There was no question about it, Alek's primary quest was to return to the real world, ideally through a game portal, but it appeared to him he had only dug himself a deeper hole. In the yawning vastness of space, time becomes a plaything. Out amongst the swirling galaxies and burning stars, a second can stretch into an eternity. Days on the Excalibur were marked by the harmonized dance of distant binary stars and the flicker of quasars from unexplored galaxies. Time was a matter of perspective, an abstraction made malleable by the sheer immensity of the universe. But for Alek, the inter-realm wanderer turned reluctant spell-weaver, time hadn't just slowed—it hung by a thread. " His consciousness was ensnared in the digital ether of the game.
The real Alek, in all likelihood, was either slumped over his desk in a drool-drenched stupor or sprawled out on the floor, serving as a makeshift chew toy for his overly enthusiastic canine. He wondered if time for his conscious avatar was the same as it was for the real Alek? If so, real Alek would be needing help really soon if he was to stay alive.
Down in the hold of the Excalibur, Alek's bond with the orb was unfolding in stages. Despite protests from Javid and the others, Alek demanded to be allowed back into the hold. Javid relented, and Alek found himself alone in the hold with the orb floating before him. It felt safe. He had never felt safer. He opened his palms and the orb, which was baseball sized, floated into them. The skin of his palms tingled in response to the forces being emitted by the object, yet it wasn’t unpleasant. He could feel its warmth permeating his body.
The orb had already begun to download information into Alek. An undulating ribbon of revelations, sparkling images popping off in his mind’s eye one after another, each one expanding the margins of his understanding. The orb was much more than an artifact—it was more a living entity, one oddly harmonious with Alek’s life force, and its harmonic resonance tapped into the heart of Alek's magic. It felt like an adrenaline rush, enhancing and morphing his spellcasting abilities. The clear-cut edges of incantations blurred, evolving into something far more potent.
Engrossed by the orb, Alek was oblivious to his crew's alarmed calls and their stunned faces on the other side of the barrier. The world outside of the orb had blurred into insignificance. In the underbelly of Excalibur, with the constant rhythmic vibration of the engines his only company, he cradled the orb in his hands. With every chapter of knowledge unfurled, revealing itself to him like an ancient scroll was unrolling in his mind. As Alek's understanding bloomed, as the orb showed him the farthest corners of existence, and vast mysteries of the cosmos from stellar formations to the cryptic nature of black holes. He could feel himself falling in sync with his very life force, as virtual as it was, even while he grew only too aware of everything tiny and large that he knew little to nothing about.
Alek's fingers gripped the orb, his knuckles whitening as if absorbing the deep hum of its circuits and intrinsic techno-magic. His body felt foreign, as if governed by another consciousness. Alek was a spectator within his own flesh and blood, his nerve endings humming with an alien resonance. He did feel a vague sense of rising panic as the alien glyphs continued to flicker in his mind's eye at an ever-quickening rate, incomprehensible symbols he was beginning to understand. He refused to let the dread overcome him and willed himself to overwhelm the presence of the orb. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did.
He exhaled, feeling the invasive intensity of the orb diminish like a spent wave. Yet, the sense of well-being and mental sharpness it had imbued stayed. Yes, he felt really good, and he chuckled in delight. The sound of his laughter jarringly loud inside the metallic hull.
Not everyone forms a bond with an ancient, sentient orb and unlocks the hidden magical powers therein. I’m the game master. I’m superman! Immediately the thought had crossed his mind he sucked in his breath, and waited for the orb to react, but it didn’t. It almost seemed to be smiling at him, and perhaps a little mockingly, he thought.
The interaction with the orb had been a journey of exploration into the unfathomable depths of the unknowable. His magical arsenal had bloomed beyond his imagination, almost expanding into the realm of impossibilities. His powers had evolved. He could feel as much. The orb had shaped him into something more than a mere game master. In fact, he felt quite sure his new status was something quite unique, even in the grand and absurd scheme of this game universe. In the ship's silent belly, he gawked at his HUD's new stats like a kid unwrapping an over-the-top Christmas present. The numbers were straight-up ludicrous.
