Roger Zelazny - Donnerjack

“He was, but had he defeated me and taken over my kingdom, he would have been imbued with all my knowledge and resources. To explain why this is important, permit me a diversion into matters that some, but not all, gathered here know.

“Quite simply, the crossover attempt is the most important element in a series of actions that will be coordinated around it. The armies that Skyga, Seaga, and, to a lesser extent, Earthma are gathering are not meant to cross into the Verite. Their conflict will occur in Virtu. Further, Skyga is the divine principle behind the Church of Elish.”

“The Hierophant?” Alice asked.

“No.” A very small grin shaped on the lips of the Lord of Entropy. “That is another. Skyga, however, has provided the Hierophant with power and allies. His design is to establish a beachhead within the Verite while in Virtu his forces contend with those of Seaga. If all goes according to plan, there will no longer be the Highest Three, but the Highest Two.”

Jay frowned. “If he has that much power, why would he share with Earthma?”

“Antaeus. The plan was that Earthma would maintain vassalage over her son and thus over the powers of Deep Fields. As both you and Alice have reason to know, the Great Ones create many of their troops from within their imaginations. With Antaeus in charge of Deep Fields, those troops could be ruled immune to the touch of moire. Thus their creator would be freed from the need to resurrect them. That concentration could then be directed elsewhere.”

“But when we came to your rescue,” Jay said with a certain degree of satisfaction, “we kept that from happening.”

“Precisely.”

Desmond Drum briskly rubbed his hands together. “This fits very nicely in with everything else we have learned. My guess is that Skyga no longer maintains whatever trust he had for Earthma…”

“Trust her!” Dubhe muttered, swinging faster.

“…and that she is being relegated to a secondary position.”

“It is too early to be certain,” Death answered, “and my knowledge of those On Highest Meru is less perfect than I would like… although it is improving.”

His grin recalled a skull.

“You said you thought we could win,” Alice reminded him. “How? Skyga alone is still terribly powerful.”

“And,” said Reese Jordan, who was still not comfortable conferring with a principle he had striven to avoid for so long, “why should you care about our casualties? Won’t they simply enrich your Fields?”

“They would most certainly in some cases,” Death’s gaze rested on Tranto, Dubhe, and Mizar, “although for those of Veritean origin the final destination is more problematical. From a merely practical standpoint, any plan that wastes limited but valuable resources would be foolish. I cannot resurrect those who fall and I have no desire to see Skyga win this game.

“However, there are simpler reasons. Gratitude. Friendship. When I needed help, those gathered here assisted me. I would not spend them lightly.”

Reese nodded. “My apologies, but I needed to know.”

“And now you do. Let us move on to the question of tactics. Even without Antaeus, Skyga and Earthma have formidable resources. We will need an ally of their rank.”

“There is only one,” Jay said, “and you can’t mean Seaga! He stole my mother!”

“That he did, and yet that is who I mean.”

“No!”

“Jay,” Tranto said, “he has a point. You saw what one of Earthma’s lesser minions did to me. If we do not have similar allies, any effort we make within Virtu is foredoomed.”

Fuming, Jay bit back his protests and let the Lord of Deep Fields continue.

“We can contact Seaga through Celerity, the messenger of the gods. I have reason to believe that he will convince Seaga to coordinate his activities with ours. Since Celerity is one of those from Higher Meru I cannot meet with him myself—unlike Earthma, he has not trespassed on my prerogatives. Therefore, one of you will need to do so—one of the Veriteans would be best since if he mortally assaults you, your virt projection can be programmed to translate the damage into thrusting you from the site.”

Silence, then Drum spoke. “Let’s settle that after we decide who is doing what elsewhere. Link and I did a lot of research into the Elishites. This, combined with what we learned about Bansa’s device, gives me every reason to believe that there is a hardware component to the crossover. If that is sabotaged, then the crossover may be stopped.”

“Or slowed,” the Lord of Deep Fields said. “Some of the deities have acquired symbiotes whose virt talent enables them to project the deity.”

Drum glanced at Alice, both remembering the day when they had been assaulted by the winged bull.

“There are two likely locations for those devices,” Jay said, “on Meru and at the California Celebration site. And, as I had nearly forgotten in all the excitement, those two sites are associated.”

Quickly he told how he had entered the factory by way of a crossover and found himself on what could only be the Celebration grounds. He concluded:

“I should make my way back to Meru—the Brass Babboon would take me—and check out what I can. If the equipment is on the Virtuan side, I’ll deal with it there. If it’s on the Veritean side, I can cross over and see what can be done.”

Dubhe sighed. “We know you can draw me across the interface, Jay, so I’ll come with you.”

Mizar growled. “And I… can track and fight… with you. I can… flee across… the sites.”

“And I’ll come too, Jay.”

Everyone turned to stare at Alice Hazzard.

“I’m touched, Alice,” he said, trying to be courtly, “but the point of this venture is to be able to cross between Virtu and Verite. Mizar’s taking quite a risk. We certainly can’t ask the Brass Babboon to hang around to pull you out.”

“And recall,” Reese said, “might not work from Meru. It is quite a high realm and not included in the transfer databases.”

“True,” the Lord of Deep Fields said. “Drum only managed a successful recall from Deep Fields because I boosted his signal. As many a bounty or eeksy has found, venturing into the uncharted realms of Virtu can result in death or mutilation.”

Alice smiled smugly. “But I can do just like Jay can. I can cross the interface.”

“What!” Jay said.

Dubhe’s laughter pealed from above. “I told you not to underestimate her, Jay!”

“Ever since I met Ambry, there have been times when I almost felt as if I could cross between,” Alice explained. “Maybe they did something to me to enable me to make the journey to the Land Behind the North Wind—it was a strange enough walk.”

“Activation of dormant programming,” Reese muttered. “It reminds me of what John told me about his and Ayradyss’s first journey from Deep Fields.”

He realized that everyone was looking at him and that Death, at least, was nodding mute agreement.

“Ignore this old man and continue, dear.”

“Well, I had never had my RT self in Virtu and I wasn’t convinced I could manage to insert it without help. When Jay mentioned the moon portal, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to come across in body. I practiced then and I can do it, Jay.”

“You could have crossed out into traffic!”

“That never stopped you from testing your limits, did it, Jay?” Reese laughed. “I guess you can’t make a girl listen to reason any more than you can a boy.”

“So, I can go with Jay,” Alice concluded. “I’m a good snoop, and especially if he gives me a hand like he will Dubhe, I can be there to help if he needs to continue the search in Verite.”

“You can’t put yourself into danger like that!”