by Vicky Savage
“Hi, Monica,” I say.
“Narowyn asked me to find you and tell you to meet her in her office at ten. Okay?”
“Sure. Fine. Did she say what it’s about?”
“Didn’t ask. Not my business.” She’s perfected the I don’t give a crap slouch.
“All righty then. Thanks for delivering the message.”
“One more thing,” she says, picking at her black nail polish, “are you and Ash, like, together?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, the two of you seem awfully cozy.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Seriously? It’s only been a month since my husband died.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.” She raises her dark brows.
“Uh, yeah, it does, and for future reference, my love life is also not your business.”
Curling her lip at me, she whirls on the heel of her Doc Martens, and trudges off.
Callie looks up at me with knowing eyes. “Yeah, she’s weird,” I say, picking up the dog bowls. “Are you coming with me or going back to the center?”
She nudges my hand with her nose and I figure that means I’m with you in dog speak.
THIRTY-THREE
Once I’m showered and dressed for the day, Callie races me down the three flights of stairs to Narowyn’s office.
“Stay here, girl,” I say when we reach Narowyn’s door. She lies down on the rug. Inside, I find Narowyn working at her conference table.
“Oh Jaden, come in. Please sit down.” She nods to the chair next to hers. “I pulled some things together for you. How did you sleep the first night back in your apartment?”
“I slept okay. Callie, my dog friend from the center, stayed with me last night. It was nice to have company.”
“She’s a sweetheart. Are you comfortable in your apartment, then?”
“Truthfully, no. It still reminds me of the day Ryder died, and it’s awfully bare.”
“Oh dear. Well, we didn’t want to do too much to it before you arrived, but let’s make it a top priority now. Would you like some decorating help, or would you prefer to do it yourself?”
“Maybe Asher will help me. He’s much better at that stuff than I am.”
She shuffles through the papers in front of her. “I’m certain he’ll be happy to lend you his considerable skills.”
“I’ll ask him.”
“Fine. Now, I want to go over some of the household rules with you.”
“Household rules?” I bristle at the term.
“Not many, really. We have a household staff which tends to all the common areas and the grounds of the Chateau. Your apartment will be cleaned once a week by the staff, but other than that, each resident is responsible for keeping his or her apartment tidy and in good repair. In addition, each resident is assigned a tour on kitchen duty. It normally turns out to be one week every other month. This varies depending on exploration schedules and the like. Do you know how to cook?”
I shake my head. “Not really.”
“Then this will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn. In addition, while at home, all residents are encouraged to eat a minimum of one meal a day in the main dining room. We feel this fosters camaraderie, the free exchange of information, and a collegial atmosphere. Most of us choose to share the evening meal together. It’s always quite enjoyable. Of course you are welcome to eat all your meals in the dining room if you wish.”
“Do I have to sign up in advance or anything?”
“No. We always have enough food, and we give away anything we do not consume.”
“All right. What else?”
“Other than respecting the comfort and privacy of others, that’s about it for household rules.” She slides a document across the table to me. “Everything is written down here. You’ll have a generous allowance for decorating and upkeep of your apartment. Any special requests requiring a major remodel must go through me, as must any complaints.”
I scan the paper. Basically it reiterates what she just told me. I think I can live with the rules.
“Also, I wanted to give you this.” She presents me with a beautiful black leather bound volume. My name is embossed in gold on the front cover along with the Transcender motto: timeas non plures semitas vitae, which translated means fear not the many paths of life.
“This is beautiful. What is it?”
“It’s the Transcender Handbook. It contains our mission statement, our code of conduct, and special governmental regulations relating to Transcenders.”
“I flip open the book. What kind of special regulations?”
“Essentially, they cover things like the use of advanced medicine or weaponry on other earths, bans on importation from other earths, those types of things. You should familiarize yourself with all of them. This will be your bible.” She taps the book with her finger.
“Okay. I’ll read it tonight.”
“Excellent. Lastly, I have a tentative schedule here for your training. You are to begin tomorrow, if you are up to it. I hope to have you ready for your first exploration in a few months.”
That sends a little shiver through me. “I’m up to it. What does it entail?”
She places a schedule in front of me and I read down the list:
Firearms Training, 9:00 10:00 a.m. M, T, W, Th, F
Spontaneous Shifting, 10:10 11:10 a.m. M, T, W, Th, F
Study of Alternate Earths, 11:15-12:15 p.m. M, T, W, Th, F
Cartography, 12:20-1:30 p.m. M, W, F
Science of Transcending, 12:20-1:30 p.m. T, Th
“This looks great,” I say. “I hoped to get in some additional fencing training from Ralston. We can do that in the afternoon.”
