Book of Glitch - Chapter 8

Part III

The next day, Elder Joshua awoke early to intercept Caleb before his Sham-bride could infringe on the conversation he sought in private. The younger Elder found the Grand Duke Elder reviewing the daily Minor reports on the international trade yields on the telecaster.

“Uncle, might I speak with you?” he asked. “I have been troubled by the speeches from yesterday’s meeting. I mean to say, I am curious to know whether you and the other Elders are actually considering electing one of the Incantare leaders as Overseer.”

Caleb hesitated before responding, “As you know Joshua, Elders have been entrusted with protecting the memory of the homo-sapiens. We are looked to when the variants need a reminder for what it is to be human. However, there are quite a few who believe this is no longer a necessary role to fill in our world and feel that the Overseer should at the very least be an Incantare. Therefore, we must determine if we have a worthy enough case to reinstall their faith in us.”

Joshua thought carefully about his next question.

“Does this mean you would even consider electing a Shaman to the seat?” he asked.

“Well,” Caleb seemed to battle with this question. “I suppose in order to ensure that we are being just to all of the variants, which includes a group that not everyone favors.”

“If that’s so then why wouldn’t Basal or one of the ranking Stonies qualify as a candidate?”

At that, the senior Elder rose from his seat to stare more closely at his nephew.

“Did Basal ask you to speak with me, boy?” Caleb whispered. “I saw you talking with his daughter after the meeting yesterday. Did they put you up to this?”

“What would give you that idea?” asked Joshua. “And what would be so terrible if Basal suggested he act as Overseer?”

“Don’t be so foolish,” Caleb spat. “You are fully aware of their family’s lineage, are you not?”

“Well yes, who isn’t? Gabbro’s pride and joy is retelling stories from his childhood about his father, Great David.”

“Exactly,” Caleb hissed. “They are descendants of Great David, the Stonie father of Glitch. If they were to campaign on that premise alone, they would certainly be elected to act as Overseers. Do use your head, Joshua. What with all the despondence over the king’s passing, variants are more eager than ever for any semblance of an impartial authority to keep the peace. But think boy, how would those who yearn for such a leader accept those who they instinctively fear to oversee them. The world, our world, would turn upside-down overnight.”

Joshua studied his uncle closely. He had never known the man to lust for power, only ever seeking to maintain peace. Yet the older looking man appeared to have no qualms about leaving the Stonie race in the depths of their society, and Joshua could not see the justice in it.

“So if I understand you, you’d prefer Stonies continue being treated like monsters because you think it is best for everyone?” he asked.

“They are hardly treated like ‘monsters’,” answered Caleb. “I do not know a single Stonie officer who does not take great pride in their service to the Elders. I for one have a great deal of respect for them, but that does not change the fact that other, less-enlightened, variants will accept having an Overseer capable of crushing their arms with a pinch of his fingers.

“You were young Joshua, you never knew the old world. There were rulers who rose to power based solely on the fear they inspired in others’, tyrants we once called them. The beauty of Elders is that we are so frail. We are not aggressive because we do not have the heart for it. And we do not act in haste because we have the time to stop and think. And best of all, the variants would rather fight one another to protect us in order to preserve their living history of life before the outbreak. Don’t you see Joshua? Our place was set for us by those we oversee, to disrupt that would only be an act against those we’re meant to serve.”

The younger Elder had heard his uncle’s speech, but found it difficult to listen and accept the man’s apparent justification for Stonie subjugation. Joshua had never spoken to a Stonie beyond giving and receiving orders whenever he and his uncle travelled. He knew them to be guards and nothing more. That was until he had seen Syena at the king’s funeral.

At their first official/actual meeting, she had indeed acted as a shield in order to protect me. But unbeknownst to us at the time, Joshua had seen the way Syena and her brothers had wandered around the grounds with me—carefree, as though we were all equal. And again during the service, he watched as I comforted the young girl as she wept dryly. Joshua had always known that I had made my home amongst Stonies, but he could have never imagined that they had inducted me into their family.

Not wishing to argue his senior Elder any further, Joshua rose to leave him.

“Just a moment,” Caleb called after him. “Please see to it that you escort Miss Lucretia down to Abbey Road today. Your aunt and I will be at the council meeting this afternoon, and today is the girl’s last day in London and after all the stories Elder Paul put in her head I’m sure she would enjoy seeing the place firsthand.”

“I meant to go see Professor Reginald today,” Joshua answered.

