“Please, CJ. Just wait until we’re back at the main bar,” Budo said patiently as the trio walked down the hall.
CJ frowned impatiently, but kept her pace. When she reached the doorway, she saw a familiar friend sitting at the bar. “Kat!”
“Hey CJ,” her friend smiled back as she rose from the stool. After they met and exchanged quick pecks on their cheeks, the young woman held CJ at arm’s length and wrinkled her nose. “Whose butt have you been kicking around this time?”
CJ smiled and motioned wryly at Budo, “She wouldn’t let me shower. Said it was urgent. You heard about Feld and Solara?”
“Yeah,” Kat nodded somberly. “I was in the neighborhood. Figured you might need some help.”
CJ nodded. “That we will.”
Together, they turned to the center of the room where the other ‘Scapers had gathered. In the center, the brazier had been replaced by a set of sturdy tables surrounded on all sides by chairs. At the head of the table were Budo and Mirage, the latter wearing vid-specs and an earpiece. Most of the ‘Scapers had already taken their seats when Sondra and the cloaked woman approached the table.
“What are they doing here?” Lippy and CJ asked in unison. CJ continued further. “Who invited them?”
“I did,” Mirage replied somewhat uncomfortably. “The reason will be somewhat evident if we can continue.”
CJ reluctantly took her seat as the cloaked woman did the same. Both kept a wary eye on the other.
Once everyone sat down, Mirage spoke into his headset. “Start the historical record. DNA screen with aliases.”
The computer responded, “The people known under the aliases of Mirage, CJ, Kat, Lippy, Bern, Ebony and Cel are present. Two unknowns also present. One Budo synthetic android present.” Budo’s eyes narrowed upon hearing her official classification.
Mirage added, “For the record, DNA sample 123-A provided by Sondra Thirdmoon. DNA sample 123-B provided by…” Mirage paused and turned to the cloaked woman. “You still haven’t told us your name.”
The cloak shrugged. “It’s not important.”
“What the frell?!” CJ leaped out of her chair, the latter rolling away from the table. The cloaked woman did the same and faced her.
“CJ! Easy!” Mirage tried to bring some order to the situation. Turning to the cloaked woman, he said, “It’s ok. We don’t really need a name. You were invited. It’s your right.”
“Like frell it is!” CJ roared. “I want to know just who it is I’m dealing with here.”
“You don’t need to know that,” the cloaked woman answered.
“CJ,” Bern said, “she did bring Feld back to us. That has to count for something.”
“It does,” CJ answered, “but without a specific name or motive, I can’t tell if his survival was mere benevolence or an infiltration tactic of some sort. The news feed mentioned a rebellion. Perhaps, this woman is one of the agents they spoke of. Until we get a name on the record, I don’t trust her. I want that name.”
The air was thick with tension. “No.” was the simple response.
CJ lunged just as the cloak fell to the floor revealing…. nothing. CJ’s attack met only air. When CJ stopped to look around, a sharp blow landed across her abdomen. The taut muscles absorbed most of the blow, but she was still knocked back a bit.
In anger, CJ rushed to the general direction of the attack, but only received a blow behind the ear for her troubles. Fighting back the frustration, she closed her eyes and tried to use her other senses to locate her opponent. Turning her head slowly, she thought she could hear the sound of a footfall on the worn carpeting. Feinting left, she lunged right and tackled the invisible woman to the floor. Now with the advantage, CJ found her opponent’s throat and pushed down on it with her forearm. “I want your name. Who are you?”
In response, the woman’s skin turned to a vibrant, dynamic white noise display. CJ recoiled only slightly at the sight and repeated, “What is your name? Why won’t you tell us your name?”
The Gray Woman stared back. “I do what I do to survive. Just like you, Peacekeeper.” A pause, then, “Budo? Mirage? What are the law enforcement protocols if a Gray Woman is found?”
Mirage and Budo looked at each other before accessing various sources of information. Budo replied first, “On most planets in the galaxy, a Gray Woman is to be killed on sight. This protocol is implemented as a signed treaty in the wake of the Genome War on Nova Terra and the Hunt which followed. A bounty of 10 million credits is in effect, payable immediately by any government upon capture or proof of termination. A secondary bounty of 1 million credits is payable upon submission of DNA evidence.”
The Gray Woman turned back to CJ. “You speak of trust, Peacekeeper. Tell me. Do you identify yourself wherever you go? Can you walk around a crowded marketplace without feeling an itch between your shoulder blades? What is your name? CalamityJacq certainly doesn’t sound like a family name given to a newborn babe?”
The room was silent, all eyes on the women on the floor. CJ blinked once, twice, then replied in an even tone, “I don’t give a flying frell about whatever bounty you have on your head. Quite a few of us live under similar situations. These people are my friends. What I do, I do for them. If you were to so much as cause one of them to stumble, I would destroy you and erase the merest memory of you, 10 million credits be damned. I want your name.”
The Gray Woman considered this for a moment, then replied, “Lucretia. My name is Lucretia. Is that good enough for you?”
