Rommie only managed to turn just in time, and slammed into the very solid wall shoulder first. She groaned and slid to the floor. Running over to her, I was already rummaging through my pockets for my nanowelder. My beautiful brainchild was just not having a good day today. If today was still the same day we first got hit by the nasty multi-colored monsters.

"Rommie?" I asked, checking her vital systems with one hand while still trying to find my nanowelder with the other. "Rom-doll? You still there? Don't short-circuit on me now, girl. We still need to get out of here, and you can't do that if you wind up in the scrap heap. After all, in a scrap heap, no one would worship you there like I would, and… and where the hell is my nanowelder?" I ran my hands over my pockets again and started spitting out words that would have made my cousin Brenden back in Boston blush. "They took my nanowelder! That's low, even for them! I'll make them pay, the stupid ba—"

"Harper!" Trance barked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "This is not the time for that! Look, Rommie's waking up already, and Dylan's taking care of her. You don't need to over react. In fact, why don't we just sit over here and get some food in you?" She grabbed my arm, hauled me up and led me over to a corner opposite from the one Rhade had been sitting in.

Or at least it probably looked like she was leading me to you. I, on the other hand, had no choice in the matter. Trance may not look like much, but she can hold her own when she wants to. I think I still have the bruises on my arm from that little gesture.

I sat down, but ignored the giant cookie she was offering. "Not hungry."

I know, I was sulking. But they had taken my nanowelder. That's not the kind of thing you can easily get over.

Trance knelt in front of me, and shoved the cookie thing back in my hand. "You need to eat, Harper! You need to keep your strength up for this, so you can think your way out of it, and save all of us here!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Trance, but I don't see why I need to save the day here. Isn't that Dylan's job?" I mumbled. I took the cookie, but didn't even pretend like I was going to eat it.

Trance looked straight at me, and for the first time I noticed the colour of her eyes. It had never been an important point before, but now that I was looking, they kinda reminded me of…

"Because, Harper, " she said, interrupting my train of thought. " Only you can outwit you own mind."

I ask, did that make sense to you? Because to me that was as understandable as a babe who would ditch me for Dylan. No offense, Captain.

"Is there even any point in me asking what you meant by that?"

Trance squirmed. She looked like her old self. Hell, she even acted like her old self, but you could tell, by some of the things she said, she was a lot older than she was before.

"I can't tell you right now," she tried to explain, with a surreptitious glance over her shoulder, where Beka and Rhade were talking, and Dylan was still checking over Rommie. "There are things you need to find out, but I can't tell you if Beka, Rhade, and most importantly, Dylan, hear. There a lot of possible futures that can result from this happening, but in the only ones I can see that have a happy ending, you are the one responsible for everything working out. And if what happens next is what I think happens next, this might be your best chance at a solid meal for the next little while. So eat, and keep your strength. Please?"

I took a bite of the cookie and I tried to digest those words. All this rode on me? Wow, no pressure, not at all. Then I realized what I was eating.

"Wow! This is great! What's in it?"

Trance smiled. "It's a bread that we have, that we give to visitors, if they ever come. It gives them strength, and endurance."

It didn't taste like bread, or a cookie. In fact, it was kinda fruity. Like a banana strawberry milkshake, but chewy. I took another bite, then broke my cookie in half and offered Trance a piece.

She shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

I blinked. "How can you not be hungry? It must have been ages since we've last eaten!"

She smiled that mysterious smile of her and winked. "When was the last time you saw me eat because I was hungry?"

I opened my mouth to answer, then I really thought about it. I couldn't for the life of me remember. I've seen her drink. I know I've seen her drunk. Seriously, I love Trance to death, and she's a treasure in any casino she walks into, but that girl can hold so little liqueur that it would be sad if it wasn't hilarious. I think I've seen her eat chocolate before, or at formal dinners Rommie's whipped up for delegates, but never for her own necessity.

Mental note: when all this is done, tie Trance down and get an explanation out of her one way or another.

I decided to ignore the whole thought of that for the moment, though. "So, that guy Flux talked about, Sigma Orion, he's your…?" I made vague gesture at the far wall.

"My father?" Trance whispered. "Yes."

