Chapter 11 — Design Thing
A Tale of Two Times: Volume 5 ~ The Wild Way
Chapter 11 — Design Thing
~ 1 ~ In the ranchhouse dining room, the head table was set on a dais for a dinner meeting of this importance: A gathering of all of those directly concerned with the situation of the Delvers—Hector and his followers—who were now stranded in the Commons. The seat of honor at the head table was occupied by Benjamin, on whose right sat Lucia, the Keen Maker who had become leader of the Delvers remaining in the Hold after Hector’s rash flight into the Commons. Diego and Isabel sat on Benjamin’s left, and the others at the head table were Everett and Indigo, Martha and Kurt, and Victoria.
All of the chairs at the tables nearest to the head table were also already occupied, and the invited guests from Buttercup were entering now, seating themselves at the more remote tables. They had come as a group which included the closest relatives of the Delvers stranded in the Commons. Among these were Second and Third Masen, brothers of First Masen, who was one of those stranded. The two anxious-looking, mercurial and suspicious young men, and their knot of young peers, felt nearly overwhelmed by the mass of people around them—many of whom did not belong to Home Ranch—and by the arrangements for a formal dinner, rather than the usual cafeteria-style meal which they had expected.
Some chairs at tables with available seating were occupied by individuals, such as Benjamin's wife and Coach Gomez, who were known to Buttercup’s residents and who graciously identified for them the more prominent people who hailed from beyond Home Ranch. Heads of the other major and minor Clan holds, and some prominent Keen Makers from those holds, were among these “foreigners”. The impression made by all of this on Buttercup’s residents caused some to begin doubting the Masens’ belief that the evening's event was being held only to inform kin of the stranded that their family members were lost in the Commons and as good as dead. The Masens had expressed serious doubt about rumors that a rescue effort was to be attempted.
Everyone at the dinner learned that Benjamin was to present an after-dinner talk explaining the current situation regarding the stranded Delvers. It was very likely, they heard, that he would announce the formation of a Design Thing for a rescue Device. No official announcement had yet been made, but the presence of foreign Keen Makers strongly suggested that a Design Thing truly was to be held.
Although the diners had soon noticed that Martin was not present, they identified, at the two tables adjacent to the head table, a number of other Heads. Most prominent among these were Henry Okubo, the Head of the African and Middle Eastern Clan, with his wife Edna; Mencius Su, the Head of the Chinese Clan; and Johann Handke, the European Head, with his mother Elise, the famous First Scribe from the days of Ottilie Krüger‘s War Thing.
Ricardo, like Martin, was not present, and although Rhoda was there, she was not sitting with the other Heads. She sat inconspicuously at a table near the dais and the Heads' tables, with Dr. Lily Su, Hans Beckerath, Antonia and Leo, and others who were recognized by few of the people at the dinner.
Conversation among the Buttercup guests became mostly speculation about the absence of Martin and Ricardo, and about Rhoda’s modest place at table. Whatever the reason for those things, the Buttercup folk saw that the Clan world seemed to be truly concerned about the fate of their stranded Delvers.
While their plates were being cleared from the tables, and before Diego’s introduction of Benjamin, the faction led by Second and Third Masen began a rude murmuring from the remote table where they were sitting together. Because Martin was not present, and Rhoda was plainly dressed and not easily distinguishable at her table, they were looking around for a target on whom to focus their murmuring. The only easily visible Knox was Victoria, who was sitting at the head table, dressed in the severe style which she had thought suitable for Rhoda on the night of the Head Thing. Victoria was, however, not a fit target for the animosity building up among them. (Some of them even speculated hopefully that Victoria might be in mourning for Martin!) The wave of murmuring animosity did not gain traction at other tables, and Isabel, keenly attuned to the social tensions in the large room, felt the sea-change. She knew that Rhoda's clever choreography was working.
Diego called for attention, and the room grew silent. He introduced Benjamin, who immediately began:
”I must apologize to everyone for the policy of extreme secrecy that Hector and I have promulgated regarding the Garth Delvers’ Thing. It was a counsel of excessive caution which has resulted in the present nearly tragic situation.” Benjamin took a sip from his glass of water. The men of the Masen faction glanced at one another, their tension relaxing somewhat. Seeing Lucia at the Head Table, they had expected a one-sided denunciation of Hector. They had, until then, regarded her as an enemy of Hector, seeking his place in the Garth Thing. Lucia smiled at them. Then she and Isabel exchanged smiles. The young Masens sat back in their chairs yet a little more easily.
Benjamin explained, “What has happened, has resulted partly from the unexpected lifting of the Ban of Swords."
