Ipseity (The Stork Tower Book 5)

by Tony Corden

  Billy smiled and said, “I find I am once more in agreement with you, Captain Charlotte. It is better that we work together rather than at odds. Would you be interested in that scenario of the duel being less than one minute if I was to put the question to one of the many lovers of chance who frequent the duelling fields?”

  “If you were to make sure I knew the terms beforehand, Mr Bartle, then I would be open to adding some small resources to your endeavours. I must, however, admit that on no account will I agree to a wager wherein I am expected to allow Hugh Westmorten to survive.”

  When they arrived at the place set aside within the city confines for duels Billy helped Leah from the carriage. Then he and Henry escorted her toward the lawned common. The area had been partitioned into fifteen distinct sections of smooth turf. Each was fifteen yards by fifty yards and could be booked at any time of the day or night for the purpose of honour duels. Some players organised duels on an almost daily basis, while others were like Leah and ended up facing an opponent for some infraction of honour.

  Leah could immediately see which of the areas had been allocated for her duel with Hugh as it was surrounded by a mass of people, many of whom she recognised as airmen from either the Tempest or the Draken. As she approached, they gave a good-natured cheer, and both Mr Wilks and Major Daniels stepped forward to greet her.

  Leah said, “A good morning to you both. While I am encouraged by your support, I trust I have not made havoc of our plans to ready the fleet.”

  Ian said, “Not for a moment, Charlie. The crew will be all the stronger for seeing you dispatch the scoundrel. Those who have seen you fight are hoping to lay the odd wager and those who haven’t will have a story to tell when we get back to the aircraft.”

  Leah smiled and then turned to acknowledge Captain Barnsdale, who had arrived while they had been talking. Leah said, “Captain, I am embarrassed to have caused such a disturbance that I would interrupt your day.”

  “Nonsense Captain. I and a number of the other captains are often challenged for one reason or another, and we find it useful to show solidarity as it tends to reduce the overall number of challenges. I am somewhat surprised that you have chosen unarmed combat.”

  “I have yet to finish the repairs to my vision Captain. While I am somewhat confident I might still prevail using my sword even though I lack depth perception, I do believe I have a greater certainty up close.”

  “Even so, I am confused by the elegant nature of your attire. It seems conducive for the scoundrel to find a ready purchase should he take hold of your garments.”

  “You are quite correct sir, yet I have another appointment soon after the duel. With that in mind, I shall endeavour to complete our battle apace so as not to have my outfit be brought into disarray.”

  Henry came over and said it was time. He led Leah into the centre of the field, where an official stood at the ready. Beside him were Hugh and James. Hugh was shirtless and wore a tight pair of leggings, secured at his waist with a belt. He wore a thick pair of shoes.

  The official waited for quiet then said, “We are here to witness a duel of honour at the request of Hugh Westmorten. He holds the opinion that Captain Charlotte has brought dishonour to his name by her unsolicited and scurrilous comments concerning two members of his close family, Mistress Westmorten and her son James.

  “Captain Charlotte, I ask if you are willing to humble yourself and make amends to Hugh Westmorten that this duel might be averted?”

  “I would that it were possible for all people to live in harmony. It is unfortunate indeed that some people take such objection to the truth. As I am wedded to the truth, it is with regret that I must decline your most gracious offer.”

  When she finished speaking, she carefully removed her hat and handed it to Henry. “Please hold this for me for but a moment. Thank you.”

  “Hugh Westmorten, could you be persuaded to dismiss the captain’s words and stand instead on your own declaration of honour?”

  “No.”

  The official held a square piece of white linen in his right hand and said, “Then I would ask you both to turn and take three paces and then stop. At my command, turn and face each other. I shall let this cloth slip from my fingers. When it touches the ground, you are free to begin the duel. The agreement is that you will engage in unarmed combat until one of you lies lifeless. Please take your places.”

  The official took five large steps backwards. On Leah’s side, Henry stood watching calmly. On the other side, James was leering at Leah. There was silence across the field as Leah and Hugh took their positions. After asking them to face each other, the official waited a moment, held out the cloth, and let it fall.

  As soon as it hit the ground, Leah ran lightly toward Hugh who had crouched low and was advancing on her. It seemed that she ran into his arms, but as he brought them together, she was flipping through them and over his head. Leah and John had practised all types of unarmed combat, always seeking for the quickest way to end a fight rather than to win some mock duel on points. Leah had rehearsed these moves hundreds of times with another human and perhaps a thousand times with the practice dummy.

  As she approached Hugh, she took a few steps to gain momentum and then leapt high into a jump. She aimed for her head to rotate just to the right-hand side of Hugh’s head. Using her arms to gain momentum, Leah brought her knees toward her chest while in the same manner bringing her head forward. If she were doing a flip by itself, she would have held onto her legs. Instead, she’d practised this repeatedly until she could bring her legs to the right position without using her arms. So as her legs came over her head, she reached back with her right arm, extended it past her shoulder and took hold of Hugh’s head by hooking her fingers under his left eyebrow and stretching them until they pushed into his eye. Her left hand she brought across her body, and reaching back took the same grip on the right side of his forehead.

