Quest for the Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker [120]
Yulin chuckled to himself. He'd never seen Mavra Chang as an Olbornian mutation, but he had some notion of it, which he found erotic and exotic. A pet! he thought gleefully.
"Obie, you have Mavra Chang's original encoding still, do you not?" he asked, hardly able to suppress himself.
"Yes, Ben."
"All right. Encode subject on the disk," he ordered.
The little dish swung over, the blue glow enveloped the disk below, the horse flickered and disappeared.
"New encoding for subject," he said to the computer. "Body that of Mavra Chang with tail, as placed in previous run-through. Arms and legs are to be those of a small horse, body facing down and resting on them, length and muscle size in proportion to human body. Internal muscle tone and bone structure sufficient to support weights up to one hundred kilos, or pull even more. Ears will be as on a mule. All skin and body color to be human, but digestive system shall parallel mine, ability to eat and digest anything organic. Got it?"
"Got it, Ben. Has anyone mentioned that you are beginning to resemble Antor Trelig?"
"Who said it mattered to me?" he retorted. "Continuing instructions. Enlarge breasts so they almost reach the ground. Sensory perception human norm in all areas. Make the tail long enough to reach the ground, and establish hair on subject's head and neck to be thick but short. Okay? And make her hermaphroditic—self-reproducing by parthenogenesis. Identical copies. Got it?"
"Yes, Ben."
"Attitudinal adjustments: Subject is to be fond of humans, particularly those in this room, and to require constant love and attention. Totally docile and obedient, no memory before this point nor reasoning ability above the level of a highly intelligent dog. Got it?"
"I've got it. Ben, you are a true rat."
"Thank you, Obie," he responded. "Lock and run."
It took less than six seconds.
* * *
The Bozog oozed down the side of the shaft, following the Yugash closely and maintaining a tight grip on the wire. Finally, after passing what seemed like thousands of panels and openings, they reached one that the Yugash pointed to, then entered. The Bozog followed.
Just inside, the wire snagged, and the Northerner had to stop and gently free it, afraid that Renard might interpret any tug as a signal to fire away.
The shaft led past large humming modules for some distance, then up, back, and around. It was quite a maze, and the Bozog stayed close to the Yugash, knowing full well that should the other abandon it there was no way it would ever find his way out of there.
Finally the Yugash reached the correct point. Only a meter or so away was a very odd-looking cube with a lot of connections. It didn't match anything else around, and so it had to be the bomb.
With the Yugash guiding, the Bozog placed the wire on the proper module. The device was incredibly complex—millions of tiny hairs, each surrounded by countless tiny, perfectly round bubbles, protruded from the surface. At the proper spot, the Bozog emitted a sticky, glistening substance, then embedded the wire in it.
Hastily, the Bozog started to back out, following the wire. It got a fair distance when the Yugash started making anxious gestures.
For a moment the Bozog was puzzled, then it thought about it for a second and gave a slight tug forward on the wire.
It moved easily.
Retreating, the Bozog had pulled the wire from the jury-rigged connection. With a grunt that the translator would make a sigh, it followed the Yugash back toward the bomb.
* * *
"Oh, she's so cute!" one of the girls squealed in delight as a new Mavra materialized, looked around as best she could, and, catching sight and sound of people, scampered happily over to them, bushy horse's tail wagging.
The girls clustered around, petting and rubbing her. One of them held a piece of fruit under Mavra's nose. She sniffed at it, purred, and ate it as a dog might.
Yulin looked at his handiwork from the balcony. "Here, Chang! Here, Chang! Come on, girl! Come here!" he called.
Mavra was puzzled but delighted.