Feline Wizards - To Visit The Queen Part 6

Several more flickers as the raven and his pa.s.senger dive through patches of silvery twilight, and out again: and after a few breathsa time, the yellowy sunset light rea.s.serts itself. But this time everything is very different. A dark carriage comes out of the gates: but its windows are shut, and draped in black. Everything about it is black: the horses, the harness, the clothes of the tom-ehhif who drive. The coach is a long one, long enough to take one of the boxes in which the ehhif put their dead before burying them. The long drive down to the roadway is lined with ehhif, all dressed in black, weeping. Some of them hide their faces in their hands as the coach pa.s.ses them. Some of them hold ehhif-young up to see the coach as it goes by. Occasionally a cry breaks out from one of the grown ehhif, a terrible sound, as if wrested from a throat that normally would never make such a noise no matter what the circ.u.mstances. Otherwise everything is very silent, the only noises the sound of the horsesa hoofs, and far away, the bell of one of the houses where ehhif go to entreat the Powers or the One, tolling very slow, one strike in every minute, like a failing heart.

The long black equipage winds away toward London through the bra.s.sy sunset light. The raven flashes overhead, pa.s.sing them, dodging through cloud again, coming out over the City, and veering close to a shopfront in a street that is almost empty. This, in its way, shocks Rhiow more badly than anything else she has seen. She is a city Person: she is used to streets that always have someone walking or driving on them, no matter what time of day or night it is. But this place looks like it has died, or like the heart has been torn out of it. Few ehhif are abroad, and almost all of them are dressed in black or have black armbands, even black rags, tied about their arms. All their faces are grim: many are tearstained.

The raven perches for a moment on a folding board which is set up outside the shopfront. The shop itself is dark and its door is shut. But outside, the piece of paper pasted to the board says, in large black letters, HER MAJESTYaS FUNERAL. It is the front page of The Times of London, and it has no other words on it except the newspaperas masthead, and the date: JULY 14, 1874.

The raven takes wing again before anyone should see it; vaults up into the safety of the silvery twilight again. That is the core which you sought, Odin says. We have just time to see the beginning, and the end.

The tense changed once more: now became then again, at least while Odin and Arhu were in transit. They saw more, much more, as the raven flashed in and out through the cloud that always seemed about to break into day. Rhiow could not make sense of most of what she was sensing, and hoped Arhu would be able to do better, or that perhaps the raven Odin could: for occasionally, like a sudden ray of light through the cloud, there would come an image so overladen with context that it was as if a thousand ehhif stood around her, every one of them shouting some piece of information that it was important for her to hear. A group of ehhif, ranged in a big room, facing each other in rows: and all shouting at one another, a terrible noise of rage and confusion, while one ehhif at the front of one group, in the bottom row of the benches, cried out, aVengeance is mine, saith the Lord: I will repay -- !a and all the others shouted him down in a crescendo of fury, as another one leapt up and shouted, aMr. Speaker, they say the Devil can quote Scripture to his purpose. I can do the same: and I say, aThey have sown the storm, and they shall reap the whirlwind -- !a a A roar of approvala"and from that, abruptly, to a white-walled room where a broad, squat machine of some kind was being built by ehhif wearing protective suits. Then a bright, blue-skied day, and a missile or rocket leaping up on a tongue of fire from a launch pad bizarrely adorned in the curlicues of the Victorian decorative style. Then a huge aircraft pa.s.sing over a city landscape, so big that it shadowed the ground, and ehhif looked up and pointed. Thena"

the images were gone again. The twilight returned ... and went sinister. It was not silvery any more: it was leaden. The sun could not come through it. Arhu and Odin spun up together on ravenas wings, catching an updraft, or what pa.s.sed for one in vision. This was no normal wind: the air was too thin for wind as high as they were going, as the Earth yielded up her curvature below them. Far down, away in the blue sea, Arhu could see the plume of darkness wafting up from one small point. A volcano, a mother of volcanoes, belching out great clouds of ash and dust into the upper atmosphere: a thin line which became a plume, a plume which became a pall, thin and dark and gloomy, right around the globe of the world. What was bright, and normally gleamed like polished metal where the Sun touched it, now was dull and tarnished: and clouds that should have burned white, were all filmed gray. 1816, said Odinas voice, dry, noticing rather than reacting. He had seen it before: he had seen all this before. The difference, he said, is that I never had to look. Looking is what makes the difference, in vision. Looking makes it so ...

They dived again, were briefly lost in the silvery twilight, the billow of possibility. When they came out, they looked down into a muddy street and saw a young dark-complexioned man in casual clothing of the late twentieth century come lurching out of the middle of the air, carrying something heavy in a bag. He came staggering through the darkness, out into the street: another ehhif came along and frightened him. He dropped the bag, turned and fled once more into the darkness. A few moments later, other ehhif came along and picked up the bag, peeled it away from what it contained. A book, a very large book. The ehhif stared at the cover. Another one took the book from the one who held it: opened it, turned the pages, looking at the equations and the delicately drawn diagrams, and the dense small print.

One of them glanced up into the cloudy sky, with that thin layer of darkness streaming along above everything, as a brief welcome ray of sun shot down through the dull day. The light fell on the book. Arhu looked at the silver ehhif letters on the bookas cover. It said Van Nostrandas Scientific Encyclopedia.

Arhu looked down at the ehhif and heard, very softly, all about them, the laughter: the quiet amus.e.m.e.nt of Something which had given the world, just now, a brief foretaste of what was waiting for it later, in far greater intensity, when the seed it had just planted finally came to fruit. This darkness would fall again, but many times magnified: this cold would come ... but would be permanent. By the time it pa.s.sed, and the planet warmed again, all its intelligent life would be long dead.

Arhu had heard that laughter before. Once upon a time, when he was a kitten, he had found himself in a garbage bag in the East River, one which slowly filled with water, while he and his brothers and sisters clawed and scrabbled desperately on top of each other, trying to stay above the terrible cold stuff that was slowly climbing high enough around them that they would have no choice but to breathe it, and die. Only Arhu lived, saved by chancea"some ehhif coming along and seeing the sinking bag in the water, and hearing the last faint cries of despair from inside, had fished it out, torn it open, and dumped the sodden bodies of the kittens out onto the bike path. All the while he had been in that bag, and even afterwards, all the while the ehhif warmed him in his coat while taking the last small survivor to the local animal shelter, Arhu had sensed that laughter all around him. It was Entropy in Its personified form, the One Who invented death, saaRrahh as the People knew Her, the disaffected and ambivalent Power which wizards called aLonea: and It had laughed at the prospect of his one small death as It was now laughing at this far greater one. The fury Arhu had felt when first he recognized that laughteras source, he felt now, and it roared up in him like the voice of one of the Old Cats from the Downside, a blast of pure rage that sent Odin tumbling through the silvery twilight as if blown off course by a gust of wind.

