Partway through my third meal (I was so hungry), this time eating something called steak and potatoes, the ship lurched forward. It almost felt like it had stopped too quickly, and the force was too much for the vessel to stabilize correctly. As it happened, my food slid off the pristine white table and into my lap. I leaped from my seat and cursed.
“What was that?”
“The ship has left hyperspace, Rayden. We are almost to our destination.”
Grumbling, I wiped off perfectly good potatoes from the armor I still had on. I hadn’t felt comfortable removing the armor, especially in places I knew nothing about–like a spaceship with magic food and hyperspeed.
Dex directed me to return to the control room, so I did, but I wasn’t happy about it. The gravy from the steak had seeped through the leather bits in my armor and started making my legs cold.
“Are you going to control me to fly the ship again?” I asked Dex.
“I wasn’t controlling you, Rayden. I merely connected my system with your brain and the ship’s systems. We became one entity, and only temporarily.”
His explanation didn’t make me feel any better about it. I slowed my steps on the stairs, nervous to return to that vegetative state where I’d watch my body do things without my say.
“Are you able to do that with me whenever you wish?”
“Oh, no, Rayden. Only when there is a vessel or other machine you are intended to connect with. The Ambition was built by Lord Solomon many centuries ago and responds to his DNA. Artificial intelligence is important in the functioning of this ship, so he designed it that way. Once the ship recognized you as Lord Solomon, I was able to help you control it.”
“It didn’t feel like ‘helping’ at all,” I muttered aloud and under my breath, “more like you forced me.” But Dex ignored me. He probably had no idea what it felt like to have someone take over your body–he didn’t have one.
Soon, I settled back into the large chair at the head of the control room and closed my eyes, awaiting another takeover. But it didn’t happen–not yet.
“Rayden, if you look out the window ahead, you should be able to see planet X-47-35. That is our destination.”
Eagerly, I rose just enough from my seat to get a good view. My breath left me at the sight. Is that what planets looked like? Just giant orbs floating in the sky among the stars? The planet was still distant but massive, definitely at least 100 times bigger than The Ambition.
The sphere turned slowly, revealing colorful swirls of cloud-like matter that covered every piece of it. I then saw strips of gray, green, and red underneath the clouds–land masses, maybe? But what surprised me the most were the large sections of deep blue boring into the planet. Was that… water? So much water! Had water mages been able to create that much water that could cover nearly an entire planet? The water mages in Edrona had had a hard enough time maintaining an oasis just half a mile wide. Or had the water on this planet just… been there all the time? Naturally?
I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Is that what Dex had meant about needing ships to travel across large bodies of water? The blue on this planet stretched beyond pieces of land and even cut into some of the masses in thin and wide branches. People would definitely need some way of traveling through the water to reach other lands on planet X-47-35.
I was standing now, the chair pushed far behind me and my hands leaning against the control panel. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the sight. Thoughts like, “How many other planets are like this out there? Are they all the same? Different? Are there others like where I’d come from?” tumbled in my mind before Dex interrupted,
“Rayden, we must begin our descent now.”
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With eyes still on planet X-47-35, I scrambled behind me in search of the chair, then finally pulled it underneath me and sat.
“Alright, I’m ready.”
The same as before; A wave of other-worldly thoughts coursed through me, taking control of all my faculties. I tried to avoid internally screaming in terror this time and just enjoy the descent.
I screamed internally anyway.
Something else that I would have no way of knowing… Objects enter a planet’s atmosphere quickly. A little too quickly for my liking. I swear to you that I saw orange flames licking every side of the ship as I plummeted to what I was sure would be my death.
And that was the first time I felt grateful for the AI’s control over my brain. If I had been flying the ship by myself, which I doubted was possible in any sense of the word, well… I wouldn’t have been able to. I would have been too scared.
After I’d calmed my thoughts for just a second, I found through Codex’s and my connection that the flames and terrifying speed were all very normal, and the construction of the ship and the set-up of the interior kept me safe.
Well, don’t hold it against me for thinking that something that looked life-threatening was indeed life-threatening. And I planned to make that mistake again. It seemed like the only way to survive this insane world that I apparently knew nothing about.
The speed of the ship just seemed to get faster as it fell through the pinkish-red clouds in the planet’s sky, then approached a dot of blue that increasingly grew larger and larger.
“Uh, Dex, are we landing in that water?”
No answer. Of course, I should have known Dex wouldn’t respond while he used me to fly the spaceship. He hadn’t before! And, of course, I couldn’t squeeze my eyes shut in anticipation of the impact. I couldn’t even blink. I hated this mind control situation more and more.
Just before the ship smacked against the smooth surface of the blue water like a beetle against my shoe, the ship made a whooshing sound, slowed, and then rose slightly higher. My pulsing blood rushed to my head, and I pictured myself sighing in relief (somehow, imagining myself controlling my own body made me feel better). And then, without any warning, the ship dropped from its hover and landed in the water.
Foamy waves of dark and light blue crested over the ship's hull, and I half-expected the vessel to sink. Who knew how deep this body of water was? If it could cover a large portion of a planet, it could also have great depths.
But, the ship floated. Like that one fat priest back in Edrona who had never even needed to learn to swim–his massive body had been buoyant enough.
As soon as the spaceship settled, my hands clicked a few dozen more buttons, then pushed the levers forward. All of a sudden, I was cruising through the water toward… What? Land?
My question was answered once the hull of The Ambition struck a strip of yellow dirt-like land. I hadn’t seen dirt like what the spaceship had wedged itself into before. I searched my head for the information through my AI/ship connection but found that I had moved my hands into my lap by my own volition. The connection had been severed yet again.
“Dex, that is the strangest dirt I’ve ever seen.”
The golden flecks of dirt were so small but piled up in tall crests and peaks, and they continued on as far as I could see. The dirt glinted brightly against the one massive sun in this planet’s sky–I had to squint my eyes in order to continue studying my surroundings.
“It is called sand, Rayden. Often found at the banks and within the depths of oceans.”
“What’s an ocean?”
“The body of water you just traveled across. An ocean is a large body of water filled with salt. Many sea creatures, or ocean creatures, live within its great depths. These include countless types of fish, sharks, whales, and various plant life.”
I didn’t understand any of the creature names Dex had just listed to me.
“Did water mages conjure these oceans?” I couldn’t imagine the Tier level of a mage that could create such an expanse of water. The ocean made the oasis in Edrona look like a tiny puddle.
“No. Oceans form naturally on planets like this one.”
I looked through the spaceship’s windows behind me and back to the vast expanse of water. Who knew what mysteries lay beyond the giant waves and salty water? Salt in water, however… I didn’t like seeing so much water that I couldn’t even drink! It seemed like a complete waste, and the thought wrenched at my desert-raised heart.
***
The spaceship seemed to have reentered its “autopilot” function. Before I knew it, the dripping wet machine had begun a slow, hovering descent into a cave-like structure, similar to the first facility I had found the ship in.
The land the ship had flown over before tucking itself away underneath the earth had consisted of nothing but sand. I hadn’t caught sight of any buildings or life–not even any animals, just a few strange, bent-over trees with a bundle of long green leaves hanging off the ends. But I had a feeling that there was much more of the planet I had yet to see.
Dex said I’d be safe on this planet for the time being, I thought to myself. He said that I'd be protected here from anyone above Tier 15, which should include a god. But if there are no people or any creatures to fight, how am I supposed to train?
My worries, however, would soon be squelched. All I needed was just a little more patience.