03. Gods at the Well of Souls (23 page)

Taluud nodded approvingly. "That's what I figure, too. The question is, Just how  much and how many are they willin' to sell out to cover themselves? They had  their own man, one of them jelly blobs from the south, in on it. Probably to get  in there and protect their asses by deleting the records. That we know because  we knew about him before, and he suddenly shows up there just before the raid.  The question is, What are the others doin' there?" 

She blinked. "Others? I don't understand." 

"Them two horse-assed girls, the goat girl with the four tits, and, with the  jelly blob, some unknown type ape girl who don't say a word and somebody else we  never got a handle on. Thing is, our people reported to the complex that all  these critters had one thing in common: They all knew each other. Even the jelly  blob. Word was that every single one of 'em had come in from offworld and gone  through the Well. Just like you." 

Now she understood why she was here and what this was about. "You mean they're  all there? Together?" 

"Pretty much. Who knows if there are any missing. We already had run a check on  'em. The two horse asses and Four Tits got there on one of our courier boats.  They been snoopin' around for months but weren't much of a threat. Seems they  were there lookin' for somebody-God knows why else you'd stay in that lizard  heaven. Somebody snatched off the same courier boat. Another of their own, most  likely. Sluthor did a check on the ones that stayed in Agon. None of 'em seems  to have come in with you, and none of 'em seem to have any connection with you  other than comin' from the same planet once. That goes for the jelly blob, too.  That's in your favor. But I know you went down there and did a lot of checking a  while back. Where's the ones who came here with you?" 

She thought a moment, realizing that there was great danger here. The whole  truth might cause nasty problems, but a lie could be deadly-or worse. She needed  time, and Gen wasn't giving her any. Maybe a half-truth was best ... for now. "I was a prisoner when I was dragged here. You know that," she reminded him.  "Right at that time I hadn't realized how good I had it, and I was boiling for  revenge. Two of the sorry bitches who got me into that fix were on one of our  boats and heading right here. I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, Genny, I just  couldn't resist, particularly after I visited the cells and saw what they were  doing down there. It seemed like heaven had delivered my enemies into my hands.  I ... persuaded Arn Gemalk, who was head of security then, to divert the boat,  have them taken off at the pickup point, and delivered to the docs at the  complex. I wanted revenge, and just killing them seemed not nearly enough at the  time." 

Taluud nodded, interested but not apparently upset at this. "And what did they  do to them?" 

'Turned them into couriers, I suppose. The idea was to make them live out the  rest of their miserable lives as cutoff monsters serving what they hated." "And you don't know what they became or where they are now? The odds are they  were the trigger for this-now, don't worry your pretty self about that! You  didn't do nothing to them I wouldn'ta done myself. Thing was, though, the horse  asses were doin' a favor, trackin' one of 'em for the council, so when they were  lifted, it went straight to the top. There was too much heat, and after a while  they couldn't stall it anymore. Yeah. This all fits together now. Shit, I wonder  if we can find that pair and give 'em to them. Might take the heat off.  Otherwise they're givin' the cops and patrol and all the excuse to take us out  base by base, station by station." 

"Beg pardon, sir, but even if we could track them down, they will hardly be in a  condition to be recognized. Would it make any difference?" one of the  lieutenants asked worriedly. 

"Yeah, yeah, it would. They wouldn't like gettin' back two freaks, but they'd  have what they was after, anyway. Provin' who they were is just a matter of a  new translator. Even if somehow they could talk or they got one of them  mind-reader races to get through, what could they tell? We're still in the  clear, right? And they get what's left of who they're after." 

