by P. S. Power
Then, without warning, in what was doubtlessly supposed to be a sudden and ruthless attack, the man spun in place, and started into the practice immediately. He was better than Dareg was, but being able to see things coming at him in slow motion meant that he had a lot of time to work things out and get his response right. It was interesting, once he started to try to focus on what he was doing, and not just flail at the man.
After a few volleys they started to strike each other. It hurt a bit, but Dare was actually healing between blows. It was strange, and he held his mind to a single point, but after a while being there felt almost useless. He couldn’t really learn enough working slowly all the time, and that was all that real people could offer him.
Which meant, a time later, one that seemed almost like days to him, Havar moved back, breathing harder than normal, with spots of blood all over him. Dareg had the same, since he wasn’t perfect, but both men had really managed to slip, dodge and block most of what was going on. It wouldn’t have happened if Dare hadn’t managed to keep himself honest as far as speed went, but for the most part he truly had.
“Ah! Good practice. See you here in the morning tomorrow?”
He nodded, slowly, not having anything else to do really. All there was now was preparing for a battle that might, or might not come. A fight which, if he had it right, wasn’t even his really. Oh, he was part of the whole thing, clearly, but so far the real attacks had been focused on others, not him. Tor, mainly.
That part hit him solidly. Even trying to poison Alyssa, or the King might well have been directed at the man. It was clear that he loved them all. They were his people. Not every attack had been about that, perhaps, but thinking back, there were common links that way. The first attack had started before Tor was in the room, so that one didn’t really fit. Unless Kevin Straughan had known that the other man was there for some reason.
Dareg blinked, and forced his mind to go back to the uncomfortable scene, reliving it. Looking over to see that he’d been wrong. Tor had been there from the start.
Then when Will, the second version of Bill the faithless Squire had come, there was no hint of a possible attack at all, until Tor was in sight. Then time started to distort, and the small fellow was preparing to attack.
At the meal with the King, he hadn’t been poisoned, but everyone that had that in their cups was special to the man. Then at Marissa’s. Again, Tor was right there. More clearly the target that time than before. Except that no one had simply thought to sneak up on the man and stab him in the back of the neck or anything.
They were real, and lethal, battles, but Tor, while apparently the center of it all, wasn’t just being removed from the game.
It was a bit galling to realize that, since some part of him had been placing Dareg at the center of it all. Making himself the important piece on the playing field. After all, he’d become a good enough builder already, which showed some skill, or at least promise. Given that it made sense that the Adversaries would go for him as well.
Except of course that it didn’t. They hadn’t gone for Queen Tiera, Taman, or Timon, and they were all as good or better than he was. Taman was noted for being nearly the best. Except that she never said that, as far as he knew. Part of that could just be humility or polite social behavior, naturally.
Blinking rain from his eyes, he nodded, recalling that the large man in front of him had asked a question.
“I’ll be here. We should work out some new training exercises. I’ll get that part? Unless… I mean, that isn’t really my station here, is it?” He didn’t want to overstep the boundary there, since boring practice in slow motion was probably better than no practice at all.
“Sounds good! If only we could get everyone to be willing to practice as hard as you and those in your family. Except Tor. He was always a bit sensitive about things. Now Tiera, there’s a woman that doesn’t mind going full out. We should arrange a practice with her soon, if we can. Terry isn’t half bad either. I was his first Weapons Master, did you know that?”
Dareg hadn’t even known the men had met at any point, so smiled and shook his head.
“I didn’t. Well, I’ll see if I can invite them along? Not Tor. There…” He almost hid what he’d been thinking from the larger man, who clearly didn’t love Torrance Baker all that much, but then didn’t. Secrets weren’t going to win things for them.
After a bit, Havar looking at him blankly, possibly expecting a rebuke for having been a bit mean about his father, Dareg spoke.
“All of the Adversary attacks have been centered on him. I thought it was me, at first, but all of them, everything, has been about him. Even who my mother is, and Debbie Smalls… You heard about that?” The man probably didn’t know the name, given everything.
He shook his damp head slowly.
“Debbie? She’s more or less a friend of mine. I was a guard for her after her brother was shown a villain. Has some harm come to her?” He seemed worried. More than just what a guard might have been, about a job that had taken place years before.
“She’s an Adversary. My Aunt, as it turns out. From a different world. That… The thing is, all of these people and beings have clearly been trying to get close to Tor. The attacks seem designed to push at him, and frighten him into action. The betrayals… I mean, my Mother. My Aunt… But even those would push at him, wouldn’t they?” He shook his head slowly, a cascade of rain flying away, since slow was a relative thing for him.
“I… What do we do? Debbie…” He seemed sad, rather than angry. Like it was a betrayal of him as well.
“We’re trying to turn them to our side. The eventual goal will be to travel to their world and free their remaining family, as well as remove the implants that are used to control them. Those are also the source of their powers, in the main. So if we can take that out of play, the field will become far more even. So, you get me, don’t go and kill Debbie just yet? We might have to. That will be sad.” She was family, he supposed. That was what he’d been told.
