As Gakkra glared at Loco, Shango walked down from the command deck, towards Olofi. Shango looked up at Gakkra and extended a hand. “Shango. A pleasure to meet you, Gakkra.”
Gakkra extended both of his hands, which were still chained together. Shango shook Gakkra’s hands awkwardly. “Right. We— We will rid you of those ungainly accessories soon enough. I promise.”
Shango turned to Olofi, a restrained smile on his lips. “Well. I suppose he was right after all. It looks like Gakkra is our in.”
Loco shook his head. “I’ll be damned. That fucker Legba actually did something useful…”
Gakkra’s sat up straight. “‘Legba’? That’s the fucker who got me drunk!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bentley’s home planet, Dacca Noir, Dracon System, Kaunox Sector
Legba stared down the barrel of Raven Black’s gun, which was aimed directly at his face. He peered past the matte black finish of the barrel, past her two hands, which clutched the pistol grip, up to her face. She was clearly trying to remain impassive, but he could discern a seething mix of anger and fear in her eyes. Legba was never the most adept at getting a read on a room, but even he could tell that this didn’t look good.
Raven Black’s arms quivered as she kept the gun trained on Legba’s head. “Hey! Old man! You talk, or I shoot! And I am not fucking around!”
Lebga nodded sagely. He took a deep breath, and slowly lowered his arms. “I will attempt to be as brief as I possibly can, while still accurately conveying all of the requisite information.”
Raven Black frowned. “If that’s your goal, then you’re off to a pretty shitty start.”
Legba smiled, leaning on a nearby office chair. “Fair point. Let me be blunt: I am a tech mage. I am capable of developing and controlling technological systems in ways that would put your entire civilization to shame. My encryption systems would make the most sophisticated ones that your society has managed to put together look like a three-number combination lock, with its own code scrawled across the back. And yet, one of my most secure systems was hacked. By you.”
Raven Black shook her head. “You’ve got the wrong person. I don’t know who the fuck you are, and I don’t spend my free time hacking strangers I’ve never heard of. I suppose it’s possible that I accidentally hacked you in my capacity as a LaPlacian security officer, but on the off chance that I did, maybe you should take that up with customer service during regular business hours, rather than following me around at night like a fucking creep.”
Legba sat down in the office chair, and casually crossed one leg over the other. “Oh, that would be quite unnecessary. I do not deal with customer service representatives. To be clear, I have nothing against them, and I am sure that they are fine individuals who do fine work, but they are a bit low in the hierarchy. I tend to address myself to higher powers. That is, if I deign to address myself to anyone at all.”
Raven Black’s eyes narrowed. “Then tell me: what is it that makes you such a big fucking deal?”
Legba shrugged. “Oh, I do not know whether I would call myself ‘a big,’ uh… ‘a big expletive deal,’ exactly. It would perhaps be closer to truth to say that I am a sort of guardian. One who watches over the galaxy, keeping your Seen world safe from harm.”
Raven Black’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘harm’? Harm from what?”
Legba smiled. “Just as it is in so many domains, the greatest threat to anything is often that which is its opposite. This particular case is no different. I must keep the Seen world safe from the more malevolent forces of the Unseen world.”
Raven Black nodded. “Ah. Okay. I’ve got it. So you’re just crazy?”
Legba leaned back in his seat, stroking his beard. “I suppose this is not the time to speak of the Seen or the Unseen world. You have no context for either, so such talk would simply float above your head, like telling a fish about the threats posed by those who fly through the Unwater world.”
Raven Black frowned. “Look, it’s fine if you’re crazy. You have no control over that. But it’s really fucking rude to be that condescending. Whether or not someone’s pointing a gun at your skull.”
Legba nodded, closing his eyes. “No, no, you are entirely correct. I apologize for my lapse in manners. Rather than treading through matters related to the Seen world, and the Unseen, let us talk instead about something that I know quite a lot about: you.”
Raven Black’s expression stiffened. Her fingers gripped the pistol more tightly. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”
Legba opened his eyes and folded his hands in his lap. “Well, we could walk through all of the traditional biographical details – your address, your place of work, where you buy your groceries, or any of the other unremarkable details of your day-to-day life – but that is all a bit pedestrian for my tastes. Let us instead cut straight to what is inside of you, to what drives you.”
Raven Black’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t fucking know me. You can’t see what’s going on inside my head.”
Legba smiled. “Perhaps I cannot. However, perhaps I happen to know a multitude of tiny facts, which, when properly arranged, combine together to form the complex mosaic that is you. Here, for instance is one such tiny fact: I know that every night, you stare into the sky, looking up at the stars.”
Raven Black scoffed. “So what? Anyone with my address and a pair of binoculars could know that. And no offence, but you’ve got a really strong ‘creep with binoculars’ vibe.”
Legba nodded. “That may be. But what have I gleaned from this tiny fact? Perhaps that you were longing for adventure, or perhaps you were bored. Either way, it led me to a second tiny fact: you started to see things among the stars. Irregularities that convinced you that there was something out there, something that was manipulating interplanetary events.”
