Sleep. Deep and uninterrupted. If I had dreams, they were of no portent. When had I last had such a rest? I could not remember.

  I woke to the quiet, steady hum of the medical room and the soft glow of the night cycle lights. My body felt lighter, almost floating. The neck brace was gone, and though my temple still throbbed the pain had receded to a dull ache. I sat up slowly, testing each movement. My muscles protested but obeyed.

  "Shade." Redd came to life and emerged from its service alcove. "I serve."

  "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

  "Eleven hours and seventeen minutes," it replied. "Your vital signs have stabilized. Neural scans show no permanent damage."

  I felt my head, where Rashala had hit me, then ran my hands over my bare face.

  "Would you like an update on the state of the voidhold?" Redd asked.

  "Uh, yes."

  "Commander Sentix is in his quarters. Your family departed with the delegation," Redd stated. "Without humans to authorize protocols, several systems are in standby mode, including atmospheric filtration, backup power allocation, and hull integrity monitoring."

  "Are those critical?" I asked, rising bolt upright.

  "Not yet. They can wait." Redd extended an appendage and laid it on my arm. "As previously reported, navigation control has been transferred to Voidhold Two. We are currently maintaining a course that mirrors theirs, approximately 700 kilometers behind their position."

  "I see. What about Commander Sentix?"

  "The commander is asleep in quarters," Redd said. "Brons remains with him."

  "So he's...I mean, is he frozen?"

  "He is not in stasis," Redd said. "It is normal sleep." Its appendage moved to cradle my lower arm. "Would you like to get up? Movement aids recovery."

  I nodded, exhaled slowly, then swung my legs over the edge of the medical couch. The floor felt cold against my bare feet. Redd helped me to stand. My flight suit from Chio, once so sleek and impressive, now hung stiff with dried blood and sweat.

  "I need to change," I said, looking down at the crusted fabric.

  "Yes. I anticipated this need." Redd gestured toward a small storage unit by the wall. "Clean attire has been prepared. I am not adept at styling, so I selected the default outfit. Please inform me if it isn't to your liking. I shall now give you privacy."

  I smiled as I watched it leave the room. Someone long ago must have told the functionaries that we needed privacy and they had never forgotten.

  After the door had slid shut behind it, I approached the storage unit. Inside lay folded clothing: a simple gray jumpsuit. Not the fine garments Mother selected, nor the fitted flight suit from Two, but something utilitarian. Functional. It looked familiar, like something Father had once worn.

  I shed the stained flight suit and put on the gray jumpsuit. It was soft against my skin and fit loosely around my shoulders, draping rather than clinging. Raising myself to my tiptoes, I stretched my arms out to the side to feel its weight.

  It felt nice.

  "You can come in now," I called.

  The door slid open and Redd's head peeked inside. "Are you happy with my default choice?" it asked.

  "Yes, you chose well." I pointed to the bloodied flight suit on the couch. "Please have that cleaned. I wouldn't want to lose it."

  "I understand," said Redd. "I shall ask Gren to see to it."

  "Good." I considered for a moment. "I'd like to walk around now. On my own." When Redd didn't answer, a thread of worry started to squirm in my gut. "Is that allowed?" I asked.

  "Of course," it said. "That is your prerogative. Your previous restrictions elapsed when Lady Mira left the voidhold."

  "Oh." I looked at the open door. "So I can go anywhere I like?"

  "Yes, although I advise against entering the deeper sections without functionary company. There are hazardous areas for which you have not received the proper training. Would you like to receive this training now?"

  "No, thank you, but maybe later." I headed for the door, then paused. "Can you tell Magent that it should come and find me when it needs a human-present?"

  "Of course."

  I drifted through the corridors, my stride strangely languid. Without a functionary gripping my arm, without a web of protocols and permissions binding my movements, a strange lightness filled me. I let my fingers brush the wall, feeling the voidhold's subtle pulse. At each junction I paused, gazing down unexplored paths that had always been forbidden. I studied doors, deciphering their markings, wondering what secrets they guarded. I watched the winking of the status panels as they flashed cryptic messages.