“For now.” CJ got off of her opponent and marched back to her seat.
Lucretia retrieved her cloak and covered herself as Mirage spoke to the computer. “Delete and destroy all records of DNA sample 123-B. Rewind record to identification of Sondra Thirdmoon and restart. Second unknown present is known as Lucretia, an alias. No DNA sample for her has been collected.”
“So,” Mirage continued after he flipped up the vid-lenses of his glasses to gaze at each person in turn, “Budo and I have assembled this meeting because the situation on Proteus-VI is more dire than we first realized. Unfortunately, this could not have happened at a worst time for us.”
Mirage then flipped the lenses down and began tracing his index finger in the air to the right of his head. There, traced out in the air above the table, a three-dimensional map of the galaxy appeared. “As most of you know, with the sudden disappearance Victoria Silverwolf, and our subsequent attempts at discovery and retrieval, we are not at our strongest at the moment. No offense intended to CJ and Lippy.”
“None taken, luv. Go on,” Lippy reassured him.
“Cyan and NeonMosfet have gone off in search of Vicki. Their last telemetry report fixed their position about here,” a green light appeared on the map. “At maximum jump, they are at least a month away. NeonMosfet said that they’d be willing to help, but that they’d lose the trail if forced to abort the search. I’d told him to continue with their efforts and that we’d contact them if we needed them.”
Everyone nodded their approval.
Ebony then raised her hand to speak. “What about the Kiwallis?”
Mirage answered, “The Kiwallis are still in their Time of Reflection or whatever it is they do. JK, of course, is with Obielle and was made an honorary Kiwalli for the duration. All communications to their home worlds near the galactic core have been received in silence. There’s no static, just no answer or acknowledgement. I’m hoping that they get the message eventually.
“Now, as to the urgency of the situation, I’ll leave that to Budo and the newcomers.” Mirage sat and removed the holo-map with a single gesture. “Budo?”
“When I last checked on Feld, he stirred a bit and mumbled something. When I leaned in closer, I heard the word, ‘Mentath’. Knowing of their various commerce guilds, I asked Mirage to check on Mentath newsfeeds while I approached Sondra to asked her what she knew.” Budo paused and looked at her expectantly.
“For the past two cycles or so, I’ve been having visions relating to the events on Proteus-VI. Among the images I’ve seen, apart from the death and destruction you saw earlier, which will spread beyond that planet if my visions are true, are a Mentathian holy relic, Mathieu, Feld as you know him by, Solara and all of you. Whatever comes is going to change your lives forever.”
Cel was the first to respond. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Wait a sec,” Kat interjected. “If you’ve seen the future, then you can guide us. Perhaps we can head this trouble off somehow.”
Ebony stood and interrupted Sondra’s reply, much to the latter’s surprise. “Kat, it doesn’t work like that. The visions of Spiritwalkers dwell in the realm of possibilities. They see all possible futures in a non-determinate order. One day’s vision of fire and blood may be the catalyst for the next night’s vision of peace and longevity. Or vice versa. Even with the best of intentions and knowing ahead of time the full set of possibilities, you can’t use these visions to plot a course. All we can do is use the knowledge that we’ll be involved some way.”
Ebony stopped and noticed that all eyes were upon her. Shrugging, she sat back down and went back to work on her quilt.
CJ broke the silence. “So, Sondra, how badly does it go for us? What are our possibilities?”
Sondra looked around and said evenly, “I’ve seen every one of your deaths. But, I’ve also seen every one of you survive, so there’s hope.”
“There’s always hope,” murmured Bern, but not with her usual verve.
“What about Solara? Or Feld for that matter?” Lippy asked.
“They, too, have some chance to survive this. Whether this is desirable is another matter.”
CJ raised an eyebrow. “What the frell does that mean?”
“CJ,” Budo answered, “I did some research on the relic, or what we know about it. It wasn’t easy as I had to translate some ancient Mentath to get a fuller meaning. But the relic that Feld and Solara were playing with was, most probably, a Talisman Guard.” Upon hearing those words, Ebony stopped her stitching and stared at Budo, then Sondra, who returned her gaze. Budo continued, “A Talisman Guard is a device used by ancient civilizations to keep their more volatile gods at bay. As we know, some ancient religious tales were simply fables designed to build a planet’s burgeoning proto-cultures, while others described either visiting, spacefaring races or higher plane beings of advanced power. A Talisman Guard is a blanket name given to ancient devices designed to lock some of these advanced beings away.”
“Aladdin’s Lamp,” Cel observed, “but without the generous reward.”
“Exactly,” Budo responded. “It seems that Feld and Solara unwittingly let a very powerful genie out of the bottle.”
“Do we know that for sure, though?” Bern asked. “How would Feld get his hands on something this important? And wouldn’t the Mentaths know if something this important were missing? Why haven’t they done anything about its disappearance earlier?”
“They had,” Lucretia spoke up. “Many times. Your “field marshal” has had this thing in his possession for at least ten cycles.”
“And you would know this how?” CJ asked.
“Because I was hired by the Mentaths to kill him and retrieve the artifact.”