The engine room was simply a large empty room with a U shaped black smooth counter along the walls. It looked neat and kind of intimidating but nothing techy. There were no levers, no wheels, radars, nothing.

It kind of looked like a kitchen. In fact, it looked one stove away from hosting a cooking show.

"You look unimpressed." Steve noted surprised. Surely, he did not expect us to be awed at this. "Oh right, visibility mode is off. My bad." 

He went to the wall beside the door. A few circular discs were embedded in the wall. Steve put his fingertips on one of them and rotated his arm. 

Immediately, several holograms popped up across the left side counter. 

In the middle of the counter was a large panel with several big and small colour coded dots. Some were moving around, some were stationary. 

Surrounding the panel were lots floating text. There were symbols here and there and arrows in the corner of the texts. Steve went and stood next to the counter.

I followed Steve uncertainly, looking back to make sure I wasn't the only one who was going ahead. Ethan came and stood beside me and Stephen went to the other side of Steve.

"What's that?" Stephen asked, waving his hand in the general direction of the holograms.

Steve pointed to the panel and said, "That large yellow dot is our ship." He pointed to a dot which was significantly larger than the others. 

"That's the sun," he pointed to a white star, "and if I removed the ships..." he flicked his wrists and all the yellow and blue dots disappeared. 

Steve did the universal zoom motion on the screen (moving his pinched fingers away from each other). The screen zoomed in at the place where their ship had first been at. 

"That's our solar system. It's actually quite similar to the regular human diagram of the solar system except that it's 3D." 

I nodded thoughtfully. I knew that the sun was large enough to fit millions of earths in it but seeing it in scale was actually quite eye opening. 

I hadn't realised just how large the sun was. 

"Now I'll just set the ship in motion." 

He did a series of motions with his fingers and worked with the floating text. It was as if he was holding the text in his hands. Like a touch screen device, but 3D. At some point, a keypad popped up and Steve typed in something. 

Ethan went closer to the counter and tried to touch the panel like Steve was doing. But his hand went went right through the panel. 

Steve chuckled at Ethan's confused look. "You know, it's just a hologram. A trick of light, if you may. Your bands are not in interactive mode, so you can't move anything." 

"What is this band?" I asked. Just about everything here was working based on that band. 

"That's a very wide question but I guess you can say it's your space phone." Steve said. "And a bunch of other things too, but the closest I can compare it to is a phone."

I nodded thoughtfully.

Steve went back to the holograms. The holograms were wide reaching, almost twice normal human height. How did he reach the top ones? 

As if answering my question, the square of floor under Steve's feet went up like a whack-a-mole doll, lifting him up to the top corner of the texts.

When Steve came down and walked away to another part of the counter, Ethan went over to observe the floor. "It is exactly same as the rest of the floor. How did it lift you up?" He asked.

Steve smiled and said, "Nanotech. The entire ship is made up of tiny particles that I can manipulate to change shape. Even your bands are Nanotech. Let me demonstrate." 

He turned his wrist. My feet sunk into the floor as if it was made of sand. 

One moment I was standing on the ground and the next moment I was sitting on the ground with my butt stinging painfully. 

My eyes were half closed, the world was swimming around me and the sound of something consistent and unpleasant was ringing in my ears. I vaguely noticed Ethan and Stephen standing, unaffected by what Steve just did, but I could not bring myself to stand or even be fully conscious. 

Oh no! Not now, please, not now!

I felt a sick feeling take over me and felt myself droop backwards. 

Suddenly I felt someone rubbing circles in the back of my neck. A hand was supporting my back. 

I blinked and the world came back into focus. I breathed heavily through my mouth and stood up with Steve's help, who I noticed was still rubbing circles under my tied hair. 

"I'm sorry, I should have given you a warning." He apologised. After a moment of silence in which Ethan stared at me, I stared at Stephen and Stephen stared at the holograms, Steve suggested, "Why don't you all go down, I'll be there in a while. I am almost done." 

Ethan offered me his hand. I shook my head, "I'm fine." I took a few wobbly steps before getting back my equilibrium and followed Stephen down the stairs. I could feel Ethan's concerned stare behind me. 

I appreciated his concern, but I was fine! It was just that the sudden movement triggered an old memory. That's it!

In the main room, Kevin and Tanya were sitting together in one of the couches. Stephen sat in the chair beside them. I went and took the couch beside the chair. Ethan took the only remaining place beside me. 

"You okay?" He whispered. 

I nodded, "Yeah, thanks." I didn't elaborate. 

Ethan, to his credit, didn't push like I had feared. I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't want to unlock the SadBackstory™. 

Steve came down moments later and noticed that the seats were filled. He pulled out a cubicle stool from the ground and closed his eyes. 

"Where are you taking us, anyway?" The question wasn't bad, in itself. I was wondering the same thing. But the way Stephen said it, it was as if he was accusing Steve of kidnapping us.

"The headquarters." Steve replied, without opening his eyes. An annoyed crinkle was forming on his head.  

"What you doing?" Stephen asked in the same tone. Steve didn't reply.

I exchanged a look with Ethan. 

'What is happening?' I tried to ask through hand movements.

Ethan shrugged.

"Can you please answer me?" Stephen asked in a  demanding tone.

Steve again ignored him.

"Hey! Steve! I'm talking to you." Stephen said, raising his voice.

Steve made a motion with his hands indicating Stephen to shut up. Stephen rolled his eyes. 

"Steve!" He insisted. 

Kevin kicked Stephan's foot in warning. "Shut up!" He hissed lowly.

"Oh for God's sake, shut up!" Steve snapped, eyes still closed. "Let the ship get out of the earth's atmosphere, then I'll answer all your questions." 

After a minute in partial silence, where we all exchanged glances, Steve spoke, "Right, I'm here now. And Stephen, take off and landing in a planet with high gravitational gradient is difficult. And to answer your question, we are going to the intergalactic headquarters. I have some work there."

"Sorry I, uh..." Stephen began.

"...barrelled me with questions like a toddler? It's fine." Steve finished for him.

"Will we meet our mentor at the headquarters?" Stephen asked, ignoring the fact that Steve just called him a toddler.

"No, I will take you to your mentor from the headquarters. You guys really don't know anything, do you?"

"We got a load of technical Bullshit in our package." Kevin grumbled.

"Oh. Well, what happens now is I take you to your mentor's place of work."

Kevin asked him when he paused, "Wait, when you say place of work...sir"

"...I mean her actual place of work. Mentoring is sort of a side gig. She still does her main job as an explorer and mentor you guys."

"Explorer?" Ethan asked.

Steve casually waved his hand, "Not important right now."

"How long will this mentoring take?" I asked.

"No fixed timing. The maximum limit is three Earth years, approximately. It ends when you give the skill test. And technically you could give the test now if you want."

"We can?" Stephen asked, surprised. 

Steve shrugged, "Doesn't matter that you would fail miserably. But, yeah, you can."

"How long can we expect the mentoring to last?" Ethan asked.

"Depends on how well you guys do. Your mentor was my mentor too, and it took me about three months."

"You had the same mentor? What is she like?" I asked. I would like to be prepared when I meet her.

"Well," his lips twiched upwards for a flash, "you will have to find that out, wouldn't you?"

"That's so helpful." Tanya muttered sarcastically. I think it was the first time I heard him speak anything since we came.

"Thanks, always happy to help." Steve said with a grin, "Anyways, we are getting close to the headquarters. Ya'll will want to see it." 

The door to the gallery opened and we entered.