The Other Realm

by Joab Stieglitz

  “The Queen will see you now,” he snapped as if to a subordinate.

  Lamb stood casually and started to straighten his clothes, but Shemei slapped away his hands, knelt in front of him, and arranged his wardrobe herself.

  “Must make a good impression,” she said in a chirpy tone with a note of nervousness.

  “I’m sure everything will be fine,” Lamb said with a reassuring smile. Shemei blushed and turned away. When she rose, the footman grasped the doctor’s arm and ushered him quickly out the door, where the two guards with the halberds that had escorted him to the room were waiting. They followed as the footman led Lamb down the short hallway and into the throne room.

  Chapter 7

  Dhath Gl’clot 11

  He was brought to the end of a long red carpet that led up the dais and under the throne.

  “That is much better.” Queen Sif smiled as he bowed. “I would know the reason for your presence in Brynner, Harry Lamb.”

  “Your Majesty,” Lamb said with a knowing grin, “I don’t know how I got here, or why, but my colleague and I were searching for a mystic named Brian Teplow.” The queen scowled.

  “Deb-Roh!” she shouted. “You seek Deb-Roh?!”

  “Yes, your Majesty,” Lamb replied. “He may be known by that name here.”

  “Deb-Roh is a sorcerer and a scoundrel. Why do you wish to find him?”

  “My colleague is the one who seeks information from him?”

  “And who is this colleague?”

  “Dr. Anna Rykov. But I do not know if she is here. As I said, I don’t know how I got here myself.”

  Harry glanced from side to side nervously. Perhaps he was mistaken. The queen looked exactly like Liv Lee, and she seemed to know him, at least on some level, but clearly she did not remember their prior relationship.

  The queen gazed at Lamb for a long moment. Everyone in the throne room was silent and motionless. Finally she smiled and motioned toward a settee to the right of the dais.

  “Recline and restore yourself,” she said in a tone Lamb could not decide was sensual or predatory. “We will consider your quest in due time.” She clapped her hands and Shemei appeared quickly from the shadows. “Attend to him.”

  The servant curtsied, and the queen watched her ominously as she stepped around the throne and knelt at Lamb’s side. When Shemei had settled, the queen nodded at the courtier with the staff.

  ◆

  Anna’s eyes had adjusted to the dimness of the cell. The man imprisoned with her had continued growling at her, and had tried again a few times to reach her, but the measurements of their bonds had been precise. The guards had not returned, in spite of the noise, for several hours. But similar noises were coming from beyond the door.

  She had fallen asleep at some point, because she was rudely awakened by a pressure around her neck. She opened her eyes to see one of the insect-men holding the pole device. The other unlocked the ring in the floor to release her leg irons. She was pulled to her feet by the device while the other prisoner leered and made rude noises. When standing, the shackles prevented Anna from raising her hands above her waist.

  The other guard picked up a similar device, which he had leaned against the wall, and grasped the man’s neck in his claw. The man instantly froze and went silent, his eyes wide before the guard twisted the staff and the claw snapped. The man’s head was cut clean off and rolled across the floor before the body fell forward.

  “You are being taken before the queen,” the guard said. “Behave yourself, or you will suffer the same fate.” He did not wait for a reply before he walked out of the cell. Anna was pushed through the door by the guard holding the pole behind her. Her leg shackles echoed as they led her along a winding, circular corridor that sloped upward. Windowless doors lined both sides.

  Anna had grown accustomed to the cold, but the wetness made her bare feet numb. She avoided the lewd gazes of the insect-man guards that were posted along the corridor and plodded on. The stone steps had been worn practically into a ramp, and the damp surroundings made them slippery. Twice she slipped and nearly choked as the guard with the claw pulled her to her feet.

  Eventually they reached the end of the corridor. The lead guard tapped on the heavy wooden door with his staff, and it opened from the other side. A wave of warm air swept over Anna’s naked body as she was prodded out of the dungeon and across a stone-flagged courtyard. The tiles were hot and her feet burned with each step.

