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    Beau Zen
    Beau Zen
    Beau Zen
    Ebook385 pages6 hours

    Beau Zen

    By Sharon L Reddy

    ()

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    About this ebook

    When the Princess in Cognizance was abducted and died, a world got mad. They gave the one she named heir, in her will, the best help they could, to find the princess' grandson. Smart kid, growing a bit too fast to keep his ankles covered had worked well. He wasn't ready, but he was prepared.

    The princess' grandson didn't have what they wanted, but he was protecting a secret even more dangerous. Then they found a use for him. He had to find a way to stop it. The whisper of, "Hurry," became a shout in Zen's dreams.

    This is the formation of a team to fight a big problem. I think it's one of my best superhero origination stories. The setting is magnificent, the Wheelhouse. I think you'll enjoy building your vision of it. Really fun characters in this one. Writing more stories for this bunch may be irresistible. Glinton Governor was a whole lot of fun to write.
    Spinner

    Look for other swashbuckling romantic adventures, for fast-reading women science fiction fans, by avant garde author, Sharon L Reddy, "Spinner, the Queen of Dialog," winner of five international awards.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSharon L Reddy
    Release dateJun 5, 2011
    ISBN9781583383544
    Beau Zen
    Author

    Sharon L Reddy

    I write science fiction romance, but it's the literary definition of romance. Swashbuckle, Baby, in "white tie and tails." High romantic fantasies, million word mysteries, family sagas, statesmen, gurus and wise immortals. Loving dads, sons and brothers, and of course, the women who understand and appreciate them. High fashion and landscape design. Materials and art, the books are built to be read very fast, specifically for the way women visualize. Research on the soap operas of the fifties, trends in international populist (fan) fiction, technological development, and above all, long-term entertainment value. It has to be good in reruns. The intent is create a body of work that's just fun to read, in spurts or bursts over decades. Ethics, responsibility, nobless oblige, the power of money, the use of prestige. I write good guys win. Period. They're fantasies for women. Men with lots of muscle say, "I love you," a lot.Most of what is currently published was written in the first decade, 1991-1999, before Mother Nature changed my personal definition of "mature audience." I hope you'll remain with me as I and my work mature and enjoy the second decade of my work now being published, as well.I've lived many places and visited far more. My current residence is on a high mesa in New Mexico, in the United States, where I am engaged in a habitat restoration project.Explanation of the Pilots Group:Some of these works have been sitting on my hard drive close to twenty years and they're no fun for anyone just sitting there. They're exactly what they've been titled, pilots, like for a TV series. It is my intent and hope that other writers will choose to continue the adventures of the characters. There are only three restrictions. Don't kill off my heroes, don't make good guys bad guys and give my story credit if you publish. Yes, you may publish and make money on your stories. I loved reading and writing fan fiction, but the limitations on it could be frustrating, so... Have fun with these works that specifically don't have them.

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      Book preview

      Beau Zen - Sharon L Reddy

      Beau Zen

      Sharon L Reddy

      ©2011

      Target Yonder

      Smashwords Edition

      ISBN 978-58338-354-4

      Chapter One

      Reva turned around. It wasn't easy. The ledge was narrow with a crumbling edge and she didn't move well, but she was too damn mad to die. The ledge was over the place her ship had been. Her partner had been on it. She'd been with their passenger. Their passenger was why her ship and partner were gone, and she was going to get her back from the slime who'd grabbed her, but she didn't have much time. Valady could not be coerced. She would die first and she was quite capable of deciding to get herself killed.

      Reva moved another centimeter. She didn't count the ones left to the place the crater sloped and she could get to the top. She counted the ones she gained.

      Valady, Rioso Light Child, Princess in Cognizance, and pleasant woman in her nineties, was quite sure Reva Jones was alive. She mentally appointed her to the position of Hand of the Court and sentenced the group around her to death. She intended to reduce the number Reva had to execute if possible. She had another job for her. Reva had the document disk with her will on it. She'd changed it when she'd met her. She'd appointed her guardian of her great-grandson. Of course, Reva would have to find him and get him first. On the disk were tools to help her do it. One of them was the code of an account with enough in it to buy her a very nice ship. She couldn't replace the loved friend. Nothing ever would. She saw an opportunity and took it.

