Envoy to Earth (30 page)

"About two then? I need to
be in Printer to pick up Petra by six, but that should be plenty of time."

The man looked at him as if there
were a secret message in what he'd said, which he hoped wasn't the case, since
he didn't know about it himself.

That however was agreed upon and
the man let him go when Veronica moved in alongside of Gerent and put her arm
around him.

"Daddy? Not to be a pain,
but your ruining my date..." She made it sound a little petulant, but that
just got the King to chuckle.

"Sorry, kids. Off you go
now. Have fun. We can talk later, Prince Gerent."

After that he got a little
squeeze from Veronica, and everyone took a seat, so that they could make the
trip. Things lined up pretty nicely, so they only needed a quarter orbit to
have a good line of sight and managed to get things into place in about twenty
minutes. Some of the people on the Bridge seemed more impressed than the
others, but no one seemed less than happy with it all. Ten slow moving minutes
after that they were in the correct airlock, or he assumed it to be the right
one, since the door had flashed alternating green, silver and sky blue at him,
matching the ship pretty closely.

The people on the ground even
made two sets of doors so that none of the Harmony volunteers had to put up
with whatever the guests did. Gerent did dash over and stop them all, his arms
held out to the whole group, as if saying he wanted to hug them.

"I... The entire Earth and
everyone here, owes all of you a great debt. Your hard work and sacrifice may
well end up being why millions of people live in the coming weeks, months and
years. If you ever need anything from me, please let me know and if I can
deliver it, I will." It wasn't a promise, but as speeches went, it was
about right. Not too long, and not stopping the people from leaving after that.
If he'd been passing a hat, then it would have been a longer speech, with a bit
of guilt thrown in, but these people had already paid to hear the song. Or
rather paid for the bread that others were going to eat that night and for a
long time after.

They seemed pretty happy, but
also left without stopping to chat with him, which meant that he needed to get
back to the guests. That part was a bit daunting, but when they got into the
next room it was only half as bad as he feared. There were about ten people
there, but most of them were actually for Princess Veronica. Four of them, to
be exact. Little Alison was cute, and dressed all in white, a little Austran
style jumpsuit with matching boots, and stood on her own feet, as her nanny
stood behind her, trying to make certain she knew that the tall lady that was
closing in on her was her mother.

It was pretty clear that the girl
wasn't going to buy that one too easily, but she took to the whole thing a lot
faster when Karina and Alphonse hugged Veronica for a while first.

Tiera watched them, and moved,
along with Smythe of Westend and Karen Derring, into place in front of the rest
of them. Gerent managed to bow, going deeply enough to be polite and not so
deep that everyone else would be trying to lick the floor in order to go
further down than he did in angle.

The introductions didn't take too
long, since almost everyone actually knew the others, except for Ambassador
Eto, who was clearly looking around the space, as if expecting someone to greet
her personally.

Gerent smiled.

"Ambassador Eto is here to
inform Tor that he needs to get things ready for the new class of Mages coming
in from Vagus. He's been elected the new Great Brother for that land, but they
understand that he can't go there for a few years, so are planning to come to
him." He deadpanned the whole thing, but Tiera just tilted her head a
little and bowed.

Then she spoke in a language that
Gerent
thought
was Vagish. Ambassador Eto answered in kind, and they
spoke, very politely, for a while. Even the mean looking temporary guard behind
her smiled after a bit, which Gerent took to be a good sign.

Then they both... Started singing
and dancing around. It didn't take them long and sounded happy enough. When
they stopped, Tiera explained to the group, translating it all.

"Torrance Baker, the new
Great Brother of Vagus, bringer of magic from the land of the Green Brother,
will be hosting twenty Mages from that land in the coming years, to teach them
his skills. We need to prepare for them all, as they will be coming in the next
few weeks!" There was a nicely excited lilt to her voice. It was hard to
tell if she meant it or not, which was probably the point.

Of course Tor might just be less
than thrilled to find out that he was slated to be the Great Father of an
entire land. No one had even asked him to be. Dorgal however walked over, his
face still and calm looking. When Tiera saw him she nodded. Regally.

Gerent waved at him.

"Have you two met? This is
Dorgal Sorvee. Dorgal-"

Tiera cut him off and moved in,
giving the man a very small, but polite, hug.

"How have you been? We
should have sent someone to make certain you were all right."

