Episode 12

(New York, June 12, 1994)

[Author’s Note: We return to Rin and Daryl preparing for their mission right after the events of episodes 8-10]

Rin stared at the papers covering the table but did not read them. She had been through them a dozen times, and they were not what troubled her. The mission plan was simple enough, and she either would succeed or fail. If she failed she would try again until she did not. The process was straightforward and familiar and hardly merited the slightest concern. The source of Rin’s stress was something else altogether.

She needed to mentally prepare for the coming torrent of inane questions, which would be trying enough under ordinary circumstances. Rin’s reserve of patience had been depleted by the morning’s slurry of explanations.

She had managed a short reprieve by sending Daryl out to buy some marginally useful “essential items” for their mission. This earned her a little breathing space to think things through. She would have preferred just to order him to shut up and do as he was told, but that would be counterproductive. His cooperation depended on hope not fear. Specifically, the hope that he would learn how to kill her. Spurning his questions would undermine that motivation. Besides, if he was to be at all helpful he needed to know certain things.

The problem with conveying those “certain things” was that every answer begat more questions. Rin had assumed there would be ample opportunity during the coming months to explain things at her convenience and in chewable portions. In retrospect, this was naive. She should have known it wouldn’t work that way. She would have behaved no differently in Daryl’s shoes. Once the floodgates were open, there was no closing them.

She still hadn’t gotten to the mission itself. There only was so much she could take, and Rin was sorely tempted to put off their actual planning session. But that was untenable. Now that she had decided to act, any unnecessary delay was unacceptable. Every moment risked the loss of her quarry, and she felt her impatience mounting. Rin rubbed her forehead. Was it an “unnecessary delay” if it preserved her sanity? She took a deep breath, but a rattling doorknob interrupted it. Couldn’t he let her have one goddamned moment of peace and quiet? Rin gave the door a resentful glare and drew herself together.

“I already know that this particular target only has four protections. More importantly, I know which four,” Rin began before Daryl even could seat himself. Maybe if she spoke quickly and before he was settled in, she could avoid some questions. Daryl seemed confused. Had he expected praise for bringing back the random crap she had requested? She gave a sigh and allowed him to take a seat.

“That’s not very many,” she continued. “All Proteges have at least two basic protections: ‘I cannot degrade’ protects against aging and disease from within or without, and ‘I cannot be harmed’ protects against physical injury. Without those, none would have survived long. Twos are the easiest to encumber because that’s all they have. They’re still quite vulnerable, and humans can destroy them without much trouble. I’ll leave it to you to figure out how. Unfortunately, we’re not dealing with a Two. Fours can be more or less tricky, depending which four protections they have. They still can be dealt with by humans, but some require a bit more finesse.”

“And this one?” Daryl asked.

“Requires finesse. There are ways you could encumber her …” Rin explained.

“A woman?” Daryl sounded surprised.

“Gender has nothing to do with it. Woman or man should make no difference. You didn’t hesitate to kill women before. Even a baby.” Rin smiled. That baby was the gift that kept on giving. And Daryl probably hadn’t even killed it. In fact, the odds were astonishingly low. It was a good thing the boy sucked at math.

Daryl ignored the gibe. “So I will … enkomper her?”

“Encumber,” Rin corrected, pronouncing the word slowly. “No, this one will be mine. It would take a lot of maneuvering to create a way for you to encumber her. I said it was possible, not easy. We must move quickly since she has a knack for vanishing for long periods of time.”

Seeing the disappointment on Daryl’s face, she snapped at him.

“I did not pick when you chose to find me, and I certainly wasn’t sitting around waiting for Prince Unvaliant to come assault me. There is a reason I am situated here, and she is that reason. This may come as a surprise, but the world does not revolve around you, Daryl.”

As she said this, Rin realized she was being too harsh. The boy hadn’t actually voiced an objection.

“I’ll find one for you soon,” she promised in a far gentler tone.

“What about Karkov?” Daryl suggested.

Rin rounded on him, her voice brimming with suspicion. “Where the hell did you hear that name?”

Daryl was unfazed. “You mentioned him when we met. I assume he is a Protege?”

Rin couldn’t help but laugh. “You could say that. Do you have any idea who Karkov is?”

Daryl shook his head.

“Good, let’s keep it that way. He’s a tad out of your league, boy.”

To his credit, Daryl didn’t seem offended by this. He just nodded acknowledgment.

Rin thought for a moment. “Yeah, I think I have a good Two in mind. He will be an excellent project to cut your teeth on.”

Daryl looked at her. “You haven’t encumbered him yet?”

“Well, no,” Rin replied slowly and with more than a little sarcasm. “He wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I had. I thought you wanted to kill a Protege. I didn’t realize you were such a pansy. Even you can handle a Two.” She gave him a particularly contemptuous look. “Probably.”

