The Parallel Man

by Richard Purtill

  The breeze grew stronger. The box, with me following, rounded a corner, and there was an open door a dozen paces away. Beside it lounged a thickset man in a green garment, who called out softly, “Any trouble?” I shook my head, keeping my face down as much as I could so that he saw mostly my blue-capped head and a foreshortened face. The box approached him with nightmare slowness; pushing at it seemed not to hurry it at all. I saw his eyes narrow and his hand go to his belt. “Hold on,” he said. “You’re not . . .” I raised my right hand above the level of the box and pressed the circle on my weapon. There was a purple flash and the man crumpled, astonishment on his face.

  I wanted his garment and I wanted to hide his body, but the corridor was unpromisingly bare. Suddenly I grinned. Stripping his garment from him, I touched the circle on the box, bundled his body into it and shut the lid. Immediately the box floated off out of the open door. While I stood staring it turned a corner out of my sight. I heard a sort of click, then a rumble, and when I moved to peer cautiously out the door a black cart of some sort was vanishing down the road with no beast to draw it. I shrugged, bundled the green garment under my arm and set off down the road in the direction opposite to that which the cart had taken. The spell on the box must work either by weight or by contact with living flesh, I thought; once a body was inside it the box would probably float to its destination with no one touching it from outside.

  I half regretted not following the box all the way to its destination, but it would have been easy for me to be trapped by my ignorance in a situation which I could not fight my way out of. For the moment it was enough that I was free, had a change of disguises and a weapon. That was little enough for a stranger in a land of enchanters, but it was a start. Eventually I must find out what had happened to Delora, but if she was in the building I had just come from she was probably being treated no worse than I had been; she could wait until I knew more and had more powers at my disposal.

  I looked up at the monstrous bulk of the building I had just left. I had discarded the thought of going from room to room looking for Delora as soon as I had realized the size of the buildings in this wizards’ city. I felt like an ant crawling among the benches of the Great Hall as I looked up at the towering shapes around me. The broad street on which I walked had raised walkways at each side but there were no animal droppings on the road between the walkways; I remembered that I had seen no beasts of burden in the view of the city that the oval had shown me.

  There was a cross street ahead of me; I slowed my shambling walk and stayed close to the side of the building. When I rounded the corner I stood and gaped as I have seen serfs do. I would gladly be rid of my present disguise but until I was I had better act the part. There were a few people walking on the street, clad in close-fitting garments of various hues so that it was hard to tell women from men at a distance. This street was less sterile than the one I had just left; a row of trees bordered the roadway on each side. There were a few doorways with writing above them which I could not read at this distance; some of them might be shops.

  About a bowshot down the street a little knot of blue-capped serfs stood in a ragged line, gazing vacantly around them. I walked toward them slowly trying to gauge the dangers and advantages of joining them. Among them I would be inconspicuous, but if they were some sort of work party I might find myself led off to labor at some task which I could not escape from without arousing suspicion. A howling sound from the street behind me made up my mind; it sounded as if it might be some sort of alarm call. I shambled to the end of the line of serfs and tried to imitate their vacant stares.

  The howling sound grew louder and down the street rushed a glittering thing as large as a small cottage, flashing lights and making a growling sound. I think that if I had been wearing a sword I would have drawn it and my hand crept toward the weapon in my pouch, though much good it would be against such a monster. But the thing, whatever it was, turned at the corner and went down the street I had just come from. The howl ceased abruptly; at the rate the thing had been moving it should have just about reached the door I had come out of.

  Something else was coming down the street, a sort of platform with seats on it which floated a few handsbreadths above the street. It moved slowly and almost silently with only a low hum. The platform stopped near the little group of serfs and they began to climb aboard it. I hesitated and then followed them; that howling device might have nothing to do with me but if it did I wanted to be clear of this area before it returned, perhaps to track me down with unknown enchantments. The size and speed of the thing had shaken me a little; against a thing like that what could a warrior do?

  The platform seemed to need guidance as little as the gray box had; it threaded its way down street after street until I realized uneasily that I would be hard-pressed to find the building where I had been held. I began to look for a chance to jump off of the platform, but the streets were too wide and clear and the speed of the platform had increased.

  Just as I was beginning to wonder if I should jump anyway the platform turned into a set of gates and we were going through an area of grass and small shrubs; not ideal but the best chance I had seen so far. I leapt and landed on my feet, letting my momentum carry me forward so that I made a rolling fall first onto my feet, then onto my hip, then onto my shoulder, as my old arms-master had taught me. I jumped to my feet and looked toward the moving platform to see if my leap had caused any disturbance. To my dismay a shortish, stocky serf had leapt after me and was picking himself up from the ground; his leap had been much more awkward than mine.

  I shot a glance at the platform; it was sweeping around a bend out of sight. Whether the serf had come after me out of dim-witted imitation or was some sort of overseer who was chasing me down, I didn’t want him trailing after me. I ran toward him, ready to strike him while he was still off balance. “Wait,” he cried, and the voice did not sound like that of a serf. “Wait, I’m on your side.”