The man, who seemed shorter now than he had before, being broad, but only about half a foot taller than Dareg was now, closed his eyes.
“This is… Hard to hear. You’re certain? About Debbie Smalls and your mother? If so, then… I think you might be right. There is no way that all of these people could come into Tor’s life like that. He is The Builder, though. It could be that someone is trying to use him to some end?”
It was what Dareg was guessing at, so he nodded. It could be wrong of course. Things might even be about him, in the end. It just seemed less likely.
“For now… We need to practice, smarter and harder. You should see about getting some genetic upgrades. Get with Tim Baker on that.”
The Baron smiled and shook his head a bit then.
“I’ve met the man, a few times, but not to the level that I can go to him begging for magic.” The tone was a bit patronizing, as if he thought that Dareg wouldn’t understand that part of life yet.
As if the whole of the world had been delivered to him from the start, and he didn’t know the pain of going up against strangers, having to humble himself for crumbs.
“Right. Let me get with him on that first. I doubt there will be begging involved. Not if you’re willing to go all out to try and save us all.” He didn’t wait, working out that Tim would either be awake, or not. He was clever that way.
It was clear that the man, who didn’t look much older than Dare did at the moment, was in bed, sleeping next to Patricia, his wife. Tim blinked a few times, and for once, instead of assuming he knew what was going on, or more to the point, figuring it out, he just spoke, his voice a bit clogged with sleep.
“Dare? What’s up?”
It was better than him seeming half panicked and acting like he needed to rush out right at that moment, which was the common response to him calling at the wrong time of day. Not that Dareg didn’t understand it all now. If he got a call like that, he would have been just as concerned.
&n
bsp; “Hey, Tim. I need to arrange for some people to get similar enhancements to mine. Can you work out how to turn the slow time passages on and off? It’s a bit riskier, but it’s a bit much, just having people live like that. Baron Havar volunteered to be the first test of it.”
Instead of going on about the words that they’d probably just used in their conversation, the wizard, away on the Moon, simply nodded.
“I think I can manage that part. Can he be here, at the magic shop in about… Six hours? He has access to one of the transport nodes?” The man rubbed at his tired seeming face a bit, as his wife stirred a bit next to him.
The Baron, for his part, nodded.
“I can be there. Thank you.”
That got waved away, as if it were nothing.
“Thank you, Baron. It’s been surprisingly hard to find people that were willing to undergo these kinds of changes, to be honest. This will help, but it’s still a hardship, being different. I should have come to you first. Do you have anyone else in mind for this?”
Dareg didn’t really, though it occurred to him that Kolt, from the fighters’ section there might be a good person to suggest for it. So he did, and oddly enough got a nod from the larger Baron, who had moved in next to him, so that Tim could see his face.
“Also David Derring? There are a few others that might work that way. Dedicated people.” There was no particular emphasis on the words, but it was clear that they all understood he meant ones from the King’s special and secret fighting force.
“I’ll make the calls on that then. Now, I’m going back to sleep. I should probably get rid of the need, but so far no one else has the trick of it and doing work on yourself is a bit too much of a risk, if there are other options.” He paused and then grinned a bit, snapping his fingers. “Oh, right. Dare… Get with Taman? She has some things for you. She’s off in Soam right now, actually doing her job and cleaning that place up, so she might be up and around right now. It’s always so hard to know with Builders. Anyway, see you in six hours, Baron Havar. At the magic shop on Harmony.”
The screen turned back to white focus stone, and the other man rubbed at his wet head.
“That was… Different than I expected. No groveling, for instance. I doubt I can pay for that kind of thing however.”
Dareg knew the feeling behind the words, but didn’t have time for the long drawn out explanation. The one where they were at war, and such things weren’t important for the time being.
“It’s why you have to go to Harmony. If he came here, you’d have to pay for it. This way you can just do some work there, eventually, to make sure it all stays in balance. Mars works on a similar system, so far. Now, I think I need to get off and go face the world’s most intimidating wizard.” Dareg pretended to shudder a little bit, which got the large man to nod at him.
“Queen Tiera?”
“Nope. Taman. We’ve had issues, in the past. Not ordinary ones either. She tried to force me to father a child with her once. Using magic to control my mind. I know I should be flattered, but she wasn’t asking, you know? It… She’s supposed to have had that part of her fixed, so it might not be a large deal now. I’d much rather face Tiera however.” It was true, but so hard to explain that the man probably didn’t understand him on the topic.
After all, a lovely woman that wanted to have sex with you didn’t sound all that bad really, to most men. Dare either, in abstract. She’d gotten creepy about the idea however, once. Not that he couldn’t forgive that, if she wasn’t still secretly plotting to make him a father like she had been.
It was a thing that he was planning to do, someday. Maybe. After he married and learned how to be a proper father. He’d never really had one, after all. Tor wasn’t an awful person, but the man was no more his father than Baron Havar was, in the ways that mattered. Really, he’d spent more time with the Baron, if they were going to be honest about it all.
Not that it hadn’t been his choice to do that. Tor and Alyssa had both asked him to move in with them, several times. He’d declined, so that portion of things was on him.
