by Power, P. S.
"I might? If it didn't go away on his death. Hairbrush. We've both used it. Who do I get it to?"
"Me? I'll pass it to Abbey. She can do the tests, and more to the point, will, even if it means doing ten thousand hair strands individually. She isn't the sort to cut corners."
That was a person that he'd never truly met, himself. She'd been in the background at a few events he'd attended, but that was it. So what he knew of her was that she was small, had nearly black skin, bright blue eyes and incredibly red hair. That was short and stood up from her head, he thought. Other than that, he had no clue about her. Well, only what everyone in the kingdom knew. She was from Afrak, and a doctor. The medical kind. Also, she and the Heir had a child. A boy called Benjamin. That, or Daniel. He didn't really know that one, to be honest.
Given that these were people that he might casually run into now, and had, it made sense for him to learn that pretty soon. Something that hadn't really come up for him hit then.
Blinking he just spoke the words out loud.
"I'm going to need a lot of Noram Day gifts this year, aren't I?" The rule for that was the daunting part. You were supposed to make that kind of thing for people you liked. With your own hands. The problem there was that he didn't have a hobby or skill that would count that way. "Oh... Is that what you and the others were doing? Making your presents? I was wondering why the Queen or a Countess would be sewing like that. You do beadwork?"
"Right. Very good. That isn't really wrong on your part. I suggest you learn to build for that, actually. You can't just do copy work that way, since each gift needs to be special, but magic is impressive to most people, so simple things, like unique lights, or things that make sounds, songs and that kind of thing, go over very well. I... Really, I can give you a light and tell you how to copy it today. You can get some sleep tonight and do that in the morning, then I'll cover how to do more." She sounded really certain that it would just be done.
"If I can do that. Is it the normal way of learning?"
"Nope. But you kind of come with the basic skills inside of you. Tor did that. I'm kind of surprised you haven't figured it out on your own. I'd claim you were slow, but that isn't the problem. It's more to do with the fact that no one ever expected you to do much that way, so far. They don't with kids. It's probably a mistake, but I didn't realize that until about a year ago."
Settling, they climbed out, Sara fighting a smile.
"We should get in here first. I bet Sam will have something for you to copy. It just occurred to me that I don't have anything suitable with me. Really..."
She walked off directly, but Dare took his craft down, since he could walk back to his pod quickly enough, once he was done there. It probably shouldn't take too long to get with the head servant after all.
Sara knocked on the door, which shield or not, had someone there opening it less than a minute later. It was a very tiny, common looking man that seemed to be about sixteen or so. He was a good five-four, actually, unless he'd shrunk.
Realizing that took him aback for a moment. The last time he'd seen the man he'd been a lot closer to him in size. Sara had mentioned him growing, but it was closer to three inches, rather than two. That was a lot for five or six weeks. No wonder he was sleeping all the time. His body had gone crazy, trying to stretch up to the clouds.
The man, who still looked older than him, gave a single nod, then bowed toward them both.
"Welcome! I believe Lord Builder is in, may I tell him that you are here?"
He was about to say no, thank you, when Sara bowed a bit, nearly matching the man, and spoke while Dare did the same, going slightly lower. It kind of seemed right, since this man wasn't just there to answer doors. He was also a machine man from the void.
"That would be good, thank you. Is Lyone also available?"
Dareg figured that would work.
"You as well. Anyone else from your, um... Team? We need to check on someone that claims to be from the Forten."
If Sara was shocked at the inclusion it barely showed on her face. There was more response from the doorman, who looked worried. At least his brow furrowed like he was.
"Who?"
That was probably a stupid question, since names were the easiest of things to change, but Dareg also could see that some names might not need to be changed really.
"Lenn?" He held a hand up to show the height, which was about the same as the man at the door.
Who nodded.
"Lots of muscle? Silver hair and eyes?"
"That's the one. Unless they all look that way?"
"No, not all. About a fifth of them. Their warrior class is silver like that. Brown for leadership, and green for their medical branch. That means more for them. Bio manipulation and such, not just patching up wounds. Come, I'll get a picture of the Lenn I know, so we can verify it." Then he waved for them to move in, and took them to what seemed to be an office. There was a desk, and a young looking blond man, who was over seven feet tall, sitting behind it. In age he looked just a bit older than Dare himself did, and that was due to a disguise amulet, or at least something that was close to that. His face didn't move enough when he smiled. It was a bit of a giveaway.
Not that the man wasn't a good ten years older than Dare was, at the very least.
"Sara!" He stood up, showing how tall he was, and came from behind his large wooden desk. It was probably magical, given that it shone brightly, and didn't have any signs of wear and tear. That or brand new, but in a magical palace that could make that kind of thing with a thought, it didn't seem worth bringing in a real one like this. "Prince Dareg. Have you come to stay? I think we can dig up some room around here."
For some reason he seemed a bit awkward and stiff, though it was directed toward Dare, not Sara, and as such made no rational sense. After all, as far as Dare knew they were both good, in regards to the other. They'd met twice before, and had both been polite as far as he knew.