Learning Index: +10.
Harmonic Resonance: Synchronized.
Cabalistic Connection: Amplified.
Spellcasting Potential: Increased.
Game Master Status: Activated.
Mage Significance: Questionable.
Save File Status: Expanding. Mage Powers: Retained.
Evolution Status: Active.
Magical Evolution: In Progress'.
For Alek, this felt like he'd stumbled upon a cheat code in a noob-friendly RPG. The orb had granted Alek access to a previously unfathomable arcane arsenal: an ability to bend space-time, to harness the energy of stars, and to glimpse the dreams of giant sentient planets. His magic had ventured beyond known boundaries, now thriving in the realm of cosmic esoterica. Only Alek didn’t actually know any of that. He felt good and strong. He could feel the magic in him, overflowing and rippling outwards. Sure, it was subtle but it was definitely transforming. There was newfound spells he saw in his HUD and he was eager to try them. There was a noticeable increase in his mana pool. Surely, all of these changes were signs of an evolution underway. He was becoming the game master he had always envisioned.
That's gotta be worth some bonus points in the 'getting out of this mess' game!
He was aware too of his deepening connection with the orb, and that his understanding of magic was also evolving. The orb wasn't just supercharging his abilities—it was turning him into a living, breathing lightning rod for magic.
Javid, Yara, Isolde, and Hugo could only gape as Alek, orb in hand, started glowing brightly. At first, they thought what they were seeing was light coming from the orb, but the mage began to shine so brightly they had to shield their eyes. They were in doubt no longer that an interaction of some kind between Alek and the orb was indeed taking place. For a span of time that could have been a minute, or maybe two - a duration that really felt like an eternity to the onlookers - Alek seemed to shine. As they watched, his glow dimmed, and once more he was your average human in an incongruous and impractical light blue gown standing in the harshly lit hold in the pit of an interstellar spacecraft.
*******
The alarm blared through the ship, pulling everyone from their tasks. Captain Javid's voice echoed through the intercom. "This is a blue alert. Be aware, we are monitoring a craft of unknown origin matching our route and speed. Imaging and stats can be viewed now."
Throughout the Excalibur all eyes were on the nearest screen. Wherever they were gathered, the ambient chatter was replaced by a tense silence. Their eyes mirrored the glow from the holographs like those of a prey mesmerized by the gaze of a predator as they ran over the jagged lines of the alien craft.
On the screen at the front of the bridge, the craft was at the center of a glowing circle to help the crew locate it. To Alek the alien ship was nothing more than a tiny flickering light against the darkness of space.
" AJ, give us a close-up! Display it in full-screen glory," Javid ordered.
“I am zooming in now, Captain,” the ship’s AI replied.
The image immediately filled the screen, a shimmering hologram that resolved into a massive pointy object. The vessel resembled multiple razor-edged katana blades that intersected one another. It was the image of a silent floating predator waiting for the right moment to strike. The object was unmistakable and terrifying—an alien battleship. Forged from shadowy, reflective metal, and bristling with unseen weapons, it exuded a menacing aura. The very image of a silent yet palpable declaration of war.
Alek couldn’t tear his gaze from the gleaming monster. The game had just kicked into nightmare mode.
“Nasty design,” the navigator exclaimed.
“Have any of you seen anything like that before?” Javid asked the bridge. The crew shook their heads in silence. “Yara?” Javid turned to his second.
"I'd wager my last shot of Zaardfory vodka they're miffed we took their shiny magical marble," Yara grumbled, doing his best to sound nonchalant.
“Captain, if I may?” AJ said, the AI’s tone unnecessarily calming.
“Go ahead, AJ,” Javid said.
