by P. S. Power
His craft wasn’t that large, so they were able to be out into the station proper about five minutes later, a gold and rust colored chest floating behind them. He’d altered the thing to match the station, just in case it was the official color of things.
Out on the dock there were a few people walking by, and one or two that had stopped to look at them. They were paying attention to him and Uni, not the Princess, though she was dressed in a nice black gown, and had her red hair up. Her shoulder and the line of her neck showed, which was lovely. Her skin was a deep tan, and nearly matched the shade of the blonde woman next to her.
Sara Debri. Ancient of the Martian Circle. She was dressed in a slightly more manly fashion, wearing trousers and a jacket that would have looked about right on Prince Alphonse. Only much smaller, of course. Sara was, he noticed, the smallest person there. She wasn’t tiny, but there had been a time, less than half a year before, when that job would have been his. It seemed like longer than that.
Like half a decade, if not more had passed for him. To everyone else it probably seemed like he was just springing out with new works and was constantly busy, while he sweat and worked hard just to not be bored constantly.
It was cute, but the women both squealed a bit, which wasn’t all that dignified, and held Uni first. Then, almost as an afterthought, he was included in some of the cuddles. He could have felt upset about that, but really, it was what he would have done first thing as well.
Come to think of it, he had.
“This is Uni. Short for Unit. Unless she picks something else, in which case it will change. She’s going to be living with me.” That was the most important part of things. Most of the time you were supposed to be discreet as far as relationships went, with your wife. The same was true the other way around, but Karina had sort of let him know that she was bringing Sara along with her in the deal. Which was fine, for the most part, but the woman was also his father’s girlfriend, which was way more awkward than just looking sort of like his younger sister.
At least to Dareg it was like that. How Tor would handle it all, he didn’t know. Then, in a lot of ways, he didn’t care. If it came down to picking between them, Tor was going to lose. The man was smart enough to get that as well. On the good side, Dareg wasn’t having sex with his attractive and willing step-mother, so at least there was that.
Sara waved at the floating chest.
“Presents?”
He nodded, even if they weren’t exactly jewels or curiosities for amusement.
“Tam-Comps. About a million and a half of them. They need to go… Everywhere. Part of the whole shipment is for the new fleet. The rest needs to go to Earth. Is there someplace we can talk?” Not that he wanted to keep anything from the rest of the crew there, but the fact was, while they all seemed fine to him, he didn’t know them. Besides, it felt right, when making plans like they were doing to speak in private first. Even if the goal was to have everyone on board with things in the shortest time possible.
That kind of thinking was probably wrong and he nearly started to simply go over his tentative plan, right there, when Karina waved toward a door.
“Up in my rooms? We can have a meal. We’re a little short on servants here, so as long as you don’t mind me doing it all for you?”
Uni smiled and giggled a bit.
“Given that my other job is basically that? Not at all. It will be interesting to have food. I never really have before. Taman said I could eat, however.”
Dareg smiled, since it was a different thing, and one that he’d never even considered for the girls. They didn’t need to eat, so it made sense that they wouldn’t. Then, he’d been creating warriors that could fight and not need to stop, and Taman had been making a person. It wouldn’t surprise him to find that she could do a lot of things that the others hadn’t been built for.
Though he’d hit the essential things. They could feel all the emotions, and even have sex, with all the proper sensations. Warm water would feel like it did for him, and so would silk on the skin. They could smell things, but taste had been left out totally. Now that it was pointed out, he could see it as a real flaw. A part of being alive that he’d failed to give his kids.
Not that he couldn’t fix that. All it would take was a second build on them, instead of just more copies. He could taste and eat food. The real thing he needed was something that the food could be used for, or gotten rid of. Going to the restroom came to mind, though it seemed inefficient, if there was more than that it could be used for.
Uni took his hand as they walked, which got a slightly knowing smile from Sara, and a sigh from Karina.
“Hey, no fair stealing him before we get married.”
The attractive looking woman next to him moved closer to him, and held his right arm with both of hers.
“I won’t. We can share though, right? That’s the noble fashion of doing things?” It was a bit blunt and she seemed to get that, looking away to hide a smile.
Karina however didn’t seem to mind the frank talk, and simply nodded, even as Sara chuckled a bit.
“That’s pretty close to right. I… We can be friends too, if you want? Though really, we need to get another man involved here, or it will get awkward. For now… If you’re all good with this?”
It was strange, but Sara nodded, and then moved a bit so that she could touch Dareg on the shoulder.
“That sounds fine. You’re a bit young for me though. Old enough, but still, fourteen…”
It wasn’t lost on him that he was the youngest human there, if not the youngest person. Uni had just gotten a body that day after all and even before that couldn’t have been more than a year old. Though she, like the girls, had come with a full set of memories and knowledge, so it didn’t count the same way.
They were older than he was, as odd as that sounded, because they’d been made to be so, from the very start.
“I’m… Older than that now. In a lot of ways.”
Sara looked at him from the side, and after a long while slowly nodded.
“You have seen a lot of combat.”
While that was true, he shook his head and looked to the left as they all walked.
