‘Oh, wow. You actually believed my story?’ she said, feeling legitimately shocked. She wasn’t at all worried about Harp or the other guys who were closing in on her. None of them were Magi, and they didn’t have anything on them infused with Essentia, so they were no real danger to her at all. Instead, she was actually mostly just surprised that she had been taken in by him. She guessed that this was what this man did every day, luring unsuspecting tourists down here for his fellow gang members to do with as they wished, which is why he’d not displayed any kind of peaking heartrate. Something that would have been a dead giveaway that he was up to something.
She wondered what they had in mind for her, and reached out with her Magic to have a little scan through their heads.
Disappointingly, it was just the usual. They’d take anything of value from her, get access to her accounts, and then either kill or traffic her as a drugged-up sex slave.
Amanda shook her head in disgust. So, even out here in the stars, on what was a clearly very advanced planet, humanity still did the usual horrific stuff to each other.
Somehow, she wasn’t all that surprised, but she guessed that she’d hoped for better. She’d hoped that maybe, in a more advanced society — which to her, looked like it had made considerable advances in equality and diversity — that there would be less of this kind of thing. Perhaps, she’d hoped that it might have even been eradicated. She wasn’t sure, but she knew she’d hoped for better.
She looked at the events of the last half an hour and how this man had totally fooled her, and couldn’t help but feel surprised that she’d fallen for it. But she guessed it had a lot to do with her environment and the fact that she was very much out of her comfort zone and exploring a whole new world, plus, he was a Riven, so she guessed her guard was down around him.
She’d probably made herself into something of a victim perhaps in her wide-eyed wonder as she’d been looking around and acting like a tourist. Clearly, this is what Harp was looking for each day. Easy victims.
‘You can’t get out of this,’ Harp pressed.
Amanda smirked again. ‘I beg to differ on that point,’ she said, boosting her Aegis a little in case of any surprises. As she waited, the lead guy in the group of gang members, in a fitted black and red suit with chunky boots and jacket, moved up to her and made to grab her by the arm. In fact, he was actually grabbing her Aegis that was snug against her skin, and as he tried to move her, found that he couldn’t.
She didn’t need the force field effect of the Aegis to help her, of course. She’d enhanced her body many times over the years, making her bones practically unbreakable, her muscles superhuman in strength, and her skin as touch as any armour, although still soft to the touch.
‘Urgh, hey, what’s…’ the gang member said as he tried to move her again.
Amanda sighed. ‘Really, you want to do this?’
‘Shut up you fraying scum,’ the gang member said and whipped his arm back before punching her in the face.
Amanda saw it coming a mile off and let it hit her, except that it hit her Aegis and not her actual skin.
The man might as well have hit a brick wall for all it did. Instead, there was a nasty sounding crack from the man's hand as he broke a bone or two. He screamed and staggered back, holding his hand.
Guns were drawn and melee weapons raised as the group realised something wasn’t right here.
‘What did you do?’ Harp barked at her.
‘I didn’t do anything,’ she said dismissively. ‘He was the one who punched me. Now, you guys are going to back off and leave me be. I’m going to give you this one and only warning before someone gets hurt,’ she said, her face serious.
One of the gang members clearly wasn’t in a talking mood, though, and stepped towards her, brandishing his impressive looking dagger as he swung for Amanda. The force field would have stopped it, but she wanted to have a little fun, so she dodged it, shifting to her right before she lashed out at him with a speed he probably had trouble following. She smashed her fist into his face, breaking his nose, easily sending blood everywhere and making him stagger back in shock. She spun and kicked him, enjoying using her martial arts and sent the man flying.
Movement to her right caught her attention.
She dodged again and rammed her elbow into this female attacker's face before following it up with another solid kick that flattened her as well.
Suppressed gunshots rang out and ricocheted off her Aegis harmlessly, and the attacks stopped as they all looked at her.
‘You’re a Magus, aren’t you?’ Harp asked.
‘Full marks to that one,’ she said to him, her tone mocking him.