Legba watched as a look of recognition began to spread across Raven Black’s face. He leaned forward in his seat. “Perhaps that is why you started digging for more intel during your free time. Perhaps based on what you saw, based on the recurrent patterns you noticed in the sky, you speculated about the existence of systems that were somehow related to these patterns. And perhaps that is why, from the comfort of your apartment, you managed to find these systems, and probe them, to see if they would yield their secrets to you. I should perhaps tell you, these systems that drew you in like a moth to a flame? They were mine.”
Raven Black took a step closer to Legba, still pointing the gun at his face. “I— Well— Yes. Sure. Fine. You’re right. I did that. I didn’t know they were yours, though. I mean, I don’t know who the fuck you are. I— I didn’t mean you any harm…”
Legba smiled. “That is good. For you did me no harm. You did, however, impress me.”
A look of confusion spread across Raven Black’s face. “I— What?”
Legba shrugged. “Although you did not manage to hack into my systems, the mere fact that you managed to find them was a formidable achievement. I was very surprised that a human was able to discern the patterns within the patterns. So much so that I began to wonder whether you had one foot in another realm.”
Raven Black glanced down at her feet. “I can assure you, they’re both right here, underneath me.”
Legba smiled. “I meant it in a slightly more figurative way. I began to wonder whether you had an intuitive awareness that you were not fully conscious of. An intuitive awareness that might be incredibly important in navigating this world, and the multifarious dangers that flourish within it.”
Raven Black’s eyes narrowed. “I get along just fine without any of that, that intuitive… whatever. I mean, I’ve got a gun. That does a lot.”
Legba nodded. “Oh, it certainly does. However, although I detest being the bearer of bad news, there are threats in this galaxy, the likes of which you have never had occasion to imagine. There exist beings so incredibly powerful, you might as well call them gods. Your Seen world is not the province in which they are most commonly
found, but it is possible for them to enter here, from the Unseen world, and some of them have—”
Raven Black sighed. “So we’re taking the train back to crazy town? Can we… just… not? I can assure you, there’s absolutely nothing there that interests me.”
Legba stroked his beard. “Right. That is perfectly fine. Let us remain a bit closer to the ground.” Legba glanced around the room. “We could even remain with this building. Your employer here is responsible for a multitude of horrors that I am absolutely certain never make it into the monthly company newsletter.”
Raven Black stiffened. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
Legba shrugged. “Well, for the sake of simplicity, let us stick with your department: security systems. The information gleaned by your department is not used for the exclusive purpose of keeping the citizens of Dacca Noir safe and secure. It is used to capture individuals, to torture them, and in some cases, to kill them. These intelligence resources have been used to disappear countless people, and have deprived an abundance of children of their mothers and fathers.”
Legba searched Raven Black’s face, hoping that this comment about disappeared parents might grab her attention, that it might help her to bring her guard down. However, the reference seemed to have gone over her head, and her expression did not change.
Legba sighed, disappointed. “However, among all of the dangers that fester within this galaxy, there is one danger that is greater than any other, and it has a name: Amroth. He is a terrible creature who is attempting to control every single individual in the galaxy. And what’s more, he has the means to do it.”
Legba sat up in his seat, his hands on his knees, staring into Raven Black’s eyes. “He is a threat to all intelligent beings, a threat that must be vanquished to ensure their safety. And I will need you in order to stop him. So please tell me: will you join me?” Legba watched Raven Black’s face expectantly, waiting for her answer.
Raven Black stared at the old man that sat before her, gazing at the pathetic look of optimism on his face. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Look, I don’t want to shoot you. I really don’t. So maybe you should just get the fuck out of here. But don’t follow me ever again, you understand? There had better not be a next time, but if there is, you’d better believe that I will not be giving you five seconds to explain yourself. Partly because your idea of five seconds seems to be, like, twenty minutes.”
Legba’s face fell. His pitch had failed. What now? he thought to himself. This cannot be the end. It simply cannot be. Yet it very much seems to be… He stood up from his seat, deflated. “I am very sorry for troubling you. I only wish that you could know with perfect clarity everything that I know, that you could see everything that I… that I…”
A sudden look of recognition spread across Legba’s face. If she could see everything that I could see? I have not even bothered to see everything that I can see… Although Legba was out of ideas for how he might convince Raven Black to join him, he was overcome by a sudden urge to reassure himself that things would somehow work out, that she would ultimately come with him. Why not just take a quick peek at the future?
Physically, the process for looking into the future was almost a cross between quantum entanglement teleportation and deep meditation. Like quantum entanglement teleportation, a great pulse of energy was required, but if he was looking into the future, his body would not be transported to a different location. Instead, he would be able to see events in the future from a slight remove, like a ghostly observer, just as he might witness memories in deep meditation.
Generally, Legba would take more care when folding back the fabric of space-time, but he was feeling impatient and impulsive. He clenched his eyes shut, tensed his muscles, and he felt a sudden, intense wave of energy rushing through his flesh as his consciousness shot out of the room, into a dark void.
