by P. S. Power
She wanted some food, and then to go to sleep, and was willing to eat while sitting on the floor if she had to, but it was a magical palace, so they had a fine dining room, with a full meal, that Maris provided. It had seven courses and somehow she managed to get the food made consistently. The service wasn't that perfect, since Tess and Erid tried to do it all, but it wasn't sitting on stumps and roasting frogs on sticks either. Far from it.
After that, she had to go to bed, except that it was cold and she had work to do first, to fix that. That meant that five hours later she set some heaters up, and then finally went to sleep. It was set to get a bit too warm and then stop, but the place was decently large, so it would probably be working all the time. She woke up feeling warm herself at least, about six hours later. Not that she had a clock with her.
The ship they'd come on was gone, but the other one was still there. She could see that through the window when she looked out. She couldn't run a shower yet, but they had some water, which was mainly for drinking so far. That, she knew, was on the first floor, which meant walking to it to get something to drink, and brush her teeth. There was a line, and people, her people, milling around. As if they didn't have anything to do?
Still, some of them were eating, so she joined them at the table, feeling lazy and like she wasn't pulling her weight. For a half second she wondered if that was how Tor felt all the time. She made some toast with strawberry preserves and butter, along with some scrambled eggs. It would do for a light breakfast, before they ran out to do whatever came next.
She slid in next to Ali who was chatting with Sheri about something, which turned out to be what Karen had planned for the High Servants.
The sandy haired, thin girl looked at Tiera, as if she had an opinion on the topic. Which made sense. She nearly always did. She grinned and answered it, trying to pretend she was an actual grown up and not just pushy.
"Put them to work? Killing them is always an option, but some people just won't do anything unless told. I know it's hard to believe, but I've seen it, more than once. Even nobles can be like that. Worse, no matter what they were told, half of them probably think that they're here to relax, and look good. Though, honestly, you'd think that they'd have caught on, when there was absolutely nothing here, when they arrived... Well, we have all this new magic, so it should go more easily now. Where is everyone, sleeping still? Out working?" She meant their people, like Prince Alphonse and Katrina, as well as her family, but Ali shook her head.
"Douglas is off setting up the sanitation systems. I think he said something about going with incineration? I think we should do what we did on the ship, only using larger versions of those units of yours and making it into sand, so we can reuse it later. That works. We already have Earth movers too. Though no huge makers though. You should get on that." There was a grin then, but she sighed. "The other boys, Terry and Alphonse and... High Servant Erid? They're out on duty, getting materials for things and setting up units to make air and water for the first area. Sara is out with Tenet and Tess, making a giant underground lake, to hold all the water we'll need? Someone will have to have filling it at a full time duty. I... could do that, right? For a bit?"
She was trying to be sly and secretive and it was mainly working, but Tiera really doubted that they had a lot of spies with them, at least none reporting to Gray. Still, it was a good idea to be careful.
"Yes... That would work. Sheri, I was thinking, would you be responsible for aesthetics? Make a plan for the city, so that it's nice. People will go crazy if it's all white glass all the time, everywhere. While you're doing that you can also put up the gravity for the new sections and in here? I have a lot of items for that." She ate for a bit while Sheri acted like getting another job was some vast favor. At this rate they'd have to appoint the girl mayor or something anyway. She was on food, lights and decorations... It was a more than most had going on. Including her.
Even the little kids were making themselves useful. Taman was already working, her mother assured Tiera, making those lights. She seemed slightly amused by that, as if the girl was coloring, and claiming it high art. Tiera just looked at her blankly, then shook her head for a while until Laurie frowned.
"Yes?" She even arched her eyebrows when she did it. She just looked so young now. It was strange, Tiera decided. Her entire life her mother had been, well, a normal village woman. She had lines around her lips and eyes and was a bit pushy for a commoner, and pretty, but that was all. Now she looked only a few years older than she did.
Tiera looked away, not wanting to deal with it all for a second. It was a grand adventure, but a lot of change too. For everyone.
"Oh, I was just thinking that Taman has a more important job than you or I do right now. You know, would you consider being our records keeper and historian? Maybe write those rules up for us?" It was a thing to do and while her mother wouldn't shy away from hard manual labor, it was all she could think of for a bit. They just didn't need someone to bake. Not really. "That and help Maris with the food? I know, hardly glamorous, but on the good side it isn't waste management, yet." She managed a playful lilt there, and which was nice. At least she thought so. Her ma just looked at her. Flatly.
"I suppose I can do that. I'll have to get a bit more creative with my food selections, I gather? May I use your maker for paper, pens and ink?"
"Oh, sure. It will do all those and a lot more. You can even have it come up with blank books, and magic pens like the Austrans use. Or we could if anyone knew how they worked. I'm not sure, but Kolb or Doris might know." Tiera nearly got up to ask herself, but Laurie made a bit of a face.
"I was asking for permission to use it. They all belong to you, don't they?"
It was true. She just didn't care who used it. Not as long as there was always material to fill the hopper. Still, that all took time, didn't it?
