Among the Stars

Chapter Thirteen

By Roofles

“Ah, there we go. Found it, the main issue.” Isaac typed away on the console. “There is no power source on the ship at all… did they steal it?”

The Terran slid back in the chair, glancing towards the hatch that led to the engineering bay of the ship hidden underneath the carpeted floor. It was where Samson usually stayed, and also where the heart of the ship was kept. The artificially sun was stored within compressed space, able to use its solar energy to power the advanced, futuristic Tigeron ship.

“How did they discover it? I suppose, the ship isn’t ours. It could be theirs. Thus, they’d have the plans for it. Bai’Tai had been searching for this vessel even back when we visited the Tigeron jungles. So, logically speaking, it would make sense that he would also know about the power source. Why would he need it…? That’s the main issue here not how they found it. The power source could power this entire yacht of a spaceship Raphael has managed to get his hands on… most likely stolen from the Arachnid people. Maybe they need it for that? No… I’m sure they have the funds for other fuel sources. They need something like this, an actual star, for a reason. There are just too many things missing for me to figure it out.” Isaac sighed, resting back in the captain’s chair as he tapped a finger on the console and looked at the screen. “I fear I might never know the full Truth of what’s been going on.”

Isaac would deal with what was in front of him and leave the rest for later. All the diagnostic reports came up with a power deficiency. Someone had taken the battery from the ship. While an amusing thought, the weight of such a thing and what it could mean worried Isaac greatly.

“What kind of device would require a sun to power it?”

There was another reason why Isaac had kept this ship despite the risks. It was something the Terran Fleet had taught him at the academy. Fear.

“Sometimes it’s best to blow up a weapon, instead of letting your enemies get their hands on it.” It had been a lesson taught by the Terran Fleet.

It was a simple concept. If Isaac kept the ship, then others couldn’t have it. The risk and dangers of owning such a ship were far surpassed by the idea of someone else getting their hands on such an advanced vessel. Even if it were a scouting ship, the weaponry on The Stellar Drift were lightyears ahead of Terran Tech.

“If Terrans got their hands on it? The first thing they’d do would be to try and reverse engineer it to learn it’s secrets so they could mass produce the things. From the AI core to the weapon systems… the stealth capabilities and the fact it can jump between galaxies without a jump ring? This ship is…” Isaac might’ve taken it for granted over the past three years.

This entire time he’d been focusing on the void, on Typhon, on his crew and his own problems while forgetting a key detail in this entire affair. The very ship they were riding in.

“Maybe… from the start they weren’t after us?” Isaac thought that over, resting back in the chair as he mulled it over. “It would make sense. A random Terran held little weight in the grand scheme of things and Typhon is from an entire race of blue electric wolf people… SO then, what’s unique about all this? About us? Nothing… nothing but the ship… dammit, of course. I can’t believe I overlooked that. Since the beginning, Bai’Tai had no interest in us but the ship.”

Isaac pushed himself up from the chair and walked to the middle of the room. He scanned the area over before finding the access panel. Using the universal key that Sphinx had created for him, Isaac began unlocking the hidden storage compartment that kept Sphinx’s AI core hidden from everything else.

“Even if they know about the ship, there are certain things we added onto it after these past three years. Such as a hidden compartment. Thank you Samson for that.” Isaac pressed his hand to the panel. “Hey, Raiju? Can you give me some energy? I need to power up the panel to release my co-pilot. Without frying the system, please.”

“Isn’t the Saberwolf your co-pilot?” The voice hummed from his chest. Isaac felt the liquid warmth of the energy flowing through his heart and down his artificial left arm, into the machine.

“I tell Typhon a lot of things to make him feel… included.” Isaac laughed as he jolted the system. Normally, it’d just fry the thing. The useful part about having an AI and a genius of a mechanic on board was that they could make everything compatible with each other. Such as Isaac’s arm and the ship itself.

Samson had updated his arm to work with such electronics.

The middle of the room split open as a metal cover opened, releasing the command table for the ship. It rose slightly up out of the ground with steam venting from the sides before coming to a stuttering halt. It didn’t go back down, so Isaac called it a win as he reached out for the middle of it.

“Must’ve taken far more power than initially expected to release the safety locks.” Isaac tapped away on the top of it, needing to give it another jolt to get the second set of hidden panels to unlock and open. From the Matryoshka Doll style locking system, Isaac slowly opening one compartment inside of another. Each growing smaller as they went until finally he found Sphinx’s core.

Locked away at the very bottom, was Sphinx. A glowing soft white cube. Despite it’s glass surface, the insides were a swirl of white smoke making it impossible to tell what exactly was in it. Isaac hypothesized it was another form of compressed space that the Tigeron Empire had been experimenting with over the years.  

Taking the cube in hand, Isaac set it down on the table. Connecting the wires from the side, he plugged it into his arm ports. Instantly he felt a response from the cube as it connected with the outside world.

“What took you so long!” The holographic lion crackled into existence before him. The static hologram continued to flicker on and off.  “Do you k-know how freaking b-bored I was in there! That bastard disconnected me from the entire system. Been stuck until y-you finally decided to show up.”

“What happened?” Isaac chuckled, seeing Sphinx getting so worked up. He felt his arm humming and looked down at it. “Uh, Sphinx you can stop transferring over now.”

“Oh, fuck no!” Sphinx waggled a finger in front of Isaac’s face. “I am NOT staying locked up in there again. I’m just going to jump over to your system until we get this all sorted out. Even if it’s only a tenth of my data, it’s better than the alternative. I’m not going anywhere until you fix my ship, buddy. Get used to some more company!”

“Well, fuck…” Isaac forgot what a bastard Sphinx could be as he looked down at his arm. “Great, I got another voice in my head.”

“I’m more from your chest than your head.” Raiju hummed softly, making the holographic lion stare down at the spot. Spinning in the air, Sphinx drifted down to float in front of it as the AI core continued to transfer into Isaac’s arm. Sphinx’s form was taking on a more solid shape as the transfer completed.

“What do we have here?” Sphinx looked at it closely, then up at Isaac. “You’re also a lot more… blue than I recall. Do you Terran’s just turn blue?” The AI tilted it’s head, floating upwards to inspect Isaac’s hair color. “It’s the same cerulean blue as that dumb mutt is.”

“No, Sphinx, Terran’s aren’t normally blue. It’s a long story,” Isaac said as he began to fill Sphinx on everything that had happened in their absence.  

