Eric and the Quantum Dragon
Chapter 12

10th District Junior High School

Thursday December 20th, V26 (2046)

Eric waited against the wall of the café near his high school, as patient as only an Avatar could be. He watched the early morning workers enter the popular café with empty hands and struggle out loaded with recyclable cups and bags of pastries. The smell was enticing and he had already relented and purchased three warm cinnamon rolls, waiting in their paper bags for his friends to arrive.

It was Carmody who spotted him first, strolling along the pavement with her oversized lunchbox and school bag hanging from her shoulders and Excalibur swinging idly in her hands. Her face lit up with a smile, the one that transformed her plain features into quite a beauty.

“Morning Eric!” she called out, jogging the last dozen meters to his side. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you and Sarah” he announced. “I wanted to talk to both of you before school today”

“Okaaayy” Carmody said, making it somewhere between a reply and a question. Her eyes fell on the paper bags he had clutched in one hand, the logo of the café quite clearly visible. “Oh, what did you get from there? Mum says they make the best pastries in the District!”

“Cinnamon rolls” Eric told her. He presented one of the bags to her so she took it with a wary expression.

“Is this a bribe, Eric?” she demanded. “What did you do now?”

“It’s more of an apology” he replied. “But can I wait for Sarah to get here?”

“Sure” Carmody answered, opening her paper bag and breathing in the intoxicating odour of warm sweet cinnamon. “This is too good to wait. I am eating mine now!”

Seeing Carmody bite into her roll, lips smacking as she ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ was too much for Eric so he opened his bag too. Soon the pair of them were eating the soft baked dough, commenting on the perfect mix of cinnamon and the sticky pink icing.

“Do you two need a room?” Sarah asked, observing their rapture as they licked their fingers clean of the last remnants of icing. She walked up to her friends and dumped her school bag and lunchbox on the pavement with her usual lack of care. Noticing the paper bags in their hands she looked at Eric and demanded “Where is mine?”

Eric handed her the remaining bag which earned him a small smile of gratitude from the girl.

“Thanks, Eric” she said. “Now I don’t have to punch you”

Like her friends before her, the smell coming from the paper bag was irresistible so she tore it open and devoured the sweet roll in mere moments.

“So, what did you do now?” Sarah asked Eric when she was done, making sure there was no crumbs or leftover pink icing in the paper bag.

“I just wanted to apologise to both of you” Eric announced. “I know you have been waiting for a decision from me and I finally know what I must do”

“What is that?” Carmody asked him and both girls watched Eric closely, their expressions guarded.

“I like you both very much and if I asked one of you to be close to me I would hurt the other” Eric explained in his slow deliberate manner. “I can’t accept that so I have decided we should all just remain friends”

“You are putting us in the Friend Zone!” Sarah yelled at him. Carmody was a little more philosophical about it and just shrugged her shoulders.

“I can accept that for now, because I want us to remain friends” Carmody told him. “Maybe next year it will be different, but let’s go with this right now”

Sarah glared at her two friends, her right fist clenching like she was going to punch at least one of them. Then her expression softened and she nodded her head in agreement.

“Fine. Friends it is” she agreed.

She moved closer to Eric and laid her still clenched fist against his stomach. He looked down at her hand enquiringly and she took the opportunity to deliver a quick kiss on his surprised lips.

“Huh?” he asked her when she pulled away.

“Now we are even!” she declared.

“What does that mean?” Eric asked her in confusion but Sarah was not looking at him. Her fierce blue-green eyes were fixed on Carmody.

“Agreed!” Carmody solemnly replied then burst into laughter at the look on Eric’s face. “Come on, we need to get to school!”

With that the two girls grabbed Eric by an arm each and together they dragged him down the street and towards their school.

Abbey of the Consolidated Churches, 7th District

It was still early in the morning, most of the employees and followers of the many religions that had offices here still asleep in their beds. As Nata’s heavy boots tapped along the tiled lobby she wished she was snug and warm in her own bed also.

The central administration building for the major religions in the Zone was called the Tower of Babel by those who worked in it, an amazing structure that rose like a stepped pyramid to the very heavens built from glass and concrete. Every registered religion had offices in the Tower, with Buddhists rubbing shoulders with Muslims and Christians sharing water coolers with Shintoists.

In the rest of the world they didn’t get along, but in Pan City they had no choice but to cooperate. If they didn’t the Board of Governors was quite prepared to ban their worship and deport any followers with no rights of appeal. It made working in the Tower an interesting test of religious tolerance and so far there had been no major incidents. Nata wondered how long that would last considering the events playing out in Europe as winter rolled in over the Northern hemisphere.

