1:5:10 Lores (Part 6)

“It actually didn’t take as long as we thought it would.” Brian chuckled. “We’ve got a good first draft if you wanted to take a look.”
Lore and Char walked over, arms draped over one another, loving smiles plastered over their faces. “Of course.” Lore raced off to work. “Well, it’s got a good overall message and the tone is consistent but I think I may need to make it a little more… Me. If that’s alright?”
“Of course.” Alodrass smiled. “Gives us time to have a look around ourselves if we’re going to be stuck working here too.”
“Now now… We’re not stuck.” Alodrass ushered Brian towards the corridor. “I’d have happily come back to work with you two.” Once he finished his sentence, he found himself flying down the corridor, pulled along by Alodrass.
“Okay then… Let’s get to editing.” Lore tried to crack their knuckles but realised quickly that they didn’t quite know how nor did they actually want to.
Between them, they managed to condense the three pages of text and notes into just under a page each. In-between their bouts of inspiration, they dug into Crait’s files. Although it had only been just over twenty years since The First left The Guild, because there were multiple Lores running around, there were enough incursions and mission records to fill a time span nearly twice as large. With each record, it was noted that there were no casualties but there would be, without fail, at least one member of the strike or research team listed as incarcerated for treason. Lore and Char collected the names of the accused, finding a pattern of decimation and reconstruction as Crait repeatedly rebuilt The Guild in an almost futile attempt to excise the Lore’s agents and those who agreed with their thinking. As they neared the end of the records, names became numbers as Crait started introducing Proxy units into their ranks until the Inquisitors and their strike teams were the only humans on staff.
“Well, that’s… enlightening.” Lore looked through their list. “From the looks of things, only ten percent of the prisoners are actually guilty of something but they’ve served their sentences.”
“Might be advisable to wait until after the speeches to start releasing people. The technology in the cells might not be quite as conducive to rehabilitation as The Guild wants.” Char pointed to the ten percent list. “Even without access to a time machine, a murderer’s a murderer…”
Lore nodded. “I know exactly where we’re starting.” They scrolled back to the top of their list. “The Oracles were only thrown in there to protect them. We get them out then, after the speech, we start interviewing properly.”
“Are you happy with this then?” Char returned the monitor’s focus to their speech notes. “Because if you are… I don’t really see a reason why we can’t present it now? Suppose we were being a bit overly cautious thinking three days wouldn’t be long enough.”
Lore looked at their Breacher. “Maybe not…” They showed her the time. “I’m pretty sure that we were supposed to give the speech on the fourteenth not the seventeenth…”
“We’ve been here six days?” Char’s eyes ballooned.
“Time doesn’t pass linearly here. I’m guessing it’s partially to do with the temporal differentials between floors. We’re going to have to sort that out. I honestly don’t know how Crait put up with having each floor be a different time zone.” Lore shook their head.
“Why aren’t you more concerned? We’ve missed the meeting.” She looked at them expectantly.
They smirked in return. “Look at our wrists. We’ve not missed anything, the meeting was centuries ago.”
Char sighed. “Time travel.”
Lore nodded. “Indeed.”

