat humiliated, and was determined to handle this one forcefully himself.
The members of Colonel Weiz’s command testified one by one to his hesitancy, incompetency, and cowardice under fire. The story was repeated again and again, and the facts were not in doubt.
Weiz, nervous and unhappy, told his own version. “In my judgment there was no purpose to wasting men on what seemed to be a futile mission. We had an effective fighting force in position numerically and materially too weak to accomplish our goals. I felt we were better as a mobile force, taking the pressure off anyone coming through until reinforcements arrived, rather than as a totally defeated force.”
“But they took the position,” Tilghman pointed out. “Took it and held it and used the two positions to control and neutralize the town until reinforcements arrived. Had they not done so, those reinforcements would have ridden into a massacre.”
“Perhaps, but with all due respect, sir, that is hindsight. There is a certain amount of luck in combat, and that luck turned with the company, but I could not count on luck. Had their attack failed, the worst of all possible alternatives from a military standpoint would have occurred.”
“Indeed?” said the prosecuting officer. “Colonel, we have testimony that you were under heavy and destructive fire and that you ordered a full retreat knowing that the enemy was not only in his fixed positions but below and all around you. Sheer numbers indicated you could not retreat in that manner, for there was really no place to retreat to. Your original battle was long enough to give that enemy plenty of time to block your escape. Your only alternatives were to stand where you were, which was untenable, carry out the attack anyway, which was done successfully, or surrender. I submit that testimony and your own statements show you to be a bright man and knowledgeable in military tactics and procedure. You were either too blinded by cowardice to realize this, or you were ordering a surrender without actually saying the words. The facts allow for no other alternative. I must ultimately point out to the court that, when command was assumed by Lieutenant Taglia and the operation proceeded, Colonel Weiz removed himself to a former enemy emplacement out of rocket range and remained there. He did not accept and lead the mission, nor remain with the support troops, woefully shorthanded, on the hilltop. I believe the case is proven.”
The Judge, a colonel, and a major who made up the Board did not even have to retire to reach a unanimous verdict. When the terrible word “Guilty” was pronounced, Weiz seemed to sag and shrivel.
“Colonel Weiz,” Tilghman said solemnly, “do you have anything to say to this court before sentence is passed?”
“Sir, I will never believe that I was a coward! But, as you have judged me, I plead for mercy. I have served New Eden long and well from the beginning. Its very system I made possible. I have a wife with child, and six out of ten children still at home. The most I will admit to is that I was not qualified for command, but I do not believe that is a mortal sin. I beg the court’s mercy.”
Tilghman sat back and sighed. Finally he said. “This court agrees that death is not appropriate in this case, but it rarely is in cases of cowardice. We are not unmindful of your long service, but we are also not unmindful that you played every political trick known to gain this command, and you accepted it when offered. A man who will be directly responsible for the lives of other men does not have the luxury of taking on the task without accepting the responsibilities. Yours was a key action, and a great many lives could have been lost had you had your way. The fact that you have induced, at the Brotherhood’s behest, a program of conditioning and drug control is irrelevant to this discussion, except that it raises the question of by what moral authority do you alter others’ lives when you are unwilling to risk your own?
“No, Colonel, it won’t do. Certainly a man who distinguishes himself repeatedly by his courage is entitled to wave his record before the court for one instance of failure. We’re human, and our laws recognize this. But you have no such record, except getting rich and fat on the blood and sacrifice of others; and the one time you were called upon to repay that debt you refused. However, as a personal favor to you in recognition for whatever length of service you’ve provided, this record will remained sealed. You will be listed and reported as killed in action in the line of duty, and will receive a medal for valor. I will personally see to the welfare of your wife and family, and guarantee it. But the sentence of this court must be the one proscribed under these conditions, and it is singularly appropriate in your case.”
Weiz jumped up and shouted “No!” but was restrained by the marshalls.
Tilghman made a gesture, then whispered to the two other judges for a moment and received nods. A young man in wizard’s robes stepped forward.
