Chapter three

Savours and Friends from Space

Joe and Fred watched as the beam hit the tear in reality. The flow of spent magic seemed to stop for a split second as energy was drawn from kilometres around into whoever was wielding power. With a sudden burst of magic, the screen flashed a brilliant white. Both men leaned back and blocked their eyes as if the screen would explode. They watched the sensors until all the powerful destructive magic dissipated. "Joe, zoom in on the place where the magic bomb went off and see what was left in its wake." Joe was already on it before Fred even started speaking. On the large forward vid screen, there seemed to be a small dot in a circle of total devastation just visible using long range night vision. It showed no sign of movement or signs of other magic casters, but a single heat source from a small humanoid. Looking at each other this nodded and proceeded to the airlock to prep the combat anti-gravity suits. The bulky suits took some time to charge up and run through the diagnostic cycles. With that being done they prepped for landing in a high gravity environment. "Joe that mage is going to need medical help as soon as we get there. Check for any magical talismans on the magic user and take it, we don’t need some last-minute effort of escape, before giving medical aid and taking perp into custody. So, I'll get the co-ordinance for the landing while you prep the med bay for a high gee patient". Joe just turned to Fred and nodded. They went about their tasks like a well-oiled machine. Having worked together for almost twenty years helped.

The Pirates were surprised at the display of power coming from the planet surface. They were wondering how many mages or magic users were involved in throwing so much magical power around. They had to be using some pretty impressive magical talismans to increase their magic energy that much. The magic battle went on for a long time, with almost no slowing down. They noted the imperial ship was shooting some beam into the battle. The beam must have triggered a reaction because there was a huge flash of powerful magic shortly after the shot. The pirates’ ship had poor scanning sensors, so they watched for the reaction of the imperial ship. An hour after the last blast of magic, the ship was slowly drifting down and picking up speed. The pirate captain decided to wait for the ship to return before boarding the smaller imperial ship and find out what happened, and steal what they could. It wouldn’t be the first time stealing from the Imperial Order, and it won’t be the last time. If not, they would go down and find the magical talismans themselves and take them directly after a battle like that any magic casters had to be extremely weak, with talismans or not.

Fred and Joe descended slowly with the anti-gravity set to maximum, and it still took almost one hour for the decent, because of the extreme gravity. While they drew closer, the speck in what looked to be a crater grew more recognizable. What they finally saw, was a heavyset little girl maybe 9-13 years old. Her wavy assure blue hair was fanned out all around her. From what they could see she was wearing a deeply scratched grey bodysuit covering her neck to ankle even her hands were covered. There were no talismans around her that they could see or feel. Sky was curled in a ball holding her knees to her stomach because of the intense pain. As the ship landed halfway in the crater, off to the outside in the circle of destruction, a man and woman were hesitant on crossing over the lip of the deep crater caused by the blast. Fred was wondering if the man and woman could be the child’s parents. "Joe, we’ll have to talk to the couple and see if they’re child’s parents. We should find out before we can take any action to help the girl." When the possible parents saw the spaceship, they threw caution to the wind and ran to the girl balled up on the ground. Before Fred could say any more the couple moved in a blur of motion. Around three metres (‘9-10” ft.) away from the bulky form of the girl, they hit a barrier that stopped them with a bounce. As the ship drew closer, the two frantically tried to get to their daughter before the ship could land. When the two used their fists and punched the barrier with profound frustration. They even tried to using magic that wasn’t in the magic spectrum.

Fred was tapping on Joe’s arm getting his attention and told him. "Go and suit up, it looks like I’ll need to take the magic syphon with me, you take the magic replenishment med-kit. The magic shield will have to be taken down from the outside. I don’t think it will take much to get through that shield with all the power that was used during the fight. The shield should be weak with the little power she has left”. Fred wondered if she’s the lone survivor and the other magical combatants were killed in the magical energy blast. “You will need to talk to that couple there and see if they are the parents. You know how most people react to my voice for the first time before getting to know me. Just let them know what our intentions are, that we’re here to help the girl and care about her welfare."

After the ship touched down the two men the lowered ships cargo ramp. Even before it fully opened they rushed out while assessing everything around them. They held no weapons, but special defences spells selected in their suits. Joe slowed to a walk as he rounded the nearly invisible shield towards the parents. He brought up both of his hands slightly to show no threat. Fred was slightly behind Joe carrying all the various parts of the magic syphon. Joe and Fred both found even with the suit on; it was hard to walk in the planets high gee’s. When he was about ten metres (’32-10” ft.) away he called out "Hale my friends; we mean you no harm.” They were used to people being intimated be their larger than average size, Fred’s even more so. They never even seemed threated in the least. So, Joe and Fred continued closer when they did not react to their presence. “We've come to help the girl, your daughter. Well, we assume she is your daughter and the fact she’s hurt; she may have an extreme magic burn. It's not fatal, but extremely painful and can last for days”. He pointed over to Fred, “He’s going to syphon off the magic so we can reach her. It’s the safest way to get through a magic shield without harming ourselves or the person inside.”

