The Ischyros approached a blue-green planet. Substantial clouds covered the planet’s surface, masking the shape of continents and oceans.

Pan watched through the tall windshield. She stood on the bridge’s upper rim, with Aria and Irini. Alban occupied the center dais with Sotir. Below, in the trenches, some officers paused to look out small windows that gave them at least some view of the space outside. Those in the rear of the trenches kept working. They couldn’t see anything. The few lucky people to work on the rear rim got unhindered views.

Why this arrangement? Pan wondered. What do the people down below do? Hide from the vacuum of space? That thought bothered Pan. She’d like to inhabit the trenches. The vacuum of space occupied the number one spot on her list of least desired locations. She wasn’t Era and didn’t think space would make for a nice swim.

But, maybe, space had nothing to do with it. Maybe, the strange design allowed arcanes to work, without getting in the way of officers and vice versa. The more Pan thought about it, the more it made sense. The officers didn’t really need to see. They had sensors. Arcanes couldn’t rely on sensors, so arcanes needed the big window.

Pan looked left and right. The upper rim allowed at least a dozen arcanes to stand side by side. She just had Aria and Irini – Sotir as well. Or, maybe, she should say Sotir had them.

After a bit of thinking, Pan realized that he had maneuvered them all to this point in time. He encouraged Aria to search for Pan. He encouraged Aria to bring Irini, and there was no way he went on a job with Alban and didn’t have an inkling that he might see Pan. Brynn had quite the point about manipulation and others. By no means, did Brynn have a monopoly. Sotir had a piece of that pie – a big one.

The difference, of course, was that Pan rather liked Sotir’s brand of manipulation. It excited her. It felt a bit like a game. As Sotir said, they had Scaldigir for their game board. Maybe, they had this planet too.

Pan considered the blue-green planet. She saw cloud cover over forests and ocean. The planet had separate continents, unlike Scaldigir. Most planets did, but Pan couldn’t help feeling anxious, seeing all that water divide populations. What did they do in the days before spacecraft? Sail?

“Nice planet,” Pan said to Irini. “So, this is the place I should fight Era?”

Irini nodded. She looked at her hand, and her eyes traced the thread, invisible to all but her. “This is the place where you should fight Era and find information.”

From the dais, Alban called, “Kill two birds with one stone. Let’s see how well the place fits our needs. It seems perfect on paper, and Irini’s thread likes it. But, I would like to know exactly what we’ll find down there. Start scanning – lifeforms, structures, if something else strikes you, scan for it. Let’s make sure all is as it should be.”

Sotir walked from dais to the outer rim. “This planet is known as Prossim. It’s a quiet world, good for research on biology and evolution as its species tend to move through their timelines very quickly. The Soffigen have great interest in biology, and they have a listed interest in research here as did other groups.”

“Really?” Aria asked. “I thought the place had to be near deserted.”

“No one stays long term,” Sotir said. “They come for a few months, perform their research and leave. But, the Soffigen have gradually taken up more and more of the allowed research slots. The past three years have been filled by their teams. They still don’t stay more than a few months, but they keep a small presence here in the form of facilities and records.”

Alban crossed from dais to outer walk. “Right you are. We’ve found some pretty permanent buildings on one of the larger continents. One could be a warehouse.” Alban showed satellite scans to Irini.

Pan could just make out little squares of dark color amid pixelated green.

Irini took the tablet. “Do you want me to do something with it?”

Alban nodded. “Yes, I want you to use this to pick a landing site.” He gestured to his chair. “Go ahead. Have a seat.”

Irini looked back at Pan and Aria. Pan just stared. Aria nodded some encouragement. Irini walked along the narrow path that joined dais to the outer walk. When she reached Alban’s chair, she sat, looking a little too small for the space.

“There’s wildlife down there, so I wouldn’t call this place deserted,” Alban said. “We’ve scanned flocks of birds, schools of fish, that kind of thing. There shouldn’t be sentient beings, but with permanent buildings, we need to consider that Soffigen and maybe others are here.”

“There’s a chance, but no ships have arrived in any definition of recent.” Sotir turned towards the window, probably watching the ships of the past come and go.

Pan nodded. So, Alban had some doubts. Sotir had his moving pictures of the past, which gave him a measure of confidence. Irini had her thread, and Pan trusted that thread.

Irini sat and looked at the buildings. She asked her first question: which of them are Soffigen? Little golden threads streamed across the page. They touched most of the buildings in the shot, although some of the smaller structures remained unchosen.

Irini squeezed her eyes shut. Which one has answers?

Three threads marked off buildings. The strongest two led to a large, rectangular place and a complex of smaller buildings. Irini thought they should start with the bigger place. It seemed isolated from everywhere else, and they would have one giant place to search instead of many small ones.

Irini asked her thread: is that the right decision?

