Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  The journey from the Limitation Zone to the Transition Zone would take a week, and that was only the beginning.

  Inside the ship, time seemed to pass as normal. Stephanie decided to spend what time she could inside the Virtual World to work on her energy acquisition.

  She’d had nothing specific planned, so Burt had left her to her own devices. Initially, she’d planned to work in the team’s training space with gMU but that had seemed like too big a risk to take.

  If something went wrong, she’d have a hard time fixing what she broke—and there were too many lives at stake for her to let that happen. It was safest to stay within the confines of the Virtual World for that kind of practice.

  As she entered, she rubbed her hands together, the gesture pointless in her self-contained space suit. She left the white preparation room and stood on a clear platform which seemed to float effortlessly through the stars.

  It was a location that gave her the best environment for concentrating and working on her skills. Not to mention that, for all intents and purposes, it made sense that she would have the best access to gMU in space.

  Of course, standing on an open platform in the void of space wasn’t something she could do in the real universe, but BURT put all the parameters required in place and left her to it.

  Through the clear faceplate of her helmet, she looked down at her suit with its built-in boots and gloves. The days of bulky spacewalks were also a thing of the past, but she couldn’t quite determine why they would make the woman’s suit as tight as a second skin.

  She shrugged and grumbled quietly, “So much for the surge of equality when it comes to comfortable dang clothes for women. I’ll be picking this out of my—”

  BURT cleared his throat. “How is it going?”

  Stephanie glanced around and half-expected to see him float by, riding a meteor or something. “I’m only getting started.”

  “Good. And I will submit your space suit feedback anonymously to the engineers in wardrobe,” he replied.

  She blushed slightly and went back to work, breathing deeply through her nose as she spread her arms wide to draw in the gMU all around her.

  As she did so, she focused on the vortex she’d created inside her and spun the energy until she had refined it into a more compressed product. The magic swirled and knotted within, sparkled through her body, and made her glow.

  To an outside observer, she looked like a young dancing star drawing in a line of light in the shifting and often violent expanse of space. After a few moments, the energy had spun through its final turn and settled in a concentrated ball in the pit of her stomach. She wasted no time in repeating the process with a second batch of gMU in an effort to see how quickly and thoroughly she could convert the energy into usable magic.

  The more she had in reserve, the better off she would be in a battle since a little condensed gMU went a long way or created one really devastating explosion. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her suit began to use the wicking to pull the moisture away from her skin to cool her down to her original temperature.

  By the time the vault inside her was half full, she was exhausted. She let her arms fall to her sides and realized she was breathing heavily. Conscious of the need to pace herself, she dropped onto the center of the disc beneath her, sat cross-legged, and stared at her gloved hands while she tried to calm the rapid race of her heart.

  She caught a small flash from the corner of her eye and looked up slowly with a small gasp at the wondrous sight before her.

  Close enough that she could see the spiraling clouds of gases that erupted and pushed back against the weightlessness of space was a large nebula of stars. For only a moment, she sat and absorbed the beauty in the universe around her. It made her feel absolutely tiny, while at the same time, it seemed as if she held the history of everything and everywhere tightly in her gut.

  She felt like a newborn floating on the ocean of space but also like something as old as time with the splendor of history flooding her veins.

  When she depressed a button on the top of her gloved left hand, a dome rose from the platform’s edges. As the dome enclosed her, it sealed with a soft hiss followed by the quieter sound of a breathable atmosphere releasing around her.

  The whole ritual wasn’t necessary considering there was nothing like it in reality. It also wasn’t needed in the Virtual World since she couldn’t die there, but it helped her mind accept the reality of her surroundings.

  Once the dome signaled that she was surrounded by atmosphere, Stephanie removed her helmet and gloves and pulled out her tablet. She began making extensive notes for ONE R&D.

  It was essential that she recorded every aspect of working with gMU. After all, she wasn’t the only being with access to magic, and the ambassador had only said her experience was unique. That didn’t mean it couldn’t happen again.

  And it meant she had to record it all, from the way she converted it to the feelings of wonder and reverence that washed over her when the magic filled her. Every detail needed to be captured.

  When she had finished and was sure she’d included everything, she saved her file and sat in silence to watch the universe turn around her. Her mind drifted to the job ahead of her and then to her ability to clean the earth up.

  “There has to be a way to do it faster,” she mused.

  She set the tablet down beside her, crossed her legs at her ankles, and leaned back on her hands. Her thoughts drifted to the time before humanity had damaged its world and ranged to when people had marched to save it.

  It seemed strange, now, to contemplate those distant years when humans had recycled what they could to minimize what they put into landfill. Those had been times when rubber was made into playground chips and smaller homes were legislated for all, not only the poor.

  Admittedly, the technology was almost archaic when compared to the present, but the principles were the same. There had to be a way for her to not only clean Earth up using her magic but to also begin to heal it through sustainable practices.

