Crystal Core

by P. S. Power

  “Still. Sara has a place and speaks the language there. The other kids, at least some of them, will be getting genetic improvements, so she won’t be that odd or anything. She can be back here when you want her as well. Or when she wants to come. Even if she only goes for a few weeks at a time here, that will be a full term, there. I think you should consider it. It will be good for her. She has people there, as well.”

  That sounded a bit stilted, even coming from his own lips, but Turner let her mouth quirk a bit.

  “Tiera Baker? True enough. The woman is busy though. Constantly. I guess being the ruler of the Moon is a big time investment?”

  Willum nodded, thinking about it.

  “You know…That’s true. She isn’t really supposed to be doing that, either. I’ll… Well, I should go and visit people anyway. If we can’t have Sara at the school… We should at least bring in more tutors for her. I was just hoping she could have some friends. A lot of the kids there… I think they have things in common. Most of them had similar lives, so far. The bad parts, I mean. Think about it? You get a bit of time. We probably won’t be starting anything for, oh, weeks. Our time. Not yours.”

  The words just hung there for a bit. Then she snorted at him. It probably would have hurt to do it that loudly, if she weren’t an amazing person physically.

  “Fine. I’ll consider the idea. Run it past some other people and all that. No promises though. I’ve never been big on the idea of boarding schools, to be honest.”

  “That sounds like a plan then. Regardless, she needs to be taking things around for you. There are safe enough worlds for her to go to. She can use a shield all the time and has powers, so… No one else would be any safer.”

  “Hmm. I’m not certain on that one either. Anyway, what else is on the docket here?”

  She was about to explain, but Willum had actually caught that one before.

  “That’s all I have. The last bit of anything I need to do. Now I just… I guess I go and just sit someplace, without it being work?”

  “That’s the idea. I’d say go and get drunk, but that won’t be happening. Not for either of us. So, I don’t know, find some cutie to knock boots with? Go for a hike in nature… Um… Eat loads of your favorite food? I’m running out of ideas here.”

  For some reason, that was funny to him.

  They started walking back, the earth under their feet soft from the rain, but held in place by the grass. It was an off green color, with tan mud showing between the places where it was poking up, seeking the sun that the day wasn’t really providing. The rain would help though. It was normally fairly dry in the area of the base.

  Inside the gate, Will just waved at the woman and decided to head out, using the transport box. He could, now, make his own rift in space, but it took him about half an hour to do. Maybe twenty minutes, if he was hurrying, but it wasn’t instant, by any means. The box wasn’t being used, since it didn’t do much for anyone there not able to cross realities. There was printing on the back wall of it, that moved, but when you tapped one of the sigils, nothing happened.

  Now, if they’d had two such boxes in the reality he was in, that might well have worked. The thing was basically a node, however, so with a twist of space, Will moved into the void.

  From there… Well, for a long while he just stayed there, not moving at all. Not thinking about anything, except holding together. You either did that constantly where he was, or you died. For a moment it was tempting to let go and fade into the nothingness around him. Only for a while though. Minutes, even in the stretched-out time he was floating in.

  Trying not to be too moody, since that had to be annoying to be around, he picked a destination. Or, truly, a person, to go and find. His Aunt Tiera. He’d been speaking about her, so, even if he didn’t have much reason to do it, he sought her out. They knew each other, but weren’t particularly close.

  Focusing on where she was, then backing off a bit, out of the room she was in, just in case it was her bed chamber or the bath, Will stepped into reality again. His own, this time. That was always easier than being anywhere else. It felt right to him, instead of jangling against his every nerve constantly.

  That meant he was promptly run into. The world around him was largely made of white stone and magical lights in many colors. There were painted doors, and a red hut that would have worked for him to come in at safely, not that far away. About five hundred feet, or a little more. The person that had collided with him bounced off a bit, and looked horribly shocked.

