"What did they say about the strange readings?" Nova asked as they waited for the lift to the reactor facilities. "I'm assuming they shut down the substation entrances in the other parts of the station to prevent that monster from getting to the cores?" The ideal process... but with this, I don't know anymore. I don't know anything. Her mind filled with every little thing that could go wrong, but her short-lived relief filled her with the strength to go forward when none of them made the same morbid jokes from before.

"Aggressive anomaly," Neo corrected.

Nova sighed at Neo's insistence at the respectful reverence for something that wanted to kill him previously — he never called anything monstrous. Just different. Something to understand and unravel the mystery. Thuni pursed his lips at the holomap when he tapped it. "Whatever you want to call it, Teimea. If it gets to the core, we're — sad to say this — fucked." Thuni pushed an infopod in her hands. "Here's the failsafe in case this situation goes ten units under like I expect it to."

Nova nodded then poked Neo. "You let us handle the core. You figure out what went wrong at the control room, and if you're up there you can keep an eye on everything for us. We'll patch it in and they can get coordinates into the warp drive."

"I can do that." Neo toyed with his anomaly suppressor. "They want to send out a distress signal."

But if this is the fate the D.S Butterfly went... even if we send a distress signal, they'll never find us. "If all goes well, we won't need to go to the lower levels of the reactor. We'd have to take a lift and that'd take too much time. There should be override terminals around the main reactor," she explained, more for herself, to keep her knowledge of space station cores from school in her reach. "As long as we have access to the mainframe... it's better than nothing."

Better than another repeat.

Hope built of cautious sand filled her veins as the four of them stepped into the lift to go down, deeper into the belly of the space station. If they blocked the rest of the way to the lower parts of the space station... that monster might not... reach us. Her heart knew the truth. It could be anywhere, everywhere, all at once. A black hole undeterred by the space around it, sucking the light, feeding on life. No. I have to believe this will be different. In the last two loops, I never got the chance to go here. Maybe I can take direct action here.

"What do they think happened to the workers down here?" Thuni questioned.

"Oh." Neo jolted. "We don't know."

Thuni closed his eyes and his brow folded.

"Anything at all?" Nova pressed.

"There was just a surge of anomalous readings," Neo replied with a small shrug. "Why do you think I brought this?" He motioned to the suppressor hidden in his lab coat. "As long as you three get the reactor overridden, I'll do what I can from the control room."

The lift slowed.

Thuni and Ulin went forward, but Nova hung back with Neo. Her hand reached across space and time to wrap her fingers around his free hand. How many times must I do this? What do I have to do to save you?

It opened to an observation deck. Massive pillars of energy fed into the subcores, leading into the reactor in the center, where it sent pulsing waves into the lower bowels, then into the subcores. Her ears thrummed with the deep roar of its energy. Thuni nudged them to the smaller lift, and slipped his keypass into the terminal.

"I don't see anyone," Ulin said. "There should be people here."

Catwalks wound around the subcores at a comfortable distance to prevent hazardous energy from striking anyone who worked at them, each with their own terminal. Pipes ran underneath the catwalks, running down servers into the unseen abyss below it.

Nova swallowed on the emptiness in Ulin's observation. There should always be someone watching this core. Where is everyone? Though she eyed Neo for an answer, he appeared to not have one from his confused expression. "Maybe something came down here and they're hiding?"

"We'll find out. Teimea," Thuni said when the lift clunked and the grate opened. "Across from us is an elevator into the control room — unless you want to squeeze through the maintenance entrance."

"I'll figure it out when I get to that." Neo rushed over the catwalk. "I'll get in contact with you three soon, once I've figured out what happened to the people down here."

"Just—" Nova bit on her tongue before Neo ran. "Be careful."

Neo nodded, and left them at the platform.

"I'll take the eastern one," Thuni said as Neo went out of sight on the other side. "Ulin, take the core to the west. Use the modules to create a safezone from any surges." He went quiet when the lights along the walls shuddered in the dark. "We're running out of time. Nova, you can go to the core nearest the control room. We need to keep the substations afloat."

"Works for me." As long as I can get to work. As long as I can see the effect of my actions... Don't think about anything else. Focus on this. If the bridge got hit like all the other times... I can save Izerva and Admiral Mythrai from what awaits them in the north station. Lights up. Nova hissed the last of her thoughts through her teeth before bolting and leaving Thuni and Ulin to their cores. I need to trust Neo to take care of himself... for just a little bit. Still, it nagged her into contacting him. "You hear me, Neo?"

"Yep."

