told him I thought he was too young to retire just yet. Hementioned he wanted to transfer to your crew for the duration ofthe mission. I explained to him that your ship is considered to bean alien vessel, and there could be no official transfer, but ifyou allowed it, it would be fine with me,” he said.
“Did he say why he wanted this transfer?” Iasked.
“No, not really; just that he felt it wassomething he had to do. Don’t take this the wrong way, but if anofficer does not want to be in his position, I would rather movehim to a different position than force him to stay against hiswill,” he said.
“Well, Captain, that is pretty much whathappened here. Dr. Rannor has officially requested to join ournation permanently,” I said.
“He is due for retirement at the end of thisweek, so while I could demand that he returns to the Empire andserve here, it would also be easy to say he is finishing out hiscareer as an Imperial advisor to Kellyn. Then after he retires heis free to do as he wishes,” said the captain.
I thought for a bit about my response. Icould just accept that and say no more, but I felt that would bedeceptive. This man was trusting his life and the lives of hisentire fleet to my abilities. The least I could do was becompletely honest with him. “Captain, it is a bit more complicatedthan that.”
“How so?” he asked.
“Captain, Dr. Rannor has made it known to methat he is a Magus. This means that he falls under my jurisdictionnow, and no longer that of the Empire,” I said.
“Master Vydor, I see what you mean about itbecoming more complicated. What exactly does this mean for mydoctor?” There he went with the formal title again.
“I offered him a choice. I said he couldeither finish his present assignment, find a place to retire to inpeace, and forget he ever discovered his powers; or he could joinus and be trained as a wizard.”
“I am glad to hear you left the choice up tohim. I would hate to think you had let your newfound power andposition corrupt you. Be ever wary against that, Vydor. Thetemptation to abuse your power must be far greater than I canimagine and it would be a dark day indeed if you gave into it.” Hestopped and sighed. “I know the good doctor too well to think hechose retirement.”
“You are correct, Captain,” I said. I heardhis words, but I was more concerned about his warning. There wasgreat truth in it, and I did almost force Rannor’s position. I mustalways be on guard against that.
“Then the simple way to handle this is to dowhat I suggested previously and assign him to your crew as anImperial advisor,” said the captain.
“I must respectfully disagree with that,Captain. I do not want to set up a precedent of sneaking aroundinstead of just handling it straightforwardly. I think the bestthing would be for you to grant him retirement a few days early,and then note on his record that he has joined the ranks of thewizards, so that there is no question about his allegiance down theroad,” I said.
“Then that is what we will do. Can I speakwith him?” he asked.
“Well, I have nothing against it, but he hasretired for the evening already. I am sure there will be ample timefor you to talk tomorrow either before or after the wedding.”
After that we wrapped up the call. Now,before I went to bed I needed to contact Mantis. We did not haveany training material for someone as new to his powers as Rannor.The big question always was whether Mantis would answer the call.We never found a pattern indicating when he was available and whenhe was not.
Chapter Thirty
There were no doors to the Crystal Room, so Ihad to teleport in. This was the one exception to our rule againstteleporting on the ship. With the lack of discipline about usingthe exercise room, I wanted everyone to walk as much aspossible.
I arrived in the room alone; most of theothers were asleep by now and I did not want to bother them. Iactivated the sphere and waited. I was unsure how much time passedwhile I waited. I spent it thinking over the day’s events andworrying about the next day.
“Hello, Master Vydor,” came a distinctivevoice from the ball as Mantis’ face appeared in it.
“Hello, Mantis, there have been somedevelopments here since we spoke last. I had better fill you in onthose first, and then I would like you to send me some trainingmaterials for new Magi.” I then proceeded to tell him about thesituation with Terathan XV, Rannor and the upcomingwedding.
He listened very thoughtfully to everythingwithout any comment or reaction. When I finished he just sat therea moment then said, “Very interesting turn of events.” Then heappeared in the room in person and took one of the chairs acrossfrom me. “I suppose the first thing I should say iscongratulations,” he said with a big smile.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Vydor, I am a bit worried about you. You andthe others are skyrocketing up the ranks of power at a phenomenalrate, and now you are taking on a prospect? I spoke with theCouncil about your growth and they assured me that this was the wayit had to be, so I have said nothing until now. But with Rannorcoming on board, I think it is time to address this,” he said.
“It does not feel like phenomenal growth. Ifeel as though we are only little children trying to compete withgods some days,” I said.
“All seven of you have surpassed wizards withtwenty times your experience; it’s just that your perspective isskewed because you only know high-level wizards. For example, lookat your fight with Larath. You overpowered him easily, and I knowthat you have at least tripled your strength since then,” hesaid.
“Overpowered him? Hardly. I crudely bashedhim on the head with a fancy stick,” I said.
“You see, that is exactly what has meworried. You used a great deal of power and did not even noticeit,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, remember the scene Andreya showed theEmperor in which one of the Seven defeated your Dark Knights; howhe stood there completely immune to all the weapon fire aroundhim?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“That was the grandmaster of the sorcerers.He was upset that the Dark Knights were winning that fight. Theyproved to be far more powerful than the sorcerers had guessed, andif not for his arrival the Dark Knights might have successfullytaken control of that colony,” he said.
“Really? I had not realized that,” Isaid.
“Yes, but the point is: Did you notice howthe grandmaster did nothing to stop the weapon fire, it just had noeffect on him? That is what is known as a passive energy field. Hewas so wrapped up in power that those attacks were insignificant incomparison and were just absorbed,” he said.
“That is very impressive, but what does thathave to do with Larath?” I asked.
“Larath had a shield up to block you that,had you been a mundane person, would have made him completelyinvulnerable to your staff blow. He thought he was safe because hedid not think you would blast him with your staff because of therisk of hitting the people behind him. But as you approached him,do you remember the look of fear on his face? Yes, I was watchingthe whole thing take place; it was too important not to. But do youremember the look? As you closed in on him he could see the powerbuilding in you. By the time you swung your staff, you had so muchpower behind that swing that ten Laraths could not have stoppedit.”
“Surely you cannot be right. I mean, I didnot call on my powers, at least I do not think I did.” I was tryingto think back to what precisely had happened.
“You see, that is exactly why I am concerned.If you can bring forth that level of power without meaning to, Iworry that unintentionally you will start forcing your will onsituations when you know you should not. For example, bargainingwith the Emperor for a ship,” he said.
“Now wait a minute, Mantis, I know I did notuse any power on him, … ” I began.
“No, you did not. But if you can kill Larathwith your powers unintentionally, what is to stop you fromunintentionally doing other things?” He just left that commenthanging, and I had no answer to it.
Eventually I said, “Nothing, I suppose.”
“No, not nothing. One bright spot in yournews is your marriage to Kellyn. She is a great stabilizer for you.You
