Torl's Journey

When Torl awoke, Jelru had eggs and strips set out for him. He went to the table and ate as if he had been without food for days. Then he entered the office where he found Jelru pouring over a stack of plastic sheets. From the looks of things, she had been at it since he left for bed. He spoke a greeting and she looked up with a weary smile on her face.

“Everything is in order.” she softly said, exhaustion creeping into her voice. “Just one change of plans...we will be departing for the farm immediately after you complete the modifications. I have made the arrangements for cash station attendance and for cash payment for your services... Is five percent of the total acceptable?”

Torl had seen the totals and five percent would make him a very wealthy man. Just one problem... Seala. If he were to take her off Earth in a pirate ship, he definitely could not carry that kind of cash with him. Well, he would figure something out later. Right now, he had to concentrate totally on what he was about to do. One mistake and no one would go anywhere except to a Work Farm or a Reprogramming Center.

“That’s more than generous, my dear.” he walked over to her. “You look exhausted. Go rest. I need absolute solitude until I’m done. I’m sorry, but any distraction could spell disaster. No food, no talk, no nothing. I will definitely need food and company when I’m done. Okay?” Torl reached for her arm and helped her up and on the way to the door.

“Torl knows best.” Jelru gave him a bright smile, almost bubbly, and a wink. Then she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

One point five days later, a very exhausted Torl came staggering out of the brown toned room and sat down at the table. Jelru quickly dialed up a restorative drink and he gulped it down. Then she dialed up a very large meal for two.

Silently they ate the meal, conserving all their energy for the trip ahead. When they were finished, Jelru ushered Torl into the refresher stall and handed him some new clothing that bore the symbols of an executive guard.

Even in his current state of exhaustion, Torl was surprised into asking what was going on. Jelru told him that he would be escorting her to the home of someone named Felix Berril, and that he had to look the part. Again, he had the distinct feeling that Jelru was something more than she seemed. What was she up to now? Well, she had trusted to his skills, he would have to rely on hers now.

When he emerged from the refresher, Torl was shocked to see that Jelru was now dressed as a Lady of the Darkness. She wore a shimmering red floor length dress, her hair tousled on top of her head and dangling earrings that could possibly be rubies. One large stone, perhaps an Opal, with fire that matched the red of her dress, dangled from her neck. What was going on? Why did they need to sneak out of town? And why did she look so good in this garb? But Torl didn’t waste time asking, he simply followed her lead and escorted her through the door way.

When they reached the street, Torl had a strange feeling that he had missed something, but what? As they reached the curb, an executive limo pulled up and the door opened. Jelru stepped smartly inside; giggling as she brazenly showed her hinny to the bystanders and slid into the seat. Torl followed remembering to appear disgusted at the actions of this rented lady.

When they were safely in the vehicle, Jelru reached under the seat and pulled out a Cloaking Device. These were very expensive, and very illegal. Torl began to wonder just how much wealth Jelru had. It was obviously more than could be accrued by a simple farmer. She made a few adjustments to the device then set it back under the seat.

Smoothing her dress and giving Torl a wink, she said, “There, now we have privacy. Remember, you are escorting me to the private Vacation quarters of the Honorable Felix Berril. He is an executive with the Teleron Corporation and maintains a vacation reserve in the far north east corner of this sector. Felix is not here right now, but the City guard will not know this.

Further,” she dictated and pulled at the edge of one of her gloves, “he is highly noted for his taste in loose ladies. When we are out of town, I will explain everything. For now, you should know that we were seen leaving town last month. As far as anyone knows, or will ever be able to prove, we have been at my farm for the past forty five days...just in case you are not quite as good at hiding computer traces as we had hoped.”

Now it made sense...Torl was beginning to develop a great deal of respect for this farmer girl who was clearly much more than a farmer girl.

“Very good thinking.” he nodded and smiled. “I understand and will comply.”

With that, Jelru again removed and adjusted the Cloaking Device then resumed her role as a rented lady.

She chattered on interminably about what a great man the Honorable Felix Berril was and how important she would be now that he had asked for her. He had asked for her, Little Gem, by name. Oh, she would be able to ask for many more credits now, with HIM as a previous client. And he sent Captain Jewel of his own personal body guard to get her in a limo.

