“Are we getting some toys to play with?” Tal asked with a grin, following him.
“We would be remiss if we didn’t provide proper equipment,” Marna said, trailing after them. “One reminder, as before, these materials do not leave Homeworld.”
The big man sighed and rolled his eyes. “What good is having toys if we can’t play with them unsupervised?”
“Falor,” Aarlen growled. “Grow up.”
“Whitey,” Tal focused hard eyes on the big woman, his tone going from jovial to icy. “I don’t need to hear that from you. You do your job. I’ll do mine.”
“Easy, Tiger,” the woman with him said putting a hand on his shoulder. “We haven’t even started the mission.”
It was clear, despite the changes in Aarlen, that there was no love lost between Tal and the ancient elder.
Loric shook his head, stepping smartly next to Eclipse. “Good thing you put them on separate teams.”
Eclipse nodded. “Yes.”
After a long breath of walking, they arrived at the “checkpoint”. Though it had not looked it from hundred paces away, it too was a sizable area easily able to house fifty personnel. The “counter” was actually a huge window looking into a chamber built into the vertical face. From the reinforcing around it, the twenty pace high entry gate next to it could probably withstand an impact sufficient to destroy a city. The two Kriar guards dressed in black uniforms with red sleeves that stood to either side of it were there as a courtesy only.
Eclipse stepped up to the desk. Bannor heard the burly Kriar’s thoughts in his head.
A male Kriar, his space-black hair tied in braids stepped to the counter. He pressed three fingers to the jewel on his forehead, then again to the glowing jewel on his sternum and dipped his head with a click of his heels on the metal decking.
With a boom and a humming, the massive gate doors parted. The two guards at the gate saluted, then un-shouldered long weapons and stood at the ready.
Eclipse moved through the opening, the others trailing after him. He stopped at an open counter on the far side as Kriar filed out of a doorway into the passage next to him. “We will check you all in as quickly as possible. Please cooperate with our guard staff. I assure you, every step is essential.” He turned to Loric. “Those who have current citizenship and insignia, please get your security updated. For the duration of this mission you will have white seal clearance. Step to the left,” he gestured to the doorway. “Thane Veenal and Thane Tsallis will assist you. The rest of you step to the counter.” He gestured to female Kriar and her male companion. “Thane Xera and Thane Dhallen will process you for entry. When you are done, report to either Dulcere or myself, we will equip you for the mission.” He pointed to a second open doorway down the passage.
Loric, Desiray, Tal, Terra, Dominique, Aarlen and Radian stepped through the doorway with the two Kriar, who led them to a desk-like structure a short distance behind the counter.
Eclipse, Dulcere, and Marna headed toward the other doorway.
Shaking his head, broad shouldered Algernon was the first to step forward. “Damn, I hate all this technical dren.” He pulled the gauntlets off his hands, and undid the brow-cloth tying back his thick hair. He unbuckled the heavy sheath strapped over his shoulder. He held it out to Euriel. “Ri, hold on to this for a moment would you.”
The short Vanir warrior looked up at him with wide eyes and took the blade from him, handling the sheath with great care. Even powerful Idun’s brow was furrowed as she eyed the weapon.
One glance at the threads surrounding the sword made Bannor understand the gingerly handling; there was enough power in it to flatten a mountain.
With a shrug of his broad shoulders Algernon stepped to the counter, set aside his gloves and headband, and placed his hands on the metallic surface palms up.
“This stuff don’t hurt,” Algernon said over his shoulder. “It’s their way of making sure we don’t get lost. They stick these little crystals in your hands.” The Kriar behind the counter pressed a silver cylinder into Algernon’s palm and he jerked a little. “They do both hands,” the Kriar hit his other palm with the tool and he winced. “In case there’s an—accident. If you ask nice, they’ll pull them out when you leave.” He raised one hand. The Kriar reached down to something behind the counter and raised it. The thing looked like a small silver sphere with a gray cord attached. The object had a single red ‘eye’, and from that issued a bluish light which the male played across the Algernon’s fingers and palm, and then on his forehead and face. “This thing here kinda tingles. From what I understand it makes sure you haven’t got any illnesses or anything.”
The Kriar behind the counter nodded to him, procedure apparently complete. Algernon tied on his hair band then pulled his gauntlets back on. He stepped back and took his sword back from Euriel. “Thanks.”
Seeing that neither the goddess or her daughter were quick to step forward, Vanidaar straightened, took off his gloves and stepped to the counter. To say he looked uncomfortable was an understatement. He obviously found this place incredibly unsettling. Bannor could almost hear him muttering Wren’s name under his breath as the Kriar security person inserted the crystals into his hands and used the silver sphere to shine a light onto the Baron’s hand and face.
Ziedra, who was huddled close to Damay, thrust herself forward next. The dark-haired savant had looked frightened and lost ever since her husband had gone behind the counter. The quiet elder savant looked equally uncomfortable. Her expression darkened as the younger stopped at the counter.
