by P. S. Power
That was sensible, and better than him trying to come up with a fine meal, which, it was clear, the craft could do without a food unit at all. David touched the wall and got one to appear right there, built into the thing to save space. It didn't look like much, just a hole, but he had a steady stream of things to eat coming, and got people whatever they requested. Like Tam-unit, his ship even provided plates and silver. He looked at it closely, which got the Princess, still cuddling him for some reason, to nod.
"Shield material. It's a good use of resources. The food is real, the rest isn't. There's less waste that way." She kept pressing against him while he found the name of the Prime Minister, which had his title in the device too, which was handy. Then, a bit awkwardly he looked over his shoulder.
"Not to be... Aren't we a bit too related? I heard something like that. Not that I care, mind, but..." Rather than seem bothered by it, the six-foot six girl actually cuddled closer and kissed his cheek.
Then she moved back.
"Well, I don't care if you don't? Honestly, I wasn't really aware I was doing that. I'll back off now. That was a bit out of character for me."
He nodded, as a rather harried and harassed seeming Prime Minister Foley grimaced at him. It clearly took a bit for him to get who was there, but when he did the look got more concerned not less.
"Port Authority Canton? I was hoping to get a few more hours. Things are... Well, the short answer is that everyone and their sister, uncle and second cousin wants to be there to meet the Revered One in person. I've been assuring everyone that he'll be by in a week or so, but no one seems to trust that. There have been six fist fights, one attempted stabbing, and around five hundred people calling others names. That's just the government officials. The news corps groups are plotting to storm your craft by force and take you away at camera point, I think. I wouldn't suppose you could handle taking a few more bodies with us? About a hundred?" He seemed about to have a breakdown, and almost as if trying to make the point for him, a shoe flew into the picture and hit him in the side of the head.
He said a curse word softly, but didn't do more in retaliation than rub the spot he was struck in.
Princess Veronica leaned in again, just as cozily as before.
"Do you need aid? We can send for reinforcements, or come ourselves? Where are you? We're at your southern docking area."
The man stopped, and then bowed toward his own hand.
"Princess? I wasn't aware you were coming, we... This is not going well, is it?"
She bowed back, using her head mainly.
"I'm here as a sign that Noram isn't planning to steal your Revered One. I have orders to stay on as a hostage, if needed to prove our good will?"
That got a laugh, and it was larger than the one man. The noisy room on the other side of the device went silent after that.
"I'm certain that won't be needed. We just have to sort things out, and it's really taking too long."
Dareg shrugged, and looked at the man. It was his ship taking them after all, even if it was his land they were leaving from.
"Four hundred people. You have to come. The rest can beg you for the privilege as far as I care. Please make your own best speed here, and the rest can make it or not? You were the one that arranged this, so you're the one I care about right now. We'll leave as soon as you're on board, with your chosen people." He sounded snooty and mean, but the Prime Minister didn't seem upset to hear about it.
In fact he smiled, a bit meanly himself.
"Very well. You heard the man. Load up, the first four hundred there get to go. There will be no misbehavior past this point. If you do anything but act politely, I will have you arrested immediately."
People complained about it. Loudly, but the man on the window seemed pleased enough about it all.
"I should be there in twenty minutes? If we could leave about twenty after that? We might need to flee for our lives. Some aren't going to be happy about being left behind like this. They'll just have to watch it on the screen like everyone else." Then the man started to move and disconnected the device.
Princess Veronica was leaning against him again, and doing it obviously enough that her husband glared at her a bit. Rather than just leave the topic, the man, who was easily over eight feet tall, walked to the front and placed a hand on her arm.
"Dear? You just mentioned backing off?"
That got her to go wide eyed and look a bit panicked.
"I did... I'm so sorry, Dareg. I really don't understand what's happening here. I mean, you're fine looking, but... It's like I can't resist you." She shook her head, and looked at the others, who were mainly looking away, since it was awkward on a level few things were. "I mean that, too. I don't just mean that I like him. It isn't sexual, I just can't... Not touch him."
Karen who was in all white again, because of her job, waved from about ten feet back.
"Put a shield on? I think it's his pheromones. They cause people to like him and think that he's in command. I don't know why it's reacting so strongly with you in particular, but a shield may help."
The Princess, seeming reluctant to do it, stepped back and tapped her chest, near the throat of her light blue gown. A cascade of light came off her shield, directly from where he sat.
No one spoke for a moment. When someone finally did, it was Baron Havar.
"Control that, Canton. Like you did with the rage the other day. You're bombarding her for some reason." He seemed in total control, and the Royal Guards looked like they were gearing up to make him stop, if they could.
For his part he closed his eyes and tried to do exactly that. Control himself. It wasn't simple, since the feeling that was triggering it was kind of soft, compared to anger. He was attracted to her, true, but that didn't do it. It was a sense that she was his that had caused it. That surprised him, since she wasn't, but that was a big part of it. To his mind, deep inside, the Noram Princess was one of his people, so when she'd closed with him, his body had triggered. It was probably designed to keep the people near him close. Devoted to him, on a level that would be hard to resist.
