"It’s not fair.”

“It never is. And still, we persist.”

—Famed explorers Chokam (former) and Bya (latter) after their ship was stolen by pirates

Zaina tumbled to the ground, slamming onto her stomach and chest. Pain surged through her shoulder, and a shriek escaped her lips. Taking deep breaths, she stared up at the shattered sky. Then, sitting up, she searched for her enemy—was it gone?

As if to answer, two perfect halves of the glowing orb, their lights extinguished, fell to the ground. The Eldritch’s empty crown clinked against the dirt a second later. The golden crown turned into dust, fading on the howling winds of Demelia, but the orb halves remained. Without thinking, she reached forward and scooped them up.

Zaina’s eye fell to the blade in her hand—it had black wrapping around the handle that felt like leather, and it was the perfect size for all her fingers, with indentation along the handle perfectly matching her grip; the cipher’s guard and pommel were pure white. The blade seemed to be made of a thin layer of bright-green energy. It was simple, but beautiful—her heart manifest.

A crack of thunder snapped her out of her reverie. Rolling over, Zaina stared in horror at the destruction of Demelia. Objects floated into the sky, and her mask indicated zero breathable air—the atmosphere had broken.

With a gasp, Zaina forgot her aches and pains—a single word raced in her mind.

Kitali.

The cipher disappeared with a wisp. Zaina’s head turned toward the ship. The hatch was closed, thankfully, and Gizmo was darting about inside as Kitali yapped at the glyph and chased it.

Zaina tried to take a step toward the transport, but her feet were lifting off—she cursed as her toes left the ground. The air was freezing, and frost began forming on her breathing mask.

Thinking fast, Zaina pulled out the particle hook-gun and aimed for the ship—the tracker tip shot forth and attached to the side of the hull. With a squeeze of the trigger, Zaina slammed into the ship’s metal exterior. She growled as fresh pain jolted through her shoulder.

Coughing as she fought to regain her breath, Zaina took hold of grooves in the paneling, crawling to the hatch. She banged on the outside, and Gizmo cracked the opening.

“Hello, Z—zzz—Zaina! Your little friend here didn’t like the change in environment, s—zzz—o I s—zzz—tarted the ship to protect them.”

“Let me in,” she said. The hatch opened just enough for her to enter, and Zaina spilled in, hurriedly scrambling down the interior ladder. The hatch closed.

Zaina popped her mask off, grateful for the breathable air inside. With a sigh, she collapsed while Kitali showered her in licks and kisses, whimpering happily as her tail wagged harder than ever.

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The limphor pressed up against her, making Zaina grunt in pain as she wrapped her arms around her furry friend. “Hey, girl,” she said, straining her neck to avoid the onslaught of kisses. “Hey, now—come on, girl. It’s all right. Shh, shh, shh—it’s all right.”

Once Kitali had calmed down, Zaina turned to Gizmo, who was happily chirping nearby. “Thank you, Gizmo. At least this way—at least now she won’t be alone.”

The glyph chirped. “Of cours—zzz—e! I live to s—zzz—erve.”

Zaina curled up with Kitali. If there was ever a time to make her escape, it was now, but she didn’t have it in her. Not only was she exhausted and in agonizing pain after her fight against the Eldritch, but she didn’t know how to fly a ship—glancing over at the complex control panel, she doubted she’d be able to learn in time. Last time she saw Demelia’s surface, it was breaking apart at the seams. It wouldn’t be long now before the Deluge swallowed them all.

An odd sense of comfort filled Zaina as the limphor, whimpering, pressed closer and closer. Zaina had failed to save her homeworld from the Eldritch, but it would die here with them. Besides, she had the fuzzy warmth of Kitali to ease her spirit in their final moments. It wasn’t much to go with as far as optimism went, but it was better than nothing—better than being at the end of the world alone.

Gizmo spun around. “Z—zzz—Zaina—atmos—zzz—pheric conditions—zzz, are deteriorating rather quickly, much fas—zzz—ter than Giramodo predicted. Would you like to begin the flight s—zzz—equence—zzz—e? It would probably be good to evacuate this—zzz planet.”

Zaina gave a resigned chuckle. It was either that or crying. “I told you, Gizmo. I don’t know how to fly the ship. This is it.”

The glyph gave a happy series of beeps. “I know, Z—zzz—Zaina! I am capable of performing all duties—zzz as automatic pilot of this—zzz ship remotely. If Giramodo really is—zzz not coming back, it would be prudent to leave as—zzz s—zzz—oon as poss—zzzz—ibble. He s—zzz—aid s—zzz—o hims—zzz—elf—get Z—zzz—Zaina offworld at all cos—zzz—ts—zzz. If we do not leave s—zzz—oon, your c—zzz—ircuit board might overheat!”

Zaina’s head swiveled toward him. “What? Automatic pilot—you?”

Before the glyph was able to answer her frantic line of questioning, Zaina shot forward and continued, “Yeah—uh, yes! Gizmo! Get us out of here! Hurry!”

With a few happy beeps, Gizmo replied, “Uplinking to the piloting s—zzz—ys—zzz—tems—zzz. Online! Where would you like to go, Z—zzz—Zaina?”

As Kitali yapped in the background, Zaina struggled to her feet and leaned against the ladder. “For right now, let’s just get offworld. Get clear of Demelia and whatever’s happening here, full speed.”

“Can do!” Gizmo calmly hovered in place, and the ship’s engines roared to life. The floor rocked and tilted, and Zaina felt her stomach rising—laughing madly, she realized this was the first time she’d ever been inside a starship, the first time she’d ever flown, and it was going to be the first time she ever left Demelia.

All it took was the end of the world.

She stumbled about in the cabin before sitting in one of the chairs lining the opposite wall. Kitali jumped into the seat next to her, and Zaina hugged the limphor tight, not knowing what to expect. The outside was visible through a bay of streaking panes of hyper-glass near the front—everything else was shown on vis-screens, picking up feeds of data from sensors outside.

As Zaina stared down at Demelia for the last time, her homeworld broke apart. It shattered into several massive chunks of smoldering rock. Her gaze moved toward the upper windows.

The stars, the same ones that always seemed so out of reach from the surface, were pulling closer. With a thundering crack, the ship accelerated away from the crumbling planet.

Gizmo chirped and beeped. “We are now in outer s—zzz—pace! Where would you like to go, Z—zzz—Zaina?”

Taking a deep breath, Zaina leaned her head back against the seat, allowing herself to rest. Tears stung at her eyes. In four days her life had changed so much—she wished Gir was still here.

I’ll find a way to honor you, she thought.

There was no way to take stock of everything that had happened to her—Zaina’s mind was wracking itself attempting to sort out and process what she’d been through. But, through it all, she’d survived—she was here, and the galaxy was waiting for her.

In a resolute voice, she said, “Set course for Demori.”