"What do we do?" Ulin asked as the three of them set Neo down in a medical bed. "Should we stay here?"

Izerva returned from their exploration of the ground level. "There is no one else alive," they signed. "I found signs of a struggle, and the lift to the upper levels was destroyed." All three of them hovered at Neo's unconscious side. "We need to clean his wound first and foremost now that we have tools." Izerva twisted on their heel to rifle through the medical cabinets.

Ulin shuffled into the corner with a frown.

"Are you worried about Thuni?" Nova asked.

"He hasn't been himself," Ulin admitted. "There's something he neglected to mention. It wasn't just that he was being watched. He was irritable — and I know he seems the type to get easily irritated, but I think something's wrong with him."

"And this started when the shift did?"

Ulin nodded. "I don't know how else to explain it."

Nova chewed on her lip to sort out her thoughts, and moved out of the way when Izerva placed more supplies beside the trauma kit. "This is all I could find." Their ears pressed against their head and they bared their teeth. "I don't think we should stay here for long. I hear something, but I cannot say where it is coming from."

"Is it close?" Nova checked around the emergency dome.

Their ears perked. "No."

It'll have to be enough... the question is which one are they hearing? I let Thuni walk right back over there, but... he—it wouldn't hurt him, right? Nova poked Neo in the temple. "Are you still with us?"

Neo winced and tore open his eyes, back to the normality without the nebula to strangle his pupils. "No?"

"You know if it hit anything important?" she asked, ignoring his soft quip. He shook his head, and she said, "You're going to have to guide us. You're the one with medical experience."

Neo frowned. "I can try... but it's a little hard to think when I'm the one needing the medical experience." He shrugged his shoulders and rested his head deeper into the pillow.

Nova kept an eye on the entrance into reception and held Neo's hand as Izerva worked with Neo's quiet direction, until he fell silent with a wince when they pressed deeper into the wound. His hand squeezed hers, but she eyed Ulin. "Once we're done here, I'll go back and get Thuni. You three need to head to central command." One check on Neo, the nebulous tendrils never swallowed him again. He considered her with a thoughtful twist to his lips. "Get him help there."

"You shouldn't go alone," Neo argued, then squirmed when Izerva wiped the wound with disinfectant.

Nova opened her mouth to push his argument to the side, but hesitated. "What would you suggest, Neo?"

Neo shifted his knees. "You need something from their core, right?" he whispered weakly. "You mentioned you think it has some nullifying effect against the anomaly?"

"Yes, but I don't have a lot of time, and in your condition I don't feel comfortable dragging you back there," Nova pointed out. Weariness carved through his brow when he placed his arm over it, and she bit down on the despair. "Fine. I can go with you to center command to make sure you get there, but after I need to go get the core."

"I guess that's all I can ask for..."

Nova tipped her head. "Wow, I expected you to put up more of a fight, considering you wouldn't let me leave before."

He squinted at her. "Huh? I did? Last thing I remember is passing out in western transit."

Nova eyed Izerva for an explanation, but their tail flicked with an uncertain, twitchy motion. Alarms rang out, and there was no time to press for an answer. "We have to go," she said and helped Izerva detach the medical pod from the vitality station. Neo relaxed and closed his eyes. "I don't want to be stuck here if they close down the facilities."

Out of the carnage inside the medbay, she pushed the bed with Izerva along the empty corridors. Voices called out for succor, for caution to sing with the moan of the alarms. I just need to make sure Neo is safe and go check on Thuni. This loop is different from the rest. Maybe Thuni has a chance to escape his fate. Yet, something deep inside taunted her with the truth.

Grey nebulae at the base of the event horizon, seeing into the expanse of time.

Neo knew something.

Nova slowed her pace when they entered the platform, and Ulin called the transit, so she rounded the bed to peer into Neo's face. "Neo?"

"Hm."

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked the question he never gave a straight answer for. The transit screeched across the powerrail, but she slipped into the white noise of the universe.

"Oh. I'm feeling great." Neo waved his hand, but rested it on his bandaged side with a grimace. "Okay, not so great, but I mean... it could be worse." He gazed at her, and the nebula never reflected off an ancient sight. "I could've been stabbed somewhere worse."

"Are you sure it didn't hit anything important?"

Neo nodded with a pat on his own side.

"We'll figure stuff out when we're safe," Nova said as the transit doors slid open and tugged the bed inside. Sitting down, she stretched out her legs, but frowned when Neo stared at the ceiling.

At the end of the transit, Izerva clicked open their communicator, and in another seat, Ulin pressed their face into their hands. Alarms rang. PA systems called out for a station-wide shutdown. Nova shook her head at her failing information, and what she no longer understood. Silence permeated the air between the four of them, and not even Neo broke it as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"You should sleep," she echoed his words.

Close your eyes.

Water lapped into a striking pain at her knee, but she ignored it when Neo released a breath, but motioned at Izerva, who turned. "I'm sorry for what happened in the west. I—" He winced. "I should've listened to you, but then everything went wrong."

