Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Look. I WILL GO HOME

Chapter 2: Look. I WILL GO HOME

Ten hours. TEN HOURS! DID THEY WANT ME TO BLOW THEIR HEAD OFF?!

WHY??? How does one expand a Q&A for ten hours???

After experiencing the closest thing to torture in two years I was due for a long break. Which I didn’t get and instead had an hour seminar explaining the rules of the ship and getting a temporary access card and badge made.

Finally…

I was provided with a set of clothes and my own room and was allowed to use the staff bathroom outside of normal hours this once to clean myself up.

“Do you want me to escort your room?”

“No, I can find it.” I responded to the young staffer who kindly tore my ears off during the ‘space safety course’.

“...You sure? Kind of looking like you're about to pass out.” He asked concerned, from his perspective I’d been up for at least twenty-six hours. At this point, everyone I met during my initial rescue was long asleep.

“Nah, I’m always like this.” I just waved the kind staff off as I went to wash up.

My first normal shower in five years, haaaaaa, fianlllly. I hummed to myself in excitement. 

Never been crazy about showers but always enjoyed them, and using clean water again sounded good. Not needing to risk my skin burning by the acidic water or being attacked in the creature-filled waters. 

The one natural normal water supply I found on Espoiramissa was on a mountain so high and filled with many stupid blue-feather-bird-lizards pains in the butt… I didn’t know any of the proper names for the monster living on Espoiramissa. I did give names to a lot of them, but by the time one sees the thousandth new deadly creature that wants to eat you, one kind of run out of names to use.

I entered the washroom. It was decently big for a station, having four showers and two sinks with mirrors. Finally, I could see myself in a clean mirror.

Water, crystals, metals and some other reflective materials provided me with some opportunity to see myself but they weren’t the best–water fogy, crystals distort, and metals weren’t shiny enough. 

Seeing my reflection in the mirror, I was an absolute mess but… honestly better than I expected.

Semi-permanent bags settled under my golden eyes.

Small scares lay all over my body–the burned marks were prevalent on my arms–the most prominent scar started from my left cheek running diagonally down to my neck. Most were caused by bad interactions with the environment. As if a monster did get its hands on me, I’ll probably be killed. I didn’t care about how bad they looked… but I tried to hide some of them. So my dad and mum didn’t worry too much when they saw me again.

My light brown hair was like a jungle. Chopped and singed to keep it short and remove any knots whenever they occurred.

…Maybe it's time for a change. I twirled a burned section.

It has always been short, due to my previous work safety requirements and in childhood I always got it cut every two months. I even kept it short on Espoiramissa cause of my fear of it being grabbed during a chase…

Kind of impressed by how much I tanned though. I nearly reached my dad’s level of tan. Heh, always had his looks.

I always had been in possession of the Fire element since my first Vocation. Skills were a part of one’s soul and some–commonly the elemental energies skills–provided additional side effects.

Fire, Sun, and Light all these energies provided a small resistance to heat and reduce damage from light or burns. Even the chance of cancer went down by 1000%! But it also made tanning harder.

After admiring my amazing self… I got cleaned up and put on the uniform given to me. I spent some extra time fixing my hair. Cutting and brushing so it should grow neatly.

Okay, that’s everything… Time to explore!

I had gotten some basic permission and I was allowed to go anywhere on the fourth and fifth floors. I was even given a keycard!

Now even I felt this was a little irresponsible–I was just expecting to be locked in a room for a couple of days. But with my level of strength, it didn’t really matter where I was at. I could still blow up the station. However, if I did something dangerous, worst cause they could eject the floors.

I was also limited in other ways thanks to some pain-in-the-arse laws/protocols surrounding people like me–people lost in space.

For the next three days, I walked around the ship, spending very little time in my assigned room. The view of the stars was just much better from the cafeteria, with its wide window. 

Some of the crew tried talking to me and I made small talk with a few of them. Nothing major, mostly talking about past work experiences. It did seem that a few wanted to ask about my time on Espoiramissa but weren’t allowed to. Not that I wanted to talk about it either.