  I stood poised within striking distance and said grimly, “And what side is that?”

  He grinned at me and spread his hands out at his side as if to show his peaceful intentions. “Let’s say the underside, cit. If you’re desperate enough to masquerade as an andro you must be so far into the red that you’re infra, or else you’re in a lot of bother with the Structure. I’m in some bother myself; let’s help each other.”

  I looked at him appraisingly. Now he had dropped his serf mannerisms; he looked cocky and confident, but also a little shifty. If he were a soldier under my command I would suspect him of slacking and keep my eye on him but if I wanted some home comforts stolen or scrounged on a campaign he would be the man I would pick for the job. I kept myself in position to strike, but let him see me relax a little. “How did you find me out?” I asked.

  He smiled with a touch of patronage. “Ah, I’m an old hand at this, cit, I have my ways. Most people, they see the blue dome and they don’t look at what’s under it. You could cross your eyes and stick out your tongue and then they’d never notice. But once you know that a man can play andro you begin looking. The monitors look too, and they have some nasty ways of finding out if you’re what you seem. Too many thieves and wilders try to hide under the dome. Now you don’t look like a wilder and if you’re a thief I can probably offer you better pickings than you’d find yourself. What do you say?”

  I pretended to hesitate, but I had already made up my mind. This man wanted to use me for some purpose of his own; by going along with him for a while I would have help and protection which I would have trouble getting in any other way. That he would try to use me and abandon me I didn’t doubt; I must keep my wits about me and drop him just before he was ready to drop me. “What do you offer me?” I asked.

  He grinned, sure he had me hooked. “Ecus, cit,” he said. “Extraplanetary credit units, good anywhere in the Commonwealth, don’t go through your chip. Spend ‘em here near the starport or use ‘em for star passage and see the Universe. Ever flitted, cit?”
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br />   “Don’t ask too many questions,” I said, “and we’ll get along better. What do I have to do for all this?”

  He looked around us as if the shrubs might conceal listeners and said in a conspiratorial mutter, “There’s this woman I work for, d’you see? Half mad and more than half bad. Always out for more of everything than she has any right to. Right now she’s got a scheme that needs someone to play the part of her rich cousin—a real ultraviolet—who hasn’t spoken to her in years. Told me to go out and get an andro, an andro like me she said, to do the job. I’m never quite sure if she knows what I really am and just enjoys treating me as an andro or whether she actually believes that a real andro can do the things I do for her. Anyway I set off looking for an andro just like me; somebody hiding under the blue dome. Been riding around with work parties most of yesterday and all night. Just about to pack it in when I spotted you. You weren’t bad but you exaggerate a little too much; common beginner’s mistake. Didn’t even have to chase you; you got right on the mover with me. Thought I’d lost you when you made that dive though.”

  I looked at him consideringly. Despite the strange words, I had understood his story fairly well and I could see no purpose in his telling it to me if it were not true. It seemed that I would have to assume another disguise, with the advantage that this time I would have helpers, who for the sake of their own plans would help my masquerade. Best to say nothing, though, that might seem to pledge my honor to his plans. “Well, perhaps we can help each other,” I said. “Where must we go to find this lady of yours?”

  He laughed, sure that he had bent me to his purpose with his vague promises. “Why up the road we were traveling on,” he said. “I told you that I had given up. Those andros are on their way to Flavia’s place now. Even she can’t get humans to wait on her guests, but she dresses andros up as near like humans as the laws allow and sometimes a bit nearer. All we have to do is go up the road and in the back way; if it wasn’t for your dive we could have ridden in comfort.”

  I was glad nevertheless for the longish walk up the road that followed; it gave me time to think out plans. My companion kept up a stream of complaints and comments at first but he soon ran out of breath. If this encounter had done nothing more it had shown me the dangers and the restrictions of posing as an “andro” as these folk called their serfs. I needed a disguise that would give me more freedom of movement and with luck I was about to have such a disguise served to me on a salver.

  The house, when we came to it, was a poor enough place to have such extensive grounds, hardly more than a pavilion.

  Tables were set on the lawns and the blue-capped serfs I was beginning to think of as “andros” were moving among them, clad in a curious variety of costumes, all of which included some sort of head covering which almost, but not quite, covered their blue caps. They were setting out food and drink on the tables, and I realized that I was hungry. The meal I had eaten in the room I had escaped from was less than I was used to eating.

  My companion led me round the corner of the pavilion, knocked somewhat perfunctorily at a translucent panel and then slid it aside. It was the first more or less normal door I had seen since I awoke in this land of enchanters. Inside the panel was a large, untidy bedroom dominated by a huge bed. In the bed, propped up against multi-colored pillows was a small, frail woman with faded blond hair and a sharp-featured, discontented face. She said in a fretful voice, “Is this creature the best you could find, Pello? Well, it will have to do. You,” she said to me, “come here. Forget your designation and your former assignment. You are going to dress as a human and impersonate my cousin Fenric. Obey no orders but mine. This is a . . . a joke. It is not against your directives. Understand?” I inclined my head, not knowing how to address her. “Let me hear your voice,” she snapped.

