OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 235 - Just Thinking.

Here's a weird and wonderful pseudo-fact for ya. Technically speaking Queen Elizabeth II could murder someone and they wouldn't be able to arrest her for it. Theoretically under British law no charges for any crime she committed can be placed against her. That's because under British law you are charged in her name in criminal cases. It's always the Queen against whoever is being tried. You can't have the Queen against herself in a British court of law. In addition all officers of the law are employed by her as head of state. Fortunately for all concerned the Queen doesn't take advantage of her legal impunity. Not since that unfortunate incident at Buckingham Palace in 2006 anyway. Where she decapitated a dozen people before they could wrestle the sword off her. I think it's lovely that she insists on keeping to the traditional methods of execution. If it wasn't for traditionalists like her all these old skills would be lost.

(The copyright to this image is the property of BBC America.)

So much information. Too much information. Right down to individual molecules and atoms. Jake even had all those medical records Morag had sent him. Not just his, but every member of the crew. Plus all the historical readings Chiro had recorded. The AI was stupid it picked up everything as it had been instructed to do. If it hadn't been instructed to do something it would never do it. When he left it would carry on doing its pointless task. He could see it all. Impossible to explain how. Things and people weren't transparent or translucent. He could just see every hormone, pheromone and blood cell in anyone outside the ship. Not in Pip. She was there beside him her fingers and hands performing tricks with the Ustraski console. He had all the records from when she was outside the ship though. From the instant she set foot inside the technological zone. Before that even. Palamar was visible if he looked. She spoke without looking up from her work.

"I've quarantined the potential leaks for now. That won't work longer term. Getting hold of Ugo in private is going to be a lot more difficult. I can mask the origin of our communications and I can encrypt them beyond their abilities to crack that code. However he could be in a place that's heavily monitored. I don't think their automated systems would flag it, in fact I'm pretty sure they wouldn't, but if others are tapping the feeds they could intercept the actual voices. Although I suppose I could send a text only message to him. What do you think? Of course in order to be 100% safe I will need to find out exactly where he is. Thanks to their open, comprehensively surveilled, society that's doable. From their news feeds I know he's at a regional assembly, opening their latest session in his ceremonial capacity. I imagine there will be a lot of people there. Most of them looking at him."
Jake became aware she was gazing at him expectantly.
"Got a lot on my mind. I promise I was listening. What is it you want me to do?"
"You could compose a cryptic text for me. Something that only he'd fully understand." She nodded towards another terminal, before turning back to her work with a shake of her head and a wry smile.
Head in the clouds as usual, Jake took a seat. Eventually brought up something resembling a keyboard. Typing out a message.
"We need to talk urgently. Go out to the ornamental fountain in front of the assembly building. Alone. W."
He sent it to Pip's station. Her face clouded.
"What does it say?" He told her without even thinking. "Two.. no three things. It's not as cryptic as I hoped for, it'll do though. Next, do you know you wrote that in the Fafindi language? And finally, how do you know there's an ornamental fountain in front of the assembly building?"
He'd slipped up there. far too preoccupied with other things.
"Would you believe it's Wanderer stuff?"
"I would not. I know you quite well don't forget. If you'd said you had no idea I'd have believed that. You don't want to tell me that's fine." One of her pregnant pauses. "It's not because you don't trust me, or I'm only a kid, is it?"
"Certainly not. Sorry. I'm having a lot of trouble drawing lines. I don't know where to put them for the best. It's not a judgement of you. It's more that I don't trust myself."
Despite how stupid that felt as he said it, she accepted it with good grace.

His mind drifted back to all that data. He'd been onto something there. Something he'd been thinking about earlier. A thing he'd almost noticed before that kept coming back at him. That was it! Oh dear. She had to know. That was the way it worked. There was no way she couldn't know surely? The facts were unmistakable. Absolutely no doubt whatsoever. It was there right in front of his eyes. On replay should he so wish. It would have been nice if he'd been given some kind of warning or notice of things. That was a lot to expect, he thought. In many ways it was none of his business. So he couldn't really complain. It still felt bad to find out. It would have been equally as bad with advanced notification. Potentially worse for him in most ways. Of course he couldn't say anything. This wasn't something to bring up in casual conversation. How would he have known? It would lead to other revealing questions about him. Ones he was unsure he could answer honestly.

