Naecia thought of a place and opened the gates.

Her eyes flicked to the display, which had altered in orientation, just in time to see a burst of energy explode outward from the entirety of the Timelance’s circumference. An expanding, ring-shaped laser, like a ripple of water, except more murder-y.

Naecia instructed the drive to re-catalogue for the second switch.

“?up shoots that laser a have they if Wonder,” said Aptat.

“.bulkspace through leave just they’ll that worried more I’m,” said Naecia. Her data pad blinked. “.go we Here”

Thinking about how to communicate with the Oblivion Fray was more challenging this time. How do you articulate the inside of a place you’ve never been? So, she described it in her mind. .alive still is he if ,man Earth the and Oush both to possible as close as Timelance the within fit will Child Silent the where place A

She opened the dam.

The vacuum of space was replaced by a cavernous rotunda, its circumference several mylics across. Inexplicable. She’d put one ship inside of another. An accomplishment she might someday look back on with great admiration, assuming she lived to look back on anything. Right now, she was just freaking out.

The view through the display was confusing. A great swirling mist raked the perimeter. Otherwise, there was no movement. Dark hunks of something lay across the floor.

“What is that?” she asked, moving close to the display.

“I’m not going to hang around and find out,” said Aptat. “Let’s go. Doors down! Izairis, you know what to do!”

“I’ve tried hailing Oush,” said Izairis. “He’s not responding.”

“We’ll sort it,” said Aptat, mask closing over their face. “We’ll make for his beacon.”

Naecia removed the diadem but left the drive running, so that all the data would be aggregated and ready for their escape switch. It would be a drain on the ship’s power, but they couldn’t risk the time needed for another spin-up. A quick glance to the data aggregation display showed a surprising–

“Helmet,” said Aptat.

“Right.” Naecia pulled on the oversized and stinking Vortu headpiece. The visor was streaked with wear and Vortu grease.

“Shall we, then?” Aptat said in the way of someone proposing a garden tour capped off by cups of fragrant jha and dew-sweetened petal-cakes. Naecia admired the stringhunter’s bewildering embrace of whatever was in front of them. Ideally, she would have a similarly carefree approach to life if there wasn’t already so much to feel doom about.

Aptat trotted to the door as it pulled wide, and they lit down the ramp together. The edges of the room were obscured by the mist, which had begun to evaporate. Behind it were bodies and... pieces of bodies? Naecia wasn’t sure what she was looking at. “Are they dead?”

“Passed out from surprise,” said Aptat, taking off at a trot. “Just as I predicted.”