"I hear you two," Thuni replied.

"All clear," came Ulin. "Let's get started."

Maybe... I can change things.

Nova slipped her pass into the terminal attached to the northern core, keeping her eyes from looking too long in the spiral of pulsing of energy, and waited for the acceptance of her access. "Neo, what's going on in the control room?"

"Uh..." He went silent. "Nothing."

"What?" Thuni demanded.

"Nothing," Neo insisted in her ear as she punched into the manual controls to check the power levels. "There's no one here. I mean... I guess it looks like they left in a hurry, but... Where would they go? We closed off the reactor lifts to the other substations so I don't understand how they disappeared."

"Let's worry about that later," Nova instructed. "Neo, is the control room getting our access points?"

"Yeah, but... Nova, it's saying something about the 'hydraulic pressure' on the lower levels."

Nova scrunched her brow. "Huh?"

"Fuck... that'll probably be the water coolants." Thuni sighed. "We can depressurize them from here."

"It also says there's a breach."

"Okay, so it's also wet down there."

"Are we going to get flooded?" Nova asked and moved tabs out of her way to confirm Neo's words. The energy output on her core strained under the pressure without a safety net in the hydraulic coolants. It created a scattered shockwave on the system, and she readied the auxiliary mode.

"I doubt it," Thuni said. "This space station will just regulate itself and close off anything it needs to. If we have to go down there, I hope you guys have boots. Teimea, we need you on the main terminal. We have to worry about the disappeared engineers after."

"But—there's something weird going on," Neo insisted. "They can't have just disappeared into thin air, they have to be somewhere. Maybe they're working on the coolants? We should let them know—"

"Strained reactor first. If they are down there, they'll get the alert and adapt accordingly. We don't want this thing getting overcharged, or else we'll have bigger problems."

Neo sighed in her ear. "Okay."

"I'll tell you what to do," Nova assured him in his huffy silence. "It won't require anything substantial. We can do everything from here."

"Then... I'll start the sequence when you three are ready... just tell me what to do so I don't fuck something up."

"You'll be fine." Nova drew her fingers across the screen. "So, the terminal will give you instructions when we start the override sequence. You'll accept our codes and undock the coils one by one."

"Unless something happens topside that we're not braced for," Thuni mumbled.

Nova clicked the flashing red button on hers, ignoring the cautionary warnings as her coil lit up and fed power into the smaller cores around it. Each one hissed out a wave of steam from their opened hatches. Electricity shuddered off them, and a clunk reverberated in lower engineering. If they are down there, they'll have heard that. Nova shuffled to the closed auxiliary panel. "Coils unlocked, Neo?"

"I hear you."

"On the screen you should have an option to unlock the auxiliary mode," she instructed. "It should be a large 'AUX' on the side of the screen. I want you to choose all the cores, then switch them to full manual mode." Nova waited, then smiled when the auxiliary panel slid open with a flash of light. "You got it." Nova read the dials, then made the incremental steps to lessen the load on the main reactor. It purred in readiness, and she tugged on the revealed lever. It clanked in her ears, and she smiled when the coils whispered with energy.

"I'm done!" Ulin said.

"Over here as well, good job," Thuni said. "Teimea."

"Energy levels are stable and all modules are now auxiliary."

Nova tugged the final dial, and closed the panel. It surged into the coils, and with another hiss, they went back into their hatches. "I'm done here," she said, tasting her working satisfaction on her tongue. "On the mainframe there should be two options. Input and output. I want you to click the output first, and then enter the failsafes." In her element, she slipped into the rhythm of her dreams. "Once you've done that, you can switch back to input. You will then click override once the cores respond. That will send the signal up to central command. You understand."

"I think so..."

Nova entered her shard of the failsafe as the coils descended into their docks.

"Um," Neo whimpered in panic. "Nova, it's saying there's an error in the jump module." He took in a shaky breath. "I think I did it right—but maybe I didn't hear you correctly—"

"It's alright, Neo, just breathe. You didn't do anything wrong. Everything on our end looks good. They must be attempting to ready the emergency warp... um..." Nova snapped her fingers. "Tell me the siphon levels."

"Is something going on up there?" Thuni questioned. "They're going to overload the cores if we do that."

Nova shrugged and gave up on the variables for the action in front of her. "Neo? Siphon levels?" The terminal fritzed, and she frowned. "Neo?

"Hold on."

Nova frowned when her subcore shuddered. It released a large metallic groan, and she flinched when the bowels went black. Into eerie, clanking silence. "Thuni, Ulin?"

"We're fine. Terminals shut down."

