The message for Flurew had been short and directly to the point. Darju was doing what Mylico had suggested, just stating that she had decided to go and visit her mother at the pod. She had felt terrible lying but understood it was necessary due to the circumstances. The fact that she was now hurtling through space with two members of the Catlopian Royal Family and that she was apparently a Sunstar had her head spinning. She was so confused by the situation she really did not know what to do. Mylico and Cylion continued talking to her about their background, filling in some time they had been away from Catlopia.

Darju listened mesmerised to their tales and what their lives as royalty meant in the scheme of the Universe. Even though the stories were amazing and the intrigue and questions she had filled her head, nothing would stop the fear that she was feeling behind the Sunstar. Neither of them had been able to explain to her exactly what it meant. Both agreed that it was an artefact created by the Universal Maker, but they did not know what it would do and needed to wait until they arrived in Catlopia and visited the Oracle. Darju was feeling tired. She had not slept since leaving before the first light the previous cintep. She yawned deeply.

"Oh. Darju, I forgot you have not rested. Let me show you to your cabin." Cylion said.

"Cabin?"

"Yes. Where you can sleep before you start snoring on the sofa."

"I don't snore."

"How do you know when you are asleep?"

Darju could not answer that question.

Cylion stood and walked to leave the lounge and kitchen area. "Come on, I will show you your cabin."

Darju stood and followed Cylion back into the corridor. Just down from the lounge area on the other side of the corridor, there were more doors. Darju had not noticed them before, and Cylion walked up to one and keyed a code in the panel. The door slid open.

Cylion walked in and turned, tapping the panel on the inside. "The code has been reset to open to your voice."

"My voice?"

"Yes. Just ask, and the ship AI will open it for you."

Darju stared blankly at the panel. "What do I say?"

"Just ask the AI to open or close the door."

The door was currently open. "Close the door, please." Darju was amazed when the door slid closed. She immediately followed with, "Open the door, please." And again, the door slid open. "This is amazing!" Darju exclaimed.

"It is nothing special, I promise. Many races have voice-activated AI assistance."

"I have never seen it before."

"You have lived a sheltered life before you left the pod. You have a lot to learn and a lot to catch up on. Now get some rest you look tired. There are clothes in the wardrobe, some may fit you, so feel free to find any that do." Cylion turned and left Darju staring wide-eyed at the room.

It was three times the size of the room at Flurew's and probably five times the size of her room back at the pod. It had a huge bed in the centre of the room which was placed by a large window which looked out into space. She stood staring at the stars outside. Some seemed to flash by and others moved much more slowly. She had no idea how fast they were travelling but looking at the speed of some of the stars whizz past it was fast.

One side of the room had a desk and chair with bookshelves full of books and ornaments. The other side had a refresher cubicle, a clothes recycler, a row of wardrobes and a holoscreen projector. There were several displays showing ship data and Darju bet that the ship could be flown without even leaving the room.

It was so luxurious everything having clean neat lines. Darju turned seeing the door still open. "Close the door, please," as it slid shut.

She walked over to the bed and felt the sheets. They were ridiculously soft to touch and Darju thought the sheets alone probably cost more than she had saved working at Flurew's. She got undressed dropping her clothes in the recycler, which automatically began the process of cleaning them and she climbed into the bed.

The sheets wrapped around her and she lay looking out of the window wondering what was going on with her life. That was the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep, exhaustion taking over.

The blaring sound that Darju awoke to scared her half to death. It was a piercing sound and she jumped from the bed grabbed a robe and pulled it on. Running towards the door. She nearly ran into it before remembering. "Open the door, please."

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The door slid back and in the corridor, the lights were dimming and brightening as she headed towards the cockpit area after glancing in the lounge to find it empty. Arriving at the cockpit she saw Mylico in the pilot's cradle. "What's happening?" She asked panicked by the alarm.

"Debris field by the wormhole. Bloody idiots using black market tech, always happening." He replied as he manoeuvred the ship around a large chunk of metal in front of the viewport.

Darju watched as Mylico expertly manoeuvred around the debris field before approaching the wormhole. The wormhole was something that Darju could not take her gaze from. The wormhole looked like a whirlpool in space, it looked like there was a star in the distance and it swirled like water did down a plug hole. She was mesmerized by its beauty as though part of the universe was being sucked into it. Mylico had reduced the speed of the craft due to the debris field and now slowly approached the swirling mass.

