Kiperina: Altitude rising. All systems normal.
Hissabeth: Cool. Stay on comms.
She looks out the porthole, watching as the ground falls away and the sky closes in.
It feels like falling in reverse.
The little astronaut stands up and opens the storage box, following the procedure she has rehearsed countless times.
The monitor's camera lights up.
Monitor: Welcome to Laplace! Error, new coordinates detected. Correction: Welcome to ...
Monitor: Location coordinates not found! Reconfirming ... St! Location not found! St!
Kiperina: Cancel the location process. Load preset program.
Kiperina: Activate the "Storm" surveillance system.
Monitor: Voice authorization approved. Iris recognition recognized. Operator identified. Operation access granted.
Monitor: Good luck. Special Warning: Mind all liquids in the vicinity of machinery, especially alcohol!
The humorous warning gathers no reply. Left on the floor of the cabin, the monitor sensibly begins a diagnostic check on itself.
And when the little astronaut fastens its safety tether, it remembers to say thanks to her.
Kiperina: We've reached our target altitude.
Kiperina: Now, I will open the hatch, adjust the celestial coordinates, and deploy the monitor as planned.
Hissabeth: Copy that.
Oxygen level sufficient. Countdown at 15 minutes.
Monitor: Excuse me! Please handle me with care!
She steadies the monitor beside her, pulls the lever, and takes a deep breath before the hatch opens.
Darkness.
No forward or backward, no up or down, no sound or light. Only the solid touch that seeps through her spacesuit.
When she blinks again, the universe unfolds before her, like a toy box.
Kiperina: ...!
Kiperina: Report, the effects of the "Storm" are now being observed.
No response. She has no way of knowing if her signal got through.
She's disoriented, and her heart pounds through her chest.
These planets repay her courage with a terrifying kind of beauty.
Applause, for her.
Monitor: Warning! Warning! Arcane energy fluctuations approaching safety thresholds!
Monitor: Extreme light warning! Close the blinds! Remember to wear your safety goggles when arc welding! St! St!
Her consciousness drifts. Her body feels heavy, then lifts again.
Light as a breath.
Kiperina regains her balance, steadying herself against the dizziness.
The view around her has changed entirely. It feels more familiar and yet even harder to grasp.
Kiperina: Why am I here? I haven't activated the teleportation ritual yet.
Kiperina: Is the mission over?
She turns her head. In her hand, she's holding something strange and almost silly.
Doll: ‘@#%￥！&#%！
Kiperina: I don't understand! Please repeat!
Kiperina: Please repeat! I can't understand what's going on.
Monitor: Warning! Energy fluctuations are now exceeding safety thresholds!
Han Zhang: There's too much interference in the signal. We've got no response!
Name Day types in another string of passwords, trying to break into a new channel.
The first time, the second time. The blinking red light remains blinding.
Hissabeth: Connect to the monitor directly.
She notices a rope between her and the doll. It's a familiar style, like the ones she used to practice on.
She tries to orient herself, only for a flash of brightness to grab her attention first.
Kiperina: This is a planet.
Kiperina: I can see the rise and fall of the landscape. It's so strange here.
Doll: ‘@#%￥！&#%！
Kiperina: Come back. I need to record what I'm seeing here.
She grabs the rope, but she's forced to stop in her tracks.
Like knocking over a box of marbles, planets shatter after a few tremors, bursting into radiant, fleeting flashes of light.
Kiperina: Are those lights getting dimmer?
Kiperina: I need to keep going.
She kicks something.
Kiperina: A figurine?
It's heavy and rough, embedded in the darkness of the ground.
Bringing it along would only slow her down.
Kiperina: I think I need to take this with me.
She reaches out, trying to snatch the figurine from whatever darkness it's caught in.
Kiperina: The lights are fading out. I need to move faster.
She has nothing she needs to cut, no one to swing the blade at.
Even so, she bends down to pick it up. The silence around her feels ancient, as if it's always been there.
Kiperina: The only path left.
Kiperina: This won't be a problem. I've lived my whole life keeping balanced on a thin wire.
A small burner of incense ash.
A rusted calibrator.
Her arms are filling up, and her steps slowing under the weight. The rope is still in her right hand, but the doll has vanished into the darkness, inches from her nose.
Kiperina: ...
She has no free hand left, barely able to pinch the circus figurines' hats, trying to take them along too.
This is the most she can manage.
Name Day: Seven minutes left. The connection to the monitor is stable.
Hissabeth: Start the countdown. We'll try it another three times. If we still don't get a response after that, we'll need to activate the monitor's auto return program.
Hissabeth: I don't have a lot of hope in that basket case of a monitor, but if it's our only option ...
Hissabeth: Just keep hailing her. We have to put our trust in Kiperina.
Doll: ‘@#%￥！&#%！
Kiperina: Where are you going? It's dangerous there!
The rope goes taut, yanking her backward. She has to use every ounce of strength, hauling the strange doll back with both hands.
Trying to hold onto everything at once is impossible.
Kiperina: No! Not like this!
The objects in her arms scatter outwards, drifting like mist before vanishing into the sea.
At the dawn of the universe, all things were dust. So it remains.
All things become insignificant when examined on a cosmic scale. What meaning is there in chasing it?
Maybe time is a concept that only holds meaning for humanity.
Out of one, two is born; out of two, three; out of three, everything.
It all started from an atom.
Your entire life story is in there.
COMBAT
There's no sound anymore. Just her breathing inside the helmet and the beat of her heart in her ears.
Kiperina: My existence will be small and short. There are many, many others like me, searching for answers from the universe.
Kiperina: But there is no answer to be found. No answers but the ones we choose for ourselves.
Kiperina: It's been our choice the whole time.
Kiperina: The past is in the past, and the future will wait for us. There is no time to be spared on regrets in the moment.
Kiperina: I must keep going, venture further into this world to uncover what's in the distance, to know whether things that vanish come back or not.
Kiperina: I must keep going or die trying.
Monitor: We have reached our designated coordinates.