“I meant that the world around me is moving much slower than it is for the rest of you. For instance, we’ve been walking for what, ten minutes now?”
Karina nodded, then wag a hand in the air, to show that she wasn’t certain.
“Seven or so?”
“It feels like two full hours to me. Maybe longer. I don’t get tired, or sleep, either. So every day seems like two weeks or so? Not exactly. I think I’m running about twelve to one, to be honest. Maybe fifteen to one. It’s nearly impossible to tell, but that seems the correct range.”
Sara got the idea first, and went a little wide eyed. Her face seemed upset, but that moved into a smile after a few seconds. To Dareg. The others probably missed it totally, even if they were looking at her.
“That’s intense. Timon mentioned something like that, but I hadn’t realized what it would mean over months. Or years. Ten years would be like a hundred and forty to you…”
“Worse, I can’t really keep track of time anymore. I don’t know how long I’ve been like this. So, I wouldn’t worry too much about me being fourteen. I’m pretty certain I haven’t been that young really, for a while now.”
She took his left hand, and walked along silently. At least until they got to Karina’s rooms. That wasn’t a mistake either. From what it seemed like inside, the woman was taking up half the floor they were on. By herself. She even had a sitting room and one for eating in.
They used the chairs and sofa first, Karina leading them there directly, seeming a bit awkward about it. That was because she didn’t have servants to do it for her, Dareg bet. Not that it bothered him. He’d never needed that kind of treatment to feel close to anyone before, at any rate.
The red headed Princess locked eyes with him, her blue to his brown, and she didn’t look away for a long ti
me.
“So, time for the secret meeting? What’s up? We need to get the Comps everywhere, but other than that, I mean?”
Dareg nearly didn’t say anything, but after a bit he shrugged.
“I… Someone is trying to destroy everything, and I think they plan to use Tor to do it. The thing is, I’m not certain of that, so I need to figure out if that’s real or not. Any ideas?”
It was a little strange, but it was Sara that came up with one that sounded right. Almost instantly.
“Sure. Let’s call on Tor and see if he knows anything about it? It might not help, but I know that if it were me that might be in trouble, I’d want to know about it.”
That seemed pretty reasonable, though they did eat dinner first. After all, it was Uni’s first time. She didn’t enjoy it all, but she tried everything with so much passion that it made him smile. That kept going right until Tor, and everyone else, got there.
Including his mother, and Aunt Debbie. It was interesting, if nothing else. Especially since he didn’t really recognize half of the people there. Not at first.
Chapter twelve
The meeting took place on the Prime station of the Martian Circle, which had a transport pod set up already. Each of the stations had at least one of them and this place had three. One of them was down the hallway from where Karina stayed when she was there, and another was in a similar location for Sara to use. Anyone could use them, certainly, but it was clear that they, like himself, had made it easiest to use for themselves first thing.
It had still taken a while for everyone to get there, since Tor had insisted on bringing in strangers from other realities, who didn’t have that kind of thing set up outside their doors. Interestingly, Dareg understood that it wouldn’t be that hard to set up, if anyone wanted to try it. The trick would be in matching the feel of each reality, and then translating the person as they traveled, so that they could stick in the place they found themselves. If not, they’d probably snap back into place, eventually, going home, or to a place very close to it.
They had to move to a meeting space however, since there were a lot more people involved than had been expected. No one even bothered to introduce them all. Tor was just bowing a lot and waving for people to sit, speaking almost exclusively in English. Timon and Taman both spoke it already, which was interesting to see. It meant that Tor had gotten them both up to speed at some point. That, or Doris had. Queen Tiera wasn’t locked on that way however, but was intelligent enough to work out who was, which got her to plunk down next to him and bat at his arm. Gently enough that it didn’t trigger his shield.
“So, you’ve all been secretly taking lessons in this? You’d think that I would have been in the loop here.”
Dareg shook his head, but smiled.
“I picked it up at the last meeting? It isn’t really hard. A lot of it overlaps with Standard. The c’s are spoken differently, being k’s part of the time, and the e’s are closer to soft a’s at times. Here, I can run over it?” It really wasn’t that hard, for him, and it wasn’t like they had to learn a new vocabulary, just understand what was being said. They had half an hour to do that in, as people came in, and settled with them.
Tiera wasn’t great at speaking the new language by the time the table, a large oval thing that didn’t exist, being made of magic, was filled. She could do it however, and make herself understood, which got a strange man across from him to smile hugely.
He was bizarre, since he was clearly supposed to be Dareg. Not as good looking or as tall, and the other man looked older. In his twenties or so. Still, the basic features were really there, and he was lean, which matched Dare at the moment.
“That’s very good! I’ve never seen anyone learn a new language that fast. Not without using a learning imbed, and frankly, I’d have to go home to find one of those, and then program it, so you still win. Excellent.” He seemed really happy about it. In fact the feeling of just being calm and pleasant seemed to ripple off of him, strongly enough that it left both Tiera and Dareg smiling when it was turned on them.
It wasn’t exactly mind control however. Just… Good.
