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Soho, London, September 2015

 

She had kept her promise to Tracy and retired, mostly, to raise their three daughters. But the last had left school and with them gone now to University, she now felt it was time to become a hero again.

 

She'd already talked to Dame Pennington, it was strange meeting Anne after all that time, and had arranged for Klara to help out there once again. Things had gone off the rails a bit at the Ministry whilst she had been away, but Anne and the new Vanguard seemed to be putting things back on track.

 

Before she travelled back to her home in Doncaster she had one more place to visit and had made sure to call ahead with plenty of time, she didn't think Mr Murk was the kind to carry a mobile around with him all the time.

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Mr. Murk

 

"Ah, welcome to Club Immortus, Madam!" said Mr. Murk as Voin entered the lobby. 

 

Since the sixties it had had subtle makeovers. It was, and remained, a place of antique luxury and style. A place where tactile and olfactory signatures were abundant - perhaps not surprising given the owner. But it had more modern, discrete, lighting, automatic doors, and the like. A few additions to make it generally more functional, especially for the blind. Why, there was even evidence of computers at work!

 

"I have had the Chef hard at work. I presumed you were somewhat in a rush, lamentably, so I have taken the liberty of ordering the same dish at last time. Of course, if you desire something else, then please do forgive my impertinence and order. For myself, a fish soup!" he declared, waving Voin through to the dining area. 

 

It was empty, bar two women playing backgammon in the corner and discussing the 18th Century in less than glowing terms. 

 

"Please enlighten me, Madam. How have the decades treated you?"

 

Mr. Murk of course made it his business to keep abreast of much, and in particular, immortals. He had garnered bits and pieces, perhaps not all but certainly some. Much of it might even be true. But the meat of the matter was how Voin felt. 

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Whilst she was dressed in a more conservative dress suit Klara didn't feel that different than she did all those years ago, though obviously, she knew she'd changed. At least on the inside, outwardly she looked exactly as she did back in '61.

 

"I've already had a large working lunch so that will be more than fine." she slipped gracefully into the seat opposite "Now let me see Russia is almost as bad as it was before. Though here at least they'll let me get married, so now I have a beautiful wife and three grown daughters. Like any proud parent, I have pictures of cause!" she laughed and added, "I guess I did listen to my own advice to live a little!"

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Mr. Murk

 

"Russia, yes. Russia. I pondered opening a club there you know. Had a Russian immortal might help with that one day. Interesting man" he replied fondly. 

 

"But Russia seems to unstable, dangerous right now. Lamentably. The Club is perhaps needed there most, but I cannot open one safely. Vexatious, vexatious..." he muttered, displeased with the situation. 

 

"I congratulate you on your family. Myself, I have none. And, barring some miracle of science, will not. As an immortal however, I am in no hurry" he explained. 

 

"But you, on the other hand, have been busy, I see. I have a more subtle slow hand, myself. Although I forsee that my game must change, and change soon. Tell me then, what say you of the world you have seen and felt these last years?"

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"Yes I know Dimitri, I read the MI:13 files on you little meeting in Berlin, at least the little they knew. We have a complicated relationship Dimitri and I, we were in the Peoples Heroes together, when I was finally actually allowed me to fight. He didn't take it well when I defected to the West, and I'm not sure he and I will ever be friends and even allies might be too much to ask." she gave a frown and added,

 

"Not a good start for you codex if the two of us can never get along. That war left us with so much baggage, some of which I don't think I've completely unpacked."

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Mr Murk

 

"You do? Hmmm. Please to hear it. He is a man of passion and intellect. I am fond of him. Particularly when he disagrees with me" replied Murk, honestly. 

 

"That said, he has a brutal edge to him. A man of his times, I suppose. I can understand how you and he did not mix well"

 

He drank some wine, mulling the matter and savouring the taste. 

 

"I would not wish to mend a relationship that does not wish to be mended. I would not play peacemaker, at least, without being asked. Impertinence to do so. But, I would understand both you and he, for I take great interest in the souls of all immortals. Would you humour me and explain the nature of your quarrel?"

