Darius walked very casually, hands clasped behind his back, and admired the scenery. "Jump Isle really is quite beautiful, don't you think, Tiejo?"

Following a pace behind and to the right, Tiejo was constantly swinging his head from side to side, back to front, up and down. "Yes, beautiful. Nice trees, nice grass, nice flowers, pretty creeping and flying creatures all about."

"Why, Tiejo, that sounded remarkably cogent, my dear boy!"

He shrugged and said, "No consistencies there are being in my speech, methinks. Even irregularities are inconsistent. Words leave Tiejo's mouth as they come into my head. Not knowing am I why they come in the order they do. First person, third person; good grammar, silly willy nilly grammarings; coherence and sensibility or what with the attention deficit; is all being the same to Tiejo. Perhaps the madness it is. Crazy Streetrat, remember?"

Darius smiled. "Yes, I re-"

"Look! Pretty grove of trees!" shouted Tiejo, and he dashed off towards them. Darius chuckled and ran after him.

The grove consisted of various types of trees, the further in one went, which Darius knew from past experience. There was an entrance with a century plant on either side. At the moment, they were only twelve years old, so not very tall, yet. Beyond them were cypress trees, and beyond those... Darius couldn't recall exactly. But he suddenly shivered with a sense of dread, which he feared could trigger a bout of depression. He wanted to avoid that, so he called out to Tiejo, to come back. He hadn't the slightest idea why, but something felt... off... about the woods, and he was afraid to enter.

Tiejo returned and asked, "What is being up?"

Darius shook his head. "I've just got a bad feeling about this grove. I think we should avoid it."

Tiejo looked disappointed, but said, "If you are saying so."

And so, they began heading back to the wagon. By the time they got there, Alecstar had returned with a team of striders.

"Back so soon?" asked Emma.

"Well, we were going to go for a longer stroll, but I started feeling... unstrollish," said Darius.

"Depressed again, are you?"

"I was starting to get that way, I think, but it passed quickly. Thanks for your concern, though. Anyway, I think it's about time for lunch, or perhaps brunch. Shall we go?"

With that, they all piled into the wagon, with Alecstar driving, and headed into town. Darius sat beside him, saying "I'll join you; I want to show you where to find a pub I know, in case you've never been there. The Meandering Gander."

"Nope, never been there. Is it open this early?"

"Last time I was in town, which wasn't so long ago, they served breakfast or brunch until Second Four on We'yetdays, We'gindays, and Mo'enddays. Then they open up again from Third Two till First Three." Darius turned and called into the back, "Tom, have you got the time?"

Tom checked his pocket watch. "Second Three and twenty-five," he said.

"Thanks." To Alecstar: "Well, we've got 75 centhours to get there, get seated, and order. Of course, they'll want all their patrons out within an hour after that. Maybe we should just go back for supper, instead."

"Sounds best. Jump Village has tons of restaurants and cafes and such to choose from."

"Sure does. Well then... you're driving, you may as well pick one. Surprise me."

"Okay..." He turned forward and got the striders moving.

"You know," said Darius, over a warm cup of Prittian coffee, "this is where Toros and Gaiya met." The Chaos party and company were sitting at a few small, round tables set up just outside the Plaza Cafe.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tiejo, dropping his piece of buttered toast with blackberry jam. "Right here cafe in?"

"No, Tiejo," Darius said with a grin, "I meant Jump Village."

"Oh," he said with a hint of disappointment, and went back to eating his toast.

"Who are Toros and Gaiya?" asked Emma.

"Toros was bishop in my home village of Triscot," said Darius. "He became a Protestant very early in the movement, and he and his wife, Gaiya, were very close to my clan. They died with them."

"Tiejo them once met," said the street rat, between bites of ha'cit fruit. "When traveling with master. Goodly peoples."

"Wow," said Darius, smiling again, "smaller world than I thought. It's a wonder we never met."

Tiejo shrugged. "Maybe we're not knowing that we did," and took a sip of his oat milk.

