by P. S. Power
It amazed Zack a little how easily Troy decided to go along with everything. He saw the bruising on Zack's back and made an obligatory – but heartfelt – statement about how he was glad it was an accident so he didn't have to go and hunt Karl down. You could tell from the way he said it that he both would have done it, and knew his chances of doing anything except ending up in a similar shape wouldn't have been very good.
Lisa smiled at the bravado, but oddly enough both Hilda and Claire simply nodded as if to say, of course that's what would happen. If someone hurt his friend, he'd go and make them pay for it, naturally.
Claire finished preparing Zack's herbs and had him drink them, adding a little cool water so it wouldn't be too hot and serving it in his only coffee mug, an old thing that had been in the cupboard when they'd moved in that Zack had claimed as his own over the months. It had some chips and cracks, but held the liquid in well still.
Lisa's phone rang and she started talking about bookings and how such things were only in potential at the moment due to injury. Zack wanted to raise an eyebrow at her or to say something witty, but couldn't manage it at the moment. His head just hurt too much, even with the pain killers. It felt like someone had stuffed cotton between his ears, replacing his brain, but that the cotton had a headache.
Betty disappeared into the kitchen. Making noises coming from there periodically, clanking and swirling sounds that Zack couldn't make sense of at first. Troy finally went to look, clearly baffled too, and stopped in the doorway and came back after a few moments.
“Why is there a hot chick cleaning my kitchen? I mean, it's not that it doesn't need cleaning, or that I dislike incredible women. I just think I should know, that's all...” He sounded so innocent and slightly confused when he said it that everyone but Hilda grinned, even Lisa who stood talking on the phone.
Claire just smiled up at him pleasantly and said, “That's my friend Betty. She offered to clean the kitchen. She's very good at cleaning.” Nothing else got added to the thought. Claire acting as if her explanation made sense in the real world, but Troy knowing that no one volunteered to clean your kitchen without wanting something in return. He didn't stop the woman from working, Zack noticed.
It had been dark out for a while, so Zack didn't really feel surprised when Keane showed up at the front door. Hilda let him in instantly.
“Hello, Zack, Claire, Lisa. How are you doing, Hilda? Good to see you all. I hear it's been a busy day? Troy, I'm actually here to get your input on the Tarantula remodel. The ownership would like a young person's perspective.” Keane put his hand out to Troy, to shake.
“Hey, aren't you like, the regional manager for the club? I saw you there a few days ago, right?”
Keane nodded, as if this kind of thing happened every day. He offered, persuasively, to give Troy a ride to the club and promised it would take a few hours at most. Hinting broadly that they were grooming Troy for a promotion.
When they left, Lisa talked on the phone until Valerie got there, then switched it off and put it in her purse. It was the first time that Zack had ever seen her do anything like that. Her cell was practically attached to the side of her head, most of the time and was always ready to take calls. It was part of her job. He thought that was the case at least, since she almost never seemed to be just chatting with friends on it.
Lisa started the conversation, sounding both official, and at the same time hesitant. That was always a sign that people were about to drop things on you. Zack tried not to make a face at her, but wondered if he should. It would probably be rude, so he decided just to watch her closely and wait for her to explain.
“Okay, it became clear today that we had to make some rules as far as you and your abilities go, or you, and us, by proxy, were about to be overwhelmed. We set up some ground rules for the hire of your abilities, and got everyone to agree to them, though that took some doing. You'd be surprised at what some of the people involved wanted you to do... The first thing we came up with is that you're allowed to refuse any business without giving a reason why, and it should be understood that it's most likely simply a resource or time issue. We retained the right to refuse on your behalf, too. That way you don't have to hear people begging every day. Which you would otherwise, trust me. I've had to turn down nearly a dozen already, most of them people wanting you to help them make even more money than they already have.
“The second rule is that you're to be paid in gold, goods, or services that are deemed by us to be worth an average of ten thousand ounces of gold per trip, each way. This is to keep the rate of customers down. We can adjust it later if you want, but everyone felt it was a fair starting point.
“The third is that you can cancel any engagement, without notice, for a full refund of gold or goods.
“The fourth is that you can use your abilities for personal travel, amusement, etc., and anyone complaining about this will be blacklisted for a period of one to ten years. Depending on how annoying they are about it. This keeps people from whining if you take a vacation. Which again, they would. People were already talking about trying to get you to work twenty-four hour shifts, we explained that you actually do need to sleep and might want something of a personal life. Some people didn't get it.
“Finally, we agreed that real emergencies can be submitted and that you'll look at those requests yourself on a per case basis. We'll make sure they're not just people looking for free travel first.”
Zack regarded her carefully for a moment.
“All right. I guess that's fine. If people hold mainly to simple Nexus jumps I can do that while I'm working, and it should only take a few moments per trip. As long as I'm going to a known place at least. Is there an established Nexus map? If I learned it, or parts of it, ahead of time that would speed things up. How many of these trips do you think people will want per day?”
Lisa looked at Claire then back to Zack.
