Crystal Core Read online

  None of the kids at the far end did at all, which just meant they could learn that in school, like normal children. In some different realities they might do that anyway. It kind of made it normal, he had to think. Still, he was paying for the school, so could probably suggest they get that kind of thing there. Along with building and trade work. Doing things in focus stone and wood for instance. They were both pretty useful, as well as considered socially respectable.

  Catching himself before he went off on a large and rambling mental tangent, Will moved his eyes back to the blue scaled lady.

  “Well, you, we, are all really just one being each, in millions or billions of parts. Some older, some younger. Ranging back to the beginning of time, all the way to the end.” She stopped, interrupted by Dareg.

  “We have always been here. We will always be here… We’re everywhere.” It was half muttered, but was acknowledged openly.

  “That’s correct. All of us. These parts aren’t all the same, but they are all of one being. Such as how the young lady over there is part of myself and how this man is also that one, over there. One person, in two places, not knowing about the others. Some of the pieces do know, however. Just as there is a core line, that supports millions of lives in the being, there are also parts that know what others are doing, and in some cases, can influence the other portions. Like a brain instructing a hand what to do. That’s the theory.”

  That made sense. Cindy felt like Timon, after all. Even if they were clearly different at the same time. Then, his hand wasn’t his liver, but was all him. The people pointed out were Tor and Brian, with the young lady being Sara, from the IPB. That she was also Elsa… Well, when he focused, he noticed that was simply true.

  Also, that seven other people were checking that at the same time, magically.

  “Ah.” Cindy winked, at everyone, which took skill, but carried to most of the room. The Ysidril didn’t get it. Except for Erath, who was dressed in red mage robes. Cin noticed it and waved to him a little. “That makes sense, I guess. Not that I understand how it works. It probably means that things are a lot different than I imagined. Anyway, I think we have a basic plan. Can we get everyone together for meetings and all that? In a month?”

  That seemed like a long time and worse, several of the other groups decided that was a month in their time. Which for the Ysidril wasn’t that bad, even though they had a different time system. They took it to be roughly eleven hundred cycles. Which had to be pared down to three hundred and thirty. Eleven hundred cycles was about a hundred days, fleet time. The IPB people took it to mean they had a month though, which was actually pretty fair.

  It was Tor who took over, even if he wasn’t the Ancient of Earth. Just one part of it. Vagus, to be exact. Tiera agreed.

  “That’s settled then. It gives us more time to get ready, if we have it. Willum, would you handle transportation for us on this? They’re in your area, aren’t they?” She meant that he’d worked with them a lot, not that he had control over sections of the greater reality. At least he hoped that wasn’t what anyone was thinking. He went places a lot, true. That was very different than even being able to influence anyone.

  Looking at the Queen of the Moon, he nodded.

  “I can do that. Lydia, you can help me with it. Sara…” He looked at the girl, who was still only eight. Prince Benjamin was that age now as well. It felt like they were both aging too fast. Instead of telling her she was too little to help, he just shrugged. “Can you travel between worlds yet?”

  Everyone looked at her, which wasn’t that hard to do. She seemed about thirteen or so. Like a young woman, very nearly. It was part of her power, being able to change shape at will. Except that she could copy the powers of anyone as well. Being a line walker was more than possible for her, but when she nodded, the idea flowed from her field easily enough for him to read.

  Even before she spoke on the topic.

  “Oh, sure. I worked out how to separate parts of Brian’s power out. So, I won’t have to go and fight people like he does. It was kind of hard to learn to do. It took me nearly three days…” She didn’t seem to be bragging about it or anything. To her that was just proof of how difficult it was.

  “Good. You’ll cover the IPB side then. Go where Director Turner tells you. It’s a real job. We’ll try to keep you to areas that are fairly safe. Have you been keeping up with your fighting practice?” It wasn’t his plan to make her fight, not being a monster. You just didn’t always get a choice in that kind of thing.

  No one screamed at him for being horrible even. It was kind of special, since he was feeling a bit bad about using her like he was. Suggesting a child do the work of an adult was harsher than he liked to be.

  Tiera smiled though.

  “I didn’t know you could do that! How wonderful! You can come visit me now. We’ll need to have you attend school as well. We have some good ones on Harmony.”

  Cindy covered her mouth then, but didn’t naysay the woman. She was hiding a smile. When she spoke it sounded a tiny bit odd. Almost like she was playing.

  “That could be done, I bet. She can attend the new space port school here. It’s going to be very exclusive and high end. Only the best instructors are being arranged for it. I hear that there’s a movement to get Laurali and Douglas Baker in to run the facility, so you know it’s going to be fine. I imagine we can get instructors in from several worlds as well. Are there going to be languages taught, Willum?”

  The Bakers, all of them, seemed a bit surprised to hear that the oldest of them were being assigned to the job. Especially those two. Even Willum hadn’t known they were getting Douglas in the mix. Instead of screaming about the new work load, Tor cut them off nicely.

  The tall man, who looked too good to be real, beamed at his parents.

  “That’s wonderful! Can we have some of the more promising children from the Vagus space port facility come in as well? I can put some coin toward it, to offset the extra expense?”