Dareg made his leave, waving to the Baron, and went back to Mars, so he could shower and change for the day. His traveling outfit was a simple one, done in copper tones and browns. It all seemed smooth and shiny, but lacked a real glow. The suit looked nice enough he guessed, though his plan wasn’t about trying to impress Tam with his wonderfully good looks.
Then, without waiting too long, he used the pod outside his door to travel to the main port in Soam, figuring that he could contact her from there, in order to find out her location. It should have meant flying, searching and calling on the handheld, since the odds of him stumbling into her were small.
Except that she was standing right there, about three hundred feet away, when he got into place.
He thought it was her anyway. As he approached, he noticed something was off. For one thing, there were two girls standing beside each other. One in blue and white, the other in black with a copper trim that matched his own favorite color.
As he got closer there were other things that hit him. The one with copper and black was taller, for instance. Not just a little bit either. She was at least six-six. She also wasn’t human. For a brief moment he prepared to fight, but there was no hint of time distortion or implants. The girl next to her was clearly Taman Baker, who spun in place when he used his mind to check on her, smiling at him.
“Dareg! I-” She cut off suddenly as the other girl turned, squealed happily and ran at him.
“Dare! Look!” She hugged him, and for all it was clear that her body wasn’t real, to his mind, she felt right, once in contact with him. Like another person. More to the point, she felt like a woman. One of the girls as well. In a lot of ways she reminded him of Eva and Samantha, though of course they felt like he did, and this one felt different. Alluring and friendly at the same time, for all she looked a bit like Taman.
That was when he got it. She was familiar to him after all. So he held her back, tightly.
“Tam-Unit? You grew a body? I knew you could do it, if you put your mind to it.”
She nodded, and waved at Taman.
“She did it for me. This is the only one, and I’m still at all the ports doing my real job, but this way I can do things and travel around. That’s…” She paused, and held him longer, then took a rather convincingly deep breath that rubbed her against him in a compelling fashion. “Can I live with you? I know that I don’t have a right to ask really…”
“Yes! Of course you can! You’re my favorite after all.” Then not really knowing why, even while he did, he kissed her. It felt real, and she did it back, a bit awkwardly, but with enthusiasm. In the end he had to pull back, a bit, before he embarrassed himself by responding to her more obviously.
Taman rolled her eyes at them.
“Well, I figured as much. So, just remember that you’re getting married to Karina? If you two…” There was a long sigh and a look that was a bit wistful for some reason, but then a happy enough smile came after that, as if she should have known all along what was going to happen.
Which of course, she did. It was very subtle, and Taman Baker muted her body language, using meditation, but it was right there, on her face, and in her pattern. The woman had known that Dareg would love some version of her. That it wasn’t her, or Tam-Comp was likely due to the fact that he’d met Tam-Unit first. That it was she who’d helped him when things were strange and dark, not Taman. Though of course, there was a link there. Without the real girl, there was no magic for him to become attached to.
Unlike Samantha or Eva, Tam-Unit was basically a copy of Taman Baker as well. A bit bubblier and happy, but the spirit was similar on a level that rarely took place for most people.
Tam-Unit took his hand and held it. It was dry and warm, but also soft. She looked at him in a way that got him to do it back, and not want to let go of her. After a few minutes the other Taman, the real one, shook her head a bit again, and smiled.
“I have the Tam-Comps as well. Over there in those chests? I’m leaving distribution to you however. There are five million of the things. Each tied together, with the existing devices. The power to think will grow with each one added, so keep that in mind. She shouldn’t go insane or anything from the stress, but if she takes over the world or starts meddling in everything, it’s your fault. I just make the magic. You were the one that asked for it.”
He nodded, and then tilted his head a bit, looking at the much smaller, real, Tam. Natural. There was no denying that Tam-Unit was real as well.
“We need to get things around Tor, and anyone that might be near him. Alyssa, and anyone else he loves or cares about. That has to come first. Only one of the Adversaries was found outside of dealings with him. Kiernan Tag, coming in with the three fleets. He didn’t attack anyone either. The only attacks here have been around Tor Baker so far as I know. Even if there have been others…” He didn’t know if the woman would understand him, or become confused, but after a moment she nodded, making it clear that she knew what he was getting at.
“That… Makes sense. Do you have any idea as to why it would be happening that way?”
He did, but it was a guess. A thing that the woman in front of him would understand, he thought. She was brilliant after all.
“I think that something wants to come through, into either this reality or another, as far back in time as possible. That’s why he’s being pushed like this. To drive him to come up with a way of doing exactly that. That they aren’t coming for me, or you… Well, that’s easy. Tor is a better builder than we’ll ever be. Or at least is more creative. You aren’t bad, but he makes new things more easily, I think. Everything that I made was just a variation on what others have come up with so far.” He grinned then and glanced at Tam-Unit, then back at the shorter girl. “Or, and this is also possible, it could be that whoever is behind this thinks that Tor can be pushed around like that, in ways that wouldn’t work with the rest of us? It could also be that I’m simply wrong, or seeing a pattern in a place where it doesn’t belong. Maybe they are just starting with him, and the rest of us are going to be next?”
