Two Sons Nelson

By Christ Kennedy

A cast of troubled anti-heroes struggle to survive and family ties are tested in an uncertain world where power is held by a Christ and the many gods all clash to rule supreme. Used as a pawn in the machinations of those above him Nelson MacClease saves himself from one god only to fall prey to another. Drugs, violence and the politics of war takes the reader around the globe, from the ocean's bottom to the edges of space to spy on palace intrigues and vie with street-gangs and mobsters in a futuristic science-fiction novel filled with the violent underworld of crime and power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9780595623488

Christ Kennedy

Author of 'The People' and 'Two Sons Nelson', Christ Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Montreal. He is a bilingual Quebecois with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from McGill University and currently resides in Saskatoon, writing computer software when he is not busy plotting a new novel.

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Copyright © 2008 by David-Christ Kennedy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-0-595-52292-7 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-62348-8 (ebk)

Contents

Part I: The Catalyst

1  00,00,00: Miss Anne Thrope

2  00,01,00: A Trade Secret

3  00,01,00: Panacea

4  00,01,00: The Philanthropist

5  00,02,03: The Cave

6  00,02,10: Professor Drenal

7  00,02,12: A Wreke Hag

8  00,02,15: A Seaman Function

9  03,02,20: Hannibal Roland Abel

10  03,02,24: The Century

11  03,02,28: Portal God

12  03,03,03: On a Field of Green

13  03,03,03: Love Born of Hate

14  03,11,07: A Military Matter

15  03,11,17: Morgan’s Acquisition

16  03,11,21: Little Boots

17  03,11,28: Smoke in the Valey

Part II: Lady at Work

1  03,11,29: The Phial

2  03,11,29: Estimated Time of Departure

3  03,12,04: Nellie’s fix

4  05,07,06: Lady H moves in

5  05,07,06: Anne’s date

6  05,07,06: Han’s Noble Daughter

7  05,07,07: The Boys

8  06,07,07: The Star Factory

9  06,11,01: To Find Molly

10  06,11,01: A Talent Acquisition

11  07,02,01: Fishing for a Chickenhawk

12  07,02,02: This Old Man

13  07,02,02: Games

Part III: A Call to Arms

1  07,04,11: Pangs of Longing

2  07,04,16: Signed by the Seaman Prophet

3  07,04,16: A Strange Familiar Face

4  07,04,16: The Study of the Man

5  07,04,16: The Warmth of Dawn

6  07,04,17: A Noted Change

7  07,04,24: Wipe test strip on …

8  07,04,24: Picnic By The Shore

9  07,04,29: A Flumean Guest

10  07,09,01: A Reason to Call

11  08,01,28: A Cause for Celebration

12  08,07,08: A Fix for the Harm

13  08,10,04: The Court of Christ

14  08,12,13: Getting ‘One’ Back

15  09,05,01: The Old Century

Part IV: Crown Prince of Kehran

1  11,02,03: Christ Mass

2  11,09,14: Molly at School

3  11,10,07: A Friend Alone

4  13,04,17: Nelson at School

5  17,09,13: The Drenal Twins

6  17,09,20: Mare Pugno

7  17,09,20: The Trophy

8  17,09,20: Drenal’s failure

9  17,10,04: Giles and the Tennis Court

10  17,11,05: Bulldogs and Losers

11  17,11,11: A Promise of an Heir

12  18,01,08: Kehrani Heir

13  18,03,10: Boots to the Pavement

14  19,06,04: Pupae Non Sunt

15  19,06,06: Distracting the Guard

16  19,06,15: The Heir Disappears

Part V: Drenal to the Streets

1  19,06,19: A Bean Counter

2  19,07,04: Putting Drenal to the Streets

3  19,07,17: the Free C in DC

4  23,06,12: Through the Gilded Door

5  23,06,12: Christ City Magistracy

6  23,06,12: Pumpkin in the Brier Patch

7  23,06,12: In the Rose Garden

8  24,07,09: Boneless

9  24,07,09: Impressing Jerry

10  24,07,09: Clay Boot Counsel

11  24,08,12: What Girlfriend?

12  24,08,12: The Wizard Tells

13  24,09,01: The Pamphlets

14  24,10,15: Kehran Under Siege

Part VI: Desperate Times

1  27,01,15: Final Notice

2  27,01,15: Daemon at the Gate

3  27,02,20: Jack’s Business

4  27,02,21: He’s Your Brother

5  27,02,24: Gambling in the Arcis See

6  27,02,25: Mrs. Rudolf’s Laundry

7  27,02,25: A Seaman Gaffer

8  27,03,03: Armed Diversion

9  27,03,03: Century Trust

10  27,03,05: Forensic Matters

11  27,04,12: Copied Art

12  27,04,12: One Last Toast

13  27,04,12: Artificial Intelligence

14  27,04,23: He’s Thirsty

Part VII: Wreke’s Betrothal

1  27,05,01: Wreke Familiars

2  27,05,01: The God of Kehran

3  27,05,01: Shifting See

4  27,05,01: Kehrani Heir: Part II

5  27,05,02: Return of the Heir

6  27,05,02: Rubber Duck’s Report

7  27,05,05: Maid for Jack

8  27,05,05: Wreke at Home

9  27,05,12: Christ’s Story

10  27,05,12: Blinded for Life

11  27,05,12: Never Found

12  27,05,12: Take Another Picture

13  27,05,12: Don’t Eat the Yolks

14  27,05,12: Fighting Atrophy

15  27,05,19: Muscling D

16  27,05,19: What’s This?

