“No need to apologize,” Gilgamesh said. “You helped keep me sane in an impossible situation.”
“So you were knee deep in problems even back then,” Lori said. “Nice to know this quirk runs in the family, Gilgamesh.” Which didn’t quite make sense to him.
Lori continued on, now with Sadie leading the way to introduce him to the household. He got to meet a few of the other people who lived in Inferno. They seemed pleasant. A little strange, especially the two women Transforms dressed up like apprentice knights, battering each other with rattan swords wrapped in duct tape. But nice. While they wandered, they exchanged vignettes from their life stories. Both Lori’s and Sadie’s were amazing. They both thought his was, as well. Of all things the Good Doctor, Tiamat’s researcher friend Zielinski, had lived in Inferno for a while and had discovered a way for Transforms to improve their abilities a significant amount by specialized training. “Doc Pain’s training tricks also make for a wonderful weight loss program,” Sadie said. “If I could just convince the rest of Inferno that I don’t want to use my meager physical skills to hit people, things would be even better.” Gilgamesh easily sympathized.
When he left that night, after they fed him an impossibly huge meal, Lori cornered him on the way out of her estate. “Don’t forget to write. Or call,” she said. “Think wizard. Or shaman. Or mystical wise man. The Crow archetypes in our mythology all point that way.”
“The myth hypothesis,” Gilgamesh said, recognizing it from discussions with the Skinner. “If this is true, then I chose the wrong name for myself.” Luckily he hadn’t met the scary anthropologist Ann Chiron, who he was more afraid of than the Focuses he knew of. Sky had written Chiron was a master of disguise.
“Oh, I’m not so sure about that.” The look in her eyes was quite explicit. She liked him, more than just from a crazy juice effect. “You’re not just a Crow adventurer. You are a true Crow hero.”
Lori gave him a quick hug and a kiss on his cheek as she sent him on his way. He strode off into the night with a whistle on his lips and an unexpected bounce in his step.
Part 2
Regeneration
Withered is the grass
he used to tread,
and frost is laid upon the path,
erasing all his tracks.
– #1335 of the Shin Kokinshu
Chapter 5
Gunfire in Cornfield Mystifies Neighbors
For the last week sporadic gunfire has been heard near Fox River Grove (a small village northwest of Chicago). Residents report that at times it sounded like a target range in use, yet the area where the gunfire came from is a cornfield bordering an unused often flooded wooded river bottom area.
“Hunter Activity Near Chicago and Media Responses”
The Letters: May 1968
Dear Focus {}
I am Arm Keaton. I currently live in California, in the Bay Area. With the tacit support of my Network contact Focus Lupe Rodriguez I am passing along to you the phone number of a message service you can use to get into contact with me, as well as a post office box number if you wish a more confidential form of communication. I cannot guarantee I will respond to all missives, as I am just one person with limited resources. However, I am willing to offer my services to those of like minds and goals. I am aware that Focus Households possess limited resources, and so I am offering my services at a discount relative to what I charge non-Focuses. Do be aware the national authorities consider me a criminal, so contacting me is not without risk.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Stacy Keaton
Dear Gilgamesh,
Thank you for your letter. Instead of having SK read it to me, I went and recruited someone for the job. Her name is Frances, a skittish young woman of the night with a Crow-like personality. She’s a hippie, or was; she was a drug addict on the big spiral down until I fixed her.
Hi. Boss said I should put some of my own story in here as well. I was bad off when she found me and saved me, hooked on the hard stuff. Now my needle tracks are healing and Boss thoughts are filling in the gaps in my head. I got to meet the Boss’s boss to talk about some acquaintances who had some incorrect ideas about Arms. She’s very scary. Boss is having me go to night school and learn accounting.
