by Power, P. S.
"Saturn? For the science trip? Isn't that why you called?" She still didn't so much as raise her eyes.
He froze for a second. That had been set up by Princess Karina, really. Before the big fight. A way to distract the Austrans from the fact that he was the bastard child of Tor. Not that they believed that, which was the issue. No amount of proof was going to show that to be true to them either, he bet.
For half a second he nearly gasped, since it seemed to him to be incredibly insane to be worried about a free trip for some science folk, after that huge battle. The thing there was that it hadn't really been that, not for anyone else. For him it was life changing, and maybe for a hundred other people around the world it was big, but he had to bet that most people hadn't even been told that anything had taken place at all, other than an attack. Maybe not even that, in Austra. There hadn't been any of their people in the room at the time after all, so no losses had taken place for them.
Most of the world really would be like that, too. Tiera knew, of course. Of the people there half of them had been related to her, so it made sense. There wasn't much to do about it however, which he'd been working out for himself. Hence... Her setting up that trip that had been promised.
"Oh, good. I was afraid they'd go without me. I can do the pickup for that whenever they're ready. I need to pick up some water if we're going to spend the night." The ship could make air, and even food, but it needed something to work with. It could use human waste, and would, if the trip was too long, but a lot of people seemed squeamish about eating former human waste.
Like that wasn't what dirt was, never seemed to occur to most.
Saying that finally got his youthful looking Aunt to shift her focus.
"Dare? I hadn't heard anything about you so figured you were still recuperating. You look... Decent. How do you feel?" Real concern crossed her face, as she stared at him.
He yawned, covering his mouth with his free right hand, while staring back at her. She seemed fine as well. Considering several of her close friends had recently died, that was important to note. It would impact her, even if she hadn't been part of the fight herself.
"Tired. Constantly. I doubt that will change for a while. I managed to build up enough for the healing amulet to work without killing me, so I'm back to work now. You know about all of it?" For the life of him he couldn't remember if she'd been there or not.
That bothered him for a moment. From the report, at least if what he'd written was all true, she hadn't been in the actual fight. That didn't mean she hadn't been at Sam Builder's however, at the time.
"Tim told me all of it. The general consensus for right now is that we need to prepare, and be watchful. Which means-" She stopped and looked up, as someone spoke to her from across the room, wherever she was.
Her voice was a bit less pleasant then, but didn't seem upset.
"Dare? Sorry to dodge out on you, but something came up here. I can get my secretary to set that up in Austra for you? Prime Minister Foley hid that you were injured by having his people arrange the science crew taking the trip. Twenty strong. Is that all right with you? They plan to do live coverage of it all, I think. You have contacts in the Austran media, so I'll let you handle that portion. Sorry, got to run. Later!" She was moving at the end, and jogging, so whatever was going on seemed to be important.
He forced a smile, sitting alone on the bridge of his space craft. Then he tried to work out what she'd meant, by him having media contacts. That didn't take him too long, since he really did. More to the point it was easy to work out who to get in touch with, knowing only four people that fit that bill.
So he found the right name, and tapped it into being, wondering if it would be a while for the man to notice his device was buzzing at him. It really didn't though, a face showing up instantly.
A sleepy man, with pale tan skin, and a mustache.
"Tomas Early, how may I help you?" He spoke well, his voice only a little clogged from sleep. He was in a light shirt, that seemed to be all one piece, and from the darkness surrounding the device, had truly been out, even if the fellow had picked up instantly. That took skill. One that Dareg doubted he'd ever really have. If he was woken suddenly like that, he tended to flail around, trying to make sure there were no rats on him.
"Hi, Tomas. This is Dareg Canton? We met a little over a month ago, at the return ceremony?" It was just possible that the man wouldn't recognize him, since it had been a bit and they'd only hung around for a single day. One that had been filled with many far more interesting people than him. Plus he had a better than decent beard now, which was far fuller than most fourteen year olds could have managed.
