The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (16 page)

That got a nod from Ethyl, which
looked a bit tight. Stiff to be honest.

“There are some others who should
be requested as well. I… Would it be too much to invite the new Queen?” That
was being addressed to the Countess directly, so Gwen kept her mouth shut.

“I don’t know. I can ask my husband
to put a word in? That might not… I hear that she’s a bit…” There was no sound
for a few seconds.

Gwen grinned.

“Bitchy? I think that’s the word
you’re looking for. It isn’t really true. She’s a
bit
of a pain at
times, but a lot of that is just her getting her feet under her. That and her
stupid dislike of Westmorlands. As if regular people can’t blow up?” It was a
bit hard sounding, but got a polite chuckle.

“I wouldn’t have been that harsh,
but it is close to what I’ve been notified about. You’ve had the pleasure then?
I was led to understand she wasn’t out for the season.”

Gwen smiled about it all. That part
was mainly down to her being a horrible guard. Taking vacation time like she
was. They didn’t have enough women to travel with the Queen.

“I have. Really, I think we can get
her in for this, if we’re careful about it all. We might have to move to a
different location. I mean we had people protesting here. Trying to
Free
Gwen
. That’s
got
to stop. Otherwise they’ll all forget to do it if
I’m ever actually locked up. I’ll be willing to accept suggestions on that?”

There wasn’t a lot right then, but
they did set up a time to meet, starting at noon the next day. Even if it was
there, in an unsecure location.

It was interesting, but the next
day at noon a half dozen people showed up for the party. It wasn’t one, even if
it was kind of hard to tell that. There was a full lunch served, which was
nice. Enough so that everyone that came seemed impressed with the service.

The conversation was
all
on
business however. Gwen was called on to go over the basic ideas, since it was
kind of her thing, but Countess Goebbels took over, along with Ethyl after ten
minutes of yammering. Then they worked out some basics for each Comfort Box,
which included some kind of candy, a shelf stable baked good, socks, scarves and
woolen mittens. Not gloves, since the men would have their leather fingerless
fighting sets for that part.

They couldn’t guarantee color of
course, but the best guess was that something dark or at least not shiny and
bright would almost always work. On top of all of that, school kids and young
women were to be encouraged to write hopeful letters to help keep morale up. It
wasn’t exactly hookers for the front lines, but Gwen had to figure that
anything would be better than nothing at all.

The Countess looked at Gwen, then
smiled.

“Miss Farris? I was thinking last
night and it occurred to me that the best way for you to assure everyone that
you are indeed free, would be to move. That, or marry. I hear that you have a
new gentleman friend? That’s exciting. Is it a secret from his wife?” The words
got a scandalized gasp from both Agatha and Ella.

Ethyl went very quiet however her
eyes downcast.

Gwen just shrugged.

“He’s
single
, actually. We
just started dating though, so bringing up more than that might be a
bit
premature. Worse, people have already hinted at the idea, which almost
has
to be freaking him out. I suppose I can move. It’s… Not to seem mercenary, but
this is a pretty nice place. I doubt a single occupancy efficiency would be as
comfortable. Which… I don’t
really
need. I can live with less.”

Ethyl took a deep breath, then
tightened her lips. So much that they went white.

“That… It’s fine if it’s what you
wish, Gwen, but even if people are going to talk about us negatively, this
is
your home.”

Oddly enough, it was James’ wife
Ella who spoke then. She looked a bit better rested than she had several years
before. The woman wasn’t a grand beauty, but she wasn’t old or anything,
either. She was a bit quiet, or had been each time Gwen was around, but the
last years had been good for her it seemed.

Then, her husband had gone from
being a fancy chauffeur for a bratty rich girl, to a shoe manufacturing mogul
in that time. Mainly while Gwen was gone.

“Why does it matter? Gwen can just
go on the telesar and tell everyone about her real life. A big portion of
things is that no one really knows how she’s being kept. We hear drips and
splashes about her life. That she’s off fighting the Europans for instance,
with her own hands. Or she’s off to work like a slave on an airship… We never
get to know what she’s doing or thinking, not directly or in full.” There was a
pause, but no one spoke, everyone just watching Ella.

Who had a finger on the pulse of
the world, as far as real people went.

Agatha nodded then.

“What do you suggest then? How can
we address this?”

