"I get that reaction all the time. Nobody expects an ex-Climber to be working in the heart of the engineering department of an aethership!" she said, laughing.

"Right…" Cen mumbled, Rel nodding besides her with a just as confused look on her emerald eyes.

"Everyone, meet Mok. Mok, meet Cen, Rel and Nar," Tuk introduced, as he closed the door behind them.

Unlike the first two engineers they had met on their way into the core, Mok wore a simple uniform of gray pants and gray jacket, with Tsurmirel's logo emblazoned upon the left of her chest.

"Nice to meet you all! Tuk's friends are all my friends!" she said, smiling widely. "Come on in, don't just stay by the door. And don't mind the grumpy Old Man."

"There is no grumpy. Just busy!" the other occupant in the room retorted.

"You were just complaining you were bored!" Mok threw.

"Not anymore!" Tuk proclaimed loudly. "We're here now!"

"Ugh…"

Nar checked the room he now stood in. Almost every inch of its walls were covered in various types of physical monitors, the same kind he had seen K, the Master of Blades and even Cal, Kur's instructor, use.

In fact, now that he looked around the dim room, or the office, he might even call it, he was surprised at how low tech everything looked compared to the dazzling, metallic brightness they had just left outside.

"At least you've brought quieter people with you this time," a grumpy voice rumbled. "That Jaz kid nearly drove me mad!"

A shadow rose from one of the seats, and Nar looked up at the grizzly face.

At first, his mind thought he was looking at a much taller and older version of Jasphaer, but soon, he took in the much wilder and coarser, very dark orange fur that covered the man's head and poked through his crumbled, disheveled gray uniform.

The bottom half of his face almost disappeared entirely under a rough, untamed beard that reached the sapient's chest, and on his wrist, almost buried by coarse, orange fur, shone a similar bracelet to Mok's. It glowed softly with contained light-blue aether, though it was much simpler in comparison to Mok's, being just a chain of metal links holding a small, smooth gem encased in metal.

However, out of everything his sight took in about the man, it was the green round objects that he had in place for eyes that made Nar pause and stare. The obviously mechanical device whirred and shifted of their own apparent accord, as the towering man before them took in the gaggle of apprentices that had barged into his office.

"Hmmm… They're a bit more observant too," the giant muttered. "Maybe they won't be a waste of my time then. Follow."

Mok shook her head and gave them all a thumbs up.

"Don't worry. He loves showing his babies off to you kids," she whispered.

"I'm old, not deaf," he muttered.

Nar followed mutely after the tall sapient.

So this is the Old Man? Nar wondered, as the giant groaned into a chair. He's the one the undead were complaining about, and the one that controls the flow of aether across the entire ship?

The Old Man pulled out a device of some kind and a staccato filled the office as his clawed fingers deftly punched across its surface.

"Is that… A keyboard?" Cen asked.

"Yes," the Old Man replied. But rather than miffed at the question, for the first time, there was a touch of something else in his tone.

Nar and Rel stepped closer and leaned over to consider the device again.

It does look like the keyboard on the touch-screen, he thought. But then…

He looked up from the keyboard to a massive screen that covered several feet of wall in front of them. He glanced back down at the Old Man, and found him staring directly at him, his fingers still typing away.

Nar startled. However, he had the distinct impression that there was a sense of expectation coming from the Old Man… The way a lecturer or master waited for a slow apprentice to connect the dots and say something obvious.

Tik-tak-tik-tak-tik…

And then it hit him.

"Why is everything so manual here?" he mumbled.

The corner of the Old Man's lips twitched and he turned in his chair to face them, the strange mechanical device that replaced his eyes whirring.

"You are now standing at the very heart of the heart of the Scimitar," he explained. "This is the Observation Deck, and from here, we keep the ship flying."

He raised a hand to the massive screen behind him, where a diagram of the ship was now on display. Numbers and colors, bars and lines, icons, dots and text boxes flashed and blinked on the screen, displaying myriads of undecipherable information for what Nar could only assume were the ship's many, many systems.

"While the aetherbanks are controlled down below, we can watch and also control them from here should the need arise," the orange fur-man explained. "And from here, we can tell where every single aethon goes and it's used for."

Cen raised a hand.

"Yes?"

"Uhm… What's an aethon?" she asked, her voice timid, but that of the perfect model student.

The Old Man bared his fangs at her and the girl went pale.

Wait… Is that a smile? Nar thought, trying to keep his expression neutral. Crystal…

Instead of replying, the Old Man glared at Tuk. "Why don't you tell them, Tuk?"

"Uh…" the tosser said, looking away.

"Exactly," the Old Man rumbled. Then his burrowed frown eased as he stared at the caster again. "You're only the third apprentice to ask me that since we left the Nexus. I'm going to guess you're a caster and that you've got a good head on your shoulders."

"I… Uhm… Yes. I mean, I am a caster! But my head is just fine…"

The Old Man chuckled.

Nar felt a presence at his side and glanced left to find Mok's dancing eyes looking up at his.

"He looks scary, but he's just a big softie," she barely whispered.

Nar smiled back and nodded politely, still feeling out of his depth.