Fred plunged in two long metal spikes with just the suit and his powerful arms roughly four metres (13 ft.) away from the magic shield. He then attached them with thick, heavy cables to a strange box with runes etched into the surface of the sides and top after he attached an arms width apart to the shield two devices that looked like suction cups with rune symbols etched in them. Fred then attached them to the box with more thick, heavy cables. "Okay I'm ready over here, and you're going to want to get back from the magic shield when it fails.” He called out in his deep, powerful growl of a commanding voice. “It could send out a strong concussion wave a couple of metres (6-6 ft.). He walked out around five metres (16-4 ft.) and waited for the others to join him.

"It's a strange shield, and hopefully thin, so it might take only a couple of minutes for it to fall." He held up a remote in his hand and pressed the only button with a flourish, watching the cables on the shield as the magic started flowing through the cables, they started twitching along with the box. The soon cables and box started smoking with a huge amount of magical power going through the twitching device. Fred turned to the others watching, masking the fear he felt from his face. Joe’s face was not calmly looking; he almost seemed panicked. The couple still just looked worried for their daughter not knowing the possible danger they were in. "We're going to have to get a lot of further back from the shield with that kind of power in it"! Fred and Joe turned and started to run expecting the couple to follow their lead. The two either didn’t understand or didn’t care about their safety. Fred, Joe ran back and picked up the husband, wife and started to run. In the gee suits, it was hard to run fast. The couple easily broke their grasp and ran, outpacing them in a fraction of a second. The couple realized the imperial soldiers were so far back and turned back for them. They ran back, picked up Joe and Fred off the ground with little effort. With the husband and wife holding a man each they turned running with them, showing no more of a strain than carrying large balloons. Halfway across the circle just over fifty metres (‘164 ft.) Fred motioned them to stop.

"I think we can stop now; I don’t think the blast will make it this far," Fred said from the woman's back in a slightly shaking voice still somewhat composed.

The two spoke for the first time and asked almost as one "What about our daughter”? Their voices sounded both soft and deep yet still musical. “Is she going to be safe?" they said turning and dumped the two men down to look at the smoking box and cables and the now visible shield.

Fred got up brushing off some dust before speaking. "She is going to be fine; a shield always blows outwards when it fails. She won't even notice the shield dropping with the pain she's most likely in.”

Sky did look like she was in tremendous pain. The shield around her started to spark as it was converted to electricity. With a flash then a deafening clap of thunder the shield expended outwards as it dissipated. The resulting blast picked up the magic siphon and carried it at an ever-increasing speed — the spikes that were sheared off at ground level and were blown along as well. Dust was picked up in the shock wave as it picked up speed travelling away from the girl as if an instant sandstorm.

The four people had to take cover by bending over to block themselves from the blast of dust. By the time, Joe and Fred got reoriented, the couple was a blur of motion halfway to their daughter. It took them longer just to stand than it did the young couple to reach the girl's side. Their daughter didn’t move much, and she seemed in a lot of pain what she had on after a closer look resembled something made of faded and blotched metal than any fabric. It had gouges at the edges as if something tried to cut it off her. Joe found it strange that her skin and hair had no sign of injuries on them. There were no cuts scrapes or even marks of any kind on the skin of her neck or scalp from what he saw. Her mother did not seem worried about any exterior wounds on her head or body. When Fred went to pick up his magic siphon, and Joe went to help the girl. Sky's head was on her mother's lap being rocked with her mother saying everything is going to be okay. The young girls’ face had a sheen of perspiration on it causing some of her hair to stick to her face. Joe was slowly pulling out a magical medical kit from off his back as he approached the couple and their injured daughter.

“I’m Joe, and the big guy over there is Fred. May I ask your names and that of your daughter? I need to know what to call you”. Joe said trying to be as polite as possible. There was a foul smell in the air, something like rotten eggs he tried not to let it show on his face. He had a feeling there was more than meets the eye with these three. Just the fact the way he and Fred were carried in armoured gee suits by the two was enough to put him on edge. Living in high gravity makes you strong in low gravity, not the other way around. In the gee suit, he weighed over two hundred and fifty Kilograms (562 lb.) The other thing was not one was a registered magic user of any kind on the planet. They could use magic regardless of how weak the magic they were using. Magic users were not allowed on the planet except by invitation by the planets overseers. To date, none were given for twenty years. So, they had to be on the planet illegally under false pretence.

The woman looked to Joe, slightly nodding her head, “My name is, Rocssanna Knight, and this is my husband, William Knight.” She said in a voice that was soft and had a musical purr to it. She brushed some hair out of her daughter’s eyes and face. “This is our daughter Sky Knight; she’s our pride and joy.” Rocssanna kept Sky’s head cradled in her lap.

Joe opened his medical kit and brought out a magical tome for replenishing magic. “I’m going to have to place this completely on her skin. It has to make full contact, or it could burn her.” Joe was hoping Rocssanna would remove the top or at least pull it up enough to expose her abdomen. Joe never saw anything like the strange outfit Sky wore “If you could expose her abdomen, it should be sufficient.” Joe had no idea how the seamless garment would come apart. William pulled out a strange tool that looked like a hook knife and handed it to Rocssanna. She took it and brought it across Sky’s sternum. The fabric just parted as if a bond was broken, separating the fabric revealing a second layer of the same fabric. The first piece of fabric that was removed seemed more like metal than cloth. The piece of fabric made a thump and kicked up dust when she placed it down.

