Retrograde Motion - Part 1

Foreword:
This story is a spin off from "The Book of Masks"  interactive.  Credit to Seuzz for providing the setting and also helping me edit this text.

Because this is a spin off it makes use of some terms from "The Book of Masks"  that the reader might not be familiar with.  Here's a glossary of some of the terms:
essentia - broadly speaking, an individual's magic power
imago - the appearance, thoughts and memories of an individual
ousiarchs - every member of the Stellae has two totemic associations with the planets which affects how they can make use of their essentia, the planets use the names from C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy but correspond to the real planets in our solar system
Arbol - The Sun
Viritrilbia - Mercury
Perelandra - Venus
Sulva - The Moon
Malacandra - Mars
Glundandra - Jupiter
Lurga - Saturn
Eldibria - Neptune
Catilindria - Uranus
Kenadandra -Pluto

*****

Kali stirred from her slumber as the early morning light worked its way into her bedroom.  It crept past the blinds and marched slowly up her bed as the sun rose in the sky.  The room was still cool as she slipped out of the bed, wrapping the sheets around her torso.  That would change soon as the stifling summer heat built up.

Although she had lived in LA for years, Kali had never quite gotten used to the hot muggy summers.  She slept naked and with the windows open and the faint sounds of the rush hour traffic could just about be heard in the distance.  She shuffled over to the large mirrored doors of her closest and regarded herself critically in the half light of the room.

Another grey hair, she thought, picking at it with a free hand.  It knows the truth even if the rest of me doesn’t.  Kali lifted her chin up and turned her head slightly to the side.  The delicate face remained much the same as it had for the last twenty years or so:  The same rich coppery colouring, the same prominent cheekbones.  Not bad for a forty-something, and especially not bad given she was closer to sixty.  Kali still remembered the wee bespectacled girl that had stared into the mirror in a Paisley terrace a lifetime and half the globe away.

All she had to worry about then was the odd insensitive jibe about the colour of her skin from a few particularly idiotic ten year old boys.  Life is more complicated these days she thought as she let the sheets slip to the floor and reached for her robe.  Kali felt a momentary pang of sympathy for her long dead mother as she walked out the bedroom and into the main room of the loft apartment she lived in.

The girl, Kali couldn’t help but think of her as a girl even though she was in her nineteenth year, was up already, dressed in a simple pair of denim shorts and a frayed pink tee.  Her dark brunette hair, already lightening in the California sun, was tied in a simple ponytail and she sucked on a glass of fruit juice through a straw.

“Good morning Kali,” she said, the valley girl intonations in her speech obvious.  Charles had told Kali to expect as much, of course, but the speed with which the girl had shed her native accent over the last couple of weeks still amazed her.  Kali herself still spoke with a trace of her native accent although she managed to avoid some of the more indecipherable parts of her mother tongue unless her concentration lapsed.

“Morning Hélène,” replied Kali.

“What are we doing today,” asked Hélène cheerfully as she placed her glass of juice on the worktop that marked the edge of the kitchen and the beginning of the lounge.

“I’m going to have my breakfast,” explained Kali grumpily.  Even the most generous soul was allowed to be a little prickly before their first cup of coffee.  She skirted past Hélène and poured out a cup from the jug in one corner.  “Maybe have a shower and check my email,” said Kali as she perched on one of the stools at the worktop

“Great,” interrupted Hélène.  She practically skipped away from the worktop  and pulled a pair of laptops out from the shelf under the coffee table in the middle of the loft.  Hélène set the larger of the two, a sleek black number, in front Kali.

“Aye, thanks.” Said Kali as she took a sip from her coffee.  The sarcasm was lost on Hélène.  Instead the girl sat down next Kali and flipped open her little pink netbook and booted it up.

Kali took another sip of her coffee and turned her own machine on.  It took a little while for wake up fully now, another sign that old age was finally creeping up on her.  With the third sip, Kali’s brain finally started to move into gear. 

She glanced at Hélène’s netbook.  The girl was typing out a message to her family, entirely in French.  It was harmless enough, Kali supposed.  Hélène would have to break contact with her family, her old family, sooner or later – Just as Kali had done the same with her family, such as it was, all those years ago.  Charles had doubtless told the girl as much when he found her in whatever Parisian suburb she had lived in.  Letting her email her parents was simply a polite fiction to ease the girl’s transition into her new life.

