Poison Agendas Read online

  The virtual bar was one of several on Shadowland's host system. Its design showed off the programming skill of its creators: perfect in nearly every detail. The floors were polished black marble, shot through with veins of white and silver, as was the top of the curved bar. The furniture was all dark-stained wood, black leather and chrome accents. The tabletops were cool, smoky glass. Kellan could hear the click of her virtual footsteps on the tiles, feel the cool air on her nonexistent skin, and even see her reflection distorted in the chrome and the polished marble. She heard the clinking of ice in glasses and smelled exotic liqueurs and perfumes.

  The bar's clientele presented a stark contrast to the decor's sharply drawn realism. It was like walking in on a convention of cartoons, faerie tales, figments, dreams and nightmares. At the moment Kellan walked in, the bar patrons included a sinuous Asian dragon, coiled into a wing chair and sipping tea from a delicate china cup. He was chatting with a white rabbit in a red velvet jacket and paisley waistcoat adorned with a gold watch fob. There was a figure in black medieval armor, face obscured by a hooded cloak, only a pair of burning red eyes showing where his face should be. Gossamer-winged faeries chatted up sexy chrome robots, bizarre aliens talked to famous people from history and popular characters from fiction, from Abe Lincoln to some chica Kellan vaguely recognized from old rock vids. There was a constant buzz of background conversation, but privacy protocols kept everyone in the bar from overhearing anything they shouldn't (unless they had the chops to circumvent the protocols).

  She spotted Jackie waiting for her at a table. The decker's persona looked like a young girl from a Japanese-inspired cartoon, complete with wide eyes, tiny mouth and a flowing white dress. A wide headband held back her black hair and she waved as Kellan approached.

  "We've got to do something about getting you a better persona." she said by way of a greeting, and Kellan suddenly felt self-conscious. Her own icon was an off-the-shelf persona, customized to look vaguely like her real self—medium-length brown hair, medium height, slender build—but low-resolution and crude compared to the other characters in the bar. She knew that in a place like Shadowland it marked her as a non-decker, or someone who didn't have the connections to get the best software. It certainly wasn't the impression she wanted to make, but she didn't frequent Shadowland's virtual rooms often enough to want to shell out the nuyen for anything better. She usually read and posted on the system's message boards, where your persona didn't matter.

  "Don't worry." Jackie continued, sensing Kellan's unease (impressive, considering Kellan's persona wasn't sophisticated enough to reflect her feelings). "I can set you up with something."

  "Thanks."

  "But you probably didn't come here to talk about updating your software." Jackie offered.

  "Nope, I've got business."

  Jackie's persona favored her with a bright smile. "One of my favorite words. I'm all ears." Settling her chin on the heels of both hands, she leaned forward, elbows on the table, big eyes looking expectantly at Kellan.

  Kellan felt that Jackie was more receptive to her proposal than Liada and G-Dogg had been, though it was hard to tell if the decker was taking her seriously. On the other hand, it was sometimes hard to tell if Jackie took anything seriously. Kellan explained about the information she had gotten from Squeak, and Jackie listened carefully, clearly grasping its potential value.

  "I can do some research for you," the decker offered when Kellan finished, "but it sounds to me like you're not going to need a decker where you're going."

  "We might." Kellan replied. "There could be electronic security ..." but Jackie cut her off with a shake of her head.

  "Electronic security that's not connected to the Matrix." she pointed out. "Whatever you're going to be dealing with is out there somewhere." she gestured off vaguely into space, indicating the real world beyond the virtual reality they occupied. "That's not my area. I'll do the research, but once you get outside the metroplex, you're going to be on your own.''

  Kellan nodded her agreement.

  "Okay." she replied. "I understand. How much for . . . ?"

  Jackie waved one hand in a dismissive gesture, shaking her head. "Your cred's no good here, kid. I'll do this for you as a favor. If it gets complicated, we can talk compensation, but for now let's see what I can dig up, okay?"

  "No," Kellan said, "I'll pay."

  The decker laughed. "Really, don't worry about it. You couldn't afford me otherwise." When Kellan tried again to object, Jackie continued. "It's null sheen, just some background checks. I don't mind doing it."

  Kellan smiled. "Thanks, Jackie, I appreciate it."

  "No problem." the decker said. "Just give me what you've got and I'll get on it."

  Kellan fished in the pocket of the jacket her persona wore and took out a small black card, about the size of a business card, which she held out to Jackie. The decker's persona plucked it from her hand, triggering the transfer of data from Kellan's system to hers. By the time Jackie slipped the card out of sight, the transfer was complete.

  "I'll let you know as soon as I've got something." she told Kellan.

  "Okay. And thanks again, Jackie."

  "Null sheen." the decker replied. "Take care."

  Kellan made a point of leaving the virtual bar before logging off the Matrix. Jackie had taught her that it was poor form to simply vanish from a virtual meeting place. She opened her eyes to the familiar surroundings of her bedroom, pulling off the trode net and setting aside the cyberdeck. She leaned back against the pillows with a sigh. There was nothing to do now but wait until Jackie contacted her with the results of her research into Squeak's data. Then she could decide whether there was a potential run in it or not. Thinking about how interested Jackie seemed in what she'd had to say, Kellan hoped that interest meant good news.

