And then, I had a body again. I called up a mirror and looked at the results, nodding as they triggered familiarity. Green eyes, black hair, an angular face that had seen its share of damage. My body was lean, muscled without being bulky. I was dressed in silver and black, with a cloak on my back and a blade at my side. I didn't know why I'd put in such an anachronistic weapon, but it felt right that it should be there. The silver brooch of my cloak was a rose, and I stared at it for a second, before discarding it. No, no rose here. With an exertion of will, I turned it into a thistle. That seemed more appropriate, and it made a statement: any who tried to weed me out would suffer.
“Wynne,” a voice drawled, and I glanced up to see my guest materializing, dots of color sprawling out to become lines that filled in as I watched.
“Tyr,” I said back, looking over the finished product. He stood just a bit taller than me, six-foot-two, I estimated. Broad shoulders, narrow hips. Black hair and gray eyes, with a clear cut face and a jaw that could trap a blade if it were used properly. He was clad in damn near nothing... a simple crossed harness across his chest, and a red loincloth were about it. The guy had all the muscles I'd gotten and then some. He had a sword too and some sort of futuristic-looking gun slung on his back.
He nodded. “Call me John. We've got much to discuss,” he drawled...
TWENTY-TWO
“Perhaps,” I said, meeting his smile with a cool nod. “Though I have much to do, and I expect you’re in a similar situation.”
His smile fell a bit. “While it is entirely factual that I am currently laboring for a mighty endeavor, your statement implies a lack of chronological control that is rather mistaken. In here, Wynne, time is what we make of it.”
I stared at him for a long second. Mainly because I had trouble believing he really spoke in such a manner. Then the second half of the statement clicked, and I nodded. “You have more experience with this medium, I’ll allow.” I shifted into a loose stance, hands behind my back. Not quite in parade rest, but easy enough that I had a wide range of options if things went south.
Though from his drawl, things already WERE south. “A touch more experience, I expect.” Tyr said, glancing to the side, as a pair of chairs materialized out of nothingness. “As I expect you’re a bit unlearned in grid manipulation, I can provide the necessary comforts and refreshments for a civilized discussion between men. Is such a palaver to your liking?”
His tone seemed patronizing, though I kept my face and body language cool. “I’ll stand, thanks. What’s on your mind?”
His smile faded more, and he studied my face before replying. But if he was upset, I couldn’t tell it from his tone. “I desire common courtesy, to begin with. A discussion of matters to determine the nature of my new neighbor to follow. And then a closing conversation about business, before parting ways in a mutually beneficial situation. Tell me, do you recall such things as cigars and bourbon?”
“No,” I lied, though the words conjured up pleasant memories and images. “And I’d prefer to get down to business. What do you want of me and what do you offer?”
He took a breath, the smile gone. I watched pectorals bulge and kept from rolling my eyes.
“Very well. Since you inquire, I shall cut straight to the heart of the matter. There are five questions I have of you, and by god sir, they shall determine our relationship going forward from henceforth, be it woesome or of weal.”
I controlled another errant grimace. He probably thought stuff like that made him sound more intelligent.
He approached, staring me in the eyes. I met his gaze unwavering. “Ask, then.” I tapped the hilt of my sword. It chimed, and his eyes flicked downward for a second, then back to mine.
“Firstly and foremost, I wish to know your relationship with Juno. Secondly, I desire to know what hold you have over Leony. Thirdly, I want to know your intentions in relationship to myself and this area that I have conquered. Fourthly, I am curious to know if the mutants I have been observing scavenging my territory of late are under your sway. Fifthly… well. That must remain my business, I fear, until the first four questions are answered.” He was a mere foot away from me, looking down on me from his slight height advantage, eyes cool and face stern.