Oddly, the Ancient of Noram bowed to him, going a lot lower than was needed, given their relative positions in life.
"I should have visited with you regularly, and kept up with it. I let myself get busy... That isn't a very good excuse. Not enough to avoid my duty to an ailing friend. Please forgive me." It was genuine and humble sounding, like he meant it.
Dareg waved him up, since he was a good ten feet away.
"No need. I just slept most of the time anyway. Besides, I can't say that I expect people that have met me twice to be that concerned with my well being. Even if they are a family friend."
Standing up, the man took a deep breath.
"Ah? Good. I was concerned that I'd be crawling around for hours. Though I really should have been there for you. Being the Ancient of a land is a lot more work once you're in it than I figured it would be. All the work of leadership, without any of the credit, practically. I've watched a lot of the Saturn mission, the Austran news casts are all very interested in the Jupiter project, that and the Saturn creatures. That was my favorite part, personally."
Dareg smiled then, meaning it.
"Mine, too. Anyway, we came to check with you, Lyone and some others here, about a man of the Forten that we met. Just to make certain it's actually him? My guess is that he is, since the description is right, and fits someone known to the people here. If not, then he'll be gone, since we left him on Harmony, and that place is big enough to vanish from, if you have to."
Sam Builder nodded at that, and looked at the door as two beings, both nearly silent, came in. His door answering pal from a few moments ago, and Lyone.
She was in a dress, which looked to be magical in nature, like what the rest of them probably had. It was interesting, since it meant that Sam had furnished his people with expensive magics, just to make things easier for them. They really did work that way, being far easier to care for than not.
Lyone had long, honey blonde, hair that moved down the center of her back in a single braid. Her eyes were a nice color of blue, and her face was
symmetrical and unblemished. In all she was cute, and seemed unconcerned with being more than that.
"Hello! Brice said that you ran into Lenn? Is this him?" She gestured, and the small man handed over a device that was about two inches by three, and had a picture of Crewman Lenn right on the upper surface. It was very light weight, though felt solid to the touch.
"That does seem to be him. Here, I can call him." It took a bit to find the right name, and a suggestion that he put in Lennard, instead of just Lenn, for the correct name to be found. When he tapped the sigil, the man did appear, after a bit. He'd clearly been sleeping, and there was a woman in the bed with him. From her pale skin she was either one of the Baker family, or from Tellerand. The face didn't come into the picture, so it could have been either of those options. There was just a flash of arm.
"Captain Canton? Do you need me? I can be at the docks in... Fifteen minutes." He looked ready to move if the order came, but Dareg simply shook his head.
"I just need to confirm who you are. I have Lyone here?"
He handed the device over, which got a chuckle from the handheld.
"Good thinking. I was worried that you were just going to take my word for things. I should have known you were smarter than that."
Lyone took a breath, and then did something. Dareg didn't know what, but it involved her eyes becoming totally black. The inner iris growing until her eyes were nothing but that. After a moment, she nodded.
"He has the right physical and vocal characteristics. I can't vouch for him not having been taken over, or bribed against us somehow. He is a Forten warrior however, they aren't known for trading sides easily. Even if they're wrong, or their leaders are."
"I love you, too, mech-head. Did you get a report on what Dareg here did? He took a group of civilians to an outer planet, using a jump device. If we can, we should get him to try going further than that. I'd love to get back to the fleet without spending seven years in stasis. Our little gates only take us about twenty miles." He yawned, and rubbed his eyes a bit.
Lyone just nodded.
"I'd yell at you for giving that all away, but he's already taken a craft to the fleet, and back. They even greeted some of the Ysidril without starting a war or running away, screaming. None of the other pilots seem to be able to do that yet, however. Dareg Canton was damaged in the fight with the Adversaries here. You heard about that?" She spoke as if the man on the other end might be dense, which wasn't the case as far as Dare knew. He'd only been hard working and intelligent the whole time.
"I did, of course. I got a copy of the eye witness report. That was a boon. I didn't know that Captain Canton had been on site for it. He was fit for duty however, so it seems that he's healed enough for at least light tasks. Are there plans for more trips to the fleet? Is that why there's a rush on to get facilities ready for visitors on Mars?"
Lyone actually seemed baffled there, not having heard that part before. Because clearly, these people didn't share most of what they knew, even if it was pretty safe to do so. That spoke of mistrust, but she'd mentioned some of that. The three groups weren't always easy with one another, even though they'd thrown in to fight the Adversaries.
So Dareg answered, instead of making things more tense between the two aliens.
"In part. I also need to find a home for Karina and I to live in. We'll probably be on the Martian Circle most of the time, but a city there, on Mars, that can sustain life isn't a horrible option. I was thinking that getting room for a few million people wouldn't be a horrid idea. Some of the wizards have already agreed to help. Alyssa Baker has a new city she wants to try out. It will make one underground. Taman has some radiation units that will fix that portion of things for us. There was more, but I haven't thought much about it for a week or so." Then he shrugged, not caring too much if it didn't mean anything.
