Slash fiddled with the star map he had been building in a private room in Information Room 5. It had always helped to calm him when things were getting tough on the station. But now it did nothing but serve as a reminder of all that he had lost. If only he had stayed on the other Nexus. Sure, he would have lied awake some nights, wondering about this station. He would have gotten over it. That station needed him. This one didn't. By trying to have it both ways he now had nothing. Next time he would more.... decisive.

"You're thoughts please us, anomaly," said a whisper near Slash's ear. He was up instantly, turned on the emptiness of the Information Room.

"Who's there?" he said.

"A friend. One who may deliver to you that which you seek."

"I have no interest in dealing with someone that won't reveal themselves." Slash said, but he was wondering about the word 'anomaly'. Were they referring to him being the second Victor, or to being any Victor?

There was a laughing hiss in the darkness, or something very like it. As if something that knew what a laugh was knew one belonged at that point in the conversation and inserted it intentionally. The effect was deliberate, forced, and as unsettling as the fact that Slash was talking to a disembodied voice. Had he finally lost his mind?

"You will see us soon enough, anomaly, and offer our proposition in person. Until that time do not share our meeting with your geometric-temporal counterpart."

Slash assumed the voice meant the other Victor.

"Is he an anomaly, too?"

There was a brief silence. Slash could feel the other consciousness considering this.

"We do not fully understand. You are both part of a whole, which itself is part of a bigger whole. Individually you are two sides of the same space-time geometric shape."

"I'll ask you one more time. Who are you?"

"We are the one who seem as many. You will know soon."

The voice faded with it's last words, and Slash somehow knew the presence was gone from the Information Room.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victor arrived at the bridge in time to see the green ships floating into view. There were hundreds, tiny green dots and a larger dot that Victor assumed was some sort of carrier for the smaller ships.

Fumio, Miguel, and a few others were on the bridge.

"Damn. What a time for this to happen," Miguel said as he prepping the weapons. "Eve and Rajia just went to get some rest."

"Good thing we stayed here," Fumio said. Then seeing Victor, "Victor?" he asked, uncertainly.

Victor showed him the 'V' tattoo on the back of his hand, still intact.

"Ah," Fumio said, visibly relieved. Victor felt a tad uncomfortable with the ease with which everyone had accepted him as the 'real' one. Still, at least he had come out on the winning side of things. But there was no time to feel sorry for Slash.

"Have you summoned Rajia and Eve?" Victor asked.

"Already done. We don't have an official Captain yet, but our little group has become the de facto leaders of the ship," Miguel said, smiling. Two people operating on a console next to Miguel exchanged a glance.

Victor looked out at the green dots and his brow furrowed. Something wasn't right. The Dwellers said specifically that this time the Spelancum would take 'another form'. If these green ships turned out to be the same as the one before, that was hardly another form. What had the Dream Dweller been so anxious to warn him about?

Slash arrived on the bridge.

"What's going on?" he said sternly.

"The Speluncam have returned," Victor said. In the face that mirrored his own he saw an expression of realization, as if connecting dots.

"Something you want to share....Slash?" Victor said. He tried not to sound sarcastic as he said the new name.

Slash smiled. "Nothing much. I might have found a way back."

Victor glossed over the comment, turning back to the matter at hand. Sure enough, the green specks had turned to ships that were similar to the one they had fired on. This was bad news. Very bad. Where was the new element? There was a larger ship with the smaller ships, perhaps it had some kind of special weapon?

"Miguel, where are we on weapons?"

"They're hot," he said, shrugging as if to say 'as if it matters against that number of ships'. Victor didn't blame him.

"And the shields?" Fumio asked. A girl at the shield console tapped on buttons as she responded.

"Nearly optimal. I'm not sure how long it'll hold, but I know it won't withstand a simultaneous blast from all of those ships at once."

Victor nodded. Still, it was important to take inventory of what tools they had available. Now wasn't the time for careless assumptions.

"How soon until we can jump back into the wormhole?" he asked.

"I can have it ready in ten," said the boy at the appropriate console.

"Make it eight," Victor said. "Get ready for two jumps. Into the wormhole and back out again somewhere random but safe."

The boy looked up from the console with an expression that said it was nearly impossible, but seeing the grave expressions on deck and the swarm of ships reminded him that he was their last hope.

"Okay, Vance. Uh, I mean, Victor."

Victor remembered a time when his biggest concerns were Roger and everyone forgetting his last name. Slash was smirking, probably having the same thought. Over at the comms station, a beeping sounded.

"Guys, their hailing us," a short boy with dirty blonde hair said. It was clear that there was no denying them an open channel, now. Victor thought of the other Nexus, ripped in two. Had he only delayed the inevitable? He looked out at the impossible swarm of ships. Indeed, had he actually made things worse? Victor's first instinct to answer the hail himself, but the last thing he needed was to breed more resentment with Victor Two -erm - Slash.

"Fumio, you want to handle this one?"

Fumio nodded curtly with a confident smile.

"Open a channel, Comms," Fumio said, stepping to the center on the Captain's platform on the bridge.

A green alien appeared onscreen. This time he was not alone, but surrounded by other green aliens to either side of him.

"Greetings, Nexus," it said.