The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (20 page)

Then she had to go and meet with
Chris. That part was interesting, since he looked to be Peter Westmorland.
Close enough that she was actually confused at first. Still, Pete couldn’t
teletransport that she knew of. So when the guy showed up, dressed in blue jeans
and a nice button up shirt that was tucked in, along with a belt, the idea was
kind of clear. He both was, and wasn’t, her young friend.

“Hello! I’m Gwen. I was told to
meet you here?”

If that confused the other person,
it didn’t show at all. He simply smiled at her.

“Hi! Chris. This is just a check
in. Zack sent me? Is everything going well here?”

She thought about that for a second,
then smiled.

“Honestly? Not bad. How about with
you, over there?”

The boy and he didn’t look old,
made a bit of a face.

“It runs hot and cold. Today
nothing too dark is going on. I have to get back soon. I have a history test in
the morning. I know, almost a thousand years old and still in the tenth grade.
I’d be embarrassed, but that won’t get my studying done.”

She nodded then.

“Hmm. I’m going back to school in a
few weeks myself. That’s… You don’t look that old.”

There was a slow nod then, followed
by a grin. It was fairly charming. Familiar as well, being the same one Peter
always used.

“I know. It makes getting a date a
lot harder than you might think. Luckily I know a few succubi…” He looked at
her then, more closely than was probably polite. “One of them is you. At least
she looks like you. Actually two of them are, but the other one is dating my
brother, so I
try
not to hit on her.”

She nodded then and winked.

“See, there’s a version of you here
as well. I just left him a few hours ago. Peter. Great guy. Fifteen, I think?
So we get to have emotional confusion
all
the way around.” Not that the
guy in front of her had been suggesting anything like that.

Instead, laughing a bit, he raised
his right hand.

“I should be around, in about a
week?”

“Make it a month? I’m going to be
on an airship, which might make the landings a bit rough for you. If you missed
or anything?”

“Ah? That sounds fun. In a month
then. See you then? Maybe sooner if anything comes up?”

She nodded, and watched him walk a
bit away, then vanish. Using the spot that she came in at for that part. It was
just an empty field, ringed with trees, otherwise. Trying that for herself,
Gwen didn’t notice it being any easier to leave from there in particular. Which
didn’t mean it wasn’t. Going alone just wasn’t all that hard for her, that was
all.

After that, well, she had
plans
.
The fun kind, for once.

With her boyfriend.

The next day, Gwen met Tom, which
was what they decided to call him for the trip, at his house, so she could take
him to the airbase directly. Not everyone was in when they got there, but that
just meant Gloria and Groundling put them to work doing different things. That
was mainly cleaning, since they didn’t know enough to really do anything else
of note. Gwen had a little experience, but was
far
from being an old pro
at working an airship.

So they spent the morning polishing
brass, sweeping and chasing bugs in the front of the ship, under the floor. It
was actually decently clean, but you had to crawl on all fours to make that
part happen. It wasn’t fun, so got given to the new people as often as not. If
they had any of those rare types of beasts. Tomas didn’t even pretend that the
task was beneath him. Really, he didn’t even act like he was himself, to be
honest. Just a guy with a new job. One that he apparently wanted to keep.

At eleven-thirty she waved at
Gloria.

“Hey, I need to go be on the telesar
for an hour or so. Is the load coming in before then?”

“Nope. Can you be back by four?”
The curly haired blonde woman seemed concerned about that part.

“Yeah. I should be back right after
the program is over. I only have to do it one day a week. Though I’m on call
for the new prisoner program. Ferdinand
might
get in touch on that.
Probably not when it would interrupt the loading or anything. Maybe not at all.
It depends on what’s needed.”

Interestingly, Gloria just slapped
her on the shoulder of her tan jumpsuit.

“We all get that one, Curly. We serve
first. Most that do that sort of thing aren’t useful at the same time, so no
one will complain. Unless you take off when the load comes. Then there
will
be whining and carrying on like you can’t believe. Let’s hope that doesn’t
happen?”

She agreed with that part. Not that
anyone would begrudge her saving people from a cell like that. It was strange
to find out that it was a known thing however. Honestly, she was kind of
shocked that the Europans hadn’t put a hit out on her yet. She would have, if
it were known that one of them had been stealing all the best prisoners. Then,
it was early going in that program so far. It could be that they didn’t think
it was all that big of an issue yet.

It probably wouldn’t be, until they
were trying to take the last man that was in their custody. Which, given
everything, they probably wouldn’t be able to get to. That part was sad, but it
was a real enough matter.

