“Not really. For a moment I thought you had said another name.”
“Black butterflies… are not… that common.”
“True.” The genius loci turned and regarded the swimming boy. “Do you have a certain time by which you must be back?”
“I don’t… know.”
“Child, where do you live?”
“Castle Donnerjack.”
“When must you be back?”
“I don’t know. I’m probably late, though. Thanks for reminding me.”
He climbed out, shook himself, and stood in the sun.
“Thanks for the swim.”
“Any time, John Donnerjack. Are you sure you can find your way back?”
Young Donnerjack glanced at Mizar. “Can you sniff out the trail?” The beast lowered his head. “It is… still there,” he said. “Good. We’ll go then. Now.”
“Come back,” said the genius loci. “We will. Thank you.”
They rushed through the woods, and after a time Mizar slowed.
“What’s the matter?” asked young Donnerjack.
“Scent’s getting… weak. I’m not sure… what’s going on.”
“This place looks a little strange, too.”
Mizar looked in all directions.
“You’re… right. We didn’t… come this way,” he said. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Your father’s machine… keeps the locales… shifting. We must be… somewhere else… than where we… started.”
“Of course. What should we do?”
“I don’t know. It seems… that I once… could track through domains. But I don’t… remember how. Given time… I’ll find it.”
“Dack will be worrying. I have an idea. Can you get us back to where we were?”
“Come on. Let’s hurry.”
He wheeled and trotted. Donnerjack followed.
“Genius loci! Genius loci!” Donnerjack called. “Could we talk to you again?”
A green head appeared amid nearby foliage. “Yes, child?” it asked.
“Dad’s machine has phased away from us. Could you call that friend of his—Dr. Jordan—and ask whether he could help us to find our way back?”
“Of course. I am already— Ah, there he is now.”
A diminutive holoform of the scientist appeared before them.
“Yes, Caltrice,” he said. “What— Who are these?”
“The son of your friend Donnerjack and his dog, Mizar. They’re lost. Do you know the way to show them back to Castle Donnerjack?”
“I can figure it quickly. Give me a moment. What is your name, boy?”
“John D’Arcy Donnerjack, Junior.”
“I do see the resemblance.”
Reese’s figure adjusted itself to normal size and solidity. “I remember the phase periods he’d installed,” he began.
“Yes. I’d guess there’ve been maybe three of them since we left.”
“Just what I wanted to know. How much time did you spend here in Caltrice’s locus?”
“An hour maybe. We talked. I went swimming.”
“Very good—I can adjust for that. You haven’t been gone as long as you might think. Time passes strangely in Caltrice’s locus. Thank you for contacting me, Caltrice.”
“My pleasure, Reese. Don’t be gone too long.”
“I won’t.” Reese turned to face the boy and his battered dog. “Which direction did you come from?”
With a creaking of joints, Mizar pointed.
“That… way,” he said.
“Come with me now. I’ll get you back.”
They followed the tall, lean figure through the wood.
“Didn’t know Donnerjack had a son,” Jordan said after a time.
“Yes.”
“How is he these days?”
“He died when I was quite young.”
Reese fell silent, something in the line of his shoulders changing, but his steps as he led them remained steady.
“I had been working with him on a project, then all calls ceased. I worried… Why didn’t he have me told?”
“I don’t think he wanted anyone to know.” the boy said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I never thought about it. It’s always been this way.”
“The castle’s answering service just tells people he’s traveling.”
“That’s what it’s supposed to do, I think.”
“So who takes care of you? I wasn’t real clear on your mother’s status.”
“She’s dead, too. They’re buried next to each other in the family graveyard. Robots take care of me—Dack and Voit and Cookie. And my friends, like Mizar.”
“That sounds terrible. John must have had a good reason for setting things up that way, though. But time has passed. Most likely, the authorities—”
A small voice suddenly came from the bracelet:
“I was not going to activate this function till he achieved majority, save in the case of an emergency—which this is. I’m asking you not to notify the authorities of this peculiar living arrangement, old friend. It would put my son into more danger than it would protect him from. You must trust my judgment in this. I will arrange for you to be a welcome visitor at Castle Donnerjack whenever you wish. But do not attempt to remove my son from the premises.”
“John!”
Young Donnerjack just stared at the bracelet, his eyes round but unafraid.
“John?”
“Not in the flesh, Reese, but believe that I speak the will of John D’Arcy Donnerjack—the father of this boy. If you remove him into Verite proper, the odds are very good that you will place him in considerable danger.”
“But a visit like this to Virtu… ?”
“That’s all right. He has been venturing so since he was an infant and no harm has come to him.”
“I shall trust your judgment, John. May we continue this conversation if I come to call?”
“Of course, providing that you do not attempt to remove this bracelet from my boy’s wrist.”
“Even dead you manage to intrigue me. I’ll do as you say.”
“Are you really in my bracelet, Father?” the boy asked at last.
“Not really,” came Donnerjack Senior’s voice. “But my personality overlays an AI which knows much that I did.”
“I don’t understand. Is it you or isn’t it?”
“I’m not so sure that I do either. I feel like me, but then this thing I put together is supposed to be that way. Let’s say that I am a very clever computer construct and act on that assumption. It would make me feel better and avoid a lot of metaphysics.”
“What are metaphysics?”
“Something I wish to avoid.”
The boy laughed. Both men’s voices joined him.
“I don’t know a lot about what’s funny and what isn’t,” the boy said plaintively.
“Basically, if it makes you laugh it’s funny,” Reese said, squeezing his shoulder. “Should make you feel sort of good inside, too.”
“—And if you don’t understand a joke, tell us and we’ll explain,” said the bracelet.
They rounded a bend and Reese said, “That’s the Stage up ahead, isn’t it?”
“Sure looks like it.”
“I’ll be wanting to talk to both of you again.”
“I’ll tell Dack to start receiving your calls,” said the bracelet, “and, as I said, you’ll always be welcome at the castle. I take it your health continues to hold?”
“Better than before.”
“Wonderful. Yes, we’ll talk again. Thanks for being a guide.”
They parted and young Donnerjack entered the Stage.
“I will hibernate again,” said the bracelet. “Go and eat.”
Mizar made a sound halfway between a growl and a faulty engine, curled up at stage center, and closed his eyes. Young Donnerjack departed the Stage.
“Dack, I’m back,” he called out.