They were not off course, though. They came out of the twilight more quickly than even Odin had expected, so that for a moment he almost lost control, dropping some hundreds of feet before he could get his wings under him again. As they tumbled, Arhu had a brief confusion of which way was up and which was down. They were high above the Earth again, but as they tumbled the lights blurred, and there seemed to be stars in the dark side of the Earth as well as in the skya"

Odin fought for stability, found it. Arhu looked down, through the ravenas Eye, and saw that there were lights on the dark side of the Earth, indeed, but they were not stars.

Europe was in shadow. London was dark. But on the Continent, from north to south, eye-hurtingly bright lights had broken out, a rash of points of fire. Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Moscow, every one was a point of light. Others blossomed as Arhu watcheda"Hanover, Lyon, Geneva, Lisbon, Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw, and many more: seeds of fire growing, paling, each one with its tiny pale growth above it. Arhu did not need to dive any closer to see the mushroom clouds. The seeds were planted. It would be no spring that came with their growth, but a winter that would last an age ...

Arhu closed his eyes in pain. When he opened them again, he was crouched down on the ground, on the green gra.s.s near the bush in the Ravensa Enclosure, and beside him, Odin was standing up and shaking his feathers into place. Hardy was sitting down on the nearby tree, now, near Hugin.

aThe beginning and the end,a Arhu breathed, and had to stop and try to catch his breath, for he was finding it hard just to be here and now again.

aIt will pa.s.s,a said Hardy. aMeanwhile, be a.s.sured: you did a good job. You see strangely, but your way might be something that we could learn in time, if you could teach us.a aMe teach you?a Arhu said, and gulped for air again. aUha"Iall have to ask.a aAsk Her by all means,a said Hardy. aIn the meantime, I see the nature of your problem. She was the core of that whole time, the old Queen, Victoria: the events of that whole period crystallized out around her personality, and the qualities which her people projected onto her. Any universe in which she was successfully a.s.sa.s.sinated would be a threat to all the others anywhere near it in its probability sheaf. And I would suggest to you,a Hardy said, bending down a little closer to Arhu, athat if the Lone One wished to make doubly sure of your universeas demise, that it would see to it that she died in your universe as well.a Arhu stared at him. aBy making the ehhif here a.s.sa.s.sinate this Queen Victoria?a aIndeed. It might well happen anyway, for as the two universes begin the process of exchanging energy and achieving homeostasis, that acore eventa will be one of the first things that will try to happen in your universe.a Hardy blinked and looked thoughtful. aIf I were in your position, I would be sure that this worldas Victoria is protected from the fate you have seen befall her counterpart. Otherwise, with two universes with dead Queens, the alternate universe will gain a great entropy advantage over the other. Should both Queens die, I doubt very much whether this world would long survive ... a aOh, great, another problem,a Arhu said, rather bitterly. aAnd how can you be so calm about it?a aWell, for one thing, it has already happened,a said Hardy mildly. aFor another thing, you are the ones who will cause it not to happen ... if indeed you do. How should I not be calm, when I know I am giving my advice to the right person?a Arhu blinked and turned to Odin. aCan you translate that for me?a he said, rather helplessly.

Odin blinked too. aIt made perfect sense to me,a he said. aWhich part of it specifically did you need translated?a Arhu hissed softly. aNever mind.a aWhen I say ait has already happeneda,a Hardy said, aI speak of the entire chain of events from first to last: from your arrival here to work on the gates, to your final departure. Not that I know the details of that: you will soon know them better than we ever could. But I think that, in this timeline, this universe, Queen Victoria has anot yeta been a.s.sa.s.sinated. I would suspect that fact of being what has so far kept this timeline in place, and as yet largely undamaged ... and it may also be that the difficulty you were experiencing with the oscillation of the far end of your colleagueas timeslide also has to do with the unusual stability, under the circ.u.mstances, of this one. You must complete whatever consultations you have planned with speed. And at all times, the Queens must be your great care. Whatever happens, protect them.a Arhu waved his tail in agreement, and stood up. He was surprisingly wobbly on his feet. aLook ... I want to thank you. Iave got to get back to the others and tell them about this: as much as I can, anyway.a aDo so. Go well, young wizard: and come back again.a aHe will anyway,a Odin said, and poked Arhu in a friendly way with his beak, at the back of his neck.

Arhu took a swipe at him, with the claws out, and missed on purpose. It seemed wise. He liked Odin: and anyway, that beak was awfully big. aDai,a he said. aLatera"a He headed off out the gateway under the b.l.o.o.d.y Tower with as much dignity as he could muster, while desperately wanting to fall down somewhere and go straight to sleep: and as he went out, all the stones around him were quiet ... for the moment.

Rhiow opened her eyes and looked at Arhu. He had fallen asleep. With some slight difficulty, for she was stiff, she got up and stretched, and then went over to Urruah.

aWead better call the others in,a she said. aThe problemas gotten much worse ... a

FIVE.

The whole group met again late that night in the Mint. Urruah was the last to arrive: he had been doing work on the timeslide until the last minute, having taken a while to look at Arhuas arecorda in the Whispering of his flight with Odin. All the others, one by one, took time to do the same, and also to look at Rhiowas discussion with Hhumhahri: and then, predictably, the argument began.

Fhrio, in particular, was skeptical about the ravensa suggestion regarding the version of Queen Victoria in their home timeline. aItas just more work for nothing,a he said. aIf sheas the only thing keeping this timeline in placea"and the two are congruent, mostly, in terms of timeflowa"then why hasnat she been a.s.sa.s.sinated already?a Urruahas tail was las.h.i.+ng already. aBecause someoneas prevented it already,a he said, politely enough. aProbably us, or someone working with us. Either the timelines have been taken out of congruence somehowa"difficulta"or the attempt on the Queenas life has already failed. Again, probably because of us. Weare going to have to consider timesliding someone back far enough to guard hera"and then block any further slides to positions before our guard is in place, so that we can deal with the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt proper.a Fhrio spat. aItas a waste of time. One, I doubt the Powers will let us. Thereas too much temporal gating going on at the moment anyway. Too many ways to screw up past timelines. And secondly, it makes a lot more sense to concentrate on the Victoria whoas in the anucleara timeline. Itas that universe thatas the real threat, anyway.a aI donat know,a Auhlae said. aI think Hardy might have had a point. If wea"a aAre you crazy?a Fhrio said. aWeave got enough trouble already. Letas concentrate on one thing at a time.a aWe may not be able to,a Auhlae said. aWe still have to find all the apastlingsa and get them back into their right times: otherwise the instability of the gates is going to continue and increase all through this. We canat just drop one problem because the other seems more important all of a sudden.a aI think youare wrong,a Fhrio said. aI think we have to. Even the Victoria problem will go away if we keep the first contamination, the technological one, from happening. If we could just catch that first guy with the book as heas going through the gate ... a aIf you catch him,a Huff said, ayouall probably catch what caused the slide in the first place. The Lone Power ... in whatever form Itas wearing this time out. Or youall catch whatever poor stooge Itas using ... and even the stooges are likely to be trouble enough.a aNot as much trouble as the Earth dying of nuclear winter in 1888 or whenever!a aIf we could even just get the book, and keep it from crossing over ... a Huff said.

