CH 2, Scene 1, the non-Euclidean shift. The hull shuttered, not from impact from decision,metal screamed as micro fractures raced the length of the Papatuanuku, alarms cascading andharmonics that didn’t belong together. The ship wasn’t breaking yet, it was arguing with reality.Then what does code zero say? Optimism shouted, fingers buried in live wiring, bypassinggovernors rerouting power straight out of life support. The deck lights dimmed, someone swore,someone laughed, firmware screamed, he hesitated, smile a voice whispered, just the word blooming inmy head. I felt the bridge air thin as the baryon asymmetry hit, a localized instability,where matter and antimatter stopped their polite dance and began to cancel out.My lungs burned for every billion atoms of air I tried to breathe only one remained while therest vanished into silence. The console’s biosync stuttered, unable to find the one in a sea ofzeros, demanding a signature the universe refused to keep. The system waited, hope barked a laugh,sharp furious. That’s it, we’re seconds from being pancakeed and you’re pitching facial expressions.The ship lurched again harder this time, like the universe had just leaned in to see what we do next.I felt the hull vibrate failing. Micro fractures propagated, check some alarms screamed.That’s first, Optimism snapped, electricity arcing between his hands. A smile breaks the spell,cortisol drops, cognition stabilizes, no freeze, no weight states,Ecocide snarled, then removed their ramps, something clipped the ship’s stern.Hover lance charged port side, someone shouted, another jouster rocketed into the collapsing geometry.Terrible idea he whooped flipping midspin to tag the void with a momentum hack.Ramps live, I saw the hoverboard jouster dude ricochet off a gravity knot using the collapsingmass as a ramp. He spun, lance flashing, tagging the grid itself with a momentum hack.Get off thy asteroid he whooped if the systems a wall were the graffiti.The ramp rewrote itself behind him.Contain that vector, Ecocide shouted, too late. The ship took a path that shouldn’t have existed,geometry rewriting itself around our hull. Every alarm on the bridge hit a new sustained noteas our systems were permanently altered. I watched the grid tear open beneath us,space fell away, null geometry, uncompiled void. For half a breath we all froze, then the jousterstopped laughing. He hovered mid-air, lance still raised his eyes on the city below.The missiles, the shield flickering, the evacuation alarms cutting through every channel.Thou hears the screams my lady, he said, voice low now. Those be not alarms, those be children.A lady of the titanium blade stepped forward, saber gleaming.Tis not our fight below, our charge is the ship, the ramp, the path.We hold the line, another lady added. The ship falls, all fall.The jouster turned to face them, lance sparking. The ship falls, what ship, what world?When the little ones Barbies melt in their grasp, when their GI Joe’s run like wax,he pointed his lance at the city. Tis that not mission critical? Hope didn’t turn from the helm,he’s not wrong. Optimism’s hands sparked as he worked the wiring, he’s also not flying the ship.Then teach me the jouster said, what rules sayeth? Let the Tomahawk troll the little ones,let it find its Ken and Barbies. No rules sayeth that, the first lady replied,but no rules sayeth die for every village, the second lady finished. The jouster hovered,still now. Then I shall write it here. Now, in the air where the missiles fly, he raises lands high.The saber shall vanquish that which melts dreams in pureness, the protectors of Ken,GI Joe and Barbie. The sword shall shatter the Tomahawk. The sword will shatter the Tomahawk,a voice echoed from the smoke. The deck buckled beneath a storm of sparks and screaming metal.From the smoke, a lone warrior glided forward. The taiaha turned once in his grip, space bent.
