A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

I
could almost hear Mei do a double take.  “You really don't have a vid terminal?”

I
snorted in disgust.  “Come on, you know I have been researching magic?  My
research blows out almost all the new quantum circuit crap they are sticking in
the new stuff.”

“Oh,
I didn't notice,” she muttered, somewhat subdued.

“You'll
feel it when I test out my stuff.  Vampires and shifters are sensitive to it. 
I hear it tickles.  It's the same thing that happens whenever magical artifacts
are active.  Didn't you ever notice the lights flicker when you draw your
sword?”

“No,
I am usually preoccupied when I do that,” she replied with a hint of annoyance.

“Hmmm. 
It is usually harmless, but these days they seem to put the fancy stuff in
almost everything.  I wouldn't draw your weapon in a floater.”  Prolonged
exposure of even a minor supernatural’s aura degraded even non-quantum
circuits.  I can't believe no one paid attention to the increased breakdown
statistics in certain regions or populations.

“Are
you serious?” she snapped out.

“Yep,
it could be bad.”  No doubt a shifter wouldn't be scratched by a mundane crash,
even from a few hundred feet, but she might land on some poor mortal smuck.

“Anyway,
I'll call him tomorrow.  I'll need his help with something.”

“Are
you sure you want to get a human involved in this?” I shot a look at her.
Apparently my disguise as a human psychic sucked.  I would imagine she thought
I was some species that hadn't been outed yet.  She was right, but I had hoped
my cover would hold up better.  Based on earlier tonight, it seemed the
vampires weren't fooled either.  Damn.

“You
can use my terminal,” Mei offered.  I just sighed and shook my head.  Her terminal
wouldn't work past tonight, once I did the wards on the spare room.  I reminded
myself to make sure the new functions on the living room vid player were shut
down before I started.  I didn't want to blow up the telly.  It got to be a
pain to try to find the older models for replacements.

I
used Mei's wrist terminal to leave Jeremy a message, and since I was up, I went
into the spare room Jeremy used on occasion and used an elongated fingernail to
scrape a ward on each surface of the room.  Then I went and got the spray and
matching fixit patch to coat it.  I watched as it bubbled before settling into
to the wall, indiscernible from the area around it.  It was old stuff from
before the nanite ban, but it still worked better than the newer mixes. 
Apparently, even though they may dangerous in some way, you couldn't beat them
for fixing walls.  I had stocked up on it as much as I could through the black
market.  You could buy lots of things in the Blight.

After
my domestic duties were done, I used Mei's wrist terminal again to order some
more food.  It hissed and popped but still mostly worked.  It was pretty big
for a modern phone so it might have been old enough technology to not self-destruct
in the face of a ward or two.  I figured I may as well use it before it decided
it had enough.

I
was still dragging a bit, so I went back to my room and meditated until
midmorning.  Meditation is better than sleep for restoring your mental or magic
reserves, but just lacks the satisfaction you can get after sleeping for a
week.  After this was all over I would have to block out some time for a
quality snooze.  By the time I was ready for breakfast, I was feeling like
myself.  My tooth had fully grown in and I was anxious to begin the day. 
Apparently Mei was too, because she was gone already.  I snorted in disgust. 
She had way too much energy.

The
boxes of groceries were out front.  I hadn't noticed the delivery, which had
been good for my rest, but probably boded ill for how on guard I likely should
be.  Shaking my head in disgust, I took the supplies in and loaded up the
fridge.  I had ordered a goodly assortment of precooked foods since I had
doubts about how much time I would be able to spend on food preparation.  It
came in handy for breakfast, since I just pulled a drumstick of the turkey and
crunched on it while I cleaned up around the house.  By the time Jeremy arrived
and let himself in, I was ready to go out about town.