My first mission for SK, after I got tagged, was to deliver some legal documents to your old friend Focus Gladwrap. Because of my difficulties around Transforms we had to meet at a neutral location, a commandeered park. I almost messed up and got Arm angry when this Focus demanded I submit to a strip search and body cavity search. I pulled it off, I’m not sure how. Diplomacy is difficult for me. Anyway, I got to bring back more legal problems to SK than I went with, all due to the Focus, not me. It’s my opinion Focus Gladwrap is being willfully obnoxious about these legal issues as a way to make life difficult for us Arms and get us to move. However, if more of the junior Focuses had her stubborn personality I doubt we’d be having the problems we’re having now.
Anyway, I’m off to be a hippie, my next mission for SK.
Love,
Carol
Dear Shadow,
Regarding a certain three Crow tune I was asked to look into, and upon the advice of Thomas the Dreamer, I decided to travel the country gathering information about the lives of Crows, so I can write a book about how we can live better.
I beseech you to spread the word among the Crows that I am traveling the country to ask their opinions and advice on this subject, and that I mean no harm to them at all. A few more addresses and locations of Crows who might be willing to talk to me would also be appreciated, if you don’t mind.
My path so far has taken me west from New England, through upstate New York, western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, which is where I pen this letter. I find establishing contact to be quite difficult and the locations of Crows quite extraordinary. Cleveland, for instance, has no Crows, while Detroit has many. I had expected to find Crows only in the large cities, but some smaller towns, like Akron and Lafayette Indiana, have several.
The most surprising thing I discovered is the number of Crows who have little or no contact with other Crows. Many say they have no names and live in conditions I might charitably describe as deplorable. I expected to find these Crows were all skittish, and was surprised when I found not all of them were. One Crow vaguely recalled he had been skittish after transforming, but after three years, had mostly forgotten he had ever been skittish. This particular Crow did not know of Beast Men or Arms, as he procured his dross only from Focuses. “I have no name. I live through Transforms who know not of my existence,” he said, referring to the Focus household. I asked him why he did not introduce himself to them, and he just looked at me in a bewildered fashion, and said “Look at me! My clothes are rags from the town dump. I eat garbage. I can’t remember the last time I washed. It would break my heart if they knew I existed.”
It breaks my heart to meet Crows like this.
There is a dreary sameness about the Crows I meet. They eat, they sleep, they take dross. Most own pets, most commonly large dogs. Few write letters. The ones who write letters often refuse to speak to me in person, almost as if they used up their entire desire to socialize through their letter writing. To them, I am dangerous. Watchmaker, in Detroit, actually pulled a gun on me and told me he would kill me unless I left his turf. His turf! As if he was an Arm or something. He had been so sociable in his letters, yet to my face, he said I was the greatest danger he knew of. “Let what is, be. Crows’ lives are their own to live, no one else’s.” He hides in plain sight, living next door to a Focus household, and taking dross from the nearby Focus as well as the senior Detroit Focus. The Focus he lives near, Hargrove, is doing something to herself to make herself ignorant of his existence. All to protect herself from the senior Focuses.
In South Bend, Indiana, I found a Crow named John Kincaid, who kept as his identity his birth name. He works at a factory and found a way to
keep his twenty years of factory seniority, despite his transformation. During his transformation, he got himself put on extended sick leave and concealed the fact he was a Transform. Later, he passed himself off as a type of Transform called a Goldilocks, which does not need the support of a Focus. I’d never heard of them before but a pleasant phone call to Focus Rizzari convinced me they are real. He lives in a Focus household (a legal requirement) and he cleans up their dross. He says the household is so bad he cannot keep it clean, even from the inside, but at least they aren’t forced to move as often as the other Focuses. His Focus, Focus Richie, is a walking disaster who spends all her life second-guessing herself and meddling disastrously in the lives of her people. She has no idea he’s a Crow. She thinks he’s a ‘worthless good for nothing Goldilocks’. His paycheck goes to Focus Richie, and when he gets home, he does chores. Chores! I can see why this masquerade is not popular among Crows. Kincaid fears the Crow Killer and also the Arms, who he still believes are behind the Transform killings also occurring in the past several months.
