Missing Elements (The Lament Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  Then she looked at Darnel Nix, which was a name that she'd recognized, even if the face was new to her. Like Tims she'd seemed shocked to find the man was a scientist now. Not doubtful however.

  "I have to agree. My take on this is that we should offer a host of new sciences to these people, and not ask for anything in return. We owe them, not the other way around. If we go in with hat in hand and beg them to let us improve their lives, and then let them choose how it will be done, that's our best hope."

  That got disgusted looks from half of them and a sigh from Nix.

  "If the Firmament or one of their splinter groups doesn't kill us all to bring Jesus back early." He glared at the woman who had been saying things that sounded a little like that, but not exactly, and she started to retort, her first syllable angry and bitter already.

  Pran cut them both off, the wooden chair already making her behind a bit sore.

  "Stop." She held up her right hand, not looking at either of them, because that was confrontational. "Don't do it. Either of you. Like I just said, work together. That or leave right now. If you even start into these things in front of High Guardian Saran, or the High Judge, they'll have to mistrust you. For that matter, don't tell them any lies. It won't work. Go and mean what you say, and trust in them not to let things go too far wrong. Very little may happen today, but that's all you really need. Tiny steps will work, I think."

  The young boy, or the ancient man that seemed that way to her, stood and moved to the front of the room, near Clarice's desk.

  His voice was high pitched, but calm and a bit reserved.

  "I suggest that we allow one voice to speak for us today."

  That was fine with everyone else, but the problem was who that speaker would be. Things got heated then, as people went back and forth, not choosing either High Bard Clarice, who was a very obvious choice to Pran's mind, or Doctor Millis. The man who had at one time founded their culture. Both were considered too controversial, one being a spy and the other claiming to be... The man that founded the current world. It was a good point, Pran decided. It sounded fake to her as well.

  Bard Clarice didn't speak for a long time, but finally attracted the attention of the room with a small wave of her hand. It was about an hour later, and no one really seemed closer to a single nominee than when they'd started.

  "We're running out of time, ladies and gentlemen. I have a proposition... Why not let Pran decide who should represent us? As I mentioned, this whole thing has been set up on her command. Hearing that she chose the voice for us all will, perhaps, lead to these people trusting us a bit more."

  Pran looked at the woman, who was clearly insane. Why would she be the one to pick someone like that? If these people couldn't decide for themselves...

  Which was the point. They couldn't. They were too tied in to their old ways of thinking and doing things to change in the half of an hour they had left before they needed to leave for The Lament. They didn't even know that was going to be the plan, either. She did, however.

  It was pretty obvious that everyone in the room expected her to pick Clarice for the job, but they hadn't been wrong there earlier. She was a spy that had moved to the highest place of power already. No one would be trusting her just then. Not if they were sane.

  Likewise with Doctor Millis.

  For a half of a moment, she almost said that she'd do it herself, but that was no better than those others. Worse, since Pran was just some girl really, not anyone that would be trusted or respected.

  "Fine. I suggest that you get... Judge Brown." That got everyone in the room to look her way at least. After furrowing her brow for a long time, Clarice finally started laughing, then clapped a few times.

  Everyone had stopped bickering at least.

  "Oh! That's brilliant, Bard Pran. He can confirm our general agreement and homogenize the message for us. Judges are amongst the most respected of individuals, and largely beyond reproach. Also, by placing our fate in the hands of one of their people like that, it will show our trust in them. People trust those that have faith in them, after all."

  That should have lead to a major argument, but for some reason there was only muttering instead, and finally Clarice called for Walden the floor boy to send a runner to find the Judge they wanted. It didn't take too long, since the man was just down on the first floor, in the High Judges office, waiting for the meeting to start himself.

  On the good side, he'd dressed for the occasion, in very proper white robes. He looked good, and stately, which Pran tried to memorize, wanting to capture his expression and carriage for the statue in the other room. It would take some rearranging of the mouth and the set of the eyes, but not so much she couldn't do it. Thinking about that she ran to the other room, to get a piece of drawing paper and a pencil, then snuck back in to draw the man as everyone else spoke to him.

  He was, naturally, confused.

  Not for long however.

  That was good, since Pran was able to get her quick sketch done, and then get it put away, before trying to herd them all out of the office space without telling them what the plan was.

  No one was too alarmed by that either, even though they ended up with a group of nearly fifty people walking down the street, following her and Captain Jacques, about ten minutes later. Ten of them were Guardians, and they ran around the outer edge of the crowd, vanishing and coming back in different places. Pran tried to drop into a trance state, and watch them all, but they were working together, in a highly disjointed fashion, meaning that she couldn't even see the ones right in front of her most of the time. There were too many fast moving distractions for that.

  The air was chilly still, afternoon or not, and it really seemed like snow might be possible, if the clouds in the sky were any indication. Their breath made large steam clouds in the air as they marched, and she shivered the whole time, trying not to let anyone get lost or separated, since that would make her look bad.

