Midnight at the Well of SoulsMidnight at the Well of Souls

 On "Earth," a Planet Circling a Star

 Near the Outermost Edge of the Galaxy

 Andromeda

 Paradise, Once Called Dedalus, a Planet

 Near Sirius

 On the Frontier—Harvich's World

 Aboard the Freighter Stehekin

 Dalgonia

 MASS MURDERS ARE USUALLY ALL THE MORE SHOCK-

 ing because of the unexpected settings and the past

 character of the murderer. The Dalgonian Massacre

 is a case in point.

 Dalgonia is a barren, rocky planet near a dying sun,

 bathed only in a ghostly, reddish light, whose beauti-

 ful rays create sinister shadows across the rocky crags.

 Little is left of the Dalgonian atmosphere to suggest

 that life could ever have happened here; the water is

 gone or, like the oxygen, now locked deep in rock. The

 feeble sun, unable to give more than the deep reddish

 tint to the landscape, is of no help in illuminating the

 skyline, which was, despite a bluish haze from the in-

 ert elements still present in it, as dark as the shadows.

 This was a world of ghosts.

 And it was haunted.

 Nine figures trooped silently into the ruins of a city

 that might easily have been mistaken for the 'rocky

 . crags on the nearby hills. Twisted spires and crumbling

 castles of greenish-brown stood before them, dwarf-

 ing them to insignificance. Their white protective suits

 were all that made them conspicuous in this darkly

 beautiful world of silence.

 The city itself resembled nothing so much as one

 that might have been built of iron aeons before and

 subjected to extensive rust and salt abrasion in some

 dead sea. Like its world, it was silent and dead.

 A close look at the figures heading into the city

 would reveal that they were all what was known as

 "human"—denizens of the youngest part of the spiral

 arm of their galaxy. Five were female, four male, the

 1

 leader a thin, frail man of middle years. Stenciled on

 his back and faceplate was the name Skander.

 They stood at the half-crumbled gate to the city as

 they had so many times before, gazing at the incred-

 ible but magnificent ruin.

 My name is Ozymandias.

 Look on my works ye mighty,

 and despair!

 Nothing beside remains....

 If those words from a poet out of their near-

 forgotten past did not actually echo through each of

 them, the concept and feeling of those lines did. And

 through each mind, as they had through the minds of

 thousands of others who had peered and pecked

 through similar ruins on over two dozen other dead

 planets, those endless and apparently unanswerable

 questions kept running.

 Who were they who could build with such magnifi-

 cence?

 Why did they die?

 "Since this is your first trip as graduate students to

 a Markovian ruin," Skander's reedy voice said through

 their radios, startling them out of their awe, "I will give

 a brief introduction to you. I apologize if I am redun-

 dant, but this will be a good refresher nonetheless.

 "Jared Markov discovered the first of these ruins

 centuries ago, on a planet over a hundred light-years

 distant from this spot. It was our race's first experience

 with signs of intelligence in this galaxy of ours, and the

 discovery caused a tremendous amount of excitement.

 Those ruins were dated at over a quarter of a million

 standard years old—and they were the youngest dis-

 covered to date. It became obvious that, while our race

 still grubbed on its home world fiddling with the new

 discovery of fire, someone else—these people—had a

 vast interstellar empire of still unknown dimensions.

 All we know is that as we have pressed inward in the

 galaxy these remains get more and more numerous.

 And, as yet, we haven't a clue as to who they were."

 "Are there no artifacts of any sort?" came a disbe-

 lieving female voice.

 '?

 "None, as you should know. Citizen Jainet," came

 the formal reply in a mildly reproving tone. "That is

 what is so infuriating about it all. The cities, yes, about

 which some things can be inferred about their builders,

 but no furniture, no pictures, nothing of an even re-

 motely utilitarian nature. The rooms, as you will see,

 are quite barren. Also, no cemeteries; indeed, nothing

 mechanical at all, either."

 "That's because of the computer, isn't it?" came an-

 other, deeper female voice, that of the stocky girl

 from the heavy-gravity world whose family name was

 Marino.

 "Yes," Skander agreed. "But, come, let's move in-

 to the city. We can talk as we go."

 They started forward, soon coming into a broad

 boulevard, perhaps fifty meters across. Along each

 side ran what appeared to be broad -walkways, each

 six to eight meters across, like the moving walkways of

 spaceports that took you to and from loading gates. But

 no conveyor belt or such was evident; the walkways

 were made of the same greenish-brown stone, or

 metal, or whatever it was that composed the rest of

 the city.

 "The crust of this planet," Skander continued, "is

 about average—forty to forty-five kilometers thick.

 Measurements on this and other worlds of the Marko-

 vians showed a consistent discontinuity, about one

 kilometer thick, between the crust and the natural man-

 tierock beneath. This, we have discovered, was an ar-

 tificial layer of material that is essentially plastic but

 seems to have had a sort of life in it—this much, at

 least, we infer. Consider how much information your

 own cells contain. You are the products of the best

 genetic manipulation techniques, perfect physical and

 mental specimens of the best of your races adapted

 to your native planets. And yet, for all that, you are

 far more than the sum of your parts. Your cells, par-

 ticularly your brain cells, store input at an astonishing

 and continuing rate. We believe that this computer

 beneath your feet was composed of infinitely complex

 artificial brain cells. Imagine that! It runs the entirety

 of the planet, a kilometer thick—all brain. And all,

 3

 we believe, attuned to the individual brain waves of

 the inhabitants of this city!

 ."Imagine it, if you can. Just wish for something, and

 there it is. Food, furniture—if they used any—even

 art, created by the mind of the wisher and made real

 by the computer. We have, of course, small and prim-

 itive versions now—but this is generations, possibly

 millennia, beyond us. If you could think of it, it would

 be provided'"

 "This Utopian Theory accounts for most of what we

 see, but not why all this is now ruins," piped in an

 adolescent male voice, Varnett, the youngest—and

 probably brightest—but unquestionably the most imag-

 inative of the group.

 "Quite true. Citizen Vamett," Skander acknowl-

 edged, "and there are three schools of thought on it.

 One is that the computer broke down, and another is

 that the computer ran amok—and the people couldn't

 cope either way. You know the third theory, anyone?"

 "Stagnation," Jainet replied. "They died because

 they had nothing left to live for, strive for, or work

 for."

 "Exactly," Skander replied. "And yet, there are

 problems with all three suppositions. An interstellar

 culture of this magnitude would have allowed for break-

 downs; they'd have some sort of backup system. As

 for the amok theory—well, it's fine except that every

 sign shows that the same thing happened at once, all

 across their entire empire. One, even several, okay,

 but not all at the same time. I am not quite willing to

 accept the last theory, even though it is the one that

 fits the best. Something nags at me and says that they

 would have allowed even for that."

 "Maybe they programmed their own degeneration,"

 Varnett suggested, "and it went too far."

 "Eh?" There was a note of surprise but keen interest

 in Skander's voice. "Programmed—planned degenera-

 tion! It's an interesting theory, Citizen Varnett. Per-

 haps we'll find out in time."

 He motioned and they entered a building with a

 strange, hexagonal doorway. All the doors were hexa-

 gons, it appeared. The interior of the room was very

 large, but there was no sign as to its purpose or func-

  

 tion. It looked like an apartment or a store after the

 tenants had moved out, taking everything with them.

 "The room," Skander pointed out to them, "is hex-

 agonal—as the city is hexagonal, as is almost everything

 in it if you see it from the correct angle.- The number

 six seems to have been essential to them. Or sacred. It

 is from this, and from the size and shape of the door-

 ways, windows, and the like—not to mention the width

 of the walkways—that we have some idea of what the

 natives must have been like. We hypothesize that they

 were rather like a top, or turnip shape, with six limbs

 which may have been tentacles usable for walking or

 as hands. We suspect that things naturally came m

 sixes to them—their mathematics, their architecture,

 maybe they even had six eyes all around. Judging from

 the doors and allowing for clearance, they were about

 two meters tall on the average and possibly wider than

 that at the waist—which is where we believe the six

 arms, tentacles, or whatever were centered, and'that

 must be why the doorways widen at that point."   /

 They stood there awhile, trying to imagine such

 creatures living in the rooms, moving up and down the

 boulevards.

 "We'd best be getting back to camp," Skander said

 at last. "You will have ample time to study here and

 to poke into every nook and cranny of the place." They

 would, in fact, be there a year, working under the pro-

 fessor at the University station.

 They walked quickly in the lighter gravity and

 reached the base camp about five kilometers from the

 city gates in under an hour.

 The camp itself looked like some collection of great

 tents of a strange circus, nine in all, bright white like

 the pressure suits. Long tubes connecting the tents

 occasionally flexed as the monitoring computers contin-

 ually adjusted the temperature and barometric pres-

 sure that kept each inflated. On such a dead world

 little else was needed, and the insides were lined to

 make punctures almost impossible. If any such did

 happen, though, only those in the punctured area would

 be killed; the computer could seal off any portion of

 the complex.

 Skander entered last, climbing into the air lock after

 5

 making certain that none of his charges or major equip-

 ment was left outside. By the time the lock equalized

 and allowed him into the entry tent, the others were

 already all or partially out of their pressure suits.

 He stopped for a minute, looking at them. Eight

 representatives from four planets of the Confederation

 —and, except for the one from the heavy-gravity

 world, all looked alike.

 All were exceptionally trim and muscular; they could

 be a gymnastic team without any imagination. Although

 they ranged in age from fourteen to twenty-two, they

 all looked prepubescent, which, in fact, they were.

 Their sexual development had been genetically ar-

 rested, and would probably continue that way. He

 looked at the boy, Varnett, and the girl, Jainet—both

 from the same planet, the name of which eluded him.

 The oldest and the youngest of the expedition, yet

 they were exactly the same height and weight, and,

 with heads shaved, were virtually identical twins. They

 had been grown in a lab, a Birth Factory, and brought

 up by the State to think as identically as they looked.

 He had once asked why they continued to make both

 male and female models, only half in Jest. It was, of

 course, a redundancy system in case anything hap-

 pened to the Birth Factories, he had been told.

 Humanity was on at least three hundred planets,

 and of those all but a handful were on the same line

 as the world that had spawned these two. Absolute

 equality, he thought sourly. Look alike, behave alike,

 think alike, all needs provided for, all wants fulfilled

 in equal measure to all, assigned the work they were

 raised for and taught that it was the only proper place

 for them and their duty. He wondered how the techno-

 crats in charge decided who was to be what.

 He thought back to the last batch. Three in that num-

 ber came from a world that had even dispensed with

 names and personal pronouns.

 He wondered idly how different the human race was

 at this point from the creatures of the city out there.

 Even on worlds like his own home world it was like

 this, really. True, they grew beards and group sex was

 the norm, something that would have totally shocked

 these people. His world had been founded by a group

 6

 of nonconformists fleeing the technocratic commu-

 nism of the outer spiral. But, in its own way, it was

 as conformist as Varnett's home, he thought. Drop

 Vamett into a Caligristian town and he would be made

 fun of, called names, even, perhaps lynched. He

 wouldn't have the beard, or the clothes, or the sex to

 fit into Caligristo's life-style.

 You can't be a nonconformist if you don't wear the

 proper uniform.

 He had often wondered if there was something deep

 in the human psyche that insisted on tribalism. Peo-

 ple used to fight wars not so much to protect their'own

 life-style but to impose it on others.

 That's why so many worlds were like these people's

 —there had been wars to spread the faith, convert

 the downtrodden. Now the Confederacy forbade that

 —but the existing conformity, world to world, was the

 status quo it protected. The leaders of each planet

 sat on a Council, with an enforcement arm capable of

 destroying any planet that strayed into "unsafe" paths

 and manned by specially trained barbarian psycho-

 paths. But these weapons of terror could not be used

 without the actions of a majority of the Council. ,

 It had worked. There were no more wars.

 They had conformed the entire mass of humanity.

 And so had the Markovians, he thought. Oh, the

 size and sometimes the color and workmanship of the

 cities had varied, but only slightly.

 What had that youth, Vamett, said? Perhaps they

 had deliberately broken down the system?

 Skander's face had a frown as he removed the last

 of his pressure suit. Ideas like that marked brilliance

 and creativity—but they were unsafe thoughts for a

 civilization like the one the boy had come from. It

 revived those old religious ideas that after perfection

 came true death.

 Where could he have gotten an idea like that? And

 why had he not been caught and stopped?

 Skander looked after their naked young bodies as

 they filed through the tunnel toward the showers and

 dorm.

 Only barbarians thought that way.

 7

 Had the Confederacy guessed what he was up to

 here? Was Vamett not the innocent student he was

 supposed to be, but the agent of his nightmares?

 Did they suspect?

 Suddenly he felt very chilly, although the tempera-

 ture was constant.

 Suppose they all were. . . .

 Three months passed. Skander looked at the picture

 on his television screen, an electron micrograph of the

 cellular tissue brought up a month before by the core

 drill.

 It was the same pattern as the older discoveries—

 that same fine cellular structure, but infinitely more

 complex inside than any human or animal cell—and

 so tremendously alien.

 And a six-sided cell, at that. He had often wondered

 about the why of that—had even their cells been hex-

 agonal? Somehow he doubted it, but the way that num-

 ber kept popping up he wouldn't disbelieve it, either.

 He stared and stared at the sample. Finally, he

 reached over and turned up the magnification to full

 and put on the special filters he had developed and re-

 fined in over nine years on this barren planet.

 The screen suddenly came alive. Little sparks

 darted from one point in the cell to another. There

 was a minor electrical storm in the cell. He sat, fas-

 cinated as always, at the view only he had ever seen.

 The cell was alive.

 But the energy was not electrical—that was why it

 had never been picked up. He had no idea what it was,

 but it behaved like standard electrical energy. It just

 didn't measure or appear as electricity should.

 The discovery had been an accident, he reflected,

 three years before. Some careless student had been

 playing with the screen to get good-looking effects and

 had left it that way. He had switched it on the next

 day without noticing anything unusual, then set up the

 usual energy-detection program for another dull run-

 through.

 It was only a glimpse, a flicker, but he had seen it

 —and worked on his own for months more to get a

 8

 filter system that would show that energy photograph-

 ically-

 He had tested the classical samples from other digs,

 even had one sent to him by a supply ship. They had

 all been dead.

 But not this one.

 Somewhere, forty or so kilometers beneath them,

 the Markovian brain was still alive.

 "What is that. Professor?" Skander heard a voice be-

 hind him. He quickly flipped the screen off and whirled

 around in one anxious moment.

 It was Vamett, that perennial look of innocence on-

 his permanently childlike face.

 "Nothing, nothing," he covered excitedly, the anxiety

 in his voice betraying the lie. "Just putting on some

 playful programs to see what the electrical charges in

 the cell might have looked like."

 Vamett seemed skeptical. "Looked pretty real to'

 me," he said stubbornly. "If you've made a major

 breakthrough you ought to tell us about it. I mean—"

 "No, no, it's nothing," Skander protested angrily.

 Then, regaining his composure, he said, "That will be

 all. Citizen Vamett! Leave me now'"

 Vamett shrugged and left.

 Skander sat in his chair for several minutes. His

 hands—in fact, his whole body—began shaking vio-

 lently, and it was a while before the attack subsided.

 Slowly, a panicked look on his face, he went over to

 the microscope and carefully removed the special filter.

 His hand was still so unsteady he could hardly hold on

 to it. He slipped the filter into its tiny case with diffi-

 culty and placed it in the wide belt for tools and per-

 sonal items that was the only clothing any of them wore

 inside.

 He went back to his private room in the dorm sec-

 tion and lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling

 for what seemed like hours.

 Vamett, he thought. Always Vamett. In the three

 months since they had first arrived, the boy had been

 into everything. Many of the others played their on-

 duty games and engaged in the silliness students do,

 9

 but not he. Serious, studious to a fault, and always read-

 ing the project reports, the old records.

 Skander suddenly felt that everything was closing in

 on him. He was still so far from his goal!

 And now Vamett knew. Knew, at least, that the

 brain was alive. The boy would surely take it the step

 further—guess that Skander had almost broken the

 code, was ready, perhaps in another year or so, to send

 that brain a message, reactivate it.

 To become a god.

 He would be the one who would save the human

 race with the very tools that must have destroyed its

 maker.

 Suddenly Skander jumped up and made his way

 back to the lab. Something nagged at him, some sus-

 picion that things were even more wrong than he knew.

 Quietly, he stepped into the lab.

 Vamett was sitting at the television console. And,

 on the screen, the same cell Skander had been exam-

 ining was depicted with its energy connectors clearly

 visible!

 Skander was stunned. Quickly his hands reached

 for the little pocket in which he kept his filter. Yes, it

 was still there.

 How was this possible?

 Vamett was doing computations, checking against a

 display on a second screen that hooked him to the math

 sections of the lab computer. Skander stood there to-

 tally still and silent. He heard Vamett mumble an as-

 sent to himself, as if some problem he had been running

 through the computer had checked out correct.

 Skander stole a glance at his chronometer. Nine

 hours! It had been nine hours' He had slept through

 part of his dark thoughts and given the boy the chance

 to confirm his worst nightmare.

 Something suddenly told Vamett he wasn't alone.

 He sat still for a second, then glanced fearfully around.

 "Professor!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad it's you! This

 is stupendous! Why aren't you telling everyone?"

 "How—*' Skander stumbled, gesturing at the screen.

 "How did you get that picture?"

 Vamett smiled. "Oh, that's simple. You forgot to

 10

 dump the computer memory when you closed up.

 This is what you were looking at, which the computer

 held in new storage."

 Skander cursed himself for a fool. Of course, every-

 thing on every instrument was recorded by the com-

 puter as standard procedure. He had been so shook

 up by Vamett's discovery of his work that he had for-

 gotten to dump the record!

 "It's only a preliminary finding,'* the professor man-

 aged at last. "I was waiting until 1 had something really

 startling to report.'*

 "But this is startling!** the boy exclaimed excitedly.

 "But you have been too close to the problem and to

 your own disciplines to crack it. Look, your fields are

 archaeology and biology, aren't they?"

 "They are," Skander acknowledged, wondering

 where this conversation was leading. "I was an exobi-

 ologist for years and became an archaeologist when,

 I started doing all my work on the Markovian brains."

 "Yes, yes, but you're still a generalist. My world, as

 you know, raises specialists in every field from the

 point at which the brain is formed. You know my

 field."

 "Mathematics," Skander replied. "If I recall, all

 mathematicians on your world are named Vamett after

 an ancient mathematical genius."

 "Right," the boy replied, still in an excited tone.

 "As I was developing in the Birth Factory, they im-

 printed all the world's mathematical knowledge di-

 rectly. It was there continuously as I grew. By the

 time my brain was totally developed at age seven, I

 knew all the mathematics, applied and theoretical,

 that we know. Everything is ultimately mathematical,

 and so I see everything in a mathematical way. I was

 sent here by my world because I had become fasci-

 nated by the alien mathematical symmetry in the slides

 and specimens of the Markovian brain. But all was

 for nothing, because I had no knowledge of the energy

 matrix linking the cellular components."

 "And now?" Skander prodded, fascinated and ex-

 cited in spite of himself.

 "Why, it's gibberish. It defies all mathematical logic-

 It says that there are no absolutes in mathematics'

 11

 None! Every time I tried to force the pattern into

 known mathematical concepts, it kept saying that two

 plus two equals four isn't a constant but a relative

 proposition!"

 Skander realized that the boy was trying to make

 things baby-simple to him, but he still couldn't grasp

 what he was saying. "What does all that mean?" he

 asked in a puzzled and confused tone.

 Vamett was becoming carried away with himself,

 "It means that all matter and energy are in some kind

 of mathematical proportion. That nothing is actually

 real, nothing actually anything at all. If you discard

 the equal sign and substitute 'is proportional to' and,

 if it is true, you can alter or change anything. None

 of us, this room, this planet, the whole galaxy, the

 whole universe—none of it is a constant! If you could

 alter the equation for anything only slightly, change

 the proportions, anything could be made anything else,

 anything could be changed to anything else!" He

 stopped, seeing from the expression on Skander's face

 that the older man was still lost.

 "I'll give a really simple, basic example," Vamett

 said, calmed considerably from his earlier outburst.

 "First, realize this if you can: there is a finite amount

 of energy in the universe, and that is the only constant.

 The amount is infinite by our standards, but that is

 true if this is true. Do you follow me?"

 Skander nodded. "So you're saying that there is

 nothing but pure energy?"

 "More or less," Vamett agreed. "All matter, and

 constrained energy, like stars, is created out of this

 energy flux. It is held there in that state—you, me,

 the room, the planet we're on—by a mathematical

 balance. Something—some quantity—is placed in pro-

 portion to some other quantity, and that forms us. And

 keeps us stable. If I knew the formula for Elkinos

 Skander, or Vamett Mathematics Two Sixty-one, I

 could alter, or even abolish, our existence. Even things

 like time and distance, the best constants, could be al-

 tered or abolished. If I knew your formula I could,

 given one condition, not only change you into, say, a

 12

 chair, but alter all events so that you would have al-

 ways been a chair!"

 "What's the condition?'* Skander asked nervously,

 hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

 "Why, you'd need a device to translate that formula

 into reality. And a way to have it do what you- wished."

 "The Markovian brain," Skander whispered-

 "Yes. That's what they discovered. But this brain—

 this device—seems to be for local use only. That is, it

 would affect this planet, perhaps the solar system in

 which it lies, but no more. But, somewhere, there

 must be a master unit—a unit that could affect at

 least half, perhaps the whole, galaxy. It must exist, if

 all the rest of my hypothesis is correct!"

 "Why must it?" Skander asked, a sinking sensation

 growing in his stomach.

 "Because we are stable," the boy replied, an awe-

 struck tone in his voice.

 Only the mechanical sounds of the lab intruded for

 a minute after that, as the implications sank home to

 both of them.

 "And you have the code?" Skander asked at last.

 "I think so, although it goes against my whole being

 that such equations can be correct. And yet—do you

 know why that energy does not show by conventional

 means?" Skander slowly shook his head negatively,

 and the mathematician continued. "It is the primal

 energy itself. Look, do you have that filter with you?"

 Skander nodded numbly and produced the little

 case. The boy took it eagerly, but instead of placing

 it in the microscope he went over to the outer wall.

 Slowly he donned protective coveralls and goggles,

 •used in radiation protection, and told Skander to do

 likewise. Then he sealed the lab against entry and

 peeled back the tent lining in the one place where it

 covered a port—not used here, but these tents were

 all-purpose and contained many useless features.

 The baleful reddish landscape showed before them

 at midday. Slowly, carefully, the boy held the tiny fil-

 ter up to one eye and closed the other. He gasped. "I

 was right!" he exclaimed.

 After a painful half-minute that felt like an eternity,

 he handed the little filter to Skander, who did the same.

 13

 Through the filter, the entire landscape was bathed

 in a ferocious electrical storm. Skander couldn't stop

 looking at it,

 "The Markovian brain is all around us," Varnett

 whispered. "It draws what it needs and expels what

 it does not. If we could contact it—"

 "We'd be like gods," Skander finished.

 Skander reluctantly put down the filter and handed

 it back to Varnett, who resumed his own gazing,

 "And what sort of universe would you create,

 Varnett?" Skander almost whispered, reaching under

 the protective clothing as he spoke and pulling out a

 knife. "A mathematically perfect place where every-

 one was absolutely identical, the same equation?"

 "Put your weapon away, Skander," Varnett told

 him, not taking his gaze from the filtered landscape.

 "You can't do it without me, and if you think about it

 you'll realize that. In only a few months they'll find our

 bodies and you here—or dying in the city—and what

 will that get you?"

 The knife hesitated a long moment, then slowly slid

 back into the belt under the protective garment.

 "What the hell are you, Varnett?" asked Skander

 suspiciously.

 "An aberration," the other replied. "We happen,

 sometimes. Usually they catch us and that's that. But

 not me, not yet. They will, though, unless I can do

 something about it."

 "What do you mean, an aberration?" Skander asked

 unsurely.

 "I'm human, Skander. A real human. And greedy.

 I, too, would like to be a god."

 It had taken Varnett only seven hours to crack the

 mathematics, but it would take a lot longer to make the

 Markovian brain notice them. Their project was so in-

 tense that the others began to take notice and inquire,

 particularly the research assistants. Finally, they de-

 cided to take them all in on it—Varnett because he

 was certain that, once in contact with the Markovian

 brain, he could adjust the others to his version of

 events, and Skander because he had no choice. WTiile

 14

 they worked the lab, the others combed the city and,

 using small flyers, the other cities and regions of the

 planet.

 "You are to look for some sort of vent, entrance,

 gate, or at least a temple or similar structure that might

 mean some kind of direct contact with the Markovian

 brain," Skander told them.

 And time went on, with the others, good Universal-

 ists all, looking forward to carrying the news back to

 the Confederacy that the perfect society was within

 man's grasp.

 Finally, one day, only two months before the next

 ship was due in, they found it.

 Jainet and Dunna, one of the research assistants,

 noticed through the large filters they had constructed

 for the search that one tiny area near the north

 pole of the planet was conspicuous by the absence of

 the all-pervasive lightning.

 Flying over to it they saw below them a deep hexag-

 onal hole of total darkness. They were reluctant to

 explore further without consultation, and so radioed

 for the rest to come up,

 "I don't see anything," Skander complained, disap-

 pointed. "There's no hex hole here."

 "But there was!" Jainet protested, and Dunna

 nodded in agreement. "It was right there, almost di-

 rectly over the pole. Here! I'll prove it!" She went over

 and rewound the flyer's nose camera recording disk a

 little more than halfway. They watched the playback

 in skeptical silence, as the ground rolled beneath them

 on the screen. Then, suddenly, there it was.

 "See!" Jainet exclaimed. "What did I tell you!"

 And it was there, clearly, unquestionably. Varnett

 looked at the screen, then to the scene below them,

 then back again. It al] checked. There had been a hex-

 agonal hole, almost two kilometers across at its widest

 point. The landmarks matched—it was at this spot.

 But there wasn't a hole there now.

 They waited then, almost an entire day. Suddenly

 the flat plain seemed to vanish and there was the

 hole again.

 They photographed it and ran every analysis test

 on it they could.

 "Let's drop something in," Varnett suggested at last.

 15

 They found a spare pressure suit and, hovering directly

 over the hole, the light on the suit turned on, they

 dropped it in.

 The suit struck the hole. "Struck" is the only word

 they had for it. The suit hit the top of the hole and

 seemed to stick there, not dropping at all. Then, after

 hovering a moment, it seemed to fade before their

 eyes- Not drop, but fade—for even the films showed

 that it didn't fall. It simply faded out to nothingness.

 A few minutes later the hole itself disappeared.

 "Forty-six standard minutes," Vamett said. "Ex-

 actly. And I'll bet at the same time gap tomorrow it

 opens again."

 "But where did the suit go? Why didn't it drop?"

 Jainet asked.

 "Remember the power of this thing," Skander told

 her. "If you were to get to it, you wouldn't descend

 forty-plus kilometers. You'd simply be transported to

 the place."

 "Exactly," Varnett agreed. "It would simply alter

 the equation and you would be there instead of here."

 "But where is there?" Jainet asked.

 "We believe at the control center of the Markovian

 brain," Skander told her. "There would be one—the

 same way there are two bridges on a spaceship. The

 other is for emergencies." Or male and female mem-

 bers on your planet, Skander had almost said.

 "We'd best go back and run this all through our

 own data banks," Varnett suggested. "After all, it's

 been a long day for us anyway. The hole opens and

 closes regularly. So we can do the same things tomor-

 row as we can do today."

 They all muttered assent at this proposal, and sev-

 eral suddenly realized how tired they were.

 "Someone should stay here," Skander suggested,

 "if only to time the thing and keep the camera run-

 ning."

 "I'll do it," Varnett volunteered. "I can sleep here on

 this flyer and you all can go back in the other two. If

 anything comes up I'll let you know. Then someone

 can spell me tomorrow."

 16

 They all agreed to this, so after a short while every-

 one but Vamett headed back to base camp.

 Almost all went to sleep immediately, only Skander

 and Dunna taking the extra time to feed their records

 into the data bank. Then both went off to their own

 quarters.

 Skander sat on the edge of his bunk, too excited to

 feel tired. Curiously, he felt exhilarated instead, ad-

 renalin pumping through him.

 I must take the gamble, he told himself. I must as- -

 sume that this is indeed the gateway to the brarn. In

 less than fifty days this crew will be replaced, and

 they'll go home to blab the secret. Then everyone

 will be in, and the Statists of the Confederacy will

 gain the power.

 Was that what had happened to the Markovians?

 Had they become so much a communal paradise that

 they stagnated and died out?

 No! he told himself. Not jor them! / shall die, or I

 shall save mankind.

 He went first to the lab and wiped all information

 from the data banks. There was nothing left when he

 finished; then he wrecked the machinery so none

 could retrieve the faintest clue. Next he went to the

 master control center. There the atmospheric condi-

 tions were set. Slowly, methodically, he turned off all

 the systems except oxygen. He waited there almost an

 hour until the gauges read that the atmosphere was

 now almost entirely oxygen everywhere in the tents.

 That done, he made his way carefully to the air

 lock, anxious not to scrape against anything or to cause

 any sort of spark. Although nervous at the prospect

 that one of the sleepers would wake up and make

 that spark, he took the time to don his pressure suit

 and then take all the other such suits outside.

 Next he took from the emergency kit of one of

 the flyers a small box and opened it.

 Premanufactured items for all occasions. It was a

 flare gun.

 The puncture it would make would be sealed in sec-

 onds by the automated equipment, but not before it

 ignited the oxygen inside.

 It was over in one sudden flare, like flash paper.

 17

 After, he could see the vacuum-exposed remains of

 the sleepers whose charred bodies were still in their

 beds.

 Seven down, one to go, he thought without remorse.

 He boarded a flyer and headed toward the north

 pole. He glanced at his chronometer. It took nine

 hours to fly back, he had been three doing his work,

 and now there was another nine to return to the pole.

 About an hour to spare until that hole opened up

 again.

 Enough time for Varnett.

 It seemed like days until he got there, but the chro-

 nometer said just a little over nine hours.

 As he came over the horizon he searched for

 Varnett's flyer. It wasn't to be seen.

 Suddenly Skander spotted it—down, down on that

 flat plain at the pole. He braked and hovered over it.

 Slowly, in the gloom, he made out a tiny white dot

 near the center of the plain.

 Varnett! He was going to be the first in!

 Vamett detected movement and looked up at the

 flyer. Suddenly he started running for his own.

 Skander came down on him, skirting the ground so

 low that he was afraid he would crash himself. Vamett

 ducked and rolled, but was unhurt.

 Skander cursed himself, then decided to set it down.

 He still had the knife, and that might just be enough.

 He took the flare pistol which, while it wouldn't nec-

 essarily penetrate the suit, might cause a blinding dis-

 traction. He was not a large man, but he was a head

 taller than the boy and the odds were otherwise even

 in his mind.

 Landing near Varnett's flyer, he got out quickly,

 flare gun in his right hand, knife in his left. Cursing

 the almost total absence of light and the fact that he

 had had to take his eyes off Varnett to land, Skander

 looked cautiously around.

 Vamett had. vanished.

 Before this could sink in, a white figure jumped from

 atop the other flyer and hit him in the back. He went

 down, dropping the flare gun.

 The two figures, rolling across the rocky landscape,

 grappled for the knife. Skander was larger, but older

 18

 and in worse physical condition than Varnett. Finally,

 with a shove, Skander pushed Varnett away from him

 and came upon the boy with the knife. Varnett let

 him get very close; then, as the knife made a quick

 stab, the boy's arm reached out and caught the older

 man's wrist. The two struggled and groaned in their

 suits as Skander tried to press the knife home.

 They were in that frozen tableau when, suddenly,

 the hole opened.

 They were both already in it.

 Both vanished.

 Another Part of the Field

 NATHAN BRAZIL STRETCHED BACK IN HIS HUGE, PIL-

 lowy lounge chair aboard the bridge of the freighter

 Stehekin, nine days out of Paradise with a load of

 grain bound for drought-stricken Coriolanus and with

 three passengers. Passengers were common on such

 runs—there were actually a dozen staterooms aboard

 —as freighter travel was much cheaper than passenger

 ships and a lot easier if you wanted to get where you

 were going in a hurry. There were a thousand freight

 runs for every passenger run to almost anyplace.

 The crew consisted only of Brazil. The ships were

 now automated, so he was there just in case something

 went wrong. Food had been prepared for all before

 takeoff and had been loaded into the automated

 kitchen. A tiny wardroom was used on those occa-

 sions when someone wanted to eat outside of his state-

 room or with the captain.

 Actually, the passengers had more contempt for

 him than he for them. In an age of extreme conform-

 ity, men like Nathan Brazil were the mavericks, the

 loners, the ones who didn't fit. Recruited mostly off

 the barbarian worlds of the frontier, they could take

 19

 the loneliness of the job, the endless weeks often with-

 out human company. Most psychologists called them

 sociopaths, people alienated from society.

 Brazil liked people all right, but not the factory-

 made ones. He would rather sit here in his domain,

 the stars showing on the great three-dimensional screens

 in front of him, and reflect on why society had become

 alienated from him.

 He was a small man, around 170 centimeters tall,

 slight and thin. His skin was dark-complexioned. Two

 bright, brown eyes flanked a conspicuous Roman nose

 which sat atop a mouth very wide, rubbery, and full

 of teeth. His black hair hung long to his shoulders, but

 was stringy and looked overgreased and underwashed.

 He had a thin mustache and thinner full beard that

 looked as if someone had attempted to grow a full

 brush and hadn't made it. He was dressed in a loose-

 fitting but loudly colorful tunic and matching pants,

 and wore sandals of a sickly green.

 The passengers, he knew, were scared stiff of him,

 and he liked it that way. Unfortunately, they were still

 almost thirty days out and their boredom and claus-

 trophobia would sooner or later drive them meddling

 into his lap.

 Oh, hell, he thought. Might as well get everybody

 together. They have huddled back in that small lounge

 in the stern long enough.

 He reached up and flicked a switch.

 "The captain," he intoned in a tenor voice that none-

 theless had a gravelly undertone to it, making it sound

 a little harsh and unintentionally sarcastic, "requests

 the pleasure of your company at dinner today. It

 you like, you may join me in the wardroom forward

 in thirty minutes. Don't feel put out if you don't want

 to come. I won't," he concluded, and switched ofE the

 speaker, chuckling softly.

 Why do I do that? he asked' himself for the hun-

 dredth—thousandth?—time. For nine days I chase

 them around, bully them, and see as little of them as

 possible. Now, when I start to be sociable, I blow it.

 He sighed, then reached over and dialed the meals.

 Now they would have to come up, or starve. He idly

 scratched himself and wondered whether or not he

 20

 should take a shower before dinner. No, he decided,

 I had one only five days ago; I'll just use deodorant.

 He picked up the book he had been reading off and

 on, a blood-and-guts romance on some faraway

 planet published centuries ago and produced in fac-

 simile for him by a surprised and gratified librarian.

 He called librarians his secret agents because he

 was one of the very few who read books at all. Librar-

 ies were usually single institutions on planets and were

 patronized by only a very few. Nobody wrote books

 anymore, he thought, not even this garbage. They

 dredged up whatever information they needed for ref-

 erence from the computer terminal in every house-

 hold; even then the vast majority were the vocal types

 that answered questions. Only the technocrats needed

 to read.

 Only barbarians and wanderers read anymore.

 And librarians.

 Everybody else could just flip a switch and get a

 full, three-dimensional, sight-sound-and-smell creation

 of their own fantasies or those of a crew of dedicated

 fantasists picked by the government.

 Pretty dull shit, he thought. Even the people were

 bred without imaginations. The imaginative ones were

 fixed—or gotten rid of. Too dangerous to have a

 thinker unless he thought the government's way.

 Brazil wondered idly whether any of his passengers

 could read. The Pig probably—his name for Datham

 Hain, who looked very much like one—but he prob-

 ably only read up on the stuff he sold or some mundane

 crap like that. Maybe a manual on how to strangle

 people twenty ways, he thought. Hain looked as if

 he'd enjoy that.

 The girl with him was harder to figure. Like Hain,

 she obviously wasn't from the communal factory

 worlds—she was mature, maybe twenty or so, and, if

 she didn't look so wasted away, she might be pretty.

 Not built, or beautiful, but nice. But she had that empty

 look in her eyes, and was so damned servile to the fat

 man. Wu Julee, the manifest said her name was. Julie

 Wu? mused a corner of his brain. There it was again!

 Damn! He tried to grab onto the source of the thought,

 but it vanished.

 21

 But she does look Chinese, said that little comer,

 and then the thought retreated once again.

 Chinese. That word meant something once. He knew

 it did. Where did those terms come from? And why

 couldn't he remember where they came from? Hell,

 almost everybody had those characteristics these days,

 he thought.

 Then, suddenly, the thought was out of his mind,

 as such thoughts always were, and he was back on his

 main track.

 The third one—almost the usual, he reflected, ex-

 cept that he never drew the usual, permanently twelve-

 year-old automaton on his trips. They were all raised

 and conditioned to look alike, think alike, and believe

 that theirs was the best of all possible worlds. No rea-

 son to travel. But Vardia Dipio 1261 was the same

 underneath, anyway: looked twelve, was flat-chested,

 probably neutered, since there was some pelvic width.

 She was a courier between her world and the next

 bunch of robots down the line. Spent all her time doing

 exercises.

 A tiny bell sounded telling him that dinner was

 served, and he got up and ambled back to the ward-

 room.

 The wardroom—nobody knew why it was called

 that—merely consisted of a large table that was per-

 manently attached to the floor and a series of chairs

 that were part of the floor until you pulled up on a

 little ring, whereupon they arose and became comfort-

 able seats. The place was otherwise a milky white plas-

 tic—walls, floor, ceiling, even tabletop. The monotony

 was broken only by small plaques giving the ship's

 name, construction data, ownership, and by his and the

 ship's commissions from the Confederacy as well as

 by his master's license-

 He entered, half expecting no one to be there, and

 was surprised to see the two women already seated. The

 fat man was up, intently reading his master's license.

 Hain was dressed in a light blue toga that made

 him look like Nero; Wu Julee was dressed in similar

 fashion, but it looked better on her- The Comworlder,

 Vardia, wore a simple, one-piece black robe. He noted

 22

 idly that Wu Julee seemed to be in a trance, staring

 straight ahead.

 Hain completed reading the wall plaques, then re-

 turned to his seat next to Wu Julee, a frown forming

 on his corpulent face.

 "What's so odd about my license?" Brazil asked

 curiously.

 "That form," Hain replied in a silky-smooth, dis-

 quieting voice. "It is so old! No such form has been

 used in my memory."

 The captain nodded and smiled, pushing a button

 under his chair. The food compartments opened up on

 top and plates of steaming food were revealed in

 front of each person. A large bottle and four glasses

 rose from a circular opening in the middle of the table.

 "I got it a long time ago," he told them conversa-

 tionally, as he chose a glass and poured some nonal-

 coholic wine into it.

 "You have been in rejuve then. Captain?" Hain

 responded politely.

 Brazil nodded. "Many times. Freighter captains

 are known for it."

 "But it costs—unless one is influential with the

 Council," Hain noted.

 "True," Brazil acknowledged, talking as he chewed

 his synthetic meat. "But we're well paid, in port

 only a few days every few weeks, and most of us just

 put our salaries into escrow to pay for what we need.

 Nothing much else to blow it on these days."

 "But the date!" Vardia broke in. "It's so very, -very

 old! Citizen Hain said it was three hundred and sixty-

 two standard years!"

 Brazil shrugged. "Not very unusual. Another cap-

 tain on this same line is over five hundred."

 "Yes, that's true," Hain said. "But the license is

 stamped Third Renewal—P.C. How old are you, any-

 way?"

 Brazil shrugged again. "I truthfully don't know. As

 old as the records, anyway. The brain has a finite

 capacity, so every rejuve erases a little more of the

 past. I get snatches of things—old memories, old terms

 —from time to time, but nothing I can hang on to. I

 23

 could be six hundred—or six thousand, though I

 doubt it."

 "You've never inquired?" Hain asked curiously.

 "No," Brazil managed, his mouth full of mush. He

 swallowed, then took another long drink of wine.

 "Lousy stuff,'* he snorted, holding the glass up and

 looking at it as if it were full of disease cultures. Sud-

 denly he remembered he was in the middle of a con-

 versation.

 "Actually," he told them, "I've been curious as to

 all that, but the records just sort of fade out. I've out-

 lived too many bureaucracies. Well, I've always lived

 for now and the future, anyway."

 Hain had already finished his meal, and patted his

 ample stomach. "I'm due for my first rejuve in an-

 other year or two. I'm almost ninety, and I'm afraid

 I've abused myself terribly these past few years."

 As the small talk continued, Brazil's gaze kept fall-

 ing to the girl who sat so strangely by Ham. She

 seemed to be paying not the least attention to the

 conversation and had hardly touched her food.

 "Well," Brazil said, suppressing his curiosity about

 the strange girl, "my career is on that wall and Citizen

 Vardia's is obvious, but what takes you flitting

 around the solar systems, Hain?"

 "I am—well, a salesman. Captain,'* the fat man

 replied. "All of the planets are somewhat unique in

 the excesses they produce. What is surplus on one is

 usually needed on another—like the grain you have

 as cargo on this fine ship. I'm a man who arranges

 such trades."

 Brazil made his move. "What about you. Citizen

 Wu Julee? Are you his secretary?"

 The girl looked suddenly confused. That's real fear

 in her eyes, Brazil noted to himself, surprised. She

 turned immediately to Hain, a look of pleading in

 her face.

 "My—ah, niece. Captain, is very shy and quiet,*'

 Hain said smoothly. "She prefers to remain in the

 background. You do prefer to remain in the back-

 ground, don't you, my dear?"

 She answered in a voice that almost cracked from

 24

 disuse, in a thin voice that held no more tonal inflec-

 tion than Vardia's.

 "I do prefer to remain in the background," she said

 dully, like a machine. A recording machine at that—

 for there seemed no comprehension in that face.

 "Sorry!" Brazil told her apologetically, turning

 palms up in a gesture of resignation.

 Funny, he thought to himself. The one who looks

 like a robot is conversational and mildly inquisitive;

 the one who looks like a real girl is a robot. He

 thought of two girls he had known long ago—he could

 even remember their names. One was a really sexy

 knockout—you panted just being in the same room

 with her. The other was ugly, flat, and extremely

 mannish in manner, voice, and dress—the sort of

 nondescript nobody looked at twice. But the sexy one

 liked other girls best, and the mannish one was

 heaven in bed.

 You can't tell by looks, he reflected sourly.

 Vardia broke the silence. She was, after all, bred to

 the diplomatic service.

 "I think it is fascinating you are so old. Captain,"

 she said pleasantly. "Perhaps you are the oldest man'

 alive. My race, of course, has no rejuve—it is not

 needed."

 No, of course not, Brazil thought sadly. They lived

 their eighty years as juvenile specialist components in

 the anthill of their society, then calmly showed up at

 the local Death Factory to be made into fertilizer.

 Anthill? he thought curiously. Now what in hell

 were ants?

 Aloud, he replied, "Well, old or not I can't say,

 but it doesn't do anybody much good unless you've

 got a job like mine. I don't know why I keep on liv-

 ing—just something bred into me, I guess."

 Vardia brightened. That was something she could

 understand. "I wonder what sort of world would re-

 quire such a survival imperative?" she mused, prov-

 ing to everyone else that she didn't understand at all.

 Brazil let it pass.

 "A long-dead-and-gone one, I think," he said dryly.

 "I think we shall go back to our rooms. Captain,"

 Hain put in, getting up and stretching. "To tell the

 25

 truth, the only thing more exhausting than doing

 something is doing nothing at all." Julee rose almost at

 the same instant as the fat man, and they left together.

 Vardia said, "I suppose I shall go back as well,

 Captain, but I would like the chance to talk to you

 again and, perhaps, to see the bridge."

 "Feel free," he responded warmly. <1! eat here

 every mealtime and company is always welcome. Per-

 haps tomorrow we'll eat and talk and then I'll show

 you how the ship runs."

 "I shall look forward to it," she replied, and there

 even seemed a bit of warmth in her flat voice—or, at

 least, sincerity. He wondered how genuine it was,

 and how much was the inbred diplomatic traits. It

 was the sort of comment that was guaranteed to please

 him. He wondered if he would ever know what went

 on in those insect minds.

 Well, he told himself, in actual fact it didn't make

 a damned bit of difference—he would show her

 around the ship and she would seem to enjoy it any-

 way.

 When he was alone in the wardroom, he looked

 over at the empty dishes. Hain had polished off ev-

 erything, as expected, and so had Vardia and he—

 the meals were individually prepared for preference

 and body build.

 Julee's meal was almost untouched. She had merely

 played with the food.

 No wonder she's wasting away, he thought. Phys-

 ically, anyway. But why mentally? She certainly

 wasn't Hain's niece, no matter what he said, and he

 doubted if she was an employee, either.

 Then, what?

 He pushed the disposal button and lowered the

 chairs back to their floor position, then returned to the

 bridge.

 Freighter captains were the law in space, of course.

 They had to be. As such, ships of all lines had cer-

 tain safeguards unique to each captain, and some gim-

 micks common to all but known only to those captains.

 Brazil sat back down in his command chair and

 looked at the projection screen still showing the virtu-

 ally unchanging starscape. It looked very realistic, and

 26

 very impressive, but it was a phony—the scene was a

 computer simulation; the Balla-Drubbik drive which

 allowed faster-than-iight travel was extradimensional

 in nature. There was simply nothing outside the ship's

 energy well that would relate to any human terms.

 He reached over and typed on the computer key-

 board: "I SUSPECT ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. SHOW CAB-

 INS 6 ON LEFT AND 7 ON RIGHT SCREEN." The

 computer lit a small yellow light to show that the in-

 structions had been received and the proper code for

 the captain registered; then the simulated starfield was

 replaced with overhead, side-by-side views of the two

 cabins.

 The fact that cameras were hidden in all cabins and

 could be monitored by captains was a closely guarded

 secret, though several people had already had

 knowledge of the accidentally discovered bugs erased

 from their minds by the Confederacy. Yet, many a

 madman and hijacker had been trapped by these

 methods, and Brazil also knew that the Confederation

 Port Authority would look at the recordings of what

 he was seeing live and question him as to motive.

 This wasn't something done lightly.

 Cabin 6—Hain's cabin—was empty, but the miss-

 ing passenger was in Wu Julee's Cabin 7. A less-

 experienced, less-jaded man would have been repulsed

 at the scene.

 Hain was standing near the closed and bolted door,

 stark naked. Wu Julee, a look of terror on her face,

 was also naked.

 Brazil turned up the volume.

 "Come on, Julee," Hain commanded, a tone of

 delightful expectancy in his harsh voice. There was no

 question as to what he had in mind.

 The girl cowed back in horror. "Please! .Please,

 Master!" she pleaded with all the hysterical emotion

 she had hidden in public.

 "When you do it, Julee," Hain said in a hushed

 but still excited tone. "Only then."

 She did what he asked.

 Less-experienced and less-jaded men 'would have

 been repulsed at the sight, it was true.

 Brazil was becoming aroused.

 27

 After she finished, Wu Julee continued to plead

 with the fat man to give it to her. Brazil waited ex-

 pectantly, half-knowing what it was already. He just

 had to see where it was hidden and how it was pro-

 tected.

 Hain promised her he would go get it and then

 donned the toga once more. He unbolted the door

 and appeared to look up and down the hallway. Sat-

 isfied, he walked out to his own cabin and unlocked

 the door. The unseen watcher turned his gaze to

 Cabin 6.

 Hain entered and took a small, thin attache case

 from beneath the washbasin. It had the high-security

 locks, Brazil noted—five small squares programmed

 to receive five of Hain's ten fingerprints in a certain

 order. Hain's body blocked reading the combination,

 but it wouldn't have mattered anyway—without

 Hain's touch the whole inside would dissolve in a

 quick acid bath.

 Hain opened the case to reveal a tray of jewelry

 and body paint. Normal enough, and the tray seemed

 deep enough to fill the whole case. No customs prob-

 lems.

 Working a second set of fingerprint-coded combina-

 tions through the thin plastic which hid the additional

 guards, the tray came loose and appeared to be float-

 ing on something else. The fat man lifted the tray out.

 For the first time Brazil noticed that Hain had on

 some thin gloves. He hadn't seen them being put on—

 maybe they were already on during the scene he had

 just witnessed—but there they were.

 The fat man reached in and picked out a tiny ob-

 ject that almost dripped with liquid. The rest of the

 case bottom, Brazil could see, was filled with the stuff.

 His suspicions were confirmed.

 Datham Hain was a sponge merchant.

 The contraband was called sponge because that

 was what the stuff was—an alien sponge spawned on

 a distant sea world now interdicted by the Confed-

 eracy.

 The story came back to Brazil. A nice planet,

 mostly ocean but dotted with millions of islands con-

 28

 nected in a network of shallows. A tropical climate

 except at the poles. It looked like a paradise, and tests

 had shown nothing that could hurt the human race. A

 test colony—two, three hundred people—was landed

 on the two largest islands for the five-year trial, as per

 standard procedure. Volunteers, of course, the last

 remnant of frontiersmen in the human race-

 If they survived and prospered, they owned the

 world—to develop it or do with it what they would.

 But because man's test instruments could analyze only

 the known and the theoretical, there was no way to

 detect a threat so alien it hadn't even been imagined.

 That was the reason for the trial in the first place.

 So those people had settled in and lived and loved

 and played and built on their islands.

 For almost a month.

 That was when they started to go mad, the peo-

 ple of that colony. They regressed—slowly, at first,

 then increasingly faster and faster. They turned into

 primitive beasts as the thing that had caught them ate

 away at their brains. They became like wild apes,

 only without even the most rudimentary reasoning

 ability. Finally they died, from their inability to cope

 with even the basics of eating and shelter. Most

 drowned; some killed one another.

 And out of their bodies, eventually, grew the

 pretty flowers of the island, in new profusion.

 Scientists speculated that some sort of elemental

 organism—based not on carbon or silicon, but on the

 iron oxides in the rocks of their pretty island—inter-

 acted through the air not with them but with the syn-

 thetic food rations they brought to help them until

 they could develop their own native agriculture.

 And they had eaten it, and it had eaten them.

 But there had been one survivor—one woman who

 had hidden in the huge beds of alien sponge along a

 particularly rocky shoreline. Oh, she had died, too—

 but almost three weeks later than the others. When

 she no longer returned each evening to sleep in the

 sponge bed.

 The natural secretions of the sponge acted as a

 retardant—not as an antidote. But as long as a victim

 had a daily intake of the secretion, the mutant strain

 29

 seemed inactive. Remove the substance—and the de-

 generative process began once again. But scientists

 had taken some samples of the mutant strain and of

 living sponge with them to study in their labs on

 far-off worlds. All of it was thought to have been

 destroyed afterward—but evidently some had not

 been. Some had been taken by the worst of elements

 and was developed in their own labs in unknown

 space.

 The perfect commodity.

 By secretly introducing the stuff into people's food,

 you gave them the disease. Then, when the first

 symptoms came and baffled all around you, the mer-

 chant would come. He would ease the pain and cause

 normality by giving you a little bit of sponge—as Hain

 was administering a dose to Wu Julee at that very

 moment.

 The Confederacy wouldn't help you. It maintained

 a sponge colony on that interdicted world for the af-

 flicted, where one could live a normal, if very primi-

 tive, existence and soak each night in a sponge bath.

 If, that is, the victim could be gotten there before the

 disease became too progressive to bother.

 The sponge merchants chose only the most wealthy

 and powerful—or their children, if their world had

 families of any sort. There was no charge for the daily

 sponge supply, oh, no. You just did as they asked

 when they asked.

 There was even the suspicion that so many rulers of

 the Confederacy were hostage to the stuff now that

 that was the reason no real search for an antidote or

 cure had ever been started.

 For power was the ultimate aim of the sponge mer-

 chants.

 Nathan Brazil wondered who Wu Julee was. The

 daughter of some big-shot ruler or banker or indus-

 trialist? Maybe the child of the Confederacy enforce-

 ment chief? More likely she was a sample, he thought.

 No use risking exposure.

 She was his absolute slave, no question. The disease

 had been allowed to incubate in her just short of that

 critical point when the stuff multiplied exponentially.

 Human, yes, but probably already with her IQ halved,

 30

 constantly in mild pain that started to grow as the

 effects of the sponge antitoxin wore off. An effective

 demonstration, which would keep the merchant from

 having to infect some innocent and let things run

 their full course. That was done, of course, when nec-

 essary—but it wasn't good to have a long period of

 time when it would be obvious to the agents of the

 Confederacy that a sponge merchant was at large.

 He wondered idly why the girl didn't commit sui-

 cide. He thought he would. A victim is probably too

 far gone to consider it by the time he realizes it is the

 only option, he decided.

 Brazil looked back up at the screens, Hain had

 repacked the case and stored it and was preparing to

 go to sleep. Clever, that case, the captain thought.

 Sponge is extremely compressible and needs only

 enough seawater to keep it moist. It even grew in

 there, he thought. As samples were dispensed, new

 ones would replace it. That was the reason only the

 minimum was ever given to a victim—get hold of

 enough of it, unused, and you could grow your own.

 Wu Julee was lying on her own bed, one leg

 draped down on the side. She was breathing hard but

 she had a sort of idiot's smile on her face.

 Relief for another day, the little sponge cube swal-

 lowed, the body breaking down the evidence.

 Nathan Brazil's stomach finally turned.

 What were you, Wu Julee, before Datham Hain

 served dinner? he mused. A student or scholar, or a

 professional, like Vardia? A spoiled brat? A young

 maiden, perhaps one day expecting to bear children?

 Gone now, he thought sadly. The recordings would

 nail Datham Hain clean—and the syndicate of sponge

 merchants would let him hang, too. Most he had

 ever heard of were compulsive suiciders when sub-

 jected to any psych probes or the like. They would

 get nothing from him but his life.

 But Wu Julee—without sponge, she needed eight-

 een days from where they would be at absolute flank

 speed to make that damned planet colony, and she

 was already near or at the exponential reproductive

 stage.

 She would arrive a mindless vegetable, unable to

 31

 do anything not in the autonomic nervous system,

 having spent most of the voyage as an animal. A

 day or two after that, it would eat her nervous system

 away and she would die.

 So they wouldn't bother. They'd just send her to

 the nearest Death Factory to get something useful

 out of her.

 They said Nathan Brazil was a hard man: ex-

 perienced, efficient, and cold as ice, never a feeling

 for anything but himself.

 But Nathan Brazil cried at tragedy, alone, in the

 dark, on the bridge of his powerful ship.

 Neither Hain nor Wu Julee came to dinner again,

 although he saw the fat man often and kept up the

 pretense of innocent friendship. The sponge merchant

 could actually be quite entertaining, sitting back in the

 lounge over a couple of warm drinks and telling stories

 of his youth. He even played a fair game of cards.

 Vardia, of course, never joined in the games and

 stories—they were things beyond her conception. She

 kept asking why they played card games since the

 only practical purpose of games was to develop a

 physical or mental skill. The concept of gambling,

 of playing for money, meant even less to her—her

 people didn't use the stuff, and only printed it for

 interplanetary trade. The government provided every-

 one with everything they needed equally, so why try

 to get more?

 Brazil found her logic, as usual, baffling. All his

 life he had been compulsively competitive. He was

 firmly convinced of his uniqueness in the universe

 and his general superiority to it, although he was

 occasionally bothered by the universe's lack of ap-

 preciation. But she remained inquisitive and continued

 asking all those questions two cultures could never

 answer for each other.

 "You promised days ago to show me the bridge,"

 she reminded him one day.

 "So I did," he acknowledged. "Well, now's as good

 a time as any. Why don't we go all the way forward?"

 32

 They made their way from the aft lounge, along

 the great catwalk above the cargo.

 "I don't mean to pry," he said to her as they

 walked along, "but, out of curiosity, is your mission

 of vital importance?"

 "You mean war or peace, something like that?"

 Vardia responded. "No, very few are like that. The

 truth is, as you may know, I have no knowledge of

 the messages I carry. They are blocked and only the

 key from our embassy on Coriolanus can unlock

 whatever I'm supposed to say. Then the information

 will be erased, and I will be sent home, with or

 without a message in return. But, from the tone or

 facial expressions of those who give me the messages,

 I can usually tell if it's serious, and this one certainly

 is not."

 "Possibly something to do with the cargo," Brazil

 speculated as they entered the wardroom and walked

 through it this time and out onto another, shorter cat-

 walk. The great engines which maintained the real-

 universe field of force around them throbbed below.

 "Do you know how bad things are on Coriolanus?"

 She shrugged. "Not too bad, I understand. No

 widespread famine yet. That will happen months from

 now, when the harvest doesn't come in because the

 rains didn't come last season and the ground is too

 hard- Then this cargo will be needed. Why do you

 ask?"

 "Oh, just curious, I guess," he responded, an odd

 and slightly strained tone in his voice.

 They entered the bridge.

 Vardia was immediately all over it, like an anxious

 schoolchild. "What's this?" and "How's that work?"

 and all the other questions poured from her. He an-

 swered as best he could.

 She marveled over the computer. "I have never

 seen one that you must write to and read," she told

 him with the awe reserved for genuine historical

 antiques. He decided not to respond that people

 these days were too mechanical for him so he

 couldn't bear to have a real mechanical person around,

 but instead he replied, "Well, it's what you get used

 to- This one's just as modern and efficient as any

 33

 other; I tried it on and can handle it easier. Although

 I have little to do, in an emergency I have to make

 thousands of split-second decisions- It's better to use

 what you can use instinctively in such a situation."

 She accepted his explanation, which was partially

 the truth, and noticed his small library of paperback

 books with their lurid covers. He asked her if she

 knew how to read and she said no, whatever for?

 Certain professions on her world required the ability

 to read, of course, but very few—and if that wasn't

 required, as it certainly wasn't for her job as a reel

 of blank recording tape, she could see no reason to

 learn.

 He wondered if somewhere they simply had a single

 Vardia Dipio program, and they read it out, erased the

 whole thing, then rerecorded it for each trip. Prob-

 ably, he decided—otherwise, she would have seen

 bridges before and encountered enough alien culture

 not to ask those naive questions. Most likely she

 was just new. It was tough to tell if her kind was

 fourteen or forty-four.

 At any rate, he was glad she couldn't read. He

 had suffered a very unsettling moment when she had

 gone over to that computer and he had noticed that

 he had forgotten to turn off the screen.

 The computer had been spewing its usual every-

 half-hour warning to him.

 UNAUTHORIZED COURSE CORRECTION, it said. THIS

 IS NOT A JUSTIFIED ACTION. COURSE IS BEING PLOTTED

 AND WILL BE BROADCAST TO CONFEDERACY AS SOON AS

 DESTINATION IS REACHED.

 And she wondered why he didn't have the talking

 kind of computer.

 And so they continued on the new course, all but

 Brazil and the computer oblivious to their real des-

 tination.

 A stroke of genius, he congratulated himself after

 Vardia had left- The courier's answers had eased his

 conscience on Coriolanus. They would get their grain

 —just late. In the meantime, Hain would continue to

 give Wu Julee the sponge, until that day came when

 they arrived over the sponge world itself. There he

 would lose two passengers—Wu Julee would have

 34

 life, and Ham would be introduced to the colony as a

 pusher.

 Brazil didn't think any Admiralty Board in the

 galaxy would convict him; besides, he already had the

 largest number of verbal and written reprimands in

 the service. Vardia, though, would never understand

 his reasoning.

 A loud, hollow-sounding gong brought him out of

 his satisfied reverie. It reverberated throughout the

 ship. Brazil jumped up and looked at the computer

 screen.

 DISTRESS SIGNAL FIELD INTERCEPTED, it read. AWAIT

 INSTRUCTIONS.

 Seeing what the message was, he first flipped off

 the gong then flipped on the intercom. His three pas-

 sengers were all concerned, naturally.

 "Don't be alarmed," he told them. "It's just a dis-

 tress field. A ship or some small colony is having

 problems and needs help. I will have to answer the

 call, so we'll be delayed a bit. Just sit tight and I'll

 keep you informed."

 With that he turned to the computer, giving it the

 go-ahead to plot the coordinates of the signal. He

 didn't like the idea at all—the signal had to be com-

 ing from a place far off his approved course. That

 invited premature discovery. Nonetheless, he could

 never ignore such a signal. Similar ones had saved

 him too many times, and the odds of anybody else

 intercepting it were more astronomical than bis own

 odds at happening on it.

 The ship's engines moaned, then the throbbing

 that was a part of his existence subsided to a dull

 sound as the energy field around the ship merged

 into normal space.

 The two screens suddenly came on with the. real,

 not the fake, galaxy—and a planet. A big one, he

 noted. Rocky and reddish in the feeble light of a

 dwarf star.

 He asked the computer for coordinates. Its screens

 were blank for a long time, then it replied, DALGONIA,

 STAR ARACHNIS, DEAD WORLD, MARKOVIAN ORIGIN, NO

 OTHER INFORMATION. UNINHABITED, it added need-

 35

 lessly. It was plain that nothing he knew could live

 here.

 PLOT DISTRESS COORDINATES AND MAGNIFY WHEN

 DONE, he ordered, and the computer searched the bleak

 panorama, quadrant by quadrant. Finally it stopped on

 one area and put it under intense magnification.

 The picture was grainy, snowy as hell, but the

 scene clearly showed a small camp. Something just

 didn't look right.

 Brazil parked the ship in a synchronous orbit and

 prepared to go down and see what was wrong. But

 first, he flipped on the intercom again.

 "I'm afraid I'll have to seal you aft," he told his

 passengers. "I have to check out something down

 on the planet. If I don't return within eight standard

 hours, the ship will automatically pull out and take

 you to Coriolanus at top speed, so you needn't be

 worried."

 "Can I come with you?" Vardia's voice came back

 at him.

 He chuckled. "No, sorry, regulations and all that.

 You'll be in contact with me through this intercom

 all the time, so you'll know what's going on."

 He suited up, reflecting that he hadn't been in

 one of the things in years. Then he entered the small

 bay below the engine well through a hatch from the

 bridge and entered the little landing craft. Within five

 minutes, he was away.

 The ship's computer took him to the spot by radio

 link, and he was at the scene in under an hour. He

 raised the canopy—the little craft had no air or

 pressurization of its own—and climbed down the side,

 striking the ground. The lighter gravity made him

 feel ten feet tall. The ship, of course, was kept at

 one gee for everybody's convenience.

 He needed only a couple of minutes to survey the

 scene and to report his findings back to the ship's

 recorders as the passengers anxiously followed his

 every word. "It's a base camp," he told them, "like

 the kind used for scientific expeditions. Tent-type

 units, modular, pretty modern—seem to have ex-

 ploded somehow. All of them." He knew that was

 36

 impossible—and he knew they knew—but those were

 the facts all the same.

 He was just wondering aloud as to what could

 have caused such a thing when he noticed the piled-

 up pressure suits near what would have been the exit

 lock. He went over to them and picked one up,

 curiously.

 "The suits are outside the area—empty. As if

 somebody threw them there. The explosion or what-

 ever couldn't have done it—not without some dam-

 age. Wait a minute, let me get over to the area of the

 dorms."

 Vardia listened with growing fascination, and frus-

 tration that she could see none of it, nor ask ques-

 tions.

 "Yuk," came Brazil's voice over the intercom.

 "Pretty messy death. They died when the vacuum hit,

 if the explosion didn't get them. Hmmm. . . . Seven.

 I can't figure it out. The place is a mess but the ex-

 plosion didn't really do more than rip the tents to

 shreds. But that was enough."

 He moved over to another area that caught his

 eye.

 "Funny," he said, "looks like somebody's done a

 job on the power plant. Well, here's what did it,

 anyway. Somebody jacked up the oxygen to pure and

 shut off the rest of the air. Just takes a spark after

 that. Worries me, though. There are two dozen safe-

 guards against that sort of thing. Somebody had to do

 it deliberately."

 The words sent a chill through all three passengers

 listening breathlessly to his account. Even Wu Julee

 seemed caught up in the drama.

 "Well, I just counted the beds," Brazil told them,

 his voice keeping calm but tinged with the concern

 he felt. "A dorm room for five, another one with

 three, and a single—probably the project chiefs. Bod-

 ies in all but the chiefs and one of the fivesome.

 Hmmm. . . . There were seven pressure suits. Should

 have been nine."

 They heard him breathing and moving around, but

 he was infuriatingly silent for the longest period.

 Finally he said, "Two flyers are gone, so the miss-

 17

 ing ones must be somewhere else on the planet. Ifs

 a sure bet that one of them, at least, killed the oth-

 ers."

 Again the long silence, punctuated only with

 breathing sounds. All aboard the freighter were hold-

 ing their breaths. It took no imagination at all to

 figure out that one, maybe two, madmen were loose

 on that planet—and Brazil was alone.

 "Now here's the strangest part," the captain re-

 ported at last. They strained for every word, cursing

 him for his maddening conversational tone. "I've got-

 ten to the rescue signal. It's about a kilometer from

 the camp, on a low ridge. But it isn't turned on."

 It was almost two hours more before Nathan Brazil

 was back aboard the ship. He didn't get out of his

 suit, although he left the helmet on his chair while

 he checked the computer. It assured him once again

 that it was indeed receiving a distress signal from the

 beacon below.

 Only Brazil knew that it wasn't.

 It just wasn't possible.

 He unlocked the aft compartment and made his

 way back to the passengers, all of whom were seated

 in the lounge.

 "So what do you make of it, Captain?" Hain asked

 seriously.

 "Well," replied the other hesitantly, "I'm about to

 start believing in ghosts. That signal isn't on. To

 make sure, I disabled it completely before coming

 back. But it's still coming in loud and strong up

 here."

 "There must be another signal," Vardia suggested

 logically.

 "No, there isn't. Not only is one the standard issue

 —and everything else there is standard issue—but a

 computer that can plot a course in deep space through

 the underdimensions and get you to a particular port

 on a particular planet in the middle of nowhere doesn't

 screw up in plotting the coordinates of a distress

 signal."

 "Let's proceed on what we do know, then," Hain

 suggested. "We know that there is a signal—no, no,

 38

 let me finish!'* he protested as Brazil was about to cut

 in. "As I said, there is a signal. It was set or sent by

 someone who, presumably, is one or both of the peo-

 ple who survived the—ah, disaster. Someone—or

 something—wants us to come down, wanted us to

 find the wrecked station, wants something."

 "A malevolent alien civilization, Hain?" Brazil re-

 torted skeptically. "Come on. We've got—what?—a

 thousand, give or take, solar systems explored to

 date, with more every year. We've found remains of

 the Markovians—one of their cities is near the camp,

 probably what the group was investigating—and lots

 and lots of animal and plant life. But no living,

 present-day alien civilizations."

 "But we've done only a trifie!" Hain protested.

 "There are a billion billion stars around. You know the

 odds."

 "But not here, inside our perimeter," the captain

 pointed out.

 "But, he is right, you know," Vardia interjected.

 "Perhaps someone—or something—discovered us."

 "No," Brazil told them, "it's not that. There is

 some simple explanation. What happened down there

 was cold-blooded human murder by one of the team.

 For what madness, I can't guess. They can't get off

 the planet with what they've got. If they don't starve

 to death first, their pickup ship will get them."

 "You mean you aren't going to try to find them?"

 Vardia asked. "But you must! Otherwise some other

 ship might answer them and the killers might be able

 to overpower them before they are forewarned!"

 "Oh, the odds against anyone else hearing that sig-

 nal are astronomical," Brazil replied patiently.

 "I assure you," Hain said flatly, "that the last thing

 I wish to do is stalk a murderer on an unknown

 world. Nevertheless, Citizen Vardia is correct. If we

 found them, someone else might."

 Brazil's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Can you

 handle a pistol?" he asked the fat man. "Can you?"

 he asked Vardia.

 "I can," Hain replied evenly, "and have."

 "That is left to the military caste," Vardia replied,

 "but I am an expert with the sword, and I have a

 39

 ceremonial one with me. It will puncture a pressure

 suit."

 Brazil almost laughed. "A sword? You?"

 She ran to her room and came back with a gleam-

 ing, handsome blade that glittered as if it were made

 of the finest silver. "It builds quick reflexes and good

 muscles," she explained. "Also, for some reason the

 sword is traditional in our service."

 Brazil's face grew serious again. "And what about

 Wu Julee?" he asked, not of her but of Hain.

 "She goes where I go," Hain replied cautiously.

 "And she will, in a pinch, help protect us with her

 life."

 I'll bet, Brazil thought sourly. You, anyway.

 There was never any problem of pressure suits; they

 expanded or contracted to fit almost any known hu-

 man wearer, although Hain's did give him a little

 problem. Each of them had worn one before, at least

 in the practice drill before the ship left port. They

 were extremely light, and, once the helmet had been

 set into place and the seal activated, a person hardly

 knew he had it on. Air was recirculated and refined

 through two small, light filters on the side of the

 helmet. The supply would last for almost a day. In

 an emergency situation, the lifeboat could recharge the

 air supply for fifteen people for a month, so there was

 plenty of air to spare.

 Brazil led them first to the distress beacon, if only

 to prove to himself that he was correct. They exam-

 ined it carefully, and agreed that there was no way it

 could be sending.

 But the little lifeboat monitor connection to the

 mother ship still said it was.

 So they climbed back in and sped northward, the

 mystery so pressing on them that they barely noted

 the Markovian ruins near the camp and along the

 route. The ship's computer had located the two miss-

 ing shuttlecraft on a plain near the north pole, and

 that seemed the next likely place to investigate. If

 anyone was left alive, he would be there.

 "Why do you think they are up there?" Vardia

 asked Brazil.

 40

 "My theory is that the murderer couldn't trap one

 of them in the base camp and that that one took a

 shuttle and flew off. There must have been a chase,

 and that plain is where they met up," the captain re-

 plied. "We'll know in a little while, because we're al-

 most there."

 Being in a lifeboat with a major spatial propulsion

 unit, Brazil was able to make the long trip by going

 back up info orbit and braking back down again.

 Thus, the nine-hour journey was reduced to just a

 little over ninety minutes. He braked to the slow-

 est speed he could maintain as they cleared a last

 mountain range and came upon a broad, flat plain.

 "There they are!" Vardia almost shouted, and they

 all looked ahead at the two craft, small silver disks in

 the twilight, shown prominently at the edge of a slight

 discoloration in the plain.

 Brazil circled around the spot several times.

 "I can see no one," Hain reported. "Not a sign of

 life, not a pressure suit, nothing- They may still be in

 the craft," he suggested.

 "Okay," Brazil replied, "I'll set down a few hun-

 dred meters from them. Hain, you stay back just out-

 side this boat and cover me. The other two of you

 stay inside. If anything happens to us, the mother

 ship will reclaim the boat."

 There was a soft bump, and they were down on

 the surface of Dalgonia. Brazil reached into the

 broad, black belt he wore on the outside of his pres-

 sure suit and removed one of two pistols and handed

 it to Hain.

 The pistols didn't look like much, but they could

 fire short pulses of energy at rates from one per sec-

 ond to five hundred per second, the latter not doing

 much for aim but able to spread things enough to knock

 off a small regiment. There was a stun setting that

 would paralyze a man for a half hour or more, but

 both men placed their weapons on full.

 There were seven ugly bodies far to the south.

 Brazil eased out of the hatch in the eerie silence of

 a near vacuum, and, keeping the two shuttlecraft al-

 ways in view, moved to cover behind the lifeboat.

 That was a relatively safe haven. Since the boat had

 41

 been built to take a tremendous amount of stress and

 even friction, it would be impervious to any weapons

 likely to be in the hands of their quarry.

 Ham emerged shortly after, having more trouble

 climbing down with his bulk despite the weak gravity.

 He chose a position Just forward of the nose where he

 was mostly sheltered but could still use the edge of the

 boat to steady his pistol.

 Brazil, satisfied, moved cautiously forward.

 He reached the nearest craft in less than two min-

 utes. "No sign of life yet," he told them. "I'm going

 to climb up on top and have a look inside." He

 mounted the rail-type ladder along the side of the

 shuttle and walked over to the entry hatch.

 "Still nothing," Brazil reported. "I'm going in."

 It took only another three minutes to get inside

 and find nobody home. He then repeated the se-

 quence with the second craft and found it empty too,

 although this one showed signs that somebody had

 spent many hours there.

 "Come on up, anybody," he called. "There's no

 one here, or for many kilometers around. See what

 you make of it."

 Hain told Wu Julee to join him. Vardia climbed out

 last, and they all went over to the captain, who was

 standing near the second shuttle and looking anxiously

 at the ground. Brazil noted with some amusement that

 Vardia clutched her nice, pretty sword.

 "Look at the ground here," he said, pointing to the

 tracks of a person in a pressure suit coming up to a

 point at which the dust around was greatly disturbed

 for a large area.

 "What do you make of it. Captain?" Hain asked.

 "Well, it looks as if my theory's right, anyway.

 See—the first one was here, then saw the second one

 land, and he hid out on the back of the shuttle. When

 the pursuer—the guy who landed second I assume

 was the murderer—found nobody home, he walked

 around to here"—Brazil gestured at the mottled

 dust thrown about—"and was jumped by the first

 person from on top. They fought here, then one took

 off across the plain, the other in pursuit. See how we

 get only the toe tracks coming out of the fight scene?"

 42

 Vardia was already following the tracks out onto the

 plain. Suddenly she stopped short and stared, in-

 credulous, at the ground. "Captain! Everyone! Come

 here!" she called urgently. They rushed up to her.

 She was pointing at the ground immediately ahead of

 her.

 The fine dust was thinner here, and the rock

 changed color from a dull orange to more of a gray,

 but at first they didn't see what she meant. Brazil

 went over and stooped down. Then it sank in on

 him.

 At the place where one man had stepped, just

 where the two strains of rock met, there was half a

 footprint. Not the running type—it was angled, so

 that a little less than half of a grown man's footprint,

 pressure suit pattern and all, was visible in the or-

 ange. Where it met the gray, there was unbroken

 dust.

 "How is it possible. Captain?" Vardia asked, awed

 for the first time in her life—and not a little scared.

 "There must be an explanation. It's a freakish

 thing—but I'd believe almost anything after all we've

 seen. I'm sure we'll find their prints continue farther

 on. Let's see."

 They all walked onto the gray area for some dis-

 tance. Vardia suddenly looked back to make certain

 that they were making footprints, and was relieved

 to see that they were. Suddenly she stopped short.

 "Captain!" she exclaimed, that toneless voice sud-

 denly tinged with panic and fear. The rest caught it,

 stopped, and turned. Vardia was pointing back at the

 ships from which they had come.

 There were no shuttlecraft. There was no life-

 boat. Only a bleak, unbroken orange plain stretching

 off to the mountains in the distance.

 "Now what the hell?" Brazil managed, looking all

 around him to see if they had somehow turned

 around. They hadn't. He looked up to see if he could

 spot anything leaving, but there was nothing but the

 cold stars as darkness overtook them.

 "What happened?" Hain asked plaintively. "Did

 our murderer—"

 "No, that's not it," Brazil cut in quickly, a cold chill

 43

 suddenly going through him. "No one person—not

 even two—could have managed all three craft, and

 nobody but me could have lifted that lifeboat for an-

 other two hours."

 There was a sudden vibration, like a small earth-

 quake, that knocked them all off their feet.

 Brazil broke his fall and held on in a crouch on his

 hands and knees. He looked up suddenly.

 The whole area seemed bathed in eerie flashes of

 blue-white lightning, thousands of them!

 "Damn me for an asshead!" Brazil swore. "We've

 been had!"

 "But by whom?" Vardia called out.

 Wu Julee screamed.

 Then there was nothing but darkness and that

 weird, blue lightning, now laced, it appeared, with

 golden sparks. They all felt the sensation of falling

 and turning and twisting in the air, as if they were

 dropping down some bottomless pit. There was no

 up, no down, nothing but that dizzy sensation.

 And Wu Julee kept screaming.

 Suddenly they were lying on a flat, glassy-smooth

 black surface. Lights were on around them, and there

 seemed to be a structure—as if they were in some

 building, like a great warehouse.

 Things didn't stop spinning around for a while. They

 were dizzy, and sick. All but Brazil threw up into

 their helmets, which neatly and efficiently cleared the

 mess away. A professional spaceman, Brazil was the

 first to recover his equilibrium. Then he steadied him-

 self, half sitting up on the black, glassy floor.

 It was a room, he saw—no, a great chamber, with

 six sides. The glassy area was also a hexagon, and

 around it stretched a railing and what appeared to be

 a walkway. A single great light, also six-sided, was

 suspended above them in the curved ceiling. The

 place was huge, Brazil saw, easily large enough to

 house a small freighter.

 The others were there. Vardia, he saw, was already

 sitting up, but Wu Julee, it appeared, had passed out.

 Hain just lay on the floor, breathing hard. Brazil strug-

 gled to his feet and made his way unsteadily to Wu

 44

 Julee. He checked and saw that she was in fact still

 breathing but unconscious.

 "Everybody all right?" he called. Vardia nodded

 and tried to rise. He helped her to her feet, and she

 managed. Hain groaned, but tried, and was game

 about it. He finally managed it.

 "Just about one gee," Brazil noted. "That's in-

 teresting."

 "Now what?" asked Datham Hain.

 "Looks like some breaks in that railing—the closest

 one is over there to your right. We might as well

 make for it." Taking their silence for assent, he

 picked up Wu Julee's limp body and they started off.

 She weighed hardly anything, he noted, and he wasn't

 a particularly strong man.

 He looked down at her, sorrow in his eyes. What

 will happen to you now, Wu Juice? But I tried! God!

 I tried!

 Her eyes opened, and she looked up into his

 through the tinted helmet faceplates. Perhaps it was

 the gentle way he carried her, perhaps it was his ex-

 pression, perhaps it was just the fact that she saw him

 and not Hain, but she smiled.

 She got much heavier about halfway there, he

 noted, as his body was drained of the adrenalin that

 had pumped into him during the—fall? Finally he

 was straining at the weight, although she weighed no

 more than half what she should. He finally admitted

 defeat and had to put her down. She didn't protest,

 but as they continued to walk she clung tightly to his

 arm.

 No matter what, Hain no longer owned her.

 Steps of what looked like polished stone led up to

 the break in the rail—six of them, they noted. Finally

 they were all up on some kind of platform from which

 a conveyor belt stretched out. But it was not moving

 in either direction.

 They all looked to the captain for guidance. For

 the first time in his life, Nathan Brazil felt the full

 weight of responsibility. He had gotten them into

 this—never mind that they had talked him into it, it

 was his responsibility—and he didn't have the slightest

 idea what to do next.

