Coeus?

by Andur

  “I see. Please send the bill to me.” Grandmother answers without hesitation.

  Isn't silver very costly? And this thing is big! I eye my grandmother while the doctor puts the amulet around my neck. “Thank you for your hospitality. Make sure to visit me next week.” Grandmother smiles at the old man and helps me from the bed.

  I take a look at the amulet, which is a medal and is covered with various runes and interconnecting lines. It looks like an electric circuit. “I don't feel any different. Is it working?”

  The doctor nods. “Yes. It's a regeneration charm. You won't feel anything from it. It's a very slow working spell. Have a nice day.”

  “Goodbye.” My Grandmother takes my hand and leads me out of the room. I wave goodbye to the doctor and the assistant.

  On our way to the teleportation chamber I eye the amulet once more. “Grandmother, are we rich? Is our family powerful?”

  She purses her lips. “Our family tree has a tendency towards techno-magic. As a techno-mage you can make a lot of money, so you can say that we are rich. But we aren't regarded as powerful because we don't have a lot of combat potential unless we become very old and adapted to casting spells. We can make the most money on spaceships, where we act as pilots.”

  “Spaceships? And how does magic work? I noticed that the teleportation chamber is made out of gold and silver. Is there something special to those metals?”

  She smiles. “Yes, spaceships. We mages left earth a long time ago and built colonies on the other worlds of the solar system. The flying city Aether is the only place on earth where we are still living. And we are using the metals such as silver, copper and gold because they have the least electrical resistance.

  To use a spell which influences reality you have to change the flow of energy into a certain pattern. Magical artefacts are a great help in that regard because you just have to infuse your power into them and they do the rest. The less resistance they give you, the better. That's why we are using alloys with the least electrical resistance as possible.”

  We reach the teleportation circle and she starts manipulating the runes. But I can't accept this as the end of the conversation. “Please don't stop your explanation! Don't you realize that you just created several more questions?”

  Instead of answering she finishes manipulating the runes and in the next moment we are standing on an empty observation deck. There are some people around. They are looking out of the glass fronts, but none of them cares for us.

  She leads me to the glass, so that I can take a look outside. “You are currently on the flying city Aether. It's a flying disc with one hundred and twenty square kilometres and it's approximately one kilometre thick. Currently we are flying above the Atlantic Ocean. The normals can't detect us because we are hiding the city within an information barrier. To them we are invisible. In addition we hacked their devices and information networks anyway. So even if our barrier fails, we can swiftly edit their computers and networks.”

  I ogle the city under us. It looks like a normal city, but this observation platform seems to be at the edge of the disc, so I can also take a look at the ocean beneath the edge. “Now I really believe that I am in wonderland.”

  “Oh, you haven't seen half of it. Wait until you can make a trip to the mage colonies on the other planets. We created huge hidden settlements all over the solar system and in the asteroid belt. Gravity and teleportation magic makes it all possible.” My grandmother muses and turns me around. “But today you have to take a little test. I'll take you on a sightseeing tour later.”

  What? No way! “There are still so many questions. Why are the magicians hiding from humans and why does battle magic matter more than having money? I thought that your society is all peaceful?”

  “We are peaceful. Our community hasn't fought a single war in two thousand years. But at the same time we believe that having the power to defend ourselves is also necessary. Mages who are able to do combat are necessary to uphold the law and the ones who uphold it is the magical police.”

  We stop at the teleportation circle. “We are governed by the council of elders and the council is in control of the faceless. The council consists out of people from the strongest families from each magical branch. There are about a hundred of them and they make the laws of our society.”

  Again she manipulates the runes and we find ourselves on a long, white corridor with many windows. There are also a lot of children with people who could be their parents.

  Melan leads me towards a door with a tag and several runes on it. I read the tag aloud. “Examination Chamber 4?”

  She presses the runes in a certain combination. “I reserved this chamber to have your abilities and knowledge measured. Your ability will work while you are inside, so you just have to touch the globe and answer the questions.”

  The door opens and I am shoved inside. Grandmother pats my shoulder. “I have to wait outside.”

  I hesitate, but then I nod. So far Melan never showed any malice towards me. “Okay.”

  She closes the door and I am left alone in the white room. It's empty, except for a copper-coloured globe with the size of a tennis ball.

  It floats freely in the middle of the room and suddenly it starts speaking. “Hello, I am the examination sprite 'Exo-4'. Just call me Exo. Please state your name.”

  “Gideon. What are you?” I slowly walk closer to the thing.

  “Gideon Alvar, age six, scheduled for a full magical and mental examination. I am a fully autonomous magical construct to examine the abilities of magicians. Please touch me and we will take this test in your own virtual reality. This will be much faster than doing it in the real world.” The globe floats lower, so that I can reach it.

  Slowly I reach up and touch the globe.

  Aether, The floating City, above the Atlantic Ocean

  Melan

  The sign on the examination chamber's door turns from 'Occupied' to 'Examination Chamber 4' and a sheet of paper is printed out of a slit beside the door.

