MYTH COMMUNICATION

  Chapter 14a

****
  "I’ve always enjoyed ‘stories’ more than ‘serials’, myself."
    -Geoduck

****

   After slapping me, the woman returned to her position before me 
and proceeded to perform the rest of the proscribed ritual. Evidently 
she had to, or wanted to, even though I had already failed the test for 
the day. Looking back now, I'm not quite sure how to describe 
what happened next, except to say the business with the moistened 
fingers was just a tiny warm-up for the main event, which involved 
all sorts of things getting dampened, or downright soaked. As I 
watched or more accurately tried to watch it unfold, I noted 
vaguely that the members of the crowd which surged continually 
through the square gave the performance only the most casual of 
glances as they passed by. If this sort of *public* display drew that 
blasé of a reaction, then what did people do behind closed doors 
on this dimension? What exactly had Aahz and his partner been 
doing up in that room?

   I decided that I didn't want to know.

   I decided that I wasn't going to last three more days here, 
assuming that Tanda and Chumley would agree to cut me down 
when they finally showed up. And since even Aahz had refused 
to help me, I had to assume the worst.

   The woman finally finished her various gyrations with a 
particularly dramatic flourish. (A couple members of the crowd 
almost broke stride.) Pushing her long crinkled mass of intertwined 
purple and red hair into position behind her head, she slinked back 
to the wall and again slapped me, exactly as she had before. She 
then wordlessly reassembled her skimpy garments and melted into 
the crowd without a backwards glance. The same unseen forces 
quickly and unceremoniously winched me back up into position. 
Life, such as it was, went on. More taunting, more dirt.

  Until several hours later, when a mass of thick black clouds slowly 
rolled in over the rooftops of the buildings and it started to rain. A 
few sloppy splashes at first, then a steady lukewarm drizzle. A little 
more verbal abuse (along with mud now, instead of dirt) was hurled 
in my direction and then the crowd quickly evaporated off the 
square into the various surrounding buildings. In minutes, I was 
alone in the growing darkness of evening. I could hear the 
thumping sounds of  ‘music’ and revelry behind the many glowing 
windows. The random thought flickered across my mind that Rio 
Paulo must be the only dimension in existence that had its entire 
main square ringed not with government offices and banks, but 
nightclubs. 

   Or to be more accurate, ‘round-the-clock clubs’.

   With last of the mob vanishing from view, I arrived at my 
absolute lowest ebb. It was almost as if the universe had 
consciously conspired to bring me to this point of absolute 
bottomed-out futility: casually abandoned by my closest friends, 
magikless, on a dimension that seemed determined to repeatedly 
rub my nose in filth and squalor. Tied to a wall in the rain.
   
  But then as I hung there, the large tepid drops dribbling off my 
naked, grimy, body, something tickled at the back of my mind. 
Something now bothered me, apart from the obvious physical 
problems that screamed out from various potions of my anatomy. 
Something mental. A voice, trying to get my attention. For a 
moment, I thought Tanda might be trying to send me another 
message, but after a few seconds I realized that like the moment in 
the ski lodge with the malfunctioning translator pendant, it was my 
own mental voice. Trying to tell me something. Something 
important.

  I closed my eyes and tried to bring the thought forward. 
Perversely, now that it had my full attention, it attempted to slip 
away, and the despair swelled up again, a suffocating wave that 
came down like the rain. I ground my teeth and remembered that 
long-ago moment in Garkin's hut when I first lit that stupid candle 
with magik. Remembered that moment of clarity and power. The 
magik may be gone for now, but the mind was still there. Yes. The 
mind; the best weapon and tool of them all. Like most of our 
adventures, up until now this current outing had never given me any 
real chance to catch my mental breath. To just stop and think. Well, 
*that* problem had certainly been solved for once.

  I forced my hands to unclench themselves. I closed my eyes. I 
sagged against the roughness of the ropes, which didn't really help 
much.

 - Clear your mind. Rise above all of this. The thought is there. I 
can find it. I am Skeeve. I helped bring down Isstvan. I defeated the 
greatest army ever seen on Klad. I have taken on the Mob, the 
Deveels, and a town full of vampires literally out for my blood. And 
came out on top in the end. -

   -I can do this. -
 
   "No, you can’t."
  
   I snapped my eyes open, and looked around.  The voice had been 
distinct, even piercing, but there was no one in sight, not even a 
salmon. (Although there was currently just about enough water in 
the air to support even a normal one.)

   "What’s going on? Who’s there?" I croaked the words.

   "That’s sort of your mantra in life, isn’t it?" The voice dripped 
with contempt. "What’s going on? I don’t understand. Explain it to 
me, Aahz. Help me. Tell me what to do. Make my decisions for 
me."

   "Tanda? Aahz?" I craned my neck. "Is that you?"

   "No. No. And no again." The voice’s owner finally emerged out 
of the wet night, slouching, his hands jammed in the pockets of his 
tunic. Even though his leather boots squished in the clumps of mud, 
it seemed that the lights of buildings behind him shown right 
through him. He was a rather spindly man, with an unruly shock of 
strawberry red hair. "You’re on your own, Skeeve."

   I stared.

   "Who are you? Why are you disguised as me?"

   He rose up off the ground, his hands still hidden. Abruptly we 
were nose-to-nose.
 
   "You weren’t listening, carrot-top. I said you’re on your own."

   "You’re saying that you’re me?"
 
   "Well what do you know. There *is* a brain buried under all that 
inert matter. Somewhere. You’d better try to find it and get it 
working, before you run out of time."

    "I don’t understand."

    One of his hands emerged with lightning speed. It was a 
supremely odd sensation as it struck my face- as if I was made of 
thick pudding, and his hand passed through me directly but slowly, 
prolonging the moment of impact.

    It was still better than getting hit by the salmon or the woman.
 
    "You don’t have time for this, *kid*. You’re in serious trouble."

    "I’m aware of that!" I almost yelled the words, as soon as his 
hand was free of my face. "I’m tied to a wall and now I’m 
hallucinating again! Is this some kind of side effect of the 
containment spell? Or the dust that Massha’s evil twin sprayed me 
with?"

    "Hmm. Better. At least you’re asking constructive questions 
now."  His voice was almost mild. He idly drifted backwards a few 
feet, his boots dangling. "The wrong questions, of course. But I 
suppose we have to start somewhere." He paused and sighed. "As a 
reward, here’s a hint. You’re not hallucinating. At least, not in the 
sense that you mean. In fact, your mind is the clearest it’s been in... 
quite a while now. Now why don’t you humor me. Take that as a 
starting point, accept it as truth for a moment. Then tell me what 
you can work out."

   I glared at him, then looked down my body as I spoke.

  "All right. Fine. You say my mind is the clearest it’s been in quite 
a while. That would mean that my mind has been clouded. That I’ve 
been confused."

  "Yesss...?"

  Confusion.

   I raised my head, and spoke almost to myself.

  "Because... Before... before it almost made sense..."

   "What did?" He again extracted one of his hands. This time, 
however, he idly studied his fingernails.

   I tried to make a wide gesture, which isn’t easy to do with just 
your shoulders.

   "Everything. I mean, I didn’t understand what was going on..."

   "Nothing new there."

   "Ha ha. But... but there was a feeling that... it *could* make 
sense. Somehow. That if we... if *I* just kept pushing, I could have 
found an answer. Could have figured out what was going on. With 
the Deveels. These supposed union members. Penbrius. Chirosovo. 
All of it."

   "Uh huh. Maybe. Maybe not. After all, as you were so recently 
reminded, life is ultimately meaningless. But you said ‘before’. 
When did it start to go wrong?"

   "When Penbrius cast that spell. The Black Containment. And 
Tanda showed up as that fish."

   "Tanda?"

   "You know who Tanda is, as well as I do."
 
   "Yes. Tanda the Trollop assassin."

   I looked up at the clouds this time, squinting against the rain. I 
sucked some water off my lips before speaking.

   "Tanda..."

    "Yes?"

    "Where... where did she learn... where did she learn that spell? 
With the fish? She’s not a real magician. She knows how to 
dimension hop... and some assassin tricks, but sending a message 
like that? She and Chumley can’t *do* things like that."

    "Interesting."

    I started building up an intellectual head of steam.

    "And that whole scene with Penbrius! Where did *that* come 
from? When Aahz first told me about their meeting, he said that 
Penbrius just... dismissed him. Like an annoying insect. Left him 
stranded on Chirosovo with no clothes or... or snow bunnies or 
anything until he apologized. But that dying man we met... he had 
been trying unsuccessfully to get revenge on Aahz for years."

   The phantom scraped at a cuticle with the opposed thumbnail, 
and spoke without looking at me. "Maybe Aahz lied."

   "No. I mean, sure he’s capable of such things. He does it as 
naturally as breathing, when he wants to. But I think he was telling 
the truth that time. No. I know he was. So what’s going on?"

    I pushed on before he could answer.

   "Then there’s Rio Paulo. Penbrius the megapowerful paranoid 
magikal recluse had his secret base of operations on *Rio Paulo*? 
Aahz referred to Penbrius as having a 'personal realm'. There’s no 
way that this... this diseased, gaudy, non-stop carnival of a 
dimension was his home!"

    "All of which still leaves you tied naked to a wall in the rain, 
talking to yourself."

    "Shut up. I’m trying to concentrate. This can’t be his home, but 
when we walked out the front door of his workshop, we were right 
out here on the street. Sure, it could have been a magical doorway, 
like our place back on Deva... but no. It still doesn’t make sense."

     "Maybe-"

     "And *then* there’s Gus and Aahz’s behavior after we got here! 
OK, I admit, I openly and freely admit that I don’t know what the 
romantic life of stone gargoyles is like, but the Gus *I* know is too 
level-headed to let himself get distracted so easily. And neither he 
nor Aahz would leave me here to rot like this. No matter what they 
thought of  *my* sex life..."

  "Or total lack thereof..."

 "...or how afraid they were of Rio Paulo’s jails! It just doesn’t add 
up."

    I looked around, listened to the rain and the distant thump thump 
thump of the music. This time, my doppelganger watched me in 
silence until I continued.

    "Just before you came... I was thinking the universe had 
deliberately conspired against me. What if I had been right? What if 
this all was a conspiracy against me?"

    "An impartial viewer of the situation would probably have to 
reply that you have a severely exaggerated sense of your own 
importance."

    "OK. Fine. Not a conspiracy then. But... something." I turned my 
gaze inward for a last time, looked for the quiet place of power. 
Found it. I let out a breath of tension as the light broke over me. 
"The runes. The runes around the doorway. Back at the ski lodge. 
They had to be there for a reason. Since the concealing wall got 
knocked down by whatever it was that wrecked the place. They 
were a second line of defense, to keep people like us out. They did 
something to me. We looked at the runes, and they did something. 
Sent me here. Rio Paulo, or whatever this place actually is. Got me 
into this whole mess. Forget about that ‘Black Containment’ spell. 
The runes are the only thing that makes any sense. If I’m trapped by 
some kind of spell, it even explains *you*."

    "Very good." The other Skeeve applauded sardonically. "So now 
what?"

    I turned my head and looked at him. I’m not entirely sure what 
my double saw there, but he immediately stopped clapping, and 
started drifting further away, fading swiftly back into silence and 
nothingness. My voice sounded very chilly and bleak in my ears.
 
   "Now? Well, the first thing that I do is get off this damn wall."

   I closed my eyes, and settled down to await the woman’s return.

Chapter 15a

****
  "Enough pussyfooting around. Let’s get it on."
    -Ghengis Klahd
****
   
   The day dawned bright and clear, the clouds having finally 
finished their appointed task and moved on during the early hours 
of the morning. The partying that surrounded me, on the other 
hand, never really went away. There *was* a period just before 
sunrise where the general traffic and noise dropped to a grim, 
determined trickle. During this stretch, a few twisted, slimy figures 
straggled by. I was unsure if they were Rio Paulites crawling home 
to recover their strength for the coming night’s festivities, or 
streetsweepers cleaning out the gutters. The end result was the 
same, so I suppose it didn’t really matter.

   Finally, the multi-colored mobs reappeared in full strength, 
bursting forth like a flower as the sun rose, flopping and oozing and 
scuttling by in all of their glory. That hadn’t changed.

   But something had. It took me a moment to realize what it was, 
but finally I realized that it was the women in the crowd.

    At first, they resumed their activities of the previous day, but like 
my nocturnal vistor, when they met my eyes, they seemed to see 
something there, and most of them moved off after only a token 
mud clod or a quick gesture. I also sensed rather than saw that 
crowd members of both sexes were beginning to eye me in a 
speculative fashion, instead of ignoring me like before.

     Then as the hours crawled closer and closer to noon, I realized 
that I was definitely acquiring an official audience; a wide 
semi-circle of figures was forming around me, a couple hundred 
sets of eyes were settling in for the long haul. Street vendors 
suddenly appeared, perhaps teleporting in magikally. They were 
working the edges of the crowd, selling food and other less 
identifable items. It made me vaguely homesick for the Bazaar.

    And, finally, noon arrived once again. The ropes lowered me 
back towards the ground. The crowd smoothly parted, and the 
woman stepped into view, walking towards me.

    Arriving in her position, she licked her fingers, and began the 
ritual.

    Her body moved, twisted, flowed. Arranged its various shapely 
parts in ways that seemed to simultaneously defy both gravity and 
physics. If this was magik, it was a type that I had never heard of 
before. Pieces of clothing came free, and twirled around her body 
as if they had a mind of their own. (And who knows, maybe they 
did.) Never completely revealing, never completely concealing what 
was underneath. A profound silence spread outward from her body, 
filling the square.

    I watched. I watched it all without flinching. The feelings of 
nausea and queasiness were still there, as strong as before. 
Problems like that are not something you can just dismiss overnight.

    But this time I clamped down on them. Clamped down like Aahz 
grabbing my shoulder in mid-negotiation, and never letting go. I 
stood on some high, chilly, mountaintop, looking down at the scene 
before me with cool detachment. I had climbed that mountain 
during the night, and had no intention of falling off.

     I watched as she danced. I watched her, and the crowd watched 
me.

     There was a final spinning climax, and she stood before me, her 
clothes swirling to rest, her arms raised and her fingers carefully 
pointed. She looked at me.

     She dropped her arms, and walked to the wall. We were looking 
at each other, nose to nose. There was a brief, endless, pause.

     The crowd sucked in its collective breath.

     She slapped me, the sound echoing across the square.

     The crowd let out the breath. I noted out of the corner of one 
eye that a great deal of money was changing hands as people on the 
losing side of wagers paid up.

     "Nothing has changed." She spoke flatly as she stepped back. 
"You watched every minute, yes, but you just bottled everything 
up. You felt nothing. You have learned nothing. We still have a 
long way to go. I will be back tomorrow." She turned to go.

    "No." I spoke the word, still very far away, still very cold. She 
froze, and turned her head, the movement looking as if an invisible 
giant had grabbed her skull and was twisting it around. "This is 
over. Now." I had never felt this way before, as if I had tapped into 
ome primal force line, filling me with power.

    (It was the first time, but not the last I found myself in this type 
of position. But we’ll get to that in time...)

    With one quick jerk, I snapped my arms away from the walls. 
The ropes broke around me, dissolved like mist. The magic held me 
for a moment, then I slid down, landing on my feet with a squish in 
the half-dried mud. I staggered, but somehow kept upright. I heard 
a gasp from the crowd, and money was hastily snatched back on all 
sides. 

   The woman watched me. I have no idea what she was thinking. 
She could have given unreadability lessons to Aahz.

    I walked to her. We stood, both of us more or less naked, 
looking into each other’s eyes once again. The crowd went away, 
he world went away.

    I kissed her, and she responded, grabbing the back of my head 
with both hands. I hadn’t been kissed like this since my first 
meeting with Tanda.

    Actually, I had never been kissed like this. Tanda was *very* 
good at this sort of thing, but this nameless woman... it felt as if she 
planned to rip off my lips after she was done with them and take 
them home as trophies. Her tongue did things that I had never 
dreamed possible.

    She *responded*, and I responded right back. I seemed to 
remember a time when this had seemed so much more possible. 
Where had it all gone so wrong?

    The world was dark, and now it began to spin, faster and faster, 
louder and louder, collapsing in on itself.

     I was falling down, spinning into a bottomless hole. The 
woman’s lips, her body collapsed in on themselves as well, leaving 
me holding mist, holding nothing. I spun down and down

     and down

     and with a tremendous white-hot crash, slammed into something 
hard and unyielding, splattering the remnants of my body far and 
wide.

     All was blackness.


*     *     *

    I jerked into an upright sitting position, my head bobbing like a 
Jahk-in-a-box
     
    I was sprawled on a chilly stone floor, made up of ugly gray 
blocks. Nearby, a black tunnel mouth loomed, surrounded by 
unpleasant-looking red symbols. I stared at those symbols. The rest 
of the room seemed to go dark, the wood pattern on the walls 
began to simplify, lose cohesion..

   "No!" I snapped my head away from the symbols, and looked at a 
nearby wall. The wood pattern didn't change, because there *was* 
no wood. Why had I thought that there was any? It had all been 
blown away by... whatever it was that had blown it away. I looked 
around the room, being very sure to keep my eyes averted from the 
symbols. 

   Aahz and Gus both lay sprawled on the floor, unmoving. Rolling 
ungracefully onto my hands and knees, I scuttled over to where 
Aahz lay.

   "Aahz!" I yelled, and shook him. There was no response- his eyes 
remained closed, his mouth locked in a unpleasant snarl.
 
   "Aahz!" I shouted louder, and slapped his face. All this 
accomplished was almost breaking my wrist. I held it, grimacing. 
As I did so, I flickeringly realized that while I was again wearing 
my battered, dusty, clothes, the wounds from the ropes still bit into 
my skin in several places, and there was mud congealing inside my 
boots. I forced my mind back to the immediate problem. Finally, 
seeing no alternative, I picked up a nearby chunk of rock, and 
repeated the proceedure on Aahz, with a slight modification.

   "Aahz! Wake ugggghhhggg...."  Aahz’s reaction was blindingly 
fast, and this time, it wasn't my wrist that was almost snapped.

    "No!" Aahz sat up, snarling, lifting me off the ground. "It's 
*mine*! You can't take it away from me! Not again! Not..." He 
broke off and looked up his arm at me, his clenched hand still 
cutting off my air supply. "Kid? *Skeeve*? I saw them ki..." Again 
he stopped, and stared around the room. My vision was starting to 
waver, and the world began to go dark (in a very different, but 
equally unpleasant, way then before...), but I saw him stare at the 
symbols for a moment then snap his head away, back towards me.
 
    After a moment's careful deliberation, I decided now was a good 
time to pass out.

  *     *    *

   "Kid? C'mon, kid, quit doing this to me! Wake up!" The endless 
tunnel was dark and chilly this time, but the voice echoed just as 
much as before.

    Reluctantly, I opened my eyes. Once again, Aahz was crouched 
over me, looking down.
    "Kid, what's the matter with you? Twice in one day!"

    I thought for a moment, then jacked myself up onto my elbows, 
and spoke with continued deep deliberation.

    "If I were to be completely honest with myself, Aahz, I would 
have to say that I have a *really* bad case of the mocha jive talking 
Saturday night blues."

    Aahz stared at me, and I sighed.
   "It's a song, Aahz. It's..."

   "I know what it is! When the zark were you ever on Rio Paulo?"

   Now it was my turn to stare.  

   "Rio Paulo actually exists?"

    Aahz seemed to realize something. He turned to where Gus was 
laying, and started  poking his fingers somewhere in the gargoyle's 
many cracks and crevices. He spoke as he did so. "Of course it 
exists. It's a well-known tourist dimension, sorta like Toros Daglari. 
Well... no, not really like Toros..." He seemed to find what he was 
looking for.

    "But it was all just an illusion..." As I said this, I again felt my 
rope burns, and trailled off.

    Aahz jabbed his fingers sharply. Gus gave a surprised yelp, and 
bolted upright, his eyes wide. Aahz spoke apologetically.

    "Sorry, Gus. I know you'd rather it was your poonana doing 
that."

    Gus looked at him, his tone faintly wounded:

    "What happened?"

    "Black Containment is what happened. When we came in here, 
we tripped some kind of automatic defense spell. Those runes there. 
That tunnel is protected with the spell."

    Like Aahz and I before him, Gus glanced at the glyphs, and 
looked quickly away.

    "Oh. Nasty. How did you break out of it?"

    "I didn't. The kid did. Somehow."

    "Aahz? What's-"

    "Black Containment, kid, is a spell that constructs a sort of 
prison around your mind. No." Aahz corrected himself as he and 
Gus got their feet. "That's wrong. It creates a prison *out of* your 
mind. It takes your memories, all the things that you fear most, and 
binds them together, makes a dream world and traps you there. 
Unless you can get out, the things you experience just keep getting 
worse and worse, more and more unbearable. Finally you die just to 
escape."

    "But how did I visit..." I trailed off, then inanely repeated myself. 
"Rio Paulo actually exists?"

    "It’s actually a bit more complicated than Aahz said." Gus 
replied, coming over to me and offering me a hand up. "You know 
how all dimensions are reflections of the same base?"
 
   "Uh... Yes."

   "Black Containment uses this fact to make the prison more.. 
realistic. It takes a nearby dimension, and uses it as a template for 
your torment. Rio Paulo is a real dimension, and it’s actually fairly 
close by. If that’s where you went, so to speak, any people you met 
will actually live there. And if you met them in real life, they would 
find you oddly familar."

   "Yeah, kid. Where do you think Deja Vu comes from?"

   I thought, and spoke cautiously. "So was it real?"

   "Yes."

   "And no."

    I thought further about all of this, and then asked the only 
question that came to mind.

    "Have you been to the real Rio Paulo, Aahz?"

    "Yeah. Once or twice." He and Gus exchanged a quick, 
in-jokish, glance. "And before you ask, I wouldn't take *you* there 
if the Gnomes offered me the combination to the Central Vault on 
Zoorik. The Rio Paulites would eat you alive." He frowned. "Or 
you'd end up somehow finding a way of destroying the place. Either 
way, I couldn't live with myself."

    "Aahz?"

    "Yeah, kid?"

    "Where did *you* go? Just now?"

    Aahz was silent. It was who Gus replied, gently.

    "Do you want to tell us what you went though?"

    I thought, and deliberately turned my attention to the tunnel 
mouth.

    "What do we do now?"

     Even as I asked the question, I already knew the answer. Aahz 
confirmed it.
 
    "We go down."

Chapter 16a
****
   "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
   -Captain G. E. Pickett
****

   I faced Aahz. This was something else I had thought about while 
hanging on the wall. I may had already lost that moment of clarity, 
but my resolve had not wavered.

   "That’s right. *We* go down."

    Aahz stared at me like he'd never seen me before.

    "What?"

    "I said, I’m going with you. All the way. I don't care what you 
said, or how powerful this Penbrius is, I'm not letting you ship me 
back to Deva. If he's destroyed this dimension, he may destroy 
others. We can't let that happen."

   "Penbrius built all of this?" Gus finally got a word in edgewise. 
"Wasn’t he the one who..."

   "Yes to both questions." Aahz interrupted shortly. He directed his 
next comment at me. "You *are* going back to Deva. At the first 
opportunity. If I have to slug you and take you back unconscious, I 
will. From the little I saw of Penbrius, he was as powerful as 
Isstvan, if not more, *and* he wasn't as nutty as a fruitcake."

    "Well,"  Gus again interceded with his usual calmness. "The 
whole question's academic at the moment. Nobody's going to Deva, 
or anywhere else."  He pointed a stone talon at the tunnel mouth. 
"Aahz, as we’ve all just learned so vividly, those symbols have 
auras. If we're going to get off Chirosovo, we have to go down this 
tunnel. There's magik down there."

  Aahz fumed silently for a long moment, then growled:

  "All right. But kid, you're staying up here until Gus and I check 
this out. "

  "Aahz! You might need me!"

  It was Gus who replied. "Skeeve, I'm going to be blunt. For the 
moment, Aahz is right. The only use you'd be against Penbrius 
would be magikally. There appears to be magik down there, but 
until we confirm it, if there's trouble, you'll just be in the way, 
especially in your weakened condition. So, you should *stay 
here.*"

  I looked at them both for a long moment, then silently sat down 
on a nearby pile of rubble.

  It was just as well, as my legs were about to give out on me 
anyway.

  Since they couldn't use magik to make a light, they fashioned a 
crude torch from a broken timber and a ragged strip of cloth. Gus 
started the fire by striking his arm briskly against a nearby chunk of 
rock, filling the air with a shower of sparks and an odd burnt smell. 
Despite my foul mood, I was impressed.

  "Say, Gus! That's a neat trick!"

  He grinned. 

  "Learned that in the Pebble Scouts. It was my first merit badge."

  "Huh?"

  "Later, kid. C'mon, Gus. Let's get this over with." Aahz thrust the 
torch ahead of him, and they started down the passage. The torch 
light faded, leaving me with only the grim red glow of the auras for 
light.

  Those moments sitting alone in that chilly, dark, room were 
among the longest I have ever spent, waiting for either Aahz, or the 
hole's occupant to come up to get me. Silence poured mockingly 
from the tunnel entrance. The runes glowed evilly.

  There was the sound of footsteps coming back up the tunnel. I 
picked up a nearby piece of timber. It probably wouldn't do the 
slightest bit of good, but..

  It was Aahz, still holding the make-shift torch.

  "It looks OK, kid. Strange, but OK. C'mon." I rose and flipped 
away my makeshift club.

  After sloping smoothly down for what seemed like an eternity, the 
tunnel ended in a small chamber, apparently carved directly out of 
the rock of the mountain range. It was bitterly cold.

  I looked around the room, and realized that fairly bright light was 
shining out from some indefinite source, as if patches of the air 
itself at been somehow lit up for our benefit. Aahz must have seen 
this as well, but did not discard the torch.

    The room was roughly circular, with collections of odd 
indentions and bulges clustered in the wall at irregular intervals. 
While many of them appeared to be badly damaged or even burned 
out entirely, many more glowed not just with auras but from some 
'physical' light source.

  This was not what caught my immediate attention, however.

  I said the tunnel ended, but in a sense it went on; there was an 
enormous hole dominating the middle of the room, ringed with 
more of the glowing symbols. I inched towards it, and looked in. 
The pit's black glassy-smooth sides shot straight down, the diameter 
appearing to slowly grow narrower as it plunged into darkness. An 
icy wind blew out of it unceasingly. Far, far down the shaft sickly 
worms of lights glowed and squirmed. Aahz and Gus joined me. 
Aahz hesitated for a moment, then dropped the smouldering stick 
into the hole. It fell. And fell. And fell. Suddenly, there was blinding 
flash, and something that resembled a purplish lightning bolt lanced 
out from the side of the pit, hitting the torch. The torch, entirely in 
flames now, continued to drop. Another bolt hit it, and another.