 45

 "Well," he began, "if we stay here we starve to

 death, or run out of air—or both. We may do so any-

 way, but we at least ought to see what we're into.

 There has to be a doorway out of this place."

 "Probably six of them," Hain said caustically.

 Brazil stepped out onto one of the conveyors, and

 it suddenly started moving. The movement was so

 unexpected that he found himself carried along far-

 ther and farther away from the rest before anyone

 could say anything.

 "Better get on," he called back, "or you'll lose me!

 I don't know how to stop this thing!"

 He was receding farther and farther, when Wu

 Julee stepped on. The other two immediately did

 likewise.

 The speed wasn't great, but it was faster than a

 man could walk briskly. A larger, broader platform

 loomed ahead before Brazil could see it. So he slid

 off onto it, stumbled, fell down, and rolled halfway

 across.

 "Watch out! Platform coming up!" he warned. The

 others saw the platform and him in time to step off,

 although each one nearly lost his balance in the at-

 tempt.

 "Apparently you're supposed to be walking on the

 belt," Vardia said. "That way you just walk onto the

 platform. See? There are actually several belts just

 before the platform, each one going at a slightly

 slower speed."

 The belt suddenly stopped.

 "No doorway here," Hain noted. "Shall we press

 on?"

 "I suppose so—whoops!" Brazil exclaimed as he

 was about to step out. The other belt had started in

 the reverse direction!

 "Looks like somebody's coming to meet us," Brazil

 said jokingly, a tone that didn't match his inner feel-

 ings at all. Even so, he pulled and checked his pistol,

 noting that Hain was doing the same. Vardia, he saw,

 still held onto that sword.

 They could see a giant figure coming toward them.

 and all stepped back to the rear edge of the platform.

 46

 As the figure came closer, they could see that it was

 like nothing in the known universe.

 Start with a chocolate brown human torso, incredi-

 bly broad, and ribbed so that the chest muscles

 seemed to form squarish plates. A head, oval-shaped,

 equally brown and hairless except for a huge white

 walrus mustache under a broad, flat nose. Six arms—

 in threes, spaced in rows down the torso—extremely

 muscular but attached, except for the shoulder pair,

 on ball-type sockets like the claws of a crab. Below,

 the torso melded into an enormous brown-and-

 yellow-striped series of scales leading to a huge, ser-

 pentine lower half, coiled, but obviously five or more

 meters in length when outstretched-

 As the creature approached the platform, it eyed

 them with large, human-looking orbs punctuated with

 jet-black pupils. As it reached the edge of the plat-

 form, the lower left arm slapped the rail. The belt

 stopped Just short of the platform. Then, for what

 seemed like forever, they just stared at each other—

 these four humans in ghostly white pressure suits and

 this creature of some incredibly alien spawning.

 The alien finally pointed to them, then with its

 top pair of arms made a motion to remove their hel-

 mets. When it saw they made no move, it pointed

 again to them, then did what appeared to be a deep-

 breathing exercise.

 "I think it's trying to tell us we can breathe in

 here," Brazil said cautiously.

 "Sure, he thinks so, but what does he breathe?"

 Hain pointed out.

 "No choice," Brazil replied. "We're almost out of

 air anyway. May as well chance it."

 "I do," came the unexpected voice of Wu Julee,

 and, with that, she unfastened her helmet—not with-

 out some trouble, for her coordination was shot.

 Finally the helmet fell to her feet, and she breathed

 in.

 And continued breathing.

 "Good enough for me," said Vardia, and she and

 Brazil did the same. For a short time Hain continued

 to resist. Then, finally assured that everyone was still

 breathing, he removed his as well.

 47

 The air seemed a bit humid and perhaps a little

 rich in oxygen—they experienced a slight light-headed-

 ness that soon passed—but otherwise fine.

 "Now what?" Hain asked.

 "Damned if I know," Brazil replied honestly. "How

 do you say hello to a giant walrus-snake?"

 "Well I'll be goddamned!" exclaimed the walrus-

 snake in perfect Confederation plain talk, "if it ain't

 Nathan Brazil!"

 Zone

 (Enter Ghosts)

 NONE OF THE GROUP COULD HAVE BEEN MORE

 stunned than Nathan Brazil.

 "Somehow I knew you'd wind up here," the crea-

 ture continued, "Sooner or later just about every old-

 timer does."

 "You know me?" Brazil asked incredulously.

 The creature laughed. "Sure I do—and you know

 me, too, unless you've had one too many rejuves. I

 know, had the same problem myself when I dropped

 through the Well. Let's just say that people really

 change around here, and let it go at that. If you'll

 follow me, I'll make you more comfortable and give

 you some orientation." With that the creature un-

 coiled backward, then recoiled at a length about two

 meters back on the belt. "Step aboard," it invited.

 They looked at Brazil. "I don't think we have much

 choice," he told them. Then, noticing Haul's pistol

 still drawn and pointed, he said to the fat man: "Put

 that popgun away until we find out the lay of the

 land. No use in getting popped yourself."

 They stepped onto the belt, which started not when

 they boarded but only after the rail was given another

 slap by their alien host. For the first time they could

 48

 hear noise—giant blowers, it sounded like, echoing

 throughout the great hall. The belt itself gave off its

 own steady electric hum.

 "Do you—eat what we eat?" Hain called out to the

 creature.

 The alien chuckled. "No, not anymore, but, don't

 worry, no cannibals around, either. At least, not Type

 Forty-ones like you- But I think we can round up some

 food—some real food, maybe the first in everybody's

 except Nate's whole life."

 They rode around three belts until they came to a

 platform much larger than the others. Here the walls

 curved and twisted away from the Well. Brazil could

 see why the configuration hadn't been visible from

 afar.

 Then they followed the snakeman—no mean trick,

 they found, with its enormous serpentine body—down

 a long corridor. They saw other corridors branching off,

 but they traveled over a thousand meters before they

 took one.

 It led into a very large room set up something like

 a reception area. Comfortable, human-style chairs

 with plush cushions abounded, and a plastic wall cov-

 ering was decorated with flowers. Here, such amenities

 seemed as incongruous as the alien would seem to their

 worlds. The creature had a sort of desk, semicircular

 in shape and seemingly form-fitted for him to coil

 comfortably behind. It held only a very ordinary-

 looking pen, a small pad of paper, and a seal—hex-

 agonal of course—seemingly solid gold cast in clear

 plastic. The seal featured a snake coiled around a great

 cross, and it had a superscription around the edges in a

 script unfamiliar to any of them.

 The snakeman lifted up a small part of his desk

 top to reveal an instrument panel underneath of un-

 familiar design and purpose. A large red button was

 most prominent, and he pushed it.

 "Had to reset the Well," he explained. "Otherwise

 we could get some nonoxygen breathers in and' they'd

 be hung up in storage until somebody remembered to

 press the button. Let me also punch in a food order

 for you—you always were a steak-and-baked-potato

 man, Nate. So that's what it'll be." He punched some

 49

 buttons in sequence on the console, then closed it.

 "Ten or fifteen minutes and the food will be here—

 and it'll be cooked right, too. Medium, wasn't it, Nate?"

 "You seem to know me better than I do," Brazil

 replied. "It's been so long since I had a steak—maybe

 almost a century. I'd just about forgotten what one

 was. Where did you know me, anyway?"

 A broad yet wistful smile crept across the creature's

 face. "Can you remember an old bum named Serge

 Ortega, Nate? Long ago?"

 Brazil thought, then suddenly it came to him. "Yeah,

 sure, I remember him—but that was maybe a hundred

 years ago or so. A free-lancer—polite name for a pi-

 rate," he explained to the others. "A real rascal. Any-

 thing for a buck, was wanted almost everywhere—

 but a hell of a character. But you can't be him—he

 was a little guy, from Hispaniola, before they went

 Corn and changed the place to Peace and Freedom."

 "I'm sorry to hear that," the creature responded

 sadly. "That means my people are dead. Who was the

 mold? Brassario?"

 "Brassario," Brazil confirmed. "But all this explains

 nothing!"

 "Oh, but it does," the snakeman replied. "Because

 I am Serge Ortega, Nate. This world changed me into

 what you see."

 "I don't see what's wrong with factory worlds,"

 Vardia interjected. They ignored her.

 Brazil looked hard at the creature. The voice, the

 eyes—they were dimly familiar, somehow. It did re-

 mind him of Ortega, sort of. The same crazy glint to

 the eyes, the same quick, sharp way of talking, the

 underlying attitude of amused arrogance that had got-

 ten Ortega into more bar fights than any other man

 alive.

 But it had been so long ago.

 "Look here!" Ham put in. "Enough of old home

 week, Ortega or not Ortega. Sir, or whatever, I should

 very much like to know where we are, and why we are

 here, and when we shall be able to return to our own

 ship."

 Ortega gave that evil smile. "Well, as to where you

 are—you're on the Well World. There's no other name

 50

 for it, since that's exactly what it is. As to where it is

 —well, damned if I know. Nobody here has ever been

 able to leave it. I only know that the night sky is like

 nothing you ever saw before. I spaced almost two

 hundred years, and none of the extremely prominent

 features look familiar. At the very least we're on the

 other side of the galaxy, or maybe even in another

 galaxy. As to why you're here, well, you somehow

 humbled into a Markovian Gate like me and maybe

 thousands of others did. And here you are, stuck just

 like the rest of us. You're here for good, mister. Better

 get used to it."

 "See here!" Ham huffed. "I have power, influ-

 ence—"

 "Means nothing here," Ortega responded coldly.

 "My mission!" Vardia protested. "I must perform my

 duties'"

 "No duties, nothin* anymore but you and here," the

 snakeman said. "Understand this: you are on a world

 built by the Markovians—yes, I said built. The whole

 thing: lock, stock, and core. As far as we know, the

 whole damned thing is a Markovian brain in perfect

 working order, and preprogrammed."

 "I figured we were inside Dalgonia," Brazil said.

 "It felt as if we fell down into something."

 "No," replied Ortega, "that was no fall. The Mar-

 kovians really had godlike powers. Matter transmis-

 sion was a simple thing for them. Don't ask me how

 it works, but it does, because we got a local version

 here. I wouldn't understand it if somebody did explain

 it, anyway."

 "But such a thing is impossible!" Hain objected. "It

 is against the laws of physics!"

 Ortega's six limbs shrugged. "Who knows? At one

 tune flying was impossible. Then it was impossible to

 leave a planet, then impossible to leave a solar sys-

 tem, then impossible for anything to go faster than

 light. The only thing that makes something impossible

 is ignorance. Here on the Well World the impossible's

 a fact of life."

 At that moment the food arrived, brought-in on a

 small cart that was obviously some sort of robot. It

 went up to each in turn, and offered a tray of hot food,

 51

 which, when removed, revealed an identical tray be-

 neath. Brazil removed the cover and just stared for a

 minute. Finally, he said, in a tone of absolute awe

 and reverence: "A real steak!" He hesitated a moment

 and looked over at Ortega. "It is real, isn't it?"

 "Oh, yes," the snakeman assured him. "It's real

 enough. The potato and beans, too. Oh, not quite a

 cow, not quite a potato, and so forth, but so close you'll

 never be able to tell the difference. Go ahead, try it!"

 Hain was already greedily tearing into his, while

 Vardia looked at the food, bewildered.

 "What's the trouble?" Brazil managed between

 swallows. "Problems?"

 "It's quite safe to eat," Ortega assured her. "There

 are no microorganisms that will give you any real prob-

 lems here—not until you go out, anyway. The stuff's

 biologically compatible."

 "No, no—it's—" she stammered. "Well, I have never

 seen food like it before. How do you . ..?"

 "Just watch me and follow my example," Brazil

 laughingly replied. "See? You cut it with a knife and

 fork like this, then—"

 They dug into the meal, Vardia getting the hang of

 it, although she protested several times that she

 thought the food tasted terrible. But they were all too

 hungry to protest.

 Ortega's eyes fell on Wu Julee, who just sat there

 staring at the food, not eating at all. "The girl—she

 is ill?" he asked them.

 Brazil suddenly stopped eating and looked at Ham,

 who had already finished and was just letting out an

 extremely noisy belch. The captain's face had a grave

 expression on it, and the fine food suddenly felt like

 lead in his stomach.

 "She's a spongie," Brazil said softly. Ham's eye-

 brows rose, but he said nothing.

 Ortega's face, too, turned serious. "How far gone?"

 he asked.

 "Fairly bad, I'd say," Brazil replied- "Deep mental

 maybe five years old, voluntary action basically emo-

 tive only." Suddenly he whirled in his chair and faced

 Hain, cold fury in his eyes. "How about it, Hain?" he

 snarled. "Would you agree?"

 52

 Hain^s piggish face remained impassive, his tone of

 voice seemed almost one of relief. "So you found out.

 I thought perhaps I was overdoing the routine at that

 dinner."

 "If we hadn't been trapped on Dalgonia, I'd have

 had you and her down on Arkadrian before you real-

 ized what was what," Brazil told him,

 Ham's face showed both shock and surprise.

 BraziFs remarks had gotten to him. Then, suddenly,

 a thought occurred to him and the old, smug self-

 confidence returned.

 "It would seem, then, that I have fallen not into a

 terrible situation, but into a most fortunate one by

 this—er, circumstance," he said calmly. "A pity for

 the lady, though," he added in mock sympathy.

 "Why you son of a bitch!" Brazil snarled and leaped

 at the fat man's throat, spilling food everywhere. The

 big man was a head taller and twice the weight of the

 attacker, but Brazil's quickness and the sheer hatred in

 his soul flowed into his arms and hands as they tight-

 ened around the other's neck.

 Hain thrashed and tried to push the smaller attacker

 away, but all he managed was to cause both of them

 to roll onto the floor, the small man still squeezing.

 Hain's mouth was open, face red, as he gasped for

 breath. The expression on Brazil's face was almost

 demonic; nothing would keep him from his goal.

 Vardia watched openmouthed, understanding the

 situation only in the vaguest way and finding Brazil's

 actions, both recounted and current, incomprehensible.

 In her private universe, there were no people, only

 cells composing a whole body. A diseased cell was

 simply eliminated. So there was no place in her mind

 for one who caused such a disease.

 Wu Julee watched the two grapple impassively, her

 meal still on her lap.

 Suddenly Ortega bounded over his desk and

 grabbed Brazil with massive arms. The giant creature

 moved almost too fast for the eye to follow; Vardia

 was stunned at the speed and surety with which the

 creature acted.

 Brazil fought to get free of the grip, and Ortega's

 53

 middle arm suddenly came from nowhere and punched

 the small man hard in the jaw. He went slack, still held

 aloft in the creature's strong grip.

 Freed of his attacker, Hain gasped and choked for

 air, finally rolling flat on his back and lying there, his

 huge stomach rising and falling. He felt his neck, where

 the imprint of Brazil's murderous hands could still be

 seen.

 Ortega began examining the unconscious man. Sat-

 isfied that no bones were broken, nor permanent dam-

 age done, he grunted and put the man down on the

 floor. Brazil collapsed in a heap, and the snakeman

 turned his attention to Hain.

 "I thank you, sir," Hain gasped, his hand going in-

 voluntarily to his throat. "You have surely saved my

 life."

 "I didn't want to do it, nor would I have done so in

 normal times," Ortega snapped back acidly. "And if

 Nate ever catches up to you on the outside, I won't be

 there to save you—and, if I am, I'll cheerfully join

 him in tearing you limb from limb. But I will not allow

 such a thing here!" He fumed his attention back to

 Brazil, who was just coming around-

 Hain seemed taken aback by the creature's com-

 ments, then saw that his pulse pistol had fallen when

 they had tumbled and now was a foot or so from him

 on the floor. Slowly, his hand crept toward it.

 "No!" Wu Julee suddenly screamed, but Hain al-

 ready had the weapon, and was pointing it at both the

 snakeman and Brazil, who was sitting up, shaking his

 head and rubbing his jaw. Ortega's back was to Hain,

 but Brazil suddenly looked up and spotted the gun.

 Ortega saw him stare and turned to face the fat man.

 "Now both of you behave and I won't do anything

 rash," Hain told them in that same cool, confident tone

 he always used. "But I am leaving this charming place

 right now.'*

 "How?" asked Serge Ortega.

 The question seemed to bother Hain, who was used

 to simple answers to simple questions. "The—the way

 we came in," he said at last.

 "The doorway leads to a corridor. The corridor leads

 to the Well in one direction—and that is strictly one

 54

 way," Ortega told him. "In the other direction are more

 rooms like this—seven hundred and eighty of them,

 in a honeycombed labyrinth. Beyond them are housing

 and recreation facilities for the types of creatures that

 use those offices—seven hundred and eighty different

 types of creatures, Hain. Some of them don't breathe

 what you do. Some of them won't like you a bit and

 may just kill you."

 "There is a way out," Hain snarled, but there was

 desperation in his voice. "There must be. I'll find it."

 "And then what?" Ortega asked calmly. "You're out

 in a world that is moderately large. The surface area

 is best expressed as five point one times ten to the

 eighth power kilometers squared. And you don't even

 know what the planet looks like, the languages, any-

 thing. You're a smart man, Hain. What are the odds?"

 Hain seemed confused, hesitant. Suddenly he looked

 at the pistol in his hand and brightened. "This gives

 me the odds," he said firmly.

 "Never play the odds until you know the rules of

 the game," Ortega warned softly, and advanced slowly

 toward him.

 "I'll shoot!" Hain threatened, his voice an octave .

 higher than usual.

 "Go ahead," Ortega invited, his great serpentine

 body sliding slowly toward the panicked man.

 "All right, dammit!" Hain cried, and pulled the trig-

 ger.

 Nothing happened.

 Hain pulled the trigger again and again. It clicked,

 making contact with the solenoid firing pin, but did

 nothing else,

 Ortega suddenly moved with that blinding speed, and

 the gun seemed to vanish from the fat man's hand.

 "No weapon works in this room," Ortega said crisply,

 Hain sat, a stupefied expression on his face, mouth

 half open. Possibly for the first time in his life that ar-

 rogant self-confidence was gone out of him.

 "You all right, Nate?" Ortega shot to the small man,

 who still sat half-rising, holding his sore Jaw.

 "Yeah, you son of a bitch," Brazil replied mushily,

 shaking his head to clear it. "Man! You sure as hell

 pack a wallop!"

 55

 Ortega chuckled. "I was the only man smaller than

 you once in a bar on Siprianos. I was full of booze and

 dope, and ready to take on the house, all of whom

 would have cheerfully slit my throat for the floor show.

 I just started to pick a fight with the bouncer when you

 grabbed me and knocked me cold. Took me ten weeks

 before I realized that you'd saved my neck."

 Brazil's jaw dropped in wonder, and the pain hit him

 as he did so and he groaned. Still, he managed: "You

 are Serge Ortega!" in a tone of bewildered acceptance.

 "I had totally forgotten that...."

 Ortega smiled. "I said I was, Nate."

 "But, oh, man, how you've changed," Brazil noted,

 amazed.

 "I told you this world changes people, Nate," Ortega

 replied. "It'll change you, too. All of you."

 "You wouldn't have stopped me from finishing the

 pig in the old days. Serge."

 "I guess I wouldn't have," Ortega chuckled. "And I

 really wouldn't have now—except that this is Zone.

 And, if you'll sit over there, across the room from

 Hain," he said, pointing to a backless couch, and, turn-

 ing to Hain, continued, "and if you will stop all your

 little, petty games and promise to sit quietly, I'll ex-

 plain just what the situation is here—the rules and lack

 of them, and a few other things about your future."

 Hain mumbled something unintelligible and went

 back over to his seat. Brazil, still nursing his sore

 jaw, silently got up and moved over to the couch. He

 sank down in the cushions, his head against the back

 wall, and groaned.

 "Still dizzy," he complained. "And I'm getting a

 hell of a headache."

 Ortega smiled and moved back behind his desk.

 "You've had worse and you know it," the snake-

 man reminded the captain. "But, first things first.

 Want some more food? You spoiled yours."

 "You know damned well I won't eat for days,"

 Brazil groaned. "Damn! Why didn't you let me get

 him?"

 "Two reasons, really. First, this is—well, a diplo-

 matic legation, you might say. A murder by one En-

 try of another would be impossible to explain to my

 56

 government no matter what. But, more than that,

 she's not lost, Nate, and that makes your motive even

 flimsier."

 Brazil forgot his aches and pains. "What did you

 say?"

 "I said she's not lost, Nate, and that's right. Just

 as this detour deprived Hain of justice, it also saved

 her. Arkadrian was no solution, really. Obviously you

 felt she was worth saving when you decided to detour

 —but, just here, she's little more than a vegetable.

 Obviously Hain was decreasing the dosage as she be-

 came more and more accustomed to the pain. He was

 letting her rot out—but slowly enough to make the

 trip without problems. May I ask why, Hain?"

 "She was from one of the Comworlds. Lived in the

 usual beehive and helped work on a big People's Farm.

 I mean the dirt jobs—shoveling shit and the like, as

 well as painting the buildings, mending fences, and

 suchlike. 10 genetically manipulated to be low—she's

 a basic worker, a manual laborer, basically mentally

 retarded and capable of carrying out simple com-

 mands—one at a time—but not of much in the way of

 original thought and action. She wasn't even good at,

 that work, and they used her as a Party whore. Failed

 at that, too."

 "That is a slander of the Corn people!" Vardia pro-

 tested vehemently. "Each citizen is here to do a par'

 ticular task that needs doing, and is created for that

 task. Without people such as she as well as ones like

 me the whole society would fall apart."

 "Would you change Jobs with her?" Brazil asked

 sarcastically.

 "Oh, of course not," Vardia responded, oblivious to

 the tone. "I'm glad I'm not anything but what I am.

 I would be happy at nothing else. Even so, such citi-

 zens are essential to the social fabric."

 "And you say my people have gone that route,"

 Ortega said sadly, almost to himself. "But—I would

 think the really basic menial stuff would be automated.

 A lot of it was in my time."

 "Oh, no," Vardia protested. "Man's future is with

 the soil and with nature. Automation produces social

 57

 decay and only that necessary to the maintenance of

 equality can be permitted."

 "I see," Ortega responded dryly. He was silent for

 a while, then he turned back to Ham. "But how did

 you wind up with the girl? And why hook her on

 sponge?"

 "Occasionally we need a—a sample, as it were.

 An example, really. We almost always use such peo-

 ple—Comworld folk who will not be missed, who are

 never much more than vegetables anyway- We con-

 trol most of them, of course. But it's rather tough to

 get the stuff into their food, or even to get an audience

 with members of a Presidium, but, once you've done

 it, you control the entire world—a world of people

 programmed to be happy at whatever they're doing

 and conditioned from birth to blind obedience to the

 Party. Control the queen and you control all the bees

 in the hive. I had an audience with a Presidium Mem-

 ber on Coriolanus—took three years of hard work to

 wangle it, I'll assure you. There are hundreds of ways

 to infect someone once you're face-to-face. By that

 point, poor Wu Julee would have been in the animal-

 istic state from progressively smaller doses. She

 would be the threat to show the distinguished Member

 what my—er, client, would become if not treated."

 "Such a thing would not work on my world," Vardia

 stated proudly. "A Presidium Member so infected

 would simply have you, her, and the Member all at

 a Death Factory."

 Ham laughed. "You people never cease to amaze

 me," he chuckled. "You really think your Presidium

 members are like you? They're descendants of the

 early Party that spread out in past, mostly lost, his-

 tory. They proclaimed equality and said they dreamed

 of a future Utopia when there would be no govern-

 ment, nothing. What they really wouldn't even admit

 to themselves was that they loved power—they never

 worked in the fields, they never worked at all, except

 giving orders and trying out plans and novel experi-

 ences. And they loved it! And their children's chil-

 dren's children still love it. A planetload of happy,

 contented, docile slaves that will do anything com-

 manded of them. And when that pain starts, less than

 58

 an hour after infection, they will do anything to keep

 alive. Anything."

 "Still mighty risky for you, isn't it?" Ortega pointed

 out. "What if you're knocked off by an egomaniac de-

 spite all?"

 Ham shrugged. "There are risks in anything. We lose

 most of our people as they work themselves up. But

 all of us are misfits, losers, or people who started at

 the bottom of society on the worst of worlds. We

 weren't bom to power—we work for it, take risks

 for it, earn it. And—the survivors get the spoils."

 Ortega nodded grimly. "How many—easy, Nate, or

 I'll clout you again!—how many worlds do you control

 now?"

 Hain shrugged again. "Who knows? I'm not on the

 Council. Over ten percent—thirty, thirty-five, maybe

 •—and growing. And two new colonies are made for

 every one we win, so it's an ever-expanding empire.

 It'll be that someday—an empire." His eyes took on

 a faraway look, a maniacal glow. "A great empire.

 Perhaps, eventually, the entire galaxy."

 "Ruled by scum," Brazil said sourly.

 "By the strongest!" Hain responded. "The cleverest,

 the survivors! The people who deserve it!"

 "I hesitate to let such evil into this world," Ortega

 said, "but we have had as bad and worse here. This

 world will test you fully, Hain. I think it will ulti-

 mately kill you, but that is up to you. Here is where

 you start. But there's no sponge here, or other addic-

 tives. Even if there were, you'd have fifteen hundred

 and sixty different species to try it on, and some of

 them are so alien you won't even understand what

 they are, why they do what they do, or whether they

 do anything. Some will be almost like those back

 home. But this place is a madhouse, Hain- It's a

 world created by madness, I think, and it will kill

 you. We'll see."

 They were silent for a while, Ortega's speech hav-

 ing as unsettling an effect on Brazil and Vardia as on

 Hain. Suddenly, Brazil broke the silence.

 "You said she wasn't lost. Serge. Why not?"

 "It has to do with this world and what it does to

 people," the snakeman replied. "I will brief you later.

 59

 But—not only do you change here, but you also get

 back what you've lost. You'll return to perfect health,

 Nate, even get back that memory of yours. You'll

 even remember things you don't want to remember.

 And, you'll be prepared—programmed if you like—

 for whatever and wherever you are. Not in the

 Comworid sense—what you need. This gives you a

 new start, Nate—but there's no rejuve here. This is

 a one-shot deal, people—a fresh start.

 "But you will die here, sooner or later, the span

 depending on what you are."

 They slept on cots provided by Ortega. All were

 dead tired, and Brazil was also still smarting from

 the knockout punch given him by the great creature

 that seemed to be the reincarnation of his past friend.

 Hain slept separately from the rest, under lock and

 key, in an office the location of which was not told to

 the fiery little captain.

 Ortega woke them all up the next morning. They

 assumed it was morning, although they hadn't actually

 been outside and, in fact, had no idea what the out-

 side looked like on this strange yet somehow familiar

 world. An old-style breakfast of what appeared to be

 normal hen's eggs, scrambled, sausage, toast, and cof-

 fee awaited them, served by the same little cart that

 had brought the previous night's supper. Brazil noted

 that the mess from flying food had been carefully

 cleaned away.

 Vardia, of course, had trouble with the breakfast.

 Wu Julee seemed no worse than the night before,

 and in no more pain, if, indeed, she was in pain at all.

 With a lot of coaxing from Brazil she managed to eat

 some of the breakfast.

 After they had finished and had returned the trays

 to the little cart, which hummed away on small tires

 with no apparent guidance. Serge Ortega pressed an-

 other button on his little hidden console, causing a

 screen to drop down at his right.

 "Time, unfortunately, is limited here—both for you

 and, because I have a great many other duties, for me

 as well. When I got dropped into Zone long ago, I had

 only a brief orientation before I was thrown out on

 60

 my ass. I wanted to give you a little bit more, to

 make it a little easier on you than it was for me."

 "Just how long ago did you drop here, Citizen

 Ortega?" Vardia asked.

 "Well, hard to say. Well over seventy standard

 years—they still use the same years, don't they,

 Nate?" Brazil nodded affirmatively, and Ortega con-

 tinued.

 "It was during a low-colonist period, and I was

 gunrunning to a placer strike on some asteroids out

 beyond Sirius. I dumped them fine, avoided all the

 cops, but ran into some damned conduit out in the

 middle of deep space, before I could go FTL or any-

 thing- I'm told that most—maybe a majority—of the

 gates are on planets, and maybe this was one, too, at

 one time. Maybe all those asteroids were once a

 Markovian planet that broke up for some reason."

 "How long has this place—this planet—been here,

 Serge?" Brazil asked-

 "Nobody knows. Longer than people were people,

 Nate. A coupl'a million years, it appears. Since the

 oldest folk in the planet's oldest race are only four

 hundred—and they're at death's door—the ancient his-

 tory of the place is as shrouded in mystery and my-

 thology as our own. You see, all this involves the

 Markovians—any of you know about them?"

 "Nobody knows much," Brazil replied. "Some sort

 of super race that ran its planets from brains beneath

 the surface and died out suddenly."

 "That's about it," Ortega acknowledged. "They

 flourished, scientists here think, between two and five

 million years ago. And they were galaxy-wide, Nate!

 Maybe even more. Hard to say, but we have a lot of

 folk dropping through whose knowledge of the universe

 doesn't match anything we humans know. And that's

 the weirdest thing—a hell of a lot of them are close

 to human-1*

 "In what way do you mean that. Serge?" Brazil

 asked. "Us-human or you-human?"

 Ortega laughed. "Both. Humanoid would perhaps

 be a better term. Well, first let me show you what

 you're in for, and I'll add the rest as I go along."

 The snakeman dimmed the lights, and a map show-

 61

 ing two hemispheres flicked on the screen. It looked

 like a standard planetary map, but the two circles

 were filled with hexagons from pole to pole.

 "The Markovians," Ortega began, "who were nutty

 over the number six, built this world. We don't know

 why or how, but we do know what. Each of their

 worlds had at least one gate of the kind that trans-

 ported you here. You are now at the South Polar Zone,

 which doesn't show accurately here for obvious rea-

 sons. All carbon-based life comes here, and all of the

 hexes north of us to that thick equatorial line are

 carbon-based or could live in a carbon-based environ-

 ment. The Mechs of Hex Three Sixty-seven, for ex-

 ample, aren't carbon-based, but you could live in their

 hex."

 "So the North Polar Zone takes care of the biologi-

 cally exotic, then?" Hain asked.

 Ortega nodded. "Yes, there are the true aliens, be-

 ings with which we have literally nothing in common.

 Their hexes run down to the equator on the north

 hemisphere."

 "Is that black band at the equator just a map di-

 viding line or is it something else?" Vardia asked

 curiously.

 "No, that's not just on the map," Ortega told her,

 "and you were sharp to notice it. It is—well, the best

 I can describe it is that it's a sheer wall, opaque and

 several kilometers high. You can't really see it until

 you're at it, outside the border of the last hex by a

 hair. You can't get past it, and you can't fly over it or

 anything. It's just, well, there. We have some theories

 about it, of course, the best one being that it's the ex-

 posed part of the Markovian brain that is, it seems,

 of the entire core of this planet- The old name for it

 seems to be the Well of Souls—so it probably is just

 that. There's an old adage around here: 'Until mid-

 night at the Well of Souls,' which you'll probably hear.

 It's just an old ritual saying now, although it may have

 had some real meaning in the distant past of prehis-

 tory. Hell, if that's the Well of Souls, then it's always

 midnight somewhere!"

 "What do the hexagons represent?" Hain asked.

 "Well, there are fifteen hundred and sixty of them

 62

 on the planet," Ortega replied. "Nobody knows the

 reason for that, either, but at least the figure only has

 one six in it. Each hex is identical in size—each one

 of the six sides is just a shade under three hundred

 fifty-five kilometers, and they're a shade under six

 hundred fifteen kilometers across. Needless to say

 they didn't use our form of measurements when they

 built the place, and we don't know what system they

 had, but that'll give you an idea in our terms."

 "But what's in the hexes?" Brazil prodded.

 "Well, you could call them nations with borders,"

 Ortega replied, "but that would be understating things.

 Each is a self-contained biosphere for a particular

 life form—and for associated lower life forms. They

 are all maintained by the Markovian brain, and each

 is also maintained at a given technological level. The

 social level is left to whatever the inhabitants can de-

 velop or want to have, so you have everything from

 monarchies to dictatorships to anarchies out there."

 "What do you mean technological level?" Brazil

 asked him. "Do you mean that there are places where

 there are machines and places where there are not?"

 "Well, yes, that, of course," Ortega affirmed.

 "But, well, you can only get to the level of technology

 your resources allow within the hex. Anything beyond

 it just won't work, like Hain's pistol yesterday."

 "It seems to me that you would have been popu-

 lated to death here," Brazil commented. "After all, .1

 assume all creatures reproduce here—and then the

 Markovian brains keep shuttling people here as well."

 "That just doesn't happen," Ortega replied. "For

 one thing, as I said, people can die here—and do.

 Some hexes have very cheap life, some species live a

 comparatively short time. Reproductive rates are in

 accordance with this death rate. If populations seem

 to be rising too high, and natural factors—like catas-

 trophes, which can happen here, or wars, which also

 can happen, although they are not terribly common and

 usually localized—don't reduce the numbers, .well,

 most of the next batch is simply born sexually normal

 in every way yet sterile, with just a very small num-

 ber able to keep the breed going. When attrition takes

 its toll, the species goes back to being born fertile.

 63

 Actually the population's pretty stable in each hex—

 from a low of about twenty thousand to a high of over

 a million.

 "As for Entries like you—well, the Markovians

 were extensive, as I said, but many of their old brains

 are dead and some of the gateways are closed for-

 ever for one reason or another. Others are so well

 disguised that a one-in-a-trillion blunder uke mine is

 needed to find the entrance. We get no more than a

 hundred or so newcomers a year, all told. We have a

 trip alarm when the Well is activated and some of us

 take turns on a daily basis answering the alarms.

 Sheer luck I ran into you, but I take a lot of turns.

 Some of the folks here don't really like newcomers

 and don't treat them right, so I take their duty and

 they owe me."

 "There are representatives of all the Southern

 Hemisphere races here, then?" Vardia asked.

 The snakeman nodded. "Most of them. Zone's really

 a sort of embassy station. Distances are huge, travel

 is long here, and so here at Zone representatives of all

 of us can meet and talk over mutual problems. The

 Gate—which we'll get to presently—will zip me back

 home in an instant, although, curse it, it won't zip

 anybody back and forth except from here to his own

 hex. Oh, yes, there's a special chamber for Northern-

 ers here and one for us up at the North Zone just in

 case we have to talk—which is seldom. They occa-

 sionally have something we are short of, or our

 scientists and theirs want to compare notes, or some-

 such. But they are so different from us that that's

 rare."

 Brazil wore a strangely fixed expression as he said,

 "Serge, you've spelled out the world as much as you

 can, but you've omitted one fact I think I can guess

 —how did a little Latin shrimp like you become a

 six-armed walrus-snake."

 Ortega's expression was one of resignation. "I

 thought it would be obvious. When you go out the

 Gate the first time, the brain will decide which hex

 could stand a person or four and that's what you will

 become. You will, of course, also wind up in the

 proper hex."

 64

 "And then what?" Hain asked nervously.

 "Well, there's a period of adjustment, of course. I

 went through the Gate the way Nate remembers me,

 and came out in the land of the Uliks looking like this.

 It took me a little while to get used to things, and

 longer for everything to sort itself out in my head, but,

 well, the change also produces an adjustment. I found

 I knew the language, at least all the analogues to my

 old one, and began to feel more and more comfortable

 in my new physical role. I became a Ulik, Nate, while

 still being me. Now I can hardly remember what it was

 like to be anything else, really. Oh, academically, sure

 —my mind was never clearer. But you are the aliens-

 now."

 There was a long silence as they digested the infor-

 mation. Finally, Brazil broke it and asked, "But, Serge,

 if there are seven hundred and eighty life forms with

 compatible biospheres, why hasn't there been a cosmo-

 politanism here in the South? I mean, why is every-

 body stuck in his own little area?"

 "Oh, there is some mingling," Ortega replied. "Some

 hexes have been combined, some not. Mostly, though,

 people stick to their own areas because each one is dif-

 ferent. Besides, people have never liked other people

 who were different. Humanity—ours and everybody

 else's, apparently—has always found even slight pre-

 texts to hate other groups. Color, language, funny-

 shaped noses, religion, or anything else. Many wars

 were fought here at various times, and wholesale

 slaughter took place. Such things are rare now—every-

 body loses. So, mostly, everybody sticks to his own hex

 and minds his own business. Besides, there's the factor

 of commonality, too. Could you really be good bud-

 dies with a three-meter-tall hairy spider that ate live

 flesh, even if it also played chess and loved orchestral

 music? And—could a society based on high technology

 succeed in capturing and subjugating a hex where none

 of its technology worked? A balance is kind of main-

 tained that way—technological hexes trade for needed

 things like food with nontechnological farm hexes

 where society is anarchistic and only swords will work."

 Vardia looked up, eyes bright, at the mention of

 swords. She still had hers.

 65

 "And, of course, in some hexes there are some pretty

 good sorcerers—and their spells work!" Ortega warned.

 "Oh, come on," Hain said disgustedly. "I am willing

 to believe in a lot—but magic? Nonsense!"

 "All magic means is a line between knowledge and

 ignorance," Ortega responded. "A magician is someone

 who can do something you don't know how to do. All

 technology, for example, is magic to a primitive. Just

 remember, this is an old world, and its people are dif-

 ferent from anything in your experience. If you make

 the mistake—any of you!—of applying your own stand-

 ards, your own rules, your own prejudices to any of it,

 it will get you."

 "Can you brief me on the general political situation,

 Serge?" Brazil requesied. "I'd tike to know a lot more

 before going out there."

 "Nate, I couldn't do it in a million years. Like any

 planet with a huge number of countries and social sys-

 tems, everything's in a constant state of flux. Condi-

 tions change, and so do rulers. You'll have to learn

 things as you go along. I can only caution that there is

 a lot of petty warfare and a lot of big stuff that would

 break out if one side could figure out a way to do it.

 One general a thousand years or so ago took over sixty

 hexes. But he was undone in the end by the necessity

 for long supply lines and by his inability to conquer

 several incompatible hexes in his backneld that even-

 tually were able to slice him up. The lesson's been

 well learned. Things are done more by crook than

 hook here now."

 Hain's eyes brightened. "My game!" he whispered.

 "And now," Ortega concluded, "you must go. I can-

 not keep you here more than a day and justify the de-

 lay to my government. You cannot put off leaving

 indefinitely in any case."

 "But there are many more questions that must be

 answered!" Vardia protested. "Climate, seasons, thou-

 sands of needed details!"

 "As for the climate, it varies from hex to hex but

 has no relationship to geographical position," Ortega

 told her. "The climate is maintained in each case by

 the brain- Daylight is exactly fifty percent of each full

 day anywhere on the globe. Days are within a few

 66

 hours of standard, so that's fourteen and an eighth

 standard hours of day and the same of night. The axis

 is straight up—no tilt at all. But it will vary artificially.

 But—see! I could go on forever and you'd never know

 enough. It is time!"

 "And suppose I refuse?" Vardia challenged, raising

 her sword.

 With that same lightning-quick movement that had

 marked the previous day's fight, Ortega's snake body

 uncoiled like a tightly wound spring, snatched the

 sword, and was back behind the desk in less than half

 a second. He looked at her sadly. "You have no choice

 at all," he said quietly. "Will you all now come with

 me?"

 They followed the Ulik ambassador reluctantly but

 resigned. He led them again down that great, winding

 corridor through which they had entered the day be-

 fore, and it seemed to them all that their walk would

 never end.

 Finally, after what was about half an hour, they

 found that the corridor opened into a large room.

 Three sides were bare, plastic-like walls similar to

 those in Ortega's office but without any pattern. The

 fourth looked like a wall of absolute black.

 "That's the Gate," Ortega told them, gesturing to

 the black wall. "We use it to go back and forth be-

 tween our own hexes and Zone, and you will use it to

 be assigned. Please don't be afraid. The Gate will not

 alter your personality; and, after the adjustment pe-

 riod, you will find that you are even better, mentally,

 than you were. For the little girl, here, passage through

 will mean the restoration of normality, cure of the ad-

 diction, and a correction of whatever imbalances they

 used to limit her IQ and abilities. Of course, she may

 still be a rather dull farm worker, but in no event will

 she be worse off than she was before she was addicted."

 None of them rushed into the Gate.

 Finally, Ortega prodded them. "The doorway be-

 hind you is closed. No one, not even I, may re'enter

 Zone until he first goes to a hex. That's the way the

 system works."

 "I'll go first," Brazil said suddenly, and he took a

 67

 step toward the Gate. He felt a great hand on his

 shoulder that stopped him.

 "No, Nate, not now," Ortega almost whispered to

 him. "Last." Brazil was puzzled, but realized the in-

 tent. The ambassador had something else to say to him

 without the others hearing. Brazil nodded and turned

 to Hain.

 "How about you, Hain? Or should I go at you again?

 We're not in the embassy now."

 "You caught me by surprise that time. Captain,"

 Hain replied with the old sneer. "But if you stop and

 think, you'll know I could break you in pieces. Am-

 bassador Ortega saved your life back there, not mine.

 Yet, I will go. My future is out there." And, with that,

 Hain strode confidently to the blackness and, without

 hesitation, stepped into it.

 The darkness seemed to swallow him up the moment

 he entered. There was no other visible effect.

 Vardia and Wu Julee each stood solidly, not moving

 from their places near the entrance.

 Ortega turned and took Wu Julee's left arm with one

 of his, urging her on across the room to the dark wall.

 She didn't seem to protest until she was very near the

 darkness. Then, suddenly, she stopped and screamed,

 "No! No!" Her face turned and looked pleadingly at

 Brazil.

 "Go ahead," he urged her gently, but she broke free

 ofOrtega's gentle grip and ran to the captain.

 Brazil looked into her eyes with a gentle pity that

 was almost tearing him apart inside.

 "You must go," he told her. "You must go. I will

 find you."

 Still she didn't budge, but tightened her grip on him.

 Suddenly she was yanked from him with such force

 and speed that the movement knocked Brazil to the

 ground. Ortega pulled her away and tossed her into the

 blackness in one quick motion.

 She screamed, but the scream stopped as the black-

 ness absorbed her, so abrupt that it was like a record-

 ing suddenly stopped in midsound.

 "This business is a bitch sometimes," Ortega re-

 68

 marked glumly. He turned and looked at Brazil, who

 was picking himself up off the floor. "You all right?"

 "Yeah," Brazil replied, then looked into the crea-

 ture's sad eyes. "I understand, Serge," he said softly.

 Then, as if to break the mood, his tone took on that of

 mock anger: "But if you're going to keep beating the

 hell out of me I'm leaving here no matter what!"

 His tone almost broke through the snakeman's mel-

 ancholy, and Ortega managed a chuckle. He put his

 right upper arm out and clasped Brazil to him, and

 there were tears in his eyes. "God!" the snakeman ex-

 claimed. "How can the greatness in people be so

 unloved?"

 Suddenly he relaxed and turned his gaze to Vardia,

 who had remained motionless throughout the whole

 episode.

 Brazil guessed what must be going through her mind

 now. Raised by an all-embracing state, trained and

 bred to a particular function, she was simply not pro-

 grammed for such a disruption of her orderly, planned

 life. Every day for her had always been a certainty,

 and she was secure in the knowledge of that sameness

 and content with the belief that she was performing a

 useful task.

 Now she was, for the first time, on her own.

 Brazil thought for a moment, then hit upon what he

 hoped was a solution.

 "Vardia," he said in his best command voice, "we

 set out to do a job when we landed on Dalgonia. That

 trail has led us here to this spot- Now it leads through

 there. There are seven bodies back on Dalgonia,

 Vardia. Seven, including at least one of your own peo-

 ple. There is still a duty for you to perform."

 She was breathing hard, the only sign of inner men-

 tal torment. Finally, she turned and faced the other

 two, then ran at the blackness of the Gate.

 And was gone.

 Brazil and Ortega were alone in the room-

 *'What was that about seven bodies, Nate?" the

 snakeman asked.

 Brazil recounted the story of the mysterious distress

 signal, the mass murder on Dalgonia, and the signs of

 the two who had vanished as they had.

 69

 Ortega's expression was extremely grave. "I wish I

 had known of this ten weeks ago when those two came

 through here. It would have changed things a great

 deal in Council."

 Brazil's eyebrows rose. "You know them, then?"

 Ortega nodded. "Yes, I know them. I didn't do the

 processing, but I watched the recordings of their ar-

 rival over and over- There was a great deal of debate

 about them before they went through the Gate."

 "Who were they? What was their story?"

 "Well, they came through together, and one of them

 was still trying to kill the other on the Well itself when

 Gre'aton—he's a Type Six Twenty-two, looks kind of

 like a giant locust—put a stop to it. A few of the more

 human-looking boys took over, splitting them up so

 they didn't see each other again.

 "Each of them told a fantastic story, about how he

 and he alone had discovered some sort of mathemati-

 cal relationship used by the Markovian brains. Each

 claimed that everything in the universe was a series of

 preset mathematical relationships determined by a

 master Markovian brain. When they were given the

 standard briefing, both became terribly excited, each

 convinced that the Well World was the master brain

 and that they could somehow communicate with it,

 maybe even run it. Each claimed the other had stolen

 his discovery, tried to kill the other, and was here to

 establish himself as god. Of course, each claimed that

 he was trying to stop the other from doing so."

 "Did you believe them?"

 "They were mighty convincing. We used some of the

 standard lie-detection stuff and tried some telepathy

 using one of the North boys, and the results were al-

 ways the same."

 "And?" Brazil prompted.

 "As far as we were able to determine—and we

 don't have the methods for a really scientific study—

 they were both telling the truth."

 "Whew. You mean they're psychos through and

 through?"

 Ortega was solemn. "No, each truly believes he dis-

 covered what the code was, and each truly believes the

 70

 other stole it, and each truly believes that he'd be good

 for godhead and the other would be horrible."

 "Do you really believe that godhead stuff?" Brazil

 asked.

 Ortega turned all six arms into a giant shrug. "Who

 knows? A number of folk here have similar ideas, but

 no one's ever been able to do anything about them. We

 called a Council—a full Council, with over twelve hun-

 dred ambassadors participating. All were given the

 facts. Everything was debated.

 "The idea explains a lot, of course. All magic, for

 example. But it is so esoteric. And, as it was pointed

 out by some of our mathematically minded folk, even

 if true it probably didn't mean anything, since no one

 could change the brain anyway. In the end, even

 though a large number of members voted to kill them,

 the majority voted to let them through."

 "How did you vote. Serge?" Brazil asked.

 "I voted to kill them, Nate. They are both maniacs,

 and both are possessed of genius. Each believed he

 could do what he set out to do, and both seemed to be-

 lieve that it was destiny that, so soon after the discov-

 ery, they were brought here."

 "More to the point, do you believe it. Serge?"

 "I do," the giant replied gravely. "Right now, I think

 those two are the most dangerous beings in the entire

 universe. And—more to the point—I think that one of

 them, I can't tell which, has a chance of succeeding."

 "What are their names. Serge, and their back-

 grounds?"

 Ortega's eyes brightened. "So God in His infinite

 wisdom allows mercy after all! You do want to get

 them, and God has sent you to us for that purpose!"

 Brazil thought for a moment. "Serge, ever hear of a

 Markovian brain actually, literally, trapping people by

 sending out false signals or the like?"

 Ortega thought for a moment. "No," he replied, "as

 far as I know it's always accident or blunder. That's

 why so few come. Now do you see what I mean about

 God sending you to me?"

 "Somebody sure did, anyway," Brazil acknowledged

 dryly. "I wish I could see those films and learn a lot

 71

 about them before I tried to find two invisible needles

 in a planet-sized haystack."

 "You can," Ortega assured him. "I have all the ma-

 terial back in my office."

 Brazil's mouth was agape. "But you told us there

 was no way back!"

 Ortega shrugged monstrously again. "I lied," he said.

 Several hours later Brazil learned as much as he was

 going to from the recordings, testimony, and arguments

 of the Council committees.

 "So can you give me any leads on this Skander and

 Vamett? Where are they now? And what?"

 "Newcomers are pretty conspicuous around here,

 since there are so few of them and they are so obvi-

 ous," Ortega replied. "And, yet, I can give you noth-

 ing on either. The planet seems to have swallowed

 them up."

 "Isn't that unusual?" Brazil asked. "Or, worse, sus-

 picious?"

 "I see what you mean. The whole planet saw what

 you saw and heard what you heard. They could have

 some natural allies."

 "Yeah, that's what I'm most concerned about," Bra-

 zil said bluntly- "The odds are that there's a monstrous

 race going on here, and that this place is the soul of

 reason compared to what everything we know would

 become if the wrong side was to win."

 "They could both be dead," Ortega suggested hope-

 fully.

 Brazil shook his head in a violent negative. "Uh-uh.

 Not these boys. They're clever and they're nasty.

 Skander's almost the archetypal mad scientist, and

 Varnett's even worse—a renegade, mob-class Corn. At

 least one of them will make it, and he'll have some

 way to dump his allies afterward."

 "You'll have the help of all the hexes who voted to

 kill them," Ortega pointed out.

 "Sure, Serge, and I'll use that when I have to. But

 this is really a lone-wolf operation and you know it.

 That Council was politically very slick. They could

 count. Even a hex voting to kill them knew they

 wouldn't be killed—so what was the use of their vote?

 72

 Getting there might take help—but once there, every

 friend I have on this world will seek godhead, and

 never mind that I don't know how to talk to the brain.

 No, Serge, I have to kill both of them, absolutely, ir-

 revocably, and as quickly as possible."

 "Getting where might take help?" Ortega asked,

 puzzled.

 "To the Well of Souls, of course," Brazil replied

 evenly. "And before midnight."

 Now it was Onega's turn to look stunned. "But

 that's just an old saying, like I said before—"

 "It's the answer. Serge," Brazil asserted strongly.

 "It's just that nobody has been able to decipher the

 code and make use of it."

 "There is no answer to that. It makes no real sense!"

 "Sure it does!" Brazil told him. "It's the answer to

 a monstrous question, and the key to the most mon-

 strous of threats. I saw Skander's and Vamett's eyes

 light up when they first heard the phrase, Serge. They

 seized on it!"

 "But what's the question?" Ortega asked bewil-

 deredly.

 "That's what I don't know yet," Brazil replied,

 pointing his finger at the Ulik animatedly. "But they

 thought it was the answer, and they both think they

 can figure it out. If they can, I can.

 "Look, Serge, why was this world built? No, not

 the brain; we'll accept that as bringing some sort of

 stability to the universe. In fact, if they're right, we're

 all just figments of some dead Markovian's imagina-

 tion. No, why all this? The Well, the hexes, the civili-

 zations? If I can answer that, I can answer the bigger

 question! And I'll find out!" Brazil exclaimed ex-

 citedly, half-rising from his chair.

 "How can you be so sure?" Ortega responded du-

 biously.

 "Because someone—or something—wants me to!"

 Brazil continued in the same excited tone. "That's

 why I was lured here! That's why I'm here at all,

 Serge! That's what makes even the timing! Even-now

 they've got a ten-week start! You, yourself, said as

 much back at the Gate!"

 73

 Ortega shook his head glumly. "That was Just my

 old Latin soul coming forth, Nate. I've been consort-

 ing with Jesuits again—yes, we have several here, from

 the old missionary days, came in a single ship and are

 out trying to convert the heathen. But, be reasonable,

 man! You never would have found Dalgonia were it

 not for the detour. You wouldn't have detoured except

 for Wu Julee's presence on your ship, and that could

 hardly have been planned, let alone your act of

 mercy."

 "I think it was planned. Serge," Brazil said evenly.

 "I think I've been conned all along. I don't know how,

 or by whom, or for what purpose, but I've been had!"

 "I don't see how," Ortega responded, "but, even if

 so, how will you ever know?"

 "1*11 know," Brazil said in a tone that was both firm

 and somewhat frightening. "I'll know at midnight at

 the Well of Souls."

 They stood once again at the Gate, this time for

 the last time.

 "It's agreed, then," Ortega said to him. "As soon

 as you pass through and get oriented, you announce

 yourself to the local ruler. All of them will have been

 notified of your coming through, with instructions to

 render any assistance. But at least one of them is sure

 to be in league with your enemies, Nate! Are you

 sure? What if you are swallowed up?**

 "I won't be. Serge," Brazil replied calmly. "Chess-

 players don't sacrifice their queens early in the game."

 Ortega gave one last massive shrug. "Believe what

 you wish—but, be careful, my old friend. If they get

 you, I shall avenge your death."

 Brazil smiled, then looked at the Gate. "Is it best

 to run at it, walk into it, or what?" he asked.

 "Doesn't matter," Ortega told him. "You'll wake

 up as if coming out of a long sleep, anyway. May you

 wake up a Ulik!"

 Brazil smiled, but kept his thoughts on being a

 seven-meter, six-armed walrus-snake to himself. He

 walked over to the gate, then turned for one last look

 at his transformed old friend.

 "I hope I wake up at all. Serge," he said quietly.

 74

 "Go with God, you ancient heathen," Ortega said.

 "I'll be damned," Brazil muttered, half to himself.

 "After all these years I might wake up a Gentile."

 And, with that, he stepped through the Gate.

 And in the darkness he dreamed.

 He was on a giant chessboard, that stretched off

 in all directions. Seven pawns were down on his side

 —the white side. They looked like scorched and

 frozen bodies, lying on blackened cots.

 Through the mostly faceless field of black pieces,

 he could see Skander and Vamett, queen and king.

 Skander was a queen in royal robes, with a scepter

 in hand. The queen looked around, but could not spot

 the king. There was Wu Julee, a pawn, out front, and

 Vardia, a knight with bright sword nashing-

 Ortega, a bishop, glided by quickly, and was

 struck by a black rook with the face of Datham Hain.

 The queen glided quickly, trying not to trip over

 her long skirts, toward Hain, the scepter ready to

 strike that ugly, pig face, when suddenly Ortega re-

 appeared and pushed him away.

 "The black royal family has escaped. Your High-

 ness!" Onega's voice shouted. "They are heading for

 the Well of Souls!"

 The queen looked around, but there was no trace

 of the enemy's major pieces. Anywhere.

 "But where is the Well of Souls?" screamed the

 queen. "I cannot get to the king without knowing!"

 A sudden burst of overwhelming, cosmic laughter

 came from beyond the board. It was giant, hollow,

 and all embracing. A giant hand gripped the queen

 and moved it far away to the other side of the board.

 "Here they are!" the great voice said mockingly.

 The queen looked around and screamed in terror.

 The king with Skander's face was but one square

 right, and the queen with Vamett's face was one

 square up.

 "Our move!" they both said, and laughed mania-

 cally.

 Brazil awoke-

 He got quickly to his feet. Odd, he thought curi-

 75

 ously. Fm more wide awake, feeling better, head

 clearer than I can ever remember.

 Quickly he examined his body to see what he was.

 With a shock he looked up around him, to the shores

 of a nearby lake. There were animals there, and

 others of his kind.

 "Well HI be damned!" he said aloud. "Of course!

 That had to be the answer to the first question! I

 should have figured it out in Serge's office!"

 Sometimes the obvious needed to be belabored.

 Considering how primitive the place was, Brazil

 worriedly set out to see if he could find the Zone Gate.

 Czill—Spring

 (Enter Vardia Dipio 1261, Asleep)

 SHE WAS NEVER CERTAIN WHY SHE HAD FINALLY

 stepped through the Gate. Perhaps doing so was an

 acceptance of inevitability, perhaps an obedience to

 authority that was a part of her conditioning.

 There were patterns of color, running in and out,

 pulsating in a rhythmic, cosmic heartbeat: yellows,

 greens, reds, blues—all forming kaleidoscopic patterns,

 a mechanical ringing sound accompanying the pulses

 in an odd symphonic monotone.

 Then, quite suddenly, she awoke.

 She was on a lush savanna, tall grasses of green

 and gold stretching out to low foothills in the distance.

 Some trees, reminiscent of gum trees, dotted the plain,

 with odd growths that looked like barren stubs of

 what once had been taller trees showing in some num-

 bers in the distance.

 With a start, she realized that the stubby trees were

 moving. They moved in a syncopated rhythm that was

 most strange. The trunks were actually legs, she re-

 alized, and it seemed as if they were all moving in

 great strides, yet were somehow arrested. It was like

 76

 watching a track meet in slow motion. That was de-

 ceptive, though; the slower motion was apparently only

 an illusion, and as she watched, some of them covered

 pretty good distances in no time.

 They all seem to have something to do or some-

 place to go, she thought to herself. Purpose means

 some sort of civilization, and I need to find out where

 I am and what place this is before I can get my own

 purpose clear.

 She started toward the distant forms.

 And suddenly stopped as she caught a glimpse of

 her own body.

 She looked down at herself in wonder.

 She was a sort of light green, her skin a smooth,

 vinelike texture. Her legs were thick and yet long and

 rubbery, without an apparent Joint. The trunk of her

 body showed no signs of breasts or of a vaginal cavity;

 and though her feet were flat bases, her arms seemed

 to be of the same nature as her legs, only thinner,

 ending as tentacles rather than as hands. Another,

 shorter tentacle grew out of the main arm about ten

 centimeters from its tip. A thumb, perhaps?

 She found that the rubbery arms worked well

 either way, being pliant and without apparent Joint

 or bone, and she felt her smooth backside. No rectum,

 either, she found.

 She ran her arm over her face. A wide slit was

 no doubt the mouth, yet it opened only a tiny frac-

 tion. The nose appeared to be a single, fixed, hard

 hole above the mouth. Growing out of the top of her

 head was something thin, tough, and about the size

 of a mortarboard, although of irregular shape.

 What have I become? she asked herself, feeling fear

 bordering on panic.

 Slowly she tried to regain control of herself. Taking

 deep breaths had always helped, but she found she

 couldn't even do that. She was breathing, all right,

 she could sense that—but that nostril took in only a

 very tiny part of the air.

 She realized it was primarily a sensitive olfactory

 organ; she was breathing by involuntary muscle ac-

 tions through the pores in her smooth, green skin.

 After a while her panic seemed to subside, and she

 77

 considered what to do. The distant shapes were still

 going about their business, she saw. She seemed to be

 on a road of some sort.

 No matter what, she had to contact those creatures

 and find out just what was happening. She again

 started for the figures and found, with some surprise,

 that she covered the distance—almost a kilometer

 through the tall grass—in a much shorter time than

 she would have expected.

 It was a road, she saw—a dirt track, really, but

 wide and made up of reddish-brown soil.

 The creatures using it paid her no attention what-

 soever, but she studied them intently. They were like

 herself, she knew. Those things she couldn't discover

 from self-examination were now apparent: two large,

 round, yellow eyes with black pupils, apparently lid-

 less. She suddenly realized that she hadn't been blink-

 ing her own eyes, and could not,

 The thing growing out of her head proved to be a

 single large leaf of irregular shape—no two were

 alike- The stalk was thick and very short. Its color

 was a much deeper green than the body and it had an

 almost waxy texture.

 Not knowing how to talk to them, and almost afraid

 to try, she decided to follow the road. It must go

 •someplace, she told herself. It really didn't matter

 which direction—one was as good as the other.

 She walked onto the road and set off toward the

 low hills to her left. The road really wasn't as crowded

 as she had thought, but at least a dozen—people?—

 were on the road ahead of her. She gained on a pair,

 and as she did she became aware that they were talk-

 ing. The sounds were musical, yet she discovered

 that she could almost make out what was being said.

 As she closed to within three or four meters of the

 pair, she slowed, aware now that she could understand

 the strange, whispering singsong.

 "... got into the Bla'ahaliagan spirit-strata stuff,

 and can't even be talked to these days. If the Blessed

 Elder doesn't get off that crap pretty soon I'm going to

 transfer over to cataloging."

 "Hmmmm. . . . Dull stuff but I can see your point,"

 the other sympathized. "Crindel got stuck under

 78

 Elder Mudiul on some esoteric primitive game an

 Entry dropped on us ybout three hundred years ago.

 Seems it has almost infinite patterns after the first few

 moves, and there was this project to teach it to a com-

 puter. Couldn't be done. Weird stuff. Almost went off

 to the Meditations and rotted, Crindel did."

 "How'd the Worthy get out of it?" the first one

 asked.

 "Mudiul got a virus and it got the Elder quaran-

 tined for nine years," chortled the other. "By the time

 the Worthy got out the Board had closed down the

 project and redistributed the staff. The Old One's got

 off on whether rocks have souls, and that ought to

 keep the Worthy out of harm's way until rot wipes the

 Worthy."

 They went on like that for some time, and the con-

 versation did little to clear up anything in Vardia's

 mind. About the only useful fact that came out of

 the discussion was the obvious limits of third-person-

 singular pronouns in the language.

 She noticed that both wore "old chains around their

 necks as their only adornment of any kind, but, try-

 ing not to be conspicuous, she couldn't see what was

 fastened to them.

 They had been walking for some time now, and

 several other things came into her mind- First, the

 locals seemed to live in communities. She passed

 groups of them here and there, their numbers ranging

 from three or four to several dozen. Yet there were

 no signs of buildings. The ^roupin^s seemed to be

 like camp circles, but without the fire. Occasionally

 she could glimpse mv^ternus prtifact1; here and there

 in the midst of the groups, but nothing large enough

 to stand out. Some groups seemed to be singing, some

 dancing, some both, v/hile others were engaged in

 animated conversations so complex pnd esoteric that

 they melded into a tuneful chatter like a blending of

 insects.

 Also, she was aware very suddenly, she felt neither

 tired nor hunsry- That was ?. "ood thing, she reflected,

 since she had no idea what these people ate.

 She continued to think in her own, old language,

 79

 but had no trouble understanding others with their

 singsong chirping so alien to her.

 The two she had been following took a side path

 down toward a large grouping that was gathered in a

 particularly attractive spot. It was a pastoral setting

 of multicolored flowers and bushes alongside a fast-

 flowing stream.

 She stopped at the junction of the main road and

 the access trail to the lake, partially blocking the side

 trail. Someone came up behind her and brushed past

 her, making her conscious of her blocking.

 "I'm sorry," she said automatically and stepped to

 one side.

 "That's all right," the other replied and continued

 on.

 It was almost a full minute before she realized that

 she had spoken and been understood!

 She hurried after the being who had spoken, now

 far ahead.

 "Wait! Please!'" she called after the creature. "I

 need your help!"

 The other stopped and turned, a puzzled expres-

 sion on it.

 "What seems to be the trouble?" the creature asked

 as she came up to him.

 "I—I am lost and confused," she blurted out to the

 other. "I have just—just become one of you, and I

 don't know where I am or what I'm supposed to do.'*

 Realization hit the other. "A new Entry! Well, well!

 We haven't had an Entry in Czill in my lifetime! Well,

 of course you're confused. Come! You shall sleep with

 us tonight and you will tell us of your origin and we'll

 tell you of Czill," it said eagerly, like a child with a

 new toy. "Come!"

 She followed the creature down to the grove. It

 moved very quickly, and eagerly gathered its com-

 panions as fast as possible, excitedly telling them that

 they had an Entry in Riverbend, as the camp was

 apparently called.

 Vardia took all the attention nervously, still bashful

 and unsure of herself.

 They gathered around asking questions by the hun-

 dreds, all at once, each one canceling out the others

 RO

 in the general din. Finally, one with a particularly

 strong voice appealed for quiet over the noise, and

 after some work, got it.

 "Take it easy!" it shouted, making canning ges-

 tures. "Can't you see the poor one's scared to death?

 Wouldn't you be if, say, you went to sleep this night

 and woke up a Pia?" Satisfied, it turned to Vardia

 and said gently, "How long have you been in Czill?"

 "I—I have just arrived," she told them. "You are

 the first persons I've talked to. I wasn't even—well,

 I wasn't sure how."

 "Well, you've fallen into the worst pack of jabbering

 conversationalists," the one with the loud voice said,

 amusement in its tone. "I am Brouder, and I will not

 try to introduce everyone else here. We'll likely draw

 a bigger and bigger crowd as word of you gets

 around."

 It was interesting, she thought, that such weird

 whistlings and clickings should be instantly translated

 in her mind to their Confederacy equivalents. The

 creature's name was not Brouder, of course—it was

 a short whistle, five clicks, a long whistle, and a

 descending series of clicks. Yet that was what the

 name said in her mind, and it seemed to work in

 reverse as well.

 "I am Vardia Dipio Twelve Sixty-one," she told

 them, "from Nueva Albion."

 "A Comworlder!" someone's voice exclaimed. "No

 wonder it wound up here!"

 "Pay the critics no mind, Vardia," Brouder told

 her. "They're just showing off their education." That

 last was said with a great deal of mysterious sar-

 casm.

 "What did you do before you came here?" some-

 one asked.

 "My job?" Vardia responded. "Why, I was a dip-

 lomatic courier between Nueva Albion and Coriola-

 nus."

 "See?" Brouder snorted. "An educated one!"

 "I'll still bet the Apprentice can't read!" called

 out that one in the back.

 "Forget the comments," Brouder urged her with

 a wave of its tentacle. "We're really a friendly group-

 81

 I was—is something the matter?" it asked suddenly.

 "Feeling dizzy," she replied, the ground and crowd

 suddenly reeling a bit. She reached out to steady her-

 self on Brouder. "Funny," she muttered. "So sudden."

 "It comes on like that," Brouder replied. "I should

 have thought of it. Come on, I'll help you down to

 the stream."

 It took her down to the rushing water, which had

 a strangely soothing effect on her. It walked her

 into the water.

 "Just stand here a few minutes," the Czillian told

 her. "Come back up when you feel better."

 Automatically, she found, something like tendrils

 were coming out of small cavities in her feet and were

 digging into the shallow riverbed. She drank in the

 cool water through them, and the dizziness and faint-

 ness seemed to evaporate.

 She looked at the riverbank and saw that they

 were all watching her, a line of fifteen or twenty

 light-green, sexless creatures with staring eyes and

 floppy leaves on their heads. Feeling suddenly excel-

 lent once more, she retracted her tendrils and walked

 stiffly back to the bank.

 "Feel all right now?" Brouder asked. "It was stupid

 of us—you naturally wouldn't have had much water

 in you. You're the first Entry in some time, and the

 first one ever for us. Please, if you feel in the least

 bit strange or ill, let us know. We take so much for

 granted."

 The concern in its voice was genuine, she knew,

 and she took comfort from it. Ail of them had looked

 concerned when she had been out in the river.

 She really felt she was among friends now.

 "Will you answer some of my questions, then?"

 she asked them.

 "Go ahead," Brouder told her.

 "Well—these will sound stupid to you all, of

 course, but this whole business is entirely new to

 me," she began. "First off, what am I? That is, what

 are we?"

 "I'm Gringer," another approached. "Perhaps I can

 answer that one. You are a Czillian- The land is called

 82

 CziII, and while that explains nothing, it at least gives

 you a label."

 "What does the name mean?" she asked.

 Gringer gave the Czillian equivalent of a shrug.

 "Nothing, really. Most names don't mean anything

 these days. They probably all did once, but nobody

 knows anymore.

 "Anyway, we are unusual in these parts because

 we are plants rather than animals of some sort. There

 are other sentient plant-beings on the Well World,

 eleven in the South here and nine in the North, al-

 though I'm not sure those are really plants as we

 understand them. We're a distinct minority here, any-

 way. But there are great advantages to being in the

 vegetable kingdom."

 "Like what?" she asked, fascinated in spite of her-

 self.

 "Well, we are not dependent on any sort of food.

 Our bodies make it by converting light from the sun,

 as most plants do. Just get a few hours of real or

 artificial sun a day and you will never starve. You

 do need some minerals from the soil, but these are

 common to much of the Well World, so there are few

 places you can't get along. Water is your only need,

 and you need it only once every few days. Your body

 will tell you when—as it did just now. If you get

 into a regular routine of drinking, you will never feel

 dizzy or faint nor will you risk your health from its

 lack. There is also no sex here, none of those primal

 drives that get the animals in such a neurotic jumble."

 "Such things have been minimized on my home

 planet," she responded. "It would appear from what

 you say that I will not find this place that far from

 my own social concepts. But, if you have no sexes,

 do you reproduce by some artificial means?"

 The crowd chuckled at this.

 "No," Gringer responded, "all races on the Well

 World are self-contained biological units that could

 survive, given certain ecological conditions, without

 any aids. We reproduce slowly, for we are among

 the oldest-lived folk on the planet. When something

 happens to require additional population, then we

 plant ourselves for an extended period and produce

 83

 another of ourselves by fission. This is far more

 practical than the other way, for everything that

 we are is duplicated, cell for cell, so that the new

 growth is an exact copy that contains even the same

 memories and personalities. Thus, even though you

 will wear out in a few centuries, you will also live

 forever—for the growths are so identical that not

 even we are certain which one is which."

 Vardia looked around, studying the crowd. "Are

 there any such twins here?" she asked.

 "No," Gringer replied. "We tend to split up, stay

 far apart, until the years make us into different folk

 by the variety of experiences. We live in small camps,

 like this one, drawn from different occupations and

 interests, so that the camps provide a wide range of

 folk and keep things from getting too dull."

 "What do you do for work?" Vardia asked. "I

 mean, most—ah, animal civilizations are devoted to

 food production, building and maintaining shelters,

 educating the young, and manufacturing. You don't

 seem to need any of those things."

 "This is true," Brouder acknowledged. "Freed from

 the animal demands of food, clothing, shelter, and sex,

 we are able to turn ourselves to those pursuits to which

 other races must, because of the primacy of those

 needs, devote only a small part of their endeavors."

 Vardia was more puzzled than ever. "What sort

 of activities do you mean?" she asked.

 "We think," Brouder replied.

 "What Brouder means," Gringer cut in, seeing her

 uncomprehending look, "is that we are researchers '

 into almost every area. You may think of us as a

 giant university. We collect knowledge, sort it, play

 with problems both practical and theoretical, and add

 to the greater body of knowledge. Had you followed

 the main road in the other direction, you would have

 come upon the Center, which is where those of us

 who need lab facilities and technical tools work and

 where people following similar lines meet to discuss

 their findings and their problems."

 Vardia's mind tried to grasp it, and could not.

 "Why?" she asked.

 84

 Brouder and Gringer both showed expressions of

 surprise. "Why what?" Gringer asked.

 "Why do you do such work? To what goal?"

 This disturbed them, and there were animated con-

 versations through the gathered crowd. Vardia was

 equally disturbed by the reaction to her question,

 which she had considered very straightforward. She

 thought perhaps she had been misunderstood.

 "I mean," she said, "to what end is all of this re-

 search? You do not seem to use it yourself, so who

 is it for?"

 Gringer seemed about to have a fit of some kind.

 "But the quest for knowledge is the only thing that

 separates sentient beings from the most common

 grasses or lowest animals'" the Czillian said a bit

 shrilly.

 Brouder's tone was almost patronizing, as if ad-

 dressing a small child. "Look," the researcher said

 to her, "what do you think is the end result for

 civilization? What is the goal of your people?"

 "Why, to exist in happiness and harmony with all

 others for all times," she replied as if reciting a liturgy

 —which is what it was, taught from the day she was

 produced at the Birth Factory.

 Gringer's long tentacles showed agitation. Its right

 one reached down and pulled up a single blade of

 the yellowish grass that grew for kilometers in all

 directions. It pushed the long stalk in front of her,

 waving it like a pointer. "This blade of grass is

 happy," Gringer stated flatly. "It gets what it needs to

 survive. It doesn't think or need to think. It remains

 happy even though I've pulled it up and it will die.

 It doesn't know that, and won't even know it when

 it's dead. Its relatives out there on the plains are the

 same. They fit your definition of the ultimate goal of

 civilized society. It knows nothing, and in perfect

 ignorance is its total perfection and its harmony with

 its surroundings. Shall we, then. create a way to turn

 all sentient beings into blades of field grass? Shall we,

 then, have achieved the ultimate in evolution?"

 Vardia's mind spun. This sort of logic and these

 kinds of questions were outside her experience and

 her orderly, programmed universe. She had no an-

 85

 swers for these—heresies, were they? Cornered, but

 as yet unwilling to give up the true faith, she re-

 gressed.

 "I want to go back to my own world," she wailed

 plaintively.

 Brouder's expression was sad, and pity swept the

 crowd, pity not only at her philosophical dilemma

 but also for her people, the billions blindly devoted

 to such a hollow goal. Its rubbery tentacle wrapped

 itself around hers, and pulled her back into the

 reddish-brown, upturned soil of the camp.

 "Any other questions or problems can wait," it

 said gently. "You will have time to leam and to fit

 here. It is getting dark now, and you need rest."

 The shadows were getting long, and the distant

 sun had become an orange ball on the horizon. For

 the first time since waking up, she did feel tired, and

 a slight chill went through her.

 "Except under the artificial light of the Center

 we are inactive in darkness," Brouder explained. "Al-

 though we could go indefinitely there, we need the

 rooting to remain healthy and active. We gain miner-

 als and strength from it, and it is also necessary for

 mental health."

 "How do I—ah, root?" she asked.

 "Just pick a spot not too near anyone else, and

 wait for darkness. You will see," Brouder told her.

 The Czillian pointed out a good spot, then moved

 about five long paces from her.

 Vardia just stood there for a while, looking at

 the small community in the gloomy dusk. She dis-

 covered that, although her eyes remained open, she

 was having trouble seeing. Everything looked very

 dark, as if she were peering throush a piece of film

 that was badly underexposed. Then she felt the

 myriads of tiny tendrils in her feet creep out in re-

 sponse to some automatic signal and extend deep

 into the loose soil. The chill and tiredness seemed to

 lift, and she felt a warmth rising within her. Every

 cell of her new body seemed to tingle, and she was

 consumed in an orgasmic feeling of extreme pleasure

 that canceled out thought.

 All over the hex of CziH. all who were not working

 86

 in the Center were similarly rooting. To an alien

 observer, the land would be punctuated with over a

 million tall, thick vines as motionless as the trees.

 And yet the landscape was not motionless. Millions

 of nocturnal insects set up a chorus, and several

 small mammals scurried around looking for food and,

 in the process, moving, aerating, and fertilizing the

 soil. They provided the carbon-dioxide-from-oxygen

 conversion needed for atmospheric balance in this

 hex. The teeming legions of life coexisted with the

 daylight Czillians in perfect balance. They existed

 under the thousands of stars in the night sky the

 sleeping plant-people could not see.

 Because her eyes were lidless she saw the awaken-

 ing even as she underwent it. It was strange to come

 out of that infinitely pleasurable sleep and see the

 morning simply fade in. Several of the others were in

 her field of vision, and she saw that the sleeping

 position was very stiff. Tentacles ran down and al-

 most blended with the trunk, the legs almost forming

 a solid front.

 She noted absently that picking one's spot for the

 night was more important than had been first in-

 dicated. The unrooting was apparently triggered by

 the sun's rays falling on the single leaf atop the head,

 so the more objects scattered about blocked the sun's

 first rays, the slower one was to be freed. She felt

 her own tendrils retract and suddenly she could move

 freely, as if a paralysis had worn off.

 Brouder came up to her. "Well? Do you feel bet-

 ter?" it asked cheerfully.

 "Yes, much," she replied, and meant it. She did

 feel better, her fears and insecurities fading into a

 tiny corner of her mind. For the first time she noticed

 that Brouder wore a neck chain similar to the ones

 on the two she had followed. Now she looked at the

 tiny object suspended from it.

 It was a digital watch.

 Brouder looked at it and nodded. "We're early,"

 it said, then looked somewhat sheepish. "I always say

 that, even though we always wake up at the same

 time."

 87

 "Then why wear a watch?" she asked. "It is a

 watch, isn't it?"

 "Oh, yes," the Czillian affirmed. "I need it to tell

 me the time and day so I can make my meetings at

 the Center. It's been hectic lately, and I am always

 afraid that I'm going to get trapped and not be able

 to come home nights."

 "What are you working on?" she asked.

 "A very strange project, even for this place," came

 the reply. "We are attempting to solve a probably

 unsolvable riddle that is endemic to this world—a

 great deal of the Center is devoted to it right now.

 And the worst part is that most of us feel it is un-

 solvable."

 "Then why bother with it?" she asked.

 The Czillian looked at her, a grave expression

 coloring its body movements.

 "Because, while we are the best equipped to work

 on the problem, others are also at work on it. If

 there is any chance it is solvable, the ultimate knowl-

 edge will be ours. In others' hands, that knowledge

 might threaten the very survival of us all."

 Here was something Vardia could understand, and

 she pressed her new friend for more information.

 But the Czillian dismissed further inquiry for the

 time being. She had the strong impression that the

 work was of too high a grade for her to be trusted,

 even though she was now one of them.

 "I am going to the Center now," Brouder told her.

 "You should come with me. Not only will that give

 you a chance to see a little of our country—it's your

 country now, you know—but only at the Center can

 you be tested and assigned."

 She agreed readily and they started off, back down

 the road she had followed the day before. As they

 walked, Brouder pointed out the land and vegetation

 and sketched out the country for her. "Czill is six hun-

 dred fourteen point eight-six kilometers across, as is

 every other hex on the Well World except the equato-

 rial hexes."

 She marveled at the knowledge that the measure-

 ment it used bore no reh''onship to the metrics of

 88

 her own world, yet was translated to the decimal points

 instantly inside her head.

 "We have, of course, six neighbors, two of which

 are ocean species. Our seven great rivers are fed by

 hundreds of streams like the one at our camp. The

 rivers in turn empty into a great ocean—one of three

 in the South—covering almost thirty hexes- This one

 of ours is the Overdark Ocean. One of the sea folk

 is a marine mammal, half-humanoid and half-fish.

 They are air-breathers, but live most of their lives

 underwater. They are the Umiau, and you might

 run into a few at the Center. We are always cooperat-

 ing on a number of projects, particularly oceanographic

 studies, since we can't visit their world except in pres-

 sure suits. The other ocean species is a nasty group

 called the Pia—evil characters with great brains and

 humanoid eyes. But they have ten tentacles with slimy,

 adhesive suckers and a gaping mouth with about twenty

 rows of teeth. You can't really talk to them, although

 they are quite intelligent. They tend to eat anybody not

 of their race."

 Vardia shuddered, imagining such horrors. "Then

 why don't they eat the Umiau?" she asked.

 Brouder chuckled. "They would if they could, but,

 as with all hexes near antagonistic species on the

 Well World, natural limitations are designed into the

 system. The Umiau's land is near the mouth of three

 rivers and the low salt content isn't to a Pia's liking.

 Also, the Umiau do have certain natural defenses and

 can swim faster and quicker. They're in some kind of

 uneasy truce now, anyway, since the Umiau, although

 they aren't fanatical about it, can and will eat Pia,

 too."

 They remained silent for a while, until they came

 to a major fork in the road.

 "We go to the left," Brouder said. "Don't ever go

 down that right fork—it leads to the camps of the

 diseased and isolated."

 "What sort of diseases?" she asked uneasily.

