For the second time in five minutes, Sen and Josh were rolling across the ground. The impacting explosions on Tartarus had caused a cloud of dirt, ash, and stinging rock shards to follow them in their transit through the portal. Hazy dust lingered in the air as they slid across the floor and impacted the wall on the far side of the landing. Shakily, they rose to their feet, checking for missing appendages and other signs of the cataclysm they had just escaped. With a dim flickering, the Tartarus portal guttered and... went out? In its place, only a solid white marble wall remained. The lettering above the door vanished as if it had never been there.

Still catching his breath, eyes wide and stupefied beyond the ability of coherent speech, Josh nodded jerkily to the missing portal and grunted incredulously at what could have been their fate if they had been even one second slower. ~You see that?!?~

Sen nodded. ~Way too close, brother... way too close!~

Achilles came through the storeroom’s portal, fully armored, with dory in hand, sweeping the space before him with his eyes. After a glance at the empty wall where the Tartarus portal used to be and seeing that the only remaining ruckus was Josh and Sen on the floor among a spread cone of rocks and ash, he closed his eyes and shook his head once. Turning in a blur of steel, he went back to his post... most likely deciding he didn’t want anything to do with whatever they had been up to.

...Very wise. Josh couldn’t disagree with his discretion. I don’t want anything to do with what I’m up to either.

Continuing the pat down, checking his life and limbs, Josh’s hand grazed the brooch on his right shoulder, holding his cloak—his chlamys—in place. Cronus had... changed it. Josh then recalled the flash on his right shoulder as they ran for their lives through the portal.

His interface chimed after his hand nudged the deep orange crystal embedded into the gold of the new clasp—

Item of Power obtained.

Item of Power:

Gaia’s Earth Crystal

Quality: Unique

Provides:

Earth Attunement of your core.

100% probability of increasing your health status by 5,000%.

100% probability of increasing the molecular density of your connective tissue by 780%.

An increased probability of being able to manipulate Earth Essence outside your meridians.

Further increase your health status and density by increasing your level and cultivation.

You do not currently possess this Attunement. Do you wish to absorb Gaia’s Earth Crystal?

Josh looked to Sen. ~Did you get a notice for the Earth Crystal?~

Sen smiled back. ~Yes, I did!~

“That arrogant prick Cronus wasn’t such a prick at all, was he?”

Sen smiled and spoke with a chuckle. “I kind of liked him!”

“Right now, he’s one of my favorite people too! Let’s absorb this thing in shifts–”

“Do not attempt to absorb an Item of Power here. Your Attunement will require many hours of cultivation, expansion, and augmentation of your core–

“And yes, Joshua Elias Tanner, you are damn lucky you didn’t have to fight the chimera guardian to access the Earth Crystal cave. Probability predictions only granted you and Senyak a twenty-two percent chance to succeed based on your current cultivation, equipment, and skills… Seventeen percent of which could be laid at Senyak’s feet alone.”

The Clone appeared directly in front of them. The ultraviolet fractals comprising its form and facial features twinkled and resolved infinitely to create endless cycles of growing and simultaneously diminishing lines. And as usual, he answered unspoken questions from Josh’s mind. When he chose to...

“We must be away.” He waved a splay-fingered hand–and the world shifted.

Sen and Josh reappeared seated in firm but comfortable chairs in a compartment the size of a minibus. Two seats at the front and several fold-down jump seats lined the opposing walls. But that was where the resemblance to any Earth-bound vehicle ended. The front seats were obviously for the pilot and copilot who currently filled them, making adjustments to instruments while taking orders from the Clone. The pilots, garbed in blue and silver, had a physique that reminded Josh of the flashes he had seen of Damni. Their telescoping necks waved as if pulled by an invisible, gently surging tide. They had slim frames and worked their consoles with long, reedy limbs.

I’m in a spaceship! A deduction Josh couldn’t miss given that the forward view screen showed the shuttle they were in accelerating past Jupiter and three of its larger moons. The celestial objects crossed the screen in less than five seconds.

With how fast the chunkiest planet of the solar system left the viewer, their shuttle had to be traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

Josh couldn’t keep the childish smile from his face as he looked at Sen sitting opposite him. “Space, Sen! We’re in space!”

