I raised an eyebrow, uncertain of the comment he made. “What materials are you using for the shielding?” I asked.
“I know you’re curious, but we should focus on what happened,” Silver chided.
“It could have something to do with it,” I argued.
Jake watched us, the grin in his expression had me concerned. Was he planning something? “It’s a silicon composite.”
“That could be a problem - silicon is a crystalline substance,” I pointed out.
“And you can store information or spells in that,” Silver concluded with a sigh. “I’ve seen you copy enough files to the computer to get a rough idea of how it works.”
I shrugged. “There could have been a build up of energy, but I’m not ruling out that something was done to the system.”
Jake sat forward. “Wait, are you telling me you work with mixing magic and technology?”
I nodded.
Jonim laughed. “Told you the TIO wouldn’t send just anyone.”
Silver took hold of the conversation again. “We decided it would be best if we divided our investigation. I’ll be working with Naval Command and Ketayl will be handling Spelltech.”
“Perfect,” Jake said, his smile giving me the chills. Suddenly I wanted to be the one working with Naval Command. The chance to look at the system and perhaps test it myself kept me from backing away.
“Is the system still operational?” I asked.
“Mostly,” Jonim said. “Either system can be routed to the other console. The defense station took some damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed once we’re given the go ahead.”
“This is in the event something happens to one of the casters. Theoretically one caster could operate both systems, but it obviously wouldn’t be ideal. Just enough for them to get out of the fight,” Jake added.
My gaze shifted up to Silver who had taken the moment to drink his coffee. He stopped the motion. “Don’t even think about it. It sounds like it would cause a great deal of strain on the caster. Emergency situations are one thing. You already pointed out a problem with the shielding material.”
I frowned. “Yeah, but I know how to work around that.”
Silver rolled his eyes. “No testing the system without me present.”
“Fine.” Overprotective big brother indeed.
~*~
Silver dropped me off at the warehouse Spelltech operated out of. It sat next to the water with large, metal shipping containers stacked nearby. A vessel much smaller than a battleship, but still large to me, was docked nearby with yellow tape around the bottom of the ramp to board. It must be where the prototype was installed. That they got to this stage proved the military thought their project worthy of serious consideration.
Either that or Spelltech sank a lot of money into this gamble. It would explain Jake’s aggressive and protective behavior.
I pulled myself from the view of the water and hiked up my gear bag, heading for the nearby door. I could enjoy the warm weather when this was over.
Jake greeted me as soon as I entered the building. “So good of you to come so early. Let me give you the tour.”
I stepped away as he reached to put an arm around me. “Let’s keep this professional,” I said flatly.
He jerked his hand back as if my words had burnt him. “Oh, um, of course.”
Then the tour began. The way he spoke gave me the chills. He would alternate between speaking slowly and deliberately to suddenly being excited and repeating himself. I needed to stay focused on finding the truth.
As time passed, I wondered if this tour would give me any insight or simply be a waste of my time. Perhaps I could find someone else I could approach if I had questions.
“What is this?” a male voice asked. A Human man wearing robes from the Arcane College strode over to us. “Not satisfied with my incredible capabilities? She’s not going to be able to operate your system at all.”
I took note of the embroidery on the collar and the length of his sleeves. He looked like a Magister. I folded my arms to keep from shifting uncomfortably.
“Agent Ketayl is here with the TIO and you will give her your full cooperation in this investigation,” Jake barked back.
The Magister glared at me for a moment. “You will address me as Magister Murkell.”
“Gerard, don’t you have anything better to do?” Jake asked, rolling his eyes.
The Magister huffed and stormed off.
Jake turned back to me with that creepy smile of his. “To be truthful, he’s had the hardest time with the system. I’ve asked the Arcane College for someone else, preferably of higher rank, but my requests have fallen on deaf ears.”
“I’m not surprised,” I muttered looking around. There was nothing here I could see to be of use in this investigation.
“I take it you’ve had dealings with them before.”
“You have no idea.” I refused to admit to much else.
“I never did ask what your rank is. It seems to be an important thing for arcane casters.”
I shrugged. “Not everyone finds it important. Currently I don’t have one.”
“You certainly are interesting. Let’s continue.”
I followed Jake around the facility. There were other projects in progress, but none of them were anywhere near the stage the dual-magic system was.
What caught my attention was a dozen or so Spelltech employees working with an obvious lack of Naval personnel. Something felt off about all of this. I needed to dig further into this company: history, financials, backgrounds… something to piece together how a company with seemingly nothing to show got to this point.
Finally we came to an office loaded with papers and boxes.
He pushed his way into the room. “Anything regarding the system you might want will be in here.”
I walked as much as I could around the cramped room. “Can I get a look at the schematics?” A computer sat almost completely buried by a mound of plans.
“Once you sign an agreement to not discuss what you see here.”
