The Witches of Ne'arth (The Star Wizards Trilogy Book 2) (30 page)

“What have we got to lose?” Prin asked.  “Any landfall is a good landfall, given that we haven't the slightest idea of where we are.”

Matt thought to correct again, that with Ivan's inertial guidance system recently updated, they knew within ten meters of where they were in terms of latitude and longitude.  Once again the real problem was that, due to the deception of computer generated augmented reality overlays, they didn't know where anything else was.  Islands, seas, cities, mountains – without accurate charts, they had to rely on visual sightings, no matter how fleeting.    

Realizing he was the only holdout, Matt bowed.  “Okay, let's check it out.” 

The island became visible half an hour later as the weather cleared before them.  The land mass was about fifty kilometers long, twenty kilometers wide.  Being located at the same temperate zone as Britan, its low mountains were covered with what Ivan's spectroscopic analysis confirmed were the same species of evergreen trees as on Britan.  The mountains north and south dipped in the middle of the island, forming a wide plain that had been cleared  to make way for an agricultural checkerboard pattern of browns and yellows.  In the center of the western side of the island was a bay, and encrusting the bay was the regular grid of a street system.  A splotch of smog marred the sky over the bay.  Several airships puttered through the haze, ascending and descending.

“A city!” Prin exclaimed.  “Not far short of Rome in size, by the looks of it!”

Ivan provided Matt with a telescopic view.  By Earth standards it was a small town, but assuming all the buildings were inhabited, the population would be about twenty thousand, similar in size to that of Londa, the Roman provincial capital of Britan.  Unlike Londa, however, many of the buildings were several stories tall.  Perhaps that was why Prin had so greatly overestimated the population.  Coming from a pre-industrial civilization, he couldn't comprehend that degree of construction per resident.   

The major difference between Londa and the city ahead was the airfield south of the bay.  The airfield had hangars and mooring towers and in the center arose a control tower – a hundred meter spire atop which was an incessantly blinking lighthouse-sized lamp.

Prin read the blinks:  “C . . . D . . . X . . . 5 . . . . “

“I didn't know you knew Morse Code,” Matt said.

“Morse code?  It's Roman Signal Code.  Or perhaps it's something else, as it doesn't seem to make sense in the way that I am transliterating.”

Matt observed the blinking, while Ivan provided 'subtitles' in his view.  “It could be a command code for directing airships in the traffic pattern.”

“Traffic pattern?  What is that?”

“See how the ships flying around the field are blinking in response to the tower?  They're communicating with it, and I'm guessing it's directing their flight paths so that they don't collide.”

“We don't have the code or a lantern to signal,” Andra said.  “How do we enter the 'traffic pattern?'”   

“It seems to be an open port,” Savora said.  “Look at all the different ships in the bay.  Maybe we don't need authorization to enter.  As for a signal lantern, I'm sure I could rig something.”

Matt shook his head.  “Maybe later, but I don't want to be blundering around.  It would call attention to ourselves.”

“Why not do so?” Savora asked.  “If we're the first people to cross the storm barrier, we might be considered heroes.  That could be advantageous for our mission.”

Matt was taken aback, for he seemed to recall that Savora had argued against making their presence known.  It was Prin, however, who counterargued:  “We might instead be seen as invaders.  I agree with Matt.  Let's be cautious about revealing who we are and where we came from, until we know how we'll be received.”

“I'd still like to explore the city,” Matt said.  “I wish there was some way to get down there.”

“I see a small lake to the southeast,” Andra said, pointing.  “It's in the middle of a forest without any houses nearby, but see the road that passes near?  It goes onto the city.  We could anchor over the lake and lower the boat, and then follow the road and enter the city on foot.”

Matt said tepidly, “It looks like a lot of walking.”

“Only ten kilometers,” Savora said.  “That would take only two hours at most.”

“Yes, and two hours back.”

All three of them were looking at him like,
So what's the problem?
  And he realized that, being Pre-Industrials, for them it wasn't a problem.  

