Starchildren Options

[Kane]

Two stories at once is a lot for me, so these updates may not be as frequent. I also did not plan on this but a certain young woman in my head refused to be quiet.

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Prologue (May 7th, 2330)
Ebbside, Neon City, Volii Alpha


Andromeda awoke with a start. Somebody was pounding frantically on the door to her sleep crate and had ruined a perfectly deep slumber after a long day of work and even longer night of partying to celebrate her birthday. There was no way in hell it was daylight already which meant she probably left her slate at Euphorika. Again.

The bleary-eyed young woman fumbled in the dark for her glasses while the pounding on her door continued. If whomever it was out there kept it up much longer, she felt like her head would start pounding, too. Having finally fished her glasses off of the cold floor Andromeda slid them on and then clicked her bedside lamp to life. Most of her clothes were strewn about the floor of her metal box, which also explained why she was now so cold.

Two minutes or so later, she was half-dressed, and her nearly decrepit Solstice was clutched tightly in her left hand. Please don’t fizzle out on me now old girl, she thought. Looking down at the worn laser pistol in her hand, she sighed and silently chided herself for never spending any credits on a decent gun. The little pistol had been thrown out for good reason, yet Andromeda had fished out of the garbage anyway and fixed it up in the most half-assed way possible. Each time she squeezed the trigger was just another gamble on whether or not the damned thing would even fire.

This time she prayed to gods she didn’t give a [censored] about that it wouldn’t let her down. And then she finally opened the door.

Andre burst into her sleep crate and slammed the door shut behind him.

“It’s about goddamn time you answered! What the hell took you so long, Dro?”

Andromeda blinked in surprise at the urgency in his voice. She’d known Andre for over six months now, and the man was usually as cool as a cucumber. Even when he drunkenly tried to flirt with her. Andre had taken a courier job for HopeTech on Valo and was reassigned here to Neon City, much to his initial dismay, but they had grown close in the time since. The man was of average height with dark skin and kind brown eyes that sometimes hid behind a mop of unkempt blue hair.

“Slow down, Andre,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”

“No time to slow down. The ‘big deal’ is that your [censored], Dro. Absolutely [censored].”

“Wha -”

“Gather up what you care about the most and stuff it in your bag. Security thugs are closing in already �" I set up a prox alert for when they get within twenty meters.” Andre saw her bag sitting on the floor near the door, grabbed it, and handed it to Andromeda. “Pack! Now!”

“Andre, I am not going to move another goddamn muscle until you tell me what the [censored] is going on!”

“[censored]. Fine. Start packing and I’ll explain while you go.” He waited until a few things had been shoved unceremoniously in her bag before continuing: “Those Ryujin files you hacked yesterday for your anonymous buyer? They were tagged for Bayu’s personal records. Dunno how he tracked you down so quick but if you wanna live to see your twenty-sixth birthday then we need to get you the hell out of this city.”

Her blood froze. Benjamin Bayu. The Administrator of Neon City and possibly the most corrupt man in the settled systems. His fingers crept into every business venture on the planet and the security force was at his beck and call. No one did business in Neon without giving him a cut, and his ruthlessness against would-be competitors was legendary. Everyone who lived in Neon lived comfortably by skirting his brutality.

If she was on his radar at long last, then she had definitely taken the wrong job, pile of credits notwithstanding. Being a Cyber Runner in Neon always ran the risk that Andromeda would one day cross paths with that monster, but she had always been careful about her choice of contracts in the hope of avoiding Bayu. Her luck had finally run out and yet she still was uncertain about leaving the only home she ever knew.

“I can’t just up and leave!” stammered Andromeda, freezing midway through emptying the contents of her wall safe. “My whole life is here! It’s all I’ve ever known!”

“Doesn’t matter. Bayu will have you killed just to make an example - “ Andre ceased talking abruptly at the sound of rapid beeping emanating from his slate. His face took on an unhealthy pallor and he nervously ran his hand through his hair. “Time to go. They got there sooner than I expected.” Andre pulled another slate out of his jacket pocket and gave it to Andromeda. “Here, take this and give it to Doc Manning at the clinic. He’ll give you a short makeover to fool security at the spaceport.”

