Scene 9: Our First Meeting at the Green Street Tea room
We could not gather at Mrs. Farnesworth's house in one of our rooms. Mrs. Farnesworth did not allow gentlemen callers, as she called them, upstairs. I wondered why Daniels was even allowed to rent a room in her house, but according to Gwennore, Daniels had lived there for some time. How Gwennore knew this I had no idea. How Gwennore knew anything was a mystery to me. I did not know her comings and goings and how she supported herself.
To my surprise, Gwennore was neither surprised nor disturbed by my explanations of her involvement in my investigation.. This may have been due to the fact that she was compensated for her time… In the Rocky Bluff neighborhood, any money cold only be a good thing.
Mrs. Farnesworth practically snatched a month's rent from my hand. her only icy remark was that I could have told her I was intending to stay another month. i again did not respond with what I was thinking.. If I had a choice, i would have moved out, but looking for other lodging seemed a waste of time with a death sentence hanging over me.
Teddy explained to us that in his position as shadower, he was responsible for following me and passing along what information we gathered. he was also the one who dispensed funds. I was responsible for clearing my name. Gwennore could assist me in all legal endeavors.
"Is there any information on The Rebel Horde?" I asked. "Any fingerprints? Any footprints? Any anything?"
"I was not given any information of this type," Teddy informed me.
"You think a shadower is going to give away any information?" Gwennore said. "They collect it. They don't disperse it."
I considered this. Clearly Teddy was a minder and not much else.
"So," i said, "you and Lord Stern and Prince Hollis have no interest in really finding out who The Rebel Horde is."
Both Teddy and Gwennore looked at me askance.
"Now don't you go speaking those names out loud," Gwennore scolded. "If you must talk about them, Stern and Hollis will do very well."
The Victoria Effect, I thought. Everything must be played as if old Queen Victoria was real. The lords and ladies of the realm probably were not real either. There was the real royalty and nobility and the public royalty and nobility. Why there was such a disparity I could not say.. It made my head ache even to think about it. I did not have all that much time. But I needed to focus on my investigation.
Teddy shrugged. "My responsibility is to shadow you and account for the money."
"I still need to know if the higher ups want this solved." I wanted to understand if my energy needed to go in the direction of investigating The Rebel Horde or figuring out how to avoid my imminent death. I did not even know how executions were carried out here in the Royal Province of Debussy-on-La-Mer, whether they were public or private. I shivered just at the thought. Maybe I could plead for leniency. Maybe banishment was an option. Captain Star Runner had not been gone long enough to be able to come and rescue me as she had done when I got mixed up in The Big Dig.
I turned to Gwennore. "Do they care about The Rebel Horde?" I asked, wondering if I would get a straight answer from her on such an important question to my investigation. How had I ever thought she would be helpful to me?
Gwennore also shrugged. "And how would I be knowing that?" she asked. "For all I know, Hollin herself wrote the note."
I went cold inside. It never occurred to me that I might have been setup. I am, after all, a foreigner, a person from another planet. Perhaps Hollin enjoyed torture. Many people, particularly in power, do. With all my compatriots gone, I was a likely target.
"OK," I said. "I am going to make several assumptions from the beginning:
"1. The Rebel Horde exists. "2. It is a danger to the government. "3. We have the ability to find out who they are. "4. Finding out who they are will commute my death sentence."
No reaction.
"Comments?" I said.
Both Gwennore and Teddy remained silent. I did not even think Teddy was listening to me.
I slammed my hand on the table hard. Our cups of tea rattled in their sauces.
"Are either of you two listening to me?"
Teddy shrugged again. I decided he, as he had said, was only interested in performing his assigned duties. The Rebel Horde was of no interest to him at all and finding them, or not finding them, did not affect either his livelihood or his life.
I turned to Gwennore. She was using her finger to draw in the spilled tea on the table.
