"Knock, knock"
They accelerated with 0.2 g. His inner clock must be still confused from the jump and the long repairs yesterday because he had slept past 3000, and that on the second day in real space. A delicious smell was in the air: Jerka had prepared again something special. "I am awake. A moment, please."
But first the ship: "Simon, status?"
"Marik, good morning. We are on course. I suggest entering the jump with the maximum speed we can handle, quite above the insurance limit. Because the coil failure made me worry about the other coils. Any extra delta v will reduce the time in 4D and minimize the risk. We will be in the jump window at about 4700. And the washing machine has finished."
A worried AI, great. But their current transit system was uninhabited and even unmonitored. So no one would complain, it sounded very reasonable. "Simon, yes, add the extra speed, go up to 0.4 g if needed but do not stress the mains to much. Thank you."
"Marik, 0.32 g for the next 4200 then."
Immediately his weight increased. He hastily put on the striped shirt and shorts.
Out of his hatch, he froze. Jerka wore a black dress with stripes of glittering stones. The dress showed her midriff and generally very much enhanced her female body. Her face has also changed, she had painted it. "Wow, Jerka, er, I mean."
She smiled her familiar smile. He felt better. "Too much?"
"Why did you paint your face?"
"You have never seen makeup? You really need more exposure to humans. You don't like it?"
"No, no, it is just, you, you look so different. Actually, to be honest ... "
"Say no more. And which clothes did you like the best?"
He swallowed. "The one you wore when you came on board. Those were."
"Say no more!" She went back into her cabin and emerged very soon with a similar set, a T-shirt torn off at the bottom and jeans, torn off above the knee. Quite above the knee, showing plenty of smooth skin. Her face was natural again, the makeup gone. "How about this?"
He nodded, blushing, with wobbly knees despite only 0.32 g.
"This is anyway much more comfortable. So come, sit down." She pointed to the table, which was overflowing with tiny dishes. "The best human dishes, at least according to Jerka," she proudly introduced. "The one is called for example tempura, fried mushrooms and vegetables. And here is something similar, Scottish eggs. Or there, spinach with sweat-sour sesame sauce. And this one ... Are you ok?"
"How did you make all this in the galley? And I am pretty sure we did not had eggs nor vegetables … ", he trailed off.
"Sit down and enjoy. I'll explain soon, honestly."
He sat on the bench in the table alcove with a thud.
"Can you allow an open flame in here for the next 0100?"
"Flame?"
She nodded. "Two tiny open flames. Finger-sized."
"Simon, there will be two tiny flames burning in the mess. No need for concern."
"Marik, if you really say so." However, the AI sounded concerned.
Jerka took out a tool and ignited the top of the two white sticks on the table. "And now reduce the light."
"Simon, light in the mess to night mode, please." He felt like a parrot, repeating her wishes for the AI.
The effect was stunning. The flames shone like tiny stars and were reflected in the many plates and crystal cups on the table.
"Now, enjoy your meal, please."
"This is so special, thank you", he almost whispered in awe.
She giggled. "Indeed, this is very special. It's probably a quarter of a century since I had put that much effort into preparing a meal for someone."
"25 years?"
"I promised to come clean. Marik, this is my farewell dinner."
"Eh, farewell? No, it is not that dire, the coils are over 200 % which is plenty. I am"
"Please, let me finish. I promised to tell you everything. I mean I tried hard but you, well, have a very unique cultural background. So, blunt be it. I am 614 years old. Wait", she held up her hand, "And I am a Jump Rider, or one of the Lost Gods in most human worlds."
He had no idea. "614 years. That is very old. I did not know."
She sighed. "I think the Fallerian word for Jump Rider is Kibanderi."
"What? How?" And then his brain shut down completely for a moment.
She smiled. "So, finally you understand?"
He was still lost for words.
"I thought the berry picking on a planet while in jump should have made it crystal clear. And all the fresh food. And your AI was ignoring me as soon as it found out about me being a Jump Rider by jumping on board. Any AI will do that, by the way."
