"What a day," Tieran sighed as he got into Alia's car after work that afternoon.
"Was it really that bad?"
"Yes. I am not sure you would believe what happened today."
"Well, wait to tell me until Cara's around. Then you'll only have to tell it once. I'm sure she'll want all the details. About the computers anyway."
"Most likely."
"At least it's the weekend. That means that you have two whole days in this world where you can't possibly be expected to do anything about this company. In addition to however much time you take in your world."
When they got back to the apartment, Cara was out in the kitchen rattling around.
"What are you doing out there?" Alia asked.
"Dinner."
"What do you mean dinner? You don't cook. That peach affected you more than I thought."
"I didn't cook. I ordered out. It's Friday. You don't have class tomorrow. Tieran has his job. We're getting somewhere. I thought we could celebrate for real this time. I even rented some movies."
"How did you pay for it?" Alia asked as she hung up coats by the door.
"Tieran isn't the only one with a job you know. I went back to work today and I got them to forward me a little of my pay."
"That's great! What did you get?" Alia asked.
"Food or movie? I got Chinese take-out and 'Independence Day' and 'Sabrina,' the old one."
"You have the strangest taste in movies, Cara." Alia shook her head.
"I thought maybe Tieran would like to see them."
"Are either of them fantasies?" Tieran asked.
"With magic and fairies and stuff? Nope, nothing like that. One is science fiction, though," Cara answered as she placed dishes and take-out boxes on the table.
"And the other one is a 45 year-old romantic comedy," Alia clarified.
They dished out the food and settled down in the living room to eat.
"So, Tieran, tell us about this horrendous day you had."
"You had a bad day? See, we needed a celebration. What happened?"
"I met the owner of the company,"
"Caereh?"
"Was she as bad as Amy said?"
"I would say so." Tieran told them all that she had done and said, emphasizing his dislike of the woman, her antics, and the whole situation.
"It would be amusing if I was not her chosen target. She apparently thinks herself irresistible. I never thought the way I spoke could cause me so much trouble."
"How far do you think she will go?" asked Alia.
"I hope not far, but judging by what I have seen, I doubt I will be that lucky."
"Maybe we should point her out to Jareth when we get everything fixed. He seems to be the type that would enjoy revenge and cat and mouse," Alia suggested. "Pass the fried rice, please."
"He is. And he has already started on that. You have not heard of the rest yet. He has discovered he can control the animation himself. He terrorized his animator by making him believe he was in an oubliette, trapping the man in his own mind. But Jareth had not counted on the man being claustrophobic and lygophobic."
"Lygophobic?" Alia was not familiar with the word.
"Afraid of being in a dark place," Tieran explained.
"Is that really a word?" Cara narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, of course it is," Alia snapped. "D'you think he'd just make it up? So what happened?" she asked Tieran.
"The poor man was cowering under his desk. I had to talk him out of it. Then they sent him home." Tieran shrugged. "To prevent this happening again, I am now Jareth's animator and keeper."
Tieran sighed. "And, in addition to animating Jareth, James recommended that I go down to try for the voice of Jareth. More problems caused by my accent."
"Did you go?" Alia asked.
"No, not yet."
"Will you?"
"I have not decided yet."
"You said Jareth could control the animation himself?" Cara asked, returning to the comment that had interested her.
"Yes, I gather from the comments he dropped that he toyed with the animator first by changing things and criticizing the man's accuracy."
"Could be useful. He could help us take down the computer from the inside."
"Have him sabotage it you mean? Act like a virus?" Alia asked.
"Or provide the passwords and weaknesses for one. I'll have to talk to him and see what exactly he can do in there. Can you figure out a way for me to talk directly to him?" Cara asked Tieran.
"Would she be able to use his crystal?" Alia suggested.
"Perhaps, depending on her ability. If not I think I should be able to find some way. Did you want to try now?" he asked Cara.
"No, we're celebrating now. Tomorrow will be soon enough."
"So that was your day, huh? No wonder you said it was a bad day." Alia sympathized.
"I have even more news."
"Good or bad?" Alia asked.
"I am not sure. Late this afternoon, Amy mentioned that there will be a company party at the end of the month."
"For Halloween?" Cara suggested.
Tieran nodded, "A themed costume party – 'Labyrinth,' of course. She also said that they were planning to debut the first completed episode at the party."
"That soon? They just started on Jareth and you said they hadn't even cast his voice yet. Aren't they awfully far behind for that?"
"They do seem to be overly optimistic, but then, we do not know much about the whole process. Perhaps it will just be a rough version."
"I wonder if there will still be a company then?"
"Possibly. It is not really very far away."
"Are you going to go?" Alia asked.
Tieran sighed again. "Unfortunately, I seem to be becoming an integral part of the company, so I imagine it will be expected of me."
"What are you going to do for a costume?"
"Maybe if I do decide to do Jareth's voice I could go as him. I would think he would be a popular choice though, so perhaps not after all."