I was about to scold her, to tell her what I thought of her indifference and then I paused. Why should Gwennore care either about The Rebel Horde or me? What reason could I give her for caring about either the government or me? She would earn a stipend whether we succeeded or not. Her life was not on the line. I needed to find answers to my own questions. The other two were just weight I had to carry around with me.
Then I relaxed. Fine. I was free to do as I liked unless either one of them prevented me from acting, for example, refusing to give me money or physically restraining me.
"Do you have paper?" I asked Teddy, "and something to write with?"
He produced both from his bag.
A notebook, a spiral-bound notebook and a pen. I had read about such things. Mrs. Parge had even insisted I know how to use them. I pulled the notebook to me and rewrote my list.
- Find out who The Rebel Horde is.
- Find out if any other investigations are ongoing about them.
- Find out if there is any forensic information at the scene of the death of the swan.
I paused to think if there was anything else I needed to find out right away.
- Find out what happens if I receive the death penalty.
The words "find out" stood out. I underlined them.
To find out anything here in Capital City, as far as I could tell, meant going to the Information Keepers.
I got up from the table.
"I'm going to talk with the Information Keepers. Come with me if you like." I announced.
"Required to come," Gwennore said.
Teddy said nothing but rose.
Together, with me in the lead, setting the pace, we left the tea room.
Scene 10: Back At the Information Keepers Kiosk
I strode confidently across the Old Stone Bridge and entered the Royal Precincts. Despite my desperate situation, it felt so good to be purposeful again.
The same woman I had spoken to earlier was present at the kiosk. She frowned when I posed my questions.
"I cannot give you this information," she said and was turning away.
"I have an investigation given to me by the highest authority," I said, recalling my tone and attitude from my police officer days. "I need this information to complete my investigation in a timely manner."
I had the feeling no one had ever so ken to this woman in this way. She froze. I was not sure if I could use royal names here, but my implications were clear. I stood resolutely in front of her, unwilling to leave, unwilling to accept anything but the information I sought.
"This will take some time," she finally said.
"How much time?" I asked. "I do not have time to spare."
"Yes, I realize that," she said and looked down. "I have to get authorization."
"How can I help to get you that authorization?" I asked.
"You need to get that authority you mentioned to authorize it," she said.
I turned to Teddy. "That's your job," I said. "I will wait here for you." I looked meaningfully to the closed door I had entered in the morning.
"I'm not supposed to leave you," Teddy said. His reluctance was obvious.
"I am here in the Royal Precincts," I said. "Isn't there someone here who can prevent me from leaving until you get back?"
Apparently, this request was new to him. He considered it with all deliberate speed, then, shrugging, he approached the door. It opened and he went in.
Gwennore said, "And you're a fool if you linger here."
"Perhaps," I said, "but I will not get far if I leave now. Besides, I think I want the answers to my questions."
Whatever Teddy said or did, the information came within minutes. The woman at the Information Keepers Kiosk was quite taken aback. I don't think anyone ever went about getting information in this manner before.
"Do you work here every day?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Emma," she said altogether shily.
"Good," I said. "Emma, I will need more information. I will come to you for it."
Again the shock.
"You have proven very cooperative and helpful," I said. "I would like to be able to recommend you when this investigation is completed."
Emma did not believe me.
I gathered up my papers and left, my entourage coming after me.
We returned to the Green Street Tea room.
Scene 11: What the Information Keepers Gave Me
I decided to see if my royal stipend worked. After we crossed The Old Stone Bridge, I went to the first omnibus stop. As I hope, Teddy provided the fare for each of us. He sat is the first available seat and sighed deeply, wiggling his feet is obvious pleasure at being off of them. Although he had been following me around on foot, I did not usually do this much walking, and certainly not at this quick pace, every day. I, too, was grateful to ride. For her part, Gwennore seemed indifferent to the exercise. I never knew her to be out of her room, but what did I know. I had never paid much attention to her except when she waylaid me on the stairs.
