Sword of Malta – The Awakening of the Starship Malta (56)

56. The Demand for Altima

It had been attempted for millennia and had failed for millennia, but now it was a voyage of miracles that could not help but succeed.

As the Malta surged toward Sirius under tremendous Aether thrust, Malta’s seas were, for a heartbeat, plunged into depthless darkness.

Where the Malta had departed, a vast whirlpool welled up like a seafloor eruption.

It emptied out as if the ocean itself had gone vacuum-hollow.

Within the punched-through sea, hidden barrier devices began to operate.

The veil of the barrier unfurled, a transparent mesh.

Inside it, a city that had existed even before the Malta’s departure slowly emerged.

Valletta’s limestone buildings, Sliema’s piers, the old walls of Mnajdra, the colorful luzzu boats of Marsaxlokk, the crystal-clear Blue Lagoon around Comino, the massive fortresses of Gozo and the narrow stone lanes of Victoria, the windy hills of Dingli Cliffs, and the catacombs of Rabat… the modern island of Malta was restored in an instant.

The underground temple of the Hypogeum once called the heart of Malta, the megalithic temples that had sustained thousands of years—Ggantija, Hagar Qim, and Tarxien—also took their exact places under the barrier’s protection.

In between, dogs and cats named Malta, with dazzling white fur and dazzling blue eyes, darted through the alleys like guardians of the island.

Within the barrier, people existed as though Malta had never vanished at all—one landscape nested within another.

The island of Malta, a mere dot on the Mediterranean, poised just so between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East—the history that began in A.D. two thousand, 7,900 years from now (in 5900 B.C.E.), yet also in A.D. 2025.

The Malta slipped into a darkness like the whole universe had fallen asleep as soon as it cleared Earth’s atmosphere.

Ever since the Sword and the Star’s memory had awakened, Malta’s course was singular.

“Reconfirm coordinates. Sirius Malta.”

OMEGA-AI’s voice was flawless.

The Malta surged in speed at once.

The mega-class warship Malta drove through space.

With a fierce lensing shimmer, the Malta seeped into the pleats of space.
It did not vanish entirely.

As its drives intermittently disturbed the spatial barrier, the Malta’s silhouette reappeared in brief, sharp flashes like starlight.

It had leapt into hyperspace.

It looked as though the universe had swallowed the Malta whole.
And just after that—an endless, starless dark unfolded.

In a blink, the Malta popped back into realspace with a flare along the warp corridor.

Ancient patterns etched on their hull lit up and triggered an auto-restoration code.

During the warp, to endure the stresses of space and time, the Malta had disassembled its structure at the molecular level and rearranged it in a quantum compressed state.

This was the Malta’s unique navigation system, designed to counter extreme gravitational distortion and spacetime waves.

Upon return, its countless disassembled structures reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle.

At last, the Malta fixed its majestic hull in the central orbit of the Sirius system.

There, a vast Sirius Starshield—long awaiting the Malta—was spread.

Hundreds of star-shaped constructs aligned in a perfect hexagonal pattern, forming a colossal lattice of light across the heavens.

It was not a mere defense grid.

It was the universe’s inquisitor, reading intent and testing the justice of entry.

Sansuna set her hand upon the Malta’s control panel.

“Malta, hyper-jump complete. Entering the Sirius lane.”
— OMEGA-AI

“Sirius Malta. Respond. I am Sansuna, Queen of the Arcanus tribe, savior who once freed Malta, and pilot of Altima-39.”

Sansuna tuned the comm frequency to the Sirius Malta band.

“Sirius Malta. Respond. This is Sansuna, commander of the Malta. Open the channel. Awaiting response before transfer of command authority.”

Sansuna’s fingertips trembled, but her voice did not.

The outer shield of Sirius Malta opened, and within it an arched energy corridor appeared.

The ancient control systems of Sirius Malta, which had awaited the return of Mediterranean Malta for millennia, were awakening.

The Malta attempted to link with the Sirius Starshield.

Sirius Malta decoded the Malta’s connection protocol.

Moments later, Sirius Malta’s defensive barriers began to unlock one by one.

At last, the Malta was permitted to approach the heart of Sirius Malta.

At that instant, the ancient hieroglyphs etched on the Malta’s hull glowed, spiraling around the body, but though it had approached Sirius Malta, the link was severed at the final docking moment.

The ancient control system, acting on the Oracle’s hacking command, forcibly cut the Malta’s connection core.
Anxious alarms kept ringing within the ship.

A red holographic sigil flashed over the Hypogeum panel.

“Sirius Malta link error. Aether coupling failed.”
“Authorization blocked. External command interference detected.”

OMEGA-AI repeated.

“It’s the Oracle.”

Sansuna’s face fell abruptly.

“You did not keep your promise. I will expose the Nova Emperor’s secret to the entire universe. I have the fathers of the three children who invented possession magic, and the Sword and the Star’s memories, in custody… Sirius Malta? Heh heh heh… the Mediterranean Malta won’t escape either. The answer is very simple. Hand over the Altima Mine, and it ends.”

The Oracle’s voice bored into the Malta’s internal comms.

“Altima is a metal that makes possession magic possible. A metal that can become anything.… With it, the Oracle can conquer the universe… and obliterate any civilization that refuses to submit.”

Sansuna’s complexion turned ashen.

Meanwhile, the Nova Emperor’s hands shook before the hologram panel.

He did not care if he had to step down from the throne.

But he could not allow the Oracle to rule the imperial cosmos.

All they wanted was the Altima Mine.

The moment Altima was handed to the Oracle, the entire universe would fall under the Oracle’s control—that was plain.

For a civilization to die… was the same as a family dying.

“We rejoiced at the success of lightning after seventy-two years—after millennia of failure… we cannot fail like this… If a sacrifice is needed… I will gladly bear it… I too carry the blood of the magic tribes.”

But the Nova Emperor’s regret might already have come too late.

“Very well—the answer is as the Oracle says… Do we give Altima? Or do we destroy Altima…”

The Nova Emperor resolved to override the Malta’s navigation himself, to plunge into the gravitational depths of a cosmic cliff where no one had ever gone.

If he did not, Malta would be utterly destroyed, and Altima would surely be seized by the Oracle.

[To be continued…]

Starting November 2023, The Korea Daily is excited to publish the fantasy novel series “Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years” on our website. This new captivating series follows a trio of young adventurers on their quest to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, including the Maya and Inca. In an exciting development, Netflix is currently adapting the novel’s storyline into a film.

The ‘Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years’ is the latest novel authored by Jeeyoon Ha, who created the “Pangaea series.” Ha’s debut novel, “The Pangaea: Finding Xibalba,” was selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2022 as part of their initiative to support the global export of fantasy literature.

*Mark Oh translated the Korean novel into English.