Realty Check by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Internet, Fantasy, Classics, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781885173997
Publisher: Write Way Pub
Published: 1999-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Shree

Lloyd paused as he passed the plaque by the stairway. "Hey—it's up to number eight," he exclaimed. "We made another step."

"Maybe it was the lie detector," Penn said.

"Well, it didn't budge for the hearing aid, or the translator, so why should it for the lie detector?"

"Good point. It moved to seven when Chandelle deciphered the squiggle print, and not for the subsequent results of that. So what did we do this time?"

"Beats me, Grandpa."

"Maybe Chandelle will know."

They went to the kitchen, where Chandelle was happily working. "The plaque has advanced, but we aren't sure why," Penn said.

"For realizing that the house summons its residents," she said promptly. "Kailash figured that out."

Penn and Lloyd exchanged a glance, and then a shrug. She was probably right. The plaque seemed to react to the grasping of principles more than to details.

Lloyd went on to the living room. Kailash and Llynn and Obsidian were there, working on the ramifications of the lie detector. It was clear that she was getting sweet on him, and he rather liked her. The grandparents made no objection, probably because they thought Kailash was a better prospect than that gang leader she had gone with before. Lloyd tried to suppress a surge of jealousy. He was only thirteen, but he did know what girls were for, and wished he had one of his own. But no girl he had ever thought of liking had ever had any interest in him. Girls wanted men, and he was a boy. A mouthy boy.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"We've pretty well figured out the nuances of the lie band," Llynn said. "But we're thinking that if we want to rescue Kailash's sister Shree, we'll need more than that and the translators."

"You'll need a gun," Lloyd said.

"Guns are dangerous," Kailash said. "They are instruments of war." He didn't like war, as he had explained, because of the fighting that had gone on in his neighborhood, as India and Pakistan tried to take over Kashmir. He hadn't said so, but Lloyd suspected that members of Kailash's family had been shot. Lloyd didn't know much about Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever it was, but gathered they didn't much like violence.

"We're wondering whether there's something in the attic," Lynn said. "Maybe not a gun, but something better."

"I'll ask Grandma," Lloyd said. He returned to the kitchen and explained their concern.

"The problem with guns is that they can be as deadly to their owners as to others," Penn said. "That's why they are kept under lock and key, in the military, when not in use, and the ammunition locked elsewhere. It would be better to find the perfect defense."

"Yes," Chandelle agreed. "Something that can only safeguard, not threaten. I will check the squiggles."

"So are we going to rescue his sister?" Lloyd asked.

Penn and Chandelle exchanged a glance. "I suppose we are going to try," Penn said. "Llynn will insist."

"Yeah. She's sweet on him."

"He is an impressive young man, very intelligent," Chandelle said. "Yet no doubt he will return home, once he recovers his sister.

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