The next day begins.
**** **** ****
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 7:00 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
Yours truly is about to make
an admission, folks.
I just HATE boatswain calls.
What was that?
"What's a boatswain
call?" you ask.
Well, folks, imagine the shrillest
whistle you could ever hear . . . and then pipe the sound down a long dark
tunnel with perfect acoustics.
Oh, yeah. Pump the volume straight up to maximum at the
same time.
That's a boatswain call.
But then again, it really
didn't surprise me.
This IS a Canadian Navy ship
I'm currently sleeping on.
Even if the accommodations
would put the Queen Elizabeth 2 to total shame.
As the general call
mercifully ended quickly and the boatswain mate of the watch made the morning
announcements over the intercom system, I slowly picked myself up from the
covers I had stretched out over my bed – including some rich furs that I had
been given as presents from friends at the Collegium in Valdemar – as I moved
to rub the sleep out of my eyes. At the
same time, the screen saver on Eimi's laptop flicked off to reveal a
sleepy-eyed A.I., who depicted herself in pyjamas and a night cap.
Why a night cap?
In all the time I've travelled
with her, I never really asked that question.
"'Morning, Doug,"
she called out to me.
"'Morning," I
answered back as I moved to slip out from under the covers. "So how was your first night bonded to
the local Tapestry?" As always, I
used the term I picked up in teh Collegium to describe the virtual world of the
Internet.
Eimi blinked, and then she
giggled. "Wow . . .!"
Yep, folks.
I was right.
My good friend was now
literally in Tapestry HEAVEN!
"Good morning,
Doug-san. Eimi-san."
I turned, and then
grinned. "Good morning to you,
Hiromi-chan," I said as Hiromi walked in with a tray of breakfast – no doubt
prepared by Seina herself, bless her heart – which she placed down by the main
writing desk with the laptop given to me by the ship's supply department. "You didn't need to do that for
me."
"Well, it appears the
good Master Knight Allain has acquired a cold and Seina is busy preparing a
nice chicken broth before he goes down to visit the good healers in the ship's
cockpit within the hour, so I elected to help with breakfast," she
explained.
* *
*
By the way, folks,
"Master Knight" in Hiromi-speak means a senior Army officer.
Eh?
"Hiromi-speak?"
What's that, you ask?
Well, it's a rather classical
and flowing speech, flecked with all sorts of wonderfully embarrassing titles
for people worthy of such respect, that is used only by one Moroboshi Hiromi
a.k.a. Ryuko Kyorei – God help you if you EVER call her "Reitei,"
which is the standard Japanese name used for her past-self! – of Tomobiki in
Japan.
Got it so far?
Good!
* *
*
"So Brian and Mark live
ashore?" I asked.
"Yes. Both are married, of course, so they have
quarters ashore. Brian's delightful wife
Ellen is currently in charge of Base Niagara's Personnel Support Programs
branch; she make sure all the people posted to the base or Haida remain
in top physical form. They have two
children, both of whom are currently in university right now getting their own
degrees and moving to make lives for themselves. Mark's lovely wife Nancy is a normal
housewife, though she helps administer the Base CANEX store. They have a daughter who's in junior high
school; 'elementary school' as it's called in Canada. She'll be preparing for another day of
classes at Plymouth School, no doubt."
I nodded as I headed into the
bathroom – given how big this ship was, it didn't surprise me that all
living quarters had their own private lavatories – so I could commence daily
ablutions. "Speaking of school, you
and Mioko are in sixth form now," I stated, using the English term for
Grade 12 or third year of high school as it was seen in Japan. "Why aren't you two back in Tomobiki
attending classes?"
A chuckle. "I rather would prefer that, but given
that this is the year we're supposed to cram and cram for the Centre Test – and
given that the highest post-secondary institutions across the planet would have
honour-duels to the death to welcome myself and my extended family into their
freshman classes next year – the idea of being able to peacefully study for
such tests was seen as much more paramount than subjecting myself to
'examination hell.'" As I laughed while
I shaved my face – making sure I didn't nick myself – she added, "I
disagreed, but everyone overrode me.
Fortunately, my beloveds and I are still seen as affiliated with
Tomobiki High School, so when Takara comes aboard with Yayoi-chan and
Kanami-chan, her arms will be laden with all the week's assignments from our
nominal classroom teachers back in Japan."
I perked. "Takara?"
