27

Author's Note - Please read from Chapter 1 to make sense of this. This is not a quick stroke story. There will be sexy-times, but they will only happen as the story's pace dictates, and that won't start quick.

Thank you for reading this far into this tale!

Edited 19 November

All characters participating in sexual activities are 18 or older.

Chapter 25

Stepping back out into the lobby, Ray was startled -- there was a line of invisible beings blocking him from the door. Speaking loudly for the intercepting line, Ray said, "What is going on, folks?" More quietly, he added, "Tauriz, go halfway, rest of you -- defensive right here, don't forget to check behind and above."

Ray walked forward, Tauriz coming along slower, stopping about halfway between Ray and the line. One of the figures in the middle flickered into visibility, causing the Tongxin folks to gasp. Amber and Monica pulled rune-carved daggers into their hands, whereas Pete and Hina took out semiautomatic pistols.

"No threat here, but there's a being that's different from yourselves, your friends, or my people waiting for you just outside. It seems to know we're here."

"Were you capable of taking the words without leaving, I would thank you about now. Knowing you cannot, I instead acknowledge your kind notification." He paused as Tauriz tapped his shoulder. "Jann," she said.

"Oh! Oh, good, this should be enlightening," replied Ray.

"There's more than just the one who's shown himself. I can't say how many more, but -- more."

Whispering, Ray asked Mac if he could hear or scan anything about the beings just outside the foyer. "Yeah, two of 'em, one in the path, one 'bout three meters behind and to your left of the other one. The second one's holdin' one end of a stick or a club, somethin' like that. Mebbe five cm thick, a meter long?"

"Thanks, Mac," he whispered.

"OK, let's the two of us go meet our new neighbors out there. Jessica -- if it gets messy, get out the back, and around to the lot, the combat chariot is unharmed. Mac can help."

"OK, Ray - you be careful."

"Thanks for your concern, Jessica."

"O nameless leader of this group, is there anything you need? Think about that question -- I shall return shortly."

Ray stepped up and gently pushed passed between two invisible beings. Striding through the double doors, he walked straight up to the visible Jann. He was a couple inches shorter than Ray, about 5'5" or so. He almost looked like a caricature -- his skin was milk-white and his hair a shiny jet black. He wore a pull-over tunic with a rough leather thong holding the neck tied closed and rough-woven breaches. He appeared to be barefoot, and his feet were heavily callused.

Try as he might, Ray didn't feel the second one. Tauriz felt its presence, but couldn't pinpoint it. Ray wished that any attacks coming at Tauriz or himself from the hidden Jann redirect to strike the attacker.

"Nice evening. Why do I think you're here to talk with us?"

"Because you are not a fool. Raymond Helms, you have drawn the attention of great powers these last days. I was sent here to talk to you, to warn you, and to request a favor."

"Then let us talk, and when you're ready to warn or request, I will listen."

"You are perceptive. Why are you here?"

"I have lived here for a decade now. I like it here -- it is a friendly community. Quiet, but not too quiet."

"No, not the question I meant. Why are you no longer human?"

"My girlfriend here, Tauriz," he started, only to watch the Jann flinch at her name. He sensed a glittering cloud fly at him from where the hidden Jann had stood, only to see it snap back and hit the attacker like a ball on an elastic string.

"What... what did you DO," the distraught Jann asked, backing towards the still-shimmering cloud.

"You're walking into his attack -- careful!" Ray warned him. Flicking a glance over his shoulder, the Jann somehow managed to go even more pale, a most impressive feat. "We are not here to fight you. You are here for your reasons -- what are they?"

"You should not be able to do this! Hinn! HINN!"

"Jann, I have no reason to harm you. Your attack failed. You are no threat to me or mine. I wait to learn what you wish. I cannot wait long. You need to tell me what you are here for, or you need to leave."

"You are Hinn. I feel your fire. You do not exist. Yet you exist? How?"

"Hinn return. I am one. There are others."

"More Hinn?"

"More."

"I do not smell more under the moon. I smell you. You are alone."

"I am not alone. I have Hinn. She is my mate. There are others, hidden, hiding."

"She is genie, not Hinn. Genie is never that what it was. Genie is genie."

"She is genie, but she is Hinn."

