Chapter 72: Alexander's Great Race

After a good night's rest, I left my room after changing into the skin-tight UW bodysuit that stretches over my muscled frame like a glove. The suit wasn't constricting. If anything, the suit made me feel almost naked. I was glad to have this body now, instead of being stuck as a child, and this new avatar was quite handsome if I say so myself!

There was a digital screen on the wall when I left my room. The hall was steel gray, and there were eight other doors, including mine, spread down this hall. A flashing light brought my attention back to the digital screen that stopped flashing when my focus was back on it.

//FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL LEAD YOU TO THE CAFETERIA. THE OTHERS ARE WAITING

"Oh? You're going to be my guide, Alta?"

//YES, I WILL GUIDE YOU TO THE CAFERTRIA

"I see. You're not that emotional, so you don't have a sense of humor. I meant what I said to be heard as, you, the most important person on the ship, who has the most jobs is going to be my guide."

//AH! I SEE YOU ARE TRYING TO IMPLY THAT MY TIME WOULD BE BETTER USED WITH MORE MEANINGFUL TASK? THAT IS WHAT YOU WOULD CALL FUNNY TO THINK THAT I MIGHT BE LOWERED TO A MERE GUIDE FROM THE MASTER CONTROLLER, VERY FUNNY

"Hmm? I think you might not have really understood that in the way I was thinking, but you seem to get the idea. Well, Great Guide Master, lead on!"

If something without eye could glare, I'm sure that was happening, but I turned and started to walk before being told it was the other way. The rest of the trip was in silence. I must have really ticked Alta off, but at least he had something in there, but maybe I should be more agreeable to the master controller of the ship and all. The hall was more of the same, but there was a severe lack of staff for a boat this big, so I asked Alta on our walkabout.

//THERE IS NO NEED FOR MORE CREW, THE SIZE IS DUE TO THE SPECIAL WAVE DRIVE. THE WAVE DRIVE HELPS US MOVE BETWEEN SECTORS OF THE GALAXY THAT WOULD NORMAL TAKE SEVERAL YEARS AT THE EVEN TRAVELING AT 1 AU

"AU? What's that?"

//ASTRONOMICAL UNITS, 1 AU IS THE SPEED OF LIGHT AND THE FASTEST KNOW SPEED OF TRAVEL AT THIS TIME. EVEN AFTER THAT, THE TRIP BETWEEN HABITABLE PLANET CAN BE UP TO TEN YEARS. THE WAVE DRIVE ALLOW US TO TRAVEL BETWEEN BY DROPPING US INTO A CALIBRATED MAN-MADE SINGULARITY. ONLY I, ALTA CAL PROPERLY CALIBRATE THE WAVE DRIVE, WITHOUT PROPER CALIBRATIONS YOU COULD END UP INSIDE A PLANET OR STAR

"Wow, you really are the Master around here!"

It was only a short walk, but that brief explanation cleared some of my questions up but also saddled me with an entirely new set of them. Soon, I was at the door for the cafeteria, and they slid open when I was in front of them. Inside, the girls were all sitting at the table. Upon seeing me, the group all gave me a warm smile.

"Did you get enough sleep? I had to hold this little Watabian back from sneaking into your room," Sasha said, looking at Iona.

"Watabian? So does that mean that Mikota is Watabian too?"

"Yeah, we are from the same place, but I have never seen her before," Mikota said between mouthfuls of porridge.

"According to the ship's manifest, Maxine was sent to Prime to retrieve Iona from the Imperial Sand Guard, Royal Guards to the King Kima Cho," Jill explained.

"Then how did it get back here? How far away is Watabi?"

"We used the commercial gates, but we were ambushed just outside the gate by the Dreadnought. I don't know why it was waiting there, maybe hoping to get a freighter or something they could pirate, but they bit off more than they could chew with UW!" Maxine said with pride.

"I just remember waking up inside the cabin with this sand woman and not having any idea what was going on. I was panicked because the seat I was sitting in was holding me in place, so I thought I was a prisoner until I saw the skeleton whale on the monitor, and Maxine told me to hold on."

