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The idea that he would have been welcomed back with open arms wasn’t one that Albert had considered. Not for long. In fact, even if he was going to his own place, the one that he’d shared for years with Jeff, the walk from the Second City Space Port through the hallways of the underground community was done as High Servant Erie.
Not because he loved being that particular woman all that much, even though she was a decent member of her order, the way he’d been playing her, before his four months of vanishing to another world. No, it was simply that he didn’t know how he was supposed to become himself again, or if he really was, as of yet. The door of the place wasn’t locked, and while it was empty inside, his things were still there, so it hadn’t been reassigned yet.
Jeff, Willum Baker, had mentioned that he was going to get married soon and had a nicer place on Earth for himself and his betrothed to live. A palace, actually. The kind of thing that would make living there a better option than being up on the Moon. Things were good there, though. Second City was nearly a paradise for a common man or woman. Even minor nobles from Earth had to feel that way. You were given places to live made of fine cut and decorated stone, smoothed to perfection, after all. The furnishings he had there, even as a mere floor sweeper at a club were as nice as most of what even a Count or Duke might have on the planet below. Not as large, but easily as fine seeming.
The amount of magic was many times higher than even a wealthy man would have ever afforded, and all of it had been free.
So he was lucky to have what he did there. It was better than what the people of the IPB had, even. Not that they were truly kept as prisoners. Except that they sort of were.
That, the state of people in that world, was what Albert was thinking about when the cream and metallic gold cabinet in his front room opened. He was on the strange sofa that Jeff had made for them. It was soft, and now that he had some training in things, clearly designed for sex. There were no arms and the ability to recline was clearly meant for a woman of various heights to be able to lay back, while having her under portions exposed for certain activities. Or, he supposed, a man might be able to use it in a similar fashion.
That got him to sit up, since he looked like a woman in the moment. He didn’t want to advertise goods that weren’t on offer. Thankfully, the people coming through were just High Servant Erie and High Servant Carissa. One of them, his match, grinned on seeing him there.
“Albert! Good! I tried to come here directly, so, after everything it only took me half a week. You can change back into being yourself now. Everything was explained on the various nets and all that. How an agent took your place and went to aid the Forten in returning our people. That... Have you heard what went on there?”
He nearly grimaced, since a normal person would have turned a screen on and found out for themselves, first thing. Not him, of course. He couldn’t even use being gone as an excuse for the forgetting of such things, since the IPB world and its people did that sort of thing all the time. When he’d gotten into his dwelling there had been sitting and thinking about what he had to get done, without collecting needed information at all. Rather than seem sour over it, Albert shook his head, then lied, a bit. Only a little.
“I just got in. Back from... Well, you know.” She did, but High Servant Carissa might not.
The other girl, who was a bit taller than Erie, being about six-four or so and also being a bit better looking, laughed.
“You were in her world, taking her place for her? She told me. Finally. Some spy I turned out to be... I understood the slavery and theft rings going on, but totally missed that we had people from other worlds in the mix.” She moved in and gave Albert a hug. Even if he was sitting down and still looked like her friend from work.
That got him to set up the template in his head, and after making certain he was doing the right thing, transformed back into himself. The only difference was that he was a bit thicker, muscularly speaking, instead of seeming like a twig who had been stripped of even its bark. The white robes of the High Servant turned into regular clothing. Not even his brown robes. Just trousers and a tunic, done in a light blue. The fabric was rough and heavy still. A thing he honestly didn’t care about.
Pushing him down in a way that should have spoken of him getting lucky with the two women, Erie settled next to him, with Carissa using the soft, matching color, chair on the other side of them. It was awkward. Not just because the woman next to him was too young for him. Fourteen, or possibly fifteen now, of course, so legal enough. He just wasn’t dating anyone that much younger than he was. Not that it had been on offer from the woman.
The set up was a bit cuddly, given that, though. Part of it was the nature of the strange sofa. The rest was down to the fact that Sara kept touching him. Mainly on the arms and thighs. She knew what she was doing, as well. That was clear in the words over her head.
Her voice was firm, when she quickly recounted her adventures. Real things, compared to what he’d been up to.
“We have everyone returned, for the most part, from the Forten. A few are still missing. Probably dead. The Fleet out there is... Panicked, comes to mind. After all, the people, the regular ones, had nothing at all to do with the kidnapping and slavery. Even half of the slavers had thought of what they were doing as a kindness. Their gold class... They’re hyper intelligent, but made so selfless that they tend to think of anyone with a normal level of intellect as being in need of constant guidance. To them they were buying up people to prevent their abuse. A few all but beggared themselves to do it, too.”
Al winced then. Still, he’d gotten what she’d just said. The darker portions of it, that was.
“Half of them were doing it for those reasons. I... That isn’t good, but buying and keeping a slave to help them is a lot better than simply doing it to abuse people. The other half were less than innocent, I take it?”
That got a hard face from the woman, who leaned into him, cozily.
“Yeah. I had to spend months finding out who was on which side of things that way. In the end the woman who bought my contract was able to see that I was actually capable and useful, so cut me loose. I stayed with her, though. She... Honestly couldn’t work out what I was going on about with the others being kept. It wasn’t willful ignorance, either. She just couldn’t understand that some of her own people were keeping others for their labor and to abuse them sexually. That’s why it took so long, in the end. Sorry about that. I’d originally thought it might take a few weeks. A month tops. Five months...” She ducked down, as if to avoid a blow. One that wasn’t going to come.
Not in a physical sense.
