Scrambled, page 26
part #14 of Directorate Series
A quarter flash blinded, half the rest bespelled or "crowbarred." And then the ricochets . . .
As the battlefield quieted, Nick took his knife from the ministers throat and released him.
"So, I'll give you the same orders I gave General Fu. No waging war. Murder, rape, assault and theft are crimes. You, with great reluctance, I name Governor of your . . . let's call it a state, shall we? Yes, the State of Ministry will encompass your wing of this pinwheel mess, and the grasslands to the north of it, up to, but not including the next wing. Govern them well—because there will be an election in two or three months."
Poe glanced his way and hung his head. "I was useless. I couldn't do anything."
Nick shook his head. "You found the mental and moral courage to try. That's the hardest part. The rest is just education and drill. We'll start again in a few days."
He gripped the man's shoulder. "I'm proud of you."
Nick walked away from him, and over to Ahco. "And you are Governor of the State of Apartments. Your wing and the grasslands to either side, and beyond."
"No threats?" Ahco held out the gun and backpack.
"Doubt they're needed. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go talk to everyone else." Nick paused. "Dammit. Okay. That forty story tower over there? That's now the World government building. I'll sleep there, where I can keep an eye on these idiots. Hopefully no one comes to me with problems. And with luck, we can also elect a president—or tyrant if needed—in two or three months."
Ahco watched him just walk away. The guards still on wall duty under Lieutenant Ynja's eyes got out of his way.
Chapter Sixty-four
Done
1 Yusef 1400 ne
Nick was delighted to see that Lou had returned. "Excellent. All the people I need. Lou, you are hereby appointed to the Governorship of the State of Main. Your wing and half the grasslands southwest and all the grasslands east to the next wing."
Lou groaned. "I hope I heard right about an election in three months?"
"Yes. Now, Red Zone, Red Stone, State of Red. Whatever. Both wings and the grasslands in between. Governor . . . "
Enuf and Marco both pointed at Kirk.
"What! Me, oh no you don't . . . "
"Governor Boot. Intelligent woman, well organized." Nick looked back at the Earth army's buildings. "Hell with it. I'll slap them around tomorrow, if they still need it. I'm going to clean up and sleep the clock around before I do anything else."
***
"Men! grubby, dirty . . . can't be bothered to take a few seconds to put dirty clothes . . . "
Nick pried open an eye. "Umaya, what are you doing here?"
"Well! You may be the Tyrant Warrior, but you still need clean clothes and food. Humph! Ten flights of stairs to climb, no consideration for an old woman's bones . . . "
"Umaya, you are only thirty-four. You've been widowed for four years. Perhaps it's time for you to consider marrying and having more children."
"Young man, do not think for a moment that you can distract me! Nor that any number of husbands or children would make me shirk my duty to the Son of Nicholas." She pulled clothes from a large wicker basket, thumping and banging drawers, slamming the door of the closet.
"Now, Abbas is keeping an eye on the situation. Those Earthers! I went around and showed those silly office workers a thing or two, and while I was there a couple hundred soldiers, nearly half of them women! Just showed up, saying they wanted to move to Main State, and get away from Fu's troops. And more office women with them."
She sniffed. "That nice Governor Lou is worried, but I told him you'd deal with Fu."
She disappeared into the bathroom, reappeared to thump his disgusting clothing from yesterday into the basket. "There's food on the table, if you're planning on getting up today. Humph!"
She marched off and Nick pulled the sheet over his head.
"Hey, if you're not going to eat this food, can I have it?"
"Zog, what are you doing here? And I refuse to believe Umaya didn't feed you."
"I'm on look out, and Diego's still hungry. Lady Fang had puppies last night and she ate all the scraps and growled at Diego when he got close."
"Puppies . . . well, they'll be useful soon enough." Nick rolled out of bed and hunted through drawers for clothes. "What are you looking out for?"
"Danger. Warriors must be alert for anything."
The couch was turned and pulled up to the corner. Boy and dog both turned to look over the back at him.
