Chapter 18

With power readily available, we could break up into smaller groups and work an many small projects. Sonya worked on our present location and mapped out the bay and the surrounding land. This was put down on charts we made for this purpose. Some of the crew were very interested in this aspect because the bottom of the harbour was charted. She demonstrated how magic could be used to search out physical details but its range was limited.

The smaller snakes were now called Bomas. This was a Fassie word for small snake. The size could be up to seventeen metres and the weight four to five tonnes. They had rudimentary legs and arms that were well suited for feeding. Their main weapon was a very large and strong mouth lined with long teeth.

They attacked at any opportunity and one morning I killed one. It was not justifiable since they were not a real threat with the protection we now had but I wanted to find out about their physiology.

We did the dissecting on the deck while some of the crew kept a watch for new threats. Their brain was not that small. There was no poison but their saliva was acidic. They had some nasty organisms living in the pours of their claws that could cause death in a day from only a scratch. Their scales came in two sizes. This allowed them to flex but still provide protection from a larger predator.

The size of the eye led me to believe that they were well provided for. I could only find out with tests or through a living specimen.

This particular animal was a gravid female and the eggs were collected. Six of them looked to be capable of growing because the skin like membrane had formed already.

The testing went on through the day to learn as much as we could in the time available. The crew had their turn too to investigate this creature. When we were done, I sent the carcass off to Charley. This time I had it magically dragged across the water to see how our eighteen tentacled neighbour reacted and find the speed he could travel at.

The ship was repaired as good as new. In some ways it was like it was just built. The engines were not only more powerful but more efficient too. Three bare conductors were placed around the hull with insulators. These were hooked to the five hundred and fifty volt three phase generators the ship used. One of Charley's cousins would be in for a rude surprise.

Four months after arriving here, I began to take the families out of the time spells. It was much easier on them than to be kept asleep. We did this about five families per day. The procedure gave us a chance to control the consequences better and to have the next set of families see others that were not going hysterical over the news.

Those that I had seen that could conduct magic were immediately put into classes so that the rest could see that it was a natural form of science. The crew had shown some talent and they were the ones that did some of the training. I was quite sure that the men wanted to try to generate some power and relieve the pressure in their testicles.

There were two hundred and sixteen new people that had to learn magic. Paranoid or not I made sure everybody had a loyalty spell. Caloona had opened my mind when I first came to Erasmus' home. My family had a similar procedure done to them and then new ways were found to expand on their abilities. The same procedures had to happen to my much larger family now. Five hundred and eighty two of us made a strong power.

I was not about to add to our three hundred and twelve by involving the crew, wives and their children in our love making. Later on when we were a known quantity then the situation could change and all of us could contribute.

On the ship we usually wore clothing but the children would rather run naked no matter where they were. In the base though clothing was usually not worn. The crew and their family had to get used to a lot of this and our customs were just different. I hoped that the new children would eventually get used to watching their parents and others making love and gathering power.

Some people refused to believe in magic and I worked more with them. The old retirees were put through a great many healing spells and came out very young looking. Their minds were now very clear and it was hard not to see magic after this was done. Older couples came to me to get the same thing done to them. This was granted almost automatically as a way of tying them to me and our cause.

The new children were much more receptive to magic once they saw their peers among my family showing what they could do. They all took to the classes we offered and I had to work in slowly some of the details about magical abuse. Like a gun it was the intentions of the person holding the weapon that counted.

The complexity of magic was explained like how we dealt with technology. Most people used a computer or an automobile but didn't know, or care to know, how they worked. Other jobs needed to be learned and this was done one step at a time. This was compared to a doctor. He or she was not born that way but learned his profession after a lot of training.

It took time and we all began to use our minds to communicate. This was a second kind of nakedness. It was much harder to hide something that should be exposed. The children could get used to this new reality much better without the bullshit our culture had loaded them up with over the centuries.

The Bomas eggs were kept warm and we altered their development. I tried for more brain size and some major changes to their body. The creatures were normally ravenous because of all the food they needed to survive. I wanted the new generation to be able to soar on thermals instead of using muscle power. Their digestive tract was altered too so more of the food was digested and a greater variety could be consumed.

When the eggs hatched I saw that we had to do a lot more research because they all had to be destroyed. They could not survive and could hardly fly. We kept our eyes out for young Bomas now so we could experiment. I was not ethically worried about this. Man had done this for a long time and had domesticated many animals for his own uses. I was just going to try to avoid a much useless pain and suffering as I could.

The Colcha were hardly ever seen and then they stayed far away. We tried fishing for leisure but Charley or one of the smaller versions usually got the fish first. We cast our minds into the water and brought out animal life directly with either PK or a transport spell. Aquariums were already prepared so we could observe the life. This was turning out to be much better than any school I had ever heard of.

The children were given awards for learning and for their discoveries. When a similar scheme was used on the adults I found that they soon accepted magic much more.

The engines were started up and we cruised the bay, going very slowly. The shoreline next to the plain was searched for a good dock. There was a lot of sediment and the water was shallow. I asked for plans for a dock after listing what we could possibly do. Sonya worked with me and gave her ideas publicly and I commented on the good and bad points. The discussion started slowly but did heat up during the day and the remainder of the week.

