"Main Map," Cassandra's dead voice stated. Like it was programmed, the
ships computer quickly brought up a 3-D map of the area it was currently
in. Cassandra's smoldering green eyes remained half lidded as she studied
it.
Voidus, is what this chuck of space had been called when it had broken off from the Milky Way galaxy billions of years ago. Those that possessed magic had decided to leave in fear of those who didn't. They had used parts of all the planets in the solar system to create their own, similar to Earth, and then forced part of the galaxy out of time and space but kept it in this dimension. It remained hidden through magic but no longer. Although it was still hidden from normal human sensors she had been able to feel it and had come to investigate.
The Voidus had changed. Cassandra's eyes scanned the map that her new data had just generated, memorizing the distance and calculations. The single planet had split into five smaller planets each with its own unique eco- system and life. The five planets were arranged as if they were the five points of a star, which made a unique orbit around their own sun. The only thing they had in common was the presents of human life, magical human life. The same magic that had given birth to the planet still remained strong with its inhabitance, but not as strong as it had in the past.
"Scan physical surface, 01" Cassandra ordered. The computer beeped in response as it began mapping the surface of the greenest planet. Her fingers easily ran over the panel in front of her as if they were born to it. They might as well have been. Cassandra built the space ship from scratch; there wasn't an inch of it she didn't know by heart.
It only took her a moment to finish inputting the commands into the ship's computer before she slipped out of the hard metal chair on the main deck and headed toward the supply room. Cassandra loaded up a basket with beakers, scanning devices and jars before heading to the docking bay of her ship. A small scooter shuttle than looked to be 50 years old, covered in scratches and dents, creaked opened and Cassandra ducked her six foot frame through the door.
The one roomed shuttle was clean and came to life under her careful instruction. Although the ship looked beat up, its engines barely hissed as they warmed up, in perfect condition. Cassandra hands multi tasked as one directed her main ship to open the hatch while the other directed the other scooter out of the bay and into space. As the door to her ship closed Cassandra let her eyes see the vastness of space. Its star's shown brightly waiting to give up their secrets as the black seemed to go on for ever as Cassandra's eyes looked further and further into space.
Cassandra refocused her eyes, her vision returned to normal, as steered the shuttle down to the green based planet... 01, although its inhabitance probably had a better name for it.
It wasn't easy to find a big enough clearing amongst the think span of pine trees but eventually one that could fit her rectangle like shuttle appeared. With the easy of experience Cassandra slid the shuttle straight down and quickly turned off the engines. She wanted to get he samples and information necessary without dealing with the planets people.
Cassandra set up the scanners and let them begin to scan for magical wave lengths. There were three categories of magic. Kai – the magic's source was self, Elemental – the magic's sources was the elements, and External – required the energy of an object to focus either of the two powers above. The scanners worked fast, the magic was External – a staff was the chosen fulcrum – and the scanners began finding and ranking every staff on the planet as Cassandra left them to collect samples.
The pine forest was pretty dry, many pine trees had dead yellow needles around the base and the forest floor was coated in a thick layer of dried underbrush. No plants other than hearty weeds and pine trees grew and only the occasional small rodent could be seen, although Cassandra spotted a few deer tracks. The sent of dried sap filled the area, masking her ability to smell anything else. Cassandra's soft moccasins made no noise to add to the overly quiet forest, which seemed to be hiding from something unseen. Cassandra wrote her observations down in a plain black leather bound notebook before she started to collect samples of the planets physical materials.
Her basket was half full of dirt, rocks, animal scat and leaves when she came upon the biggest tree on the planet. Her triquarter had indicated the truth of this statement and Cassandra needed to get a cork from it. From the cork of a tree you could read the moisture history of the specific area... but based on her scans the entire planet was exactly like this forest so it would probably apply to all. She pulled out the ancient looking mettle rod; it looked ancient because it was. These tools had been used back in the 1900's and it was now the year 2368 but Cassandra preferred to use her hands.
