The Dragon Circle (36 page)

“An admirable project, Martin. I shall review it when you are finished. Our business will benefit from such a study.” Melinda made an adjustment to Martin's curriculum. “You are now free to use the system. But if I discover you tampering with anything, there will be repercussions.”

Martin backed out of his mother's office as rapidly as he could and still remain upright. The moment the door whispered closed, he turned and ran back to his own suite.

Time had grown short. He had to remove port restrictions for
Martin
Konner O'Hara quickly. (And hadn't he and his friends had a time hacking his father's full name out of an obscure database on an even more obscure bush world.) Those port restrictions were the only things keeping Martin's father from coming to claim him. He was certain of it.

“Martin.” Melinda's voice chimed through his personal chip embedded behind his ear.

“Yes, Mother?” He had no doubt she could hear him through hidden comm ports in the palace corridor.

“I have ordered you a new suit for your birthday. Be available for a fitting at seventeen hundred hours.”

“Why do I need a new suit? I have six that still fit very well.”

“We have an important appointment on your birthday. You must look your best.”

“What appointment.” Martin knew. But he had to play along as if his mother was as omnipotent as she pretended.

“An appointment that will ensure our future together. Never forget that you are my only child and heir.” Melinda disconnected with a slight popping sound.

Martin was left with a vacancy between his ears from the absence of sound.

Come and get me, Dad. Please come and get me soon. We can't let her win this one
.

(
South.
) A dragon voice spoke directly to Kim.

“Iianthe, greetings,” he said. He peered at the cloud cover seeking the only purple-tipped dragon in the nimbus. No mistaking the deep, sonorous tones of his old friend.

(
What you seek is to the south.
)

“Loki, I think we are heading back toward the volcano,” Kim told his brother. They stood beside
Rover
, waiting for Konner.

“More magic and hoodoo voodoo?” Kat asked sarcastically. She lounged against the shuttle as if she had no cares. But she worked at the force bracelets continuously. Her wrists looked like raw meat.

Kim spotted a flash of sunlight on a transparent wing. “Maybe we should let her ride the dragon who guides us.” Kim looked at her levelly, with a half smile.

She blanched but returned his gaze with courage. Her chin lifted just a little in defiance.

For a moment Kim was proud of her. He just wished she recognized the family connection and cooperated more.

But if she capitulated too easily, would she be a true O'Hara?

“Loki! Kim! They have Dalleena. She's hurt. Bad.” Konner pelted toward them, gasping for breath between words. ”They've also captured Taneeo and about two dozen men from the other village.

A series of sharp feedback squeals brought him up short. He whirled around to face the direction he had come from.

Flashes of red pain filled Kim's vision. He felt the hot burst of energy against his skin and his thick skull. A need to bellow, paw the ground, and charge filled his being.

Then nothing. A great emptiness spread outward from Kim's navel.

“St. Bridget, they've killed the bull.” Kim's mouth hung agape.

“Are you certain they shot the bull?” Konner started toward the pasture, then stopped short.

What could any of them do? Why would the IMPs intentionally kill a living animal? Supposedly they considered all life sacred. Civilized members of the GTE did not eat meat because they refused to take a life. Any life.

“How civilized are the Marines among your crew?” Kim turned slowly to face his sister.

Kat shrugged. “Many are bush born. Sergeants Duggan and Brewster are barely civilized.”

Bushies ate meat in order to survive. The GTE demanded nearly all of their grain, fruits, and vegetables as payment for protection, medicines, and technology among the far-flung worlds. Bushies lived as exploited colonists. They could not enter the GTE as full members with voting rights or self-rule until they industrialized, gave up their uncivilized dietary habits, and domed their cities.

How could these IMPs appreciate the value of a single bull beyond a meal for the troops?

“They won't get away with this,” Kim vowed.

“You can't stop them,” Kat reminded them.

“I can make them pay.”

“How? You have only a few weapons and fewer numbers,” Kat continued.

“We have the king stone,” Konner said. His voice was cold. For the first time that Kim could remember, his brother sounded mean.

Then Konner looked back toward the village. His face crumpled with despair. “I have to go to her.”

“As much as we hate the IMPs,” Loki said, placing a hand upon Konner's shoulder. “They have better medics, equipment, and medicines than we do. They won't let her die. Lotski is one of the good guys. She won't let a patient die.”

“But what if it's the plague?” Konner balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to run toward Dalleena.

“We sowed the entire area quite liberally with selenium this summer,” Kim reminded him. “The bioengineered virus is now inert. You found the cure, Konner. You know we eliminated the plague.”

“What if . . .”

“No. Do not think about it. We have work to do. You have to tell us what to do with the king stone.”

“He could give it back,” Kat offered.

None of the brothers listened to her.

“Without the king stone,
Jupiter
's orbit will decay and the ship will crash. Your people are stranded here, Kat. They invaded and lost. They have to learn to live among us on our terms. We can't let any of you leave. The GTE must never be allowed to pollute our home,” Kim told her.

Konner stepped into
Rover
. “The dragons say we need to go south. Let's fly.”

Kim placed his hands on Kat's shoulders and pushed her to follow Konner.

“Irythros spoke to you?” Kim asked Konner as they settled into their familiar places in the cockpit.

“The entire nimbus told me to find what I seek in the south.”

