The Number of the Beast

XLV

A Stitch in Time

Jake:

We popped out one klick H-above-G over Albuquerque, Earth-Prime, and Gay tilted her nose down. A last-minute change put my daughter Deety at copilot, while I sat left rear, nominal navigator. Deety can use verniers as accurately as I, did not expect to use them at all, did need to be able to see the yellow roadable-and has this clock in her head.

Elizabeth Long was in the after compartment, strapped down but not on lumps of ordnance. Rifles, pistols, bed clothes for the control compartment, anything else that could be moved easily to reduce clutter, had been shifted into our space warp, as had Lazarus Long.

Doctor Ishtar had warned Lazarus not to let his mother recognize him, as the shock to her might be harmful, even fatal. While Lazarus had been trying to figure out how to make the snatch using Dora, he had planned on wearing disguise. But hiding in our Land-of-Oz addition was simpler-especially as Ishtar was almost as anxious that Lazarus not see his mother, not see his mother's pseudo corpse-this I learned from Elizabeth in the night.

So I showed Lazarus the everlasting picnic basket, advised him to use bed clothes to make a shakedown and sleep if possible as there would be time to kill, and supplied him with books-but don't come out until I open the door! Then did not mention that I was locking him in.

I was relieved to have only a nominal job. I was not sleepy despite a short mghtj was bemused.

I was falling in love with-had fallen in love with-Elizabeth Long. No less

in love with Hilda-more in love with her than ever! I am learning that love does not subtract-it multiplies!

As Gay tilted down I reached over and touched Hilda's hand. She smiled and threw me a kiss. I'm sure she had a sweet night; she has loved Zeb as long as she has known him. "As a loyal chum," she tells me-but Hilda holds to the Higher Truth that it is better to be kind than to be frank. It did not matter either way; Zeb is my blood brother beloved by me, perfect husband for my daughter, and, if not Hilda's lover in the past, then he surely was now- and it troubled me not at all. On awakening I had discussed it with Jane before I opened my eyes-Jane approves and is delighted by Elizabeth.

My daughter had an unusual night, too. If the myths are true, Lazarus is more than one hundred times as old as Deety. This gulf may not matter to him-but Deety takes everything seriously.

Apparently it had done her no harm; at breakfast she was bright-eyed and bubbly. All of us were euphoric and eager to get on with it.

Zeb was saying, "That's it! Got it in the gunsight-got the range, Smart Girl?"

"Got it nailed, Boss!"

"Keep it so. Deety! Yellow roadable?"

"Just spotted it. Gay, count down! Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One.. .Now!"

We were diagonally in that intersection; Gay's portside door was popping open. I heard Zeb say, "Oh, my God!" He was out of the car, kneeling, picking up a body, kicking a cop in the stomach, and throwing that body to me, as he scrambled inside and shouted, "GayBounce!"

Gay bounced. Gay is not supposed to lift with a door open and "Bounce!" means ten klicks. She bounced one klick, finished closing her door, waited while Zeb checked the seal-completed the bounce. I am now a believer.

I was passing this little old lady back to Elizabeth, and looking for resemblance to Lazarus when I heard Zeb moan, "I didn't get her purse, I didn't get her purse!"

"What of it?" said Deety. "It's where we want it. Gay Deceiver. Tertius Orbit. Execute."

A beautiful planet- Zeb was saying, "Lib, can you coach us? Or are you too busy?"

"Not that busy. Maureen fainted but her heart is strong and steady, and I have a strap holding her. Is Gay on frequency?"

Deety reported, "Right on. Go ahead, Lib."

The next I can't report; it was in Galacta. Then Elizabeth said, "We'll be passing over Boondock in three minutes twenty-two seconds. Roof of the clinic is designated. Shall I come forward and point it out?"

"Can you handle yourself in free fall?" Zeb asked.

"I've some experience. Eight centuries."

"My big mouth. Come forward."

In four or five minutes we grounded on a flat roof in a wooded part of a moderately large city. I saw a figure in a white coverall, plus two others with

a wheeled stretcher-and only then did I recall that none of us had dressed. Hilda had asked; Lazarus had vetoed, Elizabeth had concurred.