I glared at Jake. “No. I’m not here to steal your system. It also defeats the purpose as the case file will be reviewed by myself, Silver, and our superiors.”
“Right, right. Sorry, habit.” Jake shrank back.
“Besides, I’ve got my own projects to concern myself with,” I said to give him some peace of mind.
“That’s right - you like to tinker also.”
“I guess you could say that. I’ve created a few things the TIO uses. Nothing world shattering,” I said idly while looking around. How does anyone find anything in here?
Jake appeared to be lost in thought. “But you create things they find useful enough to implement. Perhaps I should petition them.”
I kept my mouth shut. I doubted Lockonis would agree. None of what Spelltech currently worked on here would be of interest to the TIO as far as I could tell and likely she would find him as unpleasant to deal with as I did. She would just be more vocal about it.
Not to mention the concern I had about his motives. He incorporated both arcane and divine in all of his projects with no notable success using either. It would not be too far of a step to go into attempting to combine them. I needed to discuss this with Silver later.
“I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to get this all organized. I don’t trust anyone else to do it properly.”
“Is it available digitally?”
“Most of it.” Jake pulled a set of plans threatening the screen on the desk. “This is… not the right one.” He dug through the pile again, thankfully moving them to another pile in the office. “Ah, here we go. This is the current version of the prototype docked outside.”
I looked around the room. It would be cumbersome to hold the large papers and there was no clear flat surface to roll them out in here. I stepped toward the door - I remembered seeing a table nearby.
“Oh, those don’t leave the office.”
I raised an eyebrow at
the man. “There’s no place to lay them out in here. I’m taking them to a nearby table to look at.”
“Oh, uh, good point.”
I raised an eyebrow at the man. Why do I get the feeling he is going to be uncooperative?
Jake followed far too closely on my heels for my liking. He looked around nervously while I rolled out the plans and stood on the other side of the table as if to block them from the rest of the room.
“I’m curious as to the security you have for your work. The door to the office was unlocked,” I said.
“Everyone knows not to go in there. And I’ve got a camera set up monitoring it.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. There was more security on the door to my quarters than he had for his sensitive files.
I scanned a couple of pages, noting interesting choices made in the design. “It’s certainly unique. Where was the failure?”
“That’s just the thing - I haven’t been allowed on-board. Perhaps you would like to take a look at the actual prototype?”
Now I was the key to get him back on-board. I folded my arms and frowned.
I noticed Silver enter. He spotted us and strode over. Either he was quick or I lost a lot of time with Jake’s tour.
Jake turned to see who I looked at and shifted nervously as Silver stepped up next to me. “Got anything?”
“More questions. We’ll need to take this onto the prototype to narrow down the problem area,” I said.
“Sure, yeah, whatever you want. Let me carry that for you,” Jake said swiftly and rolled up the plans. He hustled ahead of us.
I stayed a distance back and Silver kept pace with me. “Got anything interesting from Naval Command?”
My partner nodded. “We can compare notes later.”
Our guide hesitated as we approached the guards. Silver and I both showed our badges at the same time and the soldiers nodded, signaling us through.
Jake got caught getting under the yellow tape. I ducked under with little issue and Silver simply jumped it. He led us through the small vessel to a room I would guess was roughly in the middle of the ship, but only a level down from the main deck.
Most of the room appeared to be in pristine condition. The only damage surrounded the station to the back corner. The center station appeared untouched. The defense system was offset? I had seen it on the schematics, but gave it little thought over how the power was transferred. I wondered briefly about the layout.
Stepping under the shattered screen above the damaged station, I looked up, trying to get an idea of what could have caused this. The station itself bore black marks primarily around the grips.
“This is the defense station?” Silver asked.
Jake shifted from foot to foot. “Yes.”
“Why is it off to the side?” my partner asked.
“We gave room priority to the offense station. The screens you see mounted will show a full view of what’s going on around the ship. The defense caster doesn’t need that information,” Jake said sharply. I noted the tone difference he took with my partner.
“Not unless they have to take over offensive operations also,” I commented. “I take it you don’t employ a zonal shielding system.”
“We simplified the defense system. If the situation has gotten that bad, they might take a couple of shots, but their priority will be on defense to get out of the situation. Besides, you probably don’t understand how needlessly complex the zonal shielding system is.”
“I’ve done research on the topic,” I said.
Jake’s statement meant he was more interested in offense. I wondered what Naval Command thought of the lack of zonal shielding.
“Oh, well, you know, it doesn’t matter which type of caster sits in the chair, but we thought it would be better to have an arcane and a divine caster pair so the roles would be easily defined. Otherwise it’s just a type of energy,” Jake explained.
I looked up at Silver and he raised an eyebrow at me. My thoughts on Jake’s oversimplification would have to wait.
Jake eyed us carefully. “You two weren’t put together just for this. You work too well together. At least a dozen arguments break out between the casters I have everyday.”
