by P. S. Power
“No. I was in a combat rage. I tried to warn him away. I mean really tried. Even to the point of telling Queen Tiera what was about to happen. She informed the man that me killing him in a rage like that would be legal. He didn’t believe it, and instead of leaving me alone, he kept pushing at me, and claiming that I was tricking Tor and the others. Lying to them. I walked away, in a full combat rage, barely able to make myself do it, and then… Really, I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t take it any longer. I started for him, attacking. Holding his shield off. Tim Baker tried to fly away with him, but… The new weapons I showed you? With his shield off, which was needed to fly with the man, I was able to destroy his head. There was no hope of healing him. He was… I don’t know. A quarter mile away by that point? It was murder though, not part of the war. It was shameful.”
The man just sat there, looking at him blankly for a long time. At first Dareg thought it was borrowed shame, or pity, but after a bit he worked out the real reason. The man simply didn’t want to trigger another bout of his rage.
So he went on, sighing, and finally sinking down into one of the hard wood chairs in front of the desk. It matched the thing in color. Really, the whole room was very brown, with only a few accents of color at all. Those were books, in the main, their dyed green, black and red leather seeming cheery, compared to the rest of the place.
“Normally it isn’t like that for me. I… I should have controlled myself better. Run, or just simply let Tim carry the man away. It was… I don’t know that I could have not done it, at that moment. Does that make any sense? It was like, just for about twenty seconds, I truly wasn’t me. As if I were back inside my head. Just watching as I killed that man. The others… I mean, I’ve killed before, and I feel bad about it, but… Not like that. If a man jumps you at dinner and starts to kill you and those around you, that’s not the same as someone just being a bit annoying. There’s no excuse for it.”
Instead of the scolding he expected, the man simply nodded at him.
“You should make plans, as to what to do, in case that begins to happen in the future. The rage is one of the hardest things to deal with, given my career here. You can’t blame a person for doing what they had no Earthly way to control, but without effort, that kind of thing can become habit. It is, I fear, always easier to let go and harm, than to fight to master yourself, and maintain in the face of attack or character assassination. It must be done, however. If we don’t at least try, then the world becomes far worse than it needs to be. Perhaps you should arrange some things before you go into a closed ship with people that might wish to take you to task for that previous action?”
Sighing, he nodded and stood up.
“I’ll go and do that now. Well, I’ll actually go and take a transport pod to the space training base, if Alice wants to try it out. Then I’ll do that? Unless she has suggestions for me.” It might not hurt to ask, he decided. She was a rough person in some ways, and didn’t have a lot of time for play or banter, or so it seemed, but the woman had survived as long or longer than anyone on the planet. Thousands of years, if he’d been told correctly.
She might have learned a trick or two in that time. Then again, she might not care enough about him, or anything, to want to be bothered with his petty little issues. So far she’d run a bit hot and cold as far as he was concerned. Not mean at any point, or at least no more so than she seemed with anyone else. Just… Odd. Like she knew he was there, and even thought he was fine enough, but the interest was the kind of thing that he would have expected from a horse owner. Like her main goal was to get him to behave and do what she wanted, maximizing his value to her.
Still, a lot of people were like that, though it was hidden behind pretty words and smiles. She even managed the last part well enough, most days. Pasting a pleasant expression on her face. It never felt real, or so seldom that it seemed like she could hardly be bothered with anything much at all. Even when he arranged good things for her, she just seemed to be mildly amused at best.
A little absently he bowed and said goodbye to Count Lairdgren, who did entreat him to stay in touch, often. It was interesting, but not really needed, Dare had to figure. After all, this man, while kind enough seeming, didn’t have any reason to be interested in him in particular. It was nice that he wasn’t incensed over the fact that spying was out as an option, but without that kind of thing, he doubted that he was going to be of much use to the fellow. Well, unless he wanted magical items, but if the man was worked up or even overjoyed about that part of things, it didn’t show. He’d seemed impressed, and pleased to have things for his people and students, of course.
He’d even seemed happy to see Samantha and Eva there. Some kind of payment would be needed for them, but it shouldn’t be that hard to arrange. Tor would, most likely, be willing to provide coin for it, at need. Though his initial plan, of just making some for it, would also work, he bet. Doing too much of that would eventually harm the economies of different places, but sneaking a little bit of gold in for things now and then wouldn’t make a dent at all. It only became a hardship for anyone if he got greedy. The truth was, he didn’t need much for himself anymore, so greed was kind of wasted time now.
Which was, he reflected as he left to fly toward the space training base, waving to his girls and Avril as he took off, but not stopping to speak or anything. Mainly because he was nearly certain that his new friend was going to invite him to do things, like have a meal. It would be rude to say no, but it was so hard being around people all the time now. A big part of him longed for a real conversation that took place in real time, for instance. Then, Timon had warned him that it would be hard to live the way he’d been doing at the very start. In a way he was the test model for things, to show that it would work and not instantly drive a body insane.
