*****AUDIO FILE***** "Chapter 48 - A New World - Audio File" [The White Raven, Chapter 48, A New World] [Research Facility, Planet Demonia] “I am Zam…” “Zam I am…” “I sing and dance…” “While I put you in a trance…” Prince Mischief wrinkled his nose and sang as he shoveled another load of garbage into the little wagon. The research lab was almost clean again, only another couple loads to go. He had already spent nearly four days cleaning the lab, the Dart Ship he slept in, the bathroom, the kitchen, and everywhere else he had thrown trash during the last three years. The arrival of the message from Ring had wakened Mischief from the depression he had been in. Mischief grabbed the handle to the wagon and pulled it to the launch bay doors. He checked the Vid-Screen to make sure it was still clear outside, and pressed the button to open the doors. The Vid-Screen was sitting on a table next to the door, a long cable stretched from the camera pointing out the observation window to the Vid-Screen he had set up. Something had changed in the last week, the storms were no longer constant, but now came in waves. The storm wave lasted twenty hours, and then four hours of clear skies. He could have gotten into the Dart Ship and escaped to orbit, but then what? The water was here, the food was here, and he didn’t know where Ring was, so it was best to stay at the research facility - and if he were to tell the truth, he only knew the very basics of flying a Dart. Mischief had never liked flying all that much, that was his brother’s passion. Mischief grabbed the wagon and ran up the launch tunnel to the entrance and dumped the garbage into a pile. He checked the sky, it was still clear, then turned and ran back for another load of garbage. By the time Mischief pulled the last load of garbage outside, the seed firestorm could be seen less then a mile from the research facility. Mischief jumped in the wagon and rolled down the launch tunnel and closed the doors to the hanger, and then ran up the stairs to watch the storm approach. The normally chaotic firestorm approached in an almost orderly manner, rolling across the land like a farmer tilling the ground. Mischief watched the storm reach the pile of garbage and expected it to burn away the trash laid out for the flames to devour. Instead, the storm reacted violently and the storm lost it’s orderly march across the landscape. The storm swirled and looked liked a tornado trying to form. A moment later three of the machine-monsters fell from the sky and surrounded the pile of trash. One of the monsters held it’s arm-leg out over the trash. The monster looked like it was inspecting the pile, then it pulled it’s arm back and all three of the machine-monsters lifted an arm-leg and flames burst outward and burned the pile to ash. The machine-monsters stood up on their back legs and held their arm-legs out. The storm calmed and then continued it’s methodical rolling across the ground. One of the machine-monsters climbed the hill towards the observation window. The monsters head swiveled and it looked inside the window. Mischief thought the monster was going to break the glass and backed away towards the door. The monster placed one of it’s massive arm-legs against the window, but didn’t break it - then the monster spoke. “You must not do that again,” says the machine-monster. “Introducing sub-surface toxins onto the surface will damage the procedure.” Mischief took a step towards the monster. “I had to, there almost isn’t any air left, I couldn’t breathe with all the trash, and all the tunnels have bad air, I have no place to go.” Then the machine-monster did break the glass, but very neatly in a small circle. A tube came through the glass and a silver ball rolled out of the tube, fell on the ground and rolled up to Mischief. The silver ball began to spin and a soft sound of rushing air emitted from the spinning object - then Mischief smelled it - sweet, pure, fresh air. Not like the air coming from the oxygen scrubbers, but air like you would breathe in a forest on a clear winter day. “What about the other tunnels, it’s awful down here?” asks Mischief. Another ball rolled out of the machine-monster, and then another, and then they were pouring out by the dozens. Hundreds, maybe thousands of the little balls piled up inside the room; the new balls didn’t spin, they just stacked up like the balls in a child’s bouncy ball house. “We are not altering the mantle, only correcting the damage done to the crust of the planet,” replies the monster. “You may place an oxygen-sphere in each tunnel to correct the air.” The machine-monster pulled the tube out and fixed the window, then tossed the crashed Dart Ship away from the observation window and fixed the cracked glass. “Wait,” shouts Mischief trying to push through the layer of silver balls. “Can I go outside, is that okay?” The machine-monster placed its arm-leg against the glass and spoke again. “I will come for you when it is safe to venture out onto the surface.” Mischief spent the next year placing the balls in tunnels as far away as the underground Demonian Capitol. ***** [Raen’s Trailer, Eagle Province, Planet Darai] Raen sat at his desk looking at the cover to a catalog of