“Reginald will be at the meeting. He and the other Cerebras are presenting their findings,” he explained. “This information is too sensitive to discuss amongst non-council members, so Lucretia cannot attend but she can’t very well spend her last day in London locked inside.”

Joshua nodded before continuing in his departure. He had successfully avoided spending time with the younger Shaman for most of her visit that spring, at least unattended. He was one of the few Elders who took my encounter with Veruca to heart, and abstained from any relations with the devils. Of course Lucretia had never given him any sensation that he was in danger, and he did enjoy her company as much as he could without completely trusting her. At the palace yesterday she had made a sincere effort to apologize for her sister’s behavior, and he appreciated her attempt at civility towards Syena. And there was the more agreeable way she always seemed to be admiring something about his uncle, and on occasion himself. 

As stunning as Shamans were, the girl was a vision, to say the least. Despite his conscious effort to remain indifferent towards her, Joshua could not ignore the sleek attire Lucretia often donned around Downing Street. Or the low cut of her neckline, which appeared to shrink back ever so slightly each day. Then there were the less subtle gowns she wore, exposing her toned legs to both the sun and the rain whenever they travelled about town. On more than one occasion the inclement winds had revealed how insufficient her dress had actually been, which Joshua suspected was purposeful. But Joshua disagreed with the expectation Caleb had for him to couple with Lucretia.

He arrived at his guest’s door and was met by her attendant, who ushered him inside somewhat impatiently. Lucretia was sitting by the window in the small study adjoined to her room. She made an attempt to approach Joshua, but insisted she stay seated. As lovely as she looked with the sun warming the thick, black waves on her head, he still did not like the idea of being alone and shut in a room with a Shaman.

“To what do I owe this treat of seeing you so early today, Elder Joshua?” she asked.

He supposed her formality was warranted, as he was already fully clothed and she had not yet changed from her night slip. He sauntered around the room, hoping that it would appear as though he had not noticed how sheer the fabric of her peach-colored slip was.

“I came to ask if you might be free this afternoon,” he replied. “I don’t think I would like to attend the council meeting again today, so if you do not have any previous engagements I hope you will join me for a little sightseeing in town.”

Her smile had widened as he made his inquiry, until the girl practically ran to hug him. She had evidently remembered herself and only stood to thank him. Joshua bowed his head in return and escaped just as she began to disrobe. Within an hour the two were racing through the streets of London in Caleb’s personal arsonal vehicle, despite Joshua’s displeasure with such travel. I had once told the boy that if he feared the speed with which the Dragoon chauffeurs operated these machines, he would have had a stroke with the reckless way homo-sapien cab drivers wove through the streets of old New York. At the very least, we can be grateful that arsonals are so heavily armored that they operate more like speedy versions of the homo-sapien tank.

Joshua thought they might spend most of the day at the ancient Tate museum, but after an hour Lucretia’s displeasure was becoming more and more vocal. She was polite to the Stonie guards walking between them, but after her fifth attempt at holding Joshua’s arm had failed she began to scold them.

“I don’t see why you need shoo me away,” she whined. “Why just yesterday, Elder Joshua had comforted me at the funeral himself.”

Joshua in turn felt guilty since they were only acting under his direction, but seeing how furious the young Sham had become did not discourage his resolve to maintain the barrier. Her mood hardly improved when they had at last reached the famed Abbey Road, which she only glanced at from inside of the arsonal.

As the afternoon light darkened into the evening sky, Joshua suggested that they walk back to Downing Street and admire the effects of the setting sun’s reflection off of the glistening, silver buildings along their way. Lucretia did not cheer up at the thought of walking four miles through the streets, and Joshua half-hoped she would ask to return alone in the arsonal so that he might escape to the Cerebran Towers and wait in the professor’s lab.

“I suppose it is a long way to go after walking all afternoon,” he offered. “But you will forgive me if I continue on, won’t you? Consistent exercise does wonders for an Elder’s body.”

Lucretia giggled, “And does my body appear as though it needs exercising, Elder?”

Just as he glanced toward her the breeze caught the fringes of her light skirt and exposed a great deal more of her smooth, honey-like skin than Joshua would have ventured to espy with or without her subtle invitations. Appearing to notice his immediate aversion, she gently patted down the ends of her garment and offered him a coy smile.

“Perhaps it would be nice,” she said. “To have a bit more quality time with you before I leave tomorrow.”

He smiled and nodded, hoping that he did not betray any signs of his disappointment. Lucretia’s only stipulation was that the guards walk behind rather than between them. Feeling guilty, Joshua agreed and the two began their trek back to London with the Stonies in tow. He began to regret his plan almost immediately.