17  27,05,19: Kehrani Bunker

18  27,05,19: Wreke is Dead

19  27,05,19: Long Live Wreke

Part I: The Catalyst

1

00,00,00: Miss Anne Thrope

She carried the covered bundle proudly without a hint of worry in her eyes before the crowd which was gathered for a festive celebration of life, love and wealth. The god of Seaman was praised among the members of the Thallasus divinigarchy and in the audience there sat representatives of all its members as a child’s welcoming into the flock of Seaman was always a time to rejoice.

The young mother, who this day cared for her newborn, covered him while the Priest was speaking his sermon and the babe rested quietly, fatigued from wrestling with his swaddling. He was but a week old and nary could she restrain him without feeling the guilt of using excessive force. The boy would fight her until she let him down and wouldn’t let himself be held while he was still only a newborn. For this reason then she had swaddled him up while he slept and bundled him tightly with linen. When he had awoken, the boy pushed and shoved. He wriggled and fought, twisting his limbs, moving elbow and shoulder, slowly stretching his restraints, until he was able to move freely within them and then took to moving the sheets, from one side to the other. This babe of days in this world, was peeling himself out of the bundle only moments before his baptism.

On this grand day Anne carried her bundled up baby nobly just as the crowd’s attention to the sermon was waning giving the flock a chance to admire the young mother and her newborn. They all measured her calm, as she stood before them with the head and left arm of baby emerging from the bottom of the wrong end of the bundle. The young mother, Anne, heard a woman’s shriek from the audience that frightened her, as she walked down the steps, unaware of her child’s predicament. With every step, baby’s bounce led him centimeters closer to the ground until he probed it with his fingers and palm. At the next bounce he tasted freedom. It had the dry, ‘I can’t eat this but I’ll gnaw on it till I find something better’ baby’s feel to it and the blue lush carpet that draped the stairs which baby had taken a taste to was long enough for him to grab.

Anne’s dress gave her a regal appearance as she faced the crowd on either side of her while she carried the baby down the winding stairs. Turning the corner, in the stairwell, baby grabbed the inside step and railing, pulling himself free he climbed up as she stepped down. Standing with herself between the crowd and her child she grabbed the baby, unlike a new mother should, and pulled him by the leg until he swung and fell twisting down toward the ground. The baby’s hand slapped the rail and stung him. After saving only one piece of linen Anne dropped the rest and kicked the remaining cloth down the stairs as attendants came to rescue her and the child. She pulled the boy to her, threw the wrap around him and hugged him as hard as she thought safe then strode towards the basin as the boy raised a cry up to the heavens above.

Anne had chosen to marry one of Morgan’s soldiers and so now Miss Anne Thrope was known as Anne MacClease and her husband, the boy’s guardian, Nelson MacClease Sr. was absent on a mission to capture a fugitive of the God Morgan. Attendants gathered the fallen linen and placed it to the side while others helped the Lady with her child by showing her what path she was permitted to tread when approaching the god’s blessed basin.

A soldier and nobleman in a clean pressed uniform helped her up the steps of the dais and then stood nearby as she took her place and smiled at him, the child’s father. The man she had married ‘could not have sired a stronger child’ is what struck her mind as she approached the basin. The boy’s biological father was older than her husband and the Morgan colonel’s presence at the child’s Seaman basptism, was a mixture of gall and duty. He made it his duty to visit the wives of the men he commanded, as he made it his duty on this solemn occasion to be present at the baptism of the fruit of his affairs.

The boy was strong and found himself free to kick and flail his arms about. She held him tightly and wound the single clothe she had, large and lush as it was, the boy thrashed and pulled his way through it and was about to twist out of it completely when Colonel Abel, prompted by the Priest of Seaman to help the young girl hold her child in this most prophetic of occasions, held young Nelson like the thing he thought it was. One firm grip on the child’s arm and another underneath holding his thigh, he held the boy over the basin and into the water. Nelson swam on his back and looked at the man that held him then turned his eyes to the sun. Blinded, he screamed, kicked with his free leg and broke the basin sending the water spilling onto the dais and causing Anne to fumble where she stood, vainly trying to reach for her baby. Despite his obvious outrage Nelson MacClease was baptised into the flock of Seaman and the Priest finished his incantation and then, oblivious to the baby’s loud protest, poured ocean musks onto the complaining infant’s bellowing face.

Nelson MacClease, shouted the Priest defying the child to scream louder, the son of Nelson and Anne MacClease. The incantation quieted the boy, while Nelson’s head was thrust under the water. Your god welcomes you into his flock of, the parson pulled the babe out of the water and yelled, Seaman at the choking bastard.

2

00,01,00: A Trade Secret

It was at the Morgan New Year’s party, where the guests had paid an unhaggled price to sit at a table reserved for those who could afford to pay the god’s exhorbitant ransom. As guests they were privy to much of the dealings, which the lay could never imagine, and they were given information which would help them in their various enterprises for the whole year. Morgan’s reception hall, where this evening’s dining took place, was high in a mountainous pavilion and could not be easily captured by an invading force. Any security breach could render the god’s plans useless or. Though Morgan was restrained enough to keep to himself things which could be used against him there were such foes that still threatened his plans.

The many varied cooks and waitresses stood waiting in the kitchen near the dining hall prepared to show the feast that lay before them. Thirteen square tables placed in a wide shallow letter ‘u’. Two placed forward of the other eleven that were in a single straight line. More waitresses strayed from their respective assignments to come and present this feast for the hungry guests who still waited for the news. They gathered around, waiting for instruction and found places close to what they had each been assigned to carry.

Pick up your food, said the chef, Security, make sure these tables are brought out to the front of the dining hall.

On the floor he only had five soldiers besides the regular retinue of security and here he was with thirteen tables to move. All the waitresses’ arms were full and he could see them straining from the weight of the delicious food. Everyone waited for him to move the tables.

