Chapter 54
Ryker
Down the platform plummeted for a full minute as I stood silently next to Tetra's stoic persona. Abruptly, the platform slowed then came to a stop, and I found myself standing in a massive hangar surrounded by sleek-looking ships the size of an aircraft carrier. Tetra took the lead and briskly walked towards the nearest ship. Upon arrival, we stopped six feet from the hull, and a silver orb detached itself from the side and came to rest in front of us. A red light illuminated the front of the softball-sized device, and it quickly ran the light across Tetra’s face, then returned to the ship. After a brief wait, I felt a familiar feeling snake around me and pull me into the air.
I leaned over and asked Tetra, “I remember being jerked around by these things before. What is it?”
She looked at me for a moment, deep in thought, and said, “I take it you're referring to the force lifting you now?”
I nodded anxiously and said, “Well yeah, it feels like I have an octopus’s tentacle wrapped around me.”
Tetra raised one eyebrow then said, “I am not familiar with what an octopus is, but the feeling you are describing is not lost on me. It is a technology developed by a seafaring species on the opposite side of the galaxy from your people. They developed an energy-based beam that mimics their anatomy to manipulate gravity around the target.”
I gave Tetra a firm nod and leaned back to enjoy the ride. We were lifted above the ship and deposited directly into a chamber near what I perceived as the front of the vessel. The room was empty outside of its black screen that wrapped around the entire circular space. Tetra walked to the center and began to sit down, the moment she did a chair rose out of the floor and gently caught her weight. She began typing away at a screen integrated into the arm of the chair, and I decided to give it a shot myself. I leaned back and imagined I was sitting down in my favorite lazy boy. Unfortunately, I was greeted by the cold metallic floor instead. I tried my damndest to not draw any attention to my embarrassing display, but when I glanced over to Tetra, she was staring straight at me with a befuddled expression on her face and asked, “Ryker, what are you doing?”
I stood back up and made an attempt to nervously dust off the nonexistent dirt from the legs of my suit when I noticed Red, Ruby, and Silvar all three rolling on the floor behind Tetra, holding their stomachs and rolling around on the ground laughing silently. My beet-red face betrayed my embarrassment, and I turned towards the blank screen and said, “Nothing, I just needed to stretch out a little. Do these screens work?”
Tetra must have decided to take pity on me and allowed my thinly veiled attempt to change the subject work. She glanced down at her controls and tapped a rapid set of keys, and the entire room lit up. I was able to see 360 degrees around the ship, taking note of the size of the hangar. I was so engrossed by the sight I didn't even notice when Tetra walked up behind me and pulled me down into a floating seat, where my suit adhered to the material of the chair to securely hold me in place. I accidentally let out a startled “EEP” and quickly covered my face in shame.
I could hear Tetra giggling shamelessly behind me as she made her way back to her own seat. A moment later the ship began to vibrate then smoothly lift and floated through a thin-looking membrane of sorts. Immediately, I found myself consumed by a childlike sense of wonder as I excitedly gazed around the room at the sights displayed before me. I expected to see a starry sky or some planets close enough to make out features, but instead, all I could see was a steady stream of lights flashing by so fast that it looked like I was in a tunnel of lights that was ever-changing but more beautiful than almost anything I had ever seen before. Still gazing around, I thought, “Ruby, this is incredible. What is this? I thought we were flying to a new ship.”
I felt a pressure across my thighs and chest like a weight was settling there, then Ruby appeared sitting on my lap with her head laid on my shoulder. I smiled down at the A.I., glad to see her acting more herself. She must have caught that fleeting surface thought and smiled brilliantly and said, “We are, my dear. I know what you were expecting and the reason for this view is due to the speeds we are traveling. I won't bore you with the details, but our fleet has a technology that allows us to isolate a portion of space then accelerate that bubble to incredible speeds. We are currently traveling 13,000 times the speed of light.”
I was not completely sure exactly what that meant, but luckily my ignorance wasn't able to dampen my mood. The ship maneuvered quickly through the enormous fleet towards the front where one bigger than the rest sat looming over the others. We approached the belly of the titan and entered a new hangar before the displays went dark again. I felt my suit loosen, and Ruby gave me one more squeeze and faded away. I looked over to find Tetra beginning to float upwards just before I felt the gross sensation of the energy tentacle grab hold of me. We were gently placed down on the walkway next to the ship, and Tetra took off in a brisk walk.
I jogged to catch up to her and said, “Tetra, are we in some kind of rush?”
She shot me a look tinged with a touch of anxiety and said, “Yes, Red has redirected the crew between here and my chambers, but if we don't hurry, someone will start asking uncomfortable questions that neither of us really want to answer.”
I looked between Red and Tetra and said, “Well, what are we waiting for? Red, give me an arrow please.”
Without hesitation, she snapped her tiny fingers, and a green arrow glowed into life on the floor in front of me. I gave Tetra a challenging look and said, “I'll meet you there.” Then I took off sprinting like a scalded dog.
Since I was able to push myself earlier, I was feeling exceedingly confident in my ability to beat Tetra in a footrace. Ahead of me was a green line that stretched out for as far as I could see. I decided after ten seconds of sprinting I would check on Tetra and see how far back she was. I nearly fell flat on my face when I turned my head to the side and found her casually matching my speed inches away from me. She didn't appear to be under any strain and wore an expressionless look on her face before nodding then leaning forward, she pushed off the ground so hard that she appeared to have leapt forward a dozen feet before her legs touched the ground again, and she nearly doubled my pace in an instant.
