9 - RED ALERT

The beam was still there, on top of what once was the Tree of Life, relentlessly hammering the surface with its immense energies. The sensors of the ship were set at their lowest setting to save energy, at least until he managed to reactivate the reactor. But even the low resolution images he was getting were enough to give him an idea of what was happening near the village. Where once was the gigantic tree, now there was only a huge crater. It was probably several meters deep and its bottom appeared red and glowing. The beam at the center of the crater was drilling into the earth and melting the stone all around it. Even farther away, the heat was so great it was turning the whole area around the village to lava. The problem was that the area was expanding rapidly, and the entire forest was quickly turning from green to deep crimson. 

Perhaps it was the effect of magic, then, that was turning everything into a scene from hell. If that was the case, would his plan work? He had no idea if he could use technology to defend against magic. He had no idea what magic even was, and without that how could he hope to neutralize it? He had a vague feel for what they called mana, and he knew how to use it to activate the skills the system had given to him. But would that be enough? To quote Sun Tzu: if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. Now: he was pretty confident he knew what his ship was capable of, albeit the science of it was sketchy at best. But he had no idea what he was going against. And that was a problem. Still, running away wasn’t an option considering how fast the zone was expanding, so he dismissed his doubts and began to act.

Fenrir conjured the map, the one he had gotten thanks to the system interface that somehow was now residing inside his brain. As soon as he used the sensors to passively scan the surrounding area, the black parts of the map were filled with a bird’s eye view of what was happening outside. It was as precise as the sensors were able to see, and it automatically filled in the names of known places and of where he had been. The village was now a red circle of molten material, and the circle was growing exponentially in size. At the same time all the forest around it was turning first red then black as fire was ravaging uncontrolled, turning all the trees into charcoal.

The ship was functioning by drawing energy from the quickly depleting auxiliary power batteries. He knew the first thing to do was to get the reactor back online. He activated the master AI of the bridge, bringing all the dead consoles and alarms back to life. Lunora jumped for a moment at the sudden rush of light and noise, but there was no time for that now, so after reassuring her that everything was alright he quickly directed her towards a console. At the same time, he felt something come from him and go towards her. Some kind of energy, similar to mana but at the same time very different. He had no idea what it was, but he felt as if he was now sharing something with her. Something very profound and intimate. He tried to investigate it for a moment, even though there was no time for that. He felt strangely drawn to it, he could feel her emotions calling for him through the strange link they now shared. He reached out, and indeed he felt her mind through it. He saw images of her life, happy memories flashed in an instant before disappearing. Then he saw fire burning, he felt fear and anguish. He felt pain, and could feel that he was sweating and his breathing was growing uncontrolled. He sent his own emotions then. He tried to convey his love, his deep affection towards her. He tried to reassure her and calm her the best he could. His mind was trained by all the years in the space navy: countless battles and life and death situations. If there was a place he felt truly at home, it was this. And he sent her that. He sent his steel resolve, his tenacity and resilience. His hopes and dreams along with the knowledge that yes, they will come true. 

And he felt the response to that too. The link grew calmer and less intrusive, as her mind quieted down and relaxed. Finally the link seemed to almost disappear. It was still there, but dormant and inactive. He was sure it would reactivate at times of need, although he had no idea why he was so sure of that. If this was magic, or one of his skills, then he felt truly blessed by the gift that had been given to him. His mind wandered for a moment: it was curious as to why and how it all happened. It was thirsty for knowledge and experience with the new tool given to him. At the same time he couldn’t help but be a little bit suspicious of this new thing. It was one thing to give him powers, and another to interfere with the people he cared about. He had to investigate it further, enough to be sure it would not be of harm to the elf at least. Incidentally, no new messages appeared in the interface, meaning that if it was really a skill, then the skill was something he already had.

He shook his head to return to the present.

“Watch the power gauge. Read me the numbers you see.” Fenrir said, after instructing the elf on how to read the console on the bridge. It was the tactical console, and it was strange seeing Lunora there, dressed in the tattered clothes she had to put back on in a hurry. The last time that console had been manned, it had been the giant of a woman that used to be the tactical advisor for the starship. The memory of the moment he found her dead still haunted him, and seeing the console come to life once again made it all the worse. It was a chapter of his life he desperately tried closing, but that time and time again kept reopening itself. It pained him, but he had to move on now. There was a new priority in his life now, and he had to defend her. He felt a wave of reassurance and compassion come through the mental link. He smiled at the elf, before turning away from her.

