It wasn't hard to spot the location of the ships because of the flat terrain of the planet. A huge metal building shone under the light of the now rising suns, nearly blinding Hazel and Nredoza. It was a mile away, and assuming that she could probably run the most of the whole way because of her being half Exan, she grabbed Oza by the waist and put the scientist on her back. She struggled a bit because she didn't find it comfortable at all, but once Hazel started sprinting, she understood and stopped complaining.

The building had no airlock, and appeared to have been abandoned many decades before. It was damaged in parts by the rays of the suns, turning different colors from the ultraviolet exposure. Hazel tapped the door, which fell inwards at her touch. Hazel and Nredoza exchanged concerned glances before advancing to the interior, if one can even accurately call it that. It seemed like someone just stuck a few slabs of metal over the sand and stone and called it a viable structure. There were five ships, all different shapes and sizes, and presumably different classes.

Hazel saw that there were labels printed below the company logos on the noses. Four read KiloNova, but the last one on the right was a SuperNova. Nredoza came over to see what Hazel was so excited over, and upon seeing it as well, she too nearly jumped up and down. It was absolutely massive, stretching back at least 30 meters. Its wings were folded by its sides, its dorsal fin and the tail on the end the only extremities of the ship exposed in its resting state. Hazel scanned over the side, reading the company and model. Apparently, that ship was an Pleiadesian DeLux 14. Of course, Hazel had zero clue what that meant, but Oza's double thumbs up told her that it was a good thing.

Letting her open the airlock, Hazel stepped back to watch the ship's movements. When it registered Nredoza's palm, a telescopic glass-like hallway let itself out of the back of the ship, making Oza run so she wouldn't get crushed. Its three sets of wings unfolded with royal grace and majesty, all of its creases and fold marks sealing themselves automatically. Its wheels pushed the ship upwards and its engines pushed themselves out from the sides of the lower part of the ship. Through the glass hallway, Hazel could see two layers of airlocks, not unlike on the KiloNova.

Nredoza once again opened the next two airlocks to find the inside of the ship even more fit for a king than the exterior. Lush drapes and statues filled the entrance, and soft atmospheric classical music surrounded them on all sides. The air quality was pristine, not a single fleck of dust floated. To the left, the two slowly moved towards the cockpit, taking in everything around them. Chaise lounges with elegant pillows, golden beds with silk blankets, and a model of Earth were in the main room. This was clearly the ship of an Ex-Pian or an Earth enthusiast.

In the cockpit, everything was written in the latin alphabet and was in English. Hazel's breath shuddered. She opened something that resembled a glovebox and shuffled through the papers. One name stuck out to her, the person the ship was registered to. Daniel Ununquadius. Hazel found herself shaking and crying almost uncontrollably. Oza pat her back, not knowing what to do in this situation.

"Are you alright?" she asked, genuinely afraid for Hazel's health.

"You know who this belongs to?" Hazel managed to say between sobs.

"Should I?"

"Daniel Ununquadius. My father, apparently. I read that he just wanted to live on Earth for a long time but couldn't stay for long because of Vasion or whatever they're called. I'm pretty sure he just filled his ship with a bunch of stuff from Earth," Hazel said, wiping away tears.

"You do realize you have no idea who your father really is other than stuff you read in a book, right? You have no clue whether or not he's a good person!"

"I'm pretty okay, and plus, I can find a Halo around here and if I need to I can use it for self-defence. I don't know, I just don't want to go my whole life not seeing where I'm really from!"

Nredoza gave up on trying to talk Hazel out of going to her father's planet, and instead leaned back in the co-pilot's seat and continued eating all the food in the bag Hazel gave her before they left.

"Hey Holo, bring up my most recent note."

"Pulling it up..."

Hazel scanned the screen on the ship. It seemed as if it was designed to resemble the inside of a car, and the auto-pilot system to look and work like a GPS. Seeing it that way helped Hazel figure out how to work the ship's controls relatively quickly, since she knew how to drive already.

Turning on the auto-pilot, she was greeted with 7 buttons on the screen, each labeled with their respective numbers. She tapped 6 and waited for the next step, which was to enter the name of the galaxy. The wait was a bit longer this time after entering Yamarin, likely because there were many more galaxies in the Sixth Universe than there were in her own. Finally, it pulled up another search bar to put in the code of the star. Between each digit, she glanced back at her notes to make completely sure that she was reading things correctly. A4Z26B.

A robotic voice called from the ship's computer, "Your destination, the only inhabited planet in the orbit of the star A4Z26B, is now set into the navigation system. Would you like to proceed, or change the planet?"

"Yes, proceed," Hazel said with unnatural confidence.

"You will arrive at your destination in twenty-two hours. Sit back, let the navigation do the work, and enjoy your ride on the Pleiadesian DeLux 14," the computer said in a very stereotypical female automated voice.

Nredoza seemed to be quite shocked by the English voice.

"Your species created a language with that many sounds?" she asked, spinning around in her chair, head back, balancing a plate of bread on her forehead.

"It's really not that much, we have twenty-six letters..."