"Sumai Takara, also
known as 'Sohofu' or 'Sokogo.' In her
first life, she was the Empress Sòng of Hàn, the Lady Sòng Baofeng. My first wife."
I shook my head. "Doesn't that get a little
troublesome?"
"Having both my wives
from my first life and one of my mistresses living with me full-time?" she
ventured back as I sensed her prepare my morning tea. "I was petrified when Mioko met up with
Miwaka – that's Wan Miwaka; she was the Consort Wáng Meiruò in our first lives
and the mother of my eventual successor on the Dragon Throne – after we dealt
with the Urusian Imperials and that boor Ogi on Yaminokuni . . . " – I bit
back the laugh I felt on hearing that planet's name again – " . . . and
they made their 'ladies' agreement' to share me, I was trapped with utterly no
way out."
"Save surrender of
course, my husband."
I perked. Woman's voice, but not Mioko. I leaned out of the bathroom to find myself
gazing on a smiling blonde girl looking to be a year younger than Hiromi. After a quick check with my mage-sight, I
confirmed that she didn't have a dragon or anything else inside her that was
out of the ordinary save for her being a toshi; a "B-rank" one given
her gold magatama earring; I had read about how the earring colours changed as
toshi gained more unique fighting experiences.
"The Lady Takara, I presume."
"You presume correctly,
Master Looney Toons," she answered as she held up a small travelling case
for a business suit. "Courtesy of
the American Army liaison staff aboard the noble Arizona, Lord Colonel
Sangnoir; your uniform while you're here."
"Proper rank and accoutrements?"
Hiromi asked as I blinked in confusion.
"Naturally," Takara
said as she moved to unzip the carrying case to reveal the new-model dark blue
uniform worn by American Army soldiers these days; back in my universe and
time, they still wore green. "Of
course, the medals aren't properly exact given his experiences, but we don't
want to plaster his presence here across the planet just yet, so it's best to
make him fade into the background for the time being."
"Why the disguise?"
I asked.
"Because your
battle-suit is a little too unique and peculiar for our universe,
Doug-san," Hiromi said as she gave me an apologetic look while she handed
me my tea. "Much that I'm sure
you're more than ready to defend yourself and others should such be necessary,
we don't need to drag all the crazies out of the shadows to seek you out."
"How much did Seina tell
you?" I demanded.
Hiromi laughed as Takara
giggled . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 8:04 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
I had to admit, whoever was
the tailor aboard Arizona got it pretty good.
Colonel in the United States
Army – a Special Forces officer at that with the proper qualification tab, not
to mention previous assignment patches indicating I worked with the 5th Special
Forces Group – complete with jump wings from a half-dozen nations (including
Canada), plus air assaulter's qualification badge and "shooting iron"
medals that said I was very nasty with anything that went
"bang!" An even five rows of
medals in my "salad bowl" of decorations over my right breast
pocket. And the damned thing fit me like
a glove; the clothing replicators on these ships clearly were programmed to
make sure whatever they produced could fit without much need of snipping and
mending. Spit-shone boots on my feet and
the proper dark green beret to cover my head with my "current
assignment" crest marking me as part of the 1st Special Forces Group out
of Fort Lewis in Washington. That was
the Army Special Operations Command's assigned unit to back up the North
Pacific Division of the Earth Defence Force, which currently included H.M.C.S. Haida,
U.S.S. Arizona, the Japanese Starship Yamato, the Republic of
Korea Starship Paekbom, the People's Republic of China Starship Zhèng
Hé – those three being Haida's sister Type One battleship/carriers –
and the Republic of China Starship Dàdù, the Korean People's Navy
Starship Mong'yang and the Mongolian Armed Forces Starship Damdin
Sükhbaatar, which were all Metzada-class Type Two space destroyers.
Much to my surprise, I even
got what was called in the British Army a "batman."
Though I'd hardly call
Sergeant First Class Sarah "Sally" Cramer a mere "batman."
* *
*
"Never thought you'd see
girl in green berets, Colonel?" she asked me when we first met after I had
finished my breakfast, reviewed updates from Eimi and got dressed.
"Personally, no. Unless they're Canadian and wear Army green
as their normal uniform type," I admitted as I enjoyed a second cup of tea
brought fresh from Seina. "You're
an Avalonian, but your soul is much older than the girls here."
