Andrew was being led down a tunnel whose only feature was that it was made of the same white marble substance as everything else he had seen so far. The gold lines which ran like rivers through the marble still pulsed with an unknown rainbow energy. Just like the other room, try as he might he couldn’t find a shadow, it made him wonder if this as how it was on all Elven structures or vessels or whatever it was that he was in.

  The line of purple energy which extended from his forehead to the back of Lachs’ head weighed on him as if it were a spectral leash of purple energy forcing him to follow her commands. While he knew it wasn’t an actual leash, it still served as a constant and irritating reminder of his position in this new world. That he was someone who should serve and follow her every command. He knew it was childish but he couldn’t shake the anger that outwardly he did appear to be mindlessly following her like an obedient lap dog.

  It only helped slightly that he knew the truth was he was taking the moment devoid of Ioma’s demands, to try to come to terms with everything that had transpired. With all that had gone on in the last few days he had a hard time focusing on any one thing that was too crazy to be true. Instead, it raced from topic to topic, one moment it focused on his part in the bad jump before it moved on to the fact that aliens and apparently even magic existed. After a short while his mind hopped to the potential loss of his friend and that it was a result of his panicked actions. Just when he had become comfortable thinking that was the worst of it, his mind came to the subject he had avoided most of all. Avoiding it because this subject haunted him more than all the other topics combined. That his wife might be floating frozen and lifeless in the void of space, or she was a prisoner in some elven slave camp. He wasn’t sure which outcome would be worse for her. Was death better than what was instore for him and his crewmates? Through all the subjects, even the last horrifying thoughts, a part of his brain was still trying to process what, if anything, he might be able to do to escape his current fate and find Linnie.

  He knew his mental state had not been in a healthy state since Linnie’s disappearance, but became painfully aware of its continued degradation when he looked up from his thoughts and realized he was no longer walking down a hallway but instead standing in a rather large arched chamber. He looked around the room to try to take measure of it, but an odd feeling struck him. Like the room was getting smaller. He was going to dismiss it, but the walls’ movement increased in pace, as they grew organically inward. When they finished growing inward, what was once a large arched chamber was now a small arched room. It could not have been more than 4x4 meters and about the same in height. The transformation of the room complete, small worm-like tendrils of white marble grew out of the middle of the floor and where they met, they grew together intertwining then fusing and multiplying forming three pillars. The process resembled how Andrew had always imagined regeneration might look, though in extreme fast-forward. In less than a minute the three pillars coalesced into two chairs with a desk between them. The desk and chairs had the same look of perfectly polished white marble, no sign of their worm-like origins apparent in the final products.

  "Sit," Ioma said as if commanding a disobedient dog. She gestured to the left of the two chairs, the ever-present light somehow grew brighter on it. While it galled him to yet again do what she commanded, he saw no clear avenues of escape, nor any gain at naysaying her. So, he sat, but gave her a mean glare in impotent defiance.

  "Mr. Lather, this room has been secured from all forms of communication. No small effort has been expended to do so. So, I must ask why would you say I’m using magic to control things on this ship?" Ioma in a voice that betrayed her skepticism and a bit of anger.

  "Sorry lady I see…" Andrew started to casually say right before a red glow briefly coalesced around Ioma's left hand before it formed into lighting and leapt to strike him in the chest. The pain was a searing agony which caused his muscles to lock up. Unable to control himself, he once again fell unceremoniously to the floor. His head bounced oddly as it hit the rubbery floor.

  He couldn’t help but let a small giggle escape his lips when he realized he was still breathing.

  "Mr. Lather, we have been over this you may address me as either Captain or Captain Lachs. If you refuse to address me with respect, then I shall be forced to spend the brief time we have together teaching you the respect you will need to survive what is to come with your body and soul intact. Though as you seem resistant to mild admonition your mind may not make it through the coming ordeal in the same state. Speaking of your mind, what exactly do you find so funny?"

  Andrew opened his mouth and then paused before he responded, "It was the realization that you're likely just trying to torture me and not kill me."

  "What brought you to this conclusion exactly?"

