Thereafter Chapter 16: Parallel Power
Michael solidifies a new contact, along with a laundry list of problems and concerns. Reunited with his fellow Exalted, a new crush and a new secret makes life complicated, but has nothing on the schemes to come.
The shift in Bartholomew’s bearing was slight, but undeniable. There was an image of the kindly professor that pulled back ever so slightly. His spine straightened, there was a calculated light in his eyes that wasn’t there before.
“I see you have me figured out, very good Exalted.” He said.
“It was mostly luck on my end if I’m honest, do you mind if I sit back down?”
Bartholomew gestured a “go ahead” type of movement.
“We clearly have more to discuss.”
Michael had suspected as much, but he had been unable to help himself. The little moment of old-fashioned detective drama flair had been something he’d always dreamed of pulling off.
“To start off,” Michael said. “I mean you no ill will. That was true when we were both civvies, and it’s true now.”
“Civvies?”
“Civilians.”
“Ah, so opposed to being military combatants then, I suppose.”
“The implications aren’t ideal, I will admit,” Michael said with a shrug. “We’re not combatants, we’re not at war.”
“At time of speaking…”
“At time of speaking,” Michael agreed. “There is every chance our respective loyalties will get us into conflict in the future. For what it’s worth, I don’t plan on it.”
“Likewise. There is no denying that our… let’s call them factions, are potentially going to wind up coming to blows.”
“Are you sure? Nih-Ka seemed pretty chill when I talked to him.”
“Pardon my imprecision,” Bartholomew said, “I do suspect the attack will come from the Council. Eltern in particular seems determined to make an enemy out of Mr. Narrowreach.”
Michael nodded, he couldn’t exactly say he disagreed, but still it felt like a simplification.
“Eltern certainly isn’t Nih-Ka’s biggest fan, I’ll grant you that, but for what it’s worth I don’t think he’s sharpening his knives.” Michael said. “He’s looking for some way to formalize the Council’s rule, or come up with some other governing body. He won’t jeopardize that by waging war, or at least I think so.”
“Hmh, yes, unless Nih-Ka tries doing the same thing.”
“Do you think he is?”
“Not if he can help it, I say. He’s looking to create a structure of parallel power I think, like it was back in the Old Country.”
“Like a criminal, uh… underworld… I guess?”
“Just so. The government keeps the peace, keeps the streets clean, and meanwhile, Nih-Ka provides the finer things in life without much concern for the, well, the legality of it all I suppose.”
“It’s a nasty business.”
“Not much nastier than governance, I say
“Well, where does that leave us?” Michael found himself asking. He’d had a plan when he sat back down again, but frankly a large amount of it had revolved around Bartholomew getting violent in response to his little pivot. Him seeming very reasonable was unexpected, and although it required more honesty, towards the wizard and to himself, Michael had the notion it’d pay off in some way down the line.
“We go back to our respective masters, keep an eye out for anything that could escalate matters,” Bartholomew suggested. “If you need to speak to me, I will be found in the vicinity of Worship most days, and if not, leave a message to me with the bartender. You can trust him, good chap, just don’t ask him about the hand..”
“Worship?”
“Oh, pardon me Exalted, I keep forgetting how new you are to this place. It’s the hottest spot in town, which granted doesn’t say much, it’s a… let’s call it a carousing den. Good drinks, live music when we can swing it, looks like a pyramid with some modifications, can’t miss it.”
“So it’s a… night club?”
“Oh it’s open all day, but I suppose some sort of club isn’t a bad description for it.”
“Right. Looks like a pyramid, ok. What will you do if you need to contact me?”
The glint in Bartholomew’s eye was that of a much younger man, it didn’t promise mischief as much as it left the door open in full knowledge that Mischief was out and about and might just take advantage of the situation. “Oh don’t you worry about that Michael, I have my ways.”
“Right… Well it was nice to meet you,” Michael said as he got up in earnest. “I’d say to give my best to Nih-Ka, but I think it’s for the best if he learns nothing of this little meeting.”
“I’ll say the same for Eltern,” Bartholomew said. “In fact I’d take it as a kindness if the particulars of this little tete-a-tete was treated with some confidentiality.”
