Out of Phaze

  Nothing changed in appearance—but now Bane walked directly into and through the wall, and on through the rock, as if he had no more substance than a ghost. No troll or harpy could touch him now.

  Then something manifested that could touch him. A genuine ghost! It was in the form of a worn old man, but it paced him through the rock, and closed on him, and when the withered old hand closed on his arm, it had the grip and force of the supernatural. Bane was a pseudoghost; he could not stand up against the real thing. Thus he found himself a third time back before the Purple Adept. His attempts to escape by using his magic had been foiled. He was only an apprentice Adept; he was unable to match the power of a mature Adept. He could not get away this way.

  Purple nodded. “Aye, I believe thou dost make thy point. Thou art the apprentice.”

  But Purple had also made his point: Bane remained captive.

  A serf hurried up. “Master—the mare be gone!” The Adept wheeled on him. “She cannot be!”

  “She—one moment she was tied. The next, her harness fell to the floor, and there was only a tiny bird, and it—

  The floor of the tunnel opened up beneath the serf. The luckless man fell in, screaming. The floor crunched closed on him. The Adept wheeled and strode back toward Fleta’s cell. Bane followed, keeping his face straight. He knew that the unicorn had acted while the Adept was distracted by Bane’s attempts to escape. She had changed to hummingbird form and used the remade amulet to make a hole in the magical barrier the diameter of her horn—which was just large enough for the hummingbird to squeeze through. She had flown so swiftly and carefully that they had quickly lost track of her.

  The Purple Adept swung his angry gaze around to bear on Bane. “Thou hast wrought this deed!” Bane shrugged. “If thou dost say so.”

  “Then learn the consequence of thy defiance!” The ground shook, and began to crumble beneath Bane. There was tremendous magic in the air. He realized that the Adept, in his fury, meant to kill him. Bane sang a spell to protect himself, but he was after all only an apprentice; the force of the magic being brought to bear against him was overwhelming. Then a new face appeared. “Hold thy malice, Purple!” Bane recognized the face, as it hovered in the air between himself and the Purple Adept in three-dimensional detail within a watery bubble. It was the Translucent Adept, as strong as any but not as malicious as some. Yet this man was allied against Blue; why should he act on Bane’s behalf?

  “What business be this of thine?” Purple snapped at the face.

  “I made the first offer for this lad’s service,” Translucent replied. “I braced him, or his other self, in the Brown Demesnes.”

  “And got nowhere!” Purple retorted. “I took effective action.”

  “And blew it,” Translucent pointed out. “Now the mare be gone, and thou hast no hold on the boy. What will it gain any of us, an thou destroy him, other than the warfare of Blue?”

  “Fornicate Blue!” Purple swore. Translucent smiled grimly. “Easier said than done. He will have thine entrails strung across the landscape of thy Demesnes, and thy minions transformed to toads. And for what? For vengeance against thy rashness that should ne’er have been started! Thou didst ne’er have a chance to coerce that lad into serving thy will; thou didst only interfere with the job I was doing correctly.”

  “Oh, thou couldst have bought cooperation from the apprentice?” Purple demanded unbelievingly. “Assuredly, an thou hadst not interfered.” Purple got canny. “Thou couldst accomplish it now—without the hostage mare?”

  “That be more challenging, after thine alienation of the lad. But yes, methinks I can.”

  “Wouldst wager on that, Trans?” Translucent’s face hardened. “Thou dost desire it thus? Then wager me this: an I succeed, the leadership of this enterprise be mine for the duration.”

  “And if thou dost fail, domain o’er the watery East Pole be mine!” Purple said.

  Translucent paused, evidently wary of such a risk. Then he nodded. “The East Pole,” he agreed. “Now give me the apprentice.”

  “Take him, then,” Purple said. The floating face shimmered as if dissolving; then the liquid bubble expanded, almost filling the passage. “Step in,” the face said to Bane. “An thou prefer my company to his.”

