by P. S. Power
That got her a round of hard looks, that weren't so much mean as unbelieving. One by one the others all checked the fields again and Farlo came up to her and actually touched her arm.
"Damn it. It really does." She faked a little humph, but it was drowned out by Ali running over to her.
"Oh, goodie! I knew you could do it. Builder Tiera!" That got another round of everyone saying it, including some of the kids. Terry looked at her hopefully again.
She waved at him. "You heard me before, you can have one, if Havar says. More to the point, you can have one to try and make copies of. Havar still controls them though, even if you all learn how to do it. No template."
That seemed to her like it might make her little brother mad, but he just nodded.
"I can do that. Do we need them for our County forces too?"
That got her to blink and remember that he was, actually, correct in saying it that way. As Countier Second, if it were any kind of normal situation, he'd probably have an actual job with her government at the very least. Or would when he was an adult.
She tilted her head and smiled at him. He was, like all her family, good looking, but he was also so very serious now. Like a miniature adult nearly. Then, all of these kids were, weren't they? Her own tiny brother had fought an adult man earlier, and could have killed him, if he'd wanted to. It was something like what she would have done. Or Tor.
Reaching out, she touched his field and managed to not recoil in shock at what she'd found there. He'd been checked before and was found normal, but now he was immortal. She understood what had happened, she thought, and could feel the work that had been done. It felt like Timon at least, rather than Tor. He'd changed the boy in front of her, from what he was, into one of them.
It was...
Probably a good idea, since it didn't seem to be killing the kid. He really was sweet and kind hearted, as well as brave. Better than she was at any rate. Or Timon. If they had to have an immortal around, that was the kind of person they wanted.
"Right. We'll work on that. Sam, will you help get Terry and the rest of these kids up to speed on that. Havar too." She added that last bit as a goad, since the man had no particular magical skill, but he just sighed at her.
"Well, the children at least, if they have the talent? Anyone with eyes can see that we're moving into a world filled with magic. Soon those that can't provide for themselves that way will be at the power of those that can. I'd want them all to have it, if possible." Those words got stares, if only from Sam and Guide.
The boys, actually all of them, had been very carefully taking weapons from the canvas bag and handing them around, as if they were already allowed to have them. They all vanished into pockets and in at least one case, she was almost certain to a secret inside pouch that one of the kids had made into his magical clothing.
She didn't demand them back, since that would cause problems.
"Remember, only if Havar says you can keep them, and they're only for hurting and killing bad people. Real ones, not just anyone that annoys you, or makes you feel scared. You all have to promise that."
She waited but actually got a chorus of "I promise" from the collective group. Sam held one up too. He looked hopeful.
"I could..."
She waved at him and then winked, trying to make it seem like she wasn't an evil Doretta anymore.
"You have school rules. I mean, yes, you can all have one, but I think that Kolb has to hold them for you." At least if they didn't just make their own copies and keep them in secret, which was what she was planning to do, if it came up. No one even bothered trying to take things away from the builder that made them. Not for real. A token gesture might be made, but other than that, it wasn't a real thing.
Which everyone there over the age of eleven knew.
Tiera clapped and then thought about what would be needed.
"All right, we still have about an hour. I say we go shopping and take some extra food with us. Otherwise we might strain the ship's stores that way, which isn't good form. I'll pay, but we need to hurry." It was a trip back to her room then and a fast rush at the town to get things. What they got was cheese, and a collection of spices, since the new food units made flour, sugar, apples, and beef steak. It was a good enough start, but really, they would have been better if they made more things, including complete dishes. She stopped for a second, but managed to fly on fast enough that no one noticed really.
They were already landing at the Space Training Center. Guide had taken care of transporting the goods for them, having made up some magical boxes that appeared from nowhere and would follow you wherever you went. They were copies of Tor's work, but no one called him on it. Her brother never would have, so why should anyone else?
The idea was a good enough one though. The hard work of the food fields, was learning how to tear apart solid materials, use their essential energy and then reconstruct food items, water or air with them. Timon had already done that part. All she'd need to do was change it a bit, so that the items would come out on demand. The ones she wanted that was. There couldn't be that big of a difference between making raw flour and making a whole, and decorated cake, for instance. Or between beef steak, and braised strips of beef in a wine sauce. What she needed to do was test the idea, and the final project might well be huge, as far as work went...
Still, it was a thing for her to try later, if she got a chance and didn't mind failing. Right now she had to find their ship. Or to be more correct, Terry went off to find it. It wasn't hard, since it was right in the middle of the landing area, waiting for them. One of the men in his black space jumpsuit jogged over, a clipboard in his hands. It made him look pretty official. He had an Austran accent and looked to be in his sixties or so, as well as being familiar. She'd met him before, she thought. Or at least seen him.
In a restaurant in Austra, of all places.