“You said it’s only been a day and a half?” Sphinx pulled up the galactic clock and looked at it. “Isaac, we’ve been docked on this ship for over two weeks.” Sphinx tilted his head at the Terran. “Give a couple of galactic hours. Time is a tricky thing when traveling on space, even when using a galactic time.”

“Two weeks? T-two weeks?” Isaac choked on that, needing to hold the metal table for support. “Freaking void BS. I can’t believe it happened… again. I feel like I’m getting older,” Isaac looked down at his hand. “But I’m not. If anything,… I feel the exact same.”

“Again?” Raiju hummed and Sphinx looked at the spot.

“We were on a mining planet years ago.” Isaac explained. “We went inside to find the foreman and something very similar happened back then. Time itself got distorted and twisted. We ended up staying in their for a week or so.” Isaac rubbed his forehead, unsure if he should even bother with telling Typhon about this.

Rubbing his chin, Sphinx thought it over. “Problematic… Well, it’s a good thing I’m with you now. I’ll be sure to keep track of that and all other illogical occurrences that happen in my presence.” Twisting around, Sphinx floated back up to hover just to the side of Isaac’s face. On his left side. Isaac’s left eye was projecting the hologram after all, limiting where Sphinx could appear. “How many hitchhikers you going to pick up on this merry little trip of ours?”

“Too many as it is.” Isaac spun a finger in the air. “First the void, then this spark… and now you.” Isaac blinked and as he did so, Sphinx winked out of existence before reappearing. “I’m unsure if I should tell Typhon any of this.”

“Where is the blue dummy?” Sphinx looked around.

“He’s taking a shower. Spider guts. Long story,” Isaac waved that off. “Let me fill you in and maybe you can help me figure this stuff out.”

It took a good thirty minutes to explain everything that had been happening to the two and by then Typhon had long since shown back up. Typhon didn’t question why Isaac was talking to himself, unable to see or hear Raiju and only saw Sphinx winking in and out of view. With a shrug, Typhon had grabbed some food and was munching away on the bags of stale chips.

“Hey Isaac, foods bad.” Typhon thumbed over to the fridge.

“No power for two weeks will do that…” Isaac sighed, shaking his head. “Okay, so if what you’re saying is true… someone is fucking with time? How is that even possible. Even theoretically possible.”

“It isn’t, theoretically anyways.” Sphinx shook his head with a shrug. “That’s what makes this all so confusing. Space and time itself are connected but can also be disconnected. In other words, time can change in one place of space but that doesn’t mean all of space itself is changing. Think of it like… holes forming in time. Pockets that are different times than the rest of things. People, or you mortals rather, always compare time to things you can understand like a planet spinning around a star. That isn’t the case when you’re in the middle of space.” Sphinx spun around, looking at Isaac. “It’s possible to elongate time, it’s how the Immortal Emperor-King has stayed alive so long. It’s basically extending time by slowing it down… that doesn’t mean he can go back in time or such.”

“While I suspected something of the such after all you’ve told me, to think one individual had that kind of technology. To slow down time and claim to be immortal by doing so.” Isaac thought that over. “Where did Tigeron get that kind of tech?”

“Stolen. Of course,” Sphinx shrugged as if that kind of theft was perfectly normal. “Tigeron raided some desert planet. The people that had once been there had been researching the concept of time for generations. After they did all the hard work? Tigeron swooped in, killed the lot of them, erased them from history and stole their tech.”

“Lovely,” Isaac felt for the lost people. It was why Raphael had been so invested in finding history of such places. To find what he called the Truth. “How does that help us now, though?”

“Well, it doesn’t. Was just an interesting factoid.” Sphinx laughed. He was only able to talk to Isaac about these things. Everyone else on board their ship would tune him out long before he could get to the interesting, juicy details of his vast knowledge.

“How do you combat… time?” Isaac rubbed one of his temples.

“If you have the tech, you could. Theoretically,” Sphinx reminded Isaac about. “That’s all this is. Theories and concepts, not actual proof that any of this is going on.”

“How would you know if it was?” Isaac thought that over.

“There are several theories on the matter,” Sphinx froze for a second, cycling through numerous articles on the idea. “The most common similarity is the concept of déjà vu. Every culture has some sort of reference or example of it occurring. Something you shouldn’t be aware of when it happens for the first time, but you are. When you effect time, there are ripples that echo outwards. Usually one can’t sense these echoes, however, it’s hypothesized that enough echoes repeating can leave an effect on the individual. When the echoes overlap,” Sphinx moved one hand over the other, “as in the ripples intersecting with each other, it can leave a distortion where you might be able to perceive something is amiss.”

“Okay… if I perceive something is amiss, what do I do?” Isaac asked. Sphinx shrugged.

“How would I know? It’s all hypothetical.” Sphinx rubbed his chin in deep thought. “Maybe if the Tigeron didn’t wipe out the race of people studying the subject, we’d have better clues about it. Only a member of their lost race would know how such things work.”

“Aren’t you a super smart AI. Can’t even figure that much out?” Typhon snorted a laugh, always one to tease the AI when he didn’t know something. “Think your all smarty smart pants and can’t even figure out theoretical physics.”

“It’d be astrophysics, idiot. Space as in, outer space!” Sphinx rolled his eyes, focusing back in on Isaac. “Look. I was created by Tigeron to help fight against the unknown invader. Or what you call the void. I wasn’t design to deal with time travel bullshit. However,” Sphinx took a second. Isaac could see Sphinx’s matrix running with strands of information and numbers through his holographic body. “After processing everything you just told me, I’ve figured out a few possibilities to it all.”

“Such as?”

“First, the Tigeron have multiple facilities around the cosmos. Each of these places were design to focus on a different branch of knowledge and tech. Tigeron didn’t just hoard and steal stuff away from others... It went much farther than this. They were willing to kill for this knowledge, don’t forget. Even them helping Terran’s out was a means to get a hand on your tech.” Sphinx pointed out. “Tigeron have always been in a silent war with the unknown enemy. The things that come from the void. It isn’t far reaching to say that they have also been studying void tech. Know thy enemy and all that. Fight fire with fire.”

“Isn’t that, like, outlawed? To research void tech.” Typhon said around a mouthful of stale potato chips.

“Yes. That’s why they don’t go around bragging about it! Idiot, I swear, you have the patience of a saint to put up with him.” Sphinx rubbed his temples, floating on his back now as if he were in a pool. “Let’s make this short for stupid over there. Tigeron are researching void tech. It isn’t a reach to say they also looked into time travel shenanigans.”

