In her senior year of high school, Natalie Hope reunites with her friends, Adam and Barbara, at the funeral of the fourth member of their once-close gang, Jake. They remember the made-up superhero game they played as kids called "the Astronites," wh...
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Natalie inserted a second pillow underneath Aleph's white head and draped the blanket that she once slept in over his supine body. At Aleph's request, Natalie went into his study, accessed his computer, and sent a message to his colleagues at Oldear University, informing them of his arrival to the home moon. Then she returned to Aleph and observed her work. She didn't understand why fate had ordained for them to switch places — why Natalie was the one taking care of Aleph when just a few days ago she was the one in need of assistance. It was all the stranger that she was fully dressed in Mandata armor.
A moment of reckoning came upon her. She held out the pennar and said, "Show me the Elem System."
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The point of singularity glowed green and projected an image of Elem's planets. It was a at scene of total despair. The Mandata had soaked up the battlespace like an ugly sponge. The UEF, missing its best warships, teetered on defeat. The Heltest Eye hovered by the fourth planetary ring, accompanied by the Crusader and a handful of warships, with Star caught in its line of vision. Adam, Barbara, and Yona had left their seats and were crouched on the floor of the pilots' cabin, embracing one another in tearful goodbyes.
Aleph, I have to fight, Natalie realized. My friends need me.
Then go in valorand return in strength, he said. Remember, only you know what you're capable of. Your willpower is stronger than Endgon's manpower. I believe in you.
Natalie wanted to hold Aleph's hand one last time, but she didn't want to treat this moment with him like it was their last. She picked Ador up.
Concentrate on staying with me, she told him.
Natalie held out the pennar. The room collapsed around her and Ador as the pennar shined a blinding blue light and brought them to the borders of Elem. She and Ador floated in outer space with their backs a few feet away from the Elem Cloud. Directly ahead them was the Heltest Eye staring down Star. As Natalie embraced the battlespace, several of Aleph's words, which she had taken close to heart, resurfaced:
The pennar can be anything and do anything. Just like you. . . .
There is no difference between being great and being yourself. . . .
