by Bob Blink
That had been a couple of days ago. He had returned to Earth with the base units from Buris, along with a list of items he would like from Earth. After moving the core over from the existing functional unit, then making a couple of false starts with the direction the amplifiers should be installed, they managed to get the newer design working. Another series of trips back and forth were required to get the unit tuned, and finally he had a unit that could be switched to work on either Earth or Gaea, and was considerably more powerful than Oscar’s original. The capability on Earth was still limited, so there had to be something else that could be improved, but he had let the device distract him for too long already. On the other hand, he could now perform basic magic here, including minor shields, and on Gaea he could draw power far beyond his unaided capability. The new unit had a battery, and it would cease to function entirely if the battery failed, but he could easily enough bring along a good supply of the thin Lithium devices. In the worst case, he could simply move the core over to the previous unit that he intended to save, which would give him Oscar’s original device back. He wanted to run some tests when he had the staff and the fire ring and see if he could match up against a level six or level seven wizard, which might be required if he expected to face Cheurt.
He was cleaning up when he came across the “enabler” band in the padded compartment of the toolbox. For some reason he hadn’t left that with Vaen. Something about it pulled at him, and he picked it up and examined it more carefully. It was made of six links, and was almost too small to be a bracelet. He held it up next to the amulet, which was also a six-sided device. The enabler would almost fit around the outside of the amulet. Suddenly he knew, that was where it belonged. Oscar’s device wasn’t complete. Carefully he slipped the enabler in place around the outer edge of the amulet. It was fortunate he had carefully maintained the original dimension when he made the new copies. It “clicked” into place, the corners making contact with the silvery “buttons” at the corners of the device. He could tell the device was now more powerful than before, but it was going to take some experimentation to understand its capabilities.
Chapter 120
As anxious as Jolan was to experiment with the device, he had other matters that were clamoring for his attention. He knew it worked without the enabler, so in any case he could proceed that way. If, as he suspected, the enabler improved the operation of the amulet, so much the better. He had just returned to Gaea, where he hoped to stay a few days and see what matters needed to be attended to here before they closed off the Nexus in a couple of weeks. The shield was already made, sitting in a corner of the cavern with a faint coppery gleam. Once they moved it into place, they wouldn’t be making trips back and forth either, although if the need really arose, they could move it out of the way to support the trip. That would leave open the chance that Cheurt or one of his people could slip through while the node was unprotected.
Today’s load from Earth wasn’t anything of major importance, just lots of little things that had been added to the list over the past couple of weeks and he’d spent the last two days accumulating. He would go back and get some help to offload it and bring the stuff back to Cobalo. He was about to leave when a sudden dark shape slipped out from between the boxes and latched onto his leg. His heart leaped for a moment, and then he heard a familiar meowing sound, and realized what it was. He reached down and picked up the interloper.
“Boots,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”
Suddenly the implications dawned on him. He hurried out of the cavern and made his way back to Cobalo and hurried up to Chancellor Vaen’s office. As usual she was there, and was surprised by what he was carrying.
“That’s an odd creature,” she said. “Where did you find it?”
“I need my ring,” Jolan said without answering. “The healing one.”
Vaen frowned, but went into her storage area and returned with it. Jolan slipped it on, verified it was glowing properly, and laid his hand on Boot’s back, watching to see if any of the healing lines appeared. Nothing. He knew the ring worked on animals because he’d had to heal one of the horses some months back. He sighed. He hadn’t expected anything, but he’d needed to verify.
Vaen had been watching this carefully. “You expected the creature to need healing?”
“Actually, I suspected it was fine. I simply needed to verify the fact. Chancellor Vaen,” he said formally. “Please meet Boots. Boots, this is the Chancellor. Vaen, Boots is from Earth. She is my niece’s pet cat. She sneaked along on my trip back here.”
Vaen was quick as usual. “She made the trip through the Nexus? She is unhurt. That means it is possible to transfer living creatures unharmed.”
Jolan nodded. “I wondered for a long time if it mattered. We transfer whatever goods we place on the platform. Would it matter if some of the goods are alive? It appears not. I think all that is required is a single mage to trigger the transition. Whatever, or whoever is on the platform at the time goes along. It could be other mages or non-mages.”
“Asari will be very pleased,” she said, knowing how badly his friend had wanted to go, but had all but given up hope.
“Don’t tell him yet,” Jolan asked. “I want to take Boots back and be sure she makes the return without a problem.”
Randy was sitting in the garage when Gene came over the next day after Randy called.
“What’s up?” he asked worried. “You sounded like it was urgent.”
“Not urgent, but important. Gene, have you met Boots? She is your newest best friend.”
Gene looked at the cat. “I’ve seen it here before. Why is the cat suddenly my friend?”
“Boots isn’t just a cat. Boots is very widely traveled.”
Randy had to laugh at Gene’s confusion. “I’m sorry. Boots made an unplanned trip to Gaea yesterday. She showed us the way. I know how to take you there. If you still want to go, pack a bag and come back over. You can spend a week, meet the people, and decide if you want to really make the move.”
