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[Assistant] Papa looked over at Sammy. He was lying all sprawled out in the sunshine with all four paws bandaged and sticking straight up. His long tail was swishing this way and that. You see, Papa?


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[Assistant] I said, he's watching me right now, just waiting for me to set my traps.


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[Assistant] Papa walked off toward the barn. I heard him laughing, fit to kill.


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[Assistant] It finally got too tough for Sammy. He left home. Oh, he came in once in a while, all long and lean looking, but he never was the same friendly cat anymore. He was nervous and wouldn't let anyone pet him. He would gobble down his milk and then scoot for the timber.


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[Assistant] Once I decided to make friends with him because I felt bad about catching him in my traps, I reached out my hand to rub his back. He swelled up like a sitting hen, his eyeballs got all green, and he growled way down deep. He spat at me and drew back his paw like he was going to knock my head off. I decided I'd better leave him alone.


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[Assistant] In no time at all I cleaned out the rats. Then something bad happened. I caught one of Mama's prize hens.


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[Assistant] I got one of those young man peach tree switchings over that.


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[Assistant] Papa told me to go down in the cane breaks back of our fields and trap.


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[Assistant] This opened up all kinds of new wonders. I caught opossums, skunks, rabbits, and squirrels. Papa showed me how to skin my game. In neat little rows I tacked the hides on the smokehouse wall. I'd stand for hours and admire my magnificent trophies. There was only one thing wrong.


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[Assistant] I didn't have a big coon's skin to add to my collection.


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[Assistant] Couldn't trap ol' Mr. Ringtail. He was too smart for me. He'd steal the bait from the traps, spring the triggers, and sometimes even turn them over.


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[Assistant] Once I found a small stick standing upright in one of my traps. I showed it to Papa. He laughed and said the stick must have fallen from a tree.


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[Assistant] It made no difference what Papa said. I was firmly convinced that a smart old coon had deliberately poked that stick in my trap.


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[Assistant] The traps helped my dog wanting considerably, but, like a new toy, the newness wore off, and I was right back where I started from. Only this time it was worse, much worse. I had been exposed to the feel of wildlife.


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[Assistant] I started pestering Mama again. She said, Oh, no, not that again. I thought you'd be satisfied with the traps. No, Billy, I don't want to hear any more about hounds. I knew Mama meant what she said. This broke my heart. I decided I'd leave home.


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[Assistant] I sneaked out a quart jar of peaches, some cold cornbread, and a few onions, and started up the hollow back of our house. I had it all figured out. I'd go away off to some big town and get a hundred dogs and bring them all back with me.


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[Assistant] I made it all right until I heard a timber wolf howl. This stopped my home leaving.


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[Assistant] When the hunting season opened that fall something happened that was almost more than I could stand. I was lying in bed one night trying to figure out a way I could get some dogs when I heard the deep banging of a coon hound. I got up and opened my window.


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[Assistant] It came again. The deep voice rang loud and clear in the frosty night. Now and then I could hear the hunter whooping to him.


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[Assistant] The hound hunted all night. He quit when the roosters started crowing at daybreak.


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[Assistant] The hunter and the hound weren't the only ones awake that night. I stayed up and listened to them until the last tones of the hound's voice died away in the daylight hours.


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[Assistant] That morning I was determined to have some hounds. I went again to mama. This time I tried bribery. I told her if she'd get me a hunting dog I'd save the money I earned from my furs and buy her a new dress and a box full of pretty hats. That time I saw tears in her eyes.


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[Assistant] It made me feel all empty inside and I cried a little too.


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[Assistant] I tried to cover my head with a pillow to shut out the sound. It was no use. His voice seemed to bore its way through the pillow and ring in my ears.


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[Assistant] I had to get up and again go to the window. I'm sure if that coon hunter had known that he was slowly killing a ten year old boy he would have put a muzzle on his hound.


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[Assistant] Sleep was out of the question. Even on nights when I couldn't hear the hound, I couldn't sleep. I was afraid if I did he would come, and I would miss hearing him.


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[Assistant] My eyes were red and bloodshot. I had lost weight and was as thin as a bean pole. Mama checked me over. She looked at my tongue and turned back one of my eyelids. If I didn't know better, she said, I'd swear you weren't sleeping well, are you?


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[Assistant] Why mama, I said, I go to bed, don't I? What does a boy go to bed for if it isn't to sleep?


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[Assistant] By the little wrinkles that bunched up on her forehead, I could tell that Mama wasn't satisfied.


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[Assistant] Papa came in during one of these inspections. Mama told him she was worried about my health.


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[Assistant] Oh, he said there's nothing wrong with him. It's just because he's been cooped up all winter. A boy needs sunshine and exercise. He's almost eleven now, and I'm going to let him help me in the fields this summer. That'll put the muscles back on him. I thought this was wonderful. I'd finally grown up to be a man. I was going to help Papa with the farm.


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[Assistant] Goodbye, green boot. Goodbye, blue shoe. She ran out into the storm. Boom! Flash! The rain poured and the wind grew stronger. The journey was becoming very difficult.


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[Assistant] The blue shoe carefully made her way through the muddy path.


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[Assistant] The ground was soft, and suddenly the blue shoe's heel sunk into the mud. The rain kept coming. The blue shoe sunk deeper into the mud, but she was brave and held out hope. She closed her eyes and rested. Suddenly she heard a noise. It was the green boot. Her heart leapt with joy, not because she was being rescued,


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[Assistant] But because in this moment she realized that the green boot was her soulmate. The rain stopped.


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[Assistant] The green boot and the blue shoe shared a pot of very green mint tea under a very blue sky.


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[Assistant] From then on, a new page began.


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[Assistant] And it's crazy because I've always been like, you know, right when I'm 15 and a half is right, I'm gonna do it right then and then I'm gonna get my license at this age and da da da da. And the thing is that then all this shit happened.


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[Assistant] And then I haven't even had enough time to like, do all of that. So now I'm getting my license when I get back and I'm 17. I was trying to do it years ago.


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[Assistant] As Billy, or I don't go out at all, as anyone, like, cause there's no, I mean, like when I did Ellen a couple months ago.


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[Assistant] I sort of played a prank on some of the people in the audience where I like dressed up as one of them and kind of like, I put a wig on, I put like,


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[Assistant] Uhm, two very different things. I was gonna say.


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[Assistant] I mean, yeah, it's just like a whole different world, you know? And also that's probably just, I don't know. I mean, it's everything. I think one thing that's really cute that I always notice in like all the places I play, which is like,


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[Assistant] You won't go to a show and not hear people singing along, which is crazy, but in every single, like, place I go to, they always sing in their accents.


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[Assistant] I'm like, and it's crazy, it's like the difference even like in like Auckland, New Zealand.


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[Assistant] I can hear the difference between there and like here, and it's like crazy, you know, when I'm like in Paris, then when they like chant my name it's like a bee-lee, a bee-lee, it's cute, it's very cute.


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[Assistant] No yeaah, I don't know, I just like, it happened, like, by accident a couple years ago and I was like, huh, that's funny, and I kept it.


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[Assistant] It's just a stupid thing that I do. And it also like, it's kinda helpful because it's like, it kinda maintains the amount of people that I follow. And also it lets me unfollow people that are like, nothing accounts. Like not people I know, like random accounts I followed when I was like 10 that are like pictures of like grass or some shit.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I know that I am, but I don't even know names. The thing is like, I don't-


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[Assistant] Uhm, binging anything. Uhm, I don't got time to binge. But, since...


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[Assistant] You fools don't have the office in Australia.


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[Assistant] Like a therapeutic, like, friend. So like, I-


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[Assistant] Uuuh, I don't even, there's crazy stuff. Um, I'm trying to think though. I mean,


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[Assistant] Not even a bra, like I've been, also bras have been thrown, but like underwear, like.


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[Assistant] That's probably like, oh, they probably took it off during the show and then are throwing it to you, but I'm not trying to have the underwear you just took off. Like, I don't know, but, but they, you know, they're so unbelievably talented. Like they have, have given me things, made me things that are like,


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[Assistant] Wow, what the hell, like, why isn't this in a fucking museum? Like, honestly, drawings that I've, uh, that look like pictures, you know? Like, it's the craziest thing.


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[Assistant] And we have it right here. They really do it though. They like, you know, they brought me Cheetos the other day. Okay. And Takis and stuff. Like somebody brought me uhm, Oh my god, somebody, what kind of a question was that?


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[Assistant] I do know, but I'm so mad. Okay, takis, it's basically like, it's just like a junk food. Okay. Bag of, what do you call it? Crisp chips. But they're not really chips. They're like, they're basically like corn chips rolled into this like, it looks like a joint almost. It's like this rolled. Like a twisty, like a twisty.