Nova took her own words to heart. Breathe. A countdown clicked in the back of her mind. Closer to the truth. One action to shatter the loop. "Neo, I need you to talk to me."

"There's something going on in the southern sector. I'm picking up... movement?"

Might be the other engineers. Nova went to turn from her terminal, but stopped at the crimson spark in the coils.

"WARNING! CORE OVERSURGE DETECTED!"

"Shit!" Nova rushed over to correct her mistakes.

"Nova, there's something—"

He glitched out.

Nova opened the auxiliary panel, whipping out her sturdy gloves to slip her hands inside, to delve deeper past the dials. Her finger found the knob, and she opened it to reveal several smaller instruments as they cracked and glitched. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Footsteps stumbled closer to her.

"Can you help—"

Red eyes of a human shape.

Nova screeched when it grabbed her. Fingers dug into her shoulders as she tried to squirm out of the grip of the empty engineer. Black irides expanded into blood to slip down their face. Her mind screamed for release from the unending pressure in the reactor. Screaming. Endless. A distant beacon made out of her voice. Mouth agape, they clawed at her, dragging her to the edge when the core went red-hot into its own scream.

Grey.

It flashed and sparked along the room, where all the noise died into the constant streams of her pain when it tossed her into the terminal, and the screen broke. Her last wish for things to go right. It dug deeper, and she tried to fumble for her blaster — to protect herself.

No matter what.

Another shape rushed closer.

White arcs slipped from the suppressor when Neo slammed it into the back of their neck, and the pupils thinned with a distant screech. The engineer whipped around to smash his fist into Neo, who grunted at the impact. Nova found herself free, and the main reactor shuddered as Neo grappled with the person who had lost their mind.

"No!" Nova reached out.

Explosions rocked underneath the catwalks.

Nova tried to catch herself when the railings fell apart, but the air left her stomach when she tried. Ripples flashed against her back as the terminal got farther, out of her reach. Her back hit a slope, and she shuddered at a sickening crunch rolling through her ears, past the energetic waves of power feeding into the core.

No...

Debris fell straight for her, and she held back a scream when something pierced her leg.

Nova braced herself for the end, and closed her eyes at the fall of the station, and her life.

It continued to pulse through her ears with immense pressure.

Her breath slipped past her lips.

Tendrils slipped around the fallen piece of the servers, and she tucked herself out of the danger zone. A wave of bloody pain swept through her knees and into her spine at the formless mass hovering around the red-hot, half-way exploded core, frozen in time. Grey, nebulous mist seeped out of the starlight as the server disappeared into its being, sucked with the light.

Wh-what...?

Nova sobbed when she attempted to move her leg. Blood soaked through her pants, and her compearl fritzed into uselessness. It pulsed straight into her eardrums, so she ripped it out to flee the endless noise. No... Neo... Nova breathed deep, then clambered to the pair of rungs leading into the coolants. Fuck. Fuck, he's going to be hurt. I only fell halfway, I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. Nova winced when the formless shape pushed itself into the catwalks, as other shapes shambled, controlled by crimson twine.

A sickening crunch continued to echo through her ears.

I'm okay. Nothing's broken. I don't think so. I'm okay. I'm okay.

Her leg screamed instead, but she had to flee them.

Nothing makes sense.

She drove her teeth into her tongue when she hit the final level, sliding along the rungs. Her ass went into the shallow water from the breached coolants. It splashed all over her legs, and the pain grew massive in her head. That thing—oh stars— Nova straightened herself out, then dragged herself to the direction Neo fell with the other engineer.

Why did they attack us?

Why?

Nova knew what awaited her long before she found him.

In a broken heap, the engineer.

Not so far away, Neo, flat on his back. Water dripped around her as she limped to him, to grab him and pull him out of the cruelty of time. "Neo," she rasped and pushed her thumbs into his cheeks. "Neo?" Her hands shook at his minimal response when he gave a successive, half-lidded blink at her, his gaze drawing to her. Nova brushed her hand through his hair, and she followed where he looked — where she fell. Things screamed above her head, nothing recognizable — and she failed Ulin and Thuni too. "I'm okay," she rasped and returned to what the universe left her. "It's okay."

Wetness slipped down her cheeks, and her hands shook at the butterfly's split surface.

A heart stopped.

"Talk to me," she begged at his dying silence. "Neo, talk to me. No." Her fingers dug into his cheeks when he drifted out of her reach. "Damned voids, Neo. Look at me." She tried to tug him out of death's stillness. "Talk to me."

