Serion, Solar, and Daron had been in complete silence in the central room of the spaceship since Angron had kicked them out of his room. They had no idea how much time had passed since then. Each of them was lost in their thoughts, but none could hide the fear they felt regarding what might have happened if Sephra hadn't managed to calm the pilot. So far, they hadn't heard any horrifying sounds, but their worries remained unresolved. Furthermore, each of them had something else that troubled them, something they were carefully keeping to themselves.

Daron stood nervously against the wall, fully aware that he would have to explain a few things. His companions surely hadn't forgotten that he was the reason they had been caught.

Solar was seated on the floor. She wasn't even aware that she was constantly chewing on the nozzle of her blaster. She couldn't explain why her mind had fixated on this, but she kept chewing on it anyway. She didn't understand how she had ended up in this situation. She had only wanted to find her father's murderer, and now she was running from rebels on a spaceship. To make matters worse, she had nearly been killed, and she knew that Angron could attack them at any moment.

Serion, who had managed to keep his composure throughout the ordeal, was now staring blankly ahead, fidgeting with his hands, occasionally twitching nervously. He was primarily concerned about Angron. He hadn't believed the situation could be this dire, but he had to admit he was wrong. He hated being wrong, but he hated even more that he was starting to fear the pilot.

All of them flinched when the automatic door slid open, breaking the silence. Sephra and Angron entered the room. At the sight of the latter, they all instinctively placed their hands on their weapons. However, they somewhat relaxed when the woman nodded, though they still kept one eye on the pilot, who simply sat down against the wall, pulled up his knees, and rested his head on them, not moving an inch.

Sephra then took a seat beside Serion.

"I want to know the exact situation. I want a report," she said.

"We do too," Solar replied, giving another pointed glance toward Angron.

Sephra's look revealed that she did not want to discuss this topic further.

"Everything is under control. I want to know about the information you obtained," she continued.

At that moment, the woman placed the green shard on the table. Angron was the only one who didn't seem transfixed by it, as he remained seated on the floor with his head lowered.

Solar transformed her blaster into the robot with a button press.

"I'll show you," she said.

Sephra nodded slowly and then glanced at Daron, who shivered under her cold gaze.

"Okay, just a moment. I'm not sure if I want to keep this kid alive yet..."

The boy raised his hands in defense.

"Wait! Please! Listen! I know things didn't go well, but you have to believe me, I don't want to harm anyone! Yes, I worked for Quilen because I had no other choice! I was one of his workers, but I messed up something, and he threw me in prison. I don't know how long I was in there before he finally let me out. He said that if I catch you, he'll forgive everything, and I'll be free. You can't imagine what that meant to me! But now that he lied, I'm not willing to work for him anymore. Please, believe me! I don't want to harm you!"

Daron was trembling. He had never been the warrior type, and he didn't want to die for nothing.

His companions were silent. They all weighed what they had heard and occasionally glanced at each other.

Serion rose from his seat and moved toward the boy. Daron backed away in terror when he saw the gleaming knife in the man's hand. But he was too slow. The soldier grabbed the boy's dark hair, pulled his head back, and pointed the blade straight at his eye. Even Angron looked up at this scene.

Serion felt the boy trembling in his grip. He looked at the admiral, waiting.

Sephra shook her head.

Serion was aware of what it would have meant if he had killed Daron. He had no intention of defying the admiral's command. He held the knife just a few millimeters from Daron, with a steady hand, in a threatening manner.

"Any wrong move, word, or even the slightest sign that you intend to hinder us, and I swear to you, I'll gouge your eyes out. Don't think I'll be satisfied with just that, but it'll be a good start. Do we understand each other?" Serion said.

"Yes," Daron replied with as little movement as possible.

Serion then released him and calmly settled back into his seat as if nothing had happened. Sephra watched the white-haired man, and it seemed like she was impressed by the threat he had just delivered because there was a gleam of admiration in her eyes.

Solar squirmed for a short while before she spoke.

"Listen! I want out of this whole situation. I've already done what was agreed upon in our deal. I don't know what you guys want to do next, but I won't stand in your way. I don't want to interfere with whatever is going on between you and the rebels. I'd like to take my ship, though. It might be the one they are tracking, so if you look for another one, I can divert their attention from you."

Daron stayed silent. He would have loved to escape right away, but he had nowhere to go from here, and after the threat, he pretended like he intended to stay.

Serion and Sephra exchanged glances. It was as if they had discussed what to do with them. Now they were the ones making decisions, as Angron remained uninterested, continuing to sink into his lethargy.

Sephra was the first to speak.

"There's one more thing here that bothers me. The other boy who was with you, Daron. You still haven't told us who he was."

"Indeed! You promised you would explain that!" Solar added.

The boy bit his lip, hoping they could avoid this topic.

"He was an android, but not the typical kind you're thinking of. There's a type of robots that can be controlled through thoughts. They can look however you want, but they lack consciousness of their own; they share the consciousness of the operator. Do you get it? It's as if you've taken a part of me out. It does and says what I want, but I can see, hear, and feel everything it does, sees, and feels. It's hard to explain, but I can disconnect from it, and then we're separate. It doesn't move, and I don't see what it sees. It's like I've placed my consciousness outside my body. If I don't control it, it does nothing, but it appears entirely lifelike. Its movements and expressions seem real."

"But if it's an android, why did it have... organs?" Angron spoke up, for the first time expressing his voice.

"They told me it was for added realism in its movements. If it appears to have real muscles, flesh, and organs, it's less likely to be identified as a robot, even if it's injured. For instance, if someone cuts its arm, it will still ooze a blood-like substance to make it convincing. They say it's to make it more believable. They might be right; I have no idea, but all the tiny screws and sensors are so small you can't notice them."

