David Grace - The Accidental Magician

Greyhorn again cocked his head and let his senses roam the hallways of his manor house. Yes, remarkable though it seemed, Grantin was still in the library apparently hard at work. Greyhorn decided to look in on him. Perhaps later in the day he would charge Grantin with the errand. He slipped from his workroom, sealed the door behind him, and padded to the library where Grantin studied a forbidden history.

Grantin pulled back the cover and began to read the first page of the Ajaj's journal. The ink was of a brownish umber tone. The edges of each letter puddled and ran, as though the fluid were unusually thin. When Grantin concentrated on some of the broader lines he was able to detect in the strokes a shading of pale chocolate at the center darkening to a deep brown-black hue at the edges. The paper was an aged, mottled tan which popped and crackled as he turned the pages. Nevertheless, the script was precise and demonstrated a fine expressive flair. The Ajaj who had penned the book was a master scribbler indeed.

Grantin turned another rattling page, then halted to listen for sounds from the corridor beyond. He remembered the last time his uncle had caught him reading this book.

"Here you are," Greyhorn had screamed, "the nephew of a master wizard, and you can't even pluck a flower out of the ground without bending over to pick it up. Now, instead of studying your spells, I catch you wasting your time with this nonsense. You're deficient, and every day you become a worse embarrassment for me. Remember, this is not some sparkling dream planet. This is Fane, and I, as master wizard of this locality, have a reputation to uphold."

Now, Grantin held his breath. The house was so quiet he could hear the beating of his own heart. He exhaled. With another crackle he turned the page and continued his study of the history of Fane.

The Lillith was of acceptable construction and of the type often seen on our sad world Ajagel. Great blocks of metal and glass were fused as needed. From the outside the starship appeared as a tumble of interlaced blocks and cubes, joined haphazardly at sides, top, or bottom. In some ways she resembled the old, broken city of Alnarth built by our ancestors in the days of water before our sun grew red. Now we, the faithful Ajaj, are drawn from Ajagel like blood leaking from a wound.

Time period by time period the gray, twisted space slipped behind us. One after another the planets we investigated were rejected by the colonists who had chartered the Lillith.

One planet, 4-Clarion 4312, was passed because its gravity was twice what the humans were used to bearing. They did not wish to carry too heavy a load. Another, 2-Marissa 1847, had a trace too much chlorine in the atmosphere. Our passengers claimed that this would irritate their noses.

Captain Marvin had made an unfortunate charter arrangement. In an expansive moment he had agreed to take the colonists out along the great spiral arm, eastward to the very edge of the galaxy, until such time as they found a suitable planet. Here he had erred. Often we of the Ajaj, as well as the human members of the crew, disputed what might have happened had the contract contained the word "habitable" instead of "suitable."

The voyage continued farther and farther until, at last, we approached the Great Dog Nebula where the near stars were occluded by dust and debris. Beyond lay only interstellar fog and then the vast empty void.

Each time period that the Lillith pressed on increased our captain's unhappiness. Farther and farther he departed from his course for our next stop at New Ossening. Truly he was cursed that trip. He had also agreed to transport criminals to that bleak world, so much was Captain Marvin in need of riches.

In the center of the mist of the Great Dog Nebula, almost alone in the heart of the interstellar storm, rode the gigantic orange sun Pyra and its single planet: Fane.

Captain Marvin drove the Lillith toward this world. As senior apprentice empather, I was summoned to my dials and nodes to test the flavor of the orb. The long-range scanners reported it not only habitable but lush and fertile. Still, I tasted a strangeness about the world. This I reported to the captain, but it was news he did not wish to hear.

The second officer, an Earthman named Barth, contended that the world had a strange fluctuating magnetic field. He decreed that the core of the planet was of such an odd constituency that it generated an electromagnetic haze. This he assumed to be the cause of the disturbance to our amplifiers and our instruments.

Without incident we landed in a meadow surrounded by pale green trees and tall plants with leaves of striped blue and yellow. After the analyzer pronounced the atmosphere free of toxins, plagues, and noxious elements the convicts were shackled waist to waist and sent out first to test the air. Remote sensors monitored their blood and sweat. When they passed the test the colonists and the Ajaj and much of the crew were allowed to leave the Lillith.

Once outside, teams of colonists commenced gathering samples of plant and animal life in an effort to determine if they were healthful and nutritious. By the end of the watch the biologists had decided that all was well. Once freed of their roles as guinea pigs the prisoners lay in the long grass, backs against humps of soil and up thrusting trees. Here they took a last sweet rest before their shipment to bleak, bleak New Ossening where there are only clouds, damp, and death.

The criminals numbered sixteen and were of mixed and varied backgrounds. Included in their number were three zombiests, a gamemaster, a handful of expurgators, four housebreakers, and a master necromancer of the Black Church on Abraham V. The necromancer, Gogol by name, was accompanied by his chief helper, Windom, both of whom had been sentenced for a too energetic dedication to genuineness in the staging of human sacrifices. According to the rumors, Windom had procured the subjects, while Gogol, at the height of the Black Mass, performed dark deeds to the rapt approval of his faithful acolytes.

By mid-afternoon Fane had been adjudged salubrious. The stevedores commenced unloading the colonists' supplies. The task was almost complete when, from between two piles of duraplast crates, there appeared a strange creature.

Four-armed, smooth-skinned and hairless, the biped was dressed in a seamless green garment which extended in the form of trousers from just above the midpoint of his legs upward across the hips, groin, and stomach to cover his chest, shoulders, and back. The arms were sleeveless and the feet and ankles bare as well. No seams, clasps, or fastenings could anywhere be detected.

The creature's skin was a medium gray, with the dome of his skull deepening to a slate gray, almost charcoal color. The being's forehead seemed permanently wrinkled. The brows above the large round eyes were ridged with gristle.

The Fanist calmly walked to the center of the camp and with mild courtesy watched the exertions of the colonists and crew. The creature seemed neither hostile nor concerned.

One thing above all must be said about our Captain Marvin-he was not a timid man. In fact, he was often referred to by the human crew members as possessing that-emotion which they termed courage.

He approached the Fanist with a weapon prominently displayed at his belt, but with empty hands. In the background all work stopped. The human crew soon armed themselves and formed a perimeter guard about the camp and ship. They found no other natives, nor could they discover how this one had entered our midst unseen.

Captain Marvin went through the standard procedure for communicating with a strange being. He recited a list of nouns, emphasized by gestures with his right arm.