drapery. House Robin had contracted the interior decorating of the Eagle Palace to House Paeora. The catalog cover was emblazoned with the colorful image of a peacock, the Paeora House bird. Raen wasn’t even sure what to think about this, it was the most senseless waste of time he could imagine. The House Paeora representative was supposed to arrive in two hours to discuss Raen’s choices. A knock at the door gave Raen an excuse to shove the catalog aside. “Enter.” Raen was surprised to see the two Raven spies he had chastised several days ago enter the trailer. “Good morning, Prince Raen,” says the female Raven. “Raen is good enough, what do you need?” “I’ve come to discuss the options for your copy of The Raven.” “I’m not aware of what The Raven is, why haven’t I ever heard of it?” asks Raen. “You did not work in the intelligence field, and you left the Temple after only two years as a Master Raven,” explains the Raven spy. “However, Moeth knows of The Raven Brief, as do all the Ravens of your Alliance.” “I see, does this have something to do with me not being biologically a Raven?” Raen’s eyes narrowed, it wouldn’t be the first time he had encountered racial prejudice in the Temple. “I do not have that information on hand,” replies the Raven. “But it is available to purchase, as is any information within the Raven Intelligence Database.” The Raven spy lays a very thick booklet on Raen’s desk. “The Raven has sixty possible sections, but a copy is only one page of twelve sections, you must choose the sections you want. Of course, the more sections you choose, the less detail is enclosed, the Brief can only be one page.” Raen picks the booklet up and glances at the first section. “Is this is a sample of all sixty sections?” asks Raen starting to read the booklet. “Yes, my lord,” replies the Raven spy. Raen stops reading and looks up. “And why on Goddess’ green Darai would I want to know who the Black Swan slept with last night? And I do not appreciate this write-up about Moeth, I assure you that I already know she is carrying an egg that is not mine, that is her business only.” “House Grackle, for one, would be interested in knowing the Black Swan’s personal liaisons, and any House would be interested in knowing that Lady Moeth has taken a lover. And, though it would be very un-Darian like if you were jealous that Lord Brant’s heir will be Moeth’s hatchling, it tells any House that though you have no formal alliance with House Brant, you would likely deploy troops to their defense without reservation.” “Well, I can tell you that I do not want the Social Section,” says Raen continuing to read. “All the Raptor Houses have the same distaste for that section and do not subscribe to it,” replies the Raven spy. Raen continued reading, the financial section was just as Emperor Sionnach had said. The investments Raen was considering would not make any sense if the information in The Raven Brief were true. Raen scanned the financial news about a House company he had visited to negotiate a contract for a large quantity of house paint. Gordan, the owner of the company, had been very honest with Raen and told him the company was struggling. They weren’t getting enough contracts to stay in business much longer, a wealthy aunt not on the books was secretly holding them together. The contract with the Eagles would correct that and give Gordon and Sons Paint several more years to build a customer base - The Raven Brief failed to mention that, it only mentioned their financial weakness as it was reported on paper. Raen glanced up at the Raven spies and kept his face neutral. “This is very interesting,” says Raen, and then looks back down at the booklet. He didn’t want the Ravens to know he saw through this charade. The Brief mentioned several other paint manufactures, but the cost of shipping such a distance would be prohibitive. The likely next candidate to purchase from was Caeno Paints, a subsidiary company of House Clapper, whom were also a subject House of House Raven. The entire Raven Brief was nothing but a gentle manipulation in favor of the Ravens. Raen moved on to the section on troop deployments. The Hawks were moving security forces into Osarius, a strip of land currently in dispute between House Hawk and House Sparrow. Osarius was very close to the Hawk Temple. Raen saw through the charade here as well. With Codae being at the Hawk Temple, along with many other of the Eagle boys, Raen might be prompted to send a squadron of the Storm Wings in support. But, that would leave Eagle Province short handed and make it possible for more Raven spies to slip across the border. Vas had gone to Falcon Province on business and secretly met with Lord Sparrow to discuss this exact land dispute. Raen had been concerned the dispute might interfere with the construction of the new House Eagle Flag Ship he was commissioning to be built. Lord Sparrow had assured Vas he had no intention of invading Osarius, he only wanted the Hawks to over-react, as they always do, and deploy with their new light armored fast vehicle. Lord Sparrow just wanted a peek at the vehicle in action. The Raven Brief didn’t mention any of this, either the Ravens didn’t know, or were again trying to manipulate the