Across the ship, the alarm blared, and the message repeated. Crew members shoved items in containers and grasped at whatever they could find. Shouts echoed down the corridor as they bickered about who would grab what, and whose spot was where. After a minute, a new voice spoke over the intercom. It was Dalur. “Sorry for the shock everyone. Something’s wrong with the grav device, and we need two minutes to fix it. Figured it would be better and safer to just get it over with.”

Her message cut out, once more replaced by the automated voice. Vas heard distant groans of protest but none too loud. Mayilk alone appeared unbothered by it all, calmly entering the machine again and idly talking over the noise. “You know, I could recreate almost every part of this machine, if someone asked me to. The exterior, the wiring, anything. It’s a complicated device, but I’ve seen more difficult puzzles.” Vas, who was currently holding onto a ladder rung as if his life depended on it, only nodded. Mayilk continued. “Everything but the core. You know where they make them right?”

“Flectir… probably.” Vas muttered, letting go of the ladder just long enough to pick up some tools at his feet and shove them in a storage box.

“That’s right. Home of one of your gods.” He pulled at a wire. “Thing is, no mechanic in the world could tell you how they work. What they do shouldn’t be possible.” He yanked at something else and a dangerous sounding creak reverberated around the room.

“It’s divine power.” Vas muttered, still very nervous. “Not much of a mystery.” He swallowed. “Shouldn’t you be more careful?”

“I suppose you’re right.” Said Mayilk, pulling at something else even harder. “Still though, I don’t like something I can’t understand, and there’s no understanding it.”

Vas empathized with the point, but then he thought of the glass mansion, ripped towards the sky. “There are some things in this world we’re not supposed to understand.” He whispered.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Then, silence for a few seconds as he finished his prep. “Alright, grab onto something.”

Vas, who had already refastened his ironclad grip on the ladder, nodded and held even tighter. A moment later, his world changed.

One minute, his feet were on the ground, afixed by a force he’d learned about but didn’t understand. The next, they were floating. The sensation was alien, simultaneously unnerving and delightful. He’d never been in zero G before.

He started laughing, overcome by the sensation of weightlessness. As he laughed, however, a different sensation hit him. As he felt, for the first time, gravity’s absence, he became more aware than ever of its eternal presence. He remembered a classroom, a teacher. He remembered a tarp- space- and he remembered a steel ball- mass. He remembered the bend, the circular motion as the ball orbited, moving ever closer. He remembered the mansion, crushing inward, everything slowly bending towards an internal point.

Somewhere inside the machine, Mayilk grunted, pleased about something. His head emerged and Vas saw something clutched in his right hand. It was small and black, a deep black, a purgatory of black.

He was on the landing pad again. Two men in combat armor stepped out first, behind them a man in a gray robe, black gauntlet on his left hand.

“Very few people have ever seen one of these.” Mayilk said, oblivious to Vas’ reaction. “Most mechanics don’t even mess with them.” He offered it. “It’s safe to touch, if you want.”

“Don’t you need to hurry?” Vas asked, a shade paler than he’d been before.

Mayilk shrugged. “It’s a rare opportunity to see Astrium. Wanted to give you the chance. You’re from Tella, after all.”

Vas swallowed, but did reach out his hand. When he touched it, he felt its chill first. It was the same feeling the hand had given him. That day in the cavern. Then, he saw something. It was the symbol again. A line that dipped into a semicircle before continuing, with a smaller circle in the middle of the semicircle. Flec’s symbol. Gravity.

He yanked his hand back. “It’s cold.” He murmured.

“Unnatural, isn’t it?” Mayilk responded, before pulling it away. Then, like that, he was done. A few seconds later, he entered the machine again, smoothly gliding through the zero G. A few seconds after that, Vas felt the gravity return. Almost faster than he could react, he fell towards the floor. Just barely, he managed to pull his feet under him.

Mayilk emerged from the machine. He was apologizing, Vas realized, saying he should have warned him. Vas didn’t listen. An incredible urge had overcome him, so powerful he couldn’t possibly resist. He needed to see the book.

Muttering, he accepted his friend’s apology and said something about nausea. Then, he hurled himself up the ladder into the main corridors of the second level. From there, he moved towards the rear of the ship and the cargo bay. On his way, he passed other crew members, some actually nauseous, some mumbling about normal days on this ship. A few gave him odd looks as he strode past, wondering where the new kid was going so fast, but he paid them no mind. He wasn’t focused on them. He was focused on the book. Something had changed. Somehow he knew it.

It was this lack of attention that sent him, for the second time in the last week, into the path of the person he wanted to see least.

It wasn’t Ram. The greasy blond hair and sneer would have been a more welcome sight. Instead, he saw a black beard, dark skin, and eyes full of hate.

It was Vik.

Instinctually, he tried to skirt around the larger man, hoping he would be too surprised to do anything.

Vik had been a soldier. He was never too surprised to act. A simple step brought him back into Vas’ path, forcing the younger man to stop. “Where you going, Vas?” He asked, all smiles.

“My room.” Vas said, looking around for another member of the crew to rescue him. “Feel like I’m going to throw up.”

