Chapter 17

"Yes, Sir."

The family had to go through one at a time and I watched intently as they passed through the barrier. Again Calldas had found that some spells reacted with others in odd ways. Now a foreign spell may be detected as it interacted with the portal. I watched carefully but when the last person went through I saw no indication of a different spell.

When I went through there was a ring of people around the children's gym. It was much smaller than the one in Toronto simply because there was less need here.

Again they went through the next portal to the base attached to the Hull of the 'Fist'. The girls escorted the groups through this area and then out onto the deck. I called Sonya and Sara. "I found a family with a new girl trying to come on the cruise. They are in a time spell in the chef's pantry at the moment."

Sonya asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Some of us go back and investigate the spells. I think some are unique."

I called a dozen more girls and we sauntered casually back the way I had just come. On the way through the Houston base we picked up some charged crystals. The chef was happy to see us arrive. I removed the spell and we moved the family to the main room of the ranch and not the complex. It was wasteful to work here but I wanted to do this work before entering the base.

The male head of the family went into the circle but we just held crystals for power and formed a grid without generating new power. The spell was very intricate in nature and I commented on how we had not seen anything done this well before. It took an hour before we even tried to remove the bindings and I treated the man as if he were a hostile mage.

There was a lot of discussion about what to do with the spell. It had to be disassembled piece by piece and again I had to look for traps that would cause a death or worse. We did find what we thought were two but we were not sure.

The mother was done next but we took nothing for granted. The binding and spell though were the same and came off easily. The children were the same too. We looked at the tampering and saw that the girl was not even a relative but somebody placed in the family. This memory was erased though but it was enough.

After a rest we investigated the girl and her two sources of magic. I called for a break and put the child aside and in another time spell. The family was put on the chairs and couch and then awoken.

They looked around quickly. They didn't understand how they got here and how they were basically alone.

"Hi, I found a small problem and I held your family back for a few moments."

The man asked, "What problem?"

"Somebody was interested in my magic and planted the little girl in your family." They looked around but didn't see her but now knew that they were forced to accept her.

"We didn't know..."

"That is all right. I always expect things like this. Usually it is like industrial espionage but done differently. The little girl you know of as Diane is safe but we have to remove the spells then try to get her back to her family if possible. We would like to bring you to the ship now but I have to ask you to not talk of what happened to the others. None of this is your fault or Diane's. Think of it as somebody slipped a small transmitter onto your clothing when you went to a meeting. When we find out more we will tell you."

"Ah... why didn't you just put a spell on us to forget?"

"I could have but that is not the way I work unless it is necessary. You may see the girl again and know that I would not knowingly hurt her."

"We don't think that."

"I am afraid you do. It is not that strong yet, but it is still there. Now we need to get back because we need a rest and you need to find your berth. It is night now and the ocean is calm and very beautiful."

The family was escorted to the ship and again the girls found cabins for them to sleep in. We were fairly full and they were lucky to get some on the ship proper instead of the complex.

Instead of making love in the owner's cabin, we went to the base. This was much better. I tried to forget about Diane and I think I succeeded. The love making was slow and I tried to make everybody feel wanted and loved.

The next day I slept in. Some of the children wanted me up so we could play but I just turned over and got a few extra winks. One little boy started to pull my arm until I got up. He was put up to this by some of the older ones. "Yes, Jeremy?"

"I'm hungry."

I knew what he wanted and stretched. A portion of my anatomy had been nestled in a warm spot and suddenly sprang free. I heard some giggles but got up to use the facilities. In five minutes I was back and began to feed my children. Their mothers were elsewhere but they all knew that their children were very safe.

Portions of fresh fruit went into my bed partners' mouths as well as the children. The ladies seemed to want something with more protein but I commanded my errant member to behave.

Lynn came over and ate some fruit then said, "You said we were going to have classes and one is scheduled for here and in a few moments. You are going to have to put some clothes on or we will scare our guests."