“What can we do about that if they can just turn back time?” Isaac feared the end result of all this. “They can’t just do it infinitely, can they? I mean time, sure, would make sense but there is always a price to pay. Even if it’s a power source. Nothing is infinite, even time is limited.” Isaac couldn’t help but glance at Typhon as he said this, knowing how true those words for them in his case.

Isaac only had a good eighty years left. Typhon would outlive him three times over.

“Well, first, it’s all theoretical for a reason. After all, if someone could travel back in time? Wouldn’t someone already have done so? Doesn’t matter how far in the future they are if they can just travel back. Notice how no one has done so in recorded history?” Sphinx pointed out. “There must be some restrictions to this… Second, if someone traveled back in time then they would’ve prevented themselves from doing so in the first place. There’s a reason why they say not to do or try this.” Sphinx sighed, crossing his arms. “You could literally erase yourself from existence. Paradoxes and all that aside.”

Sphinx brought up another point against the idea, limiting things down.

“Terrifying.” Isaac frowned. “No wonder why the Terran Fleet made sure that we always report everything we found. Someone could actually end up accidentally destroying the entire universe. Or erasing it.”

“Third,” Sphinx said with some annoyance at being interrupted. “You can’t just go back in time. If you did, you’d end up breaking the timestream.” Sphinx put on a holographic teacher hat, a pair of glasses and tapped the air with a pointer wand. “Now class, see here…” A line appeared in the air. “Let’s call this the timestream. It’s a river that flows one way. Now, say, if you were to break off from this and jump backwards?”

Another line appeared from the main one. Breaking off, it curved around and went back to the first. Except, another line appeared then. Creating two parallel lines.

“Parallel dimensions?” Isaac could only recall so much from the academy about the subject. It was mostly “don’t do this,” kind of class than how it was possible to do so. “How? How could someone do this?”

“That is the golden question,” Sphinx smiled. “You get an A- for effort… you get an D.” Sphinx pointed at Typhon who growled. “Growling at a teacher? Now it’s an F-.” Sphinx smirked as Typhon tried to claw the hologram.

“They either created a time machine or…” Isaac thought about it. “Stole it from someone else.” The idea of theft kept spinning around and around in Isaac’s head. “Stole the tech? Or… did they steal time?” Isaac head was beginning to hurt just thinking about it.

“Exactly. My thought? The latter rather than the former. As smart as Tigeron scientists are, it’s only thanks to them commandeering and, well, taking all the tech others have put their heart and soul into to have the advantage. Taking their hard-earned effort and claiming it as their own.” Sphinx shrugged.

“In other words, they’d have the end results but not exactly the knowledge to recreate or use it… or no need to do so?” Isaac frowned. “Why not reengineer it?”

“That is actually something rather unique to Terrans. Most cultures and nations around the universe would rather take from others instead of try to recreate what they already made.” Sphinx shrugged, not knowing the why behind that. “Maybe due to their arrogance or pride. Not wanting to use other people’s tech over their own. Why would a Celestial Nation ever admit to doing such a thing? And what if it was found out that they had needed, dare I say? Help.”

“Hate to admit that makes sense.” Isaac frowned. “Never underestimate the hubris of the higher echelon of society.”

“Right. So, who do I got to punch?” Typhon asked punching one hand into the other. Isaac was glad for his simplicity at times like this. It really took the edge off things.

“We need to figure out why they’re doing this and how.” Isaac thought it over. “Also rescue Samson and Juke. We haven’t seen them in weeks and I’m worried. Samson was supposed to drop by…” He glanced at Sphinx who shook his head.

“Negative. The Ursa never showed up.” Sphinx said. “I’ve been trapped in my box since that asshole disconnected me.” At a look from Isaac, he explained. “The other Saberwolf. The one with a similar energy signature as him!” Sphinx pointed Typhon, as if accusing Typhon of the dirty deed. “My scans thought he was Typhon, so I didn’t pay any attention at first. It was only when his little toy activated and shut down my security systems I realized the mistake I made.”

“Hah, you thought that ugly bastard was me?” Typhon laughed. “I’m far more attractive than he is, with my blue wavy locks of fur and award-winning smile.” Typhon said after flipping back his hair with a hand and grinning for all the others to see and admire his perfectly white teeth.

“Yes. Your lovely,” Sphinx’s dry monotone of a voice crackled at the end as he turned back to look at Isaac. “You said Bai’Tai, right? He’s one of the Bai’s.” Sphinx thought it over. “That could explain a couple of things.”

“Bai’s?” Isaac asked, confused.

“Huh…? Oh, right, you might not know. They try to keep it on the downlow. See, the Bai’ family is one of the Immortal Emperor-King’s direct offspring, yet, on record, it’s actually marked down as a side family from the royal family. The Bai family isn’t the next in line for the throne.” Sphinx explained. “They all started from a prostitute the Emperor had become enamored with. After finding out she was pregnant? He removed her from the royal palace and set her and her future descendants up in a ritzy secondary palace.”

‘They aren’t next in line for the throne? Is it because they’re born from someone of lower class?” Isaac had always made sure to stay far away from Tigeron culture for a reason. While it wasn’t ever openly said, their were slave markets on Tigeron. They were called indentured servants, though. Those who had fallen so hard into debt they had to sell themselves and their family away to pay off the debt.

“How can you be next in line when they proclaim the Emperor-king to be immortal?” Typhon asked, confused about it all. “We don’t have kings or such back home.”

“Well, immortal doesn’t mean unkillable. Just that it’s hard to do so.” Sphinx shrugged. “The Bai family, alone, has thirty-seven children in line for the throne.” Typhon whistled at that.

“Damn, daddy tiger got it on.” Typhon chuckled. The others ignored him. “All from the same wife?”

“Well, no. They do die, unlike the Emperor-King. He has a harem on the side to sire more children with. Each from a different family. The total number is three hundred and seventy.” Sphinx said and that even caught Isaac’s attention. “Only thirty-seven of them are in line for the throne. The others are too old, are in political marriages already, or too young.”

“So many kids. Bai’Tai did mention that he was competing against his brothers and sisters…” Isaac bit his lip, knowing what that was like. Having only two siblings, Isaac had always been compared to them his entire life. The Mayhew name carried such a heavy expectation attached to it. He could only imagine what Bai’Tai had gone through and what he was willing to do to stand out from the crowd.

