“What are those things?”

        Turning over to look at what he was pointing at Edith shook her head, it was difficult for him to read her expression now that she had put on her helmet back. He now understood that the glass helmets were simply creatures like himself that wore metal armor, the helmets and suits offered them protection. From what? He was sure that Edith would explain as she answered his question.

        Edith stared at the humanoid creatures that were dead on the floor everywhere, their white exteriors looked almost made of bones and the claws on their hands were sharper than knives. If they were to stand on their two legs they would perhaps reach the shoulders of the Groundbreakers, though what drew his attention the most was the distinct lack of eyes. Their faces could be separated into two sections, the mouth and the rest. Countless rows of teeth adorned their large mouths while the rest of the face was devoid of both eyes and a nose.

        “Don’t let their skinny appearance trick you, they are stronger than most humans, not faster though. These disgusting things are Thorn, more precisely these are Skars; the things that kept you in here.” Edith explained.

        Not letting his eyes off the strange creatures, he furthered his question, “What’s a human?” Edith slightly paused at his words before she continued walking behind her fellow Groundbreakers.

        “The Thorn must have really done a number on you. We are humans, both you and me. ”She answered with slight amusement.

        “We are human? I thought you said you were a Groundbreaker?” He voiced his confusion.

        Letting out a huff of mild laughter, she explained, “We are, humans refer to our species, and Groundbreaker refers to our job as soldiers. Frankly, I’ve never heard of a case of amnesia that makes people forget that they are human.”

        “Amnesia?”

        The new question made Edith place her hand over her helmet in seeming frustration, “Perhaps it would be better to let others regain your memories, I can quickly see this becoming a conversation that last days.” Turning her head slightly to the left to face him she continued, “I’ll explain what I can, but I’ll leave the rest to the professionals, okay?”

        Nodding in understanding he continued to walk next to Edith through the cave-like hallway, the next question that came to mind was one that was pressing on his thoughts intensely. “Who gave you your name?”

        “Huh? My name?” She responded in a stupor, “My parents gave me my name, that’s the case for most people.”

        “I see, then who will give me a name?” he asked, now that he knew that Edith and Troy were words meant to designate individuality he understood the usefulness in them. He no longer needed to refer to them as a group as the glass helmets, names were useful to further his understanding of others and himself. “Don’t I need a name as well? Just so that I’m not called ‘You’ anymore.”

        Even through the helmet, he could see Edith’s hesitation at his implication, “You’re saying you want me to give you a name? I don’t think I’m the right person to ask something like this, besides you could give yourself a name.” She spoke in an unsure tone. “Wouldn’t that be better?”

        Shaking his head without doubt, he argued, “I don’t know any names other than Edith and Troy, and I don’t think I can make one up, so please give me a name.”

        “I don’t know, is it really okay for me to give you a name?” She asked. “After all, I am a stranger and it would be awkward to give you a name only to have you remember your original one at a later point, don’t you think?”

        “You may be a stranger but you are the person I know the most and I would rather have a name, who knows how long it will take for me to remember my name after all.”

        Shutting down her argument, she released a huge sigh that drew the attention of the five Groundbreakers ahead of them. “Fine, but you don’t need to keep it if you dislike it. Let me think for a second.”

        And he waited. A few seconds of heavy footsteps and the group was headed for the light at the end of the tunnel, as he stepped out into the light that blinded his eyes into a squint he heard Edith speak from his right.

        “Then your name can be Fren.” Unlike him, Edith was not blinded from the sudden light, she noted his silence and continued, “Don’t tell me you are going to complain about it?”

        Fren… Satisfied to have his own designation, he shook his head, “No, Fren… Thank you.”

        “I thought it suited you, now no more questions until we get back to Soteria, the trip won’t take very long.”

        After traveling through the maze back in that cave, Fren felt a sense of relief at being outside under the sun. Even though snow covered the whole area, the light from the star was enough to keep him warm, letting his eyes grow used to the intense luminosity he waited as Edith went on to talk to her team.

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        Suddenly a shadow flew over him, it was fast and hard to notice but he caught it. Having his interest piqued and against his better judgment he looked up to the source of the warmth. There he spotted it. A ring of dark shadows orbiting the sun like a ring. 

        “Admiring the Dyson Sphere?”

        A new voice called out from in front of him, looking back down he spotted one of the Groundbreakers, this one’s name was unknown. He stretched out his hand towards Fren and spoke, “Sorry for the late introduction, my name is Lenard, I’m with Edith squad.”

        The outstretched hand lingered in the air for a few pregnant seconds before it was hastily taken back, “Right… No memories. Sorry about that.”

        Fren stared at the newcomer with his dark eyes, knowing he must have fumbled a social practice when Lenard extended out his hand, he attempted to rectify it by introducing himself just as he had.