“You mean it?” Gene asked, afraid he was hearing this wrong.
Randy nodded. “Bus leaves in three hours,” he said.
Chapter 121
Randy had made it clear to Gene that he should take whatever time he needed to prepare for the trip, although there was really very little he needed to take along. This trip would be a brief vacation. Randy envisioned taking a day or so to introduce Gene and then have Tishe take over and act as a guide to the land, after which Gene could come home and think carefully if he wished to make a more permanent move, either for a few months, or as he had indicated in the past, a full time relocation to Gaea. The words fell on deaf ears, and a couple of hours later Gene was back with a medium sized suitcase and a couple of large gray boxes.
“I can get clothes there, right? You said the styles are very different.”
Randy nodded grinning. “What do you have in the boxes?”
“A small selection of electronics parts and tools. Just in case something comes up while I’m there.”
Randy turned to look at Janie who was sitting on the couch watching Randy and Gene. “You can come along as well,” Randy offered.
She shook her head. “I’d be afraid, besides the kids are in school. Maybe sometime in the future when everything settles down.”
Randy had known what she’d say, but felt he had to make the offer. He walked over and gave her a hug, and explained he would be back in a day or so, most likely with Asari. Gene will be staying on longer, and come back with Tishe when he wants.
They headed out the door into the cold afternoon. It hadn’t snowed that much this year, but there was still a thin layer on the ground from the last storm and the temperatures were in the teens. There was actually more snow on Gaea right now, although spring wasn’t very far off there. That would make the frequent trek between the Council Building and the College a bit nicer, but it also warned that the war wasn’t going to remain on hold much longer. Vaen
had told him last trip they were already getting indications that Ale’ald was repositioning troops in the conquered lands in Kimlelm.
With all the trips he had been making of late, Randy had taken the entire backlog of supplies, so this time it was only Gene and himself, and the three bags Gene was bringing. He looked at Gene standing next to him, obviously a bit nervous, and smiled. He placed his hand on Gene’s shoulder and executed the travel spell. Moments later the Nexus cavern solidified into view.
“Holy shit!” Gene exclaimed, as the view he had only seen in one of Randy’s pictures became a real place to him. “Damn! That’s all there is to it? We’re here already?”
“We’re a long way from the city where we live, but you are now on Gaea. We are in a tunnel out in the wilderness where the once lost city of Tilano is located. You’ll be able to see part of the city in a few minutes. Oh, and you’re going to have to work dragons into your curses. It’s kinda traditional here.”
Randy picked up two of the heavy cases, leaving Gene to carry his personal belongings, and led him over to the mini-portal that would take them to the tunnel entrance. Randy explained what they were seeing in the opening and what it would do. Getting a nod of understanding from Gene, he steeped into the opening and emerged at the entrance. He stepped forward, and moments later Gene appeared next to him.
Gene was looking around at the muddy remains of the city that filled the distance. “This was actually under water for a thousand years?”
“Something like that. We were able to drain this part to get access. The remainder of the lake is still draining. It will take most of the summer to reach its original level.”
“Have you explored the whole city?”
“Actually no. This area is behind enemy lines, although they don’t come this way. We haven’t wanted too much activity up here to avoid drawing any attention to the place. We are also short of resources now, since we haven’t wanted to let many in on the secret of the portals and the Nexus. In addition, it’s been winter and the snow hasn’t made access any easier. The quick look we made after draining the city showed almost everything was destroyed. Most of the shields that were supposed to protect the city didn’t survive the length of time the city was submerged. I suspect we owe the place a more careful look, but it will have to be fit into the priorities.”
They walked over to the large stone portal, and Randy explained how the variable destination portals worked. He handed Gene a piece of paper with the proper symbols on it, and after a quick look inside, told him the selection was the fourth from the top of possible destinations.
“Remember, you aren’t going to understand anything that’s being said,” Jolan reminded him. “Only a dozen people here have been given the English language. I made arrangements with Chancellor Vaen last trip when I told her you wanted to come. She has her team ready to load you up with the local language, just like we gave the others English. It’s painless, and will only take about twenty minutes. Then you will be able to understand, and within a day or so will speak like a native.”
Gene signaled his understanding. They had discussed this back on Earth, but it was now suddenly real. Then they stepped into the portal together and were whisked to Cobalo, coming out in the lower room in the Council of Mages building, and made their way up to the Chancellor’s office.
An hour and a half later they were walking across the open ground inside the Inner Court, making their way to the College, Gene’s eyes darting back and forth seeing for the first time the places he’d been shown in pictures. The smile of wonderment never left his face.
“For a place that’s supposed to be eighteen hundred’s technology, they have a lot of advanced capability.” Gene was now speaking in hesitant, but easily understood, Gaean. After the transfer of the language they’d had a second meeting with the Chancellor, where she had welcomed Gene and thanked him for all his efforts on their behalf.
“Magic makes up for a lot of shortcomings, and you have been exposed to several of the remnants from the past. The portals are something that we’ve only had access to for a few months, and fewer than twenty people in the whole of the Settled Lands know of their existence. Everyone else travels very slowly. You will get more of a feel when we get out into the city.”
