Also on this level was the Crystal Room. Thiswas a secure room with no physical doors, and no one other thanMantis and the seven of us had seen it since we had ordered thestation’s workers to seal it off. The last they saw of the room, itwas completely empty. They thought we were nuts for wasting thatspace. The room did not stay empty for long, thanks to somedonations from Mantis.
Inside the room was a round table made ofpure, polished amethyst surrounded by seven thrones. In the centerof the table was a diamond sphere that we used to communicate withMantis. The room was not only sealed physically, it was also sealedwith the most powerful magic locks we could muster, and whenever welearned of better spells we upgraded them immediately. This was ourofficial council chamber where we met to make rulings and plans. Itwas sealed off from the noise of life so that we could focus on thetask at hand, and secured so that no one could monitor ourdiscussions.
From there I went down to the next level,which contained the crew’s quarters. This level was mostly emptysince the ship was designed to carry one hundred and fiftyfamilies, and there were only seven of us. With all this space tospread out, we ended up choosing seven rooms that were all in acluster together. The rooms were all very similar. They eachcontained a sleeping section, a bathing section, and an area foreating and working. The ship had a larger room that was typicallyused for captain’s quarters, but I decided to make it into a guestsuite for entertaining official dignitaries. Each of our rooms hada telepathic seal on it so that we each had a place to retreat to,a little bit of solitude to help balance the constant close contactthat our powers caused between us. This was something the othersinsisted on, and I did not understand at first. They had spent mostof their lives living with their minds in virtual glass houses, andI had only just begun to experience the openness of it all. Forthem these rooms were a lifelong dream, and for me it almost seemedlike a step back to my previous life. Since it was so important tothem, I did not fight them at all on it. Now that I had spent moretime in that glass house with them, I was beginning to understandthe need for these sanctuaries of peace.
Below that level was the central core of theship. All the critical ship’s systems were here, including thebridge, central computer core, engine rooms, and medical wing. Themedical wing was a bit superfluous for us, since Kellyn’s was farsuperior to any mundane medical treatment, but Darnath pointed outthat someday Kellyn might get hurt and we might need it.
When the council was formed Mantis had saidwe would all need to learn all forms of magic, but that seemed tobe impossible. Each of us knew the basics of all the powers, butcould only excel in one or two areas. Any of us could heal basicwounds and sickness, but if it was serious only Kellyn could healit. The same was true of Gafar’s ability to probe minds. When Iquestioned Mantis about it he just laughed, and never did answer.Mantis, for all his desire to help, was often a bit hard to makeout.
The ship’s machine shop and fabrication roomswere on this level too. There we could make whatever parts orequipment we would need, assuming we had enough raw materials onhand. Everything on the ship was designed to be recyclable so thatin a pinch we could rip out nonessential parts and reuse them tomake repairs to crucial systems.
The next level was taken up entirely by theship’s gardens. Here was the source of all of our food and oxygen.A large force of robotic workers maintained most of it, but Kellynhad staked out a plot of her own. It produced no food; she justwanted a place to grow some pretty flowers. Since most of what wasgrown we could never have begun to eat, giving a small plot to herwas a luxury we could afford.
The lowest level on the Nevermore was mostlyunused at this time. It was the area designated for teaching andtraining new wizards. Jerran was often down there practicing hisspells. He had a real affinity for explosive and fire magic so heneeded a safe place to work where he would not be in danger ofdestroying anything. In fact, it was during one of his practicesessions we learned just how much Kellyn’s healing power wasgrowing.
Luke, who also had an affinity for elementalmagic, often came down here to practice his art too, though his wasmore centered on electricity than fire.
Andreya had it much easier, as she couldpractice her powers anywhere. Andreya was undoubtedly the master ofillusions, such that even the master wizards of Mantis’s realm wereimpressed by her skill. According to Mantis there were very few whocould match her, and he knew only of one to exceed her, and thatwizard was a member of their council!
Kellyn had a lot of opportunity to practiceher healing arts during the refitting of the ship, as many workersthroughout the station learned to come to her first for treatmentof any serious injury. Her skill grew at a phenomenal rate. At onepoint I personally witnessed her cause a man to grow a new arm thathe had lost in a blaster misfire many years before. After a while,we had to set specific hours during which people could come to herfor treatment, just to prevent her from getting overworked. Thestation workers might have feared us, but they were sure to missher.
Darnath also would come down here to practicehis art. We were a little surprised that Darnath turned out to bethe one to have an affinity for summoning magic. He could callforth all kinds of creatures to help us in our tasks.
The shuttle bays were on this level, and soonthe Dark Talon would be parked in one of them. The Nevermore wastoo massive to be practical for use in reaching the surface of aplanet, so I requested several small ships similar to the DarkTalon to be used for that purpose and for other times when weneeded small vessels. The Emperor gave us three such craft, whichwas less than I wanted, but more than I expected so I guess itworked out for the best.
That completed my tour of the ship so Iheaded for the mess hall to meet Kellyn. She naturally knew when Iwas coming, so the fact that I was thirty minutes late was not anissue. As I arrived she was just finishing laying out a nice steakdinner. I smiled as I saw her; she was stunning with her long, darkhair and slender build.
Somewhere along the line we gave up any hopeof hiding our growing relationship. At first we both tried to denyit, even to each other, but none of the others believed us. Whyshould they have? After all, we all had basic telepathicpowers.
Because of the pace of life — her clinic, thework necessary to get this ship ready, and the intense study — wehad not had a lot of time to spend together over the last year, butwe made it a point to meet for dinner like this as often aspossible. The others always seemed to find something else to dowhen we met up, for which we were grateful. Of course, the onlytime we were truly alone was when we visited each other’s quarters.This was a special dinner, though, and I did everything I could tomake sure she did not guess it. That was not easy considering howdeeply she knew me, but I believed I had been successful.
Our conversation at first was very casual andwandered around from topic to topic. Then she mentioned how nice itwould be for me to see my old shipmates on the Dragon Claw again.That was the opening I was looking for. “That will be nice,especially to see the captain again,” I said.