 "About the same number as anywhere else,"

 Brouder replied. "But every time we discover an im-

 munizing agent, something new mutates in the'vi-

 ruses. I wouldn't worry about it, however. The

 89

 average Czillian life span is over two hundred and

 fifty years, and if nothing serious happens to change

 that, you'll twin several times anyway. The popula-

 tion's a stable million and a half—crowded, but not so

 much that we cannot have empty spaces and camp

 room. Our births and deaths are almost exactly even

 —the planet's master brain sees to that. Besides,

 since we don't really age in the sense most other

 things do, and since we can regenerate roost of our

 parts that go bad or get injured, there's naturally a

 constant death factor to keep the population in

 bounds. The master brain only interferes in critical

 situations."

 "Regenerate?" Vardia asked, surprised. "Do you

 mean that if I lose an arm or leg it will grow back?"

 "Just so," Brouder affirmed. "Your entire pattern

 is held within every cell of your body. Since respira-

 tion is direct, through the pores, as long as your

 brain's intact, you'll come back. It's painful—and we

 don't experience much pain—but possible."

 "So the oniy area I have to protect is my head,"

 she remarked.

 Brouder laughed a high, shrill laugh. "No, not your

 head, certainly not! Either foot," it said, pointing to

 her strange feet that looked like inverted bowls with

 spongy lids for soles.

 "Do you mean I'm walking on my brains?" she

 gasped incredulously.

 "Just so, just so," affirmed Brouder. "Each controls

 half of your body, but each has the total content of

 the body's input, including thought and memory. If

 we were to chop you off at the bottom of the stalk,

 your two feet would dig into the ground and each

 would sprout a new you. Your head contains sensory

 input neural circuits only—in fact, it's mostly hollow.

 Chop it off and you'd just go to sleep and dig in until

 you grew a new one."

 Vardia marveled at this news as much as she had

 at Ortega back at Zone. But this isn't some alien crea-

 ture I just met, she told herself. It is me it is talking

 about.

 "There's the Center," Brouder said as they came

 over a rise.

 90

 It was a great building that seemed to spread out

 for kilometers across the horizon. There was a great

 bubble in the center that reflected light like a mirror,

 then several arms—six of them, she noted with dry

 amusement—made of what appeared to be trans-

 parent glass—spread out symmetrically. She saw

 skyscrapers of the same transparent material, a few

 twenty or more stories, rising around the bubble and

 opposite the tips of the arms.

 "It's incredible!" she managed.

 "More than you know," Brouder replied with a

 touch of pride. "There our best minds work out prob-

 lems and store the knowledge we obtain. The silvery

 rails that thread through the walls and ceilings are

 artificial solar light sufficient to keep us awake and

 fed through the night, and if you look to the horizon

 you'll see the River Averil coming in. The Center's

 built over it, giving us a constant water source. With

 light and water provided—and some vitamin baths—

 you can work around the clock for seven to ten days.

 But sooner or later it catches up with you and the

 longer you stay awake the longer you will have to

 plant in the end."

 Something made her think of Nathan Brazil and

 that book he had been reading, the one with the lurid

 cover.

 "You have a library here?" she asked.

 "The best," the other boasted. "It has everything

 we've ever been able to collect, both from our studies

 on this planet and from Entries like yourself who pro-

 vide history, sociology, and even technical informa-

 tion."

 "Any stories?" she asked.

 "Oh, yes," came the reply. "And legends, tales,

 whatever. The Umiau are particularly fertile in that

 department. The river's how they get up to the

 Center."

 "What keeps the Pia away, then?" she asked ap-

 prehensively.

 "They can't take fresh water, and they'd have to

 breathe it, remember? The Umiau are mammals so

 they don't care what sort of water they're in."

 Brouder went on to explain the social structure of

 91

 the Center. It was headed by a small group of spe-

 cialists called Elders, not because they were old but

 because they were the best in their fields. Below them

 were their assistants, the Scholars, who did the

 research and basic project work. Brouder was a

 Scholar, as was Gringer. Under them were the Appren-

 tices who learned their fields and waited for their

 chance to prove themselves and advance. The bottom

 level was the Keepers—the cleaners, gardeners, and

 technicians who maintained everything so that every-

 one could get on with his work. The Keepers chose

 their own lives and professions and many were retired

 upper-level folk who had decided they had gone as far

 as they could, or who had reached dead ends. But

 some just liked to do what they did.

 Brouder took her inside and introduced her to a

 Scholar whose name was Mudriel. Basically, the

 Scholar was an industrial psychologist, and over the

 next several days—weeks, in fact—Vardia was kept

 busy with interviews, tests, and other experiments to

 see her total profile. In addition, they began to teach

 her to read the Czillian language. Mudriel, in partic-

 ular, was pleased with the speed and ease with which

 she was mastering it.

 Every evening they sent her out to a special camp

 near the Psych Department but out of the shade of the

 building. The nights saw a strange forest grow up on

 all sides of the Center as thousands of workers of all

 ranks came out and rooted. Some stayed rooted for

 days, even several days, sleeping off long, around-the-

 clock stints at work.

 Vardia seemed to be Madrid's only customer, and

 she remarked on it.

 "You are the first Entry to be a Czillian in our

 lifetimes," Mudriel explained. "Normally, I study

 various departments and workers to see if they are

 ruining their health or efficiency, or are misplaced.

 It happens all the time. Sometimes, whenever possi-

 ble, we bring Entries from other hexes here for de-

 briefing. When that is not possible, I go to them. I

 am one of perhaps a thousand, no more, who has

 been in the Northern Hemisphere."

 92

 "What's it like?" she asked. "I understand it's

 different."

 "That's the word for it," Mudriel agreed, and gave

 a brief shudder. "But we have some just as bad on

 our side, in one way or another. Ever think of inter-

 viewing a Pia in its own domain when ifs trying to be

 helpful and eat you at the same time? I have."

 "And yet you've survived," she said in admiration.

 Mudriel made a negative gesture. "Not always.

 I've been down to my feet once, practically wrecked

 for weeks three or four times, and killed twice."

 "Killed!" Vardia exclaimed. "But—"

 Mudriel shrugged. "I've twinned four times natu-

 rally," it replied matter-of-factly, "and once when I

 was left with only my brains. There are still four of

 me. We stay in the same job and take turns on the

 travel to even out the risk."

 Vardia shook her head in wonder, a gesture more

 human than Czillian.

 While most twins were turned to other fields by the

 Psych Department, ones with critical jobs or super-

 specialized knowledge and skills often worked to-

 gether side by side. Vardia met several people at the

 Center several times to mutual confusion.

 One day Mudriel called her into its office, where it

 was thumbing through an enormously thick file.

 "It's time to assign you and go on to other things,"

 the psychologist told her. "You've been here long

 enough for us to know you better than we know al-

 most any other Czillian. I must say, you've been a

 wonderful subject, but a puzzling one."

 "In what way?" Vardia asked. As time went by

 she had become more and more accustomed to her

 new form and surroundings, and less and less had

 felt the social alienation of that first night.

 "You have normalized," Mudriel pointed out. "By

 this time you are feeling as if you were born one of

 us, and your past life and that which went with it is a

 purely intellectual memory experience."

 "That's true," Vardia acknowledged. "It almost

 seems as if all my past happened to someone else,

 that I just watched it unfold."

 "That's true of all Entries," replied Mudriel. "Part

 93

 of the change process, when the biological changes

 adjust and remake the psyche. Much of our person-

 ality and behavior is based on such biological things.

 In the animals, its glands, enzymes, and the like, but

 with us its various different secretions. Hormonal

 imbalances in your former race cause differences; by

 artificially injecting certain substances into a male of

 your species who was sexually developed, he could

 be given female characteristics, and vice versa. Now,

 time has rebalanced your mind with your new body,

 and it is for the best."

 "What puzzles you about me, then?" Vardia

 prodded.

 "Your lack of skills," replied the psychologist.

 "Everybody does something. But you were appar-

 ently raised to be highly intelligent yet totally igno-

 rant. You could carry messages and conversations

 with ease, yet do nothing else. Your ignorance of

 much of your own sector amazes us.

 "You were, in effect, a human recording machine.

 Did you, for example, realize that in the eighty-three

 days you've been with us you've had a longer exist-

 ence than ever in your short life?"

 "I—I don't know what you mean," Vardia stam-

 mered.

 Mudriel's expression and tone were of mixed pity

 and disgust. "They bred you with an extremely high

 intelligence, but while you grew up, they adminis-

 tered extremely deep programming to make certain

 you never used it. Over all this was lightly placed

 the persona known as Vardia Dipio Twelve Sixty-

 one, a number whose implications are distasteful to

 me. This made you curious, inquisitive, but only on

 the surface. You could never act on any information

 gained, nor did you have any desire to. The persona

 was mainly to help others feel comfortable. When

 you reached your destination, an embassy employee

 would put you under hypnosis, read off the message

 —and, in the process, wipe your memory. Then the

 same persona would be reimposed with a reply mes-

 sage, if any. Had you reached Coriolanus, this would

 have been the case. You now have vivid memories of

 94

 your Captain Brazil and the other passengers, and of

 Dalgonia. All of these would have been gone. Any

 whom you knew who had previously encountered you

 would be strangers to you. They would just assume,

 as you would, that it was another Vardia Dipio they

 knew. Think back—what do you remember of your

 life before boarding Brazil's ship?"

 Vardia thought back with the clarity and detach-

 ment she now possessed. She remembered saying

 good-bye to the Political Office staff, walking out,

 riding to the spaceport, boarding the shuttle.

 Nothing before.

 "I never realized—" she began, but Mudriel cut her

 off-

 "I know," the psychologist said. "Part of the deep

 program. It would never even occur to you. And you

 didn't even know the message you carried, the one

 that they would go to these lengths to keep private.

 By programmed exercises you kept yourself in per-

 fect physical condition, and if challenged or cornered

 you would fight suicidally to free yourself. If trapped,

 you would have triggered a series of impulses that

 would have brought about your suicide." Mudriel

 saw the mixed apprehension and disbelief in Vardia's

 eyes.

 "Don't worry," the psychologist assured her. "We

 have removed the deep programming. You will re-

 main you. Would you like to hear the message you

 carried?"

 Vardia nodded dully, her mind in a fog.

 The psychologist took out a tiny translucent cube

 and popped it into a well in a small recorder on a

 table nearby.

 Vardia suddenly heard her voice—her old voice,

 incredibly, although she no longer possessed the

 vocal chords to speak that way, saying in a tinny

 way: "The Commisariat introduces you to Datham

 Hain, who, with a companion, came on the same ship

 as the courier. Citizen Hain is on a mission of vital

 importance to the Commisariat and requires dinner

 appointments with several Members of the Presidium

 of Coriolanus, as many as can be accommodated.

 95

 You are to follow whatever might be his instructions

 to the letter, without question or hesitation. Keep the

 courier until at least one such meeting has been ar-

 ranged, then reprogram it to report on that meeting,

 said reprogramming to be in Hain's presence and with

 his approval. All glory to the People's Revolution, all

 glory to its prophets."

 The psychologist studied Vardia closely as the re-

 cording closed. The ex-courier was obviously stunned

 and shaken, but that shock treatment had to be ad-

 ministered. All over the Entry's body, the Czillian

 read the mental struggle that had to be taking place

 within.

 It was a terrible thing to destroy someone's com-

 placent world-picture.

 Finally, the psychologist asked gently, "Would you

 like to go root and meditate? Take as long as you

 want."

 Vardia shook her head negatively. "No," she said

 at last, in a half-whisper, "no, I'm all right."

 "I know," the psychologist soothed. "It is a terrible

 thing to find the lie in life. That is one reason we are

 dedicated here to the uncovering of truth. There are

 societies and people just as bad on this world, maybe

 even worse. Hain himself is here somewhere, and

 probably has already fallen in with a bad bunch.

 Such societies are the enemies of all civilization, and

 it is with them that we war. Will you join us in the

 fight?"

 Vardia stood silent a few moments more. Then,

 suddenly, something seemed to snap within her, and

 with a fierceness and intensity that surprised even her

 she said, "Yes!"

 The psychologist gave the Czillian equivalent of a

 smile and turned back to the file it had before it.

 Picking up a stamp, it brought it down on an empty

 block on the front of the file. In Czillian it read:

 Ready for Assignment.

 The last processing was over, and Vardia Dipio

 1261 was extinguished.

 Vardia the Czillian left the office.

 96

 The Akkafian Empire

 (Enter Datham Hain, Asleep)

 DATHAM HAIN HAD ENTERED THE GATE WITH A FALSE

 sense of bravado, but he was scared to death. He had

 nightmares of awful proportions, bringing forth every

 fear in his long life. These surfaced as the Markovian

 brain picked, analyzed, and classified each subject

 according to some long-lost, preset reasoning.

 He awoke suddenly, with a start, and looked

 around. It was the strangest look in his experience.

 He realized immediately that he was now color-

 blind, although instead of merely the blacks, whites,

 and shades of gray, there was a mild sepia-tone effect

 that made certain things look fuzzy and others stand

 out. His depth perception was remarkable, he real-

 ized. At a glance he could tell exactly how far every-

 thing in view was from everything else, and his vision

 seemed to be enlarged to a 180-degree field. That

 was amazing, as amazing as the view itself.

 He seemed to be on a ledge overlooking an incred-

 ible landscape far below. The land was bleak and sandy,

 broken only by hundreds of cones that looked almost

 like perfectly formed volcanoes. He strained to get a

 better look, and found, suddenly, the scene magnifying

 itself, each time by a factor of two. As it did, a hardly

 noticed hairline-split midway in his vision also mag-

 nified, so that it became a huge bar separating the

 scene into right and left views. It was as if he were

 peering through two windows while standing in front

 of the post that separated them.

 There were things down there, and they were mov-

 ing. Hain stared in fascination at them, a corner of his

 mind wondering why he was fascinated instead Of hor-

 rified or repelled. They were great insects, ranging in

 97

 she from one to almost four meters long, the median

 height being almost a meter. They had two large, ap-

 parently multifaceted eyes fixed, like a fly's, forward

 in the head. Below the eyes were huge mandibles flank-

 ing a mouth resembling a parrot's beak. With surprise

 he saw one creature stop while a long, snaky black

 tongue emerged to clean the face.

 The body was oblong and seemed to have hair on

 it—the resolution of Hain's vision was so fine that he

 could almost count the hairs. And yet—yes, flush

 against the body in the hair were wings, several pairs

 of them. The rear of the body exposed a barren, bony

 tip that undoubtedly was a stinger.

 Ham tried to imagine the fate of anyone stung with

 something that size.

 The head seemed to be on a hinge or circular joint,

 as some of the creatures moved it slightly in one or

 another direction.

 For the first time he saw the feelers, giant things

 that seemed to have a life of their own, moving every

 way but forward—including straight up. They ended

 in hair-covered nodules.

 The eight legs were thick and were also covered with

 hair, longer and down-angled. They were multijointed,

 and he saw a pair of the creatures using their forward

 legs like hands to move a rock away from a pathway

 it was blocking. He could see that the tips were not

 hair but spikelike and were covered with a secretion

 that looked sticky.

 The insects moved with amazing speed sometimes,

 and, every once in a while, one would take to the air

 briefly. Apparently they couldn't fly very far with all

 that weight, but could manage a short hop when they

 felt like it. As Ham watched, he saw that some of them

 were operating machines! One looked like a snowplow,

 and it was clearing dust and debris from the roadways

 as it was pushed forward; others seemed to have no

 obvious purpose.

 With the realization that these were not animals but

 one form of sentient life on the Well World, something

 else hit, as well. He tried to turn his head to see him-

 self, but could not. He opened his strangely rigid mouth

 and stuck out his tongue. It was more than three meters

 98

 long, as controllable as an arm, and covered with an

 incredibly sticky substance.

 I'm one of them, he told himself, more in wonder

 than in fear.

 He raised his head up and brought his two forward

 legs into view. He had been right, he saw. Three

 joints, all bendable in any direction. The tips were

 spikes, like hard rubber, and he experimented by reach-

 ing out and picking up a small rock. As his legs

 touched the rock, a sticky secretion gave him a grip.

 When he let go, the secetion turned to a solid film and

 fell away like used skin.

 He noticed immediately that, when the dropped rock

 hit, he did not hear it. Rather, he felt it, as a sharp,

 single pulsation. The antennae, he told himself. They

 sense air movement, but not as sound.

 Suddenly he was aware that he was getting thou-

 sands of tiny pulses through them, and, incredibly, he

 almost sensed the source and distance of each.

 This has possibilities, thought Datham Hain.

 Using his tongue he surveyed his own body, being

 careful not to come near the stinger at the rear which

 he now realized he could feel when he wanted to. No

 use in possibly poisoning myself this early in the game,

 he thought cautiously.

 He was about three meters long and almost a meter

 high, he discovered. About medium-sized for those

 creatures down there.

 He flexed his wings—six pairs, he found—long but

 looking extremely thin and frail to support his weight.

 He decided he wouldn't try them out until he knew

 more about his anatomy. Even birds have to be taught

 to fly, he thought, and sentient creatures probably had

 less instinct—if any at all—than the lower species-

 Now how do I get down off this ledge? he wondered.

 Finally, he decided to experiment, moving his body

 close to the edge. As his front legs touched the side

 they secreted that substance and stuck, he saw with

 satisfaction.

 Emboldened, he pushed off and started walking

 down the side.

 Doing so was incredibly easy, he found, confidence

 growing with each step. He realized he could probably

 99

 walk on a ceiling, if the sticky stuff would support his

 weight. The main problem would be getting used to the

 fact that there was so much of him in back of his head.

 The legs worked in perfect coordination, as if he had

 been born with them; but the body was hard and

 rigid, and took some practice to maneuver without

 spilling end over end.

 It took several minutes to descend the low cliff, al-

 though he realized that, with practice, he could prob-

 ably come back and do it in seconds. Once down, he

 faced a problem that his reason wouldn't solve for

 him. He wanted to get introduced quickly, to get set-

 tled in here, and to check out the sociopolitical sys-

 tem, the geography, and the like. Also, he was feeling

 hungry, and he hadn't the slightest idea what these

 creatures ate.

 But how did they communicate? Not only language,

 but even the means weren't all that apparent.

 Well, that Ortega had said that the brain would

 provide for such things, he told himself; but he was

 exceedingly nervous as he approached one of the crea-

 tures coming down the road.

 The other saw him and stopped.

 "What are you doing just standing there, Markling?"

 the newcomer challenged sternly. "Don't you have any

 work to do?"

 Hain was stunned. The language was a series of in-

 credibly rapid pulsations transmitted in some way from

 the creature's antennae to his own, yet he had under-

 stood everything! All but the last word, anyway. He

 decided to try to talk back.

 "Please. I am newly born to this world, and I

 need help and guidance," he began, then felt his own

 antennae quiver incredibly quickly as he talked. It

 worked!

 "What the hell?" responded the gruff stranger, al-

 though not really in those terms. Hain's brain auto-

 matically seemed to translate into familiar symbols.

 "You sick or something?"

 "No, no," Hain protested. "I have just come from

 Zone, where I have just awakened as one of you."

 The other thought about that for a minute. "I'll be

 100

 damned! An Entry! Haven't had one in over ten years!"

 Suddenly the old skepticism returned. "You're not just

 saying that to shirk, are you?"

 "I assure you that I am what I say, and that up until

 a very short time ago I was of a totally different race

 and form."

 "You adjust pretty well," the other noted. "Most of

 *em have the creeping fits for days. Well, I'll take you

 over to the nearest government house and it'll be their

 problem. I have work to do. Follow me." With that, it

 started on down the road, and Hain followed.

 His guide was almost a third larger than he was,

 Hain saw. Most of the creatures he passed seemed to

 be about the same size or smaller than he. A few big

 ones were around, and they seemed to be the bosses.

 They walked past several of the huge cones, then up

 the side of one that looked no different from the rest

 and into the hole on top. Hain noted that the opening

 was so even because it was rimmed with metal, like

 an open hatch. He almost lost his nerve on entering.

 The aboveground part of the cone, about ten meters

 worth, was hollow to the outside structure. They were

 not only walking down, but at an angle.

 When they passed ground level, they walked onto

 a floor which was also some kind of metal. Tunnels

 lined with tile, with neon or some similar lighting

 stretching down in long tubes, led away like spokes

 on a wheel- They were wide enough to hold two of

 the creatures abreast, and they passed several as his

 guide led him down a near one.

 Doorless openings into large chambers filled with

 all sorts of strange stuff, often with dozens of the crea-

 tures working, were passed before they reached one

 with a hexagon in lights over the doorway. Inside the

 hex was a wide gray ring, then a smaller black one,

 then a white dot. It reminded Hain with some amuse-

 ment of the view of his guide's posterior, with its

 menacing stinger.

 Several small and medium-sized creatures were

 working, apparently at some sort of paperwork, Hain

 noted with curiosity. Huge printing machines, like

 typewriters, were all over, with television screens dis-

 playing what the creatures, using their forward legs,

 101

 were typing on a strange keyboard. The keyboard was

 a series of apparently identical cubes, forty or fifty of

 them, which lit momentarily as they were touched. A

 crazy dot pattern emerged on the screens in no apparent

 logical order or pattern. When the screen was filled,

 a hind leg would kick a large stud and the screen

 would go blank—and they would be back to typing

 again.

 So I can't read the language, Hain noted to himself.

 Well, can't have everything.

 The guide waited patiently until somebody noticed

 him and looked up from its keyboard.

 "Yes?" asked the worker and the communicated

 tone was one of irritated nastiness.

 "Found this Markling on the road, claims to be an

 Entry," said the big guide in that same annoyed tone

 he had used with Hain.

 There was that word again. What in seven hells was

 a Markling, anyway?

 "Just a moment," the clerk or whatever it was said,

 "I'll see if His Highness will see you."

 The office worker went into a side door and stayed

 several minutes. Hain's hunger was increasing, and so

 was his apprehension. A hereditary empire, he thought

 Well, it could be worse.

 Finally the clerk reappeared. "His Highness will see

 the Entry," she said—for some reason Hain automati-

 cally thought of his guide as masculine and the recep-

 tionist and most of the other workers as feminine. The

 guide moved forward.

 "Just the Entry," said the clerk sharply. "You will

 return to your duties."

 "As you say," the other replied, and turned and left.

 Hain gathered up his courage and entered the door-

 way-

 Inside was the biggest creature he had ever seen.

 But there was something else unusual about him.

 The hairs on his body were white.

 Hain suddenly realized Just how hereditary this mon-

 archy was.

 There were some boxes and bags around of more

 or less conventional design, and one of those type-

 writers with a much larger screen. Nothing else. The

 102

 big one reared back on the last four of his eight legs.

 Hain was impressed and cowed; he hadn't seen anyone

 else doing that.

 "What's your name. Entry?" the big white one de-

 manded imperiously. The tone, Hain realized by now,

 was conveyed by the intensity of the signal.

 "Datham Hain, Your Highness," he replied in the

 most respectful way he could.

 The official ran his tongue over his beak in thought.

 Finally, he went over to the typewriter and started

 punching up something—something short, Hain saw,

 because the screen was still almost empty when the

 large creature punched the send bar or whatever it

 was. A moment's wait. Then the screen started to fill

 with those funny dots.

 The official read the message carefully, studying it

 for several minutes. Finally it turned back to him as he

 stood there impatiently, needing almost four meters to

 negotiate the move.

 "Ordinarily, Hain, we'd just train and condition you

 to a position and you'd fit in or die." Hain's heart—if

 he still had one—sank. "But," the royal official

 continued, "in this case we have special use for you.

 Too bad you turned up a Markling, but that's to be

 expected. You'll be quartered near here—I'll have

 one of my assistants show you where. There's a com-

 missary three doors down. Most of you Entries come

 through starving, so go in there and eat your fill. Don't

 worry about what it is—we can eat just about anything.

 Wait in your quarters until I get instructions from Im-

 perial Headquarters."

 Hain still stood there, digesting all this. Finally, he

 said, "Your Highness, might I be permitted one ques-

 tion?"

 "Yes, yes," the other said impatiently. "What is it?"

 "What's a Markling?"

 "Hain," replied the official patiently, "life is hard

 and cheap in the Akkafian Empire. Infant mortality is

 extremely high, not only from normal factors imposed

 by nature but for other reasons you'll find out sooner

 or later for yourself. As a result, to ensure racial' con-

 tinuation, about fifty females are born for every male.

 103

 "A Markling is a female Akkafian, Ham- You've

 had a sex change."

 Datham Hain was led by one of the office staff to

 the commissary, which proved to be a large room

 filled with strange animals, plants, and worms, some

 still alive. Feeding as an Akkafian was not pleasant,

 at least to Hain's unnormalized psyche, but it was

 necessary. The creatures frankly didn't taste all that

 bad—in fact, they didn't taste very much at all, but

 they filled the void in what seemed to be multiple

 stomachs. If he didn't think about what he was eat-

 ing, the changeling discovered, it went down all right.

 That tongue, like a sticky whip, was infinitely con-

 trollable. Live prey were simply picked up, thrown

 to the rear sting area to be paralyzed, then held and

 fed by the mandibles a little at a time through the

 beak.

 Discovering that he was now a she wasn't much of a

 shock to Hain; the odds were that sexuality was so

 different among these people that it probably didn't

 make much difference anyway. What was disquieting

 was that the males seemed to be in firm charge. The

 Nirlings, as the males were called, were larger and con-

 trolled the government and supervisory positions and

 the technology that kept them in power. The females,

 mostly neutered, did the work, apparently compul-

 sively. Hain had seen no evidence of force or coer-

 cion; the workers carried out their tasks dedicatedly,

 unquestioningly, and uncomplainingly. Hain under-

 stood the system to a degree. It was not unlike that of

 the Comworlds, where people were bred to work.

 The only trouble, he—no, she—thought, is that I

 am on the low end of the scale. To be an alien crea-

 ture, to be totally different—these things she could ac-

 cept. To be female she could accept. To be a slave to

 such a system was intolerable.

 After feeding they took her to a rest area. This

 race worked at whatever it did around the clock, and

 individuals were spelled by others so they would get

 rest at scheduled intervals.

 The staging area rose for several storeys—a large,

 104

 underground wall of cubicles each of which was just

 large enough to hold a single creature. About half

 were filled as they entered, and Hain was assigned a

 number and told to go into it and wait for instructions.

 Hain climbed up the side easily and entered the

 assigned cubicle. It was warm, and extremely humid,

 which felt oddly more comfortable than the drier

 air of the offices. There was a carpet of some sort of

 animal hair, and a small control panel with two but-

 tons, one of which was depressed. Curious, she pressed

 the other one. She had apparently found a radio

 which was broadcasting a series of sound patterns

 whose pulses were oddly pleasing and calming. A

 wave of relief swept over her insect body and she

 found herself drifting off into a dreamless sleep,

 The office clerk noted with some satisfaction that

 Hain was asleep, then went over to the superintend-

 ent's control console at the base of the rest area. The

 superintendent was emptying the catch trays of waste

 and other products, and she showed surprise when she

 recognized a clerk of the baron's household.

 "By order of His Highness," the clerk commanded,

 "the Markling in One Ninety-eight is to be kept asleep

 until called for. Make certain the pacifier remains on

 at shift change."

 The superintendent acknowledged the order and

 went into her office. A panel of plastic buttons laid

 out and numbered corresponding to the cubicles was

 before her, with many of the buttons lit, including

 Hain's. The superintendent held down number 198

 with one foreleg while punching a small red control off

 to one side with the other.

 Hain was locked into blissful sleep until the but-

 ton was depressed again.

 The clerk expressed satisfaction, and returned to

 the baron's office to report. The great white Nirling

 nodded approval and dismissed her back to her desk.

 After a while, he went over to his communications

 console and punched the number for the Imperial

 Palace. He didn't like to call the palace, since the king

 and the ambitious nobles surrounding him were - un-

 stable and untrustworthy. Barons were low on the

 105

 pecking order, but they had a much longer survival

 rate because they were away from the palace. Make

 your quota and the living was pretty good.

 Communication was by audio only, so things had

 to be spelled out. Although the Akkafians had no

 ears, they "heard" in much the same way as creatures

 who did. Sound, after all, is a disruption of the sur-

 rounding atmospheric pressure by varying that pres-

 sure. Although he had never heard a sound as such,

 the baron's hearing was better than most creatures on

 the Well World.

 After a long period, somebody at the palace woke

 up and answered. The Imperial Household was getting

 sloppy and degenerate, the baron reflected. Perhaps

 one day soon it would be time for a baronial revolt.

 Of course, the titles and such were not the same as

 human equivalents, but if Hain could have overheard

 the conversation, it would have been translated much

 like this:

 "This is Baron Kluxm of Subhex Nineteen. I have

 an emergency topic for immediate transmittal to His

 Majesty's Privy Council."

 "The Privy Council is not assembled," came a

 bored reply- "Can't this wait. Baron?"

 Kluxm cursed silently at the insolence and stupidity

 of even the household help. The operator was prob-

 ably one of the king's Marklings.

 "I said emergency, operator!" he emphasized, try-

 ing to keep his temper from showing. "I take full

 responsibility."

 The operator seemed unsure of herself, and finally

 decided in good bureaucratic fashion to pass the buck.

 "I will transfer you to General Ytil of the Imperial

 Staff," she said. "He will decide."

 Before Kluxm could even reply he heard the relay

 switch, and a new, male voice answered. "Ytil," it

 said curtly.

 The baron had even less use for imperial military

 men; they generally went to war with other hexes

 when shortages developed every few years, and in-

 variably lost them. However, he decided that Ytil

 would do for the same purpose as the operator had;

 106

 after he explained the situation, it was somebody

 else's problem.

 "I had an Entry today, one of the ones we'd been

 told to watch for."

 "An Entry!" YtiTs voice was suddenly very excited.

 The waves were so bad that the general's voice started

 to give Kluxm a headache. "Which one?"

 "The one called Datham Hain. As a common

 Markling breeder," he added.

 Ytil's voice still quivered with excitement, although

 the last plainly disappointed him. "A Markling

 breeder! Pity! But to think we got one! Hmmmm.

 Actually, this might work out to our advantage. I've

 got to go over my files and recordings of Hain at Zone,

 but, if I remember, he's the greedy and ambitious

 type."

 "Yes, that's what my file said," Kluxm acknowl-

 edged. "But she was abnormally respectful and quiet

 while here. Seems to have adjusted to our form ex-

 tremely well."

 "Yes, yes, that's to be expected," Ytil replied.

 "After all, no use antagonizing everyone. Hain's smart

 enough to see the social structure and her limits in it

 right off. Where is she now?"

 "In a rest area near my office," Kluxm replied.

 "She's on lull music and has a full stomach, so she's

 out for two or three days until hunger sets in again."

 "Excellent, excellent," approved Ytil. "I'll call the

 Privy Council together and we'll send someone for

 her when we're ready. You are to be commended,

 Baron! A fine job!"

 Sure, Kluxm thought glumly to himself. For which

 you'll take all the credit.

 But credit was not what was on Ytil's mind as the

 general scurried down the palace corridor after ter-

 minating the conversation. He stopped in a security

 room and picked up a tiny, black, jewel-like object on

 a large chain. Carefully he placed it over his right an-

 tenna and then went down to the lowest level of the

 palace.

 The guards weren't very curious about him; it was

 107

 normal to have high-ranking military and diplomatic

 people using the Zone Gate.

 The Akkafian general walked quickly into the dark-

 ness at the end of the basement corridor.

 And emerged in Zone.

 Zone—the Akkafian Embassy

 THE MARKLING RECEPTIONIST LOOKED STARTLED AS

 General Ytil emerged through the Zone Gate.

 Each hex had a gate somewhere, which would

 transport anyone to Zone instantaneously, and from

 Zone to his home hex. There were 780 such gates to

 the offices of each of the Southern Hemisphere races,

 as well as the one master Gate for Classification

 through which all entries passed and the huge input-

 only Gate in the center. It made things very easy for

 interspecies contact.

 General Ytil dismissed the startled exclamation

 and apologies of the receptionist and made his way

 immediately to the Imperial Ambassador's office.

 The Baron Azkfru had barely been tipped off by

 the clerk when the general rushed in the door. The

 ambassador could see the obvious excitement and agi-

 tation in Ytil's every movement.

 "My Lord Baron!" the general exclaimed. "It has

 happened! We have one of the new Entries as it was

 foretold!"

 "Calm down, Ytil," Azkfru growled. "You're losing

 your medals for dignity and self-control. Now, tell me

 rationally what this is about."

 "The one called Hain," Ytil responded, still ex-

 cited. "It turned up earlier today over in Kluxm's

 barony as a Markling breeder."

 "Hmmmm . . ." Azkfru mused. "Too bad she's a

 108

 breeder, but it can't be helped. Where is this Entry

 now?"

 "In lull sleep, safe for two or three more days," the

 general told him. "Kluxm thinks I've notified the Im-

 perial Household and the Privy Council. He's expecting

 someone to pick her up."

 "Very good," Azkfru replied approvingly. "It looks

 like things are breaking our way, I never put much

 stock in fortune-tellers and such crap, but if this has

 happened then Providence has placed a great oppor-

 tunity in our hands. Who else knows of this besides

 Kluxm and yourself?"

 "Why, no one. Highness," Ytil replied. "I have

 been most careful."

 Baron Azkfru's mind moved quickly, sorting out

 the facts and deciding on a course of action with a

 speed that had guaranteed his rise to the top.

 "All right, return to your post for now, and nothing

 of this to anyone! I'll make all the necessary arrange-

 ments."

 "You're making the deal with the Northerners?"

 Ytil asked.

 Azkfru gave the Akkafian equivalent of a sigh.

 "Ytil, how many times do you need to be reminded

 that / am the baron? You take orders, and leave the

 questions and answers to your betters."

 "But I only—" Ytil began plaintively, but Azkfru

 cut him off.

 "Go, now," the ambassador said impatiently, and

 Ytil turned to leave.

 Azkfru reached into a drawer and pulled out a

 pulse rifie- This one worked in Zone, at least in his

 offices.

 "Ytil!" he called after the other, who was halfway

 out the door.

 Ytil stopped but couldn't turn. "My Lord?" he called

 back curiously.

 "Good-bye, fool," Azkfru replied, and shot the gen-

 eral repeatedly until the white-haired body was a

 charred ruin.

 Azkfru buzzed for his guard, and thought. Too bad

 109

 / couldn't trust the idiot, but his incompetence would

 give the show away.

 The guard appeared, and looked down at the gen-

 eral's remains nervously but without curiosity.

 "The general tried to kill me,** he explained without

 any effort to be convincing. "I had to defend myself.

 It appears that he and the Baron Kluxm are at the

 heart of a baronial revolt. After you dispose of this

 carrion, go to Kluxm's, and eliminate his whole staff

 and, of course, the baron. Then go to the rest area

 and bring a Markling named Ham to my estate. Do

 it quietly. I'll report the revolt."

 They nodded, and it took them only a few minutes

 to eat the body.

 After they had left, he buzzed for a clerk.

 "You will go to the Classification Gate and enter.

 It will take you to the North Zone. When you get there

 don't leave the Gate room, but simply tell the first

 inquirer that you want to talk to Ambassador Thirteen

 Forty, and wait for that person. When it comes, tell

 it who you are, who sent you, and that we are ready

 to agree. Got that?"

 The clerk waved her antennae affirmatively and re-

 peated the message.

 Dismissing her, he attended to the last detail. He

 flipped the intercom to the receptionist's desk.

 "The General Ytil wasn't here," he told her. "Un-

 derstand? You never even heard of him."

 The clerk understood all too well, and rubbed out

 Ytil's appearance in her logbook.

 It was a big gamble he was taking, he knew, and it

 would probably cost him his life. But the stakes! The

 stakes were too great to ignore!

 110

 The Barony of Azkfru,

 Akkafian Empire

 DATHAM HAIN'S MASSIVE BODY, NOW IN A DRUGGED

 sleep, rested in the center of the lowest floor of the

 Baron Azkfru's nest. The room was filled with com-

 puter banks flashing light-signals and making click-

 ing and whirring sounds. Four large cables were

 attached to Ham's head at key points, and two smaller

 ones were fixed to the base of her two antennae. Two

 neutered Markling technicians with the symbol of the

 baron painted between their two huge eyes checked

 readings on various dials and gauges, and checked

 and rechecked all the connections.

 Baron Azkfru's antennae showed complete satis-

 faction. He had often wondered what the Imperial

 Household would say if they knew he had one of

 these devices.

 There would be civil war at the very least, he

 thought.

 The conditioner had been developed by a particu-

 larly brilliant Akkafian scientist in the imperial house-

 hold almost eighty years before, when the ambassador

 himself was just a youngling. It ended the periodic

 baronial revolts, and assured the stability of the new

 —now old—order by making revolution next to im-

 possible. Oh, you couldn't condition everyone with

 certainty, so it was done subtly. Probably every baron

 dreamed of overthrowing the empire—it let the pres-

 sure and frustration out.

 But none of them could do it. Because, although

 they could dream about it, they couldn't disobey a

 direct imperial command.

 But Azkfru could.

 His father had duplicated the device here in the

 earliest days of its development. Here, slowly, moth-

 Ill

 odically, key ones were deconditioned and recondi-

 tioned. Even so, he reflected, you couldn't change the

 basic personality of the conditioned. That was why

 Ytil had to go—too dumb to keep quiet. As for

 Kluxm—well, it was known for some particularly

 strong-willed Nirlings to break free, although never

 with any prayer of support from the rest of the con-

 ditioned leadership.

 "We are ready when you are. Highness," called

 one of the Markling technicians. Azkfru signaled satis-

 faction and went down to the floor.

 Quickly and efficiently two additional cables similar

 to the ones on Hain were placed on his own antennae.

 When he now said something, it would be placed in

 the machine, amplified, processed, and fed directly

 into the brain of Datham Hain in such a way that it

 would be taken as acceptable input and engraved in

 the other's mind.

 The baron signaled a go-ahead, and the technicians

 touched the last controls.

 "Datham Hain!" the ambassador's brain called out.

 Hain, although unconscious, answered, "Yes?"

 "Your past to this point you retain, but it is an

 academic past, there to call upon if needed but ir-

 relevant to your present and future," the baron told

 her. "What is important to you, what is the only thing

 of importance to you, is that you are a breeder

 Markling of the Barony of Azkfru. Your destiny is

 whatever the Baron of Azkfru wishes, and that is

 acceptable and normal to you. My will is your will,

 your only will. You exist to serve me alone. You

 would never betray me, nor allow harm to come to

 me. You are my own, my property, and that is all that

 is good and happy in your mind or life. When you

 serve me you are happy, and when you do not you

 are unhappy. That is the measure of your joy in life.

 I am your leader, your lord, and your only god. Your

 worship is normal. Do you understand this?"

 "I understand, my lord," replied Hain mechanically.

 The baron signaled to the technicians to break con-

 tact, which they quickly did, then unfastened the two

 cables from his antennae.

 112

 "How did it take?" Azkfru asked one of the tech-

 nicians.

 "The subject is receptive," replied one of the tech-

 nicians, part of whose own conditioning was never to

 consider the idea that she might have been condi-

 tioned. "However, her psychological profile is one of

 extreme selfishness. That might eventually cancel the

 conditioning, producing mental breakdown."

 "What do you advise, then?"

 "Go along with the idea," the technician suggested.

 "Go back into her mind and tell her that her only

 avenue to wealth and power is through you and no

 one else. That's something her mind can completely

 accept, and it will be acted upon in concert with the

 standard conditioning you've already administered.

 Then, after she's awake and you are interviewing her,

 hold out the highest possible position a breeder Mark-

 ling could attain."

 "I see," the baron replied, and he did see. That

 made everything perfect. "Let us complete the con-

 ditioning," he commanded.

 Datham Hain awoke with a very strange set of

 feelings and yet not aware that over ten days had

 passed since she was first introduced to the land of

 the Akkafian.

 A Markling with the insignia of the Baron Azkfru

 entered and saw that she was awake. "You must be

 starved," the newcomer said pleasantly. "Follow me

 and we will take care of that."

 Starvation was close to what Datham Hain actually

 felt at that point, and she needed no further urging to

 follow the servant. The feeding room was filled with

 pens of large, white-ribbed worms that were indig-

 enous to the soil of the land. Hain had no qualms this

 time about eating such prey, and found them most

 satisfying.

 "The baron raises his own fikhfs," the guide ex-

 plained as she gorged herself. "Only the best for this

 household, till midnight at the Well of Souls."

 Hain suddenly stopped eating.

 "What was that you just said?" she asked.

 113

 "Oh, it's just a saying," the other replied.

 Hain forgot it for the moment and continued eating.

 When it was clear that her hunger had been satisfied,

 the guide said, "Now, follow me into reception, and

 you'll meet the baron."

 Hain obediently followed down several long and

 particularly plush corridors to a wide anteroom cov-

 ered in that downy fur with a low-volume "music"

 background, pleasant but not lulling as the other had

 been.

 "Just relax for now," the baron's servant told her.

 "His Highness will call you in when he is ready."

 Relaxing was just the thing Hain felt least like do-

 ing; extremely awake and alert, she wished idly for

 something active to do, something to look at. A rack

 in one comer held a series of scrolls in that funny

 writing, but it was just random dots.

 Not even any pictures, she thought glumly.

 She paced nervously, awaiting the baron's pleasure.

 The baron was already entertaining a guest—or

 guests, he wasn't sure which. Although he had com-

 municated with a representative of whatever govern'

 ment this creature or creatures had, he had never met

 any of them and knew nothing about them. He still

 didn't, he realized sourly, and he didn't like the situa-

 tion, either. The Northern Hemisphere was a place

 so alien to him that he felt more kinship with the

 most different of the Southern races compared to the

 closest of the North.

 The object of his speculation and apprehension was

 floating about three meters in front of him. Yes, float-

 ing, he decided—no visible means of support or loco-

 motion. It looked like a slightly upcurved strip of

 crystal from which a set of dozens of small crystal

 chimes hung down, the whole thing about a meter long

 and ending just short of the floor. On top of the crystal

 strip floated a creature that seemed to consist of hun-

 dreds of rapidly flashing lights. Their pattern and their

 regularity suggested that they existed in a transparent

 ball fitting in the crystal holder—but, try as he would,

 he couldn't make out the ball he somehow felt was

 there.

 114

 The Diviner and The Rel might be looking at him

 in an equally odd and uneasy way, he realized, but he

 would never know. He would not like to be, would not

 ever be, in its world. But it was in his, and that gave

 him a small measure of comfort.

 "Will this Hain stay loyal to you?" The Rel asked,

 apparently using its chimes to form the words, which

 gave it a total lack of tone or coloration.

 "My technicians assure me so," replied Azkfru

 confidently. "Although I fail to see why she is neces-

 sary to us m any event. I feel uneasy trusting every-

 thing to someone so new and unknown."

 "Nevertheless," replied The Rel, "it is necessary.

 Remember that The Diviner predicted that you would

 receive one of the outworlders, and that the solution

 to our problems was not possible without an out-

 worlder present."

 "I know, I know," Azkfru acknowledged, "and I am

 grateful that it was me who was contacted by your

 people. We have as much stake in this as you, you

 know." He fidgeted nervously. "But why are you sure

 that this one is the outworlder needed?"

 "We're not," The Rel admitted. "The Diviner only

 knows that one of the four who came in that party

 is needed to open the Well. One was destined for

 Czill, one for Adrigal, one for Dillia, and one for

 here. Of the four, yours was known to be psychologi-

 cally the most receptive to our offer."

 "I see," Azkfru said, uncertainty mixed with resig-

 nation in his tone. "So twenty-five percent was better

 than zero percent. Well, why not just grab the others

 so we're sure?"

 "You know the answer to that one," The Rel re-

 sponded patiently. "If we missed just one of these

 Entries, it would hide and we couldn't monitor it. This

 way, we will know where they are and what they are

 doing."

 "Urn, yes, and there's the second prediction, too."

 "Quite so," The Rel affirmed. "When the Well is

 opened all shall pass through. Thus, if we keep one

 of them with us, we will stand the best chance of

 going through with them."

 115

 "I stil! wish I were going with you," the baron

 said. "I fee) uneasy that the only representative of my

 people will be a conditioned alien of known untrust-

 worthiness."

 "One of you is going to be conspicuous enough,"

 The Rel pointed out. "Two of you is an advertisement

 for hundreds of other uneasy governments. Right now,

 neither of us knows if our agreement is duplicated by

 others with any or all of the other three."

 That idea made Azkfru more uncomfortable than

 ever.

 "Well, damn it, you—or half of you, or whatever

 —is The Diviner. Don't you know?"

 "Of course not," replied The Rel. "The present is

 as closed to The Diviner as it is to you. Only random

 snatches of information are received, and that in

 rather uncontrolled fashion. Getting this much is more

 than we usually get on anything. Hopefully more

 pieces will fit together as we progress."

 Rather than disturbing him further, this news re-

 assured him instead. So the damn thing wasn't omnip-

 otent, anyway. Still, he wished he knew more about

 the creature that stood before him. What were its

 powers? What tricks did it have up its sleeve?

 The fear that most consumed him was of a double

 cross.

 The Diviner—or The Rel—seemed to sense this,

 and it said, "Our hexes are as alien as can be. We

 have no commonality of interest or activity- You are

 an incomprehensible peopie to us, and your actions

 are equally so. Never would we be here, in peril of

 our sanity, were it not for the urgent single common-

 ality our races share: survival. We are satiated in the

 summing process, and active in the coefficient of struc-

 ture. Our sole object is to keep everything just the way

 it is."

 The baron didn't understand any of it, but he did

 understand that mutual survival was a common bond,

 and the assurance that they wanted to preserve the

 status quo. The trouble was, he could say exactly the

 same thing and not mean a word of it.

 And now all of his future rested on Datham Ham.

 116

 The baron gave the Akkafian equivalent of a sigh ot

 resignation. He had no choice in the matter. That

 conditioning must hold!

 "How soon do you wish to begin?" he asked the

 Northerner.

 "A lot depends on your end," The Rel pointed out.

 "Without Skander the whole scheme falls apart, the

 sum clouds and changes to an infinite number."

 "And you can point him out, only you," the baron

 replied. "I'm ready when you are."

 "No more than a week, then," The Rel urged. "We

 have reason to suspect that Skander will move out of

 reach shortly after that."

 "Very well," the baron sighed, "I'll condition two

 of my best Markling warriors. You don't need Hain for

 this part, do you?"

 "No," responded The Rel. "That will do nicely.

 We'll have to work at night and hide out during the

 day, so it will take a good day to set us up once there.

 Another two days to get there, inconspicuously, if

 possible. Can you be ready within a day period from

 this moment?"

 "I think so," the baron replied confidently. "Any-

 thing else?"

 "Yes. While you prepare the two assistants I should

 like to talk to one who understands structures and elec-

 trical systems. Is that possible?"

 "Well, yes," the baron affirmed with some surprise.

 "But why?"

 "It will be necessary to perform some minor sabo-

 tage to ease our task," The Rel explained enigmati-

 cally. "Although we have studied it, we want to

 confirm our necessary actions to be doubly certain,

 hopefully with one who comprehends such things."

 "Done," Azkfru told the creatures. "Now I must

 attend to other matters. Go out the side there and an

 assistant will take you to a room that will be private.

 I will send the technicians to you."

 "We go to prepare," intoned The Rel, and floated

 out the designated exit.

 Azkfru waited several minutes until he was certain

 the Northerner was well away, then went over to the

 117

 doorway to his main waiting room and pressed the

 opening stud with his right foreleg.

 "Enter, Mar Datham," he said imperiously, and

 quickly got back to the dais that served as his work

 area. He struck his most awesome pose.

 Datham Hain entered on the words, a shiver going

 through her at their majesty. Almost hypnotically, she

 entered the office.

 She stopped as she saw him, and bent down auto-

 matically in a gesture of extreme subservience. Or-

 giastic spasms shook her, and she cowed in awe and

 fear.

 He is God, she thought with absolute conviction. He

 is the epitome of greatness.

 "My Lord and Master, I am your slave, Datham

 Hain. Command me!" she intoned and meant every

 word of it.

 The sincerity carried over to Azkfru, who received

 it with satisfaction. The conditioning had stuck.

 "Do you give yourself to me, Mar Datham, body

 and soul, to do with as I would, forever?" he in-

 toned.

 "I do, Master, my Lord God, I do! Command me

 to die and I shall do so gladly."

 Great now. Forever, if she was around all the

 time. But she would have only a few interviews until

 he had to trust her with all he had. Well, here goes

 the kicker, Azkfru thought.

 "You are the lowest of the low, Mar Datham, lower

 than the fikhfs that breed to be eaten, lower than the

 defecations of the least of those fikhfs," he intoned.

 And it was so, she realized. She felt as low and as

 small as she could ever get. She felt so tiny and un-

 important that she found it hard to think at all. Her

 mind was a complete blank, yet basking on pure emo-

 tion in the presence of Him who was All Glory.

 "You will remain lowly scum," the Master pro-

 nounced, "until I have other use for you. But as you

 are the lowest of the low, so can you be raised to the

 heights by my command." Now came the clincher.

 "A great task will be placed in your hands, and your

 118

 love and devotion to me above all else will determine

 all that is in your future, whether it be the mindless

 cleaners of the defecation pits or," he paused for

 added emphasis, "perhaps even the chief concubine of

 a king."

 Hain groveled all the more at this thought suddenly

 placed in her witless head.

 "And your name shall now be Kokur, nor wilt you

 answer to any other but it, and so you will stay and

 so you will be until you have successfully carried out

 my tasks. Then only will you be restored to a name,

 and then that name will be great. Go, now. My ser-

 vant shall show you your duties until I shall call you

 for the task."

 She turned and left the office quickly, on quivering

 legs.

 When the door closed behind her, the baron relaxed.

 Well, he thought, it is done. For the next few days,

 if The Diviner and The Rel were successful, Dathana

 Hain would truly be as low as one could get. Although

 consciously obedient and happy, that nasty subcon-

 scious would be helplessly humiliated by the job and

 the status, and that was perfect. After a few days,

 Ham would be willing to do anything to get out of

 there, and she would be offered a permanent return to

 that miserable state as opposed to elevation as high

 as she could possibly reach.

 Hain would serve him, he felt confidently.

 Kokur wasn't a name, it was a job description.

 Until The Diviner and The Rel returned, Datham

 Hain would work in the defecation pits, piling up the

 huge amounts of crap his barony produced—including

 her own—and then treating it with a series of chem-

 icals and agents that would change its composition

 into a horrible but physically harmless mess. Hain

 would not only work there, she would sleep in it, walk

 m it, and, as her sole diet, eat it. And the only name

 she could respond to or think of herself as was Kokur,

 which meant dung-eater.

 When off with The Diviner and The Rel, it would be

 a constant and humiliating reminder of her' lowly

 status and her lifelong fate for failure, a reminder

 119

 that would even reach others through the translating

 devices used around the Well World.

 Datham Hain would be a most obedient slave.

 Actually kind of attractive, he thought. Too bad

 she's a breeder.

 Dillia—Morning

 (Enter Wu Julee, Asleep)

 WU JULEE AWOKE FROM A DREAMLESS SLEEP AND

 looked around. She felt strange and slightly dizzy.

 The overriding fact that hit her was that the pain

 was gone.

 She closed her eyes and shook her head briskly. The

 dizziness worsened for a moment, then things seemed

 to steady.

 She looked around.

 She was in a beautiful forest, the likes of which she

 had never seen before. Trees grew straight as poles

 fifty or more meters in the air, almost disappearing

 into a slight morning mist. The undergrowth was

 equally lush and a vivid green. Beautiful flowers grew

 wildly all around her. There was a trail nearby, a

 nicely maintained one made of deep sawdust lined

 with small, irregular stones. There was a slight but

 steady roaring sound in the distance, but it didn't seem

 threatening, only curious.

 The path seemed to lead toward the roar in one

 direction, and she decided to follow it. Walking felt

 strange to her, but she thought little of it. She felt

 strange all over. She walked slowly down the trail

 about a kilometer, and it led her to the source of the

 increasing roar.

 She came upon a waterfall, dropping majestically

 in three stages down the side of a mountain whose

 gray rocks were well worn by uncounted years of ero-

 sion. The falls fed a stream, or river, which flowed

 120

 swiftly but rather shallowly over a rocky bottom seen

 clearly through the greenish tinge to the water's sur-

 face. Here and there, she saw logs and remnants of

 logs that had fallen due to weathering or age. Many

 were covered with mossy yellow-green growths and

 several were nurse trees, their dead and decaying

 limbs providing a haven from which newer trees of a

 different type were growing. Small insects hummed

 and buzzed all around, and she watched them curi-

 ously.

 A sudden crackle of underbrush made her turn with

 a start. She saw a small, brown-furred mammal with

 a rodent's face and a broad flat tail jump into the

 stream carrying a twig in its mouth. Her eyes fol-

 lowed it until it made the opposite shore and ran into

 the underbrush formed by swampy weeds and long

 grains of grassy plants diagonally opposite her.

 Still acting without conscious thought, like a new-

 born child seeing the world for the first time, she

 went up to the stream just far enough down that she

 wasn't caught in the spray from the great falls.

 She looked down at her reflection. She saw the face .

 of a young woman barely in her teens, a face that

 looked back at her. Not beautiful, but pleasant, with

 long brown hair falling down. over small but well-

 formed breasts.

 She reached up with one hand and brushed back

 the hair on one side. Her skin was a light brown, her

 palms a slightly lighter color but seemingly made of

 a tougher skin. I've got pointy ears, she thought,

 seeing them revealed by the brushed-back hair. And

 they were pointed, the insides a soft pink. Although

 not really large, she realized that they would probably

 protrude slightly if she stood perfectly erect. On some

 sort of impulse, she tried to wiggle her ears—and

 they moved noticeably!

 Then she looked down at her body. At the waist

 the very light down that began just below her breast

 thickened into hair of the same color as her skin. Her

 eyes moved down to two stocky legs that ended in

 large, flat hooves.

 That's strange, she thought. Hooves and pointed

 ears that wiggle.

 121

 For no reason in particular she turned her body at

 the waist almost halfway around, and looked in back

 of her. A long, sturdy-looking equine body supported

 by two hind legs was clearly visible—and a tail! A

 big, brushy tail she found she could wiggle.

 What am I? she thought in sudden fear. Where is

 this?

 She tried to remember, but could not.

 It's as if I was just bom, she thought. I can't re-

 member anything. Not my name, not anything.

 The reflection and the body looked totally strange

 to her.

 I remember the words, she thought. I know that

 this is a stream and that is a waterfall and that that

 person in the water is a reflection of me, and I'm a

 young girl.

 She hadn't even realized she was a girl until then.

 There was a term for this, she thought, and she

 tried to remember it. Amnesia, that was it. People

 who couldn't remember their past. Somehow she felt

 that she had never been to this place before, and

 that something was different about her, but she

 couldn't think of what. She Just stood there by the

 edge of the stream for several minutes m stunned

 silence, not knowing what else to do. Several insects

 buzzed around her rear, and with an automatic mo-

 tion she brushed them away with her tail.

 Suddenly her ears picked up the sound of laughing

 —a girl and a boy, she thought. They were coming

 down the trail! Quickly, almost in panic, she looked

 around for a place to hide, but found none before

 the pair came trotting down the path. They look

 like the top half of people stuck onto the bodies of

 working ponies, her mind thought. Her face turned

 quizzically at the thought. What were people anyway,

 if not these? And what were ponies?

 The two beings were not really large, but the boy

 was almost a head taller and proportionately larger

 than the girl. The male was a golden color, with

 silver-white hair down to his shoulders and a full

 beard, neatly trimmed, of the same color. The girl,

 curiously, was a mottled gray mixed with large

 black spots, and this coloration extended to her upper

 122

 torso. Her hair was a mixed gray and black, her gray

 breasts much fuller than the amnesiac onlooker's.

 No navels, she thought inanely. We don't have na-

 vels.

 The pair saw her and stopped almost in midlaugh.

 They surveyed her curiously, but without any trace

 of hostility or alarm, "Hello!" called the boy—he

 looked no more than fourteen or fifteen, the girl about

 the same. The voice was a pleasant tenor, with a slight,

 indefinable accent. "I don't think we've seen you here

 before."

 She hesitated a moment, then replied hesitantly,

 "I—I don't think I've ever been here before. I—I

 just don't know." Tears welled in her eyes.

 The two centaurs saw that she was in some distress

 and rushed up to her.

 "What's the matter?" the girl asked in a high"

 pitched adolescent voice.

 She started to cry. "I don't know, I can't remem-

 ber anything," she sobbed.

 "There, there," the boy crooned, and began to

 stroke her back. "Get it all out, then tell us what's

 going on."

 The stroking had a calming effect, and she straight-

 ened up and wiped her eyes with her hand.

 "I don't know," she managed, coughing a little.

 "I—I just woke up down the trail and I can't re-

 member anything—who I am, where I am, even

 what I am."

 The boy, who was even larger in comparison to

 her than he was to his companion, examined her face

 and head, and felt the skull.

 "Does it hurt anywhere when I do this?" he asked.

 "No," she told him. "Tickles a little all over,

 that's all."

 He lifted up her face and stared hard into her

 eyes.

 "No glaze," he commented, mostly to himself. "No

 sign of injury. Fascinating."

 "Aw, come on, Jol, what'd you expect to find?"

 his companion asked.

 "Some sign of injury or shock," be responded, al-

 123

 most in a clinical tone. "Here, girl, stick out your

 tongue. No, I mean it. Stick it out."

 She did, feeling somewhat foolish, and he examined

 it. It was a big tongue, fiat and broad, and a gray-

 pink in color.

 "All right, you can stick it back in now." he told

 her. "No coating, either. If you'd have had some kind

 of shock or disease, it'd show."

 "Maybe she's been witched, Jol," the spotted gray

 centaur suggested, and drew back a little.

 "Maybe," he conceded, "but, if so, it's nothin' to

 concern us.*'

 "What d'you think we oughta do?" his girlfriend

 asked.

 Jol turned and for the first time Julee saw he had

 some kind of saddlebag strapped around his waist.

 "First we take our shower," he answered, remov-

 ing an irregular bar of what must have been soap,

 some cloths, and towels from the bag, then unstrap-

 ping it and letting it fall to the ground. "Then well

 take our mystery girl here to the village and let

 somebody smarter than we are take over."

 And they proceeded to do Just that. After some

 more hesitation, she joined them, following their ac-

 tions and sharing a towel.

 "You don't have to get too dry," the girl, whose

 name was Dal, told her. "You'll air-dry pretty good."

 Together the three of them set on back down the

 trail.

 As they left the forest the village and lands beyond

 came into view.

 It was a beautiful land, she thought. The stream

 flowed out of majestic, snow-capped mountains which

 spread out on both sides to reveal a rich valley and

 gently rolling hills.

 The village—a collection of rough but sturdy log

 buildings by the side of a blue-green lake—bustled

 with activity. The fields were properly plowed and

 planted, and she saw a few centaurs checking and

 tending between stalks of unknown grain-

 The whole place didn't seem as if it could support,

 124

 or had, more than a few hundred people, she thought

 and commented on that to her companions.

 Jol laughed. "That proves you must be from down-

 lake," he said. "Some pretty big communities down

 there. Actually, there's close to a thousand in the

 valley, here, but we're spread out all over the land-

 scape. Only fifty or sixty live in town all the time.*'

 The main street was broad and maintained much

 like the trails, of which she had seen quite a few, a

 thick covering of sawdust making the paving.

 Most of the buildings had an open side facing the

 street. The largest building was the first one they

 reached. It contained a huge forge on which several

 male and female centaurs worked hot metal. She saw

 with curiosity one woman lift a hind leg while a

 brawny male, wearing a protective bib, hammered

 something on her foot, apparently painlessly.

 Other buildings proved to be stores selling farm

 implements, seed, and the like. There was even a

 barbershop and a bar, closed at the moment but

 unmistakable in its huge kegs and large steins.

 "Is it always this warm and humid here?'* she

 asked Jol.

 He chuckled again in that friendly way he had

 about him. "No, this is a four-season hex," he ex-

 plained enigmatically. "Then we all get out our gam-

 mot fur coats and hats and gloves and romp in the

 cold snow."

 A gammot, she discovered, was one of the large

 rodents she had spied down by the stream.

 "It must be a huge coat," she remarked, and Dal

 and Jol both laughed.

 "You really do have amnesia!" Dal responded.

 "The hair on our bodies and a nice, thick layer of fat

 put on in summer and fall are pretty good insulators.

 Only our hairless parts need protection."

 "You can see the fireplaces and chimneys," Jol

 pointed out. "In the fall the fronts are put back on

 and they become warm as today inside."

 Julee started to ask what happened when it rained,

 but she saw that the roofs and ledges were angled

 and the buildings so placed that it would take a really

 terrible storm to get much rain inside.

 125

 "It looks as if anyone dishonest could steal anything

 he wanted here," Julee commented.

 They both stopped and looked at her strangely.

 "That just isn't done here—not by any Dillian," he

 huffed.

 His reaction startled her, and she apologized. "I—

 I'm sorry. I don't know why I think like that."

 "We do get some alien traders from other hexes

 in once in a while and they've tried taking stuff," Dal

 put in to defuse the issue. "Won't do 'em no good

 here, though. Only way in is by the lake—forty

 kilometers, almost as deep as it is long. Nobody can

 beat us in the woods, and anybody who wants to climb

 six kilometers of mountain at steep grade and below

 zero temperatures would lose more than he could

 take."

 They reached a small building about two-thirds of

 the way down the thirty or so buildings of the town's

 lone street. A wooden sign hung on a post, a hexago-

 nal symbol of two small trees flanking a huge one,

 burned in with some son of tool. Inside stood an

 elderly centaur with long, white hair and unkempt

 beard reaching down below his nipples. He had once

 been coal black, she realized, but now the body hair

 was necked with silvery white.

 He would look very officious standing there at his

 cluttered desk, she thought, amused, if he wasn't

 sound asleep and snoring loudly.

 "That's Yomax," Jol told her. "The closest thing

 we've got to a government in the village. He's sort

 of the mayor, postmaster, chief forester, and game

 warden here. He always opens up at seven o'clock

 like the duty book says, but since the boat doesn't

 get in until eleven-thirty, he usually goes back to

 sleep until just before then." He yelled, "Hey! Yomax!

 Wake up! Official business!"

 The old man stirred, then wiped his eyes and

 stretched, not only his arms but also his entire long

 body.

 "Hmph! Whazzit?" he snorted. "Some damned brat*s

 always foolin' with me," he muttered, then turned to

 see who stood there.

 126

 His eyes fixed on Wu Julee, and he suddenly came

 fully awake.

 "Well! Hello!" he greeted in a friendly but puzzled

 tone. "I don't remember seein' you around before."

 "She's lost her memory, Yomax," Jol explained.

 "We found her down by Three Falls."

 "She don't know nothin' about nothin'," Dal put in.

 "Didn't even know 'bout winter and coats and all."

 The old man Crowned, and came up to her. Ignoring

 Jol's protests that he had done it already, Yomax

 proceeded to go through the same examination Julee

 had had earlier—with similar negative results.

 Yomax scratched his beard and thought. "And you

 don't remember nothin'?" he asked for the fifth or

 sixth time, and for at least that many times she an-

 swered, "No."

 "Mighty strange," he said. Then, suddenly, he

 brightened. "Lift your right foreleg," he instructed.

 She did, and he grasped the hoof firmly and turned

 it up.

 "I think she's been witched," Dal maintained.

 "Com'mere and lookit this," Yomax said softly.

 The other two crowded in to see.

 "She ain't got no shoes!" Da! exclaimed.

 "Not only that," the old one pointed out, "there's

 no sign that she ever had any."

 "Don't prove nothin'," Dal persisted. "I know

 lots'a folks what don't wear shoes, particularly up-

 valley."

 "That's true," admitted Yomax, dropping the leg

 and straightening up, for which Julee was thankful.

 She felt circulation start to return. "But," the old

 centaur continued, "that's a virgin hoof. No deep

 stains, no imbedded stones, nothing. Hers are like a

 newborn's."

 "Aw, that ain't possible," Jol said scornfully.

 "I told ya she was witched," Dal insisted.

 "You two get along and do your chores or what-

 ever," Yomax told them, waving them away with his

 hands. "I think I know at least part of what this is

 about."

 They left reluctantly and then started to return.

 Yomax had to bellow at them several times.

 127

 "Now, then, young lady," he began, satisfied of

 some privacy at last, "let m« throw some names at

 you- Let's see if any of 'em strike a bell."

 "Go ahead," she urged him, intrigued.

 "Nathun Brazzle," he began, trying to make do with

 the strange names on a paper he had fished from a

 crowded drawer in his desk. "Vardya Dipla Twelve

 Sixty-one. Dayton Hain. Wo Jolie. Anything"

 She shook her head slowly from side to side. "I've

 never heard any of those names before," she told

 him. "At least—1 don't think so."

 "Hmmm . . ." the old man mused. "I'm sure I'm

 right. Only possible explanation. Well. tell you what.

 Got one test when the boat comes in. Old Entry

 from the same neck of the woods as these folks—

 ten, fifteen years ago. He pilots the ferry now, since

 old Gletin refused to see how old he was and went

 overboard in a storm 'couple years back," Yomax

 told her. "He'll still remember the old language. I'll

 git him to spout some of that alien gibberish at ya,

 and we'll see if ya understand it."

 They passed the time talking until the ferry arrived,

 the old man telling about his land and people with

 pride and affection. During the course of his rambling

 but entertaining memoir/travelogue, which she was

 sure was almost half-true, a great many facts

 emerged. She learned about the Well World, and

 what the hexes were. She learned about Zone and

 gates, and the strange creatures that wandered

 around. She found that, although the Dillians lived

 to be well over a hundred Well World years on the

 average, the population was relatively small. Females

 went into heat only every other year, then only for

 a short period, and invariably bore but a single

 young—which had about an even chance of surviving

 its first year.

 If you made it through puberty, about a twenty

 percent chance, then you would live a long life—

 because you would already be immune to most of

 what would kill you.

 The various colors—Yomax said there were hun-

 dreds of combinations—of the people didn't seem

 128

 to meld with interbreeding, she was told, since all

 color genes were recessives.

 "Rank comes with age," Yomax told her. "When

 you get too old to plow, or build, or chop and haul

 wood, they put you in charge of things. Since nobody

 likes to admit they're old when the job's so little—

 you saw how much respect I got from the young

 ones—I wound up bein' about everything the village

 needs."

 The mother was the ultimate authority in child-

 rearing, he explained, but the family group shared

 moral responsibility. Since customs like marriage and

 inheritances were unknown—everything was simplis-

 tically communal—people formed family groups

 with other people they liked, without much regard

 to sex. The groups were mostly traditional now, but

 occasionally new ones of three to six would be formed

 by the young after puberty.

 The entire hex was a collection of small towns

 and villages, she learned, because of the low birthrate

 and also because of innate limits on technology here.

 Anything more ambitious than the most basic steam

 engine just wouldn't work in Dillia.

 That kept things extremely simple and pastoral, but

 also stable, peaceful, and uncluttered.

 "In some hexes you can't even tell what sort of

 place it once was," Yomax told her. "All them ma-

 chines and smelly stuff, everybody livin' in air-

 conditioned bubbles. Then they want to come here

 to get back to nature! They do some tourist business

 in other parts of the country, but this place is so

 isolated nobody's discovered it yet. And, when they

 do, they'll find us damned hostile, I can tell you!"

 With that impassioned statement, there came the

 long, deep sound of a steam whistle, its call echoing

 across the mountains.

 Yomax grabbed a simple cloth sack tied with twine

 and invited her down to the lakefront about 150 me-

 ters from town. She saw a simple wooden wharf with

 several huge posts, nothing more. A few townspeople

 waited just off the dock, apparently having business

 downlake or awaiting passengers.

 Coming up on the wharf was the strangest craft she

 129

 had ever seen. A giant oval raft, it looked like, with

 another raft built on top of it and supported by solid

 log cross-bracing. In the middle was a single, huge,

 black boiler, with a stack going up through the second

 tier and several meters beyond, belching white smoke.

 A single centaur, black and white striped all over, a

 crazy-looking broad-brimmed hat on his head, stood at

 a large wheel, which was flanked by two levers. The

 levers went down through to the boiler level and

 seemed to do nothing but signal a brown centaur-

 engineer to turn some control or other on the boiler.

 The boiler was attached by what looked more like

 thick rope than chain to a small, wooden paddle wheel

 in the back.

 About twenty varicolored Dillians stood on the first

 deck, some between oaken trunks full of unguessable

 cargo. Under the cross-bracing there seemed to be a

 counter and some kegs and steins. A large bale of

 grain flanked it.

 Wu Julee could guess that this was the snack bar.

 She had already had a brunch with Yomax and dis-

 covered that the centaurs were herbivores who occa-

 sionally cooked various dishes but mostly ate raw

 grains and grasses grown in their fields. Tasted good,

 too, she had found.

 Ropes from wooden posts on the side of the primi-

 tive steamer were tossed to a couple of villagers on

 the dock who tied the boat off. Satisfied, the captain

 went to the back and came down an almost disguised

 grooved ramp to the first deck.

 Yomax tossed the mail to a crewman who idly threw

 it toward the center of the boat. The captain picked up

 a similar sack and jumped off to the dock, clasping

 hands with Yomax and then handing the old official

 the sack.

 Yomax introduced the steamer captain to Wu Julee.

 "This here's Klamath," the old man told her. "Not a

 proper name for a good DiHian, but he was born with

 it."

 "Please to meet you, Lady urn . , .?" The captain's

 expression prompted a lead.

 "She don't know her name, Klammy," Yomax ex-

 plained. "Just kinda showed up all blanked out eariy

 130

 this momin'. I think she's an Entry, and thought may-

 be you could help." Quickly he explained his language

 idea to the captain.

 "Harder than you think," the captain replied

 thoughtfully. "It's true that I think in the old tongue,

 but everything's instantly and automatically translated

 in and out. It'd be easier if I could write something

 for her."

 Julee shook her head sadly. "I am certain that I

 never learned to read. I just know it,"

 "Hmmm. . . . Well, Yomax, you're the control,"

 Klamath said. "It's going to take a lot of concentration

 to get out some old word stuff through the translation

 process, and I'm not really going to know if I'm success-

 ful or not. It all sounds the same to me. If she under-

 stands it and you don't, then we'll have it made."

 Klamath took chin in hand in a thoughtful pose, try-

 ing to think of something he could do to break through

 the barrier. Suddenly he brightened. "Worth a try," he

 said at last, "but even if she doesn't understand it, it

 won't prove much. Well, here goes.

 "Using the Three KY spectroanalysis program, stel-

 lar motion can be computed by phase-shifting obser-

 vations using the infraspectrometer circuits in the

 navigational matrix for visual course plots," Klamath

 intoned. Suddenly he stopped and turned to Yomax.

 "How was that?" he asked.

 "I got maybe one word in four," the old man re-

 plied. "How about the lady here?"

 Julee shook her head in bewilderment. "A lot of big

 words but I didn't understand what they meant."

 "Can you remember a big word?" Klamath

 prompted.

 She thought for a minute. "Ma—matrix, I think,"

 she said hesitantly, and, she looked totally perplexed,

 "phase shifting?"

 Klamath smiled. "Good old basic navigation man-

 ual!" he exclaimed. "You're from my part of the uni-

 verse, all right. There's just no equivalent for that stuff

 in this language."

 Yomax nodded, an expression of satisfaction on his

 face. "So she's one of the last four."

 131

 "Almost certainly," Klamath nodded. "Fve been

 keeping track of them since I know one, at least

 slightly. He's almost a living legend among spacers,

 and we know where he is and where the one called

 Vardia is. You must be that girl that was sick; that

 would explain the memory problems."

 "Who am I, then?" she asked excitedly. "I want to

 know."

 "Probably a girl named Wu Julee," Klamath told

 her.

 "Wu Julee," she repeated. The name sounded

 strange and totally unfamiliar to her. She wasn't sure

 she liked it.

 "I'll be heading back downlake in an hour or so,

 and when I get to Donmin I'll see the local councilman

 and pass the word along," Klamath said, "In the mean-

 time, you might as well stay here. It's about the best

 place to relax and enjoy things, and that might be just

 what you need."

 Their course of action agreed to, they all went to the

 local bar. She felt somewhat left out of the conversation

 after that, and the thick, dark ale made her slightly

 giddy. She excused herself and wandered out onto the

 main street.

 Jol and Dal were there, and, seeing her, rushed up

 for the news.

 "They say I'm an Entry," she told them- "Someone

 named Wu Juiee. They said I was sick."

 "Well, you're healthy now," Jol replied. "And what-

 ever you had got cured on the way in. Maybe your

 memory will come back, too, after a while." He

 stopped and fidgeted nervously for a time, glancing

 once in a while to Dal. Finally the spotted female

 threw up her hands.

 "All right, all right. May as well," she said enigmati-

 cally.

 "Sure it's all right with you?" Jol responded.

 "Why not?" his girlfriend replied, resigned.

 Jol turned back to Wu Julee. "Look," he said ea-

 gerly, "we—Dal and me—we been thinkin' of putting

 together our own family, particularly with Dal preg-

 nant and all. There's so few folks our age up here, and

 132

 we aren't gettin' along with our own families too good

 now. Why don't you come in with us?"

 Julee hesitated a moment, then replied, "I'd like that

 —if it's all right with Yomax."

 "Oh, he won't mind," Dal replied. "He's been itchin'

 to see us take jobs anyhow, and if we form the group

 we'll have to to get our share of the harvest."

 And it was that easy.

 They picked a spot fairly deep in the woods upvalley

 and started by building a primitive but efficient trail to

 the site- It required little clearing, but it did wind in

 and out between the giant trees. Borrowing a large

 handsaw and with some help from a forester they

 chopped down two trees near a tiny creek and burned

 out the stumps. Villagers helped them clear the area

 and cut up the trees into useful sizes, as well as pro-

 viding smaller, more useful logs and hauling reddish

 clay used for insulation.

 Wu Julee—the others nicknamed her Wuju, which

 she liked better—threw herself into the work, putting

 any thoughts of Klamath and governmental problems

 out of her mind. She hadn't seen the captain after the

 first day, since the boat came only once a day and

 stayed barely over an hour. Weeks passed.

 They put in the sawdust floor, and built a stone caim

 to use as a stove and winter heater, fueled with wood

 left over from the project. The cabin had a large cen-

 tral area with crude tables and a work area, and five

 stalls—bedrooms, really, with leaning supports, since

 the Dillians slept standing up. The extra stalls were

 for Dal's increasingly obvious new arrival and a spare

 in case someone else would join them. Jol and Dal

 took her trapping in the woods, and showed her how

 to skin and weave the animal furs and the skin from

 various plants into clothing. Once settled in, she and

 Jol were assigned to survey and check some back-

 country trails, particularly noting log bridges that might

 not stand the weight of winter snows. It was easy and

 pleasant work, and she enjoyed the peace and natural

 wonder of the mountains. When winter came they

 would help dig out snowed-in cabins and ensure safe

 paths around the small lakeside community.

 In late summer Dal dropped her foal, large and fully

 133

 formed but barely covered in a soft, neutral, downy

 fur, with reddish, wrinkly skin that made the boy-child

 look like a wizened old man.

 Although born looking physically eight or nine in size

 and proportion—and able to stand, walk, even run

 within a few hours of birth—the child would be tooth-

 less for over a year and could only feed by nursing. It

 needed almost constant supervision, even though hair

 developed in the first few weeks affording a measure ^

 of protection. Bom only with the instincts of a wild an-

 imal, the boy would have to leam how to reason, to

 speak, to act responsibly. It was difficult for Julee to

 get used to at first, since after the first month the child

 looked like a boy of about ten.

 But he would look that way for years, they told her,

 perhaps eight or ten, until puberty. Until then they

 would be his world; after that, he would have to pull

 his own load.

 But this peaceful, almost idyllic existence was inter-

 rupted by the start of her nightmares. They often

 involved racing pain, torture, and an evil, leering mon-

 strous face that demanded horrible things of her.

 Many nights she woke up screaming, and it took hours

 to calm her down.

 She began seeing the town Healer—the Dillian

 wasn't a doctor, because they had never been able to

 talk one into moving up into the isolated wilderness, but

 she could treat minor injuries and illnesses and set

 broken bones and the like. Anything really serious re-

 quired using the old treadmill-powered raft to get the

 patient downlake. That was not really as difficult as it

 sounded because there was a fairly strong current that

 led to the falls at the downlake town.

 Talking to the Healer helped, but the sleeping pow-

 ders didn't. As fall started turning the leaves a riot of

 colors, and the snow began to creep down from the

 mountaintops, with occasional cold winds breaking

 through the still comfortable warm air, she was drawn

 and looked not at all well. Drinking the warm, potent

 ale seemed to help for a while, but she was more and

 more in a state of intoxication which made her less use-

 ful and harder to live with.

 134

 The villagers and her two companions were con-

 cerned but felt helpless as she seemed to deteriorate

 daily. The nightmares became worse and more fre-

 quent, the drinking increasing to compensate. She had

 been there almost twelve weeks, and she was miser-

 able.

 One particularly chilly day she came from the little

 bar in a high state of inebriation that even the cold

 wouldn't moderate, wandering down to the dock as the

 steamboat came in. She stared at a figure dressed in

 rugged furs sitting on the top deck, outside the little

 pilothouse that had been erected when the season

 changed.

 It was alien. It looked human, but had only two legs

 and no hindquarters. Its features were hidden under a

 big fur hat, but it seemed to be smoking a pipe—a

 habit only a few of the oldest around did because of

 the difficulty of getting the weeds to stuff into it. She

 wasn't sure if this was a creature of her drunk or of

 her nightmares, and she just stared at it.

 The boat tied up and the creature, or vision, joined

 the captain in walking down to the first level and onto

 the dock. Klamath spotted her, and pointed. The funny

 two-legged creature, so small next to the Dillians,

 nodded and walked over to her.

 She drew back apprehensively, stifling a sudden and

 overwhelming urge to run.

 The creature approached her cautiously and called

 out, in Dillian, "Wu Julee? Is that you, Wu Julee?"

 The voice seemed familiar, somehow. He stopped

 about two meters from her, took the huge, curved pipe

 from his mouth, and pulled off the furry headpiece.

 Wu Julee screamed and screamed, then suddenly

 seemed to collapse, hitting the ground hard in a dead

 faint.

 Klamath and many of the villagers rushed up to her

 in concern.

 "Damn!*' said the creature. "Why do I always

 have that effect on women?"

 For the shock of seeing his face had brought it all

 back to her suddenly and in full force. The only change

 the Well World had made in Nathan Brazil was his

 clothes.

