Nanowrimo 2011 - Day 20

[SHAWNA/KAT - SACRED MARRIAGE]

Kat woke up feeling exhausted, anin a different location between the junk piles than when she went to sleep. She looked around and with a shock discovered the android body of Shawna was mobile.

Had she been sleepwalking? More specifically, had she been sleep repairing her?

“Kat?” as voice said quietly near her left shoulder.

She spun around, but no-one was there.

The voice spoke again, appearing on her right this time, “Hey, Kat?”

She spun again. Nothing, Noone. Startled, she said, “Who are you?”

“This is Shawna, from the implant.”

Kat stopped still, “And where is The Watcher? He has always been my companion.”

Shawna registered surprise. The answer had not been vocal, it had been inbound through the interface, and Kat had spoken in the singular.

“The Watcher is safe, in the damaged unit. I made repairs during the night that should keep him safe. If you would initiate a local-net we can conference him in.” Shawna said.

Kat sighed, pulling herself together and walking over to the battered body. Significant changes had occurred while she was sleeping - legs had been trimmed off neatly at knee level. A single axle joined them and motors and a wheel from the cherry picker had been mounted. Power units had been attached to the body securely. The two webcams were now mounted like frog-eyes on the head. Their cabling was different, thicker.

“With the right cables, they support an HD video feed, much better for machine-vision. The Watcher’s runtime is no longer compressed. Feel free to interact. Easiest would be a local-net.” Shawna said.

Kat reached out and The Watcher took her had, spun the wheel until he had traction then swung upright riding the wheel, balancing, as if riding a unicycle.

[### CONNECTION ESTABLISHED ###]

[### INITIATING VR MATRIX ###]

[### PARTICIPANT ARRIVED: c48a8870-5b0a-4ec0-9867-3e804e860b38 ###]

[### NAME CHANGE: WATCHER, THE (FORMERLY c48a8870-5b0a-4ec0-9867-3e804e860b38) ###]

[### CHANNEL SETTINGS: +O +C +A +V WATCHER, THE ###]

[### CHANNEL TITLE CHANGED: “Song of Nox” (WATCHER, THE) ###]

[### CHANNEL LIMIT CHANGED: 3 (1 of 3, WATCHER, THE) ###]

[### PARTICIPANT ARRIVED: 2cbc7e80-2c72-4ec6-8df0-355ccca1965a ###]

[### PARTICIPANT ARRIVED: e7997675-cc57-4f80-9d9c-e456437df2c4 ###]

[### NAME CHANGE: SHAWNA (FORMERLY 2cbc7e80-2c72-4ec6-8df0-355ccca1965a) ###]

[### NAME CHANGE: KAT (FORMERLY e7997675-cc57-4f80-9d9c-e456437df2c4) ###]

[### CHANNEL LIMIT REACHED: 3 (WATCHER, THE, SHAWNA, KAT) ###]

[KAT, SHAWNA, THE WATCHER - ATONEMENT WITH THE FATHER]

Shawna found herself sitting in the back seat of a car. She had been here before - same driver, same opulent leather and same beautiful evening gown. How did The Watcher determine what she ought to wear in this Virtual Reality matrix? She stretched out and made herself comfortable. Beside her was a young woman that Shawna didnt initially recognize.

Blond hair cascaded in golden waves off her head and down over her shoulders. She shifted in her seat, hair moving to reveal a bare shoulder. The dress worn by the young woman was flame red, and far shorter than it ought to have been in polite company. Her shoes were red, solid looking boots that came to mid-calf. While she was dressed for a party, the outfit was ready for action should it occur.

The young woman looked up at Shawna, “What’re you staring at?”

Shawna grinned, “Kat!”

Kat didnt smile.

Shawna lost a little of the smile, “I didnt recognize you with hair … or clothes.”

Kat shook her head, trying to remain serious, but a grin burst through, “I wear clothing!”

Shawna shook her head, “Combat fatigues and a shaved head dont count. But I must say, I like the boots.”

Kat smiled, “You do? Thank!”

The car pulled up the same immaculate driveway and stopped before the same front door as Shawna remembered. Both women got out. Kat reached back into the car for a discarded red shrug that she’d pushed own into the crease of the leather seat. Shawna remembered the front door although this time though, there was no maid to show them into the drawing room. Shawna paused at the front door and knocked loudly with the ornate brass door knocker. The bangs echoed in the hallway beyond. No answer.

Kat reached out and pushed the door. Blue light formed around the frame and leaped like lightning from the door to Kat’s outstretched hand. She screamed in pain and pulled the hand back.

“What the hell?” kat screamed, pulling her hand back and rubbing life back into her numb fingers.

Shawna thought for a moment before acting. Similar,but different. What was different this time? The Watcher was hosting, and responded positively to their connection request - the driver and Bentley were proof of that - but now that they stood on the threshold of the actual meeting the entrance was less inviting than the last time. In fact, outright hostile.

