Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  “She has you there,” Lars told him, and Johnny gave an exaggerated sigh.

  “Fine. Breakfast first and then pod work.”

  Stephanie settled herself at her desk. The coffee had kicked in and they were right. She had to do something. It might as well be pod time.

  “What am I doing? More battle tactics?” she asked when Frog brought their food and they’d finished eating.

  He shook his head, retrieved his new hat from his back pocket, and pulled it down tightly over his ears. “It’s time you had a little school session. You have been so focused on magic and how it works that we think it would be good for you to get a more well-rounded education. That and Elizabeth sent us a note threatening our safety if we didn’t get you in there to take some different classes. Don’t worry. It’ll be stuff you’re interested in.”

  Stephanie shifted her gaze from one guy to another before she threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. But you losers wait outside. Go, go, go or I will call the dark side.”

  They all hurried out of the room, laughing as she kicked Frog in the butt and closed the door. Out in the common room, they could hear her struggle and even fall all over as she tried to put her jeans on.

  After another small crash, the door opened again and she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, her silver stranded hair pulled back in a messy ponytail.

  “Well, you took your time,” Johnny sniped and she gave him the finger before she rolled her hand to point at the door.

  “Didn’t you have a fun day of pod school to get to?”

  He looked at Lars. “Do we really have to keep her?”

  “Stop your bitching,” the team leader told him and headed to the door.

  Stephanie followed and swatted at them to keep them moving when they bottlenecked at the entrance. They protested and she laughed as she followed them down the hall to the team’s pod room.

  She got into the pod, ready to prepare her avatar in the white room, but she never got there. Instead, when her eyes opened, she found herself in a college classroom, seated in the front row all by herself.

  Instead of a chalkboard, there was a digital screen and Burt’s voice came over the loudspeaker like a principal in high school, complete with the squealing PA.

  “Welcome to Virt World Uni,” he said and his voice oozed false cheer. “This is Burt and I will be your guide for today. On the screen is a list of courses you can choose to take. Pick two and we will begin.”

  “Can I have coffee while I think about it?” she muttered.

  A cup of hot coffee appeared on her desk and she smiled, grabbed it, and approached the board to look at the classes. She scanned the list and her attitude improved when she realized they all had to do with her plans to fix the Earth. “So many good ones. How do I choose?”

  “Decide which will help you the most at this moment,” Burt instructed. “We can go back later to the others.”

  Stephanie tapped her finger on her lips. “I choose Environmental Damage and then Nuclear Fusion.”

  “Done,” he said and immediately transformed the room into a giant map of the world.

  He launched into Environmental Damage and took her to different places all over the world that had suffered extreme damage and explained what had happened to them.

  The lesson covered fire and water damage caused by flooding, coastal erosion, and strong storms. After that, they moved on to the problems caused by increased temperatures and warming oceans.

  She became engrossed in each one as she learned about what the coastlines had looked like long before she was alive. There had been states in the US that didn’t exist anymore—places like Florida where the sea levels rose several times and slowly consumed the land until the state had completely disappeared.

  They discussed the effect of rising temperatures on the planet. When they had covered the main points of Environmental Damage, they moved on to Nuclear Fusion.

  That wasn’t necessarily exciting, but it definitely gave her a better idea of what she would face on Earth in her clean-up attempts.

  “So,” Burt said as he completed the lecture, “since nuclear fusion is basically smashing light elements together to create a heavier element, why do you think this is ideal for sustainable electric production?”

  Stephanie smiled. “Because, first of all, nuclear fusion occurs best in high density and high-temperature areas. Suns are one place, but humans can create such places like they did in the past.”

  She frowned and tried not to think of the things that could go wrong with that before she went on. “When the temperatures reach very high levels, the electrons are stripped from the nuclei and they form plasma. When you do this, it produces huge amounts of energy that could literally light the whole world.”

  BURT checked her details and decided he wouldn’t teach her what she already knew. “Perfect. So, it’s basically energy for which one part of its fuel is readily available and that creates the other part of its fuel.”

  Stephanie scratched her head. “So why don’t we use that now?”

  “A couple of reasons, really,” he explained. “One, because billionaires have built empires on coal, oil, and gas, and two, because and there are more billionaires who’ve built their empires on military technology. Fortunes were preserved while the naïve believed false promises of aid and let the wealthy stay in power. Earth has suffered as a result, and so has the humanity governed by those with wealth but not the necessary skills to take care of the population.”

  “Uh…what kind of skills?” She was genuinely curious.

  “To govern the population?” BURT asked, surprised she’d be interested.

  Stephanie shook her head. “No. To make fusion viable. What skills do we need for that?”

  For a moment, he was almost disappointed but he was relieved, too. Stephanie was focused on restoration and not rulership. “Basically, you need to know how to duplicate the process of nuclear fusion in a controlled environment.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Oh. Okay, well, I have the concepts, but actually doing it? That’s something a long way down on my list. If I can’t do it the human way, I doubt I can pull it off with magic.”

