Keeva stood at the top of the ramp to Luna’s airlock and waved at the Gateway crew to go in, “Hurry! The air is escaping! We need to get in Luna or we’ll suffocate!”

Niamh waved for the Gateway technicians to enter Luna, “Everyone not providing security, take refuge inside Luna! Quickly! We can come back for the Gateways later!”

None of the technicians objected to evacuating and moved into Luna.

Keeva sealed the doors and bulkheads leading to everywhere but the mess hall to prevent anyone from snooping.

The evacuation here probably wouldn’t finish in time at the rate they were going and Keeva needed to find a solution that could help them speed up, even if it was just enough to save a few more people.

Once the last technician boarded Luna, Keeva closed the hatch and turned to Charlotte, “I’ve got an idea!”

Charlotte was a nervous wreck and was pacing as her tail swished furiously, her ears twitching, “Hmm?”

Keeva brought up a hologram showing in front of Luna, “We’ve got a ‘Gateway’ attached to Luna. It won’t stay open long, but it’s big, so it should fit quite a few people through before it closes.”

Charlotte stopped pacing, her ears perking up, “Oh! Let’s do it!”

Keeva crossed her arms and lifted Luna off the ground, “Didn’t want to use it because we have no idea what’ll happen if we open a wormhole into the ground or in atmosphere…” She entered the coordinates to the Babylonian city in the Museum of Ancient History, “Guess we’ll find out in fourteen seconds.”

Keeva activated the gatling drone attached to one of the Gateways outside. It was had already used a lot of its fuel, but it wouldn’t need to cloak or use its FTL heavily so it would probably have more than enough.

The wormhole device activated, but Keeva forgot about the light show activating the wormhole drive put on, and cringed at the terrified reactions of the crowd below.

The wormhole had opened just fine, despite being partially in the ground, revealing the Bablyonian city on the other side. It was hard to tell but there was a breeze coming through as the higher pressure air at the destination moved to the lower air pressure where they were.

Keeva severed the line connecting the drone to the Gateway crystals with a well placed plasma shot, and began scanning the wormhole with an anti meatball device.

Keeva tsked, “It’s closing faster. Gonna open another one!”

Charlotte turned to Keeva as she danced from foot to foot in anticipation, “Can… can you do… do the other cities?”

Keeva thought about the Japanese city that had just begun their evacuation and the Chinese cities that hadn’t even started, “Good idea! I should be able to jump between cities and open wormholes as they close. It’ll be tight on fuel, though. We’ve already used a lot getting back here and from charging the Gateways.”

Charlotte’s ears twitched, then she nodded, “We’ll… we’ll be okay!”

Keeva opened another wormhole, then Jumped to the Japanese settlement.

Keeva turned on the drone and lifted it off the ground, also severing the connection to the Gateway crystals. She then turned up the volume for the drone’s speaker and moved above the crowd, “The UFO will open new Gateways. Do not be frightened of the bright flash of light.”

Keeva found four spots where she could open wormholes, and a minute later was on her way to the Chinese settlements.

The problem here was her lack of ability to speak Chinese, and, unlike the other cities, no one was preparing to evacuate. 

Keeva spotted a large crowd gathering in protest at a large square in the middle of the city, with several hundred soldiers guarding the palace that dominated said square, “Guess that’s a good spot. Hope some of ‘em know English or Japanese…”

Keeva glanced at the Aos Si and dwarves watching her in the airlock, but none of them offered any help.

Keeva jumped in the Mk. I and put it a respectable distance above the crowd, “I will open a portal to a safe place, move through if you want to live!”

She repeated it in Japanese.

At first, the crowd reacted as she expected they would, with either interest or fear, those reacting with fear easily the majority. It was the soldiers guarding the palace that disappointed her.

Several dozen attacks of various elements started flying towards Luna.

Keeva easily dodged the attacks and began looking for spots she could open a wormhole, but with the now panicked crowd fleeing in every direction it seemed like it would be impossible with the exception of the now emptying square, where she wouldn’t open the wormhole there because she didn’t want to give the soldiers access to it.

Keeva decided she’d need to drive the people where she wanted. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but it might be the only way…

A Meatball appeared at the Babylon Gateway.

Keeva killed it almost as quickly as it appeared, but it was enough to spook the few dozen remaining people.

Another appeared, sending the people backwards as they fled from the drone and the wormhole.

Another appeared at the Japanese settlement, and was killed just as quickly as the first two.

