He knocked on the hatch sharply, and then stuck his head in. “This is the C aptain’s office,” the spacer announced.
With those runes a Mage like Damien could jump her up to a light year in an instant. She was a wondrous technological creation capable of accelerating at several gravities while carrying up to twelve million tons of fuel and cargo, but it was the silver runes inscribed throughout the interior of her hull that made her a starship. The container ship consisted of a central steady state keel with the boarding pod at one end and the engines at the other, around which four ‘outer ribs’ rotated to give the living and working spaces with a semblance of gravity.
The last was why he was aboard the Gentle Rains of Summer. A member of one of those Orders would also recognize the symbols on it marking him as having completed a degree in Practical Thaumaturgy as well as being a fully qualified Jump Mage. The medallion announced to all who saw it that Damien Montgomery had the Gift and was recognized by the Royal Orders and Guilds of the Protectorate of Humanity as a Mage. He settled onto his feet with a carefully concealed sigh of relief, straightening out his clothes and unconsciously checking on the gold medallion settled into the hollow of his throat. If necessary, he was able to control his own motion even in zero-gravity, but Mages learned quickly that blatant, unnecessary use of magic didn’t make friends.ĭamien was shorter and lighter than the spacer, though, so he was slower and more careful with the handholds until they reached far enough out on the rotating outer keel for the pseudo-gravity to kick in. He watched the spacer move from handhold to handhold up the ladder to the outer keel, and carefully followed suit. “That will be fine,” Damien told the man. “We’re only under about a tenth-gee, so watch your step.” “Our outer ribs are on a low rotation right now as some of our thrusters are under repair,” the crewman warned Damien as he moved towards one of the doors on the outer walls of the main keel. He checked the personal computer wrapped around his left arm as discreetly as he could, making sure he was on time for his job interview with the Captain. Behind him, a short metal boarding tube linked the central hub of the massive rotating rings of Sherwood Prime to the keel of the container ship Gentle Rains of Summer. If you’ll follow me, please?”ĭamien nodded as he carefully maneuvered himself through the zero-gravity boarding area. “Captain Michaels is waiting in his office. “Welcome aboard, Mage Montgomery,” the spacer waiting just inside the starship told him.