  As she continued her rotation, she brought her left elbow in toward her body and locked it at the base of Hugh’s neck. Without her hands to control the roll, her back slammed hard into Hugh’s back, and her arms were pulled forward. The torsion snapped Hugh’s neck, and it bent back and over Leah’s elbow. As Leah fell toward the ground, she wrenched Hugh’s head downward, snapping whatever elements of his spinal column remained un-fractured. For a moment Leah stood back-to-back with Hugh, his head bent at ninety degrees and resting on her right shoulder with her hands still holding firmly onto his forehead.

  Leah turned sharply to her right, which pulled her right arm down while at the same time she pushed firmly with her whole body, aiming to drive her left hand forward. She was now standing with her right shoulder between Hugh’s shoulder blades, and his head was not only bent backwards at a right angle but was also rotated through ninety degrees as if looking along the line of his left shoulder. Leah let go of Hugh and stepped forward two steps before turning and making her way toward Henry. The entire duel had lasted less than ten seconds.

  Leah’s footsteps could be heard clearly in the stunned silence that had fallen on the field. When she reached the three men, she reached out slowly, took her hat and carefully put it into place before stepping away towards her friends. Before she’d taken two steps in their direction, the entire field erupted with sound as people yelled their amazement and joy at Leah’s quick victory.

  Altogether it was more than half an hour before Leah, Billy and Henry were once more in the carriage. Leah had taken the time to give attention to each member of her crew who wished to congratulate her and had also made an effort to speak with each of the Privateer Captains who had come to support her. Once they had left the duelling fields, Leah said, “If it is agreeable, I would appreciate it if you might escort me once more to the studio of Mr Willeford.”

  This had been the plan, and they confirmed that the studio was their destination. Billy said, “Charlotte, you are a most dangerous woman. That is not a criticism but rather a statement of high praise. I have some greater
understanding of the respect with which you are held by those who serve on your aircraft. Many of them were so sure of their Captain that they had placed much of their wealth upon your success. I mention this because I took advantage of our discussion that took place during the previous journey, and was able to find some gentlemen that are involved in many different events of chance. These men did disregard the esteem accorded you by your crew and offered me terms of fifty to one that you might defeat Mr Westmorten in less than one minute. On your behalf, I did place a wager to the value of two thousand pounds. I am telling you this, at a time which might seem somewhat inappropriate, as I must make haste to ensure that the correct and timely payment is forthcoming.”

  “I understand your haste and take no offence. I am somewhat uncertain of the morality wherein I benefit financially by the death of any man, even one who is a scoundrel. On the other hand, I am convinced that he was going to die anyway. That my men and my good friends have found some benefit brings me some cheer.”

  When the carriage stopped outside Thomas Willeford’s storefront, Billy helped Leah from the carriage and then rapidly disappeared down the street. Leah and Henry were quickly ushered into the rear of the store where Thomas was waiting. He had apparently been working on the plans all night because in addition to drawings he had constructed some life-size models. Leah was pleased with what he had designed, and although he hadn’t been able to find anyone who used wireless connections, he had taken her other ideas on board and found innovative ways to make them work.

  Thomas had decided to use the very best materials he could and even planned to sub-contract some of the work to another craftsman who Thomas believed could do the work at a higher standard. When they had finished looking through the designs, Thomas said, “I was right yesterday. This won’t be cheap. Altogether, the complete package before I make a profit will cost four thousand one hundred and five pounds.”

  Leah said, “I’m able to pay for it Thomas, and I expect you to increase the quotation that you might be properly reimbursed for your skills.”

  “I normally charge an additional twenty-five per cent, which would bring the total to five thousand one hundred and thirty-seven pounds.”

  “What percentage would be appropriate to initiate the project?”

  “I would usually ask for half now and the rest on completion.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “I was thinking all night about our discussion yesterday and so full disclosure: I have already started to put everything together. I hope it will be finished by tomorrow morning, but let us plan for tomorrow afternoon to give time for a thorough testing phase.”

  “How long will it take to install?”

  “That is the easy part. If you would, plan for thirty minutes to install it, and then an additional couple of hours to fine tune and learn how to use it.”

  Leah took out three thousand pounds and handed it to Thomas. He wrote out a receipt and then said, “Might I have another word in private?”

  Henry took the hint and disappeared quickly into the front of the store. Thomas said, “I don’t want to talk anymore outside of my personal space or in the space of someone I trust. What is the best way to contact you?”

  Leah had Gèng send Thomas her contact information and said, “I’m not often free to talk because it seems that I’m always rushing from one place to another. Let my AI know your schedule, and she’ll be able to work something out. If you need to contact me urgently then just tell my AI what you need, and she’ll start working on it even if I’m not able to.”

  “That sounds like a seriously high-end AI.”

  “She is a class act. I’d best get moving. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, thank you, Thomas.”

