by Pam Uphoff
Inso snickered. "Is knotheads a pejorative for your version of the Multitude?"
"No, we don't have Multitude. Knotheads is what Lefty generally calls lieutenants, especially the ones that try to stick a lord in front of their name."
"Are the lords the magic workers?"
Xen shrugged. "A few of them. None very well trained. Well, except me."
"You're a lord?" Inso eyed him.
"Umm, technically, I can get away with prince. I was, very briefly, thank God, considered for Spear Heir. But even lord is pretty silly, since it's highly unlikely I'll ever inherit my father's land grant." He flashed a grin. "Which includes Ash."
"And who is this Lefty?"
"Colonel Carwell Lebonift. A wizard in the military. He's in charge of our, sorry, their dimensional exploration."
Lon cleared his throat. "Getting back to the matter of a school, I'll send a note to all the embassies, asking if they see a need for a public school. Actually, multiple elementary schools, in the various neighborhoods that are springing up. Perhaps two high schools to manage the magic emergence.
Xen smiled. “While you’re at it, why don’t you also ask if they think it’s time for the city to put in a sewer system. I’ve, umm, caught a few whiffs . . .”
Several nods around the table.
Including Lon. “Yes, the Earth Embassy’s septic tank system keeps getting enlarged, but they’ve been talking about pulling it all and putting in a wastewater treatment system . . . and wondering what to do with the water after treatment.
Karl held up a finger. “I’ve heard that the water pressure’s dropping off, especially in the upper floors of the Earth Embassy building.”
Xen bit his lip . . . “All the houses they’re building . . . Three hundred more planned for this year? Yes, we’re going to need to expand the water system. And the supply.”
Chris Hanger nodded. “I was thinking the other day that we’re getting spread out enough that buses might be useful. I mean, those kids’ tram is better than nothing, for getting to the beach, but it’s just not up to commuter volume.”
Lon pinched the bridge of his nose. “I'll ask about several things. Public transit of some sort. Electric, water and sewage. Comet Fall's got the public hospital arranged. City police? Fire department? Don't sniff, Xen, just because you can look at a fire and put it out doesn't mean the fires will oblige us by only breaking out when you're in town."
"Any wizard can do the same, and I don't see why Oners couldn't learn how. They source from heat, after all. And Purps, and Arbolians. And we've already got the water system in place. I’ll think about how to enlarge it. We could put in a sewage treatment system like Karista has, since, as you say, the population has gone beyond a ton of septic systems."
"It's the big embassies that are having problems." Inso looked innocently over at Lon.
Lon raised an eyebrow. "I have heard a few comments . . . but perhaps we ought to first ask what sort of sewage treatment Karista has?"
Inso frowned. "And the water system here. There's no water towers and I can't recall any pumps, surely this isn't all gravity feed from the mountains?"
Xen blinked. "Umm . . . one way pipes? Surely the One have . . . No?"
Inso crossed his arms and pressed his lips together. "All right. Gloat. Show me what a one way pipe is."
"It's just a charm engraved on a pipe so whatever is in it is propelled in one direction. And yes, the big mains come in from the mountains. Q said she wasn't going to drink filtered river water, when a bit of work could get her snow melt. She roped in our uncle and a bunch of his disreputable buddies and after they made the pipes they were so drunk on magic, they turned right around and made this hulking monstrosity you all complain about." Xen swept his hand around to indicate the building they were sitting in, then reached over and filched the straw from Sommer Albrecht's coke.
"Hey!"
"I'll give it right back. See the charm sequence?" He let it hang in the air long enough for the trained magic users to read it, then applied it lightly to the straw. He handed it back to Sommer. "Careful. It's kind of a small diameter for the spell . . . "
"It's blowing air." She frowned at it and put in in her drink. Cold carbonated sugar water hit the ceiling and dripped. She yanked the straw out and dodged the drips. "Xen! Honestly!"
He hid a smile and waved a careful variation of a shield spell. Very weak and flexible, he was able to skim the liquids off various surfaces and dump it in the trash. And dissolve the charms on the straw.
