Free 03. Masters of Flux and Anchor by Jack L. Chalker Page A

here," Jeff grumped.
    "I was up north trying to get some coordinated action against New Eden," the old man said. "A messenger came a few hours ago and I rushed down here as quickly as I could. I'm not cut out for turning into birds anymore. I'm bushed."
    "You said something about Ivan?" Sondra reminded him.
    He nodded and sank into a chair. "Yes. He's been working this cluster and has been up to all sorts of mis¬chief for a year or more."
    "Then that's who I was thinking of facing down back there?"
    "Most likely. And a good thing you didn't, my dear. You're no match for him, nor are most people. He's not like the Haldaynes or Coydt van Haas; he generally likes to be in the background and get others to do his dirty work. But when he's cornered, he's among the best there is. Lots of folks might lie in wait for Cass, if they could find her, but only Ivan would try for a clean sweep."
    Jeff felt distinctly unhappy about all this. "Where do you think he's taken them?"
    "I doubt if he has your mother. If he does, he won't keep her. Soul Riders bother them, and they've never really beaten one. As for Cass, she's strong—very strong— and the threat to Spirit will feed her emotions and therefore her power and will. He won't want to chance tangling with that sort of power. I'd say he's taken her to Anchor."
    "Then you think she's alive? We'll go after her—"
    Mervyn held up his hand and Jeff sat back down in his chair. "No, it's not that simple. I think she's alive, yes, because he had no need to go to all this time and trouble just to kill her. Now, Sondra, before we proceed, I want all the details of the visit and the attack. All of them. Leave nothing out, no matter how trivial or inconsequen¬tial it might be."
    As Jeff fidgeted and fumed, she did as instructed. When she finished, Mervyn just sat there a moment, deep in thought. Finally he said, "Well, if it is any consolation at all, the projector you describe is not intended as a lethal weapon. Its builders intended it essentially to negate power¬ful wizards. It seems to both knock you cold and cut you off from any Flux power or feeling. The effects last from a few minutes to a few hours, but that's neither here nor there. It's long enough for a powerful wizard to spirit someone from the middle of the void to an Anchor, certainly."
    "Who would build such a thing?" Jeff asked.
    "New Eden, of course. They hate wizards, but they need them for some of the things they do. This sounds like a payoff of some sort, I fear. Or, perhaps, a wizard's attempt to curry New Eden's favor."
    "Huh?" Jeff was startled. "What would those guys want with Grandma?"
    "They have always had a paranoia about her. She thumbed her nose at them twenty years ago and many have never forgotten it. She was born and raised there, and they were responsible for killing her father, whom she practi¬cally worshipped. She's a powerful wizard with powerful friends who's led conventional armies. They think she's the biggest threat to them going."
    "Then they want to execute her!" Jeff almost shouted. "We've got to go get her!"
    Mervyn frowned. "Must you yell so? No, I sincerely doubt that. It wouldn't fit their curious mind-set. They will seek to turn her, to change her into one of their own. It would earn them powerful friends, a great deal of fear and respect, and be the ultimate food for their egos."
    "They—they can't really do it, can they?" Sondra asked nervously. "I mean, I didn't speak with her for long, but she didn't look like somebody they could do that to with¬out Flux power, and she's strong there."
    "You have no idea how devastating modern brainwash¬ing techniques, as they're called, can be on any mind. Every weakness is defined and exploited, and I'm afraid Cass has quite a number. And if they can't wear her down enough to take a binding spell, well, she's powerful, perhaps as strong as Zelligman, but if she had to face not only Zelligman but a half dozen other Fluxlords at the same time. . . . Yes,