The first rule of travelling through interstellar space was simple.
Never trust a ship that described itself as comfortable.
Aryaan discovered this approximately forty-three minutes into their journey to Vardhana Relay.
He was wedged into a seat that had apparently been designed by someone who believed the human spine was an optional feature, while Ron occupied the folding seat above him and complained about his knees every six minutes.
Potter had already declared war on the shuttle’s climate-control system.
Mitchell had threatened to sedate him.
Bonita was asleep.
Riyansh was meditating.
Saiyuki had disappeared.
Lane was looking out of the window.
And Aryaan was beginning to suspect that leaving Mokshabhumi had been a terrible idea.
“Why,” Ron asked from above him, “does this thing have a ceiling seat?”
“Because you’re too tall for the floor seats,” Mitchell said.
“That’s discrimination.”
“It’s engineering.”
“Same thing.”
Potter twisted around in his seat.
“Can someone explain why the ship has six proper seats, one emergency seat and a storage compartment that looks more comfortable than all of them?”
“That is not a storage compartment,” Aryaan said.
Potter looked at it.
A small label was printed beside the opening.
LIFE-SUPPORT EQUIPMENT.
DO NOT OCCUPY.
Potter looked at Aryaan.
Aryaan looked at Potter.
“No.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You were.”
“I was going to ask a purely hypothetical question.”
“No.”
“What if—”
“No.”
Potter turned towards Mitchell.
“Your cousin is becoming authoritarian.”
Mitchell didn’t look up from her tablet.
“Your cousin is becoming annoying.”
“She’s not my cousin.”
“Then I’m especially concerned.”
Ron laughed from above.
The shuttle’s AI interrupted them.
“Arrival at Vardhana Relay in twelve minutes.”
Aryaan straightened.
The humour slowly drained from the cabin.
They had been joking for most of the journey because nobody had wanted to acknowledge what this trip actually meant.
Vardhana was their first assignment.
Not an Academy exercise.
Not a supervised field lesson.
Not a graduation simulation where instructors waited somewhere nearby to intervene if things went wrong.
A real assignment.
Their temporary credentials identified them as junior field investigators attached to the Vardhana Interstellar Survey Guild, with limited authority under the station’s security charter.
The assignment itself sounded harmless.
Investigate the disappearance of a survey vessel.
Determine whether the missing ship had suffered mechanical failure, navigational error, piracy, or an external attack.
Retrieve any surviving crew.
Secure any relevant data.
Report.
Simple.
Too simple, Aryaan thought.
He looked at the mission file hovering above his wrist interface.
The missing vessel was called Pravaha-6.
Eleven crew members.
A survey ship belonging to the Vardhana Guild.
Last known position: forty-seven light-minutes from Vardhana Relay.
No distress signal.
No debris.
No emergency beacon.
No confirmed hostile activity.
The ship had simply vanished.
Aryaan enlarged the last telemetry packet.
The final transmission contained nothing unusual.
A standard atmospheric reading.
A navigation correction.
A brief communication with Vardhana control.
Then silence.
“Anything interesting?” Ron asked.
Aryaan tilted the display so he could see.
“Nothing.”
Ron leaned down from his seat.
“Then why are you making that face?”
“What face?”
“The face you make when something is bothering you.”
Aryaan frowned.
“I don’t make a face.”
“You absolutely do.”
Potter leaned over.
“It’s the same face he makes when he’s trying to solve something and doesn’t want anyone else to know.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“Why would I not want you to know?”
“Because I’m stupid.”
“Self-awareness. Nice.”
Potter grinned.
Aryaan returned to the telemetry.
Something about the last transmission bothered him.
Not the data.
The absence of it.
Survey vessels transmitted continuously.
Even during routine operations, they sent environmental information, navigational corrections, power consumption, and structural diagnostics back to the relay.
The Pravaha-6 had been transmitting normally until the final packet.
Then nothing.
No degradation.
No emergency.
No signal distortion.
Nothing.
“Lane.”
Lane turned.
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Lane moved closer.
Aryaan displayed the final transmission.
Lane studied it.
“It’s clean.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s not unusual.”
“It is for a ship that disappears.”
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
Aryaan expanded the navigation data.
“There should have been at least one automated handshake after this.”
Lane leaned closer.
“There isn’t.”
“Could it have been disabled?”
