uncertain terms that it was none of her business. That ended the questions, but not her curiosity, and whenever she could, she would go down and just stare at the door, as if she could somehow will it to open and discover its secrets.
"There you are!" Eile said. "I've been waitin' for ya for fifteen minutes!"
Sunny jumped. "What? Oh! Ha-ha, sorry!" They had decided to spend some quality in the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom, playing a game of Roman Matron and Body Slave. She had gone down to get the wine; the safe room doubled as a wine cellar, since it was temperature controlled.
"Well, the grapes are getting warm, so hurry it up!"
"I'll be up in a minute." She looked back at the door.
Eile sighed in exasperation. "Will you give it a rest already? Yer never gonna find out what's in there, not until Medb decides ta tell us, and I doubt she ever will."
"Aren't you curious?"
"Well, yeah, sure, but I don't obsess over it. It's probably nothing anyway. I mean whaddya expect it ta be, a secret command and control room, or a sex dungeon with captives?"
"I don't know, but why keep it locked to us?"
"Why not? She's entitled to her privacy, and in this house, with you around, a locked room's probably the only way she can get it."
"Oh, hardy-har, very funny. Still, you may have a point. I mean, Medb respects our privacy."
"Damn right, Missy, so come on, I can't keep my motor revving forever, ya know."
Sunny giggled. Eile was still amazed at how the thought of sex turned her into a little girl, but then it seemed like lots of things could do that.
"Why do you spend so much time down here anyways?"
"I don't know; I guess I just have the feeling I could get in if I just knew the right way."
"Have you tried 'open sesame'?"
"It's not voice activated. It reads palms, see?" And she placed her hand over the glass-covered scanner.
"I was only kidding, ya ditz."
Sunny giggled again, but then the reader lit up as a laser flashed over her palm.
"Aaaah!" She leapt back. A moment later, the red light above the door turned green, there was an audible click, and the door unlatched and swung open into the darkened room.
"What did you do!?"
"Nothing!" she squealed in a panicky tone, but then she brightened. "But it worked!" And she started into the room.
"Gaaah!" Eile ran up and caught Sunny by the arm. "What are you doin'?!"
Sunny gave her a perplexed look. "Going in to take a look around. Duh!"
"Are you nuts? Medb doesn't want us going in there."
"But she must, otherwise she wouldn't have programmed the reader to recognize us."
For a moment, Eile didn't know how to answer that. It made sense, in a way. Then she shook her head. "It's gotta be a glitch of some kind. Come on, we'll call Medb and she'll get it fixed."
"But it can't hurt just to take a look around. Please? If we don't touch anything, what could go wrong?"
Plenty! Eile thought, but Sunny was right. What difference would a quick look see make? Besides, her curiosity was stronger than she let on.
"Aw, cripes. Alright, we'll take a look, but just for a few moments. Okay?"
Sunny smiled and crinkled her eyes. "Okay, partner!"
She stepped through first, and Eile followed. The light coming through the door wasn't strong enough to illuminate very far, but either the room was no bigger than a walk-in closet, or they were in a short corridor. Either way, they couldn't see anything.
"There's gotta be a wall switch around her somewhere," Eile muttered as she felt along the wall.
"I think I got it!"
Eile heard her flip a switch, and an overhead panel of lights came one.
The door also closed with a slam, and as they spun around in surprise, a gate closed across an opposite opening.
"Geezus, we're trapped!" Eile said.
"Identify yourselves," a feminine voice said over a loud speaker, but it wasn't Medb's.
"What the--?" But Eile was interrupted by a minigun popping out of the floor and pointing it's six barrels at them.
"Identify yourselves, please," the voice insisted.
"Geezus! I'm Eile and this is Sunny!"
The barrels started to spin.
"Full names, quickly!"
"Goddammit, Eile Chica and Sonne Hiver!"
At first nothing seemed to change and Eile was certain they were both dead, but the barrels stopped spinning and the gun dropped back into the floor.
"Stand by for verification."
A fan-shaped, blue-white laser passed over their bodies. Eile squinted and held up a hand to shield her eyes, but then it cut off.
"Identities confirmed: Chica, Eile Marelys; Hiver, Sonne Aourgen. Access granted." The gate in front of them opened and lights came on in what turned out to be a back room.