  She was decently tall, had a slightly long face and was dressed in a very fine gown. One made of magic, but it showed a lot of taste, for the main hallway in Harmony.

  The woman went wide eyed.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there! Please forgive me.” She looked him up and down. Taking in first his bland clothing, then focusing on his face. She lingered there, his obvious lack of wealth, as shown by his tan outfit, not stopping her at all. There was a bow toward him, going about halfway down.

  He matched it, since the collision hadn’t been her fault. She’d spoken to him in Standard, which meant returning the favor. At least if he didn’t want to be rude and simply walk away. The woman smiled at the move, clearly thinking he was at least a polite and tall common person, if nothing else. She was only an inch or two taller than he was, he noticed. Her hair was a mousy blonde, and her nose just a tad long for perfection.

  Together, the whole thing worked pretty well.

  “It’s my fault. I was trying to locate Queen Tiera and came out of the void at a distance from her. You know, so I didn’t catch her off guard. That landed me here. I should have just used the box down there for it. Are you all right? I have a healing amulet, if you need one?”

  She reached out and touched his arm. It wasn’t seductive, just a different style of friendly. At least that felt right.

  “I’m fine. My shield didn’t even trigger. Now, you came to see the Queen? That’s different. From the void… You don’t mean the fleet, do you? Not coming in without using the transport system.” She looked fine but felt concerned inside, as if he might be there to attempt something bad.

  It had happened before, if not to Tiera.

  Bowing again, he shifted his hair, which was purple at the moment, and his clothing from the tan fatigues he’d ended up in at some point. His eyes as well. That meant, after a moment, he had black hair, brown eyes and a decently nice blue and red suit on. It had shiny buttons on the front, but was meant to catch attention and make him seem harmless. A bit goofy, in fact.

  “Sorry there, I didn’t introduce myself. Willum Baker. Queen Tiera is my aunt. I take messages around in my spare time, but have some time off, so was just planning to try and visit people. Something occurred to me, so I came here first.”

  The sense of recognition was palpable from the woman. Her face hid it perfectly. Still, she knew, from the name, who he was. That was so clear it was hard to ignore.

  “Sherilyn Bonner. Sherri, if you like?” She looked to be about twenty or so, but felt older. Like some of the ancients did. Not much, however.

  “Call me Will, if it pleases you? Now, I can sense that Queen Tiera is over here, behind that door. I don’t suppose you know what that space is, do you? I don’t want to interrupt her in the bath or anything.”

  The friendly seeming woman, who was still a bit wary of him, answered anyway.

  “Weapons Salle. She practices almost every day. It’s as good a time as any to visit her, especially if you don’t mind being beaten while chatting? That… It’s not a joke. She’s rather intense about it all. It does tend to keep petitioners at bay. Then again, the few that have managed the trick pretty much had her endorsement for their projects when they left the room, so it could work, if you want something from her? Other than a date that is. She hasn’t really been doing that much for the last few years. She’s quite busy.” That got a feeling of sadness from the woman, as she considered how long it had been since the two
of them had done anything of note together.

  A tiny part of his soul wanted to blanch at the idea, since they were both women. The rest of him didn’t care in the slightest. He wasn’t in Pine Creek any longer, after all.

  “Hm. I’ll give that a try then. The practice part, not getting a date. She’s way too related to me for that. I need to practice anyway. I just walk right in and get my own special beating from the Queen, you say?” She hadn’t, but there was a pleasant nod.

  “That will probably work. Well, I should let you go. We should meet sometime? Perhaps for a meal?” The woman was just being polite, though meant the offer. If anything, she felt a bit lonely. Which was ridiculous. Women didn’t have to be that way in her world.

  Which was her point in asking him to dine with her.

  “That sounds fun! We should do that… Say tonight? I’m kind of on holiday, as I mentioned. Though we can do it when you like, as well. I have no real plans of note. Unless you’d like to visit some other realities?” He was going far too fast, but there was clapping, instead of a snooty rejection.

