by Power, P. S.
Still, she was also very nearly the Gray Ancient. He didn't want to fill her head with delusions of grandeur at fourteen if he could help it.
Monroe looked at the focus stone device and seemed to be reading the visible names off of it, even though Red was holding it so they'd be upside down to him.
"This is interesting... That was the King of Noram? Richard? That's about halfway around the world and I didn't perceive a time lag. Some kind of sub-three dimensional space technology?" Leaning in the pure black man moved to touch the thing, but stopped himself, looking directly at Lyn. "Oh, and hi. I'm back from the dead. I suppose hugs and cuddles are in order?"
Then they both squealed and did just that for several minutes, dancing a bit as if it were something unusual, seeing an identical clone of a long dead friend.
Red finally pushed him back a bit and then scowled, her face pinching in a less than attractive fashion. It was a thing she did when she was pretending to be mad at a person that didn't really deserve it.
"Now, what's this I hear about micro-plasma? That shouldn't exist at all, and only a tiny handful of us ever knew how to make that. I don't suppose Hegian has been brought back too?" She crossed her arms and actually tapped her right foot at him. It made her look a lot younger than her years.
Everything did, since she was in her thousands. She didn't look older than her mid-twenties however.
The other man looked away, as if he'd been caught taking half a cookie from the plate.
"Cordes and Gray had me make some for them. I was told that the remainder of you had gone insane. Not that I could say no anyway. Timon and I are going to try and undo that, if we can. It might not work, but-"
The woman sighed gently and hugged the slightly larger man again.
"But if no one ever tries, it will never happen. I know. Well, you could do worse than Builder Timon as an aide in this. Deshi, will you go with them? It will mean living in space. In a sky house, far above here. Or perhaps on the moon? I know this seems a flight of fantasy to you, but I assure you, it's very real. Will you do this for us? No one else has come as close to mastering either magic or the tongue of Noram, as of yet. It is unfair of me to ask you to leave your home and go into danger like this." That was it. She stopped there and didn't beg or try to sell him on the idea at all. Behind them the large and glowing red dome gave them plenty of light to see by, and looked nice, but the glow made the robes the mages wore seem a little dingy, given the colors.
"I will do what I can to aid your brother, Great One." Then Deshi bowed, which was a low thing and held for a long time. All the way until Lyn clapped once.
"Thank you Mage Deshi. Timon will see to your care, won't you Tim?"
Like the man was a child? There were some similarities, Timon supposed, looking at the scene for about half a moment before nodding. Red was so old they were all like babies to her, no doubt. Well, not Monroe, or Kolb, who was standing away, almost in the dark, talking to someone on his communications device. That would probably be either Brown or Orange. Most likely the latter one.
The weapons master didn't seem to have a lot of use for Denno Brown really. It wasn't hate, exactly. More like he just didn't think of the man as a real person most of the time. Like he was a joke, or someone from a story that just didn't matter. The man was nicer to Green, but then Lairdgren was his boss and a Count. That might not mean all that much, not to someone that was as old as they were, but he was still more polite and attentive there.
He doted on Tiera though.
Seriously, Tim would have thought the man was interested in her, if it weren't for the fact that he never made a move that was visible to him at least. It would be legal, since Tiera was of age, but he didn't do anything of the sort. That meant he just focused on her fighting skills.
Timon looked into the night, seeing where Kolb was standing and talking and then he made himself seem happy about things. It was a bit hard to manage, having had a hard enough day already, with several people trying to kill him, for no apparent reason.
"I will, though I'm certain that you meant to have Deshi look after me, since he's an adult. We can take turns that way. It will be fun. Or at least mean that we all remember to eat, eventually."
That got Monroe to pat his own stomach, smiling, Tim thought. It was just so hard to see him at the moment.
"That would be good. I know that I have no right to ask, but would it be possible to have something?"
Lyn didn't respond, not in Noram standard. She used Cantonese and asked for a feast to be provided for the visitors.
Timon shrugged.
"Um, really, we don't need to put anyone out that much. As soon as we can we need to get things going and a feast is probably too much to ask on short notice." He wasn't trying to be polite about it, just make sure they weren't stuck there for two days causing all the Mages to lose work time, seeing to their comfort. Or even a single day.
Kolb walked over then, holding his mobile device in his left hand, and put his arm around Lyn's shoulders gently.
"Orange is coming, along with a full crew. Can we mark a landing area with lights for them? Something in red? Alice asked for Orange originally, but I told her that was a bit much."
It meant that the small woman, after brushing a wispy bit of ash blonde hair from her golden colored skin, had to take back her order and call for some lights instead. Kolb asked for red, but what they had were white, and it would have to be enough, since it was all they were getting. No one was all that blunt about it, but it was the unspoken undercurrent to things.
Timon walked with the ten people that were going to set that up. The group had Monroe in it as well as Tiera and Deshi. The others were all mages, or at least trainees, which was basically the same thing so far, and very silent the whole time, as if they were afraid to give offense. That or meditating like Tiera was the whole time.
Which, he reminded himself, he was supposed to be doing too. It was work to keep up all the time, but if she could do it, he could.
