Chapter XVII

Brandon looked around at the cargo hold of Wild Abandon. It was a dank, musty place, smelling like an odd mixture of mothballs, sweat, and rotten banannas. Even compared to the rest of the ship (which mostly smelled like monkeys) it was a very strong odor. Brandon held his breath.
Besides picking up Brandon, the Wild Abandon had taken on several crates of supplies to last them on the journey to Errilliance. These contained assorted foodstuffs, medicines, a little clothing, and of course, barrels of rum. Any good pirate likes his rum, and the simian nature of the crew did nothing to combat this. Next to the rum was a large crate and six small ones, containing Brandon's personal effects. Two small boxes were stacked on top of the large one. It was one of these that Brandon had come down here to claim. The strange thing was, he only remembered packing the six small ones.
The large box began to shake.
Brandon regarded the box suspiciously. This was a magic ship - a moving box could mean a lot of things, not all of them pleasant. He looked around for something he could use as a weapon. Surveying the crowded hold, he noticed a broken mop leaning against a wall. He grabbed the mop handle and held it out in front of him like a quarterstaff. Slowly he approached the box.
Finally, the box shook hard enough to knock the two boxes on top of it onto the floor. Then it lurched forward, towards Brandon.
"Hold it!" said Brandon in heavily accented Human. "I'm armed,"
"Mmpph mrr?" went the box. It stopped shaking.
"Who or what are you?" asked Brandon, "And what are you doing here?"
"Mmphh mrr!" went the box, rattling again, "Mmphh mrr mrrpp mrrp mrrrr!"
As Brandon listened more closely, he realized that what he was hearing was a muffled voice from inside the box. Slowly we walked up to the box and kicked it. It let out a yelp.
Brandon bent down and knocked on the box.
"Mmrrt rmrrr rrt ff hrr!" insisted the voice. It was still too muffled to hear.
Brandon knocked on the box again until he found a spot that sounded hollow. Then, being careful not to let it go any farther in then was neccesary, he jabbed it into the top of the box. It poked through the wood.
"Oww!" went a voice from inside the box. It's whiny, feminine pitch was instantly familiar.
"Jiuni?" asked Brandon, throwing the mop handle aside and peering into the hole.
"You hit me!" cried his half-sister, in Xarnippi.
"You're in a box," Brandon pointed out, as if the fact were not obvious.
"I'm hiding," said Jiuni. "I was going to hide here until the box was unloaded in Errilliance. I brought food with me and everything,"
"What happened?" asked Brandon.
"I had to pee," she answered.
Brandon rolled his eyes.
"Can you make a bigger hole?" asked Jiuni.
Brandon sighed again, and went to pick up the mop handle. Just then he heard the door of the hold open.
"You okay down there?" asked Clayton. "Finding everything okay?"
"Just fine!" Brandon replied, "Just had a little trouble with a box,"
Technically true, he thought. He really wasn't sure how his father would react to their little stow away.
"Need help?" asked Clayton.
"No, I'm fine now!" he answered. He heard the door shut again. He picked up the mop handle and went back over to the box. The he leaned in and whispered into the hole.
"Scoot all the way over," he said. The box lurched slightly to the side as she followed his instructions. He jabbed the handle into the box again widening the hole. Then he stepped to the side.
Jiuni's head popped out of the hole. A few seconds later, the rest of her followed, leaving the top of the box in splinters.
"Ow!" she said as she unfolded herself. Jiuni was fourteen, but small for her age (a wonder considering her parentage.) Her limbs were very thin and her bust just starting to develop. Even so, the box had obviously been quite cramped. She looked around at the musty hold, then down at her erstwhile prison.
"What now?" asked Brandon after a moment.
"I have to go," said his sister.
"Go where?" asked Brandon. "We're on a ship in the middle of the ocean. There's no where to run!"
"No," said Jiuni, urgently, grabbing herself and dancing up and down a bit "I have to go,"
"Oh," said her half-brother comprehendingly. "I have a chamber pot in my cabin, I'll go get it. Just - try and stay out of site, okay?"
He ran out of the hold.
"Hurry!" she called back after him. The ship rocked back and forth on the sea.

City of Mages - Primer

I'm just gonna say it: City of Mages is essentially a soap opera set in a fantasy world of my own devising. Here's what you need to know:
The world of City of Mages, currently nameless, consists of one large continent, referred simply as "the continent" an numerous small islands. As far as these characters are concerned, that is the world.
There are two kinds of magic in this world - stargem magic and elemental magic. Stargem magic is big and flashy and practiced by Wizards and Sorcerers. Elemental magic is more quiet and reserved, and practiced by Witches and Druids.
All Stargem magic comes from an actual object called the Star gem. The closer you are to the Star gem, the more powerful your magic is. The Star gem is located in the Tower of Doom in the City of Errilliance. That's where most of the story is set.
As mentioned earlier, four kinds of magicians live in Erriliance (magician being a catch-all term for any magic user.) They are:
Sorcerers: Sorcerers are those rare individuals with a natural talent for Stargem magic. Most have one or two natural abilities which they can use pretty much at will, and of course some are more powerful then others. They are organized into the Sorcerers' Guild. Though non-guild sorcerers do exist (Clayton Darkwood, for one) they are treated as criminals and hunted down by the guild. Female sorcerers are called Sorceresses, and are quite common.
Wizards: Wizards have no inborn talent - they manipulate Stargem magic through rituals and ceremonies. Wizards are basically incapable of doing magic on the fly, but given a few hours, some candles and a book of magic runes, they can do things a sorcerer can only dream of. The Wizards are loosely organized by a group called the College of Wizardry, but they don't force all Wizards to join. Still, unrestricted access to the Colleges libraries is usually enough of an enticement. Female Wizards are called Wizardesses, and are very rare.
Druids: Druids cast nature magic by communing with the elements. Nature magic can be very powerful, but is usually not obvious. Some Druids are capable of communing with all four elements, whereas some only really have power over two or three. Druidism is taught by a master-apprentice system, and has no official organization, although Thurigen has professed himself their leader, and no one has questioned him yet. Male and female Druids occur with equal frequency.
Witches: Witches are by far the most subtle of the spellcasters. Most of their power comes from making potions with they brew in strange rituals using bizzare ingredients. They also can, and often do, cast complex spells similar to those used by wizards, but employing the power of the elements, not of the stargem. As these often require three or more witches to perform, and witchcraft is taught in a manner similar to Druidism, witches have a complex social network but no official organization beyond the coven (a group of three witches of varying ages.) Male witches, even rarer then female Wizards, are called Warlocks.

Everything else you need to know comes from the relationships among the many characters. Here is an updated version of a brief "Guide to Characters" I wrote some time ago:

Lady Cecilia:
Race: Human. Leader of the Witches (mostly by virtue of no one else wanting the job.) Small elderly woman, usually very friendly and motherly, but can have some bite. Incredibly clairvoyant.

The Archmage:
Race: Dwarf. Portly Leader of Erilliance's Wizards. Middle aged, friendly and cheerful.

Thurigen:
Race: High Elf of the Citadel. Thurigen, Leader of the Druids, has transcended his corporeal form and now exists as an almost Demigod. Ancient, powerful, enigmatic and a bit tempermental. His assistant is Simile.

Xindor the Incredible:
Race: High Elf of the Citadel. Leader of the Sorcerers' Guild. One of the most powerful and popular sorcerors of all time (Also one of the most Arrogant and self-centered.) Pushing 450, due to die in less than three years (According to Lady Cecilia's prophecy.) His Niece is Amora of Tiesan. He harbors a grudge against Clayton Darkwood.

Halyn:
Race: Hill Gnome. Halyn is a Bard. He cares for his younger brother Erdyn and his younger sister Tiryn. He once wrote a very catchy song about Xindor the Incredible.

Erdyn:
Race: Hill Gnome. Erdyn wants to be a sorceror, but has thus far displayed only minimal powers. His sister is Tiryn. His brother is Halyn.

Tiryn:
Race: Hill Gnome. Tiryn is an insatiably curious and energetic young gnome. Sister to Halyn and Erdyn.

Clayton Darkwood: Race: Human. The Notorious Sorceror Pirate has been banished from both Xarnip and Erilliance. He currently commands the Simian scallywags of the Pirate Ship Abandon. He is old friends with Lady Cecilia. He hates Xindor the Incredible. He was once married to The Queen of Xarnip. His son is Brandon Darkwood.

Simile:
Race: Doom Pixie. Sorceress, currently adjunct to Thurigen.

Dukalb Argoldson of Viiri: Race: Dwelf (Half Dwarf, half Elf.) Rejected by both his peoples, Dukalb sought out life as a Druid. Due to his mixed heritage, he has an affinity for trees and rocks. He's not a very good Druid, mostly due to a total lack of training. His master is Grosk.

Brandon Darkwood: Race: Half-Xarnipi Human. The Prince of Xarnip, often ostracized for his light skin, has recently begun accidentily turning people into animals. His father is Clayton Darkwood. His mother is The Queen of Xarnip. His half-sister is Jiuni.

Jiuni:
Race: Xarnipi Human. Half sister to Brandon Darkwood. Last we saw her, she was trying to talk her mother into letting her come to Errilliance.

The Queen of Xarnip: Race: Xarnipi Human. Large, wealthy, and Powerful. Formerly married to Clayton Darkwood. Mother of numerous children, including Brandon Darkwood and Jiuni.

Vivacia Brown:
Race: Human. Thin, mousy witch with a mess of brown hair. Resident of the prestigous Tiesan Hall. Shy, but friendly. Very close friends with Amora of Tiesan. Has a huge crush on Bogue. Trained by Lady Cecilia.

Bogue:
Race: Human. Erilliance's leading Rune Master, Bogue is slightly disconnected to reality, due to spending so much time in the theoretical world of Runes. Something of a prodigy.

Amora of Tiesan:
Race: High Elf of the Citadel. Amora is a powerful budding sorceress. She has been spoiled both by her family's wealth and prestige and by her own great power, that of creating projectiles that alter people's emotions. She is controlling and manipulative, but essentially a decent person. Her best friend is Vivacia Brown. Her uncle is Xindor the Incredible.

Grosk:
Race: Hobgoblin. An experienced druid, Grosk is the only hobgoblin in the city of Errilliance. He is a trusted lieutenant of Thurigen. Currently training Dukalb.

Durner Rockfendursteen:
Race: Dwarf. Owner and operator of Durney's Dwarven Diner, the only dwarven restaraunt in the city, and a popular hangout for Wizards and sorcerors alike.

The Story so Far:
Chapter 1:
Our story begins when Lady Cecilia has a vision. In this vision, she learns that Xindor will die in three years time and if something is not done soon, there will be no one to take his place as leader of the sorcerers guild. Xindor objects to this - he does not believe he's going to die, and even if he does, he's confident someone will step up to take over. Unable to convince the council, Lady Cecilia decides to take matters into her own hands...

Chapter 2:
Three gnomes, Halyn, Erdyn, and Tirdyn, approach Errilliance. Haylyn once wrote a very popular ballad about Xindor, and now Xindor has summoned him back to the city. His younger brother has some powers and wishes to become a sorcerer.

Chapter 3:
Clayton Darkwood, the infamous sorcerer pirate, is returning to the mainland after years of exile when he is contacted by Lady Cecilia. Lady Cecilia asks Clayton to retrieve his son from the custody of his mother, the Queen of Xarnip, despite the fact that she said she'd kill him if he ever set foot in her country again, and bring him to Errilliance to study. She promises that if Brandon comes to Errilliance, he could be leader of the sorcerers guild in as little as three years.

Chapter 4:
Xindor tries to contact his niece, Amora, but fails. Lady Cecilia finds him and informs him that Clayton is coming to Errilliance. Xindor is furious, but eventually agrees not to harm Clayton while he is in the city.