Joe being curious he went to feel the odd-looking piece of cloth, Rocssanna gave Joe a glare in warning as if to say don’t you dare? The second layer was not discoloured and still parted like the first layer and was thicker by far. As it parted a foul-smelling yellow liquid poured out from the separating cloth. When it dripped onto Rocssanna’s clothing, it started to smoke, and the stench grew considerably. Rocssanna blushed and drained the suit away from her body. She said something under her breath. “what have you gotten into this time, my little angel”? She moved a little from that spot and continued with removing the piece of fabric. She continued to make a rectangle exposing the smooth skin of Sky’s abdomen. The inside of the fabric was also discoloured even more so than the outer layer. With the two pieces removed Sky’s chest, abdomen, rose and fell with every tortured breath. The black paper tome Joe had pulled out from the medical kit. He held the tome over Sky’s abdomen and placed it on her gently, what Joe saw was unblemished skin, what he felt was something warm and solid even though the suit's gloves, he smoothed out the tome against her skin. He drew a symbol on the tome to release the power in it. The runes on the tome faded to nothing with no effect. Joe puzzled pulled it off and placed another this time after drawn the symbol he left three fingers on the tome. He could feel the magic being sucked from the tome and a little from his fingers through the paper. Sky showed no sign of change in her condition. “Rocssanna was, Sky being taught any magic, or holding a magical talisman for protection; her magic well shouldn’t be this deep. She should have had a kind of reaction for a new or untrained mage. Only with years of practice does a magic user’ well get deeper. In this star system, there is very little naturally occurring magic to draw on, and Bella Grande has next to none.

Rocssanna put her head down when she spoke her voice was slow and trembling. “That’s why we’re here; she has a very, very deep well to start with. We were sent here to prevent any magical build up; it should have taken hundreds of years to absorb naturally enough occurring magic to fill it and manifest any magical pressure release. The clothes Sky’s wearing also slows magical absorption and among other things”. Joe couldn’t believe what he heard, but he didn’t let it faze him long. Going into the magical kit, he pulled out a sealed red pouch and tore it open with care not to damage the tome inside, as he placed it on her. He took extra care on smoothing it out, to ensure full contact before releasing the seal. It did just as the others faded with no effect on Sky. There were only two of the red tomes in the kit. Joe has had magic burn before, and it was up to his knee. The whole time it felt like someone was burning him with a torch. He couldn’t stand the sight of this small child in so much pain. With little hesitation, he opened the second red tome and placed it on the girl and released the seal. Sky’s eyes fluttered open briefly was the only sign of anything different. Joe was at a loss of what to do. Joe started to speak to himself as much as anyone around him to hear. “There was enough magic in those seals to fully charge an archmage let alone aid a mage with power burn. If this next trick doesn’t bring her magic level up enough, we’ll have to bring her on the ship”. He told the two worried parents and let Fred know what he was thinking of doing. Joe took out six orange tomes from the medical kit. As he placed them on her, he drew on the tomes with each tome the symbols that seemed to carry on from one to the next. When he put the last one on, he made sure they were laid flat to her skin. He slowly finished the last symbol and quickly pulled his hands back.

Sky shook slightly, and her eyes fluttered open. She started to speak in a small voice. “Mommy I feel like I burn all over and I’m really hungry.“ She looked like She tried to move but couldn’t. “Mommy I’m too tired to move my arms and legs can you or daddy carry me home.” Sky’s head slowly nodded down only to jerk back up. “After I shower and eat I’ll tell you about all of the big spiders I pushed and squished. They sprayed me with stinky stuff and my clothes melted, and I feel dirty all over. I also made a whole lot of big sparks too. But not right now, I feel like I’m burning all over and too tired to do anything.” In an even smaller voice, she said. “Sorry about the bodysuit getting scratched up, it was the big, mean, ugly spiders that did it” With that said Sky’s eyes closed and passed out.

Joe couldn’t believe his eyes, this tiny little girl just absorbed, no! Sucked up enough magic to level a large city to the ground and still felt burned. Joe put his hand on Williams' shoulder. He felt almost as solid as his daughter’s abdomen. “It’s best if we get her to the ship where we can give her enough magic, instead of this patchwork. We have electric power to magic converter onboard”. Joe looked to Rocssanna and William as if to ask for permission. Fred just arrived with what was left of the shield syphon, cables, and ground spikes. What Fred was carrying was not close to what he brought with him. “It’s a total loss, and we just received the new model at the time we got our provisions before this mission.” Fred looked defeated as he spoke. He was thinking about asking. How’s our young patient doing, when he saw the worried look on everyone’s faces. He didn’t put a voice to his thoughts

