by P. S. Power
Eva smiled, and shook her head.
“I don’t. Sammy?”
“Nope! I’d like to vote for Hess of the Ysidril as well?”
Eva and then Karina officially did the same thing. Which given the rules that they had, meant that Hess had to get a record of the vote taken down, so that no one would be able to fake it later.
Then he stood, bobbing a bit in place.
“I will strive to lead as I have been chosen to do. It is not the way of my people, but I will learn as I can, and seek to protect all that live on this world. Mars. Does this mean that I get to proclaim we should begin a work project, to create more cities?”
Tor cleared his throat, but nodded.
“I think that sounds fair? Though places with Presidents have more than just that to help them lead. We should get a book on the subject. Though, you said Leader. Is that the title? Hess, Leader of Mars?”
Eva smiled and shook her head, having some other idea.
“High Leader of Mars? That way we can put in people under him, but no one can be placed above him. Except the Ancient, of course. That only makes sense. That’s Ancient Karina for Mars, I think?” It was clear she knew that, but the woman on the handheld just clapped a few times.
“Brilliant. Thank you Dareg. Now, what are we going to do first?”
He shrugged, and waved at Hess, smiling.
“That’s up to the High Leader, I guess? I… Should be working on getting everyone around for the big trip. Meet here for that? Everyone can come in… Tomorrow? Then we’ll leave from here.” That or the next day, he guessed. It was hard to keep track of the days when you didn’t sleep.
On the great side, since the trip was leaving from Mars, Hess felt that it was his job to contact some of the others, since they’d be coming to his location first. Really, other than help him make a list of leaders and Ancients to get in touch with, Dareg had very little that he needed to do after that.
It meant that all he had to do was get in touch with a few of his personal friends. He started with Jan, from Austra, for that one. It was late there, being nearly ten, but the woman answered cheerfully enough. She even kept smiling after she saw who it was.
“Prince Dareg! I was just going to come find you. There are… Several people here, waiting to come and visit? I’m at the port here. Can we just come through, or do we need a special pass or invitation?”
“Um, just come? Make sure to get a shield at the magic shop as soon as you come through. I’ll meet you? Come in at Mars Two?” He didn’t ask why people were waiting, though he didn’t understand it either.
That got a troubled look, which he also didn’t understand, but the woman turned her handheld off after calling out that she’d be right there. Tor walked with him, as did High Leader Hess.
He didn’t think anything of it, in particular, until four people stepped through the transport with Jan. One of them was Marco Sorvee, but the rest were his friends from the media crew. Tom Early, Nimbus, and a new person that had cameras floating all over the place. The strange one was a man, who was trying to pester Marco, for some reason. It wasn’t that hard to work out why, given what was being said.
“Mr. Sorvee, Marco… Can you tell us what new songs you have planned? Or tour dates? Are you dating anyone new? Bethie Slidon perhaps? Anything would be good. The people back home in Australia want to know.”
The name of the place got Dareg to recall having heard it before, from Merry the other day, and he nearly started fighting before any kind of answer could be given. Instead of helping, Tor put a hand out and touched his arm. Sending a single idea rather clearly.
“Wait.” It was probably good advice, since everyone was currently gathered around, nearly within reach of the new man. There was no sense of an implant inside of him, or particular time distortion, though he looked vaguely familiar.
It took him a while to come to it, since there were marked differences, as well as similarities. The man had dark green hair, which was longer than his own, and was nearly the same size, physically. Dareg was thinner now, and had a better looking face, but the feeling was there. This man, however unlikely, was him. It also explained why the cameras were different. Similar to Austran ones, but not the same at all. Plus, his accent was very foreign sounding. Like he was a person that spoke a softer, rounder tongue, most of the time. It was pretty enough, listening to him.
The trick would be in getting him away from the others, before the battle started.
As he thought about all of that the man looked up at him, staring, and smiled. There was a bit of a chuckle then, before he spoke.
