Strangers and Lies (19 page)

"Sure, that should work. Do it in the next few days however, you have the code to reach me here? I'll collect up the needed information for you. If you don't have a program already, I suggest you start some kind of fitness training. It really is hard work." She smiled as the Count looked away to hide an amused look, but the girl herself nodded and moved on easily. The countess glared at her a little, but gave her a hug and whispered in her ear after a half second.

"Don't worry, it will be good for her. I just don't want to seem too supportive, or she won't want to try it."

That made sense, in a backwards, reverse psychology manner. Gwen smiled and let her walk on.

The Westmorlands all came at her one after the other, mainly giving her hugs too, including Kelvin, though his was quick and not half as much fun as they normally were. He didn't smile about it, but did pass her a note. She kept it hidden in her hand, not having anywhere to hide it.

Erica, the girl that had acted as her aid for about a week hugged her too, and started to walk on, until Gwen took her arm gently.

"Are you assigned to the Camp detail?"

The girl shook her head, looking a little sad about it all.

"No, Army duty right now. Infantry training cycle. I report in the morning. Marcus is working the boys section though. You should get in touch with him and see what they're doing. I think he's planning to lead his side in the war games between you."

Gwen nodded, since it was a great idea, gathering intelligence early. She'd need to make sure her side was properly armed. The boys had the advantage here, for a half dozen reasons, so some cheating was probably in order. Toy crins were a thing here and
only
boys played with them. Girls had dolls. It was a lot tighter that way than things had been back home.

That thought brought to mind her little house, and how she was probably lying on her memory foam mattress, rotting all over it. The thought was gruesome but she didn't shy away from it this time. She was, like it or not, dead. That she was still moving around and in a different place was thanks to magic, not anything else. Hiding from that fact wasn't going to help her at all. Then again, neither would dwelling on it. She hugged the girl again and then shook hands with the next person in line, who was a Westmorland boy she didn't know at all. He was about thirteen or so, and looked hard, like they had him in serious training already.

This went on until the last person, who, naturally, was Deborah Winslow. The woman stopped in front of her, and then gave Beth a slightly wry look. She didn't ask her to leave, just shaking her head a little and whispering.

"So... Was this why you told me you didn't like women anymore? You're a different person? I... It's so hard to believe."

It was for her too, so Gwen just nodded.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry. You really are great and, you know, if I even thought I could do that, I'd certainly want to see if you'd be willing... I just... can't. I'm sorry." The last word was a little more plaintive than she would have wanted, but it seemed to take well enough, the woman patting her arm gently and not seeming too angry about the whole thing.

"Don't let it worry you, it isn't your fault or responsibility. A bit of a shame for me, of course, but you know, if you ever change your mind, or get curious, get in touch with me?"

There was a cute smile that went with the words and the thirty-something woman left without saying much else, which was good, since Ethyl and Robert had both been watching the whole time. Robert seemed a little flustered, but Mrs. Vernor looked like she was about ready to throw down, both hands in fists at her sides. As soon as the last person left she turned to Gwen and...sighed.

"That went
much
better than last time. I have to admit I was a little worried that some of your friends might prove to be, well, out of place here, but they all fit wonderfully. I wasn't aware that you knew Duke Morten. Thomas never mentioned that he was serving with us."

Robert flipped his hands up and managed to look dashing while he did it.

"Perhaps he didn't know? We should make a point of having him over however, for a business meeting. Morten is a major stockholder. Now I know why."

Gwen thought about it for a few seconds and nodded.

"Right. By being on the ship like that, he gets firsthand information from all over the world. It wouldn't shock me to find out he's one of the more successful shareholders either."

That started a discussion about what looked promising for investment, which was short lived, Ethyl pulling her husband away, so that the girls could get to bed. Beth followed her, still having not done more than respond a few times, when spoken to directly.

Back in her room, Gwen pulled her friend in and stared at her for a few seconds, her mind blank.

"Bethany, will you return to your normal state now?"

There was a pause, a thing that was nearly imperceptible. Then the woman sighed and relaxed, just a bit.

"Thank you. Adam set me the task. No one seemed other than what they were claiming to be. It is just possible that someone might have been so well masked that I couldn't tell, but if so the work on them was perfect. It means we can trust everyone that had been in the room."

