Missing Elements (The Lament Book 3) (17 page)

It wasn't quite enough time, but
Kabrin came in and waited for her to finish a slightly variant version of Bard
Tam's Lullaby In Green, before speaking.

"You should watch your tempo
on the second mark. It will sound better if you do it slightly faster."
Then he let her play that part again, twice, making other corrections before
remembering to call her to dinner.

As they walked to the dining
room, he spoke gently.

"You truly do have a
remarkable talent. Are you
certain
I couldn't lure you away from Clarice
for a life in the orchestra, it's really very rewarding. There's a kind of
magic that takes place when two, or more, people work together as a single
unit. Thrusting and meeting, at just the right time..." It wasn't clumsily
said really, just too much too soon.

She nodded, her face blank as
they walked, "Clarice mentioned that you'd try to get me into bed. That
bothers her you know, so you should at least try to... I don't know, hide it
better? Not that you aren't good looking, but bribing me with a place in an
orchestra is a bit much really, don't you believe? Or, I guess not. Does that
line ever really work for you?"

Rather than get mad, the good
looking man brushed at his curly blonde hair and snorted.

"More often than not. With
you, however, the plan was the other way around. You get me? I offer my tender
flesh in return for you deigning to join my humble assortment of players. Not
that we are. Humble that is. In neither word nor talent. I'll take your words
as an advisement however. Clarice has hinted at being uncomfortable with my
actions before, but she's never really said much when I simply asked about it.
I do think that I'm getting old enough to settle down a bit. How about you,
Pran?" It was an odd thing to say, but the man kept looking at her, like
it was a real question.

"Me settling down? I'm
sixteen, so... I think I get a few years." Not that she knew her real age,
but that was probably pretty close. Within a year, one way or the other,
certainly.

"That young? I thought you
were at least twenty! Well, don't
I
look like a letch now!" He
laughed about it, since everyone in the room was watching them walk in, already
being at the table.

It was Clarice, Doctor Soros, and
to her surprise, Doctor Millis, from The Lament. She smiled when she saw him.

"
There
you are! I was
going to hunt you down tomorrow at Paul's wedding party. I noticed your work
earlier today. With Tims?" She didn't explain it all, and the old
gentleman smiled at her, his wrinkled face seeming to be genuinely pleased
about her being there.

"Pran! I didn't know that
you'd be here tonight. So, you noticed that bit, earlier, did you? I suppose
that the boy is in a cell right now? I hadn't heard from him, but I
wouldn'
t
have, being that he has his own duties." If he was nervous about the idea,
it didn't show in his body language or expression, which just seemed warm and
kind.

Doctor Soros went wide eyed
however, and seemed to be digging something out from under his suit jacket.
That got waved away by Millis.

"Don't be silly. Pran here
knows all about our little plans. In fact she and Guardian Clark have been
attempting to make it seem like they were replaced by our people, for over a
month." He winked at her and gestured toward a chair, the one next to him
in fact. She took it, patting him on the back before sitting. They were friends
after all. Even if he was an evil body stealer from the past. She was a
murderer
,
wasn't she? Who was she to throw blame around for something like that?

"I figured. Good, Clark was
messing up his role anyway. Acting isn't really a Guardian skill. Tims should be
fine, though he's
well
found out now. I've been appointed to bring him
over to our side, so if you two could pass the word to him? It will make it
easier all the way around." She glanced at Millis, but not Soros, looking
over at Bard Clarice instead, her face calm.

The woman looked
very
innocent. Like she didn't understand, except of course, that could be a lie and
almost had to be. A
Bard
in charge of finding all the secret spies and
traitors, or in this case, body thieves? Pran grinned.

"It's a bit obvious, given
everything. Well, either you're the one from the past, or Kabrin is. For some
reason I don't see that. For one thing, you're very nice to me. Making me a
Bard after hearing me play once? Sweet, but not really... Believable. I suppose
I have to give that up now, don't I?"

The woman frowned then and looked
away, her face moving into disgust, but she rallied after a few seconds and
shook her head, a bit mournfully.

"I'm doing
that
poor
of a job? Well, so much for you being simple enough to fall for a bit of
kindness and a bribe as a distraction. So, what do we do with you, since you
know this much? I suppose that we can't get rid of you, not with two Guardians
in the house. Are you placing us under arrest?" There was tension in the
space, and Doctor Soros pulled a weapon, which was a thing she'd seen before. A
sonic.
How it worked she had no clue, but it was distinctive, looking
like a kinetic pistol, only smaller, with a closed and rounded front on it
instead of a hole.