“Andre, I...” Andromeda was at a loss for words. The sudden shock of what was happening and the thought of fleeing her life �" Neon, Andre, the friends and people she’d grown up around �" was too much. Hot tears fell down her pale cheeks and splashed on the floor of her crate. She raised a hand to brush them away, and then shoulder her bag. “This isn’t over,” she finally said with a firmer resolve than what she felt inside. “Bayu isn’t chasing me out of my [censored] home forever. I’ll come back for all of you, I promise.” Andromeda stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Andre’s cheek. “I promise.”

“We’ll do what we can to clear your name. You need to go. Now. They’ll be here any second. I can keep them occupied for a few minutes but they’ll tell me to get lost before long. Go!”

Andromeda pulled her hood up to hide her vibrant fuchsia hair and fled into the night without another word. The garbled chatter of Neon Security radios echoed up from the alleyway to her right, so she moved silently away from them and ducked into a dark alcove that was still within view of her crate. It was hard to much of anything, but she recognized the dim form of Andre now standing back outside of her door and soon heard him pounding on it once again.

“Yo! Open up, Jen!” Andre’s voice rang out. “Open up!”

Flashlights illuminated and three security goons stood at the ready, their guns trained on her friend. Andre’s hands flew skyward while the nearest guard began to pat him down.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” demanded another guard.

“Damn, take it easy, bud,” said Andre. “My friend lives here and she’s gonna be late for her shift at Generdyne again. Just trying to get her ass on the move!”

“Jen, huh? Yeah, sure pal.” The guard shoved him aside and addressed one of his partners. “What do you got, Reg?”

“Andre Mitarn, known associate of one Andromeda Renault. Courier for HopeTech.”

“Did ya hear that you lying piece of [censored]?” laughed the first guard. “Jen my ass. Where’s the girl?”

“If I knew where Jen was I wouldn’t be here, officer.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, punk. Reg, you know the drill �" get him out of here.”

Andre lowered his hands to leave while Andromeda released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Her friend turned to walk away but Andre only made it a few paces before two sharp cracks rang out through Ebbside. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood while Andromeda watched in silent horror. She shoved her hand in her mouth in a desperate bid to stop herself from crying out.

“Dump that sack of [censored] over the side. The chasmbass will get rid of the evidence for us.”

Two of the security goons forced open the door to her sleep crate and disappeared inside while the third dragged off Andre’s lifeless body and heaved it over the railing and into the churning waters far below. Andromeda slipped away unseen and headed silently for the Neon Core, wiping away the tears as she went. The nearest door to Bayu Plaza wasn’t far, and within five minutes she had stepped through it and darkened her glasses against the garish light that gave Neon City its name.

Every type of store and service imaginable spanned the length of the Core, brilliant neon signs and lights shining down upon everyone who walked the expansive length from Ryujin Tower to the Trade Tower. Even late at night (or early in the morning, as it was now), the walkways were teeming with citizens, tourists, guards, scumbags, and dregs.

Andromeda’s destination was Reliant Medical and thankfully it was only a short distance away. Doc Manning seemed to never sleep and with her life crumbling around her, Andromeda was grateful to see him sitting at his counter.

“Ah, there you are, Dro! Andre warned me you were coming �" c’mon around back and we’ll get you fixed up.” He paused at the signs of grief that had stricken her normally carefree face. “What’s happened? Wait… where is Andre?”

It took everything Andromeda had to not scream in frustration and anger. She settled for kicking helplessly at the front of his counter which only resulted in a stab of pan shooting through her foot. “They [censored] killed him, Joe! Bayu’s security goons iced him without a second thought and threw him over the rails of Ebbside!”