Chapter 5:
Dukald, a druid in the forest outside Errilliance, is summoned to the druidic leader Thurigen and made an offer - accept training from a new teacher or be exiled from the city. He takes the training.

Chapter 6:
Meanwhile, in Xarnip, Brandon Darkwood, Clayton's son, has been accidentally and inexplicably turning people into animals. Fortunately, these transformations have all been temporary. His mother the Queen of Xarnip, reveals that he is in fact a sorcerer, and the his father will be arriving soon to take him to Errilliance to be trained. Then she turns into a hippopotamaus.

Chapter 7:
The Gnomes arrive in Errilliance. Xindor sends a Wizard named Bogue to escort Erdyn and Tirdyn to their rooms, and summons Haylyn to his office. He admits that he, in fact, believes Lady Cecilia about his upcoming death, and is concerned about his legacy - he wants Halyn to write another ballad about his final adventure. Unfortunately, to do this, Halyn will have to live in Errilliance. The Gnome says he needs time to think about the offer.

Chapter 8:
Xindor's niece Amora and her best friend and roommate Vivacia are standing out on the roof of their building when they see Bogue and the two Gnomes walking by. Vivacia, infatuated with Bogue, talks Amora into shooting a bolt of pure love at him (Amora can fire blasts which manipulate emotions.) Amora fires, but misses and hits Erdyn, who immediately becomes infatuated with everyone. She goes down to try and reverse the spell and ends up nearly getting in a duel with Bogue. Fortunately Xindor interferes just before it starts and teleports Amora to his office.

Chapter 9:
Xindor chastises Amora for the attack, and reveals Lady Cecilia's prophecy, stating that he hopes she will be ready to succeed him should anything happen to him. Unbeknowest to him, she has already been planning to take over the guild for years.

Chapter 10:
Brandon's half-sister, Juini, tries to talk her mother into letting her come with Brandon to Errilliance, but the Queen says no. Clayton arrives in Xarnip with much fanfare.

Chapter 11:
Erdyn wakes up, thinking he's still in love with Amora. He and Halyn head off to breakfast before Erdyn's appointment.

Chapter 12:
Dukalb meets his new teacher, and is surprised to discover that he is a hobgoblin.

Chapter 13:
Erdyn and Halyn go to Durney's Dwarven Diner for breakfast. Erdyn tells Haylyn he loves Amora, but Halyn explains this is just an after effect of her magic. Erdyn prepares for his test.

Chapter 14:
Clayton and Brandon start to catch up. Clayton gives his son a gift - a chunk of oblivium which can nullify all magic in an area.

Chapter 15:
Grosk explains to Dukalb (and the readers) how Druidic powers work.

Chapter 16:
After a long wait in the lobby, Erdyn goes before the Sorcerer's Guild council to be tested. He demonstrates his abilities - the manipulation of small beads of light and the ability to slightly morph his facial features. The council seems impressed.

That's it so far. Next up: The story continues!

Sonnet for Global Warming

Winter is come too late this year, and meek
With fearsome flurries falling in the night
Only to melt away when daylight peeks
Out over the horizon – tis’ not right
For it should be a wild, untamed beast
With fierce and biting cold none can resist
But cold has not been fearsome in the least,
And no strong winds have offered to assist.
Since no white blanket covers these fair hills,
And nothing, save a jacket is required,
To keep us from these weak, ill-tempered chills,
This song, invoking winter, is inspired,
Therefore, keep we our greenhouse gasses low,
If e’er again we wish to see the snow.

New Blog, continued

Ok, here's how my update schedule is going to work. Every Saturday, I wil post story content - either a new segment of one of my three major stories, or a stand-alone story. Every wednesday, if at least one person has commented on my Saturday post, I will post something else - perhaps a story, but more likely a poem, picture, or piece of Dungeons and Dragons game content. The first three story posts will be synopses of the three major stories on this blog, so no back-reading will be required to get future updates. If people actually read this, it will be a lot easier for me to convince myself to keep updating. My success or failure in this effort depends on you!

New Year, New Blog!

Seeing my brother's success taking advantage of Blogger Beta's label feature, I've decided to do the same. In doing this, I had to look at more than three years of blog posts, and it made me think about a lot of things. I may be starting a weekly update schedule soon. Either way, here's a brief description of each of those lovely labels in the side-bar.


Dragon Story (42)
The major story of the blog, despite that it hasn't been updated in almost a year. I will return to it eventually though. Its about a boy who can turn into a dragon. The plot is complex and convoluted, with way too many characters. An exciting ride, even if it does stop rather abruptly.

Meta-blog (28)
Here are gathered all of the posts which refer to the blog itself. These range from technical issues to continuity fixes to insights into my writing style. My favorite part is when I pledge to finish the Dragon Story by June 2005.

City of Mages (20)
The second longest story of the blog, City of Mages is a political fantasy story centering around a group of loosely connected characters in a world where magic is geographically distributed. Kind of hard to explain.

Emo Rants (17)
Pretty self explanatory. The vast majority of this stuff is from my break-up with Ashley Junior year. I'd appreciate it if this was never read by anyone, ever again. I have no idea why I archived it.

Pictures (12)
This includes photographs of me, illustrations for my stories done by Amy, and stuff I did in paint.

X-men (10)
This series of posts chronicles my attempt to construct a Nightcrawler costume in ten days.

Telepsis (9)
The latest addition to my stories, Telepsis was my failed NaNoWriMo story. It's about a girl with a telepathic energy creature inside her, and global warming. Really hard to explain. Will likely be updated again soon.

Doom Pixies (8)
My first attempt at a story. It sucked. Wait a minute, why did I use past tense there? It sucks.

Stand Alone (8)
All the stories I've written that only lasted one post. With most of them, that was intentional.

Other (5)
Everything that somehow fails to fit into my exhausting list of categories.

Dungeons and Dragons (4)
Game elements I designed for the most popular RPG of all time. Expect frequent updates if I start a weekly schedule.

Idea file (4)
New ideas that I don't feel like writing on at the moment. This will also likely grow quite a bit.

Poems (4)
Sometimes I write poetry, but not very often. Clearly.

Tournament (4)
Something I strated, then stopped because it was way more trouble then it was worth.

Funny Rants (3)
Rants that are not Emo.

Harry Potter (3)
For all Harry Potter related things. All of these are also tagged under some other category.

Songs (3)
Songs I've written. Mostly silly. Will post more later (as more are written and simply waiting to be posted.)

Books (1)
This will be a place for book reviews, once I finish the first book on my list.

Dragon Story (2) (1)
This is for the second draft of the Dragon story, so as to avoid confusion.

This is my entry for the Giant In the Playground monthly monster creation competition. This month's theme is "The Darker Side of Winter"

Icicle beast

Huge Magical Beast (Cold)

Hit Dice: 8d10+19 (59)

Initiative: +3

Speed: 6 squares, climb 4 squares

Armor Class: 22 (+3 Dex, -2 size, +11 natural), Touch 11, Flat-footed 21

Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+23

Attack: Gore +15 melee (2d6 +7 +1d6 cold)

Full attack: 2 claws +15 melee (1d8+7) and Gore +10 melee (2d6+7 +1d6 cold)

Space/Reach: 10 ft.

Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Drain warmth, Icicle swarm

Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Tremorsense 60 ft., Cold subtype, Icy shell, Water walk

Saves: Fort +14, Ref +15, Will +8

Abilities: Str 24, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 4

Skills: Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Climb +8

Feats: Toughness, Ability Focus (Warmth Drain), Skill Focus (Climb)

Environment: Cold caves

Organization: Solitary or cluster (2 -5)

Challenge Rating: 8

Treasure: none

Alignment: Neutral
Advancement: 12 – 20HD (Gargantuan)

Level Adjustment: --

Five large icicles hang from the ceiling, each about a meter long. Suddenly, they drop to the ground, and it turns out they are the legs and proboscis of an insectoid-looking creature which seems to be almost entirely covered in a thick layer of ice, like armor. Icicle-like spikes protrude from all sides of the creature’s torso.

Icicle beasts are creatures the live in icy caverns beneath the frozen ground and feed on the warm feelings of others. They mold the ice around themselves to form their thick shell, and hide in the ceilings of caves waiting for animals to pass by so they can feed on them. Dictators in cold areas sometimes keep domesticated icicle beast to use for torture, as being fed on by one is extremely painful.

Icicle Swarm: As a standard action, an icicle beast can shake itself, dislodging small shards of ice from its carapace and sending them flying in all directions. All creatures within 20 ft of the beast must make a reflex save (DC 20) or take 2d4 points of cold damage. The beast takes a cumulative -1 penalty to AC each time it uses this attack, because the ice it shoots is no longer protecting it. The ice regenerates in 1d4 minutes, provided the temperature is below freezing.

Improved Grab: To use this ability, the Icicle must hit an opponent with its gore attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to drain warmth the following round.

Drain Warmth: If the icicle beast starts a round with a hold on a creature, it may drain warmth as a full round action. For every round that its warmth is being drained from its body, the creature takes 2d10 points of cold damage, half of which the icicle beast gains as temporary hit points, and 1d3 points of dexterity damage, as the warmth is drained from their fingers making them numb. A successful Fortitude save (DC 22) halves the cold damage and negates the dexterity damage.

Icy Shell: The icicle beast is not only immune to cold, but it uses any cold attacks that hit it to improve its carapace. For cold attack that deals at least ten points of damage, its Armor Class increases by one. It can gain up to four points of AC for this to a maximum of 26 (+15 natural armor). Likewise, every fire attack that deals at least ten points of damage decreases its AC by one, to a minimum of 11 (No natural armor.)

Water walk: The Icicle beast can walk on water by freezing patches of ice under each of its feet. The patches melt 1d4 rounds later.
CombatAn icicle beast will usually began a combat by dropping on an unsuspecting target. If it hits with it’s spike, it immediately begins to feed. If interrupted in this process by other creatures, its first response is to hit thme with an icicle swarm to try and deter them. If that doesn’t work, the creature will stop feeding and try to kill the other opponents with its claw and gore attacks.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Adventure hooks:

Adventurers must infiltrate an Ogre stronghold deep in the mountains by sneaking in through the caverns below. Unfortunately, a colony of icicle beasts makes their home there.

A pet icicle beast/Torture implement has escaped its prison and is hiding in the cellars ambushing loyal subjects of the king. Adventurers must hunt it down to secure an ally’s freedom.

Nathan Comstock's 49 Book challenge

The list isn't quite done yet, but Michael wanted to see it. Comment with anything else you want me to read. By the way, I lost NaNoWriMo, but I'm gonna keep working on Telepsis as soon as finals week is over.

Nathan Comstock’s 50 Book Challenge

Fiction
1. Franz Kafka, The Castle
2. Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
3. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
4. Dante Algieri, Purgatorio
5. Dante Algieri, Paradiso
6. Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
7. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
8. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night
9. J.D. Salinger, Nine Stories
10. Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
11. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
12. Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
13. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
14. Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading
15. Robert Luis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
16. Voltaire, Candide
17. Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events
18. Christopher Moore, Lamb
19. Robert Rankin, The Brightonomnicon
20. Terry Goodkind, Wizard’s First Rule
21. Jasper Fforde, The Big Over Easy
22. Frank Herbert, Children of Dune
23. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
24. Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
25. Margaret Atwood, Surfacing
26. Orson Scott Card, Homecoming
27. J.K. Rowling, (Harry Potter Book 7)
28. Isabella Allende, Zorro
29. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
30. Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes
31. Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
32. Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
33. Larry Niven, Ringworld
34. Neil Gaiman, American Gods
35. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Shadow Thieves
36. Harry Turtledove, In the Balance
37. Jeffrey Eugenides, Virgin Suicides
38. Maria Doria Russel, The Sparrow
39. Khaled Hosseini , The Kite Runner

Non-Fiction
1. Jared Diamond, Collapse!
2. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
3. Mark Kurlansky, Cod
4. Sarah Vowell, Take the Cannoli
5. Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
6. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
7. Irving L. Janis, Groupthink
8. Reinhold Niebler, Moral Man and Immoral Society
9. Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
10.John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Telepsis - Chapter 4, Word Count: 30,018

Sorry, This is the longest one yet. But a lot happens, so it should go faster.