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She sighed "It's simple really he was always committed to the party whilst I was committed to the ideal. It didn't help that I was an outspoken critic of the party, it's probably why they didn't allow me to fight until near the end of the war. At least I got to serve with the Night Witches, an amazing bunch of women all of them." a smile played briefly across her face at the memory

 

"When the war ended I could see that the Party wasn't going to change I decided to defect to the West, especially when it was obvious that they were going to close off Berlin with the war. I think he feels that I should have stayed and tried to changed thing from the inside, though I haven't met him since the war. I'm sure I'll have to have a conversation with him soon."

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Mr. Murk

 

"Hmmm....I see. Such is the danger in commitment, I suppose. 'Tis a mighty engine" he mused. 

 

"But the war is over now, at least, the overt one. I still hear the rattling of sabres on both sides of the world. But that is all, the rattling, for the sake of potency in the eyes of the common man" he sighed. "I wonder how much you could have achieved if you stayed in Russia. Ah, but these what ifs and mayhaps...they are an endless circle, I think"

 

"No, I think it is to the future we must look. I have been doing so all my life. True, one must learn from the past, but they eyes must be on the future" he said, 'looking' at her with his own blind white-milk eyes. 

 

"I hope to see Comrade Frost soon. He is mulling over my proposal. I would hope that does not prejudice you against due consideration. Would you hear me out on this matter?"

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"When we first met I had no real connections to this world, I wasn't exactly playing hero but it was all a great adventure. But now I have connects to this world a wife and daughters. Who might have to live in this world for a very long time." her voice caught ever so slightly at the last part

 

"Genetics are a strange thing and I've not been able to return home to have them checked, but it could be that my daughters have inherited my gift of long life. I don't know if you have any children yourself Mr Murk, but it's true that you'll do anything to protect them. Selfish I know but I want to make sure that they stay safe, and it may be that the Codex is there best choice."

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Mr. Murk

 

"I do not, nor will I, as far as I can see. And I can see quite far" sad Mr. Murk sadly. "I was unable to sire children even when my species roamed the earth. And if truth be told, I was an object of fear and reverence rather than lust, by and large. There were exceptions..."

 

"But now, I am the last of the my kind. No doubt in strange aeons beyond even my foresight new advances will be made. But for now, I am without offspring. Perhaps this is a blessing, for I would surely outlive them all..."

 

"The urge to protect, I understand, however. Primal and pure. And the only reason I was not incinerated at birth. A blind Albino was a burden, back in those ancient days. I only breathe thanks to a mothers love, and ferocious it was"

 

"But what of your children? Will they age and die, or will they be immortal, like yourself?"

 

 

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"You should go visit my people, they'd welcome you with open arms I'm sure. They have ways of magical and science that would allow you to create children if you wished of cause."

 

She sighed and attacked her salad with some force for a few minutes before adding.

 

"Alas, again I am not allowed to travel to Russia, for them, I am two outspoken about their treatment. So I do not know the future of daughter, they are a perfect blend of the two of us, so there is a chance that they've inherited my immortality. Though even I do not know if being away from home will eventually take it away from even me. I am the first for many generations to leave the city for the outside world."

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GM

 

"I will, I will" nodded Mr Murk. "I have, after all, plenty of time!"

 

"But I fear fatherhood is not for me, at least, not in this age. In the future..." he tailed off. 

 

"Ah yes, the future. Obscured..."

 

He shook his head. 

 

"But enough of this. The Codus, as I envisage it, has many points and principles. It is living and organic, and will mutate and change with the refinement of wisdom and practice. But at its heart, it has three key...laws....if you will. This does of course not mean an enforceable law, but it is a requirement for those who sign. There is no requirement for an immortal to sign, and one may leave as one wishes"

 

"Firstly, that one may not kill another immortal and that we should protect immortals from being killed. If one is forced to do so, one is called to explain the reasoning. There may be extenuating circumstances, such as protecting ones own life, or the lives of others. But you will be called to account for such action, and must explain the absolute necessity of such action"

 

"Secondly, that we must protect one another from inhuman, Promethean torment. Incarceration is reasonable, but it must be humane and dignified. You will appreciate the dangers of immortality; experimentation would be a mild horror. Torture could be unending. In this matter we must take proactive action to rescue each other from such horror, no matter what the reason". 

 

"Lastly, the Club Immortus is safe haven. No violence must be committed against another member on these grounds, either directly or by proxy. It is, if you will, a final safety for our kind" he finished. 

 

"There are various nuances such as standing, finances, and arbitration, as with any such code, but the three principles above are the centre of all else. What say you?"