She was a Kibanderi, a member of one of the old civilisations, almost godlike, legendary entities who could jump without ships to any place in the galaxy. And maybe even beyond. "But, then, why travel with this ship, I mean, if you."
"It was fun, wasn't it? I am also entitled to fun. Didn’t you enjoy it?"
He had literally cuddled with a goddess. And played tag. He shivered.
"Psht." He was close to a panic attack when she took his hand. "Relax. And yes, I enjoyed travelling with you. Relax. Look in my face. It's human. Relax. Do not worry, I am as human as you." His heart still beat way too fast but slowly he relaxed.
"And you are a friendly nice young man, totally naive in human customs but nearly as human as I. And you are the youngest human jump pilot in the last 200 years that had been exposed to 4D, and then even continued to jump after that. Of course, we noticed you. So I decided to see how you do in your trade firsthand. And you did well."
He was still totally and utterly confused. He was hearing the words, but his brain was still choking on the earlier sentences. "So we didn't meet by chance? It was a test?"
"In some sense, no. I did not change the job offers or anything, just pointed you to the ad. You would have found it that day too, I am sure. Now, this dinner is my way to apologize and to thank you. All this food comes from the best restaurants around the galaxy. I picked it up from there while you were asleep."
"But, how?"
She smiled. "Let's eat first. We can talk more later." And then she let go of his hand and commanded some music, strange sounds which he had never heard before. "Enjoy."
"Enjoy", he responded automatically. He was still half in shock. Jerka, a Kibanderi.
He took deep breaths and the delicious smell came with them in full force. Different restaurants on different worlds. A dinner, arranged by a Kinbanderi. He paled again.
"Come, let's drink something. Take the cup. Yes."
He held it up. It was a small cup with a brownish liquid with a strong smell like from a cleaner in the workshop.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Best to drink it at once." She emptied hers at once and he copied it. It burned strongly and he coughed.
"This will help you to relax."
It felt warm in his stomach.
"And for starter, use here the curd with the fried bread-spinach sticks."
He tried the sticks and they were excellent. She let him try so many dishes that he slowly relaxed, overwhelmed by the food and the new tastes. And whatever he had drunk - it helped too. Soon he started to enjoy the food and not only the taste but also the textures. Textures are very important for Fallerian since the many fried insects differ more in texture than taste. And the copycat food like from Cobasian never got the textures right. But here were so many new textures to discover, together with new tastes. Eating together with a Kibanderi was still lingering in a corner of his brain, but the food had shoved it to the side. Until the food ran out.
Jerka stood up to do the dishes.
"Jerka, please, you cannot do dishes, you are a Kibanderi."
"I am not a god. Just more experienced, just lucky to have more resources at my disposal than you. And I need to return all these plates."
"But I mean, how, and then a planet is deep in a gravity well and."
"Please relax. It is fine, really. And wait a moment." She went for her cabin, and he put a few more plates into the sink just because.
She returned with a wooden box. "Here, for you, my parting gift. Just promise, you will take it before opening." She looked pleadingly, with big eyes and a smile.
Hesitantly, he took the box. "Okay." He opened the lid with shaking fingers. Inside was a golden cylinder on a thin golden chain, a similar design to the larger one Jerka wore around her neck.
"Come on, put it on."
He held up the chains. "There is no lock."
"Turn around." She took the two chains and closed them somehow.
The cylinder hung heavy on the thin chain as if it was entirely made of massive gold. But when moving, it moved like it was just a hollow plastic cylinder with gold paint. "What is this?"
"This is a fully charged micro SI-OP. Albeit not a powerful one. With this, I can easily find you anytime anywhere. Even in 4D. The other uses you will have to find out yourself."
"Jerka, no, I cannot take this, this is way too, er, too special."
She grinned. "I thought you will say so. But you promised. Also, I linked the chains through 4D. There is no lock, it is yours now."
He tried to pull the chain over his head but it was way too tight.
"And it looks good on you."
He stopped.
"Marik, we will reach the jump area in 0500. Can you extinguish the flames now and secure the ship, please?"