“Yes, Joshua...” He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand and showed a definite lower index of excitement compared to Josh’s glee-faced goggling. “This is where I spend most of my time in mortal iterations... until recently, anyway.”

The pilots executed a sequence of instrument commands, and the forward viewer went from the fixed light of stars piercing the black veil of space to streaks of light all around them.

“Light speed!?! Did we just jump to lightspeed!?!” Josh blurted out, reaching across the aisle and violently shaking Sen’s knee, forcing him to open his eyes and respond.

Speaking with closed eyes, “Most likely, Joshua... It would take forever to get anywhere without it…” Sen opened a single lid and eyed Josh wearily, “...You just traversed several portals that folded space-time, punching a hole from one end of Reality to the other, but light speed gets you excited? Let’s talk more when we arrive—” He yawned again. “...Shall we?” Sen then closed his open eye and turned his back to Joshua.

Josh was already back to intently staring out the forward view screen, too excited to notice Sen’s brushoff. We could be anywhere now... Who knows how many multiples of the speed of light we’re moving at?! Are we outside of the solar system!? At one multiple of the speed of light it would take light roughly five and a half hours to leave the solar system from the sun... about five hours from the location near Jupiter where they had started.

For the first time, Josh consciously delved into his scientific mind boost. Current Earth theory was that seeing anything when traveling beyond light’s speed would be almost impossible. Because... refracted light off an object couldn’t reach your eyes. It would require overcoming or intercepting a stream of reflected photons... but that didn’t stop Josh from looking. Maybe he could pick up some random space creature’s Essence-trail outside the theories of particle and wave physics... Then again, maybe humans at my place in the time stream don’t know squat about speeds greater than light speed... I should keep looking to check for myself, huh?

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

His brain told him that if they were outside the solar system, it would be next to impossible to see anything at any speed other than the periodic comet orbiting in the Ort Cloud every five to one hundred years... approximately. The nearest star to the sun was Alpha Centauri, more than 4.367 lightyears away after all... There is just not much going on outside Pluto’s orbital ring...

Josh let out a frustrated breath. Now, he wished his science brain would just shut up. Shut up and let him be excited about being in space! C’mon! Let’s see some giant space manta sailing along the solar winds. Maybe some lost civilization living on undiscovered asteroids hurtling through the darkest parts of the cosmos... A never-before-detected dark-matter oasis carrying unknown kinds of life!

In short minutes, they dropped back out of light speed, and the view screen returned its usual glistening star dots. At this point, the view screen confirmed that Josh’s science mind had been right. The only thing moving into view was a growing speck of light against the constant, unchanging star-studded background.

Josh was hardly disappointed, however. The light was steadily growing larger... and larger... until it quickly shifted into the detailed outline of a spaceship of absolutely massive proportions. Josh took in what he could of the ship as they drew nearer. It had an overall sleek design. If ‘sleek’ was a word you could use to describe something the size of Africa!? The ship’s five engines, arranged in a circular configuration, glowed electric blue at the stern of the ship. They were also gigantic on a scale Josh could not wrap his head around. The color made Josh think of the engines on a Star Destroyer. Just... much, much larger.

As Josh moved his eyes towards the bow, the next section was the wide end of a V, the frame narrowing down to a waistline proximate to the center of the ship. From there, the ship contoured into another V with the wide end at the bow. On either side of the forward section, mounted opposingly on the superstructure of the V’s prongs, were moderately sized bulky anterior modules about half the size of the forward V.

The shuttle started to decelerate as they neared the ship. Josh could see the ship’s name, Hegemon-4, written in neat block letters along the port wall as they pulled up onside. Once there, the shuttle got in front of the tens of thousands of other ships queuing to enter the thousands of hangers Josh could make out. His line of sight along the ship stretched out until the other entering vessels were tiny dots of light that swarmed like gnats under a porch light. All seemed to be simultaneously scurrying to get back aboard.

The Clone had been speaking to the pilots. Now finished, he moved to stand several feet in front of Sen and himself.

