Our circumstances had shifted in the blink of an eye, as I listened to our internal chatter for any hope that humanity might not be a doomed race. I’d seen the camera drone go through the portal faster than light, and I knew what the results would be. My hands lifted away from the steering column, before I floated like I was in a dream. Let Larimak’s ships gun me down; there was no point in living for a small military base in a universe we didn’t belong to. I remained slumped over, weeping for the dimension that had been annihilated due to our failure now.

  Mikri took control of my spaceship, turning the nose back toward the base. Of course, the damn robot wouldn’t even let me die! He’d “keep me alive forever.” Goodie. I knew there was a standard-issue sidearm stashed in the console, and there was nothing the Vascar could do to stop me from turning it on myself. I thought long and hard about pulling it out. The words that Capal had prophesied echoed through the radio, confirming what I already realized.

  “All data reports that an object passed into the Gap at faster-than-light speeds,” an officer said in a rote voice, sounding as robotic as Mikri—perhaps stunlocked by the gravity of this all. “Sol is destroyed. The slightest collision over there…it’s gone.”

  “We’ve lost everything. There’s no dimension to go back to,” another voice choked out in horror. “Sol erased? The end of humanity? We’re going to go scorched earth on these motherfuckers! Burn them! With our last breath, let them see the fires of hell rain on their heads.”

  A third voice was quiet, sniffling. “May God have mercy on our souls. Earth meant everything. No more Sol materials to tap into, no more civilians or logistical support…”

  “Send something through the fucking Gap! Make sure that we’re not wrong about Sol’s downfall. We must maintain order in our ranks, to mete out as much damage as possible,” a final human spat.

  Not even the most disciplined military crew would keep order as the last survivors of mankind, in an alien dimension. It’ll just be some bloody rampage of revenge, like Mikri’s people did against the creators, killing indiscriminately. That’s not a reason to stick around.

  I wanted Larimak to pay for this as much as the next guy, but the grief I felt was a million times more overwhelming. There had been time that I wasted getting out of the hangar bay, and more time that was squandered figuring out my precognition. Fuck, my stalling out of nervousness to speak to Capal cost us warning time! Had I not dragged my feet, the prisoner would’ve given us the information sooner, and we could’ve been ready for Larimak’s invasion. We could’ve stopped it, if Command was expecting him. I killed Sol.

  “Preston?” Mikri screeched, as I pulled out the handgun with shaking hands. “There are no hostiles to shoot. I have concluded that you wish to…cause yourself to leak fluid. I’m sorry that I was useless, that I couldn’t make the ships faster, that I couldn’t give good enough advice on how to protect Sol! I’m sorry that I asked you to help us, which resulted in this event. I know this is my fault.”

  I gave a delirious smile, waving the handgun around with reckless motions. “It wasn’t your fault, Mikri. It was mine. I was a liability to humanity, you know. They’re all dead now! I think I’ll join them. I don’t want to survive like this, no sirree.”

  “Please, do not do this. A machine’s wishes must matter little at such a time, but…Sofia needs you. She asked you to turn around and come home, so…not all of humanity is dead! Listen to me. It is not prudent to make irreversible decisions while upset and irrational!”

  I nodded, unclicking the safety. “You weren’t useless, Mikri. You were a good friend. I loved you more than any companion I ever had, and know that I’m…sorry that this will hurt you. I am very sorry. If it’s any consolation, like you said, it was going to happen eventually anyway. Start a new life, with your own art and book clubs and—don’t remember me like this. Remember harmonicas on the beach.”

  “I cannot forget anything. It is not in my capacity.” Mikri was speaking rapidly, as the majority of the human fleet zipped in on Larimak with a newfound fury. “Just answer me one question! Have you considered that we are missing one of the occurrences that Capal spoke of?”

  I hesitated, blinking my eyes open; it was hard to think through a soul-grinding despair. “What?”

  “The human commanders expressing that Sol is destroyed has already happened, but there have not been messages from Sol about the barrier lighting up with negative energy. Logically, these are communications from Sol that have not yet happened. This would imply the dimension’s continued existence in the future, and that Capal may have confused the order of events.”

  Sofia’s voice cut into the feed, sounding hopeful all of a sudden. “You’re right, Mikri! Sol might not be dead.”

  “That makes enough sense,” I agreed, lowering my pistol. “We thought the Elusians were going to attack us, but…”

  “Maybe they acted to save us, Preston. Why did we think them sinister, when they were never hostile toward us? The Elusians didn’t make it impossible to leave, and they could have. Shit, I need to weigh the possibilities. Don’t you dare do anything stupid, Y-Chromosome, when that’s still a real possibility! I’ll reach through the console and smack you.”

  “Fine. How long do we need to wait to hear from Sol?”

  “Solside, the Gap’s data monitoring station is a few light-minutes away. If they’re still there and Capal’s predictions were all right, they will send a message any moment now.”

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  “Know that I am here with you all, as long as I am needed,” Mikri stated. “I will do anything to provide comfort and elevate your neurological state. I will sing songs of the fabled Vascar boyband, and gaslight you comfortingly into believing this never happened if necessary. You would not want to leave this existence without hearing me sing, correct?”

  I couldn’t bring myself to smile, regardless of how hard the robot was trying. “Later, I guess. Write me a love song to croon…if, and only if, Sol survives.”

  The spark of hope had affixed itself to my brain, as I knew damn well that Sofia, Mikri, and Capal were all leagues above my intellect; what they said about the negative energy flash was logical, since it’d yet to come to pass. There was no telling if that barrier lighting up wasn’t part of harming our dimension, just starting a chain reaction that led to its destruction. Either way, a message from Sol meant there’d be at least one final transmission I could hear from the rest of humanity. It would be my way of saying goodbye, at least.

