I'm not sorry about the chapter title. I couldn't help it.

The wormhole device fired, and a wormhole appeared in front of Luna.

Anton seemed a mix of nervous and excited, “I hope Sucker will be okay…”

Instead of moving through the wormhole, Ryan moved Luna backwards, “I’m not going to get Sucker too close. Once I drop off the communication probe, I’m getting it out of there.”

Ryan moved Sucker “down” from where it waited “above” Luna.

Anton nodded, “I know… it’s just… Sucker is the first drone I’ve built that didn’t feel like a piece of junk, ya know…”

Becky almost patted Anton on the shoulder, but stopped herself, “It’ll be fine! Sucker will be in and out before the aliens have time to do anything. It’ll take less than a second for the probe to detach and move away. I mean, it was your idea!”

Ryan began moving Sucker through the wormhole when he noticed the weird distortions he’d noticed whenever they opened a wormhole. Becky seemed to think they weren’t a big deal, so he ignored them. Except… this time they seemed to engulf Sucker as it passed through. Before they seemed to move in random directions away or even back to the wormhole.

Anton was about to say something when she stopped herself and focused on the video feed of Sucker heading through the wormhole.

Ryan focused on it, “What in the world…”

Anton focused on it too, “Did that come out of the wormhole?”

Becky turned her attention from Anton to the video feed and immediately noticed the glowing golden orb as it headed toward them.

Chie moved from her position next to the door, “What could it be?” She turned to Becky.

Becky shook her head and appeared just as confused as everyone else, “Don’t ask me! All I know are the basic theories about wormholes, and even then the theories are just theories.”

Mayu seemed entranced by the golden orb, “Kirei…”

Ryan grew uncomfortable as he watched, “It is pretty… but… it’s coming towards us!”

The golden orb moved the short distance from the wormhole to Luna slowly and pulsed in a manner that seemed gentle.

Anton gulped, “Ya think it wants somethin’?”

Chie tapped on her chin as she considered the orb, “It doesn’t seem hostile.”

Becky turned and looked at the others, “I think we should wait and see what it does. It might just go away on its own.”

Anton shook her head, “We shouldn’t let it get close to us. Until we know what it is.”

Ryan was just about to turn on Luna’s FTL when the golden orb stopped, “It stopped?”

Chie furrowed her eyebrows, “It would seem so.”

Anton grew concerned, “Ya think it heard me?”

Ryan didn’t like the implications for that, “How?”

Anton shrugged.

Becky thought for a moment, “I doubt it heard us. Maybe it reacted to something else?”

Ryan had begun activating the FTL, “It did it as soon as I started powering up the FTL.”

Chie crossed her arms as she continued to study the now motionless orb.

Mayu nodded to herself, “I am thinking it is nice.”

Ryan agreed, “Yeah. As soon as it felt we would run, it stopped.”

Becky nodded, “Makes sense.”

The orb started moving slowly again, then, in an instant, it moved next to the usual breach and entered.

Anton jumped, “Whoa! It’s comin’ in!”

Mayu frowned and ran towards the door, “I am getting purasuma!”

Becky spun towards Mayu as she waited for Ryan to open the mess hall door, “Wait!”

Ryan didn’t open the door, “Becky’s right! We can’t rush towards it and start shooting!”

Mayu shook her head, “If alien is being bad, I will stop it from hurting us.”

Anton nodded and ran to Mayu, “I’ll go with her.”

The golden orb exited Luna and in an instant was back at the now mostly collapsed wormhole, where it disappeared inside.

No one but Ryan had noticed, “Uh… It left.”

Everyone turned to the camera feed at once.

Mayu moved away from the door, “It is leaving?”

Anton seemed relieved and disappointed, “That’s boring.”

Becky cracked a smile at Anton’s comment, then sat down, “Thank goodness. My heart was about ready to leap from my throat.”

Chie still seemed a little tense, “Perhaps next time we need to be more cautious when using the wormhole device.”

