Chapter 22: What is a Gap Year

A friend of mine told me that the Australian and English students had the idea of a “Gap Year” as part of their education plans. They took a semester or a year off as a break in the studies. Often it was at a challenge to do something (Like earn money) to be able to continue their education. Some of them took jobs on maritime ships. Some took jobs in education. The goal was to finish off things that had to have concentration, while growing on those issues. Totally different from the typical American point of view.

I had a lot of things to do. Finishing and setting up the business of H.A. Lambert. Following up on the dictate of my Clan, to recover the captured minds and souls of the prisoners into fresh bodies. To find and eliminate the threat that had taken so much from me already. To make sure that my two new Power Mages/Wizards were able to successfully launch into the world. Yea, I had a lot of stuff on my plate. I needed a year to clean it up. I had a tough time falling asleep that night.

Nightmare

Cold. Not as much cold as chilly. Dark. Dark as in silent, no noise. A sense of empty, and no sense of any kind of connection. I had read about “isolation tanks”, where you were suspended in salt water and floating in a container, but the sensation of being wet would have to touch all of your body. And you could reach out to touch the walls or the ceiling.

What if the sensation of the limits of your body were gone. You could not hear the gurgle of your stomach. No sense of touch. You could not bring your finger to touch your thumb. That simple action that separates Humans form Monkeys. (I saw that once at the zoo. The attendant showed us that Monkeys could grasp, but not operate like human hands. Only humans could touch their thumb to each individual finger.)

What if you were in the dark, floating, no sensation of light, or touch, or any surface. No one to interact with. What would you do? What if that was all you could feel forever. Would you hunger for any kind of communication? Would you sink into yourself? What would you do?

I woke up in a cold sweat.

The Town Hall Project

I was up early. I had a lousy night’s sleep. I ate breakfast. It was Monday. I had just gotten into the reception room and was walking toward “my” desk to pick up my notes and schedule when Delores told me that Natalie needed to talk with me. And this was before my coffee.

Knocking on her door, I got a “come in” answer and when I went in, I saw Paula and Jeffery were both there too. And Lech was sitting on a Bird Stand in the corner. Like an oversized transparent parrot. With two heads.

“I like what you’ve done with the office, Paula. Interesting decoration.” I said.

“Yea, he likes to get out once in a while and stretch his ectoplasm. Or whatever it is.”

“How can I help you?”

“Hank, Natalie is getting run down and tired. And we have tried to help her, but we are not enough. And we only have one Helmet.” Paula said.

“Ok. What exactly is the issue.” I asked.

“Of the 39 crystals we have downstairs, 33 are active. These sentients are in isolation unless someone with a helmet is connected to them. They have no one to share with or speak to. It’s a wonder that they haven’t gone mad long ago. We spend an hour with each one getting vitals from them and then we move on to the next. And we have no way of promising when we can come back to them with information or anything else. And these beings can be extremely useful in translation and other items, which they can contribute mentally to. Add to that the bitterness against the Mage/Elf hybrid that imprisoned them and we have a real issue here with no ability to fix.” Jeffery said. “And it’s tearing these women apart.”

“Ok. So what do we need?” I asked.

“We need some means of setting up a mental bridge or connection that all of them can use. So they can each at least talk to each other.” Paula said. “That would help a lot. Having common experience to share is the first step to therapy”.

Shit. Now I need to add a therapist to the list of people we needed to have. “Ok” I said. “Let’s define what we need this object to do. That is a list of requirements. Then we research the files to find if any such object has ever existed before. From that we explore how to make it work to fit our population. And we can add a couple of things to it.”

That got blank looks from all three. I continued “We agree we need to have to have a common bridge. Like a Party line for the crystal population. What about we take it a step further and add the ability to dial up the external population. Anyone wearing a Rune Scripted amulet. Sort of a Pager with speech ability. Now we have both internal among the crystals and external to our Clan. Maybe even an ability to capture the experience that the amulet wearer is having and sharing that with others. Like other amulet wearers. Or internal to the crystal captives. Let them see the outside world while we work on getting them reenabled as living beings. When the FBI came to redact me to Alaska, Peter was able to show me a view of the sniper team across the street. That let me reach out and transport them into the Lounge where I froze them and we shipped them to Brazil.”