  The door to The Lament was open when they got near it, after crossing the large open area of stone that was the Lincoln landing area. She went in first, or tried too. That was in case someone had managed to take the ship already, and they had to run. Clark took her arm however, suddenly being at her side.

  "No. That's Salle's job for this mission. If we have to fight, remember to take cover first. Get the High Councilors out, if you can." It was official sounding, but he didn't mention that her job would be protecting Clarice, not the others.

  She was still the High Bard, and that meant, being from the past or not, Pran's boss.

  Salle was gone for a long time, as she stood outside, shivering, her arms across her chest for warmth. Most of the others had jackets on, but Pran didn't own one, herself. It made the short wait, only about seven minutes, seem like a much longer time, as she stood there with her teeth chattering and her skin turning blue.

  When the Guardian came back, he waved from the door.

  "All clear."

  That meant, finally, that she was allowed to get inside. After everyone else, of course. To her surprise however, even as she waited for the rest of them to get aboard, Bard Clarice came over and took her by the arm.

  "We should get you inside, before you catch your death. Why aren't you wearing a coat?"

  She didn't speak until the warmth of the interior hit her. It wasn't hot inside the airship, but it was warm enough that it felt good, after being out for a while. Without thinking about it, she turned to the left and started to walk toward the dining room. It was the only place large enough for all of them to sit, after all. They wouldn't have enough chairs, but the truth was that Pran hadn't been expecting more than twenty people for the whole thing. Most of the High Councilors had come, and a few had assistants along with them. Plus, there were people already there, having come to the ship directly. That was mainly Doctor Millis and his people, she saw.

  On the good side, all of the tables had been removed from the space, and a lot of chairs added. They were all wooden and lacked
seat cushions, but everyone got to sit down. Things were a little unsettled, for a bit, but the cook had a constant stream of coffee coming out, even as they took off into the air.

  Looking a bit nervous, Bard Ben, her friend, came in, holding his guitar. It was a good idea, since the plan wouldn't have the meeting getting underway until they were up in the air safely, and a bit away from the city.

  "Hello, everyone. I'm Bard Benjamin, I think we have time for a few songs, while we all get settled?" He actually sang, and did a good job of it. His playing was still a bit weak, but not horribly so. In all, he looked and sounded like a very proper Bard, even if a young one. As the ship leveled out, he strummed the very last note of his final song, and silenced the strings, which got everyone to look toward him, waiting for something to happen.

  Which it did. He waved to Pran, as if suggesting that she go and get things started. No one else moved, and every Bard knew not to act too reluctant to be on stage. You could feign being disinterested, but even if you were, when called you did it. The job was to keep people entertained, after all.

  In this case however, she didn't have anything ready, in particular. They didn't want a song, she didn't think.

  "Thank you all for coming. I'm Bard Pran, as most of you know. Just in case anyone hasn't been told about what's going on, I'll cover things quickly." That was going to be a challenge, she thought, but didn't want to take all day on it, if it could be helped. "We... have people here from the past. They live in a different part of the world, called the System. It seems that in that place they have minds but no bodies. We can go into how that works later, if anyone is interested. For the last hundred years or so they've been coming here, to the surface, and taking bodies, trying to help improve the wealth and lives of the people here. We're... Basically their great grandchildren?" She looked over at Doctor Millis, who was near the center of the collection of body thieves.

  "With a few extra 'greats' added, but yes, that's about right." He made his voice sound professional, but he had a strong accent suddenly. It wasn't the slightly prissy sound she was used to hearing in his voice. That probably meant it was how he really sounded.

  "So, they have a stake in getting along with us. I told them they have to stop stealing bodies, but if they help shut down the Grange and Camp Wallace, they can use some of those people. They have to ensure a better life for them, in their System, which is something that they claim can be done pretty easily. That will need to be checked out, of course, and verified. That's allowable?"

  She waited watching the people from the past, not the High Councilors. No one disagreed at least.

  Going on, she wanted to shrug, but didn't, since this wasn't a comedy bit. It just looked like one, or should.

  A mostly bald girl dressed like a too skinny Apprentice Guardian, telling them about a magic land they could put all their criminally insane people. It didn't sound real to her, at any rate.

  "To make this all work, the people from the past, the ones here, are agreeing to let the Guardians pass judgment on everything they do. They'll present new technologies and sciences, and not build or make anything that can't meet our rules for energy use. Some of the things might be better than what we have even. Judge Brown will speak for them today. Is everyone caught up?" She grinned, but no one else did. It was wild, and sounded like a game, but there was just a sea of blank faces.