“Prince Dareg? It was suggested I get an interview with you, if that’s all right? Tom here asked me to set that up.”
From the look on Tom’s face that was news to him, but instead of challenging the new man, the news fellow just waved at him.
“Dareg! Don’t mind the new kid here. I don’t know where he got that from… Good initiative, but I’m almost certain that Jan set up that engagement. We can go live with it? I brought the right cameras for it, if you don’t mind? In my things. It’s just what we used on the Saturn mission.” The man said it with a complete lack of emphasis, as if it weren’t a huge thing.
Also as if he was setting aside the idea that he might have returned the things, instead of keeping them for the next mission. Dareg was fine with it actually, but he had no clue what Tim Baker would have thought. The wizard was the man that had built the things for the crew, but no one had ever bothered to work out exactly what was to be done with the gear after they were used the first time.
Sighing, and not particularly wanting to have to grovel and beg the entirety of Austra in particular, he nodded. Of course, the possible enemy version of him being there might distract from that. Sure, that could mean a real fight to the death was about to happen, but he felt amazingly unworried about that part for some reason. Why that was he didn’t know, but the new man, the other version of him, smiled a bit, as Tor laughed a little.
“Ben Epson. The one I met before? In his world. A friend, Dare. Though why he’s pretending to be a reporter from Austra, I don’t know.”
The man laughed and then shook his head a bit.
“Austra! Not Australia here. Right. Sorry. Well, so much for that one. I was playing with your new rips in space here, and ended up with this group, so mixed in with them. It was remarkably easy, given they’ve never seen me before. No one in my world would have fallen for it. Anyway, Dareg… Pleased to meet you?”
It was a lot of information, coming in fairly quickly, but he adapted to it, since Tor seemed relaxed and wasn’t gearing up to fight to the death himself. It was a sign that this man, if not a well-known being to him, was at least not a huge threat. Then, Tor had been pals with Debbie Smalls for longer than Dareg had been alive, it seemed. The man, his father, while not evil himself, might not be the best judge of who, or who was not, a villain.
It would remain to be seen with his new Aunt. Debbie.
Instead of trying to kill Ben Epson, Dareg attempted to smile and hold it long enough for the expression to register, as the others all started to look around in bafflement. Mainly having nothing to do with an extra version of Dareg standing there, looking older, and enough different that most wouldn’t have figured that part out on their own.
No, it was thanks to Hess, bowing toward the group in the background. Ben, grinning, directed the floating cameras to turn and focus on the being.
“Hello! I’m Ben. You’re Hess? The new leader of Mars? That’s neat.” The words came out as if the man knew them to be fact, even though he’d only stepped onto the surface of the world a few moments before.
It was strange, and telling at the same time. The only way for the man to know all of that for certain would be either some form of communication that hadn’t happened, with one of them calling him up to explain as these others walked to the transport pod, or it would have to be something else. Like advanced field reading. A lot of data coul
d be passed that way, but Dareg didn’t think that he could pick up something like a specific name, or a new title.
Ben glanced at him, his face pleasant seeming.
“I was changed, so that I have psychic abilities. I can read minds, and see the future, that kind of thing. Some other abilities as well. It was how I got into the group I’m with here. Dropping the right names for them to think that I was supposed to be coming along. There was no real point to it. I was just trying to not stick out as much as… Well, as I am right now.”
It nearly made sense, so Dare nodded at the other version of him, and then gestured toward Hess.
“That’s correct. This being is High Leader of Mars, Hess. You may have noticed his unique form? What with the fancy scales and four useful arms? As well as his extra eyes? That’s because he’s a Ysidril. It’s a type of alien. Don’t let that part bother you, though. They’re good people. Better than most humans by far. Which is why we voted him in here. You should get an interview with him, if you can, Jan.” He didn’t try to set up anything else, but Jan wasn’t foolish or slow on the uptake, moving in and bowing herself.
