“At the start, darlings, yes, but things changed very quickly after Ayesha’s girls also snatched your grandchildren and then got you in return. Ayesha obviously needed a non-threatening replacement for Habib, and Suzl was it. I supplied the spell, warts and all, because she deserved it. Anyone who had access to all that power, all that ultimate power, and just walked away from it deserves whatever she gets. Ayesha created this whole new world fantasy because she knew and understood Suzl so well. It was a way to keep her ignorant and on track, since while a number of the girls could work the projector and even turn off a big-shot wizard like Madam Pericles, here, there was no substitute for a world-class wizard voluntarily turned.”
“And then you learned about New Eden’s big project, and all those projectors, and you saw Suzl build this into a real movement. You decided not to demand delivery but rather to support things and see how far she’d get.”
“Oh. yes. And, of course, there was a practical matter. They were marked and there was no way they could move that damned projector up to us in any amount of time. The risks were too great, so we came down and went along. We even supplied some muscle, in the form of seven of the fourteen so-called allied wizards who, incidentally, were needed thanks to this idiot’s binding spells.”
“I can count again, you know,” Morgaine noted sarcastically. “Nine wizards, even transmuters, can’t come close to taking on the ones loyal to Suzl, and they have enough of the projectors that you can’t deactivate them all by surprise.”
“Ah, but all but a few are spread all over the place,” Chua pointed out. “Fifty-seven hundred kilometers of border. More, really, since it isn’t all that regular. Not to mention dear Liberty, which takes five just to maintain it. I can concentrate mine, such as here. There are three projectors not yet deployed still here at the moment, and the original, of course. The three new ones are on those silly things with belts, but they move, darlings! We’ll take them, and the original on an old-fashioned team and wagon. Four should do us nicely for protection, and since our bright folks think they’ve solved New Eden’s little secret, we might be able to make more after we take the old one and one new one apart and compare them.”
“The clock runs!” Tokiabi hissed. “We can not move the projectors out and use them for protection as well. They should be loading now. That means we’re vulnerable.”
“She talks!” Morgaine snapped derisively.
“Life’s most delicious moments are those of risk,” Chua responded. “Besides, I’m getting to it.”
“I suppose now you’re gonna gloat about what you’re gonna do with us,” Matson said sourly.
Chua smiled sweetly. “Don’t you wish you had real Flux power now, darling? Wouldn’t you like to draw those pretty little pistols of yours and just blow us away? But you can’t. Don’t you wish now you were the real Sondra and not a pretender? Ah, but of course you do!”
“Your asshole partner’s right,” Morgaine muttered. “Get it over with.”
“Ah, Matson, I believe a little poetic justice is in order for you. We’ll deliver you to Anchor, but not New Harmony. New Eden. A pretty little Fluxgirl you’ll be, absolutely voluptuous. That aggression totally damped down, and the mental processing speed slowed to a more practical level, so you’ll find joy in cooking meals, washing floors, and all that other nice Fluxwife stuff. Not enough to keep two thoughts in your head at the same time or figure out three-syllable words, but enough so you’ll know who and what you once were. I think that’s about right. Ooooh! I can see you wanting to go for that gun, but I think the kind of spell that would block you would be far faster.
“As for you two,” she said, turning to Suzl and Morgaine, “We’re going to give you each a little drug. It takes a while to work, but we’ll be leaving and you’ll be staying here—with lovely Ayesha. After that, she’ll report us on the radio as baaad girls, and one of the other wizards will eventually turn you both back on, but that’ll be fine. In fact, Suzl, you’ll find that all those nasty bugs in my program are gone. You’ll be gorgeous again, and you’ll even be able to see. Not talk, though. That will remain. And you, Morgaine, will get one just like it.”
“This drug—what does it do?” Morgaine asked nervously. She wasn’t even thinking of herself, but she was carrying a baby.