‘I ain’t taking on a Magus,’ said one of the others.
‘Armanis ain’t paying us enough for this,’ said another.
‘Am I not?’ said a voice to Amanda’s right.
She turned and looked to see a man in a long black coat wandering up the walkway. This gang member glowed brightly with Essentia in her Aetheric sight, marking him as a Magus.
Amanda stood up straight, rising from her fighting stance, and watched this one more closely, he would be much more of a threat to her than any of the others.
‘A Magus, and one I don’t recognise. This is an auspicious day. Firstly, well done, Harp, impressive work, even if you did bite off more than you can chew this time,’ he commented before turning to Amanda. ‘Welcome to my humble abode.’
Amanda nodded.
‘Her name’s Amanda,’ Harp called out to the Magus. She wondered if he was the gang leader.
‘Is it?’
‘It is,’ Amanda said, narrowing her eyes at him. ‘Which means you have me at a disadvantage.’
‘Well, you’ve just heard my name. I’m Armanis, and, I’m afraid to say, you’re in my territory.’
‘Well, I do apologise,’ Amanda said, not really wanting to get into another fight if she could help it. ‘I’m new to the planet and not really familiar with how things are around here.’
‘That’s understandable,’ Armanis said, ‘and maybe we can overlook it, just this once?’
Amanda nodded. She didn’t have nearly enough to go on to make any kind of judgement about this guy: who he was or what he was up to. She could be getting involved in things way over her head if she started something here, and that really was not what she wanted. Instead, providing he did actually let her go, or even if he didn’t, she was already planning a quick escape back up to the Red City.
‘Then I bid you good day,’ he said, backing off.
She smiled at the gang leader and then looked over to Harp and shrugged. ‘It could have been beautiful,’ she joked. Harp raised an eyebrow as her Essentia surged and she Ported herself back up to the Red City, appearing on a walkway a little way from the crowds on the main promenades. A few people close by commented on her sudden appearance but went about their business fairly quickly. She looked at them, still feeling a little amazed that people weren’t freaking out about seeing Magic. It was so different to Earth.
And yet, as she’d just learnt, there were, somewhat depressingly, still plenty of things that were all too familiar such as criminality, and it looked like the Magi out here were involved in all strata of the society, from the ruling classes, right down to the criminal underworld.
She guessed Armanis was probably not too dissimilar to the mafia mobsters back on Earth, just on a grander scale.
Well, she thought, I’m not going to let that ruin my day.
Amanda spent the next hour walking through the streets, taking in the sights, and keeping out of any more trouble.
She ended up at a balcony that looked out over the planet below and marvelled once more at the massive towers that rose up from the surface to cut through the cloud cover, and the space elevators that reached up to orbital platforms like this one. Above her, the gigantic rings arced overhead while tiny ships boosted between them and the planet below. It was amazing to watch, and she spent nearly another t
hirty minutes just watching the scene before her in mute fascination.
But she couldn’t stay here forever. She wanted to get back. Her friends back on Earth would be wondering where she was. With a smile and a promise to herself to come back one day, she worked her Magic and Ported back to her ship, appearing inside of it, right beside her captain's chair. It was time to head home.
Lead Chasing
Earth
Settling the Arkady into a geosynchronous orbit high above Europe, Amanda powered down the Displacement Drive and enjoyed the view of the azure globe below her.
She couldn’t help the huge grin that seemed stuck to her face.
Seeing the Red City at Proxima and the incredible feats of Magic and engineering there, she felt excited to explore more of the cosmos and meet more of the people out there.
She’d stopped off at Sol Prime, the gigantic space station just outside of the Sol system on her way back as well.
Now, that she was back in range of her mental Link with the Legacy, she sent a pulse through to her friend, Israel Roth.
~Get down here,~ Israel said, opening the Link immediately.
~Um, okay, sure,~ Amanda said, feeling a little confused at Israel’s slightly harsh tone. Had she done something wrong?
Working her Magic, she ported down from the Arkady, appearing in the front hallway of the Legacy house. Israel was waiting for her, looking concerned.
