by D. R. Rosier
I turned and glared at the reporter the magic led back too. This could get complicated.
I said firmly, “No comment, please don’t bother me at work,” and took Toni by the arm and teleported through the door.
I smiled smugly. Not having to hide may have its uses…
When we walked in Lina frowned at us from behind her desk and said, “Conference room.”
We went down the hall and knocked before opening the door and walking in. Darnell and Abby seemed to be arguing based on the looks on their faces. I grabbed a coffee and took a seat.
Toni asked, “What’s going on?”
Abby glared at Darnell and said, “He wants to shut us down for a while… And I’m telling him there is no point.”
I asked, “Why?”
Darnell frowned at me, “I’d figure you of all people would understand. The FBI are using remote viewing and catching all the people on their most wanted list, and they’ll probably have them all within a day. The CIA is watching other countries. What do you suppose our competing companies are doing? They’ll steal the results of our experiments and read the monitors. Get blueprints, all of it, without ever having to come near the building.
“It’s quiet out there now, but what you and your family did will change everything. It’s only a matter of time until criminals figure out concrete can’t stop them, and guns are a joke. It’s only a matter of time before everything falls apart. Do we really want to add new powerful inventions to the mix?”
I liked that he was concerned about his inventions getting in the wrong hands, but he wasn’t playing what if far enough along.
I nodded, “I know, but the alternative to loosing the magic was worse, trust me. Society and government will eventually change drastically. Those people that steal your stuff, well they won’t last long… and the peeping toms and other spying will all die down. It’s all about being forced into an honest society where you can’t lie.
“Also, all those people in prison that escape won’t last long against the rest of you. Forget the old way, waiting for the police, it may take a while to get there but we’ll work as one society.
“Consider one man with magic against a room full of hostages, that all have magic. It would be completely different from a man with a gun and ten helpless people. They also can’t escape for long if they run. No one can lie and get away with it, which means swift justice that isn’t in doubt. No… the criminals will be screwed, not rolling in luxury and taking what they want. It goes the other way too, people falsely accused will be let out of prisons and be able to reclaim a life.
“It will be an honest but brutal change in some ways. Not sure though that a power source would matter at all that much to the chaos that will happen. All it would really do is provide easy and cheap power. Plus boss, my inner geek is dying to build it.”
Toni said, “Vinnie is right. People may steal it, but in the long run they’ll be screwed. No long protracted court battle, just two people, one honest, the other a liar and a thief. It won’t be that simple for a while, but it’s coming.”
Abby added persuasively, “They’re making sense boss. When they are interviewed to make that patent, the clerk will know they are lying about it being theirs. When the reporters interview them, it won’t take long either. A few stupid ones will fall, and then after that, corporate espionage will stop as a crime despite how easy it would be, simply because there’d be no more money in it.”
Darnell closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, “Fine, but if I lose my shirt you’re all fired.”
I snorted and lifted my eyebrow to make a point. He’d tried to sound like he was joking, but he’d meant every word of it.
We went back to the lab and got to work…
We didn’t really have anything solid that first day. I was working with a theory that would collect solar energy and heat out in space, then transmit it here using exotic particles. There were other implications and possibilities, using the energy created by the planets themselves as they orbited the sun for example. But we had a long way to go in applied science before we reached the point we could even try advanced theories like that.
Still, even what I was planning was impressive. I could hardly imagine what benefits collecting energy from the sun and sending it to earth would engender. It would be possible to create a large field electric field, much like cell and radio towers worked, but transmitting energy instead of data. It wouldn’t be easy, hell, even getting something close to Mercury’s orbit would be tough, but a small proof of concept device in the lab shouldn’t be that difficult.
Actually I take that back, it won’t be that hard with anti-gravity to get something close.
All we had though at the end of the day were conflicting ideas and dead ends. We could take it up again tomorrow.
Abby asked, “You up for drinks tonight?”
I shared a look with Toni, and then said, “Sounds good, as long as we can avoid the press.”
We wound up at the same bar we did on that first day, after I relented and answered a couple of questions from the press. The disturbing part was they seemed much more concerned about my personal life than anything else.
Abby seemed to have as many questions for us as the press did, but I was much more comfortable with a drink in my hand and a relaxed atmosphere. She also seemed more concerned about magical topics, not my sex life which was kind of a relief to tell the truth.
By the third drink, I was feeling pretty good.
Abby asked, “So what do you think the fae will do?”
I shrugged carelessly, “I don’t know. They may attack or do something else entirely. It’s hard to say. The longer it takes though, the better it is.”
Abby nodded, “I suppose, the more we learn about our magic the better.”
I offered, “If you want I’m sure my wife would stop by and give you the basics mentally. Then it’s all just practice instead of discovery.”
She asked, “Wife?”
