Finn and Lena sat in the little space vehicle that was supposed to take Arrakis to Pluviam, and while Lena continued contemplating that generous gift, Arrakis was in Payden, sneaking through the alleys to get to Yurie's house, unseen by Nathan and Hajo. 

Arrakis bothered not to let out a single thought about the sham gift he had given to Lena. After all, he knew that the ship's oxygen tank wouldn't last for two people. What he did not know, however, was that Finn and Lena were not going to Pluviam and that their change of course had a crucial influence on their travel time, bringing failure upon Arrakis' goal. 

Having reached the door with the shattered glass, Arrakis believed he had made it to safety. He believed he had won; sent Finn and Lena to their deaths and made it back himself without any consequences. 

But, as life loved playing its diabolic cards of demons' own luck, a hand snatched Arrakis' shoulder and prevented him from entering Yurie's house just when he was considering fate to be favorable. 

Before Arrakis could catch a glimpse of the person behind him, an excruciating object hit the back of his head and knocked him out.

When he opened his eyes, Arrakis' attention was inevitably drawn to the pain hammering where he had been hit, then he realized that he was laying on the floor with two feet standing in front of his face. His eyes shot up to find the face of his opponent but it was concealed by shadows, and only when he wanted to jump and fight did he grasp that his hands were tied behind his back.

"Untie me!" yelled Arrakis, slightly intimidated by the only other man in the pitch-black room. "Untie me, right now!" He wanted to kick the man off the ground, but Arrakis' feet were strapped as well.

"Where is Finn?" asked the bleak man and introduced his gun in a very bold way.

"He's in the woods," said Arrakis without the faintest hesitation.

The man knelt down and brought his face into the light, waking Arrakis' flight response, though he had nowhere to escape to.

"You're the prick that shot me!" concluded Arrakis with an unbroken stare at Nathan's remorseless eyes.

"Don't make me regret aiming for your leg," said Nathan, the pistol's muzzle balancing on the gelid floor. "We don't have a problem as long as you give me the information I ask for."

Arrakis was not only willing to deliver every known detail regarding Finn and Lena, but also quite tempted to ruin Nathan's life by guiding him to find Finn's dead body. But as Arrakis opened his mouth to betray Finn and concomitantly Nathan, he thought of a solution that could additionally erase every mistake he himself had made on Boreas and allow him to return to Pluviam as the rightful guardian he was supposed to be.

"Sorry, my hands are tied. Literally."

Nathan seemed not amused by his wordplay, and Arrakis knew it just too well, for he had heard the same words not too long ago.

"Look, I'll tell you everything," said Arrakis, the intonation of timidity having disappeared wholly. "But you'll have to call off your buddies' search for me."

The pistol was lifted off the ground and rested in Nathan's hand like a toy, his pointy finger perfectly aligned with the slide. "I don't think I have to do anything."

"Well, unless you want to shoot me, you do," said Arrakis, assuming that Nathan's previous mercy was driven by weakness, rather than humanity and that he did not have the dauntlessness to kill a teenager.

"You nearly murdered a KSP member! I'm impuissant to make that disappear."

"Nearly," Arrakis repeated with emphasis. "Maybe it was an accident."

"You know it wasn't. I know it wasn't. And that other witness, Hajo, knows it too."

"Convince him otherwise."

"He will never ignore that you shot his colleague, let alone the fact that you were about to assassinate another kid."

"That's too bad," Arrakis sneered, "guess you'll never know why Phineas and his girlfriend are heading to a secret shuttle right now."

"What?" Nathan pulled Arrakis up by the collar and spoke with a resonant voice, "I'm not playing games! Where is Finn going?"

"That depends. Do we have a deal?"

Nathan dropped Arrakis and paced back and forth through the empty room. As Arrakis examined the metallic walls and dozens of faded little lights, it became clear to him that he was not in a house, but in a spacecraft instead. Perhaps the rocket with which the crew had come to Boreas. 

Nathan had come to a conclusion, and just as he came walking in a straight line, Arrakis had invented a lie that would grant him the success of pursuing his original plan.

"Okay," said Nathan and knelt down again. "Tell me where Finn is going, and I'll make sure your record is clean."

"I'd shake your hand on it, but—" Arrakis wiggled his hand, restrained to move it, "yeah. But—hold up, how can I be sure you'll keep your word?"

"How can I be sure you'll tell me the truth?"

"Touché," Arrakis said and rolled over on his back, failing to sit up, and only causing his fingers and knuckles to be crushed beneath his weight. He quickly rolled back to his side. "Untie me, and I'll tell you where he went."

"You tell me what you know, and maybe, if I feel like being nice, I'll free you."

"Fine, whatever, he's going to Pluviam."

"Is he insane?" Nathan gasped.

"Probably, but that's not the reason he's going. He wants to find proof that A154 wasn't swallowed by a black hole. He's probably heard that it was all a lie."

"It's a rumor," said Nathan nervously, "a fairy tale at the most."

"Drop the act, you and me both know it's not. I'm aware that Asgard has returned. "

Nathan's eyebrows nearly collapsed from his fuming and slightly terrified gawp. "How—" his tongue staggered over his own words, "You're just a guard—who informed you about it?"

"It's not important. I'm not the one wanting to leak the truth."

"Phineas? He can't do that, he won't. If he knows about the threats Asgard sent, he would never tell people! He would risk the lives of everyone he cares about."

"He will," Arrakis said, feeling satisfied with Nathan's reaction. "Unless—a guard finds him first. You see, Lapis Xanthos has ordered the military to kill Phineas and that girl at first sight."

"Finn's wanted alive, we made sure of it," said Nathan, his prejudice letting him lean toward pending disbelief of Arrakis' credibility.

"That's what they told you, but Xanthos wants him dead!" Arrakis was careful to repeat that name clearly, making sure Nathan took notice. And by the looks of it, he seemed to be listening carefully, not suspecting it to be Arrakis' very own surname. Lupin Xanthos was his father, the man he tried to blame. "He's the governor of Tempestas. He's the one forcing us to eliminate that thief and her accomplice. He wants them slain and eliminated. Served in diced pieces. He's evil! You see now? I'm innocent! I was just following orders. Like a guard is supposed to."

"What kind of a man would have a child murdered for a theft that barely concerns him?"

"A man wouldn't. A monster would. And with pleasure, too. And Phineas is falling right into his bloody hands."

Arrakis remembered to go easy on the lies before they grew unbelievable, but Nathan seemed to trust his every word and, in shock, stumbled to the door to go after Finn, who had long removed the tracker and already set out to enter zero gravity.

"Hey! Don't leave me here!" cried Arrakis when Nathan seemed to be making his way up a ladder. "Untie me! Come back! Hey!"

Nathan's mind was far gone, too far to hear or think of Arrakis. Shadows and echoes played on his senses, warping shapes and lines and every sound was carried like voices underwater. With the shrinking sentience that had not yet been butchered by the commotion, he made it to the lodge and brought the information upon his crewmates, and along with it his request to leave Boreas immediately. Leaving Christopher behind was a difficult decision, but Nathan's priority was Finn, despite the overbearing quantity of vexation he felt toward that boy.