Part 27 (2/2)

”It must be,” Lysander said, from his invisibility. ”No one else has come, and the BEM has kept faith. In fact, it showed us the flag of truce and challenged us to a game; it had figured out where you came from. We declined, but we did talk to it, under that truce; we told it the stories of Phaze, and it told us the stories of the galaxy.”

”It be an honorable creature,” Flach agreed. ”This guard duty must be boring for it, so once it lost the game, it took advantage of the situation to do something interesting.”

”Must needs we kill them, when we win?” Alien asked. ”Methinks we could get along, an they be not in a position to despoil our world.”

”If you win, they will capitulate gracefully,” Lysander said. ”But unless you have something exceedingly special, that I can not stop, you will Jose.”

”The more I learn o' the Adepts' plan, the more certain I become that there be something special,” Flach said. ”But exactly what it be, I know not.”

”Maybe it is time for your third message,” Echo said.

”Aye. I hope I insult none here an I take that message alone; I know not whe'er it be secret from some or all but me.”

”Go by thyself,” Alien said. ”Tell us what thou dost deem proper.”

Flach walked toward the ocean, sat in a hollow, and brought out the message capsule. It said, TAKE WEST POLE'S PRODUCT TO SOUTH POLE, WHEN.

He pondered that. He had gone to the North Pole, it turned out, to bring the Green and Black Adepts out at the proper moment; otherwise, in that slow time, they would not have emerged when they were supposed to. and the Magic Bomb would have been set wrong. So though the message had seemed inadequate, it had turned out to be all he had needed to know. The second message had told him to take the Hectare seed to the West Pole, and to go with those with him and four the wolves sent. Those with him-actually with Nepe-had been Lysander and Echo; the wolves had sent Sirel, Alien, and the two unicorns. Evidently the word had been spread before, for them to be ready for the call. It had all been set up, somehow, so that Flach and Nepe fell naturally into the pattern. Even the use of the enemy agent, Lysander, had turned out perfectly, suggesting that the prophecy had known very well what was to happen.

But they had just left the West Pole, and the only product they had was the decoy flutes. That didn't seem to be enough. Those flutes could have been delivered by other means; they were useful only as decoys. Take decoys to the South Pole? That suggested that the action would be somewhere else. Yet it seemed most likely that the action would be with Flach, the only loose Adept, and Lysander, the person of the prophecy. How could they be elsewhere?

And it said WHEN. What did that mean? Not now? If so. how would he know when? He was baffled.

It's a riddle, Nepe thought. How would that distressingly gorgeous ice maiden unriddle it?

Icy? She would instantly fathom the manner some seemingly unrelated factor factored in, and suddenly everything would make sense. She would point out the obvious, that Grandpa Stile/Blue had said it would take seventeen years to forge the counterweapon, and that time was accelerated under the West Pole so that one week outside was three years inside, so mat seventeen years inside would fit within six weeks outside, and-but of course that wouldn't match, because in only another four weeks the Magic Bomb would emerge from slow time and destroy the planet.

To which objection she would say-That if the Pole was slow, and another fast, who could say what might be under the other two? Maybe slower-or faster. In which case those seventeen years could be accommodated!

But if one was faster, why wasn't the whole thing done there? It didn't seem to make much sense to set up at the wrong Pole! Because different things have to be done at different rates, Nepe thought, speaking for the imagined demoness. Like a recipe: it only works when the slow and the fast ingredients are mixed at the right moment.

It did seem to be making sense. But why hadn't they been allowed to remain under the West Pole until the device was ready?

Because we're part of the recipe, Nepe thought. We're the icing, that has to wait far the cake to bake.

Well, maybe. So what were they to do meanwhile, since they didn't know when the rest of it would be ready?

Wait for a signal. And that seemed to be it. They would know in the Pole community when their product was ready; they could send someone out to let Flach know.

Flach returned to the others. ”I think I needs must wait here until I receive notice from those under the Pole that things be ready. Then will I have to make a very difficult trip. The rest of you may prefer to go home now.

”Forget it, Flach,” Echo said. ”We didn't wait here for you to come out just to desert you when you did. We'll go with you until it seems we're not supposed to.”

He looked at each of the others, including the spot where Lysander stood. The Hec agent would want to remain, certainly! All were certain; they had probably discussed this among themselves.

