Asher and Tiff stepped into the black portals on the ground hand in hand. He felt Dea’s gaze on their backs as they left. What came from her was a good feeling. They had bonded over the last couple of hours. Tiff acting as the mother, Dea had softened a little as they discussed her life. There was a lot she had skipped, only focusing on the good parts. Asher could tell that her experiences were mostly bad.
“Bye, my love!” Tiff yelled with a wave. Though they were far away Asher could see Dea blush. “I’m gonna miss you!”
Everything turned black and they were back on the platform beside the palace. “Finally!” Lyola said walking up. “Did it go well?”
“It did,” Asher said. “We have a sponsor.” He grabbed her hand and they walked away from the portals.
“Really?” Tyranis asked, surprised he got up from a chair. “And you think it will be fine with a Primeval?”
“I think she will be our best choice,” Asher said. Tiff nodded. Dea had warned them not to say anything about her past. There could be people listening everywhere. “She promised to file with the League, and no one would touch us for 20 years. Then she would train me and anyone else that got to level 100 after that.”
“Training from a Primeval?” Tyranis said, amazed. “Even my father didn’t have that.”
“Then we’ll have to take him along,” Asher said. “You too, Tyranis. Let’s get you to 100.”
Tyranis laughed. “Oh, trust me, it will be harder than you think to cross that threshold. If she gives you protection for 20 years, that should be plenty of time to get more Alliances. This is very good news.”
“Great,” Asher said. He leaned over kissing Lyola’s cheek. “Sorry to make you wait. We were talking for longer than I expected.”
“Did you learn anything cool?” Eliffy asked, moving closer.
“A lot. She started talking about pre-System times. It really was hell,” he said.
“Did she say why she chose you?” Ria asked. He could guess what she assumed happened.
“She said it was to make the League angry. After his trial on Prime, she didn’t like how they left things,” Tiff said. “Said she wanted to make a reappearance.”
“And why did she want you?” Atalanta asked Tiffany.
“I’ll tell you later,” she promised. Atty would probably get the truth. “For now, I want to see our ship.”
“Right,” Asher said. “Where is it?”
“Back where Helion landed, on another pad,” Tyranis said. “I will leave you to it. I will submit my final items to the System, and finally finish this long quest.”
“Oh yeah, get anything cool from it?” Asher asked.
“No idea, but it better be good. You’ve been one headache after another.” Asher laughed loudly as the elf left. He and the others pulled out their Gliders. His parents together, Tiff and Atty, Lyola and Tillie. Eliffy jumped on the back of his again as they headed out toward the launch pads.
“Gods, it's sexy that you know a Primeval. They’re a mix between a celebrity and a boss. If one came to your planet the entire place is warned to be on their best behavior. Pissing off one of them has caused planets to be destroyed,” she whispered, grinding into his back.
“You’re gonna have to get to level 100 with me, so she can train you too,” he said.
“I wish,” she said. “Trust me Ash, it’s harder than you think.”
He left if at that. Tiff would have to tell her later about his max level skills. He thought it best to change the subject. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you. But the System gave me another key,” he whispered. “Onyx.”
“You mean?” She gasped. “You have 3?” This turned her on more as she gripped his chest.
“I did. I gave my new sponsor one,” he said.
“You gave it to her?” She asked angrily. “But you wouldn’t give me-”
“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I’ll give you one if you want. The Primeval explained that the more you have in one place, the worse it is. And if you bring 4 together, people start to see them on you.”
“I didn’t know that,” she said quietly.
“So yeah, if you want one, you can have it. I think my planet might be safer, but I trust you.”
She nodded. Kissing his cheek she said, “You keep it for now. But I reserve the right to hold it whenever I want.” She snaked her hands into his pants. He chuckled.
“Yes, my Dion,” he said. She laughed. “What has Lyola had you working on?”
“Alliance stuff,” she said. “Very hush-hush. Kind of just paying me to meet people. Get ahold of information brokers that know things. A little nice honestly. Roktai has a lot of portals, so I’m able to get to places sooner.”
“Thinking of joining them?”
“Considering it,” she whispered.