That was good news, but seemed a little bit over the top. Except of course that Gwen knew it really wasn't. Everyone had to be checked, regularly, didn't they? Except the Westmorlands since they were trained in a way that made them functionally immune to mental tampering.

Gwen too now, it seemed. It hadn't been fun and she wouldn't want to suggest that everyone undergo the process if they didn't need to, but it was something to think about for key individuals. Like the King and his top aides. Slowly she outlined the plan in her head and then promptly tried to forget it. After all, no one would go for that, would they? It was... Horrible really wasn't a strong enough word for what it was. It was insane really. A thing that shouldn't be done to anyone, no matter how well it worked. Except...

 They didn't have anything else that might really work, did they? Even strong minded people had been taken by Debussey and her friends and forced to do things that were clearly insane. Killing themselves, and others, for instance.

She walked Beth to her room, down the hall a bit, and said goodnight, since that seemed safe enough, even in the magical world they were in. It was well wishing, not a breaking off of the line between them. They didn't chat about anything important, but that could be for a thousand different reasons, including the most obvious, that there just wasn't a lot left to say.

Sleep was fitful and didn't come very easily at all, but it was enough to allow her to get up and run for an hour before Beth came out and insisted she be tortured into working harder than was reasonable again. She really didn't want to do it. In fact, she hurt already, even before she was up in the air. Today the drill was different however, requiring Gwen to fly around the jogging path through the woods as fast as she could manage, pain starting anytime she fell below a certain speed. It wasn't fast, even given that, but it was nearly at her top running speed and Beth didn't let up for a long time. Really, she couldn't, since the device was on Gwen and Bethany was standing back by the house, waiting for her to come back around.

It was like a bad movie.

"Go below fifty miles an hour and the bomb goes off." She growled to herself, under her breath, since talking was too difficult at the moment, what with the panting and all that. Her lungs felt ragged and burnt when she was finally allowed to stop and her head ached so much she started crying. It wasn't an emotional reaction, it was pure pain making her eyes water, but it had about the same effect.

Bethany looked sad and a little upset for a bit, but traded the device out for a different one that had a single radiative disk on it, placed on her upper back with some kind of sticky, but magically conductive, substance. After two minutes to catch her breath, the other woman swallowed and pointed at the path again, looking a bit out of sorts.

"This is a timer. The unit on your flesh will deliver incredible pain if you fail to get back here in time, or if you try to remove it. You have to fly the entire course along the path and be back here in four minutes. Your best time so far has been six.... I'm sorry, but you have to do it." There was actual regret in the tone at least, which wouldn't help her at all in four minutes when the thing went off.

She started off as fast as she could, ripping through the woods, forcing herself to keep going, even as her mind burned from the stress. That was discomfort, but the pain to come would be much, much worse, if she didn't hurry. She sped up as the time drew near, able to see Beth in the back yard, but also knowing she wasn't going to make it in time.

The searing ran through her for a full minute. She screamed and writhed on the ground, her body tense and hurting so much she honestly believed she was about to die. It ended just before she started wishing for it. After a minute on the ground, Bethany walked over to her. It was clear that she'd been crying, but she also pointed at the little device again.

"You only have another two minutes to recover, then you have to try it again. Three more times. You won't get as much time now, about ten seconds less. You can do it though. You were so close." She didn't say she was sorry again, but it wouldn't have helped at all anyway.

Gwen stood, still feeling wrung out and like she couldn't possibly do anything.

"God, is this how all of you are trained?" She didn't have to explain that she meant the Westmorlands, Beth knew what she meant.

"Yes, when we're children. You need to get ready, you have about fifteen seconds..."

This time she went faster. It was frantic and close, but she managed to land in time and tap the device on the ground, even though she didn't know if she had to or not. Bethany looked proud at least. Then told her the next time would be faster still. By thirty seconds.

She didn't make that one, screaming in agony again instead. Then she failed the test after that too, which would have required her to do it all in about three minutes. That would have been a speed over thirty-eight miles an hour, but she didn't get close to that. Instead she had to hobble out of the woods about ten minutes later, hoping they were done. She decided that she really didn't want to play this game anymore. It wasn't a useful skill even.

