by P. S. Power
The move got Hess to watch them, his mouth hanging open, as if the scene was funny. After a bit the other being let him go, and turned, not walking away first.
Something was said, as the ship moved into orbit. Neesa turned then, and nodded, looking over at Dareg. Her mouth was partly open as well. A grin, basically.
“My father, Tom, asked me to make sure you understood that he’s caught you. You’re his prisoner now.” Thinking about it, Dareg had to agree. He hadn’t been thinking that way, but the being had really done that.
“I understand. Though I’ll probably have to turn myself in to the Forten, for breaking their laws. After we work out how to stop this threat. But past that, and the decades of punishment for what I did, I’m totally captured.”
Hess spoke then, and it was either a rebuke or a mention of what he’d just said. Regardless the others all went silent, as Neesa went into a world ship, and then landed, standing as soon as she did.
“Mother will set the air lock up for them, against the far wall. There.” The thing had about fifty of the things, though the girl had pointed to the closest one of them. “We should go. Planet ship seven has a large Forten community and they might feel bound by their laws to attempt to detain you. If we load up the other ship and leave from here, it will be safe enough. We’ve not informed them of your being here, so they won’t know to make an attempt.”
It really was safe, and though it took a while to get to the other ship and out of the thing they were on Earth by eight-thirty, which meant that Dareg was able to load up a second floating box with the gear he’d set up for Alice, and a third with the things for everyone else. Then pass the lights, and some of the new armor, over to Hess and Nessa.
“Don’t use that yet, however. I’ll go over it when we have Alice with us.”
It could have been annoying, trying to get everyone around the city, but the Orange Ancient, living in space like she did all the time, landed there first, being that it was the space port. They were so close to getting there at the same time that when she walked up, he just turned and handed her the amulet to control the case her present was coming in.
“Alice Orange, these noble beings are Hess and Nessa. Ysidril, which means totally non-violent. Alice is kind of violent, however.”
Blinking, he realized that he’d had his disguise on the whole time. Worse, or better, no one had noticed it at all. Then, while both Neesa and Hess were incredibly smart, Hess had already let him know that it was sometimes hard for him to tell different human’s apart. Even when they were his friends. Still, he looked different enough that it should be possible for someone to have realized that he might be a different person.
Not that he was. Dare shook his head a little, but made himself smile.
Alice waved, instead of bowing, getting the same thing back from the others.
“Hello. Are we flying over? Or eating someplace else?” She glanced at Dareg, as if that might have been the plan, not worried by the inclusion of actual aliens at all. Not excited either. Just accepting of the idea.
“I was thinking we could use the low flying option on our shields? That way no one will try to hit us with any missiles or anything.”
That meant showing Hess and Neesa how to use that part of their shields, which they hadn’t ever been made aware of. How to fly, either, though neither of them seemed thrilled with the idea of doing that without a nice safe ship around them. Moving four inches up in the air and then at about eighty-mile-per-hour was popular with them however. The floating cases managed to keep up pretty well too, which was nice to know. They were ones that he’d made and while copies, they’d been done from memory, which meant they might be a little bit off, compared to the original version.
They were a little rough around the edges, he knew. Taking ramps didn’t work that well for them, for some reason, for instance. They could do it, but you had to kind of hold the amulets up in the air for it to work. It could have been embarrassing, but dealing with that kind of thing wasn’t worth the effort in the moment. The trip around the city was quick enough, and peaceful. No one tried to stop them, and it was dark enough that it was probably hard to track them, even with the purple lights that were placed on the city wall. It was enough for him to see by and the others didn’t complain in the slightest, even moving fairly quickly.
Then, when the palace came into view, Hess finally spoke.
“This is a most… Grand dwelling. I have seen yours, at the port, Dareg. This seems a bit less efficient than that.” The being didn’t seem to be judging as much as simply stating a simple fact.
