"You will have to finish your nap outside. I cannot control emergency inspections." Proxima's voice still had carried a hint of its earlier gentleness through the twolegplace's chatter holes.

"Why did we stop?" Mira had dragged herself off the snake-monster and into the fresh mountain air. "This doesn't look like a stop for twolegs."

"It is an automated maintenance station. There appears to be a rockslide ahead, which is only just now being cleared. This prompted the emergency inspection of all maglev rails."

"Are we in the Yaga District?" Mira had said trying to look through the notches in the mountains ahead.

"This mountain range marks the border between the Ammit and Yaga Districts. We will be here for at least an hour."

Proxima's voice had vanished with a click. The snake-monster, a long and sleek thing with shallow-sloped noses painted blue and green, had closed its doors and sped down the tunnel it came. No drones had greeted Mira on the smooth, gray platform. She had momentarily been in awe at the abandoned twolegplace, seemingly carved from the mountain itself. She had been surrounded by mostly barren façades while directly behind was blocked by dozens tunnels with silverpaths extending into and between them. She couldn't see where Proxima had said a rock slide occurred, but the various notches and slopes had brought a cool breeze and thin air to clash with the sheer, hazel sunlight. The breeze had held a strangely familiar scent that had woken her up and piqued her curiosity.

Mira wandered off the platform and down some stairs to find a lone juniper tree overgrowing its artificial boundaries and breaking the platform. The tree smelled nice, but it tried to hide the faintest scent of decay from Mira. And the decay wasn't from its accompanying foliage. Her stumpy tail hugged close as she approached the tree and weaved around the broken platform pieces. She jumped at the skeleton with a crushed spine and hissed. "Proxima!" she yowled, quickly getting over her fear and approaching again.

The twoleg-sized spherical drone rumbled the ground on its approach, slowing when it realized Mira wasn't in immediate danger. A worm-like appendage extended from the chrome sphere and bathed the skeleton in a rapidly flashing blue light. "Domestic cat, female, British Longhair. Died approximately seven years ago, so not a victim of the supernova. The mountain wind must have deteriorated her faster than usual."

Mira had seen dead animals before, even twoleg skeletons. But this one stuck out to her with its twisted, shattered spine and broken jaw. She spotted a crystal-like shard in one of her ribs. "Did that kill her?"

The drone's blue light shined briefly on it. "No. But she was still alive when that glass shard stabbed her. She was also alive to have her spine crushed and her jaw broken. No fall or storm could have done this. She was killed by something."

Proxima seemed satisfied with her scans, but kept the security drone close to the tree. Mira sniffed more of the same in a hole the dead molly appeared to be warding her of. A ramp led into a deeper den, padded smooth by hundreds of paw prints frozen in time. "Other cats lived here," Mira whispered.

"Area maps state this is an artificial habitat for coyotes. It is possible feral cats took it over at some point. Best to leave it alone. I am going to check on the rockslide progress."

The twolegplace chatter holes clicked off again, leaving Mira alone with the security drone. The red light on its worm-like appendage stayed on and ready to follow automatically. Mira led the way, saying a quick prayer for the dead molly—and for her own unease—and descending.

The den itself was large enough for dozens of cats to live comfortably. There were various twoleg trinkets scattered about, some reflective enough to brighten the darker parts of the den. A couple pillars in the middle, padded soft with clay by its former occupants, helped support the weight of the tree. Only a few roots broke the time-ravaged ceiling. Light came in from natural-looking holes twolegs had carved through the cliffside in the back. None were large enough for even a kit to accidentally slip through and they also ventilated the place with a refreshing breeze. But it wasn't enough to mask what had happened. Scratches on the walls and the shriveled husks of skin told Mira there was some kind of fight. And it had been one-sided.

Mira whispered another prayer as she looked closer at everything out of place. She found another cat skull with a shattered eye socket and the rest of its bones scattered. One with shriveled skin was mostly buried, but appeared to have been shoved through the dirt by some great force. Some of the bones were concentrated in padded nests, their occupants presumably killed without a fight. Teeth and long bones were so strewn about it was hard to determine how many there were, but she counted at least eighteen cats. Some of the walls were stained with what she knew was their blood. Though the scent of battle had long faded, Mira knew this place would never be inhabited again.

"What kind of sadist would do something like this?" Mira said approaching the back of the den.

"It is a matter of what could do this rather than who." Proxima's voice came from the security drone outside, the worm-like appendage scanning the bones with blue light. "Coyotes or wolves would not take a pointless fight like this, and there are no signs of any other animals here. I need more information."

"I didn't know cats made shrines," Mira said, something catching her eye.

Proxima ignored it, but Mira's focus was on a silver twoleg object at the back of the den. She knew the circular device with illegible symbols along its edges was used to keep time, but the way it was rested allowed light to reflect upward and across the ceiling. The front was broken in dozens of spots and made it appear like there were stars on the wall. Claws had raked the front and disrupted the pattern, like someone had tried to destroy it. She recognized how even and straight the three marks were.