Ryan only half agreed with Chie, “I don’t know… It’s the first time we’ve seen it, and it didn’t do anything to us.”

Becky nodded, “I agree with both of you. We don’t know anything about this wormhole technology or what that golden light was or if it will even appear again. So, until we understand it better, we need to be careful.”

Anton shrugged, “As long as it doesn’t damage Luna…” She grinned, “It was pretty cool looking, though!”

Mayu sat next to Becky, “I am thinking we are worrying about Sucker now?”

Anton slapped her forehead, “Right! My baby!”

Ryan started scanning the area around Sucker, “Oh! Uh… I guess I’ll scan the area near the star first.”

Becky seemed perplexed as she watched Sucker’s feed, “This shouldn’t be possible. How can a transmission technology like this exist? Nothing should travel faster than the speed of light, let alone travel instantly.”

Anton shrugged, “Not the first time you science types have been wrong.”

Chie nodded, “The longer I am on this ship, the more I realize how much we don’t know.”

Becky smiled, “If it weren’t for the lost in space thing, I could spend my entire life using this ship for research. I can think of several telescopes we can make using Luna that would make the scientists back home sooooo jealous. In fact, once we get Luna patched up, I would love your help designing one, Anton. It would help finding our way home too.”

Anton grinned, “I’d love to!”

Chie turned to the door, “I will return to my research, so if anyone needs my assistance I will be at the lab.”

Of all the work everyone was doing, Chie’s confused him the most. Mostly because it was so boring and tedious looking at chemical bonds and electron shells. Yes, it was more than that, but it bored him nonetheless. 

Mayu stood up, “I am returning too.”

On the other hand, Mayu’s seemed the most interesting. Mostly because he got to learn with her about how the body worked. Her current project especially was intriguing and could revolutionize medicine, among other things. Most impressive of all was that it was outside her field of study, and, even though she already had a basic foundation, was learning quickly.

Following Anton was the easiest, and he felt he could repair Luna just as good as she could after watching her do so many repairs. He still wasn’t as good as her at designing, but he generally understood everything in that regard, too.

Becky’s work had gotten boring in a way, because it mostly involved mapping galaxies which got repetitive once he got used to all the math and other techniques involved. Still, the galaxies were beautiful to look at, so that was a perk.

He was learning a lot himself. The others didn’t always explain what they were doing or why, but considering he saw everything they did, he got to learn as they did. Well, it was getting harder. As they progressed into more difficult subjects, it became harder for him to follow their work.

Speaking of mapping stars, Ryan found the aliens after only a few scans, “Found them! Mayu, Chie, come back to the mess, please.”

Mayu came back first, followed by Chie.

Chie was carrying a simple metal box and placed it on a table, “Anton, your box near the breach came loose.”

Anton didn’t look away from the video feed, “Oh, you didn’t need to bring it.”

Ryan recognized the box as being like the one they’d left outside the galaxy and had since made more undecorated ones for other uses. 

Anton had put magnets on them and used them to stash tools in zero g areas so they wouldn’t float away, so he thought little of it, “Everyone ready to meet some aliens?”

Chie nodded.

Anton raised her fist into the air and made a cheer, “Yeah! Let’s go!”

Mayu mimicked Anton, “Let’s go!”

Becky chuckled to herself after Anton and Mayu’s display, “No point in waiting!”

Ryan activated the communication probe on Sucker, then powered up the FTL, “Let’s go!”

Sucker’s view warped, went black, then returned to normal as it made the trip to the aliens.

A large station dominated Sucker’s view. It was a large cylinder with six spokes radiated from the center. From their position they could only see one end, of which there was a hatch in the center. Several more hatches line the outside, along with several antennas at the end of each spoke.

There was a pill shaped ship docked at each spoke. These ships looked much like the probe they’d found, except larger. They also had more hatches along the hull.

Ryan detached the communications probe, “Off it goes!”

All six ships detached from their respective spokes at the same time.

