Aldous VanLycia was not a person of great energy.
Often it would take him a long time to get out of bed, however it would not matter. With a snap of his fingers, multiple servants would slide into his room, make his bed and prepare him a prime 6 star breakfast meal. His servants knew he liked his tea at a consistent 102° Fahrenheit, his pseudo-eggs done medium-well with balsa herbs, and his toast flambeed with the most even gradient of amber crunchiness.
For five years, Aldous woke up in this exact manner. For five delightfully pleasant years his base needs and desires were met the moment he wanted them. His professor came to teach when he was asked. Music was performed by a live professional band at his whims. His refreshments were there before he even knew he wanted them.
For Aldous, life was great.

But today, when he snapped his fingers, no one came.
And upon only being met with silence and inaction, a concern welled up within him. Aldous knew it meant two things: There was an emergency situation unfolding, or worse. The second option was not an option he wanted to consider.
Aldous gulped and thought to himself that perhaps any problems would resolve themselves if he went back to sleep. So that's what he did.
He got under the blankets, and covered his entire body, just so he could make sure no one would see him.
Aldous did not sleep.

Some grueling hours passed as Aldous became both extremely bored and famished.
After his stomach churned long enough he reluctantly got back out of bed.
He snapped his fingers again, hoping it was just a fluke or a bad dream, but again no one came.
He whined in despair. He would have to do his routine, himself.
He took an excessive amount of time getting dressed. Normally, his servants would collect everything for him, but now he had to search through his own vast closet.
He crudely tied his bowtie, and accepted that he would not be able to tame the chaos of his black curly hair without the assistance of a stylist. He settled on placing a pork pie hat on his head to cover the mess.
After deeming himself passable, he crept out of his room, and looked out into the marbled halls, to find no servants were bustling or working. Everything was eerily quiet.
Aldous thought the end of the world might be upon him.
He walked through the uncanny halls down to the main living area. There, he saw a single light turned on in the kitchen area, and from it came a familiar voice. "Aldous?"

Aldous' stomach sank as his worries realized, and he timidly stepped over to see his father reading his usual holographic newspaper.
Without looking up from his reading material, he said, "Good morning, boy," in a strong, falsely cheery tone.
"Ah, father. Would you happen to know where our workforce is at?" Aldous rattled out.
His father flipped the virtual page. "I've dismissed them for the week. They could use the a small break. I imagine you would agree."
Aldous' voice got shaky, "B-but who will prepare dinner, or maintain the pets?"
His father dropped the paper. Aldous' father was one of a strong build. His well-kept but slightly aged face played well into any emotion he desired to express, and Aldous' father, betraying his appearance, was a showman above all else.
His act for Aldous was a calm yet firm one.
"Why, Aldous, my boy. You can conduct these tasks for the time being."
The stress levels within Aldous were building up. "Father... I do not know how to prepare food..."
A flash of disappointment flared over the father's face for a moment.
"How long have I been travelling across the galaxy, Aldous? How long have I been away from my home?"
"F-five years I would say."
"Yes, and across those five years, I have been building the empire- the generational wealth- that keeps your room clean, your belly full and your pockets lined."
"Yes, you have." Aldous said frankly.

"And what have you accomplished during those five years?"
"I- I've been practicing the piano! And studying quantum field harmonics! And taking care of Francesca!"
"Hmmm. Truthfully? Then can you perhaps explain why our Network Connection Provider states that your mobile device has been connected to the IndigoLegion Online servers for a cumulative 3 years and 672 days?"
"I leave my phone connected and running while I am away doing other thi-"
His father interrupted smoothly, "And this video footage of you laying on the couch on playing your device for a total 80 hours this week?"
He pulled out his own mobile device and showed Aldous a surprisingly high definition recording of a camera positioned in the corner of the living room where he never bothered to look.
His father scrolled through the video seeker showing Aldous lying on the couch for hours on end, before switching to another video of another day, and scrolling through Aldous' sloth-like behaviors, only getting up once in a while to use the restroom or get food.
A million thoughts of impending doom ran through Aldous' mind, one of them being shock that his father actually had cameras throughout the house.
Nervous sweat ran down into Aldous' collar that was now buttoned just a little too tightly.
"It was a gaming event?" He clumsily muttered out.
His father took a painfully long time to form his next words, "I suppose I entrusted too much of your development to self-supervision."
Aldous knew what he was really saying, and knew what was coming next.
"Your mother would have wanted you to be out in the world, Aldous. She would have wanted you to be more like your brother."
"Please don't talk about either of them..." Aldous somberly begged.
His father's act was beginning to wear as he sighed. "Aldous, you cannot hide away from the painful truths of the world."
Aldous couldn't bring himself to retort.

