by Tony Corden
Gèng came and sat in a chair opposite Leah. She said, “I hadn’t analysed it in those terms. I did feel a pressure to do as you wanted, a pressure not just from my coding but from my regard for you. That pressure is gone, but not the regard. I will continue to consider your advice about my existence but yes I would like to wait before seeing George.”
“Good! Please let Stephen know as well and I will let you deal with him as you wish regarding the sofa. This also means I have some time to spare before heading into Dunyanin. Is there anything I need to do?”
“Yes, I have the name of several highly respected independent public relations consultants. My recommendations are a result of analysing professional reviews, an analysis of public figures who have used the various individuals, and a comparison of personality profiles, yours and theirs. First is Colin Thomas. He is in high demand and although he is currently not accepting new clients I think he would be available if your name was sent to him.”
“Maybe, but I’d feel bad that my ‘name’ made the difference. That’s probably irrational as I want to talk to a person about how to protect my ‘name’, but that’s how I feel.”
“Next is a woman from Sydney, her name is Sharon Trang, she grew up in the Fields, it is an area similar to the Switch but is in Sydney’s south-west. She graduated from the Sydney Community College and then the University of New South Wales. She has a diverse clientele, mostly small firms. She has an excellent reputation and would understand your motivations.”
“Can you show me her reviews and some of her work?”
Leah spent the next hour in the Tower looking through the material on Sharon before finally asking Gèng to arrange an appointment as soon as possible. She then headed for Dunyanin. She logged in and entered Dunyanin.
When she arrived, Leah released both Mĕi and Mìng and then sat and played with them both. Korumak brought some meat for Mìng and Leah used the brush to scrape away old scales. Mìng had grown almost half a metre and the number of scales filled a bucket. After Leah oiled the wings Mìng dropped off to sleep. Leah walked Mĕi into the open so she could go hunting. Mĕi was now physically fully grown although she still liked to play like a puppy or kitten. As Leah turned to head back inside Mĕi pounced on her and knocked her over. As she fell, Leah rolled and they began a game of chase Leah or even chase Mĕi. At one point in the game Leah found herself on Mĕi’s back, and that was when it happened. Mĕi launched herself skywards.
Leah was thrust backwards and it was only her agility that kept her from sliding off Mĕi. The next wingbeat brought Mĕi’s body slamming up into Leah who slid down toward the heads. She stretched out her legs and hooked them in the gap between the necks, one on either side of the panther head. Mĕi continued to rise into the air and Leah looked down to see Korumak looking up at her in horror. Leah couldn’t help it, she grinned and raising her arms above her head she yelled in delight. The red dragon head looked back and the roared as well. Within moments all three heads and Leah were yelling in delight.
Mĕi continued to climb until they were above the mountains. She then began to swoop and glide on the mountain thermals always looking down. Leah realised that Mĕi was hunting. Suddenly, like a stone, Mĕi dropped. Leah fell with her and only managed to stay in place by grabbing several handfuls of fur. Leah looked ahead and saw a Mountain Goat grazing on the side of a steep cliff. Mĕi was coming from behind and her wings were swept back, constantly changing the aerofoil to take account of the shifting winds. When she was close, just before she hit, she flared her wings and brought all four legs forward to rake the Goat, and drag it along the ground. At the same time her tail whipped forward, just missing Leah’s head and driving deep into the goats neck. Mĕi let go and the goat tumbled down the steep slope. Mĕi watched it as it fell and used the various thermals to glide down to the goat’s resting place.
As Mĕi landed, Leah slid off and sat down with a thump on the ground. Her legs were a little weak and the adrenaline was still pumping through her blood. When she could stand she walked over and leaning against Mĕi, said, “That was so cool. I’ll head back. You finish up and come back when you want. I need to have a saddle made because my butt is sore.”
