The volume was set to a reasonable level, and the Here’s master control was gating the Right’s input to all three hulls.

“First monosource shipwide audio check,” Justin’s excited voice called out, “in 3! 2! 1!”

Justin had semi-specified – in the limited space available to describe his Transform selection – a ship’s sound system as comparable in quality to a modern Earth cruiser’s as possible, secondary to remaining compatible with cutting-edge Eternian transmission and data systems. Which were then sub-ranked by reliability, repairability, upgradeability, and durability, in that order, and most importantly of all, capable of reproducibly storing every bit of data he brought with him.

He might have lost all the uplift data that wasn’t in his head – the retention of the latter which his self-check upon exposure to Sunwood’s qualities had shown earlier – but he was far from disappointed.

The troops detailed to assist had to run back and forth between Right and Here, and later Chloe a few times to get it all worked out, but after ten minutes or so the system was up and running. And Justin could not be happier about it, particularly the storage.

The security areas had dedicated comm rooms with high-security cabinet racks holding hundreds of bank-style jade slips, under consoles with multiple jade plates on top like the one Taiko had used to take Justin’s bank deposit. One of which, in each hull’s comm room, that had a slot in its side matching the USB-C connectors for flash microdrive dongles. Like the ones his Upcoat used for zipper pulls over its internal and external pockets. One at each zipper’s end, of course, because who knew when you might want to open a pocket from the other side? It could happen.

“Nyaahahahahaaa!” Justin cackled, this time in the triumph he’d denied himself in the Lab, as the plate’s readout confirmed the download of Down To The Bone’s Gotta Get Back To You onto the jade slip, and started on Cafe Music BGM’s jazz cover of A Town With An Ocean View. He stepped back and bopped out a few neoswing steps in celebration. The two troops on duty watched him, looking bemused, over some other emotion he couldn’t identify.

Let’s see, he thought, tabbing back into the Complete Discography list on his Gram-tek Hardpad 9001. Should pick a song for testing I’ll want to use for concocting too. . .Tuff Enuff? Maybe; star it. . .what else. . .speed is important. . .strength. . .general enhancement? Songs about being, mmm, better?

Nothing was coming to mind so he started typing ‘better’ into the search window. By the time he reached the second ‘t’, the autocomplete gave him the answer.

Yeah, that’s. . .that’s perfect. It’s even on the pad’s drive already. Back to the lab, Igor!

 

# # #

 

Ougo met and stopped him in the hallway outside.

“At Kokyu Taiko’s direction, two pallets each of your nine raw seed varietals have been staged for transport, Prominence,” the Captain said. “He, Master Pei, and I need your decision on their destination once the Kokyu has briefed you on the options. Master Pei has halted our movement until then, also to reduce disturbances to the Lab. Lead Norodo and all six of my other Alchemically experienced troops are working there -”

Down the hallway behind him, Niri, the Senior from the initial security quarters exploration, turned a corner, muttering to her companion, “- you boys just don’t understand -” and stopped in place, paling, as she saw Justin past her Captain.

“Prominence. Captain.” she said, straightening up in rigidity.

“Carry on, you two,” Ougo said, without looking over his shoulder.

“Don’t understand what, Senior Niri?” Justin asked. Ougo gave him a resigned must you? look and said, “Hold there. Answer the client, Senior.”

“You’re – not a,” she nervously licked her lip, “pervert, right, Sir?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Justin said. “Why would you – wait, is this about the – dammit – lavatory spray bowls – in the washrooms?”

“Yes, sir,” Niri said.

“Good god, no,” Justin said, shocked into using the g-word, which he’d been deliberately avoiding out of respect for Sol’s time and attention. After a moment’s thought, however, he could sort-of-kind-of understand how some of the troops might think that. “No, I just like being clean and, and healthy! They’re not for – prurient – use!”

Note to self: check on ship’s boiler fuel; probably Sunwood, cut for the most likely repair needs? I would have.

Niri gave her companion a see? told you look that was less than a glare, but more than a chiding.

“Anything else?” Justin asked. “Oh, one thing about them; best practice is not to use them for, er, internal feminine cleansing, if you take my meaning?”

“Yes, I mean, uh, no, sir;” Niri said, blushing. “Uh, with your permission, Prominence, Captain?”

Justin quickly nodded at Ougo, who said, “Next duties, troops.”

“Senior Niri?” one of the troops in the comm room called. “We’ve got a question?”

“Coming, Jaro,” she said, advancing down the hall, her abashed junior trailing behind her.

Justin and Ougo had almost reached the same corner when she popped out again. “Prominence?” she said.

“Yes?” Justin replied, stopping and turning to look. Ougo’s jaw tensed, then relaxed.

“I, uh, I mean, uh, we, that is. . . .”

“Say it or swallow it, Niri!” Ougo barked.

“Couldyouteachussomedancemovessometime?” Niri said in a breathless rush. Ougo’s jaw tensed, and this time stayed that way.

