Pan chased the thing as it crawled along the ceiling. She tried to train her light on it, but the thing moved so fast.

She thought she beheld another arcane – the Soffigen version. This one was not the shining specimen that Era proclaimed to be – and was. This arcane resembled a failed experiment. It had a few extra limbs, wore tattered clothes, and showed irregular patterns in its mottled Soffigen skin.

If this thing even is a Soffigen. How in the galaxy did they make an arcane that looks so monstrous?

The arcane thing turned a corner, but Pan saw where it went. She followed.

Alban shouted. He fired his gun. He’d gone a different route and gotten ahead of them.

“Don’t hit me!” Pan shouted back.

“What is that thing?”

“Arcane.” Pan rounded the corner and saw Alban, pressed against the wall.

The arcane thing continued. Pan chased it.

“Brise is coming from that way,” Alban said. “Don’t let that thing kill my best security engineer.”

Great.

Pan drew a portal. She kept it close to the ceiling, and the arcane slid through. The portal popped the strange arcane out where Pan stood. She saw the thing did indeed have a few extra limbs. They ended in sloppy points. The mottled skin of a Soffigen hid under bands of grey.

“You look like hell,” Pan said.

The thing hid its face.

A hum filled the hall; light flashed, and the hall seemed to shake.

Pan fell. She caught herself on a wall and blinked fast. She found the arcane again as it fled the way she didn’t want it to go.

Pan pulled with all her telekinetic might. The tattered clothes fluttered, and the extra limbs waved like tentacles.

The arcane squealed as Pan dragged it back along the ceiling.

A ring appeared around the arcane. Again, light flashed. Pan lost her hold. She growled.

The thing slithered on the ceiling, and Pan chased. It slipped inside the entry room, where the two elevators stood across from each other.

Pan looked at the elevators. One rested. The other showed lights. It was headed down. The arcane thing paused above that elevator. It held itself to the wall, like a spider or a bug. Pan met its eyes and saw a greyish face.

“Can you leave that alone?” Pan pointed at the elevator. She beckoned. “Come here.”

The arcane watched her. Pan knew the thing was Soffigen, but she couldn’t help feeling it was also a bit Scaldin.

She gestured to her own face. “Look, I’m grey. You can trust me. Come here.” Again, Pan beckoned.

The thing opened its mouth wide and screamed. An arcane ring of light appeared on the elevator door. It flashed and disappeared.

Pan flung her hands up and covered her eyes. An alarm beeped. She blinked and regained her sight. The elevator warning button flashed, and Pan could hear the elevator on its way down – fast. The arcane thing had gone.

“Oh shit.” Pan telekinetically flung the doors open.

She reached for the elevator and caught it, letting it slide to a stop. It came to rest in full view at the bottom of the shaft. Brise and another crew member sat inside, looking dazed.

The arcane thing crawled from wherever it had been hiding and slithered into the elevator car.

Brise and the man shrieked. They crawled out of the elevator.

The arcane popped the elevator hatch and traveled up, through the car’s ceiling and up again through the elevator’s empty shaft.

“Hey!” Pan shouted. She couldn’t follow. “Someone needs to call Sotir and tell him an experiment is headed his way.”

Brise just handed the com to Pan.

Pan guessed she had to do it.

Everyone gathered at the storehouse entrance – the one meant for people. The outer door stood open. The tall portal let in an abundance of light, and everyone stood within it.

Pan snuck a look at Sotir. He carried a heavy box, which he insisted needed further study. It held a book, and inside that book, they’d found every one of Scaldigir’s arcane rings and symbols. From what Sotir said, the symbols had a use beyond decoration. They represented arcane powers, probably even Pan’s.

A crew member carried the second best find: a log of arcane related experiments. The file was packed full of boring observations, but to a trained reader, those observations would give them answers. And, in Sotir’s case, he might be able to conjure up a kind of movie reel and watch the experiments through a scrying disc.

“You’re sure that thing is gone?” Alban asked.

“Yes, it left.” Sotir nodded. “We only got a short look. It kept heading up. Left through the robot entrance.”

Irini shifted from foot to foot. “Do you think it’s coming back?”

Sotir shook his head. “It’s afraid of us, especially Pan.” He nodded at her.

Pan felt honored to be the scariest among them.

Alban made an audible breath. “Well, we want those artifacts, so I’ll send for a team to bring a shuttle. We can collect them. Maybe more. In the meantime, we should go back to the ship. I don’t know if we should wait here for Era.” Alban crossed his arms. “This place might be dangerous.”

Aria nodded. “Yes, I want to go back.”

“I don’t think it’ll be so easy to escape Era. I’m not sure, but it might be best to stay put.” Sotir lowered his gaze to the floor. “My vision is getting foggy. That might be good or bad. I can improve my vision with a scrying disc. I want it brought to me if we stay.”

Pan wanted to stay too. She wasn’t surprised that only Sotir agreed.

Pan turned to Irini. The girl shifted from foot to foot. Pan thought it looked like the pee dance. But, who was Pan to judge? Arcane work could be distressing.

“Irini.”

Irini stood still and turned wide eyes to Pan.

“What does your thread think we should do next?” Pan gave Irini a hard stare.

Irini nodded. She closed her eyes. A beat passed, and she opened them. “The thread leads out the storehouse, and…” Irini walked to the threshold and stared out. “That way. It doesn’t lead up.”

Alban looked where Irini pointed. “That way leads to the other facility – the potential lab. I’m not thrilled at the prospect of viewing it, but we may have to.”

Pan spread her hands. “That’s where we should go next. Let’s not run away. The arcane thing is gone, and we’re better prepared for it now.”

Aria gave Pan a worried look. “I don’t want to die here.”

“Well, I don’t want to die in space, running from Era. Irini found this planet for me, and I plan to stay and get this fight over with.” Pan turned away.

“I agree,” Sotir said. “You can stay on the ship, Aria, but we should trust Irini’s thread. We need to balance safety, with our goal to get information and defeat Era. That’s what we came for. It’s what we decided on. And, I still believe in that decision.”

Alban exhaled. “Alright. We’re staying. If that’s the case, I need to direct activities at the storehouse. We have a definite supply of records and artifacts here. We need to get them and document the place. At the very least, we can get the Soffigen in trouble for building a permanent structure on this planet, especially one with such a deep basement. Sotir, I want you to stay too. We’ll get your scrying disc, and before that, I want you to have a rest. Pan, I’ll send you and a small team to the lab.”

“What?” Sotir narrowed his eyes. “You’re sending her alone?”

“Not alone,” Alban said. “I’ll send volunteers with her. The group can walk to the lab, have a look, and come back. They’ll be safe enough. Especially with a reaper.”

“I can make the trip shorter with portals,” Pan agreed.

Alban nodded. “Alright. Go have a look. Be careful, or barring that, be deadly.”

Pan smiled. “I could do that.”