I shook my head. My own thoughts were puzzling me right now. Fortunately, Vessa was ready to begin our new mission, and give me something important enough to concentrate on.
“Alright, two goals for the day,” she began. “The first is to make sure Nova smoothly transitions to the wailing stage of essence. That will take two hours at the most, so you’re welcome to try and refine your next wisp of mana, if you already have an idea for one, Jasper.”
“I do,” I said firmly. “Is the procedure the same?”
“Yes,” the ship-woman replied carefully. “Just don’t pick anything too horribly strange or dangerous.”
“I will do my best,” I answered, making no promises.
“Great,” she said with a frown. “Well, whatever you pick, I can’t stop you, and so far all of your choices have been practical, if unusual. If anything does go wrong, I’ll take a look after Nova finishes Advancing. And it won’t be the end of the worlds if you don’t optimize every substage, I suppose.”
Again, I disagreed, but said nothing.
“At any rate,” she continued. “After you both gain a bit of progress, we’re going to try and figure out the next part of my ship-body we can reclaim. We have three choices, and any one of them could be disastrous, which is why I’m so glad we have Nova now.” She smiled at her Beacon, and my blonde friend smiled back. Good, I thought. At least they’re getting along right now.
“As I said, Nova’s abilities as a Beacon are quite unique,” Vessa continued. “She’s going to be able to interact with my ship-body ever so slightly, giving her a feel for what’s inside it. She’ll be able to tell if a certain door or corridor holds a large amount of hostile Source energy, potentially saving you both from a trap or an ambush. And yes, Jasper, I’m still not happy with you going along with her at all. But you’ve already proved your competence, and done everything I’ve asked you, so I’m not going to underestimate you. But I want you to be fully aware of the difference between your own strength and that of Nova’s. So I’m going to be blunt,” she said, growing serious. “Anything capable of fighting Nova to a standstill will kill you. I know you’ve swung above your weight class. I know you were able to injure the cage drake on Earth, and I know you killed a practitioner at the wailing stage back on the last planet. But Nova is on a completely different level than all of that. Even if all she had was her bronze stage of mana advancement, her body would have roughly the same benefits, the same level of strength, speed, and stamina, that you gained from your current essence energy, and her short-term power would dwarf all three of your Source energies combined. Anything on her level that so much as slaps you is probably going to take off your head in the process. Be. Careful.”
“Understood,” I said with a nod. “And I believe you. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Good.” She nodded. “Ideally, though, neither of you will run into anything greater than some more eaterlings, and Jasper is already more than a match for those. As long as both of you don’t run into too large a group, you will be fine. But my point to Jasper also applies to you, Nova. It’s better to run from anything you even think you can’t handle than it is to fight every foe down here and be wrong about the odds once.”
“I hear you.” My friend nodded. “And I’ll keep Jasper’s skills in mind as well.”
“Good,” Vessa replied.
I said nothing. Because I recognized Nova’s words as a polite way of saying that she would keep me out of the way whenever possible.
Even though I was the one responsible for clearing the last room, and had already protected this place from three waves of attackers.
“Alright then,” Vessa declared. “Let’s... do more Advancement,” she sighed. “That feels like the only thing we’ve been doing recently, since Jasper has so many substages to straighten out. But on to you, Nova. This is what I want you to do to stabilize your final essence cracks...”
Vessa lectured her other body for a few minutes, and the blonde Beacon processed the information much faster than I had, immediately closing her eyes and focusing on the final changes she needed to stabilize her recent gains.
Good work, Elder Mara said in firm approval. That’s exactly what she should do with her final cracks before the wailing stage. Pay attention to the process, young rider. I will be advising you to make the same choices.
I nodded, already planning to do just that.
Nova kept her eyes closed, head bowed slightly forward, as if she were concentrating on a difficult subject or praying in one of the many religions the Glorious State on my world had outlawed, which was every religion—including atheism, oddly, because such a belief advised people not to believe in the Glorious State either. But I knew Nova was neither praying nor contemplating a particularly difficult arithmetic equation. She was Advancing. Reaching for the essence inside her body and willing it along to its next natural stage. Sweat formed on her brow, and I could see that she was clenching her fists tightly. A solid minute passed without anything happening that my normal eyes could detect. But my spiritual sense could see that she was pounding against something inside her soul, something that was trapping her potential inside like a giant egg. Then she threw back her head and suddenly shouted, unleashing a torrent of force from her throat that produced a sound like a wailing wind. Cracking noises came from her body, as she grew a hair taller. Her Soulscape reappeared, the white wings growing larger, and more brilliant, adding light to the maelstrom of force swirling about her. Finally, the noise and power began to decrease, diminishing like the onslaught of a storm, before fading away completely. Nova panted for a moment, staring at her hands, coming to grips with the new strength she now felt.
“Wow,” my friend said out loud. “That... that was intense. It’s one thing, being unlocked, but Advancing on my own, that...” She shook her head. “If you get to this stage too, Jasper, be prepared, because it’s a wild experience.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said dryly, as my happiness for Nova’s growth suddenly warred with her insinuation that I may not be able to keep up with her.
