Lynette stretches herself awake to the soft chime in the Medical Wing.

The room shines with colors of tranquility. The blue lights cover the walls and ceiling, and the violet lights illuminate the floor. When a neytive walks around the wing, their steps make a visible white trail that disappears later.

Lynette swings her legs over the side of a patient’s bed and walks to the sink, splashing water over her face. Her aquatic form starts to show around her cheeks and hair.

Back on Myalón, her bed was a collection of white sponges surrounded by sea kelp that tower toward the surface. Every phase, she would look up to the surface and try to figure out which moon was passing over her. Sleeping out of water felt different and difficult, but there’s something fascinating about breathing in air instead of water.

The Medical Wing is larger than most of the rooms she’s seen. There are sixty beds in total, thirty on both sides parallel to each other. On both ends of the wing, there are coolers and shelves holding medicine, rations of food, drinks, herbs and medical equipment. A holographic display is built in the center of the wing for x-rays and data. The sanitation booth to eliminate bacteria and illnesses sits next to the display. Suits and masks for staff can be found everywhere.

Lynette finishes washing up and walks over to the holographic table. She opens a file for Novennéa with a swipe of her finger.

The table glows to life with green, blue, white, violet, red and orange pixels. They burst upward and swarm together to make a perfect replica of Novennéa. The moons, Sarine and Flesk, sprout from their gravitational beacon.

While the images continue to replicate on the table, Lynette walks over to the sealed cabinets. Three plants sit on the shelf, each placed in their own glass orb.

Before the Knyghts Voyage started, the Psyke neytives managed to send out drones to the surface. They were able to collect soil, plant and air samples across the planet. The drones came back just in time for Myalón to begin planetary exploration. All the samples are now contained in the Medical Wing. Eight soil samples, three types of flora and four canisters of air.

Novennéa's resources are extremely vital for Myalón's future and Lynette has been put in charge of handling them with care. Her hands can't stop shaking with excitement from being given this amount of responsibility.

She reaches out to get her instruments, but jumps at the sudden loud tapping near the entrance.

Standing inside the sanitation booth is the Aither, Samire. Her long bright orange hair is still untamed and her insect-like wings flutter once she gets Lynette's attention. She smiles back and patiently stands still.

“Samire, what…” Lynette loses her focus. She moves to the door where a small speaker is placed on the side. “Umm... Hold on. You need to be sanitized before coming in, okay?”

Samire gives her a nod and steps back. Her wings fall behind her, ready for anything.

Next to the speaker is a switch, nothing special in appearance. Lynette flicks it and the decontamination begins.

A thin white mist pours into the booth, wrapping around Samire until she’s hardly recognized. Lynette can't see the bubbly neytive until the mist is sucked out with vacuums in the floor. Samire can be seen again and all she does is let out a cough.

The doors open up to welcome her.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Samire chuckles between a few words. “One of the Psyke neytives said I can find you here”

“They granted me access to the Medical Wing once I boarded,” Lynette sets aside the plants and instruments on a clear metal table. “Is there something I can help you with? Do you have double strikes?”

“Yes.”

“...”

“...”

“Samire?”

“I wanted to ask if you needed help with anything.”

A soft ping is heard from the holographic table. The image finishes rendering and Novennéa begins its orbit with Sarine and Flesk.

Lynette turns her attention back to Samire. “Actually, you can help me with mapping.”

"Of course,” Samire's smile grows wider.

Mapping Novennéa is one of the easier assignments they gave to her. The task is to chart out the terrains that are suitable for laying out settlement zones. Novennéa is still new and the drones sent out came back with barely anything. The images taken were from many revolutions ago. The planet may have changed over time.

The color system is based on the data they collected. Blue for land that will be left untouched. Green for land marked for settlement zones. Yellow for land to be explored for essential resources. Orange for land with unusual occurrences. Red for land that has been deemed hazardous.

Lynette pulls Samire to the table and guides her over mapping. She tells Samire to mark areas inside the green for new homes. She also warns her to avoid marking near the orange and red areas.

When Samire gets an understanding of her task, they begin their work. The Aither maps their future home while she experiments with the ecosystem.

Moments pass by and both neytives stick to their objectives. Lynette peeks up at Samire, only to have a memory come appear in her mind.

Samire and Layc have some similarities between them. They both came to Lynette as complete strangers and offered their assistance later. The mere thought of Layc makes her wish he was with her now, in the Medical Wing no doubt filled with the same excitement. She misses his frantic swimming in every direction and how he tries to keep up with the instructions given to him. Layc's nervous stutter plays inside her head whenever she thinks of him.

