by S. J. Ryan
“I'm not sure I do. There were twenty people on that ship in addition to Roth. Maybe Roth had to die, but the rest of them? The thing is, I know I didn't kill them because I wanted to, it was just that I had to destroy the ship and they were on it. And I did what had to be done. And yet I feel guilty, but at the same time, I don't want to be told not to feel guilty. Because I think I should. But at the same time – “
“You don't feel that badly about it and you still want life to go on.”
“Yeah. It just seems so hypocritical. I feel that I should pay some kind of karma, but at the same time I feel that I didn't do anything wrong. Does this make sense?”
“No, and it doesn't have to. Killing is wrong but protecting the lives of others is right but sometimes it involves killing. You can reason to some kind of logical conclusion, but the doubt never ends. Anyhow, I destroyed a ship with at least a hundred on board, and I'm not going to judge.”
The conversation lapsed into silence. Matt Four yawned again and said he was tired and bade good night and went back to his hut. Matt was left alone among the stars. He decided to go back to sleep, but first he played the message that his mother had given him before he had left Earth. It started out conventionally enough – platitudes and affirmations and best wishes. Then her tone changed.
“Matt, I know that my leaving Earth abruptly seems to have made you cold toward me. I didn't want it that way, please believe me. It's just that . . . it's hard to explain and your father doesn't believe me and sometimes I wonder if I'm paranoid . . . I hesitate to say this, because maybe I do sound paranoid, but . . . I think my life is in danger right now, and I don't want you to be part of that, and so I've tried to get away as far as possible. I'm even afraid to contact you, because they'll know about it, and then they'll know how much I care about you, and then they'll use you as a lever on me . . . see what I mean? I do sound paranoid. What I do know is that however far we are separated, I love you, and I hope there is a day when all of this is behind us, and I can see you again. Until then, Matt, always remember, I love you.”
The pop-up window closed, and he was left in darkness with his tears. It was an hour before he felt tired enough to return to sleep.
Shortly after dawn, he was awakened by a knock. The entry to the hut was covered only by a curtain, but that curtain had been as sacrosanct as a temple veil until that moment. It was shoved aside and a plump, middle-aged, well-dressed man said, “Hello, you're the Wizard, aren't you?”
Given the earliness and bluntness of the disturbance, Matt assumed it was a medical emergency. He immediately became wide awake and sprang to his feet. “Yes. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you could introduce me to the Queen. I checked in her hut and she's not there.”
“I don't know where she is. I've been asleep.”
“Well, when you see her, could you give her this?”
He presented Matt with a large envelope. On the front was written, Application for Royal Trade License.
Matt went to Tret's and Layal's hut for breakfast. While he was eating, a second man appeared, bearing an envelope that read, Letter of Recommendation for Employment in Service to the Royal Government of Britan.
Matt went to the clinic hut, where he helped Senti attend to the inevitable celebratory casualties. A third man appeared, bearing an envelope that read, Contract for Construction of Royal Palace. Spying the approach of a fourth man armed with envelope, Matt escaped the clinic and headed for Ravencall, which following a rain during their absence was poison-free. After inquiries, he found Carrot in a hut by the stables with Norian and Mirian.
He presented her with the envelopes. A fire was burning in the center pit and after a glance she tossed them in.
“Favor seekers,” she explained. “See what a delegation from Londa gave me this morning.”
She handed him a palm-sized slip of paper. It had come off a printing press, and above a crudely-drawn portrait was the legend, ROYAL BANK OF BRITAN / ONE THOUSAND GRAM NOTE.
“I didn't know there was a Royal Bank of Britan.”
“There isn't. They wanted me to sign a decree making their bank the official royal bank.”
He pointed to the drawing. “Who's the guy with the big nose?”
“That's supposed to be me.” Scowling, she crumpled and tossed the note into the fire. “You will have Ivan delete the telemetry of that, won't you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Wizard!” Norian exclaimed. “You're just the person I need to see! May I make use of your powers for a moment?”
Norian presented a sheet of paper that listed items followed by numbers: Anvil 120 gs, Hammer Set 310 gs, Quenching Tub 20 gs . . . and so on, for dozens of lines.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Well, if it is not too much trouble, if you have the time, it would really help if you could . . . could you add the numbers?”
“Seven thousand three hundred and twenty-two grams,” Matt said.
Mirian's eyes popped wide. “I didn't know you could do that!”
Matt returned the sheet to Norian. “What's that for?”
“It's always been a dream of mine to have my own swordsmithy,” Norian said. “It's going to be here in Ravencall.”
