The Warlock's Gambit (4 page)

Arthur nodded toward the window looking out onto space. “What about that?”

“Well, yeah, okay … this is the
second
best thing ever.”

Arthur laughed. “Oh dear. Lexi, Vassalus, do you think you're strong enough to help me drag Morgan out of here?”

“Well, of course,” Vassalus said. “But why would we need to do such a thing?”

“Because that's the only way we're ever going to get her away from an alien computer.”

Morgan glanced at them. “Did you say something about me?”

“Nope, not at all.”

The open windows on the computer screen showed video surveillance of different rooms in the house, and were labeled accordingly. They could see into the Great Room, the Dining Hall, the Training Room …

“This is awesome,” Morgan said. “And I don't just mean because it's an alien computer. Having video of all the different rooms could really help us out.” She stomped her foot and started to say another washing-out-your-filthy-mouth word, but a glance at Vassalus, who was wincing in expectation, stopped her. Instead, she huffed. “All the rooms we haven't visited yet are blacked out.”

“I bet that's because of the shades, like the way the lights are all dimmed in a room that’s infested with them,” Arthur said. “You know, I didn’t see video cameras anywhere.”

“I did not either, Master Paladin,” answered Vassalus.

“Me neither,” Lexi piped in.

Morgan shook her head. “Maybe they're hidden.”

“Or maybe it’s magic,” Arthur teased.

Morgan ignored him and continued to open and close screens and move things around the desk.

“Can we see into our rooms?” Arthur asked. “We haven’t visited those yet, but they don’t have shades in them.”

Morgan tapped a few control buttons on the screen. “We can — but we
won’t
.”

Arthur held his hands out. “Sorry. It was just a suggestion.” Whatever bothered her about her room bothered her a lot.

Morgan pointed to the set of four symbols that appeared on each window. “The + and — symbols are obviously for zooming in and out. And I think this one's an ear and the other is a mouth. And that would make sense.”

“If you say so. You know I don’t have a clue about computers. I've only ever used the ones at school. We don't have one at home. Grandma won't spend money on something she doesn't believe in.”

Morgan shook her head. “I still can’t believe that. Is she retired?”

“She works as a travel agent.”

“And she still doesn’t use a computer. How?”

“Telephone, notebook, and one of those calculators that prints out on tape.”

“Really? But that’s so … primitive.”

“Well, she doesn’t make much money anymore. She’s basically halfway retired. Honest to goodness, she really thinks vinyl records are going to make a comeback, along with typewriters and handwritten letters, once people realize computers are a waste of money and time.”

“She must be ancient!” Morgan said. “Those things are all cool, but they are
never
coming back.”

“She's old, but not that old. She's … I don't know, weird about some things. Especially things she doesn't understand.”

“Well, I’ll have this figured out in no time.”

“Not just a pretty face,” Arthur said lightly.

Morgan actually turned away from the computer. She spun her chair around and gazed at him with eyes like laser beams. Instinctively, he took a step back.

“You think I’m pretty, Arthur?”

“Uh, well …” His cheeks flushed. “Yeah.”

She cocked her head and chewed at her lip as if confused … as if it wasn’t obvious how attractive she was.

“Morgan,
everyone
thinks you’re pretty.”

“Everyone is not someone, Arthur.”

“Huh? What the heck does that mean?”

“Those people … the ones who think I’m kind of cute or whatever —”

“Beautiful,” Arthur said, flushing to what he was certain was a deep crimson. He couldn’t believe he was telling her this. “You’re like the prettiest girl in the whole school.”

Her eyes glinted for a moment, and her cheeks flushed. “Well … I mean … thanks. But … but my point is … those people don’t count.”

“Why?”

“Because they don’t know me. You do.”

Arthur wasn't sure he'd claim to know Morgan, but if she thought so, he wasn't going to argue with her. “So because I know you, and still like you, my opinion matters?”

“Of course.” She went back to the computer as if the conversation had never happened.

He started to say something more, uncomfortable with leaving it there, but she stopped him.

“Shh. Listen.”

“Can’t hear anything,” he whispered after several moments. The screen was showing Maid cleaning in the Smoking Lounge.

“Oh, wait. I see how the volume is controlled now. This setup is simple and intuitive, but definitely not like any operating system from Earth.”

“Doesn’t look simple.”

She did something, and the sound of Maid’s dust mop got louder.

“So if we press the mouth symbol …”

“We should be able to talk to someone in the room we’re looking at,” Arthur said.

“Exactly.”

