Key to Destiny

  “Efficient,” Gale said. “But this suggests that they have overwhelming force, at such time as they apply it. How can one or two planets possibly oppose such a culture?"

  “By taming Mino and making him tell, or taking him apart and studying his parts to figure out how he was made and how his magic shields work. Then we can make something to stop the machines, which would be like him only moreso."

  “And the ifrits plan to be ready in another century to do that?” Havoc asked.

  “Idyll doesn't know. She thinks something in Charm is getting ready. It's a cooperative effort: Counter Charm holds Mino captive while Charm develops the means to deal with him and his kind."

  Ini nodded. “And meanwhile humans came along, and Charm Glamors evolved, and now we are tackling it. Suspicion: we are being used."

  “Clarification,” Havoc said tightly.

  “The loom, the tapestry, the altar—all helping us to locate Mino. How do we know that Mino himself didn't arrange that, to get us to come here to free him? Or that something else doesn't want us to tame him and then use his power for some nefarious purpose? We may be best advised to take the first choice, and go home without tackling Mino."

  “Mino did not,” Weft said, receiving an answer. “He sent only one signal, then was stifled."

  “But something is helping us,” Havoc said. “We do need to know what and why."

  “Agreement,” Weft said. “But Idyll knows you mean well and can be trusted. If you beat Mino, she'll help you take him back to Charm."

  “But if we don't, she'll hold us prisoner,” Gale said.

  “Regret,” Weft said for the ifrit. “Mino must be stifled. You must prove you can do it. So it's safe to let him out."

  “Understanding,” Havoc said. “So now we have our hard choice: Tackle Mino?"

  Gale was highly conscious of the presence of their four children: they were subject to the same risk as the adults, but she hated it more. Yet she knew Havoc would want to tackle the challenge. After all, they had traveled between planets just for this. So she temporized. “Need more information. Does Idyll have advice?"

  “Negative and positive,” Weft said. “Don't tackle head-on; he will suck out your magic and store it in a can. If you get more from your ikon, he'll take that too. You'll just be giving him more magic. But maybe you can tame him by punching in the access and control codes."

  There was hope! “Definition."

  “The machine masters use a series of symbols called codes to control their sub—sub—"

  “Subordinate."

  “Units. Only the right authority knows the right code, so no one else can use that unit. When the machine masters come, they will use the codes. But if we use them first, Mino will be tame and serve us."

  That certainly seemed to be an easier way. “Does Idyll know the codes?"

  “Negation."

  “Can they be guessed?” Havoc asked.

  “Doubt. They are complicated, and if a mistake is made, Mino will kill the one trying, because he's an impostor."

  “Glamors are hard to kill,” Havoc said.

  “Not when their magic is sucked out."

  The magnitude of the problem was becoming apparent. “We don't know the codes, and dare not guess,” Gale said, summarizing it. “And we won't have magic when trying. This seems hopeless."

  “Voila says there is a path."

  Gale pounced on it. “Can she precog the codes?"

  “Uncertain. But there is a path she can follow."

  “This seems likely,” Havoc said. “Follow Voila's precog one step at a time, and get the codes."

  “But that means Voila will have to approach Mino,” Gale said, shuddering. “After it already tried to kill her."

  “Mixed,” Ini said. “It went after her because she sounded the alarm. It probably doesn't recognize her as a person."

  “Huge comfort,” Gale said tightly.

  “She wants to do it,” Weft said. “But can't, yet."

  “Question?"

  “Mino won't let anyone approach without sucking out their magic."

  “And Voila's precog is magic,” Gale said.

  “But there's a path."

  “Conjecture,” Ini said. “Mino may not know of precog. He surveyed all magic existing when he came, but has been isolated since. He may not recognize it."

  “That seems likely,” Weft said, translating again. “Idyll did not know of it, so did not block it. Mino probably doesn't know either. His harvesting of magic is selective, not general; each type is detected, shielded, and channeled to storage. But he still won't let a human with any other magic approach."

