Tahum looked pointedly at Lili.

‘OK, we’ll discuss it in the Command Tower.’

Prof’s deluxe eletrain was already waiting on the side of the Garage. They got in, except Lili who was still standing alone beside the minivan. ‘What about Lili?’ Oisa asked.

‘She can sit or stand anywhere she wants to,’ Prof tersely said.

‘Father, please. She got you out of jail. May I bring her to her old home in the hanging gardens? I can catch up later.’

Prof nodded curtly.

They entered the deluxe eletrain, which immediately took off for the Tower.

Tahum spoke up at once. ‘Father, I recommend that we bring Pana in the Righteous Fire bounty mission. Intel from Ngit-ngit City sources indicates an upsurge in the presence of the Possessed and Abominations, perhaps even loose darklings. If we encounter them, Tukib and I would be helpless. We need a bodyguard.’

Prof looked at her. ‘Is that all?’

‘Yes, Father.’

‘Fine with me,Tahum.’

Captain Sugo greeted them with a bow as they entered the Tower.

‘I received the data that you forwarded me from Lili’s tabcom, Father. The darkquake is located on one of the small islands on the mouth of Sanag river, actually closer to Ngit-ngit City than to Sanag City proper.’

‘That’s convenient,’ Tahum said. ‘Tukib and I have already prepped the old Eastern Islands fishing boat that Bodhi keeps around in her junk pile depot in the basements.’

‘They’re not junk, Tahum!’ Bodhi exclaimed. ‘They’re artifacts of Sayabi culture, past and present.’

‘Ooops, sorry Bodhi. I was just using the term all the other avatars use to refer to your museum.’

Prof interrupted the brewing argument. ‘You plan to immediately launch the mission when we arrive?’

‘Yes. The darkquake can actually provide us cover. No one would notice a fishing boat unloading from the landing ramp of the Shield, while you fly into the epicenter on Big Mov. Maybe we can dock the Shield right on the edge of the quake.’

‘You’re the expert on your missions Tahum. I approve mission launch. Keep us regularly updated.’

Tahum gave instructions to Sugo on exactly where to dock. Then she bowed and left on a small eletrain.

Prof looked troubled. ‘I worry about Tahum and Tukib. Of all avatars, their work is the most dangerous. They have to get out of the Balanghay, intermingle with all sorts of people, pretend to be people. In the past 40 years, they’ve been shot, stabbed, and beaten up occasionally.’

‘Aren’t the Wings’ missions more dangerous?’ Elam asked.

‘It should take us only a few minutes’ Captain Sugo remarked.

‘I haven’t gone to any part of Alogostan yet, except for the Eastern Islands,’ Elam piped up excitedly.

‘Oh you will,’ Prof assured him. ‘Next week I will bring you with me to the Hearing on Devolvement in the Senate in Tunga City, the Capitol of Alogostan.’ Prof sighed. ‘I am getting old, iho. I won’t make a secret of it. I am hoping that you will become my successor in this cause.’

Captain Sugo looked at them in surprise, but did not say anything.

The frozen frame of the sea outside the Tower suddenly began moving normally. Clouds covered the noon sun. Elam noticed something strange. The back of the boat was facing a small island. The front faced the open sea.

Captain Sugo explained. ‘The stern of the ship is inside the half kilometer diameter limits of the darkquake. Everything inside this diameter is slightly shifted from the outside. It will provide cover for the fishing boat Tandayag, which is about to be launched from the back ramp. Afterwards, I’ll move the ship entirely out of the circle.’

‘Really? Can I go see the launch Manong Duro?’

‘OK, you might as well see how it’s done. Sugo will still have to collect data by radar and long range video cam on the island, and compare it to WDF satellite data. Since we are observing from outside the quake, we will have to assume a slight shift, and our computers will have to make corrections for this in order to provide a more accurate picture. Once we have an idea of the lay-out of the island and ascertain where the darklings are, the Wings will find them and slay them.’

Elam jumped into an eletrain and punched in the control panel ‘Garage’, then pushed the rapid mode. It really was rapid. The eletrain plummeted down the side of the tower into the main hall, then zoomed through its length. He held on to handholds on the wall. It passed an opening and he was in the Garage in 10 seconds.

Bantay was in the act of pushing a button on a control console on the side of the Garage. The back wall began lowering itself from the top, forming a landing ramp. A circle on the floor near the ramp opened like a flowering iris. A platform elevator slowly pushed its way up. On top of it was a fishing boat with outriggers shaped like those of the Shield’s. On its middle was a cabin the size of a small motel bedroom. Various fishing implements lay littered on the stern. On its bow were Tahum, Tukib, and Pana. They waved at him.

Engineer Husay and several buff Mechanic avatars, all dressed in yellow tank tops, had already gathered in the Garage. One drove a gigantic forklift toward the Tandayag. It lifted the fishing boat, while two dozen avatars including Husay, their beautifully contoured muscles visibly straining beneath their tank tops, pushed and adjusted its position on the steel forks. Tahum, Tukib, and Pana jumped out in order to lessen its weight. The forklift drove to the edge of the ramp and lowered the boat onto the water, the Mechanics all the while making slight adjustments.

Tahum, Tukib, and Pana climbed on the Tandayag’s side onto its stern.

‘Can I try climbing on? I’ll just get off in a second.’

‘Sure, pang-ga,’ Tahum said. She seemed to be the leader of this mission. Elam climbed into the fishing boat. Pana, who was standing nearby, grabbed his hand and helped him over.

A memory clicked into Elam’s mind.

He switched his tabcom to broad com mode and yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Captain Sugo, check the sonar!’