Don’t worry too much about it, dear, Elder Mara advised in my mind. She’s still coming down from the rush of the change, and she didn’t realize what she just said. Young women actually make as many mistakes as young men when they talk, it’s just that young men aren’t as good as noticing.
Thank—wait a minute, I corrected myself, catching the meaning of her last sentence, but the old Sourcebeast merely chuckled. I ignored her, and focused on the last essence crack I had finished shaping while Nova was Advancing. By now I had enough instruction in each Source to be able to stabilize each substage on my own.
As a result, my next crack trailed a series of straight lines within my mosaic, a crude depiction of my own bones. It wasn’t nearly as robust as the change Nova had just gone through, but it would allow my body to withstand and maintain considerably more stress, which would go a long way in helping me keep pace with everyone else.
I would focus on my remaining mana substages next, but that would be best done as we traveled into the Soulship.
“Good job, Nova,” Vessa said from her capsule. “And congratulations. You’ve done well. Now, I need you two to head down the hall and check on the emergency drive room. Once you’re there, Nova will try to detect which of the exits leads to the best possible path. If all three look too dangerous, just return back here. We’ll think of something else. If at least one looks safe enough, then you can carefully open the door and explore. Nova can help restore enough temporary power to help me secure the location long enough for me to get there and bring it back online.” She fell silent, thinking. “I can’t think of any other warnings to give you. Try to recover another room of my ship-body. Don’t die. Don’t do anything stupid. That’s it. Any questions?”
I struggled to think of anything important that the three of us were missing. Nova seemed to have thought faster, because she spoke up instead.
“Will I have any knowledge of the shi
p myself, that I can use to help plan our routes?”
“Yes and no,” the gray woman answered with a grimace. “You’ll be able to recognize any rooms you come in contact with, but I wasn’t able to implant a complete schematic of my ship-body into the conscious sections of your mind. So you and Jasper will just have to rely on each other’s overlapping experience.”
“We won’t be alone,” I announced. “Nestor will help us scout just like he did before, and Senior Mara has a wealth of knowledge and experience she will share with me. That, along with our own experience with survival, will be enough to warn us of danger.”
“That’s true, Jas,” Vessa replied. “And it will have to be enough. Be careful, you two.”
We turned to leave. Nestor, who had been watering the tiny Sourceplant we had found on Techne, jumped down and ran ahead of us, already prepared to scout.
I led Nova down the halls, expecting to see all matter of battle damage that I would have to explain. But the torn and battered doors had all been repaired and opened ahead of time, and the hall was completely lit. In fact, it was even brighter than the sanctuary room, since it was a narrower space. But as we walked down, Nova still seemed lost in memory.
“So many lives traveled down here...” she said, running a hand along the wall as we walked. “Until one day they didn’t.”
I nodded grimly, not sure of what to say. Vessa said that her entire crew had been slain, the last ones as they were getting her to the safety of her sanctuary. Once again, I was reminded of the fact that I was the first person she had spoken with in ages.
Which also meant that I had not given her nearly enough credit for holding up as well as she already had.
“Then, much later,” Nova continued, still tracing her hand along the corridor’s walls, “new feet, and new claws, swarmed down this place, and spent ages trying to claw and pound their way inside.”
“Are you alright, Nova?” I asked, unsure how this new knowledge was affecting her.
“I’m fine, Jas,” she said, “Just... contemplating.” She finally looked away from the wall, and turned her eyes forward. I watched her carefully for a moment longer, and when she didn’t say anything else unusual I let the matter drop.
Clear-clear, Nestor reported in my mind, after scouting all the way to the emergency drive room and returning. I hadn’t expected to find anything, but it would have been a horrible idea not to check anyway. Especially after my last experience guarding Vessa in that room.
Heerrrre...
I stopped walking immediately. Nova noticed, and did the same.
“Um, Jasper? Are you okay?”
I listened carefully, but no voice repeated.
Senior, did you hear what I just heard? I asked the passenger inside my soul.
No, young rider, but I can tell something has troubled you, the dragon on my tiny planet said. I will keep watch.
Nestor and Nova did not hear anything either, judging by my friend’s expression and my companion’s link. So it was either a memory from my troubled mind, or else something dangerous was stalking us, and did not care if only I knew.
“I thought I heard something,” I decided to answer, unwilling to keep a secret so foolish. “A voice I heard before in this place. It could have been a memory, but if I hear it again we may be in danger.”
“How could anything speak to you from here?” Nova asked. “Unless it was the result of some strange Source power Vessa hasn’t told us about yet.”
“I have no idea,” I admitted, before turning my attention to Elder Mara. But the ghostly dragon just shook her head.
There are ways, young rider, but I would notice an attack on your mind and spirit. And the vessel-saint’s ship-form should prevent such things in the areas she has control over. I will watch you, young rider. I give you my word.
“Elder Mara says such things are possible, but she did not detect such an attempt. I will try and calm my nerves,” I said, still feeling uncomfortable.
