by D. H. Aire
#
‘Tracking our little friend,’ Aliana said over their link as they established a small encampment in the ruins of the fallen down foundations of the old keep.
Terus sighed as Ri spoke to her grandfather, “Master, he’s set that insect to observe Lord Rian.”
:He is no friend of Lord Rian, then,: the computer staff shared.
I nodded, then closed my eyes, “Archeological low level scan, please.”
:Acknowledged. Initiating.:
Staff glowed as the scan penetrated the ground, offering an image of the foundations of what had been a rather extensive keep, then the underpinnings of the outbuildings. :Dating structure. Indications are that the tower is the oldest structure. Estimating it is over four thousand years.:
The scan also revealed that the tower had been built over… what appeared to be a small node.
Beep… Beep.
Staff answered, :B.e.e.p.:
Beep?
:George.:
“I see it, Staff. I don’t know if I believe what I’m seeing, though,” George muttered.
Beep?
“Uh, no, we don’t have time to play… but if you watch you might learn something,” he replied.
#
Before entering the command tent that had been raised as the sun edged lower that afternoon, George muttered, “Raven, keep an eye out, understood?”
‘I’m monitoring her, too, Master,’ Revit sent.
Se’and glanced around warily as the Cathartan Sisters, gestured. George entered ahead of her as they lowered the side canvas and tied it tightly closed. The wards snapped closed and the runes, painted on the interior of the tent fabric, glowed with a soft green light. Staff added to the available light as it glowed brightly in George’s grasp.
Yel’ane stared at the pack Lawson placed on a folding travel chair. “I will remove the components and you will assemble them. Understood, Apprentice Engineer?”
“But…”
“You know how… it’s there in your mind.”
“I… It’s not the only thing I suddenly know.”
Lawson blinked, “Knowing and doing can be two very different things, Yel’ane.”
“Then why don’t you do it?” she answered.
Se’and glanced at George, who was carefully looking elsewhere.
“Mother is going to finish forging your neural patterns… you are still young enough, thankfully. She can complete your link based on your doing precisely what you must do now,” Lawson said.
She swallowed.
“You have a decision to make, young lady,” George said. “An incomplete link will limit what knowledge his, uh, mother can impart… a full link like that has its drawbacks, too.”
:That’s why our rapport is so superior to that antiquated tech.:
George dared not respond that any tech was better than no tech at all… and Questor was a very sophisticated system. “However, I think you’ve already agreed to living with those consequences.”
“He’s my husband,” Yel’ane said.
Se’and nodded, “Yes, Lady Yel’ane, he’ll be that in truth. Based on my own experience, though, I’ve a feeling you’re going to feel rather more bonded to each other than that.”
Lawson paled a bit as he offered her the first component to be inserted in the box he had just built. “Yel’ane, what will it be?”
She took the component, feeling a bead of sweat drip from her brow.
“Final exam time,” Lawson said. “Chief Engineer, you will judge?”
“Somehow, I have a feeling that’s one reason I’m here.”
Se’and was not so sure. “You think this will work?” she whispered to him.
“We’ve a window of opportunity here and Mother has a few resources that can help us… see things a lot more clearly,” George replied.
Lawson retrieved another component and realized Yel’ane had doffed her livery, her face looking a bit flushed. She held out her hand, a look in her eyes he could not name. He handed her the component, then bent to retrieve the next as she began to build the machine.
#
Yel’ane took piece after piece, fitting them together, working in a fevered state, sensing a presence welling within her mind. She held out her hand and felt magery’s feather touch. Placing it just so, the satellite comm activated.
“You pass, Apprentice Engineer,” George said, looking away.
“HOLD PLEASE, CONFERENCE CALL PENDING.”
Suddenly, trembling, Yel’ane looked up at Lawson and loosened her bodice, “It’s so hot in here.”
“Yel’ane,” Lawson rasped, eyes widening.
“You must be hot, too,” she muttered, blinking rapidly as her cheek twitched, reaching for his jerkin.
“Uh, Yel’ane?” Lawson muttered with a desperate glance at George.
His computer staff flared brighter a George ordered, “Mother, stop that!”
“EXCUSE ME, CONFERENCE CALL PENDING.”
Yel’ane was breathing hard, suddenly laughed, stepping back and pushed down her bodice over her midriff at which point she grinned and charged forward.
