CHAPTER 34
Note
!V March 29, 1991 You might make more of this chill day, so that the
!V readers are likely to tie it up, now, with the surge and the
!V fungus. Could say something like it's like having high clouds across
!V the sun. You might also want to tojrf ask whether to do this.
!V Also there's the question of tying this up with
!V the sense of imminence that jrf has recommended for the climax
The summer hot spell broke for a time; in fact, it was almost chilly. There was still the smoke and the air was still dry, but the winds seemed less driven. Inside their cubby aboard the ship, Amdijefri weren't taking much notice of the nice weather.
"They've been slow in answering before," said Amdi. "She's explained how the ultrawave --"
Note
!V Actually, she may have been this late early in the
!V flight June 16, 1991 TUF
"Ravna's never been this late!" Not since the winter, anyway. Jefri's tone hovered between fear and petulance. In fact, there was supposed to be a transmission in the middle of the night, technical data for them to pass on to Mr. Steel. It hadn't arrived by this morning, and now Ravna had also missed their afternoon session, the time when normally they could just chat for a bit.
Note
!V PRB I still think that someplace you should have a little more
!V comment about why this ship can not be helpful to them (although
!V you have previously mentioned that no data sets are available
!V here)
!V but see c16 <24, 1991>
The two children reviewed all the comm settings. The previous fall, they had laboriously copied those and the first level diagnostics. It all looked the same now ... except for something called "carrier detect". If only they had a dataset, they might have looked up what that meant.
They had even very carefully reset some of the comm parameters ... then nervously set them back when nothing happened. Maybe they hadn't given the changes enough of a chance to work. Maybe now they had really messed something up.
They stayed in the command cubby all through the afternoon, their minds cycling trough fear and boredom and frustration. After four hours, boredom had at least a temporary victory. Jefri was napping uneasily in his father's hammock with two of Amdi curled up in his arms.
Amdi poked idly around the room, looked at the rocket controls. No ... not even his self-confidence was up to playing with those. Another of him jerked at the wall quilting. He could always watch the fungus grow for a while. Things were that slow.
Actually, the gray stuff had spread a lot further than the last time he looked. Behind the quilt, it was quite thick. He sent a chain of himself squirreling back between the wall and the fabric. It was dark, but some light spilled through the gap at the ceiling. In most places the mold was scarcely an inch thick, but back here it was five or six -- wow. Just above his exploring nose, a huge lump of it grew from the wall. This was as big as some of the ornamental moss that decorated castle meeting halls. Slender gray filaments grew down from the fungus. He almost called out to Jefri, but the two of him in the hammock were so comfortable.
He brought a couple more heads close to the strangeness. The wall behind it looked a little odd, too ... as though part of its substance had been taken by the mold. And the gray itself: like smoke -- he felt the filaments with his nose. They were solid, dry. His nose tickled. Amdi froze in shocked surprise. Watching himself from behind, he saw that two of the filaments had actually passed through his member's head! And yet there was no pain, just that tickling feeling.
"What -- what?" Jefri had been jostled into wakefulness, as Amdi tensed around him.
"I found something really strange, behind the quilts. I touched this big hunk of fungus and --"
As he spoke, Amdi gently backed away from thing on the wall. The touch didn't hurt, but it made him more nervous than curious. He felt the filaments sliding slowly out.
"I told you, we aren't supposed to play with that stuff. It's dirty. The only good thing is, it doesn't smell." Jefri was out of the hammock. He stepped across the cubby and lifted the quilting. Amdi's tip member lost its balance and jerked away from the fungus. There was a snapping sound, and a sharp pain in his lip.
"Geez, that thing is big!" Then, hearing Amdi's pain whistle, "You okay?"
Amdi backed away from the wall. "I think so." The tip of one last filament was still stuck in his lip. It didn't hurt as much as the nettles he'd sampled a few days earlier. Amdijefri looked over the wound. What was left of the smoky spine seemed hard and brittle. Jefri's fingers gently worked it free. Then the two of them turned to wonder at the thing in the wall.
"It really has spread. Looks like it's hurt the wall, too."
Amdi dabbed at his bloodied muzzle. "Yeah. I see why your folks told you to stay away from it."
"Maybe we should have Mr. Steel scrub it all out."
