Chapter 75

 

Jared

 

 

Issio abandoned his seat beside Lalia, and Jared and Sofi seated Louise in Issio's place; Lalia, with murmurs of concern, rubbed at the towel over her shoulders.

"Where did your car cease to function?" inquired Issio. "We will go and look at it."

"Wait until it stops raining," said Louise, wiping her face with the third towel. "I left it a couple blocks away. We haven't had it out of the garage for months; I suppose it developed some glitch, being left all this time."

"Ned's still home?" asked Cara.

"He has a very bad headache." Louise looked over the towel at Chazaerte in the recliner. "Blue wine," she said, which was a clear enough explanation; no one in the neighborhood would have any trouble understanding that today. She scrubbed at her hair. "It was a lovely party, dears," she said to Jared and Cara. "We did enjoy it so much."

"I'm so glad you did," said Cara. "Would you like a blanket?"

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm just wet. And perhaps a little tired. We had a late night. You went home earlier, didn't you; so sensible of you. You must have had a lovely peaceful sleep."

"Not exactly," admitted Jared, and sat down to bring Louise up to date. She had seen the D'ubian It and the Linden's World It; she had been told about the fly, although Mimi had been asleep and looked entirely harmless. She needed to know about the most recent activity.

"And this is what we are discussing," Jared finished. "What we're going to do, how we are going to get rid of the fly."

"I believe," said Issio, "that dead would be good."

"If we could do it," said Carter, and with a smile he spread out his cards. "Beat that," he invited Terry, who peered and frowned.

"You have seven points left," he said.

"That is correct. The boy can count," he informed the assembly.

"And I," said Terry, "have five points left. Five is less than seven, right? So you have more points than I do." Carter threw up his hands and turned his back on Terry. "Does that mean I win?" Terry asked Maud.

"Repulsive brat," she said, and put down her cards and began to laugh.

"He has five hundred points," said Zarei, leaning on the breakfast bar. "He has won. This is beginner's luck?" she asked Carter, and he folded his arms and turned his back on the entire room.

"Dear me," murmured Louise, eyeing Terry.

"So you're saying," said Jared to Carter's back, "that you don't think we can kill the things."

"I don't know," he said, and sighed. "We don't know a great many things," he admitted, and turned back to the rest of the room. "If you had illusions about the scope of our power, you must be losing them."

"It means we are all in the same boat," said Jared, feeling tired. "And it's a leaky rowboat, sinking fast."

Lalia took the cup of coffee Zarei passed her and handed it on to Louise, who cupped her hands around it gratefully. "But you got into her mind," Lalia said. "Jared and Issio; you have power, just as I said. I have power, and Maud is right. The neighborhood has power, if we can find a way to use it."

"You got into her mind?" said Louise, and Sofi put one of her delicate hands on Louise's arm and began to explain in a low voice. Jared heard mention of Ears. Louise turned amazed eyes upon him. Maud shuffled the cards; Carter and Zarei glowered at Terry, and he beamed at everyone impartially.

"Perhaps among us, we have enough power to dislodge the It," said Lalia.

"And do what?" inquired Maud. "Take her out of Mimi and she will seek another vehicle. This particular entity seems very good at that; this must be the third body she has used."

"Actually in her mind? Like psi power?" said Louise.

"I do not like that word," said Issio. "Psi. It sounds like silly superstition. Our people use their minds as well as their bodies; it is something we do, that is all. Because many Earthians and Bahtans do not have this ability, they believe it is something supernormal. It is not."

"Many Earthians can do this too," said Jared. "I don't know about Bahtans."

"Many Earthians with our blood do," said Maud, dealing three hands; Zarei was staying by the breakfast bar, drinking her coffee and ignoring the card table. "And Bahtans, too."

"And I have none of your blood," said Jared.

"Power comes from many sources," said Lalia. "Yours comes, as ours does, from your ancestors. Yours is different from ours, that's all. Which makes me think," she appealed to the others, "that his could be more effective than ours. Since ours hasn't worked all that well."

