“That’s a comfort,” Drum said. “Let’s start walking.”
“Factory, yes. I wouldn’t have thought to call it that myself,” Alice said, “but I can see exactly where you were coming from, Virginia.”
Looking through his binoculars up the slope of Mount Meru, Jay Donnerjack inspected the long, blocky building that was set into a cut on the slope. It was constructed from a standard fieldstone template that blended nicely with the surrounding rock and scrub brush terrain; otherwise, it was rather unimaginative.
“I don’t see what you’re seeing,” he admitted, “but then I don’t think I’ve ever seen a factory.”
Alice stared at him, but Drum nodded understandingly.
“From what you’ve told us about your upbringing, I’d be surprised if you had,” he said. “Most of your jaunts were in Virtu and the unreal World doesn’t exactly need manufacturing plants.”
He placed a hand on Jay’s arm, his manner suddenly reminding the younger man of Reese Jordan.
“Take a look. Jay. We’ve got a building here with minimal exterior decoration—all of those temples went for adornment in a big way. So we have a utilitarian structure. Next, note the near absence of windows. Even in Virtu, buildings tend to follow the Veritean custom and allow for ‘natural’ light.”
“I’m with you so far,” Jay prompted.
“Then there are the large bay doors neatly spaced along the front, each with road in front of them rather than paths or sidewalks. Clearly these are meant to facilitate the delivery of building materials and the removal of completed products.”
“Okay,” Jay said, “we have a factory here. Why? What purpose would that serve? Legend says that the gods on Meru can imagine whatever they want—that this is how they create their armies and minions.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw the odd expression that crossed Alice’s face.
“Uh, sorry, Alice. That was kind of tactless of me.”
“No, that’s all right, Jay. I’m mostly comfortable with my dad’s history, but sometimes it’s weird.”
“Later, folks,” Drum cut in. “Jay, I can’t answer your question. I don’t know enough.”
Dubhe lowered his binoculars. “I have an idea. What if they’re duplicating whatever it was that Warren Bansa carried across the interface? What if that factory is making artifacts? That would explain the design of the structure.”
“You mean hard copy?” Jay said. “Here?”
“Why not? Bansa’s device supposedly had the ability to permit full-body crossover between the universes. If they applied some aspect of that, then they could create Veritean material, or something that could exist in both places.”
“That’s an unsettling idea,” Jay said, “but it has potential.”
“Another possibility,” Virginia added, “is that the ‘factory’ is a manifestation of one of the divinities—sort of a genius loci meant to guard the area or control operations within.”
“Or it could be both,” Alice said, “an idea that does not fill me with joy.”
“Me either,” Drum said, “but any plan we make is going to need to take both possibilities into account.”
“Now that you’ve seen the structure do you have any ideas?” Jay asked somewhat diffidently. He had hoped to have a brainstorm himself, but the factory only filled him with dread and a certainty that he could never succeed.
“At first we considered having Dubhe go up and scout,” Drum said, “but the Lord of Entropy considered you best for the job. Now, you’re here ‘in the flesh,’ right?”
“That’s right,” Jay said. “If I buy it here, that’s it.”
“True, but you’re also the only one of us who is really a Veritean at this moment. The rest of us are wearing virt forms—despite his unusual history, Dubhe is at baseline a proge.”
“True,” Dubhe said, “repaired and enhanced by the Lord of Deep Fields, but essentially a proge.”
“So I go up alone?” Jay said.
“That’s right,” Drum answered. “Scout. Go in if you can and fulfill your quest. If you can’t do it alone, then come for us. At the least, we’ll have more information.”
“And the rest of you?”
“We’ll lie low, be ready to help, learn what we can that might help us to find Wolfer Martin D’Ambry.”
Jay considered. “As much as it scares me to admit it, your plan makes sense. I’ll do it.”
“I’ve taken a look at the layout,” Virginia said. Her tone was flat, although she was evidently struggling to seem normal. “If you can climb down from the slopes above and behind the factory, you’ll avoid any guard or wards set for the front approach.”
“Climbing is something I’m very good at,” Jay said with a fond glance at Dubhe. “I’ve had a good teacher in Virtu and gone all over Castle Donnerjack.”
“Do it then,” Virginia said. “Given the setup, the back is probably less heavily guarded. They’d count on terrain to do the job. Of course, all bets are off if the structure is a genius loci.”
“Right,” Jay said. “I’ll remember that.”
He looked at his comrades, suddenly a bit awkward, eager to be away and eager to have an excuse to stay. Since when was he so full of contradictory emotions?
“I guess I’ll be off now.”
Drum shook his hand. Virginia nodded, retired already into her private world of pain and loss now that her talents were not immediately needed. Blushing lightly pink, Alice Hazzard kissed him on the cheek.
“Good luck, Jay.”
Dubhe gave one of his wicked chuckles. “And don’t grab any rotten branches, Jay.”
“I won’t,” he promised.
Then he turned, walked into the brush, and was gone.
“But, Carla, I really think we should go. Think about it—gods on Earth! How often do you think such a thing will happen?”
“Quite frequently, dear, if the Church of Elish is to be believed. This California Celebration is being heralded as the mark of a new era.”
“Still, Carla, I’m going to purchase tickets both for us and for Cindy. You can stay home if you want. I fancy I’ll be able to scalp your ticket.”
“Abel, you’ll do no such thing. The Elshies have quite a way of handling people who cross them and they’ve already made it perfectly clear that scalpers will be handled severely. I, at least, take their threats seriously. Look at what they did to that poor anthropologist. He’s still in hiding, they say. Personally, I think they’ve killed him.”
“Then you’ll come?”
“I’ve made no promises.”
“Thank you, dear. I wonder if I should get tickets for Lydia and Alice? I think the girl has some interest in the Elishites.”
“Surely not in joining them!”
“Oh, no. She was doing some research—a report for school, I think. I saw Arthur Eden’s book on her reader one time when I was visiting.”
“Well, if it would be educational…”
“Then you will come!”
“Oh, Abel, you are such a child! Of course, I’ll come if it means that much to you.”
“We’ll bring a picnic and make a day of it. It should be lovely.”
“Better bring umbrellas, too. Remember what happened in Central Park.”
“Good point…”
Mizar ran across the realms of Virtu, directing his way down, always down, for Deep Fields lies beneath the areas that others frequent, although, paradoxically, it is tangential to any and all but a very few.