Thaumatology 09 - Dragonfall Read online

  On the step beside Lily was a four-inch high, nut brown woman with a cap of purple hair and delicate, blue-white wings growing from between her shoulder blades. Twill rarely wore clothes either, fairies just preferred not to and it was hard getting stuff in their size that did not belong on a child’s doll. She hated pink.

  ‘Music,’ Twill said.

  Ceri looked around at her. ‘Huh?’

  ‘Well, perhaps harmonics would be a better word.’

  Ceri looked back at the schematic she had built and saw what Twill had seen. She slapped her forehead. ‘I am so dense! Of course! They’ve set up a resonance system. It doesn’t so much contain the field as let it cancel itself out beyond the stones.’ She looked around at the two naked women on the stairs as though suddenly surprised. ‘I’m surrounded by genii.’

  ‘Your parents probably didn’t make you take music lessons,’ Twill replied.

  ‘So does that mean you can replicate it?’ Lily asked.

  Ceri started for the stairs, walking past them. ‘I need to call Cheryl. She has to see this. I think we can build her generator cells up so they’ll actually do the job for us and generate the power, but I need to see what she thinks.’

  Twill lifted up from the step, her feathery wings flapping rapidly even though it was really magic that held her aloft. ‘It’ll be three for lunch then,’ she said as she flew off toward the kitchen.

  ~~~

  Ceri, Twill, and Lily sat on the staircase watching Cheryl doing the same concentrated stare that Ceri had been doing thirty minutes earlier, except that Cheryl was wearing a grin while she did it.

  ‘It’s sort of obvious once you know, isn’t it?’ Cheryl said.

  ‘Apparently music lessons help,’ Lily supplied.

  ‘Twill spotted it,’ Ceri added.

  ‘We’ll have to put you on the paper, Twill,’ Cheryl said, her eyes still on the model.

  ‘Oh, I’m not an academic…’ Twill began.

  ‘Musical consultant,’ Cheryl said; Twill was going down on the contributors list whether she liked it or not. ‘So, the idea is to place collector sets in columns around the circle rather than in the centre?’

  ‘As well as in the centre,’ Ceri corrected. ‘No sense in wasting a known area of power generation. We raise them over the line node on some sort of structure. We put columns around the circumference which should, if we get the geometry right, concentrate the field as well as containing it.’

  ‘Oh this is good,’ Cheryl said, her voice carrying more than a hint of awed enthusiasm. ‘This is really good. You don’t have an estimate yet on the potential output?’

  ‘I could give you a total guess, but that’s all it would be.’

  Cheryl’s excitement was showing; she was almost bouncing. ‘No… No I’ll be good and wait until you’ve done the maths. You know that we get a royalty when this thing goes live? Carter arranged for the three of us to share ownership in the patents.’

  ‘Really, how much?’

  ‘Ah well, that depends on the amount of power we can get out of it.’

  Ceri stood up. ‘I’ll start work on the geometry calculations now.’

  June 27th

  ‘Have you seen this?’ Lily was sat on the sofa in the lounge, the TV viewing sofa, watching the evening news while she tightened the straps on her four-inch heeled sandals. She was dressed for work, while Ceri, sat beside her and focussed on her tablet, was dressed for going out to Battersea; it was a pack night.

  Ceri looked up, her brain still full of resonance calculations, and tried to take in what was happening on the screen. There was a blurred, largely black image with a smudge in the middle and the presenter was saying, ‘…within the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers say that this is the first new comet discovered in the last ten years. They are now sure that this is either an entirely new comet, or one with an exceptionally long orbital period. Observations continue to determine the exact path the comet will take, but it is expected to be at its brightest in the latter part of the year. Amateurs wishing to look for it should find the constellation of Draco after dark tonight.’

  ‘Huh, a new comet. That’s kind of cool.’

  Lily grinned. ‘Unless you believe the old stories about them bringing death and destruction.’

  ‘I don’t. Comets are just big balls of rock and ice flying through space. When they get close to the sun they heat up and leave a trail which is visible from Earth, and because they move fast and older civilisations thought the heavens were unchanging, they thought comets were angels of death and portents of doom.’

  ‘I dunno,’ Lily replied with enough sarcasm to indicate she was kidding, ‘Mayan predictions and now comets. That’s a lot of doom.’

  Ceri gave Lily’s bare thigh a slap, laughing. ‘Mind you, the apocalypse nuts will be all over this.’

  ‘That settles it then.’

  ‘Settles what?’

  ‘Your birthday. Apocalypse party!’

  Ceri buried her face in her hands, shaking her head. Mostly though, it was so Lily could not see her grinning.

  July 28th

