Mirrors of infinity, p.10
Mirrors of Infinity, page 10
In no way had she ever imagined herself in this role, and now she was learning as she went, one day at a time. Each evening before bed she took out the little jeweled box Miriha had given her that came from another dimension Jenny didn’t even begin to understand.
When she had awoken from her unconscious state, the little box had been in her MDP however, so she couldn’t doubt that the experience had been real.
All of these were part of her life now. It was so bizarrely different than her life before she inherited the little house on Infinity Loop, that she sometimes felt that her previous life had been a dream she had awoken from to find herself in the midst of conflict and constant movement toward...what? That was the big question. Where was this all heading?
And the thing with Burt? In her old life would they ever even have met? Could she afford to invest herself in anything but a friendship with anyone? Both she and Burt were in danger; the recent past had proven that. Either one of them could be injured or killed at any time. Dared she commit herself? And would he even want her now? She ruefully touched the fuzz on the top of her head. She just couldn’t face any of that at the moment.
Chidwi tapped her cheek with a finger. “Jenny must breathe. Jenny must relax.”
Jenny realized she had been tensing, lost in this disconcerting train of thought. She put it aside and focused on her breathing. She only had about an hour before she had to move on to the next stage of her journey.
She relaxed into Chidwi’s ministrations with a sigh, willing herself to blank her mind and tune into Chidwi’s crooning. It wasn’t any cadence or music pattern that Jenny was familiar with and yet, she often found that she was humming along. She assumed it was a part of the link she had with Chidwi that she could harmonize with Chidwi’s music perfectly, as music had been such a small part of her own education.
Finally, she realized that Chidwi’s warm little hands had ceased their stroking and Chidwi had climbed onto Jenny’s lap, looking into her eyes with her sweet smile. “Jenny is better now?”
“Yes, Chidwi, I feel much better. I think we must go out to meet the others. We have a bit of a journey yet today. Anwhal said he would get “the girls” settled in, so I’ll check on them and we can leave.”
There was a light tap on the door. It was Freia. “I need to check your dressing before you leave, if that is alright.”
Jenny nodded and Freia went to work, gently unwrapping the band from around her head.
“I think we can leave it unbandaged today and just start wrapping it at night,” she said as she gently touched the wound. “It has scabbed nicely and is healing much more rapidly than I ever expected to see. I am sure this is because of the treatment by the Honored One. In a week we may be able to leave off the bandage completely. I would recommend you wear a hat, but I am concerned it might rub on the wound, so I brought you a kerchief to shield it from the sun.”
“And to cover my horrible hair as well,” Jenny sighed. “Thank you, Freia. I don’t know what I would have done without you and your family to care for me.”
“It has been our honor, Jenny. Never did we think we might have the opportunity to care for a disciple like yourself. The entire Groga people are forever in your debt, regardless of the outcome, because you have brought us the chance to make things right again. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” was all Jenny could think to say.
Freia finished her task, carrying out the soiled bandages. She wasn’t giving Jenny the potion for pain anymore. Jenny had told her that she would gladly take the healing broth and the herbs for healing, but she was handling the pain with breathing and mental pain control techniques Lova and Amenia had taught her. She didn’t need her senses dulled at this critical point in her mission.
They left the room; Chidwi once again perched on her shoulder. In the common room of the inn at a large table were seated Lyra, Mynn, and Nona, along with Anwhal and his son, Grephan. They all stood as Jenny entered the room. She was still having a hard time getting used to this, but she realized that telling them to stop wasn’t working, so she smiled and nodded at them.
“Where to now?” she sent to the group.
Anwhal answered, “We are joining my battalion on their way to the capital city. The word has spread quickly of what you are doing, and the ultimate leaders of our planet have gathered every authority amongst us from villages to cities. We will be meeting them in two days, so we will need to pick up the pace. My troops have found sturdier transport, but I’m afraid the ride might be a little bumpy.”
Up until now they had not had to travel long distances. She had been ensconced into a little market cart pulled by a farm animal the size of a large goat. The little cart had fairly good suspension as it was intended to haul delicate goods to market, but even on the main roads it was a little jarring. She understood that the roads between here and the capitol were not all well paved, and for her head that was a concern.
Jenny decided to take a chance. “Anwhal, if it will not be offensive to your people, I have my own transportation that will be smooth and allow me to easily keep up with your battalion without compromising my wound or the pace they need to keep to get us where we are going in a timely manner. Is there a private place outdoors where I can show you?”
Anwhal considered. “We can go into the assembly area for the local troops. It is currently empty, as the contingent here will be accompanying us and they are assembling on the square.”
Jenny knew she had to be careful about this. Exposing these people to “dastardly alien tech” might be a mistake, and it’s hard to put the genie back into the bottle once others have seen it. However, right now, they needed every edge they could get and time was the real enemy at the moment. She also knew that the soldiers had seen alien tech on other worlds during their time serving the Insenium. She probably wouldn’t have considered it, but the previous night, as she had viewed the fleeting images from the little jeweled box, she had seen herself in one of the hover cars surrounded by Groga troops.