  “Idea,” Warp said. “Space ship."

  “Irrelevant,” Gale snapped.

  But the Blue Glamor held up her hand in a caution signal. “Reasoning,” she said to the child.

  “Mino came from space. The machine masters will come from space. He'll be watching."

  “But we don't want them to come yet,” Blue reminded him gently.

  “Illusion,” he said. “Show him them coming, so he thinks its them. Like the spaceship scene in the fields. Then send in Voila."

  “Genius,” Blue said, kissing the top of his head. He squiggled with pleasure.

  Gale was impressed. It was indeed a good idea. “Idyll?” she inquired.

  “She'll do it,” Weft said. “But if it doesn't work—"

  “We will be hostage,” Havoc said. “Vote?"

  They voted, including the children. They decided to try it, as it could be a quick and easy way to fulfill their mission. None of them were ready to give it up.

  They worked it out, and soon put it into practice. The upper dome of the sphere of illusion had been showing an accurate replica of day and night, which abruptly changed any time Mino tried to fly out, baffling him with shifting illusion. Now it showed a tiny speck growing rapidly until it shaped as a metallic spaceship much like the one in the regular illusion setting. They did not know what a machine masters ship would be like, but judged that after fourteen hundred years the design could have changed, so Mino would accept it as a legitimate variant. Mino seemed to; his disk sensors were orienting on the image.

  The ship loomed close, then hovered in place, a feat Idyll had seen Mino perform. From it came a much smaller unit, close in size and design to Mino himself. This dropped down to land nearby with a shaking of the ground. All illusion, but so realistic that Gale was inclined to believe it despite knowing better.

  Now it was her turn. She walked to the shuttle, masked by illusion. Then, carrying Voila in her backpack, she walked directly toward Mino. She felt her Glamor magic depart; Idyll had cut off her contact with her ikon back on Charm. Voila's ikon with Symbol was also intercepted. Both of them still had magic, because their bodies took it from the surrounding ambiance. But that would end as they came close to Mino, where all magic had been sucked dry.

  Except, perhaps, for the one Mino shouldn't recognize, therefore wouldn't mine. Precognition.

  Gale wore a metallic suit that made her look like a person made of metal. She hoped that Mino would take her for a machine, though her living nature was plain enough. Maybe a living subject of the machines, some kind of sapient creature or even an animal. For all they or Mino knew, the machine masters had some living creatures working for them, slaves from captured planets. Why use superior machines for menial tasks?

  One of Mino's disks oriented on them. That was all. Gale kept walking, guided by the single type of magic that remained to her, the paths. Precognition, enhanced by Voila. The paths diverged and merged, crossed and overlaid, but the firmest one led straight toward the giant machine.

  Gale controlled her apprehension, which bordered on fear. She knew that their lives were the least of what they were gambling; the fate of the other Glamors depended on them, and perhaps of two planets. She focused on the paths; that was all that really mattered at the moment.

  The firmest path led to a panel set in the side of the machine. Now Gal
e faced it and focused on her hand. She moved it parallel to the panel. Then, guided by a hot/cold aspect of the path, she closed her fist and used her knuckle to tap on the panel with a special cadence. It was, she hoped, the access code.

  The panel moved. It slid aside, exposing a pattern of buttons. She moved her hand over them, and felt warm over one. She used one finger to push it in. It clicked and rebounded as she withdrew her finger. And Mino had not destroyed them. Yet.

  Guided by her enhanced precognitive awareness, she slowly pushed other buttons. She did not count them; she merely focused on each in turn, following the path. She had no idea what they did or meant; it was merely what enabled the two visitors to survive.

  Then she pressed the wrong button. Her finger simply missed; she saw it happening and couldn't prevent it. Doom!

  But immediately Voila's correction came. Gale pressed that wrong button twice more, rapidly, negating the error, then went on to the correct one. It seemed that provision had been made for animal mistakes. Gale felt weak in the knees.

  She completed the series by striking a broader bar at the base: the one that confirmed the series and said to activate it.

