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I'll survive to that point and if I
do, I'll face the situation when it comes. Gedemondas, for one. I have to go
there. I have to talk to them, explain the situation, see which way they will
go."
He nodded. "I'll accept that answer. And the per-centage?"
She realized he was talking about himself. "And after? Well, it would be nice
to be on Brazil's side if he reaches the Well, wouldn't it? At least, I'd
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rather be on his side if he gets in than one of his enemies."
He considered that. "One thing at a time. Gedemon-das will do for now. You
think they'll talk to you?"
"I think so," she replied. "They did before, any-way. And I'm the only one who
was there who they allowed to remember exactly what happened, to re-member
them at all."
"Um. Wouldn't do much good if we went in there and I came out never
remembering a thing, would it?"
She shrugged. "No guarantees. I'm surprised you be-lieve me now. Nobody else
did."
"Ortega did," he told her. "He couldn't afford not to check it out completely.
There were just enough tiny inconsistencies in the others' stories to cast
doubt, and he had no sign of that in you. He concluded you were telling the
truth. Matter of fact, he once held your ac-count out to me as bait for a job.
Knew I
couldn't re-sist."
"I need to go there," she told him flatly. "I need to go there soon. I have
other things to do. But I don't know the hex, don't know the trails, don't
have any guide, or credit for provisions or anything. I need your help badly.
And I'm your best shot at meeting the Gedemondans."
He nodded agreement to that last statement. "All right, I'll get whatever you
need. You're welcome to come with us."
She sighed. Mission partially accomplished. "How many are you?"
"Five, counting you. All Dillians." He put on a mock leer. "All male except
for you. That bother you?"
"I can take care of myself," she responded flatly.
He grinned and nodded approvingly. "I bet you can, too."
Embassy of Ulik, South Zone
"the grand council, south, isconvened." ortegadeclared solemnly from his
office, but it was ritual only. It
meant that all the embassies at Zone were now connected together in an
elaborate communica-tions net.
The creatures who breathed water, the ones that breathed one or another
mixture of air, and some who didn't really breathe at all could now con-verse.
Not all the hexes of the Southern hemisphere of the Well
World were represented; and some, like Gedemondas, never sent anyone and their
offices were empty.
A fairly large number of councillors, like Ortega, were Entries people who
were originally from other places and races in the vast universe and had
blundered into Markovian gates. They made good council members; such people
were usually more adept at handling new Entries, having gone through the
experience personally.
"This meeting was called at my request because I believe it is imperative we
all understand what is going on and decide on a common policy of dealing with
it," Ortega went on. Briefly he explained the situation as he understood it,
holding nothing back.
Finally, he got down to the real business. "We have several options here," he
told them. "The first is to do nothing. This will result in a temporary
doubling of the Well World's population, a severe strain on resources but only
for a short time. Unimpeded, Brazil would go to the Well, do what he has to
do, then reduce the population by the same factor as he increased it in his
overall restocking process. This would result in inconvenience, yes, but not
anything we couldn't handle."
"If he used the newcomers only to do that restock-ing," someone noted. "If he
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uses all of us, it's the end.
Or if he isn't choosy whether there are newcomers or natives, for that
matter."
Ortega nodded in reflex toward the speaker, al-though there were no television
circuits. "That, of course, is precisely it. I know Brazil. I know he's a man
of his word. But, in all fairness, he's going to be doing something all by
himself that the Markovians did as a race and that's not the way the system
was designed. We don't know if he has that kind of con-trol or confidence. He
will be doing it for the first time and can't really know, either. He's a
Markovian for sure I've seen him in his natural form. But if we trust his own
story and though I'll take his word of honor on things, I would never believe
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