Crystal Core

by P. S. Power

  Touching the device, he managed to get about half the food out, before he needed more working material. That required he go outside. At least he was going to do that. Right until Tavy, who was one of the older of the seven children, grabbed a pile of magical plates and cups. Then she dumped each into the hopper on the side of the large, rather fine looking, pearl colored food unit.

  She explained her reasoning.

  “It doesn’t matter what you put in. Like with the Port Girl. I… You want to keep the plates, don’t you?” She looked at the fine ceramic things, seeming a bit in awe of them.

  Willum nodded.

  “They’re magical, but that’s a good call. After all, if we turn them all off the food will fall on the floor, so we need to scrape them first anyway, then do that part outside.” He shrugged then and pulled the food units his Aunt Tiera had given him the night before.

  “We should put Tavy in charge of one of these. That means making sure it’s used correctly and that people only get sweets when the Bakers say it’s all right. You should select someone to help you make sure it’s full all the time and all that as well.” It was probably a bit much, putting a girl who couldn’t have been as old as ten, in charge of something that important.

  The kid took the amulet anyway, and put it on, getting that it wasn’t to be set up right then. The other got passed over to Douglas Baker. He was closer, physically, than grandmother Laurie.

  The man slipped the moon white tile into his front breast pocket.

  “That’s a good plan, then. We’ll be eating with the children, for each meal. We should also put up a bakery, so that they know how to make real food. It can come up. Even on Harmony it does and we have food units all over the place.” The man started to pull his pipe from his pocket, but left it there, making a strange bulge on the right-hand side, near his waist.

  As soon as Tavy, clearly being in charge of food now, had the unit filled with scraps from the day before, he finished making the bowls of food and cups of milk for everyone. He had the same, except that his bowl of oatmeal was vast, compared to what the others had.

  When he settled at the table, everyone looked at him funny. That just got him to smile.

  “I was altered on a basic level, using magic. It’s a genetic change. I get a lot of things from it, but I have to eat more, when I can.” The calories could be from anything, of course. Pancakes, steak or pie. It was just rude to serve guests plain food and then sit down to a feast in front of them.

  One of the boys, who was probably about seven, who was so thin that it seemed nearly like someone had been starving him for a while, made a soft sound. It was nearly like laughing, but different. Almost playful.

  “I’s shoulds get dat. Eat all I want and dat kino thang.” The accent was different, but understandable. From the tone he was slightly envious of Willum at the moment. It was a large bowl, after all. Even if filled with oats.

  Which got him to nod.

  “That’s a very good idea. We’ll have a person around, one of the Ysidril to start with, the people with four eyes and all the black teeth from last night? Erath is a mage, trained in Vagus. That’s a wizard or builder, here. Same thing, really. He’ll make that kind of change for you, if you want. Food won’t be rationed, but you should think about it anyway. He should be able to do a lot of fun and interesting things, if you want to try it.”

  Another of the kids, speaking with their mouth full of oats, spoke then. She was a little girl. The night before she’d barely spoken at all.

  “Like… make us smarter, and maybe big? So that we won’t be hurt by strangers? Stronger and things like that? Or… live forever, like the Ancients?”

  Several people looked at the dusty haired little girl. Some of those looks were slightly fearful. The Bakers took care of that part, clearly being concerned about the idea being spread around.

  Willum just nodded.

  “Exactly like that. Though if you want to be an Ancient, you have to earn your place. That will take a while. Decades. It’s worth trying for. Well, that, or you can learn magic and do it yourselves. I say do both, so that you aren’t at anyone else’s power in the decision. The other things should be doable though, right off the top. You can even get some interesting powers, or change how you look, if you want.”

  The kids laughed then. As if he were being funny. Douglas chuckled along with them, understanding what they were going on about. Probably thanks to having been a father so many times in life. Willum wasn’t really getting it, after all. Not on his own.

  “Ah, children. You’re in a very different position today than you were yesterday. Willum isn’t making fun of you in this. He’s just telling you that you have choices to make now. Things you can earn, through hard work. It won’t be easy all the time, but it is real. The whole thing is.”

  The words didn’t get a laugh, but more than one of the kids seemed interested in the idea. Oddly enough, they all kept looking at Tamu. Checking with her, to see if they were being told the truth about it all. That meant she kept nodding at them.

  Finally, after several minutes of far less interesting conversation, the children done with their meals, since no one had told them they didn’t need to hurry, Tamu stood up.

  “As soon as everyone is washed up, we should go to the port and see to things there. It isn’t too messy today, since everyone picked up after themselves for the most part yesterday, but we need to hurry, since there are other children to introduce to the new program. This is very exciting, isn’t it, Willum?”

  That she picked him to speak to first, instead of the Bakers, was telling. Mainly that she didn’t think, or at least didn’t know, that they were going to treat her like a real person. The thing there was that it would be really hard not to. She seemed perfectly real. Like a taller, happier, version of Taman Baker. Even knowing what she was, Willum didn’t think he could not think of her as being a person, even if he tried.

