John Varley - Wizard

"But you're right. I didn't do it because I wanted to. I was paid, like I'm paid for all the work I do for Gaea. I'd have passed this one up, but the wages turned out to be too good."

"What was it?"

"Eternal youth." She grinned. "Or near enough to it. Rocky gets it free, for being the Wizard. I found out not too long after I got here that the offer didn't extend to me. So I worked out this arrangement with Gaea. I'm getting immortality on the installment plan. The thing about being a free-lance, you don't get the medical benefits of a salaried employee. If Gaea ever runs out of things for me to do, I'm washed up. I'll probably shrivel up in a day."

"You're not serious."

"No. I expect I'll just start to age. It might be more rapidly. But I've got this-hey, where's Rocky?"

Chris looked behind him, then realized Hornpipe had gone to the front to blaze trail. A fog had descended, further worsening the visibility. He could barely see Robin and Hautbois, and Hornpipe was completely swallowed in the mist.

Psaltery surged ahead, and Valiha quickened her pace to draw even with Hautbois. The two teams quickly caught Gaby, who was engaged in heated conversation with Hornpipe.

"She said she was going back to speak to you, and-"

"Are you sure, Hornpipe?"

"What are you... oh. I didn't, honest. She said she was going to ride with you for a while. She might be hurt. Perhaps she fell, and-"

"Not bloody likely." Gaby scowled and rubbed her forehead. "You can stay here, backtrack a little, see if you can find her. The rest of us will go on. I'm pretty sure I know where she is."

Machu Picchu perched high above the layer of cottony clouds. It was possible to stand on the front porch of the Melody Shop, lit by the incredible celestial spotlight, and look out over a vast sea of mist that stretched between the highland cliff ramparts, north to south. It spilled from the invisible spoke mouth over Oceanus and came tumbling over Hyperion. In places updrafts had rolled themselves into fluffy, hollow tubes as they passed into higher and thus slower-moving regions of the atmosphere. The tubes were cyclonic disturbances set on edge and attentuated until they looked like toppled tornadoes. They were called mistrollers. Occasionally violent storms came out of Oceanus, and those were called steamrollers.

Chris stood watching the clouds while the others went in searching for Cirocco. Presently he heard the sound of glass breaking and a heavy object hitting the floor. Someone shouted. He heard feet pounding up a staircase, pursued by the odd sound of Titanide hooves on carpet. After a while a door slammed, and the sounds ceased. He continued to watch the mist.

Gaby came out, holding a wet towel to her face.

"Well, it looks like we'll be here another day, getting her on her feet." She stood beside Chris, catching her breath. "Is anything wrong?"

"I'm fine," Chris lied.

"It was pretty slick, what she did," Gaby said. "She called Titantown with a radio seed she'd hidden. Nobody's sure what she said, but it sounded like she was in trouble because she told a friend to blimp in and wait for her beside the road. The fog was her doing. She told Gaea she needed some cover. She slipped away and joined up with the Titanide, who brought her here. She's been here three revs, which is time for a lot of drinking. So we'll have to ... hey, are you sure you're okay?"

He didn't have time for her questions. The fog was rearing up like a monstrous wave. There were foul beasts hiding in the basement. He could hear them. When he reached out blindly, he grabbed the blackened arm of a pale corpse who yammered, worms crawling from her mouth, reaching out for him... .

He began to scream.

Robin looked up as Gaby joined her on the porch. She had been sitting on the steps, reading a yellowing manuscript she had found in Cirocco's study. It was a fascinating work, a description of the interactions of flora and fauna and ... the only word for them was undecided organisms, all living within a kilometer of the Melody Shop. It was not a scholarly book but was written in an economical style that Robin found wonderfully readable. The manuscript had been sitting atop a rolltop desk beside a shelf of books containing a dozen volumes authored by C. Jones.

"How are the patients?" Robin asked. Gaby looked haggard. She doubted the woman had slept since the encampment by the river ... how long ago? Two dekarevs? Three? Possibly she had not even slept then.

"Wrong verb," Gaby said, sitting beside her. "How is the patience? Yours."

Robin shrugged. "I'm not in a hurry. I'm broadening my mind. I had no idea the Wizard could write so well."

Gaby batted an imaginary fly in front of her face, looking sour.

"I wish you'd stop calling her the Wizard. It gives her too much to live up to. She's just a human being, like you."

"I know that ... maybe you're right. I'll stop."

"Well, I didn't mean to snap at you." She looked out over the lawn. "The patients are doing as well as can be expected. Chris has stopped screaming, but he's still curled up in the corner. Valiha can't get him to eat. Rocky's locked in her bedroom. All the booze went over the bridge, so far as I know. Of course, with an alcoholic, you are never sure. She could have it hidden anywhere." She put her face in her hands as if to rest for a moment. Robin saw her mouth twist and heard a pitiful sound. Gaby was crying.

"I have her locked up in her room," she managed to say between the hoarse sobs. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it's come to this. When she sees me, she curses. She pukes her guts out and sweats and shivers, and I can't do a thing about it. I can't help her."

Robin was mortified. She had no idea what to do. Sitting beside a woman one respected and watching her consumed with tears was an unthinkable situation. She did not know what to do with her hands. She fingered the pages of the manuscript in her lap, stopped when she realized she was shredding it

With a shock, she remembered crying in front of Hautbois. That had been different, of course. Hautbois had said so, and she had soon realized it was all right. But the Titanide had not just sat there.

Hesitantly, Robin put her arm over Gaby's shoulders. Gaby responded, apparently without shame, turning and burying her face in Robin's shoulder.

"It's all right," Robin said.

"I loved her so much," Gaby moaned. "I still love her. What a joke. After seventy-five years, I still love her."

Gaby lifted Cirocco's head from the pillow and held a glass to her lips.

"Drink this. It's good for you."

"What is it?"

"Pure, fresh water. The best thing in the world."

Cirocco's lips were pale in a moist gray face. Gaby could feel the dampness in the tangled hair as she held Cirocco's head steady with one hand in back. There was a lump there, picked up when she cracked it against the brass bar at the head of the bed.

She sipped, then began to drink noisily.

"Hey, hey, not too much at once. You haven't kept much down lately."

"But I'm thirsty, Gaby," Cirocco whined. "Listen, babe, I won't yell at you anymore. I'm sorry I did." Her voice took on a wheedling tone. "But listen, honey, I'd do just about anything for a drink. Just for old times' sake-"

Gaby clapped her hands to Cirocco's cheeks and pressed them together, making her lips pout in a way that would have been comical in other circumstances. Cirocco cringed back, her eyes red and frightened. She far outweighed Gaby but seemed to have no thought of struggling. All the fight had gone out of her.

"No," Gaby said. "No today, and no tomorrow. I didn't know if I could keep on saying no, so I destroyed all the liquor in the house, so don't even bother to ask me anymore, okay?"

Tears were leaking from the corners of Cirocco's eyes, but Gaby, looking closely, was sickened to see a hint of craftiness there. So there was a cache, something put by for an emergency. At least it wasn't in this room. The door must be kept locked.