She was meeting the newly appointed Bishop at the offices the Order operated from in the Tower. The entire thirty second floor was dedicated to the Holy Roman Church and her Order had three offices, one of which was a plush corner space with views over the financial district of Pan City. Nata was not looking forward to this meeting as her new superior was unhappy the Sword was a young woman like herself.

She knocked once on the outer door and stepped inside, catching a glare of disapproval from the Secretary, a grey haired and pale skinned Sister Luciana from the European branch, brought along by the new Bishop when he fled Greece.

“Good morning, Sister” Nata greeted her politely.

“You’re late, Sister Impassionata. The Bishop has been waiting over ten minutes for you!”

Nata checked her watch and confirmed she was in fact five minutes early. The clock above the secretary’s desk showed the same time as her watch.

“My apologies, Sister” she said placatingly. “I must have mis-read the time of our meeting”

With that she gave a peremptory knock on the inner door and marched into her superior’s office. Bishop Phillipo Andros turned from the window as she entered and gave her an unwelcoming glance.

He was in his late sixties according to the files yet he looked like a fit forty year old at most. His hair was pale white, swept back from his high forehead in a smooth arc to touch his spine at the rear. Cool grey eyes in a rugged, tanned face gave him the air of a veteran soldier, which in truth he was.

“So glad you could make it, Sister” he told her, his mouth remaining in a grim straight line. He sat in a plain office chair on his side of the desk but did not indicate that Nata could sit so she remained standing. “What were the results of your investigation into last night’s incident?”

“We are still waiting for the lab tests on the ampoule the trainee nurse injected but there can be no doubt it was HEx” she began. “The woman herself was operated on at the hospital and has lost one arm from her right elbow down. It was too badly damaged to be saved and had to be amputated. Her body also had multiple eruptions of the flesh, all of which was consistent with Wild Magic”

“Were you able to check if she has any residual access to the Dark Side?” the Bishop asked her, steepling his broad hands on the desk in front of him.

“I managed to use an Obscuration spell to get past the hospital security” Nata told him. “The woman showed no talent at all when I placed a Candlestone in her remaining hand”

“So she is like the others” Bishop Andros muttered. “A violent surge of Wild Magic coupled with unbridled rage, and then it leaves them utterly cut off from the Dark Side. It makes no sense what this drug was meant to achieve”

“As a terror weapon it is proving surprisingly effective in the Euro-Bloc” Nata reminded him, which earned her another unhappy glance.

“I am well aware of what is happening in Europe, Sister” he reprimanded her. “As you say, the Wild Magic outbreaks are causing a lot of casualties and collateral damage”

“Could that be what is intended here in the Zone?” Nata suggested. “It could be an attempt to destabilise the City and the control of the Board of Governors”

“Perhaps” he reluctantly agreed. “However the number of incidents is still far too low to be a serious threat. I keep feeling like we are missing something, that there is a bigger scheme in progress”

“I agree” Nata said. “I will keep investigating and see what leads I can unearth”

“Very well, Sister. Please keep me informed of any developments as soon as they come to light”

“Yes Bishop” Nata turned to leave and gave a final “God be with you”

“And also with you, Sister” the Bishop responded.

Nata almost made it to the door when the Bishop called out to her back.

“Oh by the way Sister, I would recommend you stop spending time with the Awakened children at that high school, or with that Avatar of Archimedes”

“Do you mean Carmody and Eric, Sir?” she asked, refusing to face her superior.

“Yes, if that is their names. As a Sword of the Archangel Michael you need to be more selective about those you associate with”

“They are good people, sir” she responded, her voice low and sharp.

“The Awakened and the Enhanced are not natural, Sister. They are not part of God’s plan for his children. You will keep your distance from them except when your mission requires it. Is that understood?”

“I understand you perfectly, Bishop” she answered and left as quickly as she could.

Archimedes Tower, Pan City

Jericho-Two waited patiently on the windswept landing pad, his augmented body holding firm against the howling gale that curled around the wind shield to the sea-ward side. Landing lights flashed around the perimeter of the pad that lay one kilometre above the surrounding city, glinting from the dark glasses he habitually wore.

The VTOL moved closer, the engine pods rotating from flight to hover mode as the Guard pilot expertly brought the aircraft over the central beacon. Four sets of landing wheels extended and with a gentle thump the machine touched down, a landing the pilot had performed many times in even worse conditions.

