Sharon L Reddy
To Kill a Crystal Fly
©2004, 2011
Target Yonder
Smashwords Edition
ISBN 978-1-58338-371-1
Cover Background NASA, ESA
And the Hubble Anniversary Team
Chapter One
Locke was still furious when she spelled the gate and walked through. She didn't like the world, or that her vacation had been canceled. She admitted Font was right about her being the best for it, but she disliked the Paric Empire enough she was tempted to say the hell with them. The problem was Hell was poised to move in. The kakaran were on the move through the gates again and the Guardian League was sworn to stop them. They'd bred, or built, another that could "spell" through them and reach the alternate worlds.
Locke strode across the marketplace and kept ahead of the nervous guard hurrying to form up around her. The garb of a guardian was unmistakable. Fontana's grandmother had copied it right out of a Supergirl comic book. She'd been the one who figured out how the kakaran had gotten to her version of reality.
Font had once said Twyla Locke was the only one of them who actually looked like Supergirl. She'd disagreed. She might be big, blond and blue-eyed, but she'd been in her thirties when she'd been "drafted" and she was quite sure she didn't look like a girl. Font said she wasn't sure she agreed and complained that Locke still looked about twenty-five. When Locke disagreed, she admitted maybe thirty. Locke gave up arguing when she asked for a show of hands and got unanimous agreement on both she didn't look over thirty and it wasn't fair to the rest of them.
Locke had been a U S marshal until Fontana had proved there really was a more important beat and she was one of few who could cover it. She did like it better than sitting behind a desk filing other people's case reports and it certainly paid better. She had a very nice townhouse on Earth and a mansion and staff on Aluna. That was home. She liked not having to hide what she did. She had a mansion and plantation because the Alunan people were grateful she'd done it.
The kakaran weren't exactly evil, but their presence in a human reality was. She worked at being sorry they were starving and at keeping them out of human alternates. She strode into the palace, up to the emperor and saluted with the sword she'd worn just for the occasion.
"Your Majesty, I'm Locke. The kakaran have spelled a gate to the Paric Empire and this city. I am your guardian. I say, as I always do, I perform no miracles. I am no divinity. I am a human with the ability to close gates from the kakaran realm. Insanity comes. I must be above the law to act. I'm primarily an investigator, but I'm also a target. I've never killed anyone not trying to kill me. I don't answer questions. If I do find it necessary, I do it. The kakaran will come after me first. That's your best defense. I'll choose where I stay for its usefulness. You'll be billed for expenses. My service as guardian is, as always, without cost to you. I stand in your defense."
Locke almost bolted from the palace. She felt the disturbance that said "gate" and needed to track it. She got a direction and moved out. She didn't have long to find the neighborhood. She didn't like it when she got there. The inns catered to slave traders. The market was close by. She swore, walked into the most 'respectable' place she could find, ordered a suite with bath and told the girl serving as clerk to bill it to the palace. When she started across the courtyard to it, she knew she'd made a mistake. A private auction was taking place.
The men bidding on the big, beautiful, red-haired boy turned her stomach. So did the description of precautions taken so no human hand had touched him for fifteen years, including his own. She walked by, dropped a pair of diamonds on the auctioneer's document stand, picked up the boy's lead chain and headed for her suite. No one tried to stop her.
"Sit down, kid. Let's get you loose."
"Sit, Mistress?"
"Yes. I can figure out how to get that thing open and off you easier if it's not right at eye level. This rig was to keep you from touching yourself?"
"Yes, Mistress. I am guaranteed thoroughly educated and untouched by human hand since weaning. I have been exercised so my arms grew appropriately and I am certified as fit. I am very pleased to have been purchased by a woman, Mistress. It was quite unexpected."
"I probably expected it a lot less than you did. My name's Locke. That's what you'll call me. I'm planning on letting you loose as soon as I get you out of this metal... yoke."
"Why? You paid a great amount for me."
"I got pissed at the perverts drooling over you."
"So you will send me to the laborer's market. I thank you, Locke."
"I'm not selling you. I'm setting you free."
"I'm a branded slave and an obvious tulaudi. Not even the emperor can free me."
"What's a tulaudi?"
"Rebels who almost won. I will serve you well. Keep me, Locke. I beg you. I see... the possibility of living more than a year as yours, and forgive me, but I desire it."
"What a screwed up... Lean your head forward. That's where the main bolt has to be."
She wasn't ready for his reaction when her fingertips brushed his neck. He wasn't either. She practically pulled him up off the floor. He hadn't even put his hands out to catch himself. He'd never had use of them before.
"I don't care what they say. Sometimes I'm tempted to take apart the system. I hate this empire. I hate slavery. Everyone I consider fully human does. Oh, terrific. You're out of it. I did... what I did. I can just hear Font howling. 'Uh, I bought an untouched boy of about seventeen, Boss. Can I put him on my expense account?' Well, I obviously can't just let you go. You're right. You wouldn't last ten minutes out there."
"I am your slave. I shall serve you well."
"I'll just have to get you somewhere I can turn you loose."
"No tulaudi male can be freed. It's a judgment and a curse. I would not live ten days unowned. I ask you to sell me if you do not want me. Will you beat me for saying you are beautiful?"
"Beating isn't in the program period. Fully educated means what?"
"All one thousand eleven sexual acts have been demonstrated, until I was thoroughly familiar with each."
"Damn. Can you read?"
"No, Miss... Locke."
"What's your
name?"
"I don't have one. You really don't know what
you bought, do you?"
"If I'd been thinking of the word bought, I'd have run the other way. So, what did I bought?"
