The Gates of Troy (Lopez Time Book 3)

by Phillip S. Power

  Not that there was anything wrong with how regular people did that kind of thing. The trick there was that he needed to adapt to what he was now, or else it would be used against him in time. Probably by Ann. That or Darla. Zack wouldn’t really do things like that, he didn't think. Not unless he thought it was needed to help his friend not be hurt, later on. Then all bets were, most likely, off.

  Vincent led him inside, a place that he’d never been before. It reminded him of a dentists office, more than anything else. Even if the girl behind the counter was young for her reception job. She also had a tan military style outfit on. It wasn’t high fashion but her Korean features looked good. According to the gold lettered plaque on her desk top, which was a bit like a counter with a desk hidden behind it, she was Lydia.

  The woman looked up at them, and smiled, seeming to mean it. Her voice was… Good. Rich and full, with subharmonics that tickled his skin just a bit when she spoke.

  “Hi! Hey, Vince. Bridget is working on an exercise right now for Hobbs. Over by the dining hall? Outside though. I didn’t know that you knew Troy. How are things going?” She said it like they were friends, which was a good enough thing.

  He understood the idea, having a human version of him running around. A second source of universal awesomeness, making all realities a bit better. That, plus they had Tobin in the world they were standing in. If they all got together the cool coming off them right then would probably start a new ice age.

  “Hello! I’m a different Troy. The one from Vince’s world? Um… Vampire Troy, if that means anything? We haven’t met yet. Things are going okay though. I mean, I’ve been tasked with handling two dozen or more escaped gods from the past but so far so good?”

  Kaitlyn, his Alede pal, came to the doorway of one of the rooms. Except it wasn’t her, being Ms. Turner, the person in charge there. She looked young for that, only a few years older than Lydia did, and she seemed to be a kid. The kind that might be worrying about prom, in a year or two but not working on any kind of base. Then again, age was only a number and looks were changeable.

  There was a look from Turner, who scowled a bit.

  “Gods? That sounds fun. Do you need help with that? We have some powerful people here.”

  He smiled, feeling a rush of gratitude at the offer. It left him feeling warm and gooey inside.

  “Thanks. I’m the one doing it in order to avoid fighting. We can beat them, in a fight but Riley, The Trickster… have you met him yet?” He stopped, not thinking it would be a real thing. Vince nodded but they worked in the same mall, so it wasn’t a bit deal that way.

  Turner shook her head.

  “No. Trickster? That sounds happy and pleasant.”

  The mage line walker shook his head.

  “He’s a good guy but his job is to hold the universe together. All of them, I think. That means he has to do a lot of things that no one loves. His kind will lie to you to get that done, if they have to. Hence the name. They’re really different. Powerful. Even the greater demons don’t go head to head with them, from what I’ve seen. Then, I’ve mainly been around the Line Walker. He actually gets along with people.”

  That was true, really. Troy nodded.

  “Exactly, so it could be that I have to die to get this done. He thinks that might happen. I might win, too, if I manage things right. I figure that means I’ll end up with endless torture or something but the idea of the greater demons and ancient gods trashing my world if they go head to head seems oddly realistic. Which doesn’t mean I won’t ask for help, if that’s what’s needed. At least as long as we can do things relatively safely. Bringing in people from here to die makes no sense to me, you know?” He meant it but kind of thought the woman was about to take offense at the words.

  The secretary or receptionist, Lydia, made a little sound then.

  “Wow. We don’t get to hear things like that much, do we? Most of the time it’s just problem, reaction, send the IPB in, regardless of what the best option is.”

  The boss there, Turner, had her curly hair held back It was a nice mid-tone brown. Not as alluring as what Kait had going on but she was decent looking anyway. Her skin was perfect and while a bit pale, she managed to not seem too washed out.

  “No doubt. Well we’re here for you. Even if you just need strategy or backup on logistics. Brian can do that world travel stuff, and we have an asset in town nearby, if that’s needed? It’s a rare ability but a few around here have managed it.”

  Troy patted Vince on the back.

  “One more now. Vincent here just learned how to do it. After only five hundred years of practice, in the void. Feel free to abuse him as far as line travel goes. Oh… I owe you a million dollars.” He meant it but Lydia just snorted and held her hand out. Palm up.

  “Oh! If you’re giving money away, I’d like in on that?” It was funny, and the others chuckled a little bit.

  Troy looked at her, then shook his head.

  “No. We’re starting a training program though. At least I am. For line walking? It might take a few years of work, and you could fail at it but if you want to try it, if you’re allowed, I’ll give you a million on completion. That was the deal with Vince here. I can pay off on that, so it might be worth it. Even if we have to transfer that into gold or gems for it to work here, we can do it.”

  The girl seemed bemused by the idea but Ms. Turner sounded somber over it.

  “That could work. How many spaces do you think you have for that kind of thing? Do they need to stay in your world for the lessons? I could spare… Call it ten candidates for that? Do you need to pick them out, or should we?” There was a hint to her words of trying to push him into doing that kind of thing, as if she didn't think that he’d just offered.