  "I seriously doubt that the elven woman who boarded my ship is stronger than you. As she unceremoniously killed my friend with the same lightning thing, it seems only logical that you’re limiting your damage for a reason. Thus, it must be to get something out of me, or you want me for some reason. So, you’re using it to torture me into capitulation instead. As you seem to want to understand my mind, the part I'm most unhappy about is it seems either I have a conversation with you, or you destroy my mind, body, and/or soul?" After a short pause, he, in a more somber tone, added, "Souls are actually real?"

  Ioma sighed "It appears you're cleverer than I believed your race to be capable of. You're correct, I am superior to Estred by all conceivable metrics, except perhaps cruelty. The metric you should be most grateful for is my self-control.

  As for souls, Mr. Lather, you'll soon find out just how real souls are. You seem determined to continue down this path of disobedience and as such I suspect you will also discover how much you wished your soul didn’t exist. With that being said, I feel I should also add that I'd prefer not to have to explore that route with you. Instead, I would appreciate it if you would just sit and have a conversation with me, but don’t be fooled I am fine with either outcome."

  Andrew smiling impishly said "Look ma…. Captain. If you just want to get to know me better, you don't have to do all of this. I’m flattered and all, but sorry to disappoint but I'm marri…" There was a pale tan flash, and again Andrew found himself on the ground grasping for breath.

  "Mr. Lather, I see you think you’re getting somewhere, but please try to focus on your goal of making it through this intact," Ioma said with the look of a parent who has had to tell their child to stop doing something one too many times…. 10 times ago.

  "Fair enough, Captain. I just think your entire society really could use some training on consent I mean…."

  This time he was cut short as a black energy briefly coalesced around her hand before it shot across the table. Its motion could best be described as oily, though quick as the lightning before it. It hit Andrew in the chest and through the scorched hole in his uniform, he watched, in horror, as it effortlessly seeped through his skin. Instantly, he felt cold and alone, more disturbingly it felt as if his soul were trying to crawl out of his chest. As if his soul was making a desperate attempt to get as far away from whatever she was doing to it as it could. As the oily black energy flowed Andrew found he was unable to process anything other than despair, not even how long this torture had been going on. All he could think about was how worthless he was and how he had utterly failed at everything lately. How everyone was better off without him, and it would be best just to end it now before he just made things worse. When he agreed with those thoughts his entire body tensed up as if every muscle had gone to rigor and the black energy stopped. His mind snapped back into painful focus just in time to see a look of genuine concern ignite on Ioma’s face before darkness took him.

  ****************

  Andrew couldn’t get passed how much the passageway he was in seemed to be an exact replication of that standard submarine passage that seemed to grace every show or movie ever to be set on a sub. You know the one, slightly too narrow, on either side there was piping running to and fro that seemed liked you might bang your head on this at any moment, and lighting which gave the scene the feeling that the air was thick and humid. The walls were even covered in that same grey navy paint, though every nick betrayed just how old the Sled was. It seemed it was almost like a glimpse into a tree’s rings, you could almost count the years by the different colored layers those nicks revealed. Only the rust at the center proved that the walls were not made of solid fordite.

  Andrew was standing in the center of that hallway just to his left and facing him was a svelte man. The man had tousled black hair, moderately framed glasses, a generously warm smile set in a slightly shrewd face, and whose coveralls appeared to be made almost entirely of grease.

  "Hello, my name is Chogan Catawnee, it is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the man said as he held out his hand. As Andrew took the man’s hand in a warm shake it gave him an angle to answer a question which had been burning in his mind since entering the hallway, “Are Chogan’s coveralls the same mission blue as everyone else or made of grease?”. His answer came as they were shaking hands and a “clean” spot on the inside of the man's collar revealed itself as Chogan ducked his head as part of their greeting. It was indeed made of the same material as everyone else’s and the same mission blue.

  "You must be Andrew Lather the tech wizard I hear so much about.”

