Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) (31 page)

That seemed like a good enough reason not to bore the others with what they were doing. It would even be good for Gemma to stay with the Ambassador, and pretend to pray. If she were going to be a ship's Captain, it would pay for her to be tolerant of the ways of other people.
Especially
dignitaries.

The little man didn't stomp away, but there was a set to his shoulders that didn't seem pleased really. Maybe he wanted to talk to her? That, or have sex. If it was that last one though, he was going about it the wrong way, completely.

Chapter nine

It took nearly twenty minutes for Karina to really work up to what she wanted to say. Most of that time was spent chatting about what Sara had been up to for that last months, hitting topics of Tellerand, her brother, and of course, the fact that she was a bit different now.

The Princess nodded at her when that part was discussed, but didn't interrupt until she mentioned her first official build. Then the other girl snorted.

"I didn't know you were going to be one of
them
too. Well, it will be handy, no doubt. The future is going to be made of the stuff. Magic. Tim assures me that I could do it too, but I've been a bit afraid to really try. I couldn't do it before. When I was younger father and mother had a tutor for us kids, to try and teach us. Not Alphonse, but myself and Varley. She can make copies, but we aren't supposed to mention that in public. It's a bit too... Common of a skill, I gather. As if sword fighting wasn't? Was it hard? Or... I don't know that it was ever mentioned, did you have training in it already?"

Sara shook her head, and then sighed a bit, realizing what almost had to have happened. Either Timon had given her a superior faculty as far as that kind of work went, or else...

"You know, it never really occurred to me before, but I think I actually was given training for it. Not directly, but in school I always had meditation classes, and some of the trances that we all had to learn are pretty close to what it takes to do magic. I didn't know that, before. I..." She stopped for a moment, her mind racing more than a tiny bit. It was so clear, inside her head, that she managed to work out things about herself, about all of them, that she'd never even bothered to think about before. Like the fact that almost everyone was trained
not
to think they could do magic.

"We were kind of told to not really try, weren't we? Not just the special school kids, but
everyone
, except those in the building programs. For all that it's a pretty important skill, we weren't guided toward it, in particular, were we? Kind of like with you. There was some hinting at it early, when I was about seven or so, but no one really tested me on it. No one told me how it was done even. I wonder why that was?"

The Princess, her skin flawless and hair shining in the overhead light of her main bridge, looked away regally. The front of the craft had a view screen set up. A shield window that would darken a bit if they were directly in front of the sun. There was nothing to be seen however, except a vast expanse of darkness, at the moment. No Moon. Not even any stars. Why that was, Sara didn't know, but it was something that she'd noticed before.

 Space was a lot darker than she would have thought.

The Princess finally focused on her, blue eyes shining a bit.

"Yes. It's almost as if people were being subtly drawn away from the idea of doing magic themselves, wasn't it? The Tellerand can't do magic at all, can they? That's all training though, not anything else. That's what Tor said, anyway. They actively try not to do magic, so keep themselves from being able to even turn it on. In Noram... Well, we should all be given an education in it, I would think. Along with reading and mathematics. I can see that we don't need, or want, every hothead in the world having that kind of power, but by the time a person learns to be any good at it, they tend to be a bit more balanced than that."

Without hesitation, Sara shrugged.

"Except when they
aren't
? I mean, we've both seen some builders go off, haven't we? Tor nearly destroyed the Capital once, I'm pretty sure. In a combat rage, but..." She shrugged, letting a tiny smile develop on her lips. "Okay, but then he didn't.
In
a combat rage... That's pretty special. I guess... Really, it's probably a bit like music, isn't it? The kids that have the greatest talent have that nurtured, and the rest of us are given a chance at it, but if we don't have a hunger for it, we're coached to simply move on and listen to what others do? I can sing, a bit, but mother never stressed that as part of my education. My brother, Kris, he's a decent violinist, however, and had lessons until he left school."

