STELLE

Stelle was pacing around the parlor car, intending nothing in particular.

Restlessness, was what it was. The Express had left Jarilo-VI behind a couple of days now, and Stelle was starting to get a little bored. Well, maybe not just a little. The question invariably came back to her: how were the folks doing just about now?

Natasha should be doing well... on the surface. There would be much more for her to do, now that she'd assumed a greater role in the burgeoning Belobog healthcare system. And then there was the thing about her brother – till the very end she did not know if the good doctor had made her peace with the very concept of him as a brother, much less a doctor. What he had done was unforgivable, she had said, and it would sting a man from beyond the grave (in which he wasn't even buried).

Pitch-Dark Hook the (not so) great was bound to do well, Stelle thought, she and her little cadre. Maybe Fersman would find her a good place for her education. Already Stelle could see her taking up a place as a mining technician, or an army wrench-hand, or whatever else a burgeoning city finally regaining momentum against the cold would need.

And speaking of technicians... They'd left before they let Serval on the Express. Her business caught up with her at the end, and when they warped out of the system she was still down in her workshop fixing stuff. It did feel like they were cheating a woman who'd done nothing but help them out of her chance for an exciting eventful life she had always wanted.

And Bronya? It seemed all fine and good now that she was wearing her Supreme Guardian hat, but there was that lie she would have to keep for the rest of her life. And frankly speaking, the tale of Cyrille the Mediocre – which they uncovered just before departure – did not leave Stelle with the greatest of confidence in the office of Supreme Guardian itself. She'll manage, she told herself. She has Seele with her. The very picture of aggressive confidence and guardianship.

Stelle's footsteps loudened. Departures and goodbyes and farewells were never easy to make. Her footsteps took her to Himeko's bench. She found herself plopping down with a thud without leave.

Himeko did not mind. "You've been keeping yourself busy," she said.

"Yeah," Stelle said.

"Something is on your mind, right?" Himeko said. "I can tell." She shifted in her seat so they could look each other eye to eye. "If you want to tell me, please do."

"It was my first stop," Stelle admitted. "And-"

"And you are not fully on board – pardon the pun – with the farewells?"

Stelle stared at Himeko. The woman was astute with a capital A. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew," Himeko said. "We all had our first farewells."

"You've got your share of farewells by now," Stelle said, and Himeko nodded gently.

"The philosophy of it is," she said, "on the road we would meet many colorful folks. We join with them, travel with them, laugh with them, cry with them, sometimes fight and shed blood and sweat with them... but only for a time. Meeting and parting are like two sides of a coin, you can't quite have the one without the other."

Stelle drew a stiff breath, and kept her silence for a time. "I suppose you are right."

"But if it would help," Himeko said. "Look at it this way. The places we have visited, the people we have met, the worlds we have explored... the fact of the matter is, they are connected now. You might not have thought much of it, but the space anchors that made our lives so much easier were made for the purpose of connecting. People. Continents. Worlds. Galaxies. If we want, we can be back to the worlds we have visited every now and then as long as the network remains online – which it will, barring catastrophic incidents."

Himeko winked, and Stelle shuddered. "Y-You could have told me that before!"

Himeko was unapologetic. "Then your farewells would have been less genuine, and that takes away from its character," she said. "Trailblazing is about the experience just as it is about the goal and the purpose."

Stelle bit her lip for quite a time. "So... we still can take Serval along for the ride, right?"

"Maybe at the next stop, if she says yes," Himeko said. "The Express has to be stationary before we can access the Space Anchor network, though. So it might take some time, but once we've set up shop at our next destination we'd be free to pay our Jarilo friends a visit. Time does pass in strange ways in strange places, though, so for every day we spend in the warp maybe more – or less – would have passed back there."

"Hope for the best it is," Stelle said. Her face relaxed, and she saw Himeko hiding her chuckle behind her palm in a so-mature way.

"A word of advice though, don't make too much of a habit of visiting old friends and forget to immerse in new experience. That's not the Trailblazer's way."

Right away Stelle did not know what to make of it. "I'll try," she said.

They stood up, Himeko first, Stelle second. The one looked out to the ocean of stars, then the other. The sparks of light and life never got old: some near enough she thought she could touch it with her finger, some so far she was wondering if era after era had passed since the light left their origin.

And just then... something went wrong.

The train skidded to a sudden halt.

Stelle was able to hold on the the seat's handle when it came, and didn't go too far off. Himeko's balance was superb, and somehow kept her grace as she skidded along the floor. When it all stopped, she was standing up straight like it was all an elaborate dance move.

March was less fortunate. She was sprawled on the ground next to a broken glass and a pool of no-berry juice. She looked predictably stunned. "M-my juice! I haven't even had a sip!" Even as Stelle helped her to her feet, she could not help but chuckle at the sheer comedic misfortune - and got a pout in return.