Our
trip was almost quiet except for the moaning and crackling of the subsystems of
the aircar.  Jeremy had an older model. He calls it vintage.  I call it a
suicide box waiting to kamikaze onto the pavement if you sneeze wrong.  If it
was any older it would have been ground bound.  It had character, but I never
figured out why he kept it.  I paid him well for his time and he likes to keep
up with the times when it comes to his other gadgets.  He may always remain a
puzzle to me.

At
that moment, he was frowning and tapping his finger on a gauge.  I swear it was
a glass and spring analog face readout.  It must have been a re-fit, since even
with the most militant round of nostalgia binges the world has been through, I
never heard of them going that far.  When he started cursing under his breath,
I knew something was up.

“How
do you feel about making a quick stop at my parents’ house for a quick charge?”
he asked in between muttered curses.

“You’re
out of power?” I asked glancing once more at the dial.  The more I looked at it
the more it looked like a gas gauge.  Except for the fact that nothing has run
on gas for over seventy-five years.  Oil is considered an endangered resource
and illegal as hell to use.  “Why not pull into a parking hangar?  I've seen
people charge up in less than five minutes.”

Jeremy
was silent for a few seconds and then explained.  “Remember how I mentioned the
car was an antique?” he tentatively started.  “Well, the power tap isn't
compatible with any of the current hangars.” A mixture of sheepishness and
pride colored his voice.  I just shrugged.  I wasn't in a hurry, and if I mentioned
that he should get a new car, he would just bring up my own distrust of
technology.  He would be right too.  Even I would hate to be that much of a
hypocrite.

“Fine
with me,” I sighed, as I looked out with my usual envy at the scenery.  The
buildings in this area were somewhat new.  Which meant that they looked like
mirrored walls as the facades reflected the scenery around them in all their
glasslike glory.  I think I preferred the brick and mortar look, but that never
came back in style.  Perhaps it was too expensive to recreate.

The
car swooped down an alley, around the corner and smoothly joined another stream
of vehicles.  A tiny light illuminated on the dash board, which I assumed was the
autopilot synching us with the traffic before it went out to give the driver
back the illusion of control.  If the sensors detected a possible hazard, it
would go back on and Jeremy would be left metaphorically spinning his wheels as
the floating traffic buoys took over.

“Aren't
we close to their apartment?” I asked, taking note of our location.  I didn't
come over often, but I was familiar enough to recognize the area. 

“Yeah,
right here,” he said as he turned into an alley and then set down next to an old-style
garage opening. Since we were going to be a few minutes, I stepped out to
stretch my legs and admire the small strip of sky I could make out hundreds of
feet above us.  I heard the whisper of a door sliding open inside the garage. 
I peeked inside and was rewarded by a small child-sized missile latching onto
my leg.

“Hey,
Mister Derek,” the tiny girl squeaked shrilly.  She was a small blond, not more
than three feet tall, and all arms and legs.  I awkwardly patted her on the
head.  I never spent much time around human children and didn't really know how
to treat them.

“Hello
Elisabeth,” I smiled at her.  She was cuter than a puppy, but I have been told
that children are a lot of effort to keep.  My race is hatched knowing how to
talk, change shape, and toss a car on things trying to eat you.  I really had
no point of reference.

“Hi
Derek! Jeremy, I need help with my physics homework and Mom and Dad aren't home
from work.”

“Beth,
I really need to get the car ready to go,” Jeremy looked between the car and
the child in exasperation.  “What's wrong with the Nanny bot?”

“It's
too stupid to help without a special program.  My teacher says the robots have
to be dumb or the Tinman Wars will start again.”

Since
he was looking indecisive, I decided to help.  “Jeremy, why don't I help her a
little bit, and you make sure we don't go down in a ball of flaming debris.”

“Derek,
it’s only a recharge.  It'll only take 30 minutes at most,” he sighed.  He was
used to me mocking his vehicle, so he let the issue drop after that.  “Besides,
even though the computer is old, it will doubtless blow up once you touch it.”