"The Standard Interuniversal Alphabet has seventeen, but we've got a ton of accent marks for different sounds. I'm just surprised that such a simple species could decipher so many different ways to create sound, that's all," Nredoza half-mumbled, sitting up and putting her plate in her lap.

Hazel felt a bit offended by Oza's statements about humans, and, for good reason, was not happy about it. With a deep sigh, she stood up out of her chair and stormed off to the back of the ship, Nredoza not moving and putting the plate back on her head and spinning again.

To the right of the area where they initially entered the supernova, there was a solid steel door with a wheel that had to be turned to open. She determined that the hinge was on the left and the lock to the right, so she took all of her strength and turned the giant wheel counter-clockwise. There was a loud creaking and nails-on-chalkboard-esque sound as metal scraped on metal and the door creaked open.

Behind the door, it was pitch black. No light had been installed, but in the very back, light bounced off a glass-like sphere hanging on the back wall. Hazel's breath stopped. She knew what it was. It was in a logical place for it to be, as well. She stepped inside, letting herself gravitate towards it. She ran her fingers over the ice cold sphere. As she did this, a heat built up within the sphere and the gray gas that would have been in it before glowed with all the colors of the rainbow before settling to her light pastel turquoise. She missed it, even though she had only had it for a few hours before having to abandon it.

She moved the Halo to its resting position, above her head, and exited the room of steel. Closing the door was much easier than opening it, since pushing it shut was more simple and used less energy than turning a large wheel. The horrible creaking sound returned before there was a large clang from metal slamming against metal.

The ship was still accelerating, only to about half of an Axelisto, since they couldn't take off at too fast a speed without risking destroying the ship or killing themselves from the sheer amount of G-Force suddenly presenting itself upon them.

It was quite dangerous to navigate the area because they were not yet fast enough to completely phase through stars without feeling the heat rise slowly to unsafe levels. Once they reached an Axelisto, the ship could go through stars safely and break through the barrier between universe and void. The stars outside the windows flew by as streaks of light, unable to catch up to the impossible speed the DeLux travelled at. To Hazel, it was a sight to behold, looking almost like a piece of modern art that had to be viewed in person to see its beauty.

Hazel sunk down into one of the chaise lounges, turning around to face one of the windows. She could see the three sets of wings, one slightly below and behind the other, proudly extending to the side of the ship, the engines whirring surprisingly quietly for how much power they possessed.

"The maximum speed of this aircraft has been reached, one hundred Axelisto," the computer spoke after about an hour of travel.

Hazel still refused to speak to Nredoza, no matter how petty it seemed. She didn't want to make things worse, but it seemed like Oza was about to run out of food, which would definitely cause an issue if Hazel annoyed her. Though this was the case, she decided to take a seat up in the cockpit anyways. The barrier was only a minute away, and she wanted to witness its elegance again.

Looking at the map, Hazel noticed a collapse hurling behind them, almost perfectly perpendicular to the ship. It was much larger and faster than the one they saw when they first entered the Seventh Universe. It was larger than the galaxy they just left and twisted and turned with a formidable strength that would inspire fear in the hardest hearts. There was something strange about this collapse, and it made Hazel feel quite uneasy. It didn't seem normal, even for a dying universe. To her, she got the feeling that it was induced by something unnatural.

Ten seconds until the border. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five... Hazel's eyes widened, knowing that the time within the border would be much less. She didn't want to blink or miss any of it.

Four seconds. Three. Two. One. The nose of the ship dove into the barrier, only taking a few moments until they passed through onto the other side. The trail of azure mist stretched for light-years, still dripping off of the fins and wings minutes later. Somehow, breaking into the barrier and into the void brought calm over Hazel. She slumped down into her seat, smiling widely. Though at that point she had only gone through the barrier twice, it was the most serene and beautiful thing she had ever witnessed, and she could not wait to experience it again.

"So, are you going to talk to me at all, or am I just going to be-"

"There are twenty hours remaining until you arrive at your destination. Enjoy our fine selection of music, films, and books, found in the main room," the computer interrupted.

"-or am I just going to be lonely this whole time?"

Hazel grumbled, turning around in her chair to be opposite Nredoza.

"Maybe," she mumbled annoyedly, "if you don't apologize for what you said about humans."

It was Oza's turn to groan.

"I didn't know you'd get so offended, it's not my fault you're so sensitive."

A long silence followed the petty conflict, the sound of Nredoza's bat-like wings folding and unfolding being the only thing heard. Hazel slowly turned to face Oza, not sure whether or not she wanted to break the silence. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that if she didn't speak then, they wouldn't get anywhere.

"Okay, then, I'm sorry for being offended, I guess," Hazel mumbled, not knowing how to start the conversation without it seeming strange and awkward.

"Alright," Nredoza replied, twisting her hair around her finger.

"I can leave you alone if you want."

"No, stay here, please."

Hazel did so gladly. She didn't want to risk losing someone that could help her navigate and not be so alien in a highly advanced world, and most importantly, she didn't want to lose the closest thing to a friend she had in the vast depths of the multiverse.

During the serene silence, Nredoza fell into the realm of sleep. She of all people deserved the rest after the few days of nothing but stress and fear.