Commander Velke-tremai (as I learned was his full name, since Fakra had a hyphenated extended name rather than last names) had gotten the Marshal's blessing to send us on our merry way back to Corai. The Fakra were willing to help convene with Sol, on one condition: that the Elusian scientists provided them with the nanotechnology to facilitate their own travel through the portal.

Corai had wanted an interdimensional ally that would fly beneath the Elusian Empire's notice; if she was serious about proving her group to be worthy allies, she would have to pony up what they wanted the most. I wished I knew more about the Fakra, but it was clear we'd have to build trust and friendship too. I didn't get a good look at Ahnar from the containment facility we'd been locked in, since they warped us back toward The Gap rather than giving us a normal ascent.

Mission success, I suppose. We do this one thing and we've sprung Sol out of their prison—but then what? They're gods that we can't hope to challenge.

I turned toward the most devious calculator I knew, clearing my throat. "Mikri. If you were Corai, what would be your long-term plan to unseat the Empire?"

"Something tells me Mikri has already made his own plans," Sofia chuckled.

The Vascar gave a muted beep. "I have been trying. However…"

"You don't know how many moons their planet has to throw like a bowling ball? You keep walking into rooms and forgetting why you went there?" I asked with my standard helpfulness.

"Yes, and…no? My hardware is not broken. This happens to you?" The android processed my nod for several seconds, before his expression turned to one of utter dismay. "Oh no, Messton…why did you not tell me you are experiencing dementia? You cannot forget me!"

I blinked, giving Mikri a blank stare. "Who are you? Sofia, why is this fat metal thing talking?"

"Preston," the scientist admonished.

"Fat is a poor descriptor for me: it is an oily solid substance that occurs in animals' bodies, deposited beneath their skin to store excess food. Exhibit one, Messton's stomach. Chili dog consequences." Mikri slapped at my belly like a bongo drum, which left me unable to keep a straight face. "No, but I am serious in my concerns! Moment-to-moment forgetfulness is terrible, with all of the danger we're in."

"Mikri, it happens to lots of humans. It's called the doorway effect, look it up," Sofia said, sounding a lot more tired and slow to correct me. I was starting to think she needed to see my therapist, once we got back in touch with Sol. "The brain sort of refreshes its memory when you transition to a new environment, since the old ones are less relevant. If you're thinking about a lot of stuff, it happens."

"So there's zero continuity?! I knew you were computationally-challenged, but this is remarkably poor. Organics are unreliable, if you cannot be counted on to carry a task to completion between adjoining rooms! How do you function?!"

"Sticky notes on everything and multiple phone reminder alarms," I answered. "Finish your thought now—I didn't forget. You've been trying to make plans to take down the Elusians, but?"

"My calculation matrix has identified zero suggested courses of action. Zero…viable ways that we might overcome them with more than a fledgling probability."

"But the vision. We're all over the future. You must not have considered something with the Fakra, or us getting teched up. We know we end them, tin can. We do it somehow!"

"Correlation doesn't equal causation," Sofia whispered. "Did you listen to what Corai said?"

"Sort of. So what's your plan then?"

"To prove them wrong. Just like the Fakra have tried to prove them wrong."

Mikri's eyes glowed. "This is my plan also. We need certainty on the future sight, and I imagine Corai feels the same. We must obtain additional data on if and why humans usurp Elusians."

"We have to prove that it's not us, but vague snatches of human precog that could be about anything: it's hardly going to be enough." Sofia's eyes took on a foggy layer, which made me suspicious. She'd said there were dark days ahead with such certainty—had she meant something more than the obvious by that? "We don't have centuries to build machines, but we have ourselves. Corai might…want us to stay in-between and comb through the fifth dimension."

"She'd want to know if the foretellings were right," I murmured. "Because she doesn't trust us. She's ready to turn on us if we are a threat to Elusians."

"Preston, would you really blame her? She doesn't want to be the reason her entire species dies. I wish that we could just find a peaceful solution; that should be Mikri's suggested course of action, given the lack of viable aggressivity that he well knows."

"We shouldn't play nice, unless Corai decides she wants to fully overthrow her government. Those shitheels left the Fakra to die. They rounded us all up and put us back in our pen, without so much as a fucking explanation!"

"Maybe Corai is coloring within the lines because she knows she can't win. She's helping us, and that's the best a tiny group of scientists can do."

"What? Watch?" I sneered.

"Give her some charity. She's like me. Do I look like a soldier, a revolutionary leader?"

"I believe in you, Fifi. You would fight for what is right," Mikri interjected. "Since you showed me Netchild, I have calculated an alternate scenario where the ESU rejected the Vascar and wished for our subjugation. It is my assessment that you would've fought tooth and nail; you would've made them kill you. I would follow you, soldier or not."

Sofia's dimples surfaced, as she smiled at the android. "That's sweet of you to say, Mikri, but I'm not cut out for combat. I'm not…ruthless. Sometimes, you have to be to stand up to immovable entities like that."