Docking clamps secured the aircraft as the engines powered down and Jericho moved forward to welcome his guest. A side hatch opened and a folding stair extended itself with a hiss unheard over the roaring wind.

Sofia Abrams appeared in the doorway and smiled nervously down at her host.

“Is it always this windy up here?” she shouted to Jericho, who only nodded, knowing the futility of trying to hold a conversation on the highest point of Pan City. He looked on with appreciation as the short dress and Bolero jacket the teacher was wearing flattened itself against her shapely body and the woman smiled when she noticed his gaze.

He extended his hand to her as she alighted from the steps and quickly ushered the woman into the lee of the massive windshield. At its centre was a protected alcove containing a private elevator that led only to the penthouse suite below. Once they were inside, he sent a command to the penthouse dumb AI and the elevator descended swiftly.

“You know you didn’t have to send your pilot for me, Jericho” she told him in the close confines of the elevator car. “I could have flown myself here”

Jericho smiled at that comment and ushered his guest into the penthouse lounge, a large space nearly thirty meters across with windows and balconies facing in every direction over the vast city.

“Unfortunately the Tower’s automated defences would have shot you down if you came within five hundred meters” he explained in the cold and emotionless manner he typically adopted.

“Oh” Sofia responded with surprise. “Maybe I’ll have to try it with the Infiltration Suit and see how close I can get!”

Jericho looked startled and Sofia had to give a little laugh.

“It’s Okay, I’m only joking” she explained with a smile. “I really don’t want to be a guinea pig for that kind of experiment”

“Sorry, Sofia, it’s just that is a very good idea!”

“Huh? I really was kidding, Jericho. This Tower has all kinds of beam and projectile weapons doesn’t it? The Infiltration Suit wouldn’t stand up to those kinds of attacks!”

“No, but I think the latest version of the suit may well be completely undetectable to the Tower sensors!” Jericho was in his element now and Sofia enjoyed seeing him so animated, even if it was about sending her flying against the most heavily defended tower in the world.

“It really is something we need to get data on. There could be a weakness in the Tower defences if the suit can get in really close without detection”

“Okay, Jericho, that is enough technical talk for now” Sofia admonished him. “I thought you invited me here for dinner and some pleasant conversation!”

“What? Oh, of course. My apologies, Sofia. It is rare that I have any guests in this penthouse other than officials from the Board of Governors”

He led her to the dining area of the suite, where a long table had been set with cutlery and napkins for two at opposite ends from each other. Sofia regarded the five meter long dining table with dismay.

“Is there an intercom so we can talk to each other?” she enquired. Jericho looked uncertain how to reply to that comment, so she took the tableware and glasses from one end and placed them next to the other set. “See, now we won’t need to shout to each other!”

She sat herself down and patted the adjacent chair. “Sit” she commanded and had to smile inwardly when one of the most influential men in Pan City duly sat down. “Good boy” she added and had to smile openly at him now.

“So, what are having for dinner?” she asked him and tucked a napkin under her chin. “I am absolutely starving!”

=====

The dinner had been as good as Sofia had hoped, cooked by the top chefs that Pan City had to offer and served by the silent and unobtrusive Wang Lee. The private secretary had served their meals and disappeared into some hidden nook in the penthouse, only reappearing to clear their plates and serve a delectable dessert.

It was still too windy to venture onto the balconies, so Sofia and Jericho had settled on a soft padded sofa that faced the landward views of the city. Wang Lee had set down a tray of coffees and small wrapped chocolates, bitter dark ones that Sofia favoured, then vanished for good into the recesses of the suite.

Sofia settled herself against the deep padded backrest, patting her stomach contentedly. She had already discarded her short jacket, leaving her bare shoulders and neck exposed in the dim lights of the suite.

“I had not figured you to be such a romantic, Jericho” she said to her host, turning and watching him with dark eyes. “A fancy dinner then coffee in a dark room, the two of us alone on this sofa”

“I just wanted to spend some time with you, before the busy weekend” he replied with an air of confusion. He looked at her and then at the surrounding suite. “Is this romantic?”

Sofia burst out laughing and Jericho’s frown transformed into a smile of his own. The woman regarded him and acknowledged that like his younger version, her student Eric, the man was damned handsome when he wanted to be.

“I like spending time with you too, Jericho” she replied. “And yes, it is romantic” She leaned closer to him, her hand reaching up to caress his pale face. “I think our relationship has reached the next level, so can you take those damned glasses off for once?”