While it was true he felt a bit lonely at times, even with others in the room with him, it wasn’t enough for him to give up on the powers he’d been given. He could, at any time, naturally. It would just leave both himself, and the whole of reality open to losing to the enemy, that much more. So he flew, and it seemed to take a long time to get to the port, five or six miles away.
The training center, he allowed. It wasn’t one of the places that he had under his control, in particular. Nor should he. Dareg landed well away from the place, even though no craft shot off into space, or landed in the center of the walled compound. It had seven large buildings inside, and a river, the small kind that floated, on the outer wall. It was orange with a green stripe now. That probably meant that someone really good with magic had been around in the last month. It had been pattern differently the last time he’d seen it, and while he thought he could make the field do what it was, Dare wasn’t certain that most could.
Especially since the green part was actually a delicate and complicated moving pattern that repeated, when he got closer to it. It shifted slowly, but the lines and circles that made it up were fascinating to look at. Most people would have had trouble doing that part. More to the point, most wouldn’t have bothered trying it.
Before going inside, he tapped his chest, to turn his disguise amulet on. It turned him from his normal, fairly attractive self, into a slightly large nosed, big eared, asymmetrical man. Not ugly really, but he doubted that the women at the base would instantly flirt with him, looking that way. The last time he’d been there they had, which was nice in a way, but also a different kind of hardship.
Then, since it might not be a thing that the strange Ancient would want, Dareg made a point of contacting her. Standing right outside the gate of her training center. After a few taps, just putting her name in, spelling it out using the letters on the pad, the golden colored woman on the other side picked up.
For once she smiled at him, and it seemed to be happy. The real kind, instead of the strained thing she normally used with him.
“Dare? Good! I was just about to get with you. In a day or two. I’m in on this Jupiter mission, ya? You forgot to invite me,
but I figured you were just going to try and use it as a way to get me into bed. Men do that.”
He nodded.
“You’re in on all the space things, unless told otherwise. You run Space Fleet, so that just seems right. As for the getting you into bed part… Well, you don’t really seem interested, so I’ve given up on that bit. Let me know if you change your mind? You know to get to Mars for all of that? The mission portion of things? We’re leaving from there.”
She nodded, and then looked a bit troubled. It didn’t set on her face for a long time, and when she spoke, her left hand waved expressively.
“How do I get there? Book passage from Harmony? They have a ship going to the new port for that? Or do I need to get the daily trip set up going for there, too? It was in the initial plans, but I don’t know how the facilities there are set up.”
It seemed a bit out of the loop to him, but it also made sense. He’d set up a new transportation system, but so far almost no one had used it, so word of it existing might not have spread to her yet.
“You can use the transport pods for that. They’re basically like Jump ships, that can go directly from one specific place to another. We still need to use ships to go to new places, and probably for large shipments. The things aren’t big, to make it harder to use them for large scale attacks. I was just calling to ask if you wanted one set up at your training base? All the ports have them, too.” He could have gone on explaining but the woman closed her eyes and looked away, then shook her head, smiling.
“Which of them came up with that? I knew it was coming, but… This will change everything. You know that, don’t you? We’re going to have to force a one government system, or else people will end up destroying each other. Well… It was always coming.”
Dareg didn’t really see that one in particular, but she was old, and had wisdom that he might miss.
“I made them. I could take them down, or keep them only for a few, if you think it’s needed? I’ve just been setting them out and letting anyone use them, myself. There are a few secret systems. For spies and all that? Patricia Baker has one for that. I think that’s her plan. Queen Tiera has one for her friends. You should get in on that, regardless.” She was an ancient after all.
The woman snorted at him, and then shrugged.
“Eh… Who knows what will be best. Just know this, Dareg Canton… One rule can work, but if it becomes despotic, I expect you to clean up the mess. Personally. Do you understand? Also, don’t take over, if you can help it. Put a puppet in place instead, and pull the strings in secret. Do you have anyone in mind for that?”
He didn’t, and shook his head, slowly, instead of suggesting anything that way.
“So, I’ll get you a transport pod here. Do you want some for your ships? That way you can move people and supplies between them, or even to a planet. I could make up one just for that if you want? That way no one else will be on that system and you won’t accidently have tourists on your deep space missions.” Smiling he screwed his mouth up a bit, his face feeling stiff on the outside, thanks to his disguise. “Unless you want them? I know that sounds fascinating to me. I bet others would love to go to far off new places as well.”
“Do that? Both the base there and one for each of my ships. Something in orange, if it’s an option? That’s the best color.”
“It will be after the Jupiter mission. I won’t have time during, I don’t think. So, can you be in place tomorrow? Mars. There’s only the one city. Come in at the inn and you can get a room. I don’t want to make everyone wait too long, but we have nobles and Austran’s coming, so who knows how long it will take to get everyone on board?”
“No doubt. I’ll do that. Don’t leave without me.” Then, without even a blink, the screen in his hand went dark.
He tucked the device away and looked around, then walked to the front gate of the center, which wasn’t closed off, just being a space in the wall. There were two guards, both in black clothing. Uniforms that were made of magic, which was very clear to him at the moment. They didn’t have Adversary implants, and weren’t distorting time at all, so he nodded at them, hoping that it wasn’t going to end up getting him into trouble, being that casual about things.