What risks one would have to take and what limits you had to push to have a chance to be next in line for the throne. Isaac assumed that whoever was chosen would also be given the same treatment as the Immortal-king had. Becoming Immortal themselves to one day replace their father.

“Exactly,” Sphinx said reading Isaac’s train of thought easily enough. “Bai’Tai is one of the lesser children on the list. Born from a prostitute, his chances of winning the throne are astronomically small to non-existent.” Even Sphinx felt a little bad about that. “You can only imagine how his siblings and the others of the court treat him.”

“Bai’Tai would have to do something big… astronomical, really, to be noticed by his father.” Isaac hated the similarities between himself and the Tigeron. Always wanting to be noticed, to be acknowledged. It would explain so much. “He was even sent to a Terran Academy… what an insult he must’ve felt because of that. Being around others he saw as… inferior.”

“Isaac…” Typhon’s ears folded back as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It doesn’t excuse what Bai’Tai has done. Or did… but I think I at least understand the why at least. Now, we need to figure out the how.” Isaac shook off his pity for the Tigeron. After everything Bai’Tai had done, he didn’t deserve that.

“We can assume Raphael is working with him, using Tigeron tech to… revitalize dead species.” Sphinx frowned at that. “I’ve never believed in anything like a soul before, but those things are just hollow husks of what they were. Using a genetic code and blueprint isn’t all that hard… There’s a reason why it isn’t done. It isn’t just physical issues, but mental, you have to take into consideration. You even said the Arachnid people attacked you,” Sphinx said, and Isaac nodded.

“Why is that strange?” Typhon looked between the two, wanting to be filled in.

“Well, the Arachnid people are pacifists. They don’t fight. At all. If they were ever invaded? They’d end up being… wiped out.” Isaac feared that had been the real truth behind their people’s demise. Raphael must’ve taken an interest in them because of that. Wanting to know the truth of what happened. The truth that others would want to remain hidden. Kill to protect the dark knowledge. “Their people died for the silk trade. How… how sad is that.” Isaac shook his head. “The real issue is the fact they attacked us.”

“What good that did!” Typhon stuck out his chest, wanting to be complimented for easily handling them.

“Well, yeah. They’re not fighters. Everyone knows that.” Sphinx snorted a laugh at the foolish Saberwolf. “They were poets, philosophers, and seamstresses. The Spidarians, though weak and womanlike on the battlefield, are masters of the textile arts. Taste like king crab or so I hear.” Sphinx rolled his eyes. “Those sneaky tigers have numerous hidden vaults all over the galaxies to keep their tech from being stolen. I’m sure one of them houses the Spidarian silk trade tech.”

“I still took care of them…” Typhon grumbled, crossing his arms as he was ignored.

“The fact that they attacked us is the issue, not how weak they were. Those things were barely able to stand and yet attacked us…” Isaac took a second on that. “Someone on the brink of death would fight to survive, sure, but they already knew it was too late for them. Their pacifists and yet attacked us? They’re very nature was changed. It was…”

“Unnatural.” Raiju hummed from his chest. Isaac placed a hand on the spot. It grew painfully hot, and he winced from the pressure the shard was emitting.

“Exactly. It was unnatural. Raphael somehow brought back their kind, only to create… monsters. Shades, shadows of their former selves. Their culture and beliefs? Their very nature, changed. There have been so many science fiction stories on Terra One about this kind of thing. If we brought back the dead, it wouldn’t be the same thing that died before… that something else entirely would come back.” Isaac blushed a little, having loved those old sci-fi black and white movies as a kid. “I just fear what Raphael’s end game is in all this. If he even knows the risks involved!”

“You think he wants to bring back all the dead races that have become extinct over the centuries?” Sphinx asked, needing some more insight to understand the Motha. “You said he was an archaeologist. He must really love history and the past… it kind of makes sense. If you had the opportunity? Why not take it.”

“This was why laws were created. If you just let science run rampant, then you end up tearing a hole in the universe. Dooming us all.” Isaac hated how he needed to tell this to the AI. He always did worry that, without his guidance, Sphinx might end up starting another AI war.

“Yes, yes. You and your desire not to have the universe implode,” Sphinx rolled his eyes and rested back. “That just means we can’t run away. Not that we could, with the ship depowered like this…” Sphinx frowned, looking around the room. It had been a part of him for so long. It was strange being attached to Isaac now. “Just warn me before the two of you fuck. That way I can go into sleep mode while you’re getting r-”

“Sphinx!” Isaac jumped, not even thinking about that.

“What? I just want to make sure I’m in sleep mode for that. I do NOT need that stored in my memory banks.” Sphinx gagged and, with that said, winked out of existence. Returning to where he was stored inside Isaac’s arm and the computerized part of his brain.

“Oh, shut up.” Isaac hit the side of his head and ended up hurting himself far more than he did the AI. “Ow…”

“Idiot,” Sphinx laughed.

“Great. Well then,” Isaac sighed, turning to face Typhon. “First thing first, we need to arm ourselves. Just in case. Next, we should try and find Samson and Juke. From there, we can deal with Bai’Tai and I’ll… I’ll try to convince Raphael to help us.” Isaac worried about dealing with his old friend but would if he had to. “We need some kind of counter in case they try to reset time or whatever the fuck is going on.”

“Finally. Some real weapons,” Typhon grinned and was already beginning to explore the ship. “Doesn’t Samson usually keep extra laser cannons in the side closet?” Typhon said checking the storage lockers. “Empty.”

“I wish he wouldn’t,” Isaac walked over to join him. Looking inside the empty locker, he frowned. “Or, I guess I wished he would.”

“You don’t think…” Typhon glanced at him before the two quickly split apart and searched everywhere for their weapons.

“They didn’t take Sphinx, yet they took all the weapons!” Isaac cursed as he tore apart one of the sofas, tossing the cushions aside to check underneath where a hidden repeater rifle was usually kept. “Veronica is gone!”

“I wish Samson would stop naming them,” Typhon checked under the console and felt around with a hand. “Moe, Curly, and Larry are gone as well.”

“Oh, Juke won’t be happy to hear about that.” Isaac ran over to the fridge. Opening it up, he covered his nose before reaching into the back. Popping open a hidden panel, he checked. “Even our grenade stash is gone.” He quickly shut the door before taking a breath. “How the hell are we going to stop them unarmed?”

