Two Castastrians glide through the cosmic sea. Their tiny spacecraft is a silent theatre amidst the swirling symphony of passing planets and stars.

KARNAT "Strange. This is so... Hey! Cogarath!"

AMARAZ "You don't have to yell you know! I'm right here! What's up?"

KARNAT "You said that we were going extremely fast, so why does everything outside move so smoothly like I'm driving in a normal land vehicle?"

AMARAZ "You mean like a car ride?"

KARNAT "I'M NOT GONNA REFER TO IT AS THE HUMAN CAR RIDE!"

AMARAZ "Ok, Jeez. Didn't know you hate humans? Oh... Wait a second. Right... I'm sorry."

She can't help but fixate on his left arm. Her gaze tries to escape, but in such a confined space, she finds no refuge.

KARNAT "It's ok. You can look. You must think I'm pathetic for losing to humans."

AMARAZ "Oh no! Not at all! You were facing humans wielding the ancient relic. Without a doubt, if it wasn't for that you would 100 percent win!"

KARNAT "I'm... I'm not too sure about that."

His fingers grasp the cool steel of his mechanical arm... Amaraz's hand softly overlays his.

AMARAZ "There. There. It's ok, everyone fails from time to tim-

KARNAT "It's not about that!!! Cogarath, LOOK AT THIS!!!"

Her eyes dilate, the sight before her brimming with an unfathomable dread. An involuntary shiver courses through her, compelling her to avert her gaze.

AMARAZ "I see... I-I-I'm sorry that I-

KARNAT "It's fine. Too late for that now. Just leave me alone."

Karnat rolls, allowing the cold window to press against his form

KARNAT "Oh... you haven't answered my question."

AMARAZ "Ah-Of course, this is just a holographic gif!"

KARNAT "I knew it. It was too good to be true."

His mind is an echoing void, mirroring the profound emptiness that sprawls beyond the window's cold glass.

Amaraz's hand quivers, yearning to reach out. Yet, she hesitates...

AMARAZ "Dammit, Amaraz! You really blew it this time. This is the only time you get to spend time with him. Come on think! There must be something you can do to cheer him up. Wait! I know!"

AMARAZ "Ummm... Karni."

KARNAT "..."

AMARAZ "Want to hear some military secret I got from her majesty."

KARNAT "... What? Now you caught my attention. Tell me the details"

AMARAZ "Yes it worked!" "Alright, It's about the bioforgers."

KARNAT "Ah... those bastards... did they come up with new ways to combine shit with more shit?"

AMARAZ "That would make it a pile of shit."

KARNAT "Yeah, just like their entire group. HAHAHAHAHA! But seriously though, what are those assholes up to?"

AMARAZ "Her Majesty didn't give me specific details. But all I know is that it has to do something with consciousness and it will bring about a new age. Seemingly, whatever they did... no it's like whatever they made, they got at least three prototypes. Whatever that means. I also heard a rumor that these prototypes are actually out in the open for the first very time."

KARNAT "I don't care as long as it serves The Empire, then it will be good. Cogarath, let me ask you something. Why did you choose to serve The Empire despite your ability?"

AMARAZ "Oh that... it's because of her Empress. I owe my life to her."

KARNAT "She saved you, huh? When?"

AMARAZ "It was around 12 years ago, I was about to grow out of my larvae cycle and begin growing limbs. My town was being destroyed by a massive hairy creature. What's even worse was that at the time, my parents were bedridden and ill from a recent epidemic. The beast stopped at nothing and my house was in its path. I couldn't do anything but crawl as its overshadowing feet slowly descend on us. But then... they came... The Empress herself and her companions came. They slay the beast in an instant. I remember how she would smile at me before going on to save the other villagers."

KARNAT "WOAH! WOAH!...WOAH!!! You got to see her majesty before she was crowned. That's a great honor! I am so fucking jealous!"

AMARAZ "Ah sorry! Maybe I shouldn't have told you."

KARNAT "Are you kidding me?! That was awesome! So what was she like? Her appearance? Her comrades?"

AMARAZ "My memories are a bit foggy so I couldn't recall much about her majesty's friends or her for that matter. However, I know that she was a caring young teen and had the aura of a hero. The weirdest thing is that her majesty and I had a similar scalp formation."

KARNAT "What?! No way! Holy shit! This info is out for all to see but they don't know! Hahahahaha! Let's keep this between us! Hell, I bet the other generals and the royal guard don't even know this!"

AMARAZ "True. Anyhow, we're almost there. Anything else you want to know? Not relating to the previous topic of course."

KARNAT "The Quantum Leaping or whatever."

