5 -Alt System, page 43
“She was teaching me about some of the animals in here,” Katie said. “Although she'd never seen anything like those plants Jeff brought in.”
“The carnivorous soybeans?” Marc asked. “Well, I can see where they might be kind of specific to the area they showed up in. What's Octavius II think of her?”
Marc was gambling that Artemis wouldn't take offense to the question.
“He was dancing when she went over next to his tank, so I think he likes her,” Katie said.
“Does he now?” Marc asked.
He headed over towards the salt water tank and when he put his hand to the glass, the little octopus spread himself out on the inside of the glass directly opposite to Marc's hand.
Well, he certainly doesn't seem upset at her being in the area, so maybe he does approve of her. Too bad I couldn't get all of the gods down here for him to check. I trust Octavius' instincts, even through his offspring, more than I do my own. The gods can't possibly be what they're representing themselves as, can they? Marc thought. Bastet and Sekhmet have spats like two teen sisters, Zeus and Hera act like an old married couple, and Artemis and Thoth are both utterly engrossed in doing their own thing. I thought they'd be a lot different than they've been representing themselves.
* * *
Marc thought it was foolish that he felt some sort of achievement in having talked to all of the gods without triggering overt anger on any of their parts.
It's not like that should be hard, but I kept expecting them to be the way they were in the stories about them, not how they seem to be acting now, he thought.
That feeling stayed with him until after dinner. He and Felicia were going down to the hot tubs, when he was accosted on the road.
“You, Marcus, come here,” Thoth called out.
Marc drooped.
Maybe that was something I shouldn't have been thinking earlier?
He walked over to Thoth, Felicia still with him.
“Yes, Thoth?”
“What is involved in the other manner in which you believe you can teach me this skill? I've had no luck in learning it from the materials you gave me.”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you'd be able to learn it that way. I have a skill that will allow me to write a book teaching the skill. I've never used it before though, so I don't know how long it's going to take.”
Thoth deflated a bit.
“That... Yes, that is an acceptable alternate method. Will you start working on that book for me?” he asked.
“Sure, just one question first?”
Thoth nodded his agreement.
“Why do you all keep calling me Marcus? I can see the Greek gods doing it since they were the predecessors of the Roman gods for the society my name came from, but you Egyptian gods are doing it as well.”
“Is that all? It's the name that comes up when you are Analyzed. Once Analyze is automatic, it's no longer necessary to remember someone's name, you just see it each time you see them.”
Marc squeezed his eyes shut, hating the thought that every time he interacted with one of the visitors, they were seeing an Analyze of him.
“Thank you, Thoth. I'll start the book soon. As I said, I don't know how long it will take, but once I get an idea of that, I'll let you know,” Marc said.
At least he doesn't look all morose like he did before, but is an agitated god of magic any better to have around than a morose one? Marc thought.
They managed to make it to the hot tubs without any other interruptions and spent the evening soaking and speaking with the other people that were there. Marc only knew about half of them at first, but by the end of the night he thought he had a decent chance of remembering the rest of them now also.
Around about midnight, Marc headed down towards the mooring platform, expecting Jeff to be back within the hour. Since the platform was inside the walls now, Marc wasn't worried about being attacked and he had his gear inventoried, his pad in hand to pass the time with.
He'd been there a little less than an hour when the zeppelin came in to land. He went in while Jeff was shutting down, wanting to tuck the generator/propulsion unit into his inventory before Jeff did so and conveniently 'forgot' to return it to him.
When Jeff was on his way out, he saw Marc.
“That guy's crazy,” Jeff said.
“Who?”
“Poseidon, we were out there over the lake, to make sure it worked for him you know? Anyhow, I'm looking for a spot to lower down, we were at about a hundred and fifty feet. He says 'no need', then just opens the side door and dives! It was like watching one of those cliff divers or something.”
“I mean, if you've got the health to survive the fall, why not have some fun with it?” Marc said.
Jeff just shook his head.
“At least he came through on the deal. He had some sort of thingy that upgraded my Lighter than Air Piloting skill to a generic one called Piloting. It covers lighter than air vehicles, mechanical atmospheric vehicles, and is a prerequisite for getting space piloting too,” he said, sounding a bit more excited now. “It should let me pilot the spaceship, well in the atmosphere at least, not out in space. At least not until I learn the Space Pilot skill as well.”
Marc still didn't have the heart to tell him that he probably could've gotten the same thing without having to fly Poseidon to Lake Michigan. Instead, he just let his friend be excited about his new skill acquisition.
“Anyhow,” Marc said, “Hera ought to be done with those circuits soon, then we'll have to fly back to the spaceship. Although, we probably ought to wait for Crystal so we can get both the ship and the zeppelin back again after.”
“It's not a problem,” Ella said. “After you told us about being able to get new skill slots for tokens? I spent my old lesser one since I still had it. I picked up a skill slot and had Jeff teaching me on the way out and back. I only got Lighter than Air Piloting as opposed to the other Piloting skill he has now, but I can fly the zeppelin back while he takes the ship. I kind of like the piloting and cartography combo, now I can fly anywhere and be making a map of it while I do.”