"The most expensive toy for sale in the empire this year. I have one brother, they say. We are the last males, unless someone decides to breed us. Two of those bidding have tulaudi females."
"Oh, great. How do I find your brother?"
"The one who will ask for his equipment may know."
"I'll try to remember to ask him before I shove his equipment... I'm going to almost be glad to run across some kakaran just to work off steam."
The "trainer" explained the other tulaudi was currently the last and still a year from the guaranteed fifteen untouched. She showed him three diamonds in the palm of her hand and told him to deliver him. When he did, she cried. He was a frightened child. She didn't help any by yanking the yoke off and nearly throwing it at the trainer.
"Easy, baby. I'm pissed at them, not you. I got myself into this by getting mad and buying your big brother so the bunch slavering didn't get him. I'm not getting less mad. I'm Locke. I'm the guardian."
"Am I to attract the kakaran?"
"Huh? Sweetie, you're the last person they'd go after. You wouldn't appeal to them at all. Their goals, if they have them, are get rid of me and take over the emperor. They need a host who's on a power-kick to start with and that's not you. I put your brother in the bathtub. Somehow, I doubt he's moved. I figured out I'm stuck with you until I get home to Aluna. I'll be right back. I'm just going to get your brother. Hi, dry off and come out here."
"Dry?"
"Yes, dry. The untouched business is over. Here, wrap this towel around you."
"Locke, to cover my body is illegal. I'm a military trophy. My fathers were wizards who sought to take the empire. It's the price paid to keep the women and children alive. They built the curse themselves, or it would not have succeeded."
"This is private and I say towel. I got your little brother. He's scared stiff and probably has been most of his life. I'll get us out of here and into a residence. Your job will be to keep it neat and fix meals. I expect you to learn to read my language, so you've got awhile on that. Here, tuck it in like this."
She barely kept him from falling in the basin-shaped tub. When he recovered some, she wrapped a fresh towel around him. She was glad she'd gotten the first around him. A beautiful nude young male in the throes of climax at her feet would be too much for her to have to deal with. She wouldn't sell them and she couldn't free them. She knew the power of belief and the human will far too well. If they believed they would die, they would.
"Please touch me. I beg your touch on my sex. Or return me to restraints. I've nearly touched myself twice already, Locke. Don't beat me, please. I didn't. I swear it."
"Repeat. I don't do that shit. I don't care if you touch yourself. You're totally lost. Come on. I'm going to try to go through this one time. That's your little brother."
"He isn't old enough."
"Sweetie, neither are you. Here, put this around you like his is. First you get names. Got any you like? Surprised look times two. Show him how to wrap it, Ben. That's you. You're Barney. You're bigger, but you remind me of a pair of gerbils I used to have. Sit down. On the couch, not the floor. Good. I'm a guardian. I'm not from here. I hate slavery. You got bought because I hate it so much I wasn't going to let someone else buy you. Not for... Not as toys. As far as I'm concerned, you're both too young for me. Your job is taking care of me and whatever place I pick. 'Taking care of' doesn't include sex. I get that where I want when I want. My job is fighting the kakaran. That's what I'm doing here. I speak and understand the language better than the rest of the guardians. I've got a knack for it and it's kept me from getting a real vacation for four years. Sometimes I wish I was back hearing 'Work this up for me. You type so much better.' and looking for my excitement in a computer game at night. We need food. At least I do."
"You will feed us?"
"Of course I'll feed you."
"Barney, we have been bought by a great and kind sorceress. Her ways and words are strange, but she doesn't seem to plan to use us for her sorceries."
"Help. My sorcery consists of a sensitivity to the buzz of a gate opening in the vicinity and the ability to convince myself a spell is just a comp program running without electronics. The rest is catch the psychos before they start grabbing power and killing people. They steer clear of my reality now. They really blew it there. They got caught, followed and thrown out of the realities around us, and when Charlene Cord found out they stimulated psychotic tendencies in people to feed on their victims, they'd had it. Fringe realities like this are the only place they can get through. You're defined as fringe because you're so far from the very civilized norm. Where, by the way, slavery is considered an abomination by most. I suppose if we go get something to eat you have to go bare."
"Yes, Locke. You should not be bothered for us."
"Bothered?"
"Tulaudi are trophies. It is expected we will be shared. Our fathers brought great horror to many lives. Tulaudi males shall be pleasure slaves until the last is gone. It saved the lives of thousands, Locke. The tulaudi confessed they had ensorcelled the people of the cities and villages who followed them. They released them from the spell and laid the curse on themselves and their male offspring to stay the execution of all women and children of the tulaudi and all people who had followed. We were a disappointment. We did not breed as well as expected. Mistress... Forgive me, Locke."
"Get up, Ben. We're not going to get far fast with you on your knees."
"Locke, I ask you chain us."
"Why?"
"So all will know we are yours. Unchained, they will know we are of the inn or alehouse and for the guests' use."
"I'll take care of that."
"Locke, I beg you at least brand my brother as yours."
"You want me to... You're sure I can't keep people from hassling you unless you're chained?"
"Unchained and unmarked, we are a temptation. Though no longer untouched, we are still valuable property. Please, I beg you give my brother chains or brand him."
"You know, Ben, you're damn pushy for a slave."
"I was not expected to survive long. The estimate was a season before my master tired of my body and sent me to the mines or gave me to his troops for my insolence. You wear your mark. Will you not give us its protection?"