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[Assistant] Yeah, but it's not twisted. It's like literally rolled like a tiny little burrito. And, and it's like dark red cause it has all these like seasonings and spices on it. It's really spicy. They're like really spicy like, yeah.


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[Assistant] I'm sorry. Well, don't spoil it by apologizing. Let's see if you're as good at working as you are at fighting.


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[Assistant] Progress Report 5, March 6. They found my sister Norma, who lives with my mother in Brooklyn, and she gave permission for the operation. So they're gonna use me. I'm so excited I can hardly write it down.


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[Assistant] Professor Nehmer was worried about my IQ getting too high from mine that was too low, and I would get sick from it.


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[Assistant] And Dr. Strauss told Professor Nehmer something I didn't understand, so while they was talking,


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[Assistant] Remember, he will be the first human being ever to have his intelligence increased by surgery. Doctor Strauss said, that's exactly what I meant.


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[Assistant] Where will we find another retarded adult with this tremendous motivation to learn?


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[Assistant] Look how well he has learned to read and write for his low mental age.


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[Assistant] Steve, I didn't get all the words, and they were talking too fast.


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[Assistant] Professor Nehmer scratched his head and rubbed his nose with his thumb and said, Maybe you're right. We will use Charlie.


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[Assistant] We worked on this for a long time, but only on animals like Algernon. We are sure there's no physical danger for you.


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[Assistant] We will have to send you back to the Warren State home to live. I said I didn't care because I ain't afraid of nothing. I'm very strong and I always do good and besides...


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[Assistant] You're making a great contribution to science. This experiment has been successful on lots of animals, but it's never been tried on a human being. You will be the first. I told him, thanks doc.


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[Assistant] You won't be sorry for giving me my second chance like Miss Kinian says. And I mean it like I told them. After the operation, I'm gonna try to be smart. I'm gonna try awful hard.


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[Assistant] Progress report 6th, March 8th.


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[Assistant] I got my rabbit's foot and my lucky penny and my horseshoe. Doctor Strauss said, don't be so superstitious, Charlie. This is science.


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[Assistant] I'm keeping my rabbit's foot in one hand and my lucky penny in the other hand with the hole in it. The penny, I mean. I wish I could take the horseshoe with me too, but it's heavy, so I'll just leave it in my jacket. Joe Karp from the bakery brought me a chocolate cake.


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[Assistant] For Mr. Donner and the folks at the bakery, and they hope I get better soon. At the bakery, they think I'm sick, because that's what Professor Niemer said I should tell them, and nothing about an operation for getting smart. That's a secret until after, in case it don't work, or something goes wrong. Then Miss Kinian came to see me, and she brought me some magazines to read, and she looked kind of nervous and scared.


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[Assistant] I asked Professor Nehmer if I could beat Algernon in the race after the operation and he said maybe. If the operation works good.


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[Assistant] I'll show that mouse I can be as smart as he is, even smarter. Then I'll be able to read better, and spell the words good, and know lots of things and be like other people. Boy, that would surprise everyone.


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[Assistant] If the operation works and I get smart, maybe I'll be able to find my mom and dad and sister and show them. Boy, would they be surprised to see me smart, just like them and my sister.


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[Assistant] Professor Nehmer says if it works good and it's permanent, they will make other people like me smart also. Maybe people all over the world. And, he said,


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[Assistant] But there was bandages on my eyes and my head for three days. So I couldn't make no progress report till today. The skinny nurse who watched me writing says I spelled progress wrong and she told me how to spell it and report to and March. I gotta remember that. I have a very bad memory for spelling anyway.


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[Assistant] They took off the bandages from my eyes today, so I can make a progress report now. But there is still some bandages on my head.


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[Assistant] I was scared when they came in and told me it was time to go for the operation They made me get out of the bed and on another bed that has wheels on it


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[Assistant] Boy, was I surprised that it was a big room with green walls.


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[Assistant] And lots of doctors sitting around up high, all around the room, watching the operation. I didn't know it was gonna be like a show. A man came up to the table, all in white, and with a white cloth on his face, like in TV shows, and rubber gloves, and he said, Relax, Charlie, it's me, Dr. Strauss. I said, Hi Doc, I'm scared. He said, There's nothing to be scared about, Charlie, he said.


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[Assistant] Maybe after the operation, I'll be smart, and I'll understand all the things he's talking about. So I breathed deep, and then I guess I was very tired, because I went to sleep. When I waked up, I was back in my bed, and it was very dark. I couldn't see nothing, but I heard some talking. It was the nurse and Bert, and I said, what's the matter? Why don't you put on the lights, and when are they gonna operate?


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[Assistant] And they laughed and Bert said, Charlie, it's all over. And it's dark because you got bandages over your eyes. It's a funny thing. They did it while I was sleeping.


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[Assistant] Bert comes in to see me every day to write down all the things like my temperature and my blood pressure and the other things about me. He says it's on account of a scientific method. They gotta keep records about what happens so they can do it again when they want to. Not to me, but to the other people like me who ain't smart. That's why I got to do these progress reports. Bert says it's part of the experiment.


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[Assistant] I read them over and over a lot of times to see what I wrote and I don't know what's going on in my mind. So how are they going to? But anyway, that's science and I gotta try to be smart like other people. Then, when I am smart, they'll talk to me and I can sit with them and listen.


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[Assistant] Like Joe Carp and Frank and Gimpy do when they talk and have a discussion about important things. While they're working, they start talking about things. Like about God.


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[Assistant] Or about the trouble with all the money the president is spending. Or about the Republicans and Democrats. And they get all excited like they're gonna have a fight.


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[Assistant] So Mr. Donner gotta come in and tell them to get back to baking, or they'll all get canned, union or no union. I wanna talk about things like that. If you're smart,


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[Assistant] Professor Nehmer says it's okay to tell about all the things that happened to me in the progress reports.


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[Assistant] But he says I should write more about what I feel and what I think and remember about the past. I told him, I don't know how to think or remember. And he said, just try. All the time the bandages were on my eyes, I tried to think and remember, but nothing happened. I don't know what to think or remember about.


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[Assistant] Maybe if I ask him, he'll tell me how I can think, now that I'm supposed to get smart. What do smart people think about, or remember? Fancy things, I bet. I wish I knew some fancy things already.


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[Assistant] I don't have to write progress report on top every day just when I start a new batch after Professor Nehmer takes the old ones away. I just have to put the date on top. That saves time. It's a good idea.


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[Assistant] I can sit up in bed and look out the window at the grass and trees outside. The skinny nurse's name is Hilda and she's very good to me. She brings me things to eat and she fixes my bed


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[Assistant] She says maybe I better pray to God to ask him to forgive what they done to me. I didn't eat no apples, or do nothing sinful. And now I'm scared.


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[Assistant] Maybe I shouldn't have let them operate on my brains like she said, if it's against God. I don't wanna make God angry.


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[Assistant] And she said Hilda wasn't working in that part of the hospital no more. Only in the maternity ward by the babies, where it don't matter if she talks too much. When I asked her about what was maternity, she said it's about having babies. But when I asked her how they have them, she got red in the face, just the same like Hilda. And she said she got to take somebody's temperature. Nobody ever tells me about the babies.


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[Assistant] Maybe if this thing works and I get smart, I'll find out. Miss Kinian came to see me today, and she said, Charlie, you look wonderful. I told her, I feel fine, but I don't feel smart yet.


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[Assistant] I thought that when the operation was over and they took the bandages off my eyes I'd be smart.


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[Assistant] But the operation was to make it so that when I did work hard to get smart, it would stick with me.


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[Assistant] And not be like it was before when it didn't stick so good. Well I told her, that made me kinda feel bad. Because I thought I was gonna be smart right away.


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[Assistant] And I could go back to show the guys at the bakery how smart I am and talk with them about things and maybe even get to be an assistant baker. Then I was going to try and find my mom and dad. They'd be surprised to see how smart I got because my mom always wanted me to be smart too. Maybe they wouldn't send me away no more if they see how smart I am.


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[Assistant] I told Miss Kinian I would try hard to be smart, as hard as I can. She patted my hand and said, I know you will. I have faith in you, Charlie.


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[Assistant] Chapter 26. A box at the Italian opera. Julianne was more astonished than happy.


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[Assistant] He realized how wise the Russian plan was. Matilda looked at the letters.


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[Assistant] Julian did not answer. Her eyes were filled with sadness.


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[Assistant] Julian almost gave up at that point. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her everywhere.


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[Assistant] I have my pride too, he quietly said. I may love that woman, but I don't know how she feels.


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[Assistant] But she was nice to me when another woman hated me.


