by Moulton, CD
"May I speak with Zaft?"
"Come along, wizard," the man replied. "She's expecting you. The bird-demon came to tell her you were coming."
Bird-demon? A Frome? Here? It couldn't be! Fale would have known and would have told them! Just what WAS going on out here?
Magic Show
Thing took the path to the left while Ehrak took the one to the right after agreeing to return to their point of separation in no more than two hours.
Ehrak seemed to be fitting very well into the way the crew operated. He was quick to see what must be done and quick to react. His great great grandfather, Tom, had been with the original crew on Tlorg. Ehrak had the memories, but was acting on his own now. This was quite a different matter than what the group faced back then.
Thing knew Z very well after three hundred plus years and could see his friend would begin to argue that Tlorg be taken into the empire if the various peoples using the planet wanted it that way. Z's strange prejudices were now well under control – enough that he had quickly befriended the strange Pluton. Not so very long ago he wouldn't have been able to overcome instinctive fears of the being.
Would it be a good thing to bring this world into the empire at this time?
No one could very well deny it was certainly unique among the worlds yet explored! Taking in Tlorg would be the same as taking in one of those groups of worlds. Maybe expansion into other planes would be a good thing. Knowledge always was good. There was always a use for knowledge of any type.
Thing wondered if Maita had learned how to go to Hades from Burl's coordinate system.
It was flying very low and winding among the shrubbery, as was Ehrak. They wished to avoid detection by either the Jornians or whoever was here with them. The sensors Kurk and Z had reported in use could probably detect the floaters if they were close and unshielded. While the shields were in use the efficiency of the machines was lessened, but they were designed well so the shields would stay up.
Thing also wanted to spend more time on its main problem. Kurk was probably right in that it didn't really matter one way or another if nothing actually existed in reality, but no Mentan could ever resist such a complex problem. It was fascinating to wonder if perhaps one was truly nothing other than a figment of some nonexistent being's imagination!
Of course, that was the real crux of the matter. Thing was certain either it or it's imaginative dreamer DID exist because, as badly as Z had put it, there could be no dream without a dreamer. Not with math as it was now understood. The simple fact the math was there was a solid argument that something was amiss in this theorizing.
Still, it was fascinating. Thing didn't care one whit if the theory was true or false, if it actually existed or was part of a dream or any of the rest of it. The more important thing was to KNOW! Nothing would actually change, regardless of the facts of the matter. If there was a dreamer then Thing wanted to find a way to thank it for making life so exciting for Maita and the crew.
The ground was steadily rising into rolling foothills. There was a meandering narrow river ahead that would place the floater into clear view if the path was being watched in any way.
So don't stay on the path. Move along the scrub line where the path would stay in view. There was a shallow cut in the hills north across the valley. It could be reached by flying around the place for a few kilometers to where there was an overhang. The exposure while crossing there would be minimal.
The floater adjusted to that route by Thing's empathic command, then Thing went back to its musings; If Tlorg were to be brought into the Maitan Empire – along with the Fromes, Targs and Plutons – it would make for some new rules. Maita would definitely have to find a way to restrict travel into those other planes – witness what was happening on Tlorg right now! Other planes didn't need a bunch of galactic intrigues.
Says who? You? Maybe they would enjoy such antics on other planes. The Plutons, at least, seemed to have most of the things wrong with their society the Terrans had plus a few more things those people, the Cheeth, had when they were first discovered (Settling In).
Not true. The Cheeth had pretty well solved their problems. Most of them.
Why think about the Cheeth three hundred years later?
Because the Tlorgians looked a lot like them, dumbhead!
[ Now I sound like the golems! ]
Ah, there's the overhang. Let the sensors check for scans. Doesn't seem to be anything ... across! Done! The path is back that way about four kilometers over that hill.
The floater dutifully turned as instructed while Thing went back to its thoughts.
