Kat looked dead when she was linked. Her eyes open wide and there was barely any sign of movement on her stick-thin body, wrapped in layers of cloths that were several sizes too big for her. She had buzz-cut of black hair, and although Stella thought Kat was prettier when it was long, she loved the feeling of running her fingers through it.

Locked inside the cockpit, they were isolated from the passengers and from the world. Kat was the only link out. Stella linked to her ship and felt crippled. Both the flight and warp engines were dead. The sensation was like waking up and finding your legs missing. The hull was intact but she had no way of communicating with any of the passengers or crew.

When she came back, she saw Kat’s body tensing and her eyes growing wide.

“What do you see?” Stella asked quietly.

“Shit,” Kat whispered.

“What is it?”

“Star, love, get the windows open. I need eyes closer to us and can’t find any.”

Stella linked to the ship and looked for every possible way to get the electricity back to the cockpit. She dove into the wires trying to find a way to reroute the power, like finding her way through a maze, but to no avail. She realized only the option she dreaded remained — to open it manually. She got up, and at that moment, felt a weak tremor moving through the ship. Kat moved in her seat and said silently, “Can you see what’s out there?”

“Working on it,” Stella said in a voice that sounded like pebbles falling one on top of another. She moved with the help of her hands towards the front window and groped for the emergency lever that opened the blast shields. She pulled it with all her remaining strength. A moment before she thought she would faint, something shook and all the windows opened up.

Dim light slowly crept into the cockpit. Under twilight sky laid a rocky waste, barely lit by two small suns. In the distance Stella saw a huge, mountain-like structure that was a bit too geometric to be dismissed as natural.

“There is some structure out there, might be human…”

“Do you love me, Star?” Kat disrupted silently.

“Is it bad?”

“Do you love me badly?” Kat smiled.

“Kat, for fuck’s sake! What is out there?!” But Kat did not answer, her eyes moved as if she was dreaming. Stella stepped away and started pacing nervously in the small space, then she went back to Kat, leaned over her, close to her face, and whispered “Get back already.” A stronger tremor shook the ship.

The Little World

The world was extremely hot. It was a newly formed planet thrown out of its orbit around Alpha Centauri B by some impact, and although the Centauri suns barely lit its surface, its boiling guts kept the surface at a steady 800 degrees Celsius. That was all Kat could gather from the web. You could find ice asteroids with more information on them. That was the first time she had the disturbing thought that that crush might have been intentional. There must be something special about this rock.

While online, Kat saw a message from her mother, asking how she was doing and saying she misses her. Kat’s mother on Earth had no idea of Kat’s current occupation. She scribbled a laconic “everything’s great” reply, adding a photo of Stella and herself from the last shore leave on ACA prime. No word about them being the pilot and Pathfinder of an interstellar shuttle working for a top secret military-scientific operation in deep space. It was time to head back to the only node she could find — the bad one.

Kat used all her willpower to concentrate on finding the node. It was like looking for an underwater current by feeling the water moving on her skin. She could feel a few streams going in and out of a central point that was near. They all had the same foreboding overtone taste she felt the first time.

Suddenly, as she felt closer to locating the node, Kat heard a voice: “Do you know where you came from?” She stopped and listened while the electricity of fear rattled in her guts. This was not an AI. AIs always present themselves. It could only mean there was someone else on that planet, and he or she were there before the crash.

Kat could hear Stella ask, “What do you see?” She was probably noticing the tension on Kat’s body.

“Shit,” Kat heard herself murmur. She knew the node was close to the ship but she could not locate it and get in. “What is it?” Stella asked.

“Star, love, get the windows open. I need eyes closer to us and can’t find any.” Kat hoped Stella would see something outside.

Now what the hell is he asking me?

“Who are you?” Kat asked.

“My name Adam. Do you know where your shuttle comes from, Katalina?”

“Who are you?” Kat asked again in a firmer voice.

“I sorry for bad landing but I had to bring you here. Your beacon damaged, so I sent out another, you be found soon. You passengers are mostly unharmed.” He had a strong accent and reminded Kat of her big brother, whom she could not stand most of the time. He was arrogant and loved playing pranks on people. He was usually the only one laughing.

“Hey Adam, listen to me now, if you know my name you ought to know where I come from. I am no ordinary Pathfinder, I was groomed for this since I was nine years old! I got my BA before graduating high school and my doctorate before I was twenty. Can’t say it was a happy childhood, but I don’t think even Stella realizes how smart I am! So you think you scare me with your cryptic mumbo-jumbo? You are probably some rich and bored asshole hacker-kid from Earth who can’t get laid! So, Adam, even if I die on this shit-hole of a rock I will make sure you are found and paid in full!”