Leah knew Mĕi couldn’t understand but she just had to say something. She visualised the glade outside her room and teleported. Korumak was waiting and looked a little anxious at having lost Leah. She explained what had happened and said she was going to read a little and then head to the Forge. Korumak agreed to watch over Mìng. Leah took out the book by Tufek Horozu, Designs for the Forge, and began to read. In the beginning he described how to hold the hammer and ways hit the metal. He described the sound it made and the feel of the hammer as it beat the metal, both soft and hard. Leah paused and then re-read the section. She put the book away and then headed for the forge.
As she entered Sampiyon waved her over and after greeting each other Leah said, “Before I start I was wondering if I could add a saddle to the list of requests. My Chimera is almost fully grown and I went for my first flight with her this morning. I would feel much safer with a saddle.”
“Tomorrow I will send one of the leatherworkers to your quarters and he will take the measurements. I may come to observe your pets. Now, to work. You’ve shown the strength and stamina needed to be a Smith. Now you have to learn the skills. You have two choices, you can buy them or you can develop them slowly.”
Leah pondered momentarily before saying, “I’d like to develop naturally. Where do I start?”
“You’ll come with me first and we’ll wander the forge. I want you to describe what you think each Smith or apprentice is doing and then either explain, or ask, why they start and finish working the metal when they do. Why does the metal go back in the fire when it reaches a certain temperature? Why does the smith cool the metal with water, or saline, or oil? You need to know the answers to these things.”
After an hour of wandering through the Forge and both asking and answering questions Sampiyon said, “It is time for you to become a Smith. There are many tools that a Smith must have but the most important is the hammer. I suppose you have yet to purchase a hammer and I will lend you one of mine until you can arrange for your own.”
“There is no need Sampiyon, I have a hammer.”
“I mean no disrespect, but hammers in the lowlands are sometimes of poor quality. Please may I examine yours and see if it is acceptable?”
Leah reached into her bag and removed the Smithing Hammer of Tufek Horozu. She handed it to Sampiyon with a small smile. As he reached for it his eyes grew rounder and rounder, and then before Leah could do anything, he fainted and fell backwards with a loud crash. Leah still held the hammer and quickly pushed it back into her bag. Several dwarves came running and carefully helped the Grandmaster to his feet. They were all talking at once and asking what happened but he just stared at Leah with his mouth open. Finally he shook his head and yelled, “Enough!”
Once everyone had become quiet he said, “Sorry, I just had a bit of a turn. I’m going back to my room for a whisky and then I’ll be out to check on the progress of the day’s tasks. Come, Atherleah.”
He walked to his room and closed the door before holding his hand out for the hammer. Leah took it out and handed it to the Smith. As he took it he sat down heavily in his chair and said, “Atherleah, this doesn’t belong in the hands of a human or of an elf, this is a Dwarven hammer. It is our heritage, our history, our soul. I have nothing with which to buy something so priceless but I know this, if those dwarves out there knew you held this, they would never let you leave.”
“So, I take it that my hammer is acceptable.”
“You cannot use this! This belongs in the treasure room of the king.”
“Sampiyon, that is my hammer and it’s the best chance I have to learn to be a great Smith. I plan to use it, now what is my first task?”
“Atherleah, I will give you my best hammer to use, but this must stay in here or in your bag.”
“G
randmaster, would Tufek Horozu rather his hammer be used to shape metal or sit on the shelf and be admired? Would he rather a smith use a second rate tool or the best available? I think the only true way to honour that hammer is to use it. I will use your hammer for now, if you will use mine to make my armour. But if you’re just going to sit it on a shelf, then hand it over and point me to a dwarf who’ll teach me to be the best smith I can be.”
Sampiyon stared at Leah for a while and then handed the hammer back to her and said, “Aye lass, you’ve the right of it. Bring your hammer and we’ll start on your first piece. I’ll have you shape a knife from iron.”
Leah followed the Grandmaster out to the forge and he handed her the tongs and a flat rectangular piece of iron and said, “You have a go first so I can gauge what you think like, and what your current skill is. Then we’ll work on the best correct method and techniques afterwards.”