People looked around at once for Rhoda. Those who spotted her, saw that she was apparently hanging on Benjamin's every word with the innocence of a lamb.
"Because of the true urgency of the situation,” said Benjamin, “the aims of the War Thing had to be reformulated. On the evening of the Head Thing in this very hall, knowing that Hector had not been informed of the Clan’s dramatic change in circumstances, I hurried to the Garth Delvers’ Thing House to tell him of it. He had, no doubt, sensed that a lifting of the Ban was imminent, and he had begun implementing the plans which our Thing had made for this eventuality. However, our plans were not as well-formed as we had assumed them to be, and Hector and I both acted too hastily to take proper counsel with each other. Well, I needn’t go into detail, and some of these matters are Secrets of the War Thing.”
As Benjamin looked around, he exchanged expressions of solidarity with various Buttercup residents, including those of the young Masens’ faction. “As you know,” he continued, “Hector and his fellow Delvers are now marooned in the Commons. They had undertaken a risky trek across the Commons on a new Pathway, which had seemed to Hector to be the only way of securing Thiuderieks’s Garth for the aims of the War Thing. Unfortunately, they have lost their way.
“With considerable risk to ourselves, Keen Maker Rhoda Knox and I have been able to get close enough to them in the Commons to locate our marooned Delvers within the bounds of a sizable Niche, but we have not been able to enter the Niche to reach them. We are certain that they are holding closely together—no doubt, by Hector's leadership. Although our means of detection are Secret, I can tell you that we know they have tunneling tools with them, and they appear to be working their way through a Pathway which seems to be a natural one, into the higher Airs. Hector, who had discovered the Pathway, calls it the ‘Wild Way’.”
Head Mencius Su met the eyes of his cousin Lily Su.
“Moving to higher Airs is a very wise course of action,”Benjamin said approvingly. “Given the manifold and changing temporal gradients and jumps in this region of the Commons, their current relative chronological location is ambiguous. If they had bound themselves to a past chronological event—which easily might have happened—or if they had tunneled down-Air, or if Rhoda and I had approached them too closely, they would have been separated from us in chronological time. But, from higher Air, they can be rescued and then mellowed into Earth’s Province. Using our current knowledge, Isabel Tavares has made preliminary estimates, by a new method which she has devised, that indicate our stranded Makers can be reached safely within a chronological year. During that time, Hector and his people will experience a duration of only a few days—or weeks, at the most. We will launch a rescue Device from the Workshop of Knox Aviation in Ontario, which currently enjoys access to the highest Airs of the Commons, which are most favorable to our rescue attempt. And, because Home Construction is now using that location in order to mellow our large project in Southern California, we are best positioned there in terms of Delvers’ material resources. Although this is clearly a very complicated matter, I estimate that the odds of a successful rescue are well over a hundred to one. Tomorrow, we will begin work on a detailed Design for the rescue Device. When we have completed the Design, we will form from among those who have participated in the Design Thing, a team to fabricate the Device in Ontario.”
After feeling so much anxiety, the people from Buttercup found Benjamin’s prognosis for the well-being of the missing to be very good news. Speaking among themselves, the Masen faction wondered how it was that the influence of Martin—whom Hector had seen as the cause of all of their problems—had been curbed. Was the Guild, through Diego, stronger than the Head Family? They had seen that the Guild’s Heads had come from Africa and the Middle East, China and Europe, and that outstanding Makers from those branches had volunteered to help in the rescue effort. They were wondering: Had there been a coup? Could it be that Rhoda's reconciliation with Martin in the War Thing had been mere pretense? Now that she held the reins, was she pushing her own father aside? Could the Masen faction move into positions of power through Diego’s influence? They had been pleased to hear Benjamin speak of Hector as being yet the Garth Delvers' chief. They knew that Hector had a bad temper, and he was not always right, but he was their rallying point, so his rescue must be the first business of the young Masens.
Since none of them possessed the skill required for it, they agreed among themselves that Benjamin should lead the rescue effort and that they would be part of it. They were heartened by learning that the Design Thing for the rescue Device, which was scheduled for the next day, did not include Rhoda, Ricardo or Martin. The absence of those three meant that not one of the three would be a part of the fabrication team, although the Design Thing would include the foreign Makers. Would the Design Thing include Yohanna Okubo’s boyfriend, Hans? They had been informed about Hans Beckerath just recently by Howard, who had also told them that Yohanna Okubo, of the African and Middle Eastern Clan, was a more powerful person than most people had yet realized. And who was this Isabel Tavares, who had made the calculations on which they were relying? Isabel was rumored to have high Clan blood and to be engaged to Diego, which might be a good thing for the Masens. They needed to be more friendly with Howard, who seemed to know what was going on. And Lucia—It seemed that she was on their side again.