AMARAZ "Sure, let's begin with gravity. Karni, do think you that gravity can be distorted to go in any direction that we desire."

KARNAT "Wait... isn't gravity like something caused by a heavy planet on the time-space whatever?"

AMARAZ "Yes, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity has long been proven to be true. However, have you ever wondered why celestial bodies only go down instead of up or right or left on the space-time fabric?"

KARNAT "No... science isn't my profession."

AMARAZ "Oh, right. What I'm trying to say is that there is a way to change the direction of gravity. Using this!"

Karnat's gaze lands on the object she offers him.

KARNAT "Isn't this just red meat? It does smell funny."

AMARAZ "Weird, right?! I'm still stumped about what it is! Is it an organic or metallic material?"

KARNAT "Metallic? It doesn't look like it."

AMARAZ "Yeah, about that. When it's exposed to a strong amount of gravity, on atomic levels its cells morph and harden the material into a vermillion red metal."

KARNAT "Ok, that is weird. So this thing can cause gravity to shift."

AMARAZ "Yes, think of it as a mirror and light relationship. Gravity bounces off not only the metal but also any object that it's touching. Simply, holding this object can cause you to be in zero gravity."

KARNAT "But I'm not floating. Is there a limit to this thing?"

AMARAZ "There is, unfortunately. It needs to be large enough and it only protects an instance. Let's say If you're holding it, then your body and clothes are safe but anything you're touching or standing on won't be, and vice versa. We're still trying to learn how this metal differentiates this."

KARNAT "Where did this metal come from?"

AMARAZ "I don't know, we only know that it existed since ancient times and it can be found throughout the universe. Some places have more of the stuff almost as if it was ripped from something. On Caverrin, there used to be tons but now... it's all gone because we used it to construct our system for teleportation."

KARNAT "Hmmm, interesting. But, how does this have to do with leaping?!"

AMARAZ "It does because we constructed a massive container which we call a "Gravitational Compression Storage". I learned of a way to compress gravity itself and store the amount of force within this structure. Once, we have enough, we release it in a direction causing the structure to pull everything within that direction."

KARNAT "Wait... so that's why you made this model so small so it costs less gravitational force to travel."

AMARAZ "Not just that, since it is small it will go faster. The problem with that is that the ship could impact another object that has been caught by the pull. So, I compress A LOT of shit onto this ship so it would survive and fly through the obstacles instead of going off track. Oh, there's one thing... I... I feared we would have died by now."

KARNAT "What? What do mean?!"

AMARAZ "Well... the thing is... this is the first-ever test run of calculated shot. You see I invent an AI to determine the right time to fire the beam for which there is the least amount of obstacle within the distance between the storage and my ship. It also determines the size, concentration, and distance of the beam so that it doesn't go past the ship, doesn't make us go too fast, and only pulls the ship. It does this by calculating the amount of force and configuring the size of the storage's barrel."

KARNAT "I... now sort of get it. But, why call it "Quantum Leaping"."

AMARAZ "Oh, that! It has to do more with the way we manage to gather and compress gravity. You're probably wondering if this method can only be used to fly to the storage. Nope! You can just turn on the thrusters and move out of it at any time along the way!"

KARNAT "That's very neat. So this place you're bringing me to how far is it exactly?"

AMARAZ "It's exactly 100000 light-years away. Let me see where we're at... OH! Karni, Look!"

Karnat's jaw slackens. Before his eyes, unfurls a gargantuan mechanical edifice, dwarfing Earth in its sheer magnitude. It has the shape of a planet.

AMARAZ "Karni. WELCOME TO NOVA!"

A ceaseless ballet of ships courses in and out of this steel titan. Four satellite-like structures orbit it, their glow striking a familiar color.

KARNAT "Wait, you have four!"

AMARAZ "Err... don't let that fool you. We only have one. The other three are still in construction. Karni, brace yourself! We're making an impact!"

He perceives their vessel's intensifying velocity, taking them towards the colossal storage... the distance rapidly decreasing.

KARNAT "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!... Wai-What?!"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The forward viewport frames a daunting view... An immense sheet of dark metal, cradled by mechanical arms extending from the storage's sides. The tips of these arms are sheathed in white metal.

KARNAT "This... This black metal... It's null rotatenium!"

AMARAZ "AHAHHAHAAHAHHA! Holy shit! You should have seen your face."

KARNAT "SHUT UP!! I WAS UNAWARE! But really, I got to hand to you, using this is quite genius."

AMARAZ "I know... sadly now I have to actually drive to land this baby."

The miniature ship glides in proximity to a sealed gate positioned near the station's zenith. Adorning the gate, bold letters proclaim "AC".