Everyone on the fishing boat and the ramp looked at him.

A loud siren suddenly rang. Captain Sugo’s voice came over the speakers set on the roof of the Garage. ‘Sonar detects a dozen bogeys below the stern.’

A slim golden form shot like a cannonball on his right and hit the darkling. The darkling missed him by a foot. The two figures fell down the stern’s floor. Pana rose up, covered in an armor of iridescent golden scales beneath her clothes. She pulled out the tip of her bow from the darkling’s head. Elam suddenly noticed that the tips of her bow were pointed like ice picks, and the sides of the bow’s limbs were sharply serrated like steak knives.

As she rose she spun like a ballerina. Slashing her bow around, one of the limbs caught the other darkling near Elam by the temple. Grayish brains and fetid ichor gushed out.

Another darkling that had landed on the roof of the cabin on the boat leaped at Tukib. He threw himself down on the floor. The darkling hit the side of the stern instead. Pana, still spinning from her previous attack, continued her movement onto the side of the darkling. One of the bow’s limbs hit the darkling on its neck, nearly shearing it off except for a bit of skin.

Another darkling that had landed on the roof of the boat’s cabin began to leap. Pana continuing her motion shot it with her bow. The arrow went through its skull.

Pana then jumped onto the roof. Two more darklings crouched on the bow, fangs bared, snarling like mad dogs. In one fluid motion, Pana shot them both through the head.

At the edge of his visual field, Elam could see a blue and yellow tornado whirling around the Garage ramp. Out of the whirlwind, a mace and a sword kept on protruding. Every time they appeared, they connected with a darkling head. Pieces of brains and skulls splattered around the ramp. After the last one was disposed off, Bantay stopped his spinning. He talked into his tabcom.

‘Anymore incoming?’It was in broad com mode. Every one could hear it.

‘None. There are a dozen more bogeys on the island’s shore facing you.’ Sugo’s voice.

Elam looked . Grayish figures were crouching on the shore of the island about a hundred meters away. On the roof of the cabin on the fishing boat, Pana began shooting rapidly with her bow in a flowing uninterrupted motion. It was uncanny. One shot, one hit to the chest. Always. In less than 4 seconds, all the figures were down lying in the muddy water.

Prof’s voice spoke from everyone’s tabcom. ‘Alright you got them all. I can feel that the darkquake’s intensity has suddenly dropped. Avatars that stay behind, go get their auras before they dissipate. You’ll infuse it into Aya later. Launch the Tandayag mission. Lili is to know nothing of this. The official line is that we lured the darklings into their deaths by opening the stern ramp into the darkquake zone thus revealing ourselves. It’s pretty well known that low Dan darklings tend to rush into the first human or avatar they see without thought.

Bantay began absorbing the dead darklings’ aura on the ramp. The bodies had already dissolved into nothing. Husay clambered aboard and did the same for the ones Pana had slain on the Tandayag. Above the fishing boat, Elam saw two Wings soaring. Alwana and Bodhi. Oisa must still be with Lili, babysitting the DATA agent. The Wings landed on the shore and began absorbing auras.

Tukib went up to him. ‘I guess you’ll have to disembark Elam.’ Tahum was already starting the motor at the stern. ‘Thanks for the warning. I hope we see again. I think this is going to be a dangerous mission for us.’

Instead of answering, Elam spoke into his tabcom. ‘Manong Duro, I have to go with them. Now.’

‘What!’

‘This vision of darklings attacking us from the water is continuous with one where I join them in the Tandayag mission.’

Prof didn’t answer for a few seconds. Then ‘Do what you must have to do. Join them Elam. I think your vision is a sign that you must be present in all the critical phases of the mission. Don’t leave the avatars’ side if a crisis occurs. Avatars, you must always take Elam with you in your critical missions.’

‘You forgot to take back your arrows,’ Elam told Pana inside the little cabin on the boat. There was a table, chairs, a clothes drawer, a sink, a small walled-off bathroom, a water dispenser, a sungka board, and a chess board. Elam was staring at the receding Duol Island. The Shield remained anchored a hundred meters beyond it toward the sea.

‘What?’

‘Your arrows, that you shot the darklings on the island with.’

Pana smiled. [They all like to smile.] She was dressed in shapeless cargo pants and a large T-shirt, just like Elam. Discounting her stunningly beautiful anime, her clothes made her look like Elam, a boy, only a head taller. ‘I only have one arrow. It’s an extension of myself like all ingrown combat avatar weapons. After use, I imagine retracting it back to myself, and it does so in a rigidly structured reality shift. See?’ She held out her hand. A shiny blue arrow appeared on it. The tip was like a frozen flame. ‘Every time I draw my bow, I can make it appear in firing position too.’

Elam didn’t know what to say to that.

‘You two will have to change clothes,’ Tukib told the other two avatars. ’Pana your head looks like a basketball growing fur that had mustard spilled on it. Please fix your hair.’

Without hesitation, Tahum went to the clothes drawer and changed clothes. Pana followed, frowning and mumbling unintelligibly. Elam looked away.

‘How about me’ he asked Tukib.

‘Cargo pants and T-shirt is fine. The Iladistanis dress the same as Alogostanis. Potential brides don’t. In Iladistani culture, potential brides dress sexily.’

‘This is stupid,’ Pana grumbled, combing her hair and looking down at her silky blue micro mini and tube top. ‘There isn’t even any undergarment. Is this how they do Buya, arranged marriages?’

Tukib rolled up his eyes. ‘You were raring to go for this mission, Pana. You want to jump out and swim back to the Shield? Besides, after 40 years of looking like a tomboy in shapeless trousers and large shirts, who would have expected you to transform into a jiggly juggly long-legged bombshell?’

