Alturus Lorian Turtledove

  2510.01.01

  Sol 0

  Earth

  Port Caroline

  While no one recognized the name et al Sol, the crowd in front of Alturus boomed. The mass of people were louder now than any of his peers before. The fact that Sol was the name of the system in which they resided, meant that this young man was of a lineage beyond this world, one who's jurisdiction quite possibly contained this world.

  That fact was enough. Alturus, with hesitation, followed the long concrete path ahead. It was lined with green hedges that were trimmed in a triangular prism that continued endlessly towards the large metallic building ahead of him.

  The crowd screamed, many people clapping as they watched him approach. Others cheered, jumping at the chance to see the last child to board for the academy. The fanfare momentarily brought him out of his stupor.

  As approached, the more daunting the vessel seemed to become. This was supposed to take him off world. In all of the books in his family library, there were never any about other the worlds or what lies above. Sure he knew of gravity and the sun and how they interacted. He knew of the other places that humanity dwelled upon as their numbers continued to spread across the solar system.

  He lacked the cultural knowledge. The nuances of what actually existed on these worlds. His education so far had mostly aim towards the history of the Earth itself, the basic fundamentals, and various sciences humanity had discovered thus far. For the first time in his life, he was stepping into unknown territory. He was approaching something knew and unknown, Alturus couldn't help but he excited..

  “Come on,” A thin man beckoned from the doors of the massive vessel. “We gotta get these doors sealed before lift off.”

  Stealing one last glance, Alturus visually inhaled the crowds, people, and beautiful blue sky. The hatched moved into place. Instead of blocking the view, a warm amber glow took over the scenery around him. He still saw the masses cheering and waving to the vessel, however this time he now saw a city beyond. Instead of endless plains of grass and flowers, it was a massive cluster of skyscrapers. They were standing in a large plaza where the large gathering people took every inch of space.

  “There you are!” Elaine said her voice coming from behind him. “You sure took your time. Weren’t the crowds amazing?'

  The girl walked up to the edge of the amber glass and stared out waving to the people beyond.

  “Can they see us?" Alturus asked. He could have swore the ship was metallic on the outside and opaque.

  “Its magic.” The man who closed the hatch had said. “It’s a one way glass that allows you to see out but not in. The ships coating just goes over it for heat dissipation.”

  “Heat dissipation?” Titanus asked. He finally joined the group.

  “Well, I’m only a conjurer of wizards. I don’t know the ends and out yet Names James. James Marshal et al Mars.” The now friendly James said. Now that Alturus thought about it, the man was actually quit young. Although skewed from their youthful perspective, James seemed grown and mature, he looked to be only a few years older than them.

  “Was wizard the name for the past decades class?” Titanus asked. He gave James a quick once over.

  “Good question!” Wizard James said. "No, it was the class before last. Every 90 years we cycle through the list full of ranks so that all divisions get used in fairness. Though they also serve as a mark of one's achievement. Either way, once you have mastered magic, you will be an Archimage. It’s the only one not in the rotation you see.”

  "Why only nine decades?" Alturus asked. "Wouldn’t it make more sense for there to be an even ten?"

  "Well you see." James said. "There were once trn major divisions of magic, each corresponded to a planet within Sol. Once pluto became recognized as dwarf planet, it carried less weight and the balance was thrown off. After Cusprodit disappeared, there were only nine worlds left. To fix the situation, the old system was retired. Now, each decade we give that class the representation of a specific rank. In your case, it's mage."

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  "This is too much." Titanus interrupted. He sat on a nearby bench. "Yesterday, I was out shopping with my parents." He bagan to panic, placing his hands on each side of his head.

  "Calm down. Calm down," James said. "It’s alright, you will at the minimum see your parents again. It’s only been a decade and to be eligible for enrollment, one of your parents must have attended this school. Otherwise, you would not have the genes necessary to manipulate Quanta."

  "We have a genetic condition to wield magic?" Alturus asked.

  "That’s your question?" Elaine said. She chuckled. "I mean out of everything he said you stick with the boring bit. He basically said he was a Child of a Brotherly King. For system sake, I thought that would be the draw."

  "Oh, you caught that." James said. He was quieter now. "I suppose I let a good bit more than I was supposed to slip there. My patron is the Brotherly King Marshal et al Mars, our dynasty presides over Mars itself."

  "The whole planet." Alturus stated rather than asking. "You have that much power?"