Benjamin overheard some of this talk among the power-hungry young Masen faction. Then he considered the likelihood that support by the world’s other major branches of the Clan had opened the way for those branches to obtain standing in the Garth Delvers’ Thing. If that were to happen, then the Masens’ power would, in fact, decline after the rescue, even if Hector were to return in glory.
~ 2 ~ Hans had flown to Home Ranch with Wilson, who was also attending the session, arriving just in time for the dinner and Benjamin‘s talk. While Wilson was seated elsewhere in the crowded audience, with some fellow Makers from Home Ranch, Hans was sitting in his assigned seat next to Leo. Seeing Isabel at the head table, he looked at her in wonder. She shrugged and smiled at him, her body language signaling, “You figure it out!” Rhoda, in unremarkable dress, was the last to slip in at Hans’s table. Her seat was too far from Hans for her to speak with him, but she smiled at him warmly. His presence between her and the Masens partially blocked her from their sight.
Benjamin’s address, taken very seriously by everyone there, seemed to Hans more unreal than real. He whispered to Leo, “What does Benjamin mean by the “temporal ambiguity” of Hector's location?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Leo whispered back. “Ask the pro, when you get a chance.” Leo’s eyes indicated Rhoda.
At the end of Benjamin’s talk, Hans, hoping for an opportunity to question Rhoda, watched as she at once sought out an elegant older lady dressed in black, who had sat at the raised head table. Taking the woman’s arm, Rhoda turned with her toward the room’s exit.
Making his way among audience members who were breaking up into groups and talking excitedly among themselves, Hans anxiously followed Rhoda and Victoria. Rhoda glanced back and saw him in pursuit—as she had expected—and slowed their pace, allowing him to catch up. She introduced him to Victoria: “Mother, this is Hans Manfred Beckerath; Hans, this is my mother, Señora Victoria Maria Ortega y Knox.” Rhoda’s light manner told Hans that she was teasing him about his (usually suppressed in America) German formality.
Victoria! Right out of Yohanna’s story! Hans took Victoria’s offered hand with a little bow and a click of his heels, bringing her right out of the story and sending his mind into a new spin.
Since the day of catching the sidewinder rattlesnake tossed to him by Yohanna, Hans had been living his life on three separate tracks: His ordinary everyday life, the story told by the Histories, and his growing understanding of the Makers’ art, which he was tenaciously approaching with his usual scientific skepticism. Benjamin’s talk, to an audience who believed in the existence of the invisible Commons and in their ability to enter it, had pressed hard against his former convictions. Now, in Victoria’s hand, these three tracks were converging smoothly into one organic reality…
And Hans knew, for the moment, that he was in his true home with his extended family, whose many tensions bound their lives together. Hans had always striven to live independently and in the present, but in this moment he intuited that he and his new family shared the same life in the past, in the present and in the future. The exciting, intrigue-filled evening which he was experiencing existed organically in this larger space, this “Goth Niche”.
Because Hans, while this insight was engulfing him, had been holding Victoria’s hand for a longer time than he knew, Rhoda looked reassuringly at her mother and said to him, “My mother is dressed as she thinks I should have dressed for our Head Thing—Ricardo’s and mine.”
Hans’s thoughts were drawn back to the present, and he released Victoria’s hand, asking, “What is it that you did wear, Rhoda?”
“The clothes worn by a ranchero’s daughter for a romantic night of dancing.”
Hans simply had not cultivated an interest in the symbology of women’s apparel, not having benefited at all from the pointers given to him by his mother and by Yohanna. Yet, as he was looking at Victoria’s somber dress, a Strand of Living Memory opened in his imagination: Judith’s sight, years earlier, of Victoria descending the elegant staircase in Her Majesty’s Villa on her way to dinner with her family. Victoria was wearing a flowing yellow gown which she had meant to mark, with a flourish, her last evening in society before entering the religious life. She was beautiful, and Hans, himself, might have fallen in love with her on the spot. Moments later, she and Martin had fallen in love, and Victoria's life had flowed into an unforeseen channel—along which Hans, too, was being carried.
The juxtaposed images of Victoria-then and Victoria-now caused a question to burst from Hans: “Victoria, are you in mourning?”
