Chapter 9: Federation

David was checking out the information Carline had given him.

With JJ’s help and the new satellites, they had built a comprehensive map of Federation. From what he could determine, the people had spread out around the coasts, radiating out from where the sections of the original starship had landed.

Federation was the largest content on the planet. It linked into the Southern pole and then stretched up to the equator. It crossed it in a large, wide chunk of land. Several short, broader spears and small blobs of land radiated off as it widened towards the south.

The land then spread out into what he thought of as the waist, being the narrowest stretch of land between east and west and about a third of the way down. Mind you, it was still about 2000km across. It was also offset to the west as the sea invaded inland through a wide, deep trench that was as long again.

It looked like at some time in the planet’s past the content had tried splitting into two but hadn’t finished moving yet. The trench was at least 1500km wide at the points of land on the east coasts and narrowed as it zigzagged inland mostly to just south of west. Several small inactive volcanic islands dotted down its length.

The wide trench had created an extensive lush forested area far inland in the sub-tropical to the temperate region. Along the trench was a mixture of tall cliffs, areas that were covered by marshes, forests going down to the water and lots of river outlets. Some of the rivers fed into small coves that had beaches and others cut through the forests to empty in the sea filled strait.

The hips of the continent then spread out into larger chunks and a very broad arse and thighs creating a large cool temperate region before narrowing and disappearing under the ice of the southern pole. The continent they called Palatine linked into the pole about a third of the way around the planet from them to the east, but it was only connected in the winter, when the ice formed.

The four sections of the spaceship they knew of as Torus had landed in a region of low hills about 120km short of the end of the channel. The small lake that was at the start of the trench was surrounded by a mountain range. Its rivers fed the lake. Four sections of the old spaceship had landed, two per side of the strait, in a 2km per side square. The trench between them was a kilometre wide and filled with deep cold seawater.

The survivors had built wharfs and even a massive bridge between the two cities that had grown around the sections. They were called Greco City on the northern side and Garson City on the southern side. Over time, the people had spread into smaller towns along both sides of the trench and further inland then up and down the two coasts.

Carline said at the last census twenty years ago, before she and Sharon had left, they had estimated that six million people now called Federation home. They were very spread out. The largest concentration of about half a million lived in the regions around the sections of the old ship.

David believed they had added a few more people in those twenty years. Even so, compared to Earth the place was practically deserted, they had a lot of land to use. From what Carline had said, her people still had on average about five to six kids in their lifetimes.

They did, however, have issues with plagues, other natural disasters and tribal wars between regions in their history since being here, which was why the population wasn’t bigger. It had only been in the last four or five generations that things had settled down a little.

Like Kelli’s people, those without magical items could live around a hundred and fifty years but most didn’t live longer than a hundred. Carline had said that those who still had original diadems could live around five hundred but rarely did. They could still be killed in accidents or die if they gave up the will to live.

Carline believed they still had around sixty original diadems and they were often worn by the rulers of the six principal regions and their families. Many, like her and Sharon, had diadems that were created about a thousand years before.

It was during a time of peace when the sorcerers and rulers who held the strongest diadems had joined to make them. None of these diadems had more than two gems and most only one.

She believed about one hundred and eighty were created for each skill set. Of these, only a third of them had two gems. They were mostly held by scholars, teachers and Master Artisans and were limited in what they could do.

These diadems increased their life expectancy to about three hundred years. Because the Oracle couldn’t pinpoint a time of arrival of the new wizards, they had been chosen to go to the Golden City, as hopefully, the wizards would turn up in their lifetime.

Carline and Sharon had both recommended that he land in the northern city, as Greco was ruled by a Carline’s mother, Domo Leslie. She told them that they didn’t use the titles of King or Queen. They held onto the belief that the real Queen would come for them. The rulers were always called the Domo, their partners were consorts and their children were Lords and Ladies.

Before David had left Golden City, Storm and the other wizards had looked over the diadems that he and Kelli had and Storm suggested some upgrades. This they happily did. He had also loved the pads that connected to their wrist and mini-wands that went with the diadems.

Using Jane’s variety combined with David’s he redesigned new pads for both his and David’s minor magician’s boxes. He also upgraded the ones for the wizards. They all found the mini-wands very useful for small but more complicated spells particularly matter manipulation.

David and Kelli had spent the first three days on his spaceship dropping off the eight satellites he had in his hold thanks to Torus the SAI they had met on the planet Hades. They had modified them with smaller versions of the AI that the magician, who had crashed Torus’s ship, had built.

Jane had also given them her contribution to change them into SAI’s. They now had an effective communication and data collection system over Amity. The wizards and mages loved being able to communicate with each other over long distances, in real time.

