“Right, but I’m not certain how much protection virt forms are going to be. Remember, the Lord of Deep Fields slew my father even though my father was in Verite at the time. He claimed my mother as well.”
Dubhe peeled a banana. “This conversation is not making me feel really good, Jay. Tell us the good news.”
“You don’t have to come along, Dubhe. Death has had his use of you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m coming. If he wins, I don’t want him angry with me. If he loses… well, I’m not certain I want to continue existing in a universe where Earthma has control over the forces of both creation and destruction.”
“Universes,” Virginia reminded him. “Tell us what you have in mind,
Jay-“
“Castle Donnerjack is haunted.”
His words were met with three unbelieving stares.
“No, really, not by virt ghosts or projections, but by authentic Scottish ghosts—all of whom date back to the earlier history of the castle.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Dubhe said, reaching for another banana. “I’ve met them.”
“Go on,” Alice said. “I’m certain this will make sense in a minute.”
Jay grinned at her. “It will. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me that the only troops who would be very effective in this conflict between Deaths would be those who were already dead.”
“Doesn’t that mean that the current Lord of Deep Fields already has an edge?” Drum said. “He’ll have lots of resources to draw on. Earthma’s imitation would have many fewer.”
“My old boss does have a catalog of sorts,” Dubhe said. “His Elysian Fields… He offered to put your father and mother there once. Your dad refused.”
“I’m not certain that those will be very effective,” Jay said, trying to keep his voice steady at this newest reminder of his father’s stubborn-ness. “They’re all Virtuan. They’ll be susceptible to whatever Earthma’s child can bring to bear.”
“But Veritean ghosts,” Drum interrupted, “may operate on different rules.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Jay said.
“We have just one problem,” Alice said. “I don’t think that we can hook ghosts up to transfer couches. How are we ever going to get them into Virtu?”
“I don’t plan to use conventional transfer mechanics,” Jay said. “Even if they would work, they would translate the ghosts into virt form. We need the real thing—a crossover, just like I can do.”
“You’re not planning on using Bansa’s device, are you?” Virginia asked.
“No,” Jay said. “In the tunnels beneath Castle Donnerjack, there’s an entry into a place called the Eldritch lands. From what I was told, they are the shadowlands that permeate so much of Celtic legends.”
“Legend,” Alice said, her eyes gleaming. “Are they connected to Virtu?”
“Give the lady a cigar!” Jay said.
(And one obligingly rolled from a humidor built into the club car’s wall. The Brass Babboon laughed loudly and raced on.)
“Isn’t that way open only during the full moon?” Dubhe asked worriedly. “It’s a bit much to hope that it will be open now.”
“That’s what we were told,” Jay agreed. “We’re just going to have to deal with that when we get there.”
Dack was simultaneously dusting the flowers on the bedframe in the master bedroom, doing the household accounts, and wondering if he should tell Jay about the calls inquiring about him when his audio receptors detected noise from the area of the Great Stage. There had been several disturbances in the last several days. Twice the projectors had glowed as they repelled some assault. Winged bulls had soared over the battlements, but had vanished when they touched the violet static field.
Therefore, when he heard the sounds, he hurried into Donnerjack’s office in time to see Jay walking onto the receiving area tugging Dubhe through the interface with him. In the background, Dack could see a horrid train he vaguely recognized from some of Donnerjack Senior’s design notes pulling away.
“Dack!” Jay hugged the robot as he had when he was much younger. “In a couple of hours a girl will arrive—Alice Hazzard. Let her in.”
“That is contrary to your father’s instructions,” the robot said.
The bracelet spoke. “Most of what Jay is doing is contrary to my instructions and my wishes. However, he has presented me with a convincing argument as to why I should permit him to do so.”
“And that is, sir, if I may ask?”
“Self-mutilation.”
“Jay!”
“It wouldn’t listen otherwise,” Jay said, “and I still haven’t gotten into too much trouble.”
There was a rude sound from the general vicinity of the bracelet. Jay chose to ignore it.
“Dack, do you happen to remember what phase the moon is in?”
“Waning gibbous. I recall that it was full around the time you left on your last jaunt.”
Jay considered everything he had been through on that “jaunt”: the visit to Reese, seeking Tranto, the first encounter with the Brass Babboon and that first ride through realities, his meeting with the Lord of Deep Fields, the journey to Meru, and the events that occurred there.
“It has been only a few days, hasn’t it? Well, that’s good.”
“Can I get you something to eat?”
“I ate on the train.”
“But can virtual food nourish your Veritean form?”
“It always has before.” Jay saw that Dack was worried, relented. “Okay, I’ll come and have something. Do you know where the bottle of Laphroaig whisky is?”
“In the parlor cabinet. It’s rather early for drinking, Jay.”
“It’s not for me. I’m going to need it for a friend.”
Dack sighed. Humans were so often incomprehensible.
“Hi, Gwen. It’s Alice. Is my mom in?”
“She’s just finishing with a patient. I’ll get her.”
Alice waited, drumming on the desktop until Lydia Hazzard, looking more worn than her patients alone could account for, appeared on the screen.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, honey. Are you at home? Did you find Ambry?”
“I’m at home, but not for long. I’ll be leaving almost immediately for Scotland.”
“Scotland? Why?”
“First, your other question. Yes, I found Ambry. He’s… well, do you remember about the Master?”
“Yes.”
“He’s become the Master.”
“Good lord!”
“And the One Who Waits—sort of a merging of the two.”
“My poor Piper…”
“Weird stuff is coming to a head, Mom. That’s why I’m going to Scotland. Do you remember Jay MacDougal?”
“The boy who came into the clinic with you and Drum on the day of the riot.”
“That’s right. He’s actually Jay Donnerjack—the son of John and—”
“Ayradyss!”
“You remember! Good. Drum and I are going to help him out with some stuff. It’s sort of related to a bequest his parents left him.”
“Bequest? Are they dead?”
“Yes, both of them died before he was a year old.”
“Poor kid!”
“And he grew up all alone in the castle in Scotland with a bunch of robots and aions for company.” Alice decided against mentioning the ghosts for now.
Lydia raised her eyebrows, but opted to be polite. “Jay seemed normal enough for all that. What is this bequest?”
“I can’t really discuss it here, but I think if I help him it might give me a line on Ambry.”
“So it’s in Virtu?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you should be safe enough there.”
Lydia chose not to mention her own disappearance during a visit to that supposedly “safe” world of art. Alice decided not to mention moon portals and the fact that they were going to Deep Fields. There was an uncomfortable silence while they both considered things unsaid.