Hyperspace

Three days since his rescue from the planet, Anri was in the med bay getting his blood drawn when a blue light above the door turned on and blinked three times. At the same time, there was a high pitched siren call that filled the room with its screams.

Gina was done drawing his blood not a moment later. She placed the vial of blood securely inside a container and motioned to Anri. The doctor led him to a chamber adjacent to the medbay where she strapped them both down to seats with metallic harnesses.

The teenager had no idea what was happening but he didn't fight it. Getting stuck in this world had sent him into a quarter-life crisis. What was he going to do now? Magic was everything he had ever known. It was his best friend and teacher. Now he was all alone in a strange world with nothing but his wits to rely on. And maybe Gina.

"We're entering hyperspace, Anri," Gina empathetically informed the boy though she knew he wouldn't understand a thing. The doctor had gotten used to talking to the teenager since they were stuck with each other almost all day. "You might throw up if it's your first time. I still get nauseous even though I've done this more times than I can count."

A soft whirring sound cut through the normal beeps and clicks that were ubiquitous aboard the spaceship. Anri raised his head up when a speaker began to count down five seconds to warp drive.

"-3, 2, 1."

The teenager's vision went dark and his body felt like it was being stretched in several directions. Anri's fingers squeezed the harness but he couldn't feel it anymore. All of a sudden, the feelings of discomfort abated and everything was back to normal. What had just happened?

Gina talked while she helped him out of the harness. "-have to drink some water."

The teenager froze. He could understand what she was saying. Was he hallucinating?

"Come on, Anri. We'll be in hyperspace for at least twenty more minutes." Gina had her back to him and was walking away. The teenager fell into step behind her, hardly believing that this was really happening.

Anri opened up his mind to the universe and felt the familiar touch of magic. His excitement knew no bounds. Like a lost child who had found his mother, the teenager embraced the magical energy that was being sucked into him.

"Gina, hungry," he told the healer. It was one of the few words he had been taught by her as well as by Isa and Dom, the other two armoured soldiers who he'd come to befriend.

"Already? We just had- never mind. Wait here, Anri," she said the last part slowly so he could understand. "Wait. Here." Gina pointed to the med bay. "I'll be back in a few minutes with a protein bar."

The teenager nodded to the healer. This was what he had been waiting for. As soon as Gina left, he sat on a chair inside the med bay and reactivated his linguistic rune. The one behind his ear was always active by default unless he cut off magic to it. The runes were invisible to the naked eye and also the non-magical folks. Even so, Anri added a layer of concealment. Knowing that they would be in this place called hyperspace for only about 15 minutes longer, the teenager activated another rune on the roof of his mouth. It could collect and store magic independent of what his body was already gathering.

"You look unwell, kid," Gina walked in and remarked. "I'll have your blood tested as soon as we leave hyperspace."

She examined the readings on the device that was around Anri's wrist. A single brow raised, Gina made a humming sound.

"Elevated heartbeats and increased levels of adrenaline," she muttered. "What happened while I was gone?"

Anri stared at the little device that had given him away. "I- am- hungry, very hungry," he told the doctor. "Please, give- food."

Gina's eyes went wide. "Kid, you're such a fast learner. You're already speaking Federation like a pro."

He was actually trying to distract her from the device while he calmed his heart down. "Thank- you, Gina."

At his reply, Gina's lovely smile made itself known. She had straight white teeth like pearls.

"Well, eat up, Anri. I'll get you more after we exit hyperspace. I could use some protein bars as well."

___

True to Gina's guess, the blue light and the siren alerted them around twenty minutes later. Anri hadn't had enough magic but he had just about the right amount to keep some of his runes active for a few months.

Harnessed to the seat, the sorcerer was subjected to the same experience that he felt upon entering hyperspace.

"I'll never get used to it," he could hear Gina sighing as soon as the discomfort abated.

He had to pretend not to understand her inane chatter which he found oddly comforting.

"Gina," Isa's voice came through the med bay door. The raven-haired young lady was a stunner that Anri would have appreciated more if he wasn't so wary of her strength. Suited in her silver-grey armour, Isa held her helmet in the crook of her arm. "Dom and I are leaving with the commander."

"We've arrived?" Gina asked, sounding more serious.

Isa nodded. Her silky black hair was braided into a tail that barely went past her shoulders. Her icy blue eyes were friendly despite the solemness of her expression.

"It's a literal graveyard out there. We'll be back as soon as we recover the item so don't look out the windows."

Anri was curious now. A graveyard in the heavens? This was what he had taken to calling space. On the second day of his rescue, the sorcerer had taken one look through the glass of their spaceship and it had freaked him out just as much as it had fascinated him. He would have time to sit down and marvel about his experience later when it all sank in.

Isa's gaze landed on the teenager after she had spoken to Gina. "Anri, see you later." Dimples appeared on her cheeks.

The young man nodded, "later."

___

"Would you look at that," Gina muttered to herself. Anri and the doctor were both standing at a platform that afforded them a view of space.

"Graveyard," Anri whispered.

They were flying in a section of space where debris from many destroyed spaceships floated like fish. It wasn't just debris though. Frozen bodies of deceased lifeforms drifted among the rocks and dead ships.