The ventilation system on the Black Swan was like a twisting labyrinth, its passages winding through the ship to ensure every room had access to fresh, filtered air.

  And right now, Kai was a spider navigating this maze, following the only lead he had—the thin pink trail left behind by whatever had stolen his sorbet.

  The trail led him downward, descending toward the lower decks of the ship.

  At some point, he lost track of his location entirely. All he knew was that he was still following the trail.

  Based on the direction he was headed, he guessed he was somewhere near the storage area, where most of the ship’s equipment and spare supplies were kept.

  He noticed something when he raised his two front legs.

  A force was pushing him forward. It was a steady stream of air, flowing through the air vent.

  Kai pressed on, following the current until he finally found its source.

  Up ahead, a vent cover had been removed.

  Kai peered through the opening. Beyond it was the pure darkness of an unlit room.

  But luckily for him, the spider bot’s night vision was working, illuminating the space in crisp monochrome.

  It was a storage room, filled with spare instruments and backup devices for the ship’s onboard systems.

  His first instinct was that no one should be in there.

  As far as he knew, only Lily had access to this room. And she wouldn’t have removed the vent cover for no reason.

  Kai climbed over the opening and entered the room, his tiny metal legs clicking softly against the floor.

  He scanned the area, his mechanical eyes sweeping the shadows.

  There was something in the room. And whatever it was, was choosing to stay quiet.

  Kai moved carefully, making quick, careful movements, ensuring he didn’t disturb anything that might alert the intruder to his presence.

  His small mechanical legs barely made a sound, the tiny hairs on his limbs absorbing any vibration as he climbed up the wall, moving toward a better vantage point.

  From his elevated position, he scanned the entire room, his night vision sweeping over every detail.

  The storage shelves were lined with spare equipment, just as expected. Nothing seemed out of place—no obvious signs of forced entry, no disturbed containers, nothing that screamed intrusion.

  Kai waited, watching for any changes.

  A faint light flickered briefly behind a stack of large crates.

  It was quick, barely more than a blink, but it was no mistake that Kai had saw it.

  Kai had its location now. Without hesitation, he moved, climbing upside down along the ceiling, keeping his small form hidden as he positioned himself directly above the crates.

  He stared down, trying to see what was emitting the light but it was completely obscured by the large crates themselves.

  Whatever was behind those crates was smart enough to be deliberately staying out of sight.

  There was only one way to get a better look and he had to get closer.

  Kai thought for a moment, considering his options before he remembered something—An important ability that spiders on Earth possessed.

  And knowing Isaac, there was a very good chance that he had already programmed it into the bot’s design.

  Kai searched through his controls, trying to access the mechanism.

  The sensation was strange, unlike anything he had felt in his human body. It was almost as if he was feeling his way through unfamiliar mechanisms, trying to trigger a reflex rather than an actual control itself.

  He focused, experimenting with the new signals running through his mechanical form.

  Finally, he got it to work. A tiny hook shot out from the rear of the spider bot, latching onto the ceiling. Kai let go of all his legs and descended slowly through the air. A digital wave of excitement rushed through him—there was something oddly thrilling about this new way of moving.

  He landed gently on the topmost crate, his two front legs touching down first before the rest of his limbs followed. Behind him, the thin translucent wire detached and reeled itself back in, vanishing into the body of the spider bot.

  Kai slowed his movements, making sure to stay silent as he approached the source of the light. He peeked over the edge, and then, just as he locked onto his target, the light flickered off. All sounds ceased. Whatever was hiding might just sense his approach.

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  Kai's night vision adjusted, revealing the rough shape of something lying motionless on the ground. It wasn’t moving, but it was there.

  Kai dropped over the edge, lowering himself carefully to get a better look. And then it moved. Just a small shift, but it was enough. The object scuttled further into the gap between two crates, disappearing deeper into the shadows.

  Frustrated, Kai pressed forward, his movements careful yet deliberate. The narrow space made it harder to see, but one thing was clear—this thing did not belong on the Black Swan. And it was certainly not an animal.

  The mechanical nature of the intruder worried him. They had just learned that No Man’s Land wasn’t as empty as they once hoped. In fact, it was infested with machine creatures that hunted ships, stealing data—for reasons he still didn’t understand.

  And then, that word echoed in his mind again—"Traitor." The voice. The one that had spoken to him back then.

  Kai had thought it was addressing the machine creature he had taken over, punishing it for letting him slaughter so many of its own kind. But now… Now, he wasn’t so sure. Because he couldn’t shake the feeling that the voice had been speaking to him directly. Like it knew about his presence. Like it wasn’t going to let him escape easily.

  He moved down the side of the crate, his small metal limbs clinging effortlessly to the surface. But the intruder—the thing he had seen moments ago—was now gone. The gap between the crates appeared empty.

  Kai advanced, his tiny body easily fitting between the crates. It had not occurred to him that a trap might have been set by whatever the thing was until it was too late.

