robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain (45 page)

Although she still didn't understand Joseph's take on the matter, she now knew there was more to the
Callis
than a joke or gimmick.

There was no indication of the order of any of the fragments within the
Callis,
so she started with the longest. It was in the original Latin; not a problem as it had been in college when she was still weak in the language. She'd forgotten how unsettling and upsetting she had found the imagery. As she worked her way through the pieces, her agitation only increased in light of Bear's references to Quetzal as a serpent lover and wyrm follower; thoughts along those lines opened interpretations that she had missed before. John's description of the psychic imagery he'd seen around the mage fitted too, disturbingly.

"The pinioned serpent who shone like the light through a prism."

The more she read, the more she worried. Luciferius's pinioned serpent was supposed to change the world and bring the dawn of a new age. Luciferius urged his readers to "follow the Path of Light to the new age."

The Path of Light? A mistranslation for the Glittering Path perhaps?

Quetzal had asked her what she knew of the Glittering Path. The title by which the work was known,
Callis Luxorum Dubiaria,
could be translated as the Gleaming or Shining Path. Admittedly the title was not used by Luciferius. According to Joseph, the mysterious author had left his work untitled; the name had been appended to a twelfth century version. Nonetheless, the associations were too close.

Association was a law of magic. One could touch an entity by touching something once associated with it. Associations worked for research too.

Failing to find satisfaction in the little of the
Callis
that she could access, she turned to the spin-off files, the bulk of what her programs had collected. They'd been set to uncover anything associated with the book or its author. There were a lot of files, but most of them were third and fourth degree connections. Tenuous stuff. She started in on them.

The name Luciferius turned up as a spirit worshiped by several obscure cults; Spae had never heard of any of them, suggesting that they were truly obscure. Most researchers examining the cults dismissed the name as a variation of Lucifer, but one author stated categorically that the name referred to someone other than the devil. That author had been writing of an English cult whose members had fled Puritan persecution, and prosecution, for the New World, only to be exterminated right here in Providence before the end of the seventeenth century.

Associations.

She ran a check to cross-reference the files with Providence.

Spae was amused to find that the first citation the programs turned up carried David's byline. The cut was from an article in a series called "Strange Witch Cults of New England," recounting the tale of a sect who had called themselves the Glittering Dawn, also associated with Providence. David cited an old newspaper archive, with an account of the police breaking up a "black mass" on the East Side of the city almost a hundred years ago.

Associations.

Providence.

Providence was another name for God, especially used in connection with His care or guidance.

Luciferius had written something about special guidance from "beyond time." John reported Bennett claimed that Quetzal was from an earlier time, in a sense from "beyond time."

The "beyond time" phrase had been in one of the fragments she'd read earlier. She decided to reread that passage. She called it up, but the computer flashed a warning box, complaining of suspicious activity and asking for instructions. Before she could give it any, the message box blinked out; it appeared again and began to blink on and off, rapidly. When it stopped blinking, only portions of the screen graphic were visible; it looked as if it had been chewed on.

Spae tried activating the Romer's virus defense, but the keyboard was frozen. She checked the connections on her gloves; fine. Battery; fine. She tried all the standard tricks and got nowhere. She gave up and went for a restart; the keyboard worked when the computer came back up. She looked for the file again and got a "not found" message. Checking the file where she had ordered her programs to dump the fragments of the
Callis,
she found it empty. The backup program claimed nothing had ever been there.

This work was seriously fancy techno-sabotage. Somehow she didn't think Quetzal had made the time to acquire such skills. But someone out there didn't want her reading the work of Luciferius.

Duncan Middleton was Pamela Martinez's personal assistant. So Charley knew that he wasn't dealing with a joke when the smiling Middleton met him at the security desk. Middleton had arrived so quickly that he had to have been waiting for Charley to show up.

Charley wasn't sure whether or not that was a good sign. He wondered if he should have logged his coming here as an official visit despite Martinez's advice against it.

After the requisite polite chitchat, Middleton escorted him upstairs. Instead of taking Charley to meet Martinez, Middle-ton led him to an empty office. The lights in the room were down, set at optimal level for viewing the wallscreen. There was a file box on the screen with Charley's name on it.

"Ms. Martinez will see you shortly," Middleton said. "The computer has been sensitized to your voice. You may use it as you would your own. After you have read the material, simply state that you are done, and I will be back to escort you to Ms. Martinez."

With a corporate bow and a corporate smile, Middleton was gone and Charley was alone, his name flashing on the wall.

Pamela positioned herself by the one-way window in response to Duncan's message that he was on his way with Detective Gordon. While she waited, she watched Joel Lee. The man had been manic since sometime last night, babbling about his master needing him. Even now, he paced and prowled the confines of his room and mumbled to himself. Pamela ordered the computer to depolarize the window in Lee's room. As the light level increased, the man glanced about frantically. He began to rush back and forth in mindless, frenetic haste. He ran to the door and pounded on it. No one responded; his keepers had already learned to ignore him. The backs of his hands began to blister. Pamela was impressed by the speed with which the sunlight had affected him. Lee screamed as if he were in agony. He d to the floor by the side of his bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, and cowered in the meager shade it provided, cradling his hands and muttering.

Observing Joel Lee was educational. The change coming upon the world was as inevitable as the rising of the sun. She knew that now; Nakaguchi and his monster had made her realize that it couldn't be stopped. She could be like Lee and try to hide from- that which she feared to face. She could run, searching fruitlessly for a place to hide, or she could make pitiable attempts to stop the inevitable. The sun would rise and, with seemingly equal inevitability, magic would infest the world. The chaos would come. She could not stop it from coming.

