by Power, P. S.
The real one. He didn't know how he could tell the difference, but he could.
"Dareg? Comp just got in touch with me and said that you and she were running away, and never coming back. Is that right?" There was a hint of a smile, though her face was also sort of sad.
She'd been there for the fight, and had lost friends. So that part made sense.
He didn't recall that part, but he'd written about it.
"I'm planning to get a fleet of jump ships, and pilots, going to Earth and the Martian Circle constantly. I'd like one of this young lady for each craft, if that will work? Can they be in contact all the time? Like the Tam-Units are?" He couldn't see why not, but what he didn't know about magic was... Most of it.
So he was ready to defer to the Wizard about what was possible or not.
"I can set that up, actually. I'll need a month for that? Since Tim might have to do a new ship build for you, so that she can run things. That will take about the same amount of time. Are you working with fleet on the project? They have the best pilot training program so far. Don't tell Tiera I said that, but they're much better that way than we are. We pretty much just put butts in the seat and tell people to go to. That doesn't work for everyone. You're close to Alice right? I mean, she actually takes your calls?"
"So far. She doesn't take yours?"
There was a pause, and Claremont stared at him, and then the Princess on the screen. Like it was unusual to see her there, which simply wasn't true, since it literally was a constant in her world. She was right there on the other side of her at that moment, wearing a deep black top. It was that one that seemed happiest at the moment, smiling at him. Even winking when he looked over. Flirting a bit, like Tam-Unit did.
Dareg made himself do it back. His relationship was a little awkward with Taman-the-real, but not with her doubles. Not any of them so far, actually.
Real Tam took a deep breath, and smiled at him.
"Are you here for a bit? We can get together and have some lunch? You probably need to eat. How are you? I mean, really? I know that you were almost dead. I was really scared that you weren't going to make it. I'm... Still not totally certain about Tor. I haven't been in touch with him lately. I should have been, but..."
That was a fear that he'd had himself, knowing how close to dead he'd really been. Dare knew that he was supposed to lie and say it would be fine, but the truth was, he hadn't been to see the man in most of a month either. While his damage had to be greater than Dareg's he was also a wizard and really powerful. Counting him out was probably premature.
So he shrugged.
"Ask him? Or I guess I should? I'll go visit in a bit. I need to get with Timon on a different topic right now. Cameras for the Saturn thing? The..."
She just started nodding. "That makes sense. You'll need to be able to operate them at a distance. Are you willing to do all the planets? We should start a program for that. We need to have eyes out there and right now we simply don't."
That was a real thing with these people. The whole of the Baker family. They all came up with new work for people to do, all the time. They did their own share and more, it looked like, but they also generated a lot of it. Thinking about the current situation he realized that he'd done the same thing. That probably meant it was in the blood.
In that case he was never getting free of it.
Tam, the real one, nodded, seeming a bit sad, and maybe scared. For her brother of course. That she hadn't stayed by his side meant that she probably figured he was going to die. Then, no one had stayed by his either, which likely meant much the same thing, he bet. That had been his choice though. These people didn't really know him, so it had made sense for them not to compound the agony of death if he faded. Not on top of Karen, Kolb, and even Erid.
For a moment he felt their loss keenly. More so than he'd really earned, not knowing them long enough for that. That fact didn't take all the pain, and guilt, away for him however.
It was clear that Taman got that too, her eyes narrowing a bit as she watched him. Reading every move he made so carefully that he doubted that hiding anything from her would work too well.
"Good. Meet me at Marissa's in... Call it two hours?" Her voice was calm, but she looked away, clearly thinking he was going to say no.
He got that. The last time they'd been together she'd tried to force him to have sex with her, using magic. He'd resisted it, with the help of Tor, and she'd gone off to have that fixed. Which it should be by now, if he understood the process. It was a magical process that changed the genetic structure of a person's body. There was more to it than that, he thought, but no one had gone into it in any great depth with him so far.
Probably because he'd only had the basic education that almost everyone got in Noram, and that wasn't exactly science heavy. Magic either, come to that, though both things had been mentioned as existing.
"Sure. If I'm going to be late, I'll be in touch? I'm supposed to meet Timon in... Twenty minutes? I need to get to the magic shop. Patricia runs it?" That was his wife. Tim had said Trice, but that was her nickname. Dare may not have been around a lot, but he'd picked that much up.
Taman, the real one, smiled at him.
"You should get going then. I'll see you at the restaurant in two hours, unless you call." She didn't tell him not to stand her up, but he wouldn't. No matter how awkward it got, she was one of the most powerful Wizards in three worlds.
Making her mad couldn't go well for him.
It took a bit to make sure Tam-Comp had what she needed from him, including his handheld data, which was just his name, but he understood that she was asking for permission to contact him, not asking how to do it.
Claremont furrowed her brow at him.
"So, the pilot thing is real? And apparently I'm a jerk to my computer. Sorry about that, miss. I..." She looked slightly upset.
