The Rings of Salammis

Kronos - Part 3

     Pondar Walton cursed violently as his legs began to drift out from under him again and he had to grab the nearest handhold to get himself back under control. "Drassed low gravity! The gravity's supposed to be done by now!"

     "It was," replied Carlanta, the strikingly beautiful woman helping him to install the large glass sphere in its setting. "They had to take it off again when it interfered with the light spells. I tell you, my old friend, when this thing's finished it'll be so full of magic they won't dare cast a spell inside her in case it sends everything haywire."

     "It may go haywire anyway. Even with Shayen separation magics, you can't have this much magic in such a small place and expect it not to interfere, but..." He swore again as he struggled to get his feet back in contact with the floor. "I just wish they'd get the gravity sorted out."

     Carlanta chuckled. She'd gotten the hang of the low gravity in just a couple of hours, but then she was younger than Pondar Walton. A full two years younger. She examined her reflection in the smooth glass of the orb. People still called her beautiful, even when she wasn't wearing the beauty spells that concealed her grey hair and wrinkled face. She'd been one of the world's greatest alterers back in the days of her youth, and had dabbled more than a little with enchantment as well.

     She had been a power in the Kingdom of Kenestra, a force to be reckoned with, but younger wizards, also University trained, had been biting at her heels lately and so, with the advancing years taking the cutting edge from her powers, she'd decided to quit while she was ahead, retiring to a country estate with her huge fortune and a small army of retainers. She'd been prepared to spend her declining years there, but then she'd heard of the Rossem Project, the construction of a Ship of Space, and her imagination had been fired up as it hadn't been since the glory days of her youth. Leaving her estate in the hands of trusted managers, therefore, she had hurried back to the valley to volunteer. She'd never even considered research before, and it scared her a little to think how close she'd come to missing out on such a fascinating and rewarding pastime.

     The low gravity had one benefit. It made it easy for the two of them to move the four foot wide glass sphere into its cradle, padded with soft velvet and mounted on sturdy springs. Although the orb was very heavy (in Tharian gravity at least), it was also fragile, being hollow and filled with a special alchemical gas that Pondar had spent years researching. Even a relatively light blow would probably have shattered it. Pondar breathed a sigh of relief, therefore, as they eased it gently into position and fastened a pair of stout, padded straps over it, holding it firmly in place. No matter what violent manoeuvres the ship might make now, the orb would be safe and secure. They wouldn't have to worry about it falling out of its cradle and rolling around on the floor.
     "Want to try activating it?" asked Carlanta eagerly. "See if all our hard work bears fruit?"

     "It had better," grumbled the other wizard. "Three years of my life have gone into this."

     He reached out to touch the smooth, cold glass and spoke a sequence of tonguetwisting magic words. For a moment nothing happened and the old wizard's heart quivered with apprehension, but then the orb began to glow with a soft red light and he released his pent up breath with a great sigh. "So far, so good," he said thankfully.

     Carlanta led the way out of the tiny room, just barely big enough for the orb and two people. The walls, floor and ceiling of this very special room were twelve inches of solid sheet steel, an almost unbelievable amount of the precious metal, and the one door was built like the door of a bank vault. Once they were sure that the orb was functioning properly and wasn't interfering with anything else, that door would be welded permanently closed. No-one would ever again need to come in here, and this orb was one of three aboard the ship that absolutely had to be protected at all costs.