Kali’s laptop chimed as it finished loading Windows.  She took one last sip of her coffee and started her email program.  There was a password, of course, and Kali tapped it in quickly while Hélène was engrossed with her own mails.

There was one new mail waiting for her.

Kali took one look at the subject line and dropped her coffee.  The cup rolled across the worktop, spilling what little was left across the surface.  It reached the edge and fell to the floor where it shattered into pieces.

“What does retrograde mean,” asked Hélène as she leaned over to look at the screen.  Even if she sounded like a native now, English was still Hélène’s second language.  There were more than a few words she did not know or understand.  That she did not know this one hardly surprised Kali.

“It’s a word astronomers use child,” said Kali softly, easing into the diction she had used to instruct Hélène over the last few weeks.  “It means going backwards or in the opposite direction.”

“Astronomers,” replied Hélène.  “So, like, stars and planets?  Is this Lucio Strigiotti one of us then?”

“He is one of the Stellae Errante – a field agent Hélène,” said Kali patiently.  “And it’s an important message.  One that I’ll have to deal with urgently.”

“Cool,” replied Hélène.  “It’s not, like, anything bad is it?  I mean you looked shocked when you dropped your cup,” the girl said breathlessly.  Her enthusiasm for anything related to the Stellae had been boundless since she had arrived in Kali’s home, even if her attention to basic theory had been somewhat lacking.  “Oooh, what are his planets?”

Kali sighed.  It would be better to sate the girl’s curiosity now rather than have it distract her all morning.  “Lucio’s ousiarchs are Catilindria and Eldibria.  Do you remember what that means?”

Hélène looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully and bit her lip as she tried to recall her lessons.  “Catilindria is our name for Uranus,” she said slowly, as if unsure of her answer.  Kali permitted herself a tight smile and nodded at the girl.  “Eldibria is Neptune,” Hélène continued with a more confident grin.

“And what does that tell you about him,” prompted Kali.

“Neptune is the sea,” said Hélène, half phrasing it as a question.  “So I guess he has power over water.”

“Some Eldibriae do child, but Lucio is more linked to the qualities of the sea.  Think of how a calm sea can turn quickly to a treacherous storm.  Many secrets are hidden in his depths and he guards them jealously.”  Hélène nodded as Kali talked.  “He is relentless:  Imagine the sea as it slowly breaks down a cliff, lapping away it with every tide.  It is slow but the outcome is never in doubt.”  Kali paused for a second.  “And his other influence?”

“I…” Hélène stuttered.  “I don’t know.”

“You have your computer in front of you Hélène,” said Kali a little more forcefully. “Make use of it.”  Hélène’s mouth made an O shape as she realised the answer was in front of her.  Kali waited patiently as the girl conducted her search.

A little fit of giggles told Kali that Hélène had found what she was looking for.  The trainees always found something funny in the Uranus myth.  “It says here,” said Hélène with a smirk.  “That his son cut off his, you know.”  Hélène made a particularly expressive gesture.  “And they fell into the sea and that is how Venus was born.”

“Exactly,” said Kali.  She kept her face carefully serious.  “Creation from destruction.  The new challenging the old.  Renewal.  Lucio has challenged many warlocks, witches and other practitioners and freed innocents from their grasp.

“He is good at it,” asked the girl.

“Yes, exceptionally so.  The combination of Catilindria and Eldibria make Lucio and excellent field agent,” said Kali.  In the privacy of her own head she added but an appalling human being.

“Will I make a good field agent,” asked Hélène enthusiastically.

“That depends entirely on your ability to remember your lessons child,” chided Kali with a smile.  Hélène giggled again.  “Now, as I said, I have to deal with this message.  Privately.”  Hélène frowned.  “Take yourself for a walk for fifteen minutes and we’ll continue your lessons after you return.”

Hélène looked disappointed.  She grabbed her glass and drained the last of the juice with a noisy sucking sound.  “See you soon,” she said as she placed the glass by the dishwasher.

