"What has chasing red dots around the landscape got to do with anything practical and simple?" Pologne asked.
"Well, what do you think I meant you to learn in today's exercise?" I countered.
"I don't know."
"Not to waste power?"
"That's one of the lessons I hope you absorbed," I said. "What else?"
"How to get ripped off by little monsters who sneak up when you're not looking?" Free2ia asked.
"It's to teach you to make quick decisions," I said. "The right decisions. When you're faced with a dangerous situation, the last thing you can do is waste time, or I guarantee it will be. the last thing you do."
"We'll be working in offices in six months," Jinetta said. "Making a slow and carefully considered decision is hardly going to prove fatal."
"You'll be at the top of your game if you can assess a situation coolly and take action before anyone else does," I countered. "Believe me, I've spent plenty of time in my office, talking to potential clients. The best solution is usually the one I hit on first. Let me tell you how well that's worked out for me: I don't need your tuition to get by. It's a lot of money, but it's bupkis" I used a term I'd heard Aahz use once— I assumed it was Pervish, "to what I saved from my share of M.Y.T.H., Inc.'s take, and I had a LOT of partners. I'm on hiatus for as long as I want to be, and if I felt like doing my research in the middle of the biggest city in the busiest dimension you could think of with room service, gold-plated doorknobs and hot-and-cold running entertainment, I could afford to do it. Sorry," I said to the others. "I don't like to brag about wealth, but if that's the only thing you understand, then I've got to do it. I want you to understand."
Looking thoughtful, they huddled together to go to sleep.
"So, what was it Skeeve said about the natives?" Tolk asked, in his friendly way, while the students were clearing up from breakfast. The flies had gone. Melvine looked relieved. As a means of atonement I made him take down all three tents. He was much better at striking them than erecting them.
"Too bad you weren't paying attention," Pologne said, holding up her research globe.
Melvine brightened. "You took notes!" He stuck out a hand, and the globe went flying to him.
"Give that back!"
"How does it work?" Melvine asked. He invoked the orb, and high-pitched babbling issued from it. "There."
My voice rang out tinnily. ".. .They prize shade and water above anything else."
"Trying to keep information for yourself?" Tolk asked suspiciously.
Pologne looked sulky. "I'm the only one who went to the trouble of taking notes. Why should you get the benefit of my work?"
"Teamwork," I said. "You'll get this done much faster if you work together."
None of them paid attention. They went off in six different directions, each with his or her eyes on the ground.
"Got one!" Tolk yelped.
He had spotted a long purple pole. Red spots began to bubble up out of the earth, preparing to drag it under. Tolk turned and lifted a leg over a piece of dry ground. The dots converged upon the area he had watered and began to burrow into it with a pleased noise. Happily, Tolk picked up the pole in his teeth and trotted down the hill toward the headland.
"Did you see what he just did?" Pologne asked Jinetta in horror.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to—you know."
"No," Pologne said thoughtfully. "But we have a canteen."
I leaned back against my tree and smiled.
Chapter Eight
"Where's the instruction manual?"
T. EDISON
By midmorning, all twelve of the objects lay on the spit of land overlooking the sea. The students looked at me expectantly. I gave them a smile of approval.
"Congratulations," I said. "You finished with over an hour to spare. Now, all you have to do is assemble this gizmo. It's pretty straightforward. The pieces slot together. Be careful. It opens outward under its own power."
"What's it do?" Melvine asked.
"You'll find out when you're done."
"All right," Jinetta said, tapping her hands together delicately. "Shall we try Obadiah's Assembly Spell?"
"Let's," Pologne agreed. The three Pervects put their hands together. A few of the parts twirled in place and began to slide toward one another, then drooped to a halt.
"Oh, I told you that was an indoor spell!" Freezia said. "There's too much interference out here. We have to find the right process. An outdoor process."
"Of course," Pologne said. She took out her small globe. "Let's see, there are enchantments for puzzle pieces, broken pieces, crazy paving—which one shall we use?"
I groaned. "You don't have to use a fixed process. Improvise. There are six of you. Come up with something new."
"But Professor Maguffin said—"
"Raspberries to Professor Maguffin," Melvine sneered. "I don't want to be here all day."
"We can do this without magik," Bee said. He started arranging things on the ground. "See, there's a triangular slot, and here's a peg that's the same shape."
"No, we can do it with magik," Jinetta insisted. "All we need to do is find the right spell. Freezia, what do you think?"
"I can't recall anything from Spellcrafting 501 that covered a situation like this."
"Maybe there wasn't one," Tolk said. "Look look look, let's just put the pieces together by hand."
"If you insist," Jinetta said, clearly distressed at having to think outside the box or, rather, classroom. "It still feels wrong?
"I found a flat tab and a flat slot," Melvine exclaimed. "Yeah!" He pushed them together, and they clicked satisfyingly.
"But what about this thing?" Pologne asked Bee, flapping the sheet. "It hasn't got pegs."
"No, but it's got symbols printed on it. See here? There's an arrow, and there's a circle. Look for parts marked the same way."
I began to understand why Guido had prized this shy country boy. He was a born organizer. With the Pervects balking all the way, he began to get the class working in the same direction.
It wasn't going to be easy or a one-man operation. I had scoured the Bazaar for a device that had to be levitated while it was being assembled. Until all the pieces were in place it couldn't be balanced on the single pole that supported it, and it could not be put together upside down. Once Bee figured that out he suggested politely that the more adept magicians use the last vestiges of power they were carrying to help support the incomplete device.
"I think this goes here," Melvine said, pushing the narrow blue fork into a slot. "It's a tight fit, but I can get it."
"Stop that," Jinetta ordered Melvine. "You're going to break that!"
"No, I'm not!" Melvine insisted. He pushed harder. The fork snapped. He glared at the Pervect. "See what you made me do?"
"What I made you do?" Jinetta echoed. "You did it."
"No, I didn't," Melvine said. "Didn't you see, Skeeve? She distracted me, and the piece broke!"
"You know who he reminds me of?" Pologne said to Freezia. "Carmellanga."
Freezia grinned. "Yes, I see. Here, Melvine, you can put this piece in for me."
She handed him a huge white spring. It packed substantial magikal power because it had to fling open the large yellow canvas. Melvine took it from her and ducked underneath the edge.
"Do you see a double-slot under here anywhere? Ugh! It's a tight fit. Umph—" he grunted.
Delicately, Freezia flicked her fingers.
The spring rebounded, sending the small Cupy hurtling end over end off the edge of the cliff. He landed in the sea about ten feet below us.
"Aagh! Salt water!" Melvine levitated out of the water and headed for the Pervects with blood in his eye. "Why did you do that?"