  “Yes, Lady,” I ventured.

  She looked at me with narrowed eyes. “You might do,” she said. “Don’t talk any more than you can help. Look down your nose at people. When someone’s as rich as Fenric people put up with almost anything, so if you’re asked a question you can’t answer just ignore it. For the Mercy’s sake don’t talk about hunting; Fenric is mad about it and you’d give yourself away in a minute to anyone who knows anything about it. Part of your getup will be a fake chip that looks like a high violet; don’t try to use it or you’ll give everything away. For emergency use Pello will give you some ecus, enough to make a good display. Don’t dare to lose them; they’re a good portion of my credit for this period.”

  She lay back against the pillows and shut her eyes. “Take it away, Pello, and dress it. Make sure the wig and makeup over the dome is undetectable.”

  The man called Pello led me out of the room by a different sliding door; this one led into an interior corridor. A glance back over my shoulder showed me that the walls of the bedroom seemed transparent from within; the woman’s bed might have been sitting on the open lawn before the house to all appearance. A curious fancy, to sleep in an interior room that seemed to be out in the open.

  As we walked down the corridor, Pello spoke in a low voice. “She knows that you’re a masquerading human all right; no one could expect a real andro to obey orders like that. But she keeps up the pretense, curse her, so she can treat us like andros; it satisfies some spite in her. You’ve probably guessed my plan; take the clothing, the fake chip and the ecus and get away from here at the first opportunity. Once we’re clear we split the ecus. You can go your own way or stick with me. Simple enough, eh?”

  I nodded slowly. “Too simple, perhaps,” I said. “You say she knows that you’re not an . . . andro, and that I’m not either. She doesn’t look foolish or trusting to me. Why is she trusting us?”

  Pello smiled wolfishly. “She thinks she has us trapped here,” he said. “It’s easier to get in this place than it is to get out. But I’ve been here long enough to know all of her little ways; not just the ones she knows I know, but those she thinks I don’t.” We came to another door which he slid aside and I followed him into a small room with clothing laid out on a couch. Pello picked up a richly ornamented belt and stroked it with a curious smile on his face. “This belt for instance. If you left the grounds wearing it this thing would tear you in two. If you didn’t wear it Flavia would notice and take other measures. Unless. . .” he opened a slit in his gray suit and pulled out a belt which seemed identical to that on the bed. “Unless,” he concluded with a sly smile, “you think one step ahead of her. Now let’s get you dressed.”

  I touched the circle at the collar of my gray garment and stripped it off, then lifted the blue cap from my head with a sense of relief. With Pello’s help I put on a close-fitting suit of sky blue and a vest, boots, and short cloak in darker blue, decorated with silver; the belt matched these and a pouch went at the belt. As he helped me dress and fix a violet-colored circle to my wrist, Pello talked. “Flavia needs backing for her trading ventures,” he said. “It costs a great deal to live in this style, and though she’s shrewd she’s been unlucky. It’s the old story; you can’t get credit unless you don’t need it. If her cousin the ultraviolet Fenric is visiting her and appears on good terms with her the local syndics will think that she only has to ask him and he’ll back her. They’ll fall over themselves trying to get in first, though if they thought she was in trouble they’d try to bring her down and carve up her trade among themselves.”

  This meant little to me except to give some rough sort of sense to the masquerade I was undertaking. I could still see one objection though: “Does no one here know this Fenric, then?” I asked.

  Pello shook his head. “He hasn’t been Home for so long that anyone who did know him wouldn’t recognize him. Anyway, a man that wealthy has no friends, only hangers-on and toadies. Fenric spends most of his time on a big tract of wilderness on some primitive planet, hunting every kind of animal he can import. His money comes from something that needs no work; some sort of monopoly in star-trade I think. So he plays at being a lord and ignores the Commonw
ealth.”

  “He’s a sort of prince then, this Fenric?” I asked, and Pello shrugged and nodded. I smiled then and threw back my cloak over my shoulder. If they wanted someone to play a prince, I was better suited for the part than they knew. And though this clothing was strange, I felt more myself in it than I had done since I woke in that strange room. With a smile still on my lips, I followed Pello out onto the lawn where a crowd of brightly dressed men and women had gathered. My eyes swept over them indifferently and then suddenly I checked my stride and stared. For there, among the chattering crowd, surrounded by a circle of men and women and laughing with them at some jest, was Princess Delora!

  4. The Hunter

  Delora was dressed in a long, flowing garment of unfamiliar cut and her hair seemed longer, but her face and her mannerisms, such as the little toss of her head she gave when she laughed, were just as I remembered. Yet, when her eyes met mine across the crowded lawn there was no recognition in them. Her glance passed over my garments and perhaps she noticed the glint of the violet circle on my wrist which, according to Pello’s rambling, marked me as a man of wealth and consequence. She gave me a little smile before turning back to her companions and that smile shook me. It was full of an insincere warmth I was used to from court ladies who coveted the importance my attention could give them. There could be many reasons for Delora to pretend not to know me, to conceal her surprise at seeing me, but none I could think of for her to give me a smile full of such professional coquetry.