The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Nine (6 page)

Tonya frowned at Gail’s sudden resistance.  “How did you think this was going to happen, then?”

“I thought I’d be questioned, and give cooperative answers, and not try to hide whether I’m telling the truth or not.”

“You can already tell whether people are lying or not?”

“Most of the time.  Why?”

“That’s a Focus charisma trick.”

“Which I don’t otherwise have,” Gail said.  “Or I think I don’t.  Do I?”

“Only minor flashes,” Tonya said.  “Anyway, back to…”  She paused and frowned
, radiating a mixture of disgust and awe.  “You can read me, can’t you?”

“A little.  Okay, more than a little.  Actually, I can read you a lot better because of whatever you did to get into my head during your questioning.”

Tonya sighed and glanced at the ceiling.  “And this is why I insisted to Stacy I had to do the questioning.”

Oh.  The Arm would have taken this as a challenge.

“Yes,” Tonya said.  “You need to be careful about such things.”

Gail nodded. 
In her own way, Tonya was far more terrifying than the Arm, but the Arm was more physically terrifying.  Instinctively terrifying.

They put work into that
, Tonya sent.  “I think I’m satisfied that nobody has gotten to you,” she said, exasperated. 
For one thing, Gail, I’m not sure they could, unless you let them
.  “The other thing I want to talk to you about are household models.  There’s a lot more I could have been saying on the subject I didn’t want going over the phone lines.”

Wiretapping, eavesdropping, right.

“Yes, please,” Gail said.  Van and Arm Keaton still discussed military matters in the other room.  Gail hadn’t bothered to listen or remember what was being said; she couldn’t understand any of that sort of thing anyway.  When Van tried to explain such things to her, she fell asleep.  What Tonya radiated, though…  “The household model system itself is bad?”

“Yes, and leads to easy and incorrect stereotyping, and bad decisions,” Tonya said.  The older Focus relaxed enough to grab a thick pastrami sandwich from a tray on the end table to her left.  Gail looked over the
food selection on the tray – was that raw hamburger? Ewwh! – and decided to pass.  She had gotten out of the habit of eating garbage.

“What
’s the real household model system, then?”  Gail had always wondered where the models came from, and why there were so few.

Tonya leaned forward, intense, her charisma tuned toward not to persuasion, but to making sure Gail paid attention. 
“There are three household model types, which I call ‘command and control’, ‘juice mover’ and ‘charismatic’; each has a wide spread of possible sub-types.  The command and control model includes what the public model system terms ‘corporate’ and ‘military’ models, as well as the ‘weak Focus’ model varieties that have a normal or Transform running the household in a dictatorial fashion.  The juice mover model includes the ‘dictator’ and ‘hedonist’ public model types, and the ‘weak Focus’ model subtype where the household leaders run the household by having the Focus control the rest of the household with the juice.  The charismatic model includes what the public model system terms ‘charismatic’, as well as the ‘weak Focus’ model subtypes where the Focus spends most of her time dealing with outside-the-household issues and uses her charisma only to set up and maintain a household leadership team she doesn’t otherwise order around.”  The older Focus brushed back a strand of hair and waited as Gail thought.

“I like
your explanation better,” Gail said.  “But, based on some earlier comments you’ve made, aren’t all households in some way ‘juice mover’ households?”

“
If you restrict juice moving to, for instance, a one hour time period in the morning, or do continual juice moving all day and all night long, at a subconscious level, you’re not following the ‘juice mover’ model.”

“Oh,” Gail said.  “I’ve never run into any Focuses who do that.”  Pause.  “Well, I know you do, but I can’t metasense…”  Only she did, once she concentrated on it.  “There they are.  You can hide your Transforms
’ metapresences?”

“That’s five hundred you owe me, Tonya,” Keaton said, from the next room over.  “I told you her metasense was deadly.”

Aargh!

“Sorry.”

“To be expected,” Tonya said, papering over another bit of exasperation.  “The way I think of the juice mover models is this way: a dictator primarily uses negative reinforcement with the juice in running her household, while a hedonist primarily uses positive reinforcement.”

“Th
is seems a little loosely defined…”  Gail’s voice tailed off as she thought, remembering one of Tonya’s comments a month or so ago, where she said Gail’s household model wasn’t as unique as she thought it was.  “Wait just a second.  I’m running a hedonist model, under your definitions.”

“Yes, you are.”

“But, ick!  My household’s nothing like…”  Gail reddened.

“You’re stereotyping, thinking all hedonist households are the same.  You’re running your household with a light hand, but it’s still a hedonist household.”  Tonya paused.  “Which is why it’s better to think of all of these as juice mover households.”

Gail wasn’t sure this was better.

“So, tell me, how are you coping with the wedding preparations?” Tonya said
, her point made.

Gail welcomed the subject change.  “It’s wearing.  I get distracted into wedding issues so easily, and when I do so, there goes the juice, off to do
its own thing.  Let me tell you…”

She and Tonya continued to chat on mundane issues for the next hour, while Van and Keaton strategized in the next room.