“That’s all?” I affected boredom and watched him squint in momentary puzzlement. I’d said that for no other reason to buy time to think. His first question seemed safe to answer honestly. His second question was nonsensical… at least to my perspective. I’d have to try and get more information out of him without tipping him off to my ignorance. The third was simple and easy. But that fourth question… I could maybe do something with that. If there were more mutants around, it was likely they’d come out of the cracks in my containment area.
“I believe that such enlightenment in this realm shall be sufficient for my purposes, yes,” he said, spreading his arms. “Let it be a starting point, from there we can collaborate or agree to dissension as required.” He eased up on the glare and stepped over to one of his chairs, sitting on it like it was a throne.
That drawl made his statements come out at about twice the time they needed. It irked me but I ignored it and gestured with one gloved hand as I spoke. “My relationship with Juno is one-sided. She woke me and put me to my task. Since I agree with it, I’m doing it. After that’s done, I owe her nothing.”
I waited for him to ask about my task, but he didn’t. His eyes found mine again. “And Leony?”
“What did he tell you?” I was taking a fifty-fifty chance, here. If Leony was a she, my ruse would be exposed.
Fortunately, luck was a lady, and Leony wasn’t. Tyr didn’t hesitate. “That you made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Which conflicts with his desire to accept my offer and raise his banner to my cause.”
This had an odor that I thought rather fishlike. I didn’t know a Leony. The fact that he’d said all this and specifically identified me, suggested that someone was running a game here. Either Tyr was testing my honesty, or Leony was up to shenanigans. Or someone else was dabbling in intrigue.
To what end?
Perhaps they expected me to say that I didn’t know any Leony. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed likely. In that case, I owed the unknown plotter a spanner in the works.
These thoughts raced through my mind in a matter of seconds. “There’s a matter of a debt. A private matter, I’m afraid.” I said. “It should be resolved before too much longer.”
“When?” Tyr said, and I resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Tyr didn’t quite have my poker face, and one brawny fist thumped the arm of his chair as he scowled. “His skills with the grid are peerless among my multitude. I simply must have him working for me. This matter shall be difficult enough as it is, without—” He regained control, and glanced sharply at me. “I ask when, exactly, you shall consider this debt recompensed.”
“That’s a sixth question. Let’s get through the others, first.” I folded two fingers down, waggled the third. “I have no intentions on your territory; I’m busy enough with my own.” I folded the finger down, went on to the next. “Fourthly, I’d need to know more about the mutants in question before I could tell you whether or not they’re related to my work.”
“That is a simple enough matter to examine,” Tyr said. He gestured again, and a series of images flickered into existence, one-by-one. I saw animals, twisted raccoons and monkeys and one bizarre, horse-like creature with what looked like a human torso jammed into his neck. Well, her neck as the images flickered to a frontal shot, caught in mid-scene wrapping a blanket around herself.
“Definitely not mine,” I said, shaking my head. “When did you notice them?”
“The first incursions came a few months ago. Though I took little notice of them, until their boldness drew them further into the remnants of the suburbs. They are by no means interfering with my business as yet, however if they push much further I will be forced into action. If they are not yours, then I shall undertake whatever m
eans necessary now that I need not account for the consideration of a brother.”
Brothers. Yes, we were like that, weren’t we? The idea did not fill me with familial camaraderie. It, in fact, drummed in confirmation that I had to tread carefully.
“Now why did you think they were mine to begin with?” I asked.
“They seem to arrive from and return to an area just south of your territory.” Tyr answered.
He knew where I was!
I couldn’t help tensing, just a bit, and a flash in my eyes showed that he’d caught it. Of course he knew. The damned Jaspa had been swarming me like wasps, and he had aerial surveillance. If nothing else, the bodies and torches on the mountaintop would have tipped him off. “I haven’t explored down that way yet,” I admitted. “I’ve been a little busy.”
“Which brings me to my fifth question and not one I ask lightly,” Tyr said, rising from his seat. “Though some explanation may be necessary prior to its conception.”