“Possibly.”
“Could the ship have lost power?”
Lane shook his head.
“Not without the backup system transmitting.”
Aryaan nodded.
Ron leaned down again.
“So you’re saying someone switched the ship off?”
Aryaan looked at him.
“Maybe.”
Ron thought for a moment.
“Could’ve been a really big off switch.”
Potter nodded.
“That’s actually plausible.”
Mitchell finally looked up.
“You two are why civilisation is doomed.”
“Rude,” Ron said.
“Accurate,” Lane replied.
Ron stared at him.
“Et tu, bro?”
Lane returned to the window.
Ron looked at Aryaan.
“Was that French?”
“Probably.”
“I hate smart people.”
Aryaan smiled.
Then the shuttle shuddered.
The cabin lights flickered.
Every person inside stopped talking.
A second jolt followed.
Harder.
Bonita woke instantly.
Riyansh opened his eyes.
Saiyuki appeared from the rear corridor as if she had materialised from the wall.
Potter grabbed his seat.
“What was that?”
The AI responded.
“Minor turbulence.”
Everyone stared at the ceiling.
Ron slowly looked at Aryaan.
“In space?”
Aryaan unbuckled.
The shuttle lurched again.
This time, something struck the hull.
The sound was deep and metallic.
THOOM.
The cabin shook.
“That’s not turbulence,” Mitchell said.
The AI remained calm.
“External impact detected.”
Potter looked horrified.
“I preferred turbulence.”
A warning flashed across every available display.
MICRO-METEOROID IMPACT.
Aryaan looked at the window.
A bright fragment streaked past.
Then another.
Then another.
The pilot’s voice came over the intercom.
“Brace.”
The entire shuttle dropped.
Ron screamed.
Not a dignified scream.
Not even a particularly human scream.
It was the sound of a person discovering that gravity was an extremely personal insult.
Potter shouted something that was probably a prayer.
Mitchell grabbed the seat in front of her.
Bonita simply closed her eyes.
Riyansh planted his feet.
Saiyuki disappeared again.
Aryaan felt his stomach rise into his throat.
The shuttle twisted.
Outside the window, the stars became lines.
Then the ship suddenly stabilised.
Everyone remained frozen.
The AI announced:
“Course correction complete.”
Ron slowly lifted his head.
“Whoever designed this thing needs to catch these hands.”
Potter breathed heavily.
“I saw my ancestors.”
Bonita opened one eye.
“You don’t know your ancestors.”
“I saw someone.”
“Probably the emergency exit.”
The shuttle’s AI spoke.
“Additional impact detected.”
The cabin went silent again.
Aryaan’s wrist display lit up.
A new message appeared.
EXTERNAL OBJECT ATTACHED TO HULL.
His stomach tightened.
“That’s not a meteor.”
The lights went red.
The pilot shouted:
“Boarding clamps!”
Something slammed against the shuttle.
Metal screamed.
The emergency doors locked.
A mechanical voice announced:
UNAUTHORISED DOCKING ATTEMPT.
Aryaan stood.
“Everyone up.”
Ron dropped from the ceiling seat.
“Why?”
“Because we’re being boarded.”
That got everyone moving.
Riyansh rolled his shoulders.
Potter pulled his gloves on.
Mitchell activated the protective field woven into her jacket.
Bonita drew a compact blade.
Saiyuki’s hands disappeared into her sleeves.
Lane simply stood.
Aryaan felt the familiar warmth begin to rise from the base of his spine.
Not enough to awaken the deeper channels.
Not enough to attempt anything reckless.
Just enough.
His Kundalini responded.
The world sharpened.
Sounds became distinct.
The vibration of the hull.
The hiss of air circulation.
The tiny electrical pulses running through the ship.
The heartbeat of everyone around him.
His own heartbeat was too fast.
He forced it down.
His AI spoke softly.
“Your neural activity is increasing.”
“Not now.”
“Understood.”
The ship’s side door flashed red.
Potter looked at Aryaan.
“Plan?”
“Don’t let them in.”
“Brilliant.”
“I know.”
“Any details?”
“Not yet.”
“Excellent leadership.”
The door exploded inward.
The first figure came through.
Armoured.
Human-shaped.
Helmeted.
Holding a compact pulse weapon.
Aryaan moved.
He didn’t think.
He simply reacted.
The world slowed.
