A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3)

by Daniel Ruth

  "Like fairies," I asked. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, they behave like fairies but look like elves. Such an odd thing."

  "What are fairies," asked Jeremy. "Like the stories?"

  "I'm not sure what stories you mean," I said. "There are tons of them. Tiny magical people of all shapes and sizes. Each one has minor magics and curses. Pretty weak against things like shifter or vampires but they might be dangerous in groups. Humans should definitely avoid them."

  "Kelpie, merrows, pixies, spriggans and sprites," offered Diego. "They generally never come into the city though. They also aren't very smart. We should have caught them by now."

  "Too bad Stella isn't around anymore," I sighed. "She'd know about elf stuff and faeries. Maybe she can set up her sanctuary and get back by the time we find the path there." I doubted it though.

  There was a moment of silence and then we cautiously started tossing ideas around about what we could do once we found out how to get there.

  Later that evening I left Jeremy, Mei, and Diego to continue chatting. It was mostly about the culture. Mei had actually lived through the years that Diego's Earth analog was in. Jin or Vatapi had ensured her immortality through some ritual several centuries ago. Jeremy had known this but it never really registered until the three started to discuss things.

  They may have been fascinated by comparing cultures, however, I was quickly bored. I enjoyed movie night with Jeremy so I could vaguely follow the conversation but I simply didn't care. I love to laugh at human culture but I certainly don't want to dissect it.

  Therefore, while they were engrossed in their thrilling analysis I grabbed the amulet that would prevent the room's protections from burning me to cinders and went in to examine the maps.

  My first impression when I entered the room was that it looked far better than when I had last left it. The window wasn't blown out, blood wasn't on the floor and pieces of the wall weren't scattered on the floor.

  Of course, pieces of the wall weren't all on the wall either. The holes in the walls left by the loveable gargoyle guardians were still there. They had not been repaired. I nodded to myself in approval. As much as the damage made my teeth itch and evoked a deep urge to fix them, it may have negatively impacted the already compromised map projection.

  Getting nearer to the wall and peering closer I noted that it was fainter. From my feelings of the energy, it was very slowly degrading. Within a year it wouldn't recognizable. Even now some of the details on the surface were gone, existing only in some demon's memory. Moving my face right up to the projection I concentrated.

  Information of some kind. I didn't want to say it was encrypted but whoever embedded the information in projection didn't really care if anyone else could read it. In a way, it was like someone taking notes in their own shorthand. So sloppy.

  Standing up I paced back and forth in front of the images. They weren't really coherent maps. They were mostly parts of maps with notes jotted down in shorthand how they were connected.

  "Foiled by laziness," I muttered to myself. I brought my terminal up to my face and called Beth.

  "What's up," eth cheerfully replied.

  "I want your help," I held out the terminal. "Can the sensors perceive this image?"

  "Well, I see some sort of holographic map," Beth said. "Lots of maps. Oh, that one over there is almost a complete world!"

  "Good," I nodded. "Record these images and see if you can match them up and put them together. Make the base assumption that there are ten worlds and at least two of them are Earth analogs."

  "Ugh, that’s tough," Beth said. "An AI could do that in seconds but all I can get is a virtual intelligence with some basic deep learning."

  "Um, does it matter that you're not on earth?"

  "After the Tinman Wars, it doesn't matter if you're on Pluto," Beth replied. "I don't think our aborted armegedon changed anything. But..."

  "But what?"

  "There are some online services that do some pretty amazing things. Things only an AI could reasonably do."

  "I thought you said the government hunted down that kind of thing."

  "Hey do, but they couldn't find anything. Do you mind if a bunch of nerds... or really well disguised AIs get this information?"

  "Well, not really," I said. "While I can't say I ever met any AI's, even on my own world, I don’t really have anything against them."

  "Despite trying to take over the world?"

  "Well it seems a stupid ambition but I don't hate humans that want to do it," I paused a moment. "Though I guess it is a bit hypocritical to hate demons that want to do that."

  "They ate Matt," Beth said flatly.

  "Right, so AI's are already better than demons by default," I said with a shrug. "However, since these mysterious online services have never been proven to be illegal let's go for it. Worst thing happens is that the AI's escape to a human free paradise and come back in a hundred years to kill humanity."

  "That’s the plot for Battlestar Galactica," Beth snorted.

  "It seemed pretty silly and cliched, but after stopping a demon invasion I have come to realize that there are a lot of evil creatures out that that are simply too stupid to think of new and original ideas. They probably binge watch bad movies."

  "Like you and Jeremy?"

  "Not at all," I retorted indignantly. "We laugh at them. We don't try to emulate them."

  Beth's tiny holographic image looked at me skeptically.

  "Anyway, send the maps and see if we can piece them together," I said as I walked around the room, holding out the terminal near the projections. "Any luck on the satellites."

  "Um, kinda," Beth said uncomfortably.

  "What does that mean? Was there an uprising of manic-depressive satellites and they have been outlawed too?"

  "Don't be silly," Beth said evasively. "It not nearly as illegal as trying to shoot a rocket outside the atmosphere."

  "I hear a 'but' coming."

