1 - A Voice From The Other World... - Chapter IX
#9 of Shadowdancer
Shadowdancer
By Dracon
[Notice: The characters and events within are inspired by the "Gargoyles" TV Series and as such credit goes to the creators of said series. If any characters appear in the story from said series, those characters belong to their creators.
Should anyone wish to use the characters or events within in their own works, permission is hereby granted to do so. I just ask that you let me know if you are going to do so and provide credit in your work.
Underage viewers should not read this series, and all readers do so at their own risk.]
"A Voice From The Other World..."
----Chapter IX----
He hesitated for a moment, but then continued. "Now, there are a few gargoyles out there that I don't get along with. Demona, for one. But I've got a good sense for people, I can usually tell when I'm going to need to lock horns with someone. This woman, though... As she walked around me, trying to intimidate me, I watched her features and realized that she was terrified. So, naturally, I told her what I knew."
Jamie interrupted, saying, "Do you know what had scared her? I got the impression she was pretty much unflappable."
He shook his head, sadly. "No, I'm afraid not. Even though I've kept in contact over here since Branson started the place, I've never been able to find out anything about Jessica's past. Haven't wanted to pry too much, honestly, out of respect for her. I think something must have happened to her clan, though, and you have to remember, she was only in her mid fourties then, she was still just a kid, really."
Jamie gasped at this. "Still just a kid? What do you mean?"
He smiled, realizing that Branson must have skipped this part, assuming it was common knowledge. "You know how you sleep through the day, right? Well, a gargoyle's body basically stops while they sleep, which makes them age slower. It's a tricky formula, because you have to take into account the changing length of the night through the year, but in this part of the world, it works out to about 2 gargoyle years to every human one. So she was, in human terms, only about 22 or 23."
Jamie pondered this, thinking about the implications. "I'm curious, you seem to know when she was born. If you don't know anything about her past, how did you figure that out?"
He began to write out a chart for her, while he spoke. "Gargoyles have a very strange physiology. Most eggs hatch in the eighth year of every odd decade, like 1978. A few hatch a few years before or after that, but that's where the average is. And I knew she couldn't have been from the '98 generation."
He looked at her, flashing an impish grin. "It was dark, and I was a little scared, frankly. But that didn't stop me from checking her out, and there was no way she was from that young, not with a bod like that."
Jamie blushed, but also laughed at this, having to agree. "That's pretty much what I thought when I saw what this body looked like!"
Chuckling, Alex finished his story. "Well, figuring that she was no threat, I sent her to the best place I could thinking, into Branson's care. When I was invited to mating ceremony a year later, I figured I'd done alright for them."
Curious, Jamie asked what this 'mating ceremony' was.
Alex explained, "It's a little bit like a wedding, but there's no priest, and the happy couple are expected to write their own vows. A very simple thing, really, but in my experience, it's a quite a beautiful affair. Of course, there's a little more to it than that, but that's the gist of it."
Alex stood, and asked Jamie to come with him. They stepped out into the hallway, and Jamie asked what he needed to tell her.
He answered, "Okay, um... Please don't get offended, but I need to ask you to do a favor for me. I know we just met, but... I know Jessica, I know what she's capable of. If she felt she could right a wrong, she would do just about anything to make it happen."
He cleared his throat, and she could see what this was costing him. "I don't think this is an accident, Jamie. I think that either she brought you here, sacrificing herself, or that she felt she needed to be in your world, and you were simply collateral damage. Possibly both, but either way, I don't think you're going to be able to get her back. Nothing against you or your abilities, but it's exceedingly difficult to make her do something she doesn't want to do."
Jamie sighed. "Yeah... that's what I'd figured, too. I have to try to get her back, though. I promised to Branson that I would, and I mean to keep that promise."
He nodded and said, "That's what I would expect you to say. I'm not asking that you give up the search, I'm just warning you that it may be fruitless. But, ah... I'm worried about Branson."
Jamie frowned, recalling the last few nights. "You're right to be. He's been very depressed since I got here. Frankly, this is only the second time I've actually seen him happy. He says he even thought of jumping off the roof a few nights ago. That had me really scared, let me tell you."
Clasping her shoulder, Alex tried to whisper in her ear. "It's worse than I thought, then. I need you to take care of him. Make sure he doesn't do anything foolish, and try to keep his mind off Jessica. I don't care how you do it, but if you can keep him together, I will be forever in your debt."
