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Cardfall Casino


Seylin was waiting for him by the door to the Yellow Room.

“Will it get out?” Majel asked.

“It might try,” she said seriously, “though I think it’s too timid. The reason I called you down—one of our Sensitives caught an Intent when we were sweeping the room just now.” She sighed. “It’s an unfortunate meeting of our least robust Sensitive and a rather explicit Intent. Quite gave him the headache, poor love. He ought to be lying down, but I thought you should hear it from the source.”

Their least robust Sensitive was Ander makEnontre. His Talent was, according to Seylin, erratic in the extreme, so that sometimes it seemed as if he were Deaf, yet at others, he received every Intention, hope and desire within three meters. It was the erratic nature of his Talent that had made him timid, in Seylin’s judgment, as he was never certain when he would be bombarded.

Majel sighed. Of course, it would be Ander. He might have predicted it.

“I will see him at once then,” he said to Seylin. “Then he may go and get some relief.”

“Yes.”

She stepped aside, and Majel advanced, the door opening before him.

The play lights were off, and the Yellow Room comfortably dim. Head down, arms wrapped tight around himself, Ander leaned against the wall to the right of the door, as distant from the premium machines as he could be while remaining in the room.

“Sir!”

Ander straightened away from the wall, lifting a face that was set in pain.

“Ander, forgive me for putting you in harm’s way,” Majel said.

The boy moved his shoulders uncomfortably.

“Not your fault, sir. You didn’t Intend mayhem so hard and so long the machine caught it and kept it.”

“No,” Majel said, without irony, “that I did not. But tell me now”—he spun on a heel so that he faced the rows of machines—“which has acquired an echo of this Intention?”

“The room master, sir.”

Majel blinked. He had expected one of the floor machines. The room master was not in play. Its purpose was purely administrative. The Yellow Room was member-only; the room master kept track of key codes, account balances, losses, payouts. It kept its own accounting and deposited directly to the bank.

Majel looked at Seylin.

Seylin looked grave.

Right.

He turned back to the Sensitive.

“Is there anything else you can tell me about this mayhem, Ander? Perhaps there was a signature, or—”

There were tears in Ander’s eyes.

“I wish I could, sir, but I don’t have that kind of control. I—the only other thing I can say is that it feels—worn in, if you understand me, sir?”

“As if this Intention had been expressed to the room master many times?” Majel said, feeling his stomach tighten.

“Yessir, exactly that.”

“I see. Thank you, Ander. Please get yourself looked after, and when you are able, go home and rest. Do you need someone to help you get to the medic?”

“No, sir. It’s only a headache, and it’s pretty much passed off now.”

Majel frowned.

“Nonetheless,” he said sternly, “you will present yourself to the medic for an examination and whatever treatment she feels will benefit you.”

“Yessir.” Ander took a breath and straightened to his meager height.

“You will also,” Majel told him, “take your next shift off. I expect you to rest, and in light of that expectation, you will be paid for the shift.”

Ander swallowed. For an instant Majel thought he would produce an argument, but after a moment, he merely inclined his head.

“Yessir. Thank you.”

Seylin walked the boy out the door just as one of the casino’s courtesy jitneys pulled up. She must have sent a thought ahead, Majel realized. That was well done.

The jitney executed a U-turn in the hallway, and Seylin came back into the room, the door closing behind her.

“This,” she said, “is not good.”

“I agree. Clearly the Yellow Room cannot reopen tonight. What progress on the main gaming rooms?”

“There were no Intentions found in either room,” Seylin said, leaning her shoulder against the wall with a sigh. “The technicians did the purge and resets, as you directed. The two main rooms will open on time tonight.”

“Good.” Most of Cardfall’s income came from the low- and mid-tier machines housed in the two main rooms. But, with the card tables and the Yellow Room shut to play—

Mayhem, Ander had said.

“We’ll need a technician to interface with the room master, to be certain that it’s not actively causing mischief. I will call the security firm and the bank. Seal the room, except for those who are necessary to the room master situation.”

“Yes,” Seylin said, and Majel gave her a hard look.

“Take a sleep shift—this is an order, Seylin.”

She gave him a tired smile.

“Yes, Principal ziaGorn. Nester’s due back from her off-shift in the next quarter. I’ll bring her up to date and get some rest. You still for that working nuncheon?”

“That—yes,” he said absently, looking around the room. He sighed.

“Does it occur to you, old friend,” he said to Seylin, “that our two problems may—not be related?”

“It does seem like two different hands of work,” Seylin agreed. “Maybe the chizlers are—just chizlers, after all.”

“Perhaps,” said Majel. “That Intention—tell me, is it possible that it is a thing of long-standing?”

Seylin frowned.

“I see what you mean. It’s normally pretty noisy in here during play. Even loud Intentions aren’t that loud.”

She sighed.

“Could be the only reason Ander heard it is because the room’s empty and all the machines are asleep.”

Majel closed his eyes.

Certainly, the Cardfall had been targeted in the past, by this one, or those two or three, working together. But two independent efforts against the house at the same time?

Improbably, it made him want to laugh.

He suspected that might be a panic reaction.

“Majel?” Seylin said softly.

He opened his eyes.

“Merely—speculating,” he said. “I’ll make those calls.”


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