[The White Raven, Chapter 8, The Artful Daeger] [Edge of the Demonian Solar System] The four Raven Dart Ships floated just outside the Demonian Solar System, along with dozens of various war ships, merchant cargo ships, transports, and diplomatic envoys. Even here at the edge of their solar system, the debris of destroyed fleets from the Demonian-Kitsune war presents a navigation hazard. The debris doesn’t sit still either, a series of Marker Beacons mark an ever changing path that each ship has to be guided along to make it safely to Demonia. “How long do you think this will take?” “Don’t know, but some of these ships have been here awhile.” “Umm… Rip? Sensors indicate you just brought your weapons on-line. Why are you painting that cargo ship in front of you.” “The rock licker just dumped his waste, I’m being pelted with frozen crap.” “Didn’t know cargo ships could move that fast… ha, he’s going over there to hide behind that Destroyer. Bad Rip… you scared him.” “Damn lucky I didn’t shoot him, and I would have if Tear hadn’t been pulling on my arms.” “Okay guys, we’re all tired, it’s been a long trip, let’s just get through this.” “Raen, I saw you nudge that currier ship out of the way earlier.” *Dart Squadron Flight 692, this is Demonia Space Command, you are cleared to move to Marker 41* “Hey, there we go, see, now we’re making progress.” “No we’re not, they’re sticking us out by ourselves behind Volnu.” “What the heck? That’s the eighth planet, two planets behind us, it’s not even technically inside their solar system.” “Demonia Space Command, this is Dart Squadron Flight 692. Marker 41 is the wrong direction, you must mean Marker 14, moving now.” *Negative Dart Squadron Flight 692, do not proceed to Marker 14* “Roger, Space Command, proceeding to Marker 14.” *Negative, do not proceed.* “Roger, proceeding.” “Everyone on me,” orders Raen. “Moeth says we aren’t waiting anymore.” *Dart Squadron Flight 692, do not proceed to Marker 14, it is an uncleared minefield.* “This will be fun, pedal to the medal guys.” “Arm your chain-guns, we’ll blast our way through this mess.” “I heard somewhere they’ve only got five percent of the junk cleaned up out here from the Kitsune-Demonian War.” “I believe it, this whole system is a mess. Look there, that must be the Silver Wolf Battle Carrier, or what’s left of it.” “You think the Demonians are going to be mad when we land.” “Naw, our Flight designator is made up, by the time they figure it out we’ll be on the ground and they won’t know it was us.” “Holy hot-footed ancestors, was that a mine?” “Yea, I could have reached out and written my name on it.” “Pirate Salvage Ship off to the left.” “They have immunity here, as long as they are helping haul the mess away, and exactly which way is left in space?” “This is getting dicey, let’s use real directions.” “Aye, boss.” “Hey Ring, where you going?” “I’ll be right back, that Medical Ship floating over there doesn’t look stripped down yet, I can use some of that equipment in my greenhouse.” “We need to stick together, everyone follow Ring.” “Hey Ring, while you’re over there see if they left one of those portable A.I. robotic surgery units. Our Hospital cabin is only stocked with adhesive bandages and a couple bottles of your Aloe extract.” Ring maneuvers his Dart close to the cargo bay of the derelict Medical Ship. The rear ramp nudges up against an opened emergency hatch the crew must have used to escape when they abandoned the ship. “Rip, keep an eye on that Pirate Salvage Ship.” “I’m ready,” says Ring. “Entering the cargo bay now… umph… hey, this thing still has working Grav-plates.” “Be careful.” “Dark in here, no bodies so far,” says Ring. “Grab what you need and get out.” “Umm… guys, you won’t believe this,” says Ring. “There’s an undamaged Dart Medical Transport in the cargo bay.” “Must be something wrong with it for them to leave it.” “I’m looking in it now, just a second, I’m going to flip the master power switch,” says Ring. “Guys, I’m on the other side of the Medical Ship,” says Clap. “I know why the crew abandoned the ship; there’s a nuke sticking out of the side of the hull.” “The Dart powered up,” says Ring. “This is a perfectly good Dart Ship.” “That Pirate Ship is moving away, quickly,” says Rip. “They must have known about the nuke.” “So a nuke hit the ship, didn’t