The Wizardry Quested by Cook

Author:Cook [Cook, Rick]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science fiction, Fantasy, General, Fiction, Fantasy - General, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction - Fantasy, Wizards, Fantasy - Series, Computer programs
ISBN: 9780671877088
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2010-01-21T16:02:39+00:00

THIRTEEN - MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

“It has been longer than an hour, has it not?” Bal-Simba asked nearly two hours later.

“Yeah, but don't worry. If he said he was coming, he's coming. Probably. It's just that time doesn't mean the same thing to him it does to you or me.” Bal-Simba nodded. “Elven blood.” Jerry didn't have a chance to respond before someone called out “Mr. Andrews?” and Jerry turned to see the object of their quest.

Seeing him once again Jerry appreciated how he got the nickname Tajmanian Devil.”

E.T. Tajikawa was rather over six feet tall and loose-limbed without being gangly. But it was the face that got you. It was thin, with an unusually aquiline nose, high cheekbones, narrow lips and topped by a pronounced widow's peak of black hair. The only thing that kept him from looking positively satanic was the perpetual expression of bemused interest. “Jerry; please. And this is Bal-Simba.” “Cool.” Taj shook hands. “Now what's this big deal?” “Come on out back Part of the problems in a truck.” “What are you guys gonna do, kidnap me?” “Only if we must,” Bal-Simba said mildly. “No, no,” Jerry put in hastily. “Nothing like that, but there's something out there you gotta see.”

Taj eyed them suspiciously. “Prototype hardware?” “Kinda. Ah, look, have you heard anything about a dragon at the show?”

“Is that you? I'll say! You guys are causing more of a stir than anything on the show floor. Even Intel's pre-announcement leak of the Octium-and-a-half.”

“Octium-and-a-half?” Jerry asked as he held the door open for Taj.

“It's a P8 with a couple of extra ALUs, a bigger look ahead cache and another pipeline. Even in simulation the original was a slug, barely 300 MIPS. Anyway,” Taj went on without a break, “there are stories about that dragon all over the show. There's also a bidding war going on for the video game rights. If you guys don't have an agent…”

“Right now we've got bigger problems,” Jerry said.

All through this Bal-Simba had been behind Tajikawa, studying his ears closely for signs of points.

“What's with him?”

“He thinks you're an elf.”

Taj looked over his shoulder at the wizard. “I've got some friends who are Radical Faeries. Does that count?”

When they got to the truck, Jerry rolled up the back and Fluffy's head jerked erect.

“My God!” Tajikawa said.

“Get on in. We don't want too many people to see this.” He and Bal-Simba followed the Tajmanian Devil into the truck and rolled down the back behind them.

By that time Taj was already examining the dragon. “Someone did a hell of a job on this skin,” he said. Then he reached out and grabbed Fluffy's foreleg just above the joint and kneaded the flesh experimentally. The dragon drew back its head and hissed, giving Taj a faceful of sulfurous breath and a close look at a dragon's dental equipment.

Taj didn't so much jump back as levitate retrograde. “My God!” he yelped. “It's real!”

“I'm sorry, My Lord,” Moira said contritely. “I am not always the master of this body's reflexes.

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