05. Children of Flux and Anchor (29 page)

The program expanded until it covered the whole captive population, but it stopped as it reached the raider troops and wizards. A modification was then made, and the program was allowed to run again, past them and out well beyond, further in fact than the old boundaries had been. From this point, though, no people were involved. The program ignored the conquerors.

The Fluxland program continued on, and Dell had to decide whether to let it overtake him or to continue to retreat. He decided to move back in the direction of the other three, afraid it might overtake them as well. Then whoever was running the program would sense the presence of three wizards they didn't know about and come running—fast.

It didn't go that far, though. What was interesting was that they didn't even bother with more than a warning shield except for the center area where the projector was. It was, in effect, an open Fluxland much like Liberty, although extending in a roughly circular shape only about thirty kilometers across.

Dell decided to do a quick pass just inside the Fluxland and back out, to get a general idea of the place. He couldn't put his finger on it, but parts looked vaguely familiar to him. There was a risk, of course, that he'd immediately be drawn to earth or bring the wizards running, but he felt it was worth it for the information. He did not, however, fall to earth or even get engulfed by the spell. Although the shield was but a warning one, weak and only for the purposes of alerting the Fluxlords to the presence of intruders, it smacked him hard and he ricocheted off, stunned. It took him a moment to regain his wits, and when he did he circled back and studied it. It
looked
like an ordinary shield. Why didn't it admit him?

It must be a conditional,
he decided, but under what conditions did it allow admittance? No wizards? No, it couldn't be that selective and be that large. What, then, was different about him and set him apart from the wizards inside?

Women!
he realized with a start.
It won't admit anybody but women!

He rushed back to his own camp to tell his people the updated news.

11

TAKING THE BIG RISKS

Ayesha sat on a fur-covered mat, clinging to Suzl, and looking around at the others seated on low mats around a table of sweets and vegetables. Across from them sat the three wizards who looked much like them, whom Suzl, strictly for convenience, had named Beth, Cissy, and Debbie—Ayesha starting with "A." Their spells were absolute and had proven themselves in the battle. They remembered who they had been, and so had the advantage of their military training and experience, but they didn't want to be anyone or anything other than who and what they were now. Gillian was there, too. She was quickly growing into an amazingly talented politician with a sure grasp for what was necessary. Although her personal Flux power was quite limited, she was quickly making herself indispensable, and with each success she'd become more of a believer in Suzl's dreams.

To their left sat three other women who couldn't have looked less alike. One was tiny and looked extremely delicate; she was attractive, but not overwhelmingly so, very slightly built, with a slight orange in her complexion, a tiny, turned-up nose, and eyes that seemed slanted inwards and somehow cat-like, and deep black hair cut very short and combed into neat bangs in front. The second was a big woman; naturally large rather than fat, dressed exhibitionist-style in garish garments and looking more like a northern Anchor whore than a powerful wizard. She had big eyes whose pupils seemed jet black, and a virtual mane of hair that was zebra striped, with streaks of white and jet black alternating all around.

The third was the most curious looking of all, for she looked just like one of the original New Eden Fluxgirls: exaggerated proportions, long brown hair, big light-brown eyes, and even wearing the heels and the net-like pantyhose of the old days, with no above-the-waist clothing of any sort. She even had a tattoo on her rump complete with number that announced that her name was "Jodi."

Ayesha had described them all to Suzl, and she could only wonder if her mental image of the trio was more or less outrageous than they really were. She did know
what
they were—two of them, anyway—and it pained her that she'd needed them at all. She certainly didn't trust them for a moment.

Suzl now wore a radio constantly on an elastic belt around her waist. It could be used for relatively broad communication, and was, but it also served locally as her non-broadcast "voice."

"A
wonderful
operation, darlings," gushed Chua Gabaye. "Neat, thorough, and professional! Worthy of the old Nine or the Seven, rest their souls, if they had any. Wouldn't you say so, Ming, dear?"