  Ceri was in the hall working on a complex set of field equations in the air when Twill zipped in from the kitchen. ‘A man and a woman are coming to the door. Wizards.’

  Ceri frowned. ‘Probably better make sure the coffee is fresh. I’m going to need some soon anyway.’ She turned and headed toward the big, double inner doors.

  ‘My coffee is always fresh,’ Twill commented as she flitted off again.

  There were, indeed, two people standing outside the door, one of them raising his hand to knock. He was handsome, ruggedly so, pushing middle age but doing well on it. Ceri recognised him immediately, but his younger colleague, a pretty but bookish woman, she did not.

  ‘Do you have some sort of proximity sensor on the door,’ Avery Sachs asked, ‘or do the wards tell you when someone comes through them?’

  ‘I have Twill. I take it this is a business visit?’ Sachs was a member of MI5 and had never really paid a visit to their house for any reason other than business of some sort. ‘You’d better come in.’ She turned to let them in. ‘What time do you have?’

  The woman answered, her voice clipped and precise. ‘Eleven-nineteen.’ She had long, strawberry blonde hair wound into a bun so tight Ceri wondered whether it had squeaked being pinned into place. She was in a dark blue suit with a pencil skirt and kitten heels. Her make-up was understated and carefully applied. She probably folded her knickers before putting them in the drawer. She also looked a little embarrassed to be entering the house of a woman wearing nothing but a large, man’s shirt.

  Ceri nodded, closed the door, and followed them into the hall. Then she raised her voice. ‘Lil, put some clothes on, we’ve got visitors.’ A second later there was a creak from the upper stairs as Lily ran for their bedroom. Ceri grinned. ‘We’ll go up to the study. Would you like coffee?’

  ‘Please,’ Sachs said. He, like his colleague, were staring up at the floating banks of symbols, part mathematics, part something else entirely.

  ‘I’m working on the Battersea generator project,’ Ceri supplied. ‘Those are… Those will hopefully tell me where to place the generator pylons.’

  ‘I’ve never seen anyone work like this,’ the woman said.

  Ceri smiled at her. ‘I like a big blackboard, Miss…’

  ‘Sorry,’ Sachs said, suddenly remembering his manners. ‘Doctor Ceridwyn Brent, this is Jennifer Mayhew, one of our analysts.’

  ‘At the Home Office,’ Ceri said with a slightly sarcastic twist.

  Sachs gave her a hard look and headed for the stairs. Ceri smirked and went after him, with Mayhew following her. She took them up to the study on the north side of the house, got them a couple of chairs, and then sat down on her desk chair and crossed her legs. A second or two later Twill flew in followed by a tray of mugs; Mayhew’s eyes widened as she gingerly accepted her coffee from the apparently autonomous tray. Then Lily turned up in a tight-fit
ting mini-skirt and a bandeau top and Mayhew looked like she had walked into an insane asylum.

  ‘Good,’ Sachs said. ‘I need to ask all of you some questions.’

  ‘That sounds serious,’ Lily said as she sank smoothly onto the chaise longe, stretching out happily and ignoring the look of mild horror on Mayhew’s face.

  ‘I doubt it is,’ he replied smoothly. ‘I don’t think you’re involved in this, but we’re required to cover every possibility.’

  ‘Maybe you should get to the point then,’ Ceri suggested.

  ‘Indeed. Jenny?’

  Mayhew was watching Twill come to a delicate landing on Lily’s stomach where she settled and folded her legs into a lotus posture. The analyst shook herself and pulled a file folder from her briefcase. ‘Yes, sorry. We have noticed multiple, anonymous postings of information on the Internet concerning the problems at the Home Office and Special Branch. The correspondent has a lot of sensitive information regarding the methods used to influence people and the extent of the infiltration.’

  ‘We don’t really know the extent of the infiltration,’ Ceri told her. ‘The Greycoats are treating it as need to know. I haven’t read the report on what the forensic practitioners found either. I know what I saw had been done to Lowell when he came here, but that’s about it.’

  Ceri felt her scalp tighten slightly, then Lily burst into a fit of giggles and the sound of wind chimes filled the air as Twill did the same; Ceri just smirked.

  ‘Is something funny?’ Mayhew asked.

  ‘Was that a lie detection spell?’ Ceri asked.

  Mayhew’s cheeks coloured. Sachs said, ‘I did tell her not to bother being covert about it.’

  ‘Kind of pointless too. If I were going to lie I’d have used countermeasures.’

  Sachs nodded. ‘You’re not, I think, sufficiently good to lie to me without giving something away.’ He turned to Mayhew. ‘She’s telling the truth. I did say they would have nothing to do with it. No reason to.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Mayhew did not sound entirely happy about it.

