Hinn Ch. 32-34

Author's Note - Please read from Chapter 1 to make sense of this. This is not a quick stroke story. There will be sexy-times, but they will only happen as the story's pace dictates, and that won't start quick.

All characters participating in sexual activities are 18 or older.

Chapter 32

Struggling back to consciousness, Ray realized he wasn't waking into his normal life. He was re-entering the dream with the void bubbles again. The white and black ghostly silhouettes seemed to concentrate more around his point of presence than before - the far 'side' of the bubbles was a lot more sparsely populated than this, assuming 'side' was the right term to use in such a confusing place.

The ancient Hinn sent warm greetings without words, to which Ray responded with gratefulness and a mental image of Tauriz. The response from the Hinn were mixed. Some were upset to see her collared as a genie, others were happy that she continued to exist, yet others were much more interested in himself. They seemed to argue with each other, perhaps even coming to blows.

That was another eye-opener (perception-opener?) for Ray. This bodiless realm still appeared to allow for some form of fighting. Ray felt like a nervous white belt before his first lesson, knowing there were techniques and skills he'd never known out there without understanding what they could even be.

Nearby he saw a familiar face, if not a welcome one. The darkest outline he could perceive followed the shape of Baba Yaga. She smiled her horrific iron-edged smile at him and nodded, perhaps in acknowledgment or with some other meaning behind it.

Time froze for a split second, nothing moving, and then resumed as if nothing had happened. The silhouettes he could see all seemed to be stirred up, reacting strongly to whatever it was that just happened. He felt anticipation, concern, and curiosity from the ancient Hinn, but frustratingly was unable to get more details from them.

A flood of images inundated him, too fast for him to follow. He'd been subjected to a rapid drumbeat of situations the first time he'd been here, but this pace? This was many times faster and covered a broader base. He caught glimpses of people he thought he knew, people he felt he'd never seen before, creatures of nightmare and blissful dreams, terrifying locations, heartstoppingly beautiful locations. Almost as fast as it started, it stopped, almost as if it realized it was going too rapidly for Ray.

He saw Tauriz shatter her sheathe again, feeling the world change in the vision, but frustratingly he was still unable to tell if the result was for the better or worse.

He saw Jann assaulting Jann with Jinn hiding in the shadows in a wooded setting. The location was new to him, but the skyline was clearly from the Keane Valley, a few hours' drive from the University, home to the highest mountains in New York State. The last crescent of the moon featured prominently low on the western edge of the sky.

He saw the ocean, lit by a gorgeous sunset on the shoreward side. On it rode a small wooden boat no more than four or five feet long, laden with a bonfire. The fire ignited and the boat's sail was lifted, driving it out into the ocean to its eventual fate.

Faster and faster, he saw more and more. He saw Amber and Monica standing on either side of an older copy of themselves. He saw Jonathon lying dead, and jarringly felt satisfaction. He saw a desert and a cliff and a cave and a long walk in the dark. He saw an ancient pillar of stone with carvings that appeared to have been carved the previous night. A pile of reeds. An ancient khopesh sword. A snapped stick. Footprints which lead out into the dark night.

Head spinning under the assault, Ray woke up.

Chapter 33

Waking for real this time, Ray felt the comfort of Tauriz' flawless skin on his own. Her presence flooded his restored Hinn, more reassuring even than feeling her warmth in his arms. It amazed and awed Ray that he was coming to trust Hinn more than his own eyes and sense of touch.

"Hinn are named for Hinn, not for eyes, not for the mind, not for samum, Ray," Tauriz quietly said. "We are more than the whole of our bodies, and when more of us gather, we are much, much more. None have stood against a hundred enraged Hinn, no matter how many they have brought to the battle."

"Now we just need to find, rescue, or make ninety-eight more then," Ray chuckled.

"You laugh, Master, but it is an option open to us. It is a dangerous proposition to those who would change unless you used a wish as I used the wish you gifted me to assure your successful transformation. Then, it is merely exceedingly painful."

"Is that something you'd desire? To create a new generation of Hinn?"

"Yes and no both, Ray. It would solve some of our problems, but it would also cause others. The Jinn would become enraged as soon as they become aware of it, and Jinn do not enter the battlefield in a forthright manner against Hinn, they learned that bloody lesson well."