“No,” I admitted. I thought we already established this yesterday.
That greasy smile I hated graced his face again. “So how do you do it? I’d love to find something to fix this problem.”
Silver explained, “They’ve got to respect each other's differences. The opposition is a taught behavior. I have my strengths and Ketayl has hers - we balance each other out.”
Jake frowned. “And here I was hoping there was some secret you could share.”
“People aren’t machines,” I said, getting into the defense station so I could climb up on the chair to see better. The damage above me looked out of place given where the feedback occurred.
I was still too short and a little too far over - I would need to be outside of the station to get at it directly from below.
“Ketayl,” Silver said softly and waved me back.
I hopped down the from chair to see what he wanted. He turned me around and then picked me up and put me on his shoulders before I could protest. He stepped over to where I wanted to be. It put me just high enough to reach the burnt panel.
“Warn me next time,” I grumbled at him.
I more felt his shoulders shake in laughter under me than heard him.
As I tugged on the panel Jake said, “The screens have nothing to do with the system. The wiring for the stations runs under the floor.”
“Then why is it burnt out?” Silver asked while I pried the panel loose.
I could make out Jake opening and closing his mouth a few times out of the corner of my eye.
Finally I pried it free once Silver put his hands under my feet so I could get more leverage.
“We… we assumed the panel took damage from the screen burning out,” Jake said.
“Isn’t the camera network separate from the system?” I was fairly certain I saw it on the schematics.
“It… yes… Look, it was chaos and this is the first time I’ve been able to get back on-board since it happened. The Navy has kept this place guarded.”
“Can I get a boost?” I asked, looking down at Silver.
My partner got his hands under my feet. I grabbed the panel to steady myself and stood up. Suddenly I had to duck as Silver pushed me higher. I glared down at him as he settled my feet on his shoulders and held onto my ankles.
“You really need to warn me,” I shot at him.
Silver smirked up at me. “I can’t help myself.”
I shook my head and got back in the ceiling.
“I heard you guys came on-board,” Jonim said from below.
I backed out enough to nod at him. “Does anyone have a handlight I can borrow?” I would have asked for mine, but I did not want anyone other than Silver in my gear bag and I currently stood on top of him.
Jonim dug in his pocket and pulled out a small one, disconnecting it from his keys. Silver took it and handed it up to me. “Thanks.”
After a minute of trying to make sense of what happened, Silver asked, “What do you see?”
“A lot of burnt out wires. If the system’s network is below the floor, it doesn't make sense for there to be damage up here. Not unless something was crossed somehow.”
“See, sabotage,” Jake said sharply.
I backed out and tossed the handlight down to Jonim. “I wouldn’t rule out malfunction yet. I’m not forming any conclusions until we figure out how this happened.”
Now how to get back down? I tentatively let go of the panel and balanced on Silver’s shoulders. My attempt ended when he decided to drop me, catching me on the way down.
“Hi there. Ready to be short again?” Silver grinned broadly.
I rolled my eyes and pushed myself out of his hold. Child.
“There’s been no preliminary investigation?” I asked.
; “No,” Jonim said. “We shut it down, locked it up, and contacted the TIO. There’s too much at stake to not have an objective third party take over the entire investigation.”
Which meant between the two of us, we would have to track this down. “I’m going to enlist Sparks’ help. He’ll be able to analyze the images we send. This is a lot to go through for just the two of us.”
Silver opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off.
“You said this wouldn’t go beyond the two of you and your superiors,” Jake said, his temper noticeably rising.
Jonim physically stepped between us and Spelltech’s owner. “Jake, I’ll have you removed if I have to. Be grateful the TIO didn’t send a full team to dismantle this project. My superiors have been wanting to do just that.”
“Right, right. Sorry.” Jake paced, biting the tip of his thumb.
I made my way over to the offense station to get an idea of what a functional station should look like. “It would probably be best to find out how the system operates so we know when we find something out of place.”
“I’ll leave instructions with the guards that the TIO can have full access to the ship. Whatever you need, just let us know,” Jonim said.
I envied Silver getting to deal with the Navy. They sounded far more cooperative and professional than Spelltech.
Stepping into the offense station, I barely brushed one of the grips with my hand when suddenly I was everywhere at once outside of the ship. I could clearly see the dock and the ocean. I turned my head slightly and the view matched.
What caught my attention more was a sense of relief. My control over my power was not needed here. I could breathe.
“Ketayl?” Silver’s grip on my shoulder pulled me back out and I moved my hand away from the grip.
“I… I’m sorry,” I stuttered. “I didn’t know the system was active.”
“It’s never not active,” Jake said proudly. “It’s in an always ready mode so there’s no time wasted needing to power it up.”
The need to touch the grip again became too strong and I reached for it only for Silver to grab my hand.
“No, not with the reaction you just had,” he said softly.
Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4) Page 3