"Does no one knock anymore? I swear, if this keeps up I'm going to arm my secretary and install landmines in my outer office. Now, who the hell are you, and what do you want?"
"Just a little of your time, Durandal," said the soldier in a harsh rasping voice. He smiled widely. "How do you like this body? Just a little something I threw on, but it has a certain charm, don't you think?"
"Oh, shit," said Tel. "It's an ELF."
Finn's glare became positively glacial. "Don't sit down, ELF; you're not staying. And I thought I told you people not to call me at the office. All right, spit it out. You can talk freely in front of Tel, because he knows I'll have him killed if he repeats anything I don't want repeated. What do you want?"
"We want you to arrange a meeting between ELF representatives and the uber-espers," said the thrall. "Our glorious leaders and founders have apparently become so busy running errands for you that they don't have time to talk to us anymore. All we get are orders, and no explanations. We're feeling left out of things, and we don't like it. But if they won't listen to us, maybe they'll listen to you. So, you contact the uber-espers and persuade them to listen to our grievances, or you can forget about having Paragons at your beck and call anymore."
"I don't take kindly to threats," said Finn, and there was something in his voice and in his eyes that gave even the ELF pause.
"Think of it more as a wake-up call, Sir Durandal. Even ELFs have their limitations. The strain of possessing so many Paragons for so long, twenty-four hours a day, is taking its toll on us. We're having to pass the Paragons back and forth between us so our minds can get some rest, and every time we exchange control there's a very real risk of a Paragon breaking free. All these people have had special training against mental control, and they're becoming increasingly difficult subjects. We were able to overcome them in the first place only because we caught them by surprise, from ambush, and outnumbered each of them by ten to one or more. The ELFs can't guarantee to maintain control unless we get help and support from the uber-espers. They listen to you these days—so arrange it."
"Why does no one ever bring me good news anymore?" said Finn plaintively. He leaned back in his chair and considered the matter. "I used the Gray Tram to control the thirteen Paragons I sent to Shandrakor, because you ELFs assured me that only an uber-esper could safely control so many subjects at such a distance. Now all these Paragons are dead, and the Gray Train is reportedly in shock. And you want me to hand over more Paragons to the uber-espers?" Finn smiled encouragingly at the thrall. "What's the matter? Aren't you boys having a good time anymore, doing nasty things in Paragon bodies?"
"That's not the point," the ELF said stubbornly. "We can't go on like this. We need help. It's in your best interests to arrange this meeting, Sir Durandal."
"Oh, very well. If it'll make you happy. Seems nothing gets done right around here unless I do it myself. I'll contact the uber-espers and set up your meeting. I want to talk to them myself, and especially the Gray Train. I'm really not at all happy about losing so many Paragons at once. All right, that's it. You can go now, ELF. Don't slam the door on your way out, or I'll have the uber-espers stick your mind in something small and squishy for a week. Off you go. Don't forget to write. And Tel, find yourself a regeneration tank and clean yourself up. I have an errand for you to run."
The Paragon Emma Steel had agreed to meet girl reporter Nina Malapert at Nina's place, but she had only to walk into the reporter's living room to feel she might have made a terrible mistake. Nina was a single girl who lived alone, and it showed. Things just couldn't get this messy without a certain amount of determined effort. Emma stood perfectly still in the middle of the apartment so she wouldn't have to touch anything, while Nina bustled cheerfully back and forth around her, ostensibly tidying up, but mostly just picking things up and putting them down somewhere else. Emma's nostrils twitched as the pervasive aromas of cheap perfume, cheaper disinfectant and the lingering remains of several recent meals fought it out for supremacy.
There were cuddly toys everywhere, beaming vacantly from every surface that wasn't already buried under gaudy china figurines of questionable taste, and vases full of drooping flowers. There was a long shelf of data recordings, and Emma just knew they hadn't been sorted into alphabetical order. Towering piles of fashion and gossip magazines threatened to topple over at any moment. Three of the living room walls were hidden behind live holo images showing a barren windswept moor, an overgrown garden with ivy-covered walls, and waves crashing soundlessly against craggy rocks in showers of spray. There was one desk, pushed tightly up against the one remaining wall, bearing a computer terminal, a remote camera in its recharging unit, and more piled up dirty plates and coffee mugs than the mind could comfortably come to terms with. Both of the comfortable chairs were full of dirty laundry. Nina bundled it all up and tottered off in her high heels to dump the laundry in the next room. Her voice came drifting back.
