The Jehovah Contract

'Mr. Canfield,' she said, 'are the neural interruptors connected?'

'

Ten-four

,' came the proud reply. '

We are patched into the VideoSat network. All three satellites are broadcasting a low-level NI beam.

'

The entire planet was being bathed in a field that subconsciously opened people's minds to pliant suggestibility. Most people wouldn't even notice me when I made contact with their minds via Isadora's broadcasting telepathy.

'Excellent, Mr. Canfield. If you'd like to return to

Starfinder

and hook on to an umbilical, please do so. I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside the cargo bay.'

'

I don't mind one bit. It'll give me a chance to sightsee.

' The radio squelched off.

'There,' Bridget announced, tying off the end of the white thread with a strange-looking knot. Ann did the same to the red thread, cutting off the remainder of the spool. The kid and I were held fast inside a crazy maze of lines and angles.

The ventilation system shifted into a moderately higher mode of operation. I smelled the reason why. Bridget had lit a self-igniting tablet of charcoal and spiked it into a spherical censer filled with a sweet, cloying incense. Wire gauze prevented the particles from escaping after she sealed the silver ball up. A bluish-gray cloud filled the cargo bay.

Bridget made a complicated gesture with her hands, then withdrew a sheathed black athame from the altar. This she tied to her waist with a knotted red cord. It was the only thing she wore.

Ann tied her Bowie around her own waist, but the cord she used was deep purple.

'Which way is east?' the naked crone asked with a frown. 'We have to start at the east.'

Ann shrugged. 'Wherever the altar is can be considered east.'

Bridget shook her head emphatically. 'This has to be done right.' She looked over at me. 'Has the plane of the altar been aligned with the plane of the ecliptic?'

'Yes,' I said, unable to nod.

'And has the bow of the ship been pointed toward the constellation Taurus?'

'Um, yes.'

She mused for a few seconds. 'And Canfield did orient celestial north above the altar?'

'Yep.'

'That means-let's see.' She stroked at her left breast while thinking. Without gravity tugging at her, she looked decades younger. 'That means Scorpio is aft, Aquarius is port, and Leo starboard. Excellent.'

'We can orient the magickal circle with the celestial circle, then?' Ann floated a few feet away from me. Deliciously near, yet achingly out of reach.

Bridget faced the altar, nodding. I nearly screwed my eyes out of their sockets trying to watch. It was just plain

eerie

to see her hover inches off the deck as if she were levitating. The whole bay surged with the same feeling of dreamlike fantasy.

'The main circle is properly aligned,' the witch said. 'However, since we're going to need protection on all sides, we'll have to cut three circles. One for each axis of motion.' She drew her athame from its sheath. Slowly, uneasily, she traced an angular circle that caromed off the cargo bay doors, the rear bulkhead, and the deck. She had to