“What about your adventures?” He asked.
“Eh, I’m unemployed for now until something pops up,” she said. “Been really thinking about just going with you back to your planet.”
“We could fuck all the time,” he said with a smile. “But you’d be stuck there. Maybe I’d go on an adventure without you. Leaving you on Earth till the Initialization is complete.”
“True, I get wanderlust sometimes,” she said. “Thanks for not accepting the Sustutna sponsorship.” She pulled her hand out of his pants, others were too close anyway.
“Of course. From what you said, he didn’t sound like the best,” Asher said. “Any idea why he wanted me?”
“Your System I’m sure. He’s over level 100. I bet he wanted to learn your skills.”
“Didn’t think of that,” Asher said. If he used Sex Mana it wouldn’t be too hard to monitor Asher’s skills and replicate them. He did wonder what kind of skills the man had, but he didn’t want to risk seeing him.
“That it?” Eliffy asked, amazed. The tip of the ship could be seen through the trees. Asher sped up and soon they were through. “Quite tall. You overcompensating?”
“You know it,” he said as they landed near it. The large ship still resembled a shuttlecock. “I thought you girls checked it out.”
“We did before Ely came back,” Tiff said, slapping the blue girl’s ass.
“You’re in a good mood,” Atty noted.
“I am,” Tiff said. Prillish and Deacia ok now, the air around her was much brighter. The girls moved to stand next to him as they stared at the arrowhead like ship.
There were spikes stabbed into the black polymer landing pad. Asher made a note to find out where the spares were. The elliptical exterior spikes were a shiny metal red or silver, the colors alternated with each leg. It looked brand new, and ready to travel in. He was scared and excited at the same time.
“This is ours,” he said aloud. “Our new home.”
“Even me?” Eliffy asked.
“If you want,” Asher said, nodding. “We will all be traveling where we want with this. Doing what we want.”
“Holy shit, you guys weren’t joking,” Eliffy said, staring up at it. “I’ve never flown in a private longhaul Ethership before. It’s always been the massive mass-transport, or tiny team ones. You bought this with the Roleplays?”
“Among other things,” Lyola said. They hadn’t told her yet about the Ice Age Skill book, just the Meteor one.
“I can’t believe you named it Starburst,” Tiff said. Atty laughed.
“What? You got any other names?” Asher asked.
There was no answer. “What’s wrong with it?” Tillie asked.
“It’s the name of a fruity candy back on our planet,” Atty said.
“Crap, I forgot about that,” Asher admitted.
“Is the candy good?” Lyola asked.
Asher changed his spit to taste like a pink one. He kissed her. “It’s good,” she said, licking her lips. Then he was kissing all of them.
“Get a room,” his mother said. He forgot they were there. “I remember your first car. What? 3 years ago? Now you have a spaceship,” she said with a long sigh.
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” Asher said. She gave him a side eye. He could tell she thought that way too.
“Enough eye candy. Let’s go,” Tiff announced. They walked up to the one circular leg. A side hatch slid open revealing a platform. They stepped on together.“Starburst, up,” Tiff said aloud.
They began to rise slowly. Asher remembered going through this exact tube when they toured it. The sleek walls moved down until they stopped on the main floor. The area they were in was rectangular. The walls were about 12 feet tall. The platform took up most of the space. Asher noticed Mobry straight ahead.
“Finally,” the big blue Acean said approaching them. “We can do our walkthrough.”
“That’s why we are here,” Asher said walking up. They shook hands. Mobry’s webbed fingers were clammy, but Asher ignored it. Aceans were an aquatic race, it was to be expected. In too good of a mood he wore a wide smile looking around. The lights were at the base of the walls like the Helion, but the walls were painted white. Black Doors in the hallways, the floor was gray.
“Good,” Mobry said. “I must admit, she turned out beautifully.” They began to walk. “Starburst, open.” They stopped at a door and it led them to a random room. “A few have already laid claim,” he said.
“Fine with me, as long as we don’t get any stowaways,” he said.
“You can say, ‘Starburst, Manifest’ for a list of everyone onboard.” A list populated the nearest wall. It had everyone there, and a few people Asher didn’t know.
