"I said be quiet and stop drooling over my work."
"Now that you have been remade, it is time to send you on your way."
"But, Father, you have yet to explain our purpose," Sai said.
For the first time, Mavnir looked genuinely confused.
"Father?" he repeated. "Who, exactly, do you think you are referring to?"
Sai pointed at him.
"You gave us these bodies, these clothes, all of this. That sounds pretty fatherly to me."
Mavnir, who had barely moved since they first entered, glanced behind himself.
I know I told them not to enter this place.
But when he turned, there was no one there.
He looked back at Sai.
"You are referring to me?"
"Yes."
Mavnir placed a hand against his temple.
"Technically, in a sense, you are my creations…"
He paused.
Then, more quietly, under his breath
"You certainly behave like my children."
After a moment, Mavnir calmed himself and spoke.
"Time to go, my creations."
Mavnir raised his hand. A low rumble rolled through the Vault as one of the treasure piles began to shake.
From the shifting gold emerged a seat.
Not quite a couch.
Not quite a throne.
It was long enough to suggest comfort, yet too ornate to feel casual — carved in dark gold, draped in deep velvet, and shaped with the same imperious presence as the throne Mavnir sat upon.
It looked like the kind of thing meant for lounging, if the person lounging happened to believe they owned the world.
Sai pointed at it.
"Is this for us?"
"Yes, my creations," Mavnir said.
Desta stared at the strange seat.
"This is how we're leaving?"
"You needn't worry," Mavnir said. "Merely sit, and you shall be on your way."
Sai and Desta exchanged a look.
Then both of them sat.
Almost immediately, they realized the seat was not built for two people.
"Move over," Sai snapped. "You're taking up all the space."
"There is no space," Desta said flatly. "That is the issue."
As they continued to bicker, a dark opening began to form beneath them.
Neither noticed at first.
Then the seat dropped.
Both of them lurched as the couch-throne plunged through the hole and vanished from the Vault.
As they fell, Sai twisted around and threw one arm into the air.
"Farewell, Father! I'll see you again later!"
For the first time in a long time, Mavnir stepped down from the highest pile of treasure and approached the opening his creations had fallen through. He looked down into it, his expression unreadable.
"Goodbye, my sons," Mavnir said. "Protect one another. You will need to."
The throne-seat drifted through space in absolute silence.
Sai kept arguing for several seconds before he finally realized he could not hear his own voice.
He stopped.
Desta, meanwhile, seemed completely unbothered. There was nothing either of them could do about the size of the seat now.
Sai folded his arms and sulked.
The two of them drifted onward through the dark, cramped together on a seat clearly designed for someone richer and lonelier than either of them.
Eventually, with nothing else to do and nowhere else to look, they let their eyes close.
And little by little, everything faded to black.
Something kept poking Edra.
Poke.
Poke.
Rafael leaned over her, gently jabbing at her arm with one finger.
Rita smacked his hand away.
"Ow."
Rafael pulled back and looked at Edra.
"Did I kill her?"
"I told you to stop poking her," Rita said.
"Sorry. I'm worried, that's all."
Lucienne, standing beside the table, glanced over at him.
"You are worried," she said calmly. "That's okay . She is fine. Unconscious for now."
Rafael turned to her at once.
"What do you mean, for now?"
"I am going to wake her up."
From one of the nearby trays, Lucienne picked up a foggy crystal and held it in her hand.
Rafael stared at it.
"What is that?"
"The solution to the current problem."
"What are you going to do with that?"
Lucienne looked at him.
"I am going to wake her up."
Rafael frowned at the crystal.
"With a rock? Are you going to hit her on the head with it?"
Lucienne's expression did not change.
"No. That would be extremely dangerous."
She lifted the crystal slightly.
"I am going to make her smell it."
Rita and Rafael looked at each other with matching confusion.
She moved the foggy crystal under Edra's nose.
Sniff.
Sniff.
Edra jerked upright with a sneeze and grabbed her nose.
She looked around, dazed.
"What happened? Where am I?"
`"So how was it?"
Rafael had immediately skipped over Edra's near-death experience, still focused on the question he never got answered about the food.
Lucienne sighed.
"Rita, take Rafael out of here."
Rita grabbed his tail.
"Let's go, Rafael. We have to get to the bridge," she said.
"No, not yet. I didn't get an answer."
"No, Rafael," Rita said. "She needs rest."
Rita pulled, but Rafael refused to go. His dark, claw-tipped fingers hooked around the doorframe as he reached one hand toward Edra.
"Tell me."
Edra blinked at him.
"It was something… unexpected."
Rafael let go of the frame at last, defeated, and Rita dragged him away.
