Strangers and Lies

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Strangers and Lies Page 20

by P. S. Power


  The second part was a little more abstract.

  "You know Beth, people here hate the Westmorlands, but really, they should hate themselves. They let this be done to little children and force you to do it to them? It's insane."

  For the first time since they met Bethany Westmorland said something that she'd never really more than hinted at before.

  "Yes, it certainly is. It's mad, and the kingdom hates us for it, since doing anything else would mean they'd have to hate themselves instead. Maybe they should?"

  Any good person would, if they knew what was happening, but then, she kind of thought most people really didn't know. How could they?

  If they did they wouldn't let it continue. Not if they wanted to look themselves in the mirror ever again.

  Chapter fourteen

  Gwen was ready for a long shower and maybe a nice cry when she got inside, everything hurt still, if not nearly as much as the torture itself had while it was going on. It was awful and if she thought she could handle it she would have ripped the thing Beth had put on her off and run away. That or at least armed herself well. Instead she just kind of sighed and got ready to clean up, not knowing if the thing was waterproof or not.

  It was, so she didn't end up in agony over the whole thing, but before she could do more than dampen her hair there was a pounding on the door. It was loud and held anxiety, not just a tap to get her attention.

  "Gwen, armor on now! The Capital's gone." The voice was familiar, being that it belonged to Heather.

  There was no time for her to think, not with that news, even if it didn't make sense to her yet. Part of her brain tried to turn it into someone having stolen her investment fund for some reason, but when she opened the door, dripping and naked, the other woman was pure white and wearing her own matte gray armor, with the helmet off.

  She didn't make her ask what she meant.

  "Someone... They rifted the Capital. It's gone. It wasn't us. Not a Westmorland, we've all been accounted for. We... No one knows what to do. It has to be the monsters trying to open the void." Her voice got softer and she kept speaking, even as Gwen padded over to the armor ready room, which was just a large closet that had her stuff in it, along with Beth's. The other Westmorland was already getting dressed, half the suit of metal covering her. Gwen started to race toward that end herself, scrambling into her white undergarments, the base clothing that was needed to keep the magical armor from just chaffing a person bloody. The problem was that the top wouldn't fit. It was getting caught up on the training device that Beth had strapped to her upper arm earlier.

  Heather looked at it and went wide eyed, but didn't ask what it was, clearly working it all out. Instead she cursed softly.

  "Crap. We're going to have to take it off early... There's always a pattern to how the devices work. I take it you aren't too far in?"

  Bethany grunted something that wasn't a real word, still getting her own gear around. She explained a moment later.

  "Second day. It's a ten day schedule."

  That got the Special Service woman to freeze, her eyes watering just a bit as she did.

  "Oh. I... Don't know what to do then. We don't have time..."

  Gwen reached up and ripped the thing off. The second it started to release it sent a shock of agony through her entire being and she nearly had to stop trying to take it off, but she managed, just barely, to get the lead away from her skin as she went to the floor, screaming. She didn't stop for a bit, even after the pain suddenly cut out. She couldn't help it. As soon as that was done she stood up, the device being dropped without concern for where it went.

  If the Capital had been destroyed...

  It was a very bad thing indeed. She didn't think about what it meant, she just started working, struggling into the clothing first and then the armor, even as she gasped for air that wouldn't come, the pain having stolen that from her.

  It took seven minutes for her to get into the stuff normally, but this time she did it faster, not stopping, not thinking about what to do next, just flowing from one thing to another without hesitations, not letting herself pause for any reason at all. It was a lot faster to do it that way, at least in overall time spent. She was still behind the others who moved out and down the hall after they both got their helmets on.

  She didn't wait to be told what to do, just putting her own light blue, nearly pearlescent, magical armor on. She had a lance too, which she picked up, since who knew what might be needed in the coming hours and days. Then she grabbed the other one that was there for Beth. If they had to fight it would be best to be armed. After that, she nearly ran, focusing to power the suit as hard as she could, actually flying down the two flights of stairs instead of walking. It was hard to do, but much faster, meaning that she got to the front of the house only about a minute or so after the others did. They were, clearly, dithering, since they didn't have a clue what to do either.

  In their world only one nation had anything that could do what had happened. The Western Kingdom. The Westmorlands were the only nukes in this case, except, it seemed, that they weren't. Not anymore. What that meant she just didn't know. It could be a real nuclear weapon from a different world, or something like it, built in the Western Kingdom, using a technique or trick she didn't understand at all, perhaps. It would have been far too hard to actually make a bomb, given the different technologies, if they were using strict technology, but who knew what else Erin and her buddies had figured out, stealing the minds of people from other worlds like they were.

  There was no real time to figure it out either, so Gwen did what seemed to be the most sensible thing she could think of, which was to try and figure out what had happened. That meant going to the telesar in this world. That was playing... very little at all. Almost everyone was in shock, just kind of babbling, instead of trying to do anything useful. The telestator lines were all jammed as well, since they used human operators who could only handle so much traffic at once. It showed up as no one talking to them at all when Heather activated the central sphere, having thrown her right glove off to see to the task, since it needed to touch human skin to operate.