Chapter 4:
Getting There is Half the Fun

On the edge of nowhere, they wait. There are just over a hundred of them now, although that information is basically irrelevant. They themselves cannot be bothered to keep a specific count – no one who could knows they exist. In fact, only one person has any idea at all how many there are, and all he can say is somewhere near one hundred. Counting them is difficult because they frequently seem to blend into one another for short periods of time.
What they all know is that there used to be more. A lot more. They can remember that. Their memory is practically infallible. The irony then, is how little happens to them. Even in thousands of years of continual existence, there’s not much to remember.
They are restless, impatient. They know there are fewer of them then there were at first. That there are more disappearing all the time. That there is less space, and they’re being forced together. Some are being forced out. They know that if nothing is done it won’t be long at all before there are none left.
They don’t know exactly how long they have, because that would require keeping track of exactly how many are left, which is difficult. They know that there is a plan in action, a plan to get back the space they had and keep more of them from disappearing. They know it hinges on four or five individuals thosen by them for this purpose. They do not understand it, because it requires knowledge of concepts which are completely foreign to them. But they trust it. They must. They have no choice.
So they wait. And hope. And wonder. Of these, they are familiar only with the last. Before this began they had nothing to wait for. Nor did they have anything to hope for. Conversely, they were had never known what it was to be without hope. But now they were learning many things. Hope, Dread, Anticipation – but above all, they were learning fear. Fear that the plan will not work. Fear that the world will close in around them and disappear. Fear that they will have no choice but to give themselves up to the darkness.

After lunch on Friday, Corrine and Ethan went with Luke to the appointed conference room, mostly for moral support. Ethan still thought the other two were being really paranoid about this meeting, but he came along anyway. He didn’t really have anything else to do.
Anna had come as well. She had gotten the feeling she was being left out of something, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. So she had endeavored to follow her roommate around as much as she could until someone explained everything to her. This was getting a bit tedious.
“I don’t get it,” she asked, as they walked down the stairs towards room 120. “What’s so suspicious about this note again?”
“Nothing,” Ethan replied, “They’re just really over thinking this,”
“It’s complicated,” answered Corrine.
“Something to do with what happened that night, though?” asked Anna.
“Possibly,” said Luke.
“Probably not,” said Ethan.
“Let’s find out,” Luke answered. They had reached the conference room.
The door was standing open, and there was woman sitting at the head of the table. She was middle aged, wearing a dark blue business suit with her dark brown hair tied up in a bun. She got up and walked over to the door.
“Luke Farrar?” she asked, glancing down at a small, yellow notepad.
“That’s me,” Luke replied. If he was apprehensive, his demeanor did not give it away. He sounded as friendly and cheerful as ever.
He went inside, leaving the others standing outside.
“So we just wait for him?” asked Anna.
“Yup,” Corrine answered.
“Why?” asked Ethan.
“Just in case,” replied Corrine.
Anna and Ethan spoke up at the same time.
“In case what?” she asked.
“This is absurd,” he said.
“Look,” said Corrine, “If you don’t want to be here, then go. No one is making you stick around,”
“Fine,” replied Ethan. “I have work to do. I’ll see you at dinner, probably,”
Anna watched him leave, then looked to her roommate. She decided to stay for the time being.
“I really don’t get what’s going on,” she told Corrine.
Corrine looked at her, and her eyes glazed over. For about forty seconds, she stared straight ahead, unblinking, and said nothing.
“Corrine?” Anna said. “You okay? You’re kinda freakin’ me out here…”
“Sorry,” said Corrine, shaking her head. “Got distracted. Look, how much do you actually remember about what happened that night?”
“The night you went into your Coma?” Anna asked.
Corrine nodded.
“Not much,” said Anna. “I was pretty wasted. Just images, you know? Flashes of light, Gunshots, Luke carrying you on his back – it’s all very confusing,”
Corrine shared with her everything she could remember, and everything she’d learned from Luke, which admittedly wasn’t much. She left out Aeolus, of course, and any leads she might have gotten from it. Then she explained their suspicions about the note.
“I guess that makes sense,” said Corrine. “But I still don’t get what you’re expecting to happen,”
“I don’t know,” said Corrine, “It’s just a feeling,”

“Take a seat,” said the woman politely. Luke had never seen her before. This wasn’t that odd, but it was a very small school. He knew most of the administrative workers at least by sight. He pulled out a chair next to hers and sat down.
“A few weeks ago,” the woman began, “You reported an… incident to the security office,”
“Yes,” Luke replied. “It was ridiculed and then promptly ignored. I’m surprised you even found out about it,”
“It was… an easy oversight to make,” replied the woman. “The security staff of your school, while quite competent, is not possessed of the same information as we are,”
“Who’s we?” asked Luke.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the woman replied. She took a small badge out of her coat pocket and displayed it. “My name is Agent Sneed. I work for a branch of the F.B.I. that deals with… special cases. It was really pure luck that brought yours to our attention,”
“So what’s this all about?” asked Luke, “Aliens? Future technology? Some kind of terrorist threat, maybe?”
“I’m afraid that’s classified,” said the woman. “I need to ask you some questions however. If I understood your report correctly, your school may be in great danger,”
Luke retold the story, as best he could remember. He was actually getting quite good at it, as he’d been asked to several times. He left out the identity of the man – he wasn’t quite sure why.
“Your friend Corrine,” asked Sneed, “The one who was in the Coma. Is she one of the young ladies who accompanied you here?”
“Yeah,” said Luke.
Agent Sneed peered through the small window next to the door. “She appears to still be standing outside,” She observed. “Would you send her in please?”
Luke opened the door. “She wants to talk to you,” he said.
“Me?” asked Corrine.
“Yup,” Luke answered.
“What about me?” Anna asked indignantly. “I was there too!”
Luke glanced at Agent Sneed, as if to relay Anna’s question. The agent shook her head.
“Actually, I’d like you to step outside for a moment,” she told Luke. “Corrine, come in,”
Corrine walked past Luke into the room.
“Shut the door,” called Sneed. Luke obeyed.
“Corrine,” the woman began, “Have a seat,”
Corrine sat down.
“My name,” she continued, “Is Agent Sneed. I work for the F.B.I.”
“F.B.I.?” asked Aeolus.
“Just search my head,” said Corrine. She didn’t feel like trying to explain it, and felt sure she’d get it wrong. Plus she needed to listen.
“We’re investigating a threat to National Security that’s been around for a long time,” continued the agent. “The details are highly classified, but I can tell you this a matter of the utmost importance. Now I need to ask you a few questions,”
“Okay,” said Corrine.
“Since you woke up from the Coma, has anything strange been happening to you?”
“Don’t tell her,” Aeolus cut in.
“I thought you wanted me to tell people?”
“Not her. Don’t tell her anything. She will kill you,”
“She works for the government,”
“That doesn’t matter,”
“Corrine?” asked the woman, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” said Corrine. “No, nothing strange. I mean, I’ve never woken up from a Coma before, so I don’t really know what’s normal, but nothing’s happened that can’t be attributed to that in one way or another,”
“No voices in your head?” asked the woman.
“Nope,” Corrine lied.
“No strange lights appearing anywhere near you?” the woman continued.
“What do you mean?” asked Corrine. She was trying to improve her deception by feigning confusion.
“You’d know,” the woman answered. “Hmm. Well I think that’s all. Thank you for your help. Have a nice day. I’ll call you if I need anything else,”
She left the room, where Ethan and Anna were still waiting outside.
“What did she ask you?” inquired Luke eagerly.
“Nothing important,” Corrine lied again.
“What was it?” Luke pressed her.
“Just some weird questions about the Coma,” said Corrine.
“So, F.B.I., eh?” said Luke. “This is big,”
“Yeah,” said Corrine, “Too big. I say we leave it in their capable hands,”
She split off from them. She needed somewhere to think.

As Ethan walked out of the student center, he noticed Radhika sitting on one of the benches, reading. He stopped and sat down next to her, folding his hands in his lap,”
“You holding up okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, barely looking up.
“Anything you want to talk about?” Ethan asked.
“I have to finish reading this,” she answered, her voice rising and falling in her usual almost musical rhythm,”
“Okay,” said Ethan. He got up, then added. “If you need to talk to someone, you know where I am,”
“I do,” she said. “Thank you but I think I’m going to be okay. I am going to see my uncle this weekend,”
“In India?” asked Ethan, with mild surprise.
“No,” said Radhika, “He speaking at some summit in D.C. So I’m borrowing a car to drive down and spend the weekend with him there before it starts,”
“When are you leaving?” asked Ethan.
“Tomorrow after lunch,” she answered.
“Well great,” said Ethan. “I’ll let you get back to your reading,”
“See you around,” she called after him.
He wandered back to his room. His roommate was gone, and he didn’t feel like doing homework, so he sat down to work on his Dungeons and Dragons campaign. He was a good Dungeon Master – he could always come up with some exciting and challenging quest for the players. No, he corrected himself, for the characters. That was the thing about D & D – you could fight trolls and goblins and have all kinds of exciting adventures, but everyone knew it wasn’t real. It was just for fun.
Ethan wondered if perhaps Corrine and Luke needed to start playing role-playing games. That would be a sensible way to add some excitement to their lives. Ethan didn’t even have a problem with conspiracy theories – he himself believed in some pretty outrageous ones. But none that involved him specifically. He never let them influence of impact his life – that was taking things too far. And eventually, someone was actually going to get hurt.
He had been working for some time when Luke came back in.
“How was it?” asked Ethan, without looking up. “Is the world in imminent danger?”
“Could be,” Luke answered, swinging his bag down onto the floor. “The F.B.I.’s involved at any rate,”
“Seriously?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah,” said his roommate. “That woman was an F.B.I. agent. Apparently what we saw was some huge threat to national security,”
“I can imagine,” Ethan remarked, “So she just wanted you to tell her what happened?”
“Pretty much,” Luke answered
“Well, at least she’s one of the good guys,”
“Hmm?” said Luke, looking up.
“You thought she was out to get you, remember?”
“Yeah,” acknowledged Luke, “Nothing like that,”
“Well, that’s good, though, right?”
“Right. I guess,”
“You guess?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah. It’s good. I’m just… not sure about her,”
“Stop being paranoid, Luke,” said Ethan.
“I’m not being paranoid!” Luke protested. “There’s more going on then we know about. Something… very strange and potentially very dangerous is going on here. It only makes sense to be cautious,”
“The cautious thing to do,” replied Ethan, “Would be to forget the whole thing ever happened. But some how I doubt that’s what your thinking of doing,”
“C’mon now,” said Luke, “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Ethan held up the Dungeon Master’s Guide in his lap. “I trapped it in here,” he said. “You should think about doing likewise,”

“What are you not telling me?” Corrine asked, as she walked away from the others.
“Calm down. You know as well as I do I can’t hide anything from you,”
“So why shouldn’t I tell the government about this?”
“Because they’ll lock us both up and experiment on me,”
“They can’t do that! There are laws and things,”
“The laws don’t apply to us,”
“Why not? I’m a United States Citizen. I have ‘certain unalienable rights’,”
“Trust me, it wouldn’t matter,”
“So you remember all this?”
“Some of it. Some is just conjecture,”
“What do you remember?”
“I remember that I’ve never trusted the government – any government,”
“You don’t remember why?”
“I’m not sure. I remember what I was afraid of, but not where that fear came from,”
“Look, we’re going to D.C. We’re going to have to deal with the government,”
“Minimally. And as a human, as far as they know,”
“Corrine?” said a voice.
Absorbed in her conversation, she had not noticed Radhika coming up behind her and trying to get her attention.
“Oh, hey,” she said, turning around. “Sorry, I was…”
“Lost in thought?” offered Radhika.
“Yeah,” said Corrine. “Something like that,”
“You’ve been acting a little bit odd lately,” Radhika asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Coma story again?”
‘Why not?”
“I was in a Coma for two weeks,” replied Corrine. “It’s a little disconcerting,”
“I’m sure it must be,” said Radhika. “But you seem very preoccupied. You are sure there’s nothing else?”
“No,” answered Corrine. “Nothing,”
“Alright,” said Radhika. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then,”
“See you then,” said Corrine. She walked off.

