Separation or Rebirth Star Map Draftsman II: Fate of the Galaxy

Katherine’s wounds were still healing. The old woman’s machine had done its work, but Dawn Lucius had yet to tell Stacean Lucius what came next. He knew this was a final farewell; he simply could not find the words to begin. Sandra sat silently beside him, her gaze vacant, like a child who, after a long hike beneath a scorching sun, has finally collapsed into the shade. Dawn Lucius edged closer and let her head rest against his shoulder.

He took Katherine’s hand in his own, thinking of her as a little girl—wondering if she had been much like Stacean Lucius at that age. The difference was that she had never shown the same curiosity for the stars and the sea beyond. From everything he had observed over the years, what Katherine truly wanted was far simpler: to help her father govern the Solar System, or, more accurately, to remain at his side. The thought filled Stacean Lucius with guilt. What if Stacean Lucius, too, wanted him to stay by his side? Yet that, now, was impossible.

“Dad,” Stacean Lucius asked, tucking the blanket more snugly around Katherine, “are we heading back to the Solar System next?”

Dawn Lucius did not answer at once. He forced a faint smile, drew a deep breath, and felt a surge of gratitude that he had been blessed with such a son.

“Not yet,” he said at last, steadying his emotions. He gently lifted Sandra’s head, stood, and walked to the door. Turning to Stacean Lucius, he added, “Come outside with me for some air.”

When Stacean Lucius joined him, Dawn Lucius clapped a hand on his shoulder. The thought of leaving made him hesitate, but he slipped an arm around his son and guided him forward. He did not let his full weight rest there—as a child, whenever Dawn Lucius walked beside Stacean Lucius like this, he had always placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, yet held it lightly, afraid of burdening him. They stopped at a viewport on the ship’s outer hull. Beyond lay deeper darkness; the entrance to the DeFi Passage had dimmed to a faint outer ring, like a circle traced by sparks flung in the night—ready to vanish at any moment.

Dawn Lucius spoke first, repeating the old woman’s words exactly. Stacean Lucius listened in silence. At last he tilted his head back and sighed. He was a father himself now, and the leader of a Type 0 civilization, yet he was still, and only, Dawn Lucius’s son. The idea of parting from his father had never crossed his mind.

“So, Dad… there’s no other way?” His voice was barely audible.

Dawn Lucius shook his head. “None.”

“Then we’re separated again.”

“We are not separated.” Dawn Lucius patted his son’s back—light, rhythmic taps, the same soothing motion he had used when Stacean Lucius woke from nightmares as a child and sought his father’s comfort. “We will never be apart. I will simply become part of the DeFi Passage, that is all.”

“Aunt Sandra…” Stacean Lucius paused. “I never imagined this. Katherine kept saying how she and Aunt Sandra would surely become good friends one day. Ah…”

“I understand. Neither Sandra nor I expected this ending. Perhaps it is simply fate.” Dawn Lucius’s voice grew heavy with sorrow.

“Dad, we’re both long past the age of easy tears, but I am truly heartbroken. I never thought it would end like this.” Stacean Lucius’s agitation rose; he clenched a fist and pressed it against the viewport glass, staring into the void. “It’s Jonathan—all of it. If not for him, the Orion Arm wouldn’t be in chaos, this universe bubble wouldn’t be dying, and you and I wouldn’t be parted. It’s all his fault…” He struck the glass hard.

“Hey, hey, listen to me…” Dawn Lucius grasped his shoulders, trying to calm him.

“I’ll kill him. Yes—I’ll kill him…” Stacean Lucius’s rage mounted; he shouted.

“Stacean… son… son… calm yourself.” Dawn Lucius wrapped him in a tight embrace, continuing to pat his back. “Calm down. Calm.”