Vik smiled. “I think you have a stronger stomach than that. Besides, we haven’t had a chance to talk yet." He paused. "Almost like you’ve been avoiding me.” He stepped forward, forcing Vas to retreat towards the wall.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“You know I’d love to talk, Vik. We go so far back. Always liked you. Just been busy. That’s all.”

“That’s a shame.” Vik began, taking another step forward as Vas took another back. “I’ve really wanted to catch up. Talk about what you did.”

Vas swallowed, mind elsewhere as he tried to calculate when exactly to run. “I think we have a misunderstanding.”

The smile faded. It was time for business. “Let’s clear it up, then. Here’s what I think.” He began, towering over the shorter, younger man. “I think you sold us out. I think you warned the Peacekeeper. I think you helped him. I think you were a traitor all along.” He paused. “Actually, I don’t think that. I know that. Even your friend couldn’t kill everyone.” The pain in his voice was obvious.

Vas glared, and stepped forward, rising to almost meet Vik’s eyes. He would only retreat so much. “Fine. You want to know the truth? I did betray the 19s. Once. When it was clear the ambush wasn’t going to work. And I assure you that half-baked plan wasn’t going to work. I warned him to save my life and make a play for the Hand. It failed, but it was the only chance we had.” Vik glared back, the hate refusing to dissipate, even a little. Vas didn’t care. “Think, idiot, if I were in league with him, why would I be on this piece of space trash?”

He leaned in, meeting Vas’ challenge. “I don’t care what your story is. Doesn’t change who you are, what you are.” The words hurt. He and Vik had been close once.

Like a cornered rat, he turned to fight. “Who I am? Let’s talk about who you are? I thought you were going to die for the cause, Vik? Why are you here.”

“Because everyone died!” The words echoed down empty metal halls. When he spoke next, it was more hushed. “Everyone in that mansion. When he… when he… destroyed it. He ended everything. Mar… Mave… by the divine even Creighton. We had him alive. Him and other hostages. That monster didn’t care.” For the first time Vas saw the hate dissipate, just a little, replaced by despair and self loathing. “I was on the streets when it happened, in a firefight. We were winning… and then I saw. We all saw. That… that… moon. We dropped our weapons and ran. There was nothing left, not even to die for.”

Creighton being in the mansion when it happened was news. Vas thought he had already grasped the sheer brutality of Talian’s display, but it went even further. He understood what he was looking at then. Who he was talking to. A man who had lost everything.

“And you warned him.” Vik hissed.

A man who had lost everything, grasping for meaning, something to believe in, somewhere to go to, someone to hate.

And he had found Vas.

He was going to kill him.

The realization was brutally obvious, apparent from the look in Vik’s eye, the tension in his neck, the shape of his sneer. Vas needed to leave, now.

Just as Vas prepared to bolt, however, somebody came to his rescue.

“Vas! There you are?”

For the first time in the past few weeks, he was relieved to hear that nasally voice, to see that greasy blond hair. Ram strode forward, closing ground, seemingly oblivious to the situation. “You ain’t with the Arek no more. He can’t protect you, which means we have some work to do.”

Vik looked down the hall, caught off-guard, and Vas seized the moment. “Right behind you!” He yelled, slipping past Vik and slithering towards Ram, heart pumping fast.

“What are you so excited about?” Ram asked. “There’s tough work that needs doing.”

“Oh… oh no.” Vas replied, unable to hide his relief.

Confused, Ram turned to Vik. “What were you two talking about?”

“Just catching up.” Vik said with a smile. “Old friends.”

“Yeah,” Vas muttered. “Old friends.”

The blond man looked from one to the other, still not sure of the situation. Vik was a big man and already respected by the crew. “Sorry.” Ram said, instinctually hunching down. “I need to borrow him for some work. That’s all. You can talk later.”

“Oh, we will.” Vik replied, not yet moving.

Ram nodded and turned away, hauling Vas with him. Behind him, Vas could feel two hate filled eyes piercing his back.

He was going to kill him.

----------

A few hours later, Vas was finally in bed. Sore and tired from the work Ram had made him do. It was the first time he’d bothered to do it well.

After stretching out his tired muscles, he reached under his cot and found the book. He’d been worried to open it, scared the moment had passed. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was something. Something had changed.

As he’d done a hundred times, he sat it on his stomach and flipped through the pages. One after the next.

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Not blank

He sat up with a jolt. On one of the pages, he saw it. The symbol. Gravity. Why was it there? What did it mean? It hadn’t been there before. That was sure.

Before he could look any closer, however, an alarm sounded out, for the second time that day. This one was more violent though, like the beat of a drum.

To his left, another junior crewman rose up with a start.

“What is it?” Vas asked. Book now on his lap.

“A ship.” The man, Vas had never asked his name, muttered. “Nearby.”

“Okay…” Vas began. “Why is that a big deal?”

The man jumped out of bed and started dressing, trying to pull a shirt over his head while simultaneously slipping on his boots. “Because we’re attacking it… idiot.”

“What?” Vas asked, not comprehending.

“I said we’re attacking it. Chance for us to earn some glory.” He looked around. “Get out of this cargo bay.” With that, he had finished dressing, mostly. Enough, at least, for him to dart off, joining a line of crew members doing the same.

“Wait…” Vas began. “Wait… we’re pirates?!”