Duty

by P. S. Power

  To his credit, the man looked away, his face miserable.

  “I… yes. I can see that. Forgive me. I was… Well, being young and foolish is no excuse. I wronged you nearly unto death and worse. I didn’t even come to you after, or see to your care from a distance as an honest coward might have. That was pure cowardice on my part. I’d heard that you were healed, much later. Thank all that is good. So… I must forfeit my life? I can see no other way to make amends for this great of a wrong. May I have some hours to see to my personal disposition, sir?” Then, still holding the device in his hand, the man knelt, then seemed to lay on the floor.

  Not even begging for his life. Just showing he meant what he was saying. That he figured it was fair for his life to be given in payment for once having crippled Albert the boy. Part of him relished the idea. Not for long, but enough that he had to feel bad about it. Like that monster he probably was.

  “Apology accepted. I was actually thinking that you might come to a small gathering I have planned? It’s nothing grand, just some dancing, food and good company. It will be the day after tomorrow, at The Eternal, in Second City? I work there, as one of my jobs. I also help out with emergency relief efforts. Just so you don’t think poorly of me, only being the floor sweeper at a public establishment.”

  Why it was important the man not see him as being that little, Albert didn’t know. The other man stood then, with tears in his eyes.

  “I don’t know that I deserve such. Forgiveness. Helping others in need seems a high and noble task, however. Floor sweeping… well, someone has to do it, don’t they? I’d be pleased to come to your party. Also, to humble myself again, in front of your friends, family and people. There must be repayment for what I did to you, in my carelessness. I… Still have dreams of it. The impact and the screams…” A tear moved down his cheek, which had Albert doing the same, shortly.

  “So do I. That’s the past. That I’ve been holding some hard feelings there, after all this time… Well, that’s weak of me. Which is why I need to move past that. Revenge helps no one. We need healing now. Oh… Do you need a ride on the day? It’s a bit short notice, I fear.”

  The man, who had red hair, if in a darker shade than Kari or Alphonse, smiled then, his face still wet.

  “I could use that. Should I come alone, or…”

  After a moment, thinking and not getting the full meaning behind the words, even if Albert could tell there was something there, he shook his head.

  “Oh, why not bring people? Call it… up to ten, if you want? You’re also welcome to attend alone, but I’m not plotting anything secret or that will make you look bad. I’m just getting some friends together, is all. We’re reversed in time, so it will be evening, your time. That will put us in at the club, after closing. I need to get a band in. Which isn’t a problem. I can have someone there to get you at six, your time, day after tomorrow? Let me…” He looked off into the distance, and pretended to be calling out over a vast space. “Dare? Can I borrow your ship to pick a person up before the party?”

  Dareg, being smart like he was, possibly brilliant, called back in the same way, loud enough to be hear, soft enough to sound far away, even if he was less than ten feet from the device. No one else even breathed too loud.

  “Sure. I can show you how to pilot at the same time. I have a ship set aside for you, if you can manage it.” That just seemed… True, as if he meant it.

  “There we go. So, up to ten people? Don’t forget to bring extra women with you. Otherwise I’ll be standing alone all night. Not that it won’t happen anyway, but if there are enough women at least a few of them might talk to me. Right?” That sounded reasonable, but got a laugh from the other man.

  “You’ll be the light of the party, I’m certain, Mr. Benoist. Sir. Did… Is your friend Dare, Prince Dareg, by any chance? I wouldn’t ask, normally, but there are only so many people in the world who can even joke about giving away jump ships.”

  Albert nodded.

  “That’s right. He’s a good fellow. Don’t let that Prince thing distract you. He works the emergencies with me, when he can. He has school, still. Down in Printer?”

  The other man simply nodded.

  “I hear very good things about that establishment, actually. I was thinking of sending my own son there, next session. Perhaps I could speak to the Prince about that, when we meet? To see if he personally recommends it or not. If that isn’t…” The man simply bowed again. Going low.