Joe gestured to the couple to make their way to the ship. Rocssanna and William proceeded to the ship hesitantly with the wife picking up and carrying her daughter being extra careful with her long mane of hair. Rocssanna holding Sky to her chest forgot the two pieces of the strange cloth which Joe did not hesitate to pick up casually. When he snagged the cloth, he realized two things, their heavyweight, and the rigidness of what he thought was fabric. He was right; they were more like two sheets of thick plate metal. Joe was wondering how a little girl could move encased in such an outfit. Looking closer at the scratch across the top layer he marvelled at what could have done it if he could barely bend a piece wearing a powered gee-suit. It looked like she was breathing just fine with it on, maybe it was a type of armour. She would probably move like a robot with slow, jerky motions. The poor girl having to wear armour like this he was holding in his hands was unthinkable. Was she being attacked that frequently to warrant her taking such extreme precautions? He now had even more questions to ask the Knights once the girl was over her magic burn. Right now, her wellbeing was a top priority on his list.

Once near the ship, Fred gestured to the ship. “Welcome aboard our fine ship Little Tooth.” Fred led the way onto the ship, and Joe followed their guest in the rear, checking for hostiles as they went up the ramp. Fred was putting the now useless magic siphon in a bin as he pointed to the medical bay to his right. “You can put her on the first examination table you see.” He could see the look of puzzlement on their guest faces. “The magic used in building this ship allows us to have space a lot bigger inside than the outside would appear. Joe should be in shortly after he signs you guys in as a guest of ours”.

Fred left the ship to use a quick-sensing spell of the area to check for other combatants nearby. It didn’t take much time to check the surroundings with the special military incantations. It only took one casting in the four directions, north, east, south, west. Each scan came back with no one around for almost 15 km (9.3 miles). There weren’t any magical signs in the closest people either. It looked like all the other people in the battle were vaporized with the last detonation. He was going to ask Sky just how many people were fighting along with her. It was strange that she was the only one left. Another odd thing was all the damage centred around her and where she was found. Fred just shook his head and re-entered the spaceship. He was going to ask her after she was treated and felt better.

Inside the Little Tooth, Rocssanna placed Sky on a comfortable metal bed and noticed the pieces of clothes missing. In a hushed tone, Rocssy spoke to Willy. “Sky said she was fighting big spiders and didn’t mention anything else. What kind of spider can do damage like that on the micro-chainmail suit she’s wearing”. She gestured to the damaged suits around her collar and a few deep scratches down the back. “Look at the gouges in the back of her suit there’re very deep. She said it was spiders that caused the damage. She said the spider sprayed her with something but how did it get into her suit? Her outerwear is completely gone, and the suit had been discoloured by some acid. I would have thought it was one or two of those Centa-raptor monsters that tried to eat her.”. Thinking of something, Rocssanna looked again to her daughters’ front and realized what she forgot. “I forgot the two pieces of Sky’s suppression suit and that Joe guy was itching to get his hands on them. I bet right now he is taking them to a lab and is going to try and lock us in here. I said way too much back there, didn’t I Willy”?

William just shook his head. “You still are saying too much, there are no magic lessening spells, but there are most likely hidden listening devices around is my guess.” He said giving the room a quick inspection before turning back to Rocssanna. “Don’t worry though, I've got a good feeling about Fred and Joe, that they will keep this between us. When they both seen Sky on the ground, you could see the pained paternal expressions on their faces. They wanted to do whatever they could to help her. If we ask for them to keep some things off the records, I’m sure they will. Sky’s secrets are going to be safe with them to a point. That is if she continues to pose no threat to any one’s life or safety. If they ask you any questions, try to be truthful”. William stops speaking as Joe entered the room holding the two pieces of micro-chainmail from Sky’s suit. His nose wrinkled at the smell coming from Sky. “You can rinse her off in the decontamination shower in the back,” Joe said gesturing to a small door towards the back to the med-bay. “Our A.I says the stuff will become inert with the water from the shower.” He handed the two pieces to Rocssanna. “I take it she’ll need these pieces of amour replaced after we finish her treatment and she’s better. Fred and I will have a few questions to ask once Sky’s treatment starts its cycle. Like what kind of spider can do damage like this to something as strong and tough as this metal plate armour”? Joe walked over to Rocssanna and gave her what he thought were two slabs of metal with one twice as thick as the other. When she took the heavy slabs, she gave no more indication of weight than two pieces of paper. “I’ll be back in a few minutes I don’t want her suffering any longer than necessary.” He said and left the room. Rocssanna carried the unconscious Sky into the small shower room and cut open the suit off and turned the hot water on and rinsed off the foul-smelling fluid from her and the suits. That’s when she noticed the long thin fangs sticking out from behind her back. Four various sized hollow tubes came out from between her back and suit. Now she knew how the stuff got into her suit. After the smell was washed away, she pulled the suit back together, and Sky gave a slight smile even while unconscious. Joe came in just as Rocssanna sat down holding Sky. He was talking he walked over to a metal cabinet and couldn’t quite grab the handle in the gee-suit. “Would you guys mind if we perform this in gravity closer to our own so Fred and I can take the suits off. I would be more efficient, and all the things in here are authorized to Fred and myself so you couldn’t help open anything or activate any devices without any changes.”