Valerie spoke up, clearing her throat gently, her smooth voice easing toward his awareness. “Zack, people will probably pay for as many trips as you can manage. Especially into the other lands. A cross-country flight is a pain, but doable if you look Human enough. Going to some of the other places is really hard, or even impossible without the lines. You took Hilda to the Trolleinkein lands, right? How long did that take you do you think?”
He tried to work out the actual time, including finding the destination from Hilda's thoughts.
“A minute each way maybe? Less now that I know where it is and don't have to search the route out. The travel on the line itself is nearly instant of course. It's hard to tell from that, though, because a lot of other things were going on at the time.” He started to shrug, but a searing pain in his chest stopped him from doing that. No shrugging he reminded himself. Or sighing. Even if this conversation had a quality to it that seemed worthy of a few mighty ones.
“Now consider that the Human lands only cover about one three hundredth of the known lands, and I think you'll begin to see why this service is so potentially lucrative.”
Zack nodded. He could see the use of it, when put in that light. Hadn't Hilda said how hard and slow her trip there had been? It might be worth some gold or trade goods at that. It seemed like real pains were taken to be fair to him. He could pretty much just say he didn't want to do it anymore and it ended, right? Or that he wanted to help some little kid for free instead of some guy paying top dollar for a luxury trip? Or he could say no just because he didn't like someone. Though really, he tried to give everyone a chance, at least mainly, and the ones he didn't like on sight, Demons, well they could take care of all this for themselves.
Claire looked at him and cleared her throat. Since she technically didn't need to breathe, it seemed an odd nervous tick for someone her age.
“There is one more small thing. It isn't nearly as big an issue as it may sound like at first, so please don't blow it out of proportion. It's mainly a matter of management, and doesn't hold legal weight in the Human world. So really, it's
almost a joke, if you want to take it that way... but some of the cultures we're dealing with needed assurances that management is undertaken by specific factors, mainly family, or people bonded to you by oaths of loyalty, that kind of thing.”
She shifted slightly, her Shadow self sinking deep within as she tried to hide from what could happen next.
“So, well...” she went silent, as if searching for the words.
“Yes?” He prompted.
“So, we appointed management. That's all.” She looked relieved at having gotten through it. The others all frowned.
Lisa tried next. “Look, Zack, you don't have a lot of family, just your grandparents, you said? Since they're regular Humans, they can't act as manger's for you, unless they know about all this... No group wanted any other single group to have singular or special control over your ability, so we, um, married you off to several women. On the bright side, we did manage to keep you from being married to any men. We can add those in later though, if you want? It really is kind of a joke, but needed because some groups take this kind of thing really seriously...”
Zack thought about this for a moment. Yes, it was a shock to the system, still, Claire did say that this existed on paper mainly and he shouldn't make too big a deal out of it. He decided to not try to run for it until he could find out how true that turned out to be. Taking a moment, he placed his mind in an emotionless state and tried to act rationally. That took some work, joke or not. It hit a bit too close to things that were issues for him.
He'd never even kept a girlfriend for more than a few weeks. How was he supposed to deal with wives. Plus, that was totally illegal. You were only allowed the one of them at a time.
“First, what does that really mean? Is it the same idea of marriage I'm used to?”
Oddly enough, it turned out to be Valerie who had an answer for him this time. She pulled out a notebook and read from it.
“For these purposes, marriage is given as a union between two or more beings in which the property of one is to be divided evenly between all parties upon death or eventual dissolution of the marriage. There are no strictures or preconditions to be given otherwise. Full management options are included, but may be precluded by a majority vote of the wives or, if a special case is decided at any point, by the husband.”
She explained that to him again after reading it.
“Basically it means that if you kick it for any reason or break off all the marriages, everyone gets an equal share of what you have. All of the wives have an equal say in management, and a majority vote rules. What you say automatically trumps those votes though, always. It's just presumed you won't do that most of the time. You aren't required to sleep with any of them for them to be considered your 'wife'. That's really what the 'no preconditions' thing is about. For that matter, while most of them expect it, they don't have to sleep with you either. So in that way it's like dating rather than the idea of marriage many of these cultures have. You don't even have to live with them. Um, but I take it some of the groups think it's necessary...”
He wondered if it could possibly be time for more pain medication soon, because his head had started to really hurt.
The clanking from the kitchen had stopped and turned into a regular swooshing sound. Betty had moved from cleaning the stove and cupboards to washing the counter? At least there wouldn't be a mountain of dirty dishes. They only had two real plates, the ones Valerie had brought over.
“So this council of managers... how many are we talking about, exactly?” This he addressed to Valerie again, since she had the pad with things written on it.
She counted, pushed her hair back over her right ear delicately, but carefully not projecting any sense of sex. She counted again, made a note and looked up at him.
“Nine so far, but there may be others later. At least two other groups wanted in, but didn't have any candidates available at the moment. We made it clear that even though sex wasn't an issue, you'd balk at the idea of being married to a man. Maybe we could figure out something like 'blood brothers'? Until we do, girls only.” She smiled and tried to seem official.