The place was huge, well-lit and looked like a royal wedding cake. The whole thing seemed to scream about the mountain of coin that it cost and looked over everything around it, causing lights to glint off the water behind it. The river was flat and black that evening, vanishing as they got closer to the place.
Dareg just nodded.
“Yeah. It’s pretty nice.” It was, though he had a strange feeling that Hess wasn’t really thinking that, as much as wondering how many people would be inside.
After the door was opened for them by a small, rather common looking female servant, they had to make the door much larger, to let the cases inside with them. Those were left by the front door, since even Alice doubted anyone would try to steal them. Possibly out of them, but doing that might not go over that well, so even that probably wouldn’t happen.
When Dareg turned around, he saw Collette standing behind them, about fifty feet away. She looked nice, and was dressed for a rather fine meal. The kind that, no doubt, he needed to be ready for himself. She was in a very fine light blue and white gown, for instance. The kind that she might have worn to the King’s palace for a meal. It was a bit advanced for what he had in mind.
Not that the brown student tunic and trousers that he still had on were going to fit well. Alice was in a Space Fleet uniform, which was like the ones they normally wore at the port. Their standard ones, in all black, with different colored stripes at the cuffs. The more of them, and the more orange they were, the higher up in the ranks a person was. She had six of them, and they were all a nice pumpkin.
Thinking, and not bothering to close his eyes, he shifted into a decent gray outfit, which had a copper colored piping along the sleeves, but that was all. Collette nodded at him, and smiled when Alice did something similar, ending in a Fleet dress uniform. Hess and Neesa stayed the same, though, for what was the first time for him, Dare realized that they weren’t actually naked. They were just wearing clothing that was very tight fitting and made of scale like material.
That would be fine however, he knew. When he designed the new armor, it had been put together with the idea of going over that in mind, instead of eating it away. It was still pretty, being purple and green, but it meant that Neesa having white on hers, and the others showing slightly different markings had been done for the rest of them. The Machine people and the Forten, at a guess. So that they could be told apart.
Blinking, Dareg focused and made a four-inch copper colored circle appear on his jacket, over his heart. Turning to Hess and Neesa he pointed at it.
“I’ll try to wear this from now on, when you’re going to be around?” They both turned to him, slowly, Hess letting his mouth fall open, a bit.
“Ah! Thank you, friend Dareg. That will help. I strive to learn the faces of those I am around, but it can be troublesome for me.”
Instead of having a problem with the idea, Alice just did the same, with a bright orange triangle. When she tapped it, she spoke calmly, looking at Neesa directly.
“Alice Orange.”
That got a nod from the younger Ysidril and an intimidating smile. For once Dare just explained, since they needed to start getting the word out on that kind of thing. They were friendly beings, if you knew how to read them correctly.
“When they open their mouth like that… It’s kind of like a smile, or maybe laughing. I don’t have all the nuances down.” It looked like t
hey were about to eat your face, which was a problem that some might have, if they didn’t realize just how different the reality of the situation was.
Hess nodded however.
“Ah! This is true. Thank you, Alice Orange.”
Collette didn’t mark herself, but did bow. That got everyone to pay attention to her.
“We’re set up in the main dining room? A few extra people were able to attend, even if it was very short notice. This way?”
Dareg really had to wonder at that. It had been four hours, but a lot of people might have been called in to meet the dignitaries that had come. He, personally, would have dropped a lot of things for a chance to meet Hess and Neesa, after all. Even the Forten leader, Yarl, would have gotten him to come to the meal. That one would have to be handled carefully however, since the man was probably bound by his personal duty to arrest him, if possible.
Instead of the two hundred eager people that might have shown up, there were only about twenty already there. Some of whom were familiar even to the new comers, or could be.