      Reva screamed, NO! when an explosion shook the ground just as she reached the lip of the crater. She laid on it and wept until a fleet of government vehicles swooped down in the wake of two explosions on a very private estate a long way from their base. She softly told the story to the medic and the police officer who looked so bewildered.

      They wanted the princess for her ability to influence minds. Seven of them I saw. We ran for my ship and they fired on it. They shot me, but Valady would have known I was alive. I didn't see it, but I can tell you what she did.

      What do you think she did?

      She used her power to keep them from noticing her for a few seconds and blew up the other ship. Officer, her power was… only a nudge, but a nudge is all it takes to get a board of directors to approve a contract with one company over another if they seem to be offering the same thing. A nudge is enough to get a law passed, or a politician elected if the issues don't seem large enough to really separate candidates in people's minds. This time it was all that was needed for her to be ignored while she destroyed them. She overrode the safety and initialized FTL. The drive blew when the comp commanded full thrust. You can't do that to a cold drive, not and live through it. The princess knew exactly what she was doing. I have a document disk. She said her will is on it.

      She expected this?

      Specifically, no, but we were warned she was traveling quietly and the contract was dangerous to accept. My partner said nine thousand people died in the dispute on Harle and helping see that was all who would die was worth the risk. The princess accomplished that; not with her power, with her determination no more would die. We came here for her to rest. We didn't even get to the house before that ship came screaming down. We ran for the ship and they hit it with a pulsed beam. The whole operation was timed perfectly. Even to me being shot right when I got to the edge of the crater. They didn't expect there to be a ledge to break my long fall. They didn't expect Valady to destroy them. It was just a little power, just a nudge.

      Reva handed the disk over to a judge she decided she trusted. The judge walked into her hospital room and handed it back. He told her the will had instructed it was the only document on the disk to be read by anyone but her.

      She chose you as her beneficiary, Captain Jones. She stated in the will it's because she believed you would use it to accomplish something that she couldn't. She also stated she would have given you the credit account and other information on that disk for the same purpose if she got back to Rioso. She made you legal guardian of her great-grandson, as well. I haven't been able to learn the whereabouts of that great-grandson, or anything else except there is one.

      Well, we know what the job is. She couldn't have even looked without too many people helping.

      I try to never jump to conclusions, but that was a crack in the walk not a chasm. I can't officially do anything to help but get you a reader and say the court upholds the will if someone challenges. No one will. Unofficially, I can introduce you to my niece and nephew. They're ship-crazy ship system design students and cousins, not brother and sister. You can't take them with you. They will finish university next year, but you can draft them for aid they'll love to give for the break and one term. They can get credit for applied theory. That's intended as humorous and instructors apply it liberally. It's a good way to see that students who think with their hands get through the theoretical classes with reasonable marks, and that young geniuses can build works of genius when they have the opportunity and remain on the university roles. Certain classes only have room for so many. If you stay on the roles, you get into the spot the lucky person who got yours had. If you don't stay on the roles, you go to the bottom of the list.

      Judge, I don't blame your world for what happened and I won't let it influence my opinion of it, but I don't really want to stay here, even for a while.

      Damn it! We're furious the princess was attacked here! I've just offered you the two we think are best to help you do what she wanted and you'll start with a real good price on a real good ship. My sisters would throttle me if I packed those kids up and sent them to another world with you to help with the ship, but I would! Frankly, they're the only two who don't need to 'borrow' someone else's innovations and sharp enough no one will look any farther if some are noticed. Terraleeva, Beauzhen, come in, please.

      Reva looked at the two kids who walked into her room and slowly smiled. They were about fourteen. The girl was extremely pretty, but the boy was beautiful and incredibly well-built. She wondered what sport had given him that musculature at his apparent age.

      Hi. She's Terror and I'm Zen. Ow!

      He has a lot of dents in his shins, but he's still the best mechanic I know. I'm Terry. We know how old we're not and use it to good advantage. It's amazing the kind of deal a custom crafter will give a pair of kids fascinated with the entire custom process and they're great teachers. We know the ship you want.

      She's about a gorgeous house with a guest wing and large storage area sitting on a rented lot right now, but all those system replacements are why she's being sold. The owner doesn't need to make a profit or replace her. She's got enough a-grav to tow into a nice construction barn with a nice for lease sign on it. She's too gorgeous not to live in while the work is being done. The barn is nicely enclosed, so close it's the obvious place to work, and the owner of the ship worked hard to arrange it that way. He's a friend of Uncle Yullie's. So is the fem who owns the barn.