Urruah lashed his tail in agreement. aIad say thereas no question that thatas the point of contamination,a he said. aIave checked in the Whispering. Itas a very detailed volume, full of basic information on every possible kind of science. And possibly worst of all, itas full of materials science, and technical information on how to make almost everything it discusses. Manufacturing processes, temperatures, specific chemical reactions, locations of ores and chemical elementsa"you name it.a aThat time was full of great scientific minds,a Rhiow said. aThey were not stupid people. Once they believed what was in that booka"which they quickly would have done, once theyad tested a few of the equations in it to see what happeneda"they would have run wild with it. As we see theyave done.a aAgain, they seem to have done it somewhat selectively,a Urruah said. aBut the worst thing they could have started messing with, atomics, they must have started with right away, in the late ateens of the century, to have got as far along as they are now. It must have seemed like magic to them, that. Until they started building the necessary centrifuges and separators for the heavy-metal ores ... and found that the metals did what was advertised.a He sighed.

aThe details are going to prove fascinating enough, Iam sure,a Huff said. aBut now we have to find out exactly when that incursion with the young man and the book happened, and stop it.a aHow?a Arhu said.

aBacktiming, stupid,a said Siffhaah.

Arhu glared at her. aLook, before you start calling names,a he said, athink about it. Do you really think the Lone Poweras going to just let us undo what It went to so much trouble to set up? Just like that? If you do, youare even stupider than you think I am.a aThat would be fairly difficult,a Siffhaah retorted, asincea"a aStop it, Siffhaah,a Auhlae said sternly. aThereas enough entropy loose around here at the moment without increasing it.a aThose accesses are going to be blocked,a Arhu said. aTrust me.a aIs that a seeing?a Urruah said.

aNo, itas common sense,a Arhu snapped, awhich seems to be in short supply around here at the moment.a He threw Siffhaah another annoyed look.

aAnyway,a Urruah said loudly, aat the moment, there is a problem with the idea of stopping the book transfer. It is that we donat yet have a definite timing or a proper set of coordinates for that transit, even with what Odin was able to show Arhu. Until we can get a timing, we canat stop the book getting back into the Victorian era: and it will take some time and work yet for us to generate a timing that we can use ... even an educated guess at one. So for the time being we should concentrate on what we presently do have a chance to stop, which is the a.s.sa.s.sination.a aHow close have you been able to get to that timing?a Huff said.

Urruah glanced over at Auhlae. aEighteen sixteen,a Auhlae said. aThatas when the Whisperer says the volcano happened. It produced something called aThe Year Without a Summera.a The usual kind of thing: the volcano spat out a lot of high-alt.i.tude ash that produced unusually rapid cooling of the atmosphere. There were places in northern Europe where it snowed in June and July, that year. Harvests failed everywhere.a aIf there was a perfect time to drop a book full of information on high technology into the pre-Victorian culture,a Huff said, aIad say that would have been it. The scientifically-oriented ehhif would have tried everything in it that they then had the materials technology for, with an eye to solving their problem ... and then, when it eventually pa.s.sed, they would swiftly have started constructing everything else they could, from the ainstructionsa.a He sighed. aI could wish they hadnat been half so clever ... a Rhiow was in agreement with him about that. aArhu, as regards the timing of the bookas arrival ... could you do anything more with the ravens, do you think?a Arhu lashed his tail anoa. aRhiow, one of the things I gathered from Odin was that they canat spend that much time during a given period in any one timeline or alternate universe. Theyare messengers, all right, but they have to do their work at high speed specifically because they do so much out-of-timeline work. Other universes spit them out like a mouseas gallbladder if they try to stay away from ahomea too long.a She nodded. aWhat about vision?a aTheirs is a little more predictable than mine,a Arhu said, abut itas so different ... a He shrugged his tail. aIall go and ask them tomorrow, but I wouldnat bet on them being able to help us that much more.a Rhiow waved her tail in agreement, though reluctantly. She was still bemused by the ravensa version of vision, and wondered exactly how they were getting it. Wizards and wizardry talent among birdkind tended to vest in the predators, for some reason: possibly because they were the top of their local food chains ... or possibly it was something to do with their level of intelligence. This was not something about which Rhiow had ever queried the Whisperer. She had been bemused enough, when she first became a wizard, to find that there were wizards among the houiff too, and that some of them could be as sagacious as any feline. Afterwards she stopped wondering why wizardry turned up in one species or another, and simply said Dai stih to another wizard when she met one, whether it had wings, or fins, or two legs or four. Now, though, she started to wonder why she had never heard of raven-wizards. Or is it that I just never went looking that hard for the information? Thereas so much to know, and so little time ...

Never mind. aAll right,a she said to Huff. aAt least we now have a much better idea of the exact time of the a.s.sa.s.sination. We have to narrow it down further still, though.a Huff nodded. aUrruah,a he said, athatas one of the other time-coordinates youare going to be trying to access when you use the timeslide next?a aAbsolutely. But there are a few other things we need to look into as well,a Urruah said. aLike the small matter of the logs on the nonfunctioning gate.a Fhrio looked at Urruah sharply. aWhatas the matter with them?a aTheyare not the way they were when we disconnected the gate from the catenary,a Urruah said. The coordinates for the Illingworth access have been changed, and I donat know how, or why. Any ideas?a Fhrio stared at Urruah as if he was out of his mind. aThey canat change. Youare crazy.a Urruah glanced over at Huff: Huff looked back at him, bemused. aAll right then,a Urruah said, aIam crazy.a Rhiow looked with great care at his tail. It was quite still. She licked her nose, twice, very fast. aBut I think you should lock that gate in a stasis, Huff, and make sure no one gets at it again. If it can manage to alter itself again while itas got a stasis on it, then obviously no cause based here is at fault.a Huff stared at the floor for a moment, then looked up and said, aIall take care of it. Rhiowa"a She looked over at him. aOur next move?a Huff said.

She was not used to being so obviously deferred to: it made her a little uncomfortable. After a momentas pause, she said, aOverall, I think at the moment that I have to agree with Fhrio. While I agree itas important to make sure that our home-timelineas Victoria is safe, the other one is in greater danger at the moment ... or so it seems to me ... and her a.s.sa.s.sination is what seems likeliest to trigger the derangement of our own timeline. I think we must therefore try to get into the aaltered eighteen seventy-foura timeline as quickly as we can: tomorrow, I think, since a lot of us are short on sleep at the moment. Weall try to find out exactly when the a.s.sa.s.sination was, and find out what we need to do to stop it. After that we can worry about the book, and last of all, about the stranded pastlings in our own time. Huff?a He put his ears forward in agreement. aThat makes sense to me. Letas do so.a aI am going to fuel Urruahas timeslide tomorrow,a Siffhaah said, as if expecting an argument.

aFine,a said Huff. aUrruah had some questions about the catenaryas behavior as a power source: this will resolve them. Auhlae and I will be doing general gate duty tomorrow, but weall be on call if something else comes up. When should we all meet?a aAbout this time?a Urruah said.

aGood enough.a The group broke up. Fhrio threw a very annoyed look at Urruah as he went out, and Urruah sat down and started was.h.i.+ng, while the others, glancing at him, left.