"We... should probably make rules for that too. Like if you use more than a certain amount of sand for something you need to go get more, even if it's not your job. That and polite use rules. Not taking days to do things unless it's really needed. That sort of thing?"
Her mother wrinkled her nose a bit, like she smelled something bad, but didn't make fun of Tiera. After all, you were supposed to share, and really, people here could have whatever they wanted and no one else would lose out at all. In a way it meant they were all as rich as the King of Noram, no matter what they did as a job, day to day. Hopefully that occurred to her. If not, well, it would eventually.
Kurt Debri came bounding across the floor a bit later. A lot of people used their Tor shoes for going places quickly so far, since the low gravity was a pain, but the blond was almost to her already. She looked at his face, but it wasn't worried, just a bit hot and sweaty looking. Like he'd been out working hard already. Not lazing away at breakfast, chatting with friends.
"Tiera, do we have air freshening units for the first section? Some of us filled it with air. It's holding. Oh, here." He dug at his neck and slipped an amulet off. It was her Timon model Fast Craft. That or someone else had one and he was robbing them for her. "Guide put up one of his houses for the entry point. It's a bit more... Homelike?" He waited as if she might think it was a poor plan?
"Thanks! I have those. I think we should try ten at first. We need to make certain that every level has at least one. My sense is that it will do a lot more than it seems like, but fresh air is important. I'll go with you, if you want? We should have lights to start going up in a few hours or so?" She waved to her mother. "Get with her for that. By the way, she's my mother. A noble, but my brothers and sisters are all over the place here." It was presumptuous of her, but Kurt just bowed, first to her, then the still seated woman.
"Ma'am?"
They were introduced and from the way they were both acting, it seemed like Tiera had just done it so they could run off and have sex. If discreetly. Well, that would scar her mind for a while, but she'd live, especially if she didn't know about it.
That meant the
y were busy, at least chatting about setting up a store, using the maker. That was a descriptive name, but sounded off and too simple. She'd want it to be at least a little more... flowery. A creation device? A miracle machine? A Tiera Provider? The second she thought the last one she understood why Tor hated all his early works being named after him. At least he had a nice name for it. So did Sam and Guide. Poor Farlo was stuck though, wasn't she?
Since the two perverts were busily talking and hinting at doing things that were incredibly and irrevocably wrong, being that one of the people involved was her ma, Tiera delivered and set up the air refreshing units herself. The structure was a lot bigger inside now. Using a bit of focus she wrote restaurant on the first space, and air supply and water on the one across from it. It meant using her finger to write on the wall and was serviceable, if a bit plain looking. She hadn't picked a space herself yet, but hoped to get something good. Where that would be, she didn't know. It had several levels already and sprawled outward.
Provided people were willing to share, they already had room for thousands or more. Tens of thousands if they had a lot of families. It was a good starting space, though they needed a few others, for the new people to come, if anyone did, and all that.
As she walked out, Sheri turned the gravity on, and while it made her heavier, it was so nice to actually move around normally. It wasn't as tiring moving on the Moon, but it was annoying. She really wanted to linger, and moved over to where the girl was focusing hard, trying to embed the magical piece into the wall. It took effort, but she did it. Since it was using the residual magic of the initial device, which had moved out of range, that was really impressive.
The girl noticed her watching after a bit, and turned around, looking cuter than she used to. Not different. Not even changed like Sam or Karen. So that meant the difference wasn't in her friend, but her? She just couldn't imagine that things had changed that much for her inside, but had it? She did feel a bit better, but there was a lot of darkness and stress hanging over her still. Tor and Timon, and Regina. Always that, but... she could really notice others now, which was a good sign.
"Oh, hello! Do I need one of these for every level?"
"Um, probably more than that, though you can hit places that are directly a floor or two above, if you want. Just adjust the field. You know, think at it? Say, I um, don't want to presume anything, but... Would you..." Now she was actually feeling nervous, like that made sense. She just wanted to ask if they could get together, and if the girl wasn't already busy, she'd say yes, most likely. It wasn't like Tiera wanted to do anything even. Just talk with a friend.
The girl nodded.
"Move in with you? I'd love to. We might have Maris with us, is that all right? I was thinking we'd get something on the first level, unless those are all going to be shops. That sort of makes sense really, so that everyone will know where to find things. We should have a tavern too, and an Inn. Kurt has his everything shop, and Maris the Restaurant. We should have a magics shop too, for useful items like that. Oh, and a whore house. We'll have women like that who'll want to come, and it will work best to make sure they have good working conditions right from the start. A barber, since we don't have a magic way of doing that yet... I need to work out a floor plan. Can I have the whole first level do you think?"
She laughed, but Tiera didn't know.
"Well, why not start marking them as businesses? We'll have to find people to work in them, but everyone has to do something." That took about two hours, with them both trying to come up with everything that made sense for their situation.
They added some things, including a large space for a food and beverage store, since not everyone would be able to eat at a restaurant for three meals a day. That would take real work, making and packaging things, but it was a great idea. They also had a place for a wine shop, next to the whore house. It was going to be very nice inside, she decided, since as far as she knew, they didn't have gold or even script like Austra had. That meant the girls would have to work for free. Except, of course, they could also get pretty much anything they wanted. They could have enough jewels and gold to make the Queen of Noram look poor, if they desired.
