I think it's correct to say that I came to rather than woke. I hurt like hell both pyhsically and mentally. There was some sort of crisis in progress. Somebody was trying to get Yousheng to put the sword away before anybody else got hurt. I remember muttering something about complying before unconsciousness enveloped me again.
When I came to again I hurt a little less physically although I still had the mother of all headaches. In addition to my other pyhsical symptoms I was as horney as I'd been after walking the Pattern for the first time. The room I was in was some form of security hospital wing and I was dressed in some sort of prison issue gown. There were 6 beds in total in the room and 2 others apart from my own were occupied, one by another humanoid female and the other by a non-humanoid alien. Each bed was covered by a CCTV camera and several others provided additional cover for the room.
I climbed out of bed, muscles protesting at their use and made my way to the door at the left hand end of the room. I had guessed correctly that its non-security characteristics meant it led to the washrooms. There were cameras in here as well. As I returned to the ward, the secure door at the other end opened and 4 figures entered, two in white armour and two in heavier grey armour. The two in grey armour both carried what appeared to be some sort of futuristic heavy rifle.
"Please put these on Miss Chan and come with us. We have some questions that need answering " They threw a set of wrist and ankle shackles towards me.
"And if I refuse"
"Then we'll be forced to shoot you"
"Really". I took a step forward. The two goons raised their rifles.
"Cut the crap. I'm not going to do anything stupid. And I'm certainly not going to put those on so if you're going to shoot me get on with it."
The seconds ticked by and nobody moved. After nearly a minute the figure spoke again. "Ok. Follow me. If you try anything they have orders to shoot to kill". The two guards moved apart, leaving a space between them and the doctors. They also took up positions where if I tried something they could atempt to shoot me without hitting each other.
I was led down several corridors and through numerous security doors to another room. In the center of the room was a large table. Arrayed on the table were most of my things, protected by some sort of force field. Another field on the other side of the table divided the room in two. Beyond the field was a Wolfen in a Security Officers uniform and some sort of robot resembling a crustation. As I entered 2 ceiling and two wall mounted turrets swiveled to track my movements.
I walked over to the table and examined the contents. The trump deck was there but the sword was missing. I reached down to touch the field. It felt reasonably solid. I turned to look at the Wolfen.
"You will find Miss Chan that the field is quite secure. From your possessions it would appear that you're from Earth in the early 21st Century, although there are several things that contradict that, including of course your traveling companion. Now apart from the fact he speaks a dialect of Chinese he also speaks a language called Thari, a language that my friend here hasn't come across. You're arrival here was also spectacular as it triggered a major storm in the local leylines, which is why it took us a little while to reach you."
"I take it you're going to get to the point sooner or later, or is it your intention to make me stand here all day. The latter of course will result in you obtaining few if any answers to your questions." I glared at him and he looked me straight in the eye.
Whilst his mind was quite strong it was nowhere near a match for my own. It seems I was in the command complex of the militia for a place called Shiftsville, somewhere in what in my day would have been North East America. The town was something of a refuge for dimensional travelers persecuted by the Coalition. The robot, next to him was one such traveler who'd arrived here several years ago. Recent events had raised tensions between the town and the Coalition, but they were wary of a full out assault as they were unaware of the strength of the alien ship. He himself had been born here some 40 years ago, approximately at the same time as the current ruler, The Iron Duke, had been forced into exile. The Duke had returned about 15 years ago and deposed the despot who'd taken over, building the city into the second most powerful within 100 miles. Most of the city's strength, lay in that it existed in a pocket dimension linked to the real Earth, and that it lay at approximately the center of a triangle of leyline nexus. This gave the city mages tremendous power, but also provided its fair share of problems due to the frequency of inter dimensional gates that occured at the nexus points. He himself, in addition to his other duties, was a psychic sensitive, able to detect magic in use and psychic abilites. Unfortunately for me the robot controlled the magic forcefields. I relaxed my control enough so that he could recognize what had happened I spoke in Chinese "Pyracretes. Now that Zreb Xzzyn has filled me in on what's going on around here, I suggest you drop the forcefields and go fetch my sword from the vault you've hidden it in. You can then fetch me a change of clothes, Zreb, here will provide you with specifics, and the three of us plus my companion, can adjourn to the guest quarters of the Iron Dukes residence, where I may chose to answer some of your questions."
I turned to face the crab breaking the contact with Zreb. It spoke in a very natural sounding voice.
"What did you just do to Commander Xzzyn"
"She read my mind, every last detail, and then withdrew without removing the memory of what she'd done so I'd know she'd done it. Her psychic abilities are beyond most I've come across. The fact that she barely registers but has more power than a Mind Melter is intriguing."
The crab backed away. "I believe you have been compromised. Logic dictates I should kill you, but for the time being you are relieved of command and are to submit for psychic examination. Until you are cleared you are under arrest."
"For a machine of some intellect you really are thick, but then of course you have no empathy or empathic feelings. If I'd wanted to use him I'd be on my way back to a cell right now, safe in the knowledge that I would be walking out of here within a few hours. But I don't work that way. Yes, I've read Commander Xzzyn's mind, but he knows I'm no threat to you, not from what I have done but from what I haven't and from his empathic senses which he's currently refusing to believe.
Now we can continue with the current charade, since I know full well its against you ethical programming to have me shot in cold blood or you can start behaving in a civilized manner, drop the force fields, and return my things, and whilst you at it you can also get me 3 paracetamol and a decent cup of coffee"
In theory I suspected I could break the forcefields with the pattern. Random had shown me the principles of how to use it as shield either against physical or magical assault and I had used it in this manner to protect Yousheng and I against the Shadow Storm. Using it thus had caused my loss of consciousness and my current headache. This was all academic since I didn't know how long it would take me to build the necessary pattern construct in my current state or if I could do it at all.
