Chương 137: Part 118 I knew it!

There was, perhaps, something magical about tool-use when your species seldom used them.

"This is so good for hunting!" Grook declared with unwavering conviction. Nestra watched her land all her shots on target this time, the shotgun barely moving under her heavenly mask's fingers. Which were quite meaty. The tall girl was having a blast trying everything Gorge had and packing her favorite picks in her modest spatial pocket. Every Aszhii collected something. Grook might be a weapon collector after all. Gorge didn't mind because Nestra's Threshold-provided credit account buzzed on his screen.

Also that asshole respected strength. Grook had that.

"How have things been?" Nestra asked Kim Soo-Young with all the tact of a road roller. Kim paused the cleaning of a recently purchased firearm, a compact handgun that bucked in her untrained hands. As a member of law enforcement, Kim was officially allowed to carry. She just hadn't done so yet. When the dragon she was tasked to slay could only be felled with records and spreadsheets, a gun might feel useless. Nestra's opinion was that dragons hired hitmen. Those people had bodies with lead allergies. Hence: gun.

"Surprisingly well, although I do miss you sometimes. I believe I made the best decision of my life."

"Hmm?"

"When I decided to pause my career here." Nestra pulled back. A workaholic maniac like Kim, declaring she wouldn't participate in the rat race?

"Oh, don't give me that reaction, Nestra. Didn't I mention it after I was freed from prison? I regretted dedicating my entire life to a cause when I could have lived for myself as well. I am not giving up on my mission, mind you. I merely realized that I enjoyed doing what I was doing. And that I was very good at it. I have no need to pursue further promotions or the approval of my superiors. It was time for me to find myself! Now I have some more time to find out who that is. Also, I picked up cycling."

"Cycling?" Nestra gasped. Kim nodded as she kept working. Nestra finally noticed that the career woman had some color, though that just meant she was healthier than the average coffee-addicted pasty-arse civil servant.

"I am taking precautions so I do not cycle alone, of course. I am part of a group of like-minded cyclists. We gather on weekends for short trips around the city. The rest of the time, I cycle in the office's gym. But I digress. I believe I finally found some sort of balance." She snapped the case shut after having arranged everything. Kim insisted on paying for her own gun. She'd also picked something very cheap despite Nestra's suggestion to find something with a smart-link. She already had augs, dammit.

"I plan on dating again soon," Kim continued. Then she hesitated.

"I hope you do not see it as a betrayal of our common friend's memory." Nestra shook her head. Detective Shinoda would have wanted the people he loved to live, not just survive. She asked more questions for Kim who felt surprisingly zen for someone who hunted financial crimes over a million credits. It was good to catch up, but the relaxation didn't last. Nestra's phone rang. It was Ragnarok. Ragnarok calling her at midnight. Fuck it, it was hard not to be anxious. Ok breathe. Remember what dad said.

"Yes?" Nestra asked.

"Crescent, we have a problem." I fucking knew it, Nestra thought to herself before pushing the thought aside. Maybe it wasn't that bad.

"Do tell."

"Shinran was supposed to attend the meeting we're having with your coven sisters, but he has been missing for over four hours. He tends to disappear on occasion. He also tends to be late, that is not the issue, but such a long delay is unusual. I cannot stress how much we need everything to go to plan right now. I have confirmation that he was at home, and there are no records of him leaving. So perhaps he is in training, if you know what I mean?" Nestra knew.

It had to be the training world, which Rag also had access to. This has to be a cosmic joke of some sort.

"You are the only person we know of who visits his house. We do not see any life signs inside. I need you to check it out."

"Will do."

"And Nestra… if something managed to kill him, don't stay. We can't afford to lose either of you."

"Ok. Just one thing, give me a couple hours at least. I might need time to explore."

"Aright." Nestra made a quick call to her dad so he would arrange an escort back for Grook, who requested to stay. Gorge didn't have an issue with that. He wouldn't at thirty thousand creds per hour. Kim decided to head home. It was getting close to midnight, she had to work the next day, and she was past forty. It was what it was. They bid each other farewell for now, with the promise that Nestra would join her for dinner.

As she was leaving, Nestra found that Rag had anticipated any difficulty by sending a private hovercar which took her to Shinran's man cave in less than ten minutes. She would never get used to this level of luxury. Not the champagne, but avoiding any of Threshold's traffic. Nevertheless, her stress rose with every minute. Obviously, he was in the training world, but what had he gotten himself into? She hoped he hadn't killed himself with a realistic practice match or something equally asinine.

