Chapter 37: Engine Enhancement

Location: Solar System; VS Stargazer

The walk to the bridge is short, and the sliding doors open once I come near them. Inside Maja is waiting for me and waves once I enter the bridge. “Hey Sara, it worked, I was able to connect to the computers and am now practically running the ship, just like our yacht.”

I return the wave. “Nice, have you noticed the hangar bay?” I ask in anticipation. “We can keep the yacht!”

“Yeah, I did, and I've already moved her inside while you were checking the cabins, now check this out.” She points to the centermost console with a fancy seat behind it. I guess, that’s the Captain’s station. The screen shows a ship, that I immediately recognize: the Worldender Ship. A recording starts playing and Maja continues. “Conor was right! Gravity gets turned off right before the explosion. There’s a five-minute window. See here, the gravity field is colored red for better visibility.”

The recording continues at an accelerated speed and just like she said, the red gravity field switches off before the explosion occurs. “Nice, now we only have to bring the data back to the other Valterions.”

The question is how do we get there? We have already confirmed that every wormhole leading out of the system was destroyed with Project Exodus. “About that,” Maja starts, and I immediately focus back on her. “There might be a way, I think, but we’re going to need a shit-ton of magic.”

I clear my throat at her swearing, and she cringes. “Sorry, but it’s true. We do need a lot of magic, way more than you can provide. And I’m not even sure if it will work. We also need to check out the engines if they are up for the task.”

Interesting, I wonder what’s her idea. “I think we got the magic covered. I found a big-ass magic battery up on deck 04,” I wink at her. “If I can access that power, we have more than enough. The second crystal powered the ship’s stealth field for the past 10,000 years… Oh, speaking of stealth, did you find out how that works?”

Maja waves her hand, and a schematic of the Stargazer appears on the screen. It shows a field around the ship. The stealth field? “Yeah, I found something. It’s a combination of two things actually. There are Magitech emitters around the hull of the ship, but they must be powered by a cloaking spell. It’s a Utility spell, so you should be able to cast it. Oh, and before I forget, Conor included a few spell explanations in the computer systems in case the way Mage ships are controlled changed over the years.”

Mage ship? Sounds amazing, but who cares? Did I just hear spells? I make a gimme gesture at Maja. “I need those spells!” Training my Utility core during the past two weeks of travel bore fruit and I’m now able to constantly hold the connection between my two cores if I want to. It almost feels like my magic is helping me do it, but I can’t be sure… It would make sense, but who knows? At least I should be able to cast a Utility spell now, I think. Something that I couldn’t imagine doing when I first got my core. Using it was so hard back then…

Maja grins. “Here you go.” A screen on the wall lights up with a list of what I recognize as spell names. The first one I’ve already heard about: Cloaking. The second Is way more interesting and I take in a sharp breath. Engine Enhancement! Does that mean I can make our engines stronger?

“We have to check out the engine room, Maja. With that spell I can make them better,” I call out excitedly. “Oh, and the next one is pretty much obsolete, as I have you.” I chuckle, Remote Control was probably a very nice spell back then. I can imagine the Captain chilling in his bath, while magically controlling the ship. But I have no intention of controlling the Stargazer. Maja is a way better pilot.

Unfortunately, that’s it. Conor didn’t include more spells. I can see why… Those are spells, specifically designed and used by the ships of Conor’s time. The Valterions intended to come here would obviously already know about all the other Utility spells. Ugh, it’s frustrating… I don’t want to wait any longer. Just give me Telekinesis! Dang it. At least I can learn those three spells.

Maja must have seen me lost in my thoughts, as she waited until I was back. “How about we take a tablet and check out the engines? You can learn the spell down there. How fast can you do that anyway?”

I can only shrug in response. “I have no clue how long it will take. I was able to learn the wormhole spell pretty quickly, so I guess not too long? Might be even faster, who knows. Maybe Conor’s spell explanations are superior. But yeah, let’s go down there. Oh, we need authorization to reach deck -01, can you take care of that?”

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, come here.” She beckons me over and points at the Captain's console. “Place your hand here, it’ll take your blood to confirm you as Captain.”

Okay, I can do that. Placing my hand on the indicated spot, I wait. There is a short pick at my index finger, and then the screen comes alive with a different picture. First, there is the big V of the Valterion logo, and then text appears. ‘Identity locked in. VS Stargazer awaits your orders!’ Huh? “That wasn’t you, right? Is there another AI at work already?”

Maja shakes her head. “No, it’s not an AI, it’s just a preprogrammed response from the computer. But you are now officially the Captain of the ship. Congratulations!”

I beam at her. My own ship! Our home. “Let’s head down.”

The trip down is quick, and before long we stand before another thick vault door down on deck -01. Behind the door is the heart of the ship. The engines! I can’t wait to see them, to enhance them! It’s going to be amazing.

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With a clock, the vault door slowly opens, and I hold my breath… Well, it’s a bit disappointing, I certainly imagined it would look fancier than this. Behind the door are two big cylindrical objects that almost reach the roof – the fusion reactors! But that’s it pretty much. They are silently humming, indicating that they are both running. Of course, there are other things like tubes, cables, and weird devices in there, but first I don’t know what they do as I’m no engineer, and second, why should I care? I mean it’s working, right?

“Hmm, why did we head down here again?” Maja asks with a smirk.

