by P. S. Power
Chapter six
There was no overt drama to the voice, which was saying something, because Denno Brown loved his showmanship like most people enjoyed breathing. It poured out of him so regularly and naturally that he probably didn't even notice he was doing it most of the time. It gave him a lively and poised air as a matter of course, that if not exactly genuine seeming at every turn, was at least interesting to watch.
Now he just seemed worried.
That didn't leave Tor feeling good at all, since he'd only seen him do that once before, go all serious and grim like he was. That was when the man had been sharing the fact that something was coming from space for them. It was bad then, or at least Brown thought so. If that was the case...
"Alright, can we do anything about it? Does everyone seem to die from it, if left untreated?" Tor wanted to leave it all to someone else, but if people did that, then nothing would ever get done, would it?
Timon turned to look at the other Ancient and spoke to him, not Tor at all. The rest of the room was already looking that way, so it seemed right, even if he hadn't spoken last.
"The healing amulets work. Those are hard to make though, even as copies. I think I can work up a few hundred of them, all told. Maybe more if the builders in Vagus are willing to help. Only Lyn and Tor can make them yet though, I think." The boy went still then, watching the Ancient in front of him so closely it had to be uncomfortable for Brown.
There was a soft intake of breath from across the room where Tiera had settled next to Karen. They hadn't hopped up to hug anyone after all and had time to arrange themselves while he spoke to Fornia and the Ambassador. Taking their lead, he gestured for everyone else to do the same, since standing wouldn't make the planning go much faster.
"Guide can do it too. I think someone mentioned that some of the others have the trick of it as well now. Mark, I think, Sorenson. I don't know who else."
It wasn't really a problem for him now, Tor knew. It would take a few days, but he could turnout as many of the things as they could find objects to put them on. It wasn't something he really wanted to admit to the room, since it would be thought insane. Plus, that many healing amulets would change the face of the world in a few years time, wouldn't they?
He couldn't let millions die, but if it was what nature demanded, then should he interfere? It wasn't like he was responsible for the whole world. Even if he did feel like that at the moment.
Sitting himself, Denno sank into a well padded chair and looked at Timon darkly for a bit. It was a little strange, but then, maybe it wasn't? They'd clearly spent more time together than any of the rest of them, and as far as Tor knew his younger brother had never tried to kill the man. It had to make a difference in how close people got to one another.
"It's a start. We need to move them around rapidly as well. Can we count on your services?"
The boy nodded.
"Of course. Tor said he was going to run up another batch of the Fast Craft, but that it will take a month or so. We'll need pilots for them, but that can be arranged. It will play merry havoc with my new business, when everyone in the world is left with one of the devices, but I'll live." There wasn't a lot of cheer in his voice, but the easy way around that was for him to hire the people driving directly. Tor could put in some funds, but they'd need to get the devices around. It would be faster to make the healing amulets first.
Something occurred to him, which, oddly enough, Timon spoke about first.
"We have outbreaks on two continents... Did my new service spread this then? When I've noticed sick people I've handed off an amulet, that would have taken care of it so it wouldn't spread, right?"
Brown shrugged, looking a bit like Burks did for a few seconds, if only in body language.
"I doubt it? This was clearly engineered. It's a Gray design, or someone trying to make it look like one. She has a small molecular complex she leaves behind to mark her work. A bit of vanity, but harmless enough in most cases. This virus has it though. That isn't to say that you might not have carried infected properties along with you, but that would be hard to pull off. Almost everything you have is... built of potential energy. When you turn it off, even the ability to carry a single virus should vanish." It was a thing with Brown that he simply couldn't believe in magic. It was built into his Rhetistics, so he didn't get an honest say in the matter. No amount of proof could change his mind either. It was just what he had to do. Still, if he wanted to call it potential energy instead, Tor could live with that. The man wasn't stupid or blind after all, he knew that things were happening, he simply had to believe it was all about technology, rather than the mind forming and shaping the world around him.
Timon looked so sour suddenly it was nearly funny, except for the subject matter. He started pacing a bit, and on his second circuit he just sort of growled.
"Gray did mention a desire to kill most of the world's population at the summit. I take it that reasoning is due to her Rhetistics? That or she's gone insane."
Denno rubbed his face with his right hand, managing to make it look elegant even as worried as he was, then he was silent for a bit, looking around at the other people present rather than answering. Timon kept his eyes locked on the man, searching for something, scraping his being for information. Tor took a clue from that, and started reading Brown's field, trying to pluck information from him as well. He wasn't bothering to try and hide anything, he just seemed tired, as if the current situation was just too much. It was pretty clear that he thought that something was really wrong too, but it wasn't clear as to what that actually was.
"I think it might be both. She's always sought to control the number of people in the world. I have similar programing as well. Rhetistics I mean. So does Green. The others, Black and Red don't really, but there's a level of common sense involved. We all lived through the Cataclysm. I know that seems a minor thing now, thousands of years later, but it was caused by there being too many people. We nearly destroyed the planet because of that. Gray has always been the most severe that way however. Her Rhetistics were put in place by zealots though. The rest of us had more mild things put in place by people who, thankfully, didn't care nearly as much about a specific cause as all that." There was no sense of the weariness he really felt in the words, and he looked merely concerned, not like he was about to just break down and hide.
