What he’d thought to be just a random field proved to be a staging ground. A rge ship of gray metal hovered overhead, defying gravity. “Is that a war barge?”
Confgration snorted. “That’s Gunboat Kelly. She doesn’t even rate a schism beam.”
The portal to another world faded away behind them. Three of the Arahant who had spent so much time with Hector bowed to the sage and asked permission to rejoin their normal commands. Confgration didn’t bother with any formalities, simply barked ‘go’ and Machi, Rodrick, and Vivian were jogging away.
Hector felt a twinge at their casual abandonment. Zelda nded an elbow in his ribs. “You’ll see them around camp. The food tents are integrated.”
“Let’s report to central command, Zelda. Come along, Hector. You’ll be able to make your request there.”
He followed behind the sage as they left the staging field behind. The forces of the army were billeted in a variety of temporary structures. The most common were pstic domes sized to house a squad of soldiers. There were also grounded Jinn vessels of various sizes and several canvas tents.
They walked to one of the Jinn vessels and climbed a metal dder to reach its top deck. Confgration waved away the greetings that were called to him by various people. Hector gawked at everything. This had to be a war barge. It easily dwarfed the battleships Hector had toured at a naval museum back home. He’d never seen an aircraft carrier, but this seemed comparable in size.
As they passed through an open entryway, he received his confirmations.
“Hello, Kevin,” Confgration said to the holographic dispy listing unit names, numbers, and power ratings. The numbers meant nothing to Hector. The name that had just been said, however…. War Barge Kevin, the Jinn nemesis of the Lord General. This ship – no, this man – was a legend.
“Good to have you back, Confgration. Operations came to a satisfactory conclusion on this world. With you here, all of our parties have returned from their side missions. Some of our cruisers are undergoing minor repairs, but the army will be ready for travel to the next world within three days.”
Confgration grunted. “Is there still talk of splitting the force?”
“Only from the usual culprit,” the voice of Kevin replied. “Do you wish to be involved in deciding our next theater of action?”
“I’m not a strategist, Kevin. Your committees will never interest me. You should stop asking.”
“You’re a joint leader, Confgration. I have to make the offer, even if I know you’ll decline.”
“Just don’t forget to give me a ride to the next fight.”
“I forget very little, my dear ally.”
Confgration turned his stooped, muscur form to beckon Hector forward. “We found a stray Xian on the other world. I’m turning him over to your custody.”
“Wouldn’t one of the lords be a better choice? We have three of them to choose from.”
“Do with him as you will.” Confgration turned on his heel and began to leave. Zelda bowed to the holographic dispy as if it were a person. “War Barge Kevin, this Xian has been a valuable and honorable ally. Please consider my endorsement when you hear his request.”
The war barge did not reply as the Arahant left. Hector gnced around the tactical room a moment, then bowed towards the holograph. “War Barge Kevin. Hi. I’m Hector.”
“Judging by your advanced age, cultivation level, and stray status, you are a product of the Dream Engine. I regret to inform you, Hector, that those in your circumstances are not in high demand. One of the lords may accept you as a soldier, but it is more likely you will be left behind when we travel to our next engagement. The Dream Engine project has been a failure and we are not interested in polluting our ranks with people we cannot rely upon. I will not entertain any fantasies you have of glory.”
Hector jerked upright. “I don’t want to be part of the army.”
“Then I need not request the presence of a lord. What are you asking, then? We can’t spare the resources to transport you to another world. Tian certainly is not accepting immigrants.”
“My world is in danger –”
“Sentimentality does not dictate our strategy, little Xian. Your pleas will not be taken into consideration. Either our path leads to your world or it does not.”
Hector felt like everything was spinning out of his control. He finally found the army and his appeal was dismissed before he could even speak it? Was there ever any hope of his desperate gamble working out? “My friend has the memories of the Sage of Foresight. The memories and the insight. She predicted the monster attack. She found me before I even knew I’d be able to travel between worlds. She can be a seer for your army. Surely that’s worth visiting my world.”
“You have my sincere apologies, Hector. We have to consider more than the fate of a single world. I will have someone escort you to the mess hall so that you can have a warm meal before we eject you from the camp.”
“No. Please. War Barge Kevin….”
“Goodbye, Hector.”
A Jinn man jogged into the room and collected Hector. “Come along now. Let’s get you fed. Whatever you’ve heard bad about army food doesn’t apply to this army. We’ve got delicacies from a dozen worlds avaible for even the lowest soldier. It will be the feast of your life.”
Defeated, Hector allowed the man to escort him across the top deck, down a dder, and through the camp. The haze of failure hid the details of their long walk. All that occupied Hector’s mind was the fact that he’d worked so hard, come so far, risked so much, only to discover he’d never had a chance of succeeding.
The greatest army in human history didn’t concern itself with anything so small as a single universe. Earth would fall. It might have fallen already. He’d escaped with his life in such a way that he didn’t have to feel guilty. The depressing thought weighed him down. Was he supposed to pick a new world and settle down there? Or py perpetual tourist across the multiverse?
The mess hall existed under a canopy of circus tent dimensions. There were rows of tables everywhere, only about a quarter of them currently occupied. Serving stations squatted about the perimeter of the room. A thousand scents fought for dominance, all of them enticing. Hector hardly noticed any of it.
