“Understand me well, madam. If they had been willing to come out and personally take command of the troops and stand with us, in equal danger, I would have stood with them as well. We all would have. They are our leaders. But their wanton display of cowardice and abuse of their privileged positions made it clear they were no longer fit to rule or make decisions. Understand that, even now, I can’t speak for New Eden or any part of the nation except Logh District. I can not communicate with them if I wanted to. Subject to new elections, however, the military commanders have complete power in their districts and together would represent the final authority. I was able to get through to my counterpart in Nantzee using the stringer office here and your contracted terminal on the other end— the stringer office in Nantzee is rubble as well—and outlined the situation to him. He concurs. It will take some time to reestablish contact with all fifteen military districts, but eventually I hope I will have clear instructions, in the absence of that, I’m asking your terms for sparing Logh and my troops the fate you dealt Nantzee and, I understand, New Canaan.”
“We’re negotiating an armistice, then, not peace. All right, it’s what we have and what we’ll have to take. First, we will want a withdrawal of all troops and border defenses in the district in two kilometers. That will give us a buffer zone and allow us room to breathe without fearing any new attacks.”
Stong nodded. “That is reasonable.”
“Next, I want the complete withdrawal of all military forces from Logh except a small command headquarters of no more than five officers, at least one of whom will either be you or have all authority to directly deal with us delegated by you. The withdrawal will be to a point at least two kilometers beyond the old Anchor wall boundary.”
“But that’s preposterous! That wasn’t in your letter of terms!”
“Those terms were for immediate treaty. Later on it states that the costs will be higher the longer we delay. This is an armistice, Brigadier, not peace. We may have to face the fact that you will be at war with us again in a matter of days!”
The general opened his mouth, then closed it without saying anything.
“Third,” continued Matson, “any original inhabitants of the area in question who wish freely to return to their homes unarmed and under our jurisdiction will be allowed to do so, and any now there who wish to stay will be allowed to. Fourth, your withdrawal must leave all military equipment in place, including guns and emplacements, major ordnance, wagons, lorries, and other major things that might be used against us. All may retire with their horses, if any, sidearms or personal weapons, and anything which can be carried and does not need a team or lorry to move. Finally, orders to this effect are to be issued by you as soon as you return, and the withdrawal is to proceed with all deliberate speed and be completed within forty-eight hours.”
“Those are surrender terms! I won’t do it!”
Matson sighed. “Brigadier, the only question is whether or not your troops will accept it or whether they will do to you what you did to the judges. You asked for armistice and this is the price. Recognizing the fact that a state of war continues to exist, perhaps for some time, between us, we feel this is the minimum acceptable for our security. There it is. The alternative is also clear. Any failure to abide in any way at all with these conditions, and that includes spotting one soldier planting booby traps or one wagon hauling away something or troops barring civilian return—anything—and there will be no warning. We will immediately saturate the area with everything aimed for maximum kill effect. If just one soldier remains after forty-eight hours, or we are fired upon at entry, we will immediately launch the weapons at the main bodies of your troops and whatever other concentrations of population exist in your district. This is not negotiable. In my position you would deliver much the same terms.”
All four of them were stony-faced and tight-lipped. “I understand,” the brigadier muttered through clenched teeth.
“Sir, I assume that a large part of your troops are from the New Canaan area. That region is without food, pure water, electricity, transportation, or communications except through the Gate. Send your most recalcitrant men through and let them see for themselves and report back. They could well use your men there right now in restoring essential services and keeping order. Your trains still work out of here and there are enough engines in the Logh yards, I think, to handle more than half your men, which should be enough since you’ll have to leave some to guard the border. The rail yards at Babylon are destroyed, so you’ll have about an eight-kilometer march to get to the other side, but some trains that were en route during the attacks might be there and could get back to New Canaan, or near enough, in reverse. Take them. We have no use for them. There is no purpose to talking further. Your clock is now running. This conference is terminated.”
Matson gave a salute, which all four returned, although whether out of respect or habit it wasn’t clear. Their position, however, was, and they went back to see what they could do.