"Wear my... "
Twyla Locke lifted the small dragon pendant she usually wore and walked away from the two boys. She'd gotten herself into it deep this time. She'd laid out five of her gem cache to grab two kids out of the system and found out she couldn't. The diamonds were cheap in the reality where they were manufactured, but she did have a limited supply. She realized she was thinking of everything but what Ben had said.
"Ben, I can't. I flat don't know how and I couldn't stomach it if I did."
"Locke, in two days it will be known you have not branded us and others will seek to do so."
"I can't, Ben. Here, if you can do it and you're positive it's necessary, you do it. I just... I'll be outside arguing with my stomach. I know it's empty, but it's planning on giving me dry heaves to prove it."
Ben and Barney watched her leave, then looked at each other. Then both looked down at the work of silver in Ben's hand. Their new mistress had just lifted it over her head, while she was lifting Ben's hand from his side, and dropped it in his palm.
"She gave you her emblem. You're quite right. You wouldn't have lived long."
"I know. This mistress wants all of us. Barney, she's so different, I spoke of you. She's who we need. She will let us be the last."
"She'll use our power if she discovers."
"You have power?"
"We all have it. That's why... You don't know you have it."
"I don't even know if I'd recognize it. How do I do this? How can I hold the symbol while it heats?"
"Use two faggots from the fire to lift it, drop it, then hold it with the towel until the brand is set."
"To grasp something other than an exercise bar is strange. Bring the towel. It reddens."
Locke lost the argument with her stomach when Ben screamed. She was still heaving when Barney did the same. It would be some time before she actually learned why they'd screamed. She'd handed Ben her symbol. He'd used it to protect her property as completely as he could. He bathed his and Barney's new brands with cool water, then carried her emblem back to his mistress. He and Barney knelt before her and he held out the pendant.
"You have given us the symbol you wear as the mark of your protection. We are truly grateful."
"Are you safe if we go out now?"
"Yes, Locke."
"Good. I'm going to get thoroughly drunk. That way I won't see and smell the burns on your necks in my dreams. Your job is pour me into bed. I'm glad you put it under your left ear. On your faces would have been... horrible."
"I dropped it and placed Barney's the same."
"I said he should not try again, Locke. I beg forgiveness."
"You heard, Barney. I'd have hated it on his face or yours."
"Then you are not angered I was so clumsy?"
"Repeat. I'm glad it's where it is, Ben. Now, I've said that three times. That ought to be enough."
They didn't know anything more about the city than she did, but she knew how to deal with that. She dropped a coin in every beggar's bowl around the gates of the prosperous inn and said she wanted to hire someone who knew the city to help her. In two minutes, a very sprightly old woman presented herself as just who she was looking for. In five, Locke was sure she was right.
"So, you got red at the fat droolers and walked off with both choice items."
"Almost exactly, Stippan. I'd planned to just set them free, but Ben says I can't."
"They're tulaudi. Their kind are condemned. There are only six pure tulaudi females left. Prollip has three and so does Tussand. They must be real frustrated you got the males. Going to stud them?"
"Certainly not!"
"You're strange, but I like you."
"Mutual. I've got a suite at Tupanko. The boys' job is get me there. Yours is see they find it. You're welcome to stay. Tomorrow I'll find a residence. I wish I could leave that area, but it's where I felt a kakaran gate open. Any law against teaching the boys to defend themselves?"
"They're yours. You may do as you want with them. Unless you sell them, they'll be yours beyond death."
"What's that mean?"
"They're marked slaves. You either sell them or they get used as fuel for your funeral pyre. Their throats will be cut first of course. Screaming slaves disturb the solemnity of the funeral."
"Stippan, there are no slaves where I come from. People cannot be owned."
"They're not people. They're tulaudi. Hundreds died in the war they began. Don't call them people in front of anyone else. If somebody gets the idea you think of them that way, they'll kill them to free you from their powers. My granny said it was dangerous to let any of them live, but they were so pretty a bunch were willing to pay lots for them and the war had been expensive. Most will be glad when they're gone. They've been about as much trouble as slaves. That white skin and red hair is sorcerous. A tulaudi slave has been the ruin of more than one great family. I can give you a couple dozen more commonly held views just like those. Personally, I think the tulaudi had courage enough to surrender, so no more villages were razed and their 'ensorcelled' residents 'freed' by death. Oh, if you're not obviously enjoying them, you'll get offers for their use."
"What? I thought the mark was all they needed."
"It is. No one will use them without your consent. Just rub them a couple times, then put them under your feet. Nobody will ask for what you're warming up for yourself, even if you get too drunk to use it. Once they're shivering lumps on the floor, you can get drunk and I can get you--"
"Gate! This way!"
Locke found the place, but the gate was gone. She sighted back to the palace and smiled. Her line of sight ran right through the slave market. She hadn't gone far enough. She looked at the two boys and decided she wasn't sorry. She told Stippan she wanted a nice house nearby, sixty days' lease and no landlord problems. Stippan spoke to a boy on a corner and in three minutes a chubby man hurried up to them, just before they walked into the tavern Stippan had recommended. Locke signed the lease, told him to bill the palace and let her know if payment wasn't prompt.
Locke looked around the tavern and headed for a table in the corner. By the time she got her first ale and ordered dinner for them, two people had politely asked if her slaves were available. By the time it came, two more had asked. Stippan grinned at her over her bowl of stew. She patted the bench on each side of her and Ben and Barney nervously got off the floor and sat where she indicated. When she saw the group headed towards them, she took a deep breath and gently fondled both boys.
"That's it. They're on simmer and everyone figures you've got plans. Put them under your feet. Under them. Put a boot on each one."