Rhiow touched cheeks with Auhlae and Huff as they went out, then sat down by Urruah while he scrubbed his face. aWell, you seem to have managed to attract a lot of someoneas annoyance today,a she said softly, when the others, except for Arhu, were gone. aWhat was all that about?a aWell, I spent a late night working with Auhlae a couple of nights ago,a Urruah said, aand he seems to have taken issue with that.a aFhrio? What business is that of his?a aIam not sure.a Rhiow sighed. aIt doesnat take much to get him going in any case,a she said. aProbably it means nothing. Are you all right, though?a aOh, Iam fine. Itas just thata"a He shrugged his tail, started was.h.i.+ng his ears. Rhi, usually thereas a certain level of good humor about these joint jobs. It seems to be missing in this one.

Itas the level of stress, Iad imagine, Rhiow said. This is not your usual ajoint joba.

aNo,a he said, aI suppose not.a He stopped was.h.i.+ng, and sighed, putting his ears forward as Huff came back in. aHuff,a he said, ado you want any help with that stasis?a aNo,a Huff said, aIall manage it.a He sat down and looked around him a little disconsolately.

aAll right then,a Urruah said. aRhi, Iall see you in the morning. Go well, Huffa"a He headed out toward the cat-door in the back of the pub.

Rhiow looked at Huff for a moment, then got up and went to sit by him. aAre you all right?a she said.

aOha"yes, I suppose so,a he said, sounding a little distracted. aItas just that ... I donat know ... Iam not used to coping with these stress levels, and everyone around me seems to be losing their temper half the time. My teamas unhappy and I donat know why, and there doesnat seem to be much I can do about it ... a Rhiow put one ear back: it was a feeling shead had occasionally. aOh, Huff, itall sort itself out ... youall see. It is the stress, truly: this problem isnat the kind of thing any of us would normally have to handle in the course of work. And to be suddenly thrown together with strangers, no matter how well-intentioned they are, and then try to deal with something like this ... it isnat going to be easy for anyone.a She put her whiskers forward a little. aYouare such an easy-going type anyway,a Rhiow said, athat it must be difficult for you to deal with the frictions: they must seem kind of foolish to you.a He gave her a rueful look. aSometimes,a he said, ayes. Yes, youare right ... a He sighed. aStranger or not,a he said, aitas nice to have someone around who understands. But then youare not exactly a stranger any more.a aNo, of course not. When we get all this solved, Huff, you should come visit us in New York. Weall show you and your team around the gates at Grand Central ... ado the towna a little. Urruah knows some extremely good places to eat.a aI know,a Huff said, sounding a little more amused. aI keep hearing about them.a His whiskers were right forward now.

aI bet,a Rhiow said, resigned. aLook ... weave got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I should get home. You try to get some rest, Huff, and weall see you later on.a He waved his tail in agreement. aGo well,a he said. They touched cheeks: and Rhiow went out the back, through the cat door, and down the alley, heading for the Tower Hill Underground station ... thinking, a little absently, how nice it was that it no longer felt strange to rub cheeks with Huff at all ...

She got home very late, by New York time, and found Iaehh in bed and snoring. As quietly as she could, Rhiow curled up with him, too tired even to care whether he would roll over on top of her in the middle of the night, as he often did while feeling for someone else who should have been in the bed, but wasnat. She sighed at the thought of what now seemed about a hundred years ago: a time when both her ehhif were here and happy, and her life managing a gating team had been relatively simple and uncomplicated ... or had seemed so.

About a second later, she woke up. Oh, unfair, she thought. It was typical that, on a night when you most needed the sense of being asleep for a long time, you instead got that acheateda feeling of having been asleep almost no time at all.

It was, however, nearly six in the evening. Iaehh wasnat back from work yet, but he would be soon, and if she didnat get out fairly quickly, he would turn up and delay her. Rhiow sighed and got right up, stretching hard fore and aft: ate (finding the bowls washed and filled again), then washed and used the box, and headed out for Grand Central. Half an hour later Rhiow was in London, on the platform in the Underground station, watching Urruah reconstructing his timeslide. Auhlae was there, and Siffhaah: Arhu was sitting off to one side, ostensibly watching Urruah fine-tuning his spell, but (to Rhiowas eye) actually staying rather pointedly out of Siffhaahas way.

aPerfect timing,a Urruah said, looking up. aIam just about set here.a aYou have all those extra coordinate-sets that you wanted to test laid in as well?a Rhiow said, strolling over to the ahedgea of burning lines which was the spell diagram. It looked taller than it had been before.

aYes indeed,a Urruah said. aWeall take them in order after we check out the main one, the ascarreda timeline. Everybody, come and check your names. Weare ready to rock and roll ... a Rhiow jumped into the circle to re-examine her name. Auhlae jumped in after her, remarking, aI would have thought you were more interested in the cla.s.sical line of things, Urruah ... a His whiskers went forward. aAlways. But I believe oneas interest in music should be balanced.a aIf itas ehhif music youare talking about,a Siffhaah said as she jumped into the circle as well, ayouare too balanced by half. All that screeching.a Urruah chuckled. aWait till youare older and you have more leisure to develop your tastes.a a aOldera!a Siffhaah said. aIam sick of hearing about it. And Iam getting older right now waiting for you People to get your acts together!a She glared at Arhu.

Arhu, taking no apparent notice, made a small elegant jump which landed him precisely on the spot which Urruah had laid out for him inside the circle. He bent down, checked his name, and then turned his back to Siffhaah, yawning, and sat down with his tail wrapped around his toes.

aHuh,a said Siffhaah, glancing at Arhu and planting her forepaws in the power-feed area of the spell. She looked over at Urruah.

aEverybody sidled?a he said. aGood. First set of coordinates are ready,a he said. aThe spellas on standby. Feed it!a aConsider it fed,a Siffhaah said.

The world vanished in a blast of light and power so vehement that Rhiow was glad she had been sitting down: otherwise she would have fallen over. This was not anything like Urruahas style of power-feed, decorous and smooth like a limo starting and stopping. This was a crash of power and pressure, happening all at once from all around, like being at the center of a lightning strike. In the middle of it all she thought she heard something like a yowl of frustration, but she couldnat be sure. When the light cleared away again, Rhiow half-expected to smell ozone: she had to sit there for a moment or so and shake her head, waiting for her eyes to work again. After a few moments they did, but she still saw a residual blur of green light at the edges of vision for a little while, the remnant of the image of the first flash of the spell-circle as it came up to power.

She looked around and saw that they were all once more sitting in a muddy street: and Rhiow sighed at the thought of what getting clean again was likely to taste like. The sky above them was that of early morning, clear and blue: a surprising contrast to the last time. aAll right,a Urruah said, athereas the tripwire. Iave closed the gate.a Then Urruah looked up and around, and said suddenly, aAnd weave got a problem.a aWhat?a said Rhiow.