She had no intention of becoming a pawn as Lee had become.

She would not let fear rule her. She had not let the chaos of her youth rule her; she had risen above it by taking control of her life. She would just have to take control again.

Nakaguchi's tenure bequeathed her more than his runaway monster. The most immediate benefit was learning that Nak-aguchi had misled her about Mitsutomo-sama's involvement; it was clear from Nakaguchi's files that the
kansayaku
had been acting without Mitsutomo-sama's approval. Without fear of angering the master of the Keiretsu, Rearden had been able to rampage through Nakaguchi's databank. The preliminary survey of the files suggested much that was promising, especially with her new focus.

If the mob is storming the gates, open those gates and lead them to the palace.

She would continue Nakaguchi's efforts to develop an arm of the Keiretsu to deal with the new order of the world. Thau-matechnics was the name he'd been service-marking. She'd keep the name, not just because of the financial economy, but because it would remind her of the importance of taking what came one's way. In her fear of chaos, she'd forgotten that when she set up the Charybdis Project.

Sometimes it was good to be afraid of what one ruled: it kept one alert. And rule she would. She would make Thauma-technics a force to be reckoned with, and in doing so assure herself of a secure place in the world. She would recapture her empire within the Keiretsu. Improve it, even.

She would not cower, hiding from the inevitable.

The door to the observation room opened and Pamela turned to face it. Duncan ushered Detective Gordon in. She didn't bother to introduce herself; he knew who she was.

"You reviewed the file that Mr. Middleton showed you?"

Gordon searched her face, apparently trying to gauge how he was supposed to respond. "Pretty farfetched stuff."

"Suitable for the Special Investigations Unit?"

"I was under the impression that Mitsutomo doesn't want us involved."

"What gave you that impression, Detective?"

"Something I heard from somebody."

Although she had a good idea, she would confirm what and who after the interview. "What you have heard is not quite true. Though I have little doubt that whoever you heard it from believes it. What Mitsutomo wishes—what I wish—is that justice be done and the law enforced. Mitsutomo wishes to aid in such efforts, but declines public involvement."

"I would say that the Keiretsu is already involved."

"I could suggest that such a view is limited. Perhaps you didn't examine the data closely enough."

"Give me a copy and I'll take it home with me. I promise I'll study it real hard."

He reminded her a little of McAlister in the way that he exuded confidence. Gordon's manner was a bit rougher than the special operative's, but she had to admire the man's initiative. But then, Gordon's initiative was why he was here. Still, too much misdirected initiative could be troublesome; she would just have to make sure he was directed properly.

"Surely you can see that only certain individuals are involved. The Keiretsu has been manipulated in this matter. It is a shameful situation. But exposure would result in an even greater shame. I would rather not see that. You understand, of course."

"Let's pretend I'm really stupid, Ms. Martinez. What is it you have in mind? You didn't call me here to spill the beans and then tell me to hush it up."

"Cooperation is the word of the day, Detective."

"Cooperation, huh?" He gave her a lopsided smile. "The department is always happy to have civic-minded people cooperate, Ms. Martinez. Personally, I'm particularly gratified when a megacorp acts as a civic-minded corporate person."

She thought his sarcasm uncalled for, but kept a pleasant expression on her face. "Mitsutomo Keiretsu has always been civic-minded."

He started a retort, but clearly had second thoughts. He said, "We still haven't established what you want with me."

"Look here, Detective." She indicated the room beyond the window. "The man you see before you is Joel Lee. He was once considered an exemplar of loyalty and dedication. He was one of the first to come in contact with Quetzal. Now, through no fault of his own, he is a traitor."

"He looks like a pretty unhappy traitor."

"His distress is directly related to his relationship with Quetzal, whom he calls master. Yes, master. The unfortunate Mr. Lee is no longer what you and I would call rational."

"That's no reason to torture him."

"His hands, you mean? That is a reaction to sunlight. A psychosomatic condition. We have not mistreated Mr. Lee, and his detention is entirely legal under the Corporate Security Act of 2015."

"Would you mind if I verified the circumstances of that?"

Yes, she would mind. "Duncan, arrange for the detective to see Mr. Lee's file before he leaves."

Gordon continued to stare through the observation window. "If the light's a problem for him, can't you cut it down?"

"Certainly." She ordered the windows repolarized. "Mr. Lee's aversion to sunlight is a sympathetic reaction, a reflection of the condition of his master, who suffers a similar affliction. It is the relationship between the two of them that will make Mr. Lee useful to yoii."

Gordon turned his head and looked at her, but he didn't say anything.

"When you hunt Quetzal down," she added.

"What?"

"We intend to release Mr. Lee. He will be allowed to gather clothes and certain other items which will include a pair of dark sunglasses. The glasses will incorporate the Tsurei Seeing Eyes system. With it, you will be able see what he sees and hear what he hears."

"I'm familiar with the system."

"Then you understand how you can use the system to monitor whoever Mr. Lee contacts. You will see where he finds Quetzal. Then you can go there and destroy it."

"I can't go along with this," Gordon said abruptly.

"You don't agree the monster must be destroyed."

"I'm not a jury."

"This is an extraordinary situation. Quetzal is beyond ordinary law. Surely you see that."