Beth, and the Westmorland protocols apparently were ready for that, since the device had to be traded off for the next one before it could be taken off. If she tried anything else it would have delivered a vast amount of pain as a deterrent first. It wasn't fair, but it worked, meaning she was hooked up for the next session in a few seconds.

She wanted to cry or scream, but knew it wouldn't help, not at all.

Instead she spent an hour trying to hit increasingly distant targets, one every ten seconds, getting a solid jolt of pain each time she missed. The only thing that worked was making certain she was dead on and aimed at the correct one each time, which signaled that by waving a tiny metal arm slightly. She wasn't perfect at it, but she did better than she normally would have, trying to avoid as much pain as possible.

Then yet another unit was traded in. This one, it turned out, was just to make certain she was ready for the next day and didn't run away. It was both insightful, and horribly evil. Worse, she was nearly certain that Bethany didn't have a choice but to do this to her. Probably some massive training she'd had at some point required it of her.

On the good side she was nearly certain of two things by the end of the four hour long session. The first part of it was that Adam Westmorland had to have ordered this himself. If not, then Manly hated her guts too, and was just better at hiding it from her.

The second part was a little more abstract.

"You know Beth, people here hate the Westmorlands, but really, they should hate themselves. They let this be done to little children and force
you
to do it to them? It's
insane
."

For the first time since they met Bethany Westmorland said something that she'd never really more than hinted at before.

"Yes, it certainly is. It's mad, and the kingdom hates us for it, since doing anything else would mean they'd have to hate themselves instead. Maybe they should?"

 Any good person
would
, if they knew what was happening, but then, she kind of thought most people really didn't know. How could they?

If they did they wouldn't let it continue. Not if they wanted to look themselves in the mirror ever again.

Gwen was ready for a long shower and maybe a nice cry when she got inside, everything hurt still, if not nearly as much as the torture itself had while it was going on. It was awful and if she thought she could handle it she would have ripped the thing Beth had put on her off and run away. That or at least armed herself well. Instead she just kind of sighed and got ready to clean up, not knowing if the thing was waterproof or not.

It was, so she didn't end up in agony over the whole thing, but before she could do more than dampen her hair there was a pounding on the door. It was loud and held anxiety, not just a tap to get her attention.

"Gwen, armor on now! The Capital's gone." The voice was familiar, being that it belonged to Heather.

There was no time for her to think, not with that news, even if it didn't make sense to her yet. Part of her brain tried to turn it into someone having stolen her investment fund for some reason, but when she opened the door, dripping and naked, the other woman was pure white and wearing her own matte gray armor, with the helmet off.

She didn't make her ask what she meant.

"Someone... They rifted the Capital. It's
gone
. It wasn't us. Not a Westmorland, we've all been accounted for. We... No one knows what to do. It has to be the monsters trying to open the void." Her voice got softer and she kept speaking, even as Gwen padded over to the armor ready room, which was just a large closet that had her stuff in it, along with Beth's. The other Westmorland was already getting dressed, half the suit of metal covering her. Gwen started to race toward that end herself, scrambling into her white undergarments, the base clothing that was needed to keep the magical armor from just chaffing a person bloody. The problem was that the top wouldn't fit. It was getting caught up on the training device that Beth had strapped to her upper arm earlier.

Heather looked at it and went wide eyed, but didn't ask what it was, clearly working it all out. Instead she cursed softly.

"Crap. We're going to have to take it off early... There's always a pattern to how the devices work. I take it you aren't too far in?"

Bethany grunted something that wasn't a real word, still getting her own gear around. She explained a moment later.

"Second day. It's a ten day schedule."

That got the Special Service woman to freeze, her eyes watering just a bit as she did.

"Oh. I... Don't know what to do then. We don't have time..."

Gwen reached up and ripped the thing off. The second it started to release it sent a shock of agony through her entire being and she nearly had to stop trying to take it off, but she managed, just barely, to get the lead away from her skin as she went to the floor, screaming. She didn't stop for a bit, even after the pain suddenly cut out. She couldn't help it. As soon as that was done she stood up, the device being dropped without concern for where it went.

