by Power, P. S.
Lyone gave him a steady look, breathing deeply, as if trying to stay relaxed.
"Yes. I imagine you'll need to do the same with my people, when you get there? I'll suggest a selected group be provided for that?"
He shook his head but tried not to roll his eyes at her.
"That makes no sense. I kind of need to meet people at random for that. That, or walk into your version of a prison and find the lowest of your society and ask them what they think on the matter? I mean, any group can seem good if they can put up a King Richard or Prime Minister Foley as their example." He meant it, and Lyone made a face.
"That isn't untrue. I can't tell you how to get that done however. If I did, it would end up steering what you found out, which would, naturally, have to be suspect."
It was a simple fact. It took a few moments for him to make enough pockets to hold all the various magics that he'd been loaned. Not that he knew how to get copies made of them really.
Sara nodded, then bowed to the room.
"I'll meet you at the palace, Sam? I'll leave from Dareg's. We need to go over things."
Then, with an unsubtle tug, she started him toward the door. The hallway they went through looked very different now, but it was the same space that he'd gone to after the big fight. An image of his friend, Bill, hitting him thousands of times, all at once, smeared across his mind suddenly. He froze, missing a step as it happened.
Sara took his arm, preventing him from falling flat on his face.
"Okay there, Dare?"
"I remembered the fight. With Bill and Straughan? The... It's so hard to explain what the whole thing was like. A smear of things all taking place at one time. I don't have a good way of explaining it."
"Right. That seems to be everyone. Even Timon can't do it. He tried to tell me what it was like, but his recall of it is no better than yours. My guess is that we simply don't have a way to talk about it, making it hard to categorize in our heads."
That made sense to him. Rather than talk about that, or how he felt, which wasn't what he wanted to do at the moment, Sara suddenly started saying strange things. Ones that almost didn't make sense.
"If you quiet your mind well enough, and focus on any given object, without using words or images in your head, you can feel it. Even at a distance."
That got him to nod a bit, since he'd noticed that kind of effect before. With Tor guiding him, and a few times on his own, after that.
"I... Think I know that one. Yes."
"Good! Do that, and feel a single amulet in your hand. It doesn't have to be held, or even on your body or near it, but most people find that easiest at first. Feel its pattern, then hold that, and concentrate on another piece of metal, or stone, passing the field over to it. The harder an object is the more difficult it is to get it to take a field." She shrugged then as they walked quickly, toward his little pod house. There was no one else around at the moment, not even a single ship in port.
"Got that?"
"Well, I understand your words... Does that count?"
"Yep. So, once you hold the field over an object, you need to keep the sense of it there. Over time it will work its way into the object. As soon as it's strong enough, you have a copy. The longer you hold your focus, or the cleaner or deeper you do it, the stronger that new field will be. After that, you can create new things, by making up a good sense of what you want to happen, and doing the same thing. Some people have a problem with that, because you really need to do it without thinking in words or images much. Having clarity in that way is the important part to all of this. That and time. Practice those things, and you'll do fine."
It sounded easy, which was probably a trick. Holding complex ideas, without thinking in words was going to be very different than how he'd lived his whole life.
"No problem. I'll get back with you in a few decades when I work that out?"
"Sure. That's the spirit. Just know that it often takes six to ten hours to make the first copies, so, you get me, sit on something soft when you try it?"
Then, laughing, she walked him home.
Chapter seven
For all that Sara and Sam Builder had made it seem like it was the easiest thing in the world to simply do magic, Dareg had to struggle all day to get the copies made as requested. The hard part was holding the field steady all the time, and not let his mind fly away every twenty seconds or so. After a while, it did get easier, but it was never easy, really.
He'd started at first light, and at about dark he did have one of each of the ten things that had been given to him. More exactly, he had about ten of each of the last two, and one of each of the others. Then, he stumbled out to get something to eat, starving. Except, he realized he needed both water, and exercise, a lot worse than he did food at the moment.
So trying to get back on track, he changed his clothing to plain brown and soft leather like shoes, and padded to the city wall and back. That was six miles, and took him about an hour to get done. The light from the glowing river next to the path the whole way made it easy, and safe enough to run, even in the dark. At the end of that, he came around to end not too far away from Tam-Unit, who started to glow a bit, as he approached. It wasn't bright, but it let him see her easily enough.
"Dareg! There you are. Would you like some water? Or a mineral supplement drink? Let's do that one. You look tired."
A large tumbler made of glass pushed out of the solid seeming front, releasing only when it was firmly held in his hand. He drank it, thinking it was water, but it had a too sweet flavor, and a sting to it, that wasn't unpleasant when it hit his throat. As soon as he finished and placed the glass back in the side of the magical device, Tam-Unit smiled at him.
"Now, you need food. Calories really. I'll make up a drink for you. High fat, high protein... I don't have a recipe for that, but I think I can put it together. That's all right with you? It might taste awful, but it will be good for you." She looked hopeful, as if she really wanted to try something not on her specific list.
"You can make up new things?"
