Planatae

Jumpers

Viktor shook his head as he rose to his feet.

"A lot for a young mind like yours, eh?"

"I guess so," he was a little surprised his mother had rushed off so soon. But her approval of him seemed to be there, so maybe later he'd get the chance to ask her a few more questions-

"Hey," Viktor nodded towards the doorway, eyes glassy with feed vision. "Looks like we'll be jumping to our next stop soon. Want to go check it out?"

Even his twisted thoughts weren't enough of a buffer to stop the thrill. Jumping was one of the most interesting aspects of space-travel, one of the few things Lukas never grew tired of on these trips.

"Sure," he said. He knew what Viktor was up to. The man had been as much a staple of his childhood as his mother had. They'd spent decades working together as research partners; he'd grown into a sort of eccentric uncle for Lukas. A fatherly figure to fill the space that had never been filled.

They left the conference room together, the hallway now clear of soldiers. This part of the ship was eerily quiet - Erin must have cordoned it off somehow for their meeting.

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke as they wandered through the Andromeda. If his own mind was anything to go of, Lukas could only imagine the revelations going through the older man's head.

"How are you doing?" Viktor asked, after a while. They stood in front of a lift that would take them back down to the mid-section of the ship.

"Fine," Lukas said. "The fac-boosts were... intense, but I feel perfectly fine now."

Viktor gave him a kindly smile. "Now, that's not exactly what I meant. I know you're mother's been putting a lot of pressure on you lately."

"Oh. She's just pushing me, I guess. Toughening me up for when I graduate from the Academy."

The lift arrived with a soft hiss. Viktor stepped forward first, his expression hidden.

"Believe me, kid, when I say I know exactly how hard she can be on people." He punctuated that with a soft chuckle. "But this was too much, even for her. You shouldn't have been used like that, back on Onyx. You shouldn't have been at that interrogation. It's too much."

He understood what Vikor was getting at - appreciated his concern. But his words had triggered a flare of indignation in Lukas.

"Thanks," he said, his words clipped. "But she thinks I'm ready. She trusts me. This is what I want to do, you know - explore and research the Planetae, just like her. It's dangerous work."

Viktor didn't answer immediately, not when the lift stopped and they stepped out, nor when they reached the crowded, bustling bridge. But he paused before they stepped inside, blocking Lukas from entering as well.

"I think that it's great that you're so ambitious, eager to succeed. But this is not the time or place, Lukas. Your mother is so focused on her goal right now that she'll use any asset she can - even you."

"I guess," he muttered, and slipped back Viktor before he had a chance to say anything more. He didn't want to think about his mother like that - Viktor had always been the cautious one - this trip was no exception.

Stopping at the uppermost balcony, he scanned the bridge for signs that the jump had begun. Viktor stepped up next to him a moment later, but didn't press the issue. Instead, he pointed, drawing Lukas' attention not to the center of the bridge's central floor, but to a hulking metal structure that was off to the side.

From afar, the object looked like a silver throne, blinking with lights and shrouded with cables, but it was far more than just a chair - it was an Amplifier. Similar in principle to the Fac-boosts, it was a much older technology, and far more specialized. In fact, the only purpose Lukas had ever known the Amps to serve was as a facilitator for jumping, a key part of high speed interstellar travel.