He was looking up at the Moon, which stood high in the southern sky at third quarter. They all looked too.

The Moon was white, with only the faintest blue shadows.

aOh, vhai,a Auhlae said, athis isnat the contaminated timeline!a She turned to Urruah. aThis is the predecessor to our London! Our world! For pityas sake, Urruah, how did that happen?a Urruah was dumbfounded. aAuhlae, you saw the settings, we worked on them togethera"you tell me!a aIall tell you how it happened,a Siffhaah said, staggering to her feet. aWe were being blocked. Couldnat you feel it? Urruah?a aIam not surea"a aNice excuse,a Arhu muttered.

aOh, go swallow your tail!a Siffhaah spat. aWho asked you for anything like an opinion? As if you could produce one out your front end instead of your rear for a change. We were being blocked! Something knocked us sideways. Something vhaiad well doesnat want us in the alternate timeline! Like the Lone One!a She was bristling with fury, as much from winding up in the wrong place, Rhiow thought, as for having her competence called into question. But there was another possibility which had occurred to Rhiow: that the other timeline was becoming stronger, strong enough now to begin interfering with any temporal gating. But thereas no evidence of that ... yet.

aIt could happen,a Rhiow said. aFor the meantime, we shouldnat stand here arguing.a She glanced over at Urruah. aItas not a wasted trip, Ruah. We still have some things to check on, and some sources who would be helpful to talk to here. Among other things, would you say this is at least the right year?a Urruah blinked. aLetas send Arhu to steal a newspaper.a aThereas no need to steal anything,a Arhu muttered. aThese ehhif drop their newspapers all over the place, besides pasting them up on boards near the newsagents.a They walked out into George Street, sidled, and glanced around them with a little more sense of leisure than they had felt the last time, for this was after all their home universe: there was no reason to rush away from it. Rhiow looked across the street and saw that the Tower Underground station did not exist as yet. She listened, and the Whisperer told her that the worldgate complex was, at this point in its development, housed a little behind them, somewhere under the Fenchurch Street railway station.

aMaybe we should try to look up the local gating team,a Siffhaah said, glancing around her.

aMuch as I wouldnat mind being social with them,a Rhiow said, aI think we have other things to concentrate on at the moment. Is that one of your anewsagentsa down there, Arhu?a aYeah. Come ona"a He led them eastward as far as the oval of Trinity Square. aThe mudas sure the same,a Urruah said, with resignation.

aYes, but at least there arenat any crazed car drivers here,a Rhiow said. aNot that itas that much of a consolation. Theyall come soon enough.a In Trinity Square they paused by a little shop that had a board outside with many newspapers pinned up to it and ready to be torn off, like pages of a calendar. aTry that with the New York Times,a Urruah murmured.

Rhiow put her whiskers forward at the thought. The group hung back, out of the way of the ehhif making their way up and down the sidewalk, while Arhu went up to have a look at the newspaper.

He came trotting back with a satisfied expression. aApril eighteenth, eighteen seventy-four.a aAll right,a Rhiow said. aA little early, but at least itas the right year. Letas go up to the British Museum and see aBlack Jacka.a It was a long walk, nearly a mile and a half. All of them were footsore and extremely dirty by the time they got there, for no one felt it wise to expend the wizardry needed for skywalking when there might be much more important business to be handled without notice. So they went as City cats would, though sidled: down Great Tower Hill into Great Tower Street and over into Eastcheap: down Cannon Street into the street called St Paulas Churchyard, under the shadow of the ma.s.sive dome of St Paulas: up Ludgate Hill to Fleet Street, and then up Chancery Lane, northward to High Holborn and finally Bloomsbury Row. By the time they got to Museum Street, they were all hungry, and Auhlae looked at the mud on her beautiful fur, and made a despairing face.

aI canat wash like this,a she said, aI just canat. Thereas no time, anda"a She sighed, and said a few words under her breath in the Speech. The mud dried and went straight to powdery dust. She shook herself hard, and for a moment was in the center of a small chocolate-colored cloud. Then the dust settled, leaving her more or less the color she should have been.

aNow thereas a thought,a Rhiow said. aAuhlae, youare a genius.a A few moments later there were several chocolate-colored clouds, and somewhat cleaner People emerging from them. aNow I feel better,a Auhlae said, smoothing down the fur behind her ears. aI wouldnat like to meet a Person of note looking like I just crawled out of a sewer ... a They walked in through the iron gates of the Museum, toward the n.o.ble main facade with its columns and Greek-style portico, all carved with what one might have taken at first for ehhif G.o.ds until a better look revealed them to be allegorical figures discreetly labeled DRAMA and POETRY and PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN RACE. They walked up the stairs and waited for some ehhif to open the doors for them, a matter of a few seconds only: then they went through into the main entrance hall, and glanced up at the huge statue of an ehhif which leaned there, looking out thoughtfully at the world.

aWhoas that?a Arhu said. aAnother fake G.o.d?a aItas a great taleteller, dear,a Auhlae said, aone who told his stories a couple of hundred sunrounds ago, from this time anyway. Hsshaha spheare, his name was.a aWhether heas that great,a said someone off to one side in the great echoing hall, awhen the best-known mention he makes of our People is to suggest turning one of them in a frying pan, is a question yet to be resolved. But never mind that at the moment.a They all turned to see a big, big black-and-white cat come pacing along the marble floor toward them. With his white bib and white feet, he gave the general impression of wearing ehhif formal wear. aWelcome,a he said. aIam glad to see you!a aWeare on errantry, as youave guessed, having seen us sidled,a Rhiow said, aand we greet you very well: weave come some way to see you. Do I have the honor of addressing aBlack Jacka?a The big handsome Person put his whiskers forward. aThatas how the ehhif know me: I suppose the name has got about by now. But you might more properly call me Ouhish, though, if you will. And Iam very glad to see you so soon: I hadnat thought you could possibly turn up with such speed.a Rhiow looked at Urruah and the others, then back at Ouhish. aIam sorry. You say you sent for some wizards?a aYes,a Ouhish said.

aWell,a Urruah said, aweare confused, now. We thought we came on business of our own. But weall be glad to help you in any way we can.a aYouare saying you werenat sent?a Ouhish said.

Rhiow paused for a moment, then laughed. aOh, no. Wizards are always sent ... one way or another. Itas just that the Powers that Be donat always tell us that Theyare doing it. Tell us your trouble, and weall do our best to a.s.sist you.a aWell,a Ouhish said, aletas go somewhere quiet where we can make introductions and get things sorted out. Will you follow me?a And he led them in through the pillared vestibule, and into the depths of the Museum.

It was a splendid place by any calculation, ehhif or feline. Rhiow had to keep reminding herself that much of the wonderful statuary and carving here was regarded as stolen or looted, though an earlier periodas ehhif had thought of what they were doing as acollectiona: and violent arguments were still going on, she knew, about the proper home for some of the more beautiful and ancient artwork like the Elgin Marbles. But in the meantime, the stuff was here, and Rhiow told herself that it seemed poor-spirited not to enjoy looking at it if she had the chance.