Finally, it was decided that only Matt and Savora would make land and visit the city, while Prin and Andra tended to the ship. 

“It'll be a short visit,” Matt said.  “Just walk into town, scout around for a while, see what we can learn about this side of the planet.”

“To learn if there are legends about your brother,” Savora said.  “This will be so exciting!”

She made a soft squeal.  To Matt, it sounded much like the noise Synth used to make when she was excited.

“Anyhow,” Matt said.  “Andra, be ready to take off if there's any sign of trouble.  Don't worry about leaving us behind.  We can rendezvous later.”

“
Any
sign of trouble?”  Prin asked.  “Such as angry villagers with pitchforks?”

“I was thinking more about guns.”

“Guns?  Oh, like the staff of Archimedes?”

“No, a lot worse.  These people seem to have at least a nineteenth century level of technology, which means they could have high-powered rifles.  The effect on the ship would be just like from a flaming arrow, but the range is over a thousand meters.”

Prin and Andra exchanged glances, but there were no protests.  The
Good Witch
headed inland.  All the while descending, they passed over beaches, then a forested hill, then farmland.  Matt watched a farmer lift eyes from plow, stare briefly and resume plowing.  Airships apparently were not a terrifying supernatural experience on this side of the world. 

“I hope you're not going to be wearing that,” Savora said.

Matt turned from the window, saw her scrunched mouth and followed her gaze to his neon-blue jump suit.  “What's wrong with it?”

“It's rather attention getting, don't you think?  I thought we didn't want to attract attention.”

“It's self-cleaning and self-repairing – “

“Why don't you try the uniform that I made for you?”

Matt remembered that Savora had measured him for one of her uniforms, but still it surprised him that she had the forethought to bring them along.  Or maybe, he thought, it didn't surprise him.  She opened a cabinet and presented the gray shirt, sweater, pants, and jacket. 

“We've no idea what these people wear,” Matt said.  “This might be as out of place as my jump suit.”

“I doubt anything is as 'out of place' as your jump suit,” Savora replied.  “Look, Matt, I'm the daughter of a merchant.  I know what people are starting to buy and wear in civilized places these days.  You say you don't want to be noticed?  At least this is not so bright a blue that it outshines the sky.”

Matt refrained from grumbling, took the clothing to the aft cabin and closed the door.  He had to admit that it was a good fit.  Well, his problem with Savora wasn't about competence at tailoring.  It wasn't about her attitude either.  He wondered
what
was his problem with Savora.  Well, he knew he had one.   

When he returned to the front cabin, Andra was swooping over the lake.  Prin yanked the anchor deployment lever and the bucket sheet drooped and scooped water, causing a mild jolt.  With engines idled, the ship hovered. 

Matt and Savora lowered the boat by the system of rope, pulleys, and crank.  They climbed the ladder, loosed the lines.  Prin and Andra waved as the two young people paddled to shore.  The ship ascended eastward, over the sea and into clouds.  Matt enlisted Savora to help drag the boat into concealing brush. 

“Rendezvous in six hours,” Matt said, citing their agreement with Prin and Andra.  “Two hours to walk there, two hours to scout around, Two hours to come back.  It's afternoon, so it'll be dark when we return.”

Ivan directed them through the trail that had been spotted from the sky.  Meandering through the woods, they emerged upon the road.  It was the best built road that Matt had yet seen on Ne'arth.  It was paved with the same substance as the Oksiden Road, but two lanes wide and whereas the Britanian roads bore the cracks and undulations of age, this road was smooth and flat as if it had been recently formed. 

As they began walking toward the town, Matt noticed that the road was lined with trees, evenly spaced a few meters apart on both sides.  The trees resembled fruit trees, the 'fruit' being clusters of translucent blue globes each the size of a cantaloupe.

“Those are different,” Matt said. 

Savora followed this nod.  “Yes, the mountains are smaller here than back home.”

