Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (3 page)

"Deal. Thanks. Sorry about
calling so late. Someday I'll actually learn the time differences. That, or get
fifteen clocks, all set to different times."

That got a chuckle, and a
goodbye, before the screen went dark.

After a few minutes of planet
watching, he tapped the next name, spelling it out, and waited, figuring that
it would be him waking someone else up.

Timon however, seemed fresh
faced, and was looking directly at him, so didn't need to catch up on too much.
Not like everyone else had so far.

"Dareg! I was just thinking
about you. You're in space?" The question held certainty in it. That made
sense, given the room around him. Nothing else looked exactly like the inside
of a ship. There was a certain unreality to it all that carried, if you paid
attention. It was all a bit too smooth, and perfect. Though he could have been
on the planet, in one of the things. He tried to figure out how the man had
worked that part out, since it didn't seem like a guess. Before he really
could, his youthful, handsome, and pale skinned uncle smiled.

"It's the color of the
light. If the shield was opaque I wouldn't have been able to tell for certain.
Anyway, are you busy? We should meet, sooner or later."

"I'm free... Right now,
actually. I was just calling to see if I could beg you to work up some kind
of... Camera? For the Saturn trip. I have a crew from Austra, the ones that met
you on Return Day? They're working it, or that's the plan so far. I was
thinking something like satellites?" He didn't hold his breath, since each
of the things would probably be worth
his
weight in gold, if not more,
but Timon Baker just started to slowly nod.

"That is a... Good idea.
Yes. I have some, so it should work out. We'll need some regular devices too,
for the documentary portion. I'll have those inside an hour. Can you meet me at
the main Harmony port? That's where you came in the first time." There was
a searching look, for some reason.

As if the man were really asking
if he could pull that off. Since it was a half hour trip, even with the landing
portion, he nodded. He'd end up waiting, but that was life.

 "See you then. I'll be
pacing around in front of the restroom there?" He grinned, but there was a
graceful shrug that seemed a bit slower than it should have been.

"Go to the right from there,
down the main walkway. About a quarter mile down, on the right again, there's a
magic shop. Trice runs it. I'll meet you there." Then the thing went dark,
without a goodbye at all.

He snorted at no one, rolled his
eyes, and got ready.

The Moon wasn't in sight, but
that didn't mean anything, since he knew where he wanted to end up. Placing his
hand under the control device, Dareg closed his eyes. Then he envisioned two
dots. One was large and white, representing the exact location he wanted, which
was in orbit directly over Harmony. The other was small and red. That one
represented him.

There was a dotted line between
the two points, and he just had to slide the little red circle to be inside the
white one. It worked, so when he opened his eyes he was there, even if the
Earth had technically been in the way.

Most of the moon base was
underground there, though Second City, which was to the north and west, had
much more going on above ground. Both had big lights so that ships could find
the right places to land. The above ground portion of the other city, the one
he wasn't over, glittered. All in green and gold. Like sunlight and gems. It
was, even in the distance, a fantasy of a city. There were large spires, and
things flying between them, in tunnels that looked like they were made of clear
glass. That probably wasn't the case, since there was nothing of note to
support them. So it would be magical shield material. The stuff of purest
magic.

Watching for a bit he nearly
missed how one of the walls near the port complex, at it, to be precise,
started to glow, alternating purple and black. The black was about his ship,
indicating that they'd seen him. The purple he didn't understand really. Unless
that was supposed to be for Noram, since the King's colors were well known.

He approached slowly anyway. It
was how you were supposed to land, since there were walls and a building to get
inside. The odds of someone trying to go too fast and
not
killing
someone weren't wonderful, so the rules told them how not to do that. By not
being in too big of a hurry. Since he still had most of an hour, Dare wasn't
about to rush things. Crashing a ship would seem ridiculous, given that part of
his job was to prevent such things.

It took nearly ten minutes for
him to ease the craft inside. The last time he'd come in that way had been
fine, but the first, not too long before, had been a bit of a botch. The lady
there, Claremont, who was from Austra, had yelled at him, not getting that he'd
used his shield to fly in from Earth. Now, after he set up the energy
projection to link with the wall of his ship, he found the same rather stern
lady standing in front of the door when he opened it.

This time, on seeing who was
there, she smiled. It was real, he thought. Still, it also felt a bit dark and
gloomy, matching his own mood.

"I
knew
you were
capable of learning. Are you staying longer than a week? If so we need to move
you over to long term storage for the ship. Otherwise you can leave it
here."

He nodded, and then shrugged, not
really feeling like he cared enough to answer, but knowing that he had to
anyway. It would be rude otherwise and this lady seemed to control landing
there, so it was kind of important not to piss her off.

"Less than a day? Maybe two,
but I'm currently thinking a few hours. Then..." He didn't really
know
what was happening after that. "After that I have no real plans for a bit.
In a few days I'm taking a crew of Austran scientists to Saturn for a visit.
Taking pictures and things like that? So, if you need a trip to Earth or
someplace before that, I can get you there." He didn't really know why he
was saying that, but the woman just blinked at him, and then shook a little.

Her words were slightly baffled
sounding.

"You're joking with
me?"

He shook his head, and then
tilted it.

"No? It will only take a few
hours to set up some trips. As long as people are willing to go on my schedule,
I can do that. We need to get some regular trips going back and forth to work.
I don't know how people do that now."

Claremont, at least that was what
her breast pocket said, on her light brown jumpsuit, smiled for real then.