As usual, he was all business. “We are boarding. The Hegemon-4 will be underway when all support staff have also returned. Once aboard, we will begin attuning your cores to the Earth Crystals. We will use our time now to review your actions in Gaia’s Temple.

“Your mission was a success... Barely.” The Clone rolled his eyes as if it pained him to give them their due. “...More due to a modicum of admittedly well-placed logical reasoning and just plain dumb luck than any prowess as cultivators or warriors.” He leaned in with a predatory smile to highlight his next words. “...Whoever said it was better to be lucky than good was wrong. You will need to be both if you want any chance of surviving until your Ascendance.”

He leaned back and reapplied his one-size fits, all gravely grim and forbidding face, “Your Essence application and prowess as combatants is disorganized, ineffective, and pathetic.”

He paused, and his features took on a milder expression. “... However, now that you have proven worthy of the investment by retrieving your first Attunement, you have earned the right to advance both here en route to your next Attunement–.

The Clone focused his gaze on Joshua and his unasked question. “--And yes, Joshua Elias Tanner, this is the fourth produced Hegemon Ark Class cruiser. Zenyak has created over two thousand of these ships in the mortal iterations. They were constructed and used before his Transcendence. The vessels of the Hegemon fleet are designed to support varying levels of Cultivation capabilities and crews. The Hegemon-4 is an entirely mundane category vessel. You two are the only active cultivators aboard.”

The Clone took on a whimsical air, casting his eyes to the heavens. “...The multiverse is a vast place. Some trinkets, even mundane ones, sometimes come in handy given the requirements of actual physical bodies in the prime material iterations. The Hegemon cruisers are seeing more use as Zenyak spends increasing time away from the central Immortal iterations.” The Clone casually waved his hand at the massive ship through the forward viewport as if pointing out the nearest bathroom. “... This one was detailed to us as it was the closest appropriately categorized vessel.”

He turned his attention back to them. “On the seats in the rear of this shuttle is proper attire. Change and discard what you are wearing. Keep the brooches, your swords... and...” The Clone hesitated for the briefest of seconds as he scrutinized the bag. “... And that bag. You earned the swords, and the bag will be useful. Do so now.”

Josh and Sen disrobed as the shuttle went through its final docking procedures. Each donned a one-piece jumper in blue and silver like the pilots. The jumpsuit zipped up from the side under their left arm and had built-in, rubber-padded soles that obviated the need for independent footwear. There was one spare onesie for each of them. Josh put them in his leather bag.

They left the still fragrant armor on the seats as the Clone had instructed, but Josh also stuffed the linens Gaia had given him into the shoulder bag. He had thought that the linens would trail out of the bag. But they seemed not to take any space once he got them in.

Hey... waste not, want not!

With a small metal-on-metal clunk, the shuttle landed, and the side hatch lifted for them to board the Hegemon-4. Behind them, Josh and Sen could see the myriads of support vessels lining up to dock.

They followed the Clone at several paces, which he seemed to prefer.

Josh leaned over to Sen with raised hands, encompassing everything around them. “This is really all for us?”

“Yes... my grandfather is one of the most powerful Immortals among Transcendence...” Sen waved his hand at the shuttle and the Hegemon-4 beyond that. “...This is nothing to him. I assure you. I suspect it is more a lesson to me to understand the importance of mastering my mortal cultivation than anything else. I must earn the right to tap into even this smallest level of resources available to the leader of our hegemony.”

Josh could only raise his eyebrows at that. Gestures in relationships were important and gave meaning to one’s efforts. Miranda hadn’t even gone through the trouble to cook dinner for him in over two years. But he had to hand it to Zenyak. The grandeur of the Hegemon-4 and the unbelievable level of effort involved in making it a living, breathing, moving reality impressed Josh with the importance of what they were doing. Though he didn’t understand why Zenyak thought it was.

If this is nothing to the man, then what truly means something to him that he would focus so much effort– which, according to Sen’s implications, trumps the value of thousands of these ships– on our training and progress?

The Clone continued to lead them through long passageways, up lifts at incredible speeds, and on moving sidewalks that left the beings walking outside of them a blur. At one point, they even boarded a small flying craft and flew over an internal rainforest that reached as far as their eyes could see.

