The Rossem Project

The Assembly - Part 4

     The ship appeared to be completely motionless. Only a few of the better educated wizards understood that it could nevertheless be moving at extremely high speed. There was simply nothing in space to provide a frame of reference. No trees flashing past. No waves breaking upon the prow. No wind whipping at the clothes and hair of the crewmembers who, strolling casually upon the polished wooden deck, provided the proof Edward had been promised that this was, indeed, a ship of space. There was no way of telling whether the ship was moving at a hundred thousand miles an hour or was truly motionless, as it appeared to be. The only thing that gave any indication of motion was a translucent red cloud behind the ship that appeared to be getting smaller, but whether that meant that the ship was moving away from it or whether the cloud was indeed getting smaller was impossible to say.

     Something strange was happening to the ship, he saw. Some of the crewmembers were floating gently from the open deck, expressions of astonishment on their faces. Expressions that changed to terror as they felt the air growing thin around them. Some of them opened their mouths in silent screams before frothing blood burst from their throats, boiling in the vacuum. Windows exploded outward, sucking other crewmembers out like toothpaste, and the ship shuddered in the grip of forces it had never been designed to resist. For a moment the ship seemed to stabilise, and he saw other crewmembers flailing around in wild eyed panic behind windows that had so far survived the disaster, but there were little jets of gas gushing from gaps in the hull planking that had never before needed to be airtight. The ship was losing its air, and as it did so the moisture it contained was freezing to become visible clouds of Ice crystals.

     The point of view moved inside the ship and focused on what looked like the bridge. Officers dressed more splendidly and magnificently than any of the others were clutching at their throats as they floated weightlessly around in the huge chamber. The point of view moved around in the ship, showing other crew members in the same condition everywhere it went, but the Gods were merciful and their torment only lasted for a few minutes. Soon, the point of view was finding only corpses as it continued to rove around inside the immense ship. Thomas heard cries of distress coming from people around him, and Lirenna was clutching at his arm with painful force.

     The point of view moved outside the ship again and pulled back so that the entire vessel could be seen. It looked almost the same as before, but there was a difference to it that it was difficult to define. Something more than just the fact that the sails were hanging limply from the masts. The best Thomas could define it was that the ship looked dead. It looked duller, less vital. It had ceased to be a functioning vessel and become nothing more than an object of wood and metal, drifting silently through space.

     A horrified hush fell over the room as the image faded, a silence broken only by the softly whispered prayers of clerics and wizardly words of protection. "We think it remained largely intact until it entered our planet's atmosphere,” Saturn said, more to fill the empty silence than to impart information. "We have no way of knowing how long it drifted, but the moon trogs tell us that it must have been at least centuries and may have been much longer. The civilisation that built that ship may no longer exist, or it may have gone on to even greater heights of achievement. They may decide to send more ships to our world. More ships may even now be on their way, or they may have decided that space travel is too costly and dangerous and given up on it. We have no way of knowing."

     "Then we must find out!" declared an elderly, white haired wizard on the other side of the room from Thomas. "Somehow we must find out more about them, what they are doing, what their intentions are towards us. A team of wizards must set out for their world without delay!"

     Loud voices cried out in agreement from all parts of the room, but Saturn merely smiled sadly. "You make it sound so easy," he said. "But how are we to get to this world? How are we to even find it? Is it somewhere in our own planetary system, orbiting one of our own suns? Does it orbit another star? Even if it does orbit another star, though, that does not necessarily mean that it is impossibly distant. We speculate that the red cloud visible behind the ship may have been a transdimensional portal floating somewhere in space, through which it came from another universe. But even if we knew where this world was, how does our intrepid team of wizards get to it? Even before the interference affecting long distance magic, you needed a mental image of your destination in order to teleport there. You can’t teleport to a world you don’t know."

     The white haired wizard stared in dawning horror and realisation. "Then why did you tell us all this?" he demanded. "Why tell us that a terrible threat exists if there is nothing that we can do about it?"

