Seven Infinities Away From Home

NINE

Alone against the endless Void the two traveled in their somewhat well-kept ship. It'd been too long since Nedoza had last flown, but the little time she spent in the cockpit thanks to the autopilot allowed her to eventually regain her throne as the queen of flight. The blue-toned Barrier between the Void and the Sixth Universe was coming close, its ominous majesty making Hazel Von Brandt feel smaller than she'd ever felt before.

Just behind the infinite wall of the Barrier was a web-like network of glowing strands, like some sort of vine crawling its way across all the surface it could reach. Some of those strands escaped the barrier, the storm forcing them into a slow dance throughout the stars. The Sixth Universe looked to be the one that was alive rather than the planets in which it held.

It was impossible to tell how close they truly were to the Barrier until the nose of the ship dove in.

Whatever calmness that the Void had treated them to was snatched away faster than they could think. The ground rumbled and shook with a violence Hazel was anything but prepared for. Bolts of lightning struck all around, and thick clouds obscured everything in sight. Hazel's ears rang with a frequency so high she could barely hear her own thoughts through it all. She clamped her hands over her head, sitting on the ground in front of a modern-looking couch.

"Welcome to how most people experience the Barrier," Nedoza said, only just audible over the thundering chaos around them.

Hazel sighed as she realized what her new acquaintance meant. Through the two weeks on Dymo's vessel, the only way they even realized they'd gone through a barrier was a sudden blue light filling the rooms before disappearing.

This was anything but quick. The storm raged around them as they pushed through, their perseverance the only thing keeping Hazel's mind from completely descending into chaos.

Hazel's knuckles were white from how tightly she held her fists. The metal tubing through her arms was more noticeable than it had been before. Her senses were on high alert, making every single sound like a clap of thunder and every color so saturated it was overwhelming. The tiny movements of the metal beneath her skin she felt as if it were ten times as intense.

And just as suddenly as it began, the storm ended. The ship pulled against the barrier until it snapped like a swimmer emerging from the water. Trails of blue clouds followed them as the remains dripped off the wings, dancing in swirling movements back to the barrier from which they came.

"That was... something," Hazel said breathlessly.

Her heartbeat was still unsteady, unable to decide on a singular pace. Breathing was just as shaky, and her mind was a fog that didn't want to clear.

"Some ships are fast enough that they push through the Everjolt with no problem," Nedoza said, "but most are nowhere near that. Mine is fast, but nowhere near like Dymo's rental."

One word of that caught Hazel's still-ringing ears more than the rest. Rental.

"So, that wasn't his actual ship?" Hazel asked, her words slightly slurred.

Nedoza shook her head.

"He was barely even qualified to rent it. Cost us a fortune and a half and that was just for twenty days, and I'm still not sure why he didn't just go for the civilian model..."

"Guess he really wanted me, huh?" Hazel said with a fake chuckle.

Nedoza frowned.

"I guess."

She sat down on the couch across from the one Hazel sat in front of, not letting her pale eyes meet Hazel's. Her chin rested in her palm as she fell deep into thought. There was still a week's worth of travel to go, and in that cramped space, there wasn't much to do other than count the specks of dust that had accumulated over the past two years, the loose strings on the rugs, and doze off into nap after nap after nap.