“I have picked up a transmission from the alien craft. It appears the orb’s displacement from the home constellation where it found us, has not gone unnoticed. It was the coveted prize of the lifeform known on the battleship now on your screen.”
“The Trenit,” Yara muttered screwing up his face to look more unhappy than he usually did.
“You’ve heard of them?” Javid asked.
“Yes, Captain. The Trenit are known for their brutal control over whatever they consider to be their domain. Occasionally, Trenit marauders will venture far from their domain if there’s something they particularly covert.”
“So, what is it with that orb?” Isolde asked, turning to Alek.
“Don’t ask me,” Alek told her.
“Well Alek, you ARE the one on this ship to have communicated with it,” Yara told him with raised eyebrows.
“It’s not as if it’s talking to me,” Alek replied, a little too defensively. “It’s more like a movie implanted in my head.”
“It’s communicating with you,” Hugo growled. “Maybe you just aren’t smart enough to understand what it’s saying.”
“Take it easy,” Javid said, turning from the screen to face the others.
“Yara, tell me what you know about the Trenit?”
“They are overlords, holding dominion over numerous star systems. Their insatiable thirst for power is legendary. Apart from that we know very little about them. They have always stayed clear of our worlds. They have a reputation for vindictiveness.”
“Oh,” Javid said, with raised eyebrows. “That does not sound good.”
“AJ, have you learned anything more about what they are up to? Why they have chosen to pursue the orb?”
“No, I cannot detect any clear reason they are here, Captain, but they do appear to be highly agitated. I recommend talking to them. I will create a line of communication with them when you are ready.”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"Javid, do you think the orb could have broadcast our location?” Hugo asked.
Javid slumped back in his seat. “Unless we want to believe in coincidence, that’s probably what happened.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” Alek said. “It’s helping us.”
"It's helping you," Hugo said. "We've no real evidence yet that all this voodoo stuff is going to be of any use to us.
"Call it whatever you like, but Alek's magic got us back on track," Isolde told Hugo.
“Good thing, because it was his voodoo that took us off route to begin with, and bought that lot chasing after us,” Hugo snapped back.
“Now, now, kids,” Yara growled. “Play nice.”
“Cool it!” Javid told Hugo. “"We need level heads keeping a laser focus on that mobile death star."
Down in the hold, the orb's energy had flared, its glow pulsing like a techno beat in sync with the proximity of the alien dreadnought. The orb had reached into the Trenit ship, but it was no bond of mystic design. This was a cold hard probe for every strength and any weakness.
No longer was the Excalibur just a ship; it had become the epicenter of an interstellar tug-of-war. A line had been drawn in the cosmic sand, and with the Trenit already breathing down their necks, Alek and his crew were racing against the ticking time bomb of an impending showdown. The journey Alek had initially considered a science fiction adventure had now morphed into an interstellar war scenario. He was fully aware that the last place he wanted to be was on a spaceship about to become the epicenter of an interstellar bloodbath.
********
Alek was wrestling with his own tidal wave of burgeoning magical abilities in the chilly confines of the hold. He felt a strange energy radiating from the orb, seeping into him. It was like an esoteric download of alien magic - raw, powerful, and untempered. He pulled together his newfound power, and poured it into upgrading the ships weapons and defenses. But it wasn’t easy. His hands trembled, etching complex magical sigils into the air. Each glyph demanded unyielding focus. Every incantation shaved slivers off his life force, leaving him gasping for breath. His energy had drained and yet enough persisted, fueled by sheer will and the survival instinct to drive him onward, because he wouldn't allow himself to fail.
With the Trenit exhibiting hostility, the dynamics of diplomacy had been upended, the game pieces thrown into the air, and the rules rewritten. Even as Alek dealt with his burgeoning magical abilities, he prepared for the incoming alien threat like he was sailing through an ocean of energy, wrestling against the ever-changing currents while attempting to harness raw, unyielding power to his will. He told himself he wasn't just a player; he was the game master. Maybe soon he would actually have reason to believe that again. With the orb as his magic cheat code, Alek flung himself into the frenetic pace of preparation, weaving threads of magic into the ship's walls, crafting weapons shimmering with a distilled force, and inscribing intricate, glowing barriers throughout the Excalibur.