Not completely.
Never completely.
That was the mistake he had made before.
Instead, his temporal perception caught a fraction of a second.
Enough.
He saw the weapon rising.
He saw the finger tighten.
He saw the direction of the shot before it was fired.
Aryaan moved sideways.
The pulse struck the wall.
Lane was already there.
His fist hit the intruder’s wrist.
The weapon flew.
Riyansh charged.
His shoulder struck the armoured figure and sent them crashing against the opposite wall.
Potter kicked the weapon beneath a seat.
“Nice!”
A second intruder entered.
Then a third.
The cabin erupted.
Mitchell threw a short-range kinetic pulse.
The first attacker stumbled.
Bonita moved past her, dropped low, and swept the legs out from under another.
Saiyuki appeared behind the third.
The attacker turned.
Too late.
Her elbow struck the side of the helmet.
The figure dropped.
Ron stared.
“Okay.”
Another attacker entered.
Ron ducked.
The figure’s fist passed over his head.
Ron swung wildly.
His punch missed.
He stumbled.
The attacker grabbed his jacket.
“Uh-oh.”
The armoured figure pulled him forward.
Ron slammed his forehead into the helmet.
CLANG.
Ron recoiled.
“Ow!”
The attacker remained standing.
Ron looked offended.
“That’s actually cheating.”
The attacker raised their fist.
Lane appeared beside Ron.
His kick struck the attacker’s knee.
The armour absorbed most of the impact, but the leg buckled.
Ron grabbed the figure.
“Thanks.”
Lane looked at him.
“You’re welcome.”
Ron blinked.
“Was that sarcasm?”
“Yes.”
“I knew it.”
Aryaan saw another attacker moving behind them.
He reached out.
His temporal sense flickered.
The future fractured.
Three possibilities.
In one, the attacker shot Potter.
In another, Mitchell was struck.
In the third—
Aryaan stepped forward.
“Down!”
Potter dropped.
Aryaan’s hand snapped upward.
The air distorted.
For an instant, the projectile seemed to slow.
Aryaan’s vision blurred.
Pain shot behind his eyes.
He gritted his teeth.
The projectile veered.
It struck the ceiling.
Potter looked up.
Then at Aryaan.
“Did you just—”
“Move!”
Potter moved.
The attacker charged.
Aryaan ducked beneath the first strike and drove his elbow into the armour.
It hurt.
A lot.
He felt the impact travel up his arm.
The armour was stronger than he expected.
The attacker swung again.
Aryaan caught the wrist.
His body screamed.
He had underestimated the opponent.
That was becoming a habit.
The attacker twisted.
Aryaan’s shoulder nearly dislocated.
Then Riyansh hit them from the side.
The armoured figure flew across the cabin.
Potter stared.
“Okay, remind me never to annoy him.”
Riyansh smiled.
“You’ve already annoyed me.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t sure if you remembered.”
The shuttle lurched again.
Everyone stumbled.
Aryaan grabbed the nearest support.
The pilot’s voice came through.
“We have another problem.”
Potter looked towards the cockpit.
“Could there be fewer problems?”
“No.”
The pilot stumbled backwards.
Blood ran down his forehead.
Aryaan’s expression changed.
“What happened?”
“Navigation system compromised.”
“Can you control the ship?”
“Barely.”
The pilot pointed towards the display.
“We’re being pulled off-route.”
Aryaan looked.
The shuttle’s trajectory had changed.
Vardhana Relay was no longer ahead.
Something else was drawing them away.
Ron looked over his shoulder.
“By what?”
The pilot shook his head.
“Unknown.”
Aryaan looked at the captured attackers.
Then at the navigation display.
Then at the final telemetry of the Pravaha-6.
His stomach dropped.
The same coordinates were appearing.
The attackers weren’t trying to hijack them.
They were trying to bring them somewhere.
Aryaan’s AI spoke.
“Coordinate correlation detected.”
“Show me.”
A three-dimensional projection appeared.
A point in space.
Forty-seven light-minutes from Vardhana.
The exact location where the Pravaha-6 had disappeared.
Aryaan stared.
Ron walked beside him.
“That’s where the missing ship vanished.”
“Yes.”
Potter came closer.
“That’s probably bad.”
Aryaan nodded.
“Very.”
The shuttle accelerated.
Vardhana Relay appeared on the horizon nine minutes later.