Jolan took Gene to the dorms, where Vaen had made sure a room was available for him. It made sense for him to stay there, since he would be working with Buris, Tishe, and to a lesser degree some of the others on Jolan’s team.
In the dorms, Jolan showed Gene where he would be staying. He was about to take him on a guided tour and then down to see Buris, when Gene opened his suitcase and handed Randy a couple of black boxes of a type he’d seen before.
“Your Kimbers,” Gene explained. “They came the other day and I picked them up, but you surprised me with this trip and I almost forgot about them.”
“I thought Janie was getting these?”
“She wasn’t really sure how to go about it, and you were so busy with your project, that it was simpler if I simply bought them. If they ever get curious, they can come looking for me.”
Jolan opened one of the boxes. Inside was a full sized version of the pistol Gene had given him a few weeks back. The stainless steel slide on top of a matte black, lightweight frame made a beautiful pistol.
“The sights are something I had them add. They have laser grips for sighting in low light.” Gene took the pistol from Jolan and demonstrated.
“These will be something for the guys to strive for. We’ll take them over to Major Wylan and Samm a bit later.” Jolan had already brought a couple of holsters for the pistols, two for each of the guns. One was something that would look good for formal occasions, and the other was a more practical rig for combat conditions.
They spent the next two days getting Gene settled in and familiar with the workings of the College. Jolan took Gene out into the town, and showed him around the city so he could put the place in better context, away from the exclusive surroundings of the College. Buris and Gene hit it off immediately, and Tishe indicated she’d love to show Gene around. They’d hit it off back on Earth, and Jolan had known this would work out. Tishe had explained that she’d had no further contact with Shyar, which seemed strange since she’d grown in level and expected the link to improve. The change worried Jolan, who couldn’t help wondering if something had happened to her. Tishe didn’t think so, but she couldn’t explain why she felt that way, not offering any idea what might have happened. They would have to wait and see what developed. Jolan was glad he’d be back full-time soon. Busy as he’d been, every night he couldn’t help wondering how Shyar was doing and when he’d see her again.
* * * *
Jolan and Asari found Gene down in Buris’ lab when they went to tell him they were about to leave. Asari had been attempting, and failing, to restrain himself for the last two days, knowing that he was finally going to get his chance.
“What is that?” Jolan asked, finding Gene busy assembling an array of electronic components on a thin ceramic board with hundreds of small holes in it to allow the leads to be pushed through wherever he wanted to mount a part.
“Intercom,” Gene said. “Have you thought about how many trips a day people make between here and the Council Building? With this, they can talk direct. It’ll be a lot faster and easier, and is pretty simple to build. Oh, Tishe and I will be headed back to Earth tomorrow also.”
“Already?” Jolan asked, wondering if his friend had decided that Gaea wasn’t where he wanted to be after all.
“Just for a day or so. Tishe wants to see Janie and the kids, and I need a whole lot of components. I want to raid the local electronics shop, and then I need to turn in my long term absence for the house. All my bills will be paid automatically and the mail diverted to a firm that will handle it for me. I’ll tell my Dad I’m going overseas. If I don’t come back in six months, they might get all excited, but by then I’ll know for certain I’m staying. I will be, you know. They can declare
me dead just like they did you. Who cares?”
Chapter 122
Asari handled his first trip to Earth as if he’d been making the jump regularly. He brought little other than the clothes he wore, since Jolan had made it clear they would want to dress him appropriately at the other end. His bow and rifle would be out of place, and despite the fact they planned on going after Ryltas, he hadn’t brought the Wilson .45 along. The Kimber Tactical Elite and the short barreled CDP were still on Earth, which would provide them all the firepower that should be required. So, as they stepped off of the little rise in the Boulder backyard, Asari was unencumbered, and was able to look around with a pleased grin. Tishe had provided pictures of what he was seeing, but finally it was for real.
This trip placed them on Earth in the middle of the morning, and as a result Janie was up and around when they knocked at the back door. After making the introductions, although Asari and Janie had seen each other’s pictures and Janie had known Randy planned to bring his friend back, Randy showed his friend around the house. The frequently used guest room was already set up again, and soon the two of them headed off to the mall for a bit of shopping. By the time they returned to the house, Asari was dressed like everyone else, and looked like he had been raised in the area.
Randy had two objectives for this trip, which he suspected would be the last or next to last trip anyone would be making through the Nexus for some time. He intended to give Asari a chance to experience Earth, although there wouldn’t be the time to do some of the things he’d like. He also intended to try and capture Ryltas as Vaen had requested, although he still thought it made more sense to simply shoot the bastard and be done with it.
In an odd way, the weather was giving them a few days when Randy could show Asari around, since there was a small storm coming through making any chance of flying the small Cessna all the way to California out of the question for the moment. By the first of the week the storm was expected to pass giving them clear weather for as far as the projections went, but everyone was predicting the large storms on the east coast were an indication that winter was about to settle in for real. Colorado could be expected to be buried under a deep blanket of snow before very much longer.