"Maybe. Anyway, Toros was originally from my father's home village of Ship, before he moved to Jump Village, and later Triscot. In fact, I believe it was my father who recommended Toros for the position, to replace Bishop Kellan, when he moved away...."

"What does any of this have to do with anything?" Tom asked.

"Nothing," said Darius. "I'm just trying to make conversation. To be honest, I've never been very good at it. Most of the time, I can't think of anything to say. And if anything does occur to me, it usually seems unimportant, not worth bothering to say, so I don't. My folks always used to say, as do some of my friends, that I need to work on my conversational skills. So I'd listen to other people talk, and mostly it bored me to death. I can talk about things that interest me with friends or even strangers, but most things just don't seem to interest me. Still, once in a while I try to improve. All I can do is say whatever pops into my head. Sometimes I say stupid things and people get annoyed at me for it. Sometimes I just bore myself and possibly others. So mostly I just remain silent, and hate myself for that, as much as for thinking I sound strange when I do speak. I can't win, really. At least, not often." He sighed.

"I think you do alright," said Emma. "But if you ever don't feel like talking, there's nothing wrong with that, either."

Jasp wasn't paying attention to any of this. Instead, as soon as he'd finished eating, he turned his chair around to face away from the cafe. He sat there scanning the plaza and the adjoining streets at either end, taking occasional sips from the mug of coffee he held cupped in his hands. Suddenly, without turning to look at his companions, he said, "Excuse me, I'll be right back." He stood up, set his coffee down on the table, and jogged off across the plaza to talk to someone. A few centhours later, he and the man he'd been talking with began walking toward the tables. When they got there, Jasp said, "Everybody, this is Ian Goner, one of LandOrder's dealers."

"You recognized him, did you?" asked Darius. "Someone from a different village, and not even in the same department as you?"

"Not personally; we have ways of recognizing members, though. Nothing that would be noticed by outsiders, I assure you. I was looking for anyone we might contact here. Mr. Goner has kindly agreed to take us to see his don."

"Free samples, anybody?" Goner asked out of the blue, producing a bottle of pills from a pocket inside his jacket.

"Of what?" asked Darius.

"New thing, just come on the market. Called 'Happiness'. Guaranteed to cure any depression, for a few hours. Works far better and more consistently than alcohol."

"Feh, drugs," said Tom. "I don't trust that stuff. Seen 'em do all kinds of bad things to people."

"Alcohol is a drug, Tom," said Darius.

"Different-colored strider, that is. Altogether different. A person can control alcohol; they can lose control, but only if they're careless. I've never seen a real drug as didn't take control almost immediately, and soon enough lead a person to ruin, possibly death. 'Happiness,' feh! Haplessness is more like it, if you ask me."

"Hmmm. Well, maybe let's just call it 'H', then," suggested Darius, "and each extrapolate in our own way, from there."

Someone laughed behind them, making Darius and Tom both start, and turn around. A few members of the party had noticed him walking towards the tables, but most hadn't. "Trust me, guys, that stuff is not H."

"Tino!" exclaimed Darius. "Fancy meeting you here. Where ya been, man? And what do you mean, it's not H?"

"I've been here and there. Around. You know. Well, let's say I've read some stories from Earth that involved a drug they called 'H' for short, and this isn't anything like it."

"How would you know what this is like?" asked Goner. "It's brand new!"

"I hear things. Besides, I don't remember ever hearing of the Earth stuff in pill form."

"What other form of drugs is there?"

"Here on the Land? Besides alcohol? None that I know of. Nothing refined, anyway."

"Well, anyway," said Darius, "I think I will take a sample, to try later. I'm actually not feeling too bad, at the moment, but of course I will be, sooner or later."

Goner shook a few pills into a little bag, which he handed to Darius, who stuffed the bag into one of his jacket's pockets.

Turning to face her boyfriend, Ginger said, "So, Tino, will you be traveling with us for a while?"

"I guess so, Ginj. I hear you all are getting yourselves maybe into a little bit of trouble. Figure you can use all the help you can get. So, who are our new friends?"