‘Are you alright?’ he asked.
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Everything okay here?’
‘Not really,’ Israel said.
Luxana Nix stormed up the corridor. ‘I’m going to find him and destroy him, that’s what I’m going to do,’ she fumed.
‘Cyrac had a confrontation with the Nomad Kade in the city. Cyrac’s dead, Kade killed him,’ Israel explained.
‘Shite,’ Amanda cursed. ‘Where is this Nomad now?’
‘Not on Earth, as far as we know,’ Israel said.
‘He won’t stay hidden for long, I’ll find him,’ Lux said.
Amanda took hold of Lux’s arm, stopping her from pacing back and forth and looked her in the eyes. ‘I’ll help,’ she said.
Lux gave her a brief smile, but it didn’t last and quickly fell from her face. ‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, and then looked down at her very fitted and futuristic looking white catsuit. ‘Been shopping?’ Lux asked, cocking her head to one side slightly.
‘Um, yeah, couldn’t help myself. It’s amazing, though; like a second skin.’
‘Glad you’re enjoying it,’ Luxana said.
‘Thanks,’ she said, but she didn’t feel very happy inside. Cyrac had been here for the last few months, and even though she didn’t know him like Luxana did, she had liked the man and had considered him a friend. His stories about the world of the Magi beyond the stars were fascinating and inspiring, and she would miss hearing them. He had been the one to inspire her to create the Arkady in the first place, and now, a Nomad had taken him from them. She felt sad, upset, and she also felt a growing determination to find the Nomad responsible and exact some revenge on him. ‘I’m guessing you would like to get going?’
Luxana nodded. ‘Yes, I would,’ she said.
‘We’ll take my ship,’ Amanda offered.
‘Perfect,’ Lux agreed, as Amanda reached out with her Magic and Ported them both back up to the Arkady, high above the Earth.
Appearing on the bridge, Amanda looked over at Luxana. ‘I take it you have an idea where to start with this? I mean, he’s not on Earth somewhere, is he?’
‘He won’t be on Earth, that’s one thing I can be very sure of. He hates it here, and it would limit his options. No, he’ll be out there somewhere,’ Luxana said, nodding into the void of space visible out the window.’
‘So, where should we go first?’
Luxana frowned slightly as she thought, before looking up at Amanda. ‘I think we need some help,’ Lux said.
‘Alright,’ Amanda answered.
‘Let’s make for Sol Prime. I have a friend there who would have a much better idea where to start,’ she said.
Amanda nodded and moved over towards her chair in the centre of the bridge and settled herself into its soft embrace. She reached out with her mind to the ship's core and lay in a course. With the faintest of movements, the Arkady pulled away from Earth and turned towards the deep black of space as its displacement drive came online and boosted the ship away from Earth. They had a reasonable distance to go to get to Sol Prime, which was just outside Sol’s Heliopause, at around 200AU from Earth.
Amanda sat back and looked over to Lux, who was staring forward out the main viewport of the ship at the deceptively stationary stars.
‘So,’ Amanda began, ‘tell me about this friend.’
Lux turned and looked back at her. ‘Hmm? Oh, yes. I was talking about Astrid,’ she said.
‘Aaah, to be sure,’ she said and sat back. She’d met Astrid a couple of times since Luxana and Cyrac had been staying with them, but didn’t know her quite as well.
Astrid was a more practically minded Magus and seemed a little colder towards her, but she’d helped out on a recent mission, and had been happy to help with the construction of the Arkady. In fact, she’d been here when she had left on her maiden voyage to Axia.
‘She’d been here when I’d left, though,’ Amanda stated.
‘She was, but she didn’t want to stay. She left for Sol Prime just after you set off,’ Lux explained.
Amanda nodded and sat back in her seat. They had a three-hour wait to get to Sol Prime using the displacement drive. As she sat there, looking out at the void and the ribbon of stars that threaded through the pinpricks of light, marking the disk of the Milky Way galaxy, she felt her stomach grumble. She was hungry.
