Again, no one felt anything, but this time they knew what to look for. Naecia tossed the grippers from her right hand to her left. She removed the diadem and shut down the drive. “That was strange.” She checked the nav. The nearest stellar body was a double star called Effelox Binary some four gilleys distant.

Aptat sauntered to the machine, heels clicking, and patted it reverently. “This technology is worth more than every bar of guush ever forged, you know that?” they said with a wink. “I’m tempted to steal it from you.”

Naecia tried to project a face that treated Aptat’s comment as only a joke, even though she knew there was truth in it.

“Escaping now is a reality, Naecia,” said Aptat, seriously. “I’ll take you back home to Drev for your family. Then we can go anywhere. Far.”

“You’ll take me?” she snarled.

“Poor phrasing.”

Naecia had been so focused on getting the drive to work and on finding the Earth man that she’d failed to consider that she now had a way to safely escape with her family. All she had to do was say the word. So, why wasn’t she?

“I guess I don’t want to leave knowing that an entire swath of the Universe is about to be erased. All the people dying because they couldn’t get away. And how far away would be enough for us to be safe if we did leave? Is it one galaxy over, or ten, a hundred? I don’t like the idea of the Scythin just wiping people out like that. If we have a chance to stop it, shouldn’t we try?”

“And what exactly about your particular experience inculcated you with such noble ideals?” said Aptat.

“You don’t agree?”

“I understand self-interest, darling, in case that hasn’t been made clear to you now across multiple scenarios.”

“You don’t mind knowing that you might have prevented trillions of deaths but chose to do nothing?”

“All of those trillions will die anyway. And there are trillions of others, living in a trillion other galaxies. And that’s just this dimension.”

“Immortality might not be the boon you think it is,” Naecia answered.

“Explain.”

“The Dasma Arm is the place you know. Given enough time, you’ll find yourself in the company of the Scythin again. Or maybe not. But – maybe they’ll trigger the Chime and you’ll cease to exist without knowing why. Maybe you’ll just glimpse the darkness and know in that last moment what had happened – that they’d finally caught up to you. Well... that sounds like torture to me. Living all of those eons and just knowing it was a matter of time until they crossed your path – and that maybe you could have stopped them.”

“Are all Scellans so optimistic? I didn’t think I could be any more depressed, but you’re a real gravity well.”