"She is the slayer. She is the slaughter. She is poison and fear and dread and death."

Tauriz spoke up, "You pick the wrong Hinn for that label, Jann. You seek a different name for that. I suspect I know that name, the name that spreads lies, that spreads its insane dreams. That name is Haruvatat."

"She of the Spear, yes, yes, we know of her. She who held, who ceased the slaughter."

"You are long removed from that time, that place, Jann. Were you there? No, you do not have the ages on you. You know. You can tell. I

am

that Tauriz. I have always been that Tauriz, from before those days through to the now.

"I was there, Jann, and I tell you, as the Moon is my witness, you do not know truth in this matter. I am no child of the moon. You smell that. You feel that. You know that. But you also know I know what that means. You can feel the truth in my statement. You do not know the truth in this matter."

"You ask much, genie."

"NO. I ask much, Jann," interrupted Tauriz. "I ask much, as HINN. The Hinn return. We are no longer dust -- we are fire. And you know fire, Jann. You know it well. Fire spreads."

"The Jann shall hear your words. Under the Moon's light, go."

Tauriz sighed. "And to you, under the moon's light. Go."

Chapter 26

Returning to the lobby, Ray gathered the team in. "We had a visit from one of the competitors with similar technology. It is not a peaceful conflict, but it did not include any firearms, sorry ladies, and it is now over for the time being. I need a moment to speak to the people here. After that, shall we move on to dinner?"

After gathering their consensus, Ray went to the spokesman for the brownies. "So, You did not have to warn my people or me. That is something that, for different people, I would be thankful. For you, a service for a service. I take it music is important to you and yours? Music you like that is important to those around you?"

"It is, indeed, Professor Helms."

"Please, call me Ray. You're not students of mine."

"Some of us are in your class, Ray, but I will follow your request."

"Would the ability to affect the music in the building be of use and interest to you and yours?"

"That would be a princely gift, Ray."

"Do you have any formal recognition from the University?"

"Several of us are on the records as students, otherwise no."

"Would you care for such recognition? It might ease the ability to grant you your desire."

"Perhaps it could be acceptable."

"What I'll do is this. I'll offer you a chance to speak with the Dean of the Law school here. I'll ask that he try to work with you. If he cannot find a way in the rules of the University, I'll make a way. I'd prefer not to do so had I the choice, but it will happen soon, one way or the other. Is this acceptable to you?"

"It is a precious gift to us, Professor."

"It is the least of what I feel is due to you. Farewell for now, I will return to make certain. We can discuss after the Dean talks to you tomorrow, and if need be, I'll check back beyond that point in time."

Jessica, having been brought up to speed by Tauriz as Ray spoke with the leader, texted the Dean, who would happily head to the academic center in the morning and discuss the matter with these people before the nine AM meeting.

Having settled down, the joint party headed off and got into their vehicles. The Tongxin team had rented an upper-end sedan that easily kept up with the armored bulk of the war wagon. They reached the restaurant, a favorite local steakhouse, in only twenty minutes of driving -- another advantage of being outside of the Boston-Washington coastal belt.

The restaurant had their private room set up and waiting, so the group moved right in and settled around the table. Tauriz sat on Ray's left, followed by Annya, Hina, Pete, a gap of several seats, Monica, Amber, Jessica, Emily, and back to Ray.

"So, we can do this two ways that I can see, Emily, and I'm comfortable either way. We can set up defenses and talk shop, or we can avoid talking shop. Which would you prefer?"

"I think that talking shop would be beneficial, but how would that work with the wait staff?"

"The technology is quite.... flexible, let's say. Let's order and get food delivered before we set defenses up."

Everyone ordered, and Jessica added the order for Jonathon's takeout to be ready when they left.

"Quick scan summary -- our 'friends' are still out there, but they're keeping their distance. Looks like more RockHounds coming online and having issues."

"Ixnay on th' ockhound-ray, Ray."

Ray shrugged and took a sip of water. Something felt off about the water.... "Stop drinking the water, folks. It's not dangerous, but it may be a threat. One sec."

Shortly after that, he was able to figure it out. "They've added a radioactive tracer. I've driven it inert, and it's fine now. You'll not be showing up on their scanners."