The two spent half an hour crawling around behind all the quilting. The grayness had spread far, but there was only the one marvelous flowering. They came back to stare at it, even sticking articles of clothing into the wisps. Neither risked fingers or noses on further contact.
Staring at the fungus on the wall was by far the most exciting thing that happened that afternoon; there was no message from the OOB.
The next day the hot weather was back.
Two more days passed.... and still there was no word from Ravna.
Lord Steel paced the walls atop Starship Hill. It was near the middle of the night, and the sun hung about fifteen degrees above the northern horizon. Sweat filmed his fur; this was the warmest summer in ten years. The drywind was into its thirtieth dayaround. It was no longer a welcome break in the chill of the northland. The crops were dying in the fields. Smoke from fjord fires was visible as brownish haze both north and south of the castle. At first the reddish color had been a novelty, a welcome change from the unending blue of sky and distance, and the whitish haze of the sea fogs. Only at first. When fire struck East Streamsdell, the entire sky had been dipped in red. Ash had rained all the dayaround, and the only smell had been that of burning. Some said it was worse than the filthy air of the southern cities.
Note
!V June 15, 1991 small incon with not mentioning such stuff when they
!V were coming in on the refugee ship TUF
The troops on the walls backed far out of his way. This was more than courtesy, more than their fear of Steel. His troops were still not used to the cloaked ones, and the cover story Shreck was spreading did nothing to ease their minds: Lord Steel was accompanied by a singleton -- in the colors of a Lord. The creature made no mind sounds. It walked incredibly close to its master.
Steel said to the singleton, "Success is a matter of meeting a schedule. I remember you teaching me that," cutting it into me, in fact.
Note
!QU PRB What about the notion that adapting to changed schedules being the
! greatest skill?
!V May 31, 1991 slightly INCON of Shreck that he should
!V be managing disinformation
The member looked back at him, cocked its head. "As I remember, I said that success was a matter of adapting to changes in schedules." The words were perfectly articulated. There were singletons that could talk that well -- but even the most verbal could not carry on intelligent conversation. Shreck had had no trouble convincing the troops that Flenser science had created a race of superpacks, that the cloaked ones were individually as smart as any ordinary pack. It was a good cover for what the cloaks really were. It both inspired fear and obscured the truth.
Note
!hld again problem with recharging cloaks if warn continuously.
!hld Silver/gold on the outside surface is not good color for solar cells.
The member stepped a little closer -- nearer to Steel than anyone had been except during murders and rapes and the beatings of the past. Involuntarily, Steel licked his lips and spread out from around the threat. Yet in some ways the dark-cloaked one was like a corpse, without a trace of mind sound. Steel snapped his jaws shut and said, "Yes. The genius is in winning even when the schedules have fallen down the garderobe." He looked all away from the Flenser member and scanned the red-shrouded southern horizon. "What's the latest estimate of Woodcarver's progress?"
Note
!QU How should I spell fjord? fiord? [suggest using dictionary]
!V dictionary prefers fjord
!V June 4, 1991 "quarter day's march" sounds too short CHK
!V (there are some notes about this in CHRON view)
!V especially incongruous since apparently they have not yet come
!V up Margrum Climb and incongruous with the fact that
!V just knowing location of Vendacious's lookouts is enough to
!V make Flenser feel safe in moving about in the open FIXED
"She's still camped about five days southeast of here."
"The damned incompetent. It's hard to believe she's your parent! Vendacious made things so easy for her; her soldiers and toy cannon should have been here almost a tenday past --"
"And been well-butchered, on schedule."
"Yes! Long before our sky friends arrived. Instead, she wanders inland and then balks."
Note
!ID It would nice to somewhere talk about the disadvantage of using
! the cloaks at a distance, just because it so much harder to do simple
! things: get dressed, ...
The Flenser member shrugged in its dark cloak. Steel knew the radio was as heavy as it looked. It consoled him that the other was paying a price for his omniscience. Just think, in heat like this, to have every part of oneself muffled to the tympana. He could imagine the discomfort.... Indoors, he could smell it.