  "Well, I think we've confirmed there's magik down there, but I 
personally vote against going down to tap into it." I commented 
gravely.

  Aahz reluctantly looked away from the hole, first at me, then at 
Gus.

  "Gus.. I don't suppose you can get down there, at least to before 
those bolts..?"

  The gargoyle knelt for a moment and studied the hole, tested it 
with his fingers. Finally, he shook his head. 

  "Whatever this stuff is, it’s virtually frictionless. And I can’t dig 
into it with my talons. Don’t touch it, either of you. Something tells 
me it might not be real healthy." He straightened up. "And as you 
may have guessed from my general lack of aerodynamics, my flying 
is a magikal ability. I'm grounded until we get off Chirosovo. I 
could jump in, and fall, and maybe survive long enough to 
accumulate enough magik to dimension hop, but if you came with 
me..." He didn't bother to finish the sentence.

  Aahz sighed, and then said, grimly. "Gus. It may come to that 
anyway. If it does, you'll have to go without us. *Someone* has to 
get out of here and get word back to.."

  "The Deveels?"

  Aahz sighed again. "I suppose. I can't think of anyone better 
offhand." 

   Gus nodded silently but firmly. Aahz clapped him on the 
shoulder, and then clapped his hands together, briskly. "But let's see 
what else we've got here before we start really panicking. Spread 
out and check everything. Anything that looks interesting, give a 
holler."

     I wandered slowly along the wall, studying the various surfaces. 
It was all completely incomprehensible. With some of the 
still-active lights, small, black, needle-like objects quivered slowly 
back and forth behind sheets of glass. In other holes, symbols 
shaped like the auras above flickered and changed. I shivered, 
suddenly realizing how cold I was getting. I couldn't stay down 
here for very long. 

   Then I saw something both interesting and vaguely within my 
frame of reference. It appeared to be a narrow crack running up one 
of the walls, neatly splitting the stones in two as if someone had 
whacked each with a large axe. There was something about it that 
seemed to pull at me... I took a step closer...

    "Check this out." Gus's voice came from across the room,, and I 
jerked in surprise, losing my concentration. Aahz and I crossed the 
room, carefully skirting the central hole and joining the gargoyle in 
front of a... I wasn't sure *what* it was. It was a flat metal plate 
bolted firmly into the wall and covered with both more of the 
squiggly symbols and other, more geometric, shapes. 

   "What is it?" I rubbed my arms with my hands, and stomped my 
feet. The cold was really beginning to bite into me. Even so, after 
what I had just gone through it still felt almost pleasant.

   "I think it's a map." Aahz replied after a moment's frowning 
consideration. "I could be wrong, but it *looks* like a map of 
Chirosovo. Or a large chunk of it, anyway. Here's the mountain 
range we're currently... uh... under. Looks about right, anyway."

   "And that." Gus pointed. "That glowing circle. That must be 
where we are right now."

   "Yeah... and..." Aahz frowned. "Look. There's at least... what? A 
dozen more circles just like it scattered around the map. Assuming 
they're all buildings like this one, whatever Penbrius is doing here, 
it's a big operation."

   "Is..." I muttered thoughtfully.

   "What is it, kid?"

   "Well, Gus said earlier that the Deveels must have built their 
lodge on top of an *abandoned* building. And it makes sense. If 
Penbrius was still using this place, would he have allowed them to 
do that? Judging from what you said, it sounds like that's just the 
sort of thing that would set him off."

   "Maybe that's exactly what happened. Maybe that's why this place 
got blasted."

   "But the whole dimension? Isn't that a little bit of overkill? Even 
for someone like Penbrius?"

   Aahz was silent. 

   "I think Skeeve's right." Gus said. "But since we don't even know 
for what purpose this place was originally built, we' re probably not 
going to get any definitive answers. The lodge up top looked to be 
fairly new, and its construction *may* very well be why Penbrius 
sent a blast of magik through here. But on the other hand the 
Deveels ran a thriving skiing industry here on Chirosovo for what... 
3-400 years? ...before this happened. Something's changed. 
Recently. Once we find out what, we'll be a long way towards 
solving this mystery."

   "This is all terribly fascinating, but we still need to find a way out 
of here."

   This comment reminded me of what I had been looking at.

   "Um... guys? Would you come look at something *I* found?"
   
    "A crack?" It was abundantly clear that Aahz was less than 
impressed.

    "There's something there. I can feel it. Gus? Can you maybe..." I 
blew into my hands. "...pry out a few of those blocks?"

    "Sure thing. It’s just that tunnel I can’t grip." Gus shrugged, dug 
his talons into the crack and pulled. Clearly much more easily than 
he had anticipated, two or three of them tumbled free. He ripped 
out a few more.

    Behind them was a hollow, tube-shaped space, running up and 
down out of sight, as if we'd cut our way into the middle of a 
chimney. That's exactly what we *had* done, for all I knew.

    Except...

    There was something in the middle of the tube, glowing faintly. 
A thin, pale thread of color, running down the tube like an anemic 
fangworm. It almost looked like...

    "A force line!" I yelled.

    "Where?" The comment came from Gus and Aahz 
simultaneously, both automatically looking skyward.

    "Right there! In the tube! Can't you see it?" 

    Aahz looked at Gus, who peered into the tube more closely, 
squinting.

    "Nnno... I don't." My heart dropped, squishing into the mud in 
my boots. "But Skeeve, you're a real magician. I was born knowing 
how to fly. As for the rest, I just know the basics; Dimension 
hopping. Disguise spells. Aura reading. That stuff. If there's a really 
weak force line running through there, it's very possible you can see 
it, and I can't." My heart rebounded, at least part of the way.

   "Well, kid, don't just stand there! Try and draw some power from 
it!"

   I took a step closer, and reached out my hand, more than 
half-expecting something to come lunging out of the darkness and 
chomp onto me. 

   I felt it. Not a set of jaws, but magik flowing into me. Well... 
trickling into me. A little drop at a time. It didn't feel like either a 
sky or a ground force line, but... somehow... somewhere in 
between. It was to a normal force line what thin gruel is to real 
food; life-sustaining, but little more. I grinned over at the other two 
as my heart zoomed the rest of the way back into place.

   "It's real. It's there!" I looked around the room in surprise. With 
the flow of magik coming into me, I could now see something even 
more strange. The room was ringed with similar 'force lines', 
running up and down just behind the walls, exactly as this one was. 
They seemed to spread out rapidly as they neared the ceiling, and 
passed out of 'view'. I reported this fact to my companions, and 
then asked: "What does it mean, Aahz?"

    "I dunno, kid. We'll discuss it later. After we get out of here. 
And now we have a way to leave."  He reached inside his garments 
somewhere, and fumbled out the D-Hopper. "And since I don't 
think we're going to learn anything more than we have, let's do just 
that before we all get frostbite." Gus and I stepped next to him. 
Aahz spun the dials on the device seemingly at random, held it as 
close to the tube as possible, and again punched the button.

   Nothing happened. Aahz punched the button once again. Still 
nothing.

   "There's still not enough power. It's not going to work. We're 
back to square one." Aahz's voice was expressionless.

   "No we're not." Gus immediately spoke up. "There's another 
way."

   "What's that?"

   "We teach Skeeve how to dimension travel."

 Chapter 17a
****
"Getting there is half the fun."
-Hannibal
****
   
   Aahz said nothing. I stared at Gus. After a moment, the gargoyle 
continued, relentlessly.
   "I've always thought you should have taught Skeeve how to do 
this a long time ago, Aahz, under controlled conditions. You now 
have two choices. Either I leave you and Skeeve behind here, and 
risk the tunnel, or we all hop out of here, together. Which is it 
going to be?"
   I spoke before Aahz could reply.
   "Aahz, I have to learn this. It's the only way."
   Aahz again looked at the unpleasant hole in the floor. It leered 
back at him. He turned his yellow gaze in my direction. Finally, he 
spoke, his voice wearier than I had ever heard it before:
   "You have to *promise* me, no matter what, that you do not do 
this again after today, until we've had more time to practice."
   "I promise."
   His gaze was cool.
   "Aahz.." I hesitated for a moment, then went down on one knee. 
"I promise I will not dimension hop after this one time, until we've 
had a chance to practice."
   Aahz sighed, and seemed to shrivel up slightly.
   "All right. All right. Get up. I believe you, Skeeve. You're not 
ready for this, *I'm* not ready for this, I don't think the *universe* 
is ready, but..." He broke off and clapped his hands together again, 
rubbed them purposefully. "First, are you charging up your 
'battery'?"
    I nodded, and he continued, carefully framing his words with his 
green hands. "OK. The actual... process... of dimension hopping 
isn't really all that hard. The hard part is *controlled* d-hopping, 
that is, getting where you want to go, instead of ending up in some 
unknown dimension."
    "I think I understand. but... does it really matter, in this one case? 
I mean, anywhere would be better than here, wouldn't it?"
   "Trust me on this, kid. There's *always* someplace worse you 
can be. I've seen, heard about, dimensions that... well, that's not 
important right now. What it boils down to is, for your first trip at 
least, it's vitally important that you shoot for a dimension you're 
familiar with. That's the one good thing about this situation- we 
actually have a dimension for you to aim for."
   "Deva?"
   "No. For one thing, despite what I said about warning the 
Deveels, we still don't know what reception is waiting for us there. 
More importantly, even though you've lived there for a while now, 
you still don't know it well enough to be certain. It has to be Klah."
   "Klah? OK, But..."
   "What?"
   "Didn't you say.. back on Gezirah, that you can jump into 
unfamiliar dimensions? I mean, that's how you met Penbrius..."
    "Kid, you have to walk before you can fly. Yes, there is a way to 
get to a dimension you've never been to before. But there's no way 
I'm teaching it to you today. Later. *Much* later. Get my drift?"  
Aahz’s voice was chilly, even in that room.
   "Yes." I replied, weakly. 
   "Good. As I said, Klah. As an added bonus it's close by, as 
dimensions go. Let's aim for... erm... I know! That inn we owned 
for a while. I'd say Possiltum, but we've finally cut loose of that 
third-rate kingdom for good, and may as well not open up that 
particular can of worms again. It'll help that the inn is right on top 
of all of those force lines. OK..." he hesitated for a long moment, 
clearly searching for just the right words. "...What you need to do is 
create a map, in your mind, of Klah. Not an exact map, or a 
complete one.. just pick out some of the details you know. 
Possiltum. Twixt. That cruddy forest you and Garkin lived in. The 
inn. Try and put these on your 'map' in approximately the proper 
relationship to each other. Just leave the rest of it blank. Put the inn 
at the center of the map. You got it?"
  "I think so.. Yes."
  "What you are doing," Gus chipped in, suddenly, "is sort of 
creating a mental pentagram. If there was the right kind of physical 
pentagram at the other end, this would be a lot easier."
  "Yeah. There are even some 'public' ones set up in the Bazaar on 
Deva, but the Deveels charge an arm, a leg and various internal 
organs for their use and Deva's out anyway.. Gus, grab onto 
Skeeve. Kid, close your eyes. You need to concentrate." I did as I 
was told, and felt two sets of strong, firm, cold, hands grab onto to 
me on either side. "Now, this is the tricky part. Tap into your 
storage. You have to imagine that stored magik flowing out onto 
the map. See it wash over the map like water, surrounding each of 
your 'guideposts' with a little pool... and linking up... a straight line 
between posts.. Can you see it?"
  I strained, and started to speak: "N.. wait.. I.. yes! Hey, it's 
happening!" I could see the glowing pattern ooze out like a 
Deveel's smile and form in the darkness before me. "That was 
almost.. easy!"
  "Yeah. Lethally easy." Aahz muttered, then continued more 
loudly: "That pattern you're seeing is a key. Now look beyond it, 
through it. You should see a series of doors... or things that look 
like doors."
   "I see... y
eah! They sort of look like glowing rectangles.." I stared at the 
shapes that were suddenly hovering before me in the darkness, 
somehow simultaniously serene and deeply ominous. 
   "Good. Those are the dimensions that are reachable from 
Chirosovo. One of them is Klah. Start gently overlapping your key 
onto each doorway. One of them will fit. Don't try and force it! 
You'll know when you find the right one!"
   I slid the key over the first doorway. The doorway's frame 
contorted around the key, resembling asnake-cat trying to swallow 
a pig that was a little too big for its throat. It failed, and snapped 
back into position. I moved the key on to the next one. And the 
next. And the next. 
  Then I hit a doorway that worked. It slotted neatly around the 
key, and both exploded in a redoubled glow of power.
   "Got... it..." I realized vaguely I was sweating, even in the icy 
air...
   "Good, kid. Reach out magikally, and pull that door towards 
you." Aahz's voice was as tense as mine.
   "OK.. here it comes..."
   "When it reaches you, let the rest of your stored magik pour into 
it! All at once!"
   "And here we go." I cut loose the 'dam' holding back the magik, 
and the darkness flared up around me. Instead of the 
near-instantaneous hop I had experienced on previous trips, 
something grabbed me from the 'side', and pulled me slowly but 
violently into the washed-out darkness, stripping away Aahz and 
Gus' hands, and taking me a piece at a time...

*   *   *

  I coughed and gasped, dropping to my hands and then my knees 
on some gritty surface. I retched violently, but nothing came up. 
After a long moment, it felt like my stomach, along with the rest of 
my insides, had finally consented to rejoin the rest of my body, and 
I took a couple of deep breaths. The world slowly stopped 
gyrating.
  Then it hit me. Actually several things hit me. First, I realized the 
air around me was actually warm. Not icy cold, not boiling hot, but 
*warm*. 
   The second was an odd smell, followed by a equally odd noise. 
The smell was... salt? The sound was...
   I looked up sharply. A strange, endless blue field wavered before 
me, stretching clear out to the horizon. What kind of grass moved 
like that? It was so... fluid. Like...
   Water?
   I realized with a start that I must be looking out across the first 
ocean I had ever seen.
   It was smaller than I had pictured one being.
   "Aahz! Gus!" I crowed. "We made it! I did it! I.." I trailed off and 
looked up and down the... beach...? Yes. Sand... rocks... waves 
breaking on the shoreline... this had to be a beach.
   A small winged creature circled overhead and gave off a mournful 
cry. Other then it, I was totally alone.

Chapter 18a
****
"I hate it when guests drop in unannounced."
-General Zaroff
****

  Strange mop-like trees sprouted from the sandy soil, and riotous 
green undergrowth ran rampant everywhere, spewing clutching 
tendrils. The sun burned briskly overhead in a deep blue sky, but 
the yellow orb was the proper size and a cool breeze swept in off 
the water, keeping the temperature nicely balanced. Getting to my 
feet in a daze, I staggered slowly down to where the water lapped 
calmly against the white sand of the beach and hesitantly tested it 
with my hand. It was surprisingly warm but felt like ordinary water. 
I'd once heard somewhere that seawater was undrinkable and more 
corrosive than the fresh variety and I had always had the vague 
impression that an ocean would a bubbling steaming cauldron. I 
pulled my hand out the water, rose, and started walking numbly 
down the beach until I came to a small stream tumbling out of the 
'woods'. After tasting it, I took a long drink, still feeling dehydrated 
from our hike across Chirosovo and my two ‘days’ on the wall. The 
stream water was clear, icy cold and far more refreshing than the 
dregs that Aahz and Gus had scrounged up at the ski lodge. Then 
my stomach growled. I looked around in a no doubt stupid fashion, 
hoping that some food would be lying out, waiting to be eaten.
  Amazingly enough, some was. Up at the edge of the jungle there 
was a tree covered with large bunches of bananas, the green-yellow 
fingers pointing enticingly into the air. Before moving to the Bazaar 
I'd never even heard of this particular fruit, but many merchants 
there sold them, along with every other fruit you could possible 
imagine and a few that you couldn't. (The ones that move even after 
being picked off the tree are especially disquieting...) I bobbed my 
way up from the shore to stand under the tree and look up 
speculatively. All I'd have to do is levitate up and... I paused. It 
occurred to me I hadn't thought to see what the state of magik was 
here, wherever 'here' was. I closed my eyes and looked around 
expecting the worst..
   There was a bright glorious force line arcing through the air, 
reaching across the entire sky. I let out a relieved breath and 
greedily tapped into it, felt its power flow into me. After the last 
one and half dimensions I had visited, it was nirvana. 
   Then for a split second, I felt something unpleasant. It was much 
like drinking a cool beverage and feeling an unexpected bit of grit 
go down your throat. Something was wrong with the force line. 
Not serious. Yet... 
  I tapped in again, levitating myself up into the air towards the 
bananas.
 
*   *   *

  Starting to sweat under the sun, even with the breeze, I removed 
my tunic and continued on down the beach, alternately munching 
from a banana and a bulbous green-orange fruit from another 
nearby tree. (I'd seen it for sale in the Bazaar as well at a 
monstrously expensive price, but its name escaped me...) I now had 
no idea what to do. Occasionally, I'd call out for Gus, or Aahz, or 
anybody, with no response. If they were still back on Chirosovo, 
there was nothing I *could* do. I closed my eyes and searched for 
the 'doors' I had tried to step through earlier. Now that I knew 
'where' to look, it wasn't at all hard to find them; they glowed in the 
darkness, much more strongly than before. None of them appeared 
to be the door to Klah and somehow I knew that I would now 
always recognize that door when I saw it. I opened my eyes 
decisively and dismissed the idea that had been forming. I had 
barely made it here with the two of them helping me, and even if I 
could figure out how to hop back successfully, there was almost no 
chance of popping in down in that strange room again. I wasn't up 
to another walk in sunny downtown Chirosovo, even if I'd known 
which direction in which to *take* that walk. More than that, 
however, I had the distinct impression the two of them had come at 
least part of the way with me. Hopefully they'd ended up 
somewhere where they could use the D-Hopper or the gargoyle’s 
natural talents. Like Chumley and Tanda before them they'd just 
have to fend for themselves for the moment, something they were 
all very good at. I tried not to worry too much.
    For the first time I seriously began to consider where I was. It 
was obvious I hadn't made it back to Klah but had wound up on 
some other dimension. Thinking, I vaguely remembered Ginghe 
during his briefing describing at least one of the effected dimensions 
as an 'ocean world'. Since it was presumably close to Chirosovo, I 
wondered if that was where I had landed, and tried unsuccessfully 
to remember the name of the place. Abejekerwhatsuitz? Something 
like that...
    I was just speculating over the unpleasant possibility that I had 
gone to the real Rio Paulo when I looked up and stumbled to a 
surprised stop. I had arrived at a sharp point in the shoreline and 
was staring out over a vast stretch of water, uninterrupted by land. 
The beach took a sharp bend and thrust out a sandy finger into the 
sea before sliding back almost in the exact direction I had come. 
The vista was truly mind-blowing: the ocean stretched as far I could 
see in all directions, gentle blue rollers washing on and on. More of 
the winged 'birds' circled far overhead hooting occasional calls back 
and forth. The first force line serenely arced overhead and another 
one passed by not far away. A few puffy white clouds drifted by. It 
was almost impossible to imagine this idyllic place ending up like 
Chirosovo. But I had the horrible feeling down in my stomach that 
this was exactly what was going to happen, and sooner rather than 
later.
   I discarded the spent remnants of the fruit and launched myself 
skyward once more, going much higher than before, rising above 
the level of the mop-trees to get a better view of my surroundings.
   Which turned out to be, perhaps unsurprisingly, a better view of 
more ocean. Rotating slowly, my free hand shading my eyes against 
the sun, I realized with only a small start that I was on (or rather 
above) a small island floating in an endless blue sea. No other land 
was visible in any direction. Giving up on that search for the 
moment, I started scanning the island spread out below my feet for 
signs of my friends, or anything else. 
   Nothing. 
   Then I realized I was wrong. There *was* something on the 
island, crouching menacingly amidst the foliage, up among the small 
but steep clump of green hills that made up the island's center. The 
vigorous local plant life had made a concerted and enthusiastic 
attempt to overrun the structure but its basic gray cube shape still 
stood out amidst the tangle of vines.
   It was a very familiar gray color. I felt a cold chill ripple down my 
spine. I steeled myself and began floating down towards the 
structure.

*    *   *
  
   I settled down beside the gray building, feeling like I was 
lowering myself into the throat of some vast green beast. It was 
clear that no one had been near the building in a long time and that 
even if they had, they would have just about had to fly in, as I had. 
The building was sunk down in a narrow ravine, with no roads, 
overgrown or otherwise, leading to it. How had Penbrius built it? 
*Why* had he built here, on an island in the middle of nowhere?
   I started picking my way through the dense underbrush, trying to 
circle the building and find an opening inside. Vines and shrubs 
clawed at me in the green coolness, and I quickly put my tunic back 
on. Small creatures chattered noisily from the damp green darkness, 
indignantly scurrying or flapping or oozing away at my approach. 
Once or twice I had to hack away at obstructions in my way with 
magik or float over a particularly bad gnarl. There were simply too 
many obstacles to stay constantly airborne, however.
   Finally, I emerged hot sweaty and tired into something resembling 
a clearing. The bushes here had evidently been cut back recently; 
"recently" if you were dealing in terms of years at least. There was 
also an unadorned rectangular entrance to the building, an ominous 
black hole that brought unpleasantly to mind the gap left in a smile 
by a missing tooth. For a moment, I seriously considered turning 
around and leaving. I applied another layer of steel to my spine and 
scooped up a convenient discarded branch. It was a simple matter 
to wrap a small ward around it and pump in enough power that it 
started to glow with a visible light. Until I grew stone appendages 
like Gus, it would have to do.
  Inside, I found the now-familiar collection of gray blocks. A few 
hesitant green tendrils had crept in from the outside and loitered 
nervously near the entrance, but mostly the stonework's cool 
symmetry remained unviolated, marching back and forth in 
relentless rows. The passageway sloped downward at a fairly sharp 
angle with smaller, bare, chambers leading off on both sides. A cool 
breeze was hitting me in the face, blowing up from down below. I 
started straight down, already having a pretty good idea what I 
would find.

  Only it *wasn't* what I expected, exactly. As it had on Chirosovo, 
the main passage eventually dead-ended in a small chamber. 
However instead of a ring of guard symbols and a further passage 
going down, there was another stone wall. A wall with something 
wrong... it had bulged slightly, as if some great force (Chumley or 
Gus perhaps) had pounded on it from the other side but failed to 
break through. No. I decided if Chumley or Gus had attacked the 
wall, it wouldn't still be standing. Cool air chilled its way through 
the cracks knocked between the stones. 
  I hesitated for a long moment, studying the damage, then began 
prying away at the bricks with magik. Like the ones Gus had ripped 
out of the wall on Chirosovo, they surrendered with surprising ease, 
and in a few moments, there was a big enough hole for me to 
squirm through. I felt another Black Containment spell trying to 
sink its claws into me. Knowing now what was happening, it was 
easy to shake off. I started to clamber through the hole, but then 
pulled myself up short as I realized that there was also the tight 
netlike crisscrossing of a protective ward stretched across the 
hole’s entrance. It looked much like the one that Frumple had used 
on his shop in Twixt. I pried at it with my magik and it bent in the 
same way as well, admittedly with a great deal more effort than 
Frumple’s setup. Finally I squirmed through into the dark 
passageway beyond, thrusting my torch out ahead of me.
   Unlike the passage on Chirosovo, this one switch-backed its way 
down. I realized that its builder wouldn’t have as much room in 
which to operate; if you dug too far in any one direction here, 
you’d have hit the ocean.
   The room at the bottom, on the other hand, was almost identical 
to the one I had just left. Icy cold, with a large hole at the center 
and lights flashing and blinking everywhere. There were three 
obvious differences however; all of the lights and glyphs in this 
room appeared to be working, the cold was even more intense, and 
the 'map' on the wall had a radically different arrangement of 
symbols. The whole effect was vaguely clinical and deeply 
unsettling. Studying the last item more carefully, I noticed there 
were about the same number of glowing circles as had been on the 
Chirosovon map, and that as before one of them was blinking 
brighter than the rest. This had to be where I was. I scanned the 
map for nearby landmasses. The nearest on the map, if I was 
reading it accurately, was off to the east. I was in fact in the middle 
of a good-size ocean, but there were, it would seem, three large 
continents as well. Unfortunately there appeared to be absolutely no 
way to judge the map's scale; the nearest mainland could be just 
over the horizon, or three days away... Still, at least I had 
something to aim for, if worst came to worst.
    I tried to burn the map into my memory, then checked out the 
central hole. The runes on this one were all glowing brightly and 
another ward covered the top of the hole like a porous but deadly 
trapdoor. I looked further down. The colors at the bottom of the 
hole were much brighter and more active, almost zipping back and 
forth and sparking nastily against one another. I thought for a long 
moment. I could pry the bars apart, and carefully float down there 
and maybe even get through those lights... Then I looked at my 
white-clouded breath. There was still one problem that I didn’t see 
how to solve. Half reluctantly, half with relief, I turned to walk 
back up to the surface, stomping my feet to get the feeling back 
into them.
    I stopped. For the first time, I noticed that the same set of force 
lines as on Chirosovo was hidden behind the walls, reaching up and 
out of sight, and sinking down to evidently meet somewhere 
beneath my feet. For some reason, they brought to mind the image 
of a barbershop. I looked down into the hole one last time, and 
shivered. I walked back up the passage.
   Emerging back into the sunlight and welcome warmth, I 
discarded my torch and took to the air for a third time, rising 
carefully through the tangled growths. Once I was clear I rose to 
the same height as my second flight and looked down at the 
structure beneath my feet. Now that I was looking for them, I could 
see the weak lines emerging in a very wide ring from the vegetation 
around the structure and slicing up into the sky, beginning to split 
apart into smaller strands as they rose. I looked at the two 'real' 
forcelines I had seen before, and realized that they appeared to be 
slightly... bent... as if they were being slowly pulled towards the 
island. I swallowed and started to rise more quickly, going higher, 
slowly turning and staring out across the water. It felt like the 
building I had left behind was staring up at me, making the back of 
my neck itch. If *something* didn't turn up, I'd have to risk flying 
east, knowing that my power source had once again officially been 
placed in the 'unreliable' category. I had to find... something.
  But there was nothing.
  Except in one direction, roughly along the path I was planning to 
follow as a last resort. There, finally, was something. Not land, but 
a small white and blue object, moving along the horizon at a fair 
clip. I realized it had to be some kind of boat, although my 
knowledge of watercraft basically began and ended with the fact 
that the pointy end went first. I thought again for a long moment 
about that unpleasant kink  in the force lines, about that hole 
waiting for me down below. I gritted my teeth and set off in the 
direction of the ship, sailing down closer to the water as soon as I 
wafted over the last bank of trees.