  ‘No other suspects?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘It appears that no one is responsible for the leaks and we’ve had no luck tracing the Internet postings.’ Sachs did not look much happier than Mayhew about that. He pulled in a lungful of air through his nose. ‘That, however, is our problem. The second matter we came here for…’

  Mayhew turned over a page on her notes. ‘We have received intelligence from the FBI in America and noted some odd traffic ourselves. There is a suggestion that a group of Scientists may be planning to disrupt your thaumatology conference.’

  ‘Why would scientists disrupt a thaumatology conference?’ Lily asked.

  ‘Scientists with a capital “S,” Miss Carpenter,’ Sachs supplied. ‘They are a radical, almost religious, group who believe that magic is not scientific. They consider the magical sciences to be a sort of secular heresy. There are a few sympathisers in this country, but they tend to content themselves with debating the subject at length with anyone who’ll listen. The Scientists in America have been responsible for a couple of minor terrorist acts in the past, but they’ve stepped things up recently. There was an attempt to blow up that big collider thing last month, and now this.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ceri said, ‘but why are you telling me? I’m not doing security for the conference.’

  ‘The FBI intercepted a specific email,’ Mayhew said, ‘which indicated a list of primary targets. You’re on it.’

  Ceri blinked. ‘Cheryl?’

  Sachs nodded. ‘Doctor Tennant is on it too. Malcolm Charles, Arthur Barnes, Barclay Macbay, a couple of others. Frankly, I’m not worried about most of them since they already have very tight security, but you and Cheryl Tennant…’

  ‘I’ll have Cheryl move in here,’ Ceri said. ‘If necessary I can have the pack provide bodyguards.’

  Mayhew frowned. ‘I don’t see how that’s going to help. We just walked in here…’

  ‘And Twill knew we were on the grounds,’ Sachs interrupted. ‘Doctor Brent’s parents handled the wards on the reception area at Thames House, Jenny, and most of the wards the Greycoats use at their HQ. This place is likely one of the safest places in the country.’ He frowned slightly and looked back to Ceri. ‘That boyfriend of yours is certified as a Special Advisor now, yes?’ Ceri nodded. ‘All right. I’d suggest you do consider some werewolf bodyguards. As I recall, the Battersea pack is good at blending in. That could be quite effective. If we hear anything specific Mayhew will be in touch. She’ll be coordinating our end of this operation.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ceri said, and then she frowned as a thought struck her. ‘How come you lot are handling this leak anyway? Isn’t that Special Branch’s job?’

  Sachs sat back in his seat and took a long drink from his coffee mug. ‘Yes, it is, but currently we trust them less than I trust you. Admittedly, my superiors were less trusting, which is why they assigned Mayhew to handle liaison with you rather than me. Apparently I might have fallen prey to your seductive charms and been compromised.’ His lips were twitching; Mayhew’s cheeks were colouring.

  ‘None of them have met Lily, have they?’ Ceri said.

  ‘No, they haven’t.’

  Lily could resist anything but temptation, and this was too tempting. ‘She is kind of cute.’

  Mayhew looked utterly mortified.

  Part Two: Science!

  Holloway, London, July 9th, 2010

  ‘How was your birthday weekend?’ Ceri asked as she sat with Cheryl in one of the main lecture theatres of the Holloway Campus. They were waiting for the opening speeches of the conference and Ceri was checking through the conference bag. It was pretty much the same as the year before. Pens, notepads, gimmicks, all with the logos of various sponsors, and a paper guide to the conference.

  ‘Very good. Relaxing. Tiring.’

  Ceri snapped a memory stick from the bag into her tablet and, as expected, watched as a database of the conference events and lectures fired up. ‘How can it be relaxing and tiring?’

  ‘Friday night birthday party at the Dragon, go home with Alec and Carter. Saturday night second birthday party at the Dragon, go to Carter’s place at Winchester with him and Alec. Sunday by the pool… some of the time, with Carter and Alec. Alec drove me and Carter back to town this morning.’

  Ceri contemplated the itinerary for a second. ‘So I should be amazed you aren’t walking bow-legged?’

  ‘And nursing a hangover.’

  Ceri chuckled. ‘Well, same present as last year from me and Lily. Whenever you want to collect.’

  Cheryl’s cheeks coloured slightly. ‘That club you go to…’

  ‘I assume you mean Demi-monde.’

  ‘You can take guests, right?’

  ‘All right, if that’s what you want. After the conference? When we’re not being threatened by mad scientists, sort of thing.’

  Cheryl’s response was postponed as the Dean of LMU walked onto the stage and the lights dimmed. ‘Well, here we go,’ Cheryl said. Ceri just looked down at her tablet, planning which lectures she would attend.

