Hello there! Here's chapter 23 and chapter 24 will be right behind it. I hope you enjoy!!
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23
Extortion and Planning
At eight o'clock the next morning, five people were in Ars' office. Ars sat at his desk with Neb standing at rest to his right. I thought she looked sheepish but I might have been projecting. Bem leaned his hip against the opposite end of the desk and faced the center of the room. Shawn sat in the visitor's chair on Neb's side, and I leaned against the transparent wall directly opposite the desk. Leaning there felt like a trust fall. I knew the wall was solid and would hold me, but its extreme clarity gave me a qualm until I actually felt it against my back.
I'd asked everyone to let me go first and they assented. I hadn't rehearsed anything, but I knew what I wanted to communicate. I jumped in with no preamble. "The last few days have made it very clear that I am the only amateur here. I can't fight, I can't climb, and I'm nervous around firearms. Ignorance, though, is not the same as stupidity, much like criticism is a far cry from abuse."
Neb started to say something, and I put my hand up to stop her. "Please...I don't care about yesterday. Everyone is under strain. I think it's safe to dismiss any harsh words as the result of stress. The end of the world is fucking scary. What I want, what I'm asking everyone here for, is a fresh start. I'm committed to working as hard as I need to, so I can be what you need me to be. You need to understand that ALL OF THIS is miles outside my comfort zone. I'm going to need more time and more explanation than any of the rest of you. Now, unless anyone objects to anything I've said, I'd like to consider that matter closed and move on to the second thing I want to talk about."
I let a long beat go by and no one spoke, so I plowed ahead, directing my words at Shawn's uncle. "Ars, you once asked me to turn my life over to you. You offered to purchase it from me. I've decided on a figure." I'd spent the morning ransacking Shawn's memories for the definition of an outrageous sum of money. With the help of my `Shawn reference book' I picked a number, but I wasn't certain how sane it was or how my request would be received.
Ars didn't say anything that gave me a clue. He didn't say anything at all. He tilted his chair back and laced the fingers of his hands together in a two-handed fist. I couldn't quite tell, but I swear he was amused. I took his continued silence for leave to continue talking. "For the period of time from now to either the end of the world, or the defeat of the ancient evil, whichever comes first, I would like...one billion credits...each."
I stopped talking and waited for Ars to say something. He didn't. He didn't look like he'd even heard me. Neb was the first to react. Her military discipline crumbled like cigarette ash flicked into the wind, and she doubled over in hysterical laughter. Bem and Shawn stared at her. I glanced her way but kept my eyes on Ars while he kept his eyes on the ceiling. Neb hung on to the desk to stay on her feet while she laughed herself out. She caught her breath and pushed herself upright using the desk as an anchor. She wiped her eyes on a white handkerchief from the back pocket of her slacks. "Steward," she giggled into the cloth like a little girl hosting a stuffed animal tea party, "I'm with Church, a billion sounds good to me." She shook the hanky out and stuffed it, unfolded, back into the pocket.
Bem and Shawn looked between me and Ars and back again like they were watching two different tennis matches. Ars tilted his chair down to address the others while keeping his eyes on me. "Warrant Officer Torolus has cast her lot with Mister Philips." Ars said gravely. "Mister Custos, what say you?"
Bem grinned at me like I'd let him in on the joke and winked an eye that Ars couldn't see. "A billion sounds reasonable, except I don't think we should expect to get paid if the world ends."
"Indeed." Ars agreed with Bem. "Nephew, do you go along with the group, or do you have an alternate proposal?"
Shawn was scared. He was `holding a lit stick of dynamite in a locked and windowless room' scared. His mouth worked without sound several times before a squeaked "with them," escaped his lips.
Ars unlaced his fingers, examined his nails like he was disappointed with his manicure, then scanned the room. His eyes came back to me. He slapped the edge of his desk like the banging of an auctioneer's gavel. "Done. Upon successful completion of your assigned mission, the elimination of the ancient evil currently threatening the survival of the world, each of you, or your survivors or assigns, will be entitled to one-billion-credits. Due to budget constraints, this will be paid out in ten increments of one-hundred-million credits, per team member, over the next ten fiscal years. The first payment will be due to you upon your return from the mountain and independent confirmation of your success. I will have the contracts processed and ready for signature by the close of business today."
