Twist of fate, p.23
Twist of Fate, page 23
“It’s only been a few hundred years since they started just chipping factory and farm workers, and household servants as a routine matter, and young men who failed, or didn’t want take the Challenge. Wife chips started as almost a fad a century ago, and became mandatory fifty or sixty years ago?
“So . . . no one with the talent and training had much of a reason to be trying things out until recently. And even fewer who knew enough of some rare Impressions to manage it, even if they tried.”
Yuri nodded. “I’ve met men who . . .try to put a good face on their dull wives. And a few who are horrified by what’s been done to them. I guess I knew the wife chips were fairly new.”
Friday, everyone woke feeling good. “No impressions today, tomorrow we’ll see if you need more. Now . . . All that’s left is the upstairs flooring. So let’s go rip out the old and then put in the new, does anyone want wood floors?”
Nero grinned. “They look so good. And it’s good mentalist practice, right?”
“Right. So. Meditation, then a bit of exercise.”
The women were shocked to find themselves getting a karate lesson.
Reg loved it.
Pyotr and Hugo just needed a refresher. Mentalist work, and Martial Arts.
“I was a black belt, once.” Pyotr rumbled.
“I wasn’t that far along, but . . . my father thought I wasn’t manly enough and had me chipped.”
Everyone looked surprised.
He shrugged. “I was singing. I loved opera.”
Pyotr snorted. “I got into legal trouble. Can’t blame anyone but myself.”
Reg shrugged. “We were all born servants.”
Nero nodded when they looked at them. “Yeah, we’re all Portalclones. We were all hoping for servant chips, then Wolf happened to us. And the crazy man has adopted us and is threatening to Present us.”
“I will. And add Reg to the collection. Right now, you three can practice Slash on some dead trees.”
Damn, they were getting good. Strong. Controlled.
With everyone watching, they couldn’t use bubbles, so they loaded the truck with rough boards, and headed for town.
We’ll get moved in. Then we’ll seriously start back in with the dimensional work.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Peace, Quiet, and Panic
Monday July 24, 3737
“It feels weird, with the house practically empty.” Yuri poured his first cup of breakroom coffee for the day. “The four sisters are just naturally quiet, and with Wolf moving out of the garage, the three guys are thinking they might move out there.”
Devin shook his head. “You guys are amazing.”
“It’s all Wolf. Mind you, I’m getting trained at doing servants’ work with Mentalist Talent. So I guess I’ve joined the strange set.”
Paf snorted. “We all want to join. And now how are we going to get trained?”
“I suspect the townies will be back and forth, and I have a room in town that I will probably use during the week.” Yuri grinned. “As soon as I buy a bed.”
Falkner sauntered into the breakroom. “So these new servants of yours? Any of them fit to be security guards?”
“Having known them for a week, I’ll just say that I think so. Shall I invite them in? What do you need, two front guys to check people coming in?”
“And someone to keep an eye on the Registration machines, and answer the phone when the automated system can’t help the callers.”
“Hmm . . . I’ll bring them in.” He took his coffee back to his desk and called Wolf.
“You’re in luck. I’m almost to Egorov House. I was going to grab boxes, but perhaps I should grab people instead. How about we show up at two? Is the lunch crush done by then?”
“Yes. That’ll work very well.”
Wolf paged him at two and by the time Yuri’d informed Devin and Falkner, they were down in the lobby with a police Cyborg explaining how the registry machines worked.
Yuri introduced them, and let the bosses take over.
Veronika was in the suit she’d been sold in, the guys in button down shirts and nice slacks. Steel toed boots that set off the metal detector when they walked through.
Introduced as Veronika Agapov, Pyotr Varkov, and Hugo Wicker.
Wait . . . my main character’s a Varkov, Wolf’s is a Wicker and . . . oh, Granny Agata Agapov from the hidden magic kid’s books.
The police Cyborgs showed them how to properly sweep for weaponry, then had them sweep each other, chip check each other—Yuri was delighted to see that the chips all read green, despite whatever Wolf had done—and then get shown all the other equipment, the proper, polite procedure to do it all, and then stood by and let them do the job for a awhile. Veronika was shown the phone setup, how to find information about non-standard issues, how to help the people having problems with the machines out front . . .
“Right. Now I have been given a budget for hiring a security force,” Falkner took them all upstairs, “that assumes we’ll be dealing with a security company . . .”
Which had Wolf grinning, and creating the Mount North Security Company, leasing three servants to it, and setting up a payment schedule with disbursements to three bank accounts . . .
“The Company will keep ten percent, provide room and board, and uniforms. We’ll figure out the uniforms later, and Veronika, if you find you don’t like this, or that you need some specific training, tell us. No need to be miserable.” He pointed at the guys. “Same. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”
Veronika nodded. “It’s not going to be much like being a lady’s secretary. But I’ll give it a try.”
Falkner nodded in satisfaction. “I rather wondered how you were going to manage to treat them like hired workers. Nice work.”
He shook hands with them all. “Start tomorrow.”
Wolf hauled them off “to celebrate and figure out uniforms. And buy beds.”
Yuri called Wolf later. “Those Family names can’t coincidentally . . .”
