Freyr could scarcely hide her surprise. She sent a message to Masgard; “Five Nine Five...was that the agent who rescued me?” She got a simple confirmation from Masgard in return. Now she was really confused. She’d understood the meeting to be about discussing events in the Cradle, not negotiating the release of prisoners.

As soon as it became clear they were about to watch a video, Masgard covertly sent a message to Freyr. “Do not watch the video. It could be doctored to influence your own memories, as a key witness. Please turn your screen off.” Although she was curious to see what happened, that warning plus the indication that it’d be gory were enough to convince Freyr. She turned off her display as soon as she was able. Osman turned hers off soon after, obviously not prepared to experience more random, wanton violence. The Director, the Under Secretary and Masgard all watched the video in silence. Their expressions were hard to read, although Freyr did note that the lawyer’s complexion went significantly paler through the course of the clip.

Freyr began to get very uncomfortable. Even without the screen, Freyr couldn’t help but think back to the raw terror of their escape, nausea creeping up from her stomach to her throat. Although she supposed this was inevitable, as the other topic, their escape from the Cradle, was equally traumatic. She poured herself a cup of water from a jug on the table and took a drink to calm her nerves.

After the video finished, the diamond-scaled Rothian unfurled a litany of accusations against the blonde haired lady who’d escorted her to safety. It was a little difficult to understand without seeing the clip, but Freyr pieced together that the Rothians were accusing the agent of trying to kill Vreta. It had struck Freyr as odd that they hadn’t tried to come after the two of them, but she’d put that down to the fact that it was pitch black in the park that night.

The three men in the centre of the Human side listened intently to everything the Counselor had to say. Then they turned to each other in turn, communicating via implant for almost a minute. Freyr watched the Under-Secretary’s fist clench underneath the table. Eventually, they all turned back to look at the Rothians and Masgard replied. “We can’t comment on these accusations until we have time to consult internally, and speak with the agent in question. Perhaps we can pack away that detour for now and stick to the main object of the meeting.” Masgard directed that last part, and the pointed urgency in his voice as he said it, at the Director General. The man with the blue eyes sat motionless at the table, his arms crossed. Freyr could tell he was disappointed at the position he’d been put in.

“You know, we’ve long suspected the Skinner’s Guild of infiltrating the Cradle. They come from old money, and their influence stretches far beyond car bombs and pirate broadcasts. My inquisitors tell me more of their operatives could have been among the team at the compound yesterday. They would have noted your stellar performance, Vreta’Sori. Appearing from thin air to ‘inspect’ an empty facility, only to valiantly fight off those creatures and live to tell your superiors of the experience.” The Director General leaned forward at this point, hands clasped on the table in front of him, his head ever so slightly tilted as he looked at Vreta.

“They’re looking for a way to destabilise this administration. They hate our society’s integration with the Cradle, but they also hate AI and augmentations of all kinds. Something the Rothian civilisation has in abundance. So when they find what any experienced eye could guess is a recently activated Rothian spy operating in the Cradle, they see the endgame. A machine intelligence with practically limitless power, in the hands of one of Outremer’s most powerful allies. However, they also see an opportunity. A chance to turn Outremer and Rothia against each other.” The Director General took a drink of water at this point. The room was utterly silent until he spoke again.

“By trying to assassinate the agent in charge of gaining intelligence on the Cradle, and making it look like the efforts of the Outremer administration, they’ve killed two birds with one stone. Destroying Outremer/Rothia relations, therefore hampering Rothian chances at technological advancement, and putting the Outremer administration into an embarrassing situation which it may never recover from.” The man looked at all of the Rothians in turn.

“But, I’m not willing to let that happen. I’m going to propose we begin a new era of collaboration between Outremer and Rothia on matters of the Cradle, starting right now. One in which we help each other, and prosper together. That's the reason we're all here today. All you have to do to get started, is release Agent Five Nine Five. What do you say?”

Ambassador Taranik, Counselor Joll, and Vreta were all unfazed by the Director General’s accusations, owing to their experience. Only the attaché, Mras, showed any discernible reaction, though he was not privy to the full truth as the other Rothians were. The Ambassador waited patiently for the Human to complete his statement in full, conferring just briefly with her associates beside her before giving their response.

“Director General, it is my understanding that Vreta’Sori gave a full statement that explained his presence in the Cradle to you personally. As such, I would expect that you would have been able to confirm his story with both the Rothian and Human corporations involved. I have already been able to do so, without issue. I would expect that you currently know that he was being truthful regarding his association with the corporation that owned the warehouse in question. If you have any evidence of an ulterior motive for Vreta’Sori’s presence in the Cradle during the event, then you may present it. Otherwise, I will have to insist that you make no further attempts to derail this discussion with baseless accusations.” The Ambassador replied calmly, but firmly.