Chapter 19a
****
"Then he fell in with bad company and ran off to sea."
-Davey Jones' mother
****

  Zipping across the ocean was a strange, exhilarating experience, 
watching the endless waves roll majestically along a few feet below 
me, feeling the cool breeze beat me in the face. Occasionally a 
sleek-bodied sea creature would jump out of the water and hang 
suspended for a moment before dropping back out of sight beneath 
the blue-green surface.  
Force lines crossed the air at regular intervals, giving me fresh 
boosts of power whenever I needed them. 
  At one point, I pulled myself to a surprised stop and looked down 
at the water beneath the tips of my boots. Another force line shot 
past. Unlike the others, however, this one was down under the 
water. I had never seen one that looked like it before and in spite of 
the urgency of the situation, I dipped a little closer to examine it. It 
was a serene blue-green color but more ‘solid’ than a sky line. I 
tapped into it for a moment, and realized with a start it must be a 
water force line. I had never been near a large enough body of 
water to find one before. The power was cool, but strong and 
flowing and deep. Tasting it, I felt as if I could fly forever, run to 
the ends of the earth and back, dive to the bottom of the sea...
   I pulled free. Now was not the time for experimenting and the 
taste of the power was actually a little scary. I resumed my charge 
toward the boat, angling my path to intercept it.
    The power that I had just sucked up helped immensely. I tore 
along, eating up the distance. I felt so good for a moment, I risked 
doing a couple of loops and twists in the sky.
   Whatever dimension this was, it was a very nice place to visit..
    Unfortunately, by the time I was getting close to the boat, I was 
beginning to seriously tire. Even with the "water" line’s major 
boost, when you levitate yourself, you're not just floating 
effortlessly along. It's work, just like running for a long distance is 
tiring for even the best of athletes.
   I studied my target. The blue-gray boat was evidently powered by 
an elaborate arrangement of sparkling white sails, and bounced 
jauntily along, plowing through the waves. As I said before, I didn't 
know much about boats, but I got the vague impression that this 
wasn't one of the bigger types that you might encounter. Also, 
while not exactly streamlined and flashy, it looked well-made, with 
none of the crudeness that I now associate with dimensions like 
Klah. I floated alongside the ship for a moment, and looked it over 
more carefully. There was a word painted on the side of the vessel 
in an unfamiliar  language, the scrolling letters large and ornate. 
Oddly, a pop-eyed, curly-haired wooden statue grinned out over 
the water from a post at the very front of the vessel. There was no 
sign of life on board. I tried calling, but the wind just blew my voice 
away. Finally I gave a mental shrug, and settled down on the 
ship's... floor? I knew there was a special word for it, but I couldn't 
remember it off-hand. 
   As soon as my feet touched down on the wooden planks, I 
staggered a little to one side and an unpleasant queasy sensation 
erupted in my stomach. The boat continued to go up. And down. 
And *up*...  I staggered again. This was almost as bad as that 
Gezirahan cart-ride.. I had just been *flying*; how could riding on a 
boat make me ill? I felt my meal of fruit rise up from my stomach, 
but then grudgingly settle down again. I got a death-grip on a 
nearby rope and hung on grimly. I'd pushed myself far too hard with 
that flight, especially after Chirosovo and Rio Paulo, and now I was 
paying the price.
   Suddenly, a nearby door popped open, and someone stepped out 
into the sunshine.
   I was expecting absolutely anything. Walking trees. Giant orange 
and blue bugs. Winged purple-furred gorillas. Except what it turned 
out to be. 'It' was, to my immense surprise, a young female Deveel.
    While I hadn't exactly gotten to know any of them personally, I 
knew that there was such a thing as a female Deveel; occasionally a 
more elderly specimen turned up running a booth at the Bazaar and 
of course some of Alcain's... er... employees could sometimes be 
seen shopping the Bazaar’s stalls, picking up various... whatever 
women in that profession need, I suppose. But being in close 
contact with one closer (relatively) to my own age was a definite 
rarity. Especially one dressed like this: she was wearing, to use the 
word in its loosest possible sense, two very small pieces of cloth, 
each stretched tentatively across her more private areas and leaving 
open large swaths of smooth red skin.  It had been a while since I 
had seen so much of a Deveel's naked body, of either sex, and I had 
to say it wasn't at all unpleasant. The furry legs, delicate hooves and 
slim tail were a little off-putting, however.
   She had been talking to someone still inside, her head turned back 
over her shoulder, her mass of black hair floating loose in the 
breeze. She was also wearing some kind of strange, billed, rounded 
hat, carefully shaped so her horns poked through it unimpeded. She 
finally looked forward, and saw me clinging grimly to the rope. She 
let out a startled shriek, and took an involuntary step backwards, 
almost falling back through the door from which she had emerged. I 
belatedly realized how battered and disreputable I must have 
appeared after what I had been through during the last few hours. 
Should have invested a few moments in a disguise spell...
   Almost instantly, another Deveel appeared in the doorway, this 
one a young male, wearing an equally small piece of clothing 
around his waist and a similar headpiece.
   "Yilla? What's wrong? Are you..." He saw me and trailed off. I 
took a deep breath and plunged in:
   "Look. Folks. I'm very sorry to... um... drop in uninvited, but I 
just need some information and then I'll... be on my way."
   "Drop in...?" The female (Yilla, presumably) asked weakly, 
staring at me wide-eyed. "How... where..."
   "Miss, please. I just need to know where I am. I'm a little lost."
   "I'll say!" The male stared at me with unabashed curiosity. "Klah’s 
at least two dimensions from here!" He hesitated, "You are a 
Klahd, aren't you?"
   "Yes, I'm a Klahd." I sighed. I suppose one of these days I should 
come up with a new name for my species, like Aahz and his fellow 
Pervects have, but I never seem to get around to it. "Like I said, 
could you just tell me where I am?"
   "Uh... you're out in the middle of the Great Western Ocean.. Did 
you dimension hop here? I didn't think Klahds knew how to do 
that." They both seemed to be getting over their initial fright in 
surprisingly short order. Of course, the way I was clinging weakly 
to the rope may have hinted that I wasn't much of a threat to them.
   "I didn't think anyone could do that." Yilla commented. "Right 
onto a moving boat? Wow! Talk about lucky!"
   "No." I shook my head. "I flew here. From an island. Back over 
that way... somewhere..." I gave a vague wave.
   "Klahds can fly? I never heard that before, either..."
   I sighed again, heavily. 
   "I'm a magician, OK? Now, could you please tell me what 
*dimension* I'm on? It's rather important."
   "Oh! You're on Toros Daglari!" He hesitated. "A magician? Why 
didn’t you just use one of the-?"
   Yilla leaned over and interrupted her compatriot conspiratorially, 
still keeping her dark eyes on me. "Are Klahds normally that 
greenish color?"
   That did it. I relinquished my grip on the rope, staggered to the 
side of the boat and threw up.

*  *  *

   "Are you going to be all right?" The voice came from beside me 
at the waist-high rail that ran around the edge of the ship. I looked 
up. The male Deveel was standing next to me, now pulling on a 
striped shirt in addition to the rather skimpy 'pants' he had been 
wearing before.
  "I don't know..." I admitted. "I feel sick and queasy."
   "Oh. you ever been seasick before?"
   "Uh... no. But this is my first time out on an ocean."
   He nodded sympathetically and called over his shoulder: "Yilla! 
Could you bring that seasickness gunk?"
   "Seasickness...? No... I couldn't... really..." I protested feebly.
   "I insist. You look like you need it."
   "How much is this going to cost me?"
   To my utter surprise, the Deveel laughed cheerfully.
   "I see you're familiar with Deveels. But we're not all like that." He 
must have seen my look of disbelief, because he continued more 
seriously. "OK, most of us are like that. Most of the time. I suppose 
I'm no exception in my own way. But I'm on vacation at the 
moment. I came out here today to relax, not sell seasickness cures. 
Besides, now a magician owes me a favor. Never know when that 
might come in handy."  Somehow, his last comment was bizarrely 
comforting. I was back on familiar ground. I straightened up as best 
I could, and went into haggling mode.
    "If all I get for dishing out a favor is a tube of ... erm... 
anti-sickness gunk, I'll pass. However, if you're willing to let me 
stay on your boat until you get back to... port, then we have a deal. 
I'll do my best to help around the boat or just stay out of your way, 
and you throw in the gunk."    
    Yilla had appeared beside us, now wearing a fairly modest robe 
and holding a small white tube. The male looked at her with a 
raised eyebrow.
    "Is this deal acceptable to you, Yilla?"
    She shot him one of those indecipherable glances that close 
couples use with each other, then smiled. I was suddenly strongly 
reminded of my meeting with the Woof Writers on Limbo.
    "I suppose so, if it's acceptable with Mr.... " she looked at me, 
her own narrow eyebrows raised.   
    While I had forgotten about a disguise spell, this was something I 
had considered before landing. For once, Aahz would have been 
proud of me. I didn't even hesitate:
    "Penbrius."  I felt a brief spasm of guilt at the lie, but if Dierack 
and the other Executive Branch Deveels really were looking to 
arrest Skeeve the Great, at least this way I'd possibly be avoiding 
trouble for both me *and* my new hosts, as friendly as they 
seemed. Also taking another cue from Aahz, I watched their 
expressions closely for any strong reaction as I said the name. 
There didn't appear to be one.
    "Welcome aboard, Mr. Penbrius. My name is Karrik, and this, as 
you may have guessed, is Yilla. So we have a deal?" He extended 
his hand and I shook it.
    "We have a deal."
   
 Chapter 20a
****
"There are natives and then there are natives."
-Tarzan
****

    Karrik and Yilla, as has already been hinted, were not typical 
Deveels, or at least not typical in my experience. It turned out there 
was a reason for this...
    "You’re not tourists? You live here on Toros Daglari?" I asked 
somewhat incredulously. I smeared a final dab of the odorous 
seasickness cure behind my ear, as I had been directed. It seemed to 
be doing the job.
    Yilla nodded and looked up at the blue sky from under her hat. 
The two of us were laying on the deck of the boat, up near the 
bow. (I was starting, slowly, to pick up more of the terminology.) 
Behind us, Karrik was busy pulling and knotting various ropes, 
raising and lowering sails and manning (Deveeling?) the wheel. I 
tried to help and with my levitation skills was able to do one or two 
small chores for him, working up in the rigging and scraping at this 
and that down near the boat’s waterline, but in the end I mostly just 
stayed out of his way while he ran the boat. I noted that Yilla did 
too, but it was clear even to me that she could have run the craft by 
herself if she so desired.
    "I've only been to the Bazaar two or three times in my whole life. 
Both our families have lived here for several generations." She 
rolled gracefully onto her side and looked at me with a pert 
expression. "You live there, in the Bazaar, you said? What do you 
know about Devan history?"
    "Uh... I know that there was once a great environmental and 
economic catastrophe on Deva which turned the Deveels into a race 
of interdimensional traders."
    "Yes, the ones that stayed close to Deva. But not all Deveels did. 
Many of them left, settled elsewhere. Most of those that were able 
to put down roots, survive... never took up the active trading life, 
although some of it rubbed off on us, I suppose... Especially 
after..." She hesitated then continued. "Anyway, over the years, a 
large number of the escaping Deveels found their way here and 
settled. Our ancestors. It seemed like paradise, after the devastation 
that they were fleeing. The natives were friendly as well, so they 
stayed, establishing their own community, working to fit in with the 
original natives."
    "Especially after?" I prodded gently.
    She seemed to think for a moment, then sighed.
    "We, well, the Deveels that lived here then, were essentially cut 
off from Deva for a long time after the great collapse. There was 
almost no contact until relatively recently. Deva and its fate had 
become practically a myth for us. Then the Deveels from the 
Bazaar... the Traders, we usually call them... officially found this 
place... I suppose they'd say they discovered it... and they turned it 
into their big resort." She sighed again, a complex sound.
   "Yes. I was told recently that Toros Daglari is the... what did 
Aahz say? The poshest, most exclusive... something or other. He 
seemed very excited about the idea of coming here, anyway."
   "Yes." Very flat. "We natives... both Deveels and the original 
Daglarites... aren't even allowed into the actual resort areas, unless 
we work there. The Traders have taken over large chunks of the 
best land and the jobs that *are* there are very menial. There's been 
a lot of..." She glanced in Karrik’s direction... "hard feelings."
   "The resort workers... um... haven't ever tried to unionize, have 
they? I mean, really unionize, not through the Devan Labor 
Collective?"
   "No." She looked at me oddly. "Although that would be an 
extremely good idea, now that you mention it." 
   At that moment, Karrik came over and squatted easily beside us, 
the boat again racing along unattended. Watching his black-furred 
lower half bend in relation to the bobbing deck was a fascinating 
thing.
   "So, Penbrius, has Yilla netted you for information yet? We're 
both dying to know what brings a magician like yourself to Toros. I 
mean, it's fairly obvious you're not here on a vacation."
   After hearing Yilla's story, I was sorely tempted to tell them the 
truth, even give them my real name but... something held me back. 
Learning that they weren't on the best of terms with the 'Traders' 
reinforced my desire to protect them from trouble. All I needed 
right now was having to worry about the possibility of my hosts 
being arrested for harboring a wanted fugitive. Also, why worry 
them needlessly? They obviously didn't know anything about 
Penbrius and if their entire dimension was in danger of going up in 
flames...
   "I... let's just say that I've been hired by some important people to 
solve a very serious problem and that I ended up here, on Toros 
Daglari, by accident. If I told you any more than that, I'd... be 
endangering you. And I don't want that."
   They exchanged another one of those glances.
   "I see. Well, if there's anything we can do to help..."
   "No, thank you. I already owe you one favor."
   They laughed in unison, apparently with total sincerity.
   "So..." I asked, deliberately changing the subject, "what do you 
two do? For a living, I mean."
   Karrik shrugged.
   "Cater to tourists. That’s pretty much all anyone does here 
anymore. Either that or work in the fishing industry. But the 
Daglarites don't really need our help in *that* area. You haven't 

seen one yet? You'll understand what I mean when you do. We, 
personally, take people out on the Tardiz for sightseeing and fishing 
and whatnot."
   "Out on the what?"
   "The Tardiz. Didn’t we tell you? That's the name of the boat." He 
gestured proudly.
   "Tardiz?"
   "It's from a legend among our people." Yilla replied. "About a 
great traveler. Coming from the background we do, living where 
we do, we tend to have a thing about travelers and wanderers. 
That's part of why we let you stay on board, if you wondering. It's 
obvious you've been traveling quite a bit."
   "Yes." I looked down at my bedraggled attire. I had washed what 
I could over the side of the boat and scraped most of the dried mud 
out of my boots, but it was all still in bad shape. "I’ve been getting 
around these last few days. So... you work for the actual resort? 
From what Yilla was just saying..."
   "No. There are several classes of tourists. Some, most of them, 
never set foot outside the resort proper or stray from its official 
tours and trips, which is what the Traders want of course, but 
enough of them come looking for a 'true native experience' down in 
'Fishtown' that we get by. We Native Deveels are considered 
something of a novelty." The last line had both pride and bitterness 
mixed in it.
   "But it lets you make a living."
   "*And* do what we want to do." Yilla added pointedly. I got the 
vague impression they had had this conversation before.
   "Yes." He smiled easily and put his hand on her shoulder. "It does 
both."

*  *  *

   It was another day before the boat came in sight of land, but it 
was a day of much-needed recovery for me. I got a solid night's 
sleep up on the deck under the stars, while Yilla and Karrik retired 
below-deck to their cabin. They had offered me the use of the boat's 
'spacious' guest cabin, (I smiled uncomprehendingly at Karrik's 
obviously well-used joke about the boat actually being 'bigger on 
the inside') but I have found that after living in the Bazaar, I prefer 
to sleep outside when I get the chance, assuming of course I don’t 
have to sleep on the bare ground in the rain. It was still nicely warm 
even after the sun had set and the boat rocked gently, quickly 
plunging me down into sleep.
  In addition, I finally got some real food in my stomach. Yilla did 
the cooking during the expeditions that Karrik led and she prepared 

the meals for all of us in the ship’s small galley. It was all very 
good, if a bit salty. At one point in one of the meals, I asked her 
what it was all made out of it. She hesitated for a moment, then said 
carefully:
   "Some guests we take out turn out to be real gillcloggers. One of 
the nicer ways we’ve found to get back at them is to tell them what 
they've been eating for the last three days."
   I looked down at my empty plate. I thought again of orenberries. 
I silently held out the plate for thirds. That seasickness remedy had 
really done its job..
  I didn't learn much about the food, but I learned a great deal more. 
  The two of them had spent their whole lives on the seas of Toros, 
and freely answered all of my questions they could about the sealife 
(the creatures I'd seen during my flight, for instance, were called 
Dollfins; occasionally one would appear and ride the waves in front 
of the boat for a time), the currents and the tides, the history and 
the geography of the dimension and sailing in general. Fortunately, 
they didn't press me too much about my own life and I kept my 
answers as vague as was possible and still remain marginally polite, 
saying only that I ran a small 'magician for hire' outfit out of the 
Bazaar. 
   I also had a chance to study my hosts. Despite their comments 
about problems with the 'Traders', it was clear they were perhaps 
the first two fundamentally *happy* Deveels that I had ever met. 
Talking to them made me wonder what else I'd missed over the 
years and I made an internal vow, assuming the next few days didn't 
end in total disaster, that I would get out and visit more dimensions 
again, see more of the world than just the Bazaar. Especially if... 
no, *since*... Aahz was going to teach me more about dimension 
travel.
  And as we drew near the sighting of land, I did pick up one last 
tidbit of particular interest. I had avoided the subject at first, but 
finally screwed up my nerve and ‘casually’ asked if they knew of 
any interesting ruins on the dimension. (It was during another lull in 
the handling of the boat and Karrik was there as well.) They looked 
at each other, and Karrik shrugged again.
   "No. Not really. Before the Traders came along, the Daglarites 
weren’t much for building large permanent structures, at least 
above the water. They do incredible things with living coral; they 
can control its growth and shape it into caves and such."
   "There’s the Temple." Yilla spoke thoughtfully, looking out over 
the water.
   "The what?" This wasn’t me, but Karrik. He immediately 
answered his own question. "Oh. Right. That thing up above town." 
He turned to me. "It’s this big gray cube, full of empty rooms. Up 
in the hills above Fishtown. I think even a lot of Natives have never 
heard about it. I’m *sure* the Traders don’t know about it. I’ve 
only been near it once or twice myself."
    "The Daglarites worship there?" I asked, unable to hide my 
surprise.
    "No. Well, I don’t think so. We Natives just called it that for lack 
of anything better. The Daglarites..."
    "The Daglarites act like it doesn’t exist." Yilla spoke, still 
thoughtful, her gaze still far away. "They pretend they don’t know 
what you’re talking about if you ask them. Even with us Natives. 
They never go near the place."  She rubbed her own forearms and 
continued in a lower tone of voice. "And some of us think they 
have the right idea. There’s something sinister about it."
     "Sinister?" Karrik again. "It’s just a crumbling pile of stones."
     For the first time since I had joined them, Yilla shot Karrik a 
glance that bordered on the contemptuous. She faced me and 
repeated herself.
     "There’s something sinister about it. I went there once and that 
was more than enough."
     She turned and walked away along the deck, still holding 
herself.
     Karrik sighed, rolled his eyes and followed her, excusing 
himself.
     I silently turned and walked the other way. I arrived at the bow 
and stared out in the same direction as the figurehead, both of us 
waiting for the mainland to come into view.
     
 Chapter 21a
****
"When you go to town, you always meet such interesting people."
-John Q. Bumpkin
****


  "Land" in this case turned out to be a much larger version of the 
island I had first arrived on: a long strip of vibrant green rising 
slowly from over the horizon. Once we were in sight of it, Karrik 
ran the boat parallel to the shore for quite a while and gradually a 
large collection of buildings came into sight, poking up over the 
trees in the same way that the land had poked up out of the sea. 
They were enormous glitteringly white structures, dozens of them 
flowing and rising up in graceful interconnected profusion along the 
shoreline, the whole mass seeming almost to float a few feet above 
the ground. Hundreds of ranked windows reflected the glare of the 

sun back out to the sea. Dozens of brightly-colored sails flitted back 
and forth close to the shore. Others of the latter objects, to my 
surprise, appeared to be soaring up in the air and making slow 
circles above the buildings. I wondered to myself what kind of 
magik was used to keep them aloft.
   "That's the main resort complex." Joining me at the rail, Yilla 
responded to my unvoiced question. She and Karrik obviously 
couldn’t stay angry with each other for long, but she was still 
somewhat subdued. "Tropical playground of the rich and famous 
from a hundred dimensions." As she said this, I speculated silently 
about what kind of reception 'The Great Skeeve' would get there, 
both before and after our recent legal problems. Maybe I would be 
getting a chance to find out...
   But if so, it wasn't going to happen right away, since we sailed on 
past staying well out to sea. As it had blossomed, the resort shrank 
back into the greenery.
    Upon seeing our true destination a ways further down the coast, 
two things immediately struck me. The first was the squalor. The 
new buildings were a sagging, sprawling, collection of unpainted 
wood and mossy stone, smeared along the shores of a deep bay. 
The second thought was how oddly similar the basic set-up was to 
that of the resort. The structures hugged the shore and were all 
interconnected, with rickety-looking gangways and scaffolding and 
bridges running every which way, often one above the other. Many 
of the bigger buildings had the unwritten word 'warehouse' all over 
them- large, square, with two or three rows of small windows set 
high up on their sides. 
   As I have already noted, all of the buildings, warehouses or not, 
had a seriously seedy look to them and looked like they'd been 
thrown together with little talent and less enthusiasm. In short, I 
was strongly reminded of buildings back on Klah, although these 
were a lot bigger. A steady stream of dilapidated vessels, large and 
small, put in and out of the multitude of run-down docks that stuck 
far out into the bay like a bunch of thin wooden tongues. None of 
the ships had colorful sails.
  I also got my first glimpse of the 'real' natives: they were skinny 
gray bipeds, a little shorter than me but taller than Gezirahans, with 
white stomachs, lots of fins, large goggling eyes and wide mouths 
full of small sharp teeth. As had already been hinted with Karrik’s 
comment about the coral, they were amphibians, which made their 
fishing operations a great deal easier. They swarmed everywhere, 
on the boats putting out to sea, loading and unloading cargo, agilely 
swimming around in the water, just hanging around on the docks, 
watching the coming and going of the traffic.. There were a few 
undisguised Deveels intermixed with the crowds, all working and 
yelling and pushing just as hard as the Daglarites. The smell of fish 
was *everywhere*.
  Karrik and Yilla were quickly consumed with the complex, almost 
mystical, operation of getting the Tardiz up to one of the docks, 
leaving little time for conversation, although I had a thousand new 
questions. I found a corner and tried to be unobtrusive.
   Then the vessel finally nosed up to the one of the docks and a 
Daglarite abruptly appeared from somewhere on shore, wearing a 
striped jersey much like Karrik’s. The newcomer and Karrik started 
tossing ropes back and forth and tying them down, lashing the 
Tardiz tight in much the same manner as a spider-bear stringing up 
a victim in one of its webs.
   Watching this, I suddenly realized that someone was standing 
beside me. Yilla. I turned to her in surprise and she studied me 
silently for a long moment before speaking, looking at me from 
under the brim of her hat.
   "You’re going up there, aren’t you? To the Temple." Her tone 
was sad and resigned.
   I decided lying would serve no purpose. "Yes. Yes, I am. If I can 
find something I need first..."
   "Why?"
   "I have to. You were right. It’s a dangerous place. More 
dangerous than even you realized, probably."
   "Are you going to do... something... about it?"
   "Yes. Well. I’m going to try. It’s part of the reason I’m here."
   She thought for a moment, then nodded firmly.
   "Good." She gave me a brief sisterly hug and a peck on one 
cheek. "Do it. Be careful, but do it."
   "Thank you. Thanks for everything."
   She nodded again, and slipped back to her post.
   The boat was secured and I prepared to make my departure. Yilla 
remained behind on board, waving a short goodbye to me and 
disappearing below deck. Karrik watched her go with obvious 
puzzlement.
   "It’s all right, Karrik. We said goodbye just now."
   "Oh. OK." Despite his words, he glanced again.
   We stepped off onto the dock, where the Daglarite was waiting 
for us, coiling up a last piece of stray rope.
   "Ixthol!" Karrik called and waved. The Daglarite turned and gave 
what I assumed to be a smile in return. We walked closer as Karrik 
continued. "This is Ixthol. He helps us out here on the dock and 
sometimes on the boat, when the guests want to see more of the 
native customs.."
  "And this..." Karrik addressed his friend/employee and gestured at 
me with mock-grandeur, "...is a poor wretch we rescued at sea. 
Ixthol, meet Mr. Penbrius."
   The Daglarite paused in his labor and looked at me with his 
goggling eyes.
   "Perhaps you've heard of me?" I asked, without much hope. I 
hadn’t disguised my features, but I had made my clothes look 
presentable again.
   Ixthol blinked (a startling sight) and spoke in a pedantic and 
slightly burbly tone.
   "I am sorry, honored guest, but I do not know many Klahds. I 
have never heard of one called that name."
    He dropped his gaze and began coiling rope once again.
   "Oh. Oh well..." I followed Karrik down the dock back toward 
(relatively) dry land. As I walked along the boards, I noted that the 
structure was in much better shape than many in the port. The 
tourist business must do better than Karrik and Yilla had let on... 
Snapping my attention back into focus, I increased my pace and 
caught up with the Deveel. As I did so, I glanced back over my 
shoulder. The Daglarite was gone, as if the earth (or rather water) 
had swallowed him up. I blinked myself. "They sure can move fast."
   Karrik glanced as well and nodded vaguely.
  "Around the water, yes. Many a fish has learned that lesson the 
hard way."
  The back of my neck itched and I looked behind us one last time. 
The dock was still empty.
   The two of us paused together for a final moment at the start of 
the dock, standing under an arching sign that read ‘Tardiz Tours’ in 
neatly-painted Deveelscript.
   "Thank you again, Karrik. As promised, I owe you a favor and 
more. If you ever want to collect, come to the Bazaar and find a 
restaurant there called the Sign of the Yellow Crescent. Ask for 
Gus and tell him who you are. He'll get you in touch with me." The 
crowd surged around us, several of its components shooting off a 
friendly greeting to Karrik as they passed by.
  "I'll remember. But to be honest, Penbrius, that favor may never 
go collected. We both enjoyed having you on board. It's so rare to 
get someone out there, or anywhere, who is honestly curious and 
eager to learn more and even pitch in and help. The world could use 
more people like you. Take care of yourself." He hesitated for a 
very long moment, then pulled something out from under his jersey: 
a folded piece of paper. He thrust it at me almost defiantly. I took it 
between two fingers and looked down at it.
   "What's this?"
   He shuffled his hooves against the wood planks and again glanced 
in the direction of the boat, the tip of his tail lashing back and forth 
nervously.
   "It's a map to that Temple you were asking about. It's not exact, 
since it's been a while since... since I was up there. I don’t know. I 
didn’t want to admit it, because I don’t like it when she worries 
about... unimportant things, but this time... Yilla was right. That 
Temple... Anyway, I just figured that might be where you're 
heading now." He looked at the sign overhead. 
    "I..." I smiled awkwardly. "I guess I need to work on my 'subtle 
questioning' skills a little more, huh? Thanks one last time."  
    We shook hands again and I started to walk away. And stopped. 
I owed him this much and more..
  "Karrik. I'm probably going to be very... busy the next couple of 
days. If Gus isn't there when you go looking for him, that probably 
means your favor will have to go uncollected."
   He said nothing for a moment, then:
   "It's bad, isn't it? Whatever you're trying to stop. Out on the boat, 
I was complaining about the Traders coming in and wrecking 
everything, but... there's something worse happening. Much worse. 
It’s not just the Temple. I haven't mentioned it to anyone... even 
Yilla... but... I can feel it... some days lately out on the Tardiz,  I 
can almost taste it on the wind... Is that why you are here?"
   As if the scene was being deliberately directed for greatest 
dramatic potential, there was a sudden crack of thunder and we and 
everyone else on the pier paused and looked skyward, the sudden 
silence almost more disturbing than the sound of the thunder. 
Ominous black clouds were suddenly scuttling across the sky, 
scattered for the moment, but still casting a shadow over the town. 
I again thought of the cart ride on Gezirah and felt a sudden chill. 
Another storm. I looked back at him.