"Wouldn't they soon be in agony from lack of their variety of the weed?" Campos  asked him. "It might not be much of a victory to hand them over." "Even dead, they'd be found," Taluud noted. "But the weed's no problem. We found  that the ones who go through that monster stuff get immune to it over time.  Don't matter. We got much better control by that point, anyway." So they don't need the drug anymore. Interesting. ''But how would you tell who  and what they were, let alone where?" Campos asked him. "I mean, once they're  processed, I thought they were just assigned and all traces of them erased." "Yeah, well, they don't exist, true, but people got memories. Maybe they can't  be found, maybe not," the boss responded. "How many we done of these? A hundred,  give or take. Not too many, and there was always a contingency plan just in case  for a lot of things, including them doctors. Sluthor says they were in their  clinic on the coast and not at the complex when it was raided. If they managed  to give their tails the slip before the cops moved in, they'll be on a courier  boat right now headin' for a safe hideout west of here. They may have to dodge  some patrols, but they should be there before any muscle gets in these parts,  and maybe they remember these two. Neither of them was from races we see  anywhere in these parts, if I remember. You remember what they were, doll?" "One was a male from somewhere far off; I think it was Erdom or something like  that. The other was still the same as when she left our old world. I understand  they're called something here, but nobody seems to know much about them." "Glathrielian," Sluthor said tiredly. "I've been trying to think of it myself.  That's what they called the apelike female who came in with the Leeming." Campos was suddenly very interested, enough to dampen her fear although not  enough to make her disregard the sense of danger. "This was a female of the same  type? Dark skin, perhaps, no body hair to speak of except on the head and  crotch?" 

"Yes, that is pretty much a good description of the pictures I saw. Do you know  her, then?" 

"Yes, I know her. She is the one I truly hoped to get my hands on, but she was  not with the others." 

"Well, you lay off her now, period!" Taluud told her firmly. "She's untouchable.  History. They may even have an idea that she'll draw you out. You don't go near  her, you hear me? We may all have to disappear for a while until this blows  over. Keep your bags packed and be ready for a call. They lure you with her and  nail you, the next stop's right here!" 

"I doubt if I'd get the chance at her unless it was a trap," Campos sighed.  "Still, it's too bad. I could have had such fun with her." 

"What's the point? Sluthor here says she don't talk and is like some brain  damage case. Besides, it's gonna be a while before we can use those docs again  no matter what." 

Campos nodded. "I know. But she's unchanged, and I know from the other that the  weed will work particularly well with that kind. Make her an addict, put her on  a leash, walk her around like a pet ... It would be very satisfying." "Yeah, well, get that out of your head now. No personal vendettas while we got  bigger trouble. Besides, you already got a pet. That big ugly bird, right?" "No, I gave her to the zoo," Campos told him, suddenly nervous that two and two  would be assembled in the room. "They are quite rare, and the zoo is going to  breed her." 

Fortunately, it never occurred to the gang leader to consider that the process  didn't always create monsters or sterile mules, either. "Yeah, well, no more of  that. We got enough trouble from this missing pair if we're guessin' right. All  we need is a third to vanish and we may have to bury ourselves, and I do mean  bury." 

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything without your permission, Genny. You know  that." 

"And you better hadn't, not anymore. Still, bad as it is, we got a few days to  play with here; let's not panic. Ain't no raiding army in Clopta yet-they  couldn't keep that from me. Figure if they didn't find their friends in the  complex, then this is where they'll head, though. Take 'em a few days to sweat  the details, a few more to get here by boat, a few more than that to set up  things so's they can move here. We got at least a week. If they got away, them  docs should be in before that, so we may get a jump on the law in finding that  missing pair. Also send out the word. Anybody who remembers them when they was  in the complex or being seasoned, they tell us just what they are and where they  might have gone. Get on it!" 

There was a chorus of "Yes, sirs!" and it was clear that the meeting was over. Campos remained for a bit, wondering if Taluud had anything else for her and  hoping to get more information, but the boss dismissed her. "Get lost, doll. Go  home, pack, and stay close to the phone. I got calls to make." She turned and  walked out. 