“I assume that’s the crew?” Asher asked.
“It’s customary to meet them. Ask questions…and tip them,” Mobry said. Asher nodded, he was fine with that. “Bathrooms are under these.” Mobry pointed to a small arrow near the ceiling. The room itself was about 20 feet x 20 feet, and the bathroom was bigger than the one on the Helion. They stepped back out as Mobry led.
“All these are rooms. I will point anything out that isn’t,” Mobry said. “Storage here.” The door opened to reveal a room like the one they had seen the Upgrade Orb the first time. “A little bit of extra spatial stretching in here. You can buy large storage boxes that will accept huge items fairly easily.”
“Here is the crew quarters,” Mobry said, leading them to a long room. It was mostly empty except for a few boxes.
They then turned down a hall. “Med Bay is here,” he said. “Healing Enchants inside. I recommend a healing bed, and maybe some healing scrolls just in case. Stock up on potions. Then this is the Mess Hall,” he said, bringing them to the center of the ship. It was a large open space about 50 feet across. Asher was still amazed they fit it all in the ship.
“I want a big round table right in the middle,” Asher said. Tiff nodded, she had a list going.
“This is the Bridge,” Mobry said, stepping them inside a side room. Batman sat at the controls with 2 yellow crew members that resembled Mobry’s assistant Cashorn. “Your friend said he would most likely be driving.”
“Ha, maybe,” Asher said. Batman got up and walked over to them. “You forget I spent a year flying ships in my Trial.” No one questioned the statement. He had mostly been self taught, but he assumed it would work. The room was the same as the Helion. At the center there was a large circular area where holograms could be projected.
“Starburst, show a plot from here to Earth.” The white circular area began to glow as planets appeared. Asher noticed only 3 suns separating them from Earth. He smiled, excited to get going.
“You’re going to have to do at least 3 days of training,” Mobry said. “We aren’t going to release this to you so you can wreck it.”
“Fair enough,” Asher said. He pulled out the Long-Range Portal Platform and set it off to the side. “I hope we can use this.”
“Where’d you get that?” Mobry asked, walking up to it. The platform was about 6 inches tall and 6 feet in diameter. The top was a white shining circle like the hologram display in the center of the room.
“Got it as a reward for my trials,” he said. “Long range. Any idea how to use it?”
Mobry studied it, then standing up he began to push Hydro mana into the base. A portal opened up into blackness. The portal then showed the group from a side. Asher looked over to see a portal on the other side of the room.
“What’s the range?” Mobry asked.
“30 miles,” Asher said. The Omniauris mostly translated it into a reference number Mobry would understand.
“Wow, we can only do a few miles,” he said. “System give you this?” Asher nodded. “How much to study it?”
“For how long?” Asher asked.
“4 days,” Mobry said.
“Make it 3, and you can borrow it, as long as it works when it comes back. I don’t need money, but my wife, Lyola, will be coming to you for another ship.”
“Already?” The big man asked, looking to Lyola. She nodded. A wide smile on her face. They had to get their Terraforming ship next. “Fair enough,” he said. Picking up the platform it disappeared in a white light.
“Let’s finish the tour and you can work out a flight training schedule,” Mobry said walking out.
“That is the elevator to the training area. Your friend is already up there,” he said. Asher wanted to see the multi-gravity enchant as well, but Mobry stopped him. “Like I told her, you will have to wait to use it. You’ll understand more with the crewmembers explanation, but the ship is a balancing act. If you use too many enchants you’ll drain the Ether Drive. Once you have a firm departure date you can figure out how far to push it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Asher said. They’d have weeks to check it out anyway.
“Next let’s check out the other ship locations,” Mobry said. They walked through the halls around the ship. They came to a small alcove like the entrance platform and headed down another elevator platform. It took them down slowly until they were in a lower ceiling level. Only 10’ tall now.
“There’s storage here, mainly for spare parts,” Mobry said. “Each one of these halls curves down to one of the legs. There are 5 big enough for small ships. 2 are used for connecting to other ships.”
“How do we connect to other ships?”