detonate and the crew abandoned ship,” says Ring. “Other than a hull breech, this is a perfectly good Medical Ship, I’m going to go check the Bridge.” “No, let’s just take the Dart ship and get out of here.” “If the nuke hasn’t detonated in six years, it’s not going to now,” says Ring. “This will just take a minute.” “Damn it, Ring, there’s a nuke, don’t play around.” “I’ll be fine, Mergan would be furious if we pass this chance up.” “I don’t think she would want you blowing us all up.” “I found the nuke, it isn’t in very far,” says Ring. “I’m moving on to the Bridge.” “Moeth says to get out of there, Ring.” “I’m almost to the Bridge, just give me a moment.” “Hey, anyone notice that Battle Carrier is drifting towards us,” says Clap. “We have plenty of room,” says Ring. “I scanned it before I docked.” “Even the Pirates don’t want this ship, lets just leave it.” “I’m at the Bridge, checking the controls…” The lights on the Medical ship come on and the engines igniter pre-glow lights up. “Ring! What are you doing?” “Raen, this is a perfectly good ship, other than no atmosphere, but I’ve got enough air in my suit to make it to Demonia. I’ll fly the Med-ship and Vel can fly our Dart.” “There’s a nuke in the side of it, you fool,” says Vel. “Listen, we can do this,” says Ring. “Have Clap attach a tow cable to the nuke, yank it out and swing wide in an arc and release it towards that derelict Battle Carrier.” “Are you crazy?” “Probably, but we have hundreds of orphans and no real hospital,” says Ring. “We’ve just been lucky there haven’t been any real injuries, we need this ship, it’s worth the chance.” “No, get out of there.” “Raen, you made me believe in something again,” says Ring. “Either help me or I’m going to go push the nuke until it falls out or blows up.” “Damn it. Okay, Rip and Clap, get some distance away and I’ll hook up the nuke,” says Raen. “Sorry, Raen, I’ve already got the cable ready and am moving into position.” “What the hell!” “If I don’t do this, then I’m not worthy of the title of Lord Clapper when my father passes. The orphans are important enough to take this risk.” “We seriously need to have a talk about obeying orders.” “Why isn’t Moeth on the Com-link?” asks Rip. “Her Com-Mic is broken, but she can hear you,” replies Raen. “Moeth, we disobeyed the Temple’s orders and followed you when you wanted to hunt down Colton Cyness and his team,” says Rip. “She says to go ahead and do it, you’re going to anyway.” “I’m at the nuke… hooking the cable up now,” says Clap. “Gini will fly our Dart, I’m going to crawl through the hole and stay with Ring. We shouldn’t waste time waiting for me to try and get back aboard my Dart.” “I’m ready,” says Gini. “I’m ready as soon as you are aboard the Med-Ship,” says Ring. “Hold on a second, let me get away from the nuke,” says Clap. “I don’t want to get dragged out into space… okay, I’m ready.” Gini slowly pulls the slack in the cable until the nuke jars slightly. “Punch it, Gini, pull that thing out and get rid of it,” shouts Clap. The Dart Ship thrusters ignite and pulls the eight-ton missile out the side of Med-Ship, and then she’s arcing over the Med-ship and the missile swings on the cable. “Release the cable now,” shouts Raen. The cable detaches and the missile is now on a trajectory for the derelict Battle Carrier. “I estimate forty-five seconds before it hits the Carrier,” says Rip. “Clap, get inside the ship,” shouts Ring. “I’m coming, the edges of the hull are jagged, just a second.” “Thirty-seconds… twenty-five seconds…” shouts Rip. “I’m in, go go go,” shouts Clap. The Med-Ship lunges forward and then the engines flare and go out. “Oh crap,” says Ring. “Restart them!” shouts Raen. “I'm trying, I'm trying!” shouts Ring. “Fifteen seconds,” says Rip. “Deploy your armor,” shouts Raen. The armor plating on the four Dart Ships seal the tiny ships from the impending blast, but the Med-Ship has no armor. “Five seconds,” says Rip. “Clap, I need you in the engine room, someone shut the fuel valves when the crew abandoned ship,” shouts Ring. “Oh great, now you find out, I’m on the way.” “Impact,” says Rip. Everyone cringes… and nothing happens. “Did it hit the Carrier?” asks Ring. “Yes, my sensors show it hit.” Ring starts laughing. “It was a dud the whole time.” “Well, that was anti-climatic,” says Gini. Fifteen minutes later