Myth 13 - Myth Alliances by Asprin, Robert (ebook reader online free .txt) 📕

all of the tasks you have mentioned so far: bookkeeping, spreadsheets, projections, expense breakouts, and it will fit in a handbag or a belt pouch. See if you like any of these.” The little round mirrors began to clack at her like castanets, all vying for her attention.

“Oh, they're perfectly darling,” Bunny cooed.

The Kobold beamed. “How very intuitive of you! That's what they're called, Perfectly Darling Assistants, or PDAs for short.”

The little objects, seeing that she favored them, began to jump up and down like fish snapping at bait. Bunny looked them all over carefully. Their jewel-​like colors were very attractive. Each of them seemed to grow brighter, hoping to attract her attention. But as she came close to a red-​cased compact, it opened wide to show its miniature screen. Bunny's blue eyes were reflected in it. She reached out, and it almost jumped into her hand. Bunny brought it close to her and began to stroke the smooth, gleaming shell, murmuring to herself.

“Goodness,” Zol stated. “That one really likes you, Mis?tress Bunny. I've seldom seen such an enthusiastic re?sponse.”

The feeling was mutual. Bunny kept turning the little object over, examining it, touching every inch of its sur?face. It leapt up to get the full benefit of each pass of her hand, and emitted a cacophony of sounds that was a com?bination of music, chirps, sensuous purrs and whistles.

“Awwww,” Tananda crooned. “How cute!”

“It is,” Bunny agreed. “I think I'll call her Bytina.”

“How do you know it's a she?” I asked, skeptically.

“Well, just look at her,” Bunny insisted, holding the lit?tle device out to me. It snapped its covers shut as I leaned down to examine it. “Oh, you've scared her.”

“I've scared her?” I echoed. “What did I do?”

“Now, now, Master Skeeve, the relationship has to build naturally, one connection at a time. Put her here for a mo?ment, Mistress Bunny,” Zol suggested, patting the top of Asciita's book, which extended a silver pseudopod large enough to hold Bytina. “Good! Now she, and you, will have connections to networks to which you are invited.” Instantly dozens of books and mirrors on-​a-​stick all around the room began to blink. “See! They all want to get to know you.”

Bunny glanced down into the minute magik mirror, which no longer reflected her face. Instead, we could see the image of a polished wooden desk. I understood the “desktop” concept now, because hundreds of envelopes of every size and. shape began to fall onto it with the swishing sound that real paper would make. 'There. You've got mail already."

Bunny tapped the mirror with her fingertip. “How do I open those envelopes?”

“There is your hand,” Zol replied, pointing to a hand-​shaped button. Bunny touched it, and the very image of her hand appeared in the picture.

“I can't open envelopes one-​handed,” she objected.

“Touch it with the other hand, too.”

Suddenly there were two little hands in the mirror. It was good magik. The disembodied images picked up the first envelope,, opened the flap and extracted an engraved card. Bunny peered close.

“I can't read it.”

“Expand the window,” Zol instructed her. Before Bunny could ask how, Bytina stretched and stretched until she was the size of a dinner plate. The first missive was now easily read.

“ 'Welcome,' the card said in swirling blue letters, 'u r v beautiful i would like to be your friend do u like pizza (g)? rofl Kas Nostat.'”

Bunny smiled, bemused. “I like pizza very much,” she said. “Who is Kas?” A unit in the far back of the room started blinking blue. Bunny's compact started flashing sil?ver. “Oh! Are they talking?”

“Yes. They all speak their own language. This is very convenient, because it will provide me with a means of communicating with you if we are not together.”

Bytina's mirror filled with more envelopes, all of them flapping around like hysterical butterflies. Bunny opened them all with pleasure. Before long she had been intro?duced to everyone in the room. Further invitations were pouring in from farther afield. Zol identified some of the signatures as coming from entirely different countries in the dimension.

“How can it do that?”

“We harnessed natural forces,” Zol explained. “You know how quickly a rumor can spread, for example? A story that you thought was private going to the ends of the earth before you know it? Well, we tagged one, let it loose, and followed how it made its way all over the world. Those information pathways are the basis of our system. So our rumor-​nation, if you will forgive the term, is now able to ruminate upon our little problem. And Bytina is part of the solution.”

“Well, I like her,” Bunny declared, happily. “She is just darling, and she's a genius.” The compact in her hands seemed wildly happy, flipping its mirror open and closed. Gleep came close for a sniff. Bytina closed her lid with a snap that nearly took off one of his whiskers. Gleep re?treated behind me with his head peering over my shoulder. “You'd really like having one,” she told us. “It's wonderful. I feel like I'm connected to so many people now.”

“Not for me,” Tananda insisted. “I have complicated enough relationships of the breathing kind.”

“How is this worldwide connection doing on finding the dimension the Pervect Ten went to?” I asked, peevishly.

“I'm glad you asked,” Zol smiled at me. “I believe I have an answer for you.”

Our host led us to yet another huge white room filled with Kobolds and computers.