January 18, 2019, 11:42 am.

Beth just shakes her head at my slightly larger than life representation of Smoulder before suggesting we eat.

This whole, eating more food thing is a lot more fun when we're at Raz's. Not so much when working my way through jerky. It's tasty enough, but I'm starting to get tired of it. Wait. Have I even tried storing fresh food?

Damnit. If only I had two people who grew up with the system within arm's reach I could ask.

"Quick question. What happens if I put fresh food in dimensional storage?" I ask, noticing that Rufka is eating some sort of sausage. A sausage that appears to be warm.

"It goes in," Rufka answers with a chuckle.

I glare at her but she just smirks back. Luckily, Tipan is here too. And like usual she provides a more useful response, "if you're wondering about long term storage and spoilage, there isn't any. A freshly prepared steak will stay hot and sizzling."

"I thought you just liked jerky, kid," Beth laughs as she pulls out a fresh pulled-meat sandwich.

Looking at Josh and Roberts, I realize they both have similar sandwiches. Josh gives me an apologetic shrug as he takes another bite while Roberts doesn't notice my question. He's gazing out across the city as he eats.

"Doesn't always taste right in my opinion," Rufka notes even as she takes another large bite of sausage. I keep chewing on my jerky while making a mental note to pick up as many interesting dishes as I can reasonably fit once we get back.

When we're finished, the others hand their gliders over to Rufka and Tipan. Rufka has some thoughts about how to fix them, but needs to take a look at them first.

As we descend into the bunny tunnel of terror, the others start a discussion about the differences in their armour. Beth mentions that using different amounts of Umbra seems to increase its effectiveness and Josh confirms its similar for him. When they start talking about feedback and maneuverability, I kind of zone out. Instead, I start playing with a psuedo-scale model of earth's solar system formed out of twilight. Sab would probably give me an earful about incorrect distances and other inaccuracies. Instead of worrying about Sab, I concentrate on setting the system in motion while pampering Smoulder with snuggles and head-scritches.

Once we reach the ship, Smoulder returns to my shoulder while I simplify my twilight into an orb. Then Beth takes us towards the Crew Quarters, leading us up.

She leads us through the next floor, which we quickly check, but it's still just a bunch of empty rooms. Same as we found when we searched the first floor yesterday.

Deciding to skip past the rest of the quarters for now, we continue up for another six floors. Finally, after we've passed yet another Crew Quarters, we come across the Cafeteria.

While not being quite as empty as the crew quarters, it does have an abandoned feeling to it. The room is reminiscent of a cafeteria you might find back on earth. Tables and benches scattered throughout, all firmly attached to the floor.

But for all the familiarity, exploring the cafeteria makes me feel like I'm a child in a room meant for adults. More than any other part of the ship, I mean. It's the height of everything. The top of the tables are just over my head while the benches are over my waist.

Deciding it'll be easier to scout the room from above, Beth starts marching along the top of the tables, easily bounding from one to the next while the guys follow behind her. So, I float into the air following behind. Now that there's hopping involved, Smoulder is right beside Beth.

At the back of the cafeteria is a kitchen area, separated from the rest of the room by a long counter and a pair of swinging doors.

As we approach the kitchen, we don't find anything in the room. Just the benches and tables. Instead of trying the doors, Beth leads us directly over the counter. Entering the kitchen we find several devices that look like they could have been stoves or ovens at one point. It's strange to be here, in this ship. Everything feels abandoned. Lifeless and sterile.

We continue our search, finding a sealed door at the back of the kitchen that reads, "Chef Bana only! This includes you captain!"

"What do you think is inside?" I wonder as Beth steps back from the door.

"Food, I imagine. It appears to be a larder or perhaps a walk-in cooler," Roberts speculates while Beth tries interacting with the door only to discover it's locked.

Unable to make any more progress than the aforementioned captain, and not wanting to waste time on something that's likely useless, Beth leads us up through the 'bullet' once more. We travel past ten more floors of crew quarters until we finally run out of stairs, leaving us outside the door to the Observatory.

