For the first twelve minutes after leaving Vanta-3, nobody spoke.
It was not the comfortable silence that sometimes settled over the eight when they were exhausted after training, nor the awkward quiet that followed one of Ron’s more spectacularly stupid decisions.
This silence had weight.
It sat between them, occupying the empty seats and the dark spaces of the ship as completely as any living thing.
Beyond the forward viewport, the stars moved.
Mokshabhumi was still far away.
Gaia was farther.
And somewhere behind them, hidden among the rocks of the asteroid belt, Vanta-3 continued to exist with its impossible chamber, its buried mechanism and the secret that had somehow connected the eight of them to a mystery older than any of them had imagined.
Aryaan stared at the navigation display.
The route home was straightforward.
That should have comforted him.
It didn’t.
The map showed the ship travelling away from Vanta-3 along a conventional corridor, with Mokshabhumi marked as the destination.
The ship’s systems were functioning normally.
There were no hostile signatures.
No unexplained energy fields.
No spatial distortions.
Everything was normal.
That was precisely what bothered him.
Aryaan had begun to suspect that normal was simply the universe’s way of hiding things until they were ready to become dangerous.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
The headache was still there.
It had settled into a dull pressure behind his left eye, but every few minutes a pulse travelled through his skull, reminding him that the vision at Vanta-3 had not been free.
He had seen the future.
Or a future.
Or perhaps merely one possible future among thousands.
That distinction mattered.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how to tell which was which.
He looked down at his hand.
It was trembling.
Barely.
Enough that nobody else should have noticed.
Lane noticed.
Of course he did.
Aryaan looked across the bridge.
Lane was sitting near the starboard observation panel, one elbow resting against the armrest.
His face was turned towards the window, but his attention was elsewhere.
Aryaan had known him long enough to recognise the difference.
Lane wasn’t staring into space.
He was listening to it.
That had become increasingly unsettling since Vanta-3.
Aryaan waited.
Lane eventually turned.
Their eyes met.
Neither spoke.
Then Ron’s voice came from the pilot’s station.
“I’m just going to say it.”
Aryaan closed his eyes.
Lane’s expression changed by approximately half a degree.
Potter looked up from the tablet in his hands.
Bonita sighed.
Riyansh muttered, “Don’t.”
Ron turned in his seat.
“Why is everyone acting like I was about to say something stupid?”
Potter looked at him.
“Because statistical probability is on our side.”
Ron looked offended.
“That was one time.”
“Which one?”
Ron opened his mouth.
Stopped.
“Okay, that’s toxic.”
Bonita shook her head.
“Just say whatever you’re going to say.”
Ron pointed at the navigation screen.
“Why are we going home?”
Aryaan looked at him.
Ron spread his hands.
“Think about it. We just discovered that some ancient alien murder machine is connected to Gaia, our parents may have known about it, Devdutt knew we were there before we told him, and some creepy underground thing called us ‘Awakened.'”
He paused.
“Also, apparently my brain did something extremely illegal to physics.”
Aryaan stared at him.
Ron frowned.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you finally said something sensible.”
Ron placed a hand over his chest.
“That’s actually hurtful.”
Potter grinned.
Aryaan looked towards the others.
“Everyone’s exhausted.”
“That isn’t an answer,” Ron said.
“No.”
Aryaan leaned back.
“It isn’t.”
Ron waited.
Aryaan looked at the navigation display again.
“We don’t know enough.”
Potter’s smile disappeared.
“About?”
“Everything.”
That silenced them.
Aryaan continued.
“We don’t know what Vanta-3 was built around. We don’t know what the sphere was. We don’t know why it showed us Earth and Gaia. We don’t know what happened between the Gaians and the Orions. We don’t know why Sia’s family history is connected to it. We don’t know what our parents discovered.”
He stopped.
His fingers tightened around the armrest.
“And we don’t know what Devdutt has been doing all these years.”
That last sentence landed differently.
Nobody joked.
Sia looked down.
Lane glanced towards her.
Aryaan noticed.
He noticed almost everything these days.
That was becoming another problem.
“There’s something else,” Potter said.
Aryaan turned.
Potter held up his tablet.
“I copied something from the laboratory before we ran.”
“You mentioned that.”
“I didn’t mention what it was.”
Aryaan frowned.
Potter activated the display.
A series of images appeared.
The first showed Earth.
The second showed Gaia.
The third showed a planet none of them recognised.