  “How fun! I haven’t gotten a chance to try that yet. I’m free this evening, for that meal? Call it… Luncheon? So, at two. I can meet you here for that? She glanced around, but it was, clearly, a good enough landmark, which would be her idea.

  “Wonderful. It’s…” He pulled his Terry system handheld and checked the time on it. It took a moment to bring up Harmony time, and the woman noticed him doing it, but didn’t say anything about the strange unit he was holding. “Seven-fifteen now. So, I’ll meet you at two in the afternoon. Thank you. It’s so nice to meet new people.”

  The lady gently touched his arm again, then walked off. Hoping he wasn’t there to kill Tiera. Also, that, if he wasn’t, that Tiera wouldn’t accidently kill him in practice. Not before she had a chance to get to know him. That part, it was clear, she really meant. The desire not to see him die, at least if he was the right Will Baker. Theirs.

  It was a good enough warning, but he dared to move to the red door anyway. It was actually made of painted stone. The work on it hadn’t been that well done, to tell the truth. It was bright and colorful, but had streaks, showing the paint had been applied with a heavy brush, while the door was standing in place. Taking a moment, he could see why that was the case. The hinges were smooth, but made of focus stone. There was no creaking or noise when it opened, having been well oiled, but it would require cutting the door down and resetting it, in order to do a good paint job on it.

  A thing that could be done, but which most people wouldn’t bother with.

  From across the room, about a hundred feet away, toward the back of the place, a single form stood in front of a log. The woman was thin, tall and beating the poor thing as if it had wronged her. It seemed like she was using a heavy metal club for the effort. There was a scent of dampness and sweat already. Also no one else there, meaning it was probably coming from the Queen of the Moon.

  Her clothing was soaked through as well, making it cling to her in awkward places.

  “Aunt Tiera!” Willum waved, as soon as the woman spun in place. It took her a second to do anything then. It was, he realized, her freezing, to think for a moment.

  “Is there an emergency?”

  “Not at all. I just had a thought, talking to a friend of mine in a different world and decided to run it past you. My new friend Sherri Bonner suggested that if I managed to take a beating from you well enough, you might entertain the idea? So, I came here directly. After all, how often do you get to be thrashed by a Queen, right? I mean, have you ever managed that, personally? That has to mean it’s special, doesn’t it?”

  The woman moved to a rack on the wall, then put her heavy metal club away and picked up two three-foot-long sticks. They were a style of weapon that he’d had a bit of training on, at least.

  The tall woman, who was probably over a foot larger than he was, and slightly lighter in skin tone, had a leather fighting outfit on. It was a deep tan that could pass for brown in the right light. Her black hair was held back in a tail, but even that was short. Going no further down than the edge of her collar. She was entirely coated with sweat already.

  Focusing, he tried to copy the fighting outfit, but knew he wasn’t getting it exactly right. That meant waving for her to stop.

  “Spin, please? I need to see the whole thing.” She did it, but clearly thought he meant examining her body, which annoyed her.

  Right until he managed to match her outfit. Not perfectly still, but closely enough that she got the idea. One of the sticks, the one on her left was tossed to him gently, from about ten feet away. Then, as soon as it was in his hand, she rushed in, aiming a blow at the inside of his right knee.

  Rather than pretend he was taken aback, he moved, engaging her decently well, for over half an hour. It meant holding his shield off, and leaving her covered with blood by the end. He was faster, stronger and nearly impossible to hurt with something as simple as a stick. For her part, she was much better than he was.

  Really, though the styles were very different, it reminded him a bit of working with Master Hobbs. The whole thing had been about him speeding up to beat her, while she carefully controlled all of the choices he had. When he stood back, after she waved at him, gasping for air, it was clear that he would have won in a real battle that day. Also, that for the practice session, he’d lost easily. Every single blow that had landed on her had cost three on himself.