  "Yes. Something bad is happening. In fact... you and Yilla... might 
want to consider taking a *real* vacation for a few days. Go visit 
the Bazaar, or something."
   "I see." He hesitated for a long moment. "But this is our home. I'll 
ask Yilla, if she wants to go, but... no. Unless she wants to, we're 
not leaving. Good luck... Penbrius. I imagine you're going to need 
it." He paused again and almost smiled.. "And the way I see it, it's 
self interest. If we stay here, you have added incentive to fix 
whatever it is that needs fixing." He smiled for real, turned and 
walked back down towards the Tardiz and Yilla, his form framed 
by the sign and its two support posts.  I watched him go, then 
slipped into a Daglarite disguise, carefully stowed away the paper, 
and headed into town. Overhead, the thunder rumbled.

*   *   *

    Karrik and Yilla had explained that 'Fishtown' wasn't this place's 
original name, but the nickname had stuck, the same way the odor 
stuck to everything within a five mile radius.
   And not just the odor. Everywhere there piles of dead fish, fish 
parts, fish skeletons and fishing equipment: nets, pots, lines, reels... 
(I often wonder why no one catches fish using the *sensible* 
method that we practiced back on Klah...) Since the town's original 
inhabitants were equally at home on land or in the water, there were 
also canals and pools and locks and water-filled shoots everywhere, 
flowing murkily in the deep ancient shadows between the tall 
spindly buildings. There was so much water around, in fact, it could 
still be said with a fair degree of accuracy that I still hadn't reached 
the actual shore. Crowds of Daglarites, still sprinkled with a few 
Deveels, surged by me on all sides and large wagons pulled by 
barnacle-encrusted Cristotles rumbled past, most loaded down with 
a wild assortment of fish, or at least slimy dead things pulled out of 
the ocean. Occasional splatters of rain came down, adding to the 
damp atmosphere. I wandered through the crooked, narrow, 
algae-coated streets, beneath the sharp overhangs and over the 
countless stone bridges, carefully studying what kinds of shops 
were available. At practically every corner there were unreadable 
signs pointing down under the water, and shadowy gatherings of 
Daglarites could dimly be seen flowing in and out of submerged 
doorways, many of which appeared to be made of some substance 
other than wood or stone; coral, I assumed. I realized that there 
must be literally a whole other city down under my feet, and I 
wondered if there was some sort of magik that I could use to visit 
it... Perhaps unsurprisingly, the above-water selection was 
somewhat limited: lots of stores selling what I gathered to be 
fishing and boating gear, lots of decrepit taverns and inns and a few 
tacky-looking tourist shops. What *was* surprising was that I 
eventually found what I was looking for. 
    As I had said to Yilla, I didn't have much choice. I had now been 
on two (probably three) dimensions where Penbrius had 
constructed buildings with large tunnels leading... somewhere. I had 
no concrete proof, but my gut told me what, or rather, who, I was 
going to find if I was able to make it down one of those tunnels. 
(After all, I currently lived in a house that used a very similar 
principle.)  Prompted by the clouds that continued to roll 
intermittently overhead, my gut went on to tell me that I no longer 
had time to try and find Aahz and/or Gus and/or anybody else. I 
had to go after Penbrius. Now. Alone.
    Which, as always, was easier said than done. I now had access to 
magik again, solving the lightning bolt part of the problem of 
possibly getting through the tunnel alive. The other part...
    I approached the cramped, narrow, shop that had caught my eye. 
I couldn't read the sign overhead, but the objects hanging in the 
window drew me in like a magnet. I hesitated for a moment, then 
did a quick change to my disguise spell, becoming a bland 
non-descript Deveel, or as close as you can get to such a being, 
wearing a striped jersey. I entered the store.
    "Good afternoon... sahr..." The Daglarite behind the counter 
greeted me with his race's version of a smile. (Additionally, I 
wouldn’t have thought it possible for a member of a race equipped 
with bulging fishlike eyes to wear a shifty expression, but somehow 
this individual managed it.) I breathed a small sigh of thanks for 
functioning translator pendants and slipped into my 'indifferent 
world-weary' pose, one that I had been practicing on Devan 
merchants with varying degrees of success.
    "Good afternoon. Tell me, my good man, that *is* foul-weather 
gear you've got in the window there, isn't it?"
    "Ah, sahr has a discriminating eye! Yes, we sell the finest 
weather-protection clothing in Ie'ennismoou'thh." Ie'enn...? I 
thought. No wonder the Deveels just called this place 'Fishtown'..
    "This is something of an odd request," Taking a cue from my 
subconscious, I studied my fingernails. "...but do you happen to 
have anything in that line for... cold weather? Really cold weather?"
    "Ah, sahr is going out on one of the icefish expeditions in the 
northern regions?"
    "Uh, you might say I'm planning to go on a little expedition, 
yes."
    "*Right* this way, sahr..."
    As he led me into the dimness of the rear of the shop and 
continued his sales pitch, I noted clinically that at least *some* of 
the natives had adapted without apparent trouble to the Deveels' 
methods of doing things... Somehow I had come through the events 
of the last couple of days with a few gold pieces still in my pocket. 
Now was the time to use them.
    After a bit of haggling, I left the shop with one set of heavy, 
insulated pants, a matching hooded jacket and a pair of heavy 
boots, which, while admittedly not nearly as cheap, all fit me much 
better than the furry monstrosity that Aahz had forced on me a 
couple of days before. If I hadn't been wearing a disguise spell, it 
would have definitely been worthy of being worn by the Great 
Skeeve.
    Tucking my purchases under my arm, I took two steps away 
from the shop and felt someone tap me from behind on the 
shoulder. Startled, I spun around.
    It was Ixthol. You may be surprised I was able to recognize him 
again so quickly after such a short meeting, especially in a town 
filled with people who all looked just like him. I don't claim any 
special powers of observation: he still had on the jersey and the coil 
of rope he'd been assembling was now draped neatly across his thin 
torso. The brief thought flickered across my mind that he had 
somehow gotten off the dock without getting either the rope or 
jersey wet.
   "Yess...?" I asked cautiously.
   He stared at me.
   "You are Skeeve. Skeeve the Great." 
   It was not a question.

Chapter 22a
****
"It's a conspiracy!"
-J. Caesar
****

   I stared back for a long moment, utterly flummoxed. Finally, I 
managed:
   "Uh... no. Sorry. You must have me mistaken for..."
   "No. You are a Klahd. You are a magician. You know the name. 
The name we do not tell the Deveels, certainly do not tell the 
Trader-Deveels. The name from the ancient times. You cannot be 
the true owner of the name. You can only be Skeeve the Great."
   "Name?" One comment jumped out at me. "You mean Pen-"
   "Gah!" He made a frantic gesture. "Please do not say the name 
out loud again! Not in public! Perhaps it is safe for one such as 
yourself, but very bad for those who may be nearby!"
   "Because the... uh... true owner of the name might hear?"
   He gave me an odd look, surprisingly like the one Yilla had shot 
me on the boat.
   "No. Owner of that name went away long ago, never to return. 
He went off with angels, the tales say, to a higher dimension. The 
use of that name will not bring its owner. The legends say... it bring 
something much worse.."
   For a moment I paused, overcome by the irony of the situation. 
Aahz's little name-dropping scheme had finally produced some 
results, now that I had my answers and had already decided on a 
course of action. I bestirred myself and addressed the immediate 
problem.
  "OK, Ixthol. I admit it. I am Skeeve." I paused again, a thought 
suddenly striking me. "How.. how did you keep up with me? I 
changed my disguise twice!"
  "I followed you when you left the Tardiz Tour dock. I saw you 
change. I saw you change again. These things convinced me you 
are the one I seek."
   I sighed, kicked myself mentally two or three times and made a 
note to find dark alleys from now on for my switches. I once again 
forced my mind back on the business at hand.
   "Ixthol, I'm in the middle of something very important here. What 
do you want?"
   I snapped out the question a little more harshly than I had 
intended. The Daglarite suddenly seemed nervous and hesitated. I 
realized with a start what courage it must have taken for him to 
follow and then actually accost 'The Great Skeeve" right out on the 
street. I wondered vaguely what Yilla and Karrik's reaction would 
have been if I *had* told them my real name when I first arrived on 
the Tardiz. Jump off the boat and swim for their lives? While often 
it can be great, other times having A Reputation can be a real drag.
  "I want you... I request that you... come with me, Great Skeeve. 
There is a meeting taking place and it is of vital import that you 
consent to attend."
  "A meeting?  Of who? Or what?"
  His eyes goggled around nervously at the constant flow of fishy 
(or I guess ‘froggy’) pedestrians that passed us by in the street.
  "No. Not here. The spies are everywhere. If I saw these things, 
perhaps others saw as well. Will you come with me? Into that 
alley?" He pointed. "Change yourself again?"
  I stifled a highly-inappropriate laugh at this echoing of my own 
thoughts. Whatever was so important that this individual felt he had 
to approach me, I had better check it out. And a sizable part of me 
was more than willing to put off the confrontation that appeared to 
becoming more and more inevitable. Still, I spoke as we started for 
the alley:
  "Ixthol, unless this meeting is going to happen *right now*, I have 
to go. Do you understand?"
  "Yes. I mean, the meeting is happening right now. It has been 
happening for some time. Come, please."
   We stepped into the alley. I became a Daglarite again, and altered 
Ixthol somewhat while I was at it. A little caution never hurt...
   He led me off into the warren of streets.

*    *    *

   With Ixthol leading the way, it didn't take long for us to arrive at 
a low-slung discrete building, stashed unobtrusively in a forgotten 
cul-de-sac-cum-pier which jutted out over another large pool of 
water. The numbers of pedestrians on the streets and waterways (as 
if there was a difference in this town...) had dropped to almost 
nothing, although the din of the more active parts of the port was 
still audible in the background.
   While the wooden buildings around it all looked ready to dissolve 
down into the water below, our destination seemed different 
somehow. It took me a moment, but I realized that while the 
building's exterior was as ragged and crumbling as its neighbors, the 
basic frame of the structure was still solid. I didn't realize how solid 
at first- the first door we passed through looked as broken down 
and flimsy as all of the others out on the street. In the damp hallway 
beyond, however, stood another, much more imposing door. As we 
stepped up to it, I noted how thick the interior walls actually were. 
We were entering a fortress. Ixthol knocked a pattern on the door, 
clearly some kind of code. Thinking to avoid some trouble for once, 
I dropped his disguise spell before someone replied.
   A tiny slot slid open in the door, and pair of goggling, but 
suspicious, eyes peered out. There was a hasty, whispered, 
conversation and the door was grudgingly cranked open. Literally 
cranked; it was as thick as the walls, and heavily reinforced. It 
would have taken a battering ram to get through. 
  Or else you'd just tell Aahz there was a fortune in gold stacked on 
the other side.
  What was actually there was not nearly as pleasant: a group of 
very tense Daglarites, all armed with crude but effective-looking 
weapons. I decided there was no reason to make them any more 
jumpy, and kept my disguise spell in place. There was another tense 
conversation. As the door was being cranked shut, I noticed there 
was a strange line of symbols hacked into the stone floor where the 
door would rest when closed. They reminded me of the ones that 
Garkin had carved into his pentagram, back in the hut on Klah. 
Some kind of ward? The conversation finally ended and the guards 
stepped aside with obvious bad grace. Ixthol silently gestured me to 
follow and led me further into the building, through more dimly-lit 
corridors. The interior walls were made of the same stuff as the rest 
of the town’s underpinnings- dirty-white coral. Strange lights 
flickered in side rooms and furtive figures darted to and fro. Several 
of the rooms contained pools of water, or perhaps were connected 
to the greater pool below..
   "What is this place?" I finally whispered. Ixthol jumped like he'd 
been goosed with a hot poker.

   "It is a secret place. A place the Trader-Deveels do not know 
about. We hope. Maybe." This comment worried me. Surely if he 
knew about me, Ixthol also knew who I was currently working for. 
I held my tongue.
   We arrived at another guarded chamber, with an almost identical 
repeat of the previous performance, except that at the end, Ixthol 
was allowed into the room beyond, leaving me behind. There was 
an unbearably long wait, with the guards watching me and fingering 
the weapons in their webbed hands. I stared back coolly, while 
furtively sucking in as much magikal power as I could hold. Finally, 
the door was opened again and I was waved inside.
   I stepped into the room beyond, and blinked, trying to adjust my 
eyes to the dim red light as the door was closed firmly behind me. 
There was several shadowy figures in the cramped, low-ceilinged 
chamber, sitting around a large table. Well... some of them sat. 
Others lurked. Or hunched. Or in one notable case, hovered in a 
large glass tank of water that extended out from one of the walls. I 
decided the time for patience and subtlety were past. I stepped 
forward, and dropped my disguise spell.
  "All right. I'm here. What's all of this about?" I asked, crossing my 
arms in what I hoped was a cool and confident manner. The effect 
may have been someone dissipated by the fact that I was still 
holding the warm clothing I had purchased.
  The figures shifted nervously, looking at one another. Finally, 
surprisingly, it was Ixthol spoke up, his gills quivering. I realized 
for the first time that he was sitting at the table along with the rest.
  "Great Skeeve. We are among the leaders of each of our 
dimensions. We come to you... because we feel we have no choice. 
In fact, having heard stories of your prowess on all of our worlds, 
we had decided to approach you, even before I learned you were 
here. I apologize for bringing you to this place in this manner, but 
we know the Trader-Deveels are looking for all of us. We do not 
quite understand why; we have done nothing to upset them. If after 
we tell you why we have brought you here, you decide to tell them 
of this place, this meeting, we will not try to stop you."
   "Assssuming we even could." This dry, analytical, slithering, 
comment from one of the other table-sitters. It looked like a small 
tightly wrapped animated mummy, one that had used sticky purple 
bandages instead of the more traditional white. Two yellow spots 
glowed from among the thick strands which were wound around its 
'head'.
   A new chittering voice, its owner most resembling a giant green 
and yellow ant with multifaceted eyes: 
   "Yees. Wee do not know what briings you to Toros Daglarii, but 
wee, all of uus, face a criisis, and wee see your presence as an 
opportunitee. Something is happening. Something terriible. On 
eeach of our dimensiions."
      "Each of your dimensions.." I echoed, looking at the figures 
more carefully, now that my eyes had adjusted somewhat. I 
belatedly realized one of the individuals at the table was a 
Gezirahan. "You... you're all from the other dimensions... the ones 
run by the Deveels... like Kaykay. uh.."
  "Kay-may-an." A looming, almost square, creature, who looked 
like a crude cross between a brick wall and a very large ox. The 
massive chair it sat in had been heavily reinforced.
  "Najran." The mummy.
  "Kabayouraan." The ant.
  "B'kiero." A four-armed three-eyed winged monkey with silky 
green fur.
  "Aaaugarahhhajckkk." The blobby multi-tentacled thing floating in 
the tank of water. (This is a rough translation, as you may have 
guessed; even with the pendant, the creature's voice was blurred 
and distorted.)
  "And Gezirah." I finished, nodding at the short furred figure who 
completed the group. I looked again. "Is... someone from 
Chirosovo here?"
   "Chirosovo?" Ixthol again. "No, Great Skeeve. I have heard of 
that dimension, but we have not been in contact with anyone from 
there. I do not believe they travel much from their home."
   "OK." I took a deep breath. "I'll ask one more time. Why did you 
want to meet with me?"
   The Boukieron replied, its voice a squeaking chirp: "On our 
'mensions, magik's... goin' wrong. Malfunctionin'. Signs n' portents 
fill th' air. Th’ force lines flicker in th' sky. On Boukiero, th' 
Quwigimu trees are dyin'. Slow at first, but now th' problems' gettin' 
worse. Lot worse. We don't know what is happenin'. We don't 
know how t' stop it. We start meetin' with others, 'cross the 
'imensions, secret-like. T’ try n' figger it out."
  I opened my mouth to ask why they just hadn't gone to the 
Deveels for help.
  And closed it again. I mean, the answer to *that* was fairly 
obvious. The 'oxwall' ponderously picked up the narrative.
  "But no.. one knows.. why. There are... no an-swers. So we had... 
just de-ci-ded to... pool our re-sour-ces... send some-one to De-va. 
To ask you... for help. To... hi-re you."
  "You want to... hire.. me..?" I stared, my jaw dropping.
  "Yes. Wee realiize that ones such as uus do not have much to 
offer one of your stature, but aall that wee have, is yours. Iif only 
you can save uus. Tell uus what wee must doo."
   "I... Will you give me just a moment? I... have to consider 
something.."
   Another exchange of nervous glances.
   "Of course.. Great Skeeve."
   I turned my back on the assembly for a long moment. It would 
not do to break out in laughter or tears at this particular point. I 
mean, back on Deva, I was already playing two enormous 
heavily-armed organizations off against each other. I *really* didn't 
need to add another one, but it now looked like I'd have to do 
exactly that. I also thought for one hysterical moment that  I could 
in one fell swoop just about complete the job that the Deveels had 
originally hired me to do. Somehow, I got myself back under 
control and faced them all again.
   "I am willing to help you. I will not report you to the Deveels... 
the Traders. I think we can... reach an agreement on a fee." I 
flinched instinctively for a moment, expecting, even wanting, a cold 
scaly hand to clamp threateningly onto my shoulder. Nothing. 
Discarding the warm clothing as casually as I could, I stepped up, 
placed both hands on the table, and leaned forward. "Since I am, in 
fact, here on Toros Daglari *because* of this very problem!"

Chapter 23a
****
"You want the bad news, or the worse news?"
-G. Reaper
****
    The assembled creatures stared back at me in amazement. Well, 
some of them were amazed; with the others it was hard to be 100% 
sure.
   "You... you know what is causssing the problem?" The 
Najranian's voice was that of someone about to slam their head into 
a wall, hoping that would help universe to suddenly start making 
sense.
   "I-  I'll be honest. I don't know exactly *what's* causing the 
problem. What I do know, however, is *who* is causing the 
problem."
   "'Whhooogg' isss cauggisngg?" The blob spasmed questioningly
   "Yes." I shot an apologetic glance at Ixthol before continuing. "It 
is Penbrius. That, Ixthol, is why I was travelling under his name. I 
was hoping to meet someone very much like you."
   There was a long silence.
   "Penbriius? You know of Penbriiuus?" The Kabayouranian 
tapped the knobby tip of one of his (her? its?) thin forelimbs on the 
table in an strangely obvious gesture of nervousness. 'He' continued 
carefully, as if trying to explain something to a very powerful but 
very stupid child. "Great Skeeeve... Penbriiuus deeparted from thiis 
realm long ago. Even so, the Great Penbriiiuus would not do such a 
thiing. Iit could not bee hiim." There was a murmur of surprised 
agreement around the table and then a number of equally surprised 
and speculative glances back and forth.
   "So Ixthol just told me. Nonetheless, he is the one causing the 
problems. Or least, the.. uh.. 'Temples' he built so long ago are now 
causing the problems you now face." A sudden thought occurred to 
me. "There *are* Temples on each of your worlds? Gray stone 
blocks that Penbrius... um... I imagine he is said to have built them 
long ago?" Cautious nods (or their equivalent) all around.  "Good. 
Well, not good, bad actually, but it confirms what I am saying. As I 
say, those Temples are the problem. I'm sure that they, or the 
power behind them, are what is damaging the force lines on each of 
your worlds. And the problem will only get worse. There are similar 
Temples on Chirosovo and Chirosovo is now a devastated 
wasteland. And whatever caused that devastation came boiling up 
out of the Temples. Apparently quite suddenly. With no direct 
warning." I swept the table with my gaze. "The fact that you all 
know his name and have each kept it secret all of these centuries, 
would indicate there was even more to Penbrius than any of you 
suspected. If, before this meeting, *any* of you knew that his name 
was a... um... thing of power... on other dimensions, please speak 
up."
   Silence. A few more speculative glances were exchanged. I 
continued.
   "Now, I ask you all, what, exactly, do your legends say of 
Penbrius? Do you know why he built the Temples?"
   "No. Iit iis not known." The ant spoke. "Hee came into the 
woorld. Hee worked miiracles, and thousands from the Swarms 
became hiis followers. Hee ordered thee Temples built, following 
exactly the designs hee laid before uus. Thousands and thousands 
more labored. Thee Temples were built. Hee warned uus that hee 
was fighting a great enemy and to never  speak of him agaiin, lest 
thee enemy learn of hiis efforts. Hee departed." The others around 
the table nodded general agreement.
    "A great enemy? Did he say what this enemy was?"
    "Nah. Th' Great Penbrius never revealed much, not even t' his 
followers."
    "And he didn't *force* you to build these things? He *asked* you to?"
    "It was not... nec-es-sar-y. Any-thing he...  asked... was done."
    I mulled this information over for a long moment. A short time 
ago, Aahz had told me that he himself had pulled similar stunts in 
the past and I had heard stories about such things before. One 
carefully-planned visit to the Bazaar and a 'demon' could set himself 
up for life on a backwards world. And now it seemed Penbrius had 
done it as well, on a somewhat larger order of magnitude. To do... 
what? I was beginning to suspect an  answer to this, but I didn't 
think I'd get anymore useful information out the group on that 
point. One thing I was curious about, however...
   "What did Penbrius look like?"
   "Like onee of us. Thee best of us. His armor shined thee 
briightest, his eyes had thee.."
   "No, he had no armor, his fins glistened in the.."
   "Yes, OK." I broke in. He had used a disguise spell on each 
dimension. No surprise there. It was probably lucky for me that he 
had used his real name...
    I looked at the Gezirahan and sighed wearily.
   "If only one us had been looking at that trouble-maker when 
Aahz dropped the name on Blox."
   "Great Skeeve? I don't understand..."
   "Nothing. Never mind." I found my mental thread and continued. 
"As I said, it doesn't matter what Penbrius is said to have done in 
the distant past. He is still alive, he is very dangerous and he is now 
threatening all of your worlds. After I leave this meeting, I am 
going to go to the nearest Temple and attempt to travel to his 
realm. I strongly believe that each Temple is some kind of... 
gateway there. I will go there and I will do what I can to stop him. I 
will not exaggerate and claim that my victory in this battle is 
assured. I suggest that each of you return home at once, or better, 
send someone home with a message. If after a day, you have not 
heard from me, or the problems don't start getting better, I would 
further suggest you do whatever is within your power to destroy all 
of the Temples."
   The oxwall spoke:
   "You...   you do not...  know what you...  ask."
   "I don't doubt that for a minute. I've been at one Temple on this 
world alone that will be horribly difficult to reach, much less 
destroy. Which is why I ask you to wait a day before acting. I will 
admit that it is even conceivable that destroying the Temples will 
somehow make things worse. But honestly, after what I saw on 
Chirosovo, I don't see how. If you wish to save your worlds, I say 
it has to be done. You wanted my help. This is all the help I can 
give. I would go to the Deveels and try and convince them that 
something is wrong and they should help you, but... I don't think I 
have the time." I spread my hands in the air. I suddenly felt very 
small and tired. One last idea suddenly occurred to me. "I realize 
that the Temples must hold a sacred place for all of your peoples 
and that there will be a tremendous outcry if you order their 
destruction, even assuming you can get around the Deveels. If this 
will help, I offer it. 'Penbrius' is a word of power. As I am all too 
often reminded these days, so also is the word 'Skeeve'. You have 
my permission to go to your people and use my name in whatever 
manner would be most effective in this situation. Say that... I 
dunno... I have ordered the Temples torn down. That I will rip 
through your dimension like a hurricane if they are not found and 
demolished. I won't do that.." I hastened to add, sensing a nervous 
shift in my audience. "I won't lift a finger against any of your 
worlds. But if my name is enough to get your people moving, use 
it. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go. I think there is very 
little time left."
   There was a long, stunned silence. Finally the 'mummy' spoke.
   "But... Great Ssskeeve... your... your fee.."
   I bent over and retrieved my new garments from the floor before 
replying.
   "The Great Skeeve never collects his fee before he finishes the 
job. And the amount of my fee, in this case, will be determined by 
how successful I am. If we ever meet again, we can discuss it. 
Ixthol, let's go." I yanked open the door and strode from the room, 
suddenly wanting very badly to throw up again.