He grinned then. His regular, rather homely, face feeling strange to him, after all that time.
“That was a bit longer than I’d expected, as well. On the nice side, I got to spend a lot of that in your world. That... There are some issues there, too, you get that, right? The people there, the Infected, they aren’t treated very well all the time. I mean the ones on the base there.”
That got a pair of tan hands spread, palms up.
“It is what it is. Things are better than they used to be and should keep improving, over time. In theory we could all leave now, which didn’t used to be the case, for instance. Things aren’t that great there, compared to here, but it honestly is about what the military over there would expect to have, most of the time. It’s even nicer than that, in some ways. So, we have our people back... I’m graduating from school with honors... The Forten are being made aware of a flaw in their people. One that they don’t have a ready way of changing. They lock people up for crimes and certain golds really did engage in such things. That...” She stopped and eventually shook her head, slowly. “They really can’t understand it all. Then, they were baffled that we haven’t insisted that all of that caste be punished, or even all who engaged in slavery by our standards.”
Carissa rolled her eyes.
“Really, that just makes sense, doesn’t it? If half of them were simply making certain that people were taken care of and not being harmed, then they didn’t really do anything wrong. The rest of them though... The ones who stole our people and raped them...”
That got a shrug from the young woman who rested her head on Albert’s now fairly muscular shoulder.
“They’re either being locked up, or let go, due to lack of evidence. I gave them the names and information they need, but their legal system has rules and taking data from peoples heads isn’t allowed there for that. Oddly, it’s a thing they can do, using machines, but it can’t be used against anyone. Those who can be punished will be. Things are pretty much the same, back home.”
She stood up then and stretched. Then sat back down, half on top of Albert.
“Speaking of which, I need to get back there soonish. What’s the score there, Al?”
He didn’t have to think for long, but didn’t just blurt words out, considering what was most important to her first.
“You have regular fighting lessons with Master Denis each morning. We managed to more or less hide who I was the whole time, but about twenty people were in on that. Um... The Child Protective Services from there have been offered a tour here. Possibly some magical upgrades. That wasn’t a bribe, but...” He grinned. “When you met Kitty Boranger, one of the CPS agents, you arranged for her broken back and non-functioning legs to be healed, which did, after a fashion, influence her to like you. They need to be gotten in touch with, when you get back. Oh, you also need to give the people coming here each day a speech, to put their minds at ease. There was a problem, some months back, that we need to deal with, now.”
He meant that he, and possible a few others from there needed to handle it.
High Servant Carissa tightened her face.
“That.” The words were, very nearly, growled. “Duke Vorhees raped a woman from your world, Erie. Not just casually, either. He beat her first and nearly killed her in the act itself, due to his size, as an insult to the King and some Ambassador. Mableton? It nearly started a war already, but that hasn’t been dealt with at all. Everyone has been uneasy over it for months now.”
Albert nodded.
“Right. I’m going to challenge him to a duel over it. Really, I need to get in touch with everyone and set that in motion. It might not be me. It happened in Noram, so it could be that Sam Builder will have to do it.” He managed to sound bland over the idea, as Erie sat up straight suddenly.
She grinned then. A bit wickedly.
“Ah. That makes some sense. For you to do it, I mean, Albert. Except that you aren’t a killer or even really a fighter. Even I’m not, or I’d just take your place and do it myself. Ancient Builder is really no better off that way. I agree, we should see to that though. Who are we calling first?”
He sighed and shook his head.
“I’m getting with my betrothed first, if that’s still happening. She seemed most understanding, but I was gone for a third of a year, here. Nearly half. I managed to get in touch with her twice in that time. That might have ended things, don’t you think?” He didn’t love the idea, but had to admit it might have ruined everything.
The woman next to him shook her head, as if she had real information on the topic.
“With Alice Orange? The woman is over three thousand years old. A few months won’t even seem odd to her, I bet. Plus, you were on a real mission, covering for me. I don’t even have to go live in a foster home when I go back. Say, not to be selfish, but do you know the plans for that? I’m working already?”
He snorted a little.
“Make work, to keep you busy. You have more cooking lessons I think, and then will be going to a school there, when you return. High school... Even the CPS agents seemed to think that sounded less than fun for you.” He stiffened a bit then, but waited for her to speak, which was actually fairly relaxed seeming.
“Sure. I get the idea there. I need to prove that being here for all this time won’t make it so I can’t relate to people there. I’ll join band or something. Maybe get a friend or two. It will be fine.”
He nodded.
“The cheer-leading team or dance squad. You need to at least try for a position on one of those. Everyone else thought it was a horrible idea, but I looked it up, in relation to something else, and it’s clearly one of the best avenues for social advancement in an institution like the one you will be attending. At least if you’re pretty while you do it.”
There was a nod then. It seemed a little confused, perhaps even betrayed.
“I can do that, I guess. Why did you research that? I never have and I used to live in that world.”
“Lisa Canut. She’s Infected. The mages here can’t change her directly. She was one of that sort. A popular cheer-person, and queen of the Prom there, before she was given strange powers that do not function and was left cursed with a painful state that is... You’ll have to see it. It’s not good. Not just strange, either. She’s in near constant agony. She can speak, so we talked about things, for a long time. She wants to end her life, if she can’t be helped but the mages won’t do that for her and she cannot manage it on her own.”
He looked at the other women, but only Erie seemed to understand it.
“That’s horrible. You’re... going to end her suffering?” The words were dark. They didn’t seem judgmental, however. Just like she understood.
Albert sighed.