It was not a city like Mokshabhumi.
It wasn’t designed to be one.
Vardhana had been built around an enormous docking ring positioned beside a fractured asteroid.
The asteroid itself had been hollowed out and reinforced over generations, turning it into a station that served as a military checkpoint, commercial port, research centre and frontier settlement.
Thousands of ships came through it every day.
Cargo vessels.
Survey ships.
Private craft.
Military transports.
Mining haulers.
Diplomatic vessels.
And ships that nobody asked too many questions about.
The station’s exterior was scarred from centuries of micrometeorite impacts.
Massive docking arms extended from the ring.
Defence platforms floated at strategic intervals.
Large cargo mechs moved between vessels.
Some were humanoid.
Others resembled enormous mechanical insects.
A few were nothing more than floating industrial platforms carrying containers the size of buildings.
As their shuttle approached, Ron pressed his face against the window.
“Okay.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“What?”
“That is actually cool.”
Potter moved beside him.
“See? I told you frontier stations were better.”
“You said they were full of pirates.”
“They can be both.”
The shuttle entered the docking corridor.
Their AI established communication.
VARDHANA CONTROL REQUESTS IDENTIFICATION.
Aryaan transmitted their temporary credentials.
A pause followed.
Then:
WELCOME, JUNIOR INVESTIGATORS.
Ron frowned.
“That sounds ominous.”
Potter nodded.
“Everything sounds ominous when an AI says it.”
The shuttle docked.
The doors opened.
The smell hit them first.
Oil.
Metal.
Food.
Hot machinery.
And something that Aryaan couldn’t identify.
Vardhana smelled alive.
Mokshabhumi had been clean.
Controlled.
Filtered.
Vardhana was chaotic.
A mechanic shouted at a loader.
A child ran past carrying a glowing toy.
Two merchants argued over a shipment.
A group of miners emerged from a pressure chamber covered in dust.
A mechanical dog barked at Potter.
Potter barked back.
The dog froze.
Potter froze.
Mitchell covered her face.
“Please tell me you didn’t just bark at a machine.”
“It barked first.”
The mechanical dog barked again.
Potter responded.
Ron joined in.
Bonita walked away.
“I’m not with them.”
Aryaan followed.
“Good decision.”
The station’s security officer was waiting at the end of the docking corridor.
She was a tall woman with dark skin, a shaved head, and a mechanical left arm.
Her uniform carried the insignia of the Vardhana Survey Guild.
She looked at the eight.
Then at the shuttle.
Then at the unconscious attackers being carried out by security drones.
Then back at the eight.
“You’re the Academy graduates.”
Aryaan nodded.
“Yes.”
She looked at Ron.
Then Potter.
Then Riyansh.
Then Lane.
Then the others.
“Which one of you is responsible for this?”
Every hand pointed at someone else.
The officer stared.
Potter pointed at Ron.
Ron pointed at Potter.
Ron then pointed at Aryaan.
Aryaan pointed at Potter.
Mitchell pointed at everyone.
The officer sighed.
“I already hate this assignment.”
Potter smiled.
“Nice to meet you too.”
Her mechanical arm flexed.
Potter’s smile vanished.
“Respectfully.”
She stared at him.
Then she smiled.
“Captain Kavya Sen.”
Aryaan nodded.
“Aryaan.”
“I know.”
That caught him.
“How?”
Kavya turned.
“Because you’re the reason half the intelligence division is currently pretending not to be interested in Vardhana.”
Aryaan stopped.
Ron looked at him.
“Bro.”
Aryaan ignored him.
Kavya started walking.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“Briefing room.”
“Shouldn’t we interrogate the attackers?”
Kavya stopped.
“Already done.”
Aryaan frowned.
“And?”
“They aren’t talking.”
Potter raised his hand.
“Can I try?”
“No.”
“Fair.”
Kavya continued.
“Their equipment is civilian-grade.”
Aryaan frowned.
“They attacked an interstellar shuttle wearing combat armour.”
“Exactly.”
“Then why civilian equipment?”
“Because someone didn’t want us to identify where they came from.”
Aryaan glanced at the security drones.
“Who are they?”
“That’s what you’re here to find out.”
They entered the main station.
Vardhana opened around them.
The central corridor was enormous.
Cargo moved along magnetic tracks above their heads.
