Engineer Bjorn shook his head with a smile as he finished scanning his side of the cargo container. “I haven’t seen a full load in... a long time.” He searched around the container for anything odd. “Any issues, Cap?” he called out to Nigel Carter, scanning the other side of the container.

“Not that I can tell so far,” Nigel said, his tone clear and concise. “But is it wrong for me to still expect something bad to happen?”

“You wouldn’t be my daddy if you didn’t,” Tatyana said, her eyebrows at a questioning slant. She always knew her father’s innate suspicion towards certain matters, but right now, there was simply no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary. Their cargo was all packed and ready for transit through the Celestial Gate. The ship was clean, the crew equipped, everything was perfect. They had no reason to suspect anything strange. But something felt amiss despite the outward perfection.

“Just three more containers. Tats, if you would do the honors?” Bjorn asked.

“Sure thing, Bjorn,” Tatyana said. She gave Bjorn a warm smile as she readied her rifle and slid through the cracked door to the container. Her curves squeezed between the door and frame. There was something about the way her hips moved as she disappeared from sight—a slight sway, a graceful glide, a subtle but unmistakable taunt aimed in Bjorn’s direction. Bjorn felt his cheeks flush as he shook his head, returning to his own scanning process.

Suddenly, a shout from Tatyana echoed out from the container.

“Captain, Bjorn!”

Captain Carter and Bjorn rushed over to the container Tatyana had just entered. They found her standing within, lips slightly parted and gaze lost in the distance.

“Tats?” Bjorn asked, growing concerned. “What’s going on?”

“The metal cylinder—it’s different from the rest of the cargo, and there’s a shadow, a figure within it.” To their surprise, wonder and excitement, not fear, filled Tatyana’s voice.

Captain Carter wasted little time in exiting the container and heading to the communications panel of Cargo Bay 16.

Tatyana, with her rifle, remained inside, standing guard over the cylinder. Bjorn followed Nigel out, where he caught the tail end of Nigel’s conversation.

“... Bella, Doctor Orlova, meet us in Cargo Bay 16. We have a situation here.” Nigel’s brows expressed a grim demeanor, but he kept his voice calm.

---

Pilot Lucas Grayson readied his chair.

The flight chair of an intergalactic freighter like the Titan’s Pillar was not just any ordinary piece of furniture. It was the single most important invention in space transportation. It came filled with synaptic interfaces, cooling devices, life support systems, and so much more embedded into the chair’s design. Ever since Lucas completed his training, he could navigate and pilot the ship as effortlessly as if he had his whole life.

“You missed me, girl?” He spoke as his hand glided over the polished surface, reminiscing over the countless hours they had spent together. They had grown incredibly close - a companionship born out of trust, passion, and a unique harmony between body and machine.

The cool metallic hue contrasted with the warmth of Lucas’ dark fur. He loved everything about his pilot’s seat: the elegance of the control panel before him, the gentle hum whenever the power kicked on, and the way the chair seemed to adapt to every single one of his movements.

Lucas viewed it as a second skin. In such a symbiosis, anything became possible. The sleek black upholstery complemented Lucas’ dark pilot suit like a star-crossed lover. He frequently got lost in the moment, reminiscing about starry nights spent out in the vast expanse of the universe.

“Who? Oh, the sexy, large-footed woman with the shapely caboose?” Lucas cooed, defending his fidelity to his chair and the ship. “No, you shouldn’t be worried about her, she’s just a...”

“Lucas,” came Nigel’s voice through the speakers. It jolted Lucas from his momentary lapse. “Are we in the Celestial Gate yet?” Captain Carter’s voice echoed through the speakers in the cockpit, pulling Lucas back to reality.

“No, sir. We haven’t reached it yet,” Lucas responded, quickly shifting his focus back to his duties as the ship’s pilot. “I was just getting settled in.”

“Good, we have an unplanned development in the cargo hold. We need to hold up just short.” Nigel’s voice crackled over the intercom, abrupt and troubled.

Lucas’ heart skipped a beat. “Understood, Captain,” he said, bracing for whatever this recent development might be.

In the vast expanse of space, little things escalated into monumental challenges. Such was the nature of interstellar travel.

“Just a friendly reminder though. We don’t want to stay just short of it too long. The Titans Pillar is one of the sexiest, juiciest targets for pirates when she’s sitting in front of a Gate,” Lucas said, the seriousness of the situation already settling in.