”Then I thank all of you,” he said. ”We must wait here for word from under the Pole, if the Hectare guard allows.”

”The deal with the BEM had no time limit,” Lysander said. ”Had you lost, you would have been permanently captive. You won, so you have permanent access. You three, not the rest of us. But you may entertain the guard while you wait, if you wish.”

So they entertained the guard, and themselves, by playing a.s.sorted games that were not for stakes. They played cards, and the monster learned quickly and well; it was able to remember every card played, and quickly calculate the changing ratios and odds, so that its advantage increased. Nepe played it several games of jacks, after they made the pieces out of local materials, and its eyes were so sure and its tentacles so dexterous that it quickly became unbeatable. They played guessing games, but its lack of local cultural knowledge handicapped it, just as Flach's, lack of knowledge about Hectare conventions made some supposedly simple riddles impervious to his comprehension. But overall, they were all having fun, and the time pa.s.sed quickly. In fact, Flach was getting to like the BEM, despite everything.

In this manner three weeks pa.s.sed. Flach was getting worried; there was barely one week remaining of the grace period before the Magic Bomb erupted. Had he misjudged the situation? Was he supposed to go back inside the caves after all? Yet Eli had not told him that.

Then a creature emerged from the Pole cavern. It was a bat-which was odd, because there were no straight bats in that refuge. There was a bat-headed man, but if that man sired a child it would be another animal head, not a full animal.

Alien a.s.sumed bat form and flew to meet the other. They had an inaudible dialogue. Then they came together to join the gaming group.

Alien resumed boy form. Beside him, the other bat became a rather pretty red-haired girl of their own age. ”This be Weva,” Alien said-”She comes to tell Flach to come inside for a day.”

Astonished, Flach stared at her. ”Thou wast hiding in there, and we saw thee not?” But as he said it, he knew it could not be; she could have been only three years old when they left the cave. If she had hidden, it would have been arranged by her parents. Was she a throwback, one who had turned out a vampire bat instead of a bat head, her two forms separate instead of properly merged in the animal head way? That might account for it; now they used her as a messenger.

”I was kept apart,” Weva said. ”By the time I was of age to school, thou was gone. But now I be thine age, and glad to meet thee at last- Willst come with me?”

”For a day? Dost mean here, or there?”

”A day here,” she said. ”Four and a half months there.”

”What o' my friends?”

”Only thou must come,” she said firmly. ”Can they wait not one day for thee?”

”Aye, we can,” Sirel said, tugging at Alien's arm to draw his attention away from Weva. She was frankly jealous, evidently realizing that his interest in her had been in the absence of a girl of his own species. Now one had shown up.

”This summons needs must be answered,” Flach said. ”I will go with thee, and return in a day. outside time.” The Hectare was with the group, listening, but unconcerned; their truce covered everything, and only when they departed the pole permanently would it end. Then, of course, the BEM would report, and the chase would be on. But they had been careful not to mention the next mission to it.

Weva resumed bat form, and Flach followed her to the Pole. She flew down into it, and he jumped in after her.

Inside, he stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust. Then he started walking down the spiral tunnel.

In a moment there was a growl of a wolf. Flach looked, his eyes adjusting. It was a full wolf, a nearly grown b.i.t.c.h, but not Sirel, who remained outside. He used his magic to a.s.sume wolf form, because he had learned that the splash of magic did not extend outside the caves; the time differential seemed to damp it out so that the Purple Adept would not be able to pick it up. ”Who dost thou be?” he growled, for he had known of no werewolf here either.

”Thou dost know me not?” she inquired archly.

”I have seen thee ne'er before,” he replied, irritated. ”Me-thought none but animal heads came to these caves.”

”Thou thought correctly,” she growled, amused.

She was teasing him, but not in a way he could quite fathom. He walked on down the spiral with her, not deigning to comment further. Eli would surely explain why these creatures had been hidden from him and Alien and Sirel, who would have been as interested as he in their presence.

”I must leave thee now, but the rovot will guide thee,” Weva said.

”Rovot?” he asked, surprised again. But she was gone.

Well, there were robots here; they took care of most of the menial ch.o.r.es and new construction. He turned the body over to Nepe, who hardened it into the aspect of a humanoid robot.

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