Rob and Facit left tofind Melanie and found that she was reading a book on a chair inthe garden outside the mansion. Rob went to walk out, but Facitasked him to hold back a moment.
‘We shouldn’t leave thehouse, Rob.’
‘Why? We’ll only beoutside for a couple of minutes and I want to see the look onMelanie’s face when she sees two of me.’
‘I’ve been here as yourguest for too long. People may have had time to track me down. Ihave enemies and usually keep ahead of them by moving continually.We have had a wonderful time together I will not forget it,’ saidFacit.
‘I have also enjoyedyour company Facit, but remember the deal. We must both forget whathappened,’ said Rob. ‘Let’s surprise Melanie, then we’ll have somerest and get ready for a celebration tonight.’
Facit thought about itthen ventured ‘I guess you’re right, they’ll be looking for me as aLogicon in a cubic body case. It should be safe enough.’ And theywent outside to surprise Melanie.
Rob spotted Melaniesitting on a blanket leaning against the base of a statue reading abook as both he and Facit walked over to her.
‘Melanie!’ they calledtogether.
She looked around witha surprised chuckle, dropped the book and came over to them.
‘By the Powers Rob,what are you doing?’
‘Which one of us is thereal me?’ Rob asked.
‘It’s me of course,’Facit prompted.
‘No Melanie, I’m thereal me!’ said Rob.
She looked them over,walked around them and sniffed them both and, smiling, walkedaround in front of them and said ‘You’re the real one’, pointing toFacit. ‘You both look identical but I know how Rob smells.’
She suddenly realisedthat what she said might be misinterpreted and looked a littleembarrassed.
‘I’m sorry Rob, Ididn’t mean to say you smell but a woman learns to discern males bytheir scent and you two have different scents.’ Suddenly her facechanged dramatically. ‘Behind you!’ she shouted.
Both Rob and Facit spunaround to see a large alien looking newman- shaped figure in dullblack plate armour holding a very large sword, standing just tenpaces from them. Its eyes glowed a rich golden colour and itannounced:
‘I am the Law. I have awarrant for the arrest of Facit the Fleet. You are charged withbeing a political terrorist and will submit peacefully, or besentenced to death where you stand.’
A globe of forceappeared around Facit.
‘Wait,’ yelled Rob, asanger flooded his mind. ‘I wish to see the warrant.’
The creature lookedclosely at Rob and said ‘You are also a lawbreaker. You have aidedand abetted a known criminal in concealing his identity. You willaccompany me as well,’ and a second globe of force appeared aroundRob.
Granddad appeared onthe lawn beside them. ‘What’s happening here!’ he demanded sternly.‘This is private property!’
‘I am the Law,’ saidthe creature. ‘Go about your business citizen. Interference in myduties carries a sentence of death.’
Granddad hesitated asif to think of some excuse to stop Facit and Rob from being taken,but he was too slow. The creature moved to the force spheres,touched them, and they were teleported away.
‘By the PowersGranddad, what was that!’ cried Melanie.
‘That was an archon.They are supposed to be guardians of justice; however, they areoften employed by autocratic governments to catch dissidents suchas Facit. They are very tough fighters, and not to be treatedlightly.’ It then occurred to him that Rob’s spirit had been inFacit’s Logicon body.
‘I hope they swappedtheir spirits back to their correct bodies. If not Rob could end upin a damn difficult situation here. Come, we’ll have to move fast.I want you to go to the Logicon Embassy and deliver a letter byhand to a person that I know there.’
Chapter 4 Slip SlidingAway
The archon reappearedwith his two prisoners at a teleport marker back at his base in thePanmagica Justice Centre. His eye glowed again and he addressed acolleague.
‘This one is thealleged Logicon criminal that I was sent to apprehend. I’ll deliverhim to the Logicon Embassy as ordered. The other one was aiding andabetting. We should hold him here until he can be identified andcharged. Please place him in a holding area until I return.’ Hethen teleported away but before he left, Rob noticed that Facit hadchanged his face. He no longer looked like Rob, so Rob quicklymodified his own face.
The globe of forcedissipated when the archon left and Rob was led to an officer whosearched him and who asked who he was. Rob replied that he was Jon,a servant employed by the Theolaur family. This was duly noted andhe was escorted to the local temporary lockup cells and tossed intoone. The problem he had was that his source would soon run out andhis body would revert to its normal Logicon body shape. Since fewhad seen a Logicon outside its body shell, he was about to revealtheir true identity; that could be very embarrassing to allconcerned.
Rob was placed in asmall bare stone cell with two other men, both of whom looked quitedrunk. He quickly decided that escape was his only option. Therewas a small latrine hole in one corner of the cell covered with apiece of stinking cloth, presumably there to reduce the smell. Thatwas his route of exit but he couldn’t show his cellmates his trueshape, so he decided that it was time for a little mind magic.
While he had never hadenough magic in his source to use any powerful mind magic powers,he had learned some very useful powers that required little magicessence. Since a very young age he had been able to use his mindpower to adjust the levels of light in the area around him. Later,he had learnt that sound could also be manipulated, at low cost tohis source. He used his ability to adjust the light level todarkness; then shape changed back to the Logicon form, pulled outthe cloth in the latrine hole, and slithered into it.
He expected his escapethrough the latrine to the sewer below to be a horrible stinkingaffair but was quite surprised. Once in Logicon form, instead ofthe latrine smelling disgusting it actually smelt quite appealing.As he slipped and slithered