The captain acknowledged the risk. “Exactly why I’m holding up short of it. If our unplanned development proves to be a threat, I don’t want the choice taken away from us.”

“Oh, and did you just call my ship sexy?” Captain Carter inquired, his stern voice giving way to an audible smirk.

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh, grateful for the bit of lightheartedness. “I may have, but she is one gorgeous machine, and you know it.”

“So true.” Conceded Captain Carter with a chuckle of his own.

---

Bella and Doctor Orlova arrived promptly, the cargo hold was full of tense energy as Bjorn rhythmically proceeded with his scanning of the cargo containers, Captain Nigel Carter, with a concerned expression, waited for Orlova to finish running her tests on the mysterious stainless-steel cylinder.

The Doctor was the best among them with her keen ability to diagnose even the most peculiar of ailments, and she took her responsibilities seriously. This was why they entrusted her with their lives.

Orlova took a small sample from the stainless-steel container. She examined the thick blue liquid inside. It was unlike anything she had ever encountered.

“Ancients! What have you done?” Orlova cursed under her breath. She scanned the results many times, trying to make sense of the astonishing lack of genetic information being provided to her.

“So, what, who, is it?” Captain Carter asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

Doctor Orlova took a moment longer, swirling the thick blue liquid around. “I do not know. This fluid contains some organic materials, but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m also not detecting any signs of radiation or otherwise harmful elements. It seems safe to open and investigate.”

“But why can’t you tell me who’s inside?” Nigel asked again, his baby blue eyes showing confusion.

“Because this cylinder, this tube, this device, doesn’t care who’s in it. The blue material and blue energy associated with it would keep anything in stasis, best that I could tell. Even the person’s age or state.” Orlova said while examining the substance.

“Age—this might be an infant, child, or adult?” First Mate Bella asked, her eyes wide with shock.

Doctor Orlova nodded. “This cylinder might have been sitting at the bottom of some archaeological dig site for millennia or recently preserved fresh. It’s likely the entity inside has been in stasis for quite some time. Until we test further or open it, we can’t know for sure.”

Bjorn finished his scan of the last container. “At least we’re sure there’s nothing else illegal here. That counts for something, right?” He asked, doing his best to ease some of the tension that had filled the air.

“I suppose that’s a minor victory,” Captain Carter said with a nod, attempting to hide his worry.

Doctor Orlova noticed their unease. She directed their attention to the more pressing matter at hand. “I believe we should open the container and investigate. Given the limited information I can gather from this analysis, we should exercise extreme caution.”

“Can you even open it, Doc?” Bjorn asked his old friend, his curiosity piquing.

“There’s a switch—open, closed. Currently, it’s in the closed position. That’s about as easy as it gets.” Orlova said with a small smile. “However, even though we have some idea about the contents inside, I still can’t stress enough how important it is to approach this with caution.”

Captain Carter nodded, signaling to Tatyana and Bjorn to step back from the cylinder. “Everyone, clear to a safe distance,” he ordered, making sure his voice projected through the hold.

Tatyana and Bjorn swung back from the cylinder, making their way to the firmly installed safety barriers on either side of the container.

Click

Orlova thumbed the switch on the side of the steel cylinder and immediately the snap-hiss of escaping gas gave way to the creak and groan of the pneumatic mechanism as the inner chamber slid open.

A brief, unsettling silence preceded a crack. The sound of breaking glass shattered the quiet. Something in the gas observed its surroundings, then revealed itself.

She had pristine white fur and eyes as black as the deepest night. To everyone’s astonishment, she focused on Tatyana, who stood far off with her weapon down. The unfamiliar creature made Tatyana take a small, cautious step back.

“An Oryctolagus? Impossible,” Captain Carter stammered out, a clear sign of how utterly shocked he was. It wasn’t often that anything caught him so off-guard.

He watched as the figure stood there, observing the crew before taking another hesitant step forward and speaking in a soft, melodic voice. “May I ask who you are?”

The Oryctolagus female appeared to be a mix between a rabbit and an Ancient. A refined and graceful arch was in her posture. She had an ethereal beauty. Captain Carter found himself captivated, his attention fully on the newcomer.

The others were equally confounded. They stared in awe at the unfamiliar being.

Captain Carter stepped forward. He met her gaze with a warm smile.

“I’m Nigel.”