Lucienne turned back to Edra.
"He means well," she said. "I think. How are you feeling?"
Her gaze moved over Edra carefully.
"You seemed to have quite the reaction to the food. But according to my diagnosis, you are otherwise fine."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Do you feel all right?"
Edra slowly lowered her hand from her nose.
"I feel like my tongue was violated, and my stomach is holding on for now. I hope," she said.
Then she narrowed her eyes.
"So what is this? The second thing that's happened to me here? First I get shot, then I get poisoned. This has been quite the experience."
"You should focus on the positives of your situation," Lucienne said calmly. "Both of those actions have, technically, benefited you."
She paused.
"And it could have been worse."
Edra stared at her.
Lucienne's expression turned just a little too thoughtful.
"I could have kept you restrained," she said.
"Cut you open. See what makes you what you are."
Edra backed away slightly.
Lucienne blinked.
"Don't worry," she said. "I wouldn't do that to you."
Edra stared at her for another second.
"...Thanks. So who are you people, exactly? What's your job? Why are you here?"
Lucienne folded her hands neatly.
"We are part of L.O.T.U.S.," she said. "Logistics, Observation, Tracking, Utilization, and Survey."
Edra raised an eyebrow.
"So you travel through space looking for new things to understand?"
Lucienne smiled gently.
"In a sense, yes. We travel, we observe, and we preserve what might otherwise be lost... or used to harm."
"So you're good people?"
Lucienne tilted her head slightly.
"I would say we are," she said.
A red light flashed over the room as Rita came rushing in.
"Lucienne, get ready. We're leaving this planet now," Rita said.
"What happened?"
"While Rafael and I were on the bridge, we picked up an unknown ship approaching," Rita said.
Edra raised an eyebrow.
"What's so bad about that? Is this not just some random planet?"
"Quite the opposite," Lucienne said. "This planet is unregistered, and unexplored."
"That's right," Rita said. "No one should be out here. That's why this is bad. Now let's go."
They hurried toward the bridge.
Edra followed close behind.
When they entered, Rafael was already at the helm, preparing for takeoff.
"Good, everyone's here," he said. "Let's get ready for blastoff."
He glanced toward Lucienne.
"Luci, what's the status of the damaged section?"
"Repaired and stable enough for takeoff," Lucienne said.
As everyone moved to their stations and strapped themselves in, a loud bang sounded behind them.
Edra had climbed in after them.
"They should make bigger ships—"
Rita turned sharply.
"What are you doing here? Go back to the med bay."
"We're short on time and need to leave before we meet our new friends," Rafael said.
Lucienne looked at Edra.
"I strongly suggest you hold on to something for the time being, Edra."
"Everyone ready?" Rafael asked. "All right. Taking off in three, two, one—"
The engine roared to life as the ship began to lift.
Edra immediately lost her balance and grabbed a nearby console to steady herself.
"Well," Rafael said, "say goodbye to your home planet, Edra. We're leaving."
"Well, since we're leaving, let me name my planet," Edra said.
"Do that later," Rita said. "We have to go."
The ship broke through the upper atmosphere and entered open space.
Ahead of them, a hexagonal gate opened in space,and another ship began to emerge through it.
"I think we took too long," Rafael said.
He gestured toward the approaching vessel.
A sharp beeping sounded from one of the consoles near Lucienne.
"Captain, we have an incoming transmission."
Rafael straightened.
"Well, put them on. I'd like to meet our new friends."
"They don't look very friendly," Rita said.
"Appearances can be deceiving," Lucienne replied.
Rafael looked at Rita.
"You thought Edra wasn't very friendly before you even got to talk to her."
Rita stiffened.
"I told you to keep that a secret," Rita said.
"Oh. Right," Rafael said. "Sorry."
He looked back toward the console with renewed confidence.
"Well, Luci, put them through. Let's hear what our new friends want. I'm sure this is nothing to worry about."
The screen chimed to life.
At first, there was only darkness.
Rita frowned. "Um… Luci? I thought you said there was a transmission."
"We are connected," Lucienne said. "Everything is functioning properly on our side."
Then footsteps sounded from somewhere beyond the black screen.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Two eyes appeared first.
Then, as the figure stepped closer, four.
Then more.
Not all of them were set where eyes should have been.
Some were half-hidden in the mass of her hair, blinking from between dark strands as if her hair were concealing them rather than framing them.
At last, her full shape entered the light.
She looked almost human.
Almost.
A woman, or something close enough to think of the shape, with too many eyes and diamond-shaped pupils that caught the screenlight like cut gems.
Her voice was empty, yet heavy with purpose
"You have something I need."