"An aethon is the base unit of measurement we use for aether," the Old Man explained. "And in simplest terms, it's just the smallest speck of singular aether."

"So aether is made up of individual components?" Cen asked, rubbing her chin. "Which would mean that it's aethon, and not aether that comes out from the Source…"

The Old Man nodded, his toothy grin going wider.

"Once two aethon bond together, it becomes aether. But it's all just aethon joined together," he said. "The Church is very pedantic about it, though, so we all just call it aether."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He and Cen were practically having a one-on-one conversation now, and the other three were more than happy for it, as cheering up the caster had been their goal all along.

Though I'm not sure how this is going to help her, at least she looks happier, Nar thought.

"Then… Then do you know if there's a unit of measurement for aura too?" she asked.

The Old Man's brow raised.

"For aura you say?" he rubbed his chin, his lips pressed in thought. "Hmm. No? I don't think so. Not that I've ever heard of, at least."

"Oh, I see," Cen said, downcast.

However, perfect apprentice mode kicked in right away. "So, what this screen shows is all the aether usage aboard?"

The Old Man nodded, and quickly launched into an explanation.

"We channel the aether from the banks below, and then it goes through all the piping you see here to different separator stations. There, the aether is split based by aspect and stored into secondary aether banks. From there, it goes into infrastructure that is designed specifically to transmit each aspect of aether."

"Is that the different colors of tubes in the faculty decks?" Nar asked.

"Yes. Tubes and wires are a part of it. When you build them specifically to accommodate an aspect's properties, you are able to achieve a lot more transfer, speed and a lot less loss across distances," the engineer explained.

"Why don't you just have it on separate aetherbanks then?" Cen asked.

"Because aether, when it's split into a single aspect, begins to decay," he explained. "And by that, I mean that it starts to lose its aspect, its vitality shall we say, and becomes aspected to decay instead. Which is, for the most part, useless. Now, this is not an issue in daily usage, but when you store it for long delves such as this, it becomes a significant issue. Too significant."

He shook his head. "It needs to be kept together, or by the first-year mark we would have lost a quarter of it."

Nar frowned at that.

"Don't aethermancers only have one aspect inside them?" he asked.

The Old Man looked him up as though he was seeing him for the first time.

"Interesting question," he said. "But while the answer is yes, it is also no. I'm bonded to a spirit of electrical aspected aether, but I don't just receive electricity through our bond. It comes in small traces, but there is aether of many kinds coursing through my channels. I just cannot feel it or use it in any way, and that's how aether works for us."

Nar nodded.

"And before you ask, aura is different," the Old Man said. "Or do you know that already?"

Cen nodded.

"Aura is regarded as just energy. A power source. It either has an affinity or it doesn't," Cen said. However, her eyes shone with racing thoughts as she looked up at the screen. "But all aether eventually decays, right? Then it returns to the Source and is restored, ready to be used again?"

"Eternally," the Old Man said. "Once used, decayed aether is channeled to the back of the ship, where it goes into a machine that splits it back into aethons. Then, it's allowed back into ambient aether in the ship's wake where it does its own thing, and eventually returns to the source to be restored."

He tapped on his keyboard and Nar recognized the engine diagram that they had been shown before the confluence.

"There are a few exceptions to this, of course. The major ones being our engines. Both lift and propulsion engines use specific types of aether, like gravity, space and so on, and those filter out into ambient aether immediately upon use. It's what forms the shining wake behind an aethership. However…"

He rubbed at his chin. "This conversation has unexpectedly taken a turn into the nature of aether itself. And of aura… Is there something in particular you are looking for?"

"I… Uhm…" Cen worked her mouth but no words came from it.

"Sorry, Old Man. I came with a bit of a goal in mind today," Tuk said, with a half-smile, half grimace. "Cen doesn't have her affinity yet, but it's turning into something a bit… Destruction focused. We don't have any issues against it, of course, but she's been wanting to and struggling to come up with a supportive or defensive skill, you know? To try and balance it out…"

"I see. You're one of those [Aura Construct] types, aren't you?" he asked his eye machines whirring at Cen. "That old master seems to get one of you every once in a while."

"I… Yes, I am. I'm sorry," she said. "I am really interested in all of this though! I prom…"

"Save it. I can tell you are," the Old Man said, smiling. "But something defensive, you say… And I'm guessing you were hoping to get inspiration from aether?"

Cen nodded. "I thought it might work."

"It does work," he said. "You're not even the first apprentice in this batch to come down here in search of enlightenment. But I need some more information… Such as, what are your enlightenment moments like? What draws you in?"

"I don't know yet. So far, it's been the rain and sand. There's something in it that pulls me in… It's like it's right there, inside my mind, but it's just out of reach…"

Nar nodded absentmindedly. That was a near perfect description of it. She was just missing the loss he felt when he realized that he wasn't going to unlock his affinity.

"And the skills I gained are both very… Well, focused on small particles of aura that are very destructive."

"I can imagine…" the orange engineer said, combing his white claws through his chaos of a beard. "If it's something defensive or supportive… Rain and sand… Could our aether shield help in any…"

He stopped, frowning. "Hold on. Rain and sand? Rain and sand…"

He pursed his lips, his claws forgotten within his beard.

