Off Center (The Lament) (26 page)

"Yeah.
Poor guy. Well, I need to check the maneuvering blades before we take off. That
means going outside." He walked away, and didn't even look back at her, as
interested in his work as he seemed.

Pran
watched his rear as he did it, remembering the other night. It was strange, but
she felt a warm feeling about it, instead of fear or anger. He'd been kind to her
and it was nice, she decided. A good thing.

She
jogged, carefully, to find the Captain, who was pretty busy and looked ready to
bark at her when she stepped onto the Bridge, that didn't really show in her tone
at least, which was nearly friendly. She even managed a smile, after a fashion.

"Bard
Pran? Do we need more cookies in the mess hall? Or softer pillows?" She laughed
then and so did the other people on the Bridge, including Paul, though
he
at least looked like he was teasing her.

She
smiled, getting that it was a Bard thing. They were assuming that she was coming
to complain about some personal comfort issue? Except they knew better, so it was
the opposite really. They were making fun of her oddness, and how she was different
than other Bards.

Fine.
She nodded at the Captain.

"If
you could see to that? Also, I need Apprentice Roy for the trip into Hilden. That
and some leather or rope, or ideally both, for carrying straps for the med pack.
But cookies would be good too. I'm pretty happy with my current pillow however."
She waited, but the woman didn't smile, she just looked at Paul and then the woman
that was at the actual controls of the ship.

"Do
it. Sign out what you need, but use it. If you can't find something, ask Roy. Darla,
we'll need you in engines, starting eight hours before we get in. Roy will need
to sleep, if he can."

The
woman was a bit older looking too, but only a little, being in her twenties or so,
and having long light brown hair. She was kind of normal looking, but had a distinctive
nose that actually stuck up at the top line. It was the one feature that made her
slightly memorable, though outside of seeing her on occasion at meals, Pran knew
nothing about her.

"Aye,
Captain."

Mina
looked at Pran and raised her eyebrows.

"Anything
else?"

"Not
for now, thank you. I'm sure there will be something eventually. There always is,
isn't there? Reality always making us do stuff." She faked a sigh and a hangdog
look, because Bards were
supposed
to entertain. It was literally what their
job description was.

Some
thought it was about making art, but that was wrong. They did that too, but it was
a side occupation. They were there to make people feel like life was worth living,
when you cut through all the other garbage and trappings, meant to make them look
good.

The
Captain smiled, her face relaxing a bit.

"That
it does, Bard Pran, that it does."

With
a wave, she got off the Bridge, since it was clear they were looking to take off
and that meant using bells to get the rope crews into place. Half the time it seemed
like they did that in the dark, too, which was a little odd. Of course that could
have been due to the fact that the last weeks had been filled with attacks and techno-cultists,
rather than the way the business of airship travel was actually run, day to day.

Pran
had hours before she needed to sleep, and it didn't take her that long to get the
harnesses ready. They were just ropes after all, doubled up for strength, and with
a leather pad that had old rags wrapped inside them so that their necks and shouldn't
rub too much. The hard part was making sure the lengths were all correct, and marking
them so that they'd know who was supposed to get which one. If it worked, then they'd
all be carrying the box standing up, rather than at different levels for each of
them.

She
had an idea and added a set of wooden handles for Clark, so that he could hold his
side without bending over. That they'd want to use their hands to take part of the
stress made sense to her at least. If not, well, it didn't add a lot of weight and
gave her something to do, while she waited. When she went to bed, Roy wasn't there
and in the morning, when she got up, he was still gone. Unless he'd managed to come
in, sleep and get up again. His job didn't go all night like that, so she realized
that he must have slept somewhere else.

That...

It
didn't leave her feeling all that great, she realized. They hadn't signed a contract
or gotten married, or even talked about doing more than they had in a passing fashion.
She knew that, and intellectually agreed with the idea. She was leaving in a few
weeks, provided they didn't die on the mountain, and that meant...

She
shrugged.

What
it really meant was that she was jealous, and had no right to be.

After
she ate and showered, she went to find Doctor Millis, who might, or might not, be
awake for the day. He was in the sick room, puttering about, reading from books
it seemed.

He
looked up and smiled, happily, like he always did. Almost always.

"Ah,
Bard Pran, is everything all right? You're well? I know the stress of the last weeks
must be wearing on you. Please, come in, have a seat." He actually stood and
closed the door, while she pulled a chair up. He didn't keep going until she was
settled in. "Really now, are you doing well?"

She
was touched at his concern, but was able to nod.

"Except
that Roy is sleeping with someone else, I think. That's his right, but-" She
was being a whining little bitch, was what.

Except
that Doctor Millis seemed to understand.

"Yes,
that's always a problem, when people are involved. We know what the rules are, and
even desire to follow them, but a lot of social constructs don't work on the biological
level very well. Do you wish to talk about it? Or other things?" That last
bit came out slightly sly, as if he was indicating the men that had escaped.

She
shrugged.

"Well,
Guardian Clark, Mara and Judge Claire all know that you're one of those techno-cult
people. A Download. Guardian Clark was already informed about that, and had the
job here in order to watch you, specifically. They helped cover up the escape, so
I could gain your trust. The plan is for Clark and the others to find your secret
stronghold and to kill you all. No one wants to do it, but you're doing too good
of a job this time, trying to take over." She let the truth hit the man, and
watched him closely, but he just sat in slight shock for a bit and then leaned back,
smiling.

