Soul Rider #01: Spirits of Flux and Anchor

by Jack L. Chalker

  She appreciated the compliment. "For what it cost, it better be. If I have any money left, I'll buy some spare clothes. I think it's time for you to get some, though."

  She sighed. "I suppose. It's been so long they'll feel funny just to wear." The merchandise building, though, changed her mind, and they both spent quite a while just trying on various things. Both finally opted for practical wear, more or less stringer fashion, yet in colors other than the stringer's basic black. Although she bought a pair of boots, Nadya carried them back to the room, finding that the clothes actually made her feel human again but that her feet and lower calves revolted against footwear. For the moment, she decided to remain barefoot.

  Dar and Suzl weren't back in their rooms yet, so the two women decided to eat without them.

  "I forgot to ask—how did Dar's session go?" Cass wanted to know.

  "Not good. They said it was powerful and complicated and would take real experts to work out. They wanted over a thousand kils up front to do it, too, with no guarantees."

  Cass whistled. "How'd he take it?"

  "Pretty well. A lot better than Suzl, I think."

  The handsome young man approached them in the bar and stood there for a second. He was young, perhaps only a couple of years older than they, and extremely human, although his hair was white save for a small reddish spot near the peak. "Ah, you are the man with the problem?" he asked tentatively.

  Dar looked up at him, "Yeah— Are you the budding god the guy near the kiosk talked about?"

  The young man chuckled and sat down. "I suppose so, although I have no ambitions to carve out any little worldlets and preside. I am entirely interested in research, in learning everything there is to learn about these powers. Until I can get a position here, though, I have to support my researches on my own, hence my friends over at services. They get a small percentage for sniffing out people like you, pardon my language." He looked over at Suzl. "I can see why you are anxious to be rid of the problem, sir." She smiled at him.

  "Can you do it?" he asked.

  The young wizard shrugged. "I don't know until I take a good look. But I won't charge unless I can at least help. Is that not fair?"

  Dar looked at Suzl, who nodded. "Sounds fair to us."

  "Then come with me now, if you can."

  "We can. But how much will it cost?"

  "Shall we say a hundred?"

  He thought a moment— "That's almost all I got. I have to eat for the next couple of days, you know."

  "Seventy-five, then, but no less."

  "I'll make it up," Suzl told him. "I'll take it back in trade."

  They left and followed the young man outside, then down a side street and out of the Market area. Dar started getting a little nervous.

  "Just in here," the young wizard told them, and they stopped by a small pyramidal building, then went inside after him. It was a small pyramid on the outside but a large rectangle on the inside, crowded with all sorts of junk as well as the remains of half-eaten meals and lots of dust. There was, however, a carpeted clear area in the back near a bed that obviously had last been made when the boy arrived in Globbus. "Now, take off your clothes."

  Dar did, and was subjected to a minute and somewhat embarrassing physical examination. "Fascinating," the wizard muttered. "Just fascinating." He stepped back and looked at Dar again.

  "It's superior work," he told them. "Among the best. I've seen many variants of this—there are lots in Globbus—but the math here is simply brilliant. Who did it, did you say?"

  "The former goddess of Persellus."

  Brows went up. "Former?"

  "She was overthrown and, I assume, killed a few days ago."

  "Too bad. A great loss to the science. Still, I can follow the basic formulae." He closed his eyes and appeared to be in deep thought. Finally he said, "I think I have the spell's complement. If I understood what she did correctly, that is. There is, however, some risk."

  "To his life?" Suzl asked apprehensively. "Oh, no, nothing like that. The application of the complement could, conceivably, go more than one way, since it's not an undoing of the spell—we don't have the weeks necessary for that and you don't have the money to shorten that period—but an effort at applying an equal and opposite spell superimposed over this one. I think it will work, but there is a slight percentage that it could push him all the way to the female matrix, physically and psychologically, or it might split him—twelve hours totally and completely female, twelve hours totally and completely male. There is always a risk in this sort of thing, you must understand. That's why the specialists demand their money up front."