She waved that away, wondering if
she were about to lose consciousness anyway. It wasn't a lethal weapon, so that
meant a person might use it very easily, without fear, didn't it? They could
just render her useless and silent and sneak out of the house.

"Don't bother. Clark and
Mara, as well as High Guardian Saran already know about all of you." She
turned to Clarice and frowned then, meaning it. "Have you told Kabrin? I
mean, how else... Then I guess if you didn't
know
that there were people
from the past stealing bodies like this, you wouldn't guess at it, would
you?" She looked at the man himself, who seemed so confused it was nearly
comedic.

Clarice sighed, dramatically.

"No. I was picked for this
role, as Clarice, when she was just about to start her first tour. As a singer
I was able to learn a few songs in the system that would work, and take over
smoothly. The simulations are very good, so I had a chance to practice for a
long time before coming back out here. That was... What, thirty-five years ago
now? Poor Kabrin doesn't know any of this. I suppose I'll be up all night
explaining now too. Can we do that later, dear?"

Pran interrupted, getting that
the man was going to need to know a lot more than he did at the moment.

"Let me shorten the
discussion for you. About three hundred years ago people realized that they'd
just about destroyed the world. That meant most of them had to die, but some
went to live in a magic world that they knew how to create back then. About
three hundred million of them. Now that we've pretty much fixed things, they
want it back. Or, if we can believe Doctor Millis here, they want to come and
help us have better lives,
without
making a huge mess of things again.
The problem is that they don't have bodies of their own now, and need to take
ours so they can move around. The ones they take get to go to their magic
world, where they can have anything they like though, so they aren't really
dead. There are different factions however, and some of them want to just force
us to their will, taking what they want from us, and others disagree, thinking
that we should work out a compromise." She looked at Doctor Millis then,
and tilted her head a bit. "Is that close?"

The man smiled, and looked over
at Doctor Soros, gesturing for him to put the weapon away again. When that
happened the old man, her friend from another time, spoke.

"More or less. In fact,
rather
more
, except that it isn't magic, really. What do you intend to
do, knowing what you do, Pran? I assure you that we have things well in hand
and merely removing us from play won't derail the current plan. I think we're
going to win, this time, in fact."

That was directed at her of
course. A secret message for her subconscious mind. A bit of theater that only
she would get, out of anyone in the whole room.

Pran always backed the winner, of
course. It was the only way to survive.

"No. What you're going to
do, is... Well, first, we're going to make sure that Paul and Twyla have the
perfect wedding and not disturb that for them. Then you're going to come
forward, with my help, and we're going to find you some bodies that no one will
miss. Maybe. I think I know of some, if you... I don't know. I might be
wrong." She was confusing everyone at least, even if it was clear to her
what she was getting at.

Looking around she saw that she
was the only one. Kabrin hadn't called out that they were all crazy, since it
was just possible it was a game, or trick. Something they all played at, until
he started to believe it, and then would mock him for it without mercy. It
would have been a fun thing to try, if it weren't real.

Clarice looked a bit taken aback,
and Doctor Soros kept his hand near the weapon he had in his pocket now, within
easy reach.

Of all of them only Doctor Millis
seemed to be truly calm about it all.

"Could you explain? We've
rather been looking for a situation like that for a while, so if you have one,
it would be potentially enough to keep some of our more anxious citizens in the
system from becoming violent in trying to take over out here. The plan was
never to harm anyone, only to bring back the best of what we once had, in a way
that will do no harm."

Nodding her head slowly, she
looked over at him, sitting directly next to her like he was.

"First, you mentioned to me
once, that you could possibly help the kids at the Grange. If they, could they
be taken to this magic world of yours safely? Would that work for violent
criminals too, or are they all too damaged for the download thing to function
that way?" She watched him closely.

The old man looked at the far wall
of the dining room, over the nicely set table, and then started to nod, slowly.