‘I’m going to get something to eat,’ she said as she rose from her chair. ‘Would you like anything?’
Lux turned to her and smiled, rising from her seat. ‘That would be nice,’ she said and followed Amanda out of the bridge and down a level to the main deck. Amanda led Luxana through the ship to the galley and waved towards a seat at the breakfast bar. The interior styling of the ship had been something that Amanda has been very specific about, and she’d taken her time to get it looking exactly how she wanted it to be.
Everything was white or polished mahogany wood, with clean, sweeping lines that made the interior of the ship look more like a luxury billionaire’s yacht than anything else. The galley was no different, with everything built in and hidden away. With a thought and a keen focus of intent, Amanda pulled on the local Essentia and conjured a meal onto the work surface for them. It was a light Ceaser salad, with lashings of dressing over the perfectly cooked chicken.
Amanda slipped herself onto the stool and picked up her fork. Luxana was already poking at her food with the utensil, looking like she didn’t know what to do with it.
‘You didn’t do much fighting against the Nomads, did you?’ Amanda asked, sitting back in her chair.
‘Sorry?’ Lux asked, apparently still very distracted.
‘You and Cyrac, I mean. You didn’t go looking for trouble.’
Lux smiled. ‘No. No, we didn’t. We preferred to go wandering through the stars, flying to some of the less well-visited places to see what we could find.’
‘You were explorers, then.’
‘We were. We were a couple of romantics, if anything. We didn’t want to fight anyone, not really. We were happy doing our thing, dropping back to Sol every so often, you know?’
Amanda nodded. ‘Sounds like fun.’
‘It was. There’s some pretty amazing stuff out there, you know? Incredible, really. And I don’t just mean Magi constructs, like the rings around Axia.’
‘Those are pretty amazing, though,’ Amanda cut in.
Lux smiled. ‘They certainly are. It’s funny. Cyrac was always more interested in what was built or what could be built out there. I was more interested in the natural wonders. Like black holes or quasars.
I’ve seen some pretty intense stuff out there, you know?’
‘I can believe it. I’ve barely stepped out of my backyard, so to speak, and already I’ve been blown away.’
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll have more moments like that to come.’
‘So, was this Nomad, Kade, someone you just happened to run into along the way?’
‘I guess. He was always more Cyrac’s problem than mine. Cyrac foiled one of Kade’s plans one time, causing the Nomad no small amount of trouble. Kade has had a vendetta out against Cyrac ever since,’ Lux said.
Amanda reached out over the worktop and placed her hand on top of Lux’s. ‘We’ll find him, and you will get your revenge. I promise,’ Amanda reassured her.
Lux nodded.
***
The ship slowed as it approached Sol Prime, well beyond the orbit of Pluto, and Amanda sent her Indicia to the station as the Arkady linked with their Space Traffic Control Net.
After a few moments, they were assigned a bay, and Amanda directed the ship towards it.
The station was huge. It looked like a gigantic city built on top of a massive disk with vast spires reaching into the night. Around the edge of the disk were the docking bays where they had been directed to land, while beneath the disk, the station’s engineering levels hung down beneath the city above.
As they neared the station, Amanda sensed Lux reach out with her Magic and send a pulse along her Link. She guessed it was for Astrid. As she watched, more Essentia raced back, and a two-way flow was established, which after a moment, faded away.
Lux looked up at Amanda. ‘Slight change of plan,’ she smiled. ‘I have a new docking location for you.’
‘Okay,’ Amanda said as the ship's core reported a new set of coordinates being offered to it from the station. Amanda reviewed them and then approved them. They were no longer heading for the outer ring of docking bays, but instead, were making for the tallest tower that rose from the heart of the station. On the screen before her, the readouts over the view placed a highlighted targeting reticule over a docking bay two-thirds of the way up the tower as the ship floated through its designated flight path. Amanda let the ship do its thing and autopilot itself down onto the landing pad where the bay’s clamps took hold of the ship and locked it in place with a series of clunks.
Maiden Voyage_Star Magi Saga_Prequel Page 3
