“We’ll creep close, using the cover,” Alice improvised, “and you can hold the door long enough for us to slip in. If we get into a fight out here, we’ll be certain to attract attention.”
“Nothing has noticed us thus far,” Drum added, “so we can be certain that omniscient or not, the deities have more to do these days than gaze down a hillside.”
Virginia nodded. “If we had more time, I’d teach you how to shift, but it takes practice to do it right. Dubhe, you can move more quickly than the rest of us. Scamper up to about twelve o’clock—but stay parallel to the factory.”
“You want me at the middle of the clock,” Dubhe clarified.
“Right. I’ll watch you for signals as to the other group’s motion. We’re fortunate that they’re walking, not taking a conveyance of some sort.”
“I’m gone,” Dubhe said.
Virginia jerked her head somewhat brusquely at Alice and Drum.
“I’ll shift when I’m closer. My current attire is better camouflage. You two will need to be near enough to trail the group, but not on my heels in case something goes wrong.”
“Right,” Drum said for them both.
“Good luck,” Alice added.
“She’s not a happy lady,” Desmond Drum said, when Virginia had departed. “We’re going to need to watch out for her.”
“I guess so,” Alice said. “Poor thing, she really loved Markon.”
“And the only thing that is keeping her going is a desire for revenge on his killer. If she loses hope that she can achieve that, she may lose what control remains to her.”
“Have you ever been in love, Drum?”
He glanced at her. “Several times, never took for the lady in question. I guess I’m unlucky that way.”
“Oh.”
Drum looked away. “Virginia’s far enough ahead. Let’s get going.”
Jay’s surrender consisted of sitting cross-legged on the factory floor (dark red, poured, and somewhat plastic) while the two winged lions held their spears on him and argued whether or not one or the other should go for their superiors. Apparently, the facility lacked either intercom or radio, these having been removed during the first week of the demideities’ detail when the others grew tired of listening to their complaints.
This absorbing subject had not yet been resolved (and Jay did his best to keep it from being so), when Little Wind brightened and pawed at his long hair and beard.
“They’re coming! I saw them turning the bend in the road.”
“Jay, could you possibly look more dangerous?” Little Storm said, after confirming his partner’s report.
Jay puffed out his chest and scowled. “How’s that?”
“Great! Look angry if you can—we’ve just caught you about to… Why were you here, anyhow?”
The rightside door rumbling open saved Jay from needing to answer. Neither of the guards had attention for anything but the uniformed figures who marched in. A single man stood at the center of the square they formed, his expression of bored indifference changing to one of surprise as he saw Jay.
Only Jay noticed that one member of the escort paused for a moment in the doorway, or that three figures scuttled in after the escort entered and secreted themselves among the crates piled by the door. Moments later, at the edge of his peripheral vision, Jay thought he saw Dubhe moving deeper into the room using the machinery for cover.
Fortunately, Ambry’s escort was distracted from the breakin routine by the sight of Jay scowling beneath the sharp points of two spears.
“An intruder!” Little Storm said. “We caught him just a few moments ago.”
Whatever response the leader of the escort, an androgynous male with gold braid at wrists and collar instead of merely on his cap, might have made was lost when Ambry pushed him away and knelt at Jay’s side.
Confused, Little Wind and Little Storm lowered their spears and glanced at the escort commander, who shrugged. Nothing Ambry was doing was against their programming and perhaps the younger man would provide the leverage they had been seeking to get the Piper to cooperate.
“You have the look of John Donnerjack about you, boy,” Ambry said. “Have they hurt you?”
“No, and I’m his son.”
“So you’re the child Ayra was carrying.”
“You knew my mother?”
“My wife and I met her once some time before your birth. Lydia was carrying our daughter. We visited for a time, but as circumstances conspired, we never met again. I’ve often wondered about you.”
“I’ve met your daughter,” Jay said, suddenly understanding the surreptitious gestures the uniformed Virginia had been giving him from her position at the back of the astonished escort. “In fact, she’s looking for you.”
Ambry’s mouth twisted in a rueful grin. “I should have known. Do you know where she is?”
In a single smooth movement learned in virtventure, Jay drew his CF pistol and aimed it at the leader of the escort. From behind the group, Virginia spoke, her voice so cool that no one doubted she meant her words:
“I have you covered. The first one who moves gets a double CF round between the shoulders.”
Now Drum, Alice, and Dubhe closed with their own weapons held ready.
“I’m here, Ambry,” Alice said. “And I’m awfully glad to see that you’re all right.”
Ambry grinned, shook his head in amazement, and moved to disarm the members of his escort. Jay took the spears from Little Wind and Little Storm.
“Sorry, guys. I had to do it.”
“But now we won’t be able to go to the Celebration!” Little Storm protested.
If I have my way, there won’t be any Celebration, Jay thought, but he knew better than to say such things in front of his opponents. Such dramatic gestures looked great in performances, but they had no place in real life—and despite the setting, this virtventure was very real.
Drum, whistling between his teeth, was busy directing the members of the escort to lie prone on the floor. With quick, economical movements, he bound ankles and wrists. This completed, he glanced at the winged lions, clearly uncertain how to deal with them.
“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble with them,” Jay said. “They were here against their will. Right, guys?”
“Right.”
“That’s exactly it.”
“Amazing how a CF rifle in the arms of our ‘Ginnie can make even a demideity reasonable,” Drum commented. “What next?”
“Well, we’ve found Ambry,” Jay said. “Now maybe Ambry can help us get Bansa’s device from the machine over there.”
Ambry nodded. “That I can. The wards were designed to permit me freedom to work on the machine. Tell me, what will you do with it if I get it for you?”
“Return it to the one from whom it was stolen,” Jay said.
“The Lord of Entropy?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Entropy seems like just the thing for this device of mine.” Ambry shook his head. “Crossover must have seemed like the ideal concept at the time. Now, however, I am less certain. Virtu may be full of beauty and wonder, but I’m not at all sure that Verite is ready for two-way commerce.”
“There are good things,” Alice protested. “Like you and my mother. Like Jay’s parents. Like Virginia and Markon. Should these be restricted to one universe only—and that one not quite real?”
“Which is not quite real, my dear? Meditate on that for a time. You are no less my daughter despite the whims of biology. However, this is not the place for such discussions.”
He walked over to the convoluted machine. Perceiving his approach, it glittered, sparked, and purred rather like a great cat. Ambry stroked a glowing copper coil and then reached down into the heart of the machine. A nimbus flickering crimson and lavender formed around him. They could see his shoulder muscles bunch as he tugged at something inside.