“Some show, huh?” I said cockily.
“You think you’re in control here, don’t you… Pendragon?” Whoa. Talk about a buzz killer. The party was over. How did she know my name? The look on my face must have told her how surprised I was.
“Yes, I know your name, Bobby Pendragon,” she said. “Aja Killian told me all about you.”
My knees went weak. Did I hear right? Had she said Aja Killian?
“I–I don’t understand” was all I was able to get out.
“Let’s drop the pretense,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish here, but I’ve worked too long and too hard to build up this operation to let you tear it down. I didn’t leave one disaster to step into another one.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. I wasn’t covering, I really didn’t know.
“Stop feigning ignorance, Pendragon!” she snapped at me. “LaBerge and I know the truth. We aren’t from Quillan either.”
“Really? Where are you from?” I spoke weakly but my mind was racing.
“I know you,” she said, wagging her finger at me like a stern teacher. “I remember seeing you. You nearly destroyed Lifelight. I will not let you do the same here on Quillan.”
I wanted to scream. What was happening? “You’re from Veelox?” I shouted. “But… that’s impossible.”
‘Apparently it isn’t, because here we are,” she said.
“But… how?” was all I could ask.
Veego paced while staring at me with hatred. I truly had no idea what was going on. Was she Saint Dane? Was LaBerge? No, they couldn’t be. Saint Dane can do a lot of things but he can’t split himself in two. They had both been in the chambers of the trustees together with Mr. Kayto. Kayto was Saint Dane. Who was this woman?
“LaBerge and I were phaders on Veelox,” she finally said. “We monitored the Lifelight jumps. Aja Killian was our supervisor.”
My mind was reeling. I tried to keep up with what this could mean, but it was impossible.
“LaBerge and I entered into the fantasies of many people,” she said. “That’s where we came up with the ideas for the games. You really didn’t think LaBerge was that creative, did you? He’s an imbecile. I’d have gotten rid of him long ago if he weren’t my brother.”
Her brother. That explained a lot, but there was a long way to go.
“We found the ideas for the games from a thousand sources. A thousand fantasies. Between us we had access to the collective imagination of Veelox… and beyond.”
“Beyond?” I croaked. “Beyond what?”
“Wippen,” she answered. “We found that game on Eelong. It isn’t quite as exciting with horses as with zenzens, but it will do.”
“You’ve been to Eelong?” I shouted. I was reeling.
“Interesting place,” she answered. “I wouldn’t have minded staying longer, if it weren’t for the fact that those cat creatures thought we were food,”
“But… are you Travelers?”
“I don’t understand the question,” she said.
“Yes you do!” I shouted. “You have to! Only Travelers can use the flumes. If you’re not Travelers, then you would have destroyed them. Saint Dane must have told you that!”
“You mentioned that name before,” she said. “Who is this Saint Dane person?”
“Don’t he to me!” I shouted. “You have to know Saint Dane. That’s who sent me the invitation to come here!”
“I’m sorry. I never heard the name. Is he from Veelox as well?”
This was maddening. Veego and LaBerge couldn’t be from Veelox or they would have destroyed the flumes when they traveled.
“I don’t believe you,” I said. “If you’re really from a different territory, and you’re not Travelers, when you jumped into the flume you would have destroyed it. End of story.”
“I do seem to remember something about that,” she said calmly. The tide had turned. Veego was back in charge and I was groping again. My brief moment of control was long gone. The feeling I had while standing before the multitudes of Rune was less than a memory.
“Mr. Kayto explained it,” she said. “He said that as long as we went through the flume with him, there would be no trouble. Obviously he was right, because there wasn’t any. Marvelous devices, those flumes. Though I must admit, I don’t fully understand how they work or what the difference is between territories. Maybe you can explain that to me.”
“Mr. Kayto,” I said. “The trustee. He’s the one who brought you here?”
“He came to Veelox in search of talent to resurrect the gaming business here on Quillan,” she answered. “And found us. Veelox is in shambles, in case you didn’t know. Lifelight is failing. There is no one left who cares. Everyone has chosen to stay in their own fantasies… and they are dying there. People are starving. Power plants are failing. There is no food. Even the gloid plants are shuttered. It’s a nightmare. When Mr. Kayto offered us an alternative, we jumped at it, so to speak.”
“What about Aja?” I asked.
“She’s fighting a losing battle,” Veego said. “She’s very noble, trying to keep those poor souls alive. But it’s impossible. Which is why I’m here talking to you.”
That was it. That was the connection. Saint Dane went to Veelox in the form of Mr. Kayto. Veego and LaBerge didn’t know his true identity. That’s how Saint Dane got the invitation to send to me. Everything was felling into place… and falling apart.
Veego continued, “Now, I’ve told you what I’m doing here, what are you doing here?”
How could I answer that question simply? This woman had no clue about Travelers and Halla and what Saint Dane’s true goal was. I didn’t think for a second it would do any good to try to explain it to her. Not her. Not to someone who used people as pawns to serve her own selfish purposes.
“I–I think I’m here to compete in the Grand X,” I said. That was the honest truth.
“You think?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think. That’s the best I can do for you. Sorry.” I suddenly felt very tired.
“I don’t know who you really are, Pendragon, or where you’re from or what Travelers are, but I did see what you tried to do on Veelox. You wanted to destroy Lifelight, and you almost succeeded. For all I know, that may have been a good thing. I don’t care anymore. All I care about are my games and my life here on Quillan. LaBerge and I plan on being here a good long time, and we will not let you destroy something that is so perfect.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Cancel the games? Pull me out? You saw how popular I am. Blok would get rid of you so fast your brother wouldn’t have time to pack up his little clown dolls.”
For the first time since I’d met her, Veego looked unsure of herself. She bit her lip.
“No,” she finally said. “You will compete. I don’t care if you win or you lose. I don’t care if you die or become the greatest challenger of all time. All I care about is that you compete.”
“Then we’re on the same page,” I said. “That’s all I want too. I want to compete and I want to win. You have my word on that.”
Veego looked at me and nodded. “We’ll take it one step at a time. After the Grand X, if you’re still alive, we’ll decide what to do from there.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Veego stood up straight. The cool, calm woman was back. She walked to the door, saying, “Get a good night’s sleep. Challenger Red. The Grand X is tomorrow.” She yanked the door open, walked through, and slammed it shut.
I sat there for a good long time, trying to make sense of what she’d told me. She and LaBerge were from Veelox. I believed that. There was no other way she could know those things. But they weren’t Travelers, which opened up a whole new, scary chapter in this already twisted story. Ordinary people could travel safely, so long as they were with a Traveler. They had no idea that Mr. Kayto was really a demon named Saint Dane, which meant they had no clue as to his plans for the destruction of Halla.
The thought of what this all meant was horrifying. The Travelers weren’t supposed to mix the territories. I was told that again and again by Uncle Press. I’d learned it myself more times than I could count. Territories had to play out their own destinies, without contamination from other worlds and cultures and times. Travelers were able to intercede, but they always had to work within the defined ways of a territory. That was the way it had to work. The Travelers had always tried to abide by that rule.