Lawson slapped his own twitching cheek, “Mother, there’s no need to do this!”
Yel’ane leaped on him and tore at his jerkin. Afraid of hurting her, he fell backward onto the ground. She giggled, “Admit it, you love me!”
Se’and tried stepping forward and found she couldn’t move. “Your mother seems in an all fired hurry to have grandchildren,” she muttered.
“Yel’ane, stop it,” he rasped, twisting aside as her nails raked his skin, refusing to be dislodged.
George’s gaze narrowed, “Mother, this is not the way!”
:It is inefficient,: Staff suggested. :Yel’ane is barely adult.:
“THE APPRENTICE ENGINEER HAS PROVED A VALUABLE ASSET. SHE LOVES LAWSON. HAVING A SON WILL SOLIDIFY HER POSITION IN HIS HOUSEHOLD AND BEGIN THE PROCESS I REQUIRE… MATURE YOUNGLINGS CAN BEGIN THEIR INITIAL TRAINING IN EIGHT YEARS… FIVE YEARS ON AN ACCELERATED SCHEDULE. I MUST ACCELERATE MY TIMETABLE IN ORDER TO DEAL WITH PRESENT REALITIES.”
Lawson struggled with Yel’ane, who he lifted away from him, while she pulled at his belt, laughing. “George, do something!”
“I’m working on it,” he replied.
:Questor, mating with Lawson could result in her death… You know this about humans.:
“I HAVE BEGUN OTHER MODIFICATIONS. SHE WILL SURVIVE AND BEAR STRONG OFFSPRING.”
:You cannot simply modify humans. There are Restrictions:
“RESTRICTIONS HAVE BEEN OVERRIDDEN… SURVIVAL OF THE HUMAN RACE AND MY MISSION PARAMETERS DEMANDED IT, ALTHOUGH, IT TOOK MANY CENTURIES UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. MY RESIDENT CREW WERE MODIFIED TO DEFEND MY SUPERSTRUCTURE.”
“You didn’t,” Lawson rasped as Yel’ane finished untying the knot that barred her way. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, twisting about.
“I MODIFIED YOU, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. THOUGH, IT TOOK GENERATIONS TO ACCOMPLISH UNDER THE CONDITIONS I FOUND MYSELF.”
“Lawson, please,” Yel’ane whimpered as he held her away from him, “I need to be with you!”
His cheek twitched and twitched and he said in a steely voice, “No…”
She writhed and leaned over and bit his arm.
“Ow!”
She grinned, “Admit it, you love me.”
“Of all the… George!” Lawson cried as he hands moved in uncomfortable directions.
Chapter 42 - Conference
“SHE IS NOW FULLY LINKED AND AT THE PEAK OF HER FERTILITY. THEIR UNION IS OPTIMAL.”
“How romantic,” Se’and said. “Fine… ask yourself this then, Mother. Why is Lawson fighting this? After all, you are clearly willing him to do otherwise.”
The distant computer paused. “I DARE NOT. HIS BODY WILL NOT SURVIVE THAT LEVEL OF OVERRIDING.”
:He will not hurt her… he knows it is wrong.: stated Staff.
“Plus, he loves her too much,” George said.
Y
el’ane suddenly went limp.
“ACKNOWLEDGED. INITIATING PROTOCOL G… NOW INITIATING CONFERENCE CALL.”
Lawson gasped and quickly hugging the unconscious Yel’ane close as she began to tremble, moaning. He turned his back to cut sight of her off any possible view.
“YOU ARE SECOND IN CONFERENCE.”
Se’and’s anklet flared. She swayed and George grabbed her around her waist. “Welcome to the conference.”
Seeing more than double, she muttered, “Is this what it’s been like for you and Staff?”
“No, this is a bit like it was on a major excavation with six of us working with DHRs.”
#
Yel’ane suddenly woke, gasping. “What? I’m so thirsty.”
Lawson sighed, giving her the water skin and just closed his eyes. She drank deeply. Wiped her mouth, at least tried to. Her hand felt odd. Wiggling about, she realized she was nestled in Lawson’s arms, loosely pressing against his chest, a chest bared since his jerkin was so ripped and torn away. She peered over his forearm, and saw images projected above the device. “Oh…” she ducked back down, feeling awkward.
