by P. S. Power
She spoke, her mind just providing words, expecting the man to insist she just take his abuse.
"The bullies, the people that attacked me, they were never pleased either. It didn't make them right. Just evil. I know you aren't used to hearing things like this, but I don't care if you're pleased or not. You're doing something bad, and no one here can stop you. No one can even call you on it. So if you want to have me killed for what I said, then do it. If you've paid any attention at all, you'll know that I don't really fear death all that much." Her right hand stuck out at just below her own shoulder height, on the central sphere, her palm was dry still. That wouldn't last forever, but for now she felt... fine.
There was a small puff of breath from between the silver globes in front of her. No one spoke for a long time. Whole minutes passed in fact, and she nearly wondered if the connection had been broken. That would be strange, but could happen, if the operator decided that no one was on either side of a call.
"Do you really think I'm as petty as all that, Miss Farris?"
She shrugged with one shoulder and let her head shake a bit. "Honestly? No. But you didn't call me up to suggest that you wanted to go out on a date, did you? So, you want to bully me. It's all that's left. I'm not one of your subjects, not really. At best you're my boss, and I can simply quit, unless you plan to use the whole of your military to try and stop me from doing what's right? And don't you dare try claiming that it's a matter of National Security! You let children be tortured, because it's easier to control them that way, and they don't get a choice in the matter. Now that people know..." She just stopped. After all, her talking had never made much of a difference back in her own world. Why would it here?
"The program is over seventy years old-" She cut the King off, not bothering to look around and see if Bethany had a PC at her back. She really didn't want to know.
"Which is sixty-five longer than it should have lasted. Look, I don't know what the reports told you, but I did mention that doing that, using the Westmorland Protocols, on adults that volunteered was different. I Think that-" Now it was her turn to listen, it seemed.
"No, that's the problem Gwen, you didn't think. You thought you saw a problem, and jumped in to fix it, without bothering to see if I had a plan in place already. We can't leave the Western Kingdom vulnerable to our enemies, especially now. Doctor Debussey was one of our people. So were half of those involved in her diabolical scheme. When she took out the capitals of the other lands, it was the same to those people as if I'd ordered it done. The only thing standing between us and total war is the knowledge of the others that the Westmorlands won't allow our destruction. Now you've given our own people a reason to think that what we've done to them is wrong. Do you think that no one will consider that a reason to end the program? How will we defend ourselves without them?"
She wanted to pace, but couldn't, so dared to look back at Beth, who wasn't holding her at weapons point at all, but was looking at her with crossed arms. The others all just looked to be in various stages of shock. Poor Clara was actually pale and looked ready to pass out. Sally seemed... diffident.
Gwen sighed, trying not to sound as bitchy as she felt.
"Weren't you paying attention? I can rework your program, to work on adults. Volunteers. Maybe at least. If not, well, I know you don't put the kids into the hardest training until they've matured a bit, around twelve or fourteen. Even if you have to do it then, you can get volunteers." She wanted to add in a sarcastic duh, to the end of it, but didn't.
He was the King after all.
"People won't volunteer for that. We tried that, at the beginning. Less than two percent of the population can rift, even in potential, and the actual amount is less than that, since the correct abilities have to be present and merely being powerful isn't enough. The odds of that small group of people being willing to die for their country is vanishingly small."
She wondered about that. Wouldn't anyone be willing to risk their life, to protect those they loved? She was willing to bet that they just hadn't really tried to get volunteers in place for it. Not once some no doubt clever man with sociopathic tendencies had decided that powerful little orphans would work best. They weren't wrong, but working best wasn't the same as being the right thing to do.
She ended up shouting that at Ferdinand, who was busily giving as good as he got. After about half an hour of that, the man sobered, managing it before she did and got her to be silent by clearing his throat.
"This isn't helping. The damage is done, and even if you think me a bully over it, I'm not best pleased, Miss Farris. I can only hope that you'll come up with a plan to protect us, because at the moment, I haven't a clue what to do." He sounded very worried about it too.
She nearly snorted again, but throttled her reaction as much as she could, and took a deep breath.
"You don't have to make any changes yet. I don't think that the current crop can be retrained at all. That gives you fifty or sixty years to figure out what else to do. I..." She stopped, because she actually had an idea. A radiative device that would rift. It would have to be huge, like a giant Teletransport sphere, but she was willing to bet that could be made and put to use. Maybe even remotely. For a moment she almost didn't mention it, since at least at the moment rifting took a life. She'd wondered why it had to, the entire time she'd been in this new world.
The difference was that she was used to thinking of such things as bombs, and the people of the Western Kingdom thought of them as individuals. Westmorlands.
"I... Might be able to give you something that will make it so you don't need people for that. Along with a training program for volunteers, since it's clear that they're the best force you have. We aren't talking about it over a line like this. Even if it's secured. Can we get together and chat?"
"Fine, tomorrow. I'll send people to collect you-"
"Don't be silly, I'm working on a murder investigation, and we're traveling by rail because all other kind is too dangerous in this area. I don't know if there have been fluctuations in magic this far away," She looked back and the man at the counter flipped a palm up.