His Jinn guide released his arm. “I have other duties to be about, but I’ll be back in a few hours. You can eat as much as you want. The corner to the right has meat imported from Tian. That might entice you if you seek body enhancement. Or if you prefer to delight your taste buds, any of the Jinn stations will more than satisfy. Directly across the way you can find a bakery operated by an Arahant with a true insight into cake – cake! Can you imagine? I mean, cake! It’s an orgasmic experience.”
Rather than partake of any of the enticements on dispy, Hector chose a seat at an empty table and let his head thud to the cheap pstic surface. He didn’t think he could eat at the moment, no matter what he heard of the food’s qualifications.
Recriminations spun about his mind. Had there been something different he could have said to sway Kevin? Maybe he should have insisted on seeing a Xian lord. Though what did he have to barter with? They thought anyone born on an unempowered world useless.
“You look about how I feel,” a melodious voice greeted him.
Hector raised his head to find a cute middle-aged woman joining him. “Who are you?”
“Just another underappreciated peon in the army. Though I properly go by Caroline.”
Hector smacked his forehead into the table once more.
The woman ughed. “I guess my dinner conversation goes over as well as my ritual work. At least you can’t threaten to fire me!”
“What do you want, Caroline?”
“I am positively miserable with my life and everyone around here acts like they are on top of the world. Like I said, you look how I feel. Is it so wrong that I want to spend time with someone who might not look down on me?”
Hector tilted his head to gnce up with one eye. The woman was definitely cute. She looked his age, too, which was a nice change. Her looks were common and generic in a way that made her appear like any one of a dozen people he’d met in his life. “If you think talking to me will make you feel better, you are terribly disappointed.”
“You misunderstand, my dreary friend, I don’t want to be cheered up. I want to properly marinate in my misery.”
He sat up and crossed his arms. “What is so bad? You don’t like your job?”
Caroline leaned forward to fix an earnest expression on him. Subtle age lines at the eyes and along the forehead drew his gaze. “How long do you have? See, I’m a secondhand Arahant. One of the early worlds to be touched by the Dream Engine. I have an insight into vocal control that I thought would make me invaluable in rituals. Didn’t work out as well as I expected, obviously. It’s not like remembering someone great can make you great.”
“So you’re not good at your job,” Hector began.
Caroline spped her hand down on his. “I’m still setting the stage. A huge monster invasion hit my world. Too big for us to handle. I lived far from the breach, so my community wasn’t directly impacted. There wasn’t even time for food shortages to hit us. Just… so much bad news all the time. And then the Coalition Army arrived. We were to be saved, we thought.
“No! They decided my world was lost already. The Jinn flew down to collect some raw materials from my community and they were sympathetic enough that they let a few of us stow away when they left. I got to watch on one of those fancy holographs when they nuked the pnet.
“I was sad and angry, of course. But I didn’t want to die. Right? So they gave me a job doing rituals because I told them I was good at it. Except I’m not. I really, truly am not. Vocalizations are only a minor factor in determining ritual outcomes. They’ve dragged me to three different worlds so far, but their patience is running out. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to continue with them. How does that compare to your situation?”
Hector hung his head. “Honestly? It’s not much different. My world isn’t dead yet – probably. But I’m a product of the dream engine. I came here begging for help only to be told that they don’t make decisions based on sentimentality. My consotion prize is I get to eat at their mess hall.” He made an obscene gesture. “I don’t want their damn food.”
Caroline covered her open mouth with both hands. “By the holy ones, I’m so sorry. I thought you were going to tell me your Xian lord yelled at you or something.”
“I wish my problems were so petty.”
“Your world might be able to fight them off. How many monsters are there?”
Hector shook his head. “I don’t know. A lot, supposedly. They hadn’t arrived yet when I left my world.”
“They hadn’t arrived? So you’re just guessing about this invasion?”
“It’s going to happen.”
“You can’t know that.” Her words sparked frustration in him.
“Well, my friend can. She saw everything py out.”
“Is she like a seer or something? They aren’t very reliable.”
Annoyance fred. No one ever believed him. He felt an urge to defend the honor of Evelyn. “She is a sage.”
“A sage? From an unempowered world? You obviously don’t know what that word means among the Arahant. Just having an insight isn’t enough. Being supernaturally gifted at vocal control doesn’t make me a sage.”
“She has the insight of Sage Levinia!”
Caroline scoffed at his outburst. “The big insights don’t transfer properly. There are a million people who faithfully inherit insights on ‘cutting’ or ‘welding’, but the truly powerful ones never inherit. If you haven’t seen monsters on your world with your own eyes, then it’s not happening.”
An insane pressure welled up within him, demanding that this woman understand the truth he knew. Hector erupted to his feet and smmed his fists onto the table. “Evelyn sees the future! I only know her because she predicted I could leave Earth and sought me out! She’s seen so many things! We passed messages back from potential futures! This is real! It –“
A cable of force snaked around Hector’s neck, lifting him into the air.
He gasped and sputtered at the sudden attack. A bze of cosmic energy from behind told him he was absolutely done for. He’d drawn the ire of a level nine Xian. The pressure on his mind vanished so suddenly he was left dumbfounded by the extent of his stupidity.
“I apologize on behalf of the Xian contingent, Sage Caroline. This one will be punished.”
Wait. What?
