Five Portraits

  “It was for her own good. Her hair was too wild.”

  “That was because it wasn’t meant to be restrained,” Astrid said. “Now she can fly with it. That’s her talent.”

  “Oh, it worked!”

  What? “What worked?”

  “We thought if we put her in a place where she could escape only by flying, she would either develop her hair or tame it. Then she would be complete.”

  “She could have fallen to her death trying!”

  “Apopto was afraid that would happen. But Elip managed to avoid the subject. We were afraid she would never get a man unless she dealt with her hair.”

  Apoptosis and Ellipsis. More puns, meaning programmed cell death and omission. Astrid decided not to comment.

  “Well, she got a man,” Mitch said tightly. Then, to Astrid: “Let’s move on.”

  Because obviously Tiara was not here. “Let’s.”

  They walked away from Cry. Then when they were alone, Mitch removed and replaced another sequin, this time keeping his eyes closed.

  This time they were in a field they recognized: “This is where we insulted Fracto, and he blew up a storm, flooded us out, and we wound up at the island of Doctor Moribund,” Mitch said.

  “Kandy and I were just there,” Astrid said. “If she showed up there, they would help her return.”

  “So let’s try again.”

  They tried again. And found themselves in the castle in Fornax Galaxy. No one was there, and of course Fracto couldn’t have blown anyone from one galaxy to another.

  The next site Mitch recognized instantly: “Punic Curse, my home village. Let me check.”

  He did, and soon verified that they were not here.

  The next site was the maze of paths through tall cornstalks next to the alien Zoo, where they had been trapped for a time. The maize maze. “We don’t want to stay here long,” Astrid said. “The aliens will try to make us another zoo exhibit.”

  “Right. We’d better move on.” Then he paused. “I just picked up a thought. I think it was Tiara’s.”

  His talent was in receiving and sending thoughts. “Is she here?”

  “I think so. Let me see if I can establish better mental contact with her. It’s not my normal ability, but I love her, and we have been getting closer mentally.” He concentrated. “I connected! She is here! So is Win. We almost missed it. They’re an exhibit.”

  Astrid’s feelings were mixed. “That means they’re safe. But also that it will be difficult to free them. Those aliens are sharp.”

  “Don’t I know it!”

  “Can you send the aliens an idea to free the captives?”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. The idea has to originate with someone else. Then I can relay it. And no, I can’t work it out in discussion, as we are doing now. That’s not an original idea, it’s a manufactured one.”

  That made sense. Most talents had limits. “When we were here before,” Astrid said, returning to the subject, “Ease managed to get away. But he would have been caught, and we all would still be there, if we hadn’t managed to recover my dress and jump to another Event. If the aliens catch us this time, the first thing they’ll do is take away the dress, and maybe burn it.”

  “Maybe you should remove it and hide it.”

  “I don’t have a change of clothing. Can you handle my nudity?”

  He considered briefly. “No. I’d constantly freak out. You are a very fine figure of a woman, Astrid. I love Tiara, but I can’t afford to look at you bare.”

  She knew he was being honest. “Suppose I change to my natural form?”

  “That would not freak me out,” he agreed. “But I would be in danger from your Stare.”

  “I may look funny as a basilisk wearing dark glasses, but I can do it.”

  “Then maybe that’s best. We can sneak in and try to rescue them without the aliens knowing we’re here.”

  “I don’t trust this. Those aliens are too knowing.”

  “They are,” he agreed morosely.

  “Still, we have to try. About my clothing: suppose I give it to you, and you hide it away, and return it to me once we’re there? Then I will dress, and be ready to flash any other male I need to.”

  “That will do,” he agreed. “But first we need to find them. They’re within my idea exchange range, but they could be anywhere in the zoo compound. I don’t have a mental sense of direction. In fact it’s not even telepathy; it’s just spot ideas.”

  Astrid considered. “Win’s talent is wind. To always have the wind at her back. An anonymous party enhanced it to enable her to control it and make it stronger.”