“The best way is to take a smaller ship and dock. We will have time to practice that. Larger ships should have an extendable airlock.” He said.
Asher wanted to see the small ship they bought, but left it. They headed back up to the main floor.
“Captain Quarters are here,” he said. Pointing to a room Tiff rushed over.
“Atty, we will have plenty of time on the ship. Help me decorate,” she said. Atalanta rushed over with a smile. They shut the door before he could say anything. Lyola had a wide smile on. They knew what to expect when they came back. He held her and Tillie’s hands as they continued the tour.
“This is storage. But could also be made into a brig,” Mobry said. “There’s a smaller room at the back. No controls whatsoever that can be accessed.”
“I hope we don’t need it. But good to know,” he said. The others nodded. It was better to have a jail cell and not need it, than need and not have.
“Last thing is the Maintenance level. Platform is here,” he said pointing to a door opposite the training hall platform. “It's between this level and the individual ship level.” They stepped on the platform.
“You won’t want everyone to have access to this or the bridge. We can work on restrictions later. You will be the captain I assume?”
“Yep,” Asher said. “Any of you want to learn to fly?” He asked the others.
Eliffy, Lyola, Tillie, and Bishop raised their hands. Only Ria wasn’t interested. He knew she suffered from motion sickness, and he doubted her pregnancy helped that. “Don’t worry. I’ll tip the trainers well,” Asher assured Mobry.
“They’ve been away from their homes for a month,” he reminded them.
They stepped out from the platform. It was everything Asher dreamed. Pipes, coolant lines, ductwork, weird buzzing electrical cables, and most anything Asher could think of was neatly running on the ceiling and walls.
“This is the Majoris Drive,” he said, pointing to a beast of an engine. It whirred and slowly moved. “Above it is the Ether Drive,” he said. A nearly identical drive sat on top connected to the ceiling. “Your Mana Heart is in there running the Majoris.”
“How strong is it? How do you judge it?”
“Mana points of course. I think it ended up holding about 3,000,000 points. Quite a good haul, especially for the size. It will automatically recharge in the Ether Stream. On a Tier 3 planet like this we could charge about 120 MP per hour.”
“Jeez,” Asher said. “How much do we use per hour right now?”
“About 55 just being idle, and we aren’t using the gravity enchants. You could make more mana hearts into rechargers if you want.”
“I want,” Asher said. “We have quite a few from our last trial.”
“We can exchange them for Rechargers. Shouldn’t cost too much. Engineer Systems make them,” he said. That was good to know. He needed to get his own people working on equipment they couldn’t get from Elantontrin. It would be annoying to have to keep sending his ship week after week for supplies. He would be too tempted to go and be with Lyola and Tillie.
“I’ll show you some hatches above. But there are a lot of ladders that go up from here to other maintenance areas.”
“How will we know what to fix?” Bishop asked.
“The AI will know.” Mobry walked to a black white wall. “Starburst show how to change HVAC filters. And the Preventative Maintenance schedule for them.” On the wall a screen appeared showing a view of them walking through the maintenance floor to a large mechanical machine. A blower was connected to ductwork that circulated air up and down to the other levels. On the inlet and outlet of the fan there were large filters. The AI showed someone pulling a filter out and putting one back in. Above the screen was a timer that counted down from 100 days.
“We have to change filters and stuff?” Asher asked. The pirate life became a little less romantic.
“Welcome to being a captain. You’ll have a lot to learn. I’m sure you’ll get to wear many hats. Owning a ship isn’t all fun and games. But I’m sure you’ll get bored. It’s mostly checking with the AI daily. Some things take 2 minutes. Others take 5 hours.”
Asher let out a long sigh but nodded. “This is so cool,” Eliffy said, walking around the drives. “I can’t wait to fly around in this thing.”
“After we pass our tests we can take our small ship too,” Asher said.
“You have a small ship?” Ely asked excitedly.
“Later, I promise,” he said. “Anything else to check out?”
“Not right now. Let’s meet the crew and work out a schedule. Then you can all play around.”
Asher nodded. He knew his wife would be ready for them soon. He was scared and excited to see what she wanted to try first.
