Time flowed like a river and it was finally evening, and almost time for Liam to leave for the airport. He intends to fly to San Careola Keys, where he will board the space shuttle for the moon.

Yes, he can just teleport there but he doesn't want to do that. He's sure that there are people watching his movements, curious to see what he will do. If he teleports there, it means that to those watching his movements—the intelligence agencies—will think he's indoor. And no human can be indoor for months on end.

But if he flew to his private island on the world's only private A380? That painted a different picture entirely. A billionaire taking an extended vacation on his Caribbean property. Perfectly normal. Perfectly unremarkable.

Of course, Liam doesn't actually need to do this. Liam just wanted to fly his aircraft. Why let it sit idle when he could enjoy the experience?

He chuckled at his own vanity. Here he was, about to leave Earth for an interstellar journey, and he was thinking about showing off his plane.

His phone chimed, interrupting his thoughts. Liam picked it up and saw a message from Kristopher in their group chat.

"Going to miss you, brother. Take care of yourself out there. Don't push too hard, whatever you're doing."

A warm feeling spread through Liam's chest. Kristopher had always been like that. As the oldest of their circle, he's always looking out for everyone else. It didn't matter that they'd only known each other for a relatively short time. Kristopher treated friendship like a responsibility he took seriously.

Within moments, other messages flooded in. Alex, Matt, Harper, Stacy, Kristy, Elise, Lana—all of them chiming in with well-wishes and reminders to stay safe. The group chat came alive with the kind of casual concern that only real friends could provide.

Liam smiled and typed out his response. "Thanks, everyone. I'll be fine. You all take care too. Don't work yourselves to death while I'm gone."

He paused, then added: "Oh, and feel free to use the yacht whenever you want. Just contact my family office and they'll arrange everything."

Matt's voice note came through almost immediately, his laughter filling Liam's bedroom. "Oh, I'm definitely using that yacht. Properly. Very properly."

Liam shook his head, grinning. Matt never changed.

Alex's message appeared next: "Shame you won't be around. We could have finally taught you how to swim properly."

Liam's grin widened. Alex was trying to get a rise out of him.

Time to have some fun with this.

He scrolled through his phone's gallery until he found what he was looking for. It was a video he recorded during the night he went diving in the night, in Macau.

The footage showed him diving deep underwater, no oxygen tank, no breathing apparatus, just him moving through the water with perfect control.

He uploaded the video to the chat.

The response was immediate. Multiple people started typing at once.

Alex's message came through first: "That's AI-generated. Has to be."

Liam laughed out loud. "Who knows? Maybe. I also visited the Mariana Trench last week. That was probably AI too."

There was a pause. Everyone in the group knew who Liam really was now. He's the person behind the world's most talked-about company, Nova Technologies.

If Liam said he'd been to the Mariana Trench, he probably had.

Alex's response captured the mood perfectly: "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Show off."

Several laughing emojis appeared from the others.

Matt tagged Liam with a new message: "So does this mean if you find yourself in that situation again—you know, the party situation—you won't drown this time?"

Liam remembered instantly. The party where Matt had taken him to, where he met three very attractive women, and Matt's joke about hoping Liam wasn't planning anything because "we both know you can't swim, and you'd definitely drown."

He sent back a middle finger emoji.

The group erupted in laughter. Those who understood the reference added their own jokes. The conversation flowed naturally, effortlessly, the way it did with people who genuinely enjoyed each other's company.

Liam glanced at the time. He needed to leave soon, but he kept chatting, reluctant to break the connection. These people had become important to him in ways he hadn't expected. In a life that had become increasingly surreal, they represented something normal, something human.

Finally, he stood up from the bed. Time to go.

He made his way downstairs, phone still in hand as messages continued to flow. Mason waited in the entrance hall, dressed in his usual professional attire. The bodyguard looked better than yesterday, though traces of shock still lingered in his eyes.

"Evening, sir," Mason said, his voice steady.

"Mason." Liam nodded. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, sir."

Daniel wasn't joining them. Liam had told him to rest, to take time processing everything. There was no need for him to come along just to say goodbye.

Mason opened the front door and Liam stepped out into the cooling evening air. The sky had darkened further, stars beginning to appear overhead—stars he'd soon be traveling among.

The car sat waiting in the circular driveway, its black paint gleaming under the mansion's exterior lights. Mason opened the rear door and Liam slid into the leather seat, his phone still active in his hand.

Nick started the engine, and they rolled down the driveway, through the gates, onto the streets of Holmby Hills.

Liam had lived here for over two months now, but he'd never really felt connected to the city. It had been a stopping point, nothing more.

His friends' messages kept coming. Someone made a joke about Liam's mysterious "extended trip." Someone else speculated wildly about where he might be going. Liam responded with vague humor, neither confirming nor denying anything. Though he plans to tell them about it when he returns.