  The panel slid shut. Another opened: an entry to the interior compartment of the machine. Gale saw wheels, rods, and screens therein. Their specifics were beyond her understanding, but their general nature she understood from the precog paths. This was Mino's center of control.

  They had tamed the machine.

  * * *

  Chapter 10—Finale

  Augur stared at Ini. “Astonishment!"

  “Empathy,” she said. “We were all surprised by how simply it came out. But Mino is now tame, and you seem best to pilot him to Charm."

  “But I know nothing about machines. Surely a Glamor should be in charge of this important artifact."

  “The Glamors wish to remain away from it for now, for reasons of their own. So we mortals will ride in it."

  Augur exchanged a glance with Aura. They were alone with Ini, for now. “Confidentiality."

  Ini smiled knowingly. “Conjecture: not for further sex with my invisible body."

  “Confirmation,” Aura said, forcing a mock frown.

  “Concurrence."

  They understood each other. That was not surprising, because they had not only adventured together, and had more than casual sex, they had developed a genuine friendship. They liked each other and would not play each other false. In fact, they had already agreed to try to retain association after this mission was done. Ini hoped to marry and settle as their neighbor when they married, and they would exchange fourths. It would probably have to be in a nonChroma zone, as they were of three different Chroma. Probably Triumph City, working for the king, as the Ladies Ennui and Aspect did. But that was in the nebulous future.

  They retreated to Augur and Aura's chamber and took seats in a triangle, facing each other, leaning forward to put their heads close together so they could converse quietly: the red man, blue woman, and swathed invisible woman.

  “Suspicion,” Augur said. “There are deeper currents."

  “Agreement! This capture of Mino, the alien machine, was entirely too easy. Gale took Voila and used precognition to fathom the access and control codes that tamed the thing. Now, it seems, the Glamors govern him, and he obeys their will implicitly. That is why he is available to transport us home. He is really a small spaceship, a technological marvel from a far distant mechanical culture, sent here to identify suitable magic for mining and exploiting. We shall need to study him and understand him well enough to be able to repel the more sophisticated machines of his culture at such time as they arrive to proceed to serious mining. We have preempted him, theoretically."

  “Doubt,” Augur said, and Aura nodded. “What confirmation that the codes really worked?"

  “The fact that he now accepts Glamor directives, and obeys. He has laid himself entirely open to their will."

  “Insufficient. He could be pretending."

  Ini nodded, but her words were contrarian. “Why should he do such a thing? The Glamors will not forward his mission. They may even destroy him after his usefulness to them is done. Certainly they will glean information from him to oppose his culture, at such time as it comes here. Mino must know that, if he has the wit to fake conversion."

  “Because this is an avenue for his escape from confinement,” Augur said. “He was not able to free himself from the illusion fields for more than a thousand years, and could not now, without the aid of the Glamors."

  “The Glamors could not give him such aid,” Ini said, still arguing. “Idyll Ifrit—the illusion fields—warned that if the Glamors lost their contest with Mino, she would confine them too, and she has the ability to do it."

  “Disbelief!” Aura said. “Nothing can confine Glamors."

  “Except another Glamor on her home territory,” Ini said. “Who can intercept ikon signals."

  “Reassessment,” Aura said. “There is more here than we appreciated."

  “Conclusion,” Augur said. “If Mino could not escape alone, and could not escape by capturing the Glamors, his remaining path is to cooperate with them, or seem to."

  “Fear,” Ini agreed.

  “Question,” Aura said. “The Glamors are not stupid. Surely they recognize the chance of such a ploy. Why are they risking it?"

  “Hypothesis,” Ini said, and this was clearly the essence of her concern. “The Glamors suspect, and are risking it, because they are in a similar situation."

  “Confusion,” Augur said, knowing she had thought this out and needed their judgment.

