Lukas didn't bother pushing himself into an upright position as the door to his suite slid open. There was only one person who had the ability to override it when it was locked.

"How do you feel?" His mother asked.

"Fine." After Anya had helped him to his room, he'd crawled into bed, shaking with fatigue and slept like the dead. He was bleary and sore, but had mostly recovered since.

"Listen, Lukas-"

"Why didn't you just tell me?" He kept his focus on the ceiling, the subtle Rete insignias traced onto its surface. "I get it-you needed someone who would appear Factorless. But why not tell me-"

His voice cracked, then, and he stopped short. By now, he'd known for years what she'd done. Smuggled herself to Ferrus right before she entered labor while carrying him, all for the off-chance that Ferrus would deem him worthy of having a Factor.

But it paid off - he got lucky, and the trademark Ferrus Factor of metal manipulation was his. Traveling to planets to give birth to children with a desired Factor was a highly regulated process, but Lukas had always assured she'd used her military connections to pull it off.

His mother always told him that she'd done it to give him a leg up in the game: special, Factor-only military corps, engineering opportunities. When it became clear he intended to follow in her footsteps and study the Planatae, she'd told him it would serve him well - protect - when traveling to the more unstable parts of the Home Galaxy for research and observation.

She'd never once suggested that she needed it for herself.

"I'm glad you're safe and well," Erin said. "But I'm not sorry about what I did. If I had told you, would you have agreed? You were integral - I couldn't risk it."

"But what if I had said yes?" Lukas finally pulled himself up and glared at his mother. "You still don't trust me! And now you've made me-" flashes of memory flit through his mind, moments from the tunnels deep within Oynx. "-You've made me hurt people, and I don't even know why!" He sniffed, pawed at his face, hating the show of emotion. "You used me like a tool."

"I know," she said, sighing. "I won't deny it." She paused, considering. "You're right. I've been treating you as though you're not capable of making choices."

"So you'll explain everything?"

"Hmm. I'll allow you to join me for the interrogation."

Interrogation? Lukas didn't know what to think. He was angry at his mother for putting him through hell, but he'd be lying to himself if he wasn't dying to know who Dr. Ito was and why they risked the wrath of the Purists to reach him. It was that damned spark of excitement that had pulled him into the world of Planetae in the first place. Despite his fear, and frustration, the need to know was gnawing at him.

"I'll come. But I want to be treated differently." Lukas forced himself to stare his mother down. He fought angry cultists - he could take his mother in a battle of wills.... maybe.

Eren offered him a lopsided smile. "Fine, Lukas. I think you've earned it. I'll send you a message when we're ready." Then she turned on her heel and was gone.

Lukas let his gaze return to the ceiling for a moment, collecting himself. His mother was never what you'd call coddling, but during this trip she'd been different in a way he'd never seen before.

Finally, he pulled up his feed to reveal a message from Anya.

Hey, kiddo :) how r u feeling?

Anya

I'm all good now. Thanks for helping me out.

Lukas

Your momma's kinda off the deep end these days.

Anya

It's alright. She's just making sure I have what it takes.

Lukas

To do wat? Break into prisons? We got the story from Viktor. She didn't tell us ANYTHING. What if something happened? And why are these people with us?

Anya

Lukas stared at the message, the words swimming across his vision. Anya was right. Her mother had tossed the assistants into the embassy without a single inkling of what they were getting themselves into. But it's because she trusted them, right?

Viktor would have warned you if he thought things would get bad. I'm sure they have a good reason for this.

Lukas

He broke off the connection and fell back onto his bed. He'd have a damn good story to tell once he returned to the Academy, at least. For now, all he could do was wait.

...

Erin's message appeared in his feed a few hours later. By then, he'd been able to get some more sleep, eat a light meal of dehydrated fruits, and shower and change into a fresh set of clothes.

His thick mop of hair was still slightly damp when he arrived at one of the Andromeda's conference rooms. Nervously skirting the soldiers stationed at the entrance, he stepped through the doorway and into the room. Long yet narrow, the space was dominated by a massive table, at which Erin, Viktor, and a disgruntled Ito all sat. The older man didn't seem surprised to see him; instead, he pulled out a seat on the opposite side of his mother, offering him the chair.

He stepped forward and sank into it, trying not to meet the eyes of the doctor, who had been seated directly across from them. Although there were no signs of any physical restraints, everything about the man's posture and movement brought to mind a caged animal. Hunched over, primed with tension, the doctor twitched like an electric coil brimming with pent-up energy.

"Hello, Dr. Ito." Viktor's voice was calm, restrained. "It's a relief to have you here, safe and sound."

