AN: So I've given up on trying to find a decent way to visualize this, FF doesn't give enough formatting options and those that are available on other platforms doesn't really look right either. When Jane addresses her parents in concept words i.e. [Missy], the term 'Mom' is automatically included in the concept. Visualizing this in written form doesn't work well. [Missy-Mom] looks stupid, and FF doesn't let me do [Mom(subscript)Missy] which, honestly, wasn't all that much better visually anyway. So please just be aware that whenever Jane is addressing her parents, there is an added layer that doesn't quite translate well. This was touched on before and it will be again, but the Author's Note will have to do for now.

Pursuit 02

Current Active subsystems: Durability, Reflexes, Intuition, Strength

Our ships decelerated in the Dis system bringing Jartar into view ahead. Almost immediately my skin started crawling and I shivered, my entire form in this dimension - and every other one - shuddering at once.

"Jane?"

I clenched my fist and forced the tremors down. Waving Enola off, I rotated out my human standard eyes for something more shard-like. The spectrum shifted around me, below us the planet faded from its normal reds and oranges into the deep black of a mass depression in the local spacetime. My vision wasn't strong enough to easily see all of the other planets in the system, but I could at least catch a faint glimpse of their own impressions on local space. Glancing to my left, Enola was a shining beacon with a thread of light that linked back to the brilliant sun of [Intuit] above us. I couldn't see anything around [Intuit] thanks to that radiance drowning out the rest of the system.

Not that there should have been anything to see in that direction. That way was above the ecliptic for the system. Nothing natural was ever above the ecliptic in old systems like this other than the occasional rogue asteroid.

Except we were expecting a potential trap…

"[Intuit] can you please rotate about your X-Axis 180 degrees?" I asked.

"How are your eyes that color?" Liara asked, her voice right in front of me. I could barely even see her, though there were glowing points of blue dotting areas roughly equivalent to limbs and her spine. Was that eezo nodules along her nervous system? "That shade does not actually exist in nature. Your eyes must be several shades at once in order to be producing that overall effect!"

"She's doing her scan. Jane, what did you feel when we dropped out of FTL?"

"I'm not sure. Something brushed against me," I murmured. [Intuit] finished rotating the ship and I narrowed my focus as I peered at the rest of the system trying to take in everything I could. Not finding anything out of the ordinary, I sighed, swapped my eyes back to normal and shook my head. "It felt like someone was poking me; like a probe only…without a probe. It was definitely something light - a touch that was intended to be unnoticed, but ended up burning."

"Can you clarify that?" Liara asked.

"It was a slap instead of a caress, because I'm smaller and more sensitive than normal shards."

[Intuit] would have felt such an investigation had a search been conducted in the vicinity.

[Horizon] would have been aware of any imperfections in local space.

Both of the shards in the local mini-Network voiced their frustrations.

Enola shook her head and cupped her chin. "Not…necessarily. I mean, it's possible that a carefully calibrated scan on a wide-angle search wouldn't trip most shard senses. You guys are designed for big, flashy things. Jane isn't. She operates on an entirely different scale."

"Wonderful," Garrus grunted. "So the bad guys already know we are here and the only reason we have any warning about that is because they were intending to slip under the notice of a giant, not realizing they were being tripped up by a fairy instead. This trap gets more and more fun every time I turn around."

"They should have realized they were going to be confronted by Jane shouldn't they?" Liara asked. She peered first at me and then out the viewscreen towards the Leviathan. "Wasn't that fight on Omega about trying to kill her and the other members of the Hebert family?"

"My specific abilities and situation are not widely known, even in Sol. I'm the youngest daughter, but almost everyone just assumes that means that my parents had empty nest syndrome or something, not that they wanted to run an experiment with the future of our race."

"That wasn't why you were born, stop saying that." Enola snapped. She strode past me and fiddled with a few dials on the nearest console, scowling at the readout. "I'm not seeing anything that screams out as wrong. Nothing beyond the corpse of the Reaper. Jane, did you see anything in your scan?"