Jeffery got a funny look on his face. Hearing that snippet of what had happened that night, might cause him some angst about his former agency and his relationship with me. I hoped not.

The blank looks that the girls had turned to the familiar “Ah HA” look that people get when they see something that they missed. Natalie said then “You two get down to Amelia and William and set up a script to look for that. Maybe the Elves have had something like that before. See what we need to do to get it to work. Maybe the Dwarves had something like that in a Rune that worked to allow minds to join. Then all we need to do is expand the artifact of the restorer to a sort of “Town Hall” for all of them to be able to join or leave.”

Having their marching orders Jeffery and a very pregnant Paula headed out the door.

“Natalie did Lech know of anything that fit this sort of description for Coherent energy entities?”

“Hank, we did once have a artifact that was created to allow all of us to join. There were few of us, and the power needed was immense. Merlin made it. I remember the runes he used.”

“So, let’s send that image downstairs. Power, we got. Construction we can do. A Town Hall for all of the imprisoned is what we need.” I thought to him and Natalie both.

“Hank. How do you come up with this shit off of the top of your head?” Natalie asked. “That’s a amazing idea and it’s probably a lot easier then anything else we can do right now.”

“No contact yet back from UGA medical. Or Duke?”

“No. it’s still early there. I don’t have any idea of how long it will take to develop the sort of infrastructure we need to build replacements for these bodies that were lost. I hope we can come up with something to help these people”

That was the first time I had heard Natalie refer to all of them as people. Not Fae, Not Elves, not Humans. But People. I smiled as I left thinking that this was coming together.

An idea struck me. “What if we could have a meeting house. Like a Town Hall for the captured? What if we took it a step further and added the ability for the individual prisoners to project self-images to each other, using some of the stuff that we already knew? Even allow them to tailor their individual views as their mindset wanted. Hell, give them each a personal room within it, kind of like we have here. I bet that would break up the monotony of their existence.”

“Hank, what are you thinking?” Natalie asked.

“Nothing, why?” I said.

“Hank don’t lie to me. Too often you get this look on your face that says the wheels turning and that is followed by some idea that makes everyone go Huh. And then things change again.”

“Natalie. I have the feeling that you and Lech are going to be the Keystone in this bridge between the captured and those who are not. I want you to think about what an ideal resort for the mind would look like, what It would do for the senses, and how guests would adapt. Hell, it might even become a satisfactory alternative to the reality that they came from.”

“What do you mean?” Natalie asked.

“Think about it. The 1700s, the 1800s, the early 1900s. All of these times were radically different from today. And these prisoners only have known those eras. Those eras all had their good and bad. They might want the comfort of those eras in their minds rather than being pushed into ours. They might just fashion a world where they didn’t want to leave.” I said.

“Do we need to post a progress report to Arno? Just in case we don’t want to be in any treaty violation.” Natalie asked.

“A damn good question. But in the meantime, we can make a place that they can recover some social skills that are appropriate for society here today.” I said.

“Hank, that’s a good idea.” Natalie said. “We’ll call it the Town Hall Talisman Project. And since we don’t need a lot of physical space, we can hold it next to the Fumeral. Or any fumeral.”

“Now, all we have to do is build it.” I said.

“Hank. There is one other thing. I talked with Cindy. She wants to talk with you.”

Sitting down with an old girl friend

Natalie and I talked for almost an hour going over what I should do regarding Cindy. She was a very sore subject in my mind because of why she died. She died because she was in the car with Lynn and Bernie. She was accepted to Duke on early admission and intended to become a physician, and specialist. She was the portrait of everything a woman should be in modern America. And she was dead because of all that.

