« You’re closest to him, so you keep an eye on Tielo, » says Ailann.
I’m closest to Tielo? Am I close to Tielo? Lorcan would like me to be closer to Tielo, but there’s a big difference between wishing and fact. We’re on the same tree, but Axel, Lens and Beat are all in closer proximity to his branch than I am. They’ve all known him longer than I have, too.
Axel is on the floor, playing backgammon with Davy. « I’m always down here with Suibhne, » he says. « Beat hangs out at Sloane’s, and Lens is with Mickey and his buds. That means you’re closest to Tielo. »
I wasn’t even riding with Tielo. When he gets like this, it’s just so weird. Then Ailann gives me an icy stare. Our eyes lock, and I wonder if it’s worth pulling out my special gift of audacity to defy him. But maybe, just maybe, Lorcan is right. I sigh loudly, just so everyone knows how annoyed I am, and push my way through the confused imagery of Tielo’s branch.
Tielo is staring in the mirror of the hotel bathroom at Frangfrang. The man looking back at him has medium brown hair, a leather jacket, is inoffensively handsome with a bit of a rough edge. Tielo pokes the image with his finger. He waves. The image waves back. “Copycat,” he says.
There is a knock at the door. “Shoe?” asks Tielo.
“Your Eminence? This is Commander Bertok of the Frangfrang Guardians. We need to speak with you urgently.”
Tielo looks in the mirror. “Soup?” he asks. The image shrugs.
Tielo ignores the knocking until he hears the lock click and the door swing open. Then he jumps out of the bathroom. He faces Bertok and several other officers. “Boobah!”
Bertok looks like he came that close to pissing his pants. It’s pretty funny.
“Eminence?” Bertok asks. “Where is the Matriarch?”
Tielo looks sad. The question I really want to ask is “Where’s Lady Lorma? Where’s Lieutenant N’Sha, the member of the Skarsian Matriarchal Honor Guard that was accompanying us everywhere?” We should be able to smell them, but Tielo’s senses are pretty messed up. It’s a lot better than a few hours ago, though. He only has a problem when he needs to draw power directly from Yggdrasil. The Flaxxshi technology of the crystal network smoothly regulates the current flow between the nul-universe and the Archon. Direct draw is like opening a dam, and Tielo’s sanity gets drenched. But when he’s functioning as a regular emanation, he’s fine. So long as he doesn’t expend a lot of energy, he should come back to normal.
Bertok is leaning towards Tielo with an expression of false concern, close enough that there’s no way I could avoid smelling him. He stinks of deceit. “Eminence,” he says in a low, confidential voice, “we have…a situation. We’d like to move you to another location. We feel it isn’t safe. Why haven’t you been answering our messages?”
Tielo answers with the utmost gravity: “I’ve been deep in negotiations with the native flora.”
Bertok tries not to react. He’s not sure whether Tielo is kidding, insulting him, or if this is some Cu’enashti ability/custom that he’d better not question. “Uh…why don’t you come with us?” he stammers. “Is the Matriarch back at your ship?”
Tielo tries to answer, really tries. “Tara…Tara is inside.”
“The ship? She’s inside your ship?”
Tielo turns, startled, and points at the wall. “Look! His name is Floyd.”
Tielo has noticed a member of the subatomic species known as the Twist. Floyd rotates a few times in greeting, of course, unseen by Bertok. Bertok takes his officers aside.
“Is he on drugs, sir?” one whispers.
“I don’t know what happened here, Murph, but this is Archon Tielo. It’s not that new one who emanated this morning. Something big has gone down, and we don’t know what. I do know that Archon Tielo has a reputation – he’s the most powerful Archon, but also, he’s…unstable. They call him the Archon of War. There was an incident at a theme park…well, he’s been known to attack civilians, if provoked. We have to handle this carefully.”
Murph nods. “What if Lady Lorma comes back, sir?”
“We have to move quickly before that happens.”
They glance over at Tielo. He has picked up a plum from the fruit basket and is addressing it: “You know, the right kind of fertilizer will do wonders for your complexion.”
“Sir, maybe they already know…Cu’enashti have ESP.”
“No, it’s just that I can hear everything you’re saying,” says Tielo from across the room. “It’s Hurley who can enter your dreams.”
Tielo ends up following them to another hotel across town. This one looks much less like a festival campsite. It looks like the sort of place that military executives use on business.
They leave him alone with a holoprojector loaded with vacuous media and a pitcher of sangria. Most of them are in the next room, with the door closed behind them although one is still standing in the hall, keeping her eye on Tielo. If I strain, I can hear and smell them. It’s difficult, though. There’s a lack of focus – objects seem to flicker and become transparent. Tielo is sensing the vast amount of space between particles, and the material world is no longer solid to him. He picks up a wine glass and seems surprised that it doesn’t pass through his fingers onto the floor.
A voice I recognize as Bertok says, “We have to find the Matriarch! If the FNLA gets to her…”
And then another voice. I recognize it too, but it takes me a moment to remember. It’s that disagreeable woman, Remma, the Clan-leader of Tavukk. “How did I know she was going to promise us Earth? If she’s assassinated, the Homeward Bound Party will have our heads on blocks.”
“Marikova doesn’t care,” says Bertok. “She won’t listen to reason.”
“Isn’t the Archon supposed to protect the Matriarch?” It’s Murph. “What is with this guy? Is he a doddering idiot or something?”
As if in response, Tielo turns the wine glass into a hummingbird with two heads.
« That’s awful! » says Davy. « That will really fuck up the environment. »
Hyde laughs. « Yeah, but they deserve it. »
« It’s not funny, » says Davy. « Show some pride in workmanship. »
“We have to get them somewhere – anywhere – off the planet,” says Bertok. “Two hotel rooms have already been bombed. If FNLA attacks their ship at the spaceport, it’s over.”