"Sorry about the mess, darling, but I live here. Won't be a tick. Make yourself comfortable, and watch out for the goldfish. I dropped it a few days ago, and I still haven't found it. Do you like my holo walls? They appeal to my wild romantic side, but I find I have to keep the sound turned right down. Nature in the raw can be terribly distracting. Oh, would you like some coffee?"
Emma looked at the dirty mugs on the desk and shuddered. "Not right now, thank you."
"I'd offer you some brandy, but I don't have any."
Emma headed for the nearest chair, kicking a stuffed bear out of the way. Nina cried out in distress from the doorway, and hurried over to pick up the bear and cuddle it to her.
"Leave Bruin Bear alone, you big bully! There, there, lovey, she didn't mean it. She's just a nasty old Paragon who probably isn't getting her ashes hauled nearly often enough."
"Why so many guns?" said Emma, deliberately changing the subject as she sank gingerly into the comfortable chair. She indicated the dozen or so energy weapons mounted inexpertly on the wall over the desk. Nina smiled, kissed Bruin Bear and wedged him in between other toys on the nearest shelf. She sat down opposite Emma, and crossed her legs to better show off her new shoes.
"The guns are a legacy from my dear old forefather Flynn. He always said the first rule of journalism is, Be prepared to shoot at any time."
Emma regarded the bulky energy guns dubiously. "Are you sure he didn't mean with a camera?"
"Not these days, sweetie."
Nina smiled happily at Emma, her tall pink mohawk swaying slightly. She was wearing a whole bunch of multicolored silks, and had clearly decided to let the colors fight it out among themselves for dominance: She had a bright red heart painted over her left eye, and lips of a dpxk scarlet hue never found in nature. Emma would have felt quite dowdy in her plain Paragons outfit, if she'd ever thought about such things.
"Why did you call me here so urgently, Nina?" Emma said patiently. "Have you uncovered something new about the Paragon situation?"
"Well, not really, dear, but I did think we should talk about what we're going to do with what we do know. Especially since it involves You Know Who. Someone's got to get the word out that all our Paragons have been possessed! Apart from you, obviously. People have the right to know things like that. Very especially after what's just happened on Shandrakor. You do know what's just happened on Shandrakor, don't you, darling?"
"Yes," said Emma. "I have my sources. Thirteen of my brethren are dead. I mourn their loss. They will be avenged."
"But they're the bad guys now, aren't they? I mean, any one of them would kill us if they knew what we know about them."
"The Paragons have never been the enemy," Emma said sharply. "They are helpless in the grasp of the minds that control them. And now there are thirteen Paragons that I will never be able to rescue."
"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry, lovey." Nina looked terribly sad for a moment, but her natural ebullience quickly reasserted itself. "But that just makes it even more imperative that we do something. While we still can!"
&nb
sp; "I've been thinking about it," said Emma. "If all else fails, I think I should assassinate Finn Durandal. He's behind everything bad that happens these days. Cut off the head of the serpent, and the body should wither and die."
"Well, ten out of ten for gung ho, dear, but let's be real about this—you'd never get anywhere near him. He's constantly surrounded by Church Militant bully boys and Pure Humanity thugs these days, and even if by some miracle you could get to him, you'd never get out alive."
"So?" said Emma, quite calmly.
"Right… Well, lovey, I think we'll leave the suicidal last charges until we've tried everything else, including closing our eyes and wishing it would all go away. We can't afford to take risks with our lives, Emma, we really can't. Not while we're the only ones who know the truth about what's happening."