A laugh. “They thought Egorov or Zeller would be presumptive, so I suggested their favorite fictional character. Without prompting. Although they may have been reading from our collections lately.”
“I do not have the Granny Agata Hidden Magic series. That is your collection.”
Tuesday morning, they beat him to the office and were hard at work.
“Good morning, Lord Yuri.” Hugo’s cheerful tenor.
Pyotr, behind the desk grinned. “We’re saving my growl for when it’s needed.”
Veronika was on the phone. “If you look on the right side of your screen, you’ll see . . .”
Yuri grinned and headed up. Life is good . . . and the boss is signaling for a meeting.
Chapter Thirty
Plague
Thursday, July 27, 3737
Falkner had the look of a man who’d been up for hours. “Some sort of problem on Stalin. The reports that came in at four this morning started with a major security lockdown in case of a contagious illness. It started slow, early in the morning, and built up to a full blown panic. People were finding themselves unable to collect Power.”
Yuri swallowed. “Power?” His fingers closed automatically, glowing Power compacting . . . just like it ought to work.
Falkner closed his fist on a tight ball of energy, then let it go. “The last report from Stalin was tens of thousands of people in the capital and reports from seventeen other large cities. Then they shut down all Portals, saying they would stay that way as long as needed to stop the spread.”
“Kirov reports a dozen cases, all in people who came from Stalin through the last three Portals. They have five a day, from Stalin. Kirov is quarantining everyone in a quarter mile around the Beacon Plaza, and has shut down their portals for forty-eight hours, while they wait to see if the plague is contagious.”
Yuri felt cold. “Hopefully an over-reaction which will quickly be fixed. Because otherwise, the whole branch is Out of Contact. And will be until Stalin gets back in touch with Kirov, and the other tier threes, and they get back in touch with the outer tiers.
“Otherwise, we’re twenty-nine Worlds, hanging out in the cold until someone decides to eat us.”
“Exactly. So . . . how are those Portalclones at detecting Portals?”
“Let me call Wolf.”
Wolf cursed and said he’d take the boys to the Beacon Plaza. “They’re pretty good, but they usually only see it coming about thirty seconds before it touches down.”
“A short warning’s better than none at all.”
“True. We should be at the plaza within an hour.”
Half of which must have been loading the truck. They’d obviously stopped to shop on the way. Or rather, stopped to pick up a large order.
They parked the truck sideways to the beacon, three-fourths of the way across the plaza. Yuri swung around and parked beside them, facing the beacon, a quarter of a mile away.
The boys erected a small cloth topped shade, and sat down on the pavement after pulling a bit of the heat out of it.
Meditating.
“If you lower your shields, you might be able to see what they are seeing.” Wolf had his eyes closed and an inner shield held hard against what looked like a soft meld with the boys. “Picture the blue, fizzy bubbles . . .”
Yuri sat down and softened his shields, then took them lower. And saw the blue the boys were seeing.
“That’s Kirov, over there, no portal activity at all, and beyond it . . . We’re pretty sure that’s Stalin.”
Yuri couldn’t see what he meant, and finally raised his shields and got up.
“All right. Nothing going on at the moment. Nero and Oliver, relax. Jack, keep an eye on it while I talk to people.” Wolf shook himself, then stood.
Governor Utkin was staring at the kids. “You bought the Portalclones?”
“Yep. They aren’t strong enough to open Portals, but they can see dimensionally. At this point, they can give us about thirty seconds’ warning of an inbound portal. And possibly, if it doesn’t attach right here, a general direction and distance.”
Yuri nodded. “But there’s no activity from Kirov or Stalin?”
“Right, not toward us, nor out to other Worlds, or into them.”
Yuri swallowed. “Confirming that this is something they are taking very seriously.”
The governor nodded. “I believe the legal definition of Out-of-Contact is four missed planned Portals. Kirov’s forty-eight hours is pushing that. Tonight’s Portal, two tomorrow, and the Thursday four AM portal.”
Chief Novikov frowned. “I thought it was six months?”
“That’s for annulment of mortgage and tariff obligations. Of which we have none.” An Inquisitor had joined them.
The chief bowed his head. “Inquisitor Gorky. So by Thursday morning it’ll be legal for anyone to try to capture us? And we’ll look really good because there’s no mortgage that Stalin could sue them to cover.”
“Yes.” The Inquisitor eyed Jack, sitting cross-legged on the ground. “Pity you don’t have four unchipped Portalclones. A quad merge might be even more capable.”
The governor perked up. “We do have the parts for a portal.”
Jack’s back stiffened, sitting on the ground.
Wolf stepped closer, so closed up he felt like a Native. “The boys aren’t strong enough, and Kirov took all the sixteen-year-olds. I don’t think it works, just shooting it out blindly, although I could be mistaken.”
“But it wouldn’t be completely blindly.”
“You think a quad could just sit there and twiddle with the controls and fine tune it?” Wolf shook his head. “Experimenting with portal controls . . .” He looked over at the Inquisitor.
God he’s solid. Doesn’t even feel alive.
Inquisitor Gorky shifted. “So long as he isn’t experimenting with zivvy, it would be allowable. Write it up for our office and I’ll look for precedents.”