Ryan was about to hit Sucker’s FTL when he lost the connection to it, “Crap. I lost the connection!”

Anton pounded her fist on the table she was leaning against, “What!? Get it back!”

Ryan switched feeds, “I still have contact with the communication probe.”

The probe had already moved a respectable distance from Sucker and had a good view of it.

Becky gasped, “What’s happening?”

Ripples that reminded Ryan of the phenomena that came from the wormhole were coming from Sucker.

Ryan got back his connection to Sucker, “I have control back! Getting Sucker outta there!”

Sucker left just in time for the alien ships to finish making their own FTL jumps.

Anton lay on the nearest table and let out a sigh of relief, “That was close!”

Chie gave Anton a sidelong look, then turned her attention to the communication probe’s feed, “Any idea what…”

Chie stopped talking when the ship in view of the probe’s sensor opened fire.

Ryan now took the time to study the ship and saw a single hatch had opened. It was a weapon.

Anton leaned up on an arm to get a better look, “It’s shooting at us!?”

Chie leaned forward, “It appears to be some kind of projectile weapon.”

Ryan turned on the probe’s mini FTL drive, “Well, I’m moving us out of the way.”

The probe didn’t move.

Anton furrowed her brows, “Better hurry!”

Mayu leaned forward, “Fight-o, little probe!”

The projectile hit the still stationary probe, and Ryan lost the feed, “It’s…”

Becky tapped her foot, deep in thought, though her face showed how worried she was.

Anton bolted upright and slammed her fist on the table again, “Ryan, what were ya doin’!?”

Ryan didn’t know how to answer, “I gave it the command! The FTL powered up fine and all, but it still didn’t move!”

Anton punched the table again, though not as hard, then took a deep breath, “Well, whatever happened, we need to figure it out.”

Becky nodded, “It’s a good thing we built the probe. We always expected this was a possibility.”

Anton took another deep breath and now looked to have calmed down, “Yeah, better than losin’ my baby.”

Chie nodded, “Indeed.” She pointed to the now blank feed for the communication probe, “First we should study the data and see if we can find the problem.”

Anton slipped off the table, “I’ll help ya. I rushed the probe so maybe I forgot to plug somethin’ in.”

Ryan put the data in question on the probe’s empty hologram, “I don’t think I noticed anything, but it’s worth a second look.”

Ryan moved Sucker a second time in a random direction, so the aliens wouldn’t follow its pathing.

Becky plopped into the nearest open chair and started tapping on the table, “So much for peaceful first contact…”

Mayu shrugged, “Maybe they are being shy?”

Chie turned to the others, “We should take action against the probe monitoring this system or leave.”

Becky nodded, “Yep. We need to leave. It’s not safe here.”

Mayu cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment, “Where will we going? These aliens are in all stars?”

Anton jumped up from her crouch, “No way! We’re not leaving until we avenge Lil’ Proby!”

Becky’s face scrunched in annoyance, “We’re wasting our time and only putting ourselves at risk if we attack. We’re better off leaving as soon as possible!”

Ryan pulled up a hologram of the probe in question, “It doesn’t have any gun ports on it, so it should be safe.”

Becky shook her head, “We don’t know that.”

Chie tapped her chin, and it appeared she was considering something, “It might be worthwhile to capture the probe. If we can analyze its technology and database, it might give us the information we need to survive.”

Anton gave Chie a nod then turned to Becky, “I…”

Becky raised her hand to stop Anton, “Alright, but if we even see so much as a weapon, we’re leaving.”

Anton crossed her arms and nodded, “Good.”

Mayu bounced on her feet a couple times before turning to the door, “I will get medicine ready.”

Becky turned her head and watched Mayu leave, “I hope we won’t need it.”

Mayu looked over her shoulder just before she passed through the threshold, “I am thinking that more.”

Anton broke into a jog and headed for the door, “Let me know when we’re gonna jump!”

Becky turned back to the holograms and sighed, “I guess we’re really doing this.”

