Lineage (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 1) Read online

  His girl, the device, laughed softly.

  "Not so fast, friend. You already filled me up, but there are nineteen more of me that need to be put out around this place, and we need to get things here taken care of sooner rather than later. We should get that water in, for one thing. So, Taman, oh great and mighty creator of mine, why don't you send along a river for us to use? A little house, too? Then my new boss can live here, and make sure I'm not just going to collect dust. We have everyone coming back soon, and you told me that meant things would be picking up. So... Hmm? What do you say? Sounds good, doesn't it? The best plan for everyone, clearly. Especially me, which is the important part to remember here." The tone was playful. Friendly too, as well as cajoling.

  Before he could say no, and stomp off to find his way as a city whore, the other girl smiled. It really did match the Tam-unit perfectly. It probably meant that she wasn't a horrible being, even if the story she was telling him was a little strange. Only, of course, it wasn't. Two points of confirmation meant the tale had simply been real to begin with, and he'd been wrong his whole life. That was all.

  "That would be really helpful, actually. Dareg, can you do that for me? I can send some things along. The Tam-unit isn't really wrong either. In about two months all of us will be coming back, maybe sooner, and it would be nice if we didn't have to land in a garbage pit. It won't pay much, but I can send a house, a little economy one, and a way to get water in? That no one has done that yet... Well, that's my fault. I should have thought of it before. So, are you in? The unit with you can make food, and some limited clothing for now. You'll need more than that, if you're going to be in charge there. Still, if you do this right, you can set things up pretty nicely for yourself, so it's worth giving a try?"

  Then as if she'd settled the whole thing, and he wasn't set to walk away, the device changed, and only his girl, the one in black, was left.

  Tam-unit.

  It was a funny name, but wasn't too bad. Dareg was as strange, and he wasn't even made of magic. Though if what the girl had suggested was right, he might have been made by it.

  "Fine. I guess. So, you said there were more of you? How do I find them?" His mind flashed to a great journey around the land, like the hero of a tale. Searching caves and climbing mountains in the cold snow.

  Those words got a slight, rather fake, whirring sound to happen, which was clearly the girl in the box making a sound with her mouth, and a small box pushed out of the front of the device. There was no door there, the thing just pushed through the otherwise solid seeming surface.

  "Ta-da! Right in this little stone case, there are the others. Just take them around here, by the four side entrances, and then by each of the landing zones, and tap the sigil to turn them on. We're a single mind, so we can chat as soon as you have me all set up? Then all the hoppers will need to be filled. So... You'll want that bucket, some protective gloves, and a shovel. I can do that."

  Which, after about five seconds, he realized was just true. The things pushed through the flat front of the unit, like the box had. The big difference, he understood, being that the shovel, bucket, and then leather gloves, were all being made. For him. Dare took them carefully as they came at him, the device giggling a bit.

  "That took about half of what's in the hopper here. In the main you should make certain no one can get too much at once. People here won't know to fill me back up, so you'll probably have to do it most of the time. You should get on that. After all, I feel half empty now. That's no way to leave your new best friend, is it?" She made the words sound flirty, but Dare thought about the whole thing, and shook his head again.

  If the device, and that woman from Harmony, had been right, then the Tam-unit looked just like his Aunt. She, for her part, was clearly a wizard too, like Tor. Dareg had heard something like that before, to tell the truth. In his lessons. There were several of them in that family. Really, they were the most important magical family in the world, as far as that went.

  Tor, who was said to be the strongest wizard to ever have lived. Timon, who was probably as good, and more helpful, having made the big food devices that had kept the world going in the ten years after the last great war. Terrance, who was a Countier, meaning that he was going to take over a County some day, though which one Dareg didn't really know. Baker probably, given their last names. That left the one he was talking to. Taman. She did things, too. Little floating vehicles mainly, and apparently things that made other stuff, like the device he was looking at. Queen Tiera was in there as well, he thought, but that part had never been that clear to him. He blamed Rosemarie, the schoolmarm, for that one.

  It had come from a book, so maybe it wasn't truly her fault, however.

  "On it. I'll get you filled first, then go set up the rest. It's a job, I suppose." Manual labor, under the hot sun, but he'd done that before. On the good side, he could probably set his own work hours here. It was going to take a while to get the whole thing settled. The place, the whole thing, was the size of a city, if very open, and with no buildings... And filthy.

  Carrying the little stone box, which was white, and his new work gear, he scooped trash up, and refilled Tam-unit. She giggled while it was done, as if it tickled.

  Then he trudged, feeling too hot, and more than a little thirsty, to the front of the place. There was no real gate or anything, and not even a sign, but the roadway pointed toward the Capital, about three miles away. Right at the mouth of it he stopped, opened the box up, and took out a small white stone tile. One that had a glowing red sigil on it. Focusing as hard as he could manage, willing the thing to turn on, he tapped it, expecting nothing.

  So he jumped when the tile floated upward about six inches, hovering over his hand, slipping out of his fingers to do it. Then it moved forward about three feet, and started to glow, brightly. Inside the brilliant light a Tam-unit, like the other one, came into being.