“Um,” Nova began, before biting her lip. “Nevermind. Let’s go.”
The voice did not repeat when we entered the emergency drive room. The compartment looked exactly as it had before, a large, partitioned area designed to repel invaders, direct the ship if someone was crew, and be the last line of defense for Vessa’s sanctuary.
There was one difference. All of the bodies were gone. Both of the monsters I had slain earlier, and the corpses of the crew that had died here long ago, to prevent Vessa’s original boarders from taking a single step further. Nova stared at everything with that distant gaze of hers, then she shook her head and looked at me.
“All clear,” I said, as Nestor scampered over to me. “No voices, and Nestor hasn’t found any danger either.”
As I spoke, I glanced to the secret door in the room, the one that led to the hidden passages that ran through the ship.
The one that something had chittered at me from just beyond.
“Which way should we go?” I asked, shaking my head before more memories could drive me mad.
“Right,” Nova said as she nodded firmly. “One moment. I’ll figure that out.”
She walked to the center of the room, touching the emergency drive itself, closing her eyes as both the device and herself began to hum quietly with power.
A hint of a whisper echoed through my mind.
I raised my palms and activated my Soulscape, immediately venting the spiritual world’s atmosphere into the room. Elder Mara squawked in surprise, but made no other move.
“Alright,” Vessa said as she removed her hand from the warp drive. “I’ve looked around, and I think we should—what are you doing, Jas?”
I closed the door to my Soulscape. Nothing else whispered. Once again, I was not even sure I had heard anything at all.
“Just enacting a precaution,” I said, breathing slowly and carefully. Calm down, I told myself. You are fine.
“What kind of precaution?” she asked. “It looked like you were doing something with your Soulscape there. Can you explain? So that I know what to do myself, so I don’t get in the way or anything?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “I was just...”
I trailed off, realizing I had no idea exactly what I was doing, or how it could help.
Hiding her, Elder Mara said out loud. You were hiding her. And doing so by using a power the other riders made themselves, one that we dragons and the other mounts never would have believed to be possible.
I had no idea what the elder dragon was talking about, other than the fact that the mad voices from before had retreated the last time I had done this. Nova saw my helpless look and took pity on me.
“It’s okay, Jasper,” Nova said graciously. “I’m still getting the hang of my own Soulscape. I know it can do more than help me fly, but I don’t know what those extra powers are, or how I can use them. But we’ll both get the hang of it eventually.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I look forward to us both finding more answers. Speaking of which, what did you learn from scanning this room?”
“The doorway to the left,” she said, pointing to the first of the large metal doors, “has some considerably strong Source energy coming from behind it. There are things immediately beyond the next room that are at the second stage of Advancement—specifically the copper stage of mana or the wailing stage of essence. I can read the rooms just beyond, and there are beings at the third stages there as well. And since we can’t seal those rooms yet, we could be facing those as well.”
“Which are threats you could potentially face, but would likely be overwhelmed as soon as something went wrong,” I pointed out. “And I would not be able to help you at all.”
“Correct,” she affirmed. “Which is why we shouldn’t explore beyond that door until both of us are stronger. The next room has about a dozen creatures, most of which aren’t even at the first substage of any Source. The strongest being there is at the fourth substage of the natal stage and the second substage of the condensation stag
e, meaning you’d be stronger than every single creature there, and I could tear through them all just relying on my natural power. The rooms just beyond them have a handful of other creatures that are slightly stronger, and just beyond that are one or two creatures that are almost at the second stage, but I can’t tell exactly which Source. So that’s a set of rooms we could probably manage, at our current strength. Again, things could go wrong, but I’d say this door is currently our second-best option. The best option is the secret door by the wall. That one checks out as completely free. There’s absolutely nothing down there. In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s probably never been anything down there in ages. And there definitely isn’t anything in there right now. We should take that... door...” she trailed off as she looked at me. “Jas, you’ve got that nervous look on your face again. What’s going on?”
I wasn’t thrilled to discover that I had a signature ‘nervous look,’ but that didn’t matter right now.
“Nova,” I began, “I have been inside that shaft. There is something inside there. We cannot take that path.”
“But I just told you that nothing’s been down there in—”
“Nova,” I interrupted. “That door was the only one open when I discovered this room. The eaterlings had been using it to get to Vessa, and they seemed to be on the run from something else. I stuck my head in that tunnel when I found it, and heard something move about in the distance, something big enough to make me exit immediately. I think that passageway is the most dangerous of them all, and the fact that you can’t sense anything at all in there is a very, very bad sign. We’re not taking that door,” I ended firmly.
My friend glared at me for an uncomfortably long moment, before she sighed and dropped her gaze.
“Very well, Jasper,” she finally said. “If anyone else had drawn the same line, I would have fought them over it. But you’ve spent almost ten years keeping me out of danger, and that’s the one area you’re probably still ahead of me. We’ll ignore that door until we both Advance a bit more and—” She blinked. “Something just died in the room behind the second door, and more creatures moved in. I think they’re fighting. We need to go into that room now. Do you have any objections?”
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