“I’d love that, if you have time, High Leader Hess? Maybe after we get done raking poor Prince Dareg over the coals?”
Hess opened his mouth, which got several of the new people to move back, since it seemed like a threat. Not Ben, oddly enough. He held his ground, and smiled in return, using the cameras like it was his actual job.
It was Tor that bowed then, toward the cameras.
“Perhaps we should go someplace more private for that? It would be good if everyone met with Hess, and…” He turned to look at Dareg, his face going tighter then. “I don’t know if an interview with Dare will help anything. Is it a good idea?”
Ben Epson looked at the taller man and nodded, his face set rather firmly.
“You can’t hide from things. People need to hear the whole story, including what combat rage is, and why what people from Australia, Austra, have been saying about him set this in motion. People from your land are very different, as to matters of honor and all that. They need to hear this, from you, in particular, Tor.”
It didn’t seem like it would help, but turning, Dareg secretly hoped that an attack was about to happen. Just so he wouldn’t have to deal with the other, messier, thing that was being planned against him. It was tempting to simply run away, at full speed, but that would be even less honorable than having to bow and scrape to these people would be.
Leading them back to his place took a bit, but no one spoke until they were inside, with Ben looking around, his face seeming impressed.
“Nice. All right… Why don’t we set up over here, by the sofa? That way we can have Tor and Dareg in the same shot. High Leader… If you’d come over here? We should make this first bit all about these two, and then present you separately, so you won’t be tainted by association with a murderer.” There was no heat in the words, but a rather dry look came then, directed at Dareg.
So he laughed, weakly. The man wasn’t totally normal seeming, or comforting, but he also wasn’t wrong. Dare had a responsibility to make the Ysidril look as good as possible, since that could be important later on. Right now that meant not being seen in the wrong light.
“A real point. So, what are we doing? Should I start out begging for forgiveness? Explaining? I don’t…”
It was Tom that had a plan, for all that Jan had set things up. The decent looking man was a bit older, being in his mid-thirties, and seemed professional suddenly.
“Allow me to ask the questions? Let me see here…” There was rummaging in a floating case that was behind the man, and several magical camera like devices came out, one near him, watching his face directly. The rest covered various other people, though that didn’t make a lot of sense. He could see Tor being part of that, but not why Jan would have had one on her.
The media man looked into his camera while Nimbus worked the controls for them all at once, having done that kind of thing before, it seemed.
“This is Tomas Early, here with Prince Dareg of Harmony, The Tor, and several other notables on Mars. We’re currently inside the red planet itself, in the new city here. What is it called?” He smiled and looked around, as if one of them would know the answer.
Funnily enough, an answer was provided, from near the door, which got Dareg to turn and look in that direction.
“Erath. We should call it that, after the incredible explorer and adventurer.” The piping voice was cute, and very understandable, but only about half the people there understood what was meant.
Dare rolled his eyes, but smiled. It wasn’t a horrible name really, and the kid really was doing well as an explorer so far. It just seemed a bit much to name a city after a Ysidril on the same day they voted one in as their top leader.
“How about… First City?” That was a bit bland, but wasn’t Dareton, or New Canton, which were the only other ideas he’d come up with. Other than Erath, after the great explorer, which was now stuck in his head. He glanced over at Hess, who nodded and opened his mouth.
The four limbed scaled world leader waited a beat, and them spoke smoothly.
“First City. That is efficient. Especially if naming the city Little Troublemaker is out for the time being.” He bobbed a bit, standing to the side, and so did Erath, who’d clearly been joking with them.
Tom adapted easily and redid the introduction, which was going out live, from what he said. Then the man, his friend, started to pound Tor and Dareg with questions that were nearly as hard as anything that he’d ever heard asked of anyone.
Most of it was rude. The rest was so direct that he felt angry about it, though held back any sense of combat rage starting. That was, he understood, part of the point. Allowing him to show that he had at least a little control over himself when pressed.
