Summoning Light (23 page)

"Because they respect you and they believe in–"

"No. Some follow me because they believe as I do, and for that I am gratified. But most follow me because they must. Without the daily scouring, without the fasting, without the meditation and repentance, the abstinence, the vigils, the sensory denial, the mortification, they would be unable to follow the Code."

"Elric taught that self-control, not self-denial, was the way."

"For some self-control is enough. For others the path is more difficult." Blaylock paused. "I would have to be blind not to see that you are in distress."

Galen looked down, forced his red, clenched hands to open, to lie flat against the table. "I prefer to deal with it myself."

Blaylock's response did not come for several moments, and when it did, his words seemed both a concession and a threat. "As is your right. As long as you do not fail."

C
HAPTER 11

The meeting was not going at all as Elric had planned. He had intended to convince the captain that they meant no harm, to charm him with some magic. Elric carried several trinkets concealed on his person that would hold significance for John, and he had planned to produce one at the appropriate time. His anger was to have been directed solely at Londo, who hadn't even arrived yet. But here he stood in John Sheridan's office, nearly yelling.

"Captain, I insist neither I nor any of my clan represent any threat whatsoever to the station." The pounding in his head was unrelenting. And he was furious that he'd been required to answer the captain's summons when Ing-Radi lay dying. Gowen was attending her, and he was a skilled healer, but he remained inexperienced, and Ing-Radi's physiology was unknown to him. Elric could have guided him.

"So you say." John's tone was belligerent. Clearly, his frustration at the course of the conversation was quickly building toward anger. He came around his desk toward Elric. "You have to understand that when something like this comes to my attention, I have to look into it. And there are an awful lot of you here, over a hundred, according to security. And you refuse to tell EarthCentral where you're going?"

"We have a right to go where we wish, when we wish, with as many as we wish, without being harassed, questioned, or detained." Now he was yelling.

John took a deep breath. "I am not looking to cause you trouble. I would just like some questions answered, that's all."

Londo strolled into the spacious office, a drink in one hand. He hadn't even the courtesy to show up on time. Elric imagined the pleasure of throwing him into a roomful of angry Narns who knew what Londo had done in Quadrant 37.

"Sorry to be late, gentlemen," Londo said. "I was unavoidably detained. Matters of state, you understand."

Elric understood perfectly. John had agreed to set up the meeting an hour ago, and since then Londo had been madly searching for the smallest recording device he could find.

Londo set his drink down on a table against the wall, and with a clumsy sleight of hand set the one-inch-tall recording device beside it. He approached them. "I can tell from the sense of joy permeating the room that I was right to offer my services as a mediator."

Elric extended a finger toward Londo. "Is this the one who brought us to your attention?" he asked John.

"Only after I'd heard about your situation at my security briefing."

"Captain," Elric said, "you have been used. This – creature – has been seeking an audience with me since I arrived."

John turned toward Londo. "Is this true?"

Londo did a poor actor's imitation of outrage. "Absolutely not."

With a flourish Elric raised his hand, palm up. Had Londo been a true expert in techno-mages, he would have known better than to lie. The probes in the Down Below hallway had recorded Vir's visit, and it was a simple enough task to create a three-dimensional composite, a special humiliation for Londo. On his hand, Elric conjured a foot-tall image of Vir. It spoke. "My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attaché to Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic." He dissolved the composite recording to reflect a short jump in time, restored the image at a later spot. "My employer requests an audience," Vir said. Elric closed his hand, and Vir vanished.

Londo averted his gaze. He looked ill.

John's eyes narrowed on him. "You were saying?"

Londo struggled to recover his dignity. "Recording a conversation: a very low thing to do. But in the interest of good relations I am willing to forgive. I offer the hands of friendship." The butcher approached Elric, hands extended, palms down.

And here was the purpose of Londo's recording device. Following Centauri custom, Elric extended his own hands, palms up. He clasped Londo's forearms as Londo did the same. "And I accept," Elric said. "I assume that you would not take advantage of this gesture or misrepresent it as some sort of endorsement."

"Oh – of course not," Londo said. Still he had not learned. Which best served Elric's purpose.

In his mind's eye, Elric visualized magical fire bursting to life within Londo's recording device, the circuits overheating, melting. On the table against the wall, the device exploded with a flash and a puff of smoke.

Elric jerked Londo close and forced his words through clenched teeth. "A risky business, condemning my recording device while using one of your own."

Londo gasped. He looked as if he'd just awoken, as if he were seeing Elric for the first time, and the sight was not a pleasant one. "I can explain everything."

"I do not like being used," Elric said. "You must learn manners and respect. And from this moment on, you will." He shoved the butcher away, and Londo stumbled back, caught himself on a chair.

John's voice was harsh. "I think you should leave, Ambassador, before I decide to report your attempt to bug my office and send you back home on the slowest transport I can find."

Londo spread his hands before him. "Of course. My apologies." He turned and, with a glance toward the smoking device, made a quick exit.

That had gone perfectly. The mages now had every reason to strike at Londo, and Londo, in his anger, would want to strike back. He would turn to his powerful allies for assistance, and they would eagerly take advantage of the opportunity. Elric believed they had probably been anticipating it, just as he had.

Now he must repair his relationship with John. "You see how some seek to exploit us. I wish I could say he is an isolated case, but he is not."

John nodded. "I'm afraid we got off on the wrong foot. Could we start again?" Smoke lingered in the air, and John waved his hand at it. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Very well."

John led the way. Elric realized the throbbing in his head had lessened somewhat. He must make the most of this opportunity to win the captain over. The mages must not be detained. He and John came out into the Zocalo, the largest marketplace on Babylon 5, crowded with shoppers and stalls of merchandise.

"I apologize for that incident with Ambassador Mollari," John said, "but there are still some questions that I need answered – where you're going, what this group is all about."