  “Three or four? I want about that number from my world, so it will pay not to bite off too much all at once. Call it six, over all between two worlds. I don’t want to be a jerk about it but I should probably pick. Not that I have enough knowledge to work out who’s a good candidate yet. Can I get back with you on that in a week or so? Make sure that Lydia is one of them. She’s a line walker in a different reality, so that might give her an edge. So far that seems to be the rumor at least. If one version of you can do it, that means better odds for another.”

  “I am? That’s news to me.”

  Troy had met the girl though, a regular human, in human Zack’s world. Several times, in fact.

  “Yeah. She’s pretty great. Really, I should head over there and see if that Zack knows anything about that. We aren’t close really. I’ve met him a few times, so hopefully that will get me in the door with him. He has more experience than anyone else with line walking though. More than Demon Zack even, which is impressive.”

  The boss lady moved toward him and put her hand out to shake. That was smooth and oddly firm at the same time. Warm though, unlike his own.

  “Get to that, then? I’ll expect to see you in a week or less then, barring other things getting in the way. What with that latest mission you have going on. Gods… Well, try to keep in touch? Lydia, make a note of things? Also, increase the learning on languages and customs. If we end up with even one person that has this skill, we’ll need that.”

  That got a sigh.

  “Got it. Well, I need that for my current job anyway. I only know Standard and English so far.”

  Troy tilted his head.

  “Guut. Es una langu nessasitat.”

  The girl looked at him and rolled her eyes.

  “I know. That’s the formal mode of it, right? It’s what I’ve been learning, since Queen Tiera insisted. It’s better to talk to farmers like they’re princes than to kings like they’re tradesmen. It was said that way, more than once.”

  “Ah? I’ve heard of her then. I was trapped in that world, for a test. Taman Baker made me learn Standard before letting me go home. I’d whine but it can come up, you know? There are some tricks that can help learn things like that. It will be part of the training, already.
Fighting and magic, too. Meditation as well. Lots of that. You practice that daily, right?”

  “Nooo. I can’t say I do.”

  Vince was just standing there, watching them all. His eyes were clear but held that slightly dreamy look that all the newbs had, fresh from the void.

  “Would working with Master Hobbs be a good idea then? He does fighting and meditation already. I don’t know if it’s the right kind.”

  Turner took charge then, nodding.

  “Do it anyway, to get a head start? We might want to get with Tobin then. He works with Hobbs already and I hear that there are other versions of him doing this world travel thing?”

  It was actually a great idea. Especially since you’d have to be a giant prick not to help out alternate world versions of yourself, if you had the option.

  “He’d do great, I bet. Good thinking. Now, I should get out of here and make some plans. Nice seeing you again. Nice meeting you, Lydia. Get ready. We’ll start as soon as we can, so get used to not sleeping on a regular schedule.” That probably wouldn’t be needed but the times were at least a little different.

  As soon as everyone indicated they didn’t need him any longer, he walked away. Vincent wasn’t stuck there now or anything, so he didn't make plans to get him back. Instead of going to human Zack’s world directly, he headed back to the Yoghurt World first.

  Barb was still there but surprisingly, so were Eve and Bey. All of them sitting in the back. Karen was working the front, selling blood to a line of people. Vampires. There was no hint of nerves in xe’s voice as xe worked.

  Troy smiled to himself as he saw everyone. Bey however looked mildly upset about something. Eve just waved though.

  “Hey, Troy-boy. I hear that you quit your job and are planning to work the streets as a rent boy from now on? What kind of rate schedule do you have planned for that?” She dead-panned the whole thing, so he nodded.

  It wasn’t like he didn’t get her sense of humor or anything.

  “High end. A thousand a night, minimum. More if you want me to pull out the special skills. I mean, have you ever seen what I can do in bed?”

  Bey ignored all of that, still seeming worried.

  “You’re well? There was an attack on you. Then your chosen career was stripped away. We can execute the one in charge there? Perhaps the city mayor, so that Eve won’t lose her father in this? Will that serve?”

  The freaky part was that he was clearly trying to save Chief Benson’s life. For real. As if that was a real danger.

  “Nah. That isn’t going to be needed. I left, to protect my people there. It wasn’t anything they did. Even the local vampires weren’t really responsible for it. They were always going to challenge me at some point, because we’re tools that way as a group. You may have noticed that? A god, probably Loki? That’s what I was told by The Technician, anyway, it was a set up by someone else. I felt like it was a test. They had these magical blades that only kill me. Not even other versions of me, just me, me.” He shrugged then. “I did meet up with Genesh, who decided that moving was in order, rather than making problems. Great guy, by the way. He used to be married to The Rotted, back when she was a god. We found a place where he can do a lot of good.”

  Eve, who was sitting on the sofa in the back, next to Barb, rolled her eyes.

  “That’s different. She used to be a god? Fuck. Well, if you live long enough, a lot of things are going to happen. I’d missed that one though… Let me see…” She seemed to be thinking, then looked at Bey. “Kali. That part fits, actually. Really, I need to have a chat with some people, sooner or later, about some things. So, you aren’t pissed at my dad? I’d rather not have him dead yet, if possible.”