  About five seconds later a familiar voice chuckled at him.

  "One down! You should fill me first, so you don't have to come back five times to get it done."

  It took a while. A long one. By working fast, and using the bucket and shovel to get at some of the filthier trash, piles of waste mainly, that had been dumped from different craft over the years, he had all of the twenty devices filled and ready for use. Nearly. It wasn't until he was back at the first device that she smiled at him and mentioned the rest of it.

  "We have some choices to make now, boss."

  That was news to him, really. His lower back was sore, and he was tired, dirty, and probably smelled bad. His patched clothing had dust all over them, too. That he was in charge didn't seem to really fit.

  "We do?"

  "Oh, sure. You need to tell me what I'm allowed to pass out, for one thing. There are six levels of things that we can do. The idea is to not give away so much that no merchants will be willing to come and work here. We want commerce for this location, since Noram runs on it. So, basic food, a single set of brown work clothing per customer, and unlimited water to drink? Some other beverages as well. That's pretty much the first level of things. On the sixth level I could really open up, and make whatever you wanted. Just for you though, not everyone. That's dangerous. If you make too much coin, or fine jewels, you could make those pretty much worthless for everyone. That level is only for you, and you should only use it in an emergency. The first five levels though are for anyone, but the higher you go, the less tempting coming here for business will be for people. So what should we do?"

  He blinked, and then shook his head a bit. The more he let the devices do, the harder he was going to have to work, he didn't doubt. Going around and collecting trash and dirt to fill the devices up. Normally he would have thought that sounded fine, but he was really starting to get pretty sore from the work, and was probably burned already.

  "Let's start with that first, lowest level? We can increase it later, if anyone needs?" That sounded reasonable to him, and might let him get things around a bit more slowl
y at first, so he could build up to the work that was needed.

  "Done then! That was easy. I was worried there for a second. After all, if you could have all the gold you want, you don't really need to work. Then where would I be? Left empty and sad, not able to help anyone."

  There was a rustling beside him, about ten feet away. The tan focus stone door opening and letting the two men who had helped him leave earlier come out. He turned toward them, as they stared for a bit, and got his shovel ready. If they wanted to fight, this time he wasn't going to be the one in the street in pain. Not that they'd been that mean about it, but it was clear that they'd expected him to leave, and here he was, not doing that.

  The larger of the two men, who was probably at least mid-level merchant class, given how tall he was, about six-four, moved over to the Tam-unit directly.

  "Hey, the kiosk is working? Did you do this?" That was directed toward Dareg, which got a small, but slightly suspicious nod in return. The man didn't sound angry or anything.

  The other man, who was a bit smaller, if still larger than Dareg, and wearing matching light colored clothing, moved over to the device as well.

  "What can we get with you?"

  He jumped a bit, when the device answered.

  "Level one supplies so far. Facilities manager Dareg set the conditions. No one here knows to keep the hopper full yet. Though you need to, so if you want to use me for things, you should toss all your trash into the side of me when you have it. So, food, soft beverages, and a single set of clothes if you need it. Workman brown only. You have magical clothing, so that shouldn't be an issue for you, but for others coming in, it will give them something if they need it."

  That got a sigh from one of the men. The shorter one.

  "We were told about that, coming here. Still, I could use a sandwich. Can you do roast beef?" His voice was flat, and a bit Austran sounding. Probably because he'd come from there originally. A lot of people from Harmony were said to. Though if that was the case these were the only two men that fit that bill he'd ever met. They might not be from that place either, he knew, never having heard this accent before. Noram was big, and he'd traveled enough to know that a lot of places had different accents. The people that went to live on the Moon tended to stay.

  That was because they had magic there that just gave them things, most likely. It was why Dare had wanted to go. Now he was kind of glad he hadn't.

  The whole thing with him actually having a father who wasn't dead, or just some regular person, was a lot to take in. If that was real. It could all be a trick to get him to stay and work there, slaving away. Then, if so, it was wasted effort. He probably would have done it just for room and board anyway. If not him, then the next person to come along. Jobs were scarce, after all. This sounded like a good one to have, even if it didn't pay much.

  To cover for that he cleared his throat.

  "You two know to keep her filled up, and how to do that right? I guess it's my job to do the other units. The goal is to use the trash up first. The waste and all that. I'll start on rounds for that in the morning. It's about to get late." Not that he had any place to sleep.

  Camping out would be fine for him, he decided. As long as there were no storms coming in. In that case... Well, he'd probably die, if these men didn't let him into their little stone building. Maybe he would even then. That was the risk you took in life.

  The older, taller and almost noble looking one, who looked about fifty, glanced his way and sighed.

  "You Dareg then? Got to be, since no one else is around. Sorry about roughing you up earlier. We've just had a lot of young people that wouldn't take no for an answer, so have kind of gotten used to it. A few a week. None of them took over the place, though. You have some kind of work plan then?"

  Dare felt like not saying anything, and possibly running off. Things were moving fast here. Still, if he didn't hang on to this job with both hands, and a knee for stability, then he was a fool. Merilee Merchant hadn't raised any of those that he knew about.