It took about three minutes, but he did manage to get the stream of things coming from him to stop. Probably not altogether, but it wasn't aiming at her like it had been. She could have probably moved back too, but this was more helpful to him, in the long run. He could use the feedback to learn what not to do, if he could see it happening.
Then, not even being hit anymore, she tried to move toward him, to congratulate him on a job well done. It seemed a bit hungry though. Like she really couldn't bear to be separated from him now. That was, he decided, going to be an issue. Hopefully no one else would react that way. They were waiting anyway, so he turned his own shield on. It might not stop him from influencing anyone, but it would keep him from being fondled too much. Not that it wasn't nice, but it would be hard to fight against if that kind of thing was taking place.
The Prime Minister had asked for twenty minutes, and took nearly an hour and twenty to get there. The man, who was in a long black wheeled vehicle was being followed by a line of similar things in different colors. A few were very large, and held many people. More than they were taking, by about three times.
Not that he counted, but it was obviously too much. Sure, they had the room, or could make it, but that wasn't the point. They'd set the rules, and while he might have made allowance for kind, polite, people that had come to beg a ride, he wasn't going to do it for people who would hit their own ruler in the head with a shoe over a thing as minor as this. Then, it was possible that these were the nice ones, in which case he'd work out what to do with them all.
It wasn't that.
As soon as Foley was out of his vehicle, two men in tan single piece outfits behind him, with weapons drawn and some bags, the others all tried to rush the bridge that Dareg had put out to connect the ship to the dock.
Some of them even pushed the others to get to the front. Not tiny nudges, or simply knocking into them, but f
orceful shoves that sent others hurtling to the ground. As mentioned before, fist fights broke out. That probably indicated that Foley hadn't just been saying that earlier. Walking to the opening in the port side of the ship, Dare held up his hands and yelled as loud as he could.
"Hold!" He had to say it three times before they all paid attention to him, pointing little handhelds at him to get his likeness. A few black ball like things floated in the air, their single glass eyes aimed at him.
When he had their attention, he waved at Foley.
"Prime Minister, please board. Everyone else... Stop acting like animals in front of the fresh meat. This is beneath you. Your... Revered One is returning, and I assure you if he saw this he'd be filled with shame. I know that he, myself, Prime Minister Foley and all of Austra expects better of you. Leave now. Go! You who were pushing in and hurting people. Go! Let the people at the back who were better behaved come up." He was about to make it into a threat, but something in what he'd said worked, and they thinned, moving away for a bit, actually letting the calmer people in the rear come forward.
Then they were able to load, get people in seats and head out, going over the ocean first, then straight up into space. He caused the ship to jump again, and was settling in at the spaceport at the Capital of Noram much faster than he had the dock on the other side, even traveling similar distances to get in. The two large ships were gone already, he noticed, but he still used the same spot he'd taken off from before.
It was clear that different people on the craft all wanted to do different things then.
The Prime Minister, and the Ambassador from that land to Noram, a strong looking older man in a blue suit with big shiny black buttons wanted to go and visit the King. Which was actually the plan, being who they were. A good twenty of the others were government officials, and most were low enough ranking that they weren't going to court to visit with the royalty. The higher ranked ones were all sent away it seemed, having been pushing and shoving for their places.
They had ten full news crews however, who were indicating they needed to go and set up. One of the men actually just walked up to him, bowed like he didn't know how to do it, and smiled.
"I... Would it be all right if we went with you? You're in charge of this place, meaning we could get special access? It isn't an in to greet Timon Baker or The Tor, but we're from a small channel. Really, we'd kind of been sent out on a lark, to get vid of the people fighting to get in, not do it ourselves." He seemed a bit embarrassed by that, like being poor was a great wrong. Not that he looked that way. All of the people from Austra were dressed nicely enough, if in the same basic outfit. Except the Ambassador. Even Foley was in a deep blue single piece garment. It looked to fasten in the front. They all did.
"That would be fine. I'll probably be running errands all day, but if you'd like to tag along, I could use the company?" Then he stuck his hand out, since country folk and Austrans both did that. He wasn't comfortable with it, but the man did it back.
"Early. Tomas Early. This is Jan, Nimbus, and Cyra." They were all women, and of varying ages. Cyra was the oldest looking, and seemed about sixty, but had bright red hair and gemlike blue eyes. Her skin was very dark too, which reminded him of pictures he'd seen of Princess Abbey.
The others were both normal tan colors, though Nimbus had a picture of a cloud drawn over her whole face. It was white, blue and gray. The thing shifted slowly however, even as he looked at her. Tomas had three sharp looking metal spikes through the top of his nose, and was otherwise natural enough. That left Jan, who was the youngest, and was... Normal.
She was in a pink outfit, had light brown hair that ran past her shoulders, and clear skin. She looked a bit embarrassed when she noticed he was looking at her, and explained it to him.
"It's a thing, back home. Some of the younger people, we... You know, we're trying not to stand out that much. Make work, and being good to others the important thing? Instead of... Standing out so much?" It seemed like something she wasn't proud of though, even as she did it.