If the Capital had been destroyed...

It was a very bad thing indeed. She didn't think about what it meant, she just started working, struggling into the clothing first and then the armor, even as she gasped for air that wouldn't come, the pain having stolen that from her.

It took seven minutes for her to get into the stuff normally, but this time she did it faster, not stopping, not thinking about what to do next, just flowing from one thing to another without hesitations, not letting herself pause for any reason at all. It was a lot faster to do it that way, at least in overall time spent. She was still behind the others who moved out and down the hall after they both got their helmets on.

She didn't wait to be told what to do, just putting her own light blue, nearly pearlescent, magical armor on. She had a lance too, which she picked up, since who knew what might be needed in the coming hours and days. Then she grabbed the other one that was there for Beth. If they had to fight it would be best to be armed. After that, she nearly ran, focusing to power the suit as hard as she could, actually flying down the two flights of stairs instead of walking. It was hard to do, but much faster, meaning that she got to the front of the house only about a minute or so after the others did. They were, clearly, dithering, since they didn't have a clue what to do either.

In their world only one nation had anything that could do what had happened. The Western Kingdom. The Westmorlands were the only nukes in this case, except, it seemed, that they weren't. Not anymore. What that meant she just didn't know. It could be a real nuclear weapon from a different world, or something like it, built in the Western Kingdom, using a technique or trick she didn't understand at all, perhaps. It would have been far too hard to actually make a bomb, given the different technologies, if they were using strict technology, but who knew what else Erin and her buddies had figured out, stealing the minds of people from other worlds like they were.

There was no real time to figure it out either, so Gwen did what seemed to be the most sensible thing she could think of, which was to try and figure out what had happened. That meant going to the telesar in this world. That was playing... very little at all. Almost everyone was in shock, just kind of babbling, instead of trying to do anything useful. The telestator lines were all jammed as well, since they used human operators who could only handle so much traffic at once. It showed up as no one talking to them at all when Heather activated the central sphere, having thrown her right glove off to see to the task, since it needed to touch human skin to operate.

It was chaos, and that soon showed as being even worse when reports started coming in that the other three capitals of this world had been hit as well, at exactly the same time. No one knew what it meant, except of course that it was designed to send everyone into a blind panic.

"Energy harvesting." Beth muttered, her blank lead colored helm covering her face. She sounded cold and calculating suddenly. Military. Then she was trained for that, so it made sense for it to be her fallback position. Gwen's only training had been from television and video games.

Which was why
she
was going to take action.

"I'm going to head to the telesar station and start a broadcast for pick-up. This is some kind of ritual thing, and we need to get everyone on the same page. We can't help the fear, that's going to come, but we can get everyone ready. I'm not certain where it is..." She was supposed to go later in the day, with James driving it wasn't going to help unless he was going to magically appear outside, perhaps waiting for her?

She checked, which required removing her own metal glove to operate the door, she realized, except that Winslow saw what she was doing and ran to help.

"Rather a tense situation, isn't it, miss? What do you plan to do?" He didn't make a recommendation, which was probably good, since honestly, she was going to get a voice out to the world that wasn't scared, if she could. She didn't want to fight about it, if possible though. It would take too much time and just make her feel bad for pushing the guy around. That wouldn't stop her from doing it, but it would be upsetting.

She liked him after all.

"I need to get to the closest telesar broadcast center, wherever that is. Then I need to get people informed and ready to fight."

It was a plan. Probably a bad one, but given that the alternative was to sit around and wait for everyone else to figure out what to do and that most of them had less clue about this kind of thing than she did... Yeah, Gwen needed to be heard. Fast too.

James wasn't there and probably wouldn't be for a while. She was willing to walk, if need be, but really, that required a destination and she'd need to be out of her armor either way. It was a hassle, but it just made sense. The rules said that if a fight came you got dressed for it, but they probably weren't going in for close combat that day.

Ten minutes later she padded back down in a tan jumpsuit, with her base clothing on under it, just in case she had to get back in the armor. She wore an old pair of boots and went to check on Heather and Beth first. They were both still standing by the telestator, along with Mrs. Vernor and about half the household staff. The thing still hadn't picked up at all.

