Chapter 16 — In at the Top
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*****
~ 1 ~ Esther parked her car in the lot reserved for Arch Company. Rhoda’s car was absent from the lot, as Esther had expected, because Rhoda had told her Makers class—Het, Herbert and Esther—that she would be gone for a week. With an eye on the security guard whom Alberto had said talked too much, Esther locked her car and walked casually over to Ricardo’s New Sarxx roadster, which was parked in its usual place. Guard Schwartz was standing nearby, and, having been on the job for less than a year, he was easily drawn out of the shadow of a parked truck by the sight of Esther’s enticing body and her apparent automotive curiosity. Schwartz had suddenly come to feel that he should learn more about the drivers of the cars parked in this privileged lot. And Miss Rosen appeared to be wearing nothing between her skin and her light sweater.
As he grew near, Esther zipped up her jacket and smiled at him. Seeing the name embroidered on his shirt below his badge, she said, "Mr. Schwartz, do you know what make of automobile this is? I wonder if it's a custom vehicle. I've heard that Dr. Chavez is a highly skilled engineer.” The lady’s voice pleased Schwartz almost as much as did the appearance of her body.
"Well, I talked with him the other day; he says it's a recent limited edition of a German make that’s based on a prewar model.”
"What company makes it, Mr. Schwartz?” Esther looked expectantly into his face.
"Dr. Chavez said it's made by a company called New Sarxx. Sarxx is spelled with two x’s." Schwartz took a step closer to her.
As Esther leaned slightly toward the good-looking young guard, she spotted Byron, the chief of Keep Security, bearing down on them. She whispered,"Isn't 'sarx' with one x, the Greek word for flesh? It's kind of like spelling 'sex' with an extra x."
Schwartz was grinning when Esther greeted his boss, who had come up behind him. "Hello, Byron. I was asking Mr. Schwartz if he thinks Dr. Chavez's car might be the most valuable one that you’re protecting in this lot."
Schwartz blanched, knowing that he had crossed a line drawn by his boss. Byron had warned him, “Don’t get familiar with the owners of the cars in this section. You're not in their class; you don't know what's going on. But you’re smart, Schwartz. You could work your way up to my position if you learn when not to pay attention to them.”
The two men watched Esther walk away from them into the Keep. Byron said, “Schwartz, the guy you’ve replaced talked too much.” What have I told you about the people who have assigned parking in this lot?"
Schwartz swallowed an excuse and admitted, "It happened just like you said it would: She was trying to get information about another big shot in the Keep."
"Did you start the conversation?” Byron chose not to voice his approval of Schwartz for foregoing an excuse.
"Yes."
Esther had spoken first, but Schwartz knew that he had positioned himself so as to give her the opportunity.
"Did you and Miss Rosen talk about the value of Dr. Chavez's roadster?"
“No, sir."
"So, she lied about that?"
"I guess she did, boss.”
"You thought she was bailing you out?"
"Yes."
“By keeping a little confidence like that, she puts you in her debt."
“I guess that’s right."
"So, Schwartz, what have you learned about Miss Rosen?"
"She lies and she uses people.”
"What you know is: She uses men.”
"What you told me slipped my mind when I saw her. I know you explained that she’s got wealth and power behind her."
"Like I said, Miss Rosen's father is a big east coast politician. The garbage collectors in his machine make more money than you do, but they have to toe the line to keep their jobs. Working for me, you only have to do your job right and you’ll be your own man."
~ 2 ~ I've been warming up for you, Dr. Chavez. Esther entered the Keep and located him in an access corridor off which workmen had been constructing his new office.
Dr. Su had been eager for this construction project to be completed, allowing her to move into the front office which was currently occupied by Ricardo. Ricardo was more than content to move to an office in a less conspicuous location.
The site of his new office’s construction was accessed from a normally locked utilities access corridor which ran parallel to the Institute's library. In the corridor, Esther moved silently upstream through the flow of sounds made by men at work. A thrilling scent of male perspiration came to her, and when she came upon Ricardo, she saw that he was wearing jeans and a sweaty teeshirt, and he was talking with some workmen while giving them a hand with their work. She stood at a distance, fingering the zipper of her light jacket while admiring Ricardo’s fine, sweaty back. One of the workmen noticed her and gave Ricardo a "behind you" glance accompanied by a soft whistle indicating, "Woman." Ricardo turned with interest to Esther, handing a tool to the workman who had alerted him.
