Thomas Gown has become an important part of the Rossem Project and his contribution may be vital to its eventual success. However, he has also become a pawn in a desperate struggle between ancient powers who care nothing for the civilisation Thomas...
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Now that the Jules Verne was complete and had set off to begin its mission, Pondar Walton was free to return to his own studies and had done so with enthusiasm. The few days of free time his assistants had thought they'd have was cut short as he began a new series of experiments and they were rushed off their feet coping with the workload he set them. Thomas and Tassley Kimber were especially hard hit because of their continuing involvement with the ship of space, Tassley working to complete the ship's magics and Thomas training to be a member of its crew.
The gossip circulating among the research buildings had it that the man-hungry blonde was sleeping alone for the first time since returning to the University, and if she was too tired for 'entertaining' she must be almost dead! The benefit of this, though, was that the two junior wizards were able to work together without the full bodied blonde continually trying to get his clothes off. She was so tired that she completely failed to notice even when he accidentally touched her breast while handing her a jar of powdered basilisk blood.
Without the constant lingering eye contact, suggestive innuendoes, 'accidental' hand contacts and shoulder bumps, Thomas was surprised to find that the young woman was a capable and effective wizard. Patient and meticulous in her work. If anything, the fatigue lines around her eyes made her even more desirable and attractive. It awoke the protective, supportive side of his nature.
After a couple of days of this, Thomas was sent to relieve Gunther Fugh on the Jules Verne, and he spent the next week helping to search the moons of Rama for any sign of occupation, past or present. The strange frozen landscapes held him in fascination at first. He was awed by the water volcanoes on Rama two, overwhelmed by the canyons of Rama three and stunned to silence by the polar tunnel of Rama six; a perfectly smooth shaft that ran through the centre of the small moon from pole to pole as if it were a bead from a giant necklace. Before the week was half over, though, he felt himself growing bored by the endless procession of novel geological features. It seemed he'd finally found a subject immune to his insatiable curiosity.
He found himself looking forward to his off duty hours, therefore, when he could examine his acquired memories and place as many as possible down on paper. They seemed to be mainly coming in chronological order, with the memories of Tak's childhood and teenage years virtually complete while he had as yet only fragments from the wizard's adulthood.
One adult memory, though, was particularly vivid. A Tak well advanced into his middle age, with greying temples and the lines of sleepless nights around his eyes. He and a group of other wizards were standing in a circle, their right hands meeting in the centre as they swore a solemn oath. They each wore robes of a different colour. A stern looking man in red. A woman in white. A dark skinned woman in black. A bald man in green. A stunningly beautiful woman in yellow and a black man whose robes were streaked with many colours who seemed to be the most senior. The most powerful of them. A corona of scintillating magic danced about them as they swore the oath that bound them together, but Thomas had no idea who the others were or what was going on. That memory, presumably, would come later.