No, said Louie.

Everybody put your food back the way you found it and return to your tables, said the disgruntled chef and the girls placed the food onto the tables and strode back to their guests.

Its the New Year celebration and I don’t want any surprises. We’re all very edgy right now, Louie had an uneasy feeling and he wasn’t there to move furniture around.

The chef ignored him and went off to where the performers were rehearsing on the other side of the house and found the master of ceremonies, whom he enlisted to gather several stout actors to help him carry his feast to the guests. The MC obliged, enlisting people he knew had had a quiet morning, telling them the chef needed their help. Two sad clowns brought a boy who looked like he was from the audience. A woman was tugging at her boyfriend leading him away from the clowns while the boy smiled at her. They all followed the chef with one of Louie’s men trailing along.

When they reached the stack of pots and discovered the pile of dirty rags on the floor, the chef went off to find the girls that would display his food while the actors and their friends moved his tables. Soon he had the waitresses filing in and standing at the ready. Only one girl was tardy on her handheld emphatically speaking into its receiver to the dismay of the chef who was trying to make her move his banquet. He finally gave up on her and returned to his feast and found his other girls were eager to run away to serve their guests. He ordered them all to take up the food and the performers took up the tables while the speaker kept the audience distracted.

When the tables were in place the waitresses paraded the food before the crowd, appearing from varied areas of the dining hall and carrying it all back to the display area and being certain that their guests got plenty an eye full all while the speaker at the rostrum was still addressing the crowd. The twenty waitresses, each carryied several trays and plates of cheeses and dips, vegetables and meats, fish, insects, poultry, breads and cereals, fruits and desserts. The laden girls smiled as their meats were modeled for the guests. All the food arrived in the display area and the chef was called back to the kitchen by a new emergency leaving one of his assistants to look over the banquet.

… so you can see why it is of grave importance that Morgan make serious advances in the development and production of the weapons that we will need to fight the rebels throughout the heavens.

As this was his closing argument he thanked them for their attention and stepped down from the rostrum while Louie’s intuition took him to the back of the garden where a young couple was sitting close to the pool. He walked passed them and headed for the edge of the perimeter. He thought he might have seen a shadow, there was someone or something still out there. With the guests inside just now filling their plates and retaking their seats, Louie walked away from the dining hall and headed for one of the bigger trees when he heard the sound of rustling leaves overhead. There was something there, it was in the trees and he wanted a light to spot it before it got away.

Tom, get the hounds out of the kennel, bring them to the back garden. And bring a light.

As he got closer to the trunk of the tree a rustling made him move aside but he was knocked unconscious by the strength of a beast that grabbed him by the neck and pulled him up off the ground and out of sight while in the kitchen, the chef heard the hounds outside and complained, Where’s Louie, I need him to clean these pots. My girls are busy pleasing my customers, my cooks prepare the food, him, he don’t do no nothing. What for I have him around if he know not: wash the floor, clean the sink or scrub my pots?

3

00,01,00: Panacea

Panacea, Professor Drenal enjoyed orating his opening term lecture, is the goal of our collective endeavors. For centuries the science of medicine has been advancing towards this final achievement, the extinction of all physical illnesses.

Some of his students were still unsettled, others were discreetly finding seats while he scratched at the microphone he wore and watched the three disabled students respond simultaneously to his communication test by raising their hands and waving. Having dropped her pencil while waving to the professor, Caroline leaned forward to reach down and take hold of it and awkwardly bumped into the person in front of her who shifted in his seat and turned to simper at her before returning his attention to the lecture. Caroline was smiling back when her notebook fell to the floor in a clatter. Another student next to her, also hearing impaired and watching the scene, picked it up and handed it to her, she thanked him and sat down again.

Caroline’s notes were being recorded by her voice recognition hearing aid, so she was able to connect to the network and file through some of the articles on the course subject: chemical cell composition. The name of the course was ‘Introduction to Cellular Engineering’ and she had bought the required text entitled, ‘Chemical analysis of Cellular Structure’, a quick glance of which made her weary as it appeared to be above her ceiling. Professor Drenal, she was told, was an easy professor to follow and Caroline hoped that the stories of his amusing lectures weren’t just stories because she had four other courses besides this one. Looking on the network she found no other sources on the subject so she looked at the name of the author of the text, something that hadn’t occurred to her before, and noticed that Professor John Drenal was the only evident source on the subject. The sheath of the text listed three of Dr.Drenal’s assistants, all of them students: one doctorate and two graduate students.

There were no paper bound copies of this textbook available because they had never been printed so when Caroline had gone to purchase her texts she had been pleased to discover that the cost of an uploaded copy was within her budget. She already had several hundred different novels and texts stored in her portable console, as well as all her diary entries since she was twelve. The book-console looked and read like any book with flexible paper-thin view screens she flip through at leisure. The console’s main controls on the inside front cover listed the works she already had in memory. She could select any one of them, close the cover, hear the magnetic latch lock shut, watch the image on the front of the console morph into the cover art of the work she had selected and then open the book again when its lock released seconds later to read the book of her choosing. Now she had the insert between the cover and the first page searching the network, while on the lens of her glasses she paid cursory attention to Professor Drenal’s lecture, recording it all the while.