  It was chaos, and that soon showed as being even worse when reports started coming in that the other three capitals of this world had been hit as well, at exactly the same time. No one knew what it meant, except of course that it was designed to send everyone into a blind panic.

  "Energy harvesting." Beth muttered, her blank lead colored helm covering her face. She sounded cold and calculating suddenly. Military. Then she was trained for that, so it made sense for it to be her fallback position. Gwen's only training had been from television and video games.

  Which was why she was going to take action.

  "I'm going to head to the telesar station and start a broadcast for pick-up. This is some kind of ritual thing, and we need to get everyone on the same page. We can't help the fear, that's going to come, but we can get everyone ready. I'm not certain where it is..." She was supposed to go later in the day, with James driving it wasn't going to help unless he was going to magically appear outside, perhaps waiting for her?

  She checked, which required removing her own metal glove to operate the door, she realized, except that Winslow saw what she was doing and ran to help.

  "Rather a tense situation, isn't it, miss? What do you plan to do?" He didn't make a recommendation, which was probably good, since honestly, she was going to get a voice out to the world that wasn't scared, if she could. She didn't want to fight about it, if possible though. It would take too much time and just make her feel bad for pushing the guy around. That wouldn't stop her from doing it, but it would be upsetting.

  She liked him after all.

  "I need to get to the closest telesar broadcast center, wherever that is. Then I need to get people informed and ready to fight."

  It was a plan. Probably a bad one, but given that the alternative was to sit around and wait for everyone else to figure out what to do and that most of them had less
clue about this kind of thing than she did... Yeah, Gwen needed to be heard. Fast too.

  James wasn't there and probably wouldn't be for a while. She was willing to walk, if need be, but really, that required a destination and she'd need to be out of her armor either way. It was a hassle, but it just made sense. The rules said that if a fight came you got dressed for it, but they probably weren't going in for close combat that day.

  Ten minutes later she padded back down in a tan jumpsuit, with her base clothing on under it, just in case she had to get back in the armor. She wore an old pair of boots and went to check on Heather and Beth first. They were both still standing by the telestator, along with Mrs. Vernor and about half the household staff. The thing still hadn't picked up at all.

  She went to the front again, just in time to see the white lorrie pull up to the large circular drive. The green lawn in the middle of it was flat and empty, but there were flowers planted around the edges, ones that had started to bloom, but weren't yet. Kind of like her. There, but not really ready. Except that there wasn't a choice. Not this time. In most cases there wasn't.

  She didn't wait for James to stop, jumping up to sit alongside him on the driver's bench so they could talk while they rode.

  "The Capital has been destroyed. It's gone. Rifted. The same in all the other countries. Um... Lands. Anyway, no one can get through on the telestator, so we need to start something using the telesar. We don't have time..."

  James didn't wait for her to explain, his face simply going hard, taking off at nearly full speed, which was about forty miles per hour for this sports model lorrie. He did things that were a lot more complicated than she would have thought, his fingers hitting different small metal pads on the control rudder. From his look of concentration it was work to do it, actually magical in some way. She always figured it was all about the giant crystal that powered the thing, but apparently it took real skill too. No wonder you had to have a decently high magic rating to do it. She didn't speak, not knowing if that would be too disruptive to the man, but he did, after about ten minutes, when they hit a straight road that they wouldn't have to take any turns on.

  "Is the King... Does he live?" His voice was harsh and worried, but he kept his eyes front and face set. It made him seem tough.

  "I don't know. If he was in the Capital, then he's dead. So is almost everyone that was there. These things spread radiative poisoning when they go off. Even the ones from my world do something similar. I doubt this is much different. We need to evacuate and get aid to the people leaving the city as fast as possible. Then... The continuity of government program has to go into effect. Who's next in line for the throne, if Ferdinand isn't... If he's gone?"

  The man shook his head.

  "Not certain. Honestly I never spent much thought on that kind of thing. He didn't have any kids yet, so... I think it would go to his father's brother? Provided he wasn't in the blast too. This is... Anyway, we're almost there. I think it's the building ahead of us?"

  He pointed, but almost didn't need to.

  The building had a six story tower on the top, with a sphere of copper colored metal that had to have been at least twenty feet across. It had a crisscross wooden tower under it, holding it up in a way that made it look like a slightly funny and old fashion microphone. The base was a brick building that had nothing in particular to recommend it, except the large letters on the front. WGN. Hopefully it was the right place, because Gwen was going to take it over, one way or the other.

