"Well, I don't know," Unwin said, looking around and scooting his chair out so he could slide into it. "I just got back from speaking to him; it would look a mite suspicious if I were to go back again there now."
"I see," said the Pontifex. "That makes sense."
"So what did you learn there?" asked one of Unwin's men, the one sitting to Unwin's right. They were generally quiet, but when they spoke they got right to the point-- probably an effect of working with such a mastermind strategist and communicator.
Unwin shook his head, and held up a [physical, magical macguffin representing like computer data analogue, and he's somehow hacking the information.] [he explains what it is, and what he knows.
Unwin just having sat down, Moone's suggested that he and the Pontifex would scout around alone for a bit, before Unwin rejoined with the Tooth Fairy's group with some excuse to do so. Pontifex and Moone scooted their seats out gently from the table, excused themselves, and began scouting around, with Unwin staying behind at the table and getting started on the first course (at the start of the second course, he'd reapproach the Tooth Fairy's group and be welcomed no doubt with open arms.)
Moone peeled off. Dropping in on some conversations, eavesdropping on others, to see if there were any other angles they could [achieve] or ways they could game the system. Even with the Tooth Fairy's hidden boon at their backs, being able to cover multiple [angles] in very short time, Moone realized how little time they had to complete the task ahead them. Right now, it looked like Unwin's legend as the Mothman was the best [angle]; actually entering the auction and attempting to win, against some of these government and superpower-backed bidders, would be a last-ditch effort. Or at least, the last ditch before, collapsing the ditch.
Still, every item of intelligence they could gather [was very important.] For example: it became clear after prodding around a bit that Mothman's team wasn't the only one so favored by the Tooth Fairy. Not everyone had boons of speed placed upon them, and of the sped-up groups the Tooth Fairy's magic for the Mothman still seemed most powerful, but Moone noticed tiny hints here and there that the Tooth Fairy had given away other of his magicks, bestowing boons here and there out of his arsenal, to give teams and factions slight edges over each other. He wanted each to think themselves special, and he wanted a lot of infighting it seemed. Even the dinner before the auction seemed a powerplay of his, come to think of it.
Moone was thinking about this, when he caught a glimpse of someone familiar, but impossibly so.
Himsters Keepses. Billionaire racketeer, profiteer, international financier of mob activity. None of this resume was that surprising, given the environs and the nature of the item being auctioned off; Himsters Keepses was far from being the nastiest criminal here. Still, seeing him out of all people here gave Moone great pause, for one very simple reason.
Himsters Keepses was dead.
Moone had executed him himself.
They were in the past here, true, but that was not how this time travel worked. Just as assassin Messr Slash was dead, permanently, and causality would prevent them running into him again even along his past, Keepses was even more dead; Babel's present existed in the present as well, one that only happened to take place in the past. The timeline was left untangled by the low form of time travel; there was simply no way that Keepses could have been here. [maybe make running into dead time traveler, a theoretical impossibility, a magical danger Moone has to face at one point.]
Himsters Keepses was dead.
Moone had executed him himself.
They were in the past here, true, but that was not how this time travel worked. Just as assassin Messr Slash was dead, permanently, and causality would prevent them running into him again even along his past, Keepses was even more dead; Babel's present existed in the present as well, one that only happened to take place in the past. The timeline was left untangled by the low form of time travel; there was simply no way that Keepses could have been here. [maybe make running into dead time traveler, a theoretical impossibility, a magical danger Moone has to face at one point.]
And yet... Cloud had been alive. Was something going on, to bring those deceased back to life? Maybe those deceased specifically by Moone's doing, whether direct or indirect? That was one denominator both Keepses and Cloud had between them.
Or was Moone simply going insane? He had been the only one to see Cloud, having gone in alone, and her turning up only at the end, on an otherwise empty floor. He could have simply been seeing her, and seeing Keepses here now too.
What was the explanation here? Was it a product of the Pontifex's aura? Or some psychic attack so insidious it could slip underneath the aura? Perhaps it had even been set up from the very beginning-- Moone could trust the Pontifex, right? [establish at one point some solid scene of the Pontifex actually having to fight himself to keep himself from destroying Moone.]
Moone tracked Keepses's movement for fifteen or so minutes, relative time, which was only around five minutes for the outside world. He did so covertly of course, he scoped out others but being sure to keep Keepses in the corner of his eye.