He inhaled a small, shaky breath through his nose, returning his gaze to her from the lull of the black hole.

Left into death's shock.

Fuck! Fuck.

There had to be something more, than the flimsy choices she made.

Nova drew her hands off his face to hold onto his shoulders. Up again, the black hole swallowed the energy of the core, to expel it into the formless shapes moving around in its pressurized atmosphere, crumbling to dust among the grey nebulae. Neo blinked and drew his attention along with hers. Nova sucked in her lips and swallowed tears at his fading breath. Twicefold, heavier when it drew into his chest. Unable to speak, she assumed. Unable to grasp anything.

He's... dying.

"It doesn't matter what I do," she whispered the truth on the wings of the butterfly.

I can't seem to save you.

His eyes fluttered, and threatened to drown in the layer of guilt crossing his brow when he trained his failing attention on her — in his last moments. Slowly torn apart by the loop.

... it's taking too long. Why is it taking him so long? Stars... how much pain is he in? Unable to stop the rest of her tears, all she could do was stop herself from screaming. How long is it going to make him sit here and wait? Nova sighed, to decompress the tightness in her lungs as she tangled her fingers with his butterfly necklace, shattered, burning into smoke.

He never closed his eyes.

Nova released the necklace to press her hands against his cheeks. "Neo, you have to close your eyes."

Just close them. I'm okay.

He stared up at her, or through her — or never anywhere but her.

"You have to close them," she begged. "I'll be right here. I'm okay."

I don't want you to be in pain from this.

The heartbeat failed to fall back into a rhythmic tune. It looped, and looped, and looped when he lifted his hand out of the water.

Nova met it through space and time, to hold onto it, and him.

"You can close your eyes, and rest," she rasped. "You did a good job. This will be over if you close them. I'm—" She choked on vomit and acidic fire. "I'm so sorry."

He sighed, but when she peered into the depths of death, she found the tangling grey nebula layering over his pupils in the reflection of what ravaged the lost engineers on the catwalks. It screamed, and begged to be heard, but the noise escaped her ears. A chill descended onto her spine and crushed her temples when Neo squeezed her hand in return — the last of his strength.

"Close your eyes," she repeated the loop.

He listened.

And his hand went limp in hers.

Nova held onto his hand and ignored the groaning and screaming in the distance. "I'm sorry," she repeated, then rested his hand across his chest to come closer to him. "You said it was impossible, but I don't—" Nova refused to let go of him. I can't, Neo. I can't see it. I can't see a way out of this. I can't fix this. Her strength failed her when she leaned closer to rest her brow against his. This will happen to you, every time.

Unable to let go, and the pain in her leg never mattered.

I can't save you from yourself.

Shadows draped over them, so she closed her eyes and breathed alone.

Why does it not want you to live? That's the answer I need. Why you? Why do you have to die? The only thing you've ever done... was let your curiosity get the best of you. A slow heartbeat shook her ears with its fury. Her hand laced around his once more. "I'm sorry."

My words don't mean anything.

Space cracked.

Heat boiled her stomach acid, and her heart caved in the swallowing black hole.

What do I have to do? I don't know how to prevent this. I think it is impossible.

It hissed.

Pain coiled past her leg and straight into her throat. Every star stretched around her. It touched her hands, cold, firm. Another gentle squeeze, and she jolted at the last moment. The last flimsy, broken moment at the end of time. Into his ghostly mirror image. Tears fell down his face as he brought a hand to his mouth, shaken as they both loomed over his dead body. He ran to her, to save her, and ended up losing his life.

Until he mouthed the same words on her lips.

I'm sorry.

Stars fell around them and dragged out the pain of the loops.

He slipped out of her grasp when she found herself unable to grab onto the ghostly mirror, and the black hole consumed everything.

Someone called Neo's name — or her name.

Nothing mattered.

Her leg threatened to tear itself apart, the pain - blinding.

Footsteps approached from her right, and a hand rested on her back.

"Nova?" Neo knelt into her peripheral when she kept her scream down with her sleeve. "Are you okay?"

Not even when the universe split to give her another chance.

Her reality, uneven.

Nova sat there in a field of starry fire, holding onto his hand through the mirror reflection as they both tried to scream out in space, to each other. Unable to hear the words he said, but when he mouthed it to her, his last moments, it looked familiar when she echoed it on her own lips.

I'm so sorry.

Space rippled.

Was it just... my last thought... to try and stem my guilt? Was it just the loop, or the monster trying to play a trick on me?

Close your eyes. Sleep.

And she followed him into the dark when the next reached out to her.