 135

 The Barony of Azkfru,

 Akkafian Empire

 THE BARON AZKFRU WAS FURIOUS.

 "What do you mean he wasn't there?" he stormed.

 The Diviner and The Rel remained impassive and

 apparently unperturbed as usual.

 "We had no problems concealing ourselves through

 the first day," The Rel reported, "and acted about an

 hour after nightfall. When we approached the structure

 where Skander almost had to be. The Diviner sensed

 a change in the balancing equation. A new factor

 had been introduced. Skander had been there, but had

 left."

 "What do you mean a new factor?" snarled the

 Baron.

 "In the most basic terms," The Rel explained pa-

 tiently, "someone knew we were coming and what we

 were after. So either by direct warning or the indirect

 action of others, Skander was not there when we were.

 It was much too dangerous to remain there any length

 of time awaiting a possible return, so we broke off

 and returned here."

 Azkfru was stunned. "A leak? Here? But, that's im-

 possible! It couldn't have been any of my people—

 they're too thoroughly under my control. And, if any-

 one from the Imperial Palace had a reconditioned plant

 here, I wouldn't still be alive now. If there's a leak, it

 must be on your side."

 "It is possible our intentions were divined in the

 same way we divine the actions of others," The Rel

 admitted, "but it is impossible for any in my own lead-

 ership to have betrayed us, and you, yourself, saw to

 the security when we came cross Zone. A release of

 information on your side remains the most likely ex-

 planation."

 136

 "Well, we'll dismiss the blame for now," Azkfru

 said more calmly, "and proceed from here. What do

 we do now?"

 "Skander is still the only link we have to concrete

 knowledge of the puzzle," The Rel pointed out. "And,

 its location is known, if presently unattainable. The

 Diviner states that Skander's research was incom-

 plete, and it must return to the learning place sooner

 or later. We are now attuned to that, and will know

 when. It is suggested that we bide our time until this

 Skander is again within our grasp. We did not com-

 promise the plan, we Just about proved it. It is still

 workable."

 "Very well," growled Azkfru. "Will you stay here?"

 "We miss our homeland and constructive endeavor,"

 The Rel replied, "but the mission is too vital. We will

 remain. Our needs are few, our requirements simple.

 A dark, bare cell will be sufficient, and an avenue to

 the surface every once in a while to stand beneath the

 stars. Nothing more. In the meantime, I would check

 your own security. It will profit us little if such a thing

 happens again!"

 Soon after The Diviner and The Rel were seen to,

 the baron flew to the Imperial Palace and, securing a

 Zone pass, returned to his office in Zone. He was con-

 fident that he wouldn't be alive if it were any of his

 own people, so that left alien intervention—which

 meant Zone.

 The offices, even the walls, were practically torn

 apart. It took almost two days and the destruction of

 more than half the embassy to find it. A tiny little

 transmitter inserted in his communications unit in his

 own office! His technicians examined it, but could be

 of little help.

 "The range is such that it would carry to over four

 hundred other embassies," one explained to him. "Of

 the four hundred, almost three hundred are functional

 and used, and, of those, more than half are technologi-

 cally capable of creating such a device, while the rest

 could probably purchase it untraceably, and almost all

 could place the device during a slow period when you

 were away."

 He had most of his office staff ritually executed any-

 137

 way, not that it made him feel any better—just less

 foolish.

 Someone had heard him kill General Ytil.

 Someone had spied when The Diviner and The Rel

 had come through, and listened to their initial con-

 versations in his office.

 No more, he knew. But that was bad enough.

 Someone else now knew at least what Skander was.

 He had no choice, though, he realized. He had to

 wait.

 Almost fifteen weeks.

 The Center in Crill

 VARDIA WAS ASSIGNED A BASIC APPRENTICE'S JOB, DO-

 ing computer research. She learned fast—almost any-

 thing they taught her—even though she couldn't make

 a great deal of sense out of her part of the project she

 was on. It was like seeing only one random page from

 a huge book. In itself, nothing made any sense. Only

 when put together with thousands of other pages did a

 picture finally emerge, and even then the top research-

 ers had the unenviable job of fitting all the pages to-

 gether in the proper order.

 She enjoyed the life immensely. Even though she

 didn't understand her work, it was a constructive func-

 tion with purpose, serving the social need. It was a

 comfortable niche. Here, indeed, is social perfection,

 she thought. Cooperation without conflict, with no

 basic needs beyond sleep and water, doing things that

 meant something.

 After a couple of weeks on the Job she began feel-

 ing somewhat dizzy at times. The spells would come

 on her, apparently without cause, and would disappear

 just as mysteriously. After a few such episodes she

 138

 went to the central clinic. The doctors made a few very

 routine tests, then explained the problem to her.

 "You're twinning," the physician said. "Nothing to

 be concerned about. In fact, it's wonderful—the only

 surprise is that it has happened so fast after joining us."

 Vardia was stunned. She had met some twins off

 and on at the Center, but the idea that it would happen

 to her Just never occurred to her.

 "What will this do to my work?" she asked appre-

 hensively.

 "Nothing, really," the doctor told her. "You'll simply

 grow as each cell begins its duplication process. A

 new you will take shape growing out from your back.

 This process will make you a bit dizzy and weak, and,

 near its completion, will cause some severe disorienta-

 tion."

 "How long does the process take?" she asked.

 "Four weeks if you continue a normal schedule,"

 was the reply. "If you're willing to plant day and night,

 about ten days."

 She decided to get it over with if she could. Although

 everyone else seemed excited for her, she, herself,

 was scared and upset. Her supervisor was only too glad

 to give her time off, as she had not worked on the

 project long enough to be irreplaceable. So she

 picked a quiet spot away from the Center and near the

 river and planted.

 There was no problem during the nights, of course,

 but during the day, when she had to root by exercising

 the rooting tendrils voluntarily, she quickly became

 bored. Except for early morning and just before dusk,

 she was alone in the camp or else surrounded by un-

 conscious Czillians sleeping off long round-the-clock

 work periods.

 On the third day, she knew she had to have water

 and uprooted to go down to the stream. Doing so was

 more difficult than she would have thought possible.

 She felt as if she weighed a ton, and balance was a real

 problem. She could reach back and feel the growth out

 of her back, but it didn't make much sense.

 At the river's edge she saw a Umiau.

 She had seen them at the Center, of course, but

 only going from one place to another. This was the

 139

 first one she had seen close up, and it Just seemed to

 be lying there, stretched out on the sand, asleep.

 The Umiau had the lower body of a fish, silvery-blue

 scales going down to a flat, divided tail fin. Above the

 waist it remained the light blue color, but the shiny

 scales were gone, leaving a smooth but deceptively

 tough skin. Just below the transition line was a very

 large vaginal cavity.

 The Umiau had two large and very firm breasts, and

 the face of a woman who, were she in Brazil's world,

 would have been considered beautiful despite hair that

 seemed to flow like silvery tinsel and bright blue lips.

 The ears, normally covered by the hair, were shaped

 like tiny shells and set almost flush against the sides

 of the head, and, Vardia saw, the nose had some sort

 of skin flaps that moved in and out as the creature

 breathed, probably to keep water out when swimming,

 she guessed. The long, muscular arms ended in hands

 with long, thin fingers and a thumb, all connected by

 a webbing.

 Vardia stepped in to drink, and, as she did so, she

 saw other Umiau on and off along the banks, some

 swimming gracefully and effortlessly on or just be-

 neath the surface. The river was shallow here, near the

 banks, but almost two meters deep in the center. On

 land they were awkward, crawling along on their hands

 or, at the Center, using electric wheelchairs.

 But, as she saw from the swimmers in the river's clear

 water, in their own element they were beautiful.

 Most, like the sleeper nearby, wore bracelets of some

 colorful coral, necklaces, tiny shell earrings, or other

 adornments. She had never understood jewelry as a

 human, and she didn't understand it now.

 They all looked alike to her except for size. She

 wondered idly if they were all women.

 Finishing her drink, she made her way, slowly, to

 the shore. She made large splashes and was terrified

 she would fall.

 The noise awakened the sleeper.

 "Well, hello!" she said in a pleasant, musical voice.

 The Umiau could make the sounds of the Czillian

 language, and most of them at the Center knew it.

 X40

 Czilllans could not mock any other, so all conversa-

 tions were in the Czillian tongue.

 "I—I'm sorry if I awakened you," Vardia apologized.

 "That's all right," the Uniau replied, and yawned.

 "I shouldn't be wasting my time sleeping, anyway.

 The sun dries me out and I have a fever for hours af-

 ter." She noticed Vardia's problem. "Twinning, huh?"

 "Y-yes," Vardia replied, a little embarrassed. "My

 first time. It's awful."

 "I sympathize," the mermaid said. "I passed the egg

 this cycle, but I'll receive it next."

 Vardia decided to root near the stream for a while,

 and did. "I don't understand you," she told the crea-

 ture hesitantly. "Are you, then, a female?"

 The Umiau laughed. "As much as you," she replied.

 "We're hermaphrodites. One year we make an egg, then

 pass it to another who didn't, where it's shot with sperm

 and develops. The next year, you get the egg passed

 to you. The third year you're a neuter; then the cycle

 starts all over again."

 "You cannot abstain, then?" Vardia asked inno-

 cently.

 The Umiau laughed again. "Sure, but few do, unless

 they get themselves sterilized. When the urge hits,

 honey, you do it!"

 "It is pleasant, then?" Vardia persisted innocently.

 "Unbelievably," the Umiau replied knowingly.

 "I wish this was," Vardia pouted. "It is making me

 miserable."

 "I wouldn't worry about it," the Umiau told her.

 "You only do it two or three times in your very long

 lives." The mermaid suddenly glanced at the sun.

 "Well, it's getting late. It's been pleasant talking with

 you, but I have to go. Don't worry—you'll make out.

 The twin's coming along fine."

 And, without another word, it crawled into the

 water more rapidly than Vardia would have suspected

 possible and swam away.

 The next few days were mostly boring repetitions

 of the earlier ones, although she did occasionally talk

 to other Umiau for brief periods.

 141

 On the ninth day when she needed water again,

 she discovered she had little control over herself.

 Every forward movement seemed to be countered by

 the twin now almost fully developed on her back. Even

 her thoughts ran confused, every thought seeming to

 double, echoing in her mind. It took immense concen-

 tration to get to the water, and, in getting out, she fell.

 She lay there for some time, feeling embarrassed

 and helpless, when she suddenly realized a curious

 fact, a thought that echoed through her mind.

 I'm I'm seeing seeing in in both both directions di-

 rections, her mind thought.

 Getting up was beyond her, she knew, and she waited

 most of the afternoon for help. The confusing double

 sight didn't help her, since both scenes seemed to be

 double exposures.

 She tried to move her head, but found she couldn't

 without burying it in the sandy bank. Finally, an hour

 or two before sunset, others came for rooting and pulled

 her out and helped her back to a rooting spot.

 The tenth day was the worst. She couldn't think

 straight at all, couldn't move at all, couldn't judge

 scenes, distances, or anything. Even sounds were du-

 plicated.

 The sensation was miserable and it seemed to go on

 forever.

 On the eleventh day nothing was possible, and she

 was in a delirium. About midday, though, there was

 a sudden release, and she felt as if half of her had

 suddenly, ghostlike, walked out of her. Everything

 returned to normal very suddenly, but she felt so ter-

 ribly weak that she passed out in broad daylight.

 The twelfth day dawned normally, and she felt much

 better, almost, she thought, euphoric. She uprooted and

 took a hesitant step forward. "This is more like it!"

 she said aloud, feeling light and in total control again.

 And, at exactly the same moment, another voice

 said exactly the same thing! They both turned around

 with the same motion.

 Two identical Vardia's stood looking, amazed, at

 each other.

 "So you're the twin," they both said simultaneously.

 "I'm not, you are!" they both insisted.

 142

 Or am I? each thought. Would the twin know?

 Everything was duplicated. Everything. Even the

 memories and personality. That's why they kept say-

 ing and doing the same things, they both realized. Will

 we ever know which is which? they both thought. Or

 did it matter? They both came out of the same body.

 Together they set out for the Center.

 They walked wordlessly, in perfect unison, even

 the random gestures absolutely duplicated. Communi-

 cation was unnecessary, since each knew exactly what

 the other was thinking and thought the same thing.

 The procedure was well established. Once at the re-

 ception desk, they were taken to different rooms where

 doctors checked them. Pronounced fit and healthy to

 go back to work, each was assigned to a part of the

 project different from that she had previously been

 working on, although with similar duties.

 "Will I ever see my twin again?" asked the Vardia

 who was in Wing 4.

 "Probably," the supervisor replied. "But we're going

 to get you into divergent fields and activities as quickly

 as possible so each of you can develop a separate path.

 Once you've had a variety of experiences to make you

 sufficiently different, there's no reason not to see each

 other if you like,"

 In the meantime the other Vardia, having asked the

 question sooner and having received the same answer,

 was settling in to a very different son of position, even

 though the basic computer problem was the same.

 She began working with a Umiau, for all the world

 identical to the one she had talked with along the

 riverbank. Her name—Vardia's mind insisted on the

 feminine for them even though they were neither—

 and both—was Endil Cannot.

 After a few days of feeling each other out, they

 started talking as they worked. Cannot, she thought,

 reminded her of some of the instructors at the Center.

 Every question seemed to get a lecture.

 One day she asked Cannot just what they were

 looking for. The work so far consisted of feeding

 legends and old wives' tales from many races into the

 computer to find common factors in them.

 "You have seen the single common factor already,

 143

 have you not?" Cannot replied tutorially. "What,

 then, is it?"

 "The phrase—I keep hearing it off and on around

 here, too.'*

 "Exactly!" the mermaid exclaimed. "Until midnight

 at the Well of Souls. A more poetic way of saying

 forever, perhaps, or expressing an indefinite, like:

 We'll keep at this project until midnight at the Well

 of Souls—which seems likely at this rate."

 "But why is it important?" she quizzed. "I mean,

 it's just a saying, isn't it?"

 "No!" the Umiau replied strongly. "If it were a say-

 ing of one race, perhaps even of bordering races, that

 would be understandable. But it's used even by

 Northern races! A few of the really primitive hexes

 seem to use it as a religious chant! Why? And so the

 saying goes back as far as antiquity itself. Written

 records go back almost ten thousand years here, oral

 tradition many times that. That phrase occurs over

 and over again! Why? What is it trying to tell us?

 That is what I must know! It might provide us with

 the key to this crazy planet, with its fifteen hundred

 and sixty races and differing biomes."

 "Maybe it's literal," Vardia suggested. "Maybe

 people sometime in the past gathered at midnight at

 some place they called the Well of Souls."

 The mermaid's expression would have led anyone

 more knowledgeable in all-too-human emotions to

 the conclusion that the dumb student had finally

 grasped the obvious.

 "We've been proceeding along that tack here,"

 Cannot told her. "This is, after all, called the Well

 World, but the only wells we know of are the input

 wells at each pole. That's the problem, you know.

 They are both input, not opposites."

 "Must rtiere be an output?" Vardia asked. "I mean,

 can't this be a one-way street?"

 Cannot shook her statuesque head from side to

 side. "No, it would make no sense at all, and would

 invalidate the only good theory 1 have so far as to

 why this world was built and why it was built the way

 it was."

 144

 "What's the theory?"

 Cannot's eyes became glazed, but Vardia could not

 tell if it was an expression or Just the effect the Umiau

 had when closing the inner transparent lid while keep-

 ing the outer skin lid open.

 "You're a bright person, Vardia," the mermaid

 said. "Perhaps, someday, I'll tell you."

 And that was all there was to that.

 A day or two later Vardia wandered into Cannot's

 office and saw her sitting there viewing slides of a

 great desert, painted m reds, yellows, and oranges

 -under a cloudless blue sky. In the background things

 got hazy and indistinct. It looked, Vardia thought,

 something like a semitransparent wall. She said as

 much aloud.

 "It is, Vardia," Cannot replied. "It is indeed. It's

 the Equatorial Barrier—a place I am going to have to

 visit somehow, although none of the hexes around it

 are very plentiful on water, and the trip will be hard.

 Here, look at this," she urged, backing the slides up

 several paces. She saw a view taken through the wall

 with the best filters available. Objects were still indis-

 tinct, but she could see just enough to identify one

 thing clearly.

 "There's a walkway in there!" she exclaimed. "Like

 the one around the Zone Well!"

 "Exactly!" the mermaid confirmed. "And that's

 what I want to know more about. Do you feel up to

 working through the night tonight?"

 "Why, yes, I guess so," she replied. "I've never

 done it before but 1 feel fine."

 "Good! Good!" Cannot approved, rubbing her

 hands together. "Maybe I can solve this mystery to-

 night!"

 Stars swirled in tremendous profusion across the

 night sky, great, brilliantly colored clouds of nebulae

 spreading out in odd shapes while the starfield itself

 seemed to consist of a great mass of millions of stars

 in swirls the way a galaxy looked under high magnifi-

 cation. It was a magnificent sight, but one not ap-

 preciated by Vardia, who could not see it with her

 coneless eyes as she worked in the bright, artificial

 145

 day of the lab, or by unseen onlookers out in the fields

 to the south.

 At first they looked like particularly thick grains of

 the wild grasses in the area. Then, slowly, two large

 shapes rose up underneath the stalks, shapes with

 huge insect bodies and great eyes.

 And—something else.

 It sparkled like a hundred trapped fireflies, and

 seemed to rest atop a shadowy form-

 "The Diviner says that the equation has changed

 unnaturally," said The ReL

 "Then we don't go in tonight?" one of the Akkafian

 warriors asked.

 "We must," replied The Rel. "We feel that only to-

 night will everything be this auspicious. We have the

 opportunity of an extra prize that increases the

 odds."

 "Then the balance—this new factor—is in our

 favor?" asked the Markling, relieved.

 "It is," The Rel replied. "There will be two to carry

 back, not one. Can you manage it."

 "Of course, if the newcomer isn't any larger than

 the other," the Markling told The Rel.

 "Good. They should be together, so take them

 both. And—remember! Though the Czillians will all

 sleep as soon as the power-plant detonator is trig-

 gered, the Umiau will not. They'll be shocked, and

 won't see too well or get around too much, but there

 may be trouble. Don't get so wrapped up in any strug-

 gle that you sting either of our quarry to death. I

 want only paralysis sufficient to get us back to the

 halfway island."

 "Don't worry," the warriors assured almost in uni-

 son. "We would not fail the baron like that."

 "All right, then," The Rel said in a voice so soft it

 was almost lost in the gentle night breeze. "You have

 the detonator. When we rush at the point I have

 shown you, I shall give a signal. Then and only then

 are you to blow it. Not sooner, not later. Otherwise

 the emergency generators will be on before we are

 away."

 146

 "It is understood," the Markling assured the North-

 erner.

 "The Diviner indicates that they are both there and

 otherwise alone in their working place," The Rel

 said. "In a way, I am suspicious. This is too good

 fortune, and I do not believe in luck. Nonetheless,

 we do what we must.

 "All right—now!"

 Dillia-Uplake

 WU JULEE GROANED AND OPENED HER EYES. HER

 head was splitting and the room was spinning around.

 "She's comin' around!" someone's voice called out,

 and she was suddenly conscious of a number of peo-

 ple clustering around her.

 She tried to focus, but everything was blurry for a

 few moments- Finally, vision cleared enough for her

 to see who each was, particularly the one non-Dillian

 in the crowd.

 "Brazil!" she managed, then choked. Someone

 forced a little water down her throat. It tasted sour.

 She coughed.

 "She knows you!" Yomax yelled, excited. "She re-

 members things agin!"

 She shut her eyes tightly. She did remember—

 everything. A spasm shook her, and she vomited the

 water.

 "Yomax! Jol!" she heard the Healer's voice call.

 "You louts take her behind! Captain Brazil, you pull;

 I'll push! Let's try and get her on her feet as soon as

 possible!"

 They fell to their tasks and managed to pull it off

 with several tries. No thanks to me, Brazil thought.

 Man! These people have muscles!

 She was up, but unsteady. They put side panels

 147

 padded with cloth under her arms and braced them so

 she could support herself. The room was still spin-

 ning, but it seemed to be slowing down. She still felt

 sick, and started trembling. Someone—probably Jol

 —started stroking her back and that seemed to calm

 her a little.

 "Oh, my God!" she groaned.

 "It's all right, Wu Julee," Brazil said softly. "The

 nightmares are past, now. They can't hurt you any-

 more."

 "But how—" she started, then threw up again and

 kept gagging.

 "All right, all of you outside now!" the Healer de-

 manded. "Yes, you, too, Yomax! I'll call you when

 I'm ready."

 They stepped out into the chill wind. Yomax

 shrugged, a helpless look on his face.

 "Do you drink ale, stranger?" the aged centaur

 asked Brazil.

 "I've been known to," Brazil replied. "What do you

 make it out of?"

 "Grains, water, and yeast!" said Yomax, surprised

 at the question. "What else would you make ale out

 of?"

 "I dunno," Brazil admitted, "but I'm awfully glad

 you don't either. Where to?"

 The three of them went down the main street,

 Brazil feeling like a pygmy among giants, and up to

 the bar, front on now.

 The place was full of customers—about a dozen—

 and they had trouble squeezing in. Brazil suddenly

 became afraid that he would be crushed to death be-

 tween equine rumps.

 The conversation stopped when he entered, and

 everyone looked at him suspiciously.

 "I just love being made to feel welcome," Brazil

 said sarcastically. Then, to the other two, "Isn't there

 a more, ah, private place to talk?"

 Yomax nodded. "Gimme three, Zoder!" he called,

 and the bartender poured three enormous steins of

 ale and put them on the bar. He handed one to Jol

 and the other to Brazil, who almost dropped it when

 he found out how heavy the filled stein really was.

 148

 Using two hands, he held on and followed Yomax

 down the street a few doors to the oldster's office.

 After Jol stoked the fire and threw some more wood

 in, the place seemed to warm and brighten spiritually

 as well as literally. Brazil let out a long sigh and

 sank to the floor, resting the stein on the floor beside

 him. As the place warmed up, he took off his fur cap

 and coat. Underneath he didn't seem to be wearing

 anything.

 The two centaurs also took off their coats, and both

 of them stared at him.

 Brazil stared back. "Now, don't you go starting

 that, or I'll go back to the bar!" he warned. The Dil-

 lians laughed, and everybody relaxed. Brazil sipped

 the brew, and found it not bad at all, although close

 to two liters was a bit much at one time for him.

 "Now, what's all this about, mister?" Jol asked

 suspiciously.

 "Suppose we swap information," he offered, taking

 out his pipe and lighting it.

 Yomax licked his lips. "Is that—is that tobacco?"

 he asked hesitatingly.

 "It is," Brazil replied. "Not very good, but good

 enough. Want some?"

 Yomax's expression, Brazil thought, was as eager

 and unbelieving as mine was when I saw that steak

 at Serge's.

 Was that only a few months ago? he asked himself.

 Or was it a lifetime?

 resembled a giant corncob and proceeded to fill it.

 Yomax dragged out an old and battered pipe that

 Lighting it with a common safety match, he puffed

 away ecstatically.

 "We don't get much tobacco hereabouts," the old

 man explained.

 "I never would have guessed," Brazil responded

 dryly. "I picked it up a fair distance from here, really

 —I've traveled nine hexes getting here, not counting

 a side trip to Zone from my home hex."

 "Them rodent fellas are the only ones in five thou-

 sand kilometers with tobacco these days," Yomax

 said ruefully. "That where?"

 Brazil nodded. "Next door to my home hex."

 149

 "Don't think I remember it," the old official

 prodded curiously. "Except that you look like us, sort

 of, from the waist up, I don't think I ever seen your

 like before."

 "Not surprising," Brazil replied sadly. "My people

 came to a no-good end, I'm afraid."

 "Hey! Yomax!" Jol yelled suddenly. "Lookit his

 mouth! It don't go with his talkin'!"

 "He's using a translator, idiot!" snapped Yomax.

 "Right," the small man confirmed. "I got it from

 the Ambreza—those 'rodent fellas' you mentioned.

 Nice people, once I could convince them that I was

 intelligent."

 "If you and they was neighbors, why was that a

 problem?" Jol asked,

 The sadness crept back. "Well—a very long time

 ago, there was a war. My people were from a high-

 tech hex, and they built an extremely comfortable

 civilization, judging from the artifacts I saw. But the

 Ufestyle was extremely wasteful—it required enor-

 mous natural resources to sustain—and they were run-

 ning out, while the by-products curtailed good soil to

 the point where they were importing eight percent of

 their food. Unwilling to compromise their life-style,

 they looked to their neighbors to sustain their culture.

 Two hexes were ocean, one's temperature was so cold

 it would kill us, two more weren't worth taking for

 what they had or could be turned into. Only the

 Ambreza Hex was compatible, even though it was

 totally nontechnological. No steam engines, no ma-

 chines of any kind not powered by muscle. The Am-

 breza were quiet, primitive farmers and fishermen,

 and they looked like easy prey."

 "Attacked 'em, eh?" Yomax put in.

 "Well, they were about to," Brazil replied. "They

 geared up with swords and spears, bows and cata-

 pults—whatever would work in Ambreza Hex—with

 computers from home telling them the best effective

 use. But my people made one mistake, so very old in

 the history of many races, and they paid the price for

 it."

 "What mistake was that?" asked Jol, fascinated.

 "They confused ignorance with stupidity," the man

 150

 explained. "The Ambreza were what they appeared

 to be, but they were not dumb- They saw what was

 coming and saw they had to lose. Their diplomats

 tried to negotiate a settlement, but at the same time

 they scoured other hexes for effective countenneas-

 ures—and they found one!"

 "Yes? Yes? And that was . . .?" Yomax prompted.

 "A gas." Brazil said softly. "A Northern Hemi-

 sphere hex used it for refrigeration, but on my people

 it had a far different effect. They kidnapped a few

 people, and the gas worked on them just as the North-

 erners said it would- Meanwhile the only effect on the

 Ambreza was to make them itch and sneeze for a

 while."

 "It killed all your people?" asked Yomax, appalled.

 *'Not killed, no—not exactly," the small man re-

 plied. "It made, well chemical changes in the brain.

 You see, just about every race is loosely based on, or

 related to, some animal past or present."

 "Yup," Yomax agreed. "I once tried to talk to a

 horse in Hex Eighty-three.'*

 "Exactly!" Brazil exclaimed. "Well, we came from

 —were a refinement of, really—the great apes. You

 know about them?"

 "Saw a few pictures once in a magazine," Jol said.

 "Two or three hexes got kinds of 'em."

 "That's right. Even the Ambreza are related to

 several animals in other hexes—including this one, if

 I recall," Brazil continued. "Well, the gas simply

 mentally reverted everyone back to his ancestral

 animalism. They all lost their power to reason and be-

 came great apes."

 "Wow!" Jol exclaimed. "Didn't they all die?"

 "No," Brazil replied. "The climate's moderate, and

 while many of them—probably most of them—did

 perish, a few seemed to adapt. The Ambreza moved

 in and cleared out the area afterward. They let them

 run free in small packs. They even keep a few as

 pets."

 "I ain't much on science," the old man put in, "but

 I do remember that stuff like chemical changes can't

 151

 be passed on. Surely their children didn't breed true

 as animals."

 "The Ambreza say that there has been slow im-

 provement," answered the small man. "But while the

 gas has to be extremely potent to affect anybody else,

 it appears that the stuff got absorbed by just about

 everything—rocks, dirt, and everything that grows in

 it or lived in it. For my people, the big dose caused

 initial reversion, but about one part per trillion keeps

 it alive. The effect is slowly wearing out. The Am-

 breza figure that they'll be up to the level of basic

 primitive people in another six or seven generations,

 maybe even start a language within five hundred

 years. Their—the Ambreza's, that is—master plan is

 to move the packs over into their old land when they

 start to improve. That way they'll develop in a non-

 technological hex and will probably remain rather

 primitive."

 "I'm not sure I like that gas," Yomax commented.

 "What worked on them might work on us.'* He shiv-

 ered.

 "I don't think so," Brazil replied. "After the attack,

 the Well refused to transport the stuff anymore. I

 think our planetary brain's had enough of such

 things."

 "I still don't like the idea,'* Yomax maintained. "If

 not that, then somethin' else could get us.'*

 "Life's a risk anyway, without worrying about

 everything that might happen," Brazil pointed out.

 "After all, you could slip on the dock and fall in the

 lake and freeze to death before you got to shore. A

 tree could fall over on you. Lightning could strike. But

 if you let such things dominate your life, you'll be as

 good as dead anyway. That's what's wrong with Wu

 Julee."

 "What do you mean?" Jol asked sharply.

 "She's had a horrible life," Nathan Brazil replied

 evenly. "Bom on a Comworld, bred to do farm labor,

 looking and thinking just like everybody else, no sex,

 no fun, no nothing. Then, suddenly, she was plucked

 up by the hierarchy, given shots to develop sexually,

 and used as a prostitute for minor visitors, one of

 whom was a foreign pig named Datham Hain."

 152

 He was interrupted at this point and had to try to

 explain what a prostitute was to two members of a

 culture that didn't have marriage, paternity suits, or

 money. It took some doing.

 "Anyway," he continued, "this Hain was a repre-

 sentative of a group of nasties who get important

 people on various worlds hooked on a particularly

 nasty kind of drug, the better to rule them. To dem-

 onstrate what it did if you didn't get the treatment,

 he infected Wu Julee first and then let the stuff start

 to destroy her. There's no cure, and on most worlds

 they just put such people to death. Most of those in-

 fected, finding their blood samples matching Wu

 Julee's blood, played Hain's game, taking orders from

 him and his masters.

 "The stuff kind of does to you, but very painfully,

 what that gas did to my Hex Forty-one, only it also

 depresses the appetite to nonexistence. You eventually

 mindlessly starve to death."

 "And poor Wuju was already pretty far gone," Jol

 interpolated. "In pain, practically an animal, with all

 that behind her. No wonder she blotted all memories

 out! And no wonder she had nightmares!"

 "Life's been a nightmare to her," Brazil said quietly.

 "Her physical nightmare is over, but until she faces

 that fact, it still lives in her mind."

 They just stood there for several minutes, there

 seeming to be nothing left to say. Finally, Yomax

 said, "Captain, one thing bothers me about your gas

 story."

 "Fire away," the man invited, sipping more of the

 ale.

 "If that gas stuff was still active, why didn't it af-

 fect you, at least slightly?"

 "I honestly don't know," Brazil responded. "Every-

 thing says I should have been reduced to the level

 of the hex, including Ambreza chemistry. But I

 wasn't. I wasn't even physically changed to conform

 to the larger, darker version of humanity there. I

 couldn't explain that—and neither can the Ambreza."

 The Healer stuck her head in the door, and-they

 turned expectantly.

 153

 "She's sleeping now," she reported. "Really sleep-

 ing, for the first time in more than a month. I'll stay

 with her and see her through."

 They nodded and settled back for a long wait.

 Wu Julee slept for almost two days.

 Brazil used the time to tour the village and look at

 some of the trails. He liked these people, he decided,

 and he liked this isolated place, cut off from every-

 thing civilized except for the one daily boat run.

 Standing on a ledge partway up a well-maintained

 cross-country trail, he was oblivious to the cold and

 the wind as he looked out at the mass of snow-covered

 mountains. He realized suddenly that almost the

 whole mountain range was in the next hex, and he

 speculated idly on what sort of denizens lived in that

 kind of terrain.

 After spending most of a day out there, he made

 his way back to the village to check on Wu Julee's

 progress.

 "She came around," the Healer informed him. "1

 got her to eat a little something and it stayed down.

 You can see her, if you want."

 Brazil did want, and went in.

 She looked a little weak but managed a smile when

 she saw him.

 She hasn't really changed radically, he thought, at

 least not from the waist up. He would have known

 her anywhere—despite the different coloration and the

 lower body, the pointy ears, and all. She actually

 looked healthier than she had under the influence of

 that vicious drug, the product of eating better and of

 exercising.

 "How are you feeling?" he asked, idly wondering

 why that stupid question was always the first asked of

 obviously sick people.

 "Weak," she replied, "but I'll manage." She let out a

 small giggle. "The last time we saw each other I had

 to look up to you."

 Brazil took on a pained expression. "It never

 fails!" he wailed. "Everybody always picks on a little

 man!"

 She laughed and so did he. "It's good to see you

 laugh," he said.

 154

 "There's never been much to laugh about, before,"

 she replied.

 "I told you I'd find you."

 "I remember—that was the worst part of the

 sponge. You know, you are aware of all that's hap-

 pening to you."

 He nodded gravely. "Throughout the history of man

 there's always been some kind of drug, and people

 stuck on it. The people who push the stuff are on a

 different kind of drug, one so powerful that they are

 not aware of its own, ravaging, animalistic effect on

 them."

 "What's that?"

 "Power and greed," he told her. "The ugliest—no,

 the second ugliest ravager of people ever known."

 "What's the ugliest, then?" she asked him.

 "Fear," he replied seriously. "It destroys, rots, and

 touches everyone around."

 She was silent for a moment. "I've been afraid most

 of my life," she said so softly he almost couldn't make

 out the words.

 "I know," he replied gently. "But there's nothing

 to fear now, you know. These are good people here,

 and this is a spot I could cheerfully spend the rest of

 my life in."

 She looked straight at him, and her youthful looks

 were betrayed by the eyes of someone incredibly old.

 "They are wonderful," she admitted, "but it's their

 paradise. They were born here, and they know noth-

 ing of the horrors around them. It must be wonderful

 to be that way, but I'm not one of them. My scars

 seem huge and painful just because of their good-

 ness and simplicity. Can you understand that?"

 He nodded slowly "I have scars, too, you know.

 And some of them are more than I can take at times.

 My memory's coming back—slowly, but in extreme

 detail. And, like Serge said, they're mostly things I

 don't want to remember. Some good times, some won-

 derful things, certainly—but some horrors and a lot

 of pain, too. Like you, I blotted them out, more suc-

 cessfully it seems, but they're coming back now—more

 and more each day."

 155

 "Those rejuve treatments must have done a lot to

 your memory," she suggested.

 "No, nothing," he said slowly. "I've never had a

 rejuve treatment, Wu Julee. Never. I knew that when

 I blamed them for such things."

 "Never—but that's impossible! I remember Hain

 reading your license. It said you were over five hun-

 dred years old!"

 "I am," he replied slowly. "And a lot more. I've

 had a hundred names, a thousand lives, all the same.

 I've been around since Old Earth, and before."

 "But that was bombed out centuries ago! Why, that

 was back almost before history!"

 His tone was casual, but there was no doubting his

 sincerity. "It's been dropping like a series of veils,

 little by little. Just today, up in the mountains, I sud-

 denly remembered a funny, little, Old Earth dictator

 who liked me because I wasn't any taller than he was.

 "Napoleon Bonaparte was his name. . . ."

 He slept on furs in Yomax's office for several days,

 seeing Wu Julee gain some strength and confidence

 with every visit.

 But those eyes—the scars in her eyes were still

 there.

 One day the steamboat came in, and Klamath al-

 most fell in the lake rushing out to meet him.

 "Nate! Nate!" the ferry captain called- "Incredible

 news!" From his expression it was nothing good.

 "Calm down, Klammy, and tell me about it." He

 spied a block-printed newspaper in the waterman's

 hand, but couldn't read a word of the language.

 "Somebody just busted into that university in Czill

 and kidnapped a couple of people!"

 Brazil frowned, a funny feeling in his stomach. That

 was where Vardia was, where he was going next.

 "Who'd they snatch?" he asked.

 "One of yours, Vardia or something like that. And

 a Umiau—they're sorta mermaids, Nate—named

 Cannot."

 The little man shifted uneasily, chewing on his

 lower lip.

 156

 "Anybody know who?"

 "Got a good idea, though they deny it. Bunch o*

 giant cockroaches with some unpronounceable name.

 Some of the Umiau spotted them in the dark when

 they shorted out the power at the Center."

 Slowly the story came out. Two large creatures

 resembling giant flying bugs blew the main power

 plant, causing the artificial sunlight to fail in one wing

 of the Center. Then they crashed through the windows

 of the lab, grabbed Vardia and Cannot, and took

 them away. The leaders of the culprit's race were con-

 fronted at Zone, but pointed out that there were al-

 most a hundred insectival races on the planet and

 denied they were the ones. Their tight monarchy, re-

 sembling a Comworld with fancy titles, was leakproof

 —so nobody was sure.

 "But that's not the most sensational part!" Klamath

 continued, his voice rising again. "These Umiau got

 superupset at all this, and one of them let slip the

 truth about Cannot.

 "Seems they and the top dogs of the Center had a

 real secret to keep. Cannot was Elkinos Skander,

 Nate!"

 Brazil just stood there, digesting the information. It

 made sense, of course. Skander would use the great

 computers of the Center to answer his big questions,

 getting everything he needed so that, when he was

 ready, he could mount an expedition under his di-

 rection to the interior of the Well World. Power and

 greed, Brazil thought sourly. Corrupting two of the

 more peaceful and productive races on the planet.

 Well, they wanted it all, and now all they've got

 left is their fear, he reflected.

 "I'll have to go to Czill now," he told the ferry

 captain. "It looks as if my job is starting."

 Klamath didn't understand, but agreed to hold the

 boat until Nathan could say good-bye to Wu Julee.

 She was standing unsupported and looking through

 a book of landscape paintings by local artists when

 he entered. His expression telegraphed his disquiet.

 "What's the matter?" she asked.

 "They've broken into a place a couple of hexes

 157

 over and kidnapped Vardia and Skander, the man

 who might be the killer of those seven people back

 on Dalgonia," he told her gravely. "I have to go, I'm

 afraid."

 "Take me with you," she said evenly.

 The thought had never occurred to him. "But you're

 still weak!" he protested. "And here is where you be-

 long. These are your people, now. Out there is noth-

 ing but worse and worse. It's no place for you!"

 She walked over to him and looked down with those

 old, old eyes.

 "I have to," she told him. "I have to heal the scars."

 "But there're only more scars out there," he

 countered. "There's fear out there, Wu Julee."

 "No, Nathan," she replied sternly, using his first

 name for the first time. She tapped her forehead. "The

 fear is in here. Until I face it, I'll die by inches here."

 He was silent for a while, and she thought he still

 wouldn't take her.

 "I'm easier to care for than you are," she pointed

 out. "I'm tougher of skin, more tolerant of weather,

 and I need only some kind of grass and water."

 "All right," he said slowly. "Come if you must. You

 can get back to Dillia through a gate from anywhere,

 anyway."

 "That's what I've got to know, Nathan," she ex-

 plained. "I'm cured of sponge, but I'm still hooked on

 that ugliest drug, fear."

 "You sure you're well enough?"

 "I'm sure," she replied firmly. "This will give me

 what I need."

 She put on a coat and they went outside. When they

 told Yomax and the others that she was going along,

 the same round of protests started all over again, but

 her mind was made up.

 "I'll tell Dal and Jol," Yomax said, tears welling

 in his eyes. "But they won't understand, neither."

 "I'll be back, old man," she replied, her voice

 breaking. She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

 Klamath sounded the steam whistle.

 They stepped on the board first floor of the steam-

 ship and entered the partially closed cargo door that

 enclosed the lower deck from the colder weather-

 158

 Five hours later they landed in the much larger

 village of Donmin downlake. Compared to the uplake

 community, it was a bustling metropolis of fifteen or

 twenty thousand, stretching out across broad, cleared

 plains. The streets were lit with oil lamps, although

 Brazil had no idea what son of unrefined, natural oil

 they used. It smelled like fish, anyway.

 He reclaimed a well-made but crude backpack

 from the shipping office and said good-bye to Klamath,

 who wished them luck.

 The packs, Wu Julee found, were largely filled

 with tobacco, a good trade commodity. One pouch

 had some clothing and toiletries.

 Using the tobacco, Brazil managed to trade for

 some small items he thought they would need, then

 got a room for them at a' waterfront inn, where they

 spent the night.

 The next day they set out early across the trails of

 Dillia toward the northeast. She had trouble staying

 back with him, having to walk in almost uncomfort-

 able slow motion. After several kilometers of particu-

 larly slow going, she suggested, "Why don't you ride

 me?"

 "But you're already carrying the pack," he pro-

 tested.

 "I'm stronger than you think," she retorted. "I've

 hauled logs heavier than you and the pack put to-

 gether. Come on, climb on and see if you can keep

 from falling off."

 "I haven't been on a horse since I went to the first

 Wilson inauguration," he muttered incomprehensibly.

 "Well, I'll try."

 It took him three tries, even with her help, to mount

 her broad, stocky body that reminded him so much of

 a Shetland pony. And he fell off twice, to her derisive

 laughter, when she started to trot. She finally had to

 put her arms behind her to give him something to

 hold on to. When her circulation started going, he

 had to hold on to the much-less-reassuring pack.

 His own circulation was in no great shape. His legs

 discovered a hundred new muscles he had never

 159

 known before, and the agony almost obliterated the

 soreness of his rump from bouncing.

 But they made good time, the kilometers flying

 by. Near dusk they reached the Dillian border,

 through the last village and seeing here and there only

 an isolated farmhouse. It started to snow, but it was

 only a flurry at first and didn't really bother either of

 them.

 "We're going to have to quit soon," he called to her.

 "Why?" she mocked. "Scared of the dark?"

 "My body just won't take much more of this," he

 groaned. "And we'll pass into the Slongom Hex in a

 little while. I don't know enough about it to want to

 chance it in the dark."

 She slowed, then stopped, and he got off. Pain shot

 through him but it was the aching sort, not the driving

 sharpness of riding. She was amused at his discomfort.

 "So who couldn't make the trip because they were

 too weak?" she teased. "Look at the brave superman

 now! And we've already stopped five times'"

 "Yeah," he grunted, stretching and finding that that

 only made it hurt in different places. "But that was

 only so you could eat. Lord! Do you people stuff your-

 selves!"

 And they did, he thought, consume an enormous

 quantity to support their large bodies.

 "Will we have to camp here?" she asked, looking

 at the darkening woods with no sign of lights

 nearby. "If we do, we'd better get some good shelter.

 It looks like the snow may pick up."

 "If that road we passed about a kil and a half ago

 was the turnofE to Sidecrater Village, there should be a

 roadhouse not too much farther on." He checked a

 frayed and faded map he had in the pack.

 "Why not go back to the village?" she suggested.

 "Almost eight kils down a dead end?" he replied

 skeptically. "No, we'll go on and hope the roadhouse

 is still in business. But I'll walk for a while, no matter

 what!'*

 As darkness fell the snow did pick up, and started to

 stick. The wind whistled through the trees, keeping

 time with the subtle, quiet sound of the snow hitting

 against trees, bushes, and them.

 160

 Visibility dropped to almost zero.

 "Are we still on the road?" she yelled to him.

 "I don't know," he admitted. "We should have come

 to that roadhouse by now. But we don't have any

 choice. We'd never build a fire in this stuff now. Keep

 going!"

 "I'm getting real cold, Nathan!" she complained.

 "Remember, more than half of me is exposed'"

 He stopped, and brushed the snow off her backside.

 Insulating layer of fat or not, he realized she couldn't

 continue too much longer.

 "I'm going to climb on!" he yelled above the wind.

 "Then go on as fast as you can! We've got to come to

 something sooner or later!"

 They pushed forward, he clinging to her back, but

 it was slow going against the wind. They continued on

 for what seemed like hours in the blowing cold and

 darkness.

 "I don't know how much longer I can go on!" she

 called to him at last. "My ass is frozen solid now."

 "Come on, girl!" he shouted. "Here's that adventure

 you wanted! Don't give up now!"

 That spurred her on, but it seemed hopeless as the

 snow continued to pile up.

 "I think I see something ahead!" she shouted. "I

 can't be sure—I think my eyes are covered with ici-

 cles!"

 "Maybe it's the roadhouse!" he shouted. "Head for

 it!"

 She pushed on.

 Suddenly, as if they passed through an invisible

 curtain, the snow was gone—and so was the cold. She

 stopped suddenly.

 He got off and brushed the snow from him. After a

 few moments to catch his breath, he walked back

 several steps.

 And back into the blowing snow and cold.

 He went back to her.

 "What is it, Nathan?" she asked. "What happened?"

 "We must have missed the roadhouse," he told her.

 "We've crossed the border into Slongorn!"

 Her body began to thaw rapidly, and painfully.

 Her eyes misted, then started to clear.

 161

 Looking back, she could see nothing but billowing,

 snowy fog.

 In any other direction, the spectacular night sky of

 the Well World shone cloudlessly around them.

 "We might as well camp right here," he suggested.

 "Not only am I too tired to go any farther, but there's

 no use chancing unfamiliar territory. Anything that

 might cause us problems is unlikely to be this close to

 the border, and we always have a convenient if chilly

 exit if we find any real problems."

 "It's hard to believe," she said as he unstrapped the

 pack and removed a couple of towels, wiping his face

 and hair, then starting to give her the much more dif-

 ficult rubdown. "I mean—coming out of that awful

 storm and into this—winter to summer, just like that."

 "That's the way it can be," he replied. "Sometimes

 there's no clear dividing line, sometimes it's dramatic.

 But, remember, despite the fact that things interlock on

 this world—tides, rivers, oceans, and the like—each

 hex is a self-contained biological community."

 "AH of a sudden I'm starting to sweat," she noted.

 "I think I'll take these heavy fur clothes off."

 "I'm ahead of you," he responded, drying her rear

 and tail. She twisted around and saw that he had re-

 moved almost all of his clothing. He looks even punier

 naked, she thought. You can just about see every rib

 on his body, even through that carpet of black chest-

 hair.

 He finished and came around to her front. Together

 they stood and looked at the landscape eerily illumi-

 nated in the bright starlight.

 "Mountains, trees, maybe a small lake over there,"

 he pointed out. "Looks like a few lights off in the dis-

 tance."

 "I don't think we're on the road," she commented.

 They seemed to be on a field of short grasses. She

 reached down almost automatically and picked a

 clump.

 "I'm not sure you ought to eat that right now," he

 warned. "We don't know all the ground rules here."

 She sniffed the grass suspiciously. Although Dillians

 were moderately nearsighted, their senses of smell

 162

 .and hearing were acute. "Smells like plain old grass,"

 she said. "Kind of short, though. See? It's been cut'"

 He looked at the stuff and saw that she was right.

 "Well, this is logically either a high-technology hex or

 a nontechnologicat one, judging from the pattern I've

 seen," he noted. "From the looks of things, it's high."

 "The grass has been cut in the last day or two," she

 observed. "You can still smell it."

 He sniffed, but didn't notice much, and shrugged. He

 never had much of a smeller despite the Roman nose,

 he thought.

 "I'm going to chance it," she decided at last. "It's

 here, and I need it, and we have two or three days be-

 fore we'll get through here." She took about three

 steps, then stopped.

 "Nathan?"

 "Yes?"

 "What kind of people live here? I mean, what—"

 "I know what you mean. I couldn't get a really good

 description out of anyone. It's not the most traveled

 route, mostly a through route. The best I could get

 was that they were two-legged vegetarians."

 "That's good enough for me," she replied, and started

 picking clumps of grass and chewing them.

 "Don't get too far away!" he called. "It's too damned

 hot to build a fire, and I don't want to attract the

 wrong people. We might be—probably are—trespass-

 ing."

 Satisfied as long as he could still see her, he stretched

 out the furs to dry and stripped completely. After dis-

 covering that some of the grass was stiff and sharp,

 he spread the three wet towels out to form a mat, then

 got out a couple of large bricks of cooked confection

 he had bought back in Donmin. He sat on the towels

 and ate about half of one bar, which was hard and

 crunchy but filling, and then came down with a terrible

 candy-thirst.

 He reached for the flagon containing water, but de-

 cided to leave its half-empty contents if he could. No

 telling what the water was like here.

 He got up and went over to the border, only a few

 meters away. He could hear the howling winds and

 see the blowing snow. Some of the cold radiated out a

 163

 few centimeters from the border. He got down on his

 knees, reached into the cold, and came up with a hand-

 ful of snow.

 That did the Job.

 He went back and stretched out on the towels. He

 still ached from the day's ride, but not nearly as bad.

 He knew the pain would come back when he mounted

 the next day, though. Maybe in three or four days he

 would get used to riding- By his own estimates, they

 were still almost nine hundred kilometers from the

 Center.

 She came back after a while and surveyed him ly-

 ing there on the towels.

 "1 thought you'd be asleep," she said.

 "Too tired to sleep," he responded lazily. "I'll get

 off in a little while. Why don't you get some? You're

 doing all the work, and there's a lot yet to do. In the

 next few days we'll sure find out if they have pneumonia

 on this world."

 She laughed and the laugh developed into a major

 yawn.

 "You're right," she admitted. "I'll probably fall over

 in the night, though. Nothing to lean on here."

 "Ummm-humm," he half-moaned. "Can you sleep

 lying down?"

 "I have, once or twice, mostly on the end of

 drunks," she replied. "It's not normal, but if I don't

 crush my arm, I can. Once we go to sleep we're just

 about unconscious and unmoving for the night."

 She came up close to him and knelt down, then

 slowly rolled over on one side, very close to him and

 facing him.

 "Ahhh . . ." she sighed. "I think this is going to work,

 tonight, at least."

 He looked at her, still half-awake, and thought,

 Isn't it funny how human she looks like that? Some of

 her hair had fallen over in front of her face, and, on

 impulse, he reached over and put it in back of her

 gently. She smiled and opened her eyes.

 "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he whis-

 pered.

 "That's all right," she replied softly. "I wasn't really

 asleep. Still ache?"

 164

 '"A little," he admitted.

 "Lie with your back to me," she told him. "I'll rub

 it out."

 He did as instructed and she twisted a little to free

 her left arm then started a massage that felt so good it

 hurt.

 After a few minutes he asked her if there was some-

 thing he could do in return, and she had him stroking

 and rubbing the humanoid part of her back and

 shoulders. Doing so was awkward, but she seemed sat-

 isfied. Finally, he finished and resumed his position on

 the towels.

 "We really ought to get some sleep," he said quietly.

 Then, almost as an afterthought, he leaned over and

 kissed her.

 She reached out and pulled him to her, prolonging

 the embrace. He felt terribly uncomfortable, and, when

 she finally let him go, he rolled back onto the towels.

 "Why did you really come with me?" he asked her

 seriously.

 "What I said," she replied in a half-whisper. "But,

 also, I told you I remember. I remember all of it. How

 you gambled to save my life. How you held me up in

 the Well. And—how you came out of your way to

 find me. I saw the map."

 "Oh, hell," he said disgustedly. "This will never

 work. We're two different kinds of creature, alien to

 each other."

 "You've been wanting me, though. I could feel it."

 "And you know damned well our bodies don't match.

 Anything like sex just won't work for us now. So get

 those ideas out of your head! If that's why you're here,

 you should go back in the morning!"

 "You were the only clean thing I ever ran into in

 that dirty old world of ours," she said seriously. "You're

 the first person 1 ever met who cared, even though

 you didn't know me."

 "But it's like a fish falling in love with a cow," he

 retorted in a strained, higher-than-normal tone. "The

 spirits are there but they happen to come from two

  

 different worlds."

 "Love isn't sex," she replied quietly. "T. of all peo-

 ple, know that better than nnvone. Sex is just a physical

 165

 act. Loving is caring as much or more about someone

 else than you do about yourself. Deep down inside you

 have the kind of feeling for others that I've never re-

 ally seen before. I think some of it rubbed off. Maybe,

 through you, I'll face down that fear inside of me and

 be able to give myself."

 "Oh, hell!" Brazil said sourly, turning his back to

 her.

 In the quiet that followed, they both went to sleep.

 The centaur was huge. like a statue of the god

 Zeus come to life, and if mated with the finest stal-

 lion. He came out of his cave at the sound of foot-

 steps, then saw who it was and relaxed.

 "You're getting careless, Agorix," the man said

 to him.

 "Just tired," the centaur replied. "Tired of run-

 ning, tired of jumping at every little noise. I think

 soon I will go into the hills and end it. I'm the last,

 you know."

 The man nodded gravely. "I have destroyed

 the two stuffed ones in Sparta by setting the temple

 on fire."

 The centaur smiled approvingly. "When I go,

 there will be naught but legends to say that we were

 here. That is for the best." Suddenly tears flowed

 from his great, wise eyes. "We tried to teach them so

 much? We had so much to offer!" he moaned.

 "You were loo good for this dirty little world"

 the man replied with gentleness and sympathy.

 "We came of our own choice," the centaur re-

 plied. "We failed, but we tried. But it must be even

 harder on you!"

 "I have to stay," the man said evenly. "You

 know that."

 "Don't pity me, then," the centaur responded

 sharply. "Let me, instead, mourn for you."

 Nathan Brazil awoke.

 The hot sun was beating down on him, and had he

 not already been tanned from earlier travels, he would

 have had a terrible sunburn.

 What a crazy dream, he thought. Was it touched off

 166

 by last night's conversation? Or was it, like so much

 lately, a true memory? The latter scared him a little,

 not because the dream was obscure, but because it

 would explain a lot—and in a most unpleasant direc-

 tion.

 He put it out of his mind, or tried to.

 Suddenly he realized that Wu Julee was gone.

 He sat up with a start and looked around. There was

 a large indentation in the grass where she had been,

 and some divots kicked up where she had gotten up,

 but no sign of her.

 He looked around, noting several things about the

 landscape.

 For one thing, they had been fairly lucky. Although

 the area around was a grassy hill, it sloped down into

 dank, swampy wetlands not far away. There were

 odd buildings, like mushrooms, scattered about near

 the swamp and through it, but no sign of any real ac-

 tivity. He looked back at the border. It was a snowy

 forest scene that greeted him, but the storm had passed

 and the sky was quickly becoming as blue there as it

 was overhead. He walked over to the border, got some

 snow, and nibbed his face with the cold stuff.

 Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he turned back

 to look for Wu Julee. He spotted her at last, coming

 back toward him at full gallop.

 He turned and packed the towels away in the pack,

 removing from the clothing pouch a bundle of black

 cloth. He unfolded it and looked at it. He had had it

 made in another hex, awfully nonhuman, but it had

 seemed right when he had tried it on.

 The pants fitted, and his feet slipped into shoe-

 shaped bottoms with fairly tough, leathery soles on the

 outside. The material was of the stretchy type, and it

 seemed to adhere to him like a second skin, as did the

 pullover shirt. He had two of the latter, and chose the

 one with no sleeves over the other, which had form-

 fitting gloves.

 It works, he thought to himself, and fairly comfort-

 able, too. But it's so form-fitting and so thin I still feel

 naked. Oh, well, at least it'll keep the sun out.

 He wished for sunglasses, not for the first time. But

 167

 the first group he had hit who made them were the Dil-

 lians, and the smallest was a bit too large for him.

 Wu Julee came up to him at that point, looking ex-

 cited.

 "Nathan!" she called, "I've been out exploring and

 you'll never guess what's over the next hill!"

 "The Emerald City," he retorted, even though he

 knew that expression would draw a blank look. In fact,

 it went right past her.

 "No! It's a road! A paved road! And it has cars on

 it!"

 He looked puzzled. "Cars? This close to the border?

 What kind of cars?"

 "Electric ones, I think," she replied. "They don't go

 all that fast, and there aren't many of them, but there

 they are. There's a little parking lot up by the border-

 The Dillian roadhouse is a hundred meters or so far-

 ther on!"

 "So we did miss it in the storm and got off the

 track!" he said. "They must supply the roadhouse with

 various things, and use the roadhouse as a business

 base. Funny you never heard of them."

 "I've been uplake all my time here," she reminded

 him. "The only others I ever heard about were the

 mountain people, and I never saw any of them."

 "Well, what do these people look like?" he asked

 curiously. "We'll have to travel through most of their

 hex."

 "They're the strangest—well, you'll have to see.

 Let's get going!"

 He strapped the pack on her and climbed aboard.

 She seemed particularly happy and eager and, well,

 alive this morning, he thought.

 They moved along at a fast clip, and the old pains

 came back almost immediately, although he was get-

 ting to the point where he was going up when she was

 and down when she did. It helped a little, but not

 much.

 They cleared the top of the hill in about five min-

 utes, and he saw immediately what she meant. A half-

 dozen vehicles were parked in a little paved area near

 the border. They were mostly open, except for one with

 168

 a roof of canvas or something like it. None of them had

 seats, and, from the looks of the one with the top,

 their drivers were very tall and drove by a two-lever

 combination. The road was wide enough for one car

 to pass another, and it had a white line painted down

 the center of the black surface.

 She stopped near the lot. "Look!" she said. "Now

 you'll see what I mean by weird people!"

 And she was most definitely right, Brazil decided.

 The last time he had seen anything remotely resem-

 bling it was on a long-ago, month-long bender.

 Imagine an elephant's head, floppy ears and all, but

 no tusks, with not one but two trunks growing from

 its face, each about a meter long and ending in four

 stubby, jointless fingers grouped around the nostril

 opening. Mount the head on a body that looked too

 thin to support such a head, armless and terminating

 in two short, squat, legs and flat feet that made the

 walker look as if he were slightly turning from side to

 side as he walked. Now paint the whole creature a fiery

 red, and imagine it wearing green canvas dungarees.

 Nathan Brazil and Wu Julee didn't have to imagine

 it. That was exactly what was walking at a slow pace

 toward them.

 "Oh, wow!" was all he could manage. "I see just

 what you mean."

 The creature spotted them and raised its trunks,

 which seemed to grow out of the same point between

 and just below the eyes, in a greeting. "Weli, hello!" it

 boomed in Dillian in a voice that sounded like an in-

 jured foghorn. "Better weather on this side of the line,

 hey?"

 "You can say that again," Brazil responded. "We al-

 most got caught in the storm and missed the road-

 house. Spent the night over in the field, there."

 "Heading out, then?" the Slongornian asked pleas-

 antly. "Going to tour our lovely country? Good time of

 year for it- Always summer here."

 "just passing through," replied Brazil casually.

 "We're on our way to Czill."

 The friendly creature frowned, which gave it an even

 169

 more comical aspect that was hard to ignore. "Bad

 business, that- Read about it last night."

 "I know," Nathan replied seriously. "One of the vic-

 tims—the Czillian—was a friend of mine. Ours," he

 quickly corrected, and Wu Julee smiled.

 "Why don't you go into the roadhouse, have break-

 fast, and try to bum a ride through?" the creature sug-

 gested helpfully- "All of these trucks'll be going back

 empty, and you can probably hitchhike most of the

 way. Save time and sore feet."

 "Thanks, we'll try it," Brazil called after the

 Slongomian as that worthy climbed into the covered

 truck and started backing it out, controlling the steer-

 ing with a trunk on each lever. The truck made a whir-

 ring noise but little else, and sped off down the road

 at a pretty good clip.

 "You know, I bet he's doing fifty flat out," he said to

 Wu Julee as the truck disappeared from view. "Maybe

 we can move faster and easier than we figured."

 They walked over the border to the incongruously

 snow-clad roadhouse. The cold hit them at once, Wu

 Julee being unclad except for the pack, and his cloth-

 ing not much more than protection from the sun. They

 ran to the roadhouse, and she was inside almost a min-

 ute ahead of him.

 Five Slongornians stood at a counter shoving what

 appeared to be hay down their throats with their

 trunks. One drained a mug of warm liquid somewhat

 like tea and then squirted it into its mouth. The inn-

 keeper was a middle-aged female Dillian who looked

 older than her years. Two young male centaurs were

 sorting boxes in the back, apparently arranging the de-

 liveries the Slongornians had made.

 And there was one other.

 It's a giant, man-sized bat! Brazil thought, and that

 is what it did look like. It was taller than he was by a

 little bit, and had a ratty head and body with blood-red

 eyes; its sharp teeth were chewing on a huge loaf of

 sweetbread. Its arms were slightly outstretched and

 they melded into the leathery wings, the bones ex-

 tended to form the structural support for the wings. It

 had long, humanoid legs, though, with a standard knee

 covered in wiry black hair like gorillas' legs, and end-

 170

 ing in two feet that looked more like large human

 hands, the backs covered with fur. The thing was ob-

 viously double- or triple-jointed in the legs, since it

 was balanced on one with no apparent effort while

 holding the loaf in the other, the leg brought up level

 with the mouth.

 The creature seemed to ignore them, and no one

 else in the place seemed to pay any attention. They

 turned and ordered breakfast, a thick porridge in a

 huge bow! served steaming hot with wooden spoons

 stuck in the stuff. Wu Julee just ordered water with it,

 while Nathan tried the pitch-black tea. It tasted in-

 credibly strong and bitter, and had an odd aftertaste,

 but he had found from the days he had spent in Dillia

 that the tea woke him up and got his motor started.

 It didn't take long for one of the Slongomian truck

 drivers to strike up a conversation. They seemed to be

 an extraordinarily friendly and outgoing people, and

 when curious about this strange-looking one in their

 midst felt no hesitancy in starting things off. Between

 comments about the weather, the porridge, and the

 hard and thankless life of truck drivers, Brazil man-

 aged to explain where he was going and as much of his

 reason as he had told the one in the parking lot.

 They sympathized and one offered to take them the

 nineteen kilometers to his base in the nearest Slongom-

 ian city, assuring them that they could probably hitch

 rides from terminal to terminal across the country.

 "Well, Wu Julee, no exercise and no aches today,"

 Nathan beamed.

 "That's nice," she approved. "But, Nathan—don't

 call me by that name anymore. It's somebody else's

 name—somebody I'd rather not remember. Just call me

 Wuju. That's Jol's nickname, and it's more my own."

 "All right," he laughed. "Wuju it is."

 "I like the way you say it," she said softly. He re-

 flected to himself that he didn't feel comfortable with

 the way she had said that.

 "Excuse me," said a sharp, nasal, but crystal-clear

 voice behind them, "but I couldn't help overhearing

 you on your travel plans, and I wondered if I. could

 tag along? I'm going in the same direction for a while."

 171

 They both turned, and, as Brazil expected, it was

 the bat.

 "Well, I don't know . . ." he replied, glancing at

 the willing truck driver who cocked his head in an un-

 mistakable why-the-hell-not attitude.

 "Looks like it's all right with the driver, so it's all

 right with us, ah—what's your name? You've already

 heard ours."

 The bat laughed. "My name is impossible. The

 translator won't handle it, since it's not only a sound

 only we can make but entirely in the frequencies be-

 yond most hearing." The creature wiggled his enor-

 mous bat ears. "My hearing has to be acute, since,

 though I have incredible night vision, I'm almost blind

 in any strong light. I depend on my hearing to get

 around in the day. As for a name, why not call me

 Cousin Bat? Everyone else does."

 Brazil smiled. "Well, Cousin Bat, it looks as if you're

 along for the ride. But why not just fly it? Injured?"

 "No," Cousin Bat replied, "but this cold's done me

 no good, and I've traveled quite a distance. Frankly,

 I'm extremely tired and sore and would just as soon let

 machines do the work instead of muscle."

 The bat went over to settle his bill, paying in some

 kind of currency that Brazil guessed was valid in

 Slongorn, which would be used to pay for the sup-

 plies.

 He felt a sudden, hard pressure on his arm, and

 turned. It was Wu Julee—Wuju, he corrected himself.

 "I don't like that character at all,'* she whispered in

 his ear. "I don't think he can be trusted."

 "Don't be prejudiced," he chided her. "Maybe he

 feels uncomfortable around horses and elephants. Did

 you have bats on your home world?"

 "Yes," she admitted. "They were brought in years

 ago to help control some native bugs. They did, but

 they were worse than the bugs."

 Brazil shook his head knowingly. "I thought so.

 Well, we'll meet some even more unpleasant characters

 along the way, and he seems straight enough. We'll

 find out. If he's honest, he'll be a great night guard

 and navigator."

 172

 She resigned herself, and the matter was settled for

 the moment.

 Actually, Brazil had an ulterior motive. With Cousin

 Bat around, there was less likelihood of the emotions

 of the night before getting aired or strengthened, he

 thought.

 The ride was uneventful. Cousin Bat took the floor

 next to the Slongornian driver and promptly went to

 sleep, while Wuju and Brazil sat in the rear bed, the

 only place she could fit.

 The Slongornian city was modem enough to have

 traffic jams as well as signals and police. Had it not

 been for the mushroom-shaped buildings and the total

 incongruity of the inhabitants, it would have been very

 comfortable. They waited there for two hours before

 another truck going in their direction was sufficiently

 empty to fit Wuju in the back, and even then she was

 uncomfortably cramped. Still, it was faster than her

 own speed,

 Shortly after nightfall, they were more than halfway

 across the hex. Cousin Bat was wide awake by this

 time. Since there were no inns that could accommodate

 someone of Wuju's size and build, they made camp in

 the field of a friendly farmer.

 The bat had looked like a cartoon version of a vil-

 lain by day, but in the dark he took on a threatening

 aspect, his red eyes glowing menacingly, reflecting any

 light.

 "You going to fly on now. Cousin Bat?" Brazil asked

 after they were settled.

 "I will fly for a while," the creature replied, "partly

 for the exercise, and partly because there are some

 small rodents and insects roaming about here. I am

 sick and tired of wheat cakes and the like. My consti-

 tution is not constructed for such fare. However,

 Murithel, which is the next hex, is a bit nasty I'm told.

 I'll stick with you to Czill, if you'll have me."

 Brazil assured him he would, and the bat leaped up

 into the evening sky with a flurry of leathery wings and

 vanished.

 "I still don't like him," Wuju insisted. "He gives me

 the creeps."

 173

 "You'll have to get used to him," he told her. "At

 least, until I find out what his game is."

 "What?" she yelped.

 "Oh, he's a phony, all right," Brazil said. "Remem-

 ber, in the old life I was nothing much but a truck

 driver like these folks here. 1 was even delivering

 grain. Truck drivers see a little of everybody and ev-

 erything, know isolated facts about all sorts of things

 from the people they run into. They knew where our

 flying companion's home hex was. It's nine hexes north-

 northwest of here—almost exactly the opposite direc-

 tion to the way we're going, at least the wrong point on

 aV."

 "Now who's getting nervous?" she retorted. "He

 could be going someplace on business. He certainly

 hasn't told us much about what he does."

 "I know what he does," Brazil replied evenly. "One

 of the other drivers saw him flying south, toward Dillia,

 two days ae;o."

 "So?"

 "He was coming to meet us, Wuju. He stayed at that

 roadhouse knowing we'd have to come that way to get

 to Czill. He almost missed us in the storm, but we man-

 aged to blunder into him anyway."

 "Then let's get away, Nathan. Now. He might—kill

 us, or kidnap us, or something."

 "No," he said thoughtfully. "Nobody goes that far

 out of his way to kill somebody. You just hire it done

 and that's that. [f it's kidnap, it's the same gang that

 got Vardia and Skander, and if we joined it would

 solve one of my problems. But I smell something dif-

 ferent here—f don't think he's one of their side, who-

 ever they are."

 "Then he's on our side?" she asked, trusting his

 judgment.

 Nathan Brazil turned over on his towels and

 yawned. "Baby, you better remember now that the

 only side anybody's ever on is his own."

 He slept far better than she that night.

 Cousin Bat, looking tired, woke them up in the

 morning, but it was hours before they got a ride, and

 they made poor time. Brazil was plainly worried.

 "I'd hoped to get to the border before nightfall," he

 174

 told them, "so we could see what was what tomorrow.

 Now, we won't get there until midday, and not really

 in until nightfall."

 "That suits me," the bat replied. "And both of you

 can make do in the dark. 1 suggest we make the bor-

 der, look over the terrain, but not enter until darkness

 falls. Better to keep to the dark for movements."

 Brazil nodded approval. "Yeah. At least that'll put

 the Murnies on the same footing, and with your eyes

 we ought to be able to even out the odds."

 Wuju looked alarmed. "What are the Murnies?" she

 asked.

 "I see we've got the same information," Cousin Bat

 said. "The Murnies are the folk of Murithel, of which

 we have over three hundred kilometers to traverse.

 They are a nasty bunch of carnivorous savages that

 seem to be half-plant and half-animal. They'll try to

 eat anything that doesn't eat them."

 "Can't we go around them, then?" she asked, ap-

 palled at the idea of crossing such a land.

 "No," Cousin Bat replied. "Not from here. An arm

 of the ocean comes in to the east, and from what

 I've heard of the Pia we'll take the Murnies on dry

 land. To go up the other way we'd go through

 Dunh'gran, a land of nicely civilized flightless birds,

 but then we'd have to cut through Tsfrin, where the

 giant, crablike inhabitants are quite antisocial—not

 to mention armor-plated—and down in through

 Alisst, about which I know nothing. Not to mention

 about fourteen hundred kilometers."

 "He's right, Wuju," Brazil said. "We'll have to try

 to sneak through the Murnies."

 "Any weapons?" Cousin Bat asked.

 "I've got a light-pistol," Brazil told him. "In the

 pack, there."

 "No good," the bat replied. "Nontechnological hex,

 Those great weapons are never any use where you

 need them."

 Brazil rooted around in the pack and pulled out a

 gleaming short sword. Looking at Wu Julee, he

 asked, "Remember this?"

 "It's that Corn girl's!" she exclaimed. "So'that's

 175

 what that damned thing was that kept hitting me on

 the side! How in the world did you wind up with it?"

 "It was left in Serge's office at Zone," he reminded

 her. "I went back there a few days after arriving in

 my home hex. I found the Zone Gate, dodged

 Ambreza guards, and Jumped in, managing to get

 word to Ortega before those giant beavers made me

 into a domesticated pet. Old Serge gave it to me. Said'

 it might come in handy. Ever used one?"

 She looked at it strangely. "I—I don't think I've

 ever even killed a bug. 1 don't know if I could."

 "Well, you'll have to find out now," he told her.

 "Your arm muscles and speed make it a better weapon

 for you than for me."

 "What will you use, then?" she asked.

 "Five thousand safety matches and a can of flam-

 mable grease," he replied cryptically. "You'll see.

 What about you. Cousin Bat?"

 "Carrying a weapon would keep me off-balance,

 but I can always pick and drop rocks," the creature

 replied. "Besides, my teeth and my airborne punch are

 extremely effective."

 "Okay, then," Brazil nodded, reasonably satisfied.

 "We're as good as we're gonna get. Remember, our

 best hope is no fight at all—to sneak through and

 that's that."

 Wuju took the sword and tried a few awkward

 thrusts. She didn't look sure or confident. "What—

 what do I aim at if I have to use it?" she asked un-

 certainly.

 "The head's always the best," Cousin Bat told her.

 "Even if it isn't the brain, at least it's the eyes, nose

 —things that matter. A second choice is the genitals, if

 any."

 No roads led to the Murithel border, and they had

 to walk the last several kilometers in the dark.

 "We'll stay on this side through tomorrow," Brazil

 said tensely. "Then, near sundown, we'll go."

 They spent the night talking, except for an hour

 or so when Cousin Bat left for his nightly feeding.

 Brazil tried to keep Wuju awake most of the night,

 176

 so they would sleep the following day, but well be-

 fore the night was half over she had succumbed.

 He decided to let her sleep, and spent the earlier

 hours talking to the bat. The creature was easy to

 talk to, but gave little useful information and rather

 glib lies.

 Brazil resisted the temptation several times to come

 right out and ask Cousin Bat who he really was and

 what he wanted, but never quite got to the point of

 doing so.

 Both finally were asleep by morning.

 Wuju was up first, of course, but she didn't stray

 far from them. Brazil slept until almost midday, and

 Bat finally had to be awakened later on when he

 showed every sign of sleeping until dark.

 Murithel was clearly visible from their camp. It

 didn't look very menacing; in fact, it looked beauti-

 ful.

 Brazil had one of those uneasy memories again.

 He remembered a place long vanished and forgot-

 ten. He'd been standing on a barren hill overlooking

 some rough but scenic landscape. A couple of thou-

 sand meters from that hill ran a line of trees lending

 color to the landscape. What he could see of Murithel

 reminded him of that long ago day, and gave him

 the same feelings, for the river that had fed those

 trees was something called the Little Bighorn, and a

 few years before he had seen it, others had as well.

 He bet that that landscape had looked as quiet and

 peaceful as this one did to that general who came into

 primitive territory.

 How many Indians are behind those rocks and

 trees? he asked himself.

 The landscape was formed of low. rocky moun-

 tains and rolling hills, some made up of bright orange

 rock eroded into strange and eerie patterns. Others

 were more a dull pink, with clumps of trees here and

 there and grass on the tougher portions. A line of

 trees betrayed a small river or stream off to their

 left. The sky was cloudy and the sun reflected strange

 shadows off the landscape.

 177

 "I think it's beautiful," WuJu said. "But it looks so

 strange. Even the sky seems to be a lighter blue,

 with yellows and greens in it. But it's so rough and

 rugged—how will we know that we're going the right

 way?"

 "No problem on a clear night," Brazil replied.

 "Just head toward the big, bluish-orange neb'Ula.

 Looks as if it's clouding up in there, though."

 "I agree," the bat put in, concern in his voice.

 "We might have some rain. Bad for navigation, bad

 for flying if need be. It'll slow us down."

 "But it'll also keep the Murnies down," Brazil

 pointed out. "If we get rain, we keep going as long

 as it's possible. The Slongornians say that that low

 pinkish range of hills with the little bit of green goes

 pretty much northeast for almost half the distance.

 I'd say we get to it and follow it. Looks as if there

 may be caves and shelters there, too."

 The bat nodded approval. "1 agree. If I were to

 live in such a place, I'd make my camps and villages

 along river and stream courses, on the flats but in

 defensible positions. If we stay away from such places

 unless absolutely necessary, we might Just make it."

 "As close to sunset as possible, I want you to re-

 connoiter the area from the air," Brazil told Cousin

 Bat. "I want to know as much about what's in there,

 reasonable paths and the like, before we go." He went

 over and pulled the sword out of the pack, and

 changed his shirt to the long-sleeved one with gloves.

 With Bat's help, they tore the shirt he had been wear-

 ing, twisted and tied it to make a makeshift scabbard

 fixed around Wuju's neck and draped to one side

 so all but the hilt was in the shirt.

 "That ought to hold," he said with satisfaction,

 "if the sword doesn't tear through the material and

 if you remember to hold the cloth when taking out

 the sword." Next he removed a small, battered tin and

 took out something that looked like oily grease.

 "What's that?" she asked, curious.

 "Slongornian cooking fat," he replied, applying the

 stuff to his face and neck. "Something in it is like a

 178

 dye. Bat's black and you're brown, but my light skin

 will be a giveaway in close quarters. I want to be

 able to blend in."

 Satisfied, they settled back to wait for sundown.

 The Barony of Azkfru,

 Akkafian Empire

 VARDIA REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS SLOWLY. EVEN WITH

 the aid of what looked like a sunlamp, it was almost

 half an hour before she could make any movement

 at all.

 The Umiau she knew as Cannot groaned softly.

 With great effort she turned lier head ? little and saw

 that the mermaid was having a similar struggle to

 regain muscle movement.

 "Son of a bitch!" the Umiau swore in Confederacy

 plain talk.

 She would have gasped had she the physical equip-

 ment for it. She recognized the dialect at once. though

 she hadn't heard it since she was in Ortega's office in

 Zone.

 "You—are—from—the—Confederacy," she man-

 aged, the voice sounding strangely distant and fuzzy.

 "Of course," the mermaid growled. "That's what

 all this is about. I am Elkinos Skander."

 Vardia stretched and flexed, feeling far surer of

 herself with every passing moment.

 The Umiau stared at her for a moment, a puzzled

 frown on her face. "You mean you really haven't any

 idea about what's going on?"

 Vardia shook her head. "No, nothing."

 Skander was thunderstruck. It simply hadn't oc-

 curred to her that anyone hadn't known at least part

 of the story. "Look," she began, "you're Vardia, right?

 You came in with that party from Dalgonia?" She

 179

 nodded, and the mermaid continued. "Well, I came

 in a few weeks ahead of you."

 Now it was Vardia's turn to be astonished. "Then

 you—it was your tracks we followed!"

 "Indeed they were!" Skander replied and proceeded

 to tell her the entire story—the discovery, the open-

 ing of the gate, even the murders. Only the point of

 view had changed on the latter.

 "I returned to the camp instead of staying on sta-

 tion," Skander lied. "By the time I arrived, this

 rascal Varnett had already killed them. There was

 no way out, no chance of holding him off, so I made

 for the Gate. I hadn't any real idea where it would

 take me, or if it would kill me; but I was being

 chased by a madman. I had no choice. When I ar-

 rived, the Gate had not yet opened, and Vamett

 caught me. We struggled—he was much younger,

 but I was in far better condition—and the Gate

 opened beneath us."

 He went on and told how they were separated, in-

 terrogated for several days, and finally allowed to

 pass through the same Gate she had gone into. "I don't

 know what happened to Varnett," Skander finished.

 "I woke up a Umiau and damned near drowned

 those first few hours. The Umiau spotted me and I

 was taken immediately to government Center by two

 police. They kept me locked up until I normalized,

 and while there I was apprised of the unique situa-

 tion here and of my own new situation. When I

 heard about the Center and the contacts with your

 people, we decided to strike a bargain—me with my

 new people, and my people with yours—to solve the

 problem of this planet once and for all and," the mer-

 maid concluded, with a strangely fiery look in her

 eyes like those of a religious fanatic, "whoever does

 solve it will control this world at the very least, and

 perhaps all of them."

 "But none of our people has ever sought power,"

 she objected.

 "All people seek power," Skander replied firmly.

 "Few, however, are ever given the opportunity to

 grab it."

 180

 "I still can't see my people wanting to rule the

 world or whatever," she said stubbornly. "Perhaps

 yours, but not mine."

 Skander shrugged. "Your people are a mystery to

 me, just as mine would be to yours. Maybe they only

 wanted to add the ultimate knowledge. Maybe they

 still wouldn't have done it, but for one factor."

 "Which is?" she asked, still unwilling to accept

 what she was hearing.

 "Varnett, of course. He's out there; he has the same

 formulae I do for contacting the brain, and he's at

 least as smart, perhaps smarter than myself. We

 couldn't take the chance. If anyone was to break the

 final puzzle and control the brain of this world, it

 would better be the Umiau—and the Czillians, o£

 course," the scientist added hastily.

 "So how did we come to this?" Vardia asked, wav-

 ing her tentacles around at the barren dirt chamber

 with its incongruous electrical outlet.

 "Because I was stupid," Skander replied harshly.

 "Someone found out who I was—how I don't know.

 But our ambassador at Zone got a warning that some-

 one was out to kidnap me, and so I cleared out and

 lay low for several weeks. I relied on the fact that

 most species can't tell individuals of another species

 apart. I came back. eventually, using a colleague's

 name and office, and tried to complete the last few

 days' work. That's why we were pushing it around

 the clock. I'd already solved half the puzzle and hoped

 I could crack the rest. 1 even had you transferred up

 —not for what you were doing, but because I could

 talk conversationally to you about the Dalgonian

 Gate and your own experiences."

