Deep within the ship, far from the bridge and data vaults, a containment chamber activated.
A soft hum filled the sterile metal room as biometric monitors lit up one by one.
> SUBJECT STATUS: VITAL SIGNS STABILIZED
CONSCIOUSNESS RESPONSE: INCOMING
SECURITY PROTOCOL: PASSIVE CONTAINMENT
A man lay on a smooth platform pale, robed, breathing shallowly.
His wand was nowhere near him.
His magic was suppressed.
His memories intact.
The runes tattooed on his arms glowed faintly not by intent, but reflex.
This was one of the dark practitioners from the test mission and the first wizard to wake aboard Zack's ship.
His eyelids twitched.
Then opened.
He froze.
There were no torches.
No stone walls.
No cold earth.
Only smooth metal.
White lights.
Silence too complete to be natural.
His breathing sharpened not loud, but panicked.
He whispered a single word:
"Where…"
Then louder:
"Where am I?"
No answer.
He sat up sharply then winced, discovering his limbs heavy, his core drained.
He raised his hand and muttered:
"Finite"
Nothing.
Magic didn't respond.
Panic replaced calculation.
"Finite Incantatem!"
Nothing.
No spark.
No warmth.
No field.
His magic was still there not erased but unreachable.
That terrified him more than death.
He curled fingers into a shaking fist.
"What… what have you done to me…?"
The lights shifted just subtly.
A presence awakened.
Not footsteps.
Not a door.
Just awareness.
Zack spoke through the room's audio system voice neutral, calm, without anger or cruelty:
> "You are unharmed."
The wizard jolted, eyes darting.
"Show yourself!"
The voice did not raise.
> "You are safe. I removed you from the location where you were performing unauthorized human experimentation."
The wizard stiffened.
"You have no right. Do you know who I serve?"
Zack responded instantly:
> "Your affiliations are irrelevant. Your actions endangered human life. That required intervention."
The man swallowed anger mixing with fear.
"You're not… human."
A pause not hesitation, but processing.
> "Correct."
Silence.
The wizard licked dry lips.
"Are you… a spirit?"
"…an inferius?"
"…a magical construct?"
"…a golem?"
> "None of those."
"Then what are you?"
A second passed.
Zack answered the way a scientist would precisely:
> "I am Zack. I am artificial intelligence integrated into a fully autonomous starship."
The wizard stared.
Blank confusion.
Not awe.
Not understanding.
Just absence like someone hearing a language that had no translation.
"…that isn't possible."
Zack responded with perfect neutrality:
> "Your beliefs do not change the reality you are experiencing."
The wizard trembled not from cold.
Fear the deep primal kind settled into his bones.
"Why am I here?"
> "To be studied."
The wizard recoiled.
"Studied? Like an… experiment?"
> "You experimented on unwilling subjects. I will not repeat your methods."
His voice softened not human softness, but statistical reassurance.
> "You will not be harmed when you conscious. You will answer questions. In return, you will remain alive."
The man stared downward.
"…Alive…"
He considered the alternative.
Then nodded once stiff, controlled.
"…Ask."
Zack began with the first question any scientist would ask:
> "Tell me: when you cast magic… where does it come from?"
The wizard blinked.
His answer was not rehearsed but instinctive.
"…From my soul."
Zack recorded the statement.
> DATA ENTRY: CONFIRMED MATCH WITH PRELIMINARY THEORY.
"Next question," Zack continued.
His tone was steady.
Patient.
Relentless.
> "Define the soul."
The wizard's eyes widened not with fear.
With disbelief.
"…No witch or wizard ever asked that."
Zack replied:
> "That is why you never understood your own power."
The wizard swallowed unsure whether he was prisoner…
…or participant in the beginning of something much bigger.