Crystal Core Read online

  With a thought and a mild amount of focus, he shifted both states. His eyes became a light purple color, with his hair being a darker version of the same thing. For the place he was in, that was a mild enough change. It marked him as probably being Infected, but in a way that allowed him to also be very attractive to people. Interestingly, his over done good looks didn’t actually overcome the fear that some people held of him due to their thoughts about his possible emotional state.

  It was tempting to make his delivery to a different location, but if there was danger to his friends, and not just inconvenient questions, then he had to stand by them. That was kind of what being a friend meant, after all. Doing the hard things, or that which left you feeling uncomfortable so that your pal could thrive.

  That meant walking to the door, the front of the office space being busier than normal, but not crammed full of people. Lydia was there, though not behind the front desk. That position was taken by two women. One of whom was The Ancient of the Martian Circle, Sara Debri. Except shorter, and with fake black hair and brown eyes. Penny Cooper. Willum hadn’t really interacted with her a lot in his time there, having been in training for the most part. They’d met, however. The other lady was attractive and blonde, but no one he knew, from any world. Except the one he was in.

  Sinclair, the Traitor.

  For some reason, one that he wasn’t exactly certain of, Director Turner had allowed the woman to come back, after she’d tried to join their enemies. Cindy had defeated them, killing them all in the world they were in. That wasn’t to be spoken of, since it could anger her government. She’d told him about it, but in his own world. That was dangerous as well, but he could keep a secret.

  Which in the moment he did by not thinking about it at all. The reality he was in had telepaths and mind readers. Some of them were so good that he probably couldn’t prevent them from stripping his mind bare. That meant being more careful than even Will normally bothered with. The only way to prevent that kind of thing was to not be noticed at all.

  There was a man fussing with some equipment to the left, and Marcia Turner’s office door was open, showing that the space was empty at the moment. Cin wasn’t in her normal room either. There was noise coming from the left-hand side of the front area, showing that people were down the hallway on that side. The door was open, so speaking could be heard. At first he figured it would be in the conference room, but when he felt for the mass of people with his mind, they seemed to all be on the other side.

  Sinclair, the Traitor, looked at him and smiled. It was a warm thing, that spoke of them being old friends. It wasn’t true, of course. Either on purpose or by happenstance they hadn’t been in the same location often at all. When they had been, the girl had been rather ostracized from the friends that he had on the base. No one spoke poorly of her, in particular, but it was clear that they didn’t want the taint of her betrayal being cast over them, as well.

  Smiling back, he waved, trying to seem companionable.

  “Penny! Sinclair!” He was willing to back the forced happy tone up with hugs, since they were both fine looking ladies. Also, ones trapped behind a counter that he normally thought of as a one-person work station. They weren’t on the phones or anything at the moment, so gave him their undivided attention.

  Penny, who could make herself totally unseen, unheard and unnoticed, waved at the boxes that floated behind him.

  “Ohhh. Treasure chests. Are they filled with booty, do you think?” That was for Sinclair, who nodded.

  It was a genuine seeming thing, as if she truly believed that to be the answer. Then, flying trunks were unusual there, so Will had to agree that it really could be something like that.

  Still, she went on, smiling cutely.

  “That or clothing. Gold and gems would be more fun though.” She smiled a bit larger, looking at him directly. It wasn’t flirting, exactly. More like she just wanted to be friends, but really meant it.

  From the sense coming off of the invisible one, he was about to have his presumed boxes of loot stolen. That got him to wag a finger at the woman, playfully.

  “None of that now. You’re getting part of what’s in here, most likely, so stealing it would be stupid. No one likes a thief, after all. Possibly not even other thieves.”

  Instead of being challenged to a duel, or simply being attacked, the young-looking woman, who was in her early twenties, he thought, simply wrinkled her nose at him.

  “Like it shouldn’t all belong to me? What is it, anyway? Stuff from your world? Souvenirs and junk?”

  “Nope? I mean, clearly, things from my world, but nothing that should be a simple keepsake from there. It’s mainly magical amulets. A few weapons that are different than what you have here. Shields and clothing. Some new tools for subduing criminals without hurting them. That king of thing.” He stopped and then made a face. “Kind of thing. I think being around too many pretty women is making me tongue tied.”

  It had just been a slip. It happened, even to him. About once every three days or so. More when he spoke something other than Hometongue. That was his native language, after all. Standard wasn’t hard for him, but he made more mistakes in that by far. English… Well, half of his mistakes in that ancient and dead way of speaking was due to simply not knowing all the words being used. He did all right, and could fake being fluent, but a lot of that was him nodding and not commenting on what he didn’t know.

  Sinclair, the Traitor, shook her head, but spoke without pointing out his error again. That was polite of her, really. Even in Noram you may or may not meet a stranger who didn’t try to capitalize on a mistake. She might later however, though the feeling coming from the pale girl was more relaxed than not. Even more so than Penny, who kept looking over toward the room that had all the news crews in it.