  Albert did it back, matching him.

  “That sounds like a plan. We can probably set up a tour of the school, too? I don’t know how that’s done, really.” It sounded fair to him though. “We also have some good schools up here, on the Moon, which should be considered. Possibly out on Mars, as well.” He’d heard that, anyway.

  Those were free, as well. You had to work hard, to get in to any of them. The ones on Mars were run by the Ysidril there. Aliens, who valued intelligence and learning, as well as public service. They’d help you, no matter who you were, but you were expected to do your own part in return. Really, they needed to ask in that direction on the Moon project. Just in case they had ideas that might work out.

  The man looked mildly impressed. Possibly with the idea that Albert knew what a school was.

  “That sound interesting. We could speak on it?”

  “Lets? I’ll need to get directions to your home, for Dare. Is it all right if we make a trip that way first, to make certain we have the correct place? It won’t have to be an official visit or anything, I just don’t like to leave things to chance, when I can help it.”

  The instructions came, the man seeming stiff again suddenly. He was very polite when they parted, taking several minutes to get off the device. As soon as it was hung up, there was a clattering of moving chairs and exhalations that were a bit too loud to be relaxed.

  Kari laughed. It was a slightly dark sounding thing. Like what a villain in an Austran play might do.

  “Damn, Albert… Remined me to get you mixed up in all my plotting. We can just go and visit now. We might not even need to cause a flood there, after all.”

  Timon nodded, then looked around, to lock eyes with his brother.

  “Get that ready, anyway? If you can cause floods, that means you could end droughts with a gentle and controlled rain schedule. We also don’t really know which way Pence will jump. He clearly thinks this is a set up to have him killed. What’s the situation there, if it’s all right to ask?” He turned to lock eyes with Albert then.

  Who simply shrugged.

  “Oh… Um, there was an accident. Some nobles drunkenly racing through the streets of the Capital in Noram, a long time ago. Flying, when it was brand new. He hit me and my back broke, in three places.”

  He stopped then, a tan-skinned woman on the far side of the room, seated next to Captain Gerent, sitting up a bit straighter. Not that she’d been slouching a lot before.

  She looked different than Albert recalled, but he was able to work out that she must be Conserina Ward. The woman that had saved him from being crippled. Coming directly from the mighty wizard Tor, as soon as possible. Just to fix him.

  She grinned then.

  “That was you?” Instead of commenting on his looks or amazing floor cleaning activities, the woman got up, jogged across the room and picked him up into a big, rather powerful, hug.

  He did it back, since he’d missed that part, the first time. Everyone had simply been too amazed with the amulet and the healing it had wrought to really praise her for coming in the first place.

  “It is! Thank you, by the way. I pretty much just stammered and ran around back then. It meant so much to me. Even being here today, having tried to help people a bit… That was really because of you. Not just the healing part.” He didn't know how to explain it.

  The woman had inspired him, eventually, to become more than a waste of space, slowly killing himself, or trying to. That part wasn’t perfect and he was still sad, most of the time. He didn
't feel like just giving up as much though. It was better.

  After a while she set him down, his weight resting on the floor instead of his toes dangling above it constantly. There was a kiss for his cheek from her as well, which was sweet of her.

  “Good. Now, we have an in to the Barony. I don’t want to be the gullible one here, but Pence there didn’t seem like a monster to me. Or a slaver. I know that can be wrong, but…”

  Albert felt the same way, even if the grudge he felt there wasn’t totally lifted yet. That it honestly had, a little, after hearing the man apologize was kind of a big thing. He felt, if not better about it, less like he had to carry it around constantly, in the back of his mind.

  It was the very attractive, pale woman, who had silver white hair, that spoke then. Her voice smooth and sultry. Almost everyone turned to look at her, as she did it.