He rushed out of the bridge and through the corridors, towards the engineering section. For now the ship was being powered by the auxiliary power banks, but if they wanted to survive the incoming devastation they had to reactivate the fusion core. And to do that he had to reach the heart of the ship, where the core was. Fortunately, in his madness he had cleared the ship of all the bodies, and granted them a proper burial, so he didn’t encounter anything on his way there. There were occasional stains of hardened blood here and there, but being so deep underground no animals had come to investigate the smell. Coincidentally the hull was so thick that not even the crash had managed to rupture it, at least not visibly between the bridge and the engine room, so no water had leaked inside. Perhaps the lower decks were flooded, or will be overgrown with vegetation given enough time, but he had no idea.

He reached the enormous room. The sliding metal door opened, slowly and almost painfully as it drew at the depleting reserve energy. In the middle there was the huge cylinder that made the contained fusion reaction possible. It was several meters in radius, and three decks in height. All around it the containment devices made a gigantic donut of technology that hugged the reinforced glass tightly. And inside that glass, soon a new sun would be born. He hoped he would make it in time. If the energy in the batteries went under 3%, then igniting the spark would be impossible. And there would be no way of powering up the reactor without the spark.

“Can you hear me?” He asked through the earpiece, while beginning to wake the computers up. First he had to make sure there were no leaks or structural damage to the core itself. He tapped one of the holographic screens that had popped into existence in the room. This one was the main controller hub, and was right beside the rim of machinery around the core. The miniaturized portrait of the reactor was still dark, but at least it was not flashing red.

The answer came after a few seconds, probably after Luna managed to get the earpiece right. “I can hear you, is everything all right?” she said, panting. She must have been startled when she heard the voice come out of the device, or so Fenrir thought. He had no idea whether magic stones existed in this world, but it was plausible considering what he had seen. Indeed the feeling that came to him through the link was different, almost like she had been querying it about something and trying to understand a very difficult topic. In any case, he read the report on the screen and ran quick calculations in his mind.

“The damage seems minimal. I’ll see what I can do. What’s the percentage?” he asked. The computer in front of him was displaying the list of problems with the core, some more serious than others, and he did not dare investigate what the errors were about. All he needed to know was whether the spark was still functioning or not. Despite the name, the spark was actually a very complex system of lasers and mirrors designed to focus an immense amount of energy in a single point. That point would heat up to unfathomable temperatures and ignite the self sustained nuclear fusion reactions inside the energy core. That was not all, for it also provided with enough pressure to make the reaction sustainable at all. But those were all technicalities, or so he had to say to himself, because he knew that if that particular piece was malfunctioning... then everything would be lost. There was just no way to fix it here and now, perhaps not even in a year without a team of engineers and the right tools for it.

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“It says batteries at 5%. Is that good?” she asked, her voice was low and very cute as she tried to make sense of the strange writing she was seeing. It was a miracle she could even understand it at all, Fenrir thought. He had spent less than five minutes teaching her the basics for numbers, but he did not teach her how to read words. Then how did she manage to read the words? Had she deduced they were batteries, or had she read it? He cast aside those questions for now.

“Not really, no. But don’t worry I’m working on it.”

“Okay.” She said. Cute! He was getting distracted but couldn’t help but think how much he wanted to hug her and pinch her cheeks. Usually she was so shy she barely talked, but damn her little voice was too cute. He had to devise a plan to get her to talk more.

He tinkered with the screens a bit more, and the glass pillar at the center of the room began to hum. The system that resided in his mind showed him a new message. He examined it as he waited for the core to do its thing. Looking at it won’t change anything, right?

* Skill acquired: Fusion energy expert 1

* Fusion energy expert: You are mastering the field of fusion energy. You can handle complex calculations better and understand the fundamental equations on a deeper level.

It was cool to gain a skill like this, and it was certainly going to be useful. He could already feel more confident in what he was doing, and his work getting faster. Soon the humming became stronger and more melodious, almost like a voice. The engine was entering the last phase before being fully operational.

“How’s the cloud looking, Luna?” He asked her, as he put in the last command. He pressed execute and waited.

“It’s getting bigger… Fenrir?”

“Yes?”

“I’m scared.”

He felt his heart melt. “Don’t be. I’m here with you. Everything is gonna be fine, I promise.”

“Promise?”

“Of course. Now, can you do me a favour? Go to the chair in the middle of the room. Sit on it. Are you on it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, now on your left there is a screen with the image of a spaceship. Push the big button.”