"Ah.
Well, I'd already figured out about Guardian Clark, but I didn't know that you'd
tell me about it. I actually wondered if you'd beaten my truth serum. It shouldn't
be possible, but you're a very clever young lady."

She
tilted her head a bit and winked.

"I
did
beat it. By changing my mind later. It worked pretty well, but what's
true right now might not be after a while. Really, I'm still sort of against you
and your side. It's the whole part where you kill people and take their bodies like
you do. Kind of creepy."

Doctor
Millis blinked and then laughed a little bit.

"Replace,
dear. We don't kill anyone. They simply go and live in a virtual form, inside the
computer network." He waved in the air a bit. "That's... The special place
where we all come from now. It's very nice. Nicer than the real world in most ways.
There's no crime, you can eat what you want, have every comfort, including ones
that I won't even bother to describe. Some of the greatest music, plays and other
entertainments ever created are there for them, all the time."

There
was a pause and then an old and slow sigh, the kind of thing that only an ancient
man or woman could really pull off. It rattled a little, and carried a sense of
great wisdom with it.

"Though
there is no justifying the theft of people's lives. The fear they feel as they are
taken, against their will, and forced into cages, so that we may try to find a match
for them. If we could just get people to understand what we desire... I suppose
it would be too much to ask for volunteers? We really just want to help make the
world a better place." He sounded sincere and everything.

"Then
why not explain all that? Go to the Council and-"

"We've
tried. It's the problem with anything that seems new. People don't trust it, and
by extension, us. Worse, those of us in the network, not all, mind, but many, are
becoming frustrated with the lack of improvement that you're all making up here.
When Michael Morse set this society up, he thought that humanity would be undoing
the damage of the old world for thousands of years. He wasn't wrong, based on what
was known at the time, but the man is so full of himself that he can't let go of
the idea, even now."

Pran
looked at the old Doctor and slowly, as if trying not to seem like a complete moron,
smiled. It was a shy thing, but she didn't let herself seem incredulous.

"You
have
Michael Morse
in your... Network thing? Your other world?"

"Oh,
my yes. He's a pain in the ass, a complete jackass, if you'll pardon the language.
You'd think he created the perfect society, but this one was built not to change.
Not much at least. Except that part of being human means that people should be allowed
what novelty they can have." He stopped abruptly and then reached out to touch
her arm. "Forgive me, you have something you needed?"

"Oh,
I wanted to go over what I might need to know for, in Hilden? Just in case we can't
get in touch with you, or at least so I'll know what thing is what and all that."

"Ah!
Brilliant. Yes, I was just reviewing some things myself. I made a list of the most
likely diseases that it might be, but if you learn the correct vocabulary, you'll
be able to help me narrow it down a lot, once you get into place. Here..."

They
kept going, mainly with her memorizing things, using every trick she knew and coming
up with a few new ones on the fly, until a knock came at the door. She was making
up lyrics with the correct names involved and little song pieces to help her hold
things in mind.

The
voice that came through the wood was familiar at least. Bard Ben.

"Doctor?
Are you in?"

"Yes,
yes... Come in, please, Bard Benjamin. My youthful assistant and myself were just
going over the symptoms of various diseases."

When
he came in the young Bard was dressed for the day, which meant it was after noon,
and he was empty handed, meaning that he hadn't come to play for the older man.
He looked a little shocked to see her there, but smiled and shook his head.

"I
should have known who that assistant would be. I was just going to see if you'd
like to join me for lunch? Judge Claire suggested it, and I think it's a brilliant
idea. If you're busy, I can make an excuse for the two of you." The way he
said it made it seem like he was joking, and expected them to be running off to
sit with him and the Judge in the mess hall, but that wasn't going to happen. Mara
and Clark would be busy, trying to set up their journey into Hilden, and that meant
Claire needed to eat in her own room. Without the Doctor, who was the enemy after
all, being there.

The
funny thing, she realized was that she could tell the Doctor himself that, and he'd
understand well enough, she thought. The one that she couldn't explain it to was
her friend, Ben. It was too much information for him to easily take in.

The
Doctor shook his head anyway, and tapped the open book in front of him.

"We
have mere hours to go over hundreds of possible treatment paths, I'm afraid. Pran
might well have to do this on her own. We can't know what we're sending her into,
so I fear we cannot free her from this drudgery for even that long. I don't suppose
you could have something sent over for us?"

Benjamin
looked troubled, but called back, over his shoulder, that it would be seen to. He
left the door open, which didn't stop them from studying at all.

"There
are three main causes of disease. Bacteria, virus and chemical exposure. What are
the first things you need to look at once you reach the town?"

"Water
supply, food stores and vermin. Then..." Pran screwed her face up tight. Relaxing
only after it all came flooding back to her. "Then, the first thing we do is
get in touch with you. If that doesn't work, we'll try the treatment for Tigris
Fever, since that's probably what it is, but if that doesn't work, or if they have
spots or lumps, I'll have to move to one of the others." She kept talking,
and after about five minutes, the man seemed relatively satisfied.

Which
he showed by having her memorize a long list of things that she might need to consider.
She forced her brain to take the information, eating when food came and going over
it all, drilling, the Doctor called it, until he had to go to bed.

"That
will have to do. Hopefully it's enough. If not... Well, when in doubt,
leave
.
Keep your nose and mouth well covered and when dosing the sick, make sure they have
good clean air to breathe. Isolate them from the healthy, regardless of what they
have and wash as often as possible. Three or four times an hour isn't too much,
since you don't have good gloves for this kind of work."