Part 9 (1/2)

Wiz didn't say anything. He leaned back, rested his head on the rim and let the hot water drain the tension from every muscle.

A fine sifting of dust was falling from the ceiling. Wiz brushed it out of his hair absently and sneezed as the pungent dust tickled his nose. He wet his finger and caught a speck of the dust on the end. His eyes wrinkled at the sharp taste and then widened as he recognized it. Lemon pepper!

A broom-sized bundle of herbs dropped from above and splashed into the pool next to him. aLook out! It's the lobster again.a There was a mad scramble for weapons and wizards staffs as the pool emptied almost instantly.

aOh, pshaw!a came a crustacean-accented voice from the misty darkness above.

Glandurg came pounding up through the fog, waving Blind Fury as if to decapitate the foea”or someonea” with a single stroke. The others moved around to the opposite side of the pool, well out of range.

aWhat happened?a the dwarf demanded.

Wiz pointed to the bundle of herbs floating in the pot of would-be Cannibal Soup Mix. aThe lobster. He must have come across the roof of the cave.a Glandurg looked up and snorted. 'The craven creature was afraid to face my steel. Little did I expect the foe to crawl along the ceiling like some verminous spider. But never fear. I shall be ready if he returns.a Wiz glanced at the pool, already filling the steamy air with the spicy aroma of herbs, pepper and lemon.

aNever mind. I think I've had all the swimming I want.a aWhat now?a Bal-Simba asked Jerry after they had stashed the truck with Moira in it in a hotel parking lot.

aBack to the convention, I guess. We'll start working the outlying halls. That's where they put the newcomers to the show and Taj is more likely to be hanging around some of the more innovative startups.a He sighed. aThis isn't working very well. I'm sorry.a aThere is nothing to be sorry for,a Bal-Simba said. aThe obstacles are clearly very great.a Thanks, but we can't keep going like this. Not with the cops looking for us.a aI do not believe Moira can continue here either. She grows ever sicker and weaker. It is well that she can sleep the day away, but even soaa He shrugged.

aYeah. Okay, let's try today, and if we haven't found him by evening we'll just head north to the power spot and go home.a Even the smaller halls were jammed and, if anything, the crowds were more colorful than at the main exhibits. There was a higher ponytail-and-T-s.h.i.+rt to suit ratio, Jerry noted approvingly, and here and there someone was sitting on the steps or a bench with an open laptop actually hacking code.

Their first stop was the message center, more out of optimism than genuine hope. There was still nothing for Taj, but to his amazement Jerry found a message for him from Elaine Haverford.

Their second stop was the line at a pay phone. After twenty minutes, Jerry paid a scalper twenty dollars to use a cell phone that had been hacked to have a fire marshall's priority so its calls would get through.

Dr. Haverford answered on the second ring. aOh yes, Mr. Andrews, I did see Taj last night. He was at the chili cookoff. Were you there?a aAh, we were having a hot time of our own,a Jerry told her. aDid you talk to him?a aOnly for a minute. He placed second in the relativistic Tetris compet.i.tion, you know, and he didn't have much time. But I did find he's staying with the people from, ah, Bizzareware at the Paladin.a s.h.i.+t! Jerry thought, right where we started. aThe Paladin? Okay, thanks, Dr. Haverford. We'll get in touch with him right away and set up a meeting with your folks later. Thanks again.a aWe gotta do something nice for that company,a Jerry said as he handed the phone back to the scalper.

aWhat now?a Bal-Simba asked. aI believe you told me that everyone is at the show all day and unreachable at their lodgings until evening.a aMost people are,a Jerry corrected. aBut it's barely ten. If I know Taj he's still asleep, especially after a relativistic Tetris tournament. So let's pick up the truck, head for the Paladin and set up a meet.a aWhy not call him from here?a aBecause,a Jerry said grimly. aIf he doesn't agree to meet us, we're going to waylay him in the lobby and kidnap him. I don't want to take a chance on waking him up and letting him get away before we get there.a It took nearly fifteen rings for someone to answer the phone in the Bizarreware suite at the Paladin. All the while Jerry fidgeted and Bal-Simba merely waited.

ah.e.l.lo,a came a muzzy voice at the other end of the line.

