But then presumably, as the Daemon occupied the Spirit World, it was already dead.
Dead or not, no one – no one sane, that is – openly criticised Comrade Leader Heydrich. Criticism of the Leader implied doubt and doubt signalled that the citizen was not convinced of the rightness of the Leader’s will. And a citizen who doubted the Leader relinquished all claims to be a citizen, they became non-citizens. And in the ForthRight a non-citizen was a nonNix, just like the nuJus and the Poles and the Shades… and Lillibeth Marlborough.
Amazingly Crowley simply shrugged off this slur on the Leader’s infallibility. He waved a heavily beringed hand in the direction of Trixie. ‘May I introduce Lady Trixiebell Dashwood, who will be your hostess for the next two weeks? Lady Trixiebell, this is Miss Norma Williams.’
Both the girls – well, the girl and the imitation-girl – stood examining each other from across the room. Truth be told, Trixie was unsure as to quite what was acceptable behaviour when being introduced to a Daemon. But the remembrance of her father’s request that she form a ‘friendship’ with this creature persuaded her to dispense with the niceties of etiquette. Trixie took a deep calming breath and walked across the room in order to allow the Daemon to curtsy to her. ‘Good afternoon, Miss Norma…’
Norma? What a stupid name, even for a Daemon.
‘… I’m Lady Trixiebell Dashwood. My friends call me Trixie.’
To Trixie’s astonishment the Daemon didn’t curtsy, instead it merely took Trixie’s hand in its own and shook it in an alarmingly familiar fashion.
To be touching a Daemon!
‘Hi.’
High? What in the Demi-Monde was this salutation ‘high’? ‘I’m Norma Williams and my friends call me Norma.’ The Daemon paused. ‘But you, my little fifth columnist, may call me Miss Williams.’
Though Trixie was somewhat nonplussed by both the Daemon’s grossly impolite behaviour and her confusion as to just what exactly a ‘fifth columnist’ was, she did, however, take the opportunity to smell the Daemon. The journals had it that Daemons could be recognised by their stench: the tang of their blood was, apparently, unmistakable. Disappointingly Trixie couldn’t smell anything untoward in the room except the pong coming from Archie Clement’s boots.
‘And this is the Comrade Commissar Algernon Dashwood,’ said Crowley, nodding towards Trixie’s father.
Distracted by her failure to detect a blood odour on the Daemon, Trixie wasn’t prepared for the Daemon’s next insult, this one directed at her father.
‘Dashwood, eh?’ observed the Daemon in a contemptuous voice. ‘Then I guess your great-great-grandfather must have been Sir Francis Dashwood.’ The Daemon didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Now he was a real reprobate. As I recall he was founder of the Hellfire Club, which had the motto Fais ce que tu voudras enshrined over its doorway. This was, of course, plagiarised from the writings of Francois Rabelais.’ The Daemon turned to Crowley. ‘So you see, Crowley, your own slogan “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” is twice stolen: once by you and once by the Dashwoods.’
Crowley laughed. ‘You are too clever by half, Miss Williams; the maxim of the UnFunDaMentalist Church is “Let the Leader’s will be the whole of the Law.” If you are to censure me then you could at least do me the honour of being accurate.’
This observation seemed to surprise the Daemon. ‘The little tweaks ABBA has made to the Demi-Monde never cease to amaze.’
ABBA? Why would a Daemon in thrall to Loki speak of the Lord God,
ABBA?
‘So, what’s to be my fate, Crowley? You say that this girl…’
‘This girl’! You impudent cow!
‘… is to be my hostess? What for? Are we just going to sit around discussing bustles and bonnets? That’s all the women in this patriarchal ForthRight of yours seem to be good for. From what I’ve seen and heard they’ve had any independence of thought brainwashed out of them.’
Brainwashed? What was a brain?
Crowley gave an indulgent smile. ‘I thought it would be more pleasant for you, Miss Williams, to spend your time as my guest in the company of someone of your own age. Of course, if you prefer, I can return you to the Lubyanka, but you were very outspoken in your criticisms of its amenities.’
Now it was the Daemon’s turn to laugh. ‘I get it: Princess Trixiebell here is going to be my stable pony, brought in to keep the troublesome Norma Williams docile and cooperative.’ It shrugged. ‘Okay, I’m relaxed; any place has got to be better than a ten-by-five in that shithouse you call the Lubyanka.’
A gasp from Trixie at the use of a profanity by the Daemon… and that she’d used it in front of men!
The Daemon obviously noted her consternation. ‘Yeah, little Miss Milksop over there looks as though she could use a little loosening up.’
‘I should warn you, Miss Williams,’ said Crowley carefully, ‘that you will be under constant supervision whilst you are living in Dashwood Manor and that the grounds are constantly patrolled. Your confinement is the responsibility of Colonel Archie Clement. If you try to escape he has been empowered to punish you most severely.’
The Daemon’s eyes hardened and its mouth tightened. ‘Then as we’re in “giving warnings” mode, Mr Aleister Crowley, you better understand that if that piece of human excrement you call Archie Clement comes within ten foot of me I’m gonna rip his arm off and beat him to death with it.’
Stunned though Trixie was that a woman could issue such a threat, the most remarkable thing was that she was utterly convinced that the Daemon meant every word it said. This wasn’t just empty sabre-rattling.
Archie Clement’s face darkened and he made to rise out of his chair, but he was waved back by Crowley. ‘There will be no need for you to speak to or to socialise with Colonel Clement, Miss Williams, provided you do not try to escape.’
All he received by way of reply from the Daemon was the merest of smiles.
11
The Real World: 12 June 2018
The Demi-Monde ^® is the first simulation product to employ ParaDigm CyberResearch’s Totally Realistic User Envelopment (TRUE ^®) technology to ensure full and all-pervasive Player-Simulation meshing. TRUE is the only product foundationed on ParaDigm’s BioNeural-Kinetic Security Sensor (PBN-KiSS ^®), optimised for the probing, gathering, predicting and processing of neural, cerebral and autonomic bodily responses. TRUE also employs ParaDigm’s own FAST/TRAK ^® Neurobahn-Network and its 2ndSkin ^® Total Immersion Shroud.
– The Demi-Monde ^® Product Description Manual: 14 June 2013
Somehow Ella had assumed when she agreed to undertake the mission to rescue Norma Williams from the Demi-Monde that she would be subjected to weeks, months even, of training, familiarisation, role-playing exercises and total immersion in her new persona before she was sent on her way.
She was wrong.
A mere hour after her final meeting with the General, forty minutes after the session with the Army lawyer signing numerous waivers and disclaimers – a little unnerved that for ‘benefits accruing upon death’ she had been allocated the notional rank of captain in the US Marines – and twenty minutes after a very upsetting meeting with an attorney to draw up her will, Ella was led to the Professor’s laboratory, where she would be prepared to enter the Demi-Monde.
The laboratory was situated at an even lower level than the room where she’d met Heydrich, which meant, so far as Ella could judge, that she was now standing just a few yards up from the earth’s core. It was a modest
