The Worlds of the Sheaf

Embarkation - Part 1















     The Ship of Space had been on its way towards the transdimensional portal for three months before the majority of its crew came aboard.

     A cage of lab rats was sent first, just to make sure it was safe. No-one had ever teleported over such a great distance before, a distance the moon trogs calculated to be over thirty thousand million miles, and with the wizards still harbouring painful memories of the interference introduced by the felisians, they wanted to be very sure it was safe before any human made the journey..

     They were made even more cautious by the problems they were having with communication. The further away the Jules Verne went, the longer it took for Farspoken messages to travel the distance, until by the time the ship was approaching its destination a wizard stationed in Lexandria Valley would have to wait over two days to receive a reply to an enquiry. It was soon established that teleportation suffered the same effect, and there was some serious head scratching as the wizards contemplated the fact that anyone teleporting to the Jules Verne would spend a whole day in a strange state of non-existence. Where exactly was the wizard during that time? they wondered, and what long term effects might it have on the unfortunate teleportist?

     The lab rats suffered no apparent ill effects, though, and so a human wizard was chosen to follow. Graal Sonnjek was quick to volunteer, seeing it as a good way to enhance his reputation and boost his career. He was a good wizard, but was having trouble getting noticed by his tutors. Normally, only a small proportion of wizards returned to the University for a course of higher education, mainly gained by the simple means of being taken on by a senior wizard as their assistant. That meant that they were in short supply and the senior wizards had to squabble over them in a most undignified way.

     That would have suited Graal just fine. He rather liked the idea of being valued and appreciated, of maybe being haggled over and farmed out from one master to another in reply to their earnest entreaties. He turned out to have timed his return rather badly, though. News of the Rossem Project had by now spread all across the human populated world and junior wizards from almost every human nation and independent city had come to claim a part in it. Lexandria University was therefore enjoying a glut of junior wizards and Graal was just one among many. Graal had gone the rounds from one senior wizard to another, stating his case, pleading to be taken on, but everyone had all the assistants they needed. It was enough to make one tear out one's hair in frustration!

     After this, though, everyone would know his name, and they would be queuing up to take him on. Several other young hopefuls had had the same idea, but this time he'd been lucky and he had been the one chosen. He just hoped that it was good luck, rather than bad. Despite the opportunity this was giving him, he was still more than a little apprehensive.

     For him, though, the gamble paid off. He entered the valley's teleportation cubicle, the good wishes and earnest prayers of the assembled wizards glowing in his ears, closed the door behind him and opened the second door onto the Jules Verne's hanger deck feeling just fine, if a little strange at the thought that a whole day had passed in the single moment the journey had seemed to take him. The wizard waiting for him aboard the Ship of Space had given him a quick once over, to make sure he wasn't dying or anything, and then he'd gone straight back to the valley for a proper examination.