03. Masters of Flux and Anchor (51 page)

"Unless some new wave of religion and knowledge suppression knocks us back again. New Eden still has that potential. Changes in that system will come slowly, and with much suffering. The system that ultimately emerges may be something entirely new, but maybe not anything we'd like. Whether it's just another Fluxland variation or something really radical and new remains to be seen." He paused a moment. "You've talked with your mother?"

She nodded. "She's changed. She's really changed from the person I knew."

Matson gave a sardonic smile. "No she hasn't." he said. "With the possible exception of me, she's the most consistent person I've ever known. You know she expects me to come back and marry her, and Suzl." He sighed. "I'm surprised and my ego's a bit bruised that she let me get away so easy this time."

"I don't know. I don't think I'll ever understand either one of you. You, for example, have been so busy practically running New Eden the past few weeks I'm surprised you didn't stay. Maybe she expects you to come back and protect New Eden from the re-emergence of the worst elements of the old leadership."

"Most of Coydt's bad boys were at the Gate when the ship blew, which was mighty convenient. They didn't trust anybody, not even themselves, to be anywhere else. The junior officers, most of which grew up in this sort of system or spent most of their lives in it, are shocked by the evil of their leaders. They really believed in the dream and feel betrayed. Using Tilghman as a model and a martyr was simple because of that, and the officers proceeded to do their own purging. They'll be the power brokers now, the men who make the decisions, and they'll do it from the framework of this master program. None of them consid¬ered leaving for a moment."

"That's another depressing thing, I think. Even on the borders with Flux, most of the women chose to remain there even knowing what they do now."

"Yeah. In fact, more men left than women. Remember, almost all of the women are Anchorfolk with a long¬standing and deep-seated fear of Flux. It's the old Anchor Logh proposition all over again. Better the devil you know than the hell you don't. Most of 'em certainly don't under¬stand the full ramifications of what they're choosing, but that's par for the course. Many had young kids and no alternatives for them or themselves. Most of the ones who did understand knew they'd probably just wind up slaves of some Fluxlord. and there were quite a bunch that really bought the new faith's line. You know, as bad as the new system sounds, when you consider the alternatives for most folks it's really not that awful, and now that the women have their pasts, their skills, their self-control back they'll gamble on changing the system from within. It may be a bad gamble, but who knows for sure?"

"I gather you don't put much stock in their new faith."

"I put great stock in it as a driving force for a new culture, but if you mean believe in it, no. I believe in machines and people. I believe that machines will keep on doing any dumb thing they're told even if it doesn't work, and I believe that people, when faced with critical choices in their lives, will always do the safest and easiest thing— and it's the wrong thing ninety percent of the time." He took out a cigar and lit it. "I gather Suzl never told Cassie that Tilghman could be ressurrected if you went along."

"No. Suzl is a competent and sometimes smart person, no matter what she seems to be. She knows I'll never do it, and she knows she can't talk any of the others into it, and she sees no reason to drive a permanent wedge be¬tween Mom and me. And—she understands. She admired Tilghman, that's clear, but she loves only her own children, Mom, and me." She sighed. "You know, if Suzl had ever had any goals, any ambition in her, she could have done or been anything she wanted to be. She doesn't, though. She just always makes the best of what she's stuck with. She didn't even care what happened to New Eden—she let Mom decide that."

"Well, most folks are that way," he said philosophically. "I never had any real goals, except personal and tempo¬rary ones. I doubt if you do, either. I don't judge and condemn, like Mervyn did, and I don't want to change the world like your Mom. I'm too old and cynical to believe people can be fixed up to the good. I'm satisfied if it leaves me alone."

"Even if it's New Eden and its computer-derived religion?"

