Диана Дуэйн - High Wizardry

But I don't want. .

She trailed off. She didn't know what she wanted. Nita put her head down in her hands, trying to think.

No answers came: only more problems. Thoughts of Kit backing her up when she was terrified, cheering her up when she was annoyed, Kit being the solid, reliable voice in the other half of a spell the presence on the far side of the circle, matching her cadence exactly, for the fun and the challenge of it. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with having a best friend?

He's a boy, that's what. It's changing. I'm changing.

I'm scared.

She gazed up through unending night, down at oncoming morning, and tried to work out what to do. Has he noticed this happening to him too? And suppose he starts liking someone else better than me? Will he want to keep the team going? If only I knew what he was thinking. .

Then she let out a sad and annoyed breath. It's probably nothing, she thought. Everything is probably fine. .

". . oh, so much is wasted," sang the earphones, "and oh so little used! but the trick of the dreamer is keeping yourself from the blues-"

Hah, Nita thought. I wish it were that simple. . And the voice that sang cried out at her, so sudden and defiant that she sat erect with startlement

"Everyone's a hero if you want to be! Everyone's a prisoner holding their own key! And every step I take, every move I make, — I'm always one step closer I don't mind running alone!"

It was Steve Perry's fierce, clear voice, uplifted in almost angry encouragement, hitting the chorus hard.

He went on, singing something about children and concrete canyons, but Nita was still full of that startlement and hardly heard. Even Dairine, she thought. There's some job out there that only she can do.

… She had not thought of it in this light before, and the thought of Dairine as a hero staggered her, and annoyed her for a moment. Her? The runt?

But then Nita felt ashamed. What had she been herself, not more than a few months ago? Basically a coward, afraid of everything, including herself- friendless, quiet and smart but with no one to do any good by being so. Things were different now: but who was she to deny Dairine her chance at being more than she had been? And every step I take, every move I make, I'm always one step closer. .

And if she can do that, Nita thought after a moment, I can sure ask him what he thinks about things.

A sudden movement off to one side brought Nita's head around with a snap. In utter silence, silvery-white dust was kicking up in a vague pale cloud from where a tall man in a polo shirt and shorts was standing. Tom bounced over to where Nita sat, being careful of his footing. Nita admired the way he bounced: he had obviously had a lot of practice at the kangaroo hop that works well in low gravities.

He paused not too far from Nita to let her shieldspell recognize his and allow it to infringe, then sat down beside Nita on the boulder, casting an analytical eye over her spell diagram. "Very neat," he said. "Nice structure. Carl has been contaminating you, I see."

"Thanks."

"Kit just called me," Tom said, brushing dust off himself. "He'll be up in a few. . he's just settling things with his folks. I'm going to be talking to them later." Tom smiled wearily. "This seems to be my night."

"Yeah."

More silverdust kicked up, closer and to the right. There was Kit, with his knapsack over his back and Picchu on one shoulder. "All set," he said to Tom. He looked at Nita and said, "They hollered a lot. But I think my dad is proud. Mom seems pretty calm about it." Then he laughed, a little wickedly. "My sisters are in shock."

"Can't say that I blame them."

Nita got up, dusting herself off. "Okay," Tom said. "I wanted to see you two off up here, because there's data you'll need that your parents don't. Something major is going on out there. Dairine is not going to run into just some bunch of lackeys for the Lone Power out there. That one Itself is after her. But I have no indication why. And Its power is oddly veiled, at the moment-concentrated, and hidden. I don't think this manifestation of the Lone Power is going to be as obvious as it has recently. So find Dairine, and look carefully at the situation. If it looks like she needs to be where she is, stay with her and do what you can for her."

He paused. "But you are going to have to be very careful. The Lone One won't mind distracting her by striking at you two… or using her danger to sucker you into pulling her out of the problem she's intended to correct. Use your judgment. Save her if you can."

"And if we can't?" Kit said.

Tom looked at him sadly. "See that the job gets done," he said, "whatever it is."

They were both quiet.

"There's no telling what the stakes are on this one," Tom said. "The looks of the situation may be deceiving. . probably will. Can you take this job and do it? Don't go if you can't. If either of you isn't sure you can depend on yourself, or on the both of you, I don't want you in this. Too much can go wrong."

Kit looked at Nita, then back at Tom. "It's cool," he said.

Nita nodded. Tom looked at her.

"I know," he said. "You're upset about her. All right. . you'll have a while to shake down, while you chase her. Meantime, Carl and I have sent word ahead through the Network, so that a lot of people will be expecting you." He smiled. "You're going to find that the way wizards have to behave on Earth is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the major law-enforcement bodies in this part of the Galaxy routinely call wizards in for consultations, and they owe us a lot of favors. So don't be afraid to ask the authorities wherever you go for help. Odds are you'll get it."

"Okay."

"So get out of here. And good hunting."

"Thanks."

"Come here, bird," Tom said to Picchu. Nita looked up in surprise, expecting an explosion: Picchu did not take orders. She was surprised to see the macaw clamber up onto Tom's arm and reach up to nibble his ear. Tom scratched her in the good place, on the back of the head, and she went vague in the eyes for a couple of minutes, then ruffled the neck feathers up and shook herself. "You be careful," Tom said.

"I'll be fine," Picchu said, sounding cranky.

Nita repacked her knapsack, slung it on, and flipped her manual open to the marked pages with the verbal supplement for the transit spell as Tom passed Peach back to Kit. She caught Kit's eye, stepped into the circle at the same time he did. Tom backed away. Slowly, and in unison, they began to read, and the air trapped in their shieldspells began to sing the note ears sing in silence. .

As the spell threw them out of the Solar System, Nita wondered whether she would ever see it again. .

Uplink

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"Dead," Dairine whispered. "I'm dead for sure."

"Input error," said the computer, sounding quite calm.

Dairine's heart leapt. "Are you busted?!" she cried.