by P. S. Power
A lot of people would have fought the men. Havar would have, and probably won easily. But if it came to that, being beaten and raped, over and over, how many would have kept fighting, knowing it was hopeless and that they couldn't win? Knowing that doing so just meant more pain for themselves, and wouldn't help anyone?
Except, when the guards used him, that was one less person that could use Trice that day, wasn't it? She hadn't even thought about that before, but she was willing to bet that Gerent had.
She teared up a tiny bit, but didn't hide it.
"Yeah. Well, if the Ancients, our people, fail, if that trick doesn't work, then I'm going to make sure they don't win." She kept saying that, but she was still nearly certain that no one got what she really meant. If it came to it, she was going to kill everyone left. All of them. Not that she wouldn't try to get people, the real ones, off the planet first.
"I see. Do you want me to go along?"
That surprised her, but she had just pointed out that her kind and gentle father had once been a professional killer, hadn't she?
"No... I'm really hoping that it will just be a trip to pick some people up. Gerent and Collette Coltress. Tim and Tor." If that happened at all.
Her father looked away.
"Timon, can he do that? Can he remove that Cordes? I love my boys, but I wouldn't have one throw their life away only to lose two. I know that sounds hard..."
It did. It was. Her father was also making a lot of sense, wasn't he? She took his left hand, on the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Honestly? I don't think he can. I've done enough building now to know what it is he has to be trying. He'll have to go in and somehow take out, or bind, billions of individual connections in Tor's brain, without doing too many of the wrong ones. This isn't like making those healing amulets or that anti-larval dust that Tor did either, or Tim's shields. That... That was one thing, that needed a lot of copies. This will take guidance for each thing set. Even if he can make groups of things happen all at once, it will take tens of thousands..." Her hands worked in the air, trying to show how it would all work, but she knew it didn't make a lot of sense. "Even if Tor helps, it..."
"Ah." He looked grim and a bit hard for a second. "In that case, make sure that those evil Ancients don't win. That Cordes... He needs to die."
For a second she thought he meant all of the Cordes mentalities, which was a good point, but then she understood. He was saying that, if Cordes took Tor over, she'd have to kill him.
As if she wouldn't? That had been her plan all along.
"I'll see to that, if we have to. Now, tell me about the fascinating world of waste management? Ali had an idea for it..."
They spoke for a long time, eating occasionally, and then both got up to go and work for the day. Her hauling sand and dust to turn into water, and him seeing about getting Farlo and the others to make waste into dust, or sand, since it really did make sense to do it that way. Douglas was nothing if not adaptable.
The work wasn't hard really, since they used magic for it all, but it still took time to get done, they just did more of it. There was, after two days of constant work, by three teams, a nice little puddle of water at the bottom of "Lake Two Bends" that didn't seem all that impressive at all. Not until you realized that it was about ten feet deep and larger than the whole of that village on Earth it was named for. It was just hard to tell, since it was so far down still. Several hundred feet from where they were working.
Tiera didn't see her normal people at all for a few days, working her shifts with different people each time. A few of them were those disgraced people, including one of the women from the first day, who was working hard the whole time and proving out, as far as Tiera was concerned. She'd even managed to get a clothing amulet somehow. It was one that felt like Sam Builder. The woman who was tall and if a bit plain looking, managed to smile on occasion and pretend not to be feeling bitter all the time. She didn't say much, though on the last day Tiera was planning to be there, she gave the lady a speaking device.
It took coordination to get her to turn the thing on, but Tiera pantomimed enough that she understood the idea, eventually.
Looking down at her, she smiled, as her case of Moon dirt was siphoned quickly into the machine that turned it into water by Sara Debri.
"What's your name?" She spoke softly, not trying to seem menacing or anything. She wasn't a bully after all. Not really.
"Nikka Pommes." It had a simple sound to it, but that was probably fake, she realized. Not that it wasn't her name, but it probably wasn't the full thing. No title had been given, for instance, and Nikka was likely a partial name. That didn't really matter here though, did it?
"How would you like to take over for me on this shift? I'm going to be gone for a while, so that will mean steady work. You'll need to find someone to take your place, but it will be a real job, not day to day labor." She wondered what the woman would do, really, since her coming back each day counted toward her six months and everything. This would just make it more certain.
More real.
"Sure. I can do that."
Sara looked at them, and stopped making water for some reason. "I'll be gone too. You'll need two people to keep this going. Can you work two machines at once like I've been doing? It isn't that hard, but takes more attention than it seems like." Moving out of the way, she got the woman set up, and looked at Tiera. Meaningfully.
Then she looked around, probably out of habit.
"I'm going with you." Holding up her right hand she looked half ready to slap Tiera down, if she said no. Then she went on, fiercely. "I can go to Earth."
That... was a nearly brilliant point. While it was a bit much for her to go just to spy on Tiera, or even report, if she wasn't just doing it from there each day. Having a person with them that could go to the surface, even if she needed her own ship, that would be a great idea.
