Reality shattered.

  The paper fell from my hands, turning black as I spoke words I could hardly recall, even as they slipped from my lips. The dark page crumbled and vanished before it could touch the ground, as if it had never existed at all.

  I looked around in disbelief. I stood alone, like the centerpiece of a shattered snow globe. Around me, fragments of reality floated, seventy-two shards, I instinctively knew, each a frozen piece of the world, each scene suspended in an absolute darkness beyond.

  One shard revealed a pedestal atop a snow-covered mountain, its peaks forming a serene, silent backdrop. Atop the pedestal rested a crystal ball, glimmering with an inner light. Another fragment displayed the interior of a vast vault, where, in the center, an old leather-bound book lay open. Yet another piece showed a well-dressed young boy holding aloft an ancient lamp, surrounded by family; above him, a banner read "Happy Birthday," capturing a moment of pure, fleeting joy.

  I drifted my gaze from shard to shard, each one a hyper-realistic painting depicting an artifact as its central focus. One shard even mirrored my own living room with uncanny precision, displaying the familiar copper kettle. My heart pounded as I watched each item vanish from the shards only to materialize before them, as if the paintings had come alive in three dimensions. I lingered on the birthday scene: nothing had changed except that the boy’s hand was now empty, and the lamp drifted gently in front of the shard.

  Then, in a single, disorienting moment, all the shards snapped back into place. I found myself standing in my living room, now cluttered with seventy-one other items of unimaginable power.

  "It worked!" I heard Elias exclaim as I sagged onto the couch, suddenly drained and tired.

  "What the hell was that, where was I?" I asked softly.

  "What?" Elias replied, "you were here the whole time. One second you spoke the words, and the next, the room filled with the phylacteries."

  He looked away from the items and then over at me, concern etched on his face. "Are you OK? You’re as white as a sheet!"

  I waved him off. "I'll be fine, man. This is too much. Do you need me for another reality-shattering story, or can I go take a shower?"

  "No," he said, glancing around at the scattered artifacts, "Maybe something to put all this away. It’s dangerous to have them lying around."

  "Yeah, sure," I replied. "We took down the Christmas decorations last month, and I haven’t moved the container to storage. I’ll dump the decorations in a garbage bag."

  I got up and retrieved the big plastic container. A minute later, I handed it to him. "Ok, I'm off to the shower."

  I watched Aco leave the room, and a few seconds later, the gentle sound of running water reached my ears. Even now, surrounded by all the power and possibilities in the entire world, he wasn’t even tempted in the slightest. No greed, no desperate clutching of the phylactery, no suspicious glances back as if he doubted my intentions. Truly, he was unique.

  I couldn’t help but marvel at his simplicity, his unguarded trust. It was both his greatest strength and his most dangerous vulnerability. We would have to plan accordingly. In some ways, his trust was too absolute, his naivety too profound. He needed protection and guidance, something I alone could not provide. For that, I would need the others, if not all, then at least some.

  But first, knowledge is power. Time to see what this Internet thing is I’ve been hearing about.

  I stood in the shower, water streaming down my face, each drop washing away a fragment of who I once was. I was naked, save for this damn brace. Not just any brace, but a sci-fi armored gauntlet, one fused to my arm. Its once cold, unyielding metal now felt like an inseparable part of my skin.

  "What the fuck has my life become?" I muttered, letting the curse word slip into the steamy solitude, an indulgence of sorts where no little ears could hear to later repeat.

  I stared at the gauntlet, marveling at its futuristic design. The water cascaded over it, illuminating intricate, glowing engravings, as if the device were alive, a part of me I never asked for. I have work on Monday, and tomorrow barely offered enough time to figure out how to hide this absurdity.

  "Fuck! This isn’t even the most fucked up part of my life," I growled, the raw profanity echoing Elias’s ominous tales in my mind. What was I supposed to do with that? Fix the universe? “How the fuck…”

  I took a deep breath, steadying my racing thoughts. Calm down, Aco, I chided myself. There is no such thing as one monumental problem, only a bunch of tiny issues masquerading as one. I tried to break it down logically: fix the Power and the Will of the Universe.

  For a long, heavy moment, silence reigned inside me, punctuated only by the relentless patter of water. Then, without warning, a frustrated curse slipped out.

  "Motherfucker."

  I realized I didn’t have enough understanding to solve this overwhelming mess. I considered the tools at my disposal. I remembered that I had one last wish, though I couldn’t recall exactly when I’d made a wish for this, I lifted my gauntleted hand. Then a revelation struck: not one last wish, but 214 more remained, with all the Jin now in my living room. That thought was ludicrous. But something in the back of my mind whispered that if one wish wasn’t enough to solve this, then two wouldn’t help either. The answer wasn’t more wishes, it was something else entirely.

  I shook my head, letting the hot water wash over me as my thoughts churned. The universe, it seemed, reveled in its own twisted irony. Here I was, caught in a labyrinth of cosmic absurdity, each moment laden with consequences I never imagined.

  Nothing would ever be the same.