"No. Whatever was looking at us, it was either too far away or too small for me to see it."

"Perfect. Do we abort or do we continue?"

"Well we knew it was a trap…Can you connect us with the Normandy?"

In answer, she pushed another series of buttons and Missy appeared on the display next to Jartar.

"Kids. Teammates," Missy said. "So, Jane, Horizon is saying that you felt a system-wide scan?"

"I think so."

"We expected that. We should push forward."

I frowned and leaned back against the nearest console trying to put into words what was firing off my instincts. "I agree. I'm having a hard time describing what the issue is without concepts."

"You have two shard-bound people, and their two shards. We understand concepts, Jane, and then we can try to translate for the others; if you can't."

I shook my head. "I don't think that I can even put it into concepts either though is the thing. It's not even really a strong enough feeling for Intuition to key off of. It's just…something is wrong and it has me on edge."

Missy glanced around the room. "Okay. Give me a second to think."

There was barely a pause as Missy crossed her arms and dipped her head, beginning to visibly pace on the screen. At the exact same time she murmured in my head, "Jane? I don't want to ask this out loud to avoid embarrassing you, but, real talk: could this just be nerves? You were just confronted by a very real threat to you specifically only a few days ago. It's okay if you're scared, kid. It's also okay if you're not and if this is a real concern that we need to watch out for. But you need to be honest with yourself. Is this a real threat, or are you nervous and projecting?"

I bit my lip, running over the sensations I had felt as we dropped out of FTL again. There had definitely been the sense of something like a spotlight shone over me, burning my skin, before it pulled back.

"I think it's real, [Missy]. Once it realized that I could detect it, it pulled back. I know we expected a trap; I don't know why I'm suddenly so wary about this. There's something I'm missing, something obvious."

Missy gave me a mental pat on the back through the link. "It's okay kid. It happens to all of us. If you get a clearer picture as we move forward, speak up."

"I will. Thanks, [Missy]. And thanks for keeping this private."

"Anytime, kid."

In real-space, Missy stopped her pacing and met my gaze. "I think it's best to keep moving forward, but we should have a quick extraction plan in case things go south."

"That's a good suggestion. Instead of splitting into several teams, we can stay as a single larger one, that way if something gets sprung that we can't fight our way out of, you can just warp us back out of danger and get us to the ships."

"Sounds like a plan. It's probably best to limit the party size if we're going that route though. Most of my main limiters don't apply anymore, but I'd hate to miss someone on the edge if we're in a hurry. Remember, it's harder to pinch space in cramped hallways too, so we'll have to at least get outside the ship before we can put real distance between us and the threat."

Garrus sighed. "I'm good in a fight, but I think the scientists are more important here and we already have several strong fighters in the group. I'll stay behind."

Liara spoke up next. "I'm really more useful for Prothean items or analysis after the fact. I can fight as well, but like Garrus said, you have several. It's probably best for me to remain as well."

"Shepard-Commander," Legion said, the display shifting to show its head. "Legion volunteers assistance for this mission. If the Leviathan is an Old Machine, this platform could be invaluable."

"I should probably go as well," Tali stated. "You're not going to find a better machinist than a Quarian. Well…I mean, that was accurate - before I went to Sol - humans cheat…"

I nodded. "Missy, can you ask Mordin to come as well? With his background, he's more likely to see something the rest of us miss. Also, grab Miranda." I glanced at Enola and raised my eyebrows.

She gave a small salute. "I'm going too, Aunt Missy. So it'll be seven of us. Is that small enough for you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. You guys take a shuttle, I'll get my group down the old fashioned way. The shuttle only fits 8 anyway so it'll make it easier to get us all back up to the ship after we're done."

As her screen dropped back down to just showing us Jartar Liara peered back and forth between me and Enola. "What did she mean by 'the old fashioned way'? How else is there besides a shuttle?"