“Well, fuck.” Typhon placed his hands on his hips, looking around. “I still got my sparky sparky boom boom.” He held up a hand and his fingers sparked. “What can you do?”

“Well, I don’t.” Isaac began before Sphinx interrupted him.

“Your arm is a laser canon.” Sphinx said, doing his nails.

“What…?” Isaac looked at his left arm. “You got to be kidding me. Samson!” He shouted as if their engineer was on board their ship. “Dammit, that bear can’t just add weapons to my body without my permission. We’ve been over this after he tried to add a flamethrower.”

“Hey, it’s better than NOT having a laser canon, right?” Sphinx asked and Isaac couldn’t argue about that.

“Fine. Fine! I will reprimand our engineer when we find him.” Isaac pulled up the ship’s map and looked at it. “Hopefully unharmed…”

“I doubt either of the two are injured. From what you told me about Raphael, it’s more likely that Samson was caught by the Arachnids on his way to the ship. With how… malnourished they were, they must’ve been transporting their hostages to him instead of eating them.” Sphinx continued to do his nails, but Isaac knew that he was just as worried about their ships engineer and pseudo-dad.

Samson was the oldest member of the crew and most mature. He always kept a level head. Isaac didn’t get a chance to talk to him often but enjoyed the rare times they did. He was good people, and Isaac was happy to have him on board the ship.

“Save the crew. Beat the baddie. Save the universe!” Typhon grinned, tail wagging, at the idea. He always did have a habit of treating these kind of things like a game.

“Sure. Easy enough, right?” Isaac laughed as he led the way. Taking the steps down the ship, the duo made their way back across the ship hangar and towards the elevator. “We’ll focus on finding the other two before we confront Raphael. Maybe he’ll be reasonable. It’ll be great to have his help against Bai’Tai.”

The door to the corridor opened before they approached. As they entered through it, there was another person waiting for them in the corridor. Isaac shivered, feeling uncomfortable for reasons he wasn’t sure about as he got a painful sense of déjà vu.

“Need a lift?” Cyclone asked in front of the elevator, thumbing behind him.

“Cyclone!” Isaac cheerily waved towards the Saberwolf, before hesitating. “How did you know where we were? You didn’t, like, plant a tracking device on me did you…?”

“Heh, nah.” Cyclone hit the button with a closed fist calling the elevator down. “I figured we could skip the trouble and just go ahead…”

“What?” Isaac wasn’t sure what he meant. Typhon glared at Cyclone, but the other Saberwolf refused to look at him. “What do you mean skip ahead?”

“What’s the point in wasting the time searching for the others when they’re all together up above?” Cyclone asked, motioning upwards with his muzzle. Isaac glanced up then back down at him. “How do I know that?” Cyclone asked what was on Isaac’s lips. “Let’s just say I have… insider knowledge. Whether you trust me or not is up to-,”

“I do.” Isaac said even before Cyclone could finish. The Saberwolf’s one good eye widened in surprised, ears perking up before he scowled, turning away. “I do trust you Cyclone… if you think this is best.”

“You trust too easily,” Cyclone said as he glanced at Isaac’s chest. He could read the sparks energy even from where he stood. The spark was already inside Isaac. A time bomb, waiting to go off. It was only a matter of time before it did.

“Shall we?” Isaac asked.

“After you.” Cyclone sneered, stepping aside. With an extravagant bow, he dipped his head down low after swinging an arm dramatically in front. “Lead and I will follow.”

“Promise?”

“Always,” Cyclone glanced up at him. Typhon looked between the two, feeling as if he missed something important going on here.

“Uh…” Typhon was about to say. There was a loud beep, and the metal doors hissed open.

With that, Cyclone walked inside.

“Coming, Isaac? Don’t you want to get this over with as well…? It’s inevitable, in the end.” Cyclone’s voice darkened. Isaac wasn’t sure why that creeped him out as much as it did. “We’re just skipping ahead. Flipping through the book that’s already been written and going straight to the final chapters. The juicy bits.” He laughed.

“I don’t trust him.” Typhon growled behind Isaac.

“Neither do I,” Isaac lied to reassure Typhon, “but… I don’t think he’s lying either.” Isaac hesitated before daring to step into the elevator. “You said we don’t have a choice?”

“I didn’t say that, exactly. Just that… some things can’t be changed. Oh, sure, you can take another route but in the end? You’ll still reach the exact same location in the end. As if, from the start, you had just walked right into it.” Cyclone rested back against the wall as the elevator shook and carried them up and up, all the way to the top of the ship.

They passed through the engineering bay, through the mall, a botanical garden… so many locations and places that Isaac felt like he should’ve gone through with Typhon. As if they had gone through it before. Isaac had never been on the ship, yet, here and now he felt like he had.

Through each floor, trying to make their way up. Fighting off the guards, robotic attendants, rescuing people and…

Isaac dared to glance over at Cyclone. This stranger that had shown up in their, his, life. It felt like he knew him. From long ago. Back then, at the academy? Or maybe, sooner than even that.

It felt as if Cyclone were a bookmark that had slipped into the story of Isaac and Typhon’s life. Displacing how things were supposed to go. An interruption to the flow. Isaac was sure that there were things that he and Typhon were supposed to do, and yet, with Cyclone here they weren’t doing.

They had skipped over them all. Chapters of their story, just gone.

Would that effect the ending? Would those create ripples that would shake up how things were to come? Was that the point of Cyclone being here. Trying to change what was inevitable.

“Free will is an illusion in the grand scheme of things.” Cyclone pessimistically pointed out.

“You make it sound like we’re walking into straight into a trap.” Isaac noted. “That you already know that… Even if we took our time making our way up through the ship, we’d still end up there. Walking into that trap. No matter how soon or how late we arrive… it’d be the same.”

“You already know. Why ask me?” Cyclone closed his eye, resting back. “Even if I told you, it wouldn’t change how things go. You’d still rush in, now wouldn’t you? You aren’t one to sit around and wait. You just have to play hero when you should be fighting to protect your own skin. Not for others sake…”

Cyclone growled low and it was a metallic sound like an engine revving up.

“At least knowing about it-,” Isaac tried to argue.

“Won’t change anything. Not really. Not in the end,” Cyclone cracked an eye open, looking at the Terran. “What do you plan to do that’ll be any different?”

“Well, for starts…” Isaac said, turning to face Cyclone fully now. “We have you.”

