Race Against Time by Piers Anthony

that point, and the taxi had broken out of the cage. The bird would not be trapped like that again!
    "Now will you let me go?" Betsy asked Pei.
    "If I must," he said, smiling.
    "Know any more games like that?" John asked Meilan. She only smiled.
    The six spheres had been foiled, but they had not given up. They were now following about a mile behind, keeping pace but not gaining. John was not pushing the taxi to its limit, so he was sure the pursuit was deliberately holding back.
    "They do not wish to play again," Pei said. "But we cannot proceed to that other enclave so long as they are watching us."
    "We have to lose them somehow," Betsy agreed.
    "I have heard that ships can lose each other in fog," Pei said. "Especially in a storm."
    John followed his gaze. "That's just a cloud formation. Hardly a storm."
    "Storm!" Betsy said, turning to this new topic with enthusiasm. "Let me turn on the weather report."
    In a moment she had the taxi's communications screen on. She experimented with its controls, searching for weather.
    John felt something at his hand. It was Canute's nose. "Yeah, we've been ignoring you," he said, patting the long head. "Dog or gomdog, you're still my pal. I'm sure glad you weren't lost in China!"
    "Here we are!" Betsy cried happily. "A continuous weather report. And look—they have a large storm scheduled! If we can locate it...."
    "Worth a try," John agreed, though he had strong private doubts. A civilization with technology this advanced should have no trouble tracing a taxi in a storm.
    "And I can read the coordinates!" Betsy said, elated. "Except they have only five digits apiece. Must be a different grid."
    "Ask information," John said. "We don't have to figure out coordinates when we have that."
    "Take us into the nearest rainstorm," Betsy told the communicator.
    The taxi shifted back to automatic and changed course. The six following globes matched the change but did not close in again.
    Pei's gaze was fixed on the communicator. "That spirit in the machine," he murmured to John. "It can understand what we say?"
    "Yes. I think it's like a computer, with a big bank of information. It can answer questions and—"
    "It was constructed and given life by the Standards?"
    "Of course."
    "Should it not serve its masters, then?"
    "You don't understand. It's a machine. It—" Then John caught Pei's meaning. The Standards could be listening in on everything.
    "Betsy," John called. "Turn it off." He gestured toward the communicator.
    "Turn it off? We need that." Then she, too, caught on. "Ouch! We're prime fools, all of us!" She fiddled with the knobs. "I hope that does it. Can't be certain, so—"
    "So keep it low and simple," John said. "I think we need a change in plans."
    "We could land in the storm and all jump ship," Betsy whispered. "And send it on to somewhere else. They might follow it."
    "We need the vehicle," John pointed out. "We don't have a chance of finding Songhai or whatever without it."
    "We can't keep it," Betsy said. "By this time they must have traced that ID, and they'll know every time you use it, maybe. We have to take our chances on the ground."
    "Maybe that's what they think. We might drop ourselves right into a trap on the ground. At least they can't catch us here."
    "Perhaps we could do both," Pei said. "We could drop somebody to check the enclave while the others went on. Then we could rendezvous at a set time and place and see which course looked better."
    "Yes!" John agreed. "In fact, we could set down at a dozen places, and they might not know where we got off, or if we did at all. We can fool them yet!"
    "But who checks the enclave?" Betsy asked. "I'd much rather stay with the taxi."
    There was a pause. Evidently they all felt the same way.
    "I have Canute," John said finally. "He would be a big help on a ground mission, so I suppose I should do it."
    Nobody argued with him.
    "Well, let's firm up the plan," Betsy said, visibly relieved. "We drop you, loop around, come