Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (21 page)

Dare took a deep breath, inhaling
the aroma from his mug. It was better than the taste, but he didn't complain,
just drinking it black, like the princess did.

"I'd wondered if you and
Alyssa were friends. No one had really mentioned that. Well, good? I'm still
the outsider, but if I can win over
any
of you, it should help with the
others. I keep waiting for everyone to get tired of me. Not that they
shouldn't. I keep sleeping all the time. That's pretty boring of me."

After taking a few quiet sips,
the Ancient of Mars leaned over, nudging him with her shoulder.

"Yes, it really
is
.
We haven't even gotten to have space sex yet. Well,
I
have, but not with
you, and certainly not Saturn sex, so..."

The conversation shifted a bit in
tone, and Jan suddenly bolted her small glass of pink sugar water.

"On that note, I either need
to invite myself along with you, or go get some sleep. Guess which one the
company is willing to pay for?"

It was hard to keep a straight
face, but the answer was pretty clear, to Dare at least.

"The sex one? I'm not
certain I want what
I
do to be recorded until I get some practice. I
know, you can both help me with that for the rest of the trip?" If he
managed to sound innocent, which was his plan, he didn't know. It sounded right
to him, but not seeing his face made it difficult.

Karina nodded, and Jan laughing
under her breath, walked from the room with a mock sense hurry taking her glass
with her. That could be recycled anywhere in the ship, but as far as the
Austrans knew so far, it
had
to be taken care of in that room. It
indicated that the woman didn't really know that he was playing with her. Then,
they
had
to have playing and flirting in Austra. Dareg hadn't seen a lot
of it, himself, but then he wouldn't have, given the ones he'd been around most
of the time.

The red headed woman he was
engaged to, who was pretty young looking, even if she had to be over thirty,
covered a small smile with a tan hand.

"
That
sounds like a
plan. I take it that you're feeling a bit better? If so, we should go see about
that. You know, before you get too tired, later?"

It was the kind of offer that
Dareg hadn't had a lot of, so he stood, drank the rest of his coffee, then took
her warm hand, gently.

"All right. If you insist.
This way?"

Then to his surprise, instead of
pulling away, she just went with him. Like it had been her real plan the entire
time.

The rest of the trip went past in
a strange combination of smooth and tense the entire time. Everything
functioned on the ship itself, and while there were some small issues with the
magic, since some of the science types didn't know how to use it, the crew
worked things out for them in a pretty quick fashion.

They had all they really needed
that way. Good food, clean water and the toilets worked the whole time, without
any problems.

No, the real issues came down to
what they, and the people watching from Austra, wanted to have done at any
given time. One of the things was that the people back on Earth seemed to want Dareg
to be watched at every single moment. That didn't make sense, given that he did
nothing but sit, and occasionally move to scratch his nose. Once or twice a day
he moved the craft around so they could watch the ring makers through the main
window. That wasn't the only thing people wanted to be done, but to Dareg it
was the biggest thing.

About halfway through, the heavyset
leader of the scientists, Grainger,
did
get to announce that the large
obsidian ships that made the rings were actually alive, and not old Earth ships
or alien craft at all, which was interesting, but other than that the whole
trip was about getting pictures, and people asking him annoying questions.

The big thing was in how little
the black rectangular things did. They ate, apparently, and made dust rings,
which were their leavings, more or less. The scientists were all happy to hear
it, since it explained an age old question about how the rings shifted, and new
ones appeared over time.

The ring makers having lunch did
it.

Jan spent the last day with her
handheld turned off, not taking messages at all. She'd been the one being asked
to get information from him, and it didn't take a genius to work out why that
was.

As a camera, one of the few real
time ones that worked off of magic, floated by his head, Dare looked over at
her, a few seats away.

"So, they've all gotten
bored and want to ask me about how I managed to trick poor Tor into thinking he
was my father?"

Karina was asleep, having been
taking turns running the ship while he rested, which was about half the day
still, though less than it had been even a week before. That was the one part
of the whole thing, which was a bit boring otherwise, that Dare really had to
like. His energy was actually starting to come back.

Looking over at him, the media
person, who had graduated to being an actual personality in the last few days,
which was a big thing in Austra, growled at him a bit. Playfully, proving she
could actually do that sort of thing. Like he'd thought.

Her voice was gentler though.

