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                              RADIAN & SHADEBEAM
                                  Episode 48
                          (Brutal Light, part seven)
                                    "Blood"
                                      by
                                 Gary W. Olson

                                    -<=*=>-

     The golden fingers of dawn stretched into the suite, sliding across the
too-clean carpet with casual determination.  Akane watched it from where she
sat atop her bed, her back pressed into the corner of the wall.
     Morning had arrived, and here she was, in her suite at CalForce head-
quarters, watching the sunrise.  She wondered if she had dreamed the last
year's worth of experiences, dreamed the escape from the home that had become
her prison.
     The idea was appealing.  Akane pressed tighter against the corner, as if
backing away from it.
     *They kept it clean, at least,* China said, as she materialized next to
Akane.  Akane reached out and touseled China's hair, imagining that she could
feel the sensation of the touch.
     "I'm surprised they kept it at all," Akane said.  "I would have thought
they'd throw everything away, or at least let dust settle on it.  But
everything's spotless."
     -Maybe they hired a housekeeper,- Kyoko suggested.
     *So when do we try to escape?* China asked.
     "Not right now," Akane said.  "We have to wait."
     -Wait for what?- Kyoko asked.  -An engraved invitation?-
     Akane didn't answer, instead returning her gaze to the advancing sunlight,
the herald of the new day.  But was it a new day, or her last?
     She remembered the flight to CalForce headquarters.  They had bound her
to a seat in one of two side cabins that the Star Yacht possessed, with none
of them, not even Chalandra, saying a word to her.  Even Mighty Guy's usual
ebulliance had been stilled, and she wondered what he was thinking, if he could
understand what had driven her to run away from what he conceived to be justice.
     What they discussed in the main cabin she could only hear in muffled
tones.  Chalandra's voice came through the clearest, as though she had been
standing next to the door, and from that she learned that there would be no
announcement that they had captured Radian, because they needed her knowledge,
and perhaps her cooperation, to get Rad back from Ian.  Those present had
accepted the strategy, some of them with considerable reluctance, pending
Confusion's return from his expedition to New Hampshire to rescue Dar.
     They had arrived, and Akane had been taken by Yury and Eivandt to her
suite.  She tried the lock after they left, and found it solid...
     <<Akane,>> HAL interrupted.  She started to answer him vocally, but
realized he was speaking inside her mind.
     *Yes, HAL?* she asked.
     <<I am sorry they have captured you,>> HAL said.  <<I feel that I am
to blame for how things turned out.>>
     *You did what you could,* Akane answered.  *The deck was just stacked
against you...and me.*
     <<Thank you,>> HAL said, simply.  <<You have a visitor.>>
     *Who...*
     There was a sound by the door.  Akane pushed herself tighter against the
corner, reflexively.  The door opened silently, and Chalandra Harkness stepped
in.
     The air was silent.  Akane felt an electric sensation upon her skin.
     "Hello, Little Fang," Chalandra said.  "We have much to discuss."

                                    -<=*=>-

     He wasn't a very good liar, Karina decided.  She noted how his eyes flicked
away from her at crucial moments, despite the palpable attempt he was making on
keeping them focused on her.  Deception wasn't something he liked to practice,
it was evident.
     "We weren't able to capture Radian," Confusion said to her.  "She escaped
in the course of the battle.  Where she is at this point we don't know, though
HotFlash, Mighty Guy, Microvax, and MeltDown are out searching."
     "For her, or for Rad's abductor?" Sutherland asked.
     "Both," the Empress Glum spoke up.  Karina looked at the woman's eyes,
seeing the strained lines surrounding them.  She was a strong woman; she had
to be, to be able to stand in this room while three government agents asked
pointed questions about people she loved.  Karina could see no deception in
those eyes, which made her all the more wary.
     "Confusion," Karina said, "I appreciate your candor.  Yet, I'm troubled by
a news report that came out this morning."
     "Like what?" Confusion asked.  Karina put that morning's edition of the
Weekly World Schmooze on the coffee table.  Confusion scrutinized it, his
eyes growing wider as he read.

     'RAD ABDUCTED! RADIAN CAPTURED! YOW!'
     by Flores Lame
     LOS REQUEMADOS - Police report that wanted fugitive Radian was
     captured late last night in the small town of Los Requemados by
     CalForce, during the course of a battle to prevent well-tanned
     hero Rad from being abducted by an unknown villain.
          "She was caught red handed," Confusion, the leader of
     CalForce swore on a stack of bibles.  "Yes sir-ree bob.  Yow."
          Witnesses to the battle reported seeing a number of naked
     breasts in the area, but it was unclear who they belonged to.
          LaToya Jackson has claimed credit for tipping off CalForce...

