Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (33 page)

"Tiera!
We were told that we had about an hour before the transport got in. Are we all
wearing matching outfits?" He looked around, seeming slightly bemused by
it all. He was wearing a nice green and brown outfit himself, that made it look
like he was a decently high level noble. Short or not, a lot of the girls and a
few boys were staring at him. Then they stared at her mother when she walked up
too, just a bit behind, being too proper to run like that.

"There
you all are! Hello everyone!" She seemed nearly friendly even, which she
often was, as long as her male children weren't about. Like Tiera's father, she
looked to be about nineteen or so. Older than Tiera did, but far younger than
her forty odd years. In a lot of ways she was the best looking woman there.
Though Karen was very close.

Really,
that was probably down to the fact that Karen had a fighter's haircut, which
wasn't flattering at all. If both women had long hair, it might have very well
swung in the other direction as to who was better looking.

That
meant a lot of the boys stared for a while. Little did they know that old
Doris, the meditation instructor could have had them all begging for attention
if she wanted. Luckily she didn't. It would have made moving quickly too hard
to manage.

"That's
right. Everyone should be in student brown for the trip out and probably back.
That way the crew of the ship can recognize us all at a glance. We might have
jobs too. I don't know what those are yet, but first come first serve, so get
in line as early as you can without pushing, when they're handed out. Try to
match this." She looked at Tess and Tara, because Terry and Tenant already
had it done. The little girls didn't take long to do it either, and Taman had
already finished too. Douglas actually took the longest, as his version kept
coming out a bit lopsided, being a slightly lighter brown on the left than the
right at first.

Her
mother nailed it, but hugged Douglas as if what he was doing was cute rather
than him being awkward with it. Tiera got the idea with a blink. She was
letting everyone
else
know they were together. In case they missed that
part or something, having all those children?

She
clapped a bit and winked at Tenet, who was cute, but pretty young. He however,
just bowed back a little.

"What
are we supposed to do now?" There was a sweetness to the words, but she
had a plan for killing this first bit of time, didn't she?

"Memorize
the names of everyone else going with us. You kids will be responsible for making
sure they don't get into too much trouble. Once we have a schedule it will be
up to you to make certain everyone is in the right place at the right time.
Remember, these are mainly noble adults, so they might not sleep in their own
rooms. You have to know who everyone is, regardless, in case we're needed for
something. Let's go and introduce ourselves? Sir Kolbrin, Instructor Doris,
would you help us with that?"

First
up was Sheri, who bowed to each of them. She looked at Lauralie and Douglas
professionally. Then the kids. "I'm supposed to help watch them, for the
trip? We've met before. I'm Sherilyn Bonner, Baronetta second. Nice to see you
all again."

Then
they went from there.

It
took a while, but they pretty much had things in hand by the time that an
efficient and familiar looking woman walked over, wearing a black outfit with
orange trim on the sleeves and collar. Henna. From the docks in Austra.

Several
people waved to her.

"Good
day everyone!" She waved her clipboard a little bit in welcome and seemed
cheery enough. "We've had word that the rest of your party is due in
shortly. After that, in about forty minutes, the Sea Spray will land and take
you all to the Winters Kiss. You'll have a full day's wait, in orbit, while we
load needed crew and materials. While on the ship itself, you'll be under
Spacefarer law, which isn't that different than the law here, except that the
Captain is the final arbitrator of it. So, basically, avoid killing anyone on
the vessel, that sort of thing. Any questions?"

Taman
raised her hand, getting Henna to point,

"Yes,
Miss?"

"May
I use the restroom?"

Then
everyone chuckled a bit, but Tiera noticed, more than a few of them did the
same thing over the next few minutes.

She
did, too.

Trice
flew in with the people that had been in the Capital, and Tiera expected the
problems to start then, since two of them were the Prince and Princess. Still,
when she started barking orders at them to hurry and move the craft off the
landing area and then get into student browns for the mission, they all did it
instantly. Except Kurt. Oh, he hurried well enough, but didn't have a clothing
amulet. The four Royal Guards all did however, and none of them even blinked
about the idea of wearing what little kids did.

That
meant Kurt stuck out, but Farlo Ross jogged over and handed him an amulet, so
he could change. Which he did standing out in the open, with Tess staring at
him the whole time, her eyes going much lower than was polite, and lingering
there. No one else noticed, but Tiera moved in front of the young man.

"Student
browns. It will turn on when the amulet does." She stopped and looked at
her father. It really was the preset for that kind of thing, which meant that
his difficulty with it was fake? Why? She didn't understand it at all. It also
wasn't a real problem at the moment. She didn't move until Kurt tapped the
clothing into existence and wiped at his slightly too long blond hair. His lean
face looked at her pleasantly, and then took in Farlo.

"Hello!
I'm Kurt Debri. Are you going on the trip with us?" Then as if it were
perfectly normal, he walked off with her, carrying his leather travel case
easily.

