Chapter 38: Return

Chapter 38: Return

Location: Solar System; VS Stargazer

“Good, you’re here,” Maja greets me when I enter the bridge. She points to the Captain’s console in the center. “You can sit down there, it’s going to take a bit of explanation.”

I nod and comply. After sitting down, I raise an eyebrow. “Now what’s the great plan? I know there are no wormholes, so how can you have a plan for leaving? Not that I'm complaining, I want to leave too… I'm just curious. Is this ship even more awesome and can conjure its own wormhole or what?”

Maja chuckles but shakes her head. “Hah, if it were that easy, we would already be gone from here. No, unfortunately, we can’t conjure a wormhole at will. I don’t even know if that is possible… What we are going to do is similar, but still way different. Let me show you.”

The screen before me activates and shows the space around us. A spot is highlighted in purple. “This is where we appeared in the system. Luckily, we have one advantage here on the Stargazer: her sensors. With them, I was able to detect the exact point where we emerged from hyperspace.”

I interrupt her after hearing this. “Wait, how could you detect this? I know the sensors are good, that is the sole purpose of the ship, but it’s been about two months?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know for certain, but at a guess, that is where magic comes into play. Our sensors detected a faint magical signature originating from the spot next to us that is marked on your screen. Us emerging here must have released a massive amount of energy and magic if it’s still lingering.”

The screen changes, now showing the Stargazer next to the purple spot. It’s very close when I look at it. We were lucky, that we didn’t crash into the ship when we traveled to Earth! The Stargazer is surrounded by a white field. What’s that, the stealth? But why would it be important?

“By the way, I could confirm your theory.”

What theory? What have I said concerning what she is showing me right now? I look at the ship and the surrounding field again. It clicks in my mind. It’s the gravitational anchor! “Ohhh.” That’s all I say.

“Yes, from what I can see in the sensor readings, the strong gravity field around the Stargazer did pull our yacht out of hyperspace. It’s also what kept us from colliding with the ship when we started flying. I didn’t mention it before, but your starting route made a curve, and I was always wondering why… Now I know.”

Right, I started the trip toward Earth with S-57. But the other thing is huge. Who knows what would have happened if the ship's gravity field hadn’t pulled us out? Conor saved us, even if it wasn’t his intention when he placed the ship here all those years ago. “If the field repelled us from colliding with the ship, how were we able to come close to it this time?” That thought came out of nowhere, but it’s a valid question, so I ask it.

“Conor left Valterion codes with the message down on Earth. I sent them out when we neared the ship and the repelling function let us through.”

Neat, I’m starting to idolize Conor. He was everything I want to be… A strong Mage, rich and successful. “Okay, that’s nice and all, but how does that help us?”

Maja chuckles. “It doesn’t, it was just fitting to mention it now, sorry for that.”

I can’t stop myself from laughing. “Don’t be, if there is one thing we have, it’s time. Even if I’m impatient.”

She joins my laughter. “You, impatient? Never!”

“Oh wow, stop it. It’s not that bad!” I shake my head in embarrassment.

“If you say so…” She rolls her eyes. Rude! “Anyway, we got off track.” The screen focuses on the purple spot again and zooms in. It now looks like a purple rift in space with something going through. “Before you get excited, there is no actual rift out there… It’s just the best illustration I came up with.” She tilts her head and shrugs. “What is there, is a trace of magic that leads somewhere. Our sensors can only detect the beginning of that trace, but I’m 99% sure, that it’s because the magic enters hyperspace beyond the point where we emerged from.”

My eyes go wide. If that trace goes all the way back, we have something to navigate along! But we still have to enter hyperspace somehow. “That’s great, will you be able to follow that trace? And if you are showing this to me you must have a plan to enter hyperspace. How?”

“Yeah, I will be able to follow it with the help of our sensors. That’s our route home. No, not home, I don’t want to call that place home… Our route to the start of our trip to The Empire.” She seems to test the words on her tongue, then smiles in satisfaction. “Yeah, better!”

The screen changes again, and I’m now looking at a picture of myself. What? Maja laughs. “You should’ve seen your face. But yeah, our way into hyperspace is you!”

“Me?” That’s ridiculous! “You do know that I’m only a Novice in Space magic, right? There is no way that I can pull the whole ship into hyperspace. Teleporting ships without wormholes is for Senior Mages and above. I can’t even teleport with your body!”

Desperation settles in, if that’s her great plan, then we are screwed. Did she forget that I’m so weak? No, that can’t be it… There’s no way that she forgets something like this. Hell, I don’t know if she is even able to forget something. But then, what is it? What am I not seeing?

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A comforting hand lands on my shoulder. “Chill, let me explain. I’m very confident that I have found a way to circumvent the issue.”

Her action calms me down a bit and I sigh deeply. “Okay, go ahead…”

She takes a deep breath she doesn’t need, and the screen changes again, hopefully for the last time. I know it’s nice to visualize things, but using simple screens seems so backward. I want my holograms back! I can now see the Stargazer cut in half along the length so that we can see the inside. I struggle for a moment to remember the correct word. Cross section! There we go.

There are several things highlighted throughout the ship. The first thing is obvious. It’s the bridge. That’s where we will be during the travel. The second thing isn’t surprising either: the engine room. Maja already told me the Engine Enhancement spell is crucial, so yeah, I expected it. The last thing is the magical battery on deck 04, it’s a bit surprising. How does it fit in? I know it feeds the engines after they are enhanced, but that doesn’t warrant a distinct mention of the battery…

I look at her expectantly and she starts. “Okay, now that I’ve kept you long enough in suspense, here we go. First, the bridge. As you can guess, this is where we will be, but that’s not all.” She points at a magical conduit line in the corner of the bridge. “You’ll be standing over there so that you can pull the magic from the battery. We will use this to overcharge your Wormhole Navigation spell and form a very strong space bubble around the ship.

