Jake's Women (Wizards)

by Booth, John

  “You created it.”

  “In the ancient times, Diabli swords tore reality apart. Multiple universes slowly became inaccessible, and all who could escaped them before they disappeared. Uncountable billions didn’t make it and died.”

  Fluffy paused to get his thoughts together.

  “Their manufacture is known only to the Dragons, as those who created them in the first place are long gone. It took time to tap into my people’s memories to create one in this place. But I did not expect it to work here as it had in reality. The intention was to scare and deter Jorda, not to kill him”

  I tried to take that in and failed. Dragons have a race memory that they can access, it also provides them with telepathic contact a bit like the internet. Fluffy had imagined a hell sword, and somehow it became real, even here where we were trapped in some sort of video game. How could that be?

  The Progenitor announcer spoke.

  “Twenty two Representatives lost their lives when the fabric of the Conference was damaged. Messages of condolence have been conveyed to their worlds. A new Conference has been constructed for you. Please take care over the next few hours as desires may be incorrectly realized. Diabli artefacts may not be imagined within the Conference. This rule change has immediate effect.”

  I figured it out. What Issus had been trying to tell me earlier. There was a way out.

  Grinning at Fluffy, I put my arm over his shoulder.

  “Did I ever tell you what a great friend you are?”

  Fluffy frowned. “Only when you want something, as I recall.”

  I told you he was clever.

  10. Escape

  Dreams of worlds being torn apart plagued me through the night and I woke bleary eyed and as tired as when I went to bed. I pondered how the Progenitors could create a fake world so real that I could suffer from these things. My dragon stood at the end of the bed looking annoyingly refreshed and ready to go.

  “It would be a good idea to escape from this place today, Jake”

  “Any day would be a good day for that. I’m worried about Jenny and my family on Earth.”

  “Jenny is safe. I would have told you if she was in any danger. Your child is not yet born.”

  A wave of relief rushed through me.

  “Your link works here? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Fluffy and Jenny are linked emotionally. They can’t talk to each other telepathically, but each knows what the other is feeling. It’s a Dragon and Rider thing.

  “Why would it not work?” my friend looked puzzled.

  “Why would today be a good day?”

  “You have outstayed your welcome. Some who died yesterday had powerful allies who will seek revenge.”

  Same old - same old then. I was used to that problem. Fortunately, I had a plan. I hadn’t told Fluffy yesterday evening because the place is bugged and I was too tired after the fight to try it there and then.

  Instead, we had talked about the Diabli War and lost universes. The Dragons had a major presence in it and lost half their population. Apparently the war had taken place over a quarter of a million year ago. A time frame I found almost impossible to grasp. The Dragons are much older than humanity and the Diabli had been older than them. Their destruction was one of those things that people whispered about in dark places across the multiverse.

  It’s very difficult to wipe out any species in the multiverse. A small percentage of animals will hop instinctively when threatened with death. They always end up somewhere compatible because that’s what they desire, even insects do it. And desirable tends to include a mate. There are plenty of worlds with dinosaurs, dodo’s, and all the other creatures we think are extinct.

  For a self-aware species like the Diabli, extinction was even less likely. They had a high percentage of magic users so they had spread far and wide across the multiverse. Like the Dragons they had evolved from dinosaurs like reptiles, though they apparently looked vaguely human. Fluffy wouldn’t explain how they were destroyed, except to say that it took a lot of effort to achieve it. The reason why was simpler. They had threatened existence itself.

  “Jake, are you listening?”

  Fluffy’s words brought me back to the present.

  “I have a way to escape. Once I describe it you will have to carry it your part of it without hesitation. The Progenitors may try and stop us, though I’m hoping they will still be busy sorting out the problems I created yesterday.”

  Fluffy smiled. “Count me in.”

  I looked at my oldest friend and I knew this was the time; the time when I grew up, at least a little.

  I put an arm over my dragon’s shoulder.

  “I’m going to call you Retnor from now on. Calling you Fluffy must be embarrassing for you these days.”

  “It doesn’t matter…”

  “Yes it does. Fluffy was a name for a pet, and you and I are adults. Well mainly you.”

  Retnor looked at me and nodded.

  “Tell me what I have to do.”

  I lay naked, floating in liquid gloop. A rubber mask covered my face and various pipes came out from my other orifices. They hurt, and I suspected Fluff err Retnor of taking a bit too much pleasure in putting them there. I could see my dragon through the sides of the coffin. The idea was straight from Issus, what you can’t imagine yourself… If it worked it would all be worth it.

  I closed my eyes and imagined the box I had woken in. There was the hum of machinery to add and this was pretty much perfect. Something heavy hit the side of my coffin and I opened my eyes to see an angry mob through the gloop. Retnor had been right; I had made a few enemies since arriving.

  It gave me the urgency I needed. A moment later I was somewhere else.

  Magic flowed through me and slipped away without filling my reserves. It was like a thirsty man being shown pictures of a glass of water. I let my magical senses flow out and examined the world around me. I’d done this once before in a technology based prison and it was easier this time. One part of the wall of the machine next to me glowed with incomprehensible symbols. I stroked the largest symbol with a magic finger and the hum around me died. So did my oxygen.