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[Assistant] What promise can you make me? He replied. Your heart will change in a few days. She cried and her dress moved a little. He could see her beautiful shoulders.


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[Assistant] He almost gave in at that moment, but he knew he would regret it.


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[Assistant] Miss De La Mole will allow me to think about this. That monster, she thought.


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[Assistant] He's not moved at all. No, I'm the monster. He is good and wise.


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[Assistant] That night Julian did not go to dinner. He had to go to the opera, though.


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[Assistant] Mrs. Defer Vox had invited him. The music brought him to tears, and Mrs. Defer Vox saw them. She wanted to talk to him, so she said,


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[Assistant] It wasn't their night for the opera, but Matilda was there. Her eyes were filled with tears.


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[Assistant] Chapter 27 Frightening Her


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[Assistant] Julian ran down to Matilda. The only word she said to him was,


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[Assistant] I must not speak to her, he thought. I can still lose everything. When he returned home he calmed down.


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[Assistant] As he thought about this, he read from a book by Napoleon.


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[Assistant] This heart is very different from Mrs. de Rinal's, he thought. Frighten her, he thought suddenly.


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[Assistant] The enemy will obey me as long as she is afraid. She must doubt my love for her.


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[Assistant] He knew she would go to the library at eight o'clock, so he didn't arrive until nine. He burned with love, but his mind was in control.


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[Assistant] If she would love me for a week, he thought I'd die of happiness.


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[Assistant] Julian kissed her. Immediately he pulled away.


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[Assistant] That day and the following days he hid his love, but he became surer of her love.


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[Assistant] For the first time ever, Matilda felt what it is to love. She discovered she was pregnant.


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[Assistant] This astonished Julian. He almost forgot his plan.


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[Assistant] How can I be so cold to this woman who is ruining herself for me, he thought.


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[Assistant] My god, what are you going to do? He cried. My duty.


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[Assistant] Matilda replied, her eyes filled with joy. But he'll throw me out.


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[Assistant] The astonished Julianne begged her to wait a week. She refused, so he said, All right then, I order you to wait.


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[Assistant] Your honor is safe with me. Just imagine your father's sorrow. Do you mean? She said.


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[Assistant] I am upset about hurting your father, but I do not and will not fear anyone.


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[Assistant] A servant came to get Julienne. There are keywords to see you know.


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[Assistant] Chapter 29 The Pain of Weakness


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[Assistant] Marquis de la Mole had never been angrier. He screamed at Julian. I'm not perfect, Julian said. You have been very good to me.


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[Assistant] The only people that understood me were you and this delightful person. Delightful! the Marquis shouted. When you found her delightful you should have left.


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[Assistant] I tried. I asked you to let me go to Languedoc. Julian answered. You should have fled. It was your duty. Julian quickly wrote a short letter.


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[Assistant] My life is unbearable. I want to kill myself. I'm sorry for bringing trouble to the marquee.


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[Assistant] Take this letter and kill me, or have your servant do it," Julianne said. Go to hell! screamed the Marquis. Who can I talk to? Julianne thought. Count Altamira? Can he stay silent forever? Father Perard won't help me. He is too much of a Jansenist. Wait, I'll confess to him. Then he'll advise me. Father Perard was not complete surprised. I expected this love.


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[Assistant] The marquee will probably try to send you to America. Matilda was very worried.


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[Assistant] When Julian returned, Matilde met him outside.


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[Assistant] Father Perard told the marquee that Matilda and Julian must be married.


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[Assistant] Anything else would be a crime before God, he said.


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[Assistant] Marquis de Lamo saw this wisdom, but it made him angry. He was ambitious. He wanted his daughter to have a noble husband. I never thought this could happen, he thought. This century is crazy.


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[Assistant] Chapter 30 A Man of Intelligence


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[Assistant] The marquee could not reach a decision for more than a month. Finally, he gave a short letter to Matilda.


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[Assistant] The letter gave Julianne and Matilda some houses near Languedoc. They were worth a lot of money. This surprised Julianne and made him very happy. Matilda wanted to have a public wedding though. One day she was angry and wrote to her father.


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[Assistant] So, it's time to make a decision. Marquis de la Mole thought. He sometimes imagined that Julien was killed. Other days he imagined Julien as a noble. The Marquis could give him a new name and invent a story about an illegitimate birth. He's very clever, the Marquis thought, but there's something I don't trust about him. The Marquis wrote a letter to his daughter. I am making him an officer in the army.


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[Assistant] His new name is Mr. Julian Sorrel de la Verne. He must leave tomorrow for Strasbourg. Ratilde was happy and wrote back.


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[Assistant] I don't know what kind of person this Julianne is, and neither do you. Obey me or I'll do nothing. That night Julianne was full of joy.


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[Assistant] To be an officer in the army had always been his ambition.


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[Assistant] He was the guy who'd been with Zia in the British Museum. The one with the cream-colored robes and the forked beard. The bearded man glared at Sadie and me. I am Desjardins, he said with a French accent. My master, Chief Lecter Iskander, welcomes you to the House of Life.


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[Assistant] I couldn't think what to say to that, so of course I asked a stupid question. He's really old, why isn't he sitting on the throne? Desjardins nostrils flared, but the old dude is candor, just chuckled and said something else in that other language. Desjardins translated stiffly. The master says thank you for noticing. He is in fact really old. But the throne is for the pharaoh.


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[Assistant] It has been vacant since the fall of Egypt to Rome. It is, comment diton, symbolic.


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[Assistant] The chief lector's role is to serve and protect the pharaoh.


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[Assistant] Therefore, he sits at the foot of the throne. I looked at Iskander a little nervously. I wondered how many years he'd been sitting on that step.


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[Assistant] If he can understand English, what language is he speaking? Desjardins sniffed.


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[Assistant] The chief lector understands many things.


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[Assistant] But he prefers to speak Alexandrian Greek, his birth tongue. Sadie cleared her throat. Sorry, his birth tongue? Wasn't Alexander the Great way back in the blue section, thousands of years ago?


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[Assistant] You make it sound like Lord Salamander is Lord Iskander. Desjardins hissed. Show respect! Something clicked in my mind.


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[Assistant] Back in Brooklyn, Amos had talked about the magician's law against summoning gods, a law made in Roman times by the chief lector, Iskandar. Surely it had to be a different guy. Maybe we were talking to Iskandar the 27th or something. The old man looked me in the eyes. He smiled as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.


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[Assistant] He said something else in Greek and Dejardin translated. The master says not to worry.


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[Assistant] Your father broke our most important law, twice. Once, at Cleopatra's needle.


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[Assistant] When he tried to summon the gods and your mother died assisting him. Then again at the British Museum.


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[Assistant] When your father was foolish enough to use the Rosetta Stone itself.


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[Assistant] Now your uncle too is missing. You know what's happened to Amos? Sadie blurted out. Desjardin scowled. Not yet. He admitted. You have to find him. Sadie cried. Don't you have some sort of GPS magic or... We are searching. Desjardin said. But you cannot worry about Amos. You must stay here. You must be... Trained.


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[Assistant] I got the impression he was going to say a different word, something not as nice as trained. Iskandar spoke directly to me. His tone sounded kindly.


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[Assistant] The master warns that the demon days begin tomorrow at sunset. Dejardin translated. You must be kept safe. But we have to find our dad, I said.


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[Assistant] Dejardin clearly didn't like it, but he bowed to his master. Then he turned toward me. The chief lector wishes to hear your story. So I told him, with Sadie jumping in whenever I stopped to take a breath. The funny thing was, we both left out certain things without planning to.


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[Assistant] We didn't mention Sadie's magic abilities or the encounter with the bar who'd called me a king. It was like I literally couldn't mention those things. Whenever I tried, the voice inside my head whispered, not that part. Be silent. When I was done, I glanced at Zia.


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[Assistant] She said nothing, but she was studying me with a troubled expression.


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[Assistant] Iskandar traced a circle on the step with the butt of his staff. More hieroglyphs popped into the air and floated away. After several seconds, Desjardins seemed to grow impatient. He stepped forward and glared at us. You are lying. That could not have been set. He would need a powerful host to remain in this world. Very powerful. Look you, Sadie said.


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[Assistant] I don't know what all this rubbish is about hosts, but I saw Set with my own eyes. You were there at the British Museum, you must have done too. And if Carter saw him in Phoenix, Arizona, then... She looked at me doubtfully. Then he's probably not crazy. Thanks, Sis. I mumbled. But Sadie was just getting started.


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[Assistant] And as for Circuit, she's real too.


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[Assistant] Our friend, my cat, Bast, died protecting us. So, Desjardins said coldly.


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[Assistant] You admit to consulting with gods. That makes our investigation much easier. Bost is not your friend.