  "Oh, that’s nothing compared to you." Elaine said. She rose her hands in exasperation. "You heard what they called you back there. Your family owns everything, literally everything. And to think you didn’t even tell me this when we met. Do I know how to pick them."

  Her words left the three men in a silent stupor. Not a word was said as shocked expressions met hers. A loud rumble grew in the background as plumes of smoke obscured the crowds. Slowly the ground fell away as the ship moved. Alturus found himself ushered into a nearby seat he hadn’t noticed to be there until now.

  He looked out the window as the large towering structures drifted past, outside the window. An endless city sprawled as far as the eye can see. To his left he could see the ocean and to his right an equivalent mass of human ingenuity. The once towering skyscrapers ended, one by one, as the ship slowly and evenly rose into the air. The obscene amount of sky boats and various strange flying vessels thinned out.

  The group saw the horizon start to curve. Eventually, Alturus could no longer see the surface of the world below him; all detail falling away as the ship rotated out towards the void of space. For the first time, Alturus saw the unending black that cradled his world. He stared as that endless vacuum seemed to swallow all light from the ship.

  The earth rotated into view. The ship had travelled faster than he imagined. The planet he had, up to this point, lived his entire life was but the size of a small pea. In the next moment, just like that, his home was gone. Everything he knew, loved, and cared for had just disappeared. It was out of sight, and he wondered if it ever had existed. He tried to remind himself that this wasn’t the moment he lost everything. This was the beginning of his life.

  They stood together in the dark entryway. Within the span of a few minutes they had seen the earth fade away and minutes after that a star in the distant never ending night grew brighter. They watched as from this deep ocean of void; a singular sparkling gem of light drifted closer. Within a brief span of time, they had arrived.

  Alturus watched as chromatic light shined brighter, larger and closer. The light morphed into a massive moon-sized snowflake. It was complex, three-dimensional, and immensely proportioned. It a dozen, or so, long branching arms that spoked out from a vibrant glowing star-like center.

  Each arm was a different color, exterior made of crystalline substance. Each one had a series of smaller arms that spoked from them, creating a fractal effect as the glass structures split off into smaller and smaller pieces. Within the various structures, he could barely make out entire landscapes that varied within each arm.

  Bodies of water, mountains, and entire ecosystems that seemed to thrive in this somehow, man-made structure. He could even make out cites. As the ship began to lap the massive crystalline structure, Alturus could see how flat it was in proportion. While the fractalization seemed to continue a bit, the entire snowflake was impossibly thin for its immense size.

  "The Stellar Stratum" Elaine said. She gasp ed as she quietly walked over to the edge of the room they stood. She placed her hand on the transparent wall of the ship. "My mother had described this to me as a child, but I had never imagined it to be this, this, beautiful."

  As she spoke a glowing radiance colored her face. To Alturus a faint blue glow briefly shimmered over the surface of her skin. It had come as quickly as it went.

  "Ah yes, it’s your first time here, of course." James mumbled out. "You'll get used to it." He sat, his back partially slumped in his seat. His eyes focused out onto a point just beyond his face. He was reading something as if it was floating out in front of him, although to Alturus, nothing was there.

  "You doing okay, Titanus?" Alturus asked. His newly acquainted friend was clinging to the seat he was sitting in. A look of terror slowly faded as he saw the complex shape, color, and luster that glowed before them.

  "I'll make it I guess." The Titanus replied. The words barely audible through clenched teeth.

  Slower than their initial launch from earth, the ship approached the end of a dark black arm of the station. It was immeasurable on size. As they approached, the minute tiny hair-like fractals rose up, growing larger and larger. What Alturus thought were small spikes were actually massive sections each filled with small villages and towns. They had forests, deserts, each of them leagues bigger than his family estate at home.

  On the very tip of the limb, a smaller branch contained an visually infinite forest and a large lake. The ship passed through massive doors, each loomed taller than the tallest towers in Port Caroline. Beneath them, they could make out floating ships and vessels. On the far edge of the open space, there was a wall of land that slowly built up to mountains.

  When the ship arrived at this far shore, the vessel lowered itself into the water. The ship floated, coasting into a dock that arranged itself next to a large arena that overlooked the waters.

  Within a six minute window, the ship had left the continent of Alterra, left the earth, and then landed on the floating man-made planetoid of the Stellar Stratum.