Transparent walkways crossed between buildings.
People moved in every direction.
A group of performers projected enormous holographic animals above a market.
A vendor sold fried lotus-root chips.
Ron stopped.
Aryaan grabbed his shoulder.
“No.”
Ron stared at the food.
“You don’t know what it is.”
“I know it’s glowing.”
“That means it’s fresh.”
“It means it’s radioactive.”
The vendor shouted something in a language Aryaan didn’t understand.
Ron’s AI translated.
“He says you’re insulting his cuisine.”
Ron looked at Aryaan.
“See? Cultural sensitivity matters.”
“You were about to eat glowing food.”
“That’s not relevant.”
Kavya looked over her shoulder.
“Do not eat anything that glows.”
Ron looked betrayed.
“You too?”
“Especially you.”
They reached the briefing room.
A large holographic model of the surrounding region appeared.
Kavya expanded the map.
The missing ship appeared.
“Pravaha-6 disappeared here.”
A point lit up.
“Your shuttle was attacked here.”
A second point appeared.
The two locations were separated by less than three light-minutes.
Aryaan leaned forward.
“They were waiting for us.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kavya looked at him.
“That is the question.”
Aryaan studied the map.
“What was Pravaha-6 carrying?”
Kavya’s expression changed.
“Nothing.”
Aryaan frowned.
“Nothing?”
“Officially.”
“Unofficially?”
Kavya activated another file.
A cargo manifest appeared.
Scientific instruments.
Environmental scanners.
Geological probes.
One restricted container.
Aryaan pointed.
“What was that?”
“Unknown.”
“Who authorised it?”
“Professor Ishaan.”
Aryaan froze.
The room went quiet.
Ron looked at him.
Potter’s expression changed.
Aryaan looked back at Kavya.
“Which Ishaan?”
Kavya frowned.
“You know him?”
Aryaan didn’t answer immediately.
Ishaan.
Devdutt’s brother-in-law.
His mentor.
Someone who had worked closely with their parents.
Someone who had been in the room when Aryaan’s father’s final recording had been shown.
Someone who was now listed as the person who authorised the restricted cargo aboard the missing vessel.
Aryaan looked at the manifest again.
“Where is Ishaan?”
Kavya shrugged.
“On Mokshabhumi.”
Aryaan’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“When did you last verify that?”
Kavya stared at him.
“Three days ago.”
Aryaan’s AI quietly highlighted something.
A metadata timestamp.
The cargo authorisation had been approved four days ago.
The day before they left Mokshabhumi.
Aryaan felt the pieces shift.
Not enough to form a picture.
Just enough to make him uncomfortable.
Then Kavya said:
“We found something else.”
She changed the display.
A photograph appeared.
The image showed the wreckage of a small vessel.
Its hull had been torn open.
No explosion.
No impact crater.
It had been peeled apart.
Aryaan leaned closer.
“What happened?”
“That’s what we don’t know.”
“Where was it found?”
Kavya pointed.
The location appeared.
Aryaan recognised it immediately.
It was near the same coordinates where the Pravaha-6 had disappeared.
Potter leaned closer.
“What’s that?”
Aryaan zoomed in.
There was a mark on the wreckage.
A handprint.
Not human.
Not mechanical.
A series of elongated grooves surrounded the palm.
Riyansh frowned.
“Could be claws.”
Bonita shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Look at the pressure.”
She enlarged the image.
The grooves had cut through the hull.
But the metal had not bent around them.
It had melted.
Mitchell stared.
“Heat?”
“No.”
Aryaan looked closer.
The edges of the mark were crystalline.
“Resonance.”
Kavya looked at him.
“You recognise it?”
“No.”
That was technically true.
He had never seen the mark before.
But his body recognised something about it.
A pressure behind his eyes.
A faint vibration in his spine.
His Kundalini responded.
Aryaan immediately suppressed it.
Pain flashed across his temples.
He gripped the table.
Lane noticed.
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
Lane looked at him.
Aryaan gave him a look.
Lane didn’t argue.
He simply moved closer.
Kavya hadn’t noticed.
She was still examining the image.
“We found the wreckage six hours ago.”
“Why wasn’t it reported?”
“It was.”
“Then why isn’t it in the public registry?”
Kavya looked at him.
“Because the people who found it are dead.”
Silence.
Ron stopped smiling.