 Now she was really puzzled. "Why would my ex-

 periences be any different than yours?"

 "Because the Gate should have closed behind us!"

 Skander exclaimed excitedly. "We—Varnett and I—

 opened it when we cracked the code. Our minds

 opened it. But there's no reason why the thing re-

 mained active—if it has. The resupply ship should

 have been in shortly after you and gone through the

 same motions—-then most of them should have ar-

 rived here."

 181

 Vardia thought back, and told about the strange

 emergency signal.

 "'Another funny thing. I hadn't really thought

 about it, but—"

 "Go on!" Skander prompted. "What was it?"

 "I—I'd swear that your two ships vanished—just

 weren't there—before the Gate opened."

 The Umiau was suddenly very excited. "Vanished!

 Yes, that would explain it! But, tell me, who else was

 in your party? I glanced at the information but didn't

 pay much attention at the time."

 "There was a big, ugly fat man, I don't remember

 his name," she recalled, straining. It all seemed so

 long ago. "He turned out to be a sponge merchant—

 and he had this girl, Wu something, who was all

 fouled up on the stuff."

 "No one else? Wasn't there a pilot?"

 "Oh, yes, Nathan Brazil. A funny little man no big-

 ger than I was. But old—his pilot's license was pre-

 Confederacy!"

 Suddenly Skander laughed and rocked back against

 the wall on her long fish's tail, clapping her hands

 once in amusement-

 Vardia didn't understand at all and said so.

 "They've kidnapped the wrong person!" the Umiau

 replied, still chuckling.

 "That's very interesting. Dr. Skander, but where

 does that leave us?" came a weird, unearthly yet

 quiet voice that seemed to be made up of pulses and

 chimes, although both kidnap victims understood every

 word. They both turned, as The Diviner and The

 Rel glided out of a nook hidden in shadows-

 "What the hell are you?" Skander said, more in

 wonder than in fear.

 "We are, I'm afraid, behind your rough treatment

 and discomfort," The Rel replied.

 "You're not from around Czill," Vardia observed

 almost accusingly. "Nothing like you is related to the

 kind of life we have here."

 "We are from the Northern Hemisphere," The Rel

 explained. "However, we were obliged, upon learning

 of Dr. Skander's mission through means not worth

 182

 explaining to you, to forge an alliance. You are in

 the Akkafian Empire, on the other side of the ocean

 from Czill."

 "Those big bugs," Vardia put in. "The ones that

 came through the glass—they're not . . ."

 "They are," The Rel replied. "I fail to see why

 that should disturb you. So far we haven't found much

 difference in any of you Southern races."

 "No difference!" Vardia exclaimed, upset by the

 comment. "Why, just look at the two of us! And—

 how can you compare us to those bugs?"

 "Form doesn't matter," observed The Rel. "Only

 content. I find most of your actions and reactions

 incomprehensible, but consistent. As for tnose bugs,

 we'll have one with us for quite some time, I fear.

 I have arranged it so that we draw only the weakest

 link in this society, but it takes no deduction to assume

 that the creature will be incredibly brave and loyal

 in our defense until that final moment when we are

 at the controls of the planetary brain. Then, of course,

 it will kill us all."

 Skander opened her mouth but said nothing. The

 score was perfectly clear, except The Diviner and

 The Rel's role and side.

 "That's all very well," Vardia said at last, "but

 won't these people think of that?"

 "Oh, they will perform what is known as the

 double cross," The Rel replied casually in that same,

 even tone. "But The Diviner's talents are real. We

 will make it—all but one of us. We shall do this."

 "Which one?" Skander asked quietly.

 "I have no idea, and neither does The Diviner,"

 replied The Rel. "Perhaps it's one of you, or the

 Akkafian. Perhaps it is we, for no Diviner can foretell

 its own demise."

 They digested that awhile. Finally, Skander broke

 the new silence.

 "You say you're not like us. But here you are,

 kidnapping me, trying for the same goal as all the

 other races would if they had the chance. Power is

 still the name of the game."

 "You misunderstand us," The Rel said. "We have

 183

 power. We have powers we choose not to reveal at

 this time. We have no wish to interfere in your petty

 goals, wars, sex, politics, or anything else. Our goal

 is simply to make certain that no one ever gets into

 that control center again."

 "Well, so you say," Skander replied skeptically.

 "But the fact remains that, for now, you're our only

 hope of getting out of here and getting away from

 the bugs."

 "Remember that!" The Rel said. "I am your only

 protection. And—oh, yes, for some additional meas-

 ure of protection, I would suggest that Czillian Vardia

 change its name for the entire expedition, and that you

 both remember to use that different name. I will make

 certain that our companion does not know your iden-

 tity, either."

 "But why?" Vardia asked, particularly puzzled

 now. "Who is this companion."

 "A greatly changed and mentally preconditioned

 Datham Hain, the fat man of your party," The Rel

 told her. "It would be better if it did not know that

 one of our party knows everything about its past ac-

 tivities. Although a conditioned slave, deep down Hain

 is still Hain. I suggest you remember what it did to

 others before, what kind of person it is."

 "Oh," was all she could manage. She thought for a

 moment. "Then I'll call myself Chon, which is a

 common name in Czill, and easy to remember and

 respond to."

 "Very good," The Rel replied. "Remember it. We

 will leave as soon as possible. In the meantime, may

 I remind you of several facts. First, let me point out,

 Dr. Skander, that there is little water in this land.

 These people can move on the ground at close to ten

 kilometers per hour, up to twice that in the air; and

 they have nasty stingers. As for you, Czillian, move

 out of the sunlight and you'll root. You know that.

 That lamp is all that keeps you awake. The light here

 is not intense enough on its own to keep you awake."

 And with that it glided out the door.

 184

 Skander beat her fist on the hard ground, and Vardia

 stayed still, but the message had been received and

 understood.

 There was no escape.

 Murithel—One Hour from Dawn

 WUJU HAD SOME TROUBLE WITH THE UNEVEN, ROCKY

 ground, but they had managed to advance more than

 forty kilometers into the hex without meeting any of

 its dominant life form.

 There was a nutter of wings and Cousin Bat landed

 just ahead of them. "There's a fairly good cave with

 rock cover a little farther up," the dark one whis-

 pered. "It's a good place to make camp. There's a

 small tribe of Mumies over on the other side of those

 trees, there, but they look like a hunting party, likely

 to stay on the plains and river basin."

 Brazil and WuJu looked where the bat pointed, but

 could see nothing but pitch darkness.

 Cousin Bat led the way up to the cave. It was al-

 ready getting light when they approached it, and they

 lost no time at all in getting in. It was a good loca-

 tion, high up on the cliff atop some ancient rock slide.

 They could see for kilometers but, thanks to the shape

 of the rocks and boulders around the cave, could not

 be seen from the plain below. It was damp and had

 a small family of tiny, toadlike reptiles living there,

 but these were quickly chased. It wasn't all that deep

 a cave, but it would hide the three of them.

 "I'll take the first watch," Brazil said. "Wuju's

 dead tired now, and you, Bat, have been flying around

 half the night. All I've been doing is riding."

 They agreed, and he assured them he would call

 Wuju when he was too tired to carry on.

 Brazil took a comfortable perch near the cave

 mouth and watched the sun rise.

 185

 Still light-headed over this air, he thought. It was

 obviously quite different in composition from what he

 was used to, although he had been through worse get-

 ting to Dillia from his own ill-fated Hex 41. Much

 richer in oxygen, lower in nitrogen, he decided. Well,

 the other two had gotten used to it and he would, too,

 in time.

 The air was cool and crisp but not uncomfortable.

 Probably eighteen degrees Celsius, he thought, with

 high humidity. The threatened rainstorm still looked

 threatening, but hadn't materialized yet.

 The sun was well over the distant mountains when

 he saw his first Murnies. There they were—a small

 bunch, less than a dozen, running with spears after a

 deerlike creature. They were over two meters high, he

 guessed, although it was hard to figure at a distance.

 They were almost rectangular, a uniform light green

 in color, very thin—incredibly so, for he almost lost

 ones that turned sideways. They were kind of lumpy,

 looking at the distance something like light-green

 painted bushes. Two arms, two legs—but they melted

 into a solid when one stood straight and still.

 He was amazed that he could see some features

 from this far away. Their big yellow eyes must be

 larger than dinner plates, he thought, and those mouths

 —huge, they seemed to go completely across the

 body, exposing a reddish color when they were opened

 wide. And they had teeth—even from here he could

 see they were pointed daggers of white of a size to fit

 those mouths.

 They were sloppy hunters, but eventually they

 cornered the brownish deer-thing, surrounded it, and

 speared it to death.

 Don't they ever. throw the spears? he wondered.

 Maybe those thin, wide arms couldn't get enough

 strength or balance.

 As soon as the creature fell, they pounced upon it,

 ripping pieces of it and shoving it into their mouths,

 fighting each other to get extra bites. Those hands

 must have pretty good claws to tear like that, he

 thought.

 In just a few minutes, they had finished off the en"

 186

 tire deer-thing, which must have weighed at least 150

 kilos, he guessed. They even ate the bones. When they

 finally picked up their spears and went off down the

 plains, there was no sign of the prey they had eaten

 except a tom-up patch of dirt and grass.

 Seven days, he thought. At the rate we're going,

 seven days in their country. And that's if everything

 goes right. And there's bound to be lots more of them,

 a lot thicker group.

 No problem alone, of course. Even easier with

 Cousin Bat, whoever he worked for.

 Why the hell did I allow her to come along?

 Why had he?

 That act of courage in taking off her pressure hel-

 met in Zone? Was that what he liked in her, deep

 down?

 Pity, maybe. Certainly that had motivated him at

 the start.

 Thinking back, he kept remembering how she had

 clung to him in Zone, looked to him for support, de-

 fying Hain even that close to the end.

 What was love, anyway? he mused. She said it was

 caring, caring more about someone else than about

 yourself.

 He leaned forward and thought a minute. Did he

 really, deep down, care if the Mumies got the bat?

 He realized he wouldn't shed a tear for the creature.

 Just one more m a long list of dead associations.

 Was he going to Czill because Vardia was kidnapped?

 No, he decided, luck of the draw, really. He was go-

 ing to Czill because it was the only lead he had to

 Skander, and that project was—well, wasn't that car-

 ing?

 What's it to me if Skander takes over and remolds

 the universe in his own crazy image? He had met a

 lot of nice people, happy people, old friends and new

 acquaintances, in his long life and here on the Well

 World. He cared about them, somehow, even though

 he knew deep down that, in a pinch, they probably

 wouldn't do the same for him. Maybe it's for that un-

 known one who would, he thought. Nathan Brazil,

 ever the optimist.

 Had anybody ever cared?

 187

 He thought back, idly watching a much larger

 group of Murnies chasing a fair-sized herd of the

 deer-things. How many times had he been married,

 legally or socially? Twenty times? Thirty? Fifty?

 More?

 More, he thought wonderingly. About every cen-

 tury. Some had been nice lookers, some real dogs.

 Two of them had even been men. Had any of them

 really cared about him?

 Not one, he thought bitterly. Not one, deep down in

 their selfish little hearts. Lovers, hell. The only

 friends who hadn't betrayed him in some manner or

 the other were those who hadn't had the chance.

 Would he really care if the Murnies ate him?

 Just tired, the centaur had said. Tired of running,

 tired of jumping at every little noise,

 I'm tired, too, he thought. Tired of running no-

 where, tired of that tiny belief, often foresworn, that

 somewhere, somewhere, was someone who would

 care.

 If all that were true, why did he care about the

 Murnies? Why did he feel fear?

 The wild ports, the happy drugs, the whores and

 dives, the endless hours alone on the bridge.

 Why have I lived so long? he asked himself. Not

 aging wasn't enough. Most people didn't die of old age,

 anyway. Something else got them first.

 Not him.

 He had always survived. Banged up, bleeding,

 nearly dead thousands of times, and yet something in

 him would not let him die.

 He remembered the Flying Dutchman suddenly,

 sailing the world's oceans with a ghost crew, alone

 but for one short leave every fifty years, doomed until

 a beautiful woman would love him so much that she

 would give up her life for him-

 Who commands the Dutchman? he asked the winds.

 Who curses him to his fate?

 It's psychology, he thought. The Dutchman, Di-

 ogenes—I'm all these people. It's why I'm different.

 All those millions over the centuries who killed

 themselves when nobody cared. Not me, I'm cursed.

 I can't accept the universality of shallow self-interest.

 188

 That fellow from—what was the name of that

 country? England. Yes, England. Orwell. Wrote a

 book that said that a totalitarian society sustains itself

 by the basic selfishness of everybody. When the chips

 were down, his hero and heroine betrayed each other.

 Everybody thought he was talking of the fears of a

 future totalitarian state, Brazil thought bitterly. He

 wasn't. He was talking about the people around him,

 in his own enlightened society.

 You were too good for this dirty little world, he

 had said, but he had stayed. Why? In failure?

 Whose failure? he wondered, suddenly puzzled. He

 almost had the answer, but it slipped away.

 There was movement in back of him and he

 jumped and jerked around.

 Wuju came up to him slowly. He looked at her cu-

 riously, as if he had never seen her before- A choco-

 late brown girl with pointy ears welded to the working

 half of a brown Shetland pony. And yet it worked, he

 thought. Centaurs always looked somehow noble and

 beautiful-

 "You should have called one of us," she said softly.

 "The sun's almost straight up. I thought you were

 asleep."

 "No," he replied lazily. "Just thinking." He turned

 back to gaze over the valley, now seemingly swarm-

 ing with Murnies and deer-things.

 "About what?" she asked casually, starting to mas-

 sage his neck and shoulders.

 "Things I don't like to think about," he replied

 cryptically- "Things I hid away in little corners of my

 mind so they wouldn't bother me, although, like all

 ghosts, they haunt me even when I don't know it."

 She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I do

 love you, Nathan," she whispered.

 He got up and walked toward the back of the cave,

 patting her gently on her equine rump as he did so.

 There was a puzzled half-smile on his face, and he

 said, as he stretched out near Cousin Bat, in a voice

 so low it was really to himself, "Do you, Wu]u? Do

 you, really?"

 189

 The Barony of Azkfru,

 Akkafian Empire

 THE BARON WAS, IF ANYTHING, MORE MAJESTIC THAN

 before, and Datham Hain was at her lowest ebb, at

 the brink of suicide from weeks now in the dung pits.

 "You have your name back, now. Mar Hain," the

 baron pronounced in that godlike tone he had.

 That was a small gesture, yet to Hain it was as

 momentous as being crowned supreme ruler of the

 galaxy, for it restored a measure of her self-respect.

 It also bound the Entry all the more to the baron,

 from whom all blessings flowed.

 "I have now a task for you, of the utmost diffi-

 culty," the baron told her. "It will require loyalty and

 devotion, as well as all of your intelligence and cun-

 ning. If you fail me, you are lost forever; if you suc-

 ceed, you shall sit beside me in an honored place as

 chief concubine of, not your baron, but at the very

 least the emperor, perhaps not only of this empire."

 "You have but to instruct this humble slave and I

 will obey though there be no reward and the cost be

 my life," Hain groveled.

 I'll bet, the baron thought sarcastically. Once more

 he regretted having to trust such a one as this on so

 important a mission. Blast that Northerner! Yet, The

 Diviner had so far been a hundred percent correct on

 everything, and he dared not go against the creature,

 at least not until the final moments.

 "Listen well, Mar Hain," the baron said carefully.

 "Soon you wiil meet three aliens. You will have a

 translation device implanted so that you can follow all

 conversations. Also, two of them are Entries, and

 may be able to communicate in the nontranslatable

 tongue of your old life—so it is better if you feign

 both ignorance and stupidity whenever possible.

 190

 "You will be going on a great journey together.

 Now, here is what you are to do. . .."

 "Those filthy bugs!" Vardia, now calling herself

 Chon, exclaimed as they set her down on a road with

 the others and flew off, making irritating buzzing noises

 as they did so.

 "Let's have no racial slurs," Hain said sternly.

 "They think even less of you, and they are my peo-

 ple."

 "Come on, you two, cut it out!" Skander snapped.

 Unable to walk, they had built a saddle which left the

 mermaid perched only mildly comfortable atop Hain's

 back- "We have a long and probably difficult journey

 ahead of us. Our lives may depend on each other, and

 I don't want all this carping!"

 "Quite so," The Rel agreed. "Please remember,

 you two, that although you were kidnapped, we all

 have a common goal. Save all disputes for the time

 we reach our goal, not during the journey."

 They were at the imperial border, manned by bored

 sentries. The change in the landscape was tre-

 mendous. The arid, hilly, pinkish-gray land of the

 Akkafians ended abruptly as if there were some phys-

 ical barrier, perfectly straight, stretching from hori-

 zon to horizon.

 "All of you put on your respirators," The Rel in-

 structed, needing none for itself. They still didn't

 know if it breathed. Hain's was bulky, the great insect

 looking as if she were wearing some sort of giant,

 distorted earmuffs behind her eyes. Vardia's hung on

 a strap around her neck and was attached to her lower

 legs by two cables ending in needles which were in-

 serted in her skin. Skander's was a simple mask over

 mouth and nose, with tubes leading to a tank also on

 Hain's back. Vardia's alone contained not an oxygen

 mixture but pure carbon dioxide. There was a mech-

 anism by which the waste contents in her canister

 could be exchanged with those of Skander and Hain.

 The hex they faced was bleak enough; the sky

 showed not the various shades of blue common to

 much of the world, but an almost irritatingly bright

 yellow.

 191

 "Sound will travel, but slowly and with great dis-

 tortion," The Rel told them. "The atmosphere has

 enough trace elements to allow us to get by with such

 simple devices, but that is mostly due to seepage—the

 other hexes surrounding it naturally leak a little. We

 will be able to refresh our tanks from supplies along

 the way, but under no circumstances remove your

 masks! There are elements all about which will not

 harm your exteriors but will, nonetheless, cause phys-

 ical problems or even death if taken in great quanti-

 ties in the lungs for any period of time."

 Vardia looked out over as much of the landscape as

 the glare permitted her to see. A very jagged, burnt-

 orange landscape, filled with canyons and strange,

 eroded arches and pillars. What erodes them? she

 wondered idly. And what sort of creatures could live

 in such a hostile place? Carbon-based life? All the

 South was supposed to be, yet there could be nothing

 carbon-based about anything able to stand such a

 place.

 "Ham," The Rel instructed, "remember to keep

 your beak tightly shut at all times. You don't want to

 swallow the stuff. And, Skander, keep that blanket

 tightly on your lower parts and you'll get and retain

 enough moisture to keep you from drying up. The

 respirator's been designed that way. All set? Then,

 any last-second questions?"

 "Yes, I have a couple," Vardia said nervously.

 "What sort of creatures will we meet, and how will

 we possibly cross this place and survive?"

 "The creatures are basically autonomatons, think-

 ing machines," The Rel replied. "This is a high-

 technological hex; more so, in fact, than the one

 we've been in. The only reason they coexist is that

 the Akkafians couldn't exist here for very long, nor

 is there anything of use to them in The Nation, while

 the people of this hex would break down in an at-

 mosphere more conducive to your form of life- Come!

 We've wasted enough time! You'll see how we sur-

 vive as we go along."

 With that The Diviner and The Rel floated quickly

 across the border. Vardia, a helpless feeling inside

 192

 her, followed; and Hain and Skander brought up the

 rear.

 Skander and Vardia both had the same impression:

 as if they were suddenly in an environment of kero-

 sene. The odor permeated their bodies and pene-

 trated their breathing. The atmosphere also felt heavy,

 almost liquid; and, while invisible, it rippled against

 their bodies like a liquid, even though it was plainly a

 gas. Moreover, it burned slightly, like a strong alcohol.

 It took them awhile to get used to it.

 The Rel paced them at close to Vardia's maximum

 stride; Hain followed at the same pace, between

 eight and ten kilometers per hour. In less than an

 hour they came upon a paved road, although the

 paving stone looked like a single long ribbon of

 smoothly polished jade. And, as with most roads and

 trails in the various hexes, this one contained traffic.

 The first thought they all had was that no two deni-

 zens of The Nation were alike. There were tall ones,

 thick ones, thin ones, short ones, even long ones.

 They moved on wheels, treads, two, four, six, and

 eight legs, and they had every imaginable type of

 appendage and some not very imaginable as to pur-

 pose. Although all obviously machines of dull-silver

 metal, all looked as if they had been fashioned in a

 single stroke. No bolts, joints, or any other such were

 visible; they bent and flexed the metal like skin, and

 in any way they wanted.

 Vardia understood and marveled at this.

 Each one was made for a single purpose, to fulfill

 a single need of the society. It was built to order to do

 a job, and this it did where and when needed. It was,

 she thought, the most practical of all the societies she

 had seen, the perfection of social order and utilitari-

 anism—a blend of the best of the Comworlds' con-

 cepts with the lack of physical dependencies of the

 Czillians.

 She only wished she understood what the people

 of The Nation were doing.

 There were structures, certainly, more and more of

 them as they went on. Some were recognizable as

 buildings, although as varied and oddly shaped as

 the inhabitants of this strange land. Other structures

 193

 seemed to be skeletal, or spires, twisted shapes of

 metal, and even apparently girders of some sort ar-

 ranged in certain deliberate but baffling ways. Func-

 tionally built workmen rushed to and fro. Some were

 building, of course, but many seemed to be digging

 holes and filling them up again, while others carried

 piles of sand from one point and dumped them to

 form new piles of sand elsewhere- None of it made

 sense.

 They continued to follow The Diviner and The Rel.

 They went on through this landscape for hours with-

 out stopping and without any of the creatures taking

 the slightest notice of them. More than once, in fact,

 both Ham and Vardia had had to move out of the

 way quickly to avoid being run over by some creature

 or by the creature's load.

 They came upon a building that seemed to be

 made of the same stuff as the creatures themselves,

 but was shaped something like a large barn. The

 Diviner and The Rel surprised them by turning in at

 the building's walkway. It waited until they were all at

 the rather large sliding doorway, then glided up to a

 very large button, then back, up again, and back

 again.

 "Do you wish me to push it?" Vardia asked. The

 response sounded like garbled nonsense to her own

 ears. The Rel jumped up and down, and The Di-

 viner's lights blinked more agitatedly, and so Vardia

 pushed the button. The door slid aside with entirely

 the wrong sounds, and the strange creature that led

 them glided inside. They followed and found them-

 selves in a very large but barren chamber. Suddenly

 the door slid shut behind them, and they were in total

 darkness, illuminated only by the oddly nonillunu-

 nating blinks of The Diviner.

 They had gotten so used to the strange sensations

 produced by the atmosphere of the place that the

 gradual absence of them was almost as harsh as

 their original exposure to them.

 There were whirring, clicking, and whooshing noises

 all around them, going on for what seemed to be sev-

 eral minutes. Then, finally, an inner door slid open to

 reveal another large barren chamber, this one lit by

 194

 some kind of indirect lamps in the ceiling. They went

 in.

 "You may remove your breathing apparatuses

 now," The Rel told them clearly. "Skander, will you

 pull Mar Hain's up and off? Thank you. Now, Hain,

 can you gently—gently—remove the two tubes from

 Citizen Chon's legs? Yes, that's right."

 They all breathed in fresh air. It was stuffy, weak,

 and slightly uncomfortable to Vardia; to the others,

 it was exhilarating.

 "You'll be all right in a little while, Citizen Chon,"

 The Rel assured her. "The atmosphere is mostly pure

 oxygen, with just a trace of carbon dioxide. This will

 be added, both from our companions and artificially,

 in a little while."

 There was another hissing sound, and one of the

 metallic creatures came out of a side door that had

 been almost invisible in the back wall. It was human-

 oid, about the same height as Vardia's 150 centi-

 meters, and was featureless except for a triangular

 screen on the head.

 "I trust all is satisfactory?" it said, in a voice pleas-

 antly and unexpectedly filled with human tonality.

 It sounded, in fact, like an eager, middle-aged hotel

 clerk, far more human than The Ret's monotone.

 "The green one, there, the Czillian, is a plant, not

 an animal," The Rel told the creature. "It requires

 carbon dioxide of at least point five percent. Will you

 raise the level? It is in much discomfort."

 "Oh, I am so very, very sorry," the robot replied

 so sincerely that they almost believed it. "The matter

 is being adjusted."

 Just like that Vardia could sense a difference, grow-

 ing with every minute. She found it much easier to

 breathe, and the feeling that she was going to black

 out evaporated. Obviously these things were all linked

 together. The Czillian marveled at their efficiency,

 quietly envying their unity.

  

 "What environments do you require?" the creature

 asked.

 "Types Twelve, Thirty-one, One Twenty-six, and

 Thirteen Forty," The Rel told it. "Adjoining, with

 private intercom, please."

 195

 "It is being prepared," the robot assured them,

 and bowed slightly.

 "What sort of a place is this?" Skander asked

 sharply.

 The robot reared back, and Vardia swore that its

 featureless face had a shocked expression to match

 the tone of the reply.

 "Why, this is a first-class transient hotel, of

 course. What else?"

 One at a time they were taken to their rooms by

 small wheeled robots with place for luggage and the

 like. They put all their gear in storage, except for the

 air tanks, which were ordered cleaned and refilled,

 with particular attention to Vardia's getting the right

 gas.

 Strong hands lifted Skander gently out of the sad-

 dle and onto the back of one of the carts. The scientist

 found herself traveling at high speed down a lighted

 tunnel, and deposited next to a room with no apparent

 exterior markings. It opened automatically, and the

 cart glided inside and stopped.

 Skander was amazed. It was a swimming pool,

 with a dry slope going gently down into blue water

 which became deeper and deeper as it went toward

 the back of the room—the pool was perhaps fifteen

 meters long by about ten wide. In the water, clearly

 visible, were several small fish of the kind the Umiau

 liked the most, and clumps of the blue-green seaweed

 that was the other staple of their diet.

 Skander rolled off and happily plunged into the

 water. It was only about four meters deep at its deep-

 est point, but it felt wonderful.

 The little cart left, the door closing behind it. It

 returned for Hain, who was too large for it. Another

 cart appeared in seconds, and the two, working in

 concert, took Hain down the same tunnel to the next

 door, which was furnished in the wgrt fur of the best

 nobles and was stocked with a nice supply of the

 juicy white worms.

 Next, Vardia was taken to a room that had a rich

 black soil and good artificial sunlight. The room even

 had a chain dangling from its center, labeled, in

 196

 Czillian, Pull for darkness. All guests awakened in

 eight hours after darkness pulled or twelve hours after

 occupancy. There was a small pool of clear water in

 the corner, and even a small desk with paper and pen.

 She guessed from her own surroundings what the

 others' must be like, and only wished she couid see

 The Diviner and The Rel's room. That would almost

 certainly tell more about the mysterious creatures

 than anything seen so far.

 There was a mild crackling sound in their rooms,

 and then The Rel's odd, toneless voice came to the

 other three.

 "Please enjoy this night at the baron's expense," it

 said. "Tomorrow I shall arrange transportation for us

 which will take us to the border. We shall not have

 such pleasant and easy accommodations after this,

 so enjoy it. After tomorrow, things get tough."

 Vardia took a long drink and then sank her roots

 into the rich soil that felt incredible, indescribable.

 With a feeling of total well-being, she turned off the

 lights.

 Skander was the last to sleep, since the Umiau had

 been cooped up in the saddle harness and was enjoy-

 ing the freedom of the waters. At last she, too,

 crawled up the bank and pressed the light switch on

 the wall-

 Each of them slept soundly (except possibly for

 The Diviner and The Rel, who didn't seem to need

 it—the others weren't sure), and all were awakened

 not only by the automatic turning on of the lights but

 by the voice of The Re).

 The creature conveyed emotion for the first time,

 not by tone but by the sharp, fast, excited way it

 spoke. "Something is terribly wrong!" it told them.

 "We are being detained for some technicality! We

 cannot leave today!"

 "Do you mean," Skander's voice came to all of

 them in a tone of almost total disbelief, "that we're

 under arrest?"

 "It would seem so," replied The Rel. "I cannot

 understand it."

 197

 Murkhel— Somewhere in

 the Interior

 "WE'RE IN SOME KIND OF TROUBLE," NATHAN BRAZIL

 said half under his breath.

 For three days now they had moved along the

 rocky mountain ledges, mostly under cover of dark-

 ness guided by Cousin Bat's exceptional night vision

 and inbred sonar. They had passed hundreds, per-

 haps thousands of the bloodthirsty Mumies, often

 coming close to their villages in the dark, quietly

 working around their dulled campfires.

 They had been exceptionally lucky, and they knew

 it. But now they had run out of mountains.

 The mountains—hills, really—ended abruptly in a

 jagged cliff, stretching off at an angle away from the

 direction they had to go. Ahead, toward the east, flat,

 unbroken prairie spread out to the horizon.

 The land was still dry this time of year, yet yellow

 grasses topped with pinkish blossoms carpeted the

 prairie. Also covering the plains were herds of thou-

 sands, perhaps tens of thousands, of the antelope

 that were the Murnies' staple diet.

 Murnie camps also dotted the plains, in small

 groups of three or four skin tents, never more than

 seven groups in a bunch, arranged in a circle.

 Even as Brazil looked at the scene, appreciating

 their position, something, some wrongness ahead of

 him, nagged at his mind.

 "How the hell are we ever going to get through

 them?" Wuju asked nervously. "We can't fight them

 all, even in the dark."

 "Well, let's camp here for the day," Cousin Bat

 suggested, "and tonight I'll take a trip across and see

 how far we really have to go to reach cover. Maybe

 you'll think of something by the time I get back."

 198

 They agreed it was the only thing they could do, so

 they carved out a niche in the rocky ledge and tried

 to sleep, first Brazil on guard, then Bat, and finally

 Wuju. The sequence was almost a routine by now.

 Nathan Brazil was dreaming more of his strange

 dreams when he felt hands gently shaking him. "Na-

 than!" Wuju whispered urgently. "Wake upi It's al-

 most dark!"

 He got up and tried to shake the sleep, from his

 eyes. He was dizzy and upset from the small amount

 of food he had allowed himself from the dwindling

 supply in the packs. The deprivations were taking

 their toll on him. Wuju had it almost as bad, since

 there was precious little grass on the trail for one of

 her bulk. Yet she had never complained.

 They all smelled like concentrated sweat and feces,

 and Brazil wondered idly if Murnies had good

 smellers. With no baths for three days and only

 leaves for toilet paper, he was certain that, in reverse

 circumstances, he could smell his party five kilometers

 upwind.

 Cousin Bat was already waiting for the sun to sink

 completely behind them. Brazil went up to him

 quietly.

 "You ready. Bat?" he asked the night creature.

 "Not bad," came the reply, "The wind's wrong. If

 that plain's too broad I might have to come down at

 least once. I don't like that."

 Brazil nodded. "Well, I want you to land if possi-

 ble, or at least skim close enough to get me a handful

 of those weeds."

 "Got something in mind?" the other asked.

 "Maybe," he replied. "If we're lucky—and if we

 don't have to run to the border."

 "I'll see what I can do," the bat replied dryly.

 "We've got to clear this bunch in one sweep, you

 know. Once committed, we'll have no place to

 hide."

 Brazil looked at the creature strangely. "You know,

 I can't quite figure you out," he said.

 "What's to figure?" Bat replied. "It's my neck, too,

 you know."

 199

 "Why not just fly over and away? You might not

 make it all the way in a stretch, but you could pick

 your own places. Why stick with us?"

 The bat gave that ratty smile, exposing those triple

 rows of sharply pointed little teeth.

 "To tell you the truth, I thought about it a number

 of times, particularly in the last few days. It's ex-

 tremely tempting—all the more so now—but I can't

 do it."

 "Why not?" pumped Brazil, puzzled.

 The bat thought for a minute. "Let's just say that,

 once before, I was in a position to help some people

 I knew were in danger. I don't want more people on

 my conscience."

 "We all have our crosses to bear," Brazil said in an

 understanding tone. "Myself more than most."

 "It boils down to more than just conscience,

 Brazil," responded Cousin Bat eainestly. "I've known

 some other men. They, like me, wanted power,

 wealth, fame—all the reasons for striving. They'd lie,

 cheat, steal, torture, even kill for those. I want these

 things, too, Brazil, but what more right do I have to

 them than they? Perhaps, though I don't know for sure,

 the fact that they would abandon you and I would not

 makes me superior to them. I'd like to think so."

 And with that, as the last rays of the sun disap-

 peared behind the rocks to the west, Cousin Bat took

 off into the dark.

 A few seconds later, WUJU sidled up behind Brazil.

 "What a strange man," she said wonderingly.

 He gave a mirthless chuckle. "Bat, you mean? He

 let his guard down more there than I'd expected. It's

 the most personal thing we've gotten in all these days.

 But, no, strange is not the correct word for him. Un-

 usual, perhaps, even uncommon. If he was telling the

 complete truth there, he's also a good friend, a partic-

 ularly nasty enemy—and, quite possibly, one of the

 most potentially dangerous men I've yet met on this

 planet."

 She didn't understand what he was talking about

 but didn't pursue it, either. Something much more im-

 portant was on her mind.

 "Nathan," she asked softly, "are we going to die?"

 200

 "I hope not," he replied lightly, trying to break

 the mood. "With luck—"

 "The truth, Nathan!" she interrupted. "What are our

 chances?"

 "Not good," he responded truthfully. "But I've been

 in spots as bad or worse in my long life. I survive,

 Wuju. I—" His voice broke off abruptly, and he

 averted his eyes from hers. She understood, and there

 were small tears in her eyes.

 "But the people around you don't," she finished.

 "That's it, isn't it? That's your cross. How many

 times have you been a lone survivor?"

 He looked out into the darkness for a minute. Then,

 without turning, he said, "I can't count that high,

 Wuju."

 Cousin Bat returned in a little over an hour. Brazil

 and Wuju were doing something Just inside the shelter,

 and he was curious.

 They looked up from their work as he approached,

 and Brazil asked the simple but all-important ques-

 tion: "Well?"

 "Five kilometers, give or take," the bat replied

 evenly. "Before you get any farther there's a steep

 drop to a river valley, mud sides with slow, shallow

 water. It's barely flowing."

 Brazil seemed to brighten at the news, particularly

 of the river's speed and shallowness. "Can we get a

 straight run, more or less?" he asked.

 The bat nodded. "Once we get down, I'll position

 you and point you in the right direction. I'll stay over

 you once you get started to keep you on the right

 track."

 "Good! Good!" Brazil enthused. "Now, what about

 the antelope?"

 "Tens of thousands of them," the other replied.

 "Together in big groups. Nothing too near us, though."

 "Excellent! Excellent!" Brazil seemed to get more

 excited with every word. "And now the clincher—did

 you get some of that grass?"

 Cousin Bat turned and walked back to where he

 had landed, picking up a clump of straw with one

 201

 foot. Holding it, he hobbled back to them and dropped

 the grass at Brazil's feet.

 The man picked it up expectantly, feeling it, even

 biting it. It was somewhat brittle, and gave a slight

 snap when it was bent too far.

 "Just out of curiosity, what are you doing?" the bat

 asked.

 Brazil reached down into a pouch and removed a

 small handful of the tiny sticks inside.

 "Safety matches," he explained. "Haven't you no-

 ticed it, or thought about it, you two? Haven't you

 seen out there on the plain?"

 They both looked at him with blank expressions.

 "I haven't seen anything except antelope, Murnies,

 and grass," said Wuju, trying to think.

 "No! No!" Brazil responded, shaking Ms head

 animatedly. "Not what you see! What you don't see!

 Look out there into the darkness! Tell me what you

 see."

 "Nothing but pitch darkness," Wuju said.

 "Nothing but sleeping antelope, Mumies, and

 grass," Bat said.

 "Exactly!" Brazil said excitedly. "But what you

 don't see, anywhere out there, is something we've seen

 in every Mumie camp we've passed up to this point."

 They still didn't see it, and he continued after a

 pause. "Look, why do the Murnies build campfires?

 Not to cook their food—they eat it raw, even live. It's

 because they think this is cold! And to protect them-

 selves from the dog packs at night, of course. It

 must be very important to them or we wouldn't have

 seen the campfires so consistently. But there are no

 fires out there on the plains! No dots of light, no

 sparks of any kind! And the riverbed's wide but slow

 and shallow is it flowing. You see what it means?"

 "I think I do," Wuju replied hesitantly. "It's the dry

 season. Out there on the grasslands, the danger of a

 brushfire exceeds their fears of the dogs or their desire

 for warmth."

 "It must be like a tinderbox out there," Brazil

 pointed out. "If they are afraid of any fire at all, it

 must be so dry that anything will set it off. If the

 wind's right, we can make things so hot for them down

 202

 there that the least thing they'll be concerned about is

 us."

 "Wind's about as right as you can get," the bat said

 quietly.

 "Okay, then," Brazil responded. He removed all

 his clothes, and jumped, stark naked, up on Wuju's

 back, his back against hers. He pulled the shin around

 his chest just under his armpits. "Take the ends on

 both sides, Wuju, and tie them tight around you. Nol

 Pull it tight, damn it! As tight as you can! Yes, that's

 better." Next the stretchy pants were pulled around

 his waist and tied in front of her. It was several min-

 utes before he was satisfied that he was solidly at-

 tached to her, riding backward. Tied just in front of

 him were the packs, the two pouches full of safety

 matches within easy reach. Then he applied the rest

 of the Slongomian cooking fat to as much of his ex-

 posed parts as he could. It was a sloppy job, but it

 would do in the dark.

 Cousin Bat nodded approvingly. The two men

 looked at each other wordlessly, and the bat turned

 and started down the rocky ledge. Wuju followed,

 Brazil cursing to himself at his inability to see any-

 thing ahead of them, thinking he forgot something,

 and feeling with every step that he was slipping off

 even though the knots remained secure.

 "Stop!" he yelled suddenly, and everyone froze.

 "Your hair, Wuju! Tie it down. Use the scabbard—

 you have to hold the sword anyway. I don't want to

 set it on fire or have it blowing in my face."

 She did what he asked silently, draping her hair

 forward and over her left breast so it wouldn't in-

 terfere with the sword in her right hand. Now Brazil

 was roped in three ways, and he felt as if he were cut

 in pieces. Which was just the way he wanted it.

 They had gone over the plan many times, but he

 was still nervous. Wuju could sprint at more than

 thirty-five kilometers per hour, but that was just for

 short distances. She would have to go all out for over

 five kilometers, then down into a ditch, and keep run-

 ning as long as she could.

 203

 Cousin Bat took off and circled for what was only

 a minute but seemed to be an hour. Finally they

 heard him come up behind them. "Now!" the flying

 creature ordered. "Go!"

 Wuju took off across the plains at full speed-

 Brazil watched the grasses disappear behind her

 and held onto the pack for dear life. He was sitting

 on a bony place and being bounced around for alt he

 was worth. Although it was a clear night and he had

 excellent night vision, Brazil already could not see the

 rocky hills they had left.

 Come on, Wuju! he thought tensely to himself.

 Keep going!

 "Turn slightly right." Bat's voice came from some-

 where above, and she did as instructed. "Too much!"

 She heard the bat's voice, probably Just two or three

 meters above her head: "That's it! Now straight!"

 Brazil panicked as he felt the upper bindings loosen,

 and he grabbed ali the harder on the pack sides.

 And still she roared ahead at top speed! He could

 hear her take sobbing breaths and feel her horselike

 half inhale and exhale mightily, but still they went on.

 We're going to make it! he thought excitedly. If I

 can only hold on to this goddamn pack for a few

 more minutes, we'll be through them before they re-

 alize what happened!

 Suddenly the knots from the top two bands broke,

 sending the elastic clothing into the night and propel-

 ling him forward, headfirst, into the pack.

 "Nathan!" he heard her call breathlessly at the

 break and jerk.

 "I'm all right!" he called back. "Keep going!"

 Suddenly there were sounds around them, grunts,

 groans, and yells.

 "Nathan!" she screamed. "They're ahead of us!"

 "Run right at them at top speed!" he yelled. "Slash

 with your sword!" He grabbed at the matches, struck

 several against the hard leather straps. They flared,

 but immediately went out because of the wind caused

 by her rapid movement.

 Suddenly she was heading into them, and they were

 roaring and clawing at her. She knocked the first sev-

 eral down and found, to her surprise, that the sword

 204

 seemed to slice into them like butter. Once, twice

 more, she slashed at them, and they screamed in deep

 agony and clutched at wounds.

 And then she was through theml

 "Any ahead?" Brazil yelled.

 "Not yet," came Bat's voice. "Keep going!"

 "There's plenty behind us!" Nathan called. "Slow

 down to a gallop so I can get at least one match lit!"

 Wuju slowed and he tried again. They stayed lit in

 his hands, but went out before they hit the ground.

 "Brazil!" Bat's voice called urgently. "A whole

 bunch of them! Coming up fast to your right!"

 Suddenly a group of six or seven came at them out

 of the grasses. Nathan felt a searing pain in his right

 leg. One Murnie jumped and hit Wuju's backside,

 tearing a deep gash in her Just in front of the pack.

 She screamed, stopped, and reared, slashing out at

 them with her sword.

 Brazil hung on somehow, and tore off one of the

 pouches of matches with strength that surprised him.

 He struck one and threw it into the pouch. The

 matches caught with a whoomph and he threw the

 pack out onto the grass.

 Nothing for a minute, and she bolted for the

 Mumies at an apparent opening. They had formed a

 hunting circle and their spears were ready.

 They expected the charge, but their traditional ways

 didn't allow for their quarry to have a sword, and

 the formation broke.

 Suddenly the whole world caught fire.

 The suddenness and volatility was what stunned

 them all.

 My god! Brazil thought suddenly. It's as if the stuff

 were made of cellulose!

 He could see Cousin Bat, saw the creature come

 down on a Mumie and kick with those powerful,

 handlike feet rolled up as fists- The giant green savage

 went down and didn't move.

 The whole world suddenly became bright. Ahead

 she saw the stream valley, like a crack in the land.

 The Mumies started running and screaming. The

 205

 antelope panicked and ran in all directions, trampling

 many Murnies underfoot to get away.

 She jumped into the ravine, and the momentum

 and steep sides caused her to lose her balance. She

 went sprawling down the hill. Brazil felt himself sud-

 denly free as he was flung away onto the bank. He

 was stunned for a minute, then he picked himself up

 and looked around. There was a glow still from the

 fire above, but down in the valley there was a still,

 near-absolute darkness.

 Feeling numb and dizzy, he ran down the valley in

 the direction Cousin Bat had said the river flowed.

 He looked around for Wuju but couldn't see her any-

 where.

 "Wuju!" he screamed hoarsely. "Wu]u!" But his

 voice was no match for the riot of noise above him,

 the cries of burning animals and panicked Murnies,

 many of whom were plunging over the bank into the

 valley.

 He ran down the muddy shore and into the river

 and followed it. The rocky bottom cut his feet. But he

 was oblivious to pain, running like a scarecrow, mind-

 lessly, aimlessly down the river.

 Soon the glow and the sounds were far behind him,

 but still he pressed on. Suddenly he tripped and fell

 facedown in the water. He continued, crawling for-

 ward, then somehow picked himself up and started

 again.

 The fetid odor of swamp mud was all around him

 and all over him, yet he continued. Until, quite

 abruptly, everything caught up to him and he col-

 lapsed, unconscious before he hit the water, stones,

 and mud.

 206

 The Nation—a First-class Hotel

 THEY HAD NOT, AS IT HAPPENED, BEEN ARRES1ED.

 They had been quarantined. The way the robot man-

 ager explained it, an analysis of the particles found

 in their waste gases had revealed two of them to have

 certain microscopic life forms that could cause corro-

 sion problems in The Nation. They were, therefore,

 being held until their laboratories could check out the

 organisms, develop some sort of serum, and introduce

 it to them so they could safely get across the country

 without causing difficulties.

 For Ham this was her first real vacation since enter-

 ing this crazy world, and she lazed, relaxed, and

 seemed in no hurry to go on.

 The Diviner and The Rel accepted the situation in-

 dignantly but with resignation; it kept pretty much to

 itself.

 Since their hosts had evacuated the wing in which

 the four were staying, they were allowed to visit one

 another. Vardia was the only mobile person who cared

 to do so; she started going to Skander's room regularly.

 The Umiau welcomed the company, but refused to

 talk about her theories on the Well World or to discuss

 the object of their journey for fear that other ears were

 listening.

 "Why do we have to go through with this?" Vardia

 asked the scholar one day.

 The Umiau raised her eyebrows in surprise. "We're

 still prisoners, you know," she pointed out.

 "But we could tell the management," the Czillian

 suggested. "After all, kidnapping is a crime."

 "It is, indeed," the mermaid agreed, "but that is

 also unheard of cross-hex. The fact is, these people

 don't care if we're prisoners, victims, or monsters. It

 just isn't their concern. I*ve tried."

 207

 "Then we must escape once we're back on the

 road," she persisted. "I've already seen a map—it's in

 a desk in my room. The next hex borders the ocean."

 "That won't work," Skander replied firmly. "First of

 all, we have no idea as to the powers of this North-

 erner, and I don't want to test them. Secondly, Hain

 can fly and walk faster than you, and either one of

 us is ]ust a few good mouthfuls for her. No, put that

 out of your mind. Besides, we'll not be ill-served in

 this. In the end, I have the ultimate control over us

 all, "because they can't do a thing without the knowl-

 edge I possess. They are taking me where I want to

 go and could not get myself. No, I think we'll go along

 with them—until midnight at the Well of Souls," she

 added with a devious chuckle.

 "That's about how long we'll be kept here," Vardia

 said grumpily.

 The Umiau reclined lazily in the shallow end of the

 pool. "Nothing we can do about this. Meantime, why

 not tell me something about yourself? You know all

 about me, really."

 "] really don't have much of a history before com-

 ing here," she responded modestly. "I was a courier—

 wiped clean after every mission."

 The mermaid clucked sympathetically. "But surely,"

 she urged, "you know about your world—the world of

 your birth, that is. For instance, were you born or

 hatched? Were you male or female? What?"

 "I was produced by cloning in Birth Factory Twelve

 on Nueva Albion," she said. "All reproduction is by

 cloning, using the cellular tissues of the top people in

 history of each occupational group. Thus, all Diplos

 on or of Nueva Albion were cloned from the Sainted

 Vardia, who was the go-between in the revolution sev-

 eral centuries ago. She kept contact between the

 Liberation Front on Coriolanus and the Holy Revolu-

 tionaries in reactionary Nueva Albion. Thus, I carried

 her genes, her resemblance, and her job. My number,

 Twelve Sixty-one, said I was the sixty-first Vardia

 clone from Birth Factory Twelve."

 Skander felt a sourness growing in her stomach. So

 that's what mankind has come to, she thought. Almost

 208

 two-thirds of mankind reduced to clones, numbers—

 less human than the mechs of this absurd Nation.

 "Then you were a woman," the Umiau said con-

 versationally, not betraying her darker inner thoughts.

 "Not really," she replied. "Cloning negates the need

 for sexes, and sexes represent sexism which promotes

 inequality. Depending on the clone model, develop-

 ment is chemically and surgically arrested. All glands,

 hormone production, and the like are removed,

 changed, or neutralized permanently, in my case on

 my eleventh birthday. We are also given hysterecto-

 mies, and males are castrated, so that it is impossible

 to tell male or female after the turning age. Every few

 years we were supposed to get a complete treatment

 that kept the aging processes arrested and freshened the

 body, so that one couldn't tell a fifty-year-old from a

 fifteen-year-old.'*

 Outwardly the Umiau remained impassive, but in-

 ternally Skander was so depressed that she felt nau-

 seated.

 Ye gods! the archaeologist swore to herself. A small,

 carefully bred cadre of supermen and super-women

 ruling a world of eunuch children raised to unques-

 tioning obedience! I was right to have killed them!

 Monsters like that—in control of the Well! Unthink-

 able!

 They should all be killed, she knew, hatred welling

 up inside of her. The masters who were the most mon-

 strous of spawn, and the masses of poor impersonal

 blobs of children—billions of them, probably. Best to

 put them out of their misery, she thought sadly. They

 weren't really people anyway.

 Suddenly her thoughts turned to Varnett. Same

 idea, Skander thought. Although the boy hadn't come

 from a world as far gone as Nueva Albion, it would

 go that way in time. Names disappear on one world,

 sex on another, then all get together to form a uni-

 verse of tiny, mindless, sexless, nameless organic ro-

 bots, programmed and totally obedient—but so, so

 happy.

 Vamett—brilliant, a truly great mind, yet childish,

 immature, in thousands of ways as programmed as his

 209

 cousins whom he despised. What sort of a world, what

 sort of a universe, would Varnett create?

 The Markovians had understood, she reflected.

 They knew.

 I won't betray them! she swore intensely. I won't let

 anyone wreck the great dream! I will get there first!

 Then they'll see! I'll destroy them alll

 Murithel— Somewhere in

 the Interior

 COUSIN BAT CIRCLED AROUND FEELING HELPLESS.

 Maybe I can pick him up, he thought, looking at

 Brazil's battered and bleeding body in the mud. He's

 not a very big fellow, and I've moved some pretty

 heavy rocks with these legs.

 He was about to give it a try when a group of

 Mumies came running up the valley. They got to

 Brazil's unconscious body before Bat could do any-

 thing at all, and the night creature thought, It's all

 over. They'll chomp him into pieces for a late snack

 now.

 But they didn't. Four of the savages stayed with the

 body, while two others made for the top of the valley

 and the plains above. Fascinated, Bat stayed with

 them, balancing on the air currents.

 The two returned a few minutes later with a litter

 made with tough branches for poles and, apparently,

 woven grass for the stretcher. Carefully they placed

 Brazil on the litter. One Mumie picked up the front,

 the other took the rear. They climbed the bank effort-

 lessly, and Bat followed them, still invisible in the

 dark.

 Darkness had returned to the plain as well. Bat was

 amazed to see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of

 Mumies beating a large, smoldering area about a

 thousand meters from the valley where they had

 210

 plunged- It was a well-coordinated, well-rehearsed fire

 brigade, with the bulk of the Mumies beating out the

 last sparks with skin blankets, while an apparently

 endless chain of the creatures ran a bucket brigade

 from the creek all the way to the fire scene.

 These are savages? Bat asked himself wonderingly.

 The teamwork and skillful handling of the fire he could

 not reconcile in his mind with the toothy carnivores

 who chased live prey with primitive spears and at-

 tacked them fiercely with spear and claw.

 Brazil's unmoving form was hauled into a small

 camp away from the fire scene. A particularly huge

 Mumie, his light green skin laced with dark brown,

 examined the man and started barking orders. Even

 though Bat's translator would—should—pick up what

 the big one was saying, he dared not get close enough

 to hear.

 The big Murnie got a bucket of water and started

 to wash Brazil's wounds with a gentleness that sur-

 prised the bat. Others brought a large hide case and

 a number of leaves. The big one opened the laces on

 the case, and from its interior pulled out varicolored

 jars of what looked like mud and more leaves, some

 apparently kept soaked in some solution in jars.

 Slowly, methodically, the big one administered the

 muds to Brazil's open wounds, and used the leaves to

 form a compress for the man's head.

 He's a doctor! Cousin Bat realized suddenly.

 They're treating him!

 Bat felt better, almost relaxed enough to leave, but

 he did not.

 Those wounds are tremendous, he noted. The man's

 lost huge amounts of blood, and probably has multiple

 breaks, concussion, and shock. Even if the medicine

 man knew the art of transfusion, there is none to give

 the blood.

 Brazil will be dead within hours, no matter what

 magic this creature can work. Bat realized sadly. But

 what can I do? And, if they somehow cure him—what

 then? Prisoner? Pet? Plaything? Slave?

 The Murnie medicine man gestured, and a smaller

 tribesman came into camp leading a huge stag ante-

 211

 lope. It was the largest such animal Bat had ever seen,

 light brown with a white stripe running from the back

 of the head to the stubby tail, a large set of eerie-

 looking antlers atop that head. The stag was docile,

 too much so to be normal. Bat knew. It was drugged

 or something. He saw with amazement that the deer-

 like animal wore a collar of carefully twisted skin,

 from which a small stone dangled.

 Someone owns that animal, Bat reflected. Do these

 savages of the plain breed their food?

 Into camp from different directions came five more

 Mumies, looking like the witch doctor—really large

 ones, with that curious brown discoloration, more pro-

 nounced on some than others.

 Six, thought the bat. Of course it would be six.

 Primitives went in for mystic numbers, and if any

 number had power here that one certainly did.

 They put the stag so that it faced Brazil, and all

 six moved close. Three of them placed their right

 hands on the unflinching stag, and took the right hands

 of the other three in their left. The other three all

 placed their left hands on Brazil's body.

 Bat stayed aloft as long as he could, but finally de-

 cided he had to land. He was Just coming out of the

 fight, and the exhilaration and extra pep that had

 flowed through him had waned. Reluctantly, he made

 for the valley and flew along until he found a place

 with no Mumies in the immediate vicinity. He landed,

 breathing hard, thinking of what he could do.

 In a few minutes he had his wind back, and de-

 cided on a plan that the odds said were ridiculous.

 He had to try.

 No more running, he told himself. If I can do it, I'll

 doit.

 He took off and flew back to the camp, seeing that

 he was in luck. The stag was staked to a post in the

 ground, apparently asleep, away from Brazil, who was

 covered with the mud compounds and leafy stuff, still

 in the open.

 Brazil weighed around fifty kilos, he guessed. The

 litter? Five more? Ten? I can't do it, he thought sud-

 denly, fear shooting through him. That much weight,

 for all that distance!

 212

 Suddenly he thought of the Dillian girl. He had lost

 track of her while following Brazil, but he couldn't take

 the time now. Nothing he could do in her case regard-

 less, he knew. But she had run all out, all that distance

 on the ground, never stopping, cut and speared—way

 beyond her limits, while hungry and weak.

 You've been eating well, Bat told himself sternly.

 You're as big and strong and healthy as you'll ever

 be. If she can do it ...

 Without another thought he swooped down to

 Brazil, and took one side of the litter, folding it over

 so he held both branches in his feet with Brazil

 wrapped in the middle. He took a quick glance around.

 So far so good. Now—could he take off, no ledge, no

 running start, with this load?

 He started beating his great wings furiously, aided

 by a timely gust of wind that rustled the grass across

 the plain. He rose, and beat all the more furiously.

 Too low! he thought nervously. Got to get height!

 The furious flapping brought Murnies running from

 their tents, including the big one.

 "No! No! Come back!" the medicine man screamed,

 but the wind picked up and Bat was on his way, over

 the stream and down along its course, the unconscious

 Brazil hanging from the folded litter. Cousin Bat did

 not believe in gods or prayers, yet he prayed as he

 struggled to keep up speed, height, and balance.

 Prayed he would make it to Czill and to modern med-

 icine without killing Brazil, himself, or both.

 With shock and dismay the medicine man watched

 Bat fly into the darkness.

 "Ogenon!" he called in a deep, rough voice,

 "Yes, Your Holiness?" a smaller, weaker voice re-

 plied.

 "You saw?"

 "The body of the honored warrior has been taken

 by the one who files," Ogenon responded in a tone

 that seemed to wonder why such a stupid question

 had been asked.

 "The flying one is ignorant of us and our ways, or

 he would not have done this," the medicine man said

 as much to himself as to his aide. "He flew east, so

 213

 he's taking the body to Czill. I'll need a strong runner

 to get to the border. Now, don't look at me like that!

 I know how foul the air is over there, but this has to

 be done. The Czillians must realize when they see the

 warrior's body and hear the winged one's story what

 has happened, but, if the body survives—not likely—

 they will not know of the survival of the essence. Go!"

 Ogenon found a warrior willing to make the trip in

 short order, and the medicine man instructed him what

 to say and to whom, impressing on the runner the need

 for speed. "Do the message in relays," the old one said.

 "Just make sure it is continuous and that it is not

 garbled."

 Once the instructions were given and the runner was

 off into the darkness, the large Mumie turned again to

 his aide, who was looking extremely bleary-eyed and

 was yawning repeatedly.

 "Get awake, boy'*' snapped the elder. "Now, locate

 the six-limbed creature and tell me where it is."

 "That's simple, Your Holiness," Ogenon responded

 sleepily. "The six-limbed one is under treatment at

 the Circle of Nine. I saw it being dragged there."

 "Good," the old one replied. "Now, you'll have to

 go to the Base Camp and bring an elder to me, Elder

 Grondel by name."

 "But that's—" Ogeaon started to protest, yawning

 again.

 "I know how far it is!" the big one roared. "You

 can make it there and back before dawn!"

 "But suppose the Revered Elder won't come," the

 aide wailed, trying to get out of the assignment and to

 get back to sleep.

 "He'll come," the medicine man replied confidently.

 "Just describe to him the three alien creatures we've

 had here this night, and tell him particularly of the

 honored warrior and of what has happened. He'll beat

 you here, I'll wager, even though he's eighty years old!

 Now, off with you! Now!"

 Ogenon went, grumbling about how everybody

 kicked him around and he always had to do every-

 thing.

 Once out of sight, the elder couldn't hold back his

 own yawns anymore, yet he didn't return to his tent

 214

 and mat but sat down in the, for him, very chilly night

 air-

 All he could do now was wait.

 Wuju relived the nightmare run for hours, then,

 suddenly, woke up.

 I must still be dreaming, she thought. Everything

 was fuzzy and she was feeling quite high. She couldn't

 believe what she saw.

 She was in a Murme camp, in the earliest light of

 dawn, and there were horribly loud and grotesque

 snores all around her. Sitting in front of her, arms

 around its knees, was the biggest Murnie she had ever

 seen—taller than she, and she stood over two meters.

 It was also oddly colored, on the whole a deeper

 brown than she, laced only here and there with spots

 of the light green that was the usual color of these

 strange creatures.

 From a distance they had looked like walking rec-

 tangular bushes. But here, up close, she saw that they

 had a rough skin that folded and sagged, like partially

 melted plastic, all over their body. They looked like a

 large trunk of a body with no head, she thought. The

 eyes, huge as dinner plates, were located where the

 breasts should be, and perhaps thirty centimeters be-

 low them was that enormous mouth, a huge slit that

 seemed almost to cleave the trunk in two. There was

 no sign of hair, genitals, or, for that matter, a nose and

 ears.

 The drug or whatever it was seemed to be wearing

 off more and more. This isn't a dream! she thought

 suddenly, as fear ran through her. She tried to move,

 but found her legs were all roped to stakes deep in

 the ground, and her hands were tied behind her. She

 struggled in panic to pull free, and the sound woke

 up the big brown Murnie. Its huge eyes opened, deep

 yellow with perfectly round, black irises that reflected

 the light almost like a cat's.

 "Do not struggle," the creature said to her. The

 words were mushy, as if they were uttered in the midst

 of a roar, but they were understandable. It was speak-

 ing a language it knew but its mouth was not suited

 to its use^

 215

 "I said do not struggle!" the Mumie repeated, get-

 ting up and stretching in a very human fashion. "You

 are quite safe. No one will harm you. Can you un-

 derstand me? Nod if you can."

 Wuju nodded fearfully, panic still all over her face.

 "All right, now listen well. It is difficult for me to

 speak this tongue, and I must concentrate carefuly to

 get the words out. You can understand me, but i can-

 not understand you, I don't think. Say something."

 "What—what is all this?" she almost screamed.

 The Murnie scratched bis behind with his huge,

 wide hand. The arms were almost to the ground when

 drooping by his side. "I thought so. I could not under-

 stand a word. You have no translator. You must con-

 centrate hard, like me. Think, then answer. What lan-

 guage am I using?"

 She thought for a second, then suddenly realized the

 truth. "Confederacy!" she exclaimed, amazed. "You

 are an Entry!"

 "All right, I got Confederacy but nothing else. That

 is because all Entries continue to think in their origi-

 nal tongue. What they say is automatically transformed

 in the neural passages to the language of the native

 hex. You can understand me, therefore you can speak

 it as I do if you think hard, make your mouth form

 the word you think. Take it slowly, one word at a

 time. Tell me your name and the name of your com-

 panions. Then try a simple phrase, one word at a

 time."

 Wuju concentrated, the fear and panic evaporating.

 Once this one had been one of her own kind! A po-

 tential friend she would need most of all here. As she

 started to speak she saw what he meant, and adjusted.

 "I-ahm-Wuju," she managed, and it almost sounded

 right. Her mouth and tongue wanted to make a dif-

 ferent set of words. "Moy frandiz ahar Nathan Brazil

 ind Cooseen Baht."

 "Nathan Brazil!" the big Mumie exclaimed excit-

 edly, suddenly very wide awake. The rest of what he

 said was unintelligible.

 My god! she thought. Does everybody on this crazy

 planet know Nathan?

 The Murnie suddenly frowned, and scratched the

 216

 side of his head thoughtfully. "But the other was an

 old-culture man by description," he mused, suddenly

 looking at her again with those huge yellow eyes. "You

 mean he still looked like his old self?" She nodded,

 and his great mouth opened in surprise. "I wonder

 why he wasn't changed in the Well?"

 "Whahr est Nathan?" she managed.

 "Well, that's really the problem," the Mumie an-

 swered. "You see, he's sort of in two places at once."

 He was a former freighter pilot like Brazil, the na-

 tive told her, on the line for over two hundred years,

 facing his fourth rejuve and with all his family and

 friends dead, his world so changed he couldn't go

 home. He had decided to commit suicide, to end the

 loneliness, when he got a funny distress signal in the

 middle of nowhere. He had veered to investigate,

 when suddenly his ship had seemed to cease to exist

 around him, and he had fallen into the Zone Well

 and wound up a Murnie.

 "They are good people," he told her. "Just very dif-

 ferent. They can use nothing not found in nature or

 made by hand. No machines at all. They are bisexual,

 like us—although an alien couldn't tell who was who.

 Strong families, communal, with a strong folk art and

 music—herdsmen who breed the antelope we eat.

 Very hostile to strangers, though—they would have

 killed you last night."

 "Den woi om I ailoif?" she managed.

 "You're alive," he replied, "because you killed

 about two dozen warriors, directly that is, plus the fire

 and the like."

 She didn't understand, and said so.

 "The Murnie nation accepts death naturally," he

 explained. "We don't fear it, nor dwell on it. We live

 for each day. It's far more enjoyable that way. What

 are respected most and valued most are honor and

 courage. You all displayed that last night! It took raw

 courage to run the plain, and great honor to keep go-

 ing until you dropped rather than give in. If you had

 surrendered, they would still have killed you. But they

 found both you and Brazil, badly wounded, uncon-

 »cious in different parts of the stream bed. It would

 217

 have been cowardly and dishonorable to have killed

 you. You had gained respect—so they dragged each

 of you to the camp nearest where you were found,

 and your injuries were tended to. Our medicine is

 quite advanced—this is a rough hex."

 "Nathan!" she exclaimed, "1st hay arriot?"

 "He was banged up much worse than you," the

 Mumie replied gravely. "You're going to hurt for a

 while when the herbal anesthetic wears off, but you

 have nothing more than four or five deep scratches on

 your back and a lot of bruises. We have treated them,

 but they will ache." He paused for a second. "But

 Brazil, he was much worse. I don't know how he kept

 going. It's not possible- He should be dead, or, at best,

 totally paralyzed, yet he walked almost a kilometer

 down that streambed before collapsing. What an in-

 credible will he must have! The Murnies will sing sto-

 ries of him and tell of his greatness for centuries' In

 addition to the hundreds of minor bone breaks, the

 enormous amount of blood he lost from gaping

 wounds, and a badly lacerated leg, he had a broken

 back and neck. He got a kilometer with a broken back

 and neckl"

 She thought of poor Nathan, twisted and bleeding,

 paralyzed and comatose. The thought made her sick,

 and it was several minutes and several attempts be-

 fore she could concentrate on speaking Confederacy

 again. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't

 stop crying for several minutes. The fierce-looking

 Murnie stood there feeling helpless and sympathetic.

 Finally she managed, "1st—hay ist stuli aliff?"

 "He is still alive," the Mumie replied gravely. "Sort

 of."

 "Hay ist oncun—uncrunchus?"

 "Unconscious, yes," the Murnie replied. "I said, re-

 member, that this was a rough hex that prized honor

 and courage, and had a lot of knowledge and wisdom

 within its limits. Because Murithel is totally nontech-

 nological, the inhabitants have turned, aside from

 herbal compounds and muds, to the powers of the

 mind. Some of these doctors—and they are doctors—

 have enormous mental powers. I don't understand the

 218

 powers, and I doubt if they do. These people study

 and concentrate over half their lives to develop the

 powers. By the time they're strong enough to be use-

 ful, the wise men—Holy Ones we call them—are eld-

 erly, sometimes with only a few years to live and to

 teach the next generation." He paused again, and

 started pacing nervously, trying to think of how to say

 it.

 "When Brazil was brought in so battered and close

 to death,*' he said carefully, "he was already, because

 of his tremendous courage, the most legendary char-

 acter ever to be here. The Holy One who examined

 him did what he could, but saw that death was prob-

 able no matter what. He summoned five others—six is

 a magic number here, for obvious reasons—and they

 performed a Transference of Honor. It has only been

 done three or four times since I've been here—it

 shortens the life spans of the Holy Ones by a year or

 more. They reserve it for the greatest of honor and

 courage." He stopped again, his tone changing. "Look,

 I can see you don't understand. It is difficult to explain

 such things when I don't understand it, either.

 Umm. . . . Are you a follower of any religion?"

 The idea of religion was extremely funny to her, but

 she answered gently, "No."

 "Few of us are—or were, in my day, and I'm sure

 it's worse now. But here, against these hills and on

 these plains, you learn that you are ignorant of almost

 everything. Call it mechanical, if you will, a part of

 the Markovian brian's powers, like our own transfor-

 mations and this world itself, but accept it: that which

 is us, our memories, our personality, whatever, can be

 not only transformed but transferred. Now I—stop

 looking at me like that! I am not insane. I've seen if"

 "Arrh sou stelling moi daht Nathan ist naow e

 Mumie?" she asked, unwilling to believe but unwill-

 ing to disbelieve, either. Too much had already hap-

 pened to her on this crazy world.

 "Not a Mumie," he replied evenly. "That would in-

 volve superimposing his—well, they call it his 'essence'

 —on somebody else. No, when someone's so respected

 that he rates a Transference of Honor, he is trans-

 ferred to the best thoroughbred breeding stag or doe.

 219

 Don't look so shocked—they are of such high quality

 that they are instantly recognized. No one would eat

 them, or even bother them.

 "If, then, the body can be successfully brought back

 to health—which is rare or the Holy Ones would never

 do the Transference in the first place—he is switched

 back. If not, he is revered, cared for, and has a happy

 and peaceful life on the plains."

 "Nathan est un ahntlupe?" she gasped. It was be-

 coming easier to talk, although her pronunciation was

 still terrible.

 "A beautiful pure stag," the Mumie acknowledged.

 "I've seen him. He's still drugged. I didn't want him

 coming out of that state until you and I were both

 there to explain it to him."

 "1st der—ist der unny chants dot hes boody wall

 liff?" she asked.

 "Will his body live?" the Murnie repeated. "I'm sure

 I don't know. I honestly doubt it, but I would have

 said that the Transference of Honor was more likely

 than going a kilometer with a game leg, a broken back,

 and busted neck. The outcome will depend on how

 much damage he receives beyond what's already

 done."

 Then he told her of Cousin Bat's rescue. "He obvi-

 ously could not consider us civilized or Brazil anything

 more than the victim of primitive medicine. Would

 you? So he plucked Brazil's body up and is even now

 taking it to Czill where they have a modern hospital.

 If the body survives the trip—and from what was told

 me I doubt if it survived the night, let alone the trip

 —the Czillians will know what happened. One of our

 people is getting the news to them sometime today

 just in case. They can sustain the body's functions in-

 definitely if it's still alive, though an empty vessel.

 Their computers know of the Transference of Honor.

 If they can heal the body, it can be returned here for

 retransference, but that is not something to pin your

 hopes on.

 "I said I experienced three Transferences in my

 eighty years. Of them all, none of the bodies lasted

 the night."

 220

 Nathan Brazil awoke feeling strange. Everything

 looked strange, too.

 He was on the Mumie plain, he could see that—

 and it was daylight.

 So I've survived again, he thought.

 Things looked crazy, though, as if they were seen

 through a fish-eye camera lens—his field of vision was

 a little larger than he was used to, but it was a round

 picture vastly distorted. Things around the periphery

 looked close up; but as the view went toward the cen-

 ter of the field of view, everything seemed to move

 away as if he were looking down a tunnel. The pic-

 ture was incredibly clear and detailed, but the distor-

 tion as things around the field of view bent toward the

 fixed center made it difficult to judge distances. And

 the whole world was brown—an incredible number of

 shades of brown and white.

 Brazil turned his head and looked around. The dis-

 tortion and color blindness stayed constant.

 And he felt funny, crazy, sort of.

 He thought back. He remembered the mad dash,

 the fire, falling off Wuju—then everything was dark.

 This is crazy, he thought.

 His hearing was incredibly acute. He heard every-

 thing crystal-clear, even voices and movements far

 away. It took him several minutes to sort out the chat-

 ter, finally assigning about eighty percent of it to things

 he could see.

 There were Murnies moving around, and they all

 seemed to be light brown to him, although he remem-

 bered them as green. Suddenly he heard footsteps near

 him, and he turned to see a huge Murnie that was all

 very deep brown coming toward him.

 I must be drugged, he told himself. These are after-

 effects of some drug they gave me.

 The big Murnie ambled up to him.

 I must be standing upright on a rack or something,

 he thought. I'm as tall as he is, and he's at least two

 meters, judging by his size, large compared to the run-

 of-the-Mumie crowd around.

 Two grossly distorted Mumie hands took his head,

 lowered it slightly, so the creature was looking right

 into Brazil's eyes.

 221

 The "Mumie grunted, and said, in Confederacy,

 "Ah! Awake, I see! Don't try to move yet—I want to

 let you down easy before that. No! Don't try to talk!

 You can't, so don't bother."

 The creature walked a few steps in front of him

 and sat down tiredly on the grass.

 "I haven't slept in over a day and a half," the

 Mumie said with a sigh. "It feels good just to relax."

 He shifted to a more comfortable position, and con-

 sidered where to begin.

 "Look, Nate," he began, "first things first. You

 know I'm an Entry, and I've been told I'm not the

 first one who knew you that you've run into here. It

 kinda figures. Well, if your mind can go back ninety

 years, you might remember Shel Yvomda. Do you? If

 so, shake your head."

 Brazil thought. It was an odd name, he should re-

 member it—but there were so many people, so many

 names. He tried to shrug, found he couldn't, and so

 moved his head slowly from side to side.

 "Oh, well, it doesn't matter. They call me the Elder

 Grondel now, Elder because I've lived longer than

 fifty years here and that makes for respect. Grondel is

 their name—means The Polite Eater, because I con-

 tinue to be civilized. I'm one of two people in Murithel

 who can still speak Confederacy. We would have lost

 it, except we ran into each other and practice for old

 times' sake. Well, enough of that. I guess I'd better

 tell you what happened. You aren't gonna like this,

 Nate."

 Brazil was stunned, but he accepted the situation

 and understood why they had done it and why they

 had thought it necessary. He even felt a deep affection

 for Cousin Bat in spite of the fact that he had fouled

 up the works.

 As they sat there, the last of the drug wore off, and

 he suddenly found himself free to move.

 He looked as far down as possible first, and thought,

 crazily, This is what Wuju must have seen when she

 first appeared in Dillia. Long, short-furred legs, much

 more graceful than hers, with dark hooves.

 222

 He turned his head and saw his reflection against

 the tent nearby.

 He was a magnificent animal, he thought with no

 trace of humor. And the antlers! So that's why his

 head felt so funny!

 He tried to move forward, and felt a tug. The

 Mumie laughed, and unfastened him from the stake.

 He walked around on four legs for the first time,

 slowly, just around in circles.

 So this is what it feels like to be changed, he

 thought. Strange, but not uncomfortable.

 "There are some hitches, Nate," Grondel said. "It's

 not like a transformation. The body you have is that

 of a great animal, but not a dominant species. You've

 got no hands, tentacles, or any other thing except your

 snout to pick things up with, and you've got no voice.

 These antelope are totally silent, no equipment to

 make a noise. And your only defenses are your speed

 —which is considerable, by the way, cruising at fifteen

 or more kilometers per hour, sprints up to sixty—and

 a tremendous kick with the rear legs. And the antlers

 —those are permanent; they don't shed and won't

 grow unless broken off."

 Brazil stopped walking and thought for a while.

 Arms he could do without if necessary, and the rest—

 but not being able to talk bothered him.

 Suddenly he stopped and stared at himself. All the

 time he had been thinking, he had been automatically

 leaning over and munching grass!

 He looked back at Grondel, who just was watching

 him curiously.

 "I think I can guess what you just realized," the

 Mumie said at last. "You just started munching grass

 without thinking. Right?"

 Brazil nodded, feeling stranger than before.

 "Remember—you, all of that inner self that's you

 —was transferred, but it was superimposed on the re-

 markably dull antelope brain and nervous system. Su-

 perimposed, Nate—not exchanged. Unless you directly

 countermand it, the deer's going to continue acting like

 a deer, in every way. That's automatic, and instinctive.

 You're not man into deer, you're man plus deer."

 Brazil considered it. There would be some prob-

 223

 lems, then, particularly since he was a brooder, given

 to introspection. What did a deer do? Ate, slept,

 copulated. Hmmn-i. . . . The last would cause prob-

 lems.

 There were, as Grondel had said, many hitches.

 How do I fit inside this head? he wondered. All of

 my memories—more, perhaps, than any other man.

 Weren't memories chemical? He could see how the

 chemical chains could at least be duplicated, the brain-

 wave pattern adjusted—but how did this tiny brain

 have room for it all?

 "Nate!" He heard a call, and looked up. Grondel

 was running toward him from whatever distance this

 fish-eye vision couldn't tell him. He would get used to

 it, he thought.

 He had moved. As he brooded, he had wandered

 out of the camp and over almost to the herd! He

 turned and ran back to the camp, surprised at the ease

 and speed with which he ran, but he slowed when he

 realized that the distorted vision would take some get-

 ting used to. He almost ran the Murnie down.

 He started to apologize, but nothing came out.

 The Murnie sympathized. "I don't know the an-

 swer, Nate. But get used to it before doing anything

 rash. Your body's either dead or it'll be even better

 the longer you give it in Czill. Heyl Just thought of

 something. Come over here to this dirt patch!"

 He followed the Murnie curiously.

 "Look!" Grondel said excitedly, and made a line in

 the dirt with his foot. "Now you do it!"

 Brazil understood. It was slow and didn't look all

 that good, but after a little practice he managed to

 trace the letters in the dirt with his hoof.

 "WHERE is WUJU?" he traced.

 "She's here, Nate. Want to see her?"

 Brazil thought for a second, then wrote, very large,

 "NO."

 The Murnie rubbed out the old letters so it was

 again a virgin slate. "Why not?" he asked.

 "DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT ME?" Brazil WTOte.

 "Yes. I—I told her last night. Shouldn't I have?"

 Brazil was seething; a thousand things raced through

 his mind, none of them logical.

 224

 "DON'T WANT," he had traced when he heard Wuju's

 voice.

 "Nathan?" she called more than asked. "Is that

 really you in there?"

 He looked up and turned. She was standing there,

 looking awed, shaking her head back and forth in dis-

 belief.

 "It's him," Grondel assured her. "See? We've been

 communicating. He can write here in the dirt."

 She looked down at the marks and shook her head

 sadly. "I—I never learned how to read," she said,

 ashamedly.

 The Murnie grunted. "Too bad," he said. "Would

 have simplified things." He turned back to Brazil.

 "Look, Nate, I know you well enough to know that

 you'll head off for Czill as soon as you're confident of

 making the trip. I know how you feel, but you need

 her. We can't go, wouldn't if we could. And some-

 body's got to know you're you, to keep you from stray-

 ing, and to do your talking for you. You need her,

 Nate."

 Brazil looked at them both and thought for a min-

 ute, trying to understand his own feelings. Shame?

 Fear?

 No,dependence, he thought.

 I've never been dependent on anyone, but now I

 need somebody. For the first time in my long life, I

 need somebody.

 He was dependent on Wuju, almost as much as she

 had been dependent on him in the early stages of their

 relationship.

 He tried to think up logical reasons for that not be-

 ing the case, to rationalize his feelings, but he could

 not.

 He traced in the dirt, "BUT I'M NOW BIGGER THAN

 you ARE."

 Grondel laughed and read it to her. She laughed,

 too.

 Then he wrote: "TELL HER ABOUT DEER PART."

 Grondel understood, and explained how Brazil was

 really two beings—one man, one animal—and how

 he had already lapsed into deer while thinking.

 She understood. When still, such as during the night,

 225

 he would have to be staked like a common deer to

 keep him from wandering away. And he couldn't even

 drive his own stake!

 Dependence. It grated on him as nothing ever had,

 but it had the feel of inevitability.

 He hoped fervently that his body was still alive.

 Grondel had finally collapsed in sleep and was snor-

 ing loudly in a nearby tent,

 Brazil and WuJu were alone for the first time, he

 suffering the indignity of being staked so he couldn't

 wander off.

 They had worked most of the day on his getting

 used to the body, adjusting to the vision and color

 blindness, the supersensitive senses of hearing and

 smell. The speed in his sprint amazed him and Wuju

 both. As fast as she had seemed when he was human,

 she now seemed terribly slow, ponderous, and ex-

 hausted while he was still feeling great. He also dis-

 covered that his hind-leg kick could shatter a small

 tree.

 A few things were simplified, of course. No packs

 needed now, he could eat what she ate. No drag on

 speed—he could run as fast as Cousin Bat could fly,

 maybe faster for short periods.

 If only he coutd talk! Make some sort of sound!

 Wuju looked at him admiringly. "You know, you're

 really beautiful, Nathan. I hope they have mirrors in

 Czill." She still talked mildly distorted, but Grondel

 had been forcing her to use the old language so much

 during the past day and a half that it was becoming

 easier, like a second language.

 She came and stood beside him, pressing her equine

 body against his sleek, supermuscled antelope body.

 She started to rub him, actually pet him gently.

 His mind rebelled, though he didn't try to pull away

 or stop her.

 I'm getting excited as hell' he thought, surprised.

 And, from the feel of it, there was a lot of him to

 get excited.

 His first impulse was to stop her, but instead he

 moved his head over and started nuzzling her neck

 226

 with his muzzle. She leaned forward, so his antlers

 wouldn't get in the way.

 Is it the animal, or do I want to do this? a comer

 of his mind asked, but the thought slipped away as

 irrelevant, as was the thought that they were still two

 very, very different species.