She had drilled the rod a quarter into the tree (it only had to go half way in) when she felt eyes meet with her back. She didn't stop drilling but quickly reached her mind out to get a sense of the watcher. It was male, young probably about 17 or 18. His mind was calm, like hers, as he watched Cassandra. No thoughts were running trough the surface of his mind, although Cassandra could feel a few underlying emotions which gave proof to his humanity. As of yet he was still assessing the situation, Cassandra was an intruder but she seemed to have no magic or technology at the moment and hence posed little threat.
Cassandra drilled the corker down to its hilt and then braised herself as she pulled it out, careful to keep it exactly straight. Her mind never left the young man's and when he decided to approach her, prepared to fight, Cassandra was ready and turned to face him.
"Name and Purpose," the voice dead panned. Cassandra studied the body that came with the mind she had just investigated. It was not particularly tall, hard cobalt blue eyes watched out of a tanned slightly oriental face. A mop of brown hair, tinged with green, gave the boy a rumpled look, despite his neat – but well warn – robes. The dark green color went down to the ground were the stained and torn bottom covered up the young man's shoes. A thick leather strap gave the robe some shape where it was tied around the middle and long baggy sleeves, just as torn and beat as the rest of the robe, concealed arm's attached to the tanned hands. One of those hands wrapped around a staff.
Cassandra recognized its make, they hadn't changed in the millennium plus that passed. Vines of dark wood snaked up from the ground, twining amongst each other and only leaving the occasional hole in the staff. Once they got up to the middle the twining changed into an organized pattern as they caged in five balls of crystals, each on top of the next. The bottom ball was the smallest and the top ball the biggest. Each crystal was a different color and represented a different power; the amount to user controlled was in the size of the crystal.
This staff was extremely powerful, the top ball was almost half a foot across and the crystal was the dirty yellow of pure power. The next below it was only slightly smaller and it was the red-orange of fire. Following that was the dark blue of water then the dark green of earth and then the smallest, but not small by any means, the white of mind.
Cassandra took all this in at a glance before meeting the eyes of the young man. Without warning Cassandra lifted the lids of her burning green eyes and looked into the boy's mind. She slid easily past his mind barriers and quickly absorbed everything about the boy; his past, his fears, his hopes, his intents, his beliefs, she left nothing unrevealed. It only took a moment but when Cassandra refocused her eyes the boy was no longer standing across from her but instead he had her shirt in his hand and his staff pointed at her head. Cassandra let her eyes lids slip to their normal half lidded position, effectively hiding the blazing green.
"Cassandra, exploring," Cassandra stated. Her voice was clam and as dead as the boys, Heero was his name. The silence that followed was almost tangible and Cassandra decided not to go into his mind to see what he was thinking. Her hands were loose at her sides, waiting to draw on the many concealed weapons that were on her persons. But then if it came to a knife fight, Heero was also covered in metal.
He was the guard for a near by village. He had been trained his entire life to be a soldier, a fighter and a killer. His face was carefully devoid of emotions as well as his surface thoughts all buried in the intense training that he had gone through. And he easily kept it that way by staying away from human contact. His home was on the out skirts and he only went into town to get his food and water rations once a week. And because of his intense power and cold demeanor the village was just as happy that he stayed that way.
"Exploring?" Heero dead panned.
"Map Maker," Cassandra stated in response.
"Dirt samples?" Heero dead panned.
"Details," Cassandra returned. The more she talked to Heero the more she liked him. He spoke like her, clear and to the point. If a person took in all the information around them than there really shouldn't be unnecessary questions or statements.
"Magic?" Heero dead panned.
"Unlimited telepathy and telekinetic," Cassandra stated. Heero narrowed his eyes slightly. Based on the information Cassandra had just given him, than she could have easily kept him from grabbing her in the first place and now that he had her she could have easily pushed him off with out lifting an arm. Cassandra almost beamed when his next question was asked, her excitement building at finding another like her.
"Benefactors?" He dead panned.
"No," Cassandra stated. Based on her reaction to his aggressiveness he figured out her intent on his own. Peaceful and then asked the question that would guarantee that Cassandra's intent would remain that way - her position to make her own decisions.
The hand on her shirt loosed and then let go and Cassandra smoothed out her baggy sweat shirt so that it once again sat plainly on her thin shoulders. She looked glanced at Heero again and when he gave no directions she picked up her stuff and started walking back to her ship. She was not surprised when Heero slipped in next to her.