"No. You have shown me that there's another way. I will not let you relinquish that belief."

A speaker crackled on the floor under my chair, making Sofia and I startle. "Look, I probably shouldn't give away that we're spying on you, but could you please go through the portal? Argue about whether to trust Corai after you get the nanobots from her. Your job is to convince her to make us able to visit Sol. Mutual freedom."

"Velke!" I exclaimed, shaking my head with indignance. "He has a point. We have a job to do."

"Yes, and the longer you sit there delaying your traversal, the more restless questions I get from my cohorts. We want this said and done immediately, so I hope you'll hurry back. We've waited long enough."

"Right, my bad. I just know she'll be on the other side ready to ambush us, so I wanted to get our ducks in a row. We're heading through The Gap now."

I steered our spacecraft through the 5D portal, knowing it was time to parlay with Corai whether I was ready or not. As much as we needed her help, it burned me not to understand her intentions or her endgame. Her candor was the greatest boon to her likability, but she also didn't hold any concerns for the Fakra's plight, and was happy to camp on the sidelines throughout the rest of humanity's existence. I didn't trust that she was that much different from the rest of the Elusians, other than not wanting to throw away a "successful experiment."

Corai wants us to be capable of more than them, but won't even risk us being remotely equal to them with that pretty tech she has at her fingertips. Velke can do the wavey thing and open a portal. I should be able to as well.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Like clockwork, our ship was warped back to the Elusian outpost as soon as we hit the other side. I focused on the slight differences in vibrations, which I felt in my bones as I angled my raisers toward the hatch. I loosened a series of latches, so that it would unseal; without any security overrides needed to counter a computer mechanism, it was simple. With a flick of a finger, it opened, and I shot a proud grin back at Mikri and Sofia.

"Boom! In your face," I cheered.

The android tightened his claws. "Why is it okay when you say it?!"

"Because I'm better than you."

"In what ways?"

"I'm biodegradable."

"So you break down and crumble."

"You rust and get oxidized while you're still alive, you walking soup can of hazardous waste."

"Hazardous waste is what you do to a bathroom."

"I didn't know you cared so much about the porcelain throne, Mikri. We could always give you a bumhole, if you want to try it out."

"I actually hate you," Sofia seethed. "Repeat after me. Humans and Vascar are different but equal."

Mikri stared directly at me. "Humans and Vascar are different but I'm better."

I levitated the tin can, trying to wedge him into an open locker. "Wrong answer. We could be here a long time, if you don't change your tune."

"You have sleep and bodily functions to attend to. I do not. I can wait you out. See, better."

Corai floated up into the ship, eyes revealing nothing; distracted by her entry, I released Mikri. "You made it back, which we're all relieved to see. The Fakra are unpredictable—but I knew I could put my faith in you to build bridges. Will they ally with us?"

"Yes, but they have one demand to open a portal to Sol. They want the nanobots, to be able to cross through and visit in person. It's what they've been trying for millions of years to do, so I'm afraid it's the only thing we could give them," Sofia answered.

The Elusian's expression was unreadable, with a tightening of her lips that could've meant anything. I knew how leery she was of providing that tech to us willy-nilly, but after everything that her people did to the Fakra without the slightest gesture of remorse, it was the least she could do. She wasn't negotiating from a position of strength for why they'd ever want to help her. From what Velke described to me about the state of disrepair Ahnar fell into, I found his anger justified.

I meant what I said about us being brothers in mistreatment, since our creators punished us both for not fulfilling their ideas for us, not allowing us to see alien species ever again. We have each other now; at least, I hope the Fakra are able to find friends in humanity.

Corai's long fingers found their way to her chin, which was the gray of a river pebble. "Sofia, have you considered the possibility that it's the Fakra who kill us off?"

"Of course," the scientist answered, while I squinted in surprise. "They have every reason to despise you, and by giving them this technology, we might bring about what was foreseen."

"Precisely. Whatever we've done in our past, I don't want to be the reason my species no longer exists, Dr. Aguado. On a selfish note, I know our nonexistence would mean I'm no longer around. I'm willing to die for this cause, but to bring about a mass extinction: that's not an acceptable outcome."

"It was acceptable for the Fakra," I snapped.

Indignance flashed in Corai's blackened eyes, giving them color but for a moment. "If you think that's how I would've treated the Fakra, had I been in any way involved with their species' experimentation phase, then we should part ways now. I'm insulted by the insinuation."

"Why? It's how you're treating the Fakra now!"

"That's not true. I'm the one who encouraged you to reach out to them in the first place, Preston, because I thought it was an oversight by the Elusians to dismiss their capabilities. What I'm doing is the opposite; I'm acknowledging their species has come far enough that I have to consider what they'd do with the technology. Did you even ask them?"

"They're going to use it to visit Sol, so we can have a proper friendship. Did you listen to Sofia?"

