I swear there’s someone else here. I can’t find them, but I can hear them whispering in my ear. I found the rations broken into as well, wrappers scattered across the damn floor. But where the hell are they hiding? With a ship this size and only me awake onboard, it’s going to be damn near impossible to find them.

-Log Fragment 96, Courtesy of the Alliance Department of History

Maggie was engulfed in the blowing snow. It seemed to go right through her, piling up around her, making it hard to move. “Come on Maggie, wake up.” She whispered to herself as she trudged through the snow, aiming for the mountain of a ship that glowed faintly in the darkness.

She knew it was a dream, knew that she was laying on a strange ship in space, probably with a hole in her back. At least she couldn’t feel it though, that had to be counted as a blessing. Right?

Unless it meant she was dead.

The thought lay like lead in the bottom of her stomach, and for a moment she stopped moving. Was she dead? But this place felt so real. The cold, sting of icy snowflakes pelting her skin, the way her fingers and toes ached from the cold and the way the snow melted in her shoes only to turn into ice cold water. It all felt so real, but it couldn’t be.

“Well maybe this is hell, only it’s freezing instead of hot.” She said to herself, and started to trudge through the snow again, her teeth chattering.

It felt like she walked for hours, each step a struggle, every muscle aching as she forced herself onwards. Her world shrank to just the next step. If she could just make the next step.

And then the step after that.

And the step after that.

She stared down at her feet as a warm glow spilled out over the snow, her shadow cast across the trench she had made on her journey. She couldn’t even feel her hands and feet anymore. Her head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds as she forced it up, staring at the open door of the ship. A dark figure stood silhouetted by the light. “Well, ya coming in, or are ya just gonna stand out there?”

Pain came flooding back to her as the wind kicked up more snow, temporarily blocking her view of the dark figure. Maggie squinted her eyes shut against it, mouth opening in a silent scream.

For a moment she could see another place. She was floating in some kind of thick blue liquid. It felt like honey against her skin, warm and sticky. She convulsed, a bubble of air escaping her mouth as she tried to struggle out of the heavy liquid. There were people outside whatever container she was in, two humans and a handful of Silvarians. Not Robin though, where was Robin?

A large needle sank into the liquid towards her. Somewhere an alarm sounded.

When she opened her eyes she was inside a small room that looked to be carved completely from foggy crystal. She gasped for breath as a scrawny woman with slightly pointed ears watched her. “You know, when most folks die they stay dead.”

“What?” Maggie’s voice squeaked out, and she stared at the woman with wide eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll live, the Key must like you. I’m Te’chik, pleasure to finally meet someone other than the kid. At least someone who isn’t completely insane.” The woman held out a slender hand, and Maggie took it automatically.

“I’m Maggie. Where- what the hell is going on?”

“You died. For a little bit at least.” Te’chik shook her hand, and then leaned back in her chair. “I suspect it strengthened your connection to the Key.”

“What do you know about the Key? Can you get rid of it?” Maggie leaned forward, a desperate hope flashing through her brain. If she could get rid of the Key, Flame wouldn’t want her dead anymore! Right?

Who was she kidding? That lunatic would want her dead anyways.

“Nope. Once you get one, you’re stuck with it forever.” Te’chik smiled, a touch of bitterness to her tone. She held up a hand to show a spiral galaxy set into it in crystal. It wasn’t quite the same spiral galaxy that Maggie had on hers, but it was close.

Maggie slumped back in her own chair. Well, there was that. She just had to stay away from people that wanted to kill her then.

When the hell did that become a legit priority?

“Oh. Are there any upsides to this stupid thing?” Maggie looked down at her own hand, the spiral galaxy set into it shimmering in the warm light of the room.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Some. You’re a lot harder to kill for one. And you get to do some fancy things like control computers with your mind, and make things out of crystal. Check this out.” Te’chik smirked and flexed her fingers. A blade of crystal shot out of her hand, slamming into the wall behind Maggie, joining a cluster of other crystal blades embedded in it.

“Holy shit!” Maggie yelped, scrambling out of her chair. She nearly fell back down, pain returning to her limbs as she moved. But it didn’t bring a return of that weird tank she had been floating in. “Watch where you’re aiming that thing!” She felt stupid saying it, but what else could she say when someone shot something right by her face?

“Relax.” Te’chik laughed and lowered her hand. “I’m not going to kill you, you’re my ticket off this frozen piece of shit rock.”

“You could have shot me in the head!” Maggie stared at the cluster of crystal blades, the wall showing spiderwebs of cracks around each one. There had once been some kind of symbol painted on it that Te’chik had apparently been using as a target.

“Nah, I’ve got better aim than that now.” Te’chik said.

“You two are wasting time!” The young voice cut through their conversation like a knife, the strange little girl from Maggie’s previous dreams standing in the doorway. Her hair was a sparkling silver cloud around her dark face, and she had her hands on nonexistent hips, glaring at them.

