Chapter 14: Ship Ahoy

A runner turned at the homestead.

My spouses were coming home. I immediately started tossing out orders, to get the carts on the road and get the herders assembled. I was running around like a clucker with its head cut off. Greta and Edith calmly took over and told me to go. I was on Opal so fast it wasn’t funny.

I was pacing the wharf waiting for Captain Hail to tie up his ship so he could drop the planks and I could board. I raced up the plank and stopped dead at the sight of Bea and Cora. By the gods, they were as big as houses.

They still had about four weeks to go according to my calculations. They were due in the third week of the new year. I had less than a week to get them settled in before the big party. We ended up in a group hug, and they had to wipe my tears.

I was so happy to see them I could burst. It felt so good holding them. The cock being at full mast was bit disconcerting, but it had been a while. Them giggling and rubbing against me didn’t help me go down in a hurry either.

When Hail approached, I had to hug him and thank him for getting my girls to me. It at least gave me a chance to calm down. They finally got me settled down enough to get me to move out of the way so they could unload.

I then got my next surprise. The only human crew on board where Hail, Dazzle, Tom and the cook, Ben. There had been two other members, but they had gotten off the ship as fast as I got on it.

When I asked, why they got off without helping unload, Hail informed me they hadn’t had a pleasant time in Ochre City. He had learnt that people with bad intentions were not welcome in that city.

Apparently, while most of the crew could see the opening to the bay, they couldn’t. The shield wouldn’t let the ship in with them on board. They had to leave them on a little beach with supplies so the ship could enter the city, and they could get it loaded up.

They were a little later than they meant to be due to some modifications the androids made. Since most of the crew wanted to stay, he wouldn’t have a crew, so the androids came up with the solution of becoming his crew.

I watched in amazement as six androids started unloading the ship. Hail told me they had added a device that generated electricity as the ship travelled. It stored the charge in special boxes the androids called batteries. They could recharge on the trip and be his crew.

“Hello, Bron, lovely to see you again,” one of the androids said as they came up to me. I had to smile. In gold lettering on her left breast was the word ‘Silver’. When I looked at the others, they too had a name in a similar position.

I noticed they each wore a different coloured cloth tied around their necks and had picked the corresponding colour for their names. I took Silver’s hand and replied, “So you decided to become a sailor.”

Silver answered, “It has been most fascinating. We have learnt how to do many new things and are very happy.” She chuckled and went on, “Do you like our names?”

“Yes, I like the bandanas too. Whose idea was that?”

Silver looked at Bea. “Mistress Bea said it would make life easier if we had names. I told her you called me Silver, so she put this bandana on me. Once we decided Captain Hail needed a new crew, my sisters adopted names too.”

“I’m impressed, and more importantly I am very happy to see you,” I told her. I wanted to see the device. Bea and Cora kissed me and said they would see me soon, as they had to organise getting their things sorted and off the ship.

Silver and Hail took me to see the generator as Silver called the device. I got this weird idea and wanted to add a few larger crystals on the batteries. Silver said that the crystals would stick to the copper links and told me my idea was a good one.

I dropped a crystal on each of the eleven links and said a spell that had come to my mind to help the batteries stay charged longer when the generator wasn’t working. Silver checked the device that said how much charge they had.

She thanked me and said that the modification meant they could easily stay active in port for a month or more without an alternate place to charge. I was happy to do it. It cost me nothing, but it made their lives better.

“It is nice to see you are in good health Bron, and that you have learnt new skills with your magic. But, I need to help get this produce off. It won’t move itself,” she said. She bowed her head and left me with the Captain.

“Best darn crew I ever had,” Hail said happily, as he took me back up top. “They are coming to Federation with me on the next trip, I have some orders to fill, so we won’t be back for five months if you need us,” he said.

“You may need to bring some more maize for me if you have room,” I asked.

“Don’t worry. Silver has already deemed that certain amounts of space must be kept for your produce,” Hail told me.

“As long as it doesn’t impede on your profits,” I said.

“Not likely, after I sell off what we have on board to sell, I could retire. Since I don’t need the other dozen of my crew, we modified their old cabins on the voyage here for passengers to Ochre City and from Federation. I now have eight cabins I can fill.”

“Silver will act as the agent to determine if they would be welcome or not. We will probably pick up a few more from Federation once we let it be known the city is looking for new residences. So we have plenty to do.”

I knew with the animals that Cavil and I are adding to our properties we wouldn’t need to go back for some time. I was pleased that Hail and his crew had plenty of work to do. I was also happy for the androids, as they loved learning new thing.

When we got back on the main deck, I found Greta had introduced herself to her sister spouses, and Cora had Bonny. Sable was pestering the androids. I had to chuckle. He had bailed up one called Coppa, and she was happily letting him help her, although I didn’t know how much help he was. He and Coppa were happy, so I left them alone.

