He watched as the girl stared off with that peculiar unfocused gaze. When she refocused a moment later, it was to say, "He's on his way."
Slant stood, waiting patiently; a minute or so later a shadow blocked out the sunlight that poured through the trap and a pleasant tenor voice said, "You wished to speak with me?"
Chapter Twenty
"YES," SLANT SAID, "I NEED THE SERVICES OF A WIZARD. I can pay well."
A tinge of annoyance was perceptible in the shadowy figure's reply. "I have no need of money."
"I can pay in other ways, if you would prefer. I really think you should hear me out."
The annoyance was still present, now mixed with resignation. "Very well. As a courtesy to this apprentice, I will listen."
"It is a rather complex matter." Slant did not particularly like speaking to someone he could not see standing above him, and hoped the wizard would invite him to a more comfortable spot.
The wizard did not. "Then stop wasting my time and start explaining it."
"It is not an easy story to believe; therefore, I ask that you test for yourself that I speak only the truth."
"Get on with it" Slant felt a faint tingling.
"I am a cyborg, a creature from the Bad Times, half man and half machine. I was sent out by Old Earth as a spy more than three hundred years ago and just recently arrived on this world. Until even more recently, I was under the direction of another machine, a computer, which controlled devices in my brain. Your compatriots, the wizards of Awlmei, put the computer out of operation by draining its power source; they did this because the computer still believed itself to be fighting a war against your world, and had forced me to kill a wizard named Kurao. I do not fault them for their action. However, I would find the computer very useful if I could start it up without permitting it to control me again. I believe that if I have certain things removed from the devices in my skull I can control the computer, and I know that it will no longer be able to control me. Only a neurosurgeon or a wizard can remove these things without killing me, and there are no neurosurgeons on this world, so. far as I know. A wizard in Teyzha told me that he and his fellows could remove them safely; he referred to it as 'exorcising' a demon. If you could perform this service for me, and save me a trip to Teyzha—where that wizard may well be dead by now—I would be glad to pay any reasonable price within my power. Besides money, I have tools and weapons such as your ancestors had before the Bad Times."
Having finished his speech, Slant stopped speaking, and there was a moment of silence. As it stretched into awkwardness, Slant asked, "Do you believe me?"
"I see that you speak the truth as you know it," the wizard replied slowly. "But I am sure you will understand that I find the whole thing incredible. You claim to be more than three hundred years old, and as much machine as man?"
"I was born more than three hundred years ago, on Old Earth, and at the age of eighteen I was sent to Mars as a volunteer, where my skeleton was reinforced with metal and the rest of my body was rebuilt for greater efficiency."
After a moment of further consideration, the wizard said, "Even if you are somehow deceiving me, this is a matter worthy of further consideration. If you will, I will take you up to my home, where we can speak further in greater comfort."
"Thank you. I would like that."
"Then hold still."
Slant obeyed and felt a strange tugging; his skin suddenly tingled so much that it stung. The trap door was closer, then he was through it and moving rapidly upward. The wizard, a handsome young man in a red robe, was rising alongside him; Ahnao was not immediately in sight.
He had a good view, in passing, of the interior of the skyscraper, and saw that it was, indeed, used for storage; although the central area, where he and his companion were, was open and empty as a single shaft twenty meters square and well over a hundred meters high, the sides were divided into floors, some empty, others piled high with sacks and crates. The sunlight that had shone through the trap had angled down from a window several floors up; at other times of day the opening would have been shaded by the partial floors or the stored goods.
Still, the body of the skyscraper was light and airy, far brighter than the gloomy wooden chambers below.
A moment later Slant found himself hanging in midair a pace or so from a metal platform. A stairway led upward from the platform, through the top of the great shaft. This ceiling, unlike those of the lower floors, really was vaulted stone.
Cautiously, he stepped forward, uncertain if the motion would work in these circumstances.