  There were several humans wearing Egyptian-style clothing there. They were bare-chested with long skirts, and wore beaded collars that draped over their shoulders and chests. They had been in the midst of an animated conversation, but when Anna was brought by, they stopped the procession. The guard behind her used the claw to hold her still and pulled her up onto her toes. The assembly then examined her appraisingly, especially her eyes, ears, and teeth. Anna could not resist, and the guards did not interfere.

  When they had finished their inspection, which appeared to have been disappointing, the men stepped away and resumed their conversation. Anna was returned to her feet and pushed forward again.

  At the far end of the courtyard two insect-man guards with the clawed pole weapons stood in front of a pair of huge doors that each bore a bas relief of Liv Lee dressed as Cleopatra.

  ◆

  Anna and Lamb had been unresponsive for over an hour. O’Malley watched over the two in case the aliens decided to try and remove their brains after all.

  “Why haven’t they attacked me?” O’Malley asked, standing vigil over the slumped bodies of his friends. “I vaporized one of them, and they have ignored me ever since.”

  “The Junazhi are timeless,” Bierce replied. “From your perspective, they can wait you out.”

  “So they already know the outcome of this adventure?”

  “While I can communicate with them, the Junazhi and I do not share thoughts. I don’t know their motivations or intentions.”

  During this time, Billy went to the main room of the guest house basement and returned with odd, seemingly unrelated junk. He operated absently, as if externally controlled, which O’Malley imagined he was.

  As he cobbled together the disparate parts, other devices phased into view on the table, and Billy integrated them into the contraption.

  Finally, Billy sat on the table next to the device. He then plugged in a thick cable ending in a probe with a pair of bulbous tips, which he unceremoniously thrust up his nose. Billy’s body stiffened, and a hazy image appeared on a pane of glass.

  “That is Dr. Lamb’s visual sensory input.” They saw that Lamb was lying on a couch and was being hand fed by a woman who his attention was completely focused on. The woman wore a thin linen dress. Behind her was a large room with many humanoid shapes standing around. To O’Malley, a professor of Ancient History, the architecture appeared to be Ancient Egyptian, as was the woman’s outfit.

  Lamb’s view followed the woman’s gaze to a blurry female shape sitting on a throne.

  “Why is that woman so indistinct?” Bierce’s lights flashed.

  “The Junazhi say that something is confusing Dr. Lamb’s senses. The device cannot clearly distinguish the reality from the illusion.”

  Suddenly there was a commotion as a door at the far end of the chamber opened.

  ◆

  Anna hobbled into an ornate chamber filled with people in Egyptian-style dress. The human men wore the long, white kilts, some with shirts underneath and others bare-chested. Most of the women, who were all human, wore poncho-like dresses of plain white. All wore colorful, beaded collars that draped over their shoulders and chests. Some of the human men and women, who were clearly slaves, wore simple, form-fitting, translucent costumes. Scattered around the perimeter of the room were insect-man guards dressed in scale armor vests, with arm and leg protectors. Each held the clawed pole weapon, though some also had oddly shaped swords.

  The room was dark, illuminated only by strategically placed skylights th
at focused attention on an open space in the center of the room, and on a raised dais bearing a throne. And on that throne sat Liv Lee. She was dressed in a tight, ornately decorated, wrap-around dress that appeared to be woven of gold. On her head was a golden circlet studded with jewels, and in the front, over her forehead, was a representation of the tentacle-faced avatar of Utgarda.

  Anna was prodded toward the illuminated space before the dais and made to kneel with her forehead touching the floor.

  “My queen,” an insect-man courtier shouted to the assembly after tapping the gilded staff of a seneschal on the tile floor three times, “the conspirator, Nygof, has been apprehended and is brought before you.” Anna tried to look up, but the claw kept her head on the floor.

