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The silver-robed magician had his hands raised for attention and spoke to the
assemblage at some length, only glancing over his shoulder occasionally.
Asedow and Potria stopped shouting at each other, and the other two Big
Mountain Men looked thoughtful. Keff tilted his head in amusement.
"Look at that: Chaumel's got them all calmed down. Say, he's coming this way."
The silver chariot left the others and floated toward
Carialle, settling delicately a dozen feet from the end of the ramp. The two
camps of magicians hovered expec-
tantly over the middle of the field, with expressions that
ranged from nervous curiosity to open avarice. The magi-
cian rose and walked off the end of the chairs finial to stand beside it.
Hands folded over his belly, he bowed to the ship.
"So they can stand," Carialle said. "I gather from the shock on the faces of
our Noble Primitives over there that that's unusual. I guess these magicians
don't go around on foot very often."
"No, indeed. When you have mystic powers from the astral plane, I suppose
auto-ambulatoly locomotion is rele-
gated to the peasants."
"He's waiting for something. Does he expect us to signal him? Invite him in
for tea?"
Keff peered closely at Chaumel's image. "I think we'd better wait and let him
make the first move. Ah! He's com-
ing to pay us a visit. A state visit, my lady."
Chaumel got over his internal debate and, with solemn dignity, made his way to
the end of the ramp, every step slow and ponderous. He reached the tip and
paused, bow-
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ing deeply once again.
"I feel honored," Carialle said. "If I'd'a known he was coming I'd'a baked a
cake."
a CHAPTER SIX
'The initiative is ours now," Keffsaid. He kept watch on the small screen of
his Intentional Translator as it processed all the hedrons Carialle had
recorded while he was unconscious and combined it with the dialogue he had
garnered from Brannel and the magicians' discussions.
The last hedron popped out of the slot, and Keff slapped it into his portable
IT unit on the control panel. 'That's it.
We have a working vocabulary of Ozran. I can talk with him."
"Enough to ask intelligent questions?" Carialle asked.
"Enough to negotiate diplomatically for our release, and inform them, 'by the
way, folks, we're from another planet'?"
"Nope," Keff said, matter-of-factiy. "Enough to ask stu-
pid questions and gather more information. IT will pick up on the answers I
get and, I hope, translate them from con-
text."
'That IT has never been worth the electrons to blow it up," Carialle said in a
flat voice.
"Easy, easy, lady," Keffsaid, smiling at her pillar.
123
"Sorry," she said. "I'm letting the situation get to me. I
don't like being out of control of my own functions."
"I understand perfectly," Keff said. "That's why the sooner I go out and face
this fellow the better, whether or not I have a perfect working knowledge of
his language."
"If you say something insulting by accident, I don't think you'll survive a
second blast of that lightning."
"If they're at all as similar to humans as they look, their curiosity will
prevent them killing me until they leam all about me. By then, we'll be
friends."
"Good sir knight, you assume them to be equal in cour-
tesy to your good self," Carialle said.
"I must face the enchanters knight, if only for the sake of chivalry."
"Sir Keff, I don't like you leaving the Castle Strong when there's a dozen
enchanters out there capable of fling-
ing bolts of solid power down your gullet, and there's not a thing I can do to
protect you."
'The quest must continue, Carialle."
"Well..." she said, then snorted. "I'm being too protec-
tive, aren't I? It isn't exactly first contact if you stay inside and let them
pelt away at us. And we'll never get out of here. We have to establish
communications. Xeno will die of mortification if we don't, and mere go our
bonuses."
'That's the spirit," Keff said, buckling on his equipment harness.
Carialle tested her exterior links to IT. "Anything we say will come out in
pidgin Ozran. Right?"
Keff paused, looked up at her pillar. "Should you speak at all? Are they ready
for die concept of a talking ship?"
"Were we ready for flying chairs?" Carialle countered.
"We're at least as strange to them as they are to us."
"I'd rather not have them know you can talk," Keff said thoughtfully.
"But they already know I can speak independently. I
talked to Brannel while you were unconscious. Unless he thought you were
having an out-of-body experience."
"Supposing Brannel had the nerve to approach our magicians, he wouldn't be
able to explain the voice he heard. He was gutsy with me, but you'll notice on
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the screen that he's staying well out of the way of the chair-riders. They're
in charge and he's a mere peon."
"He is scared of them," Carialle agreed. "Remember how he explained punishment
came from the mountains
when one of his people is too curious. It's no problem for them to dispense
punishment. They're endlessly creative when it comes to going on the
offensive."
"Contrariwise, I take leave to doubt that any of the magicians would give him
a hearing if he did come forward with the information. There's a big crowd of
Brannel's folk out there on the perimeter and the wizards haven't so much as
glanced their way. No one pays the least attention to the peasants. Your
secret is still safe. That's why I want you to keep quiet unless need arises."
"All right," Carialle said at last. 'Til keep mumchance.
But, if you're in danger... I don't know what I'll do."
"Agreed." And Keff shot her column an approving grin.
"Let's test the system," Carialle said. The small screen to the right of the
main computer lit up with a line diagram of
Keffs body. He rose and stood before it, holding his arms away from his sides
to duplicate the posture.
'Testing," he said. "Mah, may, mee, mo, mu. The quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog. Maxwell-Corey is a fardling, fossicking, meddling moron." He
repeated the phrases in a subvocal whisper. Small green lights in the image's
cheeks lit up.
"Got you," Carialles voice said in his ear. Lights for the mastoid implants
clicked on, followed by the fiber optic pickups implanted in the skin at the
outer comers of his eyes. "I'm not trusting the contact buttons alone. The
lightning earlier knocked them out for a while." Heart, respiration, skin
tension monitors in his chest cavity and the muscles of his thighs lighted
green. The lights flicked out and came on again as Carialle did double backup
tests.
"You're wired for sound and ready to go. I can see, hear, and just about feel
anything that happens to you."
"Good," Keffsaid, relaxing into parade rest. "Our guest is waiting."
"Here comes the stranger."
Keffs implant translated Asedow's comment as he stepped outside. He assumed
the same air of dignity that
Chaumel displayed and walked to the bottom of the ramp.
He paused, wondering if he should stay there, which gave him a psychological
advantage over his visitor who had to look up at him. Or join the fellow on
the ground as a mark of courtesy. With a smile, he sidestepped. Chaumel backed
up slightly to make room for him. Face-to-face with the sil-
ver magician, Keff raised his hand, palm out.
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