"Now is that all?" Cara asked.
"Yes. That was more than enough."
"Good, now we can watch the movies. 'Independence Day' first," Cara dictated.
.….
The meeting to determine the plan of action convened midmorning the next day. The weather held unseasonably warm and sunny, so the three of them decided to go to a nearby park to discuss it.
When they arrived they discovered that about half of the local population had had the same idea. Frisbee players, dogs, sunbathers taking advantage of the last warm days of autumn, and children running and screaming filled the park.
"I don't see any bare grass except for where those frisbee players are," Cara sighed when they got out of the car. "Well, it was a nice idea. Now what? Back to the apartment?"
"I guess so. All the parks will be like this." Alia said.
"I know where we could go," Tieran said.
Alia and Cara turned to look at him. "Where?" Alia asked.
"Cara said she wanted to see the Underground. We could go to my home. The weather is just as nice there as it is here today."
"Cool!" Cara exclaimed. "Let's go."
"Let's go back to the apartment first," Alia suggested. "We might attract some attention leaving from here."
They piled back into the car and drove back to the apartment.
"Okay, how do we do this?" Cara asked with childlike enthusiasm from the living room of the apartment.
"It's easy. Just close your eyes and hold out your hands. Tieran has to be touching you to transport you," Alia explained.
"Okay," Cara agreed, then got cold feet. "You go first."
"No problem." Alia held her hands out to Tieran and they transferred to the colonnade by the garden. Tieran left to retrieve Cara and Alia wandered down to the garden. It was so peaceful here after the frenzied activity of the park. She had missed it without even realizing it. It felt so tranquil and secure, as though it had always been this way and always would be, as if nothing from her world could change it.
"That is so cool!" Cara squealed when she arrived, belying Alia's thoughts. "Whoa! Look at that!" Cara admired the view across the lake just as Alia had done herself the first time she arrived.
"Shall we sit by the lake?" Tieran suggested.
"Definitely," Cara agreed and ran down the steps and along the garden path to try to find her way down to the lakeshore, leaving Alia and Tieran to follow at a more sedate pace.
"You are quiet suddenly. Is there something wrong again?" Tieran asked as they crunched along the gravel paths.
"No, not really. Just thinking. When you left to get Cara, I noticed how peaceful it was here, how it felt so secure. I realized I missed that after going back to my world for only a few days. Then Cara came and reminded me that even here was not safe from my world."
"Perhaps I should stop bringing you here. It seems to depress you."
"No." Alia shook her head. "My world compared to this depresses me. Losing this depresses me. And if we don't stop them that company will get even here won't it?" Alia paused, realizing the implications of what she had just said. "Listen to me talking as if this was my home, assuming I'll just be popping back and forth all the time, even after all this is over. I'm sorry. For all I know, you may never want to see me or my world again once all this is done."
"Surely you do not believe that? You will always be welcome here. As long as you want to come, I will bring you here. I enjoy having you here."
"Thank you. That's kind of you." They could hear Cara in the distance exclaiming over some new find, presumably the lake. "Do you enjoy showing it off to other people?"
"Showing what?"
"All of this, the house, the lake, the valley. Do you enjoy showing it to rude and noisy earthlings like Cara and me, for example?"
Tieran smiled. "I enjoy that you enjoy it. I have never really had many visitors before."
"Has it always looked like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, did you change the house and grounds to suit you or has it been handed down like this through the generations of your family? Arten'barad said she knew your family from a long time ago, so I know it has been here a long time."
"A little of both. Things gradually change over the years."
"This is sooo much better than the park," Cara said to them as they approached her sitting under a tree on the lakeshore. "What took you so long?"
"We walked," Alia retorted. "Not everyone runs madly all over the place like you do. So, with all this free time you had waiting for us to finally show up, did you come up with a plan?"
"Nope." Cara grinned.
"I figured as much. Okay, what do we know?" Alia asked as she sat on the grass.
"We know there are a lot of computers to take out, too many to steal. We know they have a main server and, presumably, backup copies of all the software. We'll need to know how many of those and where they are. Who would know that?" Cara asked.
"I assume Caereh would know. It is her company, after all," Tieran pointed out.
"So we need to get that information from her. I know you dislike her, Tieran, but I think you will have to do that. Do you think you could get her to talk about it or could you read her mind or something?" Alia asked.
"I do not know which would be worse, what I would have to do to get her to tell me or invading her mind and what I might find there."
"Ugh, I hadn't thought of that," Alia said.
"I don't think she's likely to tell anything voluntarily, though, no matter what you do to or for her," Cara observed.
"What about hypnotizing her?" Alia suggested.
"Who would hypnotize her? I do not know how. Do either of you?" Tieran asked
Alia and Cara both shook their heads. "Is there a magic spell for it?" Alia asked meekly.
"Not that I know. Perhaps Jareth has one. I will ask him." Tieran produced Jareth's crystal again. This time it was alive.