Cyclone’s ear twitched hearing that, if only for a second, before he let out a wet gurgle of a laugh. Swallowing it down, he wiped his muzzle off. With a heavy push, Cyclone approached Isaac. Swaying with the heavy, limping steps he took. Typhon’s fur bristled in warning.

“Don’t,” Typhon growled.

The elevator came to a stop, interrupting Typhon whose ears perked up. With a soft melodic “ding” the doors swung open, and they were told by a mechanical voice that they’d arrived on the first floor of the ship. “Captain quarters, main deck and the showroom. Please enjoy the showcase,” it finished with.

“Isaac, you can’t possible think to trust this guy, right? We should go get ourselves armed at least.” Typhon reasonable try to say.

“It’s fine.” Isaac said, never taking his eyes off Cyclone.  

“Unbelievable…” Cyclone was the first to step out of the elevator. Unable to look back. Unable to look at those eyes watching him go, again. “Even after everything, you still trust me.” Why? “You never change…” Why won’t you… “Don’t dilly dally. We want to get there before they start the show without us.”

Cyclone stopped in the entryway, breathing heavily as the anxiety continued to build up inside.

“Why won’t you hate me for what I’ve done…?” Words spoken with no one to hear them. “After all I’ve done? Every mistake I made? For being such an idiot. For being so naïve. Even being clueless? It’s no excuse… no excuse for what I’ve done. Ignorance is not an excuse. So, why, then… why won’t you look at me with eyes filled with hate? Why do you still look at me as if…” You love me. “How can you,” love, “that which hates itself so much.”

Cyclone gripped his chest. At the empty hole there where his core had been. From the nails that had dug in, from the blood that dripped, dripped, dripped down his torso. Staining his hands red. Violently ripping out the core in his own self-hatred for what he had done.

Planning to end it all, and even failing to do that.

“My fault,” Cyclone had fallen to his knees, praying for death to come. “All my fault,” his hand was shaking. Holding up the sparking core that glowed a soft blue. Pulling it from his body, the Saberwolf’s fur began to dim. The color draining from it, leaving it dull and gray and ugly. Exactly how he felt inside. “Why? Why,” won’t, “you hate me?”

For what I’ve done.

For what I’ve said. My blunders. My mistakes. Past wrongs echoing back, endlessly rippling. The tranquility of our lives ruined for my arrogance. No matter how many times “I” try to correct my mistakes. “You,” always, “look at me… as if you never,” once, “hated me… Yet, when I look in the mirror. My cracked reflection? All I see is hate and self-loathing in return. My reflection hating me as much as I hate it. For myself. For what I’ve done.”

The elevator lights flickered. The walls grew dark, the transparent glass growing dim. They stood there. Time didn’t move as they stood there in that dark room. Ooze trickled down the walls, staining them black. Dripping as thick as blood. The liquid coating the walls reflected the two of them inside it.

Inside that dark tunnel once more.

“It drips from above…”

Isaac could see his reflection. It was horrifying. Missing his left eye, their was an empty black hole where it should’ve been. His left arm was gone and there were cracks, scars over his body radiating from his chest. Injuries from long ago. Injuries that hadn’t happened yet. Echoing through time. For what was to come.

Echoing, rippling like disturbed stagnant water as the two stood there.

“Time.” Cyclone spoke, lifting up a hand to touch his broken reflection. There was a gaping hole where his heart should’ve been. It wept black tears as the thick ooze trickled out. “It’s funny. Time isn’t singular. It’s connected. A river that flows only one way. If you change a drop, that drop will ripple throughout the rest of time. Effecting it. The present? The past? The future,” Cyclone turned to look at Isaac.

“Cyclone,” Isaac said. Cyclone was missing his left eye. His left arm. In a sickening way, he looked like Isaac then. The two with matching injuries. Both with gaping holes in their chest where their heart should’ve been empty sockets for their left eye. Their left arm…

Bitter, dark reflections of each other.

“You died and I couldn’t save you.”

“Cyclone, don’t do this.” Isaac’s voice echoed around them. Rippling against the walls that began to throb, to beat as if alive. Reacting to their presence, feeding off Cyclone’s misery and self-loathing. Feasting on it. Growing stronger from it. Festering like an untreated wound.

“My mistake cost you, cost me, cost us everything…” Cyclone reached up to touch the wetness on his chest. “Ripping the core from my chest should’ve killed me. Apparently it’s harder to kill a Saberwolf than I had originally thought…” He looked at the thick dark ooze coating his fingers. A single hollow laugh left his lips. “Unlike you,” Cyclone looked at him. “Unlike Terrans. You die so easily… Sickness? Injury? Old age… you die so quickly compared to us Saberwolves…”

“I should’ve told you sooner. You should hate me for that.” Isaac wanted to step closer, but the ground felt sticky, his legs felt heavy. Gravity itself was wrong here, in this place. 

“I don’t blame you.” Cyclone huffed a soft laugh. “I hate myself. For not being smarter. For not being better. I should’ve been so much more for you.”

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Isaac reached out with a hand he no longer had. “It’s not you. It’s the void talking.”

“Isaac…” Cyclone chuckled, the corner of his eye pulling up with his smile. He looked so old and tired. “Why won’t you,” hate, “me?”

“What?” Isaac couldn’t hear him. The tunnel, the corridor they were in elongated. Stretching them apart. There was no end, no beginning. A vast tunnel of darkness that oozed and dripped around them. A gaping, weeping hole in the universe. “It’s like we’re walking through a mountain,” Isaac noted looking around the room before focusing on Cyclone. “Is this…?”

“Life. Death? Me? You? Us?” Cyclone tried to smile. “You told me to keep walking. To keep going down this road, this tunnel, without you… like I could do that. As if I could just leave you behind.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve carried you. I should’ve taken you with me…” Cyclone covered his face with his hand. “I should’ve done more!” He howled and the ceiling began to drip. Thick ooze splattered around them. Filling up the corridor. This dark tunnel. The thick substance covered Isaac’s feet, over his ankles, pulling him further down with it. “I should’ve done more for you. With you. I regret what I’ve done. I regret what I didn’t do. What wasn’t said. I regret so much.”

“Cyclone, that’s normal. We only have a limited time here.” Isaac tried to offer a hand for Cyclone to take. “I’m not sure how I’m keeping sane during whatever this is. I am. I’m here, for you. I’ll be your anchor in all this.” Isaac stretched his arm out for Cyclone until it hurt to do so. “Take my hand.”

