Chapter 6 – One More Day
There was one more day until we reached the Rao system, one more day until we found out if there was even a chance of fixing what was wrong with me.
And for the past two days, De'Mar had been avoiding me.
At first, I tried to brush it off. Maybe she just needed space, perhaps she was processing, maybe she was… but no. I wasn't that stupid. She was deliberately keeping her distance, making herself busy with anything she could find. Running maintenance checks, cleaning the same damn panel three times, locking herself in the cockpit for hours.
I knew why. I just didn't want to admit it.
But ignoring it wasn't going to fix anything.
So I found her in the common area, sitting at the small dining table, fingers wrapped around a cup of something she hadn't touched. Her eyes were fixed on the swirling liquid inside like it had the answers she was looking for.
I leaned against the doorway. "De'Mar."
She didn't react, not at first. Then, slowly, she lifted her head.
"You shouldn't sneak up on people." Her voice was quiet, but there was an edge to it.
"I wasn't sneaking," I said, stepping forward. "You've been avoiding me."
She exhaled through her nose. "That obvious?"
I sat across from her, resting my forearms on the table. "I need you to talk to me."
She let out a short, bitter laugh. "Talk? About what? About how I've spent the last two days picturing every possible way you could die? How every time I close my eyes, I see you collapsing, burning from the inside out, breaking apart in my hands?"
Her fingers tightened around the mug, her knuckles white.
"You found out your genetics are unstable. That your body is constantly fighting itself, like a bomb with a faulty timer. And your first instinct was to chase after a dead civilization in the hopes they left behind a miracle."
I opened my mouth, but she cut me off, her voice rising.
"And what if there's nothing there? What if this doesn't work? Then what, huh? Do you just keep running? Keep pushing yourself until one day you don't get back up?"
Her breath hitched, and for the first time since I met her, I saw it—fear. Real, raw, and tearing her apart from the inside.
I reached for her hand, but she pulled away.
"I can't—" She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "I can't watch you die. I can't lose you."
The words hit me harder than any bullet ever could.
I swallowed, forcing down the lump in my throat. "I don't plan on dying, De'Mar."
She let out a shaky breath. "You don't get to plan something like that."
I hesitated. Then, carefully, I reached for her hand again. This time, she didn't pull away. I laced my fingers through hers, holding on tight.
"I know you're scared," I said softly. "And I know I don't have all the answers. But I'm not giving up. I refuse to give up. And if this doesn't work, we'll find another way. Together."
She stared at me, her eyes dark and stormy. "Promise me."
"I promise."
Her grip tightened. "Swear it."
"I swear," I whispered.
She held my gaze for a long moment before finally, finally exhaling, her shoulders sagging.
"I hate you," she muttered.
I smirked. "No, you don't."
She huffed, shaking her head. "You're impossible."
"And yet, here you are."
For the first time in two days, the tension between us eased. Just a little.
It wasn't a fix. But it was a start.
And tomorrow, we'd see if there was anything left of Krypton that could save me.
We were finally here.
The ship drifted into the Rao system, its hull bathed in the deep crimson glow of the ancient red giant. The sight before me was both haunting and awe-inspiring—what remained of a once-mighty civilization now reduced to cosmic debris. Krypton, or what was left of it, was a shattered corpse orbiting its dying star, a silent testament to its people's downfall.
I tightened my grip on the console. "HELCE, release all drones. Full system scan. If there's anything left—tech, data, ruins—I want it found."
{Deploying now,} HELCE replied, their tone unusually subdued. {Let's see if we can find some ghosts.}
From beneath the ship, sleek black drones shot out into the void, scattering in all directions. Their lights flickered against the wreckage, scanning the floating remnants of Kryptonian genius.
DeMar stood beside me, arms crossed. She hadn't looked at me much since we set course for Rao, and hadn't said more than a few words in the last day.
I glanced at her. "You okay?"
Her jaw tightened. "Fine."
She wasn't fine. I could see it in the way her fingers clenched against her arm, how her eyes stayed fixed on the drifting wreckage instead of meeting mine.
I sighed. "Look, if this is about my whole 'might-explode-if-I-blink-too-hard' situation—"
She turned sharply, her voice low but sharp as a knife. "You joke about it, but that's the problem, isn't it? You don't get it."
I frowned. "Get what?"
She exhaled sharply, shaking her head. "You act like this is just another mission, like we'll grab some fancy Kryptonian tech and poof—problem solved. But what if it isn't? What if you get worse? What if there is no fix?"
Her voice wavered, just slightly, and for the first time, I saw the raw fear in her eyes. Not anger. Not frustration. Fear.
Fear of losing me.
My chest tightened.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But what else am I supposed to do? Just sit back and let whatever's wrong with me get worse?"
She looked away, arms wrapping around herself. "I don't want to watch you die."
