99 Gods: Odysseia

by Randall Farmer

  Meaning: Nessa and Ken’s paranoia guarded them not only from Dubuque’s army but also from Bob and Orlando…Persona’s ‘them’. This crew was nervy, talking to her this way, right under Bob and Orlando’s noses. Which met Dana’s expectations that Nessa and Ken didn’t have anywhere near the caution of the Recruiter, and implied they could balk Gods when they got their nerve up.

  “They haven’t joined the jihad. Much the opposite,” Dana said. She held up her hand with Orlando’s ring. “Orlando’s ridiculous backwards marriage proposal, which I accepted, was supposed to be an ‘all clear’ signal to you Telepaths.”

  “Or an engraved invitation to a trap,” Dave said, lowering his wicked eyebrows at her. Yes, they had sensed the signal. No, they didn’t trust it. The man had style and brains, she had to admit.

  “Which is why you’re talking to me, not him,” Dana said. “Fine. I’m not sure what’s going on with the lot of you, though. I’d swear you’re all hooked up into some sort of telepathy network with Nessa and Ken.”

  Elorie nodded. “It’s a Nessa trick.”

  “Meaning?”

  Dave shrugged. “Meaning there’s no telling what’s going on, save that we have the functionality of Telepaths despite not being so. Everything’s fake. I’m the slowpoke in the group, barely able to communicate with the others.”

  Hmph. Dana probed Elorie and Dave’s immunities, checking their free will again. She found no evidence of any form of control. “So you can cover each other with your personal immunities, eh? I’d been wondering what use Psychics, Mindbound and Immunes were.”

  “You think there’s some design behind all this nonsense?” Elorie said. Her comment had definitely caught Elorie’s interest, and Dana caught sight of Elorie’s wicked intelligence from the sparkle in Elorie’s eyes. Dana suspected Dave and Elorie had talked over this idea many times.

  “Of course I do,” Dana said. “Come on now. This can’t be random.”

  “That isn’t the sort of thing Telepaths like Nessa and Ken think about,” Dave said. “They don’t have the right sort of introspection. I agree with you, by the way, and we should add this to our official list of things to investigate.”

  “Be careful with that variety of investigation,” Uffie said, surprising Dana with her interjection. Dammit, even the granny had a voice of command. “Odds are there’s more trouble behind the answers to your question than you can imagine. Consider that despite my altogether dubious background, the only thing I’ve ever heard on the subject is that looking into such things leads to madness. Consider also what we’ve learned about the Watchers but can’t say.” Ah. Every engine had to have its brake.

  “I won’t pry any further, then,” Dana said, polite. She turned away to stare at the rose bouquets and the other gifts. “I have a question for you all, especially Persona. What does one do with a God who’s wooing you?” Although Dana hadn’t given Orlando an iota of permission to do so, he hadn’t stopped wooing her ever since they had exchanged rings.

  Persona popped out of Uffie as her movie star self. “Accept the offer, get into bed and have the night of your life.”

  Well, that answered her question, now didn’t it?

  “I’m not that sort of person.”

  “I didn’t think you were, given your question,” Persona said. “That’s still my answer.” Dave and Elorie appeared relieved, as if the Telepaths had gamed this question and answer session out ahead of time. Damnation! “If you wear the ring, why aren’t you?”

  “He used the backwards marriage to attract you; I thought it would be rude to everyone not to go along. Long story,” Dana said, nervous. “On the other hand, I’m not agreeing to be his paramour on such flimsy grounds.”

  Persona cocked her head. “Okay. You’re playing hard to get and Orlando’s responding. All these gifts are his?”

  Dana nodded.

  “You can’t complain about his effort.”

  “He tries too hard.”

  Dana swore even the twins rolled their eyeballs after she loosed her whopper. “If this was too much you would have had the necessary big fight with him already,” Persona said.

  Huh? “What he’s doing is tacky.”

  “You’re not used to this, are you?”

  Dana shook her head. Elorie bent over and whispered something to Dave, who blushed. Dana guessed Elorie didn’t get enough roses in her life. “But what do I do?”

