Jania could feel it in her bones, something was happening. The pain was still there, her body broken and weak, but her mind was clearing. Kikei was doing something, though Jania had no idea what.


    She forced herself to focus beyond her own body, beyond the searing ache, and reached out telepathically. She found Null and Infy instantly. The moment she connected, she felt it—the storm of emotions radiating from them. Panic. Rage. Determination. She could tell that her telepathic powers had increased or fully awakened; she wasn''t sure which.


    Then she caught a glimpse of Null''s face, twisted in cold fury. The dragon, so calm and arrogant before, now stared at him with something Jania had never expected—fear. What could he possibly be doing to cause that look?


    "What are you doing?" Jania asked, her voice urgent in their minds.


    Null answered without hesitation. "Delivering justice." Jania could feel the conviction in his answer.


    Infy clarified, "We''ve set multiple asteroids on a collision course with the planet. We''ve started with the small ones."


    Jania''s stomach dropped. Horror flooded through her. He would wipe out the whole planet doing that.


    "Stop!" she pleaded. "You can''t do this!"


    "It''s already in motion," Null said. "They hurt you, Jania. They don''t get to just walk away."


    "It''s not about revenge. It''s about consequences," Infy added. "A punishment fitting the crime."


    Jania clenched her teeth. They meant it. They were going to do it. The asteroids were already in orbit, waiting for the command to fall.


    They thought they were doing this for her.


    She had to stop them. She realised this was the decision she had to make: to commit to being there for Null and Infy to the end. She didn''t understand why fate believed this was a test; the answer was clear to her. But who can''t I save?


    They truly believed this was justice. And worst of all, she knew they wouldn''t stop just because she asked. She didn''t argue, didn''t plead. She went with the one thing she knew would work. She commanded them.


    "As your big sister, I''m telling you to stop. Right now."


    Null flinched.


    "You''re not my sister," he snapped, but his voice lacked its usual certainty.


    Jania let out a shaky breath. "That hurts, Little Man. But I don''t care. I''m still your big sister, and I''m telling you that this isn''t the way."


    "Fine," they both said in unison.


    The silence lingered, heavy and unspoken. Jania could feel it via her connection. Null and Infy weren''t just stopping because of her words. Something deeper had cracked in them.


    They weren''t brother and sister. Not really. Jania wasn''t even sure what Null was in the grand scheme of things—a human? Experiment? Sprout? Something else entirely? But that didn''t matter.


    What mattered was that she saw him. Not as a weapon. Not as a tool. Not as some ticking time bomb that had to be tested and controlled.


    She saw him as family. Something both of them had been denied their entire lives. The past few weeks with Lisa, Chris, Null, and even Zeph had given her a taste of what she''d always yearned for: a genuine connection that filled the hollow spaces within her. No more sterile laboratories or endless isolation. No more being treated as a subject rather than a person. They had become the family she had desperately imagined whenever she''d glimpsed normal children with their parents, their siblings, and their unconditional belonging. In their imperfect circle, she had finally found a home.


    And that was something Null had never truly had before.


    He didn''t respond right away, but Jania could feel the shift in his emotions. The anger, the cold certainty, the detached logic of his so-called justice. It all wavered under something else. Something fragile. Hope.


    "You really mean that?" His voice in her head was quieter now, uncertain in a way she had never heard before.


    Jania forced a smile through the pain. "Of course I do, Little Man. You''re stuck with me now."


    Infy had been silent, but now she felt his presence stir, brushing against both of their minds. For once, he wasn''t calculating probabilities or analysing threats. He was just listening.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Null let out a slow breath. They shared a silent moment, its gravity understood without words.


    "Fine," he said again, softer this time. "I''ll leave the planet alone."


    Null turned around and ignored the dragon entirely, as if it had ceased to exist. Instead, he moved over to Kikei, placing a hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly, still overwhelmed by everything that had just happened. He could feel it—her mind was open, raw with adrenaline, fear, and something else… potential.


    Both he and Infy reached out, their voices brushing against her thoughts. "Thank you," they said in unison, their mental voices calm and measured.


    Kikei stared at them, wide-eyed, her breathing uneven. Then, all at once, she started speaking but it was too fast, too much, her words tumbling over each other. “I don’t even know what I did! I mean, I did something, but I don’t know what, and then you were about to drop rocks on a planet, and the dragon was yelling, and I thought I was going to die, and Jania was dying, and—why isn’t the dragon doing anything? Why is it just watching us? And—and—”


    Null squeezed her shoulder, cutting off her spiral. “Calm down,” he said, his voice flat but firm. “You helped Jania. That’s what matters. Now tell me—what did you do?”