They walked past one of the wall cannon. The barrel gleamed of layered metal. The thing had thrice the range of Woodcarver's pitiful invention. While Woodcarver had been working with Dataset and a human child's intuition, he had had the direct advice of Ravna and company. At first he'd feared their largesse, thinking it meant the Visitors were superior beyond need for care. Now ... the more he heard of Ravna and the others, the more clearly he understood their weakness. They could not experiment with themselves, improve themselves. Inflexible, slow-changing dullards. Sometimes they showed a low cunning -- Ravna's coyness about what she wanted from the first starship -- but their desperation was loud in all their messages, as was their attachment to the human child.
Note
!V PRB there is some repetition in the paragraph of points about
!V Steel's understanding of humans v tines, that you have made before.
!V Is the analysis in preceding paragraph too repetitious of earlier
!V in the story? Should I cut it down here? (cf c15:481, c24:488)
!jrf2 It is too repetitious. You should cut it down here (but not out).
!V June 16, 1991 spent about 60min on it; may be even weaker now,
!V but at least the paragraph is shorter
!INCON 2 days? Amdi says 4 days later. Decide
!V CHRON suggest 3 days (and may want the mini surge to last longer
! than
!V 100 h okay and 4 missed sessions now
!V CHK INCON minimum turnaround to Ravna, and how that squares with the
!V idea of "chatting". Communications have been getting better.
!V CHK that there is not stuff just said that should be out of
!V earshot of the troopers FIXED
Everything had been going so well till just a few days ago. As they walked out of earshot of the gunner pack, Steel said to the Flenser member, "And still no word from our 'rescuers'."
"Quite so," That was the other botched schedule, the important one, which they could not control. "Ravna has missed four sessions. Two of me is down with Amdijefri right now." The singleton jabbed its snout toward the dome of the inner keep. The gesture was an awkward abortion. Without other muzzles and other eyes, body language was a limited thing. We just aren't built to wander around a piece here, a piece there. "Another few minutes and the space folk will have missed a fifth talk session. The children are getting desperate, you know."
The member's voice sounded sympathetic. Almost unconsciously, Lord Steel sidled a little farther out from around it. Steel remembered that tone from his own early existence. He also remembered the cutting and death that had always followed. "I want them kept happy, Tyrathect. We're assuming communication will resume; when it does we'll need them." Steel bared six pairs of jaws at the surrounded singleton. "None of your old tricks."
The member flinched, an almost imperceptible twitch that pleased Steel more than the grovelling of ten thousand. "Of course not. I'm just saying that you should visit them, try to help them with their fear."
"You do it."
"Ah ... they don't fully trust me. I've told you before, Steel; they love you."
Note
!V INCON go through and make consistent the way Steel refers to
!V Tyrathect
"Ha! And they've seen through to your meanness, eh?" The situation made Steel proud. He had succeeded where Flenser's own methods would have failed. He had manipulated without threats or pain. It had been Steel's craziest experiment, and certainly his most profitable. But "-- Look, I don't have time to wetnurse anyone. It's a tiresome thing to talk to those two." And it was very tiresome to hold his temper, to suffer Jefri's "petting" and Amdi's pranks. In the beginning, Steel had insisted that no one else have close contact with the children. They were too important to expose to others; the most casual slipup might show them the truth and ruin them. Even now, Tyrathect was the only pack besides himself who had regular contact. But for Steel, every meeting was worse than the last, an ultimate test of his self control. It was hard to think straight in a killing rage, and that's how almost every conversation with them ended for Steel. How wonderful it would be when the space folk landed. Then he could use the other end of the tool that was Amdijefri. Then there would be no need to have their trust and friendship. Then he would have a lever, something to torture and kill to enforce his demands.
Note
!NÆH: INCON Amdijefri's distrust for Tyrathect, even
! though the cloaks make thoughtful physical contact possible (and
! so make Tyrathect a unique pack for Amdi).
!V ??????? : MAKE SURE VENDACIOUS DOESN'T HAVE WALKIE-TALKIE
!ID If you decide not to use walkie-talkie in the climax, then an easy
! out would be to RETRO write Vendacious having it (openly) all along, and
! have it destroyed before the climax.
!PRB Here is probably the place to put some intelligent guessing that
! Ravna Pham are being pursued
!V February 24, 1991 that would be good, but I don't see how
!V to shoe-horn it in here
!V Ravna and Pham not Ravnapham 21Jan91
Of course, if the aliens never landed, or if.... "We must do something! I will not be flotsam on the wave of the future." Steel lashed at the scaffolding that ran along the inner side of the parapet, shredding the wood with his gleaming tines. "We can't do anything about the aliens, so let's deal with Woodcarver. Yes!" He smiled at the Flenser member. "Ironic, isn't it? For a hundred years, you sought her destruction. Now I can succeed. What would have been your great triumph is for me just an annoying detour, undertaken because greater projects are temporarily delayed."
