Axel grinned. "Haven't you met Pauli?"
The Boss pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have met Pauli. What's worse, Pauli has met the research staff. And the computers. And the security staff. And told them how to improve their cyber security because it was so easy to get through. The researchers are now studying how he uses his talent at a subconscious level to guide his hacking. And yes, he's running and working out too."
"And Natasha?"
The Boss sighed. "If she was a sex pot, I'd send her to Home for spy school. Right now she's way too sweet. If she ever get's callused and cold-blooded she'll be dangerous."
"Well, that's about what I thought, but she'd be good anytime you need an armed escort for a female type VIP."
"Like the wife and children of an important man?"
"If we ever get invaded again." Axel grinned. "So you've been here for, what? Twelve years and no one ever told you about all the local camping opportunities?"
"No, Lord Axel, no one ever told me there were trees and waterfalls and things out there."
"Huh. I would have sworn I tried. Probably I'm mis-remembering rolled eyes and mutters about miles and miles of grass."
That got a snort. "I . . . might have been a bit appalled when I first moved here, and under impressed with the camping and fishing opportunities."
"And putting up with Young Mentalists who thought they knew everything?"
"Oh, you weren't a problem, even if you did look too young to be out of school, let alone college."
"I was thirty-eight."
"And didn't look it. The rest of the Mentalists were arrogant as all get out, and not careful of their Squads."
"And as a result the Squads weren't as protective of their Mentalists, and certainly not as obedient as those Mentalists thought they ought to be . . ." Axel shook his head. "I remember those days. I think Whiz was the last of that bunch . . . they considered me too young to be in their 'group' thank goodness."
"So you hung around with the Cyborgs and became the most useful Mentalist they'd ever seen." The Boss snickered. "I had to work to not piss off the rest of the Mentalists by telling them to act like the kid, while trying to make them act like the kid. The last ten years the training's gotten a lot easier--since Igor got a reputation. 'This is how Igor does it' works amazingly well. Sergey and Edik, in case you hadn't noticed, do their damnedest to imitate you."
Axel grinned. "I know. Are they still making the morning run with the guys?"
"Five or six days a week." A quick grin. "Their mothers still expect them home on weekends, and to go to church with the family."
"Oh my. That young?"
"That young. Mind you, they're five years older than your Rangers. I'll be getting them out regularly on guard duty pretty soon. It teaches coordination with the Squads, and the realization that we're bored most of the time. Until we're suddenly not."
The Boss looked at the Octagon. "I'm not the only one who thinks you're a good teacher. Dr. Borodin says you working with them made an amazing difference. So get back here, three days maximum. No matter how much fun you're having. Got it?"
"If you going to pin me down training people I might have to stay away for a month."
That got him a baleful glower. But the Free Portalists were ready to go and the Portal Guides were dropping down into position.
The Boss backed away and Axel pulled up the overalls and sealed them. Tame lightning ran a circle around the guides, and he pulled up the hood, picked up the recorder and the go-bag and as a rather dark, brushy green world on the far side of the portal firmed up, took aim between bushes and jumped.
Fortunately not too thorny, as he shoved through them, slashing a couple of the thicker branches. Stepped into a more grassy spot and took out the recorder and turned it on.
The darkness was due to the sun being half below the horizon. The pale pearly light felt more like dawn that sunset, and might indicate a location in North America. Slight chill, so not very far north.
He made a slow scan and spotted something to the side, a slight ridge, very straight.
He slashed a careful path through brush, trying to not make his path too obvious, but enough that he could see it and follow it back to the portal . . . because the ridge was a slightly raised road. Sandy with grass growing through, mowed, the double tracks of vehicular traffic.
And twenty feet away, a stone arch. "121' engraved at the top, and through it, a scene of tall pines around a grassy meadow, the road leading to another stone arch perhaps a hundred feet away.
Axel turned and looked the other way. Eighty feet to a stone arch. "120" carved into the top. Framing a desert scene, with the road and a further stone arch. He turned back to the nearer arch and enlarged his vision, to peer through at the far arch . . . to another and another . . .
He fiddled with the recorder controls and made sure to get that.
Henri said it didn't look like a portal. How about a string of portals?
A quick scan of the sky . . . yes, the pale half Moon was high in the sky. He pulled up the hood of the spatter suit, tucked the recorder inside and trotted through . . . a mild twist.
"Damn." He pulled out the recorder and searched the sky, yes, there was the moon, in the same spot in the sky. "Well, if this is a different World, the arches are in about the same geographical location. So let's try the next one."
He checked the time, and turned to go back. Spotted movement distantly through the next arch and focused the recorder . . . on a vehicle, getting closer.
He hastily shed the spatter suit and kicked it behind a tree. His khaki shirt and pants were probably much less . . . noticeable? Who knows?
The vehicle approaching was four wheeled, but ridden like a motorcycle. The rider anonymous behind a helmet and face shield . . . zooming through the arch.
Female, grinning and waving as he stepped aside, then she was gone through the arch behind him. He grabbed his spatter suit, and followed . . . the mild twist a bit stronger, no burn at all. He trotted back to the brushy 120-121 world, wormed his way through the brush and around to his gate.
Edge on to the road. She probably didn't notice it.
He popped the recorder back into its case and tossed it through the portal to Murph. Waved and walked away.
Let's go see what's on the other side of Arch One.
Other Titles by Pam Uphoff
Wine of the Gods Series:
Outcasts and Gods
Exiles and Gods (Three Novellas)
The Black Goats
Explorers
Spy Wars
One Alone
Comet Fall
A Taste of Wine (Seven Tales)
Dark Lady
Growing Up Magic (Four Novellas)
Young Warriors
God of Assassins
Heirs of Crown and Spear
The Fiend
Empire of the One
Warriors of the One
Dancer
Earth Gate
Mages at Large
Triplets
Sea Wolves
Bad Karma
Dark Side of the Moon
Cascades
Embassy
Rael
On the Run
God of the Sun
Cannibal World
No Confidence
Pure Poison
Flying
Last Merge
Nowhere Man
Black Point Clan
External Relations
Meet the Family
Children of a Foreign God
Lucky Dave
A Prophetable Dimension
Tales From the Multiverse
Guardsman
Lost and Found
Kaat
Marooned
Professor of Magic
Moles
Cyborgs
Freshmen
Mal
l Santa
Saturday Night
War Party
Warrior at Large
Cool as Ice
Exzy
The Maze of Worlds
Destroyer
The Directorate Series:
Directorate School
A Tale of Three Interns
Trouble in Paradise
First Posting
Surveillance
Fort Dinosaur
Shadow Zone
Project Dystopia
Fractured Loyalties
Cooking Hot
The Boy
One Love
A Warrior’s Art
Scrambled
The Lawyers of Mars
Fancy Free
Time Loop
In the Rift
Double Dragon
Doctor Inferno
Writing as Zoey Ivers
YA Cyberpunk Adventures:
The Barton Street Gym
Chicago
Atlantis+
Fantasy:
Demi God