"Two don't fit under."
"Position yourselves! Your owner wants her feet on you. Stupid slaves! Lean down and touch them again so they know you're not angry. They wouldn't have gotten within easy reach if they didn't want it."
"Stippan, touching boys their age would get me arrested where I come from."
"They have a strange idea of boys. Ones their age are usually married, if free. Those two are obviously ripe. The young one would have been worth a fortune in a year or so. They've shaped him for it."
"Is five matched, one carat, perfectly cut, flawless diamonds a fortune? That's what I gave for the pair. I didn't ask a price. I was too mad."
"Now I understand why the young one was sold. You overpaid. Even for them."
"Somehow, I doubt it. I'll be teased because I ended up with them, but not about what I paid. Good Lord, they're warming my feet right through my boots. Stippan, I'd really like to put them in clothes."
"That's not allowed. You can wrap their feet if there's frost on the ground, but that's all."
"The sun will fry them."
"Well, leave them inside."
"That's not a solution I like either. I want... Could I get away with putting them in hats and cloaks?"
"It might be permitted to protect your investment, but you'll be asked why you don't just lock them up."
"I'm going to train them to aid me in my work. Fighting kakaran is a worthwhile use of the tulaudi?"
"You can try it. What will the kakaran do?"
"They'll locate hosts and prepare the way for the mover. Once it's here, they'll come after me and I'll start hunting them. There's no point until the mover crosses. All that would happen is they'd open a gate another place. Getting rid of the mover puts them out of action for awhile, usually over a year. Guardians do other things too, Stippan. Not here. We don't like here."
"Why?"
"The Paric empire is an oddity. You're four hundred years less civilized than most. It's one of nine places that still have slavery. You're five hundred years behind my world in science. We have ships that fly and machines that let us talk to and see one another no matter where on the whole world we are. You enslave or execute every person with a new idea. Basically, you're breeding yourselves to stupidity and an epidemic could put you back to the bronze age. You don't even have a religious doctrine as an excuse."
"New things are a threat to the peace of the empire. Everyone knows that. Peace is too important to risk."
"Oh, yes, it's very important. Much better for several thousand people to die of a disease we found a way to prevent two hundred years ago, I think, than allow the possibility of an uprising. Much better for people to be limbless beggars than find medications to fight infection so they don't lose the limb. Much better for your children to die of the cough than find out what causes it and find a way to cure it. Much better to enslave or execute anyone who asks the question why than risk the answer may be unexpected. I hate this empire! It's the most complete block of the development of human potential in the three hundred forty-seven realities we've found. The kakaran love you. You're all crazy enough to host. You've been lying to yourselves for four centuries. There's enough pain and misery dealt here for them to feast without pushing for more, but they will."
"Push?"
"A kakaran is about as big as half your little finger. They feed on the juices the body makes when terrified, in pain and dying. The hosts are made so crazy they like to kill and never notice the kakaran move from them to the victim and back. They go after the powerful because they can kill many. The more powerful, the more killed before they're stopped. The mover comes across when the killing really starts. It's much bigger and requires a lot of food. Hosts carry it to a powerful person to host it. After it's fed well, it opens the gate for the kakaran to swarm through. My job is kill it and bolt the gate. There seems to be a limit to how long a mover can be maintained the other side. Otherwise, they'd just keep sending hosts until one killed the guardian before bringing it across."
"How could one not know the thing was on them? Why don't we see them?"
"Good question and they're almost invisible. They're like that much water, clear and winged. We don't know why only a few come through at first. We speculate it's because there's not enough food for the mover to open the gate for more than a few seconds and it slams closed on their side before very many can get through. Ben, behave yourself."
"You have the most perfect female leg in all creation, Locke. You are the most perfect woman in existence. You're very angry. Only the tulaudi are treated as we are and our women aren't. Individuals may abuse or misuse, but they're censured by their peers. We offered ourselves for this. They believe we made the right offering, or it wouldn't have been accepted. The tulaudi end with us. Six generations of males from one extended family, who will give pleasure or die at the whim of another, in atonement for more than a thousand dead in battle is very mild. We're war trophies. The interest in us is now merely prurient. The great anger is gone. If it wasn't, someone would have outbid you no matter if it impoverished him. You brought my little brother to me. He plans on shafting me. The tulaudi are required to have incestuous relations. Our parents were twins. My father's master won a great deal of money betting my mother would get pregnant the first time my father mounted her. Their first meeting had an audience of many hands of hands. There are still some who are angry. I listen to what they need to tell me. Tell Barney he may speak, Locke. I expected to die for my insolence quite soon. He planned on living for awhile."
"You can speak any time I don't tell you to be quiet, Barney."
"He's right. I'd rather you than him, but I don't really care. You're both beautiful. I heard a lot of satisfaction in voices telling me what was going to happen to me, or what happened to others. A trainer stroked me with a feather, while I watched people pumping, and told me all about what my family was doing. You keep saying I'm too young, Locke. I don't know how many years I have, but a slave is never young. Neither is one orphaned by war. I am a pleasure slave. There are chains in my sexual fantasies. You own me. I'm glad you do. You're a very interesting mixture of ideals and practical. Your feet rest upon the last two males of the tulaudi, Mistress Locke. If he is the prince, I'm the wizard. You excite me. Most people excite me. I'm very well-trained. The next year was just to make me starved for a touch. Ben is. If you choose not to give him yours, I won't be able to help giving him mine. I'll never be able to resist a sexual need. I'm crazy enough for the kakaran to notice. You'll use me as bait. I'm a tulaudi. I don't know if there is anyone more powerful. Look at what is required to control me. I must be helpless and owned. They've built that into both of us."