Once she got her necessary response to the rather serious accusation of espionage out of the way, Taranik moved on to the more impactful parts of the discussion. “But yes, the reason we are here for this meeting is because we still believe in the idea of cooperation between our people, despite the evidence of an attack against one of our citizens, supported by Agent Five Nine Five. Although I do admit that the likelihood of such cooperation has been compromised by this event, I still do retain hope that we might come to some accord. But before we can make any decisions regarding your agent, I do wish to hear what you have to say about the Cradle. About the reason you have called this meeting today.”

Although the Ambassador had given no indication of agreeing to the Director General’s demand, there was at least a slight concession buried in her response. Despite announcing her belief in the agent’s association with the attack, she, rather specifically, did not take further negotiations off of the table. The contradiction was enough to demonstrate that she was willing to work with him on an agreement, but the Rothians knew that Outremer did not have nearly a strong enough position to make them give in to such demands right away.

The Director-General chuckled as the Ambassador defended her charge, rubbing his clearly shaven chin on a knuckle. “Sure thing.” He winked an augmented eye at Vreta. “I’m sure your man has updated you on what happened last night, so I won’t go into all the details. But I sent a team back to the compound after those things had cleared out. They discovered the creature Vreta was chatting with had been using a Rothian testing backdoor to manipulate a long-range comms array here on Babylon. It was trying to ping something using a very precise set of coordinates. And do you know where those coordinates led us?” The Director-General took another sip of water.

This was the part that truly excited Freyr. She simply had to find out what the creatures from the Cradle wanted so much. She jumped in almost without realising it. “Somewhere on Rothia.”

“Exactly right, Dr Lang!” The Director-General grinned, clapping his hands loudly together and slapping them back down onto the table. “Somewhere on Rothia. And I'm willing to bet my ridiculous government paycheck that you can’t detect it on your own. Otherwise, you would’ve found it already. So, I am proposing a joint expedition to Rothia, to figure out whatever that creature was trying to communicate with. With the galaxy’s most informed Cradle experts…” The Director motioned to Freyr and her deputies stood behind her “at the helm, i’m certain we’ll be able to track it down. In exchange for your full support on this expedition, and dropping all charges against Five Nine Five, we will share the knowledge of whatever we find with you. You can’t say fairer than that.”

Moreso than anything said so far, the claim that the creature had attempted to make contact with a location on Rothia caused a stir among the Rothian delegation. There were quick looks between one another, as well as frantic conversation in their minds between their implants. ”The creature attempted to make contact with something on Rothia? Did you see anything that would confirm that, Vreta?” The Ambassador asked.

“No, not directly at least.” Vreta answered. “There was no way for me to examine the comms device before the creature turned hostile. I can say that it did seem to be familiar with me as a Rothian, but its words were vague. One interpretation of those words would imply that the creature, or its creators, was aware of our people early in our evolution.”

The Ambassador gave a glance towards their technical advisor. “Mras, is what the Humans say even possible? Could a Cradle program even send a message outside the simulation?”

Mras did not appear entirely confident, but he answered nonetheless. ”I would have to study the Cradle directly to give a definitive answer, but conceptually, there would be nothing preventing it. Everything we know about the Cradle suggests that, for all its mystery, it is simply a highly-advanced and ancient computer. A computer that has been linked with almost every aspect of Outremer’s infrastructure. I do not know what limits the simulation imposes, but an artificial intelligence within could attempt to access those connections.”

”There is always the chance that this is a fabrication, but…to what end?” Counselor Joll commented. ”The patterns of Human behavior regarding the Cradle have been remarkably consistent for as long as we have known them. They want to keep it to themselves. They do not even share it freely with other Human colonies. This revelation, if true, would mean that they will need to go to Rothia to find their answers. They would have no choice but to cooperate with us, which, of course, gives us a great deal of leverage in the negotiations. I simply can think of no motivation for them to lie about this.”

Once she heard the others’ opinions, the Ambassador wasted no more time. “If what you say is true, this could be a remarkable development, Director-General. You will have to forgive some skepticism, as our planet has been mapped in extensive detail, but there is enough uncertainty that I can entertain the idea there may be something to it. I can say that we are interested in the cooperative study of the Cradle, but it must be a full partnership. If there is indeed something connected to the Cradle on our homeworld, we must be able to study both what is found on Rothia, and the Cradle here on Outremer. With you being afforded the same courtesy, naturally.”

“Hmm. No, no that won’t do at all.” The Director-General smiled. The blue points of light in his eyes all cycled one position anti-clockwise. “Some of my counterparts might ask for access to your antimatter infrastructure, or something like that, in return. But I know you won’t entertain that possibility, because your technology means to you what the Cradle means to me. I was negotiating with an open mind, but it seems you aren’t ready to be serious with us. For that reason, this meeting is over. Come on, everyone.” The Director-General stood up, expertly scooping his jacket off the back of his chair and putting it back on.

