Chapter 16

Tuesday, June 4, 3089, 9:10 p.m. Entering Leda’s suite, Rebecca dropped the bags and tiredly stretched, hands planted at the base of her spine. Her left ankle hurt like a bitch. She had a throbbing headache, and her mouth tasted foul. Delicious though the villager’s food might be the seasoning tasted strongly of garlic. She’d also eaten cooked garlic cloves with the meal, and powerfully strong onions. Mutton always left a nasty aftertaste in her mouth. Regardless, like everyone else at the celebration, she’d nearly eaten herself into a coma.

The villagers exhibited good practice in their private functions. While a cadre of men unloaded the tables, benches, and chairs, and erected the half-dozen tents brought along as protection from the sun, a smaller group of four brawny individuals had dug a pair of ditches 20 yards from the encampment, which they enclosed with hide tents 6’ tall. Men used one facility, women the other. Rebecca returned inside once to use Leda’s upstairs facilities, and henceforth, restricted her intake of the delicious Abrevio. First stop now, the bathroom, she thought.

Before grilling Siri, Rebecca began a search of the floor and along the base of the walls for any indication of markings like those locating doors. She discovered nothing even remotely like the triangular notches. It appeared that no furniture had ever been present in the suite; the floor proved uniformly unmarked, as though installed only yesterday. Not so much as a scuff mark, or scratch.

Frustrated, remembering Leda rubbing her fingertips together to summon the divan and table in her room, she did the same above the spot where she remembered a wide table sitting. Nothing appeared. “Dammit,” she muttered. “I hate this fucking place.”

She leaned against the wall beside the open bathroom door, lifted her left foot and rubbed her sore ankle. I really need out of these boots, she thought. Thumbing the home button on her iPhone, she complained angrily to Siri: “I really don’t wanna sleep on the floor again tonight, Siri! Can I summon a bed?”

Siri promptly answered: “Select a location appropriate to the piece of furnishing you desire installed. Envision the object in your mind and rub your thumb and forefinger together over that spot. Procurement will deliver the closest approximation it has in physical memory. If you prefer a certain mattress firmness, include that designation in your thoughts. The more accurately you describe the object mentally, the closer an approximation Procurement will deliver.”

Blinking, Rebecca stared at the floor. Procurement? Envision an object? She put her foot down hard. “You’re telling me this Procurement thingie can read my mind?”

“Procurement identifies directed-thought when accompanied by the thumb and forefinger gesture. In addition to standard finger gestures outside a door, or a pat of the hand against a panel surface, simply mentally commanding the door to open will suffice in most cases to grant access.”

“In most cases,” Rebecca repeated.

“Certain locations are restricted for your physical well-being, Rebecca.”

“The doors inside The Hall of The Gate?”

“Never open a door identified with a red or a blue line inside the marker indent without proper protection,” Siri warned.

Rebecca hadn’t seen a blue-lined marker indent yet.

“Overriding a restricted door could result in death or serious injury,” Siri warned. “Always don proper protective attire beforehand.”

“How do I get that? And can I override a locked door?”

“Why would you want to?”

Good question, Rebecca thought. “What about being trapped inside a room or corridor?”

“Procurement allows you access anywhere within the palace, with proper protection.”

“I can’t be trapped, then?”

“No, Rebecca.”

“Can anyone else--a villager, for instance--enter the palace?” she asked.

“In your presence, or with your express permission. No individual is allowed entry via coercion. Individuals doing so will be terminated.”

Terminated, Rebecca thought. Fuck.

“Where are the High Ones, Siri?”

“The last High One exited the palace February 12, 2912, at 3:12 p.m. No record exists of where, or to when, she or any others transported. One individual remained behind, possibly to deactivate the gate and remove the temporal transducer module. This individual exited via the ramp the following day and has not been seen since.”

Rebecca blinked and rubbed her lips thoughtfully. “Why did they leave, Siri?”