  “It really is! I have to stay here for a bit, then leave to a different reality for about a month, after this. I should… I’ll get you some gold and silver, for expenses. Are you doing that part Cousin Tamu? I mean, the Bakers are your grandparent’s, so that seems right.” Or he could give the funds to them directly, but he was trying to make a point. That the woman was family, even if kind of new that way.

  Laurie just smiled.

  “That would be lovely, dear! I didn’t know that you’d be working with us directly. We haven’t really had a lot of time to speak yet. I should visit Dareg more often as well, but I simply haven’t yet. We can certainly use the aid. It sounds like we’re going to have a lot of little ones running around!” If the cheer was a bit forced, the woman still seemed to be trying pretty hard. That had to count.

  Douglas just smiled and nodded about it. Then finished his oats and started to collect the bowls and silver up. One of the spoons was missing. That got Willum to laugh, since the child that had pocketed the thing looked incredibly guilty. So much so that there was no way he’d have gotten away with anything, in a different situation.

  He was a tiny boy, and possibly the youngest one there. Also, a budding thief. Instead of beating the boy, or casting him out, he winked at him.

  “The silver isn’t real. It’s just a magical seeming. It will vanish as soon as the device is turned off. For now though, you don’t have to take things like that. Really, you’ll want to make certain you can’t be found with anything you aren’t allowed. Think about controlling the situation by your actions. Also, work up a plan, just in case things fall through for you. All of you should do that. It won’t, this is real, but you have resources for the time being, so make sure you have a place to fall back to, just in case. Um…” He was going to be gone and asking his grandparents who were good country folk, if polished in their manners, to handle that kind of thing seemed off. Tamu was no better off that way than they were, being innocent and kind, really.

  He was basically treating them like spies in training. That meant they needed t
o work with a person that would be willing to help them make the best plans possible. Including things that good people might not think of. If the best plan for some of them was to learn to steal, then they needed to do it well. The same was true for other work, like whoring. The Bakers probably wouldn’t think to mention that one as even being possible.

  Thinking for a bit, he finally nodded, hoping it wasn’t going to be too much of a hardship. Not that it would keep him from dumping things on others, if it was.

  “Right. Make up a plan, and present it to Count Lairdgren. You have two weeks to do that. That means learning how to bow and all that, first. Can we teach them that?” The Bakers knew that sort of thing, at least as well as he did. Tamu probably did as well, given everything. She lived with a Princess, after all. It had to come up on occasion.

  Laurie nodded.

  “I can. I can even set up appointments with Kyle for you, children. He’s a good man. The headmaster of a school. A different one than you’re going to. If you make a good contact there, that could lead to entrance to higher schooling, later. Willum isn’t wrong though. Theres several things that you could do, if anything happens to your situation here. Planning and making alliances early will help assure that. Also, let’s have the spoon, Devon. I did see you pocket it. No more of that. For now, at least, you need to keep up appearances. That means no rule or law breaking.” She looked a bit stern, but followed it with a smile as soon as the boy pulled the bit of real looking metal out of his pocket.

  “Sorry.” It wasn’t grudging, at all. It also wasn’t very formal. Not that Will cared at the moment.

  The Bakers did though, so covered an appropriate apology and walked the boy through it. With both bowing and how to grovel, if it became needed. Then they drilled the others on it, before they all left. That part was a bit of a relief for Will.

  After all, every time he opened his mouth around the kids, he ended up making more work for people. It felt horribly selfish, to be honest.

  Pulling his communications device, he looked up Count Lairdgren. It was under the name Headmaster Hardgrove of Lairdgren School. A thing that he’d used before, if not so much recently. It was still early, but inside the working hours there, Will thought.

  Indeed, the other device answered almost instantly, the older looking man, with his long white beard and bald head that had a bit of white on the sides showing in the palm of Willum’s hand.

  “Hardgrove here… Will? Is there an issue at hand?” The words were relaxed, but held something inside of them. A feeling that the man was worried, if only slightly. “I was told that you were on leave, for the time being…”

  He nodded.

  “I’m heading off for that in a few hours. I just wanted to warn you that I’m sending in some agents for you to train.” He didn’t really mean it, but pretended to be serious. “Students from the new port facility school. That’s a new project. We have some good people on it. Prince Alphonse, Ancient Sam Builder, Douglas and Laurie Baker are doing the day to day things, along with Tamu Baker. We’re also getting some instructors from the Ysidril for the kids. Changes, like what I’ve had done, if they want it. We’re having a person in for that specifically. These are little ones. Under fourteen. Not competition for Lairdgren yet, though you might want to make friends there. Most of them about eight to ten, I think.”

  Instead of screaming about being told he had work to do, the man gently stroked his long beard with one hand.

  “Oh? What’s my portion of this, then?”

  “See, that part is going to be weird for you. Sorry about that. The kids are mainly either orphans or from the streets. So, I want them to have a backup plan, in case this falls through on them. It won’t, which I told them, but… They can’t know that. Not yet. Maybe not even after it works out for them for years. They have two weeks to come up with something, then run it past you. Getting in touch with you is up to them. Several of them currently have communications devices, but the others might need to travel to find you. I just didn’t want you to be shocked when tiny people start invading your school, shouting for the Count to come out.” That made it sound like a takeover, which wasn’t the plan at all.