Esther, breathing his man-sweat scent, absorbed with pleasure the appreciative look on Ricardo’s face.
"Esther, how may I help you?" Ricardo grinned as he asked, "Do I need to intervene with Dr. Su on behalf of one of your client scholars?"
"No, it’s not that; she and I have an understanding. I want to talk to you.”
“Okay. Let’s just move to the little room over here. I need to stay close to the work right now, but the corridor is pretty hot and noisy.” Ricardo opened the door to the small room and turned on the light, which revealed to Esther a bank of lockers attached to the room’s far wall and, on the walls flanking it, an impressive array of electrical boxes, dials, and connecting pipes with valves. Two steel chairs sat at a sturdy card table in the middle of the room. There were no windows. Esther closed the room’s door quietly behind them and followed Ricardo to the table, where—unzipping her jacket and playfully running her fingers through her hair—she seated herself as enticingly as was allowed by the steel utility chair across from him. Ricardo watched Esther’s performance appreciatively, waiting for her to speak.
She pulled her chair up to the table so that her knees gently engaged Ricardo’s. Then, with sensual grace, she captured his right hand in her own hands. He did not respond in any way. She drew his hand to her thinly-covered breasts, and her voice was soft and husky as she said, ”Ricardo, I want to talk about us."
Ricardo’s face was unreadable as he reached across the table and slipped his left hand under her hair at the side of her head. Then he pulled his right hand from her grip at her breasts, and placed it under her hair on the other side of her head. Esther was immensely thrilled by his intimate touch, but she experienced at the same time a fear of the great physical strength and self-control in Ricardo as he looked steadily into her eyes for a long minute. She felt herself being searched inwardly. Fear prevented her from engaging the dark pools of intense life in his eyes. Her hands slipped from his forearms and slowly dropped to the table.
Ricardo released her head. Then he covered her hands with his own on the table and looked gravely into her face. Esther was looking at the face of an adult who was preparing to speak seriously to the little girl whom she was, and whose plan of seduction was a train-wreck.
“Esther, your body is not yours to give away; it belongs to your father's machine."
His words were like ice water. But Esther knew that there was some truth in them. Almost indignantly she asked, "How do you know about my father's affairs?”
"I surmised some things from your Living Memory, about your relationship with your father.” Ricardo released her hands. "I sense that you agree that they’re substantially true."
Esther looked away from his face. "If my body were my own to give, would that matter, Ricardo? Tell me the truth."
He was silent, briefly stoking the fire of her hope. "Then I would have to consider this in a different light. But, Esther, neither an amorous affair nor a marriage between us is in our future.”
Esther rose. "Certainly not a marriage." She felt that he was leaving the door ajar, but not welcomingly. Why? Had she been complimented or insulted? In a moment, she concluded that he was a fellow political animal, ranking high in his organization and very careful about relationships. "Thank you, Ricardo. Sometimes I feel lonely. …You know what I mean."
Ricardo stood.
Esther opened the door which, earlier, she had quietly closed. She zipped up her jacket and stalked away.
“Strictly business, man?” It was the worker who had indicated Esther’s presence, earlier.
"Strictly business. No sale, but I had to hear her offer. It’s office politics; I'm sorry for the interruption. Well, you’ve finished your tests, so what do you think? Is there a fissure or a cave on the other side of this wall?"
“There is, and I don't think it's part of the Keep’s construction. My guess is that what's on the other side is a natural fissure, maybe a deep one—something the construction engineers didn't detect. You might want to rethink the issue of earthquake risk. That's what our report will say. Unless you want us to drill into the fissure, we aren’t able to say more."
Ricardo shook his head. ”I'll turn your report over to the Keep's management; they call the shots on this kind of issue. When my building contractor was finishing this chamber he discovered that the wall seemed hollow where the Keep’s schema indicated solid rock, and that’s when we decided to have you specialists check it out. We don’t want to risk weakening the wall through further construction."
“Yeah. I recommend halting construction until you know," agreed the geological engineer.
“Thanks for the good advice. Fortunately, we’ve got a workaround to keep construction on schedule. When I receive your report, I’ll see that your check for the full amount is in the mail at once.”
The engineering crew began packing up their equipment.
