by A. Omukai
What on Earth had they told him?
She had been the best in her class by a huge margin. No other druid had performed even remotely as well. Not once had she failed to perform the ritual. Her mastery of the energy was second to none.
Yes, it was true; she got bored from time to time, but she had never failed.
She wouldn’t start an argument with Brilann, no chance in hell she could win it, the only thing that would do, it would cause problems and worsen their relationship. Brilann and she would spend months on board of this ship, maybe even years. The last thing she wanted was to piss off everyone around her, especially not her mentor.
“I understand,” she said.
The old man frowned for a moment, but seemed satisfied.
The Cat Sidhe sat next to the bed, at the same spot she had inhabited when Deirdre had been here the first time.
Again, Deirdre’s eyes wandered to the wall. The flickering was still there. The longer she stared, the stronger it got. It sucked her in, so she averted her gaze.
“As for the jump procedure, be very careful to perform the ritual precisely, but also, make sure you got the correct data for the jump destination. While you did the whole procedure back on Earth multiple times, you never actually moved a ship through space. The further away the destination point, the more difficult it gets. A bad aim can carry you to a completely different location. An imperfect ritual circle can leak energy and lead to terrible consequences. Choosing the wrong runes can devastate, but I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
Why did she have to listen to all this stuff? This was just a continuation of that boring speech on the station earlier. Worse, it was like an introductory speech for new druid apprentices of the circle. That was why she had come here?
“I see.”
“When we perform the jump over long distances, we look at the data carefully, and it doesn’t matter how long the ritual takes, because speed doesn’t matter, but safety does. Pulling us through the gate and catapulting us out on the other side requires focus. How well can you concentrate?”
Well enough. She had never been tested, because there had never been a problem, but handling the magic came naturally to her. What she lacked was a practical experience.
“I will do my best,” she answered.
“Since this is a scout mission, we are the very first humans to ever enter our target system, Gliese 667 C. Even though there has been observation from afar, we have very little idea what we may encounter. Anything is possible. The system is over twenty light-years from home, which means, even the newest data we have is already over twenty years old.”
How much could happen in twenty years, in the emptiness of space? If there were a cosmic catastrophe to happen, they would see it coming. What else could he mean?
“Yes.”
“We will perform the first jump today, and your job is one of the most difficult on board. Be mindful, but be confident. You were chosen, because you can handle it.”
Deirdre nodded again, her attention drifting towards the flickering wall without her even noticing.
“Yes.”
“I will assist you with anything, especially before and during the jump, but not limited to this part of your job. There might be more problem solving ahead, depending on what we find when we arrive.”
The flickering intensified, then suddenly the wall disappeared, just like last time. She stared at the tree. It seemed to glow from inside, but it didn’t radiate light, or heat. It radiated magical energy, which she couldn’t see, but feel.
The tree was doing something. She was not sure what it was, but it performed a function.
“Yes.”
“You should be well versed in building spells, according to the performance reports I received. Learning and practicing over the last twenty years should have given you the skills you need to succeed in whatever situation we might land in. However, you are inexperienced, which is why I’m here.”
The bark was dark brown, but if she looked at it carefully, the lines seemed to move ever so slightly. They all did. Every single wrinkle glided up the gnarly trunk, all at the same speed, as if the tree was transporting something, like a magical assembly line. Fascinating.
“Yes.”
“Chances are slim, but we might have to perform a second jump, in case of emergency. Because the possibility exists, you cannot break concentration before you are sure that the first jump succeeded and the ship is safe.”
Her magical senses touched the tree. It was warm, in an abstract sense. The old oak was a magical organism. Was it really a tree, though? It didn’t quite feel like a plant, more like a creature. Questions, questions.
“Yes,” she answered again.
“There has been talk about flying cows on board of the ship. Please be careful to make sure you don’t get hit.”
She tried to get through the bark with her magical senses, but couldn’t quite penetrate it. It pulsed, almost like a heartbeat. She touched it again, and it throbbed vigorously.
“Yes,” she said.
She pushed and pushed, trying to get through the bark, to connect with the energy flow inside directly, but it repelled her. Something about it—
“Are you even listening, Deirdre MacBreen?”
Brilann’s voice thundered, and although there was no echo in the small room, it resounded inside her skull. She flinched and jumped.
“What did I tell you about listening until I am finished? Silly girl, I shouldn’t have saved you back on the station!”
Her heart skipped a beat, and blood shot into her face. Her ears felt like glowing coals.
She looked up into his face. His always so serene features were volcanoes and thunderstorms. His eyes narrowed, the edges of his mouth turned down, his brow furrowed.
Her mind was blank for a moment, but there was never a question about what she had done wrong.
“I’m sorry. I—”
“There is no excuse for such behaviour.”
“I… Yes.”
