Chapter 41: Jeff Lee
Location: Estriduros Republic; Refill Station; VS Stargazer
“Coordinates are set.” S-57's voice sounds in my ear, and I focus on my magic to jump to the bridge. We've been a few days here near the refill station, but now I'm finally ready. We can jump to the Puertu System!
Reactivating S-57 worked very well, and he is now my personal jump navigator. As I'm currently training jumps with him, we’ve got gravity deactivated more often. I'm relying on him every time Maja is not near, for instance right now, when I jump from my cabin back to the bridge.
When I appear there, Maja is already looking at me expectantly. “You’re ready?” She asks, and I wear a big grin.
“Sure am, watch this.” I cast the Stealth spell and make the Captain’s chair in the center of the bridge disappear. Once the spell settles, the chair is completely invisible, and Maja mirrors my grin.
“Nice, now you just need to cover our magical guns and connect the spell to the Magitech emitters close by to let the battery handle our stealth.”
I move my head up and down slowly. “Yeah, that’s the hardest part, I think. Give me a moment.” I close my eyes and concentrate. Then I notice an issue. I have no clue how to focus on a specific part of the ship that I can’t even see. “I think, I have to go outside… I need a visual.”
“You’re lucky there are a few new spacewalker suits down in the hangar bay. Here, go get one, then meet me at the airlock.”
A new set of coordinates locks in, this time coming from Maja, and with another casting of Personal Teleportation, I find myself at the back of the hangar bay. Right before me is a closet, filled with brand-new spacewalker suits. I grab one and put it on.
“Alright, S-57, you know the deal. I need coordinates for the hallway leading to the airlocks.” I know, it’s only 60 meters or something, but that’s the spirit of training, okay!
“Coordinates are set again, you are ready to jump, Sara.” He’s quite talkative this time. I shrug, maybe that’s Maja, educating him or something. Anyway, the process is the same, and I use my magic to jump for the third time in short order.
I appear in the hallway, just when Maja rounds the corner. “Faster!” I shout and she just shakes her head.
“Just get out there. Want me to join you?”
“Nah, I think I’m good. I just need to see where I have to aim my spell.” I close into the airlock and Maja closes the door to cycle it. The outer hatch opens and I’m out. I swing myself out of the Stargazer and reactivate the magnetic boots of the spacewalker suit once my feet touch the hull. Then it’s just smooth walking toward the bow.
Huge! That’s the only thing that comes to mind when I’m standing before the magical weapons of the Stargazer. Two giant barrels next to each other point forward and are covered with crystals that look similar to the material of the magic battery inside the ship. I think the same material is on the inside too, but I can’t check it, as they extend a bit further out the front.
Now onto the Stealth spell. Just like with all the other Utility spells, I start by building the spell till it locks in, then I connect my cores and wait for the Utility one to power up. Lastly, it’s just filling the spell with power and I’m ready to push it toward the guns. That’s exactly what I do, and they immediately disappear from sight. The problem is that I still feel my own power getting lower. I messed up!
I cut my supply of magic, and the guns reappear. Before trying again, I take a closer look. There have to be those Magitech things that catch the spell and sustain it with the power of the battery. Just where?
There! Small bulges are all over the hull, I didn’t even notice them before, but that must be it. So, I try again and cast the spell. This time I push it at the bulges all around the guns and they disappear again. So far so good. I cut my supply of magic again, and this time the guns stay hidden. I did it! I jump in jubilation and lose contact with the ship. Oops! “S-57, get me back inside the hangar bay!” I shout with mild panic.
“You should stay on the ground in the future,” he tells me with a deadpan tone. “Coordinates are locked in.” Wow, now he’s mocking me too. I liked the old, dumb one better… Another magical flash has me reappearing in the hangar bay. There I stand now panting and sweating. That last jump was too much! I’m completely out of power. Stupid Novice rank! I have to sit down and catch my breath. At least I’m back inside.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m rested enough and leave the hangar bay on foot. I left the spacewalker suit behind and walk straight into Maja, who waited just beyond the door. She wears a smug grin and is about to speak.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Shut it, I don’t wanna hear it,” I snap at her, and she recoils a bit.
“Uh, sorry, good job. I’ll reactivate gravity and set a course for the wormhole. Meet me at the bridge once you’re ready to jump again.”
Now I feel bad too. “Sorry for snapping at you. I just had enough mockery from S-57 already.”
She hugs me. “Don’t feel bad. You know just as well as I do that I wanted to make a snarky comment.” We hug for a little while longer, then go our separate ways. I to my cabin and Maja back to the bridge. It’s nap time again!
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Location: Estriduros Republic; Puertu System ; VS Stargazer
The jump goes smoothly after I was able to rest, and we are now in the Puertu System. The difference is immediately noticeable. I didn’t see it when I was here the last time as I was not allowed to leave my cabin when they brought me to the academy. There is way more traffic inside the system and the planets themselves are massive hubs of activity. Just like Lucy said, there are six planets and every single one is inhabited. But that's not all! There are so many space stations, that I almost lose count. How are we going to find Jack here?