"It came along with the admiration of those like Stippan who... It moved."
"You felt it!"
"If... Locke, I felt... I'm afraid."
"Scares me silly, Ben. Barney, did you feel it?"
"Yes."
"Let's go! We need to find out if we all felt the same thing and where it went. Wait!"
"It's back."
"Not open. It's gone. Talk to me, Ben."
"It went away then returned, Locke."
"Barney?"
"Something new has come into our world. It kills without malice or even knowledge."
"That's it. You two to headquarters for full spectrum immunization. Out the door and around the side. I always said it wasn't a sex-linked gene. Stippan, get our house ready. We'll be back by day after tomorrow. I want Font's help and my comp on this. Menu. File: Gate. Sub-program: Home Base. Run program. Font!"
Locke was pleased neither of them stumbled when they were suddenly walking in a very different place. She was rather sure training wasn't responsible for all of it.
"I've got two sensitives and a big problem. Don't ogle, girls. The people who made them slaves want it."
"What the hell?!"
"Font, they're the last two males of a race of 'wizards.' I gather race is a family with fairly high psi and not quite enough muscle to toss out the emp. They've spent their lives with their hands bound so they could be guaranteed untouched. I grabbed Ben from in front of a bunch bidding on him. I've got a pair of talents who told me the kakaran are doing weird. I felt it too. I want full spectrum inocs for the two of them and something I can get away with dressing them in. They're 'war trophies' and clothes aren't allowed. I need to get to my comp. Take care of them. Oh, the kid with the hot eyes is Barney. Later."
Fontana just sat down and laughed. Viola took over. In six minutes, she had them dressed and in a clinic in the North America Commonwealth just a well-practiced "recipe" away. The doctor grinned. She'd always said the talent wasn't sex linked too. The pair of wide-eyed boys proved it.
She gave Ben and Barney thorough scans and full spectrum inoculations. Viola translated the brands were to protect them and Locke hadn't been able to do it for the doctor, then they were to use the cream in the tube the doctor handed Barney on the burns twice a day for three for them.
The doctor ordered Ben's vision corrected and Barney treated for two vitamin deficiencies. Both had good teeth. She decided Barney's back wasn't urgent and should be checked when there was time in headquarters reality, then had an emergency call and got too rushed to remember to tell Viola to get it done.
Viola had them back at the main office in less than forty minutes. She handed each a Coke, pointed out chairs and the door to the toilet to Barney and went back to work. She had five boys and her home was "a fraternity house." Ben and Barney had been easy to handle.
Chapter Two
Ben reached for the patches over his eyes and Barney caught his hand. The busy office and easy friendship of the women in it were amazing. He watched Locke at her desk working on the strange machine she called a computer and sipped the wondrous cold beverage from a "can."
"She's the same place she was when Viola told us to follow her, Ben."
"Barney, did they ever darken your vision?"
"No."
"It was my punishment."
"Mine was hands so close I felt them brush the small hairs on my body, but no touch. Tomorrow you'll see much better than you ever have. She lied about nothing, Ben. The soothing of the cream in the tube is a miracle and the doctor just pulled it out of a cabinet with many. I want to learn so much. They treat us like boys, but not as less than they are."
Locke glanced up at her boys and smiled. Barney was leaning out the window describing everything on Sixty-fifth street to Ben. She nodded to Karal and sent her the info so far. Her projections, based primarily on a hunch about Barney's hunch, were very bad. Karal yelped and the other five women currently working in headquarters closed the files on which they'd been working and 'grabbed' one of the files she was listing as references. Locke signed off. She'd made the projection and set the probable parameters. They'd hunt known possibles.
"Font, I'm taking Ben and Barney shopping."
"Do you think that's a good idea?"
"They're from central Europe. It's the truth. I plan on starting with notebook comps for both of them. I'm going to 'equip them with Guardian tools.' They'll learn to speak, read and write English fast. I'll get them the Sesame Street programs Jean said were so good for her kids."
"Take them to the computer store in Indian Springs mall. Charge it to the company. I'll fax approval. Five battery packs each, Locke, no more, and get them some fun games."
"The catch?"
"Get us a price we can live with on thirty upgrades."
"Yes! Ooh, I can't wait for Putz to be upgraded. You want it done there or here?"
"Here if possible. Harry and Tamara to do it if possible. They both understand confidential and are carefully incurious about the work done by Guardian Research. We got an interesting new project from BCL. I think we'll make them wait a few days for it. They're not expecting results for three months."
"We cheated?"
"Locke, using our data bank isn't cheating. Just because the info comes from an alternate doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. That's a charm against guilt grandmother told me to invoke twice daily. Get them I-pods and some hot music. Ben came for eye surgery. Take them to Wyandotte County Park to watch some ball games. Ben won't be able to see, but he'll feel the excitement. Show Barney what life is like for our kids. Explain there is poverty and hopelessness here. It's not heaven."
"We need to get back."
"Karal says at least twelve hours."
"I told the woman I hired as guide by day after tomorrow in case, but twelve more hours may be pushing it. Font, they aren't allowed clothes, but I might get away with putting them in capes and hats as sun protection."
"I'll see what costuming can come up with."
"Be careful not to make them too impressive. I wanted to let them go and found out I can't. They're absolutely positive they'd die within ten days if freed."
"Shit."
"My feeling exactly, but I've got them and I'll be damned if I'll leave them in the empire. You know I won't sell them."