Justin laughed. Haha! That came out of nowhere, he thought. “With the Captain’s permission, sure. I’ll add it to my schedule. Might not be for a few days, but yes, I’d like that too.”

“Thank you / Many thanks, Prominence!” Niri said, in chorus with the unseen troops in the comm room.

Ougo accompanied Justin farther up the corridor towards the doors. When Justin felt they were far enough out of earshot, he slowed and leaned in closer to Ougo’s shoulder.

“I know; I’m horribly prejudicial to discipline,” he said quietly, “and I agree that’s a bad thing, without qualification. Please believe me, Captain; I don’t have any idealistic delusions about ‘liberating’ or ‘improving’ your troops. I recognize that discipline is essential not only to their duty but their honor. And I’m not about to claim that being ‘right’ about contradicting your orders by questioning Niri justifies my doing so, either.”

Ougo stopped, put one hand on his hip, and scratched the side of his head with the other. “The Advocate tried to warn me about you,” he said, his tension dissipating. “At length. I should have taken him more seriously. I thought it was his concerns about the potential political fallout. Ha. No, he meant you, all on your own. You’d still be a wild wave of chaos without the Dawn’s favor, wouldn’t you? Never mind; don’t answer that. Just tell me this, Prominence – if you can – what is your goal? Why are you doing. . .” he gestured at the ship around them, as a stand-in for everything else, “. . .all this?”

“I can’t tell you everything yet,” Justin said, “but I can tell you – with an informed guess at your primary concern - that I want a stable, secure Ribe for decades to come – perhaps centuries. One that’s as safe and stable for raising children as I can make it. And that through the Dawn, the miraculous is already within my grasp, and that list of customers has only three names on it, at most. And Taiko will keep refusing his second place position until I force it down his damn throat with a forked stick like a goose being stuffed for pate. Will that do, for the time being?”

Ougo’s face had gone shuttered and blank at Justin’s mention of children. “So you will tempt me now, as well?” he said.

“I said I’d see what I could do,” Justin answered. “In fact, give me a moment while I check something.”

He closed his eyes, focused on Sol’s presence, and thought, Sol, sorry to interrupt; can you spare me a minute?

Always, Sol’s voice breezed through his mind.

First question: is it possible for us to separate the hulls yet?

Now that you’ve warned us it might happen, yes. And rejoin them, as you please.

Great! Second, can I have an estimate on how soon I’ll have accumulated enough mana to grant a wish?

You have enough for two and most of what’s needed for your third.

Excuse the crap out of happened when how? Justin thought in scattered confusion, his gast thoroughly flabbered.

You accumulated enough for your first in your transition here, and then - even if you didn’t sing it yourself - you dedicated a beautiful new hymn from beyond the Void to me when you invested the Shop’s power. Thank you for that. I love it.

It’s going to be wildly popular by the next Solstice, by the way.

Uh, Justin thought. You’re welcome? I. . .yes, I guess that was my intention. . . .

And you weren’t thinking at all about earning a reward, either. You simply wanted to show me your sincere appreciation. Filling your dedicated Minor Wish reserve is less than the least I should do in return. Also, they’re technically that, not Miracles. The distinction matters.

Uhn. Okay. Uhh. . . .

Next, a Minor Wish on its own, even one as intensified as you correctly deduced yours to be earlier, is still - albeit barely - insufficient to grant Norodo’s chief desire on its own. And no, they don’t stack. You can’t use a Minor Wish to – no, Justin; nor two, or more, either – enhance another.

Last, you were going to ask me about the upcoming conflict. As with Tomu, do as you see fit. I trust your judgment. Must get back to It, but feel free to contact me again whenever. I’m always here for you.

Thanks, Sol, Justin thought humbly. The god’s presence vanished from his awareness and he opened his eyes.

Ougo was patiently watching him with one raised eyebrow, his hands now clasped behind him.

“I should be able to grant Norodo her Minor Wish by the end of the month, if not sooner,” Justin said. “Good thing she already knows some Alchemy; that should help. Or in another couple of weeks, at the latest, should I have to pull out a couple of last resorts in the immediate-to-near future.”

Ougo stared at him. “You can grant -” he began, then “- no. Of course you can. Why not another outrageous – ah. I see. That’s your ‘couple of last resorts’.”

With great effort, Justin kept himself from baring his teeth in savage anticipation.

“Fine. I’m less opposed to your entering combat directly now. You’d jump in to protect your security -” what could have been a sneer was flavored solely by the return of Ougo’s earlier resignation “- regardless of my preferences, wouldn’t you. With that kind of power in your hands, my troops are better off knowing ahead of time that you’ll be on the field than being surprised by it.”

“I’m glad we could come to an understanding, Captain,” Justin said.

“Why is it good for Norodo to know Alchemy?” Ougo asked, as they started up the hall again.

“I would be surprised if a. . .physical restoration potion that one that crafted oneself, or helped to craft, did not work better because of it.”

“Tempter,” Ougo growled darkly beside him, not sounding entirely serious about it. He stepped in front of Justin, blocking him, before sliding one of the doors open and scanning the deck.

