Masters of Flux & Anchor

by Jack L. Chalker

  Tilghman sighed. “What choice do we have, Cassie? He’s right we’ve lost. And because we’ve lost, I’d at least like to know the answer. If we’re going to die anyway, I’d like to know what’s beyond that Gate.”

  She seemed to wilt a bit, and gave a sad smile. She tossed her pistol into the bowl and heard it clatter and slide. “I’ll do whatever you say, Adam.”

  “All right! We accept! My troopers are hereby ordered to lay down their arms and advance forward, hands raised.”

  There were scattered shouts of protest, but they did as ordered. Then he got up, helped Cassie to her feet, and together they walked cautiously along the edge to the ladder, which was surprisingly close. Still fearing she might do something rash, he made her go first, then followed her.

  The fog was thin down towards the tunnel, and they saw it and the huge, thick cable going into it, and for the first time realized just how close they had come. Tilghman was bare-chested and had kicked off his boots before climbing down. The driving rain had soaked them all, and he didn’t want the muddy boots to slip on the smooth floor. Cassie had long ago discarded all clothing.

  Again she preceded him down the tunnel ladder, and he found her standing there, looking at the cable.

  “Forget it,” he told her. “You and I together couldn’t move it down here, and you couldn’t ground anything in the Gate itself. We’ll need whoever’s left to fight whatever comes.”

  A lone man in familiar black uniform approached from the direction of the Gate. He went past, pistol drawn, then turned. “Sir, if you and your wife will continue.”

  They continued down until they came to the regulator. There they found another black-clad and well-armed trooper, and, getting up from the machine, Onregon Sligh.

  “One of your friends had a great deal of fun with us in there, Adam,” the scientist said. “I lost two good technicians.” He walked past them and behind the rear trooper. “You may proceed,” he told them.

  “My God, Adam! They’re going to shoot us!” Cassie shouted, and leaped on the gunman in front. He went down with her, and his pistol fired, sending a deadly ricochet pinging through the tunnel.

  Tilghman had turned at almost the same moment and grabbed the gun arm of the man behind. It was an effective move, and they both tumbled to the floor, wrestling for the gun. Sligh had disappeared in the tunnel, and probably had taken the first shot as the first execution. Tilghman and the man fought furiously for the pistol, and finally the old man managed to turn it down, down.

  The pistol fired, the trooper jerked once, and then was still. Winded, Tilghman picked himself and the pistol up and then froze.

  The other trooper, a good hundred and eighty centimeters tall and a hundred kilograms of mostly muscle, could be knocked down by the thin, very light woman, but he could hardly be overpowered. He held her with one arm, and he had a pistol pointed at her head.

  He grinned, the pistol came away from her head, and he fired twice at Tilghman. The Chief Judge grunted, went back two steps from the recoil, but did not fall.

  “No!” Cassie screamed, and struggled to bite the gunman.

  But Tilghman wasn’t finished. Incredibly, blood streaming from two gaping wounds in his chest, he came on. Startled, the trooper fired twice more, and this time the old man sank to his knees.

  The soldier grinned. “O.K., girlie, don’t get upset. You can join him in a minute.”

  Suddenly he felt something coil around his neck, and he dropped both Cassie and the pistol and screamed. He found himself being pulled around and looking into the most horrifying face he’d ever seen. Matson shoved him against the wall and held the big man with one hand while he slowly twisted the rope he’d placed around the killer’s neck. The man’s arms came up, but there was no fighting that cold fury. His eyes bulged, and his tongue hung out, and then there was a sharp but not very loud crack. The trooper slid slowly to the floor with open eyes that would never see again.

  Jeff rushed to Cassie, who had gone to Tilghman and was now cradling his head in her lap and sobbing uncontrollably. She was smeared with his blood. Incredibly, Tilghman still lived, and he opened his eyes, saw her, and smiled. “Cassie.” he managed to say, coughing up blood after he called her name. “I’m dead. Swear to me that you won’t let the dream die with me.”