The man stood back, his black
outfit plain, but nice. Merchant like, rather than what you might expect from
someone that had once been a king.

"Not too poorly. That's a
good plan. Tor is... Probably the person best suited to rule Vagus. Magic is
rising there. Faster than almost any place, but here, I think. He's already
their High Mage, you know. Lyn named him as such. I'll leave telling him about
his new promotions to you however?" He smiled, but seemed to mean it.

Tiera just shook her head a
little and hugged the man again. It still didn't seem close or warm.
Perfunctory came to mind. Like she wanted to let him know he was liked, but
didn't really feel that way about him.

"On the contrary, Dorgal. I
think that you might actually be just the man to explain that to him. I'm sure
that it will be welcome coming from his old friend." If there was a barb
in the words Gerent didn't really get it.

Dorgal had admitted to having not
always been kind to Tor, but that wouldn't have much bearing on the fate of an
entire land, would it?

Sighing and looking a bit
annoyed, the former king nodded.

"Fine, fine, dump it all on
me. I just want to have a word with Rolph, then I'll be off to do that. Can I
get someone to take me to Tor?"

Tiera smiled, though it didn't
seem pleased anymore. A bit bitchy, to tell the truth. Gerent looked at her for
a bit, until she stopped doing that and wrinkled her nose.

"Let's see to that then?
Gerent, you go along too, I'll call Timon in for it, since he's not working
today. Who else do you need? If we're divvying up the lands now, I mean? I have
the Moon." There was almost a sense of her claiming that she
"called" it, but that was fine with him. She seemed to be doing well
enough so far.

Gerent felt silly, but shrugged
and thought for a moment.

"Well, Karina was looking
into Mars, and Timon is already busy with Austra. So, she can be the leader
there? Um... Does anyone know anything about Tellerand?"

Tiera nodded, but didn't look
around.

"Terry. He knows more about
it than any of us, I think. A bit much to dump on a boy, but... Well, they
better not think that getting him is going to be easy. You may be the bravest
man I've ever heard of, Gerent, but he's the most noble. That isn't a horrible
idea however. So that leaves... Well, Blue Four has the Antarctic already it
being her inheritance, so Soam, Afrak and Noram? I always imagined Tor in
charge back home, but that's probably not the best plan ever. We had two
thousand years of the Green man, so maybe we need to try something else now. I
know, why not Sam Builder?" It was clear that she was putting him forward
for some reason, and still trying to seem bland about it.

That got Smythe of Westend to
walk forward, and make a face.

"Is he going to get taller?
One of the problems that poor Count Lairdgren always had was his lack of size.
No one took him seriously, I fear."

It impressed Gerent that the man
didn't suggest himself for the task. He had been, and still was, the Military
Counselor for that land. It might even make sense that he become responsible
for it.

Tiera knew that one however, and
looked at the man as if he were being silly.

"Of course, he's six inches
taller already. In eight years he should be half a foot taller than you are,
William. That's enough, isn't it? We could make him bigger than that, but it
makes it hard to get a date if you're too big, I hear." She looked down at
her own thin body, which was about the same size and shape as his own, he
realized. Over seven feet tall and bone thin. Almost skeletal. That would
change however, as they ate more, he thought. There wasn't a food shortage
after all. Not now. Not for them.

The young looking man stood there
in white and yellow robes that looked like a truth amulet. Maybe as a sign of
how honest he was? Or an attempt to manipulate people into thinking that. He
actually smiled though and bowed a little to Tiera.

"That will be enough. We
should contact Richard and let him know about that. At least the boy is known
to him, and well liked at court." He looked over at Alphonse, who stood
with his sisters and niece, smiling and touching everyone as if he worried they
might leave at any moment.

Princess Abbey wasn't there, but
Dorgal walked over as they watched, and Alphonse kissed him, openly. It wasn't
just a peck on the cheek either. Gerent looked away, so that they wouldn't feel
self-conscious about their welcome. He hadn't realized they were that close,
but it also wasn't his business. Not yet at least. It wouldn't be if it didn't
interfere with his life or work either. After all, he wasn't dating either of
them yet.

He focused for a moment and then
tilted his head.

"How about... That Ross girl
for Afrak? Is she any good? Kind and all that? I just think they need a strong
woman to lead them." One that wasn't named Baker.

Tiera looked away and then back
to him, her face less than perfectly pleased.