All that evening and well into the next morning Corrine tried to come up with a plan to get herself to Washington D.C. on Monday. She couldn’t think of anything that could pass for inconspicuous, though. Aeolus was all for just borrowing a car or even taking a bus and skipping classes – clearly he found them unimportant. Corrine, however, would not relent on this.
“Look, I know this is important to you,” Argued Aeolus as they walked out of English class that morning, “but we’re not going to get another opportunity like this to figure out what’s going on!”
“We don’t know that this guy even knows anything! And even if he does, we have no idea if knowing this stuff will solve any of our problems,”
“We have to try,”
“Not like that we don’t. It’s not worth the headache,”
“Hey Corrine,” hailed Luke. He was walking up to her coming from the opposite direction.
“Hey,” she said. “Where are you headed?”
“Lunch,” Luke answered.
They walked together toward the dining hall. After they passed the library, they took a shortcut through one of the side streets just off campus.
“You’re being pretty quite,” Luke said after a little while. Corrine and Aeolus had been arguing in her head some more, and it had taken all her concentration to keep that up while walking.
“You know me,” said Corrine. “I like to think,”
“I know,” said Luke, “But occasionally you could share a thought or two with me,”
Corrine smiled sheepishly at him. “I’m sorry,” she said, “There’s been a lot going on in my head lately,”
Luke didn’t answer. He was distracted, looking up at the window of the house to the left of where they’d stopped. Suddenly he grabbed Corrine and pushed her down. This was fortunate because the slug zoomed right over her head, hitting the pavement and exploding with a buzz and a crackle of electricity.
“Run,” said Luke.
They sped off as fast as they could. Corrine’s first instinct was to run down the street the way they were already going, but Luke took her hand and pulled her to the right, toward the lawn between two houses. As they ran, Luke heard another buzz about six inches behind them.
They came out on the other side of the houses. As soon as they hit the street they ran towards the student center again.
“What are we doing?” asked Corrine.
“Heading for the dining hall. I get the feeling these guys like their privacy; they won’t relish attacking us with whole building full of students around. Then we can call the police. Actually,” he fished his cell phone out of his pocket, “Why don’t we just do that now…”
“Don’t,” said Aeolus.
“Corrine, someone just tried to kill you. We’re calling the police,”
“We can’t,” the creature continued speaking through Corrine’s voice. “Trust me,”
They had reached the drive of the Student center. The usual crowd was milling about. They slowed to a brisk walk and headed for the door.
“Corrine,” said Luke, “You have to tell me what this is about,”
“I think we can trust him, Corrine,”
“Well why does it matter what I think, you’re just gonna butt in anyway,”
“Corrine, he can’t call the Police. They work for the bad guys. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole sniper attack was a set up so they could take you into ‘protective custody’”
“Memory or intuition?”
“No idea,”
“Corrine? Can you hear me?”
“Yes. I… need to tell you something. But not here. We have to go somewhere private,”
“Okay, let’s go back to our room,”
“That’s too far away,”
“Hey guys,” said Ethan, walking through the door. Anna was right behind him. “You’re here early. Did you run?”
They turned and looked at him, as if to say “Don’t ask.” He looked back bewildered.
“What’s going on?’
“This way,” said Corrine. “Anna, you should hear this too,” She led them to the mailroom, to a small, unused corner devoid of people.
“Ok, what I’m about to tell you might seem odd. But I’m hoping you’ve seen enough odd in the past three weeks that you’ll be able to believe it fairly easily. I have a creature living in my head,”
“Literally in your head?” asked Ethan, “Or are you just saying that he’s sharing your consciousness?”
“The second one,” said Corrine. “Anyway, its name is Aeolus,”
“Like the wind god?” asked Luke.
“I don’t know,” said Corrine. “Will you please stop interrupting?
“Okay,” said Ethan.
“Right,’ Luke echoed.
“Its name is Aeolus. It doesn’t remember what it is or what it’s doing in my head, but it keeps remembering little things, like little pieces of a puzzle. One of the things he remembers is that if the government finds out about him, they’ll lock us up and experiment on us, quite possibly killing me in the process. Hence why we can’t call the police,”
“Why would we want to call the police?” asked Anna.
“We’ll get to that later,” said Luke. “Go on,”
“Another of the things it remembered led me to finding out the name of a scientist who it thinks has more information on what’s going on here. The only problem is he lives in Wales and his phone number, e-mail, and address all seem to be unlisted. Fortunately, he’s gonna be in Washington D.C. in three days for a summit on Global Warming. We’ve been trying to find a way to get to that summit,”
“That explains the sudden interest in politics,” said Luke.
“This way,” said Ethan suddenly, turning to go. “We don’t have much time. I’ll explain on the way,”
He ran out the mailroom door and starting running towards Glaston. The others looked at each other for a moment, then followed. After a minute Ethan stopped.
“Go back to Glaston, pack some clothing as quickly as you can then run to Tristan Hall. Luke, pack me some clothes. I’ll meet you there.” He ran off.
“Wait!” Corrine called. “Why Tristan? What are we doing?”
“Just trust me!” Ethan called back. He was already gone.
Ethan ran as fast as he could to Tristan Hall, where Radhika lived. She had said she would be leaving after lunch. It was 11:37 now, so she most likely hadn’t left yet, but some people do eat lunch earlier then that, he surmised. Best not to risk it.
He could see the building now. He wondered if he should go inside and try and find her room, or go straight around the back to the parking lot. He decided to go around first and see if he could see her. As he rounded the corner of the building, he spotted her emerging from the back door. She was wearing a backpack and carrying a large duffel bag.
“Radhika!” he called.
“Hey,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“I need your help,” he said urgently, jogging up to her.
“I was about to leave,” Radhika pointed out.
“I know,” said Ethan, “We need to come with you,”
Radhika looked at him, startled. After a moment, she simply asked, “Who’s we?”
“Me, Corrine, Luke and Anna,” said Ethan. Then he thought for a minute. “Maybe not Anna,”
“Why, exactly?” asked Radhika. She was quite perplexed.
“It’s a long story,” said Ethan. “But it’s important. Can you wait five minutes the others to get their stuff?”
“And your stuff?”
“Luke’s getting it,”
Radhika contemplated this for a moment.
“Well, it will be nice to have the company,” she said finally, “They will be here soon?”
“As soon as they possibly can,” said Ethan.
“Alright,” said Radhika, “But I am driving. It’s a borrowed car. And you’re going to have to come up with your own living arrangements,”
“We can manage,” said Ethan, although he really had no idea how.
“Do you want to tell me what is going on?” said Radhika, after another pause.
“I think I’ll let Corrine do that,” Ethan answered. “She knows more about it then I do,”
“Anything to do with Professor Bronson Fighting Ninjas in the alley three weeks ago?” asked Radhika, with a hint of sarcasm.
“Quite possibly,” Ethan answered. “I’m really not certain,”
After another ten minutes or so, Anna, Luke, and Corrine finally appeared, coming around the side of the building. Luke had nothing but two backpacks, Corrine a smallish duffel, and Anna was lugging an enormous wheeled suitcase.
“Guess why we took so long!” said Luke sarcastically.
“Hey guys,” said Ethan. He ran up to Anna, and indicated her luggage. “Can I take that for you?” he asked.
Anna stepped away from the large suitcase and let Ethan haul it into the trunk. Corrine placed her duffel bag gingerly on top of it.
“I assume this is how we’re getting to D.C.?” she asked.
“Only if someone can explain why you are all going to D.C.!” Radhika insisted.
“That’ll take some time,” said Corrine.
“Explain on the way then,” said Radhika. “We’re already running late,”
She ran around and climbed in the driver’s seat. Corrine climbed in the passenger’s seat. The other three shoved themselves into the back with Luke’s backpack. Radhika turned the car on, backed out, and they were off.
Corrine was unsure of how much to tell Radhika. On the one hand, she was grateful to her for her help. On the other hand, she really wasn’t sure how much she could trust her.
“I say tell her,” said Aeolus, after thinking this over for a moment. “She’s as wrapped up in this now as the rest of them. She deserves to know what she’s getting into,”
“Right,” thought Corrine, “We’re all in this together,”
“So,” she asked Radhika, “You want the long version, or the short version?”
“We have a long trip ahead of us,” the girl answered, “Plenty of time,”
So Corrine told the story for the second time that day, ending with the story of the assassination attempt (or what she perceived to be an assassination attempt) and her telling the others about Aeolus.
Radhika said nothing. Corrine looked over at her. Her face was screwed up in concentration.
“I really… don’t know what to say about this,” she said after a little while.
“But you believe me?” asked Corrine.
“I think I do,” she answered. “It all fits. And it seems too complex for you to just make it up on the spot,”
“Wait, he can talk through you if he wants?” said Ethan.
“It’s not really a ‘he’” Corrine corrected. “It’s pretty clear they don’t really have genders. But yeah, when it wants to, it can,”
“Does it have anything it wants to say to us, then?” he asked.
“Do you?”
“Umm… not really. I think you’ve pretty much covered everything,”
“No, it’s good,” assured Corrine.
“Ok, I really don’t like calling this creature ‘it’,” said Ethan. “Obviously this is a sentient being we’re dealing with, not an animal or an inanimate object. It deserves a personal pronoun,”
“Well, what do you suggest?” said Luke.
“Does it bother you if we refer to you as it?” Corrine asked.
“Should it?” asked Aeolus.
“It really doesn’t care,” said Corrine, “It doesn’t quite get language, though,”
“How about Spivak pronouns?” Ethan suggested.
Everyone was quite for a moment.
“I’ll say it then,” said Luke, “What are Spivak pronouns?”
“Ey, Em, Eir and Eis. This mathematician, Michael Spivak, came up with them for dealing with just this sort of thing,”
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna stick with ‘it’,” said Luke.
“Well, I’m gonna start calling em ‘em’,” Ethan insisted.
“I am all for English having a gender-neutral pronoun,” Radhika chimed in. “It’s very confusing without one,”
“Why don’t we just ask it to pick a gender?” asked Anna. “Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Ey doesn’t need to pick a gender,” said Ethan, “The Spivak pronouns work just fine,”
“If you can remember them all,” said Luke.
“It’s the same conjugation as “they” only without the ‘th’” Ethan retorted.
“What are they talking about?” asked Aeolus.
“They can’t figure out how to refer to you,” Corrine answered.
“Why don’t they just call me Aeolus?”
“I don’t know. It would get kind of wordy, I guess. Pronouns are nice because they’re short. They stand in for other words,”
“So they’re meant to increase the efficiency of the language?”
“I suppose so,”
“Then doesn’t arguing about them like this sort of defeat the purpose?”
“I suppose it does,”
“May I address them?”
“Go ahead,”
“Hi everyone,” said Corrine’s voice. “My name is Aeolus. I just wanted to say you may refer to me by whatever third person pronoun you choose. From my understanding of pronouns, however, which I’ll admit is not perhaps so extensive as yours, it would seem to me you should all agree on one, and stick with it,”
Everyone was quite for a moment.
“Everybody ok with Ey?” asked Ethan.
“I don’t understand it!” Anna protested.
“It’s just they without the ‘th’” Ethan explained.
“Look,” said Luke, “For the sake of simplicity, can we just use ‘it’?”
“Or ‘she’?” asked Anna.
“I think the only way they’ll agree to one is if you make a decision,”
“I’m fine with ‘it’”
“Say so then,”
“Oh, just go with ‘it’!” said Corrine.
“Was that Corrine, or Aeolus?” asked Luke.
“It was a general consensus,” said Corrine.
“Ok,” said Luke, “’It’ it is,”
“Well, I’m gonna keep referring to em as a person,”
“That’s your right, I suppose,” said Corrine.
No one said anything for a little while. Then Ethan piped up again.
“SO ey doesn’t remember anything? Like, where eir from, what ey is, is ey like an alien consciousness or something? I mean, did ey originally have a body, or has ey always just lived in people’s heads? Anything?”
“Ethan,” said Radhika, “When you use that pronoun, it sounds like you are trying use a Cockney accent,”
“You answer,”
“Ok,”
Aeolus took over again. “All I can remember for sure is that my name is Aeolus, and my race, or whatever I am, is called a Telepsid. I do not think I have ever had my own body, but it seems to me I must have at some point. I know I have inhabited several other humans before Corrine, including most recently Dr. Daniel Bronson. I could easily be some sort of extra terrestrial, or possibly a human consciousness from thousands of years ago, some sort of ‘ghost’ or ‘spirit’. I’ve even considered that I might be some sort of demon – I really have as much of an idea as you do. That’s why we’re looking for Dr. Schiefling. I think he has the answers we need,”
Ethan took a moment to process this.
“I wonder if you might actually be Aeolus?” said Luke after a moment.
“Of course I am,” Aeolus replied.
“No, I mean, I assumed you’d simply been named after Aeolus, the Keeper of the Winds in Greek mythology. But what if, like, the Greek Gods were real, but something made them lose their power and they’re all just floating consciousnesses now,”
“First off,” said Ethan, “Aeolus was not a ‘Wind God’ – he was just the Keeper of the Winds. He was either a very minor god or actually a mortal who Poseidon entrusted with stewardship of the winds,”
“He can’t have been that minor,” Luke insisted, “Wind was one of the four basic elements. You can’t be totally insignificant if you control one of those!”
“Ok, wind was never one of the four elements,” said Ethan.
“C’mon, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Everyone knows that!”
“Like the band!” Anna chimed in.
“Disco groups aside,” continued Ethan, “The four classical elements were Earth, Fire, Water, and Air,”
“I fail to see how any of this is relevant,” Aeolus confided to Corrine.
“Me too,” Corrine agreed.
“What can air do without wind?” Luke asked. “Nothing. Especially since ancient societies didn’t understand that ait is everywhere and we have to breathe it,”
“They so did!” Luke insisted. “Breath has always been associated with life-force and spirit, which has always been connected with Wind. It’s not that hard to figure out that when we breathe we take in and let out air,”
“Still, the primary association was with Wind, which was necessary for navigation. Once the Greeks started lauching ships - ,”
“Guys!” yelled Radhika. “This argument is ridiculous and pointless. It doesn’t matter. Please stop,”
Luke and Ethan looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
“Just trying to pass the time,” said Luke.
“I do not think that I am a god,” said Aeolus. “And even if I am, that answers nothing. If gods can be trapped inside humans, then they’re not really gods at all, which would bring us back to the original questions about my nature. I think it’s useless to speculate. With any luck, we will know in a few days,”
“Which actually brings up something that is worth arguing about,” said Ethan. “Where are we going to stay?”
“A hotel?” Anna suggested, with a look that said “You idiot, where else would we stay?”
“Can you afford that?” asked Luke, “Because I know I can’t,”
“Don’t look at me,” said Ethan, “I don’t know if I can even afford lunch,”
“Any chance we could stay with your uncle?” Corrine asked Aeolus.
“He’s staying in a hotel,” said Radhika. “I could probably put up one of you in my room, either Corrine or Anna, but the rest of you still need to figure this out,”