"Oh, sure. Why wouldn't I be able to? So is that a yes?"
"It is. Let's have the medicine then. I need to get inside and try more magic, and then sleep. This whole day has been boring, you know that?"
"Really? That sounds fascinating to me. Making magic like that. I can't do it. Being magic myself I lack a certain permanence to cause things like that to happen. So if I need anything, I'll just pass along a request to you?"
That sounded fair to him, so he nodded, then held his hand out to get the large, pitcher sized drink that was coming out of her front.
"There, now it should taste a bit like mud, if I have it right? Drink it all now."
It was smooth, thick and cold, but sweet in taste, and not at all like mud. Really, it was a bit like a fine liquid dessert. That didn't mean he could get it all down, his stomach stretching painfully well before that point.
"This is good! Too much of it however. I should take this with me. It will keep?"
"For a few hours. Up to six? After that things will separate and not be as good. It won't hurt you, but..."
She sounded pleased and almost shy. It was very adorable, he realized.
"I'll have it before then. Well, wish me luck?"
"All of it."
Heading inside, holding what seemed to be a ceramic container that was half filled with a dark sweet beverage, one similar to coffee he thought, in flavor, Dare headed inside, and took one of the small ceramic bowls that he'd been placing all the different fields on. The glowing sigils were on the outside, so that they could be used for soup or tea at need, and still be activated.
This one was much harder than the rest had been, since his idea, while simple, was a new one. He got the real problem however after trying for a bit. He didn't have anything to check with to make certain he wasn't drifting around in his thoughts. After a few hours he realized that he was just making a hash of the whole thing and that it wasn't going to work. Not that
night.
"Tomorrow, then." Not sleeping wasn't going to make him better at doing it. Really, it made sense to him, having tried now, that he should pick one of the simpler magical fields and try to do it from memory to practice, before attempting to be the world's best builder in a single day.
He showered before climbing into bed, figuring that it would be harder to get one in the morning, and slept long enough that he was afraid he was going to be late. Regardless, he jumped up, and checked the time as soon as he could, then smiled when he realized that it was only six in the morning. That had probably given him seven hours of sleep or so.
Dreading it, even though his legs didn't hurt yet, he went for another run, moving a bit faster this time, and managed to clean up by eight. Then he moved to Sam Builder's palace at a trot, and set up his jump craft. This time he made it a little larger, and added in some sleeping rooms, if not very many. It wasn't the vast size that the Saturn trip had needed, but he was going to take food and water with him. That meant a trip to the ocean to get that, and coming back with an extra layer of black craft, filled with material that should keep ten people for about a year if they were careful.
Then he decorated the whole thing, wanting to make a good impression. He started with a shining black, then added glowing copper designs on the outside, stretching the thing upward and giving it a pointed top, like a spire. Then he climbed out, noticing he had an audience that he hadn't really expected.
Sara and Sam Builder where there, along with Lyone, and Brice. Next to them was Tor however, and Alphonse Cordes. The heir to the Noram throne. From the pack he had, a plain thing that seemed to be made of leather, but was clearly magical, he was planning to go with them.
"Morning! I... This is more than I expected. Are you going to Harmony?" He looked at the prince, knowing it wasn't the case.
"Emissary to the stars. That sounds like a good title, doesn't it? Father sent me. Well, it was me going, or him doing it. He isn't wrong, really. How often do we treat with three new civilizations at once?"
Dareg smiled then, and shrugged.
"I see, so he doesn't want to test the unknown child? I can see it. Come on then, I promised to be at the port in Harmony by nine. Load up, if you're going." He waved at them, getting them to go inside.
It was big enough for people to stand in, or to have chairs in the main space. There was a low table with his new magical copies on it, the bowls looking a bit ridiculous now that he knew people were going to be looking at them. Each was just big enough to hold in a single hand, which seemed tiny when both Sam and Tor moved directly to them, picking them up, and activating them one at a time.
That meant that as he rose, going straight up about two thousand feet, and heading west ten miles or so, that no one sat or made a chair. Instead they played with the funny shaped things that he'd made. Sara took one of the bowls, made a toothbrush and held the ivory handled thing up between two fingers.
"Not bad. The field seems strong enough. Why bowls? Not that they aren't pretty. You could probably just decorate things like this with glowing patterns and sell them with no more magic than that."
Tor just kept looking at them all, but Sam guessed the real reason for the containers.
"It was what you could get from the Tam-Unit?"
He looked straight forward, and nodded, hoping it wasn't too silly sounding.
"That one. I tried a real build, but messed it up. I worked out some ideas for practice though. Just using one of those fields and doing it from memory for a bit. Or changing up over several of them first, then trying a novel thing?" It felt weak and silly, saying that like he knew what he was doing.
Tor didn't speak, but Sam did, sounding pleased.
"This is good. Really good, for your first day. You should make certain to work on things like this every day from now on. Let Sara or me know when you want to try your first real build though, so we can sit with you and make certain you don't die. It can take a few days or longer, to do it right. You'll need water and possibly food. Broth and things like that. Great start however."