“Bastards,” sighed the Doc. “I keep hoping this city will change some day but I don’t think I’ll ever live to see it. Despite younguns like you fighting back, Bayu’s grip never seems to relent. All the more reason to get you out of here, I guess.” Doc Manning waved her towards the back again and dismounted from his stool. “Go on, I just have to lock up real quick.”

The back room had a small biological modification chair that the doc had somehow procured from one of the Enhance! stores that were peppered throughout the local galaxy. It must have cost a small fortune, but she once again found herself thanking gods she didn’t care about for its existence in the back of the clinic. Doc Manning followed her in a few seconds later and instructed her to take a seat in the chair.

“Okay, so Andre...” Joe trailed off and made a gesture that Andromeda had never seen before. His hand moved across his face in the shape of a ‘T’.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“The cross? It’s from an old-Earth religion that most have forgotten about. I’ll explain some other time. Anyway… so Andre most have been tipped off pretty early and with a good bit of info. Bayu has your name, financial history, work records, and physiological profile; but not your DNA records. We lucked out there. A few cosmetic changes will get you past the spaceport sniffers.”

“Joe, I can’t pay for any of this,” said Andromeda. “All my accounts are probably seized and I have less than two-hundred credits in my bag.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Dro. You’ve already done so much for the hard working people of this city that your friends are lining up behind me to get you safely out of this place.”

Andromeda sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from the box Doc Manning held up to her. She knew it would be a long time until she saw those friends again, and the thought of that hurt more than anything else. Then she laid back in the chair and closed her eyes while the doctor powered up the alteration arms. She knew it would take thirty seconds to a minute for the machine to fully boot, so Andromeda pressed her friend on what would happen next.

“I have another slate from Andre,” he said. “It will transfer enough credits to get you on an outbound freighter, and provide a new identity. But the tricky part will be getting you to the port with perfect timing. We need to have you at the gates just as the ship’s thrusters begin to burn, so that the guards will hopefully rush you through without looking to closely at your records.”

There was lot that could go wrong with that. However, she trusted her friends implicitly and so she closed her eyes again and let the doctor go to work. The procedure was relatively painless, but she did flinch from the occasional needle or sharp prod. Some calibrations to the machine were in order when she returned. If I can return, she thought. Benjamin Bayu had a long memory, and she doubted he would forget about her anytime soon.

Ten minutes elapsed before Doc Manning leaned back on his stool and powered down the alteration arms. He grabbed a mirror from a side table and handed it to Andromeda. The same brown eyes stared back at her, but Joe had completely changed her hairstyle and its color: the long ponytail she had entered the clinic with was gone, and only a small knot was tied up in the back. Instead of fuchsia, her locks were now dyed an incredible opalescent prism of stunning colors, and the strands on the right side of her face fell down past her cheeks while being tucked back tightly on the left side.

She noticed the bare skin of her neck and left cheek and inhaled sharply. “Did you get rid of my tattoos?! Those were really personal to me, Doc!”
“Relax, I just covered them up with some foundation. Keep your hood up a the spaceport or the rain will wash it away and give up the goose. They’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Oh, and leave your piercings here. Those are easily replaceable.”

Andromeda frowned but did as advised. She popped the studs out of her ears and nose, removed the loop from her septum, and slid the barbell out from her nose bridge. Doc Manning collected them all in a small steel pan and then dropped them into a medical waste bin. Andromeda slid out of the modification chair and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for everything, Doc. I’ll be back to repay you some day.”

“I already told you your credit is good, Dro. Just promise me you’ll be careful out there.”

“I’ll try. But you should know better than most that the trouble usually finds me first.”

“That I do!” laughed Doc Manning. “Damn, almost forgot �" lose the glasses, too. I have some lenses for you instead.”

She removed her glasses and chucked them in the bin with her piercings. The good doctor handed her a set of icy blue colored contact lenses and after a couple minutes of struggling, she managed to pop them in to obscure her natural eye color. Another hug for the Doc Manning. Then he tapped a slate to hers and ushered Andromeda out the back door of Reliant Medical. Syndal, her best friend from university and one-time lover waited somberly in the trash ridden alley running behind the shops.