"I was born Terran,
sir," Sally stated. "In the
local lingo, I'm a 'Terran-turned-Avalonian' like the Director's lovers and a
lot of her friends. The Director as well
in her own way." She wriggled the
fingers on her hand; in the other hand was a cub of Starbucks' finest in a
travel mug as she didn't really care for Tim Hortons. "Got my new body about a half-year ago
after I got my second rocker." That
was the second curved band on her rank insignia. "It was a good thing, too. Getting psychic powers actually helps make things
go a lot easier with some of our co-workers."
"Who exactly?"
"The North Koreans; they
got a whole regiment – in their terms – from their Special Purpose Forces
assigned to back up the Mong'yang," she explained. "At first, it was pretty rough. Their current C-in-C isn't in the best of
health these days and he's getting antsy to provoke a few things with their
brethren south of the DMZ. Elder sisters
in that country, both in and out of the military, are working overtime to make
sure some dumb-ass doesn't screw something up and start a war." As I nodded – the Koreas were pretty much a
flashpoint in my universe, too; metahumans just made it all the more
interesting – she then smirked.
"But once a whole ton of them on their side got body-swaps and we
broke past the language barrier, it wasn't that hard. To be frank with you, Colonel, having a
battalion of SPF fighters at your back would be pretty good in a major
fire-fight. Not that we'd do that sort
of shit, of course."
I winked at her. "Leave it to the Rangers, you
mean."
A snort. "Yeah."
We both laughed; I had picked
up on the various inter-service rivalries in my years with Warriors Alpha. "Sally, what do you think of all
this?" I then asked.
"The EDF, you
mean?" After I nodded, she sighed. "We need it, Colonel. Even though the conspiracy theorists and all
that have been saying we've had UFOs showing up in the skies over the planet
since Roswell back in '47, what happened two years ago kinda smashed it in all
in for us. Not to mention the shit with
the world's old being stolen by that space-taxi company right after the
Director's brother made the tag."
As I perked, she smiled. "It
wasn't too much of a mess; local magicals and the MIBs got it cleaned up real
quick and the damage to the wildlife and sensitive ecological zones was next to
non-existent when it got done." As
I perked on hearing confirmation there were local magicals on Earth, she then
gazed at me. I didn't feel any sort of
probe, but I could tell she was scanning me out. "How many planets do you think are
orbiting Sol?"
A shrug. "Nine."
A whistle. "How'd you guess?"
"It's common knowledge,
Sarge."
She then laughed. "Well, you're right . . . but not in the
way you think!" she then said.
"Here's the order here: Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Nerio, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto's considered a dwarf planet; that got
changed back in '06 when the egg-heads decided to change what being a 'planet'
actually is." She winked. "Believe it or not, Nerio is next to
totally unknown to the common man on Earth."
I gaped. "What is it?"
"A planet of magicals,
Colonel. Physically, it's Mars'
twin. The Mundus Magicus as it's
normally called these days." As I
gaped at her, she shrugged. "During
Arizona's 'official trials' last summer after she was commissioned, we
actually broke through the notice-me-not charms that protect the planet from
normal observation on Earth. Raised a
shit-storm in Washington until the Department of Magic had to step in to calm
down the Navy brass down from raising Cain over the fact that there had been a
whole PLANET kept hidden from outside society." As I laughed – and tried to imagine what sort
of magical charms had to be used to hide a whole PLANET of all things! – she smiled. "They're not bad folk. But they're like wand-wizards in the most
part; they just want to be left alone so they can brew their potions and make
spells . . . What?"
I just STARED at her for a
moment before I shook my head. "Um,
Sarge . . . "
"What is it,
Colonel?"
"Is there a Hogwarts in
this dimension?"
A nod. "Yeah.
British wand-wizard middle-and-high school in Scotland. Why?"
I tried not to pass out on
hearing THAT . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 10:23 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 12 Main Hull,
Ship's Central Computer Room,
I couldn't believe it.
There was a Hogwarts –
and yes, Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang – in this dimension.
Unlike the Hogwarts I had
served as D.A.D.A. teacher for – this was back in 1995-96 in that universe –
the Hogwarts on Hiromi's Earth wasn't alone in offering places to study for
budding magicals in the United Kingdom.