He was about to explain what he meant, then held his tongue.  Savora should have known what he meant.  Britan had mountains, but he'd yet to see a tree there of that kind.

“Matt,” Ivan said.  “A vehicle is approaching from the east.”

A horse-drawn carriage trundled by.  The driver and passengers glanced over the pair of pedestrians trudging along the roadside, then looked away without reaction.  Matt compared clothing styles.  The women were dressed – overdressed – in billowing skirts with wide hats, but the men wore shirts and pants not much different than Matt's and Savora's.  For the purpose of blending in, Savora had gotten her tailoring exactly right. Perhaps there was convergent evolution for fashion. 

Or perhaps, Matt thought, something else. 

“Savora,” Matt said cautiously.  “Andra says you come from a village in West Britan.  Could you tell me about it?”

“It's called Stone Brook,” she replied.  “It's eighty-three kilometers west of Fish Lake, fourteen kilometers north of the Oksiden Road.  It has seven houses built around a clearing with three trees in the middle.  Although as I said my father is a merchant, my family has farmed there for generations.”  She met his gaze with an unnervingly bright smile.  “Earth must be so exciting!  I've listened to every story that others have related, but it would be wonderful if you could tell me directly!” 

Mindful that she had changed the subject, he told her about Earth.  Meanwhile, Ivan checked out her story against his archives of satellite photography and provided the results in a pop-up window.  Eighty-three kilometers was almost at the end of the Oksiden Road, just a few kilometers inland from the Western Sea.  There, a trail branched north and after fourteen kilometers came to a village with seven houses and three trees.  The nearby brook had a fordable section with several stepping stones.

The details of her description were easily verified, he thought.  Too easily. 
If that makes sense. 

Matt thought that he had overcome the basic shyness and chronic passivity that had afflicted his childhood on Earth, but it soon became clear that Savora was dominating their conversation.  Not by talking all the time, however.  Instead, she would ask Matt a question, listen intently to his reply, then before he could think of a question to ask her, she would ask another question.  And they weren't questions with simple 'yes' or 'no' answers, they were 'why is such-and-such' and 'how is so-and-so' questions that forced him to launch into lengthy explanations.  It wasn't that she was deflecting questions about her personal life, she wasn't even giving him the chance to ask.  

After Matt had made a thorough disquisition on all things Seattle, Savora immediately segued: “So tell me about Carrot!”

Caught off-guard, Matt replied, “Well, uh, I like her a lot.”

Savora laughed.  “I'm so glad you've finally found someone!”

I'm only seventeen,
Matt thought ruefully.  True, customs were different in a pre-industrial society, and he had already thought many times that (someday) he might marry Carrot, but he found himself annoyed at Savora's lack of tact. 

Savora continued:  “Carrot is such a wonderful person.  Very principled, very focused. She knows what she wants and goes for it.  I admire that.”

Matt knew that was how Carrot often appeared to people who had just met her.  Know her for a while, though, and you knew that she was riddled with self-doubt and indecision.  Savora, apparently, wasn't the type of person to see past the veil. 

One good thing about conversation, Matt realized, was that it made time go by.  The two hours of monotonous walking passed and they topped a hill and came within sight of the town.  Matt stopped to survey. 

The buildings were brick and stone, the wide avenues were paved and bordered with the ubiquitous blue-globe trees.  The streets thronged with horse-drawn wagons and coaches, but no motor vehicles, not even a trolley or train.  Matt looked for lamp posts, as illumination is always a telltale of technological advancement, but he found none.  Just the blue-globe trees.  If the town had electricity, the wires had to be buried. 

Savora was looking at him.  Matt realized it was his decision. 

“Let's go in,” he said.  “Keep a look out for trouble.”

They walked in silence, and as he made further observations, Matt subvocaled, “Steam power and mature lighter-than-air transportation, some signs of electrical usage but no power grid, and no internal combustion engines.  What do you think, Ivan?  What era would this be like on a time line of Earth technological history?  Mid-industrial revolution?”