"Well, it's good to see everyone save and sound in the end. What about the Glacial Dragoon? It was pretty banged up in the last fight, right?"

"That's my department! Plague Strider's Micro Nano-bots can be used to help repair and rebuild things. They serve many purposes when it comes to repairs!" Mikota explained with excitement.

Mikota was looking very cute, as she explained to me, but she went back to her food once she was finished. I walked over to our fancy food maker thing and stared at the label-less button with confusion. Jill came up behind me and whispered in my ear.

"What did you say to make Alta angry?"

"I just made a joke about him being my guide, and he didn't get it, so I explained…but he didn't seem very impressed."

"Ah, well, Alta doesn't deal with jokes about his station or when he does things like guiding us. It is better just to let him do the things and not comment about it, hehe," Jill's giggle and warm breath on my ear gave me a delightful shiver.

"I'm sorry, Alta, can I please have some bacon and eggs?"

//…YES…

The oven lit up, and within a minute, it beeped and opened up to a hot plate of sunny side up eggs, buttered white toast, and six pieces of perfectly cooked bacon. I didn't want to know what happened inside that box. The thought of Mikota's nano-bots assembling my food one atom at a time and shaking them to produce the perfect temperature made me almost trip and fall with my food. Jill caught me and looked at me strangely.

I gave her a half-hearted smile as I went to go sit by Iona and Maxine. Both of them smiled up at me and slid over to make room for me to sit between them. Maxine was still a mystery and everyone else for the most part, so I decided to get everyone to explain what they knew of their races and origins.

"Why don't we go around the table and explain a bit about our races and our origins? From what you can remember, at least for now."

Everyone agreed that this was a good idea since we were all here for the most part. First, I explained that I was an adventurer and Tama, and I was a swordsman from what I remembered. Next was Maxine and her shifting, sandy appearance. I suspected she was another energy-based being like Sasha.

"I am from the Desserts of Watabi, and I was a Racer before this according to my memories. My race is Sylica, and I am of the Dawn Bladestorm class."

"Racer? What is that? Were you a pilot or something?"

Suddenly Mikota and Iona started to fidget excitedly. I looked to Iona, and she seemed ready to burst from the seem wanting to talk. I gave her a nod, and It all spilled out in a torrent of excited words. I honestly had never seen Iona so enthusiastic about anything before, so I listened intently, giving her my undivided attention.

"The race is held every three years when Gargantua and Prime cross paths. Even though the gap is just under 1 AU, about one point three million kilometers, it still has a dramatic effect on the climate on Watabi. Every three years, there is a race held in the storm by Alexander Prime, the God MAS of Prime."

"What? There are gods? I'm starting to get confused here."

"Each planet that has a Dynam core has a god MAS. These are planets built by an ancient race known as the Galactors, who also creates the Shyft race on Knell, but there is no point in getting into Knell since we are headed there. Anyways, Galactors created planets and helped to populate them. Still, they also created Primal MAS units to protect the planets and cores from their natural enemies, the Wrexilla," Mikota filled in.

"So these god units are sentient? Like they can think and talk?"

"Better than us, and the winner of the race gets a wish within the god's ability, but the race is extremely treacherous and dangerous. This isn't just the bad weather, this race brings scum from all over the galaxy, and there is a three month festival inside the capital's bubble."

"Sounds like fun! Are there any rules?"

"Only one, you cant fly. Everything else is game, from sabotage to outright murder. The god doesn't care how you get to him, just that you are the first one. Three years ago, the winner was Kima Cho, and he asked to be the ruler of the planet, and well, you know how that went!" Iona laughed as she finished explaining.

"Three years ago? Does that mean that it is close? The race, I mean?"

"Yeah, less than a month away, and that's why we are going to stock up at Knell. After we are done there, there is one more stop, and then we will be heading to the race."

"As guards? Or like watch or something?"

"No way! If we went as watch members, we would get torn to pieces during the race. No, we will enter the race privately. Winning the race is what we want to gain use of Alexander." Jill said