  Thomas led Leah into the front section, and then Henry escorted Leah back to the Herrington. When she walked in, Albert was waiting with a thick envelope. He said, “Captain Charlotte, may I take this opportunity to offer you my congratulations on the preservation of your honour this morning.”

  “Thank you, Mr Lincoln. I wish that the situation had not escalated such that the duel was necessary, but I do feel vindicated.”

  “As you should, Captain. Here are the proceeds as we discussed. I must also thank you for your steadfast confidence. I was so emboldened by your certainty that I convinced Mrs Lincoln to add a goodly portion of our savings to my wager. Mrs Lincoln asked that I also thank you on her behalf.”

  “Thank you, please pass on my regards to Mrs Lincoln, and should she have a free moment I would be pleased to take tea with her one day. Now if you will excuse me, I must look toward tomorrow and do some planning.”

  “As regards that, Captain, several boxes of documents were delivered for you and have been placed in your suite.”

  Leah headed to her room and spent the next four hours looking through blueprints and reviewing everything she could about the Emersons. She had also received a gilt-edged envelope inviting Captain Charlotte to a ball to be held at Lord Hammersford’s mansion in the evening three days later.

  Finally, having looked through just over half the papers, Leah had the beginnings of an idea and logged out to the Tower before leaving the Pod for some morning tea.

  13

  December 15, 2073 - Part 5

  REAL WORLD

  Leah was able to get a bowl of fruit, some orange juice and a doughnut from the common room without being distracted except by several people who said ‘Good morning’. She took the food to her room to eat. She took a dose of supplements that Gèng had suggested to help speed up her recovery and thought about her plans.

  Leah had hoped to claim the space station she and Wisp had discovered several days before, but with everything that had been going on she and Wisp had agreed to postpone the mission until now. Leah was looking forward to spending the time with Wisp and in doing something that had no real urgency to it. The Betrayal had been orbiting the space station for two days. Wisp had spent some time preparing for the takeover attempt and had logged into Cosmos Online regularly to keep an eye on the ship. She’d not only reviewed the data their drones continued to collect as they mapped the system, but she’d also done the research on claiming space stations. Wisp had used some of the time to get qualified in using the Mechanised Marine Suits Leah had found aboard the Betrayal. After a brief shower, she entered the Pod.

  COSMOS ONLINE

  When Leah walked onto the bridge of the Betrayal, Wisp was waiting. Wisp’s greeting was almost an attack as she released some of the stress and emotions she’d been bottling up since hearing of all the things Leah had been dealing with over the last few days. When Leah finally escaped Wisp’s embrace, she could see tears running down the older girl’s cheeks.

  Wisp suddenly pulled herself together and wiped her eyes quickly with her hands. “Sorry about that, Leah. I’ve been so wired since I found out about your mum and Thad. I wanted to help so much. I’ve felt useless and then you walked in and gave me that cheeky and somewhat cocky grin that I love and I just lost it. I know you’re tough and everything but tell me, how are you really? Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Leah said, “It has been hard, and to be honest it hasn’t slowed down at all. If anything I have more questions and more problems than I did a few days ago. They just aren’t quite as urgent. I don’t want to talk here, so we need to get together soon at your place or mine, and I’ll tell you everything, well almost everything. Just knowing I have a friend that I trust, someone who will listen to me and still love me is a big help. Also, I think today will be a big help, we can talk and have fun and explore something new, and nothing that’s life and death really hangs in the balance. It’ll be fun.”

  The two girls talked about everyday things for a few more minutes, and then Wisp said, “OK, I’ve pulled together everything I can from the different forums on claiming a system. The first thing that needs to happen is, we need to find and power up the space station which the developers have placed in the system. Some don’t have
space stations, and they are almost exclusively used for mining. This system does have a space station, or what I think is a space station, maybe even a major system station. There are at least four types of stations that have been left for discovery in the game, and no one really knows what type the station is until it powers up.

  “The smallest have between three and ten levels, and they are in out of the way systems and are used to collect resources. They give travellers a place to stay and serve as a jump point to the planet below. They cannot be accessed by players except by spaceship. They are almost always mapped entirely by their owners even before others can get to them. Pirates have been known to attack and occupy such stations, and that forces a change in ownership.

  “Next are Class II stations. They’re between ten and fifty levels and have at least one public level with hotels, shops, training, etc. New players can’t start on these stations, but they can use their additional avatars to access them. Most are owned either by guilds, clans or businesses and are used for training and as staging bases, either for missions to a planet or to another system or for some themed entertainment. Mahigan owns, or manages, three of these. They are universally aligned with one of the races or alliances. They can expand because the developers always make sure there are two or three unexplored decks or levels.”

  “Class III stations are the most well-known and are used as starter stations. They have numerous levels designated as public areas and space is available for people to start their own business. People can buy or lease space. Most of them are unaligned, and most are owned and operated by Cosmos Online exclusively. They have between fifty and five hundred levels, and none of them has yet been fully explored. Two are privately managed, but the owners are required to let the developers operate the standard public areas. All of them are major hubs with tens of thousands of players using them every day.”