Karina sat in the center chair, with Sara right next to her. Turning to look at her, the Princess finally cleared her throat a little.

"Ah. So, anyway, I'd like to get the Mars projects up and running in the next six months. Not fully staffed, but the initial devices in place, with living quarters, food, and all that. Can we get that done, or am I being too ambitious?"

Instead of answering meekly and instantly that it would be done, regardless, Sara sat back and looked out at the empty dark herself. It was true that Karina was a Princess, but in the moment she was asking for something real, not just for crawling and scraping to seek her approval.

"Well, I have the things that we should need, to get started. Terry has a build underway, or will eventually, that should help transfer working material from the surface to the stations automatically. That will really help a lot. I'm willing to bet the current mess has slowed him down though. Still, even without that we can get the basics up in a few weeks, I think. I've never done it before, but from what I've seen the new stations pretty much run themselves. What do we need to get things started on the surface?"

That was far more complex, but it sounded like Karina actually had the first few steps in hand. They needed to build an atmosphere, which would take hundreds of years, and introduce special plants, but a lot could be done underground, given the magics they had at hand. Really, working with the surface was mainly a back-up, in case Earth didn't make it. That was, Karina allowed, her voice going a bit grim, possible.

"Everyone thinks that things have gotten about as bad as they will there, due to what the Ancients did to us. That's partly true, I've been told. We should see fewer of the super-massive storms, but the growing seasons and long term weather patterns are going to be very different everywhere, and keep shifting for a long while. We can use magic to keep ourselves alive and healthy, but that's not a good long term plan. What if we don't have enough builders? Or, I don't know, if something else happens? The idea is to have something ready, just in case. Once we have enough of an atmosphere to hold things in place, we can put water on the surface and it should stay. That will make it all easier."

It wasn't until Sara had already arranged to go with the Princess, after the investigation into who was trying to attack Harmony, and Tim in particular, that the woman cleared her throat and started to look a bit edgy. Suspicious seeming, actually. There were a lot of sidelong glances, and it wasn't done in a way that looked to Sara like she was working up to asking her for a demonstration of her new flexibility. Which was a shame. Karina was lovely, after all. She seemed friendly too.

Looking at the tall redhead, who still seemed very young, though adult now, Sara cleared her own throat.

"So... What do you want to ask me?" It was blunt, especially given that the girl next to her was royalty, but they weren't in Noram.

No, they were on Karina's ship, which still left her in charge. Sara really should have been more servile.

The other woman didn't seem to notice. Or at least not care about it, at any rate.

"I... Sort of need to have some things delivered to my father. They're from me... Things that I've gathered personally, and commissioned myself. Weapons, and a few other things to help make sure the rebellion doesn't win. I know that Queen Tiera has refused aid-"

Sara cut her off with an upraised hand, being all sorts of rude, suddenly. After a few seconds she realized that it was probably part of the changes that Tim had made to her. She was being more... assertive, than she used to be. That, or she secretly thought her new status just made her that important to the world.

It really wasn't that one. She knew that her place had been given to her mainly because of the services she'd provided, and the fact that Timon Baker wanted her as a bed warmer. It had worked for him too, and probably would in the future, so she couldn't blame him too much. Not that he'd needed to go to those lengths for that kind of thing, looking the way he did. There was probably a small touch of him wanting her to love him added to the mix. To actually feel toward her what he did, or had, in the past.

Given what he'd said on the matter, she kind of thought she really did, already. She was capable of love, after all. That he wasn't sure he was, well, that was just sad.

"I can do that. I'm not a citizen of Harmony, so there's no reason that I can't make a delivery for you. As long as you aren't claiming that Tiera is behind this, then it should be fine. Who did the work on it?"

The other woman looked away, and then back, her face a bit nervous.

"Um... I got Princess Tess to do most of it. Prince Tenet helped as well. He's rather sweet, isn't he?" Then she blanched. "I mean, small issues with your brother aside..."

