Coding to Conquer the Universe

Jewels' head was spinning. The sheer scale of the Congress session had overwhelmed her. Thousands of eyes had been on her, questioning, debating, arguing over her fate like she was some cosmic glitch in need of debugging. And now? Now she and Julio were standing in a cold, metal hallway, wrists still bound in Flux-resistant restraints, while Zylo and Dunce discussed their futures like two parents deciding where to send their idiot kids for summer school.

Julio exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "That was the fastest and most life-altering hour of my life."

Jewels nodded, still dazed. "Yeah. One minute, we're nobodies collecting space junk. Next, we're apparently too 'valuable' to be killed and sentenced to cosmic boot camp."

Julio blinked. "I miss being a nobody."

"Me too," she muttered.

"Congratulations," Zylo finally said, turning to them with a grin so sharp it could cut through reinforced plating. "You get to live."

Julio sighed dramatically. "Wow, thanks. I was really hoping for the public execution option, but I guess this works too."

Jewels nudged him. "Shut up before they change their minds, dumbass."

Dunce, as always, showed no reaction. He simply adjusted his cuffs and said, "His sarcasm is irrelevant. The King has made his ruling."

Julio and Jewels exchanged a look.

"Which is…?" Jewels asked, arching a brow.

Zylo extended a hand, and a glowing interface materialized in the air, scrolling through lines of official documentation faster than the human eye could track.

[EXECUTE COMMAND: TRANSMIT DATA]

[PROCESSING…]

[KING'S VERDICT: SENTENCED TO SERVICE UNDER SUPERVISION]

[ASSIGNMENT: TECHNO ACADEMY & MACHINIST MATE TRAINING]

Jewels squinted. "What the hell am I looking at?"

Zylo swiped the interface away like it was a pesky bug. "You're looking at your future. The King decided you two are too valuable to just execute or throw in a cell. You're an anomaly, Jewels. That means you get to be studied."

She made a face. "Ew. That sounds gross when you say it like that."

Julio, meanwhile, was processing the other part. "Wait, wait—I'm getting sent to an academy? I'm not even a Technomancer!"

"Exactly," Dunce said. "No Technomancer functions without a Machinist Mate. It is a required partnership. You must be trained accordingly."

Julio scoffed. "So what, I'm stuck being Jewels' personal wrench monkey?"

Jewels smirked. "Yes, Julio. Just like always. Only now, with extra steps."

Zylo clapped his hands together. "Enough talking, time for your orientation. You two are about to experience the full Homo Nebulas education system. Lucky you!"

[EXECUTE COMMAND: WARP INITIALIZATION]

Jewels barely had time to groan before the air around them distorted, and everything twisted into a mess of fragmented pixels—

And then, they were somewhere else entirely.

***

The room they landed in looked like some kind of military recruitment station—except cranked up to eleven.

The walls were lined with holographic propaganda featuring buff Technomancers posing dramatically against backdrops of stars and explosions. Digital banners scrolled phrases like:

"TECHNOMANCY: FORGING GODS FROM MEN!"

"MACHINISTS: THE UNSUNG HEROES OF ASCENDANCE!"

"THE FUTURE IS CODED. ARE YOU?"

Jewels looked at Julio. "I think I'm gonna vomit."

"Same," he muttered.

A mechanical voice rang out.

"INCOMING NEW RECRUITS. PROCESSING ENTRY."

A row of drones hovered into the room, scanning them with cold, red lenses.

"TECHNOMANCY CANDIDATE: JEWELS."

"MACHINIST MATE CANDIDATE: JULIO."

The voice paused.

"RECOMMENDED BY: HIGH COMMAND CLEARANCE HOLDERS ZYLO AND DUNCE. ELEVATED ENTRY STATUS GRANTED."

Zylo waggled his fingers. "That means you get VIP treatment. You're welcome."

Julio groaned. "Yeah, nothing says 'VIP' like getting shoved into space boot camp."

A door hissed open at the far end of the room. Two people stepped inside, both wearing uniforms marked with insignias Jewels didn't recognize.

One was a woman in her late thirties, cybernetic implants lining her neck and forearms, giving her an intimidating presence. Her dark hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail, and her piercing green eyes scanned them with military precision.

The other was a heavyset man with cybernetic arms so bulky they looked like he could bench-press a ship engine. He had a jovial face, but something about his posture screamed "drill sergeant."

"Ah," Zylo said, clapping his hands. "Meet your lovely guides. This is Instructor Kathy, head of the Machinist Mate Academy." He gestured at the woman. "And this delightful wall of muscle is Instructor Thomas, head of Basic Technomancy Training."

Kathy's voice was clipped and professional. "You'll be under our supervision for the foreseeable future. Welcome to the real work."

Thomas, on the other hand, grinned. "Welcome to hell, kids!"

Jewels deadpanned. "Great. Love that for us."

***

Kathy checked her wrist interface. "We don't have time for introductions. The warp brought you directly to the processing center, and you'll be separated from here."

"Wait, separated?" Julio frowned. "You mean, like, not together?"

"That's usually what 'separated' means," Kathy said dryly.

Julio looked at Jewels, suddenly panicked. "No. Nope. I refuse. I've been keeping her alive for years, and you expect me to just leave her with a bunch of crazy space-wizards?!"

Jewels snorted. "You make it sound like I'm gonna spontaneously combust the second you walk away."

"YOU MIGHT!"

Thomas chuckled. "Relax, Machinist. You'll be too busy getting your ass kicked in training to worry about her."

Jewels punched Julio in the arm. "You'll be fine. Go make some nerdy mechanic friends or something."

Julio grumbled, but it was clear he didn't have a choice.

Kathy gestured toward a separate door. "Julio, you'll be going with Zylo. Jewels, Dunce will take you to the Technomancy Academy."

Jewels exhaled. This was happening. This was really happening.

Kathy gave them a wink. "Try not to die, kiddos!"

And then, they were led off to their separate fates.