“So no one has money?” asked Luke.
Anna reached into her purse and pulled out a small wallet. She opened it and peered in.
“Let’s just hope they take VISA,” she said. “I’m a little low on cash,”
Everyone turned to look at her (except Radhika, since she was driving on the interstate and that would be dangerous.)
“Anna,” said Luke, “Do you know how much a hotel room in Washington D.C. costs?”
“Maybe 5, 6 hundred for all for of us?” said Anna. “I can cover it,”
Everyone continued to look at her.
“How much do you have?” asked Ethan, incredulously.
“I’m not sure,” said Anna. “Let me check my balance,” She took out her cell phone, dialed a number and held it up to her ear.
“Damn it,” she said, “No dial tone. Oh well. I know it’s I have at least nine hundred,”
“How?” asked Luke.
“Cause every Friday, Daddy loads some spending money on to my card. But this week I haven’t spent much more then a hundred, so I should still have at least four hundred left over from last week, plus this weeks, so that makes –“
“Your father gives you five hundred dollars a week?” asked Luke.
“It’s my allowance,” said Anna, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
“Anna,” asked Ethan, “What does your father do?”
“He’s an entrepreneur,” said Anna proudly. “He owns a big company that makes – they make a lot of things, actually. Mostly Dry-erase boards and markers. And Drink machines – you know, like the ones in the dining hall. I think he just bought a company that makes fire extinguishers,”
The others looked around at each other.
“What?” said Anna.
“Nothing,” said Luke after a moment.
There was an awkward silence.
“Let’s play a game!” suggested Anna, cheerily.
The awkward silence utterly failed to be broken.
“What sort of game?” asked Ethan, finally.
“How about the Grocery store game?” asked Anna..
“You guys don’t know it?” she asked after a pause.
“I used to play that with my mom when we’d go on trips,” said Ethan.
“How does it work?” asked Radhika.
“Well,” Explained Anna, “I would start with something that starts with the letter ‘A’, like, I went to the grocery store and I bought… an Apple,”
Ethan chimed in. “I went to the Grocery store and I bought an apple and a badger,”
Another pause.
“Corrine, your turn,” prodded Ethan.
“Sorry,” she said, “I was - ” She started to say she was thinking, but remembered they already knew. “We were talking,”
“Should we just skip you?” asked Luke.
“No, we’ll play,” said Corrine.
“I suppose you should have two separate turns…” Anna speculated.
“Aeolus doesn’t want to play,” said Corrine. “It doesn’t really understand the point of this game. That’s what we were talking about actually,”
“His loss,’ said Anna.
“Eir loss!” Ethan corrected her.
Anna rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Corrine, your turn,”
“Ok,” said Corrine, “I went to the Grocery store, and I bought an apple, a badger, and cauliflower,”
“Radhika?” asked Ethan.
“I don’t understand,” said Radhika. “How do you get a badger at a grocery store?”
Twenty three more letters, eight other games, and a very unenthusiastic sing-a-long later (all at Anna’s bequest) they were finally almost to the capital.
It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. Anna seemed to be the only one still in a good mood. She was hanging on Luke’s arm trying to convince him that he had a nice singing voice, a fact which he vehemently disputed. All in all he seemed very annoyed with her advances. Ethan, meanwhile, seemed very envious of them. He was sitting sulkily and reading his DM’s Guide (Luke, remembering his roommate’s comment had stuck it in backpack.) And Corrine and Radhika were discussing just how to accomplish their respective goals.
“So you’re uncle is Amman Aggarwal?” Corrine asked.
“Yes,” Radhika responded, “You know him?”
“No,” said Corrine, “But I noticed his name while I was looking over the speakers for the Global Warming summit. Do you suppose he knows Dr. Schiefling?”
“I have no idea,” said Radhika. “If he’s from Wales, I doubt they’d know each other all that well. Calcutta and Wales are nearly as far from each other as they are from here,”
“True,” accepted Corrine. “In that case, do you think he could get is into the summit?”
“It’s possible,” said Radhika. “Security is usually pretty tight around these things. He might be able to get one or two of you in though,”
“Really I’m the only one who needs to meet this guy,” said Corrine. “I don’t even know why these guys tagged along,”
“Because I was being shot at!” Luke piped up from the back.
“Actually, I have no idea why I’m here,” said Ethan. “Curiosity, I guess,”
“Why not?” asked Anna. “It sounded like fun,”
“So what’s the plan?” asked Luke.
“Well, first, you see if you can get a room at a hotel near where my uncle is staying,” Radhika said.
“Or the same hotel,” suggested Anna.
“My uncle and the other scientists and foreign dignitaries are being put up by the United States Government,” Radhika said with a sigh. “Even if there are rooms still open in their hotel, I highly doubt you’ll be able to afford them,”
“Even if she’s heiress to a dry-erase board empire?” said Luke sarcastically.
“We’ll see,” said Corrine. “Once we get our own hotel sorted out, we have to figure out where Dr. Schiefling is staying,”
“And how to get there without a car,” said Ethan.
“Wait a minute,” said Luke, turning to Anna. “Your father gives you five hundred dollars a week in allowance, but can’t afford to buy you a car?”
“Oh, I have a car,” said Anna. “Actually I have two. I just can’t drive one until I have a license,”
Luke looked ready to punch her in the face, but stifled this impulse pretty swiftly. It wasn’t her fault her parents were ridiculously well off. Besides, he could already see how much it was going to come in handy.
“Anyway,’ said Anna, “What’s wrong with this car?”
“It belongs to my roommate,” said Radhika, “And I’m the only one who she said she would trust to drive it,”
“This is more important then that,” said Corrine (at least, it seemed to be Corrine.)
“We’ll see,” said Radhika.
“D.C. does have a very nice subway system,” said Ethan. “I really doubt the car will be necessary. Besides, it’s Global Warming symposium. There’s probably tons of people their who don’t use cars at all,”
“What?” said Anna.
“’Cause of the CO2 emissions,” Ethan specified.
“Okay,” said Luke. “So that shouldn’t be a problem. How do we find out where this Dr. Schiefling is staying?”
Everyone thought about this for a moment.
“Well,” said Corrine, “We could always ask the hotel staff,”
“They’re not obligated to tell us,” said Ethan. “They might not even be allowed to,”
“I’m sure I could talk them into it,” said Anna, mischievously.
“No seducing!” said Luke.
“Who said anything about seducing?” said Anna, opening her purse again.
“No bribery either,” said Ethan, “That’s illegal,”
Corrine spoke up, but it was obvious it was not Corrine. “One thing you’ll learn soon enough,” said Aeolus, “Is that it’s very difficult to do everything that needs to be done within the constraints of the law,”
“Did you just remember something?” asked Corrine.
“Sort of,” said Aelous. “Actually, this whole trip has been making me remember something. A group of people, actually. Eleanor, Tom, and William. I have no idea who they are, or were, but I went on a long road trip much like this one with them,”
‘Where were you going?”
“Here, actually,”
“Any idea why?”
“To kill someone,”
“Corrine?” said Radhika, shaking Corrine out of her conversation. “I need you help me find the hotel. There should be a map in the compartment next to yours,”
Corrine reached in and flushed out the map, continuing her conversation with Aeolus at the same time. This was to important to put off.
“Who were you trying to kill?” Corrine asked.
“Where do I turn off of George Washington parkway?” asked Radhika.
Corrine stared at the map, hunting around for the George Washington Parkway.
“I don’t remember,” said Aeolus. “Some politician. I can’t remember details,”
“Francis Scott Key bridge,” said Corrine. “You don’t remember why you were trying to kill this person?”
“Where do we turn after that?”
“No, but I’m sure I had a good reason,”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because I wouldn’t just kill people. I’m not like that,”
“How do you know what you’re like? You can’t remember anything!”
“Where do I turn when I get off the bridge?”
“Water street!” said Corrine.
“It’s true,” said Aeolus. “I don’t really remember who I am. That’s one of the things I’m hoping to figure out on this trip. But I know I wouldn’t assassinate someone without a good reason,”
“Now?” asked Radhika.
“Keep going until you hit the hotel,” said Corrine, “Wow, this place is right next to the White House,”
“I love how all the streets are named after patriotic things,” said Anna.
Luke turned to her again. “Your good mood really is infinite,” he said.
“I’m an optimist,” she responded.
“Someone was shooting at us this morning,” Luke reminded her.
“But why dwell on that?” said Anna.
The car pulled up in front of the Hays-Adams hotel. It was a very impressive looking building. They pulled up under an enormous Façade, held up my a pair of tall, imposing looking pillars.
“You go in and see if you can get a room,” said Radhika. “I’ll find a parking spot and then call my uncle to let him know I’m here,”
Corrine climbed out. The other three sort of fell out the back doors of the car. Four and a half hours is a long time to sit down.
As Luke opened the trunk and got out the luggage, Anna brushed herself off, quickly redid the loose bun her hair had been in, and turned to Ethan.
“Do I look ok?” she asked.
“You look beautiful,” Ethan replied, with a peculiar mix of sincerity and sarcasm.
“Shall we?” asked Luke, indicating the door.
They picked up their bags and
walked through the door into the lobby. The lobby was just impressive as the outside of the building. Luke had never been anywhere so nice. He was looking around with barely concealed awe. Ethan and Corrine were both quite impressed as well, although they were handling it quite a bit better. Anna alone seemed unphased. She walked up to the counter, leaving her friends to stand gawking at the lavish furnishings.
“I do believe I’ve been here before,” said Aeolus.
“On your little Assassination vacation?” Corrine asked.
“Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”
“You killed someone! You killed someone and now you’re living inside my head,”
“I hate to say it, but I’m pretty sure he’s not the only person I’ve killed,”
“No killing! Not while you’re using my body,”
“I can’t guarantee that,”
“Can you believe this?” Luke asked Ethan, as they stood in the center of the lobby.
“Yeah, it’s pretty incredible,” Ethan agreed with somewhat less enthusiasm.
“That Chandelier alone has to cost a semester’s tuition,” said Luke.
“I don’t know about that,” Ethan replied.
“And she’s just going about her business like she does this all the time,” he indicated Anna. “You know what I’d give to not care about money like that?”
Anna was talking with the concierge. Well, maybe more then just talking. As Ethan watched she flipped a loose strand of hair seductively and batted her eyes at him. After a few minutes, she walked over to the rest of the group.
“They have one room left,” she said, “But it has two double beds, so we should all be okay staying there,”
“And you’re okay paying for all this?” asked Luke.
“Of course,” she said. “We’re all in this together, right?”
At that moment the elevator in the lobby opened, and a tall, curly-headed Indian man in a fine beige suit stepped out, and walked over to the desk.
“Radhika’s uncle?” asked Luke. The other’s turned to look.
“I know him, too,” said Aeolus.
“You sure?” asked Corrine.
“He looks very familiar,” Aeolus confirmed. “Of course I have no idea where I know him from,”
“Is it someone Danny knew?”
“Must be,”
Radhika walked in the front door and looked around. She spotted her uncle and ran up to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and patted her on the back, emotionlessly.
She pulled away and said something to him in Hindi. He responded in kind. They talked like this for some time. Finally, she pulled him over to the rest of them.
“Uncle Amman, these are my friends,” she said, “This is Corrine, Anna, Luke, and Ethan. Guys, this is my uncle Amman,”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said. His accent was far less defined then Radhika’s. Luke wondered if she came from a different part of India.
“So what brings you to Washington this weekend,” he asked. “My niece was very vague on the details,”
“Don’t tell him anything,” said Aeolus.
“We’re… very interested in Global Warming,” said Corrine.
“We’re members of the Keansley Conservationists,” Ethan chimed in.
“I’m so excited about seeing Al Gore!” said Anna, in the same cheerful tones that had made the car trip so memorable.
Everyone turned to look at her. She smiled as if to say “what?”
Radhika was giving her friends with a bewildered look.
“It’s good to see young people so concerned about the environment,” said Dr. Aggarwal. “So you’re staying here?”
“Room 341,” said Anna.
“Kind of expensive isn’t it?” asked Dr. Aggarwal.
“For four of us?” asked Ethan. “It’s not so bad,”
“You’re all staying in one room?” asked the man.
“Why not?” asked Ethan.
“Just seems a bit unusual,” he said, “Two young women and two young men. But this is America, I suppose,”
“Dr. Aggarwal,” said Corrine, “You wouldn’t happen to know Dr. Andrew Schiefling, would you?”
“We met several years ago,” he answered, “But I haven’t spoken to him in a long time. I am looking forward to hearing his presentation,”
“You wouldn’t happen to know where he’s staying?” asked Luke.
“I have no idea,” Dr. Aggarwal replied. “Now, my niece needs to get checked into her room, and I’m sure you do as well,”
The four friends got their bags and got into an elevator. Ethan was still lugging Anna’s suitcase in addition to his own small backpack. Luke pressed a button for the third floor.
“I’m so excited about seeing Al Gore?” he asked.
“I am,” said Anna. “”I had such a big crush on him while he was running for president,”
Everyone turned to look at her again.
“What?” she asked.
The door opened. They went through.
“Room 341, you said?” Ethan asked.
“Yup,” said Anna.
“Here we go, then,” he said, coming to a door.
She swiped the key card they’d given her, and he pulled the door open. They all went through and plopped their bags down on the floor by the beds.
It was a very nice room, much larger then the hotel accomadations most of them were used to. There was a large TV between the two double beds, and plenty of room. From the window was a beautiful unobstructed view of the White House. Anna of course, failed to notice all of this.
“Check out this mini bar!” she said.
“Anna,” said Luke, “I really don’t think that’s a good idea right now,”
“You’re no fun,” she said.
“So we’ll share this bed,” said Corrine, “And you two can have that one,”
Luke and Ethan exchanged looks.
“I’ll take the floor,” conceded Ethan.
“No, it’s cool,” said Luke, “You can have the bed tonight,”
“No, really,” said Ethan. “I’m small, I can pull those two chairs together,”
“Guys,” said Anna, “You’ll both fit in those beds,”
Ethan and Luke stared blankly at her.
“We’re guys,” Luke finally said, as if this explained everything.
“You are not sleeping on the floor,” said Anna.
“No,” said Luke, “I’ll pull two chairs together,”
“Or we can see if they have a pull-out,” suggested Luke.
“Or just stop being so homophobic,” said Anna.
“That wouldn’t be a problem if I shared with you and Luke shared with Corrine,” said Ethan. There was silence. Anna broke it my laughing.
“I can’t believe you just said that,” she said, hugging him. They both broke out into laughter. As it let up, she said, “I’d be okay with it the other way around, though…”
“Oh, no,” said Luke, “It’s a simple size issue. I’m big. Corrine’s small. You two are both medium sized. His way makes the most sense,”
Ethan was blushing considerably now. Luke gave him a mischievious smile and a wink, as if to say “Maybe there is a bright side to everything,”
Anna thought about this for a moment. She didn’t want to hurt Ethan’s feelings by bringing up their prior relationship. Besides, to her mind sleeping with a guy, even if it was Ethan, was better then sleeping with Corrine.
“It’s all up to you,” she said to Corrine.
Corrine shrugged her shoulders.
“Ok,” said Anna to Ethan. “You and me. But no cuddling!”