“Does the defendant possess Flux power?” Tilghman asked for the record, knowing the reply.
“Negligible, your honor,” the wizard replied. “With training he might develop as a minor false wizard, but no more.”
“Very well. Colonel Weiz, it is the judgment of this court that you have shown yourself lacking in those qualities which we deem ‘manly’ and ‘masculine.’ It is one of the duties of a man to fight bravely in the service of his land. We therefore empower this wizard in the court’s employ to render you as you have shown your inner nature to be.”
Weiz struggled to free himself, but the wizard was already at work, the spell prepared beforehand and used more than once in this campaign. Weiz was enveloped in an eerie glow, which froze him and then began to quickly change him. In a matter of moments his physical form had been changed, and now the one who stood there was not a man at all, but a Fluxgirl—and quite a different sort. Only art, not nature, could create such a voluptuous, sexually-exaggerated form. Of course, that was not the end of it.
“The second spell removes your volition,” Tilghman told him. “You will be subject to the extremes of animal urges, insatiable but totally obedient. You shall be barren, and the property of First Company, Twentieth Calvary. Your name shall be ‘Whore’ and you shall forever be the total and obedient slave of the Company and any of its members. You will be unable to act or speak in any other way but in this nature, and you shall crave their bondage. But, unlike the others, you will know and you will remember.”
As Tilghman said, an appropriate punishment indeed, and one that he didn’t feel very bad in rendering. Conditioning was one thing, but he had never liked the easy tool the drugs had been for the Champions of New Eden.
That evening, Cassie gave birth to identical twin girls. That last was a shock to him, for somehow he had never considered the idea that his first child might not be a son. and now—two daughters! Perhaps, he thought, reforms are due earlier than I had intended.
Cassie was very happy. Unlike Spirit’s, the delivery had been quick and efficient and only mildly painful. So well prepared was her body for it that it seemed simply a wonderful thing, and required very little aid from the doctor. Within two hours she was up and around and feeling just wonderful. She had already tried breast feeding, and discovered that her swollen breasts had enlarged to accommodate the twins just fine. She seemed to have an ample supply of milk, at any rate.
Adam Tilghman sat beside her. and hugged her, but she could tell he was either hesitant or slightly depressed. “You seem less than joyous, my husband. Is it because they are girls?”
“No. not really. I think it just may be a sign to me of things that have to be done. I’m happy for you, for them, for us. No. I’m just trying to think of a way to break some bad news.”
She looked suddenly concerned. “What? I had heard things went well.”
“Oh, they did—but there were casualties.” He took a deep breath. “I’m afraid your friend Suzl’s husband is one of them. He won’t be coming back.”
She felt shock, but mostly sorrow for Suzl. “This will hit her hard, and the children, too.”
He nodded. “That’s what I’ve been thinking about. It’s partly my fault he went out there, and I feel a little guilty. I’ve been trying to think of what I can do to help, and I’ve come up with a possibility, although I won’t do it without your approval as well.”
She frowned. “What do you need my consent for, my love?”
“What if I were to—marry Suzl as well? It would put you two together, and would give the kids the best care and attention.”
She was delighted. “Oh, Adam, that is the most kind and generous thing I could think of! Of course I approve! Oh, you’ll love her!”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I don’t want it to be—awkward.”
“Oh, no! She’ll be devastated, of course, for a while, but she’ll come around. She was always strong.”
“I know that very well. All right, then. The doctor says we can head home tomorrow, and I think we should. No stops. Uh—have you thought of names for the girls yet? As girls, the mother by tradition names them.”
She nodded. “I know. I wished to keep their names somewhat similar, and I have been trying to think of two that sound nice and aren’t overused in our circle. I stare at them and I think how sweet and delicate they seem, and two names came to me—Candy and Crystal. Sweet and delicate.”
“I like it. So be it, then. We’ll register them as soon as we return.” He paused for a moment. “We’ll tell Suzl together.”
She nodded. “I’d like that. Adam—sit close to me. Put your arm around me, please.”