Izerva blinked then signed, "No need to apologise, Scientist Neo. You acted in what you thought was the right way. I cannot fault you for a split second choice. Oftentimes we don't get time to make an educated decision."

Sometimes we don't get time at all to make a choice. Nova dug her fists into her lap. How can I make the best choices when I don't know where they will lead half the time?

Everything matters.

"We're here," Izerva pointed at the bright lights of the platform. "I let the guard know to expect us, so we shouldn't have to deal with what happened last time."

Nova returned to the healing bed to push it along with Ulin, and a couple of soldiers guided them off the transit. Izerva sent the transit screeching down the rail with a press of the panel. "I shall leave you three to report to Admiral Mythrai." Izerva motioned at Neo, then scooted off.

"Wait! What about the facilities?" Nova asked.

Izerva stopped. "I'm afraid they're performing a station wide shutdown. I shall return with more news on that front."

Nova bit down on her failure, then helped Ulin push Neo to the central medical tower. Guards stood at every door they passed, checking ID's. Tension pushed out of her shoulders at the numerous doctors bustling in the reception area overseeing injuries. One broke from the barrier to head to them. "We'll take care of him," she said with a tired smile and looked over Neo, who frowned.

"It looks full in here," Ulin mumbled.

The doctor sighed. "We've had to move the more serious injuries into stasis pods for stabilisation," she explained. "Did this happen during the attack in Habitation?"

"Yes..." Neo mumbled.

"Okay." The doctor tapped their fingers together. "We'll get you set up. As long as it's not too serious or deep, you should be able to move around more than most of the patients here from the attack. Still though, let's get you somewhere quiet so you can rest."

Neo's grey eyes brightened. "I would really like to be able to move."

"He's a workaholic," Nova warned when the doctor slipped an infodrive into the panel of the bed. "Don't let him get up unless he's good for it."

Neo glared at her.

A reflection of the black hole.

No, Nova... you're just confused... the loops are wearing down on you... but there is something weird happening to him. "Don't give me that look, Neo. You need rest."

"We won't," the doctor assured. "If you'll wait outside, I'll send someone to retrieve you when we have him set up."

Nova nodded and allowed the doctor to pull him away before following Ulin outside. The medbay doors shut behind them. "Ulin?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to go back for Thuni," Nova said.

Their eyes popped. "Now? Izerva said they're shutting down the station. You might not even be able to get to the spaceflight arrivals. If you do, who's to say you'll be able to get back?"

"Thuni didn't care about that."

Ulin sighed. "Thuni gets frustrated and reckless when he can't understand something, and thinks if he does something dangerous it'll give him answers."

Stars, Neo if he was an engineer and the quiet type. Nova clenched her fists. "I let him go because I need that core. There is something about it I need to study."

"For what reason? Thuni swore up and down he had a conversation with you, but it's weird." Ulin held their head. "I don't see how that's possible, unless it happened when I went to bed early. You two must have talked afterwards about the droid after the emergency landing."

Nova frowned. "Something like that."

"I suppose it is what it is. It must've been important though."

"It was." I was so close, if the information was uploaded to my droid and wasn't corrupted by that powersurge, I might have the answers. Nova tugged her fingers down her cheeks, trying not to claw for tears she lost. "I need to make sure Neo's safe. Maybe I can stall the facility shutdown if I tell them Thuni's still out there and there might be information about the anomaly in my droid."

Ulin frowned. "I don't know about that. A lot of people are probably trapped around the station. Some of them attacked us. I don't think they'll keep the station open for one person." Despair filled the blues, but their tone remained logical and precise.

If I don't do this right, it's going to reset if I let it. I can't let it kill him again. I'm so close. "I'll just have to take that calculated risk. You need to stay here with Neo."

"Why would I stay here?" Ulin asked. "Thuni's my best friend."

I don't want to throw more lives at this loop, all to save one person. I-I don't have the right to make that choice, but I also don't have time. Nova trembled at the weight of the universe looming over her with the teeth of a black hole. "I get it. I do, but you have to trust me. I won't leave Thuni behind. He didn't leave Neo behind, so I owe him for that one."

Ulin's thoughtful frown twisted into a pained smile. "Thuni's not the type to collect debts just as much as he doesn't like owing people himself," they pointed out. "Just tell me one thing, then."

"Yes?"

"When I told you that you and Thuni must've talked before, you said 'something like that'. What do you mean?"

Fire drove into her throat at Ulin's observation. "It's a long story. I'll try and explain it to you when I get back — with Thuni."

"Does he know what you're talking about?"

"I'm... not quite sure."

Ulin frowned, then got out of her way and opened her escape to the central terminal. "If you need help with the core, just tell me. I'm going to go see if they need help with the connections between the facilities. What's your plan?"

"First, I'm going to wait for them to tell me how Neo's doing, then go to the droid bay to get that core and Thuni," Nova replied, her blueprint of a plan in motion. "Hopefully it won't take too long."

But I've built my hope on those words — that things won't take too long. Time doesn't behave here.

I have to...

Even if... Even if I have to make that hard decision that I don't have the right to make.