Enola giggled. "She's going to have them jump."

Liara's mouth dropped open, her eyes widening to imitate dinner plates.

"Huh," Garrus said. "I've changed my mind. I'm keeping my human. Commander, consider my request to change ships rescinded."

"What request?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"Wait! Seriously, what request! Garrus, come back! Enola, what's he talking about!"

The shuttle settled down on Jartar a few minutes later and I still couldn't shake the phantom feeling that I was being watched. It was all I could do to avoid turning around and shooting at the bulkhead behind me. Stupid extra senses that were extra sensitive.

"You're going to make me jumpy if you keep twitching. I'm already hyperactive. I should probably take meds or something for that one of these days. Hmm. Nah. I made it this long without them, I'm fine."

I eyed my sister, and sighed. "This is why we worry about you, 'Nols."

She waved me off and looked outside as the shuttle settled down. "Hey, is it just me or does that Reaper look kinda like a space squid? We've space whales with the shards, now we've space squids with the Reapers! Do you think they have a whole space ecosystem of mammals and cephalopods out there?"

"And that is the other reason we worry about you," I muttered. Laughing, Enola flipped me off and we both stepped out of the shuttle a moment later, greeting the others on the team who were already waiting for us. I winced as I caught sight of Tali who was bent in half, her hands on her knees and breathing hard.

"Jane, the next time I volunteer for a mission like this, please don't accept. Not unless we're using a real shuttle. Or landing the ship."

"Stop being a baby, that barely even qualified as a HALO drop," Missy said.

I walked over to her and helped Tali straighten up. "You get used to it," I paused and looked over my shoulder at Missy. "Eventually."

"I'm beginning to see why your people think that the Quarians and the Geth can reconcile. If you're this insane, anything must seem like it's possible."

The light in Legion's head flashed and he stepped closer. "Creator-Tali, the Warper-Emissary was in full control of our descent. If there was no cause for concern, why was the maneuver considered worrisome or ill-advised?"

Miranda patted its shoulder and walked past the mobile platform. "I'll explain back on the ship, Legion. Commander, I have a full report in your ready-room for you of the items that occurred while you were indisposed. Shall we continue with the mission, Your Eminence? I am honored that you chose for me to attend you here and I'm eager to prove my abilities. I won't let you down, Your Eminence."

So much for Lisa's talk toning Miranda's fervor down. I was going to have to deal with this when we got back to the ship if she was going to join us planetside again anytime soon.

"Yes, continue. Good plan. Leviathan emitting signals. Electrical, subvocal, biotic, multiple electromagnetic frequencies. Unknown purpose. Unwise to stay nearby for prolonged periods." I stared at Mordin as he consulted his glowing omnitool. "Hmm. Concerning levels of activity for derelict. Bio-organics? Bio-organics. Still…massive energy core to power secondary systems for so long after fatal blow."

"Okay, well, Mordin has apparently found useful intel already. Can you direct us towards those powered systems?" I asked.

The salarian nodded. "Yes. Easy enough."

"Okay, we all follow Mordin's directions. I'll take the lead, Legion and Mordin behind, then Tali and Enola, Miranda and Missy will be our rear guard.

Everyone rogered up and moved towards the supposedly dead ship.

It really did look a bit like a space squid from this angle.

"Well, if this isn't the most creepy bio-mech ship I've ever walked through. Ugh, gross, it's leaking." Enola cringed away from one of the walls, her hand dripping some sort of orange goo.

"Have you been sneaking around other bio-mechanical ships without telling us, Enola? I'm jealous!" Missy teased. Enola rolled her eyes and held up her middle finger.

Mordin was already leaning over my sister with his omnitool out. "Coolant and conductant both. Odd combination. No, not conductant…What is this?"

"I think it's some kind of neuro-gel substrate," Enola sighed. "It feels disgusting. I should've worn gloves. Tali, are you able to trace this conduit?"

