Qiretan · Chapter II

Phineas, Mavis & the Psi Drive

Captain Phineas is elderly but still capable. Years of Astral travel have slowed his aging, and retirement is not being forced on him by illness or weakness. He is simply ready to stop.

His final task is finding the people who can carry the Qiretan forward. The prospective crew does not initially know that their first mission is also a test. Their second mission becomes training. When Phineas is satisfied, he transfers command and begins the journey home.

Before leaving, he gives the crew his ledger and a data chip filled with instructional recordings he has been making for them. Those records matter because the Qiretan carries technology that is essentially unique: the Psi Drive.

The Zoquistians replaced the ship’s conventional faster-than-light system with a device that partially phases the Qiretan into Astral Space while the vessel remains materially present. Astral currents allow enormous material-space distances to be crossed with extraordinary speed. The transition itself is physically imperceptible, though psionically sensitive beings can feel it.

The drive also distorts the ship’s interior volume, making the inside roughly forty percent larger than the exterior dimensions suggest.

Mavis began existence as A.S.C.L.E.P.I.U.S., a medical holographic intelligence. Over time she grew into a much broader ship-management role, handling medical care, records, security, authentication, and many ship systems. She recognizes and enforces the crew’s command structure, but she does not choose who becomes captain.

After command changes hands, the crew stops at Sylvania Station so Phineas can tell his longtime friend and fixer Cameron Delvane. Then they take Phineas to the secluded retreat where his sweetheart is waiting.