Chie’s expression looked grim, “I am uncomfortable with this course of action as well, but if successful it will prove a great asset to our survival.”

Becky gave a grim smile, “If successful…”

Ryan turned Luna towards the probe, extended the turret, and charged the FTL, “The sooner we get this done, the better.”

Becky nodded.

Chie crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

Ryan noticed Anton was grabbing both of the particle beam rifles she’d stashed in her room.

Ryan immediately pictured Anton standing on Luna’s hull with dual wield particle beam rifles while shouting curses at the probe. He knew he should stop him, but… it would be fun to watch.

Anton reached the usual breach and leaned on the hull just to the left of it.

Ryan positioned Luna so the breach would face the probe as soon as they arrived, “Going in… 3… 2… 1… !”

In only seconds they were once again near the probe. Ryan had put them close enough to be in range of the particle beam cannon and plasma cannon with magnetic slugs.

Ryan brought up the turret’s targeting feed for Mayu and Becky and Chie. Anton had a front-row seat, so he didn’t make one for her.

Becky gasped at the same time Ryan noticed, “What…”

The probe looked different. Almost as if... “Is that flesh?”

It reminded him of that pink mold that grew in webs on rocks he’d seen in a documentary once. It was disgusting to look at. All along the hull webs of flesh grew across the probe. He could even see it pulsating.

Anton reacted first and stepped to her right so she could see and aim through the breach, “Take this!”

She shot with only one rifle.

This spurred Ryan into action as he aimed at the alien probe. He didn’t know where to aim, so aimed at the left end of it and fired.

Anton’s shot hit, but only a glancing one as it was on the probe’s hull near the edge where the curvature and angle made the beam deflect off and impact the asteroid.

Ryan’s shot hit true, but he had no way of knowing what kind of damage he’d done.

The flesh near his shot began writhing and covered the hole.

Becky wretched, “This isn’t worth it, let’s get out of here!”

Ryan noticed a bulbous area of flesh lengthen, then glow, “What the…”

Ryan turned to aim at this patch of flesh, and fired. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t want to see what would happen if he left it alone.

The plasma beam impacted the patch of flesh and burned a hole in it. 

It had no effect as the patch continued to grow.

Anton fired again, this time with some more success.

Ryan switched to plasma cannon mode and fired, “Let’s try burning it.”

Becky began pacing, and it was obvious she wasn’t happy Ryan ignored her.

Chie watched Becky, “We should wait a little longer. This turn of events is most peculiar.”

A beam of energy burst from the patch of flesh and impacted Luna.

Warnings and errors came to Ryan’s attention, and he swore when he saw what they were for, “It shot the FTL!”

Becky stopped her pacing and a look of horror replaced her irritation, “What are we going to do!?”

Chie looked grim, “We keep shooting.”

Anton tsked, “I can’t hit from here, I’m going in!”

Anton pushed herself through the breach.

Ryan almost stopped her by taking control of her suit, “It’ll take you too long to get close enough just using thrusters.”

Anton continued to float towards the probe, “I’m not sitting around waiting for Luna to get shot apart.”

The flesh fired again just before the plasma shot struck it.

This time he got several warnings from the turret and it became unresponsive, “That one got the turret!”

The plasma hit the weapon on the alien probe.

The flesh blackened and curled as the plasma burned it, and nearby healthy tissue recoiled from the heat.

Anton turned back to Luna and cursed, “Looks like it’s time to test out Repairy McRepair Face. Send it to the turret and let’s see what we can do.”

Despite Becky’s dread, she still cringed at the drone’s name and groaned.

Ryan cursed at himself for forgetting about their new repair drone and powered it up, “On the way! It looks like we took out each other's weapons so whoever repairs their thing first wins.”

Anton wasn’t too far away from Luna yet so it only took her a few seconds to reach the turret, “Plasma cannon’s too far gone for a quick repair, but I should be able to bypass some stuff and get the particle beam working again.” She paused, “Send Repairy McRepair Face to the FTL and see what needs ta get done.”