“For
thirty minutes, I think I can keep the old mojo reigned in,” I said
thoughtfully.  “If I use the holo interface and avoid contact, I think I can
keep it together.”  Jeremy just shrugged absently.  Once thoughts of his baby
filled his mind there wasn’t much room for anything else.

I
followed the child inside and once she stopped running around in circles in the
living room, she brought up the lesson projected it on the living room wall.  I
suppose she wasn't old enough for an implant yet.  I realized with some chagrin
that this was all going to be on the house system and no books were available. 
Reigning in my magical energies, I hesitantly took control of the system after
having her activate the holo controls, and had it review the lesson.  The
interface was very streamlined.  Hmm, Quantum physics.  The main school of
thought had been disproved, yet quite a lot of the principles had been reused
when they finally got the Grand Unified Theory to work.  It was also a little
beyond my studies.  Getting familiar with the tutorial system layout, I
directed it back ten lessons to basic Newtonian physics and paged through the
lessons as quickly as I could with just a slight psionic push to keep my
reading speed up.  In ten minutes, I had caught myself up to Elisabeth's lesson
and had a decent idea of how to help her.  The display was also starting to go
a little fuzzy from my presence, so I tried touching it as little as possible. 
It was a holo interface, so I doubt it made a difference.

The
child had been patiently waiting off to the side.  She had brought up another
holographic display and was dressing up dolls using some sort of fashion
designer simulator.  She seemed fairly smart for a human, and we were mostly
through her lessons by the time her brother walked in. 

“How
go's it?” he cheerfully asked.

“Mister
Derek's fun,” the girl solemnly stated, “He makes the house computer do silly
things.”  I hadn't realized she had noticed the glitches.  Maybe she was
smarter than I thought.

“I
think we got a lot done,” I added my own two cents worth.  “Beth is smart as a
whip.”  That got a smile out of her brother and frown from Beth.

“Whips
aren't that smart,” she pouted.

“That’s
just a saying Beth, it means you’re a smart cookie,” her brother clarified. 
She shyly smiled at that.  “Time to go, if you're still wanting to do your
thing.” Jeremy directed at me, adding under his breath, “Whatever that thing
is...”

“Sure
do.” I started to walk towards the garage and just paused a moment to look
behind.  “It was fun Beth, next time I'm over we can do it again.”  That seemed
to perk her up a bit, and she was vigorously waving goodbye as we left.

“Nice
kid,” I offered as the car moved out of the alley to merge with the traffic.  “She
seems happier than the last time I saw her.  I think she took one look at me
and ran out of the room.”

“She's
pretty shy around strangers.  She also is a certified genius and that tends to do
terrible things to your socialization skills.”

I
grunted at that. I hadn't noticed anything wrong with her social skills, but I
would leave it to the humans to judge.

“I
hadn't realized you knew advanced physics,” Jeremy said, after a moment of
silence.

“It's
easy to pick up the theory. Though my experimentation with magic kind of eliminates
practical applications.  It's just a subset of the laws that govern the
multiverse.”  It also helps when you have a brain the size of a fridge.  It's
not all there just to cushion my skull from impact.

“Isn't
she kind of young to be your sister?” I asked, casually changing the subject. 
I didn't want this to slide into an awkward silence.  “Your parents must be
kind of old to have kids.”

Jeremy
looked at me for a moment.  I knew he was distracted when the autopilot light
flickered a few times.  “I forget sometimes that you’re not from around here,”
he started slowly.  “My parents are in their seventies.”  I was a bit
startled.  I was pretty confident that was too old for breeding.  Were the
geriatric drugs that good?  “They grew up when nanites were just coming on the
scene.  For years, almost all the technology was nanite based.  It really was
the superior technology.  Better than almost anything we use today, especially
in medicine.”  He paused in thought before he continued.  “Immortality was one
of the first things they designed nanites to do.  It was an easy brute force
method, just program them to maintain the status quo.  If a cell is damaged
just rebuild it exactly the way it was.  Youth, health and regeneration all in
one simple design.”