  “Give him some gifts of your own. Agree to spend time with him. Be polite, friendly and receptive. He’s not attacking you.” Persona walked around the tent, sniffing roses.

  “Get rid of these older roses,” Diana said. Dana winced at Diana’s voice, which grabbed attention as tightly as Dave and Elorie’s. Yet another natural leader. Where did Nessa and Ken get these people! Why couldn’t she get anyone like them for her Natural Supported crew! “You shouldn’t keep them, he’ll just replace them. By keeping them too long you’re sending the wrong message.”

  Dana guessed ‘dead roses’ sent the message of ‘it’s over’ or something similar. Which, Dana had to admit, wasn’t quite the right message.

  “I don’t want to lead him on.”

  “Oh yes you do,” Persona said. Diana furrowed her eyebrows at Dana’s shading of the truth. Dave and Elorie eyed each other and grinned. “Admit it. You want him to win you over. You just don’t know how to let him. Be yourself. Relax.”

  Dana sighed. “I guess.” She sighed again. “It’s probably time for you to go visit with Bob and Orlando, but first…” Well, she hoped she wouldn’t admit too much by this. “Could I get introduced to the two babies?”

  “Well, then,” Dave said, many minutes of woman-talk later. “I guess we should go visit Orlando. You’re welcome to come with, Dana.”

  “Okay,” Dana said, nervous. She hadn’t visited Orlando in his tent city since they had exchanged rings. Too much like a commitment to Orlando. Still, baby visiting or not, she couldn’t stall any longer.

  She hadn’t been able to find Bob, which raised Dana’s blood pressure. She suspected she knew what he was up to and with whom.

  Ken, who still hadn’t spoken a word since he arrived, shrugged and lifted the lot of them into the air. His flying style was gentle and comforting, unlike her own. She did wonder about his quietness, as he didn’t have an antisocial reputation. He didn’t appear angry, either, which was part of his reputation.

  A telepathic channel opened in Dana’s head, almost with an audible ‘click’, surprising her, since she had the best available anti-telepathy protections, as a Supported Regent and as a Natural Supported.

  Dana asked.

  The telepathic channel clicked off.

  Dana shivered. Nessa had been reading her mind the entire time. Not good. Not good at all.

  Orlando’s camp sat a half mile to the south of Dana’s. They landed a few moments later, unnoticed, making as much of a mockery of Orlando’s defenses as they had made of hers. Dana followed Dave and Elorie into Orlando’s tent; as they entered, Orlando, who had been meditating, floating cross-legged in the air, glanced over to them. His tent, Dana noted, was clean and organized.

  “Sneaking up on Gods again, Nessa?” Orlando said, unlimbering himself and floating back down to the ground, to stand. “That might be dangerous, you know.”

  “Depends on the God,” Nessa said, with a sniff. She flicked her butt-length braid around to her back, then in two hops leapt into Orlando’s arms, giving him a no-holds-barred hug and plastering a kiss across his face, still holding Alana, the girl child, in her arms. “Good to see you again, too,” she said, after she broke the clinch.

  Orlando’s face echoed Nessa’s smile, the first smile Dana had seen on him in weeks. A tremor of annoyance ran through her at Nessa’s antics.

  Why should I care? she thought.
r />   She did notice everyone in Nessa’s group studiously ignoring her.

  “I see you’ve met before,” Elorie said. She walked over to Orlando, looked up and offered her hand. “Elorie Portath,” she said, exuding both leadership and sex appeal. “I think we have a lot to talk about.” Elorie’s eyes met Orlando’s and stopped. Orlando’s eyes did the same. She understood the effects of her appearance, and consciously used her body to her advantage. Hmph! Double hmph!

  “Have you decided to join us?” Orlando said, eyes fixed on Elorie.

  “No, just talk, at least for now,” Elorie said. She smiled winsomely as she disengaged her hand from Orlando’s. “Chairs?”

  Chairs appeared, again Persona’s work. Persona put herself at one end of the oval and Orlando at the other, and Dana right next to Persona. Dana sat, infuriated at the Godly antics.