Unlike his mother, the Viktor was a prime example of classic Ferren social exchange. The more tense the situation, the more polite and courteous one was expected to become.

Ito laughed, a single, rough bark. "I wasn't sure what was worse, for a while. To know that my transmission had been picked up by the Rete, or the realization that I could be spending the rest of my life as a servant to the Purists.

"Well, it's a good thing neither happened, then." Erin said.

"Who are you people, exactly?" Ito was suddenly thoughtful. "You're not the government, that's for sure. But you're clearly connected to the Republic."

"Think of us as concerned, well-connected citizens," Erin shot back.

"You're not taking me back to Saiseki, are you?" Ito had changed tact suddenly. "I'm never going to see my home again."

The doctor's name was enough of an indication, but Viktor still blanched. Saiseki, the capital planet of the Saiseki Empire, was one of the most restricted places in the entire Galaxy. With the ongoing war, there was no way a Rete ship could ever reach the place unscathed.

"I'm sorry about your situation," Viktor said. "But thanks to your message, you've gotten yourself wrapped up in something that could leave you in far worse situations than this."

"It wasn't meant for you," he scowled.

"We're not idiots," Erin leaned forward in her seat. If Saiseki had gotten your message, they would have wanted proof of your progress."

The doctor blanched.

Lukas looked over at the others, thoroughly confused. Viktor caught his eye, and seemed to catch his bewilderment. A moment later, a file came through on his feed.

Would have been nice to have beforehand, he thought to himself, but the file's 'Classified' labeling quickly banished his disgruntlement.

Tuning out the others for the time being, he pulled the file open, confirmed to the program he wouldn't speak of its contents in unauthorized scenarios, and began to quickly read.

What he found within its pages was staggering.

Weeks ago, the Rete Military Coding and Communications Corp picked up an poorly-encrypted message that had been sent using long-distance formatting. The CCC, as they were known, made note of its blatant presence, the lack of coded language, and its appearance on public feed channels. The message itself was in Standard, and had been sent by a low-ranking Saiseken researcher, a certain Malachite Ito.

He sought rescue from his military superiors; in his plea, he claimed that he had information about a 'Project Genesis'.

Project Genesis.

One other detail about the report caught his eye. The file had been stamped with an official seal, one he recognized from his military background: the Rete Security Council. This was information that the Ferrum Rete had collected, knew about - so why did his mother sneak off on some civilian craft?

He would have pondered on the point further, but Ito had raised his voice, and it was increasingly harder to ignore him.

"...They're going to be looking for me!" he was saying, "it's in your favor if you let me go."

"Are you coherent?" Erin raised her voice to match his own. "You aren't being looked for. We found the message. If they haven't searched for you already, then you aren't the asset you think they are."

Viktor cut through the noise, calm as ever. "You were lying, weren't you? This project of yours - you didn't have any sort of breakthrough."

When Ito fell silent, the older man sighed. "If we sent you back to Saiseki - not only would they find out you have nothing new to offer, but that you exposed a state secret to their enemy. Do you think that will go over well for yourself?"

Ito stared daggers at them all, but remained silent. Erin leaned back, crossed her arms. Her expression seemed to say, I know you're hiding something. And I'll figure it out.

"I have a question." Lukas realized, to his displeasure, that he'd unconsciously begun to raise his hand as he had spoken.

Ito sneered at him, but the others didn't protest, so he continued.

"What I don't understand is how you ended up with the Purists - and what they wanted from you." Another thought hit him. "Were you working with Professor Maddox?"

Viktor raised his eyebrows at that, but nodded aling approvingly. "I've also been quite curious about that." Erin grunted in agreement. Lukas was gratified at their reaction.

Instead of shutting down as he expected, the man seemed relieved by the change in topic.

"We were on a research trip, you see," he said. "It was a light convoy; just the research craft and a few small fighters. We'd avoided the battlefront, had been traveling through the Independant Worlds."

"Why?" Erin pressed.

"Looking for new colonies, ones established in the last century or so," Ito answered. "We wanted to record data on Planatae in their infancy, to see how-"

He caught himself, suddenly, his mouth shutting like a trap.

Viktor shot Erin a warning glance, who by some miracle, didn't say a word.

Instead of pressing the issue, Viktor simply asked him to continue.

"We were hit by pirates," he said, sullenly. "They came at us hard - hid from radar on a nearby moon. Tore us apart. A lot of us were killed - all of the fighters were taken out. They boarded the research vessel and took the rest of us prisoner."

"Where did they take you?" Viktor asked.

"Where do you think? That shithole of a space station. Turns out they were glorified scavengers, out on contract for the Purists. When the cultists arrived to take away the remnants of our fleet, I told them I was a scientist-"

"-a paleontologist." Erin scoffed. I'm sure they loved that."