Ella flipped both of her palms up
then and stared at Agatha directly.

“Give her a telesar program. Once a
week or so? People could write in and ask her questions directly that way. She
could share what her world is like and other things from her life. Programs
like the Comfort Boxes and Students Service? It wouldn’t have to be forever. A
year or two? Once a week?”

Gwen smiled and shook her head,
ready to beg off on that one. Agatha just started to nod.

“Right. Ethyl, you and Robert own
WGN, don’t you? I bet we could get them to free up an hour or so for Gwen.
Excellent idea, Ella!” The older lady didn’t look over at Gwen at all, just
locking eyes with Ethyl.

Who, being a traitor, smiled and
clasped her hands together.

“That… just might work! Gwen dear,
what do you think on the subject?”

She wanted to grumble, feeling more
than a little tired of life already. Instead of doing that, she sighed. It
would give her a way to get the word out on some things. It sounded dangerous
to her, really.

“I think that I’ll bomb, horribly.
Which, before you
ask
, means that I believe I won’t be very good at it.
Not that anything will blow up for real. Still, I suppose I could sit there for
a while each week and talk nervously about things, if anyone wants to bother
listening?
I
wouldn’t give me a good time slot though. Maybe a morning
show? Something that won’t lose a lot of advertising revenue.” Everyone at the
table looked at her like she was insane then.

Except Agatha, who nodded.

“Don’t underestimate your drawing
power, Miss Farris. I happen to know that Brian Weathers is about to retire in
a few weeks. He has a daily program, at noon. A newsie… I bet that he’d be
willing to sit with you. Especially if it doesn’t come out of his pay envelope
at the end of the week. A darling man, Brian. You’ll like him, I think. Very
honest.” Her eyes glinted a bit.

Gwen had actually listened to his
program a time or two. He was a horrible loudmouth, who made a living basically
being a shock talk show host. Which didn’t mean she couldn’t work with him.
Even if they fought on the air, it could please his audience, given what they
normally tuned in for each day.

“That… Might work? I could give it
a shot?
If
Mr. Weathers is willing to try and carry me like that. After
I get back from my trip?”

Marianna, who had been sitting
quietly the whole time, taking notes, tapped the back of her pencil on the pad
in front of her.

“Or, and this is just an idea, you
could do a show tomorrow? If that can be worked out? I seem to recall being
counseled several times that waiting on things like this almost never helps
anything… Why, that was by
you
, wasn’t it Gwen?” She pretended to look
innocent, her blue eyes and blonde ringlets suddenly a bit too doll like.

“Don’t try that with
me
,
Marianna. I see through your clever trap, using my own words against me.”
Making a little noise, Gwen forced a nod. “I… Can try? We still need to ask Mr.
Weathers about it. He might say no.
I
would, if I were him. Having some
amateur alien woman come in like that
has
to be a pain in the… Rear.”

Agatha smiled then, standing.

“He’s on the air right now. In
fact, I need to leave soon, if I’m to make it to my own program in time. Sorry
to leave so soon…”

Gwen got it. After all, Agatha,
while their media face, having her own show, was the one person in the room who
wasn’t a Westmorland that actually had a real job. The rest of them were kind
of kept women. Not in a sexy way either. Ethyl was a wife and mother, as was
Ella. Marianna was a Queen, which pretty much meant useful to them, but not
hard working over all. The poor woman did a lot of rather boring things, day to
day, trying to stay busy.

Gwen… Well, she had that sweet part
time gig with the Special Service. At least she had. Her term there was kind of
over. Unless she reenlisted. Except that her current two-year term wasn’t
actually up. She’d put in all her work hours already, however. She could kind
of go with the idea that her being a student would count, once that started.
Plus, her loading work in a few days.

Suddenly though, she felt lazy. It
wasn’t really true, but that didn’t mean her brain wasn’t trying to get her to
do a lot more than she had been.

So she stood up.

“Right. I’ll get you in to the
station? Then I can talk to Mr. Weathers when his show is over?”

Agatha smiled and headed toward the
front of the place, after ten minutes of chatting with everyone. There were hugs,
including for Countess Goebbels, along with a warm hand touching thing with
Marianna. Then the woman walked out as if it made sense to head to the
driveway. Except that there was no lorry waiting for them there.

Gwen cleared her throat, then moved
in to hug the lady.

