On Set’s third day on the starship, the transport chains took him and the rest of his cohort back into the sleeping chambers immediately after their first meal. From what he had learned of the clock, the shrill alarm announcing the end of meal time had come earlier than usual too.

  “We will be making a Spacefold Jump through a Jump Gate shortly. Do not stand up if you wish to survive.”

  An announcement rang out across the chamber and everyone inside promptly sat down, some even choosing to lie prone on the ground. Sett slowly descended, his leg pulsing with a mild ache. He was grateful for rest, or the lack of labour at least, as his body had only begun acclimatising to the workload.

  He had come to terms with leaving the Krakarian System and what was his home. Even if he had the chance, he despised the idea of going back to living under an empire that so casually sold its population. If he ever escaped Salsai, he would find a place where he could grow in strength and then return only for vengeance.

  Croh didn’t harbour any such hope of liberation or revenge, he had resigned himself to his new life. Sett had too, to some extent, but the candle of rage still flickered in his heart, waiting for an opportunity, hidden even from his closest confidant in this hellhole.

  The former administrator’s presence was still a beacon of comfort for Sett. The panic he had felt when he didn’t see Croh in the mess hall that day was palpable, and the relief he felt when the man walked in the next morning gave him the energy for the rest of his day.

  Croh had been called to translate for a guard trying to order a group from Resource III to power the engine. It was a rare cohort with no other, more experienced, slaves and the guards were forced to call a translator. An action that saw the group brutally punished in front of Croh’s eyes. Croh wasn’t called to translate since.

  That incident and the man’s conversations with people, however, yielded results. There were slaves from communes all across Resource III here, abducted in their entirety just like Mupnal. Croh also spoke to a number of former residents of his own colony who had been brought here on the first transport ship that departed on that fateful day. This meant everyone from Mupnal was in this starship, reigniting Sett’s hope of finding his loved ones again. He never ceased scanning the faces of everyone he came across, for a hint of those amber Keidum eyes.

  He also learnt that there were other wings just as massive as the one he was in, completely removed from his own. A lot of Mupnal’s population was spread across these other wings. The only time slaves from the other sections could see each other was when they were called in to power the engines. A monotonous but intense task of making the pillar spin, where Sett had to focus on keeping pace with his aching leg and couldn’t strike up conversations with anyone else.

  The knowledge that they were all there was enough, however. As long as his family and friends were on this same ship, he would find them.

  The yellow lights in the chamber dimmed into nothing, heralding the start of the Jump. A few minutes later, a subtle vibration passed through the air. Sett could feel it in his bones, and pain shot up his leg. A minute later, another stronger wave passed through. This one left a lingering thrum in the air around them after it had passed, and he could feel the Ether in his body begin to roil. He involuntarily grabbed his leg, an impending sense of agony warning him.

  The feeling was proven right soon after, as another wave passed through them, causing the whole room to tremble. The shaking quickly intensified, and the crowd was being pushed around the room by the tremors. The clanging of chains and screaming of slaves were drowned out by a piercing hum that resounded in Sett’s ears.

  He felt his head impact an elbow, and his chains got caught up with another. He barely felt any of that as he fought to calm the storm in his body while trying to ignore the agony radiating from his wound.

  Bodies were flung across the room like shattered glass from an explosion, his own bouncing off walls with a force that cracked a few bones. Air was forced out of his lungs before he could scream, until it all stopped.

  Sett found himself floating in the centre of the room, surrounded by equally shocked bodies suspended in the air like motes of dust. He was unable to move or scream, like he was frozen in ice. They lay there levitating for an excruciating amount of time, before he saw something that would make his eyes widen in horror if he could move them.

  Space in front of him was expanding, like reality was being stretched. The people in front of him were being pulled away by the ever expanding space between them, their forms squeezed into a thin line. The bodies beside him shrunk similarly, but they were pulled closer to him as the volume between them disappeared. Sett felt his own body stretch as his vision thinned and reality collapsed in front of him.

  His vision went black the moment he heard a thunderous crack, and he felt his body slam against the floor. His mind faded and he welcomed unconsciousness.

  ****

  He woke up sometime later to his whole body aching and a feeling of wetness on his torso. He lifted his head with all the strength he could muster and saw a puddle of vomit dripping from his chest. He groaned and put his head down, planning to deal with it after his body stopped aching all over and his head stopped ringing.

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  The Ether in his body had calmed down, thankfully, but the pain in his leg had not. While it overshadowed the pain in the rest of his body, he still felt a sharp sting with every movement of his muscles.

  The cacophony of vomiting, groaning and crying humans mixed with the clanging of their chains reached his ears once the ringing reduced. The stench emanating from his chest was the next sense to awaken and it caused him to immediately turn to his side and empty his stomach.

  A few minutes of lying there gasping for breath later, Sett slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, the bile in his chest sliding down. The movement made him dizzy and triggered another bout of nausea but he had nothing in his stomach to empty out anymore.

