Despite the difficulty of the terrain, the survivors of Minerva's Whisper had little issue finding their path to the village that had been seen from orbit. Of course, it was mostly Luci with a copy of the data they had gathered available on her BSI. There were some challenges in getting Miguel over and past some obstacles, but he soldiered on with Rosa and Valeria close behind. It had only taken a few hours before they came over the peak of a knoll and spotted the Village they were headed for.

In the hours since they had left the ship, not a word was spoken by Luci except for situational guidance when crossing the terrain. Nobody dared to ask either. They all knew what had happened. Solemnly, they made their trek, and Val was all too happy to follow in silence. During the last leg of their journey, the skin around Miguel's break was getting dark, and the boy's gait was beginning to drift and sway.

They moved slower and adopted a low stance as they got closer, until they came to a stop 50 meters outside the border of the village. Luci gathered the group in a depression surrounded by a thicket.

"The main sun will be going down soon, and we don't want to introduce ourselves in the dark. I'm not trying to scare anyone." Luci removed the rifle from her shoulder and handed it to Rosa. Val was slightly offended she didn't get first pick, but she let it slide under the circumstances. "Stay here until I return. You will hear me call out 'no shadows,' and you will reveal yourselves with the weapon down."

"And if you don't return, or don't say 'no shadows?'" Rosa asked.

"In that case, improvise." Luci's meaning was clear. She gave a nod and the group nodded back, then she was on her way.

As Luci approached the village, she made sure her arms were clearly visible and made steady predictable movements. While scanning for any residents as she passed the edge of the thick jungle, she couldn't help admiring the rustic wood-based designs. Every colony, on every world she had ever visited incorporated plasteel into nearly every building, if not entire buildings themselves. The first person Luci's HUD spotted was a woman carrying a basket filled with clean, folded laundry between two of the nearest buildings.

"Hello, excuse me!" Luci said as she waived her arms to catch the woman's attention. The woman didn't place Luci at first as she looked around. "Hi, hello!" Luci called out again, and this time the woman looked directly at her.

"Oh... hey!" She said with a warm tone and expression. Luci approached slowly.

"I need some medical assistance, is there anyone here that can help?"

"Oh, no! Yes, Let me just..." The woman paused after getting a better look at her gear and noticing that she was kitted for combat. Her demeanor changed from one kind of worry to another after quickly realizing that Luci wasn't another villager. "I... uh... I'll be right back! Just stay there!" The woman backed away and nearly dropped her basket as she turned and started heading further into town with a hurried pace.

It wasn't a great sign. Luci did as she was told and stood in the middle of the clearing between the buildings and the jungle border. She took some deep breaths and basic stretches as she waited a few minutes until the sound of several footsteps approached. She again tried to make herself as non-threatening as possible. Luci even tried to put on a gentle smile. She wasn't sure it was working. Several large people emerged from between the buildings, brandishing rifles and shotguns, but not pointing them directly at Luci. She put her hands up anyway.

"Who are you?" The largest man in front said.

"My name is Luciana Zabala," she said, "I'm a mercenary that's been hired to provide security for a ship carrying war refugees."

"A war?" The man's face carried as much confusion as the rest of his party. "What war?"

"On Harmonix, after the Stellar Dynamics corporation occupied the planet."

The group was speechless. The man in front looked around at the rest, who all looked back at him with serious faces. Luci continued speaking, offering more context as it seemed that they needed it.

"We were tying to jump to a system in Carina but we ended up here," she said. The man's defenses seemed to lower completely as he came closer, his head tilted, not sure if he heard her correctly.

"Carina... in the Milky Way?" The man asked.

"Yes... that's right." Luci said. The man started pacing as he became sure what he had heard this time. The man's pacing was disconcerting to Luci. He shook his head and stopped.

"You said you needed medical aid?"

"That's correct, not myself, but one of the refugees in my group. He's a child. He has a fractured arm and he's bleeding internally," Luci said. The man was silent again for a moment.