The silence stretched between us, heavier than the gravity of Rao itself.
Finally, I reached out, hesitating before resting my hand over hers. "I'm not planning on dying."
She let out a breath that was almost a laugh, but it was bitter, hollow. "No one ever does."
Before I could respond, HELCE cut in.
{Hate to interrupt your 'moment,'} they said, {but we've got something.}
I straightened. "What?"
{A structure on one of Krypton's former moons. Damaged, but still intact. And guess what? It's still got power.}
De'Mar pushed her emotions aside in an instant, her focus shifting. "Could it be a trap?"
{Possibly,} HELCE admitted. {But given that it's been abandoned for over thirty Earth years, I'd say it's more likely to be a treasure trove of forgotten tech.}
I exchanged a look with De'Mar. She was still tense, still afraid—but she nodded.
"Set course," I ordered. "We're going in."
As the ship veered toward the coordinates, I glanced at De'Mar one last time. She was still scared. Maybe I was too.
But if this place had even the slightest chance of saving me?
We had to take it.
As we touched down on the desolate surface of the Kryptonian moon, the ship's landing struts hissed against the dust-covered rock. The gravity was lighter than I expected, making each step feel just a little too easy, a little too unnatural. I adjusted the suit De'Mar had forced me to wear—clunky, stiff, and way too tight around the joints. She was right beside me, her suit far more fitted, moving with effortless grace.
Floating just ahead of us was a small, hovering orb—HELCE's chosen avatar for interacting with us outside the ship. Its sleek, metallic surface pulsed with blue light as it rotated in place, scanning our surroundings.
I narrowed my eyes at it. "I still don't get why you chose to be a ball."
{Because spheres are the perfect shape,} HELCE responded, their voice crackling through my suit's comms. {Efficient, aerodynamic, aesthetically pleasing. Unlike some humanoids, I have taste.}
De'Mar snorted. "You just didn't want to render anything more complex, did you?"
{No comment.}
Rolling my eyes, I turned my focus to the looming structure ahead—a massive, half-buried facility built directly into the moon's surface. The entrance was cracked, its metal doors warped but still standing, Kryptonian glyphs etched across them like silent warnings.
"This place gives me a bad feeling," De'Mar muttered, her hand instinctively resting near her weapon.
I exhaled. "Yeah, well, welcome to my life."
With a push, I stepped forward, the doors groaning as they parted just enough for us to slip inside.
Whatever was waiting for us in there, was old. And it was powerful or overhyping it.
As we ventured deeper into the ancient Kryptonian facility, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I was overhyping the whole thing.
"Or am I just being paranoid?" I muttered. "HELCE, start scans."
{Way ahead of you,} the AI chimed, its floating orb avatar pulsing with light.
The deeper we moved, the more apparent the damage became. Nearly half of the structure had collapsed, and the walls caved in from what looked like an ancient meteor impact. The remnants of a once-active energy shield flickered weakly against the debris, its power long since drained. Rubble littered the halls, forcing us to push through with brute strength.
De'Mar and I navigated through the wreckage, turning left, then right, only to find dead end after dead end. The place was a maze, its original layout lost to time and destruction.
Then, finally, we found something.
A massive door, at least three meters high, stood at the end of the corridor. It was forged from Tromium metal, a material found only in the Rao system—dense, nearly indestructible, and humming with faint residual energy. Beside it, a control panel lay in ruins, its circuits fried beyond repair.
HELCE flickered. {Well, I'd love to work my hacking magic, but that panel is beyond saving. So, I'm afraid brute force is the only option.}
I cracked my knuckles. "Guess I'm the man for the job."
With half of my full strength—just enough to avoid collateral damage—I slammed my fist against the metal.
A faint glow spread from the impact site, pulsing outward in intricate patterns before disappearing entirely.
I blinked. "Well… that was something."
"Should I punch harder?"
De'Mar grabbed my arm before I could strike again. "No. If you go full force, you'll bring this whole place down. Let me handle it."
She stepped forward, placing her hand gently against the door. A golden light bloomed beneath her palm, spreading like ink through water. The once-solid Tromium metal shimmered, shifting, reforming, until it separated just enough for us to slip through.
I whistled. "Magic. You need to teach me that one day."
She smirked. "If you have the talent, you'll be fine. If not, well…" She gestured vaguely. "You can fly faster than most ships. You'll live."
{Magic is an anomaly,} HELCE interjected. {Many species develop it, but over time, they abandon or forget it. The fact that it still exists in some form is… fascinating. I would like to study it.}
De'Mar arched his brow. "It doesn't follow logic. You might short-circuit yourself trying to understand it."
{Nonsense. Everything has logic.}
I chuckled. "Good luck finding it."
With that, we stepped through the open door, into the unknown depths of a lost Kryptonian past.