The lectures will be presented regularly, we meet twice a week for 90 minutes from 11h30 until 13h00. I have a lunch break immediately after our lectures so that’s when I intend to hold my office hours until that becomes untenable and then I’ll start to deflect your questions to my assistant, Dennis Nestor who’s sitting to my left, Dennis stand up and make sure they can all recognize you, Professor Drenal insisted his assistant show himself properly before continuing with his lecture, "Everything that you must learn and will be examined on is in the text. There are sample questions at the end of each chapter and you will be expected to understand those. We’ll go through the book from chapter to chapter so we’ll have no time to stray too far from the planned lecture. Therefore if you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me but if your question requires a lengthy explanation which is not in the lecture plan then my answer to you will be to ask Dennis after class.

The final exam counts for 80% and the 13 weekly quizzes will count for the remaining 20% of your final mark. All questions will be taken from the book and …, the professor tugged at his chin and inadvertently scratched the microphone with his arm causing two of the disabled students to wave at him while Caroline was busily reading articles on the network, slightly altered in order to push you to understand. Simply memorizing the solutions and expecting to pass my course is something I doubt any of you can do.

As the professor continued his lecture, Caroline pursued her quest on the network searching through Dennis Nestor’s site and files. Aside from the Drenal’s over-dramatized emphasis on the importance of this subject the course didn’t seem too bad. Professor Drenal was rambling on at length in a self-promotional way and it took him a full 45 minutes, half the lecture, before he abandoned his motivational speech and she had to stop searching the network still having found nothing to supplement this course’s reading material.

She sat up and paid closer attention to the lecture, while the other students were taking notes. Professor Drenal was now intently explaining a diagram taken from the book, slashing curves across the graphs and bringing the students’ attention to the details of the diagram and how they related to the graph and drawing between the two a complementary analysis. All the notes she needed were being recorded and so she was able to sit in the class and have a clear understanding of what the professor was saying. So confident she was of herself that she often believed that her disability aided rather than impeded her. The lecture period went by without straining the students’ attention this early in the semester and when the bell rang and the lecture was over, none of them got out of their chairs until Professor Drenal had finished his closing arguments.

Caroline shuffled out, after gathering her things, found the stairs and escaped through the door in the sunlit garden that grew in the common ground between the many lecture halls. She had twenty minutes before her lunch ticket would be served. Professor Drenal came out of the lecture hall, with a crowd of students following close by, and they continued on towards the main building where most of the biology professors had their offices. Caroline stood for a moment and then followed them into the building and saw that the professor and his crowd were waiting for an elevator. She watched as the students around the professor vied to question him and Drenal seemed to be slowly explaining some detail of his lecture, which the one closest to him had challenged him to clarify. The elevator was slow to arrive so he decided not to loiter with his students in the lobby, and chose to descend the stairs rather than crowd the bank of elevator doors.

So down the stairs they went, one student, the first to arrive at the stairwell, opened and held the door while the others hurriedly filed through behind their professor. Caroline, in the meantime, found the course syllabus and looked for the professor’s office number, then entered the building and waited for an elevator. She felt the weight ease off of her while the elevator slid down then came to a stop and the doors opened again a short distance from Professor Drenal’s office next to an old couch and a coffee table. Caroline stepped over to the couch and sat down to search the network once more for several minutes waiting for her professor and his small horde which soon did arrive.

Caroline noticed an older looking student which she had not seen in the lecture and supposed that he must have been absent. Having never seen him before she wondered if he was a student at all and waited her turn to speak to Professor Drenal. Several students only wanted a copy of the syllabus as well as alternate text information which they were given as soon as they arrived then turned around and fled before being quizzed themselves. Only one student stayed behind along with the new comer to question Drenal about finding a personal tutor for her brother and the professor gave her a list of students who had taken the course and may be reached through the school’s public intercom. Pleased to have this list she headed for the elevator.

Caroline sat on the old couch waiting until the last person wanting her turn to speak with the professor. She watched the stranger enter Drenal’s office and saw him introduce himself as a wealthy Seaman philanthropist and then closed the door behind him. Caroline, eager to hear what was said behind the door, toggled her hearing aid’s recording on to see if the professor’s microphone was still working.

4

00,01,00: The Philanthropist

I’ve heard your lectures before, Professor Drenal, I was once a student of yours. I find your work fascinating, sir, and would like to help you approach your goal of a universal panacea. Do you think it really exists or do you simply speak of it to excite the curiosity of your students? asked the self-described philanthropist.

I do believe. Yes, I believe. One day there will be nothing which medicine cannot cure, Drenal was weary of his own excitement and wished to know the details of this visit. But please, tell me. What is it you wish from me, today, now that you have graduated?

"Yes, of course. I have recently inherited a large sum of money and have decided that there is nothing better for the heart than to give to those who can better help humanity forward. I feel a need to give to the world. I feel that if I give some of my wealth away to enterprising miracle workers, such as yourself, sir, that makes better neighbours in a better world. I want to invest in your research. I want you to find the panacea you so inspired me with when I was in your class.

Today I find myself able to support those who in the past have impressed upon me the importance of mutual cooperation, the man stopped for breath, Professor Drenal, I would like to give your research a financial lift. Why continue struggling with the burdens of teaching while you could be reaching for your dream. I want to help you in any way I can.

Mr.…? Drenal searched for a name.

Cormoan.

Mr. Cormoan, I appreciate your exuberance for my work, however, I cannot simply leave my responsibilities here at the University. I must continue to promote my work among the young students who are just entering into the field. So that, when they start to work on their own after graduation, they too can continue the work until we do finally find a real panacea. I cannot by myself solve the riddles of death! Not by myself! I must enlist the youth to bring their energy and imagination into the production of such a wonder, explained the professor.

Doctor Drenal, there are many ways to promote your research. My plan is to enlist the help of the gods into your work and make it our work, surely the gods must be involved. I have been blessed by Seaman, I know that he is the giving divinity he is because he wants health for the whole planet. All the gods feel that way, the constant struggle for superiority is unnecessary when Seaman is meant to lead the others in a harmonious accord which is beneficial to all. Seaman, with my influence, will support you, if only you concentrate on the research at hand.