They set things up quickly enough, jogging a bit so that they outlined a very large and pretty rough circle, using about fifty lights, just setting them on the stone. They weren't all the same brightness level and had a lot of different makers. Good lights had been one of the first things everyone learned to make here. That and cutters. Then water pumps, and copies of healing devices.
The important things. Vagus had lived hard for so long that it was about all anyone there knew. They rode horses with plain blankets and lived in houses made of mud and sticks. It worked, but the treaty had forbidden them the use of metals for some reason. Timon wasn't certain, but he thought it was as a punishment for what that part of the world had once done to the rest of them.
Something about a war that was so horrible that no one would really talk about it. The Cataclysm. There was a trend there. It seemed like the Ancients did that a lot. Hiding things in the past, instead of reminding people about them. Maybe it was to hide how they did it, of course. Or it could just have been that they didn't want everyone to know they were, in the end, only people, just like everyone else.
The orange and green glowing craft wasn't pretty, but it did settle in the right area and moved slowly enough that the one young Mage girl that had been inside the circle of lights managed to scamper out a good five minutes before it set down.
It was an impressive thing to see.
Really, he wondered what the others were thinking about it, since the space ship was so vast it nearly equaled four or five of the great dome houses. That's what they called the school, which was a dome, like a beehive sort of, but glowing red. No one ran away, or screamed, so he decided they were no more than casually impressed.
Jaded, now that they had magic too, or at least pretending to be like the people in the Capital when they saw new magic in the street. They looked, but pretended it wasn't all that odd. That, or the people of Vagus actually had a sense of color, and realized that the eight sided thing was hideous.
One or the other.
Chapter five
One very nice thing about Alice Orange, other than her rather shapely form and habit of wearing trousers that hugged her behind in ways that made Timon more than a bit uncomfortable when standing behind her, was how efficient she was. In less than five minutes she was out of her craft, and had fifteen men and women standing behind her. They were lined up and wearing matching uniforms, which were black and looked like canvas, rather than softer or more comfortable materials. They had blue trim on them, in the main, but some had other colors. Red and gold. It was around the cuffs and collar, but seemed to be how rank was decided.
Alice had orange on, which Tim was willing to bet meant she had the highest rank. She didn't seem shy about that kind of thing at all.
"There you all are! So, I hear that we're finally putting up a long term mission? About time. We've had a space fleet for months now. Nearly. This collection behind me is going to be your first crew. I'd introduce you, but we don't have time, I hear. For now Bering here is in charge. Samantha Bering, temporary Captain of the Ranford. That's the name of your ship." The tall and rather attractive blonde woman waved at another female, who was standing to her right hand side.
The woman was fit looking enough, and not that old, seeming to be in her mid-twenties or so. Clearly of noble or at least high merchant origins too, since she was about five-ten. Common women were shorter than that. That was made clear, since they actually had some in the back line. Three of them. It was a bit of a surprise, since they would have to be part of the first class. The future instructors. Most of the people looked to be in the middle height wise. So merchant class most likely.
Timon corrected that thought when Bering spoke, her rather plain face unadorned, and not made up at all. It was a kind of military service after all, so that just made sense. She did look like she'd be able to use a bit of smoothing and color to look better than average, if only just. It was her voice that gave her away though.
Her clipped and heavily accented Austran accent, to be more exact.
"We expect to be using this crew assignment for at least two weeks. This first group is made up of some of the finest space farers in the world, and collectively have more time off world than any other group of regular humans. We have full dining facilities, a recreation area and exercise rooms. Our entertainments are a bit lacking otherwise, but I've been led to believe this is intended to be a working cruise?" She was speaking directly to Timon, and ignoring almost everyone else for some reason. He smiled at her slowly, trying to work out what that likely meant.
Her body language was being artificially subdued, with her hands being held behind her back, and her spine held fairly rigid, like the others behind her. It made it seem like she was thrusting her chest out at him a bit, and that her feelings were open and honest, but that was an illusion and couldn't be counted on. The most likely answer was that Orange had told her to do it, as if he were in charge. It was kind of her, but not what he would have expected at all. Aunt Alice was predisposed to think anything with him involved was a prank or joke.
He was too good looking for her to take him seriously.
That, he understood, was the real answer then. She knew that about herself, and so did the others, so this woman was basically in charge of making sure he was taken seriously. That showed up as her slightly overdoing it right now.
"We have several potential projects in the works. Some of which I believe will be secret. Monroe and Mage Deshi here will be instrumental in those. We can discuss what that actually means in space, if that's allowed?" She was the Captain, and that meant, once they were off world, on her ship, she was in charge. They had to follow her rules to the letter or she could legally toss them off. Given where they were going, that would probably mean death. Vacuum was hard to breathe, he'd heard.
"Very well, Sir. If you'd come this way? Do you have gear or baggage?" She looked at the others, and seemed surprised that they really didn't need much. Not for their own persons.
It was Monroe that spoke, his voice mellow and a tiny bit subdued, as if he hadn't expected to be included in the whole thing. Not for real.
"Would it be possible to get some things from Austra? I need some lab equipment. I don't have any way to pay for it."