Kali watched the girl go.  She waited for a full minute after Hélène had closed the door behind her before allowing the worry to show on her face.  Then she hauled herself up from the stool and carefully picked up the smashed pieces of the cup from the floor.

Kali looked across the loft to where the phone sat on a small table.

She knew she would have to call Charles.  She knew what Lucio’s message meant but at the same time she wished she hadn’t received it.  Instead she placed the fragments of crockery in the bin.  Then she selected a cloth and carefully mopped up the spilt coffee from the worktop.

The phone still lurked at the opposite side of the loft.

There was no make-work left to do, no way of avoiding the call.  In any case Kali would have to phone Charles before Hélène returned.  She walked to the table where the phone lay and picked up the handset.  Kali dialled the number from memory as she walked back to the kitchen area.

“Hello,” said a man’s voice on the other end of the phone after a couple of rings.

“Hello Charles,” said Kali into the handset.  “It’s Kali.”

“Kali,” exclaimed Charles.  “It’s so good to hear from you.”  His voice was warm and confident.  “And how is young Hélène progressing.”

“About as well as I’d expect,” replied Kali neutrally.  “She is still troubled with the basics but keeps trying to make more advanced techniques work.”  Kali paused for a moment and sighed.  “I just wish you’d found her a few years earlier Charles,” she said more honestly.  “She’s practically an adult, but she’s just not ready.  Not for the things she’s going to have to deal with.”

“Then she will have to learn quickly,” said Charles, his voice heavy with sadness.  “We were lucky to find her at all Kali.  People like her are good at hiding themselves, even when they don’t mean to.”  Kali heard him sigh audibly.  “The world seems so much bigger than it was forty, fifty years ago.  There are so many people to watch and so few of us.  You know I wouldn’t have sent Hélène to you if I didn’t think you would bring out the best in her.”

“I know,” said Kali flatly.

“But you didn’t call me because you wanted to talk about the girl now, did you?”

Kali’s stomach fluttered a little.  “No,” she eventually replied.  “I received a mail from Lucio.  One word in the subject line:  Retrograde.”

“He needs help then,” interrupted Charles.  “And he sent it to you because he needs help from you.  He included some way of getting in contact I assume?”

“Just a string of numbers,” replied Kali.  “Co-ordinates.  Let me just check on my computer.”  Kali sat back at the worktop and opened her browser.  It took her less than a minute to find the location Lucio had sent her.  “Seattle, I think,” she explained.

“That would fit with his last report,” concurred Charles.  “I’m relying on you to give him the help he needs Kali.  I know there’s no love lost between the two of you but we either stand together or the whole world falls with us.”

“I haven’t completed a field assignment in years Charles,” interrupted Kali.  “And what about Hélène’s training?”

“Take her with you,” he replied

“Charles, it’s a retrograde motion,” interrupted Kali anxiously.  “She’s not ready.  What if I can’t protect her?”

“You said it yourself – she’s nearly an adult,” said Charles, a hint of steel surfacing in his voice.  “Either she’s going to be ready or she never will.  You’ve had her for a month and you must have seen what she can do without even thinking about it.  Look at the way she’s drawing on your protective instincts right now.”

Kali sat silently for a moment.  He was right.  She’d never been quite so protective of any of the students the Stellae had sent her over the years.  Oh, she’d mothered all of them, but never quite like Hélène.  The reflected synergy of their shared Perelandra ousiarch  had affected her more than she had realised.

“You’re right,” she finally said.

“Of course I’m right,” he chuckled warmly.  The sound lifted Kali’s spirits and she found herself smiling faintly.  “Now get yourself and the girl to Seattle.  I’m looking forward to your report.”  With that, he hung up.

Kali turned round to return the handset to its position and found Hélène standing at the door.  “How long have you been there,” she asked.

“A minute, maybe two,” replied the girl.  She walked in and closed the door behind her.  “Is it true?  Are we going on an assignment?”

Kali nodded as she walked across to Hélène.  “Yes”

The girl bit her lip nervously.  “It is not going to be…  dangerous… is it?”

“Everything about what we do is dangerous child,” said Kali as she returned the phone handset to its position.  She gave the girl a hug.  Kali could feel her trembling.  “But I will protect you as if you were my own.  Are you sure you want to come with me,” she asked.

