The comforting sounds of mayhem continued to waft down the hill from the library.

Vaz — > Braun: How does the lab data look? The inspection equipment had been transmitting for some minutes now. Were the lies being believed? Could Günberk give up his precious theories?

Braun — > Vaz: They're seventy percent complete. We have a lot of post-analysis to do, but at first glance these labs look innocent.

Yes!

Greater Scooch-a-mout — > Lesser Scooch-a-mout: Forward, now, my man! The Hacek bastards are giving way!

And Hacekeans were falling back, at least in the area ahead of Timothy Huynh. He walked his forklift into the gap, crushing what spider bots got in the way. The arc of contention had shifted round till he was almost due south of the library's main entrance. Here the enemy was in retreat. The Scoochis had more real people on the ground and that meant more backup for the visual effects. But the Hacekeans had perhaps two hundred thousand folk from afar compared with half that many virtual Scoochis. On the far side of the library, on the hill by the loading dock, there was no room for a real human mob. Over there, Hacek — the worldwide belief — was in ascendance. Dangerous Knowledge hung out there, more spectacular than ever, orchestrating a sky show that boomed over the north-side valley. His reinforcements swarmed downward on lances of light.

Tim did his best to follow the big picture, though just now he was very busy stomping on every spider bot that he could lay a foot-platter on. He had seen marvels on both sides tonight, things that their belief circles could feast on for at least the next year. And yet there was still room for a clear win. Tonight Scooch-a-mout could transcend what had been a fringe market and reach the same worldwide big time as the Hacek and the Pratchett and the Bollywood empires. They needed something awesome, something that would put clear sky between them and the Hacekeans. He marched his Mind Sum, his being of mist and steel, back and forth across the front, crushing all that remained of the spider bots. He could think of nothing more spectacular to do. Damn .

But there was a world of Scoochis out there, and cleverness to match.

Greater Scooch-a-mout — > Lesser Scooch-a-mout: Release the overrides on my forklift.

Huynh did so.

The figure of the Greater Scooch-a-mout was motionless for a moment, but in his technician's view, Huynh could see its power cells charging capacitors well into the burnout range.

And then the Greater Scooch-a-mout sprinted forward like a human athlete and… by God broad-jumped thirty feet, to the lawn by the Snake Path. It looked over the north-side valley and shouted down at Dangerous Knowledge in a voice that was both virtual and real. And the real was noise unto pain.

"Hey there! Little Bitty Knowledge! We're equally matched, don't you think?"

From the valley by the loading dock, Dangerous Knowledge shook his fist at the teetering forklift. "Too equally matched!"

"But one of us should clearly win, don't you think?"

"Of course! And that would be meself, as all the world knows." Dangerous Knowledge waved at its virtual — millions! (But a big part of that count was faked images, Tim could tell.)

"Maybe." The Greater Scooch-a-mout jumped again, this time to the edge of the drop-off over the loading dock. There was something awesome in the maneuver, knowing the tons of real machine behind it. "But what is this whole conflict about?" It waved its arms, a cheerleader god, and Scoochis screamed with all the amplification they could muster:

"We want our floor space!"

"We want our library!"

"And most of all, we want our REAL books!"

"YES!" said the Scooch-a-mout. "It's the Library we're all fighting about. It's the Library that should decide!"

And with that all the Scoochi sound effects chopped to nothing. An uncertain silence spread across the Scoochis. Sometimes the belief thing got caught in its own metaphors and wound up spouting nonsense. Huynh looked back and forth, gauging the reaction the Greater Scooch had provoked. It sounded good to enlist the library itself, but what did that mean ?

Down in the north-side valley, there was a flare of laughter. The enemy had come to the same conclusion. We are screwed , thought Huynh. But then he noticed that Dangerous Knowledge was not laughing. The creature came partway up the hill, confronted the Greater Scooch-a-mout eye-to-eye. And now there was eerie silence on all sides.

Somehow, Dangerous Knowledge knew what the Scooch-a-mout was talking about. "So," the Hacek godling said at last, and its voice had a silken tone even though it echoed off the library and settled deep in the mind of every one in the world who was watching. "Ye want the Library itself to decide who should care for it and who should have its space?"

"And how real the books should really be," the Greater Scooch-a-mout said, with a smile that seemed almost friendly. "I propose that we put the question to the library — and whichever of us it chooses will be deemed the blessed."

"Ah!" Now Dangerous Knowledge was smiling, too, but it was a fierce stretching of the face. The creature backed down the hillside, but grew with each step so that its eyes stayed on a level with the Greater Scooch-a-mout. Ordinarily, such a cheap visual wouldn't have earned any respect, but the move seemed to fit the moment. Besides, whoever was behind the creature's design had saved some marvelous fractal armor for just this extension of height.

Dangerous Knowledge turned to face the virtual millions behind him. "The challenge is just. I say to all Followers of Knowledge: Join me in a final torque upon the enemy. Show the Library that we are its future and its greatest supporters. And let the Library show its choice to the world!"

The silence was ended as the millions discovered new amplifiers on campus — or somehow usurped and reused the ones that the Scooch-a-mout had appropriated.

The galaxy of players — mechs and humans, real and virtual — all came alive in renewed conflict. Knights and Librarians dumped fire on the Scoochi side. Huynh's Mind Sum was once again stomping and kicking. The ensemble resumed its vasty turn about the university library, and the spiral arms of the battlefront flared even brighter than before. But now the battle cries were appeals to the Library itself. And the library glowed in a light that seemed to come from infinitely high above. That light was purely virtual, but it was seen in every view.

As Huynh tromped along with the screaming multitudes, he was almost totally taken by the moment. Almost. This had gone farther and higher than he had ever imagined. Part of the success was simply the audience, a significant part of the waking world. Part of it was the unexpected acquiescence of GenGen and the UCSD administration, and the awesome possibility of future revenue that might come streaming in from the various entertainment producers that now lurked all around. And none of that would have happened if not for the content that had suddenly appeared when they went to battle. Content from both sides, content that was as artistic as new designs and as physical as what they had done with their bottish legions.

But now everyone's hopes, Hacek and Scoochi, were hostage to the impossible. If the Library did not "reply," or if the reply was simply more imagery, then in about another thirty seconds, the momentum would begin to dissipate and a very large number of people — among them Timothy Huynh — would begin to feel a little foolish. It was the fate of many flash crowds, especially those that at first seemed the most successful. Big promises earned big rewards, up to the point that the promises had to come true.