Louise tasted her coffee, lowered the cup, and took a deep breath. "I wonder," she said. "What if Jared and Issio can control the enemies that came through the portal? What if they could go further? What if they could close the portal itself?"

A long silence fell in the living room; the only sound was the rain rattling on the roof, and Terry, arranging his hand and whistling softly, one of the selections he and the D'ubians had composed for the reception last night. They had made a recording of these compositions and presented it as a wedding gift, original D'ubian music in a private recording session, a gift of great sentimental and actual value.

"Oh, hell," said Jared, "let's just take one problem at a time, okay? Mimi and the fly. Let's concentrate on that. We don't have any idea if we can do anything about it, or how we can do it."

Cara jumped up and ran off into the study, where she could be heard rummaging through readers on the shelves over her desk. "Possession," she announced, reappearing. "Earthian superstitions. Clyde mentioned exorcism." She turned the reader on. "Driving out demons."

"Incense and magical rites," said Jared, "according to whatever religion the participants were connected with. Sweetheart, I'm not about to start chanting incantations; how about you?" he asked Issio, who looked horrified.

"No, but we might get ideas we could use," Cara said. "For one thing, I seem to remember they often offered an alternative host."

"A what?" asked Gina, listening wide-eyed.

"Once the demon was driven out, he had to have somewhere to go," said Jared, "if I remember correctly, and they often provided animals –"

"Flies," said Louise at once.

"Stoads," said Cara, with a shudder that Gina echoed.

"Nuntulpos," said Issio. "At least in these shapes they are easier to handle; they cannot operate beam pistols."

"It would do for the time being," said Cara, "until we figure out how to get rid of them altogether."

"Box them up," suggested Jared, "and haul them all to Or2 and dump them through the portal. Here, take back your garbage."

"'And then slam the door," said Cara.

"If we knew how," said Louise.

Maud put down her hand. "Four points," she said.

"Three," said Terry, spreading out his cards. Maud rolled her eyes.

"You know," said Cara, sitting down on the arm of Jared's chair again. "We don't know what works and what doesn't. But we know we have to do something. Why don't we just plunge in and try it? Would we be any worse off? We know what worked before, in other people, this exorcism stuff. And Jared and Issio were able to get into Mimi's head, and with Lalia, now, more power, you think, so why don't we just see what happens?"

"You need us too," said Terry, discarding. "Gina and me. Willis is good too, only he does engines and things better."

"Sure, Terry and I," said Gina, looking only a little scared, and Jared moved in at once.

"No," he said firmly. "Issio and me, fine; incense and ritual chants, fine, if you think it helps. Leave the kids out of this." Issio nodded emphatically. Lalia opened her mouth and Jared pointed a finger at her. "No," he said, and she subsided. He looked around, trying to think; he really didn't know how to proceed at all. "So you think the neighborhood has power that we can use?" he said.

"You can use us," said Terry, waving a hand toward the D'ubian house. "We can play the music." He glanced up at the blank faces surrounding him. "The music makes the power go the right way," he said, as one reminding them of basic facts they should not have forgotten. "Then you can use it."

"The music –" said Louise, sounding dazed.

"It makes like a path," explained Terry, taking pity on her ignorance. "And then Gina and I and Willis, and all the others – because they have power, like a fuel cell, you know? And Issio and Jared and Lalia can use it and get the fly out of Mimi. Only you need to kill it or put it somewhere, or it will just find someone else, like you said. Like your not-real mom, Cara."

"I like that," said Jared. "Your not-real mom."

"She was angry all the time," said Terry, sorting cards. "It used her being angry to get into her. It uses stuff like that. Bad stuff. Or when Mimi was sick."

"How do you know this?" Sofi asked him, and he shrugged.

"Everybody knows this stuff," he said, explaining elementary facts once more.

