Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (18 page)

Tenet held up the small bag, and
opened it, making certain everyone had at least one of the things inside two
minutes. At least of those who were going. The rest of the people actually
stayed back fairly well for Austrans. They were pretty good at crowding in from
what he'd seen, but no one going even tried that this time.

"When we get underway, do
not go on a space flight without permission. I don't want to leave anyone
behind, or lose too much air. If you do dump our air at any point, please be
aware of our policy of sending the evil doer out to collect it back up."
He made the words dry, trying to copy Alice Orange, but everyone laughed. Even
if they did seem to get the idea. They weren't supposed to waste things up
there. "We have enough food and water on board to last..." On that
one he had to check with Karina, since she'd done long space voyages before.

She smiled at him, standing not
all that far away.

"About three years, for
fifty people. More with just this many."

"Right, the point is we
don't have to ration a lot. We have the fortune to have two media groups with
us, and special equipment so that everyone will know what's happening back here
in Austra. Probably on Harmony as well. Which is our first stop, to pick up the
crew that has volunteered. Hopefully they'll meet us at the docks. We'll put in
there for four hours, so everyone can have a look around before we do a few
orbits of Mars, then head to our final destination, where I plan a stay of six
days. Are there any questions?"

All of the hands went up.
Including several people in the crowd. On a lark Dareg pointed at a girl, who
was dressed in a pink one piece garment, and had matching hair. She looked to
be a few years younger than he was.

"Miss?"

"Do you have a
girlfriend?" The words got a reaction from the crowd, which was rude in
that they snickered and laughed at her question.

Karina took a few steps forward,
smiling hugely. As soon as words came from her lips, the whole crowd suddenly
went silent.

"I don't think he does. I'm
his
betrothed
, but that leaves room in his schedule. Are you considering
him as an option?" She spoke pleasantly, and a lot less meanly than some
of the other people seem to have been reacting. The girl wasn't great looking,
but she was colorful, and had a nice, upright, carriage about her. Certainly
she was worthy of being taken seriously.

She demurred however, clearly
being shamed by the people around them. It was enough that Dare nearly slipped
into a combat rage over it. That was probably a bit oversensitive of him, and
of everyone there only Mike and Karina seemed to get what his flushing really
meant. The rest probably figured it as simply blushing.

It was a little embarrassing, but
these people had no right to needle an innocent girl like they were.

Moving forward and turning to
them, Mike did something slightly odd.

"We need to get those bags going
to some rooms. Prince Dareg, why don't you and the Revered One of Mars answer
some questions while we do that?" Then the man left them there while he
and Tenet tried to get the gaggle of scientists on board the now incredibly
huge craft behind them. It was nearly a quarter mile long and at least that
tall, though it wasn't all that wide. It would still take people a while to get
their things in their rooms, and then find the bridge.

They'd need breadcrumbs or some
kind of sign that everyone would be able to understand. Pointers on the walls,
perhaps.

Before he could speak, Karina
pointed with her whole hand at another member of the crowd. The whole thing was
being taken for the cameras as well, and several small black orbs floated
around him. The media teams had headed inside however, not wanting to risk
being left behind.

"You sir?" The man
looked normal enough, wearing all brown like he was.

Dareg kind of suspected he was
about to ask how he'd managed to convince poor Tor that he was his real son,
but those words didn't come out. Instead, speaking in a slightly high pitched
voice for a man, he cleared his throat.

"I, uh... Do you have any positions
opening up, on your craft? Jobs? I can sweep floors, or carry luggage. Pretty
much anything." There was a seedy, run down aspect to him, now that Dareg
bothered to really look. Desperate too, if he just went around asking strangers
for jobs.

The last person that had done
that... Well, she'd turned out to be a machine. Not an evil being or anything,
but that reminded him not to simply accept everyone that came along blindly.

"Not at the moment, but I'm
starting a shipping concern. Goods, and sundries. It will cover almost
everywhere, so there will be travel involved, and you get paid for the work. It
won't be ready to do much for several weeks, but if you have a strong back, and
are willing to do it, that might serve." The man seemed excited, and gave
his name, so that Dare could call on him directly on the handheld. Except he didn't
have the same kind, being on the Austran old style system.

So he shrugged.

"Come back here in a week
when we bring the scientists back? I'll try to have things ready by then, if I
can. The whole thing might fall through. It's partially out of my hands, so I
can only promise so much."

The next question, again selected
by Karina, was the one he'd figured would come first.

An older woman glared from the
crowd, sniffed and looked away from him, and spoke in a haughty voice.

"How can you claim to be
related to The Tor? You look nothing like him."

The only interesting part there
was that about five thousand people jeered her, like it was a players show
instead of him being abused in public. When they quieted down, Dareg simply
shrugged.

"Really, I hear I look an
awful
lot
like him. Not that it matters. We'll come back sometime and do
a live test to prove who I am?"

Now, his expectation was pretty
simple. The woman would demand he do it right then, or be proved a liar for all
time, and then he'd refuse, having given a schedule already. That would lead to
an argument at least, and him fleeing into the ship, so that he wouldn't kill
anyone in his rage.

Instead the woman just stared for
a bit, and finally answered.

"I suppose that will do.
That kind of thing isn't done overnight. Fine then. I won't forget
though."

