More tests followed as Axchxairx familiarized himself with the facility’s equipment plus the gear he’d had shipped on Gyrfalcon. The results varied; from having no effect to one that was shut down prematurely when it threatened to destabilize the station. The humans were no more enlightened than they were at the beginning since the doctor’s explanations were rarely understood. He was more than happy to answer their questions, but the doctor was operating on an entirely different level than the rest of them.

Either that, or he was just spouting nonsense. Who could say?

But that didn’t stop them from trying to learn more. Their very lives could well depend on getting it right, even if they were struggling with the questions.

As the Eleexx scientist prepared for another attempt, Remi and the others tried one of their own. “There’s something we’ve been wondering,” he asked casually. “What’s so special about this region of space? You said there were unusual readings here, particles not found elsewhere, but my question is why? Why here?”

Axchxairx looked up from his console and gave an almost Terran-like shrug. “There are many competing theories,” he explained, “though none have found widespread acceptance.”

“Why is that?” he continued.

“None of them have enough supporting evidence to convince the scientific community,” the doctor revealed, “or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say the contradictory data has shattered every attempt at a more cohesive thesis.” He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice to more conspiratorial tones. “But I believe I have come up with a model at last that explains the errant data, though my contemporaries dismiss it out of hand.” He seemed disgusted by that.

“Oh?” Mairead interjected. “What’s your theory?”

“That somehow it involves the Precursors,” he said matter-of-factly, “though I am still working to determine in what capacity.”

The crew shared a few carefully guarded looks. “What makes you think the Precursors are involved?” Remi asked, shooting for innocent curiosity.

“Because otherwise, the data makes no sense,” the scientist blurted out. “The exotic particles found here appeared to have been manufactured, though by what process I do not yet know.”

The crew stared at him in disbelief. “How do you create a particle?” Xuilan wondered aloud.

“I do not know!” Axchxairx exclaimed. “That is what makes it so intriguing!”

Remi took a moment to consider that. “If the Precursors had something to do with the… strange nature of this system… what do you suppose it was? What were they doing here?”

“Again, I do not know for certain,” the scientist sighed, “though I have my suspicions.”

“Okay, what do you suspect they were doing?” Isi prompted him.

“Well…” he began, only to stop and shake his head. “... no. You would think me mad.”

“Try us,” Remi urged. “We might just surprise you.” The crew leaned in, hanging on his every word.

They could see he was wrestling with whether to share his theory, when finally exuberance won out. “You must understand this is merely a hypothesis, but… I believe they were attempting to pierce the very fabric of spacetime itself.”

Remi blinked. “I’m sorry, they were what?”

“I know! Madness!” he exclaimed. “And yet, based on my observations, it is the only explanation that makes sense. I do know yet know what it was they were attempting. Were they experimenting with some new method of propulsion? Exploring other dimensions? Or… perhaps they were seeking to alter the nature of reality itself.”

“Change reality?” Xuilan yelped. “How? Why?”

“’How’, I do not know, but as to ‘Why’...” He paused for a moment, considering his answer. “Imagine being able to create anything you wished, instantly, with a mere thought,” Axchxairx said hoarsely. “Imagine what one might do with that kind of power. You could simply wish the Yīqún away, erasing them from existence with a wave of your hand. If I am correct, and if I am able to somehow unravel the mystery they left behind, then nothing is impossible.” His bulbous compound eyes seemed to grow even larger as his excitement reached a climax. “With that kind of power… one would be a god.”

That last sentence hit them like a punch to the belly. “That’s… fascinating, doctor,” Remi got out. “I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. But if you’ll excuse us, there’s some housekeeping duties we need to attend to back aboard ship. We’ll leave you to your experiments.” The scientist gave them a vague nod, his mind already engrossed with his research as the crew made a discreet withdrawal. Slavko started to say something, but a single look from his captain immediately shut him down.

Returning to Gyrfalcon, Remi waited until they were all on board. “Close and seal the hatches,” he ordered, his face a mask as they made their way to the mess deck, taking their seats around the table. Glancing at his engineer, he asked, “Is there any way he can overhear us?”