The silence between them was not awkward although it lasted the entire hour back to her shuttle. Heero was not really needed in his guard position. The towns all over the planet got along fine and sense the split of the main planet into the five parts it seemed that all fighting had stopped. The problem on this planet was lack of water. There was enough to keep it alive but it had to be rationed and watched.
Cassandra guided Heero around her scanners, which were almost done collecting their information, and ducked into the little one room shuttle, replacing her basket in its cubby in the corner. Her hands flew over the control panel as she started down loading information onto one of the mini computers that had replaced paper and books.
"The magic that hides the voidus is failing," Cassandra stated. "In a little over a year is will be detected."
"Hn," Heero grunted to show that he was listening.
"There are many different factions of beings," Cassandra pulled the cord out of the mini computer and handed it to Heero. It was implied that the rest of the information was in the mini computer. The two once again fell into silence as the wheels in bother their heads turned. Cassandra let her mind slip into his. She felt a connection to this boy and despite her past experiences she wanted his company... too bad he was gay, other wise she would have enjoyed his company in more ways than one. But even just as a friend.
"Stop," Heero dead panned. Cassandra raised an eye brow and stopped reading his surface thoughts. She had already gotten what she wanted thought; he was feeling the same connection to her.
"It is wrong. What you gained was not yours to gain," Heero stated. Cassandra lowered her eye brow. He was referring to her intrusion into his mind. It was true that it was wrong but she never shared the information or judged based on it. It guided her actions and allowed her to know where to trust.
"Not for me," Cassandra stated. She turned to the control panel again and checked to see where the scanners were. They were done and Cassandra turned to collect the scanners.
"Information to superiors, taking off in two hours," Cassandra stated as she passed Heero. Give and I were both implied in her words and she new the young man would understand the unspoken invitation to join her. Cassandra silently hoped that he would choose to.
In the next two hours Cassandra did what little was left for her to do and began to compile the data. Her mind tracked Heero as he traveled away and then headed back. Cassandra's cold stiff face couldn't help but crack a small smile.
mtc
Voidus, is what this chuck of space had been called when it had broken off from the Milky Way galaxy billions of years ago. Those that possessed magic had decided to leave in fear of those who didn't. They had used parts of all the planets in the solar system to create their own, similar to Earth, and then forced part of the galaxy out of time and space but kept it in this dimension. It remained hidden through magic but no longer. Although it was still hidden from normal human sensors she had been able to feel it and had come to investigate.
The Voidus had changed. Cassandra's eyes scanned the map that her new data had just generated, memorizing the distance and calculations. The single planet had split into five smaller planets each with its own unique eco- system and life. The five planets were arranged as if they were the five points of a star, which made a unique orbit around their own sun. The only thing they had in common was the presents of human life, magical human life. The same magic that had given birth to the planet still remained strong with its inhabitance, but not as strong as it had in the past.
"Scan physical surface, 01" Cassandra ordered. The computer beeped in response as it began mapping the surface of the greenest planet. Her fingers easily ran over the panel in front of her as if they were born to it. They might as well have been. Cassandra built the space ship from scratch; there wasn't an inch of it she didn't know by heart.
It only took her a moment to finish inputting the commands into the ship's computer before she slipped out of the hard metal chair on the main deck and headed toward the supply room. Cassandra loaded up a basket with beakers, scanning devices and jars before heading to the docking bay of her ship. A small scooter shuttle than looked to be 50 years old, covered in scratches and dents, creaked opened and Cassandra ducked her six foot frame through the door.
The one roomed shuttle was clean and came to life under her careful instruction. Although the ship looked beat up, its engines barely hissed as they warmed up, in perfect condition. Cassandra hands multi tasked as one directed her main ship to open the hatch while the other directed the other scooter out of the bay and into space. As the door to her ship closed Cassandra let her eyes see the vastness of space. Its star's shown brightly waiting to give up their secrets as the black seemed to go on for ever as Cassandra's eyes looked further and further into space.
