[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
his share-such bodies on a small scale were normal. They elected a chairman without much problem
and proceeded to the business at hand.
Using maps, charts, and diagrams, the central bureaucracy explained the problem. There was a
general sentiment to stay clear of it; it was none of Dasheen's business. Yulin they regarded as
a complication; it was debated, much to his chagrin, whether or not to hide him away, imprison
him for the war's duration, or perhaps kill him! None of these alternatives were seriously
considered by the council as a whole, much to his relief, but he was aware of danger here. Those
who proposed them were deadly serious, and some of these hotheads might easily take such
solutions into their own hands.
On the third day of the conference little had been resolved, and Ben had the feeling that they
just loved to argue; they would never come to any agreement unless forced to.
But on the third day a newcomer arrived who changed things. Its entrance was such that it
panicked people on the streets, and the creature did little to reassure them after coming to
ground. In the air it was magnificent and beautiful; a great butterfly with a two-meter
wingspread, brilliantly orange and brown against a black body that still stood 150 centimeters
when it landed in the street and stood on the rearmost four of its eight long tentacles. Its face
was a large, black painted death's head, with great, eerie eyes that looked like pads recessed in
the hard, dark skull.
The Yaxa, however, had been expected.
Its manner, its voice, was cold, hard, sharp, and cutting. It sent chills through those who
heard it. Even Ben, who had to have a running translation, felt it. Unlike the others he'd met on
the Well World-the Dasheen, Ortega, the Ambreza, even the plant-creature-this one was different.
Not inhuman, unhuman, as alien as those paintwash creatures of the North.
The Yaxa had a proposition.
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"First," it said, "let me summarize what the situation is to date. I have been able to keep in
touch on my journey here as new developments broke, and things are breaking fast.
"One-the Makiem have effectively allied and coordinated with the Cebu and the Agitar. It is
the most formidable combination of brains, opportunism, and ability this world has ever seen.
Boidol will give them their part of the ship to avoid the fight. There has been no talking them
out of it. The Djukasis will fight, but we have been unsuccessful in getting the Lata to come in
on their side or anybody else's. The Djukasis will take their toll, but they cannot hope to
defeat such an alliance. The Klusidians will neither yield nor fight, and you know what that
means. The Zhonzorp would fight if they had a chance, but they're very much like the Makiem,
mentally. They may join the alliance instead, if they're able. Their hatred of the Klusidians
will keep them from giving the aid those people need."
The creature paused, adjusting the giant maps it was using to illustrate its talk.
"Olborn is a mystery. You know its reputation: nobody who goes in ever comes out, and they
never man their embassy at Zone. A question mark, but I don't believe that any race, whatever its
powers, can stop this march alone. If we're lucky, the Olbornians will slow them, as certainly
the Alestoli will. But think of what two flying races could do with even something as basic as
boiling oil. No, a sufficiently large force of them will reach Gedemondas, a hex that talks to
no one, has no embassy, and contains too hostile an environment for much else. Even the Dillians
on the other side, who share some mountains, have been unsuccessful in talking to them. They
don't fight-they just vanish. And that leaves four mods and the engines in the hands of the
Makiem-Cebu-Agitar alliance."
"But how will they ever get such large pieces of machinery back to their home hexes?" asked
one councillor.
"The Agitar know their business," the Yaxa told him. "They will bring along a number of good
engineers. They will disassemble things, put them through the Zone Gates if they can't haul them
home, and then reassemble them in their own hex."
"They still couldn't fly it," another pointed out.
"Wrong again," replied the Yaxa. "The Makiem have had the kind of good fortune that makes one
doubt free will. One of the pilot-qualified Entries, Antor Trelig, is a Makiem. He can and will
fly that ship-and further, he can enter the computer complex and use it up on the satellite. You
see? Our very existence is in jeopardy!"
That got to them. There was a rumble and roar, and it was several minutes before the chairman
could calm them down. It was hard to tell, but the Yaxa seemed satisfied with his reception. It
had come on a diplomatic mission; its object was to scare them to death.
"But what can we do?" asked one councillor. "Send our people into battle with swords and
spears against the Qasada? They'd chew us to pieces!"