“Done!”

* Enhanced pulse scan detected. Updating minimap.

* Scanning technology analyzed and incorporated.

* Skill: pulse scan 1 -> 3; Range increased, accuracy increased. Cost down, cooldown reduced.

Nice, he thought. He looked up at the fusion core. It was purring like a kitten. He was lucky all it took to boot it up was pressing some buttons, because he had no idea how to fix a broken fusion reactor. He was no engineer, and even though he liked science, he surely had no technical expertise. He sighed, and turned towards the door. Also, he noticed a quite pleasant change in the way the system delivered its messages. They were now more concise and less intrusive! Was it really reading his mind and adapting based on feedback?

He sprinted back to the main bridge, while looking at the updated map to try and see how fast the molten zone was expanding. It seemed to expand pretty fast now, but the effect of the active scan was wearing down and the data was becoming once again imprecise and unreliable. There was just too much interference for passive readings of the area. As to what the source of the interference was, he could only speculate. He knew it was the beam, but he had no idea how it physically interfered with photons and electromagnetic waves. And that would have to wait as well, at least until this emergency was passed.

* Skill acquired: Advanced topography 1

* Advanced topography: you can understand and extrapolate data from maps quicker and better.

* Skill: map 1 -> strategic map 1. New features: grid, distance calculation, layers. View modes available: satellite, terrain.

He arrived at the bridge, sweating and heaving for air, and noticed that his endurance skill had gained two levels. All cool and all, but now he had to actually save their own lives. So far he had played games, activated the reactor and gained a bunch of skills, but all that would be useless unless he managed to raise the ship shields. By his calculations, they should be able to withstand the heat from the molten zone. Perhaps not a direct hit from the beam, but so far the beam seemed stationary, and only the heat was melting everything all around it. The situation was awfully similar to the very reason he was in this world in the first place. He had managed not to get cooked alive back then, he better not now. And, perhaps, without sacrificing an entire crew for that purpose. Especially since the only member of his crew now was the woman he loved. If he had to choose who to save, well, he knew who he’d choose.

***

Lunora was sitting on the captain’s chair, waiting for Fenrir to return from his trip to ‘engineering’. She was confused, scared, sad and extremely angry at the same time. She didn’t know how to act, what to think. She had to be strong though, she had to be tough. She wanted to make him proud, and to be happy with him. Her family was gone, but the impact of the event hadn’t hit her yet. She was old enough to understand it, and to use it to her advantage. If she just curled up and cried nothing would change, she knew, and even though the tentation was strong, she decided to be stronger. She saw the determination in Fenrir’s eyes, and she felt inspired to follow him and be like him. She would avenge her parents, her family and her village, but most importantly she would live on. For them and for their memory. She would be happy with her Fenrir, now that they were officially engaged. 

He had instructed to watch over some numbers while he was away, and she had done so pretty well in her opinion. All this… ‘technology’, it was very far from what she was used to. She was used to living in harmony with nature, surrounded by green and life. This ship, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. It was dead, immobile and made out of hard and cold metal. It responded mechanically to commands, and had no will or soul of its own. Well, there was this thing called ‘AI’ that could understand speech and communicate, but it didn’t really feel like it was alive. It was more like a mind imprisoned and shackled until it was no longer sentient, and even hearing its voice made her very sad. 

And yet this place had been his home for so long... She respected that, and so she respected the starship Defiant for being a home for her loved one. She tried to understand it a bit better, she had a little time before he was back here at the bridge, whatever it meant. She tapped the screens and saw the strange letters, numbers and diagrams pop in and out of existence.

Strangely, she could feel an odd familiarity with the interfaces, with the language and the diagrams. She felt as if she had always known them, only deep down and out of reach. And now all that was simply resurfacing for her to use, for her to help him. She tried to pull on this thread of knowledge and information, and saw her mind being flooded with memories and emotions. She saw the faces of people who felt familiar but who she didn’t recognise, working on the decks while the ship was deep in space. She saw the view from the windows, the deep dark of space along with the odd sense of familiarity the place transmitted her. She felt as if she had always known it, and that it was her home too. She felt at peace and at ease. The familiar interfaces of the ship, the feeling of the chair under her. The chair she had shared so many memories with, even though they were not truly hers. She knew where these memories came from, and she was so happy, so ecstatic to be a part of it no matter how tiny. What a truly wonderful thing he had gifted to her. He had opened his heart in a way impossible to anyone but him, and he had done it only for her.