I wasn't really sure how far I could push until she got mad and wouldn't answer me, but the curiosity was eating me alive. I couldn't think of anything that Trance Gemini, sweetheart of the universe, could do that would get her estranged from her own father.

"I had a very bad childhood," she said quietly, as if she could read my mind. For all I know, she probably was. "Everyone here does. We all hope for a chance to get away before it's too late. I was just able to get that chance…"

"We have company," Rhade growled, cutting off whatever Trance was going to say next.

The wall disappeared again, and Flux walked in again.

"Are we all fed?" he asked brightly. I think there must be something about Trance's people – whatever race they are – and perpetual perkiness. Trance pulls it off better, though. She can manage it without having people want to throttle her.

He looked in mild surprise at the completely silent response.

"Well, I guess I can take that as a yes. I've been sent to take you to the great chamber of Sigma Orion. You should feel very privileged. Few people get to see his great chambers. Don't bother trying to break away, but you may follow me to the chamber." He gave a pointed look to the thin-lipped Rommie. "You will actually be able to leave this room this time."

We all kinda turned to Dylan, to see what he would do. After all, being a captain wasn't all perks.

He shrugged, then made to follow Flux out of the room. "When in Rome…"

And so we followed, Rommie right after him, then Beka, Rhade and Trance. I made sure to stay right behind Trance. We were heading into the lion's den, and from what I could tell, Trance was going as the medium-rare steak.

The trip didn't take much more than a minute or two, but the entire time it took nearly all my will power not to just stand there like gaping eight year old in a toy store. The place was massive, ceilings at least thirty feet high. Gold gilt walls glittered under the clear light streaming down from high, star shaped windows. What wasn't covered in gold was made of a marble-like substance, with carvings and a writing I've never seen before etched right in the stone. Lamps shaped to resemble curving trees were spaced out every few feet. And this was just a hallway.

See, I grew up a scavenger. I was taught to take what looked valuable, convince some poor sucker it was valuable, and rip him off for the highest price possible for it. And if I hadn't joined Dylan's crack job vision of bringing together the entire galaxy in a brand new Commonwealth, and kinda sorta changed my ways, the first and only thought on my mind would have been how could I carve out a two foot chunk of this wall: and where could I sell it to make enough credits to retire early in a paradise full of babes, pools, and chilled wine, with a noticeable lack of people trying to kill me.

As it was, I was considering it as a back up plan.

At the end of the hall were these massive doors, also covered in gold and carvings. I figured this was my destination, but that wasn't what had caught my attention.

On either side of the doors were two massive murals. On the left, a naked purple goddess in a richly decorated room was being worshipped by hundreds of devoted people singing hymns. I nearly had a heart attack. It was exactly the same image that was burned into my mind when the dying chin head downloaded his library into my head. I could probably sing the hymn right now, word for word, whatever language it was.

The other mural showed what looked to be a bronze avenging angel, surrounded by a light, carrying a sun over her head. Beneath her were swarming Magog, trying to block the light that she put off. In both murals, the hair, the face, the clothes (in the second one anyway) were very, very familiar. There was no mistaking who they were depicting.

Since I was standing right behind her, I could easily see the tremors running through Trance. I put my hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at me. The look in her eyes was nearly painful. I didn't really know what to say to comfort her, so I just said the first thing that came into my genius Harper mind.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I wouldn't be too happy coming home either if they had naked paintings of me all over the place!"

Trance blinked. And shook her head. Finally she gave a small laugh. "Thanks, Harper."

I was going to tell her it was no problem. After all, I'm Harper. Genius comes as easily to me as breathing. Before I had a chance to, the giant doors swung open of their own accord and we all followed Flux a few feet into the room.

Wow. And I do mean wow. Dylan, you were there. You saw it. It's beyond the need for words. It was gigantic. It was gorgeous. It would have put several Vedran princesses into debt for the next five million years.

The room was full of people, in every single colour I've ever seen. There were a few colours I didn't even know existed, too. They were dressed in these fancy costumes, standing or sitting gracefully, with barely concealed curiosity at the newcomers. Personally, I think there were at least seven rainbow-coloured babes already giving me the eye.

There were a bunch of purple people too, running around like over-grown kids, tails flying. Yup, no doubt about it, these were Trance's people.