Clap has the fuel valves open and the Med-Ship roars to life and follows the four Dart Ships. “Looks like we got lucky,” says Raen. “We still got to get through all the debris and mine fields,” says Rip. “Well, I guess you were right, Ring,” says Raen. “We scored big today.” A blinding flash of light illuminates the cockpits and the four Darts armor plating auto-deploys, sealing the ships again.” “Holy ancestors!” shouts Raen. “Sensors say we were far enough away, but lets go full thrusters and stay ahead of the shock wave.” “Well what do you know, guess it wasn’t a dud,” says Ring. “Glad I didn’t try to push the thing.” “Clap, you jackass, you had me pulling that thing,” says Gini. “You’re sleeping outside for the next month.” “Ring, Moeth says she’s going to beat the crap out of you when we land.” “You think she’s mad now,” says Ring. “Once we are away from the shock wave we are going to have to stop again.” “Why?” “We don’t have enough money to buy hull plating to fix that hole,” replies Ring. “We’re going to have to salvage a hull plate and some fuel from another derelict. Oh, and you can tell her there’s a spare Com-Mic over here to replace her broken one.” ***** [Sparrow Province, Sparrow Science Academy, Planet Darai] Papa came down and stayed with me at our house while I waited to report to the Sparrow Academy. Mother is sitting with our cargo in orbit, apparently there’s a shortage of Custom’s Agents and the usual bride to get us through didn’t work. I really don’t mind, it gave me more time to spend with Papa, and we went shopping and I got some new clothes for school. The house is further than I remembered from the Academy, and smaller. I guess maybe I’m just getting older and it doesn’t look so big anymore. I barely remembered my old room, but all my boxes are sitting in there. I didn’t have time to unpack, I’ll do it on the holiday when I take the bus out to our house. “I don’t want to go, Papa.” “Now, Pesa, you have a great big future waiting for you.” “I want to be a pilot like you, Papa.” “You can be, but you need a good education first.” “But they kill people during the tests.” “Great reward only comes with great risk.” “Fine, Papa, I’m going. I’ll die and then you’ll be sad.” “Pesa, that’s below you.” “Sorry, Papa.” I get out of our little vehicle and grab my bag from the backseat. I didn’t pack much, if I need anything I can just take the bus to our house and get it. Papa gives me a hug and pushes me towards the Central Administration building. There are lots of other kids heading that direction, and lots just standing around. I check my wrist implant, I sent Jaco my new address but haven’t heard anything for two weeks. Papa got me a portable Vid-computer and the first thing I did was set up a message address on Grackle Net. My wrist implant will notify me when I have a message waiting. The line at the Administrative building is crazy long. I see Tonae further up in the line and wave at him; he waves back. A Priestess is passing out clip boards with a bunch of forms to fill out. I spend my time in line filling out the forms. The line takes almost two hours to get to the front. A weary looking young Priestess takes my forms, and shoves them in a folder. “Hi, I’m Pesa, Host S74.” I smile and try to be friendly. I don’t think she cares. The young Priestess shoves a class schedule at me, an I.D. card, a meal card for the Cafeteria, a student bus pass, and a rule booklet. “Building S74, South Quad, good luck, welcome to the Academy,” says the bored Priestess. I push back through the crowds, even more kids have been arriving and the place is a mad house now. Tonae is waiting outside for me, and that makes me smile a little; I’ve never had a boy show me any attention before. “Hey there.” I grin. “Hey you, that was a long line,” replies Tonae. “Just thought I’d wait and we can go find our building together.” “This place is huge, any idea which way?” I ask. “Lets ask one of those older kids.” An older girl points at a path leading away from the Administration building. I guess the Administration building is the center of the campus, there are winding cobblestone walkways lead away from the building in four directions. Trees line the sides of the walkways and there are grassy garden type areas every fifty feet or so with a patio and tables and a different