Chapter 24a
****
"A funny thing happened on the way to the Temple."
-T. G. Skeeve
****
    Ixthol flippered along behind me, trying to keep up as I marched 
grimly out of the building.
   "Great Skeeve? Is it really true? Is it Penbrius who is causing the 
problems?"
   "Yes." I forced myself to slow down and let him catch up. "I 
realize this is difficult to believe, that a semi-mythical religious 
figure from your distant past is on the verge of causing the 
destruction of your world, but it is what is happening."
    "And will you... you will kill him?" Spoken in the same tone as if 
I had confidently said I was going to fly off and kill the sun.
    The question seemed to reverberate inside my mind. Would I kill 
Penbrius? It wouldn't be first time I had used my Magik to kill 
someone; to this day, I can still see vividly in my mind a soldier 
nicknamed The Brute being hacked apart by his own men on a 
Klahdish battlefield. But could I walk into a room, face Penbrius, or 
any man, and kill him if it came to that?
    "I hope it won't come to that, Ixthol. I honestly do. Perhaps he 
can be persuaded to stop doing whatever it is he is up to. But if he 
can't... yes. I will kill him." And I knew I was telling the truth, both 
to my guide and to myself. However, since in any potential 
confrontation between Penbrius and myself there was a good 
chance I wouldn't be the one doing the killing, I changed the 
subject:
  "Ixthol? Are you telling me you're one of the native leaders? For 
Toros Daglari, anyway?"
  "It is my honor to serve my people in that fashion, yes."
  "Then why do you work for a crummy... er... well... not 
‘crummy’, but small-time tour operation?"
   He shrugged. "Despite what the Traders have done to our world, 
helping travelers in an honorable profession. Also, I learn much 
about what is happening in other dimensions. It was there, as a 
matter of fact, that I first heard of *you*, Great Skeeve. Also, it is 
the best place to hide; out in plain sight. The Traders not expect to 
find me there. The honorable Karrik and Yilla do not know my 
secret. There is little danger."
  "But you said something about spies..." My mouth asked the 
question, but my mind was considering something else. If *Ixthol* 
had heard my real name while on the Tardiz, then surely Karrik and 
Yilla...
  "Ixthol is not the name I use when leading my people. On Klah, 
would you have recognized your leaders if they swam past you in 
the stream, not wearing the symbols of their authority?"
  I forced myself to concentrate on what he was asking. "Well... 
before I became a magician and started... No. You're right. I 
wouldn't have." I wondered how much of this 'cloak and dagger' 
talent the Daglarites had come by naturally and how much came 
from being in contact with Deveels for who knows how many 
centuries... Now was not the time to ask, however.
  I also had a sudden strange realization, something that had never 
occurred to me before. Klah could have very easily ended up like 
Toros Daglari and all the rest, if there had been anything there the 
Deveels had wanted. Instead of  being Magician In Residence on 
Deva, I could be working as a spider-bear wrangler so Deveels 
would have fur coats, or mining gold down under the Impass 
Mountains.
   It wasn't a pleasant thought.

*  * *
   
   We stopped again in the guarded chamber near the front door. 
The guards were still there and they all stared at my changed 
appearance, but I ignored them now and focused on my guide. 
  "Ixthol, I need a couple of things from you. I've been told 
approximately where the nearest Temple is, but if you could send 
someone along to direct me, I would appreciate it."

  "I will lead you there myself, Great Skeeve. I know the most 
direct route there from Ie'ennismoou'thh." 
  "Thank you. Secondly, this is a long shot, but it's something that's 
worth trying. Could you pass the word around among your people 
and try and find for me some visitors who will possibly be arriving 
here on Toros from off-dimension, or are already here? I realize 
there must be a lot of comings and goings around here, but it's 
important. If any of these people can be found, I need you to get 
them in touch with me. Tell them... The Kid said he needs to meet 
with them. Direct them to wherever this Temple is."
  "We will do what we can, Great Skeeve."
  "Thank you. There are four people: a Troll, a Trollop, a Pervect.."
  "Is that anything like a Pervert, Great Skeeve?"
  "Yes." I said, trying to keep the ice out of my voice. "...and a 
stone gargoyle. It's very likely the Troll and Trollop will be 
together." I gave him everyone's name, and as good a description as 
I could. I wasn't sure, for instance, how much different than any 
other Troll Chumley was.
  Ixthol indicated his understanding, and gestured to a couple of the 
Daglarites who hovered nearby. There was another brief whispered 
conversation, and the recipients of his words vanished back into the 
building, moving in different directions. We left through the front 
door. As we did so, I re-established our disguise spells.
   "Oh... there's one more thing I'm curious about, Ixthol. It's not 
important, but does the name of this city mean anything?"
   "Great Skeeve? Oh... it a word from one of the older dialects. It 
means... 'place where the fish are gathered for sale'."
   "I should have known."

****

   Even with Ixthol leading me through various back alleys and 
shortcuts, it still took us a while to get to the edge of Ie'enn.. the 
city and on up into the green hills beyond. Several times I saw what 
had to be the main road, full of gray bodies and carts trundling back 
and forth. Evidently having a central off-dimension transfer point 
for goods was common on most Deveel worlds. The path we 
followed, however, was narrow and obviously low-traveled, 
winding and switch-backing its way along through the dense green 
brush. We passed no one along the way. Overhead, the clouds 
continued to rumble and gather. A few splops of rain pattered down 
out of the sky. We walked on in silence, both wrapped up in our 
thoughts. Finally...
   "The Temple is up there." Ixthol stopped and pointed up the side 
of the next hill before us. "That trail leads directly to it." 
  I looked up where he had indicated, thinking that even 'trail' was a 
somewhat grandiose label. The faint trace wound upwards between 
the 'palm trees' (somewhere in last day I had picked up their proper 
name) and jagged chunks of black rock that poked skyward, an 
unpleasant match for the clouds that continued to roll overhead. 
   "Thank you Ixthol. Thanks for everything. I can take it from here. 
You'd better get yourself under cover." 
   "Under cover, Great Skeeve?"
   "Well, it looks like it might rain and I didn't want you to get... Ah. 
Never mind."
   "I will wait here for you. I would come further, but few risk going 
any closer."
   "Thank you, Ixthol. And I understand. But don't wait forever. If I 
don't come back, remember what I said." I started to levitate 
myself, but a particularly vivid flash of lightning caused me to 

reconsider. I was going to be risking electrocution as it was; no 
point in doing it *outside* the building. Waving goodbye to Ixthol, 
I started climbing the hard way, sweating with my load of padded 
clothing.
   More switch-backs wound slowly up the hill. At one point, I 
stopped to catch my breath, and study the local forcelines. Like the 
ones near the island, I could see where they were starting to bend. 
If anything, the phenomenon was more pronounced. I continued on. 
I had toiled along for perhaps an hour, when I rounded yet another 
sharp bend in the trail, and almost literally bumped into two 
Daglarites coming down. They both looked extremely grim. 
Surprised, I stepped aside into the tall grass to let them pass. They 
did so, hardly glancing at me. As the second walked past, I caught a 
strange odor wafting around him: it smelled like... like... something 
I'd smelled recently... burnt... rock?
   "Gus?" I asked, disbelievingly.
    They both stopped dead, and turned to face me.
    "Skeeve?"
    I dropped my disguise spell.
    So did they. It was Gus and Aahz. We all stared stupidly at one 
another for a minute. Then I almost burst into tears, and reached 
out to grab them both in an embrace. Gus immediately danced 
backwards out of reach.
   "No! Don't touch me! I'm still a little juiced!"
   "What? I don't underst... gak!" Aahz grabbed me both shoulders 
and pulled me towards him, showing all of his teeth
   "You know something, kid? That was the MOST MISERABLE 
EXCUSE AT AN ATTEMPT AT D-HOPPING I HAVE EVER 
SEEN!"
   "I- I'm happy to (urk) see you, too, Aahz..."
   "What Aahz is *trying* to say, Skeeve, is that it wasn't your 
fault." Gus stood nearby, grinning. "I've never felt anything quite 
like that trip before. Something... hijacked us during the hop. I 
think it was something to do with that setup of Penbrius'; these 
buildings he's built are.."
    "Doing something... to the force lines on all the.. wheeze.. 
dimensions.. Aahz? C-could you maybe..." The world was starting 
to go strange colors...
   "Oh, right.." Aahz eased up a little but didn't let go entirely. "Gus 
is right, kid. It wasn't your fault." He paused and winced. "Please 
tell me you ended up here on Toros. Please tell me you didn't make 
it to Klah and try to D-Hop back here on your own."
   "No. I arrived here. On an island out in the ocean. Near one of 
the Temples. Where.. where did you guys land?"
   They exchanged glances, and a nasty feeling crept into my 
stomach. I repeated the question. "Where did you guys land?"
   "Well, Skeeve, we didn't so much land as..."
   "Pop out."
   "Huh?"
   Aahz sighed, and his smile dissolved.
   "Kid, we came into Toros about a half-mine above the ocean."
   I stared at him in absolute horror.
   "*It wasn't your fault* and everything turned out OK." Aahz 
continued earnestly. "Gus caught me and he flew us back to the 
mainland."
  "But if Gus hadn't been there.. if you two had been separated.."
  "But he was and we weren't. Maybe I shouldn't have told you, but 
hopefully now you'll wait until you can get some *proper* training 
before you try anything like that again."
  "I... OK." I took a deep, shuddering breath. "But... what are you 
doing here? At this Temple?"                                                
  "What are these 'Temples'?"
  "I- I mean Penbrius'.. whatever it is. Force line dohicky. That's 
what the natives here call them."
  "You've been talking to the natives?"
  "Yes. Both kinds. All kinds. It's a long story. What are you doing 
here, at this Temple, Aahz?"
  Aahz released my shoulders altogether.
  "I imagine the same thing you are, judging from those clothes 
you're hauling there, which would have been a good idea, if going 
after Penbrius alone wasn't so suicidally dangerous. After we 
landed, we nosed around for a while over at the Resort." He paused 
for a moment, overcome by some deep emotion. "We have *got* to 
go back there sometime when the fate of the universe isn't hanging 
in the balance..." He shook himself. "We couldn't find you, but after 
a lot of persistent questioning we finally heard about this place and 
tried to go down the tunnel. Get into Penbrius' personal realm."
  "Gus? You went down the tunnel? How did you get past the ward 
over the mouth?"
  "What ward?"
  "The Temple I visited had wards covering both tunnels. Like the 
one that Frumple had over his shop, Aahz."
   "Huh. They weren’t there on this one. Something must be 
happening to them, like everything else."
    "So you had to turn back because of the lightning?"
   "No. Since I could take it slow, I was able to handle the lightning, 
as it turned out, at least as far down as I could go."
   "As far as...?"
   "The tunnel narrows towards the bottom. Narrows too far for any 
of us to fit through. And the magik flowing through there.." He 
shook his head.
   "Oh." This announcement was simultaneously a horrible 
disappointment and a vast relief. "But... but why did you do that at 
all? Why didn't you just D-Hop there? I mean, I understand that 
Penbrius' realm wouldn't be on the D-Hopper, but couldn't Gus 
just..."
   They both looked grim. Gus spoke.
   "I can't find it. Penbrius' dimension. It *must* be adjacent to this 
one, but I can't see the doorway."

Chapter 25a
****
"Previously on MythAdventures..."
-S. Lucci
****
    
  "Oh." I said again, wittily. "Is there some way Penbrius could be 
blocking you?"
  "I don't know what else it could be. I have to admit, I don't know 
what to do now."
  For once I had a useful answer. "I say we ask the Daglarites. They 
have secret legends about Penbrius; maybe they know something, 
anything, that might be able to help us."
  "And I suppose you know where we can find one who'd be willing 
to talk to us about these 'secret legends'?" Aahz commented, 
witheringly.
  "Yes." I glanced skyward: the lightning appeared to have died 
down somewhat for the moment. "And if I... we... fly... we can be 
there in a very short time.."
  "All right. Let's go talk to this friend of yours."
  Gus agreed to carry Aahz, and took off. I discarded the clothes 
and floated up after them. Having taken to the air, we were able to 
get back down the hill in short order. Ixthol was still there, along 
with a Daglarite I hadn't see before, as far as I knew. What really 
caught my attention, however, was:
   "Chumley! Tanda!" 
   "Skeeve old boy!"
   "Hi, handsome!"
   I dropped to the ground, followed closely by Gus and Aahz. The 
brother and sister team were standing next to the two natives. I 
looked at Ixthol. "You found them!"
   Ixthol stared with open curiousity at the Pervect and the 
Gargoyle, then looked back at me and shrugged. "Great Skeeve. 
Not many trolls visit Toros. It was not terribly difficult." He 
hesitated, then continued "You... you have already been to 
Penbrius?"
   "Been where?"
   "Just a second, Tanda. No, I haven't, Ixthol. I'm afraid we've hit a 
snag." I said, urgently, "This is very important. Your people are 
obviously familiar with dimension travel, maybe more than you 
want to be. Are you aware of any dimensions close to Toros 
Daglari that you can't reach? That are blocked somehow? Have you 
heard of anything like this?"
  Ixthol looked blank.
  "No, Great Skeeve. None that I know of.."
   Suddenly Ixthol's fellow Daglarite spoke up, diffidently:
   "There.. there is Ulliny."
  "Ulliny? Is that a dimension?"
  "I've never heard of it." Aahz commented.
  Ixthol shot his assistant, if that's what he was, a sour look.
  "Ulliny is an old fool. He used to be a magician, long ago. He 
babbles about things that happened scores of years ago. It is said he 
was found lying on a hillside near here, unconscious. He was 
delirious. He claimed..." Ixthol trailed off, a surprised look on his 
face. (And when a Daglarite looks surprised, he *really* looks 
surprised.)
   "He claimed that he had travelled to the land of Penbrius." The 
assistant finished. "By Dimension Travelling. And that Penbrius 
took away his magik as punishment. Others tried to see the door 
through which he claimed to travel, but none could. When he fully 
recovered, he denied everything he had said." 
   "I think we need to talk to this Ulliny person."
   "We... we will bring him to you, Great Skeeve.. At once. He lives 
close by." Ixthol and the other Daglarite immediately departed.
    "Been where?" Tanda repeated.
    "You first." Cut in Aahz. "The last we heard, you two were 
breaking out of jail? What happened?"   
    "Actually," Chumley admitted, "Our careers in mining went 
rather badly right from the start. Well, once we reached that 
wretched camp, at any rate. We found some miners easily enough in 
town and once dear little sis here went to work on them, they were 
more than willing to let us 'join up'."
   Tanda smiled, stuck out her tongue at him, and picked up the 
narrative.
   "The group we joined was shipped off to a mining camp right 
away. It wasn't far at all from town. Man, I thought I'd been in 
some real dives before, but that place..." She shook her head of 

light green hair. "It made the Black Hole of Fornchopa look like... 
well..." she made a general, all-encompassing gesture. "...Toros 
Daglari. If that's how the Deveels treat all of their employees, I'm 
amazed that they *haven't* tried to unionize, really unionize, 
sooner."
   I considered telling her what the actual inhabitants thought of 
'Toros Daglari', but didn't interrupt.
   "Anyway, we got to the camp and we started nosing around, 
looking for any hint of... what do the Deveels call it? 'Unauthorized 
union activity'. And you know what we found?"
   "That the camp was crawling with assassins hired by the Devan 
Labor Collective." Aahz replied heavily.
   Tanda paused, her eyes narrowed. "I see you've been busy as 
well. Yes, the camp was 'crawling' with assassins. And just a few 
hours after we got there, they came after us. Well, they came after 
Chumley. I think they must have been watching us from the 
moment we hit camp."
   "They were looking for off-world union busters." Aahz filled 
them in on some of what we had been through, and our 
conversation with Brockhurst. He didn't mention Penbrius.
   "Brockhurst is dead?" Tanda commented softly, after hearing 
about the rockslide. "That's a shame. He wasn't a bad guy, as Imps 
go."
   "Yeah, whatever." Aahz muttered. "So what happened with the 
assassins?"
   "They were rather insistent chaps, I'm afraid. My... 
disagreement...  grew somewhat heated. It attracted the attention of 
the camp police."
   "Your note said you were thrown in some kind of jail? How did a 
bunch of Deveel camp guards manage that?"
   Chumley looked simultaneously grim and embarrassed.
   "The Deveels had hired a batch of trolls to be their camp police 
force. My argument with them was even more... er..."
   "Explosive?"
   "Yes. Rather. In the end, the rotters bunged me into some sort of 
old ore-storage compartment, and sketched a pentagram around it 
so I couldn't dimension hop. I  do believe they were going to charge 
me with Destruction of Property."
   We all winced. Destruction of Property, on Deveel-controlled 
dimensions, ranked right up there with Murder, Breaking A 
Contract and Folk-Singing. Actually, Murder doesn't really belong 
the list; the others are a lot more serious.
  "Of course, I have to admit that I *am* actually rather guilty of 
Destroying quite a large amount of Property..."
   "Then what happened?"
   Tanda put on an winsome expression. "Not for the first time, I 
officially became Chumley's co-conspirator." She paused. "And 
while meeting with Chumley's guards, I  was reminded once again 
why I left Trollia in the first place." She cracked her knuckles 
thoughtfully.
   "I can just imagine." Aahz groaned. "So you busted Chumley out 
of the pentagram and came here?"
   "Yes. Since we couldn't very well go back to Deva, we figured 
this would be the next best place. We knew *you'd* find your way 
here eventually, Aahz." She flashed an impish smile. "And then that 
cute little native showed up and said The Kid was looking for us. 
And here we are."
    "Cute?!"
    "So the question now is," Chumley continued, ignoring Aahz's 
bellow, "Why are some Deveels hiring us, while other Deveels are 
trying to get us killed?"
    "No. That's not the question at all. Or it's one that will have to 
wait until later." Aahz contradicted him.
    Then we told them about Penbrius, and Chirosovo, and the gray 
building waiting for us at the top of the hill.
  
*    *    *

    And after *that*, I told everyone about my meeting with the 
native leaders, glossing over the matter of them hiring me, since 
Aahz *really* didn't need to be distracted right then by the scent of 
money.
   "So now we know where the Deveels got the idea that someone 
was trying to unionize; they heard about the native meetings. But 
that doesn't explain where Brockhurst and the other assassins fit 
in." Gus commented, once I finished my story.
   "Actually," Aahz said, thoughtfully, "What Skeeve just told us 
gets me to thinking. Kid, remember that trouble-making Gezirahan 
back at that moron Blox's lumber camp? I assumed at the time that 
he was a plant by the union organizers. But maybe I had it 
backwards. Maybe he was a plant by somebody else."
   "I don't understand."
   "Just before Blox and the troublemaker showed up, you 
remember I said that the Devan Labor Collective was created to 
help keep the workers in line, and that it was supposed to help the 
Devan Executive Branch? But both of those organizations are 
bureaucracies, and bureaucracies have a way of sometimes... biting 
off their own head..." He glanced at the others. "Gus, Chumley? 
The Financial Times of Deva said that there has been a recent 
reorganization of the Executive Branch, right?"
   "Yeah."
   "That's correct."
   "Well, this is just a guess, but I'll bet that during that 
reorganization or because of it, communication between the 
Executives and the Labor bigwigs broke down. Somebody didn't 
get a message they were supposed to get. Someone didn't fill out a 
form, or didn't return a phone call. I know for a fact that the 
Executive Branch and the Collective now employ different sets of 
spies on Deveel colony worlds. So... the Executive spies get wind 
of these native meetings, and the Executive Branch then tried to 
hunt down and kill the native leadership. They couldn't find the 
natives, who were probably all off-dimension at meetings like the 
one Skeeve attended and the 'sabotage' was getting steadily worse, 
so they.."
   "Sicced me on them." I concluded bitterly
   Tanda sighed and continued:
   "And then the *labor* spies heard somewhere that someone was 
coming to Gezirah to break up 'the labor union', and so the Devan 
Labor Collective hired Brockhurst and the other assassins to come 
in and kill the intruders."
   "And I'll bet my last gold piece that our furry friend was a spy 
working for one or the other of the Deveel factions as well, either 
trying to draw out  'unauthorized union' organizers, or find the 
'union-busting off-worlders'. The fact that he squealed on us to 
Blox should have clued me in sooner. Not that it matters now, but 
since he and Brockhurst were working at cross purposes, I'd guess 
the Executives hired him."
   "So you're telling me all of this happened because some Deveel 
bureaucrat didn't bother to look in his 'In-Box'?" Gus snarled. I 
shared the sentiment, if not understanding the exact meaning.
   "No, of course not." Aahz commented, surprisingly mildly. 
"Penbrius would still be doing... whatever it is he's doing. But we 
would have all been saved a great deal of time and trouble. If we'd 
known what was going on, we could have hit the Bazaar, armed 
ourselves to the teeth, and gone in guns blazing. But we didn't 
know. And now.." He glanced skyward at the ominous clouds 
boiling and rumbling overhead. "..we just don't have time. We go in 
as-is. One way or the other, we get into Penbrius' realm, and we 
take him down."
  "But Aahz..."
  "Kid?"
  "What if the story Penbrius told the natives is true? What if, 
whatever he's doing is actually to prevent some greater evil?"
  "Greater than threatening eight or more dimensions with total 
destruction?"
  "I... well..."
  "No. Trust me on this one, Kid. It's a standard schtick in the 
demon busness; 'I'm goodness and light pesonified, and there's some 
evil enemy off there somewhere over that hill from which only I can 
protect you.' It's been done more times than I can count." Aahz 
paused grimly for a moment, then continued. "And remember, I met 
the man once, if only briefly. Whatever he's doing, it is not some 
great humanitarian project. We're going to stop him. Whatever it 
takes."
  We all fell silent, and listened to the thunder rumble overhead.
 
Chapter 26a
****
"Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it."
-Sisyphus
****

   After an interminable wait, the two Daglarites returned, 
shepherding along with them a obviously decrepit member of their 
species. Their charge was protesting bitterly as they approached.
   "What's the meaning of this, you disrespectful fingerlings? 
Rousing my out of my sleeppool at this time of day!"
   "I *told* you, Ulliny, the Great Skeeve desires to speak to you."
   "The Great who? Never heard of him."
   "That's almost comforting." I muttered under my breath.
   "What was that, handsome?"
   "Nothing."
   "Great Skeeve..." Ixthol spoke formally as they arrived next to us. 
"This is Ulliny."
   "So I gathered." Aahz snarled. "Look, gramps, we're short on 
time here. We want to know about Penbrius."
   All three of the Daglarites took an automatic step or two away 
from him. I stepped in front of Aahz and spoke.
   "My apologies for my colleague's behavior. He sometimes forgets 
to use the proper respect when talking to a magician."
   Aahz made a strangled noise. Someone, Tanda I think, giggled.
   "Really?" The elderly Daglarite eyed me shrewdly. "And how 
would *you* know that, fingerling?"
   I spread my arms theatrically and rose a foot or so off of the 
ground. I spun around once, slowly and settled back to earth. I 
continued: "Please, Ulliny. Let's step off to the side here for a 
moment and discuss some things, one magician to another."
   "Very well, Great Whatever-your-name-is. If you want to know 
something about... him, let's go talk."
  We moved a few paces away from the group.
   "So, what's a nice Kladh like you doing hanging out with a 
Pervert, anyway?" He grinned, showing a mouthful of still-sharp 
teeth.
   "That's 'Pervect.' He's my partner."
   "This is Toros Daglari, Great Whosis. I've seen his kind here on 
vacation. They will always be Perverts."
   I stifled my annoyance. Now was not the time to get into an 
argument.
   "Is it true? Not about Pervects, but that you once visited 
Penbrius' realm?"
   "Down to business, eh? Good. My skin dries out if I'm away from 
my pool for too long. It was a long time ago, now. Maybe fifty 
years. I was learning to dimension hop. Went to Kaykayman,  
Augar.. Agger.. (can never pronounce that one..), the usual stops. 
Then I got interested in the... what do those Deveels call them...  
Temples.." He glanced at me and grinned a little. "You know know 
there’s more than just the one, doncha?"
   "Yes."
   "Those fingerlings over there would never admit it, but most of us 
get interested at one time or another. Go look. But there's never 
anything to see, you know. We go and look and then keep our 
Promise not to tell... although I'm breaking it now, aren't I?" He 
laughed, a strange but not unpleasant bubbling sound. "But you 
already know some it, I see, and it's to another magician, so that's 
all right. Where was I?"
   "You went to look at the Temple up there."
   "Yes, that's right. Snooped around. Saw nothing, got ready to 
leave. Then.. then.." He looked around, then back at me. "I 
happened to look at the Doorways. To the other worlds. And there 
was one there that I hadn't seen before. Just jumped out at me."
   "Where exactly were you.."
   "I'm getting to that! I was in one of those little rooms that branch 
off from the main passageway. I could only see the Door in that 
room. If I stepped into the hall, the Door disappeared. Same in all 
of the other rooms. So I went back to the room, and Hopped. Had 
to see, didn't I?" He shook his head. "I saw. I saw all right."
   "What happened? What was Penbrius like?"
   "I made another Promise that day." He spoke flatly, but I could 
see that he was afraid. "And that one, I'm keeping. What happened 
then is.. between me an' Penbrius. Or maybe just Penbrius and 
Penbrius." He gave me another sharp-eyed glance. "You going to 
go visit Penbrius, Great..?"
   "Skeeve. Yes. Yes I am."
   He shook his head.
   "Goodbye then. You know everything I know now." He shook 
his head again, and turned away. I walked back to the others.
   "Will you see that he gets home, Ixthol?"
   "Of course, Great Skeeve." He gestured to his assistant, who 
went off  with Ulliny.
   "What did he say, Skeeve?"
   I looked at Aahz and made a 'go ahead' gesture. I knew we would 
have had to walk a lot further away to get out of the range of his 
hearing.
   "He was actually inside a specific room in the Temple when he 
jumped, huh?" Aahz was obviously pondering deeply. "Makes 
sense. We saw how they can distort Dimension Hopping. Maybe, in 
that one room, it distorts whatever shield he's got in place as well.."
   "You didn't try when you were up there before?"
   "No." Aahz sighed. "We tried as soon as we got back to the 
mainland and realized where we were. Or Gus did, anyway. He had 
no luck. But if we can do it .."
   "Let's go."