"I was a little more vague." Ito frowned at the jab. "Still, they seemed intrigued, and bought me along with the scrap." At this he shuddered. "I have no idea what happened to the rest of my crew - if they're still somewhere on Onyx, or if the pirates took them elsewhere for a profit."

"I'm sorry," Lukas surprised himself for speaking out, but he meant it. "That must have been hard." The man in front of him - despite his heritage - didn't seem evil. Just scared, defensive.

The doctor blinked at him, then glanced away. "Well... we were a team. I'd been a low rung on the ladder, but still... we worked well together."

Erin was having none of it. "So the Purists took you in."

"They did. I thought they'd skin me alive from my profession, but then I realized it was that awful man that had pushed for me. You all point fingers at us, at Saiseki, but Maddox is Rete through and through - and was the worst human being I've ever met."

"I don't disagree with you there," Erin said dryly. "He wanted you as an assistant."

"He did. I never got the details, but after the man had been excommunicated from your Academy, he'd sought out a place to continue his work. He found a kindred spirit in the Purists."

"But he doesn't really believe in the Purist code, does he?"

Ito furrowed his brows. "...Honestly, who can tell? He would rant about the human condition, our 'tainted existence,' but it could have been all for show."

"Did he work with you on this, 'Project Genesis?"

Ito's face hardened. "No. He convinced the Purists that he'd discover a way to kill a Planatae."

Silence fell across the room, for a moment, before Erin barked out an incredulous laugh. "Yeah - it's called massive destruction."

Even Vikor seemed darkly amused by the statement. Short of blowing up a planet, you couldn't kill a Planatae. They were intertwined with everything - its inhabitants, the atmosphere, the lines of energy that pulsed across the universe.

"No, you don't understand," Ito was shaking his head. "He was convinced that it was possible to sever the connection between a human and a Planatae. He would describe it as 'ripping out its brain.' It would remove any Planatae's influence on a person, and if you could theoretically do this to a large enough population-"

"Then the Planatae's network - its source of awareness - would fall apart." Viktor was aghast. "But something like that is impossible! We barely understand the Planatae's impact on human DNA!"

Erin had jumped ahead. "You're telling me Maddox was looking for a way to remove a person's Factor - permanently?"

"A side-effect, in his eyes. The real goal was to go after the Planatae. But you're getting ahead of yourself." Ito's smile was dark and rueful. "All of his work was purely theory. He wasn't getting anywhere in his experiments."

"And what about you? You helped him with this."

"No," Erin cut in. "I know what you were doing."

Ito narrowed his eyes.

"You were taking the prisoners the Purists offered you - for Maddox's project, and doing something else with them. You were working on Genesis."

"I'm not going to tell you anything!"

"Why!" Erin was a furious tide of energy. "Why is that? You told us that your team made no headway! It's your only piece of leverage, doctor - the only thing stopping us from dumping you off-ship and taking this information directly to the Coalition!"

Ito shrank back. "You said it yourself," he whimpered. "They'll kill me."

"We'll give you asylum." Vitkor turned to look at her, alarmed.

Ito didn't miss the exchange, his face tightening. "Really? So then why am I not on an official military craft right now, being interrogated by members of your security force?"

Erin slammed her hand down on the table. "We're undercover, dammit! You want to try and call a bluff - fine! I'll match you. You'll be sent on a pod straight to Saiseki. But that's not enough. I think we'll embed some files in your feed - message chains and data that point you as a traitor to your Empire."

There was silence in the room, thick and choking.

"Or, you could tell us the truth, Dr. Ito. And maybe you'll come out of this in one piece."

One moment slipped past, then another. Lukas could tell the man was teetering, fighting with himself. The scientists besides him seemed content to wait it out, but Lukas considered speaking out - he needed to prove to Erin that he was an asset, that he could handle what it meant to be a military scientist in the Coalition.

"Dr. Ito," he said haltingly, and the man's head snapped up. "Erin is my mother," he said, "and she's been treating you a bit... intensely, I know. But she's the only person who came for you. Not Saiseki, or the Coalition's army, but just her - alone. I think maybe you owe it to her to be honest. I know she'll appreciate you for it."

Ito stared at him for a moment, before cracking a tired smile. "Don't sell yourself too short, kid," he said. "I saw what you did for me, too." His eyes went glassy, gaze focused on nothing tangible. "Saiseki is not a place that values forgiveness. The moment I chose to live, instead of dying with my secrets, was the moment I became a traitor."

He drew himself back into the moment, and stared at Erin, resolute.