  Under normal circumstances, I’d be ecstatic about willing boyband Mikri into existence. I know the poor tin can would be devastated, but I…I need my people to go on. Period.

  “Your biological skin, Tissue that holds blood within,” Mikri wailed in an off-key tune, that sounded like a damn waltz song. “You’re goofy and eat all the time, I want you to know that you’re mine. Hear Preston, I’m using my voice, stay, stay, you have no choice—”

  “And this song is canceled,” I sighed. “I told you, not unless Sol survives.”

  “Yes, I know. Your qualifier has been fulfilled. Listen.”

  I tilted my head, honing in on every word as Mikri played the first of messages from Sol. “Caelum, we’re getting strange activity spikes from the Sol barrier. Massive discharges of what appears to be negative energy, lighting up everywhere with staggering readings. We’re wondering if you’ve any idea what’s caused this.”

  “The barrier around Sol isn’t to keep humans in,” Capal chattered over the radio. “It’s to keep objects out. None of the ESU transmissions detected any object emerge from The Gap, so the camera drone didn’t make it through at all. The wall was triggered and prevented it from passing through.”

  Sofia’s relief was evident in her voice. “The Elusians saved us. They were never imprisoning us, Capal. They knew the danger of objects coming through their portals, from any party, so they wanted to protect us. A sealed bubble was the only way. Just look, the border’s discharge didn’t harm us at all.”

  “I don’t understand though. The Elusians do not involve themselves, and are largely indifferent to the happenings in the galaxy, so long as you bend a knee and don’t get in their way. Why take such a special interest in you? I know their research is heavily invested in mapping out all dimensions and enhancing their travel capabilities. They must have some end goal, beyond just your harsh physics.”

  “I see everything, everything! The gray aliens only prohibit travel because it drives organics insane, but it doesn’t for us. We can pass through The Gap. Maybe they’d want our help with that, or even welcome us. It’s always been an assumption that the Elusians didn’t wish for us to leave, that they wanted to keep us contained. We just watched them negate Larimak’s particle, like our guardian angels. We have to talk to them—to thank them for what they’ve done!”

  I tucked the gun away, pursing my lips. “So humanity is really okay? The Elusians had protections by The Gap all along? I’m beyond grateful. I don’t know how any of us could’ve gone on without Sol.”

  “You may not be morose anymore, Preston,” Mikri said sternly. “Larimak’s master plan failed.”

  “Just like his viagra. That prick needs to pay for everything, like we said. Give me back control of the ship.”

  “No. You are in no condition to fight, and were not cleared to fly by the ESU. Your interference is unnecessary; the others have got him. It’s over. This was his…one play, as you would put it in sports’ terminology.”

  “His Hail Mary, and now he has nothing! All of that gloating, just to have performance issues at the big moment. You know what he tried, though, and it makes me pretty fucking angry. We have to get Larimak, Mikri.”

  “His own crew appears to be revolting, a mutiny on a capital ship, after catching the civilian transmissions that Sol deflected the camera drone. The prince seems to have convinced them that you were a threat to conquer the whole dimension alongside us, and that you could be stopped through sacrifice. Now, they are getting slaughtered for nothing, which they find to be an unacceptable outcome.”

  I switched over to a feed Mikri had received, grinning as I saw the Asscar ships begin to flee; some began to behave erratically, due to internal fighting over the controls. My eyes zeroed in on the highlighted vessel watching from afar, which jettisoned some kind of escape shuttle that zipped away. I wasn’t a rocket scientist like some people I knew, but it checked out that Larimak was trying to get away from the mutiny. We couldn’t let him escape. He was hanging way back, so there was no way for our ships to chase him!

  Further confirming the idea that the prince had departed, every hostile ship tried to flee or surrender, though many humans weren’t feeling too merciful; they’d all been party to the plot to destroy our entire universe. My features contorted into a mask of fury, wanting nothing more than to use Larimak’s decapitated head as a urinal. I hated that alien despot so much, after everything he’d done to me. I’d sleep better at night knowing he wasn’t out there.

  “Larimak fled from his own ship. He’s lost the support even of his own military,” Mikri remarked. “I do not know how humans will track him down, but it would seem the war is over after this defeat. The Vascar network owes you immense gratitude for destroying the forces of our enemy, and ensuring that our species may continue…on our home. Few organics would agree that we have a right to Kalka, but I think you would.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, trying to focus on the relief that the war was over—not that Larimak escaped scot-free. “Of course you do, Mikri. It’s the planet where you popped out a conveyor belt in all of your shapely beauty. What’s home, if not that?”

  “I do not know. I am hopeful that we can know peace, and be allowed our existence now. This will be humanity’s second-greatest gift, only behind your friendship. With Sol’s survival, my disposition is characterized by the utmost happiness that your species will be a part of my future. That I will not lose you.”

  I nodded to his words, and tried to take the victory lap, in spite of my disappointment at Larimak’s getaway. Humanity had triumphed in our first (and hopefully final) Caelum war, and we might be able to enjoy a peace as well, now that it seemed the Elusians weren’t a hostile party to take on. Our tasks would be to orchestrate the Vascar’s coexistence with other organics, and to situate ourselves on this side of The Gap. At face value, it seemed like a happy ending: open and closed, book shut.

  Yet something, perhaps a precognitive whisper, told me that this success was only the beginning of humanity’s journey as the new interdimensional power on the block.