The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6)

by P. S. Power

  “We’ll be here in two days. If anything changes that way, I’ll get with you as soon as possible. It shouldn’t, but there are some things that might not be in my control coming up.” That was life all the time though. Most of it was outside a person’s ability to control.

  Gloria muttered something, which sounded like. “Better not.” Gwen wasn’t certain of that one, but it did seem like what the other lady would be saying. She could be a bit hard, since she worked with ship’s crew all the time. She’d also been in the Air Navy for ten years or so. Possibly longer, but she wasn’t that old. In her late forties or so, at a guess. Then again, Gwen had never simply asked people their ages. It could be that everyone was older, or younger, than she thought they should be. They had magic after all.

  That was one thing that she’d been told flat out. People that were healers lived a lot longer than anyone else. To extreme enough levels that Beth had suggested Gwen learn how, even if it took her decades. She’d get all that time back, plus a lot, on the other side. Possibly enough to truly change the idea of a life. It would be as a relatively young person in looks as well. She’d seen Rhonda, the Westmorland Healer, several times. The woman looked about thirty, more or less.

  She was so old that Adam Westmorland had let drop that the woman had worked on him as a young child. That was a big deal. The man wasn’t exactly a spring chicken after all.

  Gwen focused on her destination, concentrating on the commons of Western University, rather than the inside of a specific classroom there. She thought that the man would be in the same space as he had years before, but honestly couldn’t know that for certain. If he’d traded rooms while she was gone it would be a bit shocking to teletransport into someone else’s space. Plus, she didn’t know that it wasn’t going to be class time for certain.

  It took a bit of walking to find the lecture hall, though it was where she’d left it, as it turned out. The man didn’t look much different than the last time they’d met as he stood at the front of the room, teaching with more energy than she’d seen from him before. He still had a large mustache, which was about the same color of gray that she remembered him with. The guy was large, but smaller than three and a half years before. Now he was mainly tall, his voice just as booming as always.

  “So, the conductor is always a factor. Using heat to promote-” The man looked up at her as she took a seat near the back, pausing just long enough to smile at her. There was no other acknowledgement.

  “The chaotic element that is then ordered by the radiative directive.”

  He had a real chalk board, which was made of heavy black slate, which got a chart to be produced as the class took notes about what was being said. Nodding Gwen pulled her own pad and copied it as well. It was, surprisingly, almost understandable to her. Not that she was an expert on radiatives yet. She’d done a few small things however, which were made in a similar fashion. Minus a few specific points that were being explained.

  Again, apparently, since the man joked about that with the class.

  “Yes. I did warn you all that you’d see this information, over and again! Order of operations is the most important factor. Conductor, chaotic, magical structure, power inducement, and testing. This is the basic structure of all radiatives. After you have that, you can work on complex operations using multiple radiatives. Now, please read chapter seven before the next class. We’re going to begin practical work in several weeks, so prepare now. I want new ideas as well.” There was a dark look at the class then, which seemed a bit sad as a large head was shaken slowly. “I won’t forbid a basic heating element, but frankly I’m getting bored of seeing them at this point in my career.”

  That got a soft chuckle from the crowd. It wasn’t a huge class, if Gwen was going to judge by the number of chairs in the raised amphitheater style place. It was about two thirds full however. That was probably a good enough turn out, considering it was just past noon.

  She thought. Frankly it could have been a bit earlier or later. She had a watch, in her things, but not being on duty she hadn’t been wearing it around. That was a bit of a mistake, it seemed. Kind of like having the pad with her. It was helpful all the time, or could be.

  As everyone stood to leave she got up as well, her notes in her hand. Doctor Grainger didn’t wait for her to come to him, like he probably would have if she were in his class. That meant he was on her about the time half the people had scurried out the doors at the back of the room.

  “Miss Farris! So nice to see you. Is there something I can help you with? A new device, perhaps?” He grinned at her, seeming to be actually excited by the prospect. It was enough enthusiasm that she didn’t even bother to lie about it all.

  “After a fashion? I’m trying to learn how to make radiatives on my own. The goal is to create… Several things that… Can I speak to you in your office?” She glanced around, noticing that three of the students had paused, clearly listening in. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but these hadn’t stopped until they heard the name.

  She didn’t want her projects in the tabloids or anything like that. It was kind of in her mind at the moment.

  The man nodded hugely.

  “Certainly. Come along then. This way. This way.” He led her toward the back of the room. Or the front, depending on who you were, Gwen supposed. It was on the side that had the chalk board and a plain looking door that was painted a light green color. It seemed worn, but not much abused. Like it needed new paint, but only because the man had been in the space for several decades.

  The fellow left the door open when they got inside, but didn’t say anything when Gwen shut them in. The idea was that he didn’t want to be falsely accused, or thought to be taking liberties. Her goal was to not spread state secrets to college students that didn’t know better than to spread things.

  Not that she was truly there for that reason.