The cloaked one did not look impressed. "There is a little matter of gifts falling out of the sky."
"Yes, into my open jaws. And that is my good fortune, isn't it?" He walked on several paces, chuckling to himself. "Yes. It's time to have Vendacious bring his trusting Queen in for the slaughter. Maybe it will interfere with other events, but.... I know, we'll have the battle east of here."
"The Margrum Climb?"
Note
!CHK "defile" -- narrow passage or gorge
!NÆH: NOTE RETRO Should make it clear that Steel had an OOB e.t.a. that
! he believed.
!RETRO "in our jaws" is an idiom you should use elsewhere
"Correct. Woodcarver's forces should be well concentrated coming up the defile. We'll move our cannon over there, set them behind the ridgeline at the top of the Climb. It will be easy to destroy all her people. And it's far enough from Starship Hill; even if the space folk arrive at the same time, we can keep the two projects separate." The singleton didn't say anything, and after a moment Steel glared at him. "Yes dear teacher, I know there is a risk. I know it splits our forces. But we've got an army sitting on our doorstep. They've arrived inconveniently late, but even Vendacious can't make them turn around and go home. And if he tries to stall things, the Queen might... Can you predict just what she would do?"
"... No. She has always had a way with the unexpected."
"She might even see through Vendacious' fraud. So. We take a small chance, and destroy her now. You are with Farscout Rangolith?"
"Yes. Two of me."
"Tell him to get word to Vendacious. He is to have the Queen's army coming up Margrum Climb not less than two days from now. Feel free to elaborate; you know the region better than I. We'll work out final details when both sides are in position." It was a wonderful thing to be the effective commander of both sides in a battle! "One more thing. It's important and Vendacious must see to it within the dayaround: I want Woodcarver's human dead."
"What harm can she do?"
"That's a stupid question," especially coming from you. "We don't know when Ravna and Pham may reach us. Till we have them safe in our jaws, the Johanna creature is a dangerous thing to have nearby. Tell Vendacious to make it look like an accident, but I want that Two-Legs dead."
Flenser was everywhere. It was a form of godhood he'd dreamed of since he'd been Woodcarver's newby. While one of him talked to Steel, two others lounged about the Starship with Amdijefri, and two more padded through light forest just north of Woodcarver's encampment.
Note
!ID for cover: "The View from Starship Hill" (one of my photos) TITLE
Paradise can also be an agony, and each day the torment was a little harder to bear. In the first place, this summer was as insufferably hot as any in the North. And the radio cloaks were not merely hot and heavy. They necessarily covered his members' tympana. And unlike other uncomfortable costumes, the price of taking these off for even a moment was mindlessness. His first trials had lasted just an hour or two. Then had come a five-day expedition with Farscout Rangolith, providing Steel with instant information and instant command of the country around Starhip Hill. It had taken a couple of dayarounds to recover from the sores and aches of the radio cloaks.
This latest exercise in omniscience had lasted twelve days. Wearing the cloaks all the time was impossible. Every day in a rotation, one of his members threw off its radio, was bathed, and had its cloak's liner changed. It was Flenser's hour of daily madness, when sometimes the weak-willed Tyrathect would come back to mind, vainly trying to reestablish her dominance. It didn't matter. With one of his members disconnected, the remaining pack was only four. There are foursomes of normal intelligence, but none existed in Flenser/Tyrathect. The bathing and recloaking were all done in a confused haze.
Note
!V INCON note the point made in this paragraph for future reference
And of course, even though Flenser was "everywhere at once", he wasn't any smarter than before. After the first jarring experiments, he got the hang of seeing/hearing scenes that were radically different -- but it was as difficult as ever to carry on multiple conversations. When he was bantering with Steel, his other members had very little to say to Amdijefri or to Rangolith's scouts.
Note
!QU Samnorsk for "static" "(atmosfærisk) støy[noise]"
!NÆH have Ravna beg them not to try again after the fatal experiment
! referred to in the next paragraph.