I picked up no news of Beast Men among those I talked to. However, no Crows live in Chicago, and the stench of Beast Men in the Chicago area is immense. I fear the Beast Master and his Beasts use Chicago as their personal territory and have chased all the Crows away. A Crow I met in Milwaukee named Ten Dog (named for the pack of dogs he leads) thought the Beast Men all lived to the far west, on the high plains and in the Rocky Mountains. I couldn’t bear to tell him about Chicago.
All for now, and thanks again for the help.
Gilgamesh
SK
I am well and gathering information, although my Crow mission goes slowly. I found one of the things on your interest list to pass along to you: a previously unknown top end Focus. Her glow is more complex than Focus B or Focus R and is nearly Arm bright. Only there’s a big problem: she only transformed about a month ago. As you surmised, the Focus census I’m compiling does show that the older the Focus, the more degraded their glows. The Focus in question just moved herself and her household to a farm near Ann Arbor, Michigan. As this is one of your areas of interest, you might wish to check out this Focus. Excuse my compassion.
I also checked out Detroit, as you asked. I don’t believe the cantankerous chief Detroit Crow is behind Detroit’s twitchy feeling (which I also get). I believe it is a Focus, one named Tar Baby by the Detroit Crows, and who the Focus registry lists as Winifred Adkins. Her household is suffused with sludge dross and my instincts scream at me to stay away, but the feeling is ‘danger’, not ‘evil beyond compare’ (as in Pittsburgh).
Chicago is worse, enough to panic me, even after your training. I’ll get into the Chicago details when my panic recedes, but I suspect you can likely predict what I might tell you without much work.
Helpful Crow
Gilgamesh
You are having quite an adventure, aren’t you! I’m doing well, although SK just got a chance to correctly punish me for the first time based on what the Arm tag allows (the reason was incorrect Arm deportment; I came to her place in my hippie garb instead of proper clothing). You remember my punishments in Philadelphia. Frances is not happy; like nearly all of my recruits she fears for my safety. I find this strange.
I completed three more missions for SK, two involving the youth movements. The most interesting had me joining a band of roving anti-war protesters. Even with my current problems I’m a much better public speaker than before I transformed. I still can’t read, though. The most difficult mission involved assuming the identity of a SDS member (a man) to try and figure out why the Arms are being mentioned in SDS literature. It turns out a minority group within the SDS (of the more violent sort) decided us Arms are fellow revolutionaries and working on spreading anarchy and overthrowing the government of the United States. I’m not sure what to make of the fact that quite a few casual SDS members became Arm supporters simply because we ‘stick it to the Man’. SK is fine with the latter but considers the former a major threat we (actually, she; as head Arm this is personal for her) need to neutralize. Expect violence.
Good luck with your trip out this way. Miss you!
Love,
Carol
Carol
I hope this finds you well. The reason I’m writing is to officially announce my candidacy for Council Representative for the Northeast Region. Also, Focus Florence Ackermann has declared her candidacy for President for the Northeast Region. In addition, Flo, myself and nine other local Focuses passed along to the Council a list of demands, which if not met will force us to leave the UFA (United Focuses of America) and join the ISF (International Sisterhood of Focuses). These demands are:
Formal recognition that Male Major Transforms exist and are worthy of contact.
Formal recognition that some of the Chimeras are enemies of all other Major Transforms.
A lifting of the ban on Focus and Household research, development and dissemination in the area of improving the ability of Focuses to support more Household Transforms; and in the area of improving the lives of Household Transforms.
The establishment of a more vigorous and complete Focus mentoring program, transparent, and better suited to aid the new Focuses.
The establishment of open accounting practices regarding the collection and use of Council dues.
The use of independent outside authorities in all voting for regional offices.
An invitation to all Major Transform varieties for observer status with the Focus Council.
In my opinion these are all necessary steps crucial to the survival of Transforms in America. Wish us luck in our endeavor.
Best regards,
Lori
CC Stacy, Gilgamesh, Shadow
Stacy,
The three boxes accompanying this letter are the information you requested on Focuses Patterson, Schrum, Trail, Keistermann, Roscoe, Crushank, Abernathy (currently missing), Untermeyer, McWill, and O’Donnell. Thank you very much for the information you sent regarding the West Coast Focuses.