~ 3 ~ In retreat from Ricardo, Esther descended into the lower levels of the Keep, to the gym reserved for the Circle of Friends and their associates. The Keep, with its system of chambers which were delved off from corridors, was cunningly designed so as to hide this section from the scholars and scientists who enjoyed research space in the Institute for Ancient Art and Relics. Only a handful of those who were in Kane's inner circle—among whom was Esther—knew the place’s true layout. She entered the locker room and showered as though she had been working out in the gym, then dressed in her modest business attire. Her unsettled, overactive mind allowed her body to wander where it would, and it found its way to Herbert's Workshop, which she had never before entered except to attend classes. She had unlocked the Front Gate and had stepped inside before she became fully aware of her location, in which she found that she was not alone.
Mortimer Kane looked up. "Welcome, Esther. We have been expecting you."
She glanced around. "We, Mort?"
"The Friend and I.”
A strange thrill passed through her body. Before her was Mortimer Kane, who was standing before a six-inch-high, four-sided metallic pyramid which sat on a workbench before him. Its black leather carrying case lay on the floor beneath the bench. Kane, gingerly touching one finger to the pyramid, said, "The Friend has informed me that he has been expecting you to join us here, and that your mind will be clear now, following your rejection of the conditions of servitude recently offered to you."
Esther’s mind quickly reviewed her conversation with Ricardo, and concluded that his meaning had been that he wanted her to be his mistress after he had secured his position in the Clan by marrying Rhoda. She saw Ricardo now as a rising family boss like the ones with whom her father dealt. His words about her loyalty to her father's machine meant that he thought of her as a political bridge to her family.
"This Device is the Calling Portal through which we can speak with the Friend.” Kane, reading in Esther’s face a favorable response to that information, said, “Touch your finger to it.”
Upon touching her finger to the pyramid, Esther heard in her mind the androgynous voice of the Friend, accompanied by a slight static crackle: "Welcome, daughter. It pleases me to acknowledge Dr. Kane’s accuracy in perceiving your sense for power, and for the just order of the strong—in which we now offer you a place."
What place is that, Friend? To the god’s voice in her head, Esther was speaking in the manner prescribed by the German copy of the Touchstone.
“That place is the one which you are touching, for I am enthroned in the midst of my Powers before this Calling Portal." Esther was momentarily mesmerized by a display of light which filled the room with the form of a burning many-faceted crystal, each face of which was a shifting pattern having the organic symmetry of living things. It was much like a montage of Ernst Haeckel’s etchings which she had seen on display in Mortimer Kane's office.
Kane smiled, seeing the awe on Esther’s face. She saw that he removed his finger from the pyramid before speaking to her. "That's why I favor them, Esther. The artist had true insight." She smiled inwardly. I'm in at the top!
”Yes, you are,” said the Friend’s voice in her head. “My Powers find you much more compatible than are the two women whom Thersa had raised as candidates. You have raised yourself, as I myself have done.”
Esther lifted her finger from the Calling Portal. ”Mortimer, who are the two women?"
Kane also broke contact with the Calling Portal. "I will ask him to tell you who they are. Esther, by staring at the Portal while touching it, you can hide from him your random thoughts."
Esther touched the Portal again and heard, ”As Dr. Kane has advised, I will remove your doubt concerning the others. One is known to you as Marge Hemming. Thersa has beguiled her into accepting a treatment which causes a human to grow physically younger; it has left Marge in a state incompatible with the Elixir, so that resuming its consumption would be fatal to her. She will remain useful to us, however, as she has long labored with Dr. Kane. The other woman is Esmeralda Montgomery, who is—like you—new to our Circle. She has received the rejuvenation treatment through a scheme devised by Thersa and the Clan. Greedily, she has taken it too quickly, and Thersa has determined that the Elixir would now be fatal to her, too. Like Marge, Esmeralda will yet prove useful to us. You, daughter, have come to us young. You need no rejuvenation.”
Kane said privately to Esther, "Ask about Thersa."
She said to the Friend, I have heard a variety of speculations about Thersa’s identity. What is the truth?
"She is a free agent, guided by Powers who maintain relations both with us and with Powers of the Clan’s Makers. Because of the ability of gods to keep secrets from each other, I am uncertain of the identity of the god who is her guide. Thersa enjoys a longevity like that bestowed by the Elixir which she supplies to our Circle."
Is her longevity in payment for being guided?