      Zen, I hadn't intended to mention that.

      She needs to know how sure we are this is the place to prepare a ship. Uncle Yullie doesn't ask favors, Trader Captain Jones. He tells people what he thinks needs to be done and they decide whether or not to do it. He told us more than most, but we'd have said yes if he told us nothing more than we were needed.

      Zen and I admit family bias, but observe anyone who knows him would do the same. Windlea is the right port and Pearl Green is the right world. We can help and not talk about it. Anyone who asks questions will find out everyone on this world is angry and the subject is not a good one for discussion. Damn right we helped the captain get another ship. It was all we rutting could do!

      Terry!

      Uncle Yullie, I only use disgusting epithets when they are appropriate.

      Which word, damn or rutting?

      Rutting, Captain. It's what animals do.

      Thank you. I'll add it to my engineering vocabulary. You can get a pair of extra hands on a lousy job with an extensive one. Drive techs will volunteer to admire it. I try to collect a word on every world, but get a lot of duplicates. Picked up six nice ones from a chief engineer I helped put in a fuel cell tap on a liner in flight. Not a pleasant job, but I'd done it on a smaller scale and stopping to do it would have meant a lot of missed connections for passengers. Most I ever got one place.

      My sisters are still going to throttle me.

      How did you overcome the vibration? The housing removal had to unbalance the mass stabilizer.

      That's why two people, Zen. We removed the same amount of mass from both sides at exactly the same time. The tech holding a monitor with a split screen of both of us shook more than the stabilizer. Why Zen and not Beau?

      Uh...

      He thinks Zen works better with cute and is waiting to use Beau until he's ready for gorgeous. He figures that'll be at about nineteen.

      Oh, dear.

      He blushes a lot too, but doesn't seem to learn any more than he does from the dents in his shins. We do know how old we're not, Captain Jones. It won't hurt us a bit to be a term older our last term.

      Adolescence is difficult enough without gorgeous young women all around and all of them too old to just hold hands. Terry's the only girl in my classes not too old for me and she's my cousin.

      We shared a playpen and everything since. Between us, we could disassemble anything.

      When they saw it upset us we couldn't put some toys back together again, they started giving us ones we could. Mom says that was before we learned to talk. You've got four hands that have always worked together to help, Captain Jones. We have things we want to build with them. We think we know what's on that disk.

      Uncle Yullie, can I have a sweet? There's a vend just down the corridor. The monitoring station will have visitor tokens for it. Thank you. Uncle Yullie knows when someone doesn't want to burden him with something and who's a good judge of that. We've seen something.

      She's seen it. I just looked at what she did with it and said, 'Yes, it would work.' After that, I had to figure out how to build it to prove it.

      We didn't intend to do anything with it yet. We're not ready to deal with the consequences of that kind of notoriety and wealth.

      We also don't know if we should tell anyone about it. If the time has come for its discovery, there might be a thousand people working on it. If it's a fluke and we're not ready for it... An adult viewpoint, an informed one, would be appreciated.

      We'll get rich without it. We don't need it for that, but it would sort of hurt if someone else took the Award for Technological Advancement with it.

      I think you have an excellent opinion. If what you have is, or is like in nature, to what's on this disk, Valady gave you hers. There may be a rather large number of people who would be hurt if that award went to someone else. Valady wasn't a systems designer. Someone trusted her opinion and trusted her to use it... appropriately.

      And she trusted it to you for that use. All right, Captain. We'll give you what we came up with to find her great-grandson and put the ATA where it belongs on our list of priorities.

      Zen, I wasn't putting the ATA ahead of that.

      I know, Terry, but it loomed a bit too large for both of us. If we get one, we do. If we don't, we'll still get rich and see our systems in the best ships in space.

      A tray load of sweets. The med tech told me your diet isn't regulated, Captain, but it's difficult to get to the vend with half one's body in a healing unit.

      Lack of goodies hasn't been as much an annoyance as the way the healing field makes my leg tingle, but I'd love that wonderful-looking cake with fruit topping to take my mind off the itch I can't scratch. Thank you.

