by Pam Uphoff
"Nope. They were born here. And you urr going to show trust by deriving right oover hit." The god looked at the wizard and witch. "He's a bit nervous, better put some side rails up. Jin, could you bring the rest of the prisoners down?"
"We like to toke our dead back hume. For their families." The officer said stiffly.
The god eyed him for a moment, then nodded. "Untie them and make them do the toting."
"Yes, sir." Jin trotted back up the road, giving a quick look at the various bound prisoners down here as he passed. They looked like they'd keep.
He quickly briefed the group around the corner. The old wizard nodded, and unfroze two horses to carry the dead. "These lads are just a bit under the weather yet, lucky to walk down carrying themselves."
Once down, Nil eyed the situation, and doled out more wine. The soldiers then loaded their dead and themselves into the remaining four wagons. Dydit and Never formed ramps for the two in the pits, and they backed slowly and carefully away. They turned at the corner, and drove more confidently forward. Until they got to the bridge. A soldier got out and walked it, first.
The god shook his head. "I hope they'll listen. It'll get ugly otherwise." He led the way uphill, and knelt beside the mage's body. "Coo," he sighed. "You were one of the great ones, and saved your craft. Go in peace." He looked at the younger ones, "Do you want to take him home now?"
"Yes." The young man raised his chin defiantly. "It's our way."
They all disappeared. Then the god was back, a young woman all in brown with curly brown hair clutching his arm.
"I don't believe you went without me!" Her glare went from the old wizard, to the young one, and settled on Never. She folded her arms over a definitely pregnant belly.
"Right. And then we'd have to answer to Lefty. 'So sorry, got your wife and unborn son killed. Gosh, and she was only twenty, and very inexperienced.'"
"I am almost twenty-two."
"Your birthday's still a week away. Dydit had rigorous magical training from birth as far as I can tell, until he got himself turned into a goat twenty-three years later. He's had more training since he got turned back into a human than you have. And don't glare at me. I'm ten years older than you are."
The girl in brown glared anyway.
"But since you're here, and nice and fresh, you can keep an eye on the Bad Guys, while we . . . collapse and sleep for about eighteen hours."
Jin for the first time started wondering about his wagons. He looked up, but the irregular sweeps of the road defeated him.
"Would you like a lift to the top?" the god asked.
Jin had a sudden attack of nervousness. "I, sir, I . . ."
The god snorted. "Stop that. Ask at Fort Stag how to get to the village of Ash. The detour will be worth it." He gripped Jin's shoulder and the world changed abruptly. Startled exclamations spun him around. His four wagons, safe at the top of the climb. He turned back. The god was gone.
"This time I really will build a temple."
"Please don't." The voice sounded all around him. "I can't not hear prayers, and too many get painful."
"Oh. Well, in that case . . . " He blinked at his old friends. "Well, let's get on ahead a bit, and see about a place to camp. I've had a long day." He climbed into the tail wagon, and laid down. Eighteen hours sounded about right.
Chapter Twenty-six
12 October 3477
Comet Fall/Dallas Twelve fifty-three
Lon Hackathorne watched the Colonel as he organized his retreat.
The man was a bit shaky on his feet, and looked a bit shocky. Come to that Lon was feeling a bit shocky himself. At the tag end of the column, their truck hadn't attracted any of the missiles from across the canyon. Nor the lightning, which had shone clear signs of control. The Oner's shields had protected them very well, he'd been watching with binocs, and only one body had been wrapped up . . . and transported somewhere. It was like they had tiny gates that they could open and close at will.
Kia Farr's equipment had registered huge gravity changes when it happened. Nearly a milligal drop in the local field. It had dropped less than that during the bridge building, but that hadn't been the sharp spike of the others. It had been a long sustained lowering for the entire duration. Of course half an hour to build a bridge . . .
He shivered a bit. Looked over at the other Dallas personnel. "I remember when we asked how that bridge over the Blue River was built. They said 'Magic', and we thought it was because they didn't understand how it was made."
"Yeah, I guess they were trying to hide their tech by putting it in terms we poor primitives would understand. We sure didn't roll over the natives the way the Colonel thought we would." A sudden crunching of metal below interrupted. Scott stood up and looked down the mountain. "They've got the tanker out of the way."
"I want out of here so bad, but I want to stay and study these people even worse. I told you they could teleport." Julianne had binocs too. "Whoa, a whole group just left, with their horses."
"Big drop. One point seven two milligals. How are they doing that? What are they doing?" Kia rubbed her forehead. "All those gravity fluctuations I was blaming on instruments, it's that . . . teleportation and . . . magic construction."
"I only see one person over . . . never mind. The big one is back with some more lady friends. He seems to be the one coming and going with the people that pop in and out."
Farnsworth frowned. "That's the Auld Wulf. I never did get a good explanation of the name. It's almost more of a title. Like Arch Wizard or something, I suppose."
“They called him a god.” Julianne lowered her binocs.
Lon looked back across the valley. The Auld Wulf was easy to spot. Grey hair and short beard, half a head taller than Dydit, who was a good hundred and ninety-five centimeters. In this feminine company the man towered. But he walked off around the rock outcropping and out of sight, and the three women all sat down cross legged looking across the valley.