And the guys responsible for that “collateral damage” to a wonderful human being was still walking around breathing. So far. I could not even give her the satisfaction of knowing that the beasts that killed her and so many others were not rotting in the same kind of hell she was in.

“Hank, this isn’t about closure. She’s alive inside of one of these rocks and needs company. The last person she was intimate with was you.” Natalie said.

What do you say in response to something like that?

I went downstairs and into the what had been the Lounge and was fast becoming the combination Library / bar / reading room / Fumeral. The desks along the wall next to the door to the Diamond Exchange were the filling station and next to that were the library of runes, spells and witch/mage crafts. In front of that was the bar from Cheers, where everyone knows your name.

Ogernaut, Paula, Jeffery and Amelia were all crowded around the worktable, looking at tracings from the Ripper and Restorer helmets. Neither helmet was in work, so I guessed I could ask to get in.

“Hi guys. How does a kid get to go into one of these helmets? Do these things have a drivers manual?

“I think you want this one. And I think you want this crystal.” Jeffery said. “The ripper is forceful, and the restorer is not as hard and invasive on the prisoner.”

“Sit here in this chair” Paula said, pointing to a high-backed semi reclined leather chair that looked like a barber’s chair. “We set this up when we got into these.”

I had heard of Virtual Reality in school and on television. The idea that you could step into a world of electronic images. The beings you were supposed to interact with were cartoon characters in a cartoon world. This was not that.

When I first put on the helmet and placed the crystal over the noseguard, I heard Cindy Thomas in my mind, humming. I could not make out what very clearly what it was but it was clearly her voice. I didn’t want to interrupt her so I sat and waited until she suddenly said “Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Hank.”

“HANK! Is it really you? Are you here too? Of course not. You came. My white knight in shining armor. How are you? How are the Others? Are they OK? Have you caught up with the ugly bastards who did this to me? What can We do to get me out of here?”

The explosion of questions caused me to let her wind down. And it took a while. Eventually, we got to the question and answer period that all lovers have when they have been separated and suddenly get back in touch. And Cindy was no fool. Eventually we got down to “What can we do? And What will we do.”

“I have no idea of what your experience is like. What can I do to help?” I asked.

“Ok. First off, none of this is your fault. The thugs that did this to me deserve to be punished, but you didn’t do this. So, what exactly is the situation. I talked with Peter, Jeffery and Paula and Natalie and all of them are vague about what they can do or will do. Hank the damn silence and blackness is almost enough to drive me crazy. Time has no meaning here. There is no sensory input and except when a Jailer comes there is no output or any kind of contact.”

“I wish I had a progress report. We are just now getting to assemble the kind research material to figure out what this was.” I said.

“Ok. So far what I have been told is that I am in a crystal that is powered by Leyline energy, and that my mind, memories and everything that makes up me was stripped out of my body and that the empty shell is out there somewhere.” Cindy said.

“Okay. I am afraid that I have to tell you that your body was found in a drum of sodium hydroxide after five days.” I said. “We do have samples of hair and your toothbrush from Helen’s house. We also have the souvenir that the half breed took when he put you into this.”

“Souvenir of my body? He cut off something and put it into a can?” Cindy said. “Well, I guess that is what the Behavior analysis unit of the FBI was all about when it was established. So there really are wierdo’s out there. What did he keep? Something sexual?”

“Nothing sexual. Ring fingers.”

“How many?”

“39 that we have secured. Dating back several hundred years.”

“So the bodies are gone. The minds and memories and everything else are sitting like jewels on a shelf. What can be done?” Cindy asked.

“Well, it’s a two-piece problem. Building a body to reinsert you is the stuff from Frankenstein.”

“Not shit. You cannot magically make that yet, I assume.” Cindy said.

“Not yet. And those have to be built one at a time. As an interim step we need to get you some method of communication. Get you out of the isolation. Able to interact with people around you. So we are working on both tracks right now. Logically the best way to do the latter is to build a meeting house for all of you so that we can alleviate the isolation.”