Rocssanna looked to William “Willy, and I don’t mind, but Sky has never been in anyplace with light gee-forces before. Plus, that’s not protective armour she’s wearing. It’s her strength suppression suits that are made from a special micro-chainmail were about to be upgraded tomorrow, again. If you think we’re strong, there is something to do with the mag”. Rocssanna cut her sentence short looking to Sky. It’s her abilities that makes her at least two or three times our strength and being just nine-years-old and still growing; she will more likely be getting stronger constantly. If you drop the gravity in this ship even with the suppression suits on, her walking could dent the floor plating and send her bouncing around and causing damage to everything she touches”. Rocssanna said stroking Sky damp hair with a towel she found in the shower. “Unless you have something like a charm to suppress her strength. Please make do with what you have. I could help open the doors and drawers you have to be close enough to key them open".

Joe looked to the girl on that table with his jaw dropped. “You mean this young girl is that strong”? He said then thinking to himself this young girl must be a true powerhouse of raw muscle. The strength in a body her size is supernova. As far as he knew Titans were the strongest race, but they were super tall, Joe thought. “Okay, we’ll try it out with opening the drawers of the cabinet once they are open I can get the cables and start the machines and get your daughter fixed up.“ With Rocssanna’s help, Joe opened the drawers after laying Sky down. They then started to prep for the treatment when he had the wires hooked up to the console. He went to Sky and attached two large sticky pads to her abdomen and tried to shake her awake gently. Sky and her clothing didn’t move, and she rocked when he shook her, yet she still stirred to semi-awareness. “Sky I am going to start feeding you magic let me know when the burning feeling stops. I’m going to start slow and slowly go up if you don’t feel any change”.

Sky nodded her head to let him know she understood. Her eyes half closed were filled with pain. “But I’m kind of hungry, can I have something to eat while you’re treating me? I get very hungry when I push sometimes, and I pushed a whole lot today. I even made a bubble too; I’ve never made a bubble before. So, can I please eat while you give me the treatment, please”? Her voice was so soft and sweet, and Joe could not deny this little angel anything she asked for.

“Of course, you can see sweetie, what would you like to eat”? Joe said to the tiny girl.

Sky looked at her mommy and asked her. “Mommy, can I have some soft rock nuts, the roasted kind not the mushy uncooked ones”?

Rocssy smiled “Dear, everything to you is mushy, except for the baked rock nuts. No else, but you, your father and I can eat them raw, and only you would want to eat them baked. But for you, I always have some, just for you. I have some in my pocket right now”. Rocssy told her and reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like two small eggs shaped stones. They had a roasted smell and made a clacking sound as they knocked together. Sky took one and popped it in her mouth. Without her biting, down on the nut, you could hear it being crushed in her mouth. It sounded like rocks under a crusher being ground down.

Sky mumbled enjoying herself. “Mommy so good so soft and creamy. Not mushy at all, just right to squish with your tongue”. The second rock nut followed the first in seconds. “Could I have another one, please? I think it’s helping with the burning feeling some”. Little did everyone knows Sky was adapting to the pain. Joe hadn’t even started the treatment, but he took it as a queue to start. He turned it on the lowest setting; He watched to see if there was a reaction, nothing, he got up to five before she even took notice and looked up. “It tingles a bit, kinda like humming and water running onto my tummy. What does it suppose to do to for me, is it going to stop the burning feeling?”

Joe looked to the girl turned it up to seven. “We are feeding you magic energy through the skin of your tummy. The burning was caused by using too much magic uncontrolled and too quickly, with no training. Raw magical energy was pouring out of you from all over your body with no control; it’s a wonder how you kept it up for so long”.

Sky put her hands to her face and giggled. “Silly there’s no such thing as magic, mommy and daddy said so. The only thing I know how to do is push and sometimes big sparks, but that is using ESP. Not Magic! I wasn’t about to stop fighting the spiders until they stopped or I dropped’. It’s better to have a little burning feeling than being covered by those big ugly stinky spiders”.

Joe looked to Sky’s parents with a questioning gaze. “I think we need a long talk about something and before we go into discussions of what magic is or isn’t. For now, young Lady how are you feeling? Does your body still feel like its burning”? Joe said as he checked the connection to her abdomen. He could see her skin and muscle; it looked like his own if not a shade lighter. But it felt like living rock it had no give to under his touch — her flesh just like a marble, a very smooth marble. He couldn’t get over the thought of how she was even able to move. Not only was that but a kind of plate metal also covered her. “Rocssanna can I test something on you? Could I feel one of your arms to feel if there is give to your skin?”

Rocssy replied with no delay “No but you can squeeze one of Williams' arms if you want, he used to like to show off before Sky was born.”

William just looked at his wife and gave her a big smile. “I might have pipes of iron, but you have buns of steel. The sky is a little here is different she’s living marble. Her skin is smooth to the touch with no give to anyone but us and herself.”