The fourth was a diagram of an energy structure surrounding a planetary core.
At first glance, it looked like a scientific model.
Then Aryaan noticed the pattern.
The lines were arranged in concentric rings.
Not unlike the diagram they had seen at Vanta-3.
“What is that?” Riyansh asked.
Potter enlarged the image.
“I don’t know.”
Bonita leaned closer.
“You copied it without knowing what it was?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a detective.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“A detective can be both.”
Potter swiped again.
A phrase appeared.
CORE RESONANCE FAILURE.
Another.
PLANETARY CODE DEVIATION.
Then:
ORION EXTRACTION METHOD CONFIRMED.
Nobody spoke.
Sia slowly stood.
“Go back.”
Potter looked at her.
“To which one?”
“The last one.”
He did.
Sia stared at the words.
Her expression was unreadable.
Aryaan noticed Lane looking at her.
Again.
There was something between those two that neither of them had decided to acknowledge, and the rest of the group had apparently decided that pretending not to notice was the only thing preventing an unnecessary explosion.
Aryaan almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Sia spoke.
“That’s not a scientific report.”
Potter frowned.
“What?”
“It was written as one.”
“But?”
“It’s a warning.”
The humour disappeared from Potter’s face.
Sia pointed to the words.
“‘Extraction method confirmed.’ That’s not how researchers would record an observation.”
“Then how would they record it?”
“They wouldn’t.”
She looked at Aryaan.
“Someone was documenting what the Orions had learned.”
Aryaan felt cold.
“By observing them?”
Sia shook her head.
“By surviving them.”
The conversation continued for another hour.
They argued over theories.
They rejected most of them.
Then rejected the replacements.
Potter believed the ancient structure beneath Vanta-3 had been constructed by a civilisation that had understood planetary resonance before the Orions weaponised it.
Mitchell thought the structure was older than that.
Bonita believed both were guessing.
Riyansh thought the most important question was whether the thing beneath Vanta-3 could follow them.
That ended the debate.
They checked.
Nothing followed.
For almost twenty minutes, the ship’s sensors remained clean.
Then Lane spoke.
“Stop.”
Ron immediately looked towards him.
“What?”
Lane hadn’t moved.
“Slow down.”
Aryaan turned.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Ron stared.
“That is not a reassuring sentence.”
Lane ignored him.
Aryaan reduced their speed.
The ship continued through the designated corridor.
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s something wrong.”
Aryaan checked the navigation system.
“Everything’s normal.”
“That’s the problem.”
Aryaan looked at him.
Lane stood.
“Give me the map.”
Aryaan transferred the route to the central display.
Lane stared at it.
Then he pointed.
“There.”
Aryaan frowned.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Exactly.”
Lane zoomed into the route.
The corridor was supposed to pass through a relatively empty section of the asteroid belt.
Lane placed his finger against the display.
“This distance is wrong.”
Potter looked over.
“By how much?”
Lane shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“That is becoming a recurring theme.”
Lane ignored him.
He stared at the map.
“The distance between these two points should be shorter.”
Aryaan checked the navigational calculations.
The computer disagreed.
Lane’s expression tightened.
“It’s not the computer.”
“Then what?”
“Space.”
Ron stared at him.
“Space is wrong?”
Lane looked at him.
“Yes.”
Ron nodded slowly.
“Right.”
Potter leaned towards Bonita.
“Do you ever feel like we’re surrounded by people who have completely lost it?”
Bonita didn’t look at him.
“Every day.”
Aryaan recalculated the route manually.
The result matched the computer.
He looked at Lane.
“It’s correct.”
Lane didn’t respond.
“Lane.”
“I know.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Lane walked to the forward viewport.
He stared into the stars.
After several seconds, he said:
“There should be a star there.”
Aryaan looked.
There was nothing.
Only darkness.
“What star?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t helpful.”
Lane’s expression tightened.
“It was there before.”
“Before what?”
“Vanta-3.”
Aryaan stood.
He joined Lane.
The starfield looked perfectly ordinary.
Then his temporal perception flickered.
For an instant, the star appeared.
Bright.
White.
Then gone.
Aryaan’s breathing stopped.
Lane looked at him.
“You saw it.”
Aryaan nodded.
Potter stood.
“What?”
Neither answered.
Potter walked over.
“Guys.”
Aryaan pointed.
“There’s a star missing.”
Potter stared.
“Stars don’t go missing.”
“Apparently they do.”