"Dammit." Nestra landed in human form. The rear entrance opened with a comforting beep, then she was up the stairs and to the secret cabinet. A cup of instant noodles and half-eaten teriyaki chicken skewers waited on a nearby table.

"Buddhist monk my ass," Nestra groused. The weird red portal was open. Nestra entered, finding the familiar dull metal corridors. She walked into the emptied lobby of the training center, casting her mask away so she could use her Aszhii senses. Empty seats and slumbering screens still made it look like a high-tech tomb. Quiet emergency lights barely provided any illumination. As usual, the place was eerily silent. You would expect a giant space station to, she didn't know, groan or beep or something, but no.

With hesitant steps, she moved to the training center itself. There was the 'desk', still empty, and the thin lines hinting at the doors to training rooms but that was it. No noise, no signs of activity. No dust to see footprints. She hesitated. In previous visits, she'd noticed Shinran coming out of a specific panel, but he'd never discussed it and she hadn't pried. Obviously he had the right to keep a few secrets, but this was an emergency. It might be dangerous.

Fuck it, it would be even more dangerous to do nothing. If Shinran disappeared without an explanation at this stage, the world would assume the worst, as in, they would assume the Aszhii had done him in. Who else? The potential fallout made her head spin.

'Shinran murdered by supposedly peaceful alien in a shocking betrayal' haunted her imagination like the absolute worst clickbait. No. Shinran had to be found. Now to check for hubris. Was going alone a good idea? Calling for help sounded reasonable, until she remembered that the other people were not authorized users. Who knew what kind of security system that would trigger? If the station was prepared for Aszhii, then hairless monkeys wouldn't do well. Even Riel might suffer. And time was of the essence.

Fuck it, she had to do it herself. Nestra crept to the panel like it might bite her. Sticking her long ear against it revealed nothing, although at least no one saw her being this silly. Her heart beat with the familiar drum of fear and stress, more so than unusual. She had to do it. For the first time since her first visit, Nestra made herself disappear from detection. You can't see me. You can't see me.

Then passe-muraille allowed her to walk through a surprisingly thin wall, and into the darkness of yet another corridor. No laser came to toast her butt — good news. And the smell was different here. Almost floral. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Nestra advanced on her toes, each step careful and measured. Every corner could be hiding eyes the size of a nanomachine capable of watching for things that couldn't exist. Maybe the station would detect an anomaly and vent her into the void.

Actually that wouldn't even be bad. Maybe it would send her into a recycling pit burning as hot as a star, or shred her into her component Nestroms. Something terrible. Fortunately, the corridor remained a boring series of dull slabs. Lured by the distant light, Nestra progressed at a snail's pace. A sign above the bend in the passage flashed in dull red, first in an unknown script and then in English of all things. It read 'rest area'.

The farther parts were sealed off in the distance by a series of blast doors, but area number one, to her left, was open. The light and scent came from there. As Nestra neared, she also heard the crystal tinks of falling water. Don't tell me… She had to stop at the entrance. The rest area wasn't so much a room as a palatial sphere half-protuding out of the station's main body.

Hexagonal panes separated it from the void while leaving a perfect view of a nearby orange star and the dark round shape of some rocky planet baked by the fiery tongues of its eruptions. Foreign stars illuminated the dark canopy, lit in places by the colorful curtains of impossibly large clouds. In the field-sized sphere, curtains separated various areas: a swimming pool, a gym, a feasting hall because that den of gluttony couldn't reasonably be called a kitchen.

White, slick shapes defined both the furniture and electronics, the difference difficult to tell unless they lit up. A lone robot picked up fallen fruits tipped out of a rustic fiber basket on a table near the entrance. The sound of water came from a fountain tracing water streams in zero gravity, ignoring the rest of the station's artificial pull to draw exotic patterns in the air. Flowers and potted plants gave the entire den a living and live-in atmosphere that made the futuristic view strangely cozy.

"Holy shit," Nestra whispered. A creature took a few steps back, spooking Nestra as she hadn't really realized someone was there. That creature was responsible for the fallen fruits. It was, somewhat unsurprisingly, a woman. A gorgeous yet clearly alien woman. In fact, even Nestra's disinterested gaze recognized that the alien woman was gorgeous in a hand-crafted and artistic way.

She was human-sized and human-proportioned in the same way a statue of Venus carved by an old master with a flourishing libido could be called realistic, yet it was not enough to show an hourglass figure and an exotic, exquisite beauty, the alien woman also possessed features that were as strange as they were elegant. She had slitted purple eyes, large and liquid in their innocence.