Elric paused at one of the stalls to finger a wind chime made of hanging glass teardrops. He must draw attention to his hands, so that when he produced the particular item for John, the sleight of hand would create the greatest degree of surprise. "Captain, do you believe there is such a thing as magic?"

"When I was twelve, I used to sit in my dad's garden, the air filled with the smell of orange blossoms, watching the sky, dreaming of faraway places."

Elric betrayed no reaction to the mention of orange blossoms, but he was pleased. John had mentioned them in a message to his father, one of the many messages Elric had watched. An orange blossom, carefully preserved, was one of the objects he carried in his robe. He removed it from his pocket.

"Back then," John continued as they wound their way through the wares, "I think I believed in just about everything. Now, I don't know. I do think there are some things we don't understand. If we went back in time a thousand years and tried to explain this place to people" – he gave a soft laugh – "they could only accept it in terms of magic."

Elric picked up a crystal with the same hand that held the orange blossom concealed. "Then perhaps it is magic: the magic of the Human heart, focused and made manifest by technology. Every day you here create greater miracles than the burning bush."

John smiled. "Maybe. But God was there first, and he didn't need solar batteries and a fusion reactor to do it."

Elric enjoyed talking with him. It seemed ages since he had engaged in a simple conversation that did not involve death or Shadows. But of course the conversation was all about death and Shadows. The content was simply disguised. This man, as pleasant as he was, had the power to ruin their plan.

Elric tried, for a few moments, not to think about that, but simply to describe for this outsider the joys and wonders of technomancy, to which he had devoted his life. "We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit" – he held up the crystal – "crystal and scanner. Holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ. And we know many things."

"Such as?"

"The true secrets. The important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain. How to say good-bye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor, how to be rich. How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you."

As he said the words, the realization came to him. At some point over the last few months, he had lost his dreams: his dream of the mages as he thought they had been, brave enough and sufficiently committed to good that they would fight the Shadows; his dream of growing old on Soom; his dream of watching Galen mature into a great mage. He had not even realized they had all been taken from him. Where they had been, there was only emptiness, like the emptiness that had once been Soom. And no spell could bring them back.

"There is a storm coming," Elric said. "A black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost, or used to ill purpose. From this place we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will never see our kind again in your lifetime." He paused for effect. He had said all he could. He hoped that it was enough. "I know you have your orders, Captain. Detain us, if you wish. But I cannot tell you where we're going. I can only ask you – to trust us."

Elric took John's hand, placed an object there, folded John's fingers over it, and walked off. John would expect it was the crystal. But when he opened his fingers, he would find something else.

Through the probe on John, Elric saw him lift the flower from his palm, turn it back and forth between his fingers.

"An orange blossom," John whispered to himself.

Elric hoped that he had made an ally. John was a good man living in dark times, and he would soon face some difficult decisions. Elric hoped, for the mages' sake, that he chose well.

Elric moved quickly toward Down Below, anxious to see Ing-Radi. He left the Zocalo behind, climbed down some steep access stairs, and entered the seldom-used passages that led to the restricted levels. They were poorly lit and narrower than the corridors above. He pressed the heel of his hand to his temple, trying to lessen the pain. He turned a corner, and there, a few feet down the passage, stood Morden.

He had known the meeting would come soon, but in the moment he had forgotten. It was unlike him. He lowered his hand from his head.

Morden looked much as he had at the mages' convocation, where they had first met. He was a compact man in a well-tailored suit, his dark hair styled cleanly back. His hands were folded in front of him, and he smiled with a slight inclination of his head, revealing a row of perfect white teeth. "Elric."

On a silver chain about his neck, Morden wore the same round black volcanic glass he had worn before. It was an Anfran love stone, Elric had learned, acquired on one of Morden's archaeological digs and given to his wife as a wedding present. On the back, the side worn against the chest, was engraved the name of the Anfran star god, who regulated matters of love. The stone was believed to carry the good wishes of loved ones. It was the key to Morden. Unfortunately, Elric did not yet understand what secret he had locked away.

At first Elric had been inclined to think the worst of the Shadows' servant, to believe that Morden had asked his masters to kill his wife and child, who had died in the terrorist bombing of the Io jumpgate two years ago. If that was the case, then the necklace was a trophy. But as Elric had further researched Morden, he had come to believe that Morden had not encountered the Shadows until six months after his family's death.

Up until that point, he had been an archaeologist working on secret projects for EarthForce's New Technologies Division. He would discover ancient technologies, then work with engineers to exploit those technologies for Earth, mainly as weapons.

The records of Morden's work had been closed, and when Elric had finally obtained them, he'd been surprised to find that Morden had encountered Shadow technology three times in his career. The first had occurred on a planet in the Lanep system. The dig had uncovered fragments of an ancient spaceship utilizing a never-before-seen technology that mixed the biological and the mechanical. A Shadow ship. The incredible advantages of the organic technology had quickly been grasped, and engineers brought in. Morden's involvement had ended at that point, though the work at the site continued even now. The engineers were attempting to make use of the fragments in some way. The idea that Earth scientists would try to manipulate Shadow technology troubled Elric deeply. They could not possibly understand it; the results would very likely be catastrophic. And what little knowledge they might obtain from it could be even more dangerous. Most troubling was the location of the experiments: Lanep was uncomfortably close to the mages' hiding place.

Morden's second contact with Shadow technology had been on Mars, where an intact Shadow vessel had been found buried beneath the surface. Once it had been partially unearthed, the ship had sent out a signal, and a few days later, a second Shadow ship had arrived and used its powerful weaponry to finish the excavation. The two ships had flown off together. Yet a tracking device planted on the first ship by Morden and his colleagues had revealed its destination: a planet on the rim called Alpha Omega 3.