  Dar looked over at Suzl. "You really want it?" She nodded— "I do. If you're willing." He shrugged. "What have I got to lose? Go ahead."

  The young man closed his eyes once more, and his head snapped back, then forward once again. He staggered but did not fall. Suddenly he came fully erect, his eyes opening, and he seemed to struggle with his right hand. A single gesture was made with the trembling hand, and Dar felt a slight tingling. "Now!" the young wizard shouted, and Suzl screamed.

  Dar turned towards her, concerned, and the young man looked slightly upset. "Now that's a curse! Damn!" Suzl fainted, and both rushed over to her, picked her up, and put her on the bed.

  "What's wrong with her?" Dar demanded to know. "She wasn't even in this, damn it."

  "I'm afraid she was, and I didn't notice it," the wizard replied. "That is one tricky curse you have— It took the complement and deflected it to the nearest receptor. Here—let's get these pants off her."

  They did, and Dar gasped. "She said she wanted it, and that was all the curse needed for implied consent," the wizard explained. "Now she's got it, as solidly as you got yours."

  "But I still got a woman's crotch!"

  "And in my judgment you always will have. And, unfortunately, she will now always have what you lost, the complement being as strong as' the original."

  "But—it's so big! And she's so short!"

  "Well, it is a scaled-down version of yours," the wizard told him. "I did what I could to keep it proportional, but it is the complement to your curse, and so basically your pattern. Uh—of course there will be no charge. I admit I have learned a great deal from this curse."

  Dar shook his head. "And what I learn about guys in bars is of no value. Damn!"

  Suzl stirred and came to, having fainted mostly from the shock. She looked puzzled, then felt gingerly in the crotch area. "Oh, by the Heavens! It's real!" She groaned, then sat up on the side of the bed, then got to her feet. "How do men walk with these things?"

  "The same way women walk with breasts like yours," Dar responded. "You just are used to it."

  "But it's—huge! On you, it'd be okay. On me, it's grotesque." She looked over at the wizard. "Take it away! Take it back!"

  The young man looked sheepish. "I can't. It's beyond me. It may be beyond anybody but the best. That goddess wasn't only good with curses, she was devious as Hell."

  She stared at him. "You mean I have the same curse he does—only backwards?"

  The wizard nodded. "That's about it. I'm afraid the curse construed you to ask for it, and since it couldn't give it to your man, here, it gave it to you. You're stuck."

  She sat down again on the side of the bed and sighed— "And I never even found out what it was like to be a woman, damn it." She sighed again. "But, then, neither do men." She looked up at the wizard. "Will it work?"

  "It's a proportional model of his. It'll work if your mind wants it to."

  She stood up and put her pants back on. "Ugh! More shopping to do. Something to support this thing and some pants with real give in the crotch. These hurt!" She looked over at Dar. "Well, it isn't exactly the way I wanted it, but I think at least in one way that you and I were made for each other."

  14

  COUNCIL

  "Now let me get this straight," Nadya said, sounding confused and bewildered. She stared at the small, attractive, well-built woman a
nd the huge muscular man in front of her. "You, Suzl, are the man, and you, Dar, are the woman? Holy Mother protect me!"

  She and Cass had now heard the complete story but still couldn't quite believe it. Even so. Cass, relaxing in a chair and chewing idly on a stick of hard candy, said, "I have to say, Suzl, you're taking it a lot better than I would."

  She shrugged. "I was real upset for a while there, but then the more I thought about it the. more I—accepted it. You know, I think I'm the only one ever taken in the Paring Rite who wasn't really sorry to go. I used to sit there and dream -of what was beyond dull, stodgy Anchor Logh. Sometimes I'd imagine myself as something different. Part horse, maybe, or cat, or something. I always knew there was something else out here, beyond the Flux wall. I imagined it as something like it is—a world full of freaks."

  They, Nadya in particular, started to protest but she silenced them, and, at the moment, she had the floor.

