Chapter 19: Lost

Location: Unknown; Small yacht

I wake up confused. Where am I? What happened? I try to get up, but everything hurts. With a groan, I manage to pull myself up on a console. Wait a console! I'm on a starship. I blink the crust out of my eyes and take in my surroundings. I'm on a ship alright, but it’s small. That’s not the Solano. Everything looks luxurious and there is only a Captain's seat in the center of the bridge right behind me.

Am I the Captain? No, it can’t be… I'm collared. How would I escape the pirates? “S-57, where are we and where’s the crew?” My voice comes out in a slur and I clear my throat. But S-57 seemingly understood what I asked.

“We are currently in an unknown location. Long-range scanners show a star and some planets on the edge of their range. You are currently alone on the ship.”

I’m alone? How is this possible? My magic is activated, which is highly illegal in the republic. Wait, am I in the republic? S-57 said our location is unknown but there is a star showing on the scanners. I turn to look through the window but all I see is darkness and specks of light. That should be far-away stars. Hmmm, one of them is a little brighter. Could it be just closer and not a bigger star? If so, how good are the sensors of this ship?

“S-57, can you highlight the star system, please? Oh, and do you know what happened?”

“Certainly.” A holographic projector comes to life before me and it indeed shows the brighter star as the closest. It’s circled by what looks like 5 planets but the resolution at that enormous distance is not the best. Before I can watch the projection closer, S-57 continues. “We entered a wormhole, and then it collapsed. I have no data afterward and an unknown amount of time passed. There is no network to sync my clock.”

I blink, a collapsed wormhole! That means certain death. Or at least that’s what I learned in academy. If a Mage loses control or the wormhole collapses their ship is lost in what they call hyperspace and no one in the republic ever came back from there. So how am I alive? I’m clearly not lost in hyperspace. Well, I am lost but this feels like normal space according to my special Space Sense and I learned to trust it.

I sit down in the Captain’s chair behind me. The gravity generator is fried and it’s not floating anymore. I don’t care but that brings another thing to my mind. Life support! “S-57 what’s the ship’s status, especially life support and engines?” The answer takes a while but what else should I expect? He’s a navigational AI, this is not his purpose. I’m lucky he is able to wing it…

“Life support is stable. Engines are heated and strained but functional. I suggest deactivation for ten hours to let them cool down. Emergency batteries can take care of life support for that time.”

Pfew, that’s a relief. “Alright, turn them off, once they are cooled down we can set course for the star system.”

“Automatic engine deactivation is fried. Manual deactivation is required.” Ugh, so much for functional…

I get up with a groan. “Fine, lead the way.”

S-57 leads me through the bridge door toward the back of the ship. We pass two cabins, a small living room and kitchen combination, and then there is the door to the engine bay. That is a very small ship. Can I even call this a starship? It doesn’t matter. I open the door to the engines and am almost blown back by a wave of heat. Holy smokes, that’s a little heated? Hah, it’s blazing hot in here, I’m lucky nothing had blown up!

With S-57’s help, I quickly find a console and press the right buttons to deactivate the engines. A short while later they stop humming and the heat begins to go down slowly. I close the door and walk back to the living room. I lay down to relax a little then gravity turns off. Right, power saving mode. I float over to an armchair and buckle myself in. Better! Before long I slowly drift off.

I dream of the Solano and Captain Orin that dumb idiot. Raiding freighters and stations. That genius idea of going for higher stakes. A battle with Star Force and our attempt to flee. S-57 who comes up with a point to jump to. The broken Solano and Orin’s stupefied face. My jump across half the system. The military blockade, poor Sean. Maja the super AI. Escaping in the small stolen luxury yacht of some General. Entering the wormhole, the explosion, and my Space Sense going haywire. The piece of debris shooting for the wormhole ring…

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I sit bolt upright, the buckle holding me down. Holy shit! I remember. How the hell did I survive all of this? I float back down in the armchair and laugh. I just can’t stop. I did it! I freakin’ did it. I’m finally free! No more pirates, no more people blocking my magic, and no nation that treats me as a second-class citizen.

I have the urge to dance but when I open the buckle, I just float around aimlessly. Then I remember the magnetic clamps in my boots. How could I forget those? They are with me all the time… as a Novice Mage, I’m used to zero gravity. There must be some lingering confusion.

Now firmly back on the ground, I take stock of the situation. It’s been six hours since I turned off the engines, meaning I can turn them back on in four hours. I hope they’ll work or I’m done for. Well, I could technically teleport toward the star system on the scanner, it’s closer than one light-year but then I’m floating there in space… If it’s uninhabited, I’m dead, so that’s a no for now.