"I will be sending you to Plasma Camp."
"P-Plasma Camp?! Father! I- I wouldn't survive!"
"Oh, I'm sure you will," his father said tiredly, "Every male descendant of the VanLycia heritage has attended Plasma Camp."
"Father please! What about Francesca? She's-"
"Enough, Aldous! I won't be having any more of your excuses. Gather your belongings and prepare for Plasma Camp or you will be left in the streets of the nearest industrial city!"
The facade his father gave off had finally crumbled, and his indignation for Aldous' inaction was finally present within his powerful voice.
Like a knotted ball of string, Aldous forced back any words he wanted to say and silently made his way back to his room.
As he closed the door he became weak and sighed defeat. His face slumped into depression as he finally understood the good years of his life were over.
As Aldous was packing his luggage painfully and slowly, a soft frail voice entered into his room, "Master Aldous?"
"Francesca?," Aldous asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Out from the door shuffled a small, old meek woman. Her eyes were always closed, her hunch overbearing, and her impression belaying that she was always trying her best in the gentlest way she knew.
"Francesca, please sit down! Your illness-"
"Do not worry, Master Aldous," she let out a little chuckle as she leaned down to pick up some of Aldous' belongings to pack. Her left hand was always tucked into the pocket of her dress, so she only picked up with her right.
"Aren't you supposed to be taking time off?" Aldous asked.
"Your father offered, but I wished to see you off. After all, who knows how many days I have left."
"Francesca you cannot say that. You will be fine, I'm sure of it."

Aldous thought for a moment. "I'm going to be with some of the most astute minds in the universe. I'll find someone who will know a cure!"
An even more hearty chuckle came from Francesa's frail voice box. "Ever the optimist you are. I will believe in you, Master Aldous."
"You must believe you will persist until I can find a cure for your condition as well!"
"Oh, I will. Do not worry so much about me."
Aldous held his breath for a moment.
"Until I return, please take two doses of Adenocyllin per day and ensure you have consumed the proper proportion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins."
"I will, Master Aldous. Do not worry." She smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
He wanted to not worry, but he could hear how labored her breathing was.
"I've finished my packing. Let's get you to rest." Aldous walked her to the main hall where she slowly sat down on one of the chairs.
She sighed tiredly, but would not remove her humble smile.
"You are such a kind soul, Master Aldous. Soon, everyone will see you as an amazing young man."
"I don't know if I can be that, Francesca..."
"Nonsense, you already are."
Despite her earnest compliments, Aldous felt more humbled by her words than anything his father had said today.

--------

Aldous had boarded the ship. His flight being a non-stop 16 hour trek to Planet Rochette where Plasma Camp awaited. Just as Aldous had finished stowing away his luggage, his father stepped into the plane for one last conversation.
"I have something to give to you Aldous."
His father brought out an old tablet made out of gray stone and handed it to Aldous.
It appeared to be one foot in both height and width, and about 4 inches in depth. The tablet, while worn down, had extremely intricate engravings of metallic purple, pink and gold. From the center, the engravings formed a neat circle, from which each color branched out into smaller and smaller details, becoming so fine that Aldous could not see it with his naked eye. A stark black band of an unknown metal wrapped around the tablet.
Aldous looked at it for a moment to take in the details.
"Is this the weaver?" Aldous asked genuinely.
"The first of the Mark Thirty-Sevens - our heirloom."
"I can't accept this, this is a piece of history!"
"Just as every VanLycia male has attended Plasma Camp, every one also is gifted the heirloom."
Aldous thought of his brother being gifted the Weaver. He probably had it just sitting in the corner of his room the entire time he was at Plasma Camp.
Aldous then braced himself to speak his next sentence.
"Alright, father. I'll accept the heirloom, under the condition that you ensure Francesca receives the best medical care you can provide for her."
Aldous' father made a grim expression. Aldous had always asked for Francesca to be cured, however her condition has never had a cure. His father looked into Aldous' determined gaze.
"Very well, Aldous. I will see to it that she is assigned the family practitioner."
Relaxed upon hearing the words, Aldous gave a slight smile. "Thank you father."
No goodbyes were said as Aldous' father stepped out of the launcher ship.

