Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (8 page)

"Tiera,
can I get one of these?"

She
nearly just nodded, but then remembered what she'd told the others.

"At
Baron Havar's discretion only. If he decides you check out on it, and can
handle it, then yes. The rest of your group too."

That
actually got the large man to glare at her. "We're inside Noram right now.
It's
illegal
for commoners to have battlefield weapons."

That
got Guide to clear his throat, which earned him an immediate glare from the big
man.

"Not
if the Builder that made them gives them away. Then it's legal. That isn't too
fine a point either. They can also have them if they're part of a military. Or,
I guess at least, if they become guardsmen somewhere. At least in their own
areas. I don't really know on that one though. It seems right."

Havar
looked ready to snap at the much younger man, but stopped and then looked at
him.

"Are
you
giving
them to my section here then?" It was a bit sly suddenly,
as if he was almost certain he might have figured out a way to get gear for
free.

Guide
looked away, and shook his head.

"I
can't. They aren't mine, clearly. These feel like..." He held it in his
hand, opened his mouth to speak then frowned and looked at her. He did this
twice more and finally stared. "Countess Baker. These feel like her
work."

That
got her a round of hard looks, that weren't so much mean as unbelieving. One by
one the others all checked the fields again and Farlo came up to her and actually
touched her arm.

"Damn
it. It
really
does." She faked a little humph, but it was drowned
out by Ali running over to her.

"Oh,
goodie! I knew you could do it. Builder Tiera!" That got another round of
everyone saying it, including some of the kids. Terry looked at her hopefully
again.

She
waved at him. "You heard me before, you can have one,
if
Havar
says. More to the point, you can have one to try and make copies of. Havar
still controls them though, even if you all learn how to do it. No
template."

That
seemed to her like it might make her little brother mad, but he just nodded.

"I
can do that. Do we need them for our County forces too?"

That
got her to blink and remember that he was, actually, correct in saying it that
way. As Countier Second, if it were any kind of normal situation, he'd probably
have an actual job with her government at the very least. Or would when he was
an adult.

She
tilted her head and smiled at him. He was, like all her family, good looking,
but he was also so very serious now. Like a miniature adult nearly. Then, all
of these kids were, weren't they? Her own tiny brother had fought an adult man
earlier, and could have killed him, if he'd wanted to. It was something like
what she would have done. Or Tor.

Reaching
out, she touched his field and managed to not recoil in shock at what she'd
found there. He'd been checked before and was found normal, but now he was
immortal. She understood what had happened, she thought, and could feel the
work that had been done. It felt like Timon at least, rather than Tor. He'd
changed the boy in front of her, from what he was, into one of them.

It
was...

Probably
a good idea, since it didn't seem to be killing the kid. He really was sweet
and kind hearted, as well as brave. Better than she was at any rate. Or Timon.
If they had to have an immortal around, that was the kind of person they
wanted.

"Right.
We'll work on that. Sam, will you help get Terry and the rest of these kids up
to speed on that. Havar too." She added that last bit as a goad, since the
man had no particular magical skill, but he just sighed at her.

"Well,
the children at least, if they have the talent? Anyone with eyes can see that
we're moving into a world filled with magic. Soon those that can't provide for
themselves that way will be at the power of those that can. I'd want them all
to have it, if possible." Those words got stares, if only from Sam and
Guide.

The
boys, actually all of them, had been very carefully taking weapons from the
canvas bag and handing them around, as if they were already allowed to have
them. They all vanished into pockets and in at least one case, she was almost
certain to a secret inside pouch that one of the kids had made into his magical
clothing.

She
didn't demand them back, since that would cause problems.

"Remember,
only
if Havar says you can keep them, and they're
only
for
hurting and killing bad people. Real ones, not just anyone that annoys you, or
makes you feel scared. You all have to promise that."

She
waited but actually got a chorus of "I promise" from the collective
group. Sam held one up too. He looked hopeful.

"I
could..."

She
waved at him and then winked, trying to make it seem like she wasn't an evil
Doretta anymore.

"
You
have school rules. I mean, yes, you can all have one, but I think that Kolb has
to hold them for you." At least if they didn't just make their own copies
and keep them in secret, which was what she was planning to do, if it came up.
No one even bothered trying to take things away from the builder that made
them. Not for real. A token gesture might be made, but other than that, it
wasn't a real thing.

Which
everyone there over the age of eleven knew.

Tiera
clapped and then thought about what would be needed.

"All
right, we still have about an hour. I say we go shopping and take some extra
food with us. Otherwise we might strain the ship's stores that way, which isn't
good form. I'll pay, but we need to hurry." It was a trip back to her room
then and a fast rush at the town to get things. What they got was cheese, and a
collection of spices, since the new food units made flour, sugar, apples, and
beef steak. It was a good enough start, but really, they would have been better
if they made more things, including complete dishes. She stopped for a second,
but managed to fly on fast enough that no one noticed really.

They
were already landing at the Space Training Center. Guide had taken care of
transporting the goods for them, having made up some magical boxes that
appeared from nowhere and would follow you wherever you went. They were copies
of Tor's work, but no one called him on it. Her brother never would have, so
why should anyone else?

The
idea was a good enough one though. The hard work of the food fields, was
learning how to tear apart solid materials, use their essential energy and then
reconstruct food items, water or air with them. Timon had already done that
part. All she'd need to do was change it a bit, so that the items would come
out on demand. The ones she wanted that was. There couldn't be that big of a
difference between making raw flour and making a whole, and decorated cake, for
instance. Or between beef steak, and braised strips of beef in a wine sauce.
What she needed to do was test the idea, and the final project might well be
huge, as far as work went...