  "Yeah. We're getting a little river put in. Then we'll do up some buildings, and maybe get a store and a tavern out here. For the people that come in? The big thing is to get this place clean though. I guess that some people are coming, in a few months? Sooner than that maybe." He didn't really know any more than that.

  The man that had asked after a sandwich took it as it came out of the front of the device, on a thin plate. It looked pretty good to him, actually. The bread seemed to be white and very soft as he took a bite. Then his eyes closed.

  "Oh, this is good. Can you do beer too?"

  The girl on the box shook her head.

  "Nope! Not on level one. That's a level three product."

  The man made a face, then looked at Dareg.

  "You could reset it to that, right?"

  "I could. I won't though. Not until we have guards to wrestle angry drunks down. That, and a jail to put them in. I don't even know how to get all that done. So, not to be mean, but drink water today." These two had already shown that they were too much for him to fight. Battling them in their cups wasn't a good idea.

  The bigger man sighed, and shook his head.

  "What about some juice?"

  The box practically chirped then, and words came up on the screen, which, Dareg realized, were options.

  Not just juice either, but about a dozen different things. Coffee, which he'd never had before himself, tea, and drinks that he didn't recognize at all. Milk and several kinds of juice were there. In all it was kind of a good set up, he realized. He'd honestly thought that it was just going to be water. Not that he didn't need that, given the heat of the place.

  Both men collected their supper, and moved back into the little dwelling, not needing to walk, or as one of the men assured him, fly, into the city for the meal.

  "We have a place there. I guess with water coming in, we'll need to get something out here? I'll wait for things to settle though, myself." Then both of the men vanished inside. Their white robes, which were more like tunics and trousers, flashed a bit as they did.

  Dare was hungry too, but needed to wash up first, which meant getting the Tam-unit to give him a small pot of water for that. Most of it went back into the device when he was done, except the damp on his skin, and what had been spilled on the stone below.

  "You should eat something. Would you like some chicken? Maybe some potatoes to go along with it?" That, and some water was what he got. A thing that he ate right there, next to the Tam-unit. He settled on the ground however, since there was really no place else to go.

  The food really was superb. The chicken was perfect, and not too greasy, and the tubers were smothered in butter, which was incredible. He'd never eaten anything that good before, he didn't think. After he put the remains of the meal, mainly the glassware and utensils, which were made of a strange material that was a bit flexible, back in the box, he complimented the device.

  "That was really good. Perfect. I'd ask if you wanted to get married, if you didn't look like my aunt." That part was still too hard for him to wrap his head around. He had an aunt?

  Then, really, he might not. The girl had been willing to have him picked up for Tor, but the man himself might not really want him around. That was kind of fair, too. Bastards weren't welcome anywhere. It was, at least in Noram, better to be an orphan than that. People understood when you didn't have parents if they were dead, but being a bastard kind of just meant you didn't count enough for anyone to have bothered with.

  Worse, he was a half orphan. No one would be looking out for him too much. Especially rich and powerful wizards. Not that the man wouldn't do anything for him. The guy was kind of known for being generous, so that would be there, possibly. That didn't mean he wanted a stranger showing up claiming to be family.

  No, on that score he was probably better off where he was. It was kind of clear that, if he was willing to work hard, he could make his own way pretty well at the port, for a while at least. Night was c
oming, and the two men in white left before it got dark, heading toward the glowing river that surrounded the walled city in the distance. It was all purple at the moment, but rumor had it that in six months, near Noram Day, the tradition was for the floating thing to turn red and green. There were spots of light from underneath it that made it light up, but that carried into the water for a long way.

  It really would be a sight, if he was still there when it happened.

  The night before he'd slept on the streets in the city, curled up in a doorway until he'd been noticed at first light and moved along.

  "I can just sleep here, next to you, right Tam-unit?"

  "Oh, sure! It will be like a sleep over. We can tell stories, and eat bad foods. Or we could, if I was allowed make any of those. Which I'm not yet. What I can do is get you a new outfit? Then you can put those on, and use your old clothes as a pillow? That isn't perfect, but..." Her voice was hesitant.

  Before she could say anything, he stretched and yawned.

  "Still, that's better than using my arm as a pillow again. Things are looking up already."

  The thing there was, by all normal measures they really were. His stomach was full, and the food had been good, and not stale or moldy. True, he hadn't been starving while he traveled, or before, but families came first at the food distribution centers. He'd had enough to get by on, but a lot of it had been the old stuff that no one else wanted.

  Plus, he didn't know how to cook or bake, so having the raw ingredients didn't help him a lot if they came to him. More than one night back home had been spent with him eating nothing but sugar and flour. This was better, and if it was made from trash, well, the other things he ate were mainly dirt and rocks to start with. It wasn't that big of a difference.

  Instead of telling tales, since he didn't really have anything good and neither did the Tam-unit, being, as she put it, just a machine, Dareg changed into his new, better clothing after washing up as well as he could with a few pots of water, and then tried to sleep.