Jack L. Chalker Watcher at the Well 01 Echoes of the Well of Souls

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af-ter she did it, and she didn t stop because of it. It called her entire
personal belief system into question. Deep down, had she really craved the
absolute sexual equality she d always thought she wanted, or had she instead
subconsciously re-ally just wanted a reversal of the system? If the latter,
then she really hadn t had any ideals, just rationalizations.
Things changed a little when they pulled into a small oasis town in the south.
They really didn t have any busi-ness to do there, but it was on the way from
Point A to Point B and was a convenient stopover.
She wandered over to the ubiquitous social club all such places had, where the
young men hung out between jobs and the transients could relax. It was much
like an English pub in atmosphere, although
Erdomite desert tribes consid-ered alcohol and most stimulants and depressants
stronger than coffee or tea to be evil and did not serve them.
The name always started the questions.
Lori of Alkhaz. Odd name. Who are the Alkhaz, and where? Never heard of
them.
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She d explain that she was not a native and had come through the Well, and
that would elicit what was now be-coming a somewhat boring and repetitive set
of explana-tions that nonetheless made the
newcomer the center of attention for a while. This time, however, there was a
dif-ference.
You ought to go over and see Aswam the Master Tent-maker, then, one of the
men commented.
Oh? I have no need for a tent.
No, no. He s the latest recipient of what s rapidly being called The Girl
from All the Hells. She s an emigrant from another world, just like you.
Really? Yes, I very much want to speak with her! Where is this tentmaker s
place?
I ll show you. I m not certain that anybody can do much with her, though.
She s too smart, too aggressive, hates everybody and everything, and they keep
her locked up like a prisoner since she won t behave and nobody s been able to
break her. We think she s mad. Would you be-lieve that she claims she was once
a man!
She s been passed around from family to family for some time, and by the time
poor Aswam took a crack at her, there was nobody left to pass her on to when
he gave up.
My God! I m surprised she wasn t executed!
I think that s what she wants, but it would be immoral to punish someone who
is mad for behaving like they are mad, you see.
She did see and quickly had the dwelling of the master tentmaker in sight. She
wasn t sure who or what she ex-pected, but male or female, crazy or sane, it
was somebody she could talk to. The fact that the other emigrant claimed to
have been a man explained a lot of the behavior. She wouldn t have much liked
being a female in this society, but to have been a man and dropped female into
it would be particularly awful.
Although most of the buildings in these permanent settle-ments were made of
dried mud, Aswam, of course, lived in what looked like a tent city. He proved
to be a prosperous middle-aged man with many wives and more kids than could be
easily counted.
Ack! he exclaimed, looking disgusted.
That one! She is a demon!
Perhaps, but if she s from the same place I m from, as I think she might be,
maybe I can do something with her.
He led Lori to a small mud hut in back of the tents, not much bigger than the
outhouse it sat next to.
Unlike most buildings in Erdom, though, this one was not open or cov-ered only
with a blanket but had an actual lockable door of wood.
I used to store money and records in here, the tent-maker grumbled. Now I
am saddled with this dead loss!
Why did you take her, then?
Ha! The dowry offered was fantastic, or so I thought. More than any pretty
girl is worth. But I tell you, she is so much trouble that I now realize that
I was taken!
Why do you keep her locked up? Is she dangerous?
Only to herself. She keeps trying to run off into the Hjolai.
You have the keys
Yes, here. Go ahead in.
What is her name?
She calls herself Julian or some such foreign name.
She felt some relief that at least it wasn t poor Gus. He d had enough done to
him up to now. She had to admit to herself that she was also somewhat
disappointed that it wasn t Juan Campos. Being a female in
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Erdom was just what that bastard deserved.
All right. You can leave us. I ll be responsible.
Lori turned the key in the lock, opened the door, and went inside the small
hut. It was quite dark, with only slits at the top for letting in light, and
quite barren. The floor was covered with a local strawlike grass, and on it a
female lay on her side, looking up at the newcomer.
There was only one way to try to break the ice. She tried English first. My
name is Lori, and I m from
Earth.
The effect on the girl was dramatic. She pushed herself to a seated position
and looked up at the newcomer. You re from
Earth
! she responded in the same language and with an American accent.
The almost whispery alto voice, however, seemed out of place. This isn t just
some new trick, is it?
No, it s no trick.
Well, where I come from, a guy named Lori would be a little suspect.
That s because the same thing happened to me that hap-pened to you, only in
reverse. It s terrible and ironic, I know, but I was a woman just like you
were a man.
She stared at Lori for a moment, frowning in the gloom, then shook her head
sadly. Crazy. They said when we got here that this Well was some kind of
logical computer. So where s the logic of making me this and you that
!
Yes, I know. I was also an assistant professor of astron-omy, which does me
precious little good in this place.
You were
?I was a shuttle astronaut. A mission special-ist. A fancy engineer, really,
not a pilot. I m
Julian Beard.
Then you re one of the two men who came through ahead of us! I
knew you looked familiar when they showed us your picture. Your before
picture, that is. I did some work in Houston a few years back, and you were
one of the instructors. Lori Ann Sutton.
The name didn t register, but she didn t expect it to. Many such scientists
and other types had come through there, and she had only stayed a week. Still,
Julian said, Well, that s a kick in the head and ass.
This thing is really screwed up. Dropped us in the wrong bodies in a backward
land where even if you
were allowed to use what you know, what you know doesn t work. Would you
believe nothing but mechanical energy functions here? Or at least in any
controllable way. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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