Sara
cleared her throat and watched him with only a bit of unease.

"Thanks
for having us Tiera. I promise he won't be a problem. He gave his word."

Sara
got a hug and then so did the others. That looked a bit funny when she got to
the muscular man she'd never noticed before, but he did it back without acting
out of place, as if they were old friends.

Some
of the others looked at them though, standing back in their lines.

Tiera
didn't glare at them, but did indicate everyone else with her head.

"Expect
to work on this trip." She ran through it all and then glanced at George.
"
Your
people already have a job, which isn't me being nice, just
making sure we all have something to do. Prince Wonderful and Karina both get
to have jobs though. Possibly in waste management. Kurt too." She grinned
at Sara, who covered a laugh, clearly understanding that she was playing, no
matter how serious her face was. It got her to break into a smile.

"See
there now, you ruined it. Actually, I'd like Alphonse and Karina on patrol
duty, along with my brothers and sisters. Keeping people out of trouble and on
task. Making sure they use birth control and all that, if it comes up. If we
have any problems, you two can take turns beating people?" It was a plan
and worked well enough for her.

The
funny thing was, no one questioned her right to make this stuff up at all. Not
even the Prince. He just went along with it as if it were already decided.

"Right
now we've been learning everyone's names and faces. We should all spend the
next bit of time doing that. Prince Alphonse, if you'd get with your team on
that?" It was cute, but he bowed in a military fashion and took his bags
to go stand by Sheri and the kids. The older woman that Tiera thought was named
Wensa, smiled a bit.

Then
she gestured at the giant young man.

"Excellent.
Most people try to coddle him, but he isn't half as soft or lazy as one might
imagine. Princess Karina, either."

That
got Tiera a
look
from the Royal Guard, so she shrugged back.

"She's
with me for this. Our job will be to get the people to load and unload as
efficiently as possible. Let's make plans for that now, and then go over it
with everyone, before the transport gets here?"

That
meant, that when the Sea Spray set down, fifteen minutes later, the pilot
reconfiguring for them all before opening the door, they were ready. It was
almost impressive. The instant the woman piloting came out and saw them, she
blinked. It was someone familiar though, being Wendy, who had been recommended
to the job by her, if Tiera remembered correctly.

"Hello.
Would you all like to start boarding?"

Karina
took that as a sign, and yelled a single word. "Go!"

Then
for a little over two minutes, they all followed the plan. It was almost like
they were getting ready to fly out to battle, instead of to... Threaten a bunch
of errant and lazy High Servants. Right. There was that. Well, if they could keep
it up, maybe some of their discipline would rub off?

Wendy
followed them in at a run, and then closed the hatch, as if ready for an attack
to come.

"That
was good! Here I figured we'd be chasing our own shadows as night fell out
here, waiting for the last of us to board!" Leaning in she whispered to
Tiera, who she knew, and smiled nicely at Karina.

"Wasn't
that Rolph Merchant back there? I used to have
such
a crush on him a few
years ago, but he left school before I worked up the nerve to ask if he wanted
to go on a date." Then she froze. "Um, I mean hello, Countess Baker.
I wasn't trying to be rude."

That
got a wave, "I gave that up. It's just Tiera now. This person next to me
is Princess Karina, if you really want to bow and scrape. Rolph... He's
really
Prince Alphonse. He's very nice though, so you should ask him out sometime. Not
now, of course, unless it will take that long to get to the Winters Kiss?"

A
strange set of reactions worked on the pilot's face, but she settled on
professional.

"About
half an hour. I'll call it in now. We should time you getting off. This is the
largest group of civilians we've ever had going up. The competition time to
beat currently is two minutes-forty seconds. Held by the crew of the Holst. It
was only about this many though, so we can take them, I think. It's worth
trying if nothing else." Then she stopped and bowed to Karina.
"Princess."

That
made sense. If Tiera had been lying, then it was
her
fault. Protocol
said that when in doubt, promote upward. Even if that meant calling some
Knight's youngest daughter a princess. Of course, in Noram that would also be
punishable by death, so very few tried it. Karina just did a seated half bow
back. Even if it was a little ship, Wendy was the Captain here. Soon they'd be
out of Noram too. At that point being a noble meant about as much as being a
cook or baker did. In fact, having a useful skill would mean a whole lot more
than a title did, unless that was Captain or First Mate.

She
was willing to bet on that at least.

It
wasn't like there was a book on it yet. Maybe, if she ever had the time, she'd
write one?

Wendy
had them rising a few minutes later, with extreme speed, and into a matching
orbit with the Winters Kiss about ten minutes after that. It still took twenty
for the approach, but that couldn't be helped. They had rules to follow and
they did, every single time. It was why there had never been a serious docking
accident. That, or the fact that the ships were all really sturdy and no one
noticed that kind of thing. Karina started speaking, from her seat, before they
set down.