 He stroked her equine back with the bottom of his

 snout and got to the bony hind end. She sighed and

 slipped off the leash that was attached to his hind leg.

 They continued.

 This was a crazy, insane way to have sex, but the

 deer in him showed him how.

 Wuju finally had what she wanted from Nathan

 Brazil.

 Brazil awoke feeling really fine, the best in many

 long years. He glanced over at Wuju, still asleep, al-

 though the sun had been up for an hour.

 Isn't it funny, he thought. The transformation, the

 commitment, the crisis, and the way those people had

 served me have all come together to do what nothing

 else had.

 He remembered.

 He remembered it all, all the way back.

 He understood, finally, what he had been doing be-

 fore, what he was doing now, why he survived.

 He considered the vessel he wore. Not of his own

 choosing, of course, but it was serviceable if he could

 just get a voice.

 How great a change to know it all! His mind was

 absolutely clear, certain, now that everything was laid

 out before him. He was in total control now, he knew.

 Funny, he thought, that this doesn't change any-

 thing. Knowledge, memory, wisdom aside, he was the

 culmination of ail of the experiences in his incredibly

 long life.

 Nathan Brazil. He rolled the name around in his

 mind. He still liked it. Out of the—what?—thousand

 or more names he had had, it had the most comforta-

 ble and enigmatic ring.

 He let his mind go out across the land. Yes, defi-

 nitely some sort of breakdown. Not major, but messy.

 227

 Time dulls all mechanisms, and the infinite complexity

 of the master equation was bound to have flaws. One

 can represent infinity mathematically but not as some-

 thing real, something you can see and understand.

 And yet, he thought, I'm still Nathan Brazil, still

 the same person I was, and I'm here in Murithel in

 the body of a great stag and I've still got to ge^ to the

 Well before Skander or Vamett or anyone else does.

 Czill. If what he had heard was right, they had

 computers there. A high-technology hex, then. They

 could give him a voice—and news.

 Grondel emerged from a tent and came over to him.

 He strained at the rope on his left hind leg, and the

 Mumie understood and freed him. He went immedi-

 ately to the big patch of bare dirt that was his writing

 pad. Grondel followed, grumping that he hadn't had

 anything to eat yet, but Brazil was adamant and anx-

 ious.

 "What's on your mind, Nate?" he asked.

 "HOW FAR HERE TO CZILL CENTER" Brazil traced.

 "Already, huh?" Grondel muttered. "Somehow I

 knew it. Well, about a hundred and fifty kilometers,

 maybe a little more, to the border, then about the

 same into the Czillian capital. I'm not sure, because

 I've never left this hex. We don't get along well with

 our neighbors, which is fine with us."

 "MUST GO," he scratched. "IN CONTROL OF SELF

 NOW. IMPORTANT."

 "Ummm. . . . Thought you weren't going there

 across Murithel for a vacation. All right, then, if I

 can't dissuade you. What about the girl?"

 "SHE COMES TOO," he scratched. "WILL WORK OUT

 EASY CODE FOR BASIC STUFF, STOP, GO, EAT, SLEEP,

 ETC."

 And that was the way they worked it out, Brazil

 thinking of as many basic concepts as he could and

 using a right leg, left leg, stomping code for them.

 Twelve concepts were the most he could work on short

 notice without fear that she would mix them up. He

 also had to assure them several times that he would

 not wander away or stray again. She accepted it, but

 seemed dubious.

 They ate their fill of the grasses. Grondel would

 228

 ride WuJu with them to the border. Though Nathan

 was safe as a branded, purebred stag, she was not. A

 Mumie accompanying them would ease her passage.

 They followed the stream, passing first the spot

 where his body had lain, the mud and bottom still

 disturbed from the action. They made exceptionally

 good time, and Brazil enjoyed the experience of being

 able to move quickly and effortlessly, so powerful that

 the mud couldn't trap him, nor could the brisk pace

 tire him. He just wasn't built for riding, though; and

 WuJu had to carry Grondel, which slowed her more

 than usual. It didn't matter.

 They made the border shortly after dark on the

 second day. On the morning of the third, after

 Grondel had refreshed Wuju on the stomp code, they

 bade him good-bye and crossed into Czilt. The air was

 extremely heavy with an almost oppressive humidity,

 the kind that wets you with a fine, invisible mist as

 you move through it. The air was also oppressive with

 carbon dioxide, which seemed to make up one or more

 percent of the atmosphere, although oxygen was so far

 above their previous norms that it made them feel a

 little light-headed. Were it not for the great humidity,

 Brazil thought, this would be a hell of a place for

 fires. As it was, he would be surprised if a match

 would bum.

 They ran into Czillians soon enough, strange-looking

 creatures that reminded him of smooth-skinned cac-

 tuses with two trunks and carved pumpkin heads.

 Neither he nor Wuju had a translator now, so com-

 munication was impossible, but at the first village cen-

 ter they reached, they managed a primitive sort of

 contact.

 The place looked like a great, transparent geodesic

 dome, and was one of the hundred or more subsidiary

 research villages outside the Center. The Czillians

 were surprised to see a Diltian—they knew what Wuju

 was, but as far as any could remember none of her

 race had ever reached Czill before. They regarded

 Brazil as a curiosity, an obvious animal.

 About the only thing WuJu could get across to them

 were their names. She finally gave up in frustration

 and they continued on the well-maintained road. The

 229

 Czillians sent the names and the information of their

 passage on to the Center, where it was much better

 understood.

 Brazil paid a lot of attention to WUJ'U, and their

 lovemaking continued nightly. She was happy now and

 didn't even wonder how Brazil, who led, was picking

 the right direction at every junction as if he had been

 there before. In her mind the only question that mat-

 tered was about his human body. She felt a little

 guilty, but she hoped the body would not be there or

 would be dead.

 She had him now, and she didn't want to lose him.

 Late in the morning of the second day, they came

 to what was obviously the main highway of the hex,

 and followed it. It was another day and a half before

 they got to the Center, though, since it was not in the

 center of the hex as Grondel had thought, but was

 situated along the ocean coast.

 They arrived Just as darkness was falling, and Brazil

 stomped that they would sleep first. No use going in

 when there was only minimum staff, he thought.

 As he made love to her that night, part of her mind

 was haunted. The rest of Mm is inside that building,

 she thought, and it upset her. This might be their last

 night.

 Cousin Bat woke them up in the wee predawn

 hours.

 "Brazil! Wujui Wake up!" he shouted excitedly, and

 they both stirred. Wuju saw who it was and greeted

 him warmly, all her past suspicions forgotten.

 Bat turned to Brazil unbelievingly. "Is that really

 you in there, Brazil?"

 Brazil nodded his antlered head affirmatively.

 "He can't talk, Cousin Bat," Wuju explained- "No

 vocal cords of any kind. I think that upsets him more

 than anything else."

 The bat grew serious. "I'm sorry," he said softly to

 Brazil. "I didn't know." He snorted. "Big hero, pluck-

 ing the injured man from the Jaws of certain death.

 All I did was make a mess of it."

 "But you are a hero!" Wuju consoled him. "That

 was an incredibly brave and wonderful thing." Well,

 230

 there was no avoiding it. The question had to be

 asked.

 *'Did he—is his body still alive?" she asked softly.

 "Yes, it is, somehow," Bat replied seriously. "But

 —well, it's a miracle that it's alive at all, and there's

 no medical reason for it. It's pretty battered and bro-

 ken, Wuju. These doctors are good here—unbelieva-

 ble, in fact. But the only thing that body will ever be

 good for is cloning. If Brazil were returned to it, he'd

 be a living vegetable."

 They both looked at Brazil expectantly, but the stag

 gave no indication whatsoever of emotion.

 Wuju tried to remain normal, but the fact that a

 great deal of tension had suddenly drained from her

 was obvious in the lighter, more casual tone she used.

 "Then he's to stay a deer?"

 "Looks that way," Bat responded slowly. "At least

 they told me that the injuries were already too severe

 for me to have caused the final damage. They can't

 understand how he survived the Murnie blows that

 broke his neck and spinal column in two places. No-

 body ever survived damage like that. It's as good as

 blowing your brains out or getting stabbed through the

 heart."

 They talked on until dawn, when the still landscape

 suddenly came alive with awakening Czillians. Bat led

 them into the Center, and took them to the medical

 wing, on the river side.

 The Czillians were fascinated by Brazil and insisted

 on checking him with electroencephalographs and all

 sorts of other equipment. He was impatient but sub-

 mitted to the tests with growing confidence. If they

 were this far advanced, perhaps they could give him

 a voice.

 They took Nathan down to a lower level after a

 while and showed him his body. Wuju came along, but

 one quick glance was all she needed and she rushed

 from the room.

 They had him floating in a tank, attached to hun-

 dreds of instruments and life-sustaining devices. The

 monitors showed autonomic muscle action, but no

 cranial activity whatsoever. The body itself had been

 repaired as much as possible, but it looked as if it had

 231

 been through a meat grinder. Right leg almost torn

 off, now sewn back securely but lifeless in the extreme.

 The giant, clawed hand that had ripped the leg had

 also castrated him.

 Brazil had seen enough. He turned and left the

 room, climbing the stairs back to the clinic carefully.

 They were not built to take something his size and

 weight, and the turns were difficult. He didn't fit in

 the elevators, which were designed for Umiau in

 wheelchairs.

 Having a 250-plus-kilo giant stag walk into your

 office can be unsettling, but the Czillian doctor tried

 not to let it faze it. The doctor heard from Bat, who

 had heard it from Wuju, that Brazil could write. Since

 soft dirt was one thing that was very plentiful in Czill,

 it had obtained what appeared to be a large sandbox

 filled with dry, powdery gray sand from the ocean

 shore.

 "What do you want us to do?" the doctor asked.

 "CAN YOU BUILD ME VOICE BOX," Brazil scratched.

 The doctor thought a minute. "Perhaps we can, in

 a way. You might know that the translator devices,

 which we import, sealed, from another hex far away,

 work by being implanted and attached to neural pas-

 sages between the brain and the vocal equipment—

 whatever it is—of the creature. You had one in your

 old body. We now have nothing to attach the trans-

 lator to in your case, and putting anything in there

 would interfere with eating or breathing. But if we

 could attach a small plastic diaphragm and match the

 electrical impulses from your brain to wires leading to

 it, we might have an external voice box. Not great, of

 course, but you could be understood—with full trans-

 lator function. I'll tell the labs. It's a simple operation,

 and if they can come up with anything, we might be

 able to do it tomorrow or the next day."

 "SOONER THE BETTER," he scratched, and started

 to leave to find Bat and Wuju.

 "Just a minute," the doctor called. "As long as

 you're here, alone with me, I'd like to take up some-

 thing you might not know."

 Brazil stopped, turned back to it, and waited ex-

 pectantly.

 232

 "Our tests show you to be—physically—about four

 and a half years old. The records show that the aver-

 age life span of the Murthiel antelope is between eight

 and twelve years, so you can expect to age much more

 rapidly. You have four to eight more years to live, no

 more. But that is at least that many years longer than

 you would have lived without the transfer." It

 stopped, looking for a reaction. The stag cocked his

 head in a gesture that was unmistakably the equiva-

 lent of a shrug. He walked back to the sandbox.

 "THANKS ANYWAY," he scratched. "NOT RELEVANT,"

 he added cryptically, and left.

 The doctor stared after him, puzzled. It knew that

 everyone said Brazil might be the oldest person ever

 to live, and certainly he had shown incredible, super-

 human life and stamina. Maybe he wants to die, it

 mused. Or maybe he doesn't think he can, even now.

 The operation was a simple one, performed with a

 local anesthetic. The only problem the surgeon had

 was in isolating the correct neural signals in an animal

 brain so undesigned for speech of any kind. The com-

 puters were fed all the neural information and some

 samples of him attempting speech. They finally iso-

 lated the needed signals in under an hour. The only

 remaining concern was for the drilling in the antlers,

 but when they found that the bony growths had no

 nerves to convey pain, it simplified everything. They

 used a small Umiau transistor radio—which meant it

 was rugged and totally waterproof. Connections were

 made inside the antler base, and the tiny radio, only

 about sixty square centimeters, was screwed into the

 antler base. A little cosmetic surgery and plastic made

 everything but the speaker grille blend into the antler

 complex.

 "Now say something," the surgeon urged. "Do it as

 if you were going to speak."

 "How's this?" he asked. "Can you hear and under-

 stand me?"

 "Excellent!" the surgeon said enthusiastically, nib-

 bing its tentacles in glee. "A landmark! There's even

 a suggestion of tone and emphasis!"

 Brazil was delighted, even though the voice was

 233

 ever so slightly delayed from the thought, something he

 would have to get used to. His new voice sounded

 crazy to his ears, and did not have the internal reso-

 nance that came with vocal cords.

 It would do.

 "You'll have a pretty big headache after the anes-

 thetic wears off," the surgeon warned. "Even though

 there are no pain centers in the antlers, we did have

 to get into the skull for the little wire contacts."

 "That won't bother me," Brazil assured them. "I

 can will pain away."

 He went out and found the bat and WuJu waiting

 anxiously in the outer office.

 "How do you like my new voice?" he asked them.

 "Thin, weak, and tinny, very mechanical-sounding,"

 Bat replied.

 "It doesn't sound like you at all, Nathan," Wuju

 said. "It sounds like a tiny pocket radio, one that a

 computer was using. Even so, there's some of you in

 it—the way you pause, the way you pronounce

 things."

 "Now I can get to work," Brazil's strange new voice

 said. "I'll have to talk to the Czillian head of the

 Skander project, somebody high up in the Umiau, and

 I'll need an atlas. In the meantime, Wuju, you get

 yourself a translator. It's really a simple operation for

 you. I don't want to be caught in the middle of no-

 where with you unable to talk to anybody again."

 "I'll go with you," said the bat. "I know the place

 fairly well now. You know, it's weird, that voice. Not

 just the tiny sound from such a big character. It

 doesn't seem to come from anywhere in particular. I'll

 have a time getting used to it."

 "The only part that's important is your calling me

 a big character," Brazil responded dryly. "You don't

 know what it's like to go through life being smaller

 than everybody else and suddenly wind up the largest

 person in a whole country." Brazil felt good; he was

 in command again.

 They walked out, and Wuju was left alone, inter-

 nally a mass of bewildering emotion. This wasn't turn-

 ing out the way she had thought at all. He seemed so

 cold, so distant, so different—it wasn't Nathan! Not

 234

 the voice, she thought. It was something in the voice,

 a manner, a coldness, a crispness that she had never

 felt before.

 "Get a translator" he had told her, then walked out

 to business without so much as a good-bye and good

 luck.

 "I want to go down to the old body one last time,**

 Brazil said to the bat, and they made their way down

 the stairs to the basement room.

 Bat, too, had noticed a change in his manner, and

 it disturbed him. He wondered whether the transfor-

 mation had altered or changed Brazil's mind. Some

 forms of insanity and personality disorders are organic,

 he thought. Suppose the deer brain isn't giving the

 right stuff in the right amounts? Suppose it's only par-

 tially him?

 They walked into the room where his body was

 floating, still alive according to all the screens and

 dials. Brazil stood by the tank. Just looking at the

 body, for quite some time. Bat didn't interrupt, trying

 to imagine what he would be thinking in the same

 circumstances.

 Finally Brazil said, almost nostalgic in tone, "It was

 a good vessel. It served me for a long, long time. Well,

 that's that. A new one's as easy as repair this time.

 Let it go."

 As he uttered the last word, all the meters fell to

 zero and the screens all showed a cessation of life.

 As if on command, the body had died.

 Brazil turned and walked out without another word,

 leaving Bat more confused than ever.

 "There's no question that Skander solved the rid-

 dle," the Czillian project chief, whose name was

 Manito, told Brazil and Cousin Bat. "Unfortunately,

 he kept the really key findings to himself and was

 very careful to wipe the computer when he was

 through. The only stuff we have is what was in when

 he and Vardia were kidnapped."

 "What was the major thrust of his research?" Brazil

 asked-

 "He was obsessed with our collection of folklore

 235

 and legends. Worked mostly with those, and keying in

 the common phrase: Until midnight at the Well of

 Souls."

 Brazil nodded. "That's safe enough," he replied.

 "But you say he dropped that line of inquiry when

 he returned?"

 "Shortly after," the Czillian replied. "He said it was

 the wrong direction and started researching the Equa-

 torial Barrier."

 Brazil sighed. "That's bad. That means he's proba-

 bly figured the whole thing out."

 "You talk as if you know the answer, too," the

 project chief commented. "I don't see how. I have all

 the raw data Skander did and I can't make sense of

 it."

 "That's because you have a puzzle with millions of

 pieces, but no concept of the size and shape of the

 puzzle even to start putting things together," Brazil

 told her—he insisted on thinking of all life forms that

 could do the act of reproducing, growing a new being,

 as she- "Skander, after all, had the basic equation.

 There's no way you can get that here."

 "I can't understand why you let him use you so,**

 Bat put in. "You—both races—gave him a hundred

 percent protection, cooperation, and access to all the

 tools he needed without getting anything in return."

 The Czillian shook her head sadly. "We thought we

 were in control. After ail, he was a Umiau. He

 couidn't exist outside his own ocean because he

 couldn't travel beyond it. And there was, after all, the

 other—the one who disappeared. He was a mathema-

 tician. Whose data banks was he consulting? Was he

 brilliant enough not to need them? We couldn't afford

 not to back Skander!"

 "Any idea where they are?" Brazil asked.

 "Oh, yes, we know where they are—fat lot of good

 it does us. They are currently being held captive in a

 nation of robots called, simply enough, The Nation.

 We received word that they were there, and, since we

 have a few informational trades with The Nation, we

 pulled in all our lOU's to hold them there as long as

 possible."

 236

 Brazil was suddenly excited. "Are they still there?

 Can we get them out?"

 "Yes, they're still there," Manito replied, "but not

 for long. There's been hell to pay from the Akkafians.

 Their ambassador, a Baron Azkfru, has threatened to

 bomb as much of The Nation as he can—and he can

 do a good deal of damage if that's all he's out for.

 That's the line. They'll be released today."

 "Who's in the party?" Bat asked. "If it's weak

 enough we might be able to do something yet."

 "We've thought of that already," the Czillian re-

 sponded. "Nothing that wouldn't get our person killed

 along with the rest. Aside from Vardia and Skander,

 there's an Akkafian—they are huge insects with great

 speed, the ability to fly, and nasty stingers, and they

 eat live prey—named Mar Hain, and a weird North-

 erner we know little about called The Diviner and

 The Rel. If they're one or two I can't find out."

 "Hain!" Brazil exclaimed. "Of course, it would be.

 That son of a bitch would be in the middle of any-

 thing dirty."

 "You know this Hain?" Bat asked curiously.

 Brazil nodded. "The gang's all here, it looks like."

 He turned to Manito suddenly. "Did you bring the at-

 las I asked for?"

 "I did," the Czillian replied, and lifted a huge book

 onto a table. Brazil walked over to it and flipped it

 open with his nose, then started turning pages with

 his broad tongue- Finally he found the Southern

 Hemisphere map and studied it intently. "Damned nui-

 sance," he said. "Antelope don't need very good vi-

 sion."

 "I can help," the Czillian said, and walked toward

 the stag. "It is in Czillian, anyway, which you can't

 read."

 Brazil shook his head idly from side to side. "It's

 all right. I see where we are now, and where they

 are. We're about even—two hexes up on this side to

 the Ghlmon Hex at the northern tip of the ocean.

 They've gotten two up the eastern side of the same

 ocean to pretty much the same spot."

 "How can you possibly know that?" the Czillian

 237

 blurted out, stunned. "Have you been here before? I

 thought—"

 "No,*' Brazil replied. "Not here." He nipped a few

 more pages, studying a close-up map of a particular

 hex. Then he flipped again, studied another, then to

 yet another. All in all, he carefully examined five

 hexes. Suddenly he looked up at the confused Czillian.

 "Can you get me in touch with some Umiau big

 shot?" he asked. "They owe us something for Skander.

 They've got Slelcron, which is a nontech hex and so

 is fine from our point of view, and Ekh'l, which could

 be anything at all these days- We've got Ivrom, which

 I don't like at all, but there's no way around it, and

 Alissll, which will make Murithel look like a picnic.

 We can contend with Ivrom, I hope, but if we went

 through the Umiau hex, on a boat of some kind, we

 could avoid the nasty one and maybe even gain some

 time on the others. If they stick near the coast—and

 I think they will, because those are the best roads by

 far—we might just beat them there and intercept them

 here," he pointed with his nose to the map, "at the

 northern tip of the bay here, in Ghlmon."

 "Just out of curiosity," Bat said, "you said that the

 Umiau were warned the first time about a kidnap try

 on Skander. Now, you said you heard they were in

 The Nation. Who told you those things?"

 "Why, we don't know!" the Czillian answered.

 "They came as, well, tips, passed in common printer-

 machine type in our respective languages, to our am-

 bassadors at Zone."

 "Yes," Bat persisted, "but who sent them? Is there

 a third set of players in the race?"

 "I was hoping you could tell me that," Brazil said

 flatly.

 Bat's eyes widened. "Me? All right, I admit I knew

 who you were back in Dillia, and that I joined you on

 purpose. But I don't represent anyone except myself,

 and the interests of my people. We got word the same

 way the Czillians and Umiau did, at Zone. Said where

 you'd be, approximately when, and that you were go-

 ing after Skander and Vamett. We couldn't find who

 sent it, but it was decided that we had a stake in the

 outcome. I was elected, because I've done more trav-

 238

 eling than most of my people. But—me? The third

 party? No, Brazil, I admit only to not being truthful

 with you. Surely by now you know that I'm on your

 side—all the way."

 "That's too bad," Brazil replied. "I would very

 much like to know our mysterious helper, and how he

 gets his information."

 "Well, he seems to be on our side," Bat said opti-

 mistically.

 "Nobody's on any side but his own," Brazil snapped

 back. "Not you, not me, not anybody. We're going to

 have a tough enough time just dealing with the

 Skander party. I don't want to reach the goal of this

 chase and have our helpful third party finish off the

 survivors."

 "Then you propose to give chase?" the Czillian

 asked stupidly.

 "Of course! That's what all this is about. One last

 question—can you tell me the last major problem

 Skander fed to the computer?"

 "Why, yes, I think so," the Czillian replied nerv-

 ously. She rummaged through some papers, coming up

 with two. "He asked two, in fact. One was the number

 of Entries into hexes bordering the Equatorial Zone,

 both sides.'*

 "And the answer?"

 "Why, none on record. Most curious. They're not

 true hexes anyway, you know. Since the Equatorial

 Barrier splits them neatly in half, they are two adjoin-

 ing half-hexes, each side—therefore, twice as wide as

 a normal hex and half the distance north and south,

 with fiat equatorial borders."

 "What was the second question?" Brazil asked im-

 patiently.

 "Oh, ah, whether the number six had any special

 relation to the Equatorial Zone hexes in geography,

 biology, or the like."

 "And the answer?"

 "Still in the computer when the unfortunate, ah, in-

 cident occurred. We did, of course, get the answer,

 even though it was on a printout which the kidnap-

 pers apparently took with them. The material was still

 in storage, and so we got another copy."

 239

 "What did it say?" Brazil asked in an irritated tone.

 "Oh, ah, that six of the double half-hexes, so to

 speak, were split by a very deep inlet all the way up

 to the zone barrier, evenly spaced around the planet

 so that, if you drew a line from zone to zone through

 each of the inlets, you'd split the planet into abso-

 lutely equal sixths."

 "Son of a bitchi" Brazil swore. "He's got the whole

 answer! Nothing will ever surprise me again!"

 At that moment another Czillian entered the room

 and looked at the bat and the stag confusedly. Finally

 she picked the bat and said, shyly, "Captain Brazil?"

 "Not me," Bat replied casually, and pointed a bony

 wing at the stag. "Him."

 She turned and looked at the creature that was so

 obviously an animal. "I don't believe it!" she said the

 way everyone did. Finally she decided she might be-

 lieve it and went over to the great Murithel antelope,

 and repeated, "Captain Brazil?"

 "Yes?" he answered pleasantly, curious in the ex-

 treme. Captain Brazil?

 "Oh," she responded softly, "I—I realize I've

 changed a great deal, but nothing like you. Wow!"

 "Well, who are—urn, that is, who were you?" he

 asked, intrigued.

 "Why, I'm Vardia, Captain," she replied.

 "But Vardia was kidnapped by the bugs!" Bat ex-

 claimed.

 "I know," she replied. "That's what's really upset

 me."

 A Road in the Nation

 "QUARANTINE, HELL!" SKANDER GRUMBLED, STRAPPED

 in again atop Main's back, irritated by the yellowish

 atmosphere and the discomfort of the breathing ap-

 paratus. Her voice was so muffled by the mask that

 none could understand a word.

 240

 "Stop grumbling, Skander," The Rel responded.

 "You waste air and can't be understood by anybody

 but me anyway. You are quite right, though—we've

 been stalled."

 Vardia, whose head and vocal mechanism were not

 related in any way to her respiratory system, asked,

 "Who could be responsible? Who knew we were here,

 would be staying at that particular hotel? Perhaps our

 people have tracked you down." There was hope in

 her voice.

 "Don't get yourself that excited, Czillian," The Rel

 replied. "As you can see, the delaying action slowed

 us but did not stop or deter us—nor did it liberate

 you. No, this smells of darker stuff. Of the one who

 planted the hidden listening device in the baron's of-

 fice at Zone and prevented our escapade weeks ear-

 ner."

 This was the first Vardia had heard of that incident,

 and it made her think back to the many things that

 had happened to her. That distress signal where one

 could not have been operating. The vanishing of the

 two shuttlecraft on Dalgonia, and the disappearance

 of their lifeboat. The opening of the Well Gate only

 after they were all securely in it. Captain Brazil's firm

 belief that he was being suckered by someone.

 That strange snakeman, Ortega. Over seven hun-

 dred chances, and Brazil is met by the only person at

 Zone who knew him. Coincidence?

 She suddenly felt furious, thinking of all of it in

 detail. Someone was using her—using all of them—

 moving them like pieces in a game.

 What about the hex assignments? Skander to a

 place where she had all the tools at her disposal, cor-

 rupting a peaceful people in the process. She to the

 hex next door, assigned—actually assigned.9—to work

 with Skander and kidnapped with her. By whom?

 Someone working for that bastard Datham Ham!

 And Captain Brazil! She had gotten the word when

 Brazil had entered Zone, looking exactly the same as

 he had before. Why didn't the Gate change him? And

 that pathetic little addict—dumped into a hex almost

 perfect for getting back to being human without pres-

 241

 sures. Brazil had been hung up on her, she recalled.

 Probably they were together now.

 Why? she wondered. Sex? That was something the

 animals did, she told herself. She had never under-

 stood it, or why people liked it; and if her own twin-

 ning was any indication, it was a most unpleasant

 experience. Why was a distinguished, high-ranking

 person of such a responsible position as Captain Brazil

 willing to jeopardize his career and his life for the

 sake of some wasted girl he never knew—didn't know,

 in fact, even through Zone? Even if he had saved her,

 she wouldn't have contributed anything. She was prac-

 tically an animal then. More sense to get her to a

 Death Factory where her remains would help fertilize

 a field.

 Perhaps this was why the Corn philosophy was de-

 veloping and spreading, she thought. It was rational,

 planned. Like being a plant, or one of these robots.

 Even Hain's dirty crew couldn't stop the march of such

 perfection of order, she felt sure. The sane hexes here

 proved it.

 "We will have better service, and a shorter stay, at

 other hotels," The Rel informed them, breaking

 Vardia's reverie. "I think we will be out of this place

 where we are so unpopular in two days. Slelcron will

 be no faster but easier. No one communicates with the

 Slelcron. We will be ignored but unimpeded. As for

 Ekh'l—well, I have no information there, but I feel

 confident that, no matter what happens, we will not

 be beaten."

 "You seem pretty sure of yourself," Vardia com-

 mented. "More prophecy from The Diviner?"

 "Logic," The Rel replied. "We were impeded for

 someone's purpose. Why? To what end? So they can

 beat us to the equator? I doubt it. It would be easier

 to kill us than detain us so. No, they will have to come

 out to us at the equator. They want to be there when

 we arrive because they know who and where we are,

 but not what Dr. Skander knows—how to get to the

 Well. They want in with us—indeed, they may be

 allies, since they will assuredly take steps to see that

 no one else beats us to the goal. And make no mistake

 242

 about it, there is another expedition. The Diviner has

 said that we will not enter until all the recent Entries

 combine. That is fine—as long as we are in charge."

 "We will be," Hain suddenly said,

 Near the Ivrom Border in

 the Umiau Nation

 THEY PRESENTED A SIGHT UNPRECEDENTED ON THE

 Well World: a broad raft of logs, pulled along by ten

 Umiau wearing harnesses. On the raft were a Dillian

 centaur, a giant stag, a two-meter-tall bat, and a Czil-

 lian, plus a well-depleted bale of hay and a box of dirt.

 "Why can't the Umiau just take us all the way up?"

 Vardia asked Brazil.

 The stag turned his head. "I still can't get used to

 the idea that you are in two places at once, so to

 speak," he said through his radio speaker. The splash-

 ing and sound of the wind on the water made it hard

 to hear his little box if you weren't positioned just

 right.

 "I have a hard time thinking that the little captain I

 came here with is a huge deer," she replied. "Now

 answer the question."

 "Too dangerous," he told her. "We're going as far

 up as possible, but you eventually start getting some

 nasty currents, whirlpools, and other stuff. They don't

 get along too well with the inhabitants, either. The

 Umiau would make out, but those nasty fish with the

 twenty rows of teeth would chew up this raft and us

 before we could be properly introduced. No, we'll take

 our chances with a hundred and sixty kilometers of

 Ivrom."

 "What is Ivrom, Nathan?" Wuju asked. She had

 gotten the translator, and overcome most of her reser-

 vations. He treated her gently, and said only the right

 things, and she had eased up. There was still that

 243

 something different about him, that indefinable some-

 thing they ali sensed but couldn't put their fingers on.

 Wuju had talked it out with Cousin Bat. "How

 would you feel," Bat had asked her, "if you'd awak-

 ened not a Dillian but a regular horse? And looked

 down at your own dead body? Would you still be the

 same?"

 She had accepted that explanation, but Bat didn't

 believe it himself. What had changed in Brazil was

 the added air of total command, of absolute confidence

 and certainty. And he had as much as admitted he

 knew the answer to the total puzzle. He could get in

 to the control center, control the world—or more.

 Bat was more encouraged now, really. So much the

 better. The man with the answers had no hands,

 couldn't even open a door by himself. Let him get in,

 Bat thought smugly. Let him show how to work things.

 "Nathan!" Wuju said louder. "What is Ivrom? You

 haven't told us!"

 "Because I don't know, love," he replied casually.

 "Lots of forest, rolling hills, plenty of animals, most

 familiar. The atlas said there were horses and deer

 there. It's a nontechnological hex, so it's the sword-

 and-spear bit again, probably. The intelligent life form

 is some kind of insect, I think, but nobody's sure.

 Those active volcanoes to our left—that's AlisstI, and

 it's a formidable barrier. The people there are thick-

 skinned reptiles who live in temperatures close to boil-

 ing and eat sulfur. Probably nice folks, but nobody

 drops in."

 She looked over at the range of volcanic mountains.

 Most were spouting steam, and one had a spectacular

 lava fountain along a side fissure. She shivered, al-

 though it wasn't cold.

 "This is the way to travel if you can!" Brazil said

 with enthusiasm, taking a deep breath of the salty air.

 "Fantastic! I used to sail oceans like this on big ships,

 back in the days of Old Earth. There was a romance

 to the sea, and those who sailed it. Not like the one-

 man space freighters with their computers and phony

 pictures of winking dots."

 "How soon will we land?" Wuju asked him, a bit

 244

 ill at the rolling and tossing he liked so much. She was

 happy to see him obviously enjoying himself, talking

 like his old self again, but if it was at the cost of this

 kind of upset stomach, she would take land.

 "Well, they've gone exceptionally fast," he replied.

 "Strong devils, and amazing in their element. I'll have

 to remember that strength. Wouldn't do to underesti-

 mate our Dr. Skander."

 "Yes, but how long?" she insisted.

 "Tomorrow morning," he replied. "Then it'll be no

 more than a day or so to Ghlmon—we won't have to

 cross the whole hex of Ivrom, just one facet—and an-

 other day to the top of the bay in Ghlmon."

 "Do you really think we'll meet them—the others,

 that is—up there?" Vardia asked. "I'm most anxious

 to free my other self—my sister—from those crea-

 tures."

 "We'll meet them," Brazil assured her, "if we beat

 them—and we certainly should at this rate. I know

 where they have to go. When they get there, we'll be

 ready for them,"

 "Will I be able to scout this Ivrom tonight?" Cousin

 Bat called out to him. "I'm sick and tired of fish."

 "I'm counting on you. Bat," Brazil replied laughing.

 "Eat up and tell us what's what."

 "No more midnight rescues from the jaws of death,

 though," Bat replied in the same light vein.

 "You never know. Bat," Brazil replied more seri-

 ously. "Maybe this time I'll rescue you."

 The Umiau had been remarkably uninformed about

 Ivrom, which wasn't as strange on the face of it as it

 would seem. The Umiau were water creatures, and

 their need was for technological items they could not

 manufacture. An alliance with the Czillians was nat-

 ural; their other neighbors they at least knew from

 watery experience, even if they didn't get along too

 well with all of them, and AlisstI was too hot to han-

 dle. Ivrom, named from the old maps and not by the

 inhabitants, was peaceful forests and meadows, no

 major rivers, although it had hundreds of tiny creeks

 and streams. It was a nontechnological hex, so it

 wasn't easy to get to, even harder to move around in,

 245

 and probably not worth the trouble. Of course, the

 major problem was that no one who had ever set out

 for Ivrom—to study, for contact, or to go through it

 —had ever been seen or heard from again. For<that

 reason the party stopped on a reef, over a submerged

 shoal in deep water, and anchored for the night even

 though there would still have been time when they

 arrived to have made camp on or near the beach.

 It did look inviting, too. The air was sweet and

 fresh, about twenty degrees Celsius, surprisingly com-

 fortable humidity for a shore area because of the in-

 land breeze, a few light, fluffy clouds but nothing that

 looked threatening, and a deep blue sky.

 The shoreline revealed a virgin sandy beach, flat

 and yellow and stretching down the coast. The break-

 ers and some obvious storms had forced driftwood

 onto the shore, where it had built up near the begin-

 ning of the forest. It was a very dense forest, rather

 dark from the thickness of the underbrush and giant

 evergreens, but nothing looked suspicious or sinister.

 As twilight deepened, they could make out an occa-

 sional small deer and a number of other animals much

 like muskrats, marmots, and other woodland creatures.

 It reminded Brazil of a number of really pleasant

 places on Old Earth before they were paved over.

 Even the animals and birds, now flocking to roosts in

 the tall trees, seemed very Earthlike—far more than

 even the most familiar hexes he had been through.

 He wished he could recall more about the place,

 but be couldn't. Nobody could keep track of every-

 thing, he thought, even though the mind behind Ivrom

 had obviously paid a great deal of attention to a Type

 41 habitat.

 Insects, his mind kept telling him. But that was the

 kind of fact that you heard once or twice rather than

 recalled from personal experience, and it registered

 but was not something you had paid attention to at

 the time. Everything has changed so much it probably

 wouldn't matter anyway, he thought. Evolution and

 natural processes like erosion and deposition,

 diastrophism and the other forces operated in accord-

 ance with the logic of each hex, so things were con-

 246

 stantly changing on the Well World as they were

 everywhere in the universe.

 Darkness totally obscured the shoreline for all but

 Cousin Bat, who reported that he couldn't see any-

 thing they hadn't seen by day.

 "Well, maybe something," Bat corrected. "I can't

 be sure at this distance, though. Looks like tiny, little,

 blinking lights, on and off, on and off, all over the

 forest—moving around, too, but slowly."

 Lightning bugs, Brazil thought. Was he the only per-

 son from their little comer of the galaxy who could

 remember lightning bugs?

 "Well, go on in, then," Brazil told the bat after a

 while, "but be careful. Looks peaceful, but the place

 has a really spooky reputation, and except for the fact

 that my mind keeps insisting that the life form there

 is insects, I can't think of anything else to tell you.

 Just watch out for insects, no matter how small or in-

 significant—they might be somebody we'd rather

 make friends with."

 "All right," Bat responded calmly. "Insects are a

 normal part of my diet, but I won't touch them if I

 can help it. Just a quick survey, then I'll be back."

 They agreed and Bat took off into the darkness.

 When the sun came up the next morning. Cousin

 Bat still had not returned.

 Just over the Nation—Slelcron

 Border—Morning

 THE REL STOPPED JUST AHEAD AS THE AIR SUDDENLY

 cleared and they walked into bright sunshine.

 "You may all remove your breathing apparatuses

 and discard them," it told them. "The air is now quite

 safe for all of you."

 Skander reached up and took off her mask, but

 stowed it in the pack case. "I'll keep mine, and I

 247

 think you others should, too," the Umiau cautioned. "I

 have no idea what the interior is like, but it's possible

 we may need the couple hours of air left in these

 tanks. If the mechanism is self-operating, it ma^ not

 exist in any atmosphere."

 "I am well aware of that, Doctor," The Rel re-

 plied. "I, too, can not exist in a vacuum—The Diviner

 requires argon and neon, and I require xenon and

 krypton, which, thankfully, have been present in the

 quantities we need in all of the hexes so far. We had

 weeks to prepare for this expedition, you know, and I

 fully expected us ultimately to have to face a vacuum

 —in which those little respirators will do us no good

 whatsoever. The packs contain compressed pressure

 suits designed for each of us."

 "Then why didn't we use them in that hellhole we

 just went through?" Hain grumbled, outraged. "That

 stuff burned!"

 "That was a hex of sharp edges and abrasives where

 the suits might have suffered premature damage," The

 Rel replied. "It was a discomfort, no more. I thought

 it best not to take any risks with pressurized equip-

 ment until we have to."

 Hain grumbled and cursed, and Skander wasn't much

 better—she was drying out rapidly and itched terribly.

 Only Vardia was now perfectly comfortable—the sun

 was very strong, the sky was blue and cloudless, and

 she even somehow sensed the richness of the soil.

 "What is this place, anyway?" Skander asked. "Any

 chance of a shady stream where I can wet down?"

 "You'll survive," The Rel responded. "We will al-

 leviate your discomfort as soon as we can. Yes, there

 are almost certainly streams, lakes, and ponds here.

 When I find one shallow enough and slow enough that

 it will not be your avenue away from us, you will get

 your wish."

 The place was thinly forested, but had tremendous

 growth of bushes and vines, and giant flowers—millions

 of flowers, as far as the eye could see, rising on stalks

 from one to three meters high, bright orange centers

 surrounded by eighteen perfectly shaped white petals.

 Huge buzzing insects went from flower to flower,

 but the actions were individualistic, not as they would

 248

 move in a swarm. Each was about fifty centimeters

 long, give or take, and very furry; and though their

 basic color was black, they had stripes of orange and

 yellow on their hind sections-

 "How beautiful," Vardia said.

 "Damned noisy, if you ask me," Skander yelled,

 noting the tremendous hum the insects' wings made as

 they moved.

 "Are the insects the life form?" Hain asked. The

 Rel had to move back close to the huge beetle to be

 heard.

 "No," the Northerner replied. "As I understand it,

 it is some sort of symbiosis. The flowers are. Their

 seeds are buried by the insects, and if all goes well

 the braincase develops out of the seed. Then it sprouts

 the stalk and finally forms a flower."

 "Then maybe I can eat a few of the buzzing bas-

 tards," Hain said eagerly.

 "No!" The Rel replied quickly. "Not yet! The flow-

 ers drop seeds, so they do not reproduce by pollination.

 The bees bury the seeds, but little else—yet they are

 obviously gaining their food from the center of the

 flowers. See how one lands there, and sticks its probos-

 cis into the orange center? If the flowers feed them,

 they must do something for the flower."

 "They can't uproot," Vardia said sympathetically.

 "What's the use of having a brain if you can't see,

 hear, feel, or move? What kind of a dominant species

 is that?"

 The ultimate Comworld, Skander thought sarcasti-

 cally, but said aloud, "I think that's what the insects

 do. If you keep watching one long enough, it goes to

 one other flower, then returns to the original. It might

 go to dozens of flowers, but it returns between trips to

 a particular one."

 Vardia noticed a slight lump in the grass just ahead

 of them. Curiously she went over to it and carefully

 smoothed the dirt away.

 "Look!" she called excitedly, and they all came to

 see. "It's a seed! And see! An egg of some kind at-

 tached to the outside! Each insect attaches an egg to

 each seed before burying it! It's grown attached! See

 249

 where the seed case is growing over the egg, secreting

 that film?"

 Skander almost fell out of her saddle peering over

 Hain's hard shell to see, but the glance she got told

 the story.

 "Of course!" the scientist exclaimed. "Amazing!**

 "What?" they all asked at once.

 "That's how they communicate—how they get

 around, don't you see? The insect's like a robot with a

 programmable brain. They grow up together—I'll bet

 the insect hatches fully formed and instinctively able

 to fly when the flower opens. Whatever it sees, hears,

 touches, it communicates to the flower when it re-

 turns. I'll bet after a while they can send the creatures

 with messages, talk to each other. And every time the

 insect gets to another flower, the old hands give in-

 formation for it to take back. The creatures live, but

 they live their lives secondhand, by recording, as it

 were."

 "Sounds logical," The Rel admitted. "Hain, I would

 suggest you eat anything but those flowers and the

 black, striped insects. You could get huge numbers of

 them, we all could, but if we upset them we could

 face a programmed army of millions of the things. I

 want to be peaceful."

 "All right," Hain agreed grumpily. "But if there's

 nothing else to eat, the hell with them."

 At that moment one of the huge insects flew right

 into their midst and started carefully but quickly re-

 burying the exposed seed and egg. Satisfied, it flew off

 to a nearby flower and buried its head in the flower's

 center. They watched it carefully, both for intent and

 out of curiosity. Finally it seemed satisfied and

 backed out, flying over to them and hovering menac-

 ingly in front of them, darting from one to the other.

 They stayed still, but Main's antennae radiated, "If

 that thing makes one wrong move, I'll eat it regard-

 less."

 Finally the creature got to Vardia, flew all around

 her, then suddenly jumped on her head, and before she

 could make a move it pushed its sharp, mosquito-like

 proboscis into the top of her head just under the leafy

 250

 growth. They were all too stunned to move for several

 seconds. Suddenly Hain said, "I'll zap it."

 "No!" Skander shouted violently. "You might leave

 that thing in her. Wait a minute and let's see what

 happens."

 Vardia had no pain centers but she did have sensi-

 tive nerves, and they felt the thing enter and probe un-

 til it touched a particular set of nerves, the ones that

 sent messages to and from her head and brains.

 Quite suddenly everything went dark, and a strange

 voice much like her own thoughts, only stronger, asked,

 "Who and what are you and what are you doing here?"

 She could think of nothing but answering. The alien

 thought was so powerful it was hypnotizing. It was

 more demand than question.

 "We are just passing through your hex on our way

 to the equator."

 She felt the proboscis withdraw, and the lights came

 on again. She was in control and saw the thing heading

 away at high speed.

 "Va— Chon," Skander corrected. "What happened?*'

 "It ... it spoke to me. It asked who we were, and

 I said we were just people going through the hex to-

 ward the equator. Man! It's strong! I have the strangest

 feeling that I would have to answer anything it asked

 —and do whatever it said."

 The Rel drifted over and lifted itself up so it could

 examine her head with whatever it used for sensory

 equipment. As it drifted just a few centimeters from

 her up to her head, she felt a strange tingling. Ob-

 viously it did not float—something supported it.

 The Diviner and The Rel seemed satisfied and

 floated back down. "No sign of a wound of any kind,"

 the creature said. "Amazing. One of the flowers got

 curious, and since you were the only member of the

 vegetable kingdom around, it picked you. Stay still and

 let it happen again. Assure them we'll do no harm and

 get through as quickly as possible. Tell them we're fol-

 lowing the coast and will take care."

 "I don't think I can tell them anything they don't

 ask," Vardia responded weakly. "Oh, oh, here it

 comes again!"

 The creature did not have to probe the second time;

 251

 it went straight to the proper nerve endings. "READ-

 OUT!" came the command, and suddenly she felt her-

 self being drained, as if that which was her very

 essence was being sucked up into a bottle thorough a

 straw. The process took several minutes.

 "Look!" Skander cried. "My god! She's rooted! Un-

 moving in bright daylight! What did that thing do to

 her?"

 The insect moved back into the mass of flowers.

 "We can't do anything but wait," The Rel cautioned.

 "We don't know the rules here. At least those insects

 seem to be dominant only on the plants. Take it easy

 and let things run their course."

 Ham and The Rel both moved toward her, where she

 stood rooted and motionless. Ham pressed against her

 skin, and got no response, nor any from the blank eyes.

 "Are we going to have to camp here?" Hain asked

 at last in a disgusted tone. "Why not just leave her?"

 "Patience, Hain," The Rel warned. "We can't afford

 to proceed until this drama plays itself out, even if it

 takes hours. We have only a little more than two hun-

 dred kilometers in this hex but we want to survive it"

 They waited, and it took hours.

 Vardia felt suspended in limbo, unable to see, hear,

 feel, or do anything else. Yet it wasn't like being

 asleep—she knew that she existed, just not where.

 Suddenly she felt that sucking feeling again, and sud-

 denly she was aware of someone else. She couldn't un-

 derstand how she knew, but something else was there,

 all right. Suddenly that force of thought she had felt

 when the insect had first penetrated her head was all

 around her.

 "I MELD WHAT IS YOURS TO ME AND WHAT IS ME TO

 YOU," the voice that was pure thought said, and it was

 so.

 There was an explosion in her mind, and she clung

 desperately to control, to her own personality, even as

 she felt it being eroded away, mixed into a much larger

 and more powerful, yet alien, set of thoughts, memo-

 ries, pictures, ideas.

 Why do you resist? asked a voice that might have

 been her own thoughts or someone else's. Submit. This

 252

 is what you have always wanted. Perfect union in uni-

 formity. Submit.

 The logic was unassailable. She submitted.

 "It's coming back!" Skander yelled, and the other

 two followed the path of the insect to Vardia's head

 and watched it bury its sharp proboscis as before. This

 time it stayed an abnormally long time—perhaps three

 or four times longer than it had the last trip. Finally it

 finished and withdrew, buzzing off back to its home

 flower. They watched as her body came back to life,

 the eyes moving, looking about. She uprooted, and

 moved her tentacles around, shook her legs.

 "Chon! Are you all right?" Skander called out, con-

 cerned.

 "We are fine, Dr. Skander," replied Vardia in a

 voice that was hers yet strangely different. "We may

 proceed now, without any problems."

 The Diviner's little flashing lights became extremely

 agitated. The Rel said, "The Diviner says that you are

 not the one of our party. Who or what are you? The

 equation has been altered."

 "We are Chon. We are everything that ever was

 Chon. The one you call Chon has been melded. It is

 no longer one but all. Soon, as even now it happens,

 all will be Chon and Chon will be all."

 "You're that damned flower!" Hain said accusingly.

 "You swapped minds with the Czillian somehow!"

 "No swap, as you call it, was involved," it told

 them. "And we are not that damned flower as you

 said, but all the flowers. The Recorders transfer and

 transmit as you surmised, but the process may be and

 usually is total at first sprout, or how else should we

 get our information, our intellect? A new bloom is a

 blank, an empty slate. We merge."

 "And you merged with the Czillian?" The Rel said

 more than asked. "You have all of its memories, plus

 all that was you?"

 "That is correct," the creature affirmed. "And,

 since we have all of the Czillian experience within us,

 we are aware of your mission, its reason, and goal,

 and we are now a part of it. You have no choice, nor

 do we, since we cannot meld with you."

 253

 Skander shivered. Well, Vardia got her wish at last,

 the mermaid thought. And we've got problems.

 "Suppose we refuse?" Skander shot at the new crea-

 ture. "One gulp from Ham here and you're gone."

 The creature in Vardia's body stepped boldly m front

 of Hain and looked at the big insect's huge eyes.

 "Do you want to eat me, Hain?" it asked evenly.

 Hain started to fiick her sticky tongue, but something

 stopped her. Suddenly she didn't want to eat the

 Czillian, not at all- She liked the Czillian. It was a

 good creature, a creature that had the interest of the

 baron at heart. It was the best friend she had, the

 most loyal.

 "I—I don't understand," Ham said in a perplexed

 tone. "Why should I want to eat it? It's my friend, my

 ally. I couldn't hurt it, never, or the pretty flowers and

 insects, either."

 "It's got some kind of mental power!" Skander

 screamed, and tried to free herself from the saddle in

 panic. Suddenly Hain spread out, lowering her shell to

 the ground, legs extended outward.

 Skander was free of the harness and looked around

 for a place to leap. Her darting eyes met the lime

 disks of the Czillian, and suddenly all panic fled. She

 couldn't remember why she was afraid m the first

 place, not of the Czillian, anyway.

 The thing came right up to the mermaid, so close

 they could touch. A Czillian tentacle stroked the

 Umiau's hair, and the mermaid smiled and relaxed,

 content.

 "I love you," Skander said m a sexy voice. "I'll do

 anything for you."

 "Of course you will," the SIelcronian replied gently.

 "We'll go to the Well together, won't we, my love?

 And you'll show me everything?"

 The Umiau nodded in ecstasy.

 The SIelcronian turned to The Diviner and The Rel,

 who stood there a few meters away, viewing the scene

 dispassionately.

 "What are you going to do with me?" The Rel

 asked in the closest it could come to sarcasm. "Look

 me in the eye?"

 For the first time the creature was hesitant, looking

 254

 uncertain, puzzled, less confident. It reached out its

 mind to the Northern creature, and found nothing it

 could contact, understand, relate to. It was as if the

 creature was no longer there.

 "If we cannot control you, you are at least irrele-

 vant to us," Vardia's voice said evenly. The Diviner

 and The Rel didn't move.

 "I said the equation had changed," The Rel said

 slowly. "I didn't say which way. The Diviner is al-

 ways right, it seems. Until this moment I had no idea

 whatsoever how we were to control Skander once in

 the Well, or why the addition of the Czillian tipped

 things more in our favor. It's clear now."

 The Rel paused for a moment. "We have been in

 charge of this project from its inception," The Rel

 continued. "We have used a judicious set of circum-

 stances and The Diviner's amazing skills to make our

 own situation. We lead. Now we lead without worry."

 "What power do you possess to command us?*'

 scoffed the new Vardia. "We are at this moment sum-

 moning the largest of our Recorders to crush you.

 You are no longer necessary.*'

 "I have no power at all, save speech and move-

 ment," The Rel admitted as eight huge insects

 hummed thunderously into view over the flowery fields.

 "The Diviner has the power," The Rel added, and as

 it spoke the flashing lights of The Diviner grew in in-

 tensity and frequency. Suddenly visible bolts shot out

 from the blinking creature and struck the eight Re-

 corders at the speed of light.

 The Recorders' outlines flashed an electrical white.

 There was a tiny roll of thunder as each of the crea-

 tures vanished, caused by air rushing in to take the

 place where it had been. It sounded like eight distant

 cannon shots.

 "Hmmm . . ." The Rel said in its flat tone, "that's

 a new one. The Diviner is full of surprises. Shall we

 go? I should not like to spend more than two nights

 in your charming land."

 The SIelcronian mind in Vardia's body was stag-

 gered and crushed. Something seemed to deflate in-

 side, and the confident glow in its eyes was replaced

 by respect mixed with something new to its experi-

 255

 ence—fear. "We—we didn't know you had such

 powers," it almost gasped.

 "A trifle, really," The Rel replied. "Well? Do you

 want to join us or not? I hope you will—it's so much

 simpler than what The Diviner would have to do to

 get Skander's cooperation, and I'm certain that, in

 the interest of your people, both of them, you'd

 rather we made it before anyone else."

 The stunned creature turned to Skander and said,

 shakily, "Get back into your harness. We must go."

 "Yes, my darling,'* Skander replied happily, and

 did so.

 "Your lead, Northerner," the SIelcronian said.

 "As always," The Rel replied confidently. "Do you

 know anything about Ekh'l?"

 The Beach at Ivrom—Morning

 "LOOKS PEACEFUL ENOUGH," VARDIA COMMENTED AS

 they unloaded the raft onto the beach. "Very pleas-

 ant, really."

 "Reminds me of the Dillian valley area, upvalley

 in particular," Wuju added, as they strapped the

 bulky saddlebags around her.

 "Something in here doesn't like people, though,"

 Brazil reminded them. "This hex has no embassy at

 Zone, and expeditions into it have always vanished,

 as Bat did last night. We have only this one facet

 of the hex to travel, but that's still over one hundred

 kilometers, so I think we'll stick to the beach as

 long as possible."

 "What about Bat, then?" Wuju asked in a con-

 cerned voice. "We can't just abandon him, after all

 he's done for us."

 "I don't like doing so any more than you do,

 Wuju," Brazil replied seriously, "but, this is a big hex.

 256

 He can fly at a good speed and over obstacles, and

 by now he could be just about anywhere. We might

 as well be looking for a particular blade of grass.

 As much as I'd like to help him, I just can't take the

 risk that wbatever*s here will get one or all of us."

 "Well, I don't like it," Wuju said adamantly, but

 there was no assailing his logic on any grounds ex-

 cept emotion. "We survived the Murnies," she re-

 minded him. "How much worse can it be here?"

 "Much," he replied gravely. "I survived Murithel

 by luck, as did you—and we knew who the enemy

 was and the problems. This is even more chancy,

 because we don't know what's here. We've got to

 leave Bat to the Fates. It's Bat or all of us." And that

 settled that.

 With Bat gone, Brazil regretted more and more

 his lack of arms or other appendages that could hold

 and use things. Although this was a nontechnological

 hex, several good and somewhat nasty items would

 be usable, and these were given to Wuju and Vardia.

 The centaur was given two automatic, gunpowder-

 powered projectile pistols, worn strapped to gunbelts

 worn in an X—and carrying extra ammunition clips—

 across her chest. Vardia had two pistols of a differ-

 ent kind. They squirted gas kept under pressure in

 attached plastic bottles- When the trigger was pulled

 hard, a flint would ignite the gas, which could be

 liberated at a controlled rate. The flamethrower was

 good for about ten meters, and needn't be very di-

 rectional to be effective. Wuju, of course, had never

 fired a pistol and had no luck with the little practice

 gotten in in the ocean. But these were still effective

 short-range weapons, psychologically if nothing else,

 and they made a lot of noise going off.

 "We stick to the beach," Brazil reminded them.

 "If we're lucky, we'll be able to get the whole way

 without going into the forest."

 As satisfied as they could be, they thanked the

 Umiau who had pulled them this far, and the mer-

 maids left.

 Brazil said "Lets go," in a voice more filled with

 tension than excitement.

 The sand and huge quantities of driftwood slowed

 257

 their progress, and they found on several occasions

 that they had to walk into the shallows to get around

 some points, but the journey went well.        ,

 They made good time. By sundown, Brazil esti-

 mated that they had traveled more than halfway.

 Since his vision was extremely poor after nightfall,

 and Vardia was better off rooting, they stopped for

 what they all hoped would be their only night in

 the mysterious hex.

 The sandy soil was not particularly good for the

 Czillian, but she managed to find a hard, steady

 place near the beginning of the woods and was set

 for the night. He and Wuju relaxed nearby as the

 surf crashed on hidden rocks just beyond the shore-

 line, then gently ran up with a sizzling sound onto

 the beach.

 Something was bothering Wuju and she brought it

 up. "Nathan," she said, "if this is a nontechnological

 hex like Murithel, how come your voice works? It's

 still basically a radio."

 The idea had never occurred to Brazil and he

 thought about it. "I can't say," he replied carefully,

 "but on all the maps and the like this is nontech,

 and the general logic of the hex layout dictates the

 same thing. It can't work, though, unless it's a by-

 product of the translator. They work everywhere."

 "The translator!" she said sharply. "Feels like a

 lump in the back of my throat. Where do they

 come from, Nathan?"

 "From the North," he told her. "From a totally

 crystalline hex that grows them as we grow flowers.

 It's slow work, and they don't let many of them go."

 "But how does it work?" she persisted. "It's not a

 machine."

 "No, not a machine in the sense we think of ma-

 chines," he replied. "I don't think anyone knows

 how it works. It was, if I remember right, created

 in the same way as most great inventions—sheer

 accident. The best guess is that its vibrations cause

 some kind of link with the Markovian brain of the

 planet."

 She shivered a little, and Brazil rubbed close to

 258

 her, thinking the dropping temperature was the cause.

 "Want a coat?" he asked.

 She shook her head negatively. "No, I was thinking

 of the brain. It makes me nervous—all that power,

 the power to create and maintain all those rules

 for all those hexes, work the translators, even change

 people into other things. I don't think I like the idea

 at all. Think of a race that could build such a thing!

 It scares me."

 Brazil rubbed her humanoid back with his head,

 slowly. "Don't worry about such things," he said

 softly. "That race is long gone."

 She was not distracted. "I wonder," she said in a

 distant tone. "What if they were still around, still

 fooling around. That would mean we were all toys,

 playthings—all of us. With the power and knowledge

 to create all this, they would be so far above us that

 we wouldn't even know." She shook him off and

 turned to face him. "Nathan, what if we were just

 playthings for them?"

 He stared hard into her eyes. "We're not," he re-

 sponded softly. "The Markovians are gone—long dead

 and gone. Their ghosts are brains like the one

 that runs this planet—just gigantic computers, pro-

 grammed and automatically self-maintained. The rest

 of their ghosts are the people, Wuju. Haven't you

 understood that from what you've learned by this

 trip?"

 "I don't understand," she said blankly. "What do

 you mean the people are the Markovian ghosts?"

 " 'Until midnight at the Well of Souls,' " he recited.

 "It's the one phrase common to all fifteen hundred

 and sixty hexes. Think of it! Lots of us are related,

 of course, and many people here are variations of

 animals in other hexes. I figured out the solution to

 that part of the puzzle when I came out of the Gate

 the same as I went in—and found myself in a hex

 of what we always thought of as 'human.' Next door

 were one-and-a-half-meter-tall beavers—intelligent,

 civilized, highly intellectual, but they were basically

 the same as the little animal beavers of Dillia. Most

 of the wildlife we've seen in the hexes that come close

 to the type of worlds our old race could settle are

 259

 related to the ones we had back there. There's a re-

 lationship for all of them.

 "These hexes represent home worlds, Wujy," he

 said seriously. "Here is where the Markovians built the

 test places. Here is where their technicians set up

 biospheres to prove the mathematics for the worlds

 they would create. Here's where our own galaxy, at

 least, perhaps all of them, was engineered ecologi-

 cally."

 She shivered again. "You mean that all these peo-

 ple were created to see if the systems worked? Like

 an art class for gods? And if it was good enough, the

 Markovians created a planet somewhere that would be

 all like this?"

 "Partly right," he replied. "But the creatures weren't

 created out of the energy of the universe like the

 physical stuff. If so, they'd be the gods you said. But

 that's not why the world was built. They were a

 tired race," he continued. "What do you do after you

 can do it all, know it all, control it all? For a while

 you delight in being a race of gods—but, eventually,

 you tire of it. Boredom sets in, and you must be

 stagnant when you have no place else to go, nothing

 else to discover, to reach." He paused, as the breaking

 waves seemed to punctuate his story, then continued

 in the same dreamy tone.

 "So their artisans were assigned to create the hexes

 of the Well World. The ones that proved out were

 accepted, and the full home world was then made

 and properly placed mathematically in the universe.

 That's the reason for so much overlap—some artisans

 were more gifted than others, and they stole and

 modified each other's ideas. When they proved out,

 the Markovians came to the Well through the gates,

 not forced but voluntarily, and they passed through

 the mechanism for assignment. They built up the

 hexes, struggled, and did what none else could do as

 Markovians—they died in the struggle."

 "Then they settled the home worlds?" she gasped.

 "They gave up being gods to suffer pain and to strug-

 gle and die?"

 "No," he replied. "They settled on the Well World-

 When a project was filled, it was broken down and

 260

 a new one started. What we have here today is only

 the youngest worlds, the youngest races, the last.

 The Markovians all strugg!ed here, and died here. Not

 only all matter, but time itself, is a mathematical

 construct they had learned and overcome. After many

 generations, the hexes became self-sufficient communi-

 ties if they worked. The Markovians, changed, bore

 children that bred true. It was these descendants,

 the Markovian seed, who went to the Well through

 the local gates to what we now call Zone, that huge

 Well we entered by. On the sixth day of the sixth

 month of each six years they went, and the Well took

 them, in a single sweep like a clock around the

 Well, one sweep in the middle of the night. It

 took them, classified them, and transported them to

 the home world of their races."

 "But surely," she objected, "the worlds had their

 own creatures. There is evolution—"

 "They didn't go physically," he told her evenly.

 "Only their substance, what the Mumies called their

 'essence,' went. At the proper time they entered the

 vessels which had evolved to the point of the Well.

 That's why the translator calls it the Well of Souls,

 Wuju."

 "Then we are the Markovian children," she

 breathed. "They were the seeds of our race."

 "That's it," he acknowledged. "They did it as a

 project, an experiment. They did it not to kill their

 race, but to save it and to save themselves. There's

 a legend that Old Earth was created in seven days.

 It's entirely possible—the Markovians controlled time

 as they controlled all things, and while they had to

 develop the worlds mathematically, to form them

 and create them according to natural law, they could

 do millions of years work rather quickly, to slide

 in their project people at the exact moment when

 the dominant life form—or life forms—would logi-

 cally develop."

 "And these people here—are they all Entries and

 the descendants of Entries?" she asked.

 "There weren't supposed to be any," he told her.

 "Entries, that is. But the Markovians inhabited their

 own old universe, you know. Their old planets were

 261

 still around. Some of the brains survived—a good

 number if we blundered into even one of them in

 our little bit of space. They were quasi-organic, built

 to be integral with the planet they served, and they

 proved almost impossible to turn off. The last Marko-

 vian couldn't shut his down and still get through, so

 they were left open, to be closed when time did to the

 old worlds what it does to all things left unmain-

 tained."

 "Then there are millions of those gates still open,"

 she speculated. "People could fall in all the time."

 "No," he replied. "The gates only open when some-

 one wants them to be open. It doesn't have to be a

 mystical key—although the boy Varoett, back on

 Dalgonia, caused it to open by locking into his mind

 the mathematical relationships he observed. It doesn't

 happen randomly, though. Vamett was the exception.

 The key is mathematical, but anyone near one

 doesn't have to know the key to operate the Gate."

 "What's the key, then?" she asked, puzzled.

 "Spacers—thousands of them have been through

 the Well, not just from our sector but from all over.

 I've met a number. It's a lonely, antisocial job, Wuju,

 and because of the Fitzgerald Contraction and rejuve,

 it is a long one. All those people who came here

 through gates got signals on the emergency band

 that lured them to the gates. Whether they admit it

 or not, they all had one thing in common."

 "What was that?" she asked, fascinated.

 "They all wanted to or had decided to die," he

 replied evenly, no trace of emotion in his voice. "Or,

 they'd rather die than live on. They were looking

 for fantasy worlds to cure their problems.

 "Just like the Markovians."

 She was silent for a while. Suddenly she asked,

 "How do you know all this, Nathan? The people here

 don't, those children of the Markovians who didn't

 leave."

 "You got that, did you?" he responded admiringly.

 "Yes, when the last were changed, they sealed the

 Well. Those who didn't want to go, lost their nerve,

 or were happy here—they stayed, with only a mem-

 ory, perhaps even regret once it was done, for they

 262

 kept the phrase *until midnight at the Well of Souls'

 alive as the symbol of forever. How do I know all

 this? I'm brilliant, that's why. And so is Skander—

 that's why we're going where we have to go."

 She accepted his explanation, not noticing the

 evasion. "But if everything is sealed, why bother?"

 she asked. "Skander can't do any harm, can he?"

 "Deep beneath our feet is a great machine," he told

 her seriously. "The Markovian brain is so ptwerful

 that it created and maintained the home worlds as it

 maintains this one; the brain keeps the equations

 that sustain all unnaturally created matter, that can

 undo the fabric of time, space, and matter as it

 created them. Skander wants to change those equa-

 tions. Not just our lives but our very existence is at

 stake."

 She looked at him for a long time, then turned

 idly, staring into the forest, lost in her thoughts.

 Suddenly she said, "Look, Nathan! The flying lights

 are out! And I can hear something!"

 He turned and looked into the forest. They were

 insects of some kind, he thought, glowing as they

 flitted through the forest. The light, he saw, was con-

 stant—the blinking that had been apparent from shore

 was an illusion, caused by their passage behind the

 dense foliage. The darkness was too complete for his

 deer vision to get any detail, but the floating, gliding

 lights were clear. There was something very familiar

 about them, he thought. I've never been here, yet

 I've seen this before.

 "Listen!" Wuju whispered. "Hear it?"

 Brazil's fine-trained ears had already picked it up

 even over the crashing of the waves.

 It was music, haunting, strange, even eerie music,

 music that seemed to penetrate their very bodies.

 "It's so strange," Wuju said softly. "So beautiful."

 The Faerie! he thought suddenly. Of course there'd

 be Faerie! He cursed himself for not thinking of it

 before. This close to the equator there was bound to

 be magic, he realized. Some of those authoritarian

 sons of bitches had snuck onto Old Earth and it had

 been hell getting rid of them. He looked anxiously

 -261

 at WuJu. She had a dreamy look on her face, and her

 upper torso was swaying in time to the music.  <

 "Wuju!" he said sharply. "Come on! Snap out of

 it!"

 She pushed him away and started forward, toward

 the woods. He rushed up and tried to block her way,

 but she wouldn't be deterred. He opened his mouth

 and tried to grab her arm, but it wouldn't hold.

 "Wuju!" he called after her. "Don't go in! Don't

 desert us!"

 Suddenly a dark shape swooped down from the sky

 at him. He ducked by lowering his forelegs and

 started running. It swooped again, and he cursed the

 poor vision that kept him from taking full advantage

 of his reflexes.

 He heard maniacal laughter above him, and the

 mad thing swooped again, brushing him this time.

 They're forcing me into the forest! he realized. Ev-

 ery time he moved in any direction but in the crea-

 ture's, laughing and gibbering, it would swoop in and

 block his way.

 "Cousin Bat! Don't do it! It's Nathan Brazil!" he

 called to the dark shape, knowing the effort was fu-

 tile, that the bat was under a Faerie spell.

 Brazil was in the woods now, where Bat couldn't

 follow by flying. He saw the creature standing there,

 outlined in the starlight glare on the ocean, looking

 up and down the beach.

 He looked around, and barely made out a large

 form heading away about eight meters farther in.

 It's useless, he realized- The music's got her and

 Bat's got me.

 I've faced them down before, he thought, and won.

 Maybe again, because they don't know that. No choice

 here, though. If I don't follow they'll send some

 other creatures after me.

 He could barely see despite the light from the flit-

 ting bugs that grew thicker and thicker as he

 entered the forest, but he smelled Wuju's scent and

 followed it.

 After what must have been twenty minutes, he

 emerged into a clearing in the woods.

 A toadstool ring, he thought grimly.

 264

 Under a particularly huge tree was a wide ring

 composed of huge brown toadstools. The music came

 from here, made by the thousands of insects that

 swarmed in the center of the ring. Wuju was in the

 ring, too, almost covered by the creatures, so thick

 now that they lit up the place like a lamp. She was

 dancing and swaying to the eerie music of their

 wings, as were a number of other creatures, of vary-

 ing shapes and sizes.

 The music grew in intensity and volume as more

 and more of the creatures of light came to the ring.

 Sitting in the hollow of the great tree, still and ob-

 serving, was a glowing insect much, much larger than

 the others—perhaps close to a meter. It had the oval

 shape of a beetle, and a light, ribbed underside that

 was highly flexible. Two long, jointed hind legs were

 held in front of it in a bent but relaxed position, and

 two forelegs, longer and with sharp-toothed ridges,

 that seemed to be leading the insect orchestra, waving

 in perfect time. It sat like this, underside exposed,

 leaning against the tree, a face on a telescoping neck

 down on the chest, watching things. The face was

 strange, not insect-like at all, nor was the position of

 the sitter nor the fact that it had only four limbs. It

 appeared to have a tiny, scruffy moustache, topped by a

 perfectly round and black nose, and two almost hu-

 man eyes that reflected the glare of the proceedings

 with an evil and ancient leer.

 There was a sudden darkness above, and Cousin

 Bat landed in the middle of the circle, bowed to the

 large onlooker, and joined the dance. The strange

 eyes of the lead bug darted around the circle, then

 over to Brazil, whose form was just barely visible still

 hidden by the forest.

 Suddenly the leader's forelegs went into a V shape,

 and the music stopped, everyone staying perfectly

 still; even the bugs seemed frozen in midflight.

 The lead bug, who Brazil knew was the Swarm

 Queen, spoke to Cousin Bat, and Brazil found it

 interesting that the translator carried it as the voice

 of an incredibly tiny and ancient old woman.

 265

 So are the legends of witches born, he thought

 sardonically.

 "You have brought only two! I charged you to

 bring all three!" the Swarm Queen accused Bat.

 Bat bowed, his voice flat and mechanical. "The

 other is a plant. Highness. It is rooted for the night,

 asleep beyond any recall except the morning sun."

 "That is unacceptable," the Swarm Queen snapped.

 "We have dealt with this problem before. Wait!" She

 turned to Brazil, and he felt the piercing eyes fall

 on him.

 "Deer! Come into the circle!" the Swarm Queen

 ordered, and Brazil felt himself moving slowly, halt-

 ingly, toward the circle despite no order on his part.

 He felt the energy grow to almost overpowering pro-

 portions as he crossed the toadstool ring.

 "The ring binds you all! Bound be ye till my re-

 turn, or till morning, till midnight at the Well of

 Souls," she intoned, then flipped over on her stom-

 ach, supported by all four legs. The back had long,

 integral wings and seemed to glow with the same stuff

 as her underside, although Brazil knew that was

 mostly reflection.

 "You will show me," she said to the bat, and Bat

 immediately took off, the Swarm Queen following

 with a tinkling sound that was like a single note in the

 eerie Faerie symphony.

 Brazil tried to recross the circle of toadstools, found

 he couldn't. He idly kicked at one, but it proved to

 be more rock than toadstool, and his hoof met with

 a clacking sound but nothing else.

 He looked at the inhabitants of the circle. All, like

 Wuju, were frozen, like statues, although he could

 see that they were breathing. There was a monoto-

 nous, yet pleasant, hum from the Faerie, marking

 place.

 Many of the other creatures were vaguely hu-

 manoid; all were small, a few monkey-like, but all

 were distorted, hellish versions of their former selves.

 Brazil remembered the encounters on Old Earth.

 Since the Faerie created their own press to suit them-

 selves, they had a pretty good reputation in folklore

 266

 and superstition. He had never discovered how they

 had managed to get in. Oh, some representatives of

 many other races had—some as volunteers to teach

 the people, some because their home worlds had

 closed before they personally had reached maturity

 and Old Earth had the room and a compatible

 biosphere.

 He wondered idly if those primitive peasants who

 told such wonderful stories of the Faerie would still

 like them if they knew that these folk doubled as the

 basis for witches and many evil spirits. Once created

 by some Markovian mind, they could not be wiped

 out; they had to run their course and survive or fail

 as the rules said.

 They had done too well. They worked their magic

 and dominated their own hex, using the collective

 mental powers of the swarm directed and guided by

 the Swarm Queen who was mother to them all, and

 tried to spread out. They managed to interfere in

 thirteen other Southern hexes where the mathematics

 did not forbid their enormous powers, before the

 Markovians finally moved to limit them to their own

 hex.

 Here they were in their own element, and supreme.

 How many thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands,

 of swarms existed in this hex? Brazil wondered. I beat

 them outside of their own element once, but can I do

 it here?

 About an hour passed, with Brazil, the only mov-

 ing thing in the ring, getting more and more nervous;

 yet he held onto a streak of optimism deep inside. If

 they couldn't succeed with Vardia before daybreak,

 these nocturnal creatures would go back to their tree

 burrows. Swarm Queen included. How long to dawn?

 he wondered.

 A sudden thought came to him, and he started

 carefully to draw a pentagram around the circle. He

 tried to be casual, so it didn't look as if he were doing

 much of anything; but his hoof managed to make the

 mark in the grassy meadow. This was a long shot, he

 knew, but it might stall the Swarm Queen until morn-

 ing.

 He was about halfway around when brush crackled

 267

 and he saw Vardia walk onto the knoll and into the

 circle, the Swarm Queen resting on her sun leaf.

 There was a shadow above, and Bat landed back in

 the circle. As soon as Vardia was across the toadstool

 ring, the Swarm Queen flew back over to her seat

 under the tree and resumed that casual and unnatural

 sitting position.

 Too late, he thought, and stopped the pentagram.

 I'll have to accept the spell and break it-          ''

 The Swarm Queen looked thoughtful for a few

 minutes. Then, quickly, she looked at the circle. "Be

 free within the circle," she said almost casually in that

 tiny, old-woman's voice.

 Bat staggered a few seconds, then caught himself

 and looked around, surprised. He saw the others and

 looked amazed,

 "Brazil! Vardia! Wuju! How'd you get here?" he

 asked in a puzzled tone.

 Wuju looked around strangely at the assemblage.

 She saw Brazil and went over to him. "Nathan!" she

 said fearfully- "What's happening?"

 Vardia looked around and barely whispered, "What

 a strange dream."

 Bat whirled, spied the Swarm Queen, and started

 to walk toward her. He got to the circle, and suddenly

 couldn't make his feet move. He napped his wings

 for a takeoff, but didn't go off the ground.

 "What the hell is this?" Bat asked strangely. "Last

 I remember I was flying near the shoreline when I

 heard this strange music—and now I wake up here!"

 "These creatures seem to—" Wuju began, but the

 Swarm Queen suddenly snapped, "Stand mute!" and

 the Dillian's voice died in midsentence.

 The Swarm Queen glanced up at the barely visible

 sky.

 "There's a storm coming," she said more to herself

 than to anyone. "It will not be over until after dawn.

 Therefore, the simplest thing should be the best." She

 looked up at the buzzing swarm, then flipped over

 and walked into the circle. Brazil could feel the power

 building up. The Swarm Queen flipped afpin lightly,

 and sat on the side of a toadstool, inside the ring,

 forelegs behind her to steady her.

 268

 "What shall we do with the interlopers?" she asked

 the swarm.

 "Make them fit," came a collective answer from

 the swarm.

 "Make them fit," the Swarm Queen echoed. "And

 how can we make them fit when we have so little

 time?"

 "Transform them, transform them," suggested the

 swarm,

 The Swarm Queen's gaze fell on Wuju, who al-

 most withered at the look and clung to Brazil.

 "You wish him?" the Swarm Queen asked acidly.

 "You shall have him!" Her eyes burned like coa!, rind

 the humming of the swarm intensified to an almost

 unbearable intensity.

 Where Wuju had been, there was suddenly a doe,

 slightly smaller and sleeker than Brazil's stag. The

 doe looked around at the lights, confused, and then

 leaned down and munched a little grass, oblivious to

 the proceedings.

 The Swarm Queen turned to Vardia. "Plant, you

 want so much to act the animal, so shall you be!"

 The buzzing increased again, and where Vardia

 had stood was another doe, identical to the one that

 had been Wuju.

 "It's easier to use something local, that you know,"

 the Swarm Queen remarked to no one in particular.

 "I have to hurry." She turned her gaze on Cousin

 Bat.

 "You like them, be like them!" she ordered, and

 Bat, too, turned into a doe identical in every way to

 the other two.

 Now she turned to Brazil. "Stags should not think,"

 she said. "It is unnatural. Here is your harem, stag.

 Dominate them, rule them, but as what you are, not

 what you pretend to be!"

 The swarm increased again, and Brazil's mind went

 blank, dull, unthinking.

 "And finally," pronounced the Swarm Queen, "so

 that so complex a spell, done so hurriedly, does not

 break, I bequeath to the four the fear and terror of

 all but their own kind, and of ail things which disturb

 the beasts. They are free of the circle."

 269

 Brazil suddenly bolted into the dark, the other

 three following quickly behind.

 There was the rumble of thunder, the flash of light-

 ning.

 "The circle is broken," intoned the Swarm Queen.

 "We go to shelter," responded the swarm as it dis-

 persed. The other creatures came alive, some gib-

 bering insanely, others howling, as the lightning and

 thunder increased.                             ''

 The Swarm Queen flipped and walked quickly over

 to her tree and into the base.

 "Sloppy job," she muttered to herself. "I bate to

 rush."

 The rain started to fall.

 Even though it was a sloppy spell, it took Brazil

 almost a full day and night to break it. The flaw was

 a simple one: at no time during the encounter had

 the Swarm Queen heard him talk, and it just hadn't

 occurred to her that he could. The input-output de-

 vice on the translator continued to operate, although

 it did little good for the rest of the night in the storm

 and throughout the next day, when the nocturnal

 Faerie were asleep.

 When the creatures emerged at nightfall, though,

 they talked. The conversations were myriad, complex,

 and involved actions and concepts alien to his expe-

 rience, but they did form words and sentences which

 the transceiver mounted in his antlers delivered to his

 brain. These words, although mostly nonsense, gave a

 continual input that banged at his mind, stimulated

 it, gave it something to grab onto. Slowly self-

 awareness returned, concepts formed, forced their way

 through the spell's barrier.

 That spark inside of him that had always ensured

 his preservation would not let him lapse or quit. Con-

 cepts battered at his brain, forcing word pictures in

 his mind, building constructs which burst into his con-

 sciousness.

 It was like a war against an invisible barrier, some-

 thing inside him attacking, always beating at the

 blocks that had been placed.

 Suddenly, he was through. Memories crowded

 270

 back, and with them came reason. He felt exhausted

 —he was totally worn out from the struggle, yet he

 knew that precious time had been wasted, and more

 roadblocks raised.

 He looked around in the dark. It was very hard to

 see anything except the flitting shapes of the Faerie,

 but he knew that he must be deep inside the hex.

 He looked around. Asleep nearby were the three

 transformed members of the expedition, absolutely

 identical even to scent. The Swarm Queen had been

 in a hurry and had used but a single model.

 Realizing there was little that could be done until

 shortly before dawn, lest he give himself away to some

 curious Faerie by acting undeer-like, he relaxed and

 waited for the sky to lighten.

 With daylight came safety, and the freedom to

 move. He spent over an hour trying to make some

 kind of contact with the three does, but their stares

 were blank, their actions totally natural. The spell

 could not be broken from without as far as they were

 concerned.