Mitchell was already at the sensor array.
She ran a scan.
Then another.
Her expression became increasingly confused.
“There’s something there.”
Aryaan turned.
“Where?”
“Exactly where you’re looking.”
“So why can’t we see it?”
Mitchell shook her head.
“Because the light isn’t reaching us.”
Potter stared.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
Mitchell’s fingers moved rapidly.
“The star is physically there.”
“Then why can’t we see it?”
“Because something is bending the light.”
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
Aryaan looked at him.
“Spatial distortion?”
“Maybe.”
Lane moved closer to the screen.
“Not exactly.”
Aryaan waited.
Lane looked at the sensor readings.
“The distance is wrong because the space between us and the star isn’t continuous.”
Silence.
Ron blinked.
“Can you say that in a way that doesn’t make my brain want to leave my body?”
Lane looked at him.
“There is a gap.”
“What kind of gap?”
“A gap in space.”
Ron stared.
“That somehow made it worse.”
Aryaan stepped closer.
“Can you navigate through it?”
Lane’s head snapped towards him.
“No.”
Aryaan nodded.
“Good.”
Ron looked relieved.
Then Aryaan added:
“Can you tell where it leads?”
Lane stared at the display.
His face slowly lost colour.
“Yes.”
Aryaan’s stomach tightened.
“Where?”
Lane looked towards him.
“Back.”
The bridge went silent.
“Back where?” Ron asked.
Lane’s eyes remained fixed on Aryaan.
“Vanta-3.”
They did not turn around.
Aryaan made that decision before anyone could suggest it.
They were not going back.
Whatever was happening, they had already pushed their luck beyond any reasonable limit.
The problem was that the anomaly wasn’t behind them.
It was around them.
The route home began changing.
Not on the map.
In reality.
The ship’s instruments continued to insist that they were travelling towards Mokshabhumi.
But the stars outside were wrong.
They had seen the same cluster twice.
A red giant appeared on the port side.
Twenty minutes later, it appeared again.
The same position.
The same brightness.
The same three smaller stars beside it.
Potter noticed first.
He said nothing.
Then he quietly placed a marker on the navigation display.
Twenty minutes later, the marker appeared ahead of them.
Potter stared.
He looked at Aryaan.
Aryaan already knew.
“That’s impossible,” Potter said.
Aryaan didn’t answer.
“It’s the same star.”
“I know.”
“Then we’ve gone in a circle.”
“No.”
Potter frowned.
“That’s literally what happened.”
Aryaan pointed towards the display.
“The ship hasn’t changed course.”
Potter stared at him.
Aryaan continued.
“The ship is travelling in a straight line.”
Potter’s face tightened.
“But we’re returning to the same point.”
Aryaan looked through the viewport.
“Which means the straight line isn’t straight anymore.”
The words made everyone uncomfortable.
Sia slowly sat down.
“What did Devdutt say?”
Aryaan turned.
“What?”
“About the loop.”
Aryaan’s expression changed.
Sia continued.
“You said your parents left a message about a loop.”
Aryaan nodded.
“They never explained it.”
“What exactly did they say?”
Aryaan hesitated.
Ron looked at him.
“You’ve never told us the whole thing.”
Aryaan glanced at him.
Ron didn’t smile.
For once, he wasn’t being careless.
He was asking seriously.
Aryaan looked down.
The message had been replayed so many times in his mind that he could still hear every word.
His father’s face had appeared first.
Older than Aryaan remembered.
Tired.
But smiling.
His mother had stood beside him.
The recording had been short.
Too short.
Aryaan, if you’re seeing this, then something has happened that we cannot explain safely.
His father’s voice.
Do not look for us.
His mother had interrupted.
Please.
Then his father had continued.
You must understand that this is not abandonment.
It is protection.
A pause.
Then:
If you begin searching, you will eventually find a door.
Aryaan remembered his father’s expression.
Fear.
Real fear.
Do not open it.
The recording had ended.
Aryaan had never accepted it.
Because parents did not send messages like that if they expected their child to believe they were dead.
They sent them when they wanted the child to believe they were alive.
And Aryaan had believed exactly that.
He had built his life around it.
He had searched.
The others had searched with him.
Every guild contract.
Every dangerous expedition.
Every piece of work that brought them closer to unexplored systems.
They had told people they were gaining experience.
They had told the Academy they were developing practical skills.
They had told themselves they were learning about the wider universe.