"Oddly enough,
no
.
There's just a demand to set up a Jupiter mission now. A rather heavy handed
one. Frankly, the folks back home are
ordering
us to fly off tonight, to
go and do that." She seemed upset about it, her face scrunching up just a
bit. Like she felt ready to cry about it.

Dareg didn't love seeing that,
since she was as near to being a friend as he had from Austra. Thinking about
it he understood that it was probably just her being homesick, and not an
abiding hatred of Jupiter. Still, he nodded, trying to get the basic idea. Of
the planet, and of what his friend was doing at the moment, which was hiding
from her job.

"We can set that up. I need
a few months, since I have things to actually get done. I start school in
mid-winter, after Noram Day, so that will cut into time to do things, but I
also have to set up the ports. When we get back I'm hitting Austra first, then
Vagus, since my... Father and step-mother asked me to stay with them. I figure
it will take about a month or two to get those all put together. Then I should
have a few months? Another week long trip like this one. We'll want more
satellites for that. You should call up Tim Baker and see if he can do that. Or
will, I mean. We know he
can
, but I can't promise his work for
things." The words were just him thinking out loud, but there were sounds
of running in the pause between sentences, and a flood of bodies entered the
room.

Half of them were smiling, and
they had used the stairs that linked the science room above them, to the
bridge. One of the younger people from the expedition team smiled at him. She
was kind of common looking, though a bit taller than what he would have seen
for that kind of woman in Noram. Nearly five-six. So merchant class, but with
dusky skin and a bright smile. She had on a plum colored jumpsuit, her hair an
interesting translucent color of blonde. As in it was almost invisible until
she closed with him.

"Heya! My boss just said I
need to get some spots for the Jupiter team set up? So, who do I beg for
that?" She looked hopeful and locked her plain brown eyes on his. Flirting
to try and get her way.

She was way too funny looking for
that to work with him however. That was mean, but a lot of the Austrans were a
little strange seeming for him still.

"Jan. She and her team will
be running the media for the space things. That means she gets to assign the
science teams. Get with Grainger as for how large the things will actually be.
There's a buy in, but the coin has to come from the people watching, not
businesses, so start trying to get them to chip in."

He was making up stuff that
didn't seem to make any sense to him at all, but Jan sat up, smiling.

"Yes! We'll run it like a
cash poll. A credit per vote. Each science group that wants in needs to get a
vid up that we can show on a loop. Only real science teams, except for the
three art spots we leave open." She stopped, as Tenet walked in, smiling
and holding a handheld.

His voice was deep and held a
smile that didn't show on his face.

"Queen Tiera would like to
field a team as well? Ten slots?"

Dareg nodded.

"Work out how to buy in for
there. All the funds need to go to science or magical studies."

Jan didn't even seem upset with
that. It gave them another thing to work on, though a few hours later he
started getting visits from the people upstairs on the current mission.

It was casual, but they were
all
asking for more time. Apparently while he'd been bored, and searching for
things to do, the researchers had been scrambling with short sleep, getting
measurements
constantly
.

Finally Grainger ended up
standing in front of him, his face cheery.

"
Sooo
. We're
returning in eight hours? I couldn't get a few more days from you?"

"Nope. But I can get you and
a smaller team out here on the way to Jupiter? Set that up with Jan, from the
media team. I put
you
in charge of it. That's the Noram way. Nepotism,
after a fashion. I like you, so you get to be in control of the stuff I'm
involved in. In return you have to make sure it doesn't interfere with my
schooling."

His eyes went wider then, and he
nodded.

"That
is
important.
I'll make certain of that. I don't suppose I can get a copy of your
schedule?"

Karina had moved into the room as
they spoke, and sank next to him, looking a bit sleepy still and holding a
white ceramic mug filled with coffee. That smelled really good to him suddenly,
but
he
was about to get off and take a nap, before heading back in a few
hours.

She sipped, and looked up at the
Austran man.

"Don't forget to add in time
for our wedding and honeymoon. Dareg is taking me to the nearest star for part
of that. Before all of Austra asks, no you can't come!" She spoke directly
to Grainger, but there was a camera hovering over them. It was constant, and
reminded Dareg not to pick his nose. It wasn't a huge problem for him, but it
being there made him constantly worried he was going to end up doing something
gross and be caught at it.