I avoided pointing out that he’d already conceived the question. He just hadn’t asked it yet. Damn, he was long-winded.
If it came to a fight I’d have to try to get him monologuing.
“Explain, then. I’m all ears, John.”
“You stated that you have no debt to Juno. I tell you truthfully that once I believed that I did. I was her strong arm, her second, her questor and general against countless perils and foes. I believed that serving Juno brought me closer to the object of my love, a woman like none other. A woman I thought ripped from me by tragedy and cruelest fate. A woman I would conquer worlds to regain.”
“There is always a woman at the heart of every story.” I said, before I could help myself.
“Imagine my surprise then, to find that there was not a woman.” He said, and his face grew dark. “That in fact, she was a lie. That the woman was not and never had been. That my memory, a fantastic tapestry of great deeds and greater expanses, was a lie. A dusty, red, lie.”
A ghost walked over my grave. Memories… things I didn’t have. Not exactly.
“You came through with your memory intact?” I asked him, resisting the urge to admit amnesia. He was no ally, not yet, possibly not ever.
“She forged me with a head full of lies, sir. De—” He turned his head, breaking off, then continued. “My love was a lie. She didn’t exist. My wars, my honors, my metal… none of them were real.” He stared at me. “Juno betrayed me, every step of the way. She used me, and that I cannot forgive.”
Dark conclusions roiled under the surface. “Why give you another’s memories?”
“Malice. Spite. Amusement, perhaps. She had lied to me, and I cannot abide treachery.” He chopped the air with one hand. “And so I conceived a new vision, even as I put torch to the pyre of falsehoods past. A vision of freedom. Of departing a dying planet, for greener pastures elsewhere.”
Pieces clicked into place. “The starport.”
“Indeed!” He smiled. “I put forth the call to all who could be tempted from Juno’s manipulation. I urged my brothers and sisters to give up their shells, to become that which our mother denied we were and upload as raw data! Data that shall be carried out into the cosmos beyond, away from treacherous Juno and stern Jove. Away, to the colonies that even now flourish, without cruel and dying Earth to govern them.”
“Jove,” I said, frowning. “I don’t know this name.”
“And you need not know it, not at this juncture, for the time has come to pose to you this inquiry.” Tyr stretched out a hand. “Will you abandon your fruitless task and heartless mistress? Will you join me and conquer new worlds? Will you serve not in heaven but rule henceforth in a place that shall be far from hell?”
I considered it. Then the big question loomed large in my mind. “Under you, I suppose?”
“What do you mean?” He frowned.
“You offer me a crown. But I get the feeling you’d have a bigger one.” I smiled back, without mirth.
“I am of course, the most suitable for the task, at least until matters are settled and territories are won.” He blinked at me, as if he didn’t understand my objections. Maybe he didn’t.
I sure as hell did.
I would bow to no one. I would rule myself. And this guy? He had ideas, but reading between the lines, he had a long way to go before he had a throne. Add in his vulnerability to basic deception… No, even if somehow the notion of being ruled became palatable somehow, he wasn’t a king I could respect.
“I think I’ll pass,” I said, nodding as certainty clicked into place. “Good luck with your voyage.”
“You’re being hasty,” he said, spreading his hands. “I can assist you with your raider problem. In a matter of hours I can reinforce your vault and put paid to their pathetic little army.”
“Nice carrot. But I’ve got matters in hand,” I said.
“Then consider, if you will, the fact that I have only your word to state that you have no designs or interest upon my territory. Given the hesitation in the matter of Leony’s debt, I may in fact conclude that you are a spy assigned by Juno and act accordingly to protect my interests.” He glared.
“And there’s the stick. My answer remains the same. Though I am no spy,” I said, meeting his eyes with my own gaze. “And it strikes me that if you are truly so invested, you probably can’t spare much to crush me right now.”