"It would be work, and take
some time to put together, but some of them might work for our purposes. We can
help them in the system at any rate, and possibly outside it. Give them a
better life, if nothing else, but... Yes. I think we could
indeed
do
that, if it were to be allowed. It would take... Well, most of the High Council
would need to back it, and we only hold a few of the places there. If they
agreed, then it might be enough. The trick to it is that in order to make this
work, we'd need cooperation, which hasn't been very forthcoming in the last
hundred years or so. Do you truly think you can improve upon that record?"

She shook her head.

"Nope. People are selfish
and greedy, and will feel threatened if you try to take away what they have.
The only way this will work is if you bring out Michael Morse himself and have
him assure everyone that this won't unbalance the energy flow of the world
again." She grinned and looked the man directly in the eye. "You said
he was a jackass though? Do you think you could make him behave, if it means he
kind of wins?"

Doctor Soros cleared his throat,
but Millis laughed, and after a bit, so did Clarice.

Finally the old Doctor nodded.

"I think we can do that. You
see Pran, I
am
Michael Morse."

She blinked, since he didn't look
anything like the chubby statue that she'd broken once, but body thieves
wouldn't really. It was the kind of thing that she probably just had to take on
faith, except that she didn't like to take anything that way. After a bit she
took a deep breath through her nose.

"So... You really
are
a jackass? Good to know. I'd hate to think you were
saying
things like
that, without firsthand knowledge." Then she smiled and patted his arm.
"Then, as long as you can prove that, in front of a panel of Judges, I
think we can make a go of this.
After
the wedding. Waiting a single day
won't hurt anything, I don't think."

The man seemed to consider her
words for a long time and then nodded.

"Agreed. After that, then,
I'll do what you suggest. Hopefully they don't just kill me out of hand...
again."

Then, almost as if by some grand
plan, the food came. It smelled really good. Wonderful, in fact.

A few minutes later Clark and
Mara came in, the first course of several already set out for them, waiting.
Pran had just started eating, since it was time for it and she was feeling a
little bit unsettled. The rules had, once again, changed on her. That was the
way of life, but also meant someone might just come and take everything she had
away again. It had happened before, not too long in the past.

The first course was a salad, on
a small plate. There was a pleasant and creamy dressing that went along with
it, that tasted a bit like honey and something else. Pointing to it, she asked
Clarice, since that was the kind of thing you did at the table. She thought.

The woman took a bite of her own
and nodded after a second.

"Honey mustard. It's rather nice.
A new recipe, I believe? Have you had it before Kabrin?" She looked at her
husband blandly, but it wasn't working very well.

In fact he rather blurted out
something that was nearly rude.

"You... lied to me? All this
time!" It seemed like he was gearing up for a fight, but did seem to
believe the story, which would make things easier later.

Pran cleared her throat, and took
another bite of food, interrupting, then caught up Mara and Clark.

"Let's see... Um, Clark,
word has been passed that you and I aren't downloads, and it turns out that
Clarice
is
one. I think that, provided we don't mess things up and no
one lied to me, that I have a possible solution for part of things. We're going
to try and use the kids at the Grange and the prisoners at Camp... I forgot the
name. The one where they send the worst killers and rapists that can't control
themselves?"

Mara responded first, but neither
of them went for a weapon. Not even when Doctor Soros did. In fact they both
ignored him rather nicely, which was a thing she hadn't been certain they could
do with someone unknown like that.

"Camp Wallace? Can they do
that? I thought that our brains were too different and that meant that insane
people would be too?" She looked at Pran, who shrugged, but Doctor Soros
grunted a little, getting their attention.

"
Nooo
, we'd have to
fix any damage or differences first, but it wouldn't be
impossible
, just
take longer. There
are
factors that we have to match, but if we didn't
have to rush things all the time we could make significant modifications to the
mental and biological landscape, which would..." Realizing he was saying a
lot, and that some people might not enjoy hearing it, he stopped, a disgusted
look on his face.

Doctor Millis nodded.

"It will take some effort,
but I think we can set that up, and ensure a much improved existence for the
kids and convicts than either of those places could allow them. In the future,
using such techniques, we could help mentally ill people directly, before they
end up in a camp. Children too, allowing them a much higher quality of life.
I..." There was along and drawn out pause, and then he shook his head.
"Really, I should have thought of it myself, long ago. It's right there,
and I missed it. We all did. That doesn't excuse me for failing those children
however."