"This place was a Star Covenant branch." Mira's whispers were still ignored by Proxima, who no longer seemed present. She focused on an intentional puddle of water in front of the twoleg timepiece. "But Farstrider never said anything about shrines."

The moment Mira dipped her paw into the water, her body ran ice-cold. It didn't let up until she removed her paw. Deciding between telling Proxima and trying again, she rested her paw at the bottom of the puddle. A flash of light transported her to the scene of the slaughter. Several cats with tri-claw markings on their thighs were being torn apart, some where they lay and some where they fought, by another. Its fur was soaked in blood, but she could see its glowing blue eyes and a deep scar running from its nose to its tall ears. Its unfocused brutality, the unnatural strength it possessed, the obscenities it screamed, was slowly overtaken by a molly's whisper:

I just wanted to see Littlestar again. I'm sorry!

The vision left Mira panting with her claws ready to defend herself. The worm-like appendage Proxima again controlled was scanning the timepiece and her.

"What?" Mira said, hoping her guardian wouldn't pry.

"I have not said anything yet." The appendage appeared to be waving her out of the den, which she didn't hesitate to follow. "Your heart rate elevated suddenly. Did you hear something else?"

"No, it's just that… I might've figured out what happened. I don't know if you overheard me and Farstrider talking about that insane Star Covenant cat they didn't know was a chimera?"

The security drone retracted the worm-like appendage and rolled away, forcing Mira to follow. "This den belonged to Proxima-Dombay, or Dombaystar as you call him. Traces of his DNA are all over this place. He killed them all."

"What a terrible way to do things." Mira was still rattled from her vision and the apology of the mystery molly. But the pace the drone kept irritated her. "Why are you going so fast? There's no one here, is there?"

"You know Dombaystar sits in orbit now." Proxima's voice came through the twolegplace's hidden chatter holes again. "He could be watching his old territory. Even though he can no longer strike the surface, I will not chance his intelligence against mine."

Only when they had returned to the platform Mira first disembarked did the security drone stop. With gentle mountain air running through her long fur, Mira could have pictured it all as a bad dream. Now she had looked at the juniper tree and shuddered. She had not been able to separate the death from its oblivious roots. But that one voice had stayed at the top of her thoughts, one that had sounded more begging than apologetic.

O O O

The adolescent tom stayed close to Mira's side with all the drones and mysterious hums cluttering his senses. But he was bewildered by everything they padded past, from the trio of rolling security drones to the long and flat stacks of tubes they were heading towards.

"Woah! This was underground the whole time?" Faypaw said, mouth agape. "Just a day's travel from the hills? I've been around here before. How haven't I wandered in?"

"The elevator required to reach this place is inaccessible to wild animals." Proxima's voice came through a pair of chatter holes on a cylinder drone with a long and curved screen. "Your mother has a nanochip inserted into her skull that gives her clearance."

Walls as high as Mira could see flanked them on all sides. Despite their smooth, gray surfaces, noise was surprisingly local. The stack of four tubes they approached had their own elevator, like the one they had used on the surface, but was much smaller. The walls held twoleg timepieces with hands in different spots and some abstract artwork filled with colors she knew Faypaw couldn't see.

Mira was nervous around him. His smile, his curious incomprehension, the way questions had flowed from his mouth all day made Mira nervous. She hadn't answered many and kept quiet most of the day. Only Proxima's diligent patience kept him occupied for long enough periods to make him forget what he asked. Still, she felt guilty for refusing to answer questions she was too uneasy to hear. Mira had been with Faypaw all day, but he knew nothing about her.

"We will have to walk once we reach Harc's outlying suburbs," Proxima said. "The Shattered District puts out enough heat to make underground travel further than that hazardous. Nonetheless, our journey will still only take a few days."

"I thought these snake-monsters were really, really fast," Faypaw said.

"They are. But Skhul Terra is larger than it appears on the horizon. Even at supersonic speeds, we will not reach Harc until noon tomorrow."

"Most of the hill cats would just be waking up about now." Mira's sudden words made Faypaw eagerly swing his head around for the rest. She struggled to find anything that would satisfy him. "Um, did you say goodbye to all your friends?"

"They're so jealous!" Faypaw proudly puffed his chest. "They said they all wanted to come and meet StarClan."

Mira chuckled a bit. "I hope we don't meet StarClan the moment we get there. But it wouldn't be the first time me and Proxima were joined by others."

"Really!?"

"Really. I think you'd especially like hearing about Yonder Five. It's kind of nice but tiring to be on the move like that again."

"I can slow our pace if you are not comfortable," Proxima said, the drone scanning her sleeves with blue light.