! Also, I'd like to use the phrase "disintegrate the soul" in reference to
! that experiment; and also explain the multiplexing problem in having
! more than one set of cloaks.
!V Hmm, but this could be connected with the Lost Time (and
!V in fact, there probably should be more such connections) IMP
!No need to reveal Steel's bloody snout behind the failed
! experiment -- till the ultimate battle between Flenser and Steel.
Lord Steel was done with him. Flenser walked along the parapets with his former student, but if Steel had said anything to him it would have taken him away from his current conversation. Flenser smiled (carefully so the one with Steel would not show it). Steel thought he was talking to Farscout Rangolith just now. Oh, he would do that ... in a few minutes. One advantage of his situation was that no one could know for sure everything Flenser was up to. If he was careful, he would eventually rule here again. It was a dangerous game, and the cloaks were themselves dangerous devices. Keep a cloak out of sunlight for a few hours and it lost power, and the member wearing it was cut off from the pack. Worse was the problem of static -- that was a mantis word. The second set of cloaks had killed its user, and the Spacers weren't sure of the cause, except that it was some sort of "interference" problem.
Flenser had experienced nothing so extreme. But sometimes on his farthest hikes with Rangolith, or when a cloak's power faded ... there was an incredible shrieking in his mind, like a dozen packs crowding close, sounds that scaled between sex madness and killing frenzy. Tyrathect seemed to like times like that; she'd come bounding out of the confusion, swamping him with her soft hate. Normally she lurked around the edges of his consciousness, tweaking a word here, a motive there. After the static, she was much worse; on one occasion she'd held control for almost a dayaround. Given a year without crises, Flenser could have studied Ty and Ra and Thect and done a proper excision. Thect, the member with the white-tipped ears, was probably the one to kill: it wasn't bright, but it was likely the capstone of the trio. With a precisely crafted replacement, Flenser might be even greater than before the massacre at Parliament Bowl. But for now, Flenser was stuck; soul surgery on one's self was an awesome challenge -- even to The Master.
Note
!QU INCON with previous use of the word soul?
So. Careful. Careful. Keep the cloaks well charged, take no long trips, and don't let any one person see all the threads of your plan. While Steel thought he was seeking Rangolith, Flenser was talking to Amdi and Jefri.
Note
!V June 4, 1991 Seems to me he would have realized it by now:
The human's face was wet with tears. "F-four times we've missed R-ravna. What has happened to her?" His voice screeched up. Flenser hadn't realized there was such flexibility in the belching mechanism that humans use to make sound.
Note
!FRAG ?"Maybe we haven't tested it right;"
Most of Amdi clustered round the boy. He licked Jefri's cheeks. "It could be our ultrawave. Maybe it's broken." He looked beseechingly at Flenser. There were tears in the puppies' eyes, too. "Tyrathect, please ask Steel again. Let us stay in the ship all the dayaround. Maybe there are messages that have come through and not been recorded."
Note
!NÆH: QU Is this bit about Hidden Island too much out of place?
Flenser with Steel descended the northern stairs, crossed the parade ground. He gave a sliver of attention to the other's complaints about the sloppy maintenance around the practice stands. At least Steel was smart enough to keep the discipline scaffolds over on Hidden Island.
Flenser with Rangolith's troopers splashed through a mountain stream. Even in high summer, in the middle of a Drywind, there were still snow patches, and the streams running from under them were icy cold.
Flenser with Amdijefri edged forward, let two of Amdi rest against his sides. Both children liked physical contact, and he was the only one they had besides each other. It was all perversion of course, but Flenser had based his life on manipulating others' weakness, and -- but for the pain -- welcomed it. Flenser buzzed a deep purring sound through his shoulders, caressing the puppy next to him. "I'll ask our Lord Steel the very next time I see him."