"That would work. So who do
we put in for Soam? The place is... Well, how
is
it?"

Gerent shook his head. He had a
report, after a fashion, from Sara, but that was all.

"About half the people are
gone. The rest are scattered except for two cities. They're good people, and
working to try and survive, but it's hard. The biggest problem there is
radiation. I think..." He looked around, and then leaned in, his face
serious. He didn't want to say the next words, but it was the only idea he had.
Soam needed a miracle, and someone young enough that living their life trying
to save a potentially lost cause wouldn't crush them. Someone strong, and wise
too.

A person that could be given a
job that no one wanted, and still come out on top.

He felt himself tear up, just a
little.

"I think that Soam should go
to Taman." He said the words softly and was instantly glared at by
everyone
around him. For a half second he really thought that Smythe was considering
trying to punch him, which distracted him from the fact that Tiera actually did
it, at first. His shield kicked in, as she tried to do it four more times.

He just stood there, not knowing
what to say. It was an almost evil idea, but she could just tell him
no
,
it wasn't as if he had any right to go and assign who got what land. She
punched his shield a final time and then slapped at his face, still not making
contact. Then she looked away and stood as everyone in the room turned to
stare.

Karen Derring, who'd been
standing there the whole time didn't hit him. She just cried, fat tears running
down her cheeks. Then she hugged Tiera from the side, and looked at Gerent with
a sad expression on her almost too perfect face.

"It's the right thing to do.
I
hate
it, and we all should, but gods, there's no one else that can do
it, is there?"

Sobbing a bit, Tiera shook her
head.

"No, there really
isn't."

Then she walked away, leaving the
room all together.

Near the shops, everyone walked.
It wasn't exactly a rule, Karen told him, as much as a good idea. People kept
walking into and out of the different recessed alcoves at what seemed like
random intervals. If you were using a Not-flyer, floating above the ground, and
not paying attention, then you might just run into people. That wasn't a crime
there, on Harmony, since everyone wore a good shield, all the time, but it was
annoying and still scared a lot of people that thought they were going to be
hurt not being used to the idea that magic would, or even could, protect them
from harm.

It took a while to get from the
meeting room to the bakery that way, but only about twenty minutes. Karen
smiled at him a lot, and kept patting him on the shoulder, as they walked. It
wasn't exactly flirtatious however. More like she just wanted him to know that
they were friends. Not that anyone wouldn't
want
to be her pal, if they
got the choice. She was lovely on a level that was nearly annoying,
and
friendly. The only real problem there was that he felt himself being drawn to
her for some reason, in a way that felt like it was more than just her being
attractive and nice to him. Not that those wouldn't do the trick.

So he turned his shield on. That
helped a lot, the pressure suddenly backing off a bit. Then a wave of silver
came off his shield, indicating that he was being hit with a nano attack. That,
or viral. He thought that's what he'd been told would happen. Instead of
looking panicked, the woman next to him just grinned and took a deep breath,
followed by several more until the wave of whatever was coming off of her died
down.

"Sorry. I guess I really
want you to like me. Well, no mystery there. Petra is one of my best friends,
and if you two are married it would be awkward if you and I hated each
other." She made a flaring motion with her delicate hand at where the
light had come from his shield. "So, my body started putting out chemicals
that sort of make you like me. It wasn't on purpose. I'm still learning how to
control that particular effect."

He kept walking, but didn't take
his shield down. The people behind him didn't comment on the interplay, so he
just decided that it was normal, given everything. She had a new ability and
didn't know how to deal with it yet. The important part was that she wanted him
to like her. That was good.

"Not a problem. I think you
seem pretty friendly so far, at any rate, which is a good sign. Is this the
place?" He pointed at the bakery, getting a slight chuckle from the people
behind him, or at least most of them. It smelled like a bakery, which was the
destination, and there was a sign, but he had to work to make out what it said.
Tor's Bakery. It was less than subtle, which probably explained why everyone
was making fun of him by laughing.

He nearly turned and explained to
the six people trailing along that he just wasn't very good at that sort of
thing, reading written signs, except that when he looked everyone was gesturing
down the giant hallway, and not at him. It was a huge space, with white stone
floors and what seemed like giant emeralds along the walls and ceilings for
light. It was about sixty feet across, and more in places, but the sides had
different colors, depending on what the shop was. The bakery was purple for
instance, and where people looked, down the way, was plain stone colored.

