She Who Woke Among Eternity

“Well… That’s certainly something.” Scevi said with eyes still wide.

Avalyn nodded. “I understand I am truly a scary being since I’m a Vysven regent, but I really hope I can prove to everyone I’m not someone to be feared as a person.”

“That’s going to be the hardest part,” Hugh said in a quiet and sympathetic voice. Looking over at the tall wolf, Avalyn could clearly see some memories running through his mind. “People can find it really hard to move past your species and actually get to know you.”

“Maybe you could give Avalyn some pointers on that front,” Gramps said to Hugh. Though Hugh didn’t look up from his downward gaze, he nodded.

“Well, I think I can at least show you something that will make you excited,” Avalyn said to Scevi. “Want to come see the Crestmech?” Avalyn had made a small passing note that she could power things to Scevi in her little backstory, but she hadn’t gone full out on the extent to which she could power things. She hoped that maybe having her discover Avalyn’s ability to its full extent might excite the woman enough to move past the fear she felt.

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want to see the draking Crestmech.” It didn’t take more than a few moments to guide the group into the catalyst room, and when Scevi saw it, she whistled. “Damn, that’s sexier than 90 percent of the men I’ve slept with. 60 percent of the women too.”

Gramps’s face turned a little red, and Avalyn gave a light chuckle. “At least someone thinks I’m sexy liked this.”

Scevi made her way over to the control panel and looked at the screen with a smile. It took a second before that smile faded to fear, and she stepped away from the reactor as if it was about to explode. “Drak, that’s at max! The catalyst is about to blow!”

“There is no catalyst,” Avalyn said calmly.

“What do you mean there’s no catalyst?!” Turning, Scevi saw that not a single other person in the room looked concerned. Admittedly, it was hard to tell with Avalyn since she had no facial expressions.

“There isn’t one. The only spellwork on the ship right now is the astrolabe.”

“Then how the drak is the reactor powered to max capacity?!”

“Like I said earlier, by my nature I’m able to power things,” Avalyn answered.

“That much?!”

“The reason we wanted to speak to you is that we actually don’t know to what extent Avalyn can power stuff,” Gramps said.

“Is a reactor at 100% capacity a bad thing? Shouldn’t that be what you want? Perfect, unwavering max output?” Avalyn asked.

“This is a Kenana-era ship, of course you don’t want it at max capacity!” Everyone looked at her a little confused. “Drak me, for a bunch of old starship enthusiasts, you really don’t know how they measured power was different, do you?”

“Of course we do,” Gramps said defensively. “But why don’t you explain it to the kid for us?”

Scevi pursed her lips. “For catalysts now, when a readout measures 100% that means it’s running at the highest level of safest output. Without giving exact numbers because everything varies, all cables and containment are rated to be said for at least 150%. Usually when a catalyst dangerously spikes because of a potentially catastrophic cause, those power spikes reach up to somewhere around 140% at max. That way, even at dangerous, uncontrollable spikes, your equipment surrounding can handle it without breaking. That extra 10% is a failsafe. If you hit that limit, there’s no recovery, and the catalyst is probably about to destroy everything and everyone in the vicinity.

“Back way back in the Kenana era humans measured maximum safe output at something like 65%. Catastrophic failure spikes would reach 90%, and 100% means there’s no hope for you.” She sighed at the clear surprise on their faces. “The way we measure was standardized between species at the formation of the alliance. So, a Crestmech with original readout levels reaching 100% means you’re about to meet Faden, or whoever your death god is.”

“Well, that’s good to know. Now I have to figure out how to not power shit to max for the shows or people are going to lose their minds.” For some reason Avalyn knew that would not feel good, but if it was going to cause problems, then she was going to have to put up with it.

“You’re really powering it to max?”

“I power everything to max capacity. At least everything I’ve commandeered so far.”

“How isn’t everything bursting if you’re powering it to that level?”

Avalyn shrugged. “There’s just something in my nature that only powers things to their maximum, but never more than that. Somehow I unconsciously just know what the max is for whatever tech I’ve commandeered and do it to that.”

“Drak me, that’s scary.”

“It’s even scarier that we don’t know how much power she can output,” Hugh said. “That’s why we reached out to you.” He shrugged. “If you want even scarier, do a reading of the remotely detectable power levels.”

Scevi raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

“Pull out your ambient scanner and see what it says.”

Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out a small device that looked similar to what Hugh used when he was first in here. Looking at it, she tapped a few times on the screen before her eyes went wide again. “There’s nothing! I’m not detecting giff. It’s like this ship is a damn ghost.”

“I told you it was scary.”