  “Two things. Well, three, I suppose. First, I wanted to set up classes here, but have no grades or transcripts that I can use to get in. Would you know how to do that? I was thinking radiatives, traditional magics and languages. Maybe business classes as well, eventually.” She figured it would be nearly impossible, or at least unwelcome.

  Grainger smiled like she was giving him a gift.

  “Perfect! Yes… We can do that, if you have the time? How many hours a week are you willing to put toward that effort?” He leaned forward a bit, over his desk. Interested in her answer it seemed.

  Gwen didn’t know, off the top of her head.

  “As much time as it takes? I don’t know what’s needed. I have a half year off, I think. More than that really. I kind of doubled up on my last Special Service duty, running sixteen hour days like I did. There’s a problem with the contracts. No one thinks I get the basic idea, but I do. It pretty much means that I’ve tapped the current one, so King Ferdinand basically sent me away. It wouldn’t be an issue for a Westmorland, but on the civilian side it’s pretty much a ceremonial position, so the rules are kind of soft.” It was a bit of a problem for her, personally. Work had been about all that had let her stay distracted.

  That and the people from other realities that had been showing up, off and on.

  The man nodded at her, getting more than she would have thought, without explanation.

  “So, you technically need to have a full year off at a minimum. Not that the King couldn’t rework your contract at need. He is the ruler, after all. I’d have to wager he doesn’t wish to stress your good will that way. So, you find yourself at loose ends and wish to fill the time with learning? That’s not a poor plan. How hard are you willing to work? We could set up four hours of courses per week, for instance. Figure two hours of study per class hour, so twelve hours out of your week? That would leave a lot of time for other projects?”

  He seemed to be teasing her on the idea. As if she were lazy. Then again, she needed to learn radiatives for a reason.

  “That leads me to the other things. Two projects. The first is mak
ing a device that will stop rifting. I know the fields needed for it. I can’t do that myself, not in large measure, but I can do it on a small scale. If someone were trying to rift in the same room with me? Then I need to get a device to rift.” She stopped then, looked around at the door, then whispered.

  It was a low and hoarse thing.

  “I can do that as well. I know the needed fields and techniques for it. That can’t get out however. The…” She considered things carefully, not speaking at all.

  The man finally nodded.

  “That’s rather heady news. I’m not certain that can be done however. Then, I don’t know how to rift, or create the blocking fields…”

  She nodded then, and smiled.

  “If I tell you what you need to know, in order to make the things, even how to block it, you’ll know how to rift. You won’t be able to do it personally however. I do think that you’d be able to make the devices for it, possibly inside a week or two. I just don’t want to burden anyone with that knowledge, which is why I need to learn how to do it all myself.” That way there was only one source of possible leaks. Well, two, if Katherine were involved.

  Grainger knew that story however. It was clear from his face.

  “That explains a lot, doesn’t it? How Miss Vernor was able to give that basic information to the Europans? I can see you being careful with it. Is that your main focus now? Making radiatives is considered an active field. One that people generally specialize in.”

  She got that, and nodded.

  “It is. I promised the rifting devices to get the Westmorlands free. The shields… That just makes sense. I…” She thought about it all for a second, and closed her eyes. The man across from her was one of the most trusted people in that field in the entire kingdom. “Are you willing to learn the information portions of this, if I can get you cleared to know about it? I’ll understand if you don’t want to. In fact, I have to recommend that. If something happens to me however, I do think you can at least make the shields, with no more than a few weeks of work and some discussion. Probably the rifting devices as well. The reason that it hasn’t happened yet is…” She stopped and spread her hands.

  After all, telling him that would be enough for a clever man to work out how the things were done. At least in theory. Gwen was impressed enough with the guy that she didn’t doubt his ability to do exactly that. She thought that she could do it. This man had almost everything he needed to, already.

  The real problem was that the entire world she was in was used to using magic to make things happen. Most of their devices were pretty simple, compared to what Gwen had grown up with. A telestator was a complex device, but only had four main parts, for instance.

  A rifting device would need at least eight.

  The issue wasn’t that they couldn’t do that however, simply that the people of the world she was in didn’t think that way. Except of course, the man in front of her and a few hundred people like him. No one had ever really worked that part out however. They’d tried to make physical rifting devices, but wanted to make them as simple radiatives. A power crystal, a single radiative and nothing else. Most physical devises worked pretty much that way.

  Null-radiatives were basically made using complex traditional magic. They were nearly what was needed, in some ways, if you knew how rifting worked in the first place. That was a different field however. The thing there was the Gwen Farris had been exposed to both, coming from a world where cleverness had been used to replace the ability to produce effects through mental effort. In fact, that had been one of the very first things that had been said about her by the man in front of her.

  After using a complex device to make certain she was who she claimed to be, not a body thief. That he could tell that her world used electricity, the stuff that lightning was made of, in place of magic. Though he didn’t understand how they got the one substance to do so many things.