I agree that the gods to this day have yet to pay serious attention to my work. I have sent them details of the possibilities given half a chance, for my work to bring health to all and as a consequence ease the strain of government. But I cannot leave the university.

Sir, I understand your concern, but I assure you, you will have all the support you need. As much equipment as the gods can buy, as many technicians and security as required. There can be no delay in the completion of your work. We have a building and the surrounding area. All we need is your approval and cooperation.

Doctor Drenal was annoyed by the man’s audacity. How could you go ahead and make such purchases without even once coming to see me? Or calling me? Why did you not communicate with me before going ahead and thinking I would accept your offer? You can’t expect me to transfer all my work into your hands without so much as an explanation, before even being introduced.

Forgive me, Doctor Drenal. You’re right. My inattention to your wishes was tactless. Cormoan rose from his seat and presented Drenal with a business card. Here is my card professor. Feel free to contact me anytime. I look forward to our next meeting. And please, doctor, consider my offer. You will have complete control over your work work, I assure you, I only want to help.

The doctor took the card and stood to shake the hand the man in front of him.

Yes, Mr. Cormoan, he read the card, I’ll settle in for the semester here in the university, purhaps we can talk again some other time.

Cormoan left the professor’s office and noticed the young student sitting at the couch, turned towards the elevator and pressed the button. Professor Drenal came out to see if there was anyone waiting, saw the Caroline and invited her in. She introduced herself, speaking slowly with the broken speech of a deaf, then asked her professor if she could have a copy of the syllabus and then left in the same elevator as Cormoan. It let them out on the ground floor of the building and Cormoan signaled to his shuttle then stood waiting by the door. When the shuttle arrived, Caroline still stood nearby and watched him enter the shuttle’s passenger seat then tried to memorize the Morgan licence plate.

It was some time later after the students in Drenal’s class had ceased asking inane questions but rather absorbed the logic behind his theories that their interaction was more involved and required he repeat earlier notes. Which he often did, without sounding like he was tired of reiterating what he had already said. And sure enough, every time he repeated some particular point or argument, there would always be two or three students who would catch what they had been missing. Until enough of them caught on and he could move on without losing too much of his alotted lecture time. That was how he always started his semesters, spoon feeding them until they were lazy. Then, when the basics had been covered, he expected them to have questions about the text and waited for them to ask, if none did, he dismissed them early. The questions in the book were straightforward and required no thinking. So he got them started early in the semester and then let them go, they had the book. The questions being so easy, gave them confidence that they would have no difficulty with the final exam, which was worth %80. If they failed the final, they failed the course and that was department policy. Giving them quizzes was only an excuse to keep the assistants busy with something to correct. The questions were straight out of the book, which had solutions and answers. He had his assistants grade them generously and worry more about the research that they were all involved in believing that those who thrived on the subject and studied in its pursuit would rise above the others and show themselves worthy of joining his clique.

Writing the final exam was always a bit of a puzzle. He would take different points and combine them to make the class strain. Familiar components that would in exam time, critical, crucial and cursory exam time, attack each other and conflict until the unpracticed student failed and withdrew in admitted defeat. Only the studious few, who could conjure enough of the componential algebra in their answers to keep up with the required academic calisthenics, were passed. Things went along as he had planned, about midway through the semester he was still showing up for his lectures, but dismissed the class early, to the point where he would often dismiss them after half an hour. Short lectures and simple quizzes gave him time to work instead of worrying about students looking for credits with little care for the future of the field.

At the end of another lecture, well into the semester, Mr. Cormoan was outside his office waiting once more for Professor Drenal. The students, the few which had showed up, filed out and soon Drenal followed.

Hello Doctor Drenal, he said.

Drenal stopped mid-step and turned to see who was calling him. Recognizing the man who had made such an obtrusive offer, he was taken aback to see him again.

Hello, he said and tried to walk on.

Professor Drenal, I would like to speak with you again of our plans for your work.

Well, I would like to, but really I am too busy.

The statement was not intended to fool anyone into believing that he really was too busy for a moment’s conversation, it was only a warning to Cormoan that he did not appreciate his visit.

Come, Professor, please. Do not shirk what you know can only be beneficial to everyone. You need only listen to me and you will agree that you can take my offer and accept my help.

The professor was caving in, he would listen to him. Only to say that he had listened and he had given the whole idea his honest attention. He wanted to keep things the way they were. His two assistants would collect new associates and with each passing semester there was at least one or two students that were worthy prospects. It was true, that those that Drenal could not inspire with his promise of good recommendation for their next job, could be inspired if better remuneration were to be had. If he could pay them more than he already did he could do more work and still remain independent from a bureaucratic mogul like Seaman. The one thing he did not want was to be the puppet doctor for some conglomerate god. As it was, however, his work was getting nowhere because he had no money to pay his assistants. If his work was making any real progress then he would have to worry about security on a level which the university could not currently provide and so in the back of him mind he was admitting to himself that there could be benefits to having a financial partner.

Very well then.

If you would follow me to my shuttle, I’d like to show you some of the facilities that we have already organized and waiting for you. Cormoan summoned his shuttle, We’ve already started work on fundamentals, we are sure that you will approve of the results we’ve found so far. Cormoan’s shuttle arrived and soon they were discussing projects as the shuttle rose above the buildings and carried them west out of the city.

Their conversation was interrupted by the navigation console that said, Please fasten your seatbelts.

