Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (51 page)

Dare shook his head.

"Port?" It was a guess,
but Yarl smiled, a bit chagrined.

"That's a good enough word
for it. Port. Yes. Go to the main port. I can have people standing by there.
Please let us know when you plan to come? Can you also arrange for someone to
help us learn to use them? The interface is different than what we use."

Dareg thought about it, and
decided he could just go with it, if he could be picked up quickly enough.

"I can do it. It isn't that
hard. Let me see if I can get anyone to answer me? I wish I had my ship."
He forced a smile, but the man didn't react to that in the slightest.

"This is wonderful, Dareg of
Earth. I look forward to meeting you."

"And I you, Yarl, of the
Forten. See, that sounds silly, doesn't it? Dareg of Earth... People here just
call me
Dareg
." He grinned and shook his head, getting a small
twitch of the lips in return.

The man straightened a bit, and
raised his chin.

"And
I
am known as
High President of the Forten, Yarlor Sta'Benson." Then he paused and
grinned, to show he had a real sense of humor. "But everyone calls me
Yarl
.
I hope you get in touch soon?"

Then the thing went back to
smooth focus stone. After a second sigils came back into being, so he looked up
Hess's name, given that he was in charge of all the new fleets jump ships.

The conversation was polite, and
fast, since all he had to do was mention the other conversation, and what he'd
made earlier that day, which got a bob up and down from the purple and green
multi-armed being. That meant he was pleased, Dare thought. That bobbing thing.

"I have sent Neesa for you.
It being her task for the time being. Would it be welcome to speak of the
planned exchange of young beings soon? Neesa and myself have both felt most
comfortable there, and the other groups are eager to strip information from
your world, prying in without permission? That is what they accused each other
of. I don't know how true it is."

Dareg could see it. Spying
was
a thing, after all.

"I hope they don't get too
into that. We don't really have time for people to start arguing and fighting
with each other. The Adversaries are enough."

"Agreed, Dareg. We were told
to ask for thirty to be brought? That is not equal to the group that you had
here before however, is it? That was eighteen..." It was a guess, but
seemed like a good one, given that the being hadn't been there for it himself.

Really, how that had been worked
out, Dare didn't know. Not spying, most likely. That probably meant some kind of
device had been used to look at them, even inside their ship.
Through
a
shield. That or the size of the ship had been judged, very accurately, and the
pattern of how he, personally made room for people had been judged perfectly.

He shrugged, then spoke, since
when you got down to it, he wasn't in charge of anything. Just pushy and the
kind that said things like he was.

"That shouldn't be a
problem. That gives ten from each group? That works. I need to get with some
people here, to host them and firm that part of things up. They'll all need
supplies, too. I'll make sure they have what they need. Maybe... Some way to
make gravity less for your people when they are here? That should be doable."
Clothing, toiletries and communication devices. Shields for them all, as well.
Ones that would reduce the weight of things around them all the time at a level
that could be set by each being.

Hess bobbed again.

"Would doing that next month
be allowed? Then having them stay for three months?"

It was a long time, but seemed
about right to him. It took time to learn about people.

"Let me see if I can set
that up? I have to
ask
, since the real work won't be mine on that part.
It sounds good to me?" Getting with the King made sense, but so did Sam
Builder. They needed to have the incoming people go to different lands too, or
it would be boring for them.

As he stood there talking to
Hess, a mint green ship started to settle. It was smaller than it had been the
last time, but the shape was the same.

"Ah! I think Neesa is here.
I need to get with President Yarl, so he knows that we're coming."

The Ysidril bobbed again, then
spoke, his tone a bit sharp for him.

"Please tell Neesa that I
expect her back at our dwelling before the second section? She has studies, and
while helping our friends is important, it cannot outweigh her studies."

That was a bit different, but it
made some sense.

"Are you and Neesa..."
Dareg didn't know what the relationship would be there. His guess was daughter,
but they were aliens, so he let himself go silent.

Hess made a soft hissing sound.

"I am her teacher. Mentor?
She lives with me, and it is my duty to aid her in learning enough to be a
competent adult. That requires responsibility, as well as study. Risk as well,
in small measure."

"Ah. Hence sending her to us
like this? In case we seduce her away with trinkets and fine foods...
That's
a risk. Sooner or later the King will want her to come for a meal. The palace
is
pretty nice."

The Ysidril opened his mouth,
several times in a row.

"That is good! I had thought
that she might break rules there, not knowing them, but yes, fine foods... That
is a weakness of mine, I must admit. Especially meats. They aren't good for me,
but I do love them."

"I need to go. Now that I
have that knowledge, I'll know what to bribe you with, if needed." That
was playing, but Hess got that, it seemed. They parted as he walked, the
floating case behind him, moving steadily, rather than the slight wobble that
the old kind had. That was due to how they followed the device the field was
on. His was a bit smoother that way, but less responsive, delaying its motion
by about half a second when he started to move.

A side of the vessel, which was a
small six sided shape at the moment, formed a hole in the middle, with a ramp
leading up to it. Neesa waddled over and saw him coming already, so bobbled a
bit.

"Dareg... You have a tiny
ship behind you?"

He glanced back, and got what she
meant. It did look a bit like that, from a certain perspective.