  “So, Nygof,” Liv said in a haughty and commanding voice, “I finally have you in chains. You will tell me of Deb-Roh’s plot, the names of your co-conspirators, and how you managed to get into the palace.” She sneered cruelly. “But first, let me get a good look at you,”

  As the queen moved forward, Anna noticed that what had looked like the throne was actually the pattern on an enormous, slug-like body. The parody of Liv Lee bore the forward appearance of the actress, but as soon as she moved, Anna could see that the image was a pattern in her fleshy surface. In her wake, barely visible behind the enormous bulk, were pale, white larvae, glistening with slime, but having two arms and two legs.

  Anna was about to react when the pressure around her neck increased slightly as a warning. As the queen stepped down from her throne, Anna suddenly noticed Lamb lying on a couch to the side of the throne. He was dressed in the same clothing as the other men, and a woman was sitting next to him feeding him, dressed in a translucent garment that covered her from neck to ankles. The doctor was fully fixated on her.

  Anna’s gaze was abruptly turned by the queen’s hand on her chin so they were eye to eye. Liv’s face bore an expression of malice and disgust. She sneered as she lifted Anna by the chin to her feet and circled her to admire the naked body in chains.

  “You have no disguise to conceal your true identity now, Nygof. And if you’re still alive when I am finished with you, you won’t have to hide because no one will want to look upon you again!”

  Chapter 8

  July 16, 1929

  O’Malley gasped as he saw Anna, naked and in chains, pushed into the chamber by a blurry humanoid holding her by the neck in a mancatcher.

  “What the devil is going on here?” O’Malley shouted. “You sent them off together. Why have they been separated?” Bierce’s lights flashed.

  “The Junazhi hypothesize that the chemical interference from Dr. Rykov’s prior contamination caused her to be rerouted to an unfavorable existence, while Dr. Lamb was deposited in a more fortunate circumstance.”

  “What do you mean ‘an unfavorable existence’ and ‘a more fortunate circumstance’?”

  “The existences that they are experiencing are in the mental realm of Brian Teplow. He created this existence, and Kovacs has commandeered it.”

  “How does that affect Anna and Harry’s situations within it? Neither Brian nor Kovacs has ever met either of them.” More flashes from Bierce.

  “Their mental condition, as defined by their brain chemistry, significantly impacts how they will be represented. Dr. Lamb had a peaceful transition, while Dr. Rykov’s reaction to the Junazhi injection was traumatic.”

  “And this is the result?” O’Malley asked. “We need to assist them somehow!”

  “We are unable to interact with them,” and as if reading O’Malley’s thought, “and any interference with their bodies could cause serious mental and physical damage.”

  O’Malley was helpless to assist them. All he could do was watch events unfold. And unlike a silent movie, there were no narration cards to explain what was happening.

  ◆

  Anna was reluctant to speak with the mancatcher holding her neck. The queen released her chin and turned to Lamb. “Harry Lamb! Attend me!”

  Lamb gently pushed the servant aside, rose, and approached. Anna looked for some indication that he had a plan for getting out of this situation, but Lamb seemed surprised to see her and came to the queen’s side.

  “You, Nygof,” Liv continued with scorn, “who would conspire with Deb-Roh and Gho-Bazh to depose me, see now how I possess all you owned.” She embraced Lamb with tentacle-like arms and kissed him passionately on the lips while staring into her eyes. “And even your pitiful existence is mine to do with as I please.” Lamb returned the embrace, his arm sinking into the gelatinous surface, but he did not appear to notice her monstrous form.

  “Your Majesty,” Lamb said when she released him, “this is my colleague, Dr. Anna Rykov. I think you have her confused with someone else.”

  “You are affiliated with Nygof?!” Liv cried, stepping away from the doctor. Two guards approached and pointed their mancatchers at him threateningly.

  “No, your Majesty,” Lamb said, holding his hands before him in a pacifying gesture. “Just as you confused me with this Nab person, you have imprisoned my associate by mistake. This is not Nygof. This is Anna Rykov.” The queen looked skeptical.

  “And what say you.” When she noted that Anna was hesitant to speak, she gestured, and Anna was released from the mancatcher.