aIs Taj there?'

aThis is Taj. Whaddya want?a aMy name is Jerry Andrews, , and I've got to see you right away.a aHey, it's not even noon yet.a aI know, but this is important.a Taj's voice hardened. aAnd you'll only take five minutes of my time, right?a aActually,a Jerry said, ait'll probably take a couple of weeks of your time, but you'll hate yourself if you don't meet me.a The voice sighed. aWell, that's original anyway. Okay, I'll tell you what. Let me get a shower and some breakfast and I'll meet you in the lobby, by the bird cage, say, in an hour. Okay?a aFine. We'll be there.a

THIRTEEN - MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.

aIt has been longer than an hour, has it not?a Bal-Simba asked nearly two hours later.

aYeah, but don't worry. If he said he was coming, he's coming. Probably. It's just that time doesn't mean the same thing to him it does to you or me.a Bal-Simba nodded. aElven blood.a Jerry didn't have a chance to respond before someone called out aMr. Andrews?a and Jerry turned to see the object of their quest.

Seeing him once again Jerry appreciated how he got the nickname Tajmanian Devil.a E.T. Tajikawa was rather over six feet tall and loose-limbed without being gangly. But it was the face that got you. It was thin, with an unusually aquiline nose, high cheekbones, narrow lips and topped by a p.r.o.nounced widow's peak of black hair. The only thing that kept him from looking positively satanic was the perpetual expression of bemused interest. aJerry; please. And this is Bal-Simba.a aCool.a Taj shook hands. aNow what's this big deal?a aCome on out back Part of the problems in a truck.a aWhat are you guys gonna do, kidnap me?a aOnly if we must,a Bal-Simba said mildly. aNo, no,a Jerry put in hastily. aNothing like that, but there's something out there you gotta see.a Taj eyed them suspiciously. aPrototype hardware?a aKinda. Ah, look, have you heard anything about a dragon at the show?a aIs that you? I'll say! You guys are causing more of a stir than anything on the show floor. Even Intel's pre-announcement leak of the Octium-and-a-half.a aOctium-and-a-half?a Jerry asked as he held the door open for Taj.

aIt's a P8 with a couple of extra ALUs, a bigger look ahead cache and another pipeline. Even in simulation the original was a slug, barely 300 MIPS. Anyway,a Taj went on without a break, athere are stories about that dragon all over the show. There's also a bidding war going on for the video game rights. If you guys don't have an agentaa aRight now we've got bigger problems,a Jerry said.

All through this Bal-Simba had been behind Tajikawa, studying his ears closely for signs of points.

aWhat's with him?a aHe thinks you're an elf.a Taj looked over his shoulder at the wizard. aI've got some friends who are Radical Faeries. Does that count?a When they got to the truck, Jerry rolled up the back and Fluffy's head jerked erect.

aMy G.o.d!a Tajikawa said.

aGet on in. We don't want too many people to see this.a He and Bal-Simba followed the Tajmanian Devil into the truck and rolled down the back behind them.

By that time Taj was already examining the dragon. aSomeone did a h.e.l.l of a job on this skin,a he said. Then he reached out and grabbed Fluffy's foreleg just above the joint and kneaded the flesh experimentally. The dragon drew back its head and hissed, giving Taj a faceful of sulfurous breath and a close look at a dragon's dental equipment.

Taj didn't so much jump back as levitate retrograde. aMy G.o.d!a he yelped. aIt's real!a aI'm sorry, My Lord,a Moira said contritely. aI am not always the master of this body's reflexes.a aBut you're a real dragon!a aActually,a Moira said sadly, aI am a witch, trapped in a dragon's body.a aThat's part of the problem,a Jerry said. aBut only part of it.a aSo? Don't you need a wizard or something to handle this, not a programmer.a Jerry jerked his head at Bal-Simba. aActually he's a wizard. But where we're from a programmer is also a wizard. That's part of the problem as well.a Taj c.o.c.ked his head and Jerry congratulated himself. The trick had always been to get Tajikawa to buy into the deal once they found him. So far that part was going nicely.

aI know you've been up to something,a Taj said. aThere are all kinds of rumors about you and Wiz Zumwalt flying around the net.a He looked behind Jerry at the twenty-foot dragon. aBut I guess the rumors didn't have the half of it.a aWe've got a really weird problem.a Taj looked at the dragon again. aI'll bet.a aNo, I mean really weird. And we need help.a aNo kidding?a Taj sounded intrigued. aTell me about it.a aIt's so weird I can't even describe it to you. You've got to experience it.a aNo kidding,a Taj said again.

