"Is that why you asked me how I do it?"

Neo's expression folded into one of confusion as she admitted a half-truth to him on his return; if he was going to present the same thing at the new briefing, she wanted to interject. They might not take me seriously, but... they're scientists, surely they have Neo's open mind. "Yeah, and thank you for letting me do this, Neo. It'll make sense soon, I promise." I hope.

It took too long for people to fill in, to listen to the next steps, along with senior scientists to observe the proceedings. One new variable. Neo nodded and returned to his desk, but she took hers to let Admiral Mythrai say his consistent piece; about the situation and the D.S Butterfly. If she didn't know any better, a layer of irritation thinned his pupils into sharp beads when he eyed the scientists in the corner. Thuni settled himself in his seat, his pallor pale. Ulin joined him, but none with Thuni's apparent discomfort.

Huh... I thought they'd be dead by now.

One callous thought, and she choked on it.

"Admiral," Nova forced out, and shuddered when everyone turned to her. "Before we continue about this situation, I want to say something — as the engineer whose droid brought in the anomaly. It should—" It stuck in her throat, but she looked at Neo. "It'll only be a few minutes."

Out of everyone in the space station, she doubted Admiral Mythrai the type to jump to hasty conclusions. No... it's not him I'm worried about. Nova glanced at the senior researchers and took their own notes. Studying. Listening. Watching. On a space station meant to carry powerful anomalies adverse effects are expected and prepared for. Especially stuck on a space station, dead in space, with no connection to home or other sensations, like the sky, or sun, or the rain. I suspect... I suspect they'll think I've come down with space sickness, but as long as I say it, that's all that should matter. As long as someone listens...

Left in space, trapped by metal hulls, the only thing keeping them from the killing vacuum.

I've told Neo once this before... if anything, let's see if he remembers.

Pinpricks swept through her leg.

"She can go ahead, Admiral," Neo said when Admiral Mythrai turned to him. "I've said all I needed to say in the last briefing — and I need to collect my thoughts for a minute." He smiled at her, and tore her heart in two. 'You got this,' he mouthed to her.

One more death to steal it away.

One more chance to change the course of space-time.

"Of course. You can have the stage, Miss Nova." Admiral Mythrai shuffled to the side.

I have to do this, for him, for the one possibility that this might be enough.

Lead pushed into her knees when she escaped her seat and took Neo's place on the podium. Weight crushed her spine with a million focused eyes, and the cacophony of screams escaped the sucking void. A shattered piece of reality. It glitched in her peripheral, but she shook her head free of it, for the present loop. Thuni blinked a couple times, then looked at Neo with a sense of dawning confusion. His lips pursed when Neo kept his attention on her, he followed suit and studied her.

Izerva's ears perked up from the door they stood guard at.

Stars, even though he told me, I don't know how he does this. Nova choked at the dying faces. No. I can't bow out. I have to do this. I don't have the luxury of another choice.

Nova tucked herself against the podium to keep herself standing. Her engineering skills never translated to public speaking.

'If you're nervous, imagine it's just me,' he told her so far in the past. 'Just forget everyone else. Focus on me.'

Nova tried to look into the distance, but found it with sharp teeth. Onto Neo, who bled and the light left his eyes. Her theory turned into a choking truth in her lungs.

Impossible.

Just like saving you.

I have to.

Nova traced her palm with her finger. "When the droids came back from their sweep there were readings we had yet to understand," she tried to speak his language, hoping at least one would understand — would believe. "I might be way out of place, but I think we've misunderstood the gravity of it. I believe that what we brought in folded space and time around us."

Confusion and disbelief rocked through the audience. Neo tipped his head with a curious frown, rubbing his lips. Not a hint of remembrance. Izerva stood against the wall, but Nova frowned when their pupils thinned in her direction, their ears flattening against their head.

Thuni paled, and never interjected like he had with Neo.

"What do you mean by folding space and time?" one of the researchers to the side needled. "Can you specify?"

Nova bit on her tongue to taste blood to stain her hands. Neo, dead in her arms. "We're in a time loop," she dropped it before it choked her to silence, but dared not share the cause of Neo's curiosity. "Since our droids were brought in it affected the space-time continuum around the space station. Whatever happened to the D.S Butterfly, I think we're sharing the same fate." Anger burned her throat. "You have to believe me. We're not going to find it."

As the words left her mouth, she knew no one believed.

"Are you serious?" Thuni whispered, but not out of skepticism, but the same dawning terror from before.

Nova focused on Neo. "We actually had this conversation before," she insisted when crimson dripped through the world. "I've lived through it and remembered it when no one else has." Tears swelled down her cheeks, but she tried to control herself before they deemed her helpless. "There is a creature on the space station. It will start its rampage in the southern branch. It will then attack the north and the bridge will be inaccessible." It rocked through her leg when she drew her attention to Thuni and Ulin. "You two can't go back there. If you do, it'll be there waiting for you."

Whispers tore around the stage.

Space sickness. Of course it's common, but I'm not!

