Authors: Scott V. Duff
“You kidding? Who else is gonna keep mine busy?” I said, laughing. Dominick was still staring at the two stacks of paper on the table when I turned back. “General, who is to be your representative in the discussions regarding further investigations?”
“I don’t believe that has been decided yet,” Harmond said. “Perhaps you could contact me on Monday.”
“Your office number, say ten-ish?” I suggested.
“Certainly, Lord Daybreak,” Harmond said, holding out his right hand. I shook hands with him. He had a firm grip and did not commit the confidence pump.
“Peter, I believe you have the copy of the computer records, right?” I asked him.
“Yep,” he said cheerfully, straightening up. He turned and whipped a huge handkerchief from his pocket. Holding it up by two corners, he turned to the audience, grinning, and showed both sides. Laying the cloth out carefully on the table, he patted down any wrinkles and carefully stretched the handkerchief.
Kieran leaned on my shoulder, snickering, and whispered, “What is he doing?”
“Magic, I think,” I whispered back as Peter hammed it up with flourishes. Even Jimmy was watching bemused—he knew this wasn’t how this was done and he knew less than I did.
“What’s he doing?” Ethan asked, latching onto my other arm and leaning around me.
“Seth says it’s magic,” Kieran answered, almost snickering again.
“They both need remedial classes, then,” Ethan whispered, chuckling.
“Would you three shut up!” Peter snapped. There wasn’t any anger in it with the grin and the twinkling brown eyes. We were his distraction in his birthday party magic act and as he turned to chastise us, he jerked the cloth free of the table, sidestepped in front of it, shifted the four stacks of blu-ray disks from his office in Gilán and glowered at us.
“There it was! Magic! I saw it!” Ethan nearly shouted gleefully as he pointed. “I feel better now.” He stood up straight, smiling at Peter and started clapping. Kieran and I joined him and a few seconds later, a smattering around the room changed to a deluge. Peter bowed to the military in Vegas-style.
“Are you through, Mr. Blackstone?” I asked with a crooked grin when the noise died away some.
“One more, I think,” he said excitedly. “But I’ll need a little help from First.” He stepped over and started whispering in Jimmy’s ear conspiratorially.
“I think I know where this is going,” I said, turning to Harmond. “Until Monday, General Harmond.”
“For my next trick,” Peter called out loudly to the room, stepping forward as Jimmy walked behind him and closer to us. “I will make five men completely disappear in a giant ball of blue fire.” I felt Kieran and Ethan release their holds on reality so that Peter could move them, so I followed suit with Jimmy and me. Jimmy tugged slightly on his link and erupted in fire, letting it run along the floor and engulf us at frightening speed. This was his presence, an emblem of his position and not a real burning fire, so we were perfectly safe, but Peter shifted us over to his balcony as it hit its highest effect. Jimmy quelled it immediately and fell against the railing laughing hard.
“What was that all about, anyway?” Kieran asked Peter as we sat at the table, relaxing and still laughing ourselves some at his antics.
“Gotta get your kicks somewhere,” Peter answered shrugging. “Besides, they were already afraid of Seth and they don’t know what to think about us yet. Harmond and Barnett think we’re nuts anyway. And we needed a distraction to settle their nerves.”
“A billowing gas fire in the middle of the Pentagon will settle their nerves?” I asked in disbelief, standing. “You have an odd sense of stability there, Pete. I need to go see about dinner. Y’all wanna see if our parents want to come over? Might be too late for dinner for them, though. Invite anybody you want and let me know, okay?”
“Sure. How long, do you think?” Peter asked.
“Ooh, don’t know,” I said. “I am just springing this on them. Maybe an hour, hour and a half? I’ll talk to Ellorn and see. Worse comes to worst, I’ll order out at a few places.”
“Works for me,” Kieran said, standing as well.
“An hour! I’m already starved,” Ethan whined.
“Better have Gordon hide the horses, then,” I said as I walked through Peter’s dining room.
Ellorn, would you meet me outside Peter’s, please? I have another favor to ask.