“Good, then we just need to wait for Hera to finish up and we can take care of this. I know what they'll want us to do next, recover a cache of nanites from the Egyptian desert. They can't go because of nanite densities, but allegedly that will no longer be a problem if we bring back their cache,” Marc said.
“That's why they wanted the spaceship?” Ella asked.
“That's what they said. It wouldn't surprise me if they have other plans for it as well though,” Marc replied.
“Well, we do what we've got to. At least they've come through on some promises already, right?”
Marc nodded.
“Let's just hope it continues that way.”
* * *
Knowing that they'd be flying out in the next day or two, Marc went to talk to his parents, individually. He wanted to make sure they had everything they might need for the next few days while he'd be gone.
Michelle told him that things were going well, the treasury was filling back up, and not to worry about anything, she had it all covered.
Sean told him that the Salvage Safe Zone had more than a whole load of resources for a zeppelin to carry back and that he'd send the trade zeppelin to pick it up once it returned again. Marc was about to volunteer for that duty when he realized that it wouldn't be a good idea. Hera might get a bit touchy if they weren't around when she finished with the circuits.
Aside from that the reports were pretty normal from his dad. Metal was, still, the slowest accumulating resource. Even with the mine running, the amount that came in couldn't compare to the amounts of wood and stone they could easily stockpile. Plus they were using lots of it on the rails, locomotives, and several other projects.
That was something Marc could help with. He didn't have to be at full mana when they left to recover the spaceship. So his next stop was at the resource storage area. He burned most of his mana, slowly, making System metal ingots and adding them into the metal storage section. He also resolved to try to remember to do the same anytime he was awake and his mana hit full again, at least until they left on their next mission.
Over the next day, he stuck to that. The only time he didn't come down to drain his mana again was when he was sleeping and when he was actively doing something with Felicia. Otherwise he was down several times to add to the metal stacks in the resource storage.
Then he felt a voice in his mind, or more of a feeling, really, but it left him with an urge to go to the temple he'd constructed to house the gods. Thinking that it probably wouldn't be a good thing to ignore, he arrived to find Hera on the front steps. She looked like she'd been put through the wringer, but she handed him the circuits.
“There, do NOT damage them. I've not slept since I started and I need to do so now.”
Marc couldn't help it, his mind went there.
So, Hera doesn't have all that impressive an Endurance score for a goddess?
Then he promptly stopped thinking about that and examined the circuitry. They were obviously fixed, but he couldn't tell how they'd been fixed, there was no difference between the original areas and the repaired ones that he could find. He quickly dropped them into his inventory to keep them from getting damaged.
“We'll get moving as soon as I can gather the group,” he said. “Also, after we get into the Computer Age so we can actually do something with the spaceship.”
“That I can take care of. It has a very limited duration until recharge, but give this to your pilot,” Hera said.
She'd obviously heard about or talked to Jeff based on her next statement.
“But don't give it to him until just before he needs to fly it. It will mimic the readings he'd give off once his base Safe Zone was in the Computer Age, but only for twenty-four hours. As such, he'll have a window to get the ship back here.”
“Wow, I didn't think that was possible.”
“Anything is only impossible until someone has done it, as I have here. Now, I need to rest.”
“Thank you,” Marc said.
She gave him a weary nod, then turned and went back into the temple.
Marc headed out and installed the gaseous generator in the zeppelin first, then quickly tracked down Felicia. The two of them split up, after putting in their communication units so they could let each other know when they found the others of the group.
It took a couple of hours for them to find the rest of the group. This one time, Jeff and Ella's later schedule was going to be helpful. The zeppelin would be fully inflated a little after dark, and with Ella's map to navigate by, they were going to go ahead and leave just as soon as it was ready.
The trip to the spaceship went even more quickly this time, Jeff's expanded piloting skill adding more bonuses to the speed. Marc wasn't looking forward to the trip back with Ella since she said her Lighter than Air piloting was only at a two at the moment. So it would be the full two day trip flying on the zeppelin.
Marc considered volunteering to go with Jeff, but if one of the vessels were going to have a problem, he was sure that it would be the zeppelin and not the spaceship, so he was going to stick with the zeppelin. He was going to recommend the others do so as well since Jeff should be able to make it back in minutes as opposed to the days it would take the zeppelin, so he'd be in much less danger.
When they landed, he quickly cleared out the dirt wall he'd restored when they left after retrieving the circuits.
Not that the original one helped that much, but this time it did at least, he thought when he saw the undamaged mound of dirt.
He stood there for a while, using several iterations of the spell to completely clear the mouth of the cave. Jeff getting the ship out was his biggest worry. The mouth of the cave looked as though it had been blasted barely wide enough to allow the ship passage through it.