Once they started loading up my carts, I wondered if I had brought enough of them. I had no idea what I was going to do with half of what was loaded in them. It was just as well I had put the two preservation spells on all of my buildings.

I’d done the same for Dick and Cavil when I had been at their properties. I was surprised by how few crystals I needed to use to maintain the spells. I had barely made a dent in one bag, and I still had three full ones.

We still wear a belt of crystals so we can bleed off the excess energy from making love. We hang them up at night near us. I’d since made new slimmer ones. They had the crystals sandwiched between two thin pieces of vellum that I made to look like a thick, wide belt.

We could wear the belts in our pants after I designed some loops on the pants to hold the belt in place. We had started a new fashion trend. I never seemed to run out of magical energy, and Greta said that even with all the little spells she did each day she hadn’t either.

The androids attracted a lot of attention and Hail had to patiently explain where they came from. One of the people asked if they could fix others like them. This attracted our attention.

She explained there was a room under our museum where there were a lot of them. Silver and I decided we wanted to see them. So we left the others to unload the ship with my people’s help. Sable wanted to come with me.

As soon as my people had the carts full, they were to head for home. The herders knew what to do with the animals, and Greta said she would take my spouses home and get them settled. Sable and I could meet them later. I could travel a lot faster than carts and animals on Opal even having Sable with me.

So we trooped off to see the other androids. Along the way, the woman who informed us that she was called Iren said that she worked at the museum and had found the room some time ago. Iren called Silvers’ people androids. Silver confirmed that it was the name given to machines like her.

“Silver, you are not an ordinary machine,” I said.

“No, I have eleven sisters from my batch that are as old as I am. We have found that most of the younger batches don’t have what you would call a curious nature like my sisters and I seemed to have developed. It has become an interesting development for us to ponder.”

“Coppa and I are of this nature, but you may have noticed the other four as being more rigid, or machine-like,” she said.

I had noticed that Coppa behaved more like Silver. I too found it curious that they were so different from the others. Coppa and Silver had seemed to direct the others, but they acted more independently.

I’d not spent too many hours of my life at the museum. We did get to visit it a couple of times when Edith brought us to Horn City to see it as part of our learning time but farm life can be all-consuming and my aunts, who were my age at the time, were not as curious about learning new things as I was.

Iren led us to a room, under the museum and we found eighteen androids standing in small bays. They each had an arm placed on a low wall. Silver inspected the device that I suspected was a charging unit. It was different to hers, but I recognised the read-out unit that showed their charged status.

“The charging unit is no longer getting sufficient power. It seems only the crystals in it are working. So it isn’t getting enough power to correctly charge the androids,” she told me. She left the room and walked down the hall. At another door, she stopped and opened it by touching a certain part of the wall.

“I didn’t know there was a door there,” Iren stated in shock.

I looked at her strangely, as I had seen the door as plain as the other doors along the hallway. “How many doors do you see along this hallway?” I asked.

Iren looked at me as if I was stupid. “There were four, one at each end. One into the room with the androids and one further down that lead to a stairwell. I’ve never noticed this door before now.”

I looked at Hail. He confirmed what Iren said. I looked at Silver, “Eight doors Master Bron. Three others and this one only we can see until they are opened.”

I was glad I wasn’t going mad. “Why are they hidden from everyone else?” I asked.

Silver stepped back, so the door shut and told me to put my hand where she had put hers. I did so. “Oh! They have a spell on them. Hum, very complicated too. I guess you have permission, Silver. So the spell recognises you and reveals the door.”

“Correct master. I am a Primary Systems Android, so I have access to any door or system in a city like this one,” Silver said and stepped back into the room. She approached a board and started flicking switches.

“It may be nice if you redid the preservation spells and a general repair spell if you can, Master,” Silver said as she worked.

I closed my eyes. I could feel the crystals embedded in the structure. And I could feel, for want of a better word, places where things were not working, as they should. I couldn’t tell you how they should work, just that they didn’t.

I could detect that what Silver was doing was reconnecting many of the systems that some reason had stopped working. I placed my hands on one of the boards with lots of little switches on it and did the spells. I’d done them often enough recently that I barely had to think about them.

I’d also learnt if I used the energy in the nearest crystals, I didn’t drain my personal energy. I only needed to use enough of it to get the spell started. I guess wearing the crystal belt all the time it had become a habit to look for another source of energy before depleting my own.

I heard Iren and then Hail gasp, as the ceiling lit up, and all of the panels in the room started to work again. Silver chuckled. “You do know how to do a repair spell, Master. I was very impressed with what you did on Captain Hail’s ship. You are a very strong mage. I should call you High Mage Bull Horn.”

Iren looked at me with awe. “A mage and a Bull, and so young too. Well, well, well. I had heard that the Horn Herd had a new Bull. You are aware that you are the Mayor of Horn City, aren’t you? It is a wonder you haven’t had a delegation from town come find you.”