“Hang on. One second here…” She’d
been to WGN before. It had been a while but it was a lot easier to find
someplace that she knew than a new place was. She could do both however, so
landed in the lobby of the telesar station half a moment later, gasping for
breath like always after a thing like that.

Agatha yelled. It was
most
unladylike of her. Not that Gwen was in a position to tease the other woman
about it.

“Oh,
my
! I’d heard you had
the ability, but… That was
amazing
! I… Come dear. I think we need to
deal with some things immediately.” That, apparently, required them to raid the
broadcast booth. Politely.

Agatha led the charge, walking
right into the area that had the microphone in it. That part looked remarkably similar
to what Gwen would have expected from a radio studio. At least from the
nineteen-twenties. There was a very large metal mesh covered thing on its
complicated arm, right in front of a friendly looking silver haired man. He was
bald on top, short and dressed in a shiny suit that looked a bit like it had
been stolen from a sofa.

Pure robbery, no doubt. The
vertical stripes weren’t loud, thankfully, being all in metallic colors.

The friendly looking man virtually
growled into the microphone however.

“I can
not
believe this.
Parents allowing a boy to do that kind of thing. Reading picture books, at age
fifteen? How can he help but not be infantilized and lazy? It isn’t the child’s
fault. Boys need to be out in the fresh air, getting healthy exercise! At worst,
if they must spend their hours in a stuffy room indoors, they would be better
served seeing to their studies, instead of wasting their life on such tripe!”
The man practically had a gleam in his eye as he looked over at them. He lit up
a bit at Agatha, then gave the woman a questioning look.

As an after thought he waved at
Gwen. She couldn’t tell if that indicated that he recognized her however. Not
until he spoke.

“It looks like my old nemesis,
Agatha Longbranch is here to take me to task for what I was saying about her
friend, Gwen Farris, earlier. Well, I stand by my word on that. The King has
no
business sending her into danger! While I have to commend the effort to get our
personnel back from the camps, we can’t just throw lives at the problem. Especially
not one that has been so very wronged. Agatha, do you have a different take on
that?” The man was fighting a laugh, it was clear.

It made his gruff tone a lot easier
to take. He even gestured for both of them to sit, winking at Agatha while he
did it. It was the right kind of wink too, which was a conspiratorial blink on
one side, instead of scrunching up half his face.
That
one pretty much
meant you were down to get busy.

The nicely dressed and made up
woman next to her pulled a microphone over like she was used to doing that kind
of thing. Gwen did the same thing, reaching to the left. What she didn’t do was
push the tap on the bottom that would activate it. It was just a silver nib.
She’d seen that kind of thing before however.

Agatha smiled back. She sounded very
polite and friendly, which was how she normally seemed.

“I have
different
news for
you, Mr. Weathers. It seems that our station has been given a tremendous
opportunity. Each week on the fifth day, during your time slot, Gwen Farris
will be hosting a new program. Herself. Apparently she’s getting a bit tired of
people saying untrue things about her. I can imagine that might seem a bit off-putting,
don’t you think, Brian?” She was teasing a bit, but the man just seemed
interested, not upset at losing his time slot.

“Oh? That
is
rather a blow
for us then!” He grinned over at Gwen then, looking like he was almost giddy.
“I guess that means we can announce that we have Miss Farris right here in the
booth? I was hiding that part, planning to ambush you just before the end of
the program, but if I know where you plan to be tomorrow…”

Gwen leaned in a bit and pushed the
nib once.

“Well, Mr. Weathers, the plan is
for me to be on with you, so I imagine you can work up
all
the best
questions. The hard ones that no one has bothered to ask yet? We can chat about
different topics as well. For instance, reading graphic novels is a great thing
for the mind.
Any
reading is healthy that way. This is testable and
where I come from it’s a known and proven thing. I
do
have to agree that
a fifteen-year-old should be out and getting exercise. Perhaps with the Students
Service? We have a lot of brave young men off on the front right now, which
means we all need to be stepping in to do our part for the war effort. There
are jobs that need to be filled, collection drives to be held, city and country
based guards are going to be needed and
everyone
, man, woman and child
should be getting with their local school soon on that one! Countess Goebbels
and Ethyl Vernor are putting that together, along with Queen Marianna. We can
get them in for an announcement on that soon?”