Collette steered them to the table herself, rather than letting one of the footmen do it, or a server, though they had them all over the place in the room. They were easy to see, being dressed all in green. At the head of the table Tor stood up, with Alyssa sitting right next to him. She didn’t rise, but did wave at him, managing to make it rather cute seeming. She was pretty, and Tor looked close to unreal. He really did look a good bit like Dare. Normally at least. Seeing him in disguise got him to bow a bit toward Alice Orange. Then two things happened, without any hesitation at all. The first was that his face grew a bit, and his nose became off centered and his skin a little rough in places. The ears suddenly stuck out as well. He was still himself, but Alice actually smiled at him.
“All right, that’s much better.” She grinned at him, which she hadn’t been doing before in the slightest.
Then a purple cube appeared on his front. It wasn’t large, but it was in three dimensions and seemed to be inside his body. Bowing, he spoke calmly.
“Ambassador Hess, of the Ysidril. We welcome you. Your friend as well.”
Dare nodded, since he knew Neesa, but not everyone there did. Sam should recall the name, but he was further down the table, and didn’t seem inclined to open his mouth at the moment. What did happen was a golden yellow and purple striped flag showing up over his heart. It wasn’t exactly the Noram battle flag, since the gold matched his hair, instead of the royal colors.
So he bowed toward his father, rather formally, and smiled, gesturing with his left hand at Neesa.
“This is Chief Liaison Neesa, of the Ysidril and the three fleets. If you need to contact them about non-political matters, she’s the one to go to. I believe she’s in the handheld system under that name.”
He knew it, and so did Sam Builder, since the Ancient of Noram had been the one to put her in the system.
Both she and Hess bowed, which got Tor to do it back, seeming very pleased. He gestured for them to come forward and sit, which meant they missed the meaning totally, being from a different place as they were. Dareg touched Hess on the arm to get his attention.
“I believe that you and Neesa are needed up there? Next to Count Ward?” The man was in what was probably his house uniform. It was deep brown, and had an off orange trim to it. Suddenly a large blue circle appeared on his front, and even if he didn’t know why he needed to do it, a disguise came into being as well. The look was a bit lighter, and far more normal seeming than his own face. His hair color changed to a nice red color at the same time.
Seeing that, Hess clasped his lower hands and started to nod.
“Yes! Count Ward, so nice to see you again. You will be glad to know that your lessons aided us greatly.”
The man stood then, smiling hugely. It looked a bit goofy, given his size and the huge blue circle on his front. There were four places next to him, though it was clear that Hess and Neesa were supposed to be right next to him.
“Well met, Ambassador. Neesa. Please come sit.” His arms opened like he was planning to give them hugs, and the giant man did slowly reach down and put his hand on Neesa’s back when she got there. That got her to go very still, but she smiled at the same time. It didn’t seem panicked or anything. Just like she was marveling at the fact that the humans weren’t terrified of them.
Dareg nodded to himself over that. It was clear that, while some of the people were a bit uneasy by the new beings from space, no one from Earth had really been frightened to a level that would cause them to be rude or anything. Not yet. Some likely would, eventually. It hadn’t really come up yet however, which he found interesting, now that he considered the concept.
Looking around the table, it was clear that some of the new people were a little bit tense, but no one seemed to be that worried. Even Maria was comfortable enough as she looked on.
“Ambassador.” She murmured the word, and smiled at both of them, being polite like she was, most of the time.
The first problem wasn’t really one. Ysidril had short legs, and the chairs were built for giants, as was the table. In order to sit they’d need to hop up into the chairs, but Earth’s gravity was twice what they were used to on their ships. They were big and looked muscular, but weren’t that strong, over all. Dareg just focused, and caused the chairs to lower, the legs growing shorter. When they were settled in them, their heads barely even with the edge of the table, he did it again, raising them to a more comfortable level.
Looking at him, Tor nodded, ever so slightly.
“Thanks. I should introduce everyone, but that might take a while. You’ve met Prince Alphonse?” He pointed across the table, as Alice was settled next to Dare, at Ali’s left hand. That meant the seating arrangements were a little off, but they weren’t at the palace and had probably decided that leaving the new people comfortable meant more than being totally correct that way did.