It certainly wasn't any of his concern. Obviously it changed things. It changed them a lot. In so many different ways. Most of which, again, wouldn't affect him. It would mean a lot of adjustments having to be made in the longer term, or so he assumed. To accommodate this. The timing could have been better. Especially when it was a matter of choice. Would a delay have made any difference? Circumstances might have changed. Would have changed. Therefore any judgement he made would be wrong. His understanding wasn't as comprehensive. As a man he couldn't place himself in her shoes. Except in the broadest sense. It didn't involve him. It was reality. He had to accept that and move on. The signs had been there. They'd been there for quite some time. Although they hadn't even hinted at this bombshell. A choice had been made. One he'd been no part of.

"Why are you staring at me?" Pip asked, breaking his painful and unproductive reverie.
The young woman looked uneasy. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair.
"Am I? Sorry. I was thinking about something."
She turned back to her important work.
"That was pretty obvious."
"I didn't mean to make you feel nervous. I apologize unreservedly."
Pip shivered. That made him feel worse.
"It's like you're looking into my soul. Examining me under a microscope."
"Nothing to worry about I assure you Pip. How are you feeling?"
Stupid question. Accept it. Process it. Move on.
""A bit creeped out by the way you're staring at me, but otherwise fine. Looks like I was right."
About a lot of things he'd now discovered.
"Yes it does doesn't it." It did radically alter things. The full significance and effects wouldn't be known until later.
He looked away at last.
"Still thinking?" She inquired.
Time to switch subjects as swiftly as possible. There was, after all, nothing he could do about this.
"I was... thinking about the attack on Harrowmist. Right back when we first entered The Never. Still can't see what that was all about."
"Ahhhh." Pip looked guilty. "I should have told you. That was my mom and dad's work. I kind of thought you'd know. Like deep down in your Wanderer parts.
"Why would they try to destroy Harrowmist?" Damn her parents were badass.
"They didn't. They built the bomb then hired some mercenaries to detonate it as part of a general assault. Only those mercenaries thought they saw a chance to make even more out of the raid. So they found someone who knew just enough to soup the bomb up. But not enough to know it would vaporize a huge area and punch holes in time."
"Yes but that still doesn't explain why"
Distracting himself was hard. Worth the effort.
"Apparently you told them to do it a long time ago." She explained. "Which they did. Only it messed with the timelines, in ways even they don't understand."
"Sounds about right." He admitted, still musing on other things despite his efforts. "How can I judge others motivations when I don't even understand my own?" He murmured softly.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
She raised her eyebrows, shaking her head.
"You were just thinking."
"That's it. Just thinking. How are things going?"
"Difficult to say. It's chaotic at the moment. The Patriarch is with a lot of people right now. I dare not send the message yet. I'm going to use his Patriarchal pager. It's the most secure and shielded. It's down to choosing the right moment."
A full stop had been applied. It would be stupid of him not to move on.
"I'm going to stay here for a bit. Hope you don't mind. I'll try not to stare at you again."
She grinned.
"Please yourself." Pip's eyes flicked towards him. "Thanks for not asking, by the way."
His brow furrowed. Could she read his mind? Had she learned this skill off Scarlet?
"Not sure I follow you there. Thanks for not asking what?"
"About my parents. What went on in the 9 weeks I subjectively spent with them. A lot of it was training for this."
"I'm so sorry. I keep saying that, but I am. That time should have been for you and them. Not me."
"It's all cool. They are hard task masters, but I spent 63 whole days with them. Don't forget, I didn't need to sleep. The captain asked. Pengelly said something, but left it alone. They told me he's my uncle. That was pretty mind blowing. Finding out the sister he kept on about was my mother. She kept probing though. Nothing overt. Almost undetectable. Unless you know her like I do. Fishing for the information without asking directly. I was always left feeling a bit ashamed for not sharing. That was after the first time of course. This time I didn't get the third degree. Please don't tell anyone."
"As if I would. I shouldn't have told her about that first time. I think I only did it to show off."
"All is forgiven Jake... Balls. I thought I saw an opening there to get this message through only Ugo has been collared by a journalist for a short interview. That's about as public as you can get."
Everything was changing. It was tempting to think it was all falling to pieces. The whole dynamic had changed irrevocably now. Many different new factors had come into play.
"Do you fancy a trip out with me tonight? After dark, preferably when everyone in the house is asleep."
"Sure. I'm up for it."
"I've got a feeling we may need a bit of help handling what's heading for us. I can feel it in my intuition."
"Is this another Wanderer thing?"
"Sure. Why not? The Wanderer has returned. And this time I think he's returning to me"