The Hero Strikes Back (6 page)

Six Pairs. Karish and myself, of course, the youngest of all the Pairs, but we had been in High Scape the longest, so we were called the Veteran Pair. Source Claire Firth and Shield Dee Stone, two wiry ladies in their fifties who always entertained me by tormenting Karish. They thought he was cute, sexy in a coltish half-grown way that amused them to no end. Source Kyna Riley and Shield Giles Sabatos, both in their thirties and both wonderfully casual about their duties, though they always performed them adequately. Their current self-imposed project was collecting a list of Source and Shield jokes. They were threatening to print a book from it. Source Franklin Wilberforce, who was a pandering sycophant to whichever person in the room was most powerful at the moment, and Shield Mont Ladin, who seemed to have no personality at all. Source Vera Rayne and Shield Lauren Garrighan were a circuit Pair, and their usual routine was to travel from site to site and fill in when the permanent Pair was for some reason unable to function. They'd been in High Scape, though, for almost a year, and the Triple S council seemed to be in no hurry to replace them. And Source Derek Beatrice and Shield Elata Benedict, who despised each other so much they seemed to poison the air around them and taint anyone else in their presence.

“Taro!” Wilberforce squealed. Yes, he actually squealed. A middle-aged man with years of experience behind him, reduced to an adolescent at the sight of Karish. Every time they met. Watching him was embarrassing. I wished I could believe it had something to do with sex. That Wilberforce was in love, or something, with Karish. While that caused my imagination to go in directions I'd rather it didn't, at least I could understand it. But this had nothing to do with affection and everything to do with currying favor. “I do hope you're settling in well after your imperial adventures.”

Karish could be the consummate actor, when he felt like it. He didn't wince or gag as Wilberforce oozed all over him. His face was perfectly straight as he said, “It was touch and go there. Going from the excitement of verbally skewering courtiers, whose heels were a shade too high to be fashionable, to the boredom of guarding the largest city in the world from disaster is very hard on the nerves.”

From Wilberforce's expression it appeared that he was feeling a little suspicious. Possibly he knew he was being made fun of. Just because he was a bootlicker didn't mean he had to be stupid.

Riley snorted. “I'm sure you'll have plenty to keep you on your toes,” she said. “What with having to dodge the Risto Reaper and all.”

Karish knew of the disappearances of the aristocrats. I'd made a point of telling him, only to learn I wasn't the only one to do so. He'd been a little annoyed.

He was annoyed now, too. “Perhaps the news hasn't reached here yet,” he said, knowing full well that it had, “but I'm not a lord anymore. I never was a lord. The title was honorary.”

“Ah, but that's what these sort are looking for,” said Garrighan. “Moneyless ristos with empty titles. Better watch your back.”

I glared at him. Taunting someone with the warning that they might be the next victim of a serial killer was disgusting.

Chris La Monte came in then, with his Shield, Fehvor Hammad, apparently unaware of the tension that had developed in the Stall. I was glad to see the older Source, which was unusual for me. I didn't like La Monte. He was a decent enough sort, and a good responsible Source, but he thought age should buy him not only respect but reverence. I didn't do reverence. However, his arrival meant we could get this meeting started, and the sooner it started, the sooner it would be over and the sooner I could go somewhere more comfortable.

“Chris!” Wilberforce gushed, exactly as he had with Karish. He liked to watch all avenues. La Monte was a force to be reckoned with because of his age, Karish because of his fame. Not that Wilberforce thought either of them could actually do anything for him, advance his own reputation or anything like that. I got the feeling he was just one of those people who felt compelled to abase themselves before those they perceived as their superiors.

“Franklin,” said La Monte. I didn't think the older Source felt any special glow as a result of Wilberforce's solicitude. He merely thought it was his due.

“Did we miss anything?” Hammad asked, stamping his feet and scattering snow everywhere.

“We would never start without Chris,” Wilberforce assured him. “After all, he's the reason we're here.”

“All right then,” said La Monte, clapping his hands together. “Shintaro, can I assume Dunleavy's been keeping you apprised of the situation here?”

I felt Karish tense beside me. “Are you implying Lee might be dilatory in her responsibilities?” he asked testily.

La Monte's eyebrows rose in surprise. An emotion I had to admit to sharing. Where had that come from? “Of course not, Shintaro. It was primarily a sort of introduction to the meeting.”

“Please consider the introduction made.”

Strange. It wasn't like Karish to be rude.

La Monte hesitated, probably recovering from the shock of being shown such disrespect. Then he said, “Just so we're all clear, I'll remind everyone that High Scape is suffering from highly unseasonable weather—”

Garrighan snickered.

“—as well as a complete lack of natural events, which has been lasting for the past several months.”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

The others looked at me with confusion. “You know that,” said Riley.

“How could I possibly? I haven't been on the roster for months.”

“We've been talking about it at the house,” Riley protested.

“You know Dunleavy,” Garrighan commented. “If you're not talking to her, she's not listening.”

Prat.

“There have been no events for the past several months,” Sabatos told me with mock solemnity.

“I got that. Thanks.” Quite a change from the year before, when High Scape was known as one of the most volatile sites in the world, and I could expect a few events on every watch.

“And this requires a meeting, why?” Garrighan asked, sounding bored. “I'm particularly interested in the location, when the house would be warmer and handier.”

“I want no one to overhear us. No one will come out here.”

Zaire. I hadn't been aware La Monte had been inflicted with melodrama.

“The regulars expect us to do something about the weather. They think we are neglecting our duty.”

How unfortunate for them. I think I should be the next Empress. How unfortunate for me.

“There's nothing we can do about the weather,” said Riley, stating the bloody obvious, but apparently it was necessary under the circumstances.