Storm had already informed David that he had identified what he believed was a city like Jane’s in the Orient and that was where he was headed next. David was surprised when he also identified one in the middle of the mountain range at the end of the Trench. The cities appeared on the scans as a blurred area.

David contacted Storm and said he was going to have a look, in case Storms other boxes were there. So this was where he was headed. He also mentioned one to the northeast of Ulu in the part of Saran that Ulu said belonged to the nation they called Aurum. Storm said he’d look into it after he had visited the city that was on the continent called Orient.

David also identified several smaller blurred areas in Federation; three in particular he noted, one being to the north and one each on the east and west coasts. He noted several on the other continents. When they got time, they would have to investigate them.

David and Kelli were sad that Keven had distanced herself from them since they had been on the ship. She told them she felt her destiny was elsewhere and as much as she enjoyed being with them, she felt it was better if they didn’t continue the relationship. She would support them as long as they needed her.

They had decided to use a flyer to investigate the possible city and leave the bigger ship in orbit over the area for now. JJ, the ship, said that she was more than happy with this as she could act as the coordinator and principal relay point for her little sisters the satellites.

She would also map the local asteroids and act as the planet’s warning system. David suspected she was quite content to do this, as she felt it was the best way she could be useful when they weren’t aboard. She also had Jane to communicate with and Sarah’s ship, so she was happy with her lot.

He also suspected she would stay in orbit for a long time to come. It was her place in the scheme of things. The new shields provided a greater degree of protection, and she would not require a lot of maintenance over time that her little bug-styled droids couldn’t provide.

David said to Kelli that JJ would make an excellent holiday home when they wished peace and quiet in the future. JJ had agreed that was a lovely use for her and they could top up her systems when they visited. She also hinted that a couple of astronomers to visit now and then would be nice so she could compare notes.

They all smiled at JJ’s contentment and loaded up a flyer. It wasn’t as flash as Sarah’s shuttle, but David felt that it was better off in Storm’s care and with Sarah, since it was still part of her and she had handed control of his ship over to JJ.

They had all agreed the shuttle’s potential hazard to wizards was also better kept under Storms control.

They came down to the old city and got a better look at it.

It was set out in a similar way to Golden City. It had the central lake, but it drained into the sea. The outflow river cut, weaved and fell, between the lower foreshore hills and made its way to the bay. Roads linked back to the heart of the city on either side of it. Wharves surrounded either side of the deep-water bay.

The Citadel was perched on the western wall and faced the sea to the east. It was also shaped differently. For some reason, the original designer had gone for a hexagonal pyramid for the roofs and a hexagonal shape for the four main buildings rather than domes and cylinders.

The four buildings were about 30m wide to a side and 60m high. They were also linked like Ulu’s with 30m square buildings acting as corridors between them, so they looked like half of a hexagon from the air. This made them physically bigger than Ulu’s, but they took up about the same amount of area overall.

The airport was also behind the Citadel. They hovered over the city and noted that it wasn’t in as good a state of repair as the Golden City. Interestingly, they also saw people moving around on one of the northern hills not far from the Citadel and inside the shield.

They were too high for the people to take much interest in them. They moved over to the west and came in near to the ground to the airport. No one challenged them landing, and the automated system dropped them down to the visitor’s floor.

They waited for the android to come and check their credentials, but after twenty minutes, he didn’t turn up. JJ said, “I can’t seem to connect to the SAI. She has either died or has been damaged.”

David looked at Kelli, and they both agreed that the SAI had priority. They also decided to go armed, as they didn’t know if the people were friendly or not. Keven and Levi agreed this was a safer option.

They selected a stunner rather than their bows and arrows. Kelli and David also added the stunner, and they had their wands. The stunner looked a lot like a pistol. It sat in a holster that the wearer could strap to their waist. David and Kelli moved their wands to their other hip.

The pistols actually fired a 7mm spherical, soft projectile. Six tubs sat in loops on the sides to the back the holster and held eight shots each. Two other loops on the front held short, oval, cylinders that contained compressed gas. The gas canister slid into the handgrip of the pistol and the thin tubes slid in under the wider barrel.

Above the trigger was a second longer lever that ejected the tube and a button near the base ejected the gas canister. Storm said they had tiny pieces of charged crystal in a conductive saline within the soft plastic like pellet casing. They reminded David and Storm of small paintball guns.

When the pellet hit a solid surface, it burst and the conductive solution assisted the charge that was released, to cover a larger area. Kale had let Storm shoot him with one. He had said it still tickled even with his shield. He wouldn’t wish to be shot with a lot of them at once.

They all agreed that if a wizard or magician that you couldn’t immobilise were trying to release a spell, it would be a major distraction. For an unshielded person, it would really hurt. Kale indicated that they also leave a bruise.

