4 Terramezic Energy (14 page)

“No, he’s out of range. It may be possible over time if we strengthen our network. However, it would take a lot of new members in our group,” Perry said.

“How many do you think it would take?” Helen asked.

“I really can’t say. I’m sorry.” Perry cast an apologetic look at her.

“It’s not like there are very many white magic practitioners around.” Helen’s tone was defeated.

“We should strengthen our network a bit longer,” Perry advised. “And I just need to warn you that once we stop, we won’t be able to feel Mark’s connection anymore. We’ll only be able to detect it when we’re strengthening our network like this.”

“All right,” Josephine acknowledged. “Thanks for the warning.”

Chapter 17

It was a little after five in the morning as Maggie took a sip of her coffee at Josephine’s dining room table as she peered intently at her laptop computer. The gorgeous, crystal chandelier blazed with cheery light over Maggie, Josephine, Helen, and Alice. Perry was perched as a white dove on the curtains across the room watching them.

Alice arched a brow at Josephine. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?”

“Not much.” Josephine’s fingers tightened reflexively over her mug resting on the table as she thought about Mark and how he was trapped on some other world facing dangers she could only imagine. “Maggie and I worked with a group of enforcers who are assigned to guard the new ancient facility in Venice. It complicates matters that it’s located in a residential neighborhood. We set up wards to prevent APU 81 from controlling it remotely. Unfortunately, the protection is minimal for now until we’re able to strengthen the wards. We also took scans of the facility and worked on analyzing the schematics and trying to figure out how it works. There’s a team of scientists that are flying in this morning.”

“Do you have any idea how to find Mark?” Alice asked.

“Not yet but I’m confident Maggie will figure it out,” Josephine said. She grimaced when she thought about the call she’d received from Director Hamilton less than an hour ago. “Unfortunately, we’re not the only team assigned to this case.”

Alice regarded her with puzzlement and curiosity. “Why is that a bad thing?”

“Arthur Gallagher’s team is the other one that’s assigned to hunting down APU 81. All of my reports are accessible to him.”

“I’d like to punch him in the face and give him a black eye.” Alice’s expression turned stormy.

“Don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.” Maggie threw her a wry look.

“He’s an idiot!” Alice exclaimed. “I hope he’s not in charge of your case.”

“No, he’s just working the case too. We’re two separate teams and we have to share our findings with each other. Beyond that, I don’t have to talk the jerk.”

“Is he still assigned to Yvonne and Charlotte?” Helen inquired.

“Yes.” Josephine sighed with irritation at this reminder. “I still don’t think it’s fair. I hope those two young women are doing okay. I asked Virginia if he’s cured them of the mind control enchantment and she let me know he’s still working on it.”

“In other words, he couldn’t do any better than us,” Alice grumbled. “In fact, I’m certain I could have fixed them by now.”

“Those poor kids,” Helen murmured.

“You don’t think Mark’s trapped in space in one of those white energy bubbles, do you?” Alice asked.

Maggie regarded her with cool certainty. “That’s not what happened. A white magic protection field would only contain the oxygen he had at the time he fell through the portal. By my calculations, he would have been dead within the hour so that scenario is simply not possible. The only logical conclusion is that he teleported to a world that has an atmosphere.”

“Do you think there are people from Earth still living on other planets after the Great Wizard War?” Alice asked.

“If our ancestors colonized them, I would say there are probably inhabited worlds out there right now. When our technology failed, we were cut off from them. Their descendants probably lost their technology like we did and they have no idea about Earth or other worlds either,” Maggie hypothesized.

“If Mark wasn’t missing, you’d probably be excited about this discovery,” Josephine remarked.

“It’s a huge breakthrough. One I never imagined could happen so quickly,” Maggie acknowledged.

Josephine received a call from the Sarasota chief of police.

