05. Children of Flux and Anchor by Jack L. Chalker Read Free Book Online Page A

less a gang than a huge family, although its exact nature wasn't clear. A family that, except for Borg, was entirely female. It made a twisted kind of sense. If Ayesha was still under the old Fluxgirl spell, then she was at the mercy of men but could treat other women as equals, even as subordinates.
    Their captive wasn't a family member as such, but had been a captive of a raid. Many if not most of the family had some measure of Flux power, none really tremendous, but combined they were a powerful wizard, powerful enough at least to convert captives. They had no wish to be unconverted, of course; they hated men in general, except Borg, whom they considered a good leader but a stooge of Ayesha. All would die for Ayesha.
    Matson had guessed correctly. The band, under Borg, about sixty strong, was headed for Logh Center to steal something of great value they'd learned about. The rest waited in Flux on the other side, ready to smooth a getaway. She didn't know what they were going to steal, or how, but she knew it had been well prepared and that whatever it was was going to give the family enormous new power.
    There was little more they could learn. Calmly, but sadly, Matson put bullets through the heads of both women, then untied them and let them lie where they fell.
    Rondell had been silent as they'd gone back to their horses, mounted, and started on down the road into the night. Matson wanted to get down to where the phone lines ran from Logh Center to the interior so he could tap in and perhaps give a warning. Finally, the younger man said, "It really doesn't bother you, does it?"
    "Huh? What bother me?"
    "Torturing, then shooting those women. They were creatures of Flux. They weren't the animals we saw, they got turned into them."
    "Yeah, it rubs me wrong a bit, but I can't let it get to me. Listen, Grandson, suppose somebody nasty gives you an infection. A byproduct of the infection is that you go mad and infect everybody else, who in turn becomes mad and do the same thing. Now, it wasn't your fault, but you're dangerous and crazy all the same and you keep infecting more folks whose fault it isn't, either. You got to stop the crazy ones, kill 'em, so they won't drag more innocents down. You feel right sorry for them, yeah, but they are what they are and that's an insane threat. You save other folks that way, and you give them some merciful relief. If there's anything to a next life, they're a damn sight better off, and they won't ever hurt anybody else. Then you go find the bastard who infected them and get at the cause."
    He sighed, reached into a coat pocket, took out and lit a cigar.
    "There's always been folks who were bad," he continued. "And there have always been other folks making excuses for 'em. Their father was a drunk. Their mother beat them. They never got an even break. And all that might be true. But it was cold comfort to the victims being robbed and killed by the bad ones. So you treat the bad ones as bad ones, and then you go for the cause so you don't make any more bad ones, but you don't let those bad ones keep robbing and raping and killing other innocent folks because it wasn't their fault they went bad."
    "Maybe. But you ever see anyplace that ever eliminated one of those causes?"
    "Well, a Fluxlord can, and so can the New Eden system. Not in a society like the stringers', or in some of the open Fluxlands. Our ancestors came from a place that had no Flux, only Anchor. Must have been a hell of a mess. Bet they never cured it, either."
    "Then what's the answer?"
    "You treat the symptoms, Grandson. Always the symptoms. And then you weep for the eternal innocent victims and do the best you can and you play the hand and survive."
    There was no reply. Finally, Rondell said, "I hope their target isn't old Vishnar's castle."
    "Yeah, I hope the same thing. Still, what would the old fart have that would be worth all this?"
    "Even so," the younger man responded uneasily. "I hope we can make our