by P. S. Power
Pran shook her head.
"Standard rate. It's already agreed upon. She's covering my agent fees on that side, too. It seems that she really wants her daughter to come for the holidays. I imagine it will be her daughter and a few others, even if that wasn't mentioned. I told her that they had to expect to share crew quarters though. Especially if we have extra officials going. Does that work for you? I mean, saving those agenting fees will really sweeten the pot, with them not coming out of your end. Plus, no haggling needed on your part. I'll handle all of that for you myself, so you don't even have to talk to anyone you don't want to about this." It was the least she could do, after all. Especially if she was going to steal forty percent of the resale value of the goods, after taxes. That was good incentive to stack the airship with as many government people as she could manage though, wasn't it?
There was a pleased laugh then and a head shake.
"That works for me then, Bard. Now, go get that set up for me, and next time make sure you ask me first, before coming in and pushing me around. I'll wear my dancing shoes, so it's a fair fight." Then, as if any of that made sense, they shook, without engaging in combat even a little.
Pran got the idea, he was complimenting her on making a good deal. It was nice to hear, but things weren't finished yet. The grasp was firm, but only that, and didn't linger or turn flirty. That was nice really, being that she knew his wife a lot better than she did him, and it could be awkward if he really did want to have sex with her. Unless it was fine with Captain Mira. They didn't live together after all, and were apart for months on end. Maybe that was just how they lived? It made sense to her, but there was no way to ask, unless someone told her.
Stopping in the cubby again, to find Robest, she noticed the incriminating plate was gone, which got her to wink.
"I... Need to find the High Judge. Is that on this floor?" It made sense to her, since it had to be a very important group of people. There was a bit of a shock when the chubby kid shook his head. "Naw, they're at the back, up on two. No one really wants them around much, since they know when you're doing something wrong, and will tell everyone about it. About half back, on the outer left. The floor boy there will get you to the right door. I should know which one it is, but I don't, so I'd have to ask too. Tims. That's the boy up there." He didn't seem rude, or bored, in particular, but he also didn't seem too impressed with her. Not as a girl near his own age. He looked away a lot, but it was conversational, not shy. Men did that when they talked. Women looked at your face, men looked away, or at what you did with your hands. It had been in her stagecraft lessons.
"That should work. Make sure to stay ready. If I need to call on you for something, I expect you to hop-to." She didn't mention the cake, since it was kind of silly sounding. Still, it got the boy to nod, glumly.
He didn't say anything, so she left, heading for the stairs, off to the right. The floor was a bit slick feeling under her feet, the stone smooth and probably cold. It looked like it would be. Not that the wood on the upper levels was going to be warm. That reminded her to go and make sure the fire was being tended in Clarice's office when she got a chance. Otherwise it would go out and she'd have to waste a match doing it over again.
They were probably going to be there most of the night, she guessed, since the High Councilor didn't seem to take appointments before noon, most days. Those were normal Bard hours, however. They tended to live in a slightly different time than everyone else being that entertainments happened when everyone else was finished with work for the day.
The little cubby on the second floor didn't have a boy in it, meaning he was probably busy at the moment. Unlike the one on the floor below, this one had several notebooks on the little desk, and a map on the wall to the right. It was of the whole world, and had markers in several places on it. What they were for, she couldn't really tell, at a glance. They were pieces of paper, tacked down with pins. There was writing on them, but it looked like random letters and numbers to her. The whole feel of the place was a lot more like a real working office than what the boy below had presented. He'd just been sitting there, munching cake and being a bit bored looking. Clearly the boy for this floor had plans in the works.
A real map too, which would be a good thing for her to make a copy of, if she got a chance. Clearly, knowing where things were could come up for a Bard. It hadn't been covered in classes much, but here she was, on her first day, making shipping arrangements.
No one came, so after a while she shrugged and headed to the far left of the large space, hoping she was at least getting close. It would be a bit daunting to simply stick her head in different offices and ask for directions, but part of her current job was about meeting people. That was one way to do it, and as long as she smiled a lot, wouldn't seem too out of place.
Luckily, she managed to get a clue as to which door she needed, since she noticed a familiar man slowly walking toward the end of the hallway. Dressed in a white robe and everything. He clearly couldn't see very well, which probably meant the flash flare that had left several people temporarily blind had hit him harder than that. It was sad, since his job was probably ruined forever if that was the case. Judges needed their eyes to work. Clair had hinted that there were other ways too, but that they weren't as reliable.
Without being able to see they couldn't read people as well, and that meant they couldn't tell who was lying at a perfectly high level. Since that was about half of what they did, it made a difference.
"Judge Brown!" Her voice was light, and happy sounding, which got the man to turn and look at her. Despite her fears about his vision, he clearly made out where she was.
"Hello? I'm afraid that I don't recognize you at the moment. A bit of temporary eye problems. I can't actually see your face. It's hard to explain." His voice was warm enough, but the line sounded rehearsed.
"No need to really, I was right there next to you when it happened. Or, not right next to you, since that was Judge Clair and the other Judge, but near enough. Pran? The girl with the rifle?" She wondered if he'd recall her at all, but there was a smile on his lips.