Ars looked around the room at our stunned faces. "Unless I miss my guess, you all have a great deal of work to do. Perhaps you should, `get to it,' as they say. Unless, that is, perhaps there was something else, Mister Philips."
I pushed off the wall and tried to act nonchalant. "Nope, that's all I had. Thanks, Ars. We'll get to it." I shook Shawn's shoulder to get him moving and manually turned Bem away from his leaning spot. I pushed them into the corridor and had to call back for Neb. "Warrant Officer Torolus, ma'am." She roused and followed the other two out. I pulled the door shut behind us.
We stood in a knot outside Ars' office door. No one moved or spoke. Neb laughed a little, but it sounded sour and out of tune. She took her handkerchief out again and tried to fold it, but it wouldn't fold. After a couple tries, she wadded it in her fist. "Church," she asked, "did you just extort four billion credits from the leader of the most powerful clandestine organization in the world? Is that what we just witnessed?"
Shawn answered in a barely audible voice. "That's exactly what just happened."
Bem's hand shot out to grope my crotch and he managed a thorough grab before I jumped away. He drew the hand back and examined the palm. "It feels like normal equipment, but it can't be. Shawn?"
Shawn was still dazed and answered the question literally. "It's not extraordinary."
Bem cackled, and I dropped my scarlet face in my hands. "Thank you, Shawn." I said to my palms. "No one strokes an ego like you."
"I uh...what...oh...sorry." Shawn stumbled over an apology.
Neb was the one that got things moving. She recovered her senses, herded us to the elevator, and led the way to the conference room. "Thank you, Church," she said when we were all seated, "your avarice on our behalf is appreciated. Of course, we only get paid if we win. Let's focus on winning."
She tried to apologize again for being so abrupt before,' as she phrased it, but I wouldn't let her. I reminded her that stress makes people do things that aren't always nice. She appreciated the sentiment, promised not to act that way again, and got on with business, which started with her leaving the room with the promise of being right back.'
Her new manner surprised me. She seemed very much the human being that Bem suspected she was beneath the bluster. I almost said something to Bem about it when Neb left the room, but I didn't want to risk her walking back in when Bem and I were discussing her. I assumed the new Neb was a fragile thing and I didn't want to risk chasing her away. This Neb seemed easier to deal with than the old one, and I wanted her to stay around, so I kept my mouth shut. She returned to the room pushing a cart with a model mountain on it. The detail was impressive. I thought that, if I had a train platform, I'd want that mountain for it.
"This is the Demon's Citadel," she announced as she pushed both her sleeves above her elbows, "it's one-thousand feet tall. The flat summit covers five acres. That said, we don't know how accurate this model is. There are no geological surveys, no maps, and no historic narratives surviving from before the king's exile. This model was constructed based on the private diary account of one of the ancient mages who assisted with the creation of the barrier. We need to treat this as a representation, not a replica."
She turned the model this way and that while she explained the features. The mountain was much as Ars described it. The land around it was flat and covered with yellow-green scrub. Neb said it was species of carpet juniper, a drought-resistant evergreen plant that grew no more than four inches high and did not have a woody stem. That botany detour boiled down to the fact that the plains were easily walked or driven across. The land had no bodies of water, no native animals, didn't get enough rain to support crops and even if it did, the soil was thin and nutrient-poor. The plains were not known to have subterranean water, so digging a well would be difficult and pointless.
"What are they living on?" Shawn asked.
"We don't know." Neb answered and kept going with the model.
The mountain itself was a formation of black `columnar basalt,' a volcanic rock forced up as magma from the inner layers of the planet. The rock is naturally fluted, like Greek columns, and erodes in vertical chunks. The erosion style was both good and bad. The good; it was likely at least part of the way to the top could be walked up a naturally eroded spiral path. The bad; the climbing between these paths and ledges would be both vertical and sheer.
She finished with the model and sat at the table. She ran her right hand up and down her exposed left forearm like she was rubbing down goosebumps. "The enemy has the advantage of the high ground. We don't know how big their force is or what weapons they have. It's certain they were not exiled with weapons, but they have had millennia to construct them. We don't know what they are doing with the magic they are stealing. If they've developed a way to store it, their reserves could be staggering. The Steward has put massive energy into researching the time period and events surrounding the deposing and exile of the king, but it's like the records are deliberately absent. The diary I mentioned is the only direct information we've found, and it is vague at best."