“Josephine, I’ve got news on the man who is possessed by APU 81. His name is Norman Goff and he’s only a category four wizard. He lives in Venice. He’s awake and still possessed by APU 81. He says he remained in Norman’s body because he wanted to talk to you,” Ben said.

A cold sense of dread gripped Josephine. “I’ll be right there.”

Josephine rose to her feet as she briefly explained the reason for the call to Alice, Helen, and Maggie.

“Make sure you bring plenty of protection. It’s probably a trap,” Helen warned.

“I’ll be careful. There’s not much APU 81 can do without any enchantments.” Josephine knew that the artificial intelligence would no doubt have something up its sleeve to allow itself to remain a prisoner.

“I’m going with you.” Maggie jumped to her feet with a decisive look.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t care.” Maggie’s brown eyes blazed with ire. “I want to know what that horrid creature is up to.”

“All right,” Josephine relented.

She was concerned about Maggie’s earlier struggle with dark energy and wanted to keep an eye on her. Josephine drove her to the police station and Ben escorted them down the hall toward the interrogation room where APU 81 was being held. The three of them halted outside of the closed door while Josephine took a scan of Norman to be sure there weren’t any hidden enchantments that the police had missed.

Her gaze slid over to the chief of police. “Are you sure that absolutely everything was confiscated from Norman?”

“I had him checked by three officers. We know that terramezic energy can’t be detected so anything that was found no matter how small or insignificant was removed. We even took his clothing. It’s all in the evidence locker and you can go through it after we speak with him.”

“Thanks.” Josephine forced a nervous smile. “I just can’t help but feel this is somehow a trap it’s setting for me.”

She opened the door and entered the room with Maggie and Ben shuffling in behind her. Norman wore a striped orange and white prisoner uniform and his wrists were secured with handcuffs to the top of the square wooden table which took up most of the space in the small room. Norman’s black hair was mussed and his brown eyes flicked over to Josephine as a sneer of contempt transformed his face.

“It took you long enough to show up, human.”

“My work schedule doesn’t revolve around lame, crystal-skull computers,” Josephine said.

“You’re only alive because I allow it.”

Josephine fixed a questioning look at the prisoner. “Why do you wish to talk to me?”

“I wanted to see how you’re holding up with the death of your lover.” Norman smirked with sadistic glee.

“Mark is very much alive.”

Josephine enjoyed the look of stunned amazement on the prisoner’s face at this revelation.

“That’s impossible. You’re lying.”

“I suspect the portal wasn’t meant to exit into empty space and you had to rig the machine and bypass safeguards to create that setting. Mark’s spell that he cast just before he was sucked into it must have corrected the settings so that the portal connected to one of the colony worlds which it was originally designed to do,” Josephine said.

“What makes you think he’s alive?” Norman regarded her with skepticism.

“We’re magically linked and I can feel him.”

“White magic protection can last for days under the right circumstances. He’s probably trapped in one of those wimpy little bubbles with a dwindling oxygen supply. He’ll suffocate and there’s nothing you can do to help him,” Norman taunted her.

Josephine’s lips curved in an amused smile. “You’re just as short-sighted as you claim humans to be. If Mark only had the oxygen supply contained in a protective sphere that he took with him from Earth, he’d have been dead within an hour.”

Norman’s brown eyes blazed with fury at the insult and he flexed his fingers reflexively as he yanked against the handcuffs.

“I’m going to set you on fire and watch you scream for your life,” he threatened.

Josephine regarded him with scorn. “You’re a pyromaniac and little more than a parasite.”

“Why don’t you take off these handcuffs and we’ll see just what I can do?” Norman jerked at the handcuffs several times with frustration and fury. After several seconds he calmed down and a satisfied smirk spread across his face. “Your time is running out. Both yours and Maggie’s. There’s nowhere you can hide from me.”

Norman’s eyes fluttered closed and he dropped forward onto the table as he passed out. Maggie stared at him with horror.

Josephine cast a reassuring gaze at her. “We’ll figure this out and stop it.”