"It was the woman," he murmured. "She changed the game."

"Who?"

"Ricardia. I wasn't making any progress until she came along. Project Genesis..." he drew it out. But then the hesitation passed, and he seemed to resign himself. "...It's a breEdeng program. Our goal is to develop a way to form Planatae on a smaller scale, composed of only a handful of people."

"Miniature Planatae? But what's the point...?" Viktor seemed surprised, there was a grim realization in Erin's expression.

"Factors on command," Ito said. "The idea is to form the mini-Planetae, and then force its tiny support system to withstand a carefully crafted external environment."

"Custom-made Factors," Erin hissed. "You could get as close as possible to creating people who would then give birth to children with a desired ability."

"Yes. Scaling down the natural process of a Planatae proved impossible - thousands and thousands of humans are needed to form a cohesive network for a Planatae to use as a cognitive force. How could you attain awareness with a dozen? And without the natural landscape of a planet? I'd spent months in Onyx puzzling it out, hoping for a breakthrough."

"And Ricardia...?"

He huffed. "You really couldn't tell? She was weiding power on a ridiculous level - and off-planet. She's an Awakening Candidate - and the key to Project Genesis."

Erin sprung to her feat and raced to the door, despite Viktor's protests. Lukas watched as she manually wrenched the door open and ordered the soldiers posted outside to track Ricardia down and bring her to the meeting.

Vitkor, for his part, waited until the door was closed again before railing against the other scientist. "He could be lying!" He yelled, "I'm not bringing in an innocent civilian - this information is dangerous!"

"She's not just 'some civilian,' Viktor," she snarled. "A Candidate like her should not be AWOL like this." She shook her head. "A Candidate, I should have guessed... where else would someone like that go if they were on the run?"

"Erin," Viktor's voice had gone soft. He pointed at Ito. "I know you want to get to the truth, I do understand. But is this really the best way?" He glanced at Lukas. "Your son seems to care more about the feelings of our guest than you do. Is it a good idea to bring her here, considering this man likely experimented on her?"

"I treated her well!" Ito protested. "I tried to be as non-invasive as possible."

"You could have done nothing, but the project was more important, it seems." Viktor's response wasn't phrased as a question.

Ito lapsed into a furious silence, and the others followed suit. The four of them sat in the conference room, eyeing each other warily as the moments ticked by. Lukas wondered if they'd placed a dampner in the area, or if all of their shouting and state secrets had been leaking out into the area the entire time.

BreEdeng-program, is how the doctor had described it. Generating Planetae on command seemed ludacris at the best of times, but a compact, diminished version of the real thing? The idea gave him chills. He'd grown up on a military base - conflict and the concept of war was nothing new. But research and development was a far different beast than being a soldier - the battlefront had been just a story to him, like so many others.

These things threatened to overwhelm him, take him down with the sheer weight of their implication. From a conceptually abstract standpoint, he should see this as a threat - a potential danger to his home, his nation.

But he kept circling back to the same question: is it possible? He knew that this curiosity was wrong, but it persisted.

He tried to collect these thoughts, file them away for perusal once this was all over. He needed to focus, pull himself back into the present; this meeting wasn't over yet.

...

It took the soldier almost half an hour to locate and return with a disgruntled Ricardia.

Her consternation shifted to downright unease as she scanned the room, and its occupants. Her expression darkened, brows knotting together.

"What's going on here?" She asked.

Erin, when she spoke, was surprisingly soft. "I recalled that you offered to answer some questions, Ricardia. I thought it would be best to do it now, so we can all stop pestering you as soon as possible."

Ricardia frowned.

"Right... something with your planetology work?"

"That's right." Erin changed tact, suddenly. "How well do you understand the life cycle of a Planetae, Ricardia?" She pulled out an open chair.

The other woman glanced backwards for a moment, but sighed and approached the table.

"Mostly just the basics."

"You know, it's a fascinating topic, the Planetae. In some scientific circles, they don't consider them living things. There's a few prominent voices that even claim the name itself is misleading. They argue that it misleads people into believing that a physical planet somehow serves as the Planatae's 'body,' But did you know that the true source of a Planatae really lies in a planet's magnetic field?"

Ricardia didn't respond, and Lukas didn't blame her. His mother was already veering close to the layman's limit of understanding - anything further would be too specialized. But continue on is exactly what she did, despite the other woman's silence.

"Every livable planet must have a magnetic field, Ricardia - it's a shield that prevents cosmic rays from battering the surface and causing problems like uninhibited radiation. But it has other purposes too. There are many species across the galaxy that use the magnetic field to navigate their worlds. It's called magnetoreception - the ability to receive information from the surrounding field. It's also how Planetae attain their self-awareness."