Chrysalis!... The other girls must be emerald with envy. She began to speak of the things she would do for the Honorable Felix and Torl felt his face turning red. He could not believe how well this farmer girl could play the part of a street wise Lady of the Darkness.

He knew that the tapes of this conversation might undergo some scrutiny if his computer work was discovered, but he could not believe the extraordinary lengths she was going to on such a slim chance. By the time they reached the Witch Hunter’s check point at the edge of town, Torl was almost convinced that he had indeed left Jelru behind and was now traveling with Little Gem, a very accomplished Lady of the Darkness.

When the Hunter spoke to him through the window, Jelru butted in, which was completely in character, and told him all about how the Honorable Felix Berril had sent Captain Jewel of his own personal body guard to get her and take her to his resort. Then she went on to explain where she worked and how important this job was to her career. Before Torl had a chance to say anything, the Hunter had waved them on in disgust.

Torl breathed much easier. Jelru was good, very, very good. So good in fact that he wondered if he knew her at all. Or was everything she had said to him just another act for the tapes? Who was she? What was she? She acted like a State Agent or something... That thought sent a chill through him, but Torl somehow could not believe that this was true. Something else was bothering him though; he still could not put his finger on what was wrong back at the dwelling they had just left....

Jelru continued playing the part until they were nearly six parses from town. Then without pausing for breath, she pulled out the Cloaking Device and changed its settings and her conversation. Torl was caught so completely off guard that he had to ask her to repeat what she had just said to him.

“I said that we will be changing course to pick up the young Witch you helped. She is in a cave approximately ten parses north north-east of town, is she not?” Jelru confidently looked at him.

Torl was completely dumbfounded.

“Wha....How did you know? What are you?”

“It would be unwise of me to prove it to you now, but I am a bit of a Witch, too. I can hear silent communication. I can also hear the thoughts of the unskilled. I have known since I met you that you are much more than the average Witch, just by the silence of your thoughts. I can only hear the thoughts that you choose to let me hear... But I had no idea that you were such an accomplished Witch until I overheard your conversation with Seala. Someday, you will have to tell me how Seala was able to disappear. Oh, I know you told her to think of safety and to use the whites. But I don’t know what the whites are or how a person can use them to disappear.”

Again Torl was dumbfounded and nearing a state of total confusion. He could spot a trained Witch in a crowd, with no effort at all. How could she have totally eluded his recognition all this time? When he looked now, he could see that she was telling the truth, but still he could see no indication of a trained witch, she had the talent sure enough, but the power color emanations were very random, the sign of an untrained witch. She must be a natural telepath.

Yet she had been able to recognize him when other witches had not even noticed when he manipulated their colors to protect himself. Could she be a Hunter with some gadget that could hear mind talk? Was she just confirming her suspicions prior to arresting him?

“I know, you don’t trust what I have told you. Have patience, my dear Torl and when we get to my farm I will take you to my spy proof room and prove it to you. I cannot be a Hunter if I am a Witch.” she stated. “But the only way I can prove to you that I am is if you will trust me enough to mind speak and let me tell you what was said. Then maybe you can teach me to do more. For now though, you will just have to trust me enough to help you get Seala to safety. She will not trust anyone but you enough to come out of that cave without using her Witch powers. Will you do this?”

Torl thought about this new twist. If he brought Seala out, and Jelru was not true speaking, he would be sentencing her to endure that punishment that he had risked so much to rescue her from.

“You say that you can read minds. If I did what you say I did, I would have been open for a period. Tell me something that will convince me that you have indeed been in my mind.”

“Okay. You contacted Seala without thinking about it. But you decided quite consciously to do some other things while you were at it. I don’t how you accomplished it, but you thought it, and then the Hunters zapped the Master Hunter as she came onto the scene. You wished to disguise the assassination with wild shooting of others and that, too, happened.

You must teach me how to influence others that way...” she smiled. “Clearly, Torl, you are a Master at your trade and I don’t mean comp tech. Finally, you thought about someone named Guru Feldsood, who taught you to use confusion and panic as shields for draining the dark energies, or for using them.“, she smoothed her dress. “Again, I don’t know what this means, but that should be enough proof that I really did hear your thoughts. Now will you help with Seala?”

