Coeus?

“The first probe to the moon has started! Humans are going to visit Earth's satellite once more after several centuries of abandoned space flight.”

-Newspaper

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

***Gideon***

“And how is it going?” Saden asks from across the table.

“I think it's okay, though the other kids in my class are annoying.” I answer, not hiding my impression of them.

Since I am going to school too, Saden and I decided to meet in the canteen during lunch breaks. It's nice to have at least one person to talk to. Saden is eating fried potatoes, while I chose tomato soup and fish sticks.

“They are doing that intentionally.” Saden answers with a full mouth, shovelling even more potatoes into it as she speaks.

I take another spoonful from my tomato soup. “They? Doing what?”

Saden tilts her head. “The school's administration. They split us techno-mages evenly among the classes. There aren't more than two techno-mages among each class. It's supposed to teach us to interact with other people of our age.”

I let the thought sink in. “It strikes me as strange to follow the body's age in this matter. Wouldn't it be much more appropriate to sort the children according to their abilities?”

Saden shrugs her shoulders. “I don't claim to understand their reasons, but the decision was made by our lead psychologists. So there has to be some sort of twisted sense to it.”

Probably there is. But if so, then I fail to get it. Though I already gathered that mage society is highly efficient. A space faring culture with survival in mind has to be.

From my studies I learned that we mages are living essentially in a technocracy. Even though we are governed by the council of elders, the elders aren't politicians. They are the most capable individuals from each magical branch. The decision on who is going to be the elder is made during special election exams, which test an individual's abilities and character.

If I took a test during the next election and scored highest, I would become an elder for example. If I don't want the job, then the position is offered to the second place and so forth until someone is willing to do the job. Though it's very doubtful that I manage to do that.

From what I gathered by reading the books I would score zero points on character.

“Do you already have an idea what you want to do in the future?” Saden asks. “It's good to plan ahead. If you take the right learning schedule, you can be out of here by the age of twenty.”

Nodding, I start explaining. “I thought about making a tour through the solar system. I want to see all the colonies and fly my own ship while doing so.”

Saden's eyes widen and she starts choking on her potato, but manages to swallow it down. “You do realize that spaceships are costly? Who would build it for you? It would be much cheaper if you simply take one of the regular flights.”

I shake my head. “That won't do. I want my own, so that I can fly where I want to. I already made a ten-year business plan to finance the voyage.”

“If you manage to pull that off, then I am going to be your co-pilot.” Saden takes her glass of water to flush down the potatoes.

I drop my head in resignation. “Yes, that's the only problem. I would need to take the test to become a certified pilot.”

My cousin shrugs her shoulders. “What's the problem? You made the rest sound so easy that the easiest thing about it shouldn't concern you.”

Reaching down into my backpack, I pull out a big, fat tome. “They want pilots to know everything about their ships! It's a pain in the ass! I just want to fly one, I don't want to build the damn thing!”

Saden smiles and rolls with her eyes. “Why not? If you build it yourself, you eliminate the problem of having to pay for all the needed gold and silver. Just fly out to the belt and start mining an unclaimed asteroid.”

I close my eyes. “I think you aren't taking me seriously.”

“No, I am not.” She throws back her long hair and continues eating her potatoes.

I eat my soup and start working on the fish sticks, but a message arrives shortly before I am done. A letter starts blinking in my field of vision. It's something I learned during magic classes. Apparently my ability allows me not only to create a virtual space.

I can create whisps and task them with certain jobs. They are essentially portions of my mind which are split off. Having too many of them makes me slower though, so this spell isn't almighty and only suitable for techno-mages.

The message is from the program which I corrected a few days ago. Apparently someone activated it to test it out.

When I tweaked the program, I added a few lines of code which use the net to report back to my account.

The program was essentially turned into a Trojan horse. Interested in the creator of the code I access the computer on which the program was installed.

Apparently the trojan horse gave me access to a sub-network of a company. “Saden, what's StarDrive Inc. C.?”

Saden looks up from her potatoes, an expression of joy on her face. “Oh, that's interesting. They are a major producer of gravity-controlled fusion reactors, a main component of spaceships. Their heir is in my class and the same age as me. Do you want me to introduce you two? We are also both members of the computer club!”

I cut the connection. “That won't be necessary. I am not interested in any of the clubs.” My encounter with the thug taught me that I have to acquire certain skills if I don't want to be stepped upon. I have to find a way to deal with violent encounters. Even though the spells I learned by now seem very strong, the thug still managed to hurt me. It also has to be taken into account that he has the simple mind of a child. So I read up on the reasons why techno-mages are regarded as weak combatants.