Now I’m wondering why I didn’t see something like that in the Estriduros System… I mean it’s the capital of the whole nation. Everything around the academy was empty if I remember correctly. Well besides the uninhabited gas giant and the small moon, the academy was located next to. But that was it. The only explanation that comes to mind is that every inhabited planet is on the other side of the moon. Well, I’ll see soon enough, now we’ve got to find a Jack-sized needle in a system-wide haystack.
Maja’s voice shakes me out of my thoughts. “Do you know where he lives?”
“No,” I shake my head. “Only thing I know is that he works for Star Com somewhere in the system.”
“That’s not much… But at least a point to start. I guess it’s best if we dock at one of the stations and I try if I can get anything out of the databases.”
“I agree, there should be a presence of Star Com everywhere. They are the biggest telecommunication company after all. And all the stations need to stay connected somehow.”
Maja sets course for the closest space station and once we’re in range, Maja secures us a docking arm. I put on my best clothes, and we meet again at the airlock after docking is complete. My first time outside of the protection of the ship as an uncollared Mage in the Estriduros Republic! I feel pretty excited all things considered.
The airlock opens and Maja next to me looks very excited too. It’s her first time meeting other people besides me after all. We exit the Stargazer together and take in the station. The docking arm is very boring, but what can we expect of it? I mean it’s only there to connect to a ship and lead the people to the station proper. I also notice that the gravity is a little less strong than what we are used to from Earth and the Stargazer. Does that mean I could jump?
I obviously decide against trying as that would paint a giant target on my back, but I’m still curious why the gravity is lower. Cost-saving measures? Anyway, when we arrive at the end of the docking arm, the doors slide out of the way and the room beyond opens up to a great atrium full of small stores, restaurants, and other things that scream civilization. I take a deep breath. I missed it, even if it’s the republic. Maja next to me has wide eyes, she’s only known things like this second hand from recordings and text.
I slide an arm around her shoulder and guide her out of the busy walkway she was standing in. “Pretty cool, huh?”
She’s silent for a moment until I shake her a little. “Uh… yeah, I’ve never seen so many people.”
She’s right of course, the station is bustling. Probably because it’s the one closest to the wormhole we used a few hours earlier. A hub for all the people traveling around by starship to relax and shop for things they might need. Speaking of shopping, getting money just moved up on my priority list. We’re on a station, but can’t buy anything, ugh.
“Okay, how about we look for a silent place and you do your thing, or do you need to be at a special location to get some data?”
Maja visibly shakes herself out of all the excitement and answers. “No, station net is more than enough, the security is a joke. I’ve sent you a station map to your tablet if you want to take a look.”
“Nah, we don’t have money anyway, just lead us out of the busy places.”
Maja nods and slips out of my side hug and starts walking with purpose. “I’ve got just the place.”
I raise an eyebrow but follow her. My curiosity is satisfied five minutes later, when the busy shopping area makes way for a nice little park, right in the center of the space station. A big sign to the right tells the story of Jeff Lee, a businessman who sponsored the park here and bought the naming rights of the station. Yeah, we are currently inside the Jeff Lee Space Station!
We both sit down on an empty bench and while Maja closes her eyes to search the station net, I just sit there and enjoy the surroundings. After seeing how nature reclaimed Earth, this park looks completely fake… Straight lines of perfectly groomed flowers, bushes in geometric forms, and maple trees with four main branches each. The rest was cut away. I even see one of the gardeners working in the back.
Half an hour later, Maja returns from her research with a big grin on her face. “I found him!” She tells me excitedly. “He’s working down on Prival, the second planet from the sun. It’s where Star Com has their headquarters, in a city called Drogunio.”
I hug her again. “Nice work! Now we just have to get down there.”
When I release her from the hug, her grin is even wider. “I’ve already taken care of that. It took a bit of manipulation, sorry for that, but we are now contracted to deliver a shipment of oranges to the space elevator above Drogunio.”
“Huh, why is the shipment here, and how did you manage to get a delivery contract?” It’s really strange, why would a shipment end up here if it was destined for a planet?
“Lucky coincidence,” she smirks. “You see, the space elevator is called Jeff Lee Space Elevator…”
“Ohh, I see.” I can’t hold back a grin on my own. The original deliverers probably stopped reading after Jeff Lee Space.
“Yeah, they really should work on their names… There are actually five more structures named after Jeff Lee here in the system and it’s not the first time someone messed up. As for how we did get the contract,” she lowers her voice to a whisper. “I accidentally looked up all the offers in the closed bids and submitted one that was lower than all the others. Bidding is open for another five hours, but I think my bid was low enough.”
I can’t hold in a chuckle. “So not only are we getting closer to Jack, we also get paid for it?”
Maja laughs. “Yes, it’s not much, as I had to bid very low, but we do earn money from that little delivery.”