“It’ll be okay, Baby,” Radian said in a soothing voice not far away. Another security person was doing something to his hand while he spoke.
The dark-haired savant swallowed and thrust her hands onto the counter. She gritted her teeth the whole time it went on. After a few moments the operation was finished. She stepped back rubbing her palms and frowning.
Idun growled and stomped up to the counter. The goddess took longer. Apparently, the Kriar man needed to make several small adjustments in his tool in order to place the crystal that had easily been inserted into the hands of the others.
Bannor glanced to Damay. She met his eyes. She rubbed her hands together, jeweled rings on her fingers flashing. She drew a breath as she watched the process.
“I better go next,” Daena said by Bannor’s shoulder. “He’ll probably have the same difficulty with this silly First-one skin of mine.”
After Idun, she stepped up as the others had done.
The goddess was rubbing her palms and frowning.
“Is there something wrong, Mother?” Euriel asked.
The pantheon lady shook her head. “I do not like their artifices being able to look inside of me so easily.”
Bannor understood that sentiment.
Daena returned to Bannor, staring at her palm. “That wasn’t so bad. Amazing what something so small is capable of.”
Euriel, Bannor, and Damay all glanced at one another, none of them eager to step forward. With a grunt, Euriel leaned forward to be processed.
Loric and others filed out. Radian came and put an arm around Ziedra, and whispered something in her ear. The dark-haired savant sighed and relaxed against him.
He jerked. He realized that Damay had already taken the spot ahead of him and was done. Drawing a breath, he stepped up to the counter and turned his palms up on the cold metal surface. Despite trying to keep himself calm, his heart speeded anyways. He reasoned that there w
as nothing to fear, yet still he felt threatened. The Kriar behind the counter tapped briefly on a device by his hands looked at something in a glowing device then raised the wand he’d been using on the others.
Bannor felt a sharp pricking sensation like being jabbed with a needle, then again in the other hand. With that part over, he raised his palm up like he’d seen Algernon do. The eye-device, as the warrior described, did tingle, making his skin grow warm where the illumination touched.
After only a moment, there was a low thrumming from the device. The Kriar frowned, and pulled the little sphere back to examine it. He punched something on the device then played the light over Bannor’s hand again. The noise hummed again.
Xera, who was at Bannor’s shoulder, frowned. She went around the counter and looked at that glowing machine. After a moment, she took the sphere from the counter person. She tapped at the artifice and played the light over his hand for the third time. The sound happened yet again.
Loric came and leaned over the counter. “What’s wrong?”
The lady Kriar wore a perplexed expression.
“Wrong as in too much?”
The gray-haired elder looked at Bannor. He raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “I guess Gaea doesn’t want you getting too good a look at him.” He sighed. “I’d get permission from the Vatraena and pass him—I think she’ll understand what’s going on.”
The thane nodded.
After a brief exchange, the Kriar female waved him to go in with the others.
A short distance down the passage through an archway, Eclipse, Dulcere, and Counsel Solaris waited for them in tiered circular chamber thirty paces across. Tables that followed the rounded contour of the room had been placed on the two lowest tiers, with seats situated behind them. Strange devices, odd belts, backpacks and pieces of what looked like armor had been arranged on the tables.
“Do not worry about what any of these items do yet,” Eclipse advised. “There is a changing area up the steps on my left.” He pointed to an open archway on the far side of the room. “We advise wearing these bodysuits.” He held up what looked like a thin black fabric. “Put them on underneath your clothing. These will keep you alive should an area lose air pressure. The rest of these items, take one of each.”
“One size fits all, I suppose?” Daena asked taking one of suits with a dubious expression.
“It does,” Eclipse responded.
“Things don’t look like much,” Tal remarked taking one from Eclipse. “But they are pretty sweet.” He glanced back at the others and winked. “Clothing that shape changes.”
“This?” Euriel held up the cloth bundle that Eclipse handed her. “There’s no magic in this.”
Tal shrugged. “Ain’t magic, but it works though. You’ll see.”
Bannor took one of the suits, a heavy belt made of something similar to leather, what looked like a backpack but was rigid and what was obviously a chest plate. There were also some extra items inside of a small clear sack.
Of the items handed to him, he found the clear sack the most fascinating. A lightweight material that from brief examination was both sturdy and see-through.
“Just put on the suits,” Eclipse said. “Wait for those who are familiar to help you the rest.”
Everyone knew there was a need to be quick so there was no arguing. At the top of the steps the archway led into a room divided into twelve closable alcoves.
“Wear it right against your skin,” Tal advised as they entered the chamber. “It’ll feel creepy but you’ll get used to it. The stuff splits in the middle. Pull it up over yer legs first. It stretches a lot more’n you’d expect. Just get an arm in the top and you can sneak it over.”
“Do I really need such a thing?” Idun asked, pausing in the space between the alcoves.
“Can you live in a vacuum?” Aarlen asked.
“Not long I would think,” the pantheon lady answered.
“Small inconvenience,” the white-haired elder said. She stepped into an alcove and closed the partition.