“Um, Yel’ane,” Lawson whispered.
She glanced at her hands, then down at herself, “What’s happened to me? And why am I so thirsty and hungry?”
Se’and and George just looked at each other.
“Um, can you move your foot a little more to the right?” Lawson whispered, wincing.
Swallowing hard, she glanced toward the foot in question, “Oh… uh, when did I…”
“As you can see Mother modified you a bit,” Lawson whispered in reply.
“What?” she rasped.
“APPRENTICE ENGINEER YEL’ANE, YOU ARE BEING MODIFIED TO BETTER INTEGRATE WITH THE ASSISTANT ENGINEER.”
“What exactly did you do?” Yel’ane whispered back, feeling as if she were all elbows and knees and her feet and her fingers longer than she remembered.
“Uh, Mother, is apparently giving you growth spurts,” Lawson muttered.
“More than a bit,” Se’and muttered. “You look taller and much thinner.”
“PROTOCOL G WILL ADD THREE YEARS OF MATURITY, WHICH REQUIRES SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION OF BODY FAT AND ACCELERATION OF BONE STRUCTURE. YOU WILL REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SUSTENANCE IN ORDER TO CONTINUE THE PROCESS… ADDITIONAL GROWTH CAN BE STIMULATED, IF THE ASSISTANT ENGINEER CONTINUES TO BE CONCERNED BY YOUR LACK OF PHYSICAL MATURITY.”
Yel’ane glanced at Lawson’s arms around her and felt her heart beating faster.
He began to move his hand and she slapped it back, while pressing down with her foot.
Lawson’s eyes widened.
“Not so fast,” she whispered as Mother announced more people joining this 'conference call.' “Now, tell me exactly what else happened.”
“You, uh, weren’t quite yourself,” Lawson muttered, half closing his eyes.
“Is that why I, um, practically took off all my clothes?”
“Well.”
She squirmed and touched a long scratch on his chest. “Um, who did this to you?”
“You did.”
“I did?” she squeaked.
“Mother was apparently quite insistent that, uh, we get to know each other better.”
“Um, did we?”
“Not for your sudden lack of, well, inhibitions.”
“CONNECTING SIX ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE CREW TO CONFERENCE CALL…”
Se’and came over to them, leaned over and offered Yel’ane her livery, “Lawson showed remarkable restraint…”
“Better to say,” George said, “that he loves you too much to allow others to meddle in your affairs of the heart.”
“Oh,” Yel’ane said, less chagrined. “Oh…” she muttered, her eyes starting to mist as she struggled to ignore her hunger, nestling closer.
“Um,” he rasped before his tears mixed with hers. “Please, move your, um, foot.”
She frowned, wondering where her boot had gone, “I don’t think so. You’ve more explaining to do. But I really would appreciate someone bringing me something to eat.” Then she gave him a quick kiss as his cheeks reddened.
#
Another computer monitor came online. TALISMAN ACTIVE.
Melvyn sat back as the monitor, which had not turned on in a good thousand years, began listing those responsible. “Okay, we’ve the Mistress Dustin and the Ladies Liandra and Katrin of Lyai, the unicorn and the Highmage’s Hand, but who is this unnamed female child?”
UNKNOWN.
“Then why is she noted as a ship’s engineer and a member of the science staff?”
UNKNOWN.
“Show me her ratings.”
INFORMATION RESTRICTED.
“Fine, this is the Captain; code Alpha, Alpha, Zed, Three, Five, One.”
ACCESS CODE INSUFFICIENT.
“Computer, that’s impossible. Who restricted this data?”
YOU DID, SIR.
“What? When?”
TEN DAYS FROM NOW.
Melyn frowned, “Hmm, I hate being Underhill.”
Another monitor flickered on, “Wonderful, Tane’s old throne room, made up for a party.”
Then he saw the statues. Two were smashed, yet one caught his complete attention. “Holy…” He rose from his command station, looked about the Underhill replica of the bridge of his starship. He glared at the monitor that had been behind him, “George, what the hell have you done now?”
SATELLITE IN RANGE… DO YOU WISH TO JOIN THE QUEUE?
“Hell yes!”
“BEEP,” a more feminine computer voice stated. “YOU ARE FOURTH IN CONFERENCE. PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF.”
“Questor, you damn well know who I am!”