I tried to think of a suitable place to continue this after the children were fed. The girls read my thoughts and seemed to move closer. Instead I regretfully said, "We have work to do anyways. It wouldn't be fair for some of us to have all the fun while the rest work."

I called for new clothing and it appeared. The girls helped me get dressed as the well fed children watched and snickered. We left and had our own breakfast then when well fortified left for Houston with a good supply of crystals.

The chef wanted to feed us again but I accepted come coffee and a croissant. In a few minutes I brought out Diane's sleeping form and again we investigated her. She had no additional magic spots that I may have missed. We looked at the two sites and discussed what to do.

The tiny lump was attacked first. The detail here was even finer than the one in her mind. This site took four hours to unravel. We had to stop many times because there were many traps in the bindings. The chef made us lunch while we discussed what we had done. The person that did this was very talented. This made me think of an old mage that knew all the ropes.

The spell was disassembled just as carefully. The first one was made to actually hide those underneath and there were a great many of them. Some I knew that would instill loyalty but others seemed to deal with storing data. These interested me a lot.

I took a calculated risk and worked on a spell that would allow the data already accumulated to be collected. We saw an old man giving orders which we had to assume was to Diane. The language was in Fassie. Everything the girl thought, smelt, tasted, heard, saw or felt came out. I heard more of the spells he used and guessed at their intent. A spell had to be used with the mental manipulation of forces in the three dimensions we knew of and two more. The words alone were useless.

An amulet was called and I used this to collect all of the memories. When I checked the mage's words were now in the crystal for later study. The retention spell was removed but then we had to do eight more that dealt with destruction of the data if she was caught. This we knew would result in the girl dying.

It was well past supper when we finished this one area. We had to admire the workmanship and hoped that I could duplicate the spells if it ever came to this. I didn't think I could do it alone but with the family I was much stronger and much smarter.

We had our late supper but decided to continue with Diane. The bindings were less difficult in this area. The spells in the head were odd. And it wasn't until I thought of the other spells and the mage's words that I had to assume it was a way of communicating her perceptions to the small recorder that was so well hidden. The child's brain would only be the backup storage container.

At midnight I put the standard loyalty spell on the child then awoke her. She was very frightened and had little memory of how she got here. I talked to her in Fassie and said, "Hello Tanta. You are not in danger." She looked to see if she could run but stayed where she was. She was born and bred a slave and though frightened would do what her master said.

"I am your new Master."

She got on the floor in the position of slave and I said, "Tanta please get up and come here. I will not hurt you."

She did as she was told and I picked her little body up and put her on my lap. "I have quite a few children. Some are younger than you and some are older. I don't hurt any of them. The ladies around me will be like your mother. Some have had babies and two are even as big as you. The big girls call me Master but they are just making fun. My name is Adam but nobody calls me that."

The girl was frightened stiff. "Now that we have had a talk we will be going home. If you stand now I can hold your hand." The girl got off my lap quickly but only hesitantly took my hand.

The women picked up our things and I talked to the girl about where we were. I watched very carefully as she walked through the portal and I saw nothing odd. She saw the children's gym but didn't know what it was.

Sonya took her other hand and said, "My name is Sonya. It's a hard name to pronounce in your language. I am going to be one of your mothers. What the man said is true. He doesn't hurt anybody. In a few minutes you will be with a lot of other children and be very safe."

Tanta said nothing though her mind tried to find dishonesty and couldn't really believe what she heard. Once through the second portal she saw the new climbing gym that wasn't nearly as big as that in Houston. Some of the girls had waited up for us and stopped when they felt the fear coming from the child.

We had our own private rooms but I was more used to the gym. Sonya made an air mattress, then got Tanta to sit with us. The girl had been asleep for many hours and was in need of some food. The girls all picked their favourite food and gave a sample of it to the child. It wasn't long after that she had to relieve herself and Sara took her.

