Wolves of the Calla

best, their most fiercely concentrated. That meant no distractions. It also meant that she must be there to take her place.

She yanked up her jeans, did the buttons, and went out into the bright sunshine, absently rubbing at her left temple. She saw the new lock on the privy-just as Roland had asked-and began to smile. Then she looked down at her shadow and the smile froze. When she'd gone into the privy, her Dark Lady had stretched out nine-in-the-morning long. Now she was saying that if noon wasn't here, it would be shortly.

That's impossible. I was only in there a few minutes. Long enough to pee.

Perhaps that was true. Perhaps it was Mia who had been in there the rest of the time.

'No,' she said. 'That can't be so.'

But Susannah thought it was. Mia wasn't ascendant-not yet-but she was rising. Getting ready to take over, if she could.

Please, she prayed, putting one hand out against the privy wall to brace herself. Just three more days, God. Give me three more days as myself, let us do our duty to the children of this place, and then what You will. Whatever You will. But please -

'Just three more,' she murmured. 'And if they do us down out there, it won't matter noway. Three more days, God. Hear me, I beg.'

TEN

A day later, Eddie and Tian Jaffords went looking for Andy and came upon him standing by himself at the wide and dusty junction of East and River Roads, singing at the top of his…

'Nope,' Eddie said as he and Tian approached, 'can't say lungs, he doesn't have lungs.'

'Cry pardon?' Tian asked.

'Nothing,' Eddie said. 'Doesn't matter.' But, by the process of association-lungs to general anatomy-a question had occurred to him. 'Tian, is there a doctor in the Calla?'

Tian looked at him with surprise and some amusement. 'Not us, Eddie. Gut-tossers might do well for rich folks who have the time to go and the money to pay, but when us gets sick, we go to one of the Sisters.'

'The Sisters of Oriza.'

'Yar. If the medicine's good-it usually be-we get better. If it ain't, we get worse. In the end the ground cures all, d'ye see?'

'Yes,' Eddie said, thinking how difficult it must be for them to fit roont children into such a view of things. Those who came back roont died eventually, but for years they just… lingered.

'There's only three boxes to a man, anyro',' Tian said as they approached the solitary singing robot. Off in the eastern distance, between Calla Bryn Sturgis and Thunderclap, Eddie could see scarves of dust rising toward the blue sky, aluiough it was perfecdy still where they were.

'Boxes?'

'Aye, say true,' Tian said, then rapidly touched his brow, his breast, and his butt. 'Headbox, titbox, shitbox.' And he laughed heartily.

'You say that?' Eddie asked, smiling.

'Well… out here, between us, it does fine,' Tian said, 'although I guess no proper lady'd hear the boxes so described at her table.' He touched his head, chest, and bottom again. 'Thoughtbox, heartbox, ki'box.'

Eddie heard key. 'What's that last one mean? What kind of key unlocks your ass?'

Tian stopped. They were in plain view of Andy, but the robot ignored them completely, singing what sounded like opera in a language Eddie couldn't understand. Every now and then Andy held his arms up or crossed them, the gestures seemingly part of the song he was singing.

'Hear me,' Tian said kindly. 'A man is stacked, do ye ken. On top is his thoughts, which is the finest part of a man.'

'Or a woman,' Eddie said, smiling.

Tian nodded seriously. 'Aye, or a woman, but we use man to stand for both, because woman was born of man's breath, kennit'

'Do you say so?' Eddie asked, thinking of some women's-lib types he'd met before leaving New York for Mid-World. He doubted they'd care for that idea much more than for the part of the Bible that said Eve had been made from Adam's rib.

'Let it be so,' Tian agreed, 'but it was Lady Oriza who gave birth to the first man, so the old folks will tell you. They say Can-ah, can- tah, annah, Oriza: 'All breath comes from the woman.' '

'So tell me about these boxes.'

'Best and highest is the head, with all the head's ideas and dreams. Next is the heart, with all our feelings of love and sadness and joy and happiness-'

'The emotions.'

Tian looked both puzzled and respectful. 'Do you say so?'

'Well, where I come from we do, so let it be so.'