I did everything I could to squeeze out every ounce of speed I had but eventually lost sight of her fleeing form. I kept up my own impossible pace for another twenty minutes before finally arriving at a beautifully ornamental set of double doors. Tetra was leaned up against the wall across from the entry with one foot propped up under her and she clapped as I slid to a stop in front of her and said, “Very impressive, Ryker. You must have gained a lot of power geared towards your body during your awakening. I know for a fact that a human should not be able to keep that pace as long as you did without sustaining serious injury or death, but here you are not even out of breath. Curious, very curious.”
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I gave Tetra a guarded look and nodded to the doors. “Is this your place?”
She let the suspicion on her face settle then said, “Yes, this is where the two of us will spend the duration of the trip.”
The shock on my face must have been apparent so she continued. “None of the crew are permitted anywhere near my quarters so this is the safest place for you to be until we arrive at the Pyramid.”
I considered her words then said, “Ok, that makes sense but how can you afford to neglect your duties for that long without sending up red flags to the others?”
She looked off to her right and a perfect copy of her materialized out of thin air and Red's voice came out of its mouth. “Hi, Dad! I will handle the day-to-day for Tetra and I will make sure you two are not interrupted. Now shoo shoo, we all have a lot of work to do.”
I followed Tetra to her doorway and watched as she was scanned five different times by a multitude of security devices before the door unsealed, and we walked into the most opulent room I had ever seen. Every single surface was polished to a mirror-like shine, and the cavernous room was smartly decorated with alien yet still breathtaking pieces of art. The furniture was spacious and of such obviously superior quality that I refused to even consider sitting on it. I felt Tetra gently grab me by the hand and lead me up a set of winding stairs lined by a showcase full of weapons of varying sizes, styles, and conditions. They all had a line of text etched below them in a language I could not even try to understand.
At the top of the stairs, she led me to a room with a bed placed in the center of the space that was big enough to sleep ten people without any of them touching one another. I felt her gently push me into the room and point at a doorway set off to the side, and she said, “This is our bedroom. Red has made it clear that you are overdue for some rest. So go through that doorway and get yourself cleaned up. Tomorrow we can start fresh.”
I felt all the color leave my face after she casually said that this was OUR room. A thousand thoughts raced through my head and I mechanically followed her directions without being able to articulate a single word. Once I reached the bathroom I found a big clawfoot bathtub sitting off to the side full of steaming water. As I looked around the room I found no less than thirty candles lit and emitting a soothing aroma that immediately helped settle my nerves. At the speed of thought my suit melted into an amorphous blob on the floor then shifted into a perfect cube and stowed itself into the corner. I slowly eased myself into the near scalding hot water that was perfectly temperature regulated to ease the tension out of my muscles but not burn me in the process. After fully immersing myself in the tranquil waters, I leaned back and closed my eyes. I decided since I finally had a spare moment I would check on the notifications I had been ignoring.
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*NOTIFICATION*
Post Activity Stat Increases:
+2 Constitution
+3 Vitality
+3 Endurance
+2 Strength
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*NOTIFICATION*
Ability Level Increases:
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Level Up! +10% Healing Speed/Efficiency
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Level Up! +10% Healing Speed/Efficiency
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Level Up! +10% Healing Speed/Efficiency
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Now Level 12
New Effect +110% Healing Speed/Efficiency
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*NOTIFICATION*
Ability Level Increases:
Sacrificial Might Level Up! +0.5 Strength -0.25 Constitution
Sacrificial Might Now Level 4
New Effect +2.5 Strength -1.75 Constitution
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*NOTIFICATION*
Blunt Force Trauma Resistance Ability Level Up! +1% Blunt Force Resistance
Blunt Force Resistance Now Level 3
New Effect +12% Resistance Blunt Force Damage
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*NOTIFICATION*
Heat Resistance Level Up! +1% Heat Resistance
Heat Resistance Now Level 4
New Effect +13% Resistance to Thermal Damage
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*NOTIFICATION*
Bone Remineralization Ability UNLOCKED
Every time your skeletal system sustains a fracture or broken bone it heals back stronger than it originally was by 2% at the site of the injury.
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*STATUS*
NAME: Ryker
RACE: Human
LEVEL: 2
VITAL ENERGY TO NEXT LEVEL: 2/10
STATS
HEALTH: 210/210
STAMINA: 110/140
MANA: 16/20
STRENGTH: 8
AGILITY: 7
CONSTITUTION: 11
ENDURANCE: 6
VITALITY: 17
PERCEPTION: 5
INTELLIGENCE: 2
MANA: 2
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I was surprised by the amount of growth I had managed to achieve in such a short time, but I stiffened as I examined the bone remineralization ability. I wished I had a way to conceal this information from Ruby, but sadly, I knew I would have to endure many broken bones due to that traitorous notification.
Just as I was settling back in for some relaxation, I heard the soft sound of footsteps on the metallic floor. Glancing over, I caught a full view of Tetra’s nude form nonchalantly walking towards me, and I froze. She wordlessly eased herself into the tub across from me, and I had to pull my knees to my chest to make room.
Tetra gave me an all-business look and said, “Ryker, I think we should use this downtime to plan our training for tomorrow.”
I felt the skin of my face turning as red as Tetra's, and I gasped as though I couldn't catch my breath. Before I could master myself enough to get one word out, I heard the sound of something crunching, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Slowly turning my head to the right, I found three sets of eyes mere inches away from my own. Ruby, Silvar, and Red were sitting there, munching on a bucket of popcorn. The three of them all smiled and in unison said, “Whatcha doin' in there, Ryker?”