Visitors (Pathfinder 3)

Umbo grinned. “We may call you Noxon, but you’re still Rigg.”

“I’m not sure how to take that,” said Rigg.

“It’s pure flattery to both of us,” said Noxon. “You should all know that I didn’t plan on coming back here. If I hadn’t accidently duplicated myself, I would have ended up with the backward Ram Odin out at the alien world. Presumably they’re colonizing the place now. But as long as this copy of me existed, I thought I might as well come home.”

“With a friend,” said Param.

“You can never have too many friends,” said Noxon.

But the way Deborah threaded an arm around his waist made it clear enough that this wasn’t an ordinary friendship.

“My job is over,” said Noxon, “but I realize you?

?re still caught up in the war against Haddamander and Hagia. I don’t want to distract you.”

“We no longer have such a tight deadline to work with,” said Olivenko. “Since the world isn’t ending a couple of years from now.”

“The ship told me that you already knew the Destroyers were aliens,” said Noxon. “Rigg and Param got bounced past the Destruction and had some kind of fight, yes? I’ve never actually seen one of them. Do you have it recorded?”

“Rigg makes us watch it twice a day,” said Ram Odin.

Rigg shook his head a little.

Noxon grinned. “Well, I want to see you whip them.”

“I only fought one, and it took more than twenty of me to bring him down,” said Rigg. “And it wasn’t actually me. The ones who did the fighting left the knife and the ship’s logs with Umbo, and he stopped us from getting into the fight. So all I know of it is what the ship’s log recorded.”

“Nice to know you had it in you though, isn’t it?” asked Noxon.

“You’re the one who saved the world.”

“Well, as I said, that wasn’t me, either. You and I are just ­copies of the heroes.”

“Good enough for me,” said Umbo.

“Only now both of us are back here,” said Noxon. “So we still have to try to keep out of each other’s way.”

Rigg shook his head. “Square taught me how to get the facemask to give me a new face. Turns out we have a lot more control over our appearance than we knew.”

“That’s right,” said Noxon. “You look like me now. I mean, the way we were. Originally. I didn’t even realize it because that’s how I’m supposed to look. Can you get my mask to do that?”

“Why?” asked Rigg. “With you butt ugly like that, people can tell us apart really easily.”

“And who is Square?” asked Noxon.

Leaky sighed a little.

“All will be explained in due time,” said Ram Odin. “But I think it’s clear now that you’ve saved the world, we have a war to fight, and your—friend? Wife?—wants a facemask.”

“I want it even more now,” said Deborah. “I won’t have to be as ugly as Noxon after all.”

“You can be whatever you want,” said Square.

“If you can control the facemask,” said Param. “Not everybody can.”

Ram Odin once again tried to take control. “Please. We’ve all seen each other, we know pretty much what happened, and we can get the details in the days and weeks to come. Let’s let Noxon and Deborah do what they came here to do, and the rest of us should get back to our responsibilities.”

“How did it work out with the mice and the computers?” asked Umbo.