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

  Kolb drank his beverage and nodded.

  "And there is, according to our best readings, a robot fleet headed this way. It will take years for them to get here, but what you described could be a forward scout."

  Dareg held up his right hand, a single finger pointed up at the sky, since he understood that was where they'd have to come from.

  "Or it could have been something else. Magic comes to mind? Maybe someone that had been altered, like the new Ancients were? Sara here..." He stopped and turned to her, watching closely. "Sorry, I don't know you that well. What should I call you?"

  "Sara is fine, as long as I don't have to call you High Lord Commander of the Ports?" Her face was playful when she said it.

  "Dare. Anyway, Sara nearly matched the woman. The men didn't fight, or show that level of power. They got out of the cell a lot more slowly, for instance. My guess is that they weren't all the same, or at least were... There's too many things it could be. Not that I'm disregarding the human-like machine idea. I'd love to hear more about that, even if this wasn't that kind of thing." After all, how could they make the pulleys and levers to make them move small enough to fit inside of them? Even thinking about a clockwork person like that was too complex for him to work out in his head.

  Which was why Kolb said that thinking of it like being magic was probably good enough.

  Going on, since they were both waiting for him, Dareg nodded.

  "Sara, you said you couldn't smell them. I couldn't either, but that doesn't mean much. When people have shields on I can't smell them."

  There was a nod then, as if that wasn't a weird thing to say. Kolb looked at them both, but it was just a question held on his face and in his posture. His hands were spread apart. Palms up, which was open, instead of telling him to shut it.

  The friendly blonde Ancient woman took a deep breath.

  "I didn't feel a shield either. It could be something new, but there was no discernible scent, even when we stripped them bare. Well..." She looked away, and stopped talking for a bit, like King Richard had when recalling who the Capital Guard general was. The breathing was similar too, slowing down a lot.

  Which meant he was staring at her chest when she opened her eyes. She grinned at it, and didn't comment. It probably wasn't the first time that had happened to her in life. It might not even have been the only incidence of a person having been counting her breaths.

  She spoke then, locking eyes with him directly.

  "I could smell the clothing. It was scented like a person. The same one for all three of them. When they were stripped that went away, diminishing a lot. When they ran however, it faded totally. Real scents don't do that."

  Kolb sipped his drink, reminding Dareg to do the same.

  "This is really nice. The drink? Thank you for making it." It was just the perfect level of tangy, sweet and tart. It even had bits of ice floating in the glass, and tiny pieces of lemon. Wedges of them. It was, in short the most complex drink he'd ever had. The glass might have been simple in construction, but it was flawless. Small beads of water condensed on the outside it was so cold.

  Without missing a beat, Kolb gave him a nod and a smile.

  "It used to be my favorite, back a few thousand years ago. Lemon-cactus. So, that sounds unusual. Dareg is correct however, we shouldn't jump to any conclusions yet. So far this was nothing more than a minor crime. Assault and attempted robbery. Rape threats are unpleasant, but it wasn't a crime here until they threatened you, Countier Baker. Even that would get a person no more than a lashing in most places. Less than that here in the Capital zone. They tend to be softer on crime here, because there are so many nobles around. It would be too dangerous otherwise, since people will have problems with their kids being put to death for what they think of as minor issues."

  The other Ancient shook her head and made a face at that.

  "Broken, misshappen, laws. Anyway, I'm grabbing Dare here up to take off to Debri house. Heather will want to seduce him into giving her special rights here." There was a playful tenor to the whole thing, and she looked at him closely, like he was supposed to blush or feel awkward about that news.

  He didn't take the bait.

  "Sounds fun. She's the one in charge there? I really would like to start a small shop here. Honestly, it would be great if we could get that going everywhere there's a port." The idea was still forming and not really a thing for the people with him to bother with. "How are the facilities on the Martian Circle that way? On Mars too." He shook his head slowly, since that wasn't the real topic. He was distracting them, because Kolb was right.

  They had a mystery, but it wasn't a big deal yet. He clarified that, shaking his head a bit.

  "Even if they were machine people from the void of space, that part isn't illegal, as far as I know. They can come and go as they please, as long as they follow the laws. I wonder if they were testing that? Trying to see if they could get away with going after commoners here? Like you said, part of what they were doing, while it pissed me off, wasn't illegal. Not that I was going to do nothing. After all, I yelled and screamed pretty well." He smiled at Sara, but she just nodded back, her face pensive.

  Then she furrowed her brow a bit.

  "That... Isn't wrong. You set up the hue and cry, and they clearly let it happen. They allowed themselves to be captured. Once the guard came, they escaped, but only then. That indicates that they didn't really want to harm people. Even on the escape, they used the minimum force needed to get away, rather than killing as they did it, which the woman at least had the power to do. She nearly ripped the focus stone up out of the ground when she kicked your shield. That takes a lot of force. Then she precisely tapped the guards just hard enough to take them down."

  The topic died then, and to his surprise, he was pulled away by the arm. By Sara. Instead of taking him toward the front of the port, leading to the city, she motioned him to go toward her ship. It was small, and a dusty tan at the moment. Only a tiny bit bigger than his pod house. It also didn't have a door.