“There you go talking business 301 again. I hear you quoting right out of Dillon’s books on interaction in business. What technology are you going to use to do that?” Cindy asked.

“Magic. I think we have a hint of how that can be done. How many we can get in common communication is the real challenge.” I said.

“How many are there?”

“We found 33 active crystals spanning several hundred years.”

“It’s going to be a crowded bus” Cindy said.

“More like a cafeteria. With a lot of people from a lot of different times.”

“Like that show on PBS. Pictures of History or some such.”

“I guess. But many of these people were bottled before modern technology. Even before Modern history. Some of them date back to before the crusades.” I said.

“Shit, Hank. We need a Rosetta stone. How will these people communicate?”

“I guess we will have to figure that out.” I said.

“What resources are you putting on this” Cindy asked.

“Every wizard, mage and fae that I know. We may have to do some experimentation with some of it. Not the bodies, that’s a whole different track. But the mental Town Hall Meeting house we may have to plug different people in to get verification. Can I use you?” I asked.

“I don’t have anything else to do.” Cindy said. “Could you get some books in here for me to look at?”

“I’ll put a team on that right now.” I said. “We have a lot of books on Magic here. If you are interested.”

“Why not.” Cindy said. “I guess you have to go now. I can’t imagine you are too happy sitting in the helmet to talk with me.”

“I do have to go. I promise I will be back. Every day. Really.” I said.

“Thank you. It means a lot. I know what prisoners feel now. Only without bad food.”

“I love you, Cindy. I will be back.”

“Thank you, Hank. Love you too.”

I made my mind up at that point that the evil bastards that had done this would encounter a very, VERY ugly end. And an end without an end.

“Jeffery, Paula, how are we coming with this town hall idea?”

“We are digging into it, Hank.”

“I want daily updates on it. Progress and I want to know what other resources we need. Form whoever. I will deal, buy, swap, or steal whatever it takes to build this town hall for these prisoners. No one deserves to be like this. Except the bastards that put them there.”

“I agree” Jeffery said.

Contact from the Oldest Wizard

It had been a stressful morning, but I was pretty much settled by noon when I felt the tap tap in my mind of someone trying to reach to me. “Good morning, this is Hank”

“Hank, Do you have a moment?” A cultured voice whispered into my ear. It was a voice I had not heard from in a long time. Not since my visitation to England last year. Lady Eisenham.

“Always and any time. How may I be of service?” I asked mentally.

“Do you have a few moments to visit with me this afternoon? It’s a matter I think of some importance.” Lady Eisenham said.

“I can definitely take the time. Or you could come here, if you like?” I said.

“That would be wonderful. I assume I could visit with you in your Lounge, I have heard so many wonderful things about it. Cecile Henrard has told me so much about it.”

“Of course. Please come and visit. You are always welcome. I’ll meet you in the Foyer.”

“One moment, please.”

I felt something strke against the wards of my living room. Then reflect. Again, must stronger, but still no penetration. Peter and Jeffery had done a magnificent job working on the shields for the building.

I couldn’t hear the replies to him about that last message. But I got a feeling that something was different when I went into the Foyer. Slowly, the grey mist of an arriving form appeared near the fountain, gradually solidifying into the appearance of the elderly woman I knew as Lady Elsenham. And another appeared next to her, in the guise of Sir David Drummond, the Earl of March. Only it wasn’t him. The magic was wrong.

Before he had even fully solidified, a silver sheen appeared around his neck, which solidified as he did. So did bracelets around his hands, his feet, and his waist. Slowly, as he fully formed within those a set of silver chains grew from the bracelets, and the collar to the waist, and they constricted to draw his ankles together, his wrists to his waist, and to flow up to his neck.

The magic spinning off of the figure died as quickly as the silver connections were completed. We had him. And Lady Elsenham stumbled a moment and turned to look around in surprise.

“Lady Eisenham, please step away from the other person.” Peter’s voice rang out loud and clear.