Arthur expected her to give it a try, but she didn’t. She started dragging some of the display windows around through touch, and then she started playing with some of the panels that weren't showing video of the rooms. It really was like one big tablet computer.

“Luckily, I can read all these strange characters,” Morgan said. “I just don't recognize some of the symbols that would be common to whoever designed this operating system. I don't know what most of these applications do, either. One is for writing documents and another for recording voice, but the rest … I suspect they control different aspects of the Manse or something like that. I'm just going to have to sit here and play with it.”

She started digging through menus, opening and closing windows. Arthur stood admiring the space outside, until he became restless, then he scanned the bookshelves. There were titles like
Space Tactics of the Androzi, How to Conquer Planets and Subjugate Their Populations,
and
Infiltration for the Faint of Heart.
These were probably all books Arthur should have been reading instead of
Seventh Grade Literature
and
To Kill a Mockingbird
.

Arthur reached the door to his bedroom. “I’m going to check out my room, okay?”

Morgan suddenly said, “Oh, Arthur … thanks.”

“For what?”

“For saying I’m pretty.”

“You’re … you’re welcome.”

A
rthur opened the door from the Paladin’s Office to the Paladin's Chambers …
his chambers
… and froze.

“Oh —”

Lexi rushed over. “Something wrong, dearie?”

He shook his head, dumbfounded.

Vassalus joined them in the doorway and glanced inside. “Well, I say, that is a rather … unconventional mess — I mean, arrangement — you have.”

“It … it’s not a mess,” Arthur replied. “It’s … wonderful. Hey, Morgan!”

“I’m busy, moron.”

“Morgan, you
have t
o see this.”

She sighed dramatically as she walked toward him. “Fine. But this had better be good. You’re interrupting important — oh — wow.” She had stepped up beside him. “Well, get moving, moron. We can hardly see anything from here.”

His chambers were so wonderful he didn’t even mind being called a moron (he was starting to get used to it anyway.) He stepped in, and the others followed.

Arthur had expected a large bedroom with an attached bathroom, but there wasn’t even a bed in here. Directly across from the door hung the biggest TV he had ever seen. A plump, cozy looking, red-plaid couch sat facing it. He wandered over, the others trailing behind. All kinds of video game systems waited in cabinets built into the wall under the TV.

The wall to his left looked like a used bookshop he'd seen in a movie once, with narrow shelves all the way up to the ceiling and a metal ladder that rolled from one end of the wall to the other. And every shelf was crammed full of books. He checked the titles. All his favorite pulp thriller and sci-fi novels were there, including what had to be the entire run of Doc Savage. There were whole shelves of authors he only had one or two books by at home. There were even shelves of manga and graphic novels and how-to-draw books.

A door that Arthur assumed led to the Grand Hallway was on the wall opposite his personal library. But the space between it and the door to the Paladin’s Office was clearly an art studio. Two different types of drafting tables took up the corner. A long counter with an enormous metal sink stretched along the Office side of the area and, on the side closest to the Grand Hallway, were storage cabinets. Arthur peeked in one and discovered they were stuffed with art supplies: every sort of brush, pen, pencil, paint, and paper he could ever dream of using. He didn’t even know what half of the supplies were for. One of the drafting tables was made of pale, glossy wood and had a lamp hanging right over it. The other seemed to be made of glass and didn’t have an overhead light. He touched the smooth surface, and suddenly it came to life. It was a giant computer screen, like the one on the Paladin’s desk, except the operating system seemed specifically tailored to be used for drawing.

“Morgan, you’re going to want to see this. It’s like a giant iPad just for art.”

She glanced up, saw the lit up screen, and rushed over, abandoning her search on the opposite side of the room.

“This is so cool.” She opened a drawer underneath the table. “Look, dozens of styluses. I love it.” She leaned down and hugged the screen; Arthur laughed.

“I’ve never done any digital art. Obviously, since I don’t have a computer. I barely have pencils and paper.”

“I prefer digital.”

“Of course you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just, you know, you get along well with computers. And I bet you don’t like to get your hands dirty with paint and ink and all that anyway.”

“Hah! As a matter of fact, I … yeah, you know, I can’t even say it to spite you. I
hate
getting my hands dirty.”

“Knew it.”

“Shut up.” With a stylus, she drew a few strokes on the tablet and nodded. “I didn’t know you liked to draw so much, Arthur. I mean, I’ve seen you doodling in class, and you’re pretty good when you’re focusing.”

His cheeks flushed a bit. “Thanks. I draw a lot at home.”