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Klara mused for a few moments to consider before she answered, obviously considering what Mr Murk had laid out.

 

"I've spent the last few decades among humans getting to really know them at their worst and there best, I admire many of them greatly. Some choose to fight for there fellows without thinking of their own lives, many immortal won't even do that and others think humans lives are something to play with. I don't think of myself as better than humans I think of myself as there equals."

 

She paused and gathered her thoughts for a second before adding.

 

"If an immortal kills a mortal out of malice I want that immortal to face justice, I wouldn't want them murdered out of hand, but I wouldn't put their life over those of mortals."

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Mr. Murk

 

"Ah" said Murk, pondering his next words. "Think carefully on this. The Codus does not say Immortals are better than mortals. Or worse. It does not say one life is better than others, and would not require such a commitment from you". 

 

"The position of the immortal is, however, different. There are certain philosophical considerations. If one is to live for ever, it is not a question of when you will do an act - be it benign or malign - merely a question of when you will do it. It is not a question of if you will sink to cruelty, but when. And, for that matter, not a question of when you will reform, but when". 

 

"The Codus is does not prevent the imposition of justice on an immortal, but it modulates it from the excesses derived from malice, envy, or even curiosity" he explained. 

 

"Passions lead to injustice, without a code to hold action in check". 

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"I'm not yet ready to call you Codex as something to be abandoned without another thought. I'm sure it's something you've worked on for a very long time. But like anything important, it needs examination and maybe even argument. I've spent a couple of decades raising children it been a while since I've been able to debate anything so serious." she gave a little smile at the Neanderthal before continuing

 

"A code without heart will only give permission to use the letter over the spirit of the code to allow people to get exactly what they want."

 

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Mr. Murk

 

"You are right, of course" conceded Mr. Murk. 

 

"I cannot claim the Codus is perfect, nor without flaw. And I would not debate you on this point. The matter of the heart is a more complex one, however. This is not some cold document, a law without feeling. That would be an incorrect conclusion"

 

"It is born precisely from the heart. I have lived so very very long. And seen so much cruelty and horror. I say this not without hope, and I say this not without love, for I have seen much hope and love, too. And I have seen the ages become brighter and more wonderful both in spectacle and heart with every passing year"

 

"And, in my reflection on this, the strongest tool for us all is law. Not for its own, sake, no, for that is a circular and empty argument. But Law, properly motivated, has allowed the worst passions of men - and women - to be if not eradicated then at least mitigated". 

 

"Law has been misused and many laws are wrong. But it allows a safe process. It allows a safe progress. It is easy to pick examples of bad law. But this is, in fact, not the crux of my passionate argument. What I propose is this; that Law, as a process, has prevented much more cruelty by its presence than it has caused..."

 

"I say then this, that Law is neither with a heart, not without. It is the mechanism by wish the best in man, love, is protected, and the worst in man, hate, is managed..."

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"I've not lived as long as you but I saw the hate and pain of the First World War and I lived among humanity at its worse and also at it best. And I'm sure Immortals are capable of much worse, but anything that guides them should be a thing of passion and heart, just a dry document would not achieve anything. So it is good that you show such passion for this thing."

 

She gently reached out and touched his hand a smile playing across her face.

 

"I've heard many empty documents that promise much and deliver nothing, but this codex is not one of them! Now how do you plan to enforce those you break this agreement?"

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Mr. Murk

 

"Are you offering?" smiled Mr. Murk.

 

"My strength is of a subtle nature, not that of power. I move in the shadows. I am no policeman, nor soldier, although I will fight if need be. Do not consider me a coward, please. Just a pragmatist..."

 

"As I envisage things, breaking the Codus should normally be grounds for expulsion, and thus the benefits and protection that it offers will no longer be available. The matter is then in the hands of the world. A murder is still a murder and a matter for the country it took place in, the laws that bind us all, and the judgements of hearts..."

 

"There is, however, a darker vengeance that might be justified. For matters of great cruelty. In such cases, I would propose more than a mere expulsion. An expulsion with prejudice, one might say. When we should not merely reject the villain, but act against him" he said, now dark. 

 

"Such decisions are not to be taken lightly. A council of three for any action. A majority for expelling, a unanimous agreement for expelling with prejudice. And in such cases, whilst not succumbing to great cruelty ourselves, we should act to contain and erode the villain..."

