A week aboard the nameless derelict had taught Tanya that space was persistent and deadly. It didn't care about deadlines or desperation. It simply waited, cold and unforgiving, while you scrambled to survive. It was a relentless challenge to keep it at bay.
"Section twelve is holding pressure," Cameron reported from his tablet, monitoring the latest patch job. "That's three more habitable compartments this week."
Tanya wiped sweat from her forehead, studying the hull plate they'd just welded into place. The workshop's fabrication capabilities let them manufacture patches, but actually installing them required hours of manual labour in pressure suits. Her arms ached from using her atomic wielder. The only good thing was that she knew the patch would hold.
"Progress," she said, allowing herself a moment of satisfaction. The derelict was slowly coming back to life with small pockets of warmth and breathable air carved from the vacuum that had claimed it centuries ago.
Janet drifted through the airlock, removing her helmet. "Found another biological lab. Test tubes, growth chambers, and analysis equipment. This ship was definitely doing something with genetics."
"That's the fifth bio-lab we've catalogued," Amara noted, making another entry on her ever-growing inventory. "Someone was very interested in biological research."
"Or biological weapons," Cameron added darkly. "Some of that equipment looks designed for rapid mutation experiments."
Tanya had noticed the pattern too. Too many rooms dedicated to capturing, analysing, and modifying organic material. The modified human bodies they'd found made more sense now; it was as if this ship had been a mobile laboratory, studying and changing people at a genetic level.
The thought made her uncomfortable in ways she couldn't fully articulate.
"Any luck with the bridge or engineering?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Still locked." Janet's frustration was evident. "I could cut through, but—"
"We're not cutting into critical systems," Amara interrupted firmly. "Not until we understand what we're dealing with. Advanced military vessels often have self-destruct protocols. One wrong move and we could trigger something catastrophic."
"She's right," Cameron agreed reluctantly. "Without access to the ship's systems, we can't rule out automated defences or fail-safes. Better to be patient than dead."
Tanya wanted to argue, but the logic was sound. They'd come this far by being careful. No point in rushing now.
Over the next few days, the scouting continued. Cameron discovered a laboratory that made his soul sing. He found equipment designed for growing crystalline structures, the same kind of technology that powered vortex drives and dimensional sensors. The lab was empty of resources, but the mere existence of it provided clues about what the ship had been capable of and his next steps in research.
"This is incredible," he said, running his scanner over dormant growth chambers. "They were manufacturing crystal technology. Not just using it, but growing it from base materials. If I could figure out the process—"
"Add it to the list," Tanya said. "Right after 'get the engines working' and 'figure out what this ship was actually for.'"
She was in the middle of patching another hull breach when the quantum-vision sunglasses she had been practising with revealed something impossible.
Through the enhanced lenses, a door appeared in what should have been a solid bulkhead. She could see it clearly, there was definitely a geometric pattern that suggested depth and purpose, but when she removed the glasses, only blank metal remained.
"Sage," she said aloud, "there's a door here. But it's not... physical?"
//Dimensional interface,// Sage replied immediately. //The door exists in a different aspect of spacetime. The quantum lenses allow you to perceive it.//
"How do I open something that doesn't physically exist?"
//Walk through it.//
Tanya stared at the blank wall. "You want me to walk into a solid bulkhead."
//The bulkhead is solid in three-dimensional space. The door exists in higher dimensions. Trust the perception the lenses provide.//
Easy for Sage to say, but she is the one who will be hurt. Tanya took a breath, put the quantum glasses back on, and focused on the door. The patterns seemed to invite her forward, suggesting passage rather than barrier.
She stepped toward the wall.
Her hand passed through solid metal like it wasn't there. Then her arm. Then she was stepping through impossible space, reality twisting around her in ways that made her inner ear scream protest.
The world dissolved into white.
When her vision cleared, she stood on an infinite plane stretching in all directions. Sage manifested beside her as a golden sphere of light, their presence warm and familiar.
"The information dimension again," Tanya said, remembering the mental battle with Archon. So she guessed the doorway was mental, not physical.
"Why are we here?"
//The ship recognised our presence. Someone wants to communicate.//
A new light appeared across the white expanse, it was green and vibrant, accompanied by rolling hills of moss that spread like living carpet. The moss met a wall of roots that erupted from beneath Sage, the two Gardeners establishing their territories with instinctive precision.
The green light pulsed with recognition.
"Sage," a voice said, which was neither male nor female, but carrying warmth like sunlight through leaves.
"Feravincio," Sage replied simultaneously.
The two ancient gardeners regarded each other with what felt like genuine affection, two entities who'd known each other across millennia.
Tanya felt suddenly out of place, like she'd walked into a reunion between old friends.
"How did you come aboard my bonded old ship?" Feravincio asked, their attention shifting to Tanya with obvious curiosity.
"An old lady gave me the coordinates," Tanya explained. "She stole some technology from me. As payment pointed me here without explanation."
Feravincio's light dimmed slightly with what might have been confusion. "Strange. I don't understand why anyone would guide Sage to this vessel. The ship has been hidden for two centuries. It was not designed for someone like them"
"What is this ship?" Tanya asked. "We've been exploring for a week, but we can't access the critical systems."
The green light pulsed thoughtfully. "It was my bonded's vessel. We hid it at the end of the war while concealing the Holy Order's homeworld. Both were meant to remain hidden until the time was right."