Ming Tokiabi, who rarely said much of anything, did not reply this time, either.

"The Fluxland program worked out, then?" Suzl asked in her eerie, electronic voice.

"
Fabulous,
darling! Simply
fabulousl
Lots of nice vegetable farms and fruit trees and all the rest. The Eves seem
delighted
with being happy little farmers, once we reoriented them a bit."

"How many were there?" Suzl asked. "Anybody count them yet?"

"The program total showed three thousand nine hundred and seventy-four," Jodi told them. "More than we expected, and quite a number are pregnant. Not a single one showed any Flux power or any connection to the grid at all—except the two Fluxlords who look like them, of course."

"What about them?"

"The old boy is crazy, completely crazy," Jodi reported. "He's withdrawn completely into a world of his own. He has to be force-fed, and we're keeping him well-sedated just in case, and under constant guard. The other two—you won't believe this—seem perfectly normal if somewhat confused. The man thinks he's fifteen years old, the girl fourteen. The last they remember is pretty gruesome. They lived in a small, reclusive Fluxland in the gap between Clusters Two and Six. Their parents were rather stern and strict with them and with each other, but not crazy. Their father liked farming, but was also a student of the old texts he'd bought copies of from some merchants going through."

"That figures," Suzl commented. She wasn't too keen on having any religions in her new world, either. "Go on."

"Well, it seemed Mommie appeared straight and true, but she had—affairs—with almost everyone who stopped by. The kids knew it, but their father didn't. You can probably guess what happened."

"He finally caught her with somebody and went bananas," Ayesha guessed.

"Yes, at least that. She was probably the equal of him in power, judging from the offspring, but she couldn't counter his jealous rage and hurt ego. He froze her, then took a butcher knife and carved her up alive. Only when he'd done with her did he realize that the children had heard the screams and come running and witnessed the whole thing. He turned to them, dropped the knife and picked up some book off his desk, and there was a blaze of light. After that, they can't remember much of anything, although they
do
have an awareness that much time has passed."

There was a strange electronic sound that was Suzl sighing. "Well, that explains the Garden and the system. What about them?"

"Pliant, very pliant," Gillian put in. "They seem shy and a little confused when awake, but they have horrible nightmares. We got the real story out of them using a mild drug. They don't really remember the gory part at all, consciously. Krita, who's the closest thing to a psycho-geneticist we have—she works the Flux chambers—believes they would eagerly accept binding spells just to get oriented and get rid of the nightmares. She says that if any one of you will stop by, she thinks she can set things up without having to go to any artificial extremes. Neither of them has the faintest idea what a binding spell is, so they won't resist trying it."

"I'll handle it personally," Suzl told them. She wanted to make sure it was done right, but also she wanted the insurance that they would be hers. The addition of those two, along with Beth, Cissy, and Debbie, would give her far more power than the three foreign wizards here. More than enough to offset their greater age and experience. "And the father?"

"We can play to his delusions and possibly turn him, but it would have to be in a chamber, and that means Anchor. Gorgh is not that far away, when you can spare the people."

"What about the Eves? Is there anything really there?"

"The spells are quite strong. Not only were their original selves erased, but in apparently a last gesture towards us their marking programs were also erased. There is no way to ever find whose file belongs to which body. For now, we've simply modified their existing master program," Jodi reported. "First we erased the concept of Adam, and we replaced the concept of the God and the Garden with a divinity based on your own form. We also introduced the idea of the joy of work and the division of labor, although your own people are having to show them just what to do and how to do it. Give them a routine and they'll do it, time after time, day after day."

"What about sex?" Ayesha giggled.

"We altered them to the New Human format, as intended. They are either sex, as inclined. We found a few—perhaps five or six so far—who would not take the program, and we conclude that these are former wizards who lost out in the Garden and were forced to take binding spells for some reason. We're removing them as we find them and trying hard to re-establish them as wizards, but so far no luck."

