by Pam Uphoff
!Tok picked up a bottle. "Red Hair." He eyed the shelves. "And eye colors, skin tones, err."
"We had some problems, with illegal potions of dubious provenance and sometimes dangerous results. We found it necessary to provide safe, clearly labeled potions. Even the ones for . . . organ enlargement. They are not genetic." She pulled out another bottle and frowned. "We took this from one of the, err, Combat Gang criminals. It will engineer the One Gene. Let me make some fast copies of it. This, with the dozen other genes will allow people to start feeling the power, maybe. Some adults may be too set in their ways to relearn things. But this will give you a core group that's six months ahead of all the rest and can give you some lead time to prepare the vast majority of people for what they will be feeling. I should be able to manufacture all six insertion packets. Hmm, several variations of each, so people can choose various attributes."
"I should have driven. I didn't think of the bulk. Actually I thought I'd just be opening negotiations. And bargaining. I still have not asked your fees."
"Oh. Well. Actually I prefer to barter. Do you have herbal medicines? I'd like samples, what they're used for and if possible, live plants or seeds. A good long visit with some experts would be nice as well."
!Tok nodded. "I noticed a garden as I walked up. It reminded me of my grandmother's, now my sister's garden. I, err, rather trespassed on a friend's trust to get here. I'm not sure how many people I can get through, or when."
"There probably wouldn't be any problem placing a gate from your world to Embassy . . . well. Maybe there would be, if it seemed to be for the purpose of undermining their Empire."
!Tok chuckled. "My purposes are quite the contrary. I want my people to be the equals of the Oners, full members of the Empire. We're probably the most lightly colonized world of the Empire. When they discovered us about a hundred and fifty years ago we were in the middle of our industrial revolution. We added the Oners’ tech and got rich. We figure that if we have a sizable chunk of people with the One gene, we can add their micro-manufacturing abilities and keep right on growing."
"I see." Rustle snatched a bubble floating by, picked up one of the metal clasps she kept around and attached the bubble. She loaded in all the bottles on the table, closed the clasp, and handed it over. "Bubbles make carrying things so easy. Let me walk you back to Embassy. We'll talk to Q about putting up a Gate in about six months. Attaching somewhere convenient for you. They've got little beacons at Disco, I'll get one from Xen or Q."
!Tok swallowed, a bit dry mouthed. "I suppose you know them well?"
"They are my children." The woman's eyes twinkled. "And here I thought everyone knew."
Chapter Eight
21 April, 3523 ce
Serene, Granite Peak
Jack loaded his favorite gyp—armored, with a second fuel tank—with lots of “stuff” and drove it through the two corridors and out into the old burn scar. The first thing he did was turn and back into the brushy edge of the forest behind him until he was under thick enough leaf canopy to stunt the undergrowth. Then he drove forward back into the burn scar.
“If they have real trackers, that won’t fool them, quite apart from the open view of the parking lot.” Arrow pointed out.
“I know, but from a distance, I don’t want it to be obvious that we started right here.”
Arrow nodded. “I’ll change the corridor entrance so it can be almost closed. Just on general principles.”
He crested the hill and drove down and into the forest. “I have a chain saw along. So why don’t you let me fell some of the trees? And make longer sections, I’ll move them.”
She nodded. “Noisy, but perhaps necessary. I’ll fell a few then rest, while you work.”
Jack strolled out into the forest. “We can bend around that thicker stand, then head that way.”
Arrow walked up to a tree. A wave of her hand and a thick wedge flew out the side. Then a cut from the other side and the tree leaned away from the planned road. Arrow stepped away as the tree crashed down. One slice through the trunk, two meters up, and a flat cut at ground level and she walked away, looking at her next victim.
Jack rolled the stump away, and levered the cut section around and rolled it out of the way.
Headed for the next tree. There were already two others down.
He moved the gyp up and got Arrow to sit down and drink something sweet, eat half a sandwich before she did any more.
After lunch he suggested she relax while he tried out the chainsaw.
As the second one hit the ground, he spotted a man leaning against a tree, watching.
A familiar one, one of Governor Arry’s men. “Amac, isn’t it?”
The Oner shrugged away from the tree and strolled closer. “Yes. And you’re a few days early.”
There was movement in the forest. At least two more Oners out there.
“I decided against using the aircar.” Jack shrugged. “I dislike having barely enough fuel for the round trip.”
“Sensible. But have you found someone who can destroy gates?” He straightened and looked behind Jack.
“He has.” Arrow walked up beside Jack and looked the Oner up and down. “This is who wants to hire me?”
“He’s not the boss, but these fellows in general? Yes.”
“Hire?” Amac frowned at Jack. “We paid you for her.”
“You paid me to find her. I deeply and sincerely suggest you hire her. Trying to force someone as strong as Arrow to do your will, will fail and all your plans will be for naught.”
Jack glanced at Arrow. “Arrow may I present Amca Withione? Amac, this is, in the Oner form, Arrow Clostuone Blissful Ash. Except, of course, she doesn’t have the One power gene.”
“Which is why we’re acquiring, not hiring.”
Three men ghosted out of the forest and formed up behind Amac.
