“That’s right about now.”
“There are many others who could go.”
Wiz shook his head. “Nope. We need someone who knows enough programming to
understand what he sees. That’s me or Jerry. I’m higher ranking so they’re
more likely to talk to me.”
Arianne nodded. She reached under the workbench and produced a bag of
black velvet.
“Put this over your head.”
Wiz looked at the hood dubiously.
“Is this necessary?”
“Not absolutely. But it will help you concentrate.”
“Let’s do without it then. That looks too much like what they put on
someone before they hang him.”
Arianne shrugged. “Your choice, Lord. But I will leave it around your
shoulders should you want it.”
She stretched to reach a shelf above her workbench and took down a carved
wooden box about the size of a cigar box. Opening it, she hesitated over
the contents before reaching in and removing a gnarled, forked root about
the size of her hand.
“I have never seen one so large,” Moira said as she came from her place by
the door to get a closer look.
“Plucked from the earth by the full moon of mid-Winter,” Arianne told her
proudly. “It is the best I have.”
“The bigger the root, the better, eh?” Wiz said from his stool.
“There are other factors, but basically yes. Now, if everyone is ready?”
Wiz nodded, Moira stepped back to the door and Arianne laid the root on
the stone floor. Then she produced an ebony wand decorated with silver
leaves and jeweled flowers.
Suddenly she spun and jabbed the wand at Wiz. He started and flinched at
the unexpected move. Slowly and carefully she brought the wand away from
Wiz and pointed it at the mandrake root, all the while keeping it
perfectly level as if balancing an egg on the end.
Wiz looked down at the root. It seemed the same, but he felt dizzy and
lightheaded, as if he hadn’t eaten all day. He thought about trying to
clear his head and decided against it.
Again Arianne turned and jabbed the wand at Wiz. Again a wave of
lightheadedness rose up in him. As she turned bark toward the root he
could hear the spell she was muttering more clearly, although she had not
raised her voice.
A third time she jabbed and pointed at the root. Wiz felt as if he was
dividing like an amoeba. He saw the workroom from two perspectives at
once, as if his vision had doubled. He closed his eyes, but both sets of
eyes closed and he was completely in the dark. For a moment he felt
nauseated and he took two deep breaths at once to try to settle his
stomach.
With his eyes kept tightly shut, he reached up with all four of his hands
and groped for the hood. He pulled it over his head and opened his eyes to
darkness and to light.
He turned and faced himself and the two women.
“This is sooo weird,” he said wonderingly in reverb duet.
“You will get used to it,” Arianne said. “Concentrate on the simulacrum
and try to ignore your body.”
Wiz tried to move around the workroom to get the feel of his new body. At
first both his standing body and his body on the stool tried to move
together. He concentrated fiercely on the standing body and bit by bit his
other body relaxed. Finally his “vision” fused completely into his new
body. Distantly and dimly he could feel himself sitting on the stool and
his breath sucking through the black velvet hood but he had to concentrate
to feel it.
It wasn’t a perfect illusion. His sense of touch worked very poorly and
his sense of smell seemed to work not at all. But he could see and hear
perfectly and his balance was good enough.
He faced his audience and spread his arms.
“Ta-DAH,” Wiz said. He made a low bow and instantly regretted it as a wave
of dizziness washed over him. He barely managed to avoid falling on his
face.
“Can you move all right?” Arianne asked.
“I’m still kind of clumsy.” He took another turn around the room, more