I moved my hand excitedly reaching for the cover of the book. As my hand brushed over it, I felt the rough leather of a well-loved book that had been read cover to cover multiple times. I paused, admiring the cover and the golden letters that almost shimmered. I finally slid my hand-over to the side and placed my fingers to open the book. However, before I could, I felt myself blink and when my eyes opened I was back in the ship.

  “Welcome back, pilot. Did you have a productive sleep cycle?”

  ”i, uh… yes, I got certified as a star ship pilot.”

  ”congratulations, navigation is also indicating that it is time to enter subspace”

  The Lazarus sinking into nothing caught my attention, and I watched it transition to subspace as it jumped to the next star system. Once it was gone, I turned my attention to my own ship and started to feel around for the way to jump.

  ”focus on the engine area of the ship and feel for a portal, then mentally drop into it. It is a good idea to know the destination and how to get there, so navigating subspace is safer.” The AI helpfully informed me.

  “What happens if I don’t know the destination and how to get there?” I asked slowly, feeling a little nervous about doing this.

  “You could get lost and surface at the edge of the wrong star system, if the star system is not registered on the ship's star charts you could end up getting lost and unable to find your way back.”

  ”Okay, no pressure.” I said nervously as I quickly checked the navigation plan to make sure I knew the destination and how the previous navigator had planned to get there through subspace.

  After a while I was starting to feel like I was sailing too far past the jump point, I quickly focused on the ship, searching around for the feeling of a portal. It took a bit, but I did feel my mind brush against a circle that seemed deeper than it should be and was about to mentally jump into it when I had a thought.

  ”Hey, uh AI, this is not how I transitioned to another star system in my last ship, why is it done this way in this ship?” I asked curiously.

  “I do not have any information on the ship you last piloted. However, this ship transitions through subspace this way due to the portal jump drive, which is designed to allow the ship to sink into the top layers of subspace, transitioning the ship from this star system to the next where it will surface back into reality. It of course takes time to reach your destination, and that time varies depending on how far you are jumping.”

  I mentally nodded my head, deciding that made sense, then turned my attention back to the portal and dropped into it. The drop wasn’t quick. It was like I made the decision, but it took time for me to transition into the portal. It took me a minute to realise the transition was the ship sinking out of reality and into subspace.

  I marvelled as I watched the grey circle around the ship like I was flying through a tube. I glanced at the edges, wondering what would happen if the ship were to brush against it. I was about to relax when the AI gave me a warning.

  ”if you intend to pilot the ship through subspace instead of allowing me to take over and follow the navigation path then I suggest you don’t touch the sides otherwise the ship will either drop out of subspace into an unknown space, that’s the best case scenario, the other option is you get lost in subspace unable to surface leading to a slow long death in this grey. The other theory is that the ship shatters into particles and is lost.”

  ”well, that was fucking ominous and creepy!” I snapped at it before deciding to hand the controls over to the AI.

  ”Following the navigation path. The destination will be reached in 23 hours. Would the pilot like to disconnect from the deep dive or return to the library?”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  I thought about it and quickly came to the decision that I did not want to face Itshu Biyu and her financial issues yet. Plus I was really enjoying being back in the pilot seat and if I wanted to continue piloting this ship then I was going to need that stage 2 certification.

  “I would like to return to the library.” I stated.

  I did not receive a response from the ship's AI, but a moment later I felt myself blink and when I opened my eyes again I was back in the library at the desk with the Star Ship pilots course stage 2 book in front of me. I eagerly opened the book, wanting to start before I was suddenly unexpectedly disconnected again. The moment I opened the book, confetti flew out, and I read the first page. It was congratulating me, like the first one did, on starting the second course in the star ship pilot certification.

  I didn’t linger and continued past it and began to read the book with earnest, wanting to complete the cert two as quickly as possible so when we reached our destination I would be competent, and we wouldn’t have to explain our lack of a pilot. However, as I read further and further into the book, I started to become less sure that I would finish it in time, as it explained and taught me about space travelling concepts I had never known even existed.

  I was about halfway through the book when I felt the sudden blink and was back in the ship, staring out into space. After a few moments to collect myself, I began cursing my lack of knowledge on the concepts of space travel. I wasn’t too hard on myself, since I had come from a planet that had only brushed the idea of space travel and didn’t know anything about the stuff covered in the second course, let alone half of what the first had covered.