“No. Or, well, possibly. I’m going to go and copy her curse, and see if I can change back, using this shape changing power. If I can, then it might be possible for Timon Baker to give her that, and allow her to alter her form to what she wants to be, safely.”
Sara took a rather sudden, very deep breath, then.
“Fuck.” It was a word in a foreign language, but even Carissa seemed to get the basic meaning.
No one spoke, but when Erie did, her mannerisms and composure were back.
“If that works, it might be a way around a lot of problems that the mages haven’t been able to handle, so far. I see it, though. Timmy changes her, she shifts out of her current state, and then Tim alters her again, so she isn’t stuck with so much power that the government in my world has to try and kill her before she can learn to use it. So, we can cover that today? If this lady is available to see us. I could do it... Try her power out?”
Albert nearly laughed, then.
“Or I could not send the little girl into danger again? I admit, you were the right one to go undercover on this last mission. I barely managed to pretend to be you for half a month with your friends helping me do it. I wouldn’t have managed under much more stress. This one is my idea though, so this time I take the danger upon myself.” Even if it meant dying.
That got him to grin.
“If I fail, you have to promise to take a cutter to me, and make certain I’m not left suffering forever, Carissa.” Why he chose that girl for the task, he didn’t know. The blue eyed, dark haired woman nodded though.
Her voice was grave.
“If you fail that way... it will be done. Even if it means I can’t sleep right ever again. I like sleep, so... Maybe don’t mess up that way?”
She managed to sound charming about it, which was different than she normally was. He was running his natural pheromones again, of course, and was nicer through the body, if not the face, but he didn’t think it was really about that.
Erie waved at him then.
“Like I told you before, Clarissa is a lot nicer than she’s been letting on. Though, I mean, I get the idea, but just removing a single letter from your name isn’t that brilliant for doing secret work. You could have just used your regular name even.”
That got rolled eyes, for some reason.
“Sure... Except that I wasn’t really trained to be a spy. Queen Constance mentioned that she needed some help and I was just out of school, so figured I’d volunteer. She didn’t even really ask me to. I just owed her.” She glanced at Albert then and, oddly, winked. “When I was younger I was rather ugly. Enough to be a distraction to a lot of people. My prospects weren’t good in life, even if I was a Baronetta. So the Queen managed to get the Wizard Timon Baker to change me into a more attractive and improved form. I still don’t know how that was managed, to be honest.”
Albert didn’t either, but Erie was the one who answered.
“She asked Willum Baker to arrange it for her. More to the point, she was planning to inquire that way, so Willum asked Timon, and Timmy didn’t have an issue with it at all. It seems like a big and powerful thing... Only you could have gone to him and asked directly and it would have been done without question. I heard the story from Will, once, after I mentioned to him who you were, about a year ago.” She smirked a bit. It was both cute and annoying, at the same time.
It was also dismissed by the other High Servant.
“Anyway, I’ll see to your request, if you fail in this. I have a cutter, if it’s needed.” Carissa went grim then, as if it seemed the probable outcome.
Albert sucked in a breath and stood then.
“I don’t suppose you have my handheld?”
That was for Sara, who rolled her eyes hugely.
“You wish. That was destroyed in a recycling unit months ago. I don’t have a new one yet, either.”
Albert would have been stuck, but he did have Erie’s device so pulled it out and tapped the blue letters on the surface for a moment. Calling Alice first, since doing otherwise would be cowardly, if the woman was breaking up with him.
“Orange, go!” Her voice sounded abstract and as if she hadn’t bothered to look at the screen in front of her. She showed rather well, since her device seemed to be on a stand, on her desk. From the background and orange colored walls, that was in space, on a ship.
“Albert here. The current missions are done, so I’m on to the next things. I have to try some fancy shape shifting for a test, which could get me killed. I have Clarissa Clary standing by to use a cutter on me if that doesn’t work. It... Honestly, I think it will be fine. This is for one of the Infected people, from the IPB world?”
There was a glance up, then a smile and a nod. She looked incredible, as always and her face even lit up, suddenly, on seeing him.
“Al! That... I’m not up on that one. Can you explain?”
He did that in a few more words, which had a nod coming in, shortly.
“Got it. What are the odds of this working, Chambers?” That had Erie pressing in alongside of him, her face thoughtful, at least in profile. The move was chummy, but didn’t get a glare from Alice.
“Honestly? I doubt it’s dangerous at all. We just need to leave it seeming that way so Albert won’t feel like he’s not brave. You know how men can be that way.”
The woman didn’t even grin at the words.
Then, neither did Alice.
“Understood. Where are we meeting for that?”
The trick there was that he didn’t really know the answer to that at all. None of them did. Sara however, was a lot better at using Cindy’s power than he was, so he could feel and read her process as she flipped first to him, then Lisa, to find that she was in Vagus, at the mage school there, where she received daily pain relief treatments from Master Tor, directly.
Al spoke first though.
“Vagus, at the big school there, by their space port. We need some of the others, for a different topic. I’ll call them in. We have Clarissa Clary with us as well.”
That got a stiff nod, though he wasn’t reading her to find out why that was. It might mean that the High Servant wasn’t a person that Orange wanted around. She had a horrible track record in that capacity, after all. Enough to have made a list of people to arrest or kill, in fact.
“We’ll be landing there in... Three hours. Orange, out.”
“Bye!” He got that out before her face vanished. She wasn’t smiling when that happened, but had been blank, not angry at him. Even if he had been gone for a long while.