Inso was drumming his fingers. "You use those charms on pipes, and don't even need pumps. Not for a whole city? How much time do how many magicians spend doing that?"
"Eh, a week now and then? Every time Chance is in a town, he just sort of wanders about and charms any newly piped in areas. Anyone can do it, but since he roams around so much, it's pretty well covered. Just a few one wayers can keep the water moving through the more ordinary stretches. Occasionally, if there's a problem, a town will hire one of the engineering companies to come deal with it."
Lon was looking amused. "Sewage?"
"Purification spells on, yes, one-way pipes. Probably breaking down the complex organic chemicals all the way down to the atomic level, and letting them recombine, however they feel like. I haven't actually looked into it. But with so many people here, I guess it's about time." He glanced down the table. Quail was off visiting friends and family. Trace Breesdon was sitting in Q’s usual place.
The young man shrugged. "Arbolian cities just dump it all in the river. It's disgusting. I speak as a country lad, who was once forced to endure the horrors of Lundon."
A sneer from Admiral Alf L’Sanjac, a tough old retired seaman. “We have pipes down to the sea, nothing else is needed.”
The younger Cove Islander pressed his lips shut. Lieutenant Martin T’Linc wasn’t going to contradict his superior officer.
I’ll have to split them up as much as possible, let the youngster figure out that here he’s under Disco’s authority, not his home Navy’s.
A curled lip from Solti Farid Mubera. “The Old Gods set up the system in Discordia. It has worked for a thousand years. Do you Wizards actually think you can equal it?”
Stuck up ass. Fifth younger brother of the Amma down there. An untrained Mage. And badly at odds with the other rep. Noah Verde is a SeaWolf. Probably a son of the original Cove Island rebels that fled and sought asylum elsewhere. A Sea King Mage with an ambitious glow to his poorly trained magic. I need to get both of them into training before they give us all headaches. And their kids. Two teenage boys apiece, and rumors of wives and daughters staying in harems in their embassy. Yuck!
"Ahem." Andrei Andrews eyed Xen severely. "I will get you several examples of how most places deal with sewage. Then we can adapt a system for this city and our various abilities, not have to start from scratch."
Inso snorted. "Good idea; no trial and error with sewage, please."
Katrine Cactus had been taking notes, and cleared her throat. "So, perhaps I should write up a letter to all the embassies. I'll request they indicate whether they have a need for public schools, police, fire department, additional water service, or a sewage system. Then we can collate the results and propose a budget. No Xen. I really do think we've gotten past the point of you just wandering off and taking care of it."
Xen shut his mouth to a few snickers. "Right. Well. That's all I had to say. Err, other than what brought schools to mind was, well, those twenty-seven Oner children of mine needing a bit of Fallen style magic training."
Lon sighed again. "I love it when you just drop things like that into a meeting. Here or there? Of course you may take all the time off you wish. See Andrei after the meeting about buying a site for the first public school. Please don't kill anyone or start a war."
Xen snickered.
Lon nodded. "Cactus, also ask about public transit, and leave a spot for other suggestions. Any other matters we ought to consider?"
"Our boredom?" Chris muttered. Heads nodded.
Lon looked at Xen.
"There just aren't enough trouble makers around to really keep everyone busy." Xen shrugged. "How about if I doled out worlds to you lot, and you could go spot check them yourselves."
"Troubled worlds?" Xian Chang perked up.
Xen hesitated.
Lon snorted. "Isn't it time for you to learn how to delegate?"
"Ermmm . . . Yes?" Xen sighed. "Right. I suppose . . . the trouble worlds are Earth and One World. Then there's the criminals, the smugglers, the Cannibals and the Cyborgs."
"Oh don't look at me like that. I just pop in, catch up on news once or twice a month. I randomly check the Earth's Nowhereistan for troop movements. You know, we ought to have a permanent office there. Covert or overt? What do you think?"
Lon winced. "Overt. Please. And no One Worlders on staff. Really. That might fly."
