The Stranger - Max Frei [67]
“An evil force is on the loose!” He mumbled breathlessly. “An evil force is on the loose in the Street of Old Coins! It savaged someone already!”
“Oh, I see. An emergency call; that’s what it is. An emergency call,” said Juffin impassively, giving him a curt nod. “Run along then, boy. Why are you shaking like a leaf? Haven’t you ever seen an evil spirit before? Are you new here?”
The courier nodded feverishly and dissolved into the gloom of the corridor.
“Let’s go, boys,” said Juffin. “I can’t imagine why such a thing would want to savage a human. As far as I know, creatures like that usually prefer other games. If it hadn’t been for your appetite, Sir Melifaro, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning of the show! Okay, you have your own business to attend to. Cheers!” Then he turned to me. “Don’t just sit there. Let’s go!”
The whole time we were in the office I had been feeling somewhat sedated, and at that moment I can’t say my condition had improved. Nonetheless, I did somehow manage to stand up and drag myself to the amobiler.
More than anything else I wished someone would tell me what was going on. But Juffin made it clear he had no idea himself.
“You see, Max, you kept a firm grip on yourself, and that gave me time to study the beast. I was absolutely certain that it wasn’t capable of that—of attacking people in broad daylight . . . By the way, Sir Shurf, keep in mind that there is only one course of action in this situation: destroy it. So you’ll be the only one getting your hands dirty. We’ll just watch. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Lonli-Lokli said, nodding. His face looked as though he’d just been told to wash the dishes.
“Do you know what was visiting you, Max? The remains of your honorable neighbor: Sir Tolakan Enn himself.”
“How’s that possible?”
“I think he made a mistake moving into that house. The place is inhabited by a Phetan; it’s clear to me now.”
“A Phetan?”
“A Phetan is a spirit from another world, taught to do specific tasks and sent on a mission here. Even during the Epoch of Orders, the appearance of such beasts was extremely rare, because as they master new skills they become more useful, but also more dangerous. The longer a Phetan lives, the more powerful it becomes. Sooner or later it rebels against the Magician who summoned it, and . . . Most of the time the Phetan will take the body of its master. You see, Phetans miss having a body of their own; and once they get one, they set off in search of food.
“It’s not too difficult to destroy a Phetan—you’ll see that for yourself very soon—but it’s next to impossible to detect its presence. A Phetan surrounds itself with an almost impenetrable protective field. Its main goal is not to attract too much attention. This protective field prevents you from homing in on it. You can’t even detect it. Even if you do notice something, you won’t be able to recall it later. The Phetan feeds its new body on the energy of sleeping people, and after they wake up—if they wake up—they can’t remember what happened. We really are lucky, Sir Max. Very lucky! I’ll tell you why later; that’s another story. There’s one thing that still bothers me, though. Since when does a Phetan attack someone who’s not asleep? I’ve never heard of such a thing before. But no matter—we’ll figure this thing out.”
“But if it flees,” I asked, “how are we going to find it?”
“Out of the question, Sir Max, completely out of the question! Not one Phetan can leave the place it inhabits. It’s a law of nature. That’s exactly why some Magicians involve themselves with Phetans: because you can always escape if you have a head on your shoulders. Sell the house together with its inhabitant, and other people will have to deal with the consequences.”
“But how could Lady Feni go out shopping, if—”
“Good question, boy! I think that having two bodies at its disposal, the Phetan could allow one of them to go free from time to time; though not for long, of course. I’m quite certain it was not Lady Feni going out shopping, but a pitiful semblance of the person she once was, programmed to do