Penult (22 page)

“
What for?”

“
The usual. Keeping tabs.
You know how he is. Ever the micro-manager.”

“
When does he want to see
me?”

“
The sooner the better. Now
would be good. He’s no fun when he’s anxious.” She turned abruptly
and strode off towards the gash whose edges writhed with roots
attempted to heal.

I called after her. “Take care up
there. Be safe.” I picked up the joint, clasping it by the sides,
one of the safer ways to handle it, I had found.

I walked back to the settlement to
find Bern again struggling with his garden. At least his would-be
zinnias were looking a little greener and leafier today.

Lille was outside working on the
exterior of the cabin, fussing with the texture of the faux stucco.
She gritted her teeth as she wielded the wooden spoon she used to
focus her energy.

Bern saw me approach. The instant he
shifted his attention to me, his zinnias wilted. He threw down his
trowel in frustration.

“
Any luck?” he said,
staring at the wing joint.

“
Nah,” I said. “But Luther
wants to see me again. Mind if I leave this here?”

I set the wing joint down along the
edge of the garden. Bern looked a little worried, but he bent down
and picked up his trowel, pointed it at the device, turning the
patch of roots surrounding it Day-Glo orange.

“
That should ensure that no
one stumbles into the darned thing.”

“
Come back when you’re done
and I’ll have some lunch ready.”

“
Sounds great,” I
said.

I crossed the garden to the lane that
led to an ever-increasing density of small houses to the village
square, whose cobbles were only implied as faint indentations on a
plaza of flattened root. Most of the structures flanking the square
were crude. Many lacked ceilings and most had walls of
unconsolidated root, still in their natural gray state.

At the palace, two German shepherds
sat on their haunches, flanking the aperture, watching me
approach.

One of them growled while the other
ran up to me and sniffed my knee. Satisfied, it ran back and
returned to its post.

I hesitated near the threshold. My
palm print again didn’t work. I tried knocking but the walls were
soft and my knuckles could conjure only the faintest of
thuds.

I turned to the dogs. “So … can you
guys … uh … fetch your master?”

The dogs stared at me like I was a
fool for attempting to converse with dogs. The aperture suddenly
widened and Olivier ducked his head out.

“
Hi James! Come join us.
We’re sitting out in the courtyard.”

I followed him out into a roughly
hexagonal space nestled among the six connected blobs that formed
the chambers of his palace. A patio set up café style looked out on
to a wall on which holographic landscapes appeared and dissolved at
regular intervals, cycling through alpine scenes, the Italian
coast, tropical beaches.

Luther sat at a round table, nursing
what looked like a glass of dirty water. Two burly young men sat on
either side of him. One looked sleepy, the other
nervous.

“
James, this is Tyler and
Detmar,” said Olivier. “Lieutenants of the watch.”

The young guys burst to their feet and
bustled over to shake my hand, the sleepy one suddenly alert. I was
a little taken aback by their eagerness.

“
They will be accompanying
you on the expedition.”

“
What
expedition?”

“
To the resistance front,
of course.”

“
Wait. What?”

“
You and Olivier are to
lead a relief party, to bolster the resistance and perhaps deliver
Petros into the custody of Master Zhang. We are still working out
the details.”

“
Wait a minute. Who says
I’m going anywhere?”

“
You are here at Master
Zhang’s request, are you not?”

“
I’m here against my will,”
I said. “I never wanted to come back. But … Karla—”

“
Go ahead. Blame it on my
grand-daughter. The fact is you are now here and the resistance
needs you … more than we do. We’ve put together a contingent of
eager volunteers and are attempting to arrange for your safe
passage. It all depends on whether there is to be a prisoner
exchange.”

“
What if I don’t want to
go?”

“
Don’t be silly, James.
It’s a waste of your talents to dawdle down here in the
underground.”

“
What about you? Why don’t
you go?”

“
My people need me. They’ve
chosen this existence … and we have much work to do to make this
place achieve its potential. The underground has always been my
salvation. It is meant to be. It was a mistake to
leave.”

I felt lost. I had no appetite for the
surface, but I didn’t want to stay down here either. I didn’t want
to go anywhere but home. To life. But until I faded, what else was
I to do?

“
So … the resistance … how
are we supposed to get there?”

“
We walk,” said Olivier.
“Unless you can whip up a couple dozen pair of wings for us by
tomorrow.”

“
How goes the engineering?”
said Luther.

I shrugged. “No progress. I have no
clue what makes the thing work.”

“
A shame,” said Luther. “I
tried getting Petros to help. Tried everything. Kindness. Torture.
Everything in between.”

“
Just because we don’t
understand something doesn’t mean it can’t be understood,” said
Olivier. “Maybe some of it is beyond our ken at the moment. Doesn’t
mean it’s unfathomable.”

“
Have you tried to make
one?”

Olivier shrugged. “I’m more of a
tinkerer. Someone makes it, I can tweak it. This stuff is beyond
me.”

“
No worries,” said Luther.
“You’ve both done your due diligence for the cause. Not that we
need wings down here anyhow.”

“
Tyler and Detmar both have
military experience,” said Olivier. “One of our scouts, the one you
met. Kitt. She’ll be joining us as well. It’s not much of an army
we’re sending. A token, really. A show of solidarity with the
resistance.”

I just smiled and nodded, playing
along for now.

“
We’ll see how long I stick
around. I’m way overdue for a fade.”

“
Yes, we know. You said
that yesterday,” said Luther. “Until you do, we shall go ahead as
planned. And if you do, we simply await your return. You are worth
waiting for, James.”