"Oh! Hello! I was planning to call and dun you for inside information for a news report in a few days. You're involved in that Saturn trip, aren't you?" He waited, as if that hadn't been announced. That was probably him being most polite, for an Austran media fellow.
"Piloting for it. That was why I called. I managed to open up a spot for a news team to do the live feed, and wanted to know if you and the others wanted in on that? If so, we need to work out what you'll need for it. You had a lot of..." He had to stop, and focus, to recall what the devices had been called. "Cameras with you last time? The handhelds can get pictures and send them back from Saturn with no problem, but the picture wasn't very good, compared to being there. Too narrow, though the colors were right." He'd seen it, so knew that to be true.
Karen Derring had looked it up and shown him and some of the others. Thinking of her hurt for a second. Mainly because it was damned sad that she wasn't still with them. Even if he hadn't known her well.
Tom nodded, smiling hugely.
"We get in on that? I... Thank you for thinking of us. Are you sure you wouldn't want someone more important? Syslink Forty-Three isn't exactly a top five channel. Not even a top five hundred, to be honest. Though I suppose that everyone else would need help with the gear, as well, so there's that. Still, you could get a more famous face to be there with you." There was real humility in the words, which given the man was from Austra, meant something. They were kind of big into self promotion most of the time.
So either the man didn't want to risk going into space, or he really thought that having a lot of people watching them was important to Dare for some reason. It was almost certainly the last one, and the why came to him before he even spoke. It was important to Tomas, so he just assumed that Dareg would feel the same way.
"Ummmm. No? Thank you? If you are willing to come, it would be a huge favor to me. I really don't want to be grilled for several days straight about how I can't possibly be Tor Baker's boy, if possible. There are some things..." He yawned, which got Tom to do it too, laughing.
Then the Austran yawned again.
"It's late here. Two in the morning. I... Can set that up in the morning? We'll need at least three cameras that can transfer data back like a handheld. I don't know if anyone makes anything like that. Is that possible?"
It was, in theory. The satellites were basically that, after all. He didn't have any just laying around, as it turned out, but he nodded.
"I might be able to get something that will work. Let me... I need to talk to some people. Can you get the others, do you think? Jan, Cyra and Nimbus?" He didn't know their schedules, or if they really even worked with the man day to day. After a bit the man smiled, nodding.
"They should be available. If not, we have other people, but I think I see your method here. You want to control the flow of information, using known resources. Clever. I'll do that, if you can get us something better than a handheld to show the splendor of Saturn with?"
"Deal. Thanks. Sorry about calling so late. Someday I'll actually learn the time differences. That, or get fifteen clocks, all set to different times."
That got a chuckle, and a goodbye, before the screen went dark.
After a few minutes of planet watching, he tapped the next name, spelling it out, and waited, figuring that it would be him waking someone else
up.
Timon however, seemed fresh faced, and was looking directly at him, so didn't need to catch up on too much. Not like everyone else had so far.
"Dareg! I was just thinking about you. You're in space?" The question held certainty in it. That made sense, given the room around him. Nothing else looked exactly like the inside of a ship. There was a certain unreality to it all that carried, if you paid attention. It was all a bit too smooth, and perfect. Though he could have been on the planet, in one of the things. He tried to figure out how the man had worked that part out, since it didn't seem like a guess. Before he really could, his youthful, handsome, and pale skinned uncle smiled.
"It's the color of the light. If the shield was opaque I wouldn't have been able to tell for certain. Anyway, are you busy? We should meet, sooner or later."
"I'm free... Right now, actually. I was just calling to see if I could beg you to work up some kind of... Camera? For the Saturn trip. I have a crew from Austra, the ones that met you on Return Day? They're working it, or that's the plan so far. I was thinking something like satellites?" He didn't hold his breath, since each of the things would probably be worth his weight in gold, if not more, but Timon Baker just started to slowly nod.