In Wales, there was a school called the Merdiana Magical Academy, which
taught a totally different style of magic than the wand-using type that went to
Scotland to study. While Hogwarts
recruited from fully "native" magical users, Merdiana normally took
in students who had some sort of blood-relationship with Nerio – believed to
have been formed separately when a meteorite had slammed into Mars millions of
years ago to create a whole separate planet with a viable atmosphere that could
support life – or didn't care too much for the local magical ministry's laws
and regulations over how they practiced their craft. Yes, there was an International Statute of
Wizarding Secrecy here as well, but the equivalent of the International
Confederation of Wizards in this universe was a diverse "International
Community of Magical Cultures" that acknowledged that Magic was a
different between users as people were different from each other . . . and that
it simply didn't make sense to enforce one set of magical rules over everyone
blessed with that power.
Just as surprising to me was
the fact that there was a Harry Potter in this universe.
But unlike the Harry I had
taught and helped when it came to dealing with Voldemort, the Harry here got
help from a Merdiana alumni named Nekane Springfield, the niece of a famous
wizard nicknamed the "Thousand Master," a guy who was seen as a major
hero on Nerio for stopping a genocidal bastard called Fate Averruncus some
years ago. Since the local Voldemort was
seen as very bad news for magicals regardless of stripe, the I.C.M.C. gave
Nekane freedom to ignore some old laws that forbade her type of sorceress from
interfering with the affairs of wizards loyal to the British Ministry of Magic
. . . and after she helped Harry discover his own type of wandless magic, the
whole mess with Tom Riddle's horcruxi got cleaned up in the summer after
Harry's sixth year, after Albus Dumbledore died a victim to traps that had been
put on one. Once Voldemort was made
mortal, he was put down in a very quick duel; the actual "Battle of
Hogwarts" as the Ministry of Magic called it – according to a report made
by the Canadian Ministry of Magical Affairs on the matter that had been copied
into Haida's computer banks – lasted about ten minutes after Harry
finally dropped Riddle.
These days, Nekane served as
beginner magical teacher at Merdiana – unlike Hogwarts, freshmen at Merdiana
could be of any age, even young kids; noting that, I was reminded of the
Collegium in Valdemar, which welcomed in new apprentices as soon as they
started showing signs of any metagift – and Harry was now the Director of the Department
of Magical Law Enforcement for the British Ministry of Magic. He was also, much to my surprise, married to
TWO old classmates from Hogwarts given he was also the direct heir of not just
his family but Sirius Black's family, which gave him two family seats in the
Wizengamot. His wives were Mandy
Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw (now the Lady Potter) and Pansy Parkinson of
Slytherin (now the Lady Black). As for
Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger also worked for the DMLE while Ron
Weasley was a player for the Chudley Cannons quidditch team . . . which, after
Tom Riddle finally became room temperature, broke their endless losing streak
and became league champions.
Go figure . . .
* *
*
After getting the chance to
read over about the local version of the Boy-Who-Lived – and the
"Man-Who-Won" as he was called these days – I decided to spend as
much time as I could getting a clear readout of the whole metahuman situation
on this planet.
After several hours reading
and talking about same with both Sergeant Sally Cramer and Petty Officer 1st
Class Joan Mercer – Haida's senior intelligence operator – I had no
choice but to conclude this Earth had been on the cusp of the same type of
metahuman explosion my Earth first experienced in the late 1920s. But for some reason – despite a number of
metas possessing a wide gamut of gifts from the physical to the psionic to the
energy manipulators to even arch-mage type sorceresses and even the quasi-Celestial
having appeared at the time of the Second World War – there hadn't been a mass
development of genetic mutations or people who had become mutates since 1945.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Hiromi hates those words.
But this is a report for my
universe.
Besides, friends back home
would blink like owls on hearing phrases like "natural-born
metahuman" and "fate gifted metahuman" without understanding the
context.
Still, as I came to conclude
yesterday after I had met Takizawa Kaori and watched her talk with Eimi, the
Avalonians – as a technical "alien" race despite their wide
acceptance on Earth over the last year and more – were certainly going to stir
up the genetic pot big time with their allowing Terrans to become part of their
race as well as interbreeding with Terrans in the normal process of helping the
new generation come into this life.
Avalonians – though normally made in Terran-type pattern – did also come
as Niphentaxian-types, Noukiite-types, Urusian-types and other races as well,
so the mixture of genes that naturally developed on other worlds was going to
make something happen one day soon. And
when you factor in the magical societies on this Earth with their own wide
gamut of beings – seeing the various Nerioite "therianthrope" species
in the file about the "Magical World" in Haida's databank just
made me blink – the size of the metahuman explosion when it finally came would
be HUGE.
* *
*
**** **** ****
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 7:00 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
Yours truly is about to make
an admission, folks.