It was Clark that went next,
finally glancing at Doctor Soros, who was pointing a sonic weapon directly at
him, even though he had both hands on the table top. Mara didn't, which
probably meant that, without being noticed, she'd evened the playing field a lot.
A kinetic pistol could do that, after all.

The scarred man spoke slowly,
without any particular inflection.

"Can you do something about
the military buildup? If not, then we still have to stop you all."

The Lament's traveling Doctor
didn't nod instantly, but finally let his weathered chin come up.

"I think so. It will take
work, but some still listen to me, even in my dotage. I used to have some pull in
certain circles after all. If the people out here, your government, is willing
to entertain discussion, that might well do it. People are growing restless,
after all this time. We've spent hundreds of years coming up with tricks and
techniques to allow the world to return to a technological state without harm.
We even have plans for a working Cuvier drive." He shook his head a tiny
bit and sighed. "Which means nothing to you. It's a kind of warp drive...
A way to travel between stars? We used to have a few, but now we can make them
without damaging things. Advances in life span, medicine, computers that run off
of the energy of heat in a room, or from a person's body... Organics that will
grow in low water areas and provide year round food. Trees that won't freeze in
the winters, which are going to become harsher and colder soon. Like they used
to be. And trust me, what I'm saying only scratches the surface, and nothing
has gotten through our boards that uses more energy than a water powered mill.
Most a lot less than that. We simply aren't planning to take over, either. We
just want you to have what we, what our ancestors really, took from us all. We
should have had better lives and not used up the world, but due to ignorance
and greed, we rather destroyed things. We got it back in time, though!"

Clark...

Shrugged
.

"Isn't that what everyone
says when they're about to do the wrong thing? The others couldn't handle it,
but I'm better. It wasn't
my
fault. Look at the wonders I can do, if
only you'll trust me not to ruin the world. The Guardians were formed to guard
against that." He looked at the man directly, and got a very sad look in
return.

Doctor Millis ate a bite of
salad, which reminded Pran too as well. The second course would be more
filling, hopefully, but for now it was what was on her plate.

The old downloaded human being
from another time looked considering then.

"I know. I didn't put that
organization together myself, but I think it was done almost
too
well,
sometimes. Half the problems we've had reestablishing things comes down to the
Guardians stopping us at every turn."

Thinking about it and not
really
wanting a bloody battle before they finished dessert, Pran nodded, to get
attention from everyone.

"So... Why not run
everything past the Guardians? If it doesn't pass the energy use requirements,
then it doesn't get made. Just like everyone else has to do? If the things you
want to use are as good as you say, you can prove them out, can't you? Even if
it takes a long time, well, you
have
time, right? Hundreds of years?
Didn't you say once that the original plan was for you to wait six hundred
years or more? Pushing too hard now is just being
stupid
."

That got general agreement from
the room and people ate for a while, Mara and Doctor Soros doing it with one
hand each, which
didn't
make for easy conversation. It did let the
servants come and take the plates away so the next course could be served. It
was a tiny portion of meat, cooked to perfection. She didn't know what kind it
was, but suspected fish. That wasn't something she'd had a lot of herself
before. It was flaky and delicate, tasting faintly of lemon.

"This is very good, isn't
it?" She pointed with her fork, then realized that was probably rude, so
she set it down. Clarice beamed at her.

"Yes, Bard Pran, it truly
is. Whitefish, I think?"

Kabrin, managing to get a hold of
himself finally cleared his throat.

"Tilapia, I believe? Margan
was coming in with some earlier this morning as I was leaving for work."

The others all said it was well
done too, because there was very little reason to be rude about things, at this
point. Finally, when those plates were cleared, and a nice clear broth was
being served, Pran waved at Doctor Soros and then Mara.

"Say,
I
know, why
don't we all pretend that we're
not
planning on a spectacular and
horrible failure? It sounds like we might actually have a workable plan forming
here, as long as no one decided that death is the best solution. I'd really
love to shut down the Grange. This is one way to do it. Otherwise I'm going to
need explosives." She'd seen that once. A whole building went up in a
giant and very loud fire that made her head ring for hours after it was done.

Bard Clarice took a sip from her
funny shaped extra deep spoon and then looked over at her.

"Even if we can't bring the
rest of this off, we should see to that. So, what's the plan? If not a camp, or
torture to get at our secrets?"

For some unknown reason, they all
looked at her, and since Pran was busily taking a sip of her own soup, the
clear and salty broth reminding her a bit of onions, she felt awkward.