Sonya said, "She is a nice girl. Obedience was beat into her as part of her training but I think she was naturally that way. She is very bright and that is why I think that mage selected her for this job. I am glad she is going to be safe with us now."

I felt odd about her words and said, "She is as safe as we can make her but the mage that had her is very adept at magic. I can see Tanta being used as a bargaining chip."

When the two came back I cast a spell on Tanta. She stood still and was very frightened about this and I could feel sympathetic fear emanating from my girls. The spell was similar to those used when I had brought back other slaves from abusive masters. When it was completed Tanta visibly relaxed. I added one more spell that would allow her to sleep and be in time with the rest of us.

The next morning the pad between Sara and Sonya was empty and I looked around the large room. Tanta was with some girls her age and exploring their climbing gym.

I made it half way to the washroom before I was spotted. They intercepted me soon after. From their minds I heard, "I'm hungry." "I'm lonely." "I'm bored," and the background interest in sex that had been put into them by various masters.

"Give me a few minutes and I will see what I can do. We are going out on the ship for part of the day. I am sure we can find some interesting things to do. You are going to have to wear clothes again though and so are the rest of us. There are a few more children that you haven't met yet and I have to introduce them to magic."

Going to the bathroom didn't mean I got any privacy. I had come to accept the slaves view on this and just did what I had to do then cleaned myself up. Some of the others did the same thing and I cleaned them before we left.

Back at my sleeping pad I produced the first round of breakfast and fed all of the children. Tanta was hiding in the back but she got her food just like the rest. The different courses came and they were used to stoke the little engines. Not a lot was given each time but enough to get them used to other foods.

The boys still stayed together as a group and they got much more to eat. Their metabolism had been severely altered to keep them as boys and not to grow but I did what I could to let them mature.

The girls formed different groups based on age or intelligence, and like the boys, unconsciously tried to get me interested in their bodies. The children produced a fair amount of power when I made love to their mothers and others. I at least was trying to push them to not just generate magic but to use it.

When they were full I sent food to the older girls lounging on the floor as they watched us. They usually hammed it up for the children when the food floated through the air and didn't quite make it to their mouths.

Next we had an impromptu magic lesson where the children showed me what they had learned. There were a lot of mistakes but nothing that couldn't get cleaned up. With mental communication there was no laughter since they all supported each other. Besides the more proficient members would get a chance to flub more complicated spells.

Sara took the ones with the least ability aside and tried to get them to do some of the simplest spells. Tanta was pulled into this group. She reminded me of a fish in a school of them. When I looked further into her reasoning I could see that she found safety in numbers but did seemed to be integrating. She was used to being in an environment like this.

I consulted the schedule and though I was a day late. I went through the portal and into the owner's cabin. Sonya and some of the others came with a sampling of the children.

Those new to magic came in shifts. This included the crew itself. They were just as uneducated as the rest had been. Magic was explained and some simple spells demonstrated. The children were happy to demonstrate what they knew and the visiting youngsters stared in amazement.

More girls came up from our base and started to conduct classes similar to what we had done in Toronto. I went on to my next class which was an introduction to magic. Everybody on the ship had to go through this including the Captain.

The days were calm and the nights perfect, though hurricane season was over there were still some storms the Captain was trying to stay away from. My days were filled with work of one kind or another. Those that came aboard were interviewed in family groupings or as individuals. Small and major maladies were removed but each person had a choice whether they wanted this done or not. The children's fate was usually up to the parents but after a few days I had no refusals though some wanted to think on it.

All of this meant that I had to hide my tracks. A new doctor had to be found and convinced to play along with me. People coming back from a cruise and not having tumours that they had before would be suspicious. Many of the older people had problem with cholesterol buildup and now this was buildup was removed.

The doctor on the ship might do but he would not be available most of the time and would look more suspicious if an investigation were ever started.