decoration at each one. “I can’t believe how beautiful this place is?” I say. “Those aren’t just decorations,” says Tonae. “I read it all starts at the Administration building, it has ninety-six sides and when you…” “…Draw a circle intersecting each point,” I finish his sentence. “You trap the boundaries into a fraction of 3 10/71 less pi less 3 1/7… omgosh, the Administration building represents the foundation of pi.” “Yep.” Tonae grins. “And each successive study area off the four main paths moving outward from there represents mathematical equations in perfect circles if you were to connect each outward moving circle from the source.” “But that’s impossible, if you know the circle to one-hundred percent accuracy, you can’t know the diameter, pi is a chaotic number.” “That’s the point, the entire Academy is a math problem,” says Tonae. “I read it’s never been solved, but if you come close or at least solve ninety-six of the equations in the study gardens you get an automatic appointment on graduation to the Sparrow Science Institute.” “Where are we?” I ask. “I don’t know, this doesn’t look right, that building there is E14, this isn’t the South quad,” says Tonae. “Excuse me,” I ask a passing student. “Which way is the South quad?” “Over there,” says the girl pointing and walks on. “Okay, I guess we go that way,” says Tonae. “No, hold on,” I say taking Tonae’s arm. “They are messing with us and sending us on a wild goose chase. Let’s go the other way.” We walk along another path, the study gardens here have beautiful waterfalls in each one, and even some big goldfish swimming along lazily. “What math equations do you think these are?” asks Tonae. “My guess… umm… maybe quantum mathematics using fluid dynamics,” I reply. “Uh… Pesa… that building is W33,” says Tonae. “It shouldn’t be, what the heck?” “Look where the sun is, this should be the East quad, and that last quad should have been the West quad.” I slowly turn in a circle and look at all the buildings. The building we just passed was W34, but the next one is W32. “Oh wow, I get it.” “We’re lost?” “Yea, that too. But look, the buildings are in reverse order, or to be exact, the correct order.” “Huh?” “Two integers are opposites if they are each the same distance away from zero, but on opposite sides of the number line,” I explain. “Yea, okay, so you’re some kind of math genius,” says Tonae. “We all are, but Mother made sure I understood the practical application of all this so I would know what I was looking at when I saw it.” “A little clarity, if you please,” says Tonae. “The Administration building is the center of the universe, which means the entire campus is upside-down and backwards, as you would be when at TDS and under the universe. But, each quad is flipped back to normal as you would be in normal space, and that’s why the numbers appear to be going the wrong way. Our minds tricked us because we started at the center of the campus and moved outward.” “Tell me you know where our building is,” says Tonae. “Yep, south is this way. “We’re going north?” “Now you got it.” I grin. “North is south, east is west, until you get inside the quads, then north is north, and south is south, and so on.” “I think I’m going to be late to a lot of classes,” says Tonae. “Naw, you’re just as smart as me, you were second finished with the candidate exam, I just have more real world experience living in TDS. You’ll catch on in no time.” “I was reading the rule book while I was waiting for you,” says Tonae. “It said all new students have to be in their buildings by 8 p.m. What do you think happens to those that didn’t solve this problem and find their buildings by then?” “I don’t want to think about it, but lets find our building quick and then we’ll go find all our people and get them to the building.” I think I know exactly what will happen to any new student that is still outside when the sun goes down. I also have another horrifying thought, the older students were purposely setting us up to get lost. The beauty of the Sparrow Academy just wore off very quickly. ***** [Hawk Province, Southern Forest, Planet Darai] The boy ran through the shadows of the forest, only the lowest of branches were a hazard, but an occasional bough would snag at his shirt. He had never been in a forest before, the smell was strange but his heart was