But the truth was simpler.
They were looking for their parents.
Aryaan finally spoke.
“They said there was a door.”
Sia’s eyes narrowed.
“What kind?”
“They didn’t say.”
“Did they mention Gaia?”
“No.”
“Or Vanta-3?”
“No.”
“Or the Orions?”
Aryaan shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Sia looked towards the stars.
“Then why did Devdutt know?”
Nobody had an answer.
The ship’s emergency system activated.
SPATIAL ANOMALY DETECTED.
Aryaan stood.
“What now?”
The computer continued.
NAVIGATION FAILURE.
Ron looked at him.
“We’re going to crash, aren’t we?”
“No.”
PRIMARY NAVIGATION OFFLINE.
Ron looked at him again.
Aryaan frowned.
“Probably.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
The ship lurched.
Everyone grabbed something.
Aryaan slammed against the console.
Riyansh caught Bonita.
Potter grabbed Mitchell.
Sia’s wings opened instinctively.
Lane remained standing.
Aryaan noticed.
“Lane!”
Lane’s eyes were fixed ahead.
“Something’s coming.”
“What?”
Lane pointed.
Aryaan looked.
Nothing.
Then the stars warped.
A vessel emerged.
It appeared suddenly, as though it had been hiding inside the darkness itself.
It was large.
Not a conventional military ship.
Not an interstellar transport.
Its structure was narrow and elongated, with a central spine surrounded by six rotating rings.
No visible engines.
No obvious weapon systems.
No markings.
Ron stared.
“That thing looks expensive.”
Potter looked at him.
“That’s your concern?”
“I’m trying to find something positive.”
The vessel moved.
Not towards them.
Across them.
For a moment, it seemed to pass through their ship.
Everyone froze.
Nothing happened.
Then the vessel appeared behind them.
Mitchell’s face changed.
“It isn’t a vessel.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“What?”
“It’s a projection.”
Lane shook his head.
“No.”
Aryaan turned.
Lane’s eyes were fixed on the object.
“It has mass.”
“Then what is it?”
Lane didn’t answer.
Sia suddenly stood.
“That’s a Dracodian design.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
She moved closer.
“But the shape is similar.”
Lane looked at her.
Sia noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She frowned.
“You keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking at me like you want to say something and then deciding against it.”
Lane’s face became expressionless.
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“No.”
Sia folded her arms.
“Yes.”
Lane looked away.
Sia stared at him.
Aryaan watched them.
Ron leaned towards him.
“This is actually painful.”
Aryaan whispered:
“Be quiet.”
“I’m trying.”
“You’re failing.”
Ron sighed.
The tension between Lane and Sia had become something of a strange living organism, fed equally by attraction and stubbornness.
Neither wanted to admit it.
Neither wanted the others to notice.
Unfortunately, both were terrible at hiding it.
Especially when Sia was angry.
Especially when Lane was worried.
And particularly when the two conditions happened simultaneously.
Sia turned away.
Lane watched her.
Aryaan noticed that too.
He almost said something.
Then remembered that he valued his life.
The mysterious vessel transmitted.
Every display went black.
A voice emerged.
Female.
Calm.
Ancient.
Identify yourselves.
Aryaan stepped towards the communication console.
“This is an independent survey vessel operating under Academy authority.”
Ron stared at him.
Potter looked impressed.
Aryaan continued.
“We encountered a navigational anomaly and are requesting passage through the affected region.”
Silence.
Then:
You are not Academy personnel.
Aryaan frowned.
“We are graduates-in-training.”
You are children.
Ron raised his eyebrows.
Aryaan ignored him.
“We are capable of handling ourselves.”
Lane looked at him.
Sia muttered:
“That’s debatable.”
Aryaan glanced at her.
She smiled innocently.
The voice returned.
You carry the resonance.
Everyone went still.
Aryaan felt something inside him tighten.
“What resonance?”
You know.
“No.”
A pause.
One of you knows.
Aryaan looked at the others.
Nobody spoke.
The voice continued.
The Dragon-blood carries memory.
Sia froze.
The spatial one carries the road.
Lane’s face hardened.
The temporal one carries the wound.
Aryaan felt his headache intensify.
The body carries the vessel.
Riyansh clenched his jaw.
The tracker carries the thread.
Bonita stared.
The observer carries the pattern.
Potter’s expression changed.
The adaptive carries the change.
Mitchell’s pupils narrowed.