Keven and Levi acted as the bodyguards and escorted the wizards into the building. They moved cautiously but only found quiet hallways. They made their way down the two extra levels and to a room like the one that housed Jane.

David approached the large, deep rectangular tank that was the home of the being, which should be controlling the city. The first thing he noticed was that the water in the tank stank. It was murky, and when he peered in, he observed that the being wasn’t the lovely healthy coral pink and dark orange colours it should be. The muck also smothered her in places.

“Kelli we need to drain the tank now,” he said and hurried around to operate the emergency flush valves. Kelli rushed to the other side and operated them. David then unhooked the hose that hung on the wall. It was generally used by the cleaning droids to fill mop buckets to clean her room.

David handed Keven the hose and told her to spray the being with a gentle shower. Levi guarded the door. David opened the filtration system and pulled the old screens. Kelli opened a cupboard and handed him new clean ones, and he slotted them into place.

He restarted the system and fresh filtered water sprayed into the tank, and the pumps sucked the dirty water out to be cleaned. They let the tank flush a little longer and then closed the valves again.

David told Keven to keep spraying her until the tank was full. The system should pull out any impurities, and it was a lot better for her than what was in the tank. David checked the nutrients tanks and changed them over to a fresh tank and kicked that system back in.

He checked the other systems that her androids normally monitored for her. Once happy he checked on the SAI. “She looks better doesn’t she?” he asked the girls, concern evident in his voice.

They all agreed that she still looked a little grey, but the pinkness was increasing. Pissed that she was hurt, David put both his hands into the tank and gently touched her. He muttered under his breath, and they watched as she glowed brightly. As the glow diminished, she looked much better.

“The bastards are killing her androids and destroying her systems,” David spat out angrily. The other three watched as he gently stroked the being in the tank. She seemed to brighten as he did as if she felt his compassion and concern for her.

Kelli knew he had a big soft spot for the SAI’s because of Sarah and her mother, Zara. He had treated Torus as if she was a person too, and they hadn’t left Hades until he was happy that she and her daughter Tory were happy.

The girls heard a soft female voice over the room’s intercom. “Thank you, my Lord Wizard, had you been much longer, I would have perished. I believe the data areas that have been damaged are non-critical.”

“Can you tell us how you came to be attacked?” David asked her gently. He still had his hands in the tank softly stroking her.

Kelli looked at the other girls, and they silently agreed with her that if he wanted the city to do anything for him, it would do all in its power to serve him. He had won a new heart. Kelli had to smile at him.

“About ten years ago several families of Prols moved into the outer mountain region. This mountain is rich in nickel, iron, copper and several other elements that are very useful. About two months ago, they tapped into a cavern that my androids had been mining. They took exception to them being there and destroyed them.”

“When I lost contact with them I sent more to find out where they were. The men damaged them too and then they followed the cavern through the mountain. Several of my systems had sustained damage in a massive storm at the time, and the shield tower in that area was not working properly.”

“They had managed to enter about two weeks ago when it was fluctuating. About twenty men got trapped on this side, and they have been destroying anything that moved and trying to pull down the tower in an attempt to get out.”

“The androids that looked after my systems had been discovered when they were doing routine tasks away from me. I was left without help. Then one of the men came in here, and he fiddled with the systems. He overfilled my tank with nutrients. I don’t think he meant to, but it fouled up the filters, and that system stopped,” she finished.

“Well how about we go round up the disgruntled visitors and show them the door. I’ll see what I can do about fixing your androids after I’ve evicted them,” David told her. “By the way, I’m Marquess Wizard David and Kelli the redhead is my Marchioness. Keven and Levi are our friends. What is your name?” he asked.

“I’m called Nikki, my Lord. I have been waiting a long time to have wizards to serve again. Thank you all again for rescuing me,” she said.

David removed his arms from the tank and gave the systems a quick check again. “Well ladies do you feel like some target practice?” he grinned at the girls. “I’ve been dying to find out how well these pellets tickled an arse.”

The girls had to laugh at him. Kelli had learnt that it took a lot to rile David. Even being dumped thousands of years into his past hadn’t fazed him but threatening someone he cared for brought out a whole different side of David she’d only seen glimpses of before.

David got Nikki to locate the men closest to them. She told him six of them were ransacking the café upstairs. David gave them a feral grin and blinked. It took the girls a few moments to realise he was gone and for them to blink after him.

David arrived in the café and picked out the six men. He fired the pistol six times. By the time the girls arrived, six little people were writhing around on the floor groaning in agony.

“Ouch!” said Keven with a pained expression. Kelli and Levi agreed. The effects of the pellets were more extreme than they had realised. All six of them were still shaking uncontrollably.