A.R.Yngve
DARC AGES:
City Of Masks
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Chapter 5
Threo cautiously stepped inside, expecting to see the noblewoman in a bathrobe - and started.
On the floor lay the dropped tool, a screwdriver. Okono was wearing a bathrobe, but grease had streaked her pretty face and hands, and on a sheet beside her rested the opened body of her robot Kiti-Mo. Its head had been screwed loose and the oversized doll-eyes blinked at Threo, as if reproaching him.
Okono glared at him, flushing shame turning to hot anger as he watched. Again her eyes went wide and unguarded, and it fascinated him. She must have noticed, for she quickly turned vulnerable and sad.
"It is all this damned moisture, their leaking roofs... it has damaged Tiki-Mo's circuits. I brought very few spare parts." She wiped grease off a metal piston and re-attached it to the robot's hip joints. "I think I have fixed the problem... for now. If she malfunctions again, we shall have to carry her around."
Threo smiled with surprised delight. "You are an engineer! And I thought noblewomen spent all their days breeding and raising little warriors."
She shot him a fierce look and, refusing to answer, swiftly finished the re-assembly of her robot. Once she had screwed its head back on, Kiti-Mo sat up and pushed itself onto its feet. The robot took one rickety step; a hiss blew out from the robot's hips, and a gob of axle grease plopped down on the carpet. Kiti-Mo fluttered its eyelids at its owner and said: "Sorry."
Threo had to laugh; then he remembered his errand. "Please come with me to Kensaburé's room. I think we may be in danger."
She nodded, told the robot to stay behind, and went into the adjacent bathroom to get dressed. When she returned, she was wearing her white and red dress, her hair tied into a knot behind her head, her neck wrapped in scarf - and she wore the painted mask.
The blinking jewelry diodes illuminated her head and fingers, and the mask could almost pass for a living face in the colored lights. Threo preferred to see the real face.
"Did you leave your mask behind, doctor? You should not leave this room without it."
With visible irritation, Threo climbed back into his own room through the balcony and found his mask, put it on and left the room with his medical bag in hand.
"Damn this town."
Buchu, the bodyguard, stood outside Okono's door and joined them as they walked to Kensaburé's quarters, a much larger double-room apartment with a small chamber for his manservant.
"Is it time for supper yet?" he asked when his servant let them in. "Gods, I hope they serve real meat." He had just washed up and dressed in his best evening clothes. "My mask, Jacob." The servant handed him the painted mask. Kensaburé hesitated before putting it on. "At first, I did not like this... disguise. But it does make it easier... to play my role."
Threo pulled off his own mask and said: "The Vanitians know about radio. They have some means of blocking Awonso's radio from receiving and transmitting. I tell you, something is seriously wrong."
"I have seen stranger things on your home island. Snake-headed birds." The knight frowned briefly, then put on his mask. It was almost a caricature, but captured his large-boned features. "Now, let us go join our host... and please try not to embarrass me."
Threo put the mask back on, but could not shake off his bad mood.
"If anything should happen," asked Kensaburé, "or if our stomachs disagree with the food, can you do something with your bag of medicines?"
"I'm not a court poisoner, if that's what you're suggesting. But yes, I have antidotes."
"Come on, then."
The party descended the stairs to the great hall where the banquet had been set up, their servants following close behind.
Courtiers and the ruling family chatted while musicians played light string-music in the background. They all looked up with masked faces as the guests arrived - and watched Okono's robot with special interest. She had to lead Kiti-Mo by the hand, to keep it from tripping on the staircase.
Then, as it reached the foot of the stairs, Okono gave the machine a voice command. Kiti-Mo bent its metal knees and held out its arms in a curtsey, blinking as it bowed its head. The courtiers laughed and applauded.
"The eyes have it," Threo said aside to Awonso.
"Sire, please ask the city lord about my radio," Awonso said aside to Kensaburé. "Inquire, but carefully, whether they have some powerful energy source below the palace, such as a power plant. Sometimes radiation can leak from a fusion reactor and register as static on a receiving set."
Kensaburé knew enough to understand the warning. He lowered his voice: "Are you saying we may be exposed to dangerous radiation as we speak?"
"Possibly."
"You can always step into your coat of armor... sire," said Threo sarcastically. "It ought to protect your valuable genetic assets from harm. I think the Vanitians are trying to prevent us from sending a distress call. We should leave with the Blackwhale while there is time."
"You are too quick to judge," said Kensaburé. "Perhaps too quick to run, as well. Can I trust you not to flee at the first sign of trouble - doctor?"
Okono hushed them down as Berluchos and his wife came to greet them. This time Berluchos spoke in a much clearer voice, though it sounded like the same man. He curtsied, and Okono faced him with a deep bow.
