Jewel — 16x

And one night, on the edge of the Syrtis Major dust plume, she opened the throttle all the way.

She held it for twelve seconds.

“I know what she is,” Lira said.

The first time she powered up the core, the ship spoke to her—not in words, but in vibrations. The frame hummed like a plucked wire. The control yoke was a bare metal ring, no screens, no glass. Everything was direct neural haptics: the ship’s skin was her skin. She felt the dock’s air currents as a whisper across her knuckles. She felt the distant thrum of the station’s fusion reactor as a toothache in her ribs. jewel 16x

“You’re going to fly it,” the merchant said. It wasn’t a question. And one night, on the edge of the