“Indeed, and I wonder if you’d object to Ralston training a few others in fencing and perhaps sharing his knowledge of other governments with us?”
“That’s completely up to him. I don’t own him. He’s his own man. Or I think he is. Now that you bought him that great body and all, you don’t plan to force him to do chores or anything like that do you?”
“We don’t force anyone, Jaden. But as a member of the household, I would expect him to want to do his share.”
“I’m sure he will. It’s just that he’s more of a teacher than a house servant.”
“Understood,” she says indulgently. “Now let’s go over your schedule.”
We don’t have the opportunity, though, because the office door opens and Captain Watterson says, “Narowyn, I have some gentlemen here who wish to speak with you.”
“Of course, please come in.” Narowyn rises from her chair.
Watterson steps inside followed by two uniformed men. They look like police, but obviously not part of the Transcender force.
“Mrs. Du Lac, I’m Lieutenant Michaels of the Arumel City Police. This is Officer Ross.” The lieutenant is tall, athletic, and a good haircut shy of being handsome.
“Nice to meet you,” she says, shaking his hand. “This is Jaden Beckett. She has recently relocated to Arumel.”
He turns to me. “Ah yes, Miss Beckett. I’m familiar with the circumstances of your relocation.”
I don’t have a clue what he means by that.
“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?” Narowyn says.
“Ma’am, we’re looking for some stolen property, and we received a tip that it might be here at the Chateau du Soleil.”
“Really?” Narowyn’s voice is a blend of surprise and indignation. “What stolen property?”
“An automaton. Model X-226, IUGA Registration No. D7829. It’s valued in excess of one hundred fifty thousand CD, making the theft a first degree felony. Our information indicates you currently own two automatons?”
“Yes, we have two in residence.”
“Do you have paperwork for them?”
“Of course.”
“May we see it?”
She narrows her eyes a moment as if considering this. Then she goes to a nearby filing ca
binet and takes a brown folder from the second drawer. “You will find everything in order.”
The lieutenant takes the offered file and flips through the documents inside. He raises his eyes to Narowyn. “One of these is quite new.”
“That’s correct.”
“May I ask why you made this recent purchase?”
“Because we desired a second automaton,” she says dryly.
His jaw tightens. “I see. May we have a look at them?”
“You may. Captain Watterson, would you kindly locate our two automatons and bring them to my office?”
“Yes, Chief.” He bows slightly and leaves the room.
“Lieutenant, exactly where did this tip of yours come from?” Narowyn asks.
“The automaton is the property of IUGA, ma’am. We were told it had a previous connection to Miss Beckett and that it may have found its way here.”
Holy shit! My stomach caves in on itself.
“This is quite outrageous. Since when do you go about invading the privacy of law abiding citizens on a baseless tip from IUGA? You know full well they have a vendetta against Miss Beckett. She has filed a major lawsuit against them, alleging among other things that they facilitated a plot to have her assassinated.”
“I’m aware of that ma’am. But this tip came from the IUGA director himself.”
This bit of news seems to intrigue Narowyn. “Oh really? How interesting that Director Canto is personally involved in a case relating to a missing automaton.”
Captain Watterson returns with Gil and Ralston trailing closely behind.
“Gentlemen, thank you for coming,” Narowyn says. “Here they are Lieutenant. What now?”
Officer Ross removes an instrument from his belt that I recognize as an illumometer. He pushes a button and the readout lights up, crackling with loud static.
Ross squints at the readout, taps the instrument against his thigh and checks it again.
I try to swallow, but it feels like a wad of toilet paper is stuck in my throat.
Ross holds the instrument first in front of Gil and then in front of Ralston. “I’m picking up some kind of interference in here,” he says, confused. “I can’t get a reading.”
Narowyn touches my shoulder. “It may be Miss Beckett. Her illuminosity is rather powerful. Jaden, why don’t we stand over here?”
I follow her to the other side of the room. She places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. My breath stalls in my chest while Officer Ross tries again. The static on the instrument dies down, and he uses it to scan both Ralston and Gil from head to toe.
Turning to Michaels, he shakes his head. “Neither of them is our guy.”
“You want to check me, just in case?” Watterson says, holding his hands up in the air.
Michaels ignores the sarcasm. “It appears our tip was inaccurate, ma’am. My apologies.”