Someone screamed in pain as a Meatball emerged from the ground, skewering him with its tentacles.

The Meatball didn’t have the chance to engulf its still struggling victim as hot plasma burned through its flesh before it could retreat back into the ground.

Keeva began to reconsider her use of wormholes. By putting the wormhole partially into the ground, the Meatballs could easily exit undetected and move through it.

Charlotte began groaning from worry as she fidgeted from foot to foot, “Keeva! What about the other side?”

Keeva turned to Charlotte, “The other side of what?” It dawned on her, “Crap! I’m only protecting this side of the wormhole!”

The wormholes she’d opened at the remains of the Babylonian city were nearly collapsed by this point, so she’d send the gatling drone there through at the last moment and take care of any Meatballs on the other side. It had helped enough that the remaining Babylonians might be able to make it through the Gateways before the air got too thin.

Meatballs started attacking the Japanese settlement from the ground too, but she dealt with them only losing a few people to them.

The problem was the Chinese settlement. She could already see the effects of the thinning atmosphere and people began having trouble breathing. This created an opportunity to create a wormhole now that people weren’t moving around as much, but she doubted many would be able to escape at this point. Still, she opened a wormhole and hoped at least some of them could make it through.

As the wormholes at the Japanese settlement finished collapsing, Keeva noticed several Samurai unloading some sort of device from an ornate box as well as several large magic orbs that they attached to the device. Whatever it was, it used a lot of power.

Keeva opened another wormhole in the Chinese settlement, and noted in disappointment that most seemed too suspicious or even scared of it to go through. Once the Meatballs started coming through it, she doubted anyone would choose to get near them again.

The Samurai finished setting up their device just as the Meatballs started coming through the wormholes in the Chinese city.

A soldier pushed a button and the device released a burst of energy, creating an opaque dome around the remaining two thirds of the evacuees.

The air pressure in the dome stopped decreasing and actually started increasing as air flowed through the Gateways from the Museum of Ancient History.

It suddenly made sense how the Japanese had successfully fended off a much larger foe for so long.

Since no more Meatballs were appearing, Keeva moved the gatling drone to the soldiers, “This is amazing! Is this how you kept the Chinese away?”

A Samurai Keeva recognized from the castle turned to the drone, “The Divine Shell has helped us in many battles, and today it will save our people again.”

The dome impressed Keeva, especially with how much area it covered, “It’s pretty big. How long can you keep it up?”

The Samurai turned to a man wearing nicer clothing than that worn by most of the common Japanese, “Lady Keeva! About twenty five minutes.” He turned towards the Gateway, “But if we may, I would request we attach your vestige to the Divine Shell.”

Keeva was fine with that idea, “Okay. I cut the one we were using so we cannot use it, but I think the Aos Si have an extra cable.”

The man turned to the Samurai, who nodded and sent some of his subordinates off with him.

Part of the old adapter was still attached to the gatling drone so Keeva turned to the remaining subordinate Samurai, “Can you please take the old adapter off?”

The remaining Aos Si and dwarves fled through the Gateways as the air in Mljos Tersa became too thin to breathe, and only the Gateway at the Japanese settlement remained open.

Keeva turned off the video feed showing the Chinese city. She had no desire to continue watching thousands of people die of asphyxiation.

Charlotte looked devastated and was sobbing.

Keeva felt terrible that there hadn’t been more they could have done, but kept reminding herself they’d done all they could. If the leaders of the Chinese settlements hadn’t been so stubborn and demanding, they wouldn’t have condemned their people to death.

She put a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, “Maybe we should take a break? We did all we could.”

Charlotte sniffled as she wiped her wet cheeks and headed for the ladder.

All the dwarves and some of the Aos Si looked solemn and the airlock was silent as Keeva and Charlotte left.

Keeva stopped walking not long after reaching the main deck, “Huh. That’s weird.”

Charlotte sniffled, but stopped and waited to see what Keeva would say.

Keeva was searching the Museum of Ancient history for any signs of Meatballs, which she did. However, hardly anything remained of them and she would have missed them if she weren’t already familiar with what charred Meatballs looked like, “Someone already killed all the Meatballs in the other museum.

Charlotte’s ears perked up slightly, and she gave a weak smile, “That’s good.”

Keeva looked around and found a nearby Adventurer, “Hey! Did you guys kill the Meatballs… um… the tentacle meat blobs that came through?”

The Adventurer shook his head, “We killed one, but we thought you were the one that killed the rest with your drones.”