Pana glared at Tukib.

‘Seriously Pana, if we encounter a darkling, you want us to just die? We need a defender.’

‘We’ll have to dye Elam’s hair,’ Tahum interrupted. ‘No one in Tera has hair like his. Thick, straight, black.’ She took a small packet of dye from the drawer, led Elam to the sink, and proceeded to wash and dye his hair dark blue.

They made for the nearest small pier. ‘All islands in the Sanag river belong to Alogostan as stipulated in a 300 year old treaty. But once we touch that pier, we’ve crossed National boundaries. Elam stay inside the cabin and keep the shades closed. Only the three of us should be seen outside.’

‘I’m Pier 13 Supervisor Hikap. If I may ask, what’s your business in Iladistan?’

Tukib bowed and answered in a firm confident tone. ‘We are from Alogostan. I am hoping to get a good bride price for my two daughters.’

The official noted this in his tabcom. ‘Don’t worry. The authorities turn a blind eye on men with business such as yours. All they require is some stats on how many boats and how many girls to keep track of things.’ He stared at Tahum and Pana on the bow Tahum smiled naughtily, and unashamedly pulled down on her bulging tube top exposing more skin. ‘Your daughters are exceptional beauties. If you and they consent, I would marry them for a night, and divorce them next day, and I promise I will bring you very rich candidate grooms.’

‘I am honored. I will think about it. We’re tired and will rest for a while.’

‘Very well then. We require a small fee for the security guards.’ He pointed to the building by the shore. ‘The potential grooms frequent that place.’ Then he pointed to the smaller one. ‘My office; the security guards stay there. Just give us a call in case of any trouble.‘

Tukib paid the fee in strange paper bills Elam had never seen before. Right after receiving the money, Hikap left, going toward the guard outpost. Once his bright green head disappeared inside, Tahum said in a businesslike manner ‘Stay here, Elam. We’re going to talk with our neighbors from Alogostan for more info about this place. Text us if there are any problems. This might take some while.’

Tahum, Tukib, and Pana walked over to the neighboring boat. Elam could see them chatting with the man and his daughter.

It did take quite a while. Elam arranged the chairs in a line and took a nap on them. He woke up to the sound of the 3 avatars’ footsteps on the plank. A red sun was sinking on the horizon.

Tahum briefed Elam. ‘Our neighbor Butig comes from the Offshore Islands. That’s the archipelago of large islands between the smaller Eastern Islands and mainland Alogostan. His adopted daughter Walay is Sayabi like us, from a remote islet. It seems that all we have to do is stay put. Potential grooms begin arriving at that building there, but they soon walk around the pier. Butig and Walay usually just sit at the bow of their boat, and the grooms come up to discuss the bride price. We might have an opportunity. Later tonight some people from the sects are arriving. He and his daughter are going along with a middleman to a dinner meeting with a potential groom. He’s invited us to join them.’

They waited. Pana and Tahum played sungka. Elam and Tukib played chess. When Tahum announced she was getting hungry, Elam went out to buy some food from a vendor who had taken up position near their boat.

The vendor was a woman, but she was veiled, as some religious married Iladistanis were, and Elam could not see her face. She seemed pretty young though. She spoke Esperanto in a muffled voice through her thick veil.

They had dinner at the boat, bowls of rice and dried fish. They ate with their hands in the manner of Sayabi fishermen. Someone called up from the dock. ‘Tukib! It’s me Butig. Can we come in?’ Tukib assented.

Butig came on board followed by 4 heavy-set well dressed men. ‘Here are the friends I was talking about. Walay and I are going along with them tonight. You might want to come along.’ He began introducing them.

‘Dayon, come in and welcome! Please take a seat and make yourselves comfortable.’ Tukib bowed and conversed with them in Esperanto on the topic of dinner and prices displaying his usual outwardly upbeat manner. Pana stood scowling near the door to the stern, as though ready to leave the cabin anytime. Tahum sat on an armchair and in clear view of the visitors draped a perfect leg over one of the armrests, a bad girl smile on her face, and demurely tucked up what was left of her skirt to cover her pubis.

However it wasn’t Tahum that attracted Elam’s attention. The vendor from whom he had procured their dinner was walking up the boarding plank. Without any word, she entered their cabin and produced a silenced 9mm pistol from underneath her thick robes. She shot all four Iladistanis through the chest in quick succession, then turned the gun on Butig.

‘Butig is a member of an Iladistani crime syndicate. He was a very dangerous character. You come here not knowing the language and the culture. Morons.’ She had switched to fluent islet accented Sayabi. She tucked in her gun, and took off her veil.

It was Lili.

‘I have seen this bunch before. They would have murdered you Tukib, and Elam; and sold Tahum and Pana.’

‘You shot them!’ Elam’s legs were trembling.

‘I saved your ass.’ Then she noticed Elam’s shaky legs and pale face. ‘I’m sorry Elam. I guess it’s the first time you’ve seen a shooting. I’m a DATA officer grade 5, and I’m legally licensed to execute criminals in Alogostan territory. This boat is still in Sanag river, and can be argued to be in Alogostan waters. By law all Alogostani boats in Sanag River are part of Alogostan; all Iladistani boats are part of Iladistan ’

‘I have been assigned to this place for nearly a year, scoping out anti-Prophesy sects and cults that frequent these piers for their brides. That’s how I got alerted to Dark activity on Duol Island. You know where you shot a dozen darklings so masterfully, Pana. Now and then DATA would pull me out to monitor on Guru Duro. With Dark activities here increasing, I finally decided to recruit him. Duro asked me to leave the Shield after you took off. I went back to Sanag City DATA HQ. I learned that DATA satellites saw your fishing boat traveling from Duol Island to Pier 13. I came here ASAP. You better come with me to Ngit-ngit City. There is an important meeting of the Righteous Fire sect tomorrow. Guba will be there. I know you’re after him.’ They all looked at her surprised.

