He made his fifth visit in as many hours to the Moon of Opportunity's communications terminal. "We have heard nothing from them-any of them-for two days! Two days! I know that Rafik feels he needs no advice in the administration of House Harakamian, but he could send word that he is well, he could say if he has had word from the Giloglies, he could say if the Condor has arrived yet at Maganos Moonbase. Am I so interfering, so difficult to talk to, that I am abandoned by my beloved family when they could most use my wisdom? Is consultation with me desired only when they wish to avail themselves of my wealth? By the three books and the Three Prophets I am sorely distressed and feel greatly wronged."
"Now, Haffy, my potentate of passion," his lovely wife Karina said, laying a scrumptiously plump beringed hand upon his chest while regarding him from her large and lovely eyes made deepest purple by art and by proximity to the priceless catseye chrysoberyl jewels she bore in abundance upon her shell-like ears, her delicate wrists, and her delicious decolletage. The parts of her person not covered in jewels were swathed in drifts of gossamer in a sunset of purples, lavenders, violets, and plums. His treasure, his beauty, his bride, and yet even her presence did not soothe him.
"Maybe something's just wrong with the relays," she said. "One little glitch in the nearest one, and you know how that affects our communications."
"Yes, my delectable dumpling, but to hear nothing! Now that I ponder upon it, no merchant ships have docked of late, none of the cargoes for which I have already paid good currency, no one from home at all."
"I understand that you are disturbed, O my lord of love, and it pains me to see you so. Therefore, I shall look into my scrying pool and employ my heightened sensitivity to the harmonies of the cosmos to determine what is causing this deplorable lack of consideration on the part of our beloved friends and relations."
"Oh, that would be nice, dear, how thoughtful, thank you," Hafiz said, a trifle flatly. Karina meant well and truly believed she had telepathic and even magical powers; although even to him, her doting husband, it was very obvious that for the most part she had all of the psychic sensitivity of a food replicator. Perhaps less. But it did not take any mind-reading ability whatsoever for Hafiz to realize that any implication on his part that her powers were less astounding than she proclaimed them to be would be hurtful to her and detrimental to the recreational marital activities they so deeply and mutually enjoyed.
So he would graciously support her efforts to seek information in her way while he sought the same information in his.
"Go you to prepare yourself, to meditate and free your mind to receive the images in your waters, my lavishly endowed love, and I will join you in an hour's time."
"Certainly. I go now and await your pleasure, most spectacular of all spouses."
When she had gone he turned back to the communications terminal and to the young Linyaari boy, Miikaye, interning with his chief communications specialist, and said, "Send for the captains of the two ships in my private fleet that are docked here. I have a mission for them."
"That would be finding out why we've had no word from the relays, sir?" the boy asked. Hafiz smiled paternally. Most Linyaari addressed him as Acorna did, as Uncle Hafiz, but it was good that the child had learned the proper form of address to one's employer early. Of course, "sir" was not as good as "my lord" as Hafiz's more experienced vassals called him, but it was a start.
"Yes, my lad. You have interpreted my order most correctly."
The boy smiled, with his mouth closed so as not to show his teeth, since to do so was considered hostile in his culture. "Yes, sir. Not too difficult considering the number of inquiries you have made yourself already today."
"Even so, my son, even so."
When his captains came his orders were simple, "Go forth and seek the truth. Also seek to repair the accursed relays if they are down again. You, Captain Ling, will follow the course set by Captain Becker and my beloved daughter to the first relay. You, Captain Gallico, will travel to Makahomia, and confer with the regent Nadhari Kando concerning the presentation of a kitten for my new godchild and will also gather intelligence from Nadhari and other useful informants during your journey."
Both men nodded and withdrew to prepare their ships for their respective voyages.
Practical matters seen to, Hafiz retired to the private and personal garden of delight he shared with his beloved. She was seated beside the glass and titanium birdbath he had ordered to be installed when she requested a small body of water for her prophetic pursuits. Her arms were crossed on the edge of the small pool, her head upon them, and he thought she was meditating perhaps, or catching a quick nap until, hearing him, she raised her head and turned. Her eyes and nose were both red and rather wet.
"Oh, Hafiz, it is truly truly awful. I don't know what we are to do!"
"What, my anxious angel? What demons dare distress you? Tell me that I may slay them!"
"No demons. No clear images at all. But the waters turned black, then red, and that means only one thing, well, two actually."
"Yes?"
"Gloom and doom. Disaster and despair. Bad omens indeed. Our loved ones are headed into terrible cataclysmic danger. Whatever will they do? However will we help them?"
He peered across her into the birdbath, which looked clear except perhaps for a bit of pond scum. He'd have to speak to the gardener about that. He sighed and stroked her hair. "Come, my darling, you are overwrought and will spoil your complexion and your appetite. Your Hafiz has already taken steps to evaluate this doom of which you speak. As for worrying about what they will do, please recall, my ravishing raven of revelations, that we are speaking here of Acorna and Aari, who destroyed the Khleevi menace. They will manage."
"Yes, but, Haffy, they have Khorii with them, and she is just a child."
"Ah, but she is their child. And in that you must take comfort."
"But that may just be the problem, Hafiz. Have you considered that?"
You know, Hafiz thought, she might have a point.
On the fringes of the industrial district of the city of Corazon on the residential and tourist world of Paloduro, third in prominence in the Solojo star system, inside a rented high school gymnasium, a battle raged in an altogether different dimension.
Jalonzo Allende, as Quetzacoatl, struggled for hegemony over the game world with the other contestants in the weeklong Carnivale Marathon Brujartisano Tournament. As usual, his full attention was on his game. As usual, he was winning. Thus he was unaware of exactly when the plague first struck.
A master strategist, Jalonzo made up his decks and plotted his moves with the high intelligence and grasp of complex patterns that had allowed him to progress far beyond his chronological age in his studies of the sciences.
He knew his abuelita, his grandmother, devoutly hoped he would someday apply his talents to more realistic and lucrative pursuits than gaming. Jalonzo had plans, but since the death of his parents when he was nine, he hadn't bothered telling people about them much, not even Abuelita. For the moment, the game was what mattered.
Though he had only been playing it four years, since just after his parents died, Jalonzo was a seasoned veteran, a mighty warrior-mage, with more wins than anyone in the city of Corazon. He was proud of his comparatively vast library of game rules, history, variations, and back stories, his albums full of cards and his collection of unusual dice-enough to fill most of his clothing locker at home. He had had to pay for only a tiny fraction of these treasures-the rest were his loot, winnings from his victories.