Tonight.Tonight. Shall I invite our old friend? The one with bushy tail." Aaden. I smiled. "Yah, that would be nice." He smiled back, linked his fingers and stretched, popping a few knuckles as he did so; it emphasized just what I had asked for. "Then I will see you later today." He put his hand into his vest pocket, then handed me an unlabled address chip. "Dress accordingly. Shall we dine?" I agreed, and we rose to visit the cafeteria line. The food was not bad at all, considering how many people ate here. As instructed, I dressed "appropriately"; leather chaps, very old bluejeans, flannel shirt, leather vest and cap, no jacket, engineer's boots. I walked confidently to the SDisk and summoned the pentacle; I instructed the port to send me to the preset coordinates on the chip. I was more than a little surprised when those coordinates didn't resolve into "The Underground." I stepped out into.. a barn? There was the smell of fresh hay everywhere, and from the rafters hung a very ornate sling done in red leather. Sunlight streamed in from the open windows, and I heard birds fluttering about in the rafters. I was alone. I was about to turn around and go looking when a hand grabbed my neck from behind. "On your knees, boy," I heard. I obeyed, falling to my knees and casting my eyes down. I recognized the voice as Aaden's. "Crawl," he said. I began to crawl on my knees in the direction he led, toward where the sling was set. Borodir stepped into view, looking very powerful in his flannel shirt, leather vest and jeans. Borodir and I agreed on a lot of things, and costume was one of them- we didn't really believe in it. "In," Aaden commanded. Despite his apparent position of authority, tonight Aaden was Borodir's second, but I obeyed, jumping up and getting into the sling, on my back this time. Aaden took my right leg and secured it high on the sling; then he did the left. My hands were left free; I lay them by my sides on the sling platform. I stared up at the rafters, where some kind soul had installed a mylar mirror, so that I could see very clearly what was going on. Borodir spoke, "Boy." I snapped to attention, looking down the length of my body to where he stood. "Are you ready?" I settled back onto the sling. |