The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (19 page)

“She’s Heather’s sister here.
Heather Westmorland? You should meet her, too. A friend of mine.
Also
me. Probably pretty close to what I should have looked like and everything?
I
think she’s hot.”

Tomas didn’t even bother to look
troubled over that admission. It hadn’t even seemed like it might be a thing to
Gwen. Not until she realized that to a lot of people, even after everything,
being a Westmorland was basically the same as being a nuclear bomb. Not
everyone wanted them in for dinner. Not even after the whole program had been
more or less disclosed to the public. By her.

The man just kept eating.

“Really? That’s interesting then,
isn’t it? Is that why you worked so hard to free them? Because one of them is
you?”

It was a great point, but not the
issue at all. It hadn’t even occurred to her before, to be fair.

“Nope. It’s just wrong, so had to
be fought against. Not that they’re free now. Most of the adults probably never
will be. They’re being given a chance to have more of a life, but they were
still tortured for decades in some cases. Forced to do things that… You know, I
won’t bother telling you all of it. It’s as bad as you might think. Probably
worse.”

Tom didn’t ask anything else on
that topic, she noticed, even though she’d only meant that her goal was to prevent
him from learning about rifting. Not more than was needed to live a good and
healthy life. It wasn’t the kind of thing that anyone could really do on
accident and most of the governments probably knew how to do it, at least in
theory. Gwen just didn’t want some suicide cult to get the information someday.
That was all. Normal people could handle having that kind of thing, since it
was nearly impossible to train into people without being a monster.

Religious people, those on the
fringe that felt they didn’t have anything to lose, that kind might just
attempt it anyway. When you had nothing left, doing insane things could seem
far more attractive.

Interestingly, at least to her, Tom
had different ideas to dwell on at the moment.

“I was thinking about the training
you mentioned? For military purposes? What do you think I should do for that?
You mentioned something, but the details were a bit hazy.” Opening a small
ceramic container that looked like a triangle, he removed a single half piece
of toast. It seemed to have melted butter on it already and was about three
times thicker than what she was used to seeing.

Then, no one had invented sliced
bread there yet.

It really wasn’t all that
important, of course, but was a thing to keep in mind for later.

“I was thinking that I’d get Manly
and Peter to train you? Peter is probably the best unarmed fighter on the
planet right now. He’s also a healer, which can’t hurt as a skill to pick up.
Weapons as well. You know how to use a crin, right?” Boys were given them as
children. Weak ones that fired little bursts of physical force at things.

Gwen needed to get one of those to
practice with herself, soon. The benefit to the toys was that they’d fire about
a hundred blasts on a single crystal charge. The real ones were good for about
six.

Tom nodded though and smiled
happily.

“Oh, certainly. With a dot-aimer
I’m brilliant. Without one…” The man took a bite of bread, stalling on purpose
this time. When he was done chewing, he seemed to be attempting to be modest.
“Without one I’m rather better than average, I think.”

Gwen wasn’t, though she
could
hit the side of a barn at a hundred yards if she tried. The things didn’t
really have sights on them, being designed to fire from the hip like they were.
Hence the dot-aimers. Those were basically laser sights. Except that the dot
they made was brighter and easier to see at a distance. She’d helped to do the
work on those originally.

“Good. That’s one less thing then.
It probably wouldn’t hurt to learn how to fly either. Or… What are your
strengths, magically speaking? Other than healing.” Everyone had that one.

They just didn’t use it that often.

“Oh. I always came out as being
equally gifted that way. Enough so that I had to have the basic telepathy
training, even though I specialized in traditional magics. I should be fine
doing whatever it is we need to. Do you think it will be too painful? I heard
that the Westmorland Protocols were… Not nice.”

“Torture. That’s the word that
you’re looking for. Which is true. We have two methods now however. One that
uses addictive levels of intense pleasure to train people, the other extreme
pain. For you though I was hoping that we could use a different method? The
good feelings will be nice and maybe a
little
addictive, but nothing
like what Peter has been doing. Or Katherine. Really fun though that way.
Coupled with light pain if you get things wrong? Say about like touching a hot
stove? It
won’t
be great all the time, but it isn’t what the
Westmorlands had to deal with. Not even as children.”

It would still suck. Not in a fun
way either. She didn’t say that, pasting a smile on her lips instead.

Her boyfriend grimaced a bit.

“All right. That sounds effective,
I guess? Who do I need to get with in order to set that in motion?”

She thought for a few seconds, then
realized that she actually knew the answer, having already basically given it.

“Me. I’ll go and take care of that
now. Anyway, we can’t do anything together on the ship, so I was thinking that
I could visit you tonight? Would… Eight o’clock be all right for you?” That
would be nine for her, but she also wanted to get some rest if she could. Once
they started loading, there wouldn’t be anything like that for a long while,
most likely.

“That sounds lovely. I should get
some wine? Or…” He was clearly scrambling as to what his part was supposed to
be.

Gwen winked at him.

“Some oil? I don’t know exactly
what to do with it, but I bet we can make up something kinky. Towels, too. See
you then? In your front room?” She could go right into it, after all.

“Perfect. Yes. I’ll see if I can
find something appropriate.”

Gwen kissed him then, doing it
carefully, since she didn’t want to smear half his face with her lipstick
again. Then, stepping back, she moved to Westmorland Central. Her target wasn’t
a place, as much as a person. Peter. Hopefully he wouldn’t be in the bathroom
or anything, since that could be embarrassing. When she got there, almost as if
timed to be on purpose, Billy walked into the room, holding a piece of paper
out to her.