Mira shook her head. "I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Several enclosed walkways raised from the floor and led to the topmost of the flat tubes. After a loud click connected them, they walked through. Faypaw's nose cringed at the sterile air Mira had grown all too accustomed to. They entered a snake-monster, also long and flat like the tube it was enclosed in, with a few seats and beds for twolegs. The walls, floor, and ceiling formed one massive screen and projected an artificial view of the surface. Divider walls sectioned off areas and dampened the noise. They started moving with a subtle vibration, then perfect smoothness. Symbols Mira knew indicated their speed was displayed on the ceiling.

"What's that?" Faypaw said, pointing at the symbols.

"It is our current speed," Proxima's voice still came through the drone despite there being visible chatter holes all over the snake-monster's walls. "It will only be another minute or so until we are over one-thousand kilometers per hour."

"No, I mean those. The things showing the speed?"

"Oh." Proxima seemed pleasantly surprised. "Those are numbers. They are used for everything from problem solving to timekeeping. They are nearly as old as the human species." As the snake-monster picked up imperceptible speed, their artificial surroundings became a nighttime meadow. "It is currently one twenty-three in the morning. Late by their standards."

Faypaw was only briefly mesmerized by the snake-monster's ever-climbing speed since he couldn't feel it. He began walking around and sniffing the rather uninteresting furniture. Mira had at least learned what that meant. He had a question he was afraid to ask.

"So," he finally said, looking at a red dot on the screen wall, "what exactly do I call you if not Proxima?"

"What do you mean?" The drone had gone dormant, and Proxima's voice came from just one of the many chatter holes.

"I mean, me and Mira are cats. Foxes are vicious little dogs with long noses. We hunt woodchucks and gofers and stuff and that's prey. The others call you 'twoleg-thing' but Mira said not to. But what kind of creature makes people come up with that name?"

Proxima already seemed prepared to answer the question, blacking out part of the screen. "Did all of your information about me come from your father?"

Faypaw nodded anxiously. "He said you have gray skin, forelegs for hind legs, and orange fur, but I've seen twolegs in pictures and they don't look anything like that. And he said you're a chimera, but not anything like Mira." Mira yawn anxiously and turned to leave. Faypaw folded his ears back a bit. "Where are you going?"

"To sleep." Mira tried sounding gentle, but she knew her kit would be disappointed all the same. "I'll have to tell you that story later. Besides, it's important you learn everything Proxima is willing to tell you about herself. Goodnight, Faypaw."

"Okay… goodnight."

"I will give you your privacy." As Mira passed one of the dividers, it became an artificial wall separating her from the others and growing blacker as it did. "Twoleg-thing is not a wholly lacking description…"

When the wall closed in full, an artificial nighttime glow kept things from being pitch black. The screen walls now projected a boring view of the inside of the tube. Mira jabbed herself a few times, not wanting to just sleep off her guilt. All the black did was remind her of Faypaw's sleek fur and beaming eyes. The divider granted her total silence and privacy, making her feel even worse. Mira curled up on the floor instead of one of the twoleg beds. She kept her sleeves on and close her eyes. She simply wanted the courage to see the kit she'd inadvertently spent his life away from.

"My Stars," Mira mumbled. "He's my son. What's wrong with me?"

As she resisted sleep, portions of the wall became swirling, purple hues. Most of the tension she held seemed to fade away, so she was fine at first. But then she saw the stone. Fallen debris of twoleg nests with silver bars and perfect cuts. Parts of the floor turned to dry dirt without much of its texture. Patches of blue-tinted grass sprung up and began to wave in a warm breeze she could barely feel.

"What's happening? I swear I didn't fall asleep." She held her thoughts as two flawless eyes of blue stared at her from the other side of the coach. They were from a young cat standing atop an ethereal boulder. The mystery cat was shrouded in smoke from a fire Mira couldn't see or smell. Mira leapt to her paws and faced the cat. She unsheathed her claws, her sleeves vibrating for her to calm down at the sudden exertion, determining whether it was friendly or if she could even defend her kit against it. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" The mystery cat innocently retorted.

The cat leapt from the boulder and the smoke dissipated, revealing a young adult with a gentle face and strong physique. She was much shorter than Mira and had a gray and white mantle pattern. Draped over her back, curiously, were twin hide pouches covering most of her flanks joined by a brown strap. The sides of each pouch were adorned with a four-axis shadow with ends broken in the same direction, a foreboding twoleg symbol in stark contrast to the lovely molly before her. Mira's tension eased a bit when she noticed the puffy, fearful tail from the cat.

"You must be a StarClan cat," Mira said, sheathing her claws. "But I've never had visions like this. Not even my dreams are this vivid!"