  After everyone sat, she caught a dense burst of telepathy between Nessa and Elorie, after which Elorie took Alana from Nessa. “Okay, what were you doing when we barged in on you?” Nessa asked Orlando. “Give.” Nessa, who had been ‘off’, was now ‘on’.

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

  “Bets? Want to spar with me to see how much I care? I’ll bet I can still plaster you.”

  Dana winced at Nessa’s aggressive stance. She much preferred the quiet and nervous Nessa from earlier. She also noticed Dave had clammed up, and she examined him. Uh oh. He had the deer in the headlights glaze in his eyes, undone by Orlando’s presence. Not enough Territorial Gods in his life. She had expected better of one of Nessa and Ken’s crew.

  Nessa sent. Dammit!

  “It would harm our cause if word of what I was doing got out,” Orlando said.

  “Cause? What cause? We’re flies. Dubuque’s the flyswatter. Splat. Splat. Splat.” Nessa paused. “We lost when Portland went City of God, after the Betrayal. There’s no cause left to ruin, boyo.”

  “I have a cause,” Orlando said. “Dana and the Natural Supported are marked for death, and I’m making sure the enemy doesn’t succeed.” Dana shivered. She hadn’t realized the kill order had gone out, at least outside of battle. The realization made sense of some of Orlando’s insistences and actions.

  “How do you know this?” Nessa said. “Whatever strange state you were in is linked to that knowledge, yes?”

  An instant of pure terror filled Orlando’s face, but he covered up his turmoil an instant later. “I wasn’t joking about the danger.” Nessa reached into her purse and brought out a hunk of chocolate, broke off a piece and stuck the nibble in her mouth. “Tell me, why the guilt?” Nessa said, with a mouthful-of-food mumble. Dana hadn’t sensed any guilt. She realized Nessa had no more trouble reading Orlando’s mind than Dana’s, and Nessa had no hesitation about reading either of them.

  Orlando bit his lip, deep in thought. “I don’t know half of the people with you, Nessa.”

  “Ah, the luck of the Gods,” Diana said, attracting Orlando’s glare. Dana chuckled.

  “You’re afraid you might scare Dana away as well,” Nessa said.

  Orlando nodded, making Dana nervous. What was the overpowered divine twit jerk idiot sitting on this time, anyway?

  “Well, we can cure part of the problem,” Diana said, and started the lengthy introductions. Diana’s introductions to Orlando were more complete than Elorie’s had been to her; in addition, Diana had the feel of someone performing, someone who had to nerve herself up to speak in business and social situations. Dana also caught, amidst the repaired internal damage, the willpower signature of Boise. At one point in time, Diana had been a Boise Supported, but no longer. Interesting.

  Diana also hadn’t given any last name. She really was separate from the rest of the Indigo.

  Half way through the introductions, Alana started to fuss, at which point Elorie bared a breast and fed her. Alana’s fussing woke up Zach, the other twin, and he ended up on Elorie’s other breast in a few moments.

  Freaky. Not the part about Elorie offering one breast. Given Persona and her tricks, this didn’t surprise Dana, even though the two were Nessa’s children. Two breasts, though? Why not Nessa?

  < I can’t think when I breast-feed, and right now I have to think,> Nessa sent.

  “We’ve given up on secrets between us,” Nessa said, to Orlando. “You don’t have to go that far since you’re not a Telepath and you don’t have the problem about too many lies leading you away from your humanity.”

  “Don’t make such glib assumptions,” Uffie said, arch and grandmotherly. “That’s on my list, Nessa.”

  Orlando winced.

  “I think you need to answer Nessa’s questions,” Diana said. “I have a hunch they’re important.”

  Hunch. Right. What was Orlando covering up, anyway?

  Dana leaned forward, putting the breast-feeding antics out of her mind.

  “Please,” Orlando said. “If I have to answer, don’t let the information leave this tent. It’s dangerous, even for me,” Orlando said. “The number of ways the Kid God might destroy himself with this is…”

  “He’s your ally and you don’t trust him?” Nessa said. She shook her head. “I’m beginning to think this secrecy penchant is one of the bigger flaws in you Gods.”

  “What I have is worth the secrecy. It’s dangerous.”