Aldous strapped on his seatbelt. It had been a long time since he had ridden a launcher ship, but his last experience was very shaky.
The pilot gave the usual greeting that Aldous tentatively listened to, including the location of the barf bags, emergency exits, and pressure pods.
The engines roared as the ship was rotated to point upward. This part always spiked anxiety within Aldous.
Soon enough, the flight coordinator within the nearby tower gave the thumbs up as the safety latches released.
The engines now revved up to full throttle as the sounds of roaring mutated into more of a high pitched scream.
Aldous' body pressed deeply into the cushions as the G forces accumulated upon him.
As they ascended high up into the clouds, Aldous took one last look at his vast, opulent manor, comprised of exactly 46 buildings all constructed by the best minds in the universe.
He looked at the building where his bedroom lay, then to the rest of the buildings and land surrounding his home. He thought to himself that he should have explored the surroundings more when he had the chance to.
The blue skies soon faded to black and all the stars in the galaxy came out from the palid darkness to shine into the window.
The intercom came to life, "Now departing Planet VanLycia, next stop, Hyper Light Ring Cascadia.

Aldous readjusted and settled into his seat as he reconciled with the fact that all that spared him of the cold, depressurized death of space was half an inch of vanadium steel and reinforced glass.
No reception can be found out in deep space, so all he could do was interact with what was right in front of him.
He slowly booted up the old stone tablet. A pink hologram of a little sphere laid within the center of the projection bounds.
The humble hydrogen atom is what the tablet normally started off with. Typically there would also be presets to replicate certain materials, but it seems like his father wiped all memory of materials from the device.
Aldous reached both of his hands into the hologram to try whipping up a copper ball. He knew it to be one of the first milestones for a matter weaving professional.
However upon touching the hologram, mentally selecting the copper element, and drawing his pinched fingers out, nothing came.
A little dumbfounded, Aldous let out a curious, "What?"

He tried copper, gold, neon, carbon and a variety of other materials, before finding he could draw forth iron. "What?" he said even more incredulously.
After far more testing, it appeared that all that was permitted to weave in the hologram was iron, oxygen and nitrogen. Even hydrogen could not be manifested as only one atom stood in the center as a placeholder.
First Aldous thought this to be a fluke, but it seemed much more probable that his father disabled all elements but these select few.
Aldous turned the tablet upside down, and removed a maintenance panel to see that all but the conversion modules for iron, oxygen and nitrogen have been removed, with some jury-rigged wire patch made for hydrogen.
Aldous groaned. This meant that he couldn't even feed the tablet any matter but oxygen, nitrogen and iron.
"Brother certainly did not use this during Plasma Camp then..." he muttered to himself.
He looked out the window and thought of some silly emergency designs he could draft up while the starship made its way to the hyper light ring.

As time passed, the Aldous heard over the intercom buzz up, "Now approaching Hyper Light Ring Cascadia."
Aldous looked out to see swarms of other ships from the star system locked into a static hold from the ring. The ring, itself, was a gargantuan object, that could rival as a small moon if it were to orbit a planet. Its radiant light from within its inner bands kept all passenger starcraft locked into its field of influence.
A vibrating hum resonated for a split second before dropping to silence. "Now docked onto Cascadia."
It seemed like Aldous' ship was the last ship to board. After a few minutes, the fins of the Cascadia opened up to expose its green pulsating spatial distortion panels.
A harmonic hum sounded out, audible to all within the ring even through the vacuum of space. The visage of the stars around the panels appeared to shift into reds and blues, stretching into tiered curved streaks of light.
The curves began to stretch further and further back as the ring began to accelerate faster and faster.
As the ring accelerated into hyper light speed, the world around them distorted into deep violet streaks in the front of the hyper light ring, and darkened burgundy streaks in the rear.

