Click Ch. 04

'Security level Indigo granted.'

'A good choice Master,' Arianna said in my ear.

"How are you doing that?"

'I have tied myself into the data stream,' she said.

"So what is so great about Indigo level?"

'It is one level below Obsidian, the highest level you can choose.'

"Lucky me, so what does this mean for me?" I asked.

'Near unlimited access to an entire library of what the mask calls 'Technomancy'.

"Those symbols floating around in my head are some sort of..."

'Runic Expression, it will allow you to enhance the technology that the blue crystal imparted to you.'

"Great I am double fucked," I said as I finally began to brush my hair.

'Double blessed, that's the way I see it. Besides you haven't even seen Project Iron Heart yet.'

"What is project Iron Heart?"

'Let me show you,' Arianna said. The view of my reflection fell away and in its place was a huge metal and glass sphere. 'That is your workshop. I finished it yesterday and I was waiting for the right moment to show you.'

"Where is it located and how big is it?" I asked.

'Remember that offshore oil rig you purchased? Iron Heart is located right next to and below it. As for its size it is roughly one thousand feet in diameter.'

"Wait, you are talking about a hundred story office building in the round." I said as my reflection returned. "How did you manage to build something that big so fast?"

'Your Uncle Carl let me borrow a construction unit, an independent robotic device that will build whatever is programmed into it. Well, as long as it has the raw materials. On your behalf I purchased tons and tons of scrap metals. The first stage was reproducing more construction units. The second stage was erecting a blast furnace and a production line for the new structures. The rest was easy. Robots aren't union and never tire. They are the perfect work force.'

I thought about this little revelation and what impact it might have on me and my family. What kind of workshop had she built for us? It was obviously huge, but that didn't mean it was full of labs and robot workers. Yet somehow I felt that when Arianna designed this thing it would be full of everything I would need to take advantage of the ideas percolating in my mind. I now knew what Carlotta was going through. Every time I saw a commercial I instantly knew how to improve a product. I really wanted to develop the 'laser razor' just to do it; no more blades just a replaceable cutting cartridge. Now I felt the urge to see this workshop build and build in me. By the time I was downstairs I knew I was going to skip school and go to see my brand new lab.

I ate dinner and told my mom what I was planning to do. I could see the mix of emotions cross her lovely features. There was some sort of internal debate going on and then she just smiled and walked over to the phone. She was on a first name basis with the school secretary, told her I was running a fever and then hung up.

"Please don't make me do that anymore," she asked.

"I won't, I promise," I said.

"I want to go," Brenda and Fiona said in one voice.

"You can all go, we are leaving tonight," I said.

'Transportation is on its way,' Arianna informed me.

'A limo,' I said to her.

'Better, it will be here in ten minutes. The workshop hasn't been idle; I wanted to see what a gravity pulse generator would do.'

'What the hell is a gravity pulse generator?'

'Something one of the other A.I.'s acquired from the military,' she said.

'You've been shadowing them I take it, and let me guess you followed them to this military source.'

'Correct Master, I discovered a huge cache of information at a place designated 51.'

'51, wait a second do you mean Area 51?'

'Yes Master, Area 51, how did you know?'

'That's just one of the most infamous locations on the planet,' I said.

'Did I perform poorly?'

'Depends, how much information did you acquire?'

'Several thousand terabytes,' she said.

'You did good,' I said.

The four of us finished dinner, put the dishes into the washer and got ready for a road trip. The women primped and changed clothes. Brenda borrowed a short skirt from my sister and a slutty top from my mother. This was looking very promising. I was standing in the living room waiting for the girls to get done, when suddenly the floor rushed up and slapped me upside the head. I woke up with a trio of concerned faces as well as a bloody nose.

"I'm okay," I said my speech slurring just a little.

'Master, you have just had a severe seizure, I don't think you are ready to go anywhere.'

'Can this transport go on autopilot?'

'Of course,' Arianna said.

'Good, you can drive.'

The transport arrived a few minutes later. With a little help from mom and Fiona I made it outside. The vehicle was thirty feet in length, teen feet wide and six feet in height. It was sleek, black and absolutely silent as it hovered there. The side slid open and with some more help I got in first and the others followed after.

"Steve what the hell is going on," Fiona asked.

"This is the product of the workshop," I said. "My vision is back to normal."

"Let's just see this thing so you can get back and to the hospital," Brenda said coolly.

"I agree with her," Mom said.

The vehicle closed up and off we went. There was no sense of movement and I even commented about it. Arianna switched the windows from opaque to transparent so we could see the outside world. The craft was about a thousand feet in the air and was travelling at a blistering speed. We were already over the ocean and heading away from land. We were all pointing and ogling our surroundings. Then I felt a sensation, it began as a tingling, but it grew and grew as we drew nearer to something. I called out for Arianna to slow down and then with an awful screech I ordered her to stop. We were just above it, a shimmering light beneath the waves. It manifested itself as a line of force running north to south and was silvery green in hue.