  "Judge Brown, if you'll move to the front? High Guardian Saran... High Judge Sims?" Then, as if those people were the ones that should be in control of things like this, she went to sit down. The job was introducing people, like a good narrator should. Once done, she needed to get herself out of the way, which she did by moving to the back of the room and sliding in next to Judge Clair.

  The woman patted her hand, but didn't speak, since the yelling was about to begin. Pran could feel it in the room.

  She wasn't wrong about that either.

  The first problem was that, while most of the High Councilors knew about the people from the past, they didn't trust them even a tiny bit. Even the Dyeing Councilor crossed her arms and kept shaking her head at Saran, as if the old and hard Guardian would just give them all over to the downloads without a fight? The people from the past managed to hold their tongues remarkably well, given all the bickering earlier, and Judge Brown advocated for them very aggressively, explaining what he'd found so far, and that they didn't mean harm to the world.

  He did clear his throat finally, after making that point for the sixth or seventh time.

  "That isn't the same as not having their own goals. They don't mean to hurt anyone or anything, the people that I have spoken too, but they do know that what they're suggesting is not without risk. The feeling is that by going slow and trusting in the institution of the Guardians, we can make this work. The aggregate feeling, that is. Some have differing personal opinions, but are willing to go with that for the time being."

  Regardless of what was wanted, or how lacking in trust some of them were of the others, they still managed to agree that the basic goal, that of helping the children of the Grange, and even the men and women of Camp Wallace, was admirable enough. None of the High Council loved the idea of giving those people over to have their lives stolen, which lead to a long discussion of the System.

  Doctor Millis spoke then, after introducing himself using his real name. That got the room to go silent. Not everyone believed him at first, until the High Judge informed them that it was true.

  "The virtual system is an interior space. It looks and feels real, but anything is possible in there. You feel like you have a body, taste food and hear with your own ears. In most ways it's superior to the real world in which you all live. We aren't coming here to improve our lot in life, since we already have good lives of our own. No, we come to improve yours. If we can. It's the major project of our world, in the System. Coming up with ways to help you. Now, how we should do that is a matter of opinion! We even have those that think we shouldn't help you at all, and that leaving you to your own devices is enough. There's also the matter of a military buildup."

  That, it turned out, was mainly thanks to a splinter group of the Firmament. Not the coalition as she'd thought. It took a while to explain it all, but it really helped having several Judges in the room, calling out that what he said was true. Especially when he pointed out that most of his people didn't believe in violence even in the smallest measure.

  "We will however, aid you in any way you wish, to stop these people. Including killing them, if that's what you require. As a culture the System is far less monolithic than the current world, but we will protect you from harm, if we're the source of it."

  It seemed like a plan to her, but that didn't mean it wouldn't take weeks to hammer everything out. Finally, when it seemed like nothing was going to really happen that day, she rolled her eyes. Then, against her own better judgment, she stood up. Some things were too important to leave to idiots, which meant drawing attention to herself, this time.

  "So, what we have on the table at the moment is this; we all agree to allow the people of the System to help shut down Camp Wallace and the Grange, with oversight from the Guardians. We also agree to allow them to use some of those bodies, if the best thing for the person needing help is to go into their world for aid. To that end, we can also agree on a peace treaty? No one needs to fight, or anything, do they?" She looked at the room and copying what High Councilor Sims had done earlier, she raised her right hand. "All agreed?"

  Most of the room said, "Aye". It made for a decently loud spectacle.

  "All apposed?"

  "Nay." This came from one of Councilors that Pran hadn't met, and surprisingly three of the downloads. The rest of the people stared at them like they were imbeciles.

  Bard Clarice smiled though and stood.

  "The ayes have it! Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since the founding, we have an accord! We should get that in writing. Does anyone have any paper?"

  Several people did, and Pran
found herself given over to the task of writing up the document itself. It let her use her calligraphy skills, which weren't too bad. It took less than two thirds of a single page, and at the bottom she signed it, forgetting for a moment that it wasn't a school assignment. She winced, but before she could cover the mark, Doctor Millis moved in beside her and leaned over the little table that Apprentice Roy and Second Mate Bill had brought in.

  "Quite fitting, Bard Pran. I too, will sign, if that's allowed? I think we all should."

  They did. Everyone there in fact. The last two names on the paper were Tuvin and Royce, but even the cook, who turned out to be named Mary Ridgest, put her name to it. The more important people were all at the top, except of course her name. Right there, before Michael Morse.

  Pran.

  Just that. Not Pran Grange, or even Bard Pran. Just the one word. It looked lonely, and weak, with all of those more proper names below it. Everyone else had more than she did that way. Fancy titles, big three, or even four, part monikers. Grand things that should have put her to shame, or left her feeling awkward. She didn't though.

  It came down to one thing, really. Right there, written in her own hand, was an agreement of the High Council and even Michael Morse himself, to shut down the Grange. It was a thing that she'd never thought could happen, much less in her own life time. It wasn't done yet, but it might be now.