She nodded, saying, "You don't owe me anything, I had already been trying. I can't stand to see someone as... noble as him in pain."
Alex smiles at her. "You're a good woman, Jamie. Or a good man, James, however it works for you. I think they're lucky to have you, in all honesty."
He hung his head, looking regretful. "Many gargoyles take their 'duty' as defenders of the other races quite seriously. But being in what amounts to a continual state of war? That takes its toll. Too many of them lose themselves to the warrior spirit."
He brought his head up, looking into her choclate-colored eyes. "Stay true to yourself, Jamie. It would be a crime to lose you to the Rage. And you can help Branson best as you are, I think."
A tear rolled down her cheek as she listened to the pain in his voice. "I'll try, Alex. That's all I can do, isn't it?"
He nodded. "That's right. You'll do fine, I'm sure. Well, I guess I'd better head back, before they wonder what we're up to. But remember what I said, okay?"
She leaned against the wall as he left, thinking over his words, and tried to figure out exactly whom it was she was supposed to stay true to.
She heard footsteps coming, and brought herself to a neutral expression. Looking, she saw that it was Trent. "Hey, Jamie, you okay? You didn't get into a fight with Alex or anything, right?"
She shook her head, "No, no, nothing like that. I was just thinking about something he told me. Alex is a... very interesting man."
Trent grinned at her, "He is at that. Well, let's head back. Branson's getting worried about you, yeah?"
Returning to the family room, Jamie tried to put Alex's words out of her mind and just enjoy herself in the company of her new friends for the time being. Before too long, Owen reminded Alex that they needed to be in Tokyo by tomorrow, and Alex was forced to make say his farewells.
"...and you know damn well that contact was not one of the parameters of the mission. What did you think you were going to accomplish, anyway?" The husky voice demanded, speaking from the darkness of the debriefing room.
"We believe that the results of our actions shall speak for us. Time will tell, yes?" An oddly distorted voice asserted.
The rough voiced man sighed. "Well, it's probably too late to salvage now, anyway. Look, if it were up to me, I'd have you discharged ASAP, but it's not. Lucky for you, she's willing to give you another chance. But pull this sort of bullshit again and..."
After Alex had left, Jamie returned to her room to ensure that the intruder had not stolen or damaged anything. There didn't seem to be anything missing, or any signs of further infiltration. The only thing that seemed to have changed was the presence of a disc in her system.
Quickly putting together a virtual machine for testing the disc, Jamie began to examine its contents. She proceeded as carefully as she could, assuming that it contained a worm or other such virus.
It seemed to be innocuous, containing several large database files, but she maintained her vigilance, testing it thoroughly. Eventually, though, she determined that it was clean, at least as far as she could tell.
Having experimented with viruses in college, as a prank, Jamie felt that she could vouch for the disc's safety. She knew quite a few tricks of the trade, but none of them seemed to be used on its contents. Perhaps this 'Lancelot and Guinevere' really were interested in some sort of alliance.
Jamie brought the disc to Branson's office, as he had asked. She noticed that he still seemed quite cheerful, and was glad that Alex's visit had done some good.
She tossed the disc to him, saying, "I've checked this thing out as rigorously as I know how to, and I can't find any hidden surprises. It seems to be clean."
Catching its case in midair, he nodded, opened it up, and loaded it. "Well, then, let's just take a look at it, shall we?"
He tapped a button on his console, and a thin mist started to puff down from the ceiling. After a moment to allow it to reach optimum density, laser projectors recessed into the desk's surface began painting an image into the smoke. Jamie watched in awe, impressed by the sophistication of the device.
Branson used a slender stylus to highlight the disc's icon, opening it with a gesture, then opening the first database, labeled "Branson". To their surprise, it contained a rather complete biography about Branson, which made him distinctly uncomfortable. He did not like the idea of some mysterious burglar having this kind of information on him.
Yet, below the bio, there was also a long series of essays and articles. Jamie was unsure what they meant, but Branson broke into a grin as he started reading them.
"If any of this stuff is true... I could make a mint! Look at this one." He highlighted a memo that, according to the header, originated from the network of Ardus Enterprises, and appeared to describe some most unsavory dumping they had been engaged in.
Branson cackled with glee, saying, "Remember when I told you about Pentex? This is one of their properties, their business involves cleaning up environmental disasters. But this says they're dumping the waste elsewhere, to save
costs. If I went public with this... it'd be a disaster they couldn't easily clean up, that's for sure."
