Chapter Seven
The five Ancients met at Sapphire's house to discuss ideas for preventing the disaster. She showed them in and they settled into the comfortable chairs and couch in the living room.
"Hope you don't mind if Jade sits in," said Sapphire.
"Of course not," answered Amethyst, "She should be here, since she's your partner."
"Thanks, Amethyst," nodded Jade.
"Okay, let's get started," said Onyx. "I found a possible solution last night in Spinel's journal."
"That's good news!" said Topaz.
"Yep!" agreed the dark troll girl. She sat back and folded her arms. She started to continue speaking, but was interrupted.
"So what is it, already?" asked Ruby.
"I found a reference where, centuries ago, to save some villages from a huge boulder our Ancients used a portal spell to move it past them, where it became a dam for a new lake," was the answer, glaring at Ruby.
Sapphire looked thoughtful, as did Jade.
"I don't see how that will help," said Topaz, "We're dealing with something much, much larger, moving much faster, and made of something different."
"That's new," thought Onyx, "Tope's actually focused and saying relevant things."
"At least, that's if I understood right," the blond added, uncertainty creeping into her tone.
"You did, Topaz," nodded Jade. Over the months since making up with Sapphire, being in company with Topaz and the rest had shown her how they really were, which was far different than how Coral had pretended. Topaz was a ditz, but wasn't stupid.
Topaz grinned and wiped pretend sweat off her brow. "Whew!"
"It's the same kind of thing," explained Onyx, "A huge object falling down that will cause a lot of damage and kill people. What it's made of doesn't matter."
Topaz wrinkled her brow in concentration. "Oh, yeah, I see, now."
"The comet is nearly five miles across," said Sapphire, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the boulder wasn't anything like that big."
"Spinel didn't say how big it was in the journal, but I got on line and looked it up. The river it dammed was about twenty seven feet wide," answered Onyx.
"How are we supposed to portal something as big as the comet?" asked Amethyst. "There's no way! All our power together, even using the Sacred Altar, isn't going to be enough."
"Could we add more people?" asked Topaz, "What about that ogre magician? He was strong. And Sardonyx can help."
"To answer your question, Topaz, we can't add more people. The Magic of the Five is a balance, and more people won't add power, just make it more likely go wrong," said Sapphire.
"And that's where I come in and give the solution!" bragged Ruby. She sat back and looked smug.
Everyone in the room looked at her, surprised.
"You like making drama, but this isn't the time or place," growled Onyx, "Just tell us."
Ruby frowned and sat up. "Spoilsport. But there is something we can do. We can make a spell bead big enough to do it!"
Topaz' eyes grew wider. "That would be a huge spell bead!"
"Yes, it would," nodded Ruby, "But knowing what I know, it's possible. Sapphire, if I give you the ingredients and ratios, can you calculate the size and amounts?"
"Not a problem," answered the blue-haired troll, nodding. She went off into her own world, thinking of writing a computer program to do it.
"That's a great idea, Ruby!" enthused Amethyst.
"Yeah, I like it!" agreed Topaz.
Onyx gave a thumbs up, and Jade nodded.
Ruby sat back again, enjoying the accolades she so richly deserved. And then she was brought crashing down to earth again.
Onyx cocked an eye at Ruby. "I hate to spoil the praise-a-thon... no, on second thought, I don't. How are we supposed to get the bead to the comet? Levitation spells don't fly that high."
Ruby's shoulders slumped. "I hadn't figured that out yet."
"The most obvious method is a rocket," said Sapphire. "They make them big enough to get a probe weighing tons to another planet, so even an oversized spell bead wouldn't be a problem."
"Actually I did think of that. But we can't activate it from here. Our magic doesn't have the range," said Ruby.
"Then you really didn't find a solution, did you?" smirked Onyx.
"Hey, it's more than you've done!" retorted the red-eyed troll.
"Hah. I at least found a spell that could do it," said Onyx, smirk growing wider.
"Guys!" Amethyst interrupted, forcefully, "This isn't the time!"
"Let me make sure I understand," said Jade, "The idea is to make a huge spell bead for a portal big enough to take in the comet and send it past the world. We can launch it in a rocket, but there is no way to activate it from the ground, even with the Sacred Altar amplifying the magic?"
"That's right," nodded Sapphire, "You have a suggestion?"
The green-haired girl thought for a moment. "Yeah. Talk to Mr. Trollobite."
"What's he supposed to do?" asked Ruby.
"Well, we have a partial solution, but none of us know enough to use it," she explained, "If we explain it to him, he might know who can make it work."
"And we can't be egotistical about it," said Amethyst, "Just because we're the Ancients now it doesn't mean we don't need help. I mean, come on, we're still pretty young. We don't know EVERYTHING!"
"You're right, Am," agreed Onyx.
"Yeah, I need help all the time!" said Topaz with a giggle.
"Yeah, we know," muttered Ruby, but not very loudly.
Amethyst did hear her, and glared. Ruby grinned weakly and decided to change the subject.
"Okay, then. Our next step is to formalize our proposal as much as we can, and present it to Mr. Trollobite. Then hope he has some way of completing it."
"Give me a day to write the program for the spell bead," said Sapphire.
"I'll look up what kind of rocket is needed," said Jade.
"Here's the list of ingredients," said Ruby, taking folded paper from her purse and giving it to Sapphire.
At the blue-haired troll's look, she sat back, affronted. "What? I DO think ahead, you know!"
"Whatever," said Sapphire, unfolding the paper.
"What's wrong, Tope?" asked Amethyst. She had noticed the blond was unhappy.
"I haven't done anything to help," was the reply. She hung her head. "I'm just useless."
"Hey, I haven't done much either," said Amethyst.
"More than I have," said Topaz, still looking down. "Onyx came up with the spell, Ruby suggested the giant spell bead, Jade and Sapphire are going to make it work, and you've kept everyone focused and hopeful."
"You are NOT useless!" said Ruby, forcefully.
"Absolutely not!" agreed Sapphire.
Jade hesitated, not wanting to intrude, then added "Yeah. They can't do without you."
"Topaz, this kind of planning isn't your strong suit," said Amethyst, "But your turn will come, I promise."
The amber-eyed troll smiled. "Okay."
"Come on in the kitchen," said Sapphire, putting away the paper, "I put out some drinks and snacks."
That suggestion was met with approval from all.
As they stood in the kitchen, enjoying homemade cookies from Jade's mom, a thought occurred to Amethyst.
"Ruby, Saph, I have a question," she said, getting her friend's attention. "What about how far the portal will send the comet? I mean, we can make portals for ourselves with a range of a thousand miles now. But we're talking hundreds of thousands, if not millions."
Sapphire's eyes grew wide. This was a new problem.
"I hadn't thought of that!" said Ruby. "But I know how to find out. Obsidian made notes about all kinds of spell beads, and the range of portal spells is part of it. I can look it up."
"When you do, let me know," said Sapphire, "I can factor it into the program."
"Okay," nodded Ruby, "But right now I want some more of these cookies!"