At this point, Cillian chatburls everyone. The deal is that they were conspiring to assassinate us until they found out that Tara planned to allow Frangfrangians to homestead on Earth. They were blindsided, which only figures since Tara made it up on the spot without consulting any of her advisors. But the idea is so popular that the assassination of the Matriarch would spark an uprising, even a civil war. So now they’re trying to protect us from assassins that have been given their blessing, but they also need to keep us from finding out the truth, which is why they’re flapping like footless chik-henns.
It’s no longer safe out there, says Marius. And we’ve got a choice of emanating someone too weak to protect her, or staying with an emanation who’s powerful, but off his fucking nut.
Then we keep her in here, replies Cillian.
That would be prudent, says Ailann, but you know Tara. The minute she finds out what’s happening, she’ll want to be in the thick of it.
Then let’s keep her distracted, suggests Cillian. Not really lie, but…
Maybe go fishing again? suggests Hollis.
I have a better idea, says Patrick.
Patrick comes up behind Tara and whispers, « Theo is pretty. Don’t you think he’s pretty? »
« They’re all quite attractive, » says Tara. « What are you up to? »
Patrick smiles and looks away. « You can read me too clearly. Oliver I’ve claimed, but Theo resisted my charms. I was thinking… »
« You want me to intercede? A hot threesome? »
« You love that sort of thing, the seduction of innocence. You and Wynne played Harsh and Beat for all it was worth… »
Tara snorts. « Harsh is about as innocent as a hoho.[1] »
« You know what I mean. »
« And how many times have you relived that scene? »
Patrick grins. He beckons to Theo. Theo can’t believe his luck.
« He’s sweet, » says Tara, stroking his face. « And pliant. And he has the fine manners of a gentleman. Lord Danak will like that – he’ll do well with the media. Danak is probably having a mookau over Hyde’s behavior, but those stupid Frangfrangians deserved it. I wonder what’s going on now? If Tielo is having one of his episodes, and the press get wind… »
Patrick hooks his fingers into Theo’s hair, forcing him into a rough kiss. Moan, he chatburls. Moan loudly. Distract her from that line of thought.
Theo moans. Not like it takes much acting.
Tara laughs. « You must really like him. You’re usually not that forceful. »
« I want to show him what he missed, » says Patrick. « Shall we go up to my room? »
« Why not go to Theo’s room? » says Tara. « It should tell me a little more about him. »
« I’ve never even seen my room! » Theo’s panicking. I guess I can understand – our spaces within the pleroma reveal a lot about us. Personally, I’d love to show Tara my apartment. I think she’d love my telescope collection.
A few moments later, they’re getting off the hilift at the Yggdrasil Tower. Tara rushes on ahead, emerging into a very rustic kitchen looking over a terrace. There’s a garden in back which grows fresh produce. Theo and Patrick trail after her; when they look up, they see the exterior of an American Colonial mansion.
« But…but…, » Theo stutters. « We’re on the 119th level of a condominium tower… »
Tara shrugs. « Suibhne’s palace does the same thing. I guess little things like spacial relations don’t matter too much when you’re inside of someone’s mind. »
« Let’s go upstairs, » says Patrick, staying on point.
Theo’s dwelling is massive – two levels with rooms and rooms of elaborate antiquities. They go through a dining room, a ballroom (!), up an inglenook stairway and through a drawing room before they reach the bedrooms. As it turns out, Theo has two suites, both with attached baths. Tara investigates.
« This is actually the guest bedroom, » says Theo. « It’s called the Cabriole Suite. It’s all authentic antiquities, mostly Queen Anne although the bed, with the pineapple finials… »
« What about the master bedroom? » asks Tara.
« The other is…it’s named after the feet on the furniture…just like the cabriole… » Theo is turning tomato red.
Patrick calls from down the hallway, « The Ball and Bun Suite. »
« That’s what I call truth in advertising, » says Tara, pushing Theo down between the pineapple finials.
It’s just getting good when I realize that Murph is escorting Tielo into a hovercar. Dammit! I’m going to have to catch the action later on Tommy’s media push channel.
Tielo is taken to a military spaceport. Suddenly his senses sharpen. He realizes something important; they’re trying to take him off-world. He can’t allow it. Canopus is back on the Victorious Tara. Maybe he isn’t relying on the connection to Canopus for power, but he still can’t leave an entire tree unprotected. It would be so easy to destroy, and with it Quennel and Ellery and Briscoe and Tannon and Nash and Hollis and Roan and Oliver.
The wall is made of simple concrete. Tielo stares at it for a moment, adds water, works the reaction backward. The wet concrete slides off the metal framework to the floor. Then the wires heat and melt also. A minute later, they’re cooled. Tielo steps through the hole.
Tielo’s mind shreds like cheddar on a cheese-grater. Then he’s running through fields, through native brambles clinging to his pant legs, slowly releasing their unearthly toxins. A strange baying, not quite a dog, is heard in the distance.
« Why doesn’t he change into the mothman? » asks Tommy. « He could’ve just flown through the wall. »
« That would attract a lot of attention, » says Mickey. « Or he might be trying to conserve energy. Maybe the Big Guy knows that something bad is coming down? »
Suddenly we hear the voice-over – Julian’s achievement. That’s good news, at least. But then…
« That chatburl he’s creating is gonna be a major problem, » says Cillian.
« No, » says Solomon. « Let’s go with it. We needed a distraction, didn’t we? »
Cillian grins his wolf-grin. « And the more Tara gets upset about the poor mistreated saplings, the less she’ll pay attention to what’s going on outside. »
[1] Holoporn whore – trans.