"Dr. Kane and I think that is so."
Throughout the remainder of the discussion, Esther stared intently at the pyramid to shield her extraneous thoughts from the Friend, and removed her finger, as Kane did, to speak with Kane. Kane prompted her frequently to ask about persons and relationships about which she was uninformed. Esther prompted Kane to ask questions about the Makers' Art and the details of Herbert's work.
When the interview had ended, Kane removed a dagger from the Portal’s leather case, and re-sheathed it on his arm. Then he placed the pyramid Device in its case.
"Mort, that dagger looks a lot like the two daggers that I saw in a photograph of Alice and Rhoda. They were wearing them at a beach.”
“Where did you see this photograph?”
“It was taken by Alberto, the campus newsman. Tell me first about the dagger.”
"I will, Esther, after I remind you that we must pool our knowledge and sift it carefully. We’re in charge, and we must not trip up one another."
Esther nodded. Are you gaming the Friend, Mort?
When she had awakened that morning, Esther had been uncertain of the gods’ existence. Now, she was seeing them as political players in the same game that she played: the one game of power politics. She thought of the Wizard of Oz hidden behind his curtain. What’s the curtain behind which the Friend is hiding?
~ 4 ~ Rhoda arrived while the two geological consultants were talking with Ricardo after packing up their tools. They saw her walking hurriedly toward them, carrying a large black case that might hold a musical instrument, or maybe a rifle. She glanced at the consultants and said to Ricardo, "This room will do. In here, honey.” Entering the room into which Ricardo had recently led Esther, Rhoda was lugging the heavy case and perspiring, and she had unzipped the neck of her close-fitting flight suit.
Of the two men staring at the door after it had closed behind Rhoda and Ricardo, one said, ”Man, we must be in the wrong line of work. I think he's going to buy from this lady; she brought her sample case with her." They grinned at each other, picked up their equipment cases and departed.
Rhoda set down her case and stared at Ricardo. "Who?" There was amused suspicion in her face as she took Ricardo's head firmly in her hands. Irritatingly, Ricardo smiled at her blandly. When she released him, she was smiling back.
"Rhoda, how could you entertain doubts about me?"
"I'm a realist, Ricardo. I know Esther’s scent and I can guess her motives. We’re all only human. "
“What’s the reason for your hurry, sweetheart?”
“I’m not hurrying. It’s hot outside, and I had laid a slight tectonic offset on this Calipers case to make it invisible to the Circle’s Powers. The offset makes it heavy.”
“It’s a large Calipers case.”
“Yes. It contains my handiwork: Calipers built for two. They’re true Agent Calipers which I’ve designed to be like a roving Workshop for the two of us. We need to explore as a single Agent because the density of the Circle’s gods in this place makes it risky to cast Nets or Things Living in order to learn about secrets of the Foe’s Keep. And we can’t presume naivety like that which was truly possessed by Leo and Hans when they went poking around the Keep with Lily Su.
"Using the Agent, Ricardo, we can move around the Keep with little risk of being detected by members of the Circle, either gods or humans. And we need to do this together because an Anchor will be needed by the one who is the Agent’s head. We’ll alternate between us—one being the head while the other is the Anchor—to allow us to use both your particular skills and mine.”
“And what secrets will be looking for, sweetheart?”
“First we’ll be looking for something that Cherokee may have hidden here in the Keep: the ersatz atomic bombs that you and Daddy fabricated for Leo. I’ve been talking to Leo recently about his delivery of the bombs to Cherokee on the industrial side of the Keep. He says Colonel Armstrong’s men have been watching Arch’s area, and he’s certain that Cherokee’s operation has not moved the bombs out of the Keep. Leo is not sure where his new partner-in-crime has sequestered them, but he says Cherokee has been talking with him as if Quinceañera Beach will be the site of negotiations, payment, and delivery of the bombs to one or more of his clients.
“And Ricardo, after reconnoitering the Beach again in the Greased Lightning, I’ve determined that there are nuclear weapons there somewhere, and I’ve been unable to detect more than I had detected before. Honey, I’ve discovered that it’s because that place is a fracture field of tectonic offsets that the bombs’ exact location is hidden from me. The Guild has located Cherokee’s other strongholds, and I’ve found no trace of either the ersatz bombs or any real atomic bombs in those places. The bombs must be hidden in the Keep.