Tor stood again, not knowing what he was going to say at all. It was pretty clear that he couldn't leave it to his older brother alone though, or the man was going to break under the pressure.
"Alright, we have the people here to start this effort then. Ambassador Hallis, if we can work up a cure for this, can you see to getting your government to distribute it? Normally that would be a problem, but the treaty of the Ancients is currently suspended, so as long as I actually own the devices sent along, I think that's allowable. If not... well, we pretend it is for now. The others can chastise me later for it, at the next summit meeting." He winked at Brown who gave a small smile at the move. "Timon will oversee the transportation portion of things right now. Unless you have a different plan?"
There was a head shake, but no answer from the boy, which Tor decided meant he didn't object. He was on his own now, which, as young as he was, meant he didn't have to take orders from his brother directly. Or parents. He really was almost the only one that could get the work done though, wasn't he?
After a second Tim turned to Kolb and spoke, his gaze taking in Karen and Petra after a second.
"I'm going to need to co-opt some of your people for it. You too Tiera. Everyone that has a Fast Craft. Mark will have to take the duty for Austra specifically, since he's best in the overseas portion of things. Denno, I'll assign him to you for now, is that workable?"
The man nodded gently and touched his mouth with a single finger, as if thinking.
"Certainly. Good man for the job. I have some other tasks to work on however, so I may need him to work with the Prime Minister directly. I don't want to change your ch
ain of command however."
There was a strained look on the Ambassador's face, which, with a half second of invasive reading Tor understood. He felt he was going to be left out, and Noram was, literally, his job.
It was a bit petty, so the man didn't speak, but he felt it anyway.
"Ambassador, how about you work with Mark instead? The Prime Minister has his own job and Mark is a Noram citizen, which makes him your responsibility anyway. If you have the time I mean?"
That got the man to come to life again a bit and sit up straighter.
"I stand ready."
"Thanks. We need someone to run back and forth with the Lairdgren Group and anyone else that can do the needed magic too. I..." He looked around at the people present and realized, reading them all one by one, that the best people for the job were already going to be busy doing other things. He was going to be building for at least a week straight, and Trice...
That part took him by surprise when he picked it up.
She was going to be busy... Setting up a spy network and trying to infiltrate the rebels. It was a dangerous task and she really wasn't certain she'd live through it at all.
"Gerent, will you do that part? It will mean going to Vagus as well, I think. I'll lend you my Fast Carriage until we have more, if I can't dig one up. I think there might be one or two in storage somewhere. For the time being I'm going to have to put Instructor Fines in charge of the group. Tiera..." What he was about to say next made perfect sense to him, but he doubted it would fly very well at all with his sister, emergency situation or not. Especially since, if it happened at all, Sandra would probably be given some kind of clemency or something by the Council of Counts. They wouldn't want to kill a hero after all, would they? Tor nearly couldn't say the words at all.
"If... We need all the builders we can get on this. If Sandra Morris can learn to make the healing devices, would you allow her to?" He didn't mention the rest, but Timon shook his head.
"No. Tor, the amount of things she could make might help, but she killed Regina. It might have been an accident, but it was also an act of war in the first place, aside from the death. Tiera's been nice about it in the last week, but we can't let her go. If this is going to end she has to stand trial for her actions. Don't ask this. If you do, it will end badly. Possibly worse than you can imagine." The brown eyes locked with his own, and after a few seconds of consideration Tor shrugged.
"I... don't really see that at all. I'll drop that for now though, since we don't have time for strife between us. Forget I mentioned it."
His sister looked so dark and angry he thought she was going to start yelling at him anyway, but she managed to hold her tongue, which was rare for her. It was probably a sign that she was growing up, wasn't it? The hard way too. Pushed into being something different by death and disaster. It wasn't fair or good, but it was what they had to work with.
"So, anyway, Gerent, will you help?" It wasn't like he could order the man about.
"Um... yes? I don't know that anyone will listen to me. I'll try. I can carry messages and all that. I think." The shyness there was huge and almost overwhelming for a few seconds, but it was still an acceptance of the role and that got Trice to smile.
"You can do it. The Group will listen to you. They're good kids, and more to the point there, kids. We need to get with Uncle Richard on this too. I'll start that now." She ran from the room without asking if it was really the right thing to do over all. It was what needed to happen, so it would. That was all.
Tor looked around and finally nodded.
"We can spread the word here, in Noram, using Two Bends Fast delivery and the air transport service. For that matter we can send most of the amulets to the Mayors and headmen of towns and villages along with messages, which will work to distribute things pretty well. We can't do that as easily in Austra can we?" Denno shook his head and looked ready to shoulder the burden, a thing that again, felt like too much for him to manage. Tor gestured with a closed right hand at Fornia and then Kincaid. "You two can spread the word though, can't you? The communications network there is far more impressive than ours here. Trusting in Noram might be a bit much to ask for right now. Will you help?" They were private people and could say no after all. He half expected it from the player, but Kincaid just nodded at him, her eyes tearing up a little.
