Chapter 44: Settling in
Location: Estriduros Republic; Puertu System; above Prival; VS Stargazer
“Welcome aboard!” I tell them when we walk down the small ramp of the yacht and set foot on the Stargazer. “How about a quick tour? Maja, can you ready us for takeoff in the meantime?”
I get an affirmative from Maja and she leaves through the door, heading for the bridge. Jack and Alex take a little longer and I have to clear my throat to get them to notice me again. “What?” Jack asks and I repeat my question in amusement.
The big hangar bay took their whole attention. They quickly tell me, that they would very much like a tour through the ship and I start right here in the hangar bay. “Alright, let’s start this. As you can see, this is the hangar bay and it’s big enough to fit in the yacht I went to Earth with. Now if you follow me, I’ll show you the rest.”
I show them the storage rooms on deck 00, then we go up one level and visit the common rooms in the back and the cabins in the front. They choose a single cabin, but tell me, that they want to remove the bunk bed inside as soon as possible and reuse their old bed out of the apartment. Of course, I’ve nothing against it and we decide to do it as soon as we finish our tour.
We are very quickly finished with deck 02 as the workrooms are not really equipped right now, but both of them are really excited about the possibilities these rooms offer. We skip deck 03 with the bridge and more workrooms and go straight up to deck 04. This is going to be exciting for Jack and just like I predicted, he gasps as soon as the elevator doors open, and he feels the even higher density of magic.
“What… What is this?” He looks around, searching for the source. “So much magic… I’ve never felt something like this!”
I grab his arm and lead him to the glass room with the large battery crystal behind it. “This is the magical core of the ship. A battery, that supplies the whole ship with magical power, wherever it’s needed.”
“Wow, I can’t believe something like this is possible… What would we need it for?”
I shrug. “Actually, for almost everything. It’s currently in use, by the way, cloaking some of our guns.”
Alex turns her head to me. “What do you mean with cloaking the guns? There are weapons all around the ship!”
“Yeah, those are the ones that don’t cause suspicion, but we also have magical weapons that are currently cloaked and are also powered by the battery if we need them in the future.”
Jack just shakes his head. “I feel like our two years at the academy were completely wasted… They didn’t even mention something that comes close to this. What else did we miss in our education?”
I can’t hold back a grin. “About that.” They both turn and look at me expectantly, so I quickly form the Cloaking spell, connect my cores to use Utility magic, and activate the spell. I vanish and start walking around them while talking. “You see, I’ve learned a new spell during my stay on Earth.”
Alex looks around frantically while Jack has a deep frown on his face. He closes his eyes and frowns even deeper, then his eyes snap open wide. “This is Utility magic! How?”
I cancel the spell and reappear right before them, making them jump. “You see, their talk about only one class of magic per person was a lie,” I shrug. “Well, maybe they don’t know better, but still, it isn’t true. There are ways to unlock the other classes and there are even power ranks beyond Master.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Jack mumbles while pacing back and forth.
Alex stays standing and looks deep in thought. A minute later, she straightens and looks me right in the eyes. “Is there a way to make me a Mage too?”
“I don’t know… I actually got one more of the things that enabled Utility magic for me, but I want to try it with a friend I know from home first. Sorry, but maybe we’ll find something once we reach another nation?”
Alex nods slowly. “It’s okay, I understand.”
Jack finally composed himself and stops pacing. “Are there any more crazy revelations? I’d rather get them over with, I need a break,” he chuckles darkly.
I smirk. “There are two more things, but it’s probably better if I tell you on the bridge, together with Maja. We should be ready to leave as well, so you can enjoy the view.”
They both nod and we go back to the elevator to move one deck down. Maja waves when we enter the bridge. “You’re right on time. I’m about to disconnect from the station, then we are off toward the Estriduros System.”
“Nice, let’s watch that, then we can sit down to talk.” The others agree, clearly excited about the takeoff. Maja just keeps standing beside the Captain’s chair and a minute later, a slight shudder goes through the Stargazer. The docking clamps disengaged! The ship slowly moves away and starts to turn. We can now see the planet through the front-facing window and the view is still breathtaking. The blue-green planet in the background and the massive station with the space elevator right in front of us. We turn further and soon the counterweight is in sight.
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Then, finally, everything in front of us is clear and Maja engages the main drives. We keep them in their mundane mode – no need to draw attention to ourselves, who knows if they can detect large quantities of magic? And I don’t want to shock Jack even more for now. What we’re about to tell them is more than enough.
“Okay, the course is set. We’re saving a bit of fuel, so it’ll take around a day and a half till we arrive at the wormhole. That should be more than enough for you to settle in. Sara, you said, you want to talk about something?” Maja walks over and joins us standing near the window.
“Yes, the first thing concerns you, actually.”
Maja immediately catches on. “Yeah, it doesn’t make sense hiding it,” she turns to the other two. “We stretched the truth a bit earlier… Sara didn’t find me and the super AI on the ship before we escaped from the military to Earth. I am said AI.”