“I was thinking this morning about your tunnel problem, and it occurred to me, Ricardo, that maybe the schema of tunnels is not defective. Maybe a new chamber system has been delved recently and secretly, and maybe the bombs are hidden in it. We need to find out, and this room is a good place to start looking.”
“Well, sweetheart, if there’s a newly-made chamber beyond the wall of this room, it may be behind this bank of lockers. Lily Su told me the lockers were recently installed by Keep maintenance personnel.”
“Okay! By exploring this wall with my nimble fingers, maybe I’ll find an entrance to your mystery chamber.”
Standing by her side, Ricardo watched Rhoda run her fingers over the bank of lockers.
“Look, Ricardo! A door!” Sliding the lockers to one side, Rhoda revealed an oversized metal door. “It’s big enough for the bombs to go through.”
Ricardo slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her sideways to him. “We’re onto something!”
Ricardo’s enthusiasm brought a smile to Rhoda’s face. She said, “Let’s put on our Agent Calipers. Manuel helped me fabricate them.” She opened the case and lifted out something that looked like two hooded flight suits with integral gloves and boots. The suits were connected by a thin seven-foot cord. “Many have tried, my love, but few have succeeded in making Agent Calipers that work, but I’ve overcome the Design and fabrication issues. I’ve tested these in every way possible, except, of course, for our actually becoming the Agent. Its Design is for you and me only.”
“Rhoda, do you intend for us to transform into the Agent now?
“Yes, dear. After we get into our separate but connected suits, we can begin our transformation into the Agent.” Rhoda smiled at Ricardo, knowing that he shared her pride in her handiwork. “The Agent can cope with single Plenum differentials.”
“Sweetheart, that’s far beyond the state of the art. That’s even beyond the power of most gods!”
“It’s you and me, honey. Love makes the world go ‘round, and the Agent depends on our love. When we transform into it, the Agent will be god-like.”
“I trust you.”
“I know you do. Now, quickly, turn around and strip off all of your clothes. Then put on your part of the Agent Calipers suit. Do not look at me while I’m stripping. It’s essential to maintain the tensions of our betrothal at a steady level, in order for the Agent to work properly."
In a few minutes they were standing face-to-face, joined by the axial cord connecting them at navel height, just below the zipper's base in each suit. Only their faces were exposed. After making some minor adjustments to Ricardo's suit, Rhoda said, “I’ve designed this to work like the storm waves that we made, anchored in the Greased Lightning. I'm sure you remember our thrilling inversions."
“How could I forget?”
“Yes! Now, when we alternate head and anchor positions in the Agent, the inversion should be a very intimate and delicate business, smooth and pleasurable—not at all like the wild thrill of making enormous waves. When you’re inverted into our hidden intimate place while I’m the head of the Agent, I can use your First Persona as one of the Agent arms for Doing or for Meaning. And, honey, when I’m inverted into you, my First Persona is at your disposal in the same way."
“Okay, let’s get started. …How?” Rhoda's face had been slowly filling Ricardo’s field of vision.
“Be patient, dear. You have to stabilize into the power of the Agent Calipers before we can transform, and then you will be inverted into our hidden place to activate your power to self-invert. Ricardo, you need to know that the Agent’s ‘skin’ is only three Plenums dense. It consists of the Agent’s Animate Plenum and our two personal Plenums. The Agent’s Plenum must be anchored in Earth’s Province, so I’ll anchor it to this locker room, before our transformation into the Agent is completed.”
“I understand, Rhoda: With a three-Plenum skin we’ll be indiscernible to humans and nearly undetectable to gods.”
“That’s right, honey, so you can see that we’ll be able to work down to a single Plenum. At first we’ll work at a safer density of four or more Plenums. That’s well below the resolution of most gods, especially those of the Circle.”
“Rhoda, the integrity of the Agent is crucial, isn’t it?”
Yes, and it’s our single-mindedness that preserves its integrity.”
“I understand that, but I don’t understand what our inversions can pivot around.”
“Honey, I’ve designed our Agent Calipers so that the one of us who’s inverting will pivot around the other one’s Emblem of sex. I’ll pivot around your maleness and you’ll pivot around my femaleness. Those are the most deeply-rooted parts of our animate nature, so they’re the most stable parts. They’re unmovable by the Foe’s Powers.”
“They’re the most stable as integrated into our common essential dimensions, but….”
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