  She didn't wait for the lorrie to stop before hopping down, which was a mistake, since her right foot caught on the small four inch high safety lip, causing her to spill out without control. Almost without thinking she focused and put her flying practice to good use, floating down instead of landing on her head, which was the most likely outcome. James looked at her with wide eyes for a few seconds, then carefully got down himself. They jogged in together, to find the lobby of the place filled with people that were desperately trying to call out on the telestator while listening to different TS programs, hoping that someone would have some kind of information. They were all dressed to work, in decent but not really nice clothing, smooth and shiny cotton pants and shirts, with the three women all being in skirts.

  Casual daily wear for reporters.

  Gwen cleared her throat.

  "Excuse me, I'm Gwen Farris, and I'm taking over this telesar operation for the government. I need to get on the air. Now." She tried to sound like she had a plan and knew what she was doing, but the room just froze and turned to stare at her, as if she'd just claimed to be Elvis or something. Except that wouldn't mean anything here and being her, it seemed, might.

  It took a few seconds for anyone to speak, but instead of looking doubtful one of the men stepped forward.

  "This way, we need to interrupt the feed and go national. This is kingdom business everyone... Move!" The man, who had thinning hair and a slightly familiar face closed with her and James, sticking his right hand out, to her companion first. "Will Werner. Let's get you going live."

  He bustled, if a thin man could be said to do that. They nearly ran into the booth where a very confused sounding man named George was busily repeating that they didn't know anything. He looked up as they came through the door, a single glass sheet between them, and flipped his palms up. Werner charged the door with Gwen right behind him. She didn't know if it was going to be a fight for the mic or not, but the man in front of her seemed ready at least.

  Grabbing it he spoke, his voice suddenly deeper and more professional. He was actually laying on top of the low desk to do it, the man behind the thing blinking more than a bit. He looked ready to keel over from fluid loss, having been sweating horribly, even though it was merely warm in the room, not blistering.

  "This is Will Werner, go live all stations, repeat go live. National. Go live national. We have news, government spokesperson Katherine Vernor is going to speak in five minutes. Repeat, go live, all stations."

  The idea that she had something new to say was a bit of a stretch, but she did have some things that needed to be said, didn't she? She took a deep breath to calm herself and tried to focus for a few seconds, then moved to take the place of the man behind the desk, which they did as silently as possible, Will calling out that they needed to go live the whole time.

  At about five minutes she started speaking.

  "We face a dire emergency. One that requires all of us to pull together immediately. As we speak rescue operations are in the works for those in and around the Capital that have survived. We do not definitively know the nature of this blast. telestator services have been disrupted. It is very, very important for everyone to get off the telestator now so that emergency response teams can communicate. As of this moment, anyone using the telestator for personal reasons or business is in violation of the law. If you know someone in the affected area, please go and see your local Aid Service representative, who will take names and location data from you, and then deliver that to the local constabulary. All Student Service members are to report for duty at their local school. If no one is there to take charge, the oldest five students are to see to the disposition of guards for the area. Work with the constabulary and make certain to follow orders." She took a deep breath and then plunged into the rest of it, not knowing if it would work at all.

  Really, her grasp of magic was pretty basic and she didn't want to get anything wrong, but people needed to be focused on something, didn't they?

  "Now, each person listening to this is drafted. Conscripted to government service for the duration. It doesn't matter who or what you were yesterday, today you're one of us. We will stand together and be strong. This has most likely been done in order to cause great fear in all the people of the world, in order to open the gate between our world and the ancient voidic plane. What I want at this very moment, is for each of you to focus on a single word. That word is close. All of you, think of only that single word, say it with me now. Chant it. Close. Close. Clo
se!"

  She kept it up for a while, adding in encouragements and trying to make certain she didn't say anything that would mess things up too much.

  Letting her voice raise a bit, everyone in the building chanting with her, she fairly screamed the last word, which caused anything open in the whole building to shut suddenly. She even felt her mouth click and wasn't able to open it for several seconds. It made a nice racket that almost had to be picked up by the people listening at home.

  She laughed and rubbed her jaw, which felt a tiny bit sore suddenly.

  "Good! We'll do that again in a bit, every hour on the hour. That had to have an effect on whatever is being planned. Now, quickly, everyone get to your work stations. If you don't have one, go out on the street and start talking to your neighbors. If you live far away from everyone, remember to look through your cupboards and pantries for foodstuffs to aid the needy, as well as any blankets and clothing that can be spared."

  Then she started the whole thing over, trying not to sound like she didn't actually know anything. That went on for hours, but on the good side people were eventually able to reach some government officials that actually might know something. The first she found out about it came when Agatha ran in from the front, holding a piece of paper that a message had been written on.

  It said that the King was missing. Not from the Capital however, thank god, but rather from his country estate, halfway across the Kingdom. It was probably just that he was out of touch, so she happily announced it as a confirmation that Ferdinand was alive. A tension she hadn't known was there lifted from her shoulders, if only for a moment. The man was probably going to have a problem with her when he did get in touch. She was kind of making up laws single handedly after all.

  Well, she didn't really know it wasn't the law that people had to get off the telestator during an emergency and it had worked, right? Maybe he'd let it slide?

 

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