  She began reviewing the text on conjuring that Lothan had asked her to read before their next lesson, but her heart really wasn't in it. All she could think about was her next meeting with Squeak and what his data might turn up. She finally fell asleep, the datapad lying on her stomach, dreaming about Lothan being struck speechless when she showed off the results of her successful shadowrun—a run she accomplished without any help from him at all.

  Chapter 5

  Kellan normally looked forward to her magic lessons with Lothan. Like most of the rest of the world, she found him hard to take at times, but the troll mage definitely knew his stuff. He was also a surprisingly good teacher—at least, Kellan learned quickly under his tutelage. Though Lothan rarely praised her work, he still managed to make it clear that Kellan's magical training was advancing quickly and well. Naturally, he took most of the credit for the development of her talent, but knowing she was improving so dramatically still made Kellan feel good.

  Today, however, Kellan wished she was anywhere other than Lothan's dim, crowded study. All her focus was on the potential run she had in the works, and certainly not on the current arcane topic on which Lothan chose to expound. She just wanted to get the lesson over with so she could meet with Squeak. What was worse, Lothan had chosen today to begin teaching Kellan more about conjuring and spirits, two topics Kellan just couldn't seem to grasp. Though her spellcasting abilities had developed considerably and she was getting the hang of astral work, Kellan had a difficult time with conjury. No matter how many texts she read on the subject, it just didn't click for her.

  The fact that Lothan's renewed interest in teaching her conjuring seemed to be a direct result of her interrupting his banishing spell on their recent run didn't make Kellan feel any better. Though he didn't say so in plain words, it was clear the old troll felt Kellan's handling of the air elemental outside the Aztechnology Pyramid was less than elegant. He wanted to teach her the "proper" way of dealing with spirits. Seems like blasting them works just fine, Kellan thought glumly. Still, she tried to pay attention to Lothan's explanation.

  "So," he concluded, drawing to a close a long exposition, "once the ritual is complete, th
e spirit appears in the ethereal plane at the behest of the conjurer, where it is bound by the ritual and the power of the diagrams and forced to obey its new master. It is then ready to be commanded into service."

  Kellan leaned forward on the red velvet settee, gesturing with the datapad in her hand.

  "But where does the spirit come from?" she asked. "The metaplanes?"

  "That is the most commonly accepted theory." Lothan replied, turning away from the flatscreen display showing various hermetic diagrams used for conjuring.

  "Isn't that a bit like slavery, then, snatching a spirit away from its home and forcing it to do what you want?"

  "Nonsense." the troll snorted. "It's nothing of the sort. Elementals are formed from the energies of the metaplanes, channeled by the conjuring rituals and given form by the will of their summoner."

  "That's one theory." Kellan countered, waving the datapad for emphasis. "But the O'Neill hypothesis says elementals have an independent existence before they are summoned to this plane, and Dr. White-Eagle speculated about elemental oversouls and a greater consciousness of the elemental metaplanes."

  Lothan raised one shaggy gray eyebrow, a faint smile creasing the corners of his mouth. "Well, you have been doing the reading, haven't you? All right, then," he said, "do you have a moral objection to the rites of conjuring, then?"

  "Not a moral objection." Kellan said slowly, searching for words. "It's just . . . well, don't you think if elementals do have free will, they would get pretty hacked off at being called up and bossed around all the time?"

  "If that's true, no elemental has ever said anything about it to me." Lothan replied with a smug expression.

  "Well, maybe they can't, or they're afraid to . . ."

  Kellan began, and then she threw Lothan a disgusted look. "You aren't even taking this seriously, are you?"

  "Of course I am, my dear." the mage replied. "I'm very pleased that you've considered some alternate points of view, however erroneous they may be."

  "So you don't think spirits are real?"

  "That depends entirely upon how you define 'spirits' and 'real'." Lothan replied. "Do spirits exist? Unquestionably. We can see their effects and interact with them. Are spirits intelligent? Again, without a doubt. Many spirits are capable of carrying out complex instructions and even reasoning to a degree. Free spirits have shown considerable intelligence and cunning. Is summoning and binding elementals slavery? Hardly."

  As Kellan opened her mouth to protest, Lothan raised a finger to indicate he wasn't finished. "Consider computers. There are programs so sophisticated you would swear they were intelligent, capable of adapting to their circumstances and interacting with living people. But you wouldn't claim one of these programs was truly conscious or 'alive'."

  "There are rumors—" Kellan began.

  "Yes, yes." Lothan countered with a dismissive wave. "There are rumors of artificial intelligences secretly roaming the depths of the Matrix, hidden from the outside world. I've heard them all before, and I've still never seen any proof of these elusive, so-called AIs."

  "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they don't exist." Kellan said stubbornly.

  "An ideally improvable supposition. Do you think the difficulties you've been having with conjuring stem from your concerns about hurting the spirits' feelings?" The edge of mockery in Lothan's tone made Kellan clench her jaw.