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[Assistant] The gods caused the downfall of Egypt. It is forbidden to call on their powers.


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[Assistant] Magicians are sworn to keep their gods from interfering in the mortal world. We must use all our power to fight them. Bast said you were paranoid. Sadie added. The magician clenched his fist.


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[Assistant] And the air tingled with the weird smell of ozone, like during a thunderstorm. The hairs on my neck stood straight up.


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[Assistant] Before anything bad could happen, Ziya stepped in front of us. Lord Dejader, she pleaded. There was something strange. When I ensnared the scorpion goddess, she reformed almost instantly. I could not return her to the Duat, even with the seven ribbons. I could only break her hold on the host for a moment. Perhaps the rumors of other escapes. What other escapes? I asked. She glanced at me reluctantly.


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[Assistant] Bost warned us this would happen. She said Set would release more gods. Master, Zia pleaded. If Ma'at is weakening-


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[Assistant] Wow, that, what an incredible voice. That sounds so, I mean, it's like, you hear it produced one way, but to hear it stripped down like that, it really...


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[Assistant] That's pretty cool. To be able to do that. To put yourself out there from the other perspective. Was one of the first songs you wrote after watching The Walking Dead?


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[Assistant] There's an incredible recipe in this book I know for Questlove's famous fried pork chimichangas.


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[Assistant] Chapter 7 The Marriage On the third day, Cathy asked to see Ellen.


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[Assistant] She got up from the bed before Ellen could stop her and went to the window. She opened it and leaned out. She did not seem to care about the terrible cold.


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[Assistant] Ellen begged her to get back into bed, but Kathy did not listen.


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[Assistant] She stared out of the window, her eyes shining with happiness. There was no moon, and everything outside was dark and quiet.


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[Assistant] Ellen almost cried when she heard these words. Suddenly the door opened and Edgar came in.


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[Assistant] Shut the window, Ellen. Kathy, what is wrong?


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[Assistant] He stopped speaking when he saw his wife's face. He took her in his arms.


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[Assistant] You're right, Ellen. She really is sick. Go and find the doctor, said Edgar. Ellen ran out of the house to find the doctor.


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[Assistant] But as she went through the garden that night, she thought she heard the sound of a horse running nearby. At that time she did not think about it, but this was a strange sound at two o'clock in the morning. Who was riding a horse at that hour? Ellen found the doctor and took him to Cathy.


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[Assistant] She was sleeping and her husband was sitting by her bed.


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[Assistant] The doctor told them that Kathy was extremely sick.


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[Assistant] Kathy must be kept quiet and nothing could upset her mind and emotions. That night Edgar and Ellen did not sleep.


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[Assistant] Ellen, said Edgar quietly, go and find Isabella.


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[Assistant] Ellen ran and looked into Isabella's room. It was empty.


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[Assistant] When she came back, Edgar looked at her face and knew what had happened.


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[Assistant] Ellen asked him. He shook his head.


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[Assistant] Isabella has made her own choice, he said quietly. From this day on, she is not my sister anymore.


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[Assistant] Edgar did not speak about Isabella for a very long time.


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[Assistant] His father's cabin is still there on the island in the middle of the lake.


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[Assistant] He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish again and again.


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[Assistant] Every time he comes up against a question of ethics.


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[Assistant] It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.


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[Assistant] For we would have learned the truth.


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[Assistant] The decision to do right lives fresh and fragrant in our memory.


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[Assistant] It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren, not about how we had a chance to beat the system and took it.


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[Assistant] But about how we did the right thing and were forever strengthened.


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[Assistant] Today's program ends here. Thank you for listening.


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[Assistant] The scene needs to be preserved for that, but we'll try to get airport operations going as quickly as possible.


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[Assistant] Long distance. The governor said a ship's launching and can't be reached.


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[Assistant] I first visited the large lonely house called Wuthering Heights.


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[Assistant] It was at that time that I met the strange and angry man who I will remember until I die. That year I moved to Yorkshire, a county of England.


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[Assistant] I lived in a fine old house, which was named Thrushcross Grange.


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[Assistant] I had written to a man named Heathcliff and asked to rent the house from him.


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[Assistant] I decided to walk across the moor and visit him.


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[Assistant] It was a cold afternoon in winter when I began to walk.


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[Assistant] Fog hung in the trees, and in the distance, large sharp


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[Assistant] Tall rocks, called the penistone crags, rose up out of the ground.


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[Assistant] I had to walk almost four miles through the grass and mud before I saw Wuthering Heights, the house where Heathcliff lived. It stood on the top of a hill.


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[Assistant] was a circle of short, dark trees. The house was long and low and made of grey stone. It had narrow windows in the walls.


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[Assistant] The ground was hard because of the winter frost.


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[Assistant] The air was cold as I walked towards the house. I arrived at the gate of the house's garden. It was beginning to snow, and the snowflakes were blinding my eyes. I could not see, but I put my hand on the gate.


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[Assistant] Suddenly I stopped, with a look of surprise. A man was there, leaning on the gate.


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[Assistant] He stared at me with his cold, dark eyes.


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[Assistant] He seemed as gloomy and silent as the gravestones in the churchyard at the foot of the hill.


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[Assistant] He straightened up, standing tall and still. His hair and eyes were black.


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[Assistant] The features of his face were cruel looking, yet he was very handsome.


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[Assistant] He was dressed in good clothes, like a gentleman.


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[Assistant] But his skin was as dark as a savage's. I guessed who he was. Are you Mr Heathcliff? I said. He did not speak. He only nodded his head. My name is Lockwood.


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[Assistant] I rent the house thrushcross grange from you. I thought I should come and meet you. Come in, he said.


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[Assistant] His voice sounded so angry that he could have been saying, go to hell. However, he opened the gate and we walked along the garden path.


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[Assistant] As we entered a big yard, he called out, Joseph, bring up some wine. Then he spoke to me in a cold voice. I shall be with you in a moment. If you need anything, ask the servant. He walked off around a corner of the house. I waited for his servant.


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[Assistant] While I waited, I looked at the strange writing on the door of the house.


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[Assistant] Among them, I saw the date, fifteen hundred, and the name, Herten Earnshaw, carved on the door. I heard someone coming. A man appeared through a side door.


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[Assistant] He was an old man with a thin, tight mouth in a sour and angry face. I thought that this was Joseph. He looked at me meanly. Well, he said, you should come inside out of the cold. The mistress of the house is inside.


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[Assistant] He led me along a passage made of stones and told me to go through a door on my right. I did.


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[Assistant] And found myself in a big room where a fire was burning in a very large fireplace, like a small cave.


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[Assistant] Some frightening looking guns were on the wall above the fireplace.


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[Assistant] Sitting close to the fire were two large dogs which growled at me.


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[Assistant] Beside the dogs, there was a table with much food on it.


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[Assistant] She was a beautiful girl of some twenty years.


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[Assistant] With an exquisite face, framed by soft golden hair. I bowed and waited for her to speak.


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[Assistant] She only stared at me in a cool and scornful manner. I went closer to the fire.


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[Assistant] I think there will be a storm tonight I said. It's begun to snow. You shouldn't have come here.


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[Assistant] She said, No, I said smiling. You are the person who asked me.


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[Assistant] She threw the tea leaves and the spoon into the box.


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[Assistant] But before she could say anything, the door opened, and Heathcliff came in.


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[Assistant] Behind him there was a tall young man in rough clothing.


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[Assistant] Heathcliff nodded to me, but his face was angry.


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[Assistant] He began shaking white snowflakes from his clothes.


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[Assistant] Through the window, I could see that snow was falling quickly.


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[Assistant] I'm afraid I shall have to stay here for half an hour or so because of the weather. May I shelter here?


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[Assistant] I don't know why you have to walk around in a snowstorm, Heathcliff growled. Don't you know that you might get lost on the moors?


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[Assistant] People who know this area often get lost on nights like this.


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[Assistant] And the weather's not going to change for some time.


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[Assistant] Perhaps one of your boys could guide me home, I said, and stay at my house until morning. Could you spare me one? No, I could not. Oh, then I'll have to find my own way back. Heathcliff said nothing.


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[Assistant] Are you going to make the tea? asked the young man. He looked from me to the young lady.


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[Assistant] She stared coldly at me for a moment.


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[Assistant] Make the tea, will you? said Heathcliff, speaking so savagely that I started. Bring up your chair, he added to me. And we all drew round the table.


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[Assistant] There must be times here when you and your wife


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[Assistant] My wife! growled Heathcliff with an ugly look on his face. My wife is dead! I saw that I had made a mistake.