“Together with our engines, which will be overcharged by an overpowered Engine Enhancement spell, I’m positive that this will allow us to slip into hyperspace and follow the magical trace back to the Estriduros Republic. That’s it. What do you think?”

“Uhh, it doesn’t sound that complicated actually… When can we start? I mean we just have to try, there are no other options.”

Maja nods. “True, but I’m very confident in our success. As for when we can start… If you want right now, but it would be easier if you learned the Remote Control spell first.”

I frown at that. The spell looks way more complex than Engine Enhancement and I’m not sure I can learn it that fast. From the looks of it, it’s more of a spell you would learn in weeks. “Is it necessary? I don’t think I can learn it that fast.”

No, it’s not,” she shakes her head. “Without it, we have to be faster, and I can’t be with you on the bridge the whole time. Also, you’ll have to run a lot.”

“Huh, why’s that?”

Maja points at the engines. “What we are going to do with the engines will put a lot of stress on them and we can only push them till we reach hyperspace, otherwise we run into danger of losing them.”

That makes sense. The engines of the yacht too were very stressed after the failed wormhole and that was without an enhancement spell. “I understand, so how do we avoid that?”

“That’s where your running comes in. You’ll start in the engine room and dial the spell to eleven, then you run like hell toward the bridge and throw up the wormhole spell. Meanwhile, I will be up on deck 04, ready to cut the connection to the engine room once we reach hyperspace.”

Ugh, what one missing spell can change. But I’ll manage. “I can do that. Can we start? I don’t want to wait any longer.”

“Yeah, we can start right now if you want.”

I nod. “Perfect, I’ll call when I’m ready.”

Arriving in the engine room I take a deep breath. I can’t mess up now. Everything depends on me. I signal my readiness to Maja, and she gives me green light. Deep in concentration, I form the Engine Enhancement spell and it clicks into place just like before. Connecting my cores, I wait for the Utility one to be powered, then I throw the spell out and pull hard on the magical battery.

The magic comes rushing toward me and with a lot of concentration, I throw everything into the spell and the first engine. The green lines appear, this time way brighter than before.

“That’s it! Now quick the second one. We’re on the clock now.”

I don’t let Maja’s words distract me, as I’m already forming the spell again. I repeat the process and before long both engines are glowing in a very bright green. Then I start running. The elevator door is already closing when I arrive at it, and I quickly jump through the gap. The doors finish closing and up I go. Arriving at deck 03, I leave the elevator and enter the bridge.

I stand next to the magical conduit and activate my magnetic shoes. “I’m ready, Maja.” After my words gravity turns off and I begin pulling magic from the battery again.

I know I could’ve simply teleported and foregone the running part, but we haven’t tried to see if it still works, or if there are some issues due to our separation. There were just too many things happening… And we can’t do something untested right now, this is too important. So yeah, I crossed the ship in the old-fashioned way. Also, I need all the magic I can spare right now.

The magic arrives and I slam it into the wormhole spell. The space bubble arrives in an instant around the Stargazer. With all the excess power, I manage to form it to perfectly fit the ship’s form and then I pour even more power into the spell to make the bubble thicker.

After a minute, it must have been enough, as Maja suddenly cautions me to hold onto something. Seconds later, the Stargazer shoots forward with breakneck acceleration.

The next thing I know is my Space Sense kicking in and I’m completely flabbergasted by what I’m seeing. Right at the location we appeared at months earlier, space seems somehow weaker. I don’t know how to describe it. It just feels this way. If there is one place where we will be able to enter successfully, it’s there and to my horror, our current course doesn’t take us through the weak spot.

Panicky, I call out to Maja. “We need to turn right a bit!”

Luckily, she immediately follows my order and slowly turns the ship to the right until I tell her to stop. We are now on the right course and about to reach the weak spot. When we reach it, I can feel the resistance and I immediately throw even more magic at the problem. My perception of time stretches, and my Space core starts feeling strained.

Then suddenly reality seems to shatter, and we cross into hyperspace. Maja warns me that she is about to cut the battery from the power grid, and I prepare as well as I can. Even with the warning I struggle to hold the spell together when the external magic power cuts off. The bubble gets thinner and thinner, and I manage to hold onto the last bit. It’s stabilized.

I let out a breath, I didn’t know I’d been holding. My part is done now. I just have to hold on. Just when I think that, Maja starts taking action and I feel my magic moving at her command. She is following the magical track to our destination!

Five minutes later, the bridge doors open, and Maja walks in with a concentrated expression. “How are you holding on?” She asks and I shrug.

“I’m a bit exhausted, but I’ll manage. You’ve got everything under control?”

“Yeah, our sensors are something else. I have a clear route right before me. As you can probably sense yourself, the route is actually pretty much a straight line.”

“Oh yes,” I nod. “I was wondering why you have to intervene so little.”

Maja’s happy voice shakes me out of my thoughts. It’s been hours and I can feel my magic is close to running out. “Sara, we’ve made it! We’re back! We just have to exit hyperspace and we’re back in the Olovis System.”

“Nice, can I activate the gravity anchor?”

“Sure, be my guest.”

With lots of concentration, I keep the Space bubble active and walk over to the Captain’s console. Maja has the activation button displayed on the tablet and with a smile, I touch it. Gravity kicks in like a truck and the Space bubble immediately shatters. But that’s not all. The gravitational anchor, which pulled our small yacht out of hyperspace before, activates and with a massive purple flash, we reappear in real space.

Back in the Estriduros Republic!