  "No." she said. "Maybe ... I don't know." She gestured vaguely and slumped back on the settee, dropping the datapad into her lap.

  Lothan stroked his chin for a moment with one big hand. "Perhaps it's time for a more practical demonstration." he said, rising to his feet. "Come."

  Kellan followed as Lothan led her from the study to a door she hadn't entered before. Beyond the door, wooden stairs led down into the basement. Lothan squeezed his large frame through the doorway, ducking his head. Kellan followed him down the stairs into darkness.

  "Close the door." Lothan said, and Kellan complied, shutting out the light coming from upstairs. Candles suddenly sprang to life in the basement below, casting a rich, golden glow. Kellan reached the foot of the stairs and took in the contents of the room before her.

  "Wizard." she breathed.

  The basement room was larger than she'd expected. It had to run the entire length of the house. Part of it was walled off—that side of the room most likely containing the furnace, water heater and other appliances. The rest was one large room. The walls were paneled in dark wood, and the floor was concrete.

  The entire room was set up as a magical workshop. Tall workbenches extended along two walls. Their surfaces were covered with beakers and flasks of dark and intensely colored liquids, rolls of parchment and stacks of loosely bound paper. Notebooks and ring binders stood at the end of one bench between heavy brass bookends. On the walls above the benches hung shelves that continued up to the ceiling, holding even more mystical miscellany. Jars of dried herbs—and other things Kellan couldn't identify by sight—crowded one set of shelves. Another held incense, charcoal, censers, crystals and a rainbow of colored chalk.

  The most impressive thing about the room however, was what was on the floor. A complex diagram was drawn on the smooth concrete in colored chalk, nearly filling the entire room. It was a circle, four meters in diameter. Inside the outer circle were several smaller concentric circles. Magical symbols filled the spaces in between the bands, running all around the circle. Inside those was a six-pointed star formed by two overlapping triangles. Within the star was another circle, edged in still more arcane symbols. Symbols were also inscribed within each segment of the star's points and at the points themselves. Candles were held to the floor by melted wax at five points of the star. At the sixth point stood a brass tripod and brazier, together measuring a little more than a meter high.

  "A summoning circle?" Kellan asked, and Lothan nodded.

  "Quite so. Now I shall demonstrate exactly how it is used." he replied. He pointed to a stool near one of the workbenches. "Set that in a corner, outside the circle, and watch very carefully. I want you to pay close attention to the flow of energies. Do not, under any circumstances, interrupt the ritual once it has begun or disturb any part of the circle. Do you understand?"

  Kellan nodded in reply, moving to fetch the stool.

  "Good." Lothan said. "You can help me gather the materials I'll need."

  Kellan helped Lothan choose ingredients from jars and containers on the shelves: sulphur, frankincense, copal resin and other pungent herbs. These Lothan mixed together in a great wooden mortar, grinding them into a fine powder. Then he took a smaller jar and added several pinches of gold dust, before picking up another jar and twisting off the lid.

  "Powdered ruby." the mage said as he shook sparkling reddish dust into the mortar. This was mixed with the rest of the ingredients.

  "The brazier, if you would be so kind." Lothan requested, and Kellan walked around the outside of the circle. The brass brazier was already neatly stacked with charcoal. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Kellan passed her hand over the pan.

  She concentrated for a moment. When she opened her eyes, the charcoal was beginning to glow red around the edges. When she lowered her hand to her side a few moments later, there was a bright, cherry-red glow at the heart of the stack, giving off a warmth that suffused the room.

  "Well done. No explosions this time." Lothan muttered. Kellan was about to make a comment when her teacher stepped into the conjuring circle, placing the mortar at the base of the brazier.

  "Very good. You can take your seat now." he said. "Make sure your phone is off, and that there won't be any other distractions." Kellan took the phone from her pocket and set it to take messages. Then she hopped back up on the stool and watched Lothan work.

  The mage extinguished most of the candles in the basement room, until there was so little light that Kellan thought Lothan must be working from memory rather than by sight. Then he stepped into the middle of the conjuring circle and stood f
acing the brazier. He dropped a pinch of the mixture from the mortar onto the hot coals. A thin stream of pungent, sweetsmelling smoke rose up.

  Turning clockwise, Lothan faced in turn each of the five candles at the points of the star. He recited words in a language foreign to Kellan and traced symbols in the air above each candle. To Kellan's astral sight, the symbols faintly glowed. She recognized the symbols as representing the elements—earth, air, fire, water and spirit. As Lothan completed each symbol above a candle, a flame sprang to life, shedding a golden glow over the circle.

  Three times Lothan went around the circle. When the circuits were complete, Kellan became aware that a shimmering translucent dome separated her from her teacher. Its outer edge exactly followed the circumference of the circle. It extended up over Lothan's head, brushing the ceiling at its apex. From Kellan's point of view, everything inside the dome was slightly distorted, like she was looking through thick glass. She knew that the dome was a ward activated by Lothan's ritual to help shield the mage from astral interference during the summoning ritual. Kellan was outside the ward, and she knew it also was intended to help contain the energies of the ritual and protect bystanders.