  “They have a mission: to fathom the mystery of their own origin, which was evidently not chance. The changelings, the altars, ikons, the loom, the tapestry, all signal that the Glamors were evolved for a purpose, and they must understand that purpose before they can rest. They need Mino to forward that exploration; the signals brought them here to him, and he, confined as he has been, could not have arranged them. If they do not get Mino, they probably will not be able to complete that quest for knowledge. So they must capture him, or—” She paused.

  “Or cooperate with him,” Augur said.

  “Awe,” Aura said. “It is a game both sides must play, lest both sides lose."

  “But the stakes,” Augur said, appalled. “Two worlds!"

  “Better to leave Mino alone, and remain ignorant,” Aura said. “Rather than risk the worlds for the sake of curiosity."

  “Negation,” Ini said. “If Mino remains captive, that will not stop the machines from coming; his signal went out fourteen hundred years ago. They will come, and we will be unprepared."

  “Unless they tame him and learn how to oppose his culture,” Augur said. “So they can't leave him alone."

  “Their curiosity about their origin is therefore merely the motivating pretext,” Aura said. “To get them to tame Mino, a thing they would not otherwise know of, let alone attempt, however uncertain the outcome."

  “Concurrence,” Ini said. “Your thoughts echo mine."

  “Except,” Aura said.

  “Precognition,” Augur agreed. “With that, they should know the outcome."

  “Agreement,” Ini said. “The one form of magic Mino did not know about."

  “If he did not know,” Aura said.

  “Assume he knows,” Ini said. “That he can read the future paths too. And sees victory."

  “But Glamors are not readily fooled,” Augur said. “They can emulate the powers of the dragon seeds, which are precognitive or at least clairvoyant. And the youngest is best: Voila can see far. She would not be deceived."

  “Agreement,” Ini said. “But I see no compromise here; the two sides can not align for mutual advantage in the long term, however they may in the short term. Victory can't go to both, but neither should participate without that prospect. Someone must be mistaken."

  “Surmise,” Aura said. “Game, outcome unknowable."

  “Some games are like that,” Ini agreed.
“Scissors/Paper/Stone can't be predicted, because the outcome depends on simultaneous variables. It must be played to determine a victor."

  “Both sides lose if they don't play,” Augur said. “Each side has the chance of victory if they do play. So they must play, though it is a gamble."

  “But it's a game between a horrendous machine and a baby,” Aura said. “With worlds at stake."

  “That is my fear,” Ini agreed.

  They looked at each other, mutually appalled.

  Havoc appeared, with little Weft. “Some ifrits will travel too: Ivor, Iva, and their four. They will set up a base for an ifrit enclave on Charm. They will have to travel in solid form, and will be most comfortable in your company."

  Augur was astonished anew. “Welcome,” he said faintly.

  “We thought it best that you become acquainted with Mino together, today. Tomorrow we make the trip."

  None of the three protested. They did not want to voice their conjecture or their fear, which could be mistaken.

  Other Glamors appeared. In a moment they transported Augur, Aura, Ini, and Futility to the center of the illusion fields, where the huge machine that was Mino squatted. The ifrit family was already there. “Greeting,” Iva said to Augur. “Interest."

  “Interest,” Augur agreed. “Trepidation."

  Weft appeared, having transported herself. “Excitement! Space travel."

  Warp and Flame appeared, with Symbol. “We'll help,” Warp said, floating toward the machine.

  Augur glanced at Havoc. “Question?"

  “Affirmation. The children will ride with you. Should there be a problem, they will notify us."

  They were small children, but they were Glamors. Their presence was an indication of the confidence Havoc had in the machine. But Augur noticed that the youngest, Voila, was not in evidence. He suspected that the Glamors did not want their leading precog in the possible power of Mino. He agreed emphatically.

  The interior of the machine was surprisingly capacious; there was room for the seven adults and seven children. A chamber was set up with a chamber pot, and another with a broad bed. The human children were already trying both out, urinating in one, bouncing on the other. Symbol, Aura, and Iva kept wary eyes on them. Futility settled in a corner, indifferent to both children and machinery.