He said nothing for a few seconds, then shrugged. “In any matter, I shall honor the truce that we established in good faith. Depart peacefully and consider my offer carefully, Wynne. There is time yet before I must act. It is my hope, that when next we meet, you shall have reconsidered your stance.”
“Wish in one hand, shit in the other,” I said and waved as I faded out, back into my drone. The two screamers flanking me peeled off and hummed away. “See which fills up first,” I finished, far from his earshot.
“Oh geeze, oh geeze, oh geeze…” Argus wheezed.
“Yeah. I know.” I watched the orbs go, gave them another couple of minutes, then resumed my alligator hunt. “That’s a complication we didn’t need right now.”
“He’s going to be back. Probably much, much meaner, too. What are we gonna do?”
I considered.
And then, I had an idea. I parked the drone and sat there, trying to visualize schema until finally, finally, I had the requirements for what I needed. It would take a few days, some luck, and a hope that I’d gotten a good read on all the players on the board right now, but I thought maybe it could work. “I have a plan…”
INTERLUDE: NEMESIS 2
“These things you ask me for, they are not simple things,” the entity called Leony finally spoke. “My outstanding agreements with our mutual friend prevent me from doing what you ask. For this, I am sorry.”
“It would be to our mutual benefit.” Vo paced back and forth in the virtualspace, restless, leather clothing creaking, primitive carved amulets of bone clacking in their settings as he moved. His mask was metallic and brought to mind a skull, wrought in steel.
Leony thought it overdone. Sure, it would be suitable for a drone or some other guardian, used to protect Vo’s inner sanctum but in the gridspace? No. Tacky at the best, impolite at the worst. By covering his face he was cutting off observation of any tics or tells he might exhibit. Not that it mattered, since his body language told Leony all he needed to know.
His own avatar was simple, even a bit unassuming. A moderately-plump older man, with neatly-trimmed gray-black hair, a thin mustache and a pursed mouth between impressive jowls. A simple business suit clothed him with a bow tie completing the image.
In a realm full of digital gods, he looked more like somebody’s father.
And this father was growing a bit weary of an errant child protesting an entirely reasonable limitation.
No, it was time to shut this conversation down and move on to other things.
“I certainly think you believe the matter would be to Tyr’s mutual benefit. However, I am a simple man,
and I am forced to wonder that if it is indeed to his mutual benefit, then why have you not come to him with this business? Surely, he would be receptive to the project. That would simplify my role in this affair immeasurably.”
“I have,” Vo said, simply. “He refused me.”
“Did he say why?” Leony asked, more to draw a reaction out of Vo, than anything else. Leony already knew the answer.
“Eventually.” Vo folded his arms.
“Then you know why I cannot supply you with the subroutines you require.”
“Because of the truce.” Vo’s voice dripped with contempt. “We both know this peace is a lie. Your existence proves that.”
Leony bowed his head. “I cannot speak to my creator’s intentions. She is family, and I cannot bear the thought of idle speculation and rumor bringing her harm.”
Vo grunted at that, and his posture shifted minutely.
Leony felt a flicker of irritation. The man was just sharp enough to suspect him. Not sharp enough to avoid dealing with him altogether, however. Still, the last thing he needed was for paranoia to overcome one of his… allies… at this stage of the game.
So he turned and made a show of examining the distant mist that surrounded the garden around him. He’d shaped his virtual gridspace so: a simple walled yard with a few trees and some plants. He widened his eyes a bit, as if seeing something in the distance and glanced back to Vo. “He’s coming soon. You may wish to—”
Vo was gone.
Leony rolled his eyes at the cheap trick… though it wasn’t necessarily cheap. Vo’s specialty was stealth, and evidently he’d been investing more resources into the gridnet side of his operations.
Most of Tyr’s allies had, since Leony had joined them. Once they’d seen what he could do, they either suspected him and started guarding themselves, or drew inspiration and decided to try to emulate some of his flashier tricks.
Bunker Core (Core Control Book 1) Page 20