Lena stood further behind Finn; in the snow, in the moonlight—in the silence. After she had scanned the lifeless environment, she narrowly found the courage to address Finn. He stood with his back to her, and for a minute he said nothing. 

They could oversee the entire area, surrendered by a crescent-shaped high rising barrier. A dead-end.

When, after a short time's passing, his quietness drove her mad, she dared to ask: "Where is the ship?"

"It's not here."

Her question was answered without hesitation, but the words came not from Finn. To know who stood behind her, Lena was in no need of hearing that spine-chilling voice talk a second time because the goosebumps on the back of her neck screamed with muted tones that it was Arrakis.

She made a half mechanical turn, and there he was, right in front of her, like a ghost that haunted her. Like her own shadow that she could never run away from. She had no sense of fright, nor did she feel terror. What she felt was beyond such mere nouns. 

For a quick moment, she shut off her mind and dropped it all. Forbidding fear to define her, she kept up a strong stare at him. His eyes were burning apertures to the underworld, and the satanic smile she feared so much was the missing gasoline. It would have been in sinful harmony, but for once his teeth were locked away behind his diligent expression.

Arrakis' wounds were cauterized, which to Lena was enough corroboration for his poor condition, that her misplaced bravery pushed her to feed the fire.

"If it isn't the goon," she said.

"Don't act tough. It's pitiful."

"As if you could feel pity for anyone but yourself."

"Careful, little gull. You haven't seen me angry."

After her courage could not shake him, fear crawled back inside of her and rebuilt its nest right above her heavy hammering heart. 

Lena kept quiet and only then did she realize that Finn had not noticed Arrakis yet, for he was blind and deaf, lost in a space of nothing but failure. The lone feeling of grief found its home in his soul.

"The coordinates were wrong," Finn said in shock.

"The coordinates were fake," said Arrakis.

"How can that be? Why—" Finn's insensate body collapsed and was caught by his knees as they hit the solid ground. Snow now up to his shoulders, he picked up the map afresh, as if it could give him answers to questions he had not yet asked. 

Words twirled in his disorganized head. His entire world broke apart underneath him and he now felt like he kept falling into an abyss. Lena's soft touch brought him back into reality. Her hand lay gently on his cheek as she was sitting in front of him. 

"Everything will be okay," she said.

"I'm going to puke," commented Arrakis, disgusted from watching the two.

"What is he doing here?" Finn asked Lena, having perceived Arrakis last.

What he said was rhetorical, but it made Lena think. "Yes, what are you doing here? You're unarmed. You didn't go all this way to tell us that the coordinates are fake."

"Good point," said Finn. "Besides, he walked ahead. As if he wanted to get here first."

"And why would he hunt us from planet to planet, if he wasn't trying to stop us from finding something?"

Arrakis said nothing, but he stared at Lena so earnestly that she thought the fire within himself intensified with enough energy to melt away the snow and ice from the mountains of Thrake. 

The longer he irritated her with his hateful gaze, the more fear she saw slipping through the facade, and inspired to solve the puzzle, she said, "What if the coordinates are neither fake nor wrong?"

Finn lowered the map and analyzed the ground they sat on. With a sweep of the hand, he brushed off the snow until a metal platform surfaced.

"We are spot on where we're supposed to be," said Finn and had soon shoveled all the snow around them.

They stood up, viewing the circular door of a bunker and an iron spindle wheel handle in its center.

"You were right, Lena. The coordinates were not wrong. I was. And it wasn't the ship we were searching for, but its passengers. And we were standing right on top."

Finn reached for the spindle to spin the wheel when Arrakis made sudden movements to stop Finn from entering the bunker. He struggled to create a way through the masses of snow and tried to swallow his pain like a two-inch pill, but before Finn could lift the door, Arrakis tackled him from behind. 

He thought he had the upper hand, but Lena's arm locked around his throat and pulled him off. In the few seconds given to Finn, he withdrew the hidden pistol from his backpack and directed it at Arrakis, who was pushed away by Lena. 

She returned to be by Finn's side, both eyed their nemesis laying like a bug on its back.

"You used to be so frightening," Lena talked down on Arrakis, "now look at yourself."

Uninterested in the girl, Arrakis smiled at Finn. "Shoot me. You won't."

"You're right, I won't," Finn handed the gun to Lena, who aimed it at the face of her nightmares. "But she might."

Arrakis' face copied the color of the snow, and while Lena kept her arms stretched out and stiff to keep a steady aim, Finn resumed to lift the hefty door. A vertical ladder led into a deep hole, similar to a bottomless well. 

With his flashlight, Finn tried to make out where the last step touched the floor, but before the light could reach the end, it gradually faded away into the darkness, so much richer than that of the night itself.

"Hello?" Finn called into the depth and listened to his lonely echo wandering down the shaft. "Anybody down there?"

He received no answer and decided to explore the bunker.

"What are you doing?" Arrakis wanted to know when Finn's feet disappeared behind the rim of the entrance.

"Finding the passengers of A154."

"Wow," said Arrakis to Lena, "he's leaving behind his little princess. Looks like he doesn't care about you as much as you thought. So much could happen to you."

"I think she's got it handled," replied Finn when his head was all that was left to see.

"I think so too," she mumbled to herself but said it loud enough to share her belief with Arrakis.

"You're a filthy thief," said Arrakis when the two were alone.

"You're a demented sadist," she riposted.

"That is my pistol."

"Funny how the tables have turned," she grinned at him. "I thought you were the devil, but I can see the fire in your eyes shrinking."

"Well, you know what they say: A single spark can turn a forest to ashes."

Arrakis had not yet given up on his own plans. He got up and made a run for the hatch, but Lena cut his path and pointed the gun at him, close enough to touch his nose with the muzzle.

"Don't even think about it."

"Out of my way, I need to stop him, otherwise, Kepler will be in serious danger!" But she moved not and did not listen to him either. "I know you're not going to kill me!"

With his elbow, Arrakis thrust her aside and steered toward the hole. An abrupt head-splitting sound pierced his ears and glued him to the spot. Lena had fired the pistol. 

Although she had preferred to miss his body, she had successfully earned deference.

"Lena?" Finn shouted from within the mysterious tunnel. The thunderous noise of the shot had found his ears and caused alarm.

"I'm fine," she answered, then aimed at Arrakis, who could not conclude gawping at her. "That was a warning. If you as much as move your finger, I will shoot you. And trust me when I say that I won't miss twice."

Finn's feet arrived at the concrete floor. He brought light to the blackest place he had ever been to. It only took him one look, one breath, and the universe within himself turned dark. 

Lena, standing one hundred sixty-four feet above him, sent him a question. She shouted again, "Finn, what did you find? Are they alive?" 

But he gave no answer.