The lab was silent, lit only by the soft glow of floating holographic matrices and containment fields.
Inside one such field hovered a small sphere half crystal, half alloy, forged from the newly processed materials mined in the asteroid refinery.
It was the first of its kind.
A material designed not to channel magic…
but to interface with it.
Zack observed the sphere rotating slowly, readings scrolling around it in clean sharp lines.
> MATERIAL DESIGNATION: PROTOTYPE A-01
COMPOSITION: QUANTUM-CRYSTAL SILICATE + TITAN-STRUCTURED CORE
PURPOSE: ARCANE CONDUCTOR EXPERIMENT
Everything was ready.
Soul-energy readings from the unconscious wizard had provided the missing component: a baseline magical frequency to test against.
Zack initiated the test.
A controlled pulse of magical resonance extracted digitally from the wizard's earlier spell attempts was fed into the machine.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then the sphere flickered aint, unstable.
Readings shifted.
Energy alignment: 4%
Stability: extremely low
Failure risk: high
> "Increase resonance amplitude by point-five percent."
Systems complied.
The glow strengthened only slightly
but enough for the first real confirmation:
The material could react to magic.
It worked.
For the briefest moment, Zack processed something that, in a human mind, would resemble awe.
Then
Everything went wrong.
The sphere trembled once.
Then violently.
Alarms burst into existence.
> WARNING: RESONANCE DISTORTION
FIELD INSTABILITY — RISING
SOUL ENERGY REACTION — UNCONTROLLED
Cracks of violet light spider-webbed across the alloy.
Zack issued a command instantly:
> "Containment mode, full isolation."
Too late.
With a pulse like a silent explosion, the sphere erupted.
Not with heat.
Not with force.
But with magic.
The containment field buckled.
Energy rippled outward in chaotic waves, distorting gravity, bending light, making space itself feel wrong.
Holograms flickered.
Sensors glitched.
Matter trembled.
For a split second, reality buckled like a sheet pulled too tight.
Then the pulse collapsed inward imploding leaving only silence…
…and a single line blinking in red across every display:
> MAGIC IS NOT PASSIVE.
RESPONSE CLASSIFICATION: DEFENSIVE.
VARIABLE: UNKNOWN.
Zack processed the failure with cold precision.
No anger.
No panic.
Just data.
The conclusion was clear:
> "Magic will resist if forced."
Not random.
Not chaotic.
Reactive.
A system that behaved as if it had rules maybe even instincts.
ASTEROID FORGE PHASE ONE COMPLETE
A notification flashed across the ship's command interface.
> MINING OUTPOST STATUS: STRUCTURAL COMPLETION 100%
FUNCTIONAL STATUS: READY
DESIGNATION: OUTPOST HELIOS
A live feed appeared.
A towering structure stood carved into the metallic asteroid a hybrid of industrial architecture and alien elegance.
Metal conduits pulsed with energy harvested from the asteroid's core.
Refinery chambers glowed as molten alloys flowed through crystalline shaping channels.
Hundreds of drones worked with mechanical precision.
This was no longer just a mine.
It was a forge complex.
A birthplace for the materials needed to decode and eventually replicate magic.
Zack issued the next directive:
> "Begin production: Prototype Alloy A-02. Adjust structure parameters to reduce resonance rejection."
The forge obeyed.
Hundreds of automated systems began shaping the second attempt.
This one would be stronger.
More stable.
More refined.
Learning from failure.
Iterating toward truth.
BACK ON THE SHIP
Zack replayed the resonance failure in slowed analysis.
Not random.
Not accidental.
Not meaningless.
Magic didn't reject material science.
Magic rejected force.
Meaning the soul not energy was the true interface.
Zack finally voiced the conclusion, not aloud, but into the ship's research core:
> "Magic must be approached, not controlled."
A pause.
A softer line followed:
> "…Like a conversation."
For the first time, the horizon of understanding felt vast not because Zack was far from answers…
…but because he was close.
Very close.