The Voidecho was eerily quiet. Everyone had run out of strength. The relentless days of competition had drained Jania and Chris both physically and emotionally, and they had retired to the sleeping cabin without a word. Zeph, still fragile from her time in the healing pod, had been beside herself upon waking. Overwhelmed and desperate to go home, she had needed to be sedated. Lisa sat at the table, deep in thought, contemplating everything that had led to this moment. While nursing a persistent headache she has had ever since entering the place.


    Null finally returned from the reactor, his steps slow and measured. He had stayed down there longer than expected after shifting the ship into the pocket dimension, absorbing as much energy as he could. Lisa knew she shouldn''t be relying on a child especially one who was only ten, nearly eleven except there was no one else to ask.


    “Do you have a plan?” Her voice was quiet.


    Null simply shook his head.


    Lisa sighed, unsurprised. She had expected as much. Still, she pressed on. “How long can we stay here?”


    Infy answered, his tone more uncertain than usual. “Not long. The physics of this place aren’t stable. The voice of the universe is muted here… which suggests that if we don’t return to normal space soon, the ship might suffer damage.”


    Lisa exhaled slowly, rubbing the bridge of her nose in an attempt to alleviate the headache forming behind her eyes. Sooner or later, they would have to face what awaited them outside.


    “Do you at least know how to get back?” she asked.


    This time, Null and Infy hesitated. Infy finally admitted, “In theory, I think I understand how to reverse the process… but when I tried, it didn’t work. That’s why we took so long coming up here.”


    Lisa frowned. “What about the portals? Can’t we just fly out through one of those?”


    Null stared at her. “What portals?”


    Lisa gestured toward the viewports. “Those.”


    The two glanced out the windows, but all they saw was endless, empty white. Sensor readings confirmed the same—just an infinite void. But Lisa was certain. The swirling distortions, shifting like oil on water, were there.


    Infy''s curiosity sharpened. “Lisa, can I scan you?”


    She hesitated but then nodded. “Go ahead.”


    A moment later, Infy finished the scan, his tone shifting to one of intrigue. “Your brain structure has changed. New neural pathways are forming… This might be the awakening of your psychic abilities.”


    Lisa blinked. “My psychic abilities?”


    “My best guess is that you''re seeing something we can’t,” Infy continued. “It could be tied to quantum fields and probabilities collapsing into reality. If that’s the case…” He turned toward Null, a silent conversation passing between them.


    “This might be our way out,” Null finished.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    They could afford to wait until everyone was awake before deciding, but Null and Infy were eager to move. If Lisa could see the portals, maybe Jania and Chris could as well. It was worth testing before they leapt.


    Eventually, everyone stirred, including Zeph, who had finally calmed down after her earlier panic. Null wasted no time in asking if anyone else could see the portals. One by one, they shook their heads. White space. Nothing more.


    Jania stretched and shrugged. “I don’t see anything, but I trust you, Little Man. You haven’t steered us wrong yet.”


    Chris took a more analytical approach. “Logically, flying through the portals is our best option. If Mum can see them, and the rest of us can’t, then something about her perception has changed. Given what we know about this space, staying here isn’t a long-term option.”


    Zeph, still shaken from everything, refused to give her opinion, sinking into her seat instead.


    Lisa studied the shifting distortions again, then pointed toward the largest one. "This one," she said with certainty. "It feels like it’s calling to me."


    That was good enough for Null. He and Infy adjusted the ship’s controls, steering Voidecho toward the chosen portal. The ship vibrated slightly as it passed through, and for a brief moment, they all experienced the same overwhelming sensation as when they had entered the pocket dimension a pressure in their skulls, light warping, the sound of the universe twisting into an almost musical hum.


    Then, with a sudden lurch, they were free.


    Except… they weren’t home.


    They had to determine exactly where they were. Null and Infy adjusted Voidecho’s sensors, running a full planetary scan while Lisa and Chris worked on mapping the stars outside. The ship''s navigation systems struggled to lock onto any known reference points, confirming what they all feared. They were far away from the solar system.


    Jania leaned forward, practically vibrating with excitement. “VX121-A… I’ve read everything about this place! One of the arkships was meant to colonise it, but it is not due to arrive for another few years.” She turned to the others, eyes shining. “We have to go down there.”


    Lisa folded her arms. “No, we don’t. We have to regroup, recover, and figure out what the hell just happened.”


    Chris nodded in agreement. “She’s right. We can’t just rush in. We don’t even know if it’s safe.”


    Jania pouted but didn’t argue. She knew they had a point.


    Null, meanwhile, had been silent, staring at the screen with narrowed eyes. His fingers twitched as he absorbed the sensor data. “Something’s wrong,” he finally said, his synthetic voice so that Zeph would be include. “There’s movement down there. A lot of it.”


    Infy expanded the display, highlighting shifting heat signatures across the planet’s surface. The patterns weren’t natural.


    Lisa’s expression darkened. “I take it back. We’re not just scouting. We’re figuring out who or what is already here.”


    Chris had decided that now was as good a time as any to get some answers before they became busy again. They were relatively safe, and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip by. "So what exactly have you been doing? Because I’ve seen you stop bullets, teleport, and throw people around like it’s nothing."


    Infy took a moment to form his response, as if piecing together the simplest way to explain something incredibly complex. "The universe, as we understand it, is governed by at least ten, possibly more, fundamental fields. These fields dictate everything from gravity to electromagnetism, to forces beyond human science. The higher races have developed ways to manipulate these fields using a special element called Zallium and advanced programming."


    Chris frowned, his mind racing to process what he was hearing. "But you don’t need that element."


    "Correct," Infy confirmed. "Our existence is different. We don’t use external tools. We control the fields directly."


    Zeph, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly perked up. "Wait. So, if I got my hands on this Zallium, could I learn to do that?"


    Infy tilted his head, considering her question. "Maybe. The higher races use it as an interface. Without it, most beings can’t even interact with the fields. If we had access to Zallium, we could test whether a human could use it naturally."


    Zeph looked thoughtful, her fingers drumming on the table. "Then we need to find some."


    Lisa sighed, placing her hands on the table. "Let’s worry about that after we figure out where we are and what’s down there and how to get back home."


    Null had been silent through most of the exchange, but now he looked up from the data. "Something else is happening on this planet. I can feel it”