Eile relaxed; she realized she had been holding her breath, and she let it out.
Sunny turned to her and flashed a lopsided smile. "Marelys?"
"Yer one ta talk; what's the deal with Aourgen?"
"That was my Dad's Mom's name."
She felt embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry, I wasn't tryin' ta be a jerk. Marelys was my father's mother's name, too."
Sunny smiled. "It's okay, partner, I wasn't upset."
"Welcome, Team Girl!" the voice broke in. "Please, come in, I've been expecting you."
From "Feline Savior"
It had started out as an ordinary day, at least ordinary in the sense that it had followed the routine established by Aunt Mandy since the reading of the will four weeks prior. The weekdays were spent in classes at the prestigious Gresham's School in the town of Holt, which she had been attending since Reception at the age of four. She was finishing Year 7 at the Prep School. The afternoons, after Aelfraed picked her up and brought her back home, were spent in training, learning how to shoot and defend herself, organized by LCpl. Holt. In addition to formal martial arts such as Bartitsu, Defendu, and Spirit Combat jujitsu, he also taught her commando hand-to-hand combat and street fighting, particularly the use of any tactic that could give her an advantage. On the weekends, Aelfraed tutored her in the function, organization, and history of the Caerleon Order in the morning, followed by more defense training with Mr. Holt in the afternoon. She enjoyed those sessions with him more than Aelfraed's lectures. While stern, he was nonetheless gentle and patient, and in any event, she thought learning how to fight was much more fun than reading dusty old reports.
It was mid-morning on a Sunday, and she was in the children's bedroom. She had just finished a snack Aelfraed had brought her and vainly tried to concentrate on a manpower allocation factsheet, when the alarm sounded as the armored shutters closed over the windows, both inside and out. She took a moment to turn on her desk lamp. Aside from the adrenaline rush, she did not feel anxious. The manor security staff had run frequent drills in the last couple of years, most of which were unscheduled. She knew what to do, which was essentially to stay in her room until someone came for her. Then she heard gunfire, both inside and outside the house, and she realized it was no drill.
The door opened, throwing her into a panic, but she calmed down when Mr. Holt strode in. She stood up, ready to go with him, but then he closed and locked the door. That unnerved her; it said they couldn't get to the shelter or outside.
He went around and locked the other three doors. "What's happening?" She tried to keep her fear under control.
"There's been an incursion, Miss." He stood in the center of the room, fingering his assault rifle.
The alarm cut off, and Aunt Mandy's voice came over the intercom system. "This is Miranda Pendragon. The house is under attack. The ground floor west wing and entry hall have been overrun; we hold the east wing and great hall. All personnel evacuate to the parking lot; repeat, all personnel evacuate to the parking lot." And the intercom went silent.
"We're cut off; we'll have to wait for extraction. Under the bed, Miss."
Th
at really frightened her, and she dropped to the ground and scrambled into hiding. The idea of an enemy loose in the manor had always disturbed her, but she had taken for granted it could never happen.
"What is it?"
"I don't know; stay quiet, Miss." She watched his boots as he nervously shifted from one foot to the other, and that scared her all the more.
By her reckoning, a half hour passed without anything happening as sporadic fire continued to echo around her, but that only made her anxiety worse. She imagined that any moment some hideous monster would break down her door and attack him. The knock that came made her jump, but she calmed herself as she realized monsters wouldn't knock. Nonetheless, her heart was racing as she watched his feet edge towards the door to use the intercom.
"Celadon," she heard him say.
"Longquan," came the reply. It was Aunt Mandy.
The door opened and she saw a pair of sensible shoes walk in, followed by a number of more official ones. "Where is Differel?"
"You can come out now, Miss."
Differel slid out from under the bed and stood up. Aunt Mandy was accompanied by five security guards and her father's nurse. Mandy had a machine pistol, while the guards carried submachine guns.
"We have retaken the back stairhall and the solar on this floor," Mandy told him. "You join the troops there; I will get her down to the shelter."
"With all due respect, Ma'am, Sir Henry instructed me never to leave her side."
"Henry is dead, I am in charge now. Do as I say."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
Differel knew he wasn't bluffing, but she also knew he was outgunned. And while she didn't think Mandy would kill