“I meant Karkov.”

Rin’s suspicion returned. “Why are you so interested in Karkov?”

Daryl thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess he was connected with my home.”

This didn’t allay Rin’s concern but sounded plausible. Was he a spy or just clueless? Clueless fit the bill, but Rin decided to be careful what she told him.

“No,” she replied. “I have not encumbered him. Can we get back to the topic at hand? As I said, I’ll do the encumbering this time.”

“But how?”

“That’s something you’ll just have to figure out by observing. I said you could serve as my apprentice and watch and learn. I’ll even teach you a thing or two, like this. But I never said I’d lay it all out for you on a silver platter. This isn’t some farcical modern classroom where everybody is a winner just for showing up. We’ll follow the old style of schooling. You get to watch and obey until you learn enough to be useful or you die.”

“You said I would be useful here,” Daryl objected.

“No, I said you would be of help. There is a difference. A Four typically is no great challenge. However, this one is a bit tricky. One of her protections can prove troublesome. The last time I tried to deal with her, the outcome was unfortunate.”

“But you survived,” Daryl observed.

Rin sighed. She sure liked them dumb. Well, dumb was a lot better than what happened when she chose a smart one.

“I have a tendency to do that. My safety isn’t the problem. Yours might be,” she replied while poking Daryl in the chest for emphasis.

“Then what happened?”

“Protections are just as they sound: devices to protect the bearer from harm or other trespass. At first glance, they appear purely defensive, their behavior straightforward and passive. If the Protege isn’t attacked or threatened, nothing should happen. But they are more complex than this. I won’t go into detail right now. Let’s just say that an experienced Protege can use them in an offensive capacity as well.”

Daryl thought for a moment. “How?”

Was that the only damned thing he knew how to say? Though, Rin had to admit it wasn’t an unreasonable question. These things were second nature to her but must seem mystifying to Daryl. And he just was getting a small part of the picture. Confusion was natural. Annoying, but natural. At least he was engaged, which was a sight better than restlessly ignoring her words like some action-starved idiot.

“Well, think about it. Imagine you had a means to force the universe to violate the laws of physics. Even one way to accomplish that could, with sufficient ingenuity, be used to effect all manner of seemingly impossible feats. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, except if a Protege is involved. Entropy, conservation of energy, even the most basic principles of quantum mechanics and relativity can be violated — in theory. Perhaps even causality itself isn’t sacrosanct. I’ve often wondered whether an extreme enough scenario could induce the universe to retroactively forestall the creation of the Proteges, restoring its own integrity in the process.”

“The universe invariably finds a path of least resistance, but this path may not be obvious to us. When it comes to which laws will be violated, there is no obvious hierarchy. Physicists probably could learn a lot about the relative profundity of different principles by studying how readily Proteges violate them. That wouldn’t actually happen, of course. They would be led astray and try to study how the Proteges work, rather than simply accepting their inexplicability and availing themselves of the opportunity thus afforded.”

Seeing the blank expression on Daryl’s face, Rin realized she was pontificating.

“Suppose a guy can’t be harmed. He can drive a car into another car, killing everyone in both. What happens if he wishes to smash through a wall? Well, he can try ramming it with his body. It may or may not break, depending how the universe accommodates him. Maybe he’ll bounce off, but maybe he can’t for some reason. If a blade hits him, will it shatter or deflect? Suppose he straps a two-sided blade against his eyes and head-butts a piece of steel. Will the blade break or will it push into the steel to avoid injuring him? What will happen if he hits a person?”

“The answers may not be obvious. They often depend on the precise circumstances and the options available. You or I may find it very difficult to guess such things, but a Protege has lived with his particular protections for a long time. He is intimately familiar with their operation and can predict with surprising accuracy how the universe will respond to most situations. Likewise, he sometimes can engineer situations to reliably achieve certain outcomes. The lower numbers tend to be more difficult this way.”

“Why?” Daryl asked. “Don’t they have fewer protections?”

“There are various reasons. A Protege with only a few protections tends to become an expert in their nuances. Someone with many protections tends to be less familiar with each and assumes he’ll always be protected by them in aggregate. Such Proteges tend to be arrogant in their unassailability and make easy targets.”

Daryl’s blank stare had returned.

“Think of it like insurance. A man with one policy may be conversant with its details because they greatly affect the risks he is willing to take. However, someone with dozens of broad policies is likely to act with impunity. If something happens, he is confident that he’s somehow covered by them. Which of the two is more likely to find themselves in trouble?”

“How many protections can they have?” Daryl asked.

“That does not concern you. All you need to know is that Eights and above are very difficult to encumber, even for me. They likely are beyond anything humanity can manage. If you encounter an Eight, there is only one thing to do.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll let you figure it out, genius.”

Daryl seemed perplexed. “Then, how can I help?”

