risky?â
âThat does enhance the challenge.â
âWhat happens if it goes wrong?â
âNothing to us; weâre Demons. But you would fragment across all the Xanths you passed through, and become only a shred of an atom in each.â
âI would die?â
âThat would be another way to view it, yes.â
Astrid felt a chill. Just how much did she want this friendship?
âYou are reconsidering?â Fornax asked.
That decided her. âNo!â
âThat is good, because we canât do this without you.â
They came to land in the trollâs glade. Dysnomia was there. âAre we ready?â
Astrid knew that meant her. âWe are.â
âTake my hand.â
Astrid took her hand, and Fornax took her other hand. Then the environment started quivering. âWhatâs happening?â Astrid asked nervously.
âWe are crossing parallels,â Fornax explained. âFor us it would be smooth, but your mortality generates some friction. That should diminish as we accelerate.â
âAccelerate?â
âEach frame is a second ahead of the prior one. There are many seconds, so we are increasing our rapidity of crossing. To you it will seem like traveling into the future.â
âThank you,â Astrid said faintly.
They did speed up. She could tell, because the angle of the sunlight started shifting, as though the sun were moving faster. Then the sun dropped behind the trees, and darkness came. Soon light returned: now they were in tomorrow. It brightened, and faded; now they were in tomorrow night. How many seconds in a day and night? They were crossing many parallels!
The night passed, and another day, faster. Soon the lights and darknesses became a flicker, as they were covering the days so swiftly. In that flicker she saw the trees change, some of them losing their leaves. It was winter. And spring, and summer, and winter again. A year was passing!
The years moved across more swiftly, one two, three, ten, twentyâit became too fast to count. Would they overshoot the fifty?
Then the progression slowed. The years reappeared, and the seasons, and the days. Finally they came to a halt. They had arrived. Somewhen.
The glade had changed. Now it was just a clearing in the forest. A cable stretched across it like a mundane power line. Had electricity come to Xanth?
âNo, it is a cable for a car,â Fornax said, answering her thought. âIt crosses not just from glade to glade, but from Xanth to Xanth. This is one of its stops. Families hoped at least to save their children. But its promise is false; all Xanths in this region will be destroyed.â
âWhat a crime,â Astrid said. âWho would tease desperate families like that?â
âThey did not realize. The intention was good.â
The cable jerked. A hanging car appeared above the forest. It was black, with the words MODEL T printed in its side. It swung down to the clearing, touching the ground as if ready to take on a passenger.
Instead Fornax went to it and opened its door. âAll out,â she said.
A tousled ten-year-old boy got out. âIs this the end?â he asked.
âNot exactly, but it will do. This lady will take you home with her.â
âNo. Iâm going to the end.â The boy turned to reenter the car.
âThere is no end,â Fornax said. âThe cars are traveling more slowly than the termination. It will catch up and destroy the cable and cars.â
âI donâ care. Iâm supposed to go to the end.â
âThe end is doom.â
âAnd who the sweet violets are you?â the boy demanded insolently. He couldnât cuss because of the Adult Conspiracy, but he had a bad attitude. âYou arenât my mother. You canât tell me what to do.â
âWe are trying to save you from extinction,â Fornax said evenly.
âWell go extinct yourself, cousin of a canine. Iâm