Fuchsia scale patterns snaked under her skin like sinuous tattoos, disappearing under gauze-thin cloth so fitting they were more an invitation than a barrier. Her lush black hair fell in a thick waterfall over her back and shoulders. Her skin was tan and healthy. Short nails adorned her elegant fingers, and when she stepped back in fear, her generous heaps bumped against a couch, sending her into a sitting mess of shapely legs and trembling cleavage. All the fear in Nestra's heart evaporated.

"Of fucking course."

"Mimashita" the alien sex-thing screamed, her desperate bleat both melodious and annoyingly disarming.

"Abunai! Osoraku!" Hmm, it sounded like Japanese to Nestra, but with a shit grammar maybe? The alien rallied the moment Nestra manifested her visor. She'd switched to English.

"We see it! It is dangerous! We are scared! It has come here! It should not be here!" The alien pointed an accusatory finger at Nestra who was too busy examining her emotions to react. Her first and most immediate one was obviously disappointment. Of course Shinran was an alien fucker. Of course. She wasn't even surprised, more annoyed than anything. It took her a second to breathe and chase the bitter frustration away. Shinran was still a good person if a ballsy pervert.

The sex alien didn't look like she'd been under any kind of duress so Nestra shouldn't jump to conclusions. But there would be an inquiry, possible condemnation and absolutely merciless ribbing no matter what. Riel. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"It is an intruder! We are scared! It must leave!" Nestra now realized why she hadn't spotted the woman at first, or why she felt uniquely non-threatening. In all of those she'd met before, mana was a force of nature that had to be coaxed and controlled to produce any kind of result. Mana could be hidden, or expressed, but it was always an ocean only waiting to be unleashed. It took effort to control it. She'd never met someone whose mana was so absolutely flat that the person felt like background noise. Until now.

Nestra guessed the alien was a strong C-rank with some sort of physical affinity and a bit of water besides though none of it could be seen in the vivid colors of her eyes, yet there wasn't a speck of raider hunger in her entire body., All of Nestra's instincts told her that the woman was harmless. Obviously that could be a trap, but she could see some of Shinran's stuff on one of the fluffy couches. This was his home, and that made assassination unlikely. Not impossible, just very unlikely.

"I am not an enemy. I am a friend of Shinran," Nestra with the slow, low tone of deescalation.

"We recognize it! It is a monochrome reaver! It is dangerous! We are scared!"

"Shinran is missing," Nestra insisted.

"He might be in danger. I have come to help." The alien hesitated, which was a good sign so Nestra insisted.

"I have come with him many times. We have fought side by side. He knows of me. Now, he is missing and I am worried for him. Please help me make sure he's alright?" The alien's expression turned flat, yet even then she looked more thoughtful than really dangerous.

"Checking." She blinked.

"It speaks the truth. It is recognized as friend of the master."

"Master?" Nestra said, filled with horror.

"It has come to be trained. It has not been invited here. Why is it here?" Nestra didn't have the time to reply.

"It is here to find the master. The master is missing. The master's condition must be ascertained. The master's itinerary must be shared. Information on the master must be conveyed. The master is not deemed to be in immediate danger. She will offer hospitality. She will share relevant information."

"Okay? Hmm, what do I call you?"

"Its designation is Oracle Longing Blossom model 78, unit 2-95. It was granted a familiar name." Oh shit she was really a manufactured person.

"I'll use that one, thanks."

"Its familiar name is Kiyomi. It offers food and drink."

"I appreciate the offer, but time is of the essence."

"It can drink while I talk, if it pleases it." Nestra didn't have time to protest and there was something truly disarming about the way the… Kiyomi, the way Kiyomi moved. While she poured some fragrant infusion into a beautiful stone cup, her gestures grew more confident, and her posture more animated. So far she'd been strange and exotic in a 'trap' sort of way, but now that she was moving, she was a person. Her mana was still as flat and harmless as ever. Nestra wasn't sure how she felt about… all of it.

But no matter what, she needed Shinran alive. She could have him maimed later.

"She explains. It interrupts her when it pleases. The master explored authorized areas. The master left to explore a new area. The master mentioned life signs. The master left to investigate those life signs. It must pursue the life signs, as well." Kiyomi nodded, very proud of herself.

"Okay. Any idea where he went? This is a big station."