“But not really though?” Justin said, after Ougo had waved him forward, and they were climbing the stairs to the quarterdeck. “I mean, I’m not leading anybody into anything bad, and it’ll be a straightforward cash transaction, no debts or favors involved, and I’m not gonna soak her on the price, and. . . .”

 

# # #

 

“No. Never mind the Furnace; you would explode,” Taiko told Justin in flat denial. The rest of the alchemy squad were semi-circled around them in the Lab, where Justin was outlining his proposition on a blackboard.

“No, no, not all of them at once!” Justin explained. “More like. . .multiple accounts! Like fund transfers at the bank, y’know? That’s part of why I feel lucky about the resilience increase coming first in the song. If keep enough of it in reserve, it should enhance my resistance to the side effects of the speed and strength increases to ameliorate them.”

“That reasoning is sound,” Norodo agreed. “It is a well-established practice for such enhancements. The shifting of the enchantments the Prominence proposes also has good precedents. Four total may require a very complex formula, but our supply of ingredients is exceptional – particularly this Mana Water - and that will compensate greatly.”

“And when things go awry,” Taiko said, “which they will, and you have to risk harming yourself, which you will -”

“The Prominence has a winning tile hidden in his hand, one powerful enough that I would not directly oppose him were I aware of it,” Ougo overrode him. “With respect, Kyoku, while we are both here to protect the Prominence, we are not here to supervise him.”

“Taiko,” Justin said mildly, “I did say I took your point earlier. This is for my safety. Also, I had another chat with the Dawn a few minutes ago. He’s very pleased with me. Remember that song I played while climbing? It’s a new hymn to him now. Very pleased. The best way you can help me is to get on board with this.”

Taiko exhaled his frustration. “Then so be it,” he conceded. “I can’t even request a veto, can I.”

“No. But please also keep in mind there’s almost no way I’m going out there to fight without you by my side.”

“That’s something, I suppose,” Taiko said.

Only Justin, who was facing everyone else with his back to the board, saw Ougo’s lips silently shape the word Tempter at him from where the Captain stood behind the others.

“Good!” Justin said, moving past the board to the Lab’s starboard side. “Mana Water testers, over here please. You’re our leads on the initial checks for the impact of music on Alchemy. Here’s a translation of the lyrics to this song, for enhancing the Mana Water itself -” he dropped a scroll on the bow worktable nearest the wall as he passed it, then turned to the sternmost one and kicked its locking lever free, “and this will provide the audio.”

Everyone had followed him over. Justin let it pass as he shoved the table along its rails up to the wall, locked it down, and propped the Hardpad on it.

“See this triangle here? Press that, lightly, with a clean finger, to make the music play. Doing the same to this square will make it stop and reset it to the beginning. These two parallel lines will pause it at that moment in the song, and pressing them or the triangle will start it again from there. Please take extreme care with this tool. It’s literally irreplaceable.”

“Yes, Prominence,” the entire room said in awed unison.

“Man, that was already old this morning. Now it’s getting sick and diseased,” Justin said under his breath.

The crowd parted for him as he walked back to the port side. “Alright! Let’s start plugging some numbers into this bad boy!” he said, picking up a piece of chalk and turning to the first draft formula on the board:

 

1. Base - Water (Mana) <> {}

  REDUCED by - Earth {}

  RETARDS - Fire {}

  ENHANCED by - Metal {}

  IMPROVES - Wood {}

 

2. Resilience - Metal (Snow Tiger Claw) <> {}

  REDUCED by - Fire {}

  RETARDS - Wood {}

  ENHANCED by - Earth {}

  IMPROVES - Water {}

 

    A. +Earth (Mountain Ox Horn) <> {}

      REDUCED by - Wood {}

      RETARDS - Water {}

      ENHANCED by - Fire {}

      IMPROVES - Metal {}

 

3. Skill - Wood (Cacao Bean) <> {}

  REDUCED by - Metal {}

  RETARDS - Earth {}

  ENHANCED by - Water {}

  IMPROVES - Fire {}

 

    B. +Water (Mana) <> {}

      REDUCED by - Earth {}

      RETARDS - Fire {}

      ENHANCED by - Metal {}

      IMPROVES - Wood {}

 

4. Speed - Fire (Sunwood) <> {}

  REDUCED by - Water {}

  RETARDS - Metal {}

  ENHANCED by - Wood {}

  IMPROVES - Earth {}

 

    C. +Wood (Coffee Bean) {}

      REDUCED by - Metal {}

      RETARDS - Earth {}

      ENHANCED by - Water {}

      IMPROVES - Fire {}

 

5. Strength - Earth (Qilin Hoof) <> {}

  REDUCED by - Wood {}

  RETARDS - Water {}

  ENHANCED by - Fire {}

  IMPROVES - Metal {}

 

    D. +Fire (Vermilion Feather) {} {}

      REDUCED by - Water {}

      RETARDS - Metal {}

      ENHANCED by - Wood {}

      IMPROVES - Earth {}