by Bob Blink
Jolan had just finished putting away the electronic gadgets he still hauled around, as well as the Colt, which he and Asari had agreed would stay with him for now, into the storage vault, when he heard a noise behind him. He turned just as a voice he’d never heard before greeted him.
“I though it only proper that someone welcome you to our little community.”
Jolan had been aware he was the subject of some interest, and wondered just what the people here knew about him. Many had looked his way as he was hauling his chests up to the room he’d been shown, some with a bit of a snicker in their glance, but none so far had ventured to try and meet him. He turned and looked at the individual who was lounging on his bed, his back up against the wall, and his only pillow wrapped in an embrace.
Jolan was surprised at the man’s age. While his class would be basically a bunch of teenagers, most of the students in this area were of an age close to his own. This person was about ten years older than himself. He stood as Jolan turned toward him, standing and tossing the pillow onto the bed, holding out his hand.
“I’m Ronoran,” he said with a big grin.
Ronoran, Jolan thought turning the name over in his mind. He was still having trouble holding onto some of the names here and found saying them to himself a few times helped. Even at home he often claimed while someone was introducing themselves to him he was busy trying to forget their name. It usually took him half a dozen attempts to get one pinned down.
Ronoran was a thick, somewhat squat, strong looking individual. His arms were covered by lots of curly brown hair and appeared to be heavily muscled, although somewhat disguised under a layer of padding that hid the strength that lay underneath. He was barrel-chested and short; perhaps six inches shorter than Jolan. His hair was a bright orange-red, but cut shorter than was typical here on Gaea, and he was sporting a thin beard. He shouldn’t have bothered because it was so thinly populated it looked a bit silly, along with a wispy mustache that hadn’t really filled in as yet. Given his age, it appeared he was not one to be able to grow reasonable facial hair.
“Jolan,” he answered as he held out his hand, his examination complete.
“I live two doors down,” Ronoran said, left hand pointing vaguely behind him as he held out his own hand. “So you’re the new oddball that’s joining us.”
“Oddball?”
“Well, the story circulating about, and there’s a real gossip center in this place, is that you’re old enough they decided to put you in with us upper classmen, but you’ll be taking classes with the newbies for now.”
“Don’t let it bother you. A bunch of these hot shots are a bit snooty, but they all started there. Actually, that’s probably not fair. Most of the people here are really pretty nice, once you get past the first unfamiliarity. There’s a few, but most don’t bother with them. Hey, I’m a three.”
Jolan knew that most of the beginners were ones or two’s. No-one advanced to the full time student level without becoming at least a three. But this man was older than himself, and he was still a three?
Ronoran could see that Jolan had realized the implication. “Yeah. You’re a . . , well they don’t seem to know what to classify you from what I’m told, and after all this time I’m still a three. Hey, see that makes me a bit of an oddball around here as well.”
“I suspect there is more to it than simply that you’re a three,” Jolan said, not sure if he was treading on sensitive ground.
“It’s no big deal. Normally they would have sent me home a long, long time ago. Turns out I’m an anomaly. I rate way off the scale on most of the other characteristics that make for a great mage. Way, way off. But for some reason, I just have never developed strength. I’m a mage weakling,” he said with a deep rumbling laugh.
“You seem to be comfortable with it,” Jolan observed.
“You are what you are. Don’t let them tell you they understand it all. They’ll be telling you that you have to be a four before you can understand the mage symbolic language. Hah! Dragonpiss! I can handle that with no problem. Bothers ‘em something fierce. That’s one reason they like me around. They are trying to figure me out. Also, I’m a wiz at breaking wards and bindings. Lots of the books they find are protected. They look blank unless you can break the wards on them. I’m one of those that can always do that. That’s kind of my job around here, to help with the new stuff that gets brought in. Meanwhile, I can stay and take whatever classes I like. Hey, I’m never gonna advance to full senior mage, but I like being around those who are good with power, and I’m appreciated. I’ve got lots of friends here anyway.”
Ronoran stood there grinning, while Jolan tried to take all this in.
“What are they saying about me around here anyway?”
“There’s a lot of Dragoncrap about you being from long lost Earth. Don’t know how that got started. The rumble mill is usually pretty accurate, but come on.”
“Actually, that’s the truth.” No one had said Jolan should keep his origins a secret, and he saw no reason to do so. The more people who knew Earth existed and what was going on, the better he figured. “I was accidentally brought here through something called the Nexus.”
Ronoran scratched at the corner of his lower lip while he observed Jolan. Finally he spoke. “Hey, I think I believe you. Through the Nexus. We’ve had a lot of arguments around here over the years whether that’s anything more than one of the old legends. You’ve actually traveled through the thing? What’s it like? What’s Earth like? I’ve got a lot of questions for you.”
“Nauseating” said Jolan responding to the second of the questions. “I’ll be willing to tell you all you want later, but for now I need to get unpacked and figure my way around. They told me how this place is laid out when I came in, but hearing it and seeing and understanding are two different things. I’m told I have to be in class first thing in the morning.”