The thread fizzled and tangled up her hands. It ran across the paper and touched the same places again. Irini frowned. She’d never seen that before. It was as if she’d confused the thread, annoyed it.

Irini glanced at the older arcanes and Alban. She tried to muster the courage to back up her choice.

Aria listened as Alban discussed Prossim’s history with his crew. A lot of people came and went. They settled in small pockets and conducted research. Then, they packed their things and left. Recent years saw less traffic to Prossim as a train line lost its connection to the area. It turned out the Soffigen had something to do with that. Without a good train line, many researchers picked cheaper places to conduct their work, places that wouldn’t require hefty rental fees for spacecraft or cooperation from a navy. The Soffigen then became free to establish a long-term research colony.

Aria turned away and looked at the windshield. Its aura looked like a child’s finger-painting – mottled, splotchy, a downright mess. The mess looked thick at eye-level, but if she looked high enough, she could find a place where it thinned, the place where the painter ran out of paint.

Aria brought her eyes back to the walk. She set her gaze traveling and studied each crew member in turn. She passed over Alban, Pan and Sotir. Aria double-took. Pan and Sotir had their auras intertwined. Lavender and pink joined in a twisted ribbon.

Aria couldn’t help it. Alarm rocked her. She saw it echo through her own aura in shades of yellow. She tried to remind herself that she saw the same kind of thing between herself and Gavain. She could find nothing inherently wrong with the way Sotir and Pan joined their auras, and she promised herself to keep an open mind regarding their preference for each other.

“As soon as Irini picks out a place, we’ll all head there. You too, Aura Reader. I’m going to want a read on this place,” Alban said.

Aria’s attention snapped to Alban. “Oh? You expect they’ll just let us in?”

Alban shook his head. “No, but how many Soffigen can we possibly find if there haven’t been many ships to Prossim? The sites might not be staffed. And, if they are, we have a reaper to knock on the door.”

Aria sighed. She watched Pan. Pan seemed to hear none of it.

“Get yourself together,” Alban said. “I want you to read every inch of whatever place Irini picks.”

Aria narrowed her eyes but nodded.

“Irini!” Alban shouted. “We haven’t got all year. Era’s still coming. She still wants to kill our reaper. You’re the one who suggested information, so give me a way to find it.”

Irini hopped out of the chair. “I pick this place.” She pointed to a spot on the tablet. “The big one.”

Alban took the tablet. “Ah, I was curious about that place. That’s the one. Glad we can avoid that set of buildings…probably a lab.” Alban strode across the walk and made the dais. He ordered his crew to set the Ischyros in orbit and calculate a trajectory to the landing site.

Aria’s gaze moved to Sotir and Pan. They still had an intertwined aura. Pan stood at the edge of the walk and looked out the windshield. She bowed her head as if to suggest the planet waited below them. Sotir bowed his head too, but his eyes seemed set on Pan. Colors of purple, soft blue, and pink moved between them, even some grey. Aria didn’t usually see such gentle colors on Pan.

It’s a good thing I see them now.

“Hey, Aria.” Irini waited at Aria’s shoulder.

“Yes?” Aria asked.

“My thread only kind of picked the place we’re going,” Irini whispered. “Do you think that’s okay?”

Aria nodded and whispered back, “You can’t expect your power to do all the work for you. There’s some room for interpretation. Take my power for example, I interpret it wrong all the time.”

“No, you don’t. You’re great.” Irini looked out the windshield.

“Irini, if I could keep you around to boost my mood, I would.” Aria smiled.

“Alright, my little arcane team. Let’s get to our shuttle. We’re headed down,” Alban called.

Pan held tight to her seat. She didn’t understand why the shuttle rocked so much. The sky outside looked clear, but the shuttle didn’t stop bouncing.

The pilot that Alban brought seemed to enjoy it. He joked with his copilot.

Pan looked back into the seating area. She watched Alban. He ignored everything about their descent and read over some information with his crew. Aria and Irini gave Alban their attention. Sotir gave Pan his. He sat next to her and stared.

Pan said nothing, just stared back.

Sotir took one of her hands and held it.

Pan’s heart skipped a beat. To the pilot, she called, “Can you do something about the turbulence?”

“You must be really used to trains and tugs,” the pilot teased. “Not everything gives such a smooth ride. This is real flying.”

Pan looked at Sotir. “The garbage scow handles better.”

He smiled.

Irini grinned and looked over. “I don’t think my dad’s ships ever felt like this.”

The shuttle lurched.

The pilot shifted in his seat and adjusted the controls. “This is a little ship. It’s not going to insulate you from every gust of wind.”

Pan shook her head and looked away. “Just admit the weather’s bad, and you’re having trouble.”

The pilot ignored Pan, so Pan ignored him.

“Do you get a bit air sick?” Sotir asked quietly.

“No.” She held on to his hand just the same.