What I learned is that the cast-time to power ratio of techno-magic drops with more powerful spells. The runes which are required to cast techno-magic are by nature very complicated. Since it's settled on fields like gravity, teleportation and telepathy, you are also a little restricted in your possibilities to attack someone.

Looking at another branch like pyro-magic shows you that the required runes are much simpler and easier to use.

Only very old techno-mages are able to overcome this weakness by sheer experience. They become so adept at casting certain spells that they can take shortcuts in the creation of spell-runes.

Unfortunately it doesn't help to simply learn pyro-magic. Using a spell, which you don't have an affinity for, causes you to use up much more of your power than is necessary. That's bad because magical exhaustion results in unconsciousness and can cause death in severe cases. According to the books someone's affinities result from the way in which he is using his brain.

Grandmother already demonstrated this to me by letting me cast the basic runes for force and heat as often as I can. When I cast force, I can go on for over a hundred times until I start feeling tired. Upon trying to do the same with heat I started feeling dizzy after only sixteen times. A pyro-mage would have the same results, just the other way around.

That's why all spells are split up into categories which look like skill trees on a huge two dimensional map. A mage's ability is partly defined in how many spells your affinity covers. Normally you get access to a certain area of this tree. In some cases someone's ability partly covers neighbouring areas.

It could be entirely possible that I can use a few spells of the lightning or metal-categories, which are closely related to techno-magic. Grandmother already implied that my ability to create sparks between my fingers is a good sign for the future.

I won't know my own abilities until my magical education has reached the point where I can try to experiment with spells that don't belong to my category.

In fact Saden's big sister is an electro-mage with access to a few spells of the lightning and techno-branch, which makes her actually a prodigy. Sadly she didn't inherit the accelerated mind though.

Finding a way to work around this weakness feels like a necessity to me. Otherwise mages with simpler affinities will be able to overpower me by being able to cast more powerful spells in a shorter period of time.

“IT'S HIM! He is the one!” Someone screams at the entrance to the canteen and I turn my head to find out who's causing the ruckus.

“Ah, it's the thug.” I note with an extremely emotionless voice. I can't help myself. Meeting this guy again is a real downer to my mood. He is with an adult who could be a teacher. Just to be on the safe side I activate my ability and slow down my perceived time a little bit.

Before the man can stop the boy, the thug does something with his hands. The next moment he rushes at me with incredible speed, his fists glowing in a blue light.

Though this time I am a little more prepared, prepared for violence.

I grab the fork and point it at the thug. A simple force-spell sends the tool on its way, but the thug slaps it away with a simple flick of his hand.

In the next moment he has reached me, but this time his hit is a little harder to dodge. He isn't aiming for my head, but for my chest.

Since I already know that his fists have to be taken earnestly, I cast several layers of force-field in front of my chest.

Feeling the impact on my chest I cast Force on my own hand and stab it forward, embedding my fingers into his eyes. This is the way I came up with to enhance my own body. If I can't keep up with my enemy, then I have to play my body like a doll on strings.

But his eyes are a little more resistant than I thought. Obviously it doesn't work like in the movies. His eyeballs don't pop, or are pushed back into his head. They just feel like a very resistant, slimy, rubbery mass.

I change the plan and create an electrical current between my fingers. The moist eyeballs are perfect contact points for electricity. Tasking a part of my mind to switch the current on and off is a simple matter. I feel a grin appearing on my face. So I became an electrical eel after all.

After I am sure that my opponent is affected by my attack I let time run faster again.

The boy spasms with chattering teeth and goes to the ground. My eyes fall onto the knife which was intended for my meal. Being attacked once is something I can deal with, but being attacked twice in this manner... that's the last straw. No matter who he is!

To outsiders my actions might look like they were taken in the heat of the moment, but I think I already gave this too much thought.

Dangerous animals have to be taken care of! I snatch the knife and stab the boy on his way to the ground.

Then I drop myself onto him and start going for his vitals. Arteries, face, chest. I don't want him to die immediately. Blood starts spraying in a beautiful arc as I raise the knife for the finishing blow.

Then my body suddenly halts and I can't move any more. Damn! Flicking my eyes around I find the man from earlier pointing both hands at me. Did he cast a spell?

Nooooo!!! Why did I have to make him suffer instead of ending it right at the beginning? Now he will attack me a third time for sure.

Life sucks!

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