   The lightning and rain had started up again, worse than before, so 
we were forced to hike back up the hill again, once again saying 
goodbye and leaving Ixthol behind at the bottom. For the most part, 
we all walked silently, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts. 
All too soon, however, the familiar gray shape loomed into view, 
the path opening out into a clearing in front of a black entrance. 
This Temple wasn't quite as covered with foliage as the one on the 
island, and it gave me my first really good look at one of the 
structures. The square block radiated menace. The faint forceline 
drains(?) shooting out of it like the probing proboscises of a flock 
of mosquito-bats didn't improve my opinion.
  "I say, not the most cheerful of places, is it?" Chumley 
commented, squinting through his rain-streaked glasses at the 
building before us.
  "I dunno." Gus grinned. "I sort of like the color." He flexed his 
gray wings.
  "Stow it, guys. Let's get this over with." Aahz snapped. I repeated 
my trick with the ward torch, and we entered the building, looking 
for the proper room.

  "I see it. It's there." Tanda spoke up almost at once. "There's one 
there now that wasn't there before." We stood crammed into one of 
the small rooms off the main passageway. The cool wind gusted up 
from down below; Aahz and Gus’s previous visit had left the 
blocking wall a pile of rubble.
  Chumley and Gus nodded agreement. I closed my eyes and 
looked, but couldn't see anything different. But getting an exact 
count on the number of doors was oddly difficult, like they kept 
fading in and out. I didn't know if the Temple was causing it, or if it 
was something you just go used to after a while..
   "Are you sure?" I asked nervously. "I don't see.."
   "Kid..." Aahz growled. "You promised."
   "Skeeve?" Chumley sounded surprised. "You can see dimensional 
connections?"
   I realized that we somehow hadn't mentioned how we got off of 
Chirosovo. "Yes. Aahz showed me. It was the only we could get 
off of Chirosovo."
   Chumley faced Aahz. "It was about bloody time you showed him. 
We've all been wondering about it."
    "He's still not ready. We need to practice a lot more. Which 
reminds me, Skeeve.." He crossed his arms. "You may have 
forgotten what I said about you going home, but *I* haven't. Now 
that we can get into Penbrius' realm, you are going back to Deva." 
He produced the D-Hopper. "You take the D-Hopper and get out 
of here."
   I looked down at the cylinder and back up at Aahz.
   "No."
   Aahz said nothing, but took a step closer to me. 
   To my immense surprise, Tanda interjected herself into the 
confrontation, stepping in front of Aahz.
   "Aahz?" She spoke softly.
   "Get out of the way, Tanda."
   Tanda slapped him across the face. Hard. Unlike my feeble 
attempt, Tanda’s blow knocked Aahz’s head sharply to one side. 
The sound seemed to ricochet around the small room for an 
eternity. After he got his head twisted back around straight, Aahz 
looked at her, his jaw hanging open. Mine was open as well.
   "I'm sorry, Aahz, but that had to be done. It's the only way to get 
you to listen to me. We've had this discussion before, but it seems 
you need a refresher. In case you hadn't noticed, Skeeve here is 
now old enough to make his own decisions. Yes, what we are 
about to do is dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. But it is not up to 
*you* to decide whether Skeeve comes with us or not. And if you 
try to send him away, I'll..."
   "You'll what?"
   "I'll stop you."
   "We'll stop you." Chumley spoke up.
   "That's right." Gus added.
   "Aahz, we *need* him along. He's the only real magician we've 
got, and whatever Penbrius has waiting for us, our chances of 
getting through it are probably doubled if Skeeve is with us. I know 
it and you know it. It's time to let him go. Even if it means he gets 
killed. If we all get killed."
   Aahz looked at me. Just when I thought I had seen all of Aahz's 
moods, he would come along and drop a new one on me. Like 
now. If I didn't know better, I'd have said he was about to cry. 
Finally, he straightened up.
   "Let's do it. But you still take D-Hopper, kid. If something goes 
wrong..."
   I started to say that I had a place to run to now, if things got 
really hairy. But I didn't think Aahz would appreciate that 
comment. I silently took the D-Hopper and put it in my pocket.
   We gathered close to together around Chumley and he hopped.
    And it worked. Suddenly, we were in the realm of Penbrius.

  Chapter 27a
  ****
   "Which part of 'Go Away' don't you understand?"
  -Shih Huang Ti
  ****

    You might wonder how I knew this, but it was fairly obvious. 
We were now all crowded into an even smaller room with a single 
jagged opening leading out. The only light dribbled in from 
whatever room lay beyond, giving the hole an unpleasant 
resemblence to a fang-filled mouth. Around us, above us and below 
us, was more of Penbrius' trademark stonework. But more than 
that...
   "Wow."
   "Gosh."
   "My word."
   "I'll say."
   "What?"
   For once it wasn't me asking the stupid question: Aahz glared at 
the rest of us as we stared around at the walls. 
   They were alive. Not literally, but alive nonetheless and crawling 
with magik, much like what Gus and I had seen on Chirosovo, only 
ten thousand times more intense- this dimension was overflowing 
with the power. I felt almost dizzy as it washed around me, into me. 
I imagined this must be what an inhabitant of Limbo feels like upon 
arriving on Deva, or any other 'normal' dimension.
   "What's wrong with all of you?" Aahz snarled.
   "Magik, old boy." Chumley said, still looking at the ceiling, which 
was about an inch from the end of his nose. "I've never seen so 
much of the stuff in one place before. It's almost literally oozing out 
of the walls."
    I looked around again.
    "But it's not.. natural.. if that's the word. Any of you see.. or 
sense.. a force line anywhere? It's like it's all just floating in the air... 
or something.."
    "Look, people, this is fascinating, but we need to get moving. 
Penbrius probably already knows that we're here, and we'd better 
move fast. Let's go!"
    "This isn't where you arrived before, Aahz?"
    "No. Now MOVE!"
    One by one we squeezed out of the room through the crack. 
Chumley barely made it.
    The chamber beyond was difficult to describe. It was something 
like standing inside a gigantic chunk of zoorik cheese, cheese that 
had been carved out of stone. Thick rifts and arches of stone ran 
everywhere, spiralling up as high as we could see, and down into 
darkness on both sides of the narrow path-cum-bridge on which we 
stood. What appeared to be a sun sent wan orange light trickling 
down to us from somewhere high above, but it was hard to tell for 
sure. Oddly, more than anything, it resembled the broken and 
shattered Deveel ski lodge on Chirosovo.
   "Now what?"
   "I suppose we go down there." Aahz pointed.
    It was another round tunnel, shooting down into the earth, much 
bigger than any of the others we had seen. Another difference was 
that it was brightly lit by large unwinking globes that hung from the 
ceiling. 
    I pried open the wards that covered it, and we started down. I 
felt like I was floating as I walked.
    At the bottom of the tunnel was a third difference, perhaps the 
biggest of all: this end of the tunnel was blocked with an enormous 
circular door, made out of some black metal and ringed with three 
rows of the sullen red symbols. Black Containment tried once again 
to well up around me, but I shook it off.
    The door had no handle on this side and it was, perhaps 
unsurprisingly, closed. 
    I don't think, in fact, I have ever seen a door that was so 
*resolutely* closed.
   "Wow!" Tanda breathed. "That's almost as big as the main vault 
door for the Gnomes' Central Treasury on Zoorik!"
   "Really?" Aahz cocked a sardonic eyebrow or at least the patch 
on his face that would sport such an object if he had possessed one. 
"And how would *you* know that?"
   Tanda blinked innocently. "Oh... you hear things... you know..."
   "Yeah, right. I think we can get through that, but it would be 
easier if you did it, Kid."
   "Huh? Oh... OK..." I snapped myself back to attention and 
reached out with magik...
    And after a few moments gave up in frustration.
    "It's not working. Even with all of this extra power. It's weird, 
like... like I can't get a 'grip' on the door magikally. My... uh... 
'fingers' keep slipping off. Have you ever heard of anything like 
this?"
    "No. But, like I said, Penbrius can do things that I've never seen 
before. We'll just have to do it the hard way."
    "You mean break through physically? Isn't there an easier way?" 
I asked, eyeing the door.
    "Such as?" Aahz asked, aridly.
    "Well, um..." I floundered. "Why don't we jump to another 
dimension, walk a few feet in that direction, and then jump back 
here? I mean, this dimension 'here', not 'here here'."
    Aahz and the others exchanged glances.
    "You forget, kid, we're underground. If we jump to another 
dimension right now.."
    "We'd end up buried?" I asked nervously.
    "No, of course not. Two objects can't occupy the same space at 
the same time. We'd just be shifted to the nearest available open 
space, most likely winding up back on the surface. If we were 
lucky, we might end up in some natural underground..."
   "Aahz?" Tanda spoke up. "You were the one who was in a hurry. 
Could we possibly skip the lecture for now?"
   "Besides..." added Chumley suddenly, his voice thoughtful. "It 
wouldn't work even if we could jump with pinpoint accuracy."
   "Why not?"
   "Skeeve, you're already forgetting how hard it was just to crack 
into this dimension. Now I know why. We're inside a Scrambling 
Field. I didn't realize it before, because it's been so bloody long 
since I've been around one of  the blasted things. Can't you all feel 
it?"
   As soon as Chumley mentioned it, I realized he was right. In 
addition to the wash of magic, there was something more.. a very 
faint tingling at the ends of my fingertips and toes..
   "I assume that a Scrambling Field doesn't have anything to do 
with egg farms?" I joked weakly.
   "If only." Aahz replied, grim. "Kid, let me see the D-Hopper for a 
second." I passed it over to him, and he studied the lights on it for a 
minute. "Yup. You're right, Chumley. Kid, a Scrambing Field is like 
a... well... the opposite of the method you used to D-hop off 
Chirosovo. It's a kind of enormous invisible pentagram that 
prevents anyone inside it from travelling between dimensions. 
Either in... or out." He twisted the D-Hopper's settings in his hands, 
still watching the lights. "Big ones suck an enormous amount of 
power, which is why they're so rare. But, as we've seen, Penbrius 
has power to burn. It also explains why we couldn't find this place 
unless we were standing clear down inside that... Temple. I imagine 
that that little room we arrived in is right at the edge of the field, or 
maybe in a weak zone between overlapping fields."
  "But Aahz! If this field was in place before, how did *you* get in 
here, when you interrupted that ceremony?"
   "Who knows? Maybe the field wasn't there!"
   "Most likely you and whatshisface... that poor old Daglarite... and 
maybe others like you were the reason the field was set up." Tanda 
contributed. "Standard operating procedure for a place like this. If 
someone finds a way in, block it so it can't happen again."
   "Terrific. Anyway, the upshot of all this is, we're gonna have to 
this the old-fashioned way. Chumley? Gus? Let's do it." He and the 
other two closed in on the door.
   At the time, neither of us realized that he had stuck the D-Hopper 
back in his own pocket.

*  *  *

   Even with the enormous combined strength of the three, the door 
did not move easily. For what seemed like an eternity they pulled 
and strained without noticeable effect. Then Aahz gasped:
  "There... something's starting to... give!"
  "Yes... but there's something bloody odd... about..."
  With a tortured scream of metal, the door finally began to tear 
away from its frame.
  "Hurry.. Skeeve.. Tanda... get through.."  I levitated Tanda and 
myself up, and carefully inserted our bodies through the small hole 
that was now available. One by one, our friends followed, Chumley 
again just squeezing through. As soon as he dropped to the floor on 
the other side, we all turned and stared: the door was silently 
bending itself slowly back into shape, refilling the hole. In a few 
moments, it was as if it had never been damaged.
   "Neat trick."
   "It must be alive, Aahz, like that cell in Blut!"
   "Yeah. C'mon, let's go." 
   Beyond the door, the hallway continued on straight for a stretch, 
abruptly opening out into another large room. Maybe 'room' isn't 
the right word, though; it was a wide circular pit that both dropped 
down and rose up out of out of sight into blackness. Two 
railling-less platforms stuck out tentatively over the abyss, one on 
our side, one far across the gap. We all clustered at the edge of 'our' 
platform and stared across. Gus squinted, and then spoke.
   "A bridge! See that framework on the other side? It's some kind 
of drawbridge that's been pulled back!" He pointed. "I guess we'll 
have to just levitate our way across."
   "OK." I reached out to lift myself and the others over. But Tanda 
interrupted, raising a slender hand and looking up into the darkness 
overhead.
   "Hold it. There's something about this I don't like. This seems 
familiar..." She squinted as well, then sniffed the air and shifted her 
gaze to the sheer walls of the pit. I looked as well, but could see 
nothing unusual. (In a relative sense, of course...)
   "Well," replied Gus, "How about I fly over alone and figure out 
how to operate the bridge controls? Shouldn't be too hard."
  Tanda bit her lip, but finally nodded. 
 "OK. But remember to check the bridge controls for traps."
 Gus returned her nod, limbered up his wings and took off.
   The second he flew off the the platform, there was an intense 
flash of white light from the walls and a thunderclap of sound, 
sending us all into an instinctive crouch and  clutching at our ears. 
We all stared in amazement as Gus went tumbling head over tail 
above us, back down the tunnel, bouncing to a gradual stop. The 
rest of us dashed back up the tunnel and clustered around him.
  "Gus! Gus, are you OK?"
  Gus sat up, and shook his head. For a moment, I thought I could 
hear a rattling noise.
  "I'm... I'm fine. Whoa... what *was* that?"
  "I remember now. I've seen one of these before." Tanda replied. 
"It's a magik inversion field. Penbrius seems to have a thing for this 
kind of field-effect magik. Any magik you pour into the field, gets 
amplified and reflected right back at you. Your flying triggered it 
off. If Skeeve tried to levitate us all across, it would be even 
worse."
  "So we can't use magik to get across? Terrific."
  "It's simple." Tanda started back up the hallway as Aahz and 
Chumley helped Gus back to his feet. I hurried after her, an 
ominous feeling forming in the pit of my stomach. Reaching the 
platform again, she grinned at me.
  "There's a way across. The disadvantage of using magik like this 
is..." She took a deep breath, and jumped. Not across (into...) the 
pit, but towards one of the curving walls. I had to resist the almost 
overwhelming urge to try and snatch her back magikally.
  Not that it was needed. Tanda landed, seeming to cling to the wall 
like a fly. She looked back at me and grinned again.
   "...you have shape and carve the walls a certain way, postion your 
runes just so, to get the proper focusing effect." Swallowing my 
heart back into its proper position, I looked more carefully and saw 
that the walls were not quite as smooth as they first appeared; there 
were indentations and lumps in the slick black stone. Still, *I* 
would have fallen off in about five seconds if I had tried to climb 
along it. Tanda didn't appear to have any trouble; she swarmed 
along the wall, hopping lightly from foothold to foothold, working 
her way around the edge of the pit. The others moved to join me, 
and we all watched in silence. Gus idly scraped a claw across the 
stone, and then looked at his hand in surprise; it was obviously 
much harder than he had expected.
   It seemed like an eternity, but actually Tanda reached the other 
side in a very short time, and disappeared into the gloom for a long 
moment. Nothing happened. Then, abruptly,  there were a series of 
unpleasant snaps and pops cut off by a single powerful click, and 
the bridge slowly rumbled out towards us. It clicked into place with 
a hollow thud, a rickety disused-looking edifice. We crossed one at 
a time, the inversion field popping and hissing impotently as we 
passed through it, the bridge creaking threateningly under our 
weight. Tanda was waiting for us on the other platform.
   "That.. that was very impressive, Tanda.." I managed as I fell into 
step beside her. We started down the next tunnel.
   "Hey, no problem, Skeeve. I was right about the traps on the 
controls, but I..."
   "LOOK OUT!" Moving with surprising speed, Gus was between 
us, pushing us behind him. An enormous gout of flame washed up 
out of a hole in the floor. Gus took the brunt of it, but enough 
swirled around him to leave me feeling, and Tanda looking, rather 
parbroiled. We both staggered back a couple of steps, coughing.
  "T-that was impressive, too, Gus.." I choked out.
  He grinned, as another blast of flame hit him. 
  "Compared to Bufort, this is a summer's breeze." He stomped 
down heavily, and something under him shattered. The flame cut 
off instantly. We moved off again, this time Gus taking the lead...

*  *  *

   There were two more flame traps, the last one blasting out of the 
ceilings and walls as well as the floor. Gus smashed them one at a 
time. I noticed as I stepped over them that like the door before 
them, the damage started repairing itself almost immediately. It was 
at this point that I also realized there hadn’t been a handle on *this* 
side of that door, either.
  Then we were approaching another large room. Even before we 
entered it, there was a problem.
   "Hold up." Aahz said. "See that glittering stuff floating in from 
the room? That's bad news. It's magik-deadening powder."
   I took a horrified step backwards. "The same stuff that took your 
powers away?"
   "Huh? Oh, no. This stuff doesn't kill magik, just blocks it. 
Anything coated in it becomes immune to low-level wards. Lots of 
merchants in the Bazaar sell it, usually stored in a gadget that looks 
sort of like an blackboard eraser. Whatever's in that room, again, 
we'll have to face it without magik. Get behind us, Skeeve." I 
sighed, but obeyed. We stepped into the room.
   The creature squatting in the middle of the room was enormous, 
even bigger than Chumley. In fact it looked vaguely trollish, with 
buldging rubbery limbs and a massive slab of a head nestled down 
between its mountainous gray shoulders. Streamers of saliva 
dripped from fang-filled jaws and hissed when they splatted against 
the floor. 
   It opened its bloodshot, narrow eyes and saw us. An evil 
rumbling growl issued from deep in its throat.

Chapter 28a
****
"How's *that* for a plot twist?"
-R. Serling
****

   "Oh, terrific." Gus groaned, shifting into a defensive stance. Aahz 
and Tanda followed suit.
   "Bertie?" Chumley stepped forward. "I say, Bertie, old bean, is 
that you?"
   The thing blinked, and peered at Chumley myopically.
   "Chumley? Chumley, old sport!" Its voice caused the walls to 
tremble slightly. "It's been simply ages! When was the last time?"
   "It must have been that day at the Regatta. We all got together to 
root for the old alma mater's current offering, remember?"
   "Ah, yes." The thing... Bertie... sighed, causing a few chips of 
wallrock to flake off and float to the floor. "They weren't very 
impressive, I must say. Not at all up to the standard that we chaps 
set, eh?"
   Chumley sighed as well. "No, but then, one must stick with the 
old school ties, mustn't one?" He turned and looked at the rest of 
us. We stared back at him, and the other. Tanda was the one who 
finally spoke:
  "*That's* Bertie? I dunno, Chumley, somehow I got the 
impression from what you always told me that he was, well... 
bigger."
  "*Bigger?*" The word slipped out before I could stifle it.
  "Bertie and I were in the same House at University, you know." 
Chumley told the rest of us. "He's a good old egg." He introduced 
all of us to the creature, then continued.
  "Blast it all, Bertie, don't tell me you're working for this blighter 
Penbrius."
  Bertie shrugged, a complex gesture that took quite a while to 
complete.
  "It's a living, you know. Actually, I've never even met the fellow. I 
was in the Bazaar,  rather at loose ends as it happened, and this odd 
little chap approached me, said he had a job for someone of my 
talents. All I have to do is keep anyone from passing through this 
chamber. Easy work, really. You're the first to come along in ages."
   "Which brings up a somewhat awkward point, actually..." 
Chumley hesitated. "You see, we have go through here. Rather 
urgently."
   Bertie sighed again. "I was afraid it might come to that. I'm sorry, 
but I simply can't allow it. It *is* my job, you know."
   "Hmm. I understand. But I'll tell you what, old sport. How about 
this... We have a rematch, like the old days. Just the two of us, you 
and I, one on one, head to head. If I win, we go through. If you 
win, we turn back."
   "Errrmm... Yes. It's agreed. I wouldn't do this for anyone else, 
Chumley, but to be  honest, I've quite missed our little bouts. It just 
so happens I have what we need right over here."
  I stepped up to Chumley and whispered:
  "Should.. should we get out of the room while you do this? I 
mean, falling rocks.. or something.."
   Chumley gave me a puzzled glance.
   "No, of course you don't have to leave. Just tell Aahz he has to 
*try* and keep his voice down."
   "Huh?"
   Bertie turned back, holding an odd flat board in his hands, 
marked with a neat pattern of black and white squares.
   "So we can bloody well concentrate. Now please be quiet." 
Chumley hunched down with Bertie over the board, and began 
placing odd little chunks of carved rock on the various squares...
  "What are they doing?" I hissed as I sidled up to Aahz, who 
watched the proceedings with an air of intense boredom.
  "Playing chess." He snorted. "Give me a good game of Dragon 
Poker any day."
  "Amen to that." Tanda rolled her eyes.
  "Anyone ever tell you two that you have the grace and culture of a 
pair of tree stumps?"
  "Hey, Gus, I don't recall *you* ever turning down a Dragon Poker 
match."
  "At least *I* make an attempt to broaden my intellectual horizons. 
You wouldn't know an 'en passent' capture if it bit you on the scaly 
green ass."
  "They're playing chess? But why don't they have any-"
  "Will you lot please be QUIET!"
  We fell silent.

   The two combatants, if that was the proper word, went to work 
in silence as well, shifting the chunks of rock around on top of the 
board in a seemingly arbitrary fashion. They didn't seem to hesitate 
even for a moment between movements, but worked with an air of 
grim determination. Occasionally one would remove one of the 
chunks from the board and place it on the ground beside him. Even 
so, the ritual seemed to go on for an incredibly long time. The 
number of chunks dwindled, and the moves, if anything, came even 
faster. Finally, abruptly, Chumley leaned back.
  "Checkmate in three moves."
  Bertie studied the board for a moment longer, then nodded, and 
tipped over one of the few remaining chunks in a ceremonial 
manner.
  "Good show, Chumley. You are as a formidable opponent as I 
remembered. It was a pleasure sparring with you, I must say. The 
competition down here is simply third rate."
  "Down here? Who the deveel do you find to play with here?"
  "The same chap who hired me. His name's Snyth, bye the bye. 
Well-meaning little fellow for the most part, but an abominable 
chess player." He began carefully collecting the chunks and putting 
them in a small wooden box. "But now that you mention it, he 
hasn't been around in quite a little while. As I said before, no one 
has. Confidentially, even before you came along, I was thinking of 
moving on." He looked up, an uneasy expression rumbling across 
his craggy face like an earthquake. "I keep having the most 
disagreeable feeling that something nasty is about to happen."
  Chumley nodded, and leaned closer.
  "Strictly on the QT, old boy, if I were you, I'd think about leaving, 
sooner rather than later. We have strong reason to believe that 
you're quite right, and that something rather unpleasant may be 
brewing in these parts."
  Bertie returned the nod. "Since you've honorably defeated me, I 
don't feel so rotten about deserting my post. I'll be off, then. I know 
a somewhat faster way out than the one you came in. Very pleasant 
to meet all of you, especially you, Tananda. Your brother has told 
me so much about you."
  "Likewise, Bertie. Hope we bump into each other again someday." 
Tanda managed a smile, but it was a trifle wan. Bertie gave a final 
wave, tucked the box and the board into two deep folds in his hide, 
and with almost frightening agility, clambered up a nearby wall and 
out of sight into the darkness. I spoke as I watched him go.
   "Why didn't we ask for his help with Penbrius? We're probably 
going to need it..."
   Chumley shook his head.
   "Leaving your guard post after being defeated in honorable 
combat is one thing. Openly turning against your employer is quite 
another. I knew he'd never agree." He hesitated and gave a slight 
smile. "And in any event, while I may be the better chess player, 
Bertie has always had rather more sense than I."
    We moved on.
   
    After we paused long enough for Gus to blow the magik-killing 
powder off the rest of us with his wings, things went fairly quickly. 
Another row of fire traps. Another, smaller, door that like the first 
gave into an attack from Aahz, Chumley and Gus before quickly 
reforming itself behind us. A nasty sliding block trap that Chumley 
disabled by not being quite fast enough in moving his leg. And 
finally, a long bubbling pool of acid that I had to carefully levitate 
everyone over, while shielding them with wards, since even the 
fumes were eating away at the surrounding rocks. 
   And so we found ourselves in a long corridor made of 
all-too-familiar small gray stone blocks. Chumley was limping, 
Tanda and I both still slightly singed. Even Gus had been damaged 
by his encounter with the inversion field, a nasty scrape running 
down one of his wings. When I expressed concern, he assured me a 
little concrete would fix the problem. I didn't dare ask what 
concrete was.
   Aahz, somehow, had made it through intact. He rubbed his hands, 
and smiled at us.
   "Maybe this isn’t going to be so bad after all. Compared to that 
little weasel Diz-Nee, Penbrius is a piker when it comes to defense 
spells. Let’s go find him."
   The rest of us looked at each other.
    "I say we throw him back in there."
    "Bloody well seconded."
    But Aahz had already loped off down the hallway. We glumly 
trooped after him.

   The building was a warren of identical corridors, twisting and 
turning and branching seemingly at random. We hiked on and on. 
Occasionally, there was a gentle ramp sloping up or down. Odd 
thunder-like noises rumbled in the distance, and there was the 
occasional flash of unpleasant light. But since leaving Bertie, no 
inhabitants.
   Until we rounded yet another corner, and practically tripped over 
a pathetic, scrawny,  figure sprawled in the passageway. Everyone 
pulled up in surprise.
   "Is he dead?" Gus asked, peering around Chumley's bulk, with 
which he had collided.
   "No." Tanda responded authoritatively, even before the creature 
sat up and looked at us. I thought briefly that it would make sense 
that an Assassin would know at a glance if someone were still a 
potential target or not...
   "Is he Penbrius?" I started sucking in even more power...
   "No." Aahz responded with equal authority. 
   "Greetings, noble intruders. You know the Master's name?" The 
creature abruptly spoke, his voice a shrill warble. "Did you know 
the Master?" He looked like a bedraggled, bipedal, short-eared 
bunny rabbit,  jammed first into a red-and-black tiger skin, and then 
an ill-fitting multipocketed smock.
   "Well," Aahz said smiling widely, "Your 'Master' and I met once, 
and we need..."
   " 'DID you know'?" I cut in, killing Aahz's promising lie in 
mid-birth.
   "Yes." The creature blinked his wide blue eyes, owlishly. "The 
Master is dead. Did you not know that?"