“Doubt it,” Mairead shrugged. “None of the equipment I’ve seen is for surveillance.”

“Good.” Looking at each of them, he said quietly, “What the hell do we do now?”

“He could be wrong,” Isi pointed out, “and even if he isn’t, he’s just one guy. The odds of him figuring out any of the Precursor’s secrets are astronomical.”

“But what if he’s right?” Xuilan punctuated. “The Troika as gods? Holy Mother Terra,” she whispered in horror.

“Maybe we should think about ending his little experiments permanently,” Slavko ventured. “Without him, the problem goes away.”

“And what about the Yīqún?” Mairead reminded them. “That’s the whole reason we’re here, remember? They’re still out there, and they aren’t going away.” The crew all turned to their captain, awaiting his decision.

Remi took a long moment to consider his position. “We can’t afford to be chasing ghosts,” he said at last. “All he’s got are theories. If we can’t find a way to end the Yīqún threat, then none of this matters anyway. We’ll all be dead.”

“So what do we do?” Isi asked him.

“We wait,” the captain answered. “We keep an eye on him, we monitor his experiments, and see where we stand. If nothing comes of it, fine. I mean, we’ll still have the fucking machines to worry about, but at least we’re no worse off than when we started.”

“And if he has a breakthrough?” Xuilan asked nervously.

“... then we’ll have decisions to make,” Remi said pointedly.

The experiments continued.

Gyrfalcon’s crew observed and debated without reaching a consensus, even as Axchxairx made incremental improvements on his results, waiting for a sign he’d gone too far or learned too much. With the fate of the Alliance, the Perseus Arm, and every Terran still breathing in the balance, all felt the burden they carried. As the days dragged on, each wondered if this would be the day he made a discovery that changed everything, forcing them to end his existence once and for all.

It’d be easier if the bug didn’t act like a kid who’d just figured out Morse Code.

Mairead was still struggling to grasp the science behind his tests and had actually made some headway, but much of it seemed to border on the arcane. Despite his quirks, Axchxairx was a certified genius, and as near as she could tell was actually inventing the math and science on the fly to explain his discoveries. It might be decades before someone smart enough came along to prove or disprove his theories, so until then, they simply muddled through as best they could.

They’d been on station for over a month when they were summoned for yet another test.

“Come in, come in!” Axchxairx said excitedly, waving them forward as they entered the facility proper. “This promises to be my most ambitious attempt yet!”

The crew filed in and took positions surrounding the scientist. “What do you have for us today, doctor?” Remi asked patiently.

“I have been working to increase the energy output of my equipment, as well as narrowing and intensifying the beam’s focus,” he explained. “If my calculations are correct, I am certain that this time I will be successful in breaching the spacetime barrier. Isn’t that exciting?” he said gleefully.

The captain blinked. “Assuming you manage that… what happens then?” he asked carefully.

“I have no idea!” Axchxairx exclaimed. “That’s what makes it so exhilarating!” With that, he turned back to the console and began entering commands. The machinery within the facility hummed as it drew power.

Slavko drew up beside his commander. “You want me to end this?” he asked quietly.

“Not just yet,” Remi answered, keeping his voice low, “let’s see what he discovers first. Besides, if anyone pulls his plug, it should be me.”

The gunner nodded and fell back as the power output increased steadily, with the bulkheads and deck plating vibrating as the scientist tied in additional circuits, drawing in every erg of power available to pierce spacetime’s shroud.

Taking a few steps back, Remi positioned himself directly behind the Eleexx scientist, his hand slipping into his tunic to grip the concealed hideout piece he carried. This was one job he couldn’t delegate; if Axchxairx had to die, he’d be the one to do it. He was certain none of the others would hesitate if he ordered them to make the hit, but the situation was too fluid, too fraught with potential danger to pawn off the responsibility on someone else.

As the sound continued to build, the Terrans began feeling its effects, wincing in discomfort as the harmonics seemed to drill into their skulls, making their teeth vibrate and leaving a vaguely metallic taste on their tongues. On the display above, something was happening in the region of space where the beam was focused, the nebula’s tendrils being pulled into a central point, swirling and bubbling like paint dumped into a boiling pot.