The Under-Secretary, who had sat slightly open-mouthed as the Director-General played a weak hand with magnetic energy, decided to throw his weight behind the maneuver. As he stood up with the rest of the human delegation, he addressed the Ambassador directly. “Thank you for your time, Ambassador Taranik. Would you please inform the Zuraxi’Synkuur corporation to expect a full audit of its operations, in line with the Outremer Espionage Act, and to update its clients? We’ll need to ask all employees and consultants to provide a complete previous employment history. If you have any questions, please just let my office know."

Freyr got up hesitantly from her chair. ”What is happening?” She sent to Masgard. ”I’ll explain later.” He sent back, putting his jacket back on. He came over, smiling encouragingly, and put a hand on her back to softly guide her toward the door along with Dr Uchida and Dr Kamau.

The Rothian delegation had, of course, prepared and discussed ahead of time many different possible outcomes for how the meeting might go, but since they had not known exactly what matter the Humans intended to bring to them that day, they were caught somewhat by surprise by how quickly the Director-General’s approach turned on its head. To the Ambassador, it was quite frankly…confusing that he would storm out of negotiations so quickly. Nevertheless, none of the Rothians made it particularly obvious that they had been caught off-guard. Vreta remained silent and chuckled slightly, while the Ambassador simply gestured towards the door. “Very well. If you have no further desire to negotiate, you may leave. And should you have any specific requests for Rothian corporations or other entities, you may submit them through the proper channels of their legal departments.”

Naturally, the Rothians offered no resistance to allowing the Humans to leave. They had little reason to bend, even in the face of such seemingly stubborn opposition. Their people could handle any potential economic impacts of these events far better than Outremer, and that was not even to mention what was happening in the Cradle.

The Rothian representatives ensured that the Humans had fully departed before continuing to speak among themselves. “Well that was…quite unprecedented.” Counselor Joll remarked.

“It was easy to see that their normal representatives were not in control.” The Ambassador commented. “I am doubtful their Director-General had much diplomatic experience; he was a rather poor negotiator. I was still willing to make at least some concessions after my initial offer. At least before he stormed out.”

Vreta nodded in agreement. “I would not worry too much about them. This is just a game of patience, now. If what I saw in the Cradle yesterday was anything to go by, this will only get worse for them. We just have to be ready to step in at the appropriate time.”

After the meeting, they had a polite wrapping up and goodbye outside in the courtyard garden, by the cars. They all congratulated Freyr on her promotion again, then the Director-General requested Under-Secretary Sequeira and Masgard Xandrus ride with him. Freyr thought the man was struggling to hide his apoplexy, although that may have just been because one of the spotlights in each of his eyes momentarily blinked red. It happened so fast, as they were shaking hands, and the Director-General didn’t acknowledge Freyr’s concerned look, choosing instead to quickly retire to his flyer. But she definitely saw something lurking underneath his calm exterior.

Once they’d gone, Freyr, Dr Uchida and Dr Kamau went for lunch together, closely guarded by plain clothes police officers. This lunch eventually turned into dinner and drinks, with the two esteemed scientists catching her up on everything that had happened during her absence from duty.

Apparently, things had changed dramatically from that fateful night when Freyr’s husband and daughter were taken. A lot of the civil servants in senior Cradle management positions had been replaced by shadowy, highly knowledgeable individuals. Uchida and Kamau suspected these people reported into even more unknown quantities like the Director-General.

This new management cadre was arguably far more capable in affairs of the Cradle than the previous elected representatives; they quickly and efficiently put the Cradle apparatus on a new path. One that focused less on expanding the Cradle’s usable territory and much more on trying to understand and dampen it’s capabilities. Kamau and Uchida suspected this group had the tacit support of the administration outside of the Cradle, as massively increased emergency budgets got signed off with practically no fanfare.

Freyr finally gave her statement on the events in Boycott Park to the police upon returning to her apartment. She started back at work the next day, logging into the Cradle from the comfort of her constantly guarded living room. She found out on her first day back that all private sector Cradle leases and contracts were now being bought out. All non-essential access had been revoked. Freyr also received a new and improved NDA to sign, making all new information about the Cradle classified top secret.

Freyr quickly confirmed her suspicions that the Cradle Research & Development division was in disarray. Giving a collection of brilliant but entrenched scientists a massive budget and lots of ambitious young graduates, and then changing the division’s entire mission statement within a few months was always going to be a tough ask. Karos had made a start, but he’d always been something of a traditionalist. So Freyr’s first major challenge was getting the team ready for anything.

She had her work cut out. A few weeks after the incident at the testing facility, the Border began encroaching on colonised territory in a few hot spots. Terraformers with upgraded gear successfully reversed the advance. Until a few weeks after that, when the Border began shifting again, all across the frontier. All manner of creatures ventured from beyond the opaque bulwark, wreaking havoc upon squads of Terraformers and CraSec guards. Strange power surges hit the occupied zone every week, momentarily changing the pearl white facades of the administration’s new fortress cities into…something else. A twisted labyrinth of organic matter, like some sick perversion of the structures that had stood in their place just moments before.

