Myth 13 - Myth Alliances Asprin, Robert (top 100 novels .TXT) 📖

Myth 13 - Myth Alliances

TWENTY-FOUR

“Interesting place. Wonder what they sell here?”

Ñ m. polo

It was a good thing that we had such an experienced di?mensional traveler as Zol with us. Even Tananda had never visited Ronko. The route from Wuh had taken us through three intermediate hops, each into dimensions less than friendly to Klahd metabolism. I would never have tried such a transit on my own.

Gleep had perked up every time we materialized in a new place, but seemed to understand that no matter how in?teresting the smells were coming from that primeval swamp or those volcanoes, it was more important to stay close to us while Zol calculated the next jump. In the meanwhile, I kept wards around us, sealing in a bubble of air that we could breathe.

The second hop left us teetering on a boulder perched on a mountaintop that threatened to topple over and plum?met us into an avalanche of bright blue snow. Even Gleep looked nervous as we all wobbled with our arms out, trying to keep our uneasy perch from overbalancing.

At the conclusion of the third hop we found ourselves on level ground. Well, at least it wasn't moving. The city around me, for it was a city, swooped upwards on both sides of the street on which we were standing. I had been in cities before, including the filthy and dreary burg on Perv that Aahz hailed from, but I had never seen one like this before.

Instead of plain boxes, the buildings on either side were made in fanciful shapes. To our left was a turreted castle covered with bright yellow tiles. Next to it, a squat fortress made of green stone seemed to beckon us toward its portcullis with concentric arcs of lights that blinked in se?quence from the outside inward, over and over again. Across the street stood a vast rough wooden box, fifty feet on a side, with what was the mother of all bird's nests on it, each straw as thick in diameter as my body. That was just a relative sample of the structures we could see from where we stood. And the signs! Hundreds of them were plastered on all flat surfaces, from the sides of big vehicles to entire walls of soaring buildings. Brilliant orange, pink and blue ribbons of light were shaped into letters and pic?tures. We couldn't read any of them, but the illustrations above and around them made their meaning clear. They were advertisements.

I enjoyed looking at them. Everyone in them looked cheerful, healthy and prosperous. I couldn't help being in?terested in what they were so cheerful about. The street was full of traffic, both foot and vehicle. I pressed my back against a handy lamppost so I could see the giant posters without getting in anyone's way. The denizens of Ronko were similar in shape to Klahds, though they were slightly smaller in stature, like Zol. All of them were talking on small devices or playing with square toys that beeped or bobbing their heads from side to side as they walked.

“It doesn't look like the Pervects have started their strike yet,” I observed. “Maybe we've gotten here first and can head them off.”

“I'm afraid you are incorrect, Master Skeeve,” Zol replied. “We are too late.”

He pointed. My eyes followed the line of his finger.

On the side of the biggest building we had yet seen was a gigantic representation of a Pervect female wearing a military uniform. Serpentine yellow eyes caught passing glances and held them, daring one to look away. The Per?vect in the picture held an object which I didn't need to have anyone tell me was what the Wuhses in the factory were assembling. It was a cylinder about the length of my forearm, with a plunger at one end and wicked-​looking blades protruding from the round casing at the other.

“It's a weapon,” Tananda mused critically. “It must be nasty, if it has to have a safety casing like that around the business end.”

“I wonder what the poster says?” I asked.

Bunny held up Bytina. “She translated it for me. Look.” Bunny held the PDA under our noses. There, on the little screen, was a miniature representation of the huge adver?tisement. Instead of the square script of the Ronkonese, curly letters in Klahdish spelled out an order.

“We want YOU to join the growing army of happy Pervomatic users!”

“It's a recruiting poster,” I growled.

Zol's dark eyes went wide. “How could we have missed the clues?” he demanded, shaking his head at his own naivete. “It was there on their desktop: they were looking for a force. But for what purpose?”

I smacked my fist into my hand. “To take over other di?mensions. They supply the weapons here on Ronko, then use the Ronkonese as a strike force somewhere else. It's brilliant.”

“What are four of us going to do?” Tananda asked.

“Gleep!” protested my pet.

“Sorry, Gleep,” Tananda replied, scratching him around the jowls. "Five of us ... And if your suggestion is join up,

I may love you like a brother, but the answer this time is a flat no."

Having seen how complications can set in even in such a straightforward enterprise as trying to disrupt an army from within (for further information on the last time my companions got involved in an operation like that I draw your attention to the fine book M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action), I shook my head.

“We're going