DID the transmats work through exchange of interstice points on the interface? It didn't seem possible, but then neither had the TTH14 drive they used almost every time they went anywhere. The transmats worked – and worked very well – though none of the crew could come up with any explanation for them whatever.
Bear in mind that the race who built the original portals were T-kinetics (Tristar) so they could use the interface the same way these wizards did. They merely solved the problem of mechanizing the process. That meant it was as possible to mechanize the process for moving between Tlorg and Frome, Targ, Hades or others.
Possible and likely were not synonyms.
It was too bad the very limited psy powers of peoples like Z and the Mentans wouldn't allow them to use the powers directly.
The reading of the sorcerer Tee (Now You See It – Now You Don't) had taught both of them as well as Tom a little of the magic. Thing COULD teleport short distances, had in fact done so, but it was a terribly dangerous thing to attempt as there was no control. One could easily end up occupying the same space as some other object. THAT was nuclear fusion! The builders of the transmats could naturally teleport where they chose and with great accuracy as the Tristar's existence proved.
Z could make the little blue flame in his cupped hands by moving heat from the surrounding air to a point. That was magic. Z could also make some energy return along the path it was following if it was great enough. That had ended the sorcerer, Tee. That was plasma physics driven by ... something. Psy.
Thing had no doubt these wizards here could turn lesser or greater amounts of energy easily. They could turn a laser back on itself, even. Kene had done that. Wruk told Thing about it the time Thing came to remove the rogue Immin ship (Changes). Kene had explained it was a matter of making the energy follow the path of the "little energy lines" that had carried it in the first place.
Okay. So that would explain why lightning could be directed. Set up an ionized path for it and it would follow that path. Wruk also told of the exploits with the Count Gess where exactly that was done. Lightning followed a path of ions formed from the charges in clouds finding a ground, but a laser needs no such carrier.
Didn't Kurk say Burl was working on plasma physics that the wizard called "energized air" or something such? That would tend to indicate that the turning was accomplished through an instantaneous and very strong plasma flow – a flow induced by the wizard.
Could the organic mind really control that unthinkable an amount of energy?
The floater came around a sharp bend in the path where it entered another little valley. Thing jerked its tentacles in surprise.
[ Great exploding galaxies! What is THAT!]
*
Ehrak wasn't thinking such deep thoughts. He thought about the stories he would have to tell his children about this amazing world! A unique place where the demons of legend were real and visible, where one could talk with them, play with them, laugh and joke with them! Tlorg was everything Tom's memories suggested it would be and a great deal more. Even Thing's crazy theory that none of it existed made no difference. The expression of the Zeenans, "If I'm not real who the hell is that in the mirror?" settled that one so far as he was concerned.
Ehrak really had a strong affection for the little Mentan already. It was of amazing intellect, yet it would play the most inane jokes on Z and Maita – and on Ehra
k. Even on the demon – Pluton – Kurk. It enjoyed life fully.
He liked Z, too. Z enjoyed life and wouldn't allow anyone to play a lower joke on him than he would play on them. Tom's memories seemed to hint that Z once had a relationship with a Zeenan girl, but the Terran had some problems coping with it because they were of different races. It wasn't too clear, but Ehrak was sure Z had overcome any such stupid taboos centuries past. Caring and affection, when they were the true basis of the pleasure, were meant to be shared. Race didn't enter into it.
Maita was another one who Ehrak needed little time learning to like. It was a machine, but it had life, too. It had all the better traits of organics with a few of the ones that weren't so great. It was capable of the same juvenile play Z and Thing shared and had a sharp sense of humor. It was emperor of the Maitan Empire, which even Ehrak hadn't known until he used the memory crystal.
He had known Maita was the emperor, of course, and had known that Tom had been a close friend. He knew that Maita was never seen by the peoples of the empire, ostensibly because that allowed all to wonder if maybe the emperor wasn't one of their own race. He never guessed Maita was a machine. He would, as had Tom, never let that fact out.
It was strange that the Zulians knew, but had never divulged the secret.