"I love your toy, my lady!" he boomed, laughing beneath the mask. "My wife would like to buy it."
"Please pardon me, my lord. It is not for sale." The robot translated and its voice sounded more humanoid now; apparently Okono had improved the modulation. "But the mechanics of our city can surely build you another robot. If that would please you..."
"It would!" The city lord and wife nodded their approval. "Do join us at the walking table."
While the city lord's court surrounded Okono and Kensaburé, Awonso and Threo - who did not wear nearly as impressive clothing or jewelry - were ignored. Being quite hungry, the two young men filled a few plates from the stacked buffet table and joined Buchu and Jacob by the foot of the stairs.
Only then did they realize that every dish came prepared for eating with a mask on: soup to be eaten through thick straws, meat and fish ground up into porridge to be eaten with very small spoons... and many kinds of drinks.
It was impossible to eat without getting some on one's mask, and the courtiers constantly wiped their "mouths" with napkins.
Awonso ate, wiping his mask frequently, while Threo moved in behind Jacob.
"Is our ship still in the harbor and safe?" Threo asked.
Behind his mask, Jacob replied: "Yes, sirrah."
"And you, Buchu - are you mute?"
The massive bald man could not have been any less impassive without his mask and matching headscarf. "I speak only when my mistress tells me to."
"We need to sneak into the bowels of this building and see what's going on. For the safety of your mistress. Will you come along?"
Buchu's only movement came from his breathing. "I shall not disgrace her."
"Very well... then I go on my own. If our host asks, I went back to my room. Awonso, are you coming?"
Awonso slurped soup through his straw, burped and apologized. "But I am not finished..."
"Come along. Perhaps we'll find some real food."
Awonso got his radio set back from Jacob, and they sneaked out through an unlit doorway underneath the stairs. A stone stairwell led down, and the sounds from upstairs faded. Threo lit a small candle from his bag, and led the way.
Awonso put on his brass headphones, switched on his set and scanned for incoming signals.
"The static - it's stronger down here," he said. "Must be a radiation source nearby."
"I never studied radiation much," Threo admitted as they made way down the spiraling stairwell. "My specialties are bacteria and viruses. Did you enjoy the food?"
"Yes, it was delicious, and the wine -"
"I will give you a coal tablet, take it when the diarrhea sets in, and drink only wine or beer. The water may be contaminated."
"Co-contaminated?"
"I don't expect clean kitchens in a place where people wear masks all the time, and can't see everything around them. Their food must be festering with germs."
"Damn. Just when I was starting to enjoy myself... Wait. A strong signal. That way." Awonso pointed to a metal-plated door bearing a warning sign. "I think it reads 'Guild Members Only.'"
The door was padlocked with an iron chain, two inches thick. Threo gave the candle to Awonso, and opened his medical bag. From the bag, Threo picked up a miniscule flask in a copper-wire frame, and carefully unscrewed the glass cork.
"Stand back."
He put the flask's opening against the padlock and slowly dripped the liquid onto the lock's thick metal link. The acid hissed and spouted smoke as it ate through the metal; within half a minute, the link had corroded badly.
Threo put away the flask, wrapped a cloth around the padlock and pulled. It snapped easily. They pushed at the door with a collective effort, and it creaked open on rusted handles.
Inside, a few electric lamps cast a blue-tinted gloom against a vast vault of brick arches. Water dripped down from countless leaks in the blackened ceiling.
A faint hum came from far away.
"Must be near the city's power plant," Awonso said. "The static is stronger." He pointed forward, and they walked hurriedly across the wet floor. "We should wear protective suits, like the guild workers do in my town..."
"Quiet."
They hid in a niche, and held their breath as footsteps approached from a crossing corridor. They could catch a brief glimpse of the passing figure and its face.
The figure wore the gold-colored clothes of the city lord. His unmasked face was bearded, like on the mask they had seen - but the living nose on this person was absurdly large and swollen almost into a trunk that reached down over his mouth.
Tufts of hair grew on his pockmarked skull, and his mask hung suspended over a furrowed, pale forehead, ready to come down over the misshapen face. It seemed that the mask had very long cheeks, to make room for the enormous nose. The mask came with a wig that he carried in his hands, and his breathing sounded labored.
The misshapen man walked past them, opened a door and locked it behind him.
For a few seconds Threo and Awonso were too stunned to speak. They felt an almost irresistible urge to move on, driven by their obsessively curious nature. The hum of the power plant beckoned down the blue-lit hall.
"No," Awonso whispered, "Someone might come looking for us. We must go back now and warn the sire and Lady Okono."
Without saying more, they retraced their steps and returned upstairs as quickly as they could.
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DARC AGES (c)A.R.Yngve 1995, 2000, 2004, 2006. All rights reserved. May not be copied without permission.
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