Chapter 10
The three cybermonks clustered around the table.
Erroar lifted the lid of the teapot and sniffed. He couldn’t smell very well. Stryng had those sensors. “Did we do this right? He didn’t seem to appreciate the tea.”
“It was from a recipe handed down from Old-Earth, though it was described in a poem.” Black specks sifted down through Lightnyng’s eyeballs, like miniscule black rain. “Do those work?”
“Poems? What does it matter?” Erroar clacked his teeth, grinned. “Oh I do I love my teeth.”
“We noticed,” the other two chorused.
“It probably doesn’t matter.” Lightnyng reached up and pulled down a floating lantern. His hands pressed on it from each side and his metal fingers popped through the red surface as he slowly crushed the globe. “The game is afoot. We have set the cat among the pigeons. I wonder how long it will be before the DNA-targeted aphrodisiac affects her. I expect things to get very interesting.”
“Chase and capture. Run and hide?” Erroar asked.
Lightnyng dropped the shredded lantern. “We can hope for this. Humanoids and orc are predators at heart. They love the chase. I misted the aphrodisiac into the air above her bed and in the pond. I see she has already immersed her body.”
“Yes. Soon there will be anarchy. Sex. Violence perhaps. All three are likely with a combination of humans, orcs, and cyborgs.” Erroar reached in and stirred the liquid in the pot with a metal finger. “This was songbird tea, yes?” He rattled on without waiting for an answer. “Was that a metaphor? I am wondering if this songbird tea was supposed to have them in it.”
He lifted his finger from the steaming liquid and peered at the sodden mess of feathers stuck to his finger.
“Perhaps not.” Lightnyng inclined his round head. “Poems are a mystery to me. Let us not forget to get the DSU from her. Whether she is dead at the end of this or not, there is a possibility she will destroy the data on it before we can harvest it.”
Erroar shook the wet feathers from his digit then gnashed his teeth. Tiny curled slivers of metal fell to the table. “If she does we should make tea from her.”
“Mmmm,” they all agreed. Their minds had synched for a few seconds, and they spoke as one being. “Another tea party would be nice.”
“We should have one to celebrate the results of the Prediction when this is over.” Stryng walked away and lifted his head. “Have you noticed? An anomaly in the library? A thing that shouldn’t be there? A thing that flies.”
The others only shook their heads, leaving Stryng puzzled. Normally they all received the same data. He pulled down one of his braids and made to suck on it, but he didn’t have a mouth. Instead he sniffed it then put it to his mesh ear. The plastic had a faint tangy scent.
“Perhaps I will get some teeth too.”
Erroar let out a low buzzing laugh, that sounded as if it had been dredged from the dark, jungle-moist chambers beneath the city of Verd. “You would like them.”