Once he went in, he found Jeff trying to arrange the oddly contoured chairs to a position where he could actually reach all the controls without having to strain himself. He was also muttering to himself as he pointed out the controls and spoke their name, trying to memorize the locations for everything in case he needed a particular control quickly.
Marc pulled out Hera's device for Jeff and gave it to him, explaining what it was for. Then he got out the communication device and activated it, pulling out the circuits to replace as well. She walked him through it, looking significantly more well rested than when she'd spoken to him on the steps. Soon enough, with the tools they'd recovered from the cockpit last time, the circuits were in place.
“Okay, tell Jeff to start it up,” Hera said. “Only call me again if there's a problem.”
Then she broke the connection.
“Nurturing, she isn't,” Jeff said. “Kind of brusque, I get that though, so I kinda like her.”
You like her because she fixed your toy, Marc thought, but god help you if you damage it.
Then he laughed out loud at what he'd thought.
I wonder which god that would be that would have to help him, Zeus maybe? If he has any sway with his mate that'd be the way to go, Marc thought.
There was a very brief vibration, less than a second, then Marc's stomach did a flip.
“Hey, Jeff? How about you let me off of here first?” Marc called out.
“Sorry, just eager. Engines are running and the anti-grav is functional,” Jeff called back. “Go get out there and you can walk me out. The mouth of that cave is going to be a tight fit.”
Marc walked back down the hallway of the spaceship, noting that the door was now fully closed.
“Good, it looks like the door is fine. It just needed the power on to close all the way. I'm opening it now to get out.”
Marc hit the button for the door and it flashed red for a moment before text lit up beneath it, flashing. He couldn't read it.
“Jeff? The door won't open? Know anything about that?” Marc called back.
“There text beneath it, flashing?”
“Yes, there is.”
“Then you need to override, just hit the button again while it's lit up.”
Marc pressed the button again, then when it started to flash, pressed it once more while it was lit up. The door opened and he hopped out, not worrying about the ten foot fall in the slightest.
He moved towards the front of the cave, casting his twisted Mana Dart spell to make lightning batons that he used to guide Jeff as he brought the spaceship out of the cave. They made it almost perfectly, one side of the ship scraping lightly on the rock wall of the cave entrance moments before the ship was clear.
Jeff took the spaceship out into the open area, then set it down again. He came out the door with a grin on his face that was so wide it threatened to split his head in two.
“Yeah, that's me, spaceship pilot. I can't wait to get this thing space worthy so I can be an astronaut, too.”
Marc shook his head, but he knew the grin on his face was probably almost as big as the one Jeff was sporting.
“Alright, you need to get that ship back to the Safe Zone. No screwing around and going for a joy ride. Hera wants to give it a once over and see if anything needs to be fixed,” Marc said.
“I was going to just go slow and escort you guys,” Jeff said.
“Jeff, the thing Hera gave me to let you pilot it will only last for twenty-four hours. That's not long enough for us to get back,” Marc said.
He looked around at Ella, Rob, and Felicia.
“Jeff, we'll be fine, just a lot slower than you. Get that back to Any Port so Hera can do maintenance on it, we'll be along in a couple of days,” Ella said.
Jeff looked at Ella and sighed.
“I knew there was something I didn't like about teaching you to fly,” he said.
“Jeff, you lived for twenty years before meeting me. I'm pretty sure you can survive for a couple of days without me when you know I'm on my way,” Ella replied.
Jeff sighed again, the smile that had been splitting his face nowhere to be seen.
“It doesn't mean I have to like it though, now do I?” he said.
“No, it doesn't, but you know what your job is. Besides, the sooner you do it, the sooner you can take me to Egypt,” Ella said.
Now a hint of a smile returned to Jeff's face.
“That's right, I almost forgot,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “We get to travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting and unusual spawns, then we get to kill them, too. Maybe we'll finally find something to give us decent experience that isn't four or five times my size.”
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two
Marc kept his grin to himself as Ella and Jeff indulged in a rare display of public affection.
Although should it be considered a PDA if it's just the group here? Whatever, doesn't matter. I'm just happy to see Jeff's soft side occasionally. If he's ever going to get over his problems, that side is what's going to help him do it.
After a PDA that stretched out to several minutes, and included a slap from Ella when Jeff tried to push it just a bit too far, the two of them separated.
Jeff sighed heavily, then turned for the ship.
“Well, it's just you and me, beauty,” he said, obviously talking to the ship and not any of the people present.
“Remember, Jeff. Just get it back to Any Port, then let Hera take over,” Marc said, “no joy rides after you're back. We'll be back soon enough, then all of us will take a flight.”
Jeff turned back to Marc just so it was obvious when he rolled his eyes.
“Yes, mom,” he said. “Besides, while I might like Hera, you can bet your ass that I'm not about to cross her on anything.”
“Good plan,” Rob said, “I wouldn't cross any of them, but Bastet scares me the most. I haven't seen her doing anything bad, but I can just feel it when I'm around her. She's chaos incarnate, I just know it.”