  Most of the trash had been taken care of during The Great Burning. With chronic overpopulation and a collapsing infrastructure, none of the large cities of the world had been able to cope with the waste produced by their populations.

  During that time, people had simply disposed of their trash by dumping it into the streets and waterways when landfills were no longer available and recycling factories hadn’t been able to cope. In an attempt to stop the practice of illegal trash fires, governments set up local furnaces.

  The Federation’s new leader had ordered that all rubbish was to be burned, without exception or exclusion. He’d ordered the furnaces to run non-stop until there was nothing left to consume. It was this event that tipped the world over the edge of catastrophic climate failure.

  The number of pollutants released into the atmosphere covered most of the planet in heavy smog and released toxins that caused wide-spread breathing difficulties and ailments. Many mourned the stupidity, but others secretly rejoiced at the loss of population.

  Their joy was short-lived, however. Once the portion of the population susceptible to acute respiratory failure had died, the survivors discovered there were worse things to suffer. The occurrence of cancer reached epidemic proportions when a new array of aggressive, untreatable tumors appeared.

  Extreme climatic events such as the hot-cyclone anomalies, unseasonal blizzards, tornadoes, downbursts, and thunderstorms had increased. Sea levels had risen to engulf coastal communities before evaporation had taken its toll on the oceans. Waterborne disease had inflicted more casualties than any of the major disasters put together.

  There were some who said her world was on the brink of dying, and others who said the world would survive but humanity would not. Neither outcome was acceptable.

  Stephanie pondered the mess her generation had been handed and wondered how to fix it. She could magically scrub the atmosphere all she wanted, but if she didn’t fix the source of continuing po
llution, it wouldn’t mean a thing.

  That meant reintroducing clean technologies such as the solar farms that had once powered the solar schools of China as well as millions of homes in the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Australia. It meant finding a way to harness the wilder winds and renewing efforts to direct the energy of Earth’s volcanoes.

  And that was all before she discovered a way to channel gMU as an energy source in and of itself. As a power source, it would be cleaner with none of the waste products of nuclear power. There had to be a way to make it work.

  Stephanie wrote her ideas down, starting with ways to power everyday items with magic that could be handled by the most non-sensitive human to ways of using gMU to power entire cities. Unfortunately, power wasn’t the only issue she had to deal with.

  People needed non-toxic areas to live in. They needed to get out of the Subs, grow their own food, and raise their kids in an environment that wouldn’t kill them.

  Her attempt to clean up the Browns Ferry site was a good first try. Well, except for not being able to get near the fuel rods. That still smarted, and it was another problem she would have to deal with.

  A problem of that magnitude meant she needed more power and the ability to use her magic on a wider scale. If she could find a way to remove the toxins from the water and the soil, she knew she’d be able to open large areas for resettlement in a matter of years rather than decades.

  With the pollution cleared from the sky and the land and the ground covered in plants and trees once more, humanity could set a course for a renewed Earth. The only concern she had was whether or not her race had learned enough from their mistakes to not repeat them.

  For some reason, she found it hard to believe.

  Elizabeth pulled her new ID from the envelope Burt had express-delivered that morning. With it now clipped it to the lapel of her jacket, she boarded the small shuttle scheduled to take her back to Earth.

  While she’d enjoyed her time on Elpis One, she knew she’d be much more comfortable on the ground with a real atmosphere surrounding her. Space was fun the first few times out, but too much could go wrong that could end up with her sucking vacuum.

  No, she was glad to return planet-side, even if it was with a new identity. The new ID would help her reach home with their enemies none the wiser. It had been awarded under a Federation-recognized protocol that allowed the wealthy to travel under an assumed name for one journey only for personal security reasons.

  Of course, it was only as good as the database it was held in, but she trusted Burt. There wasn’t anyone better to take care of the technical things than the damned AI who ran it.

  She smiled at the thought and straightened her jacket, unaware that she now carried herself differently than when she’d departed with the team. She had a shit-ton of money, now, and the future of an entire race on her shoulders if he was to be believed. Wealth and the power of being the sole physical representative of a company with Earth’s survival as its goal... Well, she’d always loved a challenge. And wealth. She adored wealth.

  Elizabeth smirked at the thought and whispered, “Uncle Ben had it all wrong, Spiderman. It’s not with great power comes great responsibility. It’s with great big fat bank accounts.”

  The trip to Earth didn’t take very long, being a direct route to Washington. A driver waited for her when she touched down, a nice little perk Burt had thrown in. It was wonderful to work for a boss who valued her enough to look after her.

  When she arrived at the base, it took her a second to get comfortable. Without the team there, the place was eerily silent. It wasn’t at all what she had become accustomed to.

  To remedy that, she went to work making additional calls to bring in a few contacts to help her. “Yes, Chancellor, I really appreciate it. I’ll see you then.”

  She hung up and checked off the appointment made with the chancellor of Harbor Technology University. After that, she stared at the next thing on the list and pursed her lips. This would be a lot less pleasant than calling the chancellor.