Next to the Heir to the throne of Noram, was his wife, Princess Abbey. She was very small, and had deep brown skin, as well as ice blue eyes, and incredible red hair that stood up a few inches, straight into the air. The Prince nodded at them, looked around at the others, and caused three green circles to form on his front.
No one else did that, but it was probably fine. Hess and Neesa didn’t expect the world to code itself for them, but having a half dozen people that they could recognize on sight, for certain, was a good idea.
“Ambassador. Liaison Neesa.”
Tor went on, going down both sides of the table however. King Dorgal and Collette went next, with Count Isle being after that. Then William Smythe, who was the Military Councilor for Noram. Dare tried to focus and remember all the names himself, since it really could be important later. Most of them were too far away for him to have to converse with however, which was a relief.
As it was the small talk was going to be hard enough to manage with Alice, and they actually had some minor things in common. Like both being pilots. Plus, the slow speed of everything was annoying him again. That meant it was time for him to buckle down, and really focus on not letting that happen.
His Uncle Gerent and Aunt Petra were further down the table, which meant that almost half the people there were ones that Hess had met before, he realized. A few were new faces, but it was clear that the guest list hadn’t just been made up of anyone that wanted to come, but rather a chosen few. The design being all about comforting the new people.
It was a nice thing, really.
The food came, if slowly, and was different than what Dareg was used to for formal meals. Instead of a soup course being first, there was salad, with a fine sauce. It was warm, but not hot enough to cook the vegetables. He had a fork, but the Ysidril both had three small sticks each, which they held between their fingers, on their upper left hands, using them to pick up what they wanted with each bite. It was different and a thing that Dare wouldn’t have known to even consider. It made sense that they wouldn’t use forks and spoons however, when he
thought about it.
If the reaction to the strange salad course happened, no one mentioned it in the slightest, merely chatting amiably, between bites.
The second course was made of small slivers of cooked meat, with there being at least three different varieties. There wasn’t a lot of it however, he noted. Almost reluctantly Neesa left half of hers on her plate, glancing down at Dareg.
“I can’t have much. I’ll need to pilot later. That much protein will impair my judgement.”
It was different, but he just nodded. He’d been drinking the wine delivered and so had the Ysidril, using glasses well, even if they had very differently shaped faces. He gestured at the goblet in front of him.
“For us it would be the wine. I can’t get drunk, being different than most, but for other pilots, it would be the same. Good to know. We should keep that in mind for later.” He glanced at Collette, who smiled, and excused herself, moving politely and quietly enough that no one really seemed to notice it happening.
On the next course, Hess was given what Dare was, which seemed to be white fish with a glaze on it. Neesa got a small vegetable pie with a flaky crust. For that she used what seemed to be a slightly rounded paddle held between her thumb and first finger, and two sticks to balance each bite of it.
The rest of the meal went on that way, until the very end, when suddenly as the plates were taken away, the mood in the room shifted. Becoming businesslike.
Tor leaned in, his face pleasant, however.
“Now. Collette was telling me that this was all about planning Dorgal’s birthday party? I know that I can’t wait, myself. The trip to Jupiter is an amazing idea. Tim wanted me to let you know that the ships will be ready soon, Dareg. In about ten days, I think? Nine now, actually. So that’s your part in this. Unless you had something else?” The look was a bit blank, as if Tor was trying to see how his son was actually holding up under all the strain. It was harder than he let on, but doable.
“I need to get with Jan and Marco Sorvee again. I was thinking that we could hire servants from all over? The Forten will want to bring some people in, if they can. I… Can put some coin toward that. Alice, would it be possible to get some volunteers from fleet? I’d love to have them working with the Allies as soon as possible. Oh, also, Dorgal, would it be possible to have some of the others come along? The new people? I’d been planning that, but it isn’t my party.”