Jerry tried to keep a poker face but he was smiling inside. Gotcha!

Blue eyes crying in the raina Michael Francis Xavier Gilligan concentrated on the way the neon lights reflected off the ice in his highball. It hadn't been raining when they had parted, but Karin's blue eyes had been full of tears. So had Gilligan's.

A smattering of computer chatter drifted over from the group in suits at the next table. That was the other thing. The whole d.a.m.n town was full of computer types.

Lines were terrible, traffic was more than normally awful, there were no rental cars to be had and hotel rooms were at a premium.

It was too d.a.m.n early to be drinking, he knew, but what the h.e.l.l else was there to do in this place? What I get for volunteering to come in a week early, he thought sourly.

Gilligan was in Las Vegas on business as well. Next week, after the computer show ended, was the Western Air Show. The aeros.p.a.ce company he joined after leaving the Air Force had needed someone to come in early and get things set and ready. It seemed like a good idea at the time. An extra week in sunny, exciting Las Vegas at company expense plus an opportunity to visit some of his old Air Force buddies stationed at Nellis.

It hadn't worked out that way. Not only was the town jammed, but it wasn't as exciting as he remembered from his last tour here. Half the people he had known at Nellis were gone, a.s.signed to other bases scattered halfway around the world. But worse than that was the gulf that had opened between him and the other pilots. Oh, they still liked him well enough, but he didn't strap his a.s.s into a high-performance jet every day and let it hang out. He wasn't a member of the fraternity any more and that left an awkward hole in the relations.h.i.+p. After a couple of painfully clumsy visits, Gilligan had begun avoiding the base and his old friends.

Blue eyes cryin in the raina That left him nothing to do but drink, and brood Las Vegas was a great town for doing both, he was discovering.

He hadn't been much of either a drinker or a brooder before, not even when his marriage broke up. But then he'd drawn a mission out over the Bering Sea, come out on the short end of a dogfight with a dragon and met Karin. He couldn't stay in mat world, but he had promised to return as soon as his tour in the Air Force was finished. The programmer/magicians there had even given him a phone number he could use to call them when he was ready.

Well, he got ready. Then the number hadn't worked! When he tried to use it he got a visit from a couple of very serious FBI agents who questioned him about possible involvement in telephone fraud.

So here he was, left with nothing but memories. Nothing to do but remember, and drink. G.o.d, he hated himself when he got maudlin like this.

Blue eyes cryin' in the raina The security guard wasn't looking for dragons. In fact he was checking for people sleeping in their cars in the parking lot.

With hotel rooms completely unavailable it wasn't unknown for Comdex-goers to live out of their cars. Cars were fairly easy to spot on regular rounds, as were motorhomes. Vans were special objects of attention.

As the guard came closer he heard several voices coming from the back of the rental truck. So naturally he jumped to the obvious, and wrong, conclusion.

aHotel security. Open up in there.a He yanked the back of the truck up and was promptly trampled by a panicked dragon.

aAh, Mick.a Gilligan looked up from the remains of his drink to see Ivan Kuznetsov standing at his table. He didn't really feel like company, but he waved the Russian to a seat anyway.

Kuznetsov was a bit of a character. According to rumor he had defected from the Soviet Union a couple of years before it fell apart. Now he was using his connections in both the former Soviet republics and the West to put together aviation-related adealsa of much import but vague content Their paths crossed repeatedly on the air show circuit and Mick had found him a more congenial drinking partner than most of the executives he met.

aYou have an interest in dragons, yes?a Gilligan nodded, vaguely recalling a drunken conversation one night in Brussels.

aThen you might want to look out front. Police are chasing a dragon around the building.a Jerry, Taj, Bal-Simba and the dragon had ducked through the first open door they could find. Unfortunately that led right into the main casino.