She didn’t change her outfit, just
going in to work at WGN about twenty minutes early. It couldn’t hurt to be
there a little bit before she’d said, after all. It meant she got to sit at the
table, going over her notes for a bit. About ten minutes before Brian Weathers
came in, smiling like they were old friends. For real. It even felt genuine.
Like they were pals already.

“Miss Farris! I managed to collect
about thirty questions for the hour. We’ll probably only get through about ten
of them, but I didn’t honestly know if you’d be willing to address some of them.
As it is we’ll likely have to put a warning out for children to leave the room.
Talk about inappropriate questions!”

She nodded, tapping her pencil on
the pad in front of her.

“You mean the ones you selected out
to be the most shocking and salacious?
Those
inappropriate questions?”

“Naturally. You know, I think you
might have a real career ahead of you here, Miss Farris. You have an innate
grasp of what’s needed. So, should we go over these now, or should I ambush you
with them?”

She didn’t know what would work
best, but figured that seeing them first would be best for
her
. There
really were some great ones on the list. Things that she never would have
thought to ask her, if
she
were the one questioning an alien woman.

A lot of them were bland however. Tilting
her head, she just nodded.

“If that’s what people want to
know, then I’ll tell them. How do we handle this?” She meant the show entrance,
which Brian went over very carefully for her. At two till the hour, as Roy
Spurges, the man who was on the air at the time, read off an advertisement,
they snuck into the room. Moving very carefully, so that no one would be
bothered at home, hearing them making a racket.

At noon exactly, Brian traded
places with Roy, as Gwen hit the second mic station, which was back in the
corner of the room, behind him. It was a bit tight, so she had to squeeze by
the older man, touching him in ways that probably meant they were dating, given
where they were. That, or someone was going to get a beating as soon as he got
outside. It was just the space though, not the man doing anything wrong. She
was the one that was rubbing up on him after all.

“Ladies and gentlemen! This is the
Gwen Farris Hour! With your hostess, Gwen! This is your chance to find out what
people from other worlds might be like, what they think and if you aren’t
careful what they think of
you
! Settle in and get ready, since this is
going to be something rather different.” Brian actually sounded happy. More
like he had in the outer room, than she’d ever heard him doing before. Happy to
be there, instead of ready to rip someone a new bodily orifice.

Gwen hit the tab and leaned in,
trying to match his energy.

“Thanks Brian! Today, our very
first program, will be a combination of me trying to guilt trip you all into supporting
the troops and you asking me questions that would make a sailor blush. I saw
the list, there are some doozies on it! If you’re of delicate constitution, or
too young, clear the room now! We’ll chat for about half a minute first, so you
can do that.”

Brian went a bit wide eyed.

“That’s not a joke, friends. It’s a
true warning and should be considered. Now, Miss Farris, why not tell us about
some of those programs you mentioned?”

She nodded and glanced at her
notes.

“
Ooooh
. That’s a great use
of our time. Okay everyone, get something to write with… I have some real
announcements here.” It was probably a bit boring really, but she acted like it
was a huge deal. As if the Students Service was amazing and new. Also the new
airship program. There would be other things coming as well, but that was all
she really had new data on that week.

After two minutes of this, Brian
smiled at her and leaned toward his silver microphone.

“All right, you alien, are you
ready for your question time?”

“Bring it, Mr. Weathers. I’ll
answer them all as honestly as possible.”

“Right. Up first, what exactly were
you thinking the other day, invading Europa on your own like you did? I’d say
it was an act of war, but it’s too late for that one.” His tone had changed,
becoming a lot darker and nearly mean. Even as his eyes shone with humor.

“I was thinking that I’m a moron.
It was a foolish thing to do. Part of how I’m built though. Also… I was
thinking that I need to atone for what Katherine did. Betraying us all? I
should have stopped her somehow, but… I just couldn’t. No matter how hard I
tried. I’m probably a bit suicidal, to be honest on the topic. Not…
slash my
own wrists wants to die
, but definitely pushing into areas I shouldn’t,
trying to make up for things. Not that I really ever can.”

Brian blinked and didn’t speak for
a moment.

Then he took a deep breath. There
was a slight shudder to it that didn’t seem to be faked up for the audience.

“You
did
say you were going
to be honest! That’s a bit troubling, to be perfectly candid in return. You
have to promise not to let yourself come to harm, Miss Farris. Not for that
reason. You have our backing, I assure you.”

She nodded, not able to believe it.

“I know. It’s just so hard for me
to understand, that’s all. So, next question?”