“If you asked me before I heard you on the phone I would have said yes,” replied Hélène, looking up at Kali.  “Now I am scared, but I have to do this sooner or later do I not?”  Hélène broke off from Kali.

“Yes child, you do,” replied Kali.  “Now come on, we have cases to pack.

*****

Kali and Hélène dragged their cases to the airport check in desk.  The plastic blonde manning the desk smiled joylessly.  “Hi-my-name-is-Caitlyn-how-can-I-help-you,” the check in blonde said.  She sounded as if she was reading from a script.  Hélène pushed the handle on her case down and back inside before placing it on the belt at the side of the desk.  Then she took a couple of steps away from the desk and started staring at the ceiling with a look of acute disinterest.

“Hello Caitlyn,” said Kali.  She pulled a sheaf of paper from her shoulder bag and placed it on the desk.

Caitlyn took the papers and started clicking the mouse on her terminal.  “Seattle, huh?  What’s taking you out that way?”

“We have family there,” said Kali smoothly.  It was true, after a fashion.

“It’s always good to see your family again,” said Caitlyn.  “I hope you and your daughter enjoy the trip.”  Caitlyn made a show of looking over the top of the desk.  “Just two pieces of luggage?”

“Yes,” replied Kali.  Caitlyn attached a label to Hélène’s case and the belt juddered forward.  “We won’t be away long.”

“Hard to get time away from work, huh,” asked Caitlyn.  Kali placed her own case belt behind Hélène’s

“Taking it with us,” muttered Kali under her breath as Caitlyn attached a label to the second case.  The belt juddered to life again and the cases disappeared into a dark hole behind the desk.

Caitlyn finished typing at her terminal.  She pulled a pair of boarding cards from the printer and handed them to Kali.  “By the way,” said Caitlyn.  “I love your accent.  Irish, right?”

“Scottish,” explained Kali.  She took the boarding cards from the blonde and slipped her arm round a bored looking Hélène.  “Come on child, we have time for a coffee before the flight.

Kali guided Hélène away from the check in desks and down the concourse.  “Why did she think I was your daughter,” the girl asked once the desks were out of earshot.  “We look nothing like each other.”

“Do you remember what I told you about your ousiarchs when you first came to me?”

“Oh, yes,” said Hélène.  “They are Perelandra and Sulva.  I did not understand that though.  The Moon is not a planet.”

"'Planet' as we mean it is not as the astronomers mean it, child. For them, Pluto is not a planet, not any more, not according to their classification. But Kenadandra is and was and always will be a planet, for us. It is the same with the Moon, with Sulva."

"Is Sulva powerful because it is so close?"

"Proximity has nothing to do with it either. Nor size. Again, Pluto is very small, even smaller than the Moon, and very far away. But Kenadandra is as powerful as any of the others."

"As powerful as Glundandra? Or Arbol?"

Kali thought of Charles, and smiled. "As powerful in his influence, yes. But no planet is more powerful than any other. They merely have different influences. Do you remember how I described Sulva's influence?"

“You said it was like a mirror,” said the girl as Kali lead her inside the coffee house.  “It reflects things.”

“Exactly,” said Kali.  She sat down at one of the tables and nodded to one of the baristas.  Hélène sat opposite her.  “Sulva is one of your ousiarchs, and as the Moon reflects the light of the heavens, so you reflect things too.”

“I reflect things,” asked Hélène, puzzled.

“You fit in child,” explained Kali.  “Wherever you go, you fit in.  That’s why she thought you were my daughter.  You just looked as if you belonged with me, despite the differences in our appearances.  That and you played the part of bored child to perfection, without even thinking about it.”

“Incredible,” exclaimed Hélène.

“Did you notice that your accent was gone too?”  The girl shook her head again.  “When you came to me a month ago you sounded very French, but now you sound as if you were born here.”

“I still do not know all the words very well,” protested Hélène.

“True,” said Kali. She paused her explanation as the barista arrived at the table to take their order. “You lack the linguistic skill that a Viritrilbia might possess, but you speak with a native accent effortlessly. I have lived here for years and I still sound Scottish. Even if the locals can not tell the difference.”

“Does that mean if I went to Scotland I would sound Scottish,” asked Hélène enthusiastically.