  It was the other woman who spoke, however.

  “Neat! I don’t think Director Turner is going to be out for a bit. There’s a thing… Nothing too bad for once. Um, really, it’s about your people. The new program to help the Infected, using your technology?” She looked around, but didn’t call it magic at all.

  Which was fine. They were used to the idea of people having powers there, including some who could make other people and do things that were very much like direct effect magic. Willum could do that, but only when in a combat rage. Since his emotions had been changed, by Timon, made softer and less impactful, that had almost gone away. Technically he still had the ability, it just didn’t trigger easily at all. Which was good, since he’d had far too much of it before.

  That anyone would care that much, past wanting to know a few things about the program seemed off to him. Except there were people calling out things and responses being given, from the other room.

  “Should I just… Put these in…” He nearly asked if he should put them in Director Turner’s office. That might be seen as an invasion of her space, or possibly him looking for an excuse to search the place while she was preoccupied. Her first mode, the emotional state she moved to in most cases, was extreme caution.

  Even having been taken away, in his own world when she visited, she tended to be very careful all the time. Technically, she could turn her first mode on and off, since being paranoid could, at times, be useful in her world. Given her job.

  “I could put it in Cindy’s space here?” The door was open, and more, the girls could both just watch him from where they stood. Preventing him from poking around or spying very well.

  That got the slightly darker looking one, Penny, to wave in that direction.

  “Sure. She’s in the other room. She’s kind of familiar with your people so that means she can answer questions. We should probably get you in there as well. You know, dress you up like Tim always does when he comes and see if anyone notices you.” She laughed then. It was real and kind of sinister. “Not that you aren’t famous enough all on your own. People even get that the new program we’re doing is happening where the first season of Cooking: Alt Real was shot.
” She stopped and looked away.

  Finally, she dipped her head a bit.

  “Oh, um… By the way, pretty much everyone here knows that you come from a different world. That one has been out for at least two weeks. I don’t know if that was supposed to be secret or not.”

  That got him to shrug. After all, it didn’t matter that they knew who he was openly there. Willum could even be famous for having helped with some cooking and running a food unit a few times. As long as no one thought of him as a spy from a different reality, then it was fine.

  He walked into Cindy’s office, and placed the three floating cases in the corner, the amulet that controlled them set on top of the box in the front. They looked like polished black stone, with inlaid carvings all over them. Each had a large four-pointed star on the top. It was subtle work, but seemed refined enough. Out of place, since very little there floated in the corner of offices.

  It didn’t take long to set things inside. Stepping out, quickly, meant he saw Cin peek around the corner down the hallway as he came out. She waved for him to go to her. It felt slightly urgent.

  When he got to her, on the far side of the small building, she kissed him. As if they hadn’t been together less than five minutes before. He’d just had to make two trips, since the transport hut wasn’t large enough for him, Cin and the three boxes of magic. The cases were kind of large, after all.

  Sinclair, the Traitor, went wide eyed at what they were doing. It was, perhaps, slightly inappropriate, given the space, but shouldn’t have been shocking to her. Cindy looked a few years older than he did, but not at a level that would have made anyone question their involvement.

  For a brief moment, he wondered if the other woman was going to claim they had to marry now. In Pine Creek that would have been the best case, given what had been witnessed. In the world he was in, it simply wasn’t a consideration. Not a real one. Which didn’t make him wonder about it anyway. Old habits were still habits, after all.

  Cindy took him by the arm.

  “We have six news crews and about ten assorted reporters inside the briefing room. Marcia is up front talking to them, right now. People have already asked if you’d be available for questions. I don’t think we should put you on live, but if you’re willing, we can do that after this? It will… Take way too long. On the good side, it isn’t really work. We could… Have them meet you over in the dining hall? I need to munch some food soon anyway.”

  That was simply a constant in their lives, now. The morning oatmeal was already wearing off, for him, and Cindy had only eaten about what he had. It was interesting, but everyone had, for the most part, just had a bowl of oats, even if it was plain and far from the best they could have done, given the quality of the food unit he had there. Even Tiera, Queen of the Moon, had gotten herself the same thing, before heading off to work for the day.

  “Got it. We can do that. Just make sure they know that I’m on vacation from work. Should I change? Penny mentioned that I’d look nice in a silk and velvet outfit. At least I think that’s what she meant.”

  Rather than seem jealous, Cin winked at him.

  “That sounds cute, actually. Different enough that people will get the idea of you not hiding who you are, at the same time. I need to pop back in. One of the newscasters came in to attempt to ambush us with unrelated news. I guess some Infected robbed an office building and since we’re the IPB, we’re supposed to be in charge of finding them. Which is true, but we’ve been being stone walled about what was stolen. That makes it hard to figure out what’s going on, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. That really would. Well, let me know if I can be of help that way. I’m going to go and start eating without you.” He smirked, which got him kissed again. On the mouth, hard.