‘Yes I know all about it. No I won’t say how. I promise you, the Sun and Sky will receive the bounty for Guba and his associates if you help me in this.’

‘Don’t say that!’ Elam exclaimed. He looked around. ‘Aya said that before she died.’

They fell into a stony silence. ‘We’re going to get Aya back,’ Lili promised. ‘I have a plan.’

Walay suddenly came running up the boat. She looked only slightly older than Elam. ‘Manang, elder cousin, there’s a change of situation. One of the vendors has just told me that the Pier Supervisor and some negotiators have arrived in the Pier building. They’ll be here soon.’ She was speaking in the same Sayabi dialect as Lili.

‘@#$%!’ Lili swore. ‘Let’s drop the bodies overboard now. They’ll be swept into the sea’. Lili, Tukib, Tahum, Pana dragged one body each to the side and pushed them overboard. Elam and Walay helped out on Butig’s body. ‘Walay is a DATA agent. She deceived Butig into recruiting her. Walay is my cousin from Layo Island. I have given many of my people jobs in DATA. Your Father taught me that. Don’t just leave your people if they have nothing; instead help them survive.’

Elam would have felt surprise if the situation wasn’t so tense. Walay got out of the Tandayag and walked normally back to Butig’s boat. ‘Turn down the cabin shades. Tahum, Pana,Tukib go to the bow and turn on the bow lights so you can be seen. This is the normal behavior in these boats.’ They did as they were told.

‘You won’t be.. hmm.. joining them?’ Elam asked.

‘No. The Pier Supervisor recorded 2 brides in this boat, not 3. We must be consistent.’ It was Tahum who replied as they walked into the bow.

Elam closed the cabin shades. They sat by the table.

‘I did not foresee this situation,’ Lili complained ‘but I had to save your asses’. She peered at Elam. ‘What happens next Elam?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I know Duro allowed you to join this mission because you had a vision.’

‘How did you know that? Oh never mind. I don’t have any memory of this particular event right here right now. Don’t know with the other avatars though. All avatars who have reoccurred seem to have had memories like mine.’

Lili looked interested. ‘Are some of the memories the same?’

‘Yes. For example, there’s this memory of Oisa’s of the Battle of the Spear.’ Elam stopped.

‘Go on. You have the same memory?’

Silence.

‘What’s wrong, Elam? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Elam just looked at her and said nothing.

Lili placed a hand on the table and leaned forward. ‘I know that memory. A darkling killed Guru Duro. But he’s still alive. It’s a dream from a ghost reality. Never happened. You have the same memory? Common Elam, answer me.’

‘Huo. Yes I have. Oisa doesn’t know. What does it mean? They tell me that if two memories match, it probably manifests in our reality.’

‘But Duro is still alive!’ Lili suddenly stopped as if she realized something. ‘Strangely enough, Oisa could not remember anything of the background scene when the Demon King reached Duro. Yet she had a perfect detailed vision of the scene when she was destroying the Spear. Perhaps it’s a memory from the future.’

Elam felt numb. ‘You mean it has not happened yet? Oisa killed the darkling in the Battle of the Spear. The latter part of the dream is a separate one from the future? A different darkling kills Manong Duro?’

Five well dressed men walked over to Butig’s boat. Walay talked to them, standing on the bow. It seems that the men wanted to board, but Walay kept on shaking her head and shrugging.

‘I have instructed her to tell clients that Butig had gone on to town to buy some stuff, and that she’s not supposed to let anyone on board until he returns. No one except drunks, drug addicts, thieves, and crazies get on board Alogostani boats without permission. It’s technically illegal entry into Alogostan. In order to avoid further deterioration of neighborly relations, Iladistan authorities legally execute any Iladistani who does so.’

The 5 men began walking back to the Pier building. They stopped beside Tandayag. Elam saw that one of them was the Pier Supervisor as Walay had reported. They began to talk with Tukib. After several minutes, the avatars entered the cabin.

‘What do we do, Lili? The Supervisor is insisting that we accompany them for dinner, or that thieves will break into our boat later tonight.’

Lili rolled up her eyes. ‘All you War Veteran avatars are too good-looking for your own good. I have seen this happen before. The Supervisor spots a new pretty girl. He informs select wealthy clients. He goes to the girl and invites her for dinner with reps from the wealthy client. During dinner the client proposes marriage. If the girl agrees and the marriage is consummated, he gets a commission. In case of Hikap, the Supervisor of this Pier, the deal always involves the groom temporarily divorcing the girl for him to marry for a few hours. He then divorces the girl, and the groom remarries her.’

‘It usually ends in one of three ways. One. The girl and her adopted father leave the Piers so as to avoid professional thieves in the Supervisors’ secret payroll from breaking into their boat. Two, the girl and her father accept the dinner invitation. There the girl can refuse the marriage proposal, in which case they have to leave the Pier or their boat gets robbed next night. Three, they accept both the dinner invitation and the marriage proposal.’

‘I suggest you accept the dinner invitation. Then refuse the marriage proposal. That would buy us some time.’ She eyed Tahum. ‘Or are you planning to marry some ugly libidinous troll?’

‘Now that you mention it, I’ve tried several and they’re the best,’ Tahum said with a pout. ‘You should try one Lili. I bet none of the girls that he marries later complains.’

