{"id":5611,"date":"2022-07-27T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=5611"},"modified":"2022-07-27T13:53:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T13:53:04","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-112","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/07\/27\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-112\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 112"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite turned back to de Lancre. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why you haven\u2019t collected that zatia yet. Why are you still here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSimple, really,\u201d said de Lancre. \u201cI can do whatever I want in this bubble. I can live whatever life I want. I can get away with anything.\u201d He looked over the railing at the people walking on the pathways far below. \u201cSee all of those people? You know what they remind me of? Ants. Scurrying to and fro, oblivious to the powers above them. I could squash any one of them at a moment’s notice. And, there isn\u2019t anything to stop me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Adventures of Maite and Kepa is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there have to be laws about killing random civilians even here,\u201d replied Maite dryly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, of course,\u201d continued de Lacre. \u201cBut, there is no consequence. If I were to get into any kind of trouble, I can simply pop the bubble by collecting that piece of magic over there -\u201d he gestured to the table and the sphere that floated above it \u201c- and be back to my own time. I can literally get away with murder and no one would even know, once it is all erased.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou would know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrue, but it wouldn\u2019t bother me. And, I have to admit, I have lived through many bubbles with that attitude. But, I\u2019ve grown rather bored of it all. That\u2019s why, here, I decided to take a different approach. I want to do things the \u2018right\u2019 way, I want to be a real part of the bubble and its people. And.\u201d He paused, looking directly at Maite. \u201cAnd, I want to get to know you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d asked Maite, her sense of dread growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can do anything here,\u201d said de Lancre. \u201cI want you to be my partner. I want to share all of this with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shook her head. \u201cEven if I were tempted, which I\u2019m not, I won\u2019t do that to Kepa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll never know. Once the bubble is popped, you go back to him. Consider it a fling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shivered with disgust. \u201cI would know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lancre sighed. \u201cI expected you to say that. I admit, I hoped you wouldn\u2019t, but while I\u2019m disappointed, I\u2019m not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lancre snapped his fingers. Three spheres immediately swooped in. \u201cThey will lead you back to your room. You can ponder my offer further in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite didn\u2019t bother looking at de Lancre as she followed the spheres back to her room, which she fully realized was also her cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maite turned back to de Lancre. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why you haven\u2019t collected that zatia yet. Why are you still here?\u201d \u201cSimple, really,\u201d said de Lancre. \u201cI can do whatever I want in this bubble. I can live whatever life I want. I can get away with anything.\u201d He looked over the railing at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1sv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5612,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611\/revisions\/5612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}