Still, it felt off. Horribly so. Reaching out Tiera cheated and read her field, making her own mind go smoothly blank to do it. The woman was horribly worried about Tor. Surprisingly so. It was almost painful to touch, she loved him so much. It wasn't a new thing either. Not at all. They were lovers, and she was his girlfriend, but...
This was like what she'd felt for Regina. That was why it hurt to look at. For her at least. It was fresh and intense. Raw and dangerous too. This wasn't a girl that would kill for her love. This was a woman, that would kill them all. For him. If it would save his life.
Taking a deep breath, Tiera nodded, not saying anything at first. When she did speak, it was practical.
"Nikka has this part, take her case and keep the line running." Then, for the rest of the day, they did exactly that.
She didn't really sleep a lot that night. It wasn't so much nerves as it was... No, she decided, smiling a tiny bit. Nerves it was. No one came to find her, but they didn't know, did they? She went outside, her shield wrapped around her like an invisible blanket of comfort, and set up her first ship. She held her breath for luck, flicked the amulet and stood there for three seconds, with nothing at all happening. Then she noticed the clear bubble in front of her. Just hanging there, gracefully. Reaching out, her shield ran into it, so with a thought she made it the same color as everything around her, because the shape reminded her of her new world.
That didn't last long, since she changed the shape, making it vast, and long, with slightly rounded edges. The front, where the bridge would be and the controls, was large and had clear windows all around, so they could see out. She made the thing look silver, thinking of Timon. Then she added a very faint purple line for Tor, and above that, a soft sky blue one, that could be barely seen in the light on the Moon. It blended with the silver and was more of a tint than anything else.
That was for Regina. It had been her favorite color.
Then she had to run to her things, and get a Maker, which was still a stupid name, and borrow an earth moving device. She filled the craft with air, but it would only have to be
done once. Then it would keep it clean, as long as they didn't let it all out. If that happened, they'd need to make more. It would mean taking some rock with them, she decided, loading that on directly, working for hours, even if they'd never need that much.
The ship was about ten times bigger than the palace they were staying in, and it could get larger still, if they needed it to. It had five kinds of weapons systems, a much better waste management plan, as long as you had the devices she did, and would warm and cool itself on command. You could set that too, so things would tend to stay in balance. She'd even built it on stone. Plain glassy disks of lunar Focus Stone. It took hours to get the interior all set up, and the only big difference between what she put together and an Earth Space Fleet ship was that there was hardly any orange at all.
She loved her Aunt Orange, but it was oppressive, the way she did things. This ship had a lot of color, and it was tastefully enough done. True, others might have done a better job of it, but it looked nice enough that she didn't feel a subtle urge to scrape her eyes from her skull, or anything like that.
Then she made a special tank on the bottom of the ship, a full layer deep, filled with nothing but water. Or, really, she filled it about a quarter full and made the ship move down a bit so it wouldn't slosh around. There were only five of them going after all. She was starting to get it all ready for a deep space voyage or something, which wasn't the plan at all.
Just to be safe, she did a few orbits and then landed back where she started, more or less. That meant there was a bit of time for a late breakfast, before collecting everyone up for the trip. She didn't know how big of a fight they'd have, getting out, since her mother didn't know yet, but it was actually ridiculously easy, that way.
Everyone was waiting for her at the table already. The only problem there was that Karina was there too, along with Terry, and even more cutely, Taman. All of them were already packed too. It was also heartbreaking, since she couldn't let any of them go. Karina had to live, in case her brother didn't. That was just so plain that she didn't even mention it at all. The red-haired girl was dressed in military black and everything, instead of the brown that the rest were in.
"I have a right." She said it forcefully, but Tiera just looked at her, and then spoke to Terry.
It was five kinds of rude, ignoring a Princess like that, but they weren't in Noram, were they?
"I want you three to get with Guide. I have some ships. They're special, so go slowly with them, since you... Well, just be careful. You can't follow us this time. If we don't come back, you'll need to be ready to fight, whatever comes."
She ran down the specifications, which got Kolb to smile a bit and shake his head.
"Well, so much for not militarizing space then. Can you three handle this? It isn't a game. Tiera is charging you with protecting the colony, and if we lose, that won't be easy to do."
Karina crossed her arms and pouted a bit, "I won't be bought off with little ships, not even a fleet of them."
It was her brother that spoke then, sounding old suddenly. Dry and practical. Also like he wasn't going to argue with her.
"Kari, you're staying here. You know why that has to be. Right now you're the only one in the family that's safe. By all rights I shouldn't be going, but..." Looking at the kids he didn't explain.
Taman changed the topic.
"When will you be back? Can I go on the next trip?"
Wisely, she didn't ask Tiera, but the Prince, who used the distraction like a pro. Which he was, so that made sense, didn't it?
He regarded Taman as if she were a young Princess herself, and gave a seated half bow.
"We can't know exactly, but my best guess would be a month or two. We can contact you, but for right now, we need to be very careful about what we say that way. It's why most here haven't been contacting home each day. If something starts to go too wrong, I'll make an effort to get in touch with Karina, or you, so that you can put a fleet up to protect this place." There was a serious tone to it, as if she, her tiny six year old self, might just be the one he actually connected with for that.