  “I know you are. That’s even a good plan. We might be a while. I’ll tell Marcia about the gear in my office. She loves presents, after all.” Then, with a pat on the behind, she turned and walked back into the meeting space. She was still dressed in her Noram clothing, which was a nice dress, in a deep blue color. It was probably out of place there, but he didn’t think the style was from his world. It showed her arms and part of her legs nicely, but the cut was simply unusual to him.

  Everyone else that worked there wore the regulation uniform, which was a tan tunic and trousers that had blocky discolorations all over it. Fatigues, they were called, for some reason.

  It was still raining out, so he activated his shield again, not recalling having turned it off. That got him to think for a few moments, as he jogged the distance to the food hall. The building for that was very large, and nicer than the front office by a good clip. Indeed, it was a fine brick structure on the outside, with large windows along two of the sides. That was to allow those inside to see daylight on a regular basis.

  Where you got the food was on the far side of the place, past the white long tables with their strange benches. The restaurant, a nicer section of the same place, wasn’t filled with people or anything, though several people were there, eating. Dressed nicely. Many of them were people he recognized, though he didn’t know most of them first hand.

  From the fare left out, it was very early in the day. There were sweet rolls, as well as sliced and whole fruit, pancakes and waffles, which they didn’t have back home at all, and a large container of scrambled eggs. Also, flavored curd, which was that they called yogurt there. That one had messed him up for a while. They had it at home, Willum had simply not put it all together. It was a popular enough food in many worlds, though the idea of making it sweet was one that his own had missed, more or less.

  Taking a large amount of waffles, and putting butter and honey all over them, along with a plate simply dedicated to eggs and another to fresh fruit, he moved to his regular table. That was along the far wall, even though no one else was there yet, that day.

  It took two trips for him to get everything, since he wanted some milk to go with his meal. It left him feeling like a little kid, but they had it there for the taking and no one acted like it was a big deal. It was an odd craving though. Probably brought on by his new biological structure. Before the second set of changes, he hadn’t really had things like that going on. Cravings for different foods.

  Now he did, about a quarter of the time.

  As he sat, he remembered to change his clothing from what he wore to something a good bit more refined. It wasn’t worthy of the king’s palace in Noram, of course, but was a good noble level visiting outfit. The main portion was made up of silk, which was tight at the hip, instead of flowing. There was a velvet trim to it all, and ties at the neck and down his chest, though they weren’t tightened into a bow. That wasn’t fashionable, for some reason.

  He had shining black boots on as well. In all, the outfit was a bit out of place there, since everyone on the common side of things was wearing a tan uniform. At least until more people came in. Then that changed a bit. Several of them grabbed trays and moved to sit with him, clearly doing it on purpose. Even if he was dressed strangely that day.

  They were all wearing exercise clothing, clearly having been out that morning, doing things already, early or not. They were all dressed identically, as far as the base outfit. One of the men, Denis, settled right next to him. That meant Tobin and a man who was new to him, both sat across the table.

  It was the clean faced man next to him who started the conversation.

  “Will! I didn’t know you were coming in today. How are things going?”

  They all looked at him, instead of introducing the new fellow. It was a difference of cultures there, he thought, so he didn’t force that into being. It was best for him to wait a few moments, then introduce himself. The pattern was different than back home, but manageable enough.

  “Not too horribly. I’m on vacation, since my Aunt decided that working twenty-four hours a day for months on end isn’t the best way to live a life, or some such. How about you? Anything interesting going on here?” He ate for a few moments, since everyone w
as still getting situated.

  Tobin made a small noise that reminded him of a snort. It wasn’t the kind of thing he normally did.

  “Oh, plenty. Nothing that anyone will tell me about, but it’s clear things are taking place. Oh… This is Robert. He’s new. A class one, no first mode, since he had that taken out already. He’s in admin?” The last bit was a question, at least in spirit. Meaning the short, thin man across from him didn’t really know the answer, but tried to make it seem like he did.

  No one corrected him.

  Robert, the new person, gave a nod after a moment. It was sharp, but not unfriendly.

  “That’s about right. I’m mainly putting together the new program with Noram.” He stopped talking, took a bite of a bread ring that had soft white cheese on it, and seemed to think. “I suppose I should explain that. Noram is in a different reality. They have wizards there who can change people, using magic. One of their people, Erath, did the first mode work for me. Good man. Solid.”

  Denis smiled, but didn’t correct the situation. Robert seemed not to care that much about what Will thought about the whole thing, either.

  “Oh? Erath was just reassigned to the new spaceport school. Making changes to the kids there, if they want them. They’re mainly street children and orphans, so anything that gets them a leg up can’t hurt. I think Erath is planning a career in life shaping.”

  The new man ate a bit more, and then grinned.

  “Well, that sounds different. Good for him. You’re not from around here, then? I couldn’t tell. You don’t have an accent, for one thing. Give you different colored hair and eyes and I’d wonder if you were from there. They don’t do much with hair dye though. Not that I’ve seen, so far.”