And I thought my socials assignments were bad

And I thought my socials assignments were bad. Now we have a TEST on all this crap I don't half understand- maybe I should have paid attention in class instead of reading under the desk… (at least that's what my friend Erin says). Oh- and that French project? Michelle doesn't have a computer so I have to type it all out while she does the verb and noun thing. Why do teachers put us all through this type of torture?!?

PS: if any of these 'talents' in the story resemble in any way Mercedes Lackey's mind magic, as opposed to the Tortallan 'true magic', I blame my pathetic imagination.

~*~

Chapter 8: How It All Began

Carson told the story of a boy named Copper, how he started the Revolution…

~*~

It began when the human race started to find previously colonized planets. Previously colonized by humans. There was a theory that humans, way before the pharaohs of Egypt, had had even more amazing technology than these days. Like the technology to do brain transplants into a human cyborg body, for instance. Or to create androids that actually felt like people did.

They came to one world, and the settlers jokingly called it Tortilla. It was some lame pun from an early incident- but somehow it stuck. Copper thought it was partly because the natives called this stretch of land Tortall, and with their accents it sounded like Tortilla.

It originated as a Class 4 jail-planet, a place to throw drunks and juvenile delinquents. The natives were pretty harsh, and wouldn't let anyone within an inch of their territory. They were very medieval, with the whole knights and damsels in distress theory. They even believed in magic. Not just a bit of superstition- but full-blown, all-out magic. That seemed to be a trait of most (if not all) previously colonized planets, no that was nothing new.

Copper was caught on some Marina planet for the usual- pinching credits and air-suits. He was thrown on the backwater Tortilla into the local Juvie Hall. There, it was just the usual, really. Until he met one of the natives.

The guy was every bit a warrior, armed to the teeth with steel and iron. He managed to fend off a couple of scientists who wanted to question him- then, of course, they whipped out their stun-guns, shot him, and stripped him bare before dressing him in some of their own spare clothing. They obviously didn't trust him.

But when Copper saw the man- that was his inspiration. Copper wanted to know more about this planet's savage inhabitants. Back then the Juvie Hall was right next to the Adult Penitentiary, so it was fairly easy to sneak out one night to meet the man.

Funny enough, they spoke the same language. It was weird. Nobody from two different planets spoke the same language! It just wasn't right! The man just had a bit of an accent.

"Excuse me- um, sir?" Copper told the man, standing outside the cell-room. "Why did they put you in here?"

The man looked up in surprise. "Eh? Who're ye?"

"Copper. I'm from the Juvie Hall." The man obviously didn't understand, but he didn't say anything. Copper shook his head. "Never mind. I have an- interest in the natives of this planet. Can you tell be about where you live? How did you get here?"

The man sighed. "I was going on a diplomatic mission, see? This is our land, our country. Wherever ye came from, across the sea like some say, or outta the sky like others, ye've no right t'be here. As a knight of the realm of Tortall, I was going to meet with yer superiors. But then the smart-ass white-coats came in, wanted me to go with them. I knew they weren't the people I wanted, and I didn't want to go with them. You know the rest."

"Is it true that you use magic?" Copper asked, still mystified.

The man gave him a look like he was an imbecile. "Of course we have magic, you dimbulbs! I've only a little Gift meself, but-"

"Could you show me magic?" Copper asked excitedly.

"Wuz the big deal? I can only call fire."

"Please?"

The man sighed, perhaps thinking that Copper was a bit touched in the head. He fished a scrap of leather out of his pocket, tossed it on the floor, and it ignited in flame.

Copper's eyes widened. "Can you do anything else? I mean, you could have done something to that before hand."

The man snorted. "Take somethin' ye want burned, and throw it on th'floor outside th'cell."

Copper fished some lint out of his pocket and threw it on the floor. It had barely touched the floor when it burst into flame.

Copper nearly jumped up and down. "That is so cool! It's like pyrokinetic!"

Copper had to leave, but he came back twice a week after that, learning about Tortall. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to go there, he wanted to see the realm of knights and dragons…

Sir Larden of Malorie's Peak was his name, the second-in-command of the King's Own. Three weeks later he was released after thorough questioning. There was no doubt in Copper's mind that Tortall would never try and send a representative again.

The reigning monarch was a Queen, not a king as others thought. Men and women had equal status in Tortall, and the eldest child was made heir regardless of gender. Queen Marianne was her name, and she showed no sign of getting married, so it was sensible to assume that her younger brother or his sons would get the throne when she died. That she would not marry was no big threat, as she had five brothers and sisters, the Dukes and Duchesses.

When Sir Larden was gone, Copper formulated his own plan. He formed a group of loyal followers, and they all planned to escape. He harvested all information on magic that he could find, and came to a surprising answer.

Whenever humans came to re-populate previously colonized planets, some developed gifts like the locals' magic, but subtly different. It was all old wives-tales as far as most were concerned, but Copper delved into the subject as much as he could. He found the talents of today: telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, voirathy, (***now I'm making up words!***), and some of the exclusive abilities.

Copper and his followers were the first to escape this place. The stories say Copper founded a group of islands and had them named after him- but nobody really believes that (***some people are particularly dense***).

Now there are groups of us on nearly all of the prev-planets (planets previously colonized by humans), that train these abilities and plan escape. We are just one of many, bound together by our sworn word and the hope that one day we will be free.

~*~

I thought that was good! I'm getting so sci-fi, aren't I? (hey, I'm a poet and I didn't know it!). I blame Anne McCaffrey, Monica Hughes, Garth Nix, Piers Anthony- hell, I blame any writer who has ever done sci-fi! It's a contagious disease!!! Oh- and please review.