✧ Chapter 4 ✧

While Styra captured almost everyone's attention, Broc was certain that she would not be allowed into StarSpace. Nevertheless, the DNA was still undergoing critical analysis by the doctors, so there was still time to determine if there was a genetic match. Flight himself didn't even know what to feel about it. Still, he knew Styra was alone back there. The death of her family was enough reason to help her belong. The idea of talking to Hisa again would not have been possible without her. It only was right to repay it back.

"Did she pass the test Broc?" asked Flight insistently.

Broc responded with uncertainty, indicating that the question didn't help.

"Well, DNA results are still being processed. This x-ray on the other hand is showing something beyond evolutionary standards for our kind. Far above us. I'm going to have a talk with Mr. Nebules about this. Otherwise, she does not enter."

Flight wanted to say something to convince Broc otherwise, but Hisa touched him on the shoulder to acknowledge allowing the process to continue as it should. With that, Flight looked at Broc and agreed with reluctance.

"Fine. Just please persuade him to allow it."

Broc was less than amused by the idea if it meant that their planet could face a serious risk by doing this, but he carried on to his office to make the call in private.

After Broc left, Styra was looking at the x-ray screen with fascination, but she was worried about it as well. What did this mean? Did they find radiation from the asteroid collisions? Did her DNA match? As she thought these questions up, she noticed Flight approaching her with someone she hadn't met before. Flight began to introduce her to Hisa as an old friend. Both exchanged respectable greetings.

"Your suit looks pretty. I'd love to wear something like that. Where did you get it?" asked Hisa.

Styra was bogged down by the thought of having to figure out something she didn't know. Regardless, this was a compliment so she was a little happy to improvise a decent response.

"Thanks. I actually got it as a gift... It wasn't easy though. By the way, I like your hairstyle. I was wondering if you could show me how to do something like that."

Even though she had mixed up her waking life with the dreams she had back then, the nurse that she thought she was once had a friend who was trying to help her become more hygienic. This inspired her to try and do the same on Perenorbius and leaked partly into this conversation.

Flight found what she said about the armor to be unusual considering it started to confuse him on whether Styra could have actually partaken in the cryostasis project or not. If they had already found out about her strange powers, how could he explain it away without them trying to kill her for experimental purposes? It never crossed his mind until now and that stressed him out. All the while, Hisa was in genuine amazement by Styra's reply at first, but as an interrogator, the way she said it was enough for her to tell she was lying about the armor. Still, she decided to keep that to herself since it wasn't really necessary for her to get worked up about small details like that right now. However, she was definitely going to visit this discussion later if possible.

"So, how did that examination go? Did you feel okay?" asked Flight.

"It felt amazing. I was in this white space with red lines above me as soon as they started it. Something about it feels so familiar though, like with the last vision." Styra responded.

Flight found her revelations to be intriguing since she had already proved it to him once. Hisa was interested too. Visions? There was something clearly going on between the two of them that told her what was going on. Flight's reaction did make her smile though because it brought back memories of their younger days. Then out of nowhere, an alerting voice could be heard across the vast runway of spaceships. Walking towards them was a bulky humanoid machine. Standing seven feet tall, it had green and white-themed parts surrounding its boxy metallic body, and a warm amber glow filled its five eyes.

"Hello, my name is Compass. An important announcement has been made by Mr. Nebules, who has requested Styra to visit StarSpace City for a special discussion in the Nebules Tower."

As the robot surveyed the area to see if everyone had gathered their attention towards the announcement, it noticed Flight's uneventful stare.

He was abrasively cautious of the news coming from a robot because of having to fight off a lot of them before from previous experience. With that in mind he began to question it.

"What are you exactly? I haven't seen you around before."

The machine was intelligent enough to understand Flight's demeanor in his words but it decided to explain its reason for being there anyway.

"I am the new messenger for Chief Boulderman recently assigned to Base 190 a day ago."

Everyone in the crowd that worked in the base knew that messengers translated information from high officials through the announcement feeds. This meant that they were able to understand almost every language discovered when necessary. The difference was, this was the first time a robot was handling that occupation rather than a person. Compass itself also had the innate ability to use DIVA's system to manage all communication data across different planets where StarSpace's inhabitants moved to. Not many liked the rise of these kinds of machines to help combat their former enemy. It traumatized many of their pasts, even though it ended with a peaceful revolution. The government was reformed in the process since many different leaders died from the cataclysmic conquest against their world.

Most of the workers started murmuring in the crowd, believing it to be a superstitious lie or that the bot was broken. Broc, however, came back faster than usual. He walked right next to Compass.

"It is true. While Styra does have a similar anatomical structure to our kind, she doesn't have any signs of abnormal diseases or radiation that could significantly harm us. The DNA scans on the other hand were unsuccessful. Nebules has made a special declaration in this decision. Styra can stay in StarSpace City if she agrees with our inhabitation of Perenorbius since she was the last survivor."