He did so, and said softly, “I know this has been hard on you. The trip, I mean. I know you’ve been crying and keeping it from me.”
She nodded and sighed. “I—I just can’t help it. I thought I was ready and could handle this, but I can’t. The questions about my past all the time, the soldiers, the war, deaths and dying, meeting Mervyn—it brought it all back. I’ve done enough. Adam. I can’t handle that sort of thing anymore.”
He looked at her. “What do you want, Cassie?” he asked gently.
“I want to forget. I want to be your wife, a good wife, and a good mother to my children. I don’t want to know about wars and politics, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life defending or attacking what I was before. I want a family and a future, not a past. I want love, and security. Every time I was asked about my past on this trip I wanted to deny it, and mean it. No. I’m not the same Cassie. That was somebody else who died years ago.”
He sighed. “Poor Cassie! I’ve been selfish in the extreme, I think. I shouldn’t have put you through this no matter what. I wish I could exorcise those demons within you.”
“There is a way, perhaps the only way to permanent peace for me, but it’s rather final in itself. There’s an old spell the Fluxlords use when they get new people to fit into their lands. An adjustment spell, they call it. It’s somewhat like being hypnotized, but it really does what it says. and not just make it seem so like Suzl’s relatively crude power. I used to know it—before.”
“I’m familiar with it.” he told her. “Just what would you have it do?”
“Build me a false past to replace my real one. In my case, it would be a memory of being born and raised in New Eden, and taking everything for granted. I would still be as I am now, but it would replace those memories with a logical past that would make me this. All of my past would be erased, beyond recall. I was often tempted these past years to do it to myself, but I could never feel that it was the right time or situation. Now I do. I know that it will harm your politics, and if you refuse permission I will forget the idea, but the only time I’ve been happy, really happy, in a very long time were those few months under Suzl’s power.”
He thought it over. “Is it what you truly want’.’ You’re really sure?”
She nodded. “I am certain. Suzl said it best, back at the farm. I am what I am, and I’ll never be any different. That’s all right—I like myself more now than I ever have before. But I saw it in Suzl, too. The agony, the memories, the hopeless struggle inside. She coped with an add-on spell, but deep down there’s a sickness in her that’s kept her from happiness. I think she’s craved what I’m asking for years, but she never had a way to do it.”
He felt her pain and understood her problem. For others it was not so much to bear, but she had shouldered a load far too heavy for anyone to bear and stay completely sane. “If that’s what you truly wish, it can be done. And for Suzl as well.”
Tears came to her eyes. “You would do this for us?” She knew how he hated magic, and even when he used it it was always through others.
“I would. Any time you wish. I really do love you, Cassie.” He kissed her gently.
She thought a moment, deeply touched. “Do it now, Adam. Let it start here.”
“You’re sure?”
She nodded. “Now I am.”
He placed a hand on either side of her head and turned her face to his. “All right, then. Here it is. All you have to do is let it in and take it. If you don’t, that’s all right, too.”
It was a probability spell, as they were called. The formula basically postulated an existing end product and then created what was necessary to reach it by moving backwards along the probability path the wizard selected. He himself had no idea from where the new past would come or its details—although he could establish certain basic elements that had to be present in it—but she would still be as smart and loving and supportive as now. It was, in fact, one of the most common spells on World.
So depressed was she that she simply let it flow into her and relaxed almost totally, so much so that he had to support her body.
Her name was Cassie; she had been born sixteen years ago to parents who ran a large farm just outside the capital of New Eden. Her father had later died in battle, her mother a year later in an accident. She had not been attractive as a child, but her father was influential enough to have her made into a Fluxgirl shortly after puberty, guaranteeing a good marriage. They were social equals of the ruling class and had known Judge Tilghman socially, so when her mother died he had shocked and delighted her by making her his wife. She knew it was partly out of pity and partly out of respect for her father, but she had grown to love and respect her husband and believed she had the best life possible to have.