"Ah! What brings you to our hall here today? Aren't you a Bard?"
She nodded, then realized that might be hard to see for the man.
"That's right. I'm setting up a special shipment for some people and was wondering if there was a need for a Judge somewhere between Gladstone and O'Brien. I know that Luis is on that route and there will already be a stop there." At first it didn't make sense that she'd tell him that much, but then the reason occurred to her. Half blind or not, the man smiled.
Then told the world about her words. It was a habit the Judges all seemed to share. Helpful, in the moment. Normally it was a bit less so, especially for people that got by on lies most of the time.
"True. I don't know, naturally. I was just coming to see the High Councilor for my section, to see what my disposition is. I've been given leave to take what time I need to heal, but it's a bit boring, simply sitting in my room all day. On the good side, it seems that I really am healing up and should be able to resume my work in a few months. It was feared for a while that I might need to retire."
Given that he probably didn't know what else to do with himself, except be a Judge, she thought she understood. They were really good at being what they were, but it was all they were. From the time they were tiny children, they learned their skills, and did almost nothing else. Like Guardians. Bards too, but what she'd learned was more varied, wasn't it?
Still, when the Art School had kicked her out, she'd nearly had to go and prostitute herself for money to eat. Brown here was too old to make much that way, if it came to it, so would end up being a charity case, most likely. Retirement was normally just a reduced version of whatever job you'd done when you were younger. If you couldn't do that, someone else would have to take care of you.
"I... Might have something for you, if you're willing to play a little fast and loose with the rules? Nothing that would invalidate an
y oaths, I don't think, or break the law. I'll... We need to run it pass your boss. It won't pay much, but you can listen to me play and meet people, I bet. It could be useful too." There was a lot more to it, but talking about it in the hallway was stupid. So much so that she shut her lips suddenly, and took the other man's arm, which was enough for him to lead her to the right place.
The set up here was different. It was a two room situation, like what Clarice had, but the back room was the small one, and the front had several Judges sitting at desks, working. All of them clearly in trance states. The one in the front, a young woman that had a cold look about her, being a light blond, with a blank expression, almost totally ignored Pran, staring with total absorption at the other Judge.
"Brown. I'd heard about the attack. You seem to be doing well enough..." No matter how distant she seemed, there was empathy in the words. It nearly rang from the lady in white.
Her desk was nearly as large as the one Clarice had, and there were neat piles and stacks of things on it, all organized for whatever it was that she did. That, it turned out, was handle appointments for Judge Sims. The High Judge Councilor.
Who had an appointment with Judge Brown at the moment, since that's how they did things here, it looked like. Pran shrugged, then smiled and took his arm.
"Good enough. I need to see to some things anyway and it might be related. Let's go in?" It was true, but she kind of expected the woman at the desk to tell her to get lost and not be so pushy. Except that, being what she was, the desk woman read her for truth, found it, and simply nodded.
"I'll announce you. You are?"
"Pran." She forgot to add the part about being an Apprentice on purpose. It seemed more important that way. Like she might be in charge of something.
Other than making the tea, that was.
It didn't take long to get in, and when they did, she was a bit surprised to see the woman behind the desk. She was tiny, for one thing. A good foot shorter than Pran herself, making her nearly a midget, if not one in truth. Her features were a bit squished looking, but her light blue eyes were pretty enough. The rest of her just seemed off. Like something had gone wrong in the making of her mold, and the artist had failed to toss her out in a timely fashion.
Still, she was the High Judge, and that didn't take size or strength. Not even good looks really. No, Judges would be honest enough to put forward whoever the best person for the job was. That the package she came in was different wouldn't influence them all that much. Pran decided not to let it do that to her, either.
The woman spoke first, her voice a bit high pitched and piping.
"Brown, are you well?" It was clear that she noticed Pran, but her eyes went to the older man, his short gray hair a bit messed up on one side.
He let his chin drop, just a tiny fraction and spoke clearly. The door had been closed, but a person at the door might just make out what he said.
"Except for the eyes, I'm well enough. A bit of a sore back, but that's due to sitting too much. My guess, based on what my Doctor told me, is that I'll be four more months healing up. I came to see about finding something to do, in order to occupy my time."
There was no calling out that he was telling the truth. The tiny lady, Sims, looked over at Pran then, her face totally controlled.
"And you, Pran?" She didn't ask for an explanation of anything, but she got one. Lying to the head Judge was probably just as useless as doing that with any of the rest of them. They practically read minds, after all.
"I'm Bard Clarice's new Apprentice. I'm also working on the problem, with the current attacks? From the techno-cult? I could use a Judge to help verify people's intent and words. I was thinking that Brown here would do that very well. I know, his eyes are down a bit, but we don't need perfect. We need unassuming. People can talk in front of him and think they might get away with a lie. Especially if we make it seem like the damage is worse than it really is." She paused, then spread her hands. "I also have about ten other things that I'm doing. The main one is meeting people and making friends. There's a shipping deal too, a special trip. Do you have need of anyone to head toward O'Brien from Gladstone? I could use the tax break on it, since I'm stealing money from the High Energy Councilor as part of the deal. Technically it isn't real robbery, of course. I'm just grabbing part of the percentage that I told her about, without letting her know the real deal that I made for it after the fact."
