When Victor finally arrived at the docking bay, he was surprised to find Miguel waiting there.

"Relax, kid. I was keeping watch until you arrived. She's in there waiting for you."

Victor nodded and entered the docking bay, half expecting an ambush. Instead, Eve was waiting as promised.

"Are you ready? You have the data cube, yes," she looked him up and down. "Give me the vid. You don't want to take anything from the ship with you or you might have the same problem we did."

"Eve. Why didn't you mention the people who live on the lower deck?"

For a split millisecond Eve was no longer the strong, albeit pressured and worn out, leader that Victor had seen before. Instead, panic flooded her expression. It was like Victor had discovered an awful secret, her worst one.

"Who told you?"

"Does it matter?"

"It's too complicated to explain, Victor. A hundred years of history is --"

"Try. Try to explain it to me. Don't give me the 'hundred years' speech, again. I get it. A lot is going on. But please tell me Nexus didn't become like the homeworlds on your watch."

"Victor. We don't have time --"

"I'm not leaving without some sort of explanation, Eve."

She might be an adult. She might be smarter and even stronger than him. But she needed him to fly to that other Nexus, and that gave him leverage.

"Give me something Eve."

She straightened her back and looked at him sharply, finding herself again.

"You will refer to me as Captain for as long as you are breathing this ships' air." She stepped up to him, looking him straight in the eye. "Don't you judge me or anyone on this ship. You don't know the sacrifices we've made, and you don't know us. The people who've stayed awake, they began to form their own society. We give them a degree of autonomy in exchange for continued obedience. It was them that established a class system. I woke up out of suspension and it was already in place. I try to banish it and there were riots. Riots, Victor. Do you have any idea what a riot is like in an enclosed space, no matter how big?

"So you get your ass on that shuttle and save the day or you get your ass down to the training academy with the other recruits your age. Maybe if you're lucky you'll live long enough and rise high enough to be shoved out of an airlock - like the last two Captains before me. So what's it going to be, hero?" she said.

Victor was taken aback by the acidity of her words. There was no real choice. Without another word to Eve, he opened the side door to the shuttle and got on. As soon as he did, his comm crackled to life.

It was Eve. Her voice was stern. "Miguel is going to guide you. I've got somewhere I have to be."

Victor wondered if that was the truth. He wouldn't blame her for wanting to get away from him. He'd been too harsh. He knew that. Maybe human society was bound to always degrade in this way. Banishing that awful thought, he started the shuttle.

"Vic? You there?"

It was Miguel's voice.

"Yeah. I'm here, Miguel."

"What did you and the Captain talk about? She looked pretty pissed."

"I'm not sure what you mean," he lied. It was time for him to get back to his Nexus.

"Alright. Well, fire her up," Miguel said, as the dock bay doors opened into the purple haze of the wormhole and it's possible worlds.

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"Are you sure it's okay for me to fly into wormhole in this thing?"

"Nope," Miguel said, chuckling. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not safe. Look on the bright side: at least you didn't have to make the shift in that thing. We're pretty close to the other Nexus, also. From all appearances, you should only be out there for about twenty minutes before you reach it. Whatever twenty minutes actually means out there."

"You're not exactly filling me with confidence here, Miguel."

"What can I say? I'd hate to lie to you in your final moments."

Victor laughed. It seemed the years had given Miguel a morbid sense of humor. Victor started the shuttle and slowly drove it out of the docking bay.

Outside of Nexus, the shuttle didn't rip apart instantly. As far as Victor was concerned, this was a good start. The hull of the shuttle groaned in a way that concerned Victor, and it didn't help that he was having to focus on using the crap manual controls of the shuttle.

When he saw the other Nexus his heart skipped a beat. It was close, looming large and whole. If he looked closely, he could see that it seemed to be surrounded by some sort of translucent bubble.

"Can you see it? I know it's hard. That bubble is so damn opaque that it's almost impossible to know it's the other Nexus unless you're up close."

"What are you talking about?" Victor said, staring at it's gleaming, perfect hull. "It's completely clear."

"Hunh." Miguel said.

"Maybe it looks clear to me because it's my timeline?" Victor offered over the comm.

"I was thinking the same thing. Hold her steady, kid. We've got to-- hold on a sec, Vic."

Victor could hear Miguel asking what the hell someone was doing. The other person calmly explained something, but Victor couldn't hear the words. There were sounds of a struggle and the comm went silent. It crackled to life a few moments later.

"Hello?" said an unfamiliar voice. Victor didn't answer. The voice sighed.

"Look, I know you're there. Saint Victor? Hello? Oh. that's alright, I suppose it's better if you just listen. You know, I used to grow up hearing stories about you. About how you vanquished the evil Dixon and brought peace and order to Nexus. It's funny. Nowadays I'm seeing less and less of that. Peace, that is.

"Let me tell you a little about myself," the man continued, as the other Nexus grew tantalizingly close. "Well, one thing. It's my favorite story. It's the story of the Impossible Choice. Only I believe it happened a little differently than what's written in the historical scripture. You see, I think the so-called evil Dixon, who knew you for the liar and false god you are, wanted to expose you - stop me if this sounds familiar. He took two of your beloved and threatened to kill them. I would be remiss as a Dixonite if I didn't put you to the same test. Here I have Eve and here I have Rajia. For kicks, we're even throwing Miguel into the mix. Sorry, but they're all we could get to come to the party on such short notice.

"Well, Mr. Prophet man. Mr Victor Victorious. If it even really is you. I suppose it doesn't matter. It's more what you represent. Dixon knew what you did not. Loyalty makes you a slave. Rules limit your potential. I will make this station free and I'm going to do it by showing you for what you are. So. Who's it gonna be? Rajia? Or Eve?"

The man laughed loudly, and the sound was joined by a chorus of others.