Tiera looked at the things going in, and realized they needed a jail too. She put it right across from the tavern, laughing, since that would help keep people in line. She also grabbed a little place as a healing center. Then at the far end, away from the Tavern and whore house, she made a school. That got Sheri to clap her hands.
"Oh! Maybe I can graduate?"
Tiera nodded. It could be a nice one, if they wanted. They could even do a proper private school, if they could find teachers for it.
That was what they were doing when Karen and Smythe walked in, herding seven naked and abused looking people in front of them They were all nobles, and she got the idea, but actually stripping them like that was a bit embarrassing, wasn't it?
She glanced at them all, and thought for a bit. There were four women and three men. They all looked healthy enough, except for the new bruising and in one case, a laceration on a man's face. From the bit of blood on Smythe's right hand, that had come from him.
Tiera looked at the two in the back, and then pointed to the naked group, addressing them personally.
"So, whore house, or jail? We give people a choice here." Well, or they could work in the food store or wine shop, which she nearly added, but Smythe laughed, as if he actually understood she was being funny. It was kind of nice.
Still he ran with the joke.
"Ah, you already have a jail for them? And, I see, a house for them to work in. Very well. You all stand disgraced. Tiera is the leader here, so her word is law. Which will you choose? I'd think carefully about that. Also, Tiera, how long for each?"
She stopped, since she wasn't the leader here. That was...
That bossy girl that kept telling everyone what to do? Ah. The one with all those magics that she was giving away for free? It made sense. In a strange, and horrible way.
Tiera tilted her head and then sighed, smiling.
"I was kidding about the whore house. That job isn't a punishment, it's a privilege. One none of you have earned yet. All work here is. You have to struggle for the right to work. For now... you have to kneel outside the jail and ask passersby if they'll take pity on you and give you something to do. You may have no other recreation during the day. At night you must sleep in the jail. There is no guard, but I recommend you do not leave without a job at the time. When you can impress a person with your work ethic enough that they'll keep you in steady work, of at least four days per week for six months, then you may leave. No one will watch you, or enslave you. You either rebuild your honor, or you do not. Honor and hard work are the only coin here, so I suggest you swallow your anger, and beg most humbly for the privilege." She waved at the correct building. "Go now. You have failed, but that doesn't have to last forever. I look forward to meeting you as real people. Soon."
Smythe and Karen did not look pleased at all.
The man even glared at her.
"Is that wise, Tiera? They could simply run off."
Sheri giggled and touched his arm, a bit flirtatiously. "Really William? To where? If they do manage to leave, the best they can hope for is a trip back to Earth. Where they'll be in more trouble than they are here. Even then, to do that, they'll have to wait and impress someone with how hard they can work, to be worth their travel back, won't they? They aren't criminals, not really. Not the violent kind at least. Just in disgrace. Letting them have a way out is a kindness, isn't it? Luckily there's a lot of work to be done around here. If they were smart they'd read the names on these empty shops, and start figuring out how to put them together. They'd still need someone to take them on, but an enticing idea might just work, if they ask enough people." She pitched her voice so that everyone around them could hear, and then, without waiting, they walked away.
After all, Sheri wasn't just cute, she was right. They might turn to crime, but gett
ing free food and goods wasn't a problem there, as she kept thinking. That left only assault, and it was pretty clear that none of those people had a shield on at all. If they lost air pressure, those people were going to die.
Tossing her head a tiny bit, her short hair not moving at all, she glanced back at them quickly. They were all on their knees, and the one man that stopped to listen to them, Tiera realized, was her father. Farlo wasn't far behind either, but both shook their heads and walked away. No one wanted to work with lazy people after all.
When they got to the far end of the main hall, which was very nicely sized, being about fifty feet in diameter, though still a bit dark, Karen laughed.
"And here I was going to just kill them all. We went and suggested, diplomatically mind, with Sir Smythe doing all the talking so my anger wouldn't be an issue, that they might wish to help with the work, and that we could provide help finding things to do. These seven didn't get the idea in time. That's a different thought though, telling them to beg to work. Earn their honor. It won't work for most crime, but you did put in a jail. No jailor though?"
Tiera shrugged.
"We don't have a guard, or really have need of one yet. We should get those people shields though. If something happens, I don't want dead bodies around. Some healing too. We don't need to be the bullies here. Not more than we have to be for people to learn." She realized that might be insulting, about three seconds after she stopped speaking, but Smythe just made a face.
Then he waved at them, seven amulets in his hand.
"I can take these back to them I suppose..." He turned to, but Tenet was walking along, looking like he had a purpose.
When he saw her he stopped.
"We need people to help with the making of Lake Two Bends. Tess and I named it. It's huge, and we borrowed a food magic thing to make water, but we need people to help with it." He looked right at her, which normally she would have taken as him insisting she do it. Which made some sense. It was really important after all, and he knew her, so why not? They had to have enough water for bathing and cleanliness or things would go wrong, fast.