"It can request a guide. It is a registered user. It is a guest of the master. It can request a guide from a help kiosk." A lot of complicated emotions twisted Kiyomi's adorable features.

"Does it know what a kiosk looks like? She does not wish to presume. She does not wish to provide insufficient information to satisfy her principal directive."

"Errr. I could use some help."

"She will show." Kiyomi sashayed across the massive room, Nestra close on her heels. Kiyomi found some sort of ultra-thin flexible pad she expanded by pulling on it. It looked stupidly advanced. The pad woke up to show a sort of blue neon wall ornament thing.

"This is a help kiosk. It will request a guide from there. It will request direction to storage area Major-major-dweller-carnelian-pristine-auxiliary 12."

"... Ok?" Kiyomi nodded with a shining enthusiasm that made Nestra sad. The alien was clearly waiting for Nestra's reaction because her happiness crumbled an instant later.

"Is it disappointed?"

"No no no those instructions are clear. Find a kiosk, then ask for storage space major-major… the one you mentioned. From there, look for Shinran. I got it. Any security measures I should mind?"

"The guide will let it know when it enters an unauthorized area. It is allowed to be here. It is allowed in the rest area. If it were not allowed, her fear would have activated defenses."

"Ok, thanks a lot. I think I have enough."

"She is ecstatic to be of help!" And it looked like she was telling the truth as well. Nestra left through a side door Kiyomi pointed to, heart heavy with concerns. Was Shinran a pervert? No, that was a given. Was Shinran abusing the poor girl? She was clearly a right drongo, but that didn't mean he… ah fuck it. She'd have to extract the answer out of his hide. Nestra followed a series of corridors with some measure of trepidation.

They were just more of the same, sterile and impersonal to the extent Nestra guessed there must have been something there before. Decorations. Probably something modular. Nevertheless, she'd never explored the place before out of a sense of respect for Shinran, but now it was clear he didn't deserve it so she could be as nosy as she pleased. She ignored the side corridors which she assumed led to other spherical rooms.

The path joined others, opening into a large concourse split into several levels, transparent passages merging and splitting seamlessly above her. The starry expanse of the eternal night above her provided sufficient light to show the usual white tones, but there were alcoves with counter tops, seats, and empty flower beds she would associate with a public space strewn with cafes. Or at least, drinking spots dedicated to socialization. Everything was inactive here. Empty.

Her gaze searched for blood spots or signs of chaos, but she found none. It was almost as if the people had just progressively up and left. Corpses would create dust, right? Nestra was pretty sure there would be dust. But here? Nothing, just the sterile sadness of a foreclosed mall. One of those dim lights shone blue. Nestra followed a surprisingly intuitive path up towards the kiosk. Her feet stopped when she realized that there weren't any kind of button or interface she could see.

"Bah." This was designed for idiots. She had to think like an idiot, and there would be a reaction. So Nestra knocked on the shiniest cube. By some miracle, it woke up. Unfamiliar glyphs lined the wall, then something scanned her. She hesitated. Should she allow it to? Out of ideas, Nestra assumed her human mask. The air was thin and distinctly uncomfortable.

"Ugh." The language switched to English. //Monochrome reaver pseudo-body switch detected. //Administrative override confirmed. //Authorized user: Nezhra. Welcome. //What assistance do you need?

"I need a guide to, errr, major-major-dweller-carnelian-pristine 12." //Principal or auxiliary?"

"Ah, sorry, forgot the auxiliary." //Dispatching guide to major-major-dweller-carnelian-pristine-auxiliary 12." Good thing the machine was idiot-proof. Nestra breathed a sign of relief when a nearby wall opened. A spherical, flying robot with four triangular wings floating above and to its side joined Nestra, who had to make a conscious effort to be detectable. //Monochrome reaver detected.

"Is it going to be like that every time?" //Administrative override confirmed. //How may I assist you, intruder?

"I'm not an intruder. I was invited. Also, I thought you were dispatched to help me go to, err, major-major…" She waited but the guide barely reacted beyond floating there. How could such a sophisticated system fail at such a basic function which was not having to repeat everything all the time? It reminded her of applying for temp jobs with companies asking to upload a resume only to have her fill every detail manually on top of it. Stupid. //Mainframe access disabled.

//Conflicting directives will lead to inefficiencies. //We apologize for the inconvenience while we work on resolving the issue. It started floating at a speed that was slightly too fast for a walk, but far too slow to be a run. Nestra wondered if it was truly inefficient or just taking the piss. Nevertheless, this was a star people bot, and it talked! Nestra was momentarily excited. Maybe it could answer some questions?