‘You can do whatever you want Tahum, but I need Pana here. She has to come with me to that Righteous Fire meeting.’

‘What for?’ Tukib asked.

‘I know that you brought Pana along in case you meet hostile Possessed and Abominations while spying on Righteous Fire, but it’s darklings that we really have to fear. The Righteous Fire meeting is so important precisely because they will try to summon darklings again. If you must know, those darklings that you fought in Duol Island occurred during another meeting that turned sour. Four of my best agents were monitoring that meeting. All of them died, torn to bits and eaten by darklings, along with 80% of the meeting’s participants. Guba and the leaders escaped. They had prudently waited out the meeting in a boat just outside the darkquake circle.’

‘I was hoping to get Duro’s permission to recruit one or more of the Veteran combat avatars so that if the s__t hits the fan in such a meeting, they’ll be there to stop the darklings. Modern combat avatars made by other Maestras like myself always incur casualties and aren’t fast enough to prevent the darklings from killing lots of people. Only the Order of the Sun and Sky has such Veteran avatars. Moreover the Veteran avatar can absorb the aura of the darklings she has slain, and give it to Aya to resurrect her.’

‘What about those darklings you and Bantay just annihilated?’ Elam asked.

Pana gave a little laugh. ‘That was but a skirmish. I don’t really consider slaying low Dan darklings combat. More like swatting flies.’

‘Why doesn’t the World Defense Force do something about these activities?’ Tahum demanded.

‘You know well that any darkquake below magnitude 1 is regarded as a local problem. The WDF can only legally interfere if invited by the Iladistan government. The Iladistan government never does. Powerful factions in it not only approve of these summoning experiments, but are supporting it logistically and financially. We can’t prove it yet though.’

‘What if you are able to prove that the Iladistan government supports these summoning experiments?’ Elam asked.

Lili drew a breath. ‘Interesting question. Anyone care to answer?’

‘WDF would invoke protocol 999,’ Tukib stated.

‘WDF can’t,’ Tahum said. ‘Low Dan darklings don’t threaten humanity.’

‘What’s protocol 999?’ Elam asked.

Everyone was talking almost simultaneously.

‘I don’t know, but that’s certainly an interesting scenario.’

The Pier Supervisor called out from the dock. ‘Well Tukib? What do you say? The dinner is set 30 minutes from now.’

‘We’ll go,’ Tahum decided. They stood up.

‘You won’t marry that obnoxious man, will you Tahum?’ Elam asked.

Tahum laughed. ‘Protective of me, Elam? Remember, I am not human. Think of me as a doll on a music box. But as you request, I won’t marry him. I don’t have to. This dinner will buy us time until tomorrow to complete the mission.’

‘Suppose he forces you?’

‘If he tries to marry Tahum or myself, I promise to you Elam that I’ll slice him into little pieces of troll sausages,’ Pana vowed.

Elam chuckled. ‘You can’t do that to a human.’

Lili merely looked at Pana peculiarly. ‘I’m sure you will.’

The avatars left with the men, promising to be back soon. Elam could see them leaving the dock beneath the cabin’s shades, Tukib walking jauntily, Tahum sashaying seductively, and Pana trudging along as though lead bricks were tied to her feet. After they were out of sight, Lili told Elam ‘I have to go too but I’ll be right back. I have to talk with one of my agents in the pier.’

‘Your agent? You mean your avatar?’

Lili gave a little laugh. ‘I usually don’t bring my avatars to spy missions. No spy wants a cohort of ambulatory robots tagging along with her. No one makes avatars that can pass off as human these days. Before I became a Maestra, I completed a four year training course in becoming military Special Forces, and was a DATA officer. Still am. Not to boast but everyone in the intelligence agencies in Alogostan say I’m the best they have seen. Guru Duro says it’s because I have a good dose of hybrid blood. In any case, I am quite good in my job, even without avatars.

‘Well, speaking of avatars, you and Oisa are up to something, aren’t you?’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘The Sun and Sky avatars all hate you, you know. I can feel it. Tahum, Tukib, and Pana never even thanked you for saving their asses by shooting those criminals a while ago. Yet Oisa has been spending a lot of time with you.’

Lili shrugged but didn’t say anything. Before she could leave, Elam found himself bowing. ‘Thank you for saving our lives. I hope the avatars treat you better.’

Lili was back sooner than later.

‘We have a problem,’ she said, worried. My agents have just found out that there is another Righteous Fire meeting later at 3am. Some sort of preliminary testing of the summoning spell to be used for the big one tomorrow. I should monitor it, but I and my agents need protection in the strong possibility that darklings will get loose. The darklings will sense my Seal, and will go straight for me. I broke protocol, trying to contact the three avatars with my tabcom, but no one is answering. Do you have any emergency line to them?’

‘Uh no.’

‘S__t. I’ll just have to go to them.’

Lili started for the cabin door, then paused. ‘Elam, you better come with me. I don’t want leaving you here all by yourself. A darkquake is coming. Or if one of the people in this Pier tries to communicate with you, they’ll find out there is no bride in this boat, and they’ll grow suspicious. I’m getting bad vibes on all this. I’ll transfer you to one of our safe houses temporarily after we get them.’

They locked the cabin and de-boarded the boat. ‘If anyone asks, you’re my idiot mute younger brother who can’t speak.’

There was another vendor near the exit who apparently knew Lili. They exchanged words in fluent Iladistani. Elam raised his eyebrows. Lili noticed. As they proceeded out of the Pier, she explained ‘Iladistani is one of my childhood languages. I was an email-to-order bride at age 9 to 12 in Dulonan City, the westernmost part of Iladistan, on the border with the central mainland nations. My assassin husband practiced his profession mostly in those nations. I actually have double citizenship, Alogostani and Iladistani, because I was legally married. That vendor I talked to is one of my paid informers in this pier.’