She did, just as the confined figure tried to reach for her and found his hands burning as he came in contact with the Warded shields that surrounded him. Just before Peter’s voice rang out “Freeze.” And the figure in the silver chains did freeze.

Lady Eisenham turned and looked at the captive behind her and said with surprise in her voice “that’s not David.”

“I think not. Peter, I am in awe of your planning. Remind me to announce myself first when I come home.”

“Hank, that kind of announcement triggers a red alert. You just keep coming and going like normal and tell us you are coming if there is something wrong.”

“Does everyone know this?” I asked.

“Yep. Yea, you are the last to know. But you were busy today. We just got these all-in place last night. After the meeting.”

“Always the last to know. Lady Eisenham, please be seated here on the couch, Ogernaut, please bring the lady something to drink.”

Lady Eisenham looked around, saw the large green figure and said “Good whiskey if you have some, please?”

“We have some Henry McKenna single Barrel if the lady cares?” Ogernaut said.

“That will be quite fine.” Lady Eisenham said.

“Double, no rocks, chilled glass coming right up.” My big Green friend replied.

“Hank, Sir David was right. Now who is this imposter.” She asked as she turned her icy blue eyes toward the frozen one.

“Can he see, hear or answer” I asked.

“He can see nothing, hear nothing, speak nothing nor move any part of his body. He is frozen in his own mind. Spells and wards are canceled as quickly as his mind can form them and he has stopped trying to challenge the wards and shields we placed on him. It was a good thing we set them to absorb rather than reflect, else he would have flamed up like Mike Newell did” Pae’le said from the corner.

“Who dreamed that variation up?” I asked.

“I did.” Brimstone said from behind me. With a clear view of the subject in the middle. “Hank, the gnomes say that this is the same scent as we have already captured. This is not Nagy, but his friend. Karudorich. The owner and user of the Stripper helmet. The thief that the Fae are looking for.”

“So one down, and one to go. This is Cecile’s Imitation.” I said.

“imitation!” Lady Eisenham said from the couch. “I thought this was David.”

“Lady Eisenham, we have a long story to tell. And I think you will need that drink.” I said. “Someone, please get Natalie and ask her to come downstairs. And Lady Eisenham, would you care to reach out to David and ask that he come here as well. We have a lot of explaining to do. And I would like to give it to everyone all at once.”

“What about Arno?” Peter asked.

“We should ask for a formal audience with him this afternoon. For me, and Natalie to do the briefing. And ask Barbara how far along she is with the Project plans. Both for the body recreation and for the Town Hall.” I said.

“Presenting all of that at once?” Peter asked.

“Yep.” I said.

“Hank.” Brimstone said from my side, where he had moved to while I was talking. “If you leave here to go anywhere, I have been tasked to go with you. Period.”

“Brimstone, do you think that’s necessary?” I asked my diminutive friend. “You came here to escape all Fae and Mage forces. Why would you want to go?”

“You fed me a full meal and offered me and my sister a place of warmth and shelter. We fed from your fire and were accepted by your people. Last night, it was acclaimed that you were the leader and the treasure of our Clan. I am the most inconspicuous of your clan, and yet am considered one of the most powerful. I go with you wherever you go. I will leave you in privacy of your bedroom when you need, but everywhere else, I will be with you. I am bonded to you.”

One thing you must admit about dragons. Even the small ones. Their idea of commitment is to be admired.

“Ok. Brimstone goes with. Ogrenaut, can you pick up our frozen pop tart and carry it with you? I think I want to demonstrate that we are Clan Lambert. Get your vest.”

The next hour was a bit of a flurry. Sir David arrived in response to his mothers request and gave me the stink eye. Then he saw the pop tart standing in the corner being kept in place by two Gargoyles and a Dragonet. And a Oger serving lunch to Lady Eisenham, Natalie and a former slave named Barbara, all of whom were in an animated conversation.