I shrugged, “It’s how I think of them, of course not legally… But Kristi has had her magic for four years, so she knows what it can do.”
We chatted for a bit more and had a couple of drinks. Abby said she’d have to think about it. It wasn’t all that surprising, the magic was new and the thought of someone in her mind that she didn’t even know… It would take time for people to trust their new senses.
We stayed out until around nine, Abby needed to get home to her family, and so Toni and I got in the car and started for the house.
I asked, “Do you need to get anything from the apartment?”
She took my hand, “No, I got what I needed last night for the next few days.”
I said carefully, “Is everything okay? You seem a little tense.”
She shook her head, “Just something I need to work through on my own. Nothing to worry about.”
“So you’re getting along with Kristi and Alicia?”
She nodded, “Their amazing actually.”
I nodded sagely, “Of course, they put up with me don’t they?”
She snickered, “You’re not so bad… most of the time.”
She squeezed my hand as we pulled in. I wondered if we should even bother with the car. Now that I don’t need to hide, all those little habits I’d created almost seem silly now. I did like driving my cars though, so I would have to think about it.
I gave her a kiss before we got out and went into the house, which was full of people. Toni and I looked at each other with surprise as we looked around. Kristi walked up and kissed my cheek.
“Surprise, thought we might throw a little party tonight.”
I pulled her against me and kissed the top of her head, “What’s the occasion?”
She shrugged, “Been a while since we were all together. There seems to be a break in the fight so…”
I smiled, “Great idea.”
Besides my sister and her three mates, there were quite a few people. My parents were here along with their othe
r mates; Kim, Amy, and Lisa. Along with my brother Ray, sister Claudia, and Elisha and Eloise who were the only other humans with magic up to a few days ago, and who were family friends. I also recognized a few coven members, most notably Willa, Tara, and Stacy who were still known to visit my father on occasion. Last but not least I noticed a few sorcerers wandering around.
I took the opportunity to introduce Toni to the latter, while also trying to catch up with all the former. It was a long party, with lots of drinking, although everyone behaved themselves with a child here. I laughed when Elisha was telling me how she was teaching her teachers how to do magic so they could teach their classes.
It was definitely a good time to be alive right now, with all the changes going on. But there was also a caution hanging over our heads. The news was starting to show what I predicted; the harshest of the governments that kept their people in a stranglehold were quickly being put down. Not that it was such a bad thing, people deserved to be free, but death and destruction is never fun to hear about.
Toni looked like she was a bit overwhelmed meeting all these new people, so we stepped outside onto the deck for a quick breather.
Toni giggled, “You remember what I said about your parents when we first met.”
I nodded, “What about it?”
She whispered, “They are wonderful people, you have a great family. But… they are still sorta scary.”
I laughed, “Yeah, a bit. I can’t argue that.”
She on the tips of her toes and kissed me softly with her hands on my chest, “You’re just like them you know.”
I shook my head, it was hard to picture, I was just me…
She smiled, almost like my denial pleased her, and she kissed me again before pulling me back inside…
When I asked how things were going with my parents my mother made a face.
“The council is shut down right now. We were holding a meeting this morning and humans came in curious. I’d guessed they sensed all the different auras in there. Next thing I knew there were reporters coming in. I’m proud of you and Hope, but so much is changing. At least it was peaceful though, they were just curious.”
My wife flipped on the television, and gradually silence fell in the room. I had wondered what the fae would do, and it looked like I was about to find out. There was quite a bit going on and it took watching for about fifteen minutes to get through it all.
There were reports of fae appearing in remote areas, away from the cities where their magic would be most blunted. A few small towns in Middle America had gone dark at the latest report. As for how the fae planned to deal with the cities. I could barely believe my eyes when the television showed an image through a telescope.
There was a large blank spot in space, and coming out of it were a number of small meteors. They brought in experts who believed we were about to be bombarded from orbit. Some even suggested, and it made sense, that the fae would be guiding them in for maximum damage in the cities.
I looked all around me at who was here, and then at Kristi, who had turned on the television. All this had been her work. Had she known this would happen and shielded it from the rest of us? I don’t think I could have been that strong. She smiled at me weakly and I went over to hold her.
This wasn’t something even all the people in the room could fix, what could we do against an orbital bombardment? Or even the thousands of invading fae. It seemed like a bad dream. We were at war.
The noise started to build up as everyone absorbed what they had seen. Ironically in a few months the humans could have joined together and tossed the meteors like pebbles back through the hole in space. The magic of six billion joined in a single purpose. But right now? They were learning but still had too far to go in both skill and trust.
Everyone seemed scared, but also promised to help if we came up with something, before they left for home. What now?
I had absolutely no idea…
Chapter 10 – Hope
They say ignorance is bliss. I had always wondered how they made worlds uninhabitable during the wars with magic. There may not be nuclear radiation, but all those meteors hitting would cause megatons of damage, spewing dust and dirt into the air and possibly starting an ice age.