  Even with him moving much faster at times, trying to keep ahead of what was going on.

  The woman didn’t move, but started to heal anyway. Focusing a bit, he caught the fact that the lady had a healing amulet, as well as a shield, if an older version of that, inside of her body. The idea had never even occurred to him before. It was clearly brilliant though. It would be impossible to take that kind of thing away from her. There were other shields, at the same time. Weapons, he thought.

  She grinned at him then.

  “I should have you in to practice more often. Now, you wanted to dun me with requests? What can I do for you? We’re a bit close for sex, biologically, so I doubt it will be for anything all that fun. Do you need… I don’t know, ships? You have some food devices.” She seemed at a loss, which made perfect sense.

  “Um… Actually, it occurred to me that the Ancients aren’t supposed to be the rulers of their lands. You and Aunt Taman are breaking that rule. So, I was thinking we should hold some elections. Then, to keep you out of the hair of the ones taking over, I was going to suggest that you mentor Sara a bit more closely. She might be moving here, part time, for school. When can you have that set up by? Really, what kind of system are you putting in place?”

  The woman stopped for a bit. Literally just standing there, in the middle of the room, breathing hard, but not moving, otherwise.

  She still had a stick in her hand, so he readied himself for a real thrashing. It didn’t come. That was nearly surprising, given he was suggesting to her that she give up most of her power in the world. Instead she simply took a single breath and nodded.

  “I’ll admit I have been thinking about it. No one else has come and told me to get to it like this, yet. I was thinking we’d have a council, with at least nine people on it. The others can vote for them, and they can… I don’t know, have the job for ten years or so at a time? Just so no one gets stuck doing it forever. How do you want to set that up?”

  That part was a bit of a trick, since he didn’t know how they did anything on Harmony, really. Thinking, he started to bounce a bit. Like a Ysidril did when they were considering something. If Tiera got that, she didn’t let it show. Not even internally.

  “Let’s make an announcement? Have people make recommendations first, as to who should be on the first council. Make them all equal and all that? Then we can hold speeches and talks, so everyone can see how they think, if they’re willing to take the job. Maybe give them some tests first. You know, to make certain they’re sane and not dullards? Th
at won’t stop evil people from getting in, but there are truth amulets… really, having them give speeches wearing those would make a lot of sense.”

  She waved toward the weapons rack.

  “Let’s do that then. You’ll need to use my handheld for the announcement. I should feel worse, being out of a job. It really isn’t that much fun, to tell the truth. I hope I did well enough. Still, you’re right about the rules. I was always supposed to be the Ancient of this place, not its leader. Even that only lasts a hundred years. So, only eighty-three left to go. Then I’ll be free!”

  The woman didn’t act put out, getting her device from a low table that held her gear on it. She did let him put his stick away, doing hers for her at the same time. Then she did something complicated seeming to her handheld and held it up, smiling.

  “Attention. This is Queen Tiera. We have a special announcement. Please pay attention. Ancient and Revered One Willum Baker has a message for us all.”

  He scrambled a bit, getting that a lot of people were going to be hearing him. It wasn’t as if he had a speech ready or anything. Still, he’d done that kind of thing before, so relaxed and smiled, as the device was handed over to him.

  “Good day to you all. The time has come for Tiera Baker to finally take her rightful place as the Ancient of the Moon. That means we’re holding an election for nine ruling positions. Please think carefully about the topic and nominate those best able to guide us all. Each position will be for a time of ten years, then a new person will be chosen for that seat. Anyone, of any age, who can pass the tests and gain enough votes, will be allowed to hold the position. Formal rules will be posted later today. We’ll hold these elections in three months, unless otherwise stated.”

  Tiera didn’t so much as blink at him, being perfectly flat for the moment.

  Then she took the device back, her face lighting up. Even if there were tears in her eyes at the same time.

  “This is a momentous day for us all! I look forward to serving you as your Ancient. Thank you.”