The Truth Beyond the Sky

Chapter 9: Meet Navika

Once Zahn had triumphantly stepped into the ship, he was stunned at just how large it was now that he was inside. He was certain that this inner room must somehow be larger than the wavering shape he saw back on the beach. This 'node', as Oonak had called it, was quite spacious, and its ivory walls radiated a pure white light that nearly overwhelmed Zahn's eyes and caused him to squint at first.

When his eyes adjusted, he looked all around him and tried to understand the space he was in. His previous guess was correct. The room had eight surfaces, each triangular.

The first object he noticed, indeed the only object he couldn't help but notice, was a large, glowing sphere that was suspended high above his head by colorless, braided cables leading up to each of the three corners of the triangular ceiling.

Zahn walked under the sphere, now about a meter above his head, and heard a soft hum. It appeared to be filled with a liquid, yet it also reminded him of a perfectly polished piece of colorless quartz. Green, orange, and purple flecks of light spiraled inward toward and outward from the center, and when he tried to examine what was in the exact center of the sphere, he realized that it was too bright for his eyes. It was a stunning vision.

"What do you think of Navika's core? Remarkable, isn't it?" said a voice from behind him.

Zahn glanced back and saw Oonak smiling slightly.

"It's wonderful. What is it made of?"

Behind him, he heard the door quietly hiss as it closed.

"A detailed description would be difficult to relate to you because you lack the necessary background knowledge. In simplistic terms it could be described as a complex crystalline structure which forms the seat of Navika's consciousness. However, I like to refer to it simply as his nucleus."

"So, that's like Navika's brain?"

"And much more. Follow me. Your sun is about to appear in the sky, and we are still on the beach, after all."

Oonak led Zahn to the far side of the room where there was an outline of a door in the triangular wall. He pressed his thumb to the wall, and the door split into three parts and pulled back, revealing what appeared to be a command bay or cockpit.

This room was a different shape than the first one and slightly smaller. Instead of a triangular ceiling, the two outer walls sloped inward until they met the door's wall at a point high above the door, almost like a tepee. Indeed, they were now standing inside a three-sided pyramid.

Directly in front of him was a single seat that had a small, transparent dome above it, and placed farther ahead was a long, curved bench that could probably seat five people. Zahn guessed that the seat with the dome was for Oonak and wondered how he could see anything while driving the ship since he couldn't see any windows anywhere.

"Welcome to the command bay. Please, have a seat." Oonak gestured toward the larger bench farther down, beyond the command chair.

Zahn walked over, sat down, and was stunned when the walls of the ship became completely transparent. The effect was so complete, it was as though the chairs themselves were now floating just a few centimeters above the silvery beach.

With pristine silence, they rose up into the air and were soon moving rapidly over the crashing waves below. Zahn took this chance to look back, and in the distance he saw his father walking back up the beach. In fact, looking backward almost hypnotized him, for he had never seen the islands shrink into the distance so quickly before. All around him, he could hear the faint rushing of the wind, and ahead he could see the ocean extend forever.