changing in sequence. Once there was only music.
“Thought-activated. Handy little gadget. Bought it from
a place whose location can’t be determined, only inferred.
Very talented folks there. See?”
A chemical formula appeared on the transparent facing
and froze in position. A long numerical sequence appeared
below it.
“Down this way.” Snooth hopped off to her left, even-
tually turned down an aisle.
Roseroar stared at the endless ranks of goods. “How
many shelves do y’all have down heah?”
“Can’t really say,” the kangaroo replied. “It changes
all the time.”
“You run this whole place by yourself?” Jon-Tom asked her.
She nodded. “You get used to it. I like stockwork, and
the perks are good.”
“How far is the medicine?”
“Not far. Only about half a day’s hop. Any longer and
I’d have paused to pack us a meal or dig out a scooter.”
“Is that anything like the Honda ATC we saw one of
your customers riding around outside of town?”
“That’d be Foharfa’s toy. He’s going to break his neck
on that thing one of these days. No, a scooter’s just an
260
Alan Dean Poster
inertialess disc. You guide it by sensing your relationship
to the local planetary magnetic field.”
Jon-Tom swallowed. “I’m afraid I don’t have a license
to drive anything like that.”
“No matter. I’m enjoying the walk.”
“Can we buy one to get us ‘ome, maybe?” Mudge
asked hopefully.
“Sorry. I’ve none in general stock. Besides, I make it a
rule not to let certain goods travel beyond Crancularn. The
world’s a complicated enough place as it is. You can
overtechnologize magic if you’re not careful.”