situation. Raen glanced up at the Raven spy. “How much to subscribe?” “Two-thousand Imperial Standard per day,” replies the Raven spy. “Are you kidding, that’s robbery.” Raen shook his head in disbelief. He was just pretending to be shocked, it was a ridiculous sum of money, but really he wanted to jump up and dance around in circles. The Ravens had just handed him the holy grail blue-prints of House Raven intentions - they probably never had to think about a Master Raven on the other side of the fence getting the brief. “Which sections would you like to subscribe?” asks the Raven spy. “Lets make it… General Global News, Financial, Military, Political, Farming, Energy, Transportation, Medical, and Technology,” says Raen. He really wanted to ask for the Espionage Section, but with him already being a Master Raven it might alarm many of the Houses he dealt with, and they would become overly cautious thinking he would come after their House technology. Even Gordon and Sons had secret patented technology, albiet just the formula for their particular paint. House Eagle had their wing design, but that could possibly be easily copied. If Willet and Teal could build the new Trans-dimensional engine, House Eagle would have the most coveted House technology in the galaxy. The Sparrows were building the ship the engine would be installed in, though, the Sparrows didn’t know their engines would be removed and new ones installed after they delivered the Eagle Flag Ship. “You still have three sections you could choose,” says the Raven spy. “Leave them open, I’ll add later if I feel the need,” replies Raen. “May I keep this sample copy to review the other sections in depth for later reference?” “I’m sorry, to receive your next copy the previous copy must be verified destroyed,” replies the Raven spy. Raen smiled and nodded, it made sense. Worse case scenario they would only lose one copy before permanently cutting off the subscriber from any further copies. Raen handed the sample copy back. “Will there be anything else?” “Sometimes we give free advise, or intelligence,” says the Raven spy. “Oh?” says Raen. “Yes sir,” says the Raven spy pointing at the House Paeora catalog. “Combine page 47 and page 62 together, that design combination will set your palace apart from others.” “Very good, thank you,” says Raen suspecting how they knew he had the catalog, and had memorized the pages inside. Raen would have to make sure he kept the door locked to his trailer from now on. “One other thing, Sir.” The Raven spy pauses and looks back at her partner. “We are grateful to you for not sending us back to the Temple in disgrace. As you know, Ravens pay their debts. Our specialty wasn’t intelligence, we took this post because nobody else wanted it, but it was still a promotion. Our specialty is Raven equipment design, that particular flex armor you’re wearing was designed by my father, and I designed those boots.” “You did a good job,” says Raen. “But they are getting a bit worn and I don’t think the Temple will give me a new pair.” “Ravens are permitted to earn money on the side,” says the Raven glancing around uncomfortably. “You and your people shouldn’t still be wearing a Raven uniform, it’s confusing other Houses. Let us design an Eagle uniform for you, we can make it comfortably familiar enough for your status as a Master Raven, but still unique enough to identify you as an Eagle.” “I know how expensive a Raven uniform is,” says Raen. “I’ll agree, but keep the cost comparable, and I want flex armor in the new uniforms.” “Sir, one other thing,” says the male Raven spy, speaking for the first time. “My particular expertise is Raven weapon design, the generation three Talon Daggers came out two weeks ago - all generation twos were deactivated.” “I see, thank you for telling me,” says Raen. “One of my people could have gotten killed not knowing that.” “Since all your people will have to use a standard dagger now, will you allow me to design a dagger specific for your House?” asks the male Raven spy. “Present your design when it’s ready and we’ll see,” says Raen. “Yes sir.” The Raven spies were leaving the trailer just as the Paeora representative was arriving. The man entered without bothering to ask permission. “Prince Raen, a pleasure to…” Raen picked up the catalog and held it out. “Combine page 47 and page 62 together,” says Raen. “Thank you.” The man took the catalog and Raen turned away, not wondering or caring what the color combination was. The man backed out of the trailer, obviously dismissed. ***** [Seed Ship, Draekus Moon, Planet Demonia] “Mama… mama…” The toddler threw her arms up to Ring, insisting on attention. “Someone needs changed.” Ring wrinkled his nose and picked the hatchling up - holding her out at arms length. “It’s your turn,” says Vel quickly heading for the door. “She was asking for mama,” replies Ring. “Mama…” The toddlers chubby fists flex insistently to Ring. “She thinks mama means a bottle of juice,” says Vel escaping into the hall. “You know perfectly well what mama means, you just like teasing,” Ring coos at the hatchling. “Papa…” “I thought so,” says Ring carrying the hatchling over to the changing table. A few minutes later Ring had the hatchling