The chuckling still seemed mean,
since people, four of them, were kneeling naked along the way, calling out as
people passed. They were loud, and all seemed to be saying different things.
The joke however, he understood by listening to the chatter behind him, wasn't
about the poor people that didn't have clothing, but Tiera.

That was mainly due to Smythe of
Westend, and what he was saying.

"I believe attempted assault
requires two hours, doesn't it, Queen Tiera?" There had been a
conversation going on, that he hadn't been paying attention to, but Karen went
wide eyed and then nodded.

"Oh... That's right. We
probably can't afford to do that now either. Well, we need to schedule that.
Unless you need a hearing first?" She was being a bit sarcastic about it,
but her face looked serene. No doubt it was all a dig at Tiera, who wasn't all
that old after all.

The girl snorted and then flipped
her right palm over.

"So much for the dignity of
the leadership, huh? It's a real enough point. I broke the law. I'll do that in
the morning tomorrow, unless anyone has something else in mind?" She
looked around, as if that was a real possibility, but he didn't understand what
was happening. Neither did Bonita, who reached out and touched the younger
woman's arm.

"Is there trouble?" She
spoke calmly, and Misha seemed to be digging into her pocket, standing next to
Dorgal. Going for a weapon he bet. To protect Tiera from her own people? It
looked like a joke to Gerent, whatever was happening. Luckily Tiera explained.

"It's out Standard
punishment here. If you break a law, or rule, you have to try and fix it.
Sometimes you can't however, like with attempted assault. It's been decided
that it's rude and harms society, so, if a person
tries
to hit anyone,
they have to come out here, strip naked and beg forgiveness for a certain
amount of time. Some people have to beg for different things. It would be worse
for me, but I guess everyone assumes that I'm
going
to apologize to you,
Ger. Which I will, as soon as we get inside, and possibly are alone?" She
seemed hopeful about that, even as Karen and Smythe mocked her for being
cowardly and not doing it in public.

Still, while he got the idea, he
hadn't been hurt and even through the shield it was pretty clear that the girl
hadn't been really trying to do more than slap at him. With a closed fist, and
he was willing to bet good form, but he'd been hit with a shield on before.
That was different. The floor popped if the person really meant it, for one
thing.

He nodded to her, willing to take
her intent as being enough. She was in charge after all. She could have set up
the rules so that anything she did was just the law. This seemed more sensible
however.

There was a good line at the bake
shop, and they had to work in carefully, starting from just outside the purple
door, which had been propped open, and slowly moving into the inner portion.
There was no shortage of food in Harmony, and people
could
use the food
devices to get what they needed, over in the restaurant or the food shop, but
this place did smell good.

Looking around it was decently
impressive inside. It seemed, from the interior, almost like he'd walked into a
country shop on Earth. There was a large window, to the left, that showed a
town outside, surrounded by evergreen trees. Complete with horses and people
walking past. There was a smaller one on the right, that seemed to be showing
the same scene. If he listened he could make out the sounds too, and everything
looked real. Except that it wasn't what was outside the place, and there were
no windows into the store at all. Magic, he was willing to bet. That, or
Austran technology, but it was Tor's place and the man was an excellent
builder.

Everyone looked at it, and then
found seats at a small white table that had a clear glass top. It was pristine,
and the chairs were hard, but as soon as one was free, Karen took him by the
hand and pulled over a seat, then started looking meaningfully at the rest of
the people eating their treats. She didn't call for them to leave, but people
saw the funny clothing and got the idea.

Strangers, there to see Tor. It
wasn't a fast process, since behind the counter, Tor kept giving away things as
more people came in to ask for them. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the
other needed people came in, all at once, and Douglas Baker closed the door,
much to Tor's amusement and slight annoyance. At least that was what his face
seemed to be telling them.

That lasted right until he
finally came out and noticed who was there.

"Nita!" He ran to the
woman and practically picked her up, then, his entire family being there or
not, including his wife and mother, he kissed her soundly enough that Gerent
had no doubt that the woman was well and truly loved. When he sat, not asking
any questions yet, he insisted on being right next to her. Ali moved in on the
other side, but didn't have a chair, so Gerent gave her his and moved over in
front of the counter. It was clear and shone like smooth glass, but inside it
was a wonderland of baked things. Pies, decorated cakes and small fried treats
as well. Breads in at least six varieties and rolls in at least as wide of an
assortment. Cookies too. His stomach tried to growl at him, looking at it all,
but he turned back, waiting for Douglas to hop up and let the next batch of
people in.