Nick started to tell him he was a bit young . . . but I was out in the field, training with the Warriors when I was thirteen. He scooped up the bowl of soup and walked over to join them.
"Looks quiet. Umaya made it sound a little interesting." He slurped soup. Fresh greens. Wild onions?
Zog grinned. "Do you drink soup out of bowls when Umaya can see you?"
"Nope."
"Anyway, General Fu hasn't done anything yet. Abbas says he's probably in something like a docbox and his underlings don't dare anything without his direct orders."
"Where is Abbas?"
"Next apartment over. Sleeping. He was up all night. Keeping watch. Hakim took the early watch, I took over an hour ago."
"So, you three have it all worked out?"
Zog looked cautious. "Well, so long as you let us. Hakim and I wanted to take the top floor . . . but no elevators . . . so we're up one floor. We figured that could be the permanent watch post, once you didn't need to be guarded."
"I . . . don't think I needed to be guarded."
"Huh. Even Umaya couldn't wake you up. She said sometimes the Prophets were like that. That once Nicholas slept for a whole year, except for sort of waking up and eating every three or four days."
"Well, I never saw that, but the guys did talk about it. A healing coma, they called it." Nick shrugged. "I think I was just beat and so close to drained."
He walked back to the table, drained half a glass of juice and tackled the roast venison. Mashed something-or-other, or maybe it was acorn mush with a thin gravy.
Diego looked over the sofa back and drooled.
Nick sighed. Refrained from tossing him half the meat. He may be well trained, but he's still a dog. He'd swallow it whole, barf it up and then eat it again.
I wonder whatever happened to Killer? He was awfully old, when I started training.
Nick cut up half the roast and even left acorn mush on the plate when he finished his half and set the plate on the floor.
Diego quivered and stared.
Zog snickered. "Go. Eat."
Diego leaped, skidded on the hardwood floor and inhaled the food, licked the plate clean.
"Guess he’ll never get poisoned." Nick stretched . . . resisted the urge to go back to bed and walked over to stare out at the hub. "Was I actually insane enough to declare myself the Tyrant?"
"Yep." The boy grinned. "I wasn't there, mind you, but we've all heard all about it. Abbas and Marco were close enough—they thought you might need to be rescued—and they heard it all. You should have heard Miss Boot, when she heard you'd appointed her Governor! She wasn't very respectful of the warrior culture. Did you know you spouted weasel effluvium?"
"No. I didn't know that. I suppose I'd better talk to her . . . after I check on Fu. And MacU." And Dipper. "And find out if that Major Atzee has survived. And if he's going to be a problem."
"Can I watch, this time?"
"I will merely explain the situation to him."
"Oh, yeah! I want to watch you 'merely explain' it to him."
"Shut up, kid. Go upstairs and set up a permanent watch post. I'm going back to bed."
***
He was staring at the very large sandwich and jug of fruit juice that had somehow appeared on his table without him noticing his apartment being invaded, when someone tapped on his door.
A quick look around. Dawn light leaving long shadows across the ragged ground of the hub.
Nothing happening.
He walked to the door and opened it . . .
Other than the most desirable woman on the world standing there with half her head wrapped in makeshift bandages.
"Hi . . . I lost track of you, on the battlefield . . . I thought for a moment I'd killed you."
Dipper shook her head. "Better us two than hundreds in the apartments. I had my shields up, they just weren't quite strong enough. I . . . Well, I guess we'll see how well the Zowie Juice works on eyes."
He gave ground, gestured her in . . . "Are you hungry? I, umm . . . " He broke off at her smoldering gaze.
She closed the one eye he could see. "I thought I was over that effect of the Juice. I locked myself in my bedroom for a day and a half, so I didn't throw myself on the nearest man I spotted."
"Ha! Yeah. First time I tried it, it turned into a street orgy that even eunuchs could participate in. Surprised the hell out of me."
She snickered. "Is that why half the Red Zone women are pregnant?"
"Yeah . . . well, not that I'm responsible for the pregnancies, no balls yet. But a fun time was had by all."