Asher and Tiff stepped into the black portals on the ground hand in hand. He felt Dea’s gaze on their backs as they left. What came from her was a good feeling. They had bonded over the last couple of hours. Tiff acting as the mother, Dea had softened a little as they discussed her life. There was a lot she had skipped, only focusing on the good parts. Asher could tell that her experiences were mostly bad.
“Bye, my love!” Tiff yelled with a wave. Though they were far away Asher could see Dea blush. “I’m gonna miss you!”
Everything turned black and they were back on the platform beside the palace. “Finally!” Lyola said walking up. “Did it go well?”
“It did,” Asher said. “We have a sponsor.” He grabbed her hand and they walked away from the portals.
“Really?” Tyranis asked, surprised he got up from a chair. “And you think it will be fine with a Primeval?”
“I think she will be our best choice,” Asher said. Tiff nodded. Dea had warned them not to say anything about her past. There could be people listening everywhere. “She promised to file with the League, and no one would touch us for 20 years. Then she would train me and anyone else that got to level 100 after that.”
“Training from a Primeval?” Tyranis said, amazed. “Even my father didn’t have that.”
“Then we’ll have to take him along,” Asher said. “You too, Tyranis. Let’s get you to 100.”
Tyranis laughed. “Oh, trust me, it will be harder than you think to cross that threshold. If she gives you protection for 20 years, that should be plenty of time to get more Alliances. This is very good news.”
“Great,” Asher said. He leaned over kissing Lyola’s cheek. “Sorry to make you wait. We were talking for longer than I expected.”
“Did you learn anything cool?” Eliffy asked, moving closer.
“A lot. She started talking about pre-System times. It really was hell,” he said.
“Did she say why she chose you?” Ria asked. He could guess what she assumed happened.
“She said it was to make the League angry. After his trial on Prime, she didn’t like how they left things,” Tiff said. “Said she wanted to make a reappearance.”
“And why did she want you?” Atalanta asked Tiffany.
“I’ll tell you later,” she promised. Atty would probably get the truth. “For now, I want to see our ship.”
“Right,” Asher said. “Where is it?”
“Back where Helion landed, on another pad,” Tyranis said. “I will leave you to it. I will submit my final items to the System, and finally finish this long quest.”
“Oh yeah, get anything cool from it?” Asher asked.
“No idea, but it better be good. You’ve been one headache after another.” Asher laughed loudly as the elf left. He and the others pulled out their Gliders. His parents together, Tiff and Atty, Lyola and Tillie. Eliffy jumped on the back of his again as they headed out toward the launch pads.
“Gods, it's sexy that you know a Primeval. They’re a mix between a celebrity and a boss. If one came to your planet the entire place is warned to be on their best behavior. Pissing off one of them has caused planets to be destroyed,” she whispered, grinding into his back.
“You’re gonna have to get to level 100 with me, so she can train you too,” he said.
“I wish,” she said. “Trust me Ash, it’s harder than you think.”
He left if at that. Tiff would have to tell her later about his max level skills. He thought it best to change the subject. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you. But the System gave me another key,” he whispered. “Onyx.”
“You mean?” She gasped. “You have 3?” This turned her on more as she gripped his chest.
“I did. I gave my new sponsor one,” he said.
“You gave it to her?” She asked angrily. “But you wouldn’t give me-”
“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I’ll give you one if you want. The Primeval explained that the more you have in one place, the worse it is. And if you bring 4 together, people start to see them on you.”
“I didn’t know that,” she said quietly.
“So yeah, if you want one, you can have it. I think my planet might be safer, but I trust you.”
She nodded. Kissing his cheek she said, “You keep it for now. But I reserve the right to hold it whenever I want.” She snaked her hands into his pants. He chuckled.
“Yes, my Dion,” he said. She laughed. “What has Lyola had you working on?”
“Alliance stuff,” she said. “Very hush-hush. Kind of just paying me to meet people. Get ahold of information brokers that know things. A little nice honestly. Roktai has a lot of portals, so I’m able to get to places sooner.”
“Thinking of joining them?”
“Considering it,” she whispered.
