Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (13 page)

The queen sighed. “Verily, it is all too true. The threats we face are clearly very grave and many.”

Naero squeezed the queen’s hand. “You are a brave people, who face everything that comes with courage. You shall find a way. Your lord loves you, and your children, more than his own life. He would give his life for all of you–a thousand times over. Fortune favors the bold.”

“
Thank you, holy sister. I am fortunate that I do not need the gods to tell me all of that, but it is nice to have it confirmed. I must confer with my lord now. We will need to contact the Sea King and inform him about all these things, and his poor brother. I weep for my my cousins.”

“
Cousins?” Naero said.

Queen Liita laughed. “Di
d you not know? The gods do not reveal all? My grandmother was a Kall; I am of Kallos blood in part. Haikoda and I are cousins. He will not take the news well, I’m afraid.”

“
I look forward to meeting with him.”

“
He is a grim man, who trusts no one. And seemingly with good reason, these troubled days.”

“
My queen, before you go. I must ask. What will happen to the young serving girl, Jannil?”

“
Poor thing. Yet she did betray us. A trial will be held for her and her family to decide their fate.”

“
May I request mercy for them?” Naero asked. “The gods would wish it so.”

“
Yet we must live in the real world, not that of the gods, holy sister.”

“
You did say I could ask for anything, my queen.”

“
I did. They will be spared then, even the girl. But she must leave the city and join the holy ones. That shall be her punishment.”

Naero bowed again. “You
r Majesty is just and merciful.”

The queen smirked. “Not when people try to kill my family. With all the uproar, my family and I will dine in private tonight, in just a short while. Will you and your brothers and sisters be kind enough to join us? I’m sure my lord and I will have many questions for you by then.”

Naero bowed her head. “You honor me, my queen. We shall be there, at the appointed time.”

15

Dinner with the royals went long into the night. Their
Majesties did have many questions. They wanted to know exactly how Naero was going to mediate with the other city states.

That made it difficult to answer, and even though they were not satisfied by her cagey answers, they did see the wisdom in her waiting to make up her mind, and form a strategy,
after she had met with all the parties involved.

They did warn her greatly about the other leaders–especially Emperor Vauk of the Vaedo, who sounded more and more like a real piece of work.

Naero and the other adepts were so exhausted, by the time they left the palace that night, they slipped into the darkness and transported straight to the Mystic stronghold, in the fastness of the mountain caves.

She was too tired to file a report to the High Masters, and made a note on her comunit to do so, first thing in the morning.

And yet again, morning would come all too soon.

*

Om woke her up even earlier than expected. No warnings going off for a change, but it was right after five bells.

Sheesh, Om. Is something wrong?

No, nothing that I know of.

Then what the crap do you have against me sleeping?

Because, I have good news for a change.

This better be good. I could have snoozed for another hour.

Hear me out. While you have been playing Mystic adept, I’m almost positive that I’ve figured out both Kexxian startapping, and biomancy replication.

Seriously? Both of them?

Yep. I can let you go over the basic process and the energies involved, and then we can start practicing.

That’s amazing, Om. Sure. Let me grab a mist shower, explain away, and then we can give them a go.

Om spoke to her very rapidly, in fluent, technical Kexxian. Both of their minds began racing back and forth, sharing data and information, faster than any normal mind could think.

By the time Naero sealed up her black togs, she had a good idea about what they were going to attempt
. The dangers were increased also, so they meant to go slowly and start small at first.

Om fed her information continually, even as she transported them out into the continent
of Thanarra’s unexplored interior, hundreds of kilometers away, on a fresh desert plane she had selected from the orbital mapping scans.

There was nothing around them that could be harmed, and late at night
till dawn, the desert itself was still quite cold. Only the sand under the stars was still warm and glowed light blue.

All things in the universe possess a degree of Cosmic energy all their own. Tapping into a star is in some ways similar to tapping into a planet, but the distances are of course, far greater in certain ways, and yet solar radiation on a planet in a system is constant, and everywhere all at once. The rates of collection and the flow rate of intake are all on different scales entirely, and there are countless variables that must be experienced first hand, and gotten used to.

