05. Children of Flux and Anchor (46 page)

Suzl spoke up. "I got the L-N quadrant at Logh again. It includes New Eden. Not all of it, but perhaps sixty percent of the population, including the bulk of New Canaan. The last time, I let them go, and not too many years ago they almost conquered all of World. I'm not sure that in the face of that kind of threat I could morally stand by and let it happen when I had the means to stop it."

"Good point. All right, then, there seems to be a reason why we might have to act. Shall we do this, then? Let us put strings upon all of the others, so that there is no point at which we can not find the others. Let us state that we will open, but only if there is unanimous—" he saw Suzl's mouth start to open "—all right,
majority
consent. Is that satisfactory to everyone?"

There were murmurs and mostly nods. Nobody really objected.

"Very well. Our command of the Soul Riders makes us, even without direct access, the most powerful wizards in the world. You know it and I know it. They are called computers because they basically
compute.
You and I know that what that thing said was right. Not even a binding spell can hold us. We only have to command the computers to compute the way out. So what do we do to conceal this fact—all that's been done here? What's to stop evil ones from coming not for us but for our families and loved ones?"

"We can't conceal we have Soul Riders," one woman noted.

"Exactly! But we can use that to cover the rest. There was—a system reset. Something went wrong. The computers had to find new hosts for the Soul Riders, so they brought us together because they knew and trusted us and gave us the Riders whether we wanted them or not. Everyone knows that while the Soul Riders are powerful, they can not be commanded. We will leave it that way."

"I didn't look like this before," another woman noted. "I haven't looked this way in so long I can't remember
ever
looking this way. What about that?"

"The easiest way is for us to simply reassume our forms before we arrived—at least for those who don't want the opportunity to run from spouses and collectors."

"At least two of us had binding spells that would be hard to explain being gone," Spirit pointed out. "Frankly, though, there are parts of that spell I wouldn't want, and I'm sure Suzl might like to modify parts of hers. People will notice the difference."

"So? The Soul Rider can't compute out a binding spell? Of course it can! It's known that it can. Just tell anyone curious that it was the bribe paid by the computers—even though we didn't have a choice, which we didn't. They'll accept it. It's consistent with past history."

They settled it very quickly after that. They were, as the creature had said, a rather remarkable bunch, specially picked from a vast potential crop.

As wizards, they could fly home, and they began to do so as soon as possible. All of their departures had been rather spectacular, after all, and friends and family were probably in a panic.

Spirit walked along with Suzl a ways into the void. "So what are you going to do?"

Suzl shrugged. "Go back. Take the spell again."

"All of it?"

"I think maybe I'll let fuzzy try and figure out a way to have it both ways—talk and still do. Ayesha loves it so, and, frankly, so do I. I was always the oral kind. Otherwise—I have responsibilities. It's real tempting to do things the easy way, but the hard way is more lasting."

Spirit nodded. "It's so hard
not
using the power when you have it, out of the best of motives. That's what the thing meant, too. And yet, should we? I mean, I think I could break Morgaine's binding spell, but she's so happy the way she is I know I shouldn't."

Suzl grinned. "I could do it myself. I memorized and filed the numbers when she took it. I always could. If she ever
really
comes to regret it, then I'll do it and take the heat. Still, there's things you
would
like to do for folks. Turn Cassie back on. Give your papa a real connect so he can see how he'd be if he had the power."

"Uh uh. You'd need a majority to turn Mom back on, and that was one vote that was nearly unanimous back then. As for Dad—he's unique. One of a kind. He'd never have been the way he is if he'd had real power. The fact is, I think, deep down, he knows that if he had it it would destroy him. He couldn't control himself."

"Just goes to show. I wonder if we
will
make it? We barely won against the
Samish
and we only won a stall by luck and guts from Coydt's old gang and New Eden. Still, I have this crazy feeling. A gut feeling, like Sondra and your Dad have, and I trust it. I just have the idea that if we ever actually have to turn those computer centers back on, we won't make it."

Spirit nodded. "Me, too. I only hope that if it ever happens it'll be after my turn and I'll be long gone."

"You know, it's not that hard to figure how to ride the Flux strings," Suzl noted.

"Huh?"

"The projectors. Reduce to a master file, transmit along a string, and use the master flags here to open the ones up or down the line so you aren't hung up like the
Samish.
Just add a reassembly command as the first thing received so you get there solid. They have to use the same commands, you know. They all went up and down the same strings."

"Well I'll be damned! Gonna tell anybody?"

"Nope. They'll figure it out for themselves sooner or later. Maybe all of New Eden will climb in and then I'll reset the Gate Four flag so they can't come back. I can always hope."

"You going back now?"

"Uh huh. You?"

"Well, first I have to find and return a horse. Then—I don't know. I enjoyed being Eve, but it's no career. Maybe, just maybe, I'll shock Morgaine, Dad, and Mom by staying like this, at least for a while. Nobody knows it except you, and it blends in well. Maybe my vanity will get the better of me, but maybe I can find what I'm looking for better as a normal human being than as a superwoman."

"You'll always be more than normal."

"I know. But I've relearned my lessons about values and insides and outsides. I think maybe I want someone to look inside me, rather than be fooled by the surface, for a change. Is that crazy?"

Suzl laughed. "Honey, as the late, unlamented Chua Gabaye said, the gods are
always
mad. It's just a little better when they're crazy in the right direction."

Spirit still felt in a somber mood. "I wonder if we'll really make it? I wonder if we're any better than our ancestors were? I mean, back then, more than fifty years ago, these were all common, ordinary people. Some of them then had never been out of Anchor and didn't even know they had power. Now most of them are leaders, powerful in more ways than one. Back then they—we— weren't giving up much because we had nothing to protect. I still don't, but the rest. . . . Even you, now. They went along with group pressure because it was expected, but you could see it in their eyes. There will be deals struck, compromises made, for majorities now and then. I can feel it—and I don't like it."

Suzl shrugged. "The way my life's gone, one day some New Eden spies will sneak in when I'm in Logh Center and give me a bunch of shots and I'll turn into a dumb, ignorant little Fluxgirl again who'll cheerfully give the Soul Rider away to Major Verdugo's replacement. It doesn't depend on you, or me, or Matson, or anybody else. Ever since the first person invented the first gadget that could destroy humanity I bet people have been trying to uninvent it, or lock it away, or maybe ignore it. You can't do any of those things. You know what they just did? They just gave a bunch of kids they didn't really know the keys to the gun locker. Whether we destroy ourselves, or everyone but ourselves, is up to all of us. I'm less interested in the fact that New Harmony forcibly converted wizards and armies than I am with the fact that some—a few, but some— people joined us because they liked the dream. It's why I'm going back. It's why the worst they can do to me hasn't stopped me. Life is made of hopes and dreams. If hope dies, if the dreams die, if we don't have the maturity to handle our nastier selves, then maybe we deserve to lose."

We are the spirits of Flux and Anchor, and the old Church called us demons, and demons we are, if that's what you want us to be.

We are the spirits of Flux and Anchor, and we are the reflections of your own soul.

We are the tools by which greatness can be built, and the tools of total domination and destruction. We
are
demons. We are angels. We are whatever you wish us to be, because we are you. We are the spirits of Flux and Anchor.

Now
—
what do you want us to do for you?