“Of course…”
“Good, don’t forget to return your cup, there’s a good lad” Bartholomew said before looking down into a thick leather-bound book that Michael could swear hadn’t been there a second ago.
Michael made his way out of the cantina, another process that took less time than he had assumed. His knee was stiff, even though he hadn’t been sitting that long, but on the bright side there was a measure of automation to his cane movement, and it felt way less clumsy that it had before this little break. Taking breaks, Michael decided, was a good habit to get into.
He got a fair few thoughts into the problem of how to navigate back to the Castle or to find his fellow heroes when he heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, Mikey!”
Michael turned his head to see Alicia, waving at him, together with Lex doing some sort of welcome dance and Felipe, walking along like he didn’t really know these two other weirdos.
“Hey guys,” Michael said. “Where’d Eltern go?”
“He had other business to attend to, ported straight out,” Alicia said.
“He was all like,” Felipe said before launching into an uncannily good imitation of Eltern’s smooth bassy voice “I trust you to find your way back and not burn anything to the ground Exalted.”
Michael couldn’t help but laugh. “Wow, that’s really good Felipe.”
Felipe reacted in a way Michael had not expected. Instead of the haughty “of course” or something similar, Felipe smiled. It was a mischievous sort of smile, the smile of a little troublemaker who arguably grew up, but still, there was a touch of innocence there, the kind of miscreant who’d you trust to slip you a whoopie cushion but wouldn’t hurt a fly. Michael became aware that he was staring, and cleared his throat, all the more to alleviate the burning sensation on his ears.
“Anyway, did you guys have fun with the scavengers?”
“Eh, they were about what I expected,” Lex said. “Buncha adrenaline junkies with above-average asses and thighs. Nice looking at but not too exciting to talk to.”
“I thought they seemed nice,” Alicia said. It wasn’t quite a rebuke, but there was a slight edge to it. “It’s a big responsibility to be the only source of food to this place.”
“That it is,” Lex agreed. “Actually, while we’re walking, do you mind if I air an idea I’ve been working on?”
“Now this isn’t the Lex I know,” Felipe said. “Whatever happened to little mx. “Shut Up The Inteligents Are Talking” I wonder?”
“Felipe, shut up. The intellectuals are talking.” Lex said dryly.
Felipe snapped his fingers “There it is!”
“Anyway, sure Lex, let’s hear it,” Michael said, keen on moving on from a chain of thoughts that was forming in his head at blazing speed.
“Ok, so food is a challenge here in Thereafter,” Lex said as they ambled through the streets, no more in a rush than the many contented cantina patrons ambling back to their dwelling. “Duplication magic is covering the shortfall for now, but scavenging the detritus clouds aren’t sustainable in the long term.”
“We don’t even know how long that long term is,” Alicia added. “The Scavengers have tried to chart the dimensions of the closest detritus clouds, but their numbers didn’t look very exact.”
“Exactly,” Lex said. “This is to say the quicker we manage to get some kind of agriculture up in this bitch the less likely we are to wind up in a bad place what nutrition are considered.”
“Or put more plainly: We gotta do something before we start starving,” Lex said.
“Yes,” Lex said. “So far the scavengers have been on the lookout for soil we could use to farm in, but there’s very little of it, and what exists has been freeze-dried by exposure to the void so it’s no good. Fortunately, I happen to know that there’s a method of farming that is dedicated to just such challenges back on earth.”
“Oh yeah,” Michael said. “Hydroponics or whatever? Growing food crops in water?”
“Yes, well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Lex said. “And unfortunately, none of us are hydroponic engineers, so there are practical challenges… probably.”
“I used to date a guy who did hydroponics,” Felipe said. “His weed was excellent but he was a bit of a mama’s boy.”
“Birds of a feather,” Alicia mumbled under her breath.
“It could also be that it’s easier than I fear, I have no way of telling,” Lex said. “We’ll start small to figure out how it works. Considering how steady the water supply is around here, there’s not much we’re risking apart from the seed stock. Fortunately finding seeds and nuts have been a priority so we’re not short on that.”
