We didn't go back to Aethryx.
When Vax tried to "reverse the polarity" of the gate—which mostly involved him hitting a terminal with a rock while screaming—the portal didn't turn white. It turned a sickly, flickering purple.
"Vax! The Gate looks like it's having a seizure!" I yelled, shielding my eyes.
"It's not a seizure! It's an... unauthorized reroute!" Vax shouted back, his four eyes wide with panic. "The system detected the massive energy signature inside Pod! It think we're a smuggling vessel! Brace for—"
BWOMP.
The world folded. We weren't stretched through a straw this time; we were fired out of a cannon. We hit a floor that wasn't snow, but cold, polished carbon-fiber.
[ LOCATION: UNKNOWN ]
[ ATMOSPHERE: BREATHABLE ]
[ GRAVITY: STABLE ]
I sat up, coughing out the taste of ozone. We were in a hangar. A massive, silent, shadow-drenched hangar that looked like it hadn't seen a pilot in a century.
"This isn't the Trade Hub," Kuro whispered, his fur standing on end. "This feels like a tomb."
Clank. Whirr. Click.
The shadows at the edge of the hangar began to move. Three Security Sentinels—sleek, three-legged droids with red laser-eyes—unfolded from the ceiling.
"Unauthorized lifeforms detected," a cold, synthesized voice echoed. "Initiating recycling protocol."
"Bjorn! Smash them!" I commanded.
Bjorn roared and lunged, but the sentinels were fast. They fired a net of blue electricity that tangled the big bear's legs, sending him crashing into a pile of crates. Vax scrambled behind a pillar, his scanner useless against the hangar's jamming signal.
"Pod's still asleep!" Vax yelled. "Fuen, we're sitting ducks!"
I looked at my hands. I was Level 3 now. I could feel a hum in my chest—the Pulse-Resonance.
"Kuro, distract the left one!" I shouted.
"I am a mentor, not a decoy!" Kuro complained, but he moved like a black streak, leaping onto the droid's head and clawing at its sensors.
The droid spun, trying to shake the cat off.
This was my chance. I gripped my kinetic-baton. For the first time, I didn't just swing it; I poured my energy into it. The baton flared with violet light, the resonance from Pod's "meal" vibrating through my arm.
I slid across the smooth floor, ducking under a laser blast that singed my hair. I swung the baton upward, hitting the droid's central joint.
CRACK-BOOM.
The kinetic discharge didn't just dent the metal—it shattered the droid's internal core. It exploded in a shower of sparks.
[ COMBAT LOG: SENTINEL DESTROYED ]
[ EXP GAINED: +500 ]
[ SKILL UNLOCKED: KINETIC BURST ]
"One down!" I panted, my heart hammering.
I felt powerful. I felt like I actually belonged in this crazy universe. I dodged the second droid's sweep and jammed the baton into its leg, triggering a burst of energy that sent the machine spinning into a wall.
"Enough! Bjorn, finish it!"
The bear, finally free from the net, slammed his massive pillar down on the last droid, flattening it into a pancake. "Bjorn hates spiders! Spiders too crunchy!"
With the room clear, the hangar lights flickered to life. In the center of the room sat a ship.
It wasn't a clunky merchant vessel. It was sleek, shaped like a hunting bird, with a hull made of matte-black "Stealth-Glass." It didn't need a Gate. On its side was a logo of a golden wing—an Archon-Class Scout Ship.
"Oh... my... stars," Vax whispered, walking toward it with trembling hands. "This is a Star-Drifter. It has a built-in Warp-Drive. With this, we don't need the Gate-Keyholes. We can go anywhere. Another planet, another system... we could even bypass the Aethryx checkpoints entirely."
"Can you fly it?" I asked, looking at the beautiful machine.
"I can do more than fly it," Vax grinned, his four eyes gleaming. "I can make it ours. But we have a problem. This ship is soul-locked.
It only responds to high-Pulse signatures."
I looked at the glowing, sleeping beanbag that was Pod.
"Pod's the battery," I realized. "Vax, if you can bridge the connection, Pod can become the ship's brain."
"I like big metal bird!" Bjorn shouted, patting the hull so hard it left a dent. "Does it have a snack dispenser?"
"We're about to find out," I said, stepping onto the ramp.
As we entered the cockpit, the ship hummed. The walls began to glow with the same violet light that Pod had eaten. The Little Slime, still asleep, rolled into the main power core and settled in with a happy bloop.
[ SYSTEM DETECTED: THE STAR-DRIFTER ]
[ SYNCING WITH PILOT... ]
[ STATUS: STOLEN BUT STYLISH ]
"Seatbelts on!" Vax yelled, his fingers flying across the holographic controls. "I don't know where we're going, but it's definitely not where the Archons want us to be!"
The hangar roof opened to a sky full of stars—real, bright stars, not the neon lights of the city. With a roar of violet engines, we shot into the dark.