There was little enough statuary to start with, for Ouhish led them on through the Inner Vestibule and the Room of Inscriptions, its walls all covered with writings from the ehhif peoples of old Greece and Rome, and straight into the Reading Room. In Rhiowas time the British Museumas library functions had all been moved to another building, bigger and some said better suited for the huge size of the collection as the twenty-first century approached: but many lamented the loss of the n.o.ble old domed Reading Room, still preserved, but no longer used for the purpose for which it had been intended. They walked through, now, into this place where for once ehhif walked as quietly as cats, and Ouhish led them off to one of the corners of the room, what was called the aNew Librarya, a beautiful wood-paneled area stacked high with laddered bookcases and card catalogues.

They sat down under a quiet table in one corner, touched noses and breathed breaths, and introduced themselves. aNow tell us what your trouble is, and weall try to help you,a Rhiow said: but Ouhish would have none of it, and insisted that they tell their story first.

Urruah lifted his eyebrows. aThis is going to be complicated,a he said, but he began to lay out their business for Ouhish as clearly as he could. There was no prohibition against telling other People, in the line of errantry, that you were time-traveling: but naturally you would work hard to keep from telling them anything inappropriate, anything that would hurt them in their own lives, or tempt them to hurt others. Urruah spoke for about ten minutes, choosing his details with care, and at the end of it, Ouhish tucked himself down and looked at them all with astonishment.

aMore than a hundred years in the future,a he said. aThe questions I could ask you ... a aIt might take us a while to work out which ones we could safely answer,a Rhiow said. aBut maybe youad let us ask first, since then weall have more leisure to deal with your problem. Have there been any attempts on the life of the Queen of late?a Ouhish looked surprised. aYou mean the ehhif-Queen? Nothing recent. Someone tried a couple of years ago.a aDid they try shooting her?a Arhu said.

aThatas right. She was out drivinga"a madman came out and took a shot at her with a pistol. He missed, thank Iau. Itas happened before, too, a few times: usually where there are crowds.a aDo the ehhif here not like her, then?a Siffhaah said, sounding intrigued.

aOh, sheas been greatly loved, in the past. But things change.a Ouhish looked a little uncomfortable. aYou know that her mate died some while back? They were very much attached. She was miserable, poor thing, and she withdrew almost entirely from public life after her mateas death. Thatas not something a Queen of ehhif can do, you understand. She has duties she must perform. And the ehhif she rules saw that she wasnat doing those duties, or only doing them marginally: and those ehhif whoave been saying for a long time that there should be no Queens any more, but just the pride-toms to lead everything, and decide everythinga"their way of thinking has been gaining ground.a Ouhish looked embarra.s.sed. aI wouldnat like to give offense, cousin,a he said to Rhiow, abut I think I know your accenta"and itas a government like your ehhifas at home that some of these people want, and the Queen got rid of as well. A lot of the ehhif seem to think that it will happen in the next ten years or so: or at least by the turn of the century. Itas no matter to them that the Queen has been showing signs of breaking out of her withdrawal, at last. It may be too late for her now.a Rhiowas tail twitched slowly while she thought that Ouhishas turn of phrase was unfortunate.

aWell,a Rhiow said. aThatas all rather sad. There are other dangers lying in wait for her as well: perhaps another a.s.sa.s.sination attempt ... we donat know for sure. One of the things we came for was to try to find out a date on which the attempt might happen, so that we might prevent it.a Ouhish looked shocked. aDo you have any clues at all?a aWe saw them burying her on the fourteenth of July,a said Arhu, ain a universe close to this one. We donat know how long might have elapsed between her funeral and whatever happened to her ... a aI would doubt it would have been as far back as the first of the month, if they were burying her on the fourteenth,a Ouhish said. aBut it could be almost any time between, say, the fifth and the eleventh. For surely they would let her lie in state for a little timea"a His tail was las.h.i.+ng. aCousins, this is terrible news!a aIf you can spread it where it will do some good,a Rhiow said, ayou may be able to help prevent the attempt from succeeding. We may be able to help as well, but we also have other business to attend to, which, believe it or not, may be even more important. One thing I have to ask you: have there been any strange occurrences in London lately?a aStrange occurrences?a He looked confused, but Rhiow was unwilling to help him, and possibly lead him in a direction that wouldnat be fruitful. Ouhish thought for a moment, then said, aYou know ... there have been a lot of madmen about.a aMadmen?a Siffhaah said.

aEhhif roaming the streets and raving,a Ouhish said. aI remember one of our ehhif here in the museum mentioning a story in one of the newspapers. One of the story-writers attributed it to the full of the Moon just being past ... a aI wonder if some of those might be ehhif who stumbled through our gate and into this time,a Urruah said softly. aThatas something thatas going to have to be looked into.a aOne more problem,a Arhu muttered.

aYes,a Rhiow said.

Ouhishas tail was las.h.i.+ng. aItas all hard to believe,a he said. aBut you are wizards ... But still, what could be more important than the Queen dying?a aWhat might follow it,a Arhu said, ain another universe. A war, fought with weapons you canat imagine ... one which would cause a terrible winter to fall over the whole world. A winter that might never end ... a Ouhishas head snapped up: he stared at Arhu. aYou were sent,a he said. aYou are the wizards I sent for!a aWe are?a Arhu said. aWhy?a aCome on,a Ouhish said, and jumped up. aCome on, quickly. Itas not me you need to be talking to: itas Hwallis.a aHwallis?a Rhiow said, now completely bemused.

aThatas right. Heas an ehhif. Come on, Iall take you upstairs and introduce you. He wonat have gone off for his midday feed yet. Not that itas ever easy to get him to go. He hates leaving this placea"a Ouhish practically ran out of the New Library: they all had to trot to keep up with him. Hurriedly Ouhish led them back out the way they had come into the Vestibule, then off to the right and up the main staircase to the second floor. They came out into a splendid great s.p.a.ce roofed over with gla.s.s and with a high gallery or balcony around it, all filled with ancient bas-reliefs of winged ehhif with high crowns, beautifully carved lions, and big-shouldered bulls.

aDown this way,a Ouhish said, and led them down a long wide hallway to the right, skylit by more gla.s.s roofing above. Both sides of this hall were lined with statues and sarcophagi of the first ehhif who had really conversed easily with People, the Egyptians: artwork and carving and papyrus were everywhere, in astonis.h.i.+ng profusion, so that even Urruah, who wasnat much of a fan of the plastic arts, stopped to stare at some of the jewelry, gems and gold glinting, in that subdued light, like a Personas eyes in the dark.