Nine. He wasn't certain he knew nine women by name. Even if these were only managers, it would have been nice to know some of them first. That's really what it came down to for him. The name seemed pushy, calling them wives instead of managers, but if that's what these different groups needed, he could work with that. The not getting a say in it really rankled though. It was his life, right? His ability that they wanted to gain control of?
“Who are they? Do I know any of them at all?”
Again with the looks, he thought, as they suddenly got all shifty again, glancing back and forth at each other.
Valerie turned the page and cleared her throat.
“In no particular order: Representing the Vampire community we have Claire Hawthorne. The Were community is being represented by Vanessa Whit. The Trolleinkein are represented by Hildgeurde Meorgeansdotter, The community of Mages by Lisa Penbroke, The Alede community by Valerie Renner, the Alfric by Mariposa Of The Dawn, the Djinn by Yasmine, the Tricksters by Rose, and the Demons by Beatrice. More could be added later though, as mentioned.” She marked the page, but closed the notebook.
That of course, marked the point where the inevitable fight began. Really, Zack thought before he spoke, they should have just asked him first. They married him off to a Demon? Even a Demon manager wouldn't have flown with him...
An hour later he said it for at least the fiftieth time.
“I don't care if it's not real, if I never have to touch them, or if it is only on paper. I will not be married to a Demon. I will not work with a Demon or be a Demon's blood brother. I don't care if the Demons at Underwood seem all right to everyone else. All Demons play by different rules than we do and they make a point of not telling any of us what those rules are. If this is a deal breaker then so be it. We can redraft the deal, or I can get another job or go live under a bridge. Whatever. This is something I will not budge on. Fix it or don't. That's up to the rest of you now. I'm going to my bedroom, where I'll sit up and not sleep for another,” he looked at the clock, “six hours. I'll leave the door open, but please don't talk to me unless it's important, and not about demons. Thanks.”
He didn't storm to his room. Not only would that be childish, but it would simply hurt too much right now. He also didn't flop down on his narrow bed. The process he used took about three minutes and left him lying on his uninjured side.
This meant he kept trying to doze off so he slowly sat up and propped a pillow beside him to absorb a little of his weight.
Valerie came in about twenty minutes later. She talked for a bit about how their society worked and how even if Zack hadn't personally signed off on anything, his community could indeed sign him into deals and indentures. That's basically how the Demons worked, after all.
“And what group am I supposed to be beholden to? The Mages? I'm simply not one of them. I can't do most of what they can and vice versa. Am I to be controlled by your group then? Or by the Demons? I am my group and I haven't signed off on anything. I'm not trying to be difficult here, but seriously, this situation is crazy. I'm nearly positive I'm not in the wrong here and even if I am, even if I'm being a horrible person, I still won't work with Demons.”
The Succubus turned on her heel and left. A lot of low murmuring started in the other room. He couldn't hear it really, door opened or not, but their Shadows kept showing up in front of his, their spectral forms talking to him in slightly muted but realistic color.
Hilda: You're my friend. I'll not wrong you... I didn't know...
Lisa: I saw no other way. Deidre will kill me for this. I should just say goodbye to her now...
Claire: The Demons are jockeying for control. This may give us the opening we need to seize things back. Perhaps something else could be done here. We must think hard now.
Hilda, surface Hilda looked into the room, trying to sneak a peek at him.
“Do
you hate me now? I just wanted to help you and I thought that being there in that group would do it. Plus, I've never been married before, and probably will never have a chance again. I don't think any Trolleinkein has ever been married. It would have been interesting I think....”
He looked at her and smiled softly.
“Oh, don't worry. I'm not even mad at you. I just find it supremely unlikely that with all the brain power represented in the room at the time, nine sham marriages is really the best they could come up with. How about, oh, I don't know, simply telling people to appoint someone and if some beings didn't like that they weren't related, then tough? If it cuts into business, well, I'm mainly doing this to help them. They can come or not as they please. This whole marriage idea seems shaky and like something the Demons would cook up to try and trick me into some kind of servitude. If not them, then some other group. Whose idea was it originally anyway?”
He didn't have to wait long before Claire called out from the other room. “The Brer, now that I think about it. He said it so cleverly no one really noticed...”
She darted into his room “Oooh! We need to tread carefully here then! This is not happening in its current form... not without further study at least. Lisa, please tell everyone that the deal is off until further notice, Make the calls needed and let me know if you need help with anyone. The Brer is behind this. That means it's probably based on a trick or a lie. Let's stop this now, before it explodes on us all.”
Zack relaxed. So this is what it feels like to be married and unmarried nine times in one day.
Very odd.
Chapter seventeen
Zack knew that he felt a bit irritable. Who wouldn't? No sleep, constant discomfort, and with stressful things hanging over him like they were. It all made the slight irritation he felt make sense. Meditation helped a bit, and so did regular doses of pain killers, but helping a bit was way different than fixing the problem. By nine in the morning two of the women left for work, Lisa and Claire, both promising to call in with regular reports as to any backlash or progress made.