  Bane knew what kind of treatment to expect from Purple! He did not like to remain a captive, but certainly Translucent was more civilized than his present captor. He stepped into the shimmering bubble.

  The surface tension of the globe pressed against his face and form, then traveled around his body and snapped into place behind him. He was inside, and though it seemed like liquid, he had no trouble breathing.

  Then the globe shimmered, and the scenery outside it was lost in the play of distortion. When the bubble firmed, the exterior had changed. Now it was a deep sea, with fish swimming and seaweed waving.

  The globe dissolved, but there was no change; Bane still stood and breathed normally. The water surrounding him seemed illusory, though he knew it was not. Translucent’s magic enabled him to survive.

  “Come, we must talk,” the Adept said, and walked along the floor of the sea, showing the way.

  Bane followed him, knowing that he could no more escape the power of this Adept than he could the other. Translucent could cause the water to become unbreathable at any time, forcing Bane to try to swim for the surface before drowning, or could summon a water monster to consume him. True, Bane could use his own magic to protect himself—but how well would his spells work, when garbled through water? He would do best to treat Translucent with respect, at least until he knew what the man intended.

  Translucent brought him to a bower in the water, a palatial cave guarded by a water dragon. Surprisingly comfortable stones were sculpted as chairs, and large fish hovered in the manner of servants. A mermaid brought a platter of sea delicacies: nutlike and fruitlike treats, and seaweed very like salad vegetables. They ate at leisure, and even had wine to drink; the fluid remained in its goblets despite the environment. Bane had never been here before, and he found it most interesting. Translucent had always been a somewhat shadowy figure to him, seldom participating in the interactions of Adepts.

  After the meal, the Adept got down to business. “Thou dost know my purpose be similar to that of the others who oppose thy father,” he said. “Merely my means be other.”

  “What purpose be that?” Bane asked somewhat tightly.

  “To reestablish contact with our brothers of Proton. We had always thought it theoretically possible, but hitherto no avenue had manifested.”

  “It be not much of an avenue,” Bane pointed out. “I can exchange places with mine other self, carrying with me my knowledge and memories. I cannot carry anything physical.”

  “Messages alone suffice. Dost thou not grasp their importance, Bane?”

  Now the Adept was calling him by name. The man was certainly being courteous, but as he had said, he was a member of the forces opposing the Blue Adept, and therefore hardly to be trusted. “What importance?”

  “There be information existing only in Proton, that we of Phaze could use to increase our power. Likewise, some exists in Phaze, that the Citizens there require.”

  “What information?” This was new to him.

  “When the frames separated, twenty years ago, the Oracle went to Proton, and the Book of Magic came to Phaze.”

  “The Book of Magic—that the Red Adept possesses?”

  “The same. Dost think a mere troll could become Adept without it? The spells in that one volume be so apt that a common earth-borer, hardly human, be now, an he choose, the most powerful Adept of all. He supports Blue, who gave him the Book, and that makes Blue the strongest. Whoever possesses that Book holds the key to the governance of Phaze.”

  “Aye,” Bane said. “But what would anyone of Proton want with it? Magic works not there.”

  “That be a matter of interpretation. What we call magic, they call science, and both be powerful tools. The formulae underlying
the spells of the Book also underlined the scientific applications of the technology of Proton. If those spells be conveyed there—”

  Now Bane grasped it. “Whoever has that information has a phenomenal advantage in his frame! Proton could have an Adept of science!”

  “Aye. And whoever here in Phaze has access to the powers of the Oracle, called a computer there, can profit similarly. The combination can shift the balance of power.”

  “So if you other Adepts had such contact, you could force my father to retreat, and you would dominate Phaze.”

  “Aye, in time. But there be problems. The exchange of information be necessarily slow, perhaps one spell at a time, and must necessarily be through thee and thy opposite self. Without thy cooperation, nothing be feasible.”

  “That’s why Purple was trying to pressure me into working with him! To make me carry spells and things back and forth between the frames, so he could increase his power.”