"Oh, my stomach didn't like that at all. They're trainees. We'll get an oath from them before you go back. When you're finished with the Paric job, you'll see they're ready for full training. They're on the payroll as of now. They will have their own money and expense accounts, Locke. We are not going to treat them as objects."
"Love you too, Font."
"Male operatives are important. If they can sense the gates, they can learn to spell them. They're going to be your team because I don't think they'll be comfortable on their own for a long time."
"If ever. I'll try to reassure them they belong to me even if they're working on another case. No resentment?"
"The response on all levels of the organization was 'Whoopee!' Tup's grumbling, but does admit they belong."
"Major concession. She's the only one I was really worried about. Her opinion of men is not high and she's very vocal about it. Thank Viola for me. I know better than to bother her when she's got her headset on."
Locke 'multi-tasked' to the language of the empire. She sometimes laughed at herself. She doubted she'd have ever believed she could 'spell' a gate if she hadn't been able to envision it as a program she ran with her will.
They all had their own ways. Viola "read a recipe." Karal had a chant. It didn't really matter how you did it. The gate was an act of will. If you could sense one, you could make one, but everyone couldn't reach every alternate. Some were 'two step gates' even for Locke, requiring she gate to another alternate first.
"You two have been hired as trainees. Now, that's pretty important to a lot of people. You don't really get a choice about it because I plan on working your asses off on Guardian business and it's nice to have the company help support you. You've convinced me I can't free you, but very little of our time is going to be spent where I can own you. We know I do. We'll always know. I won't sell you. I will insist you train your skills. All that training you got is probably going to be very nice, but the company and I are primarily interested in what's between your ears, not your legs. My job for the day is take you shopping. This is Guardian headquarters. You'll be in continual contact with this culture. You're about to be immersed in it. Tomorrow you will give your oath. Tonight you'll do exactly as I tell you. That includes making decisions. If I tell you to decide, I expect you to do it. If I tell you to perform an assignment from headquarters without me, I expect you to do it. Owning you is an opening into me the kakaran didn't have before. Barney, help Ben judge the height of the steps."
"Put your hand on my shoulder, Ben. Now this one on the rail. You will feel how much I go down and when they end."
"Yes, I can judge them."
"Good. Now, since I thoroughly believe my decisions regarding buying you were correct, I trust you to be much more than 'worth the risk' because you want to be for me. I can't let you not use your talents to assist in the battle. So, the boss says you get some hot sounds and take you to a ball game. Barney, girls under eighteen are girls no matter how interested they are. We have ratings on the propriety of entertainment for certain age groups. Eye contact only, Barney. Your ideas and theirs about sex education are not the same. Boys, welcome to America. Millions of illegal aliens have hoped someone would say that to them. Never thought I'd buy a couple to bring home. Most of the realities are like this. Well, tech varies, but not hugely. There's speculation the kakaran inhabit the center of a circle of realities."
"No, it has to be a ball."
"What?"
"It must fill all the places to be complete."
"A sphere?"
"No, Barney, a ball. It's moving."
"Locke, do you understand what he's saying?"
"More or less, but a physicist could picture it and work out the math. I'd just look that up and stick it in a program. Going to be interesting to introduce you to the witches. We've almost got a full coven, but I don't think you'll be asked to join. From now on, you'll get words you have to define by context in every sentence. Think fast, boys. It's the part of your training I want. You're tulaudi slaves. If you didn't think fast, you'd already be dead. Ben, you're beginning to define how you envision the alternates. Doing that is the first step in finding your spell for a gate. Mine's the silver convertible. We're headed for the mall. There will be lots of people your age there. Barney, you will practice your skills of observation. You will describe everything he asks about as precisely as possible. I'll give you words for about fifty thousand things you haven't seen or experienced eventually, but not all today. Ben, listen to his descriptions and remember them as well as you can. When you see things he's described today, you'll be able to compare your mental image to them and the two of you can work to see how he could have described it to get closer. Unless you have a potentially strong bond, your mental image won't match up with his description. Ben, I'm going to guide you into the back seat. Put your hands out in front of you and find both the floor and the roof so you know how high you have to step and how low you have to duck."
"It is like a carriage, but not as high, Ben."
"I haven't seen one of those either, Barney."
"Why not?"
"I was kept in a place with no windows and little could be seen through the door when it was opened, Locke."
"I hate that empire. Barney, you sit there. It's a seat belt, Ben. It's for safety. These things go very fast and two bumping can send you flying. There are rules, but people can do dumb and meet too suddenly. Now, turn and take Ben's hand Barney. Describe where you are and what it's like around us."
"I... How?"
"You crossed a hard surface, Ben. You felt it. That surface is a large rectangle, about a hundred of your steps in length and sixty in width, of dark material. On this rectangle are lines that appear to be painted. They are yellow and white. The white lines run diagonally in parallel and have a yellow line running through the center. They form a series of open ended stalls on each side of the dividing line. Seven of the twenty stalls are occupied by automobiles, also called cars. They are of various sizes and colors, but all have four black wheels. We approached one of the cars. It is silver in color. That's how you describe it, Barney. Be selective in your description. You could go into a great deal more detail, but this is not something that needs that kind of detail. There will be times you see something that does. You must be able to tell others exactly what you saw."
Locke walked around the car. She had her fingers crossed. Viola had sent her the idea e-mail. She had a "feeling" the two were "linked." Viola's feelings had an amazing statistical average of being correct. Of course, all guardians' did or they wouldn't have had the power to spell a gate. It would also relieve Ben's darkness. She got in, grinned at Barney's careful description of the interior of the car and put the top down. He just stopped talking.