  When he got there she touched the side, making one appear. It was a good trick really.

  "Can't anyone just walk along and do that though?"

  She started in, which took a step up, because it was hovering about six inches from the ground. The inside was done in different colors, including copper tones and brown leather, or at least what appeared to be that.

  "Not really. Very few people would even think to try it, and of those that do, only about one in ten can concentrate hard enough to get it done. The door being taken away like that isn't in the base concept of the magic, though it also isn't counter to what it can do. In all it works about as well as locking the door of a house. The right person might kick it down and go in anyway, but they'd have to work for it and most won't bother."

  Touching the wall the door closed again, the light coming from the ceiling above them. It was only about eight feet up, though there was a nice, very clear, window that wrapped around the front. Instead of moving to the soft looking chair by the control bobble, she gestured for him to sit there, and took the one next to it.

  "This is a jump ship. Other than the jump itself, it flies like almost all of the other space craft. I'd like you to take it up, orbit once, then we'll get off to Harmony, land and come back for another landing. The whole trip will take about an hour that way." Settling into the chair next to his, she tugged his loose blue sleeve, and waved at the copper colored bob. The thing was about the right size for him to rest his hand on, and he had seen one in use before, so had the basic idea. You took it and moved it, very slowly and gently, in the direction you wanted to go.

  For the moment that meant going up, about a thousand feet, then ten miles off to the West, before going straight upwards from there.

  Sara gave him a look.

  "Why the jog over first?"

  "So that I can't hit anyone. You land on the East side, and take off on the West. The same is true for all the Earth ports." He'd just made that up, b
ut it was why he'd done it.

  The woman patted his arm briefly, then settled back.

  "Not a bad idea. So go up and make a single orbit, until you have a visual on the Moon."

  That meant going almost three quarters of the way around, but he was able to face it directly as soon as he found it, which was harder than doing the same thing on Earth. Then the tan colored blonde winked at him.

  "Not bad. Now, place your hand on the chair arm right under the controls. Then close your eyes and envision a dot behind in red, a dot in front of you in red, and a white one to represent the ship. Then when you're ready, move the white one toward the Moon. Not too close, since we want to practice this part-"

  When Dare opened his eyes, she was smiling.

  "Again."

  This time he didn't have to close his eyes however, seeing the image he'd imagined as if it were floating in front of him. The Moon suddenly grew, but that was all. Then he did it ten more times, in smaller and smaller movements.

  The orbit around the Moon and the Harmony landing was a bit boring, but similar to the last time he'd been there. Only he wasn't required to go in, which was nice because the woman that worked there was kind of mean really.

  Going back was easier, since he had a better idea where the Earth was, it being larger. After they settled there, the woman sighed and shook her head a little.

  "Perfect. The whole time. I didn't know you'd used a jump ship before."

  He nodded, and stood since the lesson was clearly over now.

  "You know, they taught us how in school, in Canton? It was after maths, but before history."

  She blinked, and figured out what he meant so fast it barely registered on her face.

  "Really? This was your first time going up? I mean, not into space, I'd heard about your shield trip, but that... Wasn't too bad, then." She stared though, after saying all of that.

  Instead of letting him go then, she had him close the door, and make it vanish, which was harder than making the craft move to the Moon had been. They spent about twenty minutes on it, with her quietly laughing at him half the time. Finally he got it, and she winked at him.

  "Nice. I was afraid you were going to be perfect at everything. That would be a bit too much, you know? Now, you should change. For that matter, so should I. Do you have a place for that?" She glanced at the rows of palaces, but he just walked toward the front, a steady stream of people collected in places near the building.

  That was because there were musicians, jugglers and even food stalls set up to sell drinks and sweets. True a lot of people were getting things from the Tam-units too, but the stalls had real enough lines of people at them.

  He had to wave people back, so he could set up his pod house, which got a smattering of applause and an audience. They all stood there, waiting for it to do something interesting, so he laughed and waved a bit.

  "This isn't an entertainment. I just live here! Go on now... Go." They did, almost instantly.

  The lumpy pea pod shaped thing was soon hooked up to water, and he had Sara inside with him. Rather than comment about why a person with all those palaces lived in a tiny place like he did, she simply smiled and stroked the wall by the door, which turned into a one way window.

  "Taman made this? It has radiation shielding, which is useful in some areas. Especially Soam, so you should use this when you go there. Your shield has that too, so keep that on. This has a shower?"

  "Through that door. I'd offer to join you, but there isn't enough room. You can go first?" That was polite enough, he thought. After all, it really wasn't that big, which she'd soon see.

  Plus, feeling horny or not, Dareg felt a tiny bit hesitant to suggest sexual things, just in case he had undue influence on people like had been suggested. Working out the morality of that one would take some work, he didn't doubt.

  After all, was it fair for him to have women serving him like that, if they didn't get a normal choice in it? It wasn't rape, of course, since it was clear that he couldn't get a person to do things that were too far outside of what they wanted to do. If so, he'd be rich. He could just walk into the palace and ask for coin. Not that he needed it. Collette had given him enough that way.