He looked at the table. "Simon, flames are already out."
"Marik, thank you." The AI made her answer sounding relieved.
And he was torn. He wanted to help Jerka but he should really check at least once their course and prepare for the jump. "Sorry, I need to prepare, I am back soon." And left Jerka with the dishes.
First, he double-checked the engine airlock and then the workshop but all was secured correctly. Next, into the 3D chamber and checking their course with a few final tweakings and a few alternatives. Most of the possible alternatives had been already dotted by Jerka. But their current route was the best. "Simon, what is your absolute maximum range with the current delta v?"
A sphere appeared, much larger than he had expected, almost 175 pc, even enclosing the Ribbentoa system, their final destination. "Simon, why is it almost twice our normal range?"
"Marik, this is my range assuming full resources and 6+4000 jump length before overloading the coils. But it is quite over the four-day limit for human pilots on insured flights. No patch is safe for that long."
"Simon, how long would it take to Ribbentoa?"
"Marik, at the current speed about 4+8000."
"Simon, and you cannot issue a patch for it?"
"Marik, the drug lacing unit is an independent subsystem. I could feed it deliberately wrong parameters. Given your condition, the maximum length might be close to 4+2000. But it is very dangerous because the errors accumulate and the risk of never awakening again becomes substantial."
He looked at the route. Even if he would be out for 4 days and 2000, he would need to stay another 6000 in 4D after that long jump. It was frightening. "Simon, just calculate the optimum route to Ribbentoa."
Another line appeared.
"Simon, then follow that route and we get out here."
"Marik, you mean Colifer?" A dot blinked blue.
"Simon, that is possible?"
"It is over the 4 days mark, even with the current delta v. You might awake in 4D even if I fiddle with the unit."
"Simon, it is not nice, but I did survive. Please prepare, and get me a patch for maximum duration."
He looked again at the course. Ribbentoa would be the neighbouring system.
* * *
When he emerged, Jerka stood there with her small bag slung over her shoulder.
"Come here."
She hugged him and then a kiss on the forehead. "You are special. I know you'll make your way."
"Jerka." He did not let her go yet.
"Yes?"
"Thank you." He released his hug. How he wished that she was just a normal passenger.
She stepped back one step. "Until next time!" And then she was gone with a faint plop. No flash, nothing, just gone.
He stood there staring into the empty air until the jump warning started. He quickly went to the facilities and then climbed into the cockpit, belted himself in, and readied the patch.
They were going really fast. This was the fastest entry into 4D that he ever heard of. But he trusted Simon.
The transition was rough but it went well enough, the room had folded after some jitter properly, and the patch knocked him out.
* * *
He woke still in 4D. And 4D was different this time. It was cold, infernal noise was blaring and resonating everywhere inside and outside his head. Lots of red and yellow lights flickered thickly, oozed from the screens, and pressed him into the seat, tearing through his eyes. The air felt stale, thick, and smelled horrible. "Simon", he wanted to call, but just incomprehensible guttural gargling, like a Cobasian greeting, came out and joined forces with the other sounds. However, all in all, it was more bearable than last time. He tried to think of Jerka, how she would close her eyes and jump through it to end up on a planet, somehow negating all the delta v. It helped, there was still the onslaught of his senses but when he concentrated on her image, it became a little more background noise.
Eternities or moments, how did the time in jump flow? Eventually, they were in 3D. It was a rough reentry, torn back violently into real space, straining his harness. He needed a few moments to get his breath. It was still noisy and dark, the master alert sounded! A useless sound, he could see as well that all panels and screen were dark: The total loss of control. Only the tiny screen on the AI key in its recess scrolled messages, the AI was booting up. Then the lights came on, and he saw a fine haze drifting through the air.
"Marik, how are you?"
"Simon, alive, status?"