“Right, but there’s one thing I do wonder,” Michael said, gesturing vaguely to the faintly glowing dome that separated Thereafter from the void outside it. “Light. Plants need UV rays to grow, and it’s not like we get much sun here in the city… or any really.”
“That one’s actually pretty easy to solve,” Lex said. “Eltern has developed a way of producing sun rays from magic sigils. It’s not flawless given, you know, the magic problem, but it should work as long as we manage to supply a suitable environment for the plants to grow in the first place.”
“Man, it’s just never the things you think will be a problem that turns out difficult around here, y’know?” Michael mused
“Turns out the world of magic is as full of frustrating limitations and dizzying posibility.” Lex said as they shrugged.
“A bit like our world like that I guess,” Alicia mused. “You just get so used to the limitations that you don’t see them any more. It’s just how things are, y’know?”
“Sure, sure, anyway,” Felipe said as they navigated a throng of bickering elves and a rhinofolk woman who had decided that the assumed right of way didn’t apply to her and thus was causing a fair bit of commotion. “How was the cantina? As boring as I suspect? Or worse?”
“Oh it was nice I guess,” Michael didn’t even think about the lie. He had never been particularly good at hiding the truth, but this time it flowed from him as easy as breathing. He didn’t know his fellow exalted heroes all that well, but this little lie still felt like a transgression. A transgression that was neither hard to do nor challenging to maintain, but still a transgression. “I’m not a huge fan of Coffee Simulacra, I find, but it does the job at least.”
“Simulacra?” Felipe asked.
“Coffee duplicated by magic. It does… something to the taste. The kick remains though.”
“Oh yeah, that stuff tastes like absolute ass, and not in the fun way.” Lex said with a grimace. “It’s slightly better than what the process does to tea, though.”
“Do I want to know?” Felipe asked. “This feels like one of those “I’d rather not ask” things.”
“Probably, but I get the feeling you’ll ask anyway”
And so they went on, bickering good-naturedly. Michael honestly couldn’t believe the slight deflection had been enough. In a way he had hoped it’d fail. It was probably best to keep the news about Bartholomew on a need-to-know basis for now, but there was a non-insignificant part of his brain that wished he’d just blurt it out already. This whole situation between Nih-Ka and the council felt like a situation that might turn tense, at which point him keeping secrets would do him no favors. That said, he reminded himself that even in that scenario, having a trump card to pull out at an opportune moment might be an actual life saver.
As they entered The Castle, the group came across a tall, very square-shaped fellow which Michael came to assume was Quartermaster Keegan, a giant of a man who presumably was put on quartermaster duties to avoid winning entire wars by beating enemy generals up with their own lieutenants. Keegan, who was seemingly busy moving a series of crates up a set of stairs, grunted at them in acknowledgment.
“Exalted,” He said curtly. “I’d take it as a kindness if you do not use these stairs at this moment.
“Oh, of course,” Michael said, only somewhat cursing his inability to plot out an alternate route. “Do you need any help with all of that?” He motioned for the boxes
“No.” Keegan said before returning his full attention to his work, seemingly happy with leaving the social interaction on that note.
“Well in that case we’ll leave you be,” Alicia said, gently nudging the group deeper into the Castle for an alternate route.
Felipe didn’t quite wait until they were out of earshot before he let his estimation of the quartermaster’s character be known. “Well that guy’s weird, right?”
“He’s a man of few words, but as an anti-authoritarian I am obliged to mistrust his cop ass.” Lex said, their tone making it somewhat unclear if they were kidding or not.
“He doesn’t strike me as our biggest fan,” Alicia said. “I don’t love that, but I can’t say I blame him.”
“How so?” Lex asked, franker than they usually were.
“I mean I know that I’m good, that I’m doing the best I can, and I know y’all well enough that I assume the same is true for you, but I can easily imagine being less than impressed at a bunch of child star heroes coming back for another swing in their thirties.”
“God, that is what we are,” Felipe said, notes of clear disgust apparent in his voice.
“I mean yeah,” Michael mused. “We did something huge and important before we were old enough to understand why it was important, and now, for better or worse, we’re trying to contextualize that. There’s also a reboot going on, of course.”
“There is always a reboot,” Lex chimed in to agree.