I stared back at him, my stomach gone
all topsy-turvy. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but
it seemed that my destiny had fallen into the hands of others. I
felt like I had tumbled into a river and been swept away by a
current. I wished to God to fade and never come back.

***

I did not fade that afternoon. Evening
came and still I was stuck in the Liminality. I sat with Bern and
Lille on their porch, awash in the faint glow of some activated
root clumps. Bern pulled brought out a deck of cards and they tried
teaching me how to play canasta, but my heart just wasn’t into
it.

“
A meld in this game is
three naturals or two naturals and a wild card,” said
Lille.

“
Guys. I really don’t feel
playing right now.”

“
If we had a fourth we
could play Spades,” said Bern. “Personally, I find it more exciting
with all the bidding and the setbacks.”

“
We could ask John to come
over,” said Lille.

“
Guys. Please. Not tonight.
I really don’t feel like playing cards. I’m sorry.”

“
What’s wrong,
James?”

“
What’s going on with me? I
should have faded. Is it possible … I’m dead?”

“
Doubtful,” said Bern. “You
might be in a catatonic state over there but these bouts of
visitation are self-limiting. If you get too dehydrated or
undernourished and your body will pull you back over. Sometimes I
go a week between returning. I often find myself in the infirmary
on intravenous.”

“
There’s an advantage to
being comatose,” said Lille. “I’m not even aware of when I return.
It’s just like being asleep.”

“
So … uh … this expedition
of yours … when does it kick off?” said Bern, as he collected and
pocketed the cards.

“
Not sure. They said they’d
send word when they’re ready.”

Bern seemed agitated. “Honestly,
Lille, are you committed to staying down here? I’ve been thinking,
maybe we should join this little expedition of theirs.”

“
Join the resistance? You
can’t be serious darling. What would they want with the likes of
us?”

Bern shrugged. “Will and Dorothy have
signed up to go. They’re not exactly warrior types. I’m sure they
would find some use for us.”

Lille took in a deep breath. “I have
to admit, the idea being out in the open air again appeals to
me.”

Bern looked at me with longing. “Would
you put in a good word for us, James? Let them know that we’d be
good to have along. I’m handy with small repairs, as you know. And
Lille … Heaven knows the magic she can do with a bit of root and
conjured spice.”

On our plates were the remnants of our
meal—several heaps of slightly tenderized root—a masterpiece of
culinary magic. It didn’t look like much. One pile was purplish,
another sort of pink, the third grayish green. And the mouth feel
was akin to biting into a soggy mop. But the flavors were amazing,
complex and artfully blended. To top it off, the clear liquid in my
mug tasted exactly like freshly squeezed and briskly tart apple
cider.

“
If you guys want to come
along, then go for it. My understanding is that no one is going to
stop you. They’re taking any and all volunteers.”

Lille and Bern looked at each other.
The smiles on their lips grew broader.

“
What do you say Lille? Up
for a little adventure? Could we handle yet another move? Another
cottage to be built from scratch? What will this be? Number
nine?”

“
I must say, once you’ve
been up top, the underground just isn’t the same. I don’t think
it’s even a question, dear. It’s time to start packing.”

“
So how soon did you say we
are leaving?” asked Bern.

“
I didn’t. Like I said,
they’re waiting to get the all clear from Zhang. They’re trying to
arrange us safe passage because we’ll have a hostage with
us.”

“
Safe passage? This is
sounding better all the time.”

“
It’s not guaranteed,” I
said. “They’re still negotiating.”

“
Regardless. We had better
be ready to go. Come Lille. Let’s pack our things.”

“
Are you okay to travel on
that bum leg?”

“
It’s never stopped me
before,” said Bern, grabbing his cane and lurching away from the
table.

Lille bustled into the cabin and slid
a tweed-covered suitcase out from under the kitchen table that
doubled as their bed.

“
Worse comes to worse, we
travel at night,” said Bern. “You see, the Cherubim go dormant
after sunset.” He gathered his tools the pegs that held them along
the back wall of the porch. “Have you ever seen a Cherub up close,
James? Ghastly creatures. Did you know they incubate them from
regular folk?”

“
Incubate?”

“
Cherubs are made, not
born,” said Lille. “Their flesh is broken down and reshaped in
cocoons. The Dusters found some of their chrysalides washed up on
the beaches. The Seraphs press into service whomever they need from
the citizenry of Penult, modifying them into walking, breathing
weapons.”

“
No soul. A minimal brain,”
said Bern, as he stuffed a sack full of implements and lashed it to
a pack frame. “Only the basics they need for following
orders.”

“
Sound like anyone we
know?” Lille winked at me. Bern whacked her gently with the butt
end of his cane and kept on packing.

Chapter 21:
Breakthrough

I had nothing to pack and I was only
getting in Lille and Bern’s way on their small porch, so I grabbed
a glass of what I thought was cider, made a cold torch from a
swatch of glowing roots and wandered out in the garden to twiddle
around some more with that blasted wing joint.

The cider turned out not to be cider.
It was some kind of wine, red and rich, undoubtedly reconstructed
from some memorable bottle from Lille’s past. It hit the spot and
affected me just like real wine, perhaps because it was real wine,
only clear.

I managed to weave a couple more
replicas and they turned out looking great, but they were no more
functional than any I had woven before. Some of the mechanisms were
even quite springy. I was making progress in the right direction,
but we weren’t looking for springy, we wanted explosive.

I kept at it until my replicas
littered the garden, looking like a bunch of miniature abstract
sculptures amongst the wilted zinnias that were already reverting
back to roots. The replicas were quite pleasing to the eye with all
their knobs and curves, but ultimately useless.