Cassandra refocused her eyes, her vision returned to normal, as steered the shuttle down to the green based planet... 01, although its inhabitance probably had a better name for it.
It wasn't easy to find a big enough clearing amongst the think span of pine trees but eventually one that could fit her rectangle like shuttle appeared. With the easy of experience Cassandra slid the shuttle straight down and quickly turned off the engines. She wanted to get he samples and information necessary without dealing with the planets people.
Cassandra set up the scanners and let them begin to scan for magical wave lengths. There were three categories of magic. Kai – the magic's source was self, Elemental – the magic's sources was the elements, and External – required the energy of an object to focus either of the two powers above. The scanners worked fast, the magic was External – a staff was the chosen fulcrum – and the scanners began finding and ranking every staff on the planet as Cassandra left them to collect samples.
The pine forest was pretty dry, many pine trees had dead yellow needles around the base and the forest floor was coated in a thick layer of dried underbrush. No plants other than hearty weeds and pine trees grew and only the occasional small rodent could be seen, although Cassandra spotted a few deer tracks. The sent of dried sap filled the area, masking her ability to smell anything else. Cassandra's soft moccasins made no noise to add to the overly quiet forest, which seemed to be hiding from something unseen. Cassandra wrote her observations down in a plain black leather bound notebook before she started to collect samples of the planets physical materials.
Her basket was half full of dirt, rocks, animal scat and leaves when she came upon the biggest tree on the planet. Her triquarter had indicated the truth of this statement and Cassandra needed to get a cork from it. From the cork of a tree you could read the moisture history of the specific area... but based on her scans the entire planet was exactly like this forest so it would probably apply to all. She pulled out the ancient looking mettle rod; it looked ancient because it was. These tools had been used back in the 1900's and it was now the year 2368 but Cassandra preferred to use her hands.
She had drilled the rod a quarter into the tree (it only had to go half way in) when she felt eyes meet with her back. She didn't stop drilling but quickly reached her mind out to get a sense of the watcher. It was male, young probably about 17 or 18. His mind was calm, like hers, as he watched Cassandra. No thoughts were running trough the surface of his mind, although Cassandra could feel a few underlying emotions which gave proof to his humanity. As of yet he was still assessing the situation, Cassandra was an intruder but she seemed to have no magic or technology at the moment and hence posed little threat.
Cassandra drilled the corker down to its hilt and then braised herself as she pulled it out, careful to keep it exactly straight. Her mind never left the young man's and when he decided to approach her, prepared to fight, Cassandra was ready and turned to face him.
"Name and Purpose," the voice dead panned. Cassandra studied the body that came with the mind she had just investigated. It was not particularly tall, hard cobalt blue eyes watched out of a tanned slightly oriental face. A mop of brown hair, tinged with green, gave the boy a rumpled look, despite his neat – but well warn – robes. The dark green color went down to the ground were the stained and torn bottom covered up the young man's shoes. A thick leather strap gave the robe some shape where it was tied around the middle and long baggy sleeves, just as torn and beat as the rest of the robe, concealed arm's attached to the tanned hands. One of those hands wrapped around a staff.
Cassandra recognized its make, they hadn't changed in the millennium plus that passed. Vines of dark wood snaked up from the ground, twining amongst each other and only leaving the occasional hole in the staff. Once they got up to the middle the twining changed into an organized pattern as they caged in five balls of crystals, each on top of the next. The bottom ball was the smallest and the top ball the biggest. Each crystal was a different color and represented a different power; the amount to user controlled was in the size of the crystal.
This staff was extremely powerful, the top ball was almost half a foot across and the crystal was the dirty yellow of pure power. The next below it was only slightly smaller and it was the red-orange of fire. Following that was the dark blue of water then the dark green of earth and then the smallest, but not small by any means, the white of mind.
Cassandra took all this in at a glance before meeting the eyes of the young man. Without warning Cassandra lifted the lids of her burning green eyes and looked into the boy's mind. She slid easily past his mind barriers and quickly absorbed everything about the boy; his past, his fears, his hopes, his intents, his beliefs, she left nothing unrevealed. It only took a moment but when Cassandra refocused her eyes the boy was no longer standing across from her but instead he had her shirt in his hand and his staff pointed at her head. Cassandra let her eyes lids slip to their normal half lidded position, effectively hiding the blazing green.