"I know a few people that
might want to head toward Earth, if you don't mind a few stops? It's shockingly
hard to go just for a visit. Can we get back, too? Say, in a week?"

He stopped for a few seconds,
then nodded.

"The first day of each week?
I'll go to each of the main space ports. We need more pilots, don't we? If I
can get them ships, can you find reliable people for that? I may not be able
to, but I'll try begging?" He knew the man that made them after all, and
he wasn't all that stingy, it didn't seem.

Claremont gave him a hugely funny
look, then laughed.

"Ah. That would be good. A
dedicated fleet just to run us here and there? Do that and I'll pay you my
yearly salary."

He got that she was kidding,
since no one on Harmony made any coin to speak of. They got everything for
free, which meant they worked that way too. Just doing what they could for the
prestige of it.

Thinking about it, he nodded for
a few second.

"Deal then. Hey, I could
also use a crew? For the Saturn trip? It will be mainly keeping Austran
scientists from getting lost in space, or starving, so not that hard, I don't
think. There are twenty of them and a media crew?" His voice was flat, and
he realized that this lady might not be the one to talk to about that kind of
thing, but instead of laughing again or telling him that, she waved at him, to
get him to follow.

"How serious are you about
all this? We can set this on the board and really get people for it. Probably not
pilots, unless you have guaranteed ships, but... Crew? That's a legitimate
job."

"It's real, if anyone wants
to try it?"

He figured that she was either
taking him to the big main walkway, or possibly going to lock him in a closet
to ensure his story was valid, but she just walked into a small room, no bigger
than where you'd keep brooms, and closed the door. There was only one chair,
which she took, but six large screens.

In front of her there was a flat
section of stone, which started to glow when her hands reached for it. She drew
on it with a finger, making a small star appear on one of the viewing windows.
After a bit one of them, slightly to the right, showed Tam-Unit. At least he
thought it was her. She was watching Claremont, who addressed her rather
briskly. Nearly being rude.

"Computer, we need to add a
listing. Crew for a space trip. Destination, Saturn. To take place in two to
three days and last..." She looked at him, waiting for the data.

He just made stuff up then, not
having the real plan.

"Two days, to a week. It
will mainly be serving food and keeping the peace. Nothing too hard." The
girl on the screen looked at him, seeming just like Taman, his aunt, and smiled
when she saw he was looking back. "Are you... Tam-Unit?"

The blue box girl had never
mentioned that she was on the Moon too, but it was possible. The girl shook her
head though, and wrinkled her nose a bit. It was adorable, to be honest. Then
no one had ever suggested that Tam-Unit wasn't attractive.

"Nope. She's newer than I
am. We've talked though, her and I. You're Dareg, right? The one running all
the space ports for Earth?"

Claremont sat up straight then,
her own eyes going wide.

"I... Didn't know you were
an A.I." She seemed embarrassed then, but this Tam ignored her for a bit.
She seemed to, at any rate.

"It's different than that.
I'm more like a copy of Taman Baker.
This
is Prince Dareg, by the way,
which you seem to have missed. It's something we need to put on the listing, in
case anyone wants to avoid duty with him. That kind of thing is intimidating
for some. Princes aren't exactly normal after all. So, up to a week? Light
duties? How many people do you want?"

"I have no clue. One person
for every five or so guests, so, six? If we can get anyone. They need to be
able to run food units, and know not to turn the ship off in space, that kind
of thing."

The girl snorted, in a very
unladylike fashion.

"So no idiots? I'll mark
that down. You speak Standard? The Austrans all will as well. So that... Anything
else?"

He didn't know really, having
never done anything like a long space voyage himself, but nodded anyway.

"Yeah. If we can get the
ships, I need to set up space pilot jobs. Can I get copies of you for each
ship? That way you can organize all the schedules, and
I
won't have to
do it myself." He was playing, but the girl on the screen vanished, a
large, pulsing, blue ring circled for a bit in her place. It seemed to be
floating in the air
outside
of the stone. About a minute later, the
window on the other side lit up, showing a different Tam. This one being all in
white.

The real one. He didn't know how
he could tell the difference, but he could.

"Dareg? Comp just got in
touch with me and said that you and she were running away, and never coming
back. Is that right?" There was a hint of a smile, though her face was
also sort of sad.

She'd been there for the fight,
and had lost friends. So that part made sense.

He didn't recall that part, but
he'd written about it.

"I'm planning to get a fleet
of jump ships, and pilots, going to Earth and the Martian Circle constantly.
I'd like one of this young lady for each craft, if that will work? Can they be
in contact all the time? Like the Tam-Units are?" He couldn't see why not,
but what he didn't know about magic was... Most of it.

So he was ready to defer to the
Wizard about what was possible or not.

"I can set that up,
actually. I'll need a month for that? Since Tim might have to do a new ship
build for you, so that she can run things. That will take about the same amount
of time. Are you working with fleet on the project? They have the best pilot
training program so far. Don't tell Tiera I said that, but they're much better
that way than we are.
We
pretty much just put butts in the seat and tell
people to go to. That doesn't work for everyone. You're close to Alice right? I
mean, she actually takes your calls?"

"So far. She doesn't take
yours?"

There was a pause, and Claremont
stared at him, and then the Princess on the screen. Like it was unusual to see
her there, which simply wasn't true, since it literally was a constant in her
world. She was right there on the other side of her at that moment, wearing a
deep black top. It was that one that seemed happiest at the moment, smiling at
him. Even winking when he looked over. Flirting a bit, like Tam-Unit did.