I stared at the mountain model for most of Neb's monologue and found the whole situation terrifying but amusing as all hell. "Do we just have to kill Pravus, or do we also need to throw a ring in a volcano on the way?" I asked.
"What are you talking about?" Shawn asked. I felt his confusion and realized my reference to the "Lord of the Rings" series had fallen flat because none of the people I used it on were aware of the books, or the movies, or any of it.
"I mean," I said in an attempt to voice my amazement at the situation I found myself in, "it's a movie plot...or maybe an anime. The everyman, me, get's kidnapped to a parallel world where he has to kill an ancient fucking demon king to save the world. This demon king even lives on a scary black mountain in the middle of nowhere. If I wasn't completely convinced that I really was on a parallel world, I'd be looking for the hidden camera. The whole situation is like a B-movie."
No one understood any of what I'd asked, mostly because they didn't know what anime was, or B-movies. They didn't even have hidden camera shows on Solum. They further explained that the film industry on Solum primarily dealt with the dramatic retellings of actual events, so they didn't have any movies like I described. Neb and Bem also went to great lengths to assure me that everything they had explained was completely true, despite its similarity to fiction plots from Earth. When they got to the end of their reassurance, I was still struck with the strangeness of the whole thing.
"I hear what you're saying," I announced, "but I just don't understand. I mean where's the why?"
"Why what?" Neb asked.
I voiced my confusion. Ever since Ars told me Solum needed help to defeat the ancient evil of King Pravus, I'd been going along with the training and other stuff that they wanted me to do, but no one ever explained what was behind it all. There had to be a great big `why' that explained things, but I hadn't heard it. "Why all this? Why was Pravus exiled in the first place? Why are we doing what we're doing with the climbing and the guns and stuff? How is he still alive? What's the point of all this? I mean, Ars only said he's on the mountain and he's stealing the world's magic. Why?"
My question seemed to land hard on Neb, like she'd only half-considered the situation herself. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms some more and looked like she was considering my question. She started her answer with a shake of her head. "We don't really know." Neb admitted. "The little information we can find tells us that Pravus was originally exiled because he was a tyrant who plunged the world into endless wars and the people finally had enough and rose up against him. Why they chose to exile him instead of killing him, we don't know. We do know that the world's magic is being stolen by some force on this mountain." She tilted her head at the model. "We assume that force is King Pravus. If he was exiled as the history seems to indicate, and he's still alive, I could well imagine him being angry enough to want to destroy the world. Beyond that..." Neb lifted her bony shoulders in a shallow shrug.
She paused for a breath and went on with her monologue. "As far as what we're doing...the trouble is we don't have much intelligence, so we're doing the best we can with the little we do have. There is a mountain, so we're going to train to climb a mountain. There is an enemy, so we're going to train to kill an enemy. Once we are proficient at both, we will combine the two disciplines and learn to kill an enemy on a mountain. We don't even know what Church is supposed to do to destroy the ancient evil." Neb said, anticipating a question I hadn't yet asked.
She laid out what sounded like her personal reasons for doing what she was doing. "We know there is a real problem, the magic theft. The scientists have confirmed that to everyone's satisfaction. Science can't seem to resolve the issue, so we must look elsewhere. Since we don't have science to guide us, we rely on the prophesy of the seers. I have faith in the prophesy...and the judgement of the Steward." Neb kept speaking but directed her words at me instead of to the group like she was doing before. "Shawn says you are powerful and compassionate and that fits the prophesy. Your magic power, based on the report I read of your initial testing, is greater than anything this world has ever seen. I must have faith that your presence at the place where the problem exists will be the catalyst that we need to resolve the problem we have."
"Catalyst?" I asked. I thought I saw what she was getting at, but not quite. I seized on a word whose meaning I knew, but not in the context Neb was using it in.