“No readable power exchange or transfer. No ambient radiation. No magnetic pull. Not even a speck of spellwork, like you said.”

“What?” Both Gramps and Hugh said in unison.

“You said there’s no spellwork on the ship, so it’s not a surprise there are no readings.”

“But there is one piece of spellwork,” Avalyn said a little confused, but already knowing exactly where this was heading. “We installed the Astrolabe yesterday.” Hugh pulled out his own scanner again. “Don’t tell me even my magic is invisible?”

“You’re magic?”

Before she could respond, Hugh was walking in front of her and making his way through the ship to the astrolabe. “Just follow along and you’ll see.” All of them followed Hugh as he never stopped looking at the scanner. “Picking anything up.”

“No,” Hugh said. “Astrolabes don’t put out much readable signal, so that’s not too strange. At least if you’re outside the ship…” Finally, they were standing before the panel hiding the astrolabe. “But this close, there should be something.” Knowing where this would go, Avalyn opened the panel and let Hugh lean in close to the glowing amber astrolabe.

“Should it be that color? Or glowing that bright?” Scevi asked.

Gramps shook his head. “No, but apparently regents can commandeer spellwork as well as tech.”

“No giff?”

“No readings,” Hugh said with a sigh. “At the very least, none that we can read. Maybe it gives off something ancients tech could read, but I sure as hells can’t.”

“Does that mean when I’m fully up and running I’ll be a stealth starship without trying to be?”

“Stealthy enough that if the alliance finds out you might just disappear,” Hugh said.

“They’d have to find me first. Even if they did, I don’t think they are prepared to try to make me do anything I don’t want to.”

“I don’t think there’s a force besides a god that could stop you,” Gramps said

“Even then they would have to go through Eternity first.”

“Alright,” Hugh said, “before we keep going down the route of how scary Avalyn is, let’s get to what we invited Scevi here to do.” It was clear Hugh really didn’t want to focus at all on how scary Avalyn could be.

“And what would that be exactly? Looks like you can power the ship well enough.”

“We want to see how much power the kid can really output, because if she really can make the bore drive stable, then the next limit is power supply.”

“Wait, what can she do to the bore drive?”

Thirty minutes later, after some more explanations, the group of them were standing out in the yard before what Avalyn could only assume was a more modern and much larger catalyst reactor that was empty like her one. Unlike hers, this was out in the open but had at least been under a tarp to keep the elements out. It didn’t seem like the safest way to store a reactor, but Avalyn didn’t say anything.

“Alright, this beauty is a good example of a 300-vol-old catalyst reactor. A lot more powerful than the Crestmech, but not up to snuff of today’s new models,” Scevi said.

“Granted, most people aren’t able to afford the new stuff,” Gramps added, sounding only a little defensive. “So this is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff.” Both Hugh and Scevi made a sound, and Avalyn turned to find them looking at each other. “Alright, it’s maybe a little old, but that’s what people can afford. It’s what people can afford though, and the cables are the highest rated I have in the yard. It’s even above the Polair.”

“Then why haven’t you put it in the Polair?” Avalyn asked.

“Why? That catalyst works just fine, besides this girl belongs in something built for pleasure and speed, not some tow ship.”

Scevi was quick to work, hooking up cables and what she needed to the output to get her readings. “Ready whenever you are, Avalyn.” With a nod, Avalyn walked over and lightly tapped the cable before walking away. “That’s all it takes?”

“Even I find it scary how easy it is,” Avalyn admitted.

“30-127-184.8748%. Max capacity of the cables. Drak me, that’s fast.” Scevi ran a hand through her hair. “Is it usual to be scared and turned on at the same time?” Gramps’s face turned bright red, and Avalyn just laughed.

“No,” Hugh answered. “Well, she can power a 300 vol old catalyst reactor to max. Anyone have a ship with a higher capacity rating?”

“Not in my yard.”

“I wish I had something that could take that much power.” Scevi sighed. “I have an ex who dealt in high-end luxury starships.”

“Would it be awkward to show up out of the blue asking to touch his ships?” Avalyn asked.

“More awkward than when I found out he was marrying my step brother after he left me for some ‘mystery man’ he had been cheating on me with.”

Gramps’s face somehow turned even redder. “Any other suggestions?”

“Yes,” Scevi said, standing up from the equipment. “But I’m going to have to ask a favor, and we’ll need to take a trip across Bryst.”

“What kind of favor?” Hugh asked.

“The kind where I ask you to fly me around in the Stargazer.”

“You don’t need to ask that as a favor,” Avalyn said. “I’m ready to get out and stretch my engines a little.”