As though waking from a nightmare, I’m sitting up on the bed. But it’s not the bed in that crappy hovel on Frangfrang, nor is it the one in the Ipsissimal Suite on the Victorious Tara. It’s my bed back in Court Emmere, the one with the sugar-coated comforter that I had as a child. I’m inside of the pleroma.
I jump up, bursting through the door into Daniel’s apartment without bothering to knock. « All right, what the fuck is going on? »
« You were sick, » says Ailann. « We couldn’t allow that. »
« Hyde is out there by himself? »
« Ah, no, Hyde is back here. We emanated Tielo. »
« Tielo? » Oh, I knew what that meant. Patrick complaining that he was low on power – and then swapping emanations twice, no, three times. « You mean he’s doing that stunt of drawing directly from Yggdrasil instead of using the power grid? But you know that affects his mental stability. »
« It’s not like we don’t have a veritable army of retainers. Lady Lorma is there. »
« Lady Magdelaine, dealing with Tielo while he’s off his nut? That’s supposed to reassure me? She’ll kill me when I get back. »
Ailann doesn’t look happy. « That’s going to be a while. We don’t have the strength to swap emanations without Tielo’s help right now, and he’s a little confused. »
« You know, I actually have diplomatic responsibilities on this trip. And what do you mean by a little confused? »
« He’s talking to your welcome basket, » Davy chirps in. « He’s trying to convince the native fruit-beating trees to cooperate with humans. The daznasa is saying that he has some nerve insinuating they should collaborate with the imperialist primates infesting their world. »
« They should’ve terraformed this place, » I mutter. « Stupid Frangfrangians imagining that the conquered natives love them. »
« It’s entirely possible that Tielo is hallucinating the entire conversation, as he is not in his right mind, and the trees here are not known to be sentient, » says Malachi.
« Besides, there’s some stuff you can do in here, » says Davy. « Important stuff. »
« You want me to go fishing again? »
« Probably not, » says Malachi. « It might be a waste of time. We only need ten more sparks in very specific colors. »
« But there are a lot of green ones around here, » says Ailann. « I don’t think it would hurt to look in my reflecting pool one more time. »
« That’s not what I was talking about, » says Davy. « I mean that the next hatch is ready. We need Tara for the red-light scene. »
« Davy, I said I was joking. Besides, why do we want more emanations? There are seven I haven’t met yet. »
« We need more, » says Davy. « Hyde had to emanate the old-school way. »
« About that…it’s not exactly convenient to keep having my husband replaced on a diplomatic mission. And it’s lucky that both X’khaim and Hyde got their achievements right away. It would be a mess dealing with an emanation who couldn’t communicate with the rest of you. »
« Exactly! » snaps Davy, running his fingers through his hair. « That’s why we have to do another hatch! »
« Oh,” says Malachi. « Why didn’t you say so? »
« It’s obvious, » Davy grumbles.
« We need to emanate as many as possible within the pleroma, » Malachi explains. « Otherwise, if you need one of us, like you needed X’khaim or Hyde, he might have to emanate unrecognized. »
This was getting out of hand. « How many do you anticipate needing? »
« Well, » says Davy, « I have a sense of the ones I should do right away, but you never know. It would be safest to emanate all of them and have them start on the achievements as soon as possible. »
« That would be complete chaos, » says Ailann.
« We’ve added ten emanations in the past two weeks, » says Tarlach. « That’s increased our number by slightly over 17%. That will have ramifications. We really need a social engineer. »
« What’s that? » asks Tommy.
« A professional who designs a new society – we hired one to help with the colony on Shambhala, » Tarlach replies. « She looked at the number of people, their probable backgrounds and motivations, the stumbling blocks to cultural unity, the effects of environment. She was integral in everything from the design of the capital city to the introduction of small traditions and rituals. »
« And you really believe that’s necessary? » says Ailann.
