Part 43 (1/2)

”Describe them to me.”

Astron looked at the clocks' strikers reach back to their maximum extent. ”There is no time,” he said. ”Something must-”

”What, time did you say, there is no time?” Camonel flung back his head and his laughter boomed out over the oasis. ”Here there will be time eternal. Do you not see what is happening? Before there were two separate realms. Soon there will be but one. The laws have mixed so that there is nothing to distinguish one universe from another. Like two bubbles pressed together, the surface between them has dissolved away. They distort and strain, but inevitably merge into one. The single realm

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that results will obey the symmetries of both s.p.a.ce and time. With the next stroke of the gongs, these beings that call themselves rotators and reflectives will have their game continue forever, circling about a single oasis in pursuit of one another and playing the same move over and over and over. Yes, a beautiful symmetry that-”

”Tiny barbs and upon them smaller filaments still,” Astron interrupted. ”The surface of the pollen has a structure finer than that possible from the most skilled weaver. I have had no chance to study them further. But then, how can it matter? Although you might be satisfied, it does not help to answer-”

”Oh, but indeed it does.” Camonel clasped his sides to control his laughter. His eyes defocused and took on a faraway look. ”Barbs and filaments, you say. Yes, exactly what my calculations predicted. It is but a small reason why I am known as the one who reckons. That is why I sent you. Even without the answer, I had hoped that the pollen would still provide a piece to the puzzle.”

”Then Prince Elezar,” Astron said. ”How does he fare?”

”Caspar has found his dark node and driven him from it. The spark of life s.h.i.+nes no longer in most of his followers. He is adrift, virtually alone, somewhere in the darkness of the realm, awaiting his end. I must have the pollen and the cataloguer quickly. It is the last hope that Caspar will not be victorious in the end.

”But enough. Now, human, before the strike of the last gong that locks this realm into an eternity of repet.i.tion, clasp the pollen tightly and enfold yourself in the arms of my agent.”

”There are four of us altogether,” Astron said.

”No, just you and the cataloguer,” the voice rumbling from Camonel said. ”Of the others there is no need.”

Camonel stepped forward, stretching his wings out to full span. Astron looked at Nimbia and then at Kestrel still slas.h.i.+ng with a sword a half-dozen subnodes away. ”Come.” The djinn's voice boomed with authority. ”Come, bring the pollen to Palodad's domain, and then we will speak of riddles and the precepts that lie beyond

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all others. The pollen and the cataloguer-both are essential. For no less will I continue to aid in your cause.”

”No!” Phoebe's voice sounded above the demon's own. ”You have stated that you have submitted. It is my commands that you must obey.”

Camonel hesitated. Slowly he turned back to the wizard. ”But there was no true struggle,” he said slowly. ”It was only because Palodad had instructed-”

”I command you to take us away,” Phoebe said. ”Away from here to safety for the four of us who do not belong.”

”Not even a mighty djinn can find his way when the reality about him changes as he flies,” Camonel said. ”If we hesitate too long, I cannot be sure of even finding the lair of the one who reckons.”

The clocks struck in synchrony with an ear-shattering peal. The ground began to weave and buckle, making it difficult for Astron to keep his balance. Off in the distance, he saw the sand rise in a huge wave that climbed halfway into the zenith. The sky above blinked in a kaleidoscope of rapidly changing colors.

”Away,” Phoebe shouted. ”To the first flame that you can find. I care not where.”

Camonel grunted. ”Dominance or submission,” he muttered. ”There can be no in between.” Astron saw the mighty djinn pull Phoebe to him with one hand and then swoop to retrieve Nimbia with the other. Cradling them in his stout upper arms, he plucked Kestrel from the surrounding mfilee and then returned for Astron and the rucksack.

As the wings folded shut about him, Astron heard screams of dismay and pain, and then Abel's strong voice shouted above the rest. ”We have broken the protocols and new ones come in their place. Look about you, reflectives, and see what you have done. Unwittingly, you have invoked the strongest, the ultimate of them all-coalescence follows from similarity. We are merged with the universe of the chronoids and now we are truly doomed.”

With a crash of grinding reorientation the wave of sand hit the oasis. A chant of eat, sleep, cycle, eat,

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sleep, cycle began to ring in Astron's ears. He felt a wave of nausea far stronger than any that had gone before. Everything went blurry, and he seemed to be tumbling head over heel. The sweetness of the air suddenly lost its pleasure. His aches and pains dissolved away. In resignation, he succ.u.mbed to the protection of what was again his stembrain, only dimly aware of the closeness of Nimbia at his side.