After I’d watched, in fascination, my fingers twiddle over nearly every button on the control panel (my arms had even pushed the mobile chair I sat in in about three circles to hit others around the entire desk), we entered what the information in my head called “hyperspeed.” The ship flew by the dots of silver stars so quickly that the lights from the orbs transformed into long streaks of silver flying by me so fast that I could barely see them.
But now, in this space, even going at the insurmountable speed that was hyperspeed, I didn’t feel my skin pull against me, or my eyes hammer into my head uncomfortably. And, of course, just by wondering why, the AI and ship in my head revealed to me that this was because of an artificial gravity I had somehow activated within the ship. Yeah, my internal companions also had to teach me what “gravity” meant, too.
All of a sudden, a release of pressure flowed over me, and I found that the twitching of my fingers and the tapping of my feet came from my own commands. Dex no longer had control over me.
“Did you release me? Do I not need to fly the ship anymore?”
“Not for the moment, Rayden,” Dex actually responded. “I, through you, placed the spaceship into autopilot once we entered hyperspeed.”
I expected more images and words to flash behind my eyes to explain the word “autopilot,” but it seemed my strange connection through Dex and to the ship had indeed been severed.
“What does autopilot mean?” I asked Dex instead.
“We are on a straight course for approximately two hours. So, the ship is able to fly itself for the time being.”
“Two hours?”
I leaned back into the cushioned chair and smiled with closed eyes. I finally felt like I could rest. But then my stomach presented itself at the forefront of my mind with its aches and groans. My eyelids fluttered open, and I sat up straight with a hand pressed into my abdomen.
I glanced around the control room, not feeling much hope about finding food in this room. But I had seen a lot of floors on this spaceship….
“Is there anything to eat on this thing?” Even in my head, my words sounded tired.
“There is a dining facility on level three, Rayden.”
The AI offered no other explanation. So, I just shrugged and rose from the chair. I stretched out the numbness in my legs. How long had I been sitting there? I attributed my sore muscles to have something to do with the fact that I’d had no control over my body for a lengthy period of time.
Remembering the staircase I’d discovered at the ship’s entrance that had climbed past multiple levels and led me to the control room, I found myself on those same stairs. I continued to climb down, passing every hall along my route that called out to me for a little exploration. But taking care of my angry stomach had precedence over anything else.
Once I reached the third floor of the ship, I found two branches on either side of me. Both halls were wide and tall, with cord-like strings lining every inch of the ceilings and emitting a dull yellow glow that lit the paths.
“The dining facility is to your right, Rayden.”
“Thanks,” I responded to Dex.
The hall I followed remained straight, and I only walked for half a minute before a sharp left turn led me to an oval-shaped room, similar to the control room but decked in all-white, like the entrance of the ship. Tall structures that protruded from the high ceiling jutted all the way to the floor. There were 10 of them, by my count. These flat pillars lined each side of the room, split evenly, with five on the left and the other five on the right.
Each of these structures had a large glowing square covering about a third of their surfaces. These squares with soft hues of blues and purples glowing and reflecting off of the pure white floor reminded me of a screen, like the one on the device in Lady Euridice’s temple–the very one that determined whether or not you had a Mark or any Soul Strength. Or, in my case, come and out UnMarked and learn that your Soul Strength number was too high for the device to compute.
In fact, both Dex and the Lord Solomon AI said it could never be possible to find out my Soul Strength number. I had a “god’s soul,” as they’d called it. Meaning, my Soul was perfect, and I didn’t have to strengthen it in order to advance through the Tiers like anyone else did. I had no limit to how strong I could get or how high I could climb–as long as I didn’t die on the way, of course.
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Right in between the strange pillars stood three long white tables and stools of the same length across on either side of the tables. So, there were definitely places to sit and eat, but I had yet to see any food. My stomach growled at me, even stronger than before. This felt like torture.
“You may place your food order into any of the kiosks, Rayden,” Dex told me mid-stomach-growl.
Like I said, torture. “What’s a kiosk?”
“The structures with the screens, Rayden.”
I released an exasperated sigh. “Thank you.”
I had been right. The white pillars taking up both sides of the room had screens on them. I approached the “kiosk” closest to my left and stood before the screen. The light it gave off seemed to shine even brighter once I stepped into its vicinity. I blinked a few times, then decided to press a finger onto the smooth surface of the screen. It felt exactly like the one in The Temple of Euridice back in Edrona; smooth, cool, and overall pleasant to the touch.