Ginger looked around to see which faces had appeared since the last time Tino had been around. "Um... here we have Jasp Underground, chief spy for LandOrder in Tonad, where he joined us. Helped us escape from InterGang, actually, who had picked a fight with us for no good reason. We're using his wagon, currently, as InterGang has ours. This other guy is a dealer we've just met, who's going to take us to see LandOrder's don in Jump. Guys, this is Tino, the fifth member of the Band."

"Well, if we're all about done with breakfast, perhaps we should pay our bill and get going," said Jasp, suddenly feeling impatient. "We don't want to waste too much of Goner's time."

Flagging down a server, they got the bill and divvied up the cost. After they'd paid, they all rose, and Darius said to Goner, "Lead the way, my good man."

"Sorret council-hall for detectives Levitn and Clueseek," said the t-mail bubble on their desk.

"Open," said Levitn.

"Good morning, gentlemen," said the caller, when the bubble expanded to show him sitting in his office in Sorret. He was leaning back in the chair behind his desk, fingers steepled, a faint smile on his face.

"Chief Councillor Turner!" they exclaimed. Levitn continued, "We didn't expect to hear from you, sir."

"I thought I might be of some help to you. I wish I might have gotten to you sooner, but running a village tends to keep one busy. I've just been going over some of my secondary reports for the week, as I try to make time each We'yetday to do. Sometimes they involve trivial matters hardly worthy or needing of my attention. Sometimes they're things I should've seen immediately. But, it can't be helped, I suppose. Anyway, I find that you contacted Sorret Magic Academy this past Ha'day, on a matter concerning one Cameron Piper, and his companions."

"Yes, sir," said Levitn, "and we were informed there were no records there of him, nor of his companions."

"If it's not impertinent of me to say so," put in Clueseek, "we have heard that perhaps certain files may be missing..."

"On the contrary, detective, it is quite pertinent. It is in fact the very reason I've called. You see, when the Protestant Movement first intruded into Sorret, during the Coming of the Order, I took it upon myself to make copies of the files of all known and suspected Protestant Sorreters. I continued to do so as new information became available, up until the time of the Disappearance.

"Now, since I read that report this morning, I've been searching through my personal files, and I cannot find any mention of a Cameron. This is, of course, before the advent of the surname law. As I'm sure you're aware, certain persons, for various reasons, have altered their first names, however. And I do find mention of a Cam. We cannot be sure, of course, that this is the same person, but it well might be. He was an apprentice at the time, only 15 years old. However, his sister was a young adept of about 20, by the name of Lorraine. She worked very closely with ex-Grand Sorreter Drag, and caused us a great deal of trouble before disappearing along with the rest of the surviving Protestant Sorreters. Presumably, Cam disappeared with them.

"If this Cameron Piper is indeed Lorraine's younger brother Cam, then you would do well to find him, and quickly. He may be capable of causing a lot of trouble, himself, if he's spent the intervening years training. And if he is captured by the police, I would ask for his immediate extradition to Sorret. There are things I should very much like to learn from him..."

"Naturally, you will be informed if he is caught, and you may submit an official request to InterVil," said Levitn.

"Naturally."

"We thank you very much for your help, sir," said Clueseek.

"Always happy to do what I can. And thank you, gentlemen." He sat forward in his chair and said, "Hope to hear from you soon. Close." The bubble vanished.

"I'll go tell Masonjar," Levitn told his partner.

Jasp sat up front with Goner, who was driving. Most of the others kept a close eye on them from the back.

Goner had just halted the striders outside LandOrder's hidden headquarters outside of town, when one of Jasp's t-mail bubbles chimed. He commanded it to open the connection, after finding the call came from Xander Breakhead.

"Jasp, it's me. How are you?"

"Okay, for now, don. And you?"

"Fine, fine. Look, don Chieftain called me this morning to let me know he'd met with Carver Woodrat, and he had then contacted capo Primus. He said he, Amalgamator, and Fourth would all soon be translocating to Kimrin to discuss the Chaos situation with Primus. I just thought you should- Hold on a centhour." Breakhead paused the connection while answering another bubble.