Still,
it was a thing for her to try later, if she got a chance and didn't mind
failing. Right now she had to find their ship. Or to be more correct, Terry
went off to find it. It wasn't hard, since it was right in the middle of the
landing area, waiting for them. One of the men in his black space jumpsuit
jogged over, a clipboard in his hands. It made him look pretty official. He had
an Austran accent and looked to be in his sixties or so, as well as being
familiar. She'd met him before, she thought. Or at least seen him.

In
a restaurant in Austra, of all places.

"We
got word you were coming! Welcome everyone. This is the transport vessel
Cloudcraft. Today we'll be going up to the Ranford, the Flagship, for a partial
crew transfer. It will take one hour and fifteen minutes to complete that task,
so, naturally, once we get there, you all have to rush off as quickly as you
can so that we can get the others on board." He winked at the kids who all
just looked at him somberly. After a bit he cleared his throat, clearly feeling
a little uneasy. They didn't smile or laugh at all. "You don't have a stay
length scheduled... I take it that you're planning to leave by space
drop?" He grinned as if it was a joke, but Karen waved her hand at him a
bit, as they all stood there.

 She
stood very officially, with her hands behind her back, looking almost military
herself.

"I
don't know that term?"

The
man actually laughed, but it sounded like a good natured thing, not mocking or
mean. Tiera decided to like this man, if she had the chance. He seemed
friendly.

"A
space drop is what we call coming back to the planet using only the new
shields. Only a handful of people have even tried it. The idea is clearly
insane, after all."

Tiera
thought about it for a minute and then looked at the kids, who seemed to be a
little bored, if she were going to be honest.

"We
should do that then. This is a special trip, and we'll all be outside anyway,
part of the time, testing the new speaking units."

The
older man shook his head a bit, clearly not thinking she was doing anything but
playing with him.

"Well,
if you do, remember to do it during the daytime. Impacting with a planet at
those speeds could really hurt."

She
looked at the ramp to the Cloudcraft and that was enough to get him to go that
way, the conversation done already, or nearly.

"These
vehicles are similar in many ways to the Noram Fast Craft. Have any of you
ridden on one of those?" He spoke while walking, but didn't stop to let
them chat about their experiences. "You won't feel anything much inside
them, but the speeds traveled at are incredible. Tens of thousands of miles per
hour. Most of the trip will be taken up by waiting and very slow moving
maneuvers, like docking. We do it that way for safety reasons. Do you have any
questions?"

It
turned out they did, but they also got to sit while they quizzed the man. The
inside of the craft was done up very efficiently, but the seats were large and
very comfortable, and, of course, all done up in a nice orange color. That was
Space Fleet though. A
lot
of things up there were orange. It was pretty
much a given. That or some color that went along with it well. Copper, light
yellow, even brown, as long as it had a bit of a pumpkin overtone.

That
would be the seats, she realized, glancing at her arm rest. It wasn't too bad,
but the way that they were set up, she ended up being alone. Near the front
too. The back of the craft, which was smaller than she normally kept her Fast
Craft, except on missions, was filled first, but one of the seats was already
taken, by a very common looking young woman that smiled sweetly at Terry when
he filed in first, ending up right next to her. She was to the norm for her
type, with decently dark skin, dark hair and brown eyes. The only thing that
really stood out was that she very clearly wearing a Space Fleet uniform. One
that had bright orange trim on it. It wasn't an inspired color choice, but
common or not, that marked her as being high ranking.

When
the rest of the people came in, it was a thing that Tiera picked up on right
away. Judy had two stripes of orange on her sleeve, but only one man had orange
at all. He was a giant, but looked like someone had squished half his face at
some point. Starting from the center. It wasn't horrible, but he wasn't good
looking by any means. She understood the idea, after a bit. Orange was letting
her personal bias influence who made it in her organization. She was biased
against attractive men, and while she didn't hold them in contempt, she also
didn't take them seriously at all. It led to things like what she was looking
at right then.

Tiera
did have a man next to her, though he was a bit hard looking and had Vagus type
features. Like Lyn Red. Sort of at least. This man was small and golden
colored, but smiled at her pleasantly enough when he saw her. At least until he
saw how big she was.

"You...
Giant, big head?" He was clearly trying to ask her something, but she had
no clue what that was at all. It
might
have been about her head, true,
but she doubted that.

"Um,
I'm Countess Baker, and pretty tall now... Wait, do you mean to ask if I'm a
noble?" She wasn't trying to mock the man, but he nodded.

"Yes,
yes. You noble?"

"That's
right."

The
man smiled, looked away and didn't talk to her for the rest of the flight.
Clearly he didn't like her kind of person. That or someone, like her Aunt Red,
had personally told him that if he met a noble in Noram to keep silent, on pain
of death. Vagus was a hard land that way. If a threat of death was made, it
would be delivered, as often as not.

The
trip was about what she would have expected. It took a long time for them to
get loaded and take off, then they had a forty minute trip into a matching
orbit with the Ranford, which was
vast
, compared to the Cloudcraft.
Probably a few hundred sizes bigger or so. It wasn't the Ranford's fault,
because it was the little one that was kept that tiny size. It could have been
just as big, since they were the same ship, when you got right down to it.
Sisters, after all.