"They keep trying things like this, Ray?"

"Yes, Emily, they do. It's annoying. I'm tempted to let them know my displeasure."

"Nothing illegal, please, Ray. Any offensive action you take will be used against you in the court of public opinion at a minimum," requested Jessica.

"Understood. However, if the people who give orders on this start having everything nonliving they touch turn to gruel and water bottles MIGHT start to make my opinion clear."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"That would be astoundingly disruptive. They'd be unable to do anything but give verbal orders from a grassy field or the like."

"That was the kind of thing I was thinking, yes. Oh, it'd provide anything they needed, including medicines, but it would taste much like wet cardboard." Ray made a wish via Hinn.

"RAY! Please, do not!"

"Tauriz, they're doing anything they want right now because they can't see the downsides of doing so. Their hearing this conversation might have that educational impact. Especially since everyone that hears this conversation outside this room will start having that transform effect in one hour, for an hour's duration."

"I hope this does not come back to harm you, or us, Ray."

"I'm tired of giving them unlimited at-bats, Tauriz. It's time to start letting them know."

"It is not their learning that concerns me, Ray. My concern is for the Jinn, the angelics, and others."

"True, but we can only handle so many threats at one time. Putting closure to this threat should help us prep for the next issue."

Jessica asked, "So -- the spies are going to turn everything they touch into minimal food and water resources?"

"Yes. One hour warning, one hour penance. I'll wait and see what they try after that. I hope I don't have to escalate from there."

"I... can't think of any laws that directly apply. Public nuisance, perhaps? Destruction of property?"

"Good luck finding a jury that'll accept magic."

Emily's jaw dropped open. "Magic?"

"What else do you call a technology like this, Emily? It has disadvantages, but I'm not going to list them where they can hear this. Hearing that will make them waste cycles trying to find weaknesses to exploit. Their efforts will fail."

Their meals arrived at that point, and Ray wished them neutralized of anything done to them to harm or track any who consume them while notifying him of any attempts. Apparently, they hadn't tried to harm or track anyone with this meal.

Waiving down the waitress, Ray asked, "We'd like to have a private conversation for a bit here, please. We'll step out if we need anything, and it won't affect your tip in any way."

"Of course, sir," she said. That wasn't too unusual a request for the private rooms here.

An Aside

Elsewhere

"He is across the sea. He is alone. He is powerful, by the ancients' words, most powerful. But he is blind. That is where you will strike.

"Yes, Lord Nadmaan," came the chorus.

"There is chaos growing. Chaos is opportunity. You will reap this chaos. You will make it ours, and not let it be theirs. You will not be seen until he has died, or you have captured him. Dead is acceptable, but the reward for bringing him as genie will beggar your imaginations."

"Yes, Lord Nadmaan."

Chapter 27

"OK," Ray said as the door closed and he brought up the cone. "We're private again. I will note that everything that was said up to this point IS known to the NSA and the other agencies they're working with."

"So they'll know what happens in 52 minutes is your fault, Ray."

"Yes."

"How are you doing all this?" Annya wanted to know.

"Well, Tauriz mentioned Jinn and angelics -- do those ring a bell for you?"

"Aren't Jinn Islamic spirits," asked Emily.

"Pretty good -- the stories of Jinn predate Islam but come from the same area, Arabia. Here's the hard part for you to swallow. They were real, and probably still are."

"So, you weren't joking about magic."

"Not in the slightest, but I'll leave that landmine for them to find out eventually."

"Is there a simple counter, like silver and werewolves?"

"No. Some types of magic are better focused for some activities than others, and using a magic weak in a given activity against one that's optimized for it is a losing battle, usually. There are occasionally ways to mitigate certain weaknesses, of course."

"Are you two Jinn?"

"We'll get into this in much more detail tomorrow at the ten AM get together, but no, we're a different type of being. There's a lot of gotchas around that, and we're keeping certain details very close hold for now, but the cat's likely out of the bag if the NSA picked up on the conversation we had with that competitor, leaving the academic building."

"Ray, they got people lookin' into Jann, angelic, Hinn, and lotsa other key words from that talk."