Alright next, I don’t know where I am and my only option of finding it out is travelling to that system. It will take a while, almost a week, I think. The distance is insane and I only have a small yacht, I’ll probably have to conserve fuel. That adds some time… instead of constantly accelerating till the midpoint and then decelerating, I have to accelerate a bit, then glide along and decelerate a bit at the destination. This way fuel consumption along the way is minimal.

I cross the room toward the small kitchen. There have to be some supplies. The slower speed is gonna add another week. So two weeks in total… I need water at least. I’ll survive without food for two weeks, probably, let’s see. I open the shelves and let out a deep breath in relief. They are stocked! Rows upon rows of non-perishable food and lots of water bottles. There even is a row full of top-shelf whiskey. I guess the General has some taste.

All that water reminds me of how thirsty I am and I gulp down two bottles back to back. I needed that! Next, I grab a can of ravioli and put it in the heater. Ten seconds later it’s done. This thing cooks fast. Probably expensive as hell. When I open the can something horrible happens. The ravioli start floating around and the sauce gets everywhere! How could I forget that gravity is still turned off? I’m so dumb. I quickly reseal the can but the damage is done. Four ravioli and lots of sauce are floating in the living room. Not knowing what else to do, I disconnect my boots and jump up. Showing great skill, I manage to collect almost everything with my mouth. At least it tastes good… A small droplet of sauce is now decorating the roof of the living room. I reconnect my boots to the ground and shrug. I can live with that.

Now that my immediate needs are taken care of I grab a bottle of whiskey and take a big gulp. Delicious, I deserve this. Looking down I notice my shipsuit. It’s still one from Solitur Transportation as I refused to take something from the pirates. I take a sniff and recoil in disgust. Holy smokes that’s sweaty! Ugh, I’d love to just take it off and throw it away, it’s awful.

Wait, I’m alone! Ten seconds later I’m standing with just my boots on. Way better! Now I just need a shower and… Dang it, gravity’s still off. I walk into one of the two rooms and open the wardrobe. Uniforms and male clothes, the General’s stuff. It’ll do till I can wash my stuff and myself in the shower. I put on a jacket that goes down to my mid-thighs. Perfect!

Next, I check out the other room and am pleasantly surprised. The wardrobe is stuffed full of dresses, blouses, skirts, and pants. There are even some nice-looking shipsuits. Hehe, I like that a lot. Way better than the stuff from the General. But that gets me thinking. Whose stuff is it? I mean if it was his wife’s it would be in his room, right? Well, it doesn’t matter, four hours then I can shower and enjoy my new clothes. I giggle in anticipation and sit back down in the armchair to sleep a little more.

S-57 wakes me up four hours later, it’s time to turn the engines back on before the batteries are completely discharged. I’m lucky and they turn back on without issues. Silently humming they do their work and the temperatures stay normal. That’s Miss Engineer Sara for you!

Ahh, it’s nice to feel my weight again and I can finally eat my can of ravioli. I reheat the can and take it with me to the bridge. Sitting down in the broken grav chair, I start eating my food. Between bites, I instruct S-57 to plot a course. “Course is set, Sara.”

“Good, did you consider our… mmpf, fuel situation?” He is silent for a moment.

“I did not, one minute please.”

Of course, he didn’t. What did I expect? He did send me on a jump to a gravitated ship. BUT that did save my life... and therefore I’m grateful. I continue eating and before long it’s finished. Just then S-57 speaks back up. “Fuel correction completed. New course is set with adjusted acceleration times. Travel time is approximately two weeks. We are ready to fly.”

“Make it so, S-57.” I giggle, I've always wanted to say that. It’s from that ancient show I watched with Thomas.

I feel the slightest bit of acceleration, after a second it vanishes. The luxury of that yacht again. Leaning back in the chair, I rest my feet on the console before me just because I can. I’m finally free of the republic. I will never be collared again! I feel around my neck where that blasted thing still is.

Wait a second. This is a General’s yacht. He probably has the release codes for Estriduros Republic Mage collars on his computer! “S-57, can you access the yacht's computer and search for anything you find about Mage collars?”

“I’m sorry, Sara, but I’m unable to overcome the computer’s security. I only have access to the ship’s controls and navigational systems.” He actually does sound a bit embarrassed. Interesting, is he getting smarter? “More processing power would be necessary for me to overcome the security programs.”

More processing power… how can I do that? I wish I could just slot him into the yacht’s computers and he would use those processors. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. I guess the collar stays on… for now. My eyes move over to a magnificent piece of technology lying beside my boots on the console. Hold on a minute. I do have something that should have enough processing power. A grin appears on my face.

It's time to meet with Maja!