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[Assistant] Then I suddenly thought that the young man at my elbow, drinking his tea out of a bowl and eating his bread with dirty hands, might be the husband of the girl. I sighed at the thought.


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[Assistant] Mrs. Heathcliff is my daughter-in-law, said Heathcliff as if he guessed my thoughts. He turned as he spoke.


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[Assistant] And looked at the girl. She met his gaze squarely, and in that moment I saw in both their eyes a look of devilish hatred. It was quite unmistakable.


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[Assistant] Ah, I said uneasily to the youth at my side. So you are the happy husband. I stopped. The young man had turned very red. She's not my wife, he said.


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[Assistant] He let out the words with a sudden burst of strong hatred and followed them with a curse.


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[Assistant] Wrong again, said Heathcliff with something like a cold laugh.


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[Assistant] I said she was my daughter-in-law. Therefore, she must have married my son.


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[Assistant] And this young man is not my son, I tell you. He smiled as if at the strangeness of the situation.


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[Assistant] My name is Herten Earnshaw, growled the youth, and you'd better respect it.


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[Assistant] I've shown it no disrespect, I replied, amused at his tonal voice.


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[Assistant] He stared at me for a moment and then went on putting food into his mouth.


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[Assistant] I said no more, but sat wondering at this house of strange hatreds.


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[Assistant] As soon as the meal was finished, I stood up and went to a window. There I saw a sad sight. The dark night was coming early.


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[Assistant] The sky and hills could not be seen in the great storm of snow.


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[Assistant] I shall need someone to take me home, I said. The road will be buried in the snow.


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[Assistant] Herten, go and take the sheep into the barn, said Heathcliff. What shall I do? I asked, feeling annoyed. There was no reply. I looked round. Heathcliff and the young man had gone out. Mrs. Heathcliff had picked up a book.


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[Assistant] Will you point out some landmarks by which I can find my way home? I said.


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[Assistant] If you hear of me being found dead in a swamp, or a hole full of snow, I suppose I won't worry you, I said angrily.


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[Assistant] Then I'll have to stay here, I said hopelessly. She shrugged.


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[Assistant] I'm not going to have you roaming about the place while I'm asleep, said the unkind man. That was the last straw.


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[Assistant] I uttered an expression of disgust and went past Heathcliff into the yard.


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[Assistant] I saw Joseph in the barn milking cows by the light of a lantern.


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[Assistant] In my anger I moved towards him, snatched up the light, called out that I would send it back on the morrow, and rushed toward the gate.


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[Assistant] Master, he's stealing a lantern! shouted Joseph.


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[Assistant] The next second two hairy dogs came flying at my throat, bearing me down.


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[Assistant] I heard a deep yell from Heathcliff, who was behind me. I was burning with anger.


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[Assistant] trembling with rage, and ordered them to let me out.


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[Assistant] My words were cut short by a gush of blood from my nose.


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[Assistant] Horton had appeared from somewhere, and he and Heathcliff stood and roared with laughter until an old woman, whose name I found was Zilla, came out to see what all the uproar was about.


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[Assistant] With these words she splashed a pint of icy water down my neck and took me into the kitchen. Heathcliff followed, told her to give me some liquor, and said something about a room for the night. He went out again. Zilla gave me the brandy.


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[Assistant] She left me in a big room with simple furniture and an old fashioned bed made of oak wood beneath a window. I undressed and got into bed, leaving my candle burning.


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[Assistant] There was a shelf on the wall above the bed with a few books piled up in one corner. There was writing scratched on the wall. Someone's name. It was repeated again and again. In all kinds of writing. Large and small. Catherine. Catherine Earnshaw. Here and there. Catherine Heathcliff. And then again. Catherine Linton.


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[Assistant] I lay back and continued spelling over the names, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Linton, till my eyes closed and the white letters shone from the dark as vivid as ghosts, and the air seemed full with the name of Catherine.


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[Assistant] Even now, I cannot tell if what happened later on that terrible night was a dream.


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[Assistant] Listening to the howling wind and the driving of the snow.


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[Assistant] I heard also the noises of a tree branch that touched my window as the wind came by. The branch tapped against the window.


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[Assistant] It annoyed me so much that I decided to silence it.


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[Assistant] I sat up and tried to open the window. It was stuck.


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[Assistant] I must stop it, I kept saying. The sound indeed was making me insane. Somehow it must and should be stopped.


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[Assistant] I raised my fist and smashed it through the glass. I put an arm through the hole to grab the branch.


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[Assistant] And then it happened. My fingers closed on the fingers of a small ice cold hand.


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[Assistant] The story turned out to be this. George Sen is an office clerk.


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[Assistant] He bought a lottery ticket issued by a bank a few days ago.


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[Assistant] So he felt very happy after work and felt the music was so wonderful.


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[Assistant] That he took out $50 and put in the hat.


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[Assistant] However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in.


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[Assistant] He had booked the ticket and will fly that morning.


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[Assistant] However, when he was cleaning up, he found the lottery ticket.


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[Assistant] At that time, you were in need to pay the tuition fee and you had to play the violin in the subway station everyday to make the money.


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[Assistant] But if I lose honesty, I won't be happy forever.


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[Assistant] But being honest should always be with us.


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[Assistant] If we bear ourselves in a deceptive and dishonest way, we may succeed temporarily. However, from the long-term view, we will be a loser.


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[Assistant] It stands high above the masses at the beginning.


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[Assistant] But gradually, it calms down inch by inch and loses the chance of going up.


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[Assistant] Today's show ends here. Thank you for listening. If you like it, remember to click a little star for me.


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[Assistant] We will see you next time. See you next time!


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[Assistant] We know what a do while loop is, now we're gonna look at what a do until loop is. So I'm just gonna copy this bit of code here.


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[Assistant] And I'm gonna change the test do while to the test do until. So now we're gonna test a do until loop.


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[Assistant] And the look of a do until loop looks very similar to a do while loop, only instead of having the keyword while in it, it has the keyword until in it.


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[Assistant] And our condition, let's say doUntilRangeA1.value


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[Assistant] Is less than 124. Well, we can leave that condition there. Uhm, so if I run this, again, we clear the contents of the sheet, and if I just run it,


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[Assistant] Uh, it fell, it evaluated this line of code, rangeA1.value. Is it less than 124? Well, that's true. And since


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[Assistant] The condition is true. It's gonna loop until that and then it's gonna stop looping.


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[Assistant] It loops until something is true versus looping while something is true. There's a difference here. So this down here, just to be clear, uh, loops while condition is true. And you just saw what the difference is when I run it this condition.


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[Assistant] While that condition is true, it's going to execute the code.


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[Assistant] And so it's gonna, it's gonna keep looping and that in the while case 124 times. But until it's true meaning it is true already, right? So there's nothing in it.


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[Assistant] Whatever's in there is greater than 124. So now if I run it, I get 125 actually. Uhm.


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[Assistant] It should be greater than or equal to 124. So if I run it now.


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[Assistant] How to get, how to get, how to get the exact same output using the do until and the do while. You know, if you run this down here, uh, if I run this, you get 124. And if you run it up here, you got 124, but you had to change the relational operator. And we also changed the while to until because this is going to, uh, check this condition.


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[Assistant] And if it's true, it's going to stop. Whereas down here, it's going to check this condition. And if it's true, it's going to keep going. So that's why you got to change the less than to the greater than or equal to, and then it'll work fine.


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[Assistant] That is all a do until does. It's, it, uh, loops and it executes this line of code until this condition is true. And if it's true, uh, so right now, if we run it, look at as the value 124 in it.


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[Assistant] It's, it's evaluating this, this, uh, value here, 124. Is 124 greater than or equal to, uh, 124? And the answer is yes. It's true. So it's gonna, it's not gonna go into the code.


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[Assistant] Uh, that's all it do until does. It loops until something is true. And it could be that the first time you run it, the condition is true. In the same way that we were able to


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[Assistant] Uh, move this bit of code here.


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[Assistant] The code run the first time, no matter what, without checking any conditions.


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[Assistant] And that's the advantage. Sometimes that's an advantage. Most times, like I said in the other video, you can just leave that part of the code, the until and then the condition to check. You can leave it at the top because most times you're going to want to check the condition first.


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[Assistant] So that's all a do until loop is. It loops until a condition is true.


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[Assistant] People sometimes get the do until loops confused with the do while loops.


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[Assistant] But you, you really have to think about what they do. You know, this one loops until a condition is true. Whereas this one,


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[Assistant] It's gonna loop while a condition is true. So.


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[Assistant] So that's, that's the only difference is when do they run and when do they not run.


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[Assistant] What's gonna make this stop and what's gonna make that stop? Well, this loop will stop when this condition is true.


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[Assistant] I guess you could, you could say it this way stops when condition is true versus this loop stops when the condition is false.


