by P. S. Power
"Remember to eat! Do you want me to bring you dinner? About six?"
It was an invitation to come over for sex, she knew, but she nodded anyway. It was important to be there for her friends. Especially the ones that would be around for a long time.
That meant, by the time she was back in her room that she had the hundred tiles of brown Focus Stone ready and a plan in place by three, and worked at holding the idea of it growing, sort of like a plant. Tor and Timon liked to use trees for that, which she understood, since they were so big and solid. They were also slow. She didn't have as much time, so she went with pond weed for her personal model this time. The little plants that could take over an entire body of water in a few days. That was because they spread and were small, but she thought it might work. She let the fields spread, confining them into her work area.
By the end of the three hours the field felt like it was in all the items and was pretty strong. All she had to do then was keep that going each day, and not let them keep breeding like they wanted to do. It wasn't that hard to manage.
There was a knock at her door, which sounded like it would be right for Sheri, and it was time for dinner, so she opened the door wide. That meant she was surprised when she saw her brother, Tor, standing there.
She blinked and tried to make sense of it. Count Lairdgren could look similar, but was too short now to pass for her brother, who had pretty much matched her in how tall he'd grown. So seven feet and change. He was actually about an inch taller than she was now, she noticed.
She let her mind run out to him, thinking that, from what she'd heard, Remy could look like anyone he wanted. It wasn't that though. This was her brother. After a moment she pulled him in, not saying anything at all, at first.
"Tor! Why are you here? Do you need someplace to hide? I can-" She hugged him, a bit desperately, since she wasn't sure that Timon could really save him at all. If they had to kill him, it might well fall to her. That was hard.
He let a happy, if slightly tired, expression come to his lips.
"No. Nothing like that. I needed to get a warning to someone. I tried for Timon, but I couldn't find him. There's going to be a very large attack on Austra. More of my creatures and mechanical ones that one of the Monroe's came up with. In twelve days." There was a gap between what he said and when he breathed, which seemed almost like a fake thing, or something forced. Possibly just incredibly out of place. "Others too, but that one is the largest. Gray sent some things I made to destroy a city here. Dragons?" He seemed horribly upset by the idea at least.
Which was a good sign, since she wasn't certain Cordes would have figured out to fake that. Maybe though. It felt like her brother was speaking, as to the field he was giving off.
"Callwood. We stopped them. It was the Lairdgren Group, and a group of Austran kids. Terry and Tim too. Trice, Ali, Kolb, Sheri, Havar. Kind of a group effort. Just so you know, little children can beat up your dragons." She was teasing, but her brother, who was possibly the best builder to ever live and had once been a Knight of Noram, for cause, cried. Two fat tears of relief poured down his cheeks.
"Thank goodness. I tried to make them hard enough to seem real in a fight, but not so much no one could beat them. Little kids though? That will make it seem like I wasn't trying. How?"
Tiera didn't explain, just going to her chest and gesturing for him to sit on her bed which she got some things around for him to look at. She was showing off, and knew that it was about like a little kid showing a professional painter the little drawing they did in school, but her brother held the light colored wand and closed his eyes.
"I see. Good work. Very nice actually. Better than any weapons I've made, except the dragons. They just have style, don't you think? Even then, this has controls nearly as fine, and complex." He set that down and took up the communications device, and let his face look a little sour. She swallowed, but then shrugged.
"Hey, I did that in one night, while underwater, hiding from people searching for me. I think it's pretty decent, given that. It was an exercise that Kolb set, not a real attack or anything."
He nodded. Tor didn't mean it, but he made his head move anyway. It was obvious that was the case. "You see the flaws though? There's no selection on it, so everyone can hear you. Use mental controls for that, like on that." He pointed to her wand. "Also, you should be able to make it so that you can send thoughts that way directly, and not need to speak at all. Still, it isn't bad for having worked underwater, and in a single night. You're new to this kind of thing still."
"Oh, and I suppose you would have done better?" She felt like hitting him suddenly, if not that hard, but he saved himself then, by tearing up a little.
"No. Certainly not on my second build ever. You're probably as good as I am already Tiera. Close at least." He held up his right hand to stop her from speaking. "Right, we both know that I'm just saying that, to make you feel better and try harder, but... It isn't that far off." He stood and moved to where she had a pile of tiles in a very regular ten by ten square on her student's desk. Placing his hand on it, he stood for a long time, just getting a sense of it.
Finally he turned to her and gave her a hug.
"You need to redo that one. I get the idea... but your spreading mechanism is too vague and you'll end up losing field cohesion. The work itself... What is that? It isn't a variation of anything I've made."
She grimaced.
"Crap. No, it's a variation of something Timon did, or is supposed to be. I only have a few weeks to get it ready. It's a food making device. You put dirt in one side, or rocks or whatever, and, if it works, whole foods will come out on the other. Damn. Well, I've only lost three hours. Maybe I should put it all on hold?"
Tor shook his head.