  "Ha tech wizard! I don’t know about all that, but I often wish magic was real. Imagine the things you could do with it. One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t be stuck waiting in this cramped hall to answer to some authority figure about the everyday inane things going on around here.” Andrew said smiling, though some bitterness was clearly apparent, before quickly adding, “Sorry, you must be the Alternate Mechanic I hear such great things about. Not to be rude, but I have to ask, how did you end up as the alternate? I mean I hear you’re a literal genius."

  "Oh no sir not rude at all, but one I sadly don't have a good answer for. Though I do speculate it was greater family ties that made the decision. If you catch my meaning sir." Chogan said very nonchalantly, “And how did you come by your fate, sir?"

  Andrew considered his response for a moment. A moment that was long enough to allow things to get awkward.

  "If asking is not too bold sir," Chogan added after a moment.

  "No no definitely not too bold. Just a sore spot. See I was supposed to be on the Orin…asa and well a situation arose where I was held back and the Orinasa jumped with my alternate instead of me." Andrew said in a sullen tone.

  "Excuse me sir, but I don’t understand how that explains why you are not primary here. No offense to Mr. Oxley, but frankly from what I have heard you're considerably more talented than Thomas, and yet because your alternate jumped with the previous mission, you’re the alternate now?"

  Andrew chuckled.

  "See the issue is that the reason why I was held back was later found to not be a real issue and the person to replace me is the person I believe sabotaged the Orinasa. So the rest is history," Andrew said in a reluctant but slightly irritated tone.

  "Excuse my boldness sir, but they made you an alternate because you got held back on false pretenses and the guy, they replaced you with was the problem? That does not seem very reasonable, there must be more to this story." Chogan said almost chuckling with his odd smile that was also somehow infectious.

  "My wife was on the O and so I might want revenge," Andrew said a bit sharply.

  “Sorry sir, I really should not have dug, I meant no offense,” Chogan replied in a reprimanded tone.

  The two sat in silence for a bit with Chogan giving Andrew a caring look as Andrew obviously though of the situation he was in.

  "Not that I'm one to bash people about using their family's fame to get ahead," Chogan said, with a beaming smile, breaking the silence.

  "Huh? Oh, that's right your father is one of the key engineers who made the Hring even possible, right?" queried Andrew.

  "That is correct. My father is a great man and was key in solving the food generation issues, among many other things. Though the food generation was his crowning achievement in my mind. If left on its own, it was predicted it could make food for the maximum crew of the ship for over 10,000 years. Truly probably a bit over-engineered, but what else could you expect from my father? " Chogan said proudly.

  "Luckily, we didn’t have to test those predicted limits out during our trip to Yuta, but it is a comfort to know that the missing Hring crew has that much of a buffer to find another suitable planet. I sure hope they won’t have to test those boundaries. Though if they have to, it’s nice to think food and air won’t be their issue," mused Andrew.

  ****************

  Andrew was startled awake by a sound he had not expected to hear. It was the jingle that played each time his Kata implant rebooted. Which, as Ziggy had malfunctioned once he was wherever here was it was quite surprising to hear it and gave him hope that when he opened his eyes he’d find himself once again curled up in bed on Yuta. The sound also tugged at his heart as one of the first things he had done when he got Ziggy was to replace the generic, and annoying Kata Industries jingle (“Kata Industries, your life enhanced. See the world amplified!”) with the beginning of his and Linny’s song.

  His initial hopes were dashed before he even opened his eyes as his Kata display reappeared in his vision with a very odd message. Not only the message itself was odd, but also it appeared in what would be the center of his vision, if his eyes were open, instead of just outside of his normal vision.

  [Reboot complete. Integration with Control Worm successful.]

  It was only then he noticed the feeling of warm energy surrounding him as well as entering and infusing his body. As he opened his eyes, he discovered that everything was tinged green thanks to warm green energy which was flowing from both of Ioma’s hands and was surrounding his entire body. She was still sitting across the table from him, eyes closed in what appeared to be extreme concentration, as she rhythmically moved her hands back and forth causing the green energy to flow out of them with each stroke. The energy flowed from her in a steady flow, but for some reason seemed to be heavily concentrated around his head and shoulders.