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[Assistant] So, that's the difference. I mean, these aren't confusing concepts, they're just a little bit subtle in the sense that


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[Assistant] You have to know when these loops are gonna run and when they're not gonna run. And you could choose to use either one. You could structure these in ways to do the same thing like we saw. We had 124 using a do until and 124 using a do while. It's up to you which loop type you want to use, a do while or a do until. Uhm, you just gotta know what to put for your condition, right?


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[Assistant] This do while is going to stop when this condition is false. So for instance, in this case,


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[Assistant] Well, right now we have 125 in that, so if I don't clear it out like this, and I step through this, that condition is false.


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[Assistant] And so it's just gonna go to the end. It's gonna go to whatever's next. It's not gonna execute. And up here.


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[Assistant] Uh, 125 greater than or equal to. This is also going to stop because that condition is true. So.


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[Assistant] When does this stop? This stops when this condition is true. This loop stops when that condition is true, whatever you put in it. And this stops when the condition is false.


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[Assistant] So you have to maneuver really these relational operators. Notice down here is less than, up here is greater than or equal to. You just maneuver these around and you'll get the same result. We need to play around with this a little bit to get, to get your head around it. But you have this workbook.


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[Assistant] You can step through it. You can walk through all this stuff. Okay. So in the next, uh, part, I'm going to do some examples using these loops and some useful examples to help you get your head around it and a practical example of deleting, deleting blank rows and things like that. Okay.


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[Assistant] As I stared at the yellow glow of my light, the last bit of hope faded away. I closed my eyes intending to pray again for the help I so desperately needed.


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[Assistant] Then, like a blinding red flash, the message of the lantern bored its way into my brain. There was my miracle. There was the way to save my little dog. In the metallic sound I had heard were my instructions. They were so plain I couldn't help but understand them.


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[Assistant] Faster than I had ever moved in my life I went to work. With a stick I measured the water in the hole where my feet had broken through the ice. I was right, my foot had touched bottom. Eighteen inches down I felt the soft mud.


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[Assistant] With my pole I fished the lantern back to the bank. I took the handle off, straightened it out, and bent a hook in one end. With one of my shoelaces I tied the wire to the end of the cane pole. I left the hook sticking out about six inches beyond the end of it.


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[Assistant] I started shouting encouragement to little Anne. I told her to hang on and not to give up, for I was going to save her. She answered with a low cry.


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[Assistant] With the hook stuck in one of the ventilating holes in the top of my light I lifted it back out on the ice and set it down.


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[Assistant] After a little wiggling and pushing, I worked the hook loose and laid the pole down.


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[Assistant] I took off my clothes, picked up my axe, and stepped down into the hole in the icy water. It came to my knees. Step by step, breaking the ice with my axe, I waited out.


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[Assistant] The water came up to my hips and then to my waist. The cold bite of it took my breath away. I felt my body grow numb. I couldn't feel my feet at all, but I knew they were moving. When the water reached my armpits, I stopped and worked my pole toward Little Anne. Stretching my arms as far out as I could, I saw I was still a foot short.


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[Assistant] Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I moved on. The water reached my chin. I was close enough. I started hooking at the collar of Little Anne.


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[Assistant] Time after time I felt the hook almost catch. I saw I was fishing on a wrong angle. She had settled so low in the water I couldn't reach her collar.


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[Assistant] Raising my arms above my head so the pole would be on a slant, I kept hooking and praying. The seconds ticked by. I strained for one more inch. The muscles in my arms grew numb from the weight of the pole.


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[Assistant] Little Anne's claws slipped again. I thought she was gone, at the very edge of the ice she caught again. All I could see now were her small red paws and her nose and eyes.


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[Assistant] By old Dan's actions I could tell he understood and wanted to help. He ran over close to my pole and started digging at the ice. I whopped him with the cane. That was the only time in my life I ever hit my dog. I had to get him out of the way so I could see what I was doing. Just when I thought my task was impossible, I felt the hook slide under the tough leather. It was none too soon.


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[Assistant] As gently as I could, I dragged her over the rim of the ice.


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[Assistant] She moved her head. I started talking to her. She made an effort to stand, but couldn't. Her muscles were paralyzed and the blood had long since ceased to flow.


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[Assistant] At the movement of little Anne, old Dan threw a fit. He started barking and jumping. His long red tail fanned the air.


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[Assistant] Still holding onto my pole, I tried to take a step backward. My feet wouldn't move. A cold gripping fear came over me. I thought my legs were frozen. I made another effort to lift my leg.


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[Assistant] It moved. I realized that my feet were stuck in the soft muddy bottom.


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[Assistant] I started backing out, dragging the body of my little dog. I couldn't feel the pole in my hands. When my feet touched the icy bank I couldn't feel that either. All the feeling in my body was gone.


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[Assistant] I wrapped little Anne in my coat and hurried into my clothes. With the pole I fished my light back.


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[Assistant] Close by was a large drift. I climbed up on top of it and dug a hole down through the ice and snow until I reached the dry limbs. I poured half of the oil in my lantern down into the hole and dropped in a match. In no time I had a roaring fire.


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[Assistant] I laid the land close to the warm heat and went to work.


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[Assistant] Old Dan washed her head with his warm red tongue while I massaged and rubbed her body.


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[Assistant] I could tell by her cries when the blood started circulating. Little by little her strength came back.


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[Assistant] I stood her on her feet and started walking her. She was weak and wobbly.


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[Assistant] But I knew she would live. I felt much better and breathed a sigh of relief.


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[Assistant] After drying myself out the best I could, I took the lantern handle from the pole, bent it back to its original position, and put it back on the lantern. Holding the light out in front of me, I looked at it. The bright metal gleamed in the firelight glow. I started talking to it. I said, Thanks, old lantern, more than you'll ever know.


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[Assistant] I'll always take care of you. Your globe will always be clean and there'll never be any rust or dirt on your frame.


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[Assistant] I knew if it had not been for the miracle of the lantern my little dog would have met her death on that night.


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[Assistant] Her grave would have been the cold, icy waters of the Illinois River.


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[Assistant] Out in the river I could hear the cold water gurgling in the icy trough. It seemed to be angry, yet hissed and growled as it tore its way through the channel. I shuddered to think of what could have happened.


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[Assistant] Before I left for home, I walked back to the sycamore tree. Once again, I said a prayer.


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[Assistant] My second prayer wasn't said with just words. All of my heart and soul was in it.


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[Assistant] On my way home I decided not to say anything to my mother and father about little Anne's accident. I knew it would scare mama and she might stop my hunting.


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[Assistant] Reaching our house, I didn't hang the lantern in its usual place. I took it to my room and set it in a corner with the handle standing up.


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[Assistant] The next morning I started sneezing and came down with a terrible cold. I told mama I had gotten my feet wet. She scolded me a little and started doctoring me. For three days and nights I stayed home. All this time I kept checking the handle of the lantern.


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[Assistant] My sisters shook the house from the roof to the floor with their playing and romping, but the handle never did fall.


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[Assistant] I went to my mother and asked her if God answered prayers every time one was said. She smiled and said, No, Billy not every time. He only answers the ones that are said from the heart. You have to be sincere and believe in him. She wanted to know why I had asked.


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[Assistant] That was a very nice question for my little Daniel Boone to ask. Bending over, she started kissing me.


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[Assistant] I finally squirmed away from her, feeling as wet as a dirt dauber's nest. My mother never could kiss me like a fella should be kissed. Before she was done I was kissed all over. It always made me feel silly and baby-like.


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[Assistant] I tried to tell her that a coon hunter wasn't supposed to be kissed that way, but mama never could understand things like that. I stomped out of the house to see how my dogs were.


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[Assistant] The summer hot spell broke for a time. In fact, it was almost chilly. There was still the smoke, and the air was still dry. But the winds seemed less driven.


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[Assistant] Inside their cubby aboard the ship, Omdi Jeffery weren't taking much notice of the nice weather.


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[Assistant] Jeffrey's tone hovered between fear and petulance. In fact, there was supposed to be a transmission in the middle of the night. Technical data for them to pass on to Mr. Steele. It hadn't arrived by this morning.


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[Assistant] And now, Ravna had also missed their afternoon session. The time when normally they could just chat for a bit.


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[Assistant] The two children reviewed all the com settings. The previous fall they had laboriously copied those and the first level diagnostics. It all looked the same now.


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[Assistant] Except for something called Carrier Detect. If they only had a data set, they might have looked up what that meant.


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[Assistant] They had even very carefully reset some of the calm parameters, then nervously set them back when nothing happened. Maybe they hadn't given the changes enough of a chance to work. Maybe now they had really messed something up.