No, this wasn’t how Gail had envisioned this meeting.

The Negotiation Experiment (Carol Hancock’s POV)

Ke
aton’s arrangement of a formal Crow meeting on my territory had cost her nearly a quarter million dollars and far too much of my time.  This was tricky for me, since Keaton doing the ‘boss Arm’ routine in my house wasn’t at all natural.  I didn’t remotely appreciate having to subordinate myself to her dominance on my own turf.

On the other hand, this little experiment involved
the senior Crows as well as the Arms, and it was a good test of the Cause and the Arm-Crow alliance.  Guru Arpeggio had been willing to meet Keaton in person, but only on neutral territory, for which my place counted.  If one senior Crow could do it, and spread the information around that it was both safe and possible, others could follow.  To save us time and effort, Keaton also did our March 1
st
meeting here.  I not only detailed my ongoing recruiting efforts, but the gory details of arranging the Arpeggio and Keaton meeting.

As this was a
nother test of my alliance with the Crows, I was willing to do nearly anything the circumstances required.  Even to the point of tolerating Keaton doing the ‘boss Arm’ routine in my own territory.

I only wished Gilgamesh
were here.  I only wished my nerves would quiet down – Keaton had warned me to expect surprises.

Hephaestus
stood at my side, exactly eleven feet away from Keaton.  As Hephaestus put it, accidental sick-up insurance.  We were in the living room of my house, spare, elegant, and immaculate.  The chairs were comfortable and inviting, but no one was sitting.  It was night, and the lights were set to a reassuring dimness, bathing the room in a low yellow glow.  None of my other people attended.

Arpeggio, who I had earlier greeted warmly when he arrived,
now radiated hurricane force fierce and hovered near the front doorway.  He carried with him enough dross firepower to level us ten times over, enough that even with my meager metasense-based dross-sensing capabilities, he glowed like a small sun.  Keaton, who only knew of this second hand, by reading me, thankfully didn’t know of the level of Arpeggio’s danger.  Otherwise, she might have gotten testy.  Arm testy.

“
Crow Guru Arpeggio, Crow Guru Hephaestus.  I maintain several areas of operation, one of which is Albuquerque,” Keaton said, starting the meeting.  The first zinger – I had no idea she maintained a secondary territory or base of operations in New Mexico.  “The information I’m looking for is the name of the Crow who keeps an eye on me when I’m visiting Albuquerque, and how I can contact him, or his Guru,” Keaton said.  “I also don’t know what I can offer him in trade, or, truthfully, what to offer any other Crows.”  My boss had found you couldn’t pay off most Crows with cash.  Gilgamesh, with his engineering fetish, was a spectacular exception to this general rule.

“Ma’am,” Hephaestus said, after a nod from Arpeggio.  “The trade possibilities depend on the Crow in question.”
  Hephaestus had meditated for a full day to prepare for this meeting, and he was still nearly out of his mind with panic.  I had expected him to be able to handle this better than he handled the Midlothian fight, but he had corrected me: “Danger isn’t dangerous – new is dangerous.”  New, as in ‘meeting an Arm none of the Crows trusted’.  Sigh.

However,
Hephaestus was far less nervous than he had been when he first met me in person, several months ago in Houston’s Memorial Park.  “Some, such as Sky, are going to be impossible to deal with because they have so few wants in life.”

Keaton nodded.  She
had filled me in, a little, on her dealings with Sky, which she considered nearly worthless.  The only thing she had been able to find that Sky wanted was an Arm to stand around as a target while he experimented with various attacks.  Not at all helpful.

“Most of the Crows willing to live in the same city as an Arm
, and interact with an Arm, will find information useful, if the information is related to their interests.  Money, protection, access to dross, or training are also possibilities.”

“
Okay.  As an example, what are you interested in?” Keaton said.  Keaton’s persona today was new to me, similar to the quiet statue, but noticeably less forceful.  I suspected this was the persona she used when dealing with Focuses – or, at least, Focuses not named Biggioni or Rizzari.

“
Money and business contacts, in particular, businesses willing to deal with young Crows disguised as male Transforms,” Hephaestus said.  He trained young Crows in how to deal with the outside world without making fools of themselves.  I had become part of his training regimen, leading to occasional phone calls and meetings with Crows who simply wanted to check off the ‘can deal with an Arm’ check box.

“Huh.”  Keaton thought.  “Do you know who the
Albuquerque Crow who keeps tabs on me is?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

Keaton didn’t answer, and waited Hephaestus out.  This was one of my tricks for dealing with Crows, learned from my dealings with my most difficult Crow acquaintance, Occum.  I had passed this on to Keaton, along with several other verbal strategies.

“For this information, I’m interested in fulfilling a debt I owe to Guru Arpeggio,” Hephaestus said.

Keaton turned to Arpeggio.  “Let’s hear it, Guru.”