  He nodded, instantly.

  “That never even occurred to me at all. He’s good at his job. This situation sucks but it wasn’t his fault. I’m just a bit tired of the paperwork. That and the visits to the psychologist every time you kill a few people. That or claim to see a god. This way I can go and check out The Children of Baphomet, legally. Well, by vampire law, anyway.”

  Interestingly, Bey beamed at him then.

  “Ah! Very good. I was worried that you would be left with too little to occupy yourself with for a time. You have plans though? Fighting gods and doing in-world bridge travel? The council is quite excited to have that option, by the way. You truly don’t feel we’re abusing your good will in that? We can afford to pay for it.”

  “Nope. We have a good plan for that. I need to get in touch with Marissa actually, to see when she needs to come back. I got her to her latest accounting gig earlier than she’d planned on. Oh, I also trained Vince Riddenhour, the mage, how to line walk. He was better than half trained for it already. Barb did that part. It worked really well, actually. Taking him in for a few years at a time, to get him used to being in the void like you have been? It only took him about thirty years to get the rest of it.” He paused then, though Bey looked interested rather than upset that he’d taught someone from a different group that kind of advanced skill.

  Eve clapped though, excitedly.

  “Oh! Awesome! I hadn’t even thought about trying him for that but it makes sense.”

  He nodded.

  “I noticed that he had problems with the conceptual thinking parts. Mages don’t train for that, in their magic. I bet it would make a lot of things in the void easier. We need to test that. Can you get Barb up to speed on that kind of meditation? I’d do it but we’re dating and that sounds like a great way to piss someone off. If it works, I want to put together a training program for line walkers. I was thinking I’d get with human Zack on that, for ideas. I have two volunteers already. From the IPB world?”

  They chatted about the idea for a while, With Eve actually walking out the back door with Barb, to start on meditation lessons. It was the basis of the magic he’d been using, himself. He wasn’t certain but his guess was that it would be the part of things that Barb was missing, in her line travel work.

  Bey looked at him then, and smiled.

  “You are a good child, you know that, Troy? Easy to care for and kind to all who need it. You even balance such with action at the right times. I don’t love that you are being used to address this current problem, however. Then, who do you get to face such beings as gods? Even if it is only a name. I recall some of them. The world was very different back then. You should speak with Jasmin on that score. She is many thousands of years older than myself. I believe she is working today, at Burgerville?”

  That part wasn’t a joke. Maggie Sims was one of the oldest known vampires in existence and she managed a fast food place. Not because she needed the money, either. She just liked to keep busy, it seemed. Twenty-four hours a day was a lot of time to fill.

  He was really starting to get that part of things.

  “Nifty. I can do that now? I should also be getting with The Librarian but he’s been absent for a bit. Doing something more important. That doesn’t sound possible, does it?”

  There was a very gentle laugh from the vampire in front of him. His bald head shone in the lights of the back room. At least that was the sense of the thing, the truth was that Bey’s flesh was a light tan, and only reflected in matte colors. That was a vamp trait. It felt like there should be more light there though.

  “That does seem hard to fathom. Then again, one might find personal matters far more entertaining and distracting than things such as mere gods returning. I do understand your meaning, even given that. It sounds wrong, stating it as such. At any rate, we-” The words stopped, as the phone in Troy’s pocket rang.

  He really expected it to be either Ann, setting him up for something, or Marissa, asking to be returned home. Both of those made sense.

  “Hello?” He tried to sound polite and not like a college kid, saying yellow and thinking it was clever. “This is Troy, how may I help you this fine day?”

  There was no noise for a bit. When something came, there was a commanding tone to the whole thing. In s
hort, he was barked at in a way that would have had him hitting someone if they’d been standing in front of him. Even if it was a bad idea.

  “This is Ares, God of War. I have word that you are the one intending to kill my kind?” There was menace in the words. Naturally.

  Coming from a god of war, that just made sense.

  “Nope. So far, I’ve only taken someone to a different reality, so they could be happy. You need a trip to the war world? Where they live in constant battle with one another?” He didn't know of any such place, and honestly it sounded impossible but everything existed, as far as he knew. If he could think the place up, then he could probably find something close enough to work.

  There was a grunt from the handset, as Bey looked at the device, seeming slightly annoyed. Troy could feel that one for himself. Making that kind of sound was more than a little bit rude. Then, the guy had war as a hobby and driving goal in life.

  He might not be too worried about being politically correct.

  “I was thinking that I’d turn this world to ash, instead. It has been far too long since people have worshiped in my name. Now that the veil has been breached, I think that I’ll remind the trash of what my name means.”

  The reference to the veil didn’t make sense. He was going to need more information for that one to come together. It was probably the cage but that was a guess. It could have also been about the being’s wedding gown. If so, then Ares was playing the whole thing totally wrong. An ancient god in a wedding dress screamed for its own reality television program.

  “I see. Well… No. I can’t let you do that. Either take my deal, or we’ll have to handle this a different way. One that won’t work as well for you. I don’t suppose you could see your way toward agreeing not to hurt people? At least if they aren’t harming you first. We have rules here.”