"Thank you." A puppy nuzzled at his cloak, then mercifully moved away; Flenser was a mass of sores beneath that cover. Perhaps Amdi realized that, or perhaps -- more and more Flenser saw a reticence in the children. His comment to Steel had been a slip into the truth: these two really didn't trust him. That was Tyrathect's fault. On his own, Flenser would have had no trouble winning Amdijefri's love. Flenser had none of Steel's killing temper and fragile dignity. Flenser could chat for casual pleasure, all the while mixing truth with lies. One of his greatest talents was empathy; no sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability. But just when he was doing well, when they seemed about to open to him -- then Ty or Ra or Thect would pop up, twisting his expression or poisoning his choice of phrase. Perhaps he should content himself with undermining the children's respect for Steel (without, of course, ever saying anything directly against him). Flenser sighed, and patted Jefri's arm comfortingly. "Ravna will be back. I'm sure of it." The human sniffled a little, then reached out to pet the part of Flenser's head that was not shrouded by the cloak. They sat in companionable silence for a moment, and his attention drifted back to --
Note
!NÆH: ID could have Flenser trying to imply to Rangolith that Flenser is
! running things QU Is that too naive and obvious? This is a general PRB
!Possible RETROwrite that Vendacious has been practicing with poisons on
! Johanna
! before now. In a way, that is risky, but in another way it might help
! Steel in planning for dealing with Ravnapham. It might be plausible
! after she had given her initial round of help.
! QU If so, how have the poisons, etc, been introduced. By now Vendacious
! has surely come up with something that is sure. How can she be saved?
!Possible RETROwrite that as security chief, Vendacious has been having
! regular tête à têtes with Johanna
!Chapter TITLE "At the Sign of the Mantis" somebody's icon for humans
! Might be more appropriate in the SEQ
!ID OOB would be able to detect and jam radio cloaks
!V But I don't think they ever want to do that until after
!V Tyrathect sheds the cloaks
-- the forest and Rangolith's troops. The group had been moving uphill for almost ten minutes. The others were lightly burdened and used to this sort of exercise. Flenser's two members were lagging. He hissed at the group leader.
Note
!V June 4, 1991 INCON about Flenser's colors?
The group leader sidled back, his squad shifting briskly out of his way. He stopped when his nearest was fifteen feet from Flenser's. The soldier's heads cocked this way and that. "Your wishes ... My Lord?" This one was new; he had been briefed about the cloaks, but Flenser knew the fellow didn't understand the new rules. The gold and silver that glinted in the darkness of the cloaks -- those colors were reserved for the Lords of the Domain. Yet there only two of Flenser here; normally such a fragment could barely carry on a conversation, much less give reasonable orders. Just as disconcerting, Flenser knew, was his lack of mind sound. "Zombie" was the word some of the troops used when they thought themselves alone.
Flenser pointed up the hill; the timberline was only a few yards away. "Farscout Rangolith is on the other side. We will take a short cut," he said weakly.
Part of the other was already looking up the hill. "That is not good, sir." The trooper spoke slowly. Stupid damn duo, his posture said. "The bad ones will see us."
Note
!QU Think on whether it is reasonable for Flenser to defer to his own
! weakness here. YES, he's no Steel
!V June 5, 1991 CHK Brimstone, sulfur? Make sure he is already familiar
!V with such things.
Flenser glowered at the other, a hard thing to do properly when you are just two. "Soldier, do you see the gold on my shoulders? Even one of me is worth all of you. If I say take a short cut, we do it -- even if it means walking belly deep through brimstone." Actually, Flenser knew exactly where Vendacious had put lookouts. There was no risk in crossing the open ground here. And he was so tired.
The group leader still didn't know quite what Flenser was, but he saw the dark-cloaks were at least as dangerous as any full-pack lord. He backed off humbly, bellies dragging on the ground. The group turned up hill and a few minutes later were walking across open heather.
Rangolith's command post was less than a half mile away along this path --
Note
!V CHK INCON 30ft
!V June 4, 1991 Some of Flenser's lying seems unnecessarily different
!V from the truth TUF
Flenser with Steel walked into the inner keep. The stone was freshly cut, the walls thrown up with the feverish speed of all this castle's construction. Thirty feet over their heads, where vault met buttresses, there were small holes set in the stonework. Those holes would soon be filled with gunpowder -- as would slots in the wall surrounding the landing field. Steel called those the Jaws of Welcome. Now he turned a head back to Flenser. "So what does Rangolith say?"
"Sorry. He's been out on patrol. He should be here -- I mean, he should be in camp -- any minute." Flenser did his best to conceal his own trips with the scouts. Such recons were not forbidden, but Steel would have demanded explanations if he knew.
Note
!QU Does Rangolith sound too much like "Fanglith" (John Dalmas's name for
! Earth in his books with that name, I believe)?