On that note Dareg left, not needing to see the woman humble herself, and started walking toward where he'd been told to meet his uncle. There were people in the corridor, which was about sixty feet across, and twenty high or so. It looked like pale white glass in most places. On the ceiling there were what seemed like glowing emeralds. Giant ones that were about the size of his head. There were also magical devices all over the place. On the walls, as he passed, were moving pictures of people, that if he didn't know Tam-Unit so well would have had him fleeing from the place. They started looking at him, and tried to sell him on things. Mainly ideas, rather than getting him to part with coin.
One of them was Alice Orange, who was a bit taller than normal standing there, but looked like her real self. As if he could hug her, and not hit the wall.
"Want to make a difference? Help people and not waste your life like most do? Join space fleet. The local recruiting office is just down the way, on the left at the end of the hall. Go now, and beat the rush." It came out conversationally, and she was hiding her accent well. Normally it was a bit heavier than that. Not that he could place it.
Really, it wasn't one of the Noram accents, or Austran. Other than that he had no clue what it could be. There weren't that many places a person could be from, after all. She vanished when he walked away, but there were others. One of them, rather helpfully, was his Aunt, Patricia. She bowed, and waved toward the door next to her sign.
"Baker's Magic Shop. You can find everything you need!" She stood there, looking at him, but in a blank way that showed she wasn't real. Thankfully. That would be hard to explain, when Tim got there. How his wife had ended up stuck in a wall.
The woman was pretty, in a tall, fairly tan way. She had curly black hair, and very well balanced features. She wasn't a stunning vision like Tiera was, or even gorgeous like Taman, but no one would doubt her as being less than pretty. There had been a time, less than two months before when he would have claimed her as the finest woman that he'd ever seen, and not been lying about it.
Taking a deep breath, not knowing what to expect, he walked in, opening the door firmly. It was
made of heavy stone. Glasslike and creamy in color, which was very normal for this place. At least if the others along the way represented the whole city, and not just that hallway. The action on it was smooth and while it did make some noise it was clear that the place, at least the door hinges, were well cared for. He caught a hint of oil scent as he passed, and noticed that the place was nearly empty inside. There were a few people, who were just looking at products, which were openly sitting on display tables. They weren't hidden behind glass or anything. There wasn't a guard either, that he could see.
To the left, sitting behind a counter, like many shops had, was Patricia herself. She was busily looking at a small screen in her hand, but glanced up when he approached. It took a second, but her face lit up when she got who he was.
"Dare!" She didn't add more, probably not knowing what to say yet. Instead she came around the counter and hugged him. He was short enough still, only being about five-eight or so, that her breasts pushed against his upper chest firmly. It was fun, so he didn't pull away. After all, he wasn't related to this lady in particular. Not that he, or anyone else, knew about.
Finally she pulled back, her hands still on his upper arms.
"Are you all right?"
He had a feeling that was going to be the new question of the week. Possibly for longer.
Yawning again, the question reminding him how he felt, he nodded.
"Tired. As in no energy at all. Well enough now, other than that. Timon is meeting me here? He has some magics for me. So the crew can take pictures of Saturn."
Saying that meant two things. The first one was that he had to explain the whole thing to his Aunt, and that a man, one who he didn't know, but who was clearly from Austra, what with his green hair and jump suit, moved about five feet away, and started taking his words and image down with a camera. It wasn't just his handheld, either, since the thing floated in the air, and was clearly on focus stone. A magical camera, much like what he was there to get for people.
Trice glared a bit and then sighed.
"Albright. I didn't notice you lurking there for hours, waiting for something to happen."
The man, who looked to be in his forties, nodded. The floating device moved toward Dare, so he smiled at it, feeling out of place. He always did when people watched him too closely.
The man, whatever his job was, focused on him, and was pointing a device at him, which looked enough like a weapon that Dare tapped his shield on, just in case it didn't engage on its own. Trice smirked at that a bit, but didn't tell him he shouldn't.
"You're involved with the Saturn Project? I saw that a notice went up for serving crew. Did you get your name on the list already? That's luck, isn't it?" A second device floated toward him, which was probably there to pick up any sounds he made.
Patricia laughed then.
"This is Prince Dareg. Of Harmony. Dareg Canton? Tor's son? He's in charge of that mission. You and Karina got the photos of Saturn the first time, right? You piloted? More to the point, you're the only ones that have made that trip?"
He nodded, glad for the help, since handling nosey people wasn't his best skill yet.
"Right. We were on a date, so went there, when she came up with the idea of taking a science crew out. Tomas Early and his crew are going to be doing a live feed of the mission, so people here and in Austra will be able to see it all. That, and the possible crew positions are all I have right now on that." He smiled, since it was true, but apparently there were going to be questions.
Austrans loved questions. Possibly more than they enjoyed answers.
"Are you going to be doing other planets? Is it possible for civilians to buy in?" The man was looking at his off hand, which was, as it turned out feeding him things to ask about, since, naturally, the whole thing was live in Austra. The only saving grace there was that it still had to be incredibly early, so most wouldn't be awake yet. "Oh... Also, how do you answer charges that you're simply using Tor and his family connections for credits? There's been a suggestion that you've somehow managed to rig the DNA tests, in order to gain access to his family fortune..."