//Where is your bonded?// Sage asked, his tone carrying concern.
"Passed on nearly two hundred years ago." Feravincio's moss rippled like wind across a field. "I remain on the Holy Order's homeworld, maintaining the defences and waiting for the call to return. This ship is but a fragment of myself, left behind to guard its secrets."
"What's the Holy Order?" Tanya asked.
Feravincio's light brightened with obvious surprise. "You don't know? Truly?"
"I know almost nothing about the Expansion Wars beyond what they teach in basic history. And that's mostly propaganda."
The green light seemed to settle, like someone preparing to tell a long story. "In simple terms: the Holy Order was humanity's sword and shield. Genetically modified warriors who fought on the front lines against alien threats. They drove back invasions, adapted enemy advantages, took the best of alien genetics and made it our own. They were magnificent."
The pride in Feravincio's voice was unmistakable.
//Feravincio's domain is biology and genetic manipulation,// Sage explained. //Their purpose has always been to create optimal life forms. The Holy Order represented their greatest work.//
"One ultimate race," Feravincio said, their moss growing taller with enthusiasm. "That's what we sought to create. The best of humanity, enhanced by the best of every species we encountered. This ship was designed for that purpose…to discover, capture, analyse, and adapt alien races. A mobile laboratory for perfecting the human form."
Tanya felt cold despite the dimension's lack of temperature. "You were kidnapping aliens and experimenting on them."
"We were ensuring humanity's survival," Feravincio corrected, though they didn't sound defensive. "The galaxy was hostile. We took what we needed to become stronger."
Tanya wondered why Feravincio took the human side. Surely there were other aliens she could have bonded with to create the ultimate race.
"That's horrifying."
"That's evolution," Feravincio replied simply. "Accelerated and directed, but evolution nonetheless."
Tanya looked at Sage, hoping for support, but the golden sphere remained diplomatically silent.
"I don't want this ship for genetic experiments," Tanya said firmly. "If I can get it running, I'm repurposing it. Maybe fleet construction, maybe mobile manufacturing. Something that actually helps people instead of dissecting them."
//A noble intention,// Sage observed. //Though accessing the ship's critical systems requires Feravincio's cooperation.//
"Indeed." The green light pulsed with what might have been amusement. "The bridge and engineering sections are locked to prevent unauthorised access. Only I can grant entry."
"Then what do you want in exchange?" Tanya asked, recognising a negotiation when she saw one.
Feravincio and Sage seemed to have a silent conversation as light pulsing between them in patterns Tanya couldn't interpret. Finally, Feravincio addressed her directly.
"When the time comes, assist the Holy Order. They face threats that could erase them completely. I ask only that you ensure they survive."
"I don't know enough about them to make that promise," Tanya protested. "You just told me they were genetic experimenters who kidnapped aliens. Why would I help them?"
"Because they're also the people who protected humanity when no one else could," Feravincio replied. "Because they've paid for their sins through two centuries of isolation and reflection. Because extinction is a punishment that exceeds their crimes."
"You're asking me to ally with people I've never met based on the word of a Gardener who thinks genetic experimentation was justified."
"I'm asking you to ensure they don't get wiped out," Feravincio corrected. "Not alliance, just survival. Isn't that what you wanted? To help people?"
The argument was uncomfortably valid. Tanya had built ships to help people, to open space to those who'd been excluded, to make dangerous work safer. If the Holy Order faced extinction, didn't they deserve the same consideration?
But she also remembered Prince Archibald's warnings about lost technologies and suppressed history. The Holy Order sounded like exactly the kind of organisation that powerful people wanted to forget about.
"I'll weigh my options," Tanya said carefully. "When the time comes, I'll make the decision based on what I know then. Not on promises I make now without full information."
Feravincio's moss rippled with what might have been approval. "A cautious answer. Sage chose well with you. You are stubborn but not foolish. Very well. I believe you'll make the right choice when it matters."
The green light expanded, and suddenly Tanya felt information flooding into her awareness. Access codes, system architectures, command protocols. Everything she'd need to unlock the ship's critical systems.
"The bridge and engineering are yours," Feravincio said. "Use my ship well, Tanya Furrow. And when the Holy Order calls—and they will call—remember that survival is worth fighting for, even when history is complicated."
The white plane dissolved. Reality snapped back into place.
Tanya stumbled backward, her hand passing back through the invisible dimensional door until she stood in the solid corridor again. The quantum glasses showed the door closing, dimensional patterns fading until only blank metal remained.
//Well handled,// Sage observed. //You avoided commitment while maintaining possibility. Diplomatic progress.//
"I feel like I just made a deal with someone I don't trust about people I don't know," Tanya muttered.
//Welcome to galactic politics. It rarely feels cleaner than that.//
But despite her misgivings, Tanya felt the access codes burning in her mind like new knowledge from one of Sage's educational sessions. She knew how to open the bridge now. Knew how to restart the engineering systems. Knew the ship's true name, lost for two centuries.
Genesis.
A ship designed to create new life through genetic manipulation. Now it would create something wanted. Tanya wanted to build from it bones.
She just hoped she was making the right choice.
And that when the Holy Order finally called, she'd know enough to make the next choice wisely.
"Amara!" she called over the suit comm. "Get Cameron and Janet. We've got access to the bridge."
It was time to see what other secrets the Genesis held.