They walked down the street, greeted with nods and waves by the townsfolk. Small children delightedly pointed out Chidwi, laughing when Chidwi waved back, crooning at them. At length they entered a side street that led to the barracks and training area of the local militia. It was quiet, not a single lingering soldier in sight. They finally paused in a fenced off area that served as the training ground. Jenny waved the rest back and invoked one of the hover cars out of her MDP. It would hold up to 6 passengers comfortably.
Anwhal didn’t flinch, nor did he display any surprise as the vehicle unfolded itself, seemingly appearing out of thin air before Jenny. Grephan’s eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t betray any more than that.
“The Inseni have similar vehicles. No one on our planet will probably think much of it. Though we have not been allowed the use of such technology, we are aware of it. Because we have been under the thumb of one dictator or another for so long, we really don’t have any sciences of our own.”
Jenny nodded. She realized that the Groga were in an awkward stage. It wasn’t like exposing a primitive culture to advanced tech. The Groga were fully aware of tech beyond their own. Perhaps this wasn’t the kind of tech pollution she needed to be worried about and it might give her the ability to keep up with the timetable set before her.
“So, you think it would be alright for me to ride in this to your capitol?” Jenny asked.
“I cannot foresee any problems with it, unless it requires fuel that would not be available here.”
“OK. Then I will meet you with my guard and Chidwi in the square. When do you wish to leave?”
“My troops are ready to go. They’re waiting for us. Do you require anything from the inn?”
Jenny lifted the flesh colored armband from her MDP so all could see.
“This is a tool I use to store my belongings. It is keyed only to me. No one can invoke anything out of it but me. I keep it hidden so as not to expose it to curious eyes. I have everything I need as do my guards.”
She replaced the armband, which immediately looked as if it blended in with her skin.
“I would appreciate it if you do not tell people about it. At some point, after this is all over, we can discuss possible exchanges of ideas and information, but I can’t promise this technology will ever be able to be shared with your people. It is not my decision to make.”
Anwhal nodded, saluted, and he and Grephan turned and left. Jenny felt that Anwhal understood, but she was also pretty sure he wouldn’t leave it at that. There would definitely be discussions in the future.
Chapter 12: Indiscretions
Sam gazed around herself from her elevated vantagepoint on Ziggin’s back. She had only been on the Norgoth capitol planet once before on a short trip with her father, King Namal. She had gone along as his “page” more to observe and learn than to serve her father. He had a body servant for that. So, she had tagged along to various places as Lord Gall’s chancellor had shown them the might of their empire.
She had been to this particular spot when they had been taken hunting. There was a beast that roamed this forested area that was much prized for its horns and bones, as well as its hide, which was like plated armor. They had camped at a type of hunting lodge. But this place, although not far from there, was somewhat isolated by a tall thicket. She had discovered it to her delight at one point when she had an opportunity to explore while her father and the chancellor were off hunting.
The thicket was like a circular wall of trees with a strange winding path that led into the center of it. It was quiet and generally unused by anything but small forest creatures, much like the rabbits of Earth. The inner part of the circle of trees was about 20 paces in diameter and would be a perfect place for her to camp while she decided what to do.
Once she had rounded up supplies from the fortress, she had passed the coordinates of this place to Ziggin. Like her, he was happy to take his leave of the eerie, silent fortress. Gathering the supplies had been puzzling. Although everyone had disappeared from the fortress, no one seemed to have taken anything with them. Tools had been left as if dropped where they were being used. Food had burnt into the pans on the stove in the main kitchens, bread in the oven turned into charcoal. Most of the torches and lamps had burned out.
She was glad she had kept the backpack from her hiking club days as a souvenir, as it had flashlights and other supplies that would come in handy.
Her first impulse when she had finally gotten out of panic mode was to go to Overlord Gall and ask for his protection from the Alliance, but something made her rethink this. After all, although she really wanted to blame Jenny for all of this, she didn’t have any idea what had happened to her people. There had been no sign of a struggle, which puzzled her. She knew her parents had installed tech that would have kept Tarafau or any of the people from his dimension from porting into the fortress.
Whatever had happened hadn’t involved that particular little dimensional trick. She honestly didn’t see how it was possible for it to have happened. True she had been isolated in her room, but even then, her guards and servants had been available to her the night before she awoke to her world turned upside down.
So, it had to have happened in the middle of the night. She knew there were always guards at the entrances and watch was kept on every floor at night. And had she gotten just accidentally skipped over? Had she been left there alone intentionally? None of it made any sense that she could tell.
She dismounted from Ziggy (as she now called him, mostly to irritate him). She was now grateful for her experience in the Earth hiking club. She quickly set up a tent large enough for herself and Ziggy and put together a shielded fire pit. She was marginally sure there were no flights over the forested area here, something about not disturbing their hunting grounds. The Norgoths did have aircraft, large dirigibles that served as transport for goods and people between the multiple cities on this planet. The cities were huge. There were no tiny villages except those in the farming belt. Even those small enough to be called towns were bustling with activity and were usually only stop-overs between cities.