Once the hums became more like an Angel's Choir, the Cascadia reached cruising speed and all passengers docked within Cascadia were permitted to leave their seats.
Aldous went to the restroom as the imagined perils of spaceflight caused his kidneys to work overtime.
As Aldous came back from the restroom, he saw something strange from the view of the starship's windows.
One of the fins of the hyper light ring was folding in on itself. The realization of what that meant did not register in Aldous' mind until the catastrophe had already begun unfolding.
Blaring and beeping sirens and alarms cried out.
Blinding streaks of burning blue light radiated and carved out a portion of the ring as its metal was no longer shielded from stardust boring through it at faster-than-light speed.
At the same time, Aldous heard a thud sound out from the airlock area of the ship, followed by an explosion, then a cracking of the ships security lock.
"I'm going to die. This is it. I'm going to die."
Aldous muttered to himself in terror as his heart and body tensed up.

Unexpectedly, the door was kicked down. A woman with a modified pistol stepped through the airlock. Aldous didn't have much time to gather her appearance. She had dark skin, thick braided hair, and a fashion of clothing that certainly did not say that she was an officer.
Her expression was very serious until seeing that Aldous was the only passenger onboard. Upon making eye contact with him, she smiled and said, "Hi! I'm stealing your ship. Sorry!"
Before aiming her gun at Aldous. Aldous flinched as a shot rang out. However he opened his eyes to see that his body was unharmed, but that his seat buckle was completely melted, locking him to his position.
She smiled brightly before wordlessly and quickly running to the cockpit.

Too many events were occuring too fast. Another gut wrenching explosion sounded out, as Aldous began hyperventilating.
He did not know whether this was from his own ship, the Hyper Light Ring, or something else, but the sense of impending doom lingered over him once more.
"What have I gotten myself into?!" he panicked.
Quickly, Aldous grabbed the tablet and sucked away any iron that could be stuck in the fused seatbelt buckle.
It grew brittle enough for him to yank the buckle apart, but as he did, the starship experienced vicious turbulence, sending him yelping and flying into the roof.
He tumbled around before grabbing the tablet again, scrolling to one of his emergency designs and activating its materialization, just as the environment was becoming excessively hot and bright.

He wrapped himself in an iron casing, locking himself in his own iron sarcophagus.
His pose became frozen and he was surrounded by darkness.
The only sense Aldous could perceive now as he breathed heavily was a deep rumbling, though there was nothing more he could do for protection or aversion.
His chest tightened as the rumbling grew more and more violent. His eyes stared out into the darkness of the shell as the claustrophobic space became more and more oppressive.
After an unbearable amount of time, the rumbling stopped, before he felt a sudden jolt of weightlessness before being thrashed against his side.
Thoughts couldn't form anymore as impact after impact rattled his skull.
There was one last moment of respite before a final impact knocked him out, with his final thought being that this shell would be his coffin.

-------

After an eternity, Aldous gasped awake. His mind and thoughts felt light and hazy. An overwhelming urge to breathe burned in his chest, but nothing came. Panic and an ounce of clarity came through. He hit the tablet which deconstructed the carbon dioxide, leaving just carbon dust, before flooding the shell with more breathable oxygen.
He took a deep, desperate breath before heaving out just as much air. He spent about a minute trying to stablize his breathing.
He eventually regained his sensibilities and noticed that the inside of the shell was uncomfortably hot.

He used the tablet to bore a peering hole only to see a bitter flurry of abrasive sand wildly shooting in all the directions. He yelped before sealing the hole.
Again hopelessness washed over him as he knew he was likely trapped on an abandoned planet with no escape.
Then he felt something strange, his shell was being moved.
He was being hoisted up, as if upon a shoulder, then rocked back and forth like someone was carrying and walking with him as luggage.
That would be preposterous though, the amount of strength needed would be inhuman.

After about 20 minutes of this rocking motion building up Aldous' anxiety and nausea, he felt himself placed down.
Two knocks sounded out on the metal. Before Aldous could knock back, two spikes jutted through the shell, scaring a jump out of him.
The metal whined and bent outwards before snapping open to the outside air within a cave's alcove.
A face lowered from above his view, it was the same woman that broke into the pilots office. He finally was able to get a good look at her face.
Braided black hair with red tips, circular patches of ochre on the cheeks. She was Belgarian in origin, a people at war with the Congregate. Aldous swallowed nervously as he also saw the vast amount of gold jewelry she wore.
Her violet eyes stared directly into his as she smiled.
"Looks like you're a survivor, RichBoy!"