“Time to go, doll,” said her diminutive cohort. “Ship leaves in six minutes.” Syndal was tiny even compared to the slight 1.6 meters Andromeda rose to. The top of her head just barely made it to Andromeda’s nose. She put a hand on the back of Andromeda’s head and pulled her down to a reasonable level, kissing her very briefly on the lips. “For luck,” she explained to Andromeda’s quizzical stare. “Don’t think we’re ever getting back together or anything.”

“Fair enough,” said Andromeda. “Are we taking the main elevator down?”

“Have to. It’s all you have time for. “Let’s go, and try to keep up. Security is swarming the Core for you.”

Andromeda nodded and followed along in Syndal’s speedy wake. It was easy to unobtrusively hang a few steps back and still keep tabs on the impressive length of platinum hair falling past her friend’s hips. It swayed to and fro in the constant gentle breeze flowing through Neon City. The draft was one of many effects of living on massive platform built high above the roiling seas of a water world. A world that Andromeda had never left. Or had ever planned to leave. Those idle thoughts helped keep her features neutral when they stepped back onto the main thoroughfare and snaked their way towards the spaceport elevator.

Neon Security had fallen for the gambit. None of them paid her any mind, despite having her former appearance projected on the inside of their helmet visors. Syndal led her right past squad after squad of the corrupt officers until they reached their destination.

“You’re on your own from here,” said Syndal. “Take the lift down to the port and make a show of rushing, but don’t outright sprint. Play the part of the late departee who is trying to make their flight. The guards down there are a different detachment than the Core goons and generally skew towards being less of an asshole than the ones chasing you up here.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Never was much of an actor but I can do this. I have to do this.”

Syndal slapped her on the ass. “Quit stalling. You’ve got less than two minutes.”

“Right. Bye, Syn. And thank you.”

The elevator doors opened and Andromeda rode the lift down to the docking port. Two guards flanked the it at the bottom but the alterations Doc Manning made to her appearance seemed to have fooled their scanners. She showed them her slate and they told her to get moving else she miss the freighter. Settling for a speedy trot, Andromeda sighed gratefully and flitted down the long catwalk spanning over the ocean below, squeezing her hood tightly to her face. The warm, wind-driven rain splattered against her while she half ran to the ship waiting for its final passenger.

It was an ancient Deimos model that took up most of the landing pad. Bright lights illuminated faded letters above the ramp: The Gryphon. A crew member ushered Andromeda inside with little patience and directed her to a jump seat in the main cabin. Unsure of how the seat worked, her fingers trembled while she tried to strap herself in.

“First time in space, dearie?” A middle-aged woman next to her smiled gently at Andromeda.

“Yeah. I’m scared shitless if I’m being honest.”

“There’s nothing to it.” The kind woman reached over and showed her which buckles went where, and pointed out the safety pouch under the cushion. “Mouth guards in there if you’re worried about biting your tongue off. Once we take off, just keep your mouth closed and you won’t need them.”

Andromeda thanked her, and the woman went back to humming an off-tune key. Voices rang out over the loudspeaker and warning signs began to light up all around them. The entire ship rattled and shook, and the message on the flight console on the wall across from her changed from ‘docked’ to ‘achieving thrust’. Seconds later the engines roared into life and the sudden g’s from massive acceleration pressed Andromeda back into her seat. Unable to move so much as a finger, she closed her eyes and whimpered slightly as the ship gained altitude.

And then the pressure was gone. She opened her eyes and the porthole in the ceiling above revealed the deep black of space, dotted with innumerable points of light blinking back at her from incomprehensible distances. For the second time in as many minutes, her breath had been taken away for very different reasons.

She had done it. She had escaped Neon City and the closing grasp of Benjaim Bayu.

The tears came again anyway. Her life as she knew it was over and she had no idea where things went from here. She didn’t even know where this ship was bound. She was alone among the stars. And then the engines powered down while the grav drive engaged, folded space around the ship, and leapt from the Volii System in a blazing show of cosmic light and energy, carrying Andromeda far way from danger with a dumbfounded expression on her face..

