happened?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. I was supposed to be the last one to make the crossing. One minute I was dealing with the currents. In the next minute I felt someone come up behind me. At first I thought that I had lost count and that not every member of the team had made it to safety. I started to turn around to see who was there. I felt a small, stinging pain in my upper shoulder. I thought I’d been bitten by an insect. But someone clamped a thick cloth over my mouth and nose. I started to struggle and immediately lost control of the energy river. When I woke up I was in the underground lab, locked in a drug-induced waking dreamstate.”
“You’re saying you were kidnapped.” He kept his voice neutral.
Sedona exhaled slowly. “I’ll never be able to prove it, of course. There’s nothing like a Guild cover-up. So I am officially a burned-out gatekeeper. What made you run a private background check on me?”
“Nothing personal. I ran a check on a lot of folks here on the island before I took this job. And I looked extra hard at those who were believed to have some talent.”
“People like me,” Sedona said.
“People like you.”
“Well, just in case you’re tempted to send me away to a para-psych hospital, you should know that I’ve created a file of my own.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” she said. “It contains my version of what happened to me during the three weeks I vanished. It’s stored in a digital file that will automatically be made public all over the rez-net within twenty-four hours if anything happens to me.”
“I see.”
“I know that the Chamber will deny the existence of the lab and claim that I’m just another badly burned gatekeeper. But we both know that the online conspiracy freaks feed on stuff like my story. The media and the bloggers would go wild. I’m sure the Guilds would survive, but they don’t like that kind of bad press.” Sedona paused for emphasis. “They might tend to blame the boss who allowed the problem of Sedona Snow and her delusions to blow up in their faces.”
“The boss here being me.”
“You,” she agreed.
He whistled softly. “Blackmailing a Guild boss. I’m impressed. That takes guts.”
“Just thought you should know.”
“Your threat is duly noted. Now I’ve got a question for you. Can I count on you if we need a gatekeeper down below, here on the island?”
“What?” She stared at him, clearly stunned.
“You heard me. It’s a simple question. Are you open to a Guild contract in the event I need you when we start clearing the tunnels?”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m a Guild boss. Of course I’m serious.”
She hesitated. “Do you think you’re likely to need a gatekeeper?”
“Here’s what I know. This island is a very strong geothermal nexus. Energy gates and energy rivers are always a possibility underground at nexus points. In addition, just to add to the potential problems of the natural forces in the area, the reports indicate that the Aliens evidently used this island as a bioresearch lab. If that’s true, they probably conducted a lot of very dangerous, very desperate experiments with the local flora and fauna.”
“That’s what the experts from the Rainshadow Foundation have concluded, yes.”
“If that theory is correct,” Cyrus continued, “there is every reason to expect that the Aliens conducted some of their experiments underground as well as on the surface. No telling what we’ll run into down there.”
Sedona exhaled slowly. “True.”
“I’d like to know there’s a gatekeeper available if we need one.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“Why didn’t you bring a gatekeeper with you?” she asked finally.
She was wary but he could tell that she was also intrigued. Confronting her had been a risk but he had done his research on Sedona Snow. He knew a lot about her and he knew something else as well. Whether she admitted it or not he was very certain that she wanted to
“I’m not sure, to be honest. I was supposed to be the last one to make the crossing. One minute I was dealing with the currents. In the next minute I felt someone come up behind me. At first I thought that I had lost count and that not every member of the team had made it to safety. I started to turn around to see who was there. I felt a small, stinging pain in my upper shoulder. I thought I’d been bitten by an insect. But someone clamped a thick cloth over my mouth and nose. I started to struggle and immediately lost control of the energy river. When I woke up I was in the underground lab, locked in a drug-induced waking dreamstate.”
“You’re saying you were kidnapped.” He kept his voice neutral.
Sedona exhaled slowly. “I’ll never be able to prove it, of course. There’s nothing like a Guild cover-up. So I am officially a burned-out gatekeeper. What made you run a private background check on me?”
“Nothing personal. I ran a check on a lot of folks here on the island before I took this job. And I looked extra hard at those who were believed to have some talent.”
“People like me,” Sedona said.
“People like you.”
“Well, just in case you’re tempted to send me away to a para-psych hospital, you should know that I’ve created a file of my own.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” she said. “It contains my version of what happened to me during the three weeks I vanished. It’s stored in a digital file that will automatically be made public all over the rez-net within twenty-four hours if anything happens to me.”
“I see.”
“I know that the Chamber will deny the existence of the lab and claim that I’m just another badly burned gatekeeper. But we both know that the online conspiracy freaks feed on stuff like my story. The media and the bloggers would go wild. I’m sure the Guilds would survive, but they don’t like that kind of bad press.” Sedona paused for emphasis. “They might tend to blame the boss who allowed the problem of Sedona Snow and her delusions to blow up in their faces.”
“The boss here being me.”
“You,” she agreed.
He whistled softly. “Blackmailing a Guild boss. I’m impressed. That takes guts.”
“Just thought you should know.”
“Your threat is duly noted. Now I’ve got a question for you. Can I count on you if we need a gatekeeper down below, here on the island?”
“What?” She stared at him, clearly stunned.
“You heard me. It’s a simple question. Are you open to a Guild contract in the event I need you when we start clearing the tunnels?”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m a Guild boss. Of course I’m serious.”
She hesitated. “Do you think you’re likely to need a gatekeeper?”
“Here’s what I know. This island is a very strong geothermal nexus. Energy gates and energy rivers are always a possibility underground at nexus points. In addition, just to add to the potential problems of the natural forces in the area, the reports indicate that the Aliens evidently used this island as a bioresearch lab. If that’s true, they probably conducted a lot of very dangerous, very desperate experiments with the local flora and fauna.”
“That’s what the experts from the Rainshadow Foundation have concluded, yes.”
“If that theory is correct,” Cyrus continued, “there is every reason to expect that the Aliens conducted some of their experiments underground as well as on the surface. No telling what we’ll run into down there.”
Sedona exhaled slowly. “True.”
“I’d like to know there’s a gatekeeper available if we need one.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“Why didn’t you bring a gatekeeper with you?” she asked finally.
She was wary but he could tell that she was also intrigued. Confronting her had been a risk but he had done his research on Sedona Snow. He knew a lot about her and he knew something else as well. Whether she admitted it or not he was very certain that she wanted to
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