Victoria laughed. “Yes and no, Hans. If there had been dancing this evening, I would have changed my clothes. This evening was very much like a second Head Thing, in that it has been very trying, but choreographed well by Rhoda. She choreographed even my part for tonight, in order that Hector’s flock will remain in the fold. Hans, I understand that Ricardo has sent you to learn more of the Makers' art by sitting in on the Design Thing, so I think you must have some questions to ask Rhoda now.”
“I do have some questions to ask your daughter, Victoria. Thank you.” In a quick glance at one another, Rhoda and Victoria acknowledged their awareness of the fact that, by addressing Victoria as a peer, Hans had moved closer to a place in the War Thing.
“Hans, come with us,” Rhoda said. “We’ll sit on the first landing of the stairs to the Head Family quarters, where we can talk. That location, above the focus of the others’ eyes, will allow me to continue maintaining a low profile.”
On the first landing’s sofa, where Rhoda sat between him and Victoria, Hans asked, “Rhoda, what does Benjamin mean by the ‘temporal ambiguity' of Hector's location?”
Victoria smiled. “I would like to understand that, too, Rhoda.”
“Okay. By ‘temporal ambiguity’, Benjamin means that the place in time of Hector and his followers, relative to the time in Earth's Province, will be determined by the manner in which they are re-joined to Earth’s Province. If we cannot return them to our present time, they cannot return at all.
"Then, time travel is not possible?" Victoria asked.
“Well, Mother, individuals from different times can meet in the Advancing Front of the Commons, but Hector’s Niche in the Front is mostly past to Earth’s Province, so it’s not possible for Hector and his people, in their situation, to travel to the ‘future’ and wait, in ‘suspended animation’, for the future to catch up.”
“Rhoda, dear, in my times in the Commons, have I been in the kind of danger that Hector is in?”
“No, Mother, you haven’t been in such danger. Hector’s situation is very different from yours. You’ve traveled into and inside the Commons by means of Devices of good Design, whereas Hector is in the Commons as a result of his own rash actions. Now we need to create a Design for a Device which we can use to retrieve him and his people. And the Place from which we have to retrieve them is in a Province that’s at the heart of the Foe’s plans.”
Hans and Victoria stared at Rhoda. Benjamin had not put things in this light.
“Do the other Heads who are here tonight understand this situation, Rhoda?”
“Of course, Mother; Ricardo and I have briefed them. But we have not briefed any of the Makers who will participate in the Design Thing. The naivety of the crew who will fabricate the rescue Device is a tactical advantage.” Hans, understanding that he had just now learned a Secret of the War Thing, was not sure that he liked knowing something that he must keep secret. But he was curious about Victoria’s excursions to the Commons, which he was becoming for him a possibly real place. He considered a way to ask his next question in a manner less skeptical than was usual for him.
He was distracted, then, by the sight of several people in the entry hall below looking up at them and talking among themselves.
One of them began ascending the stairs. It was Lucia, on whom Hector had vented his wrath before rushing off to establish a station in the Commons from which he hoped to control access to the Grassy Steppes and the Bleak Berm. The group at the base of the stairs included Delvers whom Lucia had helped to rescue from the Hold.
Rhoda and Lucia had not spoken together since the day of Manuel’s sudden return from rescuing the Delvers, because Rhoda wanted to avoid adding to suspicions about the “Knox party” felt by the people of Buttercup—the Masens in particular.
Following Benjamin’s talk, Lucia had gathered together that
core group of rescued Delvers who were with her now. They were feeling well-disposed toward Rhoda and, understanding Hector’s folly and Rhoda’s essential role in attempting their rescue, they wanted to speak with her.
Rhoda spoke quickly: “Hans, Ricardo sent you to Home Ranch to learn firsthand about Device Design, and tomorrow, you’ll have your opportunity to do so. I know you have lots of questions to ask me, but at this moment, very important War Thing business is coming up the stairs. Mother, please excuse me. I know Hans will enjoy hearing about your experiences in the Commons.”
Rhoda intercepted Lucia’s deliberately slow ascent. After turning her around, she descended the stairs arm-in-arm with Lucia, leaving Victoria and Hans sitting on the sofa with Rhoda’s absence between them.
~ 3 ~ The next day at first breakfast, Isabel said, “Hans, I’ve had enough time only to glance at your letter, but I agree that we should correspond. I’m glad to know that you’ve settled into Ricardo’s place and that you’ve become his apprentice.”
“Thank you, Isabel. I’ve been studying Old Goth, and I’d like to talk over with you the little of ‘Goth physics that I’ve learned so far from Ricardo.”
“I’ll study your letter tonight, Hans, and let’s talk it over tomorrow. Come to first breakfast again.”
“Yes. Let’s do that, Isabel. You know, I had expected you to become Rhoda’s apprentice.”