"Give me a moment. This ship may be a mess, but a lot of the internal shielding is still in place. Somehow. Our ships are falling apart after 300 years, this has been here for millennia and it's still nearly intact. The principles behind it's construction…"

I glanced behind me as something flitted across my vision. Scowling, I glared at the blank wall. "Stupid, fucking ghost ship. Miranda, are you okay back there?"

Her hand dropped from her head back to her gun and she nodded once. "Fine, Your Eminence. I just keep hearing a low hum and it's becoming frustratingly difficult to ignore."

"Stick with 'Commander' while we're off the ship, Miranda. Aunt Missy?"

"There's something here. I can't put my finger on it, just that it hurts my head in a way I haven't felt in over a century. Horizon is taking care of most of the issues, so I'm good to go, but yeah, I see why most people have issues around these things if all Reapers do this."

"And this is when it's dead," I said. "Goddess, I hope whatever it's emitting is ramped up instead of down."

"Shepard-Commander, this line of the conduits converges ahead, around the next bend." I acknowledged Legion's report and turned my full attention forward.

As we exited the corridor, I saw what Legion had traced out through the wiring and pipes. Whistling, my head swiveled, taking in the gigantic room we had arrived in. The walls were the same metallic grey that we had been walking past since entering, yet instead of claustrophobic halls, it was a huge spherical area wide enough to house a football field. There were several claw-like appendages that extended down from the ceiling and met near the center of the room with what passed for consoles on their faces. Along the edges of the room were large spears shooting into the air. Each spear had a robotic corpse impaled on it.

Partially robotic, largely robotic. Oh jeez, those things used to be people. Maybe not human, but definitely people. Large chunks of their bodies had been replaced by cybernetics, leaving very little of the fleshy bits behind. There was just enough of the original body there to leave traumatic images and shudders behind as I quickly backed away from the nearest corpse.

"I am going to have nightmares about this place…" Enola muttered.

"Techies, do your thing," I said, swallowing hard and forcing my voice to remain steady. There were more of those cyborg corpses lying along the edges of the platform too. "Mordin, find anything you can about the brainwashing effect - it's probably related to whatever this damn thing is doing to all of us right now. Tali, Legion, Enola, find its weakness and where we're supposed to be going next."

"Yes, Shepard-Commander."

"Roger," Tali said, with a little salute.

"Certainly." Mordin didn't even look up from his chosen console as he replied.

"Got it, Sis."

Miranda moved to stand near me, her back to our companions as she stared out at the edges of the room. "Commander, some of those corpses are fresh."

"Wait, what? Which ones?"

"There, there, there, and…maybe that one too. That entire group on the other side is also of a different age than many of the rest."

"Want me to check it out, Jane?" Missy asked.

I shook my head, gripping my weapon tighter. Something flitted across my vision again. I didn't turn this time. "No. Stay here. The last thing we want is to get too close and get caught in whatever pulled those other people onto the spikes and made them, well, robot monsters."

"There are organic portions left on them, Commander," Miranda corrected. "Not much, but some. I can see -"

"Yeah, so can I. But it's almost entirely been replaced by tech. They're skeletons Miranda. This ship ate them and turned them into servants. We can't even say that it probably did it while it was alive because - like you said - some of those things are fresh."

"It could be part of the trap." Missy frowned as she talked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "We shouldn't have been allowed this deep into the ship. Something isn't right here. I don't think this ship is as dead as it seems."

"Fuck but I hope you're wrong. Be ready."

Miranda frowned, swinging her weapon to the side. "Perhaps they are trying to let the ship affect our minds rather than attacking us directly?"

I nodded. "It's possible. Let's hope for that. We're going to stop by Sol once we're done here so anything that this place did to us is going to get cleaned out by a dedicated shard."

Miranda sucked in a breath at that and her eyes widened. The expression would have been comical under another other circumstance. Here it was almost a relief to see the eagerness. It was something normal, something that wasn't my mind playing tricks on me.

