The gnome began scanning ahead of the ship, the wind whipping his filthy tie around his neck. "You see, this device works on a certain amount of latent psionic energy present in the mind of the operator. You need not be a fully accredited psionicist to use it, since we all possess a certain degree of-"
"Dyffed," interrupted Teldin. "I haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about. Pretend that I'm stupid, then explain it to me."
"Oh," said the gnome. "Well, um, what you do… you think of something, then you look for it through here"-he indicated the dark glass window on the box with a finger- "and then the box front, here, lets you see the object. I tried to locate you once with this, before we left Ironpiece, and got the most curious reaction when this perfectly imbecilic moron got in the way. Would you believe that this silly box said that this obviously low-grade-but-still-gnomish gnome was actually you? I was quite annoyed, really. Thought I was going to have my funding cut off for it, but then the hamsters escaped, and you know, I can't see a single thing through this." The gnome lowered the red box and turned it over. "Ah. Forgot to turn it on." He made a final adjustment, then looked through it again. "Ah, much better. One Six Nine, One Six Nine, One Six Nine… really quite a nice chap, I must say. Makes an excellent carrot dip. I remember once when I came here with-"
"Can you find the Spelljammer with that?" Teldin asked abruptly, amazed he hadn't thought to ask before now.
"Why, certainly," said Dyffed, "if it's in this sphere, then we should. ." The gnome swung the thingfinder in several wide arcs, eventually covering the range of the sky and ship. ''Well, so much for that. Must be in another crystal sphere. Back to One Six Nine. Fine chap, as I was saying-"
"Dyffed," interrupted Teldin again. "If you've been to this sphere before, and you've visited One Six Nine's home, then why don't you know the way to get there? Why didn't you say anything about what we should expect when we got to this sphere, like these 'megafauna' you talk about?"
"What?" The gnome lowered the thingfinder and looked at Teldin in surprise. "Oh, well, I… I…" He looked confused, staring at the view wi th a vaguely troubled look. "I forgot about it, I'm afraid. Because this sphere pops ships inside it, so they never go through it, it's almost impossible to come in where you want to be. You just can't tell from the outside, you know. I also meant to tell you about the mega-fauna, I really did. I was going to say something about the antimagical water, too, since I've read some papers about that-quite fascinating, really. The megafauna's tracks destroy all magical power beneath them, simply crush it out, voiding the dweomer. We are speaking of pressures greater than three point one four one five nine two six five three five nine times ten to the thirty-seventh power scruples per square acre, of course, far beyond any known magical tolerance levels, once the megafauna puts down its foot-a process which takes centuries, as you can imagine. There are local legends in Herd-space to the effect that eventually all of the megafauna will crush out ail magical power, and magic will cease to exist in this sphere. That's the 'Quiet Whimper' theory, you see, and the other view is the 'Unsteady State' theory, in which the footsteps taken by megafauna after the magic is crushed out will then bring magic back. A fascinating idea, the latter, but, as yet, there's no real-"
"Wait," Teldin interrupted. "One more question: How do we get out of this sphere?"
"Ah!" Dyffed's face lit up. "Ah, I did see that. You simply dive back toward the place you came in! Marvelous system. The gateways open up at regular intervals, the same time each day for an hour or so, and-assuming that you've been able to time your exit using a properly built timekeeping device, such as gnomes are known for making-you leave!"
"Good," said Teldin in relief. "Now, look for the fal."
"The fal, yes," said the gnome, raising the red box to his face again. He rotated, scanning the sky in all directions at eye level, then looked higher. "Perhaps this cursed device really is just a tad out of adjustme-oh! By Reorx!" The excited gnome started to point to a place forward, up, and to the starboard side of the ship, then did a very unexpected thing. He dropped the red box.
Stunned, Teldin lunged for the box, which bounced on the deck toward the side of the ship. His fingers missed a clean grab, instead knocking the box back on the deck and away from him. Dyffed lunged for the box again and missed, stumbling over his own feet to fall facedown on the deck. Teldin lunged for the thingfinder, slapping a hand over it and pinning it to the deck.
Heaving a sigh, Teldin pulled the thingfinder to him and picked it up. As Dyffed mumbled apologies, Teldin held up the box as he had seen Dyffed do, placing the glass plate in front of his face. He tried to face it in the same direction as the gnome had aimed it, thinking all the while about a giant, balking black slug-as best as he could visualize one.
Almost at once, he felt a sort of tickling sensation inside his head. It was difficult to describe it as anything else. The image of a giant slug sharpened in his mind until he thought he would see it: a creature perhaps a third the length of the old Probe, gleaming black and very thick. From the near end of the beast sprouted a handful of whiplike tentacles, two of them especially thick and having bulbous ends. Between the tentacle roots was a huge, circular mouth rimmed with a double row of long yellow-gray fangs. Curiously, above the treat central mouth was a large human-type mouth.
With a shock, Teldin realized that he was. looking at such a creature. It was clearly visible before him. He knew that the image was not displayed on the glass plate of the thingfinder; Instead, the view of the fal replaced his normal vision, blocking out everything else as if it were the only object in sight. The being appeared to be resting, stretched out full length on invisible ground somewhere.
Abruptly, the bulbous antennae writhed and moved, weeping slowly around as if searching for something nearby.
A sense of dread grew in the back of Teldin's mind, and he was certain that somehow the creature knew it was being watched, but he fought the urge to tear his gaze away from it. This is impossible, he thought; what I'm seeing is merely some sort of magical image the thingfinder is creating. Even if this was the mul, it could not possibly know that-
The creature lifted the front third of its great bulk into the air with an unhurried motion. The head-if he could call it that-tilted and moved until it was aimed directly at Teldin, one two thickest antennae pointing at him from their widely separated directions. The upper humanlike mouth moved.
You are greeted. The sensation of the beast's words in Teldin's mind was nothing at all like that when he had once
Chapter Fourteen
"Are those the scro?" Teldin asked, pointing aft at the swarm of distant objects on the horizon. He felt like a fool to ask, but he wanted to be sure.
"That they are, sir!" Gomja shouted, unnecessarily loudly. "We're clearing the deck for helm changeover, so you'll have to come inside! You, too, Mister Jammermaker!"
Teldin quickly got to his feet and headed for the open hatch, still not entirely comfortable to be walking around on the open deck so far from the ground. "We found the fal!" he called. "It's off that way, ahead but up and to the right, to starboard!" He looked down at Dyffed, but the gnome was busy watching the approaching fleet through his thingfinder. Teldin grabbed the gnome by the shoulders and propelled him toward the hatch.
One minute later, Teldin pulled the hatch shut behind him and bolted it tight, then descended the last few rungs on the ladder to the deck. He fought down a brief surge of claustrophobia, telling himself that one day he wouldn't have to face being cooped up in a gnomish ship ever again-at least, not if the gods were kind.