The vines tightened around Linuka’s body like a predator’s grip. Her lungs burned. Multi-awareness is a state of mind, her father had said—while she dangled between life and death. She reached inward, ready to surrender… then chose otherwise. Above her, strip beams carved the planet open, ripping everything skyward in a maelstrom of light and violence.

The ground shifted beneath their boots, alive with something that shouldn’t have been there. Vines slithered toward the breach they’d forced into the surface, sealing it shut. Linuka reached for help the way she always had—but this time, the voice inside her didn’t respond. This is your fault, it whispered.

There was no ‘next’. Finding the last diin was the mission. Only knowing the seedling’s fate would ensure there was a future for anyone. Linuka sat on the bunk, exhaustion heavy in her bones. Then Cha said it—the words that cracked the silence: ‘We returned… with a sphere drive array.’