When we arrive, we're all left waiting on the platform as Beth touches the door. She stops for a moment, as a familiar notification appears on the door.

"Citizen status recognized."

"Access granted."

When the door swings open, we all just stand and stare for a second.

Just inside is a small observation platform that looks out over the room below. Split up into several sections, this room is as full as every previous room was empty. And it's not a small room. The room must take up the entirety of the top section of the 'bullet', its ceiling curving out of sight above, disappearing into darkness.

There's a low thrumming noise coming from the otherwise quiet, but apparently still functional, machinery. Everywhere I look, there's a different display, momentarily lighting up then going dark.

"Wow. I was honestly expecting more empty rooms," Beth admits staring about in surprise.

"I… I don't even know where to start," I agree, stepping up next to her. Some of the flashing screens show us the familiar map of Akilo, but others are just lines of numbers or pages of text.

"Let's not get worried about the computers yet. Take a look around, see if we can't find anything else of interest," Beth suggests, starting our search as she's talking, heading to the right. Not even four steps along and we find a pad lying on the ground.

Picking it up, Beth turns it on. It contains written stories about "The Adventures of Superbug Bo'ktoz Azin and his robo-slug sidekick Rax." Again, I need to read it for her but this might be all we need to teach her Astreum. I notice the pads seem to react to mental input. There might be more to discover, but Beth wants to finish sweeping the room first.

We continue, finding more pads, a few plastic books about K'tharn and what might have once been a lunchbox. It even has coloured pictures of big green men standing heroically on it. It's easier to make out the cartoonish features on the lunchbox than the magazine we found. There weren't any visible faces in that, the publication choosing to prioritize other assets. At least on the page I saw.

But anyway, I'm calling it right here. Yrken are orcs with a great dental plan. The ones on the lunchbox have a very superman-esque vibe to them, all spandex and heroic poses. But they've also got the muscles, stature, green pointed ears and even the tusks of an orc.

"Huh. Orcs," Josh comments, echoing my thoughts as Beth prompts us to finish investigating the room.

Ten minutes later we've gathered everything we found after a casual search.

"Well, we certainly have a lot to go through," Beth states, looking at the pads, hard plastic books and more than one lunchbox. Everything is somewhat neatly stacked near the centre of the room.

"Anyone else feel like we've gathered up the lost belongings of a bunch of kids on a field trip?" I ask looking at the pile.

"Yeah," Josh agrees soberly while staring at the pile. A moment later a loud thump sounds out as Smoulder lands in the middle of the pile scattering everything. Looking up at us, I can feel her fake innocence as she gives us an 'oops, did I do that look'.

"Well, she certainly knows how to make a splash, doesn't she?" Roberts chuckles, picking up one of the books Smoulder just displaced.

"Always ready for a hopping good time," Josh tries, getting a small laugh from Beth as I collect Smoulder, mentally thanking her for the distraction.

"I think we should take the time to learn their language. We certainly have plenty of source material," Beth suggests, grabbing a book of her own then looking to me. So, we start working on everyone's lessons while I browse through some of the contents on the computers. Further analysis reveals they're tracking all sorts of information about Akilo. It's basically the maps from before but now with numbers. Lots and lots of numbers.

"Do you think these have anything to do with the system?" I ask as I look at another page of data on the amount of precipitation received in grid E12 of quadrant A3 of sector 2. Reaching down to give Smoulder scritches, I remember she wandered off. Right, she was hopping around from computer to computer, searching for a good hidey hole. Just in case.

"I have no clue. I'm sure that with the right equipment, all this information would be valuable though. Not certain we have the tools to get anything from this. Nor do I think we need it," Beth responds before she tells me the name of yet another letter from the book beside her. Which she gets wrong. Again.

Still, she's learning faster than Josh who's working with Roberts. Apparently, Roberts was able to finish half the quest just using the porn book last night. Which meant he was able to finish pretty quickly once I started instructing him. Not really sure how to feel about that, but decide it's really none of my business why he picked it up so quickly. He certainly wasn't ashamed of how he'd made progress.

