Khan had read the travel's schedule on his phone, but he didn't expect it to involve a teleport. He knew nothing about interplanetary voyages, but his imagination had led him to believe that everything would happen through a spaceship.
The circular hall featured a large oval platform at its center. Khan studied its feature after Martha pointed at it, and curiosity inevitably spread inside him.
The platform had two curved pillars growing out of its vertices. Tubes that contained an azure liquid ran through the two horn-like structures and gave them a powerful aura. The pipes experienced random surges of energy that made their light shift from dim to bright and gave them an unstable vibe.
Similar tubes connected the white platform to the various consoles placed on the walls of the hall. Khan managed to see a few graphs and diagrams on their screens, but he couldn't understand much. He only recognized some equations mixed with symbols that had no meaning for him.
"We inherited this technology from the Nak," Luke said without moving his eyes from the teleport. "We rebuilt their spaceships at first, but everything changed when we found the first teleport. Interplanetary travels became far easier after that."
"Spaceships are far more reliable," Lieutenant Unchai explained while turning toward the special class. "You wouldn't even think about stepping in there if you knew how many things could go wrong. The amount of synthetic mana required for the teleport is also massive, but the Global Army has made an exception for its brightest recruits."
The boys and girls in the group couldn't help but smile at those remarks. The Lieutenant was openly labeling them as the best of their course. Even the wealthiest kids felt good to gain such acknowledgment from a proper soldier.
"We set the location to the third quadrant," One of the scientists exclaimed while turning toward the Lieutenant. "You can begin to step on the teleport."
Lieutenant Unchai nodded and stepped on the platform. He gestured to the recruits to follow him, but they took a few seconds to overcome their fears.
Only a few among them were brave enough to jump directly on the structure. Khan, Luke, and Bruce didn't even hesitate after Lieutenant Unchai's gesture. Khan couldn't wait to experience the teleport, while the other two boys trusted the Global Army too much to feel scared.
'Woah,' Khan gasped in his mind as tingling sensations ran through his spine. 'I have never felt the mana so clearly!'
The two horn-like pillars seemed able to contain the mana inside the edges of the platform. Khan felt immersed in a dense liquid that caused his bones to experience faint tremors.
'This feels different from my mana,' Khan thought while closing his eyes and immersing his mind into that atmosphere. 'It's almost dirty.'
All the recruits eventually stepped inside the teleport, and Lieutenant Unchai inspected his group one last time before nodding toward the scientists.
"Exit locked in," One of the scientists shouted. "They are ready to receive us."
"Synthetic mana one hundred percent stable," Another scientist shouted. "Starting the countdown!"
The shouts awakened Khan from his thoughts. Numbers resounded in the hall and quickly moved toward zero as the azure light radiated by the many tubes intensified and became a blinding halo.
Then, azure sparks started to run through the horn-like pillars until they connected their sharp tips. The scene only lasted one second since Khan's vision suddenly went dark.
A faint pressure appeared inside Khan. That feeling intensified until pain started to spread through his abdomen. His internal organs churned, and he inevitably held his breath to endure that process.
Luckily for him, the sensation only lasted for a few seconds. Other feelings appeared as soon as the pressure afflicting his abdomen started to fade. He felt cold spreading from his knees and palms as retches tried to reach his mouth.
Khan suppressed that sensation and struggled to open his eyes. The same white metal of the teleport appeared under him, but he soon noticed that something was off when he glanced past the platform's edges.
A green metal covered the surroundings of the teleport and ended on walls that carried similar shades. Consoles that had different shapes from those seen in the training camp filled that circular hall, and unknown faces handled them.
Khan found himself kneeling on the platform, but his curiosity didn't give him the time to stand up. He had caught a glimpse of something strange, and nothing inside him dared to move until he focused on that scene.
The scientists inside the new hall were mostly humans, but there were a few strange figures that he had only seen through his phone. Khan had obviously searched the Ef'i on the network, but seeing them with his own eyes caused a completely different reaction in his mind.
The Ef'i were a humanoid alien species with pale-brown skin that featured a few yellow patches on their back. Their faces were almost human, except for their stretched four eyes, pointy ears, long heads, and complete lack of hair.
Their hands had five fingers, but black claw-like nails grew from them. The few alien scientists in the hall kept them short, but Khan knew that they could stretch them at will.
The Ef'i had large feet but a slim physique. Still, their most iconic feature was the pointy tail growing from the bottom of their back. The white medical coats of the alien scientists had a hole in that spot where that limb could come out.