I must admit I’m having second thoughts about what others are calling the Rizzari Rebellion, not because I think it’s wrong but because, despite the near unanimous support of all my household, I can’t help but worry about the danger I’m putting all of us in. I know – “Focuses!” I and my people have already received several direct and indirect ‘stop or die’ warnings about my ‘rebellion’; the expected petty harassment has already started, as within a week of my announcement five people in my household lost their jobs. I am also under investigation at Boston College, although whoever prompted this does not understand how easily a person of my talents can stall such investigations.
Your announcement had the desired effect; everyone is up in arms (pardon) over the fact you are now willing to openly deal with Focuses in a more direct manner. I had to reassure several of the ‘rebellious’ Focuses, including Flo, that this is a good thing and why. Most of them did not realize the Council was blackmailing you into being their mob enforcer. One idea I passed along to them was the use of Arm charisma to get the attention of difficult Household non-Transforms; although nearly any Focus worthy of the name can discipline a Transform, their leverage is weaker with regard to Household non-Transforms, especially those Focuses with weak Focus charisma. I hope you don’t mind, as you had said you were looking for quick non-lethal jobs you could do for us Focuses.
A warning: I received word from the Crows that the Crows of Oregon and Washington (State) are not cooperative with the Crows of California and Arizona. They also passed along a rumor that Focus Fingleman deals with Crows (this may be slander). In any event, I would recommend the exercise of extreme caution when working there.
Good luck!
Lori
Dear Shadow,
Thank you for your aid in my travels. Although you cannot write to me at the moment, the introductory letters are making it easier to contact those Crows who are part of the letter writing circuit. As you told me, there are several interlocking let
ter-writing groups, and I’ve been passing along your Post Office Box when talking to Crows unfamiliar with you.
I recently found quite a number of other Crow Gurus. If you are already familiar with the ones I mention below, bear with me. If you aren’t, they appear to be willing to make your acquaintance. I passed your Post Office box to them, as well (and am enclosing theirs on a separate sheet). I presented you as a teacher of art criticism and philosophy.
Vizul Lightning lives in Minneapolis, on what he terms the edge of civilization. When I was in Philadelphia, Sinclair mentioned that Vizul lived in Boston, so his move must be recent. Vizul teaches the creative arts, primarily writing and poetry. I suspect an extensive overlap in the Crows you and Vizul know. Vizul is a rather closed fellow, difficult to read, and quick with a retort. He’s a new Guru and he requires the Crows he’s teaching to choose interesting new made-up names. Vizul claims that everything between Minneapolis and Denver is Monster Territory, and ‘Guy Monsters’ are his name for Beast Men. He is of the opinion there are about ten of them in the Dakotas and Montana (!!!), and they mostly stay away from Crows. He has no idea how they get their élan.
Pokeweed is a Guru who lives near Oklahoma City and is an actual cowboy, although he prefers the term cowhand, his day job. His group is rather small, five Crows, spread out through the southwest United States. All of them have colorful historic names, such as Ranger, Wrangler and Carson City. He teaches engineering, and if I weren’t already committed to the question of Transforms, I would love to study under him. Of all things, he strongly encouraged me to look into something called microelectronics and another subject called computer programming, both of which he says look like good long term prospects for Crows. I am iffy about this – electrical engineering takes more math than I understand – but he says any Crow with good dross sources can pick up the math needed for these specialties in just a few months. His group used to number eight – he lost three Crows in the last year, two to unknown attacks and one to a Beast Man who sounds suspiciously like Enkidu. On a strange note, he warned me about a Wandering Shade, who they suspect is an Arm(?!?), and who they fear is collecting and stabilizing Beast Men (who they call the Patriarchs). Wandering Shade is the name the Odin Beast used for his Master, according to Tiamat, which arouses my suspicions. However, this group was ignorant of the fact the Crow problems are occurring elsewhere in the country.
No Sorrow Like Separation (The Commander Book 5) Page 13