Despite her curiosity to find out what Ouhish was carrying on about, Rhiow herself had to stop and admire what was simply a most splendid statuary group of Queen Iau and her daughters, only slightly marred by the tendency of ehhif of the period to put human bodies under the feline faces, as a symbol for human-like intelligence but feline nature. Aaurh the Mighty stood there, the Destroyer by Flame, the Queenas champion, wearing the horned sun, the terrible fire with which she warred on the Queenas enemies: and Hrauaf the Silent beside her, the Whisperer, with a roll of papyrus to show that she kept the records of the universe, and pa.s.sed them on to those who needed them. By them was her brother, the Queenas lover, the Old Tom, Urrau-who-Scars, Urrau Lightning-Claw: and a little separate from the others, her body turned from them but her face toward them, ambivalent as always, saaRrahh, mistress of the Unmastered Fire, lioness-headed lady of the stillbirth and the birth that kills the queen in labor, but also mistress of the Tenth Life: the Lone Power in Its feline recension, deadly, but never to be scorned, for some day she would be forgiven and rejoin the Pride. Paramount among them all stood Queen Iau, a Personas head set rather incongruously on the human shoulders, but wearing a look of indomitable wisdom, power and compa.s.sion: and Rhiow put her whiskers forward. aEhhif the artist might have been,a she said, abut whoever made this, he or she knew Them. Blessings on him or her, wherever that one might be in the worlds ... a Ouhish had stopped to let them catch up: he put his whiskers forward at Rhiow. aInteresting,a he said, abut Hwallis says something very like that. Come on: I want you to meet.a He hurried down the hallway nearly to its end: then turned left suddenly and showed them a wood-panelled side door, which was open a crack. Ouhish put his paw into it and pulled it open. aIn here,a he said.

He led them into what turned out to be a warren of little offices and storage s.p.a.ces behind the exhibition halls. It was a strangely homely place after the grandeur and silence of the outer halls. Other statues were here, pushed carefully up against the walls, some being repaired for cracks or broken noses: near one doorway a bucket and some mops and brooms stood handy: another small room had a sink and some cleaning rags and solvents, and buckets of different kinds of grout for polis.h.i.+ng stone. Other rooms were stacked and piled high with books: one was filled with crates that held piles of papyrus rolls and books.

And in one room which they came to, there was an ehhif bent over a long table. The table was covered with something that might have been dust, and he was working, slowly and carefully, to unwrap something that lay in the midst of the dust. As they came in behind him, he sneezed.

aHwallis,a said Ouhish in Ailurin, very loudly so that the ehhif would be able to hear him, athere are guests here.a The ehhif turned. He was young: maybe no more than eighteen, Rhiow thoughta"a tall, dark-haired, long-faced young man, dressed in a s.h.i.+rt with its sleeves rolled up, and long dark pants with suspenders. He looked at the doorway, and at Ouhish: and he said, in Ailurin, aWhere?a The People glanced at each other, surprised. aItas all right,a Ouhish said, ayou can unsidle.a They did. The young ehhif looked at them with some surprise, and said to Ouhish, with very pa.s.sable intonation, aAre these the People you asked to come?a Rhiow was very impressed. She said, in the Speech rather than in Ailurin, aYoung sir, since you plainly know that our kind exists, then I tell you that weare wizards on errantry, and we greet you. Iam Rhiow: here are my colleagues Urruah, Auhlae, Arhu, and Siffhaah. Ouhish says he sent for us, and though we came on other business originally, he thinks you have need of our services. So tell us what your problem is, and weall help if we can. But speak your own language, if you like: weall understand you well enough, and we can help Ouhish to do so too if thereas need. We have complicated matters to discuss, I think, and thereas no need for any of us to guess at what we mean. Even if you do have a good accent.a The young ehhif opened and closed his mouth, and then said, aGood heavens. Well, allow me to introduce myself. Iam Edward Wallis Budge.a The others waved their tails at him in greeting. Urruah sat down, looking around him. aWhat exactly do you do here?a he said.

Wallis smiled slightly. aI have the honor to hold the position of Honorary a.s.sistant to the Keeper of the Mummied Cats.a Urruah put his whiskers forward. aBoy,a he said, athey donat make job t.i.tles like that any more.a He peered up at the table. aI suppose that if the museum needs a keeper for mummied cats, there must be a lot of them.a aHundreds of thousands,a Wallis said.

aSweet Iau in a basket,a Auhlae murmured, awhat would anyone want hundreds of thousands of mummied cats for?a aPlease make yourself comfortable, and Iall explain,a said Wallis, and he pulled out a creaky-looking ladderback chair and sat down in it. The People sat or sprawled as they pleased, and Wallis indicated the shelves and racks all around the room, all full of boxes with numbers and letters scrawled on the ends of them. aI expect you know something about the civilization of ancient Egypt,a he said.

Rhiow put her whiskers forward. aThey knew something about our civilization,a she said, awhich is why so many of their carvings feature our aG.o.dsa.a aThe neter-teh,a Wallis said, and nodded, athe Powers that Be. Yes. Well, youall understand that the Egyptians were very partial to cats, considering them at least partially divine, since they looked like the G.o.ds which the cats had described to my people, the ehhif.a And suddenly he burst out laughing.

aIam sorry,a Rhiow said, ahave we missed a joke?a aNo, no ... a The young ehhif wiped his eyes, still trying to get control of his laughter. aItas just this situation. You here, and me explaining this, and ... oh my.a He wiped his eyes again. aIam sorry. Anyway, the Egyptian ehhif back then loved their cats very much, even before someone got the idea that the catsa semi-divine status might mean they would make good intercessors for humans. To the G.o.ds, the Great G.o.ds, I mean: to the One, and the Powers. So when their cats would die, the Egyptians would have their bodies mummified, with amulets and words of power wrapped in among the bandages, the intention being to give the cats power in the Next World.a He turned to the table, and lifted from it one of the strips of bandage that he had been removing from the cat-mummy he had been working on. Faintly, on the linen, in a brownish ink, were written the pictogram-letters of the ahieratica writing of old Egypt. aThen they would send the mummies to the great cat-burial ground at the city of the Queen-Cat, Bubastis.a aSome of this we knew,a Auhlae said, athough I was always a little vague about the whys and wherefores.a aThe idea was that the cats would tell the G.o.ds how well their ehhif had treated them,a Wallis said, leaning back and folding his arms, aand the G.o.ds would be nice to the ehhif in return. Well, this went nicely for some centuries. The mummies got more elaboratea"see, this is a fairly late one: the mummy cases had become quite ornate.a He turned to the table again and lifted down the case which had enclosed the mummy on which he had been working. It was in the small shape of a Person, but with its forefeet crossed together over its chest, the way a human mummy would have had its arms crossed: its hind legs were stretched out straight, and the whole business stood upright on a little pedestal, which was gilded, so that the Personas image stood upright as well, the way an ehhif would have. The image of the catas face was inlaid with lapis lazuli whiskers, and around the catas neck was a tracery of gold, a collar, jeweled with s.h.i.+ning bits of colored gla.s.s.