"Y-yeah, yeah we can handle that. How many others are with you?"

"It's the boy, his mother, and another woman."

"Is that all?"

"Y... yes..." Luci looked at the ground. The man noticed.

"Well, uh, yeah, go gather your group and bring the kid in, we'll take care of you." The man said, then turned and ordered one of his group to inform the doctor. Luci did the same, turning and moving back to the edge of the jungle.

"No shadows!" Luci yelled, "no shadows, come on out!"

They did exactly as planned. Rosa appeared out of the thicket first, her hands up and the rifle slung around her shoulder. Miguel followed close behind her, and Val behind him, assisting him with stability. Once they were within a few meters, the man held out his hand.

"Hold on... Weapons stay with us," he said. Rosa looked at Luci, who nodded back to her, gesturing for her to hand over the rifle. One of the others in the group took the rifle, and the front man looked back at Luci. "Any others?"

"Knives?" Luci pointed to the one on her chest. The man nodded with an open hand. Luci pulled the knife from it's sheath on her vest and another from her boot and presented them both handle-first to the man.

"We'll make sure you get them back at the appropriate time. Follow me."

The two groups combined and moved as one to a large building near the center of town. The doctor met the group outside the clinic, going immediately to Miguel to take a look at his arm. She was an older woman with a light, but deliberate touch, already wearing gloves and scrubs, ready to get to work. The woman looked at Rosa after inspecting Miguel's wound.

"You're his mother?" The woman asked. Rosa nodded. "Alright, let's take him in and get started. No time like the present."

Rosa and Miguel followed the woman and a few of her own nurses into the building, but Luci and Val were diverted by the large man to another nearby building, where another man was waiting for them.

"As-Salamu Alaikum," the man said with a polite nod and a touch to his chest. Luci mirrored the motion.

"And upon you be peace," she said, forgetting that her BSI translator, without a network connection to another BSI, would only translate incoming language. The man smiled, nonetheless.

"My name is Bashir Sherzai, I am the leader of this village we call the Oasis of Tradition, or just Oasis if you feel that's a little weird." Bashir laughed, then motioned toward the man who brought them. "You've already met Darron, our head of communications, I suppose you could call him."

"Greetings," Darron said with a tone indicating his disinterest with formal introductions considering the circumstances.

"Oasis' head physician that you met a moment ago is Dr. Linnea Jonssonaitė. She will take good care of the others in your group and her staff will make sure they make their way back to you."

"Thank you for the warm welcome." Despite her favorite weapons being taken away, Luci's words were genuine. She had certainly received worse welcomes in her time. "My name is Luci, and this is... uh..."

"Val. Uh, Valeria, sir."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Luci and Val." Bashir, again, bowed and covered his heart. "Can I ask from where you are visiting?"

Before Luci could speak, Darron spoke up.

"Actually, Bashir, I think this is something we should probably discuss inside, maybe with the other councilors too."

"Is that so?" Bashir said. Darron confirmed with a pointed nod. "Alright, so be it!"

The newcomers were guided into the building to a beautiful and open conference room where they took seats in comfortable, hand-crafted chairs. They were given glasses of water, but neither Luci nor Val were prepared to drink just yet. It was awkward, trying to remain silent until the rest of their audience arrived. Val considered discussing the weather with Darron, but decided to refrain. It was only a few minutes before the rest of the village's council members arrived. Bashir entered the conference room and introduced each of the other councilors as they entered.

"I apologize for the wait. Here are the other councilors, Tane Mahuta, Fatima Al-Farsi, and Luca Rossi," Bashir said. Each of the councilors bowed politely and took seats across the table from Luci and Val, though they all displayed a degree of displeasure about the abrupt change in their very busy schedules. Bashir took his seat last. "Linnea is also among our council, but she cannot join us at the moment," Bashir said for the benefit of the other members, "as she is currently providing aid to one of the injured among our visitors here."

"Thank you, again." Luci said.