Outside, a small car parked by the road, waiting for them. Lili gestured toward the middle-aged driver. ‘This is agent Maneho. He is a secular Iladistani who doesn’t agree with the ruling theocratic regime. He works for us.’

‘Maneho go to Promenade Hotel. We can’t contact the avatars by tabcom.’ She spoke in Iladistani. Elam got the gist of the message. Promenade Hotel. The agent immediately turned on the car and took off. The small shoreline road they were on joined a bigger highway; there were more houses and buildings to either side. Since it was nearly midnight, the highway was nearly deserted. Ngit-ngit City was the biggest city Elam had ever seen, but then again it was the only big city that he had ever seen in his present occurrence.

Elam noticed Lili check on her pistol. ‘I was totally shocked when you shot those men. You seem to be too, ahem, young to carry that.’

‘In most wars in history, ordinary foot soldiers are teenagers,’ she replied tersely.

Suddenly Lili’s tab com rang. It was Tukib. He spoke in Esperanto. ‘I’m cooling my heels in the lobby of Promenade Hotel. It’s cool outside.’ It was code for ‘There’s something fishy going on.’

‘OK, I guess we better join you.’

Something clicked in Elam’s mind as they approached the hotel, a memory of a hotel room with a monster in it. ‘I’m coming with you’,’ Elam said. ‘Manong Duro was quite clear that I must never leave the avatars’ side if a crisis occurs, and I think this hotel has appeared in my memory.’ Lili did not object.

Maneho parked in the hotel basement parking lot. Lili got out of the car. So did Elam. They left Maneho and the car and climbed up the stairs. In the lobby next floor, they saw Tukib. He was in an animated conversation with two young women in a lobby restaurant. As soon as he saw them, he suavely excused himself and joined them on a sofa in the lobby.

‘What’s the matter?’ Lili asked as he sat down. ‘Proposal dinners usually don’t last until midnight, and if the girls refuse, they are immediately brought back to the Pier. The Iladistanis observe strict courteous protocol in bride buying, or they’ll scare future brides off. The girls must agree to it.’

‘The girls and I refused, but the client insisted that they accompany him to his suite because he has a surprise gift for them. The client is Pugos, the Iladistani Chief State Enforcer.’

‘Tahum and I have agreed on a protocol if she gets kidnapped forcibly in this Buya bride charade. Just before they entered the suite, she would have vehemently refused. If she were forced against her will, she would send me a pre written code- 000. I have just received that text before you came in.’

Lili thought for a few seconds. ‘The Righteous Fire meeting begins 3 hours from now. I’m worried for Tahum and Pana. Veteran avatars usually first go into auto mode when confronted by human aggression. They’ve probably turned into compliant automatons by now, and even Pana could get murdered in such a condition. This will be a frontal approach. You knock on the suite’s door and insist on coming in. Try to distract them. While they’re trying to handle you, I go in and shoot them all down.’

‘What!’ Elam yelped.

‘Few people expect an 18 year old girl to shoot them down. In my business, I have found it’s the most effective method in emergencies such as this. OK. When we reach the top, turn your faces down, so you won’t get caught by the CCTVs in the top floor lobby. The suites themselves do not have CCTVs. The moment they open the door, we all barge in yelling in Alogostani, that we must see our sisters. At least two guards should be in an ante room. You two are to argue with the guards, while I position myself. They won’t shoot you because they think you Tukib are the foster father and handler of the girls and you Elam are a mere child. The guards will probably call out the others in the inner chambers if you create enough trouble. They’ll close the entrance door in order to prevent a scandal if we get heard in the other opposite suite. Tukib, go to one side of the ante room so that they will have to face you toward that direction if they talk to you. I will go to the other side. I will now be facing their backs. Once all guards are in the ante room, I’ll shoot them from behind their backs. Understood?’

Tukib nodded.

* You changed the title of the first chapter, but didn't change the last paragraphs, where the term 'moving pictures' is still used.

* At the end of chapter 6, Kusgan is called Kusog twice.

* Elam is misspelled as Elm in chapter 2 and at the beginning of chapter 22.

* "Initial infodump" methods could be improved - a well-known problem with introducing a whole new world in SF novels is that the reader must be presented with a lot of "dry" information. There is a guiding principle taught in all writers' workshops, called 'show, don't tell'. :) That is, it's best to introduce as much information as possible as part of a plot, and keep the "study material" to a minimum. Of course, you can't work *everything* into the plot, but when you must present dry info, it would be recommended to suggest (by the characters' behavior) that it's interesting. ;)

Specifically, I'm talking about chapter 4:

<...I think Bodhi should deliver this lecture as she can be more concise than I am. Speak Bodhi.’

Bodhi stirred and began in a flat lecture voice. She sounded so much like a recording that the hairs on Elam’s nape tingled. [Push on button and she speaks.]>

... and now also the rewritten chapter 2:

<'Bodhi, let me do the lecturing this time!'>

I would avoid the word "lecture/lecturing" - it tends to convey a "boring" impression.

And deliberately presenting Bodhi as speaking like an automaton... ouch. Well, the readers might be interested in her robotic aspect, but they are almost guaranteed to be unable to pay much, if any, attention to what she says! :\

Not only is it a long stretch of dry info to wade through, they are also given the suggestion (I mean this in the "hypnotic/subliminal suggestion" sense) that they are "hearing" something that sounds monotonous - the ultimate in "boring". ;s

* as far as I could tell, the subplot about the moral tensions introduced by the suspected poisoning of Maestro Mario was never really developed or sewn up.