Dareg gestured toward the ramp.
"That makes sense to me. Now, we need to get everyone off the ship, since I have work to do. This way, everyone?" It took a long, long time to make that happen. Nearly an hour. Then before he could close the door, Tomas ran back in with Nimbus, and they walked back out, Tom in the front with two large black balls trained on him, as the woman seemed to control them.
"This is Tomas Early, here in the Noram Capital. The great event is upon us. Finally, after nearly eleven years, the Revered Ones are returning. A vast festival has sprung up to honor them. We'll be reporting from the scene, live, until the big event." He was moving backwards, carefully, until he stood right next to Dare. "This is Dareg Canton. The Space Port Authority for the entire world. Are you excited that the Revered Ones are returning Dareg?"
A small silver ball, floating like the larger black ones moved in front of him. Luckily he got that Revered One meant Ancient, or at least immortal. Also that the one that Austra was really excited about was Timon.
"Oh, sure. I was just with most of them a few days ago, but it will be nice to see them all again. Excuse me for a second? I need to see to the door here."
It was no harder to make the door vanish on the jump ship than it was on the pod house. Actually, it was a lot simpler. Probably due to the fact that the ship was meant to change shape. So it was friendly that way, doing what he wanted in a few seconds. Hopefully it would be enough to protect his vessel.
The camera crew had watched him closely. It was an intense thing that had not just four pairs of eyes locked on his back, but also two floating black orbs, a silver thing that was listening, and two black units held in the hands of Cyra and Jan. Then Tom muttered that it was amazing. It was said in a way that kind of ignored the fact that hundreds of things around him where magical in nature. Including the ship that they came on, jumping instantly through space like they had.
His next question was a bit more invasive however.
"You were with the Revered Ones? On Harmony?"
He nodded, since that was correct for most of them.
"Right. I flew up there about a week ago, using a new shield. Timon Baker made it? It took nearly a day, but it worked. Then he gave me this ship." It was true, but they acted like he was lying, or making up a story. It rang off of the man. All of the people from Austra, actually. Why that was, he had no clue, but Cyra and Nimbus smirked at him like he was being cute, and Tomas fought a smile.
Jan, the youngest of them, who was still at least several years older than he was, seemed a bit more accepting. It might have been that she was just trying to flirt with him however. It was hard to tell.
Smiling he led them away, since no matter what they thought of him, he had work to do.
Chapter twelve
It was nearly noon by the time things really started to happen. The very first thing was Kolb finding him. Dareg winced a bit and nodded on seeing the well dressed bald man. He was in a deep blue suit, and looked good, actually. The thing was tight at the waist, and showed that he was muscular under the soft material. Velvet, Dare thought it was. The instant the man walked up, he smiled.
"New friends, Dare?" He gazed at each of the Austrans carefully, like any one of them might be a threat. Which was possible, but not likely.
"Collected at near random from Austra this morning when I went with David and Karen to get the Prime Minister. Tomas, Nimbus, Cyra and Jan. Everyone, this is Baron Kolbrin. Among other things, and most importantly, my weapons and fighting tutor. I missed even running this morning to go get you, so guess who's getting a beating for that?" He faked being miserable, but he would be in for that beating anyway, so didn't let the idea bother him. He had that healing amulet now, thanks to his friend Sara.
That, he decided was going to be the truth. The woman had looked out for him, and that meant they were friends. There were some others like that too. Including Bill, and Kolb even.
The large man s
lapped him on the back, and winked directly into one of the floating black orbs.
"That's right. Tomorrow though. Missing one day won't ruin you. Still, get with me first next time? I don't have enough time to stand around waiting for you to not show up. No one does." There was humor in the words, but also a lot of wisdom.
"Understood. Anyway, I'm taking these four around with me all day, so they can get... Special access? I'm not certain what they mean by that, but I think they plan to go with me when I shower before dinner?" It didn't really mean that, but there was a mixed reaction to the words. Tom just laughed, like it was funny. Jan smiled a bit, a little shyly, and Nimbus looked interested, the clouds shifting across her face as she tilted her head a little. Cyra however just nodded.
"That would have to be censored. You're good with that? We can run it on a time delay, I bet it would get the ratings up. Most of us back home just assume that you all use these giant tubs all the time."
The very strange thing was that Kolb just nodded at her words, and smiled a bit again.
"If Dareg offered special access, that does seem fair. If he gets a chance. He's going to be on tap for a lot in the next few hours. Really, you need to get with Tiera and Tor. I'd say that other name, but these four will pass out if I do, so you should probably just do it, when it's time." Then he patted him on the shoulder and looked at him closely.
"Keep your shield on, and make sure you dress more nicely. All day. This is going out live to Austra?"
Tomas nodded and pilled a small purple handheld, then tapped it a few times.
"Yes. We have... Six hundred viewers right now! Hello everyone! That's big numbers for us. Tell your friends, since we might be seeing some things here today!" His voice was a lot happier suddenly, which was good to hear. Jan grinned too.