"Do you think the angelics might take a position?"

"The angelics generally do not interfere with mortal matters, for some unknown or unknowable reason. Occasionally one of the 'Fallen' angelics will use mortals as pawns or resources, which appears to be the primary exception when angelics become involved with mortals."

"They're mostly interested in their own?"

"That is the speculation that seemed to become the accepted wisdom among those who have studied these beings."

"You still access Hinn much easier than I can. To me, it's something I consult. You seem to comprehend immediately."

"That is because I am well used to its ways, Master. Your use is impressive - most young Hinn have greater trouble than you do."

"I'd guess most young Hinn had no idea about databases, content retrieval systems, or the like, either."

"Interesting - perhaps you are correct, Ray. Perhaps human technology has begun to catch up to Hinn in some ways."

"Starting to, perhaps, but Hinn is beyond the greatest ideals of human technology I've yet heard of."

"The universal encyclopedia comes close, as do the collective and other stories of your human history."

"Mm. Something to think about - new ways for me to consider using Hinn. I do worry that Hinn used the way you do affects your attitudes, though."

"Because we treat Hinn as memory?"

"And because people can lie via Hinn."

"That, dear Master, is a much longer discussion. I shall share this much with you now - there are ways to tell how many have accessed a thought, and their attitudes about said thought. But for now, we must up and create a breakfast for our guests."

"I wish we were comfortably dressed and ready to face this day, Tauriz." And of course, they were.

He wore a comfortable pair of jeans and a button-down shirt under a tweed blazer. She wore jeans and a brass thread-shot black silk blouse, her brazen hair braided in a short but formal Assyrian style that would have taken hours to accomplish almost any other way. Both wore comfortable half-boots on their feet.

"You enjoy brass threads in black silk, do you not, Tauriz?"

"I do, it has long been a signature of mine. Silk is relatively new to me - I used other fabrics before."

"Well, let's get busy in the kitchen. Giambotte waits on no man."

Picking up the idea of the meal from Ray, Tauriz smiled. Egg dishes were long a favorite of hers.

Chapter 34

"So, what can I do for this meal, Ray?"

Ray replied, "Why don't you skin and cut up, say, six potatoes. Half-inch cubes, please," as he readied a large pot of coffee in the brewer.

Ray took out a couple pounds of Italian sausage and sliced it into disks before frying them up. Lining a bowl with paper towels, he put the sausage to the side to drain. Taking the potatoes Tauriz had finished, he sliced some bell peppers into them then added a couple cloves of garlic he minced up fine. Tossing them in the sausage grease coated cast iron pans as they browned, he kept adding potatoes as they became ready.

Splitting the potato mixture between the two pans, Ray added the sausage back in and a handful of crushed red pepper. Turning the heat down, he quickly whisked up a dozen eggs and poured half in each pan. Handing Tauriz a block of mozzarella and a grater, he asked her to grate the cheese back and forth over the frying pans as he finished the dish.

He kept mixing the eggs and other ingredients as they finished cooking, ending up with a solid, appealing mass of yellow, brown, white, and green that he scooped onto plates for serving. The aroma brought everyone to the kitchen, and everyone found seats on furniture or the floor and enjoyed their portions of the dish.

"When you finish, dishes go into the dishwasher, please!" he called out as he tucked into his serving. A line formed, filling the dishwasher quickly as people cleaned their plates. Adding soap, Ray kicked off the wash cycle as everyone finished getting ready to leave for the day's events.

"So I'm in with Tomaz' folks, and Tauriz is riding in the combat chariot, right?" asked Ray.

Getting acknowledgments, Ray noticed his phone blinking that there was a message on the answering machine. Not having time just then, he left and locked the condo behind himself as they headed downstairs to the front door.

There was no escort this morning, not in the air, not following them, not several blocks to either side. Ray tipped off Tauriz and requested she tell Jessica. No problems got in the way, and they gathered back up in the parking lot near the Academic Center.

Walking into the building, Ray was glad to see the Dean was talking with the nameless leader. He walked over to the duo, smiling. The Dean followed the information Ray had forwarded via Jessica, and while he clearly wanted to thank the leader, he manfully avoiding the offensive terms.