They passed many crew members in blue and silver as they operated consoles, security stations, and flight-necessary positions. But, like any massive government facility, and this was the most massive Josh had ever seen, the duty forces absolutely needed civilian support. They passed many humans, as well as humanoids, with animal-like characteristics.

Sen told Josh in a low voice as the first several passed by that they were called “Beast Affins.” Some with rhino horns. Some with fox ears. Even some with fish gills. At least one with thick elephant-like skin on an otherwise human-looking man. Most had any number of sharp and pointed teeth on the smiles thrown their way.

There were also many more classically alien sapients and sentients going about their businesses, including tall, dark-skinned, thin-limbed beings. Turning large heads and eyes as big as baseballs toward Josh and Sen, they pushed their carts and worked their shops along the never-ending passageways.

Short gray and green-skinned aliens who always seemed to be traveling in groups of four or more passed by, moving in swirling groups. Josh was sure he had seen beings very similar on some random Area 51 show playing somewhere in the background where he had been.

There were short beings with large, egg-shaped heads and no apparent necks on small bodies. They chittered to each other like insects as they walked down the passageway, carrying various items back to their restaurants or bars or, from what Josh had seen on several occasions, bordellos. He even saw a group of over 100 members, consisting of multiple visually different species in full coats and tails carrying what looked like the instruments for a complete symphony orchestra. He recognized some of the musical devices. Others that required multiple members to handle, he had no idea what they were.

Lastly, Josh noted several close-knit groups that varied in their species composition. But all with some type of uniting external accouterments. There was one definite group who wore robes similar to the Clone. They all donned a glistening silver ring around the back of their head that aligned with their temples. They also seemed to have the same metal covering over what might have been neurovascular or dermatomal pathways. Josh could see the thin metallic lace on the exposed skin of their hands and feet. For some reason, they were all barefoot. Faintly glowing lights of different colors traversed in seemingly random pulses along the length of their neuro-conduits. Red, blue, teal, and lavender were the most common hues.

“They are the Techno Lords,” Sen whispered to Josh as he noted Josh’s interest.

Another group sported a glowing gem or crystal in the center of their foreheads. Whatever species they were, they all seemed to be in incredible physical shape. Muscles rippling, zero body fat, heads of glossy voluminous hair, and age-resistant, wrinkle-free skin.

“The Biologics,” Sen whispered.

Josh had noted with particular interest individuals surrounded by a quiet crowd of moving corpses on three separate occasions. Harnesses adorned the gray-skinned and non-respiring beasts with thick electronic collars all connected to metal implants on their necks. Despite Josh’s amazement, treatment of the shambling dead was universally with complete disinterest. Total acceptance with no eyebrows raised by anyone.

“The Necro Lords, or as more commonly known, ‘Necrolons.’ They are accepted as regular members in many mortal societies... as long as they are collared.” Sen pointed his index finger at the metal ring around the undead’s necks.

“What do the collars do? There’s no way those things can act as actual restraints.” Josh asked.

“They are explosive collars,” Sen clarified.

Josh pursed his face and nodded in understanding.

Finally, the Clone went through a security checkpoint with several heavily armed and armored crew. Sen had already told Josh they were the Jaralon, the favored race of his grandfather to crew his starship fleets. In their communities, they lived their entire lives, from birth to death, in zero gravity. Unless they were in formal employment as here on the Hegemon-4.

The surroundings began to increase in creature comforts and overall poshness. Richly carpeted floors with artwork adorning the walls. They went through a door on which the Clone placed his hand to activate some form of fractal-bio-scan. The door silently slid to the right, and they walked into some type of gymnasium. Two hundred yards to the side.

The floor was padded, with several areas marked for differing activities and martial styles. Among them, Josh noted some areas that reminded him of boxing rings and mats for grappling. Several weighted bags hung from the walls for striking by fists and feet. Lastly, there were two cots. Each bore a thin folded silver sheet at its end with a small ten-inch pillow sitting on top.

Pointing to the cots with two fingers of a loosely closed hand, “We will begin.”