“Sir David. Here.” Ogrenaut said handing a glass of great scotch. “Please be seated right here. And here is a plate of snacks to salve your appetite.”

“Mother?” he asked.

“Sit dear. This is fascinating. All of the rumors tying up in a single strand.”

The next hour and a half brought about the amazement, then disgust and finally anger that Sir David Drummond had formerly expressed toward me. And embarrassment at to the level to which he had been hoodwinked. “I really thought this man was the woman I worked with for thirty years. How could I be so gullible?”

“He’s had a lot of practice” Natalie said. “And who knows how many subjects he has captured over the centuries. We have 33 that he bothered to keep. Twenty of them Fae, either Elves or dwarves. The Elves included members of the royal court. The dwarves have included princes from over two hundred years ago going back to Egypt. There are Four Goblins in crystals who were auditors of wealth for different nations who were taken to hide the sacking of treasuries by Elven or Dwarven raiders covertly stealing from various kingdoms. Hank’s latest idea is to bring all of them into a sort of town hall so that they can hopefully become peacefully integrated while we build them bodies for them to move back into. If we can at all.”

“I want to talk with this monster” Sir David said. “I want to confront the person that fooled me so thoroughly that I thought that Hank was a menace.” Sir David said in a commanding voice.

“Sir David, I don’t think that would be advisable. Not until after we have brought this creature who is half Fae to the court of the Fae to deal with. After all, his sins against them were the beginning. From there, we can look at what we would do with him further. As it stands, I don’t think that we have legal mechanism to punish him for the committed crimes.” Peter said. Jeffery, sadly, nodded his head in agreement.

“Well, Clan Lambert, what is your standing on this?” Sir David looked at me with some interest.

“Sir David. This man’s crimes have been against me personally, Clan Lambert collectively, and the Fae Court and species personally, collectively, and universally. It’s not a Wizard or Mage thing of Accountability and Responsibility. You do deserve to be informed. Which is what we are doing now. And will continue to do in the future.” I said.

Natalie’s smile and Paula’s grin, countered Sir David’s grimace.

“Hank, I am...” Sir David began.

“Sir David, if I may interrupt, you are a guest at this meeting. We asked you here to inform.” I interrupted. “This is not, as you have said before, an issue where the Wizard Council has any bearing. This meeting was to correct the impressions you have had of me in recent past. And it is to inform you that this issue is now handled. And that we are working on restitution for damages caused by this individual and his accomplices.”

“If you care for my consultation” Sir David began.

“I’m don’t. I believe that you expressed sufficient information to Wendy, Melissa Gordon, and my own voice mail concerning your beliefs, and we have taken that into account.”

“Hank, I didn’t know.”

“No, you didn’t. But you still formed an opinion and dictated judgement and terms. Which I have taken into consideration regarding the relationship you had with me and decided to move forward in the direction of my own choosing.” I said.

“That’s rather immature” Sir David said.

“Hasn’t that been your worst concern? That I was immature and like a child with a loaded gun? I’m not shooting this fellow. I’m taking him to my partner in judgement of his action. And I am not allowing any permissive other force to interfere. As I said, this is for your Information only.”

“David, remember. He’s one of those Colonials you have always griped about.” Lady Eisenham said. “And in this case, I believe that he just might be right. He was the injured party.”

Sir David Drummond, Earl of March, looked at his mother, sighed, and then looked at me. “Ok, Hank. I thank you for the information. How will you proceed from here?”

“I’ll call Arno and ask about his day this afternoon.”

Sir David and Lady Eisenham spent another comfortable hour with us before they left. Lady Eisenham said quite quietly to me as she was preparing to go home “Hank, whatever you do, think it out first and make sure it’s the right thing for you to do. Don’t ever be driven by others to do things that you don’t want. Not even by us. But don’t ever stop doing what you feel is right. You did with Dame Matsuko, and on reflection, you were right. Keep doing what you are doing.”

And then the lady stepped and was gone.

Another meeting at Court