Darju began to feel dizzy following the pattern as it turned in on itself and staggered slightly. "I would suggest if you are going to be here for the journey through you get in a seat," Mylico said.

Darju climbed into one of the empty seats and continued to watch their approach.

"The first time through a wormhole can feel a little strange," Mylico added.

Lost for words Darju just nodded as the ship entered. The ship stayed on its true course but the pattern of the wormhole seemed to speed up as they entered it and within moments they were hurtling through a pipe of time and space. The ship was carried on its original trajectory. Darju felt even dizzier as the pipe whirled around the ship. The movement carried on for several moments before the ship broke out of the far side of the wormhole into open space. To Darju it looked no different than where they had been apart from a couple of different coloured stars.

Darju's head still spun from the passage, "Are they all like that?"

"Yes. Although this one is quite short in comparison to some. The internal journey time does vary for each one. The next one we come to lasts much longer," Mylico swiped his paw through the navigation system and Darju watched as a new part of the route appeared on the holodisplay. "Next wormhole is in eighteen yhuse."

"I think I am going to go back to bed," Darju replied, climbing from the pod and feeling unsteady on her feet made her way back to her cabin. Entering she made it to the bed pulled off the robe and collapsed again closing her eyes and trying to stop the dizzy sensation. After a while her head settled enough that she managed to get back to sleep.

---

The journey to Catlopia was uneventful. Nothing got in their way as they continued through the remainder of the wormhole network. The time passed on the ship quickly, Darju spending time looking at and trying to learn about every single instrument the ship held. Cylion and Mylico spent time with her talking her through elements and also showed her the extensive ships manuals that were available through the AI interface. She spent yhuse looking over them and absorbed as much of the details as she could. She still had no idea how the ship flew or was piloted which was something beyond her current capacity to fully comprehend but she did understand the more directed aspects of the systems and how they interfaced.

She had been surprised at how straightforward it actually seemed to be as her first look inside Mylico's ship had amazed her looking at the technology on display. This ship was even more advanced by a long way but Cylion and Mylico had both told her that their technological advances were minor tweaks which drove improvements rather than new technology for most parts. Space vessels were all pretty similar apart from the racial tweaks that were made. Many of the variances were more aesthetic than actual improvements.

Darju was sitting in her cabin when the message came over the ship's system. "We are approaching Catlopia now if you want to come to the bridge," Cylion's voice came through.

Darju had been looking forward to this after the stories Cylion and Mylico had told her about their homeworld. The surface of the planet was covered mainly in huge trees with rivers running through most of it. As Darju entered the bridge, she got her first view of the planet beneath them. Darju had never looked down on a planet before as when they had left her home they had been moving away. Stretching as far as she could see on the planet beneath them was a belt of green peppered by blue breaks in the colours. It looked like a marble that she had played with as a young hatchling and the colours were vibrant with the side they approached being in the sun's path.

The ship suddenly began to slow as it approached the atmosphere and as she had climbed into one of the seats it began to be buffeted as it progressed into the sky of Catlopia. The vibrancy and brightness of the greens and blues were amazing as they began their descent. "How long before we land?" Darju asked.

"Not long. We are going straight into the palace on a direct flight path," Mylice said.

Darju watched and felt a little giddy as the ground started to rush towards them the ship appearing to travel at to fast a speed to be able to compensate for their descent. She knew this was not the case but it still made her clench her hands with nervousness. As the ship eventually slowed she was met with an amazing vista. They were approaching a massive tree. Its trunk must have been several hundred feet across and poking out from its vast branches was a cylindrical structure. They continued directly towards it before levelling off and flying over the top. If this was the palace it was probably as large as the whole town and Starport combined.

"Is this just the palace?" Darju asked in awe.

"Yes. This is the main palace the surrounding trees house various official residences and also the council chambers," Cylion replied.

"And you left here. It looks amazing." Darju replied.

"It is pretty amazing," Mylico replied, smiling.

"I cannot wait to have a look around," Darju said.

"There will be plenty of time for that but first we must go and see Persmia once we land. She will be waiting in the main chambers. Mylico has already messaged her."

"Oh. Okay.." Darju replied.

The vessel continued its perfectly aligned and smooth descent entering the top of the main building before coming to rest gently on a small area of ground.

"Welcome home," Mylico said, turning to his sister.

Cylion smiled back, "It is good to be back. Shall we go and we can introduce you to our cousin. Princess Persmia."