That got the woman, Captain Bering, to look slightly troubled, but Timon shrugged. In Austra everything was paid for. If you did something for people without doing that, they'd feel awkward and like you wanted something from them. No one paid for others unless they were required to, like parents with their own children.
"I have a good stockpile of Austran funds. If it isn't enough, we'll collect it from Denno."
That didn't get the tense seeming lady to relax, but she did nod, at least.
"Very good. We can do that directly, or in the morning and spend the evening in orbit. Whichever you gentlemen choose. It might be best to call in an order now, if you have the correct contacts?"
Timon shook his head, but Tiera, who was standing behind him, started speaking a bit later, clearly calling Brown's house. He'd still be asleep though, Tim knew. He didn't get up before nine or so, most days. Tiera, sounding a bit slow and quiet, spoke for a few moments, then moved to Monroe and pulled him away by the arm.
"Tell this man what you'll need. He'll see to getting it into place for us. For you, I mean. I need to get back to school. I have class in a few hours. So does Kolb."
That kind of thing was why she was being left at Lairdgren, and Timon was going off to hide in space. She hadn't slept, but was going to stay up all day to make certain she did her school work. He would have probably just sent a note and rested. As it was, he sort of planned to try and do that anyway, if he could. Just thinking about it made him yawn.
No rest for the hunted though, he knew. So he waved his hand, after covering his mouth with it and smiled.
"In the morning, most likely. We can be in orbit soon? I need to rest, if I can, but if we could speak first?"
The Captain seemed to think that would be fine, which meant it only took about ten minutes to work out who was going where, with whom. He took down his Fast Craft, and put the silver amulet around his neck, which had Monroe staring at him for some reason. Deshi ran off to get a small sack of supplies from his room, and Orange offered to use the space craft she had with her to get Kolb and Tiera home. That didn't take long, but there was saying goodbye to Dorgal and Lyn left.
Surprisingly, Dorgal pulled him and Tiera aside before they could vanish.
"So..." The man started, sounding a bit shy suddenly, which wasn't like him at all. "We're family?"
"Somewhere along the line."Tim didn't know who was related to who exactly, but fixed the man with a hard gaze. "I'm taking over from Count Lairdgren, eventually. In about twenty years or so."
Just in the family business, the Assassins guild, but the man in front of him smiled charmingly and smoothed his stupid looking little mustache.
"That makes sense. Is that why you're doing so much in the merchant area? Sorvee House could use a few large projects. Perhaps you could speak to Denno Brown about putting in a space port in Austra as well? One that won't have the ships attacked when they come in to land? That only leaves Soam, Tellerand and Afrak, I think. I don't know how to get in touch with Tellerand. I-" He paused as a white hand touched his shoulder.
"I can speak for Soam, however and believe that we would love to participate. We do not use gold or money there, but it would be nice to have a flow of new people coming and we have many wondrous natural things to share. There is value in it, I think." She didn't move her hand away, running it down his back suggestively. It wasn't strictly groping, but she was almost petting the man.
It was enough that Lyn wrinkled her nose at the women when she walked over, seeing the scene.
"Seriously Julie? You can't even keep your paws off of my husband for a few minutes? You have a perfectly good Monroe here now, why not abuse him instead? You always used to seem to enjoy that."
&nbs
p; White didn't move her hand, and actually moved slightly closer to Dorgal.
"Oh, come now little sister, I'm not harming anyone, and never do. Just because people like me, that's no reason for jealousy. We aren't children anymore."
Timon felt the world's focus shift and everyone around them started to look at Julie. Even him. Well, Tiera didn't, but the rest were being held suddenly, their entire world having only the White woman in the center of it. She was perfect, and...
Enslaving them.
"Shields!" He slapped at his front and without thinking Tiera did the same, then she moved and tapped Kolb on the back, her concentration clear enough to set his amulet off too. It wasn't a real threat, but it was there.
Red didn't act for a moment, so Timon reached out and did it for her, and then hit everyone else, one by one. They were, it seemed a well provided for group. Deshi had a full shield on, and so did Dorgal. The only person that didn't, who was close enough to be influenced was Captain Bering, who had been walking over to them, probably to see why they hadn't loaded up yet.
She kept coming too.
"Deshi, Dorgal, move the Captain to a safe location. Julie, cut that out right now, or there's going to be a problem here." He didn't want to make threats and really wasn't. The front of his trousers were getting tight, and if anything he desperately wanted to take the woman to bed. It wasn't going to be that simple though, since Red was starting to recover her senses already, thanks to the shield she had on.
"You bitch. I should end your life right here for that. This is my land, and I won't be made your pawn!" She moved forward, which caused White to move back a step, her arms going open, as if to embrace.
"Really Lyn? You'd seek to do me harm for merely being what I am? That doesn't seem like you at all." She wasn't smiling, but didn't seem scared overly either. She was slightly larger than Lyn, about half a foot or so, until the Great Mother started to shift.
She became taller, her body stretching upward suddenly, but her mass staying the same. Veins stood out and her skin turned gray, leaving her looking almost like a black talon possessing skeleton, rather than a cute short woman. A nicely tall one, who stood over seven feet high.