  “Aye. And make no mistake, Bane, I want the same. I merely oppose Purple’s method, not his design. And of course I prefer to have that added power for myself.”

  “But it be to my interest to use that power for my father! And the Book of Magic be in the hand of our supporter, Red. How canst thou think I would give such power to thee?”

  Translucent smiled. “That be why special mechanisms be necessary. Purple thought to coerce thee; I prefer to persuade thee.”

  “How canst thou hope to persuade me to act against the interest of my father?”

  “It seems, to save thy life, I have made a wager that I can do that thing.”

  That set Bane back. It was true; he would have been dead, had not Translucent intervened. He did owe the man something.

  Or did he? The Adepts could be devious; suppose they had set it up to make him seem to be beholden to Translucent? Purple could have made the threats, knowing Translucent was waiting to step in at the last moment. In that case, Bane would be doubly the fool to cooperate.

  “I trust thee not,” he said.

  “And why not, Bane?”

  Bane explained his suspicion. “Canst thou deny it?” he demanded.

  Translucent smiled. “Aye, I can.”

  “With truth?”

  Translucent looked about. “I do deny it,” he said gravely.

  There was a ripple in the water and in the sea-floor, spreading out from the Adept. It passed through Bane himself.

  Bane watched the ripple’s progress, amazed. “That be the splash!” he exclaimed. “Aye.”

  Bane spread his hands. “Then must I believe thee, Translucent. I apologize for my suspicion.”

  “Be not concerned about that,” Translucent said. “I saved thee because I knew that all of us would lose, an Purple vented his malice on thee. I had to act for the benefit of all. My persuasion be not in the form of any debt thou mightst feel toward me, but in the form of common sense. Thou must agree that it be proper and best to do this; then will all be well.”

  Bane regrouped his thoughts. This man had spoken truth—that could not be disbelieved, for the splash could not be feigned—but he remained an Adverse Adept. “To do it for thee—instead of for my father? I see no common sense in that!”

  “Thou must appreciate the larger picture. I suppose thou canst not be convinced that thy father’s side might be wrong—”

  “True,” Bane agreed grimly.

  “But thou canst appreciate the practicalities of the situation. Like it or not, some you value be hostage.”

  “Fleta escaped!”

  “But what of those in Proton? Hast thou no interest there, in either thine other self or any other party?”

  Shrewd guess! “Aye,” Bane agreed. “There be captives there.”

  “Whether or not we approve of such tactics, we must deal with what exists, not with what we like. If someone there be held hostage against thy performance, thou canst not be free no matter what occurs in Phaze. And if thine other self be in the power of one like Citizen Purple, thou canst not exchange into Proton without going back into his power. In fact, thou wouldst have to return to the Purple Adept to overlap the location of thine other self.”

  Bane nodded. “I’m not free at all,” he agreed.

  “Therefore it behooves thee to cooperate, at least until thou canst discover the situation there. An I tell Purple thou hast changed thy mind, he will let thee return to his Demesnes without molestation. Otherwise, thou canst not do so.”

  “But Mach might escape, and free Agape—” Bane broke off, realizing that he had said more than he should have.

  “Aye, he might, and come to exchange with thee in the Blue Demesnes, and victory would be thine. But dost thou care to take the chance, when by cooperating with me, at least for a time, thou canst be sure no harm will come to any?”

  Bane realized that the Adept was making a disturbing amount of sense. As long as the situation in Proton was in doubt, he should not take any chances he didn’t have to.

  “Let me think about it,” he said.

  “Welcome to, Bane. There be no urgency here, now that thy friend be free. Go home to thy Blue Demesnes, and summon me when thou dost choose.”

  “Thou art letting me go?” Bane asked, hardly daring to believe it.

  “I told thee: I believe logic, not coercion, will bring thy cooperation. Go talk to thy father, tell him all, and do as he advises thee. He and I have ne’er been close, yet do we respect each other’s discretion, and mayhap we can work to mutual benefit.”