  I take the sheet and start reading while opening the door. Gideon is right on the other side with a disturbed expression on his face. “I didn't do it.”

  “Do what?” I look up from the sheet and find the examination sprite on the ground. Smoke is rising from it. The smell of burned electronics fills the room.

  “Exo said that he wants to test how fast I am, but he couldn't keep up. When I returned to reality he was like that.” Gideon points at the sprite.

  I smile and hug him. “It's okay. It's just a cheap tool. Obviously he had to over-clock his processor to keep up. It happens when someone is a little faster than you would expect from a child.”

  I look at the sheet of paper while hugging Gideon. As expected he didn't get any scores in magical knowledge and questions regarding mage history or society.

  He didn't even score that high in regards to the knowledge of normals. Just average one might say. But his score in their programming and networking is good. He even has decent knowledge about physics. The same goes for logical thinking and imagination.

  The thing that's absolutely outstanding is the speed of his virtual reality. If these numbers are true, then he is on average over a hundred times faster than real time in his own reality. He must have spent a lifetime during that year in the asylum.

  The sprite shorted out after trying to drive Gideon to his limit. “It's okay. Sprites are self repairing.”

  A smile creeps onto my lips. Gideon might be an unexpectedly talented grandson. If I am able to protect and guide him, I may be able to redeem my mistakes with my daughter.

  6. ~Walk in the park.~

  “The resource war lasted from 2122AD to 2201AD. Afterwards it took the world almost two hundred years to recover back to a relatively peaceful state.”

  History Lesson V

  Aether, The floating City, above the Atlantic Ocean

  Gideon

  It's the first time that I am with someone else without Melan being nearby. Gr
andfather Hedeon seems to be the silent type. He didn't say a word when Grandmother asked him to go on a walk with me.

  Stupid daily exercises. Someone might think that magic has an easy answer to tiring training. I am already wheezing and sweating, but Hedeon is still walking with big steps. “Can we walk a little slower, Hedeon? Grandfather?”

  He turns his attention towards me, but instead of smiling he just raises an eyebrow. “You do realize that children of your age are playing and exercising their body all day long?”

  Great! Seems like I've found the strict person in the family. “Yes, but I really can't go on any more. Walking twice around this park takes three hours, but this time we are already done with the first round and it's been just fifty minutes.”

  “Well, I guess walking a little slower is possible.” He returns his attention to the path through the park. The park is a public planted-area right next to our mansion. I have to exercise my body at least three hours each day.

  In addition I got some books about mage history and our society.

  Apparently the magicians decided to leave the rest of humanity behind sometime during the era of the Roman Empire. Of course they didn't leave all at once. It was a slow exodus, which ended sometime during the witch hunts of the Middle Ages.

  “Grandfather? Was there a real reason why the magicians decided to leave Earth? The history book made it seem like the decision was accepted by everyone. That's suspicious.”

  My grandfather stops walking and I run into his leg, but he stops me from falling. “You are right. The council of elders decided that being involved in the battles of the normals caused too many problems within our own community. Our people lived in all countries, but we all answered to the elders. They gathered everyone with magical ability and started the project to conquer space.

  There were people who refused their point of view and stayed behind to help the normals in their struggles.”

  “Then what happened to them? The book stated that the exodus ended during the witch hunts.” I ask, but I already have my own theories about what happened.

  “Everyone who wanted to leave left. The rest stayed behind and had to deal with the normals on their own. Once the normals got the upper hand and certain religions started spreading, they had their needed reasons to burn our people. That's something they seem to like, even today.” Hedeon nods to himself.

  Then he continues. “Do you know that some of their governments know of magic? They have special forces to hunt the last remnants of people like us. That's the only reason why Aether is still on earth. We are staying here, just in case someone with magical ability might want to leave his hiding place.”

  I nod. So they know of us after all. “Another question is why is my amulet so pricey? I had some time to think over it. Why are there problems with mining gold, copper and silver? Shouldn't there be enough metals out there in the solar system?”

  It's the first time that I got a grin out of my grandfather. “You are right. We are mining tons of metals and other resources each day. But like it's always the case, you have to add other considerations too. Making a regeneration charm takes a lot of time from a highly skilled techno-mage who is specialized in crafting charms. You don't want to start rotting from the inside, don't you?”

  “Then there is the point that the metals in question are highly sought after. Transporting something that heavy over vast distances is costly. In addition you need an approved pilot for a spaceship, generally a techno-mage. Teleporting goods over long distances is a waste of money and energy. And before you ask, we can't simply throw the asteroids from the belt on a course to the inner solar system. The normals would go nuts. Not that there is anything they could do about it.”

  “Moreover we aren't using those precious metals just for toys or as currency like the normals. Our technology relies on high contents of gold, silver and copper. In certain circumstances we use graphite, but it doesn't take physical stress that well.

