Polished

by P. S. Power

  “Tom! Area Under the Arc! Ambassador Neesa! So nice to see you all. This one is Rish, from another Earth. We’ve met on several occasions.” He smiled, by dropping his mouth open, meaning it in the moment.

  Tom bounced for a bit, to show he was thinking. It was, more or less, a signal for others to wait and not talk to him until he was finished doing it. After a bit, the four-armed man let his own mouth drop open.

  “This is a thing of worth, then. You will, perhaps, the allowing of image and sound capture by those of the Fleet be doing? Those of my people would see you, Rish of Earth, the Ysidril Human, speaking as you are now. Many will be fascinated by it.”

  Arc reached out and patted him on the arm then.

  “This is a true thing. Do you think many of your people, those here, will be learning this way? It is very speedy, though seems to cause pain and discomfort. I do not know if we should allow such suffering, just to make our own lives easier.” The words, spoken in Ysidril, seemed a lot more concerned than the woman had otherwise. Part of that was simply that Rish was getting the body language more clearly now, as well. It was a big part of their language, after all.

  The trick there was that he didn’t know at all how to answer. Finally, he bounced, trying to think for a bit. No one spoke while he did it.

  “I think that some will. This learning would be hard for us, without using this kind of instruction protocol. As for the suffering… That is allowable if it is a choice on the part of the learner. We should not force many to use such things, if it is not needed in a dire fashion. Those who do so for their own reasons or to aid others should be allowed it.” His mouth hurt a bit, from the unfamiliar hissing, since a lot of it came from his throat. Not just from the conversation though. It was the hours of talking that way that really did it.

  They chatted about the whole idea, as, one by one, the others finished the course of study. It was Tim Baker who finished first, with Cindy going less than a minute later. Dareg stood at about the same time, leaving only Glen left. Even he wasn’t too far behind, standing up, a bit sheepishly ten minutes later.

  Willum nodded.

  “So, under six hours for it? That’s not too bad then! We need to test you all, before letting you go for the day.”

  That meant being quizzed by the Ysidril over and over, for the better part of an hour. Everyone did fine though. In fact, at the end, Arc was so happy she went around giving everyone hugs. Tom started to do the same thing, holding each of them closely for a long time. Rish got it. That kind of thing was very nearly a drug for them. One they avoided with Humans most of the time, in order not to scare them.

  He’d lived it, so knew that one first hand.

  He ended by moving in to hug Neesa, even if she wasn’t going around doing that kind of thing with all and sundry, herself. She did it back, easily enough for him not to feel rejected at all. Then, she stood back, carefully, breaking off first.

  Smiling by dropping her mouth open a little, she looked at him closely.

  “You should get Erath to make you a Ysidril child again, Rish. Then you can live with us and teach us about being Human. It has long been thought that we are misunderstanding much about your kind, lacking common experience as we are. You could go first that way. It is required to serve, when need demands.”

  That phrase was a common one, from the lessons. So much so that he simply nodded, even if that wasn’t a Ysidril thing.

  “At need. I can go and teach in this shape as well, if it won’t give discomfort to others? That way I can do my other work at the same time. It will be some days or even weeks before I am able to be free for that. Much work comes soon, in my other place of duty.”

  Those words got a simple wave of the lower left arm. Which meant that she understood how that went. Duty to others came first, always.

  They chatted together for a while, then in their own language, Dareg managed to send the others off, politely enough.

  “Rish and the others must go back to their own home first, having much to do there, soon. I, Dareg, Copper Square, must go with them. There is to be a testing of their entire world. One that their friends need to help them with, if suited to the task. There might be harmful touching, so we didn’t seek to involve your people. We may call on you if the need arises? This is a thing so large that one such as myself cannot hope to understand it all before it happens.” There was humility in the words. A thing that wasn’t totally common to the Ysidril Language as a whole.