  Bane considered. This seemed too easy, but the lure of finally getting home with his full story of Proton was great. Once he did that, he could look for Fleta, to be sure she had made it safely back to her Herd. “Then that shall I do,” he said.

  Translucent made a beckoning gesture, and a mermaid swam up. “Conduct Apprentice Bane to shore, and give him this token of safe passage from my Demesnes,” he said. He reached out and caught a small fish from the water, giving it to her.

  The mermaid swam up to Bane, and smiled. She was a half-person, of course, but her upper half was as delightfully human as any man could wish. Her hair was as green as seaweed, billowing out behind as she moved, and her full breasts needed no external support because of the buoyancy of the water. But human interest ended at roughly the waistline, where the scales began. They were tidy scales, of course, tinted the same hue as her hair, but her nether portion could never be mistaken for anything other than a fish. That destroyed the better part of her appeal, for him.

  He followed her out of the cave and through the water. He walked along a path that traversed the sea floor, while she swam above it. When the path ascended toward the surface, she halted, handed him the fish, and kissed him on the right ear. She pointed up, and waited while he made his way up and out.

  As he broke the surface, the spell that had been on him abated, and he breathed air instead of water. Still waist-deep in the water, he turned to peer down and wave at her. He thought he saw her wave back, but it was hard to be sure.

  Then he moved the rest of the way out, carrying the fish. There was a large serpent guarding the land-path; he showed it the fish, and it slithered away, letting him pass unchallenged. The Translucent Adept seemed to be as good as his word.

  Bane’s clothing was completely dry, despite his recent immersion. He walked up the path, proceeding east. He knew that he was at the western coast of Phaze, not far from the West Pole; he had a long way to go to reach the Blue Demesnes. There would be no problem, of course; he would simply conjure himself there. He had not dared to try that, when in the Adverse Demesnes, but now that he was free, it was feasible.

  But he hesitated. He could go—but what of Mach, and Agape in Proton? What would his father, Stile, say to the news that he was in love with an alien creature of the other frame?

  Love? Could that be true?

  He thought of all the females he had known in Phaze, human and werewolf and vampire and other. He had liked a number of them, and some had been excellent playmates. Sucheva
ne…

  But none of them had moved into his awareness in the manner Agape had. She was more truly alien than any of them physically, and yet perhaps more truly human too, in her personality. He had not known her long, as his life went, but their acquaintance had been intense.

  He wanted to be with her again. He wanted to share more experience with her, whether it was simply a walk down a hall or a talk about other frames or other planets. To be with her by day and by night, just to know she was beside him. She could be in human form, or in protoplasmic form; it hardly mattered. Just so long as it was her.

  Was that love? He didn’t know. He simply knew that he wanted to go back to Proton, because she was there.

  And he could do so, by returning voluntarily to the Translucent Adept. If he returned to his father, and told of this…

  Bane shook his head, in deep doubt. He was not at all sure how Stile would react to this. Did he really want to go home and find out?

  Chapter 13

  Agape

  Agape waited till the lights dimmed for night, then dissolved. But she did not sleep; she spread herself out deliberately thin, so that she could flow beneath the heavy glass barrier that formed the front of the cell. The connection was supposed to be hermetically tight, but the floor was not precisely even, so there was not a perfect fit. The crevice was only a fraction of a centimeter, but she could navigate it.

  She did so. Then she formed herself, outside the cell, into the likeness of one of the attending serfs she had studied for this purpose. She walked down the hall toward the nearest maintenance service outlet, and tapped the pattern Mach had told her to.

  For a moment nothing happened. Then a floor-cleaner trundled toward her, its brushes working. She got out of its way, but it stopped beside her. “Follow me,” its speaker said. Then it resumed its work.

  She followed it down the hall and into a maintenance closet. The door panel closed on them, and it was dark.

  “How came you by that code?” a speaker inquired at the level of her head.

  “Mach gave it to me,” she said nervously.