Grainger clasped his hands
together, suddenly giddy seeming.

"Of course not! That will be
something to see, won't it? We'll have to make do with your vacation pictures.
Will you be holding the wedding in Austra?"

That made no sense to Dareg at
all, but Karina smiled.

"We're sort of required to
have it in Noram, given the whole princess thing. Are you and your wife going
to be attending? I hear that I can get invitations, being so well connected
that way." She sounded dry and playful at the same time, which was
impressive.

The science boss smiled then.

"Ah, that would be a coup,
wouldn't it? You can just set me next to the Prime Minister and the
Ambassador." There was a booming chuckle then, the whole thing being
rather humble seeming.

Dareg smiled.

"You can sit with Queen
Tiera and... The rest of my family? After all I know you slightly better than
most of them, Tenet notwithstanding, of course. I don't know if Prime Minister
Foley will come." He glanced at Karina, who shrugged a bit.

"I bet he will, as long as
we have all the new transportation available. He's a great man. We need to
invite the other world leaders too. Blue Four, and Princess Abbey's mother. I
don't know who Soam has. I think we just get Terry for Tellerand, so that will
work pretty easily."

From his own pocket a buzzing
came then, which wasn't unheard of for the last week, but didn't take place all
of the time.

Strangely it was Queen Constance,
when he answered it.

"Hello!" He didn't
announce who it was, but did try to warn her about what was happening.
"Karina and I are being watched by all of Austra at the moment. What can I
do for you?"

"Prince Dareg? We have
something of an emergency here. I know that you're away, but would it be
possible to have you attend King Richard and I at your earliest
convenience?"

He blinked.

"What kind of emergency. I
mean, is it life and death?"

The voice was calm, but had
underlying tension to go with it.

"Rather. A young woman that
you might know seemed to have been taken prisoner by Baron Riley? He... has a
reputation for being rather harsh on those caught spying on him."

It took a few moments to put that
together. After all there were several young ladies that he'd run into in the
last month and a half or so, and while it
could
have been Stara, from
the Capital, moving her from there would have been a poor plan on Tamerlane's
part. She was untrained and his new aunt was smart enough to see that keeping
her at home for the time being made sense.

So this person was going to be
someone he didn't know as a spy, but it also wasn't going to be a woman he knew
by name. One of the mechanical fleet members then. Not Lyone, because she was
spying on Sam Builder, which was far too good a position to take her away from.
Not that working for him openly, and being handed all the data she needed for her
job, was
spying
. More like an Ambassador that also cleaned. She was
actually very efficient that way.

"I think I understand. We'll
be back in... One hour. Or is this more pressing than that even?" It could
well be. Baron Riley wasn't a name that he recognized immediately, but no one
knew
all
the lower nobles anyway. Worse, if he was right and she was
from space, then they couldn't just tell the man that he was holding someone he
wasn't supposed to.

The King might be able to do that
kind of thing, but that wasn't in play at the moment, or they wouldn't need
him. That meant...

Constance broke in, her face
slightly brittle looking.

"It isn't the best thing.
Richard has asked the Baron not to bother her incorrectly, but she was found in
his barony, which means that there is a limit as to what we can require of the
man."

"We'll be there directly
then. Dr. Grainger, can you make certain everyone is inside and ready to
travel? We need to be set in ten minutes. Before people scream, please let them
know that it's a life and death matter. If we fail in this, a good person may
well not make it through the day."

It was a bit melodramatic of him,
but the fact of the matter was that it made for good media to hurry along like
that. Much better than leaving in a slow and sedate manner. Enough so that he
had to rethink what was going on. After all, the Queen of Noram wouldn't need
him
to get a girl from a baron. Even if they needed a magical strike team, she
would have asked Tiera, or Tor to aid her, not him.

Still, she looked up, worry, or
possibly mock concern, on her face. It was the young looking disguised version,
which was a little stiff, making it more difficult to read her. That was
actually something handy to notice, actually. The amulets would, at least in
potential, let a person hide more than just their base appearance then.

"Please come here, as soon
as possible? We need to plan."

"I'll get the science and
media teams back. Set up to leave! We leave in five minutes! Emergency!"

He faked a bit of fear, but a commanding
type that got action. People ran to do things, instead of begging him to stay
for just a few more hours, even if it was a bit early. He'd been dreading that
part of things.