"And we all have power?" said Cara. "All of us? I don't have all this mind sharing power, but do I have any other power? You think I have the right genes, I guess," she said to Maud, "for breeding."

"Yes," said Maud. "You have the right genes. As to power, yours is of a different kind."

Cara eyed her, frowned, sighed. "Well, there must be something I can do," she said, "anyway. Ideas, for instance. The alternative host. If we got that thing out of Mimi and into something else we could control?"

"I saw butterflies on the back lawn," said Terry. "Before it rained."

"You can't use something pretty like a butterfly," protested Gina. "It isn't right." Jared caught from her a quick vision of a butterfly, fluttering wings and delicate colors, soaring across the lawn spouting obscenities in four languages; he laughed.

"A mouse," said Issio. "A white mouse, such as is used in laboratories. I could find such a creature; they are sold to schools for biology classes."

"They're cute!" protested Gina.

"Mice are pests," said Sofi. "I am surprised none of our Its have appeared yet as mice. They are throughout the Alliance, everywhere, like flies carried on Earthian ships. They live short lives," she told Gina, "and reproduce abundantly, very quickly, and spread very fast. They carry diseases, and eat stocks of grain used to feed our food sources."

"Or the grain we use for food," said Jared. "Pancakes," he pointed out, and Sofi flicked her tail at him.

"They're still cute," said Gina.

Issio put his hand on her shoulder. "For Mimi's sake," he said, "we can sacrifice a cute mouse, do you not think?" Gina sighed and nodded reluctantly. "So I will go tomorrow and find a mouse," he said, "and a cage, and we will all think. All of us," he said, including the entire room, not leaving out Louise, damp on the couch, or Chazaerte, comatose in the recliner. "We will try to decide how Jared and I will drive this creature into the body of a mouse. This is a beginning," he explained to Louise. "If we can do this, perhaps we can do other things. If not – Cara is correct. We need to try. We need to find out."

Lalia regarded him with amusement. "It strikes me," she said, "that this beginning could be very dangerous. If you find out how you can use your power, what will you do next, I wonder? Do you like us, for instance?"

"Remember," said Maud, looking over her shoulder, "I am your mother-in-law. I gave you a beautiful vase for a wedding present." Cara, on the arm of Jared's chair, sputtered into laughter.

"That alone," said Jared, "would justify Issio and me in forcing you into the body of a mouse. Just for practice."

"Gin," said Terry, spreading out his cards, and Carter and Maud both groaned.

Lillian called near dinnertime to say that it had been, as far as she and Al could recall, an excellent party, and she thanked Jared and Cara for inviting them. Jared asked after Ann and Phyllis and Patterson, and Lillian said they were all, to the best of her knowledge, still alive.

Sofi and Cara left to get take-out for dinner. Chazaerte put his left arm down on the chair arm and put his right arm over his eyes instead. Carter, muttering about revenge, launched a game of cribbage with Terry, apparently under the impression that the boy didn't have the ability to count his hands to the best advantage. Jared could have told him he was mistaken.

Mimi, next door, began to scream; it was unmistakably the vocabulary, if not the voice, of the fly, and from Louise's expression, it was the vocabulary of the late Dr. Lindstrom, too. "Now that," she said to Maud and Lalia, "is what I meant last night. Vicious harridan bitch."

Lalia got up and ran through the rain to Clyde's house and after a little while the screaming ceased, which was a relief, but it made Jared think of a life lived in chemical unconsciousness, not to mention narrow beds with restraints in small cells. "We have to try," he said to Issio. "I don't know what or how, but we have to try."

"I like the idea of practice," said Issio pleasantly, looking upon Zarei, who fluffed her tail and the body hair on her neck and moved behind the breakfast bar, away from him.

There was a knock on the back door and Durata slipped in, bright eyes under her wet brown hood. "Duran makes dinner," she told Terry, "and we go to the studio."