  "Well, the plans for basic commercial satellites are easy to get. Having them fabbed isn't too hard either," Beth started slowly. "It’s the delivery system I am having issues with. The military grade models are self-propelled. Let them go and they deploy themselves."

  "Like a traffic buoy," I said nodding.

  "Well, like a buoy on steroids," she said distractedly. "But every time I look into the deployment system, I get blocked because the system thinks I am trying to buy or make an illegal rocket system."

  "Well, we actually did get an illegal rocket system up and running so I suppose we can do it again."

  "That was a pain in the butt," Beth complained. "I still owe favors for that. Is there any reason you need it to actually be in orbit?"

  "Mainly because I don't want it shot down by the local military," I said shrugging. "Also, I was under the impression that being in orbit was the only way I could get the range and map the geography of the world."

  "You gave me an idea," I saw her fingers dance on an unseen keyboard and she looked off to the side. She was probably looking at another screen projection. "Okay, traffic buoys are cheap, have a fifty-year expected life under normal operation. They have a camera system that can be upgraded, networking ability and..."

  "Wait a minute," I protested. "How high can they go? I can see them getting decent images of a city but for world mapping, they seem a bit small-scale."

  "They are limited to a thousand feet but that’s a software limitation. People have been hacking them to go up to five miles for years. The police keep catching them since they have to license them as drones at that point and they conflict with another ordinance."

  "That doesn't seem to be enough."

  "For one, no. However, I mentioned they are cheap. From the account you gave me I easily get a thousand. Set them free and let them spread out and within a month they would have a global network."

  "I have no real objection to that approach," I said after a moment's thought. "But unless it’s the dinosaur planet that the Arc portal
goes to wouldn't they be detected and collected by that worlds authorities?"

  "It depends on their tech level. Even though I can't get military grade buoys I can get the commercial version with camouflage and simple electronic spoofing."

  "Is that legal?"

  "Only in Florida and Texas," Beth said. "But I can get that smuggled over to Arc way easier than any rocket. There's restricted and then there's Restricted with a capital 'R'."

  "No need for that," I waved my hand. "Kingston is expanding his commercial empire into this world. Drop them off in Paris and I'll have them shipped here on the next transport."

  "That's... actually easier," Beth said while nodding and checking her other screen. "International shipments are almost back to normal. Except from Arc. What's up with that?"

  "Probably the Mars attacks."

  "The what?" I could see her typing on her terminal again. "What the heck? They've been attacking Earth and specifically Arc for weeks?"

  "It may be why Jeremy hasn't been too pushy in getting you to go back home. Since he doesn't know how often you've gotten kidnapped, he thinks it's safe over here."

  "Once," she shouted in irritation. "I only got kidnapped once."

  "For Jeremy, once would likely be enough," I replied nonchalantly. "And then there was the home invasions."

  "You can't count that," Beth protested. "That was the same people! And you took care of them!"

  "Right," I said weakly as I recalled the giant vampire god squid that was loose. "Sebastian is all taken care of."

  "Jerk."

  "He is," I agreed.

  "I wasn't talking about him," Beth said as she pouted. "Getting back to Mars. That didn't have anything to do with us, right? I mean you mentioned there was a possibility of the shard thingy blowing up the planet but since it got there safely, nothing happened, right?"

  "Nothing we did directly caused the Mars disaster," I said confidently.

  It was true. It was all Lamia's fault. Admittedly she used the link between the shard and the anchor stone in Arc to forge a permanent ley line between the two locations which then set off a chain reaction. However, I didn't do it or even suggest that it was a good idea. I refuse to be responsible for Lamia's idiocy. I only take responsibility for my own idiocy.

  "Is there anything we can do to fix things," Beth asked. She stared into the terminal hopefully.

  I paused in thought. I hadn't really given it much thought. Since I didn't do it and my people weren't impacted, I hadn't even thought of doing anything.

  "Well, as you know the ley lines are permanent," I began as I thought about the issue. "Vatapi brainwashed people into believing otherwise... but they are. If we knew where the people went, we might be able to send support or mitigate the ley line eruptions. Like I did with Arc..."

  "What do you mean if we knew where they went?" This kicked off another flurry of typing. "They all disappeared? Only the automated ships are left? That's terrible!"

  "Well, they're bombing Arc," I said wryly. "Thus, my sympathy is somewhat limited..."

  "They're bombing..."

  "All right! All right! Do you need more time to read up on the Mars disaster?" I said in exasperation.

  "No, never mind," she waved her hands. "Go ahead!"

  "If we could make contact with them and not be blown up by the defenses or rampaging creatures from other worlds, we could offer relocation," I mused. "Even the dinosaur world next to Arc is peaceful in comparison to Mars right now."

  "Anything else?"

  "Well, if the gods would get off their ass and fix the problem they caused, it might do something but all they seem willing to do is throw Lamia at the problem."

  "I actually don't know what you're talking about," Beth said in confusion. As usual, when people said things like that, I ignored her.

  "If I ever have a few years to sit down and thoroughly master the art of circle magic I could probably extend Vatapi's circle to Mars. That would lock down the random portals at least. I think that’s the biggest headache."

  "You can do that?"