Everybody was on deck later when we moved rocks from the bottom of the bay. The silt close to the shore was picked up by giant insubstantial hands and moved to a low spot on the plain. When enough had been moved, the rocks were put in place. Most rocks weighted many tonnes and we put them into position where we wanted the dock to be. There was no shortage of rock, though most was buried under the sediment. We just had to work so the bottom rocks didn't give way and sink too far into the silt as the years passed.

Rocks too large to move easily were sheered. This was something that I had not found in any books but came across it by accident when using a variation of the time spell. This could be used as a weapon too I thought but it was difficult to use. The crystal with Calldas' memories had been on the 'Fist' and we all had to rely on memory.

We had no cement so I relied on cut stone now to form the underwater wall. The children moved the smaller stones and they got some satisfaction from doing the same job that we were doing.

My family was growing as the children came to us. They had been bred by mages or the studs but I made sure everybody knew that the children were mine. I was surprised to find that two actually were. The girls Malochuck brought to his penthouse for breeding had been very fertile when I had worked with them. Two happened to catch. Sonya had later put the spell on the women not pregnant to stay that way.

The crew women had come to Sonya about their lack of pills and she gave them what I thought was best. Contraception would be learned but families could now grow if that was their choice. Some of the young looking old women liked this idea.

Some of the crews' children were old enough to have children. Only a few wanted to mate with other crew children. My own boys and girls were much more beautiful and attracted those members from the crew. I wanted to cut my boys loose but I could not do so. They wanted me badly and I wanted them but I was still not ready. The possible solution of reanimating them was too horrendous to contemplate.

Most friendships had to remain plutonic until I was able to find a solution. Some of those were also the crews' women and some children wanting to jump ship in some respects and join my family. I could get away with this if I wanted by increasing the loyalty spell. Instead, I took the men aside and gave them more pointers in making their mates happy. This was reinforced by the ability to fulfill what them libido wanted through another spell. I expected a bumper crop of babies after doing this.

We had been here a total of eight months when the dock was finally done. Parties had gone inland and cut giant trees and transported them to the dock so they could be secured against the side to prevent damage to a ship. Those same parties had done some exploring and small details were added to our charts as time went on.

The parties went well armed with various technological and magic weapons. The older children made up half of each group. It was a valuable way to learn. Some of my own family usually watched for anything dangerous. The Bomas now knew about us and didn't come too close. They were usually sent a small pain so they remembered about the distance I wanted kept.

A Bomas eyrie was found by one group and I hurried there. This was actually a large colony. The Bomas parents were getting very anxious that we were near. With shields and invisibility we entered some of the nesting caves and carried out a sampling of each brood. I figured a high percentage would die, and in a way I was helping those that remained. Some nests were too difficult to get to. The parents knew something was wrong but couldn't get close to investigate.

We had to resort to using a transport spell to do this work. I also took more than I needed but not what I figured would endanger the colony. I didn't know how often they nested. I too used the transport spell to the base. The young Bamas were making their displeasure well known when I got there.

A young one of only two metres long was selected. I worked through the oldest method known for making friends and fed the beast until it was nearly full. The other Bamas were treated the same way. None of them were smart enough to leave the food alone and we had to regulate them. When they quieted down I stared into the large yellow eyes and tried to find a way of communicating. Small pieces of bloody meat that was formed from magic was used.

An attempt was made to link the food with an emotion or thought but I couldn't find any. It was like trying to tune into a specific radio station with a short wave radio. I had to go very slow or I would miss it. In the end I conceded defeat and linked with a few dozen of the family and we tried to tune in as a group.

It was one of my boys, that originally came from Saranam, that found the thoughts. He had to show us exactly what he did. To reach these creatures I had to adjust my mind. This was like trying to sing octaves too high with my voice. We found only basic thoughts of hunger, pain and fright among others. The boy got a hug from me and he seemed to like this reward.

Geela smiled at me and said, "It was easy. Do you want me to do something else?"

"Yes I do Geela. This little snake here is going to be your buddy. I want you to feed him or her and try to make some sort of bond. You better learn some spells for cleaning up the cage. You have to follow a lot of safety rules to deal with these creatures. I don't want to see you hurt. You are to make notes of everything you do. A good mage keeps great notes and they are easy to read and very understandable. Look at it as if it is a lot of experiments you have to do. I think I will have to give out the rest of the snakes and we can have a Bamas club to pass around information."

"Is this one going to be mine?" He now had a very big smile.

"Yes, remember safety or I will pull you off the project for being foolish."

"Yes, Sir," the boy said proudly.

The names of children from the entire ship were considered then they were offered the jobs. This was along with their other duties. My own children were better suited for this but the others had to get their chance to learn.