“Indeed. Let me see. Something
lighter… What do you miss most from your own world?”

She knew that one off the top of
her head.

“My computer. Which means nothing
to you. It’s a box that has a screen on it, which let me… Do
everything
.
Look up facts, listen to music, watch… Shows. Plays sort of? Except they show
on the screen. Like a window, that lets you see whatever it wants? I made a
living designing web-sites. Which, again, means nothing to any of you, of
course. But that
is
the thing I miss the most. It was a big part of my
world for a long time.”

Brian didn’t lose speed this time,
talking quickly, like he wanted to rush her into the hard answers so she’d
forget to lie.

“Interesting. How about this one. I
have to admit I’ve heard it suggested before. Were you, perhaps, a man, in your
world?”

Gwen had heard it before, herself.

“Nope. All girl. I
was
crippled though. Hugely distorted. That meant a lot of people attacked me. Just
in the streets? So I had to fight a lot in order to survive. I know that women
here don’t fight a lot. There either. I didn’t have a choice. Not if I wanted
to survive. I didn’t always. Want to, I mean.”

It was the truth. Her days had been
all about being distracted and busy enough that she didn’t feel like just
taking her own life.

The following question was
incredibly different, though expected.

“So… How do you feel about the
parents of the woman that stole your life from you? Katherine Vernor didn’t
just take your life over, she murdered you. Then she stole your life again, for
years. Three of them. That alone should have her family in ruins. There have
been hints that they’ve been putting pressures on you, to prevent that from
happening.” He sounded incredibly serious. Then, she’d mentioned that idea the
day before herself, which made it a great thing to get at. Bluntly too, which
was brilliant, if you wanted to put a lie to rest.

“Oh, sure. They do that all the
time. Put pressure on me?”

Brian seemed shocked, his eyebrows
going up a lot suddenly.

“They do?”

“Yeah. Ethyl is doting and kind. I
mean
all
the time.
Constantly
. Like the mother I should have had,
if
I were incredibly lucky. That’s an incredible amount of pressure.
Plus, Robert has offered to
give
me their fortune. Not just once or
twice either. They had bags packed to go live under a bridge at one time. Can
you imagine that? I’m not joking here…” She cleared her throat, which probably
sounded wonderful to the people at home, she realized. “That would be
insane
.
Vernor Industries needs to be strong right now. Shipping is one of the most
important things during a time of war. That’s why I’m working on one of the
ships right now. As a loader. It’s why I’m going to be having kids go and work
on them, too. Because we need to keep goods moving and the economy flowing.”
She waited, Brian signaling to her for some reason.

“All right, I have one for that! If
they aren’t using you for slave labor, why are you doing physical work? You
should be doing something more intellectual, shouldn’t you? Schooling, if you
aren’t marrying?”

She grinned.

“Heh. I start classes in a few
weeks. At Western University? I can teletransport, so traveling around isn’t
that hard for me.”

“Really… I’d heard about that part.
I
saw
you do it, yesterday, in fact. How did you learn that? Some
special technique from your old world?”

The words caught her for a moment.
Not her real world. He hadn’t asked about her
home
. It was put in a way
that made it seem like this, the here and now, was her place to be. That he, at
the very least, accepted that fully.

“Oh, no… We used the Westmorland
Protocols. The old ones? Trust me, it really is torture. It works… But I can’t
recommend it, if you have another option. Though, if you’re
willing
,
send a note to the station and I’ll set up some advanced training for you. I
mean
that, by the way. We’re at war. That means people need to be willing to risk
their comfort a little bit. Especially those that have the talent for it.”

She was under selling that part of
things, but she doubted that anyone would be getting with her on that one.

There was no comment from her
co-host.

“How about this; so, what about the
rumors that you… enjoy women?”

“Delicately put! Okay, I like men.
I have a boyfriend, it’s new, so you know, leave him alone everyone.” She tried
to sound like she was teasing at least.

“Hmm? Does he have a name?” The lilt
to his voice was questing. Seeking to find out the thing that Gwen was
obviously trying to hide. At least
he
thought that was the case.

“Yes.” She stopped for a bit, then
pretended to sigh. It was clear they weren’t just changing the subject. “Fine,
be that way. Tomas Harrison? Just so no one gets confused, I mean Baron
Harrison.
Yes
, he’s too young for me. The thing there is that I’m a
forty-year-old woman hidden in the body of a twenty-seven-year-old with the
social skills of a young child. I figure that it works out. Now I just have to
learn some healing so I don’t age too fast.” That came out cheery sounding, she
hoped.