  They had a mechanism for it, which involved dropping the chin while talking. It translated well enough when a Human being did it. Some of the language, the parts that used the lower limbs, didn’t work as well that way. Luckily, they could all manage the needed vocal intonation well enough.

  Hugs were passed again, since it was a cultural thing for the Ysidril, and they were allowed to leave, without making any promises of helping a different world in what very well might be a war.

  For that matter, he had to be careful about what involvement he allowed from Noram. It was bad enough that they were using Eva and Samantha like they were, for most of their force. That could be hidden though, if they did it right. Made to seem like people with Infected powers were doing it all, or even that some kind of secret military force was to blame.

  Which might be doable, he realized. The girls all had clothing on when he’d seen them and they wore different things. If they were dressed up like U.S. special forces of one kind or another, that might be enough to distract anyone seeing them from getting that they were anything other than regular people using special technology. A few glowing buttons on a thick belt, what seemed like hand weapons and maybe something like police body armor would be enough to throw a lot of people off that way.

  At least enough so it wouldn’t be easily tracked back to Noram.

  It meant bringing them in somehow, in a way that no one else could track.

  Which, he knew, was best done by him, instead of the others who had that kind of skill. After all, Brian Yi could do that kind of thing, but it was known and in the records that he had the ability to go to other worlds and realities. The same would be true for Lydia or even little Sara. Richard Drake just walked into mirrors, as far as anyone knew. Then slogged on foot, in another dimension to the next one, in real time. Even if the watchers noticed his trips being faster than that, he couldn’t take people yet.

  If he could learn to do that, then he could transport people across worlds in a way that no one from his own would have even a hope of tracking. The only problem there was that he legitimately had no clue how to do that sort of thing. A few people had acted like he was an idiot for not seeing how to get it done already. A thing that didn’t really help him at all. If he had enough time, then working the puzzle out would be a good experience for him, Richard had no doubt.

  That commodity was lacking though. It made sense for him to do it, but there was no way he could spend six weeks working up a plan for something like that. To that end, he moved to the front room, trying to figure out where Katie had gotten off to. She met him there, knowing that she was wanted. It was her power, after all.

  When she saw him, she didn't ask what he needed, knowing already.

  A way to carry others through the mirror. A thing that he’d figured to be impossible, until several others had told him that it was possible for him to learn.

  She just chuckled at him a bit then shook her head, as if he were too stupid to be believed.

  “You had the power all along, Dorothy, just click your heels together three times and say, get your butt through the mirror.” Her voice was a dead ringer for Glinda the Good Witch, from the old movie. It was enough for Richard to smile at, since it took skill to do things that way.

  Given she was in a different reality, that meant the impression was probably her own, rather than a skill borrowed from someone else. There were only twenty or so people there who might have seen that movie at all and he at least wasn’t up to doing a lot of impersonations like that. It
had never been a skill of his at all.

  “A bit more of a hint? I’m afraid I might be having a senior moment here. I honestly can’t see how it would be done.” It wasn’t that bad, but he honestly wasn’t getting what she was trying to tell him.

  That got him an eye roll in return.

  “Fine. It isn’t that hard. You can bring two mirrors together already. Just do that with a person on one side, merge them and switch it in your mind, leaving the person in place. Easy. That or imagine the person being the one to move. Either way will work. There are a lot of ways you could do this. It’s so simple a child could do it.”

  Richard doubted that. Still, he thought he might be able to pull it off, if he had time to practice.

  A thing he didn’t think was really possible.

  No matter how hard he tried, time was the one thing he couldn’t steal enough of for himself. A thing that wasn’t new for him, really. Old age had taught him that lesson, long ago. Then, when he considered that factor, it seemed that he really had managed to gain a bit more, right there at the end. It hadn’t been his doing, of course. No, The Infection had pulled that one off for him.

  For the first time he wondered if The Infection, the entity that was inside of all of those from his world with powers, had actually been trying to get him hooked up, instead of cursing him. If so, then he might have a more powerful ally than he’d ever considered.