"Oh. Be careful. Come on Terry, Karina... We need to let them leave now." There was a bit too much care done in it, and the others seemed to think it was a trick. Taman's team, that was. The Princess and her brother.
The people going with her all acted like it was perfectly normal.
Except Kolb.
"We need to move fast and watch for stowaways. I suggest we go now, before they get a chance to make a good plan. Do you all have what you need?"
Tiera thought, and nearly winced, because without Regina, she really didn't.
Still, it was time to go.
"Once we get out off the air lock, follow me at half speed, the ship isn't far."
Then, without telling anyone else what was happening, they went.
Chapter twelve
No one had even bothered to get a room yet, though they had hundreds of them. They all just followed along with her, as she went to the bridge, running a bit, so that all the kids and princesses wouldn't have too easy a time following them. Then, as Ali and Trice both took seats along side of her, making them all seem important, she used the hand control to move straight upward. Quickly.
After a minute, Kolb, who had been looking around the vastly oversized room with windows all around, except at their backs, since there was ship there, obviously, spoke, a bit bemused.
"How long will it take us to get there?" He smiled, but only in that slightly sinister fashion he had when he figured someone was going to get a beating.
She didn't know, but looked at the Earth, which was low on the far horizon, the way they were pointed. Then, her hand touching the light pink sigil on her armrest, which was under the floating hand control, she focused, and the Earth was suddenly closer, if a bit lower. She re-aimed almost instantly, tilting the ship, and did it again, twice.
"We're home." Her voice was a bit sing song on the words, but Kolb just took a deep breath, and hardly seemed surprised, or pleased, at all.
"So we are. We should get into orbit. You can do that?"
"I have before, so let's see? We should call Alice, so that we don't freak her people out, thinking the aliens have come."
Ali clapped a bit, like a child, but a happy one, and Alphonse, pulled his new communications device, then set up the line for them and hit the sigil. Like usual, it didn't take long for it to pick up.
"Fleet Admiral Orange. Go."
"This is Alphonse Cordes, I was just checking in to make certain you know that we're visiting?"
"Oh? From the Moon? That's a bit of a trip. Are your arms tired?" There was a hint of tired playfulness to the words, but not outright doubt.
The Prince gave the device in his hands a skeptical look, like Alice Orange just might be drunk. Trice waved her hand at him, demanding the device, which he gave over easily enough.
"Orange? This is Trice Baker. We're really here. Tiera made some ships. They're a bit faster than the old kind, I think."
That got Kolb to walk up to the dark and curly haired girl and lean over her shoulder, as if they were old friends.
"Alice, it's a jump ship. We just traveled a lunar distance in... Call it two minutes? That was mainly due to the corrections needed, I think. Is that right, Tiera?"
"Yes. I'll have us in a stable orbit in.... about now." Then she took her hands from the controls and stood up, stretching. Everyone stared at her as if she were insane, except Kolb, who simply looked at the Earth below them for a bit. "There we go. You should come and visit. I think this thing even has an auto-pilot..."
They had work to do, but were early by several days. It would give her a little chance to show off after all. Orange would appreciate her work, even if no one else ever thought it was special. Though the others seemed pretty impressed, she realized. Ali was smirking at her, and shaking her head, as if she hadn't realized Tiera could do that kind of thing. Or maybe she thought she could have done it too and was just
sad that someone else had beaten her to it? It was possible after all, since she was a builder too, and not exactly bad at it.
Trice was giving her a wicked look that spoke of something harsh, but tinged with sadness, and the Prince... Simply called the Palace. Or more particularly, his little sister Varley.
"Veronica Cordes here." She sounded normal, as far as Tiera could tell. Not harried or panicked, which was a good sign. Hopefully.
"Hey sis. We got in a few days early, and Tiera wanted to see if you'd like to go shopping with her and the girls? Those being Ali and Trice? I know that Patricia has been talking about nothing but seeing her little friend Alison. If you ask me, someone has caught the motherhood fever."
From her seat, Trice giggled. It sounded forced and fake, but she did it at the right time, which had to be better than waiting too long.
"Well, I do like them better when I can give them back at the end of the day, but I would love to visit with her. Is she walking yet?"
"She is! The other day she even said her first word. It was 'meh'. At least Raul is counting it, since she was turning down her strained peas at the time. She's been walking for several months already. Two, now, I think."
Tiera counted on her fingers and realized that couldn't be true. The girl was more advanced than that, almost certainly, and over a year old. So this was some kind of code? She didn't get the meaning if so, but without the right key, she wouldn't. That was the point, after all.
Alphonse seemed to get it though.
"Oh? Excellent. You should teach her my name, since I'm planning to be her favorite uncle. That will be hard, with the other ones being space pilots and military fliers, but I'm committed to trying. Hey, I know, why don't we stop by and show you Tiera's new craft? It's not too bad, for a first effort. She's acting all proud and gloating however, since the ceilings aren't too short. Not even two feet over head. We could meet you at Timon's house? Or really, next to it? This thing is a bit of a beast, size wise. On the North?"