“What?”
“Four independent salvage workers found the wreckage.”
Kavya brought up their records.
“Three died within six hours.”
Aryaan’s eyes narrowed.
“Cause?”
“Cardiac arrest.”
“Three people?”
“Yes.”
“Fourth?”
“Missing.”
Potter swallowed.
“Okay.”
For once, there was no joke.
Kavya closed the file.
“That is your assignment.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“Find the fourth salvage worker.”
“Alive if possible.”
“And investigate the wreckage.”
“Yes.”
“And the missing survey ship.”
“Yes.”
Aryaan nodded.
“When do we start?”
Kavya looked at the clock.
“Now.”
The first problem with investigating a mysterious wreck was that mysterious wrecks were usually found in very inconvenient places.
The second problem was that the inconvenient place was often actively trying to kill you.
The third problem was Ron.
“Why is the floor moving?”
Potter looked down.
“Because we’re on a maintenance platform.”
“I know that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
The platform moved sideways.
Ron grabbed the railing.
Aryaan didn’t look at him.
“Stop complaining.”
“I’m not complaining.”
“You’re complaining.”
“I’m communicating concerns.”
Mitchell shouted from ahead.
“Both of you shut up!”
They were descending through a maintenance shaft outside Vardhana.
Their suits were not full spacesuits; the station’s external maintenance zones had temporary atmospheric bubbles, reinforced walkways, and emergency shield fields.
But the wreckage was located beyond the station’s primary perimeter.
They had to leave the protected zone.
Kavya led the way.
Aryaan followed.
Lane stayed behind him.
Riyansh carried the equipment.
Bonita monitored the environmental sensors.
Saiyuki was somewhere above them.
Potter had been ordered not to touch anything.
He was taking the order personally.
Aryaan reached the outer platform.
Beyond it was space.
The sight never became ordinary.
The Milky Way stretched around them.
Stars filled the darkness.
Vardhana’s enormous structure curved behind them.
Beyond the station, the blackness seemed infinite.
Aryaan looked outward.
Somewhere beyond that darkness was Gaia.
Not merely far away.
Not merely another galaxy.
Another Loka.
A world existing in a parallel cosmic layer that could not be measured simply by conventional distance.
Their assignment was nowhere near Gaia.
Yet Aryaan had begun to understand that distance in this universe was not always measured by light-years.
Sometimes it was measured by resonance.
Sometimes by consciousness.
Sometimes by whether something existed in the same Loka at all.
Kavya touched his shoulder.
“Stay focused.”
Aryaan nodded.
They crossed the final platform.
The wreckage floated ahead.
It was small.
A civilian salvage vessel.
Or what was left of one.
Its front section had been torn away.
Kavya’s team attached magnetic anchors.
Aryaan entered.
The interior was dark.
His AI switched to low-light mode.
“Power signature detected.”
Aryaan stopped.
“Where?”
“Forward section.”
He signalled the others.
They moved.
The interior was strangely clean.
No blood.
No bodies.
No loose equipment.
The ship looked as though someone had removed everything useful.
Potter whispered:
“Do you guys feel that?”
Bonita nodded.
“Pressure.”
Aryaan did too.
His skin prickled.
His Kundalini stirred.
He pushed it down.
Not here.
Not yet.
They reached the forward section.
A circular door blocked the way.
Riyansh tried to open it.
Nothing.
Potter examined the control panel.
“It’s dead.”
Mitchell looked at him.
“Can you open it?”
Potter looked offended.
“Obviously.”
“You just said it’s dead.”
“I’m capable of opening dead things.”
Ron whispered:
“That sounds wrong.”
Potter ignored him.
He connected his external AI interface to the panel.
The panel activated.
Potter smiled.
“See?”
The door opened.
Something moved inside.
Everyone froze.
A shape lunged through the opening.
Aryaan reacted.
He reached for the future.
Too late.
Something struck him.
He flew backwards.
His shoulder hit the hull.
Pain exploded across his body.
Ron shouted.
Riyansh charged.
The creature twisted.
It was humanoid.
But not human.
Its body was thin and pale, with elongated arms and dark plates running along its shoulders.
Its face was covered by a translucent membrane.
It moved too quickly.
Riyansh’s punch missed.
The creature seized him.
Threw him.
Riyansh hit the floor hard enough to dent it.
