The Fireseed Wars

It looked as if it would take about ten to fifteen minutes before the forward elements of both armies maneuvered within missile range. While he waited, Tortha wondered whether or not the King of Hos-Harphax's problems back home would affect his sojourn in the Middle Kingdoms. He looked around to see if he was being watched, but only his guard Sindar Rain was within hearing range.

He quickly called Paratime Police Field Agent Maldar Dard on his kit-phone disguised as an idol of Galzar; no one thought twice about a man talking to a facsimile of the Wargod on a battlefield.

"How are things in Harphax City?"

"We've had almost a ten-day of riots after the new play titled King Kaiphranos was debuted at the Harphaxi Palace theatre," Maldar replied.

"What idiot puts on a play about their murdered king?" he asked.

Maldar replied, "It gets even worse. King Kaiphranos is loosely based on a Europo-American play by Shakespeare entitled King Lear!"

"I remember that one. I see the problem. Do we have another trans-temporal hitchhiker loose on Aryan-Tanspacific?"

"No, Tortha. It turns out the playwright is none other than one of the missing members of the Kalvan Study Team, Danar Sirna."

"This skirts right up to the border of Paratime contamination, especially if Kalvan gets word of it. What was she thinking? Cross that out-she wasn't thinking. This is why we don't let undergrads take walkabouts out-time. This is a textbook case. What has the Harphax Study Team had to say about it?"

"If the Paratime Commission ever hears about it, there might be problems, sir. I'm the only one here who recognized the text; these University dome-tops are too busy arguing about the relative merits of forced industrialization versus organic industrialization-whatever the Styphon that is! Do you want me to snatch Sirna, or leave her there to cause more trouble? When Lysandros gets wind of what's going on back in Harphax City, he's going to scoot right back home. That'll be good news for Kalvan."

"Have they closed the play?" Tortha asked.

Maldar nodded. "Yes, two performances and Harphax City was convulsed with riots. Of course, by now most of them have forgotten the flash point. There's a new controversy; it seems that former Prince Selestros has had some sort of miraculous religious conversion and is now a faithful worshipper of Allfather Dralm!"

Tortha whistled, then looked around to make sure no one was standing nearby. "That's a real turnabout! This could be a serious problem. The last time we ignored some carpenter's son from Bethlehem, he had created a rift that split Europo-America into a hundred different subsectors and belts."

"I think it's a local phenomenon, sir, but I will check with the Kalvan Control Study Teams to see what they've observed with their Selestros analogs."

"I wonder what brought about this sudden conversion," Tortha said. "Was he influenced by drugs, hypno-mech or was it a vision? This sounds like the kind of spoof you might expect from Hadron Tharn; start up a religious controversy and blame it on Paratime Police meddling."

"I'll have Selestros kidnapped, given some knockout drops and then taken to our secret facility. We'll question him under hypno-mech and see if there's any chance of outtime contamination. If not, we'll release him and bug his quarters with micro-transmitters."

"Good idea, Maldar. But be careful. Now that Selestros has become a public figure again, we don't want to cause any alarm. Make it a nighttime snatch-and-grab and have him back by morning."

"Right, Chief. What about Sirna?"

"Ex-chief, please! Dalla's the current Chief and I wish her well. These days I'm not in a position to give any orders, but Dalla's a long ways away and Verkan is busy. He and Kalvan are off besieging Greffa City-"

"What!"

"I know, Maldar. It's nuts. I don't know what Verkan's doing anymore since he resigned as Chief. He won't open up to me, for Dralm's sake! Although that's nothing new, since he bristles like a porcupine at any mention of his resignation, or just what in Visthargg's Egg he's doing on Kalvan's Time-Line!"

"I can't believe he'd just dump all the Department's problems into Dalla's lap, especially now! He'd better watch it or the Paratime Commission is going to recommend a Bureau of Psych-Hygiene reconditioning session."

"Don't even go there, Maldar! I'm hoping that a few dozen ten-days with Kalvan will show him he's not the only one who's swimming in rough waters. At least, that's what I told Dalla in the last communication ball I sent out."

"Any idea, boss, on what I ought to do with Danar Sirna?"

"How did she get into this mess anyway?"