"Everything going OK, gentlemen?" Ray asked.

As the leader turned to look at him, Ray had a split-second image of the leader holding Tauriz' hand as she cried. "Professor Helms, the Dean has promised us complete control of the songs playing here!"

"I'm glad that there was a way to gift you this in recognition of your long service to the University," Ray said.

"Indeed! I'd LOVE to thank him properly, Ray, but - I won't. Instead of thanking him, perhaps this gift may help?"

"It will assist us in our self-appointed job here, Dean. It is of great worth to us."

"If there is more you need to protect the students here, please, ask me," the Dean said. "I'll be happy to work with you if and when there're other needs. You've done great, great work here."

"I acknowledge your words and appreciate greatly the caution in how you say them, Dean McKennitt. With that, we'll leave you to your business today. Your guests have already arrived, Professor, and are in the auditorium."

"I'd thank you if I could," Ray said.

"You've done us a great good here, Ray. We are appreciative."

"Until when we meet next, be well, good leader."

Turning, and taking the Dean gently by the elbow, Ray walked back to his team as the leader disappeared in the middle of the open floor. The Skepsi troopers blinked and started aggressively scanning the area. "It's OK, gentlemen, lady - that particular gentleman is a friend of ours, regardless of how unusual his abilities may appear to be. I'm told our guests from Boch are already here. Shall we join them?"

Heading to the auditorium, Ray took a moment to thank the Dean for his careful handling of the situation. "They are extremely fragile in bizarre ways, Dean - your handling of them was very apt."

"I'd say I've dealt with stranger folk, but I don't think that's quite true unless perhaps we're talking about you two," the Dean replied, causing Ray to chuckle.

Entering the room, Ray saw five people scattered around the room and another five down on the main floor, poking about the catered goods. "Good morning. I take it you're the folks from Boch?"

An older man, average in looks and height, perhaps twenty pounds over his ideal fighting weight, looked up from stirring his coffee. "Professor Helms?"

"I am. We have here a small team from Skepsi who'll be joining your team on the boundary as well as Jessica Smitts, my lawyer, Tauriz Aoud, my girlfriend, and myself at the table with you and your team."

"Excellent. Paul Boch, third generation, and I lead this little group. My aide, Jennifer Boch of the fourth generation, and our lawyer, Dieter Boch, also of the third generation. Our boundary folks are led by Jimmy here - who'll he be coordinating with?" The family resemblance was quite strong between all four.

"Tomaz, I assume that's you?"

"Yes, Ray. Jimmy, I'm Tomaz, pleasure to meet you." The two guards stepped off to the side to talk shop and determine how best to set up together.

"So, anyone mind if I use first names? I prefer the informality where we can afford it," asked Ray.

"Not a problem with us, Ray," smiled Paul. His smile didn't touch his eyes.

"Everyone suitably caffeinated? Then let's get the pat-downs done, and we'll get to business," Ray said as he handed Hina his wallet, phone, keys, and watch again. Following the pattern they'd set with Skepsi, Jessica passed her things other than a couple pens and the relevant documents to Hina as well.

Ray assumed the position, and Jennifer stepped up and patted him down thoroughly but professionally. Jessica and Tauriz also passed the inspection, unsurprisingly.

Paul then assumed the position and looked surprised when Ray waved him off. "I am not going blindly on trust here, Paul. We'll explain in a couple of minutes. Please, take what seats you like at the table, then we'll settle in."

They did, Jessica passed the NDAs around to the other three and received a copy of each once Ray duplicated them as he had with Skepsi.

"That's a different trick, Ray, can't say I've ever seen that done before."

"And we're just getting started, Paul. Hold on tight - it might be a bit of a bumpy ride. Now, next hard question - are any of you broadcasting or otherwise communicating with anyone other than the three of you? If so, the next step I take will cut those communications, so I felt it wise to warn you of that before I start."

"We're all broadcasting back to Boch, Ray. It's what we normally do as part of appearing in public for members of our family."

"I need to either know that you're just broadcasting a simple, unmodulated signal, or I need to break the signals, Paul. Your call."

"The signals are modulated, Ray. I'd prefer not to have them blocked, as setting them back up is difficult."