It takes another half hour with Beth for her to finish the quest. During that time, I discovered there are definitely more Builder cities on the continent. Looking to see if there's anything else that might be useful doesn't yield any results. It feels like these are general purpose monitors like you might find on an exhibit, loaded with certain pre-recorded messages. Plus the ongoing analysis, of course.

"Thanks, kid. Now let's see," Beth says as she starts taking a turn at the computer with no protests from me.

I mean, why should I complain. Maybe she can find something I couldn't.

While she's doing that, I start contemplating the spatial aspect of my facet. I've really been under-utilizing it. There must be a way for me to achieve a short range teleport.

"I'm going to do some testing again," I inform the others, getting a nod from Beth and a thumbs up from Roberts. Josh is busy focusing on the letters very carefully.

Experimenting with the tethers I used for my aoe looting, I attach one to a lunchbox. Then I erect the shield around myself. I'm not really sure how to push with my ability so I try to pull myself towards the lunch box.

Instead of teleporting when I exert myself, I feel the tether dissolve, unable to sustain the connection.

Huh. Interesting.

Not very useful, but interesting.

Thinking back to my return spell, I try to figure out what it was that let me use it. It was a combination of runes, yes. But the combination feels like it was mostly about having a precise location. It allowed me to lock on to a specific target. Like an address.

But I'm able to use my tether for a location. Maybe I just need a more solid object?

Looking around the room, my eyes settle on a computer mounted on the far side of the room. Linking to the computer, I take a deep breath, then I pull.

It's not like when I cast the return spell.

There's no feeling of being on a moving escalator. It's much quicker than that. One second I'm standing next to Beth on one side of the room, the next I'm falling through the air to land on the computer on the far side.

"Alexis! Are you okay? What'd you do now?" Beth yells out as I look at my health. Only lost twenty points. I really need to work on that landing though.

"Uh yeah. I'm fine. Just, you know, playing with magic again," I reply from my awkward position.

"I thought you were just testing something?" Beth says as she strolls closer to me.

"Yep. I was testing to see if I could teleport," I answer as I stand. "Looks like I can."

"Wait? This I need to see. Can you do it again?" Beth requests, crossing her arms while watching me closely.

"Uh, sure. One second," I agree. It's really nice that she's encouraging me. Checking my facet, I discover my experiment consumed nine facet to cross twenty metres.

Throwing another tether to a computer back towards the guys, but only about ten meters away, I repeat my trick. This time I'm even higher up when I appear, but I have less forward momentum, so I don't slam into this computer. I do fall rather ungracefully to the floor though.

"Why do you appear so high up?" Beth asks as she approaches.

"I'm not sure. Still figuring this out," I respond while considering her question and checking my facet. Hmm. Still used four facet that time. Need to test an even shorter teleport.

Choosing another computer, this time I pay closer attention to where my tether lands. When I realize it's on top of the monstrous computer station, I send out a new tether which I stick closer to waist height.

When I make the four-metre teleport, I come out only twenty centimetres or so up, which makes landing much easier. I only stumble a tiny bit. The teleport only cost 0.1 facet and focus too.

"Well, that was definitely an improvement. Are you able to teleport others as well?" Beth asks as I teleport to a slightly farther target, trying to lock down the range.

"I haven't tried yet. I'm a little worried about it failing. It could be pretty nasty," I answer as I try another slightly longer teleport.

This time I'm not as careful, falling half a metre when I emerge. Did I mention how much I love the effect of Rufka's moonshine? That extra health edge makes all these falls painless. I wonder if I could get a flask of my own. Or maybe something with the same effect that tastes better.

"I suppose that's true. What about objects. Why don't you try teleporting a weapon into your hand?" Beth proposes, staying back.