The thing was, as annoying as the man was being, asking things like that, Dareg just didn't care now. That would take energy, and he really didn't have enough of it for that sort of thing at the moment. Not that anything he said, low ebb or not, wasn't going to be played a thousand times and parsed for flaws.
"Nope. I'm just who I am. I don't even really know anything about all those tests, except that they were done. So faking them is kind of beyond me. I suppose Tor could have done that, or one of his family members, but honestly... Why? The same would be true of anyone else going through the trouble. Yes, I can see that I might stand to gain from it, but I lack the skills needed to fake the twenty tests of different kinds that have been run. I mean, literally, if I had the magical skill to fake being Tor's son, to the Wizard Timon, and to Tor himself... Well, then coin wouldn't be an issue for me. I could just make my own. I mean out of thin air. It's probably close to that for any of the other tests, too. If I had the needed skills for that, doing it wouldn't be needed." He snapped his fingers and opened his palm, hoping for gold, but nothing happened, so he sighed. There was a put upon head shake to go with it.
Patricia cleared her throat.
"Those are real points. Especially since the Baker family found him, not the other way around. This wasn't a blind claim, but part of a long running search effort. I... Didn't you all know that? Tor was searching for Dareg for over ten years. One of the port machines in Noram located him and set everything in motion. Really, there was a lot of luck involved, but not going the way you seem to think." She spread her hands delicately, as the camera looked at her. That meant the man and his magical eye missed Timon walking through the door.
He was about seven and a half feet tall, and held enough muscle to seem strong. The man was also great looking, and there was an obvious family resemblance between them that probably had a few people wondering if Tim was his real father. Tor had suggested that was because he'd felt a little too girly looking when he was younger, and that had set the subconscious magic on a certain course when he was born. Created really, by force of will.
A lot of the traits he held, supposedly, were kind of special. He didn't really see it, but it was clear he did all right, in a lot of ways. He was strong for his size, and quick enough. Supposedly his endurance was special too, though he hadn't noticed that one in particular. His mind was fairly decent, though no one had ever claimed he was brilliant or anything like that.
It was kind of clear that he was, but no one in the world really had any reason to see that part yet, other than him. Smiling, he realized that he also had probably gotten a good bit of high self-esteem in the mix that made him as well. It wasn't false however, and he could work things out, even if he hadn't had a lot of book learning. Given his age, he could still go and do that as well, and no one would think twice about it. He'd had a tutor, for fighting, that his Aunt Petra had arranged for him. Until Kolb died.
He watched the Wizard Timon walk in, a large floating case behind him. It was nice looking, in a plain sort of way. Really it looked like polished pine. Some kind of light colored wood, at any rate. It was really magic, of course, like most things in Harmony that weren't made of stone.
The man sized up the whole thing, and pasted a smile on his lips. He didn't seem all that old, looking about sixteen or maybe a bit older than that to Dare. Eighteen at the outside.
"Mr. Albright. So nice to see you. Were you talking to Dareg about the new project?" It was so clear that Timon understood what had happened that the man actually managed to turn a bit red.
"Well, that... And his relationship to The Tor. They were both just saying that he couldn't have faked the testing. Do you think that's correct, Revered One?" The man seemed wary suddenly, and glanced at his palm, only to drop his right hand instantly, placing the device there away. Nervously.
Timon nodded, as the camera came around to
put him in its single eyed gaze. The thing wasn't really that however, since there was a blue glow where the lens should have been. Still, if it worked, then he wasn't going to worry about how the job was done.
"That's right. Dareg was on a different world when most of it was done. I did some of it myself. I'd be shocked if there were two or three people that could have managed it all. Well, short of bribing all of us to claim it was true when it wasn't, but Tor doesn't really need anything, making that one kind of difficult." He smiled about the words, turning on a kind of charm that seemed a bit obvious to Dareg, but which the man questioning them seemed to almost melt into.
Patricia didn't, though she did smile at her husband.
After a few minutes, reassuring all of Austra that there was no good, easy, or even nearly impossible way for Dareg to have faked being who he was. The man, Albright, left. He clearly didn't want to, but Timon passed the focus stone box amulet over, and started talking about how the probes and cameras would work in boring, but needed, detail.
Dareg found it fascinating.
Tim smiled, covering it all again, as soon as the man left.
"So, you get the idea, you have four hundred probes to be dropped. They'll act like satellites, and have their own control system. They only take pictures and maneuver, but it's a starting place. There are also ten smaller inside cameras, kind of like what Albright was using, except the sound is built in, and not a separate unit. It isn't as good that way, since with the other units you can get closer for the sound, but they aren't meant to spy on people, just record what they're saying from inside ten feet away. Any questions?"
He did have one, and shrugged about it.
"Sure. Can I get forty jump ships from you? Taman is building comps for them, to organize things, and I want to have everyplace, each port in the system, having at least one ship coming and going each day. I need to get with Alice Orange, about training. If we can get those, I mean. I know that it's an insane thing to ask for. Actually, each part of it is. The Comps, the Ships and the pilots. I'm hoping that if I go big enough everyone will see that it's their duty to help out."