The darkness slowly began to subside, and the outlines of figures emerged. He saw two people sitting in a small room full of medical equipment, one perched on a stool, the other on what looked like an examination seat. The two people were silent, nearly motionless, and as they started to come into focus, he recognized them: Raven Black on the examination seat, and he himself on the stool.
He gazed at Raven Black’s face. She was staring at the Legba on the stool, who had his eyes closed. She was clearly in a state of distress, with something gnawing at her.
The Legba on the stool opened his eyes and saw the distress on her face. “My dear Bentley. You seem troubled.”
Legba’s consciousness felt a burst of warmth radiating from within itself. Thank goodness, he thought to himself. She does come. And I suppose Bentley is a name that she goes by among those who are a bit closer to her. A circle that I will eventually enter… Legba was incredibly relieved, and he let his consciousness shoot away from this small room, back into his body.
He opened his eyes, and he immediately saw that the room in which he stood was not in the same condition as when he had left it. All of the overhead lights were out, and in the dim light that poured through the room’s high windows, he could see Raven Black snapping her head back and forth, looking around, confused, her gun still trained on him.
She looked out into the darkness. “What the fuck did you do to the lights? Don’t fuck with me, old man!”
Legba sighed, still riding the high of his relief that Raven Black would leave this place. These modern office buildings, he thought. Designed to withstand earthquakes, tornados, whatever disasters nature can throw at them. And yet a single colossal pulse of energy is all it takes to knock out their electrical systems. I’m sure Raven Black – or, should I say, Bentley – will appreciate the higher technological capabilities that I can show her.
He watched her, gripped in panic, seemingly unable to see him in the darkness. In order to avoid spooking her, he slowly raised his arms, stood up from the chair, and stepped forward, moving towards her. “Please, Bentley, listen to me. It is your destiny to come with me.”
An expression of surprise registered on her face, and she kept the gun pointed directly at him. “Listen, fucker, if you don’t back off I’ll put one right between your balls. First of all, you picked the wrong girl, I know how to take care of myself. Second of all, my name’s not fucking Bentley. And third – keep those fucking hands where I can see them!”
Legba took a deep breath, but before he could exhale, he heard a loud bang. He felt an intense pain in his chest. He looked down, and saw blood pouring from his body. He staggered backwards, in shock, towards the wall behind him. He leaned his back against it, and slid to the floor.
Legba looked up at Raven Black’s face. The mix of shock and guilt was heartbreaking to witness. However, despite the clear look of suffering he saw on her face, and the intense pain he felt in his chest, Legba almost smiled. Well, he thought to himself, if me getting shot in the chest is what it takes for me to convince her to come with me, then so be it.
+++
Aboard the Chesed, Edge of Leviathon-Q Sector
Bentley watched the horrifying, yet incredibly familiar scene once again. She witnessed each awful moment as it passed in predictable sequence, a sequence she had seen so many times before. By this point, she knew it by heart, like a jingle or a prayer. The figure emerging from the shadows. The pleading. Her anger and her fear. The inadvertent pull of the trigger. The bang. The bullet. The blood. The stagger. The fall.
However, unlike the countless times she had replayed this scene in her mind, slipping deeper and deeper into a dark well of guilt, this iteration had felt new. For the first time, she was able to see beyond her own experience of the incident, and instead witness Legba’s interior experience of the events. This new vantage point included exposure to his thoughts, which gave Bentley a clear view of what had been going on in his head, while she had been on the other side of the gun, trapped in a dizzying torrent of panic, fear, and confusion.
There was a lot to process as she followed Legba’s train of thought during thei
r conversation, as he planned and reacted and failed, but one thing stood out above all the others. This new thought was proving to be very distracting. She was having an increasingly difficult time focusing on the texture of Legba’s memory, and staying in the meditation, following these two figures as they moved through the dark open-plan office. This intrusive thought kept tugging at her, repeatedly almost pulling her out of her meditative state. It was as though she was trying to stay deep underwater, trying desperately to focus her attention on the intricate patterns of a coral reef, while a large buoy that was tied to her waist kept floating upwards, tugging at her body, dragging her to the surface.
When she had been standing in that office so many months ago, with her pistol in her hands, she hadn’t realized that Legba had known about her parents, and how large her mother’s mysterious imprisonment loomed in her mind. She’d had no idea that Legba had been trying to use her mother’s absence to soften her up, to get her to follow him. If she had taken that bait, or even realized that there was bait being offered, she might well have come, and spared them both the trauma of the events that followed.
Bentley wasn’t hung up on the fact that Legba had been attempting to be manipulative. That kind of behavior seemed pretty firmly in his wheelhouse. Rather, the intrusive thought that kept prodding at her, and tugging at her was simply: Does he know something about where my mom is?
Finally, as she gazed through the darkness of the open-plan office, watching the look of horror on her own face as she realized what she and her gun had done, she gave in. She let this new intrusive thought take hold of her and pull her out of Legba’s memory. The already dark room became progressively darker, until it faded into a uniform field of black.
Bentley opened her eyes, back in the medical, and felt tears starting to form. She looked over at Legba, whose eyes were still closed. Within seconds, his eyelids fluttered open, and he turned his face towards hers. Their gazes met.
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