This post has been edited by Kane: Jun 20 2025, 12:59 PM

[Kane]

Twenty Two – Accretion

Plateau, Piazzi II, Piazzi System

The ground, the wonderfully solid ground, never felt so good underfoot as it did when Andromeda alighted gently upon it following a final stabilizing burst from her boostpack. She immediately braced an arm against the steep wall of the mesa while the adrenaline faded and the excitement dissipated. Andreja waited patiently at her side, seemingly no worse for the wear.

“Did you enjoy yourself, Annie? Was it not thrilling!”

“D-did I -” sputtered Andromeda. “No I didn’t enjoy myself, Dre! The next time you and I jump anywhere it better be into a bed. You owe me that tenfold at this point!”

“That can be easily arranged,” grinned Andreja. “But we will discuss that later. Barrett approaches.”

The cloud of dust was near enough for them to spot a small buggy at the front of it, tearing across the dry landscape with ill regard for any stones or other obstacles in its path. Massive black tires suitable for any landscape in the known galaxy jostled up and down over the uneven terrain, and a large laser turret rose from the caged roof of the buggy.

“I didn’t know we had a rover like that,” said Andromeda.

“We?”

“Er, Constellation. You know what I meant.”

Before Andreja could press her any further on that slip of the tongue, the REV-8 skidded to a halt a few paces away and Barrett hopped out with his arms open wide.

“Andreja! And Ms. Renault! What are the odds!”

“Unfathomably low without an influential hand, Barrett,” said Andreja. “How are you? And how are things at the Lodge?”

“Sort of in a lull, since… you know…”

“Since I left?” offered Andromeda.

“Well… yeah.” Barrett made a show of awkwardly kicking his boot in the dirt before gesturing to the buggy with a hooked thumb. “But the gang is back together! How about we hop in and take a ride back to the Frontier?”

Andromeda looked at the REV-8 and the first thing she noticed was the fact that it was a two-seater with a small cargo bed in the back. Piling three adults into it didn’t seem like a great idea, even if one of them was a short stack. Otherwise, she felt a jaunt in it would be a lot of fun, and she’d already begun to wonder where she could buy one of her own.

“Most spaceports sell them,” said Andreja, as if she could read her mind. “They are not prohibitively expensive.” She turned to Barrett questioningly. “Do you have any safety harnesses? If one of us is to ride in the back they will need to be strapped in.”

“Can’t I just sit on your lap?” asked Andromeda.

Barrett’s head swiveled back and forth between them after that comment, and the glimmers of suspicion dawned in the back of his mind. Andromeda winked at him and shot a coy smile to confirm that suspicion. Then she climbed into the back of the REV-8 without another word and used the cargo straps as a rudimentary seat belt.

“Annie, are you sure?”

“I’m the smallest and will feat more easily than you two. Just, uh, take the least bouncy route back you can find, yeah?”

“You got it, cowgirl, er, Dro!”

Andromeda rolled her eyes and slapped the roof of the buggy. “Let’s go!”

* * *

The ride back to Sarah and the dreaded Temple was uncomfortable and long. At least, it felt so to Andromeda bobbing up and down in the back of the planetary buggy. Even through her spacesuit the straps dug into her shoulders and chafed at her skin whenever a particularly large bump tossed her about. The only consolation for her terrible idea of volunteering to ride in the back was being able to watch the stunning sunset as a way to take her mind off things. Well, that and the mounting anticipation that seemed to drown out her initial dread after spotting the Temple.

Something felt different about it this time. Almost like the out-of-place structure called to her.

Barrett hit the brakes with a jolt and the buggy came to a blissful, wonderful, fantastical stop whereupon Andromeda immediately unbuckled herself and leapt to the ground.

“My ass is gonna be sore for a month.”

“There was always my lap,” teased Andreja. “Are you in pain? Can I get you anything?”

“I’ll be fine,” grumbled Andromeda. “Seriously though, we are going back to my home after this. For a couple days at the minimum. Sarah be damned,” she added.