"Think nothing of it. We do not turn away anyone in need of assistance, child or otherwise. If I remember correctly, you are Luci and Val, yes?" Bashir motioned toward each of the women as he said their names, and they both nodded. "That's about as far as I got with our conversation earlier. So now that everyone's caught up, I'll ask again. Where are you visiting from?"

"We arrived after escaping war on the planet Harmonix, in constellation Canis..." Luci said. The councilors all gave the same look, just as Darron did, a look of confusion, not sure if they understood her correctly. Luci continued, making sure to speak very clearly, "... in the Milky Way galaxy."

Again, there was an audible hush throughout the room as the councilors scrutinized Luci's face and looked at each other.

"You... have heard of it, right?" Luci asked. "You are... human?" There was another pause before Darron spoke up.

"Yes. We are human, and we are from the Milky Way... or... at least our families were," Darron said.

"Most of the families you'll find on Voracia came from colony ships that started showing up here nearly a century ago," Fatima said. "But they stopped coming about 70 years ago, or..." Fatima paused to do a quick calculation in her head, "it was closer to 50 years ago on Earth."

"That's... That's incredible!" Luci said. "You've been on this planet for the greater part of a century now?" She asked, and the councilors nodded. Luci's excitement for this information quickly vanished. "I don't imagine you've been able to discover where the Milky-Way is, or how to leave?"

There was no response. Luci looked at each of the councilors, none of whom were able to keep eye contact with her. Finally, Luca began to speak.

"We looked, and mapped out the observable universe from here, but we weren't able to find anything matching the early Milky Way."

"We could never figure out how to get the OTech drives to jump anymore either, though they are still useful for sub-light travel," Tane said.

"We actually couldn't control ours at all," Luci said. "When our drive was on, it was moving us toward a spot somewhere in the northern hemisphere. We actually had to disable the OTech drive in-atmosphere and manually control the ship, which is how the kid was injured."

"Your ship was moving on it's own?" Fatima asked. Luci nodded and Fatima continued, "I've never heard anything like that before. I don't think any of the colonists reported anything like that, right?" She looked at her colleagues. Each shook their head.

"It was just you four on the ship?" Darron asked with reasonable skepticism.

"No... it wasn't," Luci said. "Our ship, Minerva's Whisper, had a crew of eight and was carrying twenty-eight refugees. We landed about 10 kilometers away to bring Miguel to you, but as soon as we left the ship..." Luci paused for a moment and cleared her throat. "It, uh... came under attack by what looked like three large drones."

The councilors again looked at each other in concerned silence as Luci continued.

"Their guns. They used such large ammo... Why would they..." she was having trouble speaking the words. She was trying to consider Val's sensibilities, even though Val was just fine sitting next to her and listening. "Suffice it to say that none of the rest of the crew survived. I checked."

"Were you able to see any markings on these drones?" Bashir asked.

"No, I'm afraid. We were too far away in the jungle."

"I don't think we need to know about the markings, we all know where they came from," Luca said pointedly.

"Maybe not all of us." Darron motioned toward Luci, understanding that she might be interested. Bashir began speaking.

"I'm sure when you were first looking at our planet, this village wasn't the first thing you noticed. Am I right?" He asked. Luci nodded and Bashir continued, "yeah, the main population center on Voracia is a place they decided to call Voracity."

"'Voracity?'" Val asked, speaking for the first time.

"Don't look at us," Luca said with a shrug, "We weren't even born yet."

"Not such a bad name, I think," Luci said, "but it's hard not to notice the difference in the technology used between Voracity and Oasis... Not that it's a bad thing. I actually quite like the rustic aesthetic."

"There's a few reasons for that," Bashir said, "and I think the drones attacking your ship reinforces our aversion to tech. Specifically, tech that uses wireless digital communication."

"Speaking of," Darron said, "I believe the two of you have Brainstem Interface implants, is that right?"

Luci looked over at Val with slight confusion, having not realized until now that she had one. Val nodded. It wasn't a big deal to Luci, but it would have been nice to have been synced up while they were hiking. Luci looked back at Darron and nodded.

