Markon’s site flashed pure white as the myriad programs were wiped and their power transferred to the form emerging from the coffin. Then there was darkness, the absolute black that knows no color, no life, no potential. Markon was gone.
From herself, Earthma generated a greenish glow and inspected the hooded thing, shadowed in moire, that now hovered at her side.
“Perhaps a bit premature, but more than enough to do the job, I think. Come, son.”
The thing floated after her. Earthma raised her sweet, lovely voice in song:
“Tu-ra-lura-lura/ Tu-ra-lura-li/ Tu-ra-lura-lura/ Virginia’s gonna cry-ai!”
Chaos, Chaos…
(Oh, my dear seven-limbed angels) Chaos, Chaos is… Terrified.
TWELVE
When Mizar returned his tails were switching with excitement and he was liberally shedding sections of shag carpet.
“I… have found… it. The thing… I tracked… when I was made. Found the scent.”
“You remember?” Jay asked.
“Base… proge. Stimulus… activated. Am sure.”
Alice hunkered down next to the fearsome hound and gave him a tentative scratch behind one flopping ear. The tails wagged harder.
“Can you tell what it is from the scent—the way you might tell a deer from a horse?”
“Good question, kid,” Drum muttered.
“Can… not,” Mizar wheezed sadly. “Can tell what… is not… but… not what is.”
“I don’t get it,” Alice admitted.
“I think I do,” Jay said. “Mizar knows what it isn’t—and he knows the scents of lots of things, both active and passive proges—but he has never had this particular scent identified for him before so he cannot say what it is.”
Mizar wheezed agreement, evidently pleased that he did not need to find the words for an explanation.
“I see Virginia coming,” Dubhe said. “She doesn’t look really good.”
The VSD scout was indeed pale. Jay hurried out to help her. Without protest, she leaned against him, letting him half carry her to the others.
“Were you attacked?” Dubhe asked, looking around nervously.
“No,” she whispered.
Alice handed her a canteen. Virginia sipped a little before setting it down so absently that it nearly spilled.
“I felt… I felt something terrible. A great out-welling, then nothing.” Tears were beginning to course down her cheeks. “I think that Markon is dead. That bitch has borne her child.”
She crumpled, sobbing so hard that the sound alone was a physical pain. Jay knelt next to her, gathering her up into his arms. For a woman who was so strong, she proved to be easy to hold.
“Earthma won’t dare conceal her child any longer,” Dubhe said. “The Lord of Deep Fields will know that one of his rightful prey has been taken and he’s going to know that he didn’t do the taking. When he realizes that the victim is one of the older genius loci, he’s going to know that there is trouble.”
Over Virginia’s sobbing, Jay said, “We need to warn him. Without the Brass Babboon, there’s only one of us designed to cross the interfaces without needing to use the Road. Mizar, can you remember what the Lord of Deep Fields must be told?”
“I… can… but give… me written… message.”
Alice grabbed a light slate and began writing.
“Good idea. Mizar is smart, but he takes a long time to say anything clearly. I’ll scribble a report. The rest of you download what he saw when he was scouting.”
“Can we do that?” Drum asked Death’s dog.
“Transfer… flawed, but… I… can try.”
“Give me one of the light slates,” Dubhe said. “I was there when Death created Mizar. I remember some of the routines he was imbued with. If Drum will help, I think we can manage this.”
As messages were written and information transferred, Virginia’s sobs slowed, then ceased. The tears continued to course down her cheeks.
“Without Mizar you’re going to need me, so don’t even think about sending me away.”
Jay nodded. “As you wish.”
And with those words John D’Arcy Donnerjack experienced an epiphany. He was in charge of this expedition. On some level he had expected one of the adults to lead, but although Virginia might insist on coming with them, she could not be trusted for clear-headed decisions.
Drum could offer advice, but the Verite, not Virtu, was his native realm.
And Alice—Link? She was Jay’s own age and, like Drum, out of her element. Duhbe would do what he could, but he was a monkey, after all, and a follower, not a leader. If Tranto had been there… but that was wishful thinking, nor could the Lord of Deep Fields be expected to send in the cavalry. Even if he had been so inclined, he would not be able to now.
Jay felt very old, very young, very frightened, and very excited all at once. The jumble of emotions was so strong that he almost forgot to hug Mizar before Death’s dog departed.
“What do we have?” he said, moving over to where Drum and Virginia were studying Mizar’s input. Alice, although obviously interested, had joined Dubhe in keeping watch.
Drum handed Jay the light pad on which he had started a map.
“You’re the cartographer, so you update the map while we fill you in. ‘Ginnie?”
Virginia cocked an eyebrow at the unexpected nicknaming, but otherwise forbore from commenting.
“When I went south, I saw considerable activity on the mountain’s lower slopes. I didn’t dare get close, but it appeared that someone was setting up a series of transfer stations. Judging from the winged bulls and lions guarding them, I would guess that they are associated with the upcoming Elishite Celebration.”
“Anything else?” Jay asked, after he had sketched in her observations.
“I don’t really know what is normal and what is not,” Virginia confessed. “The upper slopes, as far as I could tell, held numerous temples in a variety of styles.”
“Probably related to the various deities worshiped in both Virtu and Verite,” Jay said, and from where he watched, Dubhe nodded agreement.
“That’s it for me,” Virginia said. “Mizar’s information may be more useful.”
“Can you sum up for him?” Jay asked.
“Pretty well. The information is fragmented. Whatever fried his systems did a thorough job.”
“Go ahead.”
“On the other side of the mountain, about halfway up, there is a heavily guarded installation. Unlike the constructions I saw, this one does not appear to be overtly religious—although there are religious over-tones—it reminded me more of a factory. This is where Mizar scented the thing you are looking for.”
“You said ‘heavily guarded,’ ” Jay asked. “What are our chances of getting in?”
“One of the things that made me think of a factory,” Virginia said, “is that crated material was being taken from it.”
“So there is traffic?”
“Right. Drum and Alice might be better at working out how we should penetrate the facility.”
“Well, folks?” Jay asked.
Drum nodded. “I’ve looked at the data and I think we can come up with something. We have a fair amount of distance to cross to get there, however, and I’d like to see this ‘factory’ myself before I offer tactical advice. Why don’t we start hoofing it and we’ll give you our plan when we actually see the place?”
“Fine with me,” Jay said. “Virginia, can you take point?”
“That’s what I’m trained for.”
“I’ll drop to the back, then. We need to stay within eye-shot of each other, but at the same time be spread out far enough that we don’t make ourselves obvious. Doubtless they have guards, but the Lord of the Lost thought that they wouldn’t be expecting Veriteans. If their base programming is shoddy, I may be effectively invisible to lesser guard proges, and the rest of your virt forms are pretty basic; they shouldn’t attract interest.”