“Aw, come on, it wasn’t that bad a ride, was it?” joked Barrett. Andromeda gave him a withering glare that made him raise his hands defensively. “Say, why don’t I go fetch Sarah? Think she was using the ship scanners to get a read on this thing…”

Barrett disappeared up the ramp.

And the Temple loomed large behind the Frontier.

“Annie?” said Andreja. “Are you feeling okay?”

Andromeda stared at it. All of her trepidation about the Temple had evaporated during the trip over. Instead, she felt a deep serenity now that they were so close – a kinship, of sorts. Could it be calling out to her in some unknown way? Did it have more to teach her? And who could of built such a thing? The composite material defied every metallurgical scan Constellation conceived of, yet some power out there in the universe builds with it like it’s child’s play. And, now, it called to her – harmoniously.

She nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, Dre. It’s different this time; I can’t explain it. But I’m ready to go in there.”

Andreja grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away from the ship. They took a moment to themselves next to a large rock where she surveyed Andromeda with an intensely questioning look.

“What do you mean you are ready to go in there? You nearly had a heart attack just seeing it from afar, and all of that is now forgotten? How can this be?”

“I told you, I can’t explain it. The Temple is calling for me. No idea how or why, but it is. And… I think there are more – a lot more – scattered around the galaxy just waiting for us to find them.”

“I do not like this,” said Andreja. “This is not who you are, Andromeda Renault. I fear there are forces we do not understand at play.” She studied her face through their helmets looking for any sign of doubt or hesitation and came away dissatisfied. “Do you mind if I scan your vitals?”

Andromeda shrugged nonchalantly and stood still while Andreja linked their suit readouts together and ran a diagnostic before initiating a deep wellness scan of her mysteriously stoic companion. The results chimed a minute later and Andreja frowned. Her pulse and oxygen levels were still in normal range, but an unknown compound similar in chemical composition to dopamine was flooding her endocrine system. With a few button presses on her wrist pad Andreja overrode the command functions in Andromeda’s suit and used the built in trauma system to push a dose of Junk Flush into her blood in an attempt to regulate her euphoria levels.

Nothing changed.

“Hm. It would seem that whatever altered your DNA changed something that human medicine is no longer compatible with.” Andreja severed the link, put her gloved hands on the side of Andromeda’s helmet, and pressed her own against it so that they were eye to eye. “Listen to me, Annie. I need to know that you are well. How are you truly feeling?”

“I’m fine, Dre. Really. I still feel a little nervous, but nothing like before. Whatever is in there won’t hurt me. I know that without a doubt.”

Andreja read nothing but honesty and a clarity of purpose in her eyes.

“Very well. No doubt Sarah will be pleased by this turn of events. Barrett told me on the way here that they have been trying unsuccessfully to enter this Temple for over three days.”

“It will open for me,” Andromeda assured her. “Wish I knew why, though.”

“I believe you.”

Footsteps clattering on metal echoed over towards them as Sarah and Barrett emerged from the ship and descended the landing bay ramp. Andromeda and Andreja rejoined them and an awkward silence lingered for a moment. A slight breeze kicked up a small haze of dust that blew between the four of them. It reminded Andromeda of an old Earth western movie she watched as a kid, and she half expected one of those weird plants to scoot across the sandy ground.

“Hello, you two,” said Sarah, finally breaking the ice. “You, um, both seem well.”

“Hello, Sarah,” returned Andreja. “It took some time, but we both indeed are as well as can be expected. I helped Annie recover physically. Mentally, however…”

“I know, I know. It was a brutal experience.” Sarah turned to Andromeda: “Mind if we have that chat now, Dro?”

Andromeda felt a little of her enthusiasm wither. She didn’t really want to get deep into it with Sarah, but she definitely owed it to her. And after her heart to heart with Andreja on the mesa, she’d been thinking more and more about how she’d essentially pulled the rug out from under Constellation’s feet. They went above and beyond for her when this mess began only for her to quit after their most important discovery had been made. Noel deserved better. Hell, even Sarah deserved better. And there was no way Andromeda could reasonably expect Andreja to walk away with her.