Then:
And the fool carries the choice.
Everyone turned towards Ron.
Ron stared back.
“What?”
Potter slowly raised a hand.
“I would like to formally object to this classification.”
Ron pointed at him.
“Thank you.”
Aryaan stared at the communication screen.
“What are you?”
The voice didn’t answer.
Aryaan tried again.
“Who are you?”
This time, the response came immediately.
Someone who remembers your parents.
Aryaan’s world stopped.
He moved towards the screen.
“Where are they?”
Ron stood.
Lane’s attention sharpened.
Sia looked at Aryaan.
The voice remained silent.
Aryaan’s hands tightened.
“Where are my parents?”
The answer came.
Alive.
Aryaan stopped breathing.
The word struck him harder than any blow.
Alive.
For years, that had been the belief he had refused to surrender.
But hearing it from someone else was different.
It was proof.
Or bait.
Aryaan forced himself to remain calm.
“Where?”
Not here.
“Where?”
**Beyond the road.”
“What road?”
The ship shook.
The strange vessel began moving away.
Aryaan rushed towards the viewport.
“Wait!”
The voice came one final time.
Do not follow the road you see.
Aryaan stared.
“Why?”
The vessel disappeared.
The stars returned.
The navigation system restarted.
The route to Mokshabhumi appeared.
Straight.
Simple.
Normal.
Aryaan stared at it.
Lane walked beside him.
“That’s not the route.”
Aryaan nodded.
“I know.”
Lane looked towards the display.
“Then why is it showing it?”
Aryaan stared.
Because something was wrong.
The navigation route was not pointing towards Mokshabhumi.
It was pointing towards Gaia.
They argued.
Not politely.
Not intelligently.
They argued like eight exhausted young people who had spent the last several hours discovering that the universe was apparently determined to kill them.
“We’re not going to Gaia,” Aryaan said.
Ron stared at him.
“That’s exactly what the map says.”
“I know.”
“Then we’re not following the map?”
“No.”
“Cool.”
Ron sat down.
Potter looked at Aryaan.
“Why not?”
“Because the voice told us not to follow the road we see.”
Bonita frowned.
“Then why did the route change?”
“Because someone wants us to follow it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Potter folded his arms.
“You’re making decisions based on a warning from an unknown entity.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“And you’re suggesting we trust a route that appeared after an unknown entity warned us not to follow it?”
Potter paused.
“Okay.”
He pointed at Aryaan.
“That’s annoyingly reasonable.”
Aryaan looked at Lane.
“What do you think?”
Lane stared at the map.
“I think the route isn’t real.”
Aryaan nodded.
Sia looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because space doesn’t work that way.”
Sia raised an eyebrow.
“That’s your scientific explanation?”
“No.”
Lane pointed.
“The route appears straight.”
“Yes.”
“But the stars aren’t moving correctly.”
Aryaan frowned.
Lane continued.
“It’s not a route.”
“Then what is it?”
“A projection.”
Aryaan stared at the map.
The line connecting their ship to Gaia looked ordinary.
But now he saw it.
The path did not actually pass through space.
It passed around it.
Like a thread pulled through a piece of fabric.
The route wasn’t leading to Gaia.
It was bypassing something.
Aryaan’s headache pulsed.
His vision blurred.
He saw the route again.
But this time, he saw another path beneath it.
A darker one.
It went elsewhere.
Somewhere beyond Gaia.
Somewhere beyond the normal star maps.
He saw a world.
Black oceans.
Golden clouds.
A city carved into the side of a mountain.
And a figure standing on a balcony.
Aryaan blinked.
Gone.
“Where did it lead?” Lane asked.
Aryaan looked at him.
“How did you know?”
“You stopped breathing.”
Aryaan stared.
Lane shrugged.
“It’s becoming noticeable.”
Aryaan almost laughed.
“Beyond Gaia.”
Lane’s expression changed.
“To where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then we’ll find out.”
Aryaan turned sharply.
“No.”
Lane’s eyes hardened.
“You’re not deciding this alone.”
“I didn’t say I was.”
“You were about to.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“Lane, we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
“Neither did our parents.”
“Exactly.”
Lane stepped closer.
“They went looking.”
“And disappeared.”
“Which means they found something.”
Aryaan’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know that.”
“Neither do you.”
The words hit harder than Lane probably intended.
Aryaan’s expression changed.
Lane saw it.
For a moment, regret crossed his face.
Then pride buried it.