The woman... Blinked.
"I... Well." Then she turned to look at Brown again. "All of that was true. Even the contradictory parts. It doesn't make sense. Do you have insight, Brown?"
The man stood in place, so Pran got a large and soft looking padded chair, and moved it for him. It was heavy enough that she feared for the floor at first, but it clearly had cloth pads underneath to prevent scratching. Once he sat, he leaned forward, and nodded.
"I might. Apprentice Bard Pran, was formerly Pran Grange. She's the one that has been involved in all of the recent happenings of note? The large attack on The Lament, and uncovering spies there. She was also present when my vision was damaged, and managed to capture the prisoner before she could kill us all with a kinetic pistol." Then, he sat back, not saying anything else.
Sims looked back at Pran then and tilted her head oddly. Most of the other Judges had always seemed too subdued for things like that. It made the move seem pretty contrived, but not unwelcome. It made her feel a bit more human than the rest.
"How would you be using Judge Brown for this project?"
That got Pran to scramble mentally, since she didn't have much of a plan, honestly. Just an idea. It left her silent for a minute while her brain came up with things, and finally she started nodding, since that would leave people a bit more agreeable. Real ones that weren't totally controlled all the time, at least.
"He's a friend of mine, and has time off, so is convalescing with us. Plus I can use a model for a sculpture. You work nude, don't you Brown? Anyway, he can do that and we'll casually leave the door open when Clarice or I have people in. If anyone makes too big of a deal out of it, we'll claim to be lovers. I mean, if your wife won't mind that?" She looked at the man, who smiled.
"Judges aren't allowed to marry, to prevent conflicts of interest. We can have friends, however, so that might work. I'm a bit old for you though, don't you believe? No one would credit it. Especially the other Judges."
That was a point. They'd know if a lie was told, wouldn't they?
"So we have sex, if it comes up? If they aren't questioning us for a trial that should be enough. If the convalescing thing doesn't do it. Plus, I wasn't kidding about the modeling thing either. I need to show Clarice that I'm good at sculpting. You can keep your clothing on however, since that will be warmer. Now, I don't know if it will really help me find anything, but it probably won't hurt. I don't think that you Judges can really be taken over by the downloads. The people stealing others' lives? The Guardians either, most likely. Your brains are too different. That's only a guess, so don't try it out, but it might mean we can actually trust you in this. No one else though. Really, right now... I need you to check me out and make certain that I'm not one of those others, or spying for them. Which I am, but not really. Unless they're winning, then I was always on their side. Naturally."
That got a long, and slightly annoyed, sigh from the High Judge, who ran Pran through a rather rigorous test then. Or rather, asked questions and had Brown try to tell if she were lying or not. She didn't, which got them both past things pretty well.
Finally the short woman made a tight face, a thing that she should never have done, since it accentuated the worse parts of what warped her.
"Very well. Judge Brown, you're assigned to the High Bard, for the next three months. So that you can rest and aid there as you might. If you need anything, please come to me, directly. Apprentice Bard Pran... I do see need for three Judges to be moved around that might work along that route, with only a bit of extra travel. Do I come to you directly with what's need
ed?"
"That works. I'll be in the High Bard's offices, early each day."
The woman perked up a bit then, and gave a friendly smile, "Oh? You aren't going to make us all try to have meetings in the middle of the night? Convenient. I'll have that to you by nine then, tomorrow." There was no hint that they were supposed to leave then, but her new friend, Judge Brown, stood, so she did too.
Then he held out his right arm for her to take, and she led him back to the Bard office, up near the top of the building. They didn't run the whole way, but the man didn't seem enfeebled, just like the stairwell was a bit dark. Which it was, since the lamps hadn't been lit yet, and the windows were starting to darken.
When they got to the right door, Clarice was tending the stove, and the whole place was a bit warmer than was comfortable. That meant, if nothing else, that she probably wouldn't insist on keeping it like an icehouse all winter.
When she looked up, the High Bard smiled, charmingly.
"There you are, Bard Pran. With a guest, too?"
Pran shrugged.
"Nope. We get to keep him. For three months at least. I'll explain, but the short answer is that he's here to help with our investigation. The long answer is that I'm going to immortalize him in clay and possibly stone. We have to keep the important things in mind, after all. The future will need to know what a real Judge looked like." It was part of her job too. Not the most important one, since that was keeping people entertained.
Rather than seem put out by the idea, Clarice moved in and gave Brown a hug.
"Perfect! Thank you so much. I've been asking Judge Sims for some aid that way for months, to no avail. She said that it wouldn't make sense. How did you managed to change her mind?"
Pran winked, and led Brown to a chair.
"I didn't. She just needed a reason to keep an eye on things, and here I am, so she sent her man here to do the task. That's all." The odd thing there was that the Judge nodded when she spoke.