“I
’m interested in learning the method you used to mostly fix your glow, ma’am,” Arpeggio said.  “When I metasensed you a year or so ago, you had a great deal of embedded dross in your juice structure, which gave you many Monster characteristics.  In the interim, you have found a way to remove most of the contamination without the help of any Crows.”  Arpeggio’s fierceness climbed as he spoke.

Keaton thought for a few moments,
and then nodded.  “Agreed.”

We
had talked this over ahead of time, and decided that for the meeting to count as a valid test, the negotiations had to be real.  No working out the information trade beforehand.

“
The Crow in question is named Hermes, who follows a Crow Guru named Zirkel,” Hephaestus said.  He gave out several phone numbers and post office box numbers in Las Vegas, all belonging to Zirkel.

“So,” Keaton said, “is this Crow named for the Greek god or for Hermes Trismegistos the alchemist?”

Hephaestus almost ran, surprised by Keaton’s question.  Instead, he fought himself out of his panic.  “The latter.”  It was too easy for the Crows to think of Keaton as a mindless Monster and forget she was quite intelligent and well-read in her own right.  I certainly never did – my life and livelihood depended on knowing my boss inside and out.

“So,
who does Guru Zirkel follow?” Keaton said.  “My bet is that you’re his boss, Guru Arpeggio.”

Hephaestus froze.  Arpeggio didn’t answer.

“Come, now, Guru Hephaestus,” Keaton said, pressing.  Another test.  Any Crow able to deal with Keaton was going to have to be able to cope with this sort of intellectual pressure.  “I need this information to keep me from falling into the clutches of Guru Shadow, who we suspect is working at your level.  I’m going to have to reevaluate my strategy if he follows Guru Shadow.”  Information trading, Keaton style, was not for the faint of heart.

“I understand your worries, and I can answer this, Arm Keaton,” Arpeggio said.  “Guru Zirkel follows me.  However, ma’am, boss is not the right term, nor is the term ‘follow’. 
Guru to Guru relationships involve trading and debts, among other things.”  I was impressed that Keaton had managed to stress Arpeggio enough for him to spit out a ‘ma’am’.  I doubted we would be finding out anything about the ‘among other things’, though.

After a moment, Keaton then went into the details of how she
had burned off the embedded dross.  Her technique was similar to what I had used to get the last of my own embedded dross out of me.  However, she had meditated and concentrated on each of her known problems, burning the embedded dross off piece by localized piece, going through several kills in the process.

“Hancock,”
Keaton said, after she fulfilled her end of the bargain.  “Here’s what I want from you.  There’s a Council Focus in San Diego – Webb – who’s been dodging my attempts to contact her for months.  I’m assigning you the task of making contact with her.  Impress her.  Figure out what in the hell the bitch is up to.  Get the Crows to help you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.  Another test
of my alliance.  It would be up to me to provide recompense to whatever Crows I involved.  “When, ma’am?”

“After the Rickenbach wedding.” 
After her comment, Keaton dismissed us.  She was gone from my house within an hour, thankfully.  I hoped she wouldn’t do this again – I didn’t like having to give ground to someone else in my own territory.  On the other hand, it didn’t bother the tag, so I guessed it was just another way for a boss Arm to put her subordinates in their proper places.  Crap.

---

Both Hephaestus and Arpeggio relaxed after Keaton left, and to my surprise, they didn’t flee my presence.  “So, do you think this Hermes Crow will be willing to deal with Keaton?” I said, as I fixed them both a largish dinner.  I was beginning to get a sense for how Arpeggio’s mind worked.  Similar to Gilgamesh, he was intensely curious, and, alas, he had taken my measure and found me only dangerous, not terrifying.

I didn’t blame him.  Keaton
was
terrifying.

“I doubt it, at least to start with,”
Arpeggio said.  “He’s a rather standard Crow.”

“I haven’t met any Crows who’re standard Crows, have I?”

Both Hephaestus and Arpeggio nodded, confirming what Gilgamesh and Sky had told me, before.  “Even the most standard of the Crows you’ve dealt with, Sinclair, is exceptional in his own way,” Hephaestus said.  “He’s one of the Crows who’s most integrated into the normal world, and he’s mastered the difficulties of being an itinerant Crow, as well.  Also, he’s gotten interested in Occum’s Nobles, and he’s going to be getting some training from Occum in how to be a Noble Master.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find him setting up a Noble household within a year.”

“We need better Crows.”

Guru Arpeggio snorted.  “What we need are less terrifying Major Transforms.  The task your boss assigned you, establishing contact with Council Focus Webb, is going to be more difficult than you realize.  Focus Webb is a strong-willed western Focus, of which there are many.  She isn’t dark, but she is far more standoffish than the Focuses I know you to deal with, and to us Crows, she’s as terrifying as your Arm boss.  Save for her own local clique of Focuses, she rarely dealt with any other Focuses until she got selected to be on the Focus Council.”

That did say a lot.  I nodded in thanks, and went back to frying my chicken.