  She fought back sobs. “You’re not dead!”

  “Swear—to—me.”

  “I—I swear, Adam.”

  The Chief Judge of New Eden seemed to smile, but then the smile was frozen and the eyes remained open, staring at her no longer.

  Jeff knelt down. “Grandma. He’s gone.”

  She looked up at him and recognized him, despite her extensive change. “No!”

  Matson came over to her. “Come on, Cassie. Me and Jeff will bring him with us.”

  She looked up at him, her expression one of hurt, shock, and incomprehension. “Will he rise from the dead like you?”

  “That depends on how well you can sweet-talk our daughter.” he replied. “It’s pretty much the same method. anyway.”

  Suzl administered a sedative effect on Cassie, and she slept for quite a while after that. Only the fact that Suzl and the twins were there and assurances that the other kids were all right had given her any lift at all, or any thoughts beyond what had just happened in the tunnel.

  Matson and the others could only marvel on the singular lack of activity on the part of Suzl and Spirit in their roles as interfaces and authority figures for the computer systems. Clearly the “shell programs” that were now a part of them gave them almost a dual mind, able to tend to all of the necessary things automatically while still retaining their identities. Spirit shrugged at his comment to this effect, and said, “Would you like a playback of the activation? It happened in a few trillionths of a second, but here’s what it sounded like.”

  Sound filled the room, with strange voices only slightly distorted by electronics uttering foreign words.

  “Headquarters checking in. All battle positions report in sequence.”

  “Station Abel activated!”

  “Station Baker activated!”

  “Station Charlie activated!”

  They went on and on, mostly women’s voices, he noted, but with a few men’s tones in there as well. The litany of Anchor positions had names that were very strange, yet bore an uncanny resemblance to names he knew well.

  Delta … Edward … Frank … George … Henry … Ida … James … King … Luck … Mary … Nancy … Oscar … Peter … Queen … Roger … Steven … Thomas … Uncle … Victor … Walter … X-Ray … Yankee … Zebra … Technical Services Group… . Spirit told him that the last one was also often referred to as “Engineering” in the old days, which is why it was usually abbreviated “NG” on maps. The code names were those in use by the Signal Corps at the time the Anchors were established; the language itself was basically a corruption of English, although it included Company and majority of the early settlers knew or had in common, and was called English. Their language today was basically a corruption of English, although it included much of the noncommon languages of the early settlers, including Hindi, Urdu, Ibo, Arabic, Amharic, Bantu, and Flemish, to name some of them.

  They all agreed that the idea of even two languages for a world was horrifying. None had ever even imagined the idea, except as codes.

  But the final statement from headquarters stunned them all.

  “All being in agreement. Forward Fire Base Fourteen is operational!”

  “So that’s the sacred holy name of World.” Suzl remarked. “All this time the Church has been reverently invoking the name of an army base.” She giggled, then suddenly grew serious. “All those years I grew up praying to a big ball of gas and feeling holy at the sacred name Forfirbasforten. And we thought we knew it all.”

  “Now I know a lot more than I did,” Matson responded. “We know that there are, or were, at least thirteen more colonies like this one somewhere, so there’s hope on that score, and we kn
ow by the name alone the precedence of the military in its planning and construction. Who drew the command job at headquarters?”

  “I’ll check.” Spirit told him, then almost immediately said. “She says her name is Angela Robey, and she was a coordinator on the Codex Project.”

  “Not a priestess, though. They’d go nuts with the truth like that one did here.”

  “No, not a priestess. She was, in fact, a senior librarian in Anchor Yonkeh. Cassie herself tapped her for the Codex more than thirty years ago in Hope. She remained in charge after the Concordat. She’s got enormous power but is only partially trained in it.”

  “A librarian! Does she know anything about military strategy and tactics?”

  “The computer in Holy Anchor has everything there ever was on that. She knows how to organize people and she has on tap every single potential of the firebase defense system.”

  Matson thought a moment. “That’s not the same as being under fire. Besides, all that strategy and tactics didn’t help the other worlds that were invaded. Can you patch me in to her or something?”