  Chapter thirteen

  His new practice had to be done there in Noram, he knew. Mainly because they had an eight to one time differential. Rich didn't have enough time to spend weeks on the project, either, so, even if a part of him didn't want to do it at all, not wanting discomfort or worse, pain, Richard waved down Tor.

  The man really had pulled out the stops, having himself changed to fit in like he had.

  The giant man’s, the former giant’s, look was a bit English seeming, as far as type went. A thing that would fit in modern America perfectly. Even the clothing was about right for a man of his new apparent age.

  He grinned as he walked over.

  “How may I help you, Richard?” The words were in Standard, which made sense, given he spoke that now and was in the world of that language. What he needed to do wasn’t going to be done in secret, either. Not as far as Tor and his friends went.

  “Do you have that pain stone? The focusing one? I need to do more work on things and… I don’t have the basic skills I need yet, I don’t think. Not on the level I want for the coming project.” He really didn’t want to play with the thing, if given a choice. Pain stones were, to his way of thinking, a horrible technology. Unfortunately, the damned things worked. They also didn’t leave him crippled, after the fact. You could threaten with a hot poker, but if you used it too much, the body would be left crippled.

  The pain stones could hit you full out and only leave scars on the inside.

  Instead of telling him there was no time for that kind of thing, Tor simply hooded his eyes a bit, then nodded.

  “I do have that. On me, in fact. Taman figured that no one sane would use one of those twice, if they didn't have to. Willum said that they work… But that boy isn’t exactly well balanced. We… Broke him, in the last war. It wasn’t good or kind of us. He’s a hero, even if no one really understands it. He saved billions of lives. Trillions.” The words barely made sense, though they were followed with the man pulling something from a side pocket.

  That was held in his right hand for a minute, with eyes closed, before handing it over. Instead of a plain rock with a glowing sigil, it was a smooth tan tile this time. In short, it wasn’t the same thing as before at all. Richard didn't mention it. After all, if the wizard had just made the needed gear for him, standing there in the hallway of his own magical palace, and insisted that it was the same device as earlier, he wasn’t going to rat the man out.

  He glanced at the thing though, and nodded.

  “It’s harder than before?” The words were whispered and in English. That was, due to how rare it was in Noram, basically a secret code, after all.

  Looking a bit fierce this time, Tor nodded. There was an under tone of sadness to it.

  “Much so, Mr. Drake. If you survive this, you will, I think, be impressive in your focus. We don’t have time…” He seemed honestly hesitant, as if it might not be important enough to risk a life over.

  Then, that was probably the man being dramatic. So far, a lot of the Noram people had tended to overstate things a bit. Their world wasn’t really any more dangerous than the IPB world. They pretended that everything was a huge risk though. Every lesson that was minorly uncomfortable was pure torture. Every risk wasn’t just a hardship, it was the potential loss of everything.

  Which either meant they knew something Richard didn’t or they were a bunch of drama queens. Either way, Rich simply smiled at the rugged looking man. He was only about six feet tall now, and thicker now, as if someone had squashed him downward. Mainly muscular for it, instead of fat. That was hidden nicely under the hang of his jacket, however.

  “Let me get to it then. Kate… My friend Brie? She thinks I can transport other people and told me how to do it. I get… A few hours to learn how, before we go back. Then… Well, I can either do it or not. Wish me luck?” He was back into Standard, which Tor used as well.

  “All of it. Go. Time is flying, as you said. Try not to die? That would be hard to explain and probably start a war with your people.” He seemed to mean it.

  Rich shook his head, then grinned

  “It really wouldn’t. This is my choice, after all. Back home it would be death due to misadventure, meaning that I made the wrong choice. That or suicide. No one would even blame you for it. Anyway…”

  The tile in his hand needed to be tapped this time, instead of simply hurting instantly. When that happened, Tor doing it with a single finger, as Rich held the smooth thing which seemed to have a glowing pink letter P on the front with a single line through the bottom of it, the discomfort started instantly. It was an ache that ran between his shoulders at first, then slowly tried to turn into a burning sensation.