  The man across from her was smart anyway. With no more than a few hours of discussion, he could probably become one of the most powerful beings on the planet. The only person that would directly rival him would be… Her.

  If he got that part, she didn’t know. The man nodded however.

  “I’ll do my part for the kingdom, if it’s required. We are at war, after all. I can’t love the implications of this. Won’t it make the world a deadlier place?”

  She got that part.

  “Yes. It really will. No doubt about it. My reasons for doing all of this… Well, in the end they’re selfish, of course. I’m giving people here the ability to destroy everything, in the hopes that it will get my friends free from slavery. It’s not the best idea ever. I just don’t have another one. If you think of something, let me know?”

  The man nodded, but didn’t come up with anything at the moment.

  Instead he listened to her availability and suggested times for her to be there for classes.

  It wouldn’t start for several weeks and she’d probably need tutoring, but it was doable for her. Even if she were working on the Peregrine at the time. Not that it would be needed if it was only one three-week cruise. If she did several, that could change. That just left getting with Adam about things. Him and King Ferdinand.

  Chapter eight

  Gwen, day to day, had no great thought as to being seen by the king himself. It came up now and again, just being around the palace and with Marianna, but that didn’t mean she could just pop over for a visit unannounced. So it was interesting to find that the man himself was sitting in a room with Adam Westmorland and two others when Gwen got there to put a word in.

  The other two were women, though Gwen didn’t actually know either of them. That, apparently was fine, since Adam and Ferdinand stood up and waved around the space.

  It was the Westmorland who spoke first.

  “Leslie and Farah. Westmorland, naturally. They’re the people we have with the training and ability to move others at a great distance. This is Gwen Farris. Also trained to the same level, using our normal protocols, if only the second level.” The man stared at her for a moment, then glanced politely at the king. Then he explained what that meant, as if the man might not know.

  Maybe he didn’t. Gwen wasn’t certain about the idea.

  “Miss Farris has no outside controls on her abilities. So while she’s powerful in their use, there are no alternative states involved for her. It was one of the reasons that we stuck to physical magical elements with her. Telepathic abilities tend to drive people insane at high levels. Precognitive ones are dangerous, but we haven’t used the protocols on that for her. It’s a minimally trained natural talent in her case.”

  The words were bold and not subservient, though it was clear that the other people there were nervous. Not just a little bit either. Leslie was covered with a fine sheen of sweat over the idea of Ferdinand being there. Farah, who was the older of the two, just sat there, not making eye contact with anyone. That was probably down to both women being rifters. Meaning they didn’t deal with nobles face to face most days.

  That got Gwen to look at the file that the king had in front of him.

  “Is that a list for us to work from? Pictures?”

  The man, who wasn’t all that old for a world leader, being in his youthful thirties or so, pushed the thing across the table at her, gesturing for her to sit. The chairs were all made of plain wood. Heavy and marked with age.

  “Some of them. There are other prisoners, but these are the ones that we need back first. Ten of them. If you can get even one of them, it might make a difference in the war effort. They… Know things.”

  That got her to nod, open the deep brown leather binder and think for a few seconds. The man in the picture wasn’t anyone that she knew. In a way that made it easier for her. There were no personal stakes, just her trying to do the right thing.

  “All right. They might need medical attention when they get here. Can we have some healers standing by? I’ll go first? Or… Do you want to do them all at once?”
She glanced at Adam, since the women would probably need to have someone there to guide their actions. It was one of the main ways that the Westmorlands were controlled. They couldn’t help it, by the age the women there both were. Anyone over twenty had been programed already.

  Adam walked to the door and called out.

  “Mick! Get me all available healers. Support staff and at least two guides. We’re going to try something new.”

  It took a few minutes to get everything together. Then they just had to send the king away. That didn’t go over well at first. Finally, after Adam struggled with the whole thing for a while, as the King pretended not to understand what he was getting at.

  Gwen rolled her eyes.

  “Ferdinand. We can’t protect you for certain. If we get the wrong person, or if people have been mesmerized, they might attack without notice. Probably not, but we can’t know that won’t happen until we see the conditions. Also, everyone here but me has been trained to be incredibly uneasy around you. That’s great for them paying attention to your needs, but right now they need to be focused on what we’re attempting. So… Get out? Possibly far away from here? After all, if I can think of using prisoners of war as rifters, so can the Europans. We know they have Debussy’s enhanced techniques. Katherine delivered those to them.” Which wasn’t a thing that left Gwen happy in life.

  Rather than fight, or argue, the man simply stood up, bowing slightly.

  “I see. Very well then. I’ll go back to the palace. I will be standing by the telestator however, so please contact me if there is any success at all?” That was for Adam, who nodded and bowed back.

  Gwen did that too, just in case it was needed. Not one told her she was wrong to do so. Then, they wouldn’t. They’d just let her flounder, not knowing what to do, until she worked it out. It was one of the bad things about her new world.