Even as the banter evolved from reasonable exchange of information into the loose chatter of tired people being a bit too silly, Michael felt ever so slightly separated from it. It wasn’t quite like he was watching it on a screen as much as it was watching a live performance from some good seats. He wasn’t even brought back by the brief and stressful novelty of a pack of woodland creatures, primarily mice, foxes and mustelids fleeing through the corridors, pursued by a deeply flustered Leowin, his mossy robe fluttering behind him as he raced to settle some unfinished magical business with the woodland creatures. The sight, however little it helped distract Michael, provided plenty of merriment to the group. Felipe, in particular seemed delighted by “These Bambi-ass shenanigans,” as he put it.
Lex, for their part, was more content it was all mammalian. “The second I see a snake or anything that looks like it might turn into a snake or a snake-like being, I am out of this bitch.”
This elicited a chuckle from Alicia. “More snakes for me then, I think they’re cute.”
“You can have them,” Lex said with an involuntary, if theatrically emphasized, shudder. “I’m goth but I’m not that goth.”
The rest of the day continued in an uneventful direction. Once they were fully back in their quarters, followed a bit of rest to recover from the little outing. It was a moment Michael appreciated although he was still somewhat self-conscious about needing it. Even so, the little break from action did leave him with some time to try to make up his mind about this whole Nih-Ka thing. Michael didn’t know quite where to place the moleboar on the scale of problem to solution. It was clear there was criminal intent going on, but who was he to say it wouldn’t be a net gain to the city? On the other, it felt inevitable that a conflict between the Council and Nih-Ka would form at some point. Even if the rumors about the crime lord not seeking out conflict was true, push could oh so very easily come to shove, Eltern certainly had seemed interested in being on some kind of warpath. It was quite possible, Michael feared, that the Council, and Eltern in particular, found it best if the fledgling city-state had an enemy to rally against, and while the calamity was still too huge and incomprehensible to make for a good enemy, Nih-Ka by comparison was easy to understand, and only slightly harder to vilify.
Then, of course, it was how much he could trust the information he had. Bartholomew had seemed decently truthful about things, but then again, it didn’t take a cynical genius to realize he had a dog in the race when it came to the Exalted’s views on Nih-Ka. For as good of a look as he’d gotten at the man, Michael felt that he still didn’t really understand Bartholomew. He was working for Nih-Ka, in a city where there was very little work that needed doing. No, Michael corrected himself, there was plenty of work to do, but without an economy to motivate the doing of jobs it was one of those “we’ll get to it when we get to it” type of things. At any rate, Bartholomew didn’t have to side with Nih-Ka. There were surely perks to it, especially if the moleboar mobster truly had stashes of luxury goods available. Michael was no coffee fiend, but he still found himself missing access to the stuff. Simulacra Coffee had the kick, but there was something about the slightly fruity bitterness of a good cup that the unnerving substitution just couldn’t match. He wasn’t going to break bread with a gangster over the matter, but if this stay indeed was a long one, he’d have to at least consider an armistice to get his hands on some freshly ground coffee.
As Micheal pondered these things into the darker hours of the night, eventually losing the running battle with sleep, a scheme shifted in the darkness of the night. Michael was right, he’d come to realize, in one important assumption. The relative calm of Thereafter could not last. Sooner or later something would go wrong that could not be undone, or something so senseless as to force through change would occur. While the cloaked individual leaving The Castle with their priceless booty no doubt had some thoughts about which, if any, of those things was happening, they weren’t sharing their perspectives. There was, after all, work to be done and precious little time to do it.
Author’s Note: As we draw closer to the end of the year, I’m starting to gear up to get the Thereafter crew chucked into act 3, where push comes to shove and shove comes to fuck you. I’m quite excited, as you can perhaps tell, to show off the right mess act 3 and its immediate consequences will do to the status quo. True to writerly stereotype I too like writing beginnings and endings a whole lot and feels at best neutral to writing the dreaded middle part, but I am luck in that I find the Thereafter gang so fun to play around with that I think I’ve made a good thing out of it. Happy Holidays, Catch you all in 2026, when the celebration of New Years hopefully have not rendered me unable to post.
-VSD-