“Every year something stops working now. Many systems that worked twenty years ago don’t work anymore. Your grandfather just said to learn to live without it or learn to fix it. Great lot of good that did us. The few mages we have won’t fix anything without charging an exorbitant fee. Even then they often can’t fix it.”

“Buildings aren’t being repaired, and the streets are a mess, but your grandfather didn’t give a shit as long as we bought his bloody bighorns and ate the food he produced. The current council is no better. I don’t know what they spend our taxes on, but it isn’t fixing things.”

Silver was looking at a big map on the wall. “You may like this madam Iren, see the colours on the buildings.”

“Yes,” she answered looking at the big map on the strange surface that was on the wall.

“The colours go, red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue and then purple. Red means it cannot be repaired. Orange systems or devices are critically in need of repair. Yellow is waiting for parts.”

“Green often means it is fully repairable and currently awaiting repairs. Light blue indicates it is in maintenance phase or the repairs are nearly complete. Dark blue indicates it ready to be used but not in use. Purple is working at optimum, or the device or building is fully repaired and in use.”

“These bars are for critical systems such as lights, generation of energy, filtration systems such as water, sewage and air. This one is the recycling unit and this one the materials replication system.”

Silver pressed on the red bar for the materials reproduction system to bring up maintenance list. “It seems this last system is totally offline. Apparently, critical components have been removed or aren’t replaceable from stores.”

“Master the only way this system can be reinstated is if I bring new parts back from Ochre city for it. Once I fix the primary unit, we can use it to fix the rest. It is a shame the controller has died.”

“What is a controller?” I asked.

Silver replied, “She is an entity like a big brain if you like, which links into all the cities systems and monitors them. She directs the cities androids to go fix the different systems that can’t repair themselves. Else the androids will simply follow whatever their last set of directives was.”

“May I be so bold as to ask if I can have her body? If I take it back to Ochre city, my controller may know how to regenerate her so your city can be fully functional again.”

“I can’t see how you can do any harm trying, Silver. I’ve read stories of how our ancestors brought their minerals to town and were able to process them and buy lots of other goods and machines that we just don’t have anymore.”

“It may require a wizard or many high order mages to help. I will ask Ochre if she knows of any wizards are on Amity,” Silver said.

“Topaz Island,” Iren said.

“What’s on Topaz Island?” I asked.

“There is a rumour that a wizard lives there. The rumour goes she appeared from a magical portal from another world a thousand years ago. She was a very sad wizard, and when her people got sick, the exhaustion of trying to heal them caused her and her son to disappear again.”

“The new rumour is that she is back. It is believed she turned up about nine years ago. She looks no older than the day she left. But she didn’t bring her son with her. She is busy trying to rebuild Topaz city. Apparently, it had stopped working like ours did, but it is working again. It even has shields that protect the city.”

“Want to go and have a look Silver?” Captain Hail asked.

“It would probably add two months to or journey Captain. Are you sure you wish to do this?” Silver replied.

Hail shrugged, “I’ve never been there but with you along and Tom driving the ship, why not. We’ll go to Ochre City and see your controller. If she says it’s worth a try, we’ll go on to Garson and then to Topaz Island, then home via Ochre City.”

Silver agreed that this was an acceptable plan.

“I wish you good luck and a fine adventure. If I didn’t have so many responsibilities, I’d go with you. Silver, if you can’t get her fixed don’t be too disappointed. We have lived without her for a long time,” I said.

“Thank you, Master Bron. I do realise it won’t be the end of the world if I can’t get your controller fixed but it is a shame to see a fine city like yours not working as it should,” Silver said.

I guessed it upset her to see the city in the state it was in. “Hey Silver look, there are lots more green lights than red and orange, and even some blue and purple ones,” Sable said excitedly. The map had fascinated him, and he had been watching it while we talked.

We all went for a look. “That is one good thing master Bron; your sewage systems are working again,” Silver said happily.

We all chuckled at that. They hadn’t worked really well for a very long time. Silver was also happy to tell us that many of the street sweepers were operational although they may need to be reprogrammed to cover for those that weren’t.

Silver was of the opinion that she could fix that problem before she left. She told us the recyclers were also operational. She would make sure the androids collected the excess materials and stored them for me until she could get the replicator fixed.

We just nodded not really understanding what the recyclers did. She looked at me and said, “You can tell people they can put rubbish down the chutes again.”

I remembered the chute the street sweeper used and knew they were all over this city too. I smiled and said I would inform the council and tell them to organise a general clean up so the sweepers could do their job.

Silver was happy with this, and we stopped to check on the androids. Silver said my fix-it spells did the trick and once they were recharged, they would go about their duties again. She reprogrammed them, as she called it, by connecting to one of the recharge units.