“I should’ve…. So many regrets… I hate… Nothing matters,” Cyclone continued to mutter, to say. Unable to see anything as the black ooze dripped from the empty socket on his face. Crying bitter black tears. “It would’ve been better if I had died, instead of you! Then, at least, I wouldn’t have to feel this emptiness inside.”

“Cyclone, take my hand.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” Cyclone laughed. A hysterical sound that echoed around them. The dripping was so loud that Isaac could barely hear him any longer. “You taught me the courage of stars. How light carries on. How infinite it is. How rare and beautiful it was, to even exist.”

“I couldn’t help but ask, to see it all again.” Isaac smiled. “I loved that song. Listening to it with you. Hearing it with you,” even if Isaac hadn’t with Cyclone. He knew, possibly, some version of him had. Something long gone that Cyclone was still trying to grasp, to recreate. “You’re beautiful, Cyclone.” Isaac said to the Saberwolf. “And I loved listening to it with you… to watch movies with you, to watch TV shows and show you my culture, my history. To share myself with you. To share everything, with you.”  

The dripping stopped.

“It was… we listened to it on our honeymoon. After I knotted you,” Cyclone chuckled at that. The ooze began to drain away and Isaac could see his ankles again. The cold numbness washing away with the strange bitter black liquid. “It’s funny, Isaac. There are trillions of stars in the night sky… but… none compare to you.”

Cyclone said then, turning to look at Isaac. He looked so much younger than he was. An echo of the past, rippling through time.  

“Do you like the stars?” Isaac asked. He could feel the grass underneath him. It was slightly damp from the cold night air. He didn’t mind. In a way, the cold was revitalizing. Making him feel and know he was alive. It smelled of dirt, of fresh grass and a strong breeze… it smelled of the ocean. A saltiness in the air as the two laid there.

“Ya’, they’re cool. I guess.” The Saberwolf laid there, looking up at the night sky. It was the same night sky, but they weren’t together. Side by side, yet distant. Connected across space like a strand of string, a thread, that bound them together.

“Just cool? They’re amazing!” The Terran had laughed from that long distance away. It sounded as if he were right next to him though. Despite knowing otherwise.

He laid there on the red, rocky planet. The air was hot, humid even at night. The dust made him choke and cough. The rocky peaks jutting out of the planets surface were the scars left behind after the endless war against the unknown enemy. His people had destroyed everything in the hopes of protecting everything. Ironic. How the more they fought, the more they ended up destroying.

“You know what I like most about them?” The Terran asked from the blue planet. With an ocean, a blue sky and fresh green grass. There was so much color there. The Saberwolf looked beside him. He could see the Terran there. In a world of color instead of reds and browns.

It was beautiful. He was beautiful. Lying there on a bed of green grass, under a sky full of stars. He reached up for them as if they were fireflies. Wanting to pluck one from above.

“What’s that?” The Saberwolf asked. Wanting to hear his words. Even if for only a second longer.

“I love how the stars, that when you connect them together? You can form images and pictures with them! Sailors of old used to create these constellations to keep themselves company. To navigate the empty ocean with. They helped guide them even in the darkest of waters. Stars? When they’re alone, they’re still radiant and beautiful. But when they’re together? They’re works of art!” The Terran smiled then. A large smile that covered his face. That helped hide the pain inside as he looked up at the stars. “Endless possibilities.” He said the words as a single tear ran down the side of his face. “Endless possibilities, even for someone like me…”

“I’d love to see the stars, someday, with you.” The Saberwolf wanted to reach out. Through time and space and touch the man that laid there by his side. An echo? A ripple? A memory long past? He was never sure. All he knew was that when he came here, to this special spot, at the right time? He could meet the man beyond the stars.

He was young, like the Saberwolf. Maybe in their teens, maybe slightly older. Dealing with life. Dealing with their people’s expectations of them. Of their parents. Simple things, really, in the grand scheme of things. In the great vast cosmos of the universe, their wants and desires, their problems were so very small. They meant so little.

They shouldn’t matter.

But…

But when the two were together? Those things were their entire world. Their entire universe. It didn’t matter if no one else cared about their issues or problems. For they did.

“You ever make a wish on a shooting star?” The Terran suddenly asked him, catching the Saberwolf off guard. He was older now. Time rippling, echoing. Was this the same time? The Saberwolf wasn’t sure. Maybe a future time when they had been together. Lying together, like this.

It was hard to stay in a moment, when trapped through time.

“I’ve seen thousands of shooting stars, -,” he said his name, but no word came out for it. “But I… I never once have ever done something so…” pathetic, “silly.”

“I don’t know, maybe I’m romanticizing it all… I think… I like to think, it’s nice to dream.” The Terran laughed. “I like to make a wish here and there. Like a simple prayer. Even if I know no one is listening? Even knowing that it will never come true? I still like to dream,” of you.

“Dreams won’t keep you fed, they won’t keep you warm or safe…” The Saberwolf growled. Frustrated, conflicted over these things. Was it better not to have dreams? To know your place. To live in reality instead of staring up at the stars and dreaming, praying for something more…? “More than this? More than all of this. This empty, barren planet. With people who care not for anything but war and fighting. Struggling to survive, but never living. Never truly living… What’s the point of making wishes on stars? It’s pointless.”

“Yeah, true, maybe you are right…” The Terran rested back on the grass. The Saberwolf could’ve sworn he felt the breeze of the ocean blowing. Smelled the saltiness in the air. The sound of waves crashing against an empty beach. Hear the words of the man that laid there next to, yet not next to him. “It might be silly, but they give you hope.”

The Saberwolf wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“Hey?” The Terran looked at him. “If you had one wish. What would it be? Anything in the world! The universe! One single wish? What would it be,” he turned his body to look at him. This stranger, this friend from long ago. The man that laid by his side, reaching out a hand that he, that -, could never touch for he was beyond the stars.

Like a silly wish, forever out of reach.

The Saberwolf, even knowing this, reached out for his hand. To place his just inches away. Knowing they could never touch through this echo, this ripple of time. That connected two places together. This man, this strange alien from across the stars, had told him once what it was. Said it was something called “quantum entanglement.”

That, somehow, the two of them, despite the vast distance of space… were connected. Forever connected together. No matter how far away they were from one another? No matter how much time separated them. They would always be, together, in a way. Even when they couldn’t touch.