"Cassandra, exploring," Cassandra stated. Her voice was clam and as dead as the boys, Heero was his name. The silence that followed was almost tangible and Cassandra decided not to go into his mind to see what he was thinking. Her hands were loose at her sides, waiting to draw on the many concealed weapons that were on her persons. But then if it came to a knife fight, Heero was also covered in metal.
He was the guard for a near by village. He had been trained his entire life to be a soldier, a fighter and a killer. His face was carefully devoid of emotions as well as his surface thoughts all buried in the intense training that he had gone through. And he easily kept it that way by staying away from human contact. His home was on the out skirts and he only went into town to get his food and water rations once a week. And because of his intense power and cold demeanor the village was just as happy that he stayed that way.
"Exploring?" Heero dead panned.
"Map Maker," Cassandra stated in response.
"Dirt samples?" Heero dead panned.
"Details," Cassandra returned. The more she talked to Heero the more she liked him. He spoke like her, clear and to the point. If a person took in all the information around them than there really shouldn't be unnecessary questions or statements.
"Magic?" Heero dead panned.
"Unlimited telepathy and telekinetic," Cassandra stated. Heero narrowed his eyes slightly. Based on the information Cassandra had just given him, than she could have easily kept him from grabbing her in the first place and now that he had her she could have easily pushed him off with out lifting an arm. Cassandra almost beamed when his next question was asked, her excitement building at finding another like her.
"Benefactors?" He dead panned.
"No," Cassandra stated. Based on her reaction to his aggressiveness he figured out her intent on his own. Peaceful and then asked the question that would guarantee that Cassandra's intent would remain that way - her position to make her own decisions.
The hand on her shirt loosed and then let go and Cassandra smoothed out her baggy sweat shirt so that it once again sat plainly on her thin shoulders. She looked glanced at Heero again and when he gave no directions she picked up her stuff and started walking back to her ship. She was not surprised when Heero slipped in next to her.
The silence between them was not awkward although it lasted the entire hour back to her shuttle. Heero was not really needed in his guard position. The towns all over the planet got along fine and sense the split of the main planet into the five parts it seemed that all fighting had stopped. The problem on this planet was lack of water. There was enough to keep it alive but it had to be rationed and watched.
Cassandra guided Heero around her scanners, which were almost done collecting their information, and ducked into the little one room shuttle, replacing her basket in its cubby in the corner. Her hands flew over the control panel as she started down loading information onto one of the mini computers that had replaced paper and books.
"The magic that hides the voidus is failing," Cassandra stated. "In a little over a year is will be detected."
"Hn," Heero grunted to show that he was listening.
"There are many different factions of beings," Cassandra pulled the cord out of the mini computer and handed it to Heero. It was implied that the rest of the information was in the mini computer. The two once again fell into silence as the wheels in bother their heads turned. Cassandra let her mind slip into his. She felt a connection to this boy and despite her past experiences she wanted his company... too bad he was gay, other wise she would have enjoyed his company in more ways than one. But even just as a friend.
"Stop," Heero dead panned. Cassandra raised an eye brow and stopped reading his surface thoughts. She had already gotten what she wanted thought; he was feeling the same connection to her.
"It is wrong. What you gained was not yours to gain," Heero stated. Cassandra lowered her eye brow. He was referring to her intrusion into his mind. It was true that it was wrong but she never shared the information or judged based on it. It guided her actions and allowed her to know where to trust.
"Not for me," Cassandra stated. She turned to the control panel again and checked to see where the scanners were. They were done and Cassandra turned to collect the scanners.
"Information to superiors, taking off in two hours," Cassandra stated as she passed Heero. Give and I were both implied in her words and she new the young man would understand the unspoken invitation to join her. Cassandra silently hoped that he would choose to.
In the next two hours Cassandra did what little was left for her to do and began to compile the data. Her mind tracked Heero as he traveled away and then headed back. Cassandra's cold stiff face couldn't help but crack a small smile.
mtc