Ugh, what is it about Constellation that makes this so damn hard.

Deep down, she did know. They were all uncommonly kind and caring. And very idealistic in a way that enraptured her.

“It doesn’t need to be private,” sighed Andromeda. “We all know what happened: I got overwhelmed and did a runner. It was a chickenshit move.”

“It absolutely was not, Dro,” Sarah stated emphatically. “And I shouldn’t have sulked off the way I did. You needed us way more than we needed answers. With what you’d discovered... I got so caught up in the science – the wonder – that I didn’t give enough attention to your needs. You were terrified, and rightfully so. I should have helped you tackle that first and foremost. That was a monumental lapse in judgment on my part, and one that I should be above as Constellation’s leader. I’m grateful Andreja understood enough to stay behind and be with you. I’m sorry for that, Andromeda. Sorry for all of it.”

After Sarah finished speaking, Andromeda blinked rapidly a few times and then became keenly aware of how annoying it was to not be able to wipe your eyes while wearing a spacesuit.

“Sarah, I-I, um… it’s fine. Forget it ever happened.”

“I won’t, but I appreciate the sentiment. Now, hop inside the Frontier for a moment and clean yourself up.”

Andromeda shook her head. “It’ll dry.” She glanced at Andreja and acknowledged the knowing look on her face. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were right again. Drinks are on me next time. Oh, and Sarah?”

“Yes?”

“In the interest of full disclosure; you did pick up an EMS signal earlier. I had a little panic attack when we saw the Temple from up there. But I’m all better now.”

“Dro, I saw your vitals – that was more than a ‘little panic attack’! Are you sure -”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Now, who else is ready to find the door to that thing?”

“Annie, we must bring Sarah and Barrett up to speed before we continue.”

“Knock yourself out. I want to run some scans.”

Andromeda left them to converse among themselves, walking in a wide arc around the outermost reaches of the Temple while she fiddled with her HUD scanner to filter out the gravimetric interference from the structures composition. The physical data unsurprisingly matched her scans of the first Temple down to the last molecule, but she did notice a subtle energy wave emanating from it that wasn’t present on Tau Ceti III. She wondered if that unknown energy was causing the odd readings Andreja found in her bio scan. She analyzed them more thoroughly and realized that the carrier wave for the energy closely resembled an oscillating radio frequency, and that it was within a bandwith the technology in her suit could manipulate.

I wonder…

She opened her comms, switched to the same frequency as the energy wave, and rerouted it through her omnidirectional SOS beacon. The resulting effect created a barrier around her against the energy wave, and her earlier confidence regarding the Temple vanished instantaneously and left behind the all too familiar feeling of dread, compounded further now by being in it’s looming shadow.

“Andromeda!” Andreja’s voice cut loudly into her helmet. “Are you okay? Why is your beacon on?”

“Wanted to t-try something,” she replied. Her heartbeat was increasing again and her breath started coming in short bursts. “S-stupid idea… stupid. Dre, please come. I blocked out whatever the [censored] made me feel better about this place. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ow.” A sharp pain in her chest hit again. “Ow. [censored], I think I’m having another panic attack. Dre…”

“Hold on, Andromeda!” Sarah cut it. “I’m overriding your system and giving you a shot of Amp! The adrenaline will help mitigate your anxiety!”

Andromeda’s HUD flashed a red cross, and then the adrenaline kicked in. The chem sharpened her mind in seconds and she was able to take several deep breaths of pure oxygen from her suit tanks. Her heart rate remained elevated, but she at least could focus enough to rein in the wild onslaught of emotions that came after the Temple stopped affecting her.

“Whoa. That’s good [censored]! Thanks, Sarah.”

“Do you mind explaining to us what you did, Annie?”

“I’d love to know that myself,” said Barrett.

