Post by Lorpius Prime on May 4, 2008 4:54:07 GMT -5
Jay felt as if a pit had opened up beneath him and he was plunging headlong into it. Even after he dropped back into his chair, he simply could not shake the sensation that he was falling. He very much hoped he wasn’t going to be sick.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” he said, admitting that it was a dim hope.
The… creature, Richard, whatever it was, turned its head with a bird-like curl of the neck towards Eleonore. Then it spoke, “Ich wünsche… If only all of them reacted this way. Our task would be like melting butter.”
Its voice was clear, the words perfectly enunciated, yet it was utterly unnerving to hear. It sounded like at least three people speaking in unison in different, harmonic pitches. Jay felt his eyes bulge even more than they already were at the effect.
By comparison, his own voice was weak and trembling, “I… how are you doing that?” It was among the least of his worries at the moment, but the only one he could find the will to voice.
“I was taught,” it answered in that same remarkable way. Jay noticed that it hardly opened its jaw when it spoke. He wondered how it was capable of human speech at all without cheeks or much tongue movement. But he couldn’t deny the words.
“Taught?” The question sounded more like a plea for help than a point of curiosity.
The creature didn’t really have any lips, but it opened its jaw enough to display a toothy smile. Or perhaps it was scowling at Jay instead; it was difficult to be sure.
It turned to Eleonore again, “As always, Your Majesty, I admire your generosity, and am grateful for it myself. But I share Theodore’s concern,” the chorus of voices paused and Jay saw one of the creature’s great yellow eyes swivel to look at him. “We don’t know this man. He looks… harmless, but he is British, and a reporter. We put ourselves in danger by giving him information.”
Had Jay not been so caught up by his astonishment at the creature’s existence, he might have protested. But he still could hardly believe that he was sitting in the same room with the thing, much less that he was watching it carry on a conversation. He said nothing.
The woman who claimed to be the Swan Queen sat down and rested her chin on one hand and looked thoughtfully at Jay, drumming the fingers of her other hand on her desk.
After a few moments she folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward. She spoke slower, more cautiously than she had before, “What did you bring to Baron Münchhausen, Mr. Blake?”
Jay looked away from the impossible creature still hovering beside him in its flowing robes. “I don’t… they were just papers… old records, from the wars. The wars here, that is.” He shrugged helplessly.
She turned her head to Theodore, and he nodded. “It looks as if Karl was right. Mr. Blake’s papers leave very little room for doubt; unless they are forgeries, which I sincerely doubt given the circumstances. They really did it.”
Eleonore’s lips and eyes tightened in a poorly concealed grimace, and she touched her fingers together in front of her. It was a gesture like Jay had watched Baron Münchhausen make several times, and he found it quite discomforting in this context.
“Mr. Blake,” she began again, “there was a time when I would have told you that our cause was inevitable, that nothing you or anyone else could do could have made the slightest difference in the end.” She licked her lips, but pensively, not with the hunger with which the Baron made the gesture. “I can no longer afford the luxury of those beliefs. Perhaps I will even have to abandon them entirely.”
Jay sat up slightly in his chair. He found her words rather ominous, but at least they were a distraction from the utter breakdown of reality which was confronting him in the corner of his vision. At least her words were possible.
“This means I may have to tolerate some unpleasant things.” She lowered her head for a moment, “As if war were not unpleasant enough itself.”
Jay shifted again, uncomfortably; he himself had an unpleasant feeling about where this was going.
She looked up again to fix him with cold eyes, “Karl has played me for a fool, and as much as I may resent that, I must accept it. That means Richard,” she nodded to the creature, and Jay felt a small surge of anger with the woman for forcing him to acknowledge its presence, “is right. You are a terrible danger to us; I cannot permit what your country did to Ludwig to happen again.”
“But I don’t even know what—!”
He cut off his protest at her raised hand, “That doesn’t matter. Others do, and if they find out what you know… I understand they’re already looking, too?” Again she turned to Theodore and again he nodded.
“They have already made several attempts to intercept him. If he were captured, I expect—”
“They tried to kill me!” Jay interrupted, “Not capture me! Listen, I don’t know what all this is about, I don’t think I want to know, either. Toss journalism, I just want to go home!”
“If they capture him,” sang the strange chorus of voices again, “it won’t matter what he wants. He already knows enough—”
“Oh, so what then?!” Jay leapt up from his chair to shout at the creature, his anger overcoming his fear, “Are you going to try to kill me too? This is so much rubbish, what did I ever do to anyone, eh?”
“We won’t kill you,” Eleonore said, and the authority in her voice was impressive.
All of the others looked to her with varying degrees of surprise. If Jay had thought to consider the implications of that at the time, he might have shaken at the knowledge of just how close to death he had come.
But the actress on her stool, or the Swan Queen on her throne perhaps, looked at each of them in turn, “No. No, and I’m quite certain of it. If we do, we are no better than them. Whatever else we may have to do, I will not permit Karl to drag us down to that level.”