  "Uh-huh. Freaks. You know, like in the old children's stories of fairies and trolls and all that. Well, thanks to Cass and Dar I'm out here and I'm free, and now I'm a freak. Maybe I'm Flux crazy now, but I kind of think that this was like, well, my dues. I'm one of them now, and it's not so bad. I'm still sort of getting used to it, even with the wizard's help. He said something about men and women's centers of gravity being different, whatever that means. All I know is that every time I don't think and cross my legs the old way it hurts like hell, and I'm always aware that it's there."

  "You'd hardly know it, what with those black denim pants hanging so low on your hips," Nadya said.

  Suzl shrugged. "It was either that or get 'em super-baggy in the crotch. Besides, I kind of like it this way. I can still be me and still be a freak, like Dar. And you wouldn't believe how fast and how easy it turns on, with all the sensations concentrated in that one place. I think I understand men a lot better now."

  "You better," Nadya murmured. "Uh—have you tried it out yet?"

  Suzl giggled. "No, but I plan to. Better shape up, girls—I'm the man around here, pardon the bosoms."

  "It doesn't make any difference out here what sex you are," Cass put in, stirring from her chair where she sat. "There doesn't seem to be any men's or women's jobs—just jobs. That's why you two won't have problems, except maybe getting picked up by the wrong people in bars."

  "I'm swearing off bars for a while," Dar told her. "So far I've been in two and both haven't been exactly great experiences."

  They were about to go further when there was a sharp knocking on the hotel door— It startled them, because they weren't expecting anybody or anything as yet. Cass got up and went to the door, opened it, and found Matson standing there. He looked at her and frowned as if slightly puzzled at her new look, but he recovered quickly. "We won't have to detour to Pericles after all," he told them. "The old boy I wanted to see is here in the hotel right now. He and some friends of his want to see all four of you in one hour, Room 224. Be there and we can settle this as far as we're concerned."

  "We'll be there," Cass assured him— She'hesitated a moment, then asked, "Like the new look?"

  "Hadn't noticed," he responded curtly, turned, and walked down the hall. Crestfallen, she watched him go down the stairs.

  "That rat," Nadya commented, and she turned and shook her head.

  "No, he's not a rat, just, well, unobtainable in the long term." The ironic thing was, although they didn't seem to know it, she had obtained the unobtainable from him, knowing that he was as out of reach as ever.

  "What's that all about?" Suzl asked.

  "Probably another thing like the trial we told you about. Give the same information to a bunch of powerful wizards and then they'll decide something or other about Haldayne and Persellus. After today it won't concern us, though."

  Dar sighed and looked down at Suzl. "Well," he said hopefully, "we still have an hour to kill."

  Room 224 turned out to be a large rectangular end room that was obviously rarely used as a place for anyone to stay but rather for small receptions and gatherings. It had been set up in this case with a head table in the front and a dozen or so folding chairs for an audience. Matson was there, as were two other stringers—the dark woman Cass had seen when they'd arrived and another, a huge, beefy man with a full beard and cold brown eyes.

  Also present were two duggers, obviously the chief train drivers for the other two. One was totally reptilian, down to being covered in green, scaly skin and having a snout-like face with fangs, sex indeterminable, while the other was a man whose skin was all blotched and twisted, like a long-dead corpse. The foursome sat with the duggers, nervously eyeing the reptilian one. They didn't care so much any more about the walking corpse—he looked too much like a couple of duggers in their own train.

  Soon, three people entered. The first was an elderly man with long, flowing gray beard and hair that looked as if it had not only never been cut, but also never washed, combed, or otherwise cared for. He used a short cane to walk on, and seemed slow and stooped with age and infirmity. It was hard to imagine him as a wizard of power like the handsome Haldayne.

  The second was a young looking woman with a rather attractive face, although she was only a meter high, had bright green skin and dark green hair, and shell-like ears, while the third was a very fat man with a nearly bald round head who looked more than slightly drunk. None were the sort of. people who inspired confidence and dynamic leadership by their every look and gesture.