They joined her side less than five minutes later and she explained to them the energy wave she picked up and her decision to block it. Sarah and Barrett both protested her recklessness while Andreja stayed oddly silent on the matter. That piqued Andromeda’s interest more than anything, and she addressed her partner first.

“I didn’t like the idea proceeding against my own will, Dre. I want to be here of my own accord.”

“I understand. That is an admirable decision, and one I would want to make for myself, were I in your position, dear. I am proud of you for being so bold.”

“Dear?” blinked Sarah. “Wait, are you two -”

“Yes,” said Andromeda and Andreja at the same time.

“Interesting. And I see what you mean about it being your choice. I just wish you’d have waited until we were with you.”

“Yeah, that probably would have been safer. What can I say? I’m impulsive sometimes.”

“And that is something I love about you, Annie,” smiled Andreja. “It balances me out so eloquently.”

The three of them stayed in that spot with Andromeda running scan after scan until they were sure there was no physical harm from the abrupt change in her mind’s neurochemical composition. Aside from the adrenaline boost from the chem, her vitals were normal and they saw no reason to not continue on.

“Are you still okay with doing this again, Dro?” asked Sarah. “Now that you’re in the right state of mind, that is.”

“I’m terrified, actually. But if you assholes can’t keep me safe, then who can?”

Barrett laughed heartily and clapped her on the back. They checked their gear and after agreeing one last time to push on, they fell in line behind Sarah who led the way to the northwestern side where a long channel cut down though the outer Temple walls. Where a door once remained firmly inert and locked, heavy slabs of metal ascended and descended into the lintel and the ground at their, or, rather, Andromeda’s approach. She took the lead at this point, watching the unknowable lock mechanisms oscillate around the door until it clicked with a thump. After a moment’s hesitation, Andromeda felt the reassuring grip of Andreja’s hand on her shoulder, and she opened the door.

The interior was identical to the Temple on Tau Ceti III in every way; from the reflection of space adoring the walls to the metallic rings in the floor. Gravity fell away at the end of the vestibule, and the first cluster of sparkling orbs appeared above their heads. There were few things Andromeda could think of that she would rather do less than float up into that orb, but she’d come this far and the child-like looks of wonder plastered across Sarah and Barrett’s faces nearly brought a smile to her own. They were, however, counterbalanced by the intense worry on Andreja’s.

Andromeda floated to her instead, and hugged her tightly. “I’ll be fine, Dre. I have you and that’s all I need.”

“Are you absolutely certain?”

“Wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

She let go and drifted away with a wink. Then Andromeda tweaked her boostpack power levels and rose to immerse herself in the first orb of glittering light. Just like before, it vanished as the interlocking rings in the center of the floor rose and began their frantic rotation. Four more times, Andromeda coasted through the strange lights until the rings moved faster than the eye could see before coming to a sudden halt with a burst of energy, and a subsequent vortex of energy coalesced inside of them. But this time, there was no gravitational pull. Andromeda swallowed hard, took more than a few deep breaths, blasted another shot of Amp into her system, and drifted lazily into the rings. The unknown energy that had changed her forever reached out again, imbuing her body and mind with knowledge and power while images of spacetime bloomed across her vision and a crescendo of otherworldly music filled her ears.

And the, just like that, it was over. No pain, no agony, and no unconsciousness. Gravity decided to make a rousing comeback, and they all dropped to their feet, Andromeda included. She looked the same to them and her spacesuit diagnostics registered her vitals as normal, but she alone felt the power coursing through her body, begging to be unleashed from her fingertips.

“Annie? Is everything okay?”

“Y-yeah. I think so.”

The mounting power frightened her. Not the practical applications of it, but rather how it made her feel. It carried with it a will to dominate that reviled her. Who or what made this possible? And what horrible acts had they committed to create such unbridled might? Where Andromeda before felt a deep fear of what had changed her, she for the first time began to fear what too much of this power would do to her. What it would ultimately make her become.

“It gave me more power,” she explained. “And I don’t think humanity is ready for it. I’m certainly [censored] not.”