“But I haven’t, Hans. I’ve followed the advice of my father-uncle.” Isabel laughed. “He told me that mathematicians don’t make good sorceresses!”
“What are you doing, then, at Home Ranch?”
“I’m chief of the kitchen, Hans. Home Ranch cuisine needs more of a mediterranean touch.”
“What?” Hans’s eyes narrowed in amusement.
“Your letter came to me while I was working in the kitchen. I hadn’t even known that the Guild has a courier service, so I’ve begun corresponding with Scott through the U.S. Postal Service to continue aiding him in developing Het’s meta time theory. If you tell me, in your letters, about what you’re learning from Ricardo, I think I’ll have a better understanding of what Het and Scott are doing.”
“Should I let Het know about your involvement?”
“No, Hans. Scott hasn’t yet told Het that he’s in touch with me; we should let him do that. I do want Het to know that he and I both are Oscar Nerzhin's children, but I’m not ready to tell him about it before I finish my work with Scott. Also, I want to get to know my ‘foster father’ Martin better. I wish he had been my natural father.”
"Are you Martin's apprentice?"
“Well, Hans, in way I am. He’s my Old Goth instructor, and I talk over with him everything that I’m doing with Scott, so Martin is learning my mathematical theory. Hans, he's the first man whom I’ve ever trusted completely."
"Don't you trust Diego?"
"Oh sure, but we're lovers, Hans. That's different. We might quarrel and break up. If fact, we have quarreled—without breaking up. But my relationship with Martin has a kind of solidity that I’ve never experienced before. With him I always feel like a good daughter of a good father."
Hans’s own father, Manfred, who was present to him only in the form of dim memories, was kept alive by his mother, Helena, in a somewhat idealized form. He had come to know much more about his father through listening to the readings of the Histories. He said, "Isabel, when we met Martin at Antonia’s house, I felt about him, right away, in a way similar to yours."
"Then you understand how I feel, Hans. And Victoria treats me like a daughter, but I feel closer to Martha than I do to her. Martha says she's my Guild Mother now. Martha used to be Rhoda’s Guild Mother, and I remember exactly what she said to me: 'Rhoda's out of my hands now, but you, Isabel, are still wet behind the ears. You’ll need a nurse who can give you Clan milk until you, too, are on your feet.' Hans, I feel like I’m really Martha's daughter, and my new family are all so much nicer than Oscar and Escobar and Flavia that I sometimes actually cry over my good fortune."
Hans was growing a little uneasy under this flood of feminine feeling. The thought came to him that they might go on talking like this for hours, if he were female. He knew that Isabel had a difficult relationship with her mother, whom she had brought to California. Isabel had not spoken a word about Flavia, other than her name, and he hoped that she would not say more now. He said, ”I guess I'm like your brother, then, Isabel. Am I your twin brother, or your little brother?"
“Oh, Hans, I’m sorry about getting carried away with all that. Thanks for listening to me. Hmm… I’ll think of you as my twin brother."
A voice asked, "May I join you?"
“Master Benjamin! We would be honored.” Hans rose from his chair, and Isabel looked up at Benjamin with a pleased and welcoming smile. There were many people at first breakfast that morning, and those at nearby tables stared at the three of them, having hoped that Benjamin would sit at their tables. But Benjamin had chosen to set down his breakfast tray at the table occupied by Hans and Isabel, who were not involved in the events which so many others wished to discuss with him.
Looking at his two table mates, Benjamin said, “Today will be a busy day. Ricardo has informed me that both of you will begin studying Device Design at today’s Makers’ Thing. That’s like learning to swim by being tossed into the deep end of the pool!”
Isabel smiled at him. “That’s how I started, Master Benjamin—at the deep end. I don’t imagine that today’s will be nearly so deep as my first plunge.” Benjamin looked at her young, cheerful face, knowing what it was that lay behind her comment: The clutches of the Netherworld. He recalled his own time of service on Thiuderieks’s Garth, and his recent harrowing adventure with Rhoda, discovering the Wild Way. He thought how lightly Ricardo and Yohanna had spoken to him of burdens that few—perhaps only they—could bear.
And Yohanna has brought Isabel back out of the Pit! Involuntarily, he pressed Isabel’s hands between his old Maker’s hands and looked into her eyes… There, he suddenly beheld the Blinding Darkness into which she had been looking as she flew from her apartment and flung herself upon Yohanna.
For a moment, Benjamin was blind and deaf, and the hideous Hell Stench flooded his soul. He was sliding into the Pit! Isabel’s hands were being torn from his own, into which he felt the darkness seeping…