  “It is as Dr. Lamb says,” Anna said politely. “I am Dr. Anna Rykov. Dr. Lamb and I have been sent to dispatch Gho-Bazh and bring Deb-Roh home with us.”

  “It is not strange that you believe us to be others,” Lamb said. “You, too, resemble someone we know from our home.”

  “My Queen. She was captured with the weapons and possessions said to be carried by Nygof,” one of the guards said.

  “I know who you are,” the queen hissed so that only Anna could hear. “Anyone touched by Utgarda is irreversibly changed here. When I was thrown clear of the temple into the Endless Barrens of None, I became the parody you see before you. You are responsible for what has befallen me.” She turned to the assembled courtiers and said, “Is there anything to suggest that she is who she claims to be?”

  “No, my Queen,” Govil replied immediately.

  “You say you have been sent to kill Gho-Bazh,” the queen said for all to hear. “You will perform this task. You will also bring Deb-Roh here to me, dead or alive.” She looked to the guards who had brought Anna. “Guards!” They dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.

  “Ganon,” the one behind Anna said.

  “Govil,” the other replied.

  “You will accompany Anna Rykov and see that she completes these tasks. If she should stray from my will, you will attend to her and then complete my instructions.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” the guards replied in unison and stood.

  “See that the expedition is properly equipped.” She turned to the seneschal. “Draft an edict authorizing them to commandeer whatever they deem necessary to complete the assignment.”

  “Your Majesty,” Lamb said as Liv climbed the steps to the top of the dais. “I will go with them to ensure that your instructions are carried out as you intend.”

  “Do not presume to command me, Harry Lamb,” the Queen said, “but I will permit you to accompany them, chronicle their journey, and report back to me the details of this quest.” She nodded to the seneschal, who tapped the floor with his staff.

  “Your Maj-” Anna started to ask before the mancatcher was secured again around her neck and she was by prodded Ganon out of the throne room through a side door. Lamb was ushered back toward his room by Govil, with Shemei close behind as another matter was brought before the queen.

  ◆

  “Release her at once,” Lamb commanded after the door to his chamber closed. Govil scowled and pushed him onto the settee.

  “First,” the insect-man said evenly, “I don’t answer to you. And second, she is still my prisoner. The Queen did not release her, so I may do as I please.” At this, he stood behind Anna and pressed his body against her back. Anna tried t
o squirm away, but was held her in place by the mancatcher.

  “And you are here solely as an observer,” Ganon added, “who doesn’t need his liberty to perform his task.”

  “Well you can’t expect me to complete the assignment naked and in chains,” Anna said. “I will need all of my resources available to deal with things as they arise”

  “I think all the resources you need are already available,” Govil said, reaching around Anna to put his hand on her abdomen. Lamb moved to intervene, but stopped short as Ganon tightened the claw around her neck. “Let her go,” Govil said. Ganon twisted the pole and the claw opened.

  “Now, we need to get her some clothes-,” Lamb said, but stopped short as Govil manhandled Anna face down onto the bed. Lamb shot up and punched the guard in the face before being struck in the back by Ganon. Govil was knocked aside into Shemei, and fell on top of her on the carpeted floor. He redirected his lust toward her, and she submitted to him as if accustomed to it.

  Lamb doubled back at the impact and fell onto his back with the spear point of Ganon’s mancatcher at his throat.

  “As he said,” the guard said, “you have no authority here. Even less than her. So mind your place.” He lifted the spear and watched warily as Lamb rose to his knees and then to his feet.

  In the meantime, Anna had rolled over and was sitting on the bed. She looked herself over in a full-sized mirror on a wall and noted that she appeared to be unharmed. She did not feel ill and, aside from Govil’s predations, did not think she had been violated. However, she was quite dirty.

  “I need to get cleaned up if I am to begin this journey,” she said matter-of-factly. “I will stand out in a crowd like this.”

  Ganon eyed her up and down lasciviously, but then leaned his weapon against the wall and pressed a panel on his arm guard. Three very small keys emerged from slots in it. He drew each of them one at a time with his other hand and used all three to release the chains from Anna’s cuffs.