After a while, the trembling in Stacean Lucius’s body subsided. Dawn Lucius gestured for him to sit. They slid down against the viewport and sat on the floor. Dawn Lucius felt steadier now—exhausted, yet relieved. His son could protect himself; he no longer needed to worry. He gave Stacean Lucius’s arm a playful punch and smiled.

“Son, the thing that makes me happiest is seeing you safe. That is every parent’s wish. As I said earlier, I will become an energy being and hold the DeFi Passage open until it finally extinguishes. That will allow the Great Migration to continue. Your task is to protect Katherine. She is your daughter—your only remaining blood relative. Guard her well; do not let her perish in this fading universe bubble. If you did, I could never forgive you. Do you understand?” He punched his arm again, lightly.

Stacean Lucius lowered his head and said nothing.

Dawn Lucius went on: “We will go together to the edge of the DeFi Passage. When I hold the channel open, you must take Katherine and cross at once. Find the people of the Solar System and lead them onward to survival. When Jonathan learns the passage has reopened, he will surely return to wreak more havoc. The old woman has planned for this: she will lead the Moreth Federation’s forces, joined by General Duncan’s troops, to oppose him and keep the passage open as long as possible so that more civilizations may escape. But the situation is not optimistic. I can feel this universe bubble growing colder. I do not know when its collapse will come, so we must hurry.”

At the word “we,” Stacean Lucius instinctively turned to look at his father, clinging to the faint hope that it included Dawn Lucius and Sandra. Realizing it could not, he rested his forehead against the cool glass once more.

“Dad, whenever I missed you, I would look up at the stars, hoping you might return on a shooting star. When Mom was still alive, she told me to keep faith—you would come back. I thought of all the things I wanted to tell you, all the grievances I wanted to share. But now…” His voice broke. “I waited until you returned, yet I never got the chance to say them.”

Dawn Lucius patted his arm, heart aching. “I will still be in the DeFi Passage. When you miss me, speak to me—I will hear you. I, too, have so much I want to say. I want to live in your daily life, at your dinner table, not merely in your memories. But more than that, I want you to live. That is why Sandra and I must hold the passage open—so that you may live.”

“I know, Dad.” Tears streamed down Stacean Lucius’s face. He drew a deep breath, wiped them away, and continued, “What about Aunt Sandra? She only just learned she is your Datheon emissary. She must be grieving too—after everything you’ve been through together…”

“Yes. She appears calm now, but I can feel the sorrow inside her.”

“Dad, go back and comfort her. Wherever you are, I believe we will meet again. Just as Mom said.” Stacean Lucius stood, pulled his father to his feet, embraced him tightly, then strode quickly back to the room.

When Dawn Lucius followed, Sandra and Katherine were speaking softly, faint smiles on their faces. As he entered, Sandra forced a smile for him before returning to the conversation—likely sharing amusing stories from their childhoods. Soon, however, the old woman returned. She nodded to the group and, following the script she and Dawn Lucius had agreed upon, informed Katherine that it was time to depart. When they reached the entrance to the DeFi Passage, she would release the neutrino beast to hold it open. To avoid ambush by Jonathan’s forces, Stacean Lucius and Katherine would enter first; Dawn Lucius and Sandra would follow later, ensuring everyone’s safety.

Katherine, ignoring her injuries, sat up in excitement, waving enthusiastically at Sandra. Sandra took her hand. Katherine smiled, hugged her, and kept repeating, “Our family will be together again.”

At the old woman’s urging, Stacean Lucius lifted Katherine into his arms. His face ashen, he rose and started toward the door, then turned back so Katherine could call to Dawn Lucius. Tentatively, she said, “Grandpa.” Dawn Lucius’s heart quivered like a captured squirrel. Fighting back grief, he nodded, squeezed her hand, and signaled Stacean Lucius to leave quickly.

