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female voice another question: Did thee speak to the swamp people? But by then he was gone.
In the deepest crease of the night, Tim Ross’s part of the Endless Forest came alive with small, creeping forms. Within the sophisticated device
marked North Central Positronics Portable Guidance Module DARIA, NCP-1436345-AN, the ghost in the machine marked the approach of these
creatures but remained silent, sensing no danger. Tim slept on.
The throcken—six in all—gathered around the slumbering boy in a loose semicircle. For a while they watched him with their strange gold-ringed
eyes, but then they turned north and raised their snouts in the air.
Above the northernmost reaches of Mid-World, where the snows never end and New Earth never comes, a great funnel had begun to form,
turning in air lately arrived from the south that was far too warm. As it began to breathe like a lung, it sucked up a moit of frigid air from below and
began to turn faster, creating a self-sustaining energy pump. Soon the outer edges found the Path of the Beam, which Guidance Module DARIA
read electronically and which Tim Ross saw as a faint path through the woods.
The Beam tasted the storm, found it good, and sucked it in. The starkblast began to move south, slowly at first, then faster.
Tim awoke to birdsong and sat up, rubbing his eyes. For a moment he didn’t know where he was, but the sight of the hamper and the
greenish shafts of sunlight falling through the high tops of the ironwood trees soon set him in place. He stood up, started to step off the path to do
his morning necessary, then paused. He saw several tight little bundles of scat around the place where he had slept, and wondered what had come
to investigate him in the night.
Something smaller than wolves, he thought. Let that be enough.
He unbuttoned his flies and took care of his business. When he was finished, he repacked the hamper (a little surprised that his visitors hadn’t
raided it), had a drink from the waterskin, and picked up the silver disc. His eye fell on the third button. The Widow Smack spoke up inside his
head, telling him not to push it, to leave well enough alone, but Tim decided this was advice he would disregard. If he had paid attention to wellmeaning
advice, he wouldn’t be here. Of course, his mother might also have her sight . . . but Big Kells would still be his steppa. He supposed all of
life was full of similar trades.
Hoping the damned thing wouldn’t explode, Tim pushed the button.
“Hello, traveler!” the woman’s voice said.
Tim began to hello her back, but she went on without acknowledging him. “Welcome to DARIA, a guidance service of North Central Positronics.
You are on the Beam of the Cat, sometimes known as the Beam of the Lion or of the Tyger. You are also on the Way of the Bird, known variously as
the Way of the Eagle, the Way of the Hawk, and the Way of the Vulturine. All things serve the Beam!”
“So they do say,” Tim agreed, so wonderstruck he was hardly aware he was speaking. “Although no one knows what it means.”
“You have left Waypoint Nine, in Fagonard Swamp. There is no Dogan in Fagonard Swamp, but there is a charging station. If you need a
charging station, say yes and I will compute your course. If you do not need a charging station, say continue.”
“Continue,” Tim said. “Lady . . . Daria . . . I seek Maerlyn—”
She overrode him. “The next Dogan on the current course is on the North Forest Kinnock, also known as the Northern Aerie. The charging station
at the North Forest Kinnock Dogan is off-line. Disturbance in the Beam suggests magic at that location. There may also be Changed Life at that
location. Detour is recommended. If you would like to detour, say detour and I will compute the necessary changes. If you would like to visit the
North Forest Kinnock Dogan, also known as the Northern Aerie, say continue.”
Tim considered the choices. If the Daria-thing was suggesting a detour, this Dogan-place was probably dangerous. On the other hand, wasn’t
magic exactly what he had come in search of? Magic, or a miracle? And he’d already stood on the head of a dragon. How much more dangerous
could the North Forest Kinnock Dogan be?
Maybe a lot, he admitted to himself . . . but he had his father’s ax, he had his father’s lucky coin, and he had a four-shot. One that worked, and
had already drawn blood.
“Continue,” he said.
“The distance to the North Forest Kinnock Dogan is fifty miles, or forty-five-point-forty-five wheels. The terrain is moderate. Weather
conditions . . .”
Daria paused. There was a loud click. Then:
“Directive Nineteen.”
“What is Directive Nineteen, Daria?”
“To bypass Directive Nineteen, speak your password. You may be asked to spell.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Are you sure you would not like me to plot a detour, traveler? I am detecting a strong disturbance in the Beam, indicating deep magic.”
“Is it white magic or black?” It was as close as Tim could come to asking a question the voice from the plate probably wouldn’t understand: Is it
Maerlyn or is it the man who got Mama and me into this mess?
When there was no answer for ten seconds, Tim began to believe there would be no answer at all . . . or another repetition of Directive Nineteen,
which really amounted to the same thing. But an answer came back, although it did him little good.
“Both,” said Daria.
His way continued upward, and the heat continued, as well. By noon, Tim was too tired and hungry to go on. He had tried several times to
engage Daria in conversation, but she had once again gone silent. Pushing the third button did not help, although her navigation function seemed
unimpaired; when he deliberately turned to the right or left of the discernible path leading ever deeper into the woods (and ever upward), the green
light turned red. When he turned back, the green reappeared.
He ate from the hamper, then settled in for a nap. When he awoke, it was late afternoon and a little cooler. He reslung the hamper on his back (it
was lighter now), shouldered the waterskin, and pushed ahead. The afternoon was short and the twilight even shorter. The night held fewer terrors
for him, partly because he had already survived one, but mostly because, when he called for the light, Daria provided it. And after the heat of the
day, the cool of evening was refreshing.
Tim went on for a good many hours before he began to tire again. He was gathering some duff to sleep on until daylight when Daria spoke up.
“There is a scenic opportunity ahead, traveler. If you wish to take advantage of this scenic opportunity, say continue. If you do not wish to observe,
say no.”
Tim had been in the act of putting the hamper on the ground. Now he picked it up again, intrigued. “Continue,” he said.
The disc’s bright light went out, but after Tim’s eyes had a chance to adjust, he saw light up ahead. Only moonlight, but far brighter than that which
filtered through the trees overhanging the path.