 For a while he considered abandoning them; they

 would follow him to the border, of course, but would

 be unable to cross it. The stakes certainly warranted

 it; logic dictated it.

 But he knew he couldn't do it. Not without a good

 try.

 He started off, wishing he could trace the wild,

 crazy route they had used to get where they were- He

 decided that the best thing to do would be to head

 due east; no matter what, that would bring him to the

 ocean sooner or later, and from there he could get

 his bearings.

 He moved with the swiftness that only a deer could

 have in the forest, and the three followed him loyally,

 almost slavishly- Pan of the spell, he guessed. The

 Swarm Queen had bound Wuju to him, and then

 duplicated her transformation precisely on the other

 two, which simplified things a great deal.

 He made the ocean before nightfall, but had no

 way of telling if he were north or south of the Faerie

 271

 colony he sought. He decided that he had ac-

 complished enough for one day, and that the next day

 would tell the story.

 He awoke later than intended, the sunlight already

 glaring down on the ocean, causing diamond-like

 facets to cover the surface,

 Which way? he wondered. Am I north or south of

 our last position?

 He finally decided to go north; at worst, this ^ould

 take him to the Ghlmon border and where he had to

 go. If he didn't run into the place he was looking for,

 he would have to abandon them for a while and re-

 turn later to straighten the matter out. About an

 hour up the beach he came upon the packs, still sit-

 ting in the sand where they had camped the first

 night. They were wet and sand-blown, but still intact.

 As the does romped in the surf or sniffed at the

 strange-smelling things in the sand, he worked fever-

 ishly, cursing his lack of hands. It took ten minutes to

 open a pack, and several more to work one of the

 flame guns that Vardia had carried out of the pack.

 The next task was somehow to pick it up.

 He finally managed a grip of sorts with his mouth. It

 was awkward, and he dropped it many times as he

 went back into the forest, but each time he patiently

 turned it just right and handled it again.

 It seemed like hours getting the flame pistol through

 that forest, but at last he came upon the clearing of

 ominously familiar character: the toadstool ring and

 the great tree. It was too well etched in his memory to

 be simply a similar place of some other swarm, and his

 deer's nose confirmed the proper scents.

 Carefully he searched for a large, uneven rock, and

 with great difficulty rolled it to within a meter of the

 hollow area that was the Swarm Queen's throne, at the

 base of the big tree. He managed to prop the flame

 gun sideways against the rock, so that it was mostly

 upright and pointed at the hollow.

 Satisfied, he went and got sticks from the forest and

 built a crude pentagram around the pistol and rock.

 Next he positioned himself so his forelegs were on ei-

 ther side of the pistol, the left one serving as a back-

 272

 stop for the grip area which also contained the gas, the

 right one just to the right of the trigger.

 He nodded to himself in satisfaction, and briefly

 checked the sun and the location of his three does, all

 of whom were idly grazing nearby. About two hours

 to sundown, he thought. Just about right.

 He brought his right foreleg to bear on the trigger.

 The pistol jiggled but remained in the right general di-

 rection. There was a hiss of escaping gas, but no

 flame. He released it, realizing that the flint igniter

 mechanism would require a hard and quick Jerk on the

 trigger.

 He knew that, if he did that, he might lose control

 of the gun, even have it suddenly jump up and bum

 him. He sighed and made up his mind. Tensely, he

 planted his left foreleg against the gun butt and his

 right just touching the large, unguarded trigger made

 for Czillian tentacles.

 Suddenly, in one sudden motion, he pulled against

 the trigger hard with his right leg. It jumped a little,

 but stayed firm.

 And remained unignited.

 Steeling himself, he tried again. Once more it failed

 to ignite, because he had flinched and not pushed the

 trigger straight back. He wondered idly if he could

 succeed, given his physical limitations. If not, he would

 just have to abandon his companions.

 He tried one more time, using extra force. The

 pistol ignited, but the thing almost jerked out of his

 precarious hold. Carefully, without releasing the trig-

 ger, he gingerly managed to point the thing back in the

 general direction of the tree. Just to the left of the tree

 the area was smoldering, some of it still afire.

 Now the jet of flame focused on the tree hollow, and

 he could see the bark smolder and catch, the fire al-

 most enveloping the tree like something liquid and liv-

 ing. Smoke billowed up, the scent disturbing to his

 nostrils. Birds screeched, and forest animals ran for

 cover in panic.

 Suddenly he heard what he had been waiting for:

 a tiny, weak voice coughing.

 The Swarm Queen had more than one exit avail-

 273

 able, and she crawled dizzily out of the top of the tree

 trunk, near the point where the four main branches

 went off. She was blind, sick, and groping feebly, start-

 ing to make her way up the side of one of the

 branches.

 "Swarm Queen!" he called, not letting up on the

 flame. "Shall I burn you or will you meet my condi-

 tions under pain of reversal?"

 "Who are you that dares do this to me?" she'man-

 aged, coughing and groaning in fear and misery as

 she maintained her dignity.

 "He who was wronged by you, and he who drove

 your ancestors off distant planets!" he replied boldly,

 but idly and somewhat fearfully wondering how much

 more of a charge the pistol had. "Do you yield under

 pain of reversal?"

 The large bug hadn't made it up the branch, almost

 overcome by the smoke and feeling the flames. Brazil

 was suddenly afraid she would fall into the fire before

 she yielded.

 "I—I yield!" she called. "Turn off your cursed fire!"

 "Say the whole thing!" he demanded.

 "I yield under pain of reversal, dammitall!" she

 screamed nervously.

 At that moment the charge ran out of the gun and it

 sputtered and died. Brazil let go, and looked at it

 strangely. A few seconds longer, he thought, and I'd

 have lost.

 "Get me down before I burn!" screamed the Swarm

 Queen, who was still very much in danger. The flames

 continued to smolder in the tree and around the trunk,

 although without the added fire they were slowly turn-

 ing to glowing red against the charred and blackened

 side.

 "Jump straight ahead and fly to the ground," he told

 her. "You know the distance."

 She could have done so before, of course, but the

 heat and fire always induced panic in these creatures.

 She landed shakily and sat, trembling, for several

 minutes. Finally she regained her composure and

 peered up at him with those old and evil semihuman

 274

 eyes, squinting. She was not totally blind in the light,

 but her vision was quite poor.

 "You're the deer!" she gasped in amazement. "How

 did you break the spell? How do you talk at all?"

 "Your spells cannot hold me for long," he told her.

 "That which inhabits this simple vessel is your supe-

 rior. But it does bind my companions, and it is for their

 sake that I charge you."

 "You have three charges only!" she spat, looking at

 the still smoking, blackened tree. "Consider them care-

 fully, lest I kill you for what you have done to my

 home and my honor!"

 "Honor be damned," Brazil replied disgustedly. "If

 you had any, there would have been no need to invoke

 a reversal. Remember that well. Should you default

 on the charges, it is I who will be Swarm Queen and

 you who will be a deer!"

 "State the charges, alien,'* she responded in a bitter

 tone. "They will be honored."

 Brazil thought carefully.

 "One," he said. "My three companions and I shall

 cross the border into Ghlmon, traversing the distance

 from here to there without spell or any form of inter-

 ference that would cause danger or delay."

 The Swarm Queen's eyebrows rose, and she said,

 "Done."

 "Two: the spells shall be removed from my three

 companions, and they shall regain all mental faculties,

 all memory, and shall be restored to their original

 forms."

 "Done," the Swarm Queen agreed. "And the third?'*

 "You shall cast a spell to be effective when we cross

 the Ghlmon border that will erase all memories, ef-

 fects, and signs of us four having been here, including

 those from your own mind."

 "A pleasure," she said. "So shall it be when dark-

 ness falls."

 "Until midnight at the Well of Souls," he responded.

 And she was stuck. Should any of the conditions

 cease to function or be unfulfilled, the original spell

 would bounce back at her.

 Nightfall came in about two hours. There were still

 275

 some wisps of smoke from the tree, but little else to

 show the struggle. When the swarm emerged from its

 thousands of holes in the surrounding trees, it found the

 queen disturbed, but they sensed that a battle had

 been fought and that she had lost. Since their power

 could only be focused through her, they had to go

 along.

 The three does had scattered during the fire, but all

 had timidly returned by dusk and were herde4 into the

 toadstool circle without much difficulty.

 The Swarm Queen's eyes burned with hatred, but

 she followed orders. As the swarm gathered in the cir-

 cle and hummed its strange music, she pronounced the

 first charge, for their safe conduct, then turned to the

 second.

 "The three within the circle shall be restored in mind

 and body to their original selves!" she pronounced, and

 as she said it, it was so.

 Brazil gasped, cursing himself for a fool in remem-

 bering the literalness of charges.

 In the circle stood Vardia, not as a Czillian, but as

 she had looked those first days on his ship—human,

 about twelve years old, thirty or so kilos, with shaven

 head.

 Next to her, looking even more confused, was not

 the Dillian Wuju but Wu Julee, obviously a healthy

 and unaddicted one, but about forty-five kilos, long

 black hair, and decent-sized but saggy breasts.

 And there was a stranger there. He was a boy, about

 Vardia's apparent physical age, with short hair and pre-

 pubescent genitals, about 150 centimeters tall, mus-

 cled, and fairly well proportioned.

 "Well, Master Varnett," Brazil said, bemused. "Out

 of the woodwork early, I guess."

 276

 Ekh*l

 THE DIVINER AND THE REL AND THE SLELCRONIAN

 in Vardia's body surveyed the towering, snow-capped

 mountains ahead of them.

 The mountains, majestic and all-encompassing, ran

 right to the sea. A small beach was visible, composed

 of blackish sand. Out into the water they could see sea

 stacks, the remnants of long-extinct volcanic activity.

 The sky was a leaden gray, and the air was terribly

 cold off the ocean.

 "Clouds will be moving in soon," Hain remarked be-

 hind them. "Rain or snow likely all along the beach.

 We'd better get started."

 "Can we make it without going into the mountains?"

 the Slelcronian asked apprehensively. "What if we run

 out of beach?"

 "Friend Hain, here, can cling to the sheer walls if

 necessary," The Rel replied confidently, "and she can

 ferry us around that way. No, this looks like rough,

 slow going but one of the easiest steps. The border with

 Yrankhs is just a few meters beyond the waterline, so

 we're not likely to meet the denizens of Ekh'l—a kind

 of flying ape, I believe. The Yrankhs are not ones we'd

 like to meet—flesh-eaters all—but they are water-

 breathers and not likely to bother us unless we decide

 to swim."

 "The fog's coming in," Skander noted. "We'd better

 get going."

 "Agreed," responded The Rel, and they started

 down to the beach.

 It was easy going, relatively speaking. The beach

 did disappear for several miles at one point or an-

 other, but although it ate up a lot of time, there was

 no problem in Hain ferrying them across one by one.

 277

 After almost three days, including delays from both

 terrain and a cold, bitter rain that stopped them for

 several hours, they were about three-quarters of the

 way to the Ghlmon border. The only living things they

 had encountered were seabirds in the millions, crying

 out in rage at the intruders. Once or twice they thought

 they caught sight of something huge flying about the

 mountamtops on great white wings, but the creatures

 never came close and no one was sure.

 At a particularly long break in the beach, which

 took Hain over an hour to negotiate each way, the only

 incident of the slow passage occurred.

 Hain set off first with the Slelcronian and the sup-

 plies, leaving The Diviner and The Rel alone with

 Skander on the beach.

 Skander sat munching some dried fish, apparently

 unconcerned about the pace or the rough portage

 ahead. Then, satisfied that Hain was out of sight and

 hearing along the rocky cliff, the Umiau looked up at

 The Rel. It was hard to tell the front from the back

 of the creature even if she knew the Northerner had

 a front or back.

 Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she started edging

 down toward the nearby ocean breakers.

 Less than five meters from the water. The Rel no-

 ticed, and started coming toward Skander at a sur-

 prisingly fast speed. "Stop!** the creature called. "Or

 we shall stop you!"

 Skander hesitated a fateful moment, then made a

 break for the beckoning waves.

 The Diviner's glowing, winking lights became ex-

 tremely intense, and something shot out from the

 globe, striking with a loud crash just in front of the

 mermaid. Skander rolled but did not stop.

 Another bolt shot out, striking Skander in the back,

 and she gave a cry then went limp, the water actually

 touching her outstretched arm. The body was motion-

 less, eyes staring, but the sharp rise and fall of the

 chest showed that she lived.

 The Rel glided up to the creature and halted next

 to the body.

 "I wondered just how long that mind of yours would

 be controlled by that silly hypnotism,*' it said in its

 278

 even, toneless voice. "But you forgot the Slelcronian

 lesson. Don't worry—you will be able to move soon.

 A fraction more voltage and your heart would have

 stopped, though. The only reason that you live is that

 we need you. The same for the others—Hain for trans-

 portation, the Slelcronian because its powers might be

 useful in a pinch. Now, you'll be coming around

 shortly. But remember this! If you escape you are of

 no use to me. If we must choose between losing you

 and killing you, you are most surely dead. Now, you

 may move—the correct way. And shall we say nothing

 of this to our companions, eh?"

 Skander surrendered, as movement returned. She

 still felt numb, but not merely of body. The Rel con-

 tinued in control, and she had no doubt that she was

 trapped.

 Hain returned in a little over two hours, and, after

 a short rest, was able to handle the two of them.

 "We're almost there," the great insect told them.

 "You can see the damned place from the last stretch

 of beach. It looks like a piece of hell itself."

 Hain was right. Ghlmon looked like a place one

 would run from, not to. The shoreline curved off to

 the northwest, and the land of Ghlmon started

 abruptly, the last of the Ekh'l mountains just slightly

 inching into the new hex. It was a land of blowing

 sand, dunes ranging in all directions right down to the

 sea. Outside of the ocean, there was no sign of water,

 vegetation, or any break in the oranges and purples of

 the swirling sand.

 "You really would have to be crazy to go there

 willingly, wouldn't you?" Hain said slowly, more to

 herself than to the others.

 "No water at all," Skander sighed.

 "No soil, nothing but sand," the Slelcronian added

 unhappily.

 "The first truly pleasant place we've seen in the

 South," said The Rel.

 Sander turned to The Rel. "Well, 0 leader, how do

 we proceed?" she asked sarcastically.

 "We keep to the coast," the Northerner responded

 casually. "Hain can continue to catch fish. The Slel-

 cronian. will have to go without vitamins for a day or

 279

 two, but it will get plenty of sun. Better water in that

 stream back there," The Rel told the plant creature.

 While the Slelcronian did so, Skander asked, "What

 about you, Rel? Or don't you eat?"

 "Of course we eat," The Rel replied. "Silicon. What

 else?"

 In a few minutes, they crossed the border.

 The wind was close to forty kilometers per hour,

 the temperature around forty degrees Celsius. It was

 like going from midwinter into the worst day of

 summer, and the swirling sand bit deeply into all of

 them.

 They were still within sight of the Ekh'l mountains

 when they had to stop for the day. Skander collapsed

 on the hot sand and shook her head exhaustedly.

 "What kind of creatures could possibly live in this

 hell?" she mused.

 Almost as if to answer the question, a tiny head

 popped out of the sand near them. Suddenly, it

 leaped out of the sand, revealing a small, two-

 legged dinosaur, about a meter high, with short,

 stubby arms terminating in tiny but very human

 hands. It had a very long tail which seemed to

 balance it.

 It was a darker green than the Czillian, but this

 was broken by what appeared to be a tiny, rust-

 colored vest and jacket. The creature came up to

 them and stopped. Its flat head and raised eyes set

 on each side of a spade-shaped mouth surveyed them

 with quick, darting motions. Suddenly it leaned back

 on its tail in a relaxed posture.

 "I say, old fellows," it said suddenly in a casual

 tenor that seemed to come from deep inside its

 throat—suggesting a translator in use—"Are you the

 good guys or the bad guys?"

 280

 Ivrom

 "THIS TURNING YOU ALL BACK INTO WHAT WE THINK

 of as human has some definite drawbacks," Nathan

 Brazil, still a giant stag, complained as they walked

 up the beach. The packs were on him, since none of

 the other three could now manage the heavy load.

 "You think you have problems," Wu Julee re-

 sponded. "We're all stark naked and none of the

 clothing in the packs fits anymore."

 "Not to mention feeling hunger, and pain, and

 cold again," Vardia put in. "I had forgotten these

 sensations, and I don't like them. I was happier as a

 Czillian."

 "But how is it possible?" Wuju asked. "I mean,

 how could things done by the Markovian brain be so

 undone?"

 "Why not ask Vamett?" Brazil suggested. "He's

 the brain that got this mess started, anyway."

 "You all are yelling about trivialities," Vamett

 sulked. "I could fly. And before I set out to catch

 you, Brazil, I experienced sex. For the first time, I

 experienced sex. Now I'm back in this retarded body

 again."

 "Not that retarded," Brazil responded. "You were

 arrested chemically, but that's all out of your body

 now. Just as the sponge is out of Wuju. You should

 mature normally, in a couple of years, depending on

 your genes and your diet. Good looking, too, if I re-

 member rightly, since you're based on lan Vamett. I

 remember him as one hell of a womanizer—particu-

 larly for a mathematician."

 "You knew lan Vamett?" the boy gasped. "But—

 he's been dead some six hundred years!"

 "I know," said Nathan Brazil wistfully. "He got

 281

 caught up in the great experiment on Mavrishnu.

 What a waste. You know it was a waste, Vamett—I

 saw your Zone interviews.*'

 "There has always been trouble with Vametts on

 Mavrishnu," the duplicate of the great mathemati-

 cian, made from cells of the long-dead original's

 frozen body, said with a gleam in his eye. "They

 tried three or four early on, but I'm the first one in

 more than a century. They needed him again, at least,

 his potential. I wasn't the first to interrupt Skander at

 his real work and inquiries—a lot of skillful agents

 put everything together. They were. raising me for a

 different, more local set of problems, but I was al-

 ready proving to be, I think, too much of a problem.

 They set me up on Dalgonia to see if I could crack

 Skander's work, figuring that whether I did or didn't

 they could get me when I returned.'*

 The group continued talking as they walked down

 the beach, unhampered—as the charge to the Faerie

 required—by any obstructions,

 "How much do you know, Vamett? About all this,

 that is," Brazil asked.

 "When I saw the cellular sample of the Dalgonian

 brain in the computer storage, I recognized the math-

 ematical relationship of the sequence and order of the

 energy pulses," the boy remembered. "It took about

 three hours to get the sequence, and one or two more

 to nail it down with the camp's computers. I only had

 to look at the thing to see that the energy waveforms

 represented there bore no resemblance to anything

 we knew, and the matter-to-energy-to-matter process

 within the cells was easily observed. I combined what

 I saw with what we theorized must be the reason the

 Markovians had no artifacts. The planetary brain

 created anything you wanted, stored anything you

 wanted, on demand, perhaps even by thought- That

 gave me what was going on in that relationship, al-

 though I still haven't any idea how it's done."

 Vardia was impressed. "You mean it was like the

 spells on us here—they Just wished for something and

 it was there?"

 "That's how the magic works here," Vamett af-

 firmed. "The only way such a concept is possible is

 282

 if, in fact, nothing is real. All of us, these woods, the

 ocean, the planet—even that sun-—are mereiy con-

 structs. There is nothing in the universe but a single

 energy field; everything else is taking that energy,

 transmuting it into matter or different forms of energy,

 and holding it stable. That's reality—the stabilized,

 transmuted primal energy. But the mathematical

 constructs that are so stabilized are in constant ten-

 sion, like a coiled spring. The energy would revert to

 its natural state if not kept in check. These creatures

 —the Faerie—have some control over that checking

 process. Not enough to make any huge changes, but

 enough to change the equation slightly, to vary reality.

 That's magic."

 "I don't understand what you're saying too well,"

 Wuju put in, "but I think I get the basic idea. You're

 saying that the Markovians were gods and could do or

 have anything they wished for, just like that."

 "That's about it," Vamett admitted. "The gods

 were real, and they created all of us—or, at least,

 the conditions under which we could develop."

 "But that would be the ultimate achievement of

 intelligence!" Vardia protested. "If that were true,

 why did they die out?"

 Wuju smiled knowingly and looked to Nathan

 Brazil, once the only human, now the only nonhu-

 man in the party, who was being uncharacteristically

 silent.

 "I heard someone say why they died," Wuju re-

 plied. "That someone said that when they reached

 the ultimate, it became dull and boring. Then they

 created new worlds, new life forms here and there—

 and all went off as those new forms to start from the

 beginning again."

 "What a horrible idea," Vardia said disgustedly.

 "If that were true, it means that even perfection is

 imperfect, and that when our own people finally

 reach this godhood, they'll find it wanting and die out

 by suicide, maybe leaving a new set of primitives to

 do the same thing all over again. It reduces all the

 revolutions, the struggles, the pain, the great dreams

 283

 —everything—to nonsense! It means that life is point-

 less!"

 "Not pointless," Brazil put in suddenly. "It just

 means that grand schemes are pointless. It means that

 you don't make your own life pointless or useless—

 most people do, you know. It wouldn't make any

 difference if ninety-nine percent of the people of the

 human race—or any other—lived or not. Except in

 sheer numbers their lives are dull, vegetative, and

 nonproductive. They never dream, never read and

 share the thoughts of others, never truly experience

 the fulfilling equation of love—which is not merely to

 love others, but to be loved as well. That is the ulti-

 mate point of life, Vardia. The Markovians never

 found it. Look at this world, our own worlds—all re-

 flecting the Markovian reality, which was based on

 the ultimate materialist Utopia. They were like the

 man with incredible riches, perhaps a planet of his

 own designed to his own tastes, and every material

 thing you can imagine producible at the snap of his

 fingers, who, nonetheless, is found dead one morn-

 ing, having cut his own throat. All his dreams have

 been fulfilled, but now he is there, on top, alone. And

 to get where he was, be had to purge himself of what

 was truly of value. He killed his humanity, his spirit-

 uality. Oh, he could love—and buy what he loved.

 But he couldn't buy that love he craved, only service.

 "Like the Markovians, when he got where he'd

 wanted to be all his life, he found he didn't really

 have anything at all."

 "I reject that theory," Vardia said strongly. "The

 rich man would commit suicide because of the guilt

 that he had all that he had while others starved, not

 out of some craving for love. That word is meaning-

 less."

 "When love is meaningless, or abstract, or mis-

 understood, then is that person or race also meaning-

 less," Brazil responded. "Back in the days of Old

 Earth one group had a saying, 'What shall it profit a

 man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his

 own soul?' Nobody listened then, either. Funny—

 haven't thought of that group in years. They said

 God was love, and postulated a heaven of communal

 284

 love, and a hell for those who could not love. Later on

 that got crudded up with other stuff until the ideas

 were gone and only the artifacts were left. Like the

 Markovians, they paid more attention to things than

 to ideas—and, like the Markovians, they died for it."

 "But surely the Markovian civilization was heaven,"

 Vardia said.

 "It was hell," Brazil responded flatly. "You see, the

 Markovians got everything their ancestors had ever

 dreamed of, and they knew it wasn't enough. They

 knew that something attainable was missing. They

 searched, poked, queried, did everything to try and

 find why the people were miserable, but since every-

 thing they had or knew was a construct of themselves,

 they couldn't find it. They decided, finally, to go back

 and repeat the experiment, little realizing that it, too,

 was doomed to failure—for the experiment, our own

 universe, was made in a variety of shapes and forms,

 but it was still in their own image. They didn't even

 bother to make a clean start—they used themselves

 as the prototypes for all the races they'd create, and

 they used the same universe—the one they'd lived in,

 rose in, and failed in. That's why their artifacts are

 still around—the two artifacts they had—their cities

 and their control brains."

 Vamett let out a gasp. "Suddenly I think I see

 what you mean. This Well World we're on, if you're

 right, not only provided the trial-lab runs for the new

 races and their environments, and the way of chang-

 ing everything to match—it was also the control!"

 "Right," Brazil affirmed grimly. "Here everything

 was laboratory-standard, lab-created, monitored,

 and maintained by automatic equipment to keep it

 that way. Not all of them—just a representative

 sample, the last races to be created, since they were

 the easiest to maintain."

 "But our race here destroyed itself," Varnett pro-

 tested. "I heard about it. Does that mean we're out of

 it? That the best we can do is destroy ourselves, de-

 stroy others, or, perhaps, reach the Markovian level

 and wind up committing suicide anyway? Is there no

 hope?"

 "There's hope," Brazil replied evenly, "And de-

 285

 spair, too. That religion of Old Earth I told you about?

 Well, those who believed in it had the idea that their

 God sent his son, a perfect human being filled with

 nothing but goodness and love, to us humans. Son-

 of-God question aside, there really was such a person

 born—I watched him try to teach a bunch of people

 to reject material things and concentrate on love."

 "What happened to him?" Wuju asked, fascinated.

 "His followers rejected him because he 'wouldn't

 rule the world, or lead a political revolution. Others

 capitalized on his rhetoric for political ends. Finally

 he upset the established political system too much,

 and they killed him. The religion, like those founded

 by other men of our race in other times, was politi-

 cized within fifty years. Oh, there were some devoted

 followers—and of others like this man, too. But they

 were never in control of their religion, and became

 lost or isolated in the increased institutionalizing of

 the faiths- Same thing happened to an older man,

 born centuries earlier and thousands of miles away.

 He didn't die violently, but his followers substituted

 things for ideas and used the quest for love and per-

 fection as a social and political brake to justify the

 miseries of mankind. No, the religious prophets who

 made it were the ones who thought in Markovian

 terms, in political terms—the founder of the Corn, for

 example, saw conditions of material deprivation that

 made him sick. He dreamed of a civilization like that

 of the Markovians, and set the Corn on its way. He

 succeeded the best, because he appealed to that

 which everyone can understand—the quest for ma-

 terial Utopia. Well, he can have it."

 "Now, hold on, Brazil!" Varnett protested. "You

 say you were there when all these people were

 around. That must have been thousands of years

 ago. Just how old are you, anyway?"

 "I'll answer that when we get to the Well," Brazil

 responded. "I'll answer all questions then, not before.

 If we don't get to the Well before Skander and who-

 ever's with him, it won't make any difference, any-

 way."

 "Then they could supplant the Markovians, change

 the equations?" Vamett asked, aghast. "I at one time

 286

 thought I could, too, but logic showed me how wrong

 I was. My people—my former people, those of the

 night—agreed with me. It was only when word came

 that Skander might make a run for it that they de-

 cided to send me to head him off. That's why I joined

 up with you, Brazil—you said you were going to do

 the same thing back in Zone. Our mysterious infor-

 mant told us to link up with you if we could, and I

 did."

 "Now how could—" Brazil started, then suddenly

 was silent for a moment, thinking. Suddenly the voice

 box between his antlers gave off a wry chuckle. "Of

 course! What an idiot I've been! I'll bet that son of a

 bitch has bugged every embassy in Zone! I'd forgotten

 just what kind of a devious mind he had!"

 "What are you talking about?" Wuju asked, an-

 noyed.

 "The third player—and a formidable one. The

 one who warned Skander against kidnap, got Varnett

 to link up with me. He knew all along where Varnett,

 here, and Skander were. He just wanted to be there

 for the payoff, as usual. I was his insurance policy, in

 case anything went wrong—and it did. Skander was

 kidnapped, and out of control or immediate surveil-

 lance. At least he has managed to delay one or

 another party on the way to the Well so that we're

 supposed to get there at about the same time—where

 he'll have a reception party waiting for us. He warned

 Skander so I'd have time to get to Czill, about even

 with them on the other side of the ocean. When we

 were trapped with the Murnies, he pulled strings to get

 the Czillians to put pressure on The Nation to bottle

 them up until we were even again! I don't wonder that

 he might have some influence with the Faerie—maybe

 the Skander party somehow got bogged down, too!"

 "Who the hell are you talking about, Nathan?"

 Wuju persisted.

 "Look!" Brazil said. "There's Ghlmon, the last hex

 before the equator! See the burned-out reddish sand?

 It goes across two hexes in width, a half-hex tall."

 "Who?" Wuju persisted.

 "Well," Brazil replied hesitantly, "unless I am

 287

 wildly mistaken, somewhere out in that sunburned

 desert we'll meet up with him."

 "Are we going to cross the border today?" Vamett

 asked, looking at the sun, barely above the horizon.

 "Might as well," Brazil responded. "It's going to be

 pretty tough on all of us there, so we'd better get

 used to it. The heat's going to be terrible, I think,

 and my fur coat's going to be murder, while your

 naked skins will be roasted. So we'd better push on

 into the night as much as we can, following the shore-

 line as we have. Days may be unworkable there."

 Wuju had an infuriated look on her face, but Brazil

 speeded up, forcing them into a jog to keep up, and

 within a few minutes they crossed the border.

 The heat hit them like a giant blanket, and it was

 humid, too, this close to the ocean. Within minutes of

 crossing the border, they had slowed to almost a

 crawl, the three humans perspiring profusely, Brazil

 panting wildly, tongue hanging out of bis mouth.

 Finally, they had to stop and rest. Dusk brought only

 slight relief.

 Wuju looked again at Brazil with that Fd-like-to-

 kilt-you expression. Hot, winded, the sand burning her

 feet and, when she sat down, her rear, she remained

 undeterred.

 "Who, Nathan?" she persisted, gasping for breath.

 Brazil's stag body looked as uncomfortable as any-

 one's, but that mechanical voice of his said evenly,

 "The one person who could know for certain that I

 would go after Skander, and that I would get to you

 in Dillia before going anywhere, was the only person

 who could tell Vamett where to find me and why. He

 was a pirate in the old days. You couldn't trust him

 with anything if he could make a shekel going against

 you, yet you could trust him with your life if there

 were no profit in it. That's what I forgot—the stakes

 are high here; there's a bigger profit potential than

 anyone could think of. He told me I could get help

 from everyone of all races, but trust none—in-

 cluding him, as it turned out. Although he figured I

 wouldn't think of him as an opponent since we'd

 288

 been good friends and I owed him. He was almost

 right."

 Understanding hit her at last, and she brightened.

 "Ortega!" she exclaimed. "Your friend we met when

 we first entered Zone!"

 "The six-armed walrus-snake?" Vardia put in.

 "He's behind all this?"

 "Not all this," came a voice behind them—a

 clipped, casual male voice that carried both dignity

 and authority. "But he still is happy everything has

 turned out right."

 They all whirled. In the near-darkness, it was hard

 for any of them to see properly, but the creature

 looked for all the world like a meter-tall dinosaur,

 dark green skin and flat head, standing upright on

 large hind legs, while holding a curved pipe in a

 stubby hand. He also appeared to be wearing an

 old-fashioned formal jacket.

 The creature puffed on the pipe, the coals glowing

 in the dark.

 "I say," it said pleasantly, "do you mind if I finish

 my pipe before we travel? Terrible waste otherwise,

 y'know."

 West Ghlmon

 THE FOUR OF THEM LOOKED CURIOUSLY AT THE

 strange creature. Brazil could only think that he should

 have been in Alice in Wonderland. The others took

 the appearance of the new arrival more calmly, having

 grown used to strange creatures and strange ways by

 this time.

 "You were sent by Serge Ortega?" Brazil asked

 evenly.

 The creature took its pipe out of its mouth and as-

 sumed an insulted expression. "Sir, I am the Duke of

 Orgondo. This is Ghlmon. The Ulik have no authority

 289

 here. They are merely our neighbors. We were ap-

 proached only a few days ago by Mr. Ortega about this

 matter, and we are, of course, much concerned. The

 Ulik interest is—well, frankly, closer to ours. We know

 them and understand them. We've gotten along for

 thousands of years with them. With their help we

 managed to survive when the environment here changed

 and the soil turned to sand. But all of you—Mr. Or-

 tega included—are here at our sufferance, and we will

 brook no intrusions into sovereignty."

 "What's he saying?" Vardia asked, and the others

 added their confusion- For the first time, Brazil realized

 that now they could understand only people with trans-

 lators and those speaking Confederacy. Their own

 translators had gone along with their former bodies.

 "Pardon me. Your Grace," Brazil said politely. "I

 will have to translate, for, I fear, my companions have

 no translators."

 The lizard looked at the three humans. "Hmmm....

 Most curious. I had been told to expect a Dillian,

 Czillian, and a Creit. We heard that you would be an

 antelope, and that so far is the only correct informa-

 tion. You are Mr. Brazil, are you not?"

 "I am," Brazil replied. "The male is Mr. Vamett,

 the female with breasts is Wuju, and the undeveloped

 female is Vardia. We did, after all, have to come

 through Ivrom. That, in itself, is an accomplishment, I

 should think—to have come through unaltered would

 have been a miracle."

 "Quite," nodded the Ghlmonese. "But we had no

 doubt you would come through, although there's been

 hell to pay for the three days you disappeared. We

 figured you'd been bewitched, and started moving some

 diplomatic mountains to find who had you."

 "Then that bewitching stuff wasn't part of Ortega's

 tricks?" Brazil responded. "He seemed awfully confi-

 dent we'd get through."

 "Oh, no, he figured that you would get stuck," the

 duke replied casually- "But we of Ghlmon are more

 adept at the arts than those filthy savages in Ivrom.

 It was only a matter of finding you. We already had

 the other party, so nothing was disturbed no matter

 how long it took."

 290

 "So what's the next move now?" Brazil asked calmly.

 "Oh, you'll be my guests for the night, of course,"

 the duke said warmly. "Tomorrow, we'll get you on a

 sandshark express and take you to the capital at Ood-

 likm, where you will link up with Ortega and the other

 party. From that point it will be Ortega's show, al-

 though we'll be watching."

 Brazil nodded. "This game is getting so crowded

 you need a scorecard." He provided a running transla-

 tion of the conversation so that the others could follow

 what was going on. Finally the creature's pipe went

 out, and it tapped the bowl and shook out the last re-

 mains of whatever it had been smoking. It smelled like

 gunpowder.

 "Places have been prepared for you," the duke told

 them. "Ready to go? It's not far."

 "Do we have a choice?" Brazil retorted.

 The little dinosaur got that hurt look again, "Of

 course! You may go back across the border, or jump in

 the ocean. But, if you plan to stay in Ghlmon, you will

 do what we wish."

 "Fair enough," the stag replied. "Lead on."

 They followed the little dinosaur along the beach in

 silence for a little over a kilometer. There, by the side

 of the sea, a huge tent of canvas or something very

 similar had been erected. A flag was flying from the

 tent's center mast. Several Ghlmonese stood around

 nearby, and tried not to look bored to death.

 Two by the tent flap snapped to attention as the

 duke approached, and he nodded approvingly. "Every-

 thing ready?" he asked.

 "The table is set. Your Grace," one replied, "Every-

 thing should be suitable."

 The duke nodded and the sentry held back the flap

 so he could enter and kept it open for the others to

 pass through.

 Inside, the place looked like something out of a

 medieval textbook. The floor was covered with thick

 carpeting like a handwoven mosaic. Actually made

 up of hundreds of small rugs, it looked like a colorful

 series of lumps.

 In the center was a long, low wooden table with

 strange-smelling dishes on it. There were no chairs, but

 291

 the human members of the party were quickly provided

 with rolls of blankets or rugs that propped them up

 enough to make things comfortable.

 "Simple, but it will have to do," the duke said, al-

 most apologetically. "You will find the food compatible

 —Ambassador Ortega was most helpful here. We

 didn't expect you in these forms, of course, but there

 should be no problem. Pity you couldn't be entertained

 in the castle, but that is impossible, I fear."

 "Where is your castle?" Brazil asked. "I haven't

 seen any structures but this one."

 "Down below, of course," the duke replied. "Ghlmon

 wasn't always like this. It changed, very slowly, over

 thousands of years. As the climate became progressively

 drier, we realized that we couldn't fight the sand, so

 we learned to live beneath it. Air pumps, constantly

 manned by skilled workmen, keep the air coming in

 from vents to the surface—which crews keep clear.

 Sort of like living under the ocean in domes, as I

 have heard is done elsewhere- The desert's our ocean

 —more than you think. We can swim in it, albeit

 slowly, and follow guide wires from one spot to an-

 other, coming up here only to travel long distances."

 Brazil translated, and Vardia asked, "But where

 does the food come from? Surely nothing grows here."

 "We are basically carnivores," the duke explained

 after the translation of the question. "Lots of creatures

 exist in the sand, and many are domesticated. Water

 is easy—the original streams still exist, only they now

 run underground, along the bedrock. The vegetable

 dishes here are for your benefit. We always keep some

 growing in greenhouses down under for guests."

 They ate, continuing the conversation. Brazil, not

 knowing how much the Ghlmonese were actually in on

 the expedition, carefully avoided any information in

 that direction, and it was neither asked for nor brought

 up by his host.

 After eating, the duke bade them farewell. "There's

 a good deal of straw over there for padding if you can't

 sleep on the rug," he told them. "I know you're tired

 and won't disturb you. You have a long journey start-

 ing tomorrow."

 Vardia and Vamett found soft places near the side

 292

 of the tent and were asleep in minutes. Wuju tried to

 join them, but lay there awake for what seemed like

 hours. Her insomnia upset her—she was tired, ach-

 ing, and uncomfortable, yet she couldn't sleep.

 The torches had been extinguished, but she could

 make out Brazil's large form in the gloom near the

 entrance. Painfully, she got up and walked over to him.

 He wasn't asleep either, she saw- His head turned

 as she approached. "What's the matter?" he asked.

 "I—I dunno," she replied hesitantly. "Can't sleep.

 You?"

 "Just thinking," he said, an odd, almost sad tone in

 his electronic voice.

 "About what?"

 "This world. This expedition. Us—not just the two

 of us, all of us. It's ending, Wuju. No beginnings any-

 more, just endings."

 She looked at him strangely in the darkness, not

 comprehending his meaning. Unable to pursue it, she

 changed the subject.

 "What's going to happen to us, Nathan?" she asked.

 "Nothing. Everything. Depends on who you are,"

 he replied cryptically. "You'll see what I mean. You've

 had a particularly rough time, Wuju. But you're a sur-

 vivor. Tough. You deserve to enjoy life a little." He

 shifted uncomfortably, then continued.

 "Just out of curiosity, if you had a choice, if you

 could return to our sector of the universe as anything

 or anybody you wanted to be, what would you choose?"

 She thought for a minute. "I've never considered go-

 ing back," she replied in a soft, puzzled tone,

 "But if you could, and you could be who and where

 you wanted—like the genie with the three wishes—

 what would you choose?"

 She chuckled mirthlessly. "You know, when I was a

 farmer, I had no dreams. We were taught to be satis-

 fied with everything. But when they made me a whore

 in the Party House, we'd sometimes sit and talk about

 that. They kept the males and females separate—we

 never saw any males except Party locals and favored

 workers. We were programmed to be supersexy and

 give them a hell of a time. I'm sure the male jocks

 were equally fantastic for the female bigwigs. They shot

 293

 us full of hormones, thought we couldn't think of any-

 thing but sex—and, it's true, we craved it, constantly,

 so much so that during slack times we were in bed

 with each other.

 "But the Party people," she continued, "they knew

 things, went places. Some of them liked to talk about it,

 and we got to know a lot about the outside world.

 We'd dream about getting out into it, out perhaps to

 other worlds, new experiences." She paused for a mo-

 ment, then continued in that dreamy, yet thoughtful,

 somewhat wistful tone.

 "Three wishes, you said. All right, if we're playing

 the game, I'd like to be rich, live as long as I wanted,

 and be young all that time, and fantastically good-

 looking, too. Not on a Comworld, of course—but that's

 four, isn't it?"

 "Go on," he urged. "Never mind the three. Any-

 thing else?"

 "I'd like to have you under those same conditions,"

 she replied.

 He laughed, genuinely pleased and flattered. "But,"

 he said, serious again, "suppose I wasn't there? Sup-

 pose you were out on your own?"

 "I don't even want to think about that."

 "Come on," he prodded. "It's only a game."

 Her head went up, and she thought some more. "If

 you weren't there, I think I'd like to be a man."

 If Brazil had had a human face, it would have risen

 in surprise. "A man? Why?"

 She shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. "I don't

 know, really. Remember I said young and good-looking.

 Men are bigger, stronger, they don't get raped, don't

 get pregnant. I'd like to have children, maybe, but—

 well, I don't think any man could turn me on except

 you, Nathan. Back in the Party House—those men

 who came. I was like a machine to them, a sex ma-

 chine. The other girls—they were real people, my

 family. They cared. That's why the Party gave me to

 Hain, Nathan—I'd gotten to the point where I couldn't

 turn on to men at all, only women. They felt, they

 cared, they weren't—well, weren't threatening. All of

 the men I met were—except you. Can you understand

 that?"

 294

 "I think I can," he responded slowly. "It's natural,

 considering your background. On the other hand, there

 are many worlds where homosexuality is accepted, and

 you can get children by anything from cloning to ar-

 tificial insemination. And, of course, men have just as

 many problems and hang-ups as women. The grass

 isn't greener, just different."

 "That might be the fun of it," she replied. "After

 all, it's something I've never been—like I'd never

 been a centaur before, and you'd never been a stag. I

 know what it's like to be a woman—and I don't par-

 ticularly care for it. Besides, we're only playing."

 "I guess we are," he responded. "Since we are,

 would you rather go back to being a Dillian than what

 you are now? You can, you know—just go back to

 Zone through the local Gate and back through again.

 You'll be readjusted to the original equation. That's the

 most common way of breaking spells around here, you

 know. That's the way I'd have handled things if I'd

 had the time back in Ivrom rather than risking that

 facedown with the Swarm Queen."

 "I—I'm not sure I could go back to Dillia," she

 said softly. "Oh, I loved being that big and strong,

 loved the country and those wonderful people—but

 I didn't fit. That's what was driving me crazy in the

 end. Jol was a wonderful person, but it was Dal I

 was attracted to. And that doesn't go over in Dillia

 socially—and, if it did, it's impractical."

 He nodded. "That's really what you meant when

 you told me long ago about how people should love

 people no matter what their form or looks. But what

 about me? Suppose I turned into something really

 monstrous, so alien that it bore almost no resemblance

 to what you knew?"

 She laughed. "You mean like the bat or a Czillian

 or maybe a mermaid?"

 "No, those are familiar- I mean a real monstrosity."

 "As long as you were still you inside, I don't think

 anything would change," she replied seriously. "Why

 do you talk like that, anyway? Do you expect to turn

 into a monster?"

 "Anything's possible on this world," he reminded

 her. "We've seen only a fraction of what can happen—

 295

 you've seen only six hexes, six out of fifteen hundred

 and sixty. You've met representatives of three or four

 more. There's a lot that is stranger." His voice turned

 grim. "We have to meet the new Datham Ham shortly,

 you know. He's a giant female bug—a monster if

 ever there was one."

 "Now his outside matches his foul inside," she

 snapped bitterly. "Monsters aren't racial, they're in the

 mind. He's been a monster all his life."

 He nodded. "Look, trust me on this- Ham will get

 what he deserves—so will everybody. Once inside the

 Well, we'll all be what we once were, and then will

 come the reckoning."

 "Even you?" she asked. "Or will you stay a deer?"

 "No, not a deer," he replied mysteriously, then

 changed the subject. "Well, maybe it's better over. Two

 more days and that'll be it."

 She opened her mouth to prod, then closed it again.

 Finally, she asked, "Nathan, is that why you've lived

 so long? Are you a Markovian? Vamett thinks you

 are."

 He sighed. "No, not a Markovian—exactly. But

 they might as well continue to think I am. I may have

 to use that belief to keep everything from blowing

 apart too soon."

 She looked stunned. "You mean all this time you've

 been dropping hints that you were one of the original

 builders, and it was all a bluff?"

 He shook his head slowly. "Not a bluff, no. But I'm

 very old, Wuju—older than anyone could imagine. So

 old that I couldn't live with my own memories. I

 blocked them out, and, until arriving here on the Well

 World, I was mercifully, blissfully ignorant. No mind

 in history can function long with this much storage in-

 put. The shock of the fight and transformation in

 Murithel brought the past back, but there's so much.'

 It's next to impossible to sort it all out, get a handle

 on it all. But these memories still give me the edge—

 I know things the rest of you don't. I'm not necessarily

 smarter or wiser than you, but I do have all that ex-

 perience, all that accumulated knowledge of thousands

 of lifetimes. That gives me the advantage."

 29fi

 "But they all think you're going to work the Well

 for them," she pointed out. "Everything you've said

 indicates that you know how."

 "That's why Serge kept us alive," he explained.

 "That's why we've been coddled and prodded. I have

 no doubt that the little voice box on top my antlers

 has an extra circuit monitored by Serge. He's prob-

 ably listening right now. I don't care anymore. That's

 why he could help us, know where we were and what

 happened to us. That's why we're going to meet him;

 that's how all this was prepared in advance. Just in

 case he can't use me, he'll use Skander, or Varnett—

 he thinks."

 "I can see why he'd be concerned with you three,"

 she replied, "but why the rest of us? Why me, for

 example?"

 If Brazil could have smiled, he would have. "You

 don't know Serge—the old Serge. I'd been so lulled

 by that talk about a wife and kids I'd forgotten how

 little this world changes the real you, deep down. Hain

 —well, Hain is useful to keep Skander in check as

 well as for transportation. I don't know who else is

 along, but be sure they're there only because Serge

 has some use for them or he hasn't been able to

 figure out how to dispose of them properly."

 "But why me?" she repeated.

 "They must have some tame nasties on the Corn-

 worlds," he replied sardonically. "You're a hostage,

 Wuju. You're his handle on me."

 She looked uncertain. "Nathan? What if it really

 came down to that? Would you do what he asked for

 me?"

 "It won't come to that," he assured her. "Believe me,

 it won't. Vamett has already figured out why, although

 he's forgotten in his youthful excitement."

 "Then what will you do?"

 "I will lead them all to the Well—Skander can do

 that anyway, so could Varnett. I intend to show them

 everything they want. But they will leam that this

 treasure hunt is full of thorns when they discover what

 the price really is. I'll bet you that, once in the control

 • room of their dreams, they will think the price is too

 high."

 297

 She shook her head in wonder. "I don't understand

 any of this."

 "You will," he replied cryptically, "at midnight at

 the Well of Souls."

 The trip was uncomfortable and bumpy. They

 traveled on a huge wooden sled with runners. Pulling

 them swiftly were eight huge beasts they could not

 fully see—sandsharks, the Ghlmonese called them.

 Only huge gray backs and huge, razor-sharp fins were

 visible as they pulled their heavy load and were kept

 in check by a Ghlmonese driver with reins for each of

 the huge creatures.

 The sandsharks were giant mammals who lived in

 the sand as fish lived in water. They breathed air—

 a single huge nostril opened whenever their great backs

 broke the surface—and moved at eight to ten kilo-

 meters per hour.

 By the end of the day the travelers were all sore

 and bruised, but more than halfway there. They spread

 rugs out on the sand, and ate food heated by the fiery

 breath of their driver. There was no problem sleeping

 that evening, despite the hot air, blowing wind, and

 strange surroundings.

 The next day was a repeat of the first. They passed

 several other sleds carrying Ghlmonese, and occasion-

 ally saw individuals riding in huge saddles on the backs

 of sandsharks. Once in a while they would see a cluster

 of what appeared to be huge chimneys with crews

 keeping the openings from being blocked by sand. Far

 below, they knew, there were towns, perhaps large

 cities.

 Finally, near dusk of the second day, structures ap-

 peared ahead of them, growing rapidly larger as they

 approached. These proved to be a network of towers

 and spires made of small rocks, reaching fifty or

 more meters in the air, like the tops of some medieval

 fortress.

 They slowed, and came to a halt near two towers

 with a wide gate between. A number of Ghlmonese

 stood around; others were busy going to or from un-

 known places.

 An officious-looking dinosaur, in ornate red livery,

 298

 came up to them. "You are the alien party from Or-

 gondo?" he asked gruffly.

 "They are," their driver replied. "All yours and wel-

 come. I have to see to my sharks. They've had a tough

 journey."

 "Which of you is Mr. Brazil?" the official inquired.

 "I am," Brazil replied.

 The official looked surprised, since Brazil was,

 after all, still a giant stag, but he recovered quickly.

 "Come with me, then. The rest of you will be taken to

 temporary quarters." He motioned to some other

 Ghlmonese, also in the red livery, and they came up

 to escort the party. Although the smallest of the hu-

 mans was a head taller than any of the guards, no one

 felt like arguing.

 "Go with them," Brazil instructed his group.

 "There'll be no problems. I'll join you as soon as I

 can."

 They had no choice, and walked to the tower nearest

 them. Brazil turned to the official. "What now?" he

 asked.

 "Ambassador Ortega and the other alien party are

 camped out near the base of The Avenue," the official

 replied. "I am to take you to them."

 "Lead on," Brazil urged, unconcern in his voice.

 The Avenue proved to be a broad trench, thirty or

 more meters across, that was just beyond the towers

 and spires. It was also more than fifteen meters below

 ground level, but, despite only the most rudimentary

 stone buffers, the sand didn't seem to blow into the

 obviously artificial culvert, but over and past it.

 Broad stone stairs led down to the flat, almost shiny

 surface below. Brazil had some trouble negotiating the

 stairs, but finally made it. The buildings of Oodlikm

 seemed to line The Avenue on both sides, like

 medieval castles used to be built into the sides of steep

 river valleys back on Old Earth. There were many

 stairways and hundreds of doors, windows, and even

 ports for defense along both sides of The Avenue wall.

 As for the valley itself, its level, jewellike surface

 seemed to stretch to the ocean on Brazil's right, and

 off to the horizon on his left.

 Brazil's hooves clacked on the shiny surface. He

 299

 towered over countless stalls selling all sorts of things

 and over the crowds which gaped at him and made

 way as he passed. He and his escort walked toward the

 ocean, past the last shops, and finally to what was

 obviously a more official, less commercial section,

 across which had been hastily erected a barricade with

 a heavy wooden gate and armed guards.

 The official approached the gate, showed a pass he

 produced from his coat pocket. After the guards in-

 spected his pass carefully, the gates opened and they

 passed through. Inside were more guards—huge num-

 bers, in fact. In the center of The Avenue were an

 Akkafian, a Czillian, a Umiau in what looked like a

 square bathtub, and—something else.

 Brazil studied The Diviner and The Rel, and the

 last pieces fit into place. The role of the Northerner

 had been unclear to him from the start, and he knew

 nothing of the creature's hex, physically or culturally.

 He was certain that the thing was at the heart of much

 of the mischief that had been worked, though.

 Darkness had fallen, and the stars started showing

 through. Small gaslights had been lit, giving the entire

 scene an eerie glow.

 "Remain with the others," the official instructed him.

 "I will get Ambassador Ortega."

 Brazil went over to the alien creatures, ignoring all

 except the Umiau.

 "So you're Elkinos Skander," he said flatly.

 The mermaid gave a puzzled look. "So? And who or

 what are you?"

 "Nathan Brazil," be replied crisply. "That name

 means little to you? Perhaps it will be better to say that

 I am here to avenge seven murders."

 The Umiau opened her mouth in surprise. "Seven

 —what the hell do you mean?"

 Brazil's independent eyes showed Skander on the

 right, and the interest of the other three on the left.

 The others were all watching the two tensely.

 "I was the captain of the freighter who found the

 bodies on Dalgonia. Seven bodies, charred, left on a

 barren world. None of them ever did you harm, nor

 was there any reason for their deaths."

 "I didn't kill them," Skander responded in a surly

 300

 tone. "Vamett killed them. But, what of it? Would you

 have preferred to open this world to the Corns?"

 "So that was it," Brazil said sadly. "The seven died

 because you feared that their governments would get

 control. Skander, you know who killed them, and /

 know who killed them, but even beyond that is the fact

 that they needn't have died even for so dubious a rea-

 son. The Gate would not have opened for them."

 "Of course it would!" Skander snapped. "It opened

 when Vamett and I found the mathematical key to the

 computer. And it was still open for you and your party

 to fall through!"

 Brazil shook his head slowly. "No, Skander. It

 opened only because the two of you wanted it to open.

 That's the key, you know. Even though you didn't

 know that the Gate didn't lead to the Dalgonian brain,

 but to here, you knew that some sort of Gate must

 exist and you wanted desperately to find it. You had

 already decided to kill Vamett and the others before

 you found it. Vamett knew it. He had a desire to find

 the Gate, and the fear of death to fix it. That's what

 opened it up, not your mathematical discoveries. It

 hadn't opened since the Markovians, and it wouldn't

 have opened again unless the conditions were right."

 "Then how did you fall through?" Skander retorted.

 "Why did it open for you?"

 "It didn't," Brazil replied evenly. "Although I should

 have known it was there."

 "But it did open for us, Brazil," Hain put in.

 "Not for you, Hain, or for me, or for Vardia, either,"

 Brazil told them. "But, within our party, there was one

 person who had lost all hope, who wanted to die, to

 escape fate's lot. The brain, sensitized to such things,

 picked this up and lured us to Dalgonia with the false

 emergency signal. We went up to where the shuttles

 left by Skander and Vamett were still parked, walked

 out onto the Gate floor, and, when Wu Julee was well

 within the field, the Gate triggered—sending all of us

 here."

 "I remember you, now!" Skander exclaimed. "Var-

 dia told me about you while we were imprisoned in

 The Nation! She told me how the ships seemed to

 vanish. When I heard all that, I assumed you had en-

 301

 gineered the whole thing, that you were a Markovian.

 The evidence fitted. Besides, it stands to reason that

 you don't leave a control group like those on the Well

 World without someone to monitor the control."

 "The fact that it was the girl and not Brazil who

 triggered the Gate doesn't necessarily invalidate your

 conclusions, Doctor," came a smooth, husky voice be-

 hind them. They turned to see the huge form of Serge

 Ortega, all five meters of snake and two meters of his

 thick, six-armed body.

 "Serge, I should have known better," Brazil said

 good-humoredly.

 All six arms of the Ulik shrugged. "I have a pretty

 good racket here, Nate. I told you I was happy, and I

 am. I have most of the embassies at both zones bugged,

 and the conversations recorded. I find out what*s hap-

 pening, who's doing what to whom, and if there's

 anything of interest to me and to my people I act

 on it."

 Brazil nodded, and would have smiled if the stag

 body allowed it. "It was no accident that you were the

 one who met us, was it? You already knew I was

 there."

 "Of course," Onega replied. "Small cameras in-

 stalled in two or three points around the Well go on

 whenever someone comes through. If they're old-

 human I get there first. Nobody cares much, since the

 Zone Gate randomly assigns them to other hexes."

 "You didn't meet me when I came through," Skander

 pointed out.

 Ortega shrugged again. "Can't live in the damned

 office. Bad luck, though, since I then lost sight of you

 for a long time. These others were already in and as-

 signed before I managed to track Vamett down, al-

 though the Umiau are so lousy at secrecy your cover

 was blown about a month after you came."

 "You've been following me since Czill, haven't you,

 Serge?" Brazil asked. "How did you manage it?"

 "Child's play," the Ulik replied. "Czill has a high

 technological level but no natural resources, and some

 problems in handling hot metal anyway. We supply

 parts for their machines—we and many others—

 only ours have slight modifications. A resonator for the

 302

 translator, for example, takes only one almost in-

 visible extra circuit to broadcast—if you know the

 right frequency. The range isn't fantastic, but I knew

 where you were, and in most instances mutual back-

 scratching, past lOU's, and the like were all that was

 needed. I think I know what you are, Nate, and I

 think you know you should play the game my way."

 "Or you'll kill the others?"

 The snakeman looked hurt, but it was exaggerated.

 "Why, Nate! Did I say any such thing? But, regardless,

 I have Skander. here, and, if all else fails, Vamett. I'd

 prefer you, Nate. I don't think you're any different

 from the Nathan Brazil I've known all these decades.

 I'm willing to bet that that personality of yours isn't

 a phony front or a construct, but the real you, no

 matter what your parents were. You know me better

 than anybody, so you know my actions and what I'll

 do in any case. Will you lead the party in?"

 Brazil looked at his old acquaintance for a moment.

 "Why everybody. Serge? Why not just you and me?"

 he asked.

 "Ah, come on, Nate! What do you take me for?

 You know how to get in; I don't. You know what's in

 there—I don't. With the others I get an expert check

 on your actions and descriptions, and a little insurance

 from their own self-interest. The Northerner, here—

 it's working for a group so different from any of us I

 can't figure out anything about them. Nonetheless, like

 Hain, here, and the plant, they're all looking out for

 their own interests. So are your people, really. Nobody's

 going to let anybody else get the upper hand. You'll

 all even be armed—armed with pistols that can kill

 any of you, but can't kill roe. I've taken immunity

 shots from Hain's stinger, so that's no threat, and I am

 so much physically stronger than any of you that I'll

 be happy to take you on. Nate knows how quick I can

 move.

 Brazil sighed. "Always figuring the angles, aren't

 you. Serge? So tell me, if this was your game all along,

 why did we have to fight and walk so far? Why not

 just get us all together and bring us to this point?"

 "I hadn't the slightest idea where you were going,"

 replied Ortega honestly. "After all, Skander was still

 303

 looking, Vamett had given up, and nobody else

 knew. So I just let the expeditions lead me here. When

 it became clear where both expeditions were headed, I

 arranged to slow things down until I could get here

 ahead of you. Easier than you think—Zone Gate to

 Ulik, then over. Hell, man, I've been to that Equatorial

 Zone hundreds of times. There's no way in that any-

 body's ever found, and a lot have tried over the years.**

 "But we now know that the entrance is at the end

 of The Avenue," The Rel said suddenly. "And, from

 Skander, I perceive that the time of entry is midnight"

 "Right on both counts," Brazil admitted. "However,

 that knowledge alone won't get you in You need the

 desire to get to the Well center, specifically, and a

 basic equation to tell the Well you know what you're

 doing."

 "The Vamett relationship," Skander said. "The

 open-ended equation of the Markovian brain slides.

 That's it, isn't it?"

 "Sure,** Brazil acknowledged. "After all, it wasn*t

 supposed to keep any Markovians out. The conditions

 of this world are such that the relationship is simply

 indecipherable. It's only one in a million that the

 two of you discovered it, and almost one in infinity that

 you'd get to where you could use it. You could never

 have used it on Dalgonia since it requires an answer

 for completion, an addition. It's sort of 'What is your

 wish?' and you have to give that wish in mathematically

 correct form. In this case, though, the simple comple-

 tion is done by the brain if you ask the question—

 the reverse."

 "But if he is a Markovian, why could he not just

 contact the brain and save himself all the problems

 he's had here?" the Slelcronian asked.

 Brazil turned to the plant person, a puzzled tone in

 his voice. "I thought you were Vardia—but that tone

 just doesn't sound like her."

 "Vardia merged with a Slelcronian,'* The Rel ex-

 plained, telling of the flower creatures and their strange

 ways. "It is possessed of a good deal of wisdom and

 some fairly efficient mental powers, but your friend is

 such a tiny part of the whole that the Czillian is es-

 sentially dead," The Rel concluded.

 304

 "I see," Brazil said slowly. "Well, there were too

 many Vardias here anyway. Ours is the original—

 back to human, again." He turned to Serge again. "So

 are Wuju and Vamett."

 "Vamett?" Skander sat up suddenly, spilling water.

 "Vamett is with you?"

 "Yes, and no tricks, Skander," Ortega warned. "If

 you try anything on Varnett I'll personally attend to

 you," He turned back to Brazil. "That goes for you,

 too, Nate."

 "There will be no problems. Serge," Brazil assured

 him tiredly. "I'll take you all inside the Well, and I

 will show you what you want—what you all want. I'll

 even answer any questions you want, clear up any

 uncertainties."

 "That suits us," Ortega responded, but there was a

 note of caution in his voice.

 The Avenue—at the Equator

 THE JOURNEY UP THE AVENUE HAD BEEN WITHOUT

 event, and none had tested Ortega's defenses. They

 were all going where they wanted to go, and, as the

 Ulik had said, each one had his own selfish interests

 at heart. All during the journey Brazil had been talk-

 ative and friendly, yet there was a sadness deep within

 him they could all feel, although he tried to laugh it

 off. The four members of Brazil's party kept to them-

 selves. Hain kept looking at Wuju strangely, but bided

 her time, and Skander seemed resigned to Varnett's

 existence in the party.

 And now, in the afternoon's waning sun, they stood

 at the Equatorial Barrier itself, imposing and seemingly

 impenetrable.

 It was like a wall, partially translucent, that rose

 up until it merged with the deep blue, cloudless sky.

 The barrier itself didn't look thick, and felt smooth and

 305

 glassy to the touch, yet it had withstood attempts by

 many races on both sides to make as much as a mark

 on it. It went off to each side of them from horizon

 to horizon, like a giant, nonrefiecting glass w3ll.

 The Avenue seemed to merge into it, and there

 was no sign of any small crack, fissure, or even junc-

 ture of the odd paving of The Avenue with the sur-

 face of the barrier. They seemed to become one.

 Brazil went up to the wall, then turned to face them.

 They waited expectantly.

 "We can't enter until midnight, so we might as well

 be comfortable," he told them.

 "Do you mean twenty-four hundred?" the real Var-

 dia asked.

 "No, of course not," Brazil replied. "For one thing,

 the Well World's days are about twenty-eight and a

 quarter standard hours, as you know, so the time

 twenty-four hundred has no meaning here. Midnight

 means exactly that—the middle of the night. Since

 a total day is exactly twenty-eight point three three four

 standard hours, and since the axis is exactly vertical,

 that means the light period is fourteen point one six

 seven hours, and so is the darkness. Midnight, then,

 comes seven point zero eight three five hours after

 sunset. The figures were determined by physical neces-

 sity when building the place. They just came out that

 way. Believe me, Markovian clocks were quite differ-

 ent from ours, and the time could be precisely deter-

 mined."

 "Yes, but how will we determine it?" The Rel

 asked. "There are a couple of timepieces here, but

 they are by no means that exact."

 "No need," Brazil assured the Northerner. "Hain, fly

 up to the surface there and watch the sun. When it

 vanishes to the west, then tell us immediately. Be con-

 servative—err on the side of sunlight. We'll check

 watches for seven hours from that point. After that,

 we can simply wait to open the wall. We'll have only

 about two minutes, so it's important that everyone goes

 as soon as the wall opens. The ones who don't will be

 left out here."

 "What about the atmosphere inside?" Skander asked.

 "We have only a few pressure suits here."

 306

 "No problem there, either," Brazil responded. "All

 of us are compatible with the oxygen-nitrogen-carbon

 mix that's common, in one sense or another, with the

 sectors on both sides of The Avenue. There will be a

 compromise adjustment, but while the mixture might

 make a few of us temporarily light-headed, it shoudn't

 pose any problem. This system will automatically fol-

 low us, section by section, as we go down. The only

 problem we might have, and it's minor, is some strongly

 differing gravitational pulls due to the lines of force

 flowing from here. None will be a real problem, just

 uncomfortable occasionally."

 His explanation seemed to satisfy them, and they

 sat down or otherwise relaxed, waiting for the proper

 time.

 "Are you really—really me?" Vardia hesitantly

 asked the Slelcronian, who was awake only because

 of a small, lamplike gadget fastened over the headleaf.

 The Slelcronian paused and thought carefully. "We

 are you, and we are more than you," it replied. "All

 your memories and experiences are here, along with

 the millions of the Slelcronians. You are a part of us,

 and we are a part of you. Through the Recorder, you

 are a part of the total synthesis, not just the isolated

 portion in this body."

 "Whafs it like?" she asked.

 "It is the ultimate stage to which any can aspire,**

 the creature told her. "No individuality, no personality

 to corrupt. No Jealousy, greed, anger, envy, or those

 other things that cause misery. All alike, all identical,

 all in communion. As plants we require nothing save

 water and sunlight, and carbon dioxide to breathe.

 When another is needed, we make a seed and mate it

 to the Recorders; it grows, and immediately after

 bloom becomes as we. The Recorders do not think,

 and get their food from our bodies."

 "But—what do you do?" she asked curiously. "What

 is the purpose to your life?"

 "Universal happiness in a stable order," the Slel-

 cronian replied unhesitatingly. "Long have we yearned

 to spread the synthesis. Now, through this body and

 your experience, we can return to Czill and multiply.

 307

 We shall work with the devices of Czill to create a

 synthesis of animal with plant. We shall expand, even-

 tually, to the Well World, and, with the aid of the

 Well, to the comers of the universe. All shall become

 one with the synthesis, all shall enjoy perfect equality

 and happiness."

 She thought a minute. "And what if you can't do it

 with the animals?"

 "We will," the Slelcronian replied confidently. "But,

 should it not be so, then the superior shall eliminate

 the inferior, as it is in the laws of nature since the be-

 ginning of time."

 This isn't me, she thought. This can't be me. Or—

 or is it? Is this not what my society strives for? Is this

 not why we clone, why genetic engineering is eventu-

 ally planned to make everyone identical, sexless,

 equally provided for in every way?

 A sudden question struck her, and she asked, "And

 what will you do once you have accomplished this all-

 encompassing synthesis? What then?"

 "Then there will be perfection and harmony and

 happiness," replied the Slelcronian as if reciting a

 litany. "Heaven will be ours and it will be forever.

 Why do you ask such a question? Are we not you?

 Did you not in fact accept the offered synthesis?"

 The question disturbed her, for she had no answer.

 What had changed? How had the paths of Vardia I

 and II differed so radically in the last few weeks that

 such a question would even occur to her?

 She turned away, and her eyes fell on Wu Julee

 and Nathan Brazil. They had some sort of symbiotic

 relationship, she thought- It was observable, no matter

 what form they had been in. When he could have

 clearly escaped the Ivrom spell, he had risked himself

 to free her.

 She sat down, the chill of the night making the hard-

 ness of The Avenue feel like an ice cube on her bare

 behind.

 What had she seen that her sister had not? Emo-

 tion? Love? Some different sort of relationship? Kind-

 ness? What?

 What had her sister seen? A nation of great bugs all

 out to do each other in and lord it over the others.

 308

 Hain. Skander. That weird Northern creature. A world

 of machines. They represented something far different

 from Nathan Brazil, Wuju—and Varnett, with guilt

 over seven dead people he probably couldn't have

 saved anyway. Guilt over doing the right and proper

 thing? Impossible! Yet—she remembered him com-

 ing in in the early morning, carrying Brazil's battered

 and broken body. Exhausted, weak, half-crazed from

 the burden, yet unwilling to sleep or eat until Brazil

 had been tended to. Standing over that body, only

 technically alive, and weeping.

 Why?

 She thought again of the Slelcronian and its dreams.

 The perfect society. Heaven. Forever.

 The Markovians had it, had the ultimate in material

 existence.

 And they had deliberately wrecked it for death,

 misery, pain, and struggle on countless worlds in count-

 less forms.

 What was perfection, anyway? What did the Marko-

 vians lack that gave the lie to the grand dream?

 They forgot how to love, Brazil had said. But what

 was love?

 Have we already forgotten it?

 The thought upset her, and she couldn't explain why.

 For the first time in her life, she felt alienated, alone,

 outside, left out.

 Cheated.

 And she had no idea what was missing.

 For the first time, and perhaps the first of any being

 on the Well World, she knew what it must have been

 like to be a Markovian.

 Was this, then, what Nathan Brazil felt? Was this

 why he felt he was cursed? Did he live all those mil-

 lennia searching for the missing factor in the Marko-

 vian dream, hoping that someone would discover it?

 But, no, she concluded. He knew what it was. He

 had tried to explain it.

 Suddenly she shivered, but not from the chill. She

 had never thought, never brooded like this before, never

 faced the chill of reality before.

 Oh, nonexistent, uncaring gods! she thought bit-

 309

 teriy. What a curse more horrible than anything imag-

 inable.

 Suppose Nathan Brazil had what was missing, deep

 inside—and no one else did?

 "Hello, Vardia," said a voice behind her. She turned

 with a start, and saw Wuju standing there. "You've

 been sitting there looking strange for the longest time."

 She smiled weakly, but said nothing.

 Wuju smiled and sat down beside her. "Yikes! This

 pavement's cold!"

 "If you just sit you don't notice it," Vardia told her.

 "Everyone's so somber and serious now," Wuju

 noted. "Even me."

 Vardia looked at her strangely. "It's the mission—

 the end of the mission. In there is anything you want.

 Just wish for it. And all of us are going in. I don't

 know about anyone else, but I just discovered I don't

 know what to wish for."

 "I wish we weren't going," Wuju said grimly. "If I

 had one wish, it'd be that this never had to end. Here

 —this journey, Nathan, all of you. It's been the hap-

 piest time of my life. I'm afraid that nothing will be

 the same after we're in there. Nothing."

 Vardia took her hand and patted it. Now why did I

 do that? she wondered, but she continued doing it.

 "I don't know what's going to happen,*' Vardia said

 calmly. "I only know that I must change. I have

 changed. Now I must understand how and why."

 "I don't like this at all," Wuju responded in that

 same tone of foreboding. "I don't like the idea of things

 being changed by a whim. No one should have that

 kind of power—least of all these sorts. I don't like

 being a figment, an afterthought. I'm scared to death.

 I told Nathan, but he Just shook his head and went

 away. I don't understand that, either. I can face death,

 now—and evil, too. But I can't face the fear of what's

 in there. Not alone."

 "You're not alone," Vardia said with a gentleness

 that surprised her.

 Wuju looked over at Brazil, standing facing the wall,

 unmoving, stoic, alone. She started to tremble.

 "I can't face it alone!" she wailed weakly.

 310

 "You're not alone," Vardia repeated, squeezing her

 hand tighter.

 Elkinos Skander watched the two women with in-

 terest. So the robots have retained a little humanity

 after all, he thought with satisfaction. But it's buried so

 deep within them that it took the Well World to bring

 any of it out.

 And for what?

 Things weren't working out quite the way he had

 planned at all, but except for the Slelcronian and, per-

 haps, that Northerner, it was all right, particularly if

 the robots like Vardia could feel.

 Surely they wouldn't object to his requests of the

 Well.

 He looked over at Ham, motionless in the darkness.

 "Ham? You awake?" Skander asked softly.

 "Yes. Who could sleep now?" came the bug's re-

 sponse.

 "Ham, tell me. What do you expect to get in there?

 What do you want of the Well?"

 Ham was silent for a moment. "Power," she replied

 at last "I would make the Baron Azkfru emperor of

 the Well World, this galaxy, perhaps the universe.

 But, with this mob, I'll settle for his being emperor for

 the longest of time in Akkafan, with such other power

 left to future effort. My Lord, the baron, can do any-

 thing except fight this machine."

 Skander raised his mermaid's eyebrows in surprise.

 "But what do you get out of it?"

 "I shall be the baron's queen," Hain replied ex-

 citedly. "I shall be at his throne, second only to him in

 power. I shall bear the broods that will rule for eternity,

 the product of Azkfru and myself! The workers, even

 the nobles, shall defer to me and my wishes, and envy

 me, and my subjects will sing my praises!" Hain paused,

 carried away by her own vision.

 "I was born in a run-down shack in a hole called

 Gorind on Aphrodite," she continued. "I was unwanted,

 sickly. My mother beat me, finally cast me out into the

 mud and dust when she saw I'd never be a miner. I

 was nine. I went into the city, living off the garbage,

 stealing to make do, sleeping in cold back doorways. I

 311

 grew up grubbing, but in the shadow of the rich, the

 mineowners, the shippers from whom I stole. One

 day, when I was fifteen or so, I raped and killed a

 girl. She struggled, called me names—tried to scratch

 me, like my mother. They caught me, and I was about

 to be psyched into a good programmed worker when

 this man came to see me in my cell. He said he had

 need of people like me. If I agreed to serve him and

 his bosses, he would get me out."

 "And you accepted, of course," Skander put in.

 "Oh, yes. I went into a new world. I found that the

 rich whom I'd envied dreamed of greater riches, and

 that power came not from obeying the law but from

 not getting caught. I rose in the organization. I ate

 well, grew fat, ordered people around. I have—had

 —my own estate on a private world of the bosses.

 Staffed all by women, young women, held to me by

 sponge. Many were slaves; others I had reduced to

 animals. They roam naked in the forest on the estate,

 living in trees, eating the swill I put out for them like

 barnyard animals."

 Skander had an eerie feeling in his stomach, yet he

 followed Ham's statements with morbid fascination.

 "But that's gone now," Skander said as calmly as he

 could manage.

 "Not gone," Ham replied, agitated. "I will be

 mother now."

 There was nothing Skander could say. Pity was for

 what Hain was or could have been, not what the

 creature was now.

 "What do you want out of all this, Skander?" Hain

 asked suddenly. "Why all this trouble, all this effort?

 What do you want to do?"

 "I want to restore humanity to itself," Skander re-

 plied fiercely. "I want to get rid of the genetic engi-

 neers, the philosophers of political sameness on the

 Comworlds. I want to turn us around, Hain! I want to

 make people human again, even if I have to destroy

 civilization to save mankind. We're becoming a race of

 robots, Hain. We wipe out the robots or we abdicate

 the universe to other races. The Markovians died of

 stagnation, Hain, and so will we unless ifs stopped!"

 Hain had never liked fanatics, saviors, and Vision-

 312

 aries, but there was nothing else to do but talk. "Tell

 me, Skander. Would you go back? If you could, I

 mean. Suppose you get your wish. Would you go back

 or stay here?"

 "I think I could end my days here if I got what I

 want," Skander replied honestly. "I like this place—

 the diversity, the challenges. I haven't had time to en-

 joy being Umiau. But, then, I'd like to see what our

 little race would be if my plan were fulfilled. I don't

 know, Hain. Would you go back?"

 "Only as the Queen Mother of the Akkafians," Hain

 responded without hesitation. "At the side of my be-

 loved Lord Azkfru. Only to rule would I return, Skan-

 der. For nothing less."

 Ortega slithered over to them. He had small pistols

 in his hands, and he put one next to Skander and the

 other in front of Hain.

 "Pistols for all," he said lightly. "Nice little energy

 jobs. They will work in there, like in any high-tech hex.

 They'll work on everybody except me. A dandy little

 circuit prevents that."

 Skander reached over, picked up the pistol, felt it.

 Suddenly the Umiau scientist looked into Ortega's

 wide brown eyes.

 "You expect us to kill each other, don't you?" he

 said softly. "You. expect all hell to break out after we

 get to the Well and learn how it operates. And then

 you'll finish off the winner."

 Ortega shrugged, and smiled. "Up to you," he replied

 calmly. "You can compromise with me, or with each

 other, or do as you say and shoot. But I will be in at

 the payoff no matter what." He slithered away to dis-

 tribute guns to the others, chuckling softly.

 "That bastard," Hain commented. "He hasn't seen

 what The Diviner and The Rel can do, has he? Won-

 der what sort of defense he has for that?"

 "I think he knows," Skander responded. "That's one

 slick pirate there. He's counting on us to take care of

 the Northerner. And, damn his eyes, we have to! We

 have to, or that blinking little son of a bitch will zap

 all of us!"

 "Just be thankful that snake did get transported to

 313

 the Well World," Ham said flatly. "Otherwise, he'd be

 running the whole damned galaxy by now."

 Vamett came over to Brazil, who was still standing

 facing the Equatorial Barrier. "Brazil?" he said softly.

 "You awake?"

 Nathan Brazil turned slowly, looking at Vamett.

 "Oh, yes, I'm awake," Brazil told him. "I was Just

 thinking. I've enjoyed this escapade, you know. En-

 joyed it a great deal. Now it's over, ended. And it ends

 like all the other episodes in my life. So I have to pick

 up and keep on once again."

 Varnett was puzzled. "I don't understand you at all,

 Brazil. You're in the pilot's seat. You alone know

 what's in there—you do know, don't you? You have a

 girl who loves you, and a future. What's eating you?"

 Brazil shook his head slowly.

 "I have DO future, Varnett," he replied. "This part

 of the great play is over. I already know the ending,

 and I don't like it. I'm trapped, Varnett. Cursed. This

 diversion helped, but not much, because it brought back

 too much pain and longing as well. And as for Wuju

 —she doesn't love me, Vamett. She has a deep need

 to be loved. She loves a symbol, something that Nathan

 Brazil did to and for her, something in the way he

 reacted to her. But she wants of me what I can't give

 her. She wants her dream of normality." He shifted,

 stretching his legs out in front of him. He continued to

 face not the others, but the barrier.

 "I'm not normal, Vamett," he said sadly. "I can

 give her what she wants, needs, deserves. I can do it

 for all of you. But I can't participate, you see. That's

 the curse."

 "Sounds like grandiose self-pity to me," Vamett

 said derisively. "Why not take what you want if you

 can do all that?"

 Brazil sighed. "You'll know soon enough. I want

 you just to remember this, Vamett. I want you to keep

 it in your head throughout all that happens. Inside, I'm

 no different from the rest of you."

 "What would you want, if you could have anything

 at all?" Vamett asked him, still bewildered.

 314

 Brazil looked at the other seriously, sadly. There

 was agony and torment within him.

 "I want to die, boy. I want to die—and I can't.

 Not ever. Not at all. And I want death so very much."

 Varnett shook his head uncomprehendingly. "I can't

 figure you, Brazil. I just can't figure you."

 "What do you want, Vamett?" Brazil asked sharply,

 changing tone. "What would you wish for yourself?"

 "I've thought a lot about that," the other replied.

 "I'm only fifteen years old, Brazil. Just fifteen. My

 world has always been dehumanized people and cold

 mathematics, I'm the oldest fifteen of my race, now,

 though. I think, perhaps, I'd like to enjoy life, enjoy a

 hitman life—and somehow make my contribution to

 progress. To stop this headlong rush of the human race

 into a Markovian hell and try to build the society they

 hoped would evolve from their tens of thousands of

 cultures and races. There's a greatness here in the

 Markovian Well, a potential unrealized, perhaps, but

 great nonetheless. I'd like to see it reached, to com-

 plete the equation the Markovians couldn't."

 "So would I, boy," Brazil replied earnestly. "For

 only then could I die."

 "Seven hours!" Ortega's voice broke through the

 stillness. "It's almost time!" His voice cracked with

 excitement

 Brazil turned slowly to face them. They were all

 scrambling to be near the barrier.

 "Don't worry," he assured them. "It'll open for me.

 A light will go on. When that light comes on, walk

 into the barrier. When you do, it'll be as nothing. Only

 / will change, but be ready for it. And understand

 something else—I will lead. I have no weapons, but

 the Well will give me a form unfamiliar to you- Don't

 be upset by it, and don't get trigger-happy with each

 other. Once we're all inside, I'll take you down to the

 Well of Souls, and I'll explain everything along the

 way. Don't do anything hasty, because I'm the only

 one who can get you down with certainty, and I'll not

 forgive any breaches. Clear?"

 "Big talk, Nate," Ortega said confidently, but there

 was an unease in his manner. "But we'll go along if

 you do."