The man seemed use to that effect, so got that they weren’t going to jump in first.
“I’m Jake. Nice to meet you.”
Tiera gave the man a look that seemed a bit haughty, as if she expected bowing from people that came from other Earths or something ridiculous like that. This man didn’t even know that she was anyone other than some attractive woman, most likely. Unless she was familiar to him for some other reason.
“I’m Dareg. You… Except from this world? This is Queen Tiera Baker. Of Harmony. That… She’s the Queen of Earth’s Moon?”
That data earned a grin from the man. It was enough that Tiera did it back, even if she wanted to pretend to be offended.
“Cool. We don’t have anything like that left where I come from. Just the ruling council and the Very Good Man. Or, well, Woman, now that Hope took over. I used to have that job. It’s kind of a spiritual leadership position, more or less.” There was clearly something being left out, and Ben, who was further down the table, his green hair and eyes shining, smiled.
“That makes it sound way too small though. He was, for nearly a hundred years, the King of the entire Earth, more or less. Don’t let his humility fool you. Whereas I… Am absolutely no one of note. We’re the only neat people that showed up though? I mean, I was looking forward to meeting me. The other versions? Oh! There we go. That’s much better.” He pointed at the wall, his finger following something to indicate it was on the other side. That was good, given that it was made of shield material. Dare didn’t really feel anything, until the thing opened.
Then he saw a smaller man, who was thin and seemed to be from Vagus. Behind him was a fit looking fellow that seemed a bit familiar, looking a lot like Ben without the nifty green hair. He was a bit broader through the shoulders, but seemed to either have makeup or a disguise amulet on. Since there was no magic around him that way it was probably the first option.
He tensed then, since there was a strange rippling in space, but the feeling was different enough that he stopped and nodded to himself. It was about space being warped, not time. Why it was happening Dare couldn’t tell, but this man wasn’t one of the enemy. At least he didn’t match what they did.
Smiling, Jake waved to the men, who both moved over to their end of the table.
“Brian! Doug!” Jake really seemed pleased to see them, and both men smiled back, sitting with them, as if that were the natural order of things. Doug moved in next to Tiera, looking up at her and nodding.
“Hello.” The look was professional, and polite, but came around to look at him, and then Jake and Ben. With a sigh the man glanced at the table.
“So, I am the ugly one? At least I lost most of the weight.” It was self-depreciating, but Ben made a face at the man, who presumably he’d never met before.
“I think it was me, to be honest. I had some genetic work done. You look pretty decent, really.”
Dareg nodded and waved at Tim Baker, who glanced up from his own conversation, and moved toward them.
When he got there, the man smiled at the others, but fixed Dare with a direct look, since he was the one that had asked for attention.
“Can you do genetic changes on people from different realities? If so, we should try that with Doug here. Improved speed, strength, and all that. Intelligence as well, if possible?” Then making certain his face was bland he shrugged a bit. “Looks, too. Not that I think he really needs it. It was mentioned however.”
Timon glanced at the man, then clearly dropped into a reading state and after a moment nodded.
“Yes.” It was a long, drawn out thing, and came with a small smile. “That should be easy even. After the meeting, before you go back?”
Doug looked worried, but Ben walked over, having sat a way away from them all, and clapped the other him on the back.
“Do it. It’s going to work out
pretty well for you. Also, Tim? If you can make his dick bigger? He’s shy about that. For that matter, I might get that one done myself. Nothing world breaking mind. Just enough so that we won’t blush in the shower too often?”
It was nearly rude enough to cause a fight, but Doug just laughed a bit, and managed to turn red.
“That’s a thing here? You can make changes like that? You must be a busy man.”
Timon nodded, and didn’t comment on the rest of the interplay. It made it seem like he either didn’t get it all, or didn’t care, but it was probably about not making Doug feel bad. That part was a bit strange, since Dareg knew that he was slightly on the large size that way, from what he’d heard over the years. That another version of him wouldn’t be was odd. Of course, Dareg had been basically formed by magic to start with, and made to be what he was by Tor, who had been kind of small and common looking at the time. Even if he were large that way, the man might have felt awkward about such things, so had subconsciously set Dareg up for more.
Not that it should have really eaten at Doug like that. Which it might not have, really. No one talked about it after that, anyway.
On the other end of the table, there was a collection around Tor. Two of them were women. One was thin, and looked more like Aunt Patricia, who wasn’t there at the moment for some reason. The other was broad, and powerful seeming, which gave her an interesting sense of allure. Her face was a bit lean, but it wasn’t a horrible thing really. She was blonde, a woman, and clearly Tor. So was the smaller dark haired one with the big nose. It was a strong look for a woman.
She caught him staring and smiled, waving a bit.
“Um, hi? I’m Gwen. Uh… Basically Torrance here? It’s complicated, but I was kidnapped, stolen? From my reality, and my spirit was placed in this body, which I share with Katherine. So, I’m kind of possessing her? Don’t feel too bad, she’s the one who stole me, and killed my body…” The woman seemed a bit shy, and very thin for some reason, like her life had been very hard for a long time.