  In fact, he needed to get in touch with her and ask about the event, to see if they'd all been set up on the other side of the city already. Pulling his handheld out, he found her name pretty easily. After he tapped the thing, he had to wait for a while however, and when she answered her voice was pretty short with him.

  "What?" When she saw his face she managed a slightly rueful smile for him at least. "Sorry, Dareg. This place is a mad house this year. I set up ten palaces along the river, taking up most of the space for the events Tor sent. I had to. My plan had been for four, but everyone is coming this year. I don't really know what to do. There's no space left for most of it." A man started speaking to her, saying that he wanted to know if she had women available for sex. "No... We don't."

  The man hadn't sounded mean or anything, and was just asking after the girls. From his voice he was a bit older, but also noble. He was tall anyway, even if he couldn't be seen.

  "You should send your friend out this way. We have the bawdy house set up, and there are a lot of wonderful women working there already. We should also have room for some of those events? Outside the river line around the port, but if we put that up between the wall and the spaceport, say on the right, coming out of the city? I can get more restrooms set up."

  The woman was smiling, and looked up at the man who was to her right.

  "That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Prince Dareg. I have heard that the events with the Ancients coming back, which are taking place at the spaceport, are all the rage this year. You have some housing set up out there as well, don't you?" It was said in the kind of way that people used when they wanted to make certain everyone casually overheard them.

  So he did his part, yelling, without seeming like it too much.

  "We do. Two inns, one of them a palace like your own. Not as nice, but close. The other is plainer, but has cool sleeping and beds that make themselves. That one is also free. For our noble guests, or the commoners clever enough to risk going in, we have four great houses set up. Those are free as well, but are first come first serve. We also have a public bathhouse that I hear is close to being the nicest thing of it's kind in the world." On that one he was just making stuff up, but Collette beamed at him.

  Her voice seemed a little fake, but was thrilled enough.

  "I saw that the other day. It truly is. If it's still up next week I plan to spend a day there, myself."

  He nodded, since that might be fun. Not a day there, but an hour or two.

  "Don't forget the restaurant. The Queen of Harmony provided the food units for it, so the fare there is the highest grade. All of the prices are being kept down as well, for the festivities. A copper gets you a full meal, of a grade that would cost a lot more most places."

  Now they just needed someone to come try their special elixir, and the deal would be set. Instead they got muttering, most of it too hard to understand. After a bit, Collette sobered a little and sighed.

  "You called me. What can I do for you?"

  He actually had that now, if she set things up on his side of the city. So, instead of admitting that, he made something up that sounded sweet enough.

  "Well, the third day of King's week I'm holding a dinner out here. At Sam Builder's new palace? King Richard and Queen Constance are coming, and I'll be inviting most of the returning Ancients. I was hoping that you and King Dorgal could attend? It will be at nine, if you can attend. I know that it's last minute, and of course, you're both welcome to come at any time. That will just be for the one thing that I'm actually trying to make nice for people."

  She blinked, and started nodding suddenly.

  "That would be terrific! Thank you Prince Dareg. We'd love to accept."

  Then rather abruptly, she turned pale stared at something going on and yelled.

&
nbsp; "No, not the railing, it won't break! Gah! Got to go-" Then the line cut.

  While he spoke the water from the other room had shut off, and after a minute a fully dressed Sara entered the room. She was in nice clothing, but not the finest possible. It was a nice blue jacket, with a tan skirt however, and sensible brown shoes.

  "Next."

  He didn't hesitate, hurrying through a solid shower, trying not to get his hair wet, being too long for that. It would take hours to really dry. He did shave his face clean, and then tied his hair back again. His face in the mirror looked about like it always did. Square chin, flawless complexion and brown eyes. There was nothing wrong with him that way, which pushed it into being a bit too much, he knew. It was tempting to use his disguise amulet to add a scar, but he didn't want to reset the thing yet.

  At the moment, if he turned it on, his Alice Orange approved face would show up, instantly. If he messed with it, it could take work to rebuild that, and he didn't know that the woman wasn't just going to show up suddenly. For the time being he was going with caution, just in case.

  That done, and a quick brushing of his teeth to make certain he would offend that way, he scurried out, to find that Sara was outside, having set up a Tam-car already. Looking at it he shook his head.

  "We'll never make it that way. Tor-shoes?"

  "That's considered a bit tacky. Juvenile, really."

  Shrugging he turned, took a deep breath and walked back in. It took a bit to situate everything, but in the end his chest was floating in the corner, and the remaining amulets he had were inside of it. Along with the amulet that called it into being.

  Then, focusing incredibly hard, he made the top meld with the sides into one piece. With a lot more effort than he'd figured it would take, he also hid the door to the pod house to protect it and the things inside. He had a lot of things with him, including a jump ship and a few coin, tucked into a side pocket on his hip. His clothing was, he hoped, nice enough. It was similar to a thing that he'd seen earlier in the day, having short pants that were below his knee, buckled shoes, and hose on. Those were a plain gray. The rest was done in three tones of brown, with a slightly girly looking bow at the collar.