It took eleven days for the military commanders to agree to and sign a formal surrender instrument, but they knew there was no choice, and so did the bulk of their troops. Oh, there were a number of frontier towns who were outraged, places and people that had remained untouched by the bombs, but they were invited to New Canaan, or Nantzee, or Babylon, to have a look and make their own decisions. Few who did and saw it all for themselves could doubt their new leaders’ course. There were, of course, the die-hard fanatics who believed that the entire nation should die, to the last person, rather than surrender, but they were very much in the minority—and those who made too much of it or attracted a following either vanished mysteriously or were picked up with great fanfare, sent to the northern border, and told they wouldn’t be stopped from fighting.
Some actually did. A number of army units mutinied against the peace and organized their own attacks, but these were expected. They were fanatical and determined to die, and thus were easy to maneuver, easy to kill, and within six weeks there was no military action against New Harmony at all.
New Harmony took this time to take hold of and turn Liberty. With the addition of that massive number of troops, there was no problem in moving into and fortifying all four of the old Anchor positions. Liberty’s wizards proved remarkably dedicated to breaking the New Eden programs, and succeeded without casualty. The minds of the five wizards, however, were badly damaged, although Flux doctors had hopes of eventually restoring or at worse rebuilding them.
A net was being woven of Fluxland and projectors around the whole of New Eden’s vast borders. It was not terribly thick—from twelve to twenty kilometers in most places, except on the Liberty side—and as soon as Morgaine and the other theoreticians among them worked out the mechanics, the spells would be interlocked and unified. When that happened, no male would be able to enter in either direction without the permission of the Fluxlord in charge, nor spend more than one full day there in any event without automatically undergoing a rather marked change in gender. Male wizards would need to use a specific spell to enter, one that would do much the same thing, although if they overstayed it would turn them into very-much-New-Harmony-type wizards, and it would stick.
Suzl sat in her tent, sipping some real Anchor wine, while Ayesha reclined nearby. Ayesha’s belly was swollen with child, and her breasts were slightly swollen and sensitive, as she was just entering her ninth month of pregnancy.
Morgaine entered, with Matson, in response to a summons. Morgaine was into her eighth month and looked no less extreme than Ayesha. She needed help to get around, although, interestingly, she discovered that if she took very small steps she could actually manage barefoot now.
“Have a seat, both of you,” Suzl said amiably. “We have much to discuss yet.” Curiously, while she hadn’t lost any weight, she hadn’t gained, either, and seemed remarkably stable. “How are you feeling, Morgaine? Any regrets on your condition?”
“On having it? Of course not! I’m excited, really. I never thought of having a child before. I never thought I’d have the chance.”
“Good. And the master spell for our New Harmony belt?”
“Coming along. Within days, I hope. Then we can really relax.”
“And you, Matson? What do you think of all this?”
“I think we were damned lucky and New Eden was too hidebound to whip us. We got further than I ever dreamed we’d get.”
Suzl smiled. “Is there anything else you might want to do here?”
“Nothing. The army’s in good shape and capable hands. The Anchors will always be potential flash points, but it’ll be years before New Eden is in any sort of shape to even try and retake them, and, unlike them, we can resupply and reinforce from Flux. It’s over, Suzl. We won. Until the next world crisis, anyway.”
“Eventually we will expand, you know, as we grow and build.”
“I know your intentions, and you know I don’t agree with them. Flux can be a lot of things, and that’s its wonder. Some of them are really rotten, like the Garden and cesspools that produce the Gabayes and Tokiabis and the rest. Some can be very nice and useful, too, like New Pericles or Freehold. The rest? Well, let’s call them experiments. Somebody with the power has an idea of how things should be. They create a Fluxland and put it into operation using that idea. If it works, if it’s really something better, it gets copied by those with less imagination. If it doesn’t, then a few have paid the price for knowledge. That seems to be as fair a way to do it as is possible, given the fact that all of us are human. I don’t think we can afford too many more marching armies and master programs.”
“I don’t know. On alternate days I believe you’re right and I’m content here. The other days I feel that the only way to preserve what we have is to expand it and make it universal. Those are the days, I suppose, when I talk to the two bitches. To one and at the other, anyway.”