As the gate unfurls, Amaraz guides the transport to a landing within.

Stepping out, Karnat and Amaraz are met with a chorus of salutes, a multitude of workers parting to form a path before them.

AMARAZ "Wow! As usual, that always feels good! We're here! Karni let's-

KARNAT "Halt! Before we go off, Cogarath... Who are you exactly? Why do you know so much?"

AMARAZ "It's simple really. This entire place... it was my grandfather who founded it."

KARNAT "What?! That means... That means you're in charge of this entire station!"

AMARAZ "Yep! Come on, I'll show you around."

Navigating through labyrinthine corridors and grand halls, Karnat's eyes capture glimpses of diverse chambers— bedrooms, cafeterias, kitchens, and living spaces.

KARNAT "Doesn't seem like a place for work?"

AMARAZ "Ah that's because we're in the outer section of the station where it is suitable to live in. Why? Because they have to."

KARNAT "Wait, so they can't return to Caverrin?"

AMARAZ "Yep, we need as much staff as possible to keep this place running. Hell, right now it's being operated by 5 million robots and 6 million staff, but still, countless problems occur. It's frustrating as hell... but that's what being a leader is like."

KARNAT "Yes, I know your pain."

AMARAZ "Awww, Karni. Were you trying to make me feel better?"

KARNAT "W-WHAT?! NO, SHUT UP! FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!"

Amaraz's laughter cascades, guiding him deeper into the maze as if circling toward a hidden core. Finally, they reach a lone door...

AMARAZ "BEHOLD!"

Karnat's gaze sweeps the surroundings, enveloped in a vibrant vermillion hue. The room takes on a circular shape, and beneath his feet, a platform revolves, tracing a path around its perimeter.

KARNAT "Why are we not in zero gravity?"

AMARAZ "Oh, strong magnets. The door attaches them to your soles when you entered."

He looks down and far below he sees a red sphere, He drops to the floor and pushes himself against the wall. His breathing becomes heavy.

AMARAZ "Karni, are you alright?!"

KARNAT "Wha-what's in that sphere?!"

AMARAZ "It's a... It's a black hole. Gosh, I've seen people shock from seeing it but it was never this bad."

Karnat regains his composure, rising to his feet as if nothing happened.

KARNAT "I see... I was just surprised. So this is the source of all that stored gravity."

AMARAZ "It's not just that. This is where the magic happens. First, let's begin with the origin of this place."

KARNAT "Fine, for once I'll indulge myself with your stories."

AMARAZ "Alright let's start with my grandfather..."

  William Cogarath, whose age was halfway through his lifespan, and a Castastrian of science. One day around 1843, the invention of the first computer program caught his attention. Though, he didn't do much except check up on the development of programs over the years. As they get more and more complex, an idea—No, a theory was forming in his head. This theory is called "The Quantum Engine" theory. Wait...

AMARAZ "Ummm, Karni. You know what a computer program is, right?"

KARNAT "OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT IT IS! I'M NOT AN IDIOT!"

AMARAZ "Oh, just making sure. Moving on..."

  He suggested that our universe exists within the framework of the program. He means that things like gravity, forces, chemical elements, and the laws of physic are just components or functions within that framework. My grandfather believed that if this is true then there must be a way to tamper with the program's coding, changing the codes of reality.

KARNAT "No, way! Does that mean-

AMARAZ "Hold it! Don't get too excited. It's not that simple. You see..."

  Creating a theory is one thing, but proving it is a hassle. Gramps learned that the hard way, he became obsessed with finding proof. He went through countless experiments like writing random letters, combining elements that shouldn't be combined, and downright detestable ones as well. Hell, one of his experiments sparked the creation of the Bioforgers.

KARNAT "What the fuck?! Are you serious?!"

AMARAZ "Yep, he was splicing creatures to see if their sounds alter the code. Anyway,..."

  His obsession was so bad that kept doing it until he was frail and bedridden. His life was at its end, and all his trials led to failure. For one last experiment, he passed on the details to my father, Maxit Cogarath. After his burial, it was my father's turn. He followed what Gramps wrote and gathered as much of the material Grandfather mentioned. He even gave the material a name, "Gravitum metal".

KARNAT "So that red stuff down there and covering this room is called "Gravitum"."

AMARAZ "There's also one on your right shoulder."

KARNAT "EH?! How did that get there?!"

AMARAZ "Relax, the doors shoot a piece of compressed Gravitum every time you enter. For safety reasons."

KARNAT "Ok, that makes sense. Carry on."

AMARAZ "Ok, so..."