Telepsis - Chapter 3, Word Count: 21, 768 words (Or nearly six thousand words in search of a plot.)

Chapter 3:
The Plot Thickens

Luke and Ethan were lost. They had been trying to find a small used book store in what passed for downtown Keansley. Luke needed a copy of Pride and Prejudice for his English class, and he’d waited so long the College book store had run out. Corrine had told them about this place, but had suddenly become to busy to accompany them there.
“What’s gotten into her, anyway?” asked Luke, as they turned the street Ethan thought would lead to the right intersection, “She’s been acting so… odd lately. The first couple days she’d barely say anything at all, and now… I don’t know. She’s different,”
“Maybe an experience like that just changes people,” Ethan reflected. “At first she was probably just distracted by trying to process it all,”
“And the sudden obsession with politics?” asked Luke.
“Maybe,” Ethan began tentatively, “Maybe she’s just realized how fragile her life really is, and she’s trying to turn it towards doing something good for the world?”
Luke shook his head. “I don’t buy it. There’s something else going on with that girl,”
“When would there have been time for something to go on with her?” asked Ethan, “One of us has been with her pretty much all the time since she woke up,”
“That beam of light,” said Luke. “The one that knocked her into the Coma. It… did something to her,”
“Like what?” asked Ethan incredulously, “And I think this is Gopher coming up,”
“Have we passed a Taco Hut yet?” asked Luke.
“I don’t know,” said Ethan, “I wasn’t paying attention. What do you think it did to her?”
“Cause she said Gopher was the intersection right after the Taco Hut, and I haven’t seen one yet,”
“What do you think it did to her?”
“I don’t know! I just know there has to be more to this then what we’ve seen. She’s been awake for a week now, and I’d just hoped…” he trailed off. “What do you know,” he said, after a minute, “There’s the Taco Hut!”
“What had you hoped?” asked Ethan.
“I’d hoped she’d remember what happened that night,” Luke finished.
“Me too,” said Ethan.
“You still don’t believe me, do you?” his roommate asked.
Ethan was silent for a moment as they walked.
“Hey, it’s Gopher St.” He pointed out after a moment.
“Why don’t you believe me?” Luke pushed him as they crossed the street.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Ethan said, finally. “I want to believe you, I really do. But neither of the two other people who were there that night have corroborated your story,”
“Anna was too drunk to remember anything,”
“And Corrine?”
“Has she actually told you anything at all?”
“No,” Ethan confessed, “She just keeps changing the subject,”
“Same here. I think something happened to her, something besides just being knocked into a coma, and I think it’s keeping her from wanting to talk about this,”
“Like what?”
“Maybe she found out something. About… that guy, or something, and she won’t tell any of us because it’s dangerous. And she won’t talk about it in case she let something slip,”
“Again, when would she have had time to find out anything between when she woke up and the first time I asked her about it? That was less then a day, and I was there for most of it. I don’t buy it,”
“Why would I lie to you?” asked Luke, “You really think I’d just make up a story like that and then keep it up for three weeks? What possible reason would I have for doing something like that?”
“I don’t think you’re lying,” Ethan specified.
“What do you think then?” asked Luke, bearing down on his roommate. Since he was fully eight inches taller than Ethan, however, this did not exactly have the desired effect. Ethan dodged out of the way and walked ahead to the door of the bookstore.
“Ethan…” Luke growled. He made himself as large as he could, towering over his scrawny, five-foot-six friend, and slowly began to advance, backing Ethan against the wall.
“Don’t be mad,” said Ethan shly.
Luke glared at him silently.
“I don’t think you’re lying,” Ethan said, “But…”
“But?”
“Look, I know alcohol isn’t the only thing you… indulge in, and something when a person is… under the influence of certain, uh, certain - ”
“You think I was high?” asked Luke indignantly, dropping his intimidating act and falling to his regular height. Then he started to laugh. “You think I was high?” he repeated. “Ethan, have you ever actually seen someone who was high? You can tell. It’s actually easier then telling if they’re drunk. Believe me; I was not high that night,”
Ethan glanced at the wall behind him. “Are we actually going to go inside?” he asked.
Ethan opened the door and held it for Luke, but the larger boy stopped in the entrance way. He was holding up a flyer tacked to the small window next to the door. Ethan closed the door and went over to see what it was.
It was one of Radhika’s flyers. It had a large picture of Dr. Bronson’s face, laughing, and the caption read, “Have you seen this man?” There was a number saying who to contact with any information. Luke was staring at the flyer, completely transfixed.
“Radhika put those up,” Ethan explained. “She’s trying down her professor who disappeared. I’m sure she’s - ”
“That’s him,” said Luke, still staring at the picture.
“It’s who?” asked Ethan.
“That’s the man I saw that night. The one who exploded. It was Daniel Bronson,”
“You sure?”
“Completely. This is the guy,” he ripped the poster down, folded it up, and stuffed it in his pocket. “Maybe that’ll jog her memory,” he said. They went inside.