“I know what you mean. That’s the only thing that keeps me on edge. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“I am thinking of moving into Anchor Logh,” she told them.
“What!” Morgaine was startled. “But—that’s ridiculous! You’d have no power there, and you’d lose your voice as well.”
“In a few days, when your master program covers the border, they won’t need me anymore. I’m like you were, Morgaine, when you came to me. This spell is going wild inside me, doing funny things to my mind as well as my body. The only way to totally stabilize it is to go into Anchor and stay there. I’ve done my part. I’ve done more than my part. I was born in Anchor Logh and I lived there a very long time, off and on. I told you that I identified with it. I’m glad we were able to save it, and I think it’s where I belong. That may sound stupid, even senile, and maybe it is, but this is as far as I can go. There I can feel the grass under my feet and know it’s no creation of someone’s imagination. I can feel a gentle rain, and have a wind caress my body. I can smell the flowers, and hear the birds sing. Maybe even go on a diet.”
“But—your voice!”
“I can make my intentions known if I want to. Otherwise, I’ll have Ayesha there. No, it’s settled, I think. Not until the baby comes, of course. There’s no sense in having a painful birth when it can be effortless here. Then we go. Matson, I have no right and no moral standing to keep you here and like that. Stay as long as you like, then leave with my blessings. Morgaine can easily restore you to your old form.”
“Thank you. I’d like to get home—it’s been a long time—but I’ll stick a bit now that I can leave. Just a gut feeling. I want to be sure everything is right. You’ll excuse me if I spend the day you run that master spell in Anchor, though.”
“Of course. Morgaine, I can do nothing about that spell as it stands, but you are also free to leave, visit your mother or have her visit here, and return to New Pericles if you wish. You’ll always be one of my girls, though.”
Morgaine smiled, although she knew the blind woman couldn’t see it. “Thanks, Aunt Suzl. New Pericles is wherever a Haller is. I’m more than tempted to just move it down here someplace. I still like men, though. It’s nice having the freedom to choose.”
There was a clinking of glasses, and Ayesha passed out wine glasses half filled with Logh White. “A toast, then!” she announced lightly. “To the future!”
The other three nodded, smiled, and drank.
The drug was so fast and so insidious that all three were out, still sitting up, before they even knew anything was wrong. Ming Tokiabi had assured her of that. She reached over and unclipped the radio from Suzl’s belt and looked at it. “How the fuck do you work this. . . ?” she muttered, but then she pressed the button on the side.
“They’re out!” she called playfully, like a little child pleased with herself. “Ready when you are. . . .”
Flux rose, first under Suzl, then under Morgaine, tagged them, then severed their contact with the grid. They would stay turned off until somebody turned them back on.
Another minute went by, and then Chua Gabaye and Ming Tokiabi entered, looking very satisfied with themselves. “My!” Chua gushed. “Don’t they make such pretty statues!”
“I done just what you told me!” Ayesha said proudly, then she frowned. “You’re gonna keep’ up your end, right?”
“Have no fear, Ayesha, darling! We wouldn’t think of going back on you! It appeals to our sense of humor. Uh—Ming? We’re on a tight schedule here. Want to give them their shots and wake them up?”
“Why not just do it now?” the other survivor of the Seven asked impatiently. “Why draw it out?”
“Ming, dear! How ever do you keep from killing yourself? I mean, what’s the fun in life if you can’t watch their faces as they’re helplessly victimized? Ah! I see they’re coming around!”
All three groaned and shook their heads, but the antidote cleared their minds rapidly. Suzl, for the first time completely cut off, gave a garbled and impossible-to-understand comment and lashed out. Morgaine gasped and froze. Only Matson stood up and glared at them, but first at Ayesha. “Why, you traitorous bitch!”
“Oh, now, easy there, darling! How can she be a traitor? She started all this, after all. Planned it out. Ayesha’s a very clever girl. I didn’t know the exact players. In fact, we were certain it couldn’t be brought off at all, but you all surprised and delighted us!”
“The projector,” Morgaine said, understanding it all now. “All you wanted was the projector. It really was just a bloody raid for pay after all.”