hat crystal similar to
the sky, by association, by contagion, or by true symbolism? A part may
be a symbol for the whole--or so may any designated symbol, which may
influence the thing it is. If I have a hair from your head, I can model
you with power over you. But not with the hair of a pig! That is no true
symbol!"

"Suppose we substituted bits of the real thing for these
representations?" Hanson asked.

Bork nodded. "It might work. I've heard you found the sky material could
be melted, and we've got enough of that where it struck the camp. Any
one of us who has studied elementary alchemy could blow a globe of it to
the right size for the sky dome. And there are a few stars from which we
can chip pieces enough. We can polish them and put them into the sphere
where they belong. And it will be risky, but we may even be able to
shape a bit of the sun stuff to represent the great orb in the sky."

"What about the planets?" Hanson was beginning to feel the depression
lift. "You might get a little of Mars, since it fell near here, but that
still leaves the other six."

"That long associated with a thing achieves the nature of the thing,"
Sather Karf intoned, as if giving a lesson to a kindergarten student.
"With the right colors, metals and bits of jewels--as well as more
secret symbols--we can simulate the planets. Yet they cannot be
suspended above the dome, as in this orrery--they must be within the
sky, as in nature."

"How about putting some iron in each and using a magnet on the control
tracks to move the planets?" Hanson suggested. "Or does cold iron ruin
your conjuring here?"

Sather Karf snorted in obvious disgust, but Bork only grinned. "Why
should it? You must have heard peasant superstitions. Still, you'd have
a problem if two tracks met, as they do. The magnets would then affect
both planets alike. Better make two identical planets for each--and two
suns--and put one on your track controls. Then one must follow the
other, though the one remain within the sky."

Hanson nodded. He'd have to shield the cord from the sun stuff, but that
could be done. He wondered idly whether the real universe was going to
wind up with tracks beyond the sky on which little duplicate planets
ran--just how much similarity would there be between model and reality
when this was done, if it worked at all? It probably didn't matter, and
it could hardly be worse than whatever the risers had run into beyond
the hole in the present