  As if it had appeared out of thin air, the thing materialized right in front of him. Kai tried to stop, but it was already too late. He was too deep into the crates to back out, and the thing had baited him into an ambush.

  In the final second before his entire body was snatched upside down, Kai saw what he had been dealing with all this time. The thing looked exactly like the machine creatures he had encountered on the ISS Nightfall, only a smaller version of it.

  Kai cursed himself for being overconfident. He had first assumed he was chasing a wild animal that had somehow gotten on board when they were in New Oliver, but now he realized his mistake.

  The machine creature must have breached the hull and clung to the ship while they were being swarmed. They had barely made it out of danger, but Kai was now certain that this one had latched onto the Black Swan unnoticed.

  If the machine creature wanted to, it could easily tear apart the spider bot, forcing Kai to sever the connection. Then, it would slip back into the vents before anyone could track it down, hiding until it was ready to strike again.

  However, that didn’t happen.

  The creature simply held him there, its mechanical limbs gripping the spider bot firmly but not damaging it. It was studying him, analyzing him with a sense of curiosity rather than immediate hostility.

  Then, Kai felt something strange—a sensation in his mind, something he had never experienced before. It was like a muffled voice, distant, coming from the depths of his own thoughts. It wasn’t a sound—it was more like a presence, an impression of words without an actual voice.

  He focused on it, trying to decode the message, and to his surprise, it became clear—the creature was trying to communicate with him.

  Kai hesitated for only a second before reaching out in return, forming a thought and sending it back as a signal the way the creature had done.

  A response came almost immediately, and it startled him—not because of the words themselves, but because of how clear and direct the message was. It was robotic, lacking any emotion, but it was as precise as a voice speaking directly into his mind.

  "Why help humans?"

  Kai was taken aback. He didn’t know what it meant. Was it asking why he was loyal to his crew? Why he had fought against its kind?

  He quickly responded with a message of his own.

  "I am human. What are you?"

  The reply came faster this time.

  Louder. Sharper.

  "Nonsense. You are one of us. Why lie?"

  Kai froze, his mind racing. The machine creature thought he was one of them?

  He was about to deny it, to tell the machine that it was wrong, but then a new idea hit him. Instead of arguing, instead of correcting it, maybe he could use this moment to get some real answers from the machine itself.

  Acting as if he was just as confused as the machine, Kai sent out his next message.

  "Confused. Seek guidance on current objective."

  The machine paused as if it were debating whether his response could be trusted. The silence stretched for a few long seconds before the message finally came.

  "Keep test subjects within the perimeter. Gather data and report data. Continue experiment."

  Kai felt his stomach drop. He had expected something bad, but seeing the message spelled out like this made his skin crawl.

  He pressed forward.

  "Identify test subjects."

  A moment later, the response arrived—just as he had dreaded.

  "Humans are primary test subjects according to contract."

  Kai tensed, his mind racing.

  Contract? Who made a contract with these things?

  His fingers twitched, but he kept his composure, sending another message.

  "What contract?"

  The machine creature hesitated this time, pausing longer than before. As if it was calculating, trying to determine if it should continue responding.

  After several agonizing seconds, a new message appeared.

  "Exchange data for existence."

  Kai repeated the words in his head, what did that mean?

  Who were they exchanging data with?

  Who was allowing them to exist in return?

  His mind screamed for him to press further, to unravel the truth before the creature had a change of mind.

  "Why keep test subjects within the perimeter?"

  The response came fast.

  "Keep planet of origin hidden, cover story needed to be—"

  The message cut off abruptly.

  A new message appeared immediately after.

  "Identity compromised. The alarm system detected. Initiating self-destruct. Emergency signal broadcasted."

  Kai panicked.

  "No, wait!" he sent desperately, but it was too late.

  The tentacles holding Kai shook violently, the machine twitching uncontrollably as its internal systems collapsed. Sparks erupted from its core before its glowing red light faded entirely.

  With a dull metallic thud, the machine went limp and collapsed to the ground.

  Kai watched helplessly, knowing he had been so close to getting the answers he needed.

  "Damn it!" Kai shouted and awakened in his own body again. He sits up, startling Eliana in the process.

  "What's wrong?" Eliana asked just as the overhead alarm sounded.

  They both hurried and got up from the ground. There was only one place on the ship to go now, and that was the bridge.

  Kai and Eliana hurried onto the bridge.

  Outside the front viewport, the residual particles from the jump had just begun to clear.

  "What happened?" Kai asked Commander Grayson.

  Grayson didn’t turn around, his face locked onto the display in front of him. "Somehow, they found us again."

  "Didn’t we just jump? That means we got away, right?" Eliana asked.

  Commander Grayson shook his head and took a step aside. On the screen, the Black Swan sat in the center of the radar interface. All around it, countless red dots surrounded the ship, closing in by the second.