We reentered the tea room. As we spent a great deal of time here, I should probably tell you a bit about the place.
It's been a year since I wrote a novel. During Camp Nanowrimo, 2013, I worked on the Raspberry Pi blog. Now I'm back to noveling. It is so hard. I don't seem to have the energy to write when I come home. I feel tired all the time. The ideas are there, I just have to reach farther for them. For example, Ronnie has just returned with a pile of information from the Information Keepers. What will she find? Yes, there's information about The Rebel Horde and about the crime scene, but what does it say? The information about her own situation is quite grim. Ronnie is scared. I need to find better ways to talk about that.
I'm also inking a lot about the ending. It's the middle that's hard and at this point in the novel, I'm not even past defining the problem. There's a lot of middle to write.
Hey, it occurs to me that the ending I had in mine could be brought forward. Suppose discovering who The Rebel Horde is becomes a bigger mystery than it appears to be. Star and Gyllian are involved here. Ronnie is pissed off when she discovers their involvement. Instead of finding this out at the end and leaving its resolution for a future novel, why not make it a part of this one? There's a lot of energy there and I'm always comfortable writing about these two characters. Writing about them flows well though I enjoy Ronnie, too, which is why I starting writing about her in the first place. I did not want to lose her. But there's real tension between her and Gyllian and if I put Star in a difficult position, I can write about Star, too, and I haven't had a chance to visit with Star at this stage of Scar's development for a long time. If I bring them in, I'll have a chance to bring The Czarina and Captain Kidd in, too, and there's humor there. I need some sort of back story for Gwennore as well. Teddy is a bored government worker. Is there any more to him? I thought he would be the irritant for Ronnie, but he's just a plodder. That might be his irritation to Ronnie if I can liven him up a bit. There's way too much pushing the plot forward right now and not enough character development. I stopped to think about the tea room to try to flesh out Capital City a bit more. I need to find a way to involve Mrs. Farnesworth and Daniel's as well though I have a general idea how they fit in. Is Gwennore the sleeper here? Is she and Farnesworth and Daniels part of The Rebel Horde or are they just the way into the real workings of The Rebel Horde?
I need to get up river, too, into the gated communities of those who work in the Royal Precincts.
The Green Street Tea Room is a dingy place. It is not just the dirty windows that do not let in much light. It is not just the staff which seems loathe to serve anyone who comes into the tea room. it is not just the tables with their unbused dishes. It is all of this and the defeated air of everyone who comes through its door. Tea room is a pretentious name. Perhaps at one time it was fashionable. perhaps at one time it was a cheerful place to come and drink tea with some extra treat to sweeten the experience. There is a hint of this long ago time with the fancy crown molding and the wall paper which might at one time had delicate flowers on trailing vines. But now everything is dingy and uncared for, the dishes, which are chipped, the tables which are unsteady, the floor which does not look like it has ever been swept and especially the people. Nobody cares for them and they do not care for themselves.
But I come here a lot because the tea is hot and cheap and because it is near my lodgings. No one minds how long you stay if you ask for a new pot of tea every so often.
fortunately, Christabel, Captain Star Runner's artificial intelligence, had made it possible for me to read and speak the local language so I could comprehend the sheets in front of me.
I looked at the table and I looked at the sheets of some filmy material. I wondered about laying them down on the sticky table. Gwennore roused herself enough to bring a damp cloth and made headway on the grime. I spread the sheets out to read.
I glanced through the information on The Rebel Horde. There had been other instances of their signs being planted where they would be seen by royal investigator's, but no one seemed to know anything else about them. No one knew whether to take them seriously or not.