The bay we were in, reminded me of pictures I had seen of St. John's Newfoundland. It was one of the best places on earth to wait out a storm and this bay was even better due to it's size. The mountains were taller with a narrow entrance. The bay was twelve kilometres long and had a dog leg half way down. At its narrowest part it was still a kilometre across. Around one side was a strip of land about three and a half kilometres wide while the other side was vertical rock. A river fell from a cliff and after flowing across the plain went into the bay. One other smaller river to the east did the same.

With no moon for tides the water level didn't change. As an additional demonstration of magic we picked up the large submerged rocks that blocked our path and I had them placed where I wanted to extend the dock. Some smaller ones were placed on a ledge far above the water. This would be a good way of effectively dissuading unwanted guest from coming this way by sea. That same small area above could effectively hold a garrison of troops. A rope bridge and a similar ledge on the other side would make this a very easy port to protect, at least from the ocean.

The channel was thirty six metres wide now. This allowed us just the barest of margins to get through. There was lots of room when I looked but Captain Harris was very worried about his ship. The wind could easily push it to one side or the other.

Before we left, we used a great deal of energy building a base on the ledge far above and then a portal to the base on the ship. You could not easily get to it and this way was undemanding. It also allowed us to find this area again. The area in the centre of the plain was laid out and with a lot of calculations we referenced this point so we could find this area too. Minor adjustments gave us the bay itself if we had to move the ship.

We left the harbour ten Sookra months after we arrived. If measured in Earth time it would have been ninety three percent of that. We had no charts after getting forty kilometres from the Fortune's Bay, as that was the name that was picked by popular vote.

Shoals and other obstacles were put on our new charts but we travelled at a leisurely pace since we were exploring now. With no satellite coverage we had to do this the old way and this took not only a long time but the accuracy was not there. Working from the land was easier as measurements were more accurate. We hadn't found anything that was magic related that could help us in this matter.

Sonya and I had maps of this world in our minds along with the two major countries of Fassie and Saranam. As yet we had not run into any humans or even old settlements and had no idea of our location. Before we made any major decisions we had to know a lot more about where and when we were.

Sea life was examined on the trip and we even had short forays into the land to see what was detected by magical means. The animals were readily seen as distinctly Sookra. The animals now were not domesticated and were much smaller than ones in our memories. Some of these were captured for study and some as backup pets for those that watched the Bomas.

A Sookra month after we had set out, we had covered over ten thousand kilometres. We came upon our first native. It was a person in a canoe fishing in the delta of a large river. We saw him with a telescope and he saw the ship with his unaided eye and he fled. I didn't blame him. I was actually amazed that he was fishing because we had been attacked by friends or near relatives of Charley on many occasions. The electrical conductors did a very good job of teaching them to leave a three hundred seventeen feet of ship alone. The canoe had no such device.

With our minds focussed on the delta, we plotted the best course we could through the deepest channels. Captain Harris didn't like this but we could push and pull the ship with our minds if it became necessary. Retracing our route in reverse should be no problem. The river did widen in areas though and we could turn the ship if it became necessary.

We found villages that were now recently deserted but assumed it was because of word of our approach getting there ahead of us. I overruled the Captain and we travelled at night for the first time. Mapmaking had to be done in the day time.

We found a village three kilometres ahead and we simply stopped the engines and pushed the ship with our minds. The props were a drag and the shield was now used to enclose them for ease of slipping through the water. We approached as close as we could then deployed the anchor as quietly as we could. It was even lighter than many of the rocks we had moved. The ship could not be seen readily from the village.

From the deck we moved people too so they surrounded the village. A gas was released that would render all of the inhabitants unconscious and we moved in to do a census and find out what was possible.

When word came back I knew we had twenty three very poor specimens of humanity. When daylight broke we had a large ox like creature found in the jungles slowly spinning on a spit. Smaller portions were precooked in the ovens on the ship for breakfast.

The gas wore off after three hours and the people were now getting up. Many dashed back into their huts or tried for the fields or stands of wood nearby at the first sight of strangers. They were intercepted by children but done so with care. During the night we were able to speak to a few of them with our minds but they had no awareness of this.

They were all huddled together with a few males on the outside trying to protect their families. My family advanced on them but it was only four women with infants in their arms and a few of the smaller children walking with them. The rest were watching intently from the ship or the woods ready to protect our people.

Tanta was now eight and though small went further than the adults and up to the man that would usually run this village if the need arose.

"Hello, my name is Tanta. We were travelling through this area and decided to stop and have a talk. Will you talk to my mothers? They will not hurt you and we even brought some food to eat."

Words came from the man's mouth. It was a dialect of Saranam. "How can you talk to me? I didn't see your mouth move."

Tanta said, "I cannot speak the sounds of your language very well. If I tried you would not understand. I can speak this way because my mothers taught me. Will you eat with us? We have a lot. We are not your enemies."

Dorum spoke a different dialect of Saranam and took a few steps closer and said, "Our daughter is telling the truth. She spoke to you first so you would have a chance to listen. We have our children in our arms to show you that we are not going to fight. Will you have a meal with us? I think we should be friends."

"How did you get here?"

"We have a boat."

"Where are your men?"

"They are on the boat waiting for us to have this talk. Do we look like a threat to you?"