“As I said, this is just a Four, even if a difficult one. I can handle her, of course. But it is helpful to have another warm body.”

“You seemed to think I was more than that last night,” Daryl quipped.

“Unless you want to be a cold body, you’ll pay attention. She may not be alone. She’s been here for a while and likely has her own informants, just like I do. Some may even be the same, though I’m careful enough that she still won’t know it’s me. Probably. She could have all manner of other help as well. At the very least, she’ll have bodyguards.”

“Why? She can’t be hurt.”

“Partly for appearances. She is a woman of high standing, so such things are expected. Most Proteges also try to avoid exhibiting their protections in public. It can be … inconvenient.”

Daryl took this in stride, which surprised Rin. Most people would have assumed the Proteges flaunted their powers. If they couldn’t be harmed, why would they fear humans? Was it a sign of intelligence that he didn’t jump to this conclusion? On the other hand, he had seemed to think Rin was a witch, and he probably viewed Proteges the same way. In this light, his muted response made sense.

Even if they didn’t burn witches anymore, there probably were all sorts of people who would cause them trouble. People with agendas or something to prove or a desire for power. There could be some, like Daryl, who would consider eliminating them an end in itself. A mountain to be summited for no other reason than “because it was there.” For most, the reason was likely to be pettier. Like frogs in a barrel, people seek to drag down anyone who is better than them.

“There are no other Proteges with her,” Rin continued. “This is normal. Proteges tend to avoid one another for the most part.” She put up her hand to deter a pending question.

“This particular Four poses another problem as well. She knows how to use her protections in a dangerous offensive capacity. If we don’t catch her off-guard, she could cause significant collateral damage. I know this from experience. Granted, it was a unique situation.”

“What did she do?”

“Let’s just say that it was reported as a volcanic eruption and took place a long time ago.”

Daryl raised an eyebrow, and Rin grew annoyed. “I told you I’m older than you. Are you a complete moron? Do I look older now than when we first met?”

“I was … distracted at the time,” Daryl protested.

Rin rolled her eyes. “Not that distracted. I know you tend to think with your dick, and I’m probably partly to blame for that, but —” Rin stopped and looked at Daryl. No, it wouldn’t do to berate him. She sashayed over and pouted coquettishly right in front of his face.

“Does it bother you that you fucked an old crone, all wrinkly and decaying on the inside,” Rin rubbed her body all over for effect.

Daryl didn’t cringe, and Rin shrugged. “Guess you’re into that, then.”

She leaned in before explaining.

“Listen carefully, Daryl, I’m going to teach you a valuable skill. It’s natural for me, but very few humans seem to get it. First, I’ll need to correct a misconception you may have.”

“You are your body, nothing more. The same is true of the Proteges, though their bodies are protected. Even if you physically identify yourself with your body, you no doubt imagine that ‘you’ are something more nebulous, more sublime. You are not.”

“If you somehow switched bodies, you would feel unlike yourself. Your brain is just another organ, specifically adapted to the body with which it grew up. Your body and brain are married and can know no other partners. Deep down everybody realizes this, even the religious or spiritual types. But it’s easy to pretend otherwise, because we each face outward.”

“Here’s the problem. Though you are your body, you are not any particular physical feature of it. Nobody would argue otherwise, and a quick trip to the bathroom mirror would prove the point if they did. I am told that old people often are shocked when they see themselves since they still feel like children inside.”

“Yet despite this understanding about yourselves, people tend to define others by their physical features. You confound an image of a person with the actual person. In the wrong circumstances, this can be fatal.”

Rin sensed she was losing Daryl and got to the point. “When you look at a person, separate the person’s appearance from their being. It’s easiest to imagine a disembodied brain. That brain guides the body, is informed by it, and grew with it. However, all brains look the same.”

“Doing this can keep your eyes from deceiving you. Two identical looking men may differ enormously in personality, intelligence, and so on. They may have lived vastly different lives, and the way they respond will differ too. Your mind makes certain assumptions based on physical appearance. They are reasonable assumptions, prejudices if you will.”

“Prejudice is nothing but intelligence, inference based on experience and information. But it can lead to mistakes, to false intuitions, sometimes with deadly consequences. You may assume somebody who looks like a friend is friendly. Or someone who looks twenty-two is twenty-two.”

“The present target physically is a young woman but is thousands of years old. Whether those years have made her wiser or more knowledgeable or kinder or angrier is unclear. It can be a fatal mistake to imagine you know this. Put aside your intuition and remember: all brains look the same and each is completely alien to your own.”

She paused, then fixed Daryl’s eyes. “Now, then. Who am I?”

“Rin?” he answered hesitantly.

“And what do you know about me?”

Daryl took a moment. “Nothing.”

“Very good. Keep this in mind, and you will be much more successful in life. The biggest part of success is not ending up dead.”