Finally, he was able to simply speak for a bit, so tried his best not to seem totally evil.
“It was him pressing me like that, calling me a liar, over and over again. I’m not, so it was hard to take. In Noram I could have dueled with the man, or just fought him in the street, if he didn’t stop. Or, like what happened, killed him. The thing was, even after I asked him to back away, he refused.”
Tor patted his shoulder, gently, and started to speak then.
“The combat rage isn’t a joke, or an excuse. I know that people in Austra don’t have it, and not everyone in Noram does, but it takes rare restraint to control things as well as Dareg was doing at the time. I watched the footage of it, and it was clear that it was both happening and that Albright knew about it as he forced a confrontation. It’s my fault, of course.”
Tom blinked and looked like that part didn’t make sense.
“How so? You weren’t even there…”
“I didn’t correct Austra well enough to prevent such hounding in the first place. I’ve announced, loosely, that I know that Dareg is mine, and others have told of testing, but we didn’t cover just how extensive it was. He has more proof of being my child than almost anyone else in history has ever had in regards to their parentage. Genetic testing from three different lands, magical assessment, and even some other things that I can’t speak about at the moment. If I would have assured people of that more firmly, this might have been avoided. The fact is that Dareg is my child, and always has been. Anyone doubting that needs to wade through a river of hard proof to do it. So I must take responsibility for what happened on Harmony.”
That got a head shake from Dare, and a bit of a glare as well.
“No. I’m responsible for my own actions. I should have fled, somehow. Even if I legally didn’t have to at the time, I should have tried. Tried harder…” His eyes filled with tears, but he didn’t let them fall. Too many people were watching him.
The media people waited for a bit, but Tomas nodded a few times.
“Would it be possible to verify the DNA results? I think we should put that part of this to bed here and now. Too many people have been acti
ng in a slanderous manner about this issue. The best defense is the truth, if it can be proven.”
The words might have gotten him to be upset, but Dareg just stood, and Tom didn’t wince away in fear or anything.
“Let’s go and do that right now? Where do we need to go? Austra?”
Clearing his throat, Tor stood up as well, and shook his head.
“We can assemble all the needed teams on Harmony? I’ll set that up. In the meantime, why not do that interview with Hess?”
Ben shook his head and made a face, but Tomas and Jan seemed happy to do just that, and were a lot nicer to the alien, even if they were both clearly a bit uneasy. Tor actually left, and so did Erath, for some reason. It was interesting to see, since Neesa didn’t follow her younger sibling out, just hissing something in a language that Dare didn’t have a chance of understanding.
The interview with the new planetary leader lasted about two hours, in which time both Tor and Erath came back, the tiny purple and green being holding a device, which was taken by Neesa. It was a small boxlike thing with a screen on it, much like a handheld. It seemed to be made of polished purple wood, or something similar to it, which was interesting, though the woman didn’t explain what it was all about.
Then, watching them all carefully, the media crew walked them to the Moon, as odd as it sounded. There, right outside the magic shop, very near where he’d become a murderer, there was a group of people setting up various machines, chemicals and devices. There were five groups, in fact. Some of them, like Princess Abbey, he recognized, but three of the teams looked to be made up of strangers. Two groups in Austran jumpsuits, and another in Vagus style mage robes.
Queen Tiera was at the front, though Taman sat at a table, one that had a Tam-Comp set up on it. Behind them all were a crowd of people from a lot of different cultures. The colors of clothing, and vague smiles on faces didn’t seem to indicate Dare was about to be set upon or hung for his crimes.
The very tall Queen, looking youthful and serene, waved to him and then Tor.
“Come forward. I can confirm that this is my brother, Torrance Baker, and that this is my nephew, Dareg Canton. Tor’s son. We are here today to assure the people of Austra that there is no trickery or deceit in that fact. Are you both willing to submit to such testing?”