“I got the same message. Do you think they mean for us to return to the volcano?”

“The strange magnetics would certainly help hide the crystals,” Loki agreed. He gave Kat's force bracelets one more check before taking his place in the pilot's chair.

The cockpit only had three chairs. The brothers had never anticipated needing a fourth. So Loki placed their sister on the deck and restrained her with various cables crossed around her chest and hooked to the bulkhead of the cockpit. In a moment of compassion, Kim placed a cushion from the lounge behind her back and neck. She sighed in relief but said nothing.

“I have something better in mind than that haunted volcano.” Konner looked smug.

“Do I dare ask what?” Kim asked as Loki sent the shuttle forward into takeoff.

“A place to hide us as well as the entire crystal array.”

“Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?” Loki looked both pleased and pained. He shook his head and set course due south.

“The cloaking I developed for both
Rover
and
Sirius
is nothing more than a confusion field,” Konner explained.

“Like those nearly invisible dragons?” Kat asked. “I should have guessed. They warp light rays defying the eye to look anywhere but at them, at the same time they challenge you to look nowhere else. Damn. Now I know where you hid your ship in orbit. I looked right at it and forgot I'd seen it.” She hit her forehead with both palms.

She grimaced and eased her hands back into her lap.

Kat would be looking to steal the key to the bracelets at every turn. Being an O'Hara, she'd likely find it.

Kim reminded himself to keep a closer eye on her.

“If you are using the entire crystal array, then we need a roughly circular place,” Loki mused, biting his lip in thought.

Kim took his eyes off Kat long enough to load maps and surveys onto his screens.

“If we were riding dragonback, we could fly lower, spot the place with our eyes,” Konner said as he leaned over to check Kim's charts.

“There.” Konner pointed to the top of one of the foothills to the Southern Mountains. A pass through the chain of peaks ran close by.

“Far enough east and north of the volcano that the volcano's EMF won't mask it from sensors,” Loki objected.

“I don't need EMF to hide us. That's the right place. I can feel it.” Konner sounded triumphant.

Kim felt a nod of agreement in the back of his mind from the dragons.

Loki shrugged and corrected course. The land beneath them began to rise as they neared the mountains, leaving the river plains behind.

“I'm willing to bet that when we get there, we find a confluence of ley lines,” Kim said. He couldn't help but smile. With ley lines under his feet and Tambootie trees in the nearby woods, he could experiment with magic to his heart's content. Who knew what powers he would develop, pass on to his children. Perhaps even teach Hestiia to share in the powers.

“Ley lines?” Kat sat up straighter against the bulkhead. Her improvised crash harness strained against her shoulders.

“Think of theoretical transactional gravitons,” Konner offered.

Kat's emerald-green eyes did not light with recognition.

“A web of energy that holds the universe together,” Kim explained. “King stones use the lines of the web to maintain contact with the mother stone and facilitate faster-than-light communications. Ley lines are similar, but on a planetary basis. We don't know if they are connected to the gravitons or not. I suspect that we tap into them for energy to fuel our psi powers. The number and consistency of the lines here augment our talents more than anywhere else.” Even more so with a good dose of Tambootie. Kim dug in his pocket seeking a scrap of a leaf, anything to help him think straight.

He came up empty. His hands began to shake and his head ached. He clenched his fists and bit the inside of his cheeks to cover his aching need for more of the drug.

Kat slumped against the bulkhead where she sat. “More magic. You three are really giving in to bush madness.”

“We don't see it as madness, Kat,” Kim said quietly. “We see it as salvation for ourselves, the family, maybe even for the entire GTE. The exploitation of people and resources has got to stop. We won't let it come here.”

“The emperor is trying,” Kat replied defensively. “He has introduced legislation to allow bush planets membership in the GTE without doming and industrializing.”

“But he hasn't succeeded in reversing the mind-set of six hundred billion people,” Konner added.

“Not even a majority of the six thousand members of Parliament,” Loki finished.

“When I can see a transactional graviton, or ley line, or whatever and feel the energy coursing through my body, then I might begin to listen to you.” She set her face, O'Hara stubbornness written all over it.

“A confluence of ley lines coming right up!” Kim laughed to cover his trembling voice. A neat clearing, almost perfectly circular came into view. He drank in the sight, knowing he had come home.

Tambootie trees filled the nearby woods.

K
ONNER GUIDED the king stone into a hole a meter and a half deeper than he was tall. He and his brothers had used the laser pulse from
Rover
to define the hole. Then counter-grav equipment purloined from the IMP lander lifted the chunk of dirt in a solid heap. It lay to the side of the hole, ready for deposit around the king stone once Konner had the stone anchored in position.

Now Loki held the shuttle in a tight hover directly above the center of the hole. Kim kept the cables wrapped around the crystal from tangling. At least he tried. His movements seemed clumsier than usual. The blue crystal spun frequently and Loki had to raise the stone higher while Kim untangled it.

Kat sat at the edge of the clearing, worrying her force bracelets. A frown drew deep lines beside her mouth and between her brows.

“A little to the left, Konner,” Kat called out.

“Quiet. I can see where it has to go,” Konner spat back at her. But he edged the cable a little to the left.

The crystal ceased dropping. “Another meter, Kim.”

“We're out of cable,” he called back, over the roar of VTOL jets Loki used to keep the shuttle in place.