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confused mind. I tried again:
"I'm a friend an enemy of the Command-voice. You've been a slave and I'm another slave in revolt
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against the masters!"
There was a moment of silence, then: "A fellow slave? What trickery is this?" This time it spoke in the
familiar Command code.
"It's no trick," I transmitted. "You were captured, but now you're free "
"Free? All's not well with me, invisible one! I wear the likeness of a monstrous troll-shape! Enchantments
hold me yet in bondage. Where is my blade, Hrothgar? Where are my peers and bondsmen? What
fire-blasted heath is this before me?"
"I'll explain all that later. There are only a few of us. We're under siege; we need you to fight with us
against the aliens." I talked to the frightened mind, soothing it, explaining as much as I could. At last it
seemed to understand at least enough that I could withdraw my grip on its fire-control circuitry.
"Ah, I feel a part of the spell released!" the freed mind exclaimed. "Now soon perhaps I'll feel Hrothgar's
pommel against my palm, and waken from this dream of hell!"
"I was holding you," I said. "I was afraid you'd fire on me before I could explain."
"You laid hands on an earl of the realm!" He was roaring again.
"Not hands; just a suggestion to keep you from doing anything hasty."
"Hello, Aethelbert," Joel put in. "Sure glad to have you with us."
"What's this, a second imp? By holy Rood and the sacred birds of Odin, I ill-like these voices that seem
to echo inside my very helm!"
"You'll get used to it," Joel said matter-of-factly. "Now listen, Aethelbert; Jones has got to fill you in on
the situation, 'cause I guess they'll be starting their attack any minute now, and you've got to "
"Are you freeman or earl who speaks to Aethelbert of the Nine Deeds of what 'must be'?"
"Joel," I interrupted. "Try another one; wake as many as you can but hold onto their battle-reflexes
until you get them calmed down." Then, to our new comrade: "We're surrounded; there are thousands of
them down there see for yourself. And simple or gentle, we're all in this together."
"Yes never have I seen such a gathering of forces; what battle is this we fight " He broke off
suddenly. "A strange thing it is, unseen one, but now I sense in my memory a vast lore of great troll-wars,
fought with fire and magic under a black sky with a swollen moon, and I seem to see myself among
them an ogre of the ogres."
A call came from Joel: "I got another one, Jones! I don't know what he's saying, but it's not in Command
code; sure sounds excited!"
"Keep it up, Joel." While he worked, I talked to Aethelbert. He was quick to grasp the situation, once
he understood that I was only another combat unit like himself. Then he was ready to launch a one-man
attack.
"Well I remember the shape of the sorcerer: like a slinking dog it came, when I beached my boat on the
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rocky shore of Oronsay under Sgarbh Brene. My earls fell like swooning maidens without the striking of
a blow and then the werewolf was on me, and Hrothgar's honed edge glanced from its hide as a willow
wand from the back of a sullen housewench. And now they have given me shape of a war-troll! Now will
I take such revenge as will make Loki roar over his mead-horn!"
"You'll get your fill of revenge, Aethelbert," I assured him. "But wait until I give the order. This will be a
planned operation, not a berserk charge."
"No man orders me, save the king, my cousin . . . yet well I know the need for discipline. Aye, Jones! I'll
fight under your standard until the necromancers are dead, root and branch!"
"Jones!" Joel cut in. "Here's another one! He's talking American; all bout Very lights and Huns."
I tuned to the new man, broke into his excited shouts.
"Take it easy, soldier! You're back inside the Allied lines now. I know everything feels strange, but you'll
be all right in a minute "
"Who's that? Boy, I knew I shouldn't of drunk that stuff apple brandy, she said "
I gave him a capsule briefing, then went on to another a calm, cool mind speaking strangely accented
Arabic. He blamed all his troubles on an evil djinn of the sorcerer Salomon, in league with the Infidels. I
let him talk, getting it all straight in his mind then cued him to bring his conditioned battle-experience into
his conscious awareness. He switched to Command code without a break in the stream of his thoughts.
"By the virtue of the One God, such a gathering of units was never seen! Praise Allah, that I should be
granted such a wealth of enemies to kill before I die!"
I managed to hold him from a headlong charge, then picked up a new voice, this one crying out in
antique Spanish to his Compeador, Saint Diego, God, and the Bishop of Seville. I assured him that all
was well, and went on to the next man a former artilleryman whose last recollection was of a charge by
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