Tali cut through my thoughts as she asked, "Legion, can you look at this? I think this is written in code, but it's no programming language I've ever seen and I'm a bit stumped…I recognize the patterns though and I think…"

The Geth shifted from working next to Tali to stand with Enola and peered at her screen. "It appears to be an amalgamation of programming and organic speech. Early Geth attempted something similar to communicate between Creators and Geth. We did not understand and the attempt was misunderstood by the Creators."

"A combination? That would mean that this is…And then this is…Oh and this could be a substitution for…okay that makes sense but…Ohhh…"

"Enola?" I asked. One of the corpses twitched. That was a trick of my mind. Right? "Anytime now, 'Nols, I don't want to be here longer than we have to be."

"Hang on, I think I got what we need. This is a search result. Whoever was here last was paging through old records and star charts. They were trying to find references and directions to someplace called…uh…Ill-i-ol-las. Yeah, I think that's right. Illiolas! Gotcha you bastards!"

"Found several items as well, Commander." Mordin held up his arm showing a download in progress to his omnitool. "Creatures along the edge are: Husks. Not the only combat form; simply most prevalent; are easiest and cheapest to create. Other forms are Abominations, Scions, Praetorians, Harvesters, and others. Brainwashing appears to be called: Indoctrination. Implies subtlety. Does not appear subtle. Poorly named."

"Scion? Perfect, because that's not going to be confusing at all. Tali? You and Legion done?"

"I'm in the surveillance records now. I've already downloaded some of the basic information I could find about the ship itself, though that is vanishingly rare. Or saved somewhere wholly illogical."

"Commander, I think it's time to go!" Miranda called out, clearly worried.

"Holy shiiit - Yeah, I agree, time to leave people! Tali, download what you can! We're leaving, now!" My eyes widened as I saw a few of the closer spikes start to retract. As they struck their bases, the tech-corpses - Husks - stood, shook themselves off and started to scan for nearby personnel.

Missy stared, her mouth hanging open. "That's just wrong. And I saw a friend get her brains splattered across a parking lot then stand back up a few minutes later."

"Stop yapping about Mother and shoot them!"

"I'm good!" Tali stepped back, turned around, and nearly fell over as she backpedaled from the incoming creatures. I snapped several rounds off from my weapon. None seemed to even slow the things down.

"What the hell?" I dipped into Intuition and, thankfully, only had to wait a moment before I got a response from my ability.

No pain receptors. No higher brain function. 'Android' more accurate than not. Essentially automatons. Catastrophic damage required to incapacitate.

"Fuck. Heavy damage to incapacitate! There's not enough organics left in them to register regular hits! I'll take rear guard, Missy, you have point, everyone else, stay between us!"

While Missy and I could probably fight off the enemies in this room easily enough, I seriously doubted that this was the sum total of the forces involved. Assaulting the Batarians or the Blue Suns with their known abilities and weapons was one thing. Assaulted a complete unknown, on its own ground, while our people were under mental assault, with unknown numbers, and we already had the data that we had come for? Not necessary. We didn't need to kill something that was already dead and we could always blow this thing up from orbit now or do a full sweep later on, after developing a countermeasure for this Indoctrination. Getting out of the ship now was the proper way to do things.

Everyone quickly fell into line with Tali and Legion firing off shots from their weapons and omnitools intermittently. The tech blasts seemed to have more of an effect than I would have expected - something to do with the mostly cyberized nature of these Husks? Intuition suggested yes.

How many of these things were there? As quickly as I destroyed them, more popped up to replenish their numbers. For every one I crushed or shot, two more poured down the corridor. Some were coming from holes in the walls, others crawled out of spaces near the floor, and several dropped from the ceiling. Their shrieks and moans were grating and disconcerting and not a single one reacted when I threw pieces of the ship - or their own fellows - at them. I shivered as yet another one opened its mouth to scream at me while the Husk inches to its side was crushed by a console that I threw.