      You're most welcome. I told the tech to make a selection and bring you something each evening about this time. I understand it's much healthier than it looks.

      It looks like I ought to do a workout halfway through it and another after I finish. Oh, yum.

      The cake is made from navvy nuts. The fruit is demitasse berries and the topping is a whipped plant sap called poddy cream. They're all native, very good for you and we've just about got enough under cultivation to start exporting. Would you like a cargo of them? I can get you some recipes and a nice price. My mommy is a farmer. My daddy builds and maintains equipment for her.

      If you've got a few hours we'll take a flyer flight over Terry's parents' farm. It's right outside the city.

      Big farm.

      Most are. Most grow native food plants. Those that don't are small and enclosed with iso-fields. They get smaller all the time. One small hotel chain on one world would pay a nice price for a nice-size cargo to make a treat no one else has if the recipe is included.

      Her holds aren't very big?

      They're about the same size as you had total, but one of them is set up as a lounge for entertaining large numbers of guests and another to hold a flyer and car for transport. I recommend you get a scoot and a small shuttle instead of a car. There's just room enough for both a flyer and a shuttle big enough to carry a scoot, the treasures of a shopping spree and a couple passengers.

      Zen has makes, models, the name of who did the best custom work using them, and the best configuration for them in your hold on his data pad. I know. I worked out the configuration for him.

      The only problem is you're not going to be able to get the type I think are best here. She's a luxury ship, Captain, and she's perfect for luxury cargo and dealing with the people who sell and buy it. She's got eight nice cabins that don't have access to the bridge or engineering and a gorgeous home for the owner that does. She's also going to be very fast and well-armed.

      Demitasse berries become demitasse compote all by themselves if let sit very long. They won't sit long on your ship and nothing is going to get in her way long. We intend to see to it.

      You're hired and I'll take her if I can pay for her.

      Something will be arranged if you can't. We knew the princess was coming and couldn't get there fast enough when TC yelled they had an unauthorized ship headed for the estate. We will aid in finding her great-grandson, Captain. It's not what we truly wish we could have done, but it's all we can do. We can't bring her or your partner back. The ship is named the Gloria JeJune. We didn't change it. She's always had the same name as your partner. The owner said it was destined to be yours. I said I hoped you wouldn't refuse it because of the name.

      Gloria JeJune Askrohavitz, Yullie, everyone called her Vitzy. Gloria JeJune came from a vid actor her mom liked, or at least one with a name she liked. She met a fem with the same name once. She had it for the same reason. Probably was for the ship, but I like it and will go with 'destiny.' I'm saying I'll buy a ship I haven't seen, with a price I don't know, with money I don't know if I have. Maybe they should check my head. I'm not sure my leg and side were all that were damaged.

      Here's a reader, Captain. Start with what's on it and we'll work the rest out.

      Thanks, Yullie. You married?

      Yes, but thank you.

      She'll be helping on the ship soon, Zen. She's not that damaged.

      Yes, Terry, she noticed I got my good looks from Mom's side of the family. Ow!

      I believe he has lots of dents in his shins.

      Reva Jones felt decidedly odd authorizing Terry and Zen to make equipment purchases and work on the ship she hadn't yet seen, but they'd shown her what they'd worked on first and it was the same theory as on the disk. Terry complained Zen would be smug for years when she told them his application was about nine percent more efficient. She didn't tell them how much better the weapons they'd come up with were, or everything else the disk had on it.

      Reva finally got out of the healing field and the hospital. She went to work with Terry and Zen. She learned Zen was a year older than Terry, she was a year, almost two, older than she'd thought and both were working towards advanced certification. Zen had stars in his eyes before she thought about regaling them with her adventures.

      Terry told her she'd expected it to happen, but he wasn't ready to consider working together with her on Pearl Green and him on a ship. She didn't think he was ready for her to tell him she planned on being a farmer and raising crops and kids along with playing with numbers either.

      Reva grinned when she explained she'd already picked the mas she intended to help with the plan, but he didn't notice fems under about the age of twenty, so that part was still some years ahead and might get some rework. Reva explained fem was used almost everywhere as both title and gender pronoun, but mas was man, gen, and a couple dozen others in various clusters she'd been in. She didn't want to think about the almost too beautiful, seventeen-year-old boy, who leaned rather heavily on his cousin, being torn between his love of his home and the stars.