By the time she emerged at street level from the private elevator, she'd already  started to think about things on her own. What if somebody remembered that she  had been there for the whole process? What if the doctors had backup records or  clear memories of just what they had done? Taluud was no dummy; he would figure  out that she'd been holding out on him and already knew the information he  wanted. Then life would get really unpleasant. But she didn't want to turn them  over, particularly not Mavra Chang. Campos wasn't fooled by the drooling servile  act, not now that she knew that the bird bitch wasn't even addicted anymore and  had never let on. Chang in the zoo or under her control was one thing: Chang  with a voice and a mind was something else, even if she stayed a bird. There was  something too familiar, deep down, about that bitch. Given the chance, Mavra  Chang would spare nothing to arrange a similar fate for Juana Campos. But why was the council, the kind of United Nations of this world, so worked up  about Chang and the Erdomite? The Erdomite was just somebody with that news  crew; he couldn't be important in the long run to anybody. But Chang-that  "goddess" stuff, playing jungle Indian high priestess ... 

She had been pretty damned sophisticated when she had gotten here. Those Indian bitches had thought that she was immortal, that she'd been there  like forever. Stupid superstition from the dumb-ass Stone Agers? It had seemed  so. But what if ... 

What if those rumors of her being some kind of creature who could work the whole  damned Well World had been true? They'd recalled the wanted bulletins, said she  was just a minor player for the guy they were really looking for. but maybe that  was a blind. 

First they said she was some kind of real god if she got inside, then they said  she wasn't really. What if the first story had been true? What if Mavra Chang  could somehow get inside whatever ran this world and do pretty much whatever she  liked to everybody and everything? And they got afraid that somebody else,  somebody like Genny, would snatch her and somehow make her do what Genny wanted  when she was there ... 

That would explain everything that had happened, wouldn't it? 

If they find out my birdie is Mavra but don't figure out the rest, they'll give  her back. Sooner or later she'll get away, get in there, one way or another, but  they won't care what she orders for a Juana Campos. 

In the hands of Genny and the cartel things might be even worse. Even if she  could somehow talk her way around the deception, which was highly questionable,  they would be playing for all the power, not her. A world remade by Genny  wouldn't be a fit place for anybody. Not with that kind of power. He'd go nuts.  If he made a deal and they ran things together, it would be even worse. Two  nuts. And no place at all for Juana Campos. 

But what to do? What to do? In a couple of days, a week at best, it would be out  of her hands if she just let events take their course. 

Wait a minute! Maybe there is a way out of this! She walked down the darkened,  rain-slicked street, deserted at this hour, the only sound the sound of her  heels clicking on the hard pavement. 

What if she did her own vanishing act? By the time Genny figured it out, the  shit would be hitting the fan here. And if she had her two treasures with her,  there'd be nothing to stop the cops. They'd come after the organization here  like that army'd gone through the complex she'd thought impenetrable. Looking  for her, most likely. If she'd checked up on them, they had to know that she was  here. They had probably already figured it out; they just needed the clout to  come after her. 

But what if neither she nor they were here? The cartel would be underground for  quite a while, particularly in this region. But to where? And how? Liliblod would be out of the question. She'd never felt comfortable in that  creepy place, anyway, and right now it'd be even worse. Likewise, nowhere in  Clopta would be safe. By ship? Too risky, and if they tracked her, she'd be  trapped with the goods. Due north was Quilst. She didn't know much about it, but  it was nontech, so it would be damned hard to trace her, and she was pretty  familiar with roughing it in primitive conditions far worse than she'd seen  here. Lori ate mostly grass and shrubs now, and Mavra ate bugs and carrion. Not  a real supply problem. Lori could haul stuff, and if it got so Mavra couldn't  find anything to eat, then Lori might be a good feed if need be. But what if the Quilst was as nasty as or nastier than Liliblod? She needed to  know. There were semitech hexes to the east and west, which might do. She needed  information, and the first thing to find out was if Lori was an option at all.  She didn't have much time-maybe a day or two. First thing to do was to check on  Lori. If he wasn't in when she was ready to leave, the hell with him. She'd get  a real horse or something like it. A few weeks, or maybe months, away, just  marking time, would be worth it. After they'd scoured Clopta and Genny and his  gang were history, she could come back. Maybe not to Buckgrud but to one of the  other big cities where she could lose herself or, better yet, to the northwest,  where there were farms and ranches. She had a number of IDs in the system. Cut  and dye her hair, do a few other things, and she might just get away with it. If she had Terry in her clutches, it would be just perfect, but one couldn't  have everything. Not yet, anyway.