Having no other direction, I pocketed the bead and followed him. He glanced up at the building and said, “What floor is she on?”
I pulled up the hospital’s records and found her. “Level 247, room 19A.”
He held out his hand and said, “Shall we go, then?”
He had an odd twinkle in his eye which concerned me a little but I took his hand, assuming he wanted to shake it for some reason. Instantly I found myself elsewhere, and my internal systems went into panic mode as my location became apparent.
I - we - were outside; not just outside the shuttle, but outside the dome in the poisonous atmosphere.
“Ah, here we are,” said Grandmaster Vydor.
Despite being surrounded by toxic gases, I was breathing clear air and seemed unharmed. That was not possible. “But what – how - ?” I tried to ask. My internal systems were in a spin, trying to acclimatize to the rapid change and current predicament.
He smiled. “Do not worry, I have put up a force field that is keeping us safe. If heights bother you, I would suggest you do not look down.”
I did not need to look down to know that we were almost a kilometer off the ground. My internal navigation array was having a fit, warning me of the danger I was in. I shut it off so that I could think. I really didn’t need it telling me that a fall from this height would be fatal.
Around us was clear air, but that only extended a meter or so in front of us; beyond that was the putrid colored smoke that passed as air on this world. I could just make out the dome of the hospital in front, but the ground below was completely obscured.
“Well, sir, you sure know how to ditch the media,” I said.
He chuckled and said, “You could be so much more than you are, yet you live here in this.” He waved his hand at the toxic air surrounding us.
“This is my home, sir,” I replied.
“You know you are worth more than all this. I am sure you can sense it, despite your implants. I am offering you a chance to escape this life and embrace what you truly are.”
I was floating a kilometer up, surrounded by a toxic cloud, and the grandmaster wizard was offering me a job. Nothing in my training had prepared me for this experience.
“Sir, I appreciate your confidence in me,” I said. I wanted to ask him why he kept referring to my implants as if they were hindering me, but I was not sure how far I could push this conversation. He was the most powerful figure in the known universe, after all, and I was a lowly security officer.
“I’ll think about it,” I added, realizing that he was waiting for a response to his offer.
He smiled. “We should go inside before the media works out that we found another way in and rushes up to look for us.”
We drifted forward and through the outer shield wall into the clear air of the hospital. It was an odd sensation that I couldn’t understand. All I knew for sure is that we were outside and then we were inside. Resetting my navigational array told me we were on floor 247 of the hospital.
“Hey, Joan, we’re here,” I sent across datanet.
“Which way?” asked Grandmaster Vydor.
“I assume we should check in at the nurses station first, sir,” I said. It’d probably be best to do that instead of barging in on the kid without warning.
Using a map of the floor from the hospital’s public files, I directed him that way. As we approached the station, Joan walked towards us. When she saw Grandmaster Vydor she dropped the clipboard she was holding, her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
“Well, you said she wanted to see a wizard, so I found one,” I said, smiling.
She picked up her clipboard and said, “My apologies, Grandmaster.”
“Quite all right. You might be comforted to know that I am familiar with this response to my presence,” he said.
“Yes, Grandmaster,” she said. She was still visibly flustered, but her training carried her through. “Follow me and I’ll take you to see Jessica.”
She led him to the little girl’s room but I didn’t follow. I had reports to file that were already late. Thankfully, carrying a computer in my head meant I could lean against the wall and work on them from anywhere that had access to datanet.
I had to report that I had witnessed the attack, judgment and execution. I had to account for my actions in the proceedings, the precautions I had taken to prevent the events that had taken place, and everyone whose presence I had noticed at the time. I had to report the subsequent meeting with the Emperor and my current assignment with Grandmaster Vydor. Fortunately, I had scripts running that could do most of the work once I fed them the details. I felt sorry for primitives who had to type all this in. It must take hours.
While I was working, Joan came up to me. “I can’t believe you pulled that one off.”
“I’m still not sure how,” I said. There was an easy familiarity between us. We definitely knew each other well and trusted one another, but I still couldn’t place her. Could she be a family member? Any memory of my real family was long gone with my humanity.
“Well, however you did it, thanks,” said a male whose voice I didn’t recognize.
I looked up, focusing on the world outside the office in my head, and saw a man standing beside Joan. John Jallison, age 54, unemployed, floated over his head. Jessica’s father.
“You’re welcome, sir,” I said.
“I wish you could have seen how her face lit up when he walked in,” said John.
“I’m glad. She seems like a nice kid, well-behaved and smart,” I said.
He smiled. “That she is. That she is.”
The unemployed tag over his head bothered me, so I pulled up his records. He was an out-of-work security guard. Apparently the last company he had worked for had gone out of business under shady circumstances. As a result he was blacklisted from security work, which was technically illegal but still happened. His record said he had applied to join the force, which meant he’d have gone through security checks with our behavioral research team, with whom I had a contact. I sent a message across datanet to my contact to get the results of that analysis.
“How is Jessica?” I asked.
His face fell. “The doctors don’t hold out much hope.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. It seemed inadequate, but I had no other words.