“Daddy I’m right here, and I can speak for myself, once the burning is gone.” As she spoke the pain was easier to ignore, and she babbled on. “It’s just too distracting to talk a lot when it feels like my body’s burning; I guess this is what having burns feels like. The nuts seemed to help, but these wires aren’t doing much for the burning sensations. It’s like sprinkles of water on a big fire, but it’s not helping at all. I think some real food or more nuts would work better. I can barely feel the energy going through the wires”.

Fred came in just as Sky had finished speaking. “Excuse me, folks, Joe can I see you for a bit, it’s important, and I don’t think it can wait?”

“Okay, Fred I’ll be right there in two seconds. Mr. and Mrs. Knight, I’ll be back in a bit. If Sky’s burning, the feeling goes away turn this dials to zero. Don’t take off the wires. I’ll need those to do a simple test to see how deep her well is.” He quickly followed Fred out of the room towards the bow of the ship.

Fred walked away down the corridor before turning to Joe. “I don’t think I need to ask Sky if anyone else was in the fight. From the sensor readings the power was coming from one person” Fred told Joe his conclusion. But there was the dilemma of the two Ships in orbit. “Joe, I was checking for how much-discharged magic was in the area after the battle. With the exception of the shield falling there was none; the hole sucked it all up. That’s not it; there are at least two other ships in orbit around this planet, the one known pirate ship cloaked we were going to take down after the mission. The other is a different kind of ship. That one is just out of our phase in space and time. That’s the one I think took all the spent magic that should have been off the charts. There is something big about to happen if we don’t do anything to stop it”. Fred grabbed Joe’s shoulders to look him in the eyes. “I can feel it for real! This is big on an epic scale, and it’s all centred on that little girl “.

Joe looked startled; Fred gets a feeling of premonitions of the future and how things are going to happen. If Fred says jump, you say where to, without questions? “So, what now Fred, how do we proceed”? Joe was going numb thinking about what Fred said and the questions he’s going to ask the Knights.

“Joe since I’ve been near Sky, while outside of her shield and even while that you treated her magic burn with the tomes. Sky’s magic has gone into overdrive; she’s producing magical energy faster than we can and is still able to suck up everything we’ve got. She’s must have magic well larger than you, and I combined from what I can feel with my senses. Her being hooked up to the magic converter is like filling a pool with an eye dropper. The best we can do is to stop filling in the ocean with beach sand and heal her burn directly. Give her some dinner and take her and her parents with us when we leave. I don’t know who sent them here, but with that type of magic, they can’t stay here. She will need training with what is going to happen to her likely”. Fred never looked as agitated before to Joe’s knowledge. Fred rubbed his hand over his close-cropped hair. “Some unknown entity is harvesting her spent magic. Some beings can feed on spent magic, and she’s the whole buffet just herself”. Fred looked at Joe shook his shoulders. “You know me this is real. We’ve got to take them with us, or a whole lot of horrible things could and are going to happen to them and everyone!” Joe was going pale; he was given a large pill to swallow and an even bigger pill to give to the Knights’. While you’re at it is there something you can do about her insane strength she can’t go through life like a metal encased sausage”?

Joe gave it a thought going through all the spells and incantations he knew from memory. His face brightened up. “Yes, there is, I know the perfect incantation for her.”

Joe and Fred walked back to the med-lab to talk to their guests. Joe entered the room first followed by Fred. Joe was the first to engage in conversation. “How’s our little patient doing? You feel the burn still eh? I can tell you what Fred told me. The big guy is not much for words, at least not until you get to know him. His voice is kind of scary to some people. They think he’s angry, but it’s just the way his voice is. His voice matches his size, and he’s not a small man. One of his gifts lets him know a whole lot about things that are going to happen”. Fred nodded his head with a shy grin for such a large man. He looked kind of embarrassed because of his rare talent. Sometimes he sees things other people would rather him not see, so he does not mention them, but he still saw what he saw. “I bet you didn’t know he is the Captain of the ship. You know what else he’s going to make your dinner or bring your dinner here”. He looked to Sky then at Fred, who nodded. Joe walked over to a vid screen and made a jester over it and some rune symbols a spell forms came up. “Sky how would you like to walk around without your suppression suit on? I can make it happen with real magic. Once I cure you of your magic burn before I suppress your strength. Before I cast any spells, I need your parent’s permission first to use magic on you. Fred told me you should have been healed by the first magic tome, but the fact you are untrained almost all the magic just went into your vast well”.

“Mr. Joe you’re talking silly still. You talk an awful lot about magic when there’s no such thing as magic. You’re both big grown men, and you both still believe in magic”. Sky was getting used to the pain she’s felt from the magic burn and stopped letting it bother her. “Do you read too many fantasy books like me, and pretend that magic is real.“ Sky said grinning at Joe and Fred, thinking they must have liked to make belief too. Sky was thinking she’ll go along with pretending magic is real. It might be fun to believe her E.S.P was magic for a while. “I’ll play along with you guys, that magic is real, it should be really fun. I don't think much less of you either since you’ll play with me”. Sky was happy; she liked to play make-believe and to imagine magic existed. Too bad the book she had and magic evaporated along with everything else she was carrying. Maybe I could ask if they have some magic fantasy books later after this burning feeling goes away.