Repairy McRepair Face was in the fabrication room, so it would take a minute to get to the FTL.

Anton started pulling tools from her belt and started working on the turret.

Ryan used the thrusters to push Luna away from the alien probe, “I’m moving us away.”

Becky grabbed her spacesuit helmet from where she’d left it on a table near her work area, “I’ll go help.”

Chie had placed hers on a table near the door, “I will come as well.”

They put their helmets on.

Mayu left the med bay, “I will stay and wait for parts to take.”

Becky nodded, and she and Chie left.

Ryan watched the probe while he waited for Chie, Becky, and Repairy McRepair Face to reach the FTL drive.

The probe’s arms detached from the asteroid, and it lifted away from it. 

Three bulges formed from the flesh on the probe, noticeably reducing the flesh left on it.

A bulge launched from the probe and sailed towards Luna, but disappeared not long after.

Ryan tried finding it, but couldn’t see anything, so he moved Luna to the side just in case and turned his attention back to the alien probe.

The probe was moving faster than Luna, “The probe is coming to us! I can’t outrun it with these damaged thrusters, but it hasn’t used FTL yet, so maybe we did some damage.”

Anton chuckled, “So we took out the same targets on each other.”

Chie nodded to herself, “It would make sense. Remove your prey’s ability to escape, and then their ability to fight back.”

The probe shot the two remaining bulges at Luna, which disappeared too. 

This worried Ryan more than if it had caused damage, “The probe shot some meatball looking things at us, but they disappeared so I don’t know where they went.”

Anton cheered, “Got it! Blast ‘em! I’ll go help fix the FTL.”

Ryan started charging the particle beam. It was slower, but it was working again.

Ryan noticed an odd distortion in the airlock. It reminded him of something...

Ryan took a few moments to register what was happening, “Uh… what in the… Hey guys! We’ve been boarded! There’s something in the airlock that’s nearly invisible! I think it could be one of those meatball things the probe shot at us.”

Becky swore.

Mayu went into the hallway from the fabrication room, “I will go watching.”

One of the meatballs appeared from the probe next to Anton. Only now it had tentacles.

Anton lifted her cutting torch and lunged at it, “One’s here!”

Becky screamed, “Get out of there!”

Anton slashed the torch at the approaching meatball but missed as it easily dodged her swing, “It’s fast!”

Mayu rushed into the med bay, where she grabbed her plasma cannon, “I will be helping!”

The meatball reached towards Anton.

Anton struck at the meatball again with the cutting torch.

The meatball used a tentacle to push Anton’s arm to the side, before reaching out with two more.

Anton’s suit registered air loss.

Anton screamed, “Get offa me! Get off!”

She tried to move the cutting torch to attack again, but the tentacle had wrapped around her right wrist and held it in place.

Anton screamed again as her wrist bent and twisted.

She screamed again, “Get outta me! Get outta my body!”

Ryan couldn’t see what was happening to Anton. He could see the meatball, but not what it was doing to Anton.

Mayu reached the usual breach.

Anton gasped, “Get ‘em for me, guys.”

Anton went limp. 

Her vitals showed she was still alive, but they were slowing.

Mayu left the breach and easily found Anton thanks to Ryan’s directions on her HUD.

The meatball paused as it noticed Mayu.

Mayu shot her plasma cannon, “I am saving you Anton!”

The meatball withdrew its tentacles from Anton, and the rate of air loss increased dramatically.

Anton’s left arm shot forward and caught a tentacle, “You’re… not…”

The plasma shot hit true, and the meatball’s flesh burned and blackened under the intense heat.

Anton’s glove holding onto the tentacle blackened from the heat, but stayed intact.

Mayu moved next to Anton, kicking the remains of the meatball away.

Now that Mayu was there, Ryan could see Anton’s state through her camera.

Most obvious were the two holes over her stomach where air and blood escaped. Her right wrist looked mangled, and her left burned. She still held the tentacle she’d grabbed.