Her brother didn’t bother to hug
her, or even say hello. Not even to Pete, who he just pushed in front of a bit.

“Here you go. There’s one of your other-worldly
pals looking for you. A kid named Chris, I think. Anyway, get to this location
in three hours, or he’ll end up lost and walking in on you at eight-twenty
tonight. That
would
be a show for him, but a bit embarrassing for you.”
Then, as if he weren’t being a pill, the man, who had perfectly circular scars
on his face and neck, turned and walked away.

Peter watched him leave.

“Gwen! I wasn’t thinking to see you
today. How’s your leg doing? I’d ask to look at it, but unless it’s an
emergency I probably can’t justify getting you out of your dress for that. Not
for anything official. Can I help you with something? I could use a reason to
earn some reward time, if you have anything?”

She nodded then, ignoring the
flirtatious nature of what he’d been saying moments before. At least she was
taking the words that way. They’d been a little bit bland sounding. Matter of
fact instead of a suggestion that they actually do something together. That
would be wrong, so she wasn’t going to go there. The kid was only fifteen after
all.

Probably more experienced than she
was, but that didn’t make it all right. Plus, he was kind of hers to protect.
Not that they knew each other that well. In nearly four years they’d actually
only met about a dozen times, she realized. Part of that had included him
having a room in the same mansion she was in, even. So while she considered him
a friend, that probably wasn’t actually the case. Not when it came to knowing
his dreams, or what he wanted for his birthday. Not even when his birthday
might be.

Not even if people there really did
things like that for Westmorlands. They had the concept of parties for that
kind of thing for regular people so that was a reality. Ethyl had been known to
throw rather grand affairs for hers annually, for instance.

“I actually
do
have
something for you. You and Manly. I have specs for it, but basically we want a
much lower yield pleasure and pain induction system. It should work pretty well
for training, without being addictive. I mean,
near
that level, but on
this side of it? For Baron Harrison. We need a field healing course set up, weapons,
unarmed combat. Like what you had? Have you worked with that at all?” She
hadn’t even bothered to ask him if he’d kept up with things over the years
since she’d gotten back, a half year before.

She’d been lazy that way, herself,
only practicing about twice a week.

“I have been. Manly set me to
improving both striking and grappling techniques. It’s a bit different, but
allows for a wider range of things to be done. I can show you later? After I
set up this program, I mean?” He seemed eager enough to do it. Almost as if he
thought it might impress her.

It probably would, given that.

“Sure. Not today, or for the next
few weeks. We have three or so, since Tomas is going to be on the Peregrine
with me, as a loader for three weeks. For this… healing, fighting, both with
weapons and without, some kind of combat oriented precognition training and
something like flying or teletransport? I don’t know if those can be done using
this kind of system.” It was really hard to do. Especially teleportation.

Flying was hard too, but mainly
thanks to mental blocks, more than anything else.

Peter just nodded at her, seeming
suddenly a bit abstract, like his mind was someplace else.

“On it then, Gwen. We start in
three weeks? How long do we get him for training?” That was an interesting
thing to mention, given that she didn’t really know.

“How long will it take? This
special training, as well as all the normal military stuff? He’s a Baron, so I
want him ready to be an officer, not just a grunt.” She didn’t explain the
term, and Pete didn’t ask her about it. So she went on. “He could end up doing
special unit stuff. I don’t know that, but if it happens I want him to survive
it. We’re seeing each other.”

“Hence coming to me instead of
doing it yourself. I understand. I’m probably the only Westmorland that can
hook a noble up to a pain device of any sort, as it stands. Some of the kids
could do it, but no one much older than me. I’ll have that ready then. Three
weeks. Can you deliver him here for that? Or should I arrange for it to happen
someplace else?”

She didn’t really know, so
shrugged.

“Both. If this works, we might need
to be able to put people into training in hours. He
might
also want to
go home after a frustrating few weeks of uncomfortable manual labor. I should
also see about birth control. I haven’t yet. Not that we’ve been doing anything
that will get me pregnant. I just don’t have time for that right now. Plus, you
know, not married, so it would look bad.”

Peter was bright enough to put that
all together. Also a Westmorland. They had sex a lot after all. Mainly with
each other, but it wasn’t exactly a forbidden thing for them. Most were still
sterile however, so controlling for pregnancy wasn’t big on their list of
things to do, Gwen was willing to bet. Which didn’t stop him from nodding.

“I can get you some powder for
that. One small scoop in a mug of warm water, every ten days or so. It’s
impregnate, so…” He stopped then and waved for her to follow him. “You don’t
even know what that means, do you? It’s a compound that’s relatively inert. It
passes a magical field to your body, to prevent getting pregnant. It will last
about a
month
, but don’t wait that long, just in case. You could take it
daily and be safe. That isn’t really needed. It’s effective and doesn’t really
have any side effects, other than not catching a child. Some of the women here
that have had reversals use it. You know, not married yet and all that?” He
moved with a good bit of energy. It was enough that it reminded her she needed
to get out and run when she could.

The wonder drug was in a brown bottle,
in a closet like space. Inside there were hundreds of drugs of different kinds.
Pete just pulled the right one, checked to make sure the scoop was inside the
bottle of white powder, then handed it to her.

“It will take a few hours, three,
to be effective. So if you’re going to have a date
tonight
, you should
have some now? I’ll get you some water for that? Use warm. It dissolves better
that way. Otherwise it can be a bit gritty.”

They took care of that pretty
quickly, really. Five minutes later, Gwen was able to get back to Park Street
and even made it to dinner on time.