Willow closed the little device that really seemed to be a hybrid between a laptop and a tape recorder with a sigh. There were probably more things that she should include in this beginner's guide to magic, but she couldn't think of anything right now. Maybe after something to eat, or some rest. Alex had sat with her for a while, but he'd been pulled away to talk with Dr. Teirell about something.
"Handmaiden?" Malthesar was standing there, looking slightly rumpled.
Willow tried to smile, and patted the couch beside her. "Have a seat, I don't bite. Did you want to talk about something?"
"Some of the abilities that you and your companions have shown…" his words trailed away, as if he wasn't certain of how to say what was on his mind.
"We weren't what you expected?" Willow smiled, and tapped the laptop-like device. "I think that some Thermians might be able to learn magic, which is what I use. Quantum manipulations, if that term makes you feel better about it. Manipulating the surrounding reality by focused application of willpower. I'm trying to write up a guide book, but it's taking a while."
He nodded, gaze remaining on the device. "This book will take some time."
"Probably," Willow agreed. "Then, once it's written, it takes time for someone to develop skill with these abilities. Time, meditation, and practice."
"Meditation?" Malthesar repeated, sounding confused.
"You need to know exactly what you're trying to accomplish, and you need to keep yourself in balance, or else bad things can happen," Willow replied, thinking about some of the things that had happened to drive that lesson home.
"I'm not certain that it would be wise to keep all of you on the Protector for the time that it will take to finish writing a book," Malthesar said, and then frowned. "We need to find where that shuttle was going, and prevent them from continuing any dreadful schemes."
"But you'll still be in the area, right? This sector or quadrant of space?" Willow asked, part of her wondering if there was any way to take some of the Thermian information with her, though then she'd need to translate it.
"For some time, yes," Malthesar acknowledged. "Why?"
"Well, send us back to where you picked us up from, go get the bad guys, and come back for the book." Willow shrugged, thinking that it sounded like a simple enough plan.
"Yes, that would work quite nicely," Malthesar smiled, clearly relieved. "It will also prevent… unorthodox diversions."
"You mean it'll keep Ja… um, Taggert from playing hero and getting things shot to pieces, right?" Willow snickered as she thought of some of the episodes. "It will also lessen chances of the crew finding out the wrong things."
Malthesar nodded. "The discovery that one's hopes have been placed in what is not true is very discouraging."
Willow nodded, thinking of the way that she'd felt when she first discovered that monsters were real, when she'd learned that magic was real, when she'd found out that aliens were real. "It's not fun to discover that while you thought you knew how things worked, it turns out that you were wrong. Not fun, and pretty scary."
"Very true," Malthesar murmured. "You will be well, returned to the planet?"
"I think it would probably be better for all of us that way. But come back for the book in a while, and don't be afraid to come back if anything really weird comes up. Magic or demony… Some of us know about that sort of thing. If we know about what you've bumped into, we might have answers, and even if we don't, we know the sort of questions to find the answers," Willow smiled, starting to think that everything would turn out okay after all.
"Excellent. We'll just assemble all of you in one of the digitalization chambers, and prepare to send you home," Malthesar stood, looking relieved. "Then all we need to do is locate and capture the pirates…"
Willow managed not to laugh. 'All they had to do' indeed. Things were rarely quite that simple, though for Malthesar's sake, it would be nice if things went without any further complications. She'd work on a book explaining magic for them, and… Groaning, Willow realized that they hadn't actually finished filming that episode of the television series.
End part 54.
"So this is where you're hiding." Cordelia's voice held the warmth of deep space as she stepped into what was supposed to be a private lounge.
Jason turned to look at her, trying not to linger on the way her uniform clung to impressive curves, the way it hugged her hips, and had been opened just far enough to show a little skin without doing more than teasing. He didn't want to be distracted by her looks, he wanted to be annoyed at her for not telling him about this mess, about demons and vampires. Turning back to the window, he retorted, "I'm not hiding."
"Try that again with someone who'll buy it," she snapped, closing the door behind her.
"You should have told me. You should have told me about this nightmare." He didn't look at her. A corner of his mind wondered if maybe that was a bit unfair, after all, he hadn't been rushing to tell her about the Thermians.