He chuckled. "I don't know where religions get their pedigrees. Certainly I kind of believe in some God someplace, if only because I just can't believe all this is an accident—it's irrational. I kind of suspect that the reason women are more religious than men is that they get to see it start with a good screw, then develop as a lump, come out a baby, and see that baby turn into a complicated human being. I just can't take the idea seriously that it's the way the science fellows say, that it was all chance and good luck, and neither have a lot of other smart folks. But going from that to any one true religion is just as bad to me. In those records old Tilghman studied there were dozens of religions back on old Earth, and a good many here. All disagreed and all were sure they were right. He tried to reconcile them and give the result direct applica¬tion to World. It's not as crazy as it seems."

"What he came up with was."

"No sillier than praying to a planet that's nothing but a big ball of gas, I don't think. He started with the notion that we were part animal and part thinking creature, and he decided we were maybe sixty percent animal and forty percent think, which might be generous. He looked at World from his own background, and decided that all the animal urges could be covered but one—sex. Gender, actually. He decided that this was at the root of our real headaches. Maybe it wasn't for the ancient folks, but it was for us. He came from a society that had a female empress-goddess who dominated all the males, remember, and he was liberated by Coydt, who sure as hell had sex as his reason for doing everything he did. The Anchors were dominated by a women-only clergy. But the old religions had men running the society. Women could get high up by exceptional ability or accident, but mostly it was a male-oriented society. That got him to thinking. The fact is, the way us humans are made up, women are superior to men and men know it, deep down. The male strut and roar covers a basic inferiority complex."

She stared at him. "Come again?"

"Yep. Men only exist at all on the biological level to serve one purpose, and one man can serve that purpose to a lot of women. Other than that, men aren't really necessary. Women think as sharp as men, can do just about anything men can do, and can run a church, a society, a government, an army—you name it. Because of child-bearing, you actually have a better tolerance for pain and better reactions. Left alone in Anchor with no spells, you naturally live longer than men. Not that you're any better at governing or running a business or a church or even a battle, but you're no worse, either. And, deep down, most men know this. You see where it leads?"

"I think you're making too strong a case against your own sex."

"Nope. It's clear. Oh, I got more arm muscles and bigger chest muscles, but two or three women can lift what I can or use a rope and pulley just like I would. That's why human society went the way it did. Men had to be the boss, had to run things, had to have all that responsibility— otherwise, they had no reason for being at all. Just screw a lot until they made a bunch of babies, then curl up and die. In the old days. Anchor men committed suicide ten times more than Anchor women. They were sick and lethargic and only running the play government and playing soldier on the walls gave 'em any feeling of worth. That's why most of the male Fluxlords are so devoted to women being sex objects or slaves."

"Is this you—or Tilghman?"

"Both of us. But old Adam, now, he was an intellectual and it drove him nuts. He finally decided that it was illogical for men to live past procreation at all unless society had to be male dominated. Since this didn't seem fair, he took from one of the old religions the idea that sexes alternate, that we live as both before going on to the great reward. Believe that, and the rest is logical. It gets rid of the moral problem."

"So his male ego, his inferiority complex, led to the subjugation of women in New Eden?"

"You might say that. He didn't see it that way. He started with the woman. She had to have the children, because men couldn't, and he felt kids needed a full-time parent to turn out right. Now since the man was always number two in that situation, it was his job to earn the living and provide the other basic needs—food, shelter, clothing, whatever—and protect his home and family. He was also expendable—we could lose a lot of men and still have the same number of kids, but we couldn't lose a lot of women and do that. So he saw them as complements, and opposites, in every way imaginable. To make it even fairer, he wanted every girl to be shapely, sexy, and pretty, and every guy to be tall, muscular, and handsome. He believed that system would produce a balanced world of peace and plenty."

"You don't think so, though."

"Well," he said, thinking it over, "I don't know. I kind of doubt it. But for me, the worst part is that it won't get a fair chance unless all of World is brought under the system, and I don't like that idea any more than you do. The system they eventually export won't be the one that's there now, but it's still going to be one I wouldn't like to live under, and no matter how the male-female relation¬ships wind up it'll be a technological powerhouse."