Kali laughed out loud. It was a rich and earthy sound, the laugh of a woman confident and relaxed in her life. “Yes child, you would. It would be quite a thing to hear I think. But you must not count on such things," she added quietly. Hélène looked at her; Kali hesitated to continue, but as she had already gone so far…

"Sulva waxes and he wanes. This quality refracts itself in different ways with different adepts, as the influences of all ousiarchs refract differently with their adepts. It is said that with some of Sulva's adepts, the waxing and the waning means they go into eclipse until they are needed, when they blaze brightly forth. For some, it means their gifts themselves wax and wane, with some skills coming to the fore as others retreat. For you--" Kali paused as the barista delivered two drinks: A coffee for Kali and a fruit smoothee for Hélène. Hélène ignored the pointed look the barista gave her as she sucked on the straw of her drink. "For you," she continued, "it is the connection itself that waxes and wanes. When Sulva wanes, you must trust to Perelandra, as the moon yields to the sun in daytime, and to the other planets when she is new."

“That sounds awkward,” said Hélène with a nod.  “Are a lot of Stellae agents Sulvas.”

“Sulvae are incredibly rare,” corrected Kali.  “Although it would be more accurate to say they are difficult to find.”  Kali stopped to take a drink of her coffee.  “Charles, the man who found you in Paris…”

“It was Saint-Denis,” interrupted Hélène.  “Completely different place.”

Kali allowed herself a faint smile before continuing.  “Charles said it was blind luck that your paths crossed.  It’s been over a hundred years since a Sulva last joined the Stellae,” explained Kali. 

“What happened to her,” asked Hélène.

“Him.  I… uh…”  Kali hesitated again.  “We do not know.”  Kali had checked the records on previous Sulvae when Charles had told her about Hélène.  They had been frustratingly vague.  “Charles has a theory,” continued Kali quickly.  She wanted to change the subject.  “That Sulvae are in fact a lot more common than we think. They may even be more common that all of the other planets, but they just go about with their lives fitting in. They never realise they are entangled with Sulva, and we never see them."

"Entangled?" the girl says.

"It's a metaphor, child. Your ousiarch is very far, but also very close. It is like a cord between you. And it is also like a shadow in the mid-day sun – The shadow is your essentia but it is the ousiarch that shapes its form."

The girl chewed on the end of the straw in her drink thoughtfully. “I never thought I was anything special,” she said after a little while. Perhaps she had given up trying to understand.

Kali took another drink from her coffee as the girl noisily drained the last drop of her smoothee.  “But you are,” explained Kali, trying to encourage the girl.  She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a worn leather bound book.  “Now, you have been asking a lot about the planets in the last day or two.  Since I told you much of this when you first came to me I thought that a little revision might be in order.”  Hélène’s face fell.  Kali put the book on the table and pushed it towards the girl.  The title was printed in faded gold lettering on the worn cover – The Shadows of the Planets.  “The flight is going to take a couple of hours.  That’s enough time for a little reading.”

“Homework,” exclaimed Hélène.  She scrunched up her face.  “That is so unfair.”

“Perhaps we should have a test when we reach Seattle,” replied Kali.  She took another drink from her coffee, finishing it.  She stared at Hélène sternly for a few moments before breaking into a smile.  “Or not, but remember:  Once we step off that plane there can be no games.  Everything will be deadly serious and your life may depend on you following instructions exactly.  Do you understand?”

“I do,” said Hélène solemnly.

Kali placed a few coins from her purse on the table and stood up.  “Then let’s go find our departure gate.  I swear, there must be diabolic magic involved in the construction of airports.”

“Can I have the window seat,” asked the girl as she stood up.

“Of course you can child.”

*****

The rain battered the windshield of the hire car as Kali drove north from the airport.  It had a sat-nav which Kali had programmed to take them into the city proper.  It occasionally bleeped as it directed Kali to turn one way or the other.

Hélène sat in the passenger seat, midway through The Shadows of the Planets.  “Is it always this rainy here,” she asked as she looked up from the book.

“So they say,” replied Kali.  “It reminds me of home,” she continued absentmindedly.

“It didn’t rain at all in LA,” said Hélène, her brow furrowed.