Khan forced himself to straighten his position after he got a clear view of the aliens. His insides were still churning, but he was managing to hold back the desire to vomit.
The same didn't apply to most of his companions. The recruits couldn't contain themselves and began to puke directly on the platform. Yet, a thin azure layer appeared whenever those substances tried to reach the white metal and burned them in an instant.
"The first teleports always broke because of this," Lieutenant Unchai whispered when he noticed that Khan was inspecting that scene. "Imagine billions of Credits wasted because the soldiers couldn't close their stomach."
A faint laugh came out of the Lieutenant before he made his way through the crouching recruits and jumped off the platform. One of the alien scientists stepped forward to greet the soldier, and the two exchanged a firm handshake and polite smiles.
"[It's a pleasure to be back here]," Lieutenant Unchai said in the Ef'i's language.
"No need to be so formal," The alien scientist replied in perfect human language. "Our alliance has lasted for centuries already. You are welcome here anytime you want."
Khan was still in a daze. The Ef'i moved and behaved like a human, but his physique made all those gestures odd to watch. Its tail even moved whenever it tried to express a new emotion.
'This one should be a female,' Khan thought while recalling the information found on the network. 'Our sexual organs aren't compatible, but I can differentiate them from the size of the chest. Female Ef'i usually have a smaller torso.'
Khan ignored why the network of the Global Army contained those descriptions, but he felt glad that he could recognize the sex of the alien thanks to them. He would be able to avoid making wrong impressions if a conversation with an Ef'i ever happened.
Lieutenant Unchai and the alien turned toward Khan when they saw him stepping off the teleport. His companions were still trying to stand, but he was only slightly pale after the process.
"You have a resilient one," The Ef'i exclaimed.
"He should have the highest attunement with mana among them since the others have yet to receive synthetic mana," Lieutenant Unchai explained. "Khan! Come and greet Tetli!"
Khan snapped out of his daze and marched toward the duo. He stretched his hand forward as a strange "[hello]" stuttered out of his mouth.
"That wasn't too bad," Tetli laughed while shaking his hand. "Try it again. Like this: [Heeellloooo]."
Khan found the sharp change in her voice quite spectacular. Tetli went from having a harmonious human voice to the guttural sounds iconic of the Ef'i's language.
Khan nodded while committing to memory the sensations felt when he touched the alien's rough skin. He cleared his throat before trying to say the same word slowly.
Both Lieutenant Unchai and Tetli nodded when they heard Khan's second attempt. His accent was still off, but they could understand the meaning behind his word.
"You can proceed forward," Tetli eventually said while pointing at the exit from the circular all. "We'll take care of the other recruits."
"Thank you!" Lieutenant Unchai exclaimed while placing a hand behind Khan's back and pushing him toward the exit with him.
A long corridor that featured multiple body scanners and other scientists unfolded in Khan's vision. He had to go through that procedure again, but excitement inevitably began to build inside him.
Khan would be on a different planet once he exited that structure. He couldn't wait to go past that inspection and see the new environment with his own eyes.
"I thought you would be the thickheaded battle-oriented type," Lieutenant Unchai revealed as the duo walked through the scanners. "It turns out that you have something inside that shovel-shaped brain."
"I wish to become an ambassador for the Global Army one day," Khan whispered. "I know that my background isn't much, so I need to compensate by working hard."
"An ambassador?" Lieutenant Unchai gave voice to a surprised gasp. "That might take a long time. Still, it's far from impossible, especially if you show some talent in xenolinguistics."
Khan had revealed that information on purpose. Only Martha and Lieutenant Dyester knew about his goal, but he wanted to spread that idea inside the Global Army now.
Professor Norwell wanted to rope him into the Global Army, so Khan didn't want to give her too many hints. Instead, Lieutenant Unchai didn't seem to have hidden intentions. Revealing his goal to the soldier sounded like the best way to spread rumors among the higher-ups.
The duo crossed the last scanner before approaching the exit. Khan could already see barren red-brown ground past the few windows near the edges of the structure. His curiosity was about to explode, but Lieutenant Unchai suddenly placed an arm in front of him.
"They need to give you a pill to endure the new atmosphere," Lieutenant Unchai explained.
"Sir?" A human soldier who held a digital notebook called Lieutenant Unchai when he heard those words. "The boy doesn't need the pill. His attunement with mana is already past thirty percent."