"Do you think they'll win?"

"No. Tilghman and New Eden unleashed a force that won't be stopped on World now, but it isn't their system. Their system's pretty tame, when you think about it. They broke down the Church, they broke down the unifying culture that kept us pretty much the same for all those centuries, and they introduced science and technology and a lot of the ancient philosophies. Their system has no chance of filling the void, but even now all over World others are thinking of their perfect societies and perfect forms, and learning to use what we've rediscovered. These will all study how New Eden did it and they'll form their own radical systems and try and extend them. There'll be a lot of conflict and eventually through war and alliance other systems will emerge that make New Eden look like Tilghman's heaven."

She shivered a bit. "You sound like we're going to lose our humanity and turn this place into a Hell."

"The possibility's there, along with a thousand Adam Tilghmans, female as well as male."

Spirit changed the subject because it was getting uncomfortable. "What do you think of Sondra's choice?"

"Sondra has seen and heard just about everything there is on World. She's had a hell of a life so far. Now she's discovered that the Soul Rider fooled around with her Flux power and she's a much better wizard than she thought and it's brought back the self-confidence. Her mind and abili¬ties are completely restored. She kept the body because she has young children now and didn't want to wrench them, but she can look any way she wants in Flux so it makes staying the same easy."

"I still don't like her settling down with the kids in Flux, though, power or not."

"Settling down with Jeff, you mean. He'll be working off his guilt complex about her for years, maybe forever. He's a powerful and trained wizard, and she's got him wrapped around her little finger. They'll do all right. Sondra says that Flux might be a real nice place for a Fluxgirl who's a wizard, and a nice place to raise kids."

"I still think it's like, well, incest. She's my half-sister."

"She's no genetic kin to either of us anymore. Jeff didn't like to see his Mom rolling in the hay, and you don't like your son settling down with her. As long as she retains the body and spell that the master program gave her, there's no physical relation to anyone. She's been pretty much lost since giving up the trail, and now she's got something new. Beats hell out of running a basic training class for new stringers, anyway. She was ready for a big change and this is it. In a way, you might call their new relationship inevitable."

"I couldn't stop it, that's for sure. I know you're head¬ing out now to that new Fluxland they created. I've been— hesitant—about going there myself right away, considering my feelings, but, damn it, I want to get to know my son a little, too."

Matson nodded. "Mostly I have to be somewhere where I won't be made into a saint or a statue. Besides. I have to go by there. The twins went with them to learn how it's all done."

"Dad! I didn't know that! I thought that when all mar¬riages were declared invalid—well, they didn't seem the type to choose independence over New Eden."

"They don't need New Eden. Give 'em a few years to learn Flux wizardry and they'll be more dangerous than New Eden. Only the fact that I've kind of grown fond of 'em and they seem to really like me gives World any real hope for the future. They're already starting to loosen up on their cultural roots, too. Once they tear into reading and math—watch out!"

"Then you're not going back to New Eden."

"Sure. For visits. To give some advice and nudges where I can. But not if I have to accept their system. Not unless I get a few thousand acres and some cows and horses and total ownership including a guarantee of being left alone."

They camped for a while, to feed themselves and give their horses a rest. It was simple for Spirit to conjure up whatever was required, so they needed no pocket. While Matson was drinking the last of his beer, in fact, he looked over and saw his daughter shudder.

"What's the matter? Morning sickness?"

"It's done," she said quietly, and with a trace of sadness. It was the first time since she'd been conceived that she was totally alone inside her mind and body, and she didn't realize until it was gone how much of a hole it would truly leave. Still, she felt a measure of peace as she sensed the Soul Rider leave her body and fly up and away into the mists of the void. "The Soul Rider is free once more to roam. I wonder how long it'll be before it learns how to think again?"

"Not long enough to suit me," Matson responded. "Well, let's get going. It's only a few more hours to the place. If you want to tag along, that is. You're hung up enough about this business that maybe you need some time alone."