Fastening his seat belt and inciting the professor to do the same Cormoan said, It won’t be very long. We’ll have just enough time for me to show you some of the progress we’ve made. I’d like to share with you this information because I know that everyone can benefit from whatever new discovery you will surely make of our findings.

The Doctor fastened his seatbelt and looked at the holographic projection that came to life between them as the shuttle bit through the atmosphere and stretched the earth’s tether then came back down at the perigee of their orbital trajectory, Drenal was so absorbed by the holographic images of molecules and atomic structures while Cormoan was excitedly explaining their results that he had not paid attention to the shuttle’s altitude. The results Cormoan had achieved without him were incredible, yet Drenal knew them to be true. They were what he had expected all along, he had known that these discoveries would one day be made and trusted that he would be involved. Anxious now to see these reproduced for himself and to see which facility had provided him with an essential piece to a greater puzzle, he looked about in wonder. The earth was now between him and the sun, the moon was directly ahead and still rising as the vehicle went down again and crashed once more through the ionosphere, heating the shuttle and consuming much of its coolant on the way. Soon the clouds were between them and the ground, then an ocean’s plane covered their view. The shuttle slowed as it approached the water then splashed through breaking the surface and diving under.

5

00,02,03: The Cave

The engines adjusted to the new medium and they were moving again. Diving 3km, the doctor began to come out of his daydream. Had he really let a stranger lead him into a shuttle, around the globe and under the ocean? But what riveted his attention more were these research findings. Could the ocean have affected the experimental data? The ionic composition of the water, perhaps. The ocean’s increased saline could possibly lead to magnetic charges due to the intense ionic activity. Unconcerned for his security Drenal pondered the question and let the shuttle carry him on his way. They entered a cave and the shuttle’s front light’s conical shape illuminated the cave’s rock walls. Swelling with light a few moments, life in the grotto from the smallest insect like crabs to the bigger and longer eels, scurryied out of their way. The shuttle stopped its forward motion and rested on a landing pad while the water drained out of the sealed compartment.

After Cormoan assured the doctor that the outside pressure had stabilized to normal human standards again they both stepped out of the shuttle. Cormoan led Drenal to a heavy door near a window where attendants took Drenal’s lecture notes and coat. After leaving the reception area they walked down a long winding corridor and through another door near a security office where Cormoan introduced Drenal. The facility’s security was thorough and had been following their arrival since they had broken through the ocean’s surface. There were currently 58 people in the hidden facility. Only twenty-three of which were actually involved in the research, the others were security and staff which kept the cave liveable. Those responsible for the facility’s maintenance had been there for years. Cormoan explained that pulling the research team together was the most difficult task he had ever accomplished and he listed some of the names of the people he had hired, many of whom Drenal had been wishing to work with for years. They had all jumped at the occasion to work on such a well-financed and inspired project.

Drenal was aghast at the expense which this facility must have come to. It was old, certainly, but the air was cleaner than most anywhere on the surface of the planet. The lights were bright and the walls and floors clean. Locks and cameras followed their progress through the underwater fortress as they walked along halls, offices and communal spaces. Drenal was shown the living quarters before being led to the laboratories where he was energized by the latest equipment which he noticed after only a cursory glance. All that he needed to complete his work was here waiting for him. The technicians present turned their heads from their work and smiled when they recognized him. They were anxious to meet the doctor, who for some of them had become an inspiration since they had discovered the existence of his work. All were eager to meet the world’s biochemical engineering authority.

Doctor Drenal was given a list of the equipment he had available as the crew slowly approached and extended their hands to greet the emissary of scientific discovery. Cormoan made the introductions and was remarkable in remembering everyone’s names having only met them each once over a month before. They were all thrilled to exchange courtesies with Doctor Drenal and answered his many questions. He forgot for a moment his duties to his students and fathomed the data which was presented to him, all pointed to the discovery which Cor-moan had talked of previously.

I’d like to discuss our arrangements, he said.

Certainly, Dr. Drenal, follow me to your office. This way, please.

Cormoan, excused them and brought Drenal to an office one floor above the laboratory they had just seen. He pushed his hand to the lock to unlatch it and said, Once you move in I won’t be able to do that anymore. You’ll be the only one who can unlock the door to your own office.

They proceeded inside and Cormoan started to the back of the desk, then continued around and pulled the chair to sit down. Drenal was invited to sit on the chair across from him and offered a cigar.

Maybe you’d like something to drink?

No, thank you. He was tense, I’d like to work here. This is a great laboratory. You have all the people I’ll need. Its a bit out of the way, but I like it. I want to know more. How many people can this place house? How big is it? Can I see a map? Who knows this place exists? How does the personnel get in and out without its location becoming general knowledge? Do we really need to keep this cave secret? He forced his mind away from the experimental results and concentrated on the logistics of moving his work into the impressive facility.

For the moment its location is known by god and few others, Drenal assumed he meant Seaman, "and he sees fit to let you use it for your research provided you refrain from making its location public. I am certain that beyond which ocean we are in you cannot precisely determine where we are.’

Drenal considered that and tried to determine where they actually were. Using the location of the moon as they had descended back to earth in the shuttle and adjusting for the day of month and time of day, he placed himself in the Indian Ocean. Which agreed with his knowledge of geography and what he had seen upon reentry before splashdown.

What did he need to worry as long as he’s the boss. If there was ever a problem he could deal with it like he always had in the past. Leading many is like leading few, one only needs to be organized, he recalled reading. And being organized was something that Drenal was good at. Though it hindered him at home, being well organized, helped him in his work. After his divorce, he was ridiculed for it by his own family and his former in-laws. He had always felt his work had earned him the respect of his peers while his home life gave him little but grief which made him seek refuge in his work to dull this emotional pain and reinforcing its cause.