Naero took a few deep breaths, watching her footprints fill in with shifting sand behind her as she walked. She found a dark, outcropping of volcanic bedrock to stand upon for their first attempt.

All right, Om. I think I’m ready for our little test run.

Remember. It’s only for an instant. Take in the smallest amount of Cosmic energy from the star possible, and then shut the process down. It doesn’t matter how little you take in. The idea is to connect, and then disconnect. We can experiment with gradually expanding the length of the tapping connection and the amount of energy collected, as we go along.

Naero still shook her head in disbelief.

I can’t believe the mightiest of the Kexx could do this sort of thing, Om. It even sounds crazy, just in concept. The power seems like it could be limitless to me. No wonder they could accomplish so much.

They lived and breathed not only the powers of the stars–but of the infinite universe itself, Naero, and of all possibility. Such energies were like their
life force–like their very air, and the blood coursing in their veins to them. They became true Cosmic beings, at one with the universe and all its powers and potentials. Yet they also respected and explored all of the inherent perils and dangers at each step along their journey. They made their mistakes, too, and grew in true wisdom with the exponential powers they gained.

So, what happened to them, Om? If they were so all powerful, after they had defeated this great threat to the universe, where did they go
and why?

No one knows. Perhaps that is another mystery that we shall unravel one day, as we grow in wisdom, and perceive the secrets of the KDM. Perhaps when we are truly ready for that knowledge, it shall be revealed to us.

Maybe you’re right Om. I don’t even fully know myself or what I’m capable of yet. And I’ve sure messed things up, over and over again. Sometimes I feel like a walking, talking disaster, just waiting to happen. There’s so much I don’t know yet.

Then let’s try to learn a little bit more, while we
still have the chance, Naero. To learn, we must dare every possible mistake and failure there is, and learn and grow from it.

I’m
with you, Om. Here we go. Startapping experiment number one!

Naero closed her eyes, reach up to the heavens with her yearning fingers, and even father out with her mind and all of her Cosmic awareness and abilities open. She did everything as they had thought it out and planned.

So much happened within the flash–within the space of that single instant.

It happened so fast, she did not even have a chance to blink or gasp for air.

The sensation was both exhilarating and completely frightening.

For the barest fraction of a thought…she joined with the power of a star. There was a bright flash of light and energy.

Naero woke gasping and smoking the next instant, in pain.

She lay within a crater of hot, instantly fused black glass, thirty meters deep and a hundred meters wide, steaming up into the night air. Smoke and vapor roiled off of her.

Her hands tingled, and they were still glowing from within when she looked at them, but they faded even as she looked on.

By all the signs, they should be dead. They
should have been vaporized, but they had survived the brief fusing or whatever it was.

Om. Talk to me. What happened?

We did it, Naero. For a fraction of an instant, it worked. But we couldn’t sustain or control it. The flash effects of just the residual energies caused this crater to form in the local strata. We should locate somewhere else. Intel noticed the energy spike and is sending a team this way to investigate.

We should
n’t tell them?

What are we going to tell them, Naero? We do
n’t even know anything, yet.

I guess you’re right, Om. They transported far away from that location, into a lowland meadow. Tiny insects began biting her exposed flesh, leaving small red bumps that itched. Naero pweaked her nanosuit to exude a working insect repellent. She spread it over her exposed areas.

What next, Om?

Replication. First, study something simple, like one of those insects, with biomancy.

Naero remembered her biomancy lessons with Master Vane back on Janosha. A sharp twinge of pain in her heart still stabbed her when she thought of her family, the gentle Tua.

She focused, and read everything about the small insect. She understood its basic form, function, and composition, it’s life cycle, why it behaved the way it did. She understood it completely. How it was born, lived, and died, and broke down back into raw components of
energy and matter.

She perceived the tiny spark of the life force that existed in all things that were alive, whether plant or animal. Some called it the
Lifespark. Others called it the soul. It was the essence of living energy, without which, nothing could be said to be alive. A powerful form of Cosmic energy in itself, with a specialized purpose and function.