“It’s a chemical, just like those in your brain, and it goes to this little place and settles in, and, what do you know! You fall madly, completely, passionately, and permanently in love with the first person you see. We’ll take one of you in the back, to make it easier. Of course, that will be our dear, sweet Ayesha here. I told you we were all just animals, dear. Just chemistry, alas. But you’ll still both be you, with all your powers. You just won’t be able to think of anyone or anything except dear Ayesha. Your world will be exclusively her. You’ll cast any spells she wants cast, create a Fluxland to her dreams, just to please her. Convert whole populations to her whims, and. in fact, with this drug, you’ll gladly create new lovers for her out of the wizards who trust you so. Don’t worry, though, Morgaine, dear. Your baby will be just fine! Ah! We really must be going now. Ming, you see to the others while I take our old friend Matson, here. The Matson who always made fun of wizards but wishes he were Sondra now!”
“I am Sondra, bitch!” she screamed, and suddenly Chua Gabaye was rocked with pure, raw, and immensely powerful Flux attacking her.
Sondra had both surprise and emotion on her side, but Chua Gabaye was among the most powerful, and she was not the only wizard there. As soon as Sondra attacked, Ming turned, needle in hand, for support. Morgaine was completely without power, but neither could she receive any. She could, however, grab Tokiabi’s legs and pull hard, toppling the wizard and breaking her concentration. Morgaine wasted no time and, pregnant and unwieldly or not, rolled right over onto the slender, fragile-looking wizard.
Sondra didn’t wait for Ming to regain things and wriggle out with a transmutation spell. She pulled her pistol and fired it right into Chua Gabaye’s heavily-made-up face. It didn’t make a real big hole going in, but her skull seemed to explode from the back and pieces of brain and bone splattered over Suzl, Morgaine, and the tent.
Ayesha screamed.
Sondra went quickly over to where Morgaine was just rolling off Tokiabi. The other wizard looked out cold, apparently having hit her head on a small serving table when she fell. She was out cold.
“Wow!” Morgaine managed. “I know I feel like I weigh a ton, but I didn’t think I was that heavy!”
Sondra reached down and pried the needle out of Tokiabi’s stiff grasp. She looked at it, then smiled, and leaned down and injected it into Tokiabi’s arm, then stood up. “Pretty neat if I say so myself. Dad needed Cass to blow Coydt’s brains out.”
Suzl gave a questioning bark, and Morgaine said, “It’s O.K.! She blew Gabaye’s brains out and gave Tokiabi her own medicine. Boy! We better decide fast who she’s gonna fall madly in love with!”
Sondra snapped her fingers. “Yeah. Hang on! We’re not out of the woods yet! Brief Suzl and keep an eye on Ayesha!” With that, she rushed from the tent and looked cautiously around. There were a number of people around, including a crew hauling the original projector onto a wagon, but nobody was really close. She made it to her tethered horse, reached in the saddlebag, and took out a very different looking communications device. She stuck a wire into the ground on a grid line and pushed the side button.
“Send in the cavalry, and fast!” she said, and the message was transmitted along all lines of the grid including one that was being monitored. “Gabaye dead, Ming out, but we’re still surrounded by hostiles. Send me the king and queen and quick! Whoops! They’ve spotted me!”
Shots rang out in her direction, and a shield went up around the projector area. The crew that almost had it on the wagon now quickly began reversing itself and lowering it back to the ground.
Sondra transmuted and took off into the air, then circled. They’d almost gotten the damned thing back down, and one of the allied wizards whose name she’d never even bothered to remember was looking around and waiting to get it turned on. She knew if she stayed too close the wizard would have her; they might not have been permitted to run the damned things before but they sure knew how they worked.
There was no access into Suzl’s tent until that projector was taken out, that was for sure.
The shield didn’t look very secure. She transmuted a machine gun and began swooping down and firing at them, and some of the bullets got through. They went all around the wizard and the projector, but most of the commoners helping lay dead or dying.
The wizard on the ground was confident. She reached up and fixed the four antennae herself, shielding herself and the machine from any blows, then sat back as the projector came to life. Sondra banked and turned and got the hell out of there. Morgaine could have done something against the wizard, but she’d have to crawl to get there and even a slingshot could take her out. Blind, powerless Suzl was even less help.
Another winged figure came in, then two—three! She joined them, seeing familiar forms on the backs of two of them. The others were diversions so the passengers could be landed near enough to do any good. She joined in, and narrowly missed getting caught by a sweep. She was getting the best use out of all that monitoring of New Harmony up north now. Two others weren’t so lucky; they were caught and deactivated and fell to the ground.