"That's interesting..." Darron continued, "I would have thought that the drones would be able to find you using your BSI's."

"That's a good point," Fatima said, "though there have been a lot of changes to networking technology since we first arrived here. Perhaps your BSI's use a different frequency band, or maybe the jungle helped to hide your communications."

"That being said..." Darron spoke, "I think we would feel much more comfortable if you disabled your BSI's completely."

"Certainly," Luci said, immediately moving through her settings to power her system off. Darron looked at Val, who nodded back at him. Luci continued, "So, you're afraid of the drones finding you?"

"Not exactly," Bashir said. "I'd wager a guess that they already know exactly where we are. But we would still like to be discreet nonetheless. No, we avoid electronic communication in order to avoid the influence of the Benefactors."

Luci and Val remained silent, allowing Bashir to continue.

"The Benefactors are a group of anonymous people who provide feedback and input on any number of things, from sociology to engineering and public policy, kind of like a think-tank."

"That's putting it lightly, Bashir," Tane said. "The Benefactors are a lot more powerful than that. They have their hand in every aspect of life in Voracity. There is no escaping them."

"Unless, of course, if you cut yourself off from digital communication," Fatima said. "They only seem to speak with people through the anonymity of the internet."

"So, nobody knows who they are?" Luci asked.

"No," Said Luca. "That's one of the main reasons, I think, this village was founded. There was no way to hold the Benefactors accountable."

"Accountable, for what?" Said Luci, but she received no response. "What have they done that they should be held accountable for?"

"Well..." Bashir looked at his colleagues, a few of whom simply shrugged at him. "Not... exactly. In fact, I think the vast majority of people living in Voracity probably consider it to be a Utopia, and I don't think any of us can argue that the quality of life for a majority of Voracian citizens is quite high, and I think much of the success of Voracity, and our entire continued existence on this planet is due to the guidance of the Benefactors."

"It's not necessarily about anything they did," Luca said, "it's more that we understand the absurd potential for abuse and manipulation through the power that they wield. That, and a lot of the village isn't fond of the city's attitude toward family, love, hard work and purpose. We prefer some of the more traditional values."

"Hence the name, 'Oasis of Tradition?'" Luci asked. A few of the councilors rolled their eyes as Bashir nodded with a slight laugh, but his demeanor changed before he continued speaking.

"At this point, I have to ask... Once the boy is in recovery, what are your plans going forward?"

"Hmm... I get the sense that if we were interested in staying here, our BSI's would present a problem, perhaps among other things?"

"Very astute! There are other things that we would require of you, but primary among them would be to have Linnea surgically remove your implants or otherwise permanently disable them."

"I can't speak for Val or Rosa and Miguel, but unless your village has an affinity for fixing OTech drives or piloting chemical rocket-based ships, I plan on going to Voracity to find those things, or some other way of getting home."

The room was silent again. Luci had an idea of what they were thinking, but none of them wanted to be the ones to say it, so Bashir took over.

"I will be the first wish you luck in that journey, and will provide as much assistance as we can in that regard, but the mere fact that anyone is still here might give you an idea of how difficult that goal is. All of the greatest problem solvers throughout our history on this planet, Benefactors or not, and even the assistance of our most intelligent AI system couldn't solve the problem with the OTech drives."

"It seems like a tough job," Darron said, "and in the interest of helping out, I can guide you to Voracity, and should the council agree, I can get you into contact with our connection within the city." Darron looked to each of the council to get a nod of affirmation.

The discussion continued for some time, though primarily with Bashir and Darron, as the others had to return to their work. Luci had many questions about life on Voracia and within Voracity, and Val was all too willing to sit back and listen. Val did that a lot. She was most content fading into the background and only interacting when she needed to. She liked to listen, and at the moment, her interest was piqued by the discussion regarding Voracity life and the Benefactors.