  “You never know. Now you know how it’s done scientifically, you might be able to find a way to do it with magic. You merely need time to think about it.” BURT forced himself to sound casual and not push her. He knew her. The idea would eat away at the back of her mind until she found a solution.

  Right now, though, she’d had enough of study.

  “You sound like an after-school special,” she grumbled. “But I assume the lessons are over and I’m done here. You can let me out of class now.”

  There was silence. She looked around for a moment and wondered where he was. “Burt? Did you hear me?”

  The only reply was a change of scene. The classroom vanished and she found herself standing in a ballroom. Her outfit had changed as well.

  Stephanie looked down and noticed her jeans and tee had been replaced by a short dress. It was flaming red in color and complemented with nude stockings and dance heels.

  She narrowed her eyes and demanded, “Buuurt, what am I doing here?”

  “Don’t shoot the messenger,” he replied. “The guys said when you were done with the ‘sciencey stuff’ you had to take dance lessons.”

  Her shoulders sagged and she whined, “But… But…I don’t want to. Can’t I do some fighting instead? I really want to hit something, and it’s so much easier to fight than solve the great mysteries of the world like nuclear fusion and ballroom dancing.”

  Burt chuckled and out came the dance instructor. She was a fifty-something AI named Ms. Gambol.

  Her scrolling background told of glorious days in a famous richie theater, dancing for thousands of fans. As she’d aged, demand had moved to younger dancers and she was now stuck giving dance lessons to the…

  “…uncoordinated, two-left-footed, tone-deaf, rejects of dance,” she said, obviously repeating an oft-used phras
e. “But I will do what I can with you.”

  She clapped her hands and Stephanie slid across the floor into the arms of another, much easier on the eyes dance partner.

  He caught her and deftly turned their collision into a turn that brought her back into his arms.

  “I am Baron. I will be your dance partner for this lesson.”

  The utter solemnity on his face made her smile and she giggled as he held her tightly. “Hey, Baron.”

  “The graceful Stephanie, you will soon dance like the butterfly,” he said with an odd Italian accent even though he was clearly not Italian.

  Ms. Gambol snapped her fingers and music began to play. Stephanie groaned and recalled awkward dance classes in school when she’d always ended up dancing with Becca or Todd. Those had been the worst classes of her life.

  She took a deep breath and clung to Baron as he began to guide her around the room. The movements were vaguely familiar as if she’d done them before. The music wasn’t but...her body remembered this.

  As she fumbled along with Baron and tried to follow Ms. Gambol’s sharp suggestions, she tried to recall where she’d done this before. It took several turns on the dance floor before the memory snapped into place.

  The club. Waltzing with Lars. Doing the crazy boogaloo with Frog.

  This was what Lars had taught her and now, it all made sense. Everything she had learned rushed back and she straightened in Baron’s arms and glided more confidently through the room.

  At the end, Ms. Gambol actually cracked half a smile. Either that or her programming had a glitch. The girl took it as a win either way.

  “All right, let’s move onto a new dance style. This one’s called modern.” The AI gave a snooty sniff. “Although only the heavens know why.”

  At her words, Stephanie’s outfit changed. This time, she wore a pair of black stretch pants, a white cotton tank top, and a sweatshirt that fell off the shoulder on one side. On her feet were soft black jazz shoes.

  The music started and several dancers appeared out of nowhere, bending their knees with their hands on them and swinging their upper bodies wildly.

  Stephanie tried to mimic them but stopped partway through to let her head catch up and the dizzy spell pass.

  The dancers continued to dance around her in a circle while Ms. Gambol screamed out the time. “One, two, three, stomp it out. Come on, Morgana, don’t stand there like a stuffed dummy. Move your hips.”

  She stared at the avatar in disbelief, but she pulled her arms jaggedly over her head and moved her hips. The action wasn’t even close to the smooth, rounded movements made by the other dancers. When the music stopped, Ms. Gambol sighed and shook her head. “Maybe modern was too much for you at this stage.”

  Stephanie looked around and back at the woman. “Ya think? Just a tad, maybe?”

  The instructor waved her hand to the side, and her outfit changed again. This time, it turned into a flesh-colored leotard, accompanied by pink tights and pink pointe shoes.

  Ms. Gambol snapped her fingers again and a dance barre appeared out of nowhere in Stephanie’s grasp. The lesson that followed was grueling with the purpose of most of the movements performed at the barre a mystery.

  “Maybe it’s an ancient form of torture,” she muttered, having never heard of ballet before. It wasn’t something folk in the Sub really talked about—and no wonder if this was what it was.

  The woman finally called an end to the lesson but informed her that she needed much more work on this style. She bit her lip and hoped that was Burt’s idea of a joke. Frankly, she dreaded what came next.

  She relaxed when the music changed to a beat and tune similar to the ones she’d heard in the club. Several other girls came rocking out of the back, dressed in club wear, and danced close with their male partners.

  This, at least, was worth it, so she threw herself into it, used some of the moves the boys had taught her, and learned any new ones she was shown. She’d actually improved considerably before the session ended.

  To a degree, she’d actually enjoyed herself and the guys would be happy. She scowled when she recalled the ballet lesson. They’d better be.

