Chapter 90
Xander: “time to murder and create”
Snow had fallen long enough to hide his handiwork. Satisfied, he turned away from the road and listened to the thunder of the Texans down the street,while the words of the ancient text came back to him:
“. . . the phase change involves a change in the state of order of the matter, while staying at the same temperature. For example, if a piece of ice melts, the total (ice + water) mixture remains at the melting point until all the ice melts. The available energy is always used to change the state of order before raising the temperature.”
What they always neglected to tell you, he thought, was that heat has to go somewhere. To freeze water, you remove the heat that keeps it a liquid – but you must put it somewhere else. To melt ice, you must supply the heat that will free it from the low energy state of crystalline order – but you must take that energy, that heat, from somewhere else.
He walked out into the middle of the street. After dumping close to four inches of snow on them the clouds had rolled back; the sunlit snow was so white it dazzled the yes. Shading his eyes with his left hand, he squinted at the distant tanks. There were two of them, both turned so that they were facing to his right, blasting away at buildings.
“What are they doing?”
He turned at the sound of Lester's voice behind him. “If I had to guess,” he said, “I'd say they are trying to lure the Governor's forces out to engage and destroy them.”
Poor Lester appeared to be at his wit's end. “We can't let that happen! How did they get here without word from our sentries?”
Xander gazed at the tanks again. “An excellent question. I can think of at least one way, but it seems unlikely. How would you do it, if you were the Honcho?”
“Well, I suppose I would get a wizard to put up a invisibility shield, But he can't do that because Texas doesn't have any wizards.”
“Since they are here,” said Xander, “he must have at least one. I underestimated Martinez. It would appear that he is flexible enough to rationalize using magic to spread his empire, even when his goal is a civilization without it. Apparently he cut a deal with Ludlow after all.”
“What are we going to do? All those swizzles and everflames we were making for weapons. . . there's no time to finish them now.”
“What you are going to do,” said the old wizard, “is warn Kristana to not go after those tanks. See what they are doing? Destroying unoccupied buildings. When she goes after them with her cavalry, odds are the tanks will turn around and lead her into a trap. Probably more tanks, lying in waiting, with Ludlow shielding them from sight until it is too late for her.”
“But if her forces stay inside the 'scraper, she'll have no way to escape. She'll be trapped.”
“True. Which is why while you are warning her, I'll be dealing with the tanks.”
“You have a spell powerful enough to stop tanks?”
“In a way. It's not what you have, it's how you use it that matters. Now hurry up and warn her not to engage them. People are going to die tonight, and I'll be too busy to kill all of them.”
The apprentice loped off toward the horsemen lining up in the building's ground floor. Xander turned and examined the tanks again. They were beginning to turn in his direction. He tried jumping up and down to get their attention. “Over here, you bastards!”
Nothing. He reached out and uncorked his staff at both ends. Presently it began to hum. “Every time I do this I think it'll be the last time,” he grumbled, as his feet left the ground.
Pathspace Page 90
