Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (27 page)

Again the voice was funny
sounding, but Tor didn't give him the data this time, so it was hard to pick
up. The language wasn't that far off of standard, but it had a smoother feel to
it. Tor seemed to be listening, but Sam and Sara both just looked uneasy.

Lyone, getting it this time,
translated for them.

"They're hailing us. Asking
if it would be all right to meet. Lenn replied that the plan is for
representatives to meet on board
this
vessel. They countered with an
offer of allowing you to land on one of the other vessels, since it doesn't
seem that they can dock with us."

Lenn knew the answer there
however, and spoke for a bit, then turned to Dareg.

"I suggested that we could increase
the space for that? Those ships aren't big. There are six of them, about our
own size." It was a question without being one, since Dare was the Captain
there.

"Good idea. Could you let
them know that we'll be doing that now? When they're ready."

There was more strange speech,
and after several returns and replies, Lenn held a hand up in his direction.

"I
think
I prepared
them for it. They shouldn't fire on us for it."

"I'll go very slowly? Please
let them know that we're starting... Now." He waited, but when the Forten
man looked back at him, Dare focused, and changed the craft greatly. First to
the same design that he'd used for the Saturn trip, then stretching it out into
a black cube with a lot of windows, all lit from within, so that they'd be visible.
It was, as close as was possible him pushing the vessel to its largest possible
size.

Which was a lot smaller than a
freaking planet ship, but was enough that Lyone coughed.

"
That
will get their
attention. Nothing we have can do that. Can we set up landing bays?"

They could and
did
,
rapidly. Then Lenn, sounding stern, seemed to be telling them which ship got to
come in first. Instead of that being his people, in their rather plain metal
looking craft, it was the slightly glowing green ones, each coming in slowly.
Like they were told.

The squat man took a deep breath.

"The Ysidril are frightening
to look at. Some Forten, when they first meet them, lose control of themselves
in fear or terror. Even the brave might, so if you need to use a restroom, you might
want to do it before the point of exposure? I can promise you, they are totally
non-violent. Simply alien. They'll attempt to flee if they feel they are
harming you with their presence."

It sounded like a joke, but so
far the man hadn't played around a lot, so Dareg stood, moving to the main
door, a restroom being one hatch down.

"I'll... Be back in a
moment."

It was strange, but most of them
took turns in the restroom then. Not the mechanical people, but Lenn did, since
they had time.

When he got back, having gone
last, he looked out the shield window.

"This is a momentous event.
Also a dangerous one. When groups meet it can go very wrong. I feel that this
is an excellent starting point, but I don't know who will be coming. Please
forgive any minor issues? It's the rule in this kind of thing, but not everyone
follows the rules well."

That seemed not to be a dig
against the other groups, but rather a warning about his own people.

All the ships seemed to be in,
but there was a quarter mile of ship between those bays and where they were.
All the food was there however, so Dare was about to make some stairs, when
Sara moved to the wall.

"Lift platform? We use them
on the Circle. I can do that here."

Tor nodded, being used to that
kind of thing it seemed.

"We should go down. Or would
it be better to send you three, and wait here? We don't want to scare
anyone."

Dareg stood up then, and looked
at the others.

"Right. So, I'll go down.
Lenn, Lyone? That will give everyone a representative there." He looked at
the the two aliens, then smiled a bit. "So if you try to hurt my Ysidril,
we'll have an issue."

Lyone bowed a little at that, and
didn't smile, and Lenn huffed, just a tiny bit.

"Fair enough. We'll get them
and be back in... Call it ten minutes? How fast are these lifts?"

"About five minutes each
way. You should go. It doesn't feel like anything." Sara waved them into
the round, slightly glowing section. "Just touch the sigil and think about
where you want to go."

That was an interesting idea, and
he felt it happening after touching the pale green design on the wall. It was
made up of two merged arrows, but the wall closed when he did it, and they
started to go downward rapidly. The gravity of the craft flexed, so that they
didn't feel like they were moving at all. There was no real indication that
they were going anywhere, but when he reached out, with his mind, there was a
sense of it happening anyway.

When they got close, about four
minutes later, not five, he took a deep breath.

"All right. I'll go out first,
and attempt not to gibber, or soil myself. If I do, tell the Ysidril not to
worry about it. I pretty much
can't
die of fright. Besides, I've seen
them before, if at a distance. They seemed... Pretty."

With a single touch, the wall
opened, and there were ten beings standing there, unarmed as far as he could
tell. In three separate clusters based on type. There was a group of short
people that looked more or less like humans though they were color coded. Well,
at least there was red hair and eyes on one, green on another and brown on the
last.

Next to them was a collection of
youthful looking people that were all wearing vaguely silver tinted jumpsuits. They
were regular seeming individuals otherwise, making them the mechanical ones.
Like Lyone and Brice.

There were three others, the
mechanical folk having brought four with them. Making ten in all. Those last
ones were kind of interesting, close up, being truly alien like they were. They
were green and purple, but despite their bright colors and odd shape really did
seem fearsome. Not enough that Dareg would have wet himself however.

He strode forward, and bowed,
going low. After all, this was his ship, but these people were important, or at
least expendable and as such valuable in that moment.

"I'm Dareg Canton. Captain
of this ship. Please, be welcome. We have transportation to the bridge, where
we have refreshments. Also emissaries from my people?"