“I meant home,” explained Kali wistfully.  “Scotland.”

“You sound like you miss it,” said the girl.

Kali stared out the windshield silently.  “Maybe I do.”  They stopped at a red light and a crowd of pedestrians crossed the road in front of them, huddling under their umbrellas, jackets and, for a few of them, briefcases.  “Maybe not the weather though,” smiled Kali.

The light turned green and the car started moving again.  “Where are we going,” asked Hélène.

“A hotel on the waterfront,” explained Kali.  “It matches the co-ordinates Lucio sent me.  Either we will find him there or he will have left a dead drop for us.”  Kali turned the wheel left, sending the car down another street.  “I also made a reservation for two rooms for us.”

“Cool,” replied the girl with a smile.  She flipped back several pages in the book and looked at it closely for a minute.  “Is Lucio staying at a waterfront hotel because he’s an Eldibria?”

Kali permitted herself a smile.  “Why do you think that,” she asked.

“It says here that water is tied to emotions,” explained Hélène.  “And that having a lot of it nearby might soothe him.”

“Exactly,” replied Kali.  She turned the car right and suddenly there were no longer any buildings on one side of the street. 

Hélène stretched forward to try and see past Kali.  In the distance, shrouded by the rain, she could make out the land at the opposite side of the inlet.  “I was hoping to see the ocean,” she said with a trace of disappointment in her voice.  Heavy storm clouds filled the sky, making the early evening even darker than it otherwise would have been.

“We are here because we have a job to do,” replied Kali sternly.  She pulled the car into a space at the side of the road.  Her expression softened a little.  “I’ll take you to see the ocean when we get back to LA.”  Kali pulled the keys from the ignition.  “Here we are.  They have an underground garage but we’ll need to check in first.”

Kali stepped out of the parked car and into the rain.  It had shifted from a heavy, dull patter to the kind of thin mist that would permeate her clothing and leave her thoroughly wet.  Despite this, she pulled a compact black umbrella from her shoulder bag and raised it so at least her hair would remain dry.  Kali took a deep breath while Hélène scuttled out car and ran to the trunk to retrieve her case.

Hélène was already inside the hotel by the time Kali had lifted her own case and locked the car behind her.  Kali took her time, enjoying the cool of the air as she walked towards the lobby.  It was well appointed but sparse.  A lone custodian was mopping the marbled floor.  He placed the mop in his bucket, spilling sudsy water on the floor and leaned on it as Kali entered.  The custodian regarded Hélène and Kali both from behind a bristly silver moustache as they crossed the lobby floor to the reception.

The clerk was barely older than Hélène and, unlike the girl, growing up had not been kind to his complexion.  He made a vain attempt to straighten his tie and smooth his hair.  His eyes swivelled from Kali, to Hélène and back to Kali before finally settling on Hélène again.  At chest level.

“Hi… Uh…” he stuttered.  “Welcome to the…  Uh…  Hi.”

Kali coughed discretely and the youth’s gaze snapped up to her face.  “We have reservations,” she said calmly.  “In the name Valentine.”

“Oh, right,” replied the clerk.  He looked at the computer in front of him with a look of complete confusion on his face.  “Reservations…  Reservations…  It’s here somewhere,” he tailed off.  Kali simply sighed patiently while the youth recovered his wits.  “Gotcha,” he muttered under his breath before continuing more audibly.  “Can I have your credit card Madam?”

Kali handed over her card and leaned on the desk.  After a minute of fumbling the clerk returned the card along with a couple of swipe card room keys.  “Here you are Madam.  Rooms five-oh-four and five-oh-five on the fifth floor.  The elevator is behind you and to the left.”  He glanced at Hélène again and smiled fuzzily.  “Enjoy your stay.”

The custodian tipped his cap to Kali and Hélène as they walked to the elevator, which opened immediately when Hélène pressed the call button.  “Did you see him,” asked Hélène once the elevator had begun its upward journey.

“Yes child,” replied Kali.

“His tongue was hanging out his mouth,” the girl said with a mixture of disgust and amusement.

“It wasn’t quite like that,” corrected Kali as the elevator chimed.  The doors opened and they walked out.  “And it is something you will have to become accustomed to in any case.”

“Americans,” muttered Hélène.