Because there were more people than alcoves, Bannor waited outside with Algernon while the others dressed.
Tal’s wife Terra stepped back out of the dressing area after only a short breath of time, with the belt and other equipment arranged over her shoulders. She hadn’t bothered to put her clothing back on, wearing only the skin-tight material hugging her shapely curves. It might as well have been a coating of paint for all it hid—which was to say—nothing. The cattish woman gestured Algernon in and he stepped in and closed the door. She looped the heavy belt around her narrow waist and buckled it with a metallic clack.
She grinned at Bannor, intense golden eyes glinting with impish mirth. “Watch this,” she confided.
She held up the chest plate, which had no contour to it save a dip to allow for the throat. “Hard, right?” She knocked on it with her knuckles.
Bannor frowned and nodded. No way would that fit a woman even half as healthy as the burly woman warrior.
Terra ran a long nailed finger down the middle of the carapace then breathed on it. The solid material flopped over itself as if it had become black seaweed. The woman pulled the stuff to her neck then spread the material over her ample breasts and torso like she were spreading bread dough. After a few moments of carefully applying the stuff she gave her stomach a sharp slap.
There was a sizzling sound and the gooey soft substance flashed and jumped rigid, becoming a shiny black color. Even though Terra hadn’t spread it evenly, the Kriar magic had uniformly covered her and made itself consistent.
She winked at him and knocked on the now rigid carapace perfectly proportioned for her. “Pretty wizard, huh?”
“Yes,” he drew the word out. “Is it strong?”
“This stuff?” Terra looked down at it. “Anything that’ll go through it would kill you from the impact anyway.”
He sighed. “That’s reassuring.”
Terra shrugged. She opened up the clear sack and began fishing out the contents. “Here’s our other toys.” She held up a small red ovoid. “Kriar communication magic.” She pushed it in her left ear. She held up a thick metal band and clicked it around her throat. “Breather and filter.” She held up a small silver cylinder. “Ummm, no word for this in common. Tal and I just call them multi-gadgets.” She slid it into a loop on the belt obviously meant for it. “Now, the real fun.” She pulled out a collection of about eight objects, and began fitting them together with obvious expertise. The device consisted of a series of cylinders fitted into a rounded rectangular body into which fit a shaped grip somewhat reminiscent of sword pommel.
Terra slid and clicked pieces for a few more moments, then thumbed three red jewels on the item’s side. Each one she touched turned green. She brought the object close to her lips. “Mark six, initialize and attune, I am Terra Karlin Falor, acknowledge and secure.” She wrapped her fingers around the handle.
A tinny voice emanated from the device. **Mark six recognizes operator Terra Karlin Falor. Body patterns committed and locked.**
She nodded, spinning the thing in a circle on her finger and dropping it into a special sheath obviously made for it on the belt.
Bannor eyed the object. “And what is that? Some kind of weapon?”
She nodded. “Not as good as my Shaladen.” She gestured and with a rasp and a flare of light a sword in a jeweled sheath appeared in her hand. She belted the weapon on with deft hands. “A ranged weapon definitely has its advantages though.”
“It doesn’t look like much.”
“You’ll change your mind.�
�� She patted him on the shoulder and pointed him toward an alcove as Tal stepped out with all his gear already in place like hers.
Bannor went into the alcove Tal had exited. The ‘changing room’ was actually bigger than he expected, with a long wide bench and numerous hooks for clothing and gear. He sat, tossing the bundle of items onto the bench next to him. He removed his satchel, pulled off his boots, and stripped out of his leathers and other garments.
Naked in the area he felt a tremble of unease go through him. With a frown, he picked up the soft stretchy ‘suit’. He found the split in the material as Tal described and worked his foot into one of the obvious legs.
The black cloth did, as Tal described, feel creepy—slightly damp but somewhat like fur in how it felt against the skin. It stretched an amazing amount. It took only instants to work the stuff up over both legs. Since the garment was all one piece it took some bending in addition to get it up over his head, but the difficulty lasted only a matter of moments. Unlike Terra, he would not traipse all over Homeworld dressed in what amounted to a second skin. He pulled on his leather breeches and stepped into his boots.
He adjusted and clipped on the heavy belt, then arranged the sheaths for his axes with it.
Bannor stepped back out into the hall with the rest of his gear looped over his shoulder. Eclipse now stood in the passage between the changing rooms and gestured him back to the larger chamber.
Marna, Dulcere, Aarlen, and Dominique stood together at the doorway helping the less experienced people suit up. Dulcere took him by the arm and led him off a few steps. She took his equipment and put it aside on the table.
Bannor complied. Dulcere grabbed the carapace and snapped it like a housewife might snap a towel—the material becoming pliable as when Terra had manipulated her own. With deft expertise Dulcere splayed the material against his chest and “thumped” it rigid in a single smooth motion. She put the rest of the Kriar equipment on him with equal dexterity.
She assembled that curious weapon for him and put it in his hand.
Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant Page 6