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[MiniKitty]

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Kimiko is gone, Aspen is gone, Kristoff is gone.

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Suddenly, we are all part of this.

This... thing. Whatever this is. I would not know what to call it.

It all started with Aspen going to Heisenberg. After the idiots she used to work for disbanded their research group, she was still craving for adventure and science. Apparently, only Heisenberg would give her that. That is what I thought. Now she is gone, without saying a word. Her ship is now running on my name. Her family ship... I guess she wanted a Harlow to use it. I asked around at Heisenberg, but nobody gave me a clear answer. The best clues I got was that an expedition was launched, and her fighter is no longer in the hangar.

I had a feeling this would happen at some point. When she mentioned that people do that. Expeditions.

Wherever you are, Aspen, I hope you are safe and sound. I will not forget you.



I am in this green cloud. Turned off all systems apart from life support and shields. I need time to think. I found a small cavern that seems to absorb radiation. Maybe this could be my new secret hideout?

Green light illuminates the bridge. Nothing else. I lay in bed, all alone. Madeleine and Monique are on Denver. Kristoff is... no idea. I do not know where he is, and I do not care.

I remember the night on Curacao. Monique was in bed, sleeping like a rock. Madeleine, however, she was outside, wearing my T-shirt. I saw her at the pool. Pushing Monique off my body, I scooted off the bed, put pants on, searched for my T-shirt until I remembered that I just saw her with it outside, and then joined her at the pool. She was just sitting there, smoking, sitting at the edge, her feet danging in the water. I sat down on the heated floor, stretched my legs, looking over to her as she carelessly let the ash of the cigarette drop in the otherwise pristine water. Nobody said anything until she finished her cigarette and gave me her piercing gaze. Then, she dropped herself into the warm water as she was and stared at me from there. I joined her, just like that. I did not care that I still had my leather pants on.

She wrapped her arms around me. Tightly. A very firm embrace. Instinctively, I returned the hug.

I'm scared, Levan.

Because of the Sentinels?

Among other things.

What other things?

Apart from losing my own life, I'm afraid of losing you.

Do not worry about that. I have survived worse, really.

I know. That's not what I mean, though.
What if you need to choose between him and me?

That will never be the case.










As it turns out, I was wrong.

I told him I do not have the patience for this anymore. Nothing he says is the truth. As long as Relevant controls him, he is just an extension of herself. Something expendable. He knows that I value him, and he knows she does not value him. And yet, he does her every bidding. He says he needs to go out there and fight the Sentinels in his puny little fighter. And yet all he gets to face is his impotence against these huge space fishes. I confronted him about it, about him throwing his life away for nothing. About her not caring for him at all. She is a monster, probably worse than Rebecca.

And worse, I am becoming one myself. Every time I sit down at the controls of the Kay, I feel empowered. I know that Revanent and all these people are horrible monster. That I would do a favor to the universe by stopping her and them. That I have every right to shoot her after what she tried. She wanted me dead. The only one not seeing that is Kristoff.

Once again, he believes her more than me, despite having seen all the evidence it needs. He knows what she is up to, and yet he helps her.

Caliban, allegedly, killed himself. He was the key to open the so-called vault. I cannot say I was not happy about hearing it. Not only did the key vanish, but also him. I remember him trying to apologize in the weakest way possible in front of this Silverstone idiot. But if he truly meant it, if he truly was sorry for what he did, he would not have kept the money.




Now, there is a new key.

I told Kristoff I cannot bear this anymore. Him being a puppet. Him telling me he hates being there but doing everything not to leave them. I told him it hurts me, just as he told me how it hurts him to hear me call him a puppet. Ironically, Rebecca calls him doll.

I left him. I moved all the way out to Omicron Delta to see him, and I tried to open his eyes. Relevant mocked us in the meantime. As if she was the protagonist of all of this. If anything, she is just Harbinger's puppet.

I left.

LAZURITH HAS BEEN GRABBED.

I return to Omicron Delta. Without a shadow of a doubt, I needed to be there. To help Kristoff!

But now he is beyond help. He is the new key. Harbinger grabbed him, and then he became the new key. Just like that. He ignored me. His body was completely overwhelmed, unable to handle whatever Harbinger did to him. His autopilot took over. And then, it was Relevant, Kristoff, Rebecca and me at the freeport.

Relevant was sleeping. Kristoff was sleeping. Rebecca and I argued on how to proceed.

Kill them or not. Regardless, we would lose. I left the choice to Rebecca. If it had been mine, I would have killed Relevant in an instant. I would have done it, no matter the consequences. I know the Core would have been very happy about it, and I know half of Sirius would have applauded. Standing ovation. Maybe OSN would have published another article about me. I would have killed her, and kept him alive.

The right choice would have been to kill them both. The moment Kristoff became the key, he became another goon of Harbinger. Not just her, but also him. Both need to die, so Harbinger cannot win.

In the end, Rebecca did not kill either of them. Just like that, she doomed Sirius.

We doomed Sirius.

Relevant made a pact with the devil. I know she has the hots for whatever is in the vault. Rebecca, Kristoff and Aspen explained all that to me. But... Madeleine said it herself...

There is an alien called Harbinger,
part of an alien race that wants mankind gone.

The Technocracy want to help him unleash what is in the vault.
I'm not religious, but that sounds like that zombie guy killing himself
might have prevented Harbinger from bringing the apocalypse upon us.

I think she is right.










All of that is beyond my control. We had one chance to end it and we did not take it. I was willing to kill Relevant. I was willing to kill Kristoff, now that he is the key. Or was I?

... I was not. I was hoping for Rebecca to make the call. And she did not. Both of us love him. And we would risk the end of mankind if it meant more time with him.

I do not know how I can go back home to Madeleine and Monique like this. I... kind of love them. But what does that mean, if I throw everything away for this idiot?






I found this system on my way back. Omicron Beta. Many rocks, small and big. Thick nebula. I will hide here until I know what to do. Until I can come up with something that allows me to go home to my two girlfriends, look into their eyes and tell them that we might all die because I cannot stop loving him.

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