Branson and Jamie scanned through the archive for another hour, and found themselves excited about the data it contained. It seemed that almost all of the companies in the archive were ones that Branson had ethical disagreements with, or else was in direct competition with.
Jamie asked him to check out the database labeled "Jessica". It also started with a biography, though a much less complete one, only dating back about six years. Why did that number seem so... oh! She realized that if she halved it, to 'human time', it matched the time that James had lived in Chicago. She thought that was really eerie.
The database also contained a collection of essays about the facts of mythology. One that she noted was from Salish myth, and told of the great Spirit Chief naming all of the animal spirits before The People came.
What had caught her eye was the name given to the spirit of Grizzly Bear... Kee-lau-naw!
There also appeared to be legitimate discussions on the working of magic in the database, and they were recent, within the last few decades, as opposed to the ancient tomes Jessica had. Scanning through them, she noticed that many of them were written in a scientific style of writing, and several of them had headers from the Pentagon!
She spoke cautiously, trying not to sound too excited. "Branson, I really think this is on the level. There are databases for Elayne and Trent, too. I'm don't much care for the idea that someone's been watching us this closely, but we might as well use this data, since they decided to give it to us. I recommend that you send those databases to others, and we should put our heads together and see what we can make of them."
Branson nodded, agreeing with her assessment, but noted, "Their data can't be perfect, though. The second database was listed as Jessica, not Jamie, after all. Maybe they want me to save that data for when she returns, but then there should have been something referring to you, Jamie, right?"
She thought about that, but had to agree. "I just wish I knew who that infiltrator was working for. That'd answer a lot of our questions. They've got to have backers in high places to pull in this kind of data, I think. I don't know so much about how this world works, but in mine, the Pentagon doesn't tend to let go of its internal memos easily."
Branson ran off a few copies of the disc, and asked Jamie to deliver them to the others while he finished up his work for the night.
Agreeing to his plan, she sought out Elayne first, figuring that she would be in her shop looking through the shipment. That was precisely where she was to be found, and she was acting much like a kid on Christmas day, busily cataloging all of the interesting prototypes and other hardware that Alex had brought.
Seeing Jamie enter, Elayne waved her over and called out to her. "Jamie! You should check this stuff out, it's wicked!"
Elayne reached into one of the crates, pulling out a massive firearm with a trio of actuated barrels. It seemed to bear some resemblance to the particle carbine in Jamie's room, albeit a much large version.
With a grin, Elayne placed it to her shoulder and aimed it around. "Check this out. Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. You could fry half a city with this puppy! Well, you're only gonna get a couple of shots before it runs dry, but if you make 'em count... heh heh heh."
Despite herself, Jamie found herself afflicted with Elayne's infectious enthusiasm, and spent some time helping her sort out the various devices. Most of them weren't weapons, of course, and many of the pieces of equipment were just spare parts or replacements for gear they already had, but were unable to fabricate on-site.
Opening up another crate, Elayne looked inside, and cackled with glee. "Jamie, look at this!" Inside the crate were 5 suits of high-tech armor, constructed of some sort of elastic material overlaid with plates of a rubbery material.
"What are these? I've never seen anything like them." Jamie queried, confused and also a little excited.
Elayne responded, "Well, I've never seen these before, but I know Alex's R&D department was working on the idea.
The plates are made of a nanotech gel, so they're normally flexible, but if something hits them with too much force, they go rigid and diffuse the blow."
Jamie reached into the crate and pulled out one of the suits, trying to figure out how it could possibly fit on her.
Elayne shook her head, sadly. "I don't think you want to use that, girl. Now, you gotta understand, I don't know nuttin' about nuttin' when it comes to magic, but I saw Jessica work it often enough. You probably haven't had this happen yet, but some spells seem to cause a physical change in the user. Ultralastic fabric can handle it, like most of your clothes, but I think the gel-plates might react to it like a gunshot... and that wouldn't be pretty. And let's just say you never, ever want to get in a hard-suit."
With a sigh, Jamie replaced the suit and vowed to study some of those shielding spells as soon as she got a free moment.
Realizing how long she'd spent with Elayne, she asked Elayne if she knew where Trent might be right now. "I've got something to give him... Oh! And, I was supposed to give you this disc. This is a copy of the one the intruder left behind. There's a database for each of us on here, and Branson thought you'd want to look through it as soon as
possible."