Aryaan turned away.
“Fine.”
Lane stared.
Aryaan looked at the others.
“We go home.”
Ron blinked.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“But—”
“We go home, we find out what Devdutt knows, we access every Academy archive we can legally access, and we figure out what Vanta-3 was before we go anywhere near Gaia.”
Potter nodded.
“That’s sensible.”
Riyansh nodded.
Bonita did too.
Mitchell looked thoughtful.
Saiyuki remained silent.
Sia looked towards Lane.
Lane was still staring at Aryaan.
He eventually nodded.
“Fine.”
The argument ended.
But the hurt did not.
Aryaan knew it.
Lane knew it.
Neither addressed it.
Not yet.
Hours later, most of the group slept.
The ship travelled towards Mokshabhumi.
Aryaan remained awake.
He stood in the observation corridor.
The lights were dim.
The stars stretched beyond the glass.
He had always liked stars.
As a child, he had once asked his father whether the universe ever ended.
His father had laughed.
Then he had said:
“Everything ends somewhere. The important question is what you find before you reach it.”
Aryaan had not understood.
He did now.
Perhaps too much.
Footsteps approached.
Aryaan didn’t turn.
“Ron?”
“No.”
Sia.
Aryaan glanced at her.
She stood beside him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then she said:
“You hurt him.”
Aryaan knew who she meant.
“Lane hurt me too.”
Sia looked at him.
“That’s not what I said.”
Aryaan sighed.
“He thinks I’m afraid.”
“You are.”
Aryaan looked at her.
Sia’s expression softened.
“So is everyone else.”
Aryaan stared through the glass.
“I can’t afford to be.”
“That’s not true.”
“What?”
“You can be afraid.”
Aryaan didn’t answer.
Sia continued.
“You just can’t let fear decide what you do.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“You sound like someone who has experience.”
Sia smiled faintly.
“My grandmother used to say that courage without fear is stupidity.”
Aryaan glanced at her.
“Ron would be a legendary warrior, then.”
Sia laughed. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
A real laugh.
Aryaan smiled.
Then Sia’s expression changed.
“You should talk to Lane.”
Aryaan sighed.
“Why does everyone keep telling me that?”
“Because you’re both idiots.”
“That seems unfair.”
“It’s accurate.”
Aryaan looked towards her.
“You care about him.”
Sia froze.
Aryaan smiled.
There it was.
A tiny reaction.
Barely visible.
Enough.
Sia’s face hardened.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were going to.”
Aryaan turned back towards the stars.
“Fair.”
Sia stood there for a moment.
Then:
“He cares about you.”
Aryaan’s smile disappeared.
“I know.”
“He’s scared you’ll get yourself killed.”
“I know.”
“And you’re scared he’ll get himself killed.”
Aryaan didn’t respond.
Sia smiled.
“That’s what brothers do.”
Aryaan looked at her.
Lane and Ron were his cousins.
But brotherhood had never been about blood alone.
Sia seemed to understand that.
She turned to leave.
Aryaan stopped her.
“Sia.”
She looked back.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Earlier.”
She knew what he meant.
When Lane had fallen.
When she had caught him.
When she had stood beside him in the chamber.
When the station collapsed.
She had never left him.
Sia looked away.
“Don’t make it weird.”
Aryaan smiled.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She left.
Aryaan remained.
For a moment, he felt calmer.
Then he saw something through the glass.
A star.
Bright.
White.
He stopped breathing.
It was the missing star.
It was supposed to be behind them.
But it was ahead.
Aryaan walked closer.
His temporal perception stirred.
He resisted.
The star flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the light changed.
It became red.
Aryaan’s heart stopped.
The symbol appeared across the glass.
Three lines.
A circle.
Then a message.
Not written.
He heard it inside his head.
THE ROAD IS NOT TO GAIA.
Aryaan stepped backwards.
The message changed.
GAIA IS THE ROAD.
Then:
MOKSHABHUMI IS THE DOOR.
Aryaan stared.
The star vanished.
The glass returned to normal.
He stood alone.
Or thought he did.
Behind him, a voice spoke.
“Did you see that too?”
Aryaan turned.
Lane stood in the corridor.
Aryaan stared at him.
Lane’s face was pale.
“You saw it.”
Lane nodded.
“What did it say?”
Aryaan hesitated.
“Nothing.”
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
“Aryaan.”
“Nothing.”
Lane stared at him for several seconds.