  He was speaking to Willum, who nodded, instantly. Playing along. After all, they were the distraction, or so it seemed. Trying, perhaps futilely, to cover things up while the shock of the whole situation sank in for the eldest Bakers.

  “All the port children get in automatically. Others will have to pass the tests for it. We’ll need to have some Ysidril in for language and mathematics instruction. Possibly botany, as well. Prince Rik, can you come up with some recommendations for us to court for such positions?”

  That got the male Ysidril, who was small, for one of his people, though broad across the shoulders, and dressed in deep red with a blue patch on the middle, to open his mouth a little. Smiling. The big, real kind, for his people.

  “Yes! That is the good idea. We must speak upon it and place options for many. Would there be living arrangements here. Magics to lighten, as well?” His Standard was a lot better than the last time they’d met, Will realized.

  All of the Ysidril were in on the project, it seemed. Instantly, without even needing to be asked. They were even willing to try and provide one teacher per child, since it was how they did things.

  He just let his mouth open a little bit, which only the aliens got. That and Cin.

  “We should have a meeting for that, with the Bakers. Also, we should look into any genetic changes that the students want to try, to aid them in life. Erath, you have that for us?” He just meant as to arranging it, knowing builders now and being well connected as he was.

  Still, Tor nodded. Then jumped to a side conclusion that really had escaped Willum, totally.

  “He can do it. Really, we can assign you to that, for a while, Erath. It will give you a chance to practice more, since you mentioned considering that field for specialization. Mother, father, you should meet with Erath here tonight. Now, really, if there aren’t more Postern traditions? We could play some games. Though I was pretty entertained by all of this, to be truthful. This was a lovely meal. Thank you, all of you, for being here tonight with us.”r />
  That started a chorus of similar sentiments, which was actually how that went for such things. The end of the Postern meal was all about making sure everyone knew you were glad they were there. The Ysidril all picked up on it. Then, so did his IPB friends. Then, almost all at once, most of the people stood up, though they didn’t all start to leave. Instead they moved to the far side of the giant room, to use the chairs and sofas there, in order to meet.

  Almost as if he were the one that had stuck them with the new job of caring for hundreds of children, the Bakers came up to him, rather directly. Both seemed about his own age, if not younger. Looking to be about nineteen or twenty. Douglas seemed amused by the whole thing, and Laurie looked ready to punch him in the nose.

  She hissed a bit as she spoke.

  “I wasn’t aware I was being offered a new position. You do know that I have no training in this field, don’t you?” She sounded nearly as upset as she looked.

  From behind them, there was a low chuckle. It was Erath, standing next to Elsa. Both looking far more fierce than they could ever be. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Willum had seen Ysidril Elsa fighting with double knives once. Erath however would have simply frozen, not understanding what was going on, if violence started. Hopefully it wouldn’t.

  The boy spoke, gently.

  “But when called on, we must serve to the best of our abilities. Are these smaller humans over there the ones that are to be cared for?”

  The three-fingered hand pointed in the right direction. It was the lower right one.

  Seeing that he had the right grouping, which was pretty clever of him, since all humans looked much the same to his people, Willum decided to cheat and waved them over. It would be a lot harder for Laurie to say no, directly in front of the kids. Which still, might not be enough to get her to take the position.

  “Children? Over here. These are the people who have come to watch you. They’ve successfully raised many children. Among them are some of the most famous wizards, and ancients from many lands and even the Queen of the Moon. For some reason they think they have no skills that will help in the job with you… Which is clearly not correct.”

  All the Dirt Children bowed, going low. That forced the Bakers to do it back, upset or not.

  Which really was all part of his clever plan.

  Not that he truly understood why he was bothering with it in the first place.

  It felt… right. If not like something he would have normally thought of at all. Almost as if it was coming from outside of himself.

  Chapter four

  The rest of the evening was, to say the least, a bit different than Willum would have figured. Instead of a well thought out argument and refusal to watch out for unknown children, Laurie Baker almost instantly smiled at the kids and waved them over. Her entire demeanor changed from seeming a bit snooty and upset to actually pleasant. Kind even.

  “I’m Laurie. This is my husband Douglas… Is this everyone? We need all your names.” Then, without asking what Willum wanted done at all, the woman took the small people away, her husband walking with her, seeming more than a little bemused. It was a sign of something, Will didn’t doubt at all.

  Cindy nudged him lightly. She was dressed for the holiday, in somber colors. Light blue and gray, in her case. The dress itself was nice though. Very well designed, if magical. Her hair was lustrous and down around her face, since it wasn’t too long. About shoulder length. That was an IPB thing. None of them let their hair grow long, since they might have to fight at any moment.

  The lady touched his arm, gently. Smiling a bit, while looking away. Then she waited for the Bakers to all be out of earshot. That part was obvious to him, since it came off of the woman clearly enough for Will to pick up. That always happened when they were together. Their powers on the mental level interacted enough for it to be special.