  “Welcome back, pilot. We are an hour from transitioning back into reality, I am required to disconnect you from the library at this stage so you may monitor the ship before taking control and surfacing us from subspace.”

  I let out a sigh as I thought about how I needed more time to study and there was not enough time in a day for it. After a few moments of staring at the grey tube, I decided I needed more information on the star system we were about to enter.

  ”where are we surfacing? And is the disciple ceremony in this star system or another?” I asked curiously.

  ”We are surfacing at the edge of the star system the locals call ‘Anuwaha’ we are required to travel through this star system on a patrol before jumping to the next star system on the other side of Anuwaha. Our destination is the star system Nakshatra, it is the star system after the one we are about to surface in.”

  ”Wait, isn’t the location of the ceremony meant to be kept secret?” I suddenly asked, feeling like I was about to get in trouble for knowing.

  ”Of course, however, the pilot, navigator, and captain are authorised to know, otherwise the ship would never be able to reach the destination.”

  I nodded my head, accepting that it made sense, there was no way a captain would let their ship travel to a destination they were not aware of, the navigator needed to know to plot the course and the pilot could not fly the ship without knowing the course that had been plotted.

  ”the ship will be surfacing momentarily, to surface please find the same portal in the ship then mentally reach up and pull yourself out of it.” The AI told me as if it was obvious.

  I frowned slightly, feeling it wasn’t obvious, but I had started reading about warp drives in my book just before I had been yanked back to the ship. I moved my attention back to the general area I had felt the portal in the first time, and felt around for it again. I had just found it when I heard the AI screech at me.

  ”surface now or we will be lost!”

  I refocused and mentally grabbed the edge of the portal and pulled myself up. I nearly had a panic attack when I found I couldn’t pull myself up, my only saving grace was I had shifted in an upward direction slightly and quickly doubled down pulling harder. I let out a long breath of relief when the ship surfaced out of subspace and back into reality. I just sat there for a few moments, feeling drained and tired.

  “I think I could use an actual sleep cycle.” I muttered as I stared at the surrounding stars. I was overjoyed when I spotted the ship ahead of me that was pulling away as it headed into the star system, and a little label floating above it informed me it was the Lazarus. I had made it safely to the correct star system.

  I ignited the engines and began course corrections. I pushed them a little hard, trying to catch up to the position I was meant to be in while following Lazarus through this star system. According to my studies, I was meant to be behind and to the left of the Lazarus, in a defensive supporting role. It took me an hour to catch up and a few warning yells from the local authorities about exceeding speed limits.

  I didn't care about the warnings too much, as I knew I was too far out from a gravitational body, and too far from any other ship in the star system for any of them to complain.

  I even got a com call from the Lazarus’s pilot, expecting to talk to his friend. However, when he found out his friend had transferred off the ship, and he was talking to a star ship pilot, who was studying for her cert 2, he laughed so loudly that I thought he sounded like a repeating echo in a barrel. Once he had managed to get his laughter under control, he congratulated me on surviving my first warp jump. We chatted for a while and ended up on the subject of my cert 2 studies, he spent most of the trip across the star system answering my questions on the star ship pilots stage 2 course and explaining how systems worked while in the deep dive.

  Before I knew it, I had made a friend who I found I really enjoyed talking to, and we both had a passion for piloting ships. Once my questions had all been answered, the subject turned to ship designs and what we thought were the best parts for a ship.

  We quickly crossed the star system without any problems arising and had reached the jump point to the final star system, and he said his goodbyes and offered me his well-wishes to see me on the other side. Then I watched as his ship sunk out of reality and into subspace.

  I smiled softly to myself as I mentally felt for the spot the warp drive was located and prepared myself for the jump. I was half into the jump when I felt something shove me back out of it with a great deal of force. The next moment, I heard someone screaming.

  ”Alert! Alert! Warp drive disruption missile detonation detected! We won't be able to enter warp drive for thirty minutes, assuming another missile doesn’t detonate.” I accessed the sensors and traced the disruption back to a ship that was closing in on us from further out of the star system. Leading me to the conclusion it had been waiting out in the black for prey.

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