A tan hand pushed his arm a bit, which didn’t make him move much, since the new muscle he had left him heavier than High Servant Erie by a good bit. Plus, she wasn’t trying to launch him across the room, even if she physically could have.
“She was wondering if you and Carissa are an item...”
That got a grin, from the other woman there.
“Well, it looks like I’m going to have time for that, soon. The mission is over and the spy work is done, so I’m between projects. What do you say, Albert? Do you have room for an extra girlfriend?”
That was a lot kinder seeming than the first time they’d met, where she’d rejected him as being too ugly, out of the blue. For her act, but still, he recalled it a bit keenly. That had hurt, a bit, even if he knew what he looked like.
Rather than reject her coolly, he shrugged.
“That sounds fun, but I was thinking that you might want to come work for me. It’s similar to being a High Servant, but you can quit if you don’t like it and you’ll get to do more real work, at a bet. Plus, you don’t have to wear white robes all the time. That’s a pain. Who made the uniform white like that? Even with magical clothing you have to change three times a day.”
That got a sudden clap, from Erie, for some reason.
“There, that’s a good idea! You aren’t really lazy, but being a High Servant honestly is a bit much. They have that horrible reputation, for one thing.”
She, Clarissa, giggled then. Which was followed by a sigh and a slightly sidelong glance.
“So, I’m being put off? Still, a job offer isn’t that bad of a consolation prize. I should...” She pulled her handheld then, and did her own tapping for a few moments. That brought up the face of the High Servant Commander, Johan Tarth. The hard seeming blond fellow nodded at her, his voice cool on speaking.
“High Servant Carissa. May I be of aid to you today?”
She nodded, then grinned at the man.
“You can. I’m just calling to let you know that the job is done. Not by me, mainly, but you’ve seen the feeds on the slavery ring?”
“I have! So, you’re out of the order now? High Servant Erie, as well? The others have stepped up, of late, but you two were wasted space, until Ancient Albert took over for Erie. I don’t suppose that I get to have him in, do I?”
Erie did something strange then, changing shape, her robes altering at the same time, into rather functional trousers and a tunic, in yellow. The face she wore was a few years older than the version he’d put on in her world and the girl seemed made up, which made her even better looking. Her voice sounded different as well.
“Probably not. He just hired Clarissa on, to work for him, so you might get to borrow her, in a pinch. She’s much better at this kind of thing than Carissa was, I hear. Anyway, we were just letting you know that two of your High Servants have vanished, but that you don’t need to look for them. I heard that the order has actually changed a lot, while I was gone?”
The man, sitting at his desk, somewhere on Earth, hunched forward. It was a very nearly predatory move.
“It truly has. We’re nearly what the organization should have been all along. We have some of our ranks who need to be punished for their activities, as slavers and kidnappers. I was thinking that we’d have them killed in batches. The Keepers of the Vows are available for that, do you think?”
Why the man was asking Sara about that, Al didn’t know, but he nodded, which had Clarissa doing the same, after locking eyes with him.
“I can ask after that. We have some things to do right now, so... Three days? I’ll call if that isn’t going to work.” She seemed efficient, given that she had almost no clue what she was speaking about at the moment. Then, it was clear she was a good bit more intelligent than her previous act had allowed her to show, externally.
“Thank you, Attaché Clarissa. I look forward to hearing from you. Miss Chambers.” Then the device went dead, rather suddenly.
Albert looked at the girls, then nodded.
“Sara, can you get with Ambassador Mableton? She’ll be needed for the executions by torture. Clarissa, if you’d get with Master Tor and let him know our current plans? We may not be allowed to visit, so need to ask first. I’ll get with Master Tim and see if he’s able to come with us. After all, if this works, he’ll be needed personally.”
At least Albert didn’t know if anyone else could manage the work. They might, but he lacked a depth of knowledge that way, in regards to what the average mage was able to do, after training.
It meant making more calls, and those led to still others. Thankfully they had a transport box in the room with them. On the private network, which meant it could go anywhere that the public network served. Getting back that way was a chore, but the outbound trips weren’t hard at all. Interestingly, Sara stepped into the box, and an hour later came back with Ambassador Mableton in tow. Which would be something like seven and a half minutes in her own time, which wasn’t long to collect someone, at all.
Cindy moved in and gave him a hug. She spoke in Standard though, since that was the language of the world she was in. At least the portion she was standing in.
“Albert! You just left and already you arranged for me to have a present? That’s pretty sweet of you.”
He nodded, playing back, getting her sense of humor a bit better now.
“That is sweet of me, isn’t it? It’s from all of us, though. The King and Heir of Noram, especially. This time I’ll arrange for some sexual aids, for your pleasure?”
That got a laugh that nearly seemed wicked from the cute, short woman. She was half a foot below him now, which was city tall for a lady, but not a giant, by any means.
“Ohhh... That would be naughty, wouldn’t it? I have to admit, I might actually go for that if I was in private with my victims. I’ll hold to just killing them, after a few measly hours of torture, for the sake of propriety. This really is fun, you know that, right? It’s why I like you best, Albert.”
There was a sigh, from Sara.
“She actually means that. At least in the moment. Now, we should... I lost track of time a bit, We’re due in Vagus in... An hour?”
They had two, until everyone was there, but Albert nodded.
“I think we can go early? Then I can test things out, and get that part out of the way. Timon will need to see it done I think, but I can go over it more than once, if I have to.”
To that end, after changing clothing, since Cindy insisted, they got into the cream and gold box and moved from the Moon to Vagus, on Earth. That had them walking out into the heat of the mid-day sun, next to an expanse of slightly red and tan glass, that had a magical river flowing and glowing around it.