When he saw their ship appear in the distance, he pulled Sandra into his arms and wept. Their mutual comfort eventually stilled the tears. Sandra had decided not to tell her brother and father that she was the Datheon emissary. She feared she lacked the courage to transform—and that would rob the universe bubble of its last chance. Nor did she want her brother and father to simply vanish. Dawn Lucius consoled her: “They need to know. Otherwise they will spend the rest of their lives in regret. We are not leaving them; we will simply live beside them in another form.”

In the end Sandra could not bring herself to speak to them directly. She recorded a video message and asked the old woman to deliver it to Duncan and the others before they passed through the passage. If anyone asked, they were to be told that she and Dawn Lucius had gone on a secret mission. The old woman agreed.

At the DeFi Passage, Duncan and the Moreth Federation forces had already formed defensive lines. The Sane ship moved toward the dying ring. Under the old woman’s guidance, Sandra began her transformation into the energy form of the Datheon emissary. She watched her body turn translucent purple, beginning with her limbs. Tears evaporated before they could touch the energy. Smiling at Dawn Lucius, she told him how deeply she loved him. He assured her they would be together forever—nothing could separate them. Just before she fully dissolved, what remained of her head drew close to his. Their lips nearly met when she became pure energy and flowed into his chest.

Images of Sandra’s childhood flashed through Dawn Lucius’s mind: her lonely gaze at the sky, waiting for her father; her pride when, still young, she was chosen as chief diplomat of the Ashton Federation; her hesitation upon meeting him; every small moment they had shared. Yet now he struggled to recall anything, and fear rose—he feared forgetting this life, forgetting Stacean Lucius, forgetting Sandra. Energy coursed through him. Dark matter felt like the special fertilizer sprinkled on a treasured calathea after its owner returned from three months away—a long-missed nourishment taking root in his cells, remaking him entirely. As the images faded, Dawn Lucius became the Star Map Draftsman. The true nature of things grew clear and vivid before him. The universe bubble became, in his mind, a single grape at the end of autumn. Mercifully, he still remembered everyone and everything. Sandra was still with him.

“It is time, Star Map Draftsman,” the old woman reminded him. “I will broadcast a message to every soul in this universe bubble, telling them the DeFi Passage has reopened and urging them to migrate at once. Jonathan will undoubtedly return. We will stop him with everything we have. The fate of these people now rests in your hands.”

“Thank you, Madam, for giving us this new chance,” the translucent Dawn Lucius replied with a slight bow.

“You know your own outcome, yes?” The old woman frowned, regretting her bluntness. “I mean—you will hold the passage open as an energy being until the Shepherd’s mechanism triggers automatically and closes it. Then, most likely, you will become dark matter once more, like White Crystal, and be injected into a new universe bubble. You will never return to the form of life you know now. That is what I mean.” She glanced briefly at the wall to her left.

“I know.” Dawn Lucius looked up at the ceiling. The Sane ship’s engines were already ignited, ready.

“Good.” The old woman began her own transformation into energy. As she passed through the hull toward Duncan’s flagship, she added, “You are a good son.”

Perhaps, thinking of Jonathan, she wished her own son had been a man who shouldered responsibility. With that, Dawn Lucius could see through the walls the trace of her departure.

“Dear, it’s time for us to go,” he thought.

“I agree,” came the reply in his mind.

To any onlooker, Dawn Lucius appeared to be speaking to himself. Perhaps he was speaking to Sandra.

“Yes. We are not parted from them. We are simply beginning a new life together, in a new way.”

As the Sane ship drew close to the wall of the DeFi Passage, the surrounding dark matter surged toward it—like dust on tables and in the air of a café shuttered for half a year, suddenly swept away when the exhaust fan roars to life. The ship’s brilliance illuminated the entire starfield until Duncan’s vessels had to raise shields to protect their crews’ eyes. The energy-form Star Map Draftsman had reached the limit of what he could contain. With the Sane ship as center, he began releasing dark matter. A widening disk took shape. The ship moved to its edge and pulled it into rapid rotation. When the circle expanded to match the boundaries of the DeFi Passage, its light dimmed and steadied. The passage was open.