"He's discovered the Ghost Web," Brenda said. But before mom could ask she continued. "There are lines of power that criss-cross the face of the world, they are known by many names ley lines, dragon lines but my people call them ghost lines. There are places of power where two or more lines intersect, these nexus points are fonts of raw power that the gifted may draw upon. Steve must be able to not just sense them but actually see them, that is a rare talent indeed."

"Do you know what is out here in the middle of nowhere," Fiona asked.

"I have my suspicions," Brenda said.

"Take a course due south," I said. "Whatever the hell it is, it's in that direction."

The vehicle leapt forward and returned to its blistering speed. Mach twelve is not a thing to miss when it falls in your lap. The pain in my head began to spread even as the island appeared at the edge of the horizon. Something was wrong but I didn't know what. It felt like the flu but much worse and it was spreading while I sat there. My vision, which had cleared up, began to grow fuzzy and things at a distance began to blur. We reached the island a minute later and we landed near its center. Had I been feeling better I would have been intrigued at the concentric circles that formed the interior. I sure as hell would have found the black pyramid on the rocky outcropping worth investigating. But as it was I had to be helped from the craft by Fiona and Brenda. Mom was in full protective mode but I needed help and this place was the closest place to find that help.

The old man came from nowhere and took one look at me and gave a whistle. He came over to me and smiled gently.

"I am here to help; may I touch your mind young man to diagnose your illness?" He asked and I just nodded. I felt him inside of my head seconds later. "It is worse than I thought. Strip him of his clothing so I can purge him of the evil that is inside of him." Mom was tugging my shirt off of me even as Fiona worked on my shoes. Brenda however stood back and glared at the old man. Soon enough I was naked and kneeling on the soft island grass. "I am sorry young man but if you are to survive I must remove the poison that is inside of your mind and body."

"Just DO it," I moaned weakly. The next thing I knew I was puking my guts up, crying, pissing and defecating on the floor of this jungle paradise. Some sort of pressure had been released in my head and I felt a little better but not healed, oh not by a long shot. I heard the approach of two figures and glanced up with vision so poor I could barely make out their humanity.

"Take him to the sacred pool and cast him in, I will be up as quickly as I may," the old man said.

"Yes Master," the two said as one. I was lifted up by my armpits and then my legs were scooped up behind the knee and I was carried off.

"Steven," Mom cried out.

"He is in good hands," the old man said. Anything else was lost as the forest blurred before me. There was the hint of a road and then the darkness of being inside a structure with its burning torches. The next thing I knew I was being tossed into the air and I landed into the cool clean water of the sacred pool. I took a deep lungful of water and felt the healing energy wrap around me. As I breathed in the water my skin cooled from the fever that was ravaging it and I sank to the bottom of the pool. I closed my eyes and waited to see which element won, life or death. The pain and heat subsided just as I heard furtive footsteps entering the pool. Whoever it was approached slowly and when they were close enough checked for a pulse. Then they turned me over and I felt 'her' pull me close and hold me. Her bare breasts felt amazing after the blinding pain in my head and all over my body. She lifted my head from the water and sang softly to me. I knew instantly it wasn't Mom, Fiona or Brenda. The voice was different and held sadness in it.

"I am sorry stranger," she said. "But the pool wasn't enough to heal you." Her sorrow was genuine enough but I had enough strength to speak.

"Please get my phone, the oblong crystal in my clothes, it can finish what you started," I said in one long breath.

"Bring his clothes, search it for a crystal," she ordered. I opened my eyes and looked up into her ethereal features.

"Bast," I asked. But she shook her head and smiled revealing her pronounced canine teeth.

"No, I am not my mother," she said. "...Though you honor me with your kind words."

"Who are you?" I asked even as a voice cried out from behind me.

"Isix," the voice said. "What are you doing?"

"I am tending to the stranger high priestess," Isix said reassuringly.

"Did the Master ask you to tend to him," the high priestess asked.

"No, put it is our duty to aid the wounded."

"True as that may be, he is a stranger and not under our privilege. Leave the pool immediately or you will be punished."

"Go," I said.

"But..."

"Go, I don't want you to suffer on my account," I said.

"As you wish young master," Isix said regretfully.

I floated on my back and a tall Anubis warrior arrived with my phone in his prodigious hand. He looked at my curiously but I gestured and he tossed it into the pool.

'Arianna, analyze and enhance...' I said to her. The pain was returning and I feared I would be dead before she could perform her task. Spasms began to wrack my body now; the spasms became convulsions which were followed by seizures. Then the entire pool filled with a sun bright radiance and I was engulfed utterly. I think I screamed as I died.