Inso nodded. "Likewise on our side." He shot a glance down the table. "People with the power would get more respect than those without." He squirmed a bit. "Most Oners don't use the power on a day-to-day basis, like those nutcases from Comet Fall. You who've been engineered and learned to hold mental shields will fit right in. Assuming the Empire wants to try again."
Xen nodded. "Right. So? Who wants to go spy on Earth? One? Umm, who wants to go open offices? Are we going to need diplomatic immunity? More staff? How about we hire local people to run the office and we just supply the managers? Then the government there can insert spies, and our bunch can stay on their toes, avoiding disinformation."
Lon covered his face with both hands. "You are an even worse manager than you are an employee. Not, mind you, that anyone who knows you thinks you even try to act like an employee of the Department of Interdimensional Security and Cooperation."
Karl Mantego cleared his throat. "I never did quite get what we are a department of."
Everyone looked at Xen.
He spread his hands. "It sounded substantial, when we were planting disinformation for the Oners to find, if our spy ring was busted. I think Uncle Charlie came up with it, he liked the acronym, and I wasn't there to recognize a fit of very old humor."
"Is Charlie one of the old Gods? I don't recall the name." Lon was looking puzzled.
"He's one of the fourteen centuries old experimental children, but he went to Arrival, without brain damage. One of our early experimental gates connected to his world, thirty-five years ago. His humor can be hard for us younger type people to catch."
"Rather like yours. I never know when to believe you."
"Honest. No matter what the tabloids claim, there really isn't a High Council of Dimensional Overlords." He grinned at their expressions. "Except me. And Q. Actually she's better at dimensional stuff than I am. So, maybe she's the Evil Empress of the Multiverse?"
Chris snickered. "She's got to shed that sexless-everyone's-kid-sister aura before she can carry off an Evil Empress impersonation."
Chapter Six
Testing, Testing
Ryol heaved a sigh of relief. Aunt Rael was back.
When she hadn't come back the next day, Ryol had been ready to strangle her idiot brother. Silent and mumbling most of the time, and when he did speak, he had a nasty habit of pulling important things out of thin air.
"He's the most hideously irritating brother in the world." Her new sisters looked over at the little worm.
"He's kinda small and ordinary, isn't he?" Gior shrugged and looked back at some of the older boys.
Voan nodded. "Incredible difference a few months makes. Look at Jay and Yrno." She sighed. "It's not fair. Brothers! And the only other men around are priests."
"Old Priests." Gior followed her gaze. "And the boys are just half-brothers."
"Ahem."
They all looked around guiltily at the Princess behind them. "I believe we're practicing meditations and visualizations, not ogling boys who are mostly too young to be interested, and don't I just wish some of you lot were equally oblivious."
Ryol blushed and dipped her head. Yesterday they'd all had the basic power tests, not much different from the tests her school gave every student when they started showing their magic. Now, they were all spread out around a sunny enclosed courtyard. Warm, even on this late fall day. Every once in a while a Priest or Princess would pull a student inside for a few minutes. Like Arno now, following a priest to a private room.
Through windows on her right, she could see Aunt Rael . . . should I still call her Aunt? . . . talking to the other adult types, with them all peering into a bag. Rael walked over to a table and upended the bag. Something or somethings, blue and glowing fell out and piled up on the table. Ryol watched in fascination as a boy headed back out to the courtyard slowed and eyed the things on the table. Rael spoke to him, wrote something on a piece of paper.
The next student walked by with squinting glance at the blue stuff. The third and fourth kids noticed it as well.
Then Princess Diuc summoned her inside.
***
The Priest eyed Arno thoughtfully. "So. Interesting results on your gene scan."
"I don't have a One gene, do I?"
"No. I’m surprised you recognize that."
Arno shrugged. "Everyone always talks about feeling the One, about hearing others, coordinating with other Oners . . . and I just don't feel anything I could even guess was the One or the Collective Subconscious. And everyone says my mental voice is getting loud, but they never act as if they feel my emotions. During the talk the other day, I suddenly realized what the problem was, and why."
