Three days after the drone's departure, Tanya found herself back in the workshop, staring at her holographic displays with intense focus after spending the last few days with friends and family. She was now ready to work. The beacon network was progressing with two successful deployments already, but that left her with the harder half of the equation.
The black box navigation system.
She pulled up the dimensional physics lesson Sage had taught her weeks ago, the elegant mathematics flowing across the display like frozen poetry. The equations were beautiful, but as she studied them more carefully, a fundamental problem kept playing over in her mind.
"The coordinates aren't numbers," she said aloud, tracing one of the wave functions with her finger. "They're not even classical data. They're quantum states and more like advanced wave functions that exist in superposition until observed."
It was like the difference between binary and qubits, but exponentially more complex. Human computers could manipulate binary, discrete states. Quantum computers could handle qubits with their superposed states that existed in multiple configurations simultaneously. But these dimensional coordinates required something beyond even that: dynamic wave functions that changed based on the observer and the method of observation itself.
"Human systems just can't do this kind of manipulation," she murmured, feeling that familiar pang of this is bigger than me settling in her chest. For a moment, the old panic threatened to rise. What if she couldn't do this? What if she were a fraud?
But she steadied herself, taking in a deep breath and centring herself.
"Sage," she said, turning away from the displays. "I need help with something impossible again."
//Explain the nature of the impossibility.//
"The navigation system. I understand the mathematics, I can see how it should work, but I can't build hardware that can process dimensional coordinates. It's like trying to run quantum algorithms on a mechanical calculator." She gestured at the equations in frustration. "Human technology isn't advanced enough to manipulate wave functions at this level."
//Interesting perspective. However, humanity already possesses technology that performs similar manipulations.//
"What do you mean?"
//Vortex drives. Every human starship uses dimensional coordinate manipulation for faster-than-light travel. The technology exists—it simply remains unexamined.//
Tanya paused, considering this. She'd grown up around vortex drives, taking them for granted the way people took terraforming or atmosphere recyclers for granted. They were just... there. Standard equipment that every ship needed, manufactured by a handful of mega-corporations, treated as black boxes that nobody questioned.
"You want me to reverse-engineer a vortex drive?" The idea felt almost sacrilegious. Vortex drives were sacred in shipbuilding, considered untouchable, proprietary, beyond the reach of independent engineers. "Sage, those things are sealed tighter than military cryptography. The manufacturers guard their secrets like state weapons."
//Yet the technology contains the principles you require. Investigation may prove educational.//
Tanya found herself torn between excitement and reluctance. Poking at vortex drive technology felt like crossing a line, entering territory that was professionally and legally dangerous. But if Sage was right...
"I'd need to get my hands on an unregistered one first," she said. "And they're not exactly available at the local parts depot." She knew that each vortex drive was registered with a ship and that all sales were tracked and registered with the shipwright guild. It would not be easy to get a hold of an unregistered drive.
//This obstacle appears surmountable given your current resources.//
Two days later, Tanya stood in her workshop examining a vortex drive that had arrived through channels she preferred not to think about too carefully. Amara had made some calls, Davidson had pulled some strings, and a "decommissioned" drive unit had found its way to Eden-Five through what were technically legal salvage operations.
The drive sat on her workbench like a featureless alloy block and perfectly smooth, without visible seams or access panels. It was roughly the size of a small container, its surface a matte gray that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
"This isn't human work," she said, using her multitool to run her scans over the surface. The readings were strange. The material registered as a metallic alloy, but one that didn't match any composition in her databases. "The molecular structure is... wrong somehow."
She tried the standard approach first: material scanners, plasma cutters, molecular welders. Every tool in her conventional arsenal. The alloy resisted everything, not just passively but actively. Plasma beams curved around it. Molecular welders couldn't establish a cutting focus. Even her most sophisticated scanners returned contradictory readings. It was clear they weren't supposed to be tampered with.
"It's like it's rejecting human technology," she muttered, stepping back from the stubborn block. The irony wasn't lost on her that at university, everyone had simply accepted that vortex drives were mysterious necessities for FTL travel. Nobody questioned their origin or construction. They were just part of the technological landscape, like stars or planets.