They were the perfect shock troops. While they weren't exactly tough compared to me, there was something to be said for sheer numbers, and for the average species they would be more than enough. These things probably couldn't ultimately hurt me, not with Durability engaged, but they could seriously injure or kill most of the rest of the team.

It certainly didn't help that they were disturbing as all hell. Even beyond the mindless nature, these were wrong. I was fairly used to cyborgs. One of my mothers was a cyborg. These weren't cyborgs. These were goddamn monsters. Their synthetic parts were almost eating the fleshy bits and what was left of the organic side was pitted and inflamed and diseased.

They were monsters.

"Emissary! Left!" Miranda shouted and tackled Missy to the ground even as the words left her mouth. I snapped my attention forward, away from the Husk that I had just thrown into a wall and gasped.

"What the fuck is that?!"

A 7 foot tall deformed…thing had peeled away from an alcove, its arm mutated into a titanic cannon, a fleshy purple sac pulsating on its back. It had just shot something that looked for all intents and purposes like organic lava towards Missy. Miranda's tackle knocked her well out of the way, but from the splash damage on the opposite wall…

"That is the Scion! Multiple organic sources. Biotic components assist with forming the organic weapon. Ultimately failed alteration. Still deadly!" Mordin's shot pierced the sac on the shoulder, and the beast exploded into chunks. "Also, explosive! Very interesting. Do we have time to analyze them in detail?"

"Mordin, escape the trap first, research the crime against nature later!" I shouted.

"Auntie, stop focusing on the corridor and let me navigate!" Enola yelled. "This place is a maze and you're making wrong turns!"

"No shit! The doors have shifted and I can't rip these fucking things off to just bull-rush back the way we came; there's no gaps! It's like they were grown into the walls themselves."

I grabbed another Husk before it could reach me and heaved it into several of its friends. "Less arguing, more retreating. These Husks are coming thick and getting thicker! I'm starting to think I need to hot-swap for a space-manipulation ability if we can't leave soon. Is there enough room to warp us forward to get us some space?"

"There's no point!" Missy yelled. "There are too many closed doors and too many enemies pouring in from the sides. We'd only get a second or two free and the disorientation isn't worth it."

"Legion, look at this map, I think there's a shortcut to the hull through this exhaust vent." Tali swiped on her omnitool, and a glowing display appeared over the geth's arm.

"Legion concurs. This route is faster. Heavy weapons required to open the way."

"Janie, I'll cover the rear, you burst the panel." Enola muscled next to me and shouldered a heavy rifle shooting at the swarm of approaching Husks. "Holy crap. You undersold how many were back here, sis…"

"Do you have this?" I asked. Grabbing a piece of debris nearby, I heaved it down the corridor, taking out at least eight of the creatures and causing several others to stumble.

"Just don't dawdle, Jane."

"Yeah. Starting to think this might have been a bad idea."

"Hey at least the humming has stopped."

"Enola, that's not a good sign!" I grunted, running back to the section of wall that Tali and Legion had indicated. Trusting Enola and Mordin to cover our rear while Miranda and Missy kept watch up front, I thrust my arm into the wall, punching straight through.

Enola was wrong anyway, the background hum wasn't gone, it was just harder to notice because of the fight. That was almost worse. This dead thing was still trying to attack our minds and now we couldn't actively fight it since we were too busy to notice it. My family should be mostly fine, thanks to the shards, but the others…we needed to get out of here and get back to Sol to check everyone out with a dedicated shard who specialized in that sort of work. I didn't trust myself to do more than a rush job.

The rest of the material peeled off under my tender administrations and I pulled back. "Right vent?"

"Yes, this should give us nearly a straight shot out," Tali agreed. She pointed at my bleeding arm. "Are you -"

"I'm fine. The material here is harder than I'm used to, but it's fine. Everyone into the vent! Same formation!"