thundering too loud to hear anything yet. He ran until he couldn’t run anymore. He stopped, panting, and looked behind him. Was the policeman chasing him? Had the policeman changed his mind about letting him go? The danger had finally sunk into his head, the policeman was going to shoot him and throw him off the bridge into the water. The boy knew this now, without actually understanding. What had he done wrong? Why had the woman left him on that corner? Why was the policeman going to shoot him? He walked under the ancient trees of Hawk Province, though he wouldn’t know the difference between a Hawk and a Raven. The woman hadn’t let him go outside much, and he had never been to school. He would watch the other hatchlings walking to school in the morning from the window of their tiny apartment, but he was never allowed to join them. A woodpecker tapping on a tree somewhere high above him made him jump, in his mind he saw terrible monsters surrounding him on all sides… they would sink their horrible fangs in him and he would be no more. A squirrel scurrying through the leaves, branches rubbing against each other, the woodpecker tapping… all too much… he started running again. The boy never saw the older boys. He was running, and then he was on the ground, his face being pushed into the dirt and someone heavy was on top of him. He kicked his legs and thrashed his arms, and cried. “Mmm… you’re a cute one,” says a voice. “I’m going to eat you all up.” Then hands were going through his pockets, searching, and then his treasured stuffed animal was twisted from his fingers. “Don’t you got nothing to eat?” the voice is close, in his ear, a hot rank breath of someone that hasn’t used a tooth brush in a very long time. “You better got something valuable, or I’m going to make it hurt real bad.” The tormentor lifts himself up and twists the boy over and slams him down on his back. The boy stares up at his tormentor, it’s an older boy with an evil expression. “Get off him, Gills,” says a new voice. “For ancestors sake, he can’t be more than six, you sick twisted dung pile.” The boy turns his head, another boy… larger and older… has arrived and is standing close looking down. “He’s mine, I found him,” says the tormentor on top of the boy. “I can do whatever I want to him.” The older boy’s leg lashes out and his foot connects with the jaw of the tormentor. The tormentor’s head snaps back, and he rolls away clutching his face. “Lay a single finger on him like you did the last one and I’ll kill you this time, you worthless piece of spittle.” “You didn’t have to break my nose,” cries the tormentor. “Gills, you’ve outlived your usefulness, shut up and get with the others or start running.” The tormentor stumbles away and runs off through the trees. “Well then, what do we have here,” says the older boy. “You got a name?” “Cody,” the boy barely whispers. “Where’d you come from, Cody?” “The policeman brought me.” “Holy castrated ancestors!” says the older boy. “You were at the bridge?” Cody nods slightly and sits up. “Damn, you got the luck,” says the older boy. “They never let anyone go. Well, stand up, lets have a look at you.” Cody stands, retrieves his stuffed toy, and the older boy pokes him with a finger a few times. “Yea, this will do just fine,” says the older boy. “Small enough to get through a window, and just big enough not to be too much of a bother. Do you wet the bed at night?” Cody shakes his head. “Good, we all sleep together for warmth, but I hate the smell of piss. Hmm.. You’re a little old for a stuffed toy, don’t you think it’s time to toss that thing away?” Cody clutches the stuffed toy tight and shakes his head. “Suit yourself. Anyway, this is the deal. Nobody in my gang has to do anything they don’t want to do, but you do have to steal enough to feed yourself. If you can’t, it isn’t like I’m going to hurt you, but I’ll make you head out on your own. So, do you want to be in my gang?” “Why?” asks Cody. “Damn smartest question I’ve heard in awhile,” says the older boy. “You don’t have to steal food for anyone but yourself, but when we are all working together it makes it easier to steal, and together we are safer from the grown up versions of Gills over there, and you can’t survive the snow alone.” “Okay,” says Cody. “That’s a good chirp, come along now, my name’s Daeger.”