"A carrying chest. I have
some things for the Forten. More lights, and boxes like this. I had some extra
suddenly, and no storage for them. Oh, we need to hurry, I think. Hess wanted
me to remind you to be back by the second section? Something about studies.
Which... I know how that is. I have some in the morning too, and need to sleep
first." He was tired already, having been up for a day nearly, but he used
the wakening device, as he climbed the ramp. The box moved in easily enough,
and settled to the floor inside, when he put the tile down on the deck. He didn't
know that a floating box would do anything in a ship as it moved into orbit,
but he also didn't know it wouldn't, and really didn't want to find out as the
thing bashed him at thousands of miles per hour.

Neesa moved to the front, and
followed the take off protocol carefully, but as soon as they were in orbit,
about three minutes later, she jumped. That move had them at her home ships
instantly, the view impressive, for about ten seconds. Then they jumped again,
and started moving rapidly toward the center of a very large, kind of
planet-like, moon.

Neesa spoke as she dove toward
it.

"F-Two. We should be inside
in a few moments. There is time however. The second section doesn't start
for..." She stopped and made clicking noises, her mouth opening her mouth
just a tiny bit. After ten, very well timed clicks, she glanced back at him.

He'd stood for the whole trip,
sitting not being needed.

"Seven hours? I
think
that's close. It isn't something we have to worry over. If I'm late, from
helping others, then that will be allowed." She seemed certain of that.

Dareg watched what was going on,
as they landed. A hole opened up in the large moon, sliding to the side,
slowly, and Neesa guided them in. Then they had to wait, for the hangar, or
whatever they called it, which was a large space, to fill with air. As soon as
that happened, a group of fifteen Forten walked out of a wall, moving quickly.
One of them was dark, and not all of them were vastly muscular or anything like
that. Three were, and all had silver hair. They
did
all seem fit, even
in the distance, however.

Dareg got out, bringing the case
with him, as the people closed the distance between them. The chest bumped the
side of the ship as he started down the ramp, but by slowing down, and picking
the tile up a bit the black box didn't try to drag its way down the ramp. The
things needed controls for that, which should be doable, Dare thought. Ways to
direct how it flew using thought as you moved.

The Forten, if they were all that,
moved at a good walking pace, but had started at a healthy distance from them.
The mass of air moved in and out of the space was insane, since they could have
avoided all of it with a good airlock. They clearly had them, since one of the
walls had differently shaped sliding doors. This ship could have used
any
of
them.

That meant, he supposed, that the
Forten were trying to treat him like he was special. That, or showing how
powerful they were. It
was
impressive, he had to admit. The space was at
least half the size of the Noram space port, on the ground. The ceiling was at
least that high, up above them. Neesa came to stand by him, speaking softly as
people came up.

"That one, near the front?
That is President Sta'Benson. I learned of him in my lessons. I don't know who
all the others are. I think... It's hard to tell. You humans all look alike. I
think their economics secretary is with them. That brown woman, there?"

The lady pointed to had skin that
would be normal for Noram, and the eyes were right for that as well. The hair,
too, if he were going to be honest. It didn't fit the face however, which was
attractive enough, but out of place, for a completely different reason. One
that, Dare had to admit, would be all about how
he
viewed her, not the
face itself. After all, she looked identical to his mother. Not close, but like
a
perfect
match. Except that his mother's eyes had been a lighter shade.
He thought he remembered that. It was
her
however.

The blood rushed from his face,
but no one noticed it. Even as they all got there. On the good side, once he
looked around a bit, it was clear that some of the others were familiar too.
Yarl
,
who he'd talked to not long before, for instance.

Also Kevin Straughan.

The man,
this
version of him,
was shorter, by nearly a foot, and had green hair and eyes, with a complexion
that was nearly a match for the old, now dead, Kevin. This fellow, who Dare had
to imagine wasn't going to be called that in this particular location, seemed
to simply be part of the group, however. None of the others seemed to be
recognizable to him at the moment, which meant very little. It was tempting to
just confront the beings, but there was no way for them to win, in this place
and time. Not against two of them.

So instead, he forced a smile.

"Hello! I'm Dareg Canton. Of
Earth. I brought some boxes and lights that I made earlier. I was asked to come
and show you all how to use them? So, let's get to that? It isn't hard. In
fact, why don't you each get one, and try it out?" It was hard, clearing
his mind while he opened the box and passed things out. Almost impossible.

By the time the women that looked
like his mother came up to him to take her two tiles, he was able to read her
fairly well. At first it didn't make sense to his mind. That was due to him not
wanting to believe it.

Almost certainly.

The thing there was that she
felt...
Normal
. Like a regular person. Real and whole. Her mind was
slightly disarrayed, but not mean or cold. Green Kevin however wasn't there to
his magical sense in the slightest. It was really strange, but as far as he
could tell, that meant that the brown woman, one of the Forten leadership
caste, was the real thing. An actual person, not a copy.

The green one however wasn't.

Everyone else seemed to be there,
and were perfectly normal, which was confusing as well. Or would have been, if
the plan was to have several of them there to kill him at once. This seemed
like a mistake, more than anything.

Of course, if this woman, the
brown one, was a real person, and was identical to his mother, Merilee
Merchant, then that meant... The idea wasn't a thing he could deal with at the
moment. Focusing, he locked that thought down as best he could.

He looked at the woman, and felt
like passing out. Remembering the corpse of his own mother, right there next to
him, for three days, pinned under a heavy roof slab. He shook a bit, which got
the green colored Adversary to move over to him.