« I’m always an advocate of professional help when needed. But consider how much our society is going to change when we add all the other emanations. As you said, it will be chaos unless we plan carefully. »
« Fine, » says Davy. « I’ll make one. I’ll put him in the next batch. »
They were serious. At least, I thought they were. « You actually intend to emanate all of the rest? »
« Well, we can’t emanate the ones we don’t have, » says Davy. « Obviously. »
« Frankly, I’m more worried about the missing ones than emanating the ones we have, » says Malachi. « I can feel the empty spots in the mandala. It bothers me more all the time. »
« You’re just not getting it, » whines Davy. I’m not getting it either. The thought of Ash suddenly letting loose how many? Twenty-five new personalities? Thirty-five if he found the other needed sparks. Ash is a communal entity, but he is an entity. How could it not be disruptive to add that many new personalities all at once? How much would it change him?
But still…Davy generally gets annoyed when I don’t go along with him. This time he seems…maybe a little desperate?
Ailann put his hand on my shoulder. His eyes were concerned, so very compassionate. « You’re afraid, » he says.
« I’m afraid for you, Ash. How can you do that, and not go mad? »
« Suibhne is already mad, » says Suibhne. « And if anyone else is mad, Suibhne will give him a penguin. »
« Oh, Suibhne. » He’s so sweet sometimes, but it doesn’t help the situation.
« A penguin will make him feel better and also monitor him carefully, » he adds.
« I wouldn’t doubt it, » says Patrick, coming through the front door. « They may look cute, but they perform a regulatory function in the pleroma that we don’t quite understand. In fact, my guess is that these guardians look so absurd precisely so that we’ll underestimate them. »
Patrick is followed by four other men. Two of them I recognize immediately – X’khaim and Hyde. The third is a bearded, swarthy man with an intense, considered intelligence in his expression. After a moment, I realize that he’s Oliver, the one I saw while still in the egg. The fourth is very handsome, a blond man wearing an elaborate ancient costume. His movements are graceful and mannered, as if he were acting in a Shakespearean drama. He falls to one knee and brings my hand to his lips. It’s such an elegant gesture than I almost fail to notice that he’s trembling. He looks up into my eyes. « My lady, » he says, « your humble servant, Theodoric del N’stl’d. »
« He’s your secretary, » says Davy.
He’s not talking about a political secretary; I think it’s an archaic usage more-or-less equivalent to the modern itinerarion. However, wasn’t there a nuance to the term? I seem to remember something about Queen Elizabeth I of Britain having a harem of secretaries and some vague references in Exploitation Era literature. « Do you mean a sex slave secretary or a personal barista secretary? »
Theodoric turns tomato red. « An amanuensis, my lady. I’m completely literate and able to print and write in various cursive and calligraphic scripts for a number of alphabets ranging from Galactic Standard Unicode to Mandaryllic to Ancient Hebrew. »
A scribe? I suppose it goes with the antiquated clothing. Then an idea occurs to me. « Can you do emoticons? »
« I’m well versed in all the archaic ironies, » Theodoric says proudly.
« I might have a use for you to put the personal touch on my correspondence. Nothing says ‘I don’t care’ better than a calligraphic eye-roll. »
« This is Oliver, » says Patrick, interrupting. He pushes the man a step forward. It’s immediately clear that Oliver is completely overawed by me. Also, Patrick already got a piece of him.
« Naughty boy, » I say, wagging my finger at Patrick. « What about my droit de seigneur? »
« What? » stammers Oliver.
« That’s why we need the red-light scenario, » says Davy. « To assert your rights. »
« It really is a good idea, » says Tarlach, « Think of it this way: not being recognized by the pleroma is traumatic, but if the initiatory experience is an orgy with the Chosen… »
« That makes more sense than anything I’ve heard today, » says Tommy.
« Wait, are you saying that you want me to do all of them? Right away? »
« Yeah, » says Davy. « It will solve a lot of problems. »
« Look, I love chocumber ice cream, but not ten kilos at a time. » It was already too much. Hollis, X’khaim, Hyde…I’d barely gotten to know them, and now these two…no, not only them, but the other five emanations that had been hatched. Let alone 25, 35 more…
« Tara, please, » says Davy.
« Well, let’s take care of the ones we’ve already got, and we’ll see. Where are the others anyway? »
« Oh, still working on the recognitions, » says Ailann a little too brightly. Theo gives him a look – man, he’s a brave little sapling to look at Ailann like that. And Ailann flinches.
« All right. Tell me, what the fuck is going on? »