"Emergency stop?" she asked.

"E-emergency stop," Pom-Pom huffed, and folded their arms, and looked like the very picture of fluster. "Excuse Pom-Pom please, everything- Everything. Is. Under. Control." Then they produced a Pom-Pom-sized mop-broom and started cleaning up after March's spilled drink.

"Priorities, Pom-Pom, what exactly happened?" Himeko asked.

"Disruption," Welt said.

He was walking with a gentle grip on his walking stick, looking as if nothing had happened.

"The train didn't get derailed, did it?" Stelle asked.

Pom-Pom was puffing up. "Not on Pom-Pom's watch it didn't!" they said, and pointed out of the window. "This... planet, it came out of nowhere! Like a careless driver crossing the track!"

Indeed – Stelle looked out of the window. The dotted black canvas of infinite space spread out before them for the past several day had been replaced oh-so-abruptly with the sudden appearance of a huge planet dominating a good part of the view. In fact, given her rudimentary knowledge of Newtonian physics, Stelle was wondering if it was safe at all for the Astral Express to remain so close to the planet itself.

"Well, at least we didn't crash," Stelle said.

Pom-Pom's ears were drooping to the ground. "Yes," they said guiltily.

"Something like back in Jarilo-VI again?" March groaned. "Another Stellaron?"

"Perhaps," Himeko said. "It is slightly concerning that a planet appears straight on the path of the Star Rail, isn't it?"

March's first instinct, it seemed, was to drag Dan Heng by the sleeve. "Got any idea?" she said.

Stelle swore in the brief time she'd known the two of them Dan Heng had never looked so blanked-out. It would have been a little funny, if it wasn't so concerning at the same time.

But then Welt was keeping his eyes peeled for the whole time. Stelle stared at him – he didn't seem to notice. She figured he was looking at every part of the coastline visible from space, every contour, every feature natural or man-made, with a hawk-like attentiveness. Soon Stelle found herself joined by mostly everyone else: First Himeko, then March, then Pom-Pom, then Dan Heng last of all. They stood staring at the old explorer, and time seemed to congeal...

… until Welt broke his trance with a grin.

"Yes, yes, of course, such coincidence," Welt said. "I have always wondered when we would get here if at all." He approached the window and rapped his knuckle at it. "Behold Planetos in all its glory." It looked like he was knuckling the planet itself.

March rolled her eyes. "A planet called Planetos." And the archer class is made of archers, thank you very much was spelled out in her eyes.

"You've been here before?" Himeko asked.

"Not quite, heh, I'm not half as lucky," Welt said. "Planetos is very isolated from the broader universe. So much so they keep to their own gods, separate from the Aeons."

Himeko blinked. "Wouldn't the IPC have approached them after all these eras?"

"If I am to guess," Welt said. "The same reason that had kept Planetos isolated has brought us to Planetos. It does not stay in a fixed orbit, and in a manner wanders the vastness of the universe. It is hard enough to track down a starnought with its array of communication devices. Imagine a blacked-out planet traveling on its own itinerary."

"So it is like a child playing in traffic," Stelle pointed out.

"In front of a train!" Pom-Pom huffed.

"Then," Dan Heng said, "How did you know this planet even existed?"

"Through the last traveler to map this world," Welt said. "Elio's the name, though I know little of him beyond that. He's a jolly fellow, who might know more about the planet than anyone else, and it took him some difficulties even to get anywhere close to the planet itself. And for all that effort, his account leaves much gap to be filled. If we are to engage with Planetos, we would have to make do on flawed information."

"The name sounds familiar," Himeko said, her brows quickly furrowed. "Isn't he the Elio who-?"

Old Man Welt thought for a while. "It's the mother of all coincidences." His chuckle took off half his age, just for a blink of an eye. "No, there are more than one Elio in the infinite galaxies, imagine that."

"It couldn't have been worse than Jarilo-VI, could it?" March said. "We went into a world of ice thinking it was a lush jungle, didn't we?"

Dan Heng coughed. "Don't jinx it," he said.

Welt pressed his lips. "That might actually be the case, March," he said. "One of the things Elio... well, that other Elio, mentioned in his remarks was that a very long time ago – in the vicinity of about a hundred Amber Eras give or take – a phenomenon took place on Planetos best described as a planet-wide Stellaron burst. Perhaps that was why the planet was written off as lost and no further attempt for contact was made. Or maybe there were other reasons, he never made it very clear"

"But that cannot possibly be true," Dan Heng said. "The first recorded Stellaron emergence was much later than that."

"We cannot know for sure," Welt said, "We still know too little about the workings of the Aeons."