I could not put it off any longer. I had to read about what would happen to me if I could not satisfactorily solve this matter of The Rebel Horde. I found the appropriate film sheet and froze. I thought I would be sick. The penalty for killing a royal swan was not only death but death by being pulled apart. I would be tied to each of four horses, one for every limb. These horses would be sent galloping in four different directions. Obviously, my body could not withstand all that pulling. I stared at the film sheet for some time. The swans were beautiful, but they were only birds after all. Somehow I did not see how Hollin would consent to pardoning me. She wanted a horrible death for what she considered the horrible death of her swan. I suddenly wondered if she ever went to the lake to look at the swans. Somehow I did not think so. The swans were just one of her possessions and she considered an attack against one of her possessions, unique to her position as queen, to be an attack on herself. The Rebel Horde was just a ruse.
With shaking hands I put down that film sheet and picked up another. I tried to focus. The letters swam before me as if they were just random marks on the sheet. Then one particular word stood out to me. Silently, I sounded it out. I had never seen this word written before in the local language.
This language and script needs a name. So many names to come up with. I don't know any other works of Debussy. A trip to wikipedia is in order.
The word sounded like– My attention focused. I read the entire sentence, then scanned the paragraph. Yes, I was right. The particular word was Gyllian and there was her entire name and rank, Colonel Gyllian Romeres Lujo.
I read the report from the beginning. This is the gist of it. When the swan was found, Gyllian supplied the case with my name on it so it could be planted by the swan's dead body.
The film sheet dropped from my hand. I was shaking.
"You'll be pulled apart with everyone looking on, you will," Gwennore announced, misinterpreting my shaking for fear.
But I was shaking with anger. i swept all the film sheets together and pushed my chair back.
"I need to speak with Hollis," I said.
"You cannot do that," Teddy said, rousing himself from his torpor. "It's not allowed in a manner like this. Besides, it's near quitting time."
"First of all," I said while I pulled on my coat and twined my scarf several times around my neck, "there it's no such thing as quitting time when you are involved in an active investigation. Second of all, based on what I read in these reports, there is no reason to think I had anything to do with the death of a royal swan."
"But the case,," Teddy protested. It was the first time I had ever seen him animated.
"Was a plant," I said. "It was intended to implicate me."
He collapsed back in his chair.
"You knew that, did not you?" I leaned into him, stabbing a finger toward his chest. "You knew. You knew it was a plant. I bet you were the one who put the case there."
Teddy squirmed in his chair. He said nothing.
"Well, now I know," I said, "and now I am going to talk to Hollis."
I gathered my things and walked out of the Green Street Tea Room. Gwennore and Teddy scrambled too put on their coats and come after me. I was already walking fast down the street toward the main thoroughfare. A horse drawn cab was waiting ahead of me. Why not? I clambered inside. "We're going to the Royal Precinct," I said. "If they're are close behind, the other two can come, too."
We waited. It seemed a long wait but I was impatient to get in to see Hollis.
Teddy shot me resentful looks. I suspected paying for a cab was not usual for a person of my station, but that was his problem, not mine.
Scene 12: My Interview with Prince Hollis
I faced Hollis across the conference room table.
"I am being framed for this crime," I said to him. "Based on these reports, Colonel Gyllian Romeres Lujo provided the case with my name on it. I want all charges dropped and I want to know what Colonel Romeres Lujo's interest is in framing me."'
I had many more questions, but first things first.
Hollis looked like he was going to cry. Lord Stern was not present. Maybe he worked only during business hours. Looking at the uncomfortable man across from me I realized Hollis was only a kid, in his late teens at best. I was willing to guess his sister, the queen, was not much older. They had no real sense of death or, and maybe more important, of suffering and of the consequences of their actions. He started pulling at his hair. "I cannot drop the charges," he said. "The swan is dead."
"But you know I did not kill it," I said.
"Yes, yes, of course I do," Hollis whined. "But she said–"
"Who said," I demanded.
"Gyllian," he said, "Gyllian said you would find out who The Rebel Horde is. We don't know how to find out."
"Did it ever cross anyone's mind to simply ask me to find out?" I asked.