  Back on Earth, Elizabeth picked up her cup of coffee and took a long, slow sip. As she set it down, the phone began to ring. “Who is it, Amelia?”

  “It seems to originate from the Federation Navy base,” the administrative AI informed her.

  She raised her head and smirked as she picked the phone up. “This is Elizabeth.”

  “Hello, this is Petty Officer Wyld,” explained the man on the other end. “We received your message and we would like to extend an invitation for you to come and talk to us at the Navy offices.”

  Ms. E rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, that won’t happen. I know you think that’s the smart way to do it, but I’d rather do this on my terms than yours. Why don’t you come and meet in my territory?”

  Wyld was silent for a long time. It was as if he didn’t really know what to say and had to think about it. She had stumped him and while her wish for them to meet her on her own territory suggested she knew about some of the other tricks they had, it didn’t confirm it.

  As he sat there in silence, the line clicked when Childers picked up to help with the conversation. “Elizabeth, this is Petty Officer Childers. We are now online together.”

  “Oh, yay, a conference call party,” she acknowledged sarcastically.

  The woman ignored her and continued. “I’ll get straight to the point on where we’re at. We need to know what Stephanie is capable of and how that might change the future if other humans could do what she does.”

  Elizabeth held her breath. That was very to the point, especially for the Navy. She still wasn’t quite sure what Childers wanted, though, and decided to dig for it.

  “So, what are you asking for? Is it testing time on Stephanie or simply any answers I can give to the best of my knowledge? Because she isn’t here, and I doubt she will agree to be the Federation Navy’s guinea pig anytime soon.”

  “At this point, we don’t care what it takes to obtain the knowledge the Navy needs,” Childers told her. “If it takes a long time, then so be it. If we have to pull information from you instead of her, we’ll do that as well. I know you think we’re trying to steal her from ONE R&D, but we’re not. We merely need the knowledge.”

  She paused, and when Elizabeth didn’t interrupt, she continued. “I don’t know why the Navy wants her, but personally, I want to know how to save the damn world. That is what I am interested in finding out. So, we can continue to fight and you can keep trying to avoid us, or we can communicate with each other and maybe come up with the solutions our planet needs. It is completely up to you.”

  Elizabeth whistled. “Damn girl, you have some balls on you, I have to say that. And you know what…I like it. Now, remember for a second that I am the one who called you to set up a meeting, so we’ll work with that.”

  “I’m listening.”

  She smiled and accepted the prompt. “To answer your changing the future question, I’ll be dead honest. I have no idea. That quite obviously is our goal in all of this—to create opportunities for the brightest to be educated regardless of their financial status and therefore change the world for the better.”

  Wyld chimed in. “See, we are on some of the same level here.”

  Childers and Elizabeth snapped in a simultaneous chorus, “Shut up, Wyld.”

  Ms. E rubbed her hand over her face and leaned back in her chair as she spoke. “Look, here is what I do know. Stephanie was in the top two percent of her year’s testing, yet she didn’t rate a university placement even though her aptitude also ranked very high.”

  She let that sink in, then continued. “Have you considered testing for magical aptitude in these tests? Has the Federation taken the time to consider defining a method to test for the human awareness of eMU and MU? Because from the sounds of it, none of that was required.”

  The other end of the
line remained silent and she scowled. “None of it, obviously. Not a single thing. So basically, you put these kids through tests, graded them on their intellectual aptitude, and then toss the poor ones to the side regardless of their knowledge and IQ.”

  Childers sighed. “I wish I could tell you that wasn’t the case, but I don’t know. I don’t work for the sector of the Federation that comes up with the tests—or even with the Navy sector that does the same. But I can put in a request for them to consider adding a magical aptitude test. Either way, she scored the same in the process and had the magic side as well.”

  “Yes, she did, but it took her saving a woman’s life for anyone to notice her,” Elizabeth retorted. “And the university that invited her to attend their school as a result of that allowed her the summer session, used her attendance for promotional material, and dumped her before the semester’s start to avoid having to fund her.”

  When she heard her voice rise in frustration, she stopped and gave herself time to rein her emotions in. “It is obvious they don’t care about intellect or educating the best. Why would they? They already have all the contacts they need to have decisions made in their favor. They don’t want some really smart nobody to knock on their door. And they don’t want her to disrupt their thought processes. To them, she was a temporary asset, easily used and as easily discarded.”

  Once it was clear she had finished, Childers spoke. She chose her words carefully. “I’m sorry that it didn’t work out for her like it should have. She is the first Federation witch, so she should have been given an opportunity.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t get it. It’s not only about her. There are thousands more like her, and no one seems to care. Anyway, what else do you want to know?”

  The woman didn’t hesitate at all. “We know about the use of MU and we saw her on the news during the battle at the ball. We want to know if Stephanie can do non-MU energy pulls?”

  She tapped her fingers on the desk and tried to decide whether to tell the truth or not. Finally, she made a decision, knowing full well they would see what Stephanie could do in the upcoming ceremonies. From that point of view alone, it was pointless trying to hide her ability to wield the different magics. Besides, who knew what else the girl would be capable of by then?