      Aravin dropped on the narrow cot in the windowless room, exhausted. He knew what they were doing to him and was fighting it. He'd been fighting it for three years. The soft voice started telling him how much he wanted to help his friends again and he fought the way he had for three years, with a dream. He couldn't give them what they wanted. He didn't have the 'power' that existed in his father's family, but he had things he couldn't let them have.

      His great-grandmother had been killed. He was the only one of the direct line left. He could only hope she had found someone who would use what he'd given her well before she died. There must be someone who could be trusted with the tools to stop people like those who had killed everyone in his family but him. He built the dream and fought the drug-induced compulsion to give all he was to the fem, who said she was a friend.

      Chapter Two

      They didn't quite finish the ship before the 'second' term started. The first day Terry and Zen had class, they got to the barn about sixteen local time, two hours later than they'd expected. Reva watched them come around the side of the ship and just waited. Terry was giggling and nearly towing Zen. He looked stunned and Reva saw him actually stumble once before they got there.

      What happened to him?

      He opened his smug mouth once too often. He said his birthday is in four days and he'd love to give his place in four required classes he doesn't need to someone who does as a present. Mas Ulmericik overheard and clobbered him with a design problem for being smug. It seems he solved the rebalancing problem on the Creschel fuel turret in six minutes and Creschel yelled he didn't need the classes. Then the dean of fine arts said the play he wrote two years ago has been chosen as the opener for the Windlea Fine Arts Theater season. It's considered the best live theater on the planet and it wasn't a competition. The dean called his advisor's office because she had a very nice royalty check for him.

      It's a children's story.

      It's a fairy tale and it's wonderful. It's about a boy who makes a friend who's really a faerie prince in hiding. He finds the way to follow him to the land of faerie and rescues him. He figured out how to make a scoot seem to turn into a dragon right on the stage, without using holo-field projection, and designed the a-grav integration unit in the dragon so it seems to leap from the stage and fly. When Mas Ulmericik saw that, Zen's 'fate was sealed.' He got handed his certification and told happy birthday and someone would be glad to get his classes as a present. He is not functioning well.

      I do understand that. Now what?

      A very good question, but it starts with he'll be able to help you finish Glo. After that, I think you should let him help build the rest of what's on that disk. A drive was all we used that equation for, Captain Reva. It has interesting little branches I don't plan to investigate. They just don't have anything to do with powering a ship.

      We're two hours late because she decided I was going to get a patent on a toy I built.

      A ball that won't roll into a street is not a toy one keeps secret. He designed it for his little sisters. The idea isn't new, but the discriminatory circuit is. You could put it in a marble and it'll work if you glue it to the side of a ball or put it in the middle of one as big as a house. I brought him here instead of taking him home because it gives his dad and Uncle Yullie time to figure out how much people will offer to use the circuit and how much they'll actually pay.

      We were supposed to get rich together, Terry.

      You're going to have to tell him, Terry, and I'm sure he's not ready for it.

      No, but he's so stunned now that it can't shock him much. Zen, I plan on getting rich with you, but I intend to do it at a comp on a farm, too big to waddle with Lanbry Hoskomeb's first through eighth baby. Lanbry and babies six through eight are still subject to reconsideration, farm and babies one through five are not. I'll adopt or request a-insem if Lanbry is deleted from the program and no one else is right for it. You go from looking at the stars in your bedroom ceiling holo-program to dreaming of them. I figure you've got sixteen days to convince Captain Reva you aren't so stupid you'd get her killed trying to protect you and convince her she needs you as crew on Glo. You know she does. That's all experimental and the two of you could fix anything that doesn't seem to agree with the theory. She can run it alone and fix it if she has time, but only you can fix it fast enough if it gives her no time.

      Terry, I'm going alone. I wouldn't take anyone with me. I lost my partner and another loved friend too recently. I'm deliberately heading into danger this time.

      Captain, he already wrote the story. You're in it. He just didn't meet the prince first.

      This is no story, Terry.

      No, Captain, it most definitely isn't. Zen, you've got about sixteen days to prove to her you know the difference, you know what you're choosing, you have the maturity to make the choice and she needs your help to get that kid!

      Yes, Terry. Can I start tomorrow? I want to go home and get drunk with my big brother. I'm sure he'll share his ale stock with me this time.