  With a sigh, she picked the phone up again and called the Federation Navy contact number she’d been given. It was time to see if they wanted to come to the office for another meeting. When no one answered, she left a message and managed to sound pleasant and unruffled.

  Her call might come as an unexpected surprise to them, but it was time she took that bull by the horns. Stephanie was safely out of their reach—for now—and they had no way of knowing where she’d gone.

  That wouldn’t last for much longer, but there was no way anyone would find her. Unless, of course, the Navy pulled the ship over within the next week.

  Chapter Thirty

  On the Meligorn Dreamer, the team was out for the evening. They’d secured their gear in their rooms and now gave Stephanie The Grand Tour, as Frog called it.

  Their initial foray passed through the open atrium space to the Deck of Faith.

  “It’s so anyone can find a place to comfort their souls,” Lars explained when they stopped at the entry to a large courtyard.

  Stephanie looked around at the many churches, mosques, and temples to any deity or lack of deity she’d ever imagined...and many she’d never known existed.

  At the back stood a huge building that looked like an ancient Buddhist temple. Priests in a mixture of saffron and maroon robes walked through the plaza and mingled with the tourists, travelers, and servants of other faiths.

  She was surprised to see the representatives of each faith mingling so peacefully. That had definitely not been how the history books described it, even if it was nice to see now.

  There didn’t seem to be any valid reason why Lars would have brought her there and she narrowed her eyes at him. “This looks really cool, but you do realize I’m not a religious person, right?”

  He shrugged. “I know, but this is basically the best floor for when you want no negativity and an abundance of friendly faces.”

  “Like when I start auctioning you off to whoever needs the most seats filled?” she joked…kind of.

  Lars laughed. “That’s not a problem here.”

  He pulled her back to the elevator and punched the buttons for the next floor. Stephanie leaned against the elevator wall with folded arms and watched the team warily.

  If she knew these guys, they were up to something.

  When he saw her expression, Lars turned toward her with a twinkle in his eyes. “I know we could have done this in the Virtual World, but since this is your first time on one of these liners, I thought it better for you to see it firsthand. Besides, it’s a good way to work up an appetite.”

  She pouted. “Yeah, we were supposed to be headed to dinner. I get grumpy if I’m not fed.”

  He faked a sad face. “Hulk smash…fish and chips.”

  Stephanie laughed as they stepped out of the elevator and wound their way through the other passengers looking for something other than room service.

  Lars lifted his chin to indicate one direction. “So, if you go right, you will find the richies’ mall I told you about earlier.” He tilted his chin to the left. “In the back over there is a food court. You buy from one of the vendors and choose one of the sticky tables in the center to eat at.”

  She screwed her face up in distaste. “That doesn’t make me want to go there.”

  “Well, then, do I have a bargain for you.” He put his hand on her shoulder and led her straight ahead until the corridor opened into another multi-deck vista. “You might change your mind about the eatery after you spend the day here gambling your heart out.”

  Even a cursory glance at the view left her impressed. “It looks like Vegas crammed into a ship. Nice.”

  She walked over to the railing and looked down five floors to a more softly lit area. “What goes on down there where the lights are dim?”

  He leaned over. “Oh, that leads to the engines rooms and Engineering. There’s nothing really to see down there, and you need a pass to access it. I can o
rganize a tour if you want one.”

  Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Let me think about it.”

  They continued and took an elevator up past the casinos to another level. Lars and Stephanie poked their heads out of the elevator and stared at two large white doors in front of them. A simple white desk backed by a row of lockers and manned by two serious-looking security guards in pristine white uniforms was set to one side of it.

  The men looked up when the elevator doors opened, and Lars tossed them a quick wave. “Sorry, wrong floor!”

  He stepped back into the elevator and pulled her with him. “That’s the brig. These kinds of places don’t have too many instances of nefarious crime since they’re so selective about who they allow on board. It’s mostly used to let drunks to sleep off their stupidity—keeps them from starting a fight and wrecking someone’s holiday.”

  She winced. “Sucks to be them, then, doesn’t it?”

  The tour continued until the team ended up in a plaza devoted to fine dining, dancing, and theaters. The mall of designer wear was linked by a short corridor, and beyond it, an entire deck was devoted to working out.

  To Stephanie’s surprise, they left the main restaurant area and walked to another small courtyard with a secluded restaurant. As they crossed the open space, a Dreth exited and headed toward them.

  Lars linked his arm through Stephanie’s when she froze and her hand moved instinctively for the blaster she usually carried in the simulations. Frog came up on the other side of her, slid his hand into hers, and squeezed her fingers.

  Their presence calmed her first instinct and she managed to suppress the urge to call on her magic. Instead, she took a moment to notice how the Dreth was dressed. The alien was as huge as any of the warriors in the sims, but he wore a simple blue tunic over baggy red trousers, and he was barefoot.

  Bells chimed as he moved, and he gave them a close-lipped smile as he passed and brought his hand briefly to his chest.