Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (30 page)

“
The note I received back from the manufacturer said it took them some time to match the weight and balance and point of impact with the arrow you brought as a sample. They appeared to be very interested in that arrow by the way. They hadn’t seen some of the materials before, and would very much like to get a large sample of the wood. They claim it appears to be very well suited to the making of arrows and wondered if you could contact them.”

Randy looked at the arrow he now held. It looked to be about the same length as the arrow he had gotten from Asari, but this one gleamed with a faint coppery sheen. Vapor deposited copper, very thin, covered the entire arrow. Even the feathers had been replaced with a special plastic spiral that was coated with the copper deposit. The heavy and sharp tip was very strong and sturdy steel, with the thin copper coating. It would shed the coating once it impacted anything substantial, but by then it wouldn’t matter. No part of the arrow was left uncovered, so there would be nothing for a wizard to grab onto with his magic even if he were quick and aware enough to try.

“
Very nice,” Randy said, as he peered into the box where the rest of the four dozen arrows he’d ordered lay. Lying there alongside the new arrows was the same shaft he’d had shipped to the manufacturer of the precision arrows. He pulled it out and compared. He couldn’t tell a difference in weight, but the new arrow was just slightly more than an inch shorter.

The arrows hadn’t been cheap, and he’d paid in advance to get the unusual features he’d asked for, so now all he had to do was close up the box and take it with him.

The man watched as Randy slipped the two arrows back inside, replaced the padding, and closed up the box.

“
I’m really curious,” the man asked after struggling with himself. “The arrow is based on one of our best performing hunting arrows, but why the copper. What can that possibly do for the arrow?”

“
Oh, that’s quite simple,” Randy said as he picked up the box and prepared to leave. He managed to keep a straight face as he added, “It makes them immune to magic.”

“
The only way you’re going to get silencers for those rifles is to steal them,” Gene said the next afternoon when Randy went over to pick up the rifles and tell Gene about the course. “I can hack into the manufacturer’s records, and I have only found one place in the area that has one like you want. You might be able to find a way to steal it from that dealer, but I suspect it wouldn’t be easy. You’d most likely end up in jail.

“
They aren’t ever shipped direct to end users so if you knew that one was being shipped, you might be able to steal it from the delivery truck before it got to the dealer. That again would take a lot of luck and involves a great deal of risk. You also might have to wait a very long time for one like you want. They seem to sell a number of pistol silencers and .22 caliber silencers for rifles, but the larger caliber versions aren’t that popular. It might be easier in Europe where they have a somewhat different attitude about the things. Why don’t you simply make one. We have the patents for several designs. I’ve looked.”

Randy was disappointed by Gene’s assessment, but he wasn’t about to take a great risk for something he thought might be nice, but didn’t have a specific need for. He also wasn’t eager to put someone at risk by attempting some hair-brained robbery, nor risk bringing the police’s attention to his activities. He’d managed so far to maintain a low profile. He was more than halfway through his planned time on Earth, and didn’t want to screw things up now.

“
Forget it,” Randy said. “When I come back, we’ll have a look at the plans. Maybe we can work something out. Any other news?”

“
Yeah, we’ve got a private investigator watching your wizard friend in California,” Gene said. “I was able to get a reference to someone, and called him. He will keep a watch and send reports to an Internet address I set up, so there is less chance he can trace anything to us. I set up payment the same way.”

“
You warned him to not take any chances? I’d rather miss something than warn Ryltas that he’s being watched.”

“
He knows the man is dangerous, and that we don’t want him trying to break into the house or take any chances. We want to know his schedule, who he seems to have contact with, etc. We are supposed to get weekly reports.”

“
Good. I’ll have a talk with Chancellor Vaen while I’m on Gaea. They really want me to bring Ryltas back. I think it’s a mistake and maybe I can change their minds.”

“
Oh, I almost forgot, the chemist wants to see you about that stuff you wanted him to investigate.”

“
What did he find?”

“
I think he was able to isolate the active ingredients, but he wants to run a test on it. You said you could tell. He said it’s easy enough to separate the stuff out, but unless you have a couple of years and a few million to invest, don’t expect to be able to make the stuff. He’d never seen anything quite like it and wonders what it is supposed to do.”

Randy would have liked to go and see the chemist, but once again he really had to take care of priorities. He needed to get back to Gaea, and decided he would take the rifles Gene had helped him load into the car, and leave tonight. Once he got back he’d go over the list and decide what was most important.

“
You’re going to check whether they’ve found a way for me to go, aren’t you?” Gene asked.

“
You’re still interested?”

“
More than ever. You’ve got to find a way.”

“
I’ll ask. I’m sure Asari has been keeping them working on the task since he wants to come this way just as bad.”

* * * *

“
You can see where I had trouble,” Jolan said. He had spent the first afternoon going through the knowledge transfer process again, and the first
pairing-crystal
had been used to bring Samm up to speed on his experiences at the sniper school. The rest of his team would have the memories transferred in the next couple of days. In addition to the skills from the course, Jolan transferred enough English that each man would be able to read and think in Earth units. The equipment he brought was calibrated that way, and best they not try to make conversions each time they wanted to plan a shot.

“
Remarkable how real the memories feel,” Samm noted. “I feel almost like I was at the school itself.”