“They’re doing all they can for her; there is still hope,” said Joan.
“Yeah, I know. It’s all I have left to hold onto,” he said sadly.
“Lyshell, that case you asked me to check, John Jallison; he looks clean to me. Shame about the bad luck he had at his last job. He doesn’t deserve the black mark, from what I can tell,” came back from my contact.
“Thanks. Can you do anything about that mark?” I sent back.
“Officer, would you mind stopping in to see her? She’d really like to see you again,” said John.
“Yes, but not today; too much media about. I’ll have to get the grandmaster out of here before they break through or we’ll have a major circus up here,” I said.
Grandmaster Vydor walked up then and said, “Joan, I think you should suggest that the doctors check Jessica’s condition again before they do anything else.”
“Why?” asked John.
Grandmaster Vydor just smiled at him and said, “Go to her. She needs her father, and you will want to be there to hear the doctor’s report.”
Joan nodded and guided Jessica’s father back to the room before he could protest.
“Now I must go. I have another appointment to keep today. It was a pleasure meeting you, Officer Lyshell, and I hope you will consider my offer. You can be so much more than you are.”
I nodded. He pronounced some kind of ritualistic blessing and then vanished.
“If there is a position for him on the force, I’d be happy to mark his file as clean,” came the reply from my contact.
“Thanks. That’s all I need,” I said and sent his resumé up the chain with the note from behavioral research. Th
e force needed good people, and his file fit the bill. I was certain that ‘unemployed’ tag would soon be gone.
7
02-02-065 - Vydor
“Are you ready, Kellyn?” I sent.
“Yes, my love,” she replied.
“See you there, then.” I stepped out of reality and into the weave. Kellyn could not weave walk, so I could not bring her with me. Kellyn could travel the distance to the Nemesis in her own way, which saved me the trip home to pick her up.
Three kinds of wizards could travel virtually unlimited distances: spellweavers, travelers and spiritualists. Each of us did it by leaving the realm and reentering it at a different place, but since the reset of magic only spellweavers could leave all the realms entirely and enter into the weave.
The azure of the weave wrapped around me like an old coat. It felt like home. I paused for a moment and admired the flow of energy around me. I could see an uncountable number of energy sources that represented magi and jump technology across the entire multiuniverse that was creation. There were too many sources to comprehend, never mind try to place. Spectra’s marker formed a clear pattern in the chaos for me to hone in on.
I stepped out of the weave and back into reality. Spectra, Dusty and Kellyn were waiting for me in the ship’s main mess hall.
“Well, I seem to be the last to arrive,” I said.
Kellyn smiled and said, “You stopped again to look around.” It was not a question.
I smiled back, greeted everyone and said, “Congratulations, you two have done well out here.”
It had been about a month since they had detonated the Imperial Human station which had contained deadly biological weapons after stealing the database containing the information needed to create vaccines against them. That, however, was not what had really impressed me; what they had built on this ship, out of this crew, was incredible.
Even the ship itself was a wonder. Nemesis was far more than metal and computers. A rare kind of spirit known as a Shapeless had indwelt the body of the ship itself, transforming it in a very real way into a living ship.
“Thanks, Grandmaster,” said Dusty.
“We couldn’t have done it without you,” commented Spectra. She looked around the room and smiled. “Thank you. I can’t begin to express what this means to me.”
Kellyn took Spectra in her arms and hugged her. At first Spectra stiffed but then relaxed. I could just make out Kellyn’s whisper: “Spectra, you are family, and this is what family does.”
Nanny, the ever-faithful Dinjini who became everyone’s grandmother the instant she met them, came floating over. She bowed and said, “Emperor! Empress! I am so glad you could come!”
She was holding a steaming mug of coffee for me and the pink drink that Kellyn loved so much. How had she known about that? “Thank you,” I said, taking the mug. I had given up correcting her use of titles.
I took a sip from my coffee. “Cronain? Espresso roast! How did you get some of this?”
“Is it acceptable?” she asked. She seemed genuinely concerned about my reaction.
“Acceptable? It is perfect! I am merely amazed you had some Cronain beans on board,” I commented.
“I try to keep a variety of treats in stock, since it is impossible to know who’ll show up next on this ship,” she said.
“That it must be,” I replied with a chuckle.
Kellyn and I left Dusty and Spectra to mingle with the rest of the partygoers. It was a celebration of the successful mission and the founding of the order of the Spirit Corps. They were still a long way from home, but in a region of space that was essentially empty, making it safe enough to ignore the helm and throw a party. I would have preferred to get them all home by faster means, but even I could not gate an entire spacecraft. There was no way we could leave Nemesis to fend for himself, so they had to travel home by more mundane means.
The other wizards were understandably nervous around us. My rank alone would be enough to do that, but many also saw me as godlike. They were wrong; I was just a man who had access to some special powers. I was nothing like God, but their perception would shape their reality. I did my best to dispel it when I could and accept it when I could not.
Nemesis was not socializing with us, but Nanny told us not to worry. No doubt she would have words with him later about it.