Locke gave him a break. She told them they needed to decide what kind of music they wanted and touched the auto-search on the receiver. The scanner hit one oh three and the B-52's roared out of eight 'perfect' speakers. She stopped the scan. She'd decided she was going to pick the music. It started with AC-DC, Joan Baez and Yoyo Ma and went from there. Good music was good no matter what 'type' it was. She slipped in a CD she'd made.
"My primary use of my car stereo is CD's I made. Stereo is the mechanical device that reads minute changes in the surface of a flat disk, compact disk, into sound. Your civilization is very far behind."
"If they had wanted change, our fathers wouldn't have lost. It was wrong to try to force it on them. Just as wrong as to hold the people in ignorance by force. It's that one word that counts. We lost."
"And nobody won. Nearly every story of war ends that way, even if it's not said, Ben."
"That's why we're slaves, Locke. They needed a symbol their pain had been for some reason. We're war trophies. It's only been six generations and people have stopped kicking us."
"Why haven't I heard of this rebellion?"
"Because that's not what it was. It was the attack of the western wizards."
"That was two hundred fifty years ago!"
"I told you we didn't breed well. There have been four males, at most, each generation. Seldom did one sire a boy child before his later years. Our parents had us only and they were fairly young."
"I was told our father died before my birth and my mother at my birthing. Ben, I can't describe the things going by so fast. There are widespread shops, each with places for cars around them, on both sides of a wide road with two yellow stripes down the center, most of the time. The stripes divide cars going opposite directions. There is a broken white line dividing each half of the road and two going the same way can travel together."
"It's called a four-lane highway, Barney. Once you've learned to read my language, English, I'll teach you to drive a car."
"What was that?!"
"A motorcycle, sometimes called a bike. The vehicles designed to primarily carry things instead of people are called 'trucks,' but that kind is called a 'van' and that a 'pickup.' The huge ones are tractor-trailer rigs, but just called 'trucks' or 'big rigs.' The term 'biker' is not exceptionally derogatory, but usually reserved for those who think of it as a way of life. The people who drive the big trucks great distances are called 'truckers' and it is a way of life."
"It is also loud."
"It isn't in the trucks and wouldn't be in the car with the top up and the windows closed, but this is a pretty day and this road, State Avenue, doesn't really have a great deal of traffic this time of day. At the time when most people are going to, or home from, places of work, it does. This city spreads in all directions. We're comparatively close to the western edge and headed in. To give you an idea, one hundredth street in all directions from the center is not outside the city area. Legally, it's split into a bunch of smaller cities, each with its own municipal government. An area like that is called a metropolitan area and this one has well over a million people."
"So... many."
"It's a nice medium-size American city, Ben. Boys, this is a very American place I'm taking you to. We call it a 'mall' and there are several as big in the city. Compared to a lot of parts of the world, even our poor are rich, but there are very few who can afford to do what we will today. You're needed for your talents. You will require certain skills to use them. Today you will be handed several very nice pieces of equipment. There are no penalties for losing one. Unless it was just plain dumb, then you have to pay to replace it yourself. Ah, Z Z Top. I will definitely find a place we can boogie, dance, together."
"You cannot take... I am confused."
"You aren't old enough to enter places where the primary business is the sale of alcoholic beverages, Ben. Primary business, mind you, and that's where most dancing is done. Places primarily serving food, but where alcohol is a menu item, you may. Don't expect alcohol. All persons in this land expect you to make most decisions for yourselves. I do. I expect you to come to me or consult references to aid in situations that are confusing. You'll know when you actually need advice or just to talk to someone to help put your own thoughts in order. You will use your own best judgment in any situation."
"There is much pride when you speak of this land."
"Yes, Ben, but it's got pain with it right now too. The power of money is overwhelming its ideals and keeping a lot of people from even knowing it's happening. You'll learn what and how it's done. You're from central Europe, as we'd call it. It's economic hell over there in some places and physical in others. Many thousands of people on this world are currently fighting wars. It guarantees the hate is kept alive another generation. In forty years, old men and women will tell their grandchildren of the atrocities of this generation, just like their grandparents did of the war before. I still don't believe in peace at any price, but we're currently not helping that and we're being knocked off our perch on top of the economic heap. It's a change of era. We're moving from a time when minerals, mechanical devices and all who searched for answers moved us from where you are to this, to one when the highest percentage of the world population will be engaged in the processing of information of some type or another. One of the things knocking us off is the move of a lot of manufacturing and information jobs to places where they don't have laws and organizations assuring people are paid well for doing them. This is it. I'm going to drive all around it slowly, Barney. Describe it as concisely as you can to Ben in the time you have. I'll ask him a couple questions."
The mall astounded Barney. Locke smiled when he pulled Ben in closer and moved them to 'heel clearance' behind her. Ben prompted and Barney started trying to separate some of the mass of newness into pieces he could describe. "Tell me what I'm pointing at," seemed to be what he really needed and Ben became more of a participant. They both got an Orange Julius while Locke recovered from laughter. Ten minutes after a pretty girl had been the object, Barney was still describing her, right down to the size of the leather patch on her Levi's, and she'd just been walking by.
Locke led them into Musicland. She picked out forty CD's in three minutes. They got specific albums. She led them into the electronics store next and Barney found the "personal stereos" that would play their CD's. Ben asked if they were going to make their own. She was very pleased with both Barney's 'find' and the question. She told him the CD's they'd gotten were terrific examples of musicians' work and hints on where to begin exploring her music collection. They had notebooks and an excellent 'see and say' language program a few moments later.