"Understood, but having third parties who haven't signed the NDAs at this point involved in the discussion is not a risk I'm willing to accept. It's part of the reason why we're offering a half million for this meeting."

Jessica spoke up, "Dieter, we've tussled in the courts a few times, but I've had nothing but respect for your skills and professionalism. Will it help you to know that both my team, Tongxin, and Skepsi have been through this process, and ended up signing on with Ray?"

Dieter froze when his name came up, slowly thawing as Jessica explained. "Paul, that'd be good information to share with Jimmy," he said.

"Very well. Thank you for that, Ms. Smitts," Paul said. "One second, please, while I let Jimmy know, and he reconfigures our infrastructure appropriately."

"Jessica, please."

"Jessica, then. One second please." Paul walked over to Jimmy and started talking to him in a quiet voice. Ray deliberately didn't listen in, instead asking Tauriz and Jessica how they had liked the giambotte for breakfast. Both said they hadn't had such a dish before, although Jessica did state that it reminded her of the 'garbage plate' she'd had elsewhere in New York.

Paul returned, saying, "OK, I think we're as ready as we can be, Ray. Please block whatever you feel a need to, you've raised not just my curiosity but also the home base's."

Ray wished a Cone of Silence into effect, including only those at the table and Mac. "You'll find those communications blocked at this point, including the camera Jimmy has pointed at you. We're not blocking Jimmy's sight, but he'll have a hard time reading lips at this point."

"Interesting. How are you doing this, Ray?"

"The most straightforward word to explain it is also the most difficult to accept. Magic. Effectively there's a class of technologies that Tauriz and I have access to that allows seemingly magical effects such as this, without visible effects or devices required. We aren't the only ones to have these abilities. If you sign on, we'll be meeting immediately after this meeting with Ms. Smitts team, Skepsi, Tongxin, and yourselves to explain further. For the moment, know they're a lot more capable than just blocking signals.

"We're aware of multiple other organizations with similar but different technologies that have long-term problems with each other and with users of technologies like ours. These problems and players will be addressed more at ten.

"For now, treat it as magic. Other problems we have include NSA being aware of quite a bit of this, exactly how much we're uncertain, and we're not sure we understand how they came to recognize our intriguing capabilities. We expect that NSA's actions have or will shortly bring us to other nation-states and major actors' attention, and we're looking for assistance from a team of professionals in different fields.

"Obviously, we'd be looking at you folks for assistance with logistics and financial matters. I intend to merge the team into one as much as practical, so physical defense should be coordinated with Skepsi, cyber/info with Tongxin, legal with Jessica here, and if you folks sign on logistics and financial with you. My intent isn't to say you've got to stop self-defense measures and rely solely on Skepsi. Instead, we intend you to coordinate with each of the others to maximize each other's primary expertise.

"That's a lot of words. Questions?"

"Seems sensible. We work well with Tongxin, don't expect any problems working with Skepsi or Jessica's people. We are talking about cooperating locally only, correct?"

"Your call, I'm only concerned about the results locally."

"Good answer. I think we can probably do business with you on this. Any unusual requirements?"

"Not at this time. There may be historical artifacts that may need to be moved about, eventually, but that may also be blind optimism on my part. There will need to be firearms and ammunition shipped around, working with Skepsi primarily, plus personnel as needed, ideally with minimal complications."

"Hrm. Artifacts? Those can get expensive."

"Let's leave that as a possibility, which we'll renegotiate if need be. As I said, I have no immediate needs in that vein - I just hope that there may be some required eventually."

"That'd be fine, then. Firearms and ammo we can handle easily. Personnel shouldn't be too difficult. Any idea on the next trip?"

"We're considering trips to the Baltimore & Washington area as well as Long Island. Timing is very much up in the air on the first and might require some subtlety. The Long Island trip would be this coming weekend. And I think there may soon be a trip into the Keane Valley area, but that's extremely vague at this point."

Feeling Tauriz' question via Hinn, Ray took a moment to share his dream of Jann fighting Jann with Jinn hiding in the shadows. As he finished, Paul Boch was saying, "OK, the more time we have to work, the better our solutions will match your needs. I expect we should be able to put something together almost immediately if needs be."

"Understood, I'd not expect perfect comfort and ease if I said I had to get to Cairo as fast as possible. Which to be clear - I don't."