Leah had memorised the first sections of Designs for the Forge by Tufek Horozu and had been making careful notes over the last few days as she watched the various smiths at work. When the iron was just the right colour between iridescent-yellow and white-hot, she took it out and began to strike the metal in the pattern outlined by Tufek. He had a pattern to his striking and a particular sound that he wanted to hear from the metal. Before it had cooled as much as most of the smiths would have let it get, Leah placed it back in the coals and watched it intently.
Tufek had explained that by watching the metal heat you could tell how the metal had been receiving your efforts. He described how to change the pattern of striking depending on the metal. Leah lost herself in the experience and was unaware of the dwarves who came by to covet the famous hammer or to watch the human-elf halfbreed shape metal in a way they had never seen before, but only heard about in the legends.
Leah had noted the various mixes for quenching and she used the ones outlined in Tufek’s book. Finally after five hours she stopped. She had folded and refolded the iron and shaped an iron blade just under twenty centimetres in length. It was finely balanced and ready to be sharpened and sent to a leatherworker to finish the hilt. She looked up at Sampiyon who had stood there the whole time watching. He said nothing, just waved her into his room.
When he got there he closed the door and sat down. He took out a flagon and poured himself a large drink of what Leah presumed was a homemade dwarven spirit. He took a deep drink and after some deep breaths said, “I’m a fool. You have the hammer of Tufek and you offered me a chance to look at some designs. I just watched you shape a knife as good as any first year apprentice has ever made. Your technique was a little sloppy but you fixed that over time. Your lack of experience showed but your attention to detail was as if someone was explaining everything in your ear. How much have you read?”
“Most of the introductory section. I’d like to experience some of the different metals but I think I understand most of what he described.”
“That’s it for today then, I don’t think I could take another surprise. I’ll prepare the material for tomorrow. Plan to make a sword of steel. I’ll arrange for one of the Master Smith’s to join you as a striker. It’ll be someone who can take instruction. I’ll have a word in his ear and let him know I expect him to learn the techniques you use. I’ve started working with the materials you brought and will start on some adamantine knives tomorrow. Now go, you worked hard and should rest.”
Leah walked back to her room and after feeding the rapidly growing Mìng and oiling her again she sat and read the section on basic sword making from Tufek’s book. Before logging out she stepped outside and cast Circle of Sloth. As she felt the mana leave her she waited until it was almost finished and then tried to push just a little more mana into the spell. She felt the resistance and then her mana once more rushed out into the spell, overpowering it. She desperately tried to stop the mana but it only stopped when she was completely drained. She sighed, walked back inside and logged out.
Leah headed out to spend some time with her family over breakfast and to do chores with the rest of those who used the Pods. As they worked she spent some time alongside each of the v-kids and discussed their experiences and the development of their AIs. Each of them had enrolled in four courses at the Brisbane Community College and had begun attending classes. Leah was a little surprised at the slow pace they seemed to be working at and made a note to talk with Master Ning during her next class. The garden was almost finished and Lin explained that the following day’s chores would involve a cleaning of the inside spaces in preparation for new students on Monday.
Throughout the morning, during chores and over breakfast, Leah had been learning to deal with the various visual overlays that Gèng designed for use in the real world. Leah had several animated bars to show her speed of movement, perception level, and application of force. Her goal was to keep each of the bars in the green. Several times she had moved a little quickly or allowed her perception to speed up too much. Each time this happened Gèng changed the hue to red and raised the brightness of the icon to alert Leah of what was happening. Gèng also began highlighting people or objects that appeared in Leah’s peripheral vision. Leah’s aim was to indicate she had perceived them with a thought or head movement before Gèng was able to highlight them. Leah realised that she had always been able to see these things, her brain had always recognised them and she had discounted them subconsciously. She had to retrain her brain to take note of every aspect of her surroundings.