"They would indeed," the Yaxa agreed. "But you will have some time and some advantages. Yaxa
and Lamotien have united. The Lamotien are probably the best friends and deadliest enemies on the
Well World. The planet for which they were designed must be a living hell. They are metamorphs-
they can assume any shape that they can see, limited only by the fact that they cannot change
their mass. Even that is not a true drawback because they are small. They combine with one
another to create larger organisms. Twenty could make a Dasheen so convincing you would be unable
to tell the difference. And there are ten million or more Lamotien, in a high-tech hex. With them
we will shortly secure the highly important bridge module of the downed ship from Teliagin. Then
the Lamotien will turn into flyers, and we will fly to Nodi Island in the Sea of Storms and
secure a second module. Then we shall cross the East Neck to Qasada. With Lamotien infiltration
and technology, Yaxa flight and trained warriors, aided, perhaps, by bases and personnel in
Dasheen, we can take the Qasada and the Xoda, our two major problems. Palim is still in doubt;
they might just allow us through. That puts us in Gedemondas, a hex in which we Yaxa will be hard-
pressed to operate, but one in which a Lamotien-supplemented Dasheen force will be highly
effective. Need I tell you that this will give us the bridge and engines?" It turned, looked
over the bovine faces assembled there. "And you have Ben Yulin, another pilot who also has access
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file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20W...f%20Souls%2002%20-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
to the satellite computer."
There was more uproar. How could the Yaxa have known? They groaned. This changed everything!
The Yaxa had no ability to smile. Even if it could, Ben Yulin thought such a gesture would
shatter its face and personality. But there was evident confidence and satisfaction inside it for
its presentation.
Chalk one up for Well World intrigues, anyway, Yulin thought. This world bristled with spies,
plots, moves, and countermoves. The heretofore impossibility of war had diverted men of such
minds to more devious means.
The debate droned on and on, but it was evident that the outcome had been decided, and a late-
night formal vote made it official. Even Yulin spoke, assuring them that he could indeed pilot
the ship if it had so much as one module between bridge and engines, and that he could, in fact, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
his share-such bodies on a small scale were normal. They elected a chairman without much problem
and proceeded to the business at hand.
Using maps, charts, and diagrams, the central bureaucracy explained the problem. There was a
general sentiment to stay clear of it; it was none of Dasheen's business. Yulin they regarded as
a complication; it was debated, much to his chagrin, whether or not to hide him away, imprison
him for the war's duration, or perhaps kill him! None of these alternatives were seriously
considered by the council as a whole, much to his relief, but he was aware of danger here. Those
who proposed them were deadly serious, and some of these hotheads might easily take such
solutions into their own hands.
On the third day of the conference little had been resolved, and Ben had the feeling that they
just loved to argue; they would never come to any agreement unless forced to.
But on the third day a newcomer arrived who changed things. Its entrance was such that it
panicked people on the streets, and the creature did little to reassure them after coming to
ground. In the air it was magnificent and beautiful; a great butterfly with a two-meter
wingspread, brilliantly orange and brown against a black body that still stood 150 centimeters
when it landed in the street and stood on the rearmost four of its eight long tentacles. Its face
was a large, black painted death's head, with great, eerie eyes that looked like pads recessed in
the hard, dark skull.
The Yaxa, however, had been expected.
Its manner, its voice, was cold, hard, sharp, and cutting. It sent chills through those who
heard it. Even Ben, who had to have a running translation, felt it. Unlike the others he'd met on
the Well World-the Dasheen, Ortega, the Ambreza, even the plant-creature-this one was different.
Not inhuman, unhuman, as alien as those paintwash creatures of the North.
The Yaxa had a proposition.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...0-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT (130 of 183) [7/1/03 1:17:06 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20W...f%20Souls%2002%20-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
"First," it said, "let me summarize what the situation is to date. I have been able to keep in
touch on my journey here as new developments broke, and things are breaking fast.
"One-the Makiem have effectively allied and coordinated with the Cebu and the Agitar. It is
the most formidable combination of brains, opportunism, and ability this world has ever seen.