"That is a... Good idea. Yes. I have some, so it should work out. We'll need some regular devices too, for the documentary portion. I'll have those inside an hour. Can you meet me at the main Harmony port? That's where you came in the first time." There was a searching look, for some reason.
As if the man were really asking if he could pull that off. Since it was a half hour trip, even with the landing portion, he nodded. He'd end up waiting, but that was life.
"See you then. I'll be pacing around in front of the restroom there?" He grinned, but there was a graceful shrug that seemed a bit slower than it should have been.
"Go to the right from there, down the main walkway. About a quarter mile down, on the right again, there's a magic shop. Trice runs it. I'll meet you there." Then the thing went dark, without a goodbye at all.
He snorted at no one, rolled his eyes, and got ready.
The Moon wasn't in sight, but that didn't mean anything, since he knew where he wanted to end up. Placing his hand under the control device, Dareg closed his eyes. Then he envisioned two dots. One was large and white, representing the exact location he wanted, which was in orbit directly over Harmony. The other was small and red. That one represented him.
There was a dotted line between the two points, and he just had to slide the little red circle to be inside the white one. It worked, so when he opened his eyes he was there, even if the Earth had technically been in the way.
Most of the moon base was underground there, though Second City, which was to the north and west, had much more going on above ground. Both had big lights so that ships could find the right places to land. The above ground portion of the other city, the one he wasn't over, glittered. All in green and gold. Like sunlight and gems. It was, even in the distance, a fantasy of a city. There were large spires, and things flying between them, in tunnels that looked like they were made of clear glass. That probably wasn't the case, since there was nothing of note to support them. So it would be magical shield material. The stuff of purest magic.
Watching for a bit he nearly missed how one of the walls near the port complex, at it, to be precise, started to glow, alternating purple and black. The black was about his ship, indicating that they'd seen him. The purple he didn't understand really. Unless that was supposed to be for Noram, since the King's colors were well known.
He approached slowly anyway. It was how you were supposed to land, since there were walls and a building to get inside. The odds of someone trying to go too fast and not killing someone weren't wonderful, so the rules told them how not to do that. By not being in too big of a hurry. Since he still had most of an hour, Dare wasn't about to rush things. Crashing a ship would seem ridiculous, given that part of his job was to prevent such things.
It took nearly ten minutes for him to ease the craft inside. The last time he'd come in that way had been fine, but the first, not too long before, had been a bit of a botch. The lady there, Claremont, who was from Austra, had yelled at him, not getting that he'd used his shield to fly in from Earth. Now, after he set up the energy projection to link with the wall of his ship, he found the same rather stern lady standing in front of the door when he opened it.
This time, on seeing who was there, she smiled. It was real, he thought. Still, it also felt a bit dark and gloomy, matching his own mood.
"I knew you were capable of learning. Are you staying longer than a week? If so we need to move you over to long term storage for the ship. Otherwise you can leave it here."
He nodded, and then shrugged, not really feeling like he cared enough to answer, but knowing that he had to anyway. It would be rude otherwise and this lady seemed to control landing there, so it was kind of important not to piss her off.
"Less than a day? Maybe two, but I'm currently thinking a few hours. Then..." He didn't really know what was happening after that. "After that I have no real plans for a bit. In a few days I'm taking a crew of Austran scientists to Saturn for a visit. Taking pictures and things like that? So, if you need a trip to Earth or someplace before that, I can get you there." He didn't really know why he was saying that, but the woman just blinked at him, and then shook a little.
Her words were slightly baffled sounding.
"You're joking with me?"
He shook his head, and then tilted it.
"No? It will only take a few hours to set up some trips. As long as people are willing to go on my schedule, I can do that. We need to get some regular trips going back and forth to work. I don't know how people do that now."
Claremont, at least that was what her breast pocket said, on her light brown jumpsuit, smiled for real then.