The tension on the bridge was palpable. The Trenit battleship was keeping a good distance from the Excalibur, but it probed them intensely. When the alien ship finally did attempt communication, the bridge listened in bemusement to a profusion of shrill squawks.
“Captain, I don’t have the data to translate their language with all tonal nuances intact, but a math-based interpretation reveals the message to consist mostly of a single demand; 'Give us our orb back!’" the ship’s AI quipped.
“AJ, what is their fighting capacity compared to that of the Excalibur?”
“Their fighting capacity outclasses ours by a staggering margin, Captain," the AI responded. "In terms of raw firepower, tactical capabilities, and defensive measures, their technology appears to be several generations ahead."
A run of the alien ship’s stats appeared at the front of the bridge, together with revolving 3D engineering plans of the ship’s weapons systems.
“AJ, you haven’t fully labeled the weapons,” Hugo said loudly.
“I don’t have the data allowing me to specify weapon type and capability, Chief Engineer,” AJ reported. “I can show the placement of those weapons I recognize as such, but that is all.”
“I don’t want to get into a tangle with advanced military technology I don’t understand, Javid said. “Alek, go down to the hold with Hugo and security, and coax that thing into a shuttle.”
“Yes, Captain,” Alek said unhappily.
"Lieutenant Commander, you go with him,” Javid said, holding Yara's gaze for a long few seconds.
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Yara said, equally unhappily.
*******
“There’s much more I can learn from it,” Alek said Yara as they and Hugo entered the transporter together. It’s taken quite a liking to me you know?”
“We noticed,” Yara replied.
The orb sprang to life like it might respond to a beloved pet the moment Alek stepped out of the transporter. It glided rapidly to the three to hover in the air before Alek. It was as though it was keenly studying his face, which in fact it was.
Bearing a healthy suspicion of the alien device, Yara and Hugo hung back. Further down along the hold, a second transporter door opened and five soldiers stepped out and immediately fell into a readiness formation, dropping down on one knee with the barrels of their pulsars pointing at the orb.
"Lower your weapons, but hold your positions," Yara ordered them. "Sergeant, you know why you are here, right?”
“Yes, Lieutenant Commander,” the soldier replied. “We are to ensure the orb is secured on a shuttle, and if need be, should it resist, to destroy it.”
“Very good. For now, we will wait to see what Alek can do.”
“Alek, what ARE you doing?” Hugo demanded as he saw the mage start to glow. “He’s as much risk to the ship as the orb,” he muttered to Yara. “Just a matter of time.”
“Calm down, Chief,” Yara snapped. “He’s a mage. They aren’t like us.”
Hugo turned to Yara to reply, and closed his mouth before uttering the words.
Alek was seeing an endless overlapping reel as though he stood in the center of all, so that the colors, shapes, textures of objects and beings overlapped and swirled like nebula in his mind. It was as though he had walked a kaleidoscope of ancient, ethereal truths. Alien landscapes, and towering monuments. He stared in awe at star systems being born and dying – a cosmic story older than the worlds surrounding Earth than the universe itself unfolded before his internal gaze, and no matter how he tried he could not switch it off. Finally, it came to an end and he slumped to the floor of the hold.
“The orb isn’t simply ancient,” he told them. “It’s proto every epoch recorded by a civilization.
“It told you that?” Yara asked.
“Yes,” Alek sighed. “It wouldn’t shut up.”
Of course, Alek was totally unable to comprehend the volume of information the orb threw at him, let alone all that it still had not, but he caught the general drift, and the message behind it.
He turned to Yara and Hugo. “It doesn’t want to end up in the hands of the Trenits.”