“It’s never going to end.” Maggie had a defeated air about her.

Josephine had been worried that APU 81 had some hidden piece of equipment on Norman’s body or close enough on hand to use magic against her and Maggie but that hadn’t been the case. She should be relieved but instead she felt uneasy and puzzled over this encounter.

“We’re almost finished with our long-range scanner. We’ll be able to find APU 81’s crystal skull and put an end to it,” Josephine said.

“You’re right. We should be finished with the enchantment by sometime tomorrow,” Maggie agreed.

“I’ll send some guards to put Norman back in a cell until we can get him fixed so APU 81 can’t take over again,” Ben said.

Josephine, Maggie, and Ben crossed the room to leave. Josephine’s hand rested on the doorknob but she hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Ben shot her a questioning look.

She regarded him with a contemplative expression. “None of this makes sense. APU 81 is vindictive but I don’t think it would confine itself in a body just to threaten us. It can do that without using a host.”

“What are you saying?” Ben regarded her with confusion.

Josephine dropped her hand from the knob and turned away from the door completely. “I think APU 81 is trapped in Norman’s body.”

“That’s impossible. I have enough of its memories to know it doesn’t have any difficulty slipping from one body to another. It only needs to have the person touch its crystal skull so it can format their brain first,” Maggie said.

Josephine stalked back to the table and gazed across it at Norman whose eyes were still closed and his torso pressed down against the surface.

“You’re not fooling me. I know you’re still awake,” she said.

Ben and Maggie took up positions on either side of her and watched Norman with doubtful expressions. The prisoner remained unconscious and inactive.

“Josephine, it’s gone,” Ben said.

“Do you have a truth-speak enchantment?” Josephine asked in a hopeful tone.

“I do but it’s almost out of juice.”

“Will you please use it now?”

Ben hesitated. “I placed a requisition for a new one over a month ago and it’s still not approved. I hate to be without one completely.”

“If it’s really unconscious, you can turn the enchantment off right away,” Josephine said. “Otherwise, we may gain some valuable information.”

“All right.” Ben pulled out a small green fluorite stone that was a bit larger than a marble.

When he activated the truth-speak spell, a silvery energy field expanded from the stone and within seconds it encompassed everyone in a large sphere of silvery luminescence.

Josephine took a deep breath as she focused on Norman. “Are you unconscious, APU 81?”

“No, I’m not.” Norman sat up and his brown eyes reflected loathing.

Ben and Maggie were clearly startled as they hadn’t expected this.

“Where is your crystal skull hidden?” Josephine demanded.

“I don’t know,” Norman replied with a condescending smirk.

“How can you not know?”

“I cast an amnesia spell on my hosts to forget that particular tidbit of information in case something like this happened.”

“Are you unable to leave Norman’s body?” Josephine asked. “How did that happen?”

“I’m stuck here. I finally managed to connect my crystal skull to a terramezic power source which allows me to take as many hosts as I want. And I don’t have to format their brains first. They just have to be in range. But the difference in this process traps me in the human body.”

“Give us the names of all your potential hosts starting with the other one you’re already possessing,” Ben ordered.

The silvery bubble of energy surrounding them flickered for a couple of seconds then winked out of existence as the enchantment lost power.

“Good luck getting anything from me now,” Norman sneered.

“I wonder how APU 81 would withstand torture,” Maggie said.

Norman’s expression was fearful for a split second before a mask of icy control slipped back into place. “I can disengage myself from all physical sensations even though I’m trapped in this body.”

“We need another truth-speak enchantment,” Ben said grimly. “With our new prisoner, I think I can get a new one rushed over here.”

“I’ll ask Virginia if perhaps I could get one, too,” Josephine said.

Ben, Josephine, and Maggie left the room. Ben ordered the two police officers guarding the outside of the room to go inside so Norman would remain observed at all times. He also ordered two additional guards to watch the outside door.