Missy nodded, looping a final shot from another Scion back towards the sender before falling into the new path. We all filed in behind her, and I threw the piece of material I had torn off down the corridor as I jumped in after them. The Husks shrieked behind me.

"How much further guys?" Missy asked, her tone tense. "This feels like we've been running out a lot longer than when we were running in."

"If my math is right the exit should be another 200 feet," Enola panted. "Jeez, this ship is long!"

"Detective-Emissary is correct, exit is ahead."

Tali gestured down the vent. "The scans show something like a grate or fan I think. It's hard to tell, but it should be obvious once you hit it."

"A grate? I think I see it. Everyone hang on, distorting."

Space warped around us and one moment we were running in the exhaust vent, the next we were stumbling just outside the ship, the grill behind us bending back down into the infinitesimal grates that it had started off as.

I shook myself and did a quick headcount. "Okay, we're all here. Back to the shuttle. Enola, we'll get you onto your ship once we're in orbit. I'm not staying down here with those numbers behind us."

"This was a fun trap," Enola said. "You know, even with all of that I feel like mmmmphh -!" She cut off as Missy's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Do. Not. Finish. That. Sentence. Don't even finish the thought, girl. How old are you? Don't you know not to tempt the universe like that? Ugh, stupid kids." She pulled her hand away and ignored my sister's glare.

The shouts of the Husks and the roars of the Scions echoed down the vent. A second later more answering screaming came from a doorway into the dead ship a hundred yards away.

"Time to go. Fall in people! Missy, get us closer."

She nodded, narrowed her eyes and twisted her hand as we closed ranks. One hop later, the shuttle was next to us. Thankfully, it was still intact. I keyed the code, and started ushering the team inside.

As Enola passed me, she grabbed my arm." Jane, that ship…it was old. Older than Scion. These things…We can take them out - they're limited to the normal physics not our bullshit - but they are old. And I'm willing to bet my inheritance that they know about the space whales. Mom's right, we need to wipe them out. The files I found, Jane…"

"We'll find them and we'll destroy them, 'Nols. Now get onboard so we can -"

My jaw snapped shut and my head back, my eyes focusing skyward.

"Jane?"

The burning spotlight was back. Every part of me itched and crawled, needles were poking my skin, shudders ran through me hard and fast enough that it felt like a river along my back. I flipped my eyes to their shard form and narrowed my focus. I could feel it but I couldn't see it. It was here, but not here.

I hadn't been looking in the right direction last time. I looked 'sideways'.

"Oh fuck. Oh, ow! What is that?"

"Holy hell, Horizon what the devil is that?! Enola, Jane! We're leaving right now!"

It was on the moon. Not this moon. One of the alternate moons. Two dimensions adjacent. It was glowing, a luminous brilliance that lit up the entire sky. It was…enormous, covering a significant chunk of the part of the satellite facing us. I hadn't seen something this large since…

Since leaving Sol.

"GET IN!" I screeched, shoving Enola into the shuttle.

Something arched down from the hidden space whale, cutting across the dimensional gap, aiming directly towards us.

There was no time. There was no time.

I switched my internals, ignoring the wrenching fire inside my gut. Slamming my fist against the wall of the shuttle, I used Space to shove it as far away as possible, trying to warp the interior to reduce the inertia while I still could.

The attack lanced towards me.

There was no time.

I whimpered. Then I did the one thing I swore I would never do again. I [Shifted].

Between one breath and the next, all of my extended mass moved sideways, and it was as if I had never been in that reality at all.

The world was barren and cold. The air here was stale and arid. I could almost taste the rock around me. There was nothing here. There never had been. This world was dead.

Sitting down on the closest boulder, I pulled my legs into my chest and laid my head on my crossed arms.

"[QueenHub], [Taylor], [Missy], please…I don't like it here. It's so quiet. It's so [Quiet] and I'm so [Alone]. Please…"