“It doesn’t get a say in it. Next, you'll be telling us it has feelings and aspirations," came Hugo’s scornful retort.
“Sergeant, ready a shuttle,” Hugo called out.
“Yes, Chief!”
“Set on drone mode,” Hugo continued. “To be controlled by the bridge. Let’s get this thing in a shuttle and be done with it.”
“The trouble is, it does have a say,” Alek told Hugo.
Hugo snorted in derision. “Like hell it does!”
“What do you mean,” Yara asked.
“It’s not going to allow us to put it on the shuttle,” Alek said.
“Wait, are you saying it's sentient?” Hugo inquired in disbelief. "How about it’s a hyper-advanced, emotionally stunted, hunk of alien metal?" Hugo scoffed.
“It’s alive,” Alek told him. “It’s mega powerful. We won’t be able to make it do something it doesn’t want to!”
“But you can talk with it,” Yara told Alek. “Make it understand. It seems to have bonded with you.”
"If you can't get it to play nice, Alek, guess who else will be on that shuttle?" Hugo threatened, with a thin grin.
A giant image filled the hold of a shuttle leaving the hold. The craft moved to a rendezvous point between the two spaceships and sat there. Behind it the Excalibur appeared to shimmer for a second a two, then it exploded. Tiny bits of it scattering into the void, until not a trace was left.
“What the…” Hugo began.
“That is what will happen to us after we release the orb to the Trenits,” Alek said. “They destroy the Excalibur.”
“The ungrateful bastards!” Hugo shouted indignantly. “But, how are we to know that’s for real? The orb just conjures up the future?”
"It's not a definitive future, but a projection based on current trajectories and decisions," Alek clarified. "The orb's capabilities allow it to simulate possible outcomes based on the information it has. It's like a supercharged quantum computer, evaluating billions of potential scenarios in a blink." It wasn’t a voice in Alek heard in his head. The answers to Hugo’s questions just appeared, and he knew with a certainty he couldn’t fathom that they came from the orb and not his imagination.
“Is there a percentage chance attached to that?” Yara asked Alek. "The likelihood is over 65%, according to the orb," Alek said.
“How does it get the video?” Hugo asked, but Yara and Alek ignored the question.
“Captain?” Yara called over the intercom, his voice fraught with unease. "We have a... situation.”
The trio found themselves in the hot seat, but the heat of Javid's interrogation focused squarely on Alek.
“I thought you told us you felt a connection with this thing,” Javid said unhappily.
“I do.”
“Then why is it so keen to make my ship fight with the Trenit?”
“It doesn’t want the fight, Captain. It is telling us a fight is unavoidable.”
“What about a negotiation?” Javid asked Yara.
“Doesn’t seem possible, Captain,” Yara answered. “Not according to the orb.”
“That’s if we go by what Alek is telling us,” Hugo growled. “Perhaps what the orb is telling him is lost in translation.”
“It’s speaking quite clearly to me,” Alek insisted. “If we go ahead and give them the orb, they destroy us anyway.”
Javid was appalled when he heard Alek’s report. “It makes no sense for the Trenits to attack us,” he said to Yara. “They have pursued us outside their territory. For what reason?”
“Could be the alien artifact, Captain.”
“The orb? It was uninitiated. A chunk of inactive metal floating around in open space.” Javid scratched his beard as thought. “Better not take any chances. Get Alek to use whatever of his magic he can harness to get us into the best state of readiness possible. I want above and beyond our present capabilities. That ship looks formidable.”
“You want to scare it?” Yara said, looking startled.
"I want to fight it, man! And I mean to beat it into submission, if that’s what it takes to protect this ship, the crew, and our mission.”
And, just like that, the hum of the starship and the casual chat of crew in passing was replaced by the thundering noise of weapon systems powering up, and the reverberating sound of battle prep, Soldiers ran to their stations and combat commands were issued throughout the ship. "Down in the hold, the crew were priming their lightly armored but agile small fighter craft."