  You need several tons of silver and copper to fit a spaceship with the needed gravity circuits and amplifiers for the pilot to even move the damn thing. And what do you think you are standing on? If the mortals knew what Aether is made of, they would declare a war to kill and pillage like in the old days.”

  My eyes wander to my feet and suddenly I understand. Grandmother said that Aether's floating disc is one kilometre thick. How many metric tons of gold and silver must that be!? “Then I suppose that the ships in question also need technology to camouflage themselves? How much money does a pilot earn then?” If there aren't that many of them it has to be a lot.

  Hedeon stands a little straighter. “It happens so that I flew a spaceship for about sixty years until I met your grandmother. A hundred metres long and eighty tons of cargo. By the end of my service I made enough money to lean back for a while and to buy our mansion.”

  “So what about the colonies? You saw them right? Which of them are the most interesting ones?” I start skipping. I want to fly a spaceship too!

  “Well, we have colonies on all big celestial bodies. I suppose the one on Jupiter is the biggest and most impressive one. We dragged an asteroid into Jupiter's atmosphere to hide it there. It's the size of a small moon and has its own miniature sun.” Hedeon stops for a while to think. “The ones on Mars and the Moon are boring. They are essentially just underground cities. The rings of Saturn are also colonized.”

  “I guess what you would like the best are the main shipyards on Mercury. It's where we produce almost all of our ships. The entire facility is huge with almost twenty million people working there. In order to create the hulls for our ships we just have to bring the metals close enough to the sun and spin them into the wished form. It's the easiest way to do it. That's why most ships are either cylindrical in shape or huge orbs. Discs work too, but they aren't very efficient. Generally you want something spherical, otherwise you waste energy to teleport empty space.

  But most magicians live in the belt. Out there we can do whatever we want without caring too much about drawing attention from the normals.”

  That sounds boring. Maybe I don't want to be a pilot after all. “Cylindrical or huge orbs discs? No way! It's your fault!”

  “What's my fault?” Hedeon looks down at me with a disturbed expression. It's clear that my outburst surprised him.

  “UFO's! You are the creators of that myth!” I point my finger accusingly at him.

  “Ahem. Well. You are right. The information barriers for our small ships aren't foolproof. We created the myth of UFO's to explain some videos which we couldn't edit out of the information network. Especially a few hundred years ago it wasn't so easy to delete the camera footage of some devices, but we got better. So nowadays we do not need to rely on such methods.” Hedeon places his hands behind his back and starts walking faster.

  “It's a direct result of the nature of our drives. We use gravity magic to create a force into the wished direction. The ships practically fall wherever we want them to. In addition we use long range teleportation for very important deliveries. A teleportation field has the shape of a sphere by nature. So if you want to use an teleportation spell to its most efficiency, then the ship has to be a sphere too.”

  “Then why do the pilots have to be techno-mages if we are regarded as weak.” I ask next.

  “Isn't it obvious? A starship's main methods of movement are gravity magic and teleportation spells. Both are fields in which we techno-mages are above everyone else. It also has its benefits if the pilots have accelerated minds.” Hedeon squints his eyes at me. “But I get the feeling that you are rested by now. At least you have enough breath to ask questions, so we can walk a little faster.”

  With this Hedeon starts walking faster again and I have to hurry after him with my small legs. No, I think that Grandfather may not have much empathy for children.

  7. ~Visitor.~

  “It is 16.2.2489AD and the world's most powerful governments finally announced that they decided to work together in o
rder to create a united Earth! Nordas, Russia, China, India and the Indonesian Kingdom already gave their consent. Australia confirmed that they are thinking about joining. South America also confirmed their wish to join, but hasn't completed the vote. If all those countries decide to work together, then the remaining nations will have no other choice than joining too.”

  -Newspaper

  Aether, The floating City, above the Atlantic Ocean

  Gideon

  Finally alone! It's almost as if I am back in my own little room. My grandparents have some business to do, Aunty and Uncle are working and my cousins are in school. I began to fear that I will never get some time for myself. During the last month my grandmother created such a tight schedule for me that I wasn't alone or unsupervised for a single moment. I wonder what she is afraid of? From her explanation I understood that I am extremely socially awkward, even for a techno-mage. But I doubt that my psyche can be healed by keeping me under people from day till night. At least I don't feel different from my time in my own world.

  At least she allowed me to use my magic again, though she put a spy charm on me to check on how much I use my ability. According to her it's very unhealthy to use magic while your body is in a weakened state.

  Apparently magic works by influencing the structure of reality through manipulating the structure of the energy around you. Magicians are able to do that by using their nervous system, which is apparently much stronger than that of normal people. The first thing I got taught by Grandmother was creating an electrical current between my fingertips. Great! Guess what! I am an electrical eel now!

  And yes, apparently I am talking to myself. I let my eyes wander through the living room. Maybe being alone isn't that nice after all. Recently I always had someone to talk to. Now that I am alone I tend to talk to myself. At least in my mind... but it kills time, so I'll continue.