“The regulars don't understand that,” said La Monte. I shifted my shoulders. There was that particular patronizing tone in his voice that was just . . . aggravating.

Garrighan tsked with impatience. “There's nothing we can do about that, either.”

“Maybe if we got something official from the Triple S council,” Wilberforce suggested. “Some kind of document explaining that this kind of phenomenon is beyond our abilities to address. We could get a few copies and post them in appropriate places. That might make the regulars settle down.”

That was actually a good idea.

“Only if they can read,” was Beatrice's dry contribution. An unnecessary cheap shot, I thought. And anyway, once a few saw the notices, word of mouth would cover the rest.

“Won't that make it appear that the Triple S council is evading responsibility as well?” Benedict asked.

“Better them than us,” Beatrice retorted, as expected, for one partner in that Pair could not say one thing without the other advocating the opposite.

“They
are
us,” La Monte snapped. “I don't know that I care for the idea of passing responsibility to some distant institution most regulars have no direct contact with.”

“We don't have responsibility,” Sabatos pointed out. “How can we pass it?”

Here was a radical idea. I was almost afraid to bring it up. “We could actually try to do something about it.” One, two, three . . .

Garrighan barked with laughter. He was awfully emotive for a Shield. “Do something about the weather? Are you serious?”

Yes. Always, apparently. “Has anyone tried to do anything?”

“Don't, Lee,” Karish ordered in an undertone.

Don't what? “I mean, if we don't even try we can't know there's nothing we can do.” It seemed simple enough to me.

“Leave it, Lee!” His tone was louder and sharper that time, and no one could pretend they didn't hear it.

What was his problem? It was a good idea. We could all experiment with our abilities and see what we came up with. What harm could possibly come from that?

“What is your idea, then, La Monte?” I asked, for of course the reason he'd called the meeting was to dazzle us with the brilliance of his solution to the problem.

La Monte clasped his hands behind his back. “The best course of action is to let everyone know we're working on it.” He paced a few steps, which was all the limited space allowed him. “Every time anyone asks us about what we're doing—”

Or accuses us of being lazy parasites.

“—we assure them that we are studying the situation and will soon have things under control.”

Incredible. “Tell them we're working on it?” I asked him. “When we're actually doing nothing? You want us to lie to them?”

“It's in their best interest.”

“How?” It was in our best interest, maybe, and only for the short term, but no one could reasonably claim it was in theirs.

Though La Monte seemed ready to try. “It will reassure them, make them feel safe and secure again. It will raise their opinion of us. And when this passes, they will feel we have earned their respect and support, that we have done our job. Everything will return to normal.”

I stared at him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What a bad idea. And from the quality of the silence in the room, I wasn't the only one who thought so. Even Wilberforce was looking a little uncertain.

“What if this doesn't pass?” Sabatos asked. “What if this cold snap stretches on for months?”

Not exactly the point or the central problem with the whole plan, but it was definitely one big glaring glitch. I was glad someone other than me had pointed it out.

Because La Monte didn't like having his opinions questioned. Not by anyone. He didn't lose his temper—at least, I'd never seen him lose it—but his nostrils twitched and his face kind of went taut, and one got the impression that if you touched one more nerve he just might explode. And that would be messy. “As this is an entirely new phenomenon to us, we will say, it will of course require a great deal of study and then the most delicate handling.” Oh aye, he was angry. He was speaking slowly and his tone was very, very calm. “It will pass in due time. There is no doubt about that.”

Of course there was doubt about it. We had no idea where this weather was coming from or what was causing it. We had no idea how long it was going to be hanging about. To claim otherwise, to make plans as if we did, was sheer idiocy. And it was a stupid, stupid idea.

Why lie? So people were a little unimpressed with the Triple S right then. It was unpleasant but not something to get into a panic about. There was no reason to concoct a ridiculous lie that was almost certain to blow up in our faces at some later date. Someone would be sure to figure out that we had lied about our handling, or not, of the snow. Then we'd see a real loss of confidence and respect. A permanent one. We'd be branded liars. That sterling reputation for always being truthful would be gone.

But most of the others were nodding in agreement, and no one seemed prepared to challenge the idea any further. They weren't thrilled about it, I could see that, but they were going to follow along.

So what was I going to do? I couldn't lie to people about this sort of thing. It was wrong and stupid and it would make a greater mess of things in the end. But if I denied the story that everyone else was using, it would annoy all my colleagues. All to no purpose. Regulars were unlikely to believe one sole Shield over all the other Triple S members in the site, and they might even be angry with me for darkening their false hopes. Er, optimism. Not a happy result.

One thing was certain, if I were to state my insistence on my position right at that moment, La Monte would feel his so-called authority was being challenged, and he would dig his heels in. No one would stand with me against La Monte. He was one of the squeakiest wheels I'd ever met and knew how to be insistently disagreeable.

If, however, I got ahold of people one or two at a time, I had a better chance of convincing them this was an atrocious idea. Better yet, if I could convince Karish this was an atrocious idea, I could leave convincing the others to him. Karish could, I was quite sure, convince anyone of anything.

All I needed was a little time.

“Excuse me, sir.” Ugh. That sounded a little too submissive. La Monte didn't seem to find anything amiss, though, and he nodded at me with more favor than he had demonstrated just a few moments earlier. “I would feel much more comfortable about this if the opinion of the Triple S council were solicited.” And here was hoping he hadn't already done so. “For all we know, the council has already decided on a way to address this problem. We don't want to be seen as acting in opposition to their wishes.”

Again, he wasn't thrilled with the objection, but the change in tone and manner worked wonders. “You're right,” he admitted. “If they've already starting putting out an explanation for this cold snap, we could really foul the course if we say something different.” He nodded resolutely. “Fehvor will write to the Triple S. We will wait until we have received word back from the council.”