01. Spirits of Flux and Anchor (32 page)

"Sure, but if he's on to the fact that we know about his lady love there in the Temple, he might just give it up as not worth it," Suzl responded hopefully. "What's the use of fighting it out if you can't gain anything?"

Cass shrugged. "Who knows what he thinks? I wish I knew more about what this was really about."

"Huh? Sleep through your religion classes? It's ail checking out in that department."

"Well, maybe. But I've been through that gate to Hell, and I've seen the so-called sacred seal. The gate's supernatural enough, but that seal is a

Jack L. Chalker

252

machine, Suzl. Real strange looking all right, but a machine all the same, a very fancy kind of ma- chine but still a relative to the ones in the capital and the Temple. It sure wasn't put there by the ones who built that Hellgate -- it just looks 'too different, that's all. More like something we would build if we knew how. Now, if the Holy Mother and Her Blessed Angels forced the demons into that hole and then sealed it with the seven seals, why did they use a machine? Why not just use the Flux power, or godly powers? And don't give me that crap about the ways of gods and demons being unknowable to humankind. Somebody knows. Haldayne, for example, knows, and maybe Mervyn does, too."

"Yeah, but the old boy didn't know the gate connected to the Temple until you told him. Boy! I never saw him so shook!"

Cass nodded. "The big thing is, if you can use this gate to get to the temple in Anchor Logh, then the odds are you can get to other Temples through other gates. That says to me that, for some reason, it's the Anchors that are important in this, not really the Flux, and I'm sure old Merv's wondering now just how many Anchors Haldayne's side al- ready controls. He sure knows more about those gates than Mervyn and the others."

Conversation drifted to other things as they waited.Time hung heavy in the void if only because there was no sense of it. Finally, though, a huge, dark shape came from the direction of the trail. They watched, ready to dart into Anchor if need be, but the enormous flying shape landed, shimmered, and changed into Mervyn's old man form, and they relaxed. Cass saw that there was a certain, indefinable something radiating from the man that marked Mervyn as Mervyn and no one else to her. Suzl, however, needed her nerves calmed, for she had none of these senses.

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 253

The wizard walked up to them carrying a small satchel. "I've notified everyone I could find of your information -- those that needed to know it, anyway," he told them. "We want to keep your escape secret, and I'm afraid I didn't tell them the source, so you are still officially missing, even to my fellow sorcerers. We are going to move up the attack, even though we might not have everybody, just to keep Haldayne off balance." He put down the satchel, fumbled with the catch, then opened it and reached inside, first bringing out a cube, al- most a meter square, of some undefined grayish substance. He put it in front of him, stepped back and made a gesture with his wrist. The cube shimmered, grew, and seemed to inflate as if it were some sort of balloon, until, standing there, was a full-sized living mule. "It's so convenient when you have to to be able to compress them down to maximum survivable density," he said, ignoring their total lack of understanding.

He reached down into the bag once more and pulled out clothing. "We are going to have to be convincing," he told them, "and have easy access. Both of you get undressed here and now. We're going in undercover, you might say."

After she undressed, the wizard handed her a robe- It was the scarlet and gray robe of a parish priestess. She put it on, and it was a bit too large for her. "Well, grow into it. You're going to have to change your appearance totally here and now anyway. We want as many basic differences be- tween you and your original looks as possible, and height is important because it's the first thing noticed. I want you very tall in bare feet -- call it a hundred seventy-five, even a hundred and eighty centimeters. Very tall. And looking like nobody you know."

She frowned. "That's tough. Aside from my friends, the only women I can think of enough to

Jack L. Chalker

254

concentrate on are my mother, my sisters, and those two priestesses."

He sighed. "Oh, very well. Stand still." He made a flinging gesture with his hand, and suddenly the robe fit very well indeed. She towered over the very short Suzl, who stood back and nodded. "Not bad. Maybe you ought to keep that."