“I am from future. There is structure close by, it is time-incubator called ‘The Little World’. I was unnaturally born here about two thousand years from now and I am not completely human. I was given the name Adam because I was first of kind and I here to prevent very dark future.”

“Huh,” Kat snorted, unconvinced, and asked Stella: “Can you see what’s out there?” She got a “working on it” and a silent growl in response. Kat knew Stella might feel weak or disoriented because of the pilot link and the damage to the ship. She felt an urge to hold Stella’s face with both her hands and tell her that she is OK.

But instead, she had this weirdo to deal with.

“So, Adam, you were saying you want to ask me out? Because although I usually prefer girls, I have a soft spot for assholes from the future.”

“You are telepathic, rare, but you are strong one. Look!” Suddenly Kat knew the exact location of the node. She entered, expecting it not to be bigger than the one on the satellite. The surprise hit her like the headlights of a truck speeding out of the darkness. It was bigger than the busiest nodes she visited on Earth. It was like being thrown, drunk, into the night on the most crowded street of New Tokyo. Kat was overwhelmed by the sensations, her brain swirling and skin buzzing at the unimaginable amount of information passing through, but she could not concentrate enough to comprehend any of it. That was when she had tasted that overtone again. It was stronger and had a flavor of an emotion. Kat focused on it, through her link, and knew that these were Adam’s emotions — he was the node!

“There is some structure out there, might be man-ma…” Kat heard Stella’s voice, but she interrupted her:

“Do you love me, Star?” She silently asked Stella. For a short instant, that was all Kat cared about.

“You see now?” Kat heard Adam’s voice coming like a silent echo from every direction. She was too shocked to have a witty answer.

“We go deeper now, need to show you.” Suddenly Kat realized what was off about Adam’s language: it was as if he had just learned to speak, not any particular tongue but communicating via speech in general.

“Is it bad?” Stella asked. She sounded tense.

“Where I go shadows follow. They closing in on your ship, we have no time,” Adam said.

“Do you love me badly?” Kat asked in return, hoping to break the tension.

“Kat, for fuck’s sake! What is out there!?” As expected, the joke rubbed off Stella and Kat knew there is no way she can explain all this, so she took a deep breath and told Adam: “So, are you taking me on a date inside your head, computer-brain-man-from-future?”

“Can you sense the parts that you cannot access? These are non-human parts of me, your tech cannot take you there, but I can. Follow this.” Kat suddenly felt a very clear sense of direction, like a path made of fireflies in a dark wood.

Everyone ignores my jokes today, worst day of my life. She thought when she made her first step.

“Get back already,” Stella said, but Kat was already too deep in the woods to hear her.

A Shadow that follows my soul

A huge military warship was hovering outside, filling the view from the cockpit windows. Two bus-size lifeboats were descending towards the shuttle.

“Captain, rescue team is on its way. We will come for you last, the way looks heavily blocked,” said Commander Lee, the XO of the ACAS Haikou. Her voice was dark and hard, like shattered black rocks.

“I understand. How are they?” Stella said silently.

“No visual yet. My men are breaching your cargo bay doors as we speak.”

“Keep me updated.”

The vibrations were getting more frequent, and at some point they started feeling like the heartbeat of a giant animal sleeping beneath the ship. Through the ship’s sensors, Stella saw spots of absence of energy moving toward the ship. They stood out like sunspots against the heat of the planet but from the windows she could see nothing.

“I can’t do this alone K, where are you?” Stella whispered into Kat’s ear. “Commander Lee, do you pick up anything on your scanners?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure what, looks like shadows. Could be glitches. There are also waves coming from that structure. They’re getting stronger and more frequent.”

“It could be a countdown or a beacon.” Stella paced restlessly in the cockpit.

“Countdown to what?”

“To the time we should not be here. This crash was not a coincidence. Are you armed?”

“This is a Hun class warship. ‘Armed’ is an understatement, Captain.”

Kat moved slightly in her seat and moved her lips as if she was talking to somebody.

“My people got in,” said Commander Lee. “They report most your crew are fine and being moved to the Haikou.” It seemed to Stella like Commander Lee had little love for words, as if she cut each from a hard rock by herself.

“Thank you.”

Stella saw one life boat ascending back towards the Haikou when a tremor stronger than any before shook the ship, making her almost lose balance.