made himself stay cool.
Denno sighed, his voice going back to normal.
“No doubt. Even telling him “no” a little more often might have helped, though I think… he may not be mentally well balanced. His daughter too. Daria has always been a problem.”
Tor nodded, but added what he'd found out about them first hand, Glost being crazy and ruthless and Daria mainly doing what she did to survive with her father in the picture.
“She's just as evil, but it isn't a mental disorder with her, she learned to be like that. She might have been able to learn to move past it, but it's too late now. ” She'd killed Yardley and would die for it. He had to quickly explain it all to Denno, but it only took a few lines. Tor didn't want to surprise the man later with the idea, but Daria Serge was a convicted murderer in Noram, that had escaped due to the threat of annihilation, which they'd gone with in order to save Brown.
The woman was going to be put to death for her crimes.
Burks didn't get side tracked as easily as Tor did and brought the topic back to the new problem, the one Brown's own lack of attention allowed to take place.
“What's your contingency with the Larvals, now that you know about them?”
Denno didn't have one. Not really. He tried to bluff his way through, but finally just fessed up.
“I have no clue. There were never meant to be more than twenty-one of them at a time. The interlocking nano systems for this many, they can't be controlled. Each individual is receiving raw data from all the others. If they aren't already mad, then they will be soon. But,” rubbing his face with both hands Denno paused for a full minute, then continued talking as if the thought was uninterrupted.
“Their being insane won't dampen their utility to Glost. If anything it will make them more ruthless, especially if all their training and actions follows a military model. About the worst case scenario.”
“Tor.” Burks spoke softly, as if trying not to spook him.
“Set a course for Soam please.”
Working it out in his head Tor shrugged.
“Already headed that way.”
“Good. We'll have to fly in, but I want about a thousand miles between us and Austra before we go aloft. I packed food for three weeks and these chairs lean back to make serviceable beds. Tor, are you good for the first leg?” His voice sounded tired, as if he hadn't slept in days, which he may not have, if he didn't know the escape schedule. Staying awake would be the only way he could assure catching them when they swam out. If they swam out.
The trip was boring, except when it was finally his turn to sleep and the other two started bickering about what should be done with the Larval army.
“Oh, come now Burks! They're just boys, what, fifteen tops? They aren't a real threat at this point, it will be years-”
“Until they come to Noram and start slaughtering innocent people because Glost couldn't get my daughter to marry him? I told you about all that, but you didn't do anything. After he stole a squad of young Larval from you? Why is that exactly?” Lairdgren sounded both skeptical and pissed at the same time when he spoke.
“What would you have me do? Murder him for having some strong feelings? Don't you remember being that age at all? We were all little monsters back then, but we managed all right in the end, didn't we?” Denno sat forward in the soft chair and stared at the back of Burks head as he drove the craft under the water. It wasn't hard to do, Tor knew, but it would have been easier to sleep if the men would just shut up about things they couldn't currently control.
“Seriously Den? He tried to kill my daughter, one of us. Using a weapon that's barely allowed under the treaty and then only because you've promised to keep their numbers down. Glost shouldn't even know what a nuclear bomb is, much less be trying to build one. Something isn't right here. Glost knows too much and is pushing too many boundaries to ignore. When we get to White, I'm going to recommend calling a summit. This is too big for just us to handle. God.”
Then they argued about summits for another hour, finally, eyes drifting shut on their own, and, being woken by stern arguments again, Tor moved to the hindmost chair and activated his quiet field. They could bicker like hens if that made them happy, but Tor was getting some sleep. The magical light was already too bright, that plus talking was just too much. The chair was comfortable enough and laid flat when he pushed a lever and straightened his body, once his eyes finally closed he decided not to open them for several long hours.
Finally after four days of this Tor grew fed up and when the other two slept he rose above the waves by about a foot, using the low driving mode, and moved them along at about a hundred miles per hour. Going faster was an option, but it made a ripple in the water if he did. That could be seen from the air, he thought. They were at the thousand mile limit before Burks woke up and over Soam an two hours later. Tor hovered up high, not knowing where they were to go next.
If Burks had a problem with it, he could climb out and walk, Tor decided.
The constant fighting had worn him down and he was about to start hitting people. Since all the people on board could kick his behind, that wasn't a good thing to be feeling. Dangerous even. The only thing stopping him at the second was how much he cared about his own health. Once that level of frustration was breached, when he cared more about making it stop than his own safety, violence would ensue.
That would mean Tor needed to cheat, if he wanted to survive it. Oddly enough a plan formed. He couldn’t use it yet, but it should work…
True, they were nice and quiet while they rested, but Denno kept trying to get him to agree with him, even though Tor didn't know half enough to be involved in the decision making here. Burks had been careful not to agree with him on that when Tor finally said it out loud, but it was obviously what he'd been thinking too. Jerk. Assuming Tor was to uneducated to make a simple decision.
It was true, but still…
When they woke Tor created a hatch on either side and opened them, hovering about five thousand feet above the ground, which he lowered quickly so they could keep breathing easily. The area they were over had mountains, so they were actually way higher than it looked. It got their attention, which was the point.
“Without arguing, which way do we go?” Tor said reasonably, ready to tip them out if they didn't get along at least passably well.
“North-east, I think.” Burks didn't grin, but Tor could still tell he wanted to.
“Point.” Tor said, trying to not sound half as gruff as he felt.
Burks did, quickly, Denno looking on with slightly wide eyes for some reason.
OK, Tor was being a bit moody about it, but it wasn't like he really planned to do anything, say dump them both out to fall to their deaths, they'd just bugged him enough that he wanted to, that was all.
They found the city of stone easily enough, The only gray spot in a sea of green trees and foliage. The place was lovely, but much larger than he expected, at least ten times the size of the Capital in Noram. Tor slowly landed on a flat gray space that was both empty of people and reasonably close to where they were supposed to be. At least the others claimed that. Tor didn't care as long as there was a bath, or shower, even a bucket and a stiff brush, wherever they were. Even a container of clean sand would be good. The fact of the matter was, even though no one had mentioned it, they all stank badly from being closed in for so long without a way to clean up. They had a tiny restroom in the back, but no shower facilities. The carriages just didn’t. He hadn’t thought to build that in.
He’d have to fix that.
The city they were in was amazing though, Tor noticed even through the surly haze that covered his mind. It was all stone, every visible bit of it, natural rock had been cut somehow, into massive bricks the size of small houses, then placed together to form structures. If they used anything but rock to do it, Tor couldn't tell. There were people about, short and brown, with dark hair and bright red and blue skirts on. That's all anyone wore, a skirt, including the women.
As a group they had small breasts, the few well endowed women sagged dramatically even from a distance. They didn't seem to smile much, but when a strange craft lands in your front yard and weird looking smelly people climb out, that could put a person off their game. Tor and the Ancients just stood and waited by the craft, not trying to go anywhere or even sitting. Maybe it was rude to sit here? Tor wondered if he should put the vehicle away but Burks didn't say anything, so he left it, just in case they had to flee quickly for some reason.
Say a large group of people indicating they should leave?