  He slapped his focus onto the thing, which did bring some relief. Then, instead of allowing him to hold fast at that level, the magic on the thing started to make things hurt even more. It was, for a long time, all he could do to stay ahead of the thing. It hurt the whole time, but wasn’t really torture. It was like having a tooth ache, really. Constant and throbbing, except not in his head, which always made things like that easier to take.

  After some time, a thing he couldn’t have measured for the life of him, everything faded. His eyes were closed, since that had happened instantly, to block out any distractions around him. He came-to, sitting cross legged on the floor, with the stone being pulled from his fingers, gently. He expected to see Tor there, since the man had been there when the thing had been activated, either moments or hours before. It wasn’t him at all.

  Instead, standing there over him wasn’t anyone that he recognized at first. A giant with red hair and a young face. It wasn’t until he turned his focus to the man directly that he understood who was there. Over him. Looming, without meaning to be.

  Alphonse, the heir to the throne of Noram.

  What he was doing there, in the front hallway of Tor’s house, Richard didn’t know at all. It didn’t really make any sense to him, he had to admit. He tried to stand up, feeling sore and stiff from his time of sitting.

  The man held out a cup, instantly. A simple thing that seemed to be made of metal, which held nothing more than clean water. Taking a sip, Richard nodded.

  Then spoke in standard.

  “Thanks. I… seem to have lost some time there. Which isn’t good. There’s a schedule.” A bit of panic spread through him then, since he still had work to do, he knew.

  The tan giant smiled down at him.

  “Ambassador Mableton took the others away three days ago. You have four more days here to learn what you need, before you have to report for your duty in
your own world.” The man looked at the pain stone and shook his head. “That… Tor told me that as soon as you are gone, I should take that thing from you and either use it myself or toss it into the deepest part of the sea. He doesn’t really say things like that lightly. I mean, yes, the part where I’m clearly too soft and pampered gets mentioned, hence using it myself… Removing magics like that generally isn’t. Was it that bad?”

  Clearing his throat and putting a hand out, since he was sitting cross legged on the floor, Richard shook his head. His mind was still focused and sharp, though the world felt distant and remote from him. It was very different than how he’d ever felt before.

  “It’s about the same as the language learning stones. Well, except that you get a chance to not feel the pain by focusing, instead of learning new things perfectly. In a way it’s easier, after a while. Get the first rock from Taman and do that one, then this. I think, at least. It hurt, I won’t lie about that. Still, it’s manageable and like I said, you get a chance to make things go away a lot more easily, using this one. I… Should get up and walk around a bit… Then sleep and get to work on the rest of things.” He wasn’t feeling anything in particular, though his legs tried not to work, when he got up.

  At first. A thing he could fix by going into the mirror world, of course.

  The huge man took the now empty silver cup and placed his other hand out, to aid Richard in standing up. The pain tile had gone into a side pocket, as if the man figured that if he didn't hide the thing Rich would greedily steal it. That wasn’t going to happen. It seemed to have gotten him the needed start on things, if it worked at all.

  The deep voice spoke to him gently, as if he were ill. That wasn’t the case. He felt fine, really. Good even. Simply different than before.

  “You need to eat as well. Tor asked me to look after you, since we have to make certain you can do your duty in your own world soon. I used to do things like this for him when we were in school. After as well, in the war with Austra. The last one, that is. Relations are better now. He was a lot worse about it, of course. Building miracles that no one else could have, sitting in place for up to a month at a time, hardly moving at all. You didn’t seem to be moving either. I figured that once you stopped taking water, it meant you were deep enough for what you need to do. As it is, you could probably learn magic already, with the skills you just earned, doing this. Will Baker mentioned that to me, the other day.” There was a grin then. “More to the point, he suggested that I learn to do magic on my own, since it can come up. I’m a bit old for that kind of thing, of course. Thirty-six is hardly a school boy.” The man didn’t look that old at all.