A few months passed. Freyr found herself practically living in the Cradle, working day and night to roll back the advance. She’d almost forgotten about the meeting at the Rothian Embassy in the maelstrom of other meetings and planning sessions. That is, until she got a message from Masgard Xandrus, her public liaison and legal representation. It said the Outremer administration had made a good deal with the Rothians. They had a working partnership, and an expedition to Rothia was being made ready to leave tomorrow. Freyr was to lead it, leaving both her deputies, Dr Uchida and Dr Kamau (she hadn’t been able to choose between them), to hold the fort.

In the aftermath of their meeting with the Director-General, Vreta did not spend much more time on Outremer. He stayed long enough to cover his tracks, as well as to deal with some matters for the corporation he was representing and keep up his cover story. However, he eventually returned to Rothia after less than a week for the official reason of safety, given that he was the target of a supposed terrorist attack. From there, he continued in an advisory position regarding the situation on Outremer.

The approach of the Rahn’Masser in the months that followed was one of patience, on Vreta’s own advice. They took no further risks with trying to learn what the Humans were keeping hidden, and instead simply monitored the situation through publicly-available means. The fact that the Cradle was heavily locked-down by the Outremer government was essentially confirmation that the event Vreta witnessed was not an isolated one. There was even a growing sentiment of concern and confusion from Outremer’s citizens on their government’s sudden and drastic reversal of policy in regards to the Cradle. Frequent, rolling power outages across Outremer’s infrastructure also spoke to persistent issues within the Cradle. The Rothians could not know the details from the outside, but from their perspective, they did not need to. They just needed to wait long enough for desperation to set in. They did, in the meantime, attempt to search for whatever it was the creature in the Cradle had supposedly tried to contact on Rothia, but without any information on where or what it was they were looking for, finding it in any quick time was only a remote possibility.

Eventually, the months of waiting were rewarded. Vreta himself was not involved in the negotiations, but the agreement the Rothian government reached with Outremer gave them a satisfactory degree of cooperation in the investigation. With the information they were given, they quickly began to assemble a research team, mobilize soldiers for security roles, and gather ample resources to assist the investigation. For Vreta himself, he finally had a direct part to play once more. Officially, he had retired from his position at the Zuraxi’Synkuur corporation and had taken a position as a government contractor in its place. He had been appointed as the Rothian liaison to the Human half of the task force that was quickly forming. Given his specific experience with both Humanity and the Cradle, as well as his skillset, he was the natural choice for both official and unofficial purposes.

---

Vreta could not say he was thrilled about the prospect of logging in to the Cradle once again, but at least this time he was in more control of the situation. For one, he had his own pistol at his side, as well as a retinue of armed and armored Rothian soldiers at his side. Human entry harnesses still could not simulate Rothian technology, so their arms and armor were all of Human origin, adapted to their bodies, but at least he was not so defenseless. However, the main reason he felt comfortable entering this nightmare of a simulation was that he would not be wandering more than a city block away from the transit station. He went to the CraSec outpost just next to his entry point, sent word to the Director of the Human contribution to the expedition, and stayed put exactly where he was to wait for their arrival.

Vreta had logged into the seat of Outremer’s power in the Cradle, New Antioch. It was a gleaming city state of white gold towers and painstakingly terraformed gardens. Architecture from all ages and locations of human progress were present, from pseudo-ornate crenellations to modern skyscrapers.

The only real ‘city’ of this size in the Cradle, New Antioch sat on the first available entrypoint for those brave first colonists, hundreds of years ago. When they first managed to enter the Cradle, a sea of darkness greeted them. So the settlers set about building a walled, brightly lit enclave from which to begin their expansion. It wasn’t much to start with, as they basically had to terraform everything from scratch.

As the human’s understanding of the Cradle improved, many scholars agreed that the most efficient way to expand Humanity’s access to the Cradle was to spread out across the landscape into power-rich areas. But New Antioch, or NA for short, remained as the administrative hub, and was gradually transformed from a ramshackle FOB into an impressive, compact example of Humanity’s terraforming prowess.

Freyr had mostly been based in NA’s Institute For Cradle Research since returning to work. It was a grand, dome shaped building near the centre of the city. The interior had been recently rebuilt using techniques considered least perceptive to the recent power surges. Freyr was considered a high value asset, so was strongly advised to remain within the relative safety of NA as much as possible.

Freyr and a team of scientists were busy conducting surgery on a live specimen from beyond the Border when her comms implant signalled a call from CraSec. Stepping away from the mutant body, Freyr accepted the call. “Go for Dr Lang.”