“Oh relax, she’s not going anywhere any time soon, she’s got a great big hole in her.” Te’chik waved a hand dismissively and propped her feet up on the table, crossing them at the ankles.

“We need to move! They’re coming and these people aren’t prepared!” The little girl stomped one of her bare feet, her face darkening.

“Who’s coming?” Maggie asked, a chill running down her spine.

“Them! The Star Eaters! You need to find our ship before it’s too late!”

Te’chik rolled her eyes. “They’ve been coming for years. What makes you think one ship is going to even help the universe any?”

“Because our ship has a secret weapon on it you- you convict!”

Te’chik reached up to scratch inside one of her ears. “I never found any secret weapon on this piece of shit.”

“Of course you wouldn’t have.” The little girl sniffed. She turned her nose up slightly. “You’re just a dirty convict.”

“I’m not dirty.” Te’chik flicked something at the girl, smirking. “Calm down princess, a few more days isn’t going to hurt anything. Besides, she’s waking up again.”

“No! Not yet! We need to talk!” The little girl wailed as white blew across Maggie’s eyes again.

When it cleared Maggie was staring up at a pale blue ceiling in a room that seemed to be flooded with sunlight. She ached all over, but especially her stomach. It felt like there was a huge stone resting on her stomach, stabbing into her. She extended as much energy as she could to lift her head, managing to lift it a whole inch before dropping it back onto the pillow, exhausted. “Ow...”

Maggie was shocked at the hoarse whisper that came out of her mouth, barely audible in the small room.

But it was enough to catch someone's attention. “Miss Magdelina? You awake, excellent!” The voice was high and musical, not familiar, but not threatening either. Not that she could work up the energy to feel threatened right now.

With a pitter patter of paws against soft carpeting, a figure appeared. Its alien head popped up over the side of the bed, just barely in Maggie’s line of sight. A Silvarian, it’s fur a light pink, head tendrils tipped with blue. It stared at her out of huge black eyes before straightening onto its hind legs. “You heal well, how do you feel?”

“Tired.” Maggie managed. She tried to raise her head again, tried to sit up. Her stomach muscles screamed in protest and the Silvarian let out a worried chitter, resting a gentle paw with blue-tipped claws against her arm.

“Don’t try to get up, you heal well, but not heal yet. The rebels hurt you badly.” There was a faint note of anger in the aliens voice as she said that last part. “Do not fear though, you are safe.”

The Silvarian patted her arm gently, its tendrils laying flat against its head. Somehow it seemed worried, although it was hard to pinpoint exactly how Maggie could tell. Maggie let herself sag back into the bed, her breath coming in ragged gasps that felt like knives in her lungs. The simple act of trying to sit up had exhausted her, but she didn’t want to go back to sleep right now. She had to know where she was, where Robin was, and what was going on.

“Where’s my tablet?” She whispered, feeling along the odd gel like substance of the bed. Did they know about Robin?

“Your tablet was hurt, damaged. Tech Ger’al will give you a new one once all is transferred from your old one.” The little alien looked up above Maggie’s bed, it’s tendrils moving as if it were beneath the water. Maggie followed its gaze, spotting a screen similar to what Doc Tomas had in his exam rooms, only slightly more compact, and without the little silhouette of a human on it. “You need food, nourishment, water. The sooner you heal fully, the sooner you will be in big room, with big bed! Father say: big bed, most comfortable for daughter!”

Maggie blinked, sure she had misunderstood what the little alien was saying. The translator must be on the blink or something. “Say what now?”

“What.” The little alien blinked at her quizzically, head tilting to one side.

Okay then. Maybe she was still dreaming? Or maybe the alien was pulling her leg. She hadn’t actually met any of the Silvarians on the station, so she wasn’t sure how to tell if one was making a joke. “I mean, whose Father?”

“Your Father!” The aliens head tendrils perked up, and it bared its teeth in what had to be a smile. It would be more reassuring if its teeth didn’t look so sharp.

“I- What?” There had to be some misunderstanding. She tried to sit up again, muscles trembling as she forced herself up onto her elbows. Stomach muscles screamed in protest, and sweat beaded along her face. The little alien started to rub its paws together fretfully, over and over each other.

“Your Father, Captain Theodrakis. He wants big bed for daughter Magdelina. You should not be moving yet!” The Silvarians voice raised into a bit of a whine.

Maggie let out a sigh. Well she couldn’t really argue that, she felt like she had been hit by a truck. She looked down at her stomach, covered in a thick layer of bandages. It was funny how the bandages were the same color as they were on Earth.

With a groan, Maggie let herself drop back down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I just- can I get my tablet back?” She needed to talk to Robin, maybe he would know what the hell was going on.