  ~~~

  Ceri felt Professor Edward Perry long before she saw him bearing down on the table where she was having lunch with Cheryl and Peter Mallow, a cryptozoologist and one of Cheryl’s friends. Ed was also a friend of Cheryl’s, a thaumatology professor from Aberystwyth who had met her at one of the first thaumatology conferences in Cambridge. However, as Athro, Ed was Ceri’s sorcery tutor, a dragon over thirty-thousand years old.

  Cheryl got up from her chair to meet him. ‘Ed, you’re late.’

  Ed gave her a hug and then threw up his arms in exasperation. ‘The train was late. I should be used to it. I would be used to it if it had been the local service, but this was the West Coast Line. Some sort of accident just south of Birmingham. Entire main line was halted for two hours and it took them time to get restarted.’ Ed was good at showing exasperation. His human form was tall, gangly and stooped, and
he tended to dress in corduroy trousers and tweed jackets with elbow patches. His shirts were never ironed, except badly.

  ‘You’re here now,’ Cheryl said. ‘Do you know Peter Mallow?’

  ‘We’ve never met,’ Ed said, reaching across the table to shake Peter’s hand, ‘but I’ve read your work and of course I recall the… accident.’

  Peter, who was a younger version of Ed in many ways, grunted. His “accident” had happened in France, but the tale had flashed rapidly around the entire academic community. Peter had been bitten by a lycanthrope while on a field trip. Hurt and feverish from the initial stages of the disease, he had been unable to get to a hospital quickly enough for anti-viral treatment and had contracted the condition. ‘It’s a good thing that the conference is this week and not last,’ Peter commented. ‘This time last week was the full moon. I would’ve missed the evening activities and I tend to be grouchy during the day.’

  ‘At least it was during the night,’ Ceri pointed out. ‘It could have been peaking during the day.’

  Peter grimaced. ‘I really hate it when that happens. No change, but I feel like my skin is trying to crawl off my body all the time.’

  Ceri grimaced. She knew more or less how it felt; she could shape-shift, she knew the odd, tingling feeling when she did it. Having it go on for hours though…

  ‘Well, you didn’t miss much,’ Cheryl was saying. ‘The usual opening speeches. Alfred said it was glorious to have such an international array of various different disciplines in one place. Barclay Macbay gave a little speech about it being fascinating to have so many different great scientists under one roof.’