I just HATE boatswain calls.
What was that?
"What's a boatswain
call?" you ask.
Well, folks, imagine the shrillest
whistle you could ever hear . . . and then pipe the sound down a long dark
tunnel with perfect acoustics.
Oh, yeah. Pump the volume straight up to maximum at the
same time.
That's a boatswain call.
But then again, it really
didn't surprise me.
This IS a Canadian Navy ship
I'm currently sleeping on.
Even if the accommodations
would put the Queen Elizabeth 2 to total shame.
As the general call
mercifully ended quickly and the boatswain mate of the watch made the morning
announcements over the intercom system, I slowly picked myself up from the
covers I had stretched out over my bed – including some rich furs that I had
been given as presents from friends at the Collegium in Valdemar – as I moved
to rub the sleep out of my eyes. At the
same time, the screen saver on Eimi's laptop flicked off to reveal a
sleepy-eyed A.I., who depicted herself in pyjamas and a night cap.
Why a night cap?
In all the time I've travelled
with her, I never really asked that question.
"'Morning, Doug,"
she called out to me.
"'Morning," I
answered back as I moved to slip out from under the covers. "So how was your first night bonded to
the local Tapestry?" As always, I
used the term I picked up in teh Collegium to describe the virtual world of the
Internet.
Eimi blinked, and then she
giggled. "Wow . . .!"
Yep, folks.
I was right.
My good friend was now
literally in Tapestry HEAVEN!
"Good morning,
Doug-san. Eimi-san."
I turned, and then
grinned. "Good morning to you,
Hiromi-chan," I said as Hiromi walked in with a tray of breakfast – no doubt
prepared by Seina herself, bless her heart – which she placed down by the main
writing desk with the laptop given to me by the ship's supply department. "You didn't need to do that for
me."
"Well, it appears the
good Master Knight Allain has acquired a cold and Seina is busy preparing a
nice chicken broth before he goes down to visit the good healers in the ship's
cockpit within the hour, so I elected to help with breakfast," she
explained.
* *
*
By the way, folks,
"Master Knight" in Hiromi-speak means a senior Army officer.
Eh?
"Hiromi-speak?"
What's that, you ask?
Well, it's a rather classical
and flowing speech, flecked with all sorts of wonderfully embarrassing titles
for people worthy of such respect, that is used only by one Moroboshi Hiromi
a.k.a. Ryuko Kyorei – God help you if you EVER call her "Reitei,"
which is the standard Japanese name used for her past-self! – of Tomobiki in
Japan.
Got it so far?
Good!
* *
*
"So Brian and Mark live
ashore?" I asked.
"Yes. Both are married, of course, so they have
quarters ashore. Brian's delightful wife
Ellen is currently in charge of Base Niagara's Personnel Support Programs
branch; she make sure all the people posted to the base or Haida remain
in top physical form. They have two
children, both of whom are currently in university right now getting their own
degrees and moving to make lives for themselves. Mark's lovely wife Nancy is a normal
housewife, though she helps administer the Base CANEX store. They have a daughter who's in junior high
school; 'elementary school' as it's called in Canada. She'll be preparing for another day of
classes at Plymouth School, no doubt."
I nodded as I headed into the
bathroom – given how big this ship was, it didn't surprise me that all
living quarters had their own private lavatories – so I could commence daily
ablutions. "Speaking of school, you
and Mioko are in sixth form now," I stated, using the English term for
Grade 12 or third year of high school as it was seen in Japan. "Why aren't you two back in Tomobiki
attending classes?"
A chuckle. "I rather would prefer that, but given
that this is the year we're supposed to cram and cram for the Centre Test – and
given that the highest post-secondary institutions across the planet would have
honour-duels to the death to welcome myself and my extended family into their
freshman classes next year – the idea of being able to peacefully study for
such tests was seen as much more paramount than subjecting myself to
'examination hell.'" As I laughed while
I shaved my face – making sure I didn't nick myself – she added, "I
disagreed, but everyone overrode me.
Fortunately, my beloveds and I are still seen as affiliated with
Tomobiki High School, so when Takara comes aboard with Yayoi-chan and
Kanami-chan, her arms will be laden with all the week's assignments from our
nominal classroom teachers back in Japan."
I perked. "Takara?"
"Sumai Takara, also
known as 'Sohofu' or 'Sokogo.' In her
first life, she was the Empress Sòng of Hàn, the Lady Sòng Baofeng. My first wife."
