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

I'd say that at least they think they can do it, or they would never have tried it."
    "Then we have to go in there! Rescue her!"
    Mervyn sighed. "Jeff, aside from you, there is no one with more respect and love for Cass than I, mixed in with some not inconsiderable guilt on my part. I have just been in Anchors Abehl and Yonkeh, and I must go yet to Anchor Gorgh and perhaps further. Part of those efforts were to defend the Gates, but I'm also trying to organize support for some move on New Eden before it's too late. And I'm having almost no luck at it, I fear. They're scared, Jeff, and that gives New Eden a free hand. And they have a perfect right to be scared."
    It was Sondra's turn to be surprised. "They're that powerful?"
    "They are. Where do you think those amplifiers they used twenty years ago to take over Anchor Logh came from? Coydt had them built, in bits and pieces, in various industrial Anchors, then duplicated them in Flux. That ray weapon they used is the least of their arsenal, most of which we can't possibly understand. Coydt somehow discovered, amassed, or perhaps even inherited or stole a wealth of ancient writings describing exactly how to build and use these sorts of things. And he assembled a brilliant technical staff to study and experiment with them. Coydt's forces were dangerous before, but now that they've an Anchor to use for their trials and experiments, a place where everything is always consistent and under natural laws, they've learned so much about these ancient devices that they have a monopoly on terror. New Eden's bosses inherited them all, and have encouraged them in every way, as well as recruiting bright young men from all over World to come and help. When you're offered a job studying and deciphering a scientific revolution, and doing so in a setting where you're surrounded by beautiful, sexy women who only want to serve you—well, they've got the best."
    "Somehow I can't imagine Grandma as a sexy plaything."
    "Neither could she," Sondra said. "That, I think, is part of her problem of late, although who am I to know for sure?"
    "Very astute." Mervyn approved. "Sometimes you can be too close to someone to really know and understand them. But, you see, Jeff, nobody's going to go after New Eden until it scares them directly. The other Anchors and far-off Fluxlands see them as simply another land, a cross of Flux and Anchor perhaps, but that's about it. To take a land defended with weapons so powerful, the cost would be enormous—and they lost enough of their people in the wars for the Empire. I've failed to convince them that they will lose more than their lives if they don't move,"
    "And just days ago you were telling me what fine folks they were in New Eden," Sondra noted acidly. Jeff didn't hear.
    "O.K., so maybe an army can't get in—but what about a small number? One or two folks, maybe. It's been done before."
    "It was done years ago, yes, but that was different. It's extremely well policed now. The populace is conditioned, men as well as women, to be supportive. If their security devices did not match their weaponry, don't you think I would have made a raid by now? Oh, it's been tried by the best, but if anyone has pulled it off we don't know it. You've never been under those kinds of conditions, Jeff. None of us have. I have some indirect channels of intelli¬gence through the Fluxlords who do business with them, but nothing else."
    "They still use stringers," Sondra pointed out, thinking of alternatives.
    "Yes, but it's all unloaded right on the apron. Stringers do not go in because their loyalties are suspect. And if they did, it wouldn't be you, Sondra. They'd love to get a crack at converting you."
    "Are you telling me we just leave Grandma in the hands of those bastards?"
    "For now, we have no choice. We just pick our opportu¬nities and watch for them, but I can't see how we can do anything now. No, it's Spirit we have to be concerned about. I fear that she is out there,