And in studying that tiny insect, Naero suddenly had an important insight, an illuminating epiphany.

Lifespark energy was the exact, polar opposite of the Darkforce, in almost every way–like matter and anti-matter. The Lifespark burned fiercely with the yearning purpose that all things should live and thrive, and seek to be alive and pursue their functions and designs.

While the Darkforce only sought to destroy…everything. Its driving purpose was to cause everything to cease to exist and stop living or doing anything. The static nothing of non-functioning matter. A simple, grim purpose: destroy all that is. The final death, from which nothing could return.

The goal of the Lifespark was everything. The goal of the Darkforce, was nothing.

In both forces, she suddenly saw the three wisdoms: Chaos, Order, and Change. And between the ever shifting balance between the two forces
–she beheld the Great Mystery of the Harmony. The Harmony was not in fact a goal–it was a force, and a power, and a purpose within itself, in its own right.

It included and accepted the Lifespark and the Darkforce together, all that they were, and everything
in between.

The Harmony would not be denied, and balanced the two forces of life and anti-life
–so that all things could have their chance to strive and be, to change and grow, and fulfill their potential. It was neither black nor white, or right or wrong, or good or evil.

It was the universe. It was everything that was possible. It was everything that could and should be, all at the same time.
It was the time given to everything. It was both the beginning, and the end, and the way that all things continued on.

Having fused with the power of a star. Having gained these Cosmic insights, Naero Amashin Maeris gave the matter no further
, direct thought for the moment.

She lifted her hand and formed one of the tiny insects into being by thought–by force of will alone.

She wished it into being.

The raw components fused together in an instant before her very
eyes. One instant it was not there. The next instant it was.

Naero
. We’ve done it! You replicated a lifeform out of nothing but the building blocks of matter and energy all around us. You’ve replicated a living thing!

Not quite yet, Om.

She sensed something was still wrong. Her tiny creation did not move or function. It was like an automaton. A golem. It still lacked the Lifespark that would truly make it alive, and go forth with its function and purpose.

Then she knew.

She was the creator.

The Lifespark
must come from her.

The gift of life…was hers to bestow.

Without another thought, Naero bent her lips, and breathed softly upon the small thing.

She could feel the Lifespark flow and pass from out of her and into the tiny insect, by just a fraction. It quivered, thrummed its small wings, and took off.

Naero swooned and fainted, as the ramifications of such power staggered her, just as tapping into the star had stunned her, and left her prone and helpless on the ground.

In her mind she gasped. She curled up in a knot and shuddered, convulsing with terror.

Om, I ask again. Should I…should we…should anyone have such power? How could the Kexx live with the weight of it? I’ve only created an insect, and yet I’m nearly being crushed by it. What right do we have to do such things?

Think of it as a gift, Naero. As blessing that must not be allowed to become a curse. A responsibility that must be tempered and used with wisdom.

Naero wept, wiping the burning tears from her eyes.

And love, Om. Shalaen once told me that all power, of any kind, is best managed and tempered through love. Love is like the Harmony. Oh my gosh, Om.
Love is the Harmony
. And the Harmony is Love. True balance is the Three Wisdoms combined, and the result…is Love.

The crux, the
balance point of Harmony between the Lifespark and the Darkforce…is Love! Holy blinking crap! I understand now.
That’s
how Baeven is able to control part of his Dark Beast and make it work for him. He joked with me and said that he learned how to do so by accident–through love. I thought he was kidding me, just putting me off! Damn it, he was absolutely right!

Excellent, Naero! We’ve replicated an insect.

Okay. What next?

Now we work on reversing the process. You can replicate something, and you can negate it, or re-absorb it if it was
once part of yourself.

Hmm…I can sense the insect some how…about ten meters over there.

We can sense it because the Lifespark came from us, it is part of us as well.

Naero attempted to cup it in her hands. But the insect moved around, trying to get away, making it difficult to capture it.