        “My name is Fren, it’s nice to meet you.” Although his even tone gave way to neither joy nor niceties that his greeting conveyed, it was enough for Lenard’s mood to rise at the response.

        “Oh! You remember your name? That’s great news.”

        Seeking to quickly stop a misunderstanding he replied, “No, that’s not correct. This was given to me by Edith.” The pause in Lenard was enough to give Fren the impression that he thought it was a strange thing to say, “I asked her to give me a name, just for the ease of having something to refer to me other than ‘you’.”

        Nodding, he answered, “Right, makes sense. It’s just that I didn’t think that the captain was capable of coming up with names, well if it’s fine with you then it doesn’t matter.” Letting the matter go he turned back to face the sun’s ring. “I think it’s beautiful, don’t you agree.”

        Not being familiar with the concept of beauty he refrained from answering and instead poised a question of his own. “What is it?”

        “I’m surprised you don’t know this… You seem to know what computers are, judging from your expression as you inspected the room you were in, I assumed your implicit memory was intact and therefore you should know the Dyson Sphere.” He never took his eyes off the swarm of little shadows around the sun as he spoke. “I mean there probably isn’t a human who doesn’t know what that is, you know?”

        Not knowing what he meant Fren chose to remain silent at this. Taking the silence as a prompt to continue explaining, Lenard clarified his words.

        “That’s the Haven Dyson Sphere, the crown jewel of the United Terra Alliance. It was completed 25 years ago at the turn of the 5th Millennium. I was barely a year old when it happened so I don’t remember much but I know the whole Solar System cheered at its completion. It was the representation of venturing past the limits of our local star and it gave humanity the ability to explore out into the stars. But before humans could take their first steps out into the cosmos… The Cataclysm occurred.”

        Picking up on his somber tone Fren grew curious, “The Cataclysm?”

        Lenard looked down from the sky and stared at Fren, “I knew that you would not know about it since you did not know about the Thorn, sorry for eavesdropping, that cave really echoes.” He excused himself with a smaller tone, “But yes, the Cataclysm, Humanity received a massive attack. We weren’t prepared for it at all, it was a massacre, we weren’t able to do anything as we were pushed back to Earth. I still remember looking up into the sky from my family’s ship as we descended on Earth and those dreadful colossal ships blotted out the sun.” His voice carried a small quiver that Fren was barely able to pick up as his attention was focused on his words.

        “I remember my dad held me to his chest and prayed, he was never religious mind you, but in that situation, all we could do was pray to God for some salvation. And we were heard. Or so people claim, but regardless the attack stopped. Without explanation or warning, just as quickly as the attack had started it ended.”

        Fren entranced by the story could not help but ask, “And the attackers? The ships? Where did they go?”

        Lenard chuckled at him, “Nowhere… look up.” Following Lenard’s pointing hand Fren spotted an abomination.

        The massive outline in the sky was so jarring to his eyes, how he had missed such a thing was beyond him, but now that he had set his eyes on it he could not look away. The vast length of the leviathan of a ship was ineffable, looking at such a monstrosity came with the innate understanding that facing it in any way was synonymous with death. Despite the outrageousness of its mere existence that seemed to defy logic, the beast was content to simply remain motionless above.

        Surrounding it were considerably smaller versions of said beast that too chose to spend their time in an idle menace. Fren was lost for words.

        “They linger out on top of us almost in mockery, but at least they have not moved in over two decades so we have that going for us. Not to mention God’s Blessing.” Lenard snapped Fren out of his thoughts.

        God’s Blessing?

        Before Fren could question Lenard more, a familiar voice called out, “Let’s move Lenard, you too Fren, our ride is here!”

        Turning to face the direction that Edith called him out from Fren spotted the captain with a hovering ship behind her. The arrow-like black ship floated silently over her and slowly turned its back to her as it lowered into the ground.

        Once it was close enough a ramp extended as the back opened to reveal an empty interior with multiple chairs. The other Groundbreakers were already next to Edith and marched inside with the bags that they had filled back in the lab. Lenard made his way over and Fren followed closely behind.

        “Thanks for keeping him company while we got this ready Lenard.” She seemed to praise the man.

        “No problem captain, at least he lets me talk without interruptions, unlike Shawn.”

        “Yeah yeah, get on.”

        Fren looked on as Lenard boarded and took a seat, Edith seemed to be waiting for him to board before she did herself. “Come on get on Fren, as Captain it’s my duty to make sure that my squad makes it home so I board last, its tradition for Groundbreakers, and for now you are an extension of my squad if you are riding on my ship.” Fren nodded at her words, he did not understand what exactly duty meant, she had said it before and he was beginning to grasp a better character of Edith.

        “Okay.” He spoke as he boarded. Listening as Edith’s footsteps walked behind him he walked towards the empty seat next to Lenard.

        “Alright, Talon! Set course for Soteria.”