The minds on the main control deck each went through a similar line of thoughts at various speeds according to their various levels of inclination and intelligence.

First, confusion. 'A Vance' implied that there was more than one Victor. Then, realization. There was indeed another Victor, the one calling himself Slash. A momentary pulse of embarrassment followed. That they had forgotten Slash. Another pulse. Because most of them wanted to. Then came the concern, the worry. Those of the crew who made it that far would look to Fumio. But many simply stood silently, waiting to have their fates decided by the new captain. What they feared was not that Fumio would give one of their crew away but, rather, that he would decide not to.

Then shame. Because they all hoped that out of both Victors, Slash would be the sacrificial lamb.

Fumio stood stolidly, looking without expression at the odd creatures awaiting a response on the view screen. Saying no likely meant total annihilation. Saying yes meant betraying someone he had just accepted the duty to protect. Which was why, when Slash finally spoke up, what he felt wasn't outrage at his suggestion, but relief. And, along with the others, shame.

"I'll go," Slash said. It was what they all wanted anyway. Slash was beginning to suspect that this was what the Speluncam had wanted from the start. Him.

He smirked inwardly and marveled at the complete unawareness of all parties involved as he headed back to the shuttle bay. The people onboard Nexus, the ones making the decisions anyway, felt like they were getting rid of an uncomfortable reminder of the fragile game they were playing with space-time. Slash didn't blame them. If they started to ask themselves questions like 'which Victor is real?', then they might have to ask questions like 'if we're not sure which Victor is real, how can we really be sure that we've returned to our universe from the wormhole?' It was the kind of messy, existential question that a group of adolescents didn't need to be asking themselves while they were trying to survive in deep space.

Slash approached his shuttle, stopping for a moment to look at the other Victor's. A few minutes' time had determined their fates, but there were still other nagging questions. Why had he returned to the same version of Nexus as another Victor? Shouldn't he have returned to the one he left? If Victors from multiple universes could return to this Nexus, why were there only just two Victors? The station should be stuffed full of him.

If wasn't something that had occurred naturally, then it had to be one of the two players in this game who had power on such an inconceivable scale. The Light Dwellers and the Speluncam. One of them was responsible for his predicament. Whoever it was, they would pay.

If the Speluncam thought he was going to play along like a good little pawn, they were mistaken.

He stepped into the shuttle, closed the door, and started the systems boot sequence while the bay doors opened.

-----

The front deck crew of Nexus watched the lone shuttle head toward the green ships in solemn silence.

"Are we really going to let him go?" Rajia asked meekly.

"We already have," said Eve.

Fumio sighed, not taking his eyes off of the shuttle as he spoke. "How long until the jump?" he asked.

"Thirty seconds, Captain," the small boy at the warp station said. Fumio nodded, his eyes remaining firmly fixed on Slash's shuttle as many others averted their eyes and made themselves busy with various controls.

Fumio nodded.

"Make the jump as soon as we're ready."

The boy looked up at the Captain and followed his eyes out to the shuttle, now a speck that was barely visible. When it was clear Fumio would not change his mind, the boy started pressing buttons rapidly.

"Aye, Captain."

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

Garret Vance whistled as he stepped toward into the glass pod in the middle of the virtual wormhole chamber. He didn't understand the science behind it at all - he knew it wasn't an actual wormhole proper - but that didn't matter. It had been proven to do what he needed it to do and was apparently guaranteed to be safe. As guaranteed as anything was.

A small, lingering tendril of doubt slid into his mind.

"Dmitri, explain this to me once more. Briefly," he said over the intercom. He looked over to the short, old, bespectacled man behind another layer of glass several feet away. Next to him were technicians and other scientists busily checking instruments as they prepared for what was about to happen.

"Of course, sir," Dmitri said. Garret had been careful during the early days with Dmitri, slowly earning his trust and building a mutually beneficial relationship. Once it was clear that he would get both the respect he so desperately needed from Garret and the other scientists as well as the funding and resources he needed even more desperately, Dmitri had caved completely. Garret wondered if the man was foolish enough to believe that they were actually friends, but supposed it didn't matter. Over a short period of time, gratitude, respect, love, or fear would be sufficient. The important thing was that whatever Dmitri felt, he felt a lot of it.

"The facilities here were built with the intention of making simulations of wormholes and complete, contained wormholes themselves. Aside from the dangers apparent in the latter, it is also the least prudent and most costly initial goal. The modifications that me and my team have made -" Garret smiled inwardly. Dmitri was already hopeless tied up in HQ. They owned him now. " - have created a specific type of wormhole, a variation that is sort of like the wormhole of a wormhole. In other words, a virtual wormhole. Most of the best advantages of both a classical wormhole and a completely simulated one. It functions much like an ansible, but will give your virtual presence weight and mass," Dmitri said, letting a small amount of excitement and wonder slip into his otherwise intentionally composed, scientifically dignified voice.

"Yes, yes," Garret, said. Being obliterated by the device was a concern of his, but not the concern. "But you're sure it's entirely private?"