“Do you wish to search the premises?” Narowyn asks.
“No, thank you, Mrs. Du Lac. It’s not necessary. As I’m sure you’re aware, that instrument would’ve picked up something had the robot been anywhere on your property. Sorry to have inconvenienced you, ma’am.”
“Please tell Chief Prescott I’d appreciate the professional courtesy of a phone call if he intends to pursue any such spurious tips in the future.” Narowyn’s voice has an icy edge. “I will not be so accommodating the next time.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’ll let him know.” The lieutenant salutes her, and the two men quickly leave.
Gil speaks first. “My goodness, what was that all about? My tension sensors are registering off the charts.”
“Sorry to have involved you in this, Gil,” Narowyn says. “It’s nothing for you to be concerned about. You may return to what you were doing before you were summoned.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll just be on my way.” He starts for the door. “I’ll see you at home Constantine.” He gives Ralston a small wave before slipping out. Narowyn closes the door behind him.
Ralston’s cheeks flush slightly, and he studies the rug.
“Let’s sit for a moment, shall we?” Narowyn resumes her seat at the conference table. Ralston and I join her there. Watterson pulls out a chair, flips it around, and sits with his arms resting on the seat back.
“So they have discovered you are missing,” she says to Ralston, “and the Director himself seems to have taken an interest in getting you back. I find that rather curious.”
“Perhaps,” Ralston says, “But I imagine they’re anxious to locate me because of what is contained in my memory storage. I know too much. If the information were made public, it could be quite detrimental to the agency.”
“Well, if they view you as a threat, why did they toss you outside on that scrap heap?” Watterson asks. “That whole pile was slated to be carted off to the public refuse center the next day.”
“I do not know. I’m afraid my circuits had already been disabled when that decision was made,” Ralston says.
Narowyn fingers the crystal beads at her neck. “The Director’s personal involvement is intriguing. In any event, I suspect we’ve not heard the last of this.”
Watterson stands and rotates his chair back to its original position. “I was just on my way to a briefing. Anything else, Chief?”
“No, that will be all for now. I understand Urick’s team was successful last night.”
“Yes. One less Garugian terrorizing the multiverse.”
“Very good.”
After he leaves, Narowyn turns to Ralston. “I’m sorry you were subjected to that. I trust you knew you were in no danger of being discovered.”
“No apology necessary,” he says. “I’m aware that my imprint changed along with my shell.”
“Good. Now, I need to finish up a few things with Jaden. But at some point, you and I should speak about the possibility of your taking on some instructional duties here at the Chateau.”
Ralston stands and bows. “I’m at your service.”
Once we’re alone again, I ask Narowyn, “How worried should I be about this? I mean, IUGA tried to make it look like I stole Ralston. Could I be in trouble?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, dear. We may need to address the issue of Ralston’s ownership at some point, but I’m confident that IUGA will be on the losing end of that battle. In fact, we have an important hearing in our case coming up next month. You and I will meet with the lawyers beforehand to prepare. They’ll answer all your questions at that time.”
“All right.”
“Let’s return to your training schedule, shall we?”
I look over the schedule again. “Okay Firearms Training I understand. What’s Spontaneous Shifting?”
“It’s important that you learn to shift to and from certain familiar locations without the aid of your TPD. It requires some training, but should eventually become second nature. Your Cartography class includes instruction on reading and constructing three-dimensional, interstitial maps. The kind you have in your bracelet. Also an important part of our work.”
“The Study of Alternate Earths sounds self-explanatory,” I say. “But what’s the Science of Transcending?
“It’s the study of how it all works from a scientific perspective—mostly physics and quantum mechanics.”
That sounds intimidating. “But I don’t know much about either of those things.”
“Your professor may need to work with you to bring you up to speed, but you should be able to grasp it easily enough.”
All thoughts of becoming stagnant or letting my education slip have vanished. Now, I’m just hoping to keep up.
“In your spare time you can work on decorating your apartment and seeing more of Arumel,” she says. “We have many fine museums and gardens. The Creighton Zoo is a must. It houses many formerly extinct animals not found anywhere else on earth—including a herd of wooly Mammoths, and a few of the smaller dinosaur species. You’ll not lack for interesting activities here.”
“I’m sure you’re
right.” I gather my things, preparing to leave.
“Give me a moment and I’ll get you an electronic notebook.” She steps out of the office and returns two minutes later holding what looks like a clear rectangle of glass, about five inches by seven inches.