My children enjoyed the ship and the new friends but when the weather got a bit rough six days later they went to the base where there was no apparent motion. Some of the passengers came here too. Magic was taught and practised while some learned of how the ship functioned.

The captain said to me, "Sir the ship has been travelling much faster with even less fuel being consumed. Your improvements are simply great."

I said, "You have a clean hull and a field around even that. The field extends before the hull to gently push aside the water. It extends around the props for more efficiency. There is very little friction." I drew the basic hull outline and our field that just happened to be our home.

"Why don't you make some suggestions about changing the field design. Not that many Captains get to work as nautical engineers and the field changes quite easily."

"I would love to. I know lots of the men that would love to try too if they were allowed."

"Ask them if you want but I can only do about four changes a day. It takes some effort to alter the field and it has little bearing on the size of the ship."

"Do you think we could try a trimaran configuration?"

"A five hundred forty foot trimaran may be very stable. The strength of the field and the frictionless slide through the water may be good during rough weather. Make up your design and I'll see what we can do but let's work on other designs when we are still in calm water. It takes time to change configurations."

"Of course sir."

The passengers used the deck chairs and basically enjoyed themselves. They had some compulsory training but it could be in many fields not related to magic. I saw herds of children playing games with some harried women trying to follow. There was no way a child would fall overboard so all they suffered from was the occasional bruise or scrape.

I transferred to the 'Lucky Lady' when I could but only talked to those that knew about magic. I had no wish to put spells on a great many people. Those same people didn't know I was aboard but I did talk to my employees about doing some healing spells that would improve the lives of the family without tipping my hand. Serious problems were listed and would be presented after the voyage was over. Some of this was done through the doctor on board. He himself though had to be cured of pancreatic cancer and he knew all about the condition and thought this was his last trip on the ship.

I was on the lookout for magical talent here but also for those with the potential. My Chinese ladies had improved greatly and I think Sonya and Sera were doing some small tinkering to improve everybody's performance. For thousands of years it had been ingrained in slaves to assist the master in magic or to work in the fields. Those in the fields provided the sacrifices so most opted for the magic group if they could.

The crew and family on the 'Lady' were happy but not as much as those on the 'Fist'. A few words to Captain Harris and officers would have to be given to give the people some fun activities to do. We had an empty hold so I used power from crystals to make a gym for children and adults. With lights and some partitioning I made bumper cars for all sizes. A maze was made above that but it changed every hour. Adult and child alike had to climb and crawl to get through.

Captain Harris and some of the ratings had to go through first to the delight of the rest of the crew. They did seem to enjoy it.

This Captain knew about the shield to protect the hull and wanted to see what he could do. I would have to get one of the girls to shuttle the individuals back and forth between the ships so the actual changes could be better thought out.

When a week had passed I rotated some of those on the 'Fist' back to Houston. Some only wanted a week but many had other commitments. This also happened to allow others to board the 'Fist' in their place. I found nobody trying to slip onboard this time.

Hondilas had made his meeting with Calldas followers. Since they all thought that Hondilas was their mage the situation was easily controlled. The four apprentices were dead and a few slaves sold but that now stopped. Hondilas said that this was looked on as odd and he had to say he had new plans for the slaves.

The German, Mark Himmler, was solidly locked behind the walls of his base and there was no way of communicating. Yusoff bin Ibrahim was the apprentice in Malaysia but he had not been seen either. Teams were already out looking and I could do very little at the moment to assist.

When Christmas day rolled close there were a lot of gifts to be given. Many of my family had not even heard of Christianity but liked the gifts. Most of the gifts were magically made but not all. Months ago the girls had gone shopping for presents in Toronto, as a way of introducing the people we came across to something not relating to slavery. Those presents were now given but I received the majority of them. The clothing I received was not bad but was quite inferior to that made by magic. I smiled as I received all the junk a modern earth put out. In some cases, the givers just wanted to know what the present was for.