Arrow snorted. “They’re forming a minor compass.” She waved her hand.
The top third of a tree folded over, and crashed through the lower branches slowly enough that the Oners could scatter.
They collected again, this time in a belligerent line.
Jack suppressed a laugh. “Why don’t you go tell Governor Arry that he’s got a Comet Fall Witch on a short term contract. Let’s see. Close three or four gates? Two million . . . rials each, plus another two million per gate opened, if he needs any.”
“That’s double what Disco charges.”
“Hazard pay. As soon as the first gate goes down, Disco’s going to swarm us.”
Amac sneered. “Which is why we were hoping to kick this off just before the summer solstice, when that bitch Q will be off dancing naked under the moon.”
Arrow nodded. “That’ll slow her down. If she goes. But she often doesn't and even if she does, what about Xen Wolfson?”
“What about him? We’ve poked him a couple of times. He’s trying so hard to not react, he’ll be slow to catch on to this not being another annoying game." Amac shrugged. "We're behind schedule anyway. I don't think we can get it done by the Solstice.
"We'll have to rely on speed. We’re planning to close your gates to Earth and Disco at eight in the evening here, which is four in the morning on Earth’s Nowhereistan, and then fly you to Cough Town to close the gate to the One World at ten in the evening here, which will be nine in the evening at both Gate City and Embassy. By which time everyone who had business here has gone away. I doubt anyone will notice.”
“For several hours.” Jack thought about the Earth’s huge field of gates. “Good idea. No one will notice until someone tries to cross. So by the time the alarm goes up, we’ll have three gates closed, and Arrow standing by to close your gate to Embassy, if they make it necessary.”
Amac grinned nastily. “Exactly. We’ll present them with a fait accompli.”
Arrow wrinkled her nose, but didn’t say anything. Jack was glad she didn't expose her ignorance of Latin . . . or whatever damned language that was. Fact accomplished or something li
ke that.
“So we’ll get on with a bit of clearance so we can chat with the Governor in two days.” Jack stared directly at him. “I suggest you tell him that he is hiring, and not acquiring, so we can avoid further problems.”
Amac snorted. “I’ll let Arry know you’ve got a witch.” With a jerk of his head his team faded back into the forest. The looks they sent back were not friendly.
Jack watched them out-of-sight and shook his head. “I should have never talked to them in the first place.”
Arrow sniffed. “Well, I’m glad. And also glad to see you were already ambitious, before you went wild with Aunt Susto’s potions.”
“She’s not actually your aunt, is she?”
“Old Gods, no!”
“Glad to hear that.” Jack picked up his chain saw and headed for his next victim.
Chapter Nine
2 Rajab 1408 yp
Gate City, One World
Xiat parked the car and swung her legs out. Stood and took in the utterly tasteless and breathtakingly absurd gothic facade.
One of the front doors opened. Xiat was peripherally aware of a woman walking out to meet her. She lowered her gaze. "I was hoping Izzo was exaggerating about the gargoyles." The woman was young enough to call a girl. Glowing in an attempt to intimidate.
Poor Izzo, and I'm probably going to make it worse before she gets better.
"You must be Gewz. I am Xiat." She shut the car door and stepped forward to meet her rival on open ground. So to speak. Surface sculpted concrete with ornate pots and twisted dwarfed trees.
The girl looked her up and down and curled a lip. "Yes, he said you were a breeder."
Xiat clucked and shook her head. "Don't they make you do memory exercises in the School anymore? Izzo can be blunt, but he's rarely suicidal."
"What would you know of the school." The girl tossed her head like a horse. "I'm going to take him away from you. It's not right that his first wife should be so low class as to get pregnant."
"Or research."
"Or are you just a slut?"
"Did you flunk Manners 101?"
"Straight A's in assassination. A fall down the stairs would solve this problem." The girl actually stepped up to try and loom.
Xiat sidestepped, grabbed, pulled, rolled the girl across her hip and dropped the idiot on her back. With the girl’s arm in a nice straightforward lever hold to keep her there.
"If you ever threaten my babies again, I will kill you. I will not fight you, I will not debate you. I won't call the police until after you are dead. I will kill you as quickly and efficiently as I would any other dangerous animal threatening my children. Do you understand me?"
"Bitch!" The girl reached across, although she ought to have had enough training to know that she had no chance of breaking Xiat’s leverage.
"Do you understand me?" Xiat switched her attention briefly to the guard in Directorate brown, aiming a rifle her direction. "I am Senior Investigator Xiat, IRD, former Presidential guard, currently on leave, and at the moment, Madam Izzo. Verify all that, then cease pointing that at me before I get really pissed."
The guard stepped back a bit, getting a bit absent minded looking. The gun barrel sank. "Sorry Madam, it's just . . . "
"That you are not accustomed to a cat fight on the front porch? I'll try to keep it brief. Now. Gee Wiz. Do you understand that if you threaten my children, you will die?"
"Social climbing cunt. Kiss my . . ." She screamed as Xiat broke her arm.
Xiat did not release it. "Do you understand?"
"Yes . . . " The girl choked back some other no doubt personal comment.