But standing here, trying to understand one, she was beginning to suspect that assumption had been dangerously naive. Or maybe that understanding had been actively cultivated by the powers to be. She knew this had to be the work of another bonded and gardener pair and felt silly for not seeing it sooner.
She turned to the workshop's more advanced systems. If human tools couldn't touch it, then alien methods would have to. Unlike most engineers, she wasn't without options. The alien-assisted fabrication arrays in her workshop could manipulate matter at the quantum level, tools delicate enough to separate atoms from their bonds. With careful calibration and a drain of power that made the lights flicker, she coaxed the machines into carving a hairline breach in the casing. The crack was just wide enough to glimpse inside without destroying whatever secrets it contained.
The interior revealed itself slowly as she peeled back layers of the strange alloy. What she found defied every expectation.
A lattice of crystalline structures filled the interior space, their faceted surfaces catching the workshop lights in ways that suggested impossible internal geometries. They weren't randomly arranged. The patterns had intention, purpose, as if someone had sculpted an equation directly into matter and then frozen it in place.
"This is beautiful," she breathed, studying the intricate arrangement. "It's like... like a frozen thought. A mathematical concept made physical."
"Still, what exactly do you do?" she asked the crystals.
But beautiful or not, she couldn't make sense of it. The crystalline patterns followed no human engineering principles she recognised, operating on design philosophies that seemed to ignore conventional physics entirely.
Instead of letting frustration build. Tanya made a conscious choice to step away. She powered down the analysis equipment and checked on her beacon-laying drone, watching its progress through the quantum-entangled communication link.
The third beacon was deploying successfully, its resource collection and fabrication systems working exactly as designed. Something was working. Progress was being made.
The satisfaction of that small success helped her refocus as she returned to the Extranet, beginning a systematic search through databases and forums for information about crystalline technology. It was the second time she'd encountered crystals in alien tech—the neural interface lesson had hinted at similar structures.
But human literature on the subject was disappointingly superficial. Energy storage crystals for power systems. Decorative crystalline matrices for luxury items. Basic industrial applications for data storage. Nothing approaching the complexity of what she'd found in the vortex drive.
Every promising lead dead-ended in classified research or corporate proprietary information. The few fringe forums that discussed advanced crystalline technology were filled with speculation and conspiracy theories rather than useful data.
She was beginning to feel that familiar sense of hitting walls when her comm system chimed with an incoming priority call.
"Tanya, office. Now." Amara's voice was sharp, businesslike, carrying an edge that immediately put Tanya on alert.
She found Amara pacing behind her desk, a secure tablet in her hands and an expression that suggested serious trouble brewing.
"Sit down," Amara said without preamble. "We need to discuss your recent research activities."
"My research?" Tanya settled into the chair, though she had a sinking feeling about where this conversation was heading.
"Davidson has picked up multiple flags on your Extranet activity," Amara said, consulting the tablet. "Searches for crystalline technology, quantum lattice structures, and dimensional manipulation matrices. You've tripped alerts in at least three classified government databases."
Tanya's stomach twisted. "I was just trying to understand—"
"Understand what, exactly?" Amara's tone was controlled but tense. "What are you working on that requires this level of sensitive research?"
"The navigation system for the beacon network," Tanya said reluctantly. "I needed to understand how dimensional coordinates work, which led me to vortex drives, which led me to crystalline technology. There was a user on some of the fringe forums—CrystalMaster—who seemed to actually understand the theoretical principles, but—"
"But you've been poking around in areas that attract attention from people who don't appreciate curiosity," Amara finished. "Tanya, you're walking into dangerous waters. This could lead to some uncomfortable questions that we don't want to answer just yet."
"I know that," Tanya said. "But I can't build the navigation system without understanding the underlying principles. Human technology just isn't advanced enough."
Amara studied her for a long moment, then set down the holopad. "Be more careful. Use secure channels. And maybe consider that some problems can't be solved by one person working alone."
That afternoon, Tanya continued her work with the opened vortex drive, using the workshop's most sophisticated scanners to map the crystalline lattice in three-dimensional detail. She still couldn't understand the principles behind its construction, but the beauty of the structure was undeniable.
"It's like a frozen thought," she said to Sage, tracing the complex patterns with laser measurement tools. "A mathematical equation sculpted in matter."