Shawna stepped forward and Kat tried to stop her, “It will shock you the same way that it did me…”

Shawna pulled the young woman’s hand off her arm, “I dont think so. Watch.”

She stepped up to the door and knocked. Sound echoed into the void on the other side but there was no hostile response.

“Something is different this time - we are running on the same processor as The Watcher. Last time was inside your implant and that is sadly lacking in protection, this time he is running within the context of my mobile unit.” Shawna explained.

Kat still wasnt getting it.

“Things changed between The Watcher’s tine and now. I have firewalls and defenses built into every protocol. It’s a mean cruel world out there and I cannot take any chances. We just experienced a firewall of my own making, barring entry to software not properly authenticated. Now that the door knows us,it will own with a simple command.” Shawna stepped back, “Try it another way if you want, but the door will balance whatever responses are called foe.”

Kat pauses, “So if I enter with you, I will be believed as part of the throng.”

Shawna nodded, “Hardly a throng with the two of us, but yes, my presence should authenticate us both.” she reached out and opened the door. The hallway beyond ought to have been brightly lit, staircases sweeping up on either side of the room to an upper level. The room they walked into was the wreck of a house ravaged by fire. Every piece of art, every piece of furniture, every piece of crown moulding, every last item was smashed to fragments. What had happened?

Shawna knew the way through to the drawing room and lead the way. Kat stayed close, alert for danger.

The walls of the hallway leading away from the door were scratched and torn, not merely burned. It was the scratches of a decorator working with paint scraper and tools, cleaning then roughing up the surface to receive a coat of plaster. The floor had been swept.

They were about to enter the drawing room when a voice called out, “Dont - not yet.” There was banging and clunking fro inside the closed door. Both women waited, looked at each other as if to say “Do you have a clue what’s going on?” and then looked back at the door. Presently it swung open and The Watcher stood beaming at them, “Come in, come in.” Dont mind the mess. Just getting the place fixed up a but after all the recent damage.

Shawna looked around. The walls had been plastered and painted, furniture was covered with white dust sheets, and a fire burned in the hearth. A ladder had been moved from before the door, where a small patch of unpainted wall waited finishing, immediately above the jamb.

“Making yourself at home?” Shawna asked.

The Watcher smiled, “As best I can, as I am sure you’re doing?”

Shawna blushed as red as Kat’s dress.

“Never mind that. We have a problem, and it needs to be solved.” The Watcher said, “James was abducted and needs to return.”

Kat shrugged, “Why? He can stay right here with us.”

Shawna waited to see what The Watcher had to say. Kat had a wake-up call coming and it wasnt going to be easy to break the news to her.

“The plan was for only a single Dhampir. James, although slow to take up the mantle, is the one designated, designed even, to take down the remaining Vampires on board the Nox.” The Watcher said, “Kat, events on the planet’s surface necessitated creative thinking. Against my better wishes you were treated just before they released you for the hunt, to give you the advantage you needed. You were a wild-card to hunt the feral vampires and, hopefully, being about the downfall of the farms.”

“A mistake?” Kat said

“No, a fortuitious opportunity to strike back at those running these farms.”

“So explain to me again why we need James?” Kat said.

Shawna interjected, “Targeted retrovirus…”

The Watcher, nodded, “I see you have accessed the plans and schematics. Yes, each of you carries a virus in your blood that has a particularly strong effect on vampires. I think you have already made use of this defense?”

“Sons of the farm, on the way here.” Kat said, “Almost left me dry veined though.”

“Right, now if you had been bitten by one of the vampires still on the ship above, the worst they would have experienced was a slightly bad taste. You would have been drained where you stood just for the pleasure of it. Now, James … he is older, the virus has had time to reach its most mature form. Believe me, whatever you saw happen here at your hand, would be nothing compared with the reaction of a shipboard vampire tasting his blood. The penalty of course comes in his other abilities.” The Watcher said.

“We have to get him back to the ship, to hunt down the remaining vampires there… ” Shawna paused, “And you’re presently running on your backup copy. Between the mobile unit and this implant there was only space enough for one to survive. You need to return to upload, do you not?”

“More than you know.” The Watcher said.

Li was dreading her arrival at the central “farm”. The chatter from the farmer next to her suggested that she would be paraded for all eyes to see, a captured treasure, a prize specimen. They crested a hill and her misgivings vanished. The farmer reacted with a frightened squeak. The road ahead of them took a long slow curve down the hill and to the right. Maybe a mile away from their position the gently curving road met a gate and a wall. BEHIND THE wall Li could see clusters of buildings.

None of those facts gave her any level of excitement. What she reacted to was the gently descending triangle of an old-school design shuttle craft. It landed neatly on the largest building in the complex.