CJ burst into Ebony’s room ready for bear. The door crashed against the side wall. Lucretia, cocooned in a healing quilt, with her hands and face wrapped in gauze, nearly jumped out of the rocking chair she was sitting in. Her eyes grew wide upon seeing CJ and the look on her face.
“You lied to me!” CJ accused.
“No, no,” Lucretia whimpered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
CJ strode forward and towered over the frightened woman. “You told me that the Mentaths hired you to assassinate Feld and retrieve the relic. That is a lie!”
Lucretia was in a near panic. “No! I told you the truth. Please! You must believe me!”
“Listen, you lying tralk,” CJ said as she ripped the gauze from Lucretia’s face. Lucretia’s scream interrupted CJ’s thought. Horrified, CJ stared at the remains of Lucretia’s face and the bits of blackened skin that stuck to the bandage.
“CalamityJacq!!” Ebony yelled. With barely measured violence, she shoved CJ out of the way and tenderly knelt in front of the stricken woman. “Leave my room! Now!!” Ebony then reapplied various medicines and replaced the gauze. While CJ turned and left the room, Lucretia tearfully retreated further into the healing comfort of the quilt.
As Ebony closed the door of her room, CJ said to her, “Ebs, I’m sorry. But she -”
“She,” Ebs emphasized, “is under my protection. My room is my sanctuary and any and all who wish to may find succor there.”
“That may be, Ebs, but she lied to me. There’s no way that the Mentaths would have had her handle the artifact after killing Feld. That would have released Relia from her prison forever. She’s hiding something and I mean to find out what it is.”
Ebony took a deep breath. “CJ, I know it makes no sense, but Lucretia is telling the truth, at least the truth as she believes it to be. She truly believes that the Mentaths hired her to do the job she described. The truth you seek cannot be found here. I suggest we return and solve the bigger problem that is killing Proteus-VI.”
~/~
When CJ and Ebony reentered the bar, they heard Feld say, “There’s got to be another way. There has to be.”
Lippy, sensing their return, spun in her chair and asked, “Everything all right?” The concern was evident on her face.
Ebony answered and gave CJ a quick, sidelong glance, “Yes. It was a misunderstanding.” As each woman took her seat, they noticed that everyone, except for Feld, with varying degrees of success, were trying to keep from smiling. “So, what did we miss?”
Budo replied, “We were discussing the stories that I had related earlier and their significance to the problem at hand. Gauging from the similarities of the three stories, and from the behavior of the Mentath clergy itself, Feld, or a sibling, is the only one who can put Relia back into her prison. As Feld has no siblings, it is up to him to regain control of the relic.
“To that end, we were trying to determine the most feasible way to do this. Two of the stories mention a male sibling who mobilized a vast army and, after much bloodshed, took control of the relic. The other story tells of a female sibling who was able to pass untouched through Relia’s female army using guile and subterfuge. As Feld is male, this led us to try to formulate a plan that involved bringing massive amounts of firepower to bear. That is -”
“We still haven’t exhausted our options in that direction,” Feld protested.
Budo held up her hand and Feld put his face in his hands. “That is,” she continued, “until Kat mentioned using Estrogen-C’.”
“The sex change drug?!” CJ blurted out.
Ebony choked back a chuckle as the smiles became more prominent around the table. Mirage clapped Feld on the back twice for good measure.
“Knock it off,” Feld said to Mirage in reply. To CJ, he said, “We still haven’t decided yet and I’ll be damned if I leave it up to a vote.”
CJ looked at Feld thoughtfully and nodded. “You know, the whole idea leaves me feeling kind of squicky, but it may be our best bet.”
“Dear God! Not you, too.”
“Feld, look around the table. Do you see military leaders with armies at their beck and call or do you see masters of stealth and cunning? Although,” she thought aloud, “if everyone under that black energy field is dead, we wouldn’t need an army.”
Feld dropped his head to the table as Mirage spoke up. “I was able to get an amateur video feed from the ground on Proteus-VI. It seems that the negative energy field leeches power from systems that supply it and blocks most energy transmissions. It didn’t kill everyone beneath it, though that would be more merciful than what’s happening now. The energy field masked all life sign readings from the orbiting starships and completely drained the power from all the weapons of the assembled armies outside Dinara City. The armies were then set upon by Relia’s army. Additionally, Relia used an aircycle to do a flyover and … convert, for lack of a better term, a majority of the women in the assembled armies. They turned on their commanders and peers and joined the ranks of Relia’s army. The negative energy field continues to spread and has encompassed 40% of the planet’s surface. Relia’s army continues to grow and the outlying panic just keeps getting worse.”
“Well, that settles it then,” CJ decided.
“Like hezmana, it does! Don’t I get a say?”
“In light of the fact that you caused this mess, no.”
“But, Estrogen-C’ is illegal. It’s an AGE-based mutation serum.”
CJ sniffed. “Like that’s ever been an issue with us.”
“But, where would be get any on short notice? It’s a black market product.”
After a pause, Kat answered, “I know a source,” and moved her fingers on the table.
“How soon could we get it?” asked Bern.
Cel moved her fingers slightly as Kat answered, “I could leave within the hour, and have it here within a day. But I’d have to go alone.”
“I’m not doing this,” Feld asserted. “No way.”
Sondra spoke up. “There is one problem.”
“One?” Feld asked sarcastically.
“None of the visions that I’ve had over these many months show a female Feld. If we do this, we will be going against the known realm of possibilities. Is this wise?”
“Probably not,” Feld answered. “Phew! That was close. Ok, I say we mount a big-ass cannon on Needle and make a few passes over the army -”
“Feldy, sweetling, do shut up.” Ebony then turned to Sondra. “Sondra, the problem with visions, particularly those experienced by Spiritwalkers, is that you see possibilities. However, it is impossible to see all possibilities, even if you had all the time in the world. Perhaps, your visions up to this point were not guiding you, or us, towards Relia’s capture directly. Perhaps, they were guiding us to this moment. Without a female Feld, as your visions suggest, what is the probability that we are successful?”
Sondra replied, “It was improbable. Multiple planets fell into ruin. There was death and carnage everywhere. Some visions showed a recaptured Relia, but most didn’t.”
Ebony nodded. “And how many of those successes were accomplished without any fatalities among us?”
Sondra looked at Feld. “None. From what I can remember, the best case is that at least half of the people at this table will die in the attempt. I’m sorry, Mathieu.”
Feld hung his head, but there were no smiles now. For several seconds, everyone was quiet, alone with their own thoughts. Finally, Kat broke the silence, “Feld? Do I go or not?”
“Go,” came the surrendered reply.
Kat got up from the table. “Cel, can you help me get my gear together?”
As the others got up from the table, CJ stood behind Feld and massaged his shoulders. Leaning over, she quietly said, “It’s not the end of the world. We could always try Testosterone-K’ afterward.”
“CJ, you know as well as I do what the rumors say, that T-K doesn’t always take. I think I’d rather be a full woman than half a man. Or worse.”
CJ nodded to herself and kissed the back of his head before leaving him alone in the bar.
Truly alone.