"I know a few people that might want to head toward Earth, if you don't mind a few stops? It's shockingly hard to go just for a visit. Can we get back, too? Say, in a week?"
He stopped for a few seconds, then nodded.
"The first day of each week? I'll go to each of the main space ports. We need more pilots, don't we? If I can get them ships, can you find reliable people for that? I may not be able to, but I'll try begging?" He knew the man that made them after all, and he wasn't all that stingy, it didn't seem.
Claremont gave him a hugely funny look, then laughed.
"Ah. That would be good. A dedicated fleet just to run us here and there? Do that and I'll pay you my yearly salary."
He got that she was kidding, since no one on Harmony made any coin to speak of. They got everything for free, which meant they worked that way too. Just doing what they could for the prestige of it.
Thinking about it, he nodded for a few second.
"Deal then. Hey, I could also use a crew? For the Saturn trip? It will be mainly keeping Austran scientists from getting lost in space, or starving, so not that hard, I don't think. There are twenty of them and a media crew?" His voice was flat, and he realized that this lady might not be the one to talk to about that kind of thing, but instead of laughing again or telling him that, she waved at him, to get him to follow.
"How serious are you about all this? We can set this on the board and really get people for it. Probably not pilots, unless you have guaranteed ships, but... Crew? That's a legitimate job."
"It's real, if anyone wants to try it?"
He figured that she was either taking him to the big main walkway, or possibly going to lock him in a closet to ensure his story was valid, but she just walked into a small room, no bigger than where you'd keep brooms, and closed the door. There was only one chair, which she took, but six large screens.
In front of her there was a flat section of stone, which started to glow when her hands reached for it. She drew on it with a finger, making a small star appear on one of the viewing windows. After a bit one of them, slightly to the right, showed Tam-Unit. At least he thought it was
her. She was watching Claremont, who addressed her rather briskly. Nearly being rude.
"Computer, we need to add a listing. Crew for a space trip. Destination, Saturn. To take place in two to three days and last..." She looked at him, waiting for the data.
He just made stuff up then, not having the real plan.
"Two days, to a week. It will mainly be serving food and keeping the peace. Nothing too hard." The girl on the screen looked at him, seeming just like Taman, his aunt, and smiled when she saw he was looking back. "Are you... Tam-Unit?"
The blue box girl had never mentioned that she was on the Moon too, but it was possible. The girl shook her head though, and wrinkled her nose a bit. It was adorable, to be honest. Then no one had ever suggested that Tam-Unit wasn't attractive.
"Nope. She's newer than I am. We've talked though, her and I. You're Dareg, right? The one running all the space ports for Earth?"
Claremont sat up straight then, her own eyes going wide.
"I... Didn't know you were an A.I." She seemed embarrassed then, but this Tam ignored her for a bit. She seemed to, at any rate.
"It's different than that. I'm more like a copy of Taman Baker. This is Prince Dareg, by the way, which you seem to have missed. It's something we need to put on the listing, in case anyone wants to avoid duty with him. That kind of thing is intimidating for some. Princes aren't exactly normal after all. So, up to a week? Light duties? How many people do you want?"
"I have no clue. One person for every five or so guests, so, six? If we can get anyone. They need to be able to run food units, and know not to turn the ship off in space, that kind of thing."
The girl snorted, in a very unladylike fashion.
"So no idiots? I'll mark that down. You speak Standard? The Austrans all will as well. So that... Anything else?"
He didn't know really, having never done anything like a long space voyage himself, but nodded anyway.
"Yeah. If we can get the ships, I need to set up space pilot jobs. Can I get copies of you for each ship? That way you can organize all the schedules, and I won't have to do it myself." He was playing, but the girl on the screen vanished, a large, pulsing, blue ring circled for a bit in her place. It seemed to be floating in the air outside of the stone. About a minute later, the window on the other side lit up, showing a different Tam. This one being all in white.