Rocssanna looked to William, who just nodded. “William and I have what seems to be a lot of questions to answer.” She gave Sky a sideways glance and a wink. “It looks like Sky has some of her questions for you men also.”

Sky looked to her mommy a little embarrassed by being read so easily. How did she know that she wanted to ask some questions? “Mommy are you trying to embarrass me; it’s not working very well.”

“Good, Mr. and Mrs. Knight right now all I want is permission to help heal your daughter and use a suppression spell on her strength, so we can all get comfortable? So, what is it going to be, Sky is going to have to learn magic is real, and it’s everywhere? Plus, Sky is going to have to learn to use her magic, at some point in her life to control her natural abilities.” Joe said and turned to Sky. “On the magic scale, Sky’s power level must be off the chart. I’ve never seen anybody use any way near the quantity of magic she used even while holding a talisman”.

Fred motioned to William to speak to him away from Sky. “You know this is a magic restricted planet. Our mission was to find out if there were any mages on this planet illegally and escort them off, with heavy fines and possible incarceration. I don’t know why or how you and your family got here, but you can’t stay”.

“Fred, I assure you we came to this planet with the best intentions and were on this planet legally. Our situation allowed us to be here provided we did not display any magic or cause any problems to the people on it”. William paused before speaking again. “My daughter’s magical outbursts were unintentional and very uncontrollable. She was never taught anything of magic and manifested her abilities on her own”.

Fred looked down into Williams' eyes, and their gazes met. He was surprised at the shorter man holding eye contact without even the slightest flinch. Fred was the one to feel uncomfortable by the unseen power this man held. After all, he did pick up and ran with a man in combat armour as if a bag of air. He started to speak to the man with the utmost care. “Mr. Knight, we would like you to come with us and find yourself another place of residents. Bella Grande is not a place you can stay any longer. You just admitted you broke your agreement and now in violations of your conditions to stay here. Will you and your family come willingly with us to relocate”? Fred asked with as much conviction as he could muster.

William saw the apprehension in Fred’s eyes and decided to have a little fun teasing him. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave anytime soon. My beautiful wife and I have jobs; my little angel has school to finish. You can’t expect us to leave at the drop of a hat. My daughter caused Bella Grande a little damage in self-defence. Surely, you’re not going to hold it against her, are you”? William told Fred

Fred could have sworn William was getting taller as he spoke. “I’m sure you have your reasons to stay. But I have my orders to remove all magic users from this planet. I asked nicely, and I don’t want to use force”. Fred was not going to let this man who looked younger than himself get the upper hand regardless of how strong he and his wife is.

Rocssanna interrupted William in mind speech. “Willy, don’t give the man a hard time. He’s just doing his job. You had your fun just let him know we’ll come along. You’ll have plenty of chances to tease him later if you wish. The piecework we took let us live with no real commitments. We both know this day would come when we would have to leave at the drop of a hat. Let him know we’re going to come and we’ll tell Sky together”. Rocssanna paused. “You're going to have to go for dinner, and you might want to save the trip and bring the house too.”

Mrs. Knight gave Joe the answered his questions. “You can cast the healing and suppression spell while Willy goes and gets our dinner from our house and a few things. After today I don’t think we’ll be welcome here any longer. So, William running around all out is not going to be a problem now. After tonight’s magical display on a planet that is against magic, who could blame them. Plus, that was a big part of an ancient forest she evaporated”. Rocssanna gave Sky a sideways glance and a wink. The gesture was to let her know it was not her fault and she wasn’t in trouble for it. After quickly reassuring her daughter she was not going to be punished; he turned back to Joe and asked. “So, Joe if you don’t mind me asking, what is your magical powers level as a mage.”

Joe thought about the question for a moment, thinking about the last mage assessment. “I think it was around level three on the last test, and I had a water elemental affinity and was taught the lightning affinity. I don’t think it’s gone up since then. I’m pretty much maxed out at three without a whole lot a practice or a strong magical talisman”.

William, now up and walking toward the loading ramp started to look for the controls to lower the ramp. “Fred, I don’t want you to think you intimidated me into coming with you, but you’re right. We must leave anyway, and you’re here and offering us a free ride right. So, no time like the present and the nights not getting any younger”. William said with a smile reached up and put a hand on his shoulder in a friendly gesture. It looked awkward because of the size difference, yet it was still well received. “Fred, could you lower the ramp for me I’ve got to go get the house and get a few things from inside if we are going to leave with you guys. I’ll bring dinner as well since it’s already cooked on the table “. Williams said with a smile.

He walked over to a control box and pressed his thumb to it and the ramp lowered. “There you go big guy, I’ll leave it down for you till you get back.” It still surprised him that William didn’t even flinch when he spoke to him. He’s made people soil themselves when talking to them without even trying, much. His voice and size didn’t intimidate him, even with the light combat armour on.

William smiled knowing the big cream puff was trying to intimidate him slightly without being obvious. It just made him laugh inside. He already liked this little guy. With a quick wave, William said. “Be back soon!” In a sudden movement, he blurred from sight down the now lowered ramp.

