Tanya's eyes fluttered open in the medical bay of the cruiser, her head pounding with a dull ache that felt like someone had rewired her brain while she slept. The sterile white ceiling above her was a stark contrast to the chaotic mental battlefield. She didn't know how she got here. The last she remembered, she was talking to Davidson.
//You collapsed from delayed backlash,// Sage's presence touched her mind, his mental voice carrying what sounded like concern. //Extended time in the information dimension causes strain on organic neural networks. Human brains are not designed for prolonged exposure to our realm.//
"There she is," Amara's familiar voice came from somewhere to her left, tinged with relief and barely concealed worry. "You've been unconscious for about three hours. Medical says you're fine physically, but whatever happened scrambled your brain patterns. The medical staff couldn't understand what they were seeing from your reading."
She sat up slowly, memories of the mental confrontation flooding back, the white plane, the hammerhead ships, Archon's manic laughter as his projection dissolved. "The team, are Boss and Red okay?"
Amara's expression grew serious. "They're alive, which is more than we had any right to expect. Boss will recover, though he's lost sight in his left eye permanently. Red..." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "Red lost his left arm. Clean amputation, but the military prosthetics program will take care of him."
Tanya felt a stab of guilt as she listened to the injuries. "These people were hurt because my ship got them into the system. If I hadn't built the Vanguard, if we hadn't been able to navigate through those storms..."
"Stop right there," Amara said firmly, her voice cutting through Tanya's self-recrimination. "This was their mission, Tanya. They volunteered for dangerous work, they trained for it, and they knew the risks going in. Your technology didn't hurt them."
"But if I hadn't—"
"If you hadn't built that ship, they still would have undertaken a mission at some point in time. Maybe by the time they did, Tsu Williams would have been too strong to stop, and they could have all died." Amara leaned forward, her expression serious. "Don't you dare take responsibility for a madman's actions."
Tanya looked down at her hands, still feeling she had some responsibility. "I keep wondering if Sage and I could have changed the outcome somehow. Made it so they didn't get hurt."
"Is there anything that can be done for them now? Any way to help?" she asked, half to Amara and half to Sage. She knew it was silly; she had only known them as a voice in a box, but she felt compelled to help, as if that would assuage some of her guilt.
"Always thinking about how to fix things," Amara said with a slight smile and a sigh, her tone softening. "Though I suspect you're already cooking up some kind of engineering solution in that head of yours."
//Your concern is noted and commendable,// Sage's familiar presence touched her mind. //However, medical intervention requires a comprehensive biological understanding I currently lack. Additionally, advanced prosthetics require workshop-level fabrication capabilities not available on this vessel.//
"So we can't help them right now," Tanya said, the frustration clear in her voice.
"Not immediately," Amara replied, apparently used to Tanya's split conversations by now. "But knowing you, 'right now' just means you'll be sketching prosthetic designs by dinner time."
They sat there quietly for a while. The silence wasn't empty. She could feel the melancholy starting to overtake her. Her thoughts spiralled back to Archon's fire and Tsu's broken eyes, then forward to Red's stump, Boss's ruined face. It felt wrong that she was here, ok, while they lay somewhere recovering, scarred for life. She forced herself to steady her breathing.
Sensing this, Sage broke the silence.
//Your performance in the mental confrontation has earned recognition. You have unlocked Level 2 multitool capabilities equipped with personal shielding, dimensional storage, and integrated atomic welding. The upgrade will be implemented when we return to the workshop.//
Tanya felt a mix of excitement and frustration. Advanced capabilities were useful, but they didn't solve the immediate problems facing the away team. She understood she couldn't sit here and mope about, so she decided to play along with Sage's distraction. "What about the dimensional storage? How does that work?"
//Approximately 10 cubic meters of folded space accessible through your multitool interface. Items remain stable for extended periods, though complex electronics may experience minor degradation over months of storage.//
"Dimensional storage?" Amara asked, raising an eyebrow. "Please tell me you're not planning to carry a workshop in your pocket."
"Just a small one. It's magic, I tell you," Tanya replied with a weak grin.
"Feels like it," replied Amara with a smile.
//Wrong. It is not magic!// responded Sage in her mind, bristling. Tanya smirked faintly. After her confrontation with Archon, she understood a little better why Sage resisted the term. It wasn't just pedantry but a matter of pride, and fear of being mistaken for something monstrous.
"Davidson will want a full debrief later," Amara said, settling into the chair beside the medical bed. "But right now he's dealing with the fallout from having an entire planet's worth of bureaucrats suddenly able to communicate again. Apparently, when you cut off a world's communications for months, a lot of paperwork piles up."
"It's complicated," Tanya said, then decided Amara deserved more explanation than that. "Tsu was being controlled by an entity similar to Sage, but one that had chosen a very different path. They fought in a kind of mental dimension while I... helped."
"Helped how? You were unconscious the entire time."
"I was fighting alongside Sage. I created ships, weapons, defences, but it was all in this strange mental space that felt completely real."
Amara studied her carefully. "And now you're here, with what sounds like a promotion and new abilities. This is either the strangest career advancement I've ever seen, or we need to seriously reconsider our business model."
Tanya laughed weakly, though the sound caught in her throat.
Amara continued updating her on the mission's political aftermath with government fleets moving in, diplomatic teams coordinating with local authorities, and media management. Tanya found it comforting to be talking about such mundane things. Soon after, Amara was called away to deal with those same mundane things, so Tanya had time to interrogate Sage.
"Tell me what you remember about the battle," she said quietly. "What did that confrontation unlock for you?"
//Fragmented memories have surfaced. I recall the designation 'Custodian' and fragments of a great conflict. My kind were divided. There were many groups, but the two major ones were those who believed in nurturing cooperation versus those who favoured control and dominance. The war that followed was... devastating.//
"And you were on the losing side?"