The screen reacted immediately to the poke of my finger; it flashed in a bright white then presented the words,
WELCOME, PASSENGER OF THE AMBITION.
The Ambition, I thought, is that the name of this spaceship?
I wondered about the vessel’s history. Had Lord Solomon built it? How old was the thing? I made a mental note to ask Codex these questions later. I was too hungry to care enough about it. However, I felt no surprise that, if this was indeed Lord Solomon’s ship, he had named it The Ambition. As far as I knew who the god had once been, he’d been one of the most ambitious people I’d ever come across, climbing the Tiers at record speeds, creating academies on entire planets, becoming a god…
PLEASE MAKE YOUR FOOD SELECTIONS, the screen read.
My eyes widened as a list of hundreds of words scrolled over the screen. The only food names I recognized were “eggs” and “water” and one or two fruits and vegetables. Like, what was a chicken? Or a steak? I only ever ate lizard and snake meat. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we’d catch a quail or crow and eat their meat and eggs. But it was becoming apparent to me, as the list of food options continued, that our palates in Edrona had been severely lacking.
The food was listed on the left side of the screen, and the drinks appeared on the right. Through a lot of guesswork, I finally decided on one of the first meals listed, “Roasted chicken breast, green beans, and potatoes.” And, not wanting to dare into unknown territory any more than I already had to, I selected water to drink.
The screen went blank, then read,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SELECTION.
PREPARING YOUR MEAL NOW.
I stepped back, eyebrows drawn together over narrowed eyes. I circled the kiosk, searching for a tube or compartment that could hide away some food. Then, I whirled around myself and studied the dining facility as a whole. Besides the kiosks and empty tables, the room was bare.
Where does the food come from?
It seemed the kiosk could read my thoughts. Just as I wondered where food was kept in the entire empty room, the kiosk I stood in front of hummed softly. A whoosh sounded, and then a slim panel fell open right underneath the screen, revealing a tall glass of clear water with a shiny silver envelope resting against it. The silver package was thick and had no resemblance to food.
I couldn’t help but circle the slender pillar again. Had the food just appeared from nothing? I determined that it had to have been some sort of spell.
Cautiously, I wrapped my hands around the water and package, then pulled them off of the tray within the machine. I had to balance the silver envelope on my entire left arm to carry it successfully to the closest table. It was heavier than I’d anticipated.
Once seated, I downed the entire glass of water first. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since retrieving water from that cave where Lady Euridice had visited me. Hours? An entire day? Regardless, I knew that I needed it. The crisp liquid soothed the dry burning in my mouth and throat.
I slammed the glass down once I’d emptied it and smacked my lips. The water tasted almost as pure as the oasis water back home. Water mages had the ability to conjure water that tasted like nothing, which was definitely a good thing. Not a speck of dirt or any strange metallic taste. “Pure” was the only word for it. And the water on this spaceship held a close second to the oasis water.
I could get used to this.
My eyes moved to the ominous package sitting suspiciously beside the now-empty glass. Without too much thought about it, I pulled the envelope in front of me and tore off the top. An onslaught of steam stung my face, and I threw my head back, squeezing my eyes shut against the heat. The package hadn’t been hot on the outside!
With the tips of my fingers, I pulled at a sliver of something metal-like poking out of the hot envelope. As I kept pulling, a tray revealed itself and slid out of the bag. Piled atop the tray was a mound of something pearly-white with a golden rectangular slab melting on top of it. Next to the mound stood a thick piece of brown meat glistening in its juice, and a pile of green stem-like plants also sat in the mix.
I could guess what each was based on the name of the meal the kiosk had shown me. And it didn’t look too strange. The chicken breast looked similar to a quail breast, and the green string things had to have been the green beans. So, that made the cloud-like pile of white… potatoes. A fork and a knife were conveniently packed into the envelope with the rest of the food, so I decided to dig in without another thought.
My eyes widened as I took a scoop of the soft potatoes and shoved it into my mouth. Salty, soft, and creamy all at once. I especially loved whatever that golden-yellow square was that melted in my mouth.
“Dex,” I called to him mentally, not worried about still chewing and shoveling more of the delectable potatoes and equally tasty chicken and green beans as I did, “what’s the golden piece of food on top of the potatoes?”
“Butter, Rayden.”
“Delicious!” I said aloud through another bite of the potato cloud. “I want butter on everything!”
Even as I ate, I pictured how good this “butter” would be on a piece of bread. And that was a genius idea if I might say so myself. I doubted anyone else had ever thought of it.