Flenser with Rangolith's troops sloshed through water-soaked heather. The air over the snowmelt was delightfully chill, and the breeze pushed cool tongues partway under his wretched cloaks.
Note
!V TUF:
!PRB QU At least in terms of plot, this Flenser stuff seems awfully
! repetitious with the Steel/Flenser stuff of the previous scene. It only
! satisfies 1 or 2 of V's criteria (background, plot, char).
Rangolith had chosen the site for his command post well. His tents were in a slight depression at the edge of a large summer pond. A hundred yards away, a huge patch of a snow covered the hill above them and fed the pond, and kept the air pleasantly cool. The tents were out of sight from below, yet the site was so high in the hills that from the edge of the depression there was a clear view across three points of the compass, centered on the south. Resupply could be accomplished from the north with little chance of detection, and even if the damn fires struck the forests below, this post would be untouched.
Farscout Rangolith was lounging about his signal mirrors, oiling the aiming gears. One of his subordinates lay with snouts stuck over the lip of the hill, scanning the landscape with its telescopes. He came to attention at the sight of Flenser, but his gaze wasn't full of fear. Like most long-range scouts, he wasn't completely terrorized by castle politics. Besides, Flenser had cultivated an "us against the prigs" relationship with the fellow. Now Rangolith growled at the group leader: "The next time you come prancing across the open like that, your asses go on report."
"My fault, Farscout," put in Flenser. "I have some important news." They walked away from the others, down toward Rangolith's tent.
"See something interesting, did you?" Rangolith was smiling oddly. He had long ago figured out that Flenser was not a brilliant duo, but part of a pack with members back at the castle.
Note
!V June 5, 1991 Note that in c30, the Frag wasn't sure of the identity
!V of the traitor (but that was "20May" and we're at about "20Jul" now)
"When is your next session with Craddleheads?" That was the fieldname for Vendacious.
Note
!ID Maybe Flenser had previously been experimenting with electricity; that
! might make some of the radio success microscopically more plausible
!PRB QU A lot of this conversation is repetition of things that should
! have been known to both characters
!QU Is it okay that I don't say that what goes to Rango is in code? YES
!QU Is it okay if I don't talk about encrypting heliograph? YES
"Just past noon. He hasn't missed in four days. The Southerners seem to be on one big squat."
Note
!V CHKd INCON sp Margrum
^ Page 580, INSERT A:
"That will change." Flenser repeated Steel's orders for Vendacious. The words came hard. The traitor within him was restive; he felt the beginnings of a major attack.
"Wow! You're going to move everything over to Margrum Climb in less than two -- Never mind, that's something I'd best not know."
Under his cloaks, Flenser bristled. There are limits to chumminess. Rangolith had his points, but maybe after all this was over he could be smoothed into something less ... ad hoc.
"Is that all, My Lord?"
"Yes -- No." Flenser shivered with uncharacteristic puzzlement. The trouble with these cloaks, sometimes they made it hard to remember things. By the Great Pack, no! It was that Tyrathect again. Steel had ordered the killing of Woodcarver's human -- all things considered, a perfectly sensible move, but...
Flenser with Steel shook his head angrily, his teeth clicking together. "Something the matter?" said Lord Steel. He really seemed to love the pain that the radio cloaks caused Flenser.
"Nothing, my lord. Just a touch of the static."
Note
^ Page 580, INSERT B:
In fact there was no static, yet Flenser felt himself disintegrating. What had given the other such sudden power?
Flenser with Amdijefri snapped his jaws open and shut, open and shut. The children jumped back from him, eyes wide. "It's okay," he said grimly, even as his two bodies thrashed against each other. There really were lots of good reasons why they should keep Johanna Olsndot alive: In the long run, it assured Jefri's good will. And it could be Flenser's secret human. Perhaps he could fake the Two Leg's death to Steel and -- No. No. No! Flenser grabbed back control, jamming the rationalizations out of mind. The very tricks he had used against Tyrathect, she thought to turn against him. It won't work on me. I am the master of lies.
Note
^ Page 581, INSERT C [a separate paragraph]:
And then her attack twisted again, became a massive bludgeoning that destroyed all thought.
With Flenser, with Rangolith, with Amdijefri -- all of him was making little gibbering noises now. Lord Steel danced around him, unsure whether to laugh or be concerned. Rangolith goggled at him in frank amazement.