"Their binds may have permanently cut them off," Debbie put in. "If so, they become the least of the captives, since they'll always be just the way they are: dull, innocent baby factories, no more. The rest have the potential to become real people someday, if we do our jobs right."

"It is perfect," Suzl told them. "A race physically identical, so there is no chance of jealousy or envy about what another looks like, and with no concept of personal property and no sexual divisions. If we can teach them to think correctly along our lines, they could be the model for the whole new world we build." She paused a moment. "That brings up a major question. I know why we are all in this, but why are you three here? You share neither our form nor our goals. What do you wish out of this?"

"I'm too old and too jaded for ideals, darling," Gabaye responded, "but Ming and I have our own little project, one that doesn't involve you directly at all. You see, after Jodi saved our necks at Gate Four, we got out—fast. All three of us. Onregon Sligh had access to Coydt van Haas's research staff and library, and we managed before the big invasion to find out where it was. We've been up there since, working on a different idea. You see, up there in space, orbiting around the old Mother just like us, are three huge—ships, I suppose we must call them: The original computers who transformed this place from barren rock into what we have today. They're shut down, in a holding state, pending their need in an emergency. That meant the failure of one of the big computers here, but that never happened, so they've been up there, preserving themselves, just waiting."

Even Ayesha was fascinated. "And you think you can get to them and make them obey you?"

"Get to them, yes. That,
darling,
was never a problem. The programs for the vehicles were in the master computer, to be triggered in an emergency. The invasion opened everything up, of course, and some of Onregon's bright boys got them before the shutdown. Turning them on and making them obey is a different question. They weren't designed to carry
people,
for one thing. Still, we have hopes. Hopes that
their
files will show how to use the Gates, or perhaps to do without them. I mean, dears,
they
had to get
here
somehow."

"And if you can do all this?"

"Then we will go traveling down the big strings towards the old home place, of course. I mean, we only opened the Gates at all because life here had become so damned
boring.
There was simply nothing else we could have that we didn't already have.
This
is the new thing that has Ming's and my heart beating fast again."

"And what do we give you?"

"
Darling!
Can't you see that under the current situation our dreams are threatened? We are, perhaps, two
years
from getting this thing started, and we also still need some data that perhaps New Eden has but we do not. Look at what you've done in a few short weeks starting with one full wizard, one group wizard of moderate strength, and the projector! Just
think
of what New Eden can do, and how fast! They will be an unstoppable army on the march! Of course, they will be able to make use only of the
male
wizards unless they get smart like you and convert what they have to what they need, but that will be more than enough. They are already using Hoghland's war with Liberty to train their own in Flux warfare—and helping out Liberty as well! They egged that war on and keep it going just to give their top people experience. They already have a hundred or more fully trained and qualified wizards committed to the New Eden cause. In far less than two years they will beat a path to our doorstep and we will not be able to deny them entry!"

Suzl considered it. "I see." It all made a horrid kind of sense, particularly the idea of fermenting a Flux war and using other people's blood to train their best. "And if we win?"

"A hands-off policy until we leave, together with cooperation, sharing of new discoveries and documentation, and support personnel as needed. To do it, we need someone big helping us along, and New Eden is, of course, out of the question."

It sounded fair and reasonable, almost too much so. She would never trust these two, who had the blood of millions on their hands, but she was willing now to use Hell itself if it furthered her goals. "You are all three going?" she asked, mostly curious.

"No," Jodi responded. "I will not be going. I have no desire to be squirted into atoms by some big machine I can't trust, and I don't really care who's out there, if anything. I was a Fluxlord, and a strong one, inside Cluster Four when they ran that master Anchor program.
This
is the way I came out, only without power, without literacy—the works. Some of the Seven knew in advance what was going to happen and where to go and who to look for in female former Fluxlords. Gifford Haldayne located me and two others, and married all of us."