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[Assistant] They stayed in the command cubby all through the afternoon, their minds cycling through fear and boredom and frustration.


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[Assistant] After four hours, Boredom had at least a temporary victory.


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[Assistant] Jeffrey was napping uneasily in his father's hammock with two of Omdi curled up in his arms.


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[Assistant] Omni poked idly around the room, looked at the rocket controls.


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[Assistant] No, not even his self confidence was up to playing with those.


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[Assistant] Another of him jerked at the wool quilting. He could always watch the fungus grow for a while. Things were that slow.


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[Assistant] Actually the gray stuff had spread a lot farther than the last time he looked. Behind the quilt it was quite thick.


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[Assistant] He sent a chain of himself squirreling back between the wall and the fabric.


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[Assistant] It was dark, but some light spilled through the gap at the ceiling.


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[Assistant] In most places, the mold was scarcely an inch thick, but back here it was five or six. Wow.


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[Assistant] Just above his exploring nose, a huge lump of it grew from the wall.


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[Assistant] This was as big as some of the ornamental moss lumps that decorated castle meeting halls.


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[Assistant] Slender gray filaments grew down from the fungus. He almost called out to Jeffrey, but the two of him in the hammock were so comfortable.


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[Assistant] He brought a couple of heads close to the strangeness. The wall behind it looked a little odd, too, as though part of its substance had been taken by the mold.


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[Assistant] And the gray itself, like smoke, he felt the filaments with his nose.


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[Assistant] They were solid. Dry. His nose tickled.


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[Assistant] Omdi froze in shocked surprise. Watching himself from behind, he saw that two of the filaments had actually passed through his member's head.


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[Assistant] And yet there was no pain, just that tickling feeling. What? What?


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[Assistant] Jeffrey had been jostled into wakefulness as Omni tensed around him.


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[Assistant] I found something really strange behind the quilts. I touched this big hunk of fungus and, as he spoke, Omni-junkly backed away from the thing on the wall. The touch didn't hurt, but it made him more nervous than curious. He felt the filament sliding slowly out. I told you we aren't supposed to play with that stuff. It's dirty. The only good thing is it doesn't smell.


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[Assistant] Jeffrey was out of the hammock. He stepped across the cubby and lifted the quilting.


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[Assistant] The tip of one last filament was still stuck in his lip. It didn't hurt as much as the nettles he'd sampled a few days earlier. Umpty Jeffrey looked over the wound. What was left of the smoky spine seemed hard and brittle. Jeffrey's fingers gently worked it free.


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[Assistant] Then the two of them turned to wonder at the thing in the wall. It really has spread. Looks like it's hurt the wall, too. Amdi dabbed at his bloodied muzzle.


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[Assistant] I see why your folks told you to stay away from it. Maybe we should have Mr Steel scrub it all out.


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[Assistant] The two spent half an hour crawling around behind all the quilting.


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[Assistant] The grain has spread far, but there was only the one marvelous flowering. They came back to stare at it, even sticking articles of clothing into the wisps. Neither risk fingers or noses on further contact.


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[Assistant] Staring at the fungus on the wall was by far the most exciting thing that happened that afternoon. There was no message from the OOB. The next day the hot weather was back.


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[Assistant] Lord Steel paced the walls atop Starship Hill. It was near the middle of the night, and the sun hung about fifteen degrees above the northern horizon.


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[Assistant] Sweat filmed his fur. This was the warmest summer in 10 years. The dry wind was into its 30th day around.


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[Assistant] It was no longer a welcome break in the chill of the Northland. The crops were dying in the fields.


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[Assistant] Smoke from fjord fires was visible as brownish haze, both north and south of the castle.


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[Assistant] At first, the reddish color had been a novelty, a change from the unending blue of sky and distance, and the whitish haze of the sea fogs. Only at first.


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[Assistant] When fire struck East Streamsdale, the entire sky had been dipped in red. Ash had rained all the day around, and the only smell had been that of burning.


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[Assistant] Some said it was worse than the filthy air of the southern cities.


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[Assistant] The troops on the walls backed far out of his way. This was more than courtesy, more than their fear of steel. His troops were still not used to the cloaked ones, and the cover story Shrek was spreading did nothing to ease their minds.


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[Assistant] Lord Steel was accompanied by a singleton in the colors of a lord.


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[Assistant] There were singletons that could talk that well, but even the most verbal could not carry on intelligent conversation.


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[Assistant] Shrek had had no trouble convincing the troops that Flensers science had created a race of superpacs.


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[Assistant] That the cloaked ones were individually as smart as any ordinary pack.


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[Assistant] It was a good cover for what the cloaks really were. It both inspired fear and obscured the truth.


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[Assistant] The member stepped a little closer, nearer to steel than anyone had been except during murders and rapes and the beatings of the past.


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[Assistant] He looked all the way from the flencer member, scanning the red shroud at southern horizon.


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[Assistant] What's the latest estimate of Woodcarver's progress? She's still capped about five days southeast of here. The damned incompetent.


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[Assistant] It's hard to believe she's your parent. Vendacious made things so easy for her.


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[Assistant] Her soldiers and toy cannon should have been here almost a ten day past. And been well butchered on schedule.


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[Assistant] Yes, long before our sky friends arrived. Instead, she wanders inland and then balks.


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[Assistant] The flencer member shrugged in its dark cloak. Steel knew the radio was as heavy as it looked. It consoled him that the other was paying a price for his omniscience. Just think, in heat like this, to have every part of oneself muffled to the tympana, he could imagine the discomfort. Indoors he could smell it.


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[Assistant] They walked past one of the wall cannon. The barrel gleamed of layered metal.


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[Assistant] The thing had thrice the range of Woodcarver's pitiful invention. While Woodcarver had been working with Datasette and a human child's intuition, he had had the direct advice of Ravna and company.


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[Assistant] At first he'd feared their lagesse, thinking it meant the visitors were superior beyond need for care.


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[Assistant] Now, the more he heard of Ravana and the others, the more clearly he understood their weakness. They could not experiment with themselves, improve themselves.


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[Assistant] Inflexible, slow-changing dullards. Sometimes they showed a low cunning. Ravnis coined us about what she wanted from the first starship.


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[Assistant] But their desperation was loud in all their messages, as was their attachment to the human child.


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[Assistant] Everything had been going so well till just a few days ago.


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[Assistant] As they walked out of earshot of the gunner pack, Steel said to the flencer member,


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[Assistant] And still no word from our rescuers. Quite so.


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[Assistant] That was the other botched schedule, the important one, which they could not control.


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[Assistant] The singleton jabbed its snout toward the dome of the inner keep. The gesture was an awkward abortion.


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[Assistant] The member's voice sounded sympathetic. Almost unconsciously, Lord Steel sidled a little farther out from around it.


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[Assistant] Steel remembered that tone from his own early existence. He also remembered the cutting and death that had always followed.


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[Assistant] Steel bared six pairs of jaws at the surrounded singleton. None of your old tricks.


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[Assistant] The member flinched, an almost imperceptible twitch, that pleased Steel more than the groveling of ten thousand.


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[Assistant] The situation made Steele proud. He had succeeded where Flensers own methods would have failed. He had manipulated without threats or pain.


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[Assistant] It had been Steel's craziest experiment, and certainly his most profitable, but


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[Assistant] Look, I don't have time to wet nurse anyone. It's a tiresome thing to talk to those two.


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[Assistant] And it was very tiresome to hold his temper, to suffer Jeffrey's petting and Omdi's pranks.


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[Assistant] In the beginning, Steelhead insisted that no one else have close contact with the children. They were too important to expose to others. The most casual slip up might show them the truth and ruin them.


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[Assistant] Even now, Tyrethect was the only pack besides himself who had regular contact.


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[Assistant] But for Steele, every meeting was worse than the last. An ultimate test of his self-control.


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[Assistant] It was hard to think straight in a killing rage. And that's how almost every conversation with them ended for Steel. How wonderful it would be when the space folk landed.


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[Assistant] Then, he could use the other end of the tool that was Omni-Jeffrey.


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[Assistant] Then, there would be no need to have their trust and friendship. Then he would have a lever.


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[Assistant] Something to torture and kill to enforce his demands. Of course if the aliens never landed or if...


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[Assistant] Steel lashed at the scaffolding that ran along the inner side of the parapet, shredding the wood with his gleaming tines.


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[Assistant] We can't do anything about the aliens, so let's deal with Woodcarver. Yes.


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[Assistant] He walked on several paces, chuckling to himself.


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[Assistant] Yes, it's time to have Vendatius bring his trusting queen in for the slaughter. Maybe it will interfere with other events, but-


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[Assistant] The Singleton didn't say anything, and after a moment Steele glared at him.