Mayu opened a pouch at her waist and pulled out a roll of patching tape, “Becky! Can you come?”

Becky, who had frozen in place next to the FTL drive, jerked in response, “Yes!”

Chie didn’t look up, “Good luck.”

The third meatball appeared on his camera feed for Mayu.

Mayu jumped back as tentacles whipped towards her.

A tentacle wrapped around her helmet.

Just as it jerked her forward, she grabbed the plasma cannon from where it floated behind her and aimed it at the meatball.

The meatball tried to wrest the cannon from Mayu’s grasp, but it was too slow, and got hit point blank with plasma.

Mayu looked around.

Ryan checked on the position of the last meatball, “You’re safe now, Mayu. The last one is…” He had followed the distortion to the hallway just outside the reactor, “outside the reactor room.”

Mayu glanced at Anton, then looked in the direction Becky was coming from, “Becky, come to med bay and start looking in Anton. I will kill monster then come back. Ryan can be helping you.”

Mayu didn’t wait for a response and headed to the usual breach with Anton.

Anton’s vitals flatlined.

The meatball paused at the door to the reactor and moved towards the wall.

The turret finished charging, and Ryan fired immediately at the probe.

Becky joined Mayu and took Anton from her, “You’re going to be okay, Anton. You’re going to be okay.”

The particle beam hit the probe and punched a hole through it and out the other side.

The probe started spiraling, and no longer followed them as its trajectory started veering off to the side.

Mayu split off from Becky and headed for the reactor room, while Becky turned to go to the med bay.

A meatball appeared next to the reactor and reached towards it with its tentacles.

Ryan didn’t like the looks of this, “Hurry, Mayu. The meatball is going to do something to the reactor.”

The meatball disappeared again.

Ryan wondered if it knew Mayu was coming, “Be careful, it disappeared again. I think it’s waiting for you by the door.”

Mayu stopped in front of the reactor room door.

The meatball appeared next to Mayu and shot tentacles at her.

Mayu dodged to her left and aimed the plasma cannon at the meatball then fired.

The meatball dodged and the plasma only partially hit it, but it was enough to send it reeling in pain.

Long enough for Mayu to get a second shot off before it could recover.

Mayu poked the burnt meatball to see if it was still alive before turning and heading to med bay.

Becky lay Anton on a bed.

Ryan pressurized the room and reengaged the artificial gravity, and Becky started stripping Anton’s space suit once the pressure got high enough.

Ryan started the medical scanner, “Mayu killed the last alien and is coming.”

Becky stepped back and watched the scanner, her entire body shaking, “Is… is she going to be okay?”

Ryan didn’t like what he saw from the initial scans, “It’s… it’s looking like the alien messed her insides up with its tentacles. There’s also a chemical I don’t recognize. I think it might be poison.”

Becky’s face fell, “Can you do anything about it?”

Ryan wasn’t sure, “It’s hard to say, we’ve never used any of these tools in an emergency before.”

Becky started looking around, “I shouldn’t be standing here, what can I do?”

Mayu entered the room and pushed Becky out of the way, and spoke in Japanese, “We need to restart her heart.”

Ryan had linked Anton’s vitals to her HUD, so she’d have a head start.

Mayu grabbed a flat object and placed it on the skin over Anton’s heart and began her work.

Becky looked around as she nearly hyperventilated, “There must be something I can do.”

Ryan wasn’t sure what he could even do, “I’ll let you know.” He switched to Japanese, “I think Anton was poisoned.”

Mayu paused, squeezed the tool hard enough for her knuckles to turn white, then activated the device, “This will help her blood flow until we fix her heart.” She took a pen shaped device that sterilized skin and used it on Anton’s neck. She then turned to Becky, “Can you be getting a tube with pipes on ends?” She pointed to a drawer near Becky.

Becky nodded and ran to the drawer.

Mayu examined Anton’s scan and her face grew dark, then spoke in Japanese, “It might be too late. The poison is already in most of her vital organs. Even if we saved her now, the damage to her brain alone is…” She looked up as Becky brought the device to her, “Thank you.”