Missed that. Changed it to <Elam realized he had no memories except for what he could remember of the scenes moving in his mind’s eye.>

<At the end of chapter 6, Kusgan is called Kusog twice.>

Missed that. In Cebuan Visayan Kusgan is a contraction of Kusogan (the strong one), and derived from the stem word Kusog (strength.) It's a typo on my part, since they are almost have the same meaning in my mind.

Changed it to

I think it's obvious that Lili murdered Maestro Mario by poison, after having reached a deal with Oisa.

Elam and Alwana suspect but both can't really do much. Elam is a newbie, and like most newbies opts to keep on observing the avatars. Alwana because she is torn between saving Aya and an outright murder.

I haven't developed it fully or sewn it up because I'm thinking of developing the moral tension between Oisa and Alwana in Book 2. I see Oisa as particularly prone to fall into the dark side. It's why I turned her temporarily into a demon herself in <Chapter 12. Oisa the Black>

In <Chapter 16. The Pilot and the Dans> the pilot Lupad recounts Oisa taking on the form of a darkling demon in order to slay the Demon Emperor.

Oisa is Prof's favorite daughter. She almost turned into a demon again after the shock of seeing Prof slain; but I've decided to expand on that kind of scenario later in the series.

Alwana tends to be the more 'human' of the Wings. It shows in her human like outbursts, her flirting with Elam, and her shock at Oisa's sometimes ruthless attitude.

Lili is another major character. She's started as an amoral human being, with a good dose of darkling blood (a Hybrid). Basically she is a professional human killer thanks to her rough childhood and darkling blood; whose contact with Prof and the avatars ironically have humanized her a bit, but not fully. So she has imbibed some of Prof's and the avatars' ideals; but will not hesitate to manipulate and murder people.

Originally I intended for Elam to inherit the household's Seal, but decided it would be more interesting if Lili did. Suddenly the Sun and Sky has switched from a very moral human leader to a Maestra who is a killer and part darkling..

I've decided to develop Pana's character more. So there are additional scenes for her in the Battle of the Shield.

Hehe. Oisa and Alwana are probably going to quarrel just for starters. Then there is their new Maestra, Lili, who is part darkling.

Lili led them across the lobby to the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor suite rooms. ‘Keep your head down on the top floor,’ she reminded Elam. At the top, they turned right, toward Pugos’ suite.

Tukib knocked loudly on the entrance door to the suite. The moment it opened, he pushed his way in. Three guards were in the room. Lili and Elam used Tukib’s body as a cover to push themselves into the middle of the room. Elam was too nervous to say anything, but Lili and Tukib were creating a ruckus. One guard quickly closed the entrance door. A door to the inner chamber opened and two more guards rushed in. Five guards Elam thought! One guard tried to grab Tukib. He pretended to stumble and rolled over to the left side of the room. Elam saw Lili sidling her way to the right side so that she could have a clear view of all the guards. All 5 guards were forced to face Tukib who now was lying down on the left side of the room, cursing loudly. Lili drew out her silenced 9 mm pistol and shot each one on the back of the head with a quickness and accuracy that reminded Elam of a combat avatar’s movements.

Lili quickly opened the inner door with her left hand, her pistol on her right hand. In the second room, another guard stood by an inner door. Lili immediately shot him through his forehead from the open door. All three entered the second room. There was another inner door to a third chamber. Lili reloaded first, then tried to open it with her left hand, pistol on her right hand ready. It was locked. Lili placed her ears on the door. ‘They sound busy. I don’t think they know we’ve killed all the outside guards or they would have left via the fire exit. I don’t know if there are any more guards there or if one of them has a gun to our sisters’ heads, who probably are on auto mode and helpless.’

Lili produced a spy video cam from one of the many pockets inside her robes. The cam protruded a thin worm-like scope that penetrated into the door’s crack. Its screen brightened up for all of them to see.

Pana and Tahum lay on two beds on the far end of the room, their left hands cuffed to their beds’ headboards. They looked as though they were in auto mode, their legs and right arms wrapped around two men, moving in synchrony with them. They were still dressed in miniskirt and tube top, pulled up and down. As a shocked Elam watched, the paunchy but still husky sexagenarian in his birthday suit, who could only be Pugos, and Supervisor Hikap, still in his uniformed shirt but minus his sidearm, belt holster, trousers, and boots, got up and went to the other one’s bed, and exchanged partners.

‘No extra guard it seems. Tukib break the door down and barge in. I’ll follow.’

Tukib crouched, then launched his body and hit the door with his right shoulder. Elam gasped. The door splintered and caved inward. Tukib pushed himself into the inner chamber, followed by Lili, gun held in both hands in firing position.

Pugos, and Supervisor Hikap clambered off the girls and stood in front of the beds looking surprised. Lili first professionally scanned the entire room, the open adjoining bathroom, and the windows, ascertaining that there were no more guards, and then calmly shot Pugos on both knees and the groin. Red human blood spurted out. He fell forward in pain.

Lili shot Hikap on the forehead and chest. There was a ping as the first bullet bounced off his head, and a thud as the second bullet buried itself in his breast. He remained standing. Then he grinned.

‘Pana, help!’ Lili shouted in Sayabi. ‘Normal mode!’

To Elam’s horror, Hikap began to grow bigger. His shirt burst out and hung in tatters across his chest and protruding belly. His skin turned green and began erupting pustules all over, oozing purulent green ichor. His green-black tongue lolled out of a mouth full of sharp shark’s teeth. His ugly face grew even uglier. He was a seven foot tall creature of pure ugliness. He took a step forward toward Lili.