Ships lingering nearby plunged into it like commuters racing through a traffic light at rush hour.

“Well, I thought we’d never meet again,” Madam Winifred said over the comm channel to Jonathan’s mother as both she and Jonathan returned the moment word spread that Dawn Lucius had reopened the passage.

“Believe me, this is hardly the outcome I desired,” the old woman replied with a cold laugh.

“Mother, why?” Jonathan stared at her image in disbelief. His imitation Star Source was already ignited; his eyes were turning purple.

“I’m sorry, my child.” The old woman glanced behind her before meeting his gaze again. “All these years I failed to govern the Moreth Federation well for you. I thought that by placing you at the center of power and letting you feel its chill, you might choose to pursue what you truly loved instead of wasting your life on it. But…”

“Mother,” Jonathan interrupted, “I love power. It is not a waste. Yet just as I was on the verge of success, you side with outsiders. I may not be your biological son, but you are the only mother I acknowledge. If you won’t help me, fine—but what are you doing now?” Rage crept into his voice as he glared at her hologram.

“I know it is too late for reason, but I want you to understand: power gained through destruction does not endure…” The old woman regarded him patiently.

“What reason is there to discuss? You lead the Moreth Federation’s forces against me—I, the Moreth Steader of the Moreth Federation. What am I now? The Federation’s enemy?”

“Enough.” It was Chairman Layte who spoke. He cared nothing for titles or rank; he knew only that his family’s mission had been ruined, with no contingency to prevent the universe bubble from being drained dry. “Spare us your grand lectures. Do you realize how many lives you will snuff out? So many in the Defenders’ Alliance took White Crystal waiting for an era that belonged to us. We have no choice now. If that is how it must be, then let us all vanish together.” At his command, the Defenders’ Alliance forces opened indiscriminate fire toward the old woman’s position.

Though the old woman was a Datheon emissary, she lacked the Star Map Draftsman’s command of dark matter. She could only order Duncan’s troops to evade while directing the Moreth Federation forces to return fire. Jonathan and the Centaly people joined the fray. She saw their intent clearly: the Centaly forces and the Defenders’ Alliance were wearing down Duncan’s troops while Jonathan, leading a ragtag army hastily assembled in Kukra City, raced toward the DeFi Passage—intent on destroying the Solar System refugees, the people Dawn Lucius cared for most.

As Duncan and King Theobald pursued each other through the wreckage, the old woman reached him by comm. Holding off the Centaly forces now depended on Duncan alone. She expressed regret at not having known his family sooner. Duncan replied that he had no lingering worries: the children and women of his house were already with the Solar System fleet and would surely reach the passage. And he wished to stand with his sister, contributing something to this universe bubble. “I’m not much for living in another bubble anyway,” he added wryly as King Theobald hammered his flank and cost him an engine thread. The old woman told him she would take three Moreth Federation ships to intercept Jonathan; the rest of the forces she left to Duncan. He assured her he would manage and ended the call. They never spoke again. Had she looked out the starboard viewport, she might have seen the massive explosion where Duncan and King Theobald fought—an eruption that consumed everything nearby, friend and foe alike.

As the old woman neared the Solar System fleet, she noticed the DeFi Passage’s light flickering—like an unstable fluorescent tube during a thunderstorm. A chill gripped her: “No—the passage is closing.” She could not tell whether the Star Map Draftsman’s will was failing or the Shepherd’s closing mechanism had activated.

“Do not follow me,” she ordered the three ships accompanying her over comm. “Push the Solar System fleet to maximum speed—burn out their engines if you must, but do not let them stop. The passage is closing. Go!” Her own ship began to decelerate.

“And you, Madam?” asked one of the commanders.

“I will stay and deal with Jonathan’s forces. Hurry.” She turned her vessel toward Jonathan’s army. Behind her, the passage flickered ever more violently.