Deadly Designs

by Dale Mayer

  He grimaced as he understood her meaning. “Before would be better, but afterward would be easier on Paxton.”

  “We can’t forget the missing portals and codexes. A second team to retrieve those would be easier on us.”

  This time excitement lit Eric’s face. “Now that would be awesome.”

  “I know.” Still she felt a cautionary note was needed. “Do you have any idea what happened to your father?” She frowned and walked over to the pad of paper on her desk. “Stylus, please send a message to Paxton letting him know where we are and the problem we had of the time dimensional issue.”

  “He knows,” she read out loud. “I’ve kept him informed.” She shook her head. “Oh. Good, I guess. So he knows we’re at my house with Tammy still?”

  No. Telling him now.

  Storey waited. “Could you also ask if Eric’s father has been located?”

  No sign of him yet.

  Storey and Eric exchanged worried looks. “I don’t know if I should be worried for you or happy for me,” she said in a wry voice. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to him, I just want to have him be nice to me. Or better yet, have nothing to do with me.”

  Eric bent his head to the paper, as if waiting for another immediate communication. “I know. I don’t like this though. It’s been days. There’s no place he could go.”

  “Could he go to another dimension?”

  “He’d be scared to come here, and the Louers, well, he was in a panic the one time I helped him and the others escape from there. I can’t see him willingly going back.”

  “So where could he be?” Storey shook her head. “I’m an idiot. Stylus, where is the Councilman?”

  She rolled her eyes at Eric. “How could we not have asked it?”

  Humming filled the air. It fascinated her as the stylus had no source of power or speakers. “How can it make that noise?”

  “Just another of the wonders of the stylus.”

  The humming stopped and Storey’s hand jerked as it started writing. She closed her eyes, almost seeing the message in her mind. With a little practice she could probably get the message without needing paper. But to create portals she’d still need paper – at least she thought so. At the rate her skills and knowledge had developed, who knew?

  The Councilman is not in Eric’s dimension.

  “Oh shit.”

  She stared at Eric in shock. “Stylus, which dimension is he in?”

  The new Louer home.

  Eric reached out a hand and gripped Storey’s shoulder. “What? Is that really possible?”

  “Stylus? How did the Councilman get over there?”

  He was taken as a prisoner.

  Storey closed her eyes. Her stomach sank. This conversation was not going to be good. “What? How?”

  He contacted the Louers to have them take care of you. You escaped, so they snatched him instead.

  Swallowing painfully at the hard truths, Storey asked, “Stylus, please relay this information to Paxton.”

  Eric stumbled back several feet to the window. Storey knew if the truth had hurt her, it had to have devastated him.

  “Which group of Louers took him as prisoner? And how did he contact the Louers?”

  The ones that grabbed Tammy. Paxton entered the new coordinates from Eric’s codex into the database. The Councilman used those to program his codex.

  Storey sighed and stared at Eric. So much for a quick in and out trip. “How could he possibly communicate with them?” Storey wondered aloud. “Then again, we didn’t try to talk to them very much, did we? We judged their communication abilities based on Tammy.”

  Most Louers have baseline English. An older version than you would know, but still understandable. Between themselves they use telepathy.

  The stylus started moving faster. Storey, this is Paxton. It’s imperative that you rescue the Councilman from those people.

  It was on the tip of Storey’s tongue to ask why when the asshole had contacted the Louers to take her out. She couldn’t come up with one good reason why she should. From the fury on Eric’s face, neither could he. “Stylus, is the Councilman in the same caves where we found Tammy?”

  Yes.

  “Oh shit.” Storey looked at Eric. “Tammy needs to go home. She can’t get involved in this. You know the Louers would love to recapture her. We can’t take that chance.”

  Paxton sent another message. This is a crisis for our people. Eric must come and plan the Councilman’s return.

  “Eric, what do you want to do?”

  “Leave my father to the fate he created.” Eric’s glower had Tammy creeping behind Storey, her hand slipping into Storey’s pocket.

  Storey patted her on the shoulder.

  “That’s what I want to do, but I don’t know what we should do.” Eric stared off into the night, the anger fading slightly from his eyes as he considered the problem a little longer.

  Storey couldn’t see an immediate solution either. She really didn’t want to rescue someone who had tried to get rid of her. She valued her life. Why would she save his so he could try and take hers – again?

  Still this was Eric’s call.

  Eric nodded. “We should leave him there. It would serve him right.”

  “And would that serve your people’s needs, as well?” she asked curiously. There was much she didn’t understand about the way his world worked, his government processes or even the way someone came into power. “Was your father born into his leadership position?”

  Eric spun around. From the look on his face, she’d take that as a no. “Of course not. He was elected to the Council and then voted to the head.”

  “So he can be voted off? Removed from his position because of bad behavior?” She watched the change of emotions ripple across his features.

  Eric hitched his hands on his hips, his head cocked to one side. “It’s possible, but I’ve yet to see it happen.”

  “No one has ever been voted out?” Her astonishment sharpened her voice. Were they nuts? “How long has he been in power?”