Drenal reviewed his current situation in his mind. The work he was doing at the university was stagnant because of a lack of funds, equipment and staff. He was sharing equipment that had to be repaired everytime he used it. Some of the equipment was broken and could not be trusted unless it was recalibrated before every use. It was a constant cause for him to worry about the validity of his own findings when he couldn’t trust the aging equipment, whereas here with these new facilities and responsive staff, he could actually achieve that which up until now he could only hope to encourage others to strive for. He’d shirk the university and allow his class assistant Dennis to take over, he decided but then reconsidered and resolved to the semester and graduate Dennis, push for him to be granted him his Ph.D. and let him take over the course. He would need a few months, by then the semester would be over and he could clean up loose ends there. They might even allow him to keep his office, he’d seen so many empty offices in the lower halls.

I need a few months to gather my things and finish the semester at the university. I am anxious to hear more about this facility, however, I would also like to get home and settle my affairs there before making such a drastic move.

Cormoan rose, walked around and invited Drenal into the chair behind the desk then said Doctor Drenal, we are thrilled to have you with us.

I appreciate your attention, Cormoan, Drenal was now using the colloquial, "now I would like to be taken home.

He stood and motioned to go, Cormoan did the same and they exited the office, went through the laboratory where everyone was still busily distracted. The two continued through the halls and back to the security office where the doctor recovered his things and they proceeded to Cormoan’s shuttle. After a brief sojourn across the dark sky the sun rose again and the shuttle carried them back to the university where the professor walked to his building and found himself to his surprise humming along on his way to his office. Reaching it, he discarded his class notes and hung up his coat, sat down, poured himself a cup of coffee and stirred its contents. Smelled it and drifted off into a dream as he leaned back into his chair and smiled.

6

00,02,10: Professor Drenal

Veronica was too flustered to study, late to pay her rent, she was delinquent on her student loan payments, unemployed and hungry which made the bribes offered by the god of Wreke an enticing alternative to waiting tables. She was glad to see that the competition between the gods could be a lucrative trade. Having agreed to look into the matter proposed, Veronica enrolled in Professor Drenal’s class and sought him out. The little money she was fronted was already spent and now she had no money and nothing to show for her many failed attempts. The course’s boring lectures put her to sleep and she spent too much time at the mall drinking coffee trying to recover from the tedium. She did manage to do some research, after she was told where to look. The library, of course, had been her first stop. She discovered that the doctor had authored three works besides the class text. The text was not available in the library so she had to borrow a copy from a fawning boy she knew.

After uploading two out of three of Drenal’s books into her console she sat in in a cafe close to her apartment reading and getting a grasp of what the course was about. She couldn’t go home because her landlord was still looking for her to collect the rent as she was already a month late and her flirtatious teasing would only aggravate his mood. Reading only the parts that she understood, in no time at all she had skimmed through all three and still hadn’t a clue what to do.

She sent Drenal a recording requesting a private interview and he still hadn’t responded when she realized that she was almost late for class so she put her console in her purse, paid the bill at the cafe and counted the credit she had left then slapped the wafer thin bank-tab and stuck it in her coat pocket. Running all the way to the station, she caught the transit and made it to class with another fresh cup of coffee bought from the student lounge. It was in class that she started to understand some of what Drenal was saying. When she had first taken the assignment she had had no intention of actually passing the course since that seemed irrelevant. However, now that she had an inkling of what he was saying and she followed along with the lecture she realized how much of a passion the mad scientist had for his field of study and it dawned on her that she would not only have to pass the course to get to Drenal, but she would have to excel and impress him.

She stopped going to the mall altogether, studied at the library and snuck in and out of her apartment through a neighbor’s back door. Within a week she was caught up with the class and started to enjoy the subject. Another week and she was asking astute questions which inspired Professor Drenal to elaborate well off the lecture plan. He started lecturing to her, as the rest of the class tried to keep up with their discussion. Soon the teacher’s assistants were ducking out of hallways whenever she was around to avoid her difficult questions while Professor Drenal only smiled to the class after he spotted her in attendance.

Within a month many of the students who were enrolled in the prerequisite for Drenal’s class had been referred to her for tutoring she was been able to pay part of her rent but was still not caught up on her loan payments so she was considering moving forward in her enterprise. Midway through the semester she waited for Professor Drenal outside the lecture hall. She had not eaten that day because she spent what little money she had on laundry and shampoo. It was her scent that seized his attention when he first stepped out of the lecture hall. Luring him in with her hazel eyes he seemed to resign himself to being enticed by the unattainable. Despite having recently found reason to celebrate since meeting Cormoan, Dr.Drenal had not yet found an appropriate means of celebrating and here he was tempted by Veronica’s glittering blond hair as if it were the standard of Venus herself.

Professor Drenal, I have some questions I would like to ask you concerning the normal white cell deficiencies, she said.

Professor Drenal responded mechanically, having heard only the last four words, speaking at length without taking his eyes off her. He wondered at her neck, his eyes wandering to the cleavage of her dress and his face flushed when she giggled, apparently looking away at some antic across campus.

I’m hungry, come to the cafeteria with me. We’ll have some lunch, he invited.

She had no money, I’m not very hungry but I’ll come along.

Let me buy my best student a coffee.

She smiled pleasantly and joined him on a caffeine run at the student lounge where they shared a pot of coffee while trading remarks about the students in the class.

Have you ever noticed how that really skinny girl keeps looking away when you look at her? Veronica asked sardonically.

Yes. You should see her face too. Ha! Ha! the professor looked about guiltily, she almost falls apart every time. He regained his sedateness and went on trying to make up for the insult he directed at a young girl in his class, Its really not funny, actually, she has a problem. I spoke to her twice already and she seems very bright.