I shook my head. "Doesn't that get a little
troublesome?"
"Having both my wives
from my first life and one of my mistresses living with me full-time?" she
ventured back as I sensed her prepare my morning tea. "I was petrified when Mioko met up with
Miwaka – that's Wan Miwaka; she was the Consort Wáng Meiruò in our first lives
and the mother of my eventual successor on the Dragon Throne – after we dealt
with the Urusian Imperials and that boor Ogi on Yaminokuni . . . " – I bit
back the laugh I felt on hearing that planet's name again – " . . . and
they made their 'ladies' agreement' to share me, I was trapped with utterly no
way out."
"Save surrender of
course, my husband."
I perked. Woman's voice, but not Mioko. I leaned out of the bathroom to find myself
gazing on a smiling blonde girl looking to be a year younger than Hiromi. After a quick check with my mage-sight, I
confirmed that she didn't have a dragon or anything else inside her that was
out of the ordinary save for her being a toshi; a "B-rank" one given
her gold magatama earring; I had read about how the earring colours changed as
toshi gained more unique fighting experiences.
"The Lady Takara, I presume."
"You presume correctly,
Master Looney Toons," she answered as she held up a small travelling case
for a business suit. "Courtesy of
the American Army liaison staff aboard the noble Arizona, Lord Colonel
Sangnoir; your uniform while you're here."
"Proper rank and accoutrements?"
Hiromi asked as I blinked in confusion.
"Naturally," Takara
said as she moved to unzip the carrying case to reveal the new-model dark blue
uniform worn by American Army soldiers these days; back in my universe and
time, they still wore green. "Of
course, the medals aren't properly exact given his experiences, but we don't
want to plaster his presence here across the planet just yet, so it's best to
make him fade into the background for the time being."
"Why the disguise?"
I asked.
"Because your
battle-suit is a little too unique and peculiar for our universe,
Doug-san," Hiromi said as she gave me an apologetic look while she handed
me my tea. "Much that I'm sure
you're more than ready to defend yourself and others should such be necessary,
we don't need to drag all the crazies out of the shadows to seek you out."
"How much did Seina tell
you?" I demanded.
Hiromi laughed as Takara
giggled . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 8:04 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
I had to admit, whoever was
the tailor aboard Arizona got it pretty good.
Colonel in the United States
Army – a Special Forces officer at that with the proper qualification tab, not
to mention previous assignment patches indicating I worked with the 5th Special
Forces Group – complete with jump wings from a half-dozen nations (including
Canada), plus air assaulter's qualification badge and "shooting iron"
medals that said I was very nasty with anything that went
"bang!" An even five rows of
medals in my "salad bowl" of decorations over my right breast
pocket. And the damned thing fit me like
a glove; the clothing replicators on these ships clearly were programmed to
make sure whatever they produced could fit without much need of snipping and
mending. Spit-shone boots on my feet and
the proper dark green beret to cover my head with my "current
assignment" crest marking me as part of the 1st Special Forces Group out
of Fort Lewis in Washington. That was
the Army Special Operations Command's assigned unit to back up the North
Pacific Division of the Earth Defence Force, which currently included H.M.C.S. Haida,
U.S.S. Arizona, the Japanese Starship Yamato, the Republic of
Korea Starship Paekbom, the People's Republic of China Starship Zhèng
Hé – those three being Haida's sister Type One battleship/carriers –
and the Republic of China Starship Dàdù, the Korean People's Navy
Starship Mong'yang and the Mongolian Armed Forces Starship Damdin
Sükhbaatar, which were all Metzada-class Type Two space destroyers.
Much to my surprise, I even
got what was called in the British Army a "batman."
Though I'd hardly call
Sergeant First Class Sarah "Sally" Cramer a mere "batman."
* *
*
"Never thought you'd see
girl in green berets, Colonel?" she asked me when we first met after I had
finished my breakfast, reviewed updates from Eimi and got dressed.
"Personally, no. Unless they're Canadian and wear Army green
as their normal uniform type," I admitted as I enjoyed a second cup of tea
brought fresh from Seina. "You're
an Avalonian, but your soul is much older than the girls here."