“Ma’am, there’s a Rothian by the name of Vreta’Sori here to see you.” Freyr narrowed her eyes for a moment as she tried to place that name. “Oh yeah! I know who that is. Can you put him through to me please?” When Vreta’s ID appeared in her HUD, Freyr tried to greet him warmly, despite how exhausted she was. “Good afternoon, Vreta’Sori. Long time no speak! I heard about the partnership, is that why you’re here? I’m at the IFCR if you want to speak in person.”

While not a terribly large city, this place, New Antioch, did seem far more civilized than the other parts of the Cradle Vreta had seen. It was not his first time coming here, as there had been more than a few meetings in the city back when he was still undercover. Truthfully, it did not look too different from the last time he had been here, based on his brief glimpse of the city from walking across the street outside the transit station. Although, he supposed that, out of anywhere in the Cradle, New Antioch would be among the last places to be affected if the troubles he had witnessed months before were indeed getting worse.

In any case, it did not take long for Vreta to be connected in a call to Human Science Director for their expedition on Rothia. It was a slight surprise to him that he recognized the name, though he supposed it should not have been too much of one. Dr. Lang was, after all, one of the foremost experts on the Cradle. Given how the Director-General had stormed out of that meeting months prior, he felt sure that the Humans had expended nearly every other option they had before going back to making a deal with them. The lead on Rothia was likely the best they had remaining, so it made sense to send their best to pursue it.

“Hello, Freyr. It is good to speak to you again.” Vreta greeted her, keeping an openly friendly tone. “I can come to you, if you feel I should. Though…I will admit, I still feel unnerved being in this place, after what happened. But yes, that is why I am here. I have been appointed as the Rothian liaison to the Human expedition members. I came to introduce myself to the Director, but it seems I took care of that a few months ago. It also seems that you are going to be getting the opportunity to visit my people’s homeworld.”

Freyr chuckled. “Yes. Who’d have thought it? Visiting Rothia was actually high on my to-do list before...well, everything.” She peeled off her surgical gloves and put them into a bin attached to the portable surgery table. “No that’s quite alright, you stay put. I’m just finishing up here and then my team and I will make our way to Port Angharad. Will you be joining us on the voyage, as our liaison and cultural guide?”

Just then, the lights in the operating theatre flickered. Freyr and some of the other scientists peered up at the banks of lights on the ceiling, hands shielding their eyes from the intermittent glare. After a few moments, it stopped and the lights returned to normal. They all shared knowing looks. This usually meant one thing; and everyone remained motionless and waited for it.

Suddenly, the floor underneath them began vibrating, and a deep rumbling groan emanated from all around them. The surgical table began moving about on its own, and some of the screens arrayed around the specimen rattled violently. The lights began flickering again, much faster this time. “Don’t move!” Freyr commanded, holding her arms out for balance as the whole room vibrated. “Vreta, are you there?” She shouted over the din, but all she could hear back through comms was white noise.

“Everybody get down!” A man shouted. Freyr turned and saw four CraSec guards bursting through the operating theatre doors. “Wait, stay where you a-” Freyr yelled, but it was too late. In the blink of an eye or a flash of the lights, the whole room changed. The clean white walls were suddenly covered in green-brown trunks, like that of a rotten tree. Vines flecked with faint purple veins covered most of the floor and ceiling. The lighting lost its sharp edge and changed in hue, becoming a much fainter orange glow. Shadows collected in the corners of the theatre and pooled on the floor. The vibrations appeared to stop, or at least subside temporarily.

Three of the soldiers, driven by their directive to protect the high value asset at all costs, stopped at Freyr’s command. But one of them carried on rushing forward. He shouted out as his left foot and ankle fell into a large gaping mouth with many teeth that’d just opened up in the floor before him. The mouth promptly snapped shut and Freyr heard a crunch of bones. The man fell awkwardly to the floor crying in pain, and vines began moving to wrap around his body.

Freyr could hear bubbling, and through the gloom could see various mounds of organic material beginning to appear on the floor and in the corners. A rancid smell swept through the room. “Shoot them!” She pointed. The soldiers obliged, walking more carefully into the room and firing energy bursts at the small gurgling shapes.

“That is my plan. Not every Rothian is so…accustomed to the differences between our people and yours, so we have always found it helpful to…” Vreta began answering to Freyr, but he was cut off by his communications, as well as many of the lights around him, going dark. His guards all raised their weapons, and Vreta himself drew his pistol. There were other Humans around them in the building, of course, but once they became able to see once more, it would be hard to say their defensive response was not justified.

What appeared to be vines, plants, and other indistinct organic matter seemed to appear out of nowhere, covering the walls and floor. For a moment, the Rothians were silent and still, each of them scanning separate angles. Vreta had no information on what was happening, if it was a new development in the Cradle, or if it was somehow normal. However, one thing that was certain was that he was not going to wait around to investigate.