  My father and his team of researchers began testing. It started with seeing if the material's size mattered when it comes to resisting gravity. It turned out that Gravitum of 50 kilograms or lower can be swallowed but it caused the black hole to stop emitting gravity. Guess what they did next.

KARNAT "They created that sphere down there, right?"

AMARAZ "Nope! That was after. What they did was..."

  They build a mechanical claw made of Gravitum and grabbed a piece of iron. Then they put the iron into the black hole itself! To their surprise, there was no resistance. They assumed that the iron was swallowed, but when they pulled. They couldn't believe their eyes. The iron turned into something out of this world. A group of moving squares.

KARNAT "Doesn't sound that interesting?"

AMARAZ "Hey, I'm not done! They aren't just squares..."

  They were 2D squares, a two-dimensional anomaly existing within three-dimensional space. Every time they tried to look around the object, from each of their perspectives, the anomaly was always facing them. It's like it only exists within the vertical axis of our reality. My father then ordered the researchers to seal the black hole, creating a hatch in case they need it again. My father then became curious and released the clump of squares and it began to sink downward. One of his colleagues tried to grab it but phased through him. His suit and body became distorted... No, that's not the right word. "Glitched" was more fitting, and at that moment, my father gave it a name, "Glitch note".

  After the incident, they needed a way to contain the notes, so they did a couple of tests. The result was that when affected by a low amount of gravity, I'm saying like Earthish, it will suspend its location. So they just brought in a gravity chamber and placed more notes in it. When moving the chamber, they found out that for some reason the notes move along instead of being dragged to the back.

KARNAT "What do you mean?"

AMARAZ "What I mean is you know when you drive a ship and your body pulls back. The notes don't do that, they just stay in a place like they were a part of the chamber. Do you know Photoshop?"

KARNAT "Yes, I'm somewhat familiar. Wait... do you mean like the grouping of layers?"

AMARAZ "Exactly! It's such a mystery to me. Unfortunately, it's too risky for me to run tests."

KARNAT "But you have... you know what never mind! Continue."

AMARAZ "Ok. After finding the storage method..."

  My father decided to experiment with different materials and found out that there were only 5 types of notes. The first types were failed glitch notes, these white notes serve no purpose at all and they formed from throwing in wrong materials into the black hole. These are very troublesome since they could pile up when testing different combinations. So, Dad found a way to get rid of them... throwing them back into the black hole.

KARNAT "Sounds simple enough. What about the other types?"

AMARAZ "They are the painful part. You see..."

  These types, each have a different color: red, green, blue, and grey. Each represents the language of the four planets. Red for Castastrian, Green for human, Blue for Walteran, and Grey for Gassion. Right now, I'm ignoring blue and grey, focusing on the green glitch notes by her majesty's order. It means I'm trying to decipher those into English letters and numbers.

KARNAT "I don't get it."

AMARAZ "Ok, listen carefully..."

  The green glitch notes from time to time will form parts of an English letter or a number. Currently, I'm trying to figure out which materials create that specific number or letter. Then I'll make a sorting algorithm to select and store them in separate storage.

KARNAT "Wait. Wait. Wait! You're telling me that there's a specific combination of things in this universe that form that exact letter or number. How are you supposed to figure that out?!"

AMARAZ "Yeah, that's the frustrating part! We just trial and error, again and again, ending up with millions of false glitch notes along the way. Now you can see why there isn't much we could do with this technology."

KARNAT "That sucks! I was hoping for more!"

AMARAZ "I know... Hey, maybe one day... There's one good news though. We managed to make pretty good progress with our language."

KARNAT "Wait. Did we even have a language? All I remember is that you go up to someone you want to talk to and let your antennae touch theirs. Then you can project a message every time you grab the bottom end of your antennae and they immediately understand what you want to tell them."

AMARAZ "Yeah, our language isn't really voice-operated. As in, there are no actual letters or numbers, just colored pheromones that fly at the speed of light that are impossible to see."

KARNAT "Wha-what?!"

AMARAZ "Yeah, you see, Karni. We have a sack in front of our brains that is connected to the antennae. When squeezing your antennae and while formulating a message, colored glands appear and exit the sack, turning into pheromones. All of this happens within 0.000001s."

KARNAT "Wait... so is it one color at a time?

AMARAZ "Wow you catch on fast! For some reason, these colors correlate with the alphabet and numbers. This means, there are 37 colors. Let's say you want to tell them the word "Cat", then the color pheromone order would be cyan, amaranth, and then terracotta."

Karnat looks fixated and he doesn't respond.

AMARAZ "I'll tell you more about it next time. Let's get back on track..."