Keeva didn’t recall killing any Meatballs here, so someone else had sent them… Which was probably the Builder. He already had dozens of plasma cannons guarding each museum, it would make sense there were drones inside them meant for killing any that made it in. She’d already seen the drones used for repairs and transportation inside the command center, so it made sense there’d be other kinds she hadn’t seen.

Keeva thanked the Adventurer and looked for her crew and Niamh.

All of them had made it as had most individuals from the settlements that had helped evacuate.

Mayu was still inside the shield guarding the Japanese evacuees, so Keeva sent a drone to talk to her before she had to connect it to the shield, “Mayu.”

Mayu was talking to the general Keeva had talked to earlier, so it took her a moment to find a pause in her conversation before approaching the drone, “Yes?”

“How are things here?”

Mayu glanced at the dome, “There was a group from a distant village that did not make it, but we should be done in less than half an hour.” She looked at the general, “The Shogun says the Divine Barrier should hold that long.”

The Shogun joined Mayu at the drone, then turned north, “What happened to the Communist Bandits? My spies told me they had yet to start evacuating.”

Keeva didn’t need to check Luna’s sensors to find out that answer, “I tried to open some temporary gateways like I did here, but I think they thought I was attacking them.”

The Shogun smiled smugly and spit on the ground, “Good riddance.”

Keeva wasn’t surprised that the Shogun hated the Chinese and chose to ignore that subject.

Mayu’s expression showed disgust at the Shogun’s reaction, then became stern as she turned back to the drone, “I know you were trying to help, but you scared many people and we had to calm them down. The Meatballs also killed two people.”

Keeva regretted not realizing the Meatballs would hide in the ground, “I… I’m sorry. I just… Well, we were running out of air, and I thought I could manage the Meatballs…”

Mayu’s expression turned sympathetic, “Yes, it was a good idea, I think. If it were not for the Divine Barrier most of these people would have died and the wormholes would have saved more people.”

The Shogun turned to look at the remains of a Meatball smoldering not far off, “What are these ‘Meatballs’ and why did they attack us?”

Keeva noticed the Samurai were back at the Divine Barrier with the adapter, “Can you tell him, Mayu? I am going to use this drone to help power the Divine Barrier.”

Mayu nodded, “Of course.”

The Shogun turned to look at the device projecting the Divine Barrier, “You will connect this machine to the Divine Barrier like you had the Gateways? I do not think it will be needed, but we have never made the Barrier this large so it is reassuring to have your help.”

Keeva thanked the Shogun and jumped the drone to the Divine Barrier device.

Keeva turned her attention back to the Museum of Ancient History and used a random gatling drone to jump to the door they’d found leading to its control facility. Like the door on Mljos Tersa, this door was embedded in the side of a mountain, though this one was in the middle of the forest, so they had only found it less than two hours before.

There was already a group of Dwarves and Aos Si at the door and Keeva approached the leader of the group, a Dwarven man with a long brown beard full of braids, wearing fine work clothes with straps filled with tools of all sizes that gave away his status as a senior engineer, “Got it open, yet?”

The crew jumped as none of them had noticed the completely silent drone arrive and the guards almost shot at it.

Once the lead Dwarf regained his composure he approached the drone, “Not yet. We have yet to find any sort of mechanism to open it, and the door is made of the strongest alloy we have ever seen. We could open it with explosives, but it would take a lot.”

Keeva already had an idea, “Radio. The airlocks in the domes opened when I sent a signal to them, maybe it’ll work here too?”

The Dwarf raised an eyebrow, “Radio?”

Keeva didn’t feel like explaining it, “Ask Anton later.” She used the drone’s sensor to transmit ‘open’ at the door, “Hmm. Looks like that isn’t it.”

The dwarf smiled, “Explosives it is!”

Keeva looked at the supplies, “You got enough here? We need to get to the spare gravity reducers.” She recalled a matter Becky had brought up, “If that black hole is freed it’ll send all the planets in the system all over the place and you won’t be safe here either.”

The Dwarf looked like he had no idea what Keeva was talking about, “How could this ‘black hole’ thing move things as grand as the planets?”

Keeva tried to think of a way to simplify the explanation, “Black holes are dead stars. The one in Mljos Tersa probably weighs much more than the sun. If it’s freed, then the sun will start orbiting it, and the planets will get kicked around.”

The Dwarf still looked confused, “Alright. That doesn’t sound good.” He turned to the others, “Boys! Let’s get those explosives ready!”