“We are leaving. Stay close.” Vreta announced in a calm, focused tone. They had not strayed far from the transit station, so it would not be a long walk back. Though, each and every step made Vreta more and more unnerved. The feel of vines touching the scales on the bottom of his feet seemed, ironically, unnatural given his surroundings. They all walked together in a tight formation, straight out the door they had entered through. Between each of the soldiers, they had full vision on their surroundings to avoid being caught off-guard. Even the floor itself Vreta did not trust, and he was watching it as if it were an enemy combatant.

The operating theatre was filled with a deafening staccato of gunfire as the CraSec soldiers fanned out into the room, targeting the pungent mounds of flesh growing all around the room. They created a loose perimeter around Freyr in particular, and for all the scientists to get lower to the floor, giving them a clear line of sight toward any hostiles.

Freyr grabbed a scalpel from the surgical table. She ducked down onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the nearby wounded soldier. Vines had wrapped themselves around his midsection and neck; he was desperately pulling at the latter, the whites of his eyes clearly visible even in the gloom. Freyr scooted up next to him and began carefully sawing at the vines around his neck with her scalpel.

After a few seconds of cutting, the vines gave way and the man drew a gasping, ragged breath. Freyr was about to begin cutting away the creepers around his chest when something at the door caught her eye. Facing them through the glass double doors leading to the gloomy corridor stood a man-sized creature. It was composed entirely of the same grungy flesh currently coating the walls and bubbling up through the floor. It had oversized arms with long, thin, organic but sharp looking spikes on the end. Freyr couldn’t see any features on its face.

With the flickering ceiling lights casting long shadows on it’s form, the man-creature burst through the double doors, both of its arms out in front of it. Freyr fell onto her back and tried to scrabble backwards but vines caught her hands. “Look out!” She shrieked. One of the soldiers must have noticed, because energy bolts blew holes in the creature’s chest. But it kept coming, jumping towards Freyr’s prone form.

The lights stopped flickering, and in another blink of an eye the regular operating theatre had returned. The vines, fleshy piles and rushing creatures were nowhere to be seen, except as an imprint on her eyelids when Freyr blinked. She collapsed back, her head resting on the cold floor as she caught her breath. The soldier with the mangled foot moaned loudly as the other soldiers called for medical help.

"Vreta, are you still there?" Freyr called via their resumed comm connection, still laying on the floor for now.

The Rothians were slow and methodical when moving, but there was only so much they could do to spot danger when the ground itself was a threat. When Vreta made a step from the sidewalk into the street to cross, he at first thought that he had tripped over something, but it was a thorny vine that had gripped his ankle, pulling him to the ground. Still, even as he fell, he shouted out a warning to the others. “On me!”

The soldiers were fast to react. All their squad leader needed to do was to shout a name, and that soldier immediately knelt down to assist while the rest provided cover. The vines tried to entangle and constrict Vreta, but the soldier’s sharp, powerful claws ripped them up from the ground and allowed him to scramble to his feet.

At the same time, the soldiers covering found themselves facing down unknown, and seemingly impossible beings rising up from the ground itself. That indistinct organic matter they had been passing by pooled almost like a liquid until it formed into a mostly humanoid, but otherwise featureless shapes. The squad leader had no reason to hesitate. “Open fire!”

Their weapons might not have been as powerful as what they were accustomed to, but they were at least still effective against the adversaries in front of them. The shots melted through the organic bodies, blasting holes through them and even removing limbs. Each of the squad members covered a different angle to hold them back. They were ready to shift their focus if any of the soldiers called for aid, though given that they were surrounded, all of them had a job to do.

“What’s your status?” One of the Rothian soldiers asked as she helped Vreta to his feet, to which he answered quickly and clearly.

“Just lacerations. I can walk. Move quick and get out of…” Vreta began, but in a quick flash of light, everything changed. In an instant, there were no vines covering the ground, nor organic monstrosities. The lights were bright, and the city around them was just…a city. Vreta’s ankle still bled, but otherwise it was as if nothing had happened. “…here. We’re still leaving.” He commented.

Vreta answered Freyr right away when she contacted him, though with his words far more hurried. “Yes, and I am leaving the Cradle. I suggest you do the same. I am going to go to the port you mentioned. I will likely spend the rest of my time at the ship until we leave.”

“Understood, I'll see you there. Glad you’re alright; at least now you’re up to speed on how things are going.” Freyr responded grimly, ending the call. She then entered the private comms sub-channel used by the Division’s scientists that she’d picked for the expedition. “Hi everyone. I hope you’ve made your work ready for transit; I want to be set up in the ship labs this evening. I’m logging out now, if there are any questions, get me on comms. If not, I’ll see you there in a few hours."