Misguided concern to layer the truth over their denial.

Admiral Mythrai narrowed his eyes at the muttering scientists, then leaned closer to her. "Nova Spacyn, the north—"

It cracked through her jaw. "I know it's hard to believe, but you have to give it time," she snapped when the void hells descended with sharp teeth, inching with the same moment to crush her. "It's going to happen eventually. Thuni, if you go to the hangar..."

Thuni widened his eyes — in recognition.

Neo woke up.

"Wait!" he said over the clamour of voices. "WHat do you mean we had this conversation before? Me and you?"

A scientist craving understanding through questions.

"I watched people die," she rasped when the room shrank and suffocated. And you — more times than I ever wanted to. "You have to trust me. We've done this before even if no one remembers. You need to get down to the reactor core to watch the coolants. We need a code to set a coordinate out of this nebula. If you don't, you'll overload the cores."

She held Neo's hand in a layer of water, and he was long gone.

"You didn't answer my question," Neo said, but the fatal symphony drowned him out.

Scientists came to check her over.

Space sickness for denial. Adverse psychological effects — of course. What do I think would happen after watching him die! Nova listened to the probing questions as Izerva jolted, then rushed around the group to stand in front of Admiral Mythrai, signing something in quick, jagged, upwards motions. Admiral Mythrai blinked, then nodded before the two ran out of the briefing.

Just listen to me! I don't care if this sets a precedent you're not ready to accept! She longed to scream out. I felt the same. I didn't believe it either. I didn't want to believe it, but it's real. I'm... I'm watching my best friend die — and living through it again.

Nova failed to answer his question.

No matter how many times I will have this conversation.

Her strength left her at their shaken disbelief and away from a new circumstance to study. One quick glance back, she sent the team into chaos with her words as they argued among themselves.

Impossible. Impossible. Impossible.

Over and over.

Thuni tore through the crowd with an unreadable expression. He turned in the direction of the hangar. "Don't!" she screamed when he stepped for it, and he stopped, but then the crowd collapsed to block her from her one action of defiance against fate.

Impossible.

Neo fought the crowd with vicious intent, and he called something to her she couldn't hear.

Why would anyone believe me? I'm an engineer. I don't deal with these things. Nova bit on her tongue and refused to cry around strangers. Led into the medical tower, she drove her teeth into her lips when she was shepherded through the reception area. Through the corridors of questions, she frowned when they took her to the soothe rooms.

I don't need soothing.

I need someone to believe in me.

In the room, surrounded by plants and an irritating robotic AI voice wasting time none of them had.

I need someone to believe me. To tell me that this is really happening, that I haven't lost my mind.

Underneath the soft lighting, Nova slumped into the ready bed with plush pillows. Alone, where holograms of flowering fields bloomed across the walls. Butterflies fluttered over the petals, but continued to constrict with metal coils. Maybe if they send someone to check to confirm if I have space sickness, they'll realise I don't...

Frustration and pain ripped through her heart as the tempo cracked her eardrums and echoed with the cry of the universe. Gentle, soothing words, to coax her thoughts to another place; to home. Legs crossed, she smacked her hand across the wall as it spoke its default line of messages.

"Shut up."

Its voice brought her no comfort — nowhere close to the gentle assurance in Neo's words.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as the moments pressed closer.

If they didn't believe me, I failed again. Stars, I don't even know where Neo is.

Nova drove her fingers into her cheeks and drew out the black hole, but she jumped when someone opened the door.

Admiral Mythrai and Izerva slipped in. "Spacyn," he said.

Nova tucked against the corner. "What?"

"As Admiral, I have to take any suspected threat with seriousness," he said.

"And am I a threat?"

Admiral Mythrai looked at Izerva, who shook their head. "No. You mentioned there would be two attacks? I like to err on the side of caution. Any report of possible threat to life, no matter how... unbelievable, I must take seriously for the safety of the people on this station, whether they enjoy it or not," he said in a firm tone. "So, you say this creature will attack the south first, and then move to the north?"

"Yes."

"That is all I wished to ask, then. Thank you for your brevity, Nova Spacyn. Get some rest." Admiral Mythrai nodded to her, then left through the door. "I will be sending a lockdown alert."

Alone again.

He didn't... quite believe me, but...

Nova paced a circuit around the room, past the plants full of life. Habitation fell to the beast, and nothing made sense. Nova turned on her heel and ignored the ticking clock, dancing to the tune the anomaly released.

But... What if I have? What if I have gone into some sort of severe space sickness? Seeing Neo die over and over — maybe even imagining it, but no, every time... it was real. It was real. Nova shoved herself back into the corner at the hiss of the door, unable to look them in the eye. Damn it. Damn you, Neo. Damn you and your reckless curiosity. She slammed her fist against the wall. "You just had to touch that thing, didn't you?" she whispered when they entered.

Neo stood in the blood-soaked light, and the butterfly necklace hanging off his shoulders dripped in starlit crimson.

"I'm here, Nova," he said.

But not for long.

Not forever.