“That’s right. They get real unhappy with the beginners that don’t follow directions. You’re going to have a bit of a walk besides.”
Jolan frowned at him. “Why?”
“You’re over here in the full time dorm. All the newbies are usually over in the special dorm, that connects directly to the apprentice classrooms. There isn’t a direct connection to here on purpose. They don’t want them wandering into this area and bothering anyone. You’re gonna have to go through the gym area, then cross over to the apprentice classrooms. You could probably shortcut the walk by going outside, but best you learn the inside way because winters coming on fast.”
“Lot’s of snow then?”
“Not so much snow, although sometimes it’ll fool you and we’ll get a couple of feet or so. But it gets powerful cold and windy around here. I heard tell that’s one of the things you haven’t mastered yet, and you still react to the weather.”
“Are you from around here? From Cobalo I mean?”
“Nah, I’m originally from Kimlelm. Don’t go back there anymore. Haven’t been back in over ten years. They don’t like mages or wizards much there. Even my family was powerful uncomfortable with me.”
Ronoran looked somewhat morose as he explained this, and Jolan suspected he’d been deserted by his family who didn’t know what to do with a magical child in a country that feared and hated magic.
“How about you? If you’re really from Earth, you must not have any family here. How about friends?”
“I’ve made a number of friends since I’ve been here. Some really special ones in fact. My closest friend just got an apartment here in town.”
“You mean he’s gonna stay here while you’re in school. He ought ta go home. He’s gonna get powerful bored afore too long.”
Sadly, Jolan had already started to wonder about that. Asari was here alone, without friends or family, and wouldn’t be able to see Jolan for long stretches at a time. It was odd, but once Jolan got acquainted, he was likely to have more friends than Asari who was native to Gaea. It might be better if Asari went back to Trailways
for now, or perhaps even better to go back to Seret. He could even look up Morin, who would be happy to have Asari join their extended family. It would only need to be for the winter. Maybe six months or so. Just until Jolan could get a handle on his magic and figure out how to proceed. Part of Jolan wanted to encourage Asari to go before the winter really set in and made travel too unpleasant, and a selfish part of him wanted his closest friend to stay and be close by, in case he needed him.
“You can do that later,” Ronoran said. “Let’s go meet a few people and let me show you around. We can scout out the best way for you to get where you need to go in the morning.”
Chapter 45
Armed with a clearer picture of the campus layout as a result of the tour provided by his new friend Ronoran, Jolan still left for the first day of class earlier than necessary against the chance of getting lost in the maze of buildings and hallways. Of course, because he’d left with time to spare he found the way without issue, and was the first to arrive at the large lecture hall where the incoming students were to meet for the first time. As things turned out it was informative to have done so as he could watch the other students as they arrived and thereby obtain a better picture of how things worked around the College, as well as see what his new classmates were like.
It didn’t take very long to understand that he was going to be every bit the odd man in the class just as he’d been warned. The average age seemed to be fifteen or sixteen, with a couple of the student mages considerably younger. One girl who appeared to be about ten years of age came in and took a seat. He would later learn that she was already a level two, and would be one of the sharper members of the class. The mix between male and female was biased slightly toward more women than men, which was just the opposite of what he had observed in the dorms where the men seemed to outnumber the women. He didn’t know if that meant the class was a statistical anomaly, or whether the women had a greater drop out rate than the men.
The first day was basically orientation day, much as he’d seen in schools all his life. The new students were brought together, given a chance to meet their classmates and instructors, were lectured on how things worked and what they could expect in the coming weeks. Logistics issues were taken care of, and a long question and answer session was held.
More than magic would be taught. Jolan learned that in addition to magic courses they would be expected to perform well in more standard subjects as well. It made sense as this was a replacement for the school they would normally attend in addition to training in the special skills each had been determined to possess to one degree or another. Course work that would be of interest to Jolan included classes on mathematics, science, and history. All of these subjects were considered important to developing mages, but Jolan could see particular advantages to his own understanding.
He was certain his previous education had provided him with a mathematics background that far exceeded that of even the most accomplished of the mage instructors, but he was curious what the current level was on Gaea, and he had no concept of the approach used nor the notation. There could well be some specialized developments that would be of use to him, but without learning the way their systems worked, he would find reading any of the local texts impossible. Similarly, he was curious to what point their science understanding had progressed. He suspected knowledge of quantum mechanics had not been realized here yet. He also figured he could learn a bit about some of the physical constants he had been curious about as well as the all important system of units. So far, everything he did still used the metric or English units from home, and knowing the local system would allow, if nothing else, converting useful information between the two systems. History, would of course, give him a better knowledge of what had happened here on Gaea, and some of the political specifics that were still very vague to him.