After a centhour, he reopened his connection with his chief spy and said, "I'll have to talk to you later, Jasp. It's the capo on the other line, with a message to all the dons." He closed the connection.

"Well, let's go," said Goner. They all climbed out of the wagon and followed him.

When they came into the reception area outside the don's office, Goner said to the secretary, "We're here to see don Holdup."

"I'm afraid he can't be disturbed at this time. If you'll all take some seats, I'll let you know when he's available."

"Tell him Lonewander and the Band are here. He'll want to see us."

"He's in a very important conference, and can't be disturbed by anyone."

"Just tell him."

"Very well." She got up and opened the door just a crack, and said, "Please excuse me, don, but one of your dealers is here and wishes to see you. He says he's with Lonewander and the Band."

"Show them in right away!"

"Yes, sir." She opened the door wide, stood back and held it open, trying not to display any annoyance as she waved the party inside. When they were all in, she closed the door behind them.

"Ah, here they are now!" said don Holdup to the other dons, whose faces filled a nearly wall-sized, split-screen bubble. "Come in, ladies and gentlemen, we were just discussing you all."

"Chief Underground, nice to see you again so soon," said Breakhead from the bubble.

Before Jasp could respond, Primus said, "We'll continue this discussion later," and closed the connection at his end, as did don Holdup. Now unseen by those present in Holdup's office, most of the other dons stayed on the air with each other to continue talking amongst themselves, waiting for Holdup and the capo to rejoin the conversation.

Suddenly, there were two more people in the room. One was a Sorreter who stood rigid and silent, hands clasped behind his back. The other stepped toward the Chaos party and said, "I am Capp Primus, capo of LandOrder. Introduce yourselves."

They did so, quickly. When they were finished, the capo turned to the local don and said, "Kureth, find something to do. I'll talk to you along with the other dons later."

"Yes, capo." He got up from his chair and swiftly excused himself from his office, motioning for Goner to follow him.

"Now, I am informed that you lot are starting some kind of rebellion against the Order. Who's in charge of this rebellion? Lonewander, did I hear?"

"It was my idea, sir, yes," said Darius. "But I mean, nothing's really organized at all. I don't know if we could be said to have a leader as yet, nor do I know if we ever will. In fact, we haven't got any specific plans at the moment, besides looking for people sympathetic to our cause."

"And what exactly is your cause?"

Darius fidgeted a bit uncomfortably. "I'm embarrassed to say it, but the cause isn't well defined. I mean, I call this rebellion the Chaos. You know, the opposite of the Order. I want most things to be as they used to be, but many things I wouldn't mind staying the same as they are now. There's a lot I like about the way the world has changed since the Coming, and a lot I don't like. Although actually, I think it was mostly the means of... of changing things, that I don't like. I don't trust the government much. I suppose mostly there are good people elected for good reasons by the people, but I'm sure there must be some corruption. After all, you must know as well as anyone how the Order came into being. The real story, I mean."

"Mmm."

"And, well, how can it be all good, with the things the First Order did to set up the Second Order?" Upon reflection, he added, "...No offense."

"None taken. You need to give this some more thought, boy. Figure out what you want to achieve, ultimately, and form some sort of a plan to do it."

"Well, that's one thing I'm sure of, sir. I don't want a plan, per se. A big plan for changing the world, that was the Order's way. I mean to do things differently. The means will be the same as the end, you know?"

"I see. Well, such means don't sound likely to me to produce much of any sort of an end. Unless it's getting yourself and your friends thrown in jail, or killed. But let me know if you can think of anything at all, anything definite about how you want to change the world. Give me some kind of picture."

"Well... there should still be communication, travel, trade between villages. There should still be a World Fair. There should still be banks and schools and things. But maybe not a centralized government, and taxes, and armies, and different social classes. Unemployment went well up after the Coming. Mostly the rich have gotten richer and the poor, poorer. There are far more homeless now, and there's more crime..." he stopped, once again worried he may have given offense.