I really wish I still didn’t know.
Everyone was gone from Vinnie’s now, except for the eight of us. We were sitting on the couch staring off into space.
I asked grasping at straws, “Any ideas? What about that anti-gravity thing you made?”
Vinnie shook his head, “If we had six months… maybe. As it is, we have what, five days before the meteors hit the atmosphere?”
I asked in a strained voice, “Rafe?”
He frowned and looked a little defeated when he said, “Nothing I could do would help. My world is protected from this type of attack, but even if my sovereign wanted to we couldn’t implement the solution here in a week. It would take months to build the spells to cover your planet from this type of attack. We don’t really have high technology either, we use magic for everything.”
Vinnie asked, “What race does have the tech we are just learning? Magic wise it seems like your race as well as the human race here is limited by time.”
Rafe looked thoughtful, “The grays I believe your popular fiction calls them. But we are back to the same problem. It would take a longer than a week to build a gate to their world and they might not even help.”
I asked, “Have you ever met one? I need to know what their magic feels like.”
Vinnie looked up at me sharply and Rafe asked, “Why?”
I replied, “Because Vinnie and I can cross realms remember? We only go to limbo because it’s empty and close enough to ours to see across. Just because we haven’t gone to others doesn’t mean I can’t like I’m walking across a room. But there are too many to search, I need a place to start.”
Bree growled, “But you can’t take anyone with you.”
I shrugged, “I can take Vinnie with me. The rest of you can work on the fae problem here,” I turned to Vinnie, “Unless you think you can make a difference here, then I can go alone.”
Rafe didn’t look happy, but he transferred the memory to me with Kristi’s help.
I added, “Are you sure the tech you made won’t help? I imagine the president would make sure you got access to all the fabricators you could want.”
Vinnie shrugged, “There are hundreds of them, and even if I could figure out a way to change all their trajectories, the fae here would just pull them back. I don’t even have an idea how to do that. AG will help get things to the asteroids, but that’s a lot of mass and momentum to redirect.”
I shrugged, “Not if they’re dead. Or running for their lives when you do your thing… I’m sure the rest of our family would take care of that little detail.”
Vinnie asked, “If you’re so sure we can pull it off why go at all. I don’t like the idea of you being alone. You won’t even be able to take ghosts with you.”
I wasn’t sure about that, “I might be able to pull them there through our bonds. But I shouldn’t need them; if the grays are violent I’ll just come back… Besides, we need allies. Even if we do protect the earth this time around the fae will only try again in a different way.”
I turned to Kristi, “Do you think if the president gave you a battalion you could train them to join minds, would that be enough to push away an asteroid?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I could teach them, but it would take a lot of practice. Joining minds isn’t something you can rush.”
I closed my eyes and grated out with gradually increased volume, “What are we missing? There has to be a way. Either Vinnie or I have to be able to fix this right? Isn’t that the whole fucking point of the god damned stupid fucking prophecy?”
I might have been losing it. For all my back and forth, I was pretty sure I was wrong before. Me freeing the magic did this, caused this attack. We hadn’t been expecting meteors for hell’s sake.
Problem was, I wasn’t seeing Vinnie stepping up right now to fix my shit. I know that wasn’t fair, he was probably thinking hard to come up with something. But shit, this was too much to deal with.
I felt arms go around me and I knew it was my mates.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
I walked over to the bar set up for the party and grabbed a drink.
Toni said softly, “I have an idea…”
Everyone looked at her and she blushed.
Toni explained, “So, I think we could create enough AG devices to make a smaller size rocket weightless, that would be enough to extend its range to reach the asteroids. After that, the solution isn’t tech, its magic. If I were close enough, Vinnie or I, could easily turn it to dust with sorcery. I think we could come up with an earth ward that would do something similar, since we can’t go ourselves.”
Vinnie smiled, “That would work, you’re a genius. Of course, if Toni and I are doing that, the rest of you need to hunt out the fae and work with the government again. They could probably stop any launches if we don’t.”
I took another sip of my drink and sent a ghost to dad. He and mom showed up before I started on my third drink. Yeah, it wasn’t healthy but the world was ending, and I was fairly sure it was my fault…
Before I started I had Kristi locate Johnson and I reached out and grabbed him. Once he calmed down, I started explaining the plan. Vinnie and Toni would deal with the asteroids and needed all the resources the government could supply, including missiles. I also suggested if there was anyone else at the office that could help to bring them in on it. He had told me about Abby and it seemed to me an engineer might have some ideas too.
My parents and the rest of our family, including my mates, as well as Kristi and Alicia would work with the military to track down and kill the fae as fast as possible. With my father there they would be able to gather the dead fae as troops along the way. If he could collect enough of them, maybe he could have them fix the issue.