Their drivers climbed wearily back up the slope.
"How bad . . . ?"
"Thirty-two fatalities. The injured . . . those people sent some medicine back with Colonel Elton. It's even healing the bad burns. Doc says we shouldn't lose any of them. He says it must be some nanotech something or other." Pug shrugged. "Or magic. Anyway, it's time to go. Load up all your gear."
Four hours later they were back in the desert, camped by a rushing stream of cold water. The vehicles were chivvied into order, and tents set up. Apparently they were going to be staying.
Lon had organized his thoughts, and now he organized his people. When the Colonel had time to get to the civilians, Lon had a consolidated report of their scientific observations ready for him.
"Not that it's a great help. If that was tech, it's miniaturized to the point of not being obvious."
The Colonel snorted and rubbed his left eye. "I was standing two feet away from your Dydit and his buddy Never while they were building the bridge. I looked damn it. Either they were putting on a show to keep my attention from someone or something else, or they've damn near internalized their tech. I suppose they pretend it's magic to wow the natives."
Lon nodded. "And they were showing off, too. The new bridge is about a third of the way up that valley. The original bridge looked pretty damn good for a pre-industrial society. This one? I haven't ever seen anything to match it. Clearly the old bridge was pre-industrial—native—work."
"We build bridges bigger than that."
"Yeah, with concrete and steel beams and so forth. We don't form the local rock like it's putty."
"Ah. Yes. And ours take a bit more time to build as well." The Colonel looked around at them all. "The government is probably going to classify every single bit of this. We had no idea the One World was so advanced. Now it's just a question of whether they're going to bring in missiles and planes to deal with these people, or be a bit more subtle." He shifted, restless and discomforted. "I'll be sending the wounded back tomorrow. You and your people shoul
d go with them." He nodded and left.
Lon walked down to the stream, thinking about worst possible outcomes. What could he do to keep this from escalating into the sort of massacre he'd seen fifteen years ago? And how would a government be subtle? There'd been rumors of biowarfare. He'd never believed them. Infiltration and revolution? That was one possibility. He certainly thought they needed more information on these strange people. And as little information as they had on the One . . . he paused and thought about that. About how infiltrating the native society now could lead to an opportunity to observe the One World, both directly and indirectly.
Was he holding a problem, or an opportunity?
It was very nearly time to do the unthinkable.
He thought about Tournay, and bodies in the street.
No. It was time.
***
"Thank you director. Twelve-seventeen is going very well, We're exploring a third hydrothermal zone. We will be ramping up to a full scale base camp, at least four other camps and tripling our personnel almost immediately.
"One thing has come to my attention. As you know, in the universe of Twelve fifty-three, the asteroid Hygiea was struck by something, broken up, and pieces of it were hitting the world. On Twelve-seventeen, Hygiea is also missing. I have an on-going search for dangerous meteors, but the astronomers have found nothing." Lon eyed them. The disaster Fifty-three had turned into didn't seem to have put them off.
"No natives, either, I hope!"
"No sir. Dr. Manrique is thinking that perhaps this entire band of the Multiverse split off the rest when Hygiea was hit. He thinks that the Holocene bombardment may have activated a lot of the tectonic plate boundaries, increasing, among other things, some sorts of ore body formation. I wanted to bring this to your attention, as some companies may start to relinquish their leases or to seek partners, having had several months to explore. We may want to check specifically for the absence of Hygiea, and lots of volcanic activity, and pick up leases on any such worlds that we find. Hunt down geothermal zones, specifically."
A slight stir around the table. Yes, they liked the idea. No such thing as too much business.
They thanked him and dismissed him. Now it was up to them, and the business managers. It had only been an excuse to come to Dallas, anyway.
He strolled down the street and into a restaurant. He needed to kill some time before going home.
21:00 would be about right.
He wasn't a bit surprised to find them in bed. He just walked back out to the living room, turned on some lights, and waited.
The Councilor looked ready to bluster. Lon spoke first.
"I suppose Carol's told you I'm over-sensitive about natives being slaughtered by the hundreds and thousands? Yes? I'm concerned that this world I'm working on now is spiraling down into that pit."
"It's being taken over by the One World." The man looked a bit confused by the diversion.
"Which puts us into an excellent position to finally study the One. If we back off militarily, and infiltrate this 'Kingdom of the West', we could have moles in place when the One takes over. If the moles build up a network of ignorant native assistants, we could finally get someone, even though second hand, onto the One World. Rumors have it that we've never had a spy last more than a few hours."
"That's true."
"And you're on the right committee."
The Councilor looked at him, narrow eyed. "What do you want?"
"To minimize blood shed. Nobody gives a damn about that world. It was low balled, almost on a whim. It has no strategic importance what-so-ever. But as an opportunity for learning about these One Worlders? It may well be priceless."
"And what do you think I will get out of it?"
"A reputation for thinking before leaping into a war, a reputation for seeing an intelligence opportunity and snatching it. If we get some real information on the One, the entire intelligence community will know it's because of you."