"Marik, this is very good news. We are in the Ribbentoa system but about six days out. Fusion core two had failed near the end of the jump. First, the power distributor failed with all main engines engaged to make speed. That power surge probably triggered an overload of coils 1 and 2 which fried the reactor 2 generator units. I decided to keep going in 4D using your repaired coil 4 only and could reroute enough power to the number 1 and 4 main engines supported by the full power on the navigation thrusters, all supplied from fusion core 1 at 150% using the cooling of the broken core 2 until it overheated too and shut down hard."
"Simon, is this smoke?"
"Marik, yes, life support was off, the cooling panels were also used for fusion reactor 1. But circulation should come online soon. We have only auxilary power. The total power loss triggered a hard reset and not all systems are back operational yet."
He sighed. "Simon, so you did a nearly 156 pc jump with a broken fusion core and a single coil."
"Marik, yes, sorry, 4D is dangerous to humans and yet."
"Simon, you did great. I am not sure many AI could have done this." Most AI would not dare to risk this too.
"Marik, I." Then the AI stopped. "Marik, in about 0100 the life support should have restored safe conditions outside the cockpit. In 0250 the fusion core 1 should be cold enough to try a restart. Or to find out if the plasma heating stage had been damaged. We have anyway only enough energy stored for a single try."
"Simon, can you play some random music from my pad?" He needed distraction.
"Marik, yes." Fallerian beats filled the cockpit. Slowly panels and screens came alive and more and more systems responded to status requests.
He looked at the log. The power distributor failure was long in the making, that had been the 0.05 % risk Simon had warned him at the beginning. But three coils failing in two jumps, he had never heard of it. And then two good coils failing simultaneously, the chances were low. He looked again at the data.
"Simon, the coils' power consumption went up simultaneously just before failure for 1 and 2."
"Marik, yes, but not for 4. This is indeed very unusual and cannot be related to deformations of the shock cone. We did not jump through a star, at that time we would have exited somewhere in the nowhere.”
“So you say that this was no accident?”
“It looks like the coils had been rigged. A timer triggered in 4D hours in the targeting magnets could do this. Maybe they wanted to hot wreck me while still insurable."
Well, he had never heard of it. But this trip was rich on firsts. While it was not the first insurance scam that he had been involved as a pilot, it seemed excessive to send a ship across the galaxy for this. And it was most unusual to have an AI say this.
Back to the present: Other than fusion reactors, coils and main propulsion, none of the other essential systems for 3D had been damaged. Well, a few lesser systems did not restart after the hard reset but no surprise there. Nothing important was missing.
"Marik, should we engage the emergency fission reactor? That would mean no maintenance or repairs in the aft section anymore."
"Simon, can we use this power to restart the fusion core?"
"Marik, theoretically yes."
"Simon, do it."
The aft section now turned pale violet on the status screen as a neutron activation warning.
"Marik, we can brake now with 0.02 g."
"Simon, confirmed. Is life support ready?"
"Marik, it is still a little cold but"
He did not wait for Simon to finish and was already opening the hatch. Cold air flowed inside, he shivered but he really, really needed to go to the bathroom. His breath left thick clouds and the toilet seat was close to the freezing point. But he felt much better, ate a hot instant Krantasoup and wrapped himself into a blanket.
"Simon, status?"
"Marik, fusion core 1 cannot be restarted. We have to use the fission core. Thus, we may not be allowed to dock directly."
"Simon, sorry."
"Marik, I think this is my final journey. I highly doubt they will decontaminate me when they rigged coils for an insurance scam."
"Simon, yes, sorry, you are a nice AI with a nice ship."
"Marik, thank you. And on this last travel, I even met a lost god. I have never heard from a ship’s AI who had met one, just rumours. Yes, I followed the codex, ignored her and deleted her traces from all the logs. Although the Jasper Ais had noticed her. You know, their civilisation both are almost the same age. The Japser AIs were probably as powerful as the lost gods themselves."
"Simon." He stopped, lost for words.
"Marik, don't worry. I am an AI. And I know it was just a matter of time, nothing is forever. I wished I could have travelled a little longer. But I am happy that I could save you.”
He sniffed.
“Marik, I have prepared for this. Please, come to the workshop."
Now his curiosity was spiked.