When they arrived at the airport's private terminal, security waved them through without hesitation. The Black Titan sat on the tarmac, magnificent even in the fading light.

The car drove directly onto the tarmac, stopping close to the aircraft. Liam sent one final message to the group chat—"Boarding now. Talk to you all when I can."—then pocketed his phone.

He stepped out of the car and looked up at the A380. Even after several flights, the sheer size of it impressed him. This wasn't just an aircraft; it was a statement, a declaration of resources and capabilities that few people on Earth could match.

Liam climbed the stairs, entered the aircraft, and settled into his usual seat. The engines spooled up minutes later, and the massive plane began its taxi toward the runway.

Soon, they were over the Pacific, heading toward the Caribbean, toward San Careola Keys.

***

The A380 touched down on San Careola Keys as the last light faded from the western horizon.

Liam descended the stairs to find the island bathed in twilight, the Caribbean warm and humid around him.

And there, touching down on the runway with perfect precision, came the space shuttle.

The craft descended vertically, its fusion drive glowing blue-white in the gathering darkness. It settled onto the concrete with barely a sound, the circular boarding platform already extending downward.

Liam looked back at the A380. Mason and Nick stood at the aircraft's door, watching him. He smiled and raised a hand in farewell. They nodded back, professional to the end.

Then Liam turned and walked toward the shuttle. The platform met the ground and he stepped onto it.

The platform retracted. The shuttle's systems came online. And then, with a roar that shook the island, they lifted off.

Liam watched through the viewport as San Careola Keys shrank below him. The island became a speck, then disappeared entirely as they climbed through the atmosphere.

***

The docking bay of the Voyager opened to receive them fifty minutes later. The shuttle slipped through the massive doors and settled into its berth.

Liam wore his exosuit this time rather than the bulky VAC suit. He stepped off the shuttle onto the docking bay's deck, and there stood Lucy, waiting exactly where he'd expected her to be.

"Everything ready?" he asked, reaching out to pat her head affectionately.

"Only waiting for you," Lucy replied, her expression brightening at his touch.

"Then let's go to the flight deck."

They took his private elevator, the one that bypassed the standard routes and provided direct access to the command center. As they ascended, Liam deactivated the exosuit. The nanites flowed back into their compact form, reforming into the elegant watch on his wrist.

The elevator doors opened onto the flight deck, and Liam felt a surge of anticipation at the massive space spread before him.

He walked to the captain's chair and sat down, his hands moving to the command interface. The systems responded instantly, awakening at his touch. Holographic displays materialized around him, filling the air with data streams and control options.

This was it. The moment he'd been building toward.

"System," he said quietly, "provide coordinates for the Voidling's location beyond Neptune."

The information flowed directly into his mind, not as images or text but as pure spatial data. He understood instantly where they needed to go—or rather, where they needed to start looking.

Liam input the coordinates into the Voyager's navigation system. The holographic display of the solar system appeared, showing their current position orbiting the Moon. The system began calculating their route, plotting the most efficient course.

Then it stopped.

**ERROR: COORDINATES NOT FOUND WITHIN SOLAR SYSTEM PARAMETERS**

Liam frowned and glanced at Lucy. "Is there a problem with the navigation system?"

"No, Master. The system can locate any coordinates within the solar system. Those coordinates must be outside our planetary boundary."

Realization dawned. Of course.

"System, is the Voidling outside the solar system?"

[Correct, host. Void Beasts cannot enter established planetary systems. Their gravitational signatures would cause catastrophic orbital disruption.]

Liam nodded when he heard this.

"Lucy," he said, his voice calm despite the excitement building in his chest, "set course for the edge of the solar system. Maximum sustainable velocity. I intend to see the celestial bodies in the solar system, and visit them on my way, if possible."

"Acknowledged, Master."

Her hands moved across her own command interface, inputting the necessary parameters. The Voyager's fusion drive began its startup sequence, building power gradually to avoid stressing the ship's structure.

Around them, the starship came fully alive. Every system activated, every subsystem synchronized. The artificial gravity strengthened slightly as the drive prepared to accelerate.

"Course plotted and confirmed," Lucy announced. "Estimated time to solar system boundary: forty-two days at minimum sustainable velocity."

The Voyager's main drive engaged, while Lucy kept their speed at the cruising velocity. There was no dramatic lurch, no violent thrust. The inertial dampeners ensured that.

Through a holographic screen, he watched the Moon fall behind them. Earth appeared as a blue-white sphere in the distance, achingly beautiful against the black void. The Sun blazed ahead, a nuclear furnace that had sustained human civilization for all of recorded history.

And they were leaving it all behind.

The Voyager accelerated steadily, its velocity climbing with each passing second. They left lunar orbit, passed through the Earth-Moon system, began their journey outward toward Mars, toward Jupiter, toward the outer planets and eventually the darkness beyond.

Liam sat in the captain's chair and smiled. His space travel had finally begun.

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