"Just
like before, except that the people in front get off first. We're being timed.
The record for a group this size is two minutes even. I think we can beat that,
if we all work together. The Captain will tell us when to go, everyone get
ready..."

Tiera
grinned at the lie, and got set, her floating case in her hand, by her
shoulder. It was right in Karina's face, but she didn't whine about it. Wendy
came bustling back with a watch in her hand, pushed the door open and yelled
for them to go, jumping back just in time not to be hit by Tiera.

She
kept going out of the door, to see a decently tall man wearing a nice suit that
was clearly fake, with a black jacket a funny white and black hat, and black
shiny shoes. The trousers were white, but had an orange stripe down the side.
He looked confused really, and had a clipboard too, since a lot of people in
and around space liked them it seemed. He waved to her though and pointed to a
large box on the floor made of blue lines. It glowed slightly, so that it would
look special, she guessed.

She
went to where he pointed, and Karina filled in next to her. It went on like
that, with people literally running off. Except for Tess who used her Tor Shoes
for it, and was dragging Tara with her. Taman, Terry and Tenet all flew over,
literally. It kept the slow people out of the way at least.

The
poor meditation students were half carried out, though Doris managed well
enough on her own. Wendy slipped through the door, and hit something at the top
of her time piece.

"Done!"
Then she looked at the clock, and without saying anything, walked over to the
nicely dressed man that was standing there. "Captain, your
verification?"

He
looked at the thing and then... started laughing. After a bit he schooled his
face, which looked to be about forty or so. Austran she thought, until he
spoke. It was in pure merchant accented Noram.

"That...
Is not too bad. A minute fifty-nine. What's the old record?"

Wendy
gave a thoughtful nod, and glanced at Karina. "Not to call anyone a liar,
but two minutes and forty seconds even. This sets the bar a bit, doesn't
it?"

The
man stood with his hands behind his back, and walked down the line a little,
his clipboard behind him.

"My
name is Alan Sorvee. Captain of the Winters Kiss. We have one more day in high
orbit, and then will take a six day journey to the lunar colony of Harmony. I
ask that everyone please wear a space worthy shield at all times while on
board. We'll be distributing them at the door. Please take one if you don't
have one already. We might not have enough here..." He seemed troubled by
the realization. "A show of hands please, who needs a new style space
shield?"

That
got Kurt. Captain Sorvee grinned at that and bowed, then motioned at a short
common looking man to come over with one that was given to the boy immediately.

"Well,
I see you came prepared. Most excellent. We don't have a lot of entertainment
yet, but some of the crew have offered to put on a show for us, mid trip. If
you have any questions, please feel free to ask myself or any of the crew. Do
remember to keep those shields on at all times, since we may have an air
evacuation drill at random. I wasn't going to do that, but after that
impressive display exiting the Sea Spray, I think you can handle it. Now, we
have plenty of space, but you'll have to share rooms, which are spaced
throughout the ship. Four to a room. Please sleep in your assigned
alcove."

Tenet
had his hand up, like kids did in school in Noram, and the Captain blinked at
him a little. Then gave a polite bow.

"Yes,
sir?"

"Is
that so our body heat will go into the reclamation bank correctly?"

The
man blinked a bit more, then walked toward the boy, smiling hugely. "
Exactly
that. We have four banks, one for each quarter of the ship. There
is
play in the system, but knowing where people will be even a third of the time
helps tremendously. We also ask people to eat in their assigned dining
facility. We have four of them." He stopped and looked at Tenet, but the
boy didn't say anything, so he looked around a bit more. No one said anything
so he went on. "We have some of the new Processing Units. Food making
machines. Since you're all from home, I don't have to explain magic to you, but
the heat balance is important in their use. Worth it though. These things will
make anything you can think of, and a lot you can't. We have technicians
standing by to help you at need, in the use of the units. If there is need to
exit the ship at any time, we have two vessels on board that are space worthy
and can take us either to our destination, or back to Earth. Your personal
shields will allow you to go out into space for prolonged periods of time. Have
any of you ever done that?"

A
few hands actually went up. The Captain looked shocked.

"I...
Really? I didn't know that so many... youthful people had been in space
already."

Kolb
spoke easily, from the second of the four lines back, near the middle.

"The
space drop on Callwood. We have about half that team here."

Captain
Sorvee chuckled a bit nervously, and then bowed to them all. "Honored.
Well, please stay in the ship on this trip, until we get to our destination at
least. Very good. We have people in the hallway waiting to lead you to your
assigned rooms. Have a pleasant trip."

They
all started to move in a messy fashion which wasn't going to work very well.
Tiera was already being bossy, so she waved at them all and called out.

"Stop!
Let's have the first group go out, then do it one at a time. It will be
prettier if nothing else." She looked at the Captain and bowed. "If
we have your permission, sir?"

He
didn't give that specifically, just calling out loudly.