"Good to know, Mac, thank you." Checking with Tauriz, he got an emotionless shrug. "There's quite a bit of history, but the eldest kind of sapient being created by the angelics -- who are the source of the legends of angels and demons and the like -- were known as Hinn. We're two of the last Hinn. We'll explain more tomorrow -- we'd prefer to cover it all once as much as we can."

"Jessica," Emily asked, "Were you aware of this?"

"Not the Hinn -- that's new to us -- but that magic existed is no surprise to me from before I met Ray. This kind of magic, however, seems to be a significant increase in potential over the types of magic I had been aware of up until that point."

Tauriz expanded on that. "Humans have some advantages, but also some tremendous weaknesses compared to the different mortal types that have walked this planet. For instance, humans, unlike all the other types of mind-bearing life, do not have a force, a power bound into them. Each unique kind of being had its own, and they were quite different.

"Just because humans have no power intrinsically linked to themselves does not make them incapable of magic. They are, on average, quite capable of magic, with either the right training or, more rarely, native talent. In the right circumstances, a human capable of magic is equal to or even superior to some of the other mortal kinds. Unlike the other kinds of mortal, human magic has no intrinsic weaknesses, but also no intrinsic strengths. Humanity's main difficulty with using magic is that the human caster's life force -- the rwh -- powers it, leading to fatigue and eventually death if overused. Other mortal types do not have this challenge unless they exceed the ability of the force they encapsulate."

"Then, you were working with, um, mortals other than humans, Jessica?" asked Emily.

"No, humans only, as far as I know."

"So humans are the jack of all trades?" asked Annya.

"That's one way to describe it, yes," said Ray.

"Where do these angelics fit in?"

"The angelics created the major sentient mortal races and allegedly some of the more interesting non-sentient types as well. They are not mortal, in that they can exist for extended periods without dying unless they get destroyed. Mortals age, most can starve or suffocate. Destroying angelics is not a simple process, but it has been known to occur."

"So, they're immortal?"

"The one that taught me the most of what I know of them preferred to call them non-mortal," said Tauriz. "True immortals, they felt, were not capable of dying."

"Are there true immortals then?"

"I do not know. There have been claims of such, but the few that have been tested in conflict failed at one point or another and are no longer walking these lands."

"All this is fascinating, but -- Ray, Tauriz, what should we be concerned about in our area of expertise?" Emily wanted to know.

"Obviously the NSA knows there's something interesting going on. They have what appears to be a Hinn captive, but it seems they have lost most if not all of their control over it. They may not even be aware of its capabilities, as it appears to have not been used for perhaps decades, years at the least. We are very interested in rescuing this Hinn if we can, both to prevent their further use but also for their well being.

"There's also the possibility, or even the likelihood, that the NSA will leak and others will learn of this. They're not exactly subtle in their deployment of assets, making it likely someone or ones will notice. Then we'll be doing this whole dance again, just with new limits and capabilities. Tauriz and I would like to present as small and as hard a target as possible for digital surveillance, intrusion, whatever dirty tricks they care to try to use."

"So, full bore multi-nation-state attack. That explains better why you were concerned about being one-deep, wise call."

"Beyond that, we're going to need people who can think outside of the box. People who can take the capabilities we can identify and find the ideal applications for them -- be that offensive, defensive, surveillance, or whatever else."

"Sounds like you might get your wish, Annya. Ray, I'll need to talk to my CEO and corporate President. Can you provide a cone of silence remotely? We'll use what we have, but I'd like to use as much protection as I can for that discussion."

Checking with Tauriz and researching via Hinn, he saw no difficulty. "No, I don't think it'll be a problem. How many people do you need the buy in of?"

"Three. The president of the firm, the CEO, and the head of our Security department. By defending you at these levels, we'll be making a target of ourselves. Which is fine, we've weathered some of these storms before, but knowing about it ahead of time would make it easier."

"If they sign Jessica's NDA, we can do that. What I'd suggest is that we set up a one-time trigger for a, what, thirty or sixty-minute cone. Reusing the same trigger will cut it short if need be. I won't be able to tailor it, so all communications with other people will be shut off for that period, and will include yourself and those three, no matter who else may be in the room."

"While Wu Hsing-so, their head of security, don't much like me, Ray, mebbe it'd make sense for me ta be on that chat too?"