 

"What say you? A police man for the Codus would be a fine idea..."

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She stilled smiled but it was now more a sad smile, with maybe a trace of regret on her face.

 

"Time and life may have softened me some, but I have always been and will probably remain a warrior at heart. My training is as one in the middle of the melee fighting to protect myself and my fellows. Don't think I consider myself stupid or incapable of making discussions, but in warfare you can have concerns about anything but the victory."

 

Another brief pause as she considered her words

 

"Warriors are the worse people to make those calls, at best they are enforcers. And I'm not sure you want or need someone to enforce your codex."

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Mr. Murk

 

"Mmmm. I would hope we do not need such a warrior. I would very much prefer we could meet that need should it arrive. Passion melded with pragmatism, you could say" said Mr. Murk, not without sadness himself. 

 

"A shield is needed, at times. So is a sword, lamentably. I could not say that either would be at the heart of the Codus, but neither are they antagonistic. The Codus is the road. What wheels we use? Diplomacy, manipulation, and, yes, violence, at times"

 

"And...I am not convinced Warriors should not make those calls. At least, their decisions should not have any less validity, in principle, than anybodies. Any decision the codus makes is a decision of three, for no one man or woman should do so. A Warrior sees war, does she not? The blood and guts and filth of it that is left behind when the purity of rage leaves?"

 

"Perhaps that is an important perspective..."

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"You can tell a warrior that has fought a war by their desire never to fight again, though it is possible to enjoy the fight and not wish it to ever happen. It's difficult to explain without having been in the centre of the battle. As you can tell I'm no poets when talking about such things." she gave a little shrug

 

"I'm a mother so I've obviously learned the wisdom of Solomon through the years." she gave a beaming smile at her own joke "When I fight then that's my focus when I don't fight I can concern myself with other things. Like the pursuit of justice."

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Mr. Murk

 

"I believe I understand" nodded Murk. "I am no warrior, but I have fought" he explained. "For my part, when in such circumstance, the world grows clear. It is not fear or rage that one experiences, but a crystal focus" he offered. 

 

"This has been my observation of men and women too. I cannot say it is wrong, nor right, from a moral perspective. It is beyond good or evil, it is simply the mind responding to utmost need. Survival and purpose, and that is all"

 

He drummed his fingers together. 

 

"Does such a history, does such a heart, disconcert you? I do not see it as either contrary or aligned with the Codus, such as it is at this time. I would see it more as a tool, as a power that can be swung this way, or swung that. I wonder if the Codus would aim such a swing; not strengthen it, nor impede it?"

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"I hope you don't feel that I'm being belligerent on this on purpose Mr Murk. My experience of trusting authority in this world has not been the best, in some ways the fact that the British didn't trust me allowed both sides to come to get used to each other."

 

She raised a hand to cut off the obvious comment and continued

 

"I know that what you have in mind isn't a formal organisation, but even signing it feel just as binding. It may seem foolish to you but I was trained to follow a certain form of honour, and that includes following an agreement even if it will be to my detriment. So you can understand my questioning I hope."

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Mr. Murk

 

"You would do well to not trust authority" agreed Mr. Murk. "And just as well not to distrust it either" he added, more softly. 

 

"I wonder however, if you confuse a code with authority. This is not the will of another imposed on you, is it? Maybe think to the the trenches..." he proposed, closing his own eyes to remind himself of the smell of war. 

 

"Your comrades in arms, and you. There is a code, is there not? Not signed in ink, but signed in blood. It is perhaps not explicit, but is still there. To protect one another, even at peril to ones own life. To not leave a man or woman behind. To honour each other with sweat and bravery..." he suggested. 

 

"And those that break the code...there is consequence, is there not? They are no longer trusted. Outcasted. Branded. Sometimes even killed?" he asked. 

 

"The code is different in content, and explicit in nature, but it is only a code, after all...."

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"It's hard to describe but you learn to trust those you fought beside, it's a strange bond formed in fire, steel and blood. It's something that's difficult to describe to those that have never been in battle. And I don't mean to belittle you at all Mr Murk, those who look only for peace should be celebrated."

 

She paused and laughed, more at herself than anything else.

 

"Sorry I've had no one but children and parents to talk to for many years now. Strangely PTA meetings aren't the place to talk philosophy. So is there anything about you codex you feel that I need to know?"

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