Butterflies of the Dark Star

46 (REVISED)

He gave me time, I'm not going to waste it. He vaporized himself to give me this chance. I just need to figure out what he did before letting him know again, when he isn't unwell. It all leads back to the anomaly. Nova stomped off the central transit station while time ticked in her ears. Researchers bustled between the labs, with some entering the observatory to the heart. With Neo's infodrive in hand, she headed to the heavily guarded Class Z lab.

"Miss Zynaia!" she called before the older woman could disappear behind the doors.

"Miss Spacyn?" Miss Zynaia frowned. "You're not Teimea."

"I'm sorry." Nova held herself straight and put her hands behind her back. "He wasn't feeling well at the start of the shift. I have come on his behalf." Nova showed her the infodrive. "He would've come otherwise."

"Oh?" Miss Zynaia studied the infodrive. "Is something wrong?"

Nova hesitated. "He, uh, threw up," she explained and kept herself concise and to the point. "I'm going to urge him to go to the medical tower for a check up once I'm done here."

"Very well." Miss Zynaia waved her hands at the guards, and they withdrew out of their way. "Come in and take care. I'm doing a check on the arrays before heading to communications." Her gaze fell to the infodrive. "It's good Teimea can stay on top of things he puts his mind to. He's young, but has a brilliance to him that could rival Mx. Orili. He has a bright future ahead of him."

I'll make sure he can have that. Nova shuffled over to the array under the observatory gaze of the senior scientist. "Yeah, Neo always struggled with things that didn't catch his interest, but when it did, nothing could break him out of it. It's almost terrifying how he can zone in on something, to the point he'd forget to eat, even," she trailed off. "Miss Zynaia, he appreciates the chance the research team gave him." Even if the truth of it is... awful. "He has loved studying anomalies for as long as I've known him, and even before I knew him. He's told me about it. This is all he's ever wanted to do with his life."

And for that, it's killing him over and over.

Miss Zynaia smiled. "As I said, he is brilliant. With enough time and experience, he could be one of the greatest anomalous scientists in this galaxy. It is a breath of fresh air to see someone new bring their knowledge and view to the table." She released a heavy sigh. "Stars know we're lacking it with the disappearance of the D.S Butterfly."

Nova waited for the older scientist to leave behind the arrays before turning her attention to the anomaly. It boiled with the pure energy of a supernova, but chilled to the vacuum. Nothing on the arrays changed, and she kept an eye on the other scientists in the observatory. Into the field, she studied the array when it registered her as a new life form. Her. Her heartbeat. It pounded in her ears as it counteracted the heartbeat on the screen.

Neo's heartbeat.

It bounced off the peaks, fractured against hers.

Is this really his heartbeat?

Nova escaped the radiating field of hot and cold, and her heartbeat disappeared. You realised you needed to change the frequency of the fracture. You compared yourself to the anomaly and you saw your heartbeat mirror it. Nova slipped the infodrive into the array as it fed information in return. Blood slipped down her spine from the memory, taunting her to finish it. I'm not done. Neo started a chain reaction. As per Neo's instruction, she left it for the next scientist. I should head back to him. I have to make sure he's well enough for the briefing... we're still in the loop. We have to start over again.

Information committed to memory, she escaped the labs. Music rang, but she ignored it to focus on her goal. Someone had to as she waged war on the universe for one life. I have to watch what happens here, the time before the briefing, what I cannot remember. Back in the relative safety of the eastern branch, she passed the mess hall.