“One wish, huh…? Just the one? That seems unfair.” The Saberwolf snorted in amusing, turning his body to face towards this man.

“Oh, come on! I’m giving you one wish to wish for anything in the entire universe!! That seems damn fair to me. You can at least humor me.” He laughed and the Saberwolf loved the sound of it.

“Well, if I had to pick. If I had to choose, I… I would wish for…” I’d wish for you. “I’d want this moment to last for… forever.” At least, that’s what he had wanted to say. Instead, he kept up the strong appearance and pretense of it. “I don’t believe in such silly things.” He had said.

Never admitting his feelings back then, thinking that they’d have countless times to do this together. Not knowing how cruel life, how cruel fate could be. And how fleeting things were, until they were gone.

The Saberwolf said those things. Just another thing he’d later learn to regret. For not saying what he felt when he had the chance. A fleeting moment he wanted to last forever. Maybe, he feared, that if he said his wish aloud?

It wouldn’t come true…

…

The lights flooded the elevator, flickering back on before shining once more. A soft white light as the shadows retreated and the two blinked. Back to where they were. Did time pass? It was impossible to tell.

“What is this showcase?” Typhon asked, looking out the transparent glass. Isaac rubbed his eye, looking over at him.

“It’s already started. You’ll see when we get there.” Cyclone clamped his muzzle shut, letting out a warning growl. He hated hearing Typhon’s young, youthful voice. It reminded him of pleasant times that were fleeting and gone.

That would come and go far too quickly.

Leaving only a void behind where they had once been.

“The showcase is already starting?” Isaac feared that might happen. For whatever reason, time itself had fast forward to this point. It didn’t skip past the showcase, instead it seemed to want them to go to it. As if they couldn’t escape it. An event, a canon moment, that no matter how hard they tried? They could never skip past.

Just like how it had been before.

The vital, important parts were still there in their lives. In his life. From The Academy, to losing his mother, to losing his arm. Isaac was constantly losing things, pieces of himself as life, as time, continued to take things from him. All building up to this moment.

It was just skipping ahead. Skipping the past. Pages flipped through, videos fast forward, film reels sped up…  

It hurt his head. Isaac wasn’t supposed to experience such events. Mortals were finite for a reason. They were never meant to go through time. Not forward, not backwards. They were on a set course that was never meant to be changed.

“Our adventure is gone,” Isaac whispered the words aloud, feeling them inside. The emptiness it left him. “Everything we were supposed to do on this ship? We… we skipped past.” Isaac felt an empty void inside just saying the words. “Something,” was taken. He coughed, covering his mouth with a hand and black ooze coated his fingers. “No… I… I was better? How am I still infected?”

“Once infected, always infected. There is no changing that...” Cyclone refused to look at him. “This time on the ship? Was pointless. It was all… pointless. There is no gain from experiencing this, again.”

“Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the ending.” Isaac argued against. “The journey to the end.”

“What would you know of endings?” Cyclone grinded his metal jaw until his lips bled. “It’s better if we just skip it all…”

“Are you sure? Is that what you want?” Words spoken; feelings felt before. Isaac touched his chest but felt no shard inside. It was and wasn’t there. Time echoing, ripples forming. A time when he didn’t have this hole in his chest… “What about all the good times together? Even if it was all fleeting. It doesn’t mean they were pointless.”  

“Hurry up,” Cyclone heavy steps thudded against the floor as he lead the way. “We have to get this over with…”

“What about the good times?” Isaac asked again, wanting to hear his answer.

“Ignore him,” Typhon popped back up, startling Isaac. For a second, Isaac forgot he was there. “You have me. We’ll go through the good times. The bad times? Whatever we want to do. Hell, we don’t have to do anything if we don’t want!” Typhon laughed. His face beamed like a fresh ray of sunlight in this cold dark corridor.

His casual air, his energy and bright smile was heartwarming, and Isaac latched onto that feeling. Letting it carry his steps forward. To carry him, where cold bitterness never could.

“This is totally a trap.” Typhon pointed out again as he walked beside Isaac.

“This is totally a trap,” Isaac agreed with Typhon, laughing at how casual Typhon was making all this.

“Without a doubt.” Typhon wagged, resting his hands behind his head as he walked forward without a care. “Just stay behind me. I’ll protect you,” Typhon winked at him. Isaac elbowed his side, making the Saberwolf “oof,” holding the spot after. “Ow, you bastard.”

“Yeah, but I’m your bastard.” Isaac stuck his tongue out.

“Okay, this is where-,” Cyclone stopped in front of the ornate doorway. “Isaac?” He asked.

Standing there, before Isaac, was a much younger Cyclone. He didn’t have an eyepatch. He didn’t have the metal jaw. He looked young and healthy. Vibrant. That’s the word Isaac would’ve used. Like light was radiating from him.

“Like a shooting star,” Isaac blinked, shaking his head. “I… I’m having trouble focusing.” He looked at Cyclone. The Saberwolf had turned back to how he was.

Cyclone was as how he was before. Old, tired and metallic. With a metal jaw, a mechanical arm and an eye patch over where his left eye should’ve been. The life of a space pirate had been cruel. Damaged. That was what Cyclone looked like. Beat up, chewed up by time and spat out. All the things he’d been through. All the battles, the fights, the struggles to survive.

If Isaac focused, he could still see that young handsome wolf he had once been. A hallucination? A mirage? No, it felt more like a memory. An image of the past being projected forward. There, yet not there.

“Time.” Isaac said the word.

“Don’t focus on it. Don’t worry about it. Let it come and go,” Cyclone shook his head, hating this. Hating how the longer he remained in contact with Isaac, the more psychological damages and ramifications it would have on Isaac’s psyche. Effecting the Terran’s very stability in this universe. “Mortal minds aren’t made to comprehend or begin to understand the fathomless depths of…”

“Of what?” Isaac felt as if he were laying on a bed of grass, turned on his side to look at a young, handsome Saberwolf without a name.

“Of the void sea… whispering words you aren’t ready to hear. Luring you in with bittersweet whispers. Calling your voyage, your vessel home to it’s dark depths…” Cyclone grabbed hold of one of the heavy brass door knockers.

“Ready?” Typhon asked him.

“As long as you’re by my side?” Isaac smiled back as Cyclone pulled the doors open and light flooded the corridor. “Yeah, I am.” He said to the Saberwolf that had always been there for him throughout time and space, no matter how far apart.

They were connected, until the end.