Jimmy followed me out.
Yes, Lord Daybreak, right away,
Ellorn called cheerfully through the geas.
“Good evening, Lord,” Ellorn greeted us as we walked out of the Borland suites. Another brownie stood beside him, a cousin of Zero’s named Zed. I managed to contain my giggles over his name this time, but it was really cute.
“Evenin’, Ellorn,” I said, smiling to cover the chuckles lurching in my belly. “I’m afraid I rather rashly offered dinner this evening in my room and I wonder if I might persuade you and yours into some cooking. I know it’s short notice, especially for so many people, so if it’s too difficult I understand.”
“Certainly, Lord Daybreak, we’d be delighted!” exclaimed Ellorn. “What kind of menu would you like and what kind of time frame?”
“I’ll leave the menu to you and First,” I answered. “I told my brothers about an hour. You can use my kitchens if you want. The Fullers and Phillips will be there, so the Worldgem will be hidden, and this will be very casual so the formal dining rooms are off limits. Y’all can pick a nice place to set up tables and chairs, if ya want. I’m opening the door now.”
“As you wish, Lord. An hour will be plenty of time,” Ellorn squealed eagerly. Zed was quivering, literally quivering, in anticipation at getting started.
“Thanks, guys, I really appreciate this,” I said, grinning down at the nearly bouncing tiny men. “First will show you around. Ask him if you need anything and I’ll check back shortly.”
They disappeared quickly down the Road. Tiny, delicate pulses pushed up and sped them along.
They’re pushing me!
Jimmy sent over our link, laughing and nearly falling in the turn at the main concourse. He was used to much faster, but he was caught up in their excitement.
I grinned and started down the Road in the other direction.
Alsooth
, I sent through the geas.
Would you and Major Byrnes collect our seventeen problem children together? I need to have a word with them.
Yes, Lord Daybreak,
Alsooth responded, again cheerfully. There was suddenly quite a bit of traffic on the Road, though none of it was against me. It gave me a chance to amp up the speed. A bit of a letdown only because I was there almost as fast as shifting but very exhilarated. I felt like I was glowing as I wandered into the barracks.
Byrnes was sending them to a conference room off of the Day room, but only five had arrived yet so I wandered the halls toward the kitchens to check supply levels. Dinner service was winding down and Brinks was walking among diminished shelves with a clipboard, frowning. There were no brownies present at the moment and no one noticed me, which was kind of nice. I headed quietly for Brinks.
“Schaffley, Byrnes wants you in the Day room, pronto!” a man yelled from the door. “Good evening, Lord Daybreak.” Cat was out of the bag now. Everyone froze for a second then turned quickly.
“Good evening, sergeant,” I answered him kindly. “Lt. Brinks. How are we looking for tomorrow?”
“Um, not so good, Lord Daybreak,” he said uneasily. “We’re out of many things now. We won’t make it far past breakfast, I’m afraid.”
“Well, we’ll have to forage through grocery stores tomorrow,” I said. “Most of the larger distribution companies won’t be open on a Saturday. Then we’ll start looking at more permanent arrangements on Monday.”
Brinks’ head shot up, his face and eyes excited and hopeful. “Does that mean…?” he asked, stopping before he could actually ask the question.
“It means you need to eat, lieutenant,” I said, “and I need to feed you. And instead of worrying about what to do about what you don’t have, I need you to worry about what you need to get from the supply sources available to us over the next two days. We’ll be using teams of your men to get it, too, so think in terms of what you can carry, if possible.
“And I’ll be calling another meeting after my dinner tonight, so keep some time free in a few hours for everyone, okay?” I finished cheerfully. The last half-hour had gotten me in a really good mood.
“Yes, sir,” Brinks said, smiling now.
“Thanks, lieutenant,” I said and turned to leave. On my way out the door, I heard Brinks whisper, “I think he’s going to do it!” to someone. I turned briefly at the door and held my finger to my lips, shushing, and was greeted by twenty or so blushing grins.