Taking the disc, Elayne thanked Jamie. "Hmm... maybe there's some new schematics on here, that'd rock! I think that Trent was headed to the family room, he said that the intercom was acting 'wonky'."
Saying goodbye, Jamie left the workshop, hoping to catch Trent before he wandered off to somewhere else. He was still working on the intercom, however, trying to convince the stubborn machine that it would be 'really kind if you'd continue functioning again'.
She called out, not wanting to startle him. "Trent! Do you have a moment to spare?"
He pulled himself out of the wall panel, where he had been checking over the wiring. "Sure thing, Jamie. What do you need from me? I could use a break from fighting with this obnoxious thing, yeah?"
Jamie handed the other copy to him, keeping the original for herself. "Branson made some copies of that disc I was 'given' last night. There's a bunch of databases on it, with our names for labels. Someone's been watching us very closely, it would seem."
Trent thumped his fist against the wall in frustration. "Bang it all! Jamie, I knew something was up, but I could never figure it out. Look, my security rig is quite sensitive, yeah? Well, every so often, I'd pick up movement or heat up on the roofs nearby, but couldn't track it down. That must have been your stalker!"
Jamie tried to calm him down. "Hey, hey... for all you knew, the signals were from really big squirrels or something, right? Don't beat yourself up over it, okay?"
Sighing, he nodded. "Yeah... I guess you're right. Next time I pick one of those blips up, I'll let everyone know. So, eh, what did those databases contain?"
She gestured in the air to mark her points. "Well, we didn't look at yours, but Branson's had a bunch of memos and secret data from some of his rival companies, and mine had a long essay on mythology, as well as some recent magical papers, including some from the Pentagon."
He whistled, looking impressed. "Well, that makes me feel better. Someone that could break into the Pentagon is a little out of my league, yeah? Still... that'll make it all the better to catch him in the act. Thanks, Jamie. I'll see what I've got on here, maybe I'll find something as interesting as your files."
Turning, he glared at the intercom. "But first... en garde, demonspawn!"
With a laugh, Jamie turned to head to the roof, hearing a bellowed, "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!" as she left. Uncertain of whether he'd meant that in seriousness, or was just messing around for her benefit, she figured that might be a good time to head out.
When she arrived on the roof, she looked to the stars, marveling at how many she could make out, even against Chicago's lambent aura. She felt a presence form around her, and said, "Good evening, Kee. Feeling any better than the last time I saw you?"
His 'astral voice', faded and thin, entered her mind. "I am well, mistress. I trust this evening finds you in good spirit?"
She nodded, from habit, and replied, "Reasonably good, yeah. Kee, I know you were resting yesterday, but did you happen to see the intruder as it, or they, ran from here?"
Kee's presence darkened slightly, but he replied, "I did, mistress. I believe that your invader's nature may be disturbing to you, however."
Jamie shrugged, watching the city lights as she spoke, "Well, it'd irritate me more not to have any idea who broke in, so go ahead and tell me."
Kee sighed, but answered, "He appeared to be one of your people, mistress. Yet, there was something else about him. His spirit appeared blackened, as though from a great fire, and there was a certain... haze about him. It seemed almost as though he had a spirit bound to him, but not like any I have ever seen before."
Jamie sighed. "If he was a gargoyle, why didn't he ask to join us, or at least to be let in? That doesn't make much sense, Kee, but thank you for telling me, anyway. "
She began to ponder what it could mean for a person's soul to be 'blackened' as Kee bid her farewell for the night,
and the other gargoyles showed up shortly before dawn.
Branson came over to her and asked, "Have you seen anything we should know about, Jamie? Any sign of the intruder?"
She shook her head. "I haven't seen a thing since I got up here, except some street toughs in that park down the street."
Branson nodded, replying, "Yeah, those are the Beverly Boys. They're not so bad, really. This district's seen better days, and there's only so many people on the force. The Boys keep things from getting too out of hand here, when the police can't. They know that we live here, too. I kind of scouted out the local talent when I moved here, and thought they might make good irregulars. I'll tell you more about them in the evening, if you'd like."
Elayne, watching the sun's progress, called out, "Places, everyone!"
The gargoyles spread to the four corners of the deck, taking their statuary poses before the dawn came. Jamie realized, looking at herself, that the stance she took instinctively was much the same as the one on the painting that started this whole mess.
Like a grand celestial timepiece, the sun's rays reached them at the appointed hour, and Jamie felt her body stiffen into stone, dragging her mind into the sluggishness of stone sleep as it did so...