She kept watching him until he spoke.
"Some, minor disruptions. Flickering lights and the sound on the Telestator isn't the best right now. I don't know if that means anything?'
She turned back to the device in front of her, and tried to firm her voice up.
"Right, so that's not worth the risk. Besides, I need to come up with a good plan that will both work and not be too powerful. There's already an imbalance of power in your world. I don't want to make it worse. Justice is hard to come by when one person or group has all the clubs." She meant ones that would be used to hit a person over the head, which Ferdinand got, she was nearly certain.
"Then when?" The man still sounded like he wanted to spank her. Not in a kinky fun way either. Not that she thought of that as fun, never having tried it.
"Ethyl Vernor is having a party in about three weeks. I can get you and Count Goebbels invitations. For that matter we'll be sending them to the rest of the world leaders. I doubt they'll actually show, but you and I can be there and chat. Christophe Aubrey is coming." She remembered the engagement and felt a trickle of warmth moving into her cheeks.
"Indeed. Congratulations on that. I also heard that there was some misfortune, in regards to his secretary? A death curse? You managed to break it, I was told?"
She laughed a little. It wasn't really funny, but being congratulated after all they'd been saying was weird. Like she'd been arguing with a friend that didn't really want her to suffer, even if he was a bit peeved at her for a few minutes.
"Yeah. It was less than fun, but Manly Westmorland doesn't take half measures. He's going to be invited to the party too. Along with as many of the rifters as want to come. We're having Martin Cordell in too. He's actually not so bad, once you get to know him, and once he realized that Beth might be a person too, and not a pampered princess in her ivory tower that wants him dead."<
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There was a pause, "really? How interesting. I'll see you there then. How is the case going?"
Looking around, she realized that the man wouldn't expect much yet. They weren't even on the scene at all.
"We need to collect more data, but we've gotten some good information already. We've even been trying not to break the law, left and right. It's slowing us down, but we at least need to be a little certain that something is going on, before we take action. That all comes from Beth, because I don't know the law at all. You understand. Different world, and so on."
"I do. It's one of the only reasons that I had you tracked and contacted, instead of whisked off to Brandenburg to answer for your crimes. I do hope that your plan for a replacement system is good, Miss Farris, or else we might yet have to see you in a cell."
She snorted. It was relieved, rather than anything else.
"Good? No, it's horrible and shouldn't be needed at all. It's just better than what you've been doing. I don't suppose I could get you to make an announcement that you're backing us in this? Maybe explain the hardships that the Westmorlands have been put to? Just mentioning that they've been abused isn't going to be enough for some people to change their minds. So, if you could see to that, it would be useful."
There was a dark chuckle from the air, but it had waves in it, that weren't part of the King's speech at all, but a sign of equipment breaking down. Or stopping. Like the power fluctuation. She knew because the lights flickered in time with it.
"Well, I do live to serve, Miss Farris. I'll run the idea past my advisors. Until we next speak?"
"Until then. I think we're going to have an outage here-"
The room went dark. She sighed and wondered if anyone knew what to do at all. The magic didn't go out very often she was willing to bet.
"Candles. Beth, can you go into your... Telepathic state?" That was her strongest one, and she could punch through null radiatives without too much problem at all. Really, Gwen just wanted to make certain it wasn't an attack.
Normally Bethany was silent unless asked a specific question while in her telepathic mode. This time there was a soft whisper instead.
"I don't hear anything." There was no particular inflection at all in her words. Then, there wouldn't be. She wasn't scared by the idea that her powers didn't work, she'd just keep trying, until told not to.
"Fine. Not a problem. Back to your regular state then, please?"
It was still dark and was going to be for a while since they didn't keep candles at the hotel. They were a fire hazard and the glow lamps normally just worked. Even things like storms just meant closing all the windows tight. These people didn't know what to do about a power outage at all.
Bethany found her, and gripped her upper arm in the dark. The voice was recognizable though, thankfully.
"I got nothing at all, Gwen. That shouldn't happen, even if it's a null field."
Gwen knew enough about magic to have that one down. Null radiatives actually drank in power, keeping most people from being able to use magic. Westmorlands were strong enough to punch through that adding enough power to do that. This was something different. It was...
She didn't know. It seemed familiar to her though.
"Wait, no one move, I need to think." She focused her mind as hard as she could, and then tried to feel what was going on. She forced herself to dump power out, but nothing happened. Then, even though it hurt inside her head, she tried to levitate. The feeling that she used to approximate a radiative wasn't there at all.
It was being wiped out, like when she'd been practicing curse breaking.
"Bethany, can you feel any radiatives, or try to generate anything like that?" It hadn't really come up before, but her friend just squeezed her arm a bit, reassuringly, and got it a lot faster than Gwen had.
"Ah! Very good, Gwen. The magic isn't out at all. The radiatives and spell components are! No doubt that's why it can spread over such a wide area. Now, why would anyone want to do that? If we can figure that out, we might be able to find out who's actually doing it."