Freyr had more than a bit of apprehension about going on this expedition. There could be no doubt that any evidence of the Cradle communicating with other planets in the galaxy had to be investigated. Nothing like this had happened before, certainly not in the few centuries Humanity had been on Outremer. But then again, the situation that was unfolding in the Cradle itself had never happened before either, and Freyr’s family was still trapped in there somewhere. Freyr could feel it. However, she ultimately decided to go with her gut and hope this new lead led somewhere.

Freyr logged out of the Cradle and checked the big bag of belongings that Demeter had packed for her. Everything seemed to be in order there; she projected she’d be wearing her work clothes for the majority of the trip anyway. Freyr also checked her implants and data pad were updated with her latest notes, so she could manage the division from anywhere with a comms relay. With everything confirmed, Freyr took one last look around her apartment before heading for the roof pad. Her driver (one of the perks of being Division head) greeted her warmly, loaded her luggage into the back of the flyer and promptly set off for Port Angharad.

The media circus outside Freyr’s building had long since died down, meaning she had grown used to not wearing the headband which muffled her facial features. However, some of the more resilient outlets had stationed drones high above the buildings. They tracked Freyr’s flyer leaving, and took off in pursuit.

The return from the Cradle was as much of a relief this time as it had been after the event months ago. During the time spent waiting and advising from a distance, he had almost forgotten how much he hated that damned place, but it seemed that the Cradle had saw fit to remind him of that fact. Truly, he wanted to avoid entering it at any cost, by this point.

While he had been given soldiers to escort him in the Cradle, he would not be keeping a full armed guard for his entire stay with the Humans. The context of his assignment to their team made a repeat of the last incident quite unlikely. Nevertheless, he had improved his capability to defend himself. He would be wearing a shield unit at all times, and as soon as he had boarded the Rothian dropship awaiting him at the embassy, he was able to arm himself with a proper Rothian sidearm.

The flight into orbit was a short one, and unlike the other times he had went to and from Outremer, his transfer through customs was also a quick and efficient affair. Given that he was associated with an expedition of great importance to Outremer’s government, his ship was also tagged with the appropriate priority. The orbital dockyards his dropship approached were massive, military stations that serviced equally massive warships. Other, smaller patrol vessels constantly meandered between larger battleships, carriers, and orbital defense platforms. Outremer was among the most well-defended planets that Humanity possessed, and they made sure to show that fact as clearly as possible.

Freyr checked the expedition manifest from her implant while the flyer jetted over Babylon. It showed that out of the nineteen other Division scientists she’d been allowed to bring on the expedition, five had already made it onto the OSC Barbarossa. This was the ship Freyr assumed would be taking them all the way to Rothia. A call sign appeared from Masgard Xandrus; Freyr initiated the call. “Hey, are you on your way Angharad?” Freyr had found out today that her lawyer was on the expedition as one of the official spokespeople.

“Yeah, thought I'd get a headstart on setting up shop. You?”

“I am, yes. Just had to wrap up a few things here. I should arrive at about the same time as you...I heard Vreta’Sori, our new Rothian liaison, visited you in the Cradle today, that right?”

“He did. Just in time for a power surge - a big one.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Let's talk later. I have a few calls to make.”

The rest of the journey passed by quickly. Freyr relayed a few instructions to her team in the Cradle and the scientists already set up on the Barbarossa. But mostly she stared out of the window, drinking in her adopted homeworld’s dramatic scenery. From this high up, Freyr could see the ancient biosphere that surrounded Babylon curving down from a mile up to meet the ground in a near perfect circle. The field was almost transparent, apart from faint ripples that slowly moved across its surface like waves.

Beyond that, Freyr could see Babylon’s infamous Circle Desert. An incongruous ring of arid badlands in an otherwise fertile landscape, it stretched for miles all around the city. The exact cause of this permanent drought was unknown, but many scholars agreed it was likely something to do with the Cradle’s physical form. Freyr had only seen it once; an enormous sphere coated in an unbreakable alloy. It floated in an enormous vault (built around it) at the heart of a cave system deep underneath Babylon. A previous alien civilisation, long gone now, had built an entire city around the Cradle, living underground to be closer to it.

Freyr was confident that some radiation from the Cradle rendered the ground around it practically unlivable, apart from the area within the biosphere. Even though rain regularly fell on the Circle Desert, nothing would grow.

“Approaching Port Angharad, ma’am.” Her driver announced, stirring Freyr from her reverie. She looked down and saw the port was coming up fast in front of them.

Every self-respecting citizen of Outremer knew Port Angharad was where the first settlers touched down, almost three hundred and fifty years ago. Freyr thought it must have seen better days. From above, it looked like quite a dirty, sprawling complex of terminals, auto-factories and ancient colonial administration buildings. Freyr supposed a lot of newer, more central spaceports had been built in the last few centuries, leaving Port Angharad as a government and military installation.