Alex grins. “I knew it! You’re just too good with computers and just now you didn’t even touch the controls to steer the ship. Wow, this is so cool, but why did they build you inside a body if they wanted you to replace a Mage’s consciousness?”
“Oh, they didn’t,” Maja replies grinning as well. “I started as just another AI chip like the others. This body you’re seeing here, we found it on Earth. Deep down in a facility belonging to Magicon, the biggest company in the system back then.”
“Wait, Magicon… You said our destination is the Magicon Empire. Are they related?” Jack asks with wide eyes.
“They are. It’s all connected, and I can’t wait to find out more once we arrive there.” I wink at Jack. “That brings us to the last thing I want to tell you. I’ve told you before about Conor Valterion and this ship here being a Valterion Ship, the VS Stargazer. He left an important mission for his descendants who are to return to Earth 9,000 years in the future. We were there early, so we completed this mission for them, that’s one reason why we are headed to The Empire. The other reason is what enabled us to do the mission. I found out my full name. Sara Valterion, at least by blood. I don’t know if I just share a drop of their blood, or if I’m part of a branch family, or whatever. But I’m about to find out!”
They both stare at me with wide eyes. “That’s huge,” Jack blurts out. “I remember how much you hated the name Nelson.”
After all those revelations, we all decide to just stay there and watch space through the window while talking a bit more. Later we all leave for the mess hall and Alex jumps behind the kitchen counter before we can stop her and starts preparing a meal. Half an hour later we eat freshly made pasta with a very nice and spicy sauce. Maja breaks the silence after we finished eating. “How about we all go and relax a bit?”
I quickly agree. “Yeah, it was an exhausting day. Let’s meet back here tomorrow morning. Jack, how about we talk magic then and Maja can teach Alex how to fly the ship?”
Everyone voices their agreement, and we all leave for our respective rooms. Well, Maja goes back to the bridge to do whatever she pleases. I take a quick shower and jump into bed.
The next day comes quickly and after a bit of stretching, I walk back to the mess hall. Alex and Jack are already waiting for me. We exchange “Good Mornings,” and everyone grabs something for breakfast. Then Alex leaves to join Maja on the bridge, leaving me sitting opposite Jack.
He looks me up and down. “Two classes of magic… It’s still weird. Everyone told us all the time that it’s impossible and now you sit here, right before me. The living proof that it is possible.”
“I like that, living proof,” I chuckle. “But enough of that. I have three more spells that you can learn if you want, and I should show you how to charge the battery. It’s a massive reservoir, but who knows when we need it. Better keep it topped off and start charging the other one too.”
“Oh, I definitely want to learn them! What are they? And there is another battery?”
“Hah, yes there is. But we can look for it later.” I roll out my tablet and show them the three spells. “I’ve only learned two of them for now actually, I wasn’t able to find the time to learn the third one.” I point at the first spell. “This is the one I showed you already. The Cloaking spell. It allows you to either cloak yourself or something else. The other one is called Engine Enhancement and does exactly what the name says. It makes the engines of the starship more powerful. That’s also how we were able to return from Earth without a wormhole. The last one is called Remote Control. It lets you control the ship remotely without being on the bridge. Oh, and it allows you to regulate how much juice is fed into the Engine Enhancement spell without being down in the engine room. I don’t know if there is more as it wasn’t included in the description.”
Jack listens in silence and nods to himself. “Well, besides the Cloaking, they are not that useful for me, but I still want to learn them. Maybe I can find out more about the Remote Control spell?”
“Yeah, that would be amazing!” I nod my head eagerly.
“Okay, now it’s my turn. I only know two spells, but one of them is very useful… At least when your magic is activated. The first one is what enabled me to do my job: Communication. It allows me to lock onto another person and talk with them over a long distance. As a Junior, I’m confined to the star system I’m currently inside, but once I reach Senior, I can communicate over even greater distances. Real faster-than-light communication! The other one is even more exciting. It’s Telekinesis, just like the instructor in our first magic lesson at the academy showed us…”
I interrupt him right here. “YES! I want that spell! I need it right now.”
Jack leans back a bit as I almost jump over the table. “Whoa, chill. I’ll give it to you, but I have to write it down first. Holy shit.”
I chuckle awkwardly. “Alright, alright, sorry. But it’s just that I wanted to learn that spell since I first saw it.”
The day passes with us further discussing all the spells we know and we even start to learn them. Jack, who has always been a Utility Mage has a slight advantage, as he just seems to catch on a bit quicker than me. But all in all, things do progress, even if a bit slow. Not every spell can be as easy as Engine Enhancement. But it’s not like it’s a life-or-death situation. I mean I’ve got all the time in the world.
Maja notifies me right before midnight that we are closing on the wormhole, but I’m way too exhausted to do a jump tonight. So we decide to stay another night in the Puertu System and leave for the Estriduros System tomorrow morning. The last thing I do today is fall into my bed and grab a solid amount of sleep.