"Maybe you should redo it all tonight, and not be a wimp? It's a setback, but you aren't having to remake months of work or anything. I've heard about Tim's build though. I didn't know it was his. I thought it might be Burks. Gray and Cordes have been whining about that one for months though. It's why they're resetting for more attacks, instead of just hiding, which was the original plan. I found some things out, can you remember it all?" He started talking, knowing she would, and ten minutes later he stopped and looked at the door to her room.
"An Ancient. Not one I know. I've gotten pretty good at telling them apart lately. I don't have a lot else to do." As he said that, he pulled a weapon and moved back and to the side, smoothly.
Like a warrior.
It was just Sheri though, holding two large food baskets. She squealed when she realized Tor was there, and nearly tackled him, even with a Force Lance pointed at her middle.
"Tor! Oh!" There was kissing then and hugs, if more friendly than sexual. At least Sheri had sworn to Tiera that she hadn't been sleeping with any of her brothers. Yet. She had her eye set on both though, and considered them boyfriends, sex being involved or not. They kept giving her really expensive presents after all, and in her world that meant they were pretty much together already.
Tor did kiss her back though, and seemed to mean it, more or less. Until he took her by the shoulders and moved her back a pace, looking at her with a slightly confused expression.
"Sheri, why are you an Ancient?"
She stood up straight and bowed a bit.
"Timon did it. There's only room for about twenty of us, I hear, and he's doing all of it, so don't go making more. At least until we kill a whole bunch of clones off."
"Ah." That's all he said. As if, once mentioned, the idea that they'd just make more immortals was common sense, or at least expected. "Is Ali around? I don't want to bother her if she's working, but-"
Sheri kissed him on the cheek again.
"At your house, here. With Maris?"
"The Ancient? She's alive? That's great. She vanished a few days ago. So did most of the people that went to the battle. In Callwood? I've never been there."
"It's not a bad place really. A bit scorched right now. Still, once they fix it
up it should be nice enough." Tiera got another hug in then, and her brother, who'd been gone for months, just left.
Sheri giggled.
"Ali will be so happy! She worries about him constantly. I didn't know he could visit like this. Would you like to eat?" It was a rapid change, but she really did want to and following her brother to his wife's bed was probably a poor idea. At least for her own sanity.
"Thanks. This smells great. Beef strips?"
They talked then about things that didn't matter much at all, and didn't have sex at all, since Tiera actually had to run to her meditation class. Her friend understood at least, and kissed her gently before she ran out the door.
"We need to get together more often."
It was true, so Tiera nodded at her.
"That, is a really good point. Come to the fighting practice square in the mornings? Get with Ali and the Lairdgren kids too. All of you need to show up, from now on." She sounded very commanding, even to her own ears, but Sheri pretended it was a joke.
"Oh, are you going to turn us all into big bad warriors now?"
She shook her head. "No. Kolb will. Clearly. I can barely fight my way out of a mud pit. Come early. At four?"
That was really early, but she'd be there.
She figured that Sheri wouldn't, from the casual wave she tossed off over her shoulder as they parted ways at the door to her room. Then she had to jog to her class, to find it exactly like it always was. Quite and contemplative. She was better now than she used to be at least, so it was simple enough. Relaxing even. She cleared her mind first, and then when Doris signaled, she focused all her skills on a rock that had moss growing on it. Slowly, but all in one piece. The speed though, could be increased, couldn't it? Tor's healing amulet was a bit like that, speeding the healing a person did. There was a sense of that happening she might copy, with enough focus. She could feel the part of the plant that would allow for that and nudged it just a little, then kept doing that until it was time to leave.
It didn't turn the rock into a plant covered thing at all, but when she looked at it, there was a lot more green on it. When she'd started it was a small bit of fuzz. Now it was four times as high at least. Doris looked at her examining it, and smiled gently. Then she waved for her to go away.
It was only nine, but she already knew she wasn't getting any sleep that night. She thought things through, and realized what would have to happen. First, she was going to have to get a ride into space, so she could safely get in touch with Denno Brown. Only, she needed the new forces for that, didn't she? If they were going to attack with dragons and machines, the people there would need help. If it was a real attack and Tor hadn't been misled, so that they'd have fake information. That meant...
Really, she needed a good start on her build first, didn't she? It seemed weird, but Orange needed to be able to feed everyone, and that meant Tiera had to do that job for her.
For a few moments she nearly froze, but then just threw herself into fixing the earlier work, using speedy moss as the growth pattern, rather than rapidly spreading pond weed. That took less time, so by eleven-thirty, with Karen just coming back to their room, looking like her new, but real self, with three rather anxious looking men in tow, she was able to get up.
"I'm off for the night then. Hello! Goodbye!" She gave one of the men, who she knew, a hug. Instructor Crane. He'd tried to extort sexual favors from her once, but had chickened out at the last minute. It would have been interesting to see if he was going to do that then too, but she really needed to get to work. How she was getting into space, she didn't know. Or, well, she could fly, just moving upward, using her shield. That wasn't the point though. The Space Fleet vessels all had special communications units on them that let people talk to Austra in secret.
She wanted to use one of those. It was that, or go and visit the land herself, and she didn't have a whole day to spend on that right at the moment.