  Next to him, a Sauri lay face down and unmoving, though Sett could see the rise and fall of his breathing chest. Most people around him were in a similar unconscious condition, though a few were squirming on the floor, clearly awake, and fewer still were sitting up like him.

  Sett winced in pain as he crawled on all fours to the nearest wall, every muscle in his body screaming at him. He slowly stood up, leaning against the wall for support. After waiting a moment for another bout of vertigo to pass, he limped his way to the toilets, hoping to wash up before anyone else got up.

  ****

  Sett collapsed onto the floor of the cafeteria with a plate in hand. The muscles in his body had become more defined after a whole month of turning the engines, but the exhaustion barely reduced.

  By now, he was certain that the engines were fueled in part by the Ether contained in the slaves. Sett had been circulating the energy within his body every moment he could to offset what had been absorbed into the ship. A week ago, during a particularly brutal session on the engines they’d been forced to do since the Jump, Sett let his anger boil out. His Ether had roiled within him, and he could feel his strength increasing with his emotion. The Ether leaving his body seemed to have its own flavour, one of unbridled rage, and he could’ve sworn he noticed a slight dimming of the runes on the walls. Letting go of his rage made the exercises easier, but the period of exhaustion afterwards had made him reconsider. Even so, it was his only opportunity to let loose a little, and he revelled in it.

  “I think we’re nearing the mining colony they’re sending us to.”

  Croh sat down next to him with a grace that wasn’t present until very recently. He, too, looked more rugged, a far cry from his gaunt figure a month ago. He had lost his glasses, trampled underfoot during one of his walking sessions.

  Sett hummed in response, not a mote of excitement at the prospect of visiting a different planet. He dreaded the workload at the mines, something he was sure would be harsher than his current labours.

  “Any news from the other sections?”

  “Nothing in particular. No one I spoke to has heard of your brother or father. Or any one else we know.” Seeing Sett’s expression falling, he quickly added, “though they are as big as our own section. It’ll be hard for a handful of people to search for someone. Maybe we’ll reunite in the mining colony.”

  Sett grunted in response and continued eating. Soon after he was done, the siren blared again. Sett immediately noticed the discrepancy, it was too early for meals to end.

  They hurried out of the cafeteria and were dragged along by the transport chains, though not towards the engine room or the sleeping chambers. The roar of thousands of manacles clanging together grew as a large crowd, far larger than any Sett saw ever being transported, was moving toward the doors they once walked through a month ago - the doors of the hangar. Guards were stationed along the walls, though only the larger centre door was open. It seems they wouldn’t be going through the initiation rooms like before.

  The crowd halted in front of the open door, a fully armored soldier waiting in front of it. In the confusion of the journey Sett had lost track of Croh. He looked around frantically for the middle aged man but the blaring of the guard’s aura stopped him in his tracks.

  “You lot! Form a line and go through these doors! You’ll receive instructions on the other side!”

  A line promptly formed and passed through. When a few hundred had disappeared behind the doors, the guard stepped up and stopped the line. Sett was a few people behind the front, and was ready to walk through when they stopped. Nearly half an hour later, the guard stepped aside and the line continued.

  Sett saw a transport ship in front of him, significantly smaller than the one that brought him here. It, too, had its wings folded over its body, and the name of his slavers written across. A crowd was forming in front of it though he saw no one who walked through earlier. They must’ve been taken away in another ship while he waited.

  The sound of chains scraping against the floor stopped as the slaves stopped pouring in once a few hundred of them had gathered. Sett felt his skin prickle as a guard blared their aura, the suppression felt in his bones.

  “This group will be leased to the Za’ard Autocracy. They will be your new masters until the lease period ends and you return here. You will be sent to Etherstone Asteroid 8465. You will receive instructions from the Za’ard Autocracy once you reach the mining base. Now get inside!”

  The words “new masters” caused the suppressed monster inside him to flare up, the idea that he would have a master he had never heard of until now above him made his blood boil. He knew he didn’t stand a chance as he was, so he steeled himself and entered his new carrier, burning the name of Za’ard into his soul, right next to Krakar and Salsai.

  ****

  Sett was still reeling from the violent landing when the doors opened. He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in his leg as he limped out of the ship, his chains dragging behind him. He could feel the very air around him thrum with energy, the Ether surrounding him so dense he could feel it in every breath.

  A hint of panic began forming as he took in the view outside, the vast expanse of space right above his head, but upon closer inspection he could make out the translucent turquoise shimmer of an energy shield protecting them from the perils of the cosmos. Scattered in front of him were tall spires made of a dark rock, reaching up to the stars, but what really stood out lay beyond the spires.

  A giant crater, many times bigger than Mupnal Commune, spread out in the distance, as far as he could see. He couldn’t see what was inside the crater, but the cylindrical shard-like structure floating in its centre was unmissable. Sett had a strong feeling the crater and the floating tower inside would be his residence for the foreseeable future.