"Where is this going?" Viktor began to ask, but it was Ito who held up a hand.

"Let her explain," was all he said. Ricardia forged on.

"The moment a human enters a planet's atmosphere, it also makes contact with its magnetic field. The next part of the process is complex, but I'll put it simply for you: when there's enough of us running around, a threshold is reached, and we become individual neurons, forming an interconnected neural cluster - otherwise known as the Planetae's 'brain.' Magnetoreception connects each mind, allowing information to flow and the Planetae to function. Of course, then there's hereditary implications, and Factors, and mystical explanations, but I won't get into that."

"Why get into any of it?" Ricardia smiled, but her lips pressed hard enough against each other to render them colorless. "I wasn't expecting a lecture."

"Well, it's just that you're from Caedem, right? I've heard that the colony just reached a new threshold. It must be thrilling to know that your low-population, rudimentary Planetae is about to Awaken to a higher state. Only..." Eren paused, her eyes boring into the other woman's. "...I've also heard rumors that their Candidate has gone missing. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

There was a crash as Ricarida, who had been lulled into a state of complacency by Erin's rambling, suddenly sat up straight, bashing her legs into the table.

"Sit down." Erin ordered, her voice hard again, and Ricardia froze.

"I wouldn't risk it," Ito said, earning a glare from the female scientist.

"You don't have to worry." Ricardia's voice was low, but steady. With her curly hair draped forward, it was difficult to see her expression. "I know I have to go back."

"And what? Let them turn you into a conduit for Caedem? I don't blame you, honestly."

Ricardia looked up, startled. Lukas couldn't believe what it must feel like to sacrifice yourself like that. In the Rete, it was a true honor to be chosen as a Candidate family members would be compensated for life, treated as celebrities. But to actually be that person... it seemed awful in its own unique way.

"Why don't we make a deal, Ricardia?" Erin nodded at the doctor. "Apparently, you're a very important part of this man's research."

"Yes," she mumbled. "They want to kill Planetae-"

"No." Erin glanced at the doctor. "You told her that?"

"I was trying to be kind! I couldn't tell her the real truth!"

"Anyway. I want you to stay on with us for the time being, until we understand why exactly you're so important to his work. In exchange, I'll do what I can to get you immunity. I've been in government a long time - there are strings I could pull that would help you disappear for good."

Ricarida looked uncertain. "But what about Caedem?"

"Oh, another Candidate will show themselves in a couple years or so. This isn't the first Awakening with complications."

"I couldn't go back," Ricardia said, a strange echo of the doctor's own words.

"Think about it. I'll give you until our next stop." Erin paused for a moment to connect to her feed. There was only a brief pause before the soldiers entered, responding to her summons. She pointed to Ito.

"Let him go, but keep an eye on him. If anything happens, let me know."

"Good talk," the doctor glared at them all as he exited the room. Ricardia followed him out, her expression clouded.

Before leaving, however, he turned back to the group. "What is he really working on?" She asked.

"I can't tell you that until you've made your decision, " was the answer. Ricardia gave her a short nod and disappeared into the hallway beyond.

The door wasn't even fully closed before Viktor slumped over, arms supporting his drooping head.

"Oh, Ferrus," he sighed, "that was awful." He looked up at Lukas' mother balefully. "What did you get us into?"

"I know, Viktor," she said. The tension had drained from her body as well. "But now we know. I think it was the right decision."

"There's still time," he said. "We could abandon the charade and head straight to Ferrus. Drop the two of them off and explain the whole thing."

"You know I can't do that." Was her answer. "And I don't think you'd feel good about handing the Coalition Project Genesis on a silver platter."

Viktor moved to respond, but paused upon seeing Lukas. There was a flash of surprise, as though he'd forgotten that he was still there. Lukas broke off the eye contact, fidgeting.

"You really kept it together, Lukas," Viktor said.

"I agree," added his mother. Surprised, Lukas looked over at her. "That was a good call, playing to his sympathies. You got him talking in a way I couldn't."

"Thanks," he said, playing it cool.

"You understand you cannot tell my assistant about this. For all they know, this was just a part of the expedition that had gone awry. We got lost, stumbled across the prison, and couldn't stand by and do nothing."

"They're never gonna believe that," he said, incredulous.

"Maybe not, but they won't question it either. In fact no one on this ship will be hearing about this, except the Captain - but that will be a conversation for Viktor and I to have. Do you understand?"

Lukas slowly nodded. If he wanted to learn more, he'd have to follow her rules to a tee.

"Good." And then Erin swept past them and exited, hurrying somewhere off to do Ferrus knows what.