Finally, about mid-night, she found a way to do it. It was an abuse of power on her part, but she found the older Austran man that had taken them to the Ranford before. He was awake and going over a list of supplies that was to be taken up to the Midlist.
"Which was named because Admiral Orange felt that it was fitting, the ship being exactly in the middle of the ones needing names. What may I do for you though, miss?" He, of course, had no clue either who she was, or any reason to believe that she needed to get into space at all that night. On the other hand he really was about to leave anyway, and wasn't, he assured her, against having a little company.
At first she thought he meant that he wanted to have sex with her in trade for the trip, which made her a bit upset. Then she simply agreed. After all, he had what she wanted, and she needed to get in touch with Brown. It was too important for her to let her Two Bends prudery get in the way of things.
The man wasn't even half that crude though, simply meaning that they could talk on the way up. She nearly cried at the gentleness of that, when she understood what he meant.
"That sounds wonderful! And here I was going to offer myself to you in exchange for the trip. Not that I won't now, if you want, but if we could meet later for that?"
The man harrumphed. Then did it twice more.
"You're young enough to be my granddaughter." He took them up slowly, then darted into space, stopping to contact the Midlist, using a device she wasn't familiar with at all, that seemed technological in nature. When he was done, the man pretended to count on the fingers of his left hand. "Actually, you could be my great granddaughter. If I even suggested doing that with you the Fleet Admiral would send me back to Austra in a box."
Tiera shook her head.
"No, she wouldn't. I'm legal here and you aren't even really too old for me. Marriage might be out, but Alice wouldn't complain about that part. The net in Austra might. At least one of my friends from there suggested something like that once. Carlos? He's the head chef at the Royal Table." It was all true but started a conversation about that place, which served, the man assured her, the finest of foods.
"Everything on the menu is fresh. Or at least was before the big attack a few months back. I think I heard that they managed to keep things going, but it has to be hard. So many died. I was already here, being one of the Instructors for my section. It's part of the duty for us all to take working rotations however, since things are so new. That way we can keep current on things, and suggest useful changes. I start a new shuttle pilot section in a few weeks. Have you considered joining up? When you finish school, I mean?"
She tilted her head a fraction, so she could look over at him, and then decided to just tell him the truth. He could be a spy, but if so, he'd already know all about her, wouldn't he?
"I'm a Countess. Countess Baker? It's kind of a built in job, I'm afraid. I wouldn't mind the work, but right now Alice has me building some new food units for her. They should be used on the moon too, if I get it right. If not... Well, I guess I try again, you know? It's too useful to give up on. I already had to start over once today."
The man looked at her, as if she were joking with him, but he lived in Noram, so got that no one lied about being a Noble. Not unless dying was on their schedule.
"Well, that's a good line of work, if you can get it. Baker... Are you related to Timon, or The Tor? You look about right, if taller." He didn't seem to be implying anything about it at least. Tor was a famous adult actor there, after all. Not on purpose, but Austra really didn't seem to care about that part of things. Really, only Tor did.
"My brothers. Some of them. There are a lot of us, so it isn't as fancy as all that, to be honest. Do you like this line of work?" That seemed a polite enough question and the man looked at her instead of the ship they were closing in on, if only for a moment.
"I'm happy to be helping the war effort. I'm too old for the water navy anymore, but they took me when I signed up, not caring, as long as I was willing to do the work. When everything happened, the attacks, we were nearly ready for them. I was
in on the rescue. Working on the Morning Star at the time. We pulled nearly eighty thousand people out of the way, just in time. It wasn't enough." That bit sounded very sad.
Because it was.
"I'm sorry for your loss. If it makes you feel any better, I've personally killed fifteen of the clones that did that. It isn't all of them by any means, but we're working on it. We aren't going to let them win. Not even if all the Revered Ones in the world have to die to do it."
The man looked away, his attention going to the orange colored craft in front of them, which had slowed so they could catch up easily and in a controlled fashion. It took a long time to dock, and when it happened, the man looked at her.
"Now, this shouldn't take long. I'll unload and be ready to return in about two hours? You can nap in here, if you wish?"
She smiled and on impulse gave the older man a solid hug. A familial one, like he was her grandpa in truth.
"I'll get myself back, probably on the next orbit. Right now I need to get to the bridge. That should be fun, explaining that some random girl needs to use their communications gear. It has to be done though." She used the side door, one that she formed with a thought and was on her way before the fellow could give her any problems about it. Then, jogging, she worked her way around. First to the stairs, then down to the bottom front section of the thing, nearly a quarter of a mile away. Things matched that way at least, all the ships using the same internal layout, more or less. That way crews from one could transfer to another without any problems.
She didn't really know how to manage things at first, but when she got onto the deck, a plan came clear to her, almost instantly. The man in the Captains Chair was even taller than she was, and looked slightly familiar. A Noram noble it was clear, if not one she personally knew yet. Except...
He'd been there when the Capital had been attacked by the Morris forces. In the crowd of military fliers.
She decided to simply use that, if she had to, and walked up to him, still dressed like a school girl, all in plain and heavy brown.