By the time the late comers had all filed in and found places to sit, there were over sixty members of the class. The introductory speaker made several things clear very early in the discussion. Most interesting was that the first couple of weeks would be a time of paring down the class size. Within three weeks, the class size was expected to shrink by half, based on previous experience. Those that were removed from the training here would be those who were found unable or unlikely to advance into fully trained senior mages. They would be moved to another facility where their abilities would be developed as much as reasonable to make them valued and desirable members of the Angon work force. Thousands of such tradesmages were employed in the various industries and were one of the reasons that Angon had the standard of living it did and produced products that were so much in demand around the Settled Lands.
Only a couple of aspects of magic were addressed the first day. Jolan recognized the College training in Altz’s little experiment when a variant of the same thing was performed with a couple of student mages on stage. The dangers of careless use of magic were emphasized. Here especially, in a competitive environment where inexperienced users of the art often wanted to prove themselves, it was important the dangers were recognized. Jolan was surprised to learn that each class lost students to their own carelessness with the power.
One other danger was pointed out. They would soon develop the power to control objects. It was natural to assume their powers extended to living things. Normally this was not true. Lifting a book, or a rock, or a chair was one thing. Lift a living thing using the same technique could kill it, especially smaller creatures. Jolan had learned this himself back in the forest by the great lake. After throwing around rocks, he’d tried to play with one of the “squirrels” by lifting him off a nearby perch and putting him up in the tree. He’d been dismayed when the creature had fallen limp from the limb on which he’d placed him. At first Jolan thought it might have been unconscious, but upon closer inspection he discovered he’d killed the creature. From some of the nods he saw around the room, he could tell several of the others had experienced the same result themselves.
“How was the first day of class?” Ronoran asked as he slid into the chair next to Jolan that night at dinner.
Jolan shrugged. “Not much happened today. I guess that’s to be expected. They told us a lot about the school and what we can expect, then repeated the classification tests on everyone. There are four twos in the class and the rest are all ones.”
“That’s pretty typical,” Ronoran observed. “Within a week, a lot will be gone, and of the remaining students almost everyone will be a two. You might even have a three by then.”
“They can’t sort out those who won’t make it before bringing them here?”
“It’s easier to get good results here at the college, besides there’s always those that will surprise you. An added advantage is getting them here for the alternate training, so it all works out.”
While Ronoran was talking, Jolan observed a student mage walk across the dining hall and select a place at a table far removed from anyone else. He’d seen the same individual sitting alone the other day as well. Since the dining room had hundreds of student mages of all levels, he wondered why this person always elected to sit alone. He bumped Ronoran with his elbow and pointed with his chin. Ronoran looked where he’d indicated.
“Ah, that’s Shyar. A real loner. Don’t waste your time there. Shyar doesn’t want to be friends. I’ve tried.”
Jolan was still curious. He couldn’t tell much at this distance. The clothes worn were baggy and dark, so he couldn’t even tell if the individual was heavy or thin. The individual’s hair was cut just a bit shorter than his own in back, but long and hung over the eyes hiding the face.
“Hey, Luzoke,” Ronoran yelled, causing Jolan to shift his attention. “Come over here. I want you to meet someone.”
By now much of the cafeteria was looking their way, but that didn’t seem to bother Ronoran. Jolan watched as a tall, well built, student with dark tan colored skin walked their way with a big smile. Jolan was surprised to see the skin coloration since he’d concluded the Sett
led Lands didn’t offer enough variety in climate to produce such variations, and up to now he hadn’t seen any, but obviously he was wrong.
Luzoke slid into a seat across from the two of them and looked first at Ronoran and then Jolan. After the introductions, Ronoran explained that Luzoke also varied from the norm.
“He’s pretty normal on most things, but for some reason he’s really powerful with certain spells. He’s already a five, and they expect him to be a six eventually, but his shields and especially his energy beams are way off the scale. So far, no one understands why or how.”
Luzoke shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t explain it, but they don’t like the “beams” anyway. There isn’t any use for them except as a weapon, and we’re supposed to stay away from those kinds of things.”
Jolan thought it was telling that they were studying the capability with as much interest as Ronoran had indicated.
“Maybe we should form a club. The three oddballs.”
“Are there many with such staggered skills?” Jolan asked.
Luzoke shook his head as his mouth was full. After a moment he answered. “As far as I know, Ronoran and I are kind of opposite ends of the scale. Everyone else seems to be more moderate in the range of their abilities. Some are better at say, biological skills, but their strength is consistent across the range of skills they have.”
Both of the men were curious about Earth, so the rest of the meal was concerned with answering their questions as best he could. They were about to leave, when Jolan remembered something.
“I learned today that we will be taking science courses among other things. Is there a science lab anywhere we have access to? I’d like to try and locate some materials for a project of my own.”
“What do you want to do?” asked Luzoke.
“I want to build a battery. I’ll need some wire, some lead, some sulfuric acid. I guess ceramic would make a reasonable container, and I could use wood as a separator.”