  The other students were much too large on average for that to be easy to manage. Too numerous as well. Anything like that would have to be done with some real subtlety. Probably by subverting Hardgrove or the faculty first. In order to do that, the port children would need resources.

  The man smiled, making his beard shift.

  “Very good. I’ll make sure to be available to them. Unless the plan is to make that part more difficult?”

  That got Willum to blink. Then he went on, smoothly, as if the suggestion wasn’t out of turn at all.

  “Not on this first project. In the future though we might consider that. After all, if all they ever get to do is go to school, they’ll get bored. I know that when I want to have fun, chasing a Count over half the world just springs to mind, first thing.” It didn’t, but it really would be better than just picking up trash all the time.

  People were slowly entering the room, holding back, because he was doing business. At least as far as they knew.

  Hardgrove let a twinkle enter his eyes.

  “That does sound entertaining! Well. Thank you for thinking of me, Willum. I’ll speak to you soon?” There was no weight to the words.

  Really, it was kind of clear, if only to Will, that the man was waiting for some kind of secret message or instruction. Both were things that he didn’t have for him at all. Then, the man was probably further into the loop of what was going on with the fight against the enemy than he was.

  Which was fine. It rankled that he was kept from knowing things, but the truth was, the less he knew about what was actually going on, the less likely he was to let it leak to the wrong sources. Oh, he didn’t figure that would ever happen, but that wasn’t the point.

  Even if it left him feeling a bit like no one really trusted him. He was a spy, after all, so that could be it. One that they’d trained and put in place.

  “I should be around, off and on. I’m heading to a different world for a few days, which will be about a month here. After that, well, you know, back to my hobbies. Making magic and taking things around for people.” He sounded a little off, he knew, so forced a smile. One that wasn’t too dismal, he hoped.

  The other man seemed to relax, hearing the words.

  “Excellent. Yes, you should be off having fun. Then, what plans do you have? You’re working with Taman Baker on magical skills, aren’t you? I was down to see your new river the other day. Excellent work. Impressive. Master Fines was planning to suggest projects for you, if you have the time? Though I do recall him mentioning that they would have to be done for free. Something about good works being bracing for a young builder.” There was a smile being fought from his lips as he spoke.

  Rather than grouse at the work load, not even caring if it was real, he nearly said that he’d see to it. Instead, he shook his head. There was a point where he had to protect his cover after all.

  “I’ll be too busy for a while. I hear that I’m in for some big projects soon, from Aunt Taman. That’s going well, I think. She hardly beats me at all, anymore. I’ll make a point of connecting with you as soon as possible, after I get back from holiday.”

  The words got a polite laugh, then a goodbye that was nearly friendly.

  Given everything going on, it could have been worse.

  Much so.

  Chapter five

  Stepping out of the red hut, into the pouring rain, was interesting. The IPB base was a bit plain, as in flat and very tan, over all. Like always. There were exactly three trees on the base, and all of them were clustered in a small garden area behind one of the main barracks for the troops. Hidden from view, almost as if in shame.

  The world they were in had trees, but the location there simply didn’t, for some reason. It reminded him a little of the Noram Capital that way, though the corollary position to t
hat place was far further south, in the world Willum was suddenly in.

  Cindy hadn’t waited for him out in the rain, which just made sense. It was really coming down hard, the fat drops silent on the roof of the little building he was in. A magical construct, made by Dareg Canton. That kind of building always muffled sound from outside. Not perfectly, since air had to get in, to allow breathing. That meant a sudden soft roar came at him when the door vanished, his finger on the blue star to the left on the slightly glowing wall.

  Walking out, into the damp world, his shield kicked on. That was interesting, since he didn’t think that the rain was a threat to him, which should have been the only thing that set the magic into motion, without him making it happen on purpose. Some kind of danger to him, personally.

  When he stepped around the corner, with three rather large and decorative cases floating behind him, the view was far different than he was used to seeing. The plain tan building, which had a focus stone walkway in the front, instead of concrete like the rest of the base, also had about twenty to thirty ground vehicles sitting in front of it. The things were small, and in a riot of different colors. Most of them nice, if a bit plain looking. Nothing glowed at all, even if they had lights on the front. Those were all off at the moment.

  Cars, they were called. Except that many of these appeared to be larger versions. Vans, since those were the ones with closed sides that reminded him of Tam-Craft. There was lettering on the side of several of them, as well as bowls on the top, that pointed toward the sky. Having been in that world before, for several months, Will understood that the news people were there.

  That got him to stop, just standing there in the rain.

  His clothing was dry, but looked like blue jeans, black sneakers and a black t-shirt. Not fancy, but it showed that he wasn’t working that day, since he wasn’t. Or hadn’t been. The floating cases looked fine, but he might be too casual, if people were planning to take moving pictures of him, while making accusations of wrong doing. Also, his hair and eyes were both brown at the moment. That had to change, since he held to a specific look there, in the world of the Infected people.