A blast of blindingly bright light exploded in the middle of the room, and both Emma and Nina cried out in shock, covering their eyes with upraised arms. The light seemed to solidify before them, and an overwhelming sense of presence began to sink into the room, as though approaching or descending into reality from somewhere far away. The light began to fade away to the merely painful, but the sense of presence was stronger than ever. Emma rose up out of her chair, gun in hand, while Nina lurched blindly towards the guns on her wall. They were both sharing the same thought: The uber-espers have found us… But when the glare suddenly snapped off, it left behind only a short blond woman in old-fashioned clothing, with a harsh face and disquieting eyes. She nodded easily to Emma and Nina, though her smile was somewhat unsettling.
Nina clutched her gun to her chest as though for comfort. "My God," she whispered. "I know you. I've seen your face in old holo files. You're Jenny Psycho!"
"I prefer Diana Vertue," said the new arrival, still smiling. "My other name may be what most people remember, but I was always so much more than just Jenny Psycho."
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" said Emma, not lowering the gun she had trained on the newcomer.
"Only materially," said Diana. "I thought I'd left the world behind me, but it seems I still have unfinished business to attend to."
"Another exclusive!" Nina jumped up and down on the spot, waving her gun carelessly in the air. "The return of Jenny Psycho! I am going to be so big-time I won't even talk to myself! Oh… pictures! I have to get pictures!"
She tossed her gun at the nearest chair, and Emma tried not to flinch too obviously. Nina grabbed up her camera from its recharger unit.
"I wouldn't bother," said Diana. "Cameras can't see me. Only people.
"Oh, poo," said Nina. "No one's ever going to believe this without pictures."
Diana looked at Emma. "You haven't put away your gun, Paragon."
"I'm feeling insecure," said Emma.
"I get that a lot," said Diana. "But you might as well holster it. It couldn't hurt me anyway."
Emma sniffed, and put away her gun. "What do you want with us, Diana Vertue? Your old name and reputation don't exactly inspire confidence."
"There will be a gathering of ELFs and uber-espers tonight," said Diana. "And I'm here to tell you where it's going to be. All the uber-espers will be there, gathered together in the flesh in one place for the first time in over a century."
"Someone slap me," said Nina. "I may faint."
"Don't tempt me," said Emma, not taking her gaze off Diana. It never occurred to either of them to question Diana's identity, or the truth of what she was saying. Her sense of presence was just too strong. Emma did her best to keep her voice level and businesslike.
"Give me the location, Diana Vertue. And I'll put a bomb under it so big they'll find pieces of the building on the Rim worlds."
"Tempting thought," said Diana. "But unfortunately, quite impractical. Their meeting place is set deep under the House of Parliament. I don't know if the people would really miss all the members of Parliament, but the old building still has great sentimental appeal."
"Under the House?" Emma was honestly outraged. "How long has this been going on?"
"Since long before my time," said Diana. "The uber-espers have used this very secret location for their little get-togethers for centuries. Discovering its location was what got me killed. They ganged up on me. Ambushed me. I never even sensed it coming. When I died, the shock scattered my memories. The oversoul arrived in time to absorb my consciousness, but it took me many years to recover everything I'd lost. Now I'm all that's left of the oversoul on Logres, and my abilities are limited by my need to keep a low profile. If the uber-espers even suspect I'm back, they'll go to ground and you'll never find them. But I'm going to fix it so you can sneak into the meeting place under the House, and make a record of everything that happens there."
Nina had one hand up in the air and waving, like a child in class. "Can I please ask you just a few little questions first, Diana?"
If you must.
Nina had a notepad and pencil at the ready. "So, you're here. You're back. Wow! You must have seen a lot of changes. So, what's your favorite restaurant? Who's your favorite vid star? Were you really having an affair with Finlay Campbell? And where does your body come from, if you only exist now as a part of the esper mass-mind?"
"A lady doesn't answer personal questions. And I don't have time for the rest of that shit. Neither do you, if you want to get to the meeting before it's over. You have to leave now."
"Why did King Robert and Queen Constance never make a legend out of you, like they did with the others?" said Emma, if only to show she wasn't going to be hurried into anything.