  “That will work. Better than some people in the room think it will. Tor thinks that his mother isn’t that good with boys. The truth is she’s pretty normal that way. A bit overprotective, to be honest. Tor was just smart enough to see that parents are always harder on their boys than they are on the girls. About three times, so it isn’t a small thing. It’s slightly worse here than back home, so might be four times harder. It’s just the way it works though. She isn’t a monster or anything.”

  Which was good, since he was kind of responsible for the whole program. A thing that had grown since he’d mentioned just putting up a simple house and a school for the kids. Not that it was the wrong thing to do. Really, that was why it was happening like it was, once it had been pointed out. People were willing to help, they just hadn’t really let themselves know that anything needed to be done.

  Before Willum could reflect on the idea for long, Tor Baker walked up, his attractive wife right beside him. The man hung back a little, but Alyssa Baker rushed in and started passing out hugs. They were close things and managed to rub her ample chest all over both him and Cin, one after the other. When she stood back, the woman grinned. Like she’d just been handed a present, personally. Which she had, but some new magical clothing wasn’t going to be that special to her. She was a full builder and from the rumors, good at it. Not Tim Baker level good, perhaps, but easily in the top hundred or so in the world.

  She didn’t make him wait to explain her happiness.

  “Your project with the children is such a good idea, Willum. We used to have a program for orphans, but it fell apart when we were exiled to Harmony. We should see about restarting that.” Her head turned toward her tall husband, who was kind of looming over them, being over seven feet tall. Not that Alyssa wasn’t close to that. She was only half a foot shorter than Tor, really.

  His voice was deep enough, but not booming or anything. That kind of thing took practice to make work. A will to make yourself heard at a distance as well. Tor was soft and gentle, by nature. The feeling of that poured from him. Constantly, it seemed. Which was hard for Willum to understand. He’d kind of thought of the man as being fierce and angry on some level. The fellow hadn’t really been like that at all, over time. Their first meeting had seemed a bit like that, which had colored things for him.

  The look on his face now was thoughtful and considering as Tor spoke.

  “That’s a good idea… We should do a bit of a better job this time, if we can. There were mistakes made back then. Mainly my fault, for being too busy to pay real attention to it. I figured that throwing gold at the problem would fix it. That… didn’t really do it. I should have done what you two just did here, getting someone in to watch the kids daily like that. I don’t know if my mother is who I would have chosen for the job…”

  Alyssa made a hard face and turned a bit. She didn’t let a lot leak from her field about what she was thinking. There was actually a soft wave of focus coming from her instead. Meaning the woman wasn’t just concentrating on something else, she was trying to hide her thoughts. Probably from Tor, rather than Willum. After all, he didn’t really matter that much in her life.

  Will just faked a shrug, staying locked down as well. It was mainly habit for him, since a lot of people could read minds, in different realities.

  “It turns out that she’s actually pretty good that way. Your feelings on the whole thing aren’t wrong, but you never worked out that she was honestly just about normal that way toward boys, from what I’ve heard? She seemed harder about things to you, since, well, she was. That doesn’t mean she was evil though. It makes sense, really. Men have to grow up to be workers and soldiers. So, their early training is harsher, to make them strong.” Not that girls were weak, by nature.

  They were simply expected to live different lives though. When they worked, it tended not to be as physically grueling and wearing on their bodies. That was, clearly, meant to allow them to be left strong enough for them to have easy pregnancies. He didn’t go into all of it, since he doubted anyone there would care at the moment.

  The tall, too good-looking man, just shook his head
a little.

  “Perhaps. It’s true that we weren’t beaten or starved as children. I’m sure my parents will do a good job. They have had some practice. What with having eleven of their own and all that.”

  The words got Cin to wince.

  “That’s a lot.” Smiling, she looked around the room. There were, clearly, several groups of people that had spread out to work on how to best pursue their new war plans. Which weren’t much like a battle at all, now that they actually had one. It was more of a…

  Willum didn’t have the words for it. Literally.

  Looking over his head, reading, Cindy nodded.

  “A psy-op.” She spoke in English then, since Standard would fail her if she tried to hold to that on the topic. “A psychological operation. Basically, using our minds and words to influence our enemies. It’s a valid way to fight a war, if you can pull it off.”

  “That works, as a name then. We should probably see about getting with everyone on it.” Will spoke calmly, but was glared at for daring to.

  By his Aunt Alyssa, of all people. It seemed out of place. They didn’t really know each other, after all. This was, perhaps, their third meeting and at least one of those had been so remote and in passing that it probably shouldn’t be counted.

  Her face was a bit sharp, and her cheeks turned a little bit red. It wasn’t in embarrassment, either. She was actually getting upset, for some reason. Angry, from the sense coming off of her. Willing to fight about it as well, if she had to. The idea slapped into his mind, hard enough to mean she was projecting it on purpose. Knowing that he’d pick it up.

  “No. You’re on vacation. This isn’t your part in the whole thing, anyway. You’re just a messenger who does some magic on the side. You aren’t even in the military, or one of the Ancients with an area to control. This is our work, not yours. I expect you to not make us lock you in a palace somewhere for a month?” She crossed her arms under her breasts, framing them, and actually tapped her toes. Her right shoe making rapid thumping sounds on the stone like floor.