"You think yourself superior with your clever words and pointed remarks assuming you know what I can and cannot do"
I ripped the gown off. "Superior, maybe, Smarter Yes. Here I am naked and unarmed. Contradict me and turn the guns on me now or admit you bluff has been called and turn off the force fields."
There was a moments hesitation and the force fields went down. I stepped forward. "Now we're being civil I think introductions are called for; I'm Cordelia Chan-Barrimen, Daughter of Corwin Barrimen, Granddaughter of Oberon, and Great Granddaughter of Dworkin, Princess of the Royal House of Amber." Zreb xzzyn looked stunned, there were legends of the Wolfen of Arden and of Amber but he thought them just that, and Pyracretes looked like he'd just swallowed an oil drum, were that at all possible of course. I could tell he recognized the significance of what I'd just said. I retrieved clean underwear from the table and put it on.
The door behind the crab opened and human woman in a jump suit hurried in. She had a glass in one hand and three tablets in the other and a second jumpsuit across her shoulder. She put the glass and tablets on the table then proffered me the jump suit. "Sorry it's all I could find at short notice. It should fit you though."
I thanked her and put it on before swallowing the tablets. As I stuffed my things back into my pack the three of them conferred. Finishing my packing I said "Shall we go". The woman said "Follow me".
The militia HQ is a large complex; itself forming a part of a much larger complex from where the city government is run. Other parts of this complex include the Government R&D labs and the Iron Dukes Palace - a sort of glorified Manor house. We crossed from the HQ building to the residence and were met by three other individuals Felice Laudry, Carna Beddows, and the Iron Duke himself. "I hope you'll accept my apologies but we have to take certain precautions with dimensional visitors and your arrival was not the most dignified or timely, and your companion did managed to kill three of my men before he was overpowered. That sword, which I assume is actually yours is truly remarkable. Now I take it you're in need of some refreshment, which I can organize whilst we sort you and your companion out some rooms."
To be honest the next couple of hours were completely boring. They wanted to know about Amber, how I was able to travel dimensionally, what other abilities I had, and what my intentions were. The former I was as evasive as possible about, whilst the latter was simple, I was thrown here by a Shadow Storm and as soon as I was able, probably sometime in the next 48 hours, I would be leaving.
The rooms were comfortable although not luxurious. Away from prying ears I was able to ask Yousheng what had happened after the storm front had hit. Apparently I'd managed to maintain the shield for nearly a minute before the stain had become too great and I'd lapsed into unconscciousness. Once the shield had collapsed I'd been picked up as if by a hand and it had been all he could do to hang onto me. The pair of us had then been thrown or blown into what appeared to be a tear in reality and had landed adjacent to a similar tear in what appeared to be a permeable blue glowing hemisphere. The hemisphere itself seemed to be composed of some sort of energy field which had waves of energy, much akin to waves crashing to the shore in a storm, ripping through it. These crashing waves gave rise to massive electrical discharges. As he'd tried to get us out of the field he'd been attacked by some sort of demon. He'd managed to kill it using my sword, since it had been faster for him to draw mine than his own. He'd then got entangled in a fight between the Shiftsville militia and several other demons of the same type, and been forced to defend himself after they'd attacked him. It wasn't until after he'd killed a couple more of the demons that the militia realized we weren't connected with them and tried to get him to lay down his weapon. The problem was he'd been unable to make himself understood and it wasn't until I'd briefly regained consciousness that the situation had been resolved. We'd then been taken away, searched and given medical examinations. I'd been incarcerated in the secure room, whilst he'd been coupled to a machine which had treated his early stage Leukemia. He'd then been placed in a cell and later interrogated by the machine that looked like a giant crab. The problem was that being alone with him had retriggered the desires that I'd managed to supress for the last couple of hours. He backed away from my initial advances, and I was forced to admit that I needed his help to resolve my problem.
He retreated to his body guard client stance and I was forced to explain further. It seemed that for me walking the pattern triggered some primal urge that needed to be satisfied. I'd managed to control it this far but I was slowly losing the battle. When I'd first walked the pattern I had no knowledge that this would happen and couldn't control the response, and had repeatedly had sex with the three stable hands until they'd all succumbed to exhaustion and even that had not been enough. This time it appears the urge was triggered by me mind walking the pattern for the first time to build the defensive shield.
Even knowing what to expect I had great difficulty in controlling myself. The wait between the first and second time seemed like eternity and by the end of the third Yousheng was totally exhausted. Thankfully, I now only wanted more, I didn't mentally seem to need it. I hoped this response would diminish with time. Leaving Yousheng to sleep I decided to go and explore the town, particularly in regard to finding a change of clothes.
Now the problem I faced was that I had no
credit stick and nothing obviously 21st Century to trade. In addition,
as I hadn't expected to go shadow walking I hadn't packed any silver or
gems when I'd left the Night Star in Alto Mento. From the knowledge
I'd gained from Zreb the shops I wanted were in the central trading
district, the most secure part of town. However, it was unlikely that
I'd be able to stumble upon a universal cred stick there, for that I'd
have to venture into the outer districts, something I was completely
ill attired or equipped for. As I was making my way towards the
downtown gate
another option occured to me and I changed tack and headed for Zreb's
office - what was the point of having his life history in my skull if I
couldn't use it - at least to extract a loan. Forty minutes later I was
making my way through the palace gate, a 5000 credit keyed cred stick
in my pocket.
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