"How about I start with a lunchbox," I counter, reaching out a tether to the lunchbox from earlier. I try pulling on it again, but changing the direction of the pull. A moment later I'm hit by a twisted piece of metal accompanied by a horrible screeching noise.

"Wow. Good call on testing with a lunchbox. That thing was destroyed," Beth notes, kicking the tangled mess at my feet.

"No kidding. I almost feel bad for it."

"Well, it was kind of asking for it, sitting there all defenceless and empty. Only thing better for target practice would be empty beer bottles," Beth chuckles as I study the crushed lunchbox.

She's right. It is empty. And when I look closer, it looks like it collapsed inwards. I try searching around the room for something to fill another one with when I realize I can just grab materials from my pack.

"Uhh, kid?" Beth voices as I start floating a bunch of earth into another lunchbox.

"Look at the way it's been crushed. I'm thinking that maybe if I teleport a solid object it'll come out intact. I hope," I reply, setting the now full lunchbox down while stepping away.

Creating a new tether, I pull the lunchbox towards me excitedly. Instead of a piercing screeching there's only a low groan and the lunch box arrives in my hands mostly intact. Not that I actually catch it. I wasn't as prepared for it as I should have been, so I may have let it slip, dropping it on my foot.

"At least it was quieter," Beth comments, apparently losing interest as she starts to flip through one of the K'tharn books. While Beth begins reading, I inspect the damaged but not crushed lunchbox which tried to seek revenge on me via my foot. Unlike the previous lunchbox, which Smoulder ignored, this time she decides to ignite the offending object.

As I watch it melt together, I ponder what I could do if I were able to teleport others. It would be huge if I could use teleport with timestop, swapping people on the battlefield. Moving people out of the way for my attacks then moving them back? Okay, probably not that. Not yet.

As I'm staring at the box I can't help but wish I could shield it. It's obvious that pulling it to me is what's damaging it. I try copying my personal shield, but unless I'm holding the box I can't form the shield. And the second I set it down the shield comes undone. I'm going to need a way to keep the shield in place before I can teleport objects to me.

And this still doesn't help me teleport others. Am I being too greedy? I did just figure out how to teleport myself. Shouldn't that be enough?

…..

Nah.

While I mill over how I might teleport others, I keep experimenting. I start teleporting myself while carrying objects, stretching my shield over them. I start with a five kilo block of stone. When I succeed without damaging the stone, (not counting the crack from when I dropped it of course,) I try teleporting with a few different plastic books.

My next few tests are successful and I'm starting to get a hang of not falling when I teleport. The biggest discovery was realizing I could anchor myself to the ground. I always come up a metre short of where I target my tether but I'm consistently arriving on my feet now.

For my last test I swapped out the books for another lunchbox which made it through intact. I'm feeling encouraged. Before I go any further, I open up my skills to take a look at my spatial manipulation.

Skills

Matrix

Skill Level

Support

Skill Level

Temporal Manipulation

86

Cooking

0

Spatial Manipulation

53

Cleaning

57

Mana Manipulation

86

Crafting

Skill Level

Runic Channelling

18

Woodworking

1

Combat

Skill Level

Stone Shaping

37

Throwing

13

Metal Shaping

40

Elemental

Skill Level

Tailoring

3

Fire Manipulation

86

Ceramics

28

Water Manipulation

86

Movement

Skill Level

Wind Manipulation

86

Swimming

1

Lightning Manipulation

86

Running

8

Stone Manipulation

72

Flight

26

Earth Manipulation

86

Climbing

6

Metal Manipulation

53

Riding

8

Ice Manipulation

42

Twilight Manipulation

48

Knowledge

Skill Level

Gaming

3

Engineering

35

Survival - Temperate Forest

13

Impressive, it's already over fifty. Hopefully, this means I can bring Smoulder with me when I teleport. Still not sure if I should test it with her.

Sitting down next to her, I take her in my arms while projecting my thoughts to her, wondering if she wants to try teleporting.

In response Smoulder reminds me that she's a hare.

Hopping comes naturally to her.