  My wandering led me to the Garden Room. The door hissed open, releasing a rush of humid air laden with organic scents. Lights bathed the hydroponic arrays, making the green things glow. Turq's angular head emerged from between hanging vines.

  "Shade," it chirped. "Your welcome presence is unexpected at this time."

  "I needed a sanctuary," I replied, stepping deeper into the jungle of machinery and life.

  Lights rippled down Turq's neck components. "Then I will delay the mulching sequence."

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  "No, don't." I stumbled over the words. "Your work shouldn't stop because I'm here."

  "The grinding mechanisms generate acoustic disturbance. It is not a problem. Please come here." It swiveled and began pulling objects out from a space beneath a hydroponic bed. With a few clicks and adjustments, it had built a small bench between two columns dripping with vegetation.

  "Your sanctuary is ready."

  I lowered myself onto the makeshift seat, letting my eyes close as I breathed in the living air. My fingers found a small leaf from a nearby plant. I placed it on my tongue, unprepared for the sharp, bitter explosion that followed. So different from our nutrition cubes. Real and wild.

  "That specimen is non-toxic, yet it provides insufficient caloric value," Turq observed, head tilting. "Would more substantial sustenance be preferable?"

  "Yes," I said, the answer surprising me. "I believe it would."

  "I shall notify Magent."

  I drew my legs up onto the bench, watching the play of light as the garden's soft lighting cast dappled shadows across the floor. The patches moved as the air currents made the plants sway.

  Soon Magent arrived with a tray bearing simple food: a portion of nutrition cubes and water. I had barely taken my first bite when Turq approached, extending its hand. A small red sphere rested in its palm.

  "What is this?" I asked.

  "A berry."

  "What do I do with it?"

  "You may eat it. It is also non-toxic."

  Eat it? I lifted the mysterious orb, turning it in the light. Its shiny skin glowed crimson, stretched taut over plump flesh. I placed it in my mouth and bit down. Sweetness exploded across my tongue, followed by a tartness that made my eyes widen.

  "What is this?"

  "The flavor is complex," Turq offered. "We have been developing these plants from genetic material in the archived samples from Voidhold Three. Would you like another one?"

  "Yes." I had never wanted anything more than this.

  "Are you certain? You seem to be having an unexpected emotional reaction."

  "What?"

  It pointed at my face. "Your lacrimal glands are activating."

  "What?" I touched my face, surprised to find wetness streaming down my cheeks. I brushed the tears away with a laugh. "It's a good malfunction, Turq. In fact, I need more berries to stabilize my neural pathways."

  "I understand," it said before retreating into the verdant depths of the garden.

  The ghostly taste of tart sweetness still in my mouth. The luxury of stillness. Of simply being. The air on my skin, cool and unfiltered.

  Turq returned with seven more berries. I ate each one slowly, pairing it with a nutrition cube to try and let the flavor melt into the jelly.

  "Shade," Turq said after I'd swallowed the last morsel. "Have you completed your consumption cycle?"

  "Yes."

  "Commander Sentix has awakened. He requires human presence."

  I nodded, licking the last of the berry fluid from my fingers. "I'll go. Please tell Redd to meet me outside his quarters."

  ?

  Sentix sat motionless by the viewport, a twisted silhouette stark against Mosogon's skies. He didn't acknowledge my entrance, keeping his eyes fixed on the storms outside.

  "Commander," I said, stepping over the threshold.

  "Ah," he sighed. "Come to fulfill your promise, little shadow?"

  "Yes," I replied, moving to stand beside him.

  "About damned time."

  He turned towards me and I was struck by his weariness. His unending scream was now silent, but it had etched deep groves in his skin. He knew things, deep haunting things, and I had questions for him. Their weight burned in my chest, alongside the pocket that held the spray-syringe Redd had given me.

  "I would like to know something first," I said.

  He barked a laugh, harsh and hollow. "More demands? You're a greedy little thing, aren't you?" He shook his head, disgust clouding his eyes. "Well then, spit it out."

  "Tell me about Voidhold One." I went closer to him, close enough to see my bare face reflected in the viewport alongside his. "If I'm going to be the last person to hear your story, I want to understand what I'm ending."

