Polished

by P. S. Power

  These people, all of them, had been part of his crew, after all. Then, when they’d gotten the chance to get him hooked up with magical lessons to help him out, they’d done it without asking for anything in return. Tor had even gone out of his way to make certain he got up to speed with his own powers. Yes, all of that had been a literal pain but nothing worth doing was ever all that easy in life.

  So, judging them based on looks wasn’t really the way he wanted to be seen by them. If they were reading his mind, especially. He’d been told that a lot of the mages and wizards there could do that kind of thing, if on a fairly low level.

  Tor didn't seem upset, if he was listening at the moment, just smiling at him and bowing politely.

  “That’s amazing, Richard! Do you really think anyone else will be willing to try it?”

  He answered honestly, since the people there were, as he’d just been thinking, on his team.

  “Some. Others we won’t really ask if they want to try it. Just hand them a rock and set them to it. That’s a bit mean, since it really isn’t comfortable but we don’t always have the luxury of being kind to everyone. Still, I bet we can get ten Agents and at least that many operatives from the base to volunteer for it, even knowing it won’t be fun. Being able to speak like this after only six hours… They’ll do it. We should get Director Turner in for it, first thing.” She was a hard woman, after all.

  The kind that wouldn’t shrink from some discomfort if the payoff was as big as what they had going on at the moment.

  Tor blinked at the words.

  “Amazing. I’d be hard pressed to find that many people here who would be as willing to try it and this is an entire world.” The man seemed embarrassed by that idea.

  Richard just shook his head.

  “That isn’t really true. The people here are brave and kind, as much as they are anyplace else. Strong, as well. You could go and hand that rock to the Prince here, I bet and he wouldn’t flinch from it. We’re just picking from a select crop in my world, so we get to look good that way for the time being.” He grinned then. “Well, he’d probably flinch. Anyone sane would, once it started. I know that I did. Just, he’d do it in order to learn a language like this, I bet. You should try asking him. He’s going to be a king someday, right? Knowing how to speak all the languages has to help with something like that.”

  For some reason the three people with him laughed, Taman covering her mouth with her hand, delicately. Dareg grinned and brushed at the leg of his simple brown outfit as Tor froze for a moment. Grinning a bit maniacally. Then the tall man pulled his handheld. It was done with a sense of purpose. A thing that nearly didn’t make any sense at all.

  The cell phone like picture phone that was popular there. Now Richard knew the name for it and even what it meant, which was easy enough to remember. You held it in your hand. Handheld. Simple.

  After a few taps the Prince of Noram, Alphonse, showed up, his face smiling, if upside down from the perspective Rich was standing in.

  “Tor! How are things going?”

  “Hey, Alphonse. Good, actually. Taman worked up a new language magic, that accelerates the learning process. We’ve already used it on Mr. Drake. How did that go, Richard?” The device was, slowly, brought around so that he was looking at the tall red-haired man on the flat white surface. The picture quality was amazing. Far better than high definition even.

  Rich grinned then.

  “It went very well. It’s a bit uncomfortable and a little disorienting but you learn the skills exceptionally fast. I was just suggesting to the people here that we get you hooked up with that, so you can talk to people in English. Maybe some other languages as well? That way we won’t have to listen to anyone whining about it being too scary or hard, later. We can just point out that you went first thing, right?” They could do that without the man actually doing anything, as well, of course, if it was needed to get butts in the seats. Lying worked pretty well, as a tool for manipulating people, after all.

  Almost as if Richard actually knew something about the man, except that he was a version of Hobbs, from the IPB world, there was a nod and a considering look.

  “I… Yes. If it’s that effective, I need to make certain people understand that it’s safe, even if troubling or hard to use. How do we proceed from here on it?”

  Richard was still looking directly at the man, so shrugged a bit. It was clear he got the basic idea. Also that he was willing to put his own behind on the line, just to make things easier when it came to getting others to work with them on the new program.

  “We have Taman work up the needed devices for it and then she can bring those to you.” He glanced at the girl, who nodded very subtly, as if that made any sense at all. “Oh… You need to get your dad in on this too, as soon as you take a turn. Maybe the rest of your family. That way you can assure them that it sucks but isn’t that big of a deal. Your father will need English, at the very least, from what I heard the other day. You can help come up with some training for ambassadors, right? Protocols and when to bow. How to comport yourself at a fancy meal and all that?”

  That started a discussion and oddly, a plan then. With the man himself focusing on languages first but being more than willing to donate what time he could toward the rest of it, even if he sounded pretty busy. There was no more speaking about getting anyone else to do it, however. Especially the king of Noram.

  Which kind of made sense. After all, they weren’t going to use that kind of magic on the President of the United States either. Not that they shouldn’t, it simply wasn’t going to come up. They chatted for a while with the man saying goodbye several times, rather politely, before hopping off the device.

  Finally, Tor looked at him, his face going sober.

