Prologue

The year was 3045. Humanity achieves the technology for intergalactic space travel. The expansion of sapiens throughout the Universe begins.

But what used to be found only in the fertile imaginations of fanciful authors was found throughout the Universe. Magic existed. It existed everywhere and was an insurmountable wall for humans.

The science that men were so proud of was just a mediocre way that these ants found to replace what was inherent in all extraterrestrial beings. A way of trying to control forces that were the absolute servants of magic.

The image of beings who could only be described as gods made humans recognize and hide in the pit of their insignificance.

The horizon that brought the fantastical into reality became known as Cosmos and became the greatest taboo in human history.

The year was 3047 and the sapiens journey was over. Humanity was once again exiled to Earth.

...................

On an unnamed planet, a man sat on the ground and watched the sunset accompanied by a mysterious orb.

- So I guess we're a family now," said the man to the sphere.

Chapter 1

We are destined to die

Markus once again lit up his room with a lighter, "How many have there been?" he wondered. His cigarettes were the only ones that kept him company on the nights he didn't visit Morpheus' kingdom. He felt all his thoughts and fears fly away with the smoke.

The strange man sitting on the bed had black hair that was almost invisible in the darkness, except for a few gray strands that had been worn down by stress, and his eyes matched this blackness. His untrimmed beard gave him a sloppy look, but his body was a complete contrast to his first impression. The man had a body that you would expect to find in elite soldiers, but this wasn't a prize won by his dedication and discipline in a training routine, at least not at the moment, in reality it was the result of various biological enhancements he had undergone when he was part of the "expedition".

When the alarm went off at six, the man just sighed and got up.

With the man standing up, it was easy to see how small his room was. There was no more than three feet between his head and the ceiling. A bed for one and a chest of drawers were all the furniture that could fit in the steel-walled room.

He didn't make a point of lingering in the room and soon came out to find himself in a small corridor, which housed two doors on either side, three of which were identical rooms and the last was a shared bathroom. Markus hallucinated, feeling the walls shrink and crush him amidst the steel. As his heartbeat began to accelerate and his breathing to fail, he began to question his own sanity.

It had been months since he had received any service that set his heart racing, and in the last two weeks not even the monotonous services had arrived. On the first few idle days, he would meet up with his subordinates to chat, but Markus began to find these conversations uninteresting, coincidentally when the alcohol ran out. Now his routine on those lazy days consisted of sitting in his room drowning his lungs in smoke and his brain in despair.

Then, taking a few steps and opening the door to the meeting room, he promised himself: "It's decided! If we don't get at least one proposal today, I'll blow up this fucking ship!"

- Captain, good morning! - Shouted a slender young man with brown hair and large round amber eyes who was in the room. His greeting was promptly accompanied by a salute.

- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - the completely uncontrolled laughter came from a beautiful woman who was in the room with the young man. This woman had black skin accompanied by a few faint expression lines that indicated she was older than people would usually guess, and on top of her head lived black-power hair. Unlike the boy, she didn't give Markus a respectful salute. - This kid thinks he's in the army! It never gets old.

The young man and the woman sat at a table, which it wasn't possible to tell whether it was fixed to the floor or an extended structure from the nave, on the left of the room opposite a small kitchen. They were both drinking coffee.

- Good morning, Baku. And to you too, Lucy and Aurelia.

- "Good morning, sir," replied Aurelia, the hologram of the bust of a pale-skinned young woman in the center of the table, with whom Lucy was playing by changing the color of her hair to white with blue streaks. - I like these new colors very much, thank you Miss Lucy.

- So, what were you talking about? - I asked Markus intently as he sat down.

- Captain, do you believe in fate? - Baku asked, but when he saw Markus' look of confusion, he felt himself blush and continued - we were talking about that...

- "Mr. Bakumt was saying that leaving Xenos and joining the Avis crew should be his destiny," said Aurelia with a gentle smile that comforted Baku about his question.

"So that would be my destiny? Doom? Yeah, it makes sense," the thoughts echoed in Markus, "the commander of the second expedition subsisting on the services of his own enemies, maybe it is fate." Realizing that the silence was getting awkward, he decided to speak.