    Kikei took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself. “It’s... it’s the auras,” she said finally. “I can see them. I don’t know how, I just can. And Jania’s was fading. It was—” She hesitated, struggling to put it into words. “It was like a thread unravelling. So I—I don’t know—I just reached out and tied it back together. Not really fixed it, just… stopped it from getting worse.”


    Null’s gaze sharpened. “You manipulated her life force,” he stated. It wasn’t a question.


    Kikei blinked. “Uh. Maybe?”


    Infy stirred within Null’s mind, processing the information. "A natural ability, not field manipulation or maybe subconscious field manipulation. Something closer to what Lisa experienced. This could be important."


    Null hummed in agreement, fascinated despite himself. Kikei was still shaken, but she had done something remarkable. He wanted to know more.


    But first, there was still the problem of the dragon. And Jania’s injury.


    Kikei hesitated before asking the question that had been burning in her mind. “uhm whoever you are… are you here to save the crew of Arkship Two?”


    Null didn’t hesitate. “I’m Null and I can’t,” he said flatly. “We don’t have the room or the means to get them back to Sol.”


    Kikei’s face fell. “But… the elves. What if they hurt them?”


    Null’s facial expression darkened. “Then I’ll wipe them out.”


    Jania cut in sharply. “No. You won’t.”


    Null turned his glowing eyes on her. “Jania, they won’t be able to co-exist. It’s unlikely.”


    She glared at him it was about all she could do, still in pain but refusing to back down. “That’s not our decision to make. They have to try.”


    Before Null could argue further, the dragon, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke, its deep, ancient voice filling the cavern. “I see I’ve been left out of this conversation long enough.”


    The air pulsated with power as the dragon’s massive head lowered toward them, golden eyes locked on Null. “I will keep the pacifism field in place,” it rumbled. “But I will not otherwise intervene between the elves and the humans on the surface. Their fate is their own.”


    Null didn’t react, but Infy stirred within his mind.


    The dragon’s tone darkened. “While I stay my hand now, while this planet remains in danger, do not think for a second that you have escaped your fate.” The massive creature exhaled, a sound like distant thunder. “I have marked you, little sprout. And I have told the others. There will be no place for you to hide. Your time is numbered.”


    Jania felt Null tense beside her, but he said nothing. His expression remained unreadable, yet the air around him filled with restrained energy.


    Without another word, he silently linked with the VoidEcho. The next moment, the three of them vanished in a flicker of light, reappearing aboard the ship.


    As soon as they materialised, Null wasted no time. He immediately teleported Jania into the healing pod. Chris, who had been pacing anxiously, rushed over the moment he saw her. His face twisted with concern, but the pod had already begun its work, sealing her inside and initiating the automated medical procedures.


    Null turned toward the others, raising his communicator. Before realising he had no idea who Kikei was. " uhm this is… someone who saved Jania’s life."


    Kikei blinked in surprise. "Wait, you don’t talk?"


    Null simply nodded.


    "Oh," she muttered, eyes widening. "Huh. I just assumed…" She shook her head before straightening up. "Well, whatever. I’m Kikei, former technical officer of Arkship Two. Nice to meet you, I guess?"


    Chris gave her a quick once-over, clearly running through a hundred different questions, but before he could voice them, Null spoke again through his communicator.


    “We should go back to the pocket dimension for now. There’s a target on my back.”


    Lisa, who had been quietly assessing the situation, nodded in agreement. "That’s probably wise. We don’t know who else has been alerted about your presence."


    Before Null could activate the transition, Zeph stepped forward, her expression guarded but determined.


    "Wait."


    Everyone turned toward her.


    "Teleport me down to the human colony." Her voice was steady, but there was something raw beneath the surface. "I don’t want to be here anymore."


    Null tilted his head, studying her before raising his communicator. "Are you sure?"


    Zeph let out a slow breath, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "I’m tired of being scared," she admitted. "At least down there, I know how to survive. It’s not much different from the places I grew up in back in the Kuiper Belt."


    Before anyone else could speak, Kikei let out an exasperated noise. "You know that colony is basically a prison, right?" She turned fully to Zeph, frowning. "It’s not some safe haven—it’s a holding pen. And the elves could attack at any time."


    Zeph met her gaze evenly. "I know," she said simply. "But it’s still better than being here."


    Lisa frowned, clearly unhappy. "We can’t force you to stay," she said reluctantly. "But Zeph… I think you’re making a mistake."


    Zeph gave a wry smile. "Maybe. But it’s my mistake to make."


    A brief silence followed. Then, without another word, Null reached out and activated the teleport. Zeph vanished in a blink, sent down to the surface. Shocking everyone with his coldness, no goodbyes, nothing.


    “We don’t have time,” said Infy to everyone.


    With that done, he wasted no more time.


    A pulse of energy flickered through the VoidEcho, and the ship shimmered out of normal space, slipping back into the safety of the pocket dimension.