Bonita attacked from the side.
The creature turned.
Her blade struck its arm.
The blade snapped.
Bonita stared at the broken weapon.
“That’s new.”
The creature struck.
She ducked.
Saiyuki appeared behind it.
Her kick connected with the back of its knee.
The creature stumbled.
Lane moved.
His fist struck the creature’s ribs.
This time, the impact produced a sound like breaking stone.
The creature staggered.
Lane stared at his own hand.
Aryaan saw the smallest flicker of surprise in his eyes.
The creature recovered.
It turned towards Lane.
Aryaan felt something change.
His temporal perception opened.
Not fully.
Just enough.
The future divided.
Lane would be hit.
Aryaan stepped forward.
He pushed his power.
The world slowed.
Pain ripped through his head.
He ignored it.
His hand caught the creature’s wrist.
For one instant, Aryaan saw something that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Not the creature.
Not the ship.
A memory.
A forest.
Blue light.
A woman standing beneath an enormous tree.
Sia.
Aryaan blinked.
The vision vanished.
The creature roared.
Its arm twisted.
Aryaan’s grip broke.
Then Ron hit it with a metal equipment case.
CLANG.
The creature froze.
Ron froze too.
He looked at the equipment case.
Then at the creature.
“Okay.”
The creature turned.
Ron took one step backwards.
“I have made a tactical error.”
Potter shouted:
“Run!”
Ron ran.
The creature chased him.
“WHY ME?”
“Because you hit it!”
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT MATTERED!”
Aryaan pushed himself upright.
“Riyansh!”
Riyansh stood.
His eyes had changed.
A faint golden light moved beneath his skin.
He breathed in.
Slowly.
Then he moved.
The difference was immediate.
He didn’t charge.
He didn’t swing wildly.
He stepped.
One movement.
Two.
Three.
His body seemed to become heavier with each step.
The creature lunged at Ron.
Riyansh intercepted.
Their collision shook the ship.
The creature’s arm struck Riyansh’s chest.
Riyansh barely moved.
He grabbed the creature’s wrist.
His muscles tightened.
The golden light beneath his skin intensified.
Aryaan felt something in the air change.
Riyansh had entered a deeper layer of his body-cultivation technique.
Not a full breakthrough.
A temporary reinforcement.
But it had a price.
Blood appeared at the corner of Riyansh’s mouth.
Aryaan saw it.
“Riyansh, stop!”
Riyansh didn’t.
He slammed the creature into the wall.
The hull groaned.
The creature screamed.
Riyansh struck again.
And again.
On the fourth strike, his arm trembled.
The creature slipped free.
It moved towards the open hatch.
Saiyuki threw a blade.
The blade struck the creature’s shoulder.
It stumbled.
Lane moved to block the exit.
The creature looked around.
Cornered.
Aryaan raised his hand.
The creature suddenly stopped.
Its membrane-covered face turned towards him.
For a moment, Aryaan felt something.
Recognition.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Then the creature spoke.
The voice was distorted.
But one word was clear.
“Aryaan.”
Everyone froze.
Aryaan stared.
The creature’s body began to vibrate.
“Wait!”
Too late.
Its chest split open.
A burst of white light exploded through the room.
Aryaan was thrown backwards.
He hit the wall.
His vision went black.
When he woke, he was lying on the floor.
Someone was yelling.
Ron.
“HE’S ALIVE!”
Aryaan groaned.
“Please stop.”
Ron crouched over him.
“Bro, you were dead.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were doing the dead-person thing.”
“What dead-person thing?”
“Not moving.”
Aryaan pushed him away.
“Get off me.”
Ron grinned.
“Welcome back.”
Aryaan sat up.
Pain radiated through his head.
His AI immediately spoke.
“Your neural activity is dangerously elevated.”
Aryaan sighed.
“Of course.”
Riyansh was sitting against the opposite wall.
Blood still stained his lips.
Mitchell was treating his arm.
Lane was examining the creature’s remains.
Or what remained.
Most of the body had disintegrated.
Only the arm remained.
Bonita was staring at it.
“It’s not biological.”
Aryaan looked.
“What?”
Bonita pointed.
“The skin.”
Aryaan crawled closer.
The surface was changing.
The pale flesh dissolved.
Underneath was a lattice.
Metal.
Organic material.
Crystal.
Something else.