Then walked past.
Aryaan watched him go.
He almost called him back.
Almost told him.
Instead, he remained silent.
It was the wrong decision.
He would understand that much later.
But by then, the consequences would already have begun.
Across the asteroid belt, far from the ship, another vessel travelled through the darkness.
It was not a military craft.
It carried no official designation.
Its hull was old, repaired repeatedly and modified beyond recognition.
Inside, a single man stood before a circular display.
Devdutt.
He watched the projection of Vanta-3.
The ancient station was now silent.
The mechanism beneath it had returned to dormancy.
But the energy signature remained.
Devdutt studied it.
A second figure entered.
His sister.
She had aged differently from him, though the years had not been especially kind to either.
Behind her came her husband.
Devdutt didn’t turn.
“They activated it.”
His sister stopped.
“All eight?”
“Yes.”
Her husband approached the display.
“That shouldn’t have been possible.”
Devdutt’s expression hardened.
“They weren’t supposed to.”
His sister looked at him.
“You knew this might happen.”
Devdutt remained silent.
“Devdutt.”
He finally turned.
“I knew the possibility existed.”
“You sent them there.”
“I sent them to investigate a transmission.”
“You sent eight children to a dead station built over an ancient planetary mechanism.”
“They are not children.”
His sister’s expression sharpened.
“They are your responsibility.”
Devdutt looked away.
His brother-in-law studied him.
“What did the chamber show?”
Devdutt didn’t answer.
“Devdutt.”
He finally said:
“Earth.”
His sister went still.
“And Gaia?”
“Yes.”
“Orion?”
Devdutt nodded.
Her husband looked disturbed.
“Then the seal is failing.”
“No.”
Devdutt turned.
“The seal is not failing.”
He looked at the image of the ancient symbol.
“It is opening.”
His sister stared at him.
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to bring them back.”
Devdutt’s eyes darkened.
“They are already on their way to Mokshabhumi.”
“Good.”
“No.”
She frowned.
Devdutt touched the display.
A second map appeared.
Mokshabhumi.
Beneath it was another structure.
Much older.
Buried deep inside the station’s architecture.
His sister’s expression changed.
“You never told them.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Devdutt stared at the map.
“Because their parents found it first.”
Silence.
His brother-in-law stepped closer.
“What did they find?”
Devdutt finally looked at him.
“The original loop.”
His sister’s face went pale.
“That’s impossible.”
“It was.”
“What happened?”
Devdutt’s voice became quiet.
“They broke it.”
Her husband stared.
“No one can break a nomological loop.”
“Not deliberately.”
Devdutt turned towards the stars.
“But they did.”
His sister whispered:
“And the consequences?”
Devdutt looked at the eight small signatures moving through space.
His eyes lingered on three.
Aryaan.
Lane.
Ron.
Then Sia.
His expression became troubled.
“The consequences are why I have spent the last decade trying to make sure those children never found the truth.”
His sister stared at him.
“And now?”
Devdutt’s jaw tightened.
“Now the truth has found them.”
The ship entered Mokshabhumi’s outer perimeter shortly before dawn-cycle.
The enormous artificial city appeared ahead.
Mokshabhumi.
The city among the stones.
Its vast orbital rings glimmered beneath the artificial sunlight of the station’s central array, while thousands of vessels moved through its traffic corridors.
For the first time since leaving Vanta-3, Aryaan felt something resembling relief.
Home.
Not Earth.
Not the old world.
But home.
Ron appeared beside him.
“Think they’ll let us graduate after this?”
Aryaan looked at him.
“No.”
Ron frowned.
“Seriously?”
“No.”
“Then why did you say it like that?”
Aryaan stared.
Ron grinned.
“There he is.”
Aryaan shook his head.
Ron looked through the glass.
“Hey.”
Aryaan glanced at him.
“Whatever happens…”
Ron stopped.
Aryaan waited.
Ron looked uncomfortable.
It was rare.
“Don’t go doing that thing where you decide you’re responsible for everything.”
Aryaan stared at him.
“What thing?”
“The Aryaan thing.”
“That isn’t a thing.”
“It absolutely is.”
Aryaan smiled faintly.
Ron continued.
“You don’t have to carry everyone.”
Aryaan looked towards the others.
Lane was asleep.
Sia sat several seats away.
Potter and Bonita were arguing quietly.
Riyansh was pretending not to listen.
Mitchell had fallen asleep against the window.