"Assuming that's true, is there..." March's voice trailed off.

"Is there anything left to explore?" March nodded glumly, and Welt smiled. "If you asked the explorer he would say yes. Yes, against all odds Planetos survived, and in a sense even thrived. His account spoke of multiple large cities, a thriving sea trade, and a wealth of unexplored phenomena and happenings to sate the appetite of even the most well-traveled spacefarer. It just hasn't made anywhere close to the sort of progress you'd need to be on equal footing with the rest of the known universe."

It looked like a perfectly normal, even nice and blue sphere of neatly balanced oceans and land-masses. The eco-system seemed to be in good shape. No cracking vortex of destruction marred the land – at least not visible from that far over the planet. In fact Planetos looked inviting enough, Stelle thought it might be an alright place for a trailblazer to retire to, when all was said and done.

"We aren't learning anything new just standing here and making conjectures," Stelle said.

"No, we aren't. But there would be issues exploring Planetos." Welt said. "The first problem is, this world is obviously not developed enough to have any sort of a formal landing arrangement for the Express. So it is like Jarilo-VI again except worse. We'll have to remain in orbit and dispatch a group down, see what is going on, then decide our next move."

Dan Heng glanced at his screen. "There are multiple locations showing heat signatures indicating densely populated areas."

"That's the second issue," Welt said. "In many places of the known galaxies the intelligent species have gotten used to mono-polis planets. To the point some forget civilization had begun and thrived for a good part of its history with multiple nations and cities on the same world. And that makes it hard to find a fast lane to contact the people in charge. You could land on a remote town several months' walk from civilization, or on a war zone between two contenders – neither are more knowledgeable than the other as to the Stellaron, much less the broader scope of the universe."

"We'll just pick the largest heat signal!" March said. "We'd be sure to run into something, right?"

Stelle heard a breathy sigh from Dan Heng's windpipe. "As reckless as that sounds," he said. "It does look like our best shot."

"Would it be possible to try to hook Planetos up with the Space Anchor network?" Stelle asked.

Welt regarded her from top to toe. "And what would make you think that?"

She glanced at Himeko, then back at Welt. Her cheeks flared up a little. Because I do want a way back to visit Belobog? "Maybe it's a good idea... I think."

"Indeed, a good idea on paper. We know the last explorer to try to chart Planetos didn't do that, and they would have had the full backing of the IPC if they tried," Welt said. "The reason could be anything, but it has to be significant that such an obvious course of action did not proceed. At this point I think it would behoove us not to do anything drastic."

Dan Heng cut in. "How bad would it be to operate without the Space Anchor network connection?"

"Well, for starters, it cuts you off from any and all service we've taken for granted: respite, fast travel, resupply, and last but not least, your electronics are on borrowed time and offline. So no telephoning, no messaging, no group-chatting, no access to information at your fingertip, and-" Welt glanced at March. "-no sharing of photos."

March was crestfallen. "Eh? But that's- that's half the joy of trailblazing!"

"We can deploy a remote anchor," Himeko suggested.

"Yes, that's the only viable option if we are to keep in touch" Welt said. "But it would have to run on the Astral Express' resources, and depending on what you find down there it could get costly. And even then it wouldn't solve the connectivity issue. And if you have to come to blows with local elements for whatever, you'll still have to take on a vastly inflated risk."

Stelle let her figurative obtrusive thought win out. "... Is there an option to leave this world and never come back?"

The reaction she got was surprising.

"We can," Welt said. "Unlike back in Jarilo, the anomaly you see here isn't too bad."

Pom-Pom nodded profusely. "Star Rail stability is at eighty-six percent," they said. "We can technically make an adjustment and clear out of this planet's gravity well with a bump or two."

"The real question is," Himeko said, "Do we want to?" Excitement took over her cool professionalism, but just so briefly. "We can confirm the last explorer's theory. If, in fact, Planetos has a Stellaron in it somewhere, and it's been there since before the first reported Stellaron incident... Welt, Welt, this discovery can change everything!"

Welt nodded slowly. "My thought exactly," he said.

Dan Heng nodded, too. "What we can find here can bring us that much closer to the truth."

March looked left, and then right. She slumped her shoulder. "That's three to two already, so much for voting democratically!" she cried. Then she cleared her voice. "Well, at least the experience would be something I guess..."

Stelle sighed. "See, when I say we have no option-"

Himeko's hand was on her shoulder. "Well, Stelle, you know the routine – such as they were."

Stelle blinked. "Make contact, throw stuff at the wall, see what sticks."

"Explore, Understand, Establish, Connect," Himeko said. "That said, if you feel like you are in danger, punch out."

Stelle exhaled.

Whatever would await them, unexciting certainly wouldn't be it.