That was anyone's guess. The only thing she knew for certain was that it felt like the fabric of space was going to rip itself apart, and tentacles were going to take her and Beth away for some hellish Japanese animation style treatment. The naughty kind, no doubt.
Instead they just all wandered around, bumping into things, until they got to the front area of the hotel, where people were just sitting. As luck would have it, one of the other guests was an older man that smoked a pipe, and liked to actually use matches, instead of a magical fire starter. There was also an old, seldom used, fireplace. Next to it was a stack of very old, but nicely dry wood too. It meant they could make a small fire for light. It would raise the temperature, but seeing was worth it, at least for her.
Opinions might vary on that one, she knew, but most of these people weren't worried about being attacked by unseen things from beyond the imagination. It made a difference.
She got to help with that, working with the pipe smoker, who was the only other person there that knew how to work a match. She didn't really know how to make a proper fire, but the older fellow did, and they had one going about ten minutes later, with only a lot of huffing and puffing on her part. As soon as that was done, Beth moved over to her and touched her shoulder.
It was a strange move, but, she realized, it was comfort seeking on her friend's part. She'd always had magic. Everyone, even the low-magic people there, were used to having it around all the time. Except for her. They just didn't have a clue what to do at all.
She clapped her hands several times, trying to sound cheery, rather than scare anyone. Sally made a little screaming sound anyway, but then laughed.
Gwen did too.
"Right, so, who knows an interesting story? Or has a song? Does the Western Kingdom have an anthem? If so, I don't think I know it."
"The Song of Winter?" This came from an older lady, from the sound of her voice, who was off to the left.
The woman herself started singing, and everyone started to at least hum along. Except Gwen, who suddenly felt more lonely than she had, being left out. It was an austere song too, and a bit gloomy. It made her think more about being buried in snow with no hope than about the lights coming back. At least until the end.
Then everyone sang about persevering, even through the dark and cold. It was pretty warm in the room, but other than that, it fit nicely. It also drew other people to the door of the place.
At first Gwen didn't like that, but it made sense. Nothing worked, and some of the new people were trying to find out what had been happening. No one asked her about it, but Clara talked them through what had been said well enough.
"So, we're singing songs and telling stories. You should all come in. I think."
Gwen shrugged, which had just as much meaning in the dark as it normally did, she realized.
"Great idea, Clara. Come on in, everyone. Or, better yet, let's move outside?" It might collect a few others and as long as she didn't have to sing, it was fine.
She'd never learned how. Her voice hadn't been right for it at all before, and while Katherine might have a good enough voice, people had always made certain that she was off to the side of the class, playing a tambourine, when the time came for singing, in school.
The rest of the songs were livelier and they attracted some real school kids, who knew more new songs. Teaching songs. A few that surprised her a lot.
"What do you do when a bomb goes off?" One side of the crowd started, and the other answered back, without hesitation.
"Use your eyes and find the trap!"
"What do you do when a bomb goes off?"
"Protect the kids and make a plan!"
It went on like that for a bit. It was a little off, as to what she'd have actually wanted people to do, but they all knew it. Even the older people did. Even Clara and Sally did, which shocked her. She didn't, and it was part of the Kat Vernor protocols, which were named after her
. Sort of.
There were other songs too, but they couldn't let things devolve into drinking or tavern stuff, so it was mainly popular tunes and another reprise of The Song of Winter. Just as they finished that one again, the lights flickered a few times and magic started working again.
That got a cheer from the crowd, as if their words had something to do with it. Normally that might have even been the case. A group of people working toward a common goal had power here. This time though, the essential step, the instructions, wouldn't work at all. It was just happenstance that did it, no matter what it seemed like.
Gwen didn't wait, jogging back inside, with all her people hard on her heals. Bethany got to the Telestator first, and did exactly what Gwen had planned. Only better. That part went without saying.
"Operator, are you there?"
"Um, yes. How may I direct you?"
"This is Special Service Agent Bethany Westmorland. I need to find the extent and area of this current magic stoppage. Can you check the local listing channels and find out?"
It was, it turned out, going to take a while. The woman was co-opted for the job and set to the task, calling back to them every few minutes, while Gwen got a map from the lobby, and marked out all the places that they could find that had lost lights and Telestator service.
The others just stood around, looking nervous and like they expected everything to shut off again suddenly. It took about two hours, but she was finally able to send everyone off to bed, except Beth, who was holding the line open. A pattern was emerging, and it wasn't a circle at all. It was a shape that looked a bit like a compass rose. Pointed due north too. The East side was full and healthy, and they were near the tip of the South, but the west was smaller, and not flushed out at all.
It was possible that they just didn't have the right information, or that service was light in that area. Beth didn't think so, and pointed at it, as soon as everyone else left, and the last communication came in for the evening.
"Look at that. Three deaths, three branches looking full and strong. My bet is, when the next girl dies, this field will turn the magic off in this area for a nice long time. Why would anyone do that though? The world runs on magic, as tonight neatly showed."