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  Tor rolled his eyes over the matter.

  “I said that it had been talked about. Though… Some of the ideas aren’t proving out to be wrong. I managed a small test, last week, after we spoke. I can cause air to self-generate and hold in place, on the surface of the Moon. It would take billions of units to do that for the entire thing, as well as hold a five-thousand-foot gravity zone around the whole planet. So, it won’t affect the orbit or anything like that? There will be constant loss of air, since the pressure is always higher at the bottom than at the top. It will push it all away. That means constantly making new air, or the whole thing won’t work.”

  Albert shook his head, trying and probably failing, to understand what was being spoken of.

  “Um… can’t you just order the air to come back? Instead of only holding it in place with gravity, I mean. Or is that stupid?” He didn’t know enough about magic to understand if he was being annoying or not.

  From the look on Tor’s face, he was managing that pretty well. At least it seemed like that, until the attractive man spoke.

  “No, that isn’t stupid at all. It’s obvious. At least now that you mention it. Just order the air to come back at the top, and that will probably stop most of the long-term attrition. Then I just need to figure out self-replicating fields and we should be able to set it up. That only gives breathable air and gravity, of course.”

  There was a snort from Timon then.

  “You don’t have self-replicating fields yet? Seriously? I’ve known how to do that since I was thirteen. I can show you, if you want?”

  He looked smug. Most likely over the fact that he’d come up with something that the mighty Tor never had. A thing that Al had to admit was a pretty good trick, really. If it was meant to humble the fellow, that didn't seem to work. He just seemed pleased to hear the news.

  “That… Would be good, actually. So, we do that, and set up that meeting with the others, on the topic. Albert?” The man looked at him, instead of the more important and competent people there. Then, he was the only one that lived on the Moon, that he knew of. From the sound of it, Tim might have a place there, he realized. Even if he was supposed to be in Austra, being their Ancient.

  Regardless he knew the rules there, more or less. Not that any would exist for things like making the whole surface useable. No one had thought it could be done, so no laws were put in place to encourage or stop it from happening.

  “We can do that. We should probably get with the Ancient there, on the topic. Maybe the council, too? I can’t see why they wouldn’t want that kind of thing. Then… Really, we have people living underground already… We should turn the surface into a big forest or garden. A place for animals, that people can visit, instead of living on all the time?” After all, if it was held in place with magic, things could go wrong. Like all the air failing at once.

  They couldn’t have people getting lazy with their shields or anything like that. Not until they knew it was going to work, century after century.

  Tor clapped his hands.

  “Great idea. We can run it past Tiera. No need to do all that work, if no one else likes the idea. Then again, if it works there, we might be able to speed up the work on Mars. That will take more finesse, of course. The Moon will never be able to sustain life on its own. Mars could, if we handle things correctly.”

  Everyone else there just sat, listening and not saying anything about their silly ideas. When someone finally did speak, it was one of the men that had been out fighting the fire, the day before.

  “Where do I put my plate and silver?” He held those up a little bit, with several others also moving their empty plates a bit, gearing to stand up.

  Still in the brown robes that he’d worn to the palace, which got in his way, being awkward like they were, Albert hopped to his feet first.

  “I have those. They go into the side of the food units, though, if it comes up. Here… there are also showers and proper beds, if you need sleep? That or some drugs, to keep you awake.” He needed to do that one himself, he decided.

  Only after healing. The accella was probably killing him already, from his abuse of it in the last days. Destroying his kidneys as the drugs messed with things in his blood. If he didn’t want to die, he had to be careful with things like that. So, repairing the damage was a good plan.

  The thought caused him to smile. After all, some time in the last days he’d apparently moved to a point where he didn’t want to stop living. Not all the time, or with the will that he’d become used to, over the past years and decades. That was amazing, really. Not that he truly understood why it had happened, yet. Or if it would last.

  So far, it seemed real. For the moment. That would change, of course. It was a thing that Albert had known since he was a small child. At any moment, everything you thought you had, even things that everyone else were allowed, could be taken away from you. In an instant. Even if you were ready for it and careful, there was no way to truly defend against that kind of thing, either.

  After a moment, the good cheer he’d felt faded. He still moved to work, taking people’s plates and making sure they had what they needed to be comfortable. After all, his Duty that day was to help others in need. Not to wallow in the despair of his own existence.

  Chapter ten

  “No. We can help you with some food and clothing, some replacement tools and have the military rebuild some of your houses. That’s all. We aren’t providing fancy magics for everything. Not constantly. Don’t get used to it. We were gifted a temporary loan of things to make recovering from the fire easier. It all has to go back.” The woman in front of him, who was plump enough to show she wasn’t used to hard times without it being unattractive, was trying to manipulate Albert into giving her more than the people he was with were willing to part with.