Alek had descended into the bowels of the Excalibur. The ship’s armory was a futuristic den of cutting-edge technology. A high-tech workshop, with exotic alloys, anti-gravitational devices, nanotech injectors, and there were racks of hand weapons, light armor fit for the vacuum outside, and the power packs providing for the spacesuits and the weaponry. Alek positioned himself at the workbench, a digitized menu of mage glyphs popping into his view as he interacted with the ship’s crafting interface, his every action monitored and facilitated by game mechanics.
“See what you can do with these,” the gaunt faced officer said, waving her hand at racks of high-density plasma rifles. “Cerulean power cells all of them,” she told him snapping one off the rack and switching it on.
The weapon whined softly as it powered up in his hands. “Good for extended use, but not nearly powerful or accurate enough over a distance. Not in the vacuum of space. Can you amp these up for us? More punch, more accuracy, more distance.” She grinned at Alek. “I'm not asking for the moon here, am I? You know, they call you the magic man.”
Alek nodded, “They do indeed, and I can do more than give you all that. I can give you an entirely new weapon.”
He set to work, matching his boosted spell craft and the technical details of the handheld guns fed to him by the orb. Weaving his energies into a lattice structure intertwining with the molecular makeup of the weaponry and physically altering their state. Sparks twined between the rifles and his palms, tangible threads of mana bridging the gap, infusing into the devices through the palms of his hands. As the guns absorbed the force, the energy density of the power cells, enhanced by occult fusion, shifted from light blue to a brilliant violet hue. It didn’t take him long to fill the racks with magic-infused pulsars.
“Here, try this,” Alek said when he had finished, handing the soldier her gun.
The soldier powered it on again and stared down at the weapon shuddering in her hand. “What did you do? Feels like this thing is about to start a heartfelt conversation with me.”
“A little density work,” he told her. “Some additions here and there. Your weapon now has an auto-guidance enchantment. With that you can now lock onto the enemy's life signature whenever you aim it. The pulse will track around corners and through walls to destroy the enemy.”
“No escape, huh?” The soldier asked.
“None,” Alek replied. “Better make sure you are pointing it at the right target before you pull the trigger.”
“Oh, I always hit my man,” she laughed, a gleam of anticipation in her eyes. “And, if the Trenits do get a toe on this ship, they'll be met with my warmest welcome.”
*******
Alek began setting up magical defenses throughout the Excalibur. Esoteric symbols of protection etched into the metallic walls, warding spells whispered into the humming engines. The entire ship hummed with an unseen resonance as the game’s algorithms seamlessly wove alchemy and technology into a coherent system, merging it into high-tech hardware.
The crew worked in unison; their efforts guided by a singular goal. Protect the ship, or die trying. After upgrading the weapons the soldiers carried as well as the weaponry decking out the fighter craft in the hold, Alek turned to adding to the layers of hexagonal shields that lined the hull of the ship. Compressed layers of graphene and titanium alloy. Each shield laced with photon reflectors and quantum dampeners, designed to maximize kinetic absorption and disperse energy attacks across alternative dimensions, reducing their impact.
Alek closed his eyes and whispered incantations, his magic seeping into the layers, forming an additional layer of shimmering forcefield. Now, not only could they absorb kinetic and energy-based attacks, but they could also repel high intensity beams of types the Excalibur was not sufficiently equipped to withstand. The enhanced shielding Alek provided became more than protection for the ship and its crew—it became an act of supreme resistance.
In the midst of this chaos, the Excalibur bloomed into life. The magic and technology fused so intricately, the spaceship bloomed into a radiant phoenix, screaming its defiance to the void. The unintended consequence of their survival preparations was they’d flagged their location, sending out an SOS no passing space entity could miss. Their small cosmic corner was about to get a little more crowded. Another watcher was about to gatecrash Alek’s party.