"Um..." Well, she'd
been the one running her mouth and pretending she knew what to do, so she
shrugged. "First, we do
very
little. We'll chat with Saran and
Judge Sims, and some of the other Judges. Then, without using any drugs, Doctor
Millis, we'll invite the High Council over for a conversation. At that point we'll
get the military build up to, um... go away. The Old People can work on putting
together some of the ideas that might get past the Guardians as a sign that
they aren't going to try and upset the balance. There are missing elements
here, since I don't know everything, but as long as no one tries anything
violent, we have all the time we need to discuss things and do this without
hurting anyone." She nearly added a plaintive
don't we
to the end
of that, but managed to sound fairly confident instead.

Like listening to her made
sense
.

"Then, Doctor Soros and I come
up with some plays and songs to help explain this to people and teach all the
Bards we can, around the world, so the message can be spread. I figure it will
all take a few decades, but..."

The middle aged man actually put
his weapon away then, which got a delayed, but similar move from Guardian Mara.

What Pran really wanted to say
was that she was just a Bard. Not even that really, since it was most logical
that Bard Clarice was going to be removed from office, pretty soon. Admitting
that you'd stolen the life of a young girl, even if she still lived in some far
off and unreachable fantasy land, wasn't going to play well with the masses. In
fact it might be better for them to not mention that part.

That left her with a problem
still, and she let her jaw clench. After all, it wasn't
really
her
problem, was it?

She didn't like it, but after the
next course came, she looked at her Doctor friend and held his gaze.

"I'm... Going to have to go
to this fantasy world of yours and make sure I can come back and that it isn't
a trick. Some other people as well. Otherwise I can't let you do it to those
kids. Not all of them. A few maybe, since they're so sick they don't deserve to
live right now, but... Well, if it's a trick, I don't want to die either. Can
it be done, and is it safe?"

That got a nod from the three
downloads in the room, and a hard look from Clark, who shook his head.

"No, we can't risk it. If it
is a trick, they could put someone else in you and use them to infiltrate. They
planned to try it before, with both of us. I was hooked up to the machine at
the time, so it seemed a credible threat." He all but glared at their
friendly Doctor.

For his part he simply nodded.

"A
very
poor plan.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience that caused you both, truly. They meant well,
but... We try not to kill anyone, so the idea was to have you two replaced, and
then flee. That would leave you both alive, inside the system and yet not a
threat to our plans. I can assure you however that no one will harm you there.
It isn't allowed. No violence is. I think that Pran going would be a good start
at any rate. No one would easily fake her musical talent, for instance. We have
some very good musicians mind, but they're very different in what they can do.
It will be simple enough to ascertain who comes out. For that matter, you don't
even have to go all the way in. We have a way of letting you experience it
without ever leaving your body. That would probably work best anyway. It's far
faster and takes less energy."

She nodded, liking the sound of
that better, though Clark clearly wasn't convinced. Pran clapped her hands
once, and smiled anyway.

"Good! Well, let's set that
all up then. We can meet here for dinner in two days? If that won't put you out
I mean, Clarice. Or you, Kabrin? We could hold this someplace else, I'm
sure." Maybe Captain Mina would let them use The Lament for it? The idea
took her for a second, since it would mean fewer chances for people to storm in
and take over by force.

Someone almost had to try that,
didn't they? It was foolish and unneeded, so of course they would. People were
most often in things for themselves, and if that meant ruining what was best
for everyone, well, so be it. Right?

She decided not to play that game
herself, and to take the high road, at least outwardly. Inside, well, she'd
survive
,
whatever it took. If that meant being the one to bring everything down in order
to benefit the most, then so be it.

Was that small and narrow minded?
Yes, it really was. Nothing in Pran's world had ever told her that doing
otherwise was the right path however. Even staring at the world with more
information than she'd ever had before, it was the same, wasn't it? Those with
power and influence, with families and people to look out for them, got the
best of everything. Everyone else was just
used
. Nothing more than a
hole for someone to fill up, however they pleased.

She tried not to dwell on things
from the past, but it was harder than it should have been. Finally, trying not
to seem moody, she went back to her practice for the next day, going over
everything, several more times, trying to improve with every note she played.
Every breath became dedicated to being more than she was, for a while, until it
was time for bed.