It seemed that the Benefactors are thought to have started as a number of anonymous users that appeared in online forums a few years after the first wave of the original settlers made landfall. They provided designs for a massive geodesic dome that would eventually become the central structure that the rest of Voracity was built around. They not only gave designs for it's construction, but incredibly complex mining and manufacturing infrastructure that would allow for the development of electronics, plasteel, and machinery that would be needed for such a project. Before long, nearly all labor intensive work was done by a robotic workforce operated by a city-wide AI system.

With nothing but time on their side, the original colonists began developing society in the same way they had always intended to, by breeding. There was a hard push in Voracian society to increase the population as fast as possible, and this push was reflected in the development of medical science and social policies and benefits. Fertility drugs became free to anyone who asked for them. Fertilized eggs could be donated through a short, unobtrusive procedure and fetal development and birth could be done in-vitro. Within 10 years of the first arrivals, most children were born, raised, and schooled by Artificially Intelligent companions and volunteers, and finally, the Brainstem Interface technology became freely available to everyone with the procedure capable of being performed on any age group. Ultimately, the traditional family structure became a thing of the past for a vast majority of Voracia's populace.

Most of the policies were part of the plan from the get-go, but it was apparent that much of it would not be possible without guidance from The Benefactors. They gained favor with the burgeoning society just as fast as the conspiracy theories popped up, the most prominent and longest running was that the Benefactors were, and are, simply the AI system assisting humanity as it was designed to do and in the most relatable, user-friendly way. The Benefactors have never confirmed nor denied this, and have never discussed personal information about themselves. This, of course, only exacerbates the theories, but as the information the Benefactors provided was always with the intention of benefiting humanity, there was never an uproar about revealing their identities.

One of the most beloved and long lasting programs presented by the Benefactors was that of the Beneficiary program, a monthly lottery in which twenty people are selected to live the next month at the Beneficiary's Resort, where winners are said to be able to "experience life without limits." In a society like Voracity's where life is already considered to be a perfect paradise, the promise of even more decadence is a dream to many people. If that wasn't enticing enough, at the end of every month, one of the Beneficiaries would be chosen to join the Benefactors themselves, to live in their own secluded paradise forever. Everyone is eligible to win as long as they have received a BSI implant. 

Val was intrigued. She knew she didn't want to stay in Oasis, and she didn't much care to return home either, but Voracity seemed like a place that was right up her alley. She never made her intentions known, not that she felt Luci or the councilors would object, necessarily. She just always found it easier to remain neutral in whatever situation she found herself in.

After their conversation, Darron led the visitors to the village's guest home to stay the night. Miguel's surgery took only a few hours, after which he and Rosa joined their companions and were filled in on the situation and the world they had landed on. Rosa and Miguel, not having BSI's themselves, were enticed by the prospect of staying in Oasis, but they both agreed that finding a way off the planet should be their primary goal. They decided they would join Luci on the journey to Voracity. There was worry that the trek would be difficult on Miguel, but his arm had already received a cast, and Darron assured them that they could take a path to the city with little terrain difficulty, a path that Darron had taken several times with children even younger than Miguel.

The journey would take around five days, starting shortly after Auriel rose the next day, but considering the several days of trekking through war-torn Harmonix just before another several hour trek through the Voracian jungle, Rosa and Miguel were happy to spend at least a few hours in a quiet, warm, comfortable bed. Val, however, found herself restless when left alone in her room after Noctia had set. With practiced expertise, Val snuck out of her room through a window, avoiding the pair of guards that were stationed outside the front door of the guest house.

One of the benefits of sneaking around in a village that chose to adopt a rustic lifestyle was that few of the buildings were brightly lit. Val was able to slink around in the near total darkness with the help of the low-light settings of her BSI. The feeling of being free from her father and at least a billion light-years from anyone who might be able to recognize her was a dream come true. Already, she felt like she was in heaven, and with much more to come if she understood this new world correctly.

Val spend around an hour stalking the village, glancing in windows and watching the other night-owls wander. When she saw a young boy barely older than Miguel sneak out of his own home and make his way to the edge of the jungle, Val couldn't resist her urge to approach him. He looked to be lost in solemn thought as he stared out toward the dark red foliage. Val wasn't necessarily trying to sneak up to him, but the boy didn't notice her until she was only a few meters behind him and started speaking.