"Ah come on, you wanted to see it too. How could I know this would look so boring? Anyway, let me try the enhancement spell, then we can look for a way home.”

“I already have an idea, but it depends on that spell, so no pressure, right.”

Ugh, that grin again. Can you just stop? I grab a chair that I find next to a wall and sit down with my tablet on my lap. Taking a deep breath, I open the spell explanation for the Engine Enhancement spell. While reading it, I notice a difference. That spell is designed with a magic battery in mind! Reading further, I can understand why. It takes a lot of power.

After reading the remaining part, I scratch the back of my head. Am I misunderstanding something? It sounds so easy… I just have to form that simple spell, which is way easier than Wormhole Navigation, then touch the engine and a magical conduit that connects to the battery, and push and pull at the same time. “Okay, I’m just going to try… You better step away from the engines.”

First, I locate a magical conduit line. I nod in acknowledgment when I find it. There is one right next to each engine. Convenient! Next, I try to pull at the conduit, and nothing happens. I shrug, having expected the outcome. Space magic is special. I move my power through my Utility core first and try again. This time magic immediately comes rushing toward me and I stop. Success!

“Did it work?” Maja asks and I nod slightly.

“The first part, yes. Now I’m going to try the actual spell.” Time to put my concentration to the test. I focus inward and form the connection between my cores. It feels so easy now. I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s still fascinating. Just focusing my intent on a connection it’s like it just snaps into place. My Utility core powers up and slowly fills with magical power. I've noticed that earlier. The difference in power between my cores makes it very slow. I think the normal thing would be to have the constellation the other way around: Your stronger natural core fills the weaker artificial one, but hey I have to deal with what I’m given.

Anyway, being slower isn’t necessarily bad… I mean Utility isn’t for attacking or defending, so who cares if it takes longer? It also brings the advantage of having more time to think while the core powers up. For example, thinking about my next step. This is the hard part. Now that my core is powered, it’s time to form the spell.

I move my concentration away from my cores, relying on the magical connection between them, and start focusing on building up the actual Engine Enhancement spell. First, everything is going well, but when I have about a quarter done, the connection between my cores shatters and everything falls apart. Dang it! It’s harder than I thought. Stupid extra step I have to do by connecting the cores. I can’t wait for them to merge, being an Archmage sounds so cool.

I don’t let the failure stop me and immediately try again. This time, I get a bit further, but still, everything falls apart again. I try again and again. Meanwhile, Maja left, she said it’s boring and I can find her on the bridge if I need her. After ten fails, I have had enough and angrily throw the tablet in a corner of the room. Then I stand up and pace back and forth.

What am I doing wrong? Am I too slow? But that can’t be it… I mean it’s an easy spell and if that is too slow how would I be able to cast something more complex? Or does it just require more training? Dang it… Why am I here alone? I need a flippin’ teacher right here, right now! Conor and his wife made everything look so easy.

I almost scream in frustration when my next try fails again. I must be doing something wrong. What can I do differently? I wish I could just build the whole spell without worrying about the connection between my cores. I’m not even halfway there at the moment. Maybe If I know how the complete spell settles in, I will be faster and able to concentrate better?

Wait, what stops me from just building the spell without connecting the cores? I mean the magic comes after the spell is built, so I should be able to just practice like that. Then when I’m fast enough, the normal way should work. It’s worth a try… Better than another failure.

Okay, let’s do this. I start focusing and building the spell. Without splitting my concentration, it’s much easier and after just a few seconds I’m done. Then something strange happens. The spell just sets into place, just like when my AI sets in the coordinates for Personal Teleportation. Is that it? Oh my god. I stop focusing and the spell stays in place! Nothing falls apart. Everything seems stable.

Excited, I focus again and form the connection between my cores. The Utility core starts charging and to my excitement, the spell is still looking stable. I carefully feed the magic to the spell, and it drinks the magic greedily. Ugh, that’s why the spell needs an external power source. It needs a lot of power. With a mental nudge, I cut the flow of magic and force the spell to dissipate.

Then I walk back to the engine and the magic conduit next to it. Time for the real test! I start the process anew and build the spell. It sets into place again and I grin. I finally found a way of using Utility magic. Next, I connect my cores and then, I start pulling magic through the conduit. The power reaches me, and I feed it into the spell. It again sucks the power in greedily. Now onto the last step! I focus again and push the whole spell outside. The drain on my own magic lessens considerably, the spell is now almost fully sustained by the battery. With an effort of will I finally push the spell toward the engine.

Like a flipped switch, the drain on my power disappears completely and the spell vanishes into the engine. Then the humming increases slightly and green lines of power flash into existence on the surface of the engine. It worked! I dance in jubilation when I suddenly hear a crackling in my ear.

The next thing I hear is Maja’s concerned voice. “Are you okay, Sara? There was a power spike, did something go wrong? Wait, no it isn’t a power spike. It’s stable. Did you figure it out?”

I quickly run to where I've thrown the tablet and open a connection to Maja via the ship’s wireless connection. “Yes, I got it! I tried using the spell in the wrong order before, but now everything works. I just enhanced one of the two engines. I’ll just cancel it again, then I go back up to the bridge. It’s time you tell me your plan of getting away from here!”

“Very nice! Yeah, I’ll be waiting up here. I really think it will work. Now that your spell is running, one major hurdle is already overcome.”