Tiera stood up, and moved in next
to him. Everyone went silent and looked at them, as if they were in charge
suddenly.

"As soon as the door is
locked? This is everyone I think. All the immortals. Except Alice. Can someone
get her on a device? This is important."

It was? Gerent didn't know what
her plans were at the moment, but his were a lot simpler. He wanted to sit for
a bit, chat with some people and then get Princess Veronica back to her Palace
before anyone accused him of kidnapping the girl. They still had about three
hours however, and even that would get them in early.

As Laurie worked to get Alice on
the magical speaking device, Tiera seemed to count and looked at several people
closely. There were a lot of them there, including some non-immortals, if that
was what you had to be in order to make it into the space. Clearly not, since
no one asked him to leave. Finally, about five minutes later they had a sleepy
sounding Orange Ancient on the line. She growled a bit, but good naturedly.

Gerent knew her well enough to
get that part of things, even if Laurie stiffened as if it were an insult.
Rather than let the woman speak herself, he did it, calling out.

"Hey Alice. Put the claws
away, Tiera has something she wants to say. This is... Everyone I think?"
The device was pointed around the room, so that they could all be seen.

"So this is the first
Summit?" Orange sounded more respectful suddenly. A lot more. "And we
don't even have to do it all in person? Amazing. I tried to set that up for a
thousand years before I realized it was never going to happen. With the old
crew. Let's do this then. Are we doing it by volunteers?"

Gerent cleared his throat,
knowing that he wasn't one of them, but also knowing that people that wanted to
be in power almost never should be. He spoke, loudly enough that she could hear
him, he hoped.

"Assignment. Everyone has to
do their assigned task for, um..." He thought about it and then
re-jiggered his assumptions. He nearly said a single year, but these people
would all be around for a very long time, wouldn't they? "For no less than
one hundred years, barring a real issue. No one gets to squirrel out or get
lazy, or the rest of us will come and scold you until you get back in
line."

That sounded enough like a
punishment that no one seemed all that thrilled to hear about it. Then, should
they? Tiera touched his back lightly, and looked at him, as if letting him know
that it was his job to tell them what was happening. Nodding he very obviously
stepped away and put his shield back on, so that no one could accidently kill
him by mistake.

"We did the Earth first.
Each land get's a caretaker, just like before. You can work out how you need to
do it, to help the people there most, but it's the responsibility of, you know,
the people with the job. Except... Um, everyone else
has
to help if
asked. No getting out of it." That was the Lunar way, right? He looked at
the others, and saw several of them nodding at least. It was a nice thing to
see, since it would end up being a lot of work, he didn't doubt.

Gerent looked around and then
shrugged.

"Right. Um, Tim, you have
Austra already, they elected you, flat out. Misha over here is your helper. She
has the food and magic distribution for that land too, so keep that in
mind." Gerent pointed at the woman, so that Tim got it. He just smiled and
waved at her, before standing up.

"That seems about as
expected. Brown asked if I'd do it. I didn't really think that it would happen
this soon. Are they truly good with it?" He spoke as if he knew the
answer, which given who he was, that was going to be the case.

Giving him a shrug, Gerent shook
his head.

"Yes. Everyone else gets the
harder jobs, that way. They love you there."

He decided to go with the next
easiest one after that, since that was the Antarctic. He waved to Blue Four,
who was sitting at the back of the room, regarding him coolly. She had pale
skin, and small breasts, with light brown hair. She liked to be called
her
,
but Alice had explained to him that the girl actually had both parts. Male and
female. She looked pretty enough that a lot of people wouldn't mind however.
She was also a bit cold, as far as mannerisms went. Blank and still of face and
body language. Nice anyway. He'd actually spent a lot of time talking with her,
since she'd been living on the Ranford when he was there with Orange.

"Four, you have the
Antarctic. Is that all right? We can get you an assistant, too."

The lady nodded to him and then
stood herself, as Timon took his seat again.

"That is efficient. I know
the systems there already and can collect the needed information and data. If
we aren't doing that in secret at this point, it could increase the efficacy of
the work being done. I could use aid, however. I cannot, as with most of these
present, go to my place of assignment for some time." She looked around,
and then nodded at Bonita, seeming to recognize her.