Becky took a few steps back, “Anything else I can do?”

Mayu shook her head and attached the device to the artery in Anton’s neck, “I am thinking fixing Luna is better now for you.”

Becky glanced at Anton’s med scan, Anton, then back to Mayu, “Okay, but if you need any more help…”

Mayu turned to Becky and gave her a reassuring smile, “This will clean the poison, but will be more time to finish. Cuts in stomach are easy to be fixing.”

Becky nodded and turned to leave, “Good luck.”

Ryan opened the door to the fabrication room once Becky left med bay, “There're some parts ready, if you’ll take them with you.”

Becky nodded and entered the fabrication room where she began filling a large container with parts.

Ryan got an error from the turret. It looked like he wouldn’t be firing it again.

Once she put the parts in the container she patted her waist, “Oh yeah, I need to get some tools.”

Ryan remembered one of Anton’s tool boxes still sat in the mess hall, “There’s that tool box Chie brought to the mess hall.”

Becky nodded and turned away from the mess of tools littering the shelves in the fabrication room, “Right.”

Becky left the fabrication room, grabbed the box in the mess hall, and headed for the FTL.

Once in the FTL room, she opened the container of parts and Ryan stopped helping Chie remove damaged parts with Repairy McRepair Face and got to work replacing them.

Becky inspected the work the two had done, “I’ll help with the wiring.”

Chie turned to Becky, “How’s Anton.”

Becky shook her head, “Not good. The alien poisoned her, and they had to put her on an artificial heart.”

Chie looked down, “I’m sure Mayu will do the best she can.”

Becky nodded but her voice didn’t sound confident, “Yeah.”

Ryan wished there was more he could do, “Yeah. She’s done her best to understand the tools she has and I’ll help her as best I can.”

Becky looked at the tool box she still held, “I could tell. She got to work so fast.”

Becky opened the toolbox, “I better get working so Anton has less…”

There weren’t any tools in the toolbox. Instead, there was a gold phallus identical to the one Anton made for the time capsule and a note.

Becky picked up the note, “Chie, that box you picked up wasn’t one of Anton’s tool boxes.”

Chie glanced up, “Indeed?”

Becky looked at the note, “There’s a note inside.”

Ryan read the note:

Congratulations on escaping the void! I knew you had it in you! 

You were the loneliest and most isolated group, but you’re the only ones that have their very own spaceship, so I thought it was suitable compensation. 

I know you want some more rest and time to repair your ship before you continue your journey, but if you can pass this next trial in short order, I will invite you to my home where you can relax for a spell with greater comfort than you could otherwise before continuing your travels.

Until then, stay safe and good luck!

P.S. I’m not entirely fond of phalli, so I am returning it.

Becky put the note back in the toolbox, “Ryan?”

Ryan went through the message in his head again then thought about where Becky had found the box, “Could it be… Did the gold orb leave the message?”

Chie stopped her work and looked at the toolbox, “That seems likely.”

Becky closed the toolbox, “Let’s worry about it after we fix this thing.” 

Chie nodded and turned her attention back to the FTL drive, “I concur.”

Ryan watched Becky and Chie. Mayu and Anton. The alien probe. 

He became even more determined to get them through this. If he could figure out what was wrong with the turret and get it working again… 

This chapter is the one I've been worrying about the most. In the first version the introduction of the meatball aliens didn't seem like it was well received, nor was I satisfied with it and was one of the reasons I restarted the story.

I also worry about my ability to write space battles, as this story is my first time writing them.

I think I did better this time around, but still worry if I should have waited a little longer for the meatball aliens to make their physical appearance.

Fun fact. The rough draft had Sucker getting destroyed after escaping after dropping off the probe, but as I was getting ready to edit I decided leaving it operational worked better. That and the way it got destroyed seemed cheap.

Anyway... go eat some meatballs! You know you want to.