"That's tonight?" said Terry. "Hey, yeah, I gotta go, everyone. See you tomorrow! We can finish our game then," he told Carter, and he picked up his guitar and vanished out the back door with Durata, and Carter hastily gathered up the cards; Jared looked at the cribbage board and calculated that Durata's summons had saved Carter from being double-skunked in about one more hand. Carter frowned at him and yanked the pegs out of the board very rapidly. "The boy has amazing luck," he said, and turned his back to Jared.

"Your grandson," Louise said to Maud, "is a very talented boy."

"He is a very powerful boy," said Maud, and looked down at Gina, sitting on the floor beside Issio. "And so is Gina."

"What about Willis?" asked Gina. "No one ever mentions Willis."

"There are people with extraordinary power," said Maud, "who don't, for whatever reason, choose to use it. I don't know Willis very well, but I don't think he ever wanted any special power and I think if he ever noticed he had any, he would have buried it instantly in the deepest mental pit he could find."

"And Cara?" Jared ventured, since neither she nor Sofi were in the room, and Maud looked at him and smiled.

"None of my children," she said, "is without power." She looked at Chazaerte, limp in the chair. "Some use it more wisely than others," she conceded.

 

Issio and Jared drove Louise down to where she had abandoned her own car. It was an elderly vehicle, and the fuel cell was run down to the bottom; they would find someone to install a new one the next day, they promised her, and they drove her home, where Dr. Ned was enthroned in a huge overstuffed chair in the middle of their living room, wearing a faded bathrobe and a day-old beard and ancient leather slippers and eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup while watching a vid designed, Jared judged, for children a little older than Terry. Dr. Ned looked as if he had just enough brain power tonight to take it in.

They took the long way home. "I do not know what we are going to do tomorrow," confided Issio. "Or whenever we try to do this thing. I will get the mouse and the cage, but what happens after that?"

Jared had an uncomfortable vision of himself holding up his hand to Mimi and shouting something useful, like "Hocus Pocus!" or perhaps "Abracadabra!" He thought the vision would be complete if he could see himself wearing a long black robe with cabalistic symbols around the hem; a magic wand, tipped by a sequined star, would also be useful. He thought Gina might have such a wand, from some elementary school program years ago. Issio, catching the vision, glanced at Jared with amusement and thumped his tail, and added himself in a tall conical hat, clutching an ancient crumbling book that could only be a book of spells, with spider webs dangling from the corners, and Jared, laughing, relaxed.

And lying with Cara that night, listening to her steady breathing and the patter of drops on the roof, the storm having given way to a small steady rain, he went over in his mind his ventures into the mind of the fly and tried to remember exactly what he had done, and thought that they were all clinging to straws in this sea of strangeness.

Next door he heard Mimi wake up. There was just enough distance between the houses, insulated, also, by the car ports, that he had never before been aware of his neighbors and their activities. Issio and Sofi had had some memorable fights in their bridal days, but he hadn't heard them; he had only noticed the aftermath, if they were still snarling and slamming car doors the next morning, for instance. And Mimi and Clyde had, early on, urged him to let them know if they had their vid player up too high; they were both, they admitted, just a little deaf, years of space flight and heavy equipment; and he had never heard a thing from them.

But it was not possible to ignore Mimi now; he thought the whole neighborhood must hear her, and he listened to her multilingual ranting with aching pity; it was not right, what the fly and Dr. Lindstrom together had done to a good, kind, decent woman, he thought.

Lalia was sleeping over there tonight on the big bed in the bedroom while Clyde used the couch bed, and the two nurses were spelling each other; the Bahtan sisters would take over again tomorrow, but Lalia thought they should have another night of sleep. They had been working too hard. Clyde had been working too hard. None of them had had any real time off since Mimi had been brought home. It was no wonder that the blue wine had got to them all, Jared thought.

The ranting next door ceased; someone had gotten up with an infuser.

Jared didn't know what he and Issio were going to do, but Cara was right. They might as well just plunge in and try. Something had to be done; there was no doubt about that, and the sooner the better.