No. Not strange. The Zulians were the warmest, finest, most respected race in the universe. Everyone agreed on that. Ehrak had met Zulians, who looked like very large white cylinders with stalked eyes and four tentacles below the head and who moved, as Z described it, "Like the inchworms on Earth!" He had met the strange Acnians with their humanoid form (K-form) and compound insect-like eyes and their T-hypnotic talent. He had met the Mord, who communicated with colors and once one of the despicable Immins, who looked much like the Terrans or even these Jornians.
Ehrak was glad the Immin race was now extinct. That bunch of them discovered when he was still a small child was the last of them.
He had met the Iaft, Bentan, Eacheron, the terrible-looking Feach. Z often described the Feach as "Looking like a ten foot Tyrannosaurus rex!" That meant little to others, but they did look ferocious. Many reptiles did, but the Feach were doctors and pharmacists for the empire and were among the most compassionate peoples known.
The Kheth were reptiles, too, but they looked almost like hairless Terrans. They were fun people.
Maita and the crew were the rulers of all of those peoples in a way, yet they didn't even take themselves seriously. Maybe that was why he liked them. It would be hard to take oneself too seriously and to enjoy life at the same time. The floater came to an area of open loose rock so Ehrak had to concentrate on staying out of observation – if there were any observers. It took some little time to find a covered route, then he again followed the path directly.
Z had made several little hints to Maita that he would like to see Tlorg a member of the empire. That might be great fun for everyone. Other-planal demons running amok throughout the galaxy! Ehrak could picture the Fromes flying around Zeena and grinned at the thought.
Not fair. He liked the demons. They were like big ugly birds, but were a lot of fun and were deeply loyal to their friends. Kurk was terrifying, but was basically a funloving man from an unhappy world. Linx, the Targ, was also another person not too unlike the other peoples of the empire. The big ugly Fromes had wonderful senses of humor and were really very likeable. They sincerely wanted to help the people of Tlorg.
Still, it would be great fun to have these people among the peoples of the empire!
What was that up ahead? It looked like some kind of mine.
Ehrak maneuvered the floater to where he could get a good look at the series of caves dug into the side of a hard rocky cliff face. The floater printed on the screen for him to get off, then it went to little hidden spots to check the tailings left from the mines. Maita was controlling the machine so would use the devices built in to find exactly what was going on here.
What could the Jornians be mining out here? Almost everything known was in great supply and was free for the taking in the asteroids of a few billion star systems. Only psiltripium was rare and there was none of that almost neutron mass element in this system. Tlorg wasn't the kind of planet where blood diamonds might be found.
He would know when Maita did an analysis. The floater returned. He climbed back aboard and set it to retrace the route used in coming here. He would meet Thing at the junction. Maybe Thing found the same thing. Mines. Put the information together and they would know what the Jornians were after.
Ehrak relaxed while the floater returned him toward the main path. He saw Thing was there waiting for him and they headed back together to the rendezvous point with Z.
*
Maita sent the golems to meet with the waiting Fromes while it monitored Z, Thing, Kurk and Ehrak. It also sent hundreds of spy floaters throughout various parts of the planet to be sure these outlaws hadn't landed another party elsewhere. It also managed to handle a few problems that were a bit too much for its various servos on other empire worlds through fastcom while it worked on the coordinates Z got from Burl concerning Hades.
Thing could handle the math and theories. It would derive hours of pleasure working on the puzzle that now confronted its amazing intellect. Z would handle the problem of the Jornians. His talent was to be able to come up with the most outlandish and illogical of plans – that would generally succeed for some unknown reason, not the least part of which was the total confusion in the minds of his adversaries.
Z wanted to take Tlorg and the other planes into the empire. That was clear.