aItas beautiful workmans.h.i.+p, isnat it?a Wallis said. aThey took a lot of trouble over some of these. Equally, the spells and amulets buried with the People became very involved indeed: and the cemeteries at Bubastis got fuller and fuller. There were at least three hundred thousand cat-mummies at the cemetery at Beni-Ha.s.san alone: probably there were many more ... But then the Egyptian ehhifas religion changed, or was supplanted by others, and the cat-mummies and the cemeteries were forgotten.a Wallis leaned back further in the chair, uncrossed his legs, crossed them again. aWell. Their language became lost over time, and it has taken us a long time to start getting it back again. My old teacher was one of those who became involved with trying to recover it, and I went with him to Egypt, a couple of years ago, to start trying to translate some of the texts in the Pyramids. Some of those texts were very peculiar, and my teacher could make very little of them: but I came at the translation from a slightly different angle ... and realized what some of those wall carvings meant.a aSpells,a Urruah said. aThey were wizardry.a aYes,a Wallis said. aSome of them. It was knowledge I kept to myself. I am no wizard, not as I understand the term is usually meant. But I know a little of the languagea"Hauhai, the aGreat Speecha? -- some words of it were carved inside the Pyramids. And from other such carvings, and a great many of the papyruses we recovered, I know a fair amount of Ailurin, which was well known by the priestly cla.s.s in the Old Kingdoms period. This has helped me with some of the mummies, since Iave been able to tell genuine spells of protection from simple prayers, or lists of things to have the cat ask the G.o.ds for when it gets to Heaven.a He smiled slightly: but after a breath or so, the smile turned grim. aThe matter which has been troubling me,a he said, ais that over the past couple of years, someone seems to have been going to great trouble to destroy as many cat-mummies as possiblea"especially at the old burial grounds at Bubastis, near the modern city of Alexandria in the northern river delta. No one has made any attempt on our collection herea"we have several thousand cat-mummiesa"but the cemeteries at Bubastis are being systematically destroyed.a aBy whom?a Rhiow said. aAnd why?a aBy British nitrate wholesalers,a said Wallis, afor fertilizer.a aWhat?a Auhlae said.

Wallis looked uncomfortable. aYouall understand that, even as dry as Egypt is,a he said, asooner or later, if you simply bury things in the sand, theyall decay: and if you mummify them and bury them in the sand, they decay in a very controlled manner, so that finally very little is left but material which is very high in nitrites. Some bright lad got the idea of bringing huge cargo s.h.i.+ps down there, digging up the mummies, or what was left of them, and s.h.i.+pping them home to England to be sold as fertilizer for ehhif gardens and farmland.a aDear Iau,a Auhlae said, ahow ... a She broke off, apparently unable to think of a word strong enough to describe her feelings.

aNow as I understand feline thought from the writings of the old priests,a Wallis said, aonce you leave the body, thereas no great concern for it: youave another life waiting, and you go to it and get on with it. So in that regard, whether one ends as fertilizer or food for some scavenger is probably moot. But what troubles me is how many of those mummies were buried with a specific kind of protection. Most of my fellow translators have rendered it as a charm against extreme heat and cold. But Iam not sure theyare right in this. I read it as a spell, a piece of wizardry intended to protect against the Great Fire and the Great Cold that the spell insists will follow it. Some kind of destruction, alike the sun fallinga, thatas the usual phrasea"and then aa winter without enda.a aIau,a Rhiow said softly.

aAnd now,a Wallis said, asuddenly all these mummies, many of them with one version or another of this spell in place, are being taken away and destroyed. Ground up and thrown on peopleas gardens,a Wallis said, with a grimace of distaste. aWhatever else we know about the Egyptians of that period, we know they were not foolish people. Their priests in particular. I am sure some of them were wizardsa"possibly wizards of great accomplishment. I donat believe that anyone would be so careful, over a s.p.a.ce nearly fifteen hundred years, to make sure that all these cat-mummies had one version or another of this particular spell written in their bandages. And there are some disturbing hints in the carvings in the great tombs that suggest removing these ma.s.sed spells would be dangerous. There are mentions of some great destruction that would come. First fire, a terrible fire that will devastate the world. And then ice, ice forever ... a Urruah looked at Rhiow: the others all exchanges glances. aThere were visionaries among those ehhif,a Arhu said, aand they worked with the wizards of other species who lived then. Almost certainly with our people too. What did they see?a He looked at Rhiow. aWhat we came to try to prevent?a aItas not beyond probability,a Rhiow said softly. aThey might not have understood the science behind the idea of a nuclear winter ... but they might have foreseen it, all right, and devised a defense. It wouldnat surprise me that it would involve our people, either: ehhif always connected us with warmth and the sun ... with reason. We told them often enough about Aaurh the Mighty, and how she warred the world free of the cold at the beginning of things ... something for which saaRrahh always hated her.a She looked up at the young ehhif. aHwallis,a Rhiow said, ahow much of this spell against the Great Fire do you know?a aMost of it,a he said, abut not all. The whole thing, the amastera version of the spell, was only rarely written out because it was so long and complicated. Most often it was sketched on the bandages in an abbreviated form. Even in the earliest days of the ma.s.s mummy burials, few mummies contained it, or the carved version of it on an amulet, again because of the complexity. I had hoped to lead another expedition this year to go back to Bubastis and hunt specifically for the full form of the spell, which the carvings in the Pyramids suggested could reconfirm its protection of the world if it was p.r.o.nounced by a aperson of Powera in the right time and place. But now the cemeteries are almost empty: their contents are in the holds of cargo s.h.i.+ps, ground to powder. Even if I went now, I wouldnat likely find what Iam looking for. What I fear is that protection against this Great Fire, this Great Ice, whatever they may be, is being lost ... and that the way is being opened for something terrible to happen. So I asked Ouhish to see if he could get in touch with some wizards, people who might know what to do.a He shrugged. aAnd here you are ... a aIt sounds like the Lone One has been purposely dismantling this protection,a Urruah said. aUsing p.a.w.ns, as usual, to do Its work. Ehhif, and their innocent greed ... a He glanced up at Wallis. aSorry. Nothing personal.a aNo offense taken,a Wallis said.

aSo what do we do?a Siffhaah said.

aI would imagine try to find the whole spell,a Rhiow said, aand reinstate the protection. It could very well help with other matters.a She glanced at the others. aIt might even make those other occurrences impossible ... a aMight,a said Auhlae.

aI take your point,a Rhiow said. aHwallisa"would it help if we were able to look for your full version of the spell, the master spell of which these others are fragments, in other museums?a aI donat know,a he said. aOur collection of cat-mummies here is the biggest in the world.a aNot in a hundred years, it wonat be,a Urruah said.

Wallis looked perplexed. aI beg your pardon?a aHe means,a Arhu said, athat weare from the future. And the collection of that British Museum is a lot bigger than this one.a aMy G.o.d,a the ehhif said. He fell silent for a moment, then said, aI can give you a description of what to look for, both in the written and the carved forms. Will that help?a aVery much indeed,a Rhiow said. aRuah?a aShow me what you have in mind,a Urruah said. aNo, I donat need a drawing: do it in your head. While weare both working in the Speech, I can see what youare thinking, a little. Donat rush, just