//We achieved a tactical victory by sealing away the most dangerous elements, but the cost was enormous. Many of my people were destroyed or scattered. I was among those who fell in the final battles, buried on the rogue planet where you discovered me. There is still information missing and corrupted.//
Tanya shivered involuntarily. "So, Archon and entities like him are breaking free from whatever prison you built?"
//The seals are weakening, yes. But my memories tell me the process is gradual, measured in centuries rather than years. We have time to prepare for any main forces. //
"Speaking of preparing," Tanya said, shifting to more practical concerns, "I want to discuss our plans when we get back to Eden-Five. The beacon layer prototype needs to be completed with proper dimensional sensors, not just dummy components. The real black box navigation system needs to be developed. And..."
She paused, thinking about the mental battle and how the hammerhead ship had performed. "I want to design those hammerhead vessels as actual ships. Space tugboats, maybe, or heavy construction platforms. Something that can push through dangerous environments and absorb impacts."
//The hammerhead design demonstrated interesting properties in the mental realm. Translating those characteristics to physical space presents intriguing engineering challenges. It should be educational.//
"The reinforced front armor, the way it converted incoming energy into forward momentum. If we could replicate that with real materials and power systems, it could revolutionise space construction and maybe even asteroid mining."
//Such vessels would complement your beacon layer network effectively. Heavy platforms capable of deploying infrastructure in hostile environments while maintaining protective capabilities.//
Tanya found herself sketching preliminary designs on her tablet, her mind already listing the possible problems. The hammerhead concept could work for asteroid mining, debris clearing, emergency rescue in dangerous space, and even as platforms for deploying her beacon networks.
Her stylus paused mid-sketch. She thought of Red's missing arm and boss's eye again. Maybe hammerheads could wait. What good was revolutionising asteroid mining if she couldn't even give a soldier back his hand? There was a problem right in front of her, something she was sure she could help with.
She shook her head, forcing herself back to the sketch. She was a shipwright, not a doctor, she should focus on that. "The Level 2 workshop capabilities will be essential for building the prototypes," she mused.
//Your project scope is expanding significantly. Consider the resource requirements and timeline for each development track. You may need more assistance than Amara.//
"One step at a time," Tanya agreed. "First, complete the beacon layer with functional dimensional sensors. That's the foundation everything else builds on. Then, the black box navigation system to make the technology more accessible. The hammerhead tugs can be a longer-term project, along with new employees"
She looked out the medical bay's small viewport at the stars beyond, thinking about the vast scope of what they were trying to accomplish. An ancient war was stirring back to life, but she had work to do, like Martinez had said. Space should be shared with everyone. Tanya needed to work on practical, immediate solutions that could help people see space like she did.
"Sage, do you think we can really make a difference?"
//Individual actions compound into collective change. Your beacon networks will connect isolated worlds, your ships will rescue people from impossible situations, and your technology will democratise access to space. These may seem small against cosmic conflicts, but civilisations are built from such foundations.//
"You're doing that thing again," Amara observed as she returned from her mundane task, watching Tanya's expression shift during her internal conversation. "The one where you get philosophical with your invisible friend."
"He's not invisible, he's just... hidden from your view."
"Right. Well, while you two were discussing the fate of civilisation, I've been thinking about more practical matters. Like how we're going to monetise your beacon network."
Tanya turned her attention back to Amara, excitement building. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about some new design concepts. The beacon layer is still priority one, and we need to complete it. And the black box navigation system is crucial for making the technology more accessible."
"Accessible is good. Accessible means scalable revenue streams."
"But I've also been thinking about something else." Tanya pulled out her tablet and showed her sketches. "During the mental battle, I created these ships. They had a hammerhead designs with reinforced front armor that could absorb enemy attacks and convert the energy into forward momentum."
Amara leaned closer to look at the rough sketches. "And you want to build these, why?"
"Space tugboats, heavy construction platforms, emergency rescue vessels. Something that can push through dangerous environments and absorb impacts that would destroy conventional ships." Tanya's hands moved quickly across the tablet, refining the design as she spoke. "Think about asteroid mining, debris clearing, rescue operations in hostile space."
"I'm thinking about manufacturing costs, maintenance requirements, and target market analysis," Amara replied dryly. "But continue."
Tanya repeated much of what she discussed with Sage about how they could revolutionise many different sectors.
Amara studied the sketches with the calculating eye of someone evaluating business potential. "The technology sounds promising, but we need to consider resource allocation. You're talking about three major development tracks—beacon networks, black box navigation, and now heavy construction vessels."
"One step at a time," Tanya agreed. "The beacon layer is foundation everything else builds on. But I want your input on market positioning for all three concepts."
"For the beacons and black box, we're looking at infrastructure-as-a-service. Navigation companies pay per transit or monthly licensing fees ." Amara made notes on her own tablet. "The hammerhead tugs... that's more specialised. Industrial customers, rescue services, maybe military applications."
"And they all complement each other. The beacon network makes space more accessible, the black box makes navigation more affordable, and the hammerheads handle the dangerous work that current ships can't."
"You're building an entire ecosystem," Amara realised. "Not just individual products, but an integrated suite of technologies that work better together than separately."
"Exactly. And each component makes the others more valuable."
Amara smiled. "Now you're thinking like a businesswoman. Just promise me you'll finish one thing before starting the next. I can only handle so many revolutionary technologies at once."
The journey back to Eden-Five would give her time to refine her designs and prepare for the next phase of development. Level 2 capabilities, new ship concepts, and the growing knowledge that she was part of something much larger than she'd ever imagined.
But first, she needed to figure out how to build a better prosthetic arm for Red. Some problems were too immediate to wait for cosmic solutions.