It worked well enough; and he found himself standing on the platform, the wizard beside him. Slant looked at the Prauncer, but he was in turn looking back down the shaft. "Your companion is having difficulty," he said. "She doesn't fly very well yet."
A few seconds later Ahnao rose close enough to reach out and grab the edge of the platform with one hand, whereupon she seemed to lose all her buoyancy. Slant and the wizard both reached out to help her; Slant's hand grasped her right arm well before the wizard's hand was anywhere near her. By the time the wizard managed to take hold of her left arm she was almost onto the platform.
The wizard looked at Slant in surprise. "Hligosh, you move fast!"
"I told you, I was rebuilt for greater efficiency."
"So you did." He smiled. "I may believe you after all. Come, now, into my home." He led the way up the stairs, through a door of wood inlaid with ornamental designs in various metals, into a large and luxurious chamber.
The room was vast, apparently occupying half the entire floor; it was thickly carpeted with fur, and other furs hung on the one long wall that had no windows. Velvet cushions of various hues were scattered about. There were no chairs, but several low tables were visible, of a height convenient to people sitting on cushions. The ceiling was of wood, once again, but rather than bare planks it was elaborately coffered and decorated with gold, red, and white enamel. The three walls not covered by furs were almost completely glass, broad windows separated by stone piers, each window dozens of panes leaded together. Most of the glass was clear, but mingled in each window were panes of yellow and green and red, no two pieces alike. The windows and the pillars between them were all curving, organic forms, reminiscent more of sculpture than of architecture. Sunlight poured through the southern and western walls, the colored panes projecting streaks of monochrome on the furs.
Slant was amazed at the opulence of the place, and spent a long moment simply taking it in, while the wizard and Ahnao seated themselves on cushions at the nearest table. The Prauncer watched with some amusement but finally beckoned to the cyborg, saying "Come join us!"
Slant remembered himself and did as he was bid, seating himself across the table from the wizard, at right angles to Ahnao.
"My name is Arzadel," the wizard said, "and I believe this apprentice called herself Ahnao, but you have not told me who you are."
"I am called Slant."
"You have already told us what you are, if you can be believed. Would you care to explain yourself further?"
"I will be glad to answer any questions you may have."
"You claim to have come from Old Earth, which is a world somewhere beyond the sky, whence our ancestors first came to Dest."
"Yes."
"There are many other worlds beyond the sky, one for every star that we see in the night sky, according to legend. Is this true?"
"Approximately true. There are many other worlds, each circling a star, but I do not believe that there is exactly one for each star in your skies."
"The legends also speak of a world called Sendry, so close that it could be reached by a starship in days instead of years. Do you know anything about that?"
"There is another planet circling your sun that was once inhabited; it was wiped out completely in the Bad Times, apparently, for the computer detected no life there whatsoever."
"Now, you claim to have come from Old Earth, and to have seen all these things that lie b
eyond our skies. How is this possible? All the starships that our ancestors used were destroyed in the Bad Times."
"I have my own starship. All the ships on your world were destroyed, but not those on other worlds."
"You said that you were sent out as a spy more than three hundred years ago, during the Bad Times."
"Yes."
"Did it take you three hundred years to get here? That is not what the legends say; they speak of a flight lasting five years."
"I did not come here directly, but visited other worlds as well. My flight took fourteen years, but three centuries passed on your world during that time. Don't ask me to explain that; I can't I don't really understand it myself. All I know is that when a ship goes fast enough to travel between stars, time on board is different from that elsewhere."
"There are stories that speak of time being different on other worlds, the days longer but the years shorter, so I will not call what you say nonsense, though I do not understand it. However, there is something else I do not understand. The Bad Times ended on Dest three hundred and twenty-seven years ago. When did they end on Old Earth?"
"I don't know exactly, but it was at approximately the same time. I had left six months earlier."
" 'Months'?"