Boidol will give them their part of the ship to avoid the fight. There has been no talking them
out of it. The Djukasis will fight, but we have been unsuccessful in getting the Lata to come in
on their side or anybody else's. The Djukasis will take their toll, but they cannot hope to
defeat such an alliance. The Klusidians will neither yield nor fight, and you know what that
means. The Zhonzorp would fight if they had a chance, but they're very much like the Makiem,
mentally. They may join the alliance instead, if they're able. Their hatred of the Klusidians
will keep them from giving the aid those people need."
The creature paused, adjusting the giant maps it was using to illustrate its talk.
"Olborn is a mystery. You know its reputation: nobody who goes in ever comes out, and they
never man their embassy at Zone. A question mark, but I don't believe that any race, whatever its
powers, can stop this march alone. If we're lucky, the Olbornians will slow them, as certainly
the Alestoli will. But think of what two flying races could do with even something as basic as
boiling oil. No, a sufficiently large force of them will reach Gedemondas, a hex that talks to
no one, has no embassy, and contains too hostile an environment for much else. Even the Dillians
on the other side, who share some mountains, have been unsuccessful in talking to them. They
don't fight-they just vanish. And that leaves four mods and the engines in the hands of the
Makiem-Cebu-Agitar alliance."
"But how will they ever get such large pieces of machinery back to their home hexes?" asked
one councillor.
"The Agitar know their business," the Yaxa told him. "They will bring along a number of good
engineers. They will disassemble things, put them through the Zone Gates if they can't haul them
home, and then reassemble them in their own hex."
"They still couldn't fly it," another pointed out.
"Wrong again," replied the Yaxa. "The Makiem have had the kind of good fortune that makes one
doubt free will. One of the pilot-qualified Entries, Antor Trelig, is a Makiem. He can and will
fly that ship-and further, he can enter the computer complex and use it up on the satellite. You
see? Our very existence is in jeopardy!"
That got to them. There was a rumble and roar, and it was several minutes before the chairman
could calm them down. It was hard to tell, but the Yaxa seemed satisfied with his reception. It
had come on a diplomatic mission; its object was to scare them to death.
"But what can we do?" asked one councillor. "Send our people into battle with swords and
spears against the Qasada? They'd chew us to pieces!"
"They would indeed," the Yaxa agreed. "But you will have some time and some advantages. Yaxa
and Lamotien have united. The Lamotien are probably the best friends and deadliest enemies on the
Well World. The planet for which they were designed must be a living hell. They are metamorphs-
they can assume any shape that they can see, limited only by the fact that they cannot change
their mass. Even that is not a true drawback because they are small. They combine with one
another to create larger organisms. Twenty could make a Dasheen so convincing you would be unable
to tell the difference. And there are ten million or more Lamotien, in a high-tech hex. With them
we will shortly secure the highly important bridge module of the downed ship from Teliagin. Then
the Lamotien will turn into flyers, and we will fly to Nodi Island in the Sea of Storms and
secure a second module. Then we shall cross the East Neck to Qasada. With Lamotien infiltration
and technology, Yaxa flight and trained warriors, aided, perhaps, by bases and personnel in
Dasheen, we can take the Qasada and the Xoda, our two major problems. Palim is still in doubt;
they might just allow us through. That puts us in Gedemondas, a hex in which we Yaxa will be hard-
pressed to operate, but one in which a Lamotien-supplemented Dasheen force will be highly
effective. Need I tell you that this will give us the bridge and engines?" It turned, looked
over the bovine faces assembled there. "And you have Ben Yulin, another pilot who also has access
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...0-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT (131 of 183) [7/1/03 1:17:06 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20W...f%20Souls%2002%20-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
to the satellite computer."
There was more uproar. How could the Yaxa have known? They groaned. This changed everything!
The Yaxa had no ability to smile. Even if it could, Ben Yulin thought such a gesture would
shatter its face and personality. But there was evident confidence and satisfaction inside it for
its presentation.
Chalk one up for Well World intrigues, anyway, Yulin thought. This world bristled with spies,
plots, moves, and countermoves. The heretofore impossibility of war had diverted men of such
minds to more devious means.
The debate droned on and on, but it was evident that the outcome had been decided, and a late-
night formal vote made it official. Even Yulin spoke, assuring them that he could indeed pilot
the ship if it had so much as one module between bridge and engines, and that he could, in fact, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]