     Confusion set the paper down, not willing to read the rest of the article.
     "It's not true," he said.  "I never spoke with anyone from the Weekly
World Schmooze.  Besides, I was on the other coast at the time."
     "I assure you, I'm not in the habit of believing anything the Schmooze
prints," Karina told him.  "And the police have already gone on record as
saying that the Schmooze story was false, that all the information they have
confirms your official accounting of the battle."
     "And you came all this way just to clear that up?" Doubt...no, he was
Willwarp now...asked, smirking.  His eyes were unreadable.
     "No," Karina said.  "I am hear because of something I have discovered,
that I wished to bring to your attention.  In the eleven months that Radian
has been on the run, she has covered a lot of ground, going from Australia
to Indonesia, to China, to Russia, to the States, to planet Hottentot, to
Colombia, to Mexico, and now, here.  I have found pursuing her to be a
difficult task, made more difficult by the lack of an electronic paper trail
to follow.  Records of plane trips the two are now known to have taken do not
exist.  Details of firsthand sightings by law enforcement officials in Jakarta,
Ithaca, and Mexico City have vanished."
     "You think she has another accomplice?" Glum asked.
     "I believe so," Karina told them.  "Agent Atkinson?"
     "We have detected, in recent months, electronic transmissions directed
at places where Radian is known to have been," Atkinson explained.  "The
communications were extraordinarily complex, and extremely difficult to trace.
We've correlated our findings with past data, and have established a definite
pattern of contact.  It is not enough for us to determine when these
communications are occuring at any given time, but it does indicate that she
has help."
     "How can someone be communicating to her?" Willwarp asked.  "She carrying
a computer with her or something?"
     "Last year," Confusion said, "we were on Planet Inhospitable, battling
Troll Dolls and Cabbage Patch Predators.  Radian teleported us off the planet,
and mutated part of her mind, using radiation and magic, to be able to process
communication signals..." [in CF #85 -- author]
     "Isn't that a part of her ordinary abilities?" Karina asked.  "It's just
a matter of manipulating radiation, after all."
     "I'm sure she could, if she set her mind to it," Confusion said.  "But
this change apparently allowed her to send and receive without any special
effort on her part, which was necessary at the time.  It never occured to me
that she would retain this after losing her Dark Goddess powers."
     He seemed truthful, here.  Perhaps he didn't know.
     "We haven't been able to estabish the identity of Radian and Shadebeam's
accomplice," Karina said, "but we have been able to establish where the
transmissions have been originating from."
     "Where?" Glum asked.
     "Here," Karina said, with the casual air of someone who knew she was
dropping a bomb.  "The transmissions originated from CalForce headquarters."

                                    -<=*=>-

     "There," Dar said.  "That should keep her sedated for a while.  It will
become progressively more difficult to enforce, however."
     "How long do we have?" Criticalman asked.
     "Until nightfall," Dar said.  "I can hold her that long, at least."
     "Anything I can do?" Shadebeam asked.
     "Got any more waffles?" Marian inquired.
     "I doubt such a trick will stop her a second time," Dar said, shaking his
head.  "Her unfamiliarity with Earth's breakfast foods could only be used once."
     "How long do we have to stay here, anyway?" Kaoru asked.
     "Until those Federal Agents leave," Laura McCavish-Laffalot.
     "Won't they ask for us?" Shadebeam asked.  "I mean, you can't deny you
captured *me*."
     "Manny told Agent Selanova that we're holding you in order to lure Radian
out of hiding," Criticalman answered.  "Selanova expressed her support for the
strategy."
     "Hmph," Shadebeam sighed.  "Pass the crackers.  And scoot over, Kaoru --
your elbow's in my ribs."
     "Why are we all huddled on Mighty Guy's bed?" Kaoru asked, as he scooted
over.  "Surely some of us can sit on the couch over there, or in the loveseat
over there."
     "Feel free," Michael told him.  "But leave the snacks here."
     Shadebeam sighed, and leaned back against a pillow.  Everyone jumped as
the sound of a cat crying out in surprise and alarm ripped out from behind the
pillow.  Andro poked his head out from behind the pillow and snarled.
     -Look,- he purred, patiently.  -*Some* of us are trying to catnap, here.-
     "Andro!" Shadebeam exclaimed, scooping the white-furred cat up.  "I was
wondering where you'd gotten to."
     -Yeah, yeah, sure,- Andro grumped.  -I bet the author just forgot to write
me into the last three epi--say, are those tuna fish sandwiches?-
     Criticalman raised an eyebrow as Andro pounced on one of the tuna fish
sandwiches on the plate next to his legs, and reached for the remote control.
He flipped on the ultra-mega-hyper deluxe large-screen television that
dominated the wall opposite the bed.  The screen lit up to show Tommy
Anderson's face.
     "Gaah!" everyone on the bed (save for Chelsa, who was unconscious)
exclaimed.
     "Well, Regis," Tommy was saying, "it was kinda traumatic when Ian killed
my parents.  Almost as traumatic as when I learned that Cthulhu was never going
to be able to visit me again last year, or when Judy and Julie left me so they
could shack up with Henry Kissenger.  But almost nothing can make up for the
trauma I suffered when my Nintendo was destroyed."
     "Didn't Percy Grey buy you a new Nintendo and all the new games in exchange
for the movie rights to your story?" Regis asked.
     "Yeah," Tommy said.  "That helped.  But I still need parents to pay the
electric bills."
     "Poor kid," Marian said.
     "Yeah," Dar commented.  "Could someone pass the spray cheese?"