“Hello. I’m here to set up the new transport system? Alice Orange wants one. I think the plan is for her to come here to use it in the next day.” He glanced at the man on the right, who looked familiar, being the man that had helped him before.
He had a lot of stripes on his sleeve, meaning he was important, and nodded when Dare tapped his disguise off.
“Sorry. I was just talking to her. Alice? Anyway, this will let you have instant access to any of the pods in the new public system. Like a jump ship, but place to place for people?”
The man looked baffled, like it just didn’t make sense, but bowed a bit.
“I think we have room in here, if it isn’t too large? By the other new device? The A.I. Provision Unit?” He waved for Dareg to come in, the small woman on the other side going a bit wide eyed, as if that was unexpected.
The older fellow winked at her.
“Hold the position here, Carley. I’ll just be inside the wall to the right here. Within shouting distance. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to call out. Not that it will. Not this time of night. That we have one person through right now is huge really.” He glanced at Dareg and explain, his wrinkled face happy seeming. “I’m on my cross training for guard duty today. I have to stand it once a month, when I’m on a training rotation. The Revered One, Orange, runs a very tight ship that way. Everyone stands to every duty, eventually. That way those in leadership positions know the hardships and limitations of each job in Fleet. Anyway, this is Carley’s first watch on the front gate. I should probably hurry. This way?”
The new provision unit was a familiar blue box, which got him to walk over almost instantly.
“Dareg! I was just whining at Taman about how I never get to see you anymore. She didn’t seem pleased to be bothered about that.” The girl that showed up on the screen was lively and as lovely as always.
“I missed you too, Tam-Unit! I think we can sell Taman on getting one of you for the port on Mars? It isn’t really needed, except for my own peace of mind. I mean, you’re my best friend, so it makes sense to me.”
“See, that’s what I was telling her, earlier. She did say that she had something in mind, but wouldn’t explain more than that. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a secret or if she just doesn’t take me seriously enough. What do you think?”
Dareg didn’t know either, but was happy to see his friend, if nothing else.
“Well, for the time being I brought you something. A Transport Pod. That way I can just come and see you every day. You know about that, since you’re also located next to the one at the Capital port, right? Which means I didn’t have a good excuse not to visit. Hmm.” It occurred to him, not for the first time in his life that he wasn’t a very good friend all the time.
Then, really, he only had the one.
Everyone else was different than that to him. Family, or someone that he was supposed to be helping, or working with. Even more were just people that helped him.
In all the worlds, only Tam-Unit was just his… Pal.
On the screen, her tunic top in all black, the very pretty image nodded.
“Yes. Now that you mention it, you could do a bit better that way. I mean, it’s been a while since we just talked like this. Whole weeks.”
Dareg didn’t bother looking at the older Space Fleet man, just stepping a bit away, and setting the red box up. It was a lot taller than Tam-Unit, and bigger around, but it wasn’t huge or anything. The man nodded at it, and then seemed to wait.
“Come on. I’ll show you how to use it. It isn’t hard. Tap the star there?”
They went to Mars, then Harmony, and Austra, since that was where the man was from. There he managed to say hello to Tam-Unit again, feeling warm inside at the attention, then got the Captai
n back to his gate.
“There. Now, I need to make some plans and get with my betrothed.”
The other man nodded.
“Which is my excuse to get back to my job? This is fascinating, by the way. The world is changing so quickly now. I used to be the Captain of a ship that floated on water, now I not only go into space, but to different planets, faster than I can even believe. What comes next?”
Dareg didn’t know exactly, but wrinkled his nose a bit.
“Probably time travel. Unless that’s one of the forbidden things. I need to look into that. It sounds like the kind of thing that people shouldn’t really mess with. Especially given the current war. The Adversaries?”
The man looked at him, a question on his face, as if the words didn’t make sense.
“Sorry? Is that the new people coming in? I monitored the new High Leader being voted in on Mars… That doesn’t sound like a war is needed however…”
Dareg smiled and shook his head then.
“Totally different things. Hess and his people are good. Different, but kind. To everyone. If you see one of them, do what you can to help them. Even if they look a bit scary.”
The man smiled and shook his head, but then agreed.
“Right! I have to imagine that I’m not high on the list to meet people like that. Still, I was just on Mars, and the population can’t be that large there yet, so maybe on my next liberty day, I’ll go and poke around? Be nosey and annoying? Maybe see if this High Leader is available for a meal?” He was kidding, but his words weren’t wrong.
“Good idea. After the Jupiter mission. Unless you’re going on that? If you want in, get with Alice Orange and suggest it? Claim that it would be a good training exercise? Something like that?”
The man laughed a bit, but didn’t say he would, or wouldn’t be trying anything like that. Then he moved over, patted Tam-Unit a few times on the side, and spoke gently to her.
“I’ll see you soon? I promise I won’t let things go so long next time.”
