The dog Val padded over to Arne, sniffed his fingers, and then returned to his place between his favorites, Roszt and Kaynor. Arne stood behind the others and stared at the len. It showed a street lined with buildings, wonderful buildings such as he had never imagined. Some of them extended upward far beyond the len’s reach. The people on the walkways along the street wore strange and dazzlingly colored clothing. Their behavior was even stranger. They hurried swiftly until they came to a cross street. Then they gathered in groups and stood motionless. Arne was familiar with the mock car that Ellar had built for Egarn—he had even sat in it while Egarn tried to explain how it worked—but this had not prepared him for the sight of numerous cars in a variety of colors moving magically along the street in both directions. Suddenly they came to an an orderly stop, and the waiting people rushed across the street and resumed their frenzied walking. Arne found it totally bewildering.
Egarn became aware of his presence and welcomed him with a smile. “Finally I have succeeded!” he exclaimed. “Now I can choose a time and a place and see it clearly. I can send Roszt and Kaynor exactly where I want them to go, and I can watch them after they arrive there. Maybe I can even send them messages—if we write in this language and use code words, no one there will be able to read them if they miscarry. The picture is clear enough to show Roszt and Kaynor what life is like where they are going, and that means they will be much better prepared. I think we have an excellent chance for success. A few more experiments—”
He broke off. It suddenly occurred to him that Arne, the busiest person in the peerdom, wouldn’t make the laborious descent to his workroom merely to exchange greetings. He asked anxiously, “Is anything wrong?”
Wiltzon had kept Egarn informed about the dramatic events at Midlow Court. Now Arne described what had occurred recently and told them about his journey and the creation of an army. The others were enthralled, but Egarn listened impatiently. “It is a turn for the better, I suppose,” he said when Arne had finished. “The only problem with Midlow all along has been its prince. Now there is a different prince. We can relax a bit.”
“We can’t relax, ever,” Arne said. He dropped his voice. “There are things we need to discuss privately.”
“Is the former prince making trouble?”
The question surprised Arne until he remembered that everyone, including himself, had expected Deline to make trouble. He told Egarn she was becomming an excellent assistant.
“I suppose she is a considerable nuisance to you personally,” Egarn said. “You have her living in Midd Village, and you have to work with her and train her, but you will handle things. You always do.”
Arne led Egarn to the room’s most remote corner and quietly asked him what he thought about a one-namer becoming the prince’s consort. “The only advice I have is what the Old Med gave me,” Egarn said. “If you refuse, you will make an enemy. If you accept, if you establish a real friendship with the prince, you will have an invaluable connection with the court and a lifelong patron. Of course you should do it.” He added, with a gesture of finality, “You have no choice.”
The trap had closed; there was no way out. Arne protested feebly, “I would have to neglect my work at a critical times.”
“You’ll manage,” Egarn said. “Anyway, it won’t last long. Peerager matings never do. I didn’t have any choice, and neither do you.” He dismissed the subject with a shrug. “Look—I want to show you something.”
He hurried Arne back to the large len’s flickering picture. Gevis stepped aside so Egarn could take the controls, and with practiced precision the old man turned knobs that moved the meticulously carved wood gears.
The picture changed to a different street with fewer cars and much smaller buildings.
“These places mean nothing to you, of course,” Egarn said. “What you saw before was downtown Rochester, New York. This is a small town in Ohio. I have been there—I recognized it immediately when I chanced on it. It helped me with my calibrations, and it is the place I am going to send Roszt and Kaynor. It has a bank that should be easy to rob. They can buy a car there and be in another state before morning. Then they can settle somewhere and learn something about living in the 20th century before they go to Rochester.”
“When will this happen?” Arne asked.
Egarn raised his hands wearily. “There is so much for them to learn, and they are still having serious problems with the language. They will have only one chance, and they must be as carefully prepared as possible. With everything going so well, I have to resist the temptation to rush things.”
“Certainly you shouldn’t send them before they are ready,” Arne agreed.
Later, Arne took Egarn and Inskel to the sleeping room, where they could talk undisturbed, and told them of his conversation with Fornzt.
“It wouldn’t have been possible to do this earlier because we didn’t have the materials,” Inskel said. “Now we can do it easily, thanks to Fornzt’s explorations. My work here is almost finished. There isn’t anything I can contribute to Roszt and Kaynor’s education. I easily can make the necessary duplicates.”
Egarn nodded. “It is well thought of. Inskel can begin with the smaller parts. The larger ones can be made in the new workroom when it is ready. Will it be located somewhere else in the ruins?”
“Yes, but somewhere remote from here. You and Inskel can escape to it if everything else fails.”
“Roszt and Kaynor, also,” Egarn said. “From this time on, they will be more important than we are. But why do you suddenly bring this up now? Do you sense some kind of danger?”
Arne smiled. “You must remember I was trained from childhood to consider not only what will happen but also what might happen. So I keep looking ahead, and I plan for the bad as well as the good.”
“Fortunately for us,” Inskel said, and Egarn nodded.
Egarn returned to workroom, but Arne held Inskel back for a few private words. “The attitude of the new prince, and the fact that the ten peers have finally been persuaded to cooperate, may make it possible to write the history of these times far differently than we anticipated.”
“It is almost the first cheerful news I have heard in my lifetime,” Inskel said. “But we mustn’t forget the Peerdom of Lant and its enormous army. Unless Lant can be defeated, this land has no future.”
“Exactly. But I don’t want Egarn to launch his mission until we find out what is going to happen.”
“Yes. Yes, I see what you mean. We have no obligation to save some other civilization by destroying ours. If we are capable of achieving our own bright future, that is what we must fight for. Egarn looks at this differently. The other civilization he wants to save is his own. I agree with you completely. Nothing need be said now, but if Egarn tries to rush things, I will insist that Roszt and Kaynor aren’t to be sent anywhere without your consent.”
Arne took his leave of them and hurried away. The walk back to Midd Village always seemed much longer in the dark, and this one seemed longer than usual, but at the end of it he finally was able to go to bed.
He spent the next day catching up on his work and talking with various villagers whose opinions mattered to him. He wanted to talk with Deline again, to tell her—but there was nothing he tell her except that he still wanted her to wive him and he hoped she would wait until her sister had tired of him. A passionate woman like her could find a mate easily. He wished—but what he wished didn’t matter. Egarn and the others were right. He had no choice.
When he returned to Midlow Court, he told the land warden, “Now I am ready to take your advice. I would like to confer with the prince.”