  “Not directly, no. I’m afraid you’re just a false wizard, Matson. You can’t directly access the computers and they won’t recognize you as an output device. That’s why all you can conjure up are illusions.”

  “How about voice?”

  “O.K., but you don’t realize the speed at which these things, and we, operate. Both Suzl and I are sitting here talking to you, and doing literally millions of things, passing thousands of communications along, all in the pauses between sentences and our exchanges. It’s fascinating, but it’s also why I can’t explain to you just exactly what’s going on.”

  “But you can contact any damned wizard in Flux and Anchor?”

  She nodded. “Ones powerful enough to make a dent, yes.”

  “Well, if you’ll make room in those thousands of messages to give the commander some thoughts given you in normal speech, and if you’ll cue me in on just what defenses we’ve got, maybe I’ll have a few suggestions on how we can beat the bastards.”

  “That’s why the computers arranged for you to be here, Dad.”

  He was struck by the irony of the comment, and very pleased at what it did for his ego. Here I am, he thought, in some son of fantastic contraption I’ll never understand, surrounded by two daughters, a grandson, an ex-lover and two wives who happen to be that ex-lover’s kids, and even the damned computer is asking me for advice! Demons of Hell, what a family!

  As the day progressed, the fog lifted until there were only tiny wisps of it left. Gifford Haldayne drank a cup of stale coffee and looked down into the huge crater.

  “I don’t like it,” he said to Sligh. “Something’s not right. I can feel it in my bones. First Champion’s cut in two, then those two crack soldier boys are found, one shot with his own gun, the other strangled, with no sign of the old man or his girl. Just some blood.”

  “Have a little confidence!” Sligh admonished the other. “You were never one to fail under pressure before. What if they did escape to Nantzee or Mareh? Here we stand on the verge of reuniting World with the universe, and you worry about a couple of mere humans.”

  “Not mere,” Haldayne pointed out. “The old boy’s one smart, tough cookie, and I once went head-to-head with that broad of his in Flux and damn near didn’t escape with my life. Uh-uh. Too much funny business. She was once crazy over that stringer Matson, and he’s here, too, and now we found out that the girl that got Champion was his daughter. Matson nailed Coydt and wound up with Tilghman’s daughters. You tell me it isn’t all connected.”

  Sligh shrugged. “What if it is? We will be all-powerful if the ancient message is fulfilled. We will be in control of New Eden, its army, and an unlimited supply of Flux if nobody arrives. If some of our own kind show up, we’ll be here with our story first and we’ll be the ones they trust.”

  “And if it’s the Enemy after all?” Haldayne asked nervously.

  “Getting cold feet at a time like this? If it’s the Enemy, then we’ll need our army and the Tilghmans, Cassies, Matsons. and the rest, won’t we? You can’t back out now, anyway. That’s why we all agreed that once our remotes were installed and tested we’d all be here, in New Caanan. so we couldn’t go back at the last minute.”

  “All but Ivan. I wonder what happened to him, too?”

  “There was a faulty signal from one of the northern remotes. He went up there to fix it. There is no more faulty signal, so he evidently did. Time works against his being back, and I’m not going to hold everything up until he gets here. Wherever he is, I’m positive he’s no threat to us right now.”

  Haldayne shrugged off his unease and reported. “The Judges that wouldn’t go along are taken care of, and the army’s been pretty well pulled back to defensive positions. I’ve notified all commands that we have discovered a plot to open the Hellgates and that it might not be stopped. They’re going to bring every available man and every piece of heavy equipment we’ve got, and we’re organizing in five battle groups. I’m going to miss that bridge Tilghman blew, though. It could make us short some heavy guns we might wish we had. I assume Ivan’s notified all those that the remains of the Nine couldn’t and our people didn’t. As we figured, the stringers have taken over operational command of the combined armies, so I think we can feel reasonably safe that nobody’s going to be too trigger-happy.”

