Dax slowly became aware that he was lying on his back on something soft. So he wasn't dead, that was good. He couldn't move at first, so he let his senses inform him of his surroundings. He cracked an eye open. He was laying on a couch in a cozy bedroom. Faded tapestries draped the walls and LEDs glowed in the corners. The space was cluttered with plushes but otherwise neat. He could tell from the background hum that they were traveling through a warp gate. They were in Kyra's ship then. His ears told him that Ren and Kyra were sitting and chatting on the floor nearby.

Dax mentally relaxed. They had all made it out in one piece. He didn't like the idea of Ren and the young Vismutor getting close, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Anyway, Kyra hadn't taken advantage of Ren, even while he was unconscious. Perhaps she was trustworthy? Dax listened in to Ren and Kyra's conversation.

"No more questions, we had a deal," Ren was saying. "I've told you all about Navinia, so you explain Vismuting to me."

Kyra sighed. "Alright my intrepid pupil," She said in a silly deep voice. "First rule of Vismuting: energy can't just be created from nowhere. A Vismutor moves energy from one place to another." She waved her hands for emphasis. "A source to a sink."

Ren considered. "So when you change the shape of those metal things, you're putting energy into them?"

"Correct! It takes energy going in to melt them, and energy going out to solidify them again."

"Then, where does that energy come from? What's the source?"

"Good question, grasshopper! My burna- um, I mean the group that I learned Vismuting from- uses a technique with water as the source. Look."

Dax tilted his head slightly to see Kyra. She lifted up her poncho to reveal a tank top covered by what looked like bags of water surrounding her whole torso. It looked heavy.

"To move energy from the water to the koscas- my bracers- I freeze the water and melt the metal. See?"

Kyra took off her bracer and held it in her palm, using her other hand to hold up her poncho. The water in the bags around her started to freeze from one point expanding outward, and the metal bracer began to drip. Then the ice unfroze, as if moving back in time, and the metal in her hand solidified into it's slightly melted shape. Ren watched with interest.

"Normally the energy gained from freezing water wouldn't be nearly enough to melt metal, but these tools are made from a special bismuth alloy." She held them up proudly for Ren to see.

"They melt at a temperature of only one hundred and ten degrees. So it's much easier to manipulate them."

Ren was captivated. "How did you learn to do it? Do you think you could teach me?"

"Absolutely not," Dax said, sitting up slowly and wincing at the effort.

"Dax!" Ren turned towards the couch and looked his friend up and down. "You're awake! Kyra said you'd be all right but you really had me worried."

Dax addressed Kyra. "Stop teaching him about your sorcery. It's dangerous and unnatural."

Kyra chuckled. "That's some Empire propaganda if I ever heard it. What, are you gonna turn me in, soldier boy?"

Dax crossed his arms. "Don't worry. I might agree with the Empire about you Vismutors, but I want just as much to do with them as you do."

Kyra's smile faltered. "I suppose so. I saw your serial number."

Dax hand reflexively flew to cover the string of letters and numbers on the side of his neck. His hood must have fallen off as they carried him into the ship.

"You're a DX model." She stated. "'Dax' huh? Should've guessed from your name."

"I gave him that name," Ren said. "I was just learning Estoric letters when we met. I thought having your name tattooed on your neck was just another weird custom of people on the outer planets." He smiled at the memory. "That was before I learned about the Empire and their cloned soldiers."

He looked between Dax and Kyra. "But what did you mean DX model? Is there a significance to it?"

Dax let Kyra tell the story. He'd never been able to tell Ren about his past no matter how much Ren had badgered him. It didn't feel right to talk to Ren about things that scared him. He was supposed to be Ren's bodyguard, after all. He was supposed to protect Ren from the darker parts of the world.

"The Empire has been experimenting for a long time to create the perfect soldier." Kyra began. "They've been using human clones for forever, and tried their hand at androids a few times. But even the Empire has strict bans on sentient AI, and non-concsious AI can never quite beat human intelligence. So, they tried making cyborgs. Half-human and half machine."

Ren glanced back at Dax. Ren knew Dax was stronger than the average person but Dax had never told him about his robot side.

Kyra continued, "Of course, people have been using body modifications since forever, but the Empire was the first to go so far with it. Replacing bone material, adding hydraulics to supplement muscle, tougher skin, the works. The first couple models were a huge success, but then about seven years ago, they discovered the newest model- the DX model- had a flaw." She took a breath. "So they massacred all fifty thousand of them."

Ren grayed. "Th-they just killed-? That's...that's horrific."

