The subterranean laboratory hummed with the chaotic energy of three brilliant minds locked in furious debate. The Celestial Transmutation Engine loomed in the center of the cavernous space, its copper-toned metal gleaming with a dull rust, its interlocking gears frozen in a moment of suspended anticipation. Turquoise static crackled along its surface, casting dancing shadows across the mountains of blueprints, scattered research papers, and open ancient books that covered every available surface. The air carried the scent of old paper, copper, and the faint metallic tang of ancient machinery.
Professor Manabu Kinsho stood at the massive whiteboard, his wild mane of silver-streaked dark chestnut hair sticking out in every direction. His utility apron was stuffed with calipers, lenses, and small gears, and his dark brown eyes sparkled with manic intensity. He slapped the whiteboard with the palm of his hand, his voice rising with exasperation.
"It is an engine! The Celestial Transmutation Engine! The name is right there!" He jabbed a finger at the schematics scrawled across the board. "Transmutation! Conversion! Energy transformation! It takes raw power and converts it into—"
Charlie Leonard Wooley stood opposite him, his vintage pith helmet perched on his head at a slightly rakish angle. His round wire-framed glasses had slipped down his nose, and his khaki shirt was rumpled from hours of leaning over ancient texts. He cleared his throat with a theatrical "Ahem!" and pointed at a section of the whiteboard.
"The literal translation of the device is 'The Astrolabe of the Seven Moons,'" Charlie said, in that pedantic, slightly nasal quality. "An astrolabe is an instrument of navigation, Professor. It charts the movements of celestial bodies. It is not an engine. It is a—"
"It is an engine that uses celestial alignment as fuel!" Professor Manabu Kinsho shot back, his voice rising to a near-shout. "The principle of transmutation requires energy input! You cannot navigate without power!"
Bianca Yvonne Clark stood at the edge of the whiteboard, her waist-length black hair escaping from its messy bun in wild strands. Her grease-stained overalls were worn open over a floral blouse, and her large magnifying goggles were pushed up on her forehead. She flicked her wrist with characteristic impatience.
"Like, okay, I get it," Bianca said. "You both like have valid points or whatever. But like, hear me out." She walked to one of the dials on the massive engine, her fingers tracing the ancient symbols etched into its surface. "Like, these are not energy readings. They are, like, coordinates."
Professor Manabu Kinsho's eyes widened with alarm. He rushed toward her, his hands flying up in a gesture of panic. "Young lady, do not touch anything! I have spent years calibrating—"
"Calibrating for, like, what?" Bianca shot back, her voice sharp. "You, like, keep saying it is an engine, but like, the dials are not, like, measuring power output. They are, like, measuring position. Like, spatial position."
Charlie stepped closer, his eyes scanning the dials with renewed interest. "She is correct. The markings correspond to astronomical coordinates. I have seen similar configurations."
Professor Manabu Kinsho's brow furrowed, his lips pressing together in frustration. "That does not prove—"
Charlie's attention shifted to a worn section of the wall, where faded text was barely visible beneath layers of dust and grime. He squinted, leaning in close. His voice dropped to a murmur as he deciphered the words.
"Sun... Neku... moon... servant... center..."
He straightened, his eyes widening with excitement. He pointed dramatically at the faded inscription. "This evidence substantiates—"
---
Jannali Bandler stood to the side, her arms crossed, her full afro wrapped in a stylish headscarf. She held the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, shaking her head slowly. Her golden hoop earrings swung with each motion. Her brown eyes carried squinted shut with frustration or annoyance, she wasn't sure since this has been the state of affairs for the past several hours.
"Bloody hell," she muttered under her breath. "It is like watching a bunch of galahs arguing over who gets the last bit of damper."
Her head whipped around when she heard something crash to the ground, followed by Ember's manic giggling. The sound echoed through the cavern, high-pitched and unhinged.
"Finder keepers!" Ember shrieked in gleeful defiance. "You cannot catch me!"
Asper Pale cursed, their slate-gray hair falling into their eyes as they scrambled across the room. Their fingers twitched against their mechanical decryption wheel, the brass gears clicking in a nervous rhythm. Their voice called out in desperate frustration.
"Put that back! That is a precision instrument! It is not a toy!"
Ember darted through the cluttered laboratory, her neon-pink space buns defying gravity as she wove between tables and stacks of books. Her tattered black-and-crimson Lolita dress flapped behind her like a ragged flag. Mr. Cinders, the charred plush rabbit, bounced at her waist.
Jannali cursed under her breath. "Bloody hell."
She rushed after them, her heeled sandals slapping against the stone floor. She burst through the entrance of the lab into the dark cave beyond, her eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light. The air was cooler here, carrying the scent of damp earth and ancient stone.
She paused, her head turning as she strained to listen. The echoes of Ember's giggles and Asper's curses bounced off the walls, making it difficult to pinpoint their location.
"There is no place to go now!" Asper's voice echoed from somewhere ahead.
Ember's cackle cut through the darkness, followed by a loud bang. The sound was sharp, percussive—an explosion of some kind. Asper cursed loudly, and a massive dust cloud billowed through the tunnel, forcing Jannali to cover her face with her arm.
She coughed, waving the dust away from her eyes. She ran toward the source of the explosion, her voice sharp with concern. "Oi! You two alright?"
When she arrived, she slid to a halt, her jaw dropping. Asper stood beside her, their expression one of slack-jawed astonishment. The wall of the cave had collapsed, revealing a vast, domed chamber beyond. The ceiling soared high above them, a magnificent star chart carved into the stone, its surface gleaming with faint traces of gold and silver. Massive celestial bodies—moons, planets, stars—were rendered in intricate detail, their positions frozen in a moment of cosmic alignment.