Some Dwarves cheered in excitement and jogged off to the supply carts parked to the side.

The Aos Si looked like they still had sticks up their butts and looked on with various levels of disdain.

Keeva turned back to the door and tried using different frequencies, when the door opened, “Okay…” She turned to the excited dwarves, “Sorry boys! No boom booms today! It just opened. Somehow.”

A Dwarf yelled, “We scared it open!”

Keeva moved the drone in and started bringing the cargo drone to the command center. It wasn’t a coincidence that it had opened only after she had arrived and the crowd in front of it had moved away.

Keeva had the drone enter and began exploring and saw the command center here was nothing like the one on Mljos Tersa. Where the latter had rooms filled with cloning vats and other such things, this only had a set of stairs and an elevator. One floor below was the first of the vast storage rooms, and one long elevator ride below that was, at the core of the museum, the command center.

Keeva used the gatling drone to look over the command center, while the newly arrived cargo drone looked for the parts they needed.

The command center was much like the one on Mljos Tersa with the exception that there wasn’t a system for controlling the ‘magical’ wildlife, nor a system for reviving dead Adventurers. 

It looked like the Adventurers were back to being normal people.

Keeva decided it was time to move Luna to the Museum of Ancient History, and exited through the hole in Mljos Tersa’s dome, then began the jump. She would come back later to collect the Gateways once she’d made more space suits, but for now, containing that black hole was the most important thing.

Soon, word got out and more groups started arriving at the Museum's command center via Gateway, including Luna’s crew.

As Luna appeared above the door she noticed an argument between the dwarves and Aos Si.

Keeva face palmed and motioned for Charlotte to follow her, “Gah… the idiots are already fighting over the command center.”

Charlotte shook her head as she lay on her bed, cuddling a pillow, “Go without me. I don’t think I can handle more bad things.”

Keeva patted Charlotte’s leg, “Okay, let me know if you need anything.”

Charlotte rolled over, and pulled her legs towards her stomach, “Okay.”

Keeva ran to the now empty airlock, down Luna’s ramp, and to the growing group of irate Aos Si and dwarves using her lightning fast speed. She then smacked the leaders of both groups on the back of the head before coming to a stop, “Shut up! We’re not fighting over who gets control over the command center! I’ll cave it in if I have to!”

The Aos Si went silent, but there was still grumbling among the dwarves.

Keeva looked at the leaders of both groups, “For now, the command center is off limits. Is that clear?”

The dwarf leader shrugged, “As long as these stuck up long ears don’t take it over for themselves like they did the Gateways.”

The Aos Si leader crossed her arms and didn’t look the least bit happy, “I agree, including you and your crew.”

Keeva only really needed access to the warehouse, “Alright, once I get everything I need, let’s seal it up until you guys can work on some agreement with everyone.”

Both nodded their approval and the group dispersed.

The crew, excluding Mayu, entered Luna.

Becky looked exhausted, “I think I’m going to rest for a while. Rushing the last of those people through while running out of air really took it out of me.”

Anton walked right to the ladder and climbed it without saying anything.

Sashae looked the least tired and turned to the camera in the airlock, speaking in her native language, “Can I help with anything?”

Keeva recalled her plan about cleaning the Dregasi home system of Meatballs, and replied in her language, “Oh! I was going to ask you about something! Why don’t you grab something to eat and we can discuss it there.”

Sashae put a hand on her stomach as she made her way to the mess hall, “I am hungry…”

Keeva focused her attention on Evan, “Where’s River?”

Evan sat on a bench in the airlock, “She chose to remain with those we helped evacuate to help keep order among them.”

Keeva could tell he looked tired, but needed his help, “Can you help me work on the anti gravity devices for the core? You seemed like you were on to something.”

Evan stretched his legs and back before standing up again, “I do indeed have an idea. We will need to test it, but I believe I know how to use the devices to contain the singularity, but it will not prevent the loss of Mljos Tersa.”

Keeva hadn’t expected to save it, which meant she needed to hurry and finish whatever she needed on Mljos Tersa as fast as she could, “That’s fine. It’s pretty much unlivable now, anyway.”

Keeva had watched Evan and Anton’s analysis of the anti grav tech earlier and had a vague idea of what they could do and wasn’t worried they could get them to work. It was more a question of how they would get them around the black hole since the ground had collapsed on the core. Still, it seemed Evan had an idea. 

She hoped whatever it was worked or they’d have to deal with the havoc a black hole would cause by appearing in the middle of a solar system.