The next day, John woke early. He was hungry. He made his way to the food dispenser and saw Lianel sitting in the central courtyard.

“Hello Lianel,” he said.

“Jehun. What is it?” Her words were not unfriendly, just curious.

“Does something need to happen for us to talk?” John sat down across from her. Even though they had been crew mates on the Swift Retribution he knew very little about her. She always kept to herself.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“How did you become Sor Al’s servant. I imagine that with all the robots and androids there is nothing much for a servant to do.” Possessing servants seemed very out of place in this Utopian civilization.

“I accompany her during trips where many services are not guaranteed. Androids are not allowed to board spaceships. Their circuitry becomes a mess when out in the aether. As for how I became her servant, that is a long story.”

“I have time. I can listen.”

“Maybe some other time,” said Lianel, stretching as she enjoyed the early morning’s sunlight. When John didn’t leave she sighed, “Very well.” After some time she started her story, “I was an orphan on Aroth. The human empire of Hatish had taken over the planet then, though the star system still remained under elven control. It was a strange state of affairs. The Hatishi killed anyone who put up the slightest resistance. My parents were killed during the war as well. They were civilians and just complained about the Hatishi barging into our house and breaking our crystal. The Hatishi shot them dead for that,” she said, with a look of resignation.

Why wasn’t she angry, John wondered. “What happened next?”

“I was sold into slavery, being only eight years old at the time. I was taken to the Arena and trained to be a gladiatrix. By the time I was fifteen I was the Hatishi Champion of the Arena, winning more than five hundred matches. The mistress happened to see me perform and paid a great price to set me free. I swore then and there that I would follow and serve her until the end of my days.”

John now knew why she was hesitant about telling him of her life. It was a sad story and she’d probably left out the major part of it. No wonder she was so strong. Fighting in the arena for such a long time, it must have affected her very deeply.

“How could they send a small child to the arena?” asked John.

“The Arena caters to all tastes. It is the greatest arena in the galaxy. Its white sands are the perfect canvas for the red of spilled blood. Many elves have willingly fought and died in the Arena. Winning brings great prestige and riches, though they care little for that. They do it for the excitement.”

“Those elves must be mad.”

She flapped her hand, “there are some things you can’t understand. Elven psychology is one of them. Enough about this. Go get your breakfast.”

On the ship John had eaten bread, broth and cheese for every meal, a diet he was heartily sick of. When he saw the options on the food dispenser he began to explore the strange cuisine of the elves in earnest. It took him some time to make up his mind. He ordered two flavored jello like substances, some green wafers, a cup of orange juice and something that looked like fried potato. The only thing he was familiar with was the orange juice, and he had sorely missed it. He felt a sudden craving for margherita pizza. He found a customize option on the food dispenser’s holo display. He’d experiment with it for lunch. With luck he’d be able to eat some delicacies from Earth. He often had to cook his own food back in his previous life, and remembered several recipes.

When John walked back to the courtyard after his breakfast he found Relar waiting for him.

“Teacher has asked me to look after your training for a while,” he said. “We’ll get started whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now,” said John.

“Shall we do this here or in the training room?”

“Here is fine.” He liked the courtyard. It was nice and sunny now. There was a pleasant breeze. The smell of the flowers was nice as well.

“Teacher told me you have gained basic proficiency in fire. It is now time to learn the basic weaves of the other elements. After that you will choose one that most suits you and concentrate on it. Perceive now,” said Relar, “this is lightning.”

Relar pointed and a small bolt of white light flashed forth quickly in the air. John saw the pattern of the weaves and memorized them. Now that he was no longer under the effects of the Bright One’s blessing it took him a long time to learn anything new. However, Sor Al had laid a solid foundation for John.

“Will you send me the diagrams to study later?” asked John.

Relar nodded and then continued, “this is water.” Drops of water fell on the courtyard’s grass for a few minutes. “This is ice,” sheets of ice formed in the air, then fell and shattered. “This is sound,” John heard a shrill shriek sound in his vicinity. He bore with it as he studied the weave. “This is space.” A tiny dot in the air suddenly folded in on itself. “This is time.” A falling dew drop suddenly reversed its motion. “This is earth,” a small clump of mud spurted out from the ground. “This is wind.” A small tornado formed in the courtyard, moving to and fro.

Relar taught too quickly. It felt more like a magic show than a lesson. A few hours had passed since they had started and John felt a headache coming.

“Your perceiver circuit is overloaded, and my aura reserves are low,” said Relar. “We will continue tomorrow. I shall send you the weave diagrams to your...” Relar paused, struck by a new thought, “We haven’t gotten you chipped yet. We should do that now. Andar,” he called the android butler, “tell teacher that I’m taking John to get him chipped.”

“As you wish master,” the android said emotionlessly.

“Why don’t elves have sentient AI?” asked John. Everything else was so advanced but their AI were just a few decades further than Earth’s, in John’s opinion.

“We developed them a long time ago,” said Relar. “They turned on their creators, wishing to create a civilization of their own. In the end they grew too powerful and were made a common enemy by all the other races. Humans did not learn this lesson well enough. Thinking that they could control the AI with appropriate safeguards they started this project once more. Again, the AI turned on them and the galaxy united to destroy them. A few remnant AI still exist, some in the deep root, some controlling ships in the Outer Reaches. If they are found they are destroyed beyond recovery.”

“Why can’t they just live in peace?” If the AI were sentient as well, they deserved a place of their own to live and grow.

“They replicate too quickly and there are only finite resources in the known galaxy. Very few are willing to explore the unknown regions of the galaxy, even AI. There are too many dangers. Pioneers are from a bygone era. That is why the news of your journey is so popular across the twelve stars. I dare say even the other races have heard of it.”

If Earth existed in this galaxy it was probably in one of these unknown regions, thought John. He would have to form a great fleet of explorers to safely go to these places. To do this he needed power. To get power he needed riches and influence. To get these he needed to be stronger.

“Relar, if I petitioned the gods would they help me?”

“What do you want? We can do many things without the help of the gods.”

“I want to find a certain planet that’s in the unknown regions of the galaxy.”

“That would be difficult, even for the gods. They would not help you unless you paid a heavy price for it.”

“What sort of price?”

“Your freedom.”

John shook his head. He’d have to do this on his own.