The Golden Queen

Chapter 9 (part 2 of 3)

Thus he came upon Orick unawares. The bear had retired to a glade, and there he had been busy making a small shelter by leaning broken pine branches up against a tree. The shelter was finished, and now the bear sat beside it, engaged in fervent prayer. "Holy Father," Orick grumbled, shaking like a cub, "spare Maggie and Gallen. Bring them alive and safe from the realm of these damned sidhe. They are innocent of everything, innocent of any desires to do evil. I brought them here by accident, because there was no other way to save their lives, and I did not mean to break your commandments in doing so. If we have sinned ignorantly, I pray that the sins will be upon my head, and that Maggie and Gallen will be found guiltless—"

"I am sure that your friends will be found guiltless," Veriasse said, startling Orick. The bear tried to stand, and twisted around so fiercely in his panic that he fell over.

"You!" he roared accusingly. "What are you doing here?"

"The gate we sought was guarded by vanquishers," Veriasse said. "We have been forced to make new plans. I came to see if I could be of any help to you and your friends."

The bear gazed from left to right, scanning the woods behind Veriasse. "We don't need your help. Gallen will handle things."

"So, you don't need the help of any 'damned sidhe'?" Veriasse smiled. "Your friend Gallen may be a fine man, but he is a stranger to our world. I doubt that he will be able to bring your friend out."

"Ah, keep your misgivings to yourself," Orick grunted. "Gallen got himself a bit of book learning. He knows plenty."

"At the very least, I can expedite his plans," Veriasse offered. "What were his plans?"

"I'm not sure he has any," Orick said. "Gallen doesn't work that way."

Veriasse considered. "I'll leave Everynne to your care. Right now, she is down by the road. I want you to take her deeper into the woods, then come back here shortly after dawn. I don't want you here to meet Gallen if he comes back."

"Why?"

"Because if he is captured by the vanquishers, then he will lead them here."

"Gallen would never do that!"

"If they put a Guide on him, then he will have no choice," Veriasse countered. "Please, take her with you, and I will see what I can do for Gallen and Maggie."

Veriasse watched Orick head down the valley toward the road. He rummaged through his pack, put on a mantle as a disguise, then walked to Toohkansay. Since he was already dressed and masked as a lord of Fale, no one challenged him. Even if they had, they would find that Veriasse, Lord of Information Managers, was registered as a citizen of the world. His forged records included computerized documentation that detailed much of a fictional life, down to his bathing schedule and the content of meals purchased during the past seventy years.

Veriasse went to the northwest quadrant of the city where the aberlains worked. He found the place to be heavily guarded. Green-skinned vanquishers on roving patrols were a sure sign that dronon guards resided within. In some places, he found that the living walls of the city were blackened by fire. Obviously, resistance bombers had been at work here within the past few weeks, and Veriasse suddenly became very concerned about Maggie.

He had worried before about her treatment by the dronon and her lord, but he had not considered the very real possibility that her greatest threat came not from her captors but from the local freedom fighters. Before, when he'd heard that Maggie was captured, he'd wondered why Karthenor had made such a poor choice of worker, but now he saw that indeed Maggie might have been exactly what the lord needed—someone who was alone in the city, someone who would not be missed. By taking slaves who were well tied to the community, Karthenor would only have earned further resentment.

Veriasse cursed himself, wondering if he might be able to get in touch with some of these freedom fighters. But he had to find Gallen first.

As he had imagined, the exterior of the compound was well secured. In sensitive areas, the dronon had installed heavy doors that would resist bombing.

Veriasse finished his scouting expedition and went down to the pidc. There he requested to view all documents that Gallen had studied. The teacher gave him the information, and Veriasse was impressed. Gallen had tried to retrieve data on Maggie's rooming situation, but the computer had not given him such sensitive information, nor would it supply a map of the interior of the compound. So Gallen had requested information on all areas where the aberlain compound did not extend, and had thus retrieved a negative image of the compound. By requesting maps of the laundry chutes which went through the floors below, he had been able to decipher the location of the living quarters for the aberlain workers. Veriasse studied the map, saw that most of the rooms had exterior exits. But Gallen went one step farther. He had requested computerized readouts on the electrical output for each room. One of the apartments had been left idle for three days, then suddenly recorded a tenant who turned on the lights each evening for a moment before retiring.

Gallen had taken his questioning one final step. The room had a southern exposure, and Gallen had asked the city computer to study the temperature records for the room and then determine whether the occupant left the windows open at night. The computer responded by showing that for the past two nights, the windows were left open, but the computer shut them when the temperature dropped below a certain threshold.

Veriasse smiled, impressed that some rustic could negotiate through the city's information system so smoothly. At the same time, Gallen showed some gaping holes in his education. For one thing, the boy didn't know that he'd left a data trail that would indict him. Veriasse asked the computer to run a credit check on Gallen, found that the boy was attempting to purchase clothing, ropes, and air exchangers—items he would need for his rescue attempt. Yet Gallen was broke. Veriasse used his credentials as a Lord of Information Managers to have the computer transfer credits from his personal account into Gallen's account, then he ran a security-delete on most files that mentioned Gallen's name.

He sat for a moment, thinking. Before Gallen tried to climb in that open window, he would need to neutralize the motion detectors. One could build a simple jammer that would disable any warning the motion detectors might send.

Veriasse would have to work fast, if he were to complete the jammer before Gallen tried to rescue Maggie.