                                    -<=*=>-

     "You...remember," Akane said, startled.
     Chalandra nodded, as she pulled a chair away from the desk that was against
the far wall.  She turned it around and sat, folding her arms over the backrest
and resting her chin atop her forearms.
     "It was four hundred and eighty one years ago, for me," Chalandra said.
"But I guess it was just a few months ago for you, right?"
     "Shadebeam told you about the time travel," Akane said, making the question
into a statement.
     "Parts of it," Chalandra said.  "I gathered the rest from when Karina
was here last time, after having transmatted in from Planet California.  She
mentioned Zen Navigator."
     "You saw him?" Akane asked, startled.
     "For a second," Chalandra said.  "The second before I died."
     "Hell of an image to die with," Akane said, smirking.  "When did you
realize I was the mystery woman who dropped into your life five centuries ago?"
     "After the Songs of Darkness were over," Chalandra replied.  "When I saw
you that following morning, defeated and drained.  You had that...haunted...
look in your eyes, a look I've never seen, even in the most bitter vampire I've
met.  I don't know...maybe I should have made the connection before..."
     "It wouldn't have helped," Akane said.
     "I know," Chalandra told her.
     They regarded each other in silence for several moments.
     "So tell me about it," Chalandra prompted.
     "About what?" Akane asked.
     "Everything," Chalandra said.
     Akane's eyes narrowed, though she leaned forward, away from her corner, by
a fraction of an inch.
     "Hey, it's me," Chalandra said, smiling.
     Something about the words, the casual way they were spoken, the genuine
warmth of the smile, broke through the tension in Akane's mind.  She relaxed,
visibly.
     "I...I haven't told anybody, really," Akane said.  "Apart from Shadebeam,
I mean, since she already knew most of it anyway.  I don't even know where to
begin, really -- I've been discovering, as I've traveled, that there's a lot
more to the story than I'd realized.  That, and...well..."
     "You hate explaining," Chalandra said.  Akane looked up.  "You want to
keep it to yourself, keep your personal hell personal.  Trust me, I know what
that's like."
     "So...where should I start?" Akane asked, drawing forward.
     "Start...with China."
     *Me?* China asked.  *I'm flattered.*
     "China...is a Kalapurnea, a dream of Transcendence that lives in the
blood," Akane said.  "You remember when Dracula told you about the Fracturing?"
     Chalandra nodded.
     "She was born of that," Akane explained, "and she's lived, in various
bodies, since that time.  Like the government's top secret research indicated."
     "I remember," Chalandra said.  "Do you mean that, since you drank China's
blood, you might give birth to her someday?"
     "I'm sterile," Akane replied.  "Radiation does that."
     "I'm sorry," Chalandra said.
     "Don't be.  Anyway, it's beside the point.  China's alive now, inside my
blood.  I can see her.  I can talk to her.  That's why I'm so pale -- my blood
is her body."
     "But how can that be?" Chalandra asked.  "It's..."
     "Impossible?" Akane asked, a hint of a laugh nestled in the syllables.
"That's one of the more plausible things that have happened to me in the last
two years.  You remember Vrik, right?"
     "The pale young boy," Chalandra said.  "You mean...he was..."
     "The Kalapurnea," Akane finished.  "China in a previous incarnation.  I
told you at the time that I talked to him telepathically.  But it wasn't me
who spoke with him, most of the time.  It was China."
     *It's true,* China interjected.  *Look it up.*
     "What about Mirabai?" Chalandra asked.  "She claimed to speak to the
Dark One, Krishna."
     "Saw him, too," Akane said.  "That was Symon, in his original incarnation."
     *That's true, too,* Symon said, leaning in through a wall.
     "I...saw Krishna, at my moment of death," Chalandra said.  "I saw him
smile..."
     Akane considered this, carefully.
     "Perhaps there is a way I can show you," she announced.
     -Ooh, this is exciting,- Kyoko sighed.
     *Ssh,* China said.
     "How?" Chalandra inquired.
     "You must drink some of my blood," Akane told her.  "Besides, it's only
fair, given how much of your blood I drank."
     "I...don't know..." Chalandra said.  For a second, Akane could see the
Chalandra she knew then, in 1513 -- strong but unsure of the territory she
was entering.
     "Hey," Akane said.  "It's me."
     Chalandra nodded, and got up from her chair, to sit on the edge of the
bed.  Akane scooted away from her corner to the edge.
     "Will the blood affect me?" Chalandra asked.  "I mean, it was supposed
to do something for the vampires who were after China..."
     "I don't think it will," Akane said.  "But just in case..."  She took
Chalandra's wrist in her hand.  "I can take most of it back."
     Chalandra nodded, and ran her fingers along Akane's neck.  Akane tilted
her head back, and lifted Chalandra's wrist close to her mouth.  She could
feel Chalandra's breath, sweet and hot against her pale skin, and shifted her
eyes to look at China, who nodded without speaking.
     Akane drove her fangs deep into Chalandra's wrist, opening the undead
flesh with ease.  The blood did not spurt into her mouth -- it was dead blood,
the remains of last night's meal, half-dissipated already.
     When Chalandra sank her teeth into Akane's neck, that began to change.
Blood rushed out of her neck and into Chalandra, firing her cold body with
more-than-mortal warmth.  Akane drank the blood back, from Chalandra's
wrist, as her heart began to pound louder, her body pressed against
Chalandra...
     *She sees me,* China reported.
     *Well, say something,* Akane sent, directing her thought towards
Chalandra.
     "Mmph!" Chalandra said.