A blue arrow appeared in Pana’s right hand. She was holding it near the tip. She cut the handcuff on her left wrist with the arrow’s flaming point. She stood up.

‘Hey troll, pick someone your size,’ Pana yelled, adjusting her tube top back up with her left hand. Her bow appeared on her right hand as the arrow disappeared.

Pana chuckled. ‘You care for us, don’t you? No we won’t. Darklings can control their reproductive functions, and we are darklings in essence. Forget about what you saw; I’m no slut. When we’re on auto mode we’re animated computer programs and in general only a command in Sayabi by someone we know can bring us out it. My body feels but I don’t. Hmm don’t know with Tahum though.’

‘Quit philosophizing, Pana, and get this cuff off me,’ Tahum yelled at her. Pana hurriedly went over to free her.

‘Tukib, lock all the doors,’ Lili ordered. She squatted in front of the groaning National Councilor, who was sitting sprawled on the floor, and began interrogating in Iladistani.

‘Let’s see the Executioner on the receiving end of his own techniques. You better answer my questions truthfully.’

‘When and where is the Righteous Fire doing the summoning? Who’s attending?’ She poked her pistol into Pugos’ mouth.

‘Hhmmm..’ Pugos mumbled.

Lili took her pistol out of his mouth and said ‘Try again.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about! Do you know who I am?’

Lili smashed her pistol across Pugos’ teeth. ‘Try again’.

‘I’ll have you hanged!’

Lili smashed her pistol into Pugos’ left eye. ‘Try again’.

Pugos was crying in pain, blood pouring out of his cracked teeth and ruptured eyeball. ‘The preliminary experiment is later at 3am, on Diha island. I don’t know who’ll attend. I swear, I just give them money, but don’t know about the details myself. They still haven’t decided where and when to hold the big experiment tomorrow.’

‘Where does the money come from?’

‘Mine, some Councilors, and businessmen.’

Lili smashed her pistol into Pugos’ nose. ‘Names please. I promise the next one will hit your right eye.’

Pugos warbled names like a half blind songbird in love. Lili checked her wrist tab com. ‘OK I’ve recorded your confession. Salamat. Thank you.’

Lili smashed her pistol into Pugos’ right eye, as promised. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, mouth, groin, and kneecaps. Pugos moaned in pain.

Lili stood up and spoke in Esperanto.

They fled down the fire exit outside the window by the bed where Tahum had been cuffed. ‘I don’t know if anyone has discovered the little mess we created there,’ Lili said, ‘and I have no intention of getting caught by Iladistani police. When we get back to Alogostan, I’ll submit the recording and an official report. It exonerates us. By WDF rules, if you can prove that a criminal is involved in such a dire crime as illegally summoning darklings, the means justify the ends.’

‘What the hell was that!’ Elam blurted out.

‘You mean Supervisor Hikap? An abomination called a libidinous troll,’ Tukib replied. ‘Father has guidelines for the behavior of House avatars. One is that we leave Abominations and Possessed alone, unless they threaten us, or witness them doing something harmful to humans. Many of them are well adjusted, so Father doesn’t want us to go around hunting them like impoverished Maestros do for rich hunter patrons. Hikap for example had a job and functioned well in his job. He did not go around murdering and raping people, even the brides in his Pier, if he could help it. It was his patron Pugos who was the initiator of that little incident up there, not him. If their relation is typical, Pugos probably warns the rich human hunters not to hunt Hikap or bribes them not to do it, and provides Hikap a false identity and his legitimate job. In return Hikap does anything Pugos wants and acts as an additional bodyguard. Abominations gain their powers from dark energy, and so avatars and Maestras like Lili can always sense them. However, they can’t sense avatars and Maestras. Apart from their specialties they can’t use dark energy as well as avatars. Avatars after all are darklings.’

Lili spoke to her tab com. Agent Maneho picked them up by the road. They crowded into the car.

‘OK Pugos was an Abomination, but how can WDF rules justify killing a wounded human prisoner!’ Elam remembered to say.

Lili sighed. ‘Tera seems to have different social norms from your Null World Elam.’ Lili proceeded to translate her conversation with Pugos, including her final words invoking the authority of the WDF, making the torture and execution of Pugos normative and legal.

‘Turns out that I was right in requesting Father that we bring along Pana,’ Tahum added. ‘Numerous independent sources indicate that Ngit-ngit City is experiencing a plague of these creatures. It’s probably related to the Unitemplist sects’ experimentation with dark energy and summoning over the years. If a darkling manages to bite or scratch a participant in the summoning, and he survives, he could become Possessed. If a darkling manages to mate with a participant, an Abomination could result. A Possessed can possess more. An Abomination can beget more. They usually don’t last very long though because of the hunts. Also, in Iladistan, a theocracy that secretly encourages its millionaires to hire Maestros to hunt them down, they almost always emigrate to more secular Nations like Alogostan and Dalokistan. You’d be surprised that there are big cities and isolated rural towns where they form organized clubs and societies, which bribe Maestros not to hunt them.’

‘One good thing about this little incident is that we now know where the next summoning will be. Diha island.’ Lili was rapidly punching on her tabcom’s virtual buttons. She caught Elam looking at her. ‘Don’t worry; I communicate to my agents in code. Even if the Iladistani authorities are tapping this, it would take them days to decode, and it’s going to be over by tomorrow. In fact, I think you can safely communicate to the Shield right now, and no one here will arrest you for espionage.’ Tukib and Tahum both began punching on their tabcoms.