Samire observes the lands and oceans of Novennéa, staring with awe at the things Myalón can't offer them. Lynette can't remember the last time a neytive ever had that shine in their eyes. A sense of wonder. No one on Myalón has had that since the Trybal Rebellion.

Lynette wants that feeling to be shared with the other candidates. Her mind is elsewhere when Samire asks her a question. “I am sorry. What did you say?”

“Why did you fight that neytive the other dial? The Vitares neytive?”

The question was sudden and it made Lynette stop what she’s doing. What happened the previous dial was unexpected and unnecessary.

The candidates were enjoying their meals in the Dining Pavilion. They dined alone, ate their own trybes food and never approached one another. Lynette expected it to happen.

She reached the tables covered with food and noticed Dharunma standing on the other side. His hair was wet and shiny, sticking to his forehead. He must have finished training.

Ignoring him, she grabbed her plate and made her choices as fast as she could. She smelled the food from Aither, Sub Terric and Inphernos. Their food and drinks tasted wonderful, but she burned her tongue eating something from the platter labeled Inphernos. She didn't want Branton to know about that incident.

Lynette moved on to another trybes selection, but she is grabbed by her shoulder and forced to face Dharunma. There were scrapes of red meat hanging off the side of his shoulder and a coat of liquid all over his hair. “Are you serious? Do you think this is funny?!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a neytive smiling at Dharunma’s misfortune. They were both being played with and Dharunma didn’t know it.

Lynette tried to explain, but she didn’t when she felt a sharp pain travel through her whole body. She looked at Dharunma who was seething with anger and twisting his hand. He was using his blood trigger on her.

Her whole body was paralyzed, but she could still move her hands.

Pitchers of water were placed behind Dharunma, which Lynette managed to reach out for. Tendrils of water shot out and curved down to hit him in the face.

The water never left his head and he had trouble getting out of it as he struggled for air. A puddle formed at his feet and he lost his balance. He fell backwards and released his trigger.

Lynette fell to her knees and took deep breaths. She ignored the searing pain in her abdomen when Dharunma got back up.

He glared at her before he sprinted toward her. He tackled her over the table and grabbed her by the collar of her suit, holding her down.

Her focus came back and she swung her arm out to scratch his cheek.

Their scuffle didn’t last long until the Psyke neytives entered the pavilion. Everyone who sat alone were escorted back to their units for the dial. Dharunma fought back only to get hit in the head.

One Psyke neytive guided her out of the pavilion, asking her if she needed medical treatment. She responded with no.

The fight is the last thing she needs on her mind. She places her hand over the dark purple bruises on her forearm. She considers herself lucky that she works with medicine.

Lynette pushes the memory aside and attempts to honestly answer Samire. Her words never form when the Aither shouts out. “I did not mean to pry. I am sorry.”

“It is alright,” she tries to tell her without giving the impression of being afraid.

When nothing is said between them, Lynette takes the opportunity to help Samire.

“I want to show you something,” the Aither moves away from the table and looks at the plant Lynette is working on. It has an exotic appearance, five large blue petals and black stripes rooted from the stem.

“This plant was collected from Novennéa…” Lynette stops talking when Samire tries to touch the petals. She grabs her hand fast. “And you should never touch or inhale it.”

“Oh,” Samire replies.

“This species of flora is highly poisonous. Any sort of contact will result in paralysis and if it isn't treated in three dials, you could die from it,” Lynette places her hand on Samire's shoulder. “I want you to avoid this plant when we land, okay?”

Samire nods in agreement. “Thank you.”

Lynette smiles back.

Their conversation is cut short by another loud tapping near the entrance. Waiting behind the glass is Zaccur. He’s pointing directly at Lynette to meet him outside the wing.

She tells Samire to continue mapping Novennéa as she steps into the sanitation booth and exits the Medical Wing.

Lynette straightens herself up to look presentable. “Yes, Zaccur.”

“You are letting the Aither map,” the Psyke preeminent doesn’t take his eyes off her.

The way he makes it sound is as if she’s incapable of accomplishing such a feat. Lynette wants to defend Samire in the best way possible. “I am supervising her work. She is finding many great locations for settlements.”

“Alright,” Zaccur pulls a holocard out of his pocket. “She can help you with mapping, but this assignment is for your eyes only.”

“What do you mean?”

“No other candidate knows what is on this holocard. Only you will know.”

Lynette peeks down and reads the first section. It doesn’t take long for her to raise her head with a worried expression.

Zaccur shares the same feeling. “Do you understand?”

She nods her head. “Yes.”