Byrnes was on his way to the conference room with three men in tow in shorts with towels around their necks and still sweating profusely. Alsooth was with the other fourteen already. I dawdled in a hallway to give them time to beat me there, but I was only a few paces behind them through the door. The fourteen jumped from the table, snapping to attention, confusing Byrnes for a second as the other three darted for position and snapped to attention, too.
“As you were, gentlemen and ladies,” I said, sliding the chair at the head of the table out and sitting. “Good evening, Alsooth.”
“Good evening, Lord Daybreak,” Alsooth squeaked from the center of the table.
“Major, the opportunity that I’m about to offer is not limited to these men, but to anyone once everything is in place,” I said, starting the meeting. “I broached the issue on their behalf but surely there are others with similar issues that simply felt that their situations were hopeless. Frankly, too much changes with time for any situation to be hopeless, ya know?”
“Yes, sir,” Byrnes said, accepting but not understanding yet.
“All right, here’re the big ‘ifs’,” I said, turning to seventeen very nervous men and women. “If I accept and negotiate asylum for everyone, this is what I’m willing to do. The military will release you from service. I will effectively, but artificially, re-hire you as security within my company for a comparable salary, applying necessary insurance for dependents. We will arrange a registry for those wanting to be traceable within this corporation so that any family members will be able to find you within the United States.
“We will create a liaison office within your men, Major, to work with those affected to arrange leave for visitations and those of you with children who have been legally barred from seeing your children, I will provide funds for attorneys to periodically fight those bans. That doesn’t mean you can fight for custody, though. I refuse, adamantly, to put a geas on a child.
“And as some of you may end up living on that side for short periods of time anyway,” I said, watching them gain hope with each word, “I don’t know why duty can’t be deferential to those of you with issues on that side. So. I’ll give you a few hours to think about it. Major, if you could pass the word around, I’ll be calling another meeting after my dinner tonight. Alsooth, would you set the gym up again for me, please?”
“Yes, Lord Daybreak, with pleasure,” Alsooth sang pleasantly.
“You’re welcome to join us if you can find the time, Major,” I offered. “We’ll be starting in about forty-five minutes. There’ll be a number of people you may be working with in the future there. Very casual. I have a visiting VIP there who doesn’t know how to relax so I’m forcing the issue.”
“I would be happy to attend, Lord,” Byrnes said, nodding and smiling and calculating what he had to do in that time to make it happen. He was as eager to please as the brownies were right now.
“Good,” I said, standing again. “I’ll see everybody else in a few hours then. ‘Bye.”
I shifted to outside the Fuller’s suite, eschewing the Road this time. Darius was just stirring and Sean was watching him avidly. I was greeted at the door by a cute, porcelain-skinned brownie named Lornea who became totally shy when she saw me. Her bright blue eyes glistened when she giggled at my compliments on her bright red dress as she led me upstairs. She was sweet and I was glad that they’d managed to overcome their fear of me enough to face me now instead of hiding constantly.
“Where am I?” Darius asked weakly.
“Go easy, Dad,” Sean said. “You were hurt worse than you thought.”
The door was ajar so I knocked lightly.
“Daybreak was there,” Darius said. “Where are we?”
“In bed, resting,” I said, pushing the door open and stepping in. “Good to see you finally awake, Darius.”
“Daybreak,” he said, surprised at my appearance, trying to push himself up to sitting with Sean’s help. “Where are we?”
“My house,” I said casually, moving to him to help Sean get him upright. “Yes, I’ve kidnapped you and your son for a few days. I’m forcing you to take a few days off to heal. Can’t have you ruining my hard work, now can I?”
“How do you feel, Dad?” Sean asked, plumping his pillows.
“Tired, confused,” he said, groggy and scratching his head, still staring at me. “Hungry.”
“I imagine so,” I said knowingly, nodding. “It was a potent working and took a lot out of you. And it’s why I’m here, to take you and Sean to dinner. Sean, would you fetch something for your father to wear? There’ll be other people there and while his nudity won’t bother them, I’m sure he’ll be uncomfortable.”