There were statues, which looked nearly real, scattered around the place. One of them was of Tor, with his wife Alyssa, being there as well. Holding a child in her arms.
Albert winced, on seeing it.
“Crud, she had the baby while I was gone? I haven’t even gotten the kid a bottle of wine as a gift, yet. That’s pretty rude of me. I mean, she’s an Ancient, so I need to put the effort in that way, even if I don’t know her that well.”
It was a real oversight, and he needed to at least send a card with his well wishes on the matter. At least he thought you were supposed to do things like that. On the good side he’d only met the woman once or twice and that for only a few moments. She probably wasn’t going to insist that he be the baby’s protector in his own person or anything like that.
There were also some giant statues of Ysidril, of which there seemed to be three, a half dozen mages in red robes and one of a man in all black, who looked very familiar. Dare. His friend. Who was another person that he needed to get in touch with. As they walked the half mile or so toward the mage complex, he used High Servant Erie’s handheld to call the man, before he forgot.
As often happened, the image flickered onto the handheld so fast that it seemed like the man must have been holding it, ready to activate the thing instantly when Albert tried to signal him. Most people took far longer to get their devices out.
Dare, looking giant and too good looking, smiled, rather happily.
“Albert! You’re back! I heard that it was a secret mission, for another person, who took your place? You were in hiding the whole time?”
Sara leaned in, but there was no look of recognition from the man on the handheld.
“He had to pretend to be a High Servant, taking my place, then go to the IPB world and pretend to be me, to prevent my kidnapping there, by the government. I did manage my side of the mission all right, thankfully. We have the people taken back, for the most part.”
There was a head tilt, and a nod.
“Lady Sara? I wasn’t aware that you were the agent on the ground with the Forten. Then, people have forgotten to tell me a lot, of late. I take it that you’re both calling to fix that?” He seemed cheery and like he was pretending to be hopeful on the matter.
The girl nodded, as if that were the real truth.
“Exactly. There was a brutal rape of a woman by a Duke of Noram. A woman from my world. We’re meeting here to discuss what’s to be done with that, in two hours or so. We’re at the mage school in Vagus. Can you get the needed people for that here? We already have Tor and Timon Baker. Alice Orange as well. We won’t need everyone, but I’m out of the loop on who needs to be represented for that. When that’s done, there are some High Servants to torture to death.”
The man sobered. It was a sudden, almost brutal thing.
“I will see to that then. It’s good to have you back. Both of you. Two hours.”
The man was simply gone then. Without the normal pause that indicated movement had taken place at all. Albert put the handheld away, and kept walking toward the giant, shining, copper red dome in the near distance.
When they got toward the front, a medium sized man, who seemed to be about twenty years of age, who was in full red robes, waved to them. His face was friendly seeming, though he had lines at the corners of his eyes. It gave him a slightly hard look.
He spoke in guttural Vagish.
“Outlanders! May I ask why you have come here?” It was very direct and if it had been said in Noram, probably would have started an argument, if not a fight. At least among noble types. Commoners would have been insulted by it, but probably just answered.
Albert simply smiled and answered in the same language. It was a cultural difference, after all. Welcoming them would have also worked, but demanding to know why they were there that day wasn’t considered rude, since they weren’t expected.
“I’m Albert, from the Moon. This is Sara and Cin from a far-off Earth. We have come to see to the woman in pain, Lisa Canut. What we plan may not aid her, but it might. This last lady is Clarissa, who will kill me with a cutter if I fail by too much.”
Those words got a somber nod, after a moment.
“Lisa is kept on the ground floor, to the far side, away from others who might be disturbed if she calls out. Anything you might do to help her is a good thing.” The man teared up, and looked away. “I have considered ending her pain myself, but we were told to fix her if we could, so had to leave her trapped as she is. I will take you to her. Do you... need for me to guard the door, while you work?”
It didn’t take special powers to understand his meaning then. The man was asking if they needed help in killing Lisa.
Albert took a deep breath and then let tears come to his own eyes.
“That isn’t the plan, but if I must be killed, we can’t leave Lisa in that agony. We will try a new magic, first, however.”
The mage, who didn’t bother giving a name, walked with them, quickly. Which didn’t stop them from being stopped, three times on the trip to the right-hand side of the building, even if it was fairly well open inside. People saw them and came to demand what they were getting up to. Even if they weren’t guards there. That was the way of those of Vagus, as often as not.
It meant they had four mages in their red robes by the time they moved into the large room that held Lisa Canut. There was a pile of furs and pillows to make an awkward nest for her, as she sat about two feet from the wall on the left. The walls were a shining copper color and there was a window that let natural light in. That showed the floating river outside, as well as a lot of grass, and in the distance a more natural flow of water. It wasn’t the best view ever, but was truly about what that part of the world had to offer that way, without moving the building.
There was a stirring, as three faces, shifting and moving in the middle of the mass, turned toward them. The whole energy cluster was about seven feet across. A deep black and blue that shifted in a translucent curtain around the shifting mass of limbs and body parts. Two voices, both girlish, spoke at once.
“Hello... Sara, isn’t it?”
Albert nodded.
“Right, except that when we met, I was pretending to be Sara. I’m Albert Benoist. The Ancient in charge of Emergency Coordination here. This is Ambassador Mableton from your world, and the real Sara, who’s also from there. She was off in space, saving people from slavery. Twenty or thirty thousand of them, so it wasn’t a small thing. Anyway, we talked for a while? I heard that the mages here couldn’t do much to help you yet, and had an idea...”