I opened my eyes and found I was on the bottom of the pool. I was alive! Strength and vitality had returned to my body. I looked around and found Arianna not far from my left hand. I picked her up as I stood up and looked around. It was an archaeologist's wet dream to be sure. The interior of the structure was on a scale that befits the old gods. The amount of gold, silver and platinum made me feel that Osiris himself must have walked these chambers in ages past. There were several females of the Bastet and Anubis tribe kneeling around the pool.

"Welcome back from the Shadow Country Steven Osborn," the old man said behind me.

"It is good to be back," I said. "Thank you for your hospitality, how long has it been?"

"Three days," he said. "Dry him off and dress him as a guest of honor."

"Yes Master," the women said in one eager voice. I was helped out of the pool and three Bastet dried my front and three Anubis did my back and legs. Then I was draped in fine silk and a belt of purest silver clasped about my waist.

"Three days, boy is my mom going to be pissed," I said.

"Actually, she is thrilled that you survived and she has contacted your school about your health crisis. All is well Steven."

"So Mom and Fiona are okay," I said.

"Yes they are, however, the assassin is being held under constant guard."

"Assassin, what the hell is going on?"

"The one you call Brenda, did she tell you she was Lihannan Sidhe?"

"Le-annen She... what the heck is that?"

"A very powerful fae, they feed off the creative force of their victims and lacking that their sexual energy. They are a kind of psychic vampire. You were lucky you came here, I doubt any other place would have had what you required to survive."

"But, how do you know it was her?"

"The psychic damn she built in your mind. It was designed to rupture flooding her with all the knowledge you have acquired in your short life. Not much for one such as her but it would have looked like an aneurism, a terrible but fatal event."

"Why would she do that? She loves me! She... how could she hurt me?"

"Slaves sometimes turn on their Masters."

That was it! She hated being a slave and played me until I was no longer useful. The old man didn't know about the blue crystal and the visit to Ygdrassil. Short as my life has been, there was plenty of knowledge in my head for her to feast on. It made sense now. She told me what I wanted to hear and then put Arcana Blue in my path to steer me in the direction of the tree. There was only one thing to do.

"I want to see her," I said.

"Of course, though she hasn't said a single word since you got here. Isix, since you are so very fond of the young master direct him to the assassin's cell." Isix took my hand and led me to the next level down in the structure. There were dozens of sleeping chambers and each held three or more animal headed humanoids, they called themselves Osirins. Each fit a particular god or goddess, from Anubis to Set or Bast to Isis. They were all in great shape and all very attractive. The very last chamber held the Queen Bitch herself. I wanted to scream and shout but it would do no good. When she saw me she got to her feet and began to smile but then she saw the expression on my face. Her features became a mask of disdain.

"Finally, Master knows his pet's little secret," she said.

"Who hired you," I asked.

"The Gray Council," she replied without hesitation.

"Who are they," I asked her wondering what I should do with her.

"They rule the 'non-human' races among the Old Ones."

"Why," I asked my third and final question.

"I don't know," she said and smiled. I held up my phone and 'click' her eyes went vacant from the flash's affect.

"Forget; forget you ever knew me in any way or any fashion." I said and then turned to Isix. "Do whatever the hell you want to with her."

Isix took me away from that damnable cell and to the chamber where my sister and mother were waiting. There were no words only hugs and kisses. Isix stepped outside and waited while we reunited.

"Thank god you are okay," mom said hugging me tight.

"Ditto," Fiona said pressing herself against me from behind.

"How do you feel," mom asked.

"Like a Steven sandwich," I said smiling. "I feel fine. A little tired and very hungry, but all in all I can't complain."

"The Master has planned a feast surrounding your revival. If you would all follow me please," Isix said.

We disengaged ourselves and followed the Bastet. She guided up and out of the structure. It wasn't until we were outside that I realized I had been inside a pyramid. I had been so ill when I was literally carried up into this place that I never got a good look at my surroundings. Isix lead us down into a nearby village and the lit torches marked the location of the feast. It seemed like every Osirin on the island was present at the feast. The scene reminded me of something out of the Island of Doctor Moreau. All the feral faces, dancing and music woke up something primitive in me. Then I saw all the food. Man, what a spread they had laid out for us! There was meat, fruit and vegetables galore! Then the old man stepped forward and with a grand gesture the feast began. I dove in, I tried everything and all of it was delicious. While I ate I watched the female dancers and that primitive hunger was stoked to a white hot flame.

"Steve, cover yourself up," Fiona whispered in my ear. "You are um showing."

"Sorry," I said and pulled a wooden plate over my lap.

"Don't be ashamed Steven, your excitement is their reward," the old man said with a deep laugh. "This is a celebration of life after all."

"Well then, here's to wine, women and song," I toasted. As if summoned, a new figure appeared walking down from the pyramid. The wind whipped her long dark hair as well as her silk garments. Her figure was wonderfully curvy and her bearing was one of Mistress and not slave. I was in lust. "Who's that?"

"By the goddess," the old man said after he had turned to see the figure. "It's Bennu!"

"Oh boy," mom muttered. "Here we go again."