Corrine’s plan was not going well. She and Aelous had decided that if they wanted to get to the summit, they were going to have to start early – earlier than was really possible at this point. The first part of the plan had been for Corrine to go to one of the campus political groups and sign up. Through them, she figured she could find out any developments about the summit, and it would help her convince people she was very enthusiastic about politics, an a effort to make her sudden desire to go to Washington D.C. a little less random. She had chosen the Democrats because they seemed a little more on board with the whole “stop Global Warming” thing.
The first meeting she had attended, however, had revealed the absurdity of this plan. Corrine knew absolutely nothing about politics. In fact, she only knew that the Democrats were more into fighting Global Warming then the Republicans because she had checked on Wikipedia.
Still, Corrine was very accomplished at sitting in the back of the room not saying anything, so the meeting itself went fine. There was, apparently, a mid-term election coming up next week. Corrine decided not to mention that she wasn’t registered. She had no idea what was actually being discussed. Aeolus, fortunately, was paying rapt attention and even asked the occasional question. Corrine got the feeling he had remembered a few things about American politics, and therefore knew more then she did. After the meeting, however, things started to get awkward.
A lanky-looking girl with wavy, short dark brown hair walked up to her. She had been talking quite a bit during the meeting.
“Hey,” she said, “I’ve never seen you at one of these before. My name’s Julie,” She held out her hand.
“I’m Corrine,” Corrine answered shyly, taking it.
“Are you interested in joining the College Democrats?” Julie asked.
“Yes,” said Corrine.
“Good,” answered Julie, “We can always use more people. Especially women. Look at this bunch,”
The group actually looked fairly gender-balanced as far as Corrine could tell, but she decided to let that slide.
“So, I assume you’ll be out voting on Tuesday?” she asked.
“I’m voting absentee,” Aeolus answered, before Corrine could think of a response.
“I had that covered! Thought Corrine.
“Sorry,” thought Aeolus.
“Really?” said Julie, “What state are you from?”
“Indiana,” Corrine answered.
“That was silly, then,” Julie said. “A democrat’s vote in Indiana doesn’t count for much. You should have waited and registered here,”
Corrine was at a loss for words, but this time Aeolus didn’t step in.
“Say something,” thought Corrine.
“I didn’t know I could,” Aeolus responded, borrowing Corrine’s voice again.
“Well,” said Julie, “If you’ve lived here for more than three months, you can register as a Pennsylvania voter. We’re a swing state, so you’ll do a lot more good. Remember that in 2008,”
“I will,” said Corrine.
“Good. Indiana doesn’t have a senator running, does it?”
Corrine honestly had no idea. Neither did Aeolus.
“I don’t think so,” said Corrine finally, going on the assumption that Julie probably wouldn’t have bothered to check.
“Pity,” said Julie. “So, being a democrat in a place like that must be pretty tough, eh? Any horror stories you want to share?”
Corrine got out of the discussion as quickly as she could, but she never had a chance to bring up Global Warming. They had figured out what they needed to know, though – the College democrats were not going to help her get to D.C. to meet Dr. Schiefling. She needed a new plan.
As she was thinking this, and walking home to Glaston, Ethan and Luke ran up to her.
“Corrine, look at this!” said Luke, unfolding the flyer he’d taken from the bookstore. She looked it over. A flood of memory hit Aeolus, larger then any he’d gotten thus far. Corrine felt it to.
‘You okay?” said Ethan.
Corrine looked around. She was lying in the grass. She had collapsed. Ethan was holding out his hand to her. She took it.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Corrine, you just collapsed,” said Ethan, “I think you need to see a doctor,”
“No, I just lost my balance, that’s all,” said Corrine, “I’m fine,”
“Look,” said Luke, picking up the flyer. “The man we saw that night – it was this guy! Dr. Daniel Bronson, the professor who’s been missing. We have to tell someone now, Corrine!”
“Tell him about me,” thought Aeolus.
“No,”
“He’s not going to think you’re crazy. He saw everything. He deserves to know what we know,”
“What do we know?”
“A lot more than we did ten minutes ago. I’m still processing it all,”
“Corrine?” asked Luke.
“Tell them about what?” asked Corrine.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Luke said crossly.
Corrine thought for a moment. She looked from Ethan to Luke. Finally, she made a decision.
“Who would we tell?” she said, softly.
“Well, you could start by telling my roommate that I wasn’t on drugs that night!” said Luke, relieved.
“He was telling the truth,” said Corrine. “Everything that he told you we saw, we saw,”
“Now can we tell them about me?” asked Aeolus.
“No.” said Corrine, “And since when are we a ‘we’?”
Luke clapped Corrine on the back. “I told you!” he said to Ethan.
“So what was it?” said Luke. “Aliens? Some sort of genetic enhancement? Magic?”
“Physical manifestations of psychic energy?” Aeolus suggested, but it refrained from saying this out loud.
“I don’t know,” said Corrine. “And anyone we tell is going to think we’re crazy,”
“We at least need to tell Radhika,” said Ethan. “She’s sure he’s still alive,”
“We’ll tell Radhika,” agreed Corrine, “Although I really doubt she’ll believe us,”
“We need to tell the police,” Luke insisted.
“I thought you already tried that,” said Ethan.
“I tried Security,” Luke corrected him.
“And?” asked Ethan.
“They thought I was crazy,” Luke conceded.
“See?” said Corrine.
“I was drunk at the time!” said Luke. “If we both come to them sober…”
“Then they won’t have alcohol to blame it on and they’ll assume we’re just insane!” finished Corrine. “We should just let it go. Whatever it was, it’s not a problem anymore,”
They had reached their building. Corrine turned and went down the hall that led to her room.
“Don’t be stupid, Corrine. Why are you doing this?”
“I can only deal with so much at once. Besides, once I get you out of my head, there will be no need for them to know you were ever here,”
“Yeah, about that...”
“What?”
“I don’t think you can do that.”
“WHAT?”
“Get me out of your head. When I saw that picture I remembered a few things about how this works, and that’s one of them.”
“What is?”
“I’m… pretty sure I’m here for good.”

Radhika Aggarwal was having a very bad day. To be really truthful, she was having a really crappy month in general. She was struggling under the weight of an unusually heavy class load, made even heavier by the catch up work necessitated by having missed more then two weeks of Anthropology dur]e to her professors disappearance. She missed Dr. Bronson quite a bit. He had been an amazing professor. But what really bothered her was how apathetic everyone else was being about him.
The other students had actually been happy to get a few weeks off. Didn’t they realize how much they were paying for this education? Didn’t they realize how hard it would be to catch up? And then, when he really disappeared, no one else seemed to care what had happened to him. Radhika felt like she was the only sane person in all of Dr. Bronson’s two classes.
And on top of all of that, she was homesick. The feelings of being alone in her quest to find her professor had translated to general feelings of being alone. Next week was Diwali, the festival of lights, which back home would have been a time of joyous celebration, but the fact that no one else here even knew what it was making her feel more lonely then ever. There were other students from India, but lately she wasn’t getting along with them very well. A number of them had fallen into really terrible study habits. They were, in her opinion, wasting all the money and effort they’d put into securing this expensive American education. So she’d been avoiding them for a while, which left her feeling very alone.
She was sitting by herself at a table in the dining hall, contemplating this, when Luke, Ethan, and Corrine came in.
“Mind if we join you?” asked Luke.
“No,” Radhika replied, looking up at them. Then she slumped her head back on the table. There were bags under her large, brown eyes – she had not been sleeping well. She noticed Luke and Corrine sharing a strange look, as if to say, “You want to tell her, or should I?”
“What is it?” asked Radhika, “Is something wrong?”
“It’s about professor Bronson,” said Luke.
“You have some information?” Radhka asked hopefully. She sat up straighter in her chair and looked straight at him.
“This isn’t gonna be easy for you to hear, so I’m just gonna get it out of the way now,” Luke began, “Dr Bronson… is dead,”
Radhika swallowed and held back any tears that might have been welling up. She had known this was a possibility for a long time. Now she needed answers.
“The police found a body?” she asked.
Corrine and Luke looked at each other again. Finally, Luke continued.
“There was no body,” he said. “Corrine and I saw him…” he trailed off.
“Saw him what?” asked Radhika. She was more then a little confused.
“They saw him explode,” said Ethan.
There was silence. Radhika stared back at them, her mouth gaping.
“In a shockwave of blue light,” Corrine added, hoping for some reason that this would help clarify things.
Finally Radhika spoke up, indignantly. “This is not a funny thing to joke about!” she said, standing up. “I am seriously trying to find a man who may be hurt, may even be dead, and all you can do is make up stories to make fun of me? You are disgusting,” She picked up her tray and turned to leave.
“We’re not making anything up,” said Luke, calmly. Radhika stopped, still turned away. “The night Corrine was knocked into that Coma, we were on our way home from a party. We saw a man fighting a group of men in black armor. He was using some sort of bizarre weapon made out of blue light. Then he exploded in a huge shockwave, taking them with him. When it faded away they were all gone and Corrine was unconscious. We didn’t recognize him at the time, but when we saw your flyers, we realized it was Dr. Bronson. That’s all we know. I’m sorry,”
There was silence again. Slowly, Radhika turned around and looked to Corrine.
“All of this is true?” she asked, softly.
Corrine nodded. Radhika considered for a moment.
“And you don’t know anything else about it?”
Corrine shook her head.
“Thank you,” said Radhika. She turned and walked away.
She had no idea how she felt about this. What they said sounded too fantastical to be true, but she couldn’t imagine they would lie to her like that. And they seemed to be sincere. Still, was she sure enough to give up? Well, she would ask them more about it later. First, she needed to talk to someone else. She walked out of the cafeteria and back towards her dorm.

“Well, that could have gone better,” said Ethan as they watched her walk out of the cafeteria.
“We told her what we know,” said Luke. “It’s up to her whether she believes us or not,”
“So now what?” asked Ethan.
“We finish eating,” said Luke, shoveling some lasagna into his mouth.
“You know what I mean,” said Ethan. “Do we tell the Police? The Government? Anyone?”
“No,” said Corrine, suddenly. Something about her voice sounded very different – more sure of herself, almost to the point of being commanding. “We need to keep this down,”
“Why?” asked Luke.
Corrine shook her head slightly, as if trying to get a crick out of neck, then looked at him and addressed him in her normal voice. “
“Look,” she said, slowly and carefully. “Whatever this is, it’s big. There were people with guns involved. And… obviously, it’s all supposed to be pretty secret. So if either side finds out we saw this…”
“They might not want any witnesses,” finished Luke.
Corrine nodded.
“So we just pretend nothing happened?” said Ethan.
“That’s not a big deal for you,” said Luke, “You didn’t see anything,”
“You think that’ll keep me safe if someone goes after you two?” Ethan asked.
“As long as you don’t poke around asking questions,” Luke replied.
“Then why did we just tell Radhika?” Ethan asked suddenly, with a look of panic. “If anyone is fond of poking around and asking questions, it’s her. We have to warn her about this!”
“We shouldn’t have told her,” said Corrine. She was staring straight ahead again.
“Well, it’s too late to fix that now,” said Luke.
“I’m going to go warn her about this,” said Ethan. He got up and ran off towards the door, leaving his tray on the table.
“I have some things I need to get done,” said Corrine. She gathered up her things and got up to take up her tray, leaving Luke sitting at the table alone.
Luke finished his lunch, slowly, thinking about what was happening. He was as freaked out as everyone else, especially concerning Corrine’s observations. But he didn’t see the point in panicking. It had never done him any good before, and he didn’t see that it would now. When he had finished eating, he got up, taking his and Ethan’s trays in hand, and went to take them up. Then he headed out of the cafeteria and went downstairs to check his mail.
In his mail cubby was a small, folded piece of green paper. On the front it was unlabeled, except for his box number. On the inside was a small type-written note. It read:

Mr. Luke Farrar:

Please come to conference room 120 at 2:00 on Thursday, November 3. If this time is not convenient for you, please leave a message at extension x1397 and we will call you to reschedule. This is a matter of the utmost importance to the security of this institution.