He couldn't believe it, not really. Keepses did seem to be interacting with those around him. Something was going on here. Whatonearth whatonearth whatonearth whatonearth...
Keepses stood from his table and ducked out politely for a spell. Moone kept surveying, but aside from the fact that the Tooth Fairy was apparently playing the factions here against each other, Keepses was the only thing out of the ordinary.
Moone went back to the others at the designated time, and they debriefed each other, Moone going first, mentioning the things that had stood out to him. The Pontifex looked up curiously at the mention of Keepses, but kept his mouth shut as Unwin took his turn briefing them on his progress within the inner echelons of the Tooth Fairy's entourage. He had pieced together a bit more on the standard delivery process auctioned items underwent, and there were hints that the NOC list in particular was under quite a bit more security than with the standard enchanted valuables that were usually auctioned off here. [bring macguffin hacking object up again.]
The Pontifex went last. He reported that he also immediately noticed that they weren't the only group enchanted with Tooth Fairy magic... and that he had also spotted someone familiar. He refused to say who, but rather gestured Moone's line of sight over to a very specific table, where even now there was a slight, dark-haired woman sitting herself down, a woman whom Moone recognized instantly, even across the room.
Moone went back to the others at the designated time, and they debriefed each other, Moone going first, mentioning the things that had stood out to him. The Pontifex looked up curiously at the mention of Keepses, but kept his mouth shut as Unwin took his turn briefing them on his progress within the inner echelons of the Tooth Fairy's entourage. He had pieced together a bit more on the standard delivery process auctioned items underwent, and there were hints that the NOC list in particular was under quite a bit more security than with the standard enchanted valuables that were usually auctioned off here. [bring macguffin hacking object up again.]
The Pontifex went last. He reported that he also immediately noticed that they weren't the only group enchanted with Tooth Fairy magic... and that he had also spotted someone familiar. He refused to say who, but rather gestured Moone's line of sight over to a very specific table, where even now there was a slight, dark-haired woman sitting herself down, a woman whom Moone recognized instantly, even across the room.
Mushroom Cloud.
Moone gaped, going white. No. No way. She's here. How could she be here? She was still alive, at least. But here?
Moone looked back to those at his table, and thought about it as he surveyed the faces of the eyes [peeled] in Cloud's direction. It gave him some modicum of comfort to know that at least it proved that he wasn't the only one seeing these phantasms-- perhaps he would have suspected it to be somehow linked still to the Pontifex's aura, since the both of them had either had it bestowed upon them or lived with it, but Unwin's men also saw her, though they didn't know who she was or why she was significant. She was definitely real, then, and not any sort of hex placed on Moone's eyes or sanity. This grounded Moone, and he slowed his breathing.
The confirmation of Cloud's life and reality only served to raise further questions, and also cement those that had already been raised. A lot of them overlapped with the questions Moone had had about Keepses's being here, but the most troubling of all the questions was a new one.
Why is Cloud here? Moone's own presence meant that mere attendance of this gala and auction did not make one guilty or an enemy of the state, regardless of what Pontifex thought was best. It was too worrying, though, to see her here, especially after he'd thought her dead and dealt with those emotions. New emotions dealing with her living were dredged up afresh, as [fresh] as the moment seeing her alive again for the first time [time] ago, on the seventh floor of the Pentagram. Perhaps she was part of MacBeth's [cavalcade] now; perhaps she'd always been, and her death truly had been faked.
But as soon as Moone thought it, he realized how ridiculous the idea was: MacBeth was the one selling the NOC list. If Cloud was truly villainous, she would be working for her own side; as it was, it was most likely that she was here like how Moone himself was here: undercover, attempting to get the list back before it fell into the wrong hands.
It was then that Moone noticed who sat in the equivalent of Unwin's seat, at the big round table. Someone sitting at a specially designed miniature dais. The leader of the faction Cloud appeared to be working for was, an apparently animated Punch puppet, from the Punch and Judy show, though of course Moone recognized the cover immediately.
The head of the table was Gef the Talking Mongoose. Cloud's table also housed Gef, and, Moone could see sitting to Gef's right, Lovecraft. All undercover, but all recognizable if one was familiar with these agents' handwriting the way Moone was. Gef would occasionally go undercover as Pulcinella himself, simply by wriggling his slender body into a Mr Punch puppet head and walking around thusly. He brandished his slapstick, whacking people with it and cackling, and didn't even need to disguise his voice for the part: Punch and Gef both spoke with the same high-pitched nasally squeak.