The two passengers, however, got unloaded. One large one headed for the tent, while the other, much-smaller figure walked right towards the projector.
The enemy wizard knew that there had been two drops, but ignored the one going into the tent for now. A commoner, no real power or threat. The other, though. . . . She did sweep after sweep, catching many familiar people and things, but no stranger. She had operated eyes closed, as they all had, to increase concentration and not get distracted, but now she opened them and looked around. There! Wasn’t that someone over there? She swept the area but found nothing. Even a deactivated wizard would show, because the grid squares under them would be dark. She spotted the two she’d nabbed, and the two others in the tent, but nothing else.
There was a sudden noise right near her, and again she opened her eyes and turned—and found a pistol barrel stuck right in her mouth. The weapon was held by a small, slightly built woman or perhaps a young boy, dressed in tight-fitting jeans, work shirt, and well-worn boots. She knew that face. Every wizard who was as old as she was knew that face.
Then Cass calmly blew her brains out and kicked the body rudely to the ground.
There were few others around. The traitorous group of wizards had either corrupted or turned the guard detail and the small company that was always around, and those were the ones that had been doing the heavy work on the projectors.
Sondra landed, turned back into herself, and grinned. “Hi, Cass! Am I glad to see you!”
“You look like you were doing pretty well all by yourself,” the small woman came back. “You had all the tough stuff done before I could even get here! Boy, that little bit felt good, though. Just like old times!”
“We couldn’t have taken her out without you, and you don’t know what damage that thing can do!”
Cass looked surprised. “To who? Not to me!” She paused and pointed to the tent. “Everybody O.K. there?”
“Should be, once I get the power turned back on and get rid of Morgaine’s new unwanted addition! I sure as hell hope I can figure out how to work this thing! I been watching it go and wishing I could, but I just couldn’t give myself away until I had to.”
“Yeah, but why did you call in His Nibs? He could’ve gotten killed!”
“Not him. He’s immortal, didn’t you know that? Just ask him. No, it was just a little last-minute creativity taking advantage of a heaven-sent opportunity. That kind of thing runs in the family.”
Cass grinned. “You did one hell of a job, kid.”
A familiar figure emerged from the tent, a figure not seen anywhere in the environs of New Harmony for very long before. He was tall and lean and he had a big drooping moustache, and he was dressed all in black. He was not, however, alone.
Clinging to Matson like she was afraid he was going to run away and nuzzling his shirt was a very changed Ming Tokiabi. She was trying to get a hand in his pants and looked very petulant and hurt when he gently slapped her wrist. “Guess what?” he called to them. “I think that stuff works too well!”
Cass, who hadn’t the faintest idea what he was talking about, frowned.
“Don’t worry!” Sondra laughed. “I’ll explain it all in a few minutes. Let’s just hope and pray that New Eden never gets hold of that stuff!”
“I just hope he doesn’t,” responded Cass.
The two additional routines Chua Gabaye had promised both ran when the two wizards were restored, but as Sondra predicted, Morgaine’s was easily reversed even by her own efforts. What would have kept that in was Ayesha’s wishes.
In Suzl’s case, the spell, or program in wizard parlance, was simply automatically debugged. She now looked as she had at the start, very much like Ayesha and Morgaine, and she regained her eyesight, although she was still having trouble adjusting to it. Her “mouth organ,” however, was not removable.
“I still want to get this straight,” Morgaine began, as they all sat around drinking various things, all of which had been supplied from outside and checked by spell. “You mean, Sondra, that you were you all the time? Matson was never here?”
“That’s right. I’ve been myself pretending to be Dad changed into myself all this time. There were a number of times when I almost slipped up, but I caught myself. Dad has so many mental protective spells it was fairly easy to add a few to heighten believability. The walk, for example. Men and women walk differently, even when identically dressed. They sit differently, too. There are little mannerisms. For the rest, I just relied on knowing Dad so well. I really got into the part. There were times there when I wasn’t really sure which one I was.”
“It must have been difficult to keep from using your powers,” Suzl noted over the speaker. “You certainly fooled me.”