  She was under thirty, and had honestly lost most of what she’d owned in the fire, two weeks before. At the moment she was in a simple gown of homespun cloth, instead of the finer things that Tiera was off making, in the background. About ten feet away. Close enough to hear Albert being mean, not giving the woman everything in the world, just because she’d hinted at wanting it.

  That part was annoying to him, of course. That this woman, an attractive off-blonde, with even teeth, tan skin and curves enough to be interesting, was expecting him to give over to her… Just because she was pretty. There wasn’t even a hint from her that he might get more from the deal than a smile, as she walked off with handfuls of magical amulets. Tens of thousands of golds worth of things. A thing that she clearly understood, too.

  Which was fine, since no one else had been suggesting that they date him for more than others were getting either and he was more than willing to help them out. This one however, a merchant’s daughter, seemed to think she was special. That she deserved more than everyone else was getting. Just because of her social position and looks.

  Things that weren’t going to be happening. Not even if she decided that marrying Albert was the best plan for her life. Thankfully he’d seen her true face, which meant that wasn’t going to tempt him, even if she changed her tactics.

  “That’s not fair!” The lady, old enough to know better, actually stomped her feet. Petulantly. It was both awkward to watch and kind of cute. She even pretended that she was going to cry. That wasn’t really happening, of course. She just acted like there were tears coming, covering part of her face and looking away.

  He was, he understood, supposed to placate her now, telling her that he’d meet her part way. Perhaps give her a clothing amulet, so that she could wear finery every day, to lord over the other victims of the fire that had stolen almost an entire town away. Instead, for the first time in days, possibly longer, Albert took a deep, slightly shuddering breath, then gritted his teeth, in anger.

  What came to him wasn’t about entitled and childlike women, though. No, he thought of the women that had been kidnapped. It had turned out that it wasn’t just twelve of them, from Thomson. There
were slightly more than that missing from Ross and from two other incidents, each with about a month between them. One had been a dam breach. The other an earth tremble that had taken several buildings down, off in Galasia and the surrounding area where the ground was unstable, as a rule.

  It had been Alison who had put it together, taking her current position as investigation head rather seriously. Every few days, all of the handhelds triggered an emergency alert, showing the pictures of the criminals they were after. So far that hadn’t done anything at all.

  He, for one, was fairly certain that they weren’t in Printer, Cannor or Ward Counties. Not in a big city anyway. Too many people there had handhelds now to miss them. Unless they disguised themselves rather well. Which, with a single amulet each, they could have easily done.

  Going dead inside, over the idea of what was probably happening to the women that were gone, Al shook his head. Slowly, but with meaning.

  “Get out of line. If I ever hear of you asking anyone here, anyone, for more than your fair share, you get nothing at all. Do you understand? Say yes, and walk away, or I swear…” What he was supposed to do, other than threaten, he didn't really know.

  The woman in front of Al was familiar to him, in type. A lot of the ladies that went into The Eternal were a bit like her. They felt that being prettier than the girls around them meant they were worth more to the world. It wasn’t honestly true, of course. Not if the value that women held was more than their ability to entertain men. Serro was worth ten of the woman in front of him, for instance. Really, even Erie was worth several times more and getting her to work regularly was a bit like offering to pull teeth. She did it, if she thought the consequences were going to be bad enough. Still, she did it, eventually.

  This one, who hadn’t even bothered giving him her name first, just started in on some rather fake seeming sobbing. It was meant to wear at his resolve. A thing that worked, if only a bit. Mainly because he thought of the crime victims doing something similar in the night, after being abused and used in whatever way they had been.

  Taken as slaves, force to do unspeakable things in order to survive.

  Just as he was about to soften, since a small crowd of people had gathered, to make certain he wasn’t being too hard on the entitled merchant girl, who was busily sobbing about how he wasn’t being fair, Tiera moved over. Leaving her Maker still and not creating goods that would be needed in a few months, for the cooler weather.

  “You heard him. You get what everyone else here does and no more. As it is, I’ll have to beg him not to strip everything from the town here over this. You people need to take this woman away and have a serious discussion with her about what people from other worlds actually owe her in life. Just to be clear, the answer is nothing. Nothing at all.” Tiera, standing a head taller than the tallest man in the crowd there, curled a fist, as if to let them all know she was about to start swinging.

  She was in a plain brown outfit, being trousers and a shirt, the same as Albert had on at the moment. It didn’t matter. No one looking at her could think of her as being anything other than regal, even if they didn't know who she was. Though, she’d been introduced as Tiera, Ancient of the Moon, so they probably did understand that part, more or less.

  A man, who looked to be in his late teens, bowed a bit, stepping in.

  “Of course, Ancient. Help me get Farah out of here, please?” He was being polite, though his hands were thrown off as he touched the lady on the arm. Gently.

  “Don’t touch me! You’re hurting me!” Given no one was making contact with her yet, that seemed unlikely. Rather than tell people to use force, which seemed to be the next step in the process, at least if they wanted anything close to peace that day, Albert shook his head.