“What about your adventures?” He asked.
“Eh, I’m unemployed for now until something pops up,” she said. “Been really thinking about just going with you back to your planet.”
“We could fuck all the time,” he said with a smile. “But you’d be stuck there. Maybe I’d go on an adventure without you. Leaving you on Earth till the Initialization is complete.”
“True, I get wanderlust sometimes,” she said. “Thanks for not accepting the Sustutna sponsorship.” She pulled her hand out of his pants, others were too close anyway.
“Of course. From what you said, he didn’t sound like the best,” Asher said. “Any idea why he wanted me?”
“Your System I’m sure. He’s over level 100. I bet he wanted to learn your skills.”
“Didn’t think of that,” Asher said. If he used Sex Mana it wouldn’t be too hard to monitor Asher’s skills and replicate them. He did wonder what kind of skills the man had, but he didn’t want to risk seeing him.
“That it?” Eliffy asked, amazed. The tip of the ship could be seen through the trees. Asher sped up and soon they were through. “Quite tall. You overcompensating?”
“You know it,” he said as they landed near it. The large ship still resembled a shuttlecock. “I thought you girls checked it out.”
“We did before Ely came back,” Tiff said, slapping the blue girl’s ass.
“You’re in a good mood,” Atty noted.
“I am,” Tiff said. Prillish and Deacia ok now, the air around her was much brighter. The girls moved to stand next to him as they stared at the arrowhead like ship.
There were spikes stabbed into the black polymer landing pad. Asher made a note to find out where the spares were. The elliptical exterior spikes were a shiny metal red or silver, the colors alternated with each leg. It looked brand new, and ready to travel in. He was scared and excited at the same time.
“This is ours,” he said aloud. “Our new home.”
“Even me?” Eliffy asked.
“If you want,” Asher said, nodding. “We will all be traveling where we want with this. Doing what we want.”
“Holy shit, you guys weren’t joking,” Eliffy said, staring up at it. “I’ve never flown in a private longhaul Ethership before. It’s always been the massive mass-transport, or tiny team ones. You bought this with the Roleplays?”
“Among other things,” Lyola said. They hadn’t told her yet about the Ice Age Skill book, just the Meteor one.
“I can’t believe you named it Starburst,” Tiff said. Atty laughed.
“What? You got any other names?” Asher asked.
There was no answer. “What’s wrong with it?” Tillie asked.
“It’s the name of a fruity candy back on our planet,” Atty said.
“Crap, I forgot about that,” Asher admitted.
“Is the candy good?” Lyola asked.
Asher changed his spit to taste like a pink one. He kissed her. “It’s good,” she said, licking her lips. Then he was kissing all of them.
“Get a room,” his mother said. He forgot they were there. “I remember your first car. What? 3 years ago? Now you have a spaceship,” she said with a long sigh.
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” Asher said. She gave him a side eye. He could tell she thought that way too.
“Enough eye candy. Let’s go,” Tiff announced. They walked up to the one circular leg. A side hatch slid open revealing a platform. They stepped on together.“Starburst, up,” Tiff said aloud.
They began to rise slowly. Asher remembered going through this exact tube when they toured it. The sleek walls moved down until they stopped on the main floor. The area they were in was rectangular. The walls were about 12 feet tall. The platform took up most of the space. Asher noticed Mobry straight ahead.
“Finally,” the big blue Acean said approaching them. “We can do our walkthrough.”
“That’s why we are here,” Asher said walking up. They shook hands. Mobry’s webbed fingers were clammy, but Asher ignored it. Aceans were an aquatic race, it was to be expected. In too good of a mood he wore a wide smile looking around. The lights were at the base of the walls like the Helion, but the walls were painted white. Black Doors in the hallways, the floor was gray.
“Good,” Mobry said. “I must admit, she turned out beautifully.” They began to walk. “Starburst, open.” They stopped at a door and it led them to a random room. “A few have already laid claim,” he said.
“Fine with me, as long as we don’t get any stowaways,” he said.
“You can say, ‘Starburst, Manifest’ for a list of everyone onboard.” A list populated the nearest wall. It had everyone there, and a few people Asher didn’t know.