'Ah.' Tian nodded as if the concept were interesting but only borderline comprehensible. This time instead of touching his bottom, he patted his crotch. 'In the last box is all what we'd call low-commala: have a fuck, take a shit, maybe want to do someone a meanness for no reason.'

'And if you do have a reason?'

'Oh, but then it wouldn't be meanness, would it?' Tian asked, looking amused. 'In that case, it'd come from the heart-box or the head-box.'

'That's bizarre,' Eddie said, but he supposed it wasn't, not really. In his mind's eye he could see three neatly stacked crates: head on top of heart, heart on top of all the animal functions and groundless rages people sometimes felt. He was particularly fascinated by Tian's use of the word meanness, as if it were some kind of behavioral landmark. Did that make sense, or didn't it? He would have to consider it carefully, and this wasn't the time.

Andy still stood gleaming in the sun, pouring out great gusts of song. Eddie had a vague memory of some kids back in the neighborhood, yelling out I'm the Barber of Seville-a, You must try my fucking skill-a and then running away, laughing like loons as they went.

'Andy!' Eddie said, and the robot broke off at once.

'Hile, Eddie, I see you well! Long days and pleasant nights!'

'Same to you,' Eddie said. 'How are you?'

'Fine, Eddie!' Andy said fervently. 'I always enjoy singing before the first seminon.'

'Seminon?'

'It's what we call the windstorms that come before true winter,' Tian said, and pointed to the clouds of dust far beyond the Whye. 'Yonder comes the first one; it'll be here either the day of Wolves or the day after, I judge.'

'The day of, sai,' said Andy. ' 'Seminon comin, warm days go runnin.' So they say.' He bent toward Eddie. Clickings came from inside his gleaming head. His blue eyes flashed on and off. 'Eddie, I have cast a great horoscope, very long and complex, and it shows victory against the Wolves! A great victory, indeed! You will vanquish your enemies and then meet a beautiful lady!'

'I already have a beautiful lady,' Eddie said, trying to keep his voice pleasant. He knew perfectly well what those rapidly flashing blue lights meant; the son of a bitch was laughing at him. Well, he thought, maybe you'll be laughing on the other side of your face a couple of days from now, Andy. I certainly hope so.

'So you do, but many a married man has had his jilly, as I told sai tian jaffords not so long ago.'

'Not those who love their wives,' Tian said. 'I told you so then and I tell you now.'

'Andy, old buddy,' Eddie said earnestly, 'we came out here in hopes that you'd do us a solid on the night before the Wolves come. Help us a little, you know.'

There were several clicking sounds deep in Andy's chest, and this time when his eyes flashed, they almost seemed alarmed. 'I would if I could, sai,' Andy said, 'oh yes, there's nothing I like more than helping my friends, but there are a great many things I can't do, much as I might like to.'

'Because of your programming.'

'Aye.' The smug so-happy-to-see-you tone had gone out of Andy's voice. He sounded more like a machine now. Yeah, that's his fallback position, Eddie thought. That's Andy being careful. You've seen em come and go, haven't you, Andy? Sometimes they call you a useless bag of bolts and mostly they ignore you, but either way you end up walking over their bones and singing your songs, don't you? But not this time, pal. No, I don't think so.

'When were you built, Andy? I'm curious. When did you roll off the old LaMerk assembly line?'

'Long ago, sai.' The blue eyes flashing very slowly now. Not laughing anymore.

'Two thousand years?'

'Longer, I believe. Sai, I know a song about drinking that you might like, it's very amusing-'

'Maybe another time. Listen, good buddy, if you're thousands of years old, how is it that you're programmed concerning the Wolves?'

From inside Andy there came a deep, reverberant clunk, as though something had broken. When he spoke again, it was in the dead, emotionless voice Eddie had first heard on the edge of Mid-Forest. The voice of Bosco Bob when ole Bosco was getting ready to cloud up and rain all over you.

'What's your password, sai Eddie?'

'Think we've been down this road before, haven't we?'

'Password. You have ten seconds. Nine… eight… seven…'

'That password shit's very convenient for you, isn't it?'

'Incorrect password, sai Eddie.'

'Kinda like taking the Fifth.'

'Two… one… zero. You may retry once. Would you retry, Eddie?'