  “I heard that you have a new man in to work with the mage students… Is that… Are you being replaced?” The words seemed almost upset, as if that would be a problem if it were the truth. It really wouldn’t, of course. A lot of people had gotten the volunteers on the right page already, after all.

  They didn’t need him for it, personally. Him doing it was just a handy way to get the inside track on hookups for his friends and people.

  It took him several seconds to recall the name of the man, one of the people to escape from The Depot, who they were roping into working there in Noram.

  “Dean. The idea is to have him act as a guide and liaison, only. I still have the same position, only now I have an official minion. In a way, I suppose it’s kind of a soft promotion for me, having staff like that. He’ll need in on language lessons as well.” Richard looked at Taman then and shrugged. “He’s had a hard go of it for a while, so I don’t know if your trick is the best way to do that for him. We should ask? We also need to to learn those other languages. All of the ones for here, Fleet and Ysidril. How do we work that out? Get Erath to make a device for it?”

  That, it seemed was going to take some time to figure out, since, as Taman had mentioned, she didn't know either of those languages yet. Still, her words on it sounded promising, even if she was suddenly being given huge amounts of work to do. Just coming up with different learning programs could be the career of a lifetime, Richard had to think. Important work, too.

  The others left, except for Tor, who looked at him closely for about half a minute before speaking again. Still in Standard.

  “Thank you, Mr. Drake. I am constantly left feeling awed by you and your people. Their bravery and courage… The way you aided a simple servant from another land, a different world entirely, when he was taken and faced death and rape… All of you offered aid, without hesitation. If there’s anything you need from me, please ask. Magic, or gold? What I have is yours.” There was an odd feeling from the man, as if he really meant it or something.

  Which, Richard had to admit, was weird. Also very kind. Which meant it was probably the type of thing that a person was supposed to turn down, even if it was a different culture. It was why he needed to get in on lessons for that
kind of thing. It was something that Tor probably wouldn’t have even thought about saying. Like asking a person how they were doing that day.

  No one expected a real answer and if it came would be a bit bored or possibly annoyed by it being spoken about.

  Rather than guessing, he forced a smile and shook his head a little, looking upward into the too pretty face.

  “Um… Is that a turn of phrase here? If you need anything… Where I’m supposed to nod a bit and then ignore it? Not that I need gold or anything really. Unless I end up needing it, of course. Which honestly could come up, on another project I’m working on. Really, I already need to get with a man on some things that might be related.” He smiled, getting that he was probably going to sound confusing.

  The other man seemed to get it though and bowed, which got one back.

  “No. That kind of an offer is rare. I mean it, though. You could come and live here forever, draw an allowance and never work again, if you wish. What I have is yours now, in a literal fashion. To share at least.” There was a small smile on the man’s lips then. “You’ve even already gotten new servants in for us and everything. If we aren’t careful, people will think we’re dating. Not that you aren’t a fine man that way. I’m just not… Um, I prefer women. We could date, otherwise, of course. Even with that, if you wish? I know that you keep thinking of me as being very pretty.”

  It took Richard about ten seconds to recall that the man was a decent mind reader, so was likely playing with him for having thought the man was too attractive and girly, earlier. Probably, at least. Really, it was better than the beating he deserved for it.

  “Right. Well, no need for any of that then. After all, I tend to just steal the things I need. Not stupidly though, thanks to not having a first mode any longer. We might, occasionally, have some people that need or want to move here. This place, your whole world, is incredible to us. If I had the time I’d really consider moving to Mars or the Moon for a while. As it stands, I have to get back home and see about…” He nearly didn’t tell the man.

  Like his little sister, he went to the IPB world from time to time. Knowing the wrong thing could be bad news for him. He was a man though and while it was probably wrong to try and protect Tam because she was a skirt, at least in the modern world, it was something that Richard kind of couldn’t help. Something inborn, most likely. Tor didn’t need him to do that kind of thing for him.

  “Some of our leaders, the ones behind the scenes as well as the rich and famous… They’ve been taking kids, for years. Raping, torturing and killing them. Eating them as well, at times. You already know a little about that. We spoke on it, plus, The Infection…”

  That portion of things was troubling for Richard Drake to think about for a moment. That The Infection was a single entity that possessed millions of people. Maybe more than that, in different worlds. One that wanted Rich to remove certain individuals from power, personally. As in, it was supposed to, in part, be his job to get that done. Why he was Infected in the first place, probably. Not that there couldn’t be even more than that going on.

  Tor nodded, his face going pale as he did it.

  “I know that it is your assigned task, to remove some of the most powerful from your world like that. I don’t think I exactly understood why at the time. What do you need, that we here can provide, to aid you in that? It will need to be done in secret. The king and our people can’t be seen to be doing that sort of thing. It might be seen as a threat to those here who do such things here. Which it should be. If I could find them all, those people would die.” Tor, who was friendly and attractive enough that part of Richard’s deep brain was a little tickled at having been flirted with by the man, even if it was also troubling at the same time, went so hard and cold then that it felt like he was about to go and start killing some people for them right that moment.