There was a gasp then, which sounded pained, not surprised by the fact that he might manage an idea or two.
When she spoke, Lisa had a third voice. Everything about her shifted again.
“You were pretending to be Sara? How?”
He nodded.
“Very advanced shape changing. I have that power. A thing given to me, using magic. Anyway, the trick, if it works, will be to give that to you, so you can change from that form to a different one, if you want. First, I kind of need to...”
He actually felt afraid, but set up an image in front of him, which interestingly was of a nice looking, if pale, brunette woman, with brown eyes. Behind her, on offer as a power, was a string of small, complexly interconnected spheres. Each was a different color, there were eight of them, which was complex.
He mentally tapped that, imagining his right hand doing it. Then, reluctantly, tapped the girl who seemed to be standing in front of him.
Pain lit into being instantly, as he altered form. It was a battle then, as the world dimmed, and his vision changed location, leaving him feeling sick, as he fought to bring up an image of himself again, and change back. The thing there was that, as much pain as he felt, and with the incredible disorientation of his body altering in both space and time as well as shape, using his other power was actually not a problem at all.
The change back came with a tap.
Then he was Albert again.
Lisa shifted and gasped. This time he had to admit there seemed to be a bit of shock in the whole thing.
“What was that?”
Sara answered for him, since Albert was still recovering from the horrendous pain and sense of wanting to throw up from the disorientation.
“Albert grabbed a copy of your power and shape, then used his own ability to change back. That should mean that, if Timmy can work on you, we can do the same with you. What was it like, Al?”
He tilted his head, and glanced, not at Sara, but the living space and time warp in front of them.
“It hurt, but you already feel that pain. The healing from getting the new power will probably be intense as well. Burning inside. Using the power wasn’t that hard at all. You might have to practice for a bit to get it right, so it might not be all fixed in a day, but... I think you can do this. There are half a dozen problems, but...” He didn’t want to promise more than they could deliver, if there were things he hadn’t worked out yet.
From the doorway, one of the mages grumbled something.
“What happened? They’re speaking some kind of baby language, I think?”
He translated, then, not wanting to, changed back and forth several times while they tried to grasp what was happening. Then he got to do it three more times once Timon and Tor came, both men being very quiet, until the last change, back into himself.
Then Timon clapped and waved them away.
“I need to speak to Lisa and then, if she wishes it done, we’ll need about seven hours. I have to go carefully here, due to her constant shifting of field. I’ll give you my proxy for the meeting that’s setting up, Albert.” Then, without explaining anything else, he turned, and started to speak to Lisa, in English.
It was very clinical sounding, but the tall man smiled as he did it. That was honest enough, even. He probably didn’t know if it would really work, but there was a sense of confidence about it that wasn’t a lie.
A thing that Albert could tell, in his normal form. It was, more or less, an actual power, if a small one.
Tor Baker led them all from the room, to a space on the other side of the dome, where there were large tables and chairs set up.
“We have a small meal coming, while we wait for everyone to arrive? That won’t be long now. Thank you all for coming. I’m afraid I don’t recognize all of you? My failing, of course.” He bowed then, in the Noram fashion, which had it done back. A thing that hadn’t happened in Lisa’s room at all.
Albert figured the man would get who he was, at least. Possibly who Sara was, but that wasn’t certain.
“This is Ambassador Cindy Mableton. Her Attaché Sara Chambers, who recently graduated from the Port School in Noram and freed tens of thousands from slavery. Next to her is my Attaché, Clarissa Clary. Also recently on assignment with the High Servants.” He stopped then, and bowed. “I’m Albert Benoist. I don’t think I made myself look that different. Put on some muscle and all that?”
There was a grin then, from the Wizard.
“Ah! You really do look a lot different that way, Albert! The face is the same, but I didn’t know if it was the right man. Plus, your mind is so clear! I honestly didn’t recognize you that way! You used the meditation stone again?”
Cindy nodded then, her face pleasantly cheerful.
“We had him use it for three days straight. Nearly four. The lesson seemed to stick and everything. I was even thinking of giving it a go, when I get back. We’re going to have a lot of people ready to take on jobs here, in about a year, your time. We need to discuss that, if we can? Nothing is set in stone yet.”
The man bowed, not knowing what the question actually was, or what he would be expected to do for such a thing. Providing coin and contacts at a minimum, since it was his duty to the people of the IPB world. For all of them, to his way of thinking, but especially to those of the Infected Protection Bureau. Setting them up in their own individual palaces, and perhaps providing guards for them, as well as servants, seemed well within keeping.
Albert bowed, going low then.
“The ones coming will have the full lesson stone program, at least to date. They’ll be expected to perform duties and work, both as agents of the IPB and the government, as well as at other tasks as are needed here. There won’t be hundreds of them, but I think we currently plan a few for the Earth, one on the Moon, one on Mars and a couple out in the Fleet coming in, if that will be allowed. We all understand that it may not happen at all, of course.”
That would be a waste of all that training though, which Albert wasn’t going to allow. Tor grinned.
“That’s incredible! They have to use all of the stones first though? Isn’t that... A bit much to ask, of anyone, simply to get a job?”
Cindy laughed a bit then.
“You mean for an exotic long-term vacation in a different reality where they play at doing real work for four years? It doesn’t really seem that much to ask, no. Especially if we can get someone in with the Ysidril. Just studying them for a bit would make that worthwhile for some people. I bet we can get some actual intellectuals to do it, just for a shot at that.”