"How big is this station by the way?"

"It is 7. 15 korsek in radius."

"..." Nevermind. After wrangling with the bot for a few minutes, Nestra learned that the station was around 8 thousand Nestra long in diameter, so probably somewhere around 15 kilometers which, while massive, didn't match her expectations.

"The Training Center for Affiliated Species connects to this system's main facilities via spatial funnels." It must be what Shinran had access to. It would certainly make transit faster. As she kept asking questions, the bot led her through increasingly large concourses. Massive residential towers rested under a star canopy, dead and empty, their interconnected bridge hanging desolate over a dusty ground.

Entire patches of bone-dry soil hugged empty fountains, desolate statues, and the empty carcasses of a thousand stores and restaurants. The station lacked the majestic aura of forgotten ruins. Instead, its grandeur was mixed with the everyday misery of a failing venture, killed not by some grand catastrophe, but by progressive neglect. There were no monsters lurking in the shadows here. It was not a tomb, but an empty nest left to decay on a stellar time-scale, its robots still keeping the place somewhat repaired.

Nestra came across a few of them, all simple in their composition. Her companion proved to be less than enlightening.

"How long has this place been abandoned?" //This facility is fully functional.

"When was the last, uh, affiliated species trained?" //Mainframe access disabled. //Data unavailable.

"Is there a way to see what the star people look like?" //The appearance of your benefactors depends upon their whims. //You will recognize them from the golden sash and blue gem upon the top of their body. //Head if applicable. //You are advised to remember manners if meeting one such individual, as detailed in the manual issued to you on [error: Monochrome Reaver affiliated world unlisted]. So the star people were, what, gene modders? Something else? None of the statues showed any actual creature.

Most of them were abstract forms with gravitating parts so nothing obviously organic. //User advice: the train system is temporarily disabled. //We apologize for the inconvenience while we work on resolving the issue. //The next leg of our journey will go through a restricted area. //Your current clearance level is: data unavailable. //Please be sure you have proper clearance before proceeding, intruder. //Security measures active.

So the bot knew she was an intruder, but it would still lead her through a secured spot? This was such sloppy work by the devs in charge of the program that it made her disappointed in the future. Or perhaps it was just one more sign of the half-assed collapse of the station. Also, trains were still the most efficient means of transportation? Dammit future, why? Nestra wondered if the security measures would activate on her ass, as well.

They'd proven their ability to detect that something was wrong, even when she was trying to hide, perhaps a disturbance in ambient mana that her weird conceptual field generated? Maybe things would be fine. After all, Shinran had gone through and she doubted he had star people privilege or something. The change in her environment was so sudden she missed a step. The bot simply turned into an antechamber and suddenly, the dull white was replaced by a carefully decorated antechamber as large as a field.

Seats that would have been thrones in any other setting lined the wall under a dizzying fresco depicting a sunrise over a calm ocean, yet something tickled her mind and, on cue, she quickly switched to her Mlemra form. The different eyeballs captured a calm forest in shades of gray. Nestra returned to her true form, realizing there were layers to the ceiling decoration. At the end of the antechamber and before a set of impenetrable gates was a sculpture suspended under a blinding white light.

Only when Nestra approached, did she realize what she was truly looking at.

"Those are… shadows?" Three-dimensional shadows slowly rotated over her head, but what was impressive was how no mana seemed to be involved at all. She was pretty sure this was supposed to defy some law of physics or something. It was just a shame Nestra's knowledge of astrophysics was so pathetic she didn't have the background to be impressed. Failed flex, that was. //This is the work of one of your benefactors, whose name I shall not share, known to you as the Weaver of Omens.

//The name of this work is 'Under the Tesseract'. Nestra tried to look up but the white light was simply too intense, or rather something was blocking her view. Whatever, nice, she was in a bit of a hurry anyway. The bot continued towards the gate. With a rumbling sound and a puff of hot air, they pulled into the walls. A sudden gust pushed Nestra's hair back, forcing her to hunch or risk being carried away. She followed the unaffected bot as soon as the wind calmed down enough. //This is now a restricted area.

Nestra stopped above an abyss expanding up and down until it disappeared into the distance; The far walls far in front of her were probably a kilometer or so away and the gates dotting its ornamented surface mere pigeon holes. Vertical pillars extended through this chasm, as endless as it was, and their surface illuminated their surroundings in lush colors: carmine and topaz there, warm and welcoming like a seat by the hearth, sapphire and silver there as refreshing as the first breath on a winter morning.