Locke had also chosen nine programs that were designed to help them learn to read and write English. She stuck a Vangelis album in Ben's player, showed him how to work it by feel and pushed play. He stopped. Barney extracted the CD and put it in his deck, then closed his eyes. Locke described the expression on his face, as best she could around her laughter, to Ben. She figured they were ready for food and steered them to their first encounter with burgers and fries.
"This day is getting real long for you two. I started out my day six hours later than you did. This is the fabled land to the west. Of course, on this world that means everybody knows we're here. The world is basically round, by the way. Three fourths of it is covered in water. It goes around the sun and the moon goes around it. Don't argue the point in the empire. We've looked at it from out past the moon and we're sure. The Earth spins and the side facing the sun is day. It begins at different times every place around the world east to west. Imagine it as a ball turning so a lamp is continually lighting a bit that's been in shadow and a bit that has been lit is moving into shadow."
"North and south of the same spot would leave and come into shadow at the same time."
"Very good, Ben. Yes they do. We divide the world into twenty-four wide north/south bands and call them time zones. This is Central time zone. That's just a name. Don't attach importance to it other than that. You're in the state of Kansas in the United States of America. Ready?"
"Yes. Locke, this is hard for me. There's so much and he's missing it."
"I know, Barney, but we'll be back and by then you should understand much more of what you're seeing too. We're going to stop by the office, then my townhouse, before we go watch some kids play our national sport. That's not an official title. It's just the one we watch and play most. You need to learn to swim. Hmm, let's get you some swim trunks."
She picked out swim trunks for both of them and grabbed some good sun screen. She thought about getting them haircuts, but decided their long red hair somewhat hid the dragon on their necks. She admitted to herself she was looking for reasons not to do it herself, because she liked it. The best reason not to have someone else do it was they'd probably both get far too excited when it was washed.
They walked by a reflective window and she sighed. Their arms, other than the one 'attached' to the hand Ben had on Barney's shoulder, just hung. She handed them things to carry to the Mercedes. When they got to it, she called the office. Fontana said Moonbeam had been busy. No one but Font knew who Moonbeam actually was, but documents were her or his specialty. Ben and Barney had some waiting. Font talked to both boys on the phone a moment so they'd understand what it was. Locke took them straight to her office when they got there.
"Now, these are for them. They've got a year to expiration and they're stamped with entry and exit dates from a dozen countries."
"Diplomatic passports?"
"Like everything Moonbeam does, Locke, there's a reason, some kind of documentation somewhere to back them up and as much of it as is needed."
"Barney and Ben Tulaud. Ages eighteen and nineteen?"
"Yes. It makes it easier for us all if they're at least eighteen and American citizens. Since it's a guess, we may as well make it a useful one."
"Agreed. The photos?"
"Enough like them to be the two of them as children. When the time comes, we'll get them new ones."
"And there will be no problem because all records are complete. Thanks, Boss. My neighbors aren't nosy, but they're neighbors."
"It keeps you from trying to explain two boys trailing you with their tongues hanging out. Young men trailing you that way is different."
"Well, I'm not ready to do anything about that yet. They liked the phone call."
"I expended my Pardic vocabulary in thirty seconds. Those are sharp young men, Locke."
"They ought to be boys, but they're not. Thanks for the reminder, Font."
"You have to be practical once in awhile, Locke. You had no idea what you were getting yourself into, but you were sure it was the right thing to do. This is going to be hell on you."
"Then I'll just have to make sure it's worth it. Any word yet?"
"No. The movement of the gate, as you described it, doesn't tell us anything but get ready quick. Your 'hunch' is the best we've got. Why disease?"
"I think we're pushing them to evolve or die out. Since we're doing it by not dying painfully so they can have dinner, I'm pretty lacking in sympathy for them. I think that's practical."
"Ideally, yes. This time you, basically, married two deep, talented, sweet, gentle, horny men, Locke."
"They were never young."
"Exactly. I was sure you knew what you'd done."
"Oh, that came through loud and clear when Ben explained he couldn't be freed. So I did what any red-blooded, pissed off, American woman would do. I went after his little brother too. What they did to those boys is disgusting. The empire is going to evolve or die too if I'm right. It can't battle this without changing."
"You expect it to be that bad?"
"It already is, Font. They've done something new. So have we."
"Oh, we all agree with that, Locke. You will be teased."
"Yeah, I know. Font, I don't waste time regretting decisions I was sure were right when I made them. I'm going to take them to Aluna to live. This is a great place for them to visit, but they have to hide too much here. That's why I spend most of my time there, not to mention the house is very nice and Hono is an incredible cook. I need a vacation. I didn't take any time to plan it. I was too sure getting Ben out of there was the right thing to do not to have done it, but I didn't think about how to go about it at all. That's tired. I don't just charge into situations."
"Oh, no, not you. Locke, you've already proven you were the only real candidate for the job and we both know it. Take a dinner break at home now and then, but don't tire yourself out."
"The boys are about to hit jet lag head on."
"An ailment which is foolish to suffer if it can be avoided. Don't try to work both there and here, Locke."
"Yes, Boss."
"Or there and Aluna. Let them try to save what's worthwhile of their culture. It wouldn't have lasted this long if it was all bad."
"In other words, don't hop around to use a comp and don't just drop them on Aluna."
"Well, approximately. Get them as much training in the empire as possible. Gating does take energy and you've a tendency to short yourself on sleep. Your home on Aluna is as many time zones off as this is."
"Yeah, just the other way, but there's no place like home if I really need rest either."