The Worlds of the Sheaf

Veglia - Part 2

      In the room above the ship's bridge, Lirenna stared uncertainly into the flickering fires of the Orb of Propulsion. "Remember what I told you," said Sune reassuringly. "You can do this."

     "Please watch closely," begged the demi shae. "Stop me if you see me about to make a mistake."

     "You will not make a mistake," assured Sune. "It is the application of simple forward thrust. The simplest possible manoeuvre. I've seen you practising, you could do it in your sleep. Go on now. The Captain is growing impatient."

     Lirenna nodded apprehensively and moved her pale, slender hands above the orb, at the same time speaking strange, musical words in the most ancient language of the shayen race. A language that survived now only in the application of wizardry. The fires burning inside the thin shell of glass began to glow a fraction more brightly, and Lirenna felt a warm glow of randomised magic washing over her skin like the heat from a bonfire.

     "How do we know if we're moving?" she asked.

     "The Captain will soon tell us if we're not," said Sune with a smile. "Don't worry, we're moving, and we're going in the right direction. The orb hasn't let us down yet."

☆☆☆

     Sure enough, in the room below, the five bridge officers and the felisian watched the translucent red circle growing in the scrying mirror until its edges were lost to sight. All over the ship, everyone was sitting down in case there was any unexpected turbulence as they crossed the transdimensional threshold, and Strong felt himself tensing up in his seat, waiting for the room around him to jump and shake. He composed himself to remain calm and self assured as an example to the others. A steadying influence in the midst of fear and uncertainty.

     He needn't have worried, though. The Jules Verne sailed on, smooth and steady, and after a couple of minutes the sky in the scrying mirror returned to its normal black. Strong gave a word of command, reversing the angle of view, and they saw the red circle of the portal receding behind them, the stars of their home universe visible through it.

     "We're through," said Prup Chull, unnecessarily. "The first time a member of my race has entered another universe."

     "Let us hope you are also the first member of your race to return safely home again," said Tana Antallan with a faint smile.

     There was a tense moment as they waited to see whether the ship's magics continued to function properly. Kalda Mot had pointed out, some weeks earlier, that magic worked differently, and sometimes not at all, in some of the universes which he and his predecessors had visited, and although their number was small compared to the universes in which magic functioned perfectly normally, still the suggestion had caused some of the wizards a moment of worry and uncertainty. In the end, Saturn had decided that they would just have to take the risk, but he'd taken the precaution of forbidding any of the bridge crew from mentioning it to anyone else. "There isn't a man aboard who isn't aware that this is a very hazardous voyage," he'd pointed out. "Who isn't aware that there's a very real chance they won't be going home. There's no reason to worry them any more than they are already."

     They waited anxiously as Saturn gave instructions to the scrying mirror, looking at the stars around them in one direction after another to verify that it still functioned as it should, and then the wizard gave orders to the Orbmaster to take the ship through some simple manoeuvres to test the Orb of Propulsion. That, and the fact that the gravity still seemed to be working, finally convinced him, and the others, seeing the look of satisfaction on his face, relaxed gratefully.

     "Ship is secure, Captain," the wizard said, and for once there was no trace of challenge or borderline insubordination in his voice. He'd been really worried, the Captain realised, and he felt a moment's anger that he hadn't confided in them how real the danger really had been. Irrationally, as he, the Captain, had ordered that the rest of the crew be kept in ignorance. He contemplated the fact that, if all went as they expected, they would be visiting several universes in their search for the Shipbuilders. Would they be tossing the dice every time they went through the portal? Ah well, he thought with a mental shrug. If he's willing to take the risk, so am I.

     The Captain gave the scrying mirror the command to look back at the portal, taking one last look back at the friendly stars of their own universe, and a moment later it vanished, leaving nothing but the stars of the felisian universe. It would be ninety seven hours before it reappeared. Until then, they were marooned in this universe. If any kind of emergency arose, there would be no return to Tharia. They would have to deal with it on their own as best they could. We’ll be okay, he told himself. We’ve taken years preparing ourselves for this, outfitting ourselves with everything we thought we might need to face any possible situation. Whatever might happen here, we’re ready for it.

     “Drop the buoy, please, mister Gown,” he said therefore, his words carried by the bridge’s permanent Farspeaking spell to Thomas Gown, standing on the walkway outside one of the airlocks. Thomas's voice came back, acknowledging the order. The junior wizard had been ordered to place a sphere of glass, about the size of a grapefruit, outside the shop, to float in space where the portal would reappear.

     The glass sphere was filled with a special alchemical gas that made it show up brightly to someone wearing a Helm of Farsensing. It was one of several dozen the ship carried, and would mark the location of the portal until it reappeared, a little over four days later.

     A few moments later Gown's voice emerged from the empty air of the Bridge to tell them that the buoy had been dropped and Karog, wearing a Helm of Farseeing, confirmed that it was showing up clearly and floating almost motionless. The Captain then told Lirenna to back the ship slowly away from it. The buoy would slowly drift away, of course, but it wouldn’t go far in the length of time they expected to be in this universe.

     "Right," said Strong. "Where's Veglia?"

     “Our ship will lead the way,” said Haskar. “You need only follow them.”

     “I’d like to try finding it ourselves, if we can,” said the Captain, though. “It’ll be good practice for when we enter universes your people haven’t explored. Karog, think you can find it?”

     The trog used the scrying mirror to scan around the whole sky, noting the positions of the brightest stars on a sheet of paper. Then he examined them one at a time. The first four remained dimensionless points of light no matter how much they were magnified, but the fifth swelled into a ruddy red crescent, striped with belts of pink and yellow cloud.

     "That's Borle," said Haskar. "A large planet with many moons, but no solid surface no matter how deep into the clouds you delve. It lies further from the sun than Veglia."

     The trog nodded and drew a line between the planet and the sun of the felisian solar system on his sheet of notes. They now had the plane of the ecliptic, upon which the portal was also located. The planet Veglia would be on that lind somewhere, maybe just a little above or below. That allowed the trog to eliminate most of the bright stars he’d found, shortening the search considerably.

     They spotted two more planets before finding the one Haskar said was Veglia, and Strong gave orders to the Orbmaster to move the ship closer. Then he told Tana Antallan to keep an eye on nearby space using the Helmet of Farsensing. They were pretty sure that the felisians had no nasty surprises in store for them, but they didn't know whether the Masters, the race that had enslaved the felisians several times over the past few centuries, might decide to make an appearance. The felisians hadn't had any further trouble with them, despite the time they'd been exploring the Worlds of the Sheaf, but that didn't mean the threat didn't still exist. In the face of such uncertainty, Strong meant to be cautious.

     Strong spoke the words to activated another dormant Farspeaking spell that would carry his words to every part of the ship. "Your attention please," he said. "This is the Captain. We have entered the felisians' universe and are on our way towards their world. We expect to arrive within a couple of hours. I expect everyone to remain alert for whatever may lie head. We face challenges and dangers unlike any we have ever faced before, but I am confident that, with courage, resolve and faith, we will be able to overcome them. You all know your jobs. Do them." He ended the spell and sat back in his chair.

     "Nice speech," muttered Saturn, only half to himself. "Let's hope those words are justified."

     "Indeed," agreed Strong. He rose from his seat and walked across the room to the door. "Let me know when we enter orbit, or if anything unexpected happens." Saturn nodded, and the Captain left.