  Andrew was brought up short when Ioma put up her hand up as if she knew he was about to speak.

  He sat there in silence watching her every move. As he did Ziggy kept posting message updates every two to three minutes.

  [Your Skull fracture has successfully healed, no long-term impairment expected.]

  [Left shoulder dislocation has successfully healed, no long-term impairment expected.]

  [Forehead laceration bleeding has abated.]

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  [Forehead laceration has successfully healed, no long-term impairment expected.]

  [Osteoarthritis has successfully healed, no long-term impairment expected.]

  [Right shoulder contusion has successfully healed, no long-term impairment expected.]

  As each message popped up, the highlight on his damage silhouette which corresponded to the message cleared. Andrew stared at it in disbelief. What should have taken months or longer to heal, had been healed in moments. Iomas slumped into the chair across from him, green energy no longer emanated from her.

  [You appear to be in perfect health.]

  Followed by three more messages which only added to Andrew’s confusion.

  [Connection to Control Worm has been improved.]

  [Control aspect of the worm has been neutralized.]

  [New function added. Stats and Powers display.]

  Andrew had so many questions he wanted answers to, but after Ioma’s previous demonstration of power, he tried to wait patiently for her to speak. He was known to push the edge, but what ever that black magic had been, it had caused him pain like he had never imagined. To help keep from angering her, he distracted himself by exploring the reported new function of his Kata. He was unsure of how to use it, so he tried the normal way and with a thought, the "Stats and Powers" display came up. Floating just outside the left side of his vision.

  [

  ]

  So, I have a character sheet which is pretty helpful. Though I have almost no clue of the significance of anything in it. That said if I’m reading this right, I can turn off any magical effect and I can block mental control. Time to put that skill into action.

  Andrew let out a small chuckle before he was about to reign himself back in.

  Ioma lifts her eyes slightly annoyed "What exactly is amusing you now?”

  [Captain Ioma Lachs, commanding officer, Beautiful Winds. (Would you like to know more?)]

  Andrew couldn’t resist, and a character sheet popped up for Ioma.

  [

  ]

  Andrew was let down as it didn’t contain any information he didn’t already know. Realizing that he had not responded in a timely manner because of his distraction with her sheet, he tried not to act distracted as he responded.

  "It’s just that I’m alive. Seriously though thank you for healing me. If I might ask, what happened exactly?"

  "I thought it clear, I was teaching you a lesson on how I can hurt you in ways you've never known before and in my anger, I did not account for your previous injuries or your race’s frail nature. Which almost resulted in your death.”

  “So why did you save me?”

  “Your death would have robbed me of the chance to understand how exactly it is you can see magic. While it is well recorded that humans can utilize magic and your ships harness it in a way we are still trying to understand. Perceiving magic in such a way is something I have not heard of in any outside of my race. Even in members of my race, it is not a power that is seen often. While I have been led to believe there are no native magic users of your race, I must ask. Are you a wizard or some such of your people?"

  Andrew, considered attempting to sever the the purple line, but decided it would be prudent not to quite yet. Believing that the purple line would aid in making captain Lachs complacent, he ecided to act as if he was reluctant to answer to see how she would respond. Which apparently was to sit there and stare at him.

  After what felt like an eternity, he blurted out, "I make Harry Dresden look impotent" and stood taller with his chest puffed out, trying his best to look important.

  Ioma's eyes narrowed, "I am assuming I should know who this is?"

  Only slightly deflated he tried again, " Merlin?"

  Not seeing any recognition from her, his shoulders start to slump, "Dumbledore?".

  After seeing no recognition, he let out a sigh before he mumbled, "Harry Potter?" defeat clear in his voice.

  Ioma's eyes perked up "Ahhhh the boy wizard from your fake reality things?"

  Andrew perked up as well, “Wow, you need to reconsider who your friends are. If you know who Harry Potter is, but not Merlin. Wait, how have you ever even heard of a movie?"

  Her sternness reappeared, a small amount of black energy leaked from her hands, and Andrew felt his soul start to try to find the nearest exit.