She desperately wanted a mirror -- so desperately that the reflective surface Mervyn had used before materialized in front of her. She was stunning, very tall and perfectly proportioned to the height. Even her figure was absolutely perfect, and, unlike the experiments at Miss Rona's, it felt very com- fortable, Her face, a near-perfect oval set off by very large, dark brown eyes and short hair of the same color, and her light brown skin made her almost the living model of religious pictures of the Holy Mother.

She wished the mirror away and was startled to see not Mervyn but another woman there, this one about halfway between Suzl's height and her own, also dark and attractive but dressed in a skin-tight outfit of what looked like red leather, with high red boots and even a cape- The strange woman was helping Suzl into a black outfit -- a stringer's outfit.

"Don't be so shocked," said the strange woman in a deep, melodious voice. "We have to see a high priestess in a Temple. You didn't expect them to let me just walk in the way I was, did you?"

She laughed, feeling that sense of recognition she could not define. This was the third guise for Mervyn, and the most confusing of all. Since Suzl refused to permit a disguise by sorcery, she was instead going in slightly different clothing. She was soon dressed as the shortest, cutest stringer in anybody's memory. Mervyn then went over their cover names and stories and rehearsed them until they got it right. Suzl would be Sati, the name of a

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 255

real female stringer that would be on the guard lists, but a stringer who had not been to Anchor Logh, being relatively new in the business. Cass would be Sister Kasdi, of Anchor Bakha, an An- chor far to the southwest of Anchor Logh but still closest in that direction, and an Anchor in many ways similar to Anchor Logh. She was given a spell-reinforced history and geography lesson that made her feel like she really had lived there. Mervyn would be Mera, a professional woman.

"Matson told me that they were anxiously look- ing for an electrical engineer," he told them. "I have some knowledge in that field and I think I can pass as a possible applicant for the job."

Satisfied, they mounted, Cass taking the mule as was appropriate for priestesses, although she hated the side-saddle riding method that tradition dic- tated a priestess adopt exclusively. All set, they rode into Anchor.

Suzl had taken, apparently in Globbus, to smok- ing and slightly chewing on thin, crooked little cigars. While it was all part of the self-image she now had, she stuck one in the side of her mouth as they rode in and it gave a very good added effect to her stringer act. She led the mule with Cass aboard by a small rope, with Mervyn bringing up the rear. Suzl's whole expression and body took on a look of arrogant tolerance of the surroundings, like a government minister forced to tour a gar- bage dump, and she was obviously enjoying her- self to the limit. She rode right past the shantytown of tents and dugout buildings and the small semi- permanent population of duggers there and right up to the gate. A guard watched them, and when she stopped in front of the opening he called out, "Who are you and what is your business and intent?"

"My name is Sati, stringer," she responded boldly. "I am still apprenticed, and was delegated to take

256 Jack L. Chatker

these two from the Hollus train at Globbus, which is not heading here, up to Anchor Logh and the Temple."

The guard vanished for a moment, then the outer gates closed with a dramatic rumbling. They w&ited there a couple of minutes, and then they opened again. There were now three soldiers, well armed and looking spiny, on horseback in the gate, and they rode towards the waiting trio. Cass recog- nized the officer who led them as one of the men at the gate that terrible night they'd left Anchor Logh.

Suzl barely glanced at them, but reached down into her saddlebag and pulled out a small book, handing it to the officer. He looked it over, then looked at the three of them, and frowned. There was nothing unusual about such detached deliveries --  they happened all the time -- but his job was to ensure that these were legitimate. He rode out a bit further so he could see the guard atop the tower. "What do you say?" he called up.

"Checks out, sir," the guard responded. "She's on the last list given to us by the guild, and she's apprenticed to Hollus."

He nodded to himself and turned back to her. "And what is your cargo?"

"Two passengers, that's all," Suzl told him. "Sister Kasdi was sent over here from Anchor Bakha for some specialized training in the Temple, and Miss Mera was traveling with another train when Matson came through with the word that you were looking for engineers. She decided to come on up and look your charming land over to see if she can save herself a longer trip to another job." Cass admired how Suzl made the words "charming land" seem like the nastiest of insults with sheer in- tonation.