Fred didn’t know what to make of the small family of extraordinary beings. He was thinking of more and more questions for them when they finally get a chance to relax and talk.

Joe keyed in the incantation to fix Sky up. He wouldn’t have to say much, just a few words to activate the spells on the screen. Joe spoke to Sky and Rocssanna before the first spell took effect. “This incantation is to heal the burning feeling in your body. Normally when you replenish some of the magic you used, a trained magic users body usually brings the burning feeling down on its own. In your case, not being trained in magic we must heal you with a spell.

He spoke a few words to focus his magic incantation. A ripple of magic swept through Sky, followed by the wash of spent magic out into the room. Sky felt the burning pain retreat the opposite way it came. It starts from the top of her head then her shoulders down along her arms to her fingertips, and down her torso down to her feet after the pain was gone no more burning feeling, not even a little discomfort.

“Mommy it doesn’t burn anymore. It feels so good not to have that annoying burning feeling anymore”. Sky didn’t realize another eight or so hours it would have been completely ignorable. “The only thing I feel is hungry and a tiny bit of embarrassment because my cute little belly is showing.” The last she said with a cute smile, she was just used to having her entire body encased in the suppression suits. Sky wouldn’t say it out loud, but she liked the feeling of her bare skin exposed and wouldn’t mind a little more. Sky looked at the console Joe used and frowned. “How come you call it magic and you use a computer and not a wand or a magic staff”?

Joe laughed at himself. He didn’t know why her parents let her be so ignorant about magic when they, themselves knew some. “To use magic in the not too distant past, you had to write out and speak every part of the spell for it to work. The wands or staffs were mostly to focus the magic or to increase the power to the spell. The new way to use simple spells you need to key in effects your spell will take on a M.A.D (Magic Aid Device), speak a few words to power it or in a few cases hit enter. With magic being so much easier these days; there are more magic users than non-magic users. There are reasons in the stories all the people who used magic were old. They liked to horde their power and didn’t share it freely. There was always a lot of reading studying and remembering spells and incantations. No mage or then called wizards wanted to teach a person who was too young and inexperienced in life. For one to teach you, they had to be able to sense your magical energy. Now it is so much easier if you have even the slightest gift for magic, that is after you learn your keywords and all the names of incantations you can do by heart, and have a portable M.A.D a tablet with the latest magical software. Just about any person or being can use magic”.

Sky’ eyes lit up and her youthful face shown with delight. “Can you teach anyone magic at any age”?

Joe thought of the question and thought to himself. If this little girl were his, she would have already started magic school years ago, “that would be up to your Mom and Dad to decide if you’re to learn the arcane arts.” Joe said giving Rocssanna a questioning glance. Rocssanna’s expression didn’t change giving Joe any answer. “I think there are only a few races of beings who have no magic in them. Titans are one of them, imagine a race of beings over sixty metres (‘196 feet) tall being able to use magic. Super big and able to use magic, they would have won the war for sure”.

Before we remove the conversion wires I would like to test your ability to hold magic, it’s called your magic well. Joe was watching her draw circles around her belly button easily depressing her skin as he would his own, but knowing he couldn’t even put the slightest dent in her flesh while putting on the tomes, even in the powered gee suit. It was just simply amazing. “Sky you will feel something like a tiny tap deep inside of you for the test to start. Here we go “. Joe said as he tapped a key on the console and frowned after a second. He checked the connection to Sky and tried again. He tapped the button once again, and it beeped on the screen. With a sigh, he said. “It must have been a bad connection; we measure a person’s magic well by the millisecond by the sounds of it your magic well is quite impressive.“ Joe was reaching to take off the wires when there was another bleep sound from the console. The console was showing two test results both were in the triple digits and the second one was minutely greater. He did not know what to make of it and decided to recalibrate it another time. So, on to Sky’s suppression spell. He finished pulling off the cables connecting Sky to the console and them to the side and not away.

“Sky the next spell is going to allow you to wear just regular clothes. Your suits can be replaced with magic, and the spell can be modified as needed with no uncomfortable adjustment period”. He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder already seeing her as a daughter. “You’re going to love the freedom of movement and overall feel of not being encased like a sausage.” Joe started to activate the incantation forgetting she won’t be able to move with the suit on after it was cast. Sky’s body shimmered as the first magic pulse passed over her. Sky stiffened as the pulses of magic washed through her body. It just became apparent to him that she wasn’t going to be able to move until the two suits were removed. Joe was going to say so as Sky seemed to struggle to move. “You’re not going to be,” Joe stopped in mid-sentence as Sky sat up and flexed her arms as if the spell did nothing. Joe was dizzy with the thoughts going through his head. It was something he could not wrap his mind around. It was just not possible for her to move, even a tiny bit, with even extreme effort’ yet, here she was moving with no effort at all. The most prominent question on Joe’s tongue was who these people are?? He was in shock in how she moved; he thought she would have moved like a sluggish robot before if at all. The incantation should have taken away all her strength and made her like an ordinary human girl. For her to move now, her strength would have had double it was before. Now she was jumping around higher than most people could unless you’re trying to set some record.