"So then... did I really teleport into another world? I don't even feel it. I haven't met any godlike being like in anime. What if this is just a dream? Maybe I'll wake up in a hospital bed?" Naomi muttered.
She still couldn't accept her new surroundings.
"Yeah, sorry, but this is real," Osaka said. "And it ain't reincarnation—it's teleportation. Your looks haven't changed, and you've still got a good chunk of magic power, so it ain't like you were reborn. You just... shifted over, body and all."
"My appearance, huh... yeah, I guess I look the same. Oh, right! About that magic power? We're in space, aren't we? This all feels like science, but I don't get where magic fits in."
Naomi gripped the control stick, her reflection wavering across the glass panel.
"Magic power's like life force," Osaka explained. "You're born with a certain amount, though training can boost it a little. 'Bout twenty-five hundred years ago, folks figured out how to turn it into pure energy. That's when they built the magic engine. Soon as that showed up, bam—humanity blasted off into space."
He went on with the story—the colonies, the fights over resources, the century-long war, and finally the rise of the Valdis Galaxy Empire.
"So now the empire rules, and the wars are over?" Naomi asked.
"Pretty much. Though I've been driftin' here for, oh, a hundred years or so. Don't got the latest scoop. Still—don't sweat it. You and me, sis, we'll pull through. Ship's holdin' up just fine."
"Don't jinx it with a flag like that!" she said.
A piercing alarm cut through the cabin.
BEEP—BEEP—BEEP.
Naomi's eyes froze on the red alerts flashing across her console.
≪MAIN ENGINE: OFFLINE≫
≪PRIMARY POWER: CRITICAL≫
≪OXYGEN: DECREASING≫
≪CARBON DIOXIDE: INCREASING≫
≪ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY: SHUT DOWN≫
The words glared at her, each one dripping with menace.
"Didn't you just say the ship was fine?" she asked.
"Eh... did I?" Osaka scratched his head.
"Unbelievable! Don't set up a flag and then collect it immediately! But this looks... bad, doesn't it?"
He chuckled. "Heh, tough break, sis. Guess the ship really did start fallin' apart. Held up for a hundred years, but I may've pushed it too hard."
His hologram flickered at her side, nodding with exasperation.
"This isn't the time for jokes! Can't you fix it?" she demanded.
Even with the temperature regulated, Naomi felt a bead of sweat slide down her back. She jabbed the touchscreen to kill the alarm. The interface worked like a smartphone—familiar enough to need no instruction.
But once the blaring ceased, the faint hum of machinery vanished too, leaving behind an oppressive silence. Only the crimson pulse of the warnings cut through the stillness.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.
"..."
Then Osaka's voice returned. "Whew, close call. Got the main power kickin' again. If that'd died out, you'd be toast."
Relief washed over her, though the propulsion system remained dead, oxygen scrubbers offline, gravity flickering out. Her seat lifted her slightly as weightlessness crept in.
"Panicking won't help. We're stuck in a debris belt 'round a white dwarf star. Nobody's comin'. Oxygen's good for thirty-two hours. No colonies close enough without the main engine. Gravity—don't sweat that. Your real problem's that air clock tickin' down."
Naomi's breath caught. Thirty-two hours left to live? He had just given her a deadline for death.
"So we fix it ourselves. Lucky for us, the old spaceship graveyard's nearby. Don't much like goin' back, but hey—what choice we got?" he said.
"Fix it... me? I've never done anything like this. No knowledge, no skills... but if I don't want to die, I have to try. I already died once in my old world, then teleported here, only to get slapped with a thirty-two-hour death timer? No way! I'll live long this time!"
Following his guidance, Naomi engaged the auxiliary engine and slowly adjusted their trajectory. The pale-blue glow of the white dwarf, Helios, filled the forward monitor once more.
"Careful now. The graveyard's balanced on a knife's edge. Drift too far and Helios'll drag ya down. Without a main engine, you'll never crawl back out. So—steady hands, sis."
Naomi's damp hands slipped slightly as she clutched the stick. Numbers flickered across the display—relative speed, relative altitude.
"Breathe. Keep calm," Osaka reminded. "Get worked up and your magic'll surge outta control."
"Got it," she whispered, inhaling deeply.
The altitude was too high, the speed too slow. She pressed the pedal gently.
"A bit more... stop! Now nudge the stick down-right... stop. Now up-left—nah, too far! Back down-right, pull it in, tap the pedal—yep, that's it. Reset the stick!"
They repeated the adjustments until the ship finally stabilized. Naomi's breath burst out in a shaky sigh; her palms were slick with sweat.
"Is it steady now?" she asked.
"Yeah. Nice work, sis. For your first time? Not bad at all. You might have a knack. But don't get comfy—we're on the clock. Twenty-nine hours, thirty minutes left."
Her eyes widened. "Already? That much time passed?"
"More like an hour and a half, but yeah. Burned some compressed air in the correction too," Osaka explained casually.
Naomi couldn't share his calm. The countdown loomed closer, repairs not even begun.
"Aux engines go idle now. We drift from here. Next step—repairs. Get ready, sis. Time to fight for your life," Osaka said.
Naomi swallowed and gave a firm nod.