The officer looked at the other two. Cass looked back at him, smiled sweetly, and gave him a bless-

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 257

ing with her hand. It unnerved him for a moment. Finally he said, "All right, will you two ladies please dismount?" They did, Cass with slight diffi- culty she hoped wasn't obvious. "Stringer, you come in first and file the papers for the passes. Ladies, these two troopers will remain with you until we have passed through, then take you through with them."

Suzl, the animals trailing, rode confidently into the gate and the officer followed. It closed, there was a pause, and then it opened once more. Suzl, at least, was back in the land of her birth.

They followed behind the troopers and into the gate, which closed behind them. One of the troop- ers turned and said, "Our apologies. Sister, Lady, but we must arrange for a search. Please remain in here and do not move until someone comes for you."

Cass looked over at Mervyn, but just got a shrug. For him it was just routine, but to her this was a new experience. She wondered, though, what all the fearful and prejudiced folk of Anchor Logh would feel if they knew how silly and useless their dreaded gate and defenses really were? It was pretty obvious that people went from Flux to Anchor and back all the time, no matter what the official line was -- or even if the officials quoting that line knew it.

They waited there a few minutes, and then a priestess came into the gate. She was quite young, her robe of light yellow very plain and unadorned, saying that she was not long out of the novitiate. Clearly this was a bottom-rung job.

She approached Cass first, who outranked her by her robe's indication, then kneeled. Cass had seen this done enough to have no problems with it. "The blessing of the Holy Mother be upon thee for eternity," she pronounced. "Be free and do your duty."

Jack L. Chalker

258

The young priestess rose, bowed slightly, and responded, "We thank thee, Sister, for thy under- standing and blessing. Humble apologies to you both, but it is required that you both disrobe com- pletely for physical examination. You have seen out there what lurks in Flux, and while we realize that it is most unnecessary on your part we can make no exceptions."

Cass smiled, undid, and removed her robe, let- ting it drop to the ground. Mervyn, dressed more complexly, had more of a problem, and was assisted by Cass in reaching the same state.

For a groveling priestess not yet even allowed, to have a name of her own or use the personal pronoun, she was most thorough in her inspection. Clearly she did not want to be here forever, or worse, and just one slip and worse it would be.

Finally she nodded and said, "Please put your clothing back on, and again our humblest apologies."

"That's all right," Mervyn soothed. "If you had seen what we have seen in Flux you would know just how important your job really is."

She smiled, not realizing how totally irrelevant that job was.

The priestess in yellow led them to the other side, where Suzl waited, looking impatient and bored. Both of the newcomers were given a form to sign, and then issued passes good for one week maximum. Of course, should they be allowed by the Temple to stay, then they would be granted citizenship.

The officer and a trooper assisted Cass in re- mounting her mule, then they were off along the main highway to the capital. They were well along and far out of sight of the guards when Suzl finally laughed. "So much for their security. Checked you two over with a microscope, and you both phony as can be, while they just kept shoving papers at me and never even looked me in the eye."

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 259

"I counted on that," Mervyn told her. "Remember, a bureaucrat does not believe in Heaven or Hell, Church or Government. A bureaucrat only believes in paper."

They rode on, stopping overnight in Lawder, a small town about halfway to the capital. Cass found her disguise both annoying and fun at one and the same time. Annoying, because as a priestess she had no money and had to more or less beg for food, drink, and lodging from the locals and was really prevented from going to the bar and other public rooms. It was FUJI, though, in that she was treated deferentially by almost everyone, and it was funny to watch them try and control their language and behavior around her. She found some diversion, though, in the fact that, as an outside priestess, everybody wanted to confess to her and this became the main agent of barter. It was obvi- ous that many sought absolution from sin but did not relish confessing to their local priestess, who would be living in the same town with them.