The note was not signed. Luke found this highly suspicious, and resolved to tell Corrine and Ethan about it at the earliest opportunity. Thursday was only two days away, so he had that long to figure out what was going on. Things were starting to get very odd.

Ethan had run some ways after he got out of the cafeteria, so he was quite winded when he finally caught up with Radhika just outside the steps of one of the science buildings. She turned to him, and he could see that she was crying.
“I do not want to discuss it right now!” she told him. She doubled her step back towards her dorm.
Ethan stood for a moment, staring back towards her.
“Radhika!” he called out.
She stopped, turned, and looked back at him. Tears had welled up in her eyes. She didn’t say anything.
Ethan had intended to warn her not to go snooping around, but seeing her like this the thought went out of his head. He walked up to her and held out his arms. After a moment, she ran up to him and hugged him. It was strange, he thought to himself. She didn’t even know him that well. But she was squeezing him pretty hard. After a few moments, she let go and turned away. She was still crying, but a little less now.
“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment, “I don’t know what got into me…” She turned away and stood there, sobbing.
Ethan put his hand on her shoulder. To him, it felt slightly awkward, and he wasn’t sure whether or not he should leave it there. He wasn’t sure why he was doing this – he wasn’t a very physical person. This sort of thing was normally more Luke’s forte. But she needed comforting, and Ethan was the only one around.
“It’s ok,” he said, rubbing her shoulders a little. He wanted to say something else, like “I know how you feel,” or “I know how close you were to him”, but the fact was she didn’t know any of these things, so he just kept repeating “It’s ok,”
After a while, she moved over and sat down on the step. Ethan hesitated for a moment – he wasn’t sure if she wanted him to stay or go. She looked up at him, with a look he couldn’t place. She had stopped crying now, but her face was still wet with tears. He sat down next to her.
“I’m... usually a lot more put together,” she said after a moment, with a forced smile.
“I know,” said Ethan.
“I… I’m sorry you had to see me like that. It’s just… it’s been a very tough week,”
Ethan didn’t really know what to say. Or if he should say anything. He sort of felt like he should hug her again, but he was afraid the moment had passed and she’d take it wrong. Fortunately, saying nothing seemed to be the right thing to do.
“Thank you for indulging me,” she said finally, standing up. “I’m going home. I need to be alone now. I’m… sorry,”
She walked off. He wanted to call after her, that she had nothing to be sorry for, and in fact if she hadn’t been crying he would probably have thought less of her then he did after that display, but none of that came out. He also realized he’d never gotten a chance to tell her what he had been planning to. Oh well, he thought. There was no way he was going to now. He decided to go back to Glaston and see how the others were getting on.

“What the hell was that?” Corrine asked Aeolus as they walked out of the Dining hall.
“What was what?”
“See, why do you even ask that? You’ve never been afraid to just go inside my thoughts and figure out what I mean before,”
“Your thoughts are jumbled right now – and so are mine. This seemed easier,”
“What about all that stuff you used to say about trying to avoid translating our thoughts into language?”
“That was before I remembered how this works. Language is the way it has to be for a while,”
Corrine wasn’t sure what to think about this, so she decided to change the subject back to what she had wanted to ask in the first place.
“We need to set some ground rules,”
“I thought we had,”
“Well, they’re obviously not good enough. My voice? It’s mine. You do not get to just use it to say whatever you want to say, then be completely silent and leave me to explain it. Ok?”
“Of course. It’s your body. I’m not a parasite or a demon… as far as I know. But you have to realize I’m acting in your best interests – and those of your friends,”
“Then why didn’t you tell me first, and let me tell them?”
“It just slipped out. I’m sorry. I had a flash of memory – nothing concrete, just a series of images – and I was afraid for you,”
Corrine opened her door and went into her room. Anna was asleep again. It occurred to Corrine that Anna had been left somewhat out of the loop as far as recent developments were concerned. She wondered if she should tell her.
“Best wait for now,” thought Aeolus.
“Why the sudden change? An hour ago you were encouraging me to tell everyone I know about you. Now you don’t even want me to tell my roommate?”
“I don’t know why. I may have been hasty. Your going to need to tell people about me eventually, but… keep it to people you can trust, ok?”
“What did you just remember?”
“Why Danny was killed,”
“Ah. Anything you’d like to share?”
“You can see everything I’ve got, but it’s not much. I still don’t know what I am, but I know few humans know about us, and the ones that do want us dead,”
“That could be a problem,”
“Yeah,”
Corrine was sitting slumped, staring blankly at the wall – the posture she normally adopted while conferring with Aeolus. How strange, she thought, That there’s a way I normally talk to this thing in my head. The lights were off.
Anna yawned and turned over. She turned to face Corrine and looked up at her through half-shut eyes.
“Where’s that light coming from?” she mumbled.
Corrine looked down. The little ball of blue light was floating next to her right hand again. She lifted the hand and turned it toward her, so that the light was between her hand and her face. It looked slightly larger then before.
“Remember anything new about this?”
“Nope. Want me to do anything with it?”
“Like what?”
“Like this,”
The ball of light slowly began to orbit her head. Then it flew off and began to do tight circles around her. Again, Aeolus’s emotions bled through to her – there was a strong sense of excitement, of exhilaration. Eventually the ball of light stopped in front of her face again.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Go away now. Thought Corrine. The light obeyed, spreading out briefly into a ring before it winked out.
“That was odd,”
“Not really. I told you were the one who could make it appear and disappear,”
There was another knock, more cautious now. Corrine went over to the door and opened it. It was Luke. He was holding a small piece of green paper in his hand. He held it out to Corrine.
“What do you make of this?” he asked.
Corrine stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind her. Anna was still sort of asleep, and she didn’t want to bother her. Once she was outside, she took the note and read it over.
“Suspicious?” asked Luke.
“Very,” answered Corrine, “Why isn’t it signed?”
“That’s what I was wondering,” said Luke.
“Are you gonna go?” Corrine asked.
“Of course,” said Luke.
“Even though it could be a trap?” Corrine asked.
“I think that’s a little paranoid,” said Luke. “Chances are it’s actually about school, anyway,”
“And they just forgot to sign it?”
“Maybe,”
Just then Ethan walked through the door.
“Hey,” said Luke.
“Hey,” he answered.
“You tell her?” asked Corrine.
Ethan looked at her for a moment, then shook his head.
Luke gave him a quizzical look.
“She didn’t need to hear that just then,” said Ethan, by way of explanation.
Corrine and Luke looked at each other again, then shrugged.
“She’s not gonna go looking for trouble right now,” said Ethan. “Trust me,”
“Okay…” Corrine began, but she trailed off.
Luke took back the note and handed it to Ethan.
“What do you think of this?” he asked.
“I think someone probably needs to meet with you before you sign up for your courses next semester,” Ethan said, regarding his roommate with a puzzled expression. “Why are you showing this to me?”
Corrine and Luke exchanged another set of quizzical, and perhaps slightly embarrassed, glances.
“We thought it looked suspicious,” Luke explained after a moment.
“It’s not signed,” Corrine added, pointing to the lack of a signature.
“So someone forgot to sign it,” Ethan replied.
“Or it’s a trap,” Luke suggested.
“In a conference room?” pointed out Ethan, “In the middle of the day? With people walking by the entire time? Somehow I doubt that,”
“Good point,” said Luke.
“I know we’re being cautious,” said Ethan after a moment, “But let’s try and stay away from the realm of paranoia, at least for a little while yet,”
Ethan turned and went up the stairs.
“See you around,” said Luke. He turned to follow his roommate.
Corrine went back inside and closed the door. In all the recent excitement, she had somewhat neglected her attempts to get to the Global Warming summit to meet up with Dr. Schiefling. She sat down to try and come up with a new plan.
Getting to DC shouldn’t have been hard. It was, after all only a four hour drive. This seemed simple enough to Aeolus. Corrine, unfortunately, saw things differently.
“I can’t just miss a week of class for no reason,” she told him. “My parents would definitely find out, and that would lead to… questions. Akward ones. Besides which, I’m already two weeks behind. I need an excuse,”
Corrine’s parents had actually come down immediately after she had fallen into the Coma. They had stayed with her for several days, but eventually they had lives to get back to. She had called them after she woke up, but they hadn’t spoke for long – she had still been overwhelmed by Aeolus to the point that conversation was difficult. They’d certainly have a problem with her skipping classes to take a trip to DC, though.
“Corrine,” said Aeolus, “This is important,”
“My life is important! To me! And I’m still the one in control of this body. I am not going to drop everything for this!”
“Ok. Calm down. I’m sure there’s a way to do this without inconveniencing you too much,”
“Besides, there’s still the matter of a car. No one we can trust has one here,”
“That is a problem. So obviously we have to find some legitimate excuse for you to be going to this summit,”
“Yes,”
“Well, Let’s see what else is happening there. Maybe that’ll give us some ideas,”
Corrine dutifully got back on the computer and returned to the summit’s website. There were numerous scientists, business owners, and others addressing the crowd. None of the names looked familiar in the least to Corrine, though. Certainly there was no one she knew or cared enough to go see. As she was scrolling through the list of names and presentations, however one entry finally popped out at her.
“Dr. Amman Aggarwal, from Calcutta Institute for Scientific Advancement, will unveil a new technology which will help in the fight against Global Warming,”
“I wonder if he’s related to Radhika?” thought Corrine. “No, it’s probably a really common name there,”
“May as well check. You never know,”
“How do you bring that up though?”
“You’re asking me? I barely understand why humans use language – you can’t ask me to help formulate a conversation,”
“I was asking that rhetorically,”
“Well, that just goes to prove my point then. That makes no sense to me. I mean, I get questions. That’s just a way to structure a sentence so as to indicate that a response is required from the other party. So why word it as question when you don’t want a response?,”
“I… really have no idea. It’s just something we do,”
“I was asking that rhetorically,”
Corrine laughed in spite of herself. He had made a joke.
“See that’s the problem with language,” He continued, “It’s a perfectly sensible concept, but the execution is terrible,”
“What would you have different?”
“Well, honestly, pure telepathy is much easier. But assuming that isn’t an option, I think your society would benefit from a single language with consistent rules. That means no words with two different meanings, or even two words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Each word should have precisely one meaning, spelling, and sound. That way there will be far less confusion,”
“Good luck implementing that. I’m going to try and write a paper now,”
“I’m not stopping you. But sooner or later we’re going to have to figure this out, and I think sooner would be a much better idea then later,”
“Okay. But I also have schoolwork to do,”
“I know, I know. Your life. Just, keep in mind we have a bit of a deadline here,”
“I know. And you know I know, because you can pretty easily figure out exactly what I know and what I don’t know. You know, for someone who hates language you sure do talk a lot,”
“Actually, I don’t ‘talk’ at all…”
“Shut up,”
“Okay. Geez,”
Impossible or not, she didn’t have a choice. She had to get him out of there.