  The Seven were no fools. They understood that they were taking a gamble; a gamble they might well lose. They had as much percentage in a strong military force at each Hellgate as did the rest of World, if only for insurance.

  Sligh chuckled, and Haldayne looked quizzically at him. “What’s the joke? I’d swear you aren’t any more human than those damned computers of yours.”

  “I was just thinking. Here we finally have a way to open the Gates, and insure our own survival against a double-cross. Yet six of us stand here at this one Gate for that very reason. Suppose they only sent one ship? Or two? Suppose they don’t land at this Gate?”

  “Now’s a fine time to think about that!”

  “Oh, don’t worry. When the Gates open, all access to the Gates from Anchor will be shut down. Then there will be a purging but very controlled rush of Flux from the other side. This will destroy our cables and receivers, by the way, but don’t worry. Once open, all they’ll do is reset the regulators, not blow them up. Then whatever is out there can come in—apparently into this depression, and the others. Then the Gates will close once more, and they will once again be locked, to prevent two objects from occupying the same space. Whatever comes in must either move out or leave the same way it came before something else can come in. All our forefathers did was essentially tie in a bomb with a numerical code to the regulator and then reset the Gate for outgoing, as if something were here. We will key in the code to deactivate the bombs and then throw the switch, as it were, from outgoing to incoming. If nothing comes in this Gate, there is no purge, and we are still in communication from this end. But I think something will come, if they’re still out there. This was one of the three Gates in which the message was received.”

  Haldayne looked at his watch. “It’s eleven forty now. When will you throw the switch?”

  “I think we want a look at this in daylight, but I want to give the forces as much time as possible. Four hours of light should be sufficient. I would think. Fourteen hundred on the nose, then.”

  “Fair enough. I’ll notify the others and the commands. I still feel something’s not quite right, though.”

  “After all these centuries, it is as right as it will ever be.”

  “The computer’s been tuned in to Haldayne and Sligh.” Suzl told them. “We’ve got a little more than two hours. Fourteen hundred, they said. They also said that the Gates will be purged, then whatever comes comes, then it all locks and switches back to normal.”

  Matson nodded. “Then that’s when we have to move. Fast. Notify all commanders, and get the word to whatever wizards
with forces are at the Anchor capitals. As soon as they get word that something’s in the dish, get in there and pack it solid.”

  Sondra shook her head. “You really think it’ll work? I mean, nobody’s been able to dent the walls of this place with anything we’ve got. If something’s built to travel in Flux that thick… .”

  “We don’t need to dent it, if I’ve guessed right. Look, you and Jeff are both strong wizards. You’ve had military training and can tie into the communications system like I can’t.” He turned to Candy and Crystal. “Girls, neither of you have had any military training in your lives, but you sure as hell can tie in like those two and send what I tell you. Are you willing?”

  “We’d like to have sons and daughters and grandchildren, too,” they responded. “We said we’d love, honor, and obey. Just tell us what to do.”

  He kissed each of them and said, “This time don’t get mixed up as to which one you are, huh?” He looked around. “As big as this family is. I still should’a had either two more daughters or two more wives. We can only cover four Gates with direct broadcasts to the wizards.”

  “Don’t worry so much,” Spirit responded. “There are very good people at all the sites and they know what you’re up to. The orbital scanning satellites all decayed and burned fifteen hundred years ago, but through the transmissions I think I can get a general picture of each Hellgate on the screens. I—”

  She stopped as she saw Cassie come out of the doorway between two screens. It led to a bathroom they still hadn’t completely figured out and had a series of bunk beds and a very small dining area. Apparently at the start this complex was staffed around the clock, and managed the comings and goings at the Gate. Food was simple. You just said what you wanted and Suzl used a small device in the dining area to create it out of Flux. It also, to her and Matson’s delight, materialized beer and cigars.

  They all rushed over to Cassie, concerned. She had apparently washed herself off, but she looked weary. “I’m all right,” she assured them. “I’m all right. I heard everyone yelling in here and wondered what had happened and whether I could be of any help.”