"I meant no harm," Hollis said. His tone sounded like the bleating of a goat. I remembered that sound from a video story I liked to watch as a child.
"Meanwhile you have terrified me and I think it is doubtful your sister will be satisfied with anything but my death, a violent death from what I have read."
Hollis began to tremble.
"She can make it a quick and painless death," he said.
"Are you serious?" I could hardly believe Hollis thought this would be helpful to say. "Make sense, man. Whether death is quick and painless or slow and horrible, I will end up dead just the same."
"I'm sorry," he said and he began to cry.
I slapped the table hard. "Stop that," I said in a loud voice. "Crying will not help. Tell me everything."
The voice of command worked. Hollis took out a handkerchief, blew his nose and began telling me what happened.
Gyllian had contacted Hollin and Hollis a few weeks after my arrival in Capital City. Her overtures to the Confederation of the Three Planets had failed. They did not want to have any ties with other human beings. Gyllian wanted to establish some form of communication. Lord Stern thought this was a good idea. He convinced the queen and the prince to accept her invitation. They signed a mutual cooperation treaty secretly as to not "mess up" (in Hollis's words), their membership in the Confederation. Such side deals were strictly prohibited.
While Gyllian was still in the Royal Precincts, the first information came to them about The Rebel Horde. Gyllian suggested they contact me but Lord Stern was reluctant to authorize an investigation outside of their information gathering apparatus. Gyllian left Marathon. Prince Hollis did not know where she went and what she did, but recently she returned. When the last notice next to the dead swan appeared, Gyllian suggested they involve me.
"Did she know about the death penalty for killing a swan?" I asked.
"No one said anything about that," Hollis admitted. "It was Hollin who went off about the swan."
"Is Gyllian still here?" I asked. I had to speak with her immediately.
"I think so," Hollis said. She sounded very uncertain.
"Then contact her," I said, using my command voice. "I need to speak to her right away."
Prince Hollis shifted in his seat. "I don't know how," he said.
"Who does"
"Lord Stern."
"Then get him," I said.
"It's after hours." That bleat again.
"I do not care if it is after hours," I said. "Call that ship and let me talk to her."
"Is it necessary?" Hollis asked. He seemed terrified at the prospect of disturbing Lord Stern. "Lord Stern doesn't like it when we call him."
"It's an emergency," I said.
"Do you really think so?" Hollis asked. He was incredulous.
"My life is an emergency," I said.
"But sentence will not be carried out for two weeks," Hollis said.
"The sooner we get this sorted out, the sooner you will know who The Rebel Horde is." My promise was rash but it seemed the right thing to say because Hollis got up from the table and walked awkwardly toward the office door. He was so afraid and uncertain.
I stayed at his heels, making sure I entered the office with him.
He fumbled with his equipment and, stammering, made his request to Lord Stern.
I grabbed the speaking tube from his hand.
"Lord Stern," I said, "This is Ronnie Camberwell. I need to speak with Colonel Romeres Lujo urgently. Can you tell me how to work this equipment to contact her."
Lord Stern was taken aback, but he was, thankfully, a reasonable man.
"It will be quicker to come and do it for you," he said.
True to his word, he arrived within fifteen minutes. He made the call.
The voice that responded to Lord Sterns call was very familiar. Before he could speak, I spoke.
"Christabel," I said, not bothering to identify myself because, after all, Captain Star Runner's artificial intelligence who ran her spaceship would be able to instantly identify me, "is Gyllian on board?"
"Yes," Christabel replied.
"I need to speak with her face to face immediately," I said.
"That will not be possible," Christabel said.
"Why not?" I snapped.
"We are not near Marathon," Christabel said. "We were not planning to return to the star system for some time."
"I need you back here now. Hollin plans to have me horribly executed in less than two weeks."
"Oh dear," Christabel said. She sounded upset. "That was unforeseen. We will be there as soon as possible."
Christabel made that happen and within three days I was aboard Captain Star Runner's spaceship.