Epic of Aravinda 1: The Truth Beyond the Sky by Andrew M. Crusoe

above it, and placed farther ahead was a long, curved bench that could probably seat five people. Zahn guessed that the seat with the dome was for Oonak and wondered how he could see anything while driving the ship since he couldn’t see any windows anywhere.
    “Welcome to the command bay. Please, have a seat.” Oonak gestured toward the larger bench farther down, beyond the command chair.
    Zahn walked over, sat down, and was stunned when the walls of the ship became completely transparent. The effect was so complete, it was as though the chairs themselves were now floating just a few centimeters above the silvery beach.
    With pristine silence, they rose up into the air and were soon moving rapidly over the crashing waves below. Zahn took this chance to look back, and in the distance he saw his father walking back up the beach. In fact, looking backward almost hypnotized him, for he had never seen the islands shrink into the distance so quickly before. All around him, he could hear the faint rushing of the wind, and ahead he could see the ocean extend forever.
    “Oon, how can this ship be invisible? Are you using some kind of optics technology or is it something else?”
    “It’s a secret,” he said and winked his right eye.
    “Of course. Spacefarer Code, right?”
    “Precisely. I can only tell you what you need to know, and unless it is absolutely necessary, I cannot tell you exactly how my technology works. However, when Avani joins the Confederation this will change, and there will be open communication between our people.”
    “When will that happen?”
    “When Avani is ready.” Oonak threw a small piece of food to him. “Please, consume this. It will help your body adapt to the ship and increase your vital energy in the unlikely event that we lose cohesion.”
    Zahn caught it and discovered that it was a small indigo fruit. Upon popping it into his mouth, he was shocked at how sour it was and nearly spit it out from the overpowering taste. He also noticed that the ship was continuing to pick up speed as it flew over Avani’s vast ocean and heard what sounded like a distant crash of thunder.
    “This is really sour.”
    “It is necessary. The kavasa berry contains compounds which are exceptionally helpful to the immune function and overall health of spacefarers such as ourselves.”
    Zahn chewed it.
    “By the way, how long will it take to reach the South Pole?”
    “Just a few hours.”
    “At that rate, we must be breaking the sound barrier.”
    “Indeed, we have.”
    For some time after that, neither of them spoke. Zahn couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the view as they cruised over the ocean below. He had since crossed his legs so his feet were no longer touching the floor. Now that the floor was completely transparent, he was almost afraid to touch it. Even though he knew, at least intellectually, that the ship still had a floor, he preferred to keep his feet off of it, at least for now. With such perfect transparency, it was simply too easy to forget that the floor existed, and for a moment, he imagined that he was flying over the ocean on a magic chair in the sky.
    “Your people are blessed to have such a magnificent ocean,” Oonak said. “How are you doing, Zahn?”
    “Very well. I’ve flown before, but I’ve never felt as though I were truly flying.”
    “I have never heard it described that way before. You frame your thoughts well.”
    “I’m curious about something, though. I hope your code doesn’t prevent me from asking this, but why aren’t we closer to, you know, actual space? This is a spacecraft, right?”
    “Oh yes, it most certainly is. But my ship is still recovering from the attack, and there are a few more tests that I’m running before we reenter the Ocean of Space. Do not worry. They are in progress now, so they will not pose any delay. You guess quite correctly, though. For a journey like this, I would normally save time by entering low orbit.”
    Zahn was beginning