Primus smiled in a serious, almost patronizing manner. "Oh, don't worry about us. Not me, anyway. I'm a spiritual man; I know that much of what we do is wrong. I know that our very existence supports the continued existence of the Order, however much we might regret that. Just as our own creation caused us to become, at least partially unwitting pawns in the establishment of the Second Order. But we try not to hurt innocent people too much. Trust me, there are plenty of not so innocent people for us to focus our attentions on. And we do some good, you know."

"I'm sure you do, sir. You've already helped us, for one thing. We greatly appreciate it."

"Well, that has up to this point been essentially unintentional. I myself have been quite uninvolved. But it now falls upon me to make a decision as to whether our assistance should be continued. Do you want it to continue, Mr. Lonewander? Do your associates?"

"Um..." Darius turned and looked to the others. Mostly they shrugged. Some looked away. None of them had any idea what to say. Darius turned back to Primus. "Um... well, it's hard to say. Of course, we can use all the help we can get. And besides, the police and InterGang probably both already believe we're working with you. So if we agree to part ways now, we'll still have them against us, and no sort of protection from them. We'd be on our own, against both sides of the law.

"On the other hand, there are moral considerations. Now, I don't know you, and I have no firsthand knowledge about the kind of organization you run. I pass no judgment on you and your people. But at the same time, as you yourself said, the Order used you and InterGang to achieve its purposes during the Coming. If I say I want to do things differently, it would be hypocritical of me to use you, as well."

"I don't know if 'hypocritical' is a concept that bears much thinking about, in your situation. You are a very torn young man, as I see it, with very conflicting ideas. You don't even seem sure of your ideals, let alone those ideas. Quite frankly, at this point I don't believe I'd hire you to work for my organization, let alone form an alliance with you.

"But some of my most trusted dons have shown an interest in you. They have assured me that you, as well as your companions here, have acquitted yourselves rather admirably in past adventures. They also say you usually work alone; perhaps you'd do better to continue doing so. Or perhaps it's simply that my presence is intimidating to you," Primus said with a grin. "There are those brave souls who have turned to jelly before me. Of course, they often have good reason to fear me. You have no reason to do so. Be at ease, all of you."

Darius sighed, did his best to relax. "I appreciate your giving me the benefit of the doubt. I'm afraid, however, that your impressions are largely correct. I've thought the same things many times, myself. I wish I did know better what exactly I wanted, or how to go about getting it. Perhaps I've been naive in thinking things would just happen however they happen."

"Perhaps you must realize that you will have to do some things that the Order has done, if you wish to change anything. That doesn't mean you have to abandon your morals entirely, nor that you will have to continue doing these things once your end has been achieved. On the other hand, in the course of achieving your goals, you may discover that some of your ideas about what you don't want to do may change."

"Perhaps. But even so, I hold firmly to my naive little belief that I shouldn't have a plan." He hesitated, then added, "At least, not yet."

Primus sighed. "Very well. I still don't know quite what to make of you, or your chances for success. Nor do I feel inclined to promise you much help. But for some reason, I can't help having a certain degree of interest in your endeavors. Therefore, I am hereby assigning chief Underground as a liaison between the Chaos and LandOrder. Chief... keep in touch with me."

"Yes, capo," replied the spy.

"Meanwhile, you all try to take care of your affairs yourselves. But if you ever find yourselves desperately in need of help, and can find nowhere else to turn, you may make contact with the don of whatever village you are in at the time. If he or she decides to do so, they may help you, at least to a small degree. The wagon is yours. That is all, for now."

"Thank you, capo," said Darius.

Primus turned and walked back to his Sorreter, and stood beside him. Together, they vanished.

"Well," said Jasp. "I guess I'm going to be with you a while longer. I also suppose we might as well let don Holdup back in."

They did so, and the don asked them, "Well, how'd it go?"

"I think the capo said he'd be talking with you about it later," said Darius.

Just then, a t-mail bubble chimed. "So he did. Open." Once again a bubble expanded to fill most of the far wall. Looking at the dons, and especially at don Breakhead, Holdup said, "Nice to see you all again, so soon." Turning to the others in his office, he said, "You may go." And so they did.

Book One index

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