Her accent was a lot more Austran then, which was, he realized her actual voice. Before she'd sounded almost like a Noram noble. The skill involved was sort of impressive.
"I'm in. The net will play the message if it comes from me. Revered One, would you be willing to say a few words? It won't take long, we can shoot that tonight and, if Tim will help us, have it back home by tomorrow, or... well, we might get live coverage if you're in it too. Is this really that bad though? We have very good medical care back home."
Denno smiled at the girl and stood, gesturing for her to stand as well and, almost as an afterthought, gestured to Fornia and, very strangely, Petra.
"Would you join us as well? To answer the question Kincaid, it's worse than it sounds like. Even with this effort, odds are a large portion of the world is simply going to die. We haven't even mentioned Tellerand yet. The Antarctic will be fine, since all the Blues are immune and there is almost no chance it's been spread there anyway. Why would anyone bother? Afrak is... Well, their population is very small already. I haven't looked, but I doubt my sister would have done anything to harm her own people. We need to check, just in case, but I truly doubt anything will come of it. We need to get in touch with Black and Julie White. Soam... Gray has never approved of Julie."
The problem there was that they were running out of people to send places, weren't they? He was almost stuck for a moment, but then turned to Kolb.
"How do you get along with Black? Can you go and explain all this to him, or will that cause a fight?"
That got the scarred man to smile at least.
"Oh, we fight almost instantly each time we meet. One reason I don't bother with the summits. I can tolerate Julie though. I'm not wild about having my free will stolen, but..."
Timon waved at him.
"I think I can handle Black. I'm not all that threatening after all. White is easier to get past if you activate your shield and don't let her get too close to you... I wasn't aware you were Immortal however. I probably should have seen it. There were clues." He shook his head. "That's what I get for making assumptions, like people would just tell me if someone was a relative."
Tor already knew that part, so didn't boggle at it, but the rest of them did a bit, except Brown, who shrugged and held a hand out to Petra to help her stand.
"Leave people some of their secrets, will you Tim? Anyway, that sounds like a plan. Kolb can take Soam and Timon will get in to Tellerand if he can and inform them of what's going to be needed. Tor, since you've taken the lead on this I trust it will be handled well. I must say, I'm very much relieved. I figured it would take weeks to prove it was coming at all, the words coming from Austra as they are. Ambassador, I think that should be pointed out back home. How the people of Noram moved to protect us all without hesitation. We should be about things now. Ladies?" There was only a slight sense of urgency from the man on the surface, but deep down he was mainly feeling relief. It was a sense that Tor knew well. As if one more thing would cause the world to fall in on you, and you were watching a wave come down on your head.
He stood, wondering what would be the best thing for him to do next.
Magic of course, but that really would have to wait, at least on the active side of things.
"Gerent, would you come with me? I think I need to dig through some trunks. You need gear."
They walked quickly to his room, up the grand staircase, and in the last chest he checked, under a pile of blank focus stone tiles, he found what was probably the very last of the Fast Carriages that he hadn't passed out already.
"Here. Now..." He started pulling things out, naming them off as he did, just handing the man
one of everything he had left. Even the ones that didn't really make sense. A survival hut, a sound copying device, water pump and even a noise suppression amulet. A regular magical carriage and Not-flyers.
"Those are much faster than even the military grade ones. They use mental commands, but you just need to think about where you want to go and how high. It isn't really flying, but will leave your hands free. I'm not giving you weapons right now, so if you come under attack, run away. Use the Fast Carriage, and no one will be able to easily catch you. Sorry that I won't be able to teach you how to use all this. Here... Earth moving equipment and compressors. They can come in handy. If you need anything new made..." He froze. He'd do it if he had time, but would he? The Lairdgren Group might, or they wouldn't... "Get with Ali, my wife. She'll see to it."
Speaking of her reminded him that he wanted to have that party for her, which didn't seem that likely now, did it? Maybe he could get her some nice flowers instead? He nodded to himself and decided to pick some up as soon as possible, since she should be around and moving soon. That was fine, since he could go in the morning. He probably wasn't going to get a lot of sleep, given everything. That's really what crisis meant though, wasn't it? No sleep, too little food and if you stopped moving people would die. It was always like that, at least in his experience.
"I... don't worry. I'll manage. Should I go and inform the people tonight?" Gerent sounded less nervous now, but Tor was reading him and realized the man was secretly terrified. He was acting brave though, which would be enough, if he could keep doing it.
"No. Get some rest if you can, so that you'll be fresh in the morning. I'll be up all night. Can I find you at your house when it's time to leave?" He might have wanted to stay with everyone else, but someone had to be alert the next day. Staying up just to fret over what would have to be done later wouldn't help anyone at all. One moron doing that would be enough.
He got a small bag for all the amulets and loaded them in except for the shield, which he strung on a cord and placed around the man's neck directly.