  “Yes, of course. What is your point?”

  “The air is still, here. A stray breeze would be noticeable, if anyone thought to notice it. At night few if any would be noticing.”

  “Win could make that breeze!”

  “That was my thought.”

  “Astrid, I could kiss you!” He paused, reassessing. “Not that I would, of course, because—” He broke off, embarrassed, caught between illicit interest and unintended insult. He was a good man, stumbling.

  “Three reasons why no kiss,” she said. “One: we are friends, not lovers. Two: my touch is intoxicating and perhaps deadly. Three: we have more important things to accomplish than any stray dalliance, even if we were inclined, which we aren’t.”

  “Those will do,” he agreed gratefully.

  “You have become a marvel of diplomacy,” Fornax murmured in her ear.

  “So I am thinking that such a wind would be convenient,” Astrid said. “Once darkness falls.”

  “I will relay that idea,” Mitch said. “That much I can do.”

  “In the interim, we should find a place to hide, before anyone sees us here.”

  “Oh, yes.”

  They walked cautiously along a path through the stalks. This was a good place to hide if the invisible giant didn’t come looking for them. It was also a good place to get lost, if they weren’t careful.

  “Let’s lie down and cover ourselves with corn husks and dry leaves, so we are hidden. We can sleep until dusk.”

  “Good enough. But I am getting hungry.”

  “There’s some ripe corn on the plants.”

  “That will do.”

  They ate ripe, raw corn, attended to private functions, then lay down and covered themselves.

  “Oh,” Astrid said. “My clothing. Avert your gaze.” She removed her dress, bra, panties, and slippers. Everything except her dark glasses, because it was dangerous for her to go without them. She handed them to Mitch, who bound them into his voluminous hair. It was amazing how effectively they disappeared; it was an excellent hiding place.

  She re-covered herself with corn shucks. It was a warm day, and she really had no need of clothing, apart from human propriety.

  “Once you locate them, do you have a plan to rescue them?” Fornax asked, seeming to lie beside Astrid.

  “I haven’t gotten that far yet.”

  “I have no knowledge, of course, and would not be free to impart it if I did. But I suspect you are conjecturing that the captives are not simply loose to walk away with you. You may suspect that they are in a secure cage, or even manacled to a post, or both. And that there will be an alarm set off if anyone tried to approach them from outside the zoo. You may even conjecture that the captives represent a trap, the object being to capture more creatures for the exhibit. So that while location and approach seem feasible, you fear it will not be safe just to walk in.”

  “I am conjecturing something along those lines,” Astrid agreed.

  “You may even suspect that there is a larger purpose to the trap. That the real object may not be to develop a human exhibit, but to obtain a transformed basilisk, which would be a far more impressive exhibit. You may wonder why the zookeepers would go to such an extreme for one mere exhibit, which would seem to be beyond their interest.
After all, tourists cannot be expected to gaze directly at a basilisk.”

  “It does seem far-fetched,” Astrid agreed.

  “So you might wonder what motive beyond that there could be. Unless they plan to exhibit her hooded, rendering her largely harmless. Nullified danger: the stuff of cheap shows. Purely speculative, of course.”

  “Of course,” Astrid agreed, feeling a chill. The Demoness was warning her of real trouble ahead.

  “You might even speculate that they could be interested in publicly breeding her. That would be a show like none other.”

  Breeding her? There were men and trolls who’d like to try. But even if bound, she would change to her basilisk form, stopping that. Still, it was an ugly threat.

  “And you might ponder ways to counter such unlikely plots, so as to escape with all parties intact. Just in case something you could not reasonably anticipate were to occur.”

  “I might,” Astrid agreed weakly.

  “I do not wish to disturb you,” Fornax said. “Merely to encourage you, as a friend, to consider all alternatives.”

  “Thank you,” Astrid said, knowing that the friendship of the Demoness was a phenomenally valuable thing.