“We need over seven thousand grams of silver,” Mirian said.
“We have silver remaining from our travels,” Norian said.
“One hundred thirty-six grams.”
Norian scratched his pencil across the sheet. “Wizard, what is seven thousand three hundred twenty-two less one hundred thirty-six?”
“You still have my partition, don't you? You can have it do the math.”
Norian tilted his head and gasped. “You're right! The answer is seven thousand one hundred eighty-six! That's all we need, Mirian!”
Mirian sighed. “And how are we to get it, Norian?”
Norian tilted his head and frowned. “The ivanlite says he doesn't know.”
Mirian pointed from Norian's head to Matt's. “Give him back the ivanlite.”
“But Mirian! This way I don't have to ask you to do sums!”
“Exactly. If you handle the sums, you'll handle the money. If you handle the money, we'll soon be broke.”
Matt expected an argument. Instead, Norian sighed and hung his head. “Wizard, you may remove the ivanlite. I won't be needing it. I have a wife.”
Matt accepted back the partition and Carrot excused Matt and herself. They went around to the rear of the hut and kissed and talked and ambled through the base, making a game of evading favor-seekers. That was the rest of the morning.
At precisely noon, they visited the airship compound. The doors were wide open and the ground crew towed the airship from the hangar/barn where it been refurbished for the coming journey. Prin and Andra made effusive good-byes and embraced them both with tears. Matt Four nodded to his template and spoke to Carrot.
When the ship reached the field, it was loaded with supplies, ballast, and the two surviving Boxes. Prin and Andra boarded and commenced the pre-flight check. Athena was brought under heavy guard. From a different direction, her basket was brought and placed before her between the two Wizards.
She raised an eyebrow at the airship. “Will my method of execution involve being dropped into something? I hear that's in fashion.”
“There are easier, more assured ways of executing you,” Matt Four said. “But we're going to let you live. Under probation.”
“Ah. Let me guess. You are going to emplace one of your partitions to monitor me.”
“Something like that. As it happens, however, we have a volunteer for the job. Kid?”
Matt turned north and Ivan sent the call. Silvanus had been resting amid the trees outside the base perimeter and quickly appeared, skimming to a graceful flare alongside the airship. Matt walked up to the dragon and placed his hand on the head. A moment later, he walked toward Athena.
“What's this?” she demanded.
“Her name is Galatea,” Mat
t said. “She's the emulator of Synth that you sent to capture me. She's been converted to our side.”
“And now she's going to be your probation officer,” Matt Four said.
“Over my dead body!” Athena said.
“I am willing to do it that way,” Galatea said, but only the Wizards heard her.
“We thought of keeping you wrapped in ropes and chains for the rest of your long life,” Matt Four said. “We decided instead that you can return to Victoriana a free woman.”
Athena scowled, but asked, “How free?”
“Free to run Pavonia from behind the scenes. Although, if Rome attacks Britan again, we may require an airship fleet. And you and your government will be expected to recognize constitutional rights.”
“Such as?”
“Due process, speedy trial, habeas corpus, that sort of thing,” Matt Four said.
“And no capital punishment,” Matt said.
“What about torture?” Athena asked.
They shook their heads.
Athena sighed. “And that's all?”
“That's all,” Matt Four said. “Galatea will be very quiet and you won't even know that she's there. Unless you misbehave.”
“Then what?”
“We've equipped her to inflict pain, paralysis, and/or put you into deep hypnotic trance. And if you find some way to incapacitate or shut her down, she has a fail-safe mechanism that will detonate micro-explosive charges inside your skull that will instantly transform your brain into unrecoverable mush.”
Athena straightened and glared. “What if I refuse to allow this?”
“You don't have a choice. Kid?”
“Hypermode,” Matt subvocaled.
Athena's reactions were fast, but she was heavily bound and all she could do was try to dodge as his hand touched her neck. Her eyes briefly glazed. Matt dropped out of hypermode and waited.
“Transfer complete,” Ivan said.
“I'm installed, Matt,” Galatea said. “Hello, Athena.”
“Don't talk to me,” Athena said aloud.
“I am afraid that it will be unavoidable,” Galatea replied. “If it's any consolation, I likewise despise you.”
Athena showed no reaction.
Matt withdrew his hand and nodded to Carrot. Carrot instructed the guards, and they released Athena from her bonds. As Athena rubbed her wrists, Matt presented her the basket. She stared for a moment, and gently took it from him.
Matt Four gestured to the steps into the gondola. “You may go aboard. We'll be leaving shortly.”