  For the red glitch notes, the squares randomly form complete letters or numbers in a certain order with a total of 6. These represent the Hex Colour code of our pheromones. Let's take "00FFFF" which refers to Cyan which to us is "C". Thus, that note is the letter C for the Castastrian language. Also, sometimes, they just form a single symbol like ":" or "{" or etc.

KARNAT "Ok, I'm starting to understand. But what's the point of them?! What do they do?!"

AMARAZ "That's the fun part. You see..."

  Glitch notes can be arranged into lines on the vertical axis. My father found out that there is a specific language for a function to happen. It's similar to a programming language like CSharp, Python, and more. I call the programming language of glitch notes "MOTA".

KARNAT "So, He lined the glitch notes in a certain way to make something happen, right?"

AMARAZ "Yep, but he only managed to do it with the red glitch notes which we have already identified plenty of letters. The functions he managed to create are... Wait... I got a better idea."

From her back pocket, she retrieves a rectangular object.

KARNAT "What is that? An iPad?"

AMARAZ "No, of course not! This is way more advance! It can store up to 10 terabytes of data! Anyway, here. Look at this..."

  function.active(true).{button}:

This generates a button that allows a function to occur. The button is generated nearby the codes and it is green.

  function.active(true).{If: motion = false}:

This causes the function to occur when a lack of movement happens.

Now for actual functions.

  function.active(true).{button}:

  [create.intake]

This creates a spot where an object can be placed, so a function could happen to it.

  intake.active(true).{button}:

  [search.motion(main).history];

  [locate.Cpostition]

Generate another button which upon pressing will search through the movement history of the object that the placed object was once a part of and tell us where it is.

And finally...

  function.active(true).{button}:

  [create.intake]

  intake.(true).{If: motion = false}:

  [search.motion(main).history];

  [locate.Cposition];

  [Transform. Cposition = x(), y(), z()]

This is how our soldiers return to each of their ships.

KARNAT "Hold on! how do you know the x, y, and z?"

AMARAZ "Weren't you listening? We just use the locate Cposition to learn the coordinates."

KARNAT "Oh, wait... that means there's a code for each soldier and ship in the Empire!"

AMARAZ "That's right. Now, you see why we need more staff."

KARNAT "Wow, that's amazing! And you're in charge of all this! Why have you never told me?!"

AMARAZ "You never bothered, idiot! Wait, you hear that?... It's about the start!"

The two see a line of Gravitum claws enters the room across the ceiling. One by one, it dips and creates glitch notes.

AMARAZ "These will go to our inspection department to see if they are the same or a new glitch note. If new, they will go to our research department where we create an algorithm to sort the new ones into new storage. While the same glitch goes through an already-created algorithm. Then they are picked and sent to the code rooms for the assembly of new functions. We do need to manage those codes because sometimes the notes flicker out so we have to replace them. Also, If it's a failed glitch note, then it will return here to be put back into the black hole."

KARNAT "Wait, what about the compression of gravity? You know for the Quantum Leaping."

AMARAZ "Oh, I made the function using red glitch notes. Here take a look..."

  function.active(true).{button}:

  [provide.source.gravity{x(), y(), z()}]

KARNAT "Wow! That really shor-

A sudden tremor reverberates through the entire station.

AMARAZ "Oh shit! Why of all times?! Why isn't the emergency dispenser working?!"

Jolted off balance, she careens towards the edge.

Karnat grabs her, hauling her back to balance.

They hastily retreat through the door.

KARNAT "What's going on?!"

AMARAZ "The black hole is angry!"

KARNAT "What?!"

AMARAZ "We need to stop it with at least 50 kilograms of Gravitum or lower!"

Karnat sets her with a grave gaze. He seizes the Gravitum from his right shoulder.

AMARAZ "No! Karni! It's too dangerous!"

KARNAT "I wouldn't be the third general if I were a coward!!!"

Biting off a small piece of the material, Karnat holds it in his right hand.

Karnat returns to the room.

Returning to the room, the gravitational force intensifies, tugging at him with growing potency, drawing him ever nearer.

In a daring leap...

his body hurtles toward the gap in the vermillion sphere. His outstretched hand brushes the edge of the void, but with impeccable timing, he releases the material.

KARNAT "Whew! THAT WAS FUCKING CLOSE!"

AMARAZ "Karni, you did it! Don't scare me like that!"

KARNAT "Yeah. Yeah. Listen, Cogarath. I think... I lost interest. Just locate the humans for me."

AMARAZ "Yes, sir!"

Guided by Amaraz, they exit the room, Karnat's gaze lingering on the threshold before the doors seal shut.

Within him, a mysterious and primal hatred ignites, blazing with an intensity born from the depths of long-lost grudges.