He bowed her way, then ignored
her on standing, figuring that the next bit would be all about his life of
bastard-hood. Instead it was just about goods shipping, and then true
excitement when people realized that free transport to everywhere in the world,
and off of it, was coming in no more than a few weeks. On that news, Karina
pulled him away, waving to everyone.

"Great time to get out of
here, I think?"

He had to agree, since he
probably wasn't going to pull out of her grasp anyway, even if he tried. She
was much stronger than she looked.

In a way she reminded him a
little of Karen Derring. Not as pretty, but they moved the same way. It was a
fluid thing. Like what a fighter might do. Attractive ones. It should have hurt
to think of the dead woman, but it didn't this time. It was a loss, but not his
really. A little, but it was different losing someone important to you. That
hurt
so
much more.

Karina had taken his hand, and
waved over her shoulder as they walked away at a good clip. Once they got into
the ship, he started toward the bridge, where the controls and the main viewing
window would be. There was a second open space for working and observation
above that, with a stairway between the two. Not that he wanted all the people
to know where he was all the time, but if there was an emergency he kind of had
to be there. That was what being in charge meant.

The walk to the bridge was
actually not that bad. It was up two floors, but the closest staircase took
them to the door of the correct space directly. That meant he wasn't all that
exhausted by the time they got there. The room was a bit plain, but overlooked
the docks, which still had a few thousand people on it, watching them.

Constantly, and with ten thousand
special glass lenses to record their movements.

There were enough soft chairs for
everyone to sit in, at least once he added a few for the crew coming in. It was
a bit of extra work, but everyone would have a soft place to lounge while they
traveled. Not that it was going to take very long.

It actually took longer to work
out how to make the walls show moving arrows that would direct anyone with half
a brain to their location. It was tempting to just seal the doors and leave,
but he waited a bit, since there was no reason not to. Except that
he
was going to get sleepy soon. It was already trying to catch him at the edges.
Dare felt his body go heavy, the energy slowly exiting his limbs first, leaving
him shaking a little bit.

His head really hurt, too. It was
a thick feeling that made it feel a bit like his eyes were going to push out of
his skull. That sensation was all down to having been angry so many times in the
last hours. Even holding himself together and managing it all had left the
after effects of the rage on him.

Normally he could have either
slept it off, like he used to when he was younger and no one cared about what
happened in his life, or used a healing amulet. That was tempting, but the fact
of the matter was that he was healthy. Just in pain. Using up extra energy to
feel slightly better at the moment could be a poor plan, for all he knew. That
idea felt right, so he went with it, forcing a smile as the scientists slowly
came in.

As soon as most of the people
were there, and bodies stopped trickling in, he stood and faced them all.

"All right, I'm going to
take us out, toward the ocean, then lift into orbit. From there we'll go to the
Moon directly. Any questions?"

It was Tomas that raised his
hand, like kids did in school classes back home.

Dare nodded at him.

"Yes?"

"Can we get a pass of the
Earth first? An orbit? People might want to see that back home."

It would take extra time, but not
that long. About twenty minutes.

"Sure. Let's get on that
then? Everyone hold on. This feels like..." He tried to seem charming
then, and shrugged. "Nothing at all. Here we go!"

The lift off took longer to get
the requisite ten or so miles out to sea than it did to lift into orbit. As he
started the pass, the ship was carefully tilted, so that everyone could see
what was going on. It really didn't feel like anything. It also got everyone to
go silent for nearly twenty minutes. It was impressive enough. Kind of awe inspiring
really. There was a feeling of being very small suddenly, that filled even the
people that had seen it all before.

They rested there, floating
smoothly, in an ocean of nothing.

After a while, they came around,
so Dare slipped his hand under the control module, and focused, setting up the
pathway to Lunar orbit in his mind. They'd come in directly over Harmony, even
if the Moon wasn't visible from where they were at the moment. It made sense to
him, anyway, but everyone, including Karina, gasped when they were suddenly
there.

Well, a few people screamed a
bit, but then chuckled about it when they realized they weren't going to slam
into the second world below them. Then he took them around once, which only
required about half the time that doing the same thing on Earth did. That was
with him going slower, to show off the orb below. It didn't have a lot of
interest really. Except being new to these people.

Once around, he started to take
them down, moving slowly through the landing protocols. He talked through it,
to explain it all.

"You land slowly. Really, if
you have time, you take off the same way. That's to prevent collisions and
damage. While the ships are very strong, ramming two of them together at high
speed probably wouldn't end well for anyone inside. Once we get on the ground,
you'll all have four hours to look around. If you don't make it back in time,
then you'll be stuck here for a week until I come back for you. If that
happens, then you're expected to work the whole time." Not turning he could
just see a camera floating in his peripheral vision on the right, between him
and Karina.

One of the kind Timon had
provided for them to use, so people could see it all live. There was a smaller
orb in all black too, that whirred just a tiny bit as it floated around.

"The rules here are the
basic ones in space. If you let air escape, you have to replace it. No violence
is allowed. If you break something you have to replace or fix it. This is
probably one of the safest places in the solar system however, since everyone
is required by law to wear a good shield all the time. They don't use coin
here, which means everything is free." He glanced at the greedy Austrans,
then back to his slow moving task. "You have to work for it though, so
don't think you can just load up on magic or goods you don't need if you aren't
going to pay them back that way. Remember the important part. We leave in four
hours. Unless I over-sleep on my nap. In that case you still have to be back
here, you just get to cool your heels waiting for me. That's one of the
privileges of being the Captain."