Saiyuki was reading.
Aryaan looked at Ron.
“You’re the last person who should be giving advice about responsibility.”
Ron nodded.
“True.”
Then he smiled.
“But I’m still right.”
Aryaan didn’t answer.
Ron looked back towards Mokshabhumi.
Then frowned.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Is the city supposed to be that colour?”
Aryaan looked.
The lights of Mokshabhumi were changing.
Not gradually.
All at once.
One section went dark.
Then another.
Then another.
The central ring flickered.
Aryaan stood.
“What’s happening?”
The ship’s computer activated.
UNAUTHORISED ENERGY EVENT DETECTED.
Aryaan’s blood went cold.
“Location?”
The answer appeared.
MOKSHABHUMI CENTRAL CORE.
Aryaan stared.
That was impossible.
Mokshabhumi was one of the most heavily protected artificial habitats in human space.
Its central energy core was shielded behind multiple layers of physical, digital, and energetic security.
Nothing should have been able to access it.
Then the display changed.
A symbol appeared.
Three lines.
A circle.
Aryaan’s heart stopped.
Ron whispered:
“That’s the thing from Vanta-3.”
Aryaan nodded.
The ship’s communications opened.
Static filled the bridge.
Then a voice came through.
Not Devdutt.
Not human.
Not Dracodian.
Not anything Aryaan recognised.
A voice that sounded as though several people were speaking at once.
THE DOOR HAS OPENED.
Every light inside the ship went out.
For one second, there was absolute darkness.
Then Aryaan saw it.
Not through his eyes.
Through time.
Mokshabhumi burning.
Thousands of people fleeing.
The central ring breaking apart.
A vast golden light rising from beneath the city.
Lane standing in a ruined corridor.
Ron laughing while everything around him collapsed.
Sia screaming.
Potter holding a blood-covered object.
Mitchell surrounded by shifting energy.
Bonita following a trail through fire.
Riyansh standing alone before something enormous.
Saiyuki drawing her blade.
And Aryaan— standing before a door.
His father’s hand was on the other side.
Aryaan reached towards it.
The voice spoke again.
YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOUR PARENTS.
Aryaan’s heart stopped.
NOW THEY ARE LOOKING FOR YOU.
The vision ended.
The lights returned.
Nobody moved.
Then Lane spoke.
His voice was barely audible.
“Aryaan.”
Aryaan looked at him.
Lane’s eyes were fixed on the display.
A new message had appeared.
Coordinates.
Not for Vanta-3.
Not for Gaia.
Not for any recognised world.
For a location inside Mokshabhumi.
A location Aryaan knew.
His childhood home.
The place where his parents had disappeared.
Aryaan stared at the coordinates.
Ron slowly stepped beside him.
“No.”
Aryaan couldn’t speak.
Ron shook his head.
“No way.”
Lane looked between them.
“What?”
Aryaan finally found his voice.
“The message.”
“What about it?”
Aryaan looked towards Mokshabhumi.
His parents’ home.
The place where the search had begun.
The place they had avoided returning to because it contained nothing except memories and unanswered questions.
The coordinates were exact.
Not approximate.
Exact.
Then another line appeared.
COME HOME, ARYAAN.
The message vanished.
And somewhere deep beneath Mokshabhumi— something answered.
A heartbeat.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Aryaan felt his temporal perception open without permission.
This time, he did not see the future.
He saw the past.
His mother.
His father.
Devdutt.
A younger version of his uncle.
A much younger Lane.
A baby Ron.
And himself.
A child.
Standing in the same room.
Watching his father open a door.
Aryaan’s breath caught.
He had forgotten this.
No.
That wasn’t right.
He had never remembered it.
Yet somewhere inside his mind, the memory had always existed.
His father turned.
Looked directly at the child Aryaan.
And said:
If he ever remembers this, the loop has already broken.
Aryaan screamed.
The vision shattered.
Lane grabbed him.
Ron caught his other arm.
Sia rushed towards them.
Aryaan couldn’t hear them.
He could hear only one thing.
A heartbeat beneath Mokshabhumi.
And then another.
And another.
Not one heartbeat.
Thousands.
The entire city was alive.
And for the first time, Aryaan understood the meaning of the ancient words.
THEY WERE NEVER OUTSIDE IT.
The loop had never been something surrounding them.
It had been beneath their feet all along.
And Mokshabhumi— the city they had called home— was not merely a refuge built among the stones.
It was the door.