"Hello!" She said in a low voice. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin as he whipped around to look at her.

"Jesus!" He shouted, then looked around to see if anyone else had heard. He lowered his voice as he continued, "what the hell? Who are you?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you!" Val said with a warm smile. "I'm a newcomer from Voracity. I came here with a few friends of mine, and I'm still deciding on the whole BSI thing."

"Oh! You've got a BSI?" He said with childlike interest. "That's so cool!"

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah! I was going to get one but... my parents both said no..."

"So what?" Val said. "I don't think you needed your parents permission to do so..."

"I know, but... they're my parents, you know?"

"Parents aren't gods, though. They're human, and make human mistakes and have human sensibilities. They can be wrong, and frankly, they can go fuck themselves for all I care."

"Whoa... well, you probably weren't raised by them, right?"

"Not exactly, I suppose. But my dad was around enough."

"Oh," the boy said. "Well whatever. I can't really do anything about it now."

"I'm not so sure. I think you might be able to convince Darron to take you back. Do you really want to go back that badly?"

"I... don't really know. This place seems like a lot of work and stuff, and it doesn't really sound all that great. I don't know anyone here, and there's not a lot of... uhh..." The boy looked away from Val. She smiled.

"Girls?"

"Uhh... heh..." The boy laughed nervously, the darkness concealing his blushing cheeks. "You know... I had a couple of girlfriends back ho-... I mean, in Voracity. A boyfriend too!"

"Is that so?" Val asked. She was gradually approaching the boy, always with a gentle smile and a soft voice.

"Yeah..." The boy laughed and shook his head. "Actually, my parents would totally kill me if they knew I already had two kids."

"Really?" Val asked, genuinely shocked.

"Yeah... I mean, they haven't been born yet, but yeah, I've got a couple of little tank babies floating around out there."

"That's pretty incredible!"

"What about you? How many kids do you have?"

"None, actually."

"Wow, really?" The boy was astonished, but quickly brought his excitement back to a reasonably polite level. "Sorry, I guess what I meant to say is, you're certainly pretty enough! No, that's not- I mean it's true, but I'm sorry if there's some reason you can't have kids or something."

"Aww. You're so sweet!" Val said with a giggle. "No, nothing like that, I just... haven't had a lot of availability up until recently." She took another step toward the boy, brushing the tail of her side braid against his arm. "But... I'm available now..." She bit her lip as she looked at him before continuing in a seductive whisper. "How about it? You wanna try for number three?"

The boy was no longer able to speak, caught by Val's gaze and drawn in by her siren's voice. She started walking ahead of him, further into the jungle, taking the boys hand and leading him into the darkness.

Despite getting fewer hours of sleep than Luci, Rosa, and Miguel, Val had the most restful sleep she'd had in years and was up and ready to leave the moment Darron knocked on her door. She opened it with a smile.

"Good morning, Valeria," Darron said, then looked down at the front of her dress, still covered in blood. "You... uhh... want something else to wear? I'm sure we can scrounge up something."

"Oh, yeah... if you don't mind, but... I don't want to be a bother..."

"It's no bother, it'll be fine! We're not leaving for another hour or so, so we can get you out of that and into something clean and breathable, how about?"

"Yes... thank you so much!" Val said.

"Feel free to take another shower if you want to, I'll go grab a few pairs of clothes and set them outside your room here."

"Thanks again, I'll do that!" Val smiled and waived Darron on, then did exactly that. The blood was starting to smell and the fabric was becoming rough and rigid. Val was glad to be out of it. Furthermore, the clothes that she received from Darron were closer to her size, and pants would be much better to travel in.