Dmitri was quick to respond. "No human technology of this nature could possibly exist and, even if it did, the exact configuration of this wormhole would be needed to listen in, a fact unknown even to us right now."

Garret nodded, satisfied. Ansible technology was mostly private, but mostly wasn't going to cut it this time. The war between these supernal creatures was beginning to incite humanity. Spies from the aggressor's side were prevalent, though he didn't know exactly how high it all went, or how deep. One from their side could even be in the room. Thus, the last precaution that made the virtual wormhole the perfect solution.

"Excellent, Dmitri. And I will be imperceptible to you?"

Dmitri shrugged and nodded, as if he were beyond spilling the beans. Maybe he was mostly, but Garret knew the truth: whether or not someone would spill the beans depended on who was doing the spilling.

"Yes sir. Physically you'll be here, but you'll be totally imperceptible to us. The sensory information you receive will be from the other side, and the physical interaction the particles that are actually here will -"

"Alright, Dmitri," Garret said. The man did have a tendency to ramble. "And you've entered the coordinates?"

Dmitri scratched his head. "Yes sir, but I -"

Garret shut the question down with a stern glance. Dmitri nodded again, understanding.

"Need to know only. I remember."

But Garret knew the question would not die in the scientist's mind. A problem for another time. He composed himself.

"Do it."

The loud whirring around him as the machinery blurred and lit to life made him feel like time was standing still. Then he realized: it was. He appeared in the middle of a small space shuttle with an adolescent boy looking sullenly out the window. In front of the shuttle were green alien ships, large and looming.

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

Despite the knowledge that there was no turning back, it still stung when Nexus blipped out of normal space time, leaving Slash behind once and for all. The fire in his belly quelled a moment, replaced with sadness. Then followed fear as the ships came into view. He began to feel a creeping dread that he had made a terrible mistake.

"You're right, you have," said a voice from behind him.

Slash jumped up so hard he nearly cracked his head on the front viewport. The shock on his face was quickly replaced with a look of wonder. How the hell had his father appeared on board the ship.

Then he remembered. This wasn't his father. He had broken ties with this reality. His father was on a homeworld that existed in the same universe as a broken Nexus, itself adrift in time. As if things weren't confusing enough.

"What are you doing here?" Slashed asked, keeping to his side of the ship. Had the Spelancum been so anxious to take him that they couldn't even wait until his ship arrived? Slash realized it made no sense. They could have simply blasted his shuttle to pieces or sent a ship out to meet him. Strange as it was, it made more sense that a version of his father was somehow here. Well, it wouldn't be the oddest thing he had seen. He thought back to the scuttling sounds on the other Nexus and shuddered inwardly.

"What am I doing here?" Garret repeated, raising an eyebrow as we rested a hand on the pilot seat and leaned for a good look at the enormous green monstrosity that the shuttle approached. "I could ask you the same question, boy. It looks like you've really muddled things up this time."

A spark of hope lit up in Slash's soul. Was this man here to save him? To take him back through the same magical doorway through which he had himself come?

"No, I'm afraid," His father said, reading his mind. Slash hated when he did that. Hated it more when he was right, which was usually. "But I am here to give you a nudge," he said, turning to face Slash.

"Oh?" Slash said, being sure to leave plenty of distance between him and the man, and calculating his odds if it came to a physical confrontation. That was one thing that he and the other Victor had in common: neither trusted Garret Vance.

"Yes. Shortly, in a few moments now, you are going to get a choice. If you go onto those alien ships, you will be forcibly integrated with a hive mind to out exactly what it is that those creatures want to find out for their masters. Your form will be stolen from you. Effectively," Garret said, as if calmly listing an itinerary for an impatient space tourist, "you will be possessed for all time, living in a waking nightmare as your every action is controlled. You won't be fully integrated, of course. They'll need you as a back up plan in case things do come to a final confrontation with my son - "

Garret caught himself on the tail end of the word 'son', but it was too late. He had just implied that the other Victor was his real son. Unsurprisingly, it was the one that had chosen duty and obedience, at least from Garret's perspective, over helping strangers. Another rejection. The flame of anger and hurt lit in his belly once more, despite the fact that he had just been about to reject the man standing in front of him as his father, anyway.

Garret pursed his lips as though he had just spilled wine on a good shirt, then cleared his throat.

"Look, the second option that you will have, it's going to be a lot better than that one," he said, indicating the green alien ships with his eyes. "Our time is up. I wouldn't have bothered coming here if your decision wasn't much bigger than you. Just keep in mind that the Speluncam intend to eventually either control or destroy all versions of Nexus."

Before Slash could respond, Garret disappeared.

After a few moments to absorb all that had happened, Slash sat down in the shuttle pilot seat and looked listlessly out the window once more. It certainly didn't appear as though he had any choices at the moment. He looked down to the cabin emergency air evacuation button behind a small glass shield to the right of where he was sitting. Garret couldn't have meant -

That was when it appeared. In front of him, looking dinged up, burned and busted, was the Ansible Relay Station.