"We got word you were coming! Welcome everyone. This is the transport vessel Cloudcraft. Today we'll be going up to the Ranford, the Flagship, for a partial crew transfer. It will take one hour and fifteen minutes to complete that task, so, naturally, once we get there, you all have to rush off as quickly as you can so that we can get the others on board." He winked at the kids who all just looked at him somberly. After a bit he cleared his throat, clearly feeling a little uneasy. They didn't smile or laugh at all. "You don't have a stay length scheduled... I take it that you're planning to leave by space drop?" He grinned as if it was a joke, but Karen waved her hand at him a bit, as they all stood there.
She stood very officially, with her hands behind her back, looking almost military herself.
"I don't know that term?"
The man actually laughed, but it sounded like a good natured thing, not mocking or mean. Tiera decided to like this man, if she had the chance. He seemed friendly.
"A space drop is what we call coming back to the planet using only the new shields. Only a handful of people have even tried it. The idea is clearly insane, after all."
Tiera thought about it for a minute and then looked at the kids, who seemed to be a little bored, if she were going to be honest.
"We should do that then. This is a special trip, and we'll all be outside anyway, part of the time, testing the new speaking units."
The older man shook his head a bit, clearly not thinking she was doing anything but playing with him.
"Well, if you do, remember to do it during the daytime. Impacting with a planet at those speeds could really hurt."
She looked at the ramp to the Cloudcraft and that was enough to get him to go that way, the conversation done already, or nearly.
"These vehicles are similar in many ways to the Noram Fast Craft. Have any of you ridden on one of those?" He spoke while walking, but didn't stop to let them chat about their experiences. "You won't feel anything much inside them, but the speeds traveled at are incredible. Tens of thousands of miles per hour. Most of the trip will be taken up by waiting and very slow moving maneuvers, like
docking. We do it that way for safety reasons. Do you have any questions?"
It turned out they did, but they also got to sit while they quizzed the man. The inside of the craft was done up very efficiently, but the seats were large and very comfortable, and, of course, all done up in a nice orange color. That was Space Fleet though. A lot of things up there were orange. It was pretty much a given. That or some color that went along with it well. Copper, light yellow, even brown, as long as it had a bit of a pumpkin overtone.
That would be the seats, she realized, glancing at her arm rest. It wasn't too bad, but the way that they were set up, she ended up being alone. Near the front too. The back of the craft, which was smaller than she normally kept her Fast Craft, except on missions, was filled first, but one of the seats was already taken, by a very common looking young woman that smiled sweetly at Terry when he filed in first, ending up right next to her. She was to the norm for her type, with decently dark skin, dark hair and brown eyes. The only thing that really stood out was that she very clearly wearing a Space Fleet uniform. One that had bright orange trim on it. It wasn't an inspired color choice, but common or not, that marked her as being high ranking.
When the rest of the people came in, it was a thing that Tiera picked up on right away. Judy had two stripes of orange on her sleeve, but only one man had orange at all. He was a giant, but looked like someone had squished half his face at some point. Starting from the center. It wasn't horrible, but he wasn't good looking by any means. She understood the idea, after a bit. Orange was letting her personal bias influence who made it in her organization. She was biased against attractive men, and while she didn't hold them in contempt, she also didn't take them seriously at all. It led to things like what she was looking at right then.
Tiera did have a man next to her, though he was a bit hard looking and had Vagus type features. Like Lyn Red. Sort of at least. This man was small and golden colored, but smiled at her pleasantly enough when he saw her. At least until he saw how big she was.
"You... Giant, big head?" He was clearly trying to ask her something, but she had no clue what that was at all. It might have been about her head, true, but she doubted that.
"Um, I'm Countess Baker, and pretty tall now... Wait, do you mean to ask if I'm a noble?" She wasn't trying to mock the man, but he nodded.
"Yes, yes. You noble?"
"That's right."
The man smiled, looked away and didn't talk to her for the rest of the flight. Clearly he didn't like her kind of person. That or someone, like her Aunt Red, had personally told him that if he met a noble in Noram to keep silent, on pain of death. Vagus was a hard land that way. If a threat of death was made, it would be delivered, as often as not.
The trip was about what she would have expected. It took a long time for them to get loaded and take off, then they had a forty minute trip into a matching orbit with the Ranford, which was vast, compared to the Cloudcraft. Probably a few hundred sizes bigger or so. It wasn't the Ranford's fault, because it was the little one that was kept that tiny size. It could have been just as big, since they were the same ship, when you got right down to it. Sisters, after all.
Then they took half an hour to move a mile or so and dock. It was barely perceptible as far as motion went, but also very smooth. Once inside and down, a wall formed in the space they'd come in to, and the man that had welcomed them before stood up, and clicked a button.
"The record for unloading this craft with a full deck is three minutes and ten seconds. Can you beat that?"
The answer, as it turned out, was no. But they got darned close. Even the man with the watch grinned about it.
"Three-fifteen! Not bad! I figured that you kids would be slow and fumble a lot, but it seems that I'm just an old slowpoke myself. The group with the record is an elite military team. Royal Guards? No one that hasn't worked together before has ever gotten this close." He seemed oddly proud, but then, a lot of the kids were from his own homeland. Maybe that was it? Or maybe he just liked to see anyone do well. They were all on the same side after all.