     Saturn looked up again at the sea of faces staring down at him, all impatiently waiting for an answer to this question. He then looked at the Beltharan Major, waiting silently and expectantly. Saturn nodded to himself, or to the Major. It wasn't clear which, but it made Thomas lean forward in his seat, staring intently.

     "There may be a way to find their world and send an expedition to it," said Saturn at last. "The only way is for people to go out into space and actually, physically, search around for the planet or the transdimensional portal, as if they were searching a forest for a lost city. Even now, a construction project is underway to build a ship of space, similar to the alien ship but much smaller in scale. Work is underway to devise a means of propulsion for this ship, as well as a means of providing gravity and a constant supply of fresh air, food and water.

     "The effort is a tremendous one. Easily the most ambitious project that this University has ever undertaken, and all the resources of the University are being devoted to it. There are months, perhaps years of research still to do before we can even begin to construct the magical artifacts required, but magic is only one of the elements the ship will require. The most important aspect of the ship's construction is the actual nuts and bolts of it. The hull, the floors and bulkheads. The furnishings, the weapons and fittings. Although all of this could be done with magic, the wizards among you know how dangerous it is to put too many magically created objects too close together. The residual magics that inevitably cling to them can interfere with each other, and with the power fields of magical artifacts, with unpredictable and dangerous results. Any object that can possibly be made without the aid of magic should be, therefore, and that is why the construction of the ship is a job not for wizards but for shipwrights, architects, engineers. What we needed, therefore, if this ship was ever to be more than just a gleam in a wizard's eye, was a partnership with a nation with the experience and the expertise for this kind of thing. We approached the Kingdom of Belthar, and King Fennerel was delighted to be able to help us."

     He paused for a moment, as if to gather his thoughts. "If Belthar had not agreed to co-operate with us on this venture, then it is very likely that we would have had to abandon the whole idea. Only Belthar is wealthy enough to be able to afford the cost of an enterprise of this magnitude. Only Belthar has the necessary skills and expertise. If Belthar had not agreed to help us, then there is no other single nation in the world that could have replaced them. We would have been forced to go to one smaller Kingdom after another. The Megran coastal states, perhaps, or the former provinces of Belthar, or the nations of eastern Amafryka. Probably all of them, trying to raise the funds and the craftsmen that this project requires. The funds and the craftsmen that Belthar can supply all by itself. It is a graphic demonstration of the power that Belthar still possesses, despite the terrible cost it had to pay for the victory over the Shadowhosts. Belthar is still the most powerful human nation in the world. Their ability and willingness to fund this project is all the proof anyone needs."

     There was some angry muttering from those mundanes in the audience who came from the former provinces of Belthar and who had an interest in trumpeting Belthar's weakness and decline, but Valeron Hort was beaming with delight.

     "Of course!" whispered Thomas to Lirenna. "I'm betting that agents of Belthar will soon be giving the same speech all over the world, and especially in Belthar itself. That's the real reason the Beltharans are involved. This is just a power project for King Fennerel."

     "A power project?" asked the demi-shae.

     "A very visible, very expensive project whose only purpose is to show the world you're still strong and powerful," said Thomas. "The wizards may genuinely want to investigate a threat to the world, but King Fennerel just wants to show the world that Belthar's still a superpower. Still, whatever works, right? If Saturn's right about the threat that ship poses, we should be grateful the Beltharans have a motive to help us."

     "That Major certainly seems to be enjoying it," said Lirenna.

     "He probably thinks his family stands to grow in power and influence in Belthar," Thomas replied. "He's hoping the King will be grateful to him for his part in this. He could be given a Lordship for this. Maybe even a Dukedom. A title that'll be passed on down the generations. Money, power. Influence. That's what motivates people in Belthar, they say."

     Saturn spoke some more words into the memory crystal and the image of the alien ship reappeared, but now there was a small globe floating alongside it, looking like a pea next to a cucumber.