Lyone let her head come up, and then tilted it. Slowly. Like it had meaning that Dare just didn't know. He had to guess that Lenn would, however.
"That's kinder than I would have figured for a greeting. I don't know about trips however. There and back? I had asked before, but then there was a problem, and that made getting things done harder."
Dareg could really see that one.
"Pretty much what the word problem means. Um, sure. We can go in a few days? Just a quick trip however. I can get you there, and then come back for you when you want? Right now... Well, I need to get to bed soon, or we could go now."
It really wouldn't take him that long. The biggest drawback was trying to land or get an airlock on the other side of things. They didn't have a way to communicate directly.
Sara moved a bit, and put her arm over his shoulders, like a person that was trying to claim ownership. That could have been something else of course. Maybe even just her thinking of him as a little brother, or however she put that kind of thing in her head. It certainly wasn't her saying she wanted him in bed.
"Sam, do you have some lights, or something simple that Dare here can practice copying? He hasn't done it before, but he can. I'm going to walk him over how to do it tonight, so he can give it a try in the morning."
That got the man to scramble in his desk, opening a drawer without speaking first. Then he started putting things on the surface in front of him. A lot of them were on metal bits, though half of them were on stone. It made a tidy pile, which he stared down at, closing the things with a soft sound that wasn't a real thud.
"These. Get copies of all of them, in stone, then we can work up to something harder? You're taking the first part of this? Tim said he was going to be doing it, but everyone is so busy right now." He shook his head, and locked eyes with Dare. "I know that isn't fair, but if we all work together we can do it. More to the point, you can do it."
The line of conversation was making him uneasy.
"Um, just because Tor can do it, and is my father..." It was hard to explain that he wasn't his father. It was a thing that he'd never really had to think about a lot before.
Sara snorted at him, crossed her arms and winked almost all at one time.
"No. I'm not saying you can do it because of that. There are real signs, and there have been, though. I told you that being able to hide the door on one of Tam's pod houses was hard? I tried it, and it's at least as difficult as making a healing amulet. Yes, it takes less time, but if you have the focus, and can act outside of yourself, you can do it. From what I've heard about your ability to use a jump ship, you have the needed creativity. Between those two things, you should be able to do new, full builds today if you wanted. It's not fair really, since everyone else had to work harder than that to make things function, but that just means we can expect more from you. No pressure. Just, you get what we're saying, don't take six years to learn what you should be doing in the next weeks."
Sam looked at her cross eyed and then laughed.
"Fair enough. So here, load your pockets. Give those back when you're done. Tomorrow evening?"
Sara squeezed his shoulders and moved toward the desk still holding him, dragging him along. The mechanical people just smiled, like it was slightly boring but normal enough.
Lyone tilted her head.
"So we can take that trip in two days, if you need tomorrow to learn this skill set? It really is useful for a lot of things, even if it doesn't work directly against the Adversaries, yet."
There was a cough from the handheld, which sounded a bit disbelieving.
"Are you going to be able to pick me up here, or should I use the new transport service to get to you there? That's handy, I have to say. There are daily trips down there from here now."
He thought about it, and finally nodded.
"I'll come get you, and anyone else going? That way I can get the people from here on board first. Call it nine in the morning Noram Capital time?" He glanced at the two with him, and wondered if other people would be coming. If so, it would let them see who was out and about.
Spying on them. Not that he didn't get the idea. They j
ust couldn't trust that the people of Earth were their friends yet. Mainly because they probably weren't yet. They had a common enemy, but most didn't know that at all. The raw truth was that if Lyone and her friends were found out just then, a lot of them would be attacked, at the very least.
Though if they tried to blend in a little more instead of testing everyone, they might actually not be in that much danger. There was almost no difference between these two and say, anyone else he might have seen, day to day. True, they were supposed to be machines, but there was no way to tell if that was the real case.
Sara clapped once.
"All right. You have the time schedule? Lenn? Can you make it then?"
"I'll be at the main docks. Out." The handheld went dead suddenly.
That got the thing handed back to him. It was done efficiently, without pause of note. Like she knew that the device was about to be silent, even before it had happened. Most people had small gaps in what they did. Dareg did, he knew. This machine person probably did, but at that moment there was no sign of it.
Sara reached out with both hands, got the amulets and tiles, none of them with strings on them, and handed them all over to Dare.
"Pockets are in order, if you're walking home. Sam and I need to get to the palace." She looked at the machine people and smiled gently. "We need to talk about you behind your back. You understand?"
Brice, the man, screwed his face up a bit. It was comical, in effect, and probably meant to be.
"Oh, sure. That's what we're going to be doing when we get back to the fleet. It will all be about how fat your behind looks and how horrible Sam's haircut is." He grinned suddenly, which was disarming.
Dare nodded however, getting the real idea.
"Or more likely, about how you can say that in front of these people and get no more than a frown in return? Not that either of them did that. Testing us is part of why you all came, isn't it? I suppose that has to keep going on?" Because throwing in with them didn't make them all good people. That didn't follow at all. It just meant that they were smart enough to realize that having help with a very powerful enemy made sense.