That got a strange reaction. The
Ysidril all bowed back, doing it well enough that, having several extra arms or
not, it
looked
correct. Out of the remaining seven people no one even
tried to bow, except the Forten with brown hair.

That meant, by Noram rules that
the Ysidril, and this person, who was a firm looking woman, but not vastly
muscled or too out of proportion to pass on Earth, were in charge.

He gestured to the lift tube,
then touched the wall, in order to make it grow larger inside, so they wouldn't
be too crowded. Seeing he wasn't that worried about them, the three green and
purple scaled people moved to where he stood.

The one in the middle opened
their mouth, showing that it was filled with more teeth than should have been
possible.

"Your ship is most flexible.
Would it be proper for us to attend this meeting? We have no representative on
your world, due to our differences, so perhaps this is not our service?"

The standard was decent, if
accented. The sound was a very low rumble, but no worse than the king or Prince
Alphonse that way. Count Ward was even deeper, and probably three feet taller,
though no wider across the shoulders.

These beings were stout that way,
and looked well armored, when standing close up. Like they grew their own armor.

"I think that it would be
most
proper for you to attend with us? There are five people above us. This room
will transport us there in about four or five minutes." He looked directly
into the red eyes of the creature in front of him. "Brice is one of the
mechanical people? Like Lyone here. Then there is Prince Alphonse, who is the
representative of Noram, as well as the Ancient of the Martian Circle, Sara
Debri, The Ancient of Noram, Sam Builder, and The Ancient of Vagus, Torrance
Baker. They aren't that violent or anything like that, but if anything happens,
I'll protect you, the Ysidril, while you retreat. Lenn is standing for the
Mechanical people and Lyone for the Forten."

That got a stir, but no one
corrected him on it.

"It isn't a mistake. There
have been tensions there. Ones that, from the outside, don't seem needed now. You
all need to work together better. Shall we go?"

When they got in, he leaned
toward Lenn who was about ten feet away from him, the space being nearly twenty
across now. The lift tube.

"Was I too pushy with the
whole change up thing?"

That got a chuckle from several
people, including the brown haired Forten woman. She spoke, from the other side
of him, given that everyone had spread out a bit.

"No. That was about the
right thing. Taking charge, and showing your power, while in the same breath
mentioning peaceful intentions, and offering protection. Most mistake threat
with strength."

Lyone had to translate for her
people, and moved in, holding their right hands, one by one. When that was
done, the youngest seeming person there, who seemed to be about his own age,
and looked like a commoner boy, being dark skinned and short, smiled at him,
then the Forten who had spoken.

"Then you are concerned with
the outcome of what you said. That is a promising beginning. I am... First of
the ninth section, Sub Heading Eleven. Designation LYS, Seven."

Dareg smiled and bowed at the
man. If that was his name, things were going to be hard to manage. Luckily he
kept talking then, after Lyone moved back and cleared her throat at him.
Probably
reminding him to act human, even if he wasn't.

At least the small, dark colored
man smiled, and tried to look like he was breathing. Lyone was perfect that
way, but these people didn't take in air all the time, it was clear.

"Call me Link. All my
friends do."

That got a snort from the red
haired Forten, She was distinctive, and far more pale than most were. At least
those from back home. Tor and most of the Baker family were close that way.
There was pink and cream colors involved in it. Her face was thin, and held a
sense of understanding that was a bit questioning.

"Sure, sure... When you want
help it's call me
Link
. When it's me it's just LYS Seven, and you act
hurt if I address you as anything else."

That got a nod, and a snarky look
in that direction.

"As I said, my
friends
."

Looking across the space, Dareg
shook his head.

"Stop that. You're
all
in one group, and need to be working together. Don't tear down your own
friends." It made sense to him, and there was a move from most of the
groups, all at once. The Forten straightened, the mechanical people closed down
a bit, looking upset, and the Ysidril... They all laughed. It had the feeling
of a strained thing that wasn't natural, and looked like they were all getting
ready to bite someone, but it was clear they were trying to make a point.

No one spoke after that, until
the wall opened at the top, and he led them out, waving for the green and
purple scaled people first.

"Everyone? These are the
Ysidril. They're in charge here. These others are annoying me, bickering over
things that probably aren't real. Lyone, would you do the introductions for
your side of this?"

A lot of people glared at him, on
both sides of the bridge, except his new buddies. The scaled ones moved to
stand directly behind him. Which made sense, being he was there to protect
them. It was clear from where they looked, which was at the floor, and not any
of the new people. They were working very hard not to be fearsome seeming, or
scare the people in the room.

Alphonse moved forward and bowed,
toward the Ysidril first, then shifted to the others, making certain to bend
his large form in a deep manner. Dareg did it back, and the scaled ones
followed along with him, nearly perfectly. As different as they looked, they
were clearly working the hardest to go along with what was being done from the
others. It meant that everyone from Earth was bowing politely, and the Forten
with brown hair and eyes did too, followed after a bit by everyone else.

It was
clear
that the
mechanical people and most of the Forten were annoyed by the strange gesture.
Lyone stood first, getting everyone else too, and stepped forward.

"This isn't a group of our
leaders, since we came in at the wrong location for that to happen quickly.
These people are the highest local leaders from the nearest ship world. Seven.
From my people we have LYS Seven." The man stepped toward the others, looking
up at the tall men. Actually, he had to glance well upward toward Sara.