"Because they had enough sense not to annoy me," said Diana Vertue. "They knew I never approved of the whole legends business. But they were King and Queen, and I… was busy with my own affairs."
"Affairs?" said Nina, her ears pricking up.
"Not the kind you're thinking of, dear. And don't push for answers that are none of your business, or I'll hit you with a plague of frogs."
"Oh, I just love little froggies! They're so cute!"
"All right, how do you feel about a plague of boils?"
"Can I just ask one last teeny-tiny question?" Nina put on her best winsome expression, and hit her charm button for all it was worth. "I'm sure an awful lot of people would like to know: why didn't you and the rest of the super-people do something about the Terror, all those years ago? You knew it was coming. Why did you all just go away, and leave it for us to deal with?"
Emma winced, and braced herself for an explosive reaction, even getting ready to grab Nina and haul her out of the line of fire if necessary, but in the end Diana just looked at Nina for a long moment, and then sighed quietly.
"Because… we never were super-people, dear. Not really. Just people, with extra abilities. And we were all so very tired, after so many battles, that had cost us so much… We just didn't have it in us to fight another war. Not then. So many good people dead and gone, and we had an Empire to rebuild. So we all went our separate ways, going wherever duty or need drove us… And none of us ever really thought the Terror would arrive in our lifetime. If we thought about it at all, I suppose we all assumed that by the time the Terror finally got here, mankind would have evolved into something capable of stopping it. We all had such faith in the Madness Maze, in those days… I have to go. I have to be about my business. But first, some gifts."
Emma and Nina cried out in pain and shock as Diana Vertue thrust information directly into their minds. All in a moment, they knew exactly where to find the meeting place, how best to get there unobserved, and from what vantage point they could best overhear all that was said. It was as though they'd always known it. Emma and Nina slowly dropped their hands from their aching heads, and Emma glared at Diana.
"You might have warned us."
"Would it have helped? I've also placed powerful esp-blocking mechanisms in your heads, for your own protection. Natural ones, not artificial. The uber-espers won't know you're there, unless you're dumb enough to attract attention to yourselves. Best of luck, my d
ears. You're going to need it."
And she was gone, as though she'd never been there. And perhaps she hadn't. Emma and Nina looked at each other.
"You don't have to come with me," said Emma. "This is going to be incredibly dangerous. We make one wrong step, and someone else will be coming home in our bodies."
"Are you kidding?" Nina looked at the notepad in her hand, then tossed it aside and grabbed her camera again. "We are talking story of the century! This is beyond an exclusive, this is a scoop! This is my own byline, maybe even my own show! In the future they'll name awards after me. Nina Malapert, demon girl reporter! Now, let's go, before I start hyperventilating."
It took Emma and Nina several hours of surreptitious traveling to work their way through the warren of maintenance tunnels under the House of Parliament, and then down and down through hidden doors and unexpected tunnels to caverns excavated from solid stone, to the meeting place of the uber-espers. The map Diana Vertue had forced into their heads led them deep into the bedrock the Parade of the Endless was built on, through narrow corridors of stone that showed no signs of being worked by mortal hands. A pale diffuse glow filled the still air, from no obvious source. Emma and Nina padded quietly through the tunnels, guns in their hands, constantly on the alert for booby traps or unexpected guards, but they encountered nothing and no one. The uber-espers were confident in their secrets.
The more Emma thought about it, the more sense the location made. The House's security teams had never been willing to admit espers to their ranks, and MPs with far too much to hide had secretly encouraged the ban. And anyway, only a major-league presence from the oversoul would have been able to detect the uber-espers behind the kind of shields they were capable of projecting. On top of all that, the sheer clutter and bedlam of thoughts and emotions generated by the House every day would easily hide any stray thoughts that might drift up from underground. Emma wasn't blind to the symbolism either: the official masters of the Empire aboveground, and the unofficial below. Or perhaps the ego above, and the id below. She sniffed unhappily, and moved stealthily on through the relentlessly descending tunnels, with Nina so close behind her she was almost treading on Emma's heels. The stone walls were closing in as the corridors narrowed, until the stone walls brushed menacingly against their shoulders on both sides.