  That wasn’t the plan. They needed to tear down the secret system first, break it open, then kill them all.

  Instead of telling him that he wasn’t needed for the effort, Richard took a deep breath.

  “We might need changes done to people. On the fly, in my world? You’re right though, we can’t allow that to be drawn back to you or your people here directly. Anyone helping us might end up dead, so I can’t really ask for that kind of aid.”

  Tor bowed then.

  “I understand. I shall stand ready. I can get Tim to do some work on me, so that I won’t be identifiable. Perhaps Willum will aid in this as well? His skills are such that he might be very useful to such an endeavor. Let me see what I can arrange. Expect us in… Call it three days, your time?”

  Rich bowed back. After all, the man was a powerhouse in his own way. It wasn’t his job to go to another world and help them remove corrupt monsters from power, of course. Then, it wasn’t as if anyone knew how to get that kind of thing done, really. Refusing help at the stage they were at would be insane.

  Instead he thought for a moment, then nodded.

  “Come in quietly. Blend with the people on the base. I’ll set that up with Turner. We might be back here, to work, if that’s allowed? My friend Katie is going to be needed for planning. I really need to figure out how to teleport with another person. Then I could just bring her here and take you there. Well, I can’t, so I need to get with my crew, the rest of them, ASAP.” He had to stop then, since the last bit was in English. He translated. “That means as soon as possible, in English. It’s just made up of the first letters of each word.” He repeated the term, since the other man spoke that language.

  It could come up, if they were working together.

  Then, quickly enough to seem strange, the other man left the room. It was his house, so he didn't exactly have to run away. It took a while for Rich to find everyone else, though Dean and Gillian were both still there. The others had either gone off to the Moon for a tour of the place, or had gotten Lydia to take them back home.

  That probably wasn’t the smartest plan, really. Harmony and First City on Mars were both places where they could have lived for free, if they wanted to give it a try. Going back home without resources might mean ending up on the streets, for a lot of people. Their families had simply dumped them in a holding facility, after all. Just getting rid of the problem emotions and issues might not be enough to get back in with the kind of person who would do that sort of thing to a relative.

  Then, it wasn’t that hard to get by in the world, if a person were willing to be a bit flexible about what they were doing. Richard Drake knew that one first hand. Not from his life as a thief, either. No, here he was playing government agent, after that kind of life. Making it, more or less, based on being willing to do what was needed to get by.

  Looking at Gillian, he smiled. The girl looked a bit plain, now that she wasn’t glowing constantly. It worked for her. Her face was a bit receding at the chin and drawn out. Her body was thin and she wasn’t huge up top or anything to mark her as special that way, either. What she had going on though was that she looked like herself still. So that she could go on camera and tell the world about the horrors that she’d witnessed at the hands of her parents and be identified easily. If she looked like a super model, then it would be too easy to claim she wasn’t herself at all, just a pretender. This way she had a better chance of being believed by at least some people.

  “Hey! I was just about to go and start setting up your part in this. Are you good holding here with Dean for a bit? It might be a week or even two before we’re all back here. That’s only a day or two back home, so don’t think we’ve forgotten about you, or your plan. We just need to actually make sure what we’re going to do works, you know? That and make it really hard for the other side to take any of us out.”

  For some reason, possibly a life of torture and abuse, Gillian seemed to get what he meant right off. It took longer to explain it to Dean, who was, it seemed, a far more normal Infected person. One who’d been dumped long ago for being strange, without it having been truly evil of his family
at all. They hadn’t known how to cope with his loud voice calling out everything he’d been thinking, constantly. Day and night.

  That he’d learned to silence himself well enough to be on the quiet ward was kind of amazing, given that. It showed a level of self-discipline that was, frankly, impressive.

  Still, they had a plan in place, to wait for him to come back, before Richard left to start the next portion of their plans.

  Right after he either scored some sleep or found some drugs that would replace it.

  Chapter eight

  Richard had been tempted to go into the fight club alone. Just walking up to the door and announcing himself as Gary, since that was how the people there knew him. Instead he had the whole team out for it. When he’d told Turner his plan to check on things, they’d all been sent along with him. Price Lloyd, Nan and Peggy, the last two looking exactly how they did when they’d been on the mission a month before, with the Agent looking like a fairly standard human who wasn’t Infected at all.

  The giant warehouse still looked the same, being big and boxy on the outside. Ugly, if in a plain fashion that spoke of utility, instead of being designed for beauty. The door had been painted though and unlike before, there was an actual sign out front, announcing that this was, indeed, the fight club. It was twilight already, though well before the patrons would be coming to watch the now-legal fights.

  Turning to Price, he winked.

  “The gambling is still illegal though, I’ll bet you good money that they’re still doing that. Let me knock.” It wasn’t as if the Agent wouldn’t know about that kind of thing. You had to actually speak to people though, if you wanted to be part of the club. Not that he was going to be coming back to work there any time soon. The trick was that Nan and possibly Peggy might.