Dax felt Ren's eyes back on him. He kept his own trained on the opposite wall. He felt tense.

"But, what was the flaw?" Ren asked. "You seem perfectly healthy."

Kyra looked at Dax. "Aren't you two good friends?" "

Yes, since we were kids, why?" Ren asked.

Kyra raised her eyebrows at Dax. You haven't told him?

Dax spoke before Kyra could.

"The DX model was designed so that the electronics in our bodies are powered by our own metabolic process. Everything works fine except for the arm-cannon, the thing you saw me use earlier. There are no problems as long as it's charged, but if it's used too quickly in succession, it automatically draws power from the electrical signals in our nervous system. Best case, we lose consciousness for a few hours."

"Worst case?" Ren asked.

"Brain death." Dax said as casually as possible.

Ren's mouth fell open in shock. "And you just decided to use it anyway?!"

"It was supposed to be fully charged." Dax lied, banking on the fact that Ren hadn't been aware enough to see him use the cannon the first time.

Kyra was watching him with pursed lips. She knew he was dancing around the full truth. Well, she didn't know Ren like Dax did. He wasn't ready to hear the truth yet. Or maybe Dax just wasn't ready to tell him about it.

Dax continued, the thoughts starting to spill out after being trapped in his head for so long.

"The Empire raised us to believe we were warriors of justice. That it was the greatest honor to protect our people and capture new worlds. I believed it, too. Then because of a stupid weakness they built into us, they decided we were better off dead." He made no effort to disguise the disgust in his voice.

"It's only thanks to my brother I saw through their lies and was able to escape." He rubbed his arm absently over the scar where the Empire microchip used to be.

"You have a brother?!" Ren asked in shock for the second time in a row.

"Well, not really." Dax said. "He was another clone soldier. A different model. But we were close."He suddenly realized how much he'd been talking. He needed to change the subject. Dax cleared his throat.

"Where are we headed anyway?" He addressed Kyra.

Kyra's contemplative expression slipped back into the casually confident smile Dax was starting to get used to.

"My home planet, Leiluna."

"Never heard of it."

She smirked. "I'm not surprised. The system is pretty far out of the way, and our warp gate is sort of a secret. It's technically inside Xindai territory, but Leiluna is pre-inhabited, so Xindai has mostly left us alone."

Xindai was a medium-sized nation containing about twenty solar systems. According to their religion, it was heresy to colonize those few planets with alien life - pre-inhabitated, they were called- even though it was much easier to do so than terraforming barren planets.

"Leiluna is safe, and a good place to hide out. The elders will know how to help you."

Dax cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you helping us? And don't just give me some lame reason this time."

An alarm on Kyra's ship sounded, letting them know they'd arrived at their destination. Kyra leaped up gleefully and sat heavily in the pilot seat.

"I wasn't lying to you before." She said over her shoulder. "But there is a little more to it. I'll explain once we land."

"Hm." Dax hoped she could hear his irritation.

Ren went to sit in the co-pilot chair and Dax stood behind him. After a minute they came out of the warp gate and appeared before a dusty looking planet. It was nearly all the same shade of rusty red and brown except for the poles, which were a welcoming shade of blue with pink and orange tones. Ren wowed.

Kyra sighed. "It's good to be back." She angled the ship towards one of the poles and they accelerated forward.

"Most of Leiluna's surface is uninhabitable," Kyra said. "It's too hot and dry. But in the poles it's just cool enough to support life. We live in a zone of endless twilight. Or dawn, whichever you prefer."

The ship shook as they entered the atmosphere and Dax strapped into a fold-out harness. As they broke through the clouds Dax tried to make sense of the scenery below. It looked like an endless pile of pink spaghetti. As they grew closer Dax realized what they were.

"Are those...roots?"

Kyra nodded. "Not technically roots like you're used to, but it is a plant. We call it a'anu. It stretches across most of the surface where we live."

It was true, they were tangled and spread in all directions, broken up only by the occasional body of water. Dax realized the branches must be truly massive for how far up they still were. They slowly grew closer to the surface of the planet, until Kyra set down on a mostly empty landing pad built from an arrangement of logs of the a'anu.

The three of them stepped out onto the empty landing pad. Dax and Ren looked around at the expanse of light pink rolling roots, many of them twice as thick as the ship they had just been traveling in. There was no other sign of civilization.

"So...where do we go from here?" Ren asked.

Kyra's eyes sparkled. "This way." She walked to the edge of the platform and onto a thick branched curving downward into the tangle. Ren and Dax followed and looked down. There were steps carved into the thick branch, leading into the dark. Ren shrugged. They followed her down.