“Something like that,” said Kali with a smile.  The reached one of the rooms and Kali used the swipe card to open it.  “Besides, you will be talking to him again in a minute,” continued Kali as Hélène followed her into the room.

“What,” exclaimed Hélène.  “You are not being serious!”

“I am,” explained Kali sternly.  “Some Perelandrae have that effect on people – simply being in the same room as them is intoxicating.  Overwhelming.  You can take advantage of this to befuddle and confuse – to make someone that it would be a good idea to do something that they should not.  For example, tell you information about another guest or perhaps even give you a key to their room.”  Hélène grimaced.

“Relax child, you will not have to do anything,” continued Kali in a soothing tone of voice.  “You saw that simply standing next to him rendered him barely capable of his job.  Simply tell him that Lucio is your uncle.”  Lucio’s face swam back into Kali’s memory – the slick black hair, the tanned skin and the dark eyes.  She steadied herself on the handle of her case.  “That should be more than enough,” she finished quickly.

“Okay then,” said Hélène unhappily.  “Are you going to watch over me?”

“No, I’m going to move the car into the garage,” replied Kali.  “And if you think you have an unpleasant task, remember that at least you don’t have to go back out into the Seattle rain.”  Hélène smiled a little.  Kali laughed, and soon Hélène joined in.  “It isn’t so bad, is it child,” said Kali as she gave the girl the key to the other room.  Hélène nodded in agreement.  “Return here when you are done.”

*****

Kali found Hélène at the door to her room when she returned.  The girl’s face was pale with worry.  “I think I have a date for tonight,” she said nervously

Kali sighed.  “How did you manage that child,” she asked patiently.

“He kept on asking and asking and asking,” explained Hélène.  “He would not listen when I said no.”

Kali thought of Lucio again.  “Your presence can be too overwhelming for some,” explained Kali.  “Given time, and practice you will become more adept in making use of it.”  Kali thought for a moment.  “I will talk to the boy and convince him to leave you alone.  Now, did you persuade him to tell you anything about Lucio?”

The colour flooded back into Hélène’s face as she smiled.  “I got his room key,” she said and produced it with a flourish.  “Room four-one-two.”

“Well done Hélène,” said Kali.  She gave the girl a wide smile.  “Your first success in the field.”  Kali took the card from Hélène.  “Let’s see what he’s left us.”

It did not take long to find Lucio’s  room, which was on the floor directly below Kali’s and Hélène’s.  Kali opened the door with the key Hélène had given her and the pair walked in.

“He has left all his clothes,” said Hélène as she looked around.  A suitcase lay open on top of one of the chairs.  Clothes spilled out of it.

“He expected to return,” said Kali.  She ran her hand along the surface of the bed.  “He hasn’t been back here for at least a day.  The bed is untouched.”  She looked around the room.  “Check the toilet Hélène, see if it shows any sign of use since the room was last cleaned.”

“Ewww,” groaned Hélène.

“Did you think field work was all glamour child,” replied Kali knowingly.  “Wait till you get your hands really dirty.”  Hélène rolled her eyes but complied with Kali’s instruction.

Kali turned her attention to the wardrobe.  She slid the mirrored door aside.  Three sharp looking suits hung forlornly on a rail.  Methodically, Kali checked the pockets of each one.  The first two suits were empty, the third contained some small change a receipt for a fast food restaurant at the airport.

“I do not think anything has been used here,” called Hélène from the toilet.

Kali slid the wardrobe closed.  “Check the drawers in here then child,” she called back.  “Lucio is far too experienced and operative to leave us with nothing.”

Kali moved onto Lucio’s suitcase as Hélène emerged from the toilets.  Several creased shirts hung from it.  Kali looked through the pocket in one, and then another.  Below the shirts was a pile of Lucio’s underwear.  Kali steeled herself.

“I’ve found something,” said the girl.  Kali turned to look at her.  Hélène had a USB drive in her hand.

“Aha,” said Kali smoothly.  “Well done, again, Hélène.”  The girl beamed at Kali and handed her the drive.  “We’ll take this back to my room and see what it contains.”

Kali locked Lucio’s room behind her as they left.  “This field work is really easy,” said Hélène as they waited for the elevator to take them back upstairs.