"Well, I can't tell you anything, but there is one thing we could try. Something I could show you now," he said. "Mind, it might not work. And it will be painful for you."

Mok gasped. "You're taking them there?"

The Old Man shrugged. "They won't do anything to the machines."

"No, but the machines might do something to them!" the ex-Climber said.

The Old Man shrugged again. "Up to you, Cen. If you want to, I'll show it to you. I can't guarantee that it will help, but it might."

"I want to see it!" Cen said. "Please! Show me!"

"Alright. And you guys?" he asked, aiming the question at Rel, Tuk and Nar.

"We'll go too!" Rel said, speaking for the three of them.

"Fair enough… Mok?"

"Ugh!" she said, throwing her arms in the air. "Hold on!"

She dashed for one of the desks and quickly typed into a keyboard.

"You never did tell us why everything is so manual here," Nar said, while they waited. "I thought aethermancers could control everything with their implants."

"Almost," the old engineer corrected. "But you're right. I got sidetracked. Like I said, this is the heart of the ship, and amidst everything we do, some things are absolutely mission critical. That means if the aetherbanks are about to explode for example…"

"That can happen?" Rel breathed.

"It can. Aether would start leaking everywhere, quickly saturating the core and interfering with every single computer and machine out there. The walls of this office are built to withstand that to a degree, and everything is kept as low tech as possible to have endurance and resilience built into its materials so that we can trigger emergency shutdowns, or barring that, we can eject the aetherbanks, or baring that we can still trigger the evacuation alarm, and all of these are of the simplest, of the simplest fail-safe mechanisms. And that's just one scenario where things could go wrong."

He shook his head. "While across the department we use a lot more high-tech, you can never go full implant in engineering. Sometimes aether just reacts in weird ways with what we do here, and you have to make sure your equipment is tough enough in order to remain operational and accurate. Most of the stuff inside the core can actually be described as low tech."

Really? Nar thought. All of this is low tech? Crystal…

"I did notice one of the engineers was using a touch-screen?" Rel asked, hesitating. "But it wasn't like ours."

"Hmm. When we connect to something, we always use low tech. Always. Otherwise, you can't trust anything…"

"Is that why those engineers had those big tool belts?" Cen asked. "You can't use storage rings?"

"You can't use storage here, period. Every time you put something in or take something out, you're not just moving the object. You create a boundary around the object in storage, and a boundary of the same shape around the empty space it will come out onto, and you swap the two spaces," the Old Man explained, his hands crossing each other, his clawed indexes pointing in opposite directions.

"The air goes into the inventory too?" Cen asked, frowning.

"It does. As well as whatever is in that space," the man said with a sigh. "It's complicated. But the use of an inventory, no matter the size, always results in aether leaks and collisions. These are so minor they don't affect us, of course, nor day to day machines that much for that manner. But the stuff we have in here is again mission critical. If your fridge breaks down over time, who cares? But you don't want to apply that kind of unintended repeated stress to anything important down here, and grabbing a tool out every single day, for a crap ton of times, by a crap ton of people? Over time, stuff breaks… And you don't want anything to break around here."

"Oh, I see…" Cen said. "Wait, is that what happens when we jump? The spaces are… Swapped?"

The grizzly sapient nodded.

"That's why we need the beacons. They tell us not only where to go, but also that if there's anything there before we jump. Imagine jumping forward into another ship, but only swapping with half of it…"

"Ugh…" Tuk said, looking around at all the screens. "This stuff is scary."

"It is. That's why you must treat it with respect and the seriousness it deserves. Or you'll regret it."

"What about the small aetherbanks the engineers carry?" Cen asked. "Wait, is that a different kind of storage?"

Nar smiled at Cen's endless stream of questions. Not that he blamed her. The stuff was fascinating, and it was better for them all to get a deeper and wider understanding of their new reality. And, for his part, the Old Man seemed only too delighted in being asked questions.

"Very different. Aether hates, hates being stored in spatial storage. It just cannot be done," the Old Man said, shaking his head vehemently. "When you try to, it just explodes, and takes out anything around it in a catastrophic explosion that is often many times stronger than the energy stored within. Aether is stored in what is called real-storage, meaning it's stored in our tangible existence, much like if you were to fold a blanket and place it in a cupboard."

"Wow," Cen said, her yellow, neon eyes going wide.

"Even just a random poke from too much space and time aether can completely cause the real-stored aether in those banks to go haywire," the man added. "So when we jump, we need to shut down all access to the aether banks after it's been sent to the jump-engines, and lock them up tightly to make sure everything stays okay and untouchable."

"Crystal," Rel whispered, going slightly pale.

"A lot of thought and effort goes into everything aboard an aethership. From the aetherbanks, to the bridge, the engines, and even the heat for cooking and for water," he said. "But if you get it right, and we have, you can fly these beauties for thousands and thousands of years on careful, and proper maintenance alone."

"Done!" Mok said, rising from her seat. "That should be okay for a few minutes. Shall we go?"

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