Dipper sighed. "I never . . . I dunno. Met anyone I actually wanted to have sex with. Until . . . " She blushed and dropped her gaze.
"Zowie Juice. Of which I have also been dosed, recently. Why don't you sit across the table and eat half this huge sandwich that someone made for me. Umaya seems to think I need a lot of food."
"You did expend a lot of energy yest . . . umm, day before yesterday."
He hunted through the kitchen for a plate and glass, and they sat safely across the table eating. Meeting and not meeting each other's gaze.
Nick set his glass down, and stared at the table. "This isn't safe."
"I didn't come here looking for safe."
"Oh . . . Sorry. I don't have any practice in recognizing subtle . . . come-ons."
One big brown eye studied him. Puzzled. "I . . . accepted your invitation to enter your home . . . Most men consider that more than enough of a come-on."
Nick dry swallowed. "I thought that was just a criminal defense in case of rape accusations . . . but you think normal people use it . . . instead of just saying what they want . . . Or hope for?"
The parts of her face he could see were getting red. "Umm . . . well, you said you weren't safe to be around. So I thought . . . "
"That I'd pounce the second you crossed my threshold? I, umm, certainly thought about it . . . " He looked up and met her hungry gaze. And got up and walked around the table.
***
"When we're rescued, you'll leave, won't you?" Nick trailed a finger along her cheekbone and circled back along her jaw.
"Do you really think we'll be rescued? I know how hard it will be for them to find us." Dipper bit her lip. "But that man you keep saying you met. Why should he bother looking for us?"
"He said there was a whole Multidimensional organization. And his own Other One World. And probably two versions of Earth. I don't know how long it will take. And what will you do? Do you want entanglements holding you here?"
Her arm withdrew from around his ribcage, fingers trailing and tickling. "I don't know. I suppose I'll just have to see how entangled I am, if and when it happens." She shifted her undamaged cheek on his shoulder. "And depending on how well I heal . . . I may have to retire from the Presidential guard . . . binocular vision really is necessary."
He huffed out a breath. "So now I have to hope you don't heal very well?"
"Humph! I'll probably scar hideously." Her offhand tone wavered. "You won't want me, then."
He pulled her tight against him. "If I don't want you it won't be because of scars. Let's see . . . trying to arrest me . . . shooting my little sister . . . eating crackers in bed . . . "
She snorted and relaxed against him. "Sorry, I'm afraid to find out. But it was just first and second degree burns, no . . . char. And my vision depends on whether my eye scars much."
"I have Zowie Juice. More can't hurt . . . right?"
"Oh, good idea . . . but you're going to need some yourself, to keep up with my demands."
"A man's got to do what a man's got to do."
Chapter Sixty-five
Six Months of Searching
18 Hija 1411 yp
"It's been six months. They were completely unprepared." Ebsa stared out at the group of gate makers sitting on the ground.
Wicked, in the driver's seat, hunched his shoulders. "If this is the right world, it was being considered for colonization. Nice place. Of course, adding dinosaurs was probably not a good idea."
Marc Keller—the Earther had been with the crew through five unsuccessful targets, now—winced. "We're still missing close to a thousand soldiers. We can only hope they took out the dinos before the dinos ate all the civilians we're also still missing."
Utly hunched his shoulders. "We're missing about five thousand civilians, and maybe four hundred retired soldiers working as security guards. Light weaponry, and probably not a lot of ammo. Not to mention no livestock, no seeds, tractors, plows . . . city people. Bunch of professionals and retirees in those apartments. I almost hate to finally have the answers to who lived and who . . . we finally have to give up on."
So many Empty Worlds with gate crimps. Someone had checked them out sometime, but not settled, left no beacons or claim beepers. Ebsa pulled his thoughts away from the failures and focused on the bright light in front of the sitters.
The gate swirled open to a sweeping view of grassy hills and forested hollows. On the horizon, the tops of a few tall buildings.
The Earther pointed. "Found them. That's the top of U Thant tower to the right."