“This is the easy part child,” explained Kali as the elevator chimed and the door slid open.  They both stepped inside and Hélène pressed the button for their floor.  “And we were lucky:  Lucio left something for us to find.  The trick will be in making sense of it.”

“Will that be hard,” asked Hélène.  The elevator slowed to a halt and the doors opened again.  “I do not understand.”

Kali smiled as she stepped out of the elevator and headed to her room.  “Well, we’ll see what is on here, shall we.”  She unlocked her room and entered.  “My laptop is in my case, bring it over here.”

Hélène pulled Kali’s laptop out of the suitcase and handed it to her.  Kali sat in one of the chairs in the room and then turned it on.  Hélène slipped round behind her and looked over Kali’s shoulder as she slipped the USB drive into the laptop.

“That is strange,” said Hélène as Kali opened the drive.  “There is only one thing on it.”

Kali smiled as she opened the sole file on the drive.  “Think of it as more of a message in a bottle than a collection of work child.  It’s more to set us in the right direction than to tell us what he is doing.”  Kali frowned at the computer.  “Ah, this will make things more difficult.  I suppose this is not unexpected, but more difficult.”

“What,” asked Hélène.  She craned her neck to see the screen.  The opened file was simply an image, covered in a scrawl of meaningless symbols that became more and more complex looking as they progressed from the top left corner to the bottom right.  “What is this,” she asked.  “I do not understand.”

“It’s a cipher of some kind,” explained Kali, rubbing at her temples.  “Knowing Lucio, it’s one of his own devising.”

“Can you understand it,” asked Hélène anxiously.

“No, but…”  Kali stopped for a second and pointed at some of the symbols near the top.  “These shapes near the top represent the planets using astronomical symbols.  They might be a key to deciphering his meaning.”  Kali smiled.  “This is very clever.  I think if I make some assumptions about the symbols here, here and here,” she said indicating with her finger.  “I could unravel it.”

“That makes it clever,” asked Hélène.  “How long would it take?”

“Yes child it does,” explained Kali.  “The assumptions are based on the influences of the ousiarchs.  Another member of the Stellae could find this and, eventually, understand it, but for an outsider, it would take significantly longer to crack.”  Kali pointed midway down the page.  “Especially once the symbols start building on themselves.  It has the haphazard illogic of a Catilindria’s work.”

“And Lucio is a Catilindria too,” exclaimed Hélène, standing up straight.

“Exactly,” replied Kali.  “As for how long it would take me.  Two, maybe three days.”

“Uggh,” interrupted Hélène, her lip curled.  “What am I going to do while you do this?  Can you not be quicker?”

Kali sighed.  “That is as long as it will take me child.  I can not just magic up a translation…”  Kali hesitated.  She was right to say that it was beyond the powers of her ousiarchs, but it was also true that there were other members of the Stellae who could solve the problem quicker.  “Unless…  Unless I send it to John,” she said tentatively.  “Yes.  John could do it within hours rather than days.”

“So send it,” exclaimed Hélène.  “And who is John?”

“Child,” scolded Kali gently.  “Be mindful of how you speak.  John Reilly is another one of the Stellae and he will be able to translate Lucio’s message far more quickly than I.  Think on what you have read today and tell me why,” said Kali as she connected her laptop to the hotel’s wireless network.

Hélène walked out from behind Kali’s chair and sat on the bed.  She looked up to the ceiling as she searched her memory.  “Viritrilbia,” she exclaimed after a minute of thought.  “He’s a Viritrilbia.”

“Yes child,” nodded Kali.  “Communication is within the sphere of Viritrilbia.”  She tapped out an email to John as she spoke.  “John will have an answer for us by tomorrow morning.  Unless Lucio has been working on something about zeppelins,” she said as she attached Lucio’s file to the mail.

“Why does that matter,” asked Hélène, her brow furrowed in confusion.  “Will he not have an answer for us then?”

“He will still have the answer child,” explained Kali.  She smiled ruefuly.  “But he will also want to talk my ear off as well.”  Kali clicked to send the mail.  “Now go to your room and unpack.  I will deal with your date for tonight.”

*****

The story concludes in "Retrograde Motion - Part 2"