The details were exacting. Memories of growing up. of playing games, neighborhood girlfriends and secrets—all of it. New Eden was the only culture she had ever known, and she had no concept of any other existence than that in New Eden. She did not know that World was round, or even that it was a world. She knew Adam had taken her with him on this trip because she looked like somebody famous who used to be important and because he wanted to be there when his kids were born. Flux and magic mystified and scared her, but she knew she was safe under Adam’s protection.
She neither imagined nor desired any other life. Adam gave her love and protection, and provided all a girl could ever want. She’d never want for nothin’, and that was all any girl could really ask for.
10
TRANSITIONS AND LEGENDS
The rider was expected: even so, his arrival was the cause of great excitement and anticipation as he rode up to and through the gates of Mervyn’s Fluxland of Pericles. Sondra, looking as striking as ever, accompanied him; Jeff, with Spirit, had preceded them using wizard’s power.
Having little such power himself, the tall rider in black disdained using it even though, through Sondra, it was easily at his disposal. He was always a firm believer that use bred dependence upon it, and while most of World lived in respect and fear of Flux power he had only respect for it, as one would respect a potentially threatening fire or a loaded pistol. He was a survivor in a world where only those with the power were survivors.
In only one respect had he allowed his daughter, who possessed Flux power and was closest to him. to use her power to his advantage. His hair was thick but gray, as was his drooping moustache, and his face was worn and weathered by both age and experience, yet his internal health was as good as that of a man of twenty, and he could still take on youths less than half his age. He didn’t like Flux power, but as a man well over seventy years of age in various lines of work where the life expectancy, even for wizards, was under forty, he was not a fanatic about it. He was, instead, the quintessential survivor.
Jeff watched him ride in, relaxed and confident, and immediately felt the man’s power. He had heard stories about this man since he’d been a baby, and there were legends galore about him in every corner of World, and Jeff had always wondered if anyone could live up to that sort of reputation. One look at Matson, however, and he knew that there had been little exaggeration. It was a hard thing to put your finger on, but the tall, dark figure drew the attention of all around even without saying or doing a thing, and everyone who looked upon him felt a slight chill and sense of awe. This was the man who’d stalked and killed the most powerful wizard World had ever known and killed him in Flux. To see him was to hope that he was always on your side.
He pulled up to Jeff and dismounted. “So you’re Spirit’s boy,” he said in a deep, authoritative voice. He put out his hand. “Glad to meet you, son. Go ahead—I don’t bite my grandsons unless they bite me first.”
Jeff trembled a bit but took the hand. The shake was hard and firm.
“Sorry we didn’t get to meet before this,” Matson continued. “It wasn’t for lack of wantin’. It’s just that I don’t tend to go around like I used to, and a visit would’ve been kind of awkward.”
Jeff warmed a little, although there was only so far you could go with this man. “I understood, sir. In fact, until Sondra showed up most folks thought you were dead.”
“Still do. I like it better that way. I’m not immortal, son. There’s a ton of little cowards waiting to backshoot me at the first opportunity just to make themselves a footnote. I hear you got more of me in you than is good for your health. Sondra tells me you’re gunning for both Zelligman Ivan and Adam Tilghman. That’s a tall order, son.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you, it’s that nothing’s impossible if you’re smart enough and patient enough to wait for the right time and place. I’ll get them, sooner or later. You understand why.”
The big man nodded. “Yeah. I do, son. It’s true that if you’re willing to wait for the time and place it’ll come to you, but you better be sure of yourself and sure you can take your mark before you do it. You’re too young to get your fool head blown off.”
“I almost had Ivan in Anchor up north a couple years back,” Jeff told him. “I was this close, but I finally couldn’t take him out without taking out a bunch of innocent folks, too. I’ll get him, though. Tilghman, now—he only comes out from his Anchor when he’s surrounded by both amplifiers and an army, but he’ll slip, sooner or later.”
“Maybe. You watch out for Tilghman, boy. He’s smarter than any of them others, even Ivan, and don’t count on him in Flux. He’s a little nuts, but he’s one world-class wizard if he has to be and the kind of man who, if he knows he’s going, will make sure you go with him.”