- Yes, I believe that you are meant to serve me a cup of coffee and Aurelia is meant to pass on the reports - Markus regretted his stupidity before he had even finished spitting out his words, Baku's saddened face and Lucy's stare were redundant warnings that he should apologize.

- Sorry, Baku. You're here because of someone else's efforts, and that's what I believe. Our present and future are the result of our actions and those of everything around us. There's no such thing as fate. But I'm glad those actions brought you to us - when the crew smiled, Markus knew he'd said the right words. - But seriously, can you pour me a cup of coffee?

"The only real destiny is death," thought Markus.

- Well, about the reports. An hour ago we were contacted to carry out a job - Markus choked on his coffee when he heard Aurelia's news, while Lucy and Baku cracked a smile that lit up their entire faces. - Now I'll give you the main details.

- Wait," Markus interrupted between coughs. - Isn't someone missing?

- "Mr. Paul is still asleep, I can give him the details later," Aurelia replied about the Alvis engineer, and the captain nodded positively. - Continuing, the proposal was made anonymously - Markus and Lucy clicked their tongues. - It concerns the theft of a Normandis storage capsule in Sina. Payment will be made in full when the job is completed. We've been offered thirty space orbs.

- Do we know what this capsule is holding? - Lucy asked.

- No, that's the only information we have. I'm sorry. - Aurelia was crestfallen and Lucy consoled her with an empathetic smile and stroked her new hair, something that was only possible a few decades ago with so-called "material holograms", which used a technology to make light behave like matter. - They said they would give us more information if we accepted the contract.

- Anonymous and a mysterious capsule... - Markus, too, was beginning to lose heart. - Well, I was really tired of this ship... and this life - Despite his joke, Markus found only confusion in Baku and the grim faces of the more senior members. So he cleared his throat and continued. - What do we know about the Normandis?

- They're some kind of researchers," Aurelia began, "they're pacifists, and there are rumors that they're making deals with "rats".

- "Rats are humans who traffic other humans to the gods, they're called homo-traffickers too," Lucy explained as a question mark became almost visible above Baku's head.

- Wait a minute... These "normandis" are gods?! - Baku shouted so suddenly that Lucy and Markus jumped out of their chairs; Aurelia laughed at the boy's reaction. - What do you mean? Why are we talking to them?

- Calm down Mr. Baku - Aurelia spoke gently. - During the time you've been with us, we've only done business with other humans, but our biggest clients are some species of gods.

- We're called "servants" - Lucy complemented Aurelia's explanation. - There are quite a few crews that do these services, actually.

- Wow... - Baku spoke with long pauses. - I've never heard of that in Xenus.

- I'm surprised you've even heard of the gods on that isolated little planet," Markus laughed softly at Lucy's comment.

- And if it's something common, why are you so strange about this mission? - Baku asked, but everyone looked away and remained silent. - People?

- Services with the gods are ensured by a magic that they place in the crew - Markus finally plucked up the courage to answer the boy. - The magic ensures that both parties fulfill their promises, otherwise the consequences are applied - Markus' tone became somber, - they're quite radical about it. The punishment is the life of the entire crew, Baku. - the newcomer opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again, maintaining a palpable silence in the room for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity. - But this magic can be applied from a distance, so there's no reason for us to know who our contractor is, and some of them prefer it that way. These are anonymous services. The problem is that the people who make these requests are usually assholes who are waging a silent war and want to get us in the middle. Basically, we could be entering a war between gods.

The rookie's face quickly became as gloomy as the rest of the crew.

- And why would we accept something so stupid? - he asked, his voice shaking.

- The payment is huge! - Lucy laughed. - Aurelia, how much is each space orb worth on Earth? - A space orb was an object that allowed its owner to access a private space dimension. Although these items needed magic to be used, something humanity didn't possess, they were still extremely valued on Earth by scholars and collectors.

- The average value of an orb is 90,000 aurei. - Everyone was stunned.

- It's decided. Let's do this mission! - Markus announced.

************

The sensation of touching a "corporeal light" used in material holograms is like touching warm absorbent cotton :p