Potter crouched beside it.
“That’s a machine.”
Mitchell shook her head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know.”
Aryaan stared.
The creature had called his name.
Not human.
Not boy.
Aryaan.
Someone had known he would be here.
Or the creature had recognised him.
Either possibility was disturbing.
Kavya entered the room.
“What happened?”
Ron immediately pointed at Aryaan.
“He did it.”
Aryaan stared at him.
“You absolute—”
Kavya held up a hand.
“Enough.”
She looked at the remains.
Her face changed.
“You killed it?”
Lane answered.
“It killed itself.”
Kavya stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Potter pointed.
“That’s been the theme of the day.”
Kavya ignored him.
She knelt beside the remains.
Then she noticed something.
A small object had fallen from the creature.
A disc.
Kavya picked it up.
Aryaan immediately recognised it.
Not the exact object.
The shape.
The same type of device that had been found in Devdutt’s quarters.
His stomach tightened.
Kavya activated the disc.
A projection appeared.
A single line.
SEARCH SUBJECT: AARYAAN.
Aryaan stopped breathing.
Ron looked at him.
Potter looked at him.
Lane looked at him.
Nobody spoke.
The projection changed.
A second line appeared.
STATUS: ACTIVE.
Then a third.
LOCATION: VARDHANA RELAY.
Aryaan stared at the words.
The device wasn’t tracking the creature.
It was tracking him.
The screen flickered.
Then one final message appeared.
PHASE TWO COMMENCED.
The projection disappeared.
Aryaan looked towards Kavya.
“What is phase two?”
Kavya stared at him.
“I have no idea.”
Aryaan looked at the others.
For the first time since leaving Mokshabhumi, the search for his parents felt distant.
Something else had found them first.
And whatever it was, it had known exactly where they were going.
The first guild mission had not produced a dramatic breakthrough, but it had exposed several important developments in the kids.
Aryaan had developed a remarkable instinct for reading the immediate future, and his temporal perception was becoming precise enough to influence events rather than merely observe them.
Unfortunately, his mind was advancing faster than his body could comfortably support; every attempt to interfere with an approaching outcome left him with headaches, sensory disturbances, and the growing danger of believing that seeing a possible future meant he was guaranteed to control it.
Lane’s combat ability continued to mature quietly, his movements becoming more economical and his timing increasingly difficult to predict, particularly when fighting alongside Aryaan.
He had not experienced a dramatic breakthrough, but his instincts were beginning to complement Aryaan’s perception in ways that could eventually make the two extremely difficult to fight together.
Ron remained Ron—impulsive, unpredictable, and occasionally incapable of distinguishing courage from a spectacularly bad idea—but his instructors were beginning to notice that his chaotic fighting style contained an unusual instinct for adapting to situations before he consciously understood them.
Riyansh, meanwhile, had demonstrated the first serious signs of his body-cultivation potential by temporarily reinforcing his physical form beyond its normal limits.
The improvement in strength and durability was considerable, but so was the warning attached to it: the blood at the corner of his mouth had made it clear that his body was paying for every step he forced it to take before it was ready.
Bonita’s greatest improvement remained less dramatic but perhaps more valuable; she was learning to notice what everyone else overlooked, whether it was a weakness in an opponent, an abnormality in a physical environment, or a detail that did not belong.
Saiyuki’s mastery of movement and concealment was becoming increasingly dangerous in actual combat, allowing her to appear where an opponent least expected her, while Mitchell was learning to combine her defensive and kinetic abilities with her natural understanding of unfamiliar biology and technology.
Potter continued to behave as though every dangerous situation were an invitation to make a terrible joke, yet beneath the humour his technical instincts and investigative mind were becoming impossible to dismiss.
None of them had reached a level where their abilities could be considered mature.
They were better than ordinary beginners, certainly, and each possessed the beginnings of something exceptional, but they remained young practitioners standing at the bottom of a very tall mountain.
More importantly, their recent experiences were beginning to teach them something no Academy instructor could properly simulate: power was not free.
Every improvement demanded something in return—blood, pain, exhaustion, fear, doubt, or sometimes a wound that could not be seen.
Their instructors would probably have described them as promising.
Their parents might have called them reckless.
Devdutt, if he were being honest, would have called them both.
And somewhere beyond Vardhana Relay, someone had just marked Aryaan as Phase Two.