  “You should sleep now, so as to be fully alert tonight.”

  “I should,” Astrid agreed. “But I’m pretty wound up. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep.”

  “Then I’ll sleep. I apologize if my ambiance affects you. I can move away if you prefer.”

  Astrid did not answer, giving a tacit consent. And suddenly she slept, soundly. It was one more unofficial gift.

  She woke promptly at dusk. Mitch was stirring. “I thought of something,” he said, not looking at her. “What of Timothea?”

  “Who?”

  “Timothea, small d demoness, who was helping the aliens. She’s mischief.”

  Now Astrid remembered. “Mischief indeed. She knows about the sequins, now. Better keep the dress hidden until the moment I actually need it so she can’t snatch it.”

  “I will.”

  “In fact we had better assume that she’s watching us, the moment we head in to locate them. She is immune to my Stare.”

  “If this is a trap we are walking into, how can we hope to accomplish the rescue?”

  “Only by being prepared for the unexpected. It has occurred to me that I may be the real object of the trap. If so, I may be able to give you a chance to rescue them and escape. Take it.”

  “But what will happen to you?”

  “A basilisk can be difficult to hold. You get away with them while I distract the aliens and demoness. Once you are clear, I will see about my own escape.”

  “Astrid, I don’t like this. It feels like betrayal.”

  “So they may believe that you won’t go without me. That can be our surprise. Promise me you will do it.”

  “I—”

  She touched her glasses warningly. “Promise.”

  He capitulated. “I hate this. It feels like betrayal of a friend, but I promise.”

  “Good enough. Now we must spring their trap. We should not speak unless we have to, lest they overhear us.”

  Mitch nodded in agreement.

  They followed a cornstalk path to the clearing around the zoo. There was a half moon out, providing enough light for them to see, though Astrid could see pretty well in almost total darkness.

  There was the wire fence around the compound, with the main gate. When they had been here before, an invisible giant had herded them through the open gate and into the zoo. Astrid hoped the giant would not be active by night.

  Then came a gentle breeze, where there had been none before. Astrid sniffed it. “Win,” she said. The child was doing her part.

  “It’s coming from inside the zoo,” Mitch said.

  They approached the gate. It was securely locked for the night. No access there.

  “I wonder,” Mitch murmured.

  She looked at him questioningly.

  “I picked up a thought from Win. My talent works with living folk. I never thought to try it on other things. She is now aware of that limitation.”

  Receiving and sending ideas? How could that relate?

  Mitch focused on the gate’s big padlock. Then after a moment he reached out and took hold of it. The bar slid out, allowing him to remove it from the gate. It hadn’t been locked after all!

  “I sent it the idea that it wanted to unlock,” he whispered, swinging the gate open.

  Astrid stared at him, amazed. Could he really do that?

  Then suspicion closed in. “It’s too easy. Maybe they made it unlockable,” she whispered. “Because they want us to come in, as we did before, then get locked in.”

  He nodded. “That could be. In which case they’ll be watching us. We’d better find a more private way in.”

  He pulled the gate back closed. Then they walked away from the fence.

  There was a huge crash in the cornfield.

  “Oh, bleep!” Astrid swore under her breath. She had heard that sound before.

  So had Mitch. “The tromp of an invisible giant.”

  “Who will tromp us if we don’t go the right way.”

  “Into the zoo,” he agreed. “As before.”

  It also meant the zookeepers were aware of their presence.

  Astrid thought fast. If the zookeepers knew of their approach, and knew that they were coming to try to rescue Tiara and Win, why would they try to herd them in? That was a giveaway that they knew. It would make more sense for them to leave the giant out of it, letting the intruders think they were undiscovered.

  Unless the giant was acting on his own, herding anything that he smelled. Not knowing about the need for seeming indifference. A glitch in the trap.

  “Let’s be herded,” Astrid whispered.

  Mitch shrugged, surprised, but didn’t argue.

  They reversed course and ran to the gate. It swung open, admitting them. And swung shut again once they passed it.