The driver received the gate of Freyr’s waiting shuttle from air traffic control, and took them in toward a low collection of landing pads. She could see Masgard waiting outside his own flyer in the parking area as they touched down. “Welcome to Port Angharad!” He called to her as she stepped out of the car. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

As Vreta’s dropship neared the dockyards, he saw the ship that he would be boarding. It stood out among most of the other vessels, and even other Human warships in orbit. Vreta had done a quick search about the ship, and based on publicly-available information, it seemed to be a part of a new generation of warship for the Humans with their latest and greatest technology. Aesthetically, it even bore some similarities to Rothian ships, and he could not help but to wonder if that was intentional? After all, Rothian warships were unquestionably the most powerful in the galaxy, and there could be some psychological benefit to that association.

Given his position, the screening he went through in the dockyards themselves did not take nearly as long as customs on civilian stations, and he was brought on-board within minutes. As a high-profile guest on their ship, Vreta was greeted on the other side of the airlock by the ship’s executive officer, one Lieutenant Commander Douglass. With how massive of a ship it was, a full tour would be rather impractical, but Vreta was given a map of the areas he was permitted to go, as well as an explanation of the rules he was expected to follow.

Vreta might have wanted to rest after the scare he had received in the Cradle, but he decided it would be best to get straight to doing his job while he had the chance. He sat down with the Lieutenant Commander and briefed him on everything he and his crew should start preparing for regarding their arrival on Rothia. Vreta made sure they understood several of the more non-negotiable aspects of visiting Rothia. Anyone who would set foot on either Rothia, or a Rothian ship, would need to be prepared to accept that surveillance would be constant, so there would never be a point where anyone, Rothian or Human, would not be watched. Additionally, in order to set foot on the planet, any Human would be required to receive the same kind of medical treatment mandated to human tourists to give them sufficient resistance to the high-energy radiation on Rothia, or else sign a rather comprehensive legal waiver. There was, of course, much more advice for Vreta to give, but he decided it best to get matters that would affect the whole crew out of the way first.

“Sure!” Freyr laughed, as a nearby shuttle’s engines roared to life, blowing a sheet of dust over both of them. This close to the edge of the biosphere, sand was still more common than grass. Masgard levered himself off the side of his flyer where he’d been leaning and flicked his stim-cig into the dirt. “I thought we’d avoided the press by leaving from here. Guess I was wrong.” He nodded into the distance, where three small shapes approaching in the distance, blue sky behind them. “Are those news drones?” Freyr asked as the driver placed both their luggage onto a hovering cargo trolley.

“Yeah, let's get you squared away. This is our shuttle here, everything is taken care of.” Masgard ushered her towards the waiting transport and up the ramp, using his tailored jacket to shield them from some of the dust. As Freyr’s eyes gradually adjusted to the gloomy interior, she realised it was almost full of cargo boxes. Only a few jump seats remained near the exit. “All this for me?” Freyr joked. Despite her outwardly jovial demeanor, she still felt shaken by the recent Cradle power surge. They seemed to be getting worse. Freyr was secretly pleased she wasn’t making this whole journey alone with her thoughts. Masgard chuckled. “The military hates the government’s habit of letting everyone arrive separately. They make good use of the empty space on transport ships when we’re involved.”

After strapping in and making sure their luggage was secure, the ramp closed up and harsh lighting replaced the cool Outremer afternoon sun. The transport lifted up suddenly and Freyr held onto some cargo netting as the craft rapidly accelerated into orbit. She looked across at Masgard and noticed he’d gone decidedly pale. To try and distract him, Freyr asked one of the questions that had been weighing on her mind. “Do you know who else is coming with us? Like, outside of my Division?” Masgard shook his head quickly, his neck muscles tensing and his jaw set. “Not yet. It all happened so fast, but i expect we’ll find out soon.” Freyr nodded.

After about twenty minutes, the thunderous engine sound in the troop bay dipped slightly, and the directional strains gradually subsided. “I think we’re docking!” Freyr called. Masgard looked relieved.

While Vreta did make sure to convey that there would be more to talk about, Vreta ended his meeting with the Lieutenant Commander to let him start work on preparing for what he had already told him. Based on Human FTL capabilities, it would be about two weeks before they arrived, in any case, so there was plenty of time for Vreta to fulfill his responsibilities.

Vreta did feel that his nerves were starting to calm after his most recent incident with the Cradle, if only because he knew that he was going to be light years away from the accursed place soon enough. He just hoped that whatever they ended up finding on Rothia ended up being nothing similar. Though, with the research expedition on his mind, his thoughts went back to his meeting that had been interrupted in the Cradle. In terms of his official role in the expedition, he had wanted to talk to Dr. Lang to make sure they could set the groundwork for an effective, cooperative effort with Rothian scientists. His meeting with the Lieutenant Commander had taken long enough that he supposed she would likely be on board by now. With a quick thought, Vreta decided to make another call to Dr. Lang.