Greymere and Saraphym entered the room together holding hands, and I moved towards them. As I approached, Saraphym’s eyes grew wide. She started to look anxious, as if she did not know how to react to me. It was an expression with which I was familiar.
“Peace,” I said as I approached. I smiled gently and spoke as kindly as I could.
Greymere extended his hand and said, “It is good to see you again, Grandmaster.”
“Yes, we have spoken only once in this past half-century,” I said, taking his arm in a traditional navy shake.
He smiled, but I could see it was forced. “So you remember our first meeting.”
I smiled and maintained my gentle demeanor, a technique that Shea had taught me. “I knew then what you were and said nothing. You were good at your job and I was sorry to see you go. In fact, I would have taken you in then had you given me a chance.”
He had not trusted me back then. He had trusted no one, but his time with Dusty seemed to be changing that. I suspected Saraphym was a big influence on him too.
He sighed. “Sorry, Grandmaster. After a life spent hiding in shadows, I’m having some trouble adjusting to the light.”
Saraphym pulled him close to her and said, “You never have to hide again.”
“She is right, but I understand how you feel.” I waved my arm across the room. “All this can be difficult to get used to, even for me.”
He looked up at that last comment. “How so?”
“Come, walk with me. Saraphym, you too,” I said.
They followed me out to the hall and into one of the side rooms. Here only Nemesis could hear our conversation.
“Greymere, I may have a job for you soon. One for which I think you are uniquely qualified,” I said.
“Oh? What would that be, Grandmaster?”
“There is someone I am hoping to save, but he is very broken,” I said.
“Is he like us, Grandmaster?” asked Saraphym.
“No; he is, or was, human,” I said to her and turned to Greymere. “He is currently working on the Emperor’s security forces. For the most part he spends his days hunting down citizens who have committed minor infractions such as refusing to register or not paying fines. Occasionally he gets bigger cases, but you know how that goes.”
“I take it not much has changed in the force, then?” he asked.
“If anything, it has deteriorated. I have tried talking with the Emperor, but he does not see the problems,” I said.
Greymere nodded. “I understand, and if I can help I will.”
“What do you mean, he was human, Grandmaster?” asked Saraphym.
“He has lost his way but does not yet realize it. I hope to guide him to better things,” I said. I took a deep breath and continued, “I hope to make him human again and whole, if that is possible.”
“Why him specifically?” asked Greymere.
“I do not rightly know. I am following my instincts. I planted a seed when I saw him last; if it sprouts I will talk with Dusty about assigning him to you. For the moment, I just wanted to know if you were willing.”
“Your kingdom has given me more than I thought possible. What kind of creature would I be if I turned away the opportunity to help someone else?” he said.
“Excellent. If he decides to take the offer I left him, I will be in touch.”
As I was about to leave, Greymere asked, “What did you mean back there when you said all this takes some getting used to, even for you?”
I smiled. “You did not know me before all this. I was just another officer serving my time in the navy and worshiping the Emperor. Sometimes I still get up and wonder if this is all a
really long dream.”
“You must have been very tired to sleep this long, Grandmaster,” he said with a smile. There was understanding in his expression. No doubt he felt the same way.
8
02-03-0065 - Vydor
The day following the party, I had an appointment with Raquel. It had been four months since she had led the Sac’a’rith to victory over the sorcerers in Phareon. She entered my office exactly on time, wearing her new purple-and-gray battle armor. It was perfectly form-fitting and extremely advanced; far more advanced than anything this realm had to offer.
Her face was completely blank, a perfect mask for her emotions. I trusted her but she did not yet fully return the honor. I knew she had a dark past to which she had not yet confessed. She would in time, I believed; for the present, I had to prove to her that I was as genuine as I seemed to be.
“Welcome, Raquel!” I greeted her.
“Greetings, Grandmaster,” she said and somehow made it sound as perfectly formal as if she had bowed. I had finally persuaded her to desist from actually bowing.
“Please sit down and relax,” I said, knowing very well she was unlikely to do that. I moved over to where I kept my drink and said, “Would you like some coffee?”
Silence. I had hoped that I had broken through some of that barrier, but it seemed —
“Grandmaster, I actually dislike coffee,” she said.
So her mask was a little cracked after all. “Well, I have something else you might enjoy, in that case.”
From the small cabinet under my coffee machine I withdrew a large flask and poured her a drink. I turned and found her sitting stiffly by one of the end tables. I smiled, placed the mug in front of her, and waited for her reaction.
She glanced at it, then took a second look. She picked it up and smelled the contents. “Mead?” she asked.
I nodded.
She took another sniff, looked at the drink longingly and said, “I shouldn’t.”
“Do not worry; it is not intoxicating,” I said. She looked confused, so I explained. “The delegations from Korshalemia always preferred various strong drinks, but the meetings would descend into chaos once they started flowing, so I asked my scientists to find a way to replicate the drinks without any of the side effects. I am told this mead matches the taste and body of the drink perfectly, but I never cared for it myself.”
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 4