Well, it would be a good thing for everyone concerned in a lot of ways. It wouldn't hurt the Tlorgians, who were Maita's first concern. They were a strong race, would become a good one eventually, were funloving (along with the normal cruelties and meannesses that were a part of the stage of development in many mammal cultures) and naturally intelligent. It wouldn't harm the Plutons. They had space travel in their own plane. Maybe a bit early, but they were interacting with the Tlorgians, Fromes and Targs right now. The converses were true. The Fromes and the Targs were also interacting with each other and with the Tlorgians and Plutons.
There was one small part of that equation Z wasn't considering, though. A very important part.
Maita knew of fourteen planes it could use to one extent or another. There were undoubtably many others. Maybe hundreds of others. This one Kurk was from was new to it. The Frome plane was sometimes used. The Targ plane was new.
There would be plenty of others. What of them?
That was stupid! In a mere few hundred years Tlorg would be ready to come into the empire on its own and those other planes would still be there.
This took milliseconds. Maita checked through all the projects it had going, then concentrated on the golems. They were on secondary circuits so didn't need attention of the main computers that were Maita, but Maita could take command at any time.
If machines could sigh Maita would have done so then. Why couldn't, once, the group take a vacation just for fun and not have any huge problems present themselves?
This had started out so well!
The golems were arguing that the Fromes couldn't hear well and couldn't speak without an accent on Tlorg because they had an extra dimension on their plane. That was why they could live on Tlorg while the Tlorgians couldn't live for more than a few hours on Frome. Yes said one added dimension while No was meanly insisting it had to be several others.
The way the logic systems were arranged for the golems it would never be resolved without outside help. Maita didn't want to override the secondaries, then thought of an easy way out. It "spoke" over the speakers in the hall in Z's voice.
"Yes? No?" it proceeded. "I promised I would remain in contact through you two. Stop the arguing and report what's happening there."
–So? How did you know we were arguing, Beanbrain?–
"You're always arguing, Slugbreath!" Maita replied. "I said to report!"
/> +There's really very little to report. It is a beautiful day, we are among our good friends, the Fromes. There is no strife or hardship in the town. Things are going very smoothly!+
–Yee! Smoothly!? You complete leadbrained idiot! It's going to rain any minute, there's one hell of an electrical storm coming, the people are killing each other for sport down there and you say things are smooth?!–
"Knock it off!" Maita snapped. "What were you two arguing ... discussing?"
+Well, I say the reason the Fromes can't see well or hear well is because they have an extra dimension in their plane. No says they have several extra ones.+
"We see very well!" Fale protested. "Iss just zhat we don'd hear zhe zame as zhu!"
"The plane has the same dimensions as we have here," Maita replied. "They're stressed a bit differently. The subdimension we call length is at a more oblique angle there than here making it relatively shorter. Time is slightly different as we've long ago learned and force is stressed at the angle of structure a bit differently. That's why the Fromes can derive sufficient energy from our foods and air – a bit more than they need, actually – but we can't derive enough energy on Frome to live for very long.
"Fale, are there any Fromes here on the dark continent? Would you know about them?"
"Zhess. Zhere are zum very vew, Boss," Fale answered. "Zhe zorzererz zhere are nod easy do ged along wiz zo we zhday away. Iss known on Frome do vly do Loosda if we are daken zhere. Zhe ones zhere now are wiz King Dihn's zhips mosdly.
"Anyone elz know of Frome on zhe dark condinend?"
The other Fromes shook their heads.
"Zhere aren'd any zhere, Boss," Fale reported. "We would know."
"Thank you," Maita said. "I must go now. Don't waste any attention to the golems when they start arguing with each other. They let reality leave the room when they start that."
"Iss drue! We know!" Fale said.
Maita turned the golems back over to the secondaries.
Here was a real problem. Z was over there and had been told that a Frome told Zaft he was coming to her and the Fromes in the kingdom didn't know of any of their people being on the dark continent. Either there were a few Fromes still there from before the time more than two hundred years ago when King Obie Lear decreed the Fromes were to be sent home (Now You See It – Now You Don't) or there were rogue Fromes.