  It was difficult not to panic. I had to leave this tank cleanly, preferably before the lack of oxygen brought on brain death. The hop would be tiny as there was so little power going through me.

  Next moment I was dripping on the floor, but my masks and all the tubes were still inside the machine. Focusing on the gel covering me, I moved it from me and into a corner out of sight.

  I’d thought my next move out before I came back. There was some kind of walkway above me and I would have to climb to it as I could see no ladders, stairs or lifts. Fortunately, there were pipes running in all directions above me, and equally fortunately, none of them turned out to be unbearably hot. Climbing naked is not as hard as it sounds. Naked feet have more grip than I expected and the designers of this room must have hated sharp corners, because everything was smooth.

  Climbing thirty five feet straight up was no fun, mainly because there a strong possibility of going thirty five feet straight down. I had climbed above the walkway, which was a U shaped open topped tube, but there was no way to get to it. It hung unsupported ten feet away from the nearest pipe. There was no point in hesitating. I jumped towards it and tried to hop the rest of the way. The walkway flew past, or more accurately I dropped below it before I had the energy needed to hop.

  I fell hard onto the walkway and it was as if a marching band arrived in my head. Magic flowed into me from all directions and stayed there. I felt dizzy and tired. Using magic was tiring, I’d always known that. What I hadn’t known was how much absorbing it took out of me. I had to find somewhere to rest.

  I used the energy absorbed to make myself invisible, or nearly so. Essentially I projected an image of the wall and floor of the walkway, as I made my way along it in a crouch. This might have been a waste of time, but without rest I wasn’t going to be able to hop any significant distance, lik
e home.

  After about a quarter of a mile, one side of the walkway merged with a wall and I came across something that looked like a storage cabinet. It was five foot high and had two doors. There were no handles as such, just two slightly whiter rectangles in the smooth surface at about the right place for handles. A quick scan with my magical sight revealed a force field holding the doors closed. Force fields are easier than locks because all you have to do to open what they hold together to disrupt it. The doors swung silently open.

  There was a shelf at floor level and one halfway up. Incomprehensible gadgets sat on both of them, but hardly tightly packed together. It was the work of a moment to move the things on the bottom shelf up to the top and the top shelf still didn’t looked packed. I slid onto the bottom shelf and shut the doors.

  Creating the illusion that my shelf would look like the top one was equally easy. Once I was sure I had that magic firmly imprinted so I could sleep, I relaxed and let tiredness overwhelm me.

  I woke to sudden light as the doors opened. I shielded my eyes from glowing green and blue figures. Even in magic sight the shapes were obscure. About human size was the best I could tell from what I could see.

  “He’s not here,” ‘Blue’ said wearily. “As if he would be.”

  “He has to be somewhere,” Green replied equally wearily.

  “Can’t we wait until his tracer shows up, instead of conducting this stupid search?”

  “Be quiet. What if he overheard you?”

  “Yeah, right. That’s likely. He has no knowledge of our language,” Blue made a laughing sound as he finished.

  “We are on Conference and this whole world is one big translation field,” Green snapped back.

  The doors closed and I heard Blue say, “I forgot,” as they moved away.

  I was feeling great, top of the world and brimming with power. It would be easy to hop to Wales or Salice, but now I had to stay until I found and eliminated the tracer they had mentioned.

  It certainly explained a lot. How they were able to hop us to this place, for example. It also confirmed my opinion the Progenitors were far from gods. They just had a series of well-rehearsed stage magic tricks.

  I had more than enough magic stored to search my body for a device. Bones, teeth and nails were the most obvious locations, but were empty of anything foreign. I search bowels, stomach and blood vessels next. Equally clean. This was beginning to get difficult. Muscles, skin, and body fat were next on my list and came up equally clean. The Progenitors were not playing fair.

  I made myself more comfortable on my shelf and tried to reason it out. What might a tracer look like? What properties did it have?

  It had to have one specific property. It had to be to be radiating something that could be detected. My science wasn’t the best in the universe, but I had magical senses that could detect anything, down to and including neutrinos. All I had to do was detect whatever it was and stop it.

  It took hours. There was nothing in the electromagnetic spectrum and on the lower energy scales; all I was giving off was heat and body odor. (The remnants of the gel on my flesh were beginning to smell.) It was when I looked at the electromagnetic field in my brain that I spotted it. A very faint version of the glow enveloping Blue and Green was coming from my head. There was a web of fibers running through the bones of my skull, one tenth the thickness of my hair and virtually undetectable, because the fibers were made of me.

  It was their shape that gave them their capability. They were catching something and modifying it, possibly it was magic itself; turning it into a beacon. I broke the web into a thousand disparate pieces and then traced some of the paths spinning the cells I came across so the pattern disappeared.

  I checked and there was no remaining pattern at all.

  I hoped straight to Jenny’s parents’ house.

  And appeared right in front of Mrs. Owens, stark naked.

  11. Heirs

  Mrs. Owens stared at me in shock. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a scream, which instead came out as a squeak. My hands flew to my genitals. I’d like to tell you that I immediately created clothes around me, but the truth was I was just as shocked as her, though it was her lounge and she had a total right to be in it. I just hadn’t expected her to be there.