After a pleasant hour of light conversation he stretched out his hand reaching for Veronica’s while it still rested at her side. He looked up at her, with a serious but pleasant demeanor, and slowly retracted as he invited her to his apartment. She had not moved and then only to caress this welcome gesture until he withdrew slowly and she reached for him. Her reaction was as if autonomic: Her lips pursed and demanded a tongue wash and her tongue complied showing itself to the man before her then she stood and walked away.

When Drenal saw her stand he thought his hopes were dashed but she walked towards the door, with a stride like that of a proud tigress, slowly digesting her prey and looking for shade as if licking the blood of a fresh kill from her lips and purring contentedly. Every man present watched her ease herself across the room towards the door, with the look of the predator hiding behind the body of a goddess. She pulled the door between herself and the crowded student lounge permitting only Drenal to see her. Facing Drenal now, she stood legs apart and her head tilted forward and winked at him then smiled that leering inviting smile she had used on many previous conquests.

Drenal took his things and used the door to the side of the cafeteria, then walked along the hallway towards the front and emerged outside where he saw a taxi-shuttle waiting with the door open. He entered, gave the driver directions and he was kissing Veronica before the door was shut. They contained the bulk of their passions until they reached his apartment and they made love on the bed he had in this discreet nest away from home. A little refuge he bought with undeclared income and now kept rent-free to keep it secret from his wife and family. There was little in the fridge except for some Chinese food and a half used box of condoms. The bathroom was clean but bare of necessities like soap and towels, having only a slither of the former and a transparent remnant of the latter.

They made love on the bed then explored each other for well over an hour. Caressing, fondling and sometimes coddling this child of twenty-two years, Drenal felt himself young again. He kissed her like he had so many others finding the pleasure he had longed for for several months already. Speaking only briefly and exchanging overtures of contented lust and harmonies of passion her eyes spoke copiously to him as he let her enliven his emotions. He felt as though burying himself in a deep cave for months or perhaps even years was reason enough for him to devote some time to have a personal life. He imagined that perhaps Veronica could be his assistant. He had thought of that before as she was very bright but now that she lay in his arms that fantasy seemed dangerous. Dangerous to his credibility and stature as a scientist and more dangerous yet to his emotional well-being.

She threatened to tear him away from his work and lifelong passion. His research would require all his time and he had none to spare for personal matters. Panacea and the future health for billions would require all his energy. He couldn’t be sleeping with a twenty-some-odd-year-old and not be distracted from his goal of finding the medical equivalent to the fountain of youth. She was much too young and beautiful for him to dream of holding on to her and if he did she would consume him, his energies and his time. There was, for the moment, the difficult question of how the Dean at the University might react if they were to be discovered before his duty to the school had ended.

She smudged her nose against his chest and breathed in his smell, then smiled and kissed him. He leaned his head back and looked away. She was beautiful and so young.

How would you like to work for me? he heard himself ask.

I’d love to, she hugged him with her eyes closed.

You said you were looking for work, right?

She lifted her head and looked at him more seriously now.

Really? Are you being serious?

Yes, he wasn’t sure if he had actually spoken despite hearing himself say it again, Yes, I’m serious.

Veronica climbed on top of him and mounted him, with her knees on either side of his ribcage she put her arms around his head and suffocated him with her breasts while he struggled to control her. He pushed one of her knees down with his hand and then continued the motion with his foot and pulled her down on that same side as he pushed away on the other until she was on her back. It was his turn to straddle her now and he gently held her by the wrists while kissing her and pressing her down against the pillow. She tried to resist his strength but couldn’t while he kissed her. Then she struggled and had to stifle her scream while they still played in this his dearest of places. He kissed her lips, and pulled on them then lightly tugged at them between his lips as she pursed and kissed him back. He pressed his forehead to hers and reflected on her deep brown eyes as they became docile and made him relax the hold he had on her wrists.

The sun rose as they made love again then dressed ready for the day.

Just lock up when you leave. There isn’t much soap, so I don’t know if you’ll want to take a shower. I left some money on the table for you to take a cab.

She pulled the blanket over her head to screen the light from her weary eyes.

I’m going to leave now.

These words pulled her up from under the blanket away. She stood up and felt her feet touch the cold cement floor as he stepped forward to hold the fragile naked beauty before him and she found her way into his coat. He pulled it over her as he wrapped his arms about her shoulders while she wrestled with his waist and stood on his heavy boots.

Do you have to go? she asked.

Yes, I do, he egged her back into bed and stepped away standing straight and appearing in control, The school has your phone number on file, I’ll call you and make you a formal job offer, he bent over and kissed her then left.

7

00,02,12: A Wreke Hag

It is in the backward heaven of Kehran, where any technology above the iron age is considered magical contraband and thus illegal, that we find a loyal Wreke being enlisted to care for a scorned woman. This Wreke slave, a woman of many years and learned in many crafts of the sciences which are hidden from Kehran’s flock, sold her services as a rough but competent midwife. She took in the beautiful servile girl, Meriadoc, to save her from an undesired fate which threatened to put her in the care of an oafish brute whose inheritance, he felt, entitled him to take the pretty and the young. Her unwed pregnancy left her outcast and unemployed, publicly shorn and ill-treated by her peers, until she fled to the old hag hoping to be taken in.

The hag lived in what might generously be called a hovel but was more like a hole dug in mud and covered with thatch than any cabin or hut. The three of them, for there was a third much younger girl with them, shared the same rough pile of straw and they each had a blanket but not a fourth to spare. A hag can be termed a witch if the tide of malice turns against her but while harvests are good and storms