Jannali's voice was barely a whisper. "Bloody hell."
Asper nodded, in a note of breathless wonder. "Yeah. I had no idea this was here."
They both turned when they heard Ember's voice from somewhere within the chamber.
"Oh, what a big stone."
Ember reached out to touch a massive, dark object that dominated the center of the chamber. Jannali's hand shot out, grabbing Ember's wrist with a firm grip.
"Don't bugger it up!" Jannali snapped, her tone sharp.
Ember's head tilted, her mismatched eyes blinking with confusion. She giggled, the sound echoing off the walls.
Jannali's head whipped around when she heard the sound of rushing footsteps. Charlie, Bianca, and Professor Manabu Kinsho burst into the chamber, their eyes widening as they took in the magnificent sight.
Bianca blinked, in a note of disbelief. "Like, what the hell?"
Charlie cleared his throat, with scholarly excitement he announced, "I believe I can offer some insight."
Professor Manabu Kinsho's eyes were locked on the ceiling, in an awestruck quality. "I had no idea." He turned to Asper, his expression one of wonder. "Did you find this?"
Asper sighed, their shoulders lifting and falling in a gesture of weary frustration. "I was chasing her." They pointed at Ember. "And she blew out the wall."
Professor Manabu Kinsho stepped forward, his eyes fixated on the ceiling, his voice barely a whisper. "Astonishing."
Bianca stepped into the center of the chamber, her eyes scanning the star chart above. Her fingers traced the air as if she could already feel the mechanisms at work. In an tone of excited recognition.
"Like, cool. I can like use this." She turned to face the others, her eyes bright with purpose. "It is like a star chart or whatever. Those like look like moons, and like I think I can like use the quadrantes to like figure out how to like triangulate a like way back from like wherever my friend like went."
Professor Manabu Kinsho blinked at her, his brow furrowing. "This does not prove her hypothesis about—"
Charlie stepped forward, standing next to Jannali. He cleared his throat in scholarly authority. He pointed at a massive Poneglyph embedded in the wall, its ancient symbols glowing faintly in the dim light. "I believe this offers some insight."
Professor Manabu Kinsho's eyes widened. "You can read that?"
Jannali snapped, her accent thick with exasperation. "Bloody hell, yeah."
Charlie cleared his throat again, his voice taking on the lecturing tone that made everyone's eye twitch. "Like I was saying."
He began to recite the text, his voice rising with each word.
"Entered and exiled is the servant Neku from the everlasting kingdom. Having failed the Great Mu, he is cast as the serpent into the void of Nus-Rettahs. By the alignment of the stars and the turning of the Celestial Engine, he was conveyed into the dark bowels of the celestial satellite to serve his penance. The Nations of Amiso shall stand forever as the fortified stewards, guardians of the celestial conveyance to ensure the prison remains fixed. Let the dynamic Neku never look upon the star, nor see the new dawn he allowed to be lost."
Asper swallowed hard, their voice barely a whisper. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
Charlie cleared his throat, about to launch into a lengthy lecture, but Jannali cut him off with a sharp gesture.
"Fair warning, mate." Jannali's voice was grim. "It means wherever she is gone, she is not on her own. Dead set, whoever or whatever this Neku bloke is, they are right there with her."
Professor Manabu Kinsho cocked his head, his brow furrowed in thought. "Neku... I have heard that name before. In ancient texts. A being of immense power, banished for—"
Charlie continued, with scholarly urgency. "Like my associate was saying, it is a warning. This Neku entity failed the Great Mu and was cast into a celestial prison. The engine, as you call it, is the mechanism of his imprisonment. It is a conveyance—a device for transporting things across the void."
Bianca flicked her wrist, her eyes still fixed on the star chart above. "Like, cool. So like, I bet like one of those moons or like planet things is like where she was like sent then."
Asper moved to stand next to Bianca, their eyes scanning the celestial map. "That seems like a fair assessment."
Their head snapped around when they saw Ember skipping out of the chamber, still clutching the tools she had confiscated. A manic grin spread across her face.
"Hey!" Asper called out, their voice rising with frustration. "Come back here!"
They chased after her, their footsteps echoing off the walls.
Professor Manabu Kinsho continued to argue, his voice rising with indignation. "This does not prove that it is a transportation device—"
Bianca glared at him, her tone sharp. "Like, I do not like care what you think. You can like call it like whatever you like want after we like get our friend back and like get out of here. But like until that happens, I am like going to do whatever it takes to like make that thing work like I need it to!"
Professor Manabu Kinsho blinked, his fist starting to ball up as he prepared his retort. "Young lady—"
Bianca spun on her heels, cutting him off with a dismissive wave. She strode toward the engine, her fingers already tracing the ancient dials.
Charlie lingered, his eyes fixed on the Poneglyph and the star chart above. His voice was barely a whisper as he continued to study the ancient symbols.
"The alignment of the stars... the turning of the Celestial Engine... the dark bowels of the celestial satellite..."
He trailed off, lost in thought. Jannali watched him, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable.
"Oi, mate," she called out. "You coming or what?"
Charlie blinked, snapping out of his reverie. He adjusted his pith helmet and hurried after her, "This is remarkable! Absolutely remarkable! The implications are—"
"Yeah, yeah," Jannali cut him off, her voice flat. "Fascinating. Now get a move on."
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