The flash startled all in attendance; a few scurried away as if a bomb had been detonated. Grunting and braying sounded out around the room as the occupants settled. Tall and ancient wooden walls surrounded them, green leather pews flanked the open floor, a table piled high with paperwork separated the two sides; they hadn’t realised it but they had materialised virtually on the lap of the house speaker, her grand chair elevated above the others. They awkwardly removed themselves, apologising to the honourable speaker, before stepping onto the floor.
“Sorry, are we early?” Lore looked around for any familiar faces.
“Actually, you’re right on time.” The Minister approached them, settling their side of the house. “Ms. Speaker, if I may: I’d like to motion today’s business begin now if all in attendance are ready.”
The Speaker nodded. “Calling to order this meeting of the house regarding the creation of a new guild.”
“The floor is open and now I invite the Guild-master, Lore, to make their case.” The Minister’s introduction was met with scattered chuffing.
“Thank you.” Lore ducked their head respectfully. “Ministers of the house, I have been summoned here today to bring forth from the shadows a secret…” Lore looked to Char. They moved in closer and whispered into her ear. “I thought we proofread this bit.”
“I was just spell checking.” Char shrugged.
“Anyway.” Lore returned to the room. “Since before the advent of Humanity’s age of colonisation and the creation of the United Earth Protectorate, there has been a secondary organisation working in the shadows, ensuring success and security for the human race.” The room fell silent. “The Temporal Sciences Guild was formed to investigate potential means for temporal observation and manipulation. Once these goals were achieved, the mission statement became the protection of the timeline. Without the knowledge of the wider Protectorate, we defended Earth and humanity from multiple temporal incursions and, for a while, that was The Guild’s only purpose. This changed over time as Crait became the Head Inquisitor. Under their leadership, The Guild’s mission statement became the protection of the human race, regardless of the consequences to the other species.”
“Slander!” A minister shot up from their pew. “How dare you! To be invited to this house only to attempt to tarnish the legacy of one of its members.”
“Order!” The speaker quelled the unruly minister.
“Thank you Ms. Speaker. While yes, Crait was a Councillor for Faendrosis, they used this position to disguise their actions and movement as Head Inquisitor of The Guild. Now, where was I…” Lore scanned their notes. Char highlighted the passage. “Ah, thanks. Crait’s tenure as Head Inquisitor is the reason why, now, we are seeking official guild status. We are seeking to step, somewhat, out of the shadows, and into the light.”
“Why now?” The shouty minister piped up once again.
“Because The United Earth Protectorate is about to find itself on the chopping block.” Char began. “We’ve tried to clean up some of Crait’s mess but it’s going to have a fundamental effect on the balance of power everywhere.”
“There are only a handful of planets humanity has settled on that didn’t have another species there first. Crait’s responsible for some of those.” Lore’s holographic display wowed many of the members of the house. “An entire empire has just re-appeared and while it’s not at its full strength, they’re still in a position to be annoyed with us.”
“So what do you propose?” The shouty minister’s comment seemed to have some support given the grunting and murmuring.
“As an official guild, we would be able to continue sorting out the mess. After all, we have managed to build quite a rapport with some of these species. We would act as a facilitator to allow The United Earth Protectorate to expand, get their foot in the door and perhaps, form a United Protectorate; still focussing on Earth but also open to influence and trade from other planets.” Lore disabled the hologram. “Regardless, we will be continuing our work… With access to time travel there’s almost nothing you can do to stop us… But as an official guild, The Protectorate and their citizens can benefit directly from our intervention rather than consequently.”
“Thank you.” The speaker held up her hand. “A vote will now be taken to allow The Temporal Sciences Guild to retain it’s guild status while moving up to the ranks to be considered an official arm of the Military, Diplomatic and Science guilds.” Her gavel dropped.

Despite their irrational hatred for the city below, Lore couldn’t deny that Sheffield had a certain charm to it when viewed from the top of The Guild’s building. They sat in silence, their legs dangling over the edge, waiting. They knew, regardless of the result, nothing would change but at the same time, everything would; rather than being a free agent, leader of a ragtag group, they would become an official Guildmaster, the head of a branch of The Protectorate and while they knew the two options would play out rather similarly, the distinction between official and unofficial seemed daunting. So they sat. They didn’t know how long they had been sat there and they didn’t know when they were going to get up, they just sat; the wind buffeted their face and the smell of combustion wafted from the streets below. Part of them considered going for a walk but they remembered that Char had told them to wait for her.
Golden light lit the rooftop. “How did the vote go?” Lore didn’t even turn to talk to her.
“And here’s me thinking I was being sneaky.” Char chuckled. “Though it was probably not a good idea to try and scare you so close to the edge of a skyscraper.”
“I can jump if it’d make you feel better?” Lore Breached behind Char. They wrapped their arms around her. “Boo!”
Char flinched into them as they pulled her in tighter. “Cute…”
“So, how did the vote go then?” Lore let go and span her around to face them.
Char smiled and nodded. “I am looking at the newest Guildmaster of The Protectorate and the personal advisor to The Minister on all matters temporal.”
“That… Is a very official sounding pair of titles.” Lore backed away. “Personal advisor…” Their voice trailed off.
Char edged towards them. “I know it sounds like a lot but it really isn’t…” She spoke softly. “It just means we’re going to have to keep The Minister up to date on any big issues that we come across… And make sure they know the best course of action.” Char reached out for their hand. “But for now, we’ve got all the time in the world; how do you want to spend it?”
Lore looked into her eyes. They smiled. “However you want.”
Char wrapped herself around them, placing a gentle kiss on their cheek. “Lore.”