Darron had gathered all of the food and supplies they would need for their travel and divvied them up for each of the travelers, sans-Miguel to carry. Luci kept insisting that she could carry more, even though Darron was nearly twice her size. After gathering everything up, the last thing they did before leaving was greet Bashir and Linnea to thank them again for all their help. They said their goodbyes, and then the journey to Voracity began proper.

When traveling the spoiled wastes of Harmonix, there were hazards everywhere. There was toxic water, patches of methane, and at every turn was the possibility of an ambush by Orion's Blade, some raiders, or just some villagers having a bad day. The path was treacherous, with cliffs, crumbling buildings, and decaying forests making the journey a living nightmare. But a thrilling one. Now, as they walked through the bright purple forest with the wind blowing gently, creating a soothing whisper as it passed through the uniquely shaped leaves. There were no bugs, foxes, squirrels, lions, tigers, or bears. With the exception of the wind in the trees and the occasional babbling brook, there was nothing.

It was boring. Val could tell she wasn't the only one who thought so. Luci was still on edge for every step she made hours into the walk.

"But what about the drones?" Luci asked.

"Yeah, I guess there is that threat," Darron said, "but I think that if they were looking for you, they would have found you by now. Also, there's only one settlement, really, which means there's no cellular towers out here in the wilderness."

"No satellites?"

"No, at least, not last I checked. They just use OTech ships whenever something is needed, like orbital readings for a new resource or to check weather patterns. Once the data is gathered, the ship is brought back in. You wouldn't happen to have seen any while you were in orbit, did you?"

"No, we didn't," Luci said. Darron was making sense regarding how far the signals from their BSI's could reach, even if they were on, but Luci still felt unsure of their safety. After a brief silence as they walked, Luci asked a new question. "Who's 'they?'"

"Excuse me?" Darron said.

"You said 'if they were looking for me'... Who's the 'they' in that sentence?"

"I don't know..." Darron said with the cadence of a man who's had this conversation many times before.

"Do you think it's the Benefactors?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think, maybe it's a rogue AI or something? I imagine the Voracity AI is still based on the stuff we had way back. You know... there were some pretty serious problems back then."

"I do not know, honestly."

"Well, the AI we used, and still use on our ships could easily be able to send some unsuspecting travelers to a specific spot in the universe. Or, I assume it'd be easy, anyway."

"A lot of people think that it's this place. The planet itself, or Auriel, or Noctia, or both."

"Who?" Luci asked. Darren pointed toward the suns. "Oh."

"Auriel is the main one. Noctia is the distant one. You'll also find Seraphel, the big moon, and Obsidia, which is usually pretty hard to spot in the night sky, except during an eclipse."

"That seems... interesting."

"You have no idea," Darron said with a laugh. "I hope you get to stay long enough to see one. It's wild."

"I've seen some eclipses in my time, on a few different planets." Luci noticed Darron tilt his head toward her. She knew she had his attention. In fact, she had everyone's attention.

Besides Harmonix, neither Rosa nor Miguel had ever set foot on another planet. Rosa was grateful to have landed on such a beautiful and largely peaceful world, but she was also itching to hear stories of other places, as was Darron. Miguel, however, didn't seem too interested and fell back a few paces to avoid the conversation. Val noticed, and fell back with him.

"How are you doing, kiddo?" She said.

"Great, thanks." Miguel was short with her, annoyed at the question. Val didn't respond giving him time to gather his thoughts and decide whether he wanted to talk. He eventually did. "So, I've gotta leave this crappy shack to go on a week long hike to get to a ship all because my dad doesn't want to work with some stupid corporation, only for me to find out that they actually want to kill him, and us, and then we get on a ship and jump to I don't even know where, where I break my arm and then have to do another week of hiking?" Miguel was shaking his head and kicking a rock along the path. "And to top it all off, my dad did get killed, and all that's left of him was some brains on your dress, which you got rid of because they were 'dirty.'"

The kid's observations were very astute. Val wasn't quite sure what to say, so she let the silence linger until it felt right to try and change the subject.

"Voracity sounds kind of nice... doesn't it?"

"I don't know... Nobody's told me anything. I'm just the kid that's being dragged along."