Through the small talks, I did learn that my information was kept vague from the majority of the crew. Only the basics–my name, previous job, my Vocation, and how long I was missing.   

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As I continued my strolls through the overly large station–during a period when a large majority of the crew were out–a small whisper filled with ill intent reached my ears.

“So everyone is in position?... Got it, sir. I have items prepared–Will be completing the setup tonight.”

My hearing wasn’t spectacularly superhuman, definitely better than the average trained folk but nowhere near the level of someone with a skill for it. The divide between was just that large. Not that I wanted a skill for that–well it wouldn’t even fit–but I was happy with my current assortment of skills and level of hearing. With the quietest sounds being the difference between life and death, my body reached the point as long I was awake, I was alert to nearby threats.

“Resupply completed six days ago. There are no additional threats.”

Hahaha–Incorrect. Walking to the room where the man was whispering–only a couple of metres away.

I opened the door to the room using another temporary community access keycard that I swiped.

“Ah, hello miss? What was your name again? Wait that is not important!” He hurriedly put away his communication device. The crewmember look to be an ordinary employee, probably the reason the best place he could access to be secretive was a room in the corner of a low-populated floor. 

“You shouldn’t be here, now leave, before you get thrown in the detention cell or something.”

I didn’t know if this crewmember was a plant, blackmailed, or is getting paid off and I really didn’t care.

“I know,” I returned a warm smile. “Neither should you, Mr pirate.” I didn’t actually know if he was a space pirate, but out of the possible options it was the most likely and easiest to deal with. 

Confused at my acknowledgment of his worthless occupation–his expression proved my hunch correct–his eyes quickly sharpen. Mana wrapped around his left hand. Maybe trying to finish me off in one stroke or some pathetic attempt to capture me.

Should be easy, but I don’t want to be loud… ‘Release’.

A quiet power filled me. I snatched his forearm and twisted it up.

“Weren’t you…a mage?” Fear filled his eyes but that wasn’t enough.

“You were able to remember that and not my name?” I smirked and began to apply some soul pressure onto the poor fool. 

This ability wasn’t gained from one of my skills but something I learned from my time on Espoiramissa. By using one’s own soul an individual could emit pressure on nearby souls. Smothering the souls of those weaker than the individual. 

The reason why it was a necessity to learn–even by forcing it with pure instinct and experience in my case–was by releasing one's own pressure, it could counteract the pressure being applied by others.

“... Now I’m only going to say this once. My priorities are much more important than yours,” I tighten my grip and ever so gently increased the soul pressure.

Unable to respond, eyes widening, he started to hyperventilate.   

The reason I wanted to keep this interaction on the down low was all the protocols involved. It would delay my return by at least three months. After I leave, then a leak of information about pirates can occur.

“Now you are going to do two things. One, inform your friends that a powerful and angry Person Lost in Space is on this ship. Two don’t speak of this interaction, ever.” 

Being found out that I threaten this sack of shit wasn’t a problem. I just preferred that happen a little later. Anyway, the only way to learn what happen is the ask Mr scared pirate man. Currently, the cameras weren’t working and hadn’t been for the last couple of hours.

“Or… I’ll eradicate your corpse. With you alive first of course!” Providing the sweetest smile before I left the room.

Worst case pirates still attack they shouldn’t be hard to deal with. I opened my Soul Page, to nervously check if anything had changed.

Dammit, it went by one! I quickly closed my semi-hidden Soul Page and marched off to the cafeteria. Maybe I should’ve taken that guaranteed three-month extension…

Name: Ceella Stella | Race: [Human]
Level 297 | Awakened
Mana: 100% Starlight: 88%
Vocation: [Stargazer]
Skills:
- Blazing Solar (V | IV)
- Starlight (V)
- Gazing Upon The Stars
- Disruptive Starlight
- Star Mapping
- Sleepless Nights
- Fortified Stomach
- Quiet Step
- Primal Guardian Lord [Lv 67]

I spent the next twenty hours in the cafeteria watching the friendly stars shine. Trying to ignore the problem I didn’t have a solution for.