Sir, a Message

[Taurus Zeene]

A man with wispy long brown hair wearing a large wool overcoat trudged through the snow in the yard of the old mansion, past cherubs, frozen fountains, geese, family gravestones, and a shivering black cat, towards the yellowish light emanating from the windows ahead. He rapped on the gigantic front door several times, then used its ancient iron door knocker to do the same. There was a strange high pitched whistle noise somewhere behind the doors.

Then about a minute later, after the man had nearly turned around to leave, the door suddenly creaked open to reveal the tired looking eye of a grey haired woman. He greeted her, "Hello--" She then looked back and yelled, "Master Thadeus, he's here!" "Do come in, young man," she then said to the man, opening the door and allowing him to enter.

He then saw the Willowshirian royal pendant on her necklace. She was Lady Mhor-Melanje, distant cousin of Thadeus Lange and spouse of the late Reginald Moore of Willowshire. He was now in the presence of nobility and had to adjust his manners accordingly.

Clickety, click--clack! Clickety, click--clack! Clickety, click--clack! Down the stairs hobbled Thadeus, ivory tipped cane in his grasp. He raised his other arm up at one point and greeted the man by name: "Taurus, it is you again! We are happy to welcome you to our humble, well, mansion here in New Vaduz! What brings you here today?"

Taurus replied, "Sir, I have a message. I think it's very important. I should talk to you in private."

Thadeus then said, "Very well, very well. But do have tea with us first!"

[Taurus Zeene]

They had tea by a great fireplace in a great room further into the mansion. There were several other Melanje family members there, as well as a few unknown guests whose identities never fully became clear to Taurus, and a maid and a butler. The butler had a glass eye that was a different color than the other. Taurus thought that the false eye seemed more than cosmetic ; once the butler looked at him with it and the eye seemed to pierce into his very soul. And his mind--he felt as if the message he was going to tell Thadeus was now known to the butler, as if the butler had somehow read his mind and obtained it, using his eye!

After tea the guests each went to their bedrooms to retire for the night, except for some, who went into a room called the parlor, where they played cards and had drinks much past midnight. Thadeus on the other hand invited Taurus into his library room. The library room had very high ceilings and books filled bookshelves all the way to the top. The bookshelves had ladders on them. In the center were a couple of leather chairs and a coffee table with books scattered about upon it. Thadeus invited Taurus to sit down in one of them, which he did. Then Thadeus turned around, retrieved a chain of skeleton keys from his pocket, and locked the doors to the library with one of them, reciting the words "Thadeus is locking this door." Thadeus later explained that he said this to approve a voiceprint authentication to lock the doors, and the skeleton keys were merely the first stage in initiating that process for each door.

"Now," said Thadeus, upon seating himself, "What is it you wish to tell me? And it better be good."

"I have retrieved a message from one of the decommissioned SciIntOrg satellites. I was told by someone in a saloon that I needed to tell you the message in case, and I quote, the Labradors got mad at the Bulldogs. That has now occurred. The person in the saloon also told me that if the message did not make it to you safely, many could be in danger."

"Indeed, the Labradors have gotten back at the Bulldogs--I know what those codewords mean. And what is the message?"

"23545-41-B ."

Upon hearing this message, Thadeus remarked, "That's odd. Those numbers mean nothing to me. And I am too old for puzzles. Surely this was some sort of joke."

"No sir, the message came directly from a SciIntOrg satellite."

"Hmm. Let me phone up Yraite. He won't be pleased. He's nursing a hangover from his raucous New Year's Celebration..."

(Hello, Yraite? Yes, I know. Sorry. I have a message from a courier I'd like for you to explain. It is private. Yes, this is my secure line. 23545-41-B. Yes, 23545-41-B. Yes, I have the quantum battery in my possession. Yes, I remember the locations of the secret underwater refueling stations and abandoned command centers. Give the information to who? What? Using our contacts to create a what? An alliance? Oh, I'm not sure they'd support that. Very well, we shall be in touch. What else? I see. I will keep that last piece of information most private. Thank you and a Happy New Year's!")

[Thadeus Laing]

Thadeus hung up the phone with a thud.

"Thank you for providing me this information, Mr Zeene. Since you are but a courier, I know you do not ask questions, since that is a part of the Code that you follow as a Traveler. But the fact that we keep bumping into each other means maybe we should become better acquainted, by which I mean you could work for us here at Melanje Corp and DREAD Laboratories ..."

"Thank you, Sir, that is not necessary. I am a Traveler for life; it does not pay much nor does it have much glory outside of my tiny village in a relatively unimportant part of the Green, but it is what I prefer. I would rather not be a part of, well, your various activities at DREAD and wherever else. However I do have some questions about magic."

"Magic? There is no such thing. Here let me get the doors,"

"I know you're lying"

"Preposterous!"

"Well, I believe in magic because I am an Olde Traveler."

"An Olde Traveler? Very well. Yes, I admit the reality of Magic on Micras. I shall answer your questions about Magic then. But not today. That is another topic for another day!"

(See http://bastionunion.org/forum/viewtopic ... 92&t=18594 )

[Taurus Zeene]

"Oh, and Sir, one more thing," said Taurus.

"What is it, Olde Traveler," replied Thadeus.

"Your butler-something is unusual about his eye."

"I have not noticed anything."

Thadeus might be so old he has bad eyesight, thought Taurus... but he decided not to prod on that point.

"Well, his eye just looked unusual and I felt as if, as if, well, I hope this doesn't sound crazy or anything, but considering we've just agreed that magic is real, I think he used his eye to read into my mind!"

"What? That's just Jeeves. Jeeves could never do that. That would take magic. It's not in his training. He's as harmless as a mouse."

"Well, sir, I'm not sure it was magic and, sir, I would just recommend that you be careful."

"Me? Be careful? It is you who should be the careful one, son, rejecting a perfectly good job offer instead to run around Micras carrying God knows what for God knows whom? It is your demise I predict to see in the Sunday Tribune Herald, not mine or anyone here at pleasant Langeways!"

That brought the conversation for a close for Taurus. Taurus thanked Thadeus for his time. He then went promptly to the room on the third floor which had been prepared to him, to retire for the night.