That was a Noram thing. You didn't bring up hard feelings or possible troubles in polite circles. Except that they were both alone, and in a secret meeting, in what was close to the most secured location available.

"I have no idea, personally. I hear good things about him though. Tess too, except for her taste in men. Though Kurt isn't, or wasn't, exactly hard on the eyes for a man. You heard about that didn't you? His treatment regime? It isn't a punishment, and Tim swears he'll turn him back into a man, as soon as he learns to be a bit less... Um, manically sexual."

"Oh, I have heard about that! I have to admit that I'm a bit curious to try that out myself. Being a boy, I mean? Not forever. Just for a week or so. Timon said he'd do it whenever I wanted. A lot of people are trying it. They say you get a really good sense of the hardships of being different, after you do it. If I do, I can count on you to have sex with me right? Otherwise, what's the point of trying it on for size?"

Sara nodded. "We can do that. It isn't like I don't like men, after all. Lately I haven't had a lot of attention that way though. Tellerand... They really don't do things like that. Not that I saw. They just pray all the time, and suffer a lot." It was true, but she felt bad, saying it, after a moment. Like she was being a Doretta toward an entire people. "They're good enough folk though, even with that. If you have those things for delivery here with you. I can load them onto my ship and deliver them directly. Or in the morning, at least, if the Palace let's me in. I'm not anything fancy like an Ambassador now, after all. Do you think claiming I'm the second Ancient of Mars will help?" She was joking, since that wasn't her job, but the Princess nodded, her smile bright.

"I really bet it will. That is pretty much the situation, after all. Or, maybe co-Ancients? Is that a thing? I'm more than willing to take on the burden of being in charge of the planet though. Even if the plan is for you to have most of the workers in your section."

"Ancient of the Martian Circle." She said the words lightly, but Karina clapped a few times, then nodded her head.

"I really like that! Did you think of it yourself?"

"Nope. Terry did. Just off the top of his head too. It's a bit pretentious though, don't you think?"

The Princess shook her head then, and reached over to touch Sara on the left shoulder. Her hand felt warm through the cloth of her tan tunic.

"Not at all. It sounds like exactly what you need in order to get into place tomorrow. Let me get those things. I have a floating chest, in my quarters."

That sounded almost like an invitation to go to her room with her, which it was, but the Princess didn't offer her bed for a nap, or anything, just giving her the control amulet. Then a pat on the shoulder.

"We really should spend more time together, since we're going to be working so closely. I've been a bit lonely, for the last bit. I did a lot of the work with Mars so far on my own. It will be nice to have a friend along. I know, I can tell my parents about us being co-Ancients. At least then they won't worry about me being alone so much."

There was a look then, one that was a bit longing, so Sara kissed her. Warmly, and with decent skill, right on the lips. After a few moments the other girl responded pretty nicely. It wasn't the first time they'd done that after all, and they both liked girls well enough. It led to some interesting things, for a while, but about forty minutes later they had to part, since Sara had kind of left Roget and Gemma on her ship alone.

Hopefully they hadn't decided to steal it yet.

Karina didn't follow her to the vessel, but clearly knew where she was, since there was a space along the back wall that simply vanished as soon as she got in the ship and closed the wall behind her, touching the lip of the tube that connected them to the air of the larger craft.

The ship had been made small, and looked to have about ten seats and a small restroom in the back. She checked the hold in the bottom, to see that it was filled with a small amount of lunar soil, in case they had to do anything, or make the craft bigger. It was enough to keep the three of them going for a long time, as long as they recycled their bodily waste into more material to work with later.

Without interrupting the prayers that both Gemma and Roget seemed to be doing, she moved them out of the larger craft carefully, and made the jump to Earth without either of the others even opening their eyes.

It was interesting, because she felt the whole move, as if it were tugging at her constantly. She didn't used to, but now it seemed incredibly obvious. Hugely so, as if no one would be able to miss something like that, unless they were unconscious or dead inside their skulls.