“Remember this: you have many years to study the things you want, but mind the priorities. We are here on a scout mission for the Space Exploration Agency. This is not a training flight. Getting the priorities right is part of what it means to be an adult. You may be a woman physically, but you still behave like a girl. You can do better than this. That’s why I brought you on board the Tuatha De Danann.”
“I am really sorry. I know I—”
“I am not finished yet. I’m not telling you to listen to me because I’m self-important or egocentric. I don’t need someone to chat with. I don’t feel lonely. I’m not telling you facts you already know in order to bore you. What I want you to do is, grow up, and fast. Earth is in terrible shape, everyone is trusting you to find us a new place to call home. With so many options, we can go through several systems on our list, but to do so means you will have to repeat the same ritual again and again, and you cannot afford to skip the basics. I hope that’s clear.”
Deirdre nodded, and she meant it.
“I believe you need time to reflect. Leave now.”
She turned her head once more, looked at the tree longingly, then back at Brilann and sighed.
He wanted to be alone now. No, he just didn’t want to have her around.
This day had been a catastrophe so far, and she would have to reset herself and try for a new start.
“I will prepare for the first jump, if that’s okay.”
“Yes, yes. Go now.”
He made a waving gesture towards the door. There was no need to say any more.
5
Preparations
It was a relief to be back in her room, after all that had happened so far, and the day wasn’t even over yet.
She shut the door behind her, took a deep breath and relaxed.
What was wrong with her? She did indeed have a short attention span when things bored her, but she’d never been this distracted before. She definitely needed to get her act together, or sh
e’d run into more trouble, and there was nowhere to run on board the Tuatha De Danann.
Her room had the same layout as Brilann’s quarters. That flickering wall though didn’t exist. She still wondered what was going on with that tree, or whatever it was. But now, she had more important things to do.
Deirdre opened her drawer and took out the rune bag. She would need three runes today: Coll, Uilleand and Ailm. To channel the energy correctly, she would need the wood of a pine tree. She rummaged through her bag, pulled out the Coll rune and looked at it in thought, then sat down in front of her bed.
The little character was etched into an acorn. She held it in her hand, not much bigger than a bean. The acorn was polished and shimmered softly in the indirect light of her quarter. It felt smooth and warm. She put it down on the ground and went through the bag again.
Ailm was slightly bigger and rough. This rune, she had used countless times for various spells; it showed signs of wear and tear, but was still in good enough condition to use it on board the Tuatha De Danann. One more rune to go, Uilleand.
All of them together formed a thought, the principle at the core of the spell: “create big movement”. That’s what it really came to, moving the ship through space, over vast distances, but in reality, it wouldn’t move at all. She would open the gate to the Otherworld, pull it in, then spit it out again. The exit point could be anywhere in space, since the Otherworld was everywhere at once. She just had to have the correct image.
Controlling the energy would be done using the piece of pine wood, channelling them would be possible using the rune acorns. Speaking of pine, she stood up, wandered over to a night stand, opened the second drawer and reached for a little box containing an assortment of channelling items. Various pieces of wood, some flowers, dried berries and vines. Forcing the energies into the pattern of the spell as laid out by the runes meant controlling them, directing the flow to where it would be put to work.
Her fingers glided over the paraphernalia, and the warm, living wood pulled her thoughts back to that tree in Brilann’s room. Why was it so interesting to her? Maybe because it was hidden at first glance. Maybe because Brilann had not answered her question and instead moved straight to his boring sermon about her duties and so on. Or maybe because it was so alien, so unexpected a thing to find on board of a spaceship, especially the way it came out of the ground and cut through the ceiling, as if it was a hologram, not really part of reality.
Real it was though, she had felt it. It had lived, pulsed, and it had transported something up its trunk. There was more, she’d noticed something, but didn’t have time to really look at it. Something about the tree, the room, maybe the cat, or even Brilann. A piece of a puzzle she couldn’t see properly. Why had she not been taught that curious spell the arch druid had cast in his room?
On one hand, she had a heavy responsibility, an important job to do, and she had already started out on the wrong foot. On the other hand, she was restless. This definitely was a case of curiosity killed the cat, but she couldn’t help but think about the damn tree.
Deirdre closed her eyes, shook her head, grabbed the piece of pine wood and put the box back into the drawer. She collected the runes she had laid out, then put it all into the bag she would carry with her to the bridge later.
It didn’t matter that she had messed up right from the start, and that she had left a terrible impression with Brilann today. This was still just day one, and even this day wasn’t quite over yet. In the big picture, her poor start wouldn’t matter. She would make it not matter.
Yeah, that was the spirit. There was no reason to brood and fall into depression over such minor mishaps. The galaxy lay in front of her, ready to be conquered, and she was ready to conquer it. Deirdre MacBreen, conqueror. She’d come back home after opening portals to several new worlds, carrying humanity into a new age.