Xiat let go and stepped back.
The girl scrambled up, cradling her arm. "I am going to . . . "
Xiat eyed her down the barrel of the little laser she always carried. She kept the red aiming dot in the girl's right eye. "Yes?"
The girl clamped her mouth shut, turned and walked back toward the front doors.
Xiat disappeared the gun. Nodded politely to the guard. By the time she got to the double doors, the other one was also open, an older gentleman trying to hide shock holding it open, or perhaps supporting himself by clinging. "And you must be Ohno? Pleased to meet you."
"Madam." He sounded a bit faint.
***
Xiat watched Izzo as he walked through the doorway. Muscles tense. The quick scan, senses alert. The poor man is walking into enemy territory. He spotted the mass behind the weird frawny plant and aimed to give himself the maximum distance possible without actually looking like he was cringing away from the plant.
She stepped out, trying to keep a straight face. Enjoyed watching the change. The lines between his eyes relaxed, the laugh lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes, shoulders relaxed as he changed direction.
He wrapped himself around her and inhaled a deep breath with his face buried in her neck. "Saved!" He pulled back enough to kiss her. "Did I sound that pathetic, or has my mother's energy driven you from home?"
She wrapped her arms around his chest and leaned on him. "I think your father has been considering kidnapping me and taking me away to Homestead."
"Please tell me you're kidding?"
Long silence.
"One. Princess. I did warn you."
"We ought to have kept quiet for another six months."
"Right. Then he'd only kidnap Ixto." He pulled back and traced her cheekbones with gentle fingers. "After a week here you may want to flee back to them. Have you met my bete noire?"
"I apologize for thinking you were exaggerating in order to put my fears of abandonment to rest. One! She's got a bit of maturing to do, and if she doesn't do it fast I'll personally see that she doesn't do it at all."
Izzo paused. "What the One did I miss?"
"You're happier not knowing."
He leaned in and kissed the cheekbone he'd been stroking. "Right." He threaded his fingers with hers and led her off to the master bedroom. "Maybe I could just petition the President to let us run off to a deserted planet."
"Don't tempt me. Right now it doesn't sound too bad." She sprawled on the bed and watched him shed his business suit. "No more skunks?"
"No, but the executive bathroom certainly does have frequent problems. That painting of the Gran' Tor disappears and reappears in, oh, the lady's lav, the janitorial closet, and so forth. I hope the Interior guys are being a bit less juvenile toward their new director. Right now I'm about ready to offer Ajki a major swap. Unfortunately I've now got almost twice the number of subdirectors he's got."
"And Glue isn't about to leave Paris. I don't know about the rest of them. You might want to hire Mushy and Whipper. Think how much fun you could have inviting them to dinner and setting them, one on each side of Gee Wiz."
"Princess, your cruel streak is showing. Or are they such a bother you want to get rid of them?"
"Don't be silly. Whipper's six month marriage to the Dachshund Lady matured him remarkably. Mind you, he was starting from a very low spot. Mushy, well, he's still mooning about Bay dumping him."
"Pity, really I don't know why these young men listen to the insane advice they are given." He flopped on the bed and curled up around her.
"Bay dumped him, not the other way around. And Mier and Jiaq didn't really want a relationship with Whipper.
"Just his baby. Babies. Well, with Bay's twins and Meir's and Jiaq's older kids they'll have two each. And their mother had another baby. I think Ajha was dosing more than horses with that wine. Or was that you?"
"Ha! You're the only one I ever dosed . . . "
Their eyes met in mutual amusement.
"But what poor man do we sacrifice to get Wizzy to leave me alone?"
A deep melodious gong sounded in the distance.
"That's the ten minute warning for dinner. I swear I'm going to pin Ajki down about his lifestyle while he was here." Izzo rolled out of bed and hunted down shoes. "These people have a cast iron routine that they're trying to make me fit. I have
some vague idea that it's supposed to work the other way around."
"Goodness. My poor little Colonial! I spoke to the cook earlier about the sorts of food you liked, and the hours you kept. She says the whole east wing is guest quarters for the people who either come in from Paris or come across to report in. She reminisced about the parties that get thrown when a big exploration party returns."
"Oh, I like the idea of turning this into the Directorate's Hotel. We could just hide back in our little corner and let them all run riot through the rest of it." Izzo offered a hand to haul her out of the seductive softness of the mattress.
They entered the dining room, all green flocked wallpaper and gilded carved cornices, from the west as Gee Wiz entered from the east. The girl was dressed formally, looked right at home in the antique room. Izzo held the chair for his wife, then sat at the head of the table. The girl scowled, suppressed it and sat herself on his other side, facing Xiat across the table.
Izzo plunked his elbows casually on the table and split a smile between them. The girl was wearing long sleeves, and moving just a bit carefully. Xiat made a mental note to check on the local medgicians. There should have been no problem healing a straightforward fracture.
"So . . . there's about twelve hundred people working in headquarters, here, ten times that across. And about that many again, running the gates and . . . everything else that has to be done?" He smiled again. "Sounds like we'll have to break them up into groups for parties. Wiz, is party coordination up your alley?"