"And you're the first cat I've spoken to in a while." The molly's voice was honey-like, despite her smelling of smoke and strange water. "And you know what I am! Just like the last one—hopefully nothing like the last one, actually. Welcome to StarClan!" Mira's eyes widened as they darted between the barrier and the mystery molly, who vigorously shook her head and waved her paws. "Oh no, no, no, no, you're not dead! I'm sorry. I mean I, an actual dead cat, have brought a bit of StarClan to you, who is very much alive. I'm Fleetheart. And I've been trying to get through to anyone for many moons. Or whatever passes for moons these days."

Mira's fur settled as Fleetheart's scatterbrained presence soothed her. She stayed on guard, though, squirming her stumpy tail and keeping her flank to her. Facts about the young molly she had heard from her mate's stories flowed through her head while she tried to make sense of her new surroundings. "Fleetheart died an old molly, older than me. How can you be her?"

"We arrive in StarClan at the age we were happiest." Fleetheart noticed Mira still on guard but dared a gentle step forward. "There's no need to be afraid. I mean no harm. I'd be a pretty lousy medicine cat if I did."

Mira faced the StarClan medicine cat directly, better noticing parts of her fur glistening and giving her a gentle glow. "I've never had more than whispers and strange dreams, visions, hallucinations maybe, and sometimes I've seen StarClan cats in person, but never like this. Never talking to one."

"Honestly, I don't know, either." When Fleetheart walked, the stars in her pelt stayed static, new ones appearing in different patterns while old ones disappeared. "Where I'm from, no one remembers me. I should be gone by now. But everything about StarClan feels like a dream. I don't remember any of it! I have visions and see the others, sometimes. But I can't ever talk to them. I know I can't be the last cat in StarClan. That's impossible."

"What do you remember?" Mira said, finally growing at ease with her situation. "I knew something didn't feel right with the visions I experienced when I was young, but nothing like this. I didn't even know it was possible for a StarClan cat to forget like this."

"It shouldn't be," Fleetheart growled without malice. When she did, the ethereal smoke hanging near the ceiling grew slightly more pungent. "I remember StoneClan and how to use twoleg medicine water. I remember Panzer, and Wolfgang, and Shortfang… Littlestar. All my friends. I died an UnderClan medicine cat. I remember my life. But everything about my time in StarClan is just a haze."

Mira noticed some of the smoke eased up when she reminisced. "Do you at least know how long it's been?"

Fleetheart shook her head. "Panzer said to keep an eye on twoleg stuff. When I was born, the Great Sky War was still raging and the noses of sky-monsters spun. Before I died, all their noses screamed instead and they were much faster. Now, the world looks like a ring! The horizon never looked like a giant ring where I was from."

"Do you remember who you spoke to before me? Littlestar, maybe?"

"I don't really want to talk about that. Please?" The smoke returned to the ceiling briefly, bringing impossibly close lightning arcs and a sinister red glow. Mira was taken aback at the StarClan medicine cat asking her for permission on anything. But she felt it was in both their best interests to oblige. "I have a question for you. How long has it been if the twolegs have… whatever this thing is? How does anyone still remember my name?"

"My mate's name is Farstrider, and he's from the Star Covenant. They still tell your story. Proxima taught me most of what I know, though. She said that Great Sky War happened about a thousand years ago. Many thousands of rotations ago." Fleetheart stood there, wide-eyed and with a politely blank face. "But maybe we start smaller? A rotation is what you would call a moon."

"Oh thank the Stars!" Fleetheart sighed and rested a paw on Mira's shoulder. It gently phased through before she tried again and it stayed. "That makes much more sense, with there being no moon and all. What else can you tell me?"

"The ringworld is named Skhul Terra and was built by twolegs. The star it surrounds is, was, named Ajax. I believe it's the cause of StarClan's disruption. Oh, and Proxima isn't a cat."

"Oh wow." Fleetheart sat back on her haunches. "I've been hearing those names from time to time trying to contact others, but now I have real answers. I just hope…. Never mind. You're not him. Tell me more. Tell me everything!"

Fleetheart drew uncomfortably close, her nose practically phasing through Mira's. But the senior molly didn't mind her genuine enthusiasm and strangely soothing presence. It helped dispel the guilt hanging in the back of her mind. The StarClan medicine cat had the same wonderous eyes and eager mind as Faypaw, who was just outside and probably hoping she'd show herself again. Fleetheart finally tempered her excitement, ready to ask what was wrong.

"I don't think they'll be able to see you," Mira said, "but I promised my kit a story. It'll let you meet him, and Proxima. Is that okay with you?"

Fleetheart's excitement sprang back. The molly's bounce and homely scent briefly dispelled Mira's anxiety. She felt she needed to make up for lost time with her kit but didn't know how. Not knowing what he liked, or who his friends were, or how to even be around the kit she never felt like she raised. But the story would be a good start. When Mira knocked on the barrier several times, it parted for the now dim cabin she left her kit in. Faypaw's tail quivered excitedly.