"I see. Very perceptive of you. When Xen Wolfson was here, he felt very much of the One, and had a connection. We are considering sending several of you to him for training. You might want to ask him how he did that, so you could as well."
Arno swallowed. "Actually . . . go meet him? I only just learned he's my biofather three days ago!" That got raised eyebrows. "Mother just never let conversations go that direction."
The Priest nodded. He was elderly, unthreatening. Bright intelligent eyes. "Now, all the other genes of the Prophets, that we've spoken about. You have a huge amount. Over eighty percent. I'd really love to test your mother. She must have a large number herself; even if the wine selects, it doesn't make anything up."
Arno nodded. "She's a Princess. I mean a trained Princess. My biomom. She's here today, shall I tell her you want to test her?"
The priest's thin eyebrows rose, and his eye tracked back to the papers . . . "I didn't realize your mother-of-record wasn't . . . Montevideo . . . Do you mean Rael Withione Montevideo?" His voice went even higher.
"Yeah. It's not on our records?" Arno shivered. She went away and didn't come back all day. Maybe she doesn't want to see us.
The priest gave him a sharp look.
"Apparently I need some training in shielding." Arno sighed. "Another day of this and I'm not going to dare to think anything."
That got a smile. "Have you had the usual meditation and visualization exercises? Consider a mirror. A circle of mirrors. Facing outward, it reflects away the thoughts of others. Facing inward, it keeps your thoughts from leaking out. Once you've got that mastered, you can consider one way glass, frosted glass, fishbowl helmets and all sorts of variations. Why don't you step out into the courtyard and practice adding those mirrors to your meditations."
"Yes, One Izmo." Arno nodded obediently and slipped out of the room.
Aunt Rael was sitting behind a table right by the door, with a pile of . . . something . . . on the table. One bit of whatever it was had fallen off the table, and he stooped to pick it up. It slipped from his grasp, and he concentrated on it. This is no time to be a klutz! Try to impress her!
Her eyes twinkled.
He groaned. "I'm going to go practice mental mirrors. Right now." He held out the . . . "It fell on the floor. What is it?"
"A test. Congratulations, you passed."
He poked at it. It was like the glowing blue edges of a cube,
but with some weirdness, like it was cubes inside of cubes folded up inside of cubes. He tried opening it up, pushed on a side, tried both at once to turn it inside out, it unfolded, in sort of a twisty weird . . . it popped like a soap bubble and disappeared. He jumped a bit, and reddened. "Sorry, sorry I didn't mean to break it."
Rael shook her head. "I can't even see them, whatever they are. Are there more?"
"Uh, yeah." He hastily snatched his hands back from touching the pile. "A couple dozen or so. You can't see them?"
"Nope. So, go meditate. I'll talk to you guys later."
"Right, sorry. Oh, One Izmo wants to do a detailed gene scan of you." He managed to get out the doors and only stumbled over his big feet once. He plopped down between Jay and Or What and tried to picture a mirror. A ring of mirrors all pointing at him, a ring that was a single smooth mirror. Like a fun house. All distorted. Yuck. He really didn't want to look at himself. He shrank his imaginary ring down to a band close around his head. Across his forehead, around his temples and meeting at the back, leaving his eyes uncovered to look around. Like an agal. Would it do any good? Maybe he needed an old traditional scarf thing. Keffiyeh. Maybe it could be all foggy. Like frosted glass, but flexible, and the mirror agal could hold it in place. But was foggy grey suitable? He was, well, on his mother's side, South American. Well, except for the part that was descended from the Prophets and they had been all types, but mostly European . . . He scowled and concentrated on the keffiyeh. Blue and white stripes, like the division flag. Leave off the big yellow sun, or maybe stick it up on the front of the agal . . . his head hurt.
***
Ryol shook her head at her clumsy brother and followed Princess Diuc past the pile of odd things on Aunt Rael's table, to a small room.