  “You didn’t discover this, though. Someone else did: Betrayer, who you idiotically trusted.” Nessa paused to collect the thoughts scattered among her last sentence. “Look, you’re talking to a Telepath who’s faced worse mental dangers since before she started having periods. Power is danger, dammit. What you’re sitting on isn’t danger, it’s just normal day to day temptation. Come on, already. Give.”

  Orlando sighed. “I want some agreement that if you learn this you stay with us and help.”

  “I’m not giving away something so major for something so minor.”

  “It’s not minor!”

  “Bullshit,” Nessa said. “Alt, Ken and Bais consciously use a version of this already. Dave and I use this unconsciously. Diana over there’s spent years mastering it, from an entirely different direction. If I didn’t use this trick already, or a close cousin to it, I couldn’t have detected the damned thing when I caught Betrayer using this trick the first time.”

  “Oh, crap,” Ken said. “Someone’s taught you a way to control and expand hunches, haven’t they, Orlando.”

  “No, not from my perspective,” Orlando said. “What I’m doing is predicting the future in a mental construct called the Place of Time.”

  Dana’s fists tightened. Looking into the future? No wonder the bastard had been closed mouth. The illusion of free will was all…

  Nessa sent to her. “It’s not time you’re looking into, but the mass-mind of everyone on the planet,” Nessa said, out loud. “It’s likely called the place of time because that’s what you waste when you try and peer into a planet-full of minds. Your trick doesn’t deserve those capital letters.” Nessa exchanged something telepathic with Persona; Persona raised her hand in the air and, a minute later, a pair of dice popped into existence and dropped into Persona’s hand.

  “Here. Go into this place of time and predict how these unaltered dice will fall,” Nessa said. “Show me the overwhelming power of this trick of yours.”

  Orlando frowned, and then returned to his meditation mode. Persona rolled the dice on the damp canvas floor of the tent. “Eight,” Orlando said.

  Dana, as everyone else did, peered at the dice. They had rolled a three.

  Orlando’s eyes opened.

  Nessa snorted. “You only predicted the odds based on the situation, not the actuality.” She glanced over to Persona. “Eight? Whatever happened to ‘seven’? Whose dice were they, anyway?” Persona shrugged and muttered something about the innate use of Bayesian statistics.
r />   “But the place of time works,” Orlando said, lame and limp.

  “Of course this trick works,” Nessa said. “People have plans, conscious and unconscious. Plans lead to actions, actions to consequences, consequences to hemorrhoids, blah blah blah. With your crazy enhanced God mind you can delve deeper into the morass of potentials than us Telepaths can but you’re not seeing the future. What you’re doing is damned useful, I’ll give you that. I mean, following hunches is something many Telepaths do. However, you’re only gathering information and being a bookie. There’s no time travel involved or anything similar.”

  Orlando shook his head. He still didn’t believe.

  “How well has it been working for you in your wooing of Dana?” Nessa said. “Piss poor, right? One woman is not a statistic!”

  Dana had to turn away; Nessa’s comment was far too personal. Utter crazy insanity, exactly what one should expect when someone as logic-driven as Orlando got trapped by a deranged madwoman like Nessa and a certified airhead like Persona.

  “Looks like you’ve added some new members to your Scooby gang, Nessa,” Lydia said, from the front of the tent. She stood there, arm in arm with Bob, sexually sated expressions on both their faces. S’up trailed behind, juggling beanbags, mind elsewhere. “So, is this orgy private, or can we barge in and ruin the atmosphere?”

  Dana fled as soon as Nessa and Lydia did the kiss-kiss routine.

  13. (Dave)

  “You willing to talk?” Dave said, plowing uphill through the scrub to where Dana leaned against a tree, breathing heavily and radiating anger. A quarter mile from Orlando’s tent, the low Florida hill probably swarmed with mosquitos in warmer weather. After Dana had slipped away from the group discussion, Dave picked up a side thought from Ken about Dana needing his services. He couldn’t understand the conversation with the Kid God. Neo-Supported? Virtual extra lives? Natural Supported to willpower links?

  Dana grumbled something Dave couldn’t make out.

  “I know we’ve just met, but, trust me, talking to me won’t be a problem. You even understand why.”