//Accurate observation. The crystal matrices encode dimensional manipulation algorithms directly into their atomic structure. Function follows form in ways that transcend conventional engineering.//
"But how do I replicate something like this? How do I build navigation hardware that can process these kinds of quantum states?"
//Perhaps the answer lies not in replication, but in cooperation.//
Before Tanya could ask what that meant, her comm system chimed again. This time it was Red, calling from the spaceport. He had apparently been summoned to the station.
"Tanya, we have a situation," his voice carried professional alertness mixed with concern. "A ship just docked at the orbital station. Fall Kingdom registry, unusual design. They're requesting a meeting with you specifically."
Tanya was confused. The Fall Kingdom was an allied kingdom to the Hallow Empire, but they kept to themselves, and she had never met anyone from there, even on Barth. Why would someone from there be after her.
"Did they say what they wanted?" she asked, though she knew exactly why.
"No details. Just that they were responding to certain... research inquiries that had been circulated in technical forums."
She was correct, the Extranet trail. Somehow, her searches for crystalline technology and dimensional manipulation had drawn attention from powers that understood these concepts. A suspicion was forming in her mind about who this might be, but she couldn't be certain.
"Keep them on the station for now," Tanya said, her mind processing the possibilities and implications. "I'll be right there. And Red? Contact Davidson. I want to see if he can get us some background information on our visitors before I meet with them."
"Copy that. How long do you need?"
"Give me thirty minutes."
Tanya quickly secured the vortex drive in her workshop's containment systems and made the flight to the orbital station. The trip gave her time to think, but not enough time to calm her nerves. If her suspicion was correct, CrystalMaster had apparently been more than just another forum theorist.
Red was waiting for her at the docking bay with a secure tablet in his hands and the expression of someone who'd found more questions than answers.
"Davidson came through," he said, handing her the dossier. "But I don't think you're going to like what he found."
Tanya opened the file and immediately understood Red's concern. The main entries were sparse but intriguing: Cameron Welsh and Janet Welsh, a brother-sister pair, occupation listed as "Explorers" from the Fall Kingdom. But the interesting details were in what wasn't there. There were multiple large sections of their profiles were heavily redacted, with classification markers that suggested the hidden information was significant.
"Explorers," she murmured, scanning the limited biographical data. "That's either a very specific euphemism or a very vague job description."
"Davidson's notes suggest they're legitimate researchers, but with connections to technologies that most governments prefer to keep classified," Red said. "The Fall Kingdom doesn't share intelligence freely, so this is all we're getting."
The files contained just enough information to be tantalising with references to "specialised technical consulting," mentions of "frontier technology assessment," and travel records that showed visits to systems known for unusual phenomena. But every detail that might have explained their expertise was carefully obscured.
"Well," Tanya said, closing the file and steeling herself, "I suppose there's only one way to get real answers."
She walked into the station's meeting room with the confidence of someone who had learned not to let the unknown intimidate her. Two figures rose from their seats as she entered. A man and woman who looked to be in their late teens, but she knew they were both in their early twenties from Davidson's dossier. Both with the lean build and alert posture of people accustomed to operating in challenging environments.
"Welcome to Eden-Five," Tanya said, extending her hand. "I'm Tanya Furrow. And unless I'm very much mistaken, one of you is CrystalMaster."
The man shifted slightly, offering a small, hesitant smile that didn't quite hide his nervousness. "Cameron Welsh," he said, his handshake careful, almost cautious. "And… yes. I've been using that handle on the technical forums." He glanced down for a moment before meeting her eyes again, a trace of self-deprecating humour creeping in. "Honestly, I didn't expect a few late-night chats about crystalline lattices to end with a face-to-face meeting."
Before the silence could stretch, the woman beside him leaned forward with an easy grin. "And I'm Janet," she said brightly. "His sister. Don't let him fool you, he's brilliant with alien stuff, just not so great with introductions. I do the talking, he does the genius stuff."
Tanya studied them both. Cameron's quiet reserve contrasted sharply with Janet's quick confidence, but together they carried the air of people who had lived and worked beyond the safe borders of established space. T
"Well then," Tanya said, leaning back in her chair, "I think we have quite a bit to discuss."