Tor moved to sit next to him, just in time for the jump that placed them right over Harmony. A bit away however, so they wouldn't accidentally hit someone. So far that had never happened. There just weren't that many people coming and going, but it could become a problem eventually, so coming in from a way off was a good plan.
"We need to set up entry and exit points for orbits. I hate to lose the time on my jumps, but if we don't there will be problems eventually. Or..." He paused, then started moving toward the Moon.
Tor looked at him, from his right hand side. The man loomed a lot, being so big.
"Those Tam-Computers that you had Taman make for fleet?"
"Exactly. We can make certain we know where everyone is going and coming in that way, preventing accidents. Some of them. Eventually people will make mistakes, but everything we do to stop that will be helpful. Really, while we're here we need to get some communications units for the people that we're visiting. So they can just talk to us when they need? Or is that a bad idea?"
Lyone cleared her throat very gently.
"If it's allowed, that would be a nice gesture. Perhaps if we could show some of the other magics as well? These you have here would be interesting enough, for display purposes."
That way they wouldn't have to denude the magic shop at the same time.
"Sure. I can make more, so that won't be a problem. It's, well they look funny, don't they?"
Brice laughed, "not really. Plus they can be put to useful work too, holding liquids or small things, which is better than just riding in a pocket all the time. Living in space the idea of things having more than one use is kind of how we live. No one there will think it odd anyway. Just practical."
That got nods from Lyone and oddly enough Sara. The Ancient blonde smiled at him, and made a chair for herself, then one for everyone else, so they wouldn't feel required to stand.
She spoke calmly, as if feeling a tiny bit bored.
"When we get back later we'll run over some drills, doing copies, meditating and things like that to help you get your first build going."
Everyone else acted like it wasn't a big deal, but that was probably just the truth for these folk. Tor certainly wasn't going to pick him up and dance around over a few magical copies of other's works. He taught people how to do things like that every day, so it wasn't going to be special or novel to him. Sam and Sara were both builders as well, and had been for a long time. Years, if not decades.
Hence the boredom at what he'd done.
The point however was that he had the basic ability to do that kind of thing, and could make magic happen. So he should, eventually be able to manipulate time, in order to fight the Adversaries. Wanting to be praised for basic things that half the room could do already didn't seem right to him. Not when he stopped to think about it.
The others chatted as they came in to land at the port, which took the same fifteen to twenty minutes that it always did, because it had to be done slowly. As soon as they had the airlock tube in place, Tor stood up, waving toward the center of Harmony.
"I'll get the communication devices, and a few other things. Twenty minutes?" Then, not waiting for anyone to say yes, or give a reason why they couldn't wait, he rose into the air about six inches, and started to float away at a speed that was a lot better than a jog would have allowed.
After ten minutes of sitting, wondering if he needed to go out into the port proper, Lenn walked in, carrying a large soft bag with many straps on it. It seemed to be filled with stuff, and not all of it looked like clothing.
Lyone glanced at it and shook her head. She did smile however.
"Every bit of magic you could collect?"
The silver eyed, and haired, muscular fellow nodded. He didn't seem ashamed of himself.
"As to my orders. I don't have a jump ship, but I do have one of the new computers." He looked at the mechanical people, as if he expected them to scr
eam about the theft, but no one mentioned that. "That was a bit of rule bending, but..."
Dareg thought about that one for a moment, and then nodded.
"It makes sense. Not only to have one, but it will be connected to the network, so it can be another way of communicating. That can't hurt anything."
The man looked at him, and put the heavy, not all that huge, bag on the floor.
"Well, at least I have the Captain with me! It isn't like I have a choice. I have orders, so it has to happen. I don't suppose you have an extra jump craft available? I have no way to trade for it."
He shook his head, and so did Sara, who seemed amused by the whole thing.
"It isn't that we don't want your people to have those, but they're hard to make. I think we have ten people that can do that now? If your people want some, you're going to have to get with some of them, personally. I can't do it. I think Tor can though and he's coming along. Timon, Tiera... Taman probably can, though I don't know that. Sam, can you do it?"
There was a head tilt then, the tall blond man making a face.
"I... Think so? We haven't been putting out that many of them, on purpose, so far. We have a plan, but it's about building infrastructure first, rather than just hopping about in a rush outward."
Brice stood up, and stretched. Why a mechanical person needed to do that, Dare didn't know.
"I can see that. We, the fleets, travel, but we carry a lot with us. Planets worth of resources. You'll see."
There was, strangely enough, very little conversation after that. Not until Tor came back, floating quickly. He had a rather nice looking chest floating behind him, that kept up easily as he moved. As soon as he got inside, Dare closed the door, turning it into a solid wall. It was a dusky gray color, the way he wanted it to be. Then he cast off the glowing red tube with a bit of concentration, causing it to retract rapidly.
Before he could get the ship to spin in place all the way, the outer wall had opened, to provide a way for them to escape. It took ten minutes to slowly move out, but after that it was simple enough to get up into orbit, then recall how he'd found the fleet before.