Neb tried to explain. "I can bring hydrogen into the presence of oxygen, but just putting those elements together will not make water. I need a force to start the reaction to join the gasses and create the fluid that all life needs to exist. I suspect you, your magic I mean, is equivalent to that force. My plan is to do whatever I must to make sure you get to the top of the Demon's Citadel mountain. I don't know what you'll do once you're there, but power like yours is capable of immense things. I suspect the solution will be obvious if...when...we get to that point. Does that answer your question?"
"No...it doesn't." I admitted, feeling frustrated by the lack of information. "But it doesn't sound like there are answers to be had. I'll go along...do whatever you need. I still think counting on me is a colossal fucking mistake, but Ars believes in me to the tune of a billion dollars...uh...credits, so fuck it."
"That's the right attitude." Neb said encouragingly, then she seemed to realize what I'd said and tried to amend her encouragement. "Well, it's not, but...just stay engaged. I hope we'll have more information by the time we actually go on the mission. The Steward has a team that is continuing to investigate. We will be informed of whatever they find, no matter how minor the information seems." I shrugged and let my shoulders hang. Neb got back to the business at hand. "Does anyone have any ideas or anything else to discuss?" She asked.
"Hey," Bem tapped the back of my right hand that was resting on the table, "giant with the average equipment, how long do you think you could keep that shield thing from Monday going?"
Shawn, freshly embarrassed at Bem's reference to his words from earlier, tried to walk back' the comment he'd made. "I didn't say it was average.' I said it wasn't `extraordinary.' There is a difference."
Bem's face set in a malicious leer. "What are you trying to say, Shawn? It's the size of a Puer Sphera club but it's still flesh and blood; angry, purple, engorged flesh and blood."
I was torn between being mortified at Bem's reference to the sex he assumed Shawn and I were having and curiosity of what a Puer Sphera club was. I felt the heat of embarrassment rise in my face to Bem's delight. He was elated that he was getting to me. Shawn was obviously confused, and Neb looked like she disdained having her meeting hijacked to discuss my penis. I put my hand on Shawn's shoulder to stop him from trying to qualify his statement again. "Just give up. You're outclassed." I tried to answer Bem's original question in the hopes that would get the discussion back on track. "I don't know how long I can keep it up."
"The shield or your equipment?" Bem asked.
"ENOUGH!" Neb's temper finally flared. She didn't tear into Bem, but it cost her a visible effort not to. She tried in her own way to get the discussion back on track. "Church, Bem raises a good point. That shield or barrier magic of yours might be useful, even in short bursts. Would you make it a point to test it? We need to know how big you can make it, how long you can maintain it, how strenuous it is for you, and how much weight it can support. I'm sure Shawn will be happy to help you."
Bem chimed in wearing the worst `innocent face' I've ever seen. "Are you sure you're not still talking about his equipment?" He asked.
Neb's entire body clenched. I really thought she was going to lunge at Bem. She didn't, but it cost her another visible effort not to. She skipped his comment like she hadn't heard it. "You also need to work on your climbing. Climbing and magic control are your two tasks. I'd like you and Shawn to focus on that until you master both. When Shawn tells me you're ready, we will all visit the Glosbe Mountains east of the city and spend a day or so climbing and repelling as a team."
Shawn's emotions told me he was stoked at the idea. I was not.
"The mountains will also give us a better setting to test the practical limits of your power." She added.
Bem picked up where she left off with his own mission related comments directed to me and Shawn. "Both of you need more weapons training and I want to figure out how to use Shawn's power, if not as an offensive weapon, at least as a defensive one. That said, we can't fight them unless we can get to them, so, go climb your asses off. Today is Wednesday...Shawn, I'd like an update by the end of the day Friday. I want you to have something to show us no later than Monday morning."
Neb followed Bem. "I agree with Bem. While you work on that, me and Bem and the Steward will focus on refining the plan and finding a way through the barrier."
I was almost too busy being stunned that Neb admitted to agreeing with Bem to take issue with what she said about the barrier...ALMOST too busy. "You don't know how to get through the barrier?" I asked, surprised that something so vital to the mission hadn't been resolved yet.
"No, but, like I said before, the Steward has the best minds in the world working on it. When we need to get through, we will know how to get through." Neb seemed to have faith in science. I liked that.
Shawn and I didn't linger. We had our assignment and the sooner we got to it, the sooner it would be over. We shook hands and left for the climbing facility.