They all sat then, at the same large table, with Sara and Clarissa scrambling to push four of the things together, before the others got there. The first one in was Alice, who rounded the table and gave Al a hug, immediately. He was picked up from his chair, in fact, though he held her back well enough that it wasn’t a one-sided thing at all.
“There you are, Al! Finally. Are you ready to go and risk your life for that woman you barely know?” The words weren’t an accusation. It was as if the woman simply thought that was a fine enough way to spend an afternoon. At least if he weren’t going to die doing it.
He, feeling daring, kissed her. It was a light thing, but done back.
“Already done. About ten times. That poor woman is in pure misery. I hope this works for her. If not... Then we have to kill her.” He wasn’t trying to be upsetting or start a fight, but those words got different reactions from everyone in the room.
Tor scowled at the idea. Then, glancing at Alice, who seemed to be about to say something to him, his face changed. Going from lovely to rather silly looking, while still clearly being himself. Alice nodded at the alteration.
“Ah. Right. That’s better. Thanks, Tor. Now, why were you making a face, before that?”
He shook his head then and looked at the top of the table he was sitting at. That was made of tan focus stone, as were the chairs.
“We can’t just give up on her. I know that she’s in pain, but there has to be a way!”
Albert, feeling a bit embarrassed to be challenging the great Wizard Tor, in what was essentially his own home, shook his head.
“That pain... I’ve never felt anything like it, Tor. It was all I could do to get myself to change back, each time, it was so distracting. I understand that I’m being evil and selfish in a way, but we can’t leave her like that. Not even for a few more months, while we try to figure out what to do. It’s inhumane. That she had to wait for me, even for a few hours, to test the idea...” He shook his head then, sad on a level he’d never felt for anyone before. Not even himself.
Alice slapped the table then. Not too hard, but it got attention as others walked into the room.
That was an interesting group. One led by Dare. The people he figured as being needed to redress the wrong that Duke Vorhees and his friends had done, as well.
They were all faces he’d seen before, though he didn’t know all of them that well. Thankfully, Tor stood then, and did the introductions.
“This lady is Clarissa Clary. Attaché to our emergency section. Clarissa, I don’t know if you’ve met everyone. This is my son, Dareg Canton. Prince of Noram. His wife, Karina Princess of Noram and Ancient of Mars. Next to them is my niece, Tamu Baker, who runs the worlds space ports now, and her sister Comp, who runs almost everything else. Don’t let the new face fool you, it’s her, from your handheld. Then we have my sister, Terlee, Countess Thomson, her husband the sitting Count, Toverland and their son, Dumas, who’s the Ambassador to the world the wronged woman was from.”
Each of the people bowed, which meant standing to do it back and even if it was a bit different, moving to pass out hugs. Things not everyone got, though he did from all of them except Dumas, who shook his hand and patted him on the shoulder, instead. When they settled again, he was directly across from Count Thomson, who looked grim.
“What’s the plan? We can assassinate Voorhees, but that won’t truly inform his compatriots that they need to mark the line, will it?”
The boy across the table, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, took a deep breath.
“The wronged world is my responsibility. I’ll challenge him to a duel to the death, with cause, and make a public spectacle out of it.”
There was a small snort then, from Sara, who got attention. That was mainly for being cute, but it did happen. She took that as an excuse to speak.
“That would start a war. Which, true, if that happens, we get to bring the IPB into it, and Vorhees and his pals won’t last long at all, but if we’re doing that, why not just get permission and march on them? How does King Richard stand on this? Does anyone know?”
Tor coughed then and nodded.
“He’s willing to fight over this, if needed. Or to look the other way, while the IPB takes revenge. He even spoke of going in his own person to fight for their honor. That can’t happen for another year and a bit, but he spoke the words and means it. I think that he’ll back whatever we decide here today.”
Those words had Sara nodding.
“That changes a lot then, doesn’t it? What was the trick here, to make it so that the IPB would have to come and fight, and then be forced out of this world, or the King would face open rebellion? If he’s with us though, and we take a measured response to this, I can’t see that really working. Honestly, we should have a representative from our world come and handle this duel. That way we don’t look weak, needing to be protected by the people here and we seem interested in justice, instead of mere senseless revenge.”
There was a big inhalation from Tor then.
“Who do we get to do that though? It would need to be someone with enough clout that it makes sense for them to be engaged in such a thing. That...” He shook his head as if that wasn’t going to be possible to find.
Cindy laughed then.
“I could do it? Or if you think that’s too on the nose, being this was clearly aimed at me in the first place, when they couldn’t kill, or bribe me to stop working with King Richard. We could have Director Turner in for it. Her, or Brian Yi. Bridget Chambers? She’s the second in command of the IPB, after all.” There was a grin to go with the words.
A thing that got Albert to nod.
“That could work. Any of them, if my understanding of things is correct. Truly, anyone from the IPB, from the head woman to the lowest janitor would be seen to have reason for such an action, morally speaking. There are those outside of that realm as well. The government and their other officials, for instance. I don’t know if we should include them in this, since it’s mainly an IPB project that had the Infected woman here in the first place.”
Albert touched his face, which felt weird, after having not been himself for so long. After a moment, he looked at Mableton and tilted his head. Knowing he should do the work himself, which he did, before he spoke. She did it as well, reading what he was doing, and nodded.
“Right. Vorhees is roughly a class three. He’s a giant, and strong, but only has a shield and extra strength in a combat rage. A class three threat, but no higher than that. We don’t want to bring in someone too powerful to remove him, given that. That takes out... Pretty much everyone we mentioned. At least they’d have to play with him for a while first, instead of just killing him out of hand. I mean, even I’m a class five.”