changed and set her down in the play pen so he could get back to work. Ring was starting to get concerned about the hatchling. A Daraian hatchling needing diapers at three years old was not normal, and Corae was past three years old and hadn’t even started on language skills yet. But then, Corae also didn’t have the benefit of the retina neural implant that all Daraian children had. A Daraian child should already have a decent grasp of basic math by four years old, and be well on the way to a second language. Corae was at a disadvantage living on the Seed Ship. “Bottle…” “I’ll get you a bottle in a minute,” says Ring sitting down at his desk. The bottles were in the kitchen at the other end of the building, but Ring wanted to finish the last few pages he had been reading on the Vid-computer. Ring was reading a section on the defensive capabilities of the Seed Ship. He wanted to read about Corax biology, but he had to be careful what he accessed. Reading about the Corax while studying the ship’s defenses was natural, being that the Corax were the Aedi’s natural enemy. But, too much time spent on the Corax might alert Draekus that he was researching in depth and had an ulterior motive. Ring and Vel never spoke of it, just to be safe, but they both knew who’s daughter Corae really was, and they didn’t want Draekus to scan Corae’s DNA. Ring didn’t know if Corae was pure Daraian, or was a mix of Corax and Daraian. The idea to research the Corax had come from a very small clue. Draekus had said Prince Mischief couldn’t come to the Seed Ship because he had Corax DNA. That led Ring to wonder about Mischief’s ability to trans-jump, and that brought up another interesting question - how did the Goddess move around so easily? Ring found the answer to that question reading about the offensive capabilities of the Corax; they had the natural biological ability to trans-jump. Mischief could only jump thirty-four feet, but The Goddess had been seen on planets all across the galaxy. Ring doubted she could jump that far, otherwise why would she require the Orb spacecraft. The only possible answer to that was she had the jump range to relatively near planets; leap-frogging to the furthest planets away and then back to Darai - The vast empty reaches of space were too far though, and required a spacecraft. Those questions had led to more questions. The first being how the Aedi had such long life-spans. That question was answered easily enough; they had the natural biological ability to heal, almost the same as the Kitsune. But, the Kitsune’s ability to heal wasn’t natural, it was the result of the nano-virus created by the Ocean God, Carina. Ring suspected that neither the ability to trans-jump or heal and have long life could be transferred from one species to the next. So, Carina had artificially replicated the ability with the nano-virus. Ring sighed, it meant that he had solved yet another of the Goddess’s manipulations. Corae had obviously been infected with the nano-virus by being carried as an egg inside Vel, but also if Corae was actually a Corax that the Goddess pretty much had forced Vel to bare, she would have both the Corax’s natural abilities, and the Aedi’s abilities through the nano-virus. Corae would be as powerful as Jon Black if it was true, in a twisted sense, they would be siblings. Ring flipped off the Vid-screen and pushed back from his chair. He needed to go get the bottle for Corae. Ring stood and turned to the playpen - it was empty. “Well, it was only a matter of time before she learned to escape the playpen.” Ring looked around the room. “Corae, where are you?” Ring walked over and looked in a closet. “Are you playing hide-and-seek?” She wasn’t in the closet. Ring searched all the possible hiding places in the room and couldn’t find the wayward hatchling. Frustrated, he put his hands on his hips and glanced at the playpen. Corae was sitting inside happily sucking on her bottle. Ring walked over and looked down at the hatchling, she had something else in her hand besides the bottle. “What do you have there?” asks Ring. Corae held a gold and yellow flower to Ring - a merigold. Ring took the flower and inspected it, the flower was freshly picked, but there wasn’t any merigolds in the test ecosystem; merigolds had never grown on Demonia. “Oh good Goddess,” whispers Ring. The three nearest planets to Demonia was Darai, Kitsune, and Corvus; all three of which marigolds were indigenous. “Where have you been?” asks Ring. Of the three possible planets, Kitsune was the nearest to Demonia, but how had she gotten back aboard the Seed Ship. The Aedi defenses prevented a Corax from being able to jump into an Aedi Ship. “Oh no,” whispers Ring figuring it out. By having Vel carry the egg, the Goddess had created a creature capable of getting past the Aedi defenses. Ring picked the hatchling up and nuzzled her. “Corae, you must never do that again, do you understand, Draekus would kill you.” Corae pulled the bottle out of her mouth. “Dragon,” says Corae. “Yes, I know who she really is,” says Ring. “Don’t ever jump again, okay?" “Papa…” whispers Corae and lays her head on Rings shoulder. Ring shoves the flower in his pocket, he’ll drop it in the garbage incinerator later.