Yuri frowned. “I’ll run a search for chipped Portalclones. If we find one with a really good grow-in, we could try a quad. And if Kirov doesn’t get back in contact . . . we’ll look at the fifteen-year-olds.”
“It’s too late to do anything.” Wolf looked over at the governor. “Most likely Kirov will be back in contact Thursday. I’ll continue to train the kids for the next emergency.”
Several Assemblymen had spotted the governor and joined them.
“Perhaps this training will lift them up into Portalmaker status?”
Yuri could feel the air cooling and eyed Wolf warily. “At this point, they need to keep training. It will take months for us to build our own portal, even assuming that we can build an accumulator for it, here.”
“They should have proper Portalclone training.” One of the Assemblymen snapped.
Wolf was starting to feel like a black hole . . .
“Portal incoming!” Nero yelled, jumping out of the truck.
“Right on top of us!” Jack pointed up.
The Chief hit his emergency button, and suddenly the baby blue vehicles were starting up, helmets were going on . . .
Jack’s arm lowered, swinging down to point toward the beacon and the usual attachment point.
Wolf jumped and grabbed Jack. “Into the truck! Nero, drive down the street and get out of sight.” He shoved Jack into the truck, turned and sprinted toward the shine that everyone could see now. Flaring up into a ball of lightning, opening to a ring.
Touching down.
The Governor balled his fists. “I need to get out there to answer . . .
Yuri ran to his car. “Let’s go.” He started the car as the Governor jumped in beside him and Yuri floored it.
Six armored Cyborgs rushed through the Portal, spreading out in an arc. Heavy rifles out to cover the approach, the center pair focusing on Wolf.
Behind them, a man in full formal German Army Uniform stepped through. Tossed off a hood of heavy white cloth.
Yuri hit the brakes, and Governor Utkin leaped out.
Yuri bailed, and shifted to the far right, where he could bring up shields to cover that side . . .
“I am Councilman General Lord Bertrum Gerolf Hammermeister representing Tier Three Saarland out of Rhineland. We claim this World as our Vassal. Surrender and we will be merciful.”
The Governor walked up beside Wolf. “I am Governor Lord Foma Utkin of Tier Four Penza, out of Kirov, out of Stalin. We are in good standing and able to defend ourselves. Leave. Now.”
One of the Cyborgs raised his rifle and fired. The bullet curved, slowed, dropped to tinkle across the pavement.
Then Hammermeister was flying back through the portal, followed by the Cyborgs, one at a time.
“Governor, if you would have one of the machineguns unload at the very edge of the portal, we should be able to close it.” Wolf looked to the right.
Yuri pulled his shield in closer. Angled and curved to bounce ricochets through the Portal. Braced them. “I have it backstopped.” He added an energy shield over the whole . . .
“Chief Novikov, have your men aim at the edge, and fire.”
The Cyborg cops manning the machine guns on the open trucks grinned and opened up.
Two seconds, and the portal flashed and was gone.
Yuri blinked watering eyes. Note to self, collapsing Portals require a much stronger energy shield in the visual range. UV too, probably. He relaxed all his shields as Wolf and the governor turned and walked over to the police.
He got back in the car and drove back to the bright red sun shade.
The truck was just down the street. Wolf chose this spot to get his kids out of the battle site quickly. And here they are parked a few feet away and standing where they could see everything.
He parked and walked over to them. “Wolf’s going to lecture you about putting yourselves in danger.”
Nero snorted. “Run away? After all that training?”
“And not see our first Portal shred?” Oliver grinned. “But that was just a flash as the Portal collapsed, right?”
“Right. There was nothing in the Portal to shred.” Yuri looked back. “Now I’d hate to think there’s a line of Worlds just waiting to grab us, but . . .”
Three nods. “But we’d better get back to work.” Nero bit his lip. “Umm, I’m not very good at backing up.”
Yuri grinned. “I will back up the truck, if you lot will get out of the way and signal when I’m close enough.”
They camped out, rotated who was on duty, but the next portal they detected was from Kirov, Thursday night.
***
“Well, that was an interesting small taste of isolation.” Falkner wiggled his shoulders. “The Plague, as they’re calling it, does not seem to be contagious, and was definitely deliberately spread, and aimed at the government buildings and the more affluent areas of Stalin’s eighteen largest cities.”
“A deliberate attack against people with Power.” Devin growled.
Everyone nodded.
Falkner glanced at his notes. “Kirov reports that their very few cases were all contained in the city, and that all of them had crossed from Stalin that morning, and that only a small percent of the crossers were affected.
“Stalin has not connected to them. Kirov has connected to their fellow tier threes, and they report similar circumstances. They will keep in touch with each other and will swap trade goods around amongst all of the branch as needed, and, as they have three working portals, Kirov will serve as the defacto tier 2 until Stalin either recovers, or is obviously not going to recover, at which point they will attempt to contact Home and assume the position officially.”
They all considered that.
“Stalin’s not going to like that.” Paf shook his head. “I wonder if they’ll do anything? And if the Plague got their Portalmakers . . . That’s going to be a mess.”