“I assume that’s the crew?” Asher asked.
“It’s customary to meet them. Ask questions…and tip them,” Mobry said. Asher nodded, he was fine with that. “Bathrooms are under these.” Mobry pointed to a small arrow near the ceiling. The room itself was about 20 feet x 20 feet, and the bathroom was bigger than the one on the Helion. They stepped back out as Mobry led.
“All these are rooms. I will point anything out that isn’t,” Mobry said. “Storage here.” The door opened to reveal a room like the one they had seen the Upgrade Orb the first time. “A little bit of extra spatial stretching in here. You can buy large storage boxes that will accept huge items fairly easily.”
“Here is the crew quarters,” Mobry said, leading them to a long room. It was mostly empty except for a few boxes.
They then turned down a hall. “Med Bay is here,” he said. “Healing Enchants inside. I recommend a healing bed, and maybe some healing scrolls just in case. Stock up on potions. Then this is the Mess Hall,” he said, bringing them to the center of the ship. It was a large open space about 50 feet across. Asher was still amazed they fit it all in the ship.
“I want a big round table right in the middle,” Asher said. Tiff nodded, she had a list going.
“This is the Bridge,” Mobry said, stepping them inside a side room. Batman sat at the controls with 2 yellow crew members that resembled Mobry’s assistant Cashorn. “Your friend said he would most likely be driving.”
“Ha, maybe,” Asher said. Batman got up and walked over to them. “You forget I spent a year flying ships in my Trial.” No one questioned the statement. He had mostly been self taught, but he assumed it would work. The room was the same as the Helion. At the center there was a large circular area where holograms could be projected.
“Starburst, show a plot from here to Earth.” The white circular area began to glow as planets appeared. Asher noticed only 3 suns separating them from Earth. He smiled, excited to get going.
“You’re going to have to do at least 3 days of training,” Mobry said. “We aren’t going to release this to you so you can wreck it.”
“Fair enough,” Asher said. He pulled out the Long-Range Portal Platform and set it off to the side. “I hope we can use this.”
“Where’d you get that?” Mobry asked, walking up to it. The platform was about 6 inches tall and 6 feet in diameter. The top was a white shining circle like the hologram display in the center of the room.
“Got it as a reward for my trials,” he said. “Long range. Any idea how to use it?”
Mobry studied it, then standing up he began to push Hydro mana into the base. A portal opened up into blackness. The portal then showed the group from a side. Asher looked over to see a portal on the other side of the room.
“What’s the range?” Mobry asked.
“30 miles,” Asher said. The Omniauris mostly translated it into a reference number Mobry would understand.
“Wow, we can only do a few miles,” he said. “System give you this?” Asher nodded. “How much to study it?”
“For how long?” Asher asked.
“4 days,” Mobry said.
“Make it 3, and you can borrow it, as long as it works when it comes back. I don’t need money, but my wife, Lyola, will be coming to you for another ship.”
“Already?” The big man asked, looking to Lyola. She nodded. A wide smile on her face. They had to get their Terraforming ship next. “Fair enough,” he said. Picking up the platform it disappeared in a white light.
“Let’s finish the tour and you can work out a flight training schedule,” Mobry said walking out.
“That is the elevator to the training area. Your friend is already up there,” he said. Asher wanted to see the multi-gravity enchant as well, but Mobry stopped him. “Like I told her, you will have to wait to use it. You’ll understand more with the crewmembers explanation, but the ship is a balancing act. If you use too many enchants you’ll drain the Ether Drive. Once you have a firm departure date you can figure out how far to push it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Asher said. They’d have weeks to check it out anyway.
“Next let’s check out the other ship locations,” Mobry said. They walked through the halls around the ship. They came to a small alcove like the entrance platform and headed down another elevator platform. It took them down slowly until they were in a lower ceiling level. Only 10’ tall now.
“There’s storage here, mainly for spare parts,” Mobry said. “Each one of these halls curves down to one of the legs. There are 5 big enough for small ships. 2 are used for connecting to other ships.”
“How do we connect to other ships?”