Angron leaned back and seemed somewhat calmer than before.

"So, I didn't really kill anyone. I'm relieved."

"Yeah, but I still felt how you tore him apart."

"This sounds pretty scary," Solar grumbled.

"And pretty difficult," Sephra added.

Daron's voice held a sense of pride. "It is. It takes a strong mind, or else the operator could lose control or go insane. It's not common to have one of these androids because so many things could go wrong... They're incredibly rare and expensive. Worth millions of credits. I don't know if you understood, but I can't explain it any better because I don't fully understand how it works. Nevertheless, it does work."

"Why did you have such an android with you?"

"Quilen gave it to me. He had it made and wanted to try it out. I was the test subject. It suited this body very well."

"This body?" Serion repeated slowly.

Daron cursed himself for the slip.

"I have modifications to change my appearance."

Solar's eyes sparked with hope. "Do those really exist?"

Angron looked at the girl.

"You lived on Darella and don't know the answer to this? Of course, they exist. The man who took us to Quilen... He doesn't look anything like me now, but he's my father. He completely changed his appearance. I have them too. My species, as aquatic beings, is actually bald, and we don't have legs but fins, but many people didn't like that, including me. Did you see Quilen's color-shifting eyes? It's from the same technology. It's all about shapeshifting. Everyone does it these days."

Daron nodded.

Sephra crossed her arms.

"Then show us what you really look like! I've heard that these more modern types are easy to use."

Daron nervously bit his lower lip with his sharp little teeth. He didn't necessarily want to reveal his true appearance, but he had no choice when all four of them were looking at him so curiously and distrustfully.

What he had was a composite implant. The less someone wanted to change about themselves, the easier it was to do and the deeper it could be implanted. In cases like his, where he wanted to change his entire appearance, it worked differently. They programmed all the features they wanted to see on their new body into a single device and placed it in a less conspicuous place. In his case, it was in the back of his head, and it wasn't placed too deep. It could be easily removed and detaching it didn't pose much of a problem. He could tell from his companions' surprised voices that the process worked.

Daron's body elongated, making him taller, although he was still slightly shorter than Sephra. His ears disappeared as if they had never existed. His skin became darker and hardened, giving him the appearance of a tree, yet it was as hard as stone. His fur disappeared, his claws on his hands retracted, and in their place, two sets of three small black horns sprouted from his wrists and on both sides of his face. He didn't appear older. After standing with his head lowered for a few moments, he shook himself and looked up at his companions with his large, dark brown eyes.

Just a second later, the ship was shaken by Solar's scream.

Daron stared in astonishment at the girl, whose face had contorted beyond recognition with anger. Her gaze darkened, and her mouth frothed. She bore no resemblance to herself.

"It's you! It's you!"

With one hand, she yanked the blaster from Sephra's belt, and with the other, she pulled out Hira. She pointed both weapons at the bewildered boy.

"You're going to die!"

And then she started firing directly towards Daron's head.

The boy was just a tad faster and started running before the girl could open fire. The ship's internal security system absorbed the energy blast. Solar immediately went after him, continuously shouting in both the common language and her own, but always the same message: how she was going to kill him. Only someone grabbing her arm could prevent her from pursuing him.

"Let go!" she screamed at Serion, who held her firmly. "If you don't release me, I'll kill you too!"

With that, she wrested herself free from the man's grasp and turned to face him, her blasters aimed at him. Serion stepped back in astonishment.

"Any of you try to stop me, and I'll shoot, understand?" Solar shouted at Angron and Sephra, who also gazed at her in shock.

When she saw that none of them moved to stop her, she turned around and started running in the direction Daron had fled.

All three of them braced themselves, expecting to hear gunshots any moment, but all they heard was the girl's frantic running and screaming.

"Where are you? Come out!"

Her shouting continued, but wherever she looked, Daron was nowhere to be found. She circled the ship for a long time. Occasionally, she fired into an empty wall out of frustration, but the internal system nullified the energy blasts. Eventually, she slammed her blasters to the floor, crouched down, buried her face in her hands, and let out a high-pitched, piercing scream for a long, long time.

Someone called her by name.

"Solar! You've been sitting here for half an hour. Come back!"

"Is that scumbag there?! I'll kill him. I'll kill him as long as I live!"

"Yes, he's there. But he doesn't know what's wrong. I honestly don't think he understands."

Solar laughed bitterly, devoid of any joy. It was nothing like the cheerful girl she had been just moments ago.

"I'll explain it to him while roasting him slowly over a fire."

"Stop this and get a hold of yourself!"

"What if I don't?"

Someone slapped her. Solar fell like a tree but remained motionless. She lay on the ground, staring blankly ahead.

"You didn't have to hit her," someone, likely Sephra, muttered.

"I truly hoped a slap would bring her to her senses," said Serion.

"Solar, get up and come back! Now!"

"Let's leave her here! She'll come when she's done sulking."

Serion said this as well, then walked out of the room.

"Come on," Sephra poked Solar.

Solar heard the woman getting up and following the soldier. She didn't want to get up. Her father's killer was on the ship. She had so many chances to kill him! She should have left him in the cell with Angron! What a beautiful ending it would have been, but no, her good heart had guided her and she had helped him. Treated him kindly.

She ran her fingers along her blaster, lying there on the floor beside her. Sephra had taken back her own, but Hira was left there. If they had tried to take it from her, she would have torn their throats with her sharp teeth.

The killer was on the ship with nowhere to go. She didn't have to kill him right away. After all, Daron had no chance of escaping. She had plenty of time.