Free Aetheran Child by Antonin Januska Page B

needs. I will initialize the standard protocol.” Once again, Lexan found himself in the outer space, but it was red. Clouds of red and red stars swirled all around along with three or four other starships that were actively circling the boy and the starship he stayed on, The Needle.
    They attacked continuously but the power shields of The Needle held up very well. The vessels discharged concentrate beams of what looked like light. Some created purposeful rips in the space, it looked like, which siphoned energy into a black abyss.
    “I see you are in the turret. This ship has a charge particle cannon and multi-dimensional pulse guns. I will put you on manual control in a second,” Raki spoke to Lexan. The boy instinctively touched a few of the screens surrounding him and guns rose from their grooves around him.
    As the ships zoomed in and out of range, triangular markers encompassed them. The guns started expelling massive beams of energy. One of the pulses hit a propeller of an enemy fighter, which spiraled out of control. The fighter slowed down considerably and winked out of existence.
    “Who are we fighting?” The boy asked the Master and swiveled around to track the remaining targets.
    “They are most likely from the mercenaries from the Outlaw Alliance trying to disable our ship and sell it for parts. It’s a prototype and they’re probably going after that.” Lexan thought to himself questioningly at the word “Nethers” but before he could ask Master Raki anything about that Las announced that the outer shields are down and the Hull emergency shield will not hold for long.
    “We need a boost or we’ll die,” Mt. Raki growled and the ship took a turn and accelerated. A low humming sound vibrated throughout the ship. It grew louder and louder with more beats joining in to form a pattern of a song. Lexan took a deep breath, feeling the music penetrate his body and invigorate him.
    He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, the universe seemed to slow down. The enemy ships gave off a faint glow, a glow that extended forward, mapping out their course.
    Lexan swiveled in the turret and started shooting aggressively, following the glowing lines backward toward the fighters. Within seconds, the ship imploded and once again, the ship disappeared into the glowing nothingness of the red space.
    Two ships remained. Lexan turned toward them and decided to use the multi-dimensional pulse and see its effects. An extending opaque fabric of space extended and then collapsed into a swirling sphere. The sphere accelerated and hit one of the ships where, upon collision, it enveloped the fighter and crushed it, absorbing even the most aggressive eruptions caused by the engines. The other ship was unfortunate enough to be in the direct path of a shock wave that followed.
    The music subsided with the shock wave that shook the ship. The chair leveled back onto the floor and the transparent walls of the turret solidified. Lexan yelled out in excitement with his arms held high. He took a breath and left to the main navigational room.

    II
    “We should start the first study session,” Mt Raki smiled and beckoned Alexander to sit down the next morning, “You probably have a lot of questions to ask, but before you ask, I'll catch you up to speed with our society and technology.”
    Raki continued, “First you will learn the concept of the swift-space or as the youths call it nowadays, the Twister.” Raki moved onto the table computer and an image zoomed in on a holographic screen.
    The picture resembled the Milky Way Galaxy but everything that was supposed to be black with darkness seemed to turn ablaze with a soft red glow. As if covered by a fog, all the stars were dim.
    “This is swift-space.” Raki motioned towards the picture.
    “Is that like hyperspace??” Lexan wondered at this mistranslation, remembering the mass of science fiction books he's read.
    “Actually no, I’ll explain that later,” Raki