                                    -<=*=>-

     "Like, whoah," Rad groaned.  "Like, where am I?"
     "You don't want to know," Ian told him.
     "I think, like, that I do, y'know?"
     "No, you *really* don't want to know."
     "Like, do too."
     "No, you don't."
     "Where am I, heinous son dude?"
     "Mt. Rushmore," Ian said.  "Lincoln.  Left Nostril."
     "Ewww!" Rad commented.
     "Told you," Ian said, watching as Rad tried, futilely, to break the stone
bonds that held him firmly.  After a while, Rad gave up.
     "I've temporarily relieved you of your psychokinetic abilities," Ian
revealed.  "They will be returned to you...if you cooperate."
     "Like, no way, dude," Rad said.  "This is so, like, heinous, you know.
I feel like that Roman emperor guy, like, Ceasar Romero, y'know?"
     "Et tu, Lippert?" Ian asked.
     "Like, what?" Rad asked, back.
     "Never mind," Ian said.  "My sister failed in abducting your brother, Dar.
In fact, she has been captured herself, and the nature of the physics employed
in the construction of CalForce Headquarters makes my retrieving her
problematic.  That is where you come in, father.  I intend to exchange you
for her."
     "Well, like, doesn't that put you, like, back where you, like, started?"
Rad asked.
     "So it would seem," Ian said.  "Oh, Hecate?"
     Hecate emerged, from behind a rocky clump of elegantly sculptured nasal
hair.  "Yes, Ian?"
     "Change my father's mind," Ian instructed.  He turned and walked farther
back, into the shadows.  Hecate approached Rad and reached out, running her
fingers over his chest.
     "Mmmm, you're so much like him," she whispered.  "Only much, much tanner.
And I'll bet I won't have to teach you a thing."
     "I'll never, like, give in to you, sexy-but-bogusly-evil temptress,
y'know?" Rad asked.
     "You will," Hecate said, as she kissed his lips.  "And then, you will
deliver your brother to us, giving Ian the power he seeks, and giving me the
revenge I seek."
     "Whoah," Rad told her.  "You are one, like, spooky chick, y'know?"
     "Do I ever," Hecate answered, as she began to weave her spell.

WILL RAD BE MIND-CONTROLLED INTO BETRAYING CALFORCE?
WILL CHALANDRA AND CHINA BE ABLE TO CARRY ON A MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION?
WILL CONFUSION BELIEVE WHAT KARINA HAS TOLD HIM?
IS PERCY GREY GOING TO ENTER THE TV-MOVIE BUSINESS?
DID ANYONE REALLY SEE NAKED BREASTS IN LOS REQUEMADOS, OR DID THE RANDOM NEWS
     STORY GENERATOR JUST MAKE THAT BIT UP?

Blah blah blah SUPERGUY blah blah.
--
Gary W. Olson         swede@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu         swede@drycas.bitnet

       "Mine brain has meditated on the spinning of The Chao
        It is hovering o'er the table where the Chiefs of Staff are now
        Gathered in discussion of the dropping of The Bomb
        Her Apple Corps is strong!"
                     - The Battle Hymn of the Eristocracy (first verse)