  They took their seats up front, the old one with difficulty, and for a moment said nothing, just looked out on those whom they had summoned. Finally the fat man and the tiny green woman looked over at the old one and he nodded absently. "The room and its contents are clean, although we have a Soul Rider present," he croaked in a voice that was barely audible to them. Cass jumped a little at that but decided to hold her peace for now. "That is either a very good sign or a very ominous one, depending on how you look at it." The other two nodded slightly in agreement.

  "Now, then," the old one continued, "I am Mervyn, the lovely one here is Tatalane, and on the other end is Krupe." He brought up his cane like a rifle, and from it shot a tremendous spray of yellowish white energy— It struck the walls, then coated them as if a living thing, then floor and ceiling as well. When it passed under their feet it gave a very mild numbing sensation that lasted only when you were in direct contact with it. "These proceedings are now sealed," Mervyn told them. "What proceeds is for our ears alone. Although only three of our fellowship of nine are present, it is sufficient for action in this matter. I am going to call upon each of you to tell me the various facts that you know directly in this matter. We Will begin with the attack on the Arden train. Mr. Matson first, if you please."

  Matson stood and gave a general, brief description of the discovery of the train, its grisly contents, and his conclusions from that evidence. Then Suzl and Nadya were called upon to supplement, then Cass up to the time she'd been knocked out, and, finally, Dar. He was hesitant in telling his part in the story and his feelings at the time, but this was brushed aside by Mervyn. "Just the outline," the old one told him, "no moralizing or excuses. We are aware of what happened. We are reading your reactions when these things are called up in your mind."

  Eventually, in this fashion, step by step, the entire story was told to them. The three listened passively, prompting only when necessary, and made no comments or gestures at anything told them or not told them. Ultimately, with the impressions of Persellus gleaned from Dar, Suzl, Nadya, and Matson, the tale was told-

  The three then lapsed into deep thought, not apparently conferring or even showing awareness of the others' presence, but finally Mervyn said,

  "Stringers Hollus and Brund, what do you think of this?"

  "Sounds like Haldayne, all right," the bearded stringer commented. "Cheeky bastard to use his own name like that, though."

  "Yes, isn't it? And you, Hollus?"

  "I never had a run-in with him, but it's clear to me that he ordered the deli
berate murder of a stringer and took control of a valuable crossroads. This cannot be allowed."

  The two duggers were also called on for opinions. Both. except for wishing to avenge the duggers more than Arden, echoed Hollus.

  "If we were to take on Haldayne, it would require not only the three of us but an army," Mervyn told them. "There are enough raw souls in a land that size to make its retaking very hard. Knowing Haldayne, he would never take us on directly, but he would make his minions, his conquests, and his would-be conquerors pay dearly for each tiny bit of Fluxland. We see only two choices. Either we retake Persellus bloodily, or we act to seal it off completely and totally reconfigure the trade routes. That is, isolate it and write it off."

  There was some consternation among all three stringers at that. "You can't just reconfigure those routes!" Matson protested. "It would take years to reestablish new patterns and get word to everyone. Not to mention the fact that it would take one of you near there permanently just to make sure his buddies didn't break through and unseal the land."

  "And yet the object of this exercise seems to be to draw us into a direct confrontation," Tatalane said, speaking for the first time. "He deliberately invites attention by moving this madman and then exhorting him to attack the stringers. He could clearly see the string on Cass and could have easily eliminated it, but instead he allowed it to remain, meaning certain discovery of the pocket. He changed his shape absolutely while in the pocket, yet seemed to go out of his way to display his manner, his ring, and his left-handedness to Cass. Any one of these might be overlooked, but the combination was certain to rouse suspicion. Even so, when, he could stay out of her way, he deliberately places himself in close contact with her in Persellus, then, when she could still prove nothing, sends four inept minions to subdue her, thereby proving her story. Clearly, too, Matson was allowed to see and then escape when it would have been child's play for Haldayne to have taken him, his train, and Cass."

  "Well said," Mervyn approved. "So he did everything but raise a flag to cover the sky of World saying, 'Here I Am—Come and Get Me!' He wants a fight, that is certain. He knows who and what he'd be facing. That, too, leads to two different possibilities. Either he is certain he can win, or he wishes to lose. It is that simple."