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[Assistant] Yes, dear teacher, I know there is a risk. I know it splits our forces, but we've got an army sitting on our doorstep. They've arrived inconveniently late, but even Vendatius can't make them turn around and go home. And if he tries to stall things, the Queen might... Can you predict just what she would do?


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[Assistant] No, she has always had a way with the unexpected. She might even see through Vandacious's fraud. So...


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[Assistant] We take a small chance and destroy her now. You are with Varskout Wrangeleth? Yes, two of me.


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[Assistant] One more thing. It's important. And Vendacious must see to it within the day around. I want Woodcarver's human dead. What harm can she do? That's a stupid question.


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[Assistant] Especially coming from you. We don't know when Ravna and Fam may reach us. Till we have them safe in our jaws, the Joanna creature is a dangerous thing to have nearby. Tell Vendatius to make it look like an accident. But I want that two legs dead.


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[Assistant] Flenser was everywhere. It was a form of godhood he'd dreamed of since he'd been Woodcarver's newbie.


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[Assistant] While one of him talked to Steel, two others lounged about the starship with Omdi Jeffery, and two more padded through Light Forest, just north of Woodcarver's encampment.


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[Assistant] Paradise can also be an agony, and each day the torment was a little harder to bear.


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[Assistant] In the first place, this summer was as insufferably hot as any in the north. The radio cloaks were not merely hot and heavy, they necessarily covered his member's tympana.


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[Assistant] And unlike other uncomfortable costumes, the price of taking these off for even a moment was mindlessness.


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[Assistant] His first trials had lasted just an hour or two. Then had come a five day expedition with far scout Wrangelith.


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[Assistant] It had taken a couple day rounds to recover from the sores and aches of the radio cloaks.


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[Assistant] This latest exercise in omniscience had lasted 12 days. Wearing the cloaks all the time was impossible.


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[Assistant] Every day in a rotation, one of his members threw off its radio, was bathed, and had its cloak's liner changed. It was Flensers hour of daily madness, when sometimes the weak-willed Tyrethecht would come back to mind, vainly trying to reestablish her dominance. It didn't matter.


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[Assistant] With one of his members disconnected, the remaining pack was only four.


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[Assistant] There are foursomes of normal intelligence, but none existed in Flanzer Tyrethect.


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[Assistant] The bathing and recloking were all done in a confused haze.


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[Assistant] And of course, even though Flenser was everywhere at once, he wasn't any smarter than before. After the first jarring experiments, he got the hang of seeing, hearing scenes that were radically different.


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[Assistant] But it was as difficult as ever to carry on multiple conversations.


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[Assistant] When he was battering with steel, his other members had very little to say to Omni Jeffrey or to Wrangelith Scouts.


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[Assistant] Lord Steel was done with him. Flenzer walked along the parapets with his former student. But if Steel had said anything to him, it would have taken him away from his current conversation. Flenzer smiled, carefully, so the one with Steel would not show it.


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[Assistant] Steel thought he was talking to Far Scout Wrangeleth just now.


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[Assistant] It was a dangerous game and the cloaks were themselves dangerous devices. Keep a cloak out of the sunlight for a few hours and it lost power and the member wearing it was cut off from the pack.


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[Assistant] Worse was the problem of static. That was the mantis word.


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[Assistant] The second set of cloaks had killed its user, and the spacers weren't sure of the cause, except that it was some sort of interference problem. Flenser had experienced nothing so extreme.


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[Assistant] But sometimes on his farthest hikes with Wrangeleth or when a cloak's power faded.


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[Assistant] There was an incredible shrieking in his mind, like a dozen packs crowding close. Sounds that scaled between sex madness and killing frenzy.


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[Assistant] Tyrethect seemed to like times like that. She'd come bounding out of the confusion, swapping him with her soft hate.


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[Assistant] Normally she lurked around the edges of his consciousness, tweaking a word here, a motive there. After the static, she was much worse.


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[Assistant] On one occasion she held control for almost a day around. Given a year without crises, Flenzer could have studied Ty and Ra and Thekt and done a proper excision. Thekt, the member with the white tipped ears, was probably the one to kill. It wasn't bright, but it was likely the capstone of the trio.


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[Assistant] With a precisely crafted replacement, Flenser might be even greater than before the massacre at Parliament Bowl. But for now, Flenser was stuck.


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[Assistant] Soul surgery on oneself was an awesome challenge, even to the master. So careful. Careful. Keep the cloaks well charged.


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[Assistant] Take no long trips and don't let any one person see all the threads of your plan.


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[Assistant] While Steel thought he was seeking Wrangelith, Flinsir was talking to Omni and Jeffrey. The human's face was wet with tears. F-four times we've missed for Fravna. What has happened to her?


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[Assistant] It could be our ultra wave. Maybe it's broken. He looked beseechingly at Flenser. There were tears in the puppy's eyes, too. Tyre-sect.


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[Assistant] Flencer with steel, descended the northern stairs, crossed the parade ground. It gave a sliver of attention to the other's complaints about the sloppy maintenance around the practice stands. At least Steel was smart enough to keep the disciplined scaffolds over on Hidden Island.


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[Assistant] Flencer with Wrangelith troopers splash through a mountain stream.


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[Assistant] Even in high summer in the middle of a dry wind, there were still snow patches, and the streams running from under them were icy cold.


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[Assistant] Flenser with Omdi Jeffrey edged forward, let two of Omdi rest against his sides. Both children liked physical contact, and he was the only one they had besides each other.


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[Assistant] It was all perversion, of course, but Flanzer had based his life on manipulating others' weakness, and, but for the pain, welcomed it.


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[Assistant] Flenser buzzed a deep purring sound through his shoulders caressing the puppy next to him.


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[Assistant] That was Tyrethex's fault. On his own, Flenser would have had no trouble winning Omni Jeffrey's love. Flenser had none of Steele's killing temper and fragile dignity. Flenser could chat for casual pleasure, all the while mixing truth with lies.


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[Assistant] One of his greatest talents was empathy. No sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability.


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[Assistant] But just when he was doing well, when they seemed about to open to him, then Ty or Ra or Thecht would pop up, twisting his expression or poisoning his choice of phrase.


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[Assistant] Perhaps he should content himself with undermining the children's respect for steel, without of course ever saying anything directly against him.


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[Assistant] Flenzer sighed and patted Jeffrey's arm comfortingly. Ravna will be back, I'm sure of it.


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[Assistant] The human sniffled a little then reached out to pet the part of Flensers head that was not shrouded by the cloak.


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[Assistant] They sat in companionable silence for a moment, and his attention drifted back to the forest and Wrangelith's troops.


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[Assistant] The group had been moving uphill for almost ten minutes. The others were lightly burdened and used to this sort of exercise. Flanzer's two members were lagging. He hissed at the group leader.


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[Assistant] The group leader sidled back, his squad shifting briskly out of his way. He stopped when his nearest was 15 feet from flencers. The soldier's heads cocked this way and that. Your wishes, my lord?


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[Assistant] Yet there were only two of Flenzer here. Normally such a fragment could barely carry on a conversation, much less give reasonable orders.


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[Assistant] Just as disconcerting, Flenser knew, was his lack of mind sound. Zombie was the word some of the troops used when they thought themselves alone.


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[Assistant] Flens are pointed up the hill. The timber line was only a few yards away.


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[Assistant] Farskouth Wrangelith is on the other side. We will take


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[Assistant] Part of the other was already looking up the hill. That is not good sir. The trooper spoke slowly.


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[Assistant] Actually, Flencer knew exactly where Vendatius had put lookouts. There was no risk in crossing the open ground here. And he was so tired.


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[Assistant] The group leader still didn't know quite what Flenser was, but he saw the dark cloaks were at least as dangerous as any full pack lord.


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[Assistant] He backed off humbly, bellies dragging on the ground. The group turned uphill and a few minutes later were walking across open heather.


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[Assistant] Rangelith's command post was less than a half mile away along this path. Flenzer with steel walked into the inner keep.


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[Assistant] The stone was freshly cut. The walls thrown up with the feverish speed of all this castle's construction.


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[Assistant] Thirty feet over their heads were vault-met buttresses. There were small holes set in the stonework. Those holes would soon be filled with gunpowder, as would slots in the walls surrounding the landing field.


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[Assistant] Steel called those the Jaws of Welcome. Now he turned ahead back to Flenzer. So, what does Wrangeleth say?


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[Assistant] Flanzer did his best to conceal his own ships with the scouts. Such recons were not forbidden, but Steel would have demanded explanations if he knew.


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[Assistant] Flenser with Wrangelith's troops slushed through water-soaked heather. The air over the snowmelt was delightfully chill.