So I found myself bare to my ears, bowing over a lady's hand and saying, "I am honored, Doctor Ishtar."

She is indeed beautiful-a Valkyrie sculptured from cream and marshmallow and honey. She smiled and kissed my hand.'

Elizabeth said something in this other language; Ishtar smiled again and said, in careful, fluent English, "In that case, he is one of us"-took my head in her hands and kissed me thoroughly.

Ishtar so distracted me that I did not notice that Maureen had been handed out-awake but dazed-been rolled away, and was gone. All of us were thoroughly and carefully kissed, then Elizabeth discussed matters with Ishtar in Galacta. "Ish says that she has been slowly warming the thing. It is now at four degrees Celsius. She would like more time but will bring it to thirty-seven degrees Celsius in six hours if she must."

Deety said, "How about twenty-four hours?"

Ishtar was pleased at this, agreed that she understood that the substitute must be dressed in the patient's (client's) clothing, agreed that the space we were in would be kept clear-and asked, "What's that pounding noise?"

Elizabeth explained that it was Lazarus. "He is in a magic space warp about where we were standing. He knows that he is supposed to remain there, but he changed his mind-and has just discovered that he is locked in."

Ishtar's smile suddenly became a grin, as quickly left. "A magic space warp? Lib, I want to hear about that."

"You will."

We climbed back inside, Deety told Gay "Twenty-four hours"-and we stepped out again. Ishtar was lying on a pad, taking the sun... this time as bare as we were-and I was still more impressed.

"Right on time," she said, standing (taller than I am) and, as always, smiling. "The substitute is waiting, and I have had time to examine and talk with the client. She is in good shape for her age, understands in part at least what has happened, and is undismayed by it. Please tell Lazarus that, if he returns to Tertius soon, he will not be admitted to this building for seventeen months. The client is most firm: she will not see Lazarus until I have completed rejuvenating her."

"Lib," said my daughter Deety, "seventeen what sort of months? I want to set an exact rendezvous-and Gay's time calibration is not Tertian but EarthPrime and Earth-zero. Old Home Terra." With Elizabeth as interface the three agreed on an exact time. Then Elizabeth again discussed something in that language.

Ishtar nodded. "No problem, I have seen that picture. And a hooded cape is even less trouble."

So we left.

Dropping that pseudo corpse was routine but I was glad to be quit of it (I had swapped seats with my daughter). Then we were back on Tertius.

"Always prompt," said Ishtar-and I was astounded to see that she was

quite pregnant, close to birthing... when I had seen her, slender for her height, two minutes earlier. "And we are on time, too. Maureen, my friends and yours." She named us.

Maureen Johnson spoke to us first in Galacta, shifted to English when she realized that we did not know the common tongue. Yes, she does look like Laz and Lor-but prettier. A woman of beauty and great charm. I find that I am growing accustomed to perfect ladies who embrace, bare body to bare body, on meeting a fully-vouched-for stranger. She thanked each of us and made us believe it.

"Still pounding?" Ishtar inquired.

"It has been less than five minutes for him, Ish," Elizabeth explained. "But you know his temper; perhaps we had better leave. Home soon, I think."

So we left again, with Maureen squeezed between me and my wife, with a package and a cloak in her lap. We were back inside Dora at once. Elapsed time: zero seconds. We still had an hour and twenty minutes to prepare for dinner. I found that I was hungry, even though breakfast was three hours ago, biological time-almost all of it spent in Beulahland, programming for the caper, as all three phases took only a few durational minutes, mostly on a rooftop in Boondock.

Maureen put on the cloak, a hooded cape, and carried the little package. "Silly but fun," she said. "Where do we go now?"

"Come with me," Hilda told her. "Beloved, you can let Woodie out as soon as Dora tells Gay that I have reached flag cabin. When he yelps, tell him that we were too busy to play games with him....nd the next time he wants a favor from me he can crawl on his knees. Pounding indeed! Tell him that I am extremely tired and am going to nap until just before dinner and he is not to call me or to come to the flag cabin between now and dinner without suffering my extreme displeasure and a punch in the nose from you. All of you come up to flag cabin as soon as you wish but try not to be seen by Woodie. You'll probably find Maureen and me in the lounging pool."