 315

 "I gave you my word. Serge," Brazil said. 'Til keep

 it."

 "Look!" the Slelcronian cried. "The light's gone on!"

 In back of Brazil a section of the floor correspond-

 ing to The Avenue was lit into the Equatorial Barrier.

 "Let's go," Brazil said calmly, and turned and

 stepped into the barrier. The others, tension on their

 faces, followed him-

 Suddenly Skander cried out, "I was right! I was

 right all along!" and pointed ahead. The others looked

 in the indicated direction.

 There were several gasps.

 Wuju stifled a small scream.

 The Well had changed Nathan Brazil, just as he

 had warned.

 Midnight at the Well of Souls

 THE CREATURE STOOD AT THE END OF THE AVENUE,

 where it passed through a meter-high barrier and

 stopped.

 It looked like a great human heart, two and a half

 meters tall, pink and purple, with countless blood ves-

 sels running through it, both reddish and bluish in

 color. At the irregular top was a ring of cilia, colored

 an off-white, waving about—thousands of them, like

 tiny snakes, each about fifty centimeters long. From

 the midsection of the pulpy, undulating mass came six

 evenly spaced tentacles, each broad and powerful-

 looking, covered with thousands of tiny suckers. The

 tentacles were a sickly blue, the suckers a grainy yel-

 low. An ichor of some sort seemed to ooze from the

 central mass, although it was thick and seemed to be

 reabsorbed by the skin as fast as produced, creating

 an irregular, filmy coating.

 And it stank—the odor of foul carrion after days in

 316

 the sun. It stung their nostrils, making them slightly

 sick.

 Skander began babbling excitedly, then turned to

 them. "See, Vamett?" he said. "See what I told you?

 Six evenly spaced tentacles, about three meters tall!

 That's a Markovian!" All traces of animosity were

 gone; this was the professor lecturing his student, in

 pride at the vindication of his theories.

 "So you really was a Markovian, Nate," Ortega said

 wonderingly. "Well, I'll be damned."

 "Nathan''* Wuju called out. "Is that—that thing

 really you?"

 "It is," Brazil's voice came, but not as speech. It

 formed in each of their brains, in their own languages.

 Even The Diviner received it directly, rather than

 through The Rel.

 Skander was like a child with a new toy. "Of course!

 Of course!" he chortled. "Telepathy, naturally. Prob-

 ably the rest, too."

 "This is a Markovian body," Brazil's voice came to

 them, "but I am not a Markovian. The Well knows me,

 though, and, since all lived as new races outside, it

 was only natural that we be converted to the Marko-

 vian form when entering the Well. It saved design

 problems."

 Wuju stepped out ahead of them, drawing close to

 the creature.

 "Wu Julee!" Hain shouted insanely. "You are

 mine!" The long, sticky tongue darted out to her,

 wrapped itself around her. She screamed. Ortega spun

 quickly toward the bug, pistols in two hands.

 "Now, now, none of that, Hain1" he cautioned care-

 fully. "Let the girl go." He pointed the pistols at the

 Akkafian's eyes.

 Hain hesitated a second, deciding what to do. Finally

 the tongue uncoiled from Wu Julee, and she dropped

 about thirty centimeters to the floor, landing hard.

 Raw, nasty-looking welts, like those made by rope

 burn, showed on her skin.

 The creature that was Nathan Brazil walked over

 on its six tentacles, until it loomed over her. One ten-

 tacle reached out, gently touched her wound. The smell

 317

 was overwhelming. She shrank from the probe, fear on

 her face.

 The heartlike mass tilted a little on its axis.

 "Form doesn't matter," it mocked her voice. "It's

 what's inside that counts." Then it said in Brazil's old

 voice: "What if I were a monster, Wuju? What then?"

 Wuju broke into sobs. "Please, Nathan! Please don't

 hurt mel" she pleaded. "No more, pleasel I—I just

 can't!"

 "Does it hurt?" he asked gently, and she managed

 to nod affirmatively, wiping the tears from her eyes.

 "Then trust me some more, Wuju," Brazil's voice

 came again, still gentle. "No matter what Shut your

 eyes. I'll make the hurt go away."

 She buried her head in her hands, still crying.

 The Markovian reached out with a tentacle, and

 rubbed lightly against the angry-looking welt on her

 back and sides. She cringed, but otherwise stayed still.

 The thing felt clammy and horrid, yet they all

 watched as the tentacle, lightly drawn across the

 wound, caused the wound to vanish.

 As the pain vanished, she relaxed.

 "Lie flat on your back, Wuju," Brazil instructed,

 and she did, eyes still shut. The same treatment was

 given to her chest and sides, and there was suddenly

 no sign of any welt or wound.

 Brazil withdrew a couple of meters from her. There

 was no evident front or back to him, nor any apparent

 eyes, nose, or mouth. Although the pulpy mass in the

 center was pulsating and slightly irregular, it had no

 clear-cut directionality.

 "Hey, that's fantastic, Nate!" Ortega exclaimed.

 "Shall we go to the Well?" Brazil asked them. "It is

 time to finish this drama."

 "I'm not sure I like this at all," Ham commented

 hesitantly.

 "Too late to back out now, you asshole," Skander

 snapped. "You didn't get where you were without guts.

 Play it out."

 "If you'll follow me," Brazil said, "and get on the

 walkway here; we can talk as we ride, and probably

 panic the border hexes at the same time."

 They all stepped onto the walkway on the other side

 318

 of the meter-tall barrier. The Avenue's strange light

 went out, and another light went on on both sides of

 the walkway, illuminating about half a kilometer to

 their left.

 "The lights will come on where we are, and go out

 where we aren't." Brazil explained. "It's automatic.

 Slelcronian, you'll find the light adequate for you de-

 spite its apparent lack of intensity. You can get rid of

 that heat lamp. Just throw it over the barrier there. It

 will be disposed of by the automatic machinery in

 about fourteen hours." The Markovian's tentacle near

 the forward part of the walkway struck the side sharply,

 and the walkway started to move.

 "You are now on the walkway to the Well Access

 Gate," he explained. "When the Markovians built this

 world, it was necessary, of course, for the technicians

 to get in and out. They were full shifts—one full rota-

 tion on, one off. Every day from dozens to thousands

 of Markovian technicians would ride this walkway to

 the control center and to other critical areas inside the

 planet. In those days, of course. The Avenue would

 stay open as long as necessary. It was shortened to the

 small interval in the last days before the last Marko-

 vian went native for good, to allow the border hexes

 some development and to keep out those who had sec-

 ond thoughts. At the end, only the three dozen project

 coordinators came, and then irregularly, just to check

 on things. As any technician was finally cleared out of

 the Well, the key to The Avenue doors was removed

 from his mind, so he could not get back in if he wanted

 to."

 They moved on in eerie silence, lighted sections sud-

 denly popping on in front of them, out in back of

 them, as they traveled. The walkway itself seemed to

 glow radiantly; no light source was visible.

 "Some of you know the story of this place already,"

 Brazil continued. "The race you call the Markovians

 rose as did all other species, developed, and finally

 discovered the primal energy nature of the universe—

 that there was nothing but this primal energy, extend-

 ing outward in all directions, and that all constructs

 within it, we included, are established by rules and

 laws of nature that are not fixed Just because they are

 319

 there, but are instead imposed. Nothing equals any-

 thing, really; the equal sign is strictly for the imposed

 structure of the universe. Rather, everything is relative

 to everything else."

 "But once the Markovians discovered the mathe-

 matical constructs governing stability, why didn't they

 change them?" Skander asked. "Why keep the rules?"

 "They didn't dare try to tackle the master equations,

 those governing physical properties and natural laws,"

 Brazil replied. "They could alter things a little, but

 common sense should tell you that in order to change

 the master equation you first have to eliminate the

 old one. If you do that, what happens to you and the

 rest of the universe? They didn't dare—so they im-

 posed new, smaller equations on localized areas of the

 preexisting universe."

 "Not gods, then," Vardia said quietly. "Demigods."

 "People," Brazil responded. "Not gods at all. People.

 Oh, I know that this form I've got is quite different

 than you'd think, but it's no more monstrous or un-

 usual than some of the creatures of this world, and less

 than some. The many billions of beings who wore

 bodies like this were a proud race of ordinary people

 with one finger on the controls. They argued, they de-

 bated, strove, built, discovered—just like all of us.

 Were their physical forms closer to the ones we're

 familiar with, you would possibly even like them. Re-

 member, they achieved godhood not by natural proc-

 esses, but by technological advancement. It was as if

 one of our races, in present form, suddenly discovered

 the key to wish fulfillment. Would we be ready for it?

 I wonder."

 "Why did they die, Brazil?" Skander asked. "Why

 did they commit suicide?"

 "Because they were not ready," Brazil replied sadly.

 "They had conquered all material want, all disease,

 even death itself. But they had not conquered then-

 selves. They reveled in hedonism, each an island unto

 itself. Anything they wanted, they just had to wish for.

 "And they found that wasn't enough. Something was

 missing. Utopia wasn't fulfillment, it was stagnation.

 And that was the curse—knowing that the ultimate

 was attainable, but not knowing what it was or how to

 320

 attain it. They studied the problem and came up with

 no solutions. Finally, the best amplified Markovian

 minds concluded that, somewhere in their development,

 they'd lost something—the true fulfillment of the

 dream. The social equation did not balance, because

 it lacked some basic component. One plus two plus

 three equals six, but if you don't have the plus two in

 there, it can't possibly reach more than four.

 "Finally, they came to the conclusion that they were

 at a dead end, and would stagnate in an eternal orgy

 of hedonism unless something was done. The solution

 seemed simple: start over, try to regain the missing

 factor, or rediscover it, by starting from the beginning

 again. They used a variety of races and conditions to

 restart, none Markovian, on the idea that any repetition

 of the Markovian cycle would only end up the same.'*

 "And so they built this world," Vamett put in.

 "Yes, they built this world. A giant Markovian

 brain, placed around a young but planetless sun. The

 brain is the planet, of course, everything but the crust.

 Gravity was no problem, nor was atmosphere. They

 created an outer shell, about a hundred kilometers

 above the surface. The hexagons are all compartments,

 their elements held in all directions by fields of force."

 "So it was built to convert the Markovians to new

 forms?" Skander asked.

 "Double duty, really," Brazil told them. "The finest

 artisans of the Markovian race were called in. They

 made proposals for biospheres, trying to outdo one

 another in creativity. The ones that looked workable

 were built, and volunteers went through the Zone Gate

 and became the newly designed creatures in the newly

 designed environments- Several generations were

 needed for even a moderate test—the Markovians

 didn't mind. A thousand years was nothing to them.

 You see, they could build, pioneer-style, but they were

 still Markovians. A lot of generations bom in the biome

 and of the new race were needed to establish a culture

 and show how things would go. Their numbers were

 kept relatively stable, and the fields of force were much

 more rigid then than now. They had to live in their

 hex, without any real contact with other hexes. They

 had to build their own worlds."

 321

 They were riding down now, at a deceptively steep

 angle. Down into the bowels of the planet itself.

 "But why didn't the first generation establish a

 high civilization?" Varnett asked. "After all, they were

 just like us, changed outside only."

 "You overestimate people from a highly technologi-

 cal culture. We take things for granted. We know how

 to turn on a light, but not why the light comes on.

 None of us could build most of our artifacts, and most

 civilized races become dependent on them. Suddenly

 dumped in a virgin wilderness, as they all were, they

 had no stores, no factories, no access to anything they

 didn't make themselves out of what was available. A

 great many died from hardship alone. The tough ones,

 the survivors, they built their own societies, and their

 children's societies. They worked with purpose—if the

 test failed, then they died out. If they succeeded—

 well, there was the promise that the successful ones

 would someday go to the Well of Souls at midnight,

 and there be taken to a new world, to found a new

 civilization, to grow, develop, perhaps become the

 progenitors of a future race of gods who would be ful-

 filled. Each hoped to be the ones whose descendants

 would make it."

 "And you were here when that happened," Wuju

 said nervously.

 "I was," he acknowledged. "I assisted the creator

 of Hex Forty-one—One Eighty-seven, the hundred and

 eighty-seventh and last race developed in that hex. I

 didn't create it, simply monitored and helped out. We

 stole ideas from each other all the time, of course.

 Dominant species in one hex might be a modified pat-

 tern of animals in another. Our own race was a direct

 steal from some large apes in another hex. The de-

 signer liked them so much that not only did the domi-

 nant race turn out to be apes, but they were almost

 endlessly varied as animals."

 "Hold on, Brazil," Skander said. "These others

 might not know much about things, but I'm an archae-

 ologist. Old Earth developed over a few billion years,

 slowly evolving."

 "Not exactly," Brazil replied. "First of afl, time was

 altered in each case. The time frame for the develop-

 322

 ment of our sector was speeded up. The original de-

 sign produced the life we expected, but it developed

 differently—as giant reptiles, eventually. When it was

 clear that it wouldn't do to have our people coexist

 with them, a slight change in the axial tilt caused the

 dinosaurs to die out, but it placed different stresses on

 other organisms. Minor mammals developed, and to

 these, over a period of time, we added ours to replace

 the ones logically developing in the evolutionary scale.

 When conditions seemed suitable for us, when apelike

 creatures survived, we began the exodus. Soon the

 temperate zones had their first intelligent life. Again,

 with all the resources but nothing else- They did well,

 astonishingly so, but the long-term effects of the axial

 tilt produced diastrophism and a great ice age within a

 few centuries. Our present, slow climb has been the

 product of the extremely primitive survivors of those

 disasters. So, in fact, has it been with all your home

 worlds."

 "Is there a world, then, or a network of worlds of

 the Akkafians?" Hain asked.

 "There was," Brazil replied. "Perhaps there is. Per-

 haps it's larger and greater and more advanced than

 ours. The same with the Umiau, the Czill, the Slelcron-

 ians, the Dillians, and others. When we get to the

 Well itself, I'll be able to tell you at least which ones

 are still functioning, although not how, or if they've

 changed, or what. I would think that some of the older

 ones would be well advanced by now. My memory says

 there were probably close to a million races created

 and scattered about; I'll be curious to see how many

 are still around."

 They had been going down for some time. Now they

 were deep below the surface, how deep they couldn't

 say. Suddenly a great hexagon outlined in light ap"

 peared just under them.

 "The Well Access Gate," Brazil told them. "One of

 six. It can take you to lots of places within the Well,

 but it'll take you to the central control area and moni-

 toring stations if you have no other instructions- When

 we get to it, just step on it. I won't trigger it until

 everyone is aboard. In case somebody else does, by

 323

 accident, just wait for the light to come back on and

 step on again. It'll work."

 They did as instructed, and when all were on the

 Gate, all light suddenly winked out. There followed

 a twisting, unsettling feeling like falling. Then, sud-

 denly, there was light all over.

 They stood in a huge chamber, perhaps a kilometer

 in diameter. It was semicircular, the ceiling curving

 up over them almost the same distance as it was across.

 Corridors, hundreds of them, led off in all directions.

 The Gate was in the center of the dome, and Brazil

 quickly stepped off, followed by the others, who looked

 around in awe and anticipation.

 The texture of the place was strange. It seemed to

 be made up of tiny hexagonal shapes of polished white

 mica, reflecting the light and glittering like millions of

 jewels.

 After they stepped off the Gate, Brazil stopped and

 pointed a tentacle back over it.

 Suspended by force fields, about midway between

 the Gate and the apex of the dome, was a huge model

 of the Well World, turning slowly. It had a terminator,

 and darkness on half of its face, and seemed to be

 made of the same mica-like compound as the great

 hall. But the hexagons on the model were much larger,

 and there were solid areas at the poles, and a black

 band around its middle. The sphere seemed to be cov-

 ered by a thin transparent shell composed of segments

 which exactly conformed to the hexagons below.

 "That's what the Well World looks like from space,"

 Brazil told them. "It's an exact model, fifteen hundred

 sixty hexagons, the Zones—everything. Note the slight

 differences in reflected light from each hex. That's

 Markovian writing—and they are numbers. This is

 more than a model, really. It's a separate Markovian

 brain, containing the master equation for stabilizing all

 of the new worlds. It energizes the Well, and permits

 the big brain around us to do its job."

 "Where are the controls, Nate?" Ortega prodded.

 "Each biome—that is, planetary biome—has its own

 set of controls," Brazil told him. "This place is honey-

 combed with them. Each hex on the Well World is

 controlled as a complement to the actual world. Most

 324

 controls, of course, do not have corresponding

 hexes. What we're left with today are the last few

 hexes created and some of the failures—not neces-

 sarily the ones that died out, but the ones that didn't

 work out. The Faerie, for example. Some of them

 snuck into the last batch of transits, and several of the

 others who were leftovers from closed and filled proj-

 ects, some Dillians, some Umiau, and the like, who

 wanted to get out of the Well World and thought they

 could help, came, too. Not many, and they were dis-

 rupted by civilization's rises and falls, and became

 the objects of superstition, fear, hatred. None survived

 the distance on Old Earth, but we didn't get many to

 begin with, and reproduction was slow. But, come,

 let's go to a control center."

 He walked toward one of the corridors on his six

 tentacles, and they followed hesitantly. All of them

 held their pistols tightly, at the ready.

 They walked for what seemed an endless time down

 one of the corridors, passing closed hexagonal doors

 along the way. Finally Brazil stopped in front of one,

 and it opened, much as the lens of a camera opens.

 He walked in, and they followed quickly, anxious not

 to lose sight of him even for a moment.

 The room lit up as they approached. It was made of

 the same stuff as the great hall and the corridors. There

 were, however, walls of obvious controls, switches,

 levers, buttons, and the like, and what looked like a

 large black screen directly ahead of them. None of

 the instruments held any sort of clue as to what they

 were, or had anything familiar about them.

 "Well, here it is, and it's still active," Brazil an-

 nounced. "Let me see," he murmured, and went over

 to a panel. Their faces showed sudden tension and

 fear, and all of the pistols were raised, trained on

 him. The Diviner's blinking lights started going very,

 very fast.

 "Don't touch nothin', Nate!" Ortega warned.

 "Just checking something here," Brazil responded,

 unconcerned. "Yes, I see. In this room is the preset for

 a civilization that has now expanded. It's interstellar,

 but not pangalactic. Population a little over one and a

 quarter trillion."

 325

 "If it's a high-tech civilization, then it is not ours,"

 the Slelcronian said with some relief.

 "Not necessarily," Brazil replied. "The tech levels

 here on the Well World were not imposed on the

 outside at all. They were dictated by the problems you

 might find in your own world. A high-tech world had

 abundant and easily accessible resources, a low-tech

 much less so. Since the home world had to develop

 logically and mathematically according to the master

 rules of nature, some worlds were better endowed than

 others. By making the trial hex here a low-tech, no-

 tech, or the like, we simply were compensating for the

 degree of difficulty in establishing technological civili-

 zation on the home world, not preventing it. We made

 them develop alternatives, to live without technology

 so they'd be better prepared on their home worlds.

 Some did extremely well. Most of the magic you find

 here is not Well magic, but actual mental powers

 developed by the hexes to compensate for low-tech

 status. What they could use here, they could use

 there."

 "The Diviner says you are truthful," The Rel com-

 mented, one of the first things the Northerner had said

 since they set out. "The Diviner states that you were

 responsible for its prophecy that we would be here."

 "In a way, yes," Brazil replied. "When I went

 through the Zone Gate, the Markovian brain recognized

 me as a native of Hex Forty-one and sent me there.

 However, in its analysis, it also found what I, myself,

 didn't know—that I had an original Markovian brain-

 wave pattern. It then assumed that I was here to give

 it further instructions or to do work. When it con-

 cluded this. The Diviner, extremely sensitive to such

 things, picked up the message, however garbled." He

 paused, and that central mass tilted toward them a lit-

 tle.

 "And now," he said, sadness in his voice, "here we

 are, in the control center, and you've all got fear on

 your faces and your guns trained on me." Even you,

 Wu Julee, he thought, immeasurable sadness coarsing

 through him. Even you

 "I tried to give mankind rules for living which would

 avert a second disaster like the first, would keep it from

 326

 self-destruction. Nobody listened. Nobody changed.

 Type Forty-one was badly flawed—and it beat the

 odds anyway, this time. It made its way to the stars,

 and that was an outlet for its aggression, although,

 even there, even now. its component parts are looking

 at ways to dominate one another, kill one another,

 rule one another. And the drive for domination is there

 even in the nonhumans, you. Northerner, and you,

 Slelcronian. Look at you all now. Look at yourselves!

 Look at each other! Do you see it? Can you feel it?

 Fear, greed, horror, ambition burning within you, con-

 suming you! The only reason you haven't killed one

 another by now is your common fear of me. How dare

 you condemn a Ham, a Skander—a society? How dare

 you?

 "How many of you are thinking of the people these

 controls represent? Do you fear for them? Do you care

 about them? You don't want to save them, better

 their lives. That fear is inside you, fear for your own

 selves! The basic flaw in the set-up equation, that

 burning, basic selfishness. None of you cares for any

 but yourself! Look at you! Look at what monsters

 you've all become!'*

 Their hearts pounded, nerve ends frayed. The Di-

 viner and The Rel were the first to respond.

 "What about yourself, Nathan Brazil?" The Rel

 chimed- "Isn't the flaw in us simply a reflection of the

 flaws in yourself, in your own people, the Markovians,

 who could not give us what we lack because they did

 not themselves possess it?"

 Brazil's reply was calm, in contrast to his previous

 outburst.

 "The Markovians wanted to live in this universe, not

 run it. They had already done that. Destiny was a

 random factor they believed necessary to the survival

 of us all. That's why they closed down the Well None

 of us would be here except for a freak set of circum-

 stances."

 "Where are the controls, Nate?" Ortega asked.

 "We'll find them ourselves," Ham snapped. "Vamett

 cracked the big code, he should be able to crack this

 one, too."

 Brazil's voice held deep sorrow. "Pride is a weak-

 y>n

 ness of all things Markovian, and you're a reflection

 of it. Now, if you'll ease up and allow me one touch

 on the panel in back, I'll show you the controls. I'll tell

 you how to operate them. Let's see what happens then."

 Ortega nodded, pistols at the ready. Brazil reached

 out with a tentacle and touched a small panel behind

 him,

 The large black screen went on—but it wasn't ex-

 actly a screen. It was a great tunnel, an oval stretching

 back as far as the eye could see. And it was covered

 with countless tiny black spots, trillions of them at the

 best guess. And between all the various black spots

 shot frantic electrical bolts in a frenzy of activity, tril-

 lions of blinking hairline arcs jumping from one little

 black area to another.

 "There's your controls," Brazil said disgustedly. "To

 change the ratios, all you have to do is alter the current

 flow between any two or more control spots."

 He looked at them, and there was the deepest fear

 and horror on their faces. They're afraid of me, he

 thought. All of them are in mortal fear of me! Oh, my

 God! Wuju who loved me, Vamett who risked his life

 for me, Vardia who trusted me—all afraid. I haven't

 harmed them. I haven't even threatened them. I

 couldn't if I wanted to. How can they ever understand

 our common source, our common bond? he thought in

 anguish. We love, we hate, we laugh, we cry, live—

 that I am no different from themselves, only older.

 But they did not understand, he realized. I am

 God to the primitives, the civilized man of great power

 at a point where knowledge is power, surrounded by

 the savages.

 That's why I'm alone, he understood. That's why

 I'm always alone. They fear what they can't under-

 stand or control.

 "One control panel," he said softly. "One only.

 What are a few trillion lives? There is their past,

 their present, their potential future. All yours. Maybe

 their equation is the basis for one or more of you in

 this room. Maybe not. It's somebody's. Maybe it's

 yours. Okay, anybody, who wants to touch the first

 and second control spots, change the flow? Step right

 up! Now's your chance to play God!"

 328

  

  

 Vamett walked carefully over to the opening, breath-

 ing hard, sweat pouring from his body.

 "Go on," Brazil urged. "Do your stuff! You might

 cancel out somebody, maybe a few trillion somebodies.

 You'll certainly alter someone's equation in some way,

 make two and two equal three in somebody's corner.

 Maybe none of us will be here. Maybe none of us will

 ever have been here. Go on! Who cares about all

 those people, anyway?'*

 Vamett stood there, mouth open, looking like a very

 frightened fifteen-year-old boy, nothing more. "I—I

 can't," be almost sobbed.

 "How about you, Skander? This is where you

 wanted to be. And you, Hain?" His voice rose to a

 high, excited pitch. "Diviner? Can you divine this one?

 Vardia? Serge? Wuju? Slelcronian? Any of you?"

 "In the name of God, Brazil!" Skander screamed.

 "Stop it! You know we don't dare do anything as long

 as we don't understand the panel's operation!"

 "He's bluffingi" Ham snarled. "I'll take the chance."

 "No!" Wuju screamed, and swung her gun around

 on the great bug. "You can't!"

 "I'll even show you how." Brazil said calmly, and

 took a step.

 "Nate! Stay away from there!" Ortega warned. "You

 can be killed, you know!"

 Brazil stopped, and the pulsating mass bent toward

 Ortega slightly. "No, Serge, I can't. That's the problem,

 you see. I told you I wasn't a Markovian, but none of

 you listened. I came here because you might damage

 the panel, do harm to some race of people I might not

 even know. I knew you couldn't use this place, but all

 of you are quite mad now, and one or more of you

 might destroy, might take the chance, as Hain just

 showed. But none of you, in your madness, has thought

 to ask the real question, the one unanswered question

 in the puzzle. Who stabilized the Markovian equa-

 tion, the basic one for the universe?"

 There was a pumping sound, like that of a great

 heart, its thump, thump, thump permeating them. Their

 own hearts seemed to have stopped, all frozen in an

 eerie tableau. Only the thumping seemed real.

 329

 **I was formed out of the random primal energy of

 the cosmos," Brazil's voice came to them. "After

 countless billions of years I achieved self-awareness.

 I was the universe, and everything in it In the aeons I

 started experimenting, playing with the random forces

 around me. I formed matter and other types of energy.

 I created time, and space. But soon I tired of even

 those toys. I formed the galaxies, the stars, and planets.

 An idea, and they were, as congealed primal energy

 exploded and flung transmuted material outward from

 its center,

 "I watched things grow, and form, according to the

 rules I set up. And yet, I tired of these, also. So I

 created the Markovians and watched them develop ac-

 cording to my plan. Yet, even then, the solution was

 not satisfactory, for they knew and feared me, and

 their equation was too perfect. I knew their total de-

 velopmental line. So I changed it. I placed a random

 factor in the Markovian equation and then withdrew

 from direct contact.

 "They grew, they developed, they evolved, they

 changed. They forgot me and spread outward on

 their own. But since they were spiritually reflections of

 myseif, they contained my loneliness. I couldn't join

 with them as I was, for they would hold me in awe

 and fear. They, on the other hand, had forgotten me,

 and as they rose materially they died spiritually. They

 failed to grow to my equal, to end my loneliness.

 Their pride would not admit such a being as myself

 to fellowship, nor could their own fear and selfishness

 allow fellowship even with each other.

 "So I decided to become one of them. I fashioned a

 Markovian shell, and entered it. I knew the flesh, its

 joys and its pains. I tried to teach them what was

 wrong, to tell them to face their inner fears, to rid

 themselves of the disease, to look not to a material

 heaven but within themselves for the answers. They

 ignored me.

 "And yet the potential was there. It is still there.

 Wuju's response to kindness and caring. Varnett's self-

 sacrifice. Vardia's need for others. Other examples

 abound, not just about us, but about all our people.

 The one who sacrifices his life to save others. The com-

 330

 passion there, sometimes almost buried by the over-

 lying depravity. It peers through—isolated, perhaps,

 but it is there. And as long as it is there, I shall con-

 tinue. I shall work and hope for the day when some

 race seizes that spark and builds on it, for only then

 will I no longer be alone."

 They said nothing for several seconds. Then, quietly,

 Ortega responded, "I'm not sure I believe all this. I've

 been a Catholic all my life, but somehow God to me

 has never been a little spunky Jew named Nathan

 Brazil. But, assuming what you say is true—which I

 don't necessarily accept—why haven't you scrapped

 everything and started again? And why continue to

 live our grubby little lives?"

 "As long as that spark is present, I'll let things

 run, Serge," Brazil replied. "That random factor I

 talked about. Only when it's gone will I go, give up,

 maybe try again—maybe, finally die. I'd like to die,

 Serge—but if I do I take everything with me. Not

 just you, everybody and everything, for I stabilize the

 universal equation. And you are all my children, and

 I care. I can't do it as long as that spark remains, for

 as long as it remains you are not only the worst, but

 the best of me."

 The thump, thump, thump continued, the only sound

 in the room.

 "I don't think you're God, Nate," Ortega replied

 evenly. "I think you're crazy. Anybody would be, liv-

 ing this long. I think you're a Markovian throwback,

 crazy after a billion years of being cut off from your

 own kind. If you was God, why don't you just wave

 your tentacles or something and get what you want?

 Why all this journey, and pain, and torment?"

 "Varnett?" Brazil called. "You want to explain it

 mathematically?"

 "I'm not sure I don't agree with Ortega," Vamett

 replied carefully. "Not that it makes much difference

 from a practical point of view. However, I see what

 you're driving at. It's the same dilemma we face at

 that control board, there.

 "Let's say we let Skander do what he wants, abolish

 the Comworlds," the boy continued. "Let's say Brazil,

 331 .

 here, shows him exactly how to do it, just what to press

 and in what sequence and in what order. But the Corn

 concept and the Comworlds developed according to

 the normal human flow of social evolution, right or

 wrong. They are caused by countless past historical

 events, conditions, ideas. You can't just banish them;

 you've got to change the equation so that they never

 developed. You have to change the whole human equa-

 tion, all the past events that led to their formation.

 The new line you created would be a completely dif-

 ferent construct, things as they would be without any

 of the crucial points that created the Corns. Maybe it

 was an outlet Maybe, bad as it was, it was the only

 outlet. Maybe man would have destroyed himself if

 just one of those factors wasn't there. Maybe what

 we'd have is something worse.**

 "Exactly," Brazil agreed. "For anything major you

 have to change the past, the whole structure. Nothing

 just vanishes. Nothing just appears. We are the sum

 of our past, good as well as bad."

 "So what do we do?" wailed Skander. "What can

 we do?"

 "A few things can be done," Brazil replied calmly.

 "You—most of you—sought power. Well, this is

 power!" With that the Markovian moved toward the

 control panel.

 "My God! He's going in there!" Skander screamed.

 "Shoot, you fools!" The Umiau fired its pistol at the

 Markovian. In a second, the others followed, pouring

 a concentrated energy pulse into the mass sufficient to

 disintegrate a building.

 The Markovian creature stopped, but seemed to ab-

 sorb the energy. They poured it into him, all of them*

 even Wuju, with great accuracy.

 He was still there.

 The Diviner's lights blinked rapidly, and searing

 bolts shot out, striking the Markovian body. There was

 a glow, surrounding the creature in stark outline, and

 then it faded.

 Brazil was still there.

 They stopped firing.

 "I told you you couldn't hurt me," Brazil said.

 "None of you can hurt me."

 332

 "Bullshit!" Ortega spat. "Your body was torn to rib-

 bons in Murithel! Why wasn't this one?"

 "Of course! Of course!" Skander exclaimed excitedly.

 "This body is a direct construct of the Markovian brain,

 you fools! The brain won't allow it to be harmed, since

 it's really part of the brain itself!"

 "Quite so," Brazil responded. "Nor, in fact, do I

 have to go in there at all. I can instruct the brain from

 right here. I've been able to do that since we first

 entered the Well itself. I merely wanted to give you a

 demonstration."

 "It would seem that we are at your mercy, Marko-

 vian," The Rel said. "What is your intention?"

 *'I can affect things for anyplace from here," Brazil

 told them. "I merely feed the data into the brain

 through this control room, and that's that. It's true

 there's a control room for each type, but they are all-

 purpose, in case of problems, overcrowding when we

 built the place, and so on. Any control room can be

 switched to any pattern."

 "But you said—" Ortega started to protest.

 "In the words of Serge Ortega," Brazil replied, a

 hint of amusement in his voice, "I lied."

 Wuju broke from them and ran up to him, and

 prostrated herself in front of him, trembling. "Please!

 Please don't hurt us," she pleaded.

 There was infinite compassion in his voice. "I'm not

 going to hurt you, Wuju. I'm the same Nathan Brazil

 you knew from the start of this mess. I haven't changed,

 except physically. I've done nothing to you, nothing

 to deserve this. You know I wouldn't hurt you. I

 couldn't." The tone changed to one not of bitterness,

 but of deep hurt and agony, mixed with the loneliness

 of unimaginable lifetimes. "/ didn't shoot at you,

 Wuju," it said.

 She started crying; deep, uncontrollable sobs

 wracked her. "Oh, my god, Nathan! I'm so sorry! I

 failed you! Instead of trust, I gave you fear! Oh, god!

 I'm so ashamed! I just want to die!" she wailed.

 Vardia came over to her, tried to comfort her. She

 pushed the girl away.

 "I hope you're satisfied!" Vardia spat at him. "I hope

 333

 you're pleased with yourself! Do anything you want to

 me for saying this, but don't torture her anymore!"

 Brazil sighed. "No one can torture someone like

 that," he replied gently. "Like me, you can only tor-

 ture yourself. Welcome to the broader human race,

 Vardia. You showed compassion, disregard for your-

 self, concern for another. That would have been un-

 thinkable in the old Vardia. If none of you can still

 understand, I intend to do something for you, not to

 you. For the most part, anyway." He angled to address

 all of them.

 "You're not perfect, none of you. Perfection is the

 object of the experiment, not the component Don't

 torture yourself, run away from your fears. Face theml

 Stand up to theml Fight them with goodness, mercy,

 charity, compassion! Lick theml"

 "We are the sum of our ancestral and actual past,"

 The Rel reminded him. "What you ask may indeed

 be possible, but the well of fate has accented our flaws.

 Is it reasonable to expect us to live by such rules,

 when we find it difficult even to comprehend them?"

 "You can only try," Brazil told it. "There is a great-

 ness in that, too."

 The thump, thump, thump continued.

 "What is that noise?" Onega asked, ever the practi-

 cal man.

 "The Well circuits are open to the brain," Brazil

 replied. "It's awaiting instructions."

 "And what will those instructions be?" Vamett

 asked nervously.

 "I must make some repairs and adjustments to the

 brain," Brazil explained. "A few slight things, so that

 no one can accidentally discover the keying equation

 again. I'm not sure I'd like to go through this exercise

 again—and, if I did, there's no guarantee that some

 new person might not take that chance, damage the

 structure, do irreparable harm to trillions who never

 had a chance. But, just in case, the Well Access Gate

 will be reset to respond only to me. Also more of an

 insurance factor has to be added, to summon me if

 things go wrong."

 Skander gave an amazed chuckle. "That's all?" he

 said, relieved.

 334

 "It is most satisfactory to me," The Rel pronounced.

 "We were concerned only that nothing be disturbed.

 For a short while there, we lost sight of that—but we

 are back in control of ourselves again."

 "Very minor adjustments are possible without dis-

 turbing anything," Brazil told them. "I can't do any-

 thing grandiose without upsetting a few things. I will,

 however, do some minor adjustments. For one thing, I

 am going to make sure that nothing like the Ambreza

 gas that reduced Type Forty-one humans on this world

 to apes will pass again, and I'm going to slap some

 local controls on technological growth and develop-

 ment, so that such an adjustment won't be necessary

 again, not here.

 "And, because I can't bear to see them like that, I'm

 going to introduce a compound to the Type Forty-

 one atmosphere that will break the gas molecules down

 into harmless substances, while at the same time I'm

 going to make it a nontechnological hex absolutely. I

 don't know what they'll come up with, but I'll bet it's

 better than their current lot."

 "What about us?" Hain asked.

 "I will not change what you are inside," Brazil told

 them. "If I do that, you will not have lived at all. To

 do anything otherwise would be to invite paradox, and

 that might mess up everything. Thus, I have to deal

 with you as you are."

 Brazil seemed to think for a moment, then said, in a

 voice that sounded as if it came from thunder, "Elkinos

 Skander! You wanted to save the human race, but, m

 the process, you became inhuman yourself. When the

 end justifies any means, you are no better, perhaps

 worse, than those you despise. There are seven bodies

 back on Dalgonia. Seven human beings who died

 trusting you, helping you, who were victims of your

 own lust for power. I can't forget them. And, if I alter

 the time line, bring them back, then all this didn't

 happen. I pity you, Skander, for what you are, for what

 you could have become. My instructions to the brain

 are justice as a product of the past."

 Skander yelled, "It wasn't me! It was Vamett! I

 wanted to save the worlds! I wanted—"

 And suddenly Skander wasn't there anymore.

 335

 "Where did it go?" The Rel asked.

 *To a world suited for him as he is, in a form

 suited to justice," Brazil responded. "He might be

 happy there, he might find justice. Let him go to his

 fate."

 Brazil paused a moment, then that huge voice came

 back. "Datham Ham!" it called. "You are the product

 of a horrible life. Born in contagion, you spread it."

 "I never had a chance except the way I took!" Hain

 shouted defiantly. "You know that!"

 "Most products of a bad environment turn out

 worse," Brazil admitted. "And yet, some of the greatest

 human beings came out of such miserable lots and

 conquered them. You didn't, yet you had the intelli-

 gence and potential to do so. Today, you stand as a

 contagion. I pity you, Hain, and because I pity you I

 will give you a localized wish."

 Hain grew slightly larger, her black color turning to

 white. She saw it in the fur on her forelegs.

 "You turned me noble!" she exclaimed, pleased and

 relieved.

 "You're the most beautiful breeder in the kingdom of

 the Akkafians," Brazil said. "When I return you to the

 palace, you won't be recognized. You'll be at the start

 of a breeding cycle. The Baron Azkfru will see you

 and go mad with desire. You will be his brood queen,

 and bear his royal young. That is your new destiny,

 Hain. Satisfied?"

 "It is all that I could hope for," Hain replied, and

 vanished.

 Wuju looked at Brazil, a furious expression on her

 face. "You gave that son of a bitch that? How could

 you reward that—that monster?"

 "Hain gets the wish, but it's not a reward, Wuju,"

 Brazil replied. "You see, they withheld from their new-

 comer one fact of Akkafian life. Most Marklings are

 sterile, and they do the work. A few are raised as

 breeders. A breeder hatches a hundred or more young

 —but they hatch inside the mother's body and eat their

 way out, using the breeder's body for their food."

 Wuju started to say something, then formed a sim-

 ple, "Ooooh," as the horror of Ham's destiny hit her.

 336

 "Slelcronian!" Brazil pronounced. '*You present me

 with a problem. I don't like your little civilization per-

 sonally, and I don't like you much, either. I've adjusted

 things slightly, so the Recorders now only work with

 Slelcronians, not with any sentient plant. But you, per-

 sonally—you're a problem. You're too dangerous to

 be let loose in the technology of Czill; you know too

 much. At the same time, you know too much of what

 is here to go back to Slelcron. It occurs to me, how-

 ever, that you've really not altered the expedition in any

 significant way. If you had not taken over Vardia,

 nothing would have changed. Therefore, you didn't—

 and, in fact, couldn't."

 Nothing seemed to change, but there was a differ-

 ence in the Czillian body.

 "So what are you going to do with me and my sister?"

 Vardia the Czillian asked. As far as everyone in the

 room was concerned, except for Brazil, the SIelcroman

 takeover had never happened. Slelcron was merely the

 funny place of the flowers and the giant bees, and their

 passage had been uneventful. Even so, the human

 Vardia had found her sister the Czillian as cold as the

 Slelcronian had been. She had gone through the same

 mental anguish as she had before and felt alienated

 from her sister.

 Everything was as it had been before.

 "Vardia, you are your old self, and no longer your

 sister," Brazil pointed out. "I think you'd be happiest

 returning to Czill, to the Center. You've much to con-

 tribute, to tell this story the way it happened. They

 won't be able to make use of what you say to get in,

 but it may cause the thinkers there to consider what

 projects are really worthwhile. Go!"

 She vanished.

 Now only Brazil, The Diviner and The Rel, Vamett,

 Wu Julee, Ortega, and the original Vardia were left.

 "Diviner and Rel," Brazil said, "your race intrigues

 me. Bisexual, two totally different forms which mate

 into one organism, one of which has the power and the

 other the sensory input and output. You're a good peo-

 ple, with a lot of potential. Perhaps you can carry the

 message and reach that plateau."

 "You're sending us back, then?" The Rel asked.

 "No," Brazil replied. "Not to the hex. Your race is

 on the verge of expanding outward in its sector. It is

 near the turning point where questions of goals are

 asked. I'm sending you to your own people on their

 world with the message I gave you here. The Diviner's

 gift will distinguish you. Perhaps you can turn your

 people, perhaps not. It's up to you. Go!"

 The Diviner and The Rel vanished.

 "Vamett," Brazil said, and the boy jerked as if he

 was shot.

 "What's in that little bag of tricks for me, Brazil?"

 he asked with false bravado.

 "There are degrees of Comworids, some better than

 others," Brazil noted- "Yours isn't too far gone yet.

 Even Vardia's can change. The worst of the lot is

 Dedalus. It went the genetic engineering route, you

 know. Everyone looks alike, talks alike, thinks alike.

 They kept males and females, sort of, but the engineers

 thought of even that. The people are hermaphroditic

 —small male genitals atop a vagina below. They breed

 once, in an exchange, then lose all sexual desires and

 prowess. Each has one child, which is, of course, identi-

 cal to the parents, turned over to and raised by the

 state. It's a grotesque anthill, but it may represent the

 future.

 "They don't even have names there. Obedience and

 contentment are engineered into them. Yet, the Central

 Committee retains power. This small group retains its

 sexual abilities, and the members are slightly different.

 The population is programmed to obey any one of

 those leaders unquestionably. The Committee was a

 perfect target, and they're controlled by the sponge

 syndicate. That sort of genetic engineering is, I fear,

 what the spongers have in mind for everyone eventu-

 ally—with themselves on top.

 "I give you the chance to change things. As the

 Mumies did with me, I do to you. You will be the

 Chairman of the Central Committee of Paradise, for-

 merly called Dedalus. You'll be the new Chairman. The

 old one just kicked the bucket, and you're now un-

 frozen to take command. If you meant what you told

 me, you can kick the spongers out of their most secure

 planethold and restore that planet to individual mitia-

 338

 rive. The revolution will be easy—the people will

 obey unquestionably. Your example and efforts could

 dissuade others from taking the Dedalus course. It's up

 to you. You're in charge."

 "What happens to the new Chairman's mind?" Var-

 nett asked. "And my body?"

 "Even swap," Brazil told him. "The new boy will

 wake up a bat over in your old hex. He'll make out.

 He's born to command."

 "Not that madhouse," Vamett chuckled. "Okay, I

 accept."

 "Very good," Brazil told mm. "But, I leave you this

 out. Should you ever want, any Markovian Gate will

 open for you—to bring you back here, for good. You'll

 be in a new body, so nobody knows what you would

 wind up as. You'd be here until you died, but you

 have that option."

 Vamett nodded soberly. "Okay. I think I under-

 stand," he said, and vanished.

 "Serge Ortega," Brazil sighed. "What in hell am I

 going to do with an old rascal like you?"

 "Oh. hell, Nate, what's the difference?" Ortega re-

 sponded, and he meant it. "This time you won."

 "Are you really happy here, Serge? Or was that just

 part of the act?"

 "I'm happy," the snakeman replied. "Hell, Nate, I

 was so damned bored back in the old place I was

 ready to kill myself. It's gotten too damned civilized,

 and I was too old to go frontier. I got here, and I've

 had a ball for eighty years. Even though I lost this

 round, it's been great fun. I wouldn't have missed it for

 the world."

 Brazil chuckled. "Okay, Serge."

 Ortega vanished.

 "Where did you send him?" Vardia aeked hesitantly.

 "Eighty's about the average life span for a Ulik,"

 Brazil replied. "Serge didn't start as an egg, so he's a

 very old man. He has a year, five, maybe ten. I

 wouldn't put tt past him to beat the system, but why

 the hell not? Let him go back to living and having

 f    1»                                                            DO

 fun.

 "And so that leaves us," Wuju said quietly.

 There was a sudden flicker in the image of the

 339

 Markovian, then a sparkling graininess. The shape

 twirled, changed, and suddenly standing there in front

 of them was the old, human Nathan Brazil, in the

 colorful clothes he had first worn on the ship a life-

 time ago.

 "Oh, my god!" Wuju breathed, looking as if she

 were seeing a ghost.

 "The God act's over," he said, sounding relieved.

 "You should see who you're really dealing with."

 "Nathan?" Wuju said hesitantly, starting forward.

 He put up his hand and stopped her, sighing,

 "No, Wuju. It couldn't work. Not now. Not after

 all this. It wouldn't work anyway. Both of you deserve

 much better than life's given you. There are others like

 you, you know—people who never had the chance

 to grow, as you did. They can use a little kindness, and

 a lot of caring. You know the horrors of the sponge,

 Wuju, and the abuse to which some human beings sub-

 ject others. And you, Vardia, know the lies that

 underlie the Corn philosophy. I've talked to both of

 you, observed you both carefully. I've fed all this

 information plus as much data as could be obtained

 from a readout by the brain while you were in this

 room. The brain responded with recommendations on

 what would be best for you. If we're wrong—the brain

 and I—after a trial of what I'm going to do, then you

 both have the same option that is open to Vamett.

 Just get near a Markovian Gate—you don't have to

 jump into it. Just get passage on a ship going near a

 Markovian world. If you want, the Gate will pluck you

 out without disturbing the ship, passengers, or crew.

 You'll somehow mysteriously vanish. And you'll wind

 up in Zone again. Like Varnett, you will have to take

 potluck with the Zone Gate again. Once here, again,

 there will be no returning.

 "But try it my way for a while. And remember

 what I said about your own contributions. Two people

 can change a world, if they wish."

 "But what—" Wuju started to ask, but was cut off

 in midsentence.

 The two bodies didn't vanish, they just collapsed,

 like a suit of clothes with the owner gone. They lay

 there in a heap on the floor.

 340

 Brazil went over and carefully rearranged them so

 they looked as if they were sleeping.

 "Well, now what, Brazil?" he asked himself, his voice

 echoing in the empty hall.

 You go back, and you wait, his mind told him.

 What about the bodies? he wondered. Somehow he

 couldn't just vaporize them. Though their owners were

 gone, they lived on as empty vegetables.

 But there was nothing else to do, of course. They

 were just memories for him now, one a strange mixture

 of love and anguish. He was prolonging the inevitable.

 There was a crackle, and the bodies were gone,

 back to primal energy.

 "Oh. the hell with it," said Nathan Brazil, and he,

 too, vanished.

 The control room was empty. The Markovian brain

 noted the fact and then dutifully turned off the lights.

 On "Earth," a Planet Circling

 a Star Near the Outermost Edge

 of the Galaxy Andromeda

 ONE MOMENT ELKINOS SKANDER HAD BEEN PERCHED

 atop Hain's back, looking at the control room and those

 in it. Then, suddenly, he wasn't.

 He looked around. Things looked funny and dis-

 torted. He was color-blind except for a sepia tone that

 lent itself to everything.

 He looked around, confused. I've gone through an-

 other change, he realized. My last one.

 A rather pleasant-looking place, he thought, once

 he got used to the distorted vision. Forests over there,

 some high mountains, odd-looking grass, and strange

 sort of trees, but that was to be expected.

 There were a lot of animals around, mostly grazing.

 They look a lot like deer, he noted, surprised. A few

 differences, but they would not look out of place on a

 pastoral human world.

 341

 He looked down at himself, and saw the shadow of

 his head on the grass.

 I'm one of them, he suddenly realized with a

 shock. I'm a deer. No antlers like those big males over

 there, so I must be a doe.

 A deer? he thought quizzically.

 Why a deer?

 He was still meditating on this, when suddenly the

 grass seemed to explode with yells and strange shapes;

 great, rectangular bodies with their facial features in

 their chest, and big, big teeth.

 He watched as the Mumies singled out a large doe

 not far from him and surrounded it. Suddenly they

 speared it several times, and it went down in wordless

 agony and lay twitching on the ground, blood running,

 but still alive.

 The Muraies pounced on it, tearing at it, eating it

 alive.

 To be eaten alive! he thought, stunned, and suddenly

 blind panic overtook him. He started running, running

 away from the scene.

 Up ahead another band of Mumies leaped out of

 nowhere and cornered another deer, started to devour

 it.

 They're all over! he realized. This is their world! I'm

 just food to them!

 He ran narrowly avoiding entrapment several times.

 There were thousands of them here, and they all were

 hungry.

 And even as he ran in exhausted, dizzy circles, he

 knew that even if he avoided them today he would have

 to avoid them tomorrow, and the day after, and the day

 after, and wherever he ran on this planet there would

 be more of them.

 Sooner or later they'll get me! he thought in panic.

 By god! I'll not be eaten alive! I'll cheat Brazil of his

 revenge!

 He reached the highlands by carefully pulling him-

 self together.

 Now that he had decided on a course of action, he

 felt calm.

 There! Up ahead! his mind said joyfully. He stopped

 and looked over the edge of the cliff.

 342

 Over a kilometer straight down to the rocks, he

 saw with satisfaction. He ran. back a long ways, then

 turned toward the cliff. With strong resolve, he ran with

 all his might toward the cliff and hurled himself over it

 He saw the rocks coming up to me&t him, but felt

 only the slight shock of pain.

 Skander awoke. The very fact that he awoke was a

 shock, and he looked around,

 He was back on that plain at the edge of the forest

 His shadow told him.

 He was a deer again.

 No! his mind screamed in horror. /'// cheat the bas-

 tard yet! Somehow I'll cheat him!

 But there were a lot of deer and a lot of Mumies on

 that world, and Skander still had six more times to die.

 Paradise, Once Called Dedalus,

 a Planet Near Sirius

 VARNETT GROANED, THEN OPENED HIS EYES. HE FELT

 cold. He looked around him and saw a number of peo-

 ple peering at him anxiously.

 They all looked exactly alike. They didn't even look

 particularly male or female. Slight breasts and nipples,

 but nothing really female. Their bodies were lithe and

 muscular, sort of a blend of masculine and feminine.

 All of them had small male genitals where they

 should be, but, from his vantage point, he could see a

 small cavity beneath them.

 None of them had any body hair.

 K you did it upside down and the other was right

 side up, he thought, you could give and receive at the

 same time.

 "Are you all right?" one asked in a voice that

 sounded like a man's voice but with a feminine lilt

 343

 "Do you feel all right?" another asked in the identi-

 cal voice.

 "I—I think so," he replied hesitantly, and sat up.

 "A little dizzy, that's all."

 "That will pass," the other said. "How's your mem-

 ory?"

 "Shaky," he replied carefully. "I'm going to need a

 refresher."

 "Easily done," the other replied.

 He started to ask them their names, then suddenly

 remembered. They didn't use names on his planet

 His planet! His!

 "I'd like to get right to work," he told them.

 "Of course," another replied, and they led him from

 the sterile-looking infirmary down an equally sterile

 corridor. He followed them, got into an elevator, and

 they rode up to the top floor.

 The top floor, it seemed, was an office complex.

 Workers were everywhere, filing things, typing things,

 using computer terminals.

 Everybody else was slightly smaller than he was, he

 realized. Not much, but in a world where everyone

 was absolutely identical such a slight difference was as

 noticeable as if Cousin Bat had entered the room.

 His office was huge and well-appointed. White wall-

 to-wall carpeting, so thick and soft his bare feet prac-

 tically bounced off it. There was a huge desk, and great

 high-backed chair. No other furnishings,, he noted, al-

 though their lack made the place look barren.

 "Bring me a summary of the status of the major

 areas of the planet," he ordered. "And then leave me

 for a while to study them."

 They bowed slightly, and left. He looked out the

 glass window that was the wall in back of his desk.

 A complex of identical buildings stretched out before

 him. Broad, tree-lined streets, some small parkland,

 and lots of identical-looking shapes walking about on

 various business.

 The sky was an off-blue, not the deepness of his na-

 tive world, but it was attractive. There were some

 fleecy clouds in the sky, and, off in the distance, he

 saw signs of cultivated land. It looked like a rich,

 peaceful, and productive place, he thought. Of course,

 344

 weather and topography would cause changes in the

 life-styles planet-wide, but he wagered those differ-

 ences were minimal.

 The aides returned with sheaves of folders bulging

 with papers. He acknowledged them curtly, and

 ordered them out

 There were no mirrors, but the lighting reflected

 him in the glass windows.

 He looked just like them, only about fifty millimeters

 taller and proportionately slightly larger.

 He felt his male genitals. They had the same feel as

 the ones he had had as Cousin Bat, he thought.

 He reached a little lower, and found the small vagi-

 nal cavity.

 He spread some papers around to make it look as if

 he had been studying them. He would, in time, of

 course, but not now.

 He saw a small intercom on the desk and buzzed it,

 taking a seat in the big chair. At the far end of the

 room a clerk almost beat the track records entering,

 coming up to the desk and standing at full attention.

 "I have found indications," he told the clerk seri-

 ously, "that several members of the Presidium may be

 ill. I want a team of rural doctors—based, as far as

 possible, away from here—to be brought to my of-

 fice as soon as possible. I want that done exactly and

 at once. How long before they can get here?"

 "If you want them from as far away from govern-

 ment centers as possible, ten hours," the clerk replied

 crisply.

 "All right, then," he nodded. "As soon as they ar-

 rive they are to see me—and no one else. No one is

 even to know that they have been sent for. I mean ab-

 solutely no one, not even the rest of the office."

 "I shall attend to it personally. Chairman," re-

 sponded the clerk, and turned to leave. So much for

 the spongies, he thought.

 "Clerk!" he called suddenly, and the other halted

 and turned.

 "Chairman?"

 "How do I arrange to have sex?"

 The clerk looked surprised and bemused. "Whenever

 345 -

 the Chairman wishes, of course. It is a great honor for

 any citizen."

 "I want the best specimen here in five minutesi"

 he ordered.

 "Yes, Chairman,'* responded the clerk knowingly.

 and left.

 His eyes sparkled, and he rubbed his hands to-

 gather gleefully, thinking about what was to come.

 Suddenly Nathan Brazil's visage arose from the cor-

 ners of his mind.

 He said he'd give me my chance, he thought seri-

 ously. And I'll make good on it. This world will be

 changed!

 The door opened, and another inhabitant of Para-

 dise entered.

 "Yes?" he snapped.

 "I was told to report to you by the clerk," the new-

 comer said.

 He smiled. The world would be changed, yes—

 but not right away, he thought. Not until I've had much

 more fun.

 "Come on over here," he said lightly. "You're about

 to be honored."

 On the Frontier—

 Harvlch's World

 HE GROANED, AND OPENED HIS EYES. AN OLDER MAN

 in overalls and checkered shirt, smelly and with a

 three-days* growth of beard, was bending over him,

 looking anxious.

 "Kally? You hear me, boy? Say somethin'!** the old

 man urged, shouting at him.

 He groaned. "God! I feel lousy!" he managed.

 The old man smiled. "Good! Good!'* he enthused.

 "I was afeared we'd lost you, there. That was quite a

 crack on the nog you took!"

 346

 Kally felt the left side of his head. There was a knot

 under the hair, and some dried blood. It hurt—

 throbbed, really.

 "Try to stand up," the old man urged, and gave

 hum a hand. He took it, and managed to stand shakily.

 "How do ya feel, boy?" the old man asked.

 "My head hurts," he complained. "Otherwise—

 well, weak but okay."

 "Told ya ya shoulda got a good gal ta help with the

 farm," the old man scolded. "Ifn I hadn'ta happened

 along you'd be dead now."

 The man looked around, puzzled. It was a farm, he

 saw. Some chickens about, a ramshackle barn with a

 couple of cows, and an old log shack. It looked like

 corn growing in the fields.

 "Somethin' wrong, Kally?" the old man asked.

 "I—uh, who are you?" he asked hesitantly. "And

 where am I?"

 The old man looked concerned. "That bump on the

 noggin's scrambled your brains, boy. Better get into

 town and see a doctor on it."

 "Maybe you're right," the other agreed. "But I still

 don't know who you are, where I am—or who I

 am."

 "Must be magnesia or somethin'," the old man said,

 concerned. "I'll be damned. Heard about it, but never

 seed it afore. Hell, boy, you're Kally Tonge, and since

 your pa died last winter you've run this farm here

 alone. You was borned here on Harvich," he explained,

 pronouncing it Harrige, "and you damned near died

 here." He pointed to the ground.

 He looked and saw an irrigation pump with com-

 pressor. Obviously he had been tightening the top hold-

 ing nut with the big wrench and had kicked the thing

 into start. The wrench had whirled around and

 caught him on the head.

 He looked at it strangely, knowing what it must

 mean.

 "Will you be all right?" the old man asked concern-

 edly. "I got to run down the road or the old ladyll

 throw a fit, but if ya want I can send somebody back

 to take ya inta the doc's."

 347

 "I'll see him," Kally replied. "But let me get cleaned

 up first. How—how far is it into town?"

 "Christ, Kally! Ya even talk a little funny!" the old

 man exclaimed. "But Depot's a kilometer and a half

 down the road there." He pointed in the right direction.

 Kally Tonge nodded. "I'll go in. K you get a head

 injury, it's best to walk. Just check back in a little

 while, just in case. I'll be all right"

 "Well, okay," the old man responded dubiously.

 "But if I don't hear ya got in town, I'm comin' lookin',"

 he warned, then walked back to the road.

 He's riding a horse! Kally thought wonderingly.

 And the road's dirt!

 He turned and went into the shack.

 It was more modern than he would have guessed,

 although small. A big bed with natural fur blankets in

 one comer, a sink, a gas stove—bottled gas under-

 neath, he noted—and the water was probably from a

 water tank near the barn. A big fireplace, and a crude

 indoor shower.

 There was a small refrigerator, too, running off what

 would have been a tractor battery if he had had a

 tractor.

 He noted the toilet in one comer, and went over to

 it. Above it hung a cracked mirror, some scissors, and

 toiletries.

 He looked at himself in the mirror.

 His was a strong, muscular, handsome face in a

 rugged sort of way. The hair was long and tied off in

 a ponytail almost a meter long, and he had a full but

 neatly trimmed beard and mustache. The hair was

 brown, but the beard was reddish.

 He turned his head, saw that the knot was almost

 invisible in the hair. Brushing it back revealed an ugly

 wound.

 He died in that accident, he thought Kally Tonge

 died of that wound. And I filled the empty vessel.

 He stripped and took the mirror off its nail hanger,

 looking at himself. He saw a nigged, muscular body,

 well toned and used to work. There were calluses on

 the hands, worn in from hard farm labor.

 The wound did hurt, and while he was certain it

 wouldn't be serious now, it would be better to go into

 348

 town. It would also help to explain his mental lapses.

 He put on a thick wool shirt and work pants, and

 some well-worn leather boots, and went back outside.

 The place was interesting, really. It looked like

 something out of ancient history, yet had indoor

 plumbing, electricity, albeit crude, and several other

 signs of civilization. In the midst of this primitive-

 ness, he noticed with amusement that he wore a fancy

 wristwatch.

 It was not cold, but there was a chill in the wind

 that made bim glad he had picked the thicker shirt.

 They were short on rain here, he noted; the dirt road

 was rutted and dug up, yet dry and caked.

 He walked briskly down the road toward the town,

 looking at the scenery. Small farms were the rule, and

 many looked far more modem than his. There wasn't

 much traffic, but occasional people passed on horse-

 back or in buckboards, giving him the impression that

 modem vehicles were either in short supply or banned.

 And yet, despite the lack of recent rain, the land was

 good. The tilled soil was black and mineral-rich, and

 where small compressors pumped water from wells or

 nearby creeks into irrigation ditches, the land bloomed.

 He came upon the town much faster than he had

 anticipated. He didn't feel the least bit tired or uncom-

 fortable, and he had walked with a speed that as-

 tonished him. The town itself was a study in contrasts.

 Log buildings, some as tall as five stories, mixed with

 modem, prefabricated structures. The street wasn't

 paved, but it went for several blocks, with a block or

 two on either side of the business district composed of

 houses, mostly large and comfortable. There was street

 lighting, and some of the businesses had electric signs,

 so there was a power plant somewhere, and, from the

 look of things, running water and indoor plumbing.

 He studied some of the women, most of whom were

 dressed in garb much like his own, sometimes with

 small cowboy hats or straw broad-brimmed hats on

 their heads. There weren't nearly as many women as

 men, he noted, and those that were here looked tough,

 muscular, and mannish.

 The town was small enough so that he spotted

 the doctor's office with no difficulty and headed for it.

 349

 The doctor was concerned. He had quite a modem

 facility, with a minor surgery and some of the latest

 machines and probes. Clearly medical care was well

 into the modem era here. The X-rays showed a severe

 concussion and fracture. The doctor marveled that he

 was alive at all, as he placed medication and a small

 bandage on the wound after sewing seven stitches.

 "Get somebody to stay with you the next few days,

 or look in on you regularly," the doctor advised. "Your

 loss of memory's probably only temporary, and not

 that uncommon in these cases. But a lot of damage

 was done. The brain was bruised, and I want someone

 to see that you don't have a clot in there."

 He thanked the doctor, assuring him that he would

 take care of himself and be watched and checked.

 "Settle the bill at the end of the month," the doctor

 told him.

 This puzzled him for a minute. The bill? Money?

 He had never used it himself, and, back on the street,

 he pulled out a thin leather wallet, which looked like

 the survivor of a war, and opened it.

 Funny-looking pieces of paper, about a dozen of

 them. They had very realistic pictures, almost three-

 dimensional, on them, the fronts showing the same man

 three times, the others two other men and a woman.

 The backs showed a remarkably realistic set of farm

 scenes. He wished he could read the bills. He would

 have to find out what each, one was and remember the

 pictures.

 A three-story log building's lights went on in the

 coming twilight, and he saw from the symbol on the

 sign that it was a bar and something else. He didn't

 recognize the other symbol, and couldn't read the

 words. Curious, he walked over to it.

 There was a rumbling of thunder in the distance.

 She awoke, feeling nauseated, and threw up.

 The bile spilled on the cheap rug, and in it, as she

 gagged uncontrollably, she could see bits and pieces

 and even whole pills of some kind.

 The spasms lasted several minutes, until it seemed

 there was nothing else to give. Feeling weak and ex-

 350

 hausted, she lay back on the bed until the room

 steadied. The stench of the bile permeated her.

 Slowly, she looked around- A tiny room, with noth-

 ing but a bed much too large for it and a wicker chair.

 There was barely fifty centimeters' clearance on either

 side of it.

 The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of logs,

 but the construction was so solid it might as well have

 been rock. It was dark in the room, and she looked

 for a light. Spying a string hanging above her, she

 pulled it, and a weak, naked light bulb suspended from

 the ceiling flicked on. The glare hurt her eyes.

 She raised her head slightly and looked down at her

 body. Something was definitely different.

 Two extremely large but perfectly formed breasts

 met her eye, and her skin seemed creamy smooth,

 dark-complexioned but unpigmented.

 Her gaze slid down a little more, and she saw that

 the rest of her body matched the breasts—curving

 in all the right places, definitely.

 She felt—strange. Tingly all over, but particularly

 in the areas of her breasts and crotch.

 She was nude from the waist up, but hanging on

 sultry hips was a pantslike garment of fine-woven

 black lace, to which hundreds of tiny sequins of

 various colors were attached.

 She felt her face, and found that she had some sort

 of hairdo. There were also long, plastic earrings hang-

 ing from pierced ears.

 She looked around in the gloom, found a small cos-

 metics case with a mirror in it, and looked at her face.

 It is a beautiful face, she thought, and she was not

 being vain. Maybe the most beautiful face I've ever

 seen. Cosmetics had been carefully applied to bring out

 just the right highlights, but the face was so perfect

 that they seemed almost intrusive on its beauty.

 But whose face was it? she wondered.

 She noticed a box next to the cosmetics case on the

 floor, and picked it up idly. It was a pillbox—open,

 and empty. There was a universal caution symbol on it,

 but she couldn't read the writing. She didn't need to.

 This girl, whoever and whatever she was, had killed

 herself. She had taken all those pills and overdosed.

 She had died here, in this room, moments before—

 351

 alone. And the moment that girl had died, she had

 been somehow inserted into the body, and the physical

 processes righted.

 She stared again at that beautiful face in the nun-or.

 What would make someone who looked like this

 and experienced such feelings as she now did commit

 suicide? So very young, she thought—perhaps no more

 than sixteen or seventeen. And so very beautiful.

 She tried to get up, but felt suddenly light-headed

 and strange. She flopped back down on the bed and

 stared up at the light bulb, which, for some reason,

 had become fascinating.

 She found herself gently caressing her own body,

 and it felt fantastic, like tingling jolts of pleasure at

 each nerve juncture.

 It's the pills, a corner of her mind told her. You

 didn't get all of them out of your system.

 The door opened suddenly, and a man looked in.

 He was dressed in white work clothes, like kitchen

 help. He was balding and fiftyish, but he had a tough,

 hard look to him. "Okay, Nova, time to—M he

 began, then stopped and looked at her, the empty box,

 and the bile and vomited-up pills on the floor and the

 side of her bed.

 "Oh, shit!" he snarled angrily, and exploded. "You

 went for the happy pills again, didn't you? I warned

 you, dammiti I wondered why a sexy high-top like

 you would work this jerkwater! They tossed you out of

 the others!" He stopped, bis tone going from fury to

 disgust.

 "You're no good to anybody, not even yourself,"

 he snapped. "I told you if you did this again, I'd toss

 you in the street. Come on! You hear me?" he started

 yelling. "You're going out and now! Come on, get upl"

 She heard him, but the words didn't register. He

 looked and sounded somehow funny, and she laughed

 and pointed to him, giggling stupidly.

 He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up.

 "Jesus!'* he exclaimed. "You're a hell of a piece. Too

 bad your insides don't match your outsides. Come

 on!"

 He pulled her out into the hall and dragged her

 down a flight of wooden stairs. She felt as if she were

 352

 floating, and made flying motions with her free arm

 and motor sounds with her voice.

 A few other young women peered out from second-

 floor rooms. None of 'em pretty as me, she thought

 smugly.

 "Stop that giggling!" the man commanded, but it

 sounded so funny she giggled more.

 The downstairs was a bar, some sawdust on the

 floor, a few round tables, and a small service bar to

 one side. It was dimly lit, and empty.

 "Oh, hell," he said, almost sadly, reaching into a

 cash drawer behind the bar. "You ain't even earned

 your keep here, and you bumed your clothes on the

 last flyer. Here—fifty reals," he continued, stuffing

 a few bills in the lace panty. "When you come to out

 in the street or the woods or the sheriff's office, buy

 some clothes and a ticket out. I've had it!"

 He picked her up as if she weighed nothing, and,

 opening the door with one hand, tossed her rudely into

 the darkening street. The chilly air and the hard landing

 brought her down a bit, and she looked around, feeling

 lost and alone.

 She suddenly didn*t want to be seen. Although there

 were few people about, there were some nearby who

 would see her in a few moments. She saw a dark alley-

 way between the bar and a store and crawled into it.

 It was very dark and cold, and smelled a little of old

 garbage. But at least she was concealed.

 Suddenly the streetlights popped on, and deepened

 the shadows in which she sat confused. The shock

 of where she was and her situation broke through into

 her conscious mind. She was still high, and her body

 still tingled, particularly when rubbed. She still wanted

 to rub it, but she was aware of her circumstances.

 I'm alone in a crazy place I don't know, practically

 nude and with the temperature dropping fast, she

 thought miserably. How much worse can things get?

 As if in answer, there was a rumbling and a series

 of static discharges, and the temperature dropped even

 more.

 Tears welled up in her eyes, and she started crying

 at the helplessness of her position. She had never been

 more miserable in her life.

 353

 A man was crossing the street, walking toward the

 bar. He stopped suddenly. Lightning flashed, illuminat-

 ing her for a brief moment. He looked puzzled, and

 came toward the alley. She was folded up* arms around

 her knees, head down against them. She rocked as she

 cried.

 He saw her and stared in disbelief. Now what the

 hell? he thought.

 He reached out and touched her bare shoulder, and

 she started, looked up at him, saw the concern on his

 face.

 "What's the matter, little lady?" he asked gently.

 She looked up with anguished face and started to

 speak, but couldn't.

 She was, even in this state, the most beautiful thing

 he had ever seen.

 "Nothing's that bad," he tried to soothe her. ''Where

 do you live? I'll take you home. You're not hurt, are

 you?"

 She shook her head negatively, and coughed a little.

 ''N0, no." she managed. "Don't have a home. Thrown

 out."

 He squatted next to her. The lightning and thunder

 continued, but the rain held off still.

 "Come on with me, then,'* he said in that same soft

 tone. "I've got a place just down the road. Nobody

 there but me. You can stay until you decide what to

 do"

 Her head shook in confusion. She didn*t know what

 to do. Could she trust him? Dare she take this oppor-

 tunity?

 A strange, distant voice whispered in her brain. It

 said, "Can you feel it? Fear, greed, horror, ambition,

 burning within you, consuming you! . . . Perfection is

 the object of the experiment, not the component. . . .

 Don't torture yourself, run away from your fears. Face

 them! Stand up to them! Fight them with goodness,

 mercy, charity, compassion. . . ."

 And trust? she wondered suddenly. Oh, hell! What

 have I got to lose if I go? What do I have if I don't?

 "I'll go," she said softly. He helped her up, gently,

 carefully, and brushed the dirt off her. He's very big,

 she realized. I only come up to his neck.

 354

 "Come on," he urged, and took her hand.

 She hesitated. "I don't want—want to go out there

 looking like this," she said nervously.

 "There's nothing wrong with the way you look," he

 replied in a tone that had nothing if not sincerity.

 "Nothing at all. Besides, the storm's about to break, I

 think. Most folks will stay inside."

 Again she looked uncertain. "What about us?" she

 asked. "Won't we get wet?"

 "There's shelter along the way," he said casually.

 "Besides, a little water won't hurt."

 She let him lead her down the deserted street of the

 town, and out into the countryside. The storm continued

 to be visual and audible, but not as yet wet. The

 landscape seemed eerie, illuminated in the flashes.

 The temperature had dropped from about fifteen

 degrees Celsius to around eight degrees due to the

 storm. She shivered.

 He looked at her, concerned, feeling the tremors in

 her hand.

 "Want my shirt?" he asked.

 "But then you'll be cold," she protested.

 "I like cold weather," he responded, taking off his

 shirt. His broad, muscled, hairy chest reactivated

 those funny feelings in her again. Carefully he draped

 the shirt around her. It fit her like a circus tent, but it

 felt warm and good.

 She didn't know what to say, and something, some

 impulse, caused her to lean into him and put her arm

 around his bare chest. He responded by putting his

 arm around her, and they resumed walking.

 Somehow it felt good, canning, and her anxieties

 seemed to flee. She looked up at him. "What's your

 name?" she asked in a tone of voice she didn't quite

 comprehend, but was connected, somehow, in its

 throaty softness to those strange feelings.

 "W——" he started to say, then said, instead,

 "Kally Tonge. I have a farm not much farther dowa

 the road.**

 She noticed the bandage on the side of his head.

 "You're injured."

 "It's nothing—now," he replied, and chuckled. "As

 a matter of fact, you're just what the doctor ordered

 355

 —literally. He said somebody should be with me

 through the night."

 "Does it hurt much?" she asked.

 "Not now," he replied. "Medicine's pretty advanced

 here, although as you know the place is rather primitive

 overall."

 "I really don't know much about this world," she

 replied truthfully. "I'm not from here."

 "I could have guessed that," he said lightly. "Where

 do you come from?"

 "I don't think you've ever heard of it," she replied.

 "From nowhere now, really."

 "What's your name?" he asked.

 She started to say "Nova," the name the man had

 called her, but instead she said, "Vardia."

 He stopped and looked at her strangely. "That's a

 Corn name, isn't it?" he asked. "You're not from any

 Comworld!"

 "Sort of," she replied enigmatically, "but I've

 changed a lot."

 "On the Well World?" he asked sharply.

 She gasped, a small sound of surprise escaping her

 lips. "You—you're one of the people from the Well!"

 she exclaimed. "You woke up in that body, as I did!

 That head wound killed Kally Tonge and you took

 over, as I did!"

 "Twice when I needed someone you comforted me,

 even defended me," he said.

 "Wuju!" she exclaimed, and an amazed smile

 spread over her face. She looked him over critically.

 "My, how you've changed!"

 "No more than you," he replied, shaking his head

 wonderingly. "Wow!"

 "But—but, why a man?" she asked.

 His face grew serious. "I'll tell you sometime. But,

 good old Nathan! He sure came through!"

 The storm broke, then, and the rain started coming

 down heavily.

 They were both soaked through in seconds, and her

 fancy hairdo collapsed. He laughed, and she laughed,

 and he picked her up and started running in the mud.

 Just ahead he saw his shack, outlined in the lightning

 flashes, but he misjudged the turn to his walk with his

 356

 burden. They both tumbled into the road, splashing

 around and covered with thick black mud.

 "You all right?" he shouted over the torrent.

 "I'm drowning in mudi" she called back, and they

 both got up, laughing at each other.

 "The barn's closer!" he shouted. "See it over there?

 Run for it!"

 He started off, and she followed, the rain getting

 heavier and heavier. He reached the door way ahead

 of her, and slid it aside on its rollers. She reached it,

 and they both fell in. The place had an eerie, hol-

 low sound, the rain beating on the sheet-metal roof

 and wood sides of the barn. It was dark, and smelled

 like the barn it was. A few cows mooed nervously in

 their stalls.

 "Wooj?" she called.

 "Here," he said, near her, and she turned.

 "Might as well sit it out here," he told her. "There's

 a pile of hay over there, and it's a thousand meters to

 the shack. Might as well not go through the deluge

 twice."

 "Okay," she replied, exhausted, and plopped into

 the hay. The rain continued to beat a percussion sym-

 phony on the bam.

 He plopped beside her. She was fussing with her

 lace pants.

 "The mud's all caked in them, and the sequins are

 scratching me," she said. "Might as well get them off,

 for all the good they'll do as clothing anyway, even if

 they are all I've got in the world."

 She did, and they lay for a while side by side.. He

 put his arm around her and fondled her breast.

 "That feels good," she whispered. "Is—is that what

 I've been feeling? I thought it was still the pills. Is

 this what you felt with Brazil?"

 "I'll be damned!" he said to himself. "I always won-

 dered what an erection felt like to a man!" He

 turned and looked at her. "I'll show you what it's

 really like, if you want," he said softly.

 "I—I think that's what he wanted," she replied.

 "Is it what you want?" he asked seriously.

 "I think I do," she whispered, and realized that it

 was what she wanted. "But I don't even know how."

 "Leave that to an expert," he replied. "Although

 357

 I'm not used to this end of things.'* He put both arms

 around her, kissed her and fondled her.

 And he kicked off his pants, and showed her the

 other side of being a woman, while discovering him-

 self what it was to be a man.

 The rain was over. It had been over for a couple of

 hours, but they just lay there, content in the nearness

 of each other.

 The door was still half-open, and Vardia, still dazed

 and dreamy from her first sexual experience, saw the

 clouds roll back and the stars appear. "We'll get

 you some clothes in the morning," he said at last.

 "Then well tour the farm. This rain should do every-

 thing good. I was born on a farm, you know, but not

 my own farm."

 "People—non-Corn people—they do that every

 day?" she asked.

 He chuckled. "Twice if they're homy enough. Ex-

 cept for a couple of days each month."

  

 "You—you've done it both ways," she said. "Is it

 different?"

 "The feeling's definitely different, but it's the same

 charge,'* he replied. "An important part, male or

 female, is that you do it when you want with someone

 you want."

 "Is that love?" she asked. "Is that what -Brazil was

 talking about?"

 "Not the sex," he replied. "Thafs just a—a com-

 ponent, as he would say. Without the object—with-

 out love, without feeling for the other person, without

 caring, it's not pleasant at all."

 "That's why you're a man now," she said. "All the

 other times—they were the wrong kind, weren't they?"

 "Yes," he replied distantly, and looked out at the

 stars- She clenched his hand tightly in hers.

 "Do you think he was really God?" Vardia asked

 quietly.

 "I don't know," he replied with a sigh. "What if he

 wasn't? When he was in the Well he had the power.

 He gave me my farm, a good, healthy young body, a

 new chance. And," he added softly, "he sent you."

 358

 She nodded. "I've never lived like this," she said.

 "Is it all as wonderful as tonight?"

 "No," he replied seriously. "There's a lot of hard

 work, and pain, and heartache—but, if it all comes

 together, it can be beautiful."

 "We'll try it here," she said resolutely. "And when

 the fun is gone, if ever, or when we're old and gray.

 we'll take off for a Markovian world, and go back and

 do it again. That's a good future."

 "I think it is," he responded. "It's more than most

 people ever get."

 "This world," she said. "It must never become like

 the others, like the Corn. We must make sure of that."

 At that moment there was a glow far beyond the

 horizon, and suddenly a bright arrow streaked upward

 in the dark sky and vanished. A few seconds later, a

 distant, roaring sound came to them.

 *'Poor Nathan," he said sadly. "He can do it for

 everyone but himself."

 "I wonder where he is now?" she mused.

 "I don't know what form he's in," he replied, "but

 I think I know where he is and what he's doing, and

 thinking, and feeling."

 They continued to gaze at the stars.

 Aboard the Freighter Stehekm

 NATHAN BRAZIL LAY IN THE COMMAND CHAIR ON THE

 bridge and gazed distantly at the fake starfield pro-

 jected in the two window screens. He glanced over

 to the table atop the ancient computer.

 That same pornographic novel was there, spread

 open to where he had last been reading it. He couldn't

 remember it at all, but, he reflected, it didn't matter.

 They were all alike anyway, and there was plenty of

 time to read it again.

 359

 He sighed and picked up the cargo manifest, idly

 flipping it open.

 Cargo of grain, bound for Coriolanus, it read. No

 passengers.

 No passengers.

 They were elsewhere now—the rotten ones in

 their own private hells, the good ones—and the po-

 tentially good—with their chances. He wondered

 whether their dreams were as sweet as they had imag-

 ined. Would they forget the lessons of the Well, or try

 for change?

 In the end, of course, it didn't really matter.

 Except to them.

 He closed the manifest and threw it across the con-

 trol room. It banged against the wall and landed as-

 kew on the floor. He sighed a long, sad sigh, a sigh

 for ages past and the ages yet to be.

 The memories would fade, but the ache would re-

 main.

 For, whatever becomes of the others or of this little

 corner of the universe, he thought, I'm still Nathan

 Brazil, fifteen days out, bound for Coriolanus with a

 load of grain.

 Still waiting.

 Still caring.

 Still alone.

 360