Note
!V June 4, 1991 Italicize "static" here, too? June 16, 1991 NO
The two children edged back to touch him, "Are you hurt? Are you hurt?" The human slipped those remarkable hands under the radio cloak and brushed softly at Flenser's bleeding fur. The world blurred in a surge of static. "No. Don't do that. It might hurt him more," came Amdi's voice. The puppies' tiny muzzles reached out, trying to help with the cloaks.
Flenser felt his being pushed downwards, towards oblivion. Tyrathect's final attack was a frontal assault, without rationalizations or sly infiltration, and...
... And she looked out upon herself in astonishment. After so many days, I am me. And in control. Enough butchering of innocents. If anyone is to die, it is Steel and Flenser. Her head followed Steel's prancing forms, picked out the most articulate member. She gathered her legs beneath her, and prepared to leap at its throat. Come just a little closer ... and die.
Note
!QU PRB is it right to use "it" when referring to an individual member.
!V IMP "school teacher":
!ID QU It would be good to think of an occupation for Tyrathect (different
! from the occupation of others in the story). Among other
! advantages, this
! would make it easier to refer to her in some places.
!V "school teacher" now mentioned in c02 c24 c34 c37
!V 04Jun91
!V drekko "soul" v "mind"
Tyrathect's last moment of consciousness probably didn't last longer than five seconds. Her attack on Flenser was a desperate, all-out thing that left her without reserves or internal defense. Even as she tensed to leap upon Steel, she felt her soul being pulled back and down, and Flenser rising up from the darkness. She felt the member's legs spasm and collapse, the ground smash into its face...
... And Flenser was back in control. The weakling's attack had been astonishing. She really had cared for the ones who were to be destroyed, cared so much she was willing to sacrifice herself if it would kill Flenser. And that had been her undoing. Suicide is never something to hang pack dominance on. Her very resolve had weakened her hold on the hindmind -- and given The Master his chance. He was back in control, and with a great opportunity. Tyrathect's assault had left her defenseless. The innermost mental barriers around her three members were suddenly as thin as the skin of an overripe fruit. Flenser slashed through the membrane, pawed at the flesh of her mind, spattering it across his own. The three who had been her core would still live, but never again would they have a soul separate from his.
Note
!V And so now the barriers are down between the two, but in fact
!V this means that subversion can proceed at much lower, more intimate
!V levels. I don't want this to be hinted at here, but I would like
!V it to be obvious in retrospect.
!V June 4, 1991 Okay now make a big deal of the housecleaning
!V once and for all
!V that Flenser is doing (but why didn't he do it before -- maybe
!V because Tyrathect was not so exposed as she is now in the wake of
!V this final maximum dffort)
Flenser with Steel sprawled as though unconscious, his convulsions subsiding. Let Steel think him incapacitated. It would give him time to think of the most advantageous explanation.
Flenser with Rangolith came slowly to his feet, though the two members were still in a posture of confusion. Flenser pulled them together. No explanations were due here, but it would be best if Farscout didn't suspect soulstrife. "The cloaks are powerful tools, dear Rangolith; sometimes a bit too powerful."
"Yes, my lord."
Flenser let a smile spread across his features. For a moment he was silent, savoring what he would say next. No, there was no sign of the weak-willed one. This had been her last, best try at domination -- her last and biggest mistake. Flenser's smile spread further, all the way to the two with Amdijefri. It suddenly occurred to him that Johanna Olsndot would be the first person he had ordered killed since his return to Hidden Island. Johanna Olsndot would therefore be the first blood on three of his muzzles.
Note
!V CHK usage "The Master" v "the Master"
"There's one more item for Craddleheads, Farscout. An execution...." As he spoke the details, the warmth of a decision well-made spread through his members.
Note
^ FRAG:
^ More often than not, the soul
^ is formed by its actions, its commitments. Whatever errant motives
^ and soft ideas had made Tyrathect they were now irrelevant. The
^ little school teacher was now simply a part of The Master.
^
!hld If OOB is star-drive-capable, it should be able to detect, jam and
!hld probably understand cloaks
!V April 13, 1991 IMP Lots more should be made of this scene and
!V managing the conflict before and after. Suggest that Tyra appear
!V consistently subdued after this point, till climax.