  Then, as I stood beneath the relentless cascade, the gauntlet pulsed faintly. I knew, as if, by instinct, it had finished integrating with my being.

  "Unreal," I muttered, just as a rudimentary user manual began downloading into my brain. I lifted my arm, palm up. A small blue-red light on my pulse flashed, and words began materializing in my mind:

  [Fleet Command Interface – FCI integration completed]

  [Basic interface knowledge integration completed]

  [Ship initialization started]

  [Estimated time to ship readiness: 72 hours]

  I blinked, confused. What ship? I thought, as the blue light answered by projected a 3D model above my arm.

  "Is that the altered Federal Corvette?" I asked aloud, my voice echoing in the shower.

  [Ship class update to Corvette class]

  [Change name Y/N]

  The words flashed in my mind. Hang on, is this my ship? Where is it?

  Again, the answer came as a blue 3D model of our solar system materilized. A small red flashing light hovered near the eighth planet. I focused on it, and the planet filled my view, zooming in to reveal it and all its moons.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "This is Neptune," I said out loud.

  [Planet designation changed to Neptune]

  The display flashed, then updated, the planet now boldly read "Neptune." A red icon of the ship appeared near one of its larger moons.

  I dropped my arm and rushed out of the shower, grabbing a towel as I hurried through the hallway. "Elias!" I called, my voice echoing with urgency.

  I stopped at the dining room, where Elias was meticulously arranging items on the dining table. Every seat had an artifact placed before it, except at the head of the table, where his cherished kettle sat off to the side of an empty chair.

  I held up my gauntleted hand, its integrated power still pulsating softly. "Um, Elias, this thing finished initializing," I said, a mix of disbelief and awe in my tone. "It says the ship will be ready in 72 hours."

  "Excellent timing," he replied, his tone measured yet pleased. "Okay, get dressed, and then we can discuss our next steps." He ushered me back into the hallway.

  I gestured toward the table. "What is all this?" I asked, indicating the artifacts arrayed before each empty seat.

  Elias's eyes gleamed as he explained, "Personally, I think we need advisers, and these five, in particular, would do the best job at it."

  He paused, then pointed to my arm. "But first, get dressed, and we will discuss the Fleet Command Interface."

  Reluctantly, I left to get dressed. A few minutes later, I returned to the living room. I abandoned the idea of lounging in pajamas and opted for a semi?formal outfit, after all, what does one wear when meeting five other all?powerful genies? The absurdity of it all barely registered as I steeled myself for the conversation ahead.

  As I walked in, Elias gestured for me to sit on the couch, and I complied.

  "First order of business: the Fleet Command Interface," he announced. "As you are surely aware, the very name tells you everything. It allows you to interface with any of the ships you own. It is a clever amalgamation of First?ones, Galactic Baseline, and AtlantisNesoi technology, with a fair bit of new Earth sci?fi thrown in."

  I raised an eyebrow. "AtlantisNesoi?" I asked.

  He chuckled softly. "Oh yes. I suppose the name got shortened to Atlantis. The island city and its off?world strongholds were among the first casualties of the war. Most tried to flee to other worlds, but because Earth was isolated, and all faster?than?light technology relied on naturally forming pathways between worlds, they were stuck and, ultimately, annihilated."

  He paused, then continued with a hint of pride. "This, along with your new ship, is a masterpiece of technology, even if I have to say so myself. I tried to take into account everything we discussed at the river and in the car today. Though I could not wrap my head around all the new cultural references, I believe I captured the essence of your desire and wish correctly."

  I could not help the excitement in my voice, laced with both awe and incredulity. "To explore the galaxy?" I asked.

  He shook his head firmly. "No, my friend. To be limitless."

  Then he added, "Now, for how this thing works, I'll advise that when using the interface, you must be seated, at least until you get the hang of it. Now close your eyes and focus on the interface and the ship."

  I did as instructed, closing my eyes and concentrating on the gauntlet on my arm, while keeping the 3D view of the ship in my mind. I sat like that for a few seconds before Elias spoke again. "Now send out the desire to interact with the ship."

  I obeyed, and suddenly it felt as though I was in space, an immense ship materialized before my eyes. "Holy shit," I uttered, astounded.

  Elias chuckled. "Seeing as that is the first time I have ever heard you remotely cuss, I assume you are in the mind space, correct?" he asked.

  "Dude, this is incredible," I said, awe coloring my tone. "It’s like virtual reality." I began zooming in and out, panning around the ship in my mind’s eye. I started reaching out, as if I could physically touch it. I wondered what it looked like inside. As if reading my thoughts, the outer hull gradually vanished, not entirely gone, but concealed as if hidden in a 3D CAD program.

  "Ooo, this is amazing. I can hide and unhide parts of the ship," I exclaimed, amazed.

  "You can also change, upgrade, and redesign anything and everything on the ship. But before you do that, summon the ship AI to you. The interface should link you to it."

  "The AI?" I asked.

  Immediately, I both saw and heard in my mind:

  [Ready to assist]

  Looking to my left, I noticed a slow-pulsing orb floating there, I could feel the eagerness to help.

