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Authors: Diane Duane
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shepherd, too.”
“Sounds about right.”
“But Tom—” Kit was wondering how to phrase this. “That the dogs might be able to find things, that I can understand. But how can they find places? Because Ponch has started finding them.”
There was quite a long pause. “That could be interesting,” Tom said. “Has he taken you to any of these places?”
“Just once. Just now.”
“Are you all right?”
“Now I am. I think,” Kit said, starting to shake again.
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Kit said. “It’s all right. It was just… a nothing place. No sound, no light or movement But Ponch got in there, and he knew how to get out again. He got me out, in fact, because I couldn’t do much of anything.”
“That’s interesting,” Tom said. “Would you consider going there again?”
“Not right now!” Kit said. “But later on, yeah. I want to find out where that was! And how it happened.”
“Well, pack animals do prefer to work in groups. From Ponch’s point of view, you two probably constitute a small pack, and maybe that’s why he’s able to share his new talent with you. But until now, to the best of my knowledge, no wizard’s found out exactly where the dogs go to get the things they bring back, because no one’s been able to go along. If you really want to follow up on this—”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then be careful. You should treat this as an unstable worldgating; you may not be able to get back the same way you left. Better check the manual for a tracing-and-homing spell to keep in place. And make sure you take enough air along. Even though Ponch seems unaffected after short jaunts, there’s no guaranteeing that the two of you will stay that way if you linger.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“One other thing. I’d confine the wizardry to just the two of you.”
Kit was silent for a moment. Then he said, “You’re saying that I should leave Nita out of this…”
Tom paused, too. “Well, it’s possible that the only one who’s going to be safe with Ponch as you start investigating this will be you. The semisymbiotic relationship might be what got you out of your bad situation last time. You don’t want to endanger anyone else until you’re sure what’s going on.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“But there’s something else,” Tom said. “I just had a look at the manual. Nita’s assignment status has changed. It says, ‘independent assignment, indeterminate period, subject confidential.’ You know what that’s about?”
“I have an idea,” Kit said, though he was uncertain.
“It sounds like she’s chasing down something of her own,” Tom said. “Usually when there’s a formal status change like that, it’s unwise to interrupt the other person unless you need their help on something critical to an ongoing project.”
“Uh, yeah,” Kit said. Now, how much does he know? “We just wound up a project, so nothing’s going on.” He felt guilty at the way he’d put that—but there were lots of things that “we” could mean.
“Okay. I saw the precis on that last one, though. Nice work; we’ll see how it holds up. But as regards Ponch, let me know when you find something out. The manual will want an annotation from you on the subject, though it’ll ‘trap’ the raw data as you go. And if you find anything in Ponch’s behavior that has to do with more-normal worldgating, tell the gating team in New York—though the fact that a dog’s involved is probably going to make them laugh, if it doesn’t actually ruffle their fur.”
“So to speak. Okay, Tom. Thanks!”
“Right. Best to Nita.” And Tom hung up, to the sound of more impatient barking.
Ow, Kit thought. The last few words made him hurt inside.
But he took a moment to get over it, then got up and went back into the kitchen to return the phone and see about some spaghetti.
4: Friday Night
After dinner Kit went upstairs to his bedroom, pausing by the door to Carmela’s room, at the sound of a
“Sounds about right.”
“But Tom—” Kit was wondering how to phrase this. “That the dogs might be able to find things, that I can understand. But how can they find places? Because Ponch has started finding them.”
There was quite a long pause. “That could be interesting,” Tom said. “Has he taken you to any of these places?”
“Just once. Just now.”
“Are you all right?”
“Now I am. I think,” Kit said, starting to shake again.
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Kit said. “It’s all right. It was just… a nothing place. No sound, no light or movement But Ponch got in there, and he knew how to get out again. He got me out, in fact, because I couldn’t do much of anything.”
“That’s interesting,” Tom said. “Would you consider going there again?”
“Not right now!” Kit said. “But later on, yeah. I want to find out where that was! And how it happened.”
“Well, pack animals do prefer to work in groups. From Ponch’s point of view, you two probably constitute a small pack, and maybe that’s why he’s able to share his new talent with you. But until now, to the best of my knowledge, no wizard’s found out exactly where the dogs go to get the things they bring back, because no one’s been able to go along. If you really want to follow up on this—”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then be careful. You should treat this as an unstable worldgating; you may not be able to get back the same way you left. Better check the manual for a tracing-and-homing spell to keep in place. And make sure you take enough air along. Even though Ponch seems unaffected after short jaunts, there’s no guaranteeing that the two of you will stay that way if you linger.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“One other thing. I’d confine the wizardry to just the two of you.”
Kit was silent for a moment. Then he said, “You’re saying that I should leave Nita out of this…”
Tom paused, too. “Well, it’s possible that the only one who’s going to be safe with Ponch as you start investigating this will be you. The semisymbiotic relationship might be what got you out of your bad situation last time. You don’t want to endanger anyone else until you’re sure what’s going on.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“But there’s something else,” Tom said. “I just had a look at the manual. Nita’s assignment status has changed. It says, ‘independent assignment, indeterminate period, subject confidential.’ You know what that’s about?”
“I have an idea,” Kit said, though he was uncertain.
“It sounds like she’s chasing down something of her own,” Tom said. “Usually when there’s a formal status change like that, it’s unwise to interrupt the other person unless you need their help on something critical to an ongoing project.”
“Uh, yeah,” Kit said. Now, how much does he know? “We just wound up a project, so nothing’s going on.” He felt guilty at the way he’d put that—but there were lots of things that “we” could mean.
“Okay. I saw the precis on that last one, though. Nice work; we’ll see how it holds up. But as regards Ponch, let me know when you find something out. The manual will want an annotation from you on the subject, though it’ll ‘trap’ the raw data as you go. And if you find anything in Ponch’s behavior that has to do with more-normal worldgating, tell the gating team in New York—though the fact that a dog’s involved is probably going to make them laugh, if it doesn’t actually ruffle their fur.”
“So to speak. Okay, Tom. Thanks!”
“Right. Best to Nita.” And Tom hung up, to the sound of more impatient barking.
Ow, Kit thought. The last few words made him hurt inside.
But he took a moment to get over it, then got up and went back into the kitchen to return the phone and see about some spaghetti.
4: Friday Night
After dinner Kit went upstairs to his bedroom, pausing by the door to Carmela’s room, at the sound of a
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