“And read?” she asked, glancing over at the bookcases.

“I don’t do much else.” He pointed at the television and the array of video game consoles connected to it. “Don’t know where that came from. I hardly ever watch TV, and I don’t get to play video games unless Derek lets me join him, which is almost never.”

“The Manse must have sensed an unconscious desire for the entertainments you were denied,” Vassalus commented as he walked over to the crates lining the wall nearby.

Arthur had no idea what to say to that. Instead, he changed the subject. “Let’s have lunch.” His stomach rumbled as if on cue.

“Yeah … okay. But I don’t want to walk down to the Dining Hall. And I just want something small.”

“Too bad we can't just have some sandwiches here; that’d be perfect.”

Valet stepped forward from out of nowhere, bowed, and left.

“Oh,” Arthur said. It was going to take a long time to get used to having someone do things like that for him.

While they waited for the food, Arthur picked up a stylus and drew a happy face on the blank screen, next to Morgan’s test scribbles.

“I bet there’s a file system for storing your images,” Morgan said. “It should link to an individual computer for you and also be accessible from the main computer through some sort of cloud network storage. Except we don’t have individual computers.” She said the last bit with a sigh.

Lexi leapt on top of one of the crates. “Oh, this is your father’s stuff, dear.”

Arthur joined her. One crate was labeled: PERSONAL EFFECTS OF ARTHUR QUINTUS PALADIN, and the other was labeled: PERSONAL EFFECTS OF AMELIA NELSON PALADIN.

“Quintus …” Morgan muttered. “Arthur, what’s your middle name again?”

“Primus.”

“Seriously? Your family numbers the children?”

“We … we do what?”

“The Romans used to do that sometimes — they would number each child. So if you’d had a brother, he’d be named Arthur Secundus.”

Arthur cringed. “Guess I got lucky.”

“Better than Tertius or Sextus.”

“How’d you know that?”

“My old school taught us Latin.”

“So what number was my dad?”

“Seriously?” Morgan said.

“What? I don’t know Latin.”

“I’m not telling.”

“Five, dear,” Lexi said.

“Alexis, you should have let him figure it out on his own,” Vassalus said. “It is not good for us to do everything for him.”

Arthur reached down and scratched Lexi behind the ears. She let a short purr slip, looked embarrassed, then leapt down and began surveying the room again.

“I suspect the servitors, once they are able, will be moving these out,” Vassalus said, nodding toward the crates. “Though I am not sure where to.”

“You should probably open them up and take a look,” Morgan said. “There might be something useful in there.”

Arthur gave the crates an anxious glance. The idea of going through his dead parents’ stuff made him feel … strange. And he definitely wasn't going to do it with Morgan peering over his shoulder. She wouldn't even let him see her room. “Maybe later.”

Just then, Valet arrived with their lunch, saving Arthur from having to explain himself further.

Morgan chose a sandwich off the tray and wandered back over to the shelves. “You’ve got some weird old novels in here.”

“Hey! Those are my favorite books.”

“Seriously?”

“They were my Grandpa Nelson’s. I only ever got to buy a couple of new books, and a handful of comics here and there. And Grandma hated driving across town to the public library.”

“It’s only a few miles.”

“Tell her that.”

“Well, your tastes in manga are … poor.”

Arthur ran his fingertips along the spines of twenty books in a series he only had two volumes of at home. “The Manse gave me the full series of the only ones I’ve ever read.”

“This is it? Three series? Three
mediocre
series?”

Arthur shrugged and bit into his own sandwich. “I found them on sale. Books are expensive, and my allowance is laughably small, when I'm not grounded and actually get it.”

“Well, if the Manse gave me what I would like in my room, it’ll be manga heaven on my shelves.”

“For you, wouldn’t the Manse just put them all on a tablet?”

She paused and cocked an eyebrow at him. “You know, you’re probably right.”

“You might have a personal computer of some sort in your room,” he suggested, trying to lure her.

“Nice try. We are
not
looking in my room.”

Arthur imagined Morgan’s room would be filled with computers, tablets, phones, and other devices. And all the décor would be in black-and-white … with maybe a few anime posters.

“I haven’t read all the novels in these series, so I’m glad they’re here. But it would’ve been cool if the Manse had given me stuff in another series or two that I might want to read. Like, something modern maybe.”

“I suspect it picked out what we wanted by scanning our brains and then … well, I don’t know how it can provide books you haven’t read before.”

Arthur shrugged. “This is good, though. It makes me comfortable.”