"I was born Terran,
sir," Sally stated. "In the
local lingo, I'm a 'Terran-turned-Avalonian' like the Director's lovers and a
lot of her friends. The Director as well
in her own way." She wriggled the
fingers on her hand; in the other hand was a cub of Starbucks' finest in a
travel mug as she didn't really care for Tim Hortons. "Got my new body about a half-year ago
after I got my second rocker." That
was the second curved band on her rank insignia. "It was a good thing, too. Getting psychic powers actually helps make things
go a lot easier with some of our co-workers."
"Who exactly?"
"The North Koreans; they
got a whole regiment – in their terms – from their Special Purpose Forces
assigned to back up the Mong'yang," she explained. "At first, it was pretty rough. Their current C-in-C isn't in the best of
health these days and he's getting antsy to provoke a few things with their
brethren south of the DMZ. Elder sisters
in that country, both in and out of the military, are working overtime to make
sure some dumb-ass doesn't screw something up and start a war." As I nodded – the Koreas were pretty much a
flashpoint in my universe, too; metahumans just made it all the more
interesting – she then smirked.
"But once a whole ton of them on their side got body-swaps and we
broke past the language barrier, it wasn't that hard. To be frank with you, Colonel, having a
battalion of SPF fighters at your back would be pretty good in a major
fire-fight. Not that we'd do that sort
of shit, of course."
I winked at her. "Leave it to the Rangers, you
mean."
A snort. "Yeah."
We both laughed; I had picked
up on the various inter-service rivalries in my years with Warriors Alpha. "Sally, what do you think of all
this?" I then asked.
"The EDF, you
mean?" After I nodded, she sighed. "We need it, Colonel. Even though the conspiracy theorists and all
that have been saying we've had UFOs showing up in the skies over the planet
since Roswell back in '47, what happened two years ago kinda smashed it in all
in for us. Not to mention the shit with
the world's old being stolen by that space-taxi company right after the
Director's brother made the tag."
As I perked, she smiled. "It
wasn't too much of a mess; local magicals and the MIBs got it cleaned up real
quick and the damage to the wildlife and sensitive ecological zones was next to
non-existent when it got done." As
I perked on hearing confirmation there were local magicals on Earth, she then
gazed at me. I didn't feel any sort of
probe, but I could tell she was scanning me out. "How many planets do you think are
orbiting Sol?"
A shrug. "Nine."
A whistle. "How'd you guess?"
"It's common knowledge,
Sarge."
She then laughed. "Well, you're right . . . but not in the
way you think!" she then said.
"Here's the order here: Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Nerio, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto's considered a dwarf planet; that got
changed back in '06 when the egg-heads decided to change what being a 'planet'
actually is." She winked. "Believe it or not, Nerio is next to
totally unknown to the common man on Earth."
I gaped. "What is it?"
"A planet of magicals,
Colonel. Physically, it's Mars'
twin. The Mundus Magicus as it's
normally called these days." As I
gaped at her, she shrugged. "During
Arizona's 'official trials' last summer after she was commissioned, we
actually broke through the notice-me-not charms that protect the planet from
normal observation on Earth. Raised a
shit-storm in Washington until the Department of Magic had to step in to calm
down the Navy brass down from raising Cain over the fact that there had been a
whole PLANET kept hidden from outside society." As I laughed – and tried to imagine what sort
of magical charms had to be used to hide a whole PLANET of all things! – she smiled. "They're not bad folk. But they're like wand-wizards in the most
part; they just want to be left alone so they can brew their potions and make
spells . . . What?"
I just STARED at her for a
moment before I shook my head. "Um,
Sarge . . . "
"What is it,
Colonel?"
"Is there a Hogwarts in
this dimension?"
A nod. "Yeah.
British wand-wizard middle-and-high school in Scotland. Why?"
I tried not to pass out on
hearing THAT . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 10:23 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 12 Main Hull,
Ship's Central Computer Room,
I couldn't believe it.
There was a Hogwarts –
and yes, Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang – in this dimension.
Unlike the Hogwarts I had
served as D.A.D.A. teacher for – this was back in 1995-96 in that universe –
the Hogwarts on Hiromi's Earth wasn't alone in offering places to study for
budding magicals in the United Kingdom.