This felt much better now. Her narrow room seemed slightly more spacious, and the light brighter. She got this.
Deirdre got up, her bag in her left hand, and opened the door with her right. She’d go back to Brilann one more time after she got the navigation data. She’d prove to herself that there was no reason to feel like an idiot, when she had done nothing to deserve it. That drama on the space station? Ward had blown it out of proportion, and thinking back, even the commander had been surprised. Her lack of attention in Brilann’s room, well… that was on her, granted. It wasn’t the end of the world, though.
So, the bridge it was. Look up the data for the first destination, form an image, then return to Brilann one more time. She had a plan.
***
This was her second time on the bridge of the Tuatha De Danann. The captain still wasn’t here, and several teams were still busy setting various things up for their maiden voyage. People were buzzing about, and the term fit especially well for the Aes Sidhe on board. Right now, there were two of them, Fionnlagh and a female, whose wings glowed in a deep orange. They were gesturing a lot while talking. A Lurikeen officer sat at his console near the helm, leaned over a display. He had the same hair colour as Deirdre, a flaming red.
She oriented herself. Which was the navigation console? Her eyes scanned the bridge. Several stations were lined up at the wall of the room. There was the communication desk, which was where the two Faeries hung in the air, performing their weird dance while having what looked like an animated discussion. The desk doubled as a gunner’s console. The Tuatha De Danann had little weaponry, but it wasn’t completely toothless either. Deirdre had nothing to do with that, though. She searched… and found the navigator’s console right next to the comm desk. She hadn’t paid attention the first time she had been here and stood right next to it without knowing.
Arguing Faeries or not, she had work to do, and she’d not get distracted this time. It had gotten her into trouble more than she could use already, and she didn’t have Maya around to vent her frustrations and get back on track, the way she had done it so often back on Earth.
She reached the console and sat down on the seat. Her place, the navigator’s chair. The technology was familiar. She touched the display, and lights blinked into existence, indicating that the machine was booting up. The process was quick, only seconds, until the menu popped up on the screen, then linked with her personal AI and projected the display directly in her field of view. The current environment was easy to read. Earth and neighbourhood, Venus and Mars next door. The sun dominated the holo, much like it did the solar system. Then the display switched to actual scale, and everything shrunk down to a degree that made it all almost invisible to the naked eye. That was okay.
Deirdre zoomed in on the ship, and the camera rotated around it, showing it from all sides. The central unit with engines and drives in the back, and the bridge deep in the middle, surrounded by thick walls of steel, all compartmentalized. Also the rotating ring, with the crew quarters and artificial gravity generated by centrifugal force. Deck one, where both Brilann and she had their rooms. Elevators led to the central unit, Deck Two, where she was right now.
“You will let me examine you, or I’ll have the captain order you to!”
The voice was shrill and angry, and when Deirdre turned around to the two Aes Sidhe next to her, who now actually buzzed around like bees — no, like hummingbirds.
It was the orange Faerie woman she had heard, and both had lowered their voices now. Fionnlagh’s eyes were glowing brightly, and so did his wings. Her warm, orange colours were now burning heat, while his cool blue made the air around him freeze. This was the first time Deirdre saw members of the two Courts together and fighting over something. They wouldn’t start an actual fight, though. There was the contract that bound them all together, and if she remembered correctly, Brilann had a role in all this.
But it didn’t change the hatred the two Courts had for each other, and these two Aes Sidhe were a textbook example.
“Don’t you dare lay your fingers on me,” he hissed.
She didn’t have the time fo
r this. Both Faeries didn’t represent their Court here on board, they all were members of the same crew whether they liked it or not.
Deirdre turned back to her console. She had work to do. With a few quick inputs, she called up the list of jump destinations. There were ten systems to visit on their first trip, before they could return to Earth. The list was sorted for minimal travel distance between the stars, even though distance didn’t matter. No idea who had set it up like this, and it didn’t matter, anyway. It meant she didn’t have to decide the destination herself. She selected the first of the systems on the list and let the hologram simulate a trip in normal space, at a speed that violated all laws of physics.
The camera cut through empty wastes smoothly and ended its journey at the entry point of the triple-star system with the name Gliese 667. Her target was sun C. The camera moved through the complicated system, circled the two brighter suns that orbited each other, then went through the immediate neighbourhood of sun C with its various planets, none of which were known well enough to make any assumptions. Gliese 667 C orbited stars A and B at some distance, but the whole construct counted as a triple star system.
“Take your hands off me!”
The sudden exclamation startled her again. She suppressed a curse. Deirdre wouldn’t get dragged into their fight. She tried to focus on the system one more time, but her concentration fizzled out. Whatever. She had her impression. She’d make the jump.