Chapter 29a

****
"Just because one problem has been solved doesn't mean your troubles are over."
-The Pied Piper
****

    The silence that followed this statement was one of the most 
profound I have ever experienced.
    Usually it is Aahz who first recovers his voice in such 
circumstances, but this time, I was the one who finally replied.
   "But... that was just the Black Containment spell... He didn't 
really die... did he?"
   The creature looked at me blankly, nervously twiddliing the 
blunt-pronged implement he held in his long fingers. I noted 
absently that the tool glowed with a strong aura, but its user did 
not.
    "I of course do not know what you experienced while in the grip 
of Black Containment, Mr. Magician, but the Master is most 
assuredly dead."
   "You actually personally saw Penbrius die?" Aahz, speaking as if 
to a Deveel who had just offered to sell him the sun, moon and, for 
only a slight additional fee, the stars.
   "Yes. I was there. The Master is dead."
   "And who *are* you, exactly?" Tanda asked, eyebrows raised.
   "Ah!" The figure scrambled to his feet and gave her a surprisingly 
graceful bow. She smiled. "A hundred pardons, Miss Assassin. My 
name is Snafyu. Snafyu of Penbrius. As my father before me, and 
his father before him, I am... I was the Master's chief assistant... 
Before his most unexpected and perhaps untimely demise." 
   "I say, old chap, how did you know little sis here is an assassin?"
   Snafyu turned and was looking at Chumley's stomach. He blinked 
yet again, and lifted his gaze so he could see the Troll's face. "Is it 
not obvious, Mr. Troll?"
   "Dead... how is that possible..." Aahz looked perhaps the most 
stunned I'd ever seen him.
   "That is a long story, and very complicated..." Suddenly there 
was a loud sizzling sound, and something started glowing on the 
wall, an unpleasant orange jag bubbling along in the cracks between 
the stones.
   "Ah! A moment, all of you. Please! This is what I was waiting 
for!" Snafyu leapt across the corridor in a single bound, and 
jammed the tool he was holding directly into the color. There was a 
loud snap, and the color flashed out, leaving a sickly sweet odor 
behind. With an effort and a grunt, Snafyu extracted the tool and 
turned back to where the rest of us stood staring at him. "Fixed. 
For now. Until the next one." He sighed. "Always a next one. 
Well... not *always*..."
   "Snafyu?" Aahz spoke almost gently. 
   "Yes, Mr. Pervect?"
   Aahz paused, his chain of thought obviously derailed for a 
moment. He spoke an aside to the rest of us. "You know, I almost 
like this guy already." He focused his attention back on Snafyu. 
"What is going on around here? If Penbrius is dead, then.. WHY IS 
EVERY DIMENSION WITHIN SHOUTING DISTANCE 
APPARENTLY ABOUT TO EXPLODE!?"
      "Ah. Yes. Very bad. It is the Device. The Device continues to 
run, and run. Without the Master to control it, regulate it, it runs 
faster and faster. Draws more and more power. Does more and 
more damage. Warps the force lines... sucks them dry... I try to... to 
keep all of the plates spinning, but it is harder and harder. Soon... 
very soon..."
   "Plates?"
   "Then why don't you shut this Device off?" Aahz bellowed, 
ignoring my question.
   "Would. Can't. Unless... No. Not enough."  He looked around at 
us, then refocused his attention on me. "At least now you are here, 
Mr. Magician. One problem is solved.."
   "I don't understand." For once when I said this, I was sort of 
lying. A horrible suspicion was beginning to form in my mind. 
"What is this... Device?"
    Snafyu smiled almost proudly and stretched his arms wide. 
   "This whole structure is the Device. All corridors, all rooms. 
Even the empty spaces in between. And more. "
   "More?"
   "Oh, yes. Tunnels. Or channels if honorable intruders prefer. 
Running in from other dimensions. Pull and focus power from force 
lines, bring it here!"
   "Tunnels filled with icy cold air?"
   "Yes. Cold is side-effect of magik channelling. You have seen the 
tunnels?"
   "We've seen what's at the other end, yes."
   "But what does this 'Device' do?" I demanded.
   "The Master designed and built the Device. So that he would 
have magik. More magik than anyone. Channel more magik into 
himself than anyone. And I helped to run it!"
   "So he would have magik?" Chumley queried closely. "Are you 
saying that this Penbrius chap *wasn't* a magician at all? He was 
a.."
   "Mechanic." Aahz stared at the nearest wall for a very long 
moment and then back at Snafyu. "All these years, and he was 
JUST A STUPID MECHANIC!?"
   "No, no. Not a stupid mechanic, Mr. Pervect. A *great* 
mechanic. The greatest mechanic who has ever lived in all the 
dimensions. He built the Device, and it channeled the magik of a 
dozen dimensions into itself. Into him. Gave him much power."
    "That's... mind-boggling..." I murmured, although I had already 
been scrabbling around the edges of the idea for some time.
    "But not terribly original, you know." Chumley commented. 
"Those great ruddy fools the Krell built one. Remember what 
happened to that lot?"    
    "And J’Mis of Hyperion." Gus chipped in. "Built that Great 
Gadget, or whatever it was called. Five years later they found his 
bloated, white-haired, corpse curled up in a corner."
    "And Voimsa, the High Scribe of Rotnart." Tanda added. "Built 
the Omnivac machine. They had to scrape what was left of *him* 
off-" 
    "Yes, yes." Snafyu cut in impatiently. "The Master studied all of 
those, many more. Knew he could do it better. Do it properly. 
Took the best of what had been done before, and improved them 
all. Structures. Ideas. Even assistants." He touched his own chest. 
"Others not take power from *many* dimensions. Only gathered 
power from own dimension, focused it. The Device much bigger, 
much more powerful. And it seemed as if he had succeeded in task. 
Worked for centuries. Performed wonders beyond imagining. Then 
one day... very suddenly... The Master die during power transfer. 
Nothing left but ashes. Massive explosion barely averted by myself 
and others. Since then, Device falling apart. Running out of control. 
Soon it will explode. Taking all nearby dimensions with it."
   "Like Chirosovo?"
   "Yes. No. Maybe much worse. Once, already, I cannot keep 
magik contained. Large blow-out before control is regained. 
Blowout of magik wash out of Transfer Stations, over Dimension 
#5. Chirosovo, it is called? Do very bad things, I imagine. You have 
seen, I gather? But Chirosovo will recover, some day. Many 
centuries perhaps, but it will recover. If Device explodes, perhaps 
nothing will recover. All dimensions Device touch, will be 
destroyed..." He shook his head, and corrected himself. "Not if. 
When. Soon Device will explode. IS inevitable."
   "Nothing is inevitable." Aahz snarled.
   "Well... there is way. Maybe. Come. I will show you.." Snafyu 
went bounding off down the corridor. We exchanged a complex 
group glance and shrug and hurried after him.
    He led us unerringly through the endless warren of passageways, 
until we rounded a final corner and stood before a third 
imposing-looking black door, if anything even bigger than the first 
one Aahz and the others had ripped through. Snafyu casually 
kicked it, and it opened in a slow, almost grudging fashion.
   "Wish we'd known that little trick before." Someone muttered 
behind me.
   We stepped through the door and into the fair-size round 
chamber beyond. It was like being at the bottom of a well: the 
familiar monotonous stonework circled us to form the walls, which 
then reached up out of sight into darkness. In the center of the 
room loomed a bunched collection of large stone pillars and cubes, 
all covered with bumps and knobs that flashed different colors. 
Dozens of screens, like those of the Dispatcher on Blut, flashed 
what appeared to be colored reams of garbled nonsense. An 
ominous off-kilter wavering sound filled the air. There was so much 
magik bouncing around the room I felt my feet trying to leave the 
ground of their own accord. I glanced at Aahz and knew, without 
having to ask, that this is where he had encountered Penbrius so 
many years ago.

Chapter 30a
****
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here..."
-Col. Mustard
****

   "*This* room controls the entire Device?"
   "Yes. Ah! Mr. Troll! Please do not touch the walls! Very 
dangerous!" Snafyu spoke sharply, and Chumley pulled back his 
hand with matching suddenness. "Please touch nothing unless I say. 
Safe to touch floor, at least mostly..."
   Aahz spoke. "Are you telling me you and Penbrius ran this thing 
all by yourself?"
   "No, no. The Master had many servants. All gone now, except 
me."
   Tanda spoke. "Where are they?"
   "Dead, I know. Or I suppose."  There was a squalling sound and 
without even looking, Snafyu reached out a long thin arm and 
knocked sharply on the side of one of the pillars with the tool he 
still held. There was a tinny clang, and the sound stopped. "When 
the Master died, of those who survive, many fled in fear. Others 
stay, like me. Try to keep things running. Is our job to keep things 
running, no? And... and I do not wish to die. Is that wrong?" His 
voice became a bit plaintive for a moment, then returned to 
briskness. "But dangerous now. Well, it has always been 
dangerous... More dangerous. Some killed maintaining machine. 
Others try to go for help. Find real magician to help us. Only way. 
None have come back. Very difficult for one to get in and out of 
Device, as the honorable intruders must know; in fact, I have never 
been outside Device. Device may be breaking down, but many 
defenses continue unabated. Now, only I remain."
   "Why didn't you ask Bertie for help?"
   "Bertie? Oh, Mr. Guard." Snafyu paused, unhappily. "Master told 
only Snyth how to get past acid pit, and Snyth died when Master 
did. Snyle and Synrf thought they had figured out way... Hadn't." 
He finished bleakly.
   "Well, there's no time for regrets now. You said needed a 
magician? Well, you've got one. What's the problem?"
   "I can fix it, shut off Device safely, with Mr. Magician now here 
to help me... except..."
   "Except?"
   "Need more. In addition to Magician, need other people to run 
controls. Here, here, here..." He pointed at various spots around the 
room, all widely separated. "Master *may* have been able to run 
Device all alone, but I doubt it. I certainly cannot. This is the way it 
has always been. Servants run controls, the Master stood on the 

platform." He pointed a low stone podium that stood nearby. It was 
surrounded by rings of more of the evil runes, but they were all 
currently dark; no light, no aura. "Wore specially-constructed suit, 
into which was channeled magik. Everyone not working watch." He 
further pointed at a row of low stone benches which lined one wall, 
then looked at Aahz. "This is what you saw, Mr. Pervect."
  "What? You were here when I came here before?"
  "No. But grandfather was. You say you once meet Master? Only 
once Pervect come here. Interrupt transfer procedure. Must have 
been you, yes? Master very annoyed. Install Scrambling Field 
afterwards. Then Mr. Frogman somehow find his way here. Master 
*very* annoyed. Seal up all but one maintenance tunnel. Install 
more defenses. Hire Mr. Guard." 
  "See, Aahz? Told you."
  "Shut up, Tanda. Look, Snafyu, this is all fascinating, but what do 
you need Skeeve for?"
  "Skeeve? Oh, Mr. Magician. He protect operators from Device 
with wards and whatnot."
   "What do you mean, I'd have to protect you from the Device?"
   "Device has safeguards. Protects itself when unauthorized ones 
such as ourselves attempt to access important functions like main 
shut-down. Slash. Cut. Chop. Zap. Very nasty. Even to Mr. Stone 
there. Realized early on wards only way to protect."
   "Fine! So you need Skeeve and some other helpers!" Aahz 
snarled. "Just show us what to do!"
   "Aahz? You're actually *volunteering* to run mechanical magik? 
This really *is* serious, isn't it?"
   "You'll note he said 'us', not 'me'."
   "No. Not work." Snafyu ignored the extra commentary. "Need..." 
His head swiveled, as he obviously again ran inventory on everyone 
in the room. "...six people, in addition to Mr. Magician. Five simply 
not enough."
  "Terrific."
  "But there is something we can do. We can bring someone else 
here!"
  "Bring someone?"
  "Could we get Massha here, or Guido and Nunzio, or even 
Skeeve's Daglarite friend?" Tanda asked urgently.
  Aahz gave a grim shake of his head.
  "That's what I was just thinking. But there's a problem. If what 
Snafyu is saying is true, we can't do it in time. We'd have to fight 
our way all the way back outside the Field to use the D-Hopper, or 
have one of you dimension-travel back to Deva. And from the look 
of things in this room..."
   "Yes! No! I mean, yes, no time to go and to come!" Snafyu 
hopped from one powerful foot to the other. "But you 
misunderstand! Device have many powers, only some of which I 
know. Capable of much. One thing, we can bring someone *here*, 
to the control room, using the Device! It was one of the things I 
learned how to do, although the Master would have been very 
displeased if he knew I knew... But there is a problem. Reason I not 
bring help to here before, and turn off Device."
   "Of course. There's always one more problem." Gus muttered, 
eyeing the pillars as a particularly vivid light show flashed across 
them.
   "We must have something the person recently owned, for 
extended period. I didn't have something. You have something, 
hopefully? The Device finds them by using thing, turns Scrambling 
Field..." he uncharacteristically groped for a word... "inside out... 
for less than a second and brings them here, wherever they may be. 
Whenever they may be. Or so the Master once said when he 
thought I was not listening. But we need something they once 
owned! Otherwise, it won't work!" He paused. "Also not work on 
anyone who die inside Field. Have tried. That's why I can't bring 
back any of the Master's other servants."
   "Yeah, I've heard about similar magik gizmos." Aahz commented. 
"Trackers and stuff like that. Own something long enough and it 
starts to pick up a bit of your personal aura. But we don't have 
anything of Massha's or even the hoods. Terrific. Looks like we 
don't have any choice but to fight our way back out after all..."
   "Um... Aahz?"
   Aahz looked at me, saw my expression and immediately groaned, 
holding both hands to his forehead.
   "I'm not going to like this, whatever it is, am I?"
   "Well, actually, it *could* be worse..." I reached into my pocket, 
looking for the map that Karrik had given me. 
   It was gone; I had already managed to lose it.
   Even as my heart gave a lurch, my hand closed around something 
else, further down in the pocket. It took me a moment before I 
realized what it was. I winced, and pulled the Official Assassin 
Travel Sustenance bar out into the light.
   Unnervingly, even after having been cooked (twice), frozen, 
dunked in seawater and who knows what else, it still looked 
*exactly* as it had when I had stuffed in my pocket back on 
Gezirah. It wasn't even chipped or crumbled, except the missing 
corner where Aahz had sampled it. My stomach gave a little lurch. I 
had actually *eaten* one of these?
   Aahz looked as well, then threw back his head and screamed, the 
sound bleeding out oddly into the cramped space that surrounded 
us. As if it wasn't so cramped at all...
   "AGGGGGHHH! 'Could be worse'? How could it be worse!? An 
Imp! I have to trust my life to a zarking *Imp*!" He broke off and 
looked wistfully back at the door through which we had entered the 
room. "Maybe we could go find that passage Bertie was talking 
about..."
   "Aahz, old boy," Chumley spoke up. "You yourself said we 
simply do not have the time. Are you saying that this... er... object... 
belonged to that Brockhurst fellow? If this infernal contraption can 
bring him here, we'd better do it and do it quickly."
   Aahz ground his teeth, which is always an impressive spectacle.
   "All right. Do it. Get it over with."
   I handed the bar to Snafyu, who examined it with professional 
curiosity for a moment, then scuttled over to one of the numerous 
control banks at the center of the room. He carefully positioned the 
bar on a squat, eight-sided pedestal, and made adjustments to the 
various protuberances surrounding it. Symbols glowed. For a long 
moment, nothing happened. Then, abruptly, something grabbed me, 
a dozen strong invisible hands yanking me off my feet, up into the 
air. Only, unpleasantly,  I *wasn’t* yanked at all. I was a piece of 
taffy, being stretched... stretched... 
   Something snapped, and in an instant I was across the room in 
one long step, standing by the pillar and Snafyu. I staggered a little, 
realizing somehow that the Device had latched onto me as someone 
who once owned the bar. I felt its attentions grudgingly turn 
elsewhere, stretching out across the dimensions, painfully, 
agonizingly, the whole room seeming to be pulled now, not just 
me...
   Snap.
   Something was in the air above Snafyu and I, and we both looked 
up. Everybody looked up.
   Several somethings were in the air.
  "AAAIE!" I instinctively threw up a protective ward over all our 
heads.
   The giant mud-encrusted boulders came raining down, 
surrounding the falling Brockhurst. Both they and he hit the ward 
and careened off towards the walls. With the massive power still 
flowing through me, I was able to snag the Imp magikally just 
before he made contact.
   The rocks weren't so lucky, if  that particular word can be applied 
to inanimate objects. They went smashing into the walls.
    But they didn't smash at all. They *splatted* in, half-disappearing 
as if the walls were made of warm taffy. They hung there, for a 
moment, and then started vibrating. slowly at first, then faster. And 
faster.
   "GET DOWN!" Snafyu cried. I hastily yanked Brockhurst into 
the protection of the ward and redoubled the shield's strength.
   The boulders exploded. Violently. Smaller but still sizable chunks 
of rock went splattering off from the point of impact. Those that hit 
a wall plowed in, buzzed and exploded again, repeating the process. 
The din was horrendous. We hunkered down, wincing as the 
ever-smaller bits of shrapnel continued to bounce and ricochet and 
explode. Finally, mercifully, there was nothing left but dust and 
gravel rattling noisily to the floor. We all took our hands off of our 
ears. There was an new, unpleasant tone in the Device's throb, and 
the walls were wavering as if they were made of water instead of 
stone..
   "*That* doesn't sound good." Tanda commented as I lowered 
Brockhurst back to the floor and dropped the ward.
   Snafyu was staring around him in horrified fascination.
   "Miss Assassin is correct. This is *not* good. The Device 
couldn't handle that. Device not working properly! Should not have 
happened at all. Should not have been rocks, too! Device now 
teetering on the brink. We have even less time!"
   Brockhurst dropped to the ground, looking both dazed and an 
inch or two taller than I remembered. What appeared to be wisps of 
pure white smoke floated off his badly mangled clothes. He 
staggered around in a small circle, and almost tottered against the 
wall again. Gus calmly pulled him back to safety. Clutched in the 
gargoyle's grip, Brockhurst coughed, blowing out further reams of 
the 'smoke'. He looked around in bemusement.
  "Skeeve? Aahz...  Gus!?" The last word was directed at the 
grinning stone face looming overhead. "Are... are we dead? That 
avalanche..."
   "You're not dead." Aahz growled. "When that happens, you and I 
are *not* going to the same place. If we do, *someone's* going to 
be in a lot of trouble."
   Snafyu blurred his way across the room. How someone who was 
so gangly could move so fast...
   "Mr. Brockhurst! Pleased to meet you." He grabbed Brockhurst's 
unresisting hand and shook it. "We need your help. Now. Very 
soon. Mr. Stone? Please bring Mr. Brockhurst over here.."
   Gus shrugged and carried Brockhurst's dangling body across the 
room.
   "Right here, Mr. Stone. Thank you. Mr. Magician? Stand here, 
after you have set up wards. I will be at these controls. You need to 
protect me and the others with wards, surround us closely on all 
sides, yes?"
   "OK." 
   "Miss Assassin, Mr. Troll? Over here..." He bounded off.
   As he did so, I was aware that Aahz had appeared at my side. 
"Kid? We can't do this! Something about this whole set-up stinks."
   I replied out of the corner of my mouth. "I don't see that we have 
much choice, Aahz. There's so much magik bouncing around here, 
we have to something. Besides... I trust him. I think he's telling the 
truth."
   Aahz frowned. "Actually, so do I. Think he's telling the truth, I 
mean. I’m not sure our furry friend there could lie if you held a 
loaded Iolo laserbow to his head and ordered him to. What I meant 
was..."
   "Mr. Pervect! Over here, please!"
   I shot a helpless glance at Aahz -What else can we do?- and he 
rolled his eyes and stalked off, disappearing around behind the 
central pillars. The team was now positioned around the room, 
Chumley hunched in small alcove, Tanda clung halfway up the side 
of one of the pillars, Gus along with Aahz had gone out of sight 
around the pillars. Brockhurst held himself upright at the station to 
which he had been positioned. Slowly circling the room, I started 
putting wards around each person, bending the fields back again 
and again so they were triple-strength. Keeping each in place was 
tricky; if anything, all the extra power made it harder to keep 
everything under control. It was like trying to keep your bar drink 
in your glass after suddenly being dumped in the ocean. I ended up 
back in the center of the room, next to Snafyu as he had indicated. I 
covered the two of us and croaked: "Whatever you are going to do, 
Snafyu, do it fast!"
   "Yes, Mr. Magician." He studied the controls before him and 
began barking orders in a surprisingly authoritative voice, pushing 
and pulling at things as he did so. "Mr. Brockhurst! Push third 
button from the top! Square red one!" Brockhurst looked at me and 
I managed a nod. Like Gus before him, Brockhurst shrugged and 
touched the button. He frowned for a moment as if feeling 
something odd coursing up his finger, then pushed down. Snafyu 
continued.
   "Miss Assassin, push small green, first row! Now the blue one, 
next to it! Yes...! Mr. Rock, Mr. Troll, both of you, pull large violet 
lever on far left edge of panel!"   There was a ragged zapping 
sound, and a stream of unhealthy-looking lights gushed out of one 
of the walls, splashing against Tanda's ward, which smoked and 
sizzled, but held. Then a different section of the wall bulged and 
lashed out, a crackling stone fist, pounding down on either Gus or 
Aahz. It felt as if the blow had hit *me*, but again the ward held. 
Countless snake-things rose up from the cracks in the floor and 
battered against the sides of the wards, while multiple bolts of 
lightning commenced blasting down from the darkness above, 
hitting every ward and then arcing between them. I crashed to my 
hands and knees, my fingers trying with no small success to dig into 
the floorstones. The commands and fruitless counter-attacks went 
on for what seemed like an eternity, hopping from one team 
member and back again. It was mind-boggling that Snafyu could 
remember all this. Finally...
   "Almost there.. Mr. Pervect! Large triangular button with the 
yellow sign...near the bottom... Yes! Now! Everyone! On three! 
Push big black button in the very middle of your panel! One labeled 
'Do Not Push'! One... two... threee!"

   Zap.
 
   And nothing more. It was all oddly anticlimactic, but Snafyu 
sagged with relief.
  "Yes! Power should now drain off in..."
   There was a horrific shift which slapped Tanda against the side of 
her pillar and knocked all the rest of the group off of their feet. (I 
was ahead of the game for once.) The Device's wail cranked up yet 
another notch on the 'urgency' scale. Every light in the room came 
on, and started flashing insanely. Dozens of screens blew out, 
leaving black mouths that belched smoke and were ringed with 
glass fangs.
   "And *that* sounds even worse." I shouldn't have been able to 
hear the dangling Tanda's ironic comment, but somehow I picked it 
up quite clearly.
    Snafyu looked around in wild despair.
   "Don't understand! Should have worked... should..."
   "ssssSSSNNNAAFYYYYYUUU!" The disembodied voice 
rumbled through the room, starting low but slowly and relentlessly 
building like a vast avalanche. We all froze. Finally Snafyu spoke 
from his sprawl on the floor:
   "M... Master?"
   "WHAT HAAAVE YOU BEEEEN DOINNNG SNAFYUUU?" 
The voice rumbled across my brain, rattling my back teeth. I 
somehow lifted my head and looked at the platform. Something 
was forming there... a shimmering white shape...
   "*That*" yelled Aahz, quite unnecessarily in my opinion, "is 
Penbrius."