As one would expect from Inseni, everything was rigidly regulated even in the farms. The industrial areas were more like a military compound and nothing went in or out of them without inspection.
The number of inspectors employed by the Norgoth was unbelievable. There were food inspectors, industrial inspectors, school inspectors, vehicle inspectors, clothing inspectors, weapons inspectors and the list went on and on. The inspectors were a branch of the military and went armed, prepared to enforce what they did with lethal force when necessary.
This was actually needed very seldom. The Norgoth were so regulated from the moment of their birth (inspectors in every birthing chamber) that for most of them it never occurred to them to do anything but precisely what they were told to do. The occasional infraction was immediately and severely punished, and it would never have occurred to them to try to circumvent their restrictions. The majority believed fervently that it was all for their own good, and those who didn’t feel that way prudently kept their radical opinions to themselves.
Sam snorted. As regimented as her life had been in the Fleistian fortress, it was nothing like this. And she admitted she had gotten used to a looser lifestyle as an agent on Earth. Although she was sure the Insenium was correct that the multiverse needed to be put in order, she wasn’t quite so adamant about it when it applied to herself. Being able to make her own decisions in the pursuit of her mission had been exhilarating. She was careful to walk the fine line between melding into her role as an Earthling and trying not to do too many things that compromised her beliefs.
Deceiving Lizzie and Jenny hadn’t bothered her, though. The ruse was part of the role she had to play to get what the Insenium and her parents wanted.
Ziggy was poking around in the little thicket, possibly looking for something to eat. She thought he would probably be able to digest the dark blue-green leaves of these trees, as the green might have been an indication of chlorophyll, but she couldn’t be sure. In her hiking club she had been taught the principles of surviving in unfamiliar circumstances and testing possible food sources when you weren’t familiar with local flora.
She had brought some freeze dried fungi from her home planet, but it wouldn’t last long. She knew that while she had been here as a teen that none of the food she tried had been difficult for her digestive system and the food she had eaten in Ziggy’s community hadn’t bothered her. This led her to believe that Ziggy could eat pretty much anything she could eat and that most of the local flora would work for him.
“Hey, Ziggy! Are you hungry? Let’s eat and we can gather some food later. I just want to settle in here good and tight and then we can go exploring.”
Sam was quite sure that riding Ziggy around the countryside would get her unwanted attention and might be dangerous for both of them, but she had a few new tricks up her sleeve. She had discovered she could extend her camouflage to anything she was touching, so she would be able to potentially take Ziggy with her without anyone being any the wiser. Of course, the camouflage wouldn’t keep someone from noticing if Ziggy stepped on their foot or brushed up against them, but for now it would have to do.
Their agreement was that a specific rhythmic squeeze from Sam would be the signal to return here to their base camp. It would still be risky, but Sam needed to gather some intelligence and she didn’t want to have to do it without her arachnid friend. He was a quick getaway for her and hopefully no one would guess their current camp easily.
They ate quickly. Ziggy had been somewhat sullen and quiet, not generally answering Sam unless she persisted. He was very stung by what he perceived as betrayal on Sam’s part, but she didn’t let it bother her. She got that a lot and she was fairly used to it by now. Her casual attitude to the supposed commitment of “friendship” came naturally to her. Lizzie and Jenny had actually been her very first forays into this very foreign concept. For some reason they still seemed to tug at her, a fact she found irritating.
Sam took a moment to focus her mind. The little camouflage trick wasn’t something just anyone of her species could do. You had to have the gift, and the gift needed training. Fortunately, her mother had passed this on to her, and she had been diligent in training her daughter. Sam admitted that at the time she hadn’t been all that enthusiastic about it, but she was grateful now for her mother’s persistence.
She didn’t fool herself that her mother had trained her out of motherly devotion. She simply wanted her daughter to be superior to any of the other children in the realm. Sam had not been trained side by side with her peers but had still been entered into all competitions with the clear understanding that she would win or face the consequences.
Sam had won nearly every challenge they had given her. It gave her no pride or feeling of accomplishment however, only relief that she wouldn’t be punished for failure. When she had discovered she could do something that none of her peers or even her father could do she was tempted to brag about it, but her mother had told her that it was a good thing to have some surprises in reserve and it was enough that the two of them knew she could do this amazing thing.
So, she mounted Ziggy and the two of them, now conveniently camouflaged, went to one of the few small villages close by to test her disguise and see what useful news might be floating around.
It turns out it was market day, so there were many people milling around in simple clothing, men and women dressed very similarly in breeches and plain loose-fitting shirts in muted colors. After years on Earth, the conservative simplicity was almost grating to Sam. She and Ziggy headed to the outskirts of the town and found a place for her to “park” him away from prying eyes.