  “Now dodge to the side,” Astrid whispered.

  They dodged. Soon they were in a garden area, among flowering bushes.

  Astrid whispered her conjecture to his ear. “Maybe,” he agreed. “But I fear they do know of us.”

  “They know, but want us to think they don’t,” she said. “So they’ll leave us alone until we’re all the way there.”

  “Sometimes I suspect that your mind is more devious than mine.”

  “I’m a woman.”

  “Oh. Of course.”

  They sniffed the air, picking up Win’s faint scent dispersing from her wind. It seemed to be in the direction of the exhibit they had been caught in before. That made sense. So they circled around to enter it from the side.

  There was the glass house, as before. There was a light on, showing its interior clearly. Exhibits were supposed to have no secrets from the sightseeing tourists. Animals didn’t mind, but humans could be difficult about this, so they were given no choice.

  And there inside the house was Tiara, sitting in an easy chair. She was wearing her usual dress, as exhibits were generally shown in their natural habitat. Where was Win?

  “I have a nasty feeling about this,” Astrid murmured. “Are they holding Win in a separate cell? To make sure Tiara behaves?”

  “Maybe. But she is able to blow her breeze.”

  Which meant she wasn’t locked in a dank cell. Still, there was a wrongness.

  “I must go to Tiara,” Mitch said.

  Astrid didn’t like this, but couldn’t tell him no. After all, the two were in love.

  Mitch quietly entered the house, while Astrid stayed outside. “Mitch!” Tiara exclaimed, standing. “I knew you’d come.”

  “Tiara!” he said, hugging and kissing her.

  Then, oddly, he backed away. “Bleep!”

  “Mitch, dear, what’s the matter?” Tiara asked.

  Astrid wondered too.

  “You
’re not my love.”

  “How can you say that?” Tiara asked, distraught.

  “Come off it, Timothea. You can imitate her appearance and voice, but not her kiss.”

  “Oh, bleep!” she swore, shifting into her sexy demoness form. “And I had such a warm welcome in mind for you.” She glanced in the direction of the bedroom. Then she reconsidered. “You can still have that welcome, if you like. Which form would you prefer me to take? Mine, Tiara’s, or Astrid’s?”

  Which was a clear indication that she knew Astrid was near. She was cruelly teasing him, pretending that any of the women were as good for him as Tiara.

  “No form,” Mitch said angrily. “Just tell me where Tiara and Win are.”

  She considered. “After we have our little fling.”

  “No fling!”

  “Maybe you did not pick up on the nature of the deal. Fling, then information.”

  “Damn you!” He was so angry that the bad word came through despite the possible presence of a child nearby. He took hold of her, not affectionately. “Tell me!”

  “What are you going to do if I don’t? Rape me?” Her breasts enlarged a size. She looked wildly sexy. That was never an accident, with a demoness or a woman.

  He cast her aside and stomped out of the house. Men weren’t always mesmerized by the sight of a woman’s body. Maybe only nine times out of ten.

  Timothea laughed as she dissipated into smoke. Had she really intended to seduce him, or merely to tease him? Or maybe to delay their progress? Fornax’s continued absence suggested that something devious was afoot that she couldn’t afford to reveal. But what?

  Mitch rejoined Astrid.

  Astrid concluded that it had to have been a ruse to lure them in without giving them a chance to rescue anyone. So much for any element of surprise. If Timothea knew, the aliens knew. Astrid was disgusted as much at herself for being taken in by it as by the malicious demoness.

  Still, there was the breeze. It had not actually come from the house, but from close by. Win was near.

  They followed the breeze. It led to a high-walled enclosure open in the center, with seats around the rim, rather like an arena. They found the main gate to it unlocked, and quietly entered.

  Suddenly it was lit brightly. Assorted alien creatures occupied the seats. Those would be tourist spectators. “Timothea delayed us long enough for them to assemble,” Mitch muttered angrily.