Styra's thoughts dissipated into oblivion. She didn't trust them at all. It was bad enough that they were doing this to many planets, but Perenorbius was her home and she didn't like the idea of it being changed at all.

"What will happen if I don't?" asked Styra.

"Then you will not be allowed to enter. Flight will escort you back to Perenorbius," said Broc. Styra felt she had no choice. Preserving her home was more important than visiting a place that most likely didn't care about other planets.

As she was planning to abandon her plans to go to StarSpace City, Flight intervened.

"Actually yeah about the mass inhabitation of her home... We can't just do that. She just experienced a devastating extinction in her world. A giant asteroid wiped almost all life existing on that planet meaning vegetation and water sources are scarce for most of the area. There is no way it can support much of any other life."

Broc nodded in disappointment that Flight would try to argue against Nebules' orders.

"Well, Nebules already analyzed your findings. He confirmed that with a few adjustments, that can be changed for the better to help make a more sustainable environment."

Flight couldn't believe it. Upon hearing this, he decided out of desperation to make a deal.

"Wait. Maybe we can come to a compromise? Styra knows the planet well, so it is best if we can discuss what she would like us to consider so we don't just go headfirst into anything we may not understand."

As Broc was about to respond, Compass interrupted him with another message from Mr. Nebules.

"The mayor has been listening to this conversation and will consider settling a compromise on his terms. First our operating chief of this base must decide whether the results deem Styra is allowed to pass through freely to meet the mayor for safety precautions."

Broc was on the edge of making one impactful choice. Styra was an unidentified alien as far as the tests showed. If she passed through, would she try to kill their mayor? It seemed unlikely for a couple of reasons. The armor they checked wasn't holding any dangerous weapons and her behavior wasn't hiding any suspicious motives. He trusted that Flight would be able to handle keeping up with her.

"Nothing out of the ordinary that could jeopardize StarSpace sir," he stated with a serious tone.

Flight nodded his head with confident satisfaction in the deal.

"Alright. Tell him we'll be over there in thirty minutes," he said to Compass.

Broc looked at Styra once more as he walked away to handle his other errands at the base. As everything was settling down, she walked with Flight and Hisa to the STS-0.

Hisa stated her farewells to the both of them as they headed aboard the ship.

"I hope you all have a safe trip down there. There is currently a search party for an invader across StarSpace. He may return but we aren't sure about that yet so be on the lookout and contact us if you see him," warned Hisa while showing a holographic image of a possibly accurate sketch of the invader from her watch.

"We will do our best. Take care," Flight said, as he nodded with approval from the cockpit. Hisa stepped out of the ship and waved goodbye as they steadily moved on the runway attached to a special rail system that ran from the entire airport area to the decontamination pod within the base.

As the ship was being lowered from the decontamination pod, Styra was starting to get worried about the compromise. There was a possibility that Mr. Nebules could be tricking Flight and her. After all, many signs were pointing to it. It sounded like he had been spying on them in the STS-0 and similarly used Compass to talk up the idea of discussing Perenorbius in his tower. Worst of all was the fact that he wanted it all under his terms. Styra would have to wait until they were in a more private location where Nebules couldn't track them both so she could ask Flight about the leaked information.

While these thoughts were racing through her mind, some astromasks fell to the ground inside the ship as it was traveling towards StarSpace at a normal speed. Styra turned around in her seat to look back at what had just happened. Mere seconds later, a small creature peeked from underneath the pile staring back at her. As Styra observed the pile more closely, to her amazement, it was a chie from Perenorbius. Chies were yellow flying furry herbivores that spent most of their time nibbling on fresh fruits. They had soft wings, a white star-shaped mane underneath their round bodies, along with puffy ears, and eyes that were a bubbly black. The radiation in the atmosphere would not have allowed one to survive such a devastating impact, but this was evidently different.

Although finding a chie was interesting, she felt that hiding it from Flight was for the best right now because Nebules would also be already watching their every move. In fact, all three of them were possibly doomed since the encounter on Perenorbius. He probably already knew about her powers. Talking to Flight that entire time could have created new information for Nebules to latch onto. The chie hopping onboard would also confirm his suspicions even more. Of course, he wasn't that stupid enough to know what was going on. Maybe it was a trap. Styra was about to tell Flight that they probably shouldn't enter StarSpace City, only to find out after looking outside that they had already arrived near the Nebules Tower.

Fluffy purple clouds surrounded the tall skyscraper. Her gaze traveled downward as she noticed the structure's squished cylindrical design had spirals of balconies reaching far down to the bottom of a widespread buzzing view of the city. The tower's runway at the top allowed for government aircraft to visit the gargantuan building. As Flight was lowering the ship above the landing zone, Styra nervously wondered what could happen next. Knowing what she had thought about Nebules' plans, the height of his tower seemed to signify the terrible ambiguity of the situation.

It was too late to turn back now.