"The way you told me about aliens being real?" She sat on the single chair, looking too much like a princess surveying a subject. "Oh course, how silly of me to realize that I'm the only one who kept secrets. Get over it."
"It was important!" He turned to glare at her, forgetting that he was trying not to be distracted. "I could have been killed down there if I hadn't known the front line was a collection of vampires! It's vital to share information in a military situation."
"You're not really the commander of a space-ship, you have no military background, and when I figured out what was happening, we did tell you. You freaked out," Cordelia shrugged, and then touched her temple very lightly, with a small wince. "If I'd tried to tell you before, why should I have expected you to believe me? If I'd said hey, Jason, all that stuff in horror movies? Well, a lot of it's real, they can kill you, and by the way, don't ever invite someone into your house after dark. You would have thought I was crazy."
"No, I wouldn't." Jason protested.
Cordelia just arched her eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "Really?"
As he thought about what she'd said, he leaned against the window, feeling a bit less angry. She was right; he wouldn't have listened. It would have sounded crazy; it still sounded crazy, and now he knew it was real. "Maybe I wouldn't have listened."
"I was angry that you didn't tell me about the aliens," she admitted. "Of course, you probably didn't tell me for the same reason that I didn't tell you."
"It makes me wonder how much I really know you," Jason grumbled, still leaning against the window. Was Cordelia really the aspiring actress that he'd thought she was? How much of her time was taken up with this mess involving vampires and demons? He'd enjoyed the idea that she wasn't involved with him just because he was famous, but… Was she involved with him for being Jason, or some weird mumbo-jumbo reason?
"I may not have said everything, but what I said was true. And you have no idea what sort of nightmares Sunnydale left me with," Cordelia shivered, and then sighed. "If I hadn't found out, I'd probably never have lived to graduate high school."
"These nightmares…" Jason faltered, and then tried to ask. "I know you said high school was an ugly time that you'd rather not talk about, but I thought that was because… well, rivalry, arguments, crazy ex-boyfriends, that sort of thing. Bad hair immortalized in the yearbooks."
"My yearbook photos were just fine, even with the fluorescent lights," Cordelia huffed. "There was the frat-party where they tried to feed us to the snake-demon. The swim team turned into fish-monsters. Some kids got possessed and ate the school mascot, and then the principle."
"They ate the principle?" Jason gasped, hoping that she was joking. "You're… that's…"
"That was Sunnydale. It was officially listed as being caused by a wild animal attack, but a pack of wild animals, in the school, during the day, while class was in session? Get real." She shook her head, and then sighed. "I think the worst was finding my boyfriend and his friends dead in the teacher's lounge."
"Suddenly, a bad haircut doesn't sound so bad," Jason muttered, his mind spinning over her words. It was starting to make sense why she didn't seem quite so unfocused as most of the actresses that he met. "I think I see why you said you don't plan to ever go back there."
"And that's the tip of the iceberg," Cordelia declared.
Before Jason could say anything else, Gwen's voice emerged from the speaker. :Commander Taggert, Princess Mirabanna, please come to the Digitalization chamber on level four. Malthesar has decided that it would be best if we return to the planet's surface to make certain none of the pirates have escaped detection or set any traps.:
"In other words, they want us to go home and stop meddling," Jason grumbled. "I was having a bit of fun, except for the beaten up by vampires part. Wait, that was on Earth. Damn. And you do that sort of thing all the time?"
"As if," Cordelia sniffed, and then grinned. "I let the guys handle that most of the time, and stay in the back with a crossbow. It's also so much easier on the clothing that way."
Jason shook his head, and stepped towards the door. "Time to go home. I'll feel better once everything's back to normal."
"You say that as if this isn't normal," Cordelia said, following him. "Lead on to the digital room. Fearless leader."
It didn't take long before they were in the digitalization chamber, along with everyone else from Earth. Jason looked around, noticing that nobody else seemed to be as frustrated and confused as he was. Gwen was leaning against Angel, her hair mussed and she kept blushing when Angel smiled at her. Willow had one of those Thermian palm-pilots, and kept muttering words and phrases that lacked the rest of a sentence, presumably thinking out loud.
Stepping on the digitalization pad, he grinned at the Thermian manning the controls. "Let's go home."
As he felt himself flung through space, Jason wondered how he'd explain this to Marty and the rest of the staff back at the studio.
End part 55.