"Jareth, do you have a way to make someone tell you information she does not want you to know?"
"Having trouble with your females, Tieran?"
Tieran glanced to Alia to see if she had overheard Jareth's remark. She plucked at the grass and showed no sign of it. Tieran tried to ignore the jibe and responded, "I need to obtain the location of the backup software from the owner of the company. She is not my type. She might be yours, however, if you are interested. I am going to project you through your crystal so that Alia and Cara can hear you, so behave yourself," Tieran told him as he set the crystal on the grass between the three of them.
"I think I know a way to get the information from her," Jareth said.
"Is that him?" Cara asked. "He sounds just like David Bowie."
"I do not sound like that."
"Yes, we know," Tieran sighed. "Nor do you sound like me when I imitate you, despite everyone commenting on the likeness."
"They think you sound like the movie character, played by David Bowie. There is a difference," Jareth pointed out.
Tieran refrained from pointing out in turn that Alia, who had heard the real Jareth speak more than the movie character, still thought so, only asking, "This method of yours, is it ethical?"
"How could it be, if she doesn't want to give you the information?"
"He has a point there, Tieran," Alia admitted. "Aside from cajoling it out of her somehow, I don't think our ideas were ethical, either."
Tieran sighed, "All right, what is it?"
"You use a hallucination to make her believe she needs to tell you or check the location, either in real life or within the hallucination. Working within the hallucination complicates the hallucination, but real life weakens the suggestion and you will need to follow her."
"I do not create hallucinations," Tieran said. "I never explored that area. If it is complicated, a beginner's version will not work. Do you think you could do it from within the computer?"
"I performed the simple one on that animator. The only way to find out would be to try it."
"You would need to be in her computer, wouldn't you? To get close to her?" Cara asked. "Have you been able to move around within the system on your own? Or do you have to be sent as a file by the server?"
"I haven't been able to move on my own. I don't know where to find her in any case."
"Tieran, did they give you everyone's e-mail address when they set you up on the computer?"
"Yes, I believe they showed me an address book. If not, I am sure Amy or Thomas could help me with it. They have their own plans for Caereh, as well, that they would like to implement."
"Sarah! The woman who owns this company is named Sarah?"
"Not quite," Alia explained. "Tieran was told that she spells her name C-A-E-R-E-H."
Jareth groaned. "Could this situation possibly get any worse?"
"She seems to have quite a liking for English accents and ours is close enough that they cannot tell the difference. She is also a fan of the movie. She said the reason she formed the company was to have the characters in it do what she wants. And she cultivates a likeness to the actress who played Sarah in the movie," Tieran enumerated cheerily.
"I see it does."
"Back to the computer problem, guys," Cara interrupted. "Tieran, if you download Jareth and send him to Caereh, he could get the information from her. Hmm, but then how does he get back?"
"I simply tell her to send me back within the hallucination."
"Of course. All right that takes care of the backups, we hope. Now what about the passwords for the virus? Since you can't get around on your own you can't go looking for them. It's really hard to spread a virus without them, though."
"Could he do the same with a computer support person? Get them to send the file to Tieran or something?" Alia suggested.
"Yeah, but we'd still have to hope no one changes their password in the meantime."
"Why bother with passwords and a virus at all?" Jareth asked
"Because that's the only way we have to kill all the computers."
"What about netgoblins?"
"What are netgoblins?" Alia asked.
"They're supposed to be goblins that go around messing with people's computers," Cara explained. "I read about them on this list on the web that is devoted to the movie. I found it the other night when I went surfing. I thought they were just something the list members made up. You mean you actually do have creatures called netgoblins?" Cara asked Jareth.
"At this point, they're probably the only creatures I do have."
"Can they be instructed or do they work on their own whim?"
"They usually work on their own whim, but I have sent them with specific instructions after particular list members on occasion."
"How do we contact them?" Cara continued interrogating the Goblin King.
"I call them with magic."
"You'll have to see if that still works from inside the computer. After we find out where the back ups – and the paper copies, if there are any, we can't forget about them – are located, you can test the netgoblins," Cara commanded. "We can do that Monday."
"Shall I have them do anything in particular?"
"Oh, I don't know," Cara mused. "Don't give us away. Don't interfere with Tieran. You could set them to annoy Caereh for a while. Keep her out of Tieran's hair."
"Just don't have them mess her computer up so much that she has nothing to do but go hunt Tieran," Alia warned.
"Assuming we find out their location, what will we do with the backups?" Tieran asked.
"You'll have to steal them," Cara said. "We can't leave them with the company. That also means we need to find out about security."
"When do we steal them? How?" Alia asked.
"That depends on where they are. Ideally, we get them at the same time the netgoblins strike so they can't do anything about either one."
"So we have to wait until Monday for more information before we can do anything else," Alia observed.
Disclaimers, credits, trivia:
Labyrinth, etc. belong to the Jim Henson Company.