Corai palmed her forehead. "Have you considered what the Fakra could do to Sol if they're playing you? If they sought to take your dimension for themselves because, I don't know, you're their replacements?"

"They wouldn't. They said…we don't deserve to be locked up. The Fakra want to work together, especially with the Elusian government as our common enemy."

"Anyone can say anything. You haven't known them very long, so how much are you willing to stake on vouching for them?"

I screeched in frustration, tearing a door off a locker by accident with a downward swipe of my arm. Oh. I guess that's how you do the raisers rippy thing. "You told us to seek their help! Why would you do this if you thought…"

"Corai is considering the probabilities, much like I would with my calculation matrix. I am presently doing the same," Mikri said. "I do not find it to be the highest likelihood, but a risk evaluation is prudent. Earth does not need a direct threat."

Sofia's eyes focused directly on Corai. "Your glimpse of the future saw us in your stead, not the Fakra. That implies that they don't gun down you or us. Besides, my precog doesn't see us fighting the Fakra."

"You haven't mentioned this," the Elusian noted with suspicion. "You have visions of fighting someone?"

"Yes."

"Us?"

Why did Sofia not tell us any of this before?!

The scientist averted her eyes. "I have a few different ones, ever since the Tunnel. I never directly saw us fight you, no."

"But?"

"In…one of them, I saw a lot of…Elusian bodies, all around me. You've been honest with us, so I hope…"

Corai's face became visibly alarmed. "You kept this from me?!"

"I wanted to see more, so I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt—how could it be us? I got the sense we were fighting someone, but it wouldn't be you without a direct…attack on us. I was trying to figure out a plan for how to stop it, and…I didn't want you to turn on us, Corai. I thought it might…shatter your faith, if you found out."

"I need more information than that."

"So do I, but I don't have it. What I told about the bodies, that's all there is to it. Fear and bodies. The other ones are vaguer still and have nothing to do with you—I never saw a Fakra, and never saw any hints that we were going on a rampage. It's…"

"Sofia and Preston would fight on the right side, regardless of what their kind does, though I believe in humanity's compassion," Mikri remarked. "You must show them that Elusians can be friends."

Corai turned away from us, anger radiating out from her; I thought she might be weighing whether to launch a nanobot attack and knock us out. "Preston hasn't seemed all too receptive to that. What happens if you find more data, and it suggests that humanity really is the culprit? You find…something that can…"

"I would tell you openly, and I hope you trust that I want to stop that from happening, even if it's an exercise in futility," Sofia pleaded. "Correlation and causation, remember? We're clearly mixed up in this, but maybe we're not to blame."

The Elusian paced in some internal battle, before her posture became resolute once more. "Don't speak of this to any Elusian but me. I love humanity enough to ignore the signs, despite where all of the logical evidence points. I can't say my peers feel as strongly. I already had a plan for how to address this uncertainty, but now, it'll be accelerated."

I turned my head quizzically toward Sofia. "Do you think it's the Fakra wiping out Elusians? Maybe even attacking this base, if you don't know where it's at?"

"No," the scientist replied. "Velke said it himself; their technology is below the Elusians' level. If they have a doomsday weapon that can drop them like flies, it hasn't been found yet. However, if it was them, I still say we have no choice but to give them the nanobots and keep them close."

"And why is that?" Corai's nostrils flared. "I just heard every reason not to."

"Because I told them your secret to crossing the portals, to stop our interrogator from turning on us. And also, because they're still our only hope of allies and of getting to Sol undetected. Assuming you think we're worth helping, after all of that."

There was a long pause from the Elusian, and I waited with apprehension to see if more evidence of humans being somehow involved would push her back to watching our plight. That was Corai's forte, after all; Sofia was foolish to have told her any of this. She should've confided in me when we were away from the million-year-old unreadable Watcher. I imagined Corai was going to discard her human pawns now, just like her people always did.

Corai sealed her eyes shut, much like a human who couldn't believe what they were doing. "The Fakra need technology to shut their brains off during transit, and to make their organs continue to function in your physics. Two nanobot vials for two Fakra diplomats to cross over to Sol. It'll protect you and us."

"In what way?" Mikri inquired.

"They won't be able to send an army. I also don't want them getting their hands on the tech, and I don't want you trying to take it. I'll set the injector to only work on Fakra biology, and to self-destruct if anyone tries to tamper with this. Do not cross me."

"Cross you?" I bit my lip in surprise, feeling my shoulders loosen. Why is she…maybe Corai does care about humanity's welfare. "I won't. Thank you for…trusting us."

"I always have. Perhaps one day, you'll find it in your heart to do the same."

I watched as the Elusian departed to make preparations, since the Fakra would want us to hurry back with those vials. With Corai agreeing to the Marshal's demand, that meant reopening contact with Sol was next on the list! After a prolonged separation from the rest of my species, I was eager to give humanity renewed hope of exploring the multiverse.

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