      He'll be waiting with a cask and your other two big brothers will be holding glasses. His family is why I want eight kids. My mom had me and I was in his playpen because Dad was a frazzled wreck. His mom just sails through a day with kids underfoot, kids yelling, kids bouncing on the back of a berry harvester, kids all around and I want it. I want his dad too, but Aunt Innea definitely has him.

      You are my dad. Lanbry's more like my mom, which is why you picked him and I've known you would since we started U classes. Don't think you'll end up with him, but knew you'd pick him. My bet is Fravee Dogenfef.

      He's eleven!

      Yes, and he's already taller than you and won eight agra excellence awards for his fields and orchards. He also has a huge crush on you. You want a real farmer and he's the only one of those who will actually understand what you're doing on a comp. He couldn't do it, but he'll understand your explanation of it. He's going to be a great big, gorgeous mas, would love lots of kids on a huge farm and Lanbry would bore you to distraction now if he wasn't drool material.

      Terry, when you're ready, drool on Lanbry awhile before you decide on whose kids. This kid might be worth waiting for an extra four or five years for that, but there's no point in spending the entire time frustrated.

      I'll add the loop to the program, Captain. Fravee is a terrific farmer, but he also puts tippy disks under chairs and puff insulate in lockers.

      And no one can figure out how he gets them there. He just confesses, grins and does his assignments in the discipline class instead of at home. He wouldn't bore you.

      Zen didn't get to the construction barn until late morning the next day. He smiled, then winced and told her it had been a very interesting evening for the mas of his family, and his mother giggled every time she started to scold his father and he grinned. Reva asked why his dad was grinning. Zen blushed and groaned.

      You always ask the unexpected question, Captain.

      I wasn't expecting that answer either. You didn't all just get silly drunk, it's pinkly obvious.

      I, uh, said, uh...

      You don't have to tell me this, Zen.

      I opened my mouth again and my dad... Oh, hell. I said you were going to lock me up on the ship if we got to a port where there were women and certainly weren't going to be interested in all I think about when I'm around any beautiful fem and my dad decided to fix the problem. He called a friend and my big brothers took me to the brothel his friend recommended. He's not telling Mom the friend was Uncle Yullie. He reviews license applications. Dad said... He said tell you that you don't have to lock me in the ship. I did just fine and I have very good taste.

      He thinks you're ready for this.

      Rut, no. He thinks you need me and he's going to do his best to get me as ready as possible. Terry enlisted the whole family's help. Mom's just not sure last night was necessary. Captain, it was. I've been hanging onto being a boy very hard. My dad thumped me with the fact I'm not. The Superior Court is going to make me legally an adult, anywhere. I'm gold sash pan-marta and district small-arms champion. I do everything but farm. I didn't want to face the fact my home didn't offer what I wanted. I can't build things for anyone else, Captain. I can design things for them, but not the things I can build. Valady trusted you. I know I'm too trusting. I work at it and I come from an environment where all are trustworthy. I won't make the decision. If I don't build them for you, I won't build them.

      You'll build them for yourself some day.

      Not in time to get Valady's great-grandson. I can help you do it faster and help reduce the danger of it. Let's start with what we know. He's been gone three years, but she was sure he was alive.

      She'd have known if he died, Zen.

      Accepted. I'd know if anything happened to one of my family. That part of the talent is pretty common. It's the other they're after, and three years says they're trying to mindshape a kid because the adults just decide to die if they mess with them.

      'Mindshape' is a new term, but I understood it completely.

      Haleff Ibinibic used it in his description of the use of Freivdevvi's formula in rehabilitation of severe social maladjustment. In other words, on people convicted of major crimes. Pearl Green chose not to use any chemical treatments specifically for rehabilitation. If we can't heal them with the truth and treatment of physical problems, if any, we won't use suggestibility drugs to make them like everybody. I don't like everybody. They learn civilized behavior is not doing anything about it unless attacked, or they're kept away from those of us who have agreed on that definition.

      I like it, but I like this world's culture in general.

      "One reason the princess chose you is because the right people will insist on assisting you, Captain. Defense is the only legitimate reason for weapons. Defending the attacked and overmatched is the only legitimate reason for the weapons I will build. It's a real story. My dragon is a ship and the queen who aids the boy is her captain. You're

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