  “He’s been the Councilman all my life. I’ve never known a time when he wasn’t.”

  Something was wrong with that system. The Councilman was an unbalanced individual who’d allowed his own feelings to direct his actions. Actions that didn’t make him look good. Maybe he’d been a good man, a strong leader…before Storey had jumped into his life. She had to believe he’d served his people well at one time.

  It’s not as if her society didn’t have prejudices themselves. To Eric’s father she was an offworlder. An alien, almost.

  “I want to leave him where he is for a while,” he snapped. “But I can’t. And that makes me mad. He should stay there. After the despicable things he’s done, he deserves to suffer.”

  She could so understand. But like him, she knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. “What’s the chance he’s learned his lesson?”

  “Not him.” Eric shook his head violently. “He’s very powerful here. Believes he can do anything.”

  “Because you’ve all allowed him to think that way. He’s been like a king over you all.”

  Eric shot her a disgusted look. “I know. But it’s not going to be that way anymore.”

  “Not if you leave him there.” She grinned. “You could make it a condition of helping him return.”

  He studied her before grudgingly nodding. “Not bad. I could slip home and talk to them, maybe organize a back up team to help us, then come back here.”

  Storey hated to see him go. He might never come back. But a second team would be a wonderful idea. “Go. At least to meet with your Council and determine what’s to be done. I don’t want you to go at all.” She gave him a lopsided grin. “But it’s something that you need to do.”

  He tilted his head and narrowed his gaze. “Yes, I do, but I want you to come to me in an hour. That way I won’t have to worry about missing my meeting with you or worry about you going over there without me. I’ll tell Paxton
you three are due to join us in one hour. Don’t be late,” he warned. “Your arrival will be the necessary impetus to get them to talk. To actually make a decision about what to do.”

  “I’ll need a portal to Paxton’s lab though, please.”

  Rolling her eyes, she quickly sketched out a new one, then dropped it on her floor. She took a step back.

  “Remember, one hour.”

  Tammy clung to Storey’s hand. Storey confirmed, “We’ll be there.”

  He gave them a long look, then stepped through and disappeared.

  Just like that, they were alone.

  *

  Eric hated leaving Storey. Pressure squeezed his chest tight. It wasn’t so much the separation, although that was part of it, but more the fact that everything was screwing up – no matter what they did. He didn’t know if it was the stylus, the damage to the dimensions, or something worse. With everything so unstable, he hated leaving her behind. And Tammy.

  The black mist dissipated. Eric looked around, frowning. Paxton’s lab was deserted. Not all that unusual, but given the unpredictable events that had recently occurred, it didn’t make him feel any better. Striding to the conference room, he found Paxton and the Council members in session.

  Paxton broke off speaking, relief washing over his face as he caught sight of Eric. Standing, he cried, “There you are.” A worried look slipped onto his face as he peered around behind Eric, “Are you alone?”

  Eric glanced over his shoulder, only realizing as he did so that Paxton was asking about Storey…and maybe about Tammy as well. “Yes,” he said brusquely. As Paxton sat back again, relaxed and happy, he added, “but not for long. Both Storey and Tammy will be here in less than an hour.”

  He’d have laughed if he could have at the look of horror on his mentor’s face. “You called me back here, remember. We were having some big issues over there.”

  Paxton’s white wispy hair bobbed as he nodded. “I understand that. But they can’t come here. You’ll have to stop them.”

  “No. I’m not going to. I’m not sending Storey and Tammy back to the Louer world alone. That’s just foolish. We tried once and that ended in disaster.”

  The Council had listened with rapt attention to this point but no more. First one then another piped up with questions.

  “Who is Tammy?”

  “What disaster?”

  Paxton glared at him. Eric shrugged. “Maybe they should know. The girls will be here soon. Besides, you brought me home.”

  “Know what?” Council member Eragin spoke up. Middle-aged and portly he had a self-professed air of importance like the other Council members, but he’d always been straightforward in his dealings with Eric.

  Eric raised a brow in question to Paxton. Paxton held a unique position here. He had more seniority than many of the members added together and he headed the science and technology institute, but essentially he lived in the lab. He’d also been Eric’s mentor and dare he say – friend – for most of Eric’s life. He was a much bigger influence in Eric’s life than his own father. That had to be a good thing, considering the mess his father was currently stirring up.

  Paxton sighed, ran his fingers through his hair, then nodded. “Let’s have everything out in the open.”

  “Good.” The telling took a bit, but Eric finally brought the members up to speed on where he and Storey had been and the problems they’d encountered in the process. With another look at Paxton, he asked, “How much do they know of my father’s situation?”

  He was almost sorry for asking. Paxton aged in front of him, his wrinkles deepened and the look in his eyes…well, for that alone, Eric was sorry he’d mentioned the subject. Paxton’s eyes flattened to black and the sadness Eric saw there would have made him weep on any other day.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gently, hating that his father could do this to such a good man. “If we’re going to stop this vicious cycle we have to get things out in the open and keep them there.”

  “I know.” Paxton cleared his throat. “I’ll explain this part.”