  "Not right now. Not for a long time. It's really complex magic," I said with a sigh. "Vatapi may be a stereotypical demon with a dopey invasion plan but he was a master of circle magic."

  "So, we can't help them?"

  "If we could find them, we could evacuate them."

  "To the Jurassic Park world?"

  "Is that what they're calling it? I had wondered." Of course, that was a lie. I hadn't cared enough to think about it.

  "I think the government assigned it a number but everyone calls it the Jurassic Park world."

  "Anyway, until we can make contact with the people on Mars there isn't much anyone can do," I said with another shrug. "Let's see if we can do anything with this jigsaw puzzle world while you send it off to the 'not an AI' service."

  "Sure, it is like a puzzle, now that you mention it. I'll get your terminal to project ten globs and we'll try to fill them in."

  "Last time I did that I think I was able to do a large projection from the terminal for a few seconds before the power died," I said doubtfully.

  "This won't be as big or bright," Beth muttered as she went into another flurry of typing. "I can also conserve a bit of power by not showing me and fading the other nine projects when we aren't using them. You hardly ever use yours so it should have plenty of time to restore its power."

  We spent a few hours trying to put the various projections into order. When Beth got tired and went to bed, I turned off the terminal and went back to try to decipher the notes stored in the images. It was very late when Jeremy finally knocked on the door.

  Exiting the room, I immediately noticed that two more people had joined the discussion. Diego was still in his seat but now Durmont sat on the couch next to Mei and Alan was sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs. The conversation had turned from discussing possible demon defense plans to possible trade goods.

  "Chocolate and coffee," Diego stated firmly. "Those are classic luxury goods. "

  "Spices," countered Mei. "Low weight, high yield. Also, very traditional."

  Jeremy was drowsing lightly in another chair.

  "Why are you worried about weight," I asked. "Just grab a few storage items."

  "The council mentioned that storage items may be damaged by the constant portal travel," Durmont contributed.

  I took out my storage pouch and examined it with my senses. Not to be too prideful but dragons know magic items on an instinctive level. "No, mine seems as good now as the day I bought it. And I put this one through a lot of stress. Far more than just a portal."

  "That opens a lot of options, though I understand there is a large initial investment," Alan added, breaking his silence.

  "I happen to have a bit of local gold," I replied with a grin. "For one of my favors, I would be delighted to give you a significant bit of funds." If I could get rid of Kingston with a mere bit of gold I would be delighted.

  "I'll let Mr. Prince know," Alan said blandly. He didn't seem enthused about the idea. I hadn't thought that he would but I had to try.

  "Now that all the representatives are here from your world," Durmont gestured to the others. He politely included Jeremy, even though he was my own personal guest. "I'll schedule the dinner party for tomorrow night."

  "Sounds delicious!" I replied.

  "You all are welcome to bring a guest," he continued. I thought of Maribel and froze for an instant.

  "Thank you," I smiled as I imagined that possible disaster. "I'll think about it. I'll take Alan around the city tomorrow and show him around. Get him some local clothes and show him some of the delightful goods the city produces for trade."

  "I'll send some guards with you," the Principal offered.

  "Thank you, but we'll have our own detail," Alan interrupted. Obviously, he was aware I was trying to complete our bargain. It would be terribly inconvenient to be followed around by the city guards as we tried to pick up the pieces of a massive underground ass
assins' guild.

  "As you wish," Durmont acquiesced easily. "Tomorrow you'll meet many nobles and merchants that will be happy to supply you any trade goods you could wish for. I am sure that by the time the evening is done you'll more than have your fill of merchants."

  My smile dimmed, the evening hadn't even started and I already wanted nothing to do with them. However, I was Alan's character witness and they did have free food.

  "It's been a delightful day," Durmont said as he stood up and stretched. "I'll be heading to bed. I have a long day tomorrow."

  "You still live here," I asked in surprise.

  "It's tradition," he said simply. "The demons may have ruined many things but we can't let them take that away. Although it hasn't been used as such in a while it's even tradition to house diplomatic guests here."

  "I'm impressed you'd still want to stay here," I admitted. He had been brainwashed and basically held captive by demons in this house.

  His smile became a bit brittle. Jeremy woke up enough to glare at me. "I'm an adult. I can deal with a few bad memories."

  "It’s a good thing this is a mansion. There must be many rooms here," I said.

  "There's' over twenty rooms," Durmont replied. "About half of them can be easily converted into a guest room. You and your friend are welcome to stay. I can have the night shift come out and set two up for you."

  "Thank you," Jeremy interjected. "But we are staying nearby with friends." I frowned. That was more than I wanted the Principal to know about us and Beth. Frankly, I was amazed he didn't have anyone follow us but I am pretty sure I would eventually sense that. He may be aware of that as well.

  Honestly, I didn't know how much Durmont knew about me but he was more respectful than I would expect him to be to a random stranger. I wondered exactly how President Carlos had described me.

  Chapter 13

  The next day I got a call on my terminal from Alan about our wonderful day out. While my date with Maribel had been fun from beginning to end, I didn't really have many expectations for this day. However, it didn't really matter, because the entire point was to take one more step towards having Kingston leave me alone.