Coeus?

“The resource war lasted from 2122AD to 2201AD. Afterwards it took the world almost two hundred years to recover back to a relatively peaceful state.”

History Lesson V

***Aether, The Floating City, above the Atlantic Ocean***

***Gideon***

It's the first time that I am with someone else without Melan being nearby. Grandfather Hedeon seems to be the silent type. He didn't say a word when Grandmother asked him to go on a walk with me.

Stupid daily exercises. Someone might think that magic has an easy answer to tiring training. I am already wheezing and sweating, but Hedeon is still walking with big steps. “Can we walk a little slower, Hedeon? Grandfather?”

He turns his attention towards me, but instead of smiling he just raises an eyebrow. “You do realize that children of your age are playing and exercising their body all day long?”

Great! Seems like I've found the strict person in the family. “Yes, but I really can't go on any more. Walking twice around this park takes three hours, but this time we are already done with the first round and it's been just fifty minutes.”

“Well, I guess walking a little slower is possible.” He returns his attention to the path through the park. The park is a public planted-area right next to our mansion. I have to exercise my body at least three hours each day.

In addition I got some books about mage history and our society.

Apparently the magicians decided to leave the rest of humanity behind sometime during the era of the Roman Empire. Of course they didn't leave all at once. It was a slow exodus, which ended sometime during the witch hunts of the Middle Ages.

“Grandfather? Was there a real reason why the magicians decided to leave Earth? The history book made it seem like the decision was accepted by everyone. That's suspicious.”

My grandfather stops walking and I run into his leg, but he stops me from falling. “You are right. The council of elders decided that being involved in the battles of the normals caused too many problems within our own community. Our people lived in all countries, but we all answered to the elders. They gathered everyone with magical ability and started the project to conquer space.

There were people who refused the council's point of view and stayed behind to help the normals in their struggles.”

“Then what happened to them? The book stated that the exodus ended during the witch hunts.” Although I asked, I already have my own theories about what happened.

“Everyone who wanted to leave, left. The rest stayed behind and had to deal with the normals on their own. Once the normals got the upper hand and certain religions started spreading, they had their needed reasons to burn our people. That's something they seem to like, even today.” Hedeon nods to himself.

Then he continues. “Do you know that some of their governments know of magic? They have special forces to hunt the last remnants of people like us. That's the only reason why Aether is still on earth. We are staying here just in case someone with magical ability might want to leave his hiding place.”

I nod. So they know of us after all. “Another question is why my amulet is so pricey? I had some time to think over it. Why are there problems with mining gold, copper and silver? Shouldn't there be enough metals out there in the solar system?”

It's the first time that I got a grin out of my grandfather. “You are right. We are mining tons of metals and other resources each day. But like it's always the case, you have to add other considerations too. Making a regeneration charm takes a lot of time from a highly skilled techno-mage who is specialized in crafting charms. Otherwise it might not work like it is supposed to. You don't want to start rotting from the inside, do you?”

“Then there is the point that the metals in question are highly sought after. Transporting something that heavy over vast distances is costly. In addition you need an approved pilot for a spaceship, generally a techno-mage. Teleporting goods over long distances is a waste of money and energy. And before you ask, we can't simply throw the asteroids from the belt on a course to the inner solar system. The normals would go nuts. Not that there is anything they could do about it.

“Moreover, we aren't using those precious metals just for toys or as currency like the normals. Our technology relies on high contents of gold, silver and copper. In certain circumstances we use graphite, but it doesn't take physical stress that well.

You need several tons of silver and copper to fit a spaceship with the needed gravity circuits and amplifiers for the pilot to even move the damn thing. And what do you think you are standing on? If the mortals knew what Aether is made of, they would declare a war to kill and pillage like in the old days.”

My eyes wander to my feet and suddenly I understand. Grandmother said that Aether's floating disc is one kilometre thick. How many metric tons of gold and silver must that be!? “Then I suppose that the ships in question also need technology to camouflage themselves? How much money does a pilot earn then?” If there aren't that many of them it has to be a lot.

Hedeon stands a little straighter. “It just so happens that I flew a spaceship for about sixty years until I met your grandmother. A hundred metres long and eighty tons of cargo. By the end of my service I made enough money to lean back for a while and to buy our mansion.”

“So what about the colonies? You saw them right? Which of them are the most interesting ones?” I start skipping. I want to fly a spaceship too!

“Well, we have colonies on all big celestial bodies. I suppose the one on Jupiter is the biggest and most impressive one. We dragged an asteroid into Jupiter's atmosphere to hide it there. It's the size of a small moon and has its own miniature sun.” Hedeon stops for a while to think. “The ones on Mars and the Moon are boring. They are essentially just underground cities. The rings of Saturn are also colonized.

“I guess what you would like the best are the main shipyards on Mercury. It's where we produce almost all of our ships. The entire facility is huge with almost twenty million people working there. In order to create the hulls for our ships we just have to bring the metals close enough to the sun and spin them into the desired form. It's the easiest way to do it. That's why most ships are either cylindrical in shape or huge orbs. Discs work too, but they aren't very efficient. Generally you want something spherical, otherwise you waste energy to teleport empty space.

But most magicians live in the belt. Out there we can do whatever we want without caring too much about drawing attention from the normals.”

That sounds boring. Maybe I don't want to be a pilot after all. “Cylindrical or huge orbs or discs? No way! It's your fault!”

“What's my fault?” Hedeon looks down at me with a disturbed expression. It's clear that my outburst surprised him.

“UFO's! You are the creators of that myth!” I point my finger accusingly at him.

“Ahem. Well. You are right. The information barriers for our small ships aren't foolproof. We created the myth of UFO's to explain some videos which we couldn't edit out of the information network. Especially a few hundred years ago it wasn't so easy to delete the camera footage of some devices, but we got better. So nowadays we do not need to rely on such methods.” Hedeon places his hands behind his back and starts walking faster.

“It's a direct result of the nature of our drives. We use gravity magic to create a force towards the desired direction. The ships practically 'fall' in whichever direction we want them to. In addition we use long range teleportation for very important deliveries. A teleportation field has the shape of a sphere by nature. So if you want to use a teleportation spell to its utmost efficiency, then the ship has to be a sphere too.”

“Then why do the pilots have to be techno-mages if we are regarded as weak?” I ask next.

“Isn't it obvious? A starship's main methods of movement are gravity magic and teleportation spells. Both are fields in which we techno-mages are above everyone else. It also has its benefits if the pilots have accelerated minds.” Hedeon squints his eyes at me. “But I get the feeling that you are rested by now. At least you have enough breath to ask questions, so we can walk a little faster.”

With that, Hedeon starts walking faster again, and I have to hurry after him with my small legs. No, I think that Grandfather may not have much empathy for children.

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