  That was good. It not only allowed Eric some assimilation time, it also allowed him a chance to observe the reactions of the six council members. Their expressions ranged from horror to fear and one older fellow, Marxel, just didn’t get it. Even after several explanations he still didn’t seem to understand what the Councilman had done.

  By the time he did, they’d wasted precious minutes. Eric couldn’t resist checking the time for the umpteenth time. Now Storey would be there in a half hour. “The meeting needs to get on track. The girls will be here very soon.” He waited a moment and then said into the silence, “What do you want to do about my father?”

  There. It was out in the open. His father had made some bad decisions and someone needed to make an official decision. This was personal for Eric. He didn’t really want his father left over there, no matter how tempting an idea initially.

  “I do however have several stipulations to put forth. If I go to rescue my father, I won’t see him return to his position of power. He abused his station and he’s tried to hurt someone who has only been a friend to us. Should your decision be that the Councilman will regain his title once he has been rescued, then—”

  “No, the Councilman has lost his title. I confronted your father. He admitted to changing Storey’s codex to send her to the Louers’ dimension. Based on that the council held an emergency meeting and told him he was done. He disappeared shortly after that.” Paxton ran a hand through his wispy hair. “I suspect he’s done this to extract revenge on the person he blames for everything that has gone wrong in his life.”

  Eric settled back on his heels. That actually made sense.

  “We need to vote on his replacement – something that hasn’t had to be done in decades. So while he still holds the title, it and he are now powerless.”

  Eric gave a short nod. “Good. So plans?”

  The discussion became hot and heavy as suggestions were offered and rejected as the top brains and strategists of Eric’s city put their heads together. He listened carefully, happy when his lowly opinion was asked for and his suggestions listened to. During the meeting several of his supervisors came and went as potential actions were considered by everyone.

  There was no consensus. The various suggestions were problematic. Eric knew that to cross over with large numbers as a show of force could cause problems with the dimensional energy again. It was also liable to destroy the Louers and only a small portion of those people were responsible for either of the kidnappings. As with every civilization, there were small renegade groups that gave the other people a bad name. His father had just become an example in his own society.

  “Stealth is required,” he said, his voice firm. “A small force. In and out. Using our codexes, we should be able to travel close to the group, rescue the Councilman and slip home before the Louers know what’s happened. If we go in with a large force, we are asking for trouble and…” he paused, thinking about how he and Storey had woken up after somehow being knocked out, “they may have a weapon or skill we can’t compete with.”

  At their outraged looks he filled them in on what had happened.

  Paxton interrupted, “Are you sure they didn’t knock you out?”

  Of everyone, he seemed the most upset. Eric wasn’t sure if it was because of the treatment he’d received or the fact that the Louers might have superior technology. True, his people had amazing technology, but they’d achieved it through industrial espionage. If Storey’s people had the same technology he had no doubt they’d have developed it much further than his people.

  “No, I was not knocked out physically. It might be a telepathic weapon, since they communicate this way most of the time.”

  That set them off again. Eric sat back and tried to let it wash over him, their voices like the cacophony of a rising hurricane.

  As in the eye of the storm, silence descended.

  Then horrified gasps sounded.

&n
bsp; The eye lasted barely a few seconds, then the storm hit.

  Eric opened his eyes to find the council standing and almost shouting as a group, their arms pointing at the doorway. Eric turned.

  Storey. And Tammy. And Skorky.

  Chapter 15

  Storey looked over at him and rolled her eyes. Eric gave a shout of laughter and went to stand behind them, an arm on the shoulders of each girl. He waited for the men to calm down. For Marxel, it seemed as if the shock was almost too much. He sat, a gray cast to his skin, and seemed barely able to open his mouth. Eric motioned at Paxton, who immediately rushed to his old friend.

  “I’m fine. Or I will be when I get rid of this abomination.”

  Storey’s back stiffened. How dare he? Tammy clung closer, almost crawling up Storey’s legs. She frowned at the elder. “Would that be me, Tammy or Skorky that you are calling an abomination?”

  Eric squeezed her shoulder. “Easy,” he whispered.

  The elder’s mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out. Storey nodded once and released her gaze on the hapless man to stare at Paxton.

  Paxton rushed to speak. “Now, Storey, remember to see a Louer here in the chambers, particularly after the recent problem, is going to cause some distress.”

  “Of course,” she said coolly. “As long as everyone is aware she is a child and a victim here. Not an aggressive warrior. She deserves our help. Not our hate.”

  The rumble of dissent had her sticking her jaw out.

  Speaking loudly to get over the din, she said, “You called Eric home when we were going to make another attempt to return this child to her family. If we can rescue the Councilman, something I’m not terribly in favor of given his behavior toward me, then I’m game to lend a hand. Otherwise, my priority at the moment is getting Tammy home.”

  All eyes focused on Tammy.

  “She’s a juvenile Louer?” One of the men at the back of the room spoke up. With so many staring at her, Storey didn’t know which one.

  “Yes. The animal is her pet.” Taking advantage of the calmer atmosphere, she quickly gave an explanation as to how she and Tammy had met.