The Rings of Salammis

Departure - Part 2

"Why isn't it landing?" asked Derrin.

"When it's on the ground, there isn't room for that door to open all the way," replied Thomas. "On the ground, it can open enough for people to come and go through it, but not enough for the scout ships to go in. Besides, it's not intended that it will ever land again, except perhaps in its landing cradle on Kronos. The landing legs are only a precaution. Of course, the King ordered it to land in Tara, but that was a special case. Kings can give orders like that. It's one of the reasons people like being Kings."

"Judging by the way it was moving just now, it's probably not a good idea to get too close to the ground anyway," added Lirenna.

"Yeah," agreed Thomas, who'd been thinking the same thing. "No, this is the way it'll be on any new world we end up exploring. The mothership comes low enough into the atmosphere to drop off a scoutship, and its crew explores that world while the Jules Verne returns to the safety of high space, only returning to pick up the scoutship again when the mission's over. The mothership must be kept safe, you see, because it's our only way home."

"I wish I were going with you," said the boy dreamily. "Can I come with you? Please?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Thomas with a grin. "You need to stay here to carry on with your studies if you want to be a wizard. You do still want to be a wizard, don't you?"

"Yes! More than ever."

Thomas and Lirenna chuckled and Elmias reached up to stroke the boy's leg. "Be diligent in your studies, my lad, and one day you'll be the greatest wizard there ever was. You'll go places and do things no-one ever dreamed of before."

The dignitaries were leaving the scout ship now, all except one man in military uniform who was remaining aboard. Saturn paused to pass a few last words with him before following the others to the gangplank.

"That must be him," said Lirenna as the boy whose eyes she was seeing through shaded them with a slender hand and squinted to see better. "The Captain."

Thomas nodded, forgetting for the moment that she couldn't see him. Captain Phil Strong, the man who'd been chosen to command the Jules Verne. Until a few weeks before he'd been Captain of the Prince Reynard, one of the four Prince class warships named after the sons of the last Emperor that had patrolled the Western Sea. Back in the old days those ships had patrolled the trade routes from Ilandia to Widowmaker's Point, protecting the lucrative trade routes upon which Ilandia depended from the pirates that plagued the area.

Now that Ilandia was no longer a Beltharan province, though, their roles had changed somewhat. They still attacked every pirate ship they came across, but they were now just as likely to harass any Ilandian ships they encountered, particularly Ilandian warships. The King wanted to maintain a presence in the Western Sea and the Prince class ships, along with the couple of dozen lesser warships based at the Beltharan island fortress of Greyhaven in the Tew estuary, were it. A reminder that Belthar was still a power to be reckoned with and the King's stick whenever he wanted to throw his weight around. They were the main reason why the new Queen of Ilandia was busily building up her own navy, determined that this last vestige of imperial domination be sent to the bottom of the sea as soon as possible. The Western Sea belonged to Ilandia now, and Belthar had no business there. No business at all.

"Phil Strong," mused Thomas thoughtfully. "That's an Ilandian name. Wonder if he was born a countryman."

"His ancestors may have been Ilandian," replied Lirenna, "but he must be well trusted by the King to have been given command of a Prince class ship, and now the Ship of Space. Don't expect him to be overjoyed to find that you come from the land of his ancestors. He has reason to distrust Ilandians now." Thomas nodded solemnly.