  Elias then asked, "I assume you have interfaced with it?"

  "Yeah," I replied, shaking my head as I felt increasingly drawn into the ship and all the possibilities it offered.

  "Okay, before I lose you to the ship, here is my last bit of advice. Don't try to do everything yourself, let the AI help. And if you need information or get stuck, ask the AI. If it doesn't know, come back out, and we can figure it out."

  "Okay, got it," I answered quickly.

  Elias chuckled again. "Alright, I'll be using your computer box thing to further my research on today's Earth news and events," he said.

  "Yeah, yeah," I replied, then quickly added, "There are a few movies on there. Watch either the Star Wars one or The Lord of the Rings. I've labelled them in the order you should watch them."

  I took a look at the interior of the ship. Everything you would expect to find was there, but it was the bare minimum required to run a vessel. The space was mostly open, leaving much to be desired. I needed more information on all the installed systems.

  "Hey, buddy," I called, glancing over at the AI floating next to me. "Can you give me an overlay of all the installed systems with a short description of what they do?"

  [Affirmative]

  A series of tooltips appeared, hovering over each system in the ship. I focused on one in particular as the tooltip expanded:

  [Nano Forge – A system designed to use raw materials and manufacture any components with nanoscale precision]

  Now we're talking. I quickly scanned the other systems:

  [Life Support]

  [Engine]

  [Power Generation]

  [Foundry]

  [Ship Core]

  [Material Processing Plant]

  ...and the list goes on.

  Okay, now to start changing and upgrading. First, I need something small.

  "Hey, buddy. Can we add a blast door here?" I asked the AI, focusing on the hallway between the bridge and the cargo hold.

  [Affirmative]

  A ghost image popped up where I wanted the door to go.

  "Why is it a ghost image?" I muttered to myself while focusing on the door a bit more. Suddenly, a list of information appeared—everything from Nano Forge production time and Foundry assembly time to the time needed to prepare the area. Below that, material cost and total build time were displayed. The total build time looked too low for everything I saw above, and when I sent a query, I received a Gantt chart of all tasks indicating which tasks were dependent on others and which could be done in parallel.

  "Ooooo, this is going to be fun," I said.

  I do not know how long I had been busy in the mind space, VR for those of us not yet a millennia-old, but I was finally happy with the progress I made. I looked over the floating task list. First was a set of grouped tasks to double all the production facilities, and one of the last, was the disassembly and recycling of those facilities, a method that would halve the required upgrade and retrofitting time. I had used almost every gram of raw materials stored on the ship.

  I asked the AI how I could acquire more, and the answer was simple: get more by either stealing, salvaging, buying, or mining.

  "You don't say," I remarked sarcastically.

  Then I asked if there was any viable place nearby where I could mine for resources. The AI responded with a simple "yes," followed by a caveat: the ship did not have the necessary facilities for mining, and a space mining facility was not available in the pre-design menu.

  Frustrated, I blurted out that I needed a ship capable of being self-sufficient. At that moment, my little AI buddy dimmed for a few seconds, and a message popped into my head:

  [Mining Facility Concept Design Ready for Review]

  After that, the two of us worked together. We quickly finalized the design, with my AI buddy running simulations while I subtly guided the process whenever the AI got stuck or when two or more options appeared equally viable.

  I checked the total time for all the upgrades:

  [128 hours]

  "Okay, so almost six days," I murmured. "That's less than I expected to almost entirely refurbish a 167-meter wedge of death." I considered it, most of the changes were simple and superficial. We were just adding more storage facilities linked to the cargo hold, and barracks for troop transport, and—since the hangars were already there—I merely integrated an automated repair and assembly system for fighter and transport maintenance and assembly. As it stood, there weren't any fighters in the hangar. I might be an engineer, but designing a fighter from scratch is no easy task. I asked my buddy to give me a few examples, and what I got was a never-ending list of fighter designs. I added a set of requirements, "No windows in space!" among others like fitting within the hangar and being serviceable by the current automated system—but the list still seemed dauntingly long. In the end, indecision broke me, and I was forced to move on.

  I added a greenhouse and an aquaponic system with a small garden to serve as a recreational centre, all maintained under artificial light. I would need to bring seeds and fish from earth to populate and plant everything.

  After approving the latest draft of the project plan, I focused on exiting the space. I found myself rapidly blinking on the couch, stretching out sore spots and kinks from sitting too long. When I finally answered nature's call and stepped out of the bathroom, I saw Elias emerging from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.

  I glanced up at the clock on the wall, close to midnight. "What? I was busy for almost seven hours?" I wondered aloud.

  "Hey, man, what have you been up to?" I asked him.

  Elias grinned and replied, "Watching Star Wars, and let me tell you, yes—the Power and Will of the universe is almost like the Force, but there are even more parallels. I think the writer of that saga either consulted one of the Jin or gained that knowledge through a wish because the similarities are striking. Some details are horribly off, but a lot of it is spot on, at least on paper."