  “Agreed. That wasn’t the voice of a man who traffics in cruelty for a living. Still, we need to go carefully. This will get you in with him. At least you, Mr. Benoist and you, Dareg. You can use those piloting lessons and seeing to schooling for his son as an excuse. You’re currently working in County Thomson, during the day?”

  That was true, though not a thing that had been spoken about as of yet. That Ancients would have secret ways to get information was probably just true. After all, if he could get them to speak to him and explain things, now that he knew some of them, that could be his clever tactic that way. Allowing him to know things he would have missed, otherwise.

  “That’s correct. It will be a few weeks, since I’m getting food for the military focus stone troops coming in to help rebuild. Tiera is aiding with the replenishing of things for them as well. We’re about… What, eighty percent done with that, so far?”

  He looked over at her, the tall woman locking eyes with him.

  “More than that. We’d be done, but there was a small issue with a woman in one of the locations today.” She didn't mention what that was. You didn’t with combat rage, after all. It was a rule.

  Count Thomson, sitting in the back row, next to his wife, closed his eyes.

  “It wasn’t theft, was it? I’d hate to have to punish anyone right now, after that, but we can’t let such crimes simply go.” The man was grim seeming.

  Albert snorted, even if it was out of place.

  “Nothing like that. An entitled merchant woman thought that being pretty meant that Harmony owed her millions of golds worth of magic. It was a bit annoying and I forced us to leave early so that I wouldn’t snap at her too much. That was my fault, of course. For not being a better person. We’ll head back in the morning and finish up there. Sorry.” He bowed toward the man, so he’d know it wasn’t something that his people had truly done wrong. Anyone could have a bad day, when stressed.

  Count Thomson stood and did that back.

  “Ah. Good then. There have been some reports, already. Most people are worthy, but some few always have to seek the best for themselves, even if the time and place are wrong for it.”

  They both stood up, since it wasn’t an apology fest that day. Next to him, Alice clapped, commanding everyone to look at her, without speaking at all.

  “Canton, Benoist and Clemance Thomson will work in there. You said Peterson is in charge of the investigation, didn’t you?” She looked at a tall blond man on the far side of Count Thomson. Next to Clemance, so the brother.

  “I had that from Ambassador Mableton, so it’s correct. We should have her in the mix, but she’s been called home, for the time being. There’s a serious situation there, as well. A similar one, involving her people.”

  The words got a nod from the golden woman.

  “Benoist is in charge of this then. Get with Alison Peterson and make sure she has what she needs in this area. Trice?”

  There was a deep breath from the woman, who was standing close enough to Albert that it seemed like they were together, not just people that had spoken once or twice. She didn’t touch him though, so it would read differently in Harmony, than say, Second City.

  “I’ll get you pictures of our agent there, in case you see anyone. Memorize those and remove them from your handhelds. If you get caught or searched…”

  That just made sense. After all, the goal was to go to a place where they suspected people were being kidnapped and turned into slaves. People willing to do that sort of thing probably wouldn’t care about personal property or not being invasive, if you got in their way.

  They spoke for a while longer, then Timon, Tor and Tiera all stood, after a bit of waving was done, and moved to the front. Trice and Alice were allowed to leave, while Albert had his hand snagged by Tiera, holding him in place with a tug.

  A thing the woman did a bit too easily. He was really thin though and she was tall, so it wasn’t that hard to believe she outweighed him by a good bit.

  Tor spoke first, his voice happy sounding.

  “We’ve been working on a project idea and made good headway. We think, that with a lot of work, we can terraform the surface of the Moon. Let me cover that.”

  He went over the plan for hugging the moon with about five thousand feet of atmosphere, along with gravity to simulate Earth’s. He stopped then and waved at Albert.

  “That idea, holding it all in a specific zone was Al’s idea. The rivers are mine for the project. The lakes as well, and a single ocean. It will take a while to form and not be that deep, but should allow for fish and insect life.”