  "Please Mr. Lather don't force my hand. How I know of your culture is not any of your concern. I’ve allowed you to distract me for the last time. Back to what we’re here to discuss, which is how you have come by magical abilities and what are you capable of?

  Andrew, a bit bewildered by the question responded, "If this is magic" gesturing toward the various purple lines and the rainbow energy pulsing through the walls "Then I guess it’s a gift from your control worm and I guess I can see magic flow? For all the good that does me."

  Ioma's head moved back, and her eyes squinted with one slightly raised, "What do you mean, Control Worm?"

  "That worm thing you put in my eye," said Andrew.

  "What makes you think I need that worm to control you?" indignation clear on her face.

  "It’s what my implant calls it. Not sure where it got that name from exactly," responded Andrew.

  “You have a functional implant?” Ioma’s left eyebrow raised in surprise.

  “I guess I can’t hide it forever, apparently your healing magic and/or control wormy thing enabled it to work again. I’m really not sure which or if it was a combination of both or some other method. Just that Ziggy, that’s my name for my implant, and your control worm interfaced. Now Ziggy is back, I honestly thought you had done it on purpose.”

  Ioma responded extremely matter-of-factly, “I didn’t. To date, none of your tech has worked while on our ships or planets. As of today, exactly 1 piece of your technology has continued to function once brought on a ship. I suspect this will come as a great boon to the researchers who have spent decades trying to crack how your technology works. As for the ‘Wormy things’, they are named Apanean Worms and they're quite exquisite magic. I will admit that I’ve always been quite impressed and a bit appalled that they work even on primitive brains such as your own. Though I highly doubt an Apanean worm had anything to do with your ability to see magic or your ability to ineffectually interfere with our link. So, I will ask again. So how have you come by this power and what all are you capable of? Does your implant allow you to see magic?”

  Andrew "Hey L……. sorry Captain Lachs. It's your worm, I figured by now you’d know how it affects those who you implant better than I would. I only learned magic existed toda.."

  “I tire of this. I was hoping to have an open conversation, but I see you’re unwilling to do so.”

  The purple line going to him flared with energy and he started to get the feeling that he should treat her with more reverence and answer her honestly and openly. He chaffed at the idea that his emotions were being controlled as if it were some game and instinctually started to try to push his will against this invasion. The line noticeably dimmed, though it did not wink out entirely.

  Ioma's eyes grew wide when she realized what was happening. Her face scrunched in concentration; the purple line brightened once more with renewed energy. Andrew, desperate not to be controlled again, let out all his pent-up emotions and energy from all that had transpired in the last few months into his struggle with this mental shackle. As his anger flowed the line dimmed until it eventually winked out. Ioma got to her feet and immediately sent another purple line at him, but it too was rebuffed.

  Andrew visibly slumped in his chair, the effort mentally draining him, but a slight smile crept on to his face even though he was trying to not show his smile.

  Iomas pointed a finger at him so sharply he feared she was about to throw more magic at him.

  "HOW HAVE you done this? Before I kill you for the abomination you are, you will tell me! "

  Andrew wearily said, "That's not much of an incentive to tell you. Now, is it? At least offer to spare me or something."

  Ioma’s eyes told Andrew all he needed to know, but she seemed to want to speak it regardless.

  "Have it your way. May your spirit find a better life next go around. "

  Black energy coalesced around her hands, this time so dark that it seemed to consume any light that came near it. This time it was so dark that her hands seemed more like outlines. No doubt this was enough to destroy his soul, but before she released it, Andrew saw one of the purple lines running into her head, flare and pulse. The black energy surrounding her hands dissipated almost as fast as it came.

  Ioma’s face was a mask of pale lines on a sea of red. Through gritted teeth, she explained,

  "Apparently, your fate is not to die here, even though you are even more an abomination than most of your race. I am to ensure you are alive and mostly intact when we arrive at the research center so you can meet with our God Biaobel. My guess is he’ll break you if I or others don’t first. Until then I must ask you a few questions and I do hope you give me an excuse to be the one who does it."