“The best way is to take a smaller ship and dock. We will have time to practice that. Larger ships should have an extendable airlock.” He said.
Asher wanted to see the small ship they bought, but left it. They headed back up to the main floor.
“Captain Quarters are here,” he said. Pointing to a room Tiff rushed over.
“Atty, we will have plenty of time on the ship. Help me decorate,” she said. Atalanta rushed over with a smile. They shut the door before he could say anything. Lyola had a wide smile on. They knew what to expect when they came back. He held her and Tillie’s hands as they continued the tour.
“This is storage. But could also be made into a brig,” Mobry said. “There’s a smaller room at the back. No controls whatsoever that can be accessed.”
“I hope we don’t need it. But good to know,” he said. The others nodded. It was better to have a jail cell and not need it, than need and not have.
“Last thing is the Maintenance level. Platform is here,” he said pointing to a door opposite the training hall platform. “It's between this level and the individual ship level.” They stepped on the platform.
“You won’t want everyone to have access to this or the bridge. We can work on restrictions later. You will be the captain I assume?”
“Yep,” Asher said. “Any of you want to learn to fly?” He asked the others.
Eliffy, Lyola, Tillie, and Bishop raised their hands. Only Ria wasn’t interested. He knew she suffered from motion sickness, and he doubted her pregnancy helped that. “Don’t worry. I’ll tip the trainers well,” Asher assured Mobry.
“They’ve been away from their homes for a month,” he reminded them.
They stepped out from the platform. It was everything Asher dreamed. Pipes, coolant lines, ductwork, weird buzzing electrical cables, and most anything Asher could think of was neatly running on the ceiling and walls.
“This is the Majoris Drive,” he said, pointing to a beast of an engine. It whirred and slowly moved. “Above it is the Ether Drive,” he said. A nearly identical drive sat on top connected to the ceiling. “Your Mana Heart is in there running the Majoris.”
“How strong is it? How do you judge it?”
“Mana points of course. I think it ended up holding about 3,000,000 points. Quite a good haul, especially for the size. It will automatically recharge in the Ether Stream. On a Tier 3 planet like this we could charge about 120 MP per hour.”
“Jeez,” Asher said. “How much do we use per hour right now?”
“About 55 just being idle, and we aren’t using the gravity enchants. You could make more mana hearts into rechargers if you want.”
“I want,” Asher said. “We have quite a few from our last trial.”
“We can exchange them for Rechargers. Shouldn’t cost too much. Engineer Systems make them,” he said. That was good to know. He needed to get his own people working on equipment they couldn’t get from Elantontrin. It would be annoying to have to keep sending his ship week after week for supplies. He would be too tempted to go and be with Lyola and Tillie.
“I’ll show you some hatches above. But there are a lot of ladders that go up from here to other maintenance areas.”
“How will we know what to fix?” Bishop asked.
“The AI will know.” Mobry walked to a black white wall. “Starburst show how to change HVAC filters. And the Preventative Maintenance schedule for them.” On the wall a screen appeared showing a view of them walking through the maintenance floor to a large mechanical machine. A blower was connected to ductwork that circulated air up and down to the other levels. On the inlet and outlet of the fan there were large filters. The AI showed someone pulling a filter out and putting one back in. Above the screen was a timer that counted down from 100 days.
“We have to change filters and stuff?” Asher asked. The pirate life became a little less romantic.
“Welcome to being a captain. You’ll have a lot to learn. I’m sure you’ll get to wear many hats. Owning a ship isn’t all fun and games. But I’m sure you’ll get bored. It’s mostly checking with the AI daily. Some things take 2 minutes. Others take 5 hours.”
Asher let out a long sigh but nodded. “This is so cool,” Eliffy said, walking around the drives. “I can’t wait to fly around in this thing.”
“After we pass our tests we can take our small ship too,” Asher said.
“You have a small ship?” Ely asked excitedly.
“Later, I promise,” he said. “Anything else to check out?”
“Not right now. Let’s meet the crew and work out a schedule. Then you can all play around.”
Asher nodded. He knew his wife would be ready for them soon. He was scared and excited to see what she wanted to try first.