Athena mumbled, “I would like to have presentable clothing before I return to Victoriana.”
“Ada can help you shop,” Matt Four replied. “By the way, where has she gone?” He tilted his head and frowned. “She's not answering my calls.”
“I'll get her,” Matt said.
As Ada still retained a third of Ivan Four, Ivan detected the transponder and pointed an AR arrow that led to a spot behind a nearby hut. Ada stood with flute to lips, playing Greensleeves unsurely. Bok was sitting cross-legged on the grass before her, listening raptly.
Her eyes widened at Matt's approach. “Oh, Wizard! I'm sorry, is it time to leave?”
“They're just about to lift,” Matt said.
“I apologize. I told the demon not to bother me, and I lost track of all time.” She put the flute into her case and said to Bok, “That last was how I sound without the demon's aid. As you can tell, I have a long way to go.”
“I thought it was beautiful,” Bok replied.
She glimmered a smile. Bok followed her to the airship and they waved to each other as she boarded. Matt noticed that, for some reason, Carrot was smiling broadly.
Then it was just Matt Four.
“Older Matt,” Carrot said. “Do you have any advice for living a long life?”
“How about, 'One day at a time.'” He shrugged. “That's the best I can do on short notice. Ask me again in another millennium.”
He hugged Carrot again, then turned to Matt and met his template's gaze.
“Well kid,” Matt Four said, “I wondered whether you would make it to this planet, and what it would be like to meet you. I'm glad things turned out well.”
“Yeah. It was good to meet you.”
“Not awkward at all.”
“Yeah.”
They smiled, shook hands and then hugged, perhaps a little awkwardly.
“Well, I better get going; I have a Church to abolish. Stay in touch . . . Matt.”
“You too . . . Matt.”
Matt Four boarded the airship. The door was shut and everyone waved through the windows. The ship was released and floated into the sky. The engines revved and the airship whirred into the west.
“Why are the words 'Good Witch' painted on the nose?” Carrot asked.
“It wasn't my idea,” Matt said.
“How will you 'stay in touch' with him? Are you going to use Moonstar to communicate?”
“We decided not to use the station as a comm link, because we'd have to take down the AR overlay on the Other Side telemetry. He's worried someone else – unfriendly – may be watching. I think that's paranoid, but who knows? Anyhow, Athena was able to communicate with Pandora Gamma over the storm barrier interference by bouncing signals off the moon. The natural moon, that is. There's an antenna on a barge in Londa that your father is arranging to have shipped here.”
“So it's not as if – “
Her words were halted by the gusting of the dragon's stroking wings. Silvanus bounded into the sky after the airship. He alighted on the middle of the top of the envelope. The whole ship wobbled with his added mass and the engines hiccuped before resuming a smooth croon. With the dragon facing forward and sitting dog-like, the ship ascended into the clouds.
“Wizard,” Bok said. “Ada said that you flew inside the dragon. What was that like?”
Matt felt the insistent tugging on his hand. “Uh, I'll tell you later.”
As they headed across the open field, she ran just a little faster than he did, parting so that her fingers were just out of grasp. She laughed, and he laughed too. They went into the woods, and stood by the mill pond, and she halted and they embraced and kissed.
“You don't have to marry me right away,” she said. “I know it's not the custom on Earth for people as young as us to be married.”
“We're not on Earth,” he said.
She wrapped her arms around him, stood on tiptoes, and smiled. “Tell Ivan not to look.”
“Ivan, don't look.”
A little later, they were reclining with their backs against a log, gazing across the pond. A dragonfly hovered among the reeds. It was abnormally large but not terrifyingly so. It came within meters, then zoomed away.
Carrot clasped his hand and gazed into the sky. “Tell me a story, Matt.”
“Story? What kind of story?”
“A story about the future. And it must be happy. Must. None of your uncertainty principles!”
“Okay. We'll marry and have children – “
“I know that story. I mean, a wizard's story, about the future of the world.”
“Oh, that. Well, let's see. Science and technology will improve. Hunger and poverty will be ended. Then disease and death will end too. There will be no more wars ever again.”
“And the people on this planet will go into space?”
“Yes.”
“And to the stars?”
“Of course.”
“Will they travel from here to Earth?”
“Yes. They'll also travel farther out.”
“I would like that.”
“Good, because that's the way it will be.”
“For you are the Wizard, and you have spoken.”
“And you are the Queen, and wish it so.”
“Oh, Matt! I wish it were that easy!”
“Well, Carrot, we'll do whatever it takes.”
They wrapped arms around shoulders and described to each other w
hat the clouds seemed to be.