Tor shook his head then.
“I don’t know that designation? Class?”
The Ambassador nodded at him and sat forward, looking down the table.
“They’re a basic threat assessment. If you can fight a normal, unarmed man, while unarmed, you would be a class one. That pretty much is just a regular person. A class two would be expected to handle a single armed soldier, with no shield, while unarmed. If you can take five men at one time, armed, but without your kind of shielding, then you are a class three. Do twelve and you’re a class four, then there is a big jump, to a hundred at once, for five. Six is a thousand and a seven is ten thousand. Honestly, it isn’t that useful of a scale. I’ve seen class two threats take down class sevens, for instance. In a general way it works though. If we put Vorhees up against, say, Bridget, a class seven, she’ll punch a hole clean through the man and rip his head off faster than any of us can see. Literally.”
It was Dumas Thomson that waved at Cindy then.
“How high does that scale go? Given the expansion of numbers, a class nine would need to be able to battle a million soldiers, without recourse to weaponry?”
She nodded.
“Exactly right. Class ten is the answer. It’s figured that a class ten could take on the entire world by themselves, including all of the other Infected. We only know of a few of those, however.” She tilted her head then, and glanced at first Sara and then Albert. “Which means you two get out of fighting this Dukebag.”
Only he laughed at the play on words, having heard the actual phrase in English and being able to translate like he was.
“How about one of the unpowered agents? I didn’t get to see any of them fighting, but Master Denis seemed to hold all of them in great esteem that way, when the topic came up.”
She nodded at the idea.
“That... Can we get them weapons? At least what Vorhees will have?”
That got a sudden, rather enthused nod, from Count Thomson.
“I wager we can! My nephew, Willum Baker, is a fine hand at building and might be willing to sell you some such, if I ask politely? They will need to be purchased, of course. That... The exchange rates between worlds is difficult that way.”
Albert nearly didn’t get it, since Willum would have made such things and given them freely. It was Torrance Baker, perhaps the greatest builder in the world, who nodded at the words, though he squinted a bit, his mind clear, and focused, making the words over his head tiny and almost impossible to read.
“I get the meaning. If it is a gift to them, that will make it seem as if County Lairdgren and possibly County Baker is in league with the IPB. Which is simple truth, but they could be targeted for a war, in that case. If the items are purchased, then it is a simple business arrangement and won’t easily be held to such considerations. Not that Willum needs gold. He’s a wealthy man, already, in his own right. How do we arrange that? I could give you coin for it...”
The words were strange and while clearly leading, had problems built into them. For instance, if Willum couldn’t make magics for them that openly, without it being an issue, the same probably had to be said for Tor, if he paid for the devices. That would engage the entire land of Vagus, as well, who were best left out of their concerns, for the time being.
A true loan of coin might work, since like a purchase, the lender of such things wouldn’t be held to a high standard when it came to providing such. After all, too many nobles needed to borrow from time to time for that to be considered a negative thing.
Loans had to be repaid, eventually, however.
Following the line down, Albert came up with an idea.
“Willum Baker and Ambassador Mableton are to be wed soon. As his wife, she can use his coin, to commission a set of such weapons for her boyfriend or lover in that other world. Then he, or I assume, she, could use those to come here for a duel.” He grinned then and shook his head. “Though we’re probably making too big of a deal out of this. After all, this Duke might simply be willing to beg forgiveness and apologize for his wrong doing.” He meant that as a joke, and at the very least no one looked at him like he was stupid.
Cindy nodded.
“I’ll see what I can get set up that way. Now, speaking of marriages, when are you two tying the knot?”
She turned on him, rather cruelly, and smiled as if she weren’t putting them on the spot.
Alice chuckled a bit.
“In a few weeks. I need to meet his parents still. Then, if they don’t wisely drive me off with pitchforks, we can do that. I was thinking that we’d do it on the Ranford?” She looked at him then, as if her fleet flagship wasn’t good enough for him that way.
It truly was, of course.
“That works. We’ll need to have everyone in for that. There should be room though, right? We can put in a transport hut just for the occasion.” He was jesting again, but Dare nodded.
“Really, I can get you one for each of your vessels, Alice. Oh!” The good-looking fellow slapped at his chest then, making his face alter instantly, as if he not only wore a disguise amulet around, its preset made him look Alice appropriate. She nodded then.
“You can get those for all of the Jump craft?”
The man, now goofy seeming, nodded.
“I already have them, in fact. I can go do that now, if we have a plan for the time being? If we can’t get one of these men to challenge the Duke...”
Albert shrugged at the words.
“Then we bring Director Turner in for it. Not bringing her is to make the fight a bit fairer for the Duke. We don’t truly owe him that. We just don’t want to scare everyone else as he dies, is all. Not to a level that forces them to go to war, in terror.”
Albert got a nod as Dare jumped to his feet and left the room. Fast.
“Now, Count Thomson... I was asked to invite you and some of your men to the IPB world for a training mission? A hike and some camping I believe? It sounds fun, really.” Not that walking or sleeping on the ground was normally a great thrill to him. Still. The idea of doing that kind of thing in a strange reality could be alluring. Even if, as far as he could tell, that other world wasn’t truly that different from their own. A bit, at the seams, but the people were still human beings and there were good and bad ones. Just like he was used to seeing in his own world.
They bantered back and forth for a while, but it didn’t take long at all for Dare to come back, with a case of transport hut amulets and a continuation of the needed plans.