“
That’s what I’d hoped. I brought the first ten rifles, so once you feel comfortable, you can start the training of the first team. Each rifle has the scope mounted and a preliminary zero to three hundred yards. It also has a bipod which they will find is an incredible aid when shooting prone. Each man will need to re-sight their assigned rifle the same way we did at the school. The drop due to gravity will be slightly different here, and each man needs to personally learn the technique and any quirks of his weapon. They will have one advantage. There is no reason we can’t use the laser rangefinders. We are after results, and while the skill of estimating distances might be valuable, we don’t have the luxury of time.”

“
I need to get the course set up, and I want to start them practicing your hiding and stalking techniques. We have less than two months before the war is likely to start. Have you thought about how we want to deploy the teams?”

“
Not nearly enough,” Jolan admitted. “I suspect they would be used most often as two-man sniper teams, but I can see reasons to group them in as many as six man squads. It would probably be wise to select the two top men as team leaders. Maybe we should have some kind of competition in the final test for the position.”

“
I know what would really encourage them to work for it,” Samm said. “I’ve seen a couple of the men eyeing that little gun that Asari has. If the team leaders could have one to carry, I suspect they’d really work to win.”

“
Those are harder to come by, but I’ll see what I can do,” promised Jolan. That reminded him that he hadn’t done anything to find a smaller version for himself, although he had the full sized Kimber if nothing else developed.

He had just finished inspecting the wiring of the power plant outside Buris’ lab and approved it for full-power operation, when Tishe showed up. She hadn’t had any further contacts with Shyar, but was convinced they were keeping her in some kind of cage that blocked her access to the power. Only when they took her out periodically was she able to make the frustratingly vague contact with Tishe. The only good news in the whole matter was reassurance that Shyar was physically okay, although she must be getting pretty depressed by how long she had been held.

“
Do you care if I use some of the information on the computer to try and build something?” she asked when they had finished talking about Shyar.

“
What did you have in mind?”

“
I think I can build a refrigerator.”

“
We have the power, but I don’t think we should use it for that,” Jolan said, but Tishe was already shaking her head.

“
I did some looking when Timmy showed me how to search your Internet. I think I can use one of the small magic driven motors that some people use on the motorbikes here and use that to drive the compressor. The rest is simple physics, and you taught me enough with the memory transfer. If I can check the plans for the types of designs used on Earth, I won’t have to try and figure it all out by myself.”

“
What do you plan to do with it if it works?”

“
I don’t know, but it seemed pretty useful back on Earth. I’ll bet it would be really popular here as well.”

Randy had the odd suspicion she was going to be the first truly wealthy mage in the Settled Lands, and probably at a very young age. It would be interesting to see where this led. He had suspected her going to Earth would have some interesting effects, but other than her sudden attraction to jeans, some of which had been locally made, this was the first major project she’d come up with.

Buris and Asari came over pushing one of the small carts that had a miniature radio station built into it minus the antenna. They had run some tests earlier, and now that this unit was synchronized and known to work with the one over in the Council of Mages’ building, Asari was going to take it to Tomas in Seret. The antenna had been completed there, and Jolan wanted to see if he could get wireless communications started here. If the test worked, Asari would spend a few days there and train one of Tomas’ telegraph operators on how to use the unit. A more detailed training session would be required later, both in Seret and here in Angon, especially when they might have several stations operating simultaneously at different frequencies. This would allow them more reliable communications that wouldn’t be affected by the wires breaking or being cut.

Jolan had wanted to try and get the solar arrays set up, but that would have to wait. By the time he returned from Seret he would have been here four days, and there were things he needed to take care of back home. There was more than adequate charge capability for their needs at the moment, and he had set up a number of battery charging stations. Ronoran and Luzoke both knew what needed to be done there, and they would see to recycling batteries for the portable equipment. With the Pelton wheel operational, the large battery array that powered the lab was now kept fully charged at all times, so he could bring some of the other equipment still back on Earth that required 120 volt power to operate. He really needed to be both places, and he realized if Gene were here, the tasks he needed to personally see to would be significantly reduced.

“
You don’t think we should have called ahead?” Janie asked as Randy led her into the elevator of the building in downtown Boulder where Beyer, Wilson and Sons had their offices. If the building was any indication, they were doing very well for themselves.

“
I don’t want to give them a chance to do any checking up on me if we can avoid it,” he replied. “I suspect everyone has simply forgotten about the package they are keeping, and when I show up, supposedly having been out of the country for some time, they might simply hand it over when I can present all of the proper identification. We also have their document which directs them to do just that.”

Randy started to think Janie might have been right when he marched up to the receptionist inside the double doored office they had entered on the third floor of the building. When he’d asked to see Mr. Stephen Beyer she’d frowned at him and said, “That would be difficult.”

He’d been about to complain when she explained, “Mr. Beyer died almost two years ago. Could you tell me what this is about? Maybe one of the associates could help you.”

Things weren’t starting out as he’d hoped. If the lawyer his grandfather had dealt with was also dead, it might be more complicated getting the package than Randy had hoped. There didn’t seem to be any other options, so Randy handed over the document, explaining briefly he’d recently returned and learned of the document. It had apparently been misplaced when his own father had died, and he was anxious to see what his grandfather had so carefully set aside for him.

The receptionist looked at the paper briefly, then chewed her lip and dialed a number. She handed back the document and pointed to the chairs across the room. “Please have a seat. Someone will come to see you in a bit.”

Knowing they were in for a long wait, Randy led Janie across the room and settled into one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs. Much to his surprise it was less than ten minutes later when a younger man, probably in his thirties, came out of the back area and headed their way. He certainly couldn’t be Mr. Wilson, so he must be one of the sons, although there was nothing to show whether his father was Wilson or Beyer.