"Might be the tallest apartment towers to the left. I don't see the War Ministry building . . . " Utly shut up as Wicked drove carefully up to the gate and through.
"There, see? Nothing to it." Ebsa studied the terrain. "Go to the right around that grove of trees and up the next hill. We ought to be able to see the pinwheel from the top."
Nighthawk jumped in, slap-attached a corridor and closed the hatch.
Everyone grabbed a handhold as Wicked started down and across the hill.
"Hey! I'm being careful! I'm not going to roll it." Wicked scowled, and turned a bit more downhill.
"Again . . . " Christin Way snickered. Another Earther. The two witches had started treating her more like a pet than a fellow explorer after she'd run and jumped around the crawler, laughing, as it rolled. Everyone else had hung on for dear life while she acted like it was a hamster ball. It was pretty funny. And impressive, not that Nighthawk or Raven are going to admit it.
Wicked sent the Junkyard up the hill and stopped at the crest.
"Look! There's Main Accounting. Looks good. And the Military staging area." Marc squinted. "U Thant Tower's all that's standing there. The whole mall collapsed."
Utly was wincing. "The War Ministry is a pile of rubble. The lower buildings behind it are still standing. The apartments are showing some damage. Looks like one had a serious fire."
Ebsa squinted to magnify his vision . . . "I see people . . . we're being pointed at . . . so let's go meet and greet."
Marc was tapping at his comm . . . "Nothing for my main contacts. But they probably just don't have electricity."
"Umm. The Minister's comm isn't on." Utly shrugged, tapped. "Whoa! I have live carrier for the Black Horse . . . Captain Ahco? Agent Utly from Interior, we're here to rescue you . . . Damn, you guys have been building."
Cabins. Gardens. Fences. Horses. Every single one black . . .
:: Who are you? EBSA! ::
Ebsa winced at the mental shout . . . from the guy galloping toward them on a black horse. :: Hi Nick. So, do you guys still need rescuing? ::
:: No, but a lot of people will be glad to return to civilization. And some are leaving whether they want to or not. :: The horse slowed to a walk.
Ebsa glanced over his shoulder. "Hey Ra'd, your doppelganger is here."
"Two of me. No one deserves that." Ra'd eyed Utly. "Remember that you are out of your jurisdiction. No shooting anyone unless they are trying to kill you. Especially my little sister."
Christin laughed. "Do I hear an unspoken belief that your twin can take care of himself?"
"Yes."
"Ha! Wicked? Drop me off here at Main Accounting. I'll talk to them, while you guys go on to the hub. Marc? The Army guys are all yours!"
They stopped long enough for her to drop off, then drove on.
Ebsa eyed the fast developing confrontation ahead. "Pull up about ten meters this side of the guy on the black horse. Marc and I will go talk to them."
Ra'd raised an eyebrow. "Don't trust my diplomacy?"
"The looks those guys are giving Nick? Let's not hand them two of you, until we test the waters." Ebsa popped the hatch.
"Christ almighty, that's Brigadier General Fu. Class One Badass." Marc followed Ebsa around the front of the Junkyard.
Nighthawk was just behind them, walking down the far side of the crawler to open the Corridor.
"Afternoon, Gentlemen. We're the rescue party. The corridor right there will take you to the gate. Through the gate you'll find yourselves on an Empty World we are using to sort people out and get them to the right home. Marc Keller here, is from the Earth's government and will explain your options."
The big Oriental guy was glaring at him. Flicked a glance at Nick. Showed his teeth in a hungry and not at all cheerful smile. "I recognized this as an Earth Colony. And under Earth laws, I demand the arrest of that mutant."
Marc paused, and Ebsa jumped back in. "Fifty or so years ago, when Earth and Empire first clashed, it created a split in both worlds. I am from the split that has not been involved with you, but I understand that the other One World has been unsuccessfully attempting to arrest him for years. I'm sure that as soon as we get diplomacy further underway, they will be delighted to assist you in that. Right now? No. Not going to happen."