“Yes. Thank you for risking your own safety for us, Witch Jelru. Is that your real name?” Torl didn’t know why he felt compelled to ask that question but he was watching with great interest for the signs of true speaking.

“No, it is not. But for now, that name is as good as another. As you well know, naming gives one power. When I am as certain of you as I wish you to be of me, ask again.”

She spoke the truth. More than that, the answer she gave erased any remaining doubt that she was indeed a Witch with knowledge. And then it clicked. What was wrong at the dwelling was that the Witch Lock had not affected him. It had either been turned off, or it did not exist. As often as she had spoken of it, and as careful as she was about leaving only the appropriate information on the tapes of conversations, Torl chose to believe the prior. But how had she done it? He did not believe that she could have tripped any locking mechanism without his noticing it. And Torl did not know of any such device that could be turned off. He would have to ask her about that someday...

“Torl, when Seala was caught, you helped her, even though you didn’t know her. Why?” she asked again tugging at the edge of her glove.

“I really don’t know.” he answered honestly. “I saw that she was building a Power Storm that would probably kill many. More, it would certainly get her killed. Suddenly, I found myself helping her and trying to avoid a magical incident. I would like to believe that I did it to protect her from herself. Or, that I was saving other witches from the bad publicity that her storm would create. Truth is,” he shrugged, “I don’t know why I helped. I just did. Then I did what I could to cover my tracks and hopefully to give her a chance to avoid recapture.”

“How do you propose to keep her from being recaptured? You do realize that they probably took Persona Readings. She will have to leave the planet to even hope to avoid recapture.”

“Yes, I know. I have done what I can to try to make that happen. Unfortunately, this crisis of yours created a situation where I was unable to withdraw my credits in cash. I had hoped to use that money to take her off Earth in a pirate ship. I really don’t know what we will do once that is accomplished.” he scratched his head. “I guess that I will have to try to get a comp job in the Black Market.”

“So, you risked everything and were willing to give up your own life and security to help her. Yet, you don’t know why. How did you plan to get this job? The Hunters will have a trace on your credit line just as soon as they learn that you helped her. And the pirates will be happy to tell about you when the Hunters offer a reward.”

“I built two new ID’s with histories and employment papers while I was working on your problem.”

Torl didn’t know why he was saying this. If she were not who she seemed to be, he might have just given away the whole ball of wax.

“I must apologize for putting you at risk by using your ID to create these identities, but you must believe me when I say that it would take an expert the likes of which I have never met to tell that these are fake, much less that they were created by your ID.

They would have to know that you were involved and that the ID’s were created. Then they would still have to be real experts to find the link. You see, I turned off the system log, created a new ID with system level privileges, including log exemption, erased the entry showing your sign on, signed on with the new ID, and then restarted the log.“, he looked directly at her.

“I also did the work for you with this new ID. Without the knowledge of what had happened and who was involved, I could not find any traces of the occurrence and I am a true expert in this type of activity tracking. My first specialty was comp security spec for the personnel trace system.”

“I don’t have any idea what you just said, but I do know of your history. I am certain that if system modification can occur without being traced, you would be the one to do it. That is why I asked you to look into my problem.” she sat back. “I have friends that could have traced the problem. But I don’t know anyone that could have done what I believe you just accomplished on my behalf. So we each used the other. Now let us agree to work together or not at all. No more conniving. Agreed?” she extended her hand.

“Agreed!” and they shook hands.

“Very well. Now to the problem of Seala.“, she smoothed her hair. “You cannot carry the kind of cash you will need on a pirate ship. Neither can you deposit this cash to the account of your new identity without drawing attention. I can help with this, if you will help me with some other problems that I have. In addition, I have some friends that will be able to help you with your travel problems. First though, we need to get Seala out of the cave over there.”

Jelru pointed out the window and Torl could clearly see the outline of a small hill that apparently had no top. It was darker, but he clearly recognized this place as the location he had traced Seala to. How had Jelru known exactly where to go? Oh, of course, she could read minds and hear thought talk. She probably read his mind as he performed the trace. Being familiar with this part of the planet, she would have known exactly where to go. Well, now was the moment of truth. He would be putting Seala’s life in Jelru’s hands, too. This made him very nervous. He had never been responsible for anyone else’s welfare before.