The crew glanced back and forth as Remi’s grip tightened on the weapon. If Axchxairx forced him to do this, it had to be quick. Not out of some sense of fair play or mercy for the Troika doctor, but sheer self-preservation. There had to be some sort of security protocols in place here, though, despite her best efforts, Mairead could not locate them. Two quick rounds in the back of the head before he realized what was happening, and it would all be over. They could lose the body and disappear with no one the wiser.

It wouldn’t be that easy, of course. It never was. There was still the Admiral to contend with, who would want to know why the mission had failed as well as how. Maybe the Troika wouldn’t come after them if Axchxairx were truly the rogue he claimed to be, though he’d be a fool to put his trust in that. And of course, the Yīqún were still out there, as numerous and deadly as ever. Without the good doctor’s superweapon, they would eventually grind the Alliance into dust.

So instead he held back, watching and waiting to see what happened next.

The equipment’s hum had slowly grown into a scream, driving daggers into their brains as the vibrations increased in magnitude, threatening to tear the equipment from their mounts. The crew stumbled about, clutching their heads in agony, and still Axchxairx would not relent, with energy discharges now crackling across the facility’s compartments, arcing and radiating like sentient lightning gone mad.

And on the screen… something began to emerge.

A roaring, swirling cauldron of spacetime began tearing itself apart, and they could see an image slowly taking shape, its dimensions warped and distorted by the intense gravitic maelstrom that had ripped a hole in reality itself. They could see brief glimpses of a physical object, though it was impossible to determine what they were looking at. But whatever it was, it was getting closer, as the rift widened further.

Pulling the gun from his tunic, Remi aimed for the scientist’s head, thumbing back the hammer and charging the weapon. He held his shooter’s stance, his arm outstretched, slowly putting pressure on the trigger.

One of the massive pieces of equipment powering his experiment reached its physical limits and shorted out in an explosion of sparks and incandescence, the power shutting itself down as the safety interlocks kicked in, slamming the rift shut once more.

Everyone froze, staring at the screen… while Remi carefully safed his weapon and slipped it back inside his jacket.

“... what the hell just happened?” Slavko asked, still shaking his head as he dealt with the aftereffects.

“Did you see it? Did you see it?” Axchxairx shrieked in ecstasy, bouncing from one console to another as he double-checked his readings. “Tell me you saw it!”

“I saw… something,” Remi said at last. “Not sure what it was.”

“It was a rupture in the very fabric of spacetime!” he howled in delight. “This is incredible!” The scientist began replaying the images on the screen, studying them intently, freezing it when the rift opened and revealed what it had been hiding.

“What is that?” Xuilan wondered aloud, staring at the monitor. “Can we clear it up any?”

Axchxairx fiddled with the controls, doing his best to clear up the picture before shrugging in defeat. “I am afraid that is the best I can do. The intense gravitic warping has distorted the image far beyond my ability to reconstruct it.” His disappointment was palpable, but only for a moment as he quickly rebounded. “But the fact there is something there is beyond reproach!”

“But what?” Isi demanded. “I mean, should we be worried here?”

They all turned to the scientist. “I have resealed the rift,” Axchxairx stated with assurance. “Whatever we saw is safely locked away on the other side of spacetime.”

“For now,” Remi said pointedly. “I assume this means you will try again. Perhaps even contact whatever we saw.”

“Of course!” he answered, his eyes filled with excitement and passion. “Whatever lies beyond could be the key to everything!”

“And what if it’s dangerous?” the captain continued. “I mean no disrespect, doctor, but our current predicament with the Yīqún was brought on in part by others of your species, meddling with things best left alone.”

“We can’t simply ignore this!” Axchxairx said indignantly. “How else are we to advance?”

“At what cost, doctor?” Remi growled. “You are risking not only our lives, but the lives of every living being within the Perseus Arm.”

The insectoid turned and faced him. “If we do not pursue this, then the Yīqún have already won.”

The two sapients glared at one another, eye to eye, neither of them budging… until Remi turned on his heel and stormed off, heading for the ship, with his crew belatedly in tow.