Nacreous glyphs and obsidian scripts bridged the gap between art and engineering, each minuscule strand carrying untold amounts of mana. It was a perfect receptacle for the matrix of intertwined crystals maintained in hovering harmony in the midst of the empty space. Each was the size of a tall tree, and they were all surrounded by a complex array of woven metal reflecting the phantasmic lights of its supportive pillars. But the crystals were dead.

Nestra wasn't sure how she knew, only that they ought to shine from an inner radiance, enchantments quietly churning to keep them active and balanced. They didn't. The crystals were dull and lifeless, though undamaged. A sense of awe drowned her brain but this soon turned to a terrible longing, an emptiness of the heart that came with breaking a departed relative's heartfelt gift. The crystals were dead. There would never be any replacement for the wealth of new experiences she could have tasted there.

Each defunct spire was a burnt Library of Alexandria. Nestra wasn't exactly sure how she knew it, but she did. All of her instincts screamed of it. //Welcome to the Animarium. //Your benefactors hold this project close to their hearts. //Once it is completed, a new era of greatness will come upon you. //Please do not interfere with the current operations.

"But…" Nestra whispered, the word blasphemous in this hallowed space. She shook her head. The bot just flew over the void and Nestra followed, an easy task considering how close the passage was to actual space. The crystals captured her attention like a magnet, even cold. Something ineffable had been there, she felt. And she'd missed it. Perhaps for the best. //We will be entering major-major-dweller-carnelian-pristine-auxliary 12 soon.

//This communal storage space provides for the needs of [data unavailable], intruder. //Please exercise caution and respect the other users. A distant gate's light blinked awake. Nestra made her way there, or tried to until she heard a rumble. What started as a distant patter soon turned into a seismic thunder that made even her well-protected ears ring. Her symbiotic armor covered it an instant later, but Nestra didn't notice. Something was coming up from below.

All her instincts screamed that she was going to die. Nestra didn't hesitate. That thing was faster than her, so she wouldn't risk detection. There was cover available here. She dove into a nearby pillar. The material inside was hot and heavy with energy. She could barely fit in before it pushed her presence away. She still resisted emerging. The surface at her back flashed white hot. Incoherent syllables screamed in her ears and in her mind while her world shortened to being slammed between two burning plates.

The energy that allowed her to shift through solid matter quickly grew stale, and the pressure, unbearable. Pain wracked her body. Out. Need out. Let me out. Nestra emerged, barely avoiding a gasp of relief. Her vision had turned red. She tasted copper on her tongue. Fuck. A house-sized robot clung to a pillar on the other side of the crystal matrix. It was as large as a house, sleek lines dark and sharp with no visible seams anywhere. Her perception said it wasn't 'alive'. A guardian robot?

The spider bathed the entire surface of the pillar in a plume of incandescent light, each mana hue merging into a unified whole. A wave of heat and pressure slapped Nestra, an attack that sizzled her core even across the chasm yet left the pillar intact. She gasped. A droplet of blood dripped down her nose. Nestra pulled a decoy noisemaker from her personal space.

In one smooth gesture, she intercepted the falling drop of blood, shifted to the side so the pillar stood between the spider and her, then threw it down as hard as she could. The decoy activated three long seconds later. The spider thing teleported away. In the same instant, Nestra flew across the void and to the nearest pillar. For a moment, the abyss remained empty, then the spider was hanging from a nearby arch, scanning its surroundings. Nestra entered a nearby pillar again despite the risks.

The pain in her bones sharpened. Please please please. Never had she been so certain that something would vaporize her given the chance. Thankfully, this time there was no fire and she carefully jumped to a nearby pillar. A low warble in a deeply alien language sounded. Then the spider was above her. Nestra looked into the reflecting surface of an onyx mirror, a malevolent intelligence currently dedicated to a single mission: roasting her out of existence.

I do not exist I do not exist I do not exist — Nestra slowly floated into the pillar. She had no idea how she was still alive, but perhaps the anti-Aszhii measures were not that advanced, or perhaps it expected her to attempt to flee. But for Nestra the only way out was through. One more pillar. One more. She was almost there, the gate blinking with the tantalizing promise of safety. She had to believe that thing couldn't leave the crystal room. It was so damn big. The guide robot was just there, waiting for her.

She floated past it. //Do you need mobility assistance, intruder? Nestra froze. The spider screeched like a car factory catching a meteorite. Fuck.