Stealing a spaceship turned out to be easier than expected.
Getting off Earth? That was harder.
The launch deck at the outskirts of New Gaia had been mothballed for over a decade—until EdenCorp repurposed it as a security hub. Now it housed patrol drones, retired orbital shuttles, and a single fully functional long-range vessel capable of deep-space travel: the Argosy Vega.
Sleek. Silent. Buried beneath five layers of lockdown.
"That's the one," Nova said, pointing from their perch atop a service tower, peering through a cracked pair of magnoculars. "Fusion-capable, sublight engines, onboard AI core, modular quantum nav. We're not just stealing a ship. We're stealing their ship."
Elara stared at it with something that felt like awe. "Kaia's been here before."
"Yeah," Kaia added. "That's my signature on the flight AI. Her name is Solace."
Eliot frowned. "Wait, the ship has an AI?"
"A very advanced one," Elara replied. "She's not just a program. She's… well. Let's say she has opinions."
Nova grinned. "Fantastic. The last thing I want is a judgmental toaster while I'm trying not to die in space."
They slipped through the perimeter under cover of darkness. The plan was tight: override the lockdown protocols, power up Solace, and launch before the patrol drones caught on. Everything had to go right.
Naturally, it didn't.
The first alarm tripped thirty seconds after Nova started hacking the outer gate.
"Someone changed the encryption since the last time I was here," she growled, fingers flying across her datapad. "Stupid paranoid billionaires."
Eliot kept watch at the corridor's edge, pistol drawn. "We've got five minutes, tops."
Inside the ship, Elara moved like she belonged there. The command interface lit up at her touch. Lights flickered, engines hummed, and the air filtration system coughed to life.
Then a voice—calm, British, and unmistakably irritated—spoke from the control console.
"Identify yourself. You are not authorized to operate this vessel."
Elara leaned forward. "Solace. It's me."
A pause. Then—
"Elara? Kaia? You're… fused."
"We need your help."
Another pause. Longer this time.
Then the lights brightened.
"Welcome back, Kaia. I see your taste in companions remains questionable."
Nova popped into the cockpit. "Hey."
"Exception noted. She's amusing."
Elara smiled. "Solace, prep for launch. We're leaving orbit."
"That would be inadvisable. The flight path you uploaded leads into uncharted space, with insufficient navigational data. Also, you're currently in violation of twenty-seven EdenCorp airspace directives."
"Then it's a good thing we're not asking for permission."
The engines roared.
Eliot shouted from the corridor. "Company!"
Drones descended from the catwalks—sleek, silent, and very armed.
"Time to go!" Nova yelled, slamming the hatch shut and bolting into the co-pilot seat.
Elara gave Solace the nod.
The Argosy Vega lifted off like a whisper, then exploded through the launch hangar doors in a flash of white fire.
Drones gave chase, but Solace was faster.
"Deploying countermeasures," she said dryly. "I do hope you packed snacks."
The stars opened up around them.
Outside the viewport, Earth curved away into the distance. A blue memory. A goodbye.
Eliot stood in the center of the cockpit, wide-eyed. "We're actually doing this."
Elara adjusted the controls. "Solace, lock onto the coordinates Kaia extracted."
"Coordinates confirmed," the AI said. "Engaging sublight engines. Estimated travel time: forty-one days."
"Can you cut that?" Nova asked.
"I can," Solace replied. "But you might liquefy."
"Noted."
The crew settled into the ship's cozy quarters. The Vega was built for a team of six—plenty of room for three humans and a ghost in the code. Each berth was clean, minimal, with just enough personality to remind them that someone had once dreamed of long voyages.
Elara sat in the observation deck that night, watching the stars stream past like scattered sparks on a tide.
Eliot joined her.
"You good?"
"I'm not sure what 'good' means anymore," she said. "But I'm… here."
He sat beside her, their knees brushing.
"You think this source—whatever it is—will answer our questions?"
Elara shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe it'll ask better ones."
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
And stars.
On day four, they hit a ripple.
Not turbulence—there's no such thing in vacuum—but a distortion. Space itself flexed.
Solace dropped them out of sublight immediately.
"What was that?" Nova asked, checking the sensors.
"A gravitational anomaly," Solace said. "Localized. It wasn't on the charts."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "It's a beacon."
Kaia's voice stirred softly: "They're testing us. Watching."
Eliot looked to the front viewport—and gasped.
A shape drifted just outside their range.
Not a ship.
A construct. Or a vessel long dead.
Its hull was smooth, dark, organic. It pulsed faintly, as if alive.
"No human made that," Nova whispered.
Elara reached for the scanner.
Solace snapped, "I highly recommend we do not approach that object."
"We don't have a choice," Elara said. "It's part of the path."
The ship crept closer.
The alien structure hung like a shadow against the stars, utterly still.
Then—
It lit up.
A pattern of lights. Not random. Deliberate. A sequence.
Solace decoded it instantly.
"It's a message," she said. "Two words."
Nova stared. "What words?"
Solace hesitated.
"Welcome back."
They all went still.
Kaia's voice emerged, hushed: "They remember me."
Elara reached out toward the structure, her hand pressed to the glass.
The lights faded.
And the structure powered down—like it had completed its task.
Then drifted off into the void.
Back on course, the silence felt heavier.
Eliot paced the bridge. "That thing was waiting for us."
Elara nodded. "And that's what scares me most. They're not chasing us. They're expecting us."
Nova raised an eyebrow. "So what do we do?"
"We go anyway," Elara said. "Because if they know us—if they remember Kaia—then maybe they can tell us what this all means."
"And if they don't?"
Elara looked at her, calm and certain.
"Then we find out what we mean."
Outside, the stars kept burning.
And the Argosy Vega carried them deeper into the dark.