Unexpected Magic Read Online Free PDF Page A

believe that your mind is far more open than hers. She was born to a high place in the Matriarchy and is now one of the most powerful members of the High Coven—”
    â€œCoven!” said F. C. Stone. “Whose book is this out of?”
    There was a pause. The curlicue gave several agitated jumps. Then the golden voice said, “Look, please let me explain. I’m delaying jump as long as I can, but there really is only a very narrow window before I have to go or abort.”
    He sounded very pleading. Or perhaps beguiling was a better word, F. C. Stone thought, for that kind of voice. “All right,” she said. “Get on with the program. But just tell me first what you mean when you say mistress , Danny.”
    â€œAdny,” he said. “My name is Adny.”
    â€œAdny, then,” said F. C. Stone. “ Mistress has two meanings.”
    â€œWhy, I suppose I mean both,” he answered. “I was sold to Candy as a child, the way all men are in this universe. Men have almost no rights in the Matriarchy, and the Matriarchy is the chief power in our galaxy. I have been luckier than most, being sold to a mistress who is an adept of the High Coven. I have learned from her—”
    F. C. Stone gave a slight exasperated sigh. For a moment there she had been uneasy. It had all seemed far more like a conversation than any program Danny could produce. But his actor friend seemed to have got back to his lines now. She shot forth another question. “So where is your mistress now?”
    â€œBeside me, unconscious,” was the reply.
    â€œSenile?” said F. C. Stone.
    â€œBelieve me, they are liable to it,” he said. “The forces they handle do seem to damage them, and it does seem to overtake them oftenest when they’re out in space. But”—she could hear the smile in his voice—“I must confess that I was responsible for this one. It took me years of study before I could outwit her, but I did it.”
    â€œCongratulations, Adny,” said F. C. Stone. “What do you want me to do about it? You’re asking me to help you in your male backlash, is that it?”
    â€œYes, but you need do almost nothing,” he replied. “Since you are the counterpart of Candida One, the computer is accepting you already. If you wish to help me, all I need is your voice authorizing Candida Two to allow me functions Nine and Ten. I can then tap my mistress’s full power and navigate the ship to my rendezvous, whereupon I will cut this connection and cease interrupting you in your work.”
    â€œ What !” said F. C. Stone. “You mean I don’t get to navigate a word processor?”
    â€œI don’t understand,” said Adny.
    â€œThen you’d better!” said F. C. Stone. She was surprised at how strongly she felt. “Listen, Danny or Adny, or whoever you are! My whole career, my entire success as a writer, has been founded on the fact that I enjoy , more than anything else, sitting in front of this screen and pretending it’s the controls of a starship. I enjoy the dazed feeling, I like the exhaustion, I don’t mind getting cramp, and I even like drinking myself sick on ogvai ! The only reason I haven’t turned the machine off again is the chance that you’re going to let me do it for real—or what feels like for real, I don’t care which—and I’m not going to let that chance slip. You let me pilot my WP and I’ll even authorize you to function Eleven afterward, if there is such a thing. Is that clear?”
    â€œIt is very clear, Great Lady,” he said. There was that in his tone that suggested he was very used to yielding to demanding women, but could there have been triumph in it, too?
    F. C. Stone was not sure of that tone, but she did not let it worry her. “Right,” she said. “Brief me.”
    â€œVery well,” he said, “though it may not be what