Slant realized his mistake; this planet had no moon. "Half a year. On Old Earth the year is divided into twelve parts, called 'months.' "
"Then it has been more than three hundred and twenty years since the Bad Times ended; why have no other ships come before you?"
"Old Earth was destroyed, much like your world, half a year after my departure from Mars. That was what ended the Bad Times."
"Old Earth was destroyed?"
"Yes."
"Were there any survivors?"
"I don't know. I was forbidden to return."
There was a pause as the wizard considered this; then. he asked, "What of the other worlds? Why have none of them sent ships to Dest?"
Slant shrugged. "I don't know. There are many worlds; perhaps they haven't gotten around to yours yet. Starships are still rare and precious things."
"Yet you say you had one of your own?"
"Yes; Old Earth had thousands of them, before it was destroyed, and could easily afford to use them for individual spies like myself."
"What became of your ship, then?"
"It's lying in a gully near Awlmei. Its power source has been drained and its engine shut off."
Ahnao interjected, "It's there; I saw it."
"You crashed, then?"
"No; it was shut down by the wizards of Awlmei in order to stop the computer, which is part of the ship."
"Tell me more about this computer."
"It's a machine that controls other machines; it does not exactly think, but it has a memory and follows instructions fed into it. The computer helped me to pilot the ship and made certain that I followed the orders given me. It has not allowed me to surrender even though the war has been over for years, because its instructions tell it not to; only my superiors on Mars and Old Earth could change those instructions, and they're all long dead."
"I don't understand these references you've made to a war; what war?"
"The Bad Times were a war."
"Oh, is that what you mean! I know, mysterious ships from somewhere beyond the sky came and destroyed all the cities and machinery. That is scarcely what I call a war!"
"It was a war, all right. The ships were not mysterious to me. They came from Old Earth to destroy colonies that had rebelled against the government of Old Earth."
"What? That's insane!"
"It's true, though."
"Why? What had the people of Dest done to deserve such destruction?"
"Your ancestors joined the rebellion against Old Earth."
"I don't understand; why were they rebelling?"
"I'm not certain; I believe it was a protest against the heavy taxation needed to supply Old Earth with food. Old Earth was overpopulated, and only the tribute from the colonies kept the people from starvation."
"But to smash an entire civilization!"
"What would the government of Praunce do if one of its subject villages rose in rebellion?"
"We would send soldiers to burn the village. Yes, I see the parallel; it's the scale that appalls me." He was silent for a moment, then asked, "But if Dest was destroyed by Old Earth, then who destroyed Old Earth?"
"The other rebel worlds. That ended the war. If it's any comfort, your side won."
Arzadel considered this for a moment before asking "Then you were a soldier in this war?"
"A scout, of sorts. I was sent to find out which worlds posed a threat to Old Earth and which could be ignored. When the war ended, the computer forced me to continue, even there was no longer any point in it."
"I see. And in the fullness of time you arrived here on Dest. Why did you kill that wizard you mentioned?"
"The computer was convinced that magic, as you have here on Dest, was a new weapon that might be a danger to Old Earth. Therefore, it sent me to find out the nature of this new weapon. It eventually decided that the best way to figure it out was to take apart a wizard's brain and see what made it different from an ordinary person's, and it made me kill Kurao and bring his head back to the ship for study."
"You did this?"
"Not willingly, but I did. I had to."
"You have not explained that. How did this machine control you?"
"This is why I came to you. I don't know how well I can explain this. Do you know what explosives are?"
"Yes, of course."
"Good. I had not seen any evidence of them on your world, so I was unsure. There is an explosive charge in my brain; the computer possessed the means of detonating it should I disobey its orders. Also, it controlled a device that could detach my brain from the rest of my body and control my body itself. I came to you in the hope that you could remove these two things from me."
"I see. And if I do this, what will you do then?"
"I will return to my ship and try to restore it to working order. I am not certain how I'll do that, but I'm sure it can be done."
"And what then?"