It was telling that Lovecraft's left hand was on such occasions always stuck down the neck of a Pretty Polly puppet, instead of her brandishing a puppet of Punch's shrew of a wife, Judy.
Gef. Lovecraft. Here. It appeared that the agency did indeed know about the auction here in ancient Babel. That is, if they weren't working for themselves, but of course Moone severely doubted that. Gef may have been a mischievous little sprite, but he was a straight shooter, and reliable in a pinch.
Gef was also still the head of the task force attempting to track Moone down, which was probably why he was here in the first place. If Moone were to attempt to contact Cloud again-- and it looked like he and the Pontifex hadn't needed to track down the Fountain of Youth after all-- he would once again need to be careful, wait for an opening, and go behind Gef's back, until he could activate his and Cloud's contract and convince her [plentifully.]
Moone looked back to those at his table, and thought about it as he surveyed the faces of the eyes [peeled] in Cloud's direction. It gave him some modicum of comfort to know that at least it proved that he wasn't the only one seeing these phantasms-- perhaps he would have suspected it to be somehow linked still to the Pontifex's aura, since the both of them had either had it bestowed upon them or lived with it, but Unwin's men also saw her, though they didn't know who she was or why she was significant. She was definitely real, then, and not any sort of hex placed on Moone's eyes or sanity. This grounded Moone, and he slowed his breathing.
The confirmation of Cloud's life and reality only served to raise further questions, and also cement those that had already been raised. A lot of them overlapped with the questions Moone had had about Keepses's being here, but the most troubling of all the questions was a new one.
Why is Cloud here? Moone's own presence meant that mere attendance of this gala and auction did not make one guilty or an enemy of the state, regardless of what Pontifex thought was best. It was too worrying, though, to see her here, especially after he'd thought her dead and dealt with those emotions. New emotions dealing with her living were dredged up afresh, as [fresh] as the moment seeing her alive again for the first time [time] ago, on the seventh floor of the Pentagram. Perhaps she was part of MacBeth's [cavalcade] now; perhaps she'd always been, and her death truly had been faked.
But as soon as Moone thought it, he realized how ridiculous the idea was: MacBeth was the one selling the NOC list. If Cloud was truly villainous, she would be working for her own side; as it was, it was most likely that she was here like how Moone himself was here: undercover, attempting to get the list back before it fell into the wrong hands.
It was then that Moone noticed who sat in the equivalent of Unwin's seat, at the big round table. Someone sitting at a specially designed miniature dais. The leader of the faction Cloud appeared to be working for was, an apparently animated Punch puppet, from the Punch and Judy show, though of course Moone recognized the cover immediately.
The head of the table was Gef the Talking Mongoose. Cloud's table also housed Gef, and, Moone could see sitting to Gef's right, Lovecraft. All undercover, but all recognizable if one was familiar with these agents' handwriting the way Moone was. Gef would occasionally go undercover as Pulcinella himself, simply by wriggling his slender body into a Mr Punch puppet head and walking around thusly. He brandished his slapstick, whacking people with it and cackling, and didn't even need to disguise his voice for the part: Punch and Gef both spoke with the same high-pitched nasally squeak.
It was telling that Lovecraft's left hand was on such occasions always stuck down the neck of a Pretty Polly puppet, instead of her brandishing a puppet of Punch's shrew of a wife, Judy.
Gef. Lovecraft. Here. It appeared that the agency did indeed know about the auction here in ancient Babel. That is, if they weren't working for themselves, but of course Moone severely doubted that. Gef may have been a mischievous little sprite, but he was a straight shooter, and reliable in a pinch.
Gef was also still the head of the task force attempting to track Moone down, which was probably why he was here in the first place. If Moone were to attempt to contact Cloud again-- and it looked like he and the Pontifex hadn't needed to track down the Fountain of Youth after all-- he would once again need to be careful, wait for an opening, and go behind Gef's back, until he could activate his and Cloud's contract and convince her [plentifully.]
I am so confused. Keepes was dead? Wasn't Moone hanging out with him for the past five chapters or so? Is Unwin the Mothman? Please clarify.
ReplyDeleteSure thing. Originally I called Keepses Unwin and Unwin Keepses, but decided during writing this section that I had their names backwards. The mothman's name is Unwin, although I'd been calling him Keepses up till this point. Mothman=Unwin from now on, while Keepses is this new guy. Just pretend that their names were always that way.
ReplyDelete