Zeta Exchange: A Terran Empire story

should be adequate to light thisif you concentrate."

  The equivalent, Medart thought, of someone with PK Talent exciting themolecules of the wick to ignition temperature. He'd never shown anytrace of that aspect--his only Talents, besides the basic mind-screenand telepathy, were healing and darlas--but this was supposed to bemagic, not psionics; he had no reason not to try. He focused hisattention on the candle, following an impulse to point at it as hewilled it to light.

  He felt a sensation of warmth flow into him and channel along hisarm--then flame erupted from his fingers, enveloping both the candle andthe hand that held it.

  Instantly, Medart broke his concentration. The candle was burning, butit was sagging, and the Traiti's hand was reddened.

  Chavvorth blew out the candle, his expression bemused, and put it down."That was more . . . dramatic than I had expected, Ranger."

  "A hell of a lot more than I expected," Medart said. "Let me see yourhand."

  The Traiti obeyed. Medart took it, concentrating again--but this timeit was a familiar, trained ability he called on. Redness faded,vanished; he released the hand. "There. You should be okay now."

  Chavvorth flexed his fingers, extending and retracting his claws. "Itis fine--but that was not a spell."

  "Nope. That was psionic Talent, a rare but perfectly normal ability."

  "So is mage-power, here," Ariel put in. "I'd like to stay and talk,but the spell-reaction's getting me to the point I can't function muchlonger. Why don't you two go someplace comfortable and keep gettingacquainted while I recuperate? Chavvorth can brief you on theSandemans as well as I could, James."

  "Jim's fine--sounds good to me. Captain?"

  "I am agreeable." Chavvorth turned to one of his officers."Lieutenant Dawson, you have the con."

  Ten minutes later Medart and Chavvorth were sitting in the seniorofficers' lounge, drinking coffee and chovas. Medart had adjusted tothe idea of magic far more easily than to the idea of Sandemans asenemies; magic was, for all practical purposes, something new, whichmade it easy to accept. Sandemans as enemies, though, was a totalreversal of something that had been a given for over a century and aquarter. And Sandemans who'd had that extra time to grow and advancetechnologically--and magically, he was sure--would be an awesome enemy.

  "From what Ranger Ariel said," Medart started, "I gather you ran intothe Sandemans about three years ago. The Shapers must've gone a lotfurther out in this universe than they did in Alpha Prime."

  "Who or what are the Shapers?"

  Medart sighed. "You don't have much intelligence about the Sandemans?"

  "Almost none," Chavvorth said. "Few have been captured, nonesuccessfully interrogated--few successfully held, in fact. Most areable to conjure their way out of custody, even denied the materials anImperial magician would find necessary."

  Medart chuckled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Do you haveanything like a mindprobe, so I can give you everything I know in ahurry?"

  "Not yet," Chavvorth said regretfully. "One is in the developmentstage, but it will be several months at least before it is far enoughalong to experiment with humans on."

  "We do it the hard way, then. Emperor Barton?"

  "Yes, Ranger Medart," the ship replied.

  "What access level do I have in this universe?"

  "Full access, Ranger."

  "Good." That was standard in every Empire he'd visited or heard of,but since neither had applied to this one, it'd seemed best to askrather than assume. "Record everything I say about Sandemans, then,and pass it along to IntelDiv for summary and conversion to a teachingtape. They should include a caveat that this information comes fromAlpha Prime and may or may not apply to the Zeta Prime Sandemans."

  "It will be done, Ranger."

  "Thank you." Medart turned his attention back to Captain Chavvorth."The Shapers were genetic engineers who left Terra in 2130 anddeliberately lost themselves. Not long after that, they began usingtheir own germ plasm to create the Sandeman race as improvements onhumanity. The idiots didn't stop with that, though. They designed acomplex of physical and psychological traits that made a percentage ofthe males into genetically-determined warriors who not only like tofight--it's one of their favorite occupations--they have to eitherfight or make love at regular intervals just to stay healthy."

  Chavvorth stared at him. "Genetically determined warriors? That wouldexplain much about them--but how could anyone be so stupid?"

  Medart shrugged. "We don't know. When our Sandemans overthrew theirShapers, almost all the Shaper records were destroyed. My personalopinion is that it was sheer arrogance."

  "Which they passed along to their creations," Chavvorth said.

  Medart chuckled. "They have some justification, you must admit--they'restronger, faster, and more intelligent than the standard human norm."

  "True," Chavvorth said grudgingly. "They also have greater mage-power,as you must have deduced from what I told you about their ability toescape."

  "Uh-huh. In my universe, they've got greater than usual Talent,especially the warriors. So it seems reasonable that here they'd havemore than the normal amount of magical ability." He took a swallow ofcoffee, grimacing when he found it was cold. "Just how bad is thesituation?"

  "We have lost about a quarter of the Empire, and are rapidly losingmore. Terra itself will be in danger within six months."

  Medart winced. "That much that quickly? They must have one hell of abig civilization!"

  "We believe so, but we have no way of being sure."

  "Mmpf." Medart was silent for a moment, then he said, "Damned if Iknow what you expect one person to be able to do about something that'salready taken out a quarter of your Empire, but I've got to try. Firstthing, I think, is to get in touch with His Majesty--or Her Majesty,here--let @ know I'm available, and find out what resources I can use.Emperor Barton?"

  "His Majesty," the ship said, "is Emperor Ray Kennard, and he has beeninformed of your arrival. On Ranger Ariel's orders, I beamed anaccount to his personal comset, complete as of your departure from theBridge."

  "Good--thank you. In my universe under these circumstances, he'd bethe one to call as soon as I made it to the top of his priority list;would that be safe to assume here?"

  "Yes, sir, I believe so."

  "Okay." Medart's attention went back to Chavvorth. They'd beenexpecting a visitor, so there'd be quarters ready for him--and since heusually worked in his living area rather than his office, that seemed areasonable place to wait for His Majesty's call. "Shall we continuethis discussion in my quarters, Captain?"

  "As you wish, sir." The two rose, and Medart followed the Traitiagain, thinking.

  The Emperor Ray Kennard in his universe had limited precognition aspart of his Talent; if parallels between the two universes held as wellas they seemed to, the one here should have some equivalent means offoreseeing parts of the future. Which might mean he'd foreseen asolution.

  Or might mean he'd foreseen the visitor would either be or bring asolution. In that case, Medart thought, he was likely to bedisappointed--though Medart intended to do his best. He snorted tohimself. He'd gotten the challenge he wanted, all right--gotten it inspades, and very possibly more of one than he could handle.

  As he'd told Captain Chavvorth, though, he'd have to try to meet evensuch an impossible-seeming challenge. He had no idea at the moment howhe'd meet it, but he was sure it'd have to be something unconventional.He was positive that this universe's people were every bit as competentas the ones at home; they'd have done all the conventional things aswell as he could. Probably better, since this was their universe andthey knew how it worked.

  Chavvorth interrupted his train of thought. "If you will key the lock,sir?"

  "Right." Medart placed his hand against the door's lock-plate, keyingit to his palm-print. The two entered when the door slid open; Medartimmediately went to the service panel for a fresh cup of coffee. "Wantsome more chovas?"

  "No, thank
you. A cup of Blue Ginger, perhaps?"

  "You got it." Medart entered the appropriate order, took the steamingcup when it appeared, and handed it to the Traiti, then took his ownseat. "You said you'd start teaching me magic. I know better than totell a teacher how to teach, but I have a feeling I'm going to needsomething I wasn't wearing when Ranger Ariel summoned me. So I thinkI'd better learn that summoning spell first."

  Chavvorth looked uncomfortable, but shook his head.