"I already have a reputation as being weak on the military."
"And now the military can learn that you won't throw them into a situation without scouting it out and giving them the time to prepare for it."
"What do you get out of it?"
"A better night's sleep." He didn't turn his head at the flicker of movement to the side.
"I'm going to run for President in six years. After this term."
"And you a happily married man? No? My advice would be to divorce now, as amiably as possible, get all the scandal and mess over with. If you're inclined, remarry sometime during the campaign, when you need a lift in the polls. With at least four years between your divorce and marriage there won't be a scandal."
"You really don't care, do you?" Carol came out and stood well away from the Councilor.
"I'm sorry. I cared enough to not want to know for sure, to not cut off all hope. But now I need something desperately." He looked back at the Councilor. "Not for myself, but for half a billion people who don't deserve to be ground into dust between us and One World."
"You even came up with a good excuse."
"Reason, not excuse. I've only just come to realize how thin our knowledge of the One World is, these last few weeks. We haven't the faintest idea of how dangerous even a proxy war would be. Howie, I was there. I watched that battle, and I watched those people—Oners if you insist—pop in and out of thin air. A trick with holography? Or real teleportation? Either would be a nightmare in combat. So I'd really like my government to gather data, and make a reasoned response." Lon met his angry gaze. "Why don't you go ask some of your military and intel advisers about it?"
"Otherwise I get a scandal?"
Lon hesitated, then shook his head. "No. I'm using this as a way to get a single Councilor to listen to me. Call me a very obnoxious lobbyist, if you wish. I don't do blackmail."
***
And that was all he could do. He knew Howie too well to push. But the man had listened. Perhaps enough to at the least slow it down, get people to think. At best, everyone would just . . . go away. He was back at the gate the next afternoon. Organizing the new equipment for Twelve-seventeen, and watching the military movements. Some small numbers of troops came and went.
He interviewed people, hired them, bought equipment.
There was gossip about the Army sending three Class five quarantine units through the gate. Then most of a division returned through the gate, messing up everyone's schedule.
And slowly the military presence faded away from the gate, and "Comet Fall" stopped appearing on the daily list. Rumor said one quarantine unit and a full battalion was still on the far side. When the first company rotated out on leave, Lon breathed a prayer of thankfulness and he finally shifted himself, all the new people and equipment to Twelve-seventeen.
He worked hard, and slept well.
When he returned to Earth two months later, his lawyer informed him he was being divorced. Lon sent him proxy for an amiable dissolution, with Carol's decision on the split of property accepted. And an authorization to lease an apartment and fill it with whatever she sent. There was no new gossip around Nowhereistan about the Army starting a war anywhere. The main new rumors were that Dallas had made a major strike. Lon smile enigmatically to all enquiries and returned to the field.
What I have discovered is less tangible, but more valuable. I paid a lot for it, and it is just the start.
Chapter Twenty-seven
1360 Late Fall
Karista, Kingdom of the West
The Auld Wulf sat at ease before the King and his closest Councilors. "I will undertake to transport your people back and forth, to maintain a watch on these people from Earth. I don't understand their immediate, violent response to Lieutenant Lebonift and Duke Dydit departing, even if they had, in the mean time realized that Question and Never had been spying on them and returned.
"We need to understand why they reacted as they did, and of course watch to see if they are going to escalate." Lord Justin Kemper was the Presiden
t of the Council, very nearly the equal of the king in governmental affairs.
Rufi scowled. "You say you can close the road at need?"
"Yes. I would prefer to leave it for the moment, so that they don't immediately find a different way to attack us, although if they have any sense they ought to be doing that anyway. We can close it, or remove the road altogether, with just a few minutes notice."
The King nodded. "Good. Rufi, organize the watchers. We need information, so we don't over-react as badly as they have done." His eye turned to the god and he sighed. "I appreciate your assistance, err . . . "
The Auld Wulf suppressed a grin. "I have lived in this kingdom since its founding. My friends, my family are all here. I am at your service in ways far beyond what I'm compelled to do when called. The attack yesterday was simple to stop at that particular location, because we reacted immediately. Here after, I will work to avoid unpleasant surprises like that one, and serve under your command, not independently."
The old king straightened. "We appreciate that, I think. I suspect that Rufi is as willing as I am to trust your independent actions, so please do feel free to continue them, and to advise us as you see we need it."
"I will, sire. Rufi, I will check with Lebonift and scout the area, and be back in a few days to pick up your people."
He sighed as he spotted Rufi suppressing a smirk. I managed to be subservient for nearly ten seconds.
"I'll have them ready to go."
"My Councilors and I will draft a stiff letter, and an invitation to open diplomatic discussions with these people. If you could get it to them, and move them out of here before they get snowed in?"
"Certainly, Sire."
Lefty was relieved to see the Auld Wulf wasn't in armor. And he wasn't riding the biggest blackest horse anyone had ever seen. And he really wished he'd seen that battle.
The god tapped a spot on Lefty's map. "If we stay back about twenty miles, we ought to be clear of any guards they've put on the end of the canyon. Then I can jump blindly about the right distance and we can walk to this gate of theirs."