Chapter 31a
****
"Take a memo; I want to know how many people I had to step on to get to the top."
-B. Gates
****
      "I knew it!" Aahz came weaving out from behind the pillars; my 
wards had finally collapsed. "I knew that zarking mechanic couldn't 
really be dead! That last 'power transfer', the one that Snafyu 
thought killed him... did something else! Probably exactly what 
Penbrius wanted it to! He also probably lied to Snafyu about this 
'shut-down' procedure as well!" The others came straggling to join 
us.
   "But what..." I broke off and looked upward from my spot on the 
floor. We all did. I suddenly had the distinct and quite horrible 
feeling that a vast hand was reaching down from somewhere, 
getting ready to squash all of us... it had already blocked out the 
sun...
   A moment of absolute clarity arrived. Lowering my eyes, I looked 
at the platform on which Penbrius had evidently stood so many 
times, getting his doses of power. He had been a mechanic; he had 
needed this 'suit' of his to draw the power in.. 
  While our efforts had failed to turn off the Device, we *had* 
evidently reactivated the platform; the runes were glowing brightly, 
and a piercingly bright aura glowed around both the platform and 
the vast, slowly forming, shape at its center... what if a *real* 
magician got on the platform...
    "SSSSNNAAAFFFYYYYUUUU!"
    I didn't stop to think anymore, but sprang to my feet and jumped 
for the platform. Aahz’s cry seemed to come from very far away. 
    "SKEEVE! NO!" 
    I felt his grasping nails rip uselessly through the fabric of the 
back of my already-tattered tunic.
    I landed on the platform.
    And the connection was made. 
    Power, unimaginable power roared into me, power beyond 
comprehension, power that made the sea that I had been swimming 
in seem like a single drop in comparison.
    And something more. More than raw power; raw knowledge. I 
have often thought since that day that perhaps, ultimately, they are 
the same thing. While everything that next happened still seems 
vivid and sharp in my mind, I know in reality my memories are only  
the tiniest fraction of what I actually saw, actually touched. My 
brain just couldn't hold all of it; it started leaking out almost as soon 
as it was poured in.
    Because the instant my feet landed on that platform, suddenly I 
was raised up, swelled to gigantic size and I could see everywhere. 
See inside and underneath and beyond and through... *everything*. 
I could follow the forcelines of magikal power, their masses 
stringing and tangling off into the endless distance, connecting, 
*being*, dimension after dimension after dimension. I could see and 
touch and smell the rain-soaked forests of Gezirah, and Chirosovo's 
charred remains, and the Bazaar and Klah and Rio Paulo and Trollia 
and Perv and Gus's stony home dimension and further, even 
stranger, places on and on seemingly forever, places where the air is 
sweet green poison, places where the stars sing at night and the sun 
howls all day long, places where down is up and out is in and every 
triangle has four sides, all of these simultaneously overlapped and 
reflected and spread out at my feet like a map, the countless 
inhabitants all swarming back and forth like masses of ants. In many 
of these dimensions, storms raged, lightning and thunder booming, 
the rain coming down in torrents.
   And 'beside' me, also standing on that infinite moutaintop, was 
another figure, somewhat tall and skeleton-thin and bipedal now but 
still mostly vague and shimmering. 
    Penbrius. 
   And 'above' us, something more. An incredible new realm that 
glittered and flashed and arched across the infinite colorless sky, a 
place, an endless ideal built of force lines and more than force lines, 
a thing of glory and wonder that made the Resort on Toros Daglari 
look like Fishtown after a fire, a typhoon and three good-sized 
riots. The endless beauty of it pierced and burned.
   And because in that instant I knew everything, I finally 
understood what the figure beside me had been trying to do, trying 
monomaniacally for all of these centuries, building his power up and 
up, unbeknownst even to his non-magician servants, storing it in the 
very framework of the Device until the critical point had finally 
been reached, a short time ago. I understood why he hadn't 
bothered to act when the Deveels used his ‘Temple’ as the basis for 
their ski lodge. For a moment, even with all the power now at my 
command, I had to struggle to wrap my mind around the concept 
revealed in my mind. In all of my adventures with Aahz, even 
dealing with Isstvan, we had never really faced anyone who... who 
was so relentlessly *evil*. Someone whom you couldn't finagle, or 
sweet-talk, or con, or trick with a dose of drugged wine. Someone 
who was going to do what they wanted, get what they wanted, not 
caring... about *anything* else. Ignoring everything until it got in 
his way, then crushing it ruthlessly...
   I looked at the enraged shape wavering beside me, and yelled, 
screamed without words:
   "Having all this power! Being able to do things most 'real' 
magicians never even dreamed of! Being able to bring the zarking 
dead back to life, seeing all of this.. even all of this wasn't enough 
for you, was it? You wanted to separate from your body, rise to 
here, and then ride the biggest blast of magik ever *beyond* this 
point, up... up there! Into *that*!" I pointed "above" us. "That's all 
you’ve ever cared about!" 
   The thing that had been Penbrius the master mechanic glared at 
me without eyes, unspeaking. I plowed on.
   "The Device wasn't a device anymore, after you saw that! You 
rigged it to explode! Snafyu and all your other servants were 
supposed to have died in the blast, while that thing down there ran 
wildly out of control, creating a bomb... a Bomb, a rocket.." (in the 
white-hot split second in which all of this occurred, I knew exactly 
what a rocket was; Aahz has tried to explain it to me since, and lost 
me totally after two sentences.) "...for blasting you away from the 
world, and leaving a pile of smoking wreckage behind. Wreckage 
that would stretch across a dozen dimensions... But it didn't work. 
Snafyu lived, and, not knowing his was defying your wishes, 
somehow managing to keep the Bomb from going off. You trained 
him and the others too well!"
   "YES." The thing flashed and sparkled as it finally spoke, spoke 
as I had, without words or mouth. No longer an avalanche, his 
voice now grated like sandpaper rubbed across raw skin. Aahz had 
said that Penbrius wasn't insane like Isstvan. Even before the thing 
had spoken, I had known that he had been right; Penbrius was 
insane in a far worse way. The icy, focused, madness oozed out 
between every blocky word, moving like the magic that flowed 
around the endless bricks of his personal realm. "TRAPPED 
between the two worlds, my body STRIPPED away, but still here... 
waiting.. WATCHING.. Cut off from BOTH above and below.. 
UNTIL NOW.. Whatever you and that little fool Snafyu have 
done.. has FREED me back into the lower world.. I *W-I-L-L* 
reach the oTHER rEALM now, but first, you will all **PAY** for 
your interference.."
   The shape began to flicker... stretch... reach out both of its 
ragged edges/hands towards the crowds below us. I realized that 
was what it had been doing all along, blotting out the sun... With a 
tremendous effort and focusing of will, I searched among the vast 
throngs of ants that scurried madly around my feet, and found my 
friends, huddling in a tiny stone chamber whose paper-thin walls 
and ceiling were collapsing around them. Somehow closer to the 
ground than the bodiless thing floating right beside me, I reached 
down ahead of it, pricked a hole in the flimsy net that pinned the 
tiny figures down, and gave them a gentle nudge with my fingertip, 
shoving them all an eighth of an inch into a new dimension. Even as 
I did that, the groping corner of Penbrius smashed into the space 
that they had just occupied, and the miniature chamber finished 
collapsing. I felt something break loose beneath my 'feet'; the magik 
that Snafyu had somehow contained for so long was finally free...
    Possession of absolute knowledge certain improves your reaction 
time. I snapped erect,  turned and grabbed Penbrius, wrapping his 
long twisting form in a grim bear-hug. It was like trying to hold 
onto a vast shredded blanket flapping in a high wind, a strangling 
living blanket that didn't want to be held. Countless edges slashed at 
me, slicing viciously through both my remaining clothes and my 
remaining bits of skin. My arms ripped down through layer after 
layer of rotten nothingness, my grip failing. I looked over my 
shoulder, as screaming strands of Penbrius found my throat and 
limbs and wrapped themselves,  tighter... tighter...
   All in all, the woman on Rio Paulo had been a lot more pleasant.
   I jumped off the platform. 
   Something tore free at my feet, spurting scalding ichor and 
dissolving my boots.
   "NNNNOOOOOoooo...."
   Beneath us, around us, the Bomb went off. But now it had a 
place to go, no longer backed up behind the vast bulk of Penbrius, 
not pushing him upward into whatever waited above while 
backwashing out along the tunnels below, scouring dimension after 
dimension... An enormous column of raw magikal power roared 
'sky'ward unchecked, and quickly spread out into a vast thin cloud, 
behaving much as one of Gus’s disgusting bottles of cola does 
when shaken vigorously. The place up in the sky, whatever and 
wherever it actually was, soaked it all up without a flicker. A drop 
of water thrown into a deep, endless sea...
      I pulled on Penbrius, tumbling off the remains of the platform, 
instantly shrinking back down into the battered remnants of the 
control room. Even as I fell, I found the only key I knew, slammed 
it into the only doorway, and Hopped, feeling the heat of the magik 
wash over me, as the Device/Bomb continued to crumble around 
us, millions of pieces of stone and smashed magikal machinery 
being sucked up into that endless 'sky'. Already the knowledge that 
had been crammed into my mind was melting away, leaving me...
    My shoulder hit a gritty surface, followed rapidly by the rest of 
my body. I let out a 'wuff' and wrapped my arms tighter around the 
thing that lay crumpled between them. Only it was already 
disintegrating as well, blowing apart, melting down between my 
fingers, sliding away from my neck, my arms and legs. With a great 
effort, I swallowed some air and uncramped my digits. Released the 
last remnants. They fluttered mournfully away in the warm breeze, 
a thin scream of rage still cutting the air. For a moment, there was a 
shape there, tall, with piercing black eyes, and long dangling things 
which may have clumps of hair, or maybe garments... But only for a 
moment. Unlike me, Penbrius had no body to return to and thus 
was gone, in both sight and sound. I wondered vaguely if he was 

finally headed towards the place he had been trying to get to all 
along. I thought again of the corrosive clawing beauty of the place 
up in the sky, and was able, almost, to feel a momentary stab of 
pity. Then I thought...
   Warm breeze? I rolled slowly onto my back, and groggily sat up, 
fully expecting to find myself sitting on the shore of that stupid 
island again. Maybe Karrik and Yilla could use a new deckhand...
   I'm not sure if I was happy or disappointed to discover that I was 
sitting in the middle of a disused gravely path. Weeds sprouted 
around me in abundance. At the edge of the path, grass grew tall 
and rampant. And beyond the grass...
   Stood the inn that Aahz and I had lived in after defeating Isstvan. 
It looked about the same as we had left it; evidently no new squat... 
er... *residents* had come along since our departure to Possiltum. I 
sat, my shredded pants and legs spread out before me on the 
ground and stared at the structure for what seemed like a long time. 
I had absolutely no idea what to do now. Then...
   BAMF!
   I didn't even turn to look.
   "I'm sorry, Aahz. I broke my promise."
   After a moment, a cold hand came to rest on my shoulder. I could 
have been mistaken, but it appeared to be trembling.
   "That's... OK. Skeeve. I'll let it go. Just this once."  Screwing up 
my nerve, I finally looked around. The entire gang stood there, all 
looking somewhat battered, but alive. Aahz continued, looked 
down at me expressionlessly.
   "After you jumped on the platform, we were suddenly back on 
Toros Daglari. Outside that... 'Temple'. We watched it just cave in 
on itself, and collapse, like it was being sucked  down into the 
ground. There was nothing left but a hole."
  Chumley spoke up.
  "Aahz couldn't see it, but something... several somethings... ripped 
free from the local force lines when the Temple imploded. They 
were sucked down the hole as well. After a moment, there was a 
quite large blast of magik back out of that hole. Not nearly as bad 
as it might have been, I imagine. Quite impressive, nonetheless. And 
then nothing. The clouds started clearing away almost 
immediately." I nodded, and scanned the group.
  Along with the rest of them was an equally banged-up Snafyu, 
who was staring around quizzically, but particularly up at the sky.
   "What's the matter, Snafyu?" I croaked. "Is something still 
wrong?"
   He looked at me and blinked.
  "No, Mr. Magician. The Device is gone. Destroyed. I can feel its 
absence inside of me. But..."
   "Yes?" Tanda asked, standing nearby and casually holding her 
badly torn and singed costume in place with one golden-green hand. 
With the other arm, she propped up a noodle-limp Brockhurst.
   "I... I have never been outside the Device before. Never seen the 
sky before. Knew it was blue.. but never.. Is this what fresh air 
smells like?" He looked like he was about to cry.
   "Well, old chap, you know not all of the dimensions have blue 
skies." Chumley copied Aahz's gesture with the Penbrian standing 
next to him. Snafyu looked up at him.
   "No, Mr. Troll. I did not know that. Perhaps I will now learn..."
   Aahz helped me to my feet. He smiled.
   "Let's start by showing him Deva's sky, shall we? I want to get 
home and go talk to Ginghe and his friends *real* bad."
   "Can we possibly take a bath first? And maybe-" I shot another 
guilty glance at Tanda, then looked down at my own (essentially) 
bare feet. "change our clothes?"
   "I keep telling you, kid, you'll never get anywhere in this world if 
you keep letting yourself be distracted by all of these irrelevancies."
   "Aahz?"
   "Yeah, Tanda?"
   "Shut up. And Skeeve?"
   "Um... yes?"
   "Do you mind telling us exactly what just happened?"
   "Well... it's a long story... and I've already forgotten a lot of it."
   "You can tell us on the way to Ginghe's office." Aahz flipped 
some dials and punched the button the D Hopper.

   Chapter 32a
   ****
   "Saving the world is the easy part. The aftermath is where things get tricky."
   -King Arthur
  ****

  Aahz and I were back in the conference room, sitting across the 
table from Ginghe and the others. I had finally won out, and we'd 
stopped at our place to get presentable before returning to the 
negotiating table. It appeared that our opposite numbers hadn't 
moved in the entire time we'd been away. 
   "And so," Ginghe said. "It would appear the problem has been 
successfully resolved." He began fastidiously stacking the various 
piles of paper scattered before him. "The Devan Executive Branch 
thanks you for your efforts. If we'll be needing your services again, 
we will of course be in touch."
  "Aren't you forgetting something?" Aahz's voice was silky smooth, 
but there was just the tiniest edge lurking in it somewhere that 
made me want to take cover under the table.
  "Oh... yes. The Department has ordered all criminal charges 
against you and your associates to be summarily dropped."
  "Swell. What I was referring to, in fact, was the matter of our 
fee."
  "Your fee. Well, gentlemen, as I... or rather, as the Executive 
Branch sees it, you were... assigned... specifically... to locate and 
quell certain centers of unauthorized labor-union activity. Yet, in 
your report just now you indicated, quite persuasively, that there 
was in fact *no* attempt at unauthorized labor organization. Since 
this was the case, our original agreement can be considered, and 
shall be considered, null and void. This is our final word on the 
subject." He saw Aahz's expression and raised a finger. "May I 
continue? Stories of your... prowess... are of course well known 
throughout this dimension. I have no doubt the two of you could 
inflict serious harm on both myself and my colleagues. However, if 
you so much as lay a finger on any one of us, you will be banned 
from the Bazaar for life."
   "It would be worth it." Aahz rose. An expression of concern crept 
across Ginghe's face. Ollipo and Yuleen shifted nervously in their 
seats.
   There was a noise behind the three of them, a sort of silent 
authoritative cough. Everyone around the table, even Aahz, paused 
and looked in that direction. The elderly Deveel looked back at us 
stonily, then crooked a long finger at the stripling sitting next to 
him. The youth leaned over, and listened nervously for a long 
moment. He then rose, whispered in Ginghe's ear, and scurried back 
to his position at the elder's side. 
  Ginghe straightened his garments with exaggerated care, and 
scribbled something on a piece of paper, which he carefully pushed 
across the table towards us, clearly wishing he was pushing it 
through a set of stout iron bars. And attached to the end of a very 
long pole.
  "While the Department..." An almost subliminal glance over his 
shoulder "...stands by its original statement, it does acknowledge 
your recent efforts on its behalf... and what may have happened if 
your efforts were unsuccessful. The Department offers you the 
indicated figure, not as payment for any defunct agreement which 
may or may not have once existed, but as recognition for those 
services which you have recently performed."
   Aahz and I both looked at the sheet of paper which lay before us. 
Aahz looked back up, sneering.
   "This is..."
   "More than we would make in a year of normal operation." I cut 
in. He turned his gaze onto me. I sighed at his expression and 
continued quietly. "I know, I know, I'm ruining our negotiating 
position. But I've had a very long week, Aahz, and I'm very tired. 
Let's just take the money and go home. Just this once. Please. We 
saved more than seven dimensions from, at best, ending up like 
Deva once did." I shot a glance at the other end of the table. "That's 
almost reward enough in itself. And even you must know they 
never intended to give us all of that money. If Penbrius hadn't been 
at the bottom of this whole mess, they would have found some 
other way to weasel out of it."
    Aahz continued to stare at me for a long moment, then rolled his 
eyes and gave off a tired sigh of his own. "At least you said 'almost'. 
There's hope for you yet, kid." He faced the silent, tense, Deveels 
again and spoke more loudly. "We have a deal. But we'll take the 
money now. In gold."
   Ginghe glanced again over his shoulder, and the elder Deveel 
nodded, once, almost imperceptibly. Then the President, (or 
whatever his title actually was) looked across the table at me, 
directly at me. For some odd reason, I suddenly expected him to 
wink, or smile. He did neither, but stared, his gaze like two force 
beams slicing across the room. Presumably he saw whatever it was 
he was looking for, since he broke contact, rose and silently left the 
room, the young flunky trailing along in his wake.
 
*   *   *

   We returned to our palatial headquarters through the crowded 
streets of the Bazaar, carrying a *very* large bag of gold. When I 
wasn't worrying about being mugged, my thoughts kept drifting 
back to that last look the President had shot at me. I'd seen 
someone look at me like that before, recently... where...
  I shook it off and looked at Aahz. While he would probably spend 
a few months, or more likely years, being deeply depressed at not 
getting the original sum under discussion, he began casting more 
and more speculative glances down at the burden he carried in a 
tight grasp.  As we entered our front door, the gang, including 
Brockhurst and Snafyu, were all assembled in the front lobby, 
obviously waiting expectantly for us. 
    Aahz hoisted the bag in the air, and grinned ear to ear. Possibly 
even further.
   "Let's all go over to Gus's place. Drinks... are on the Deveels!"
   Everyone started cheering and clustered around us, shaking 
hands, and talking all at once, already reliving the exploits of the 
past few days. Tanda even gave me quick kiss on the cheek, a 

reward for which I would gladly have traded three similar bags of 
gold. I saw Snafyu standing diffidently off to one side and I stepped 
over to talk to him, grinning.
   "Another new experience, Snafyu. Are you up to it?"
   Tanda had found him some better-fitting clothes to wear 
somewhere, and he appeared to have straightened up a bit from his 
usual slouch. He regarded me gravely, then nodded.
   "Yes, Mr. Mag... Mr. Skeeve. I think I am."
   I grinned again, and gave him a little push on the back of his new 
tunic to join the others. I started to follow him.
   And stumbled to a stop.
   Snafyu’s expression... or one a lot like it...  As everyone else 
started trooping out the door, I managed to grab ahold of Aahz's 
collar and pull him back.
   "Tell everyone I'll be there in a minute. There's something I have 
to do first." I grinned and gave a thumbs up, but unlike the others, 
it was half-hearted. If Aahz had been carrying even a *slightly* 
smaller bag of gold, no doubt he would have noticed, but as it was..
   "Huh? OK, kid. But if you don't hurry, there won't be any 
strawberry milkshakes left." He grinned himself, turned and went 
after the others, still gleefully hugging the bag to his chest.
   I immediately went to Aahz's room and started looking for...
   The D-Hopper. For one insane moment I had considered 
attempting to do this under my own power, but I came to my 
senses and went looking for the tubular device. I found it stashed 
inside a cupboard along with some other objects I decided that 
were best not studied too closely. If Aahz had known what I was 
doing...
   But he didn't.
   It took a moment, but I found the setting for Gezirah, and 
punched the button.

Chapter 33a
****
"Wheels within Wheels within Wheels.."
-Simple Simon
****
   
   I was standing in the main Gezirahan town once again. Tapping 
into a nearby force line, I could still feel the lingering effects of 
Penbrius' interference, but it was already much less noticeable than 
before. There appeared to be more natives on the streets than 
before, and they all seemed somewhat happier. Soon all would be 
as it was.. Or everything would be different. Penbrius had been 
bleeding magik off of this dimension for over five hundred years, 
after all. I guess it all depended on your frame of reference.
    I again slapped on a Gezirahan disguise, presumably a female 
one, since Aahz had never gotten around to telling me the 
difference. I oriented myself and walked quickly across town. The 
lumber hiring hall was exactly as I had last seen it. I walked in. The 
information Deveel hadn't changed either. He still sat at the black 
desk, reading from apparently the same book. He looked up as I 
approached.
   "Ah. 'The Kid'. I'm afraid that your friends never did come by, or 
I missed them if they did."
   "You knew." 
   "Knew?"
   "About Penbrius. About everything. You knew exactly what was 
happening."
   He gave me an expressionless look. I seemed to be getting a lot 
of those this day, which I supposed was the point.
   "Why didn't you *tell* someone? Chirosovo won't be habitable 
for centuries! You could have prevented that!" I slammed a fist on 
the desk. A couple of nearby Gezirahans looked up disinterestedly 
than ignored us. I imagine it was a common reaction to this 
particular Deveel.
   The Deveel actually put the book down on the desk before 
answering me. He meticulously folded his hands before him.
   "Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I had known something 
about someone named 'Penbrius', what good would it have done for 
me to tell anyone? Why should they, whoever 'they' might be, have 
listened to a dried up old relic like myself?"
   "You had to *try*!"
   "So you say." A pause. "A further supposition. Suppose I, in my 
menial position, realized that something was wrong, and decided to 
tell someone. Who would I tell? The Deveel Executive Branch? A 
group of money-grubbing merchants who wouldn't notice a entire 
city of victorious post-game Jahks marching through the room, as 
long as the profits keep rolling in? The Devan Labor Council? Their 
only areas of expertise are the stifling of genuine labor unions and 
the production of those cretinous posters." He nodded his head 
towards the nearest paper-festooned wall.
   "Well... you could have..." I looked at him squarely. "You could 
have come and told *me*. I'm the official Magician In Residence of 
the Bazaar on Deva! It's my *job* to deal with these problems!"
   "Ah." He said again, this time raising a long gnarled finger in 
accompaniment. "An interesting idea, and one that is not entirely 
without merit." He refolded his hands. "One last supposition for 
you to consider, 'Kid.' Suppose an individual knew that something... 
unpleasant... was about  to happen and also knew offhand of only 
one person who *might* be in a position to stop it. Or, on the other 
hand, be in a position to make things infinitely worse if he wasn't up 
to the challenge. What does the first individual do?"
   "Wasn't up to the challenge...?"
   "In the course of a long lifetime, one sees many times how... 
lethally... easy it is for someone to acquire an undeserved 
reputation. For good or for evil. And, as you are no doubt aware, 
the current Magician In Residence on Deva has... acquired himself 
quite a reputation. Word of his mighty deeds have even reached 
humble colonial backwaters such as this."
   My head somehow remained unturned.
   "So. This first hypothetical person would..."
   "Would... how should I put this... point the potential Klahd of the 
hour in the generally proper direction and send him on his way. If 
he succeeds, so much the better. If he fails to uncover the truth and 
work towards fixing the problem, then he was never up to the task 
to begin with. And something else will have to be tried."
   "None of this changes the fact that Chirosovo has been 
obliterated."
   "True. And if there is such a person, that is something that he will 
have to live with. For the rest of his life." It was only there for a 
split second, but I saw something I'd never seen a Deveel's face 
before- pain. Unselfish pain. Or perhaps the most selfish pain of all.
   I stood silently for a moment, then quietly asked:
   "So you consider making a vague hint about 'something being 
wrong' a good example of 'pointing me in the right direction'?"
   The Deveel matched my silence, and even extended it a bit. 
Finally:
   "Yes, if it is part of a larger... tapestry. I said my previous 
supposition was the last, but there is always one more. Always. 
Something else one learns. Suppose that our, as you put it, first 
hypothetical friend noticed something was wrong because... he was 
familiar with the signs. It was something that he had lived through 
once before."
   I looked at him askance.
   "Something that.. in the end... turned an entire dimension into a... 
desolate, barren wasteland?"
   "Something of that nature, yes."
   "You... you were there? When Deva... but that was... centuries 
ago! Longer than even a Deveel's lifespan! There's no way..."
   "Deveels can live a long time. A very long time. And with a little 
magikal assistance.." He shrugged, a gesture in its way as complex 
as Bertie's had been. "In any event, a person sees that the great 
tragedy is coming again. And knows that, like before, no one will 

listen to a doomsayer, no one will help. Directly. Until it is too late. 
Unless, of course, they are confronted with a threat in which they 
will believe. He also sees that the natives are worried, and meeting 
with each other in secret. So, taking advantage of certain recent 
events, he starts..." a vague waving gesture "...rumors... that an 
illegal labor union is organizing. And so... someone who might be 
able to solve the problem is brought into the picture. And thus the 
problem is solved." He rose to his cloven feet, surprising me; 
despite the suspicions that had brought me back to this room, at 
some subconscious level I had assumed he was permanently 
attached to the desk. "This problem, at least. There will be others, 
of course. There always are." He left the desk, and me, and started 
walking silently towards the door leading out onto the street.
   Walking silently. I studied him, his gait, for a moment. Add a little 
padding, give him a fake beard... and... 
     Yes. Now, except for that gaze, you could swim right past him 
in the stream, so to speak. But before... 
     I cleared my throat and he stopped, looking back at me.
    "Your *menial* position? Sir?"
    His reply was prompt.
    "Tell me, what do you know of bureaucracies?"
    I hesitated, then replied cautiously: "Someone once told me that 
they exist to drive people mad."
    "Ah. The man was a realist. The higher one rises in a 
bureaucracy, my young friend, the less true power one has. 
Particularly one constructed and manned by Deveels. The more one 
is bound up by a million tiny threads of incompetence, jealousy and 
corruption, holding him firmly in place. The more one has to go 
under the table, and behind the backs of his underlings, just to get 
true information, to get the *important* things done." He paused. 
"Perhaps this is true of all of those who rise to positions of power. I 
gather this Penbrius individual did similar things. And you, too, 
perhaps? I notice your excitable green friend is not here. Be seeing 
you, Kid." Without waiting for a reply, he stepped through the 
door, and was gone.
   I looked back at the desk. A somewhat younger Deveel had 
appeared seemingly from nowhere and was sliding into place behind 
it. He picked up the book and started reading. I studied him for a 
moment, then spoke:
   "What are orenberries made of?"
   "Take a number." He didn't even look up from the book.
    I nodded, and pulled the D-Hopper out of my pocket. I flipped 
the dials into the familiar 'Deva' setting and punched the button. 
The Bazaar swirled up around me, and settled into stability.  I 
dropped my disguise, and set off to join Aahz and the others, and to 
try and get a strawberry milkshake, if any were left.
   
*   *   *

   But as I approached the door of the Yellow Crescent Inn,  the 
portal suddenly burst open, and a familiar face appeared. It was 
Aahz, and he looked... there isn't a word for what Aahz looked like. 
If you added up the words 'anticipatory', 'furious', 'hopeful' and 
threw in a smidgen of 'greedy', you'd be in the ball-park.
   "Kid! *There* you are. I was beginning to wonder if you hadn't 
made a break for it." He smiled. It was his unpleasant smile. Well, 
all of Aahz's smiles are unpleasant, but this one ranked well up 
towards the top of the 'yeek' scale.
   "Uh... why would I want to do that?" I asked, preparing to do 
just what he'd suggested if it should prove necessary. I suddenly 
realized I was still carrying the D-Hopper in my pocket... Maybe I 
could...
   "Well..." Aahz tapped his fingers together in an ominous fashion. 
"We were just starting to pass out the milkshakes, when two people 
showed up, looking for you. One was someone dressed like Popeye 
the Sailor Deveel who says *you* owe *him* a favor, and the other 
was that Daglarite you were so chummy with, saying something 
about paying you your fee per your and his *contract.*" With the 
last word, Aahz's smile grew even broader.
   "Ah." It was truly a word for all occasions.
   "Yes." Before I could run for it or even reach into my pocket, 
Aahz was beside me, draping a friendly arm over my shoulders. 
Well... maybe not friendly, exactly, but at least no bones were 
broken... "They also said something about wanting to hire you 
again, and help them get rid of somebody... a bunch of yahoos they 
called... um... what was the word they used?"
  "The Traders?" I hazarded.
  "*That's* right!" The grasp grew a little tighter. "Is there... oh... 
anything you feel like telling me, *partner*?"
   I placed my arm around Aahz's shoulder, mimicking his gesture. I 
grinned.
   "Nah. It would just upset you, Aahz. But from what I already 
know about these 'Traders', it just *might* be an assignment worthy 
of the Great Skeeve. Let's go talk to them, shall we?"

The End


Author's Postscript: When I first plotted out this story, I actually 
did consider going on to write a sequel. Now, I don't think this is 
going to happen. I've been pushing my legal luck by writing and 
posting this fanfic in any event, and one of the main reasons I first 
got involved in this story way back in the first place was that the 
official Myth series appeared to be quite dead, thus lessening the 
financial impact of any fanfic on Mr. Asprin. Since it was recently 
posted/claimed on alt.fan.asprin that the series may yet revive in 
some form, this figleaf has been taken from me. This being the case, 
'Myth Communication' will probably be the only piece of fanfic 
(RLA-based or otherwise) that I will ever write. I hope that you 
have enjoyed it. If I ever do write anything more, it will have to be 
stories about (yeek!) characters of my own invention. Hope to see 
you there. And even if our paths never cross again, don't forget to 
carry on with your own life's MythAdventures.

Geoduck
May 2000