In Wales, there was a school called the Merdiana Magical Academy, which
taught a totally different style of magic than the wand-using type that went to
Scotland to study. While Hogwarts
recruited from fully "native" magical users, Merdiana normally took
in students who had some sort of blood-relationship with Nerio – believed to
have been formed separately when a meteorite had slammed into Mars millions of
years ago to create a whole separate planet with a viable atmosphere that could
support life – or didn't care too much for the local magical ministry's laws
and regulations over how they practiced their craft. Yes, there was an International Statute of
Wizarding Secrecy here as well, but the equivalent of the International
Confederation of Wizards in this universe was a diverse "International
Community of Magical Cultures" that acknowledged that Magic was a
different between users as people were different from each other . . . and that
it simply didn't make sense to enforce one set of magical rules over everyone
blessed with that power.
Just as surprising to me was
the fact that there was a Harry Potter in this universe.
But unlike the Harry I had
taught and helped when it came to dealing with Voldemort, the Harry here got
help from a Merdiana alumni named Nekane Springfield, the niece of a famous
wizard nicknamed the "Thousand Master," a guy who was seen as a major
hero on Nerio for stopping a genocidal bastard called Fate Averruncus some
years ago. Since the local Voldemort was
seen as very bad news for magicals regardless of stripe, the I.C.M.C. gave
Nekane freedom to ignore some old laws that forbade her type of sorceress from
interfering with the affairs of wizards loyal to the British Ministry of Magic
. . . and after she helped Harry discover his own type of wandless magic, the
whole mess with Tom Riddle's horcruxi got cleaned up in the summer after
Harry's sixth year, after Albus Dumbledore died a victim to traps that had been
put on one. Once Voldemort was made
mortal, he was put down in a very quick duel; the actual "Battle of
Hogwarts" as the Ministry of Magic called it – according to a report made
by the Canadian Ministry of Magical Affairs on the matter that had been copied
into Haida's computer banks – lasted about ten minutes after Harry
finally dropped Riddle.
These days, Nekane served as
beginner magical teacher at Merdiana – unlike Hogwarts, freshmen at Merdiana
could be of any age, even young kids; noting that, I was reminded of the
Collegium in Valdemar, which welcomed in new apprentices as soon as they
started showing signs of any metagift – and Harry was now the Director of the Department
of Magical Law Enforcement for the British Ministry of Magic. He was also, much to my surprise, married to
TWO old classmates from Hogwarts given he was also the direct heir of not just
his family but Sirius Black's family, which gave him two family seats in the
Wizengamot. His wives were Mandy
Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw (now the Lady Potter) and Pansy Parkinson of
Slytherin (now the Lady Black). As for
Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger also worked for the DMLE while Ron
Weasley was a player for the Chudley Cannons quidditch team . . . which, after
Tom Riddle finally became room temperature, broke their endless losing streak
and became league champions.
Go figure . . .
* *
*
After getting the chance to
read over about the local version of the Boy-Who-Lived – and the
"Man-Who-Won" as he was called these days – I decided to spend as
much time as I could getting a clear readout of the whole metahuman situation
on this planet.
After several hours reading
and talking about same with both Sergeant Sally Cramer and Petty Officer 1st
Class Joan Mercer – Haida's senior intelligence operator – I had no
choice but to conclude this Earth had been on the cusp of the same type of
metahuman explosion my Earth first experienced in the late 1920s. But for some reason – despite a number of
metas possessing a wide gamut of gifts from the physical to the psionic to the
energy manipulators to even arch-mage type sorceresses and even the quasi-Celestial
having appeared at the time of the Second World War – there hadn't been a mass
development of genetic mutations or people who had become mutates since 1945.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Hiromi hates those words.
But this is a report for my
universe.
Besides, friends back home
would blink like owls on hearing phrases like "natural-born
metahuman" and "fate gifted metahuman" without understanding the
context.
Still, as I came to conclude
yesterday after I had met Takizawa Kaori and watched her talk with Eimi, the
Avalonians – as a technical "alien" race despite their wide
acceptance on Earth over the last year and more – were certainly going to stir
up the genetic pot big time with their allowing Terrans to become part of their
race as well as interbreeding with Terrans in the normal process of helping the
new generation come into this life.
Avalonians – though normally made in Terran-type pattern – did also come
as Niphentaxian-types, Noukiite-types, Urusian-types and other races as well,
so the mixture of genes that naturally developed on other worlds was going to
make something happen one day soon. And
when you factor in the magical societies on this Earth with their own wide
gamut of beings – seeing the various Nerioite "therianthrope" species
in the file about the "Magical World" in Haida's databank just
made me blink – the size of the metahuman explosion when it finally came would
be HUGE.
* *
*
Canadian lighthouse to U.S. Warship approaching it: "This is a lighthouse. Your call!"