  “All right…. Tiera, let’s head out, over to Moral? The people there need at least as much help and might be a bit more receptive to the idea of not biting the gift horse on the tail.” Albert simply started to pack up. Not taking what had been generated for the people there or anything. It was one thing to remove his work for the moment. Another to take everything away that these people needed, over the actions and behavior of one young lady.

  A nice temporary set of magical buildings had been set up, which wouldn’t be stolen, Al knew. Not with most of the town living in them at the moment. The pile of filled food stacks was probably close to a tenth of what these folks would need for the year. Tiera was actually doing better, having about half or more of what would be required, even if the Maker was slower than the large food unit he was using at the moment. His device was simpler, but designed to make masses of food.

  The difference was in how things had to be packaged and, of course, that food was eaten, so would vanish as it went along. A good hammer would last for years. That meant they needed a whole lot more food than they did tools and clothing.

  There was a defeated and slightly annoyed groan from the collection of people. One of them, an older woman, moved forward, her eyes shining with tears that weren’t falling.

  “Please, no! Farah… She’s been having a hard time of late. Used to getting her own way, back when her father owned half the town. She doesn’t speak for the rest of us.”

  Which was probably true, but the blonde was dancing around, stomping and turning red at the moment. It wasn’t attractive on her. Several of the people attempted to hold her, only to be thrown off. He didn’t get it, though Tiera, being wiser than he was, spoke a single phrase in explanation.

  “Combat rage. You wouldn’t think it, being she seems to be of city stock. Everyone back away. Let her go.” Tiera sounded odd when she spoke on the topic. Bored and almost as if she were lying to everyone. Except that, of course, Farah really was acting strangely. Throwing a fit over not getting her way in a dire time wasn’t exactly sane.

  That, the rage of the Nobles, was a thing that he’d heard of before, of course. Everyone in Noram understood the basic idea. It was part of the reason that nobles always got their way. If they didn’t, they could go into a lethal fighting condition and start killing people blindly. Everyone there backed away as commanded, Farah throwing lazy and uncontrolled punches left and right. Missing everyone.

  Right until Tiera moved in and deftly tapped her on the jaw, once.

  “That should end the issue for now. Are we coming back later?” She only looked at Albert. There was no hint that they’d be going against his plan to leave, even if the situation had changed. He didn’t get it, of course. Still, she was the Ancient of the Moon and he was… The Broom Man. Not even the Broom Man of Second City or the the Chief Custodian of The Eternal. He just took shifts there a few times a week.

  Cleaning up messes. Often ones from people that were a lot like the woman on the ground in front of them.

  “We’ll be back. After we see to Moral, in the West. When we come back, it might be best if Farah here didn’t come out to meet us in person?” He shook his head, not feeling like smiling at all. Really, he probably looked angry, even if he just felt kind of sad and annoyed. “We won’t let her behavior reflect on the rest of you. It’s just that we don’t need her waking up and coming for us again, today.”

  They left the goods there, for the town’s people of Darrot to deal with, took down the devices with a few deft taps and used the transport hut that had been left there. It was Thomson Fire Four, since they had three other locations that needed military focus stone builders to come in each day. They hadn’t started yet, but would the next day. Then, thanks to the deal he’d made with King Richard, Albert would have to run food to each group, personally.

  Well the bargain was that he’d see they were fed two meals a day. He just didn't have anyone else to go and see to it, which meant doing it all himself. At the same time, he had to keep up with all the people running the handheld project. It wasn’t perfectly smooth, so far. Mainly because of people. Ones like Farah, that figured they were owed things that they weren’t. It wasn’t enough that they got the use of the things for nearly free.
No, some figured that having to leave their name and make small payments each month was too much effort.

  There had been arrests, in several cases. Each of the would-be criminals had tried to lift one of the Handhelds, carrying them away in a pocket or in one case, several in a bag, as the woman tried to sprint away. None of the people doing it were truly poor, either. Not so far.

  They’d all just decided they didn’t want to bother with the rules.

  Interestingly, the people that he’d hired for the work were, so far, taking all of that in stride. As if such things were to simply be expected, if you worked with the public. Which was probably the truth. Farah at least had only asked and then kind of demanded free things, instead of trying to take them by force of guile. That showed she was, in potential, better than that.

  As they left, going into the red hut about fifty feet away, just off the main street of Darrot, Tiera turned and tapped a word on the back wall. She’d brought it up with blurring speed, and activated it so quickly that it was almost one movement.

  “We’re off to Harmony, for a meeting, anyway. You’re required to attend. Don’t feel too bad about that, since most of the rest of us are as well. It’s a rule. Though, we can call in on the handhelds too, if we’re truly busy. We just had this break come up, so it works for now.” She smiled and touched his left shoulder, gently. As if they were friends. Which might even be the case. Probably the short-term kind, but they got along well enough, he supposed.