Nori collapsed to the ground and put her back against the wall, the faint light Nathan had created lit up her face. “Phew, that was a close call.”

“Eew! Eew!” Lana tore the still twisting tendril from her wrist and stomped on it until it stopped moving. “That’s disgusting.”

Nori chuckled, feeling exhausted. “Consider yourself lucky it was just a piece of Warped and not Bulco that got his hands on you.”

“Why?” Lana frowned. “He didn’t seem like a bad guy, even if he was big and kinda scary. Wouldn’t he just let us go?”

Nori shook her head. “Better not risk it. You didn’t hear the stories I did … of what he does to the people who cross him.”

“But he just took down two Warped!” Lana protested. “He’s so strong, he can save us if we just--”

Nori shook her head again. “These kind of guys only look out for themselves. For Bulco, the world coming to an end was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. With no government and no police, it’s the survival of the fittest. And you just saw for yourself how strong he is. He can take whatever he wants and no one can stop him.”

Nathan turned from the doorway and confidently stepped forward into the oppressive darkness. His fingers ran along the wall and lights flickered into life all around them, lighting up the ship’s interior.

Lana’s gaped at him, her eyes wide.

They were standing inside a large, open space. The room was twelve meters wide and twenty in length, with the ceiling nearly ten meters above them.

The three exchanged dazzled looks.

“We’re inside an alien spaceship!” Lana exclaimed.

“We’re inside an alien spaceship,” Nori’s repeated with a curved smile. She stared at Nathan as if seeing him for the first time. “How did you do it?”

Nathan smiled shyly and shrugged.

“He doesn’t really know,” Lana translated. “It’s like he’s acting on instinct.”

Nori shook her head. There was something the two weren’t telling her, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

At the far side of the room was an opening from which more light shone. They crossed the room and stepped through the opening, then looked around in awe. The room they entered was trapezoid shaped and the three walls in front of them were made of giant black screens. What looked like consoles made of light were hovering in the air in front of them. A long crack ran along one of the screens, extending all the way to the floor. Exposed wires in the roof were giving off sparks, but aside from that, the ship looked to be relatively unscathed. There was no sign of life anywhere onboard. They were completely alone.