She went to the front again, just in time to see the white lorrie pull up to the large circular drive. The green lawn in the middle of it was flat and empty, but there were flowers planted around the edges, ones that had started to bloom, but weren't yet. Kind of like her. There, but not really ready. Except that there wasn't a choice. Not this time. In most cases there wasn't.

She didn't wait for James to stop, jumping up to sit alongside him on the driver's bench so they could talk while they rode.

"The Capital has been destroyed. It's gone. Rifted. The same in all the other countries. Um... Lands. Anyway, no one can get through on the telestator, so we need to start something using the telesar. We don't have time..."

James didn't wait for her to explain, his face simply going hard, taking off at nearly full speed, which was about forty miles per hour for this sports model lorrie. He did things that were a lot more complicated than she would have thought, his fingers hitting different small metal pads on the control rudder. From his look of concentration it was work to do it, actually magical in some way. She always figured it was all about the giant crystal that powered the thing, but apparently it took real skill too. No wonder you had to have a decently high magic rating to do it. She didn't speak, not knowing if that would be too disruptive to the man, but he did, after about ten minutes, when they hit a straight road that they wouldn't have to take any turns on.

"Is the King... Does he live?" His voice was harsh and worried, but he kept his eyes front and face set. It made him seem tough.

"I don't know. If he was in the Capital, then he's dead. So is almost everyone that was there. These things spread radiative poisoning when they go off. Even the ones from my world do something similar. I doubt this is much different. We need to evacuate and get aid to the people leaving the city as fast as possible. Then... The continuity of government program has to go into effect. Who's next in line for the throne, if Ferdinand isn't... If he's gone?"

 The man shook his head.

"Not certain. Honestly I never spent much thought on that kind of thing. He didn't have any kids yet, so... I think it would go to his father's brother? Provided he wasn't in the blast too. This is... Anyway, we're almost there. I think it's the building ahead of us?"

He pointed, but almost didn't need to.

The building had a six story tower on the top, with a sphere of copper colored metal that had to have been at least twenty feet across. It had a crisscross wooden tower under it, holding it up in a way that made it look like a slightly funny and old fashion microphone. The base was a brick building that had nothing in particular to recommend it, except the large letters on the front. WGN. Hopefully it was the right place, because Gwen was going to take it over, one way or the other.

She didn't wait for the lorrie to stop before hopping down, which was a mistake, since her right foot caught on the small four inch high safety lip, causing her to spill out without control. Almost without thinking she focused and put her flying practice to good use, floating down instead of landing on her head, which was the most likely outcome. James looked at her with wide eyes for a few seconds, then carefully got down himself. They jogged in together, to find the lobby of the place filled with people that were desperately trying to call out on the telestator while listening to different TS programs, hoping that someone would have some kind of information. They were all dressed to work, in decent but not really nice clothing, smooth and shiny cotton pants and shirts, with the three women all being in skirts.

Casual daily wear for reporters.

Gwen cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, I'm Gwen Farris, and I'm taking over this telesar operation for the government. I need to get on the air. Now." She tried to sound like she had a plan and knew what she was doing, but the room just froze and turned to stare at her, as if she'd just claimed to be Elvis or something. Except that wouldn't mean anything here and being her, it seemed, might.

It took a few seconds for anyone to speak, but instead of looking doubtful one of the men stepped forward.

"This way, we need to interrupt the feed and go national. This is kingdom business everyone...
Move
!" The man, who had thinning hair and a slightly familiar face closed with her and James, sticking his right hand out, to her companion first. "Will Werner. Let's get you going live."

He bustled, if a thin man could be said to do that. They nearly ran into the booth where a very confused sounding man named George was busily repeating that they didn't know anything. He looked up as they came through the door, a single glass sheet between them, and flipped his palms up. Werner charged the door with Gwen right behind him. She didn't know if it was going to be a fight for the mic or not, but the man in front of her seemed ready at least.

Grabbing it he spoke, his voice suddenly deeper and more professional. He was actually laying on top of the low desk to do it, the man behind the thing blinking more than a bit. He looked ready to keel over from fluid loss, having been sweating horribly, even though it was merely warm in the room, not blistering.