years ago, and I remember vividly the consequences of that decision.”
Marool was astonished. “I had not heard of this!”
“Few of us here on Newholme read the reports of the COW, a few of us Hags, a librarian or two, a few Men of Business. The Men of Business have some understanding of the situation, for they invited us to house the Questioner at the Fortress of Vanished Men, obviously because it has no Timmy staff. As though that would be enough! The Questioner isn’t blind, or deaf. Even though Timmys don’t exist in the fortress—or at your mansion, Marool—she would not be fooled by that alone. No. Total banishment is necessary. The Questioner must neither hear nor see a single Timmy while she—it is here.”
A long silence, during which Marool ground her teeth, finally erupting with: “How are you going to make them go?”
“They hear us. They understand us. We’ve said enough that they know what the stake is. Either they disappear, or we may all die.”
Marool snorted. “You’re assuming that all this circumspection will be easier to manage if I invite the Questioner to Mantelby House?”
“It is more hope than assumption,” Onsofruct murmured. “Once the Timmys have been sent away, if they will understand enough to go away, there’ll be a period of adjustment in human behavior. New habits, however, take time to form and old ones are hard to break. Presumably your house servants do not have the habit of addressing thin air with orders for the nearest Timmy to wash the dishes or milk the cows.”
Marool mused, stroking her massive jaw. “True, which makes it all well and good inside my walls, but the Questioner won’t sit still, will she? We can’t depend on her squatting at my place all day and all night while she’s here.”
“This may be true. The plan is not foolproof, but we have no alternative to suggest. We do know the Questioner has various aides, assistants, deputies, and functionaries, and we can make it a point to accompany these ancillaries during their investigations, interpreting what they may or may not see or hear.”
Marool moved restlessly to the small barred window that looked out over the avenue, the wide steps, the parade of women climbing toward and descending from the Temple. “I will have to get rid of my Timmy gardeners and stable workers.”
“Yes,” D’Jevier murmured.
“When does the banishment take place?”
“We started earlier this evening, delivering the edict to all homes and businesses.”
“The planetary economy will probably collapse,” said Marool, thinking of the many Men of Business who handled Mantelby affairs and all their investments and projects.
“Well, of course, if we would prefer extinction …” Onsofruct’s voice was not at all sarcastic, though her eyebrows slanted sardonically.
Marool shook her head doubtfully. “I don’t see how the Questioner could insist on our extinction. How would it enforce a dictum like that?”
D’Jevier said wearily, “The biological sciences are far advanced on many worlds, Marool. The Questioner need only explode a small canister in our upper atmosphere, as was done on Bayor’s world….”
Marool retreated into sulky silence. “I suppose I can survive without Timmys. If the visit isn’t long. But having guests … it would be an inconvenience.”
To break a weighty silence, Onsofruct murmured, “Let me take a few moments to discuss the matter with my colleague.”
Taking D’Jevier by the arm, she led her out into the hall.
“I hate that woman,” said D’Jevier. “There is a horridness about her.”
“You are remembering the time she came here….”
“I am remembering that, yes. And there have been rumors. Disappearances. Things her servants tell, when they come down into town. Things her neighbors say they’ve heard. Things that might have been foretold, keeping Morrigan in mind.”
“And you hate her,” Onsofruct mused.
“I loathe her. I think all the stories are true.”
“Then you don’t want to authorize her to house the Questioner.”
D’Jevier snorted. “I loathe her, but I loathe equally what the Questioner may do to us! I’ve racked my brain trying to come up with a place to put this Questioner creature where there are or have been no Timmys. In this one case, Marool’s desires parallel our own. She’s bright, she’s ruthless, and she’s likely to be as helpful as possible. Have you some better idea?”
“None,” said Onsofruct.
“Then let us pay the piper, as we must.”
They returned to the office, and Onsofruct said, “We could possibly grant you some consideration, Marool, to make the inconvenience worth your while.”
“Well worth my while?” She lifted the corners of her mouth into a