  She waved her free hand in my direction, possibly at what I was trying to cover up.

  “Jake. Did you know that you’re naked?”

  Before I could respond, my beautiful wife walked into the room. (It would be impolite to say she waddled, though that would have been more accurate.) A series of emotions ran across her face, relief, anger, and humor before she settled on scolding.

  “Put some clothes on at once, Jake Morrissey.”

  To hear is to obey and tee shirt and jeans instantly covered my embarrassment.

  “Sorry, Mrs. Owens err Mary.” It still didn’t feel right calling her Mary, though that was what she had told me she wanted.

  Jenny had crossed the space between us and was hugging me as well as her baby filled belly would allow.

  “I was so worried. Retnor has been sending hot and cold emotions about you ever since you left. Can’t you stay out of trouble for a couple of day? He became really upset yesterday and hasn’t stopped worrying since.”

  Empathic telepathy is a mixed blessing. Retnor was worrying about me, but he couldn’t explain to Jenny exactly why.

  “Tell him I’m safe.”

  Jenny played punched me. “He already knows, silly. Why were you flashing my mother?”

  Mrs. Owens smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, dear. I’ve seen worse than that, though rarely bigger.” She looked me in the eye. Finally I’ve seen what my daughter sees in you. I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted.”

  Jenny stared wild eyed and open mouthed as her mother left the room. It might have been my imagination, but I thought the woman was close to skipping with delight.

  “Do you see the bad influence you’ve been on her?”

  “Me? What have I done?”

  Jenny spluttered a little, “Waving your thing all over the place at her. She could have had a heart attack. And what about my Dad?”

  I looked around expecting to find him hiding behind a curtain.

  “He isn’t here.”

  “But Mum might be comparing… Well it isn’t right and you know it. Why were you naked anyway?”

  It took some time to tell her the whole story. I had barely got started on my first run-in with the late Jorda dan Bowe when Jenny’s mum came in with a tray and biscuits. She didn’t leave as I continued my story, censoring my contacts with Issus and Alisandra to the point where I may well have described them as old crones. Some things wives don’t need to know, especially pregnant ones.

  It was after I described my last encounter with Jorda that Jenny interrupted.

  “You killed twenty-two Representatives?”

  “I didn’t know the sword was going to do that. You’d think being in virtual reality would be safe.” I may have sounded a little defensive.

  Jenny patted my hand. “You have to be more careful, Jake. I don’t want to be known as the wife of Jake the Slicer.”

  “He didn’t know,” Mrs. Owens chimed in. “Retnor should have told him.”

  “I don’t think Retnor knew either,” I pointed out. “He asked for the most powerful sword the Dragons knew of and they gave him a Diabli one. Knowing them, I doubt they were the slightest bit bothered about the deaths.”

  “But others were,” Jenny said wisely.

  I nodded. “Yes, my window to escape had shortened. I’d figured out how to get out thanks to Issus, and then Fluff… Retnor recreated the tank conditions for me. But even as we were doing it, some of the dead people’s friends attacked me.”

  Jenny nodded. “That’s why he was so worried. But that was yesterday. Where have you been since then?”

  So I told them the last part of the story. Jenny sat back and I saw her relax for the f
irst time since I had arrived. Then she rocked back as if she had been punched in the stomach.

  “The baby; it’s coming.”

  Mrs. Owens and I had a short contest over who would panic the most. I won and she was using her mobile before I was able to get my breath back.

  “Your father will be here in five minutes. I’ll get the case.”

  “I could hop you to the hospital,” I said, having recovered the power of speech and thought.

  “Jenny took a moment to wipe my brow and smile. “Dad’s car will be fast enough. You are coming with us, aren’t you?”

  “Nothing could stop me.”

  Every time Jenny convulsed my heart beat faster and I wanted to hop us directly to the hospital. The time between contractions was getting shorter. Her father was in high spirits, telling jokes as he drove. He was driving especially carefully and we seemed to stop at every traffic light in town, even the green ones. In some ways I was glad, but another part of me wanted to throttle him.

  It seemed to take forever to get to the hospital, but when we got there, they put Jenny into a wheel chair and we set off at a brisk pace to the maternity unit.

  “Do you want to be present at the birth?” a nurse asked.

  “He does,” Jenny replied in a tone that brooked no argument. Life had been fairly hectic during my wives pregnancies and so I’d never given it a second thought. Now it appeared I didn’t have a say in the matter anyway.

  I was pulled into the operating room, or birthing chamber, or whatever it is by one of the nurses. Jenny was offered gas from a mask which looked too much like the one I’d worn in my coffin to make me feel comfortable. I noticed a glass fronted fridge thing with bags of blood and plasma, ready and waiting. For some reason this wasn’t comforting. Then Jenny screamed and my eyes locked onto hers and stayed there.

  Seeing Jenny give birth was one of the highlights of my life. She was born to be a mother and it was an easy birth. Even the midwife said so. A doctor popped in just as my son was placed on Jenny’s tummy. He was very upbeat about it all.