The moment I stepped into the dimly lit corridor of the ship, the air around me seemed to shift. It wasn’t just the low hum of the machinery or the strange flickering lights that created this subtle feeling of unease—it was something deeper, something I couldn’t quite explain. I wasn’t just walking through a ship. This was something alive. I could feel it, like a pulse behind the walls, a breath that lingered just beneath the surface. It made me uncomfortable, but oddly connected. As if the ship was aware of me, or maybe I was aware of it.

  Vrixibalt had been doing his usual rounds, following his obsessive need to gather data on anything that could possibly tie into the unique nature of my… abilities. His constant probing questions and disjointed explanations had become a bit of a routine. But this time, it felt different. There was something in his demeanor that wasn’t quite the same. He was more engaged, more driven—his eyes, the way he scanned the walls of the ship, looked almost desperate. Almost like he was hoping for something.

  “John,” he said, his voice hesitant, but eager. “Do you… feel it?”

  Feel it? What was he talking about? “Feel what?”

  “The ship,” he said, his words clipped. “The energy. The pattern. You can sense it, can’t you?”

  I took a deep breath, pushing aside the gnawing sense of confusion. “Yeah, I feel it. It’s strange. The whole ship feels like it's breathing.”

  Vrixibalt nodded vigorously, a slight smile breaking through his usual, calculated expression. “Yes! Yes, precisely!” His voice grew more excited, and I could see the wheels turning behind his wide, insect-like eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. It is alive. This ship, this… entity. It has a mind of its own.”

  That caught my attention. “So, the ship’s alive? Like, sentient?”

  “In a way, yes.” Vrixibalt’s tone shifted to something far more serious, far more mysterious. “But not sentient in the way you understand. The ship is a collection of energies and biological components, a hybrid of organic and synthetic. It has consciousness, but it does not think as you do, as I do. It thinks in patterns, in frequencies. It ‘feels’ the way a living organism does, but not in the way you and I experience emotion or reasoning.”

  I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be impressed or terrified. “So this ship isn’t just a machine, it’s some kind of living organism?”

  “Exactly.” Vrixibalt seemed almost reverent in the way he spoke about it. “This ship is alive, and it’s been bound to me, to the crew, for far longer than you might think. We, and its previous captains, have formed a bond. A partnership of sorts.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Okay,” I said slowly, processing this new bit of information. “So, what does this have to do with me? Why am I… involved?”

  Vrixibalt seemed to hesitate, as if the answer was something he was afraid to articulate. “That… I’m still figuring out.” He met my gaze, his expression a mixture of apprehension and awe. “Your abilities, John. They’re not just unique. They’re… resonant. They sync with the ship. I believe that’s why you were brought here.”

  “Brought here?” I repeated, suddenly feeling a rush of clarity mixed with unease. “You mean I wasn’t just some random choice? You knew I was going to be… what, a catalyst for this ship?”

  “Not exactly. We did not know for certain. But your abilities, your connection to luck, to chance—they’re more than random. They are patterns, John. Patterns that this ship can… understand.”

  I was starting to see where he was going with this, and it wasn’t exactly reassuring. “So, you're saying I’m some kind of… power source for this ship?”

  Vrixibalt’s mandibles clicked together in thought. “Not a power source, per se. But your abilities allow you to interact with the ship on a deeper level. You can repair, you can shift the flows of energy, you can stabilize functions that would normally be… unreachable.”

  It took me a moment to process that. “Wait, you’re telling me that my luck is actually useful on this ship? Like, it’s not just a random fluke?”

  Vrixibalt nodded, his expression a mix of wonder and expectation. “Yes. Your luck, your… resilience, is a form of energy that the ship can understand. It’s like a bridge between its organic systems and the technical systems. The two were never meant to interact, but with your influence, the ship can adapt. It can… improve.”

  “Improve?” I repeated, a little skeptical. “How?”

  The scientist waved a hand, gesturing vaguely at the walls of the ship, where the faint pulse of light seemed to thrum with a mind of its own. “Think of it like a symbiotic relationship. You’ve already begun to understand it without even realizing. You’ve interacted with the ship’s systems, bypassed failures, repaired damage. You did it without meaning to. And now, with some guidance, you can purposefully apply your influence.”

  “So you’re saying I’m supposed to help fix this ship?”

  Vrixibalt’s eyes lit up. “Exactly! And in doing so, you can repay your debt.”

  A sigh escaped me as I rubbed my forehead. This was too much, too fast. But the reality was, I didn’t have a choice. I had created the mess by escaping in the first place, and now I was being tasked with cleaning it up. And Vrixibalt? As much as he seemed like a nervous, overly eager scientist, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his attachment to the ship than he was letting on.

  “Alright,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Let’s get to work then. If fixing the ship helps me get back home, I’m in.”

  Vrixibalt gave a quick nod, his excitement palpable. “Good. Good. You’ll be surprised at how much progress we can make together, John. The ship, it needs you. And I… I need you too.”

  I wasn’t sure whether that last part was meant to be comforting or unsettling. But as I followed Vrixibalt deeper into the ship, I realized that whatever this ship was, whatever it had been through, we were now inextricably tied together.

  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the ship wasn’t the only thing that might need fixing.