"I'm not sure of that, either. I think I'll probably leave your world; I am accustomed to traveling now. I will be glad to take along a passenger or two, and to try and reestablish trade and communication between this world and others—or, if you think it better, I will tell no one of your existence."
"If you restore your ship, need you restore this machine that controlled you?"
"Yes; I can't fly the ship without it."
"The machine killed a man, though."
"The machine has killed a great many people, on several worlds. It is not evil, though, it's just doing what it was told. It cannot think for itself, really; it must follow its orders. I think I can control it, and change its orders, so that it will not harm anyone in the future."
"Are you certain you can do this?"
Slant hesitated but knew he could not hope to deceive a wizard. "No, I'm not completely certain. I know a way that should control it, or at the very least let it know that the war is over and its orders no longer good, so that it need not kill any more, but I cannot be absolutely sure it will work." He paused, then continued, "You shouldn't worry, though; even if it doesn't work, you wizards can shut it down again as you did before. If it does work, you have the opportunity to reach the wealth of all the other inhabited worlds."
Arzadel considered this silently for a long moment, then asked, "What if we were to remove the explosive and this other device from your body, but to require in payment that you never restore this dangerous machine to operation?"
It was Slant's turn to consider. Reluctantly, he said, "I'm not sure. I think I would travel further, looking for another wizard who would not impose such restrictions. If I couldn't find one, I would accept your terms. I do not want to be stranded on your world, but I don't want to let the computer control me again, either, nor to go through life with a bomb i
n my head."
Arzadel sat silently for a moment, then said, "This is too important a matter for me alone. Stay here, as my guests, while I consult with my colleagues. May I offer you something to eat or drink?"
The pastries they had eaten had not been very filling, and the long climb to the ninth floor, followed by their flight up and lengthy conversation, had left both Slant and Ahnao hungry again, so that they accepted gratefully. Arzadel opened a door in the fur-covered wall and vanished through it, to emerge a moment later with a tray holding an assortment of food, two mugs, and a pitcher of some yellowish beverage. He placed the tray on the table, bid them eat, then bowed and departed through another door.
The liquid was something much like lemonade, or at any rate a sweetened citrus concoction; Slant enjoyed it immensely. The food included yellow cakes that proved to be cornbread, a variety of fruits both fresh and dried, and salty meat of a sort Slant could not quite identify. They both ate ravenously.
When they had eaten their fill they sat for a few moments in silence, expecting their host to return momentarily. When he did not, Slant rose, stretched, and crossed to the south wall; he wanted to see the view.
To his far right and far left green, forested hills rolled off into the hazy distance. Nearer at hand were the city's other towers; two were taller, one rising considerably higher into the sky than the other, while two were shorter and nearly even with one another, each ending perhaps twenty meters below the level Slant was on. He was fairly certain that there were at least six towers in all; he could see four, and was inside the fifth, so the remaining one or two he guessed to be around the other side, to the north, where he could not see them.
Below, the city was spread out before him, and except for the massive towers thrusting up from it, it was unremarkable. He had seen hundreds of cities from the air, and this one was nothing out of the ordinary.
Directly ahead, however, visible between the other towers, the view was extraordinary. The southern end of the city was still partly in ruins; twisted steel frames rose in tangled clumps from a thick layer of rubble, occasional bits of concrete still clinging here and there. Beyond the ruins the city ended abruptly in the great stone outcropping he had seen before from the northwest; it reared up over the ruins at a frightening angle, as if it were a falling wall frozen in mid descent. It was larger than he had realized before, and he suddenly guessed how the skyscraper skeletons had survived: That upthrust stone had served as a shield against the firestorm and shockwave. He looked to either side of it and found confirmation for his guess; the ruins ended in clearcut lines at the edges of the rock's "shadow." The city walls joined into the crater wall just beyond, so that there was only a narrow strip of desolate level ground on either side between the walls and the ruins.
The Cyborg and the Sorcerers Page 21