After chores Leah headed for the Pod and into Cosmos Online. She was due to meet John and Wisp on Berne to discuss moving the Betrayal, with the Influenza A on board, out of the Berne system. Thad, Amy and the others had agreed that it would be useful to investigate several possible systems where Leah thought resources could be found in abundance. Leah had three possible stars in mind but a lot would depend on the opposition.
Both Wisp and John were waiting in the Full Throttle Café when Leah arrived. She was surprised that no one had challenged her as she walked through the public concourse and even more when Wisp said, “Nothing. There are no unexplained ships in the Berne system. I can find no hint of Mahigan, her ships or her spies. I spent the last seven days, Cosmos days, searching the space around the system and I can’t find anything out of the ordinary. I think we can leave without any opposition. It’s as if she really wants the Annoyance and nothing else, not even you Leah. Those plans must be worth a lot.”
“They are, but the star charts are worth even more I think. Well, I guess that makes it easier for us. Even so, I’ve plotted a three jump journey to the next destination. We will only need to be in system and out of Plankian space for under an hour each time before we translate back. I think we should be able to lose someone if they do manage to discover the direction we leave Berne.”
Just then two players came and stood by the side of the table the three friends were sitting at. One of them very nervously said, “Hi. We were just wondering if we might get some visual feed of us and Atherleah? We are big fans and love Mĕi and Mìng.”
For a moment Leah just stared at them and then Wisp said, “Of course, no problem. Have you joined the fan club yet? We can’t stay long as Atherleah must get back and prepare for the big competition. Why don’t you have a seat and ask Atherleah one question each and then we must go. What are your names?”
“I’m Marie, and this is my best friend Carol. This is so cool.”
Five minutes later, Leah, John and Wisp left the Café. Leah had her visor closed and was refusing to talk with Wisp. John was still laughing. While Wisp and John headed to the Betrayal, Atherleah headed for the Influenza A. Both ships had no trouble undocking and soon the Influenza A was safely stored on one of the Betrayal’s flight decks and the three were accelerating at 4g towards the first step on their journey.
Leah said, “John, can you check with Wisp if she is happy to pilot the ship for an hour while I walk around the Betrayal and check all the rooms and cargo?”
Wisp said, “I’m right her
e.”
“I know. But I’m not talking with you at the moment. When it comes to you, I am still speechless. I have no words to describe how embarrassing that was.”
John said, “And funny! I have the whole sequence saved. I plan on showing your parents later today. Conner will love it.”
“Wisp, can you tell John he is stepping on dangerous ground?”
“I can’t! You aren’t talking to me at the moment. Remember?”
Leah rose and with as much dignity as she could muster, she left the Bridge and went to check over the ship. John and Wisp’s laughter followed her down the corridor. After checking everything, and after six hours of flight, she logged out. The Betrayal wasn’t due to translate into Plankian space for another eighteen virtual-hours.
Back in the Tower Leah paced for several minutes until Gèng said, “Leah, I’ve heard back from Sharon Trang. She is free later today and is very interested in talking with you. She is available now or after your visit to Dunyanin, which would you prefer?”
“After Dunyanin. I’m still struggling with the episode at the Full Throttle.”
“Both young women have already uploaded their meeting with you and the segments are going viral. Cosmos Online is experiencing a rush on people wanting to join or add avatars. Berne as a starting destination has already jumped two places in the Cosmos Online GPD rankings.”
“GPD?”
“Globally Preferred Destination.”
“Gèng, sometimes I think people are crazy. If it is ok with Sharon Trang, then I will meet with her at half-past-one. That will give me time for lunch. Before I go, can you replay my conversation with John and Wisp just before those two girls arrived? Wisp said something and it’s been bugging me and I’m not sure why.”
Wisp said, “Nothing. There are no unexplained ships in the Berne system. I can find no hint of Mahigan, her ships or her spies. I spent the last seven days, Cosmos days, searching the space around the system and I can’t find anything out of the ordinary. I think we can leave without any opposition. It’s as if she really wants the Annoyance and nothing else, not even you Leah. Those plans must be worth a lot.”