The boxes of food had to be unloaded too, but that didn't count against them and Guide had it all in hand about ten seconds after the door was opened for him, at the back of the craft, in the cargo section. It was the last thing in, so the first out. Just like the people.
Judy looked around a bit, but didn't say what for. That presented itself about a minute later, as a woman walked into the area they were in, from the ship itself, using one of the sliding doors that were meant to save space or look interesting or something. The ones here were red, which was an interesting change.
Judy saluted the woman that walked in.
"Captain Michaels." She held it until the other woman, who was dressed identically, saluted back.
"Captain Kerry. You have the ship."
Then Judith turned around and held her hands behind her back in a military looking manner.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you new to the crew, we'll have someone along in a few moments to see to your assignments. I'll personally meet with you in the next day, barring emergency. The ship layout is fairly standard and should be like the practice cruises that you've taken. As for those of you that have been here before, welcome back. You don't need me talking your ears off yet, but this won't take too long. We have with us a very special group of people, and we should all seek to make them feel welcome here." Then she bowed.
Very clearly to the Lairdgren Group.
It was cute, really, because Sam and Guide looked ready to pass out over it. The rest of them just bowed back, which got Terry to do it and the rest trying to copy him, which meant everyone in the room from Noram did it too, just in case they missed who was doing what. The crew from other places all seemed baffled for a bit, except the Vagus man, who did it as well. Judy was tall after all, and in charge, very clearly.
They only had to do it once, and she didn't crack a smile at all.
"We'll set up for that test as soon as possible. Do you have the needed shields for your people?" This was directed at Kolb, who simply nodded. They knew each other after all, since he was Judy's old teacher and everything.
Then she looked at Sam.
"Do you have your communications devices ready?"
He started to stammer a bit.
"Um, yeah, but..."
Then she went on as if not hearing him at all. He blushed and looked at Tiera, but honestly, she didn't care if she got credit for it or not. It absolutely didn't matter to her, at all. For once. She felt kind of proud of that too.
"Any questions?"
Tiera actually had one. Or, more honestly, several, but the Captain couldn't answer them, she didn't think.
"Would it be possible to get an appointment with Timon Baker?" She waited, expecting that he'd be working and that no one would want to bother him, but instead the tall and thin woman in front of their rather hodgepodge group nodded.
"I can't promise anything, but he's supposed to be taking a rest day. Actually several in a row, right now. I'll have someone take you to him. Is Terry going too?"
That was... Actually a very normal kind of thing, wasn't it? Plus, she wasn't trying to hide anything from him, not in particular.
"That would be good, if it's no trouble?"
It turned out that it wasn't since the woman that had sat next to Terry on the way up knew the way herself and volunteered to take them. She didn't look any older than Tiera did either and kept smiling at Terry, as if she might just want to eat him for lunch.
Chapter three
"I'm Wistra, Ma'am." The common looking woman said, bowing at her, even if they weren't on the ground and were about as far away from someplace where anything about Tiera counted at all. Tiera bowed back, just as deeply, which got Terry to go wide eyed and do the same. He, unlike Tiera, actually knew that kind of thing, having had real lessons in protocol.
"I'm Tiera, and you met Terry already?"
"Oh, yes... Tiera." It was clear she wa
sn't all that comfortable using her name like that, without a title at all, but that was just her genetics hitting her without the smaller woman knowing about it. She recoiled a little after saying the name and looked almost like she expected to be hit.
"What do you do on the ship?" It seemed like a natural enough question, but the woman held her head high and smiled.
"I started out as a Cook Instructor, but I'm the Building Instructor, structures not magic, for the High Servants now. The ones doing the work on the Moon Colony? I've done some of that work myself." She looked down, but Terry gasped.
"That's really... I wish I could go and do that too. What would I have to do to get in on that?"
The small woman shrugged.
"Well, like I said, most that work on it are High Servants. You'd probably have to have something to offer the program if you wanted to go otherwise. Like being a pilot, or like me, since I helped develop the tricks we use to work with Focus Stone in low gravity environments." She stopped and then shook her head just a little, clearly thinking something, but not saying it yet. "Or, if you're a wizard, you could go and do that there. We need things, but it takes time, nearly a week, to go back and forth. We have a hundred people there full time and it would speed things up if we didn't have to wait for new gear all the time. Things get damaged, lost, that kind of thing. Or even break down, if the magical item wasn't very good. We're putting about as much strain on things as you could imagine. Not all the copied work is equal to the task for long."
Terry sighed a bit and then shook his head and looked over at Tiera.
"I can't, can I? I need to stay on Earth and help fight the Others, if I can. It would be really fun to go to the Moon though, and help build a colony."
Tiera felt her breath catch at the idea, since it was so far away from home. Then again, was it any more dangerous than say, planning to hunt down some of the most dangerous people that had ever lived?