Jay was still exhaling in relief when the bombs began to strike.
Book One, Chapter:
-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-
-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-
-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62-
Appendix: -A-B-C-
“I think I’m going to be sick,” he said, admitting that it was a dim hope.
The… creature, Richard, whatever it was, turned its head with a bird-like curl of the neck towards Eleonore. Then it spoke, “Ich wünsche… If only all of them reacted this way. Our task would be like melting butter.”
Its voice was clear, the words perfectly enunciated, yet it was utterly unnerving to hear. It sounded like at least three people speaking in unison in different, harmonic pitches. Jay felt his eyes bulge even more than they already were at the effect.
By comparison, his own voice was weak and trembling, “I… how are you doing that?” It was among the least of his worries at the moment, but the only one he could find the will to voice.
“I was taught,” it answered in that same remarkable way. Jay noticed that it hardly opened its jaw when it spoke. He wondered how it was capable of human speech at all without cheeks or much tongue movement. But he couldn’t deny the words.
“Taught?” The question sounded more like a plea for help than a point of curiosity.
The creature didn’t really have any lips, but it opened its jaw enough to display a toothy smile. Or perhaps it was scowling at Jay instead; it was difficult to be sure.
It turned to Eleonore again, “As always, Your Majesty, I admire your generosity, and am grateful for it myself. But I share Theodore’s concern,” the chorus of voices paused and Jay saw one of the creature’s great yellow eyes swivel to look at him. “We don’t know this man. He looks… harmless, but he is British, and a reporter. We put ourselves in danger by giving him information.”
Had Jay not been so caught up by his astonishment at the creature’s existence, he might have protested. But he still could hardly believe that he was sitting in the same room with the thing, much less that he was watching it carry on a conversation. He said nothing.
The woman who claimed to be the Swan Queen sat down and rested her chin on one hand and looked thoughtfully at Jay, drumming the fingers of her other hand on her desk.
After a few moments she folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward. She spoke slower, more cautiously than she had before, “What did you bring to Baron Münchhausen, Mr. Blake?”
Jay looked away from the impossible creature still hovering beside him in its flowing robes. “I don’t… they were just papers… old records, from the wars. The wars here, that is.” He shrugged helplessly.
She turned her head to Theodore, and he nodded. “It looks as if Karl was right. Mr. Blake’s papers leave very little room for doubt; unless they are forgeries, which I sincerely doubt given the circumstances. They really did it.”
Eleonore’s lips and eyes tightened in a poorly concealed grimace, and she touched her fingers together in front of her. It was a gesture like Jay had watched Baron Münchhausen make several times, and he found it quite discomforting in this context.
“Mr. Blake,” she began again, “there was a time when I would have told you that our cause was inevitable, that nothing you or anyone else could do could have made the slightest difference in the end.” She licked her lips, but pensively, not with the hunger with which the Baron made the gesture. “I can no longer afford the luxury of those beliefs. Perhaps I will even have to abandon them entirely.”
Jay sat up slightly in his chair. He found her words rather ominous, but at least they were a distraction from the utter breakdown of reality which was confronting him in the corner of his vision. At least her words were possible.
“This means I may have to tolerate some unpleasant things.” She lowered her head for a moment, “As if war were not unpleasant enough itself.”
Jay shifted again, uncomfortably; he himself had an unpleasant feeling about where this was going.
She looked up again to fix him with cold eyes, “Karl has played me for a fool, and as much as I may resent that, I must accept it. That means Richard,” she nodded to the creature, and Jay felt a small surge of anger with the woman for forcing him to acknowledge its presence, “is right. You are a terrible danger to us; I cannot permit what your country did to Ludwig to happen again.”
“But I don’t even know what—!”
He cut off his protest at her raised hand, “That doesn’t matter. Others do, and if they find out what you know… I understand they’re already looking, too?” Again she turned to Theodore and again he nodded.
“They have already made several attempts to intercept him. If he were captured, I expect—”
“They tried to kill me!” Jay interrupted, “Not capture me! Listen, I don’t know what all this is about, I don’t think I want to know, either. Toss journalism, I just want to go home!”
“If they capture him,” sang the strange chorus of voices again, “it won’t matter what he wants. He already knows enough—”
“Oh, so what then?!” Jay leapt up from his chair to shout at the creature, his anger overcoming his fear, “Are you going to try to kill me too? This is so much rubbish, what did I ever do to anyone, eh?”
“We won’t kill you,” Eleonore said, and the authority in her voice was impressive.
All of the others looked to her with varying degrees of surprise. If Jay had thought to consider the implications of that at the time, he might have shaken at the knowledge of just how close to death he had come.
But the actress on her stool, or the Swan Queen on her throne perhaps, looked at each of them in turn, “No. No, and I’m quite certain of it. If we do, we are no better than them. Whatever else we may have to do, I will not permit Karl to drag us down to that level.”
Jay was still exhaling in relief when the bombs began to strike.
Book One, Chapter:
-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-
-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-
-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62-
Appendix: -A-B-C-