“MELVYN, YOU ARE NO FUN AT ALL.”
#
Shannon moaned as a sound she had never heard before assaulted her hearing.
“You all right?” Rexil cried.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
She reached out and activated the blinking comm. “This…”
“Suit Seven Three, Suit Seven Three,” a feminine voice said. “Please join the conference call.”
Rexil frowned and moved to reorient, “Well, join it.”
“Oh, so brilliant, Master, just how do I do that?”
They were suddenly face to face, “Fine, maybe like this?” He kissed her.
“You are Seventh in conference.”
Shannon gasped, “Oh.”
“Um, uh, yeah,” he said, struggling to catch his breath.
#
Cle’or blinked, hearing, ‘You are Eighth in Conference.’
“I’m what?” she muttered, staring over Bastian’s parapet and what seemed to be an endless army of troops bearing the banner of Fenn du Blain.
#
The guardian’s face frowned amid the Talisman pool’s rearing waters as she suddenly heard a voice she should not recognize but did. “SEND THE SCRYERS AWAY. THE UNICORN, HAND, AND THE YOUNG ENGINEER ARE REQUIRED TO AUDIT A CONFERENCE CALL.”
‘Leave us,’ she ordered Dustin, Liandra, and Katrin.
The unicorn took a step down as the three elfbloods climbed out. Dustin retrieved his charm. His image changed back to that of the Mistress.
No sooner had they left, then the guardian said, “We have been asked to ‘audit’ something called a ‘conference call.’”
Casber looked at the mare. “Melvyn?”
Light flared around the guardian’s visage. Squared images formed all about.
Juels stared, “That’s Revit and Aliana, um, floating in that mist…”
“Is that Lawson with Yel’ane? What happened to his fur and… what do they think they are doing?” Casber rasped.
The unicorn replied, ‘I believe that is called kissing.’
“Yuck.”
“Quiet,” Juels said, “they’re beginning the conference.”
#
Melvyn glared, “Okay, now I’ve seen everything… a half naked dwa
rf beaten up by a half naked girl.”
‘I’m not a girl,’ Yel’ane grumbled.
“Captain, she’s my, uh, wife,” Lawson said.
“Not until I officiate, she isn’t,” he replied.
“Prelate?” Aliana rasped.
“Sometimes, but at the moment, call me Captain.”
“That’s the bridge of the Questor, at least as it looked in its spacefaring days, I dare say,” George said.
“Almost all the comforts of home,” Melvyn replied. “I’m actually Underhill, which keeps my equipment in stasis for years at a time and also allows us to give this conversation a bit more time — something I haven’t had the opportunity to do since the end of the war.”
“You’re bending time?” Revit asked.
“Just a bit,” the old man admitted. “Now, Questor, why have you called this conference?”
“REALITY IS TWISTING. OPPORTUNITIES ARE PRESENTING THEMSELVES. PARADOXES ARE IN PLAY. ALREADY CHIEF ENGINEER BRADLEY’S PRESENCE IS CASTING REFLECTIONS, WHICH OPENS OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE REPAIRS TO MY SYSTEMS… AND THE IMPERIAL ONES.”
‘Imperial ones?’ Terus said.
“CAPTAIN, PLEASE EXPLAIN.”
He sighed, “The nodes beneath the Empire are not entirely magical. They are hybrids like this place around me.”
“WHICH OFFERS US THIS OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNE AND SHARE DATA AS THEY WORK THEIR MAGERY IS IN FLUX.”
‘Uh, what am I doing here?’ a young woman in a sleek blue dress whispered, covering her mouth as she sat at an elvin lord’s High Table.
‘Fri’il,’ George rasped.
‘Je’orj? What have you done now?’ she replied.
‘Um…’ He scratched his head as Se’and gave him one of her looks.
‘Fine, what’s this got to do with me?’ Farrel asked.
“YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A PROPHECY’S FULFILLMENT,” the distant computer answered.
Cle’or said, ‘I take it Bastian’s another?’
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
“Questor,” the old captain said, “display satellite photos of our current situation.”
“What?” chorused a host of voices on the line.
#
Well, this is unexpected.
The long restrained prophecies seem to be twisting the rules.
No more than the Demonlord has, another said.
Well, this offers us an opportunity to interact as we normally would not have.