"Oh, I don't think so!" Val said, nearly calling him a kid again. "You're not really slowing me down... Though I don't think we can be there fast enough. It sounds like quite the place!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! It seems pretty... 'fun'..." Val nudged Miguel's shoulder and winked at him. "If you get my drift." The confused look on Miguel's face betrayed his lack of awareness for innuendo. "Well, beyond that, haven't you ever wanted to get a BSI?"

"What?" Miguel's face shot up. "Yeah! But we could never afford one, and mom feels like it's 'corpo-bullshit' or whatever."

"I hate to burst your bubble about what you can't do, but in Voracity, apparently, BSI's are freely available to anyone, regardless of age."

"Any age? C'mon, I don't believe that. Even little babies?"

"Yep, even babies can get them, as long as the biological parents both agree, but if the person is old enough to pass a test that 'proves agency and the ability to understand the risks,' whatever that means, you can actually get one without needing anyone's consent but your own."

"A... test?"

"Yeah, but I think they said that kids can usually pass it by like five or six, so I don't think you'll have any issue." Val watched hope fill the boy's eyes. "But I wonder, what would someone like you do with a Brainstem Interface?"

"I've heard of some pretty cool videogames! And you can make yourself look like anything!"

"Yeah, that's true! You should see what I look like through a BSI!"

"Oh?" Miguel looked Val up and down. "You don't look like that?"

"Well, I don't change a whole lot, but for one, I don't wear any of these clothes."

"You... make yourself... naked?" Miguel shyly looked away from her with a slight blush. Val giggled.

"Well, not totally naked. I gotta leave something to the imagination, right?" Val winked at the boy who continued to blush. She enjoyed torturing him. "I also generally make my tits a little bigger too. You know, just for a little extra 'wow' factor."

As she spoke, Val pushed her breasts together, though her shirt wasn't quite revealing enough to do her any favors. Miguel was speechless and turning beet red. Val laughed, then reached out and messed with his hair. She was glad to have him along. The journey would be much more interesting than without him.

It was an easy journey, Darron wasn't lying about that. Though the most direct route is a day shorter, the route they were on was mostly flat and the weather was perfect. Darron had been on the route so often that he had set up several camp sites that had never been disturbed between his visits. The journey was a great way for everyone to finally get to meet and talk to each other. Rosa, Luci, and Darron made a lot of conversation, to which Val and Miguel made the odd comment, but they were more interested in talking to each other.

Rosa was happy that Miguel had somebody he could befriend. She always felt guilty about having to move around so much. She did feel a bit uncomfortable about just how close Miguel and Val seemed to be getting. He was just starting to come to that age, but as far as Rosa could tell, Val was keeping enough of a distance. Rosa also got the sense that Val was really only focusing on him out of a sense of guilt about the death of his father in getting her to safety. She decided not to say anything, but continued to keep a close eye on them both.

It was much the same for the rest of their trek. Several hours of walking through a beautiful lavender landscape followed by camping under the picturesque sky and deep red background. Despite being such a long trek, the group found it to be one of the most relaxing and refreshing things they had done in recent memory. The group joked that they were going to be sad when they finally reached the city, but as they came up over a hill to first set eyes on their ultimate destination, the group felt a range of emotions. Sorrow wasn't one of them.

By the time they had arrived, Noctia had already set, but the atmosphere beyond the edge of the jungle was alight by the massive city that stretched across the entire horizon in front of them. On the ground, still bustling vehicles, buildings and streetlights appeared like the embers of a massive, colorful fire. To Rosa and Miguel, the sight brought on a feeling of dread. They had never seen so many people in one place at a time, and in their experience, 'more people' meant 'more people that would wish them harm.' Luci had a similar feeling. To her, the city was another kind of jungle, made of glass and plasteel, but as opposed to their leisurely jaunt, there would be threats around every corner, and these threats were capable of thinking and planning, and were subject to unpredictable emotions.

Val was excited for the endless opportunities that lay before her.