  "Why? Planning some kind of reunion?" He opened his mouth to laugh wetly. "You know that it would be the end of everything, don't you? The voidholds and of the billions inhabitants of the system out there..." He placed his palm on the viewport. "All gone."

  "I just want to know. Where did they go? What really happened to them?"

  "Persea..." The loose skin of his forehead crinkled as he mentioned her name. "She took Voidhold One where no one can follow." He lightly tapped the viewport. "It had been given a special hull, you see, one that let it go deep. Down into the crushing darkness, skirting the gradients right above where pressure turns metal to dust."

  "Why?"

  "To hide," he said, "and listen."

  "Listen to what?"

  His bloodshot eyes slid to mine, his intelligence cutting through their filmy surface. "What do you hear when you look outside, Shade?"

  I turned to the viewport, watching the currents weave through the violet and indigo clouds. They were intensely familiar—all my life, I'd stared at them while waiting for instructions, for someone to tell me what to do next. But they were silent.

  "Nothing," I said. "I don't hear anything."

  "Ah..." He nodded. "And there's the difference between us. Perhaps one day, you'll hear what I have heard."

  A realization struck me suddenly. "Commander Persea took One deep, but you tried to take Zero high. Why?"

  "Yes." A grotesque grin spread. "There are only two ways to escape. Go deeper than they can follow, or higher than they think possible."

  "Who were you trying to escape?"

  He gave a harsh bark of a laugh that dissolved into coughing. When he recovered, he leaned forward, putting his face inches from mine. "Those who built this prison. Those who watch from above. Those who ."

  "Feed on what?" I asked.

  His eyes gleamed with dark amusement. I waited, but he just kept grinning, enjoying my confusion, savoring this moment of power as the last person who knew what lurked in Mosogon's depths.

  I tried a different approach. "You tried to escape because you learned something from Persea."

  He nodded slowly, his gaze drifting back to the viewport.

  "What she showed me..." His voice faltered, then hardened. "After I saw what Persea discovered, I tried to get us out, tried to prevent the deadly flower." His head sank against his chest. "I failed. And now, please fulfil your promise."

  "Yes." I reached into my pocket for the spray-syringe. "Your time has come."

  Sentix didn't resist as I rolled back his sleeve. His eyes drifted back to the storms outside, a strange peace settling over him. I pressed the button on the spray-syringe.

  "I sent it out," he murmured as the drug began to take effect. "At our highest point. An emissary cast from the void."

  His breathing slowed, muscles relaxing for perhaps the first time in a century.

  "They'll find it someday," he whispered, words slurring as consciousness began to slip away. His eyes fluttered closed. "Profundis cognita..."

  I stood watching him for a long moment. His face, once twisted in a century-long scream, now showed an almost childlike peace. Even failed saviors deserve rest, I thought.

  "Redd?" I called to the functionary waiting in the doorway.

  "I serve." It glided forward, scanners already assessing the commander's state.

  "Is he...?"

  "He is in deep sedation," Redd confirmed. "Neural activity at minimum threshold. Where should the cryo unit be installed?"

  I looked around the quarters. Typical Zero design: luminous white surfaces with embedded light panels that gave everything a ghostly glow; a sleep platform rising from the floor in one continuous piece; nothing on the walls, indeed nothing to suggest this space belonged to anyone. Sterile and impersonal, like everything else on my voidhold.

  "Here. He should stay here."

  "I understand."

  "Redd, he must have absolutely no awareness in stasis," I said firmly. "None whatsoever. Not a single flicker of consciousness. He spent a century in partial awareness. I will not have it happen again."

  Redd's sensors flickered. "I can implement total neural suppression. He will experience nothing, not even dreams. Complete mental void until revival."

  "Are you certain?"

  "Yes. His mind will be fully suspended. Time will not exist for him."

  I nodded. "And Vilett should remain here. Always. To ensure that the systems never falter."

  "I understand."

  I looked down at Sentix one last time. The man who had killed his crew to save us from a truth I still didn't fully comprehend.

  "Sleep well, Commander," I said. "Until we need your answers again."