“I daresay that is probably the point,” Vassalus said. “It is your room in a new and stressful place. Comfort should be important.”

A loud scratching noise came from the far corner. Lexi had crawled up onto a perch on a cat tree just like one for a house cat, only it was five times larger, making it the perfect size for Lexi. Arthur hadn’t even noticed it at first, since it was in the corner behind a giant potted tree with green and purple leaves.

“Ooh, this is perfect,” she said, rolling around. “Catnip! Catnip!
Catnip
!” At that point, she nearly rolled off the top and only barely scrambled back on.

Vassalus shook his head and made a disdainful groan. “Comforts, indeed.”

Arthur headed toward the couch and the giant screen. “I bet the TV only plays my favorite movies, or sequels to them that I haven’t seen yet.”

“What’s your favorite movie?”

“It’s a tie between the
Blues Brothers
and
Fellowship of the Ring
.”

“That’s eclectic,” she responded. “Fellowship is your favorite of the three?”

“Well, only because I have to pick one.”

“I think it’s fair to count all three as one movie.” She checked the couch, the coffee table, and the end tables. “I don’t see a remote anywhere. I bet it’s voice activated. Try it.”

“What do I say?”

“You’re such a moron. Just tell it what you want it to do.”

“Play the
Blues Brothers
movie,” Arthur said in the direction of the TV. As the screen came to life, a thought struck him. “The first one! Not the second! Never play the second one.” Within moments, they were looking at a smog-filled, industrial part of Chicago in the early 1980’s. He sat on the couch. “Excellent. Now play
The Fellowship of the Ring
.” The TV instantly switched to Frodo in the Shire. “This is going to be awesome. I don’t even own a copy of my favorite movies. I just watch when they come on cable.”

“Oh, this is the theater release,” said Morgan with a hint of distaste. “I only watch the extended editions of
Lord of the Rings
movies.”

“There are extended editions?”

“Oh, god, Arthur. You’re like … a barbarian … you know that, right?”

“I’m starting to figure it out.”

“I really can’t believe I’m friends with you.”

“Know anybody else who likes manga, drawing, and … er …”

“Being a freak?” she said, almost with a laugh. “No, I don’t. And until two days ago, you were easy to be friends with. Never asked for much. Didn’t make me have to talk all the time.”

“Until two days ago, you were stuck on Earth and didn’t have the chance to cruise the universe with me.”

“Touché,” she replied.

Of course, until two days ago, they had only been friends in Morgan’s imagination, but that argument was pointless. Arthur finished his second sandwich, dusted off his hands, and then wiped them on his pants.

Morgan, who had only eaten one sandwich, glared at him.

“What?”

“You’re such a pig.”

Shaking his head, Arthur hopped off the couch and went to examine the large metal square on the floor, halfway between his bookcases and the door to the Paladin’s Office. He had noticed it right away, but had decided it could wait until they’d finished the rest of the room. The metal plate was about five feet across, and there were three buttons on the wall above it, numbered 1, 2, and 3. He looked straight up. There was a matching metal square on the ceiling.

“Morgan, I think this is an elevator.”

She came over and nodded. “Must be. And it makes sense. You’ve got to have a bed somewhere. And there might as well be multiple levels, since this place insists on annoying me by defying logic. Press 2.”

Vassalus stepped onto the platform. “Yes, I am quite certain this is a lift.”

Lexi leapt off the cat tree, sending it rocking back and forth, and raced across the room. “Wait for me!”

As soon as she scrambled onto the platform, Arthur pressed the button. The metal square above them opened up, and the metal plate they were standing on rose into the air. He wasn’t certain it was entirely safe, since he was pretty sure they could step off at any time. But maybe there were safety precautions … maybe.

The platform stopped on the second level: his bedroom. It was just as large as the living area below, and the massive bed in the center of the room was larger than his entire bedroom at home. Lexi, still under the influence of the catnip, launched herself onto the bed, pounced the pillows, and rolled around.

One wall was covered by a crystal waterfall that made a soothing sound as the water cascaded down into a pool lined with rocks. A small desk beside a big fireplace with a bunch of squashy beanbag chairs in front of it took up the wall by the elevator. Another perch for Lexi, a much larger one with multiple levels and a sleeping hammock, filled the opposite wall. There were enormous houseplants and living trees scattered all throughout the room, so it felt like jungle. He guessed they got enough light from ceiling, which was glowing brightly. Six armoires lined the last wall. He opened one and discovered all kinds of clothing, from jeans and t-shirts to tuxedos to strange alien garments.