  Over the next half an hour, with a lot of people calling out ideas, they worked out who was doing what for the project. Most of the building would be done by Tor, himself, though Tiera was going to be in charge of the ocean project, since she had some ideas as for magic that would allow that to take place and be stable. It meant that the water had to carry its own gravity like field though, which, after blinking for a bit, clearly faking it, Tor borrowed for the air as well.

  Princess Abbey, Alphonse’s wife, was in charge of animal life, which was nearly as complex to set up as the whole of the rest of it. Gerent did the trees and plants, it seemed. The whole thing was so huge in scale that it felt for a moment like it would be impossible, even for the great beings in the room with him. Finally, when things wound down, he was allowed to sit, as Taman Baker moved to the front, along with Sam Builder.

  Taman smiled.

  “The reconditioning of Soam is going well. At the current rate, most traces of radiation will be gone inside of five years. I was thinking of opening a mage school there… Which isn’t what we’ve been doing, so far. People there have been suggesting that Soam’s contribution to the world as a whole should be stepped up, after all the aid we’ve been given of late, trying to repair our damaged land.”

  Albert tilted his head, then shook it a bit.

  “Vagus has some good mages, don’t they? Maybe some of them would consider moving to Soam, in order to teach? I don’t know how we’ll pay them.” It would have been a real issue, if they were from Noram.

  A man, who was city tall, being about the same as Albert, spoke up then. He was on the far side of the room from where he was. His voice was familiar, reminding him of Jeffery. The difference was that Jeff was nice enough looking and this man was close to being perfect. It was a bit annoying, actually. Instead of snapping about Al not having a voice in the room, not being an Ancient, the man sounded considering.

  “Why not see if Erath will take it on? He’s good and efficient. Ready for a new challenge, as well. He’s also Ysidril, so won’t think of coin at all, when the position is offered. Not that the mages of Vagus are led by greed.”

  Tor made a face, one that was polite, and had a slight tension around the eyes to go with it. What caused the strain was impossible to see. Then, everyone had their own life to think about, when they considered almost anything.

  “Would it be all right to put Mage Tan in charge of that? There’s been a bit of muttering about the Ysidril mages, of late. Mainly that they’re all so good. Tan had herself modified, so she c
an act on that level, herself. It’s impressive, really. Oh… We should get Albert in to work on a few things, if he’s acting for us anyway. After we finish here?”

  Alice coughed from across the room.

  “Just don’t mess with his face. We finally have one of you who doesn’t have to wear a disguise to deal with me. Don’t ruin it. If he needs a disguise, we can get him an amulet.”

  He was a bit lost, but no one seemed to be mocking him, so he simply nodded.

  “I have a bit of time, I think.”

  Timon was the one that stood then.

  “Let’s get to the magic shop then. We can go over what you might want that way. Still, Alice, if you’re demanding he look the way you want, you have to know that you’re at least dating, right? He isn’t in your fleet, after all. He’s working with all of us, equally.”

  Instead of begging off, Alice rolled her eyes.

  “It was a suggestion. As for dating, that’s between us, isn’t it? Or have we shifted to assigned marriages again? I have to admit, I’ve not been paying attention to that kind of thing for a while now. I just sign the certificates when they come across my desk.” The woman shrugged, her shoulders moving almost bonelessly. There was a hint of a smile on her face, and she darted a glance over at Albert, for some reason. It was nearly as if she were play flirting with him. In front of most of the Ancients in the world. Because that made sense.

  Mrs. Baker, the one in the back, next to Douglas, spoke up then.

  “Hmm. Let’s table this for now? It might not be a poor idea. I don’t think we should treat it lightly, given that.”

  Timon nodded.

  “A real point. Anyway, follow this way, Albert. It will let them have a chance to talk about us behind our backs. If we don’t leave, they’ll just start doing it in front of us. We can’t steal all their fun, so we might as well go and see to things. We should get you set up with what you need to do your new job with us.” The man moved then, heading to the left once the door was unlocked and opened. A rather tall man locked it behind them, to keep the public out.