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Zero Communication

Wind of Change was drifting through the asteroid belt after getting away from Oberon-231. With the knowledge that their journey took 3 months and the fact that they had nothing to do except refueling and resupplying, they decided to fill their time communicating with St. Vincent.

While Seiryu and Dairyu took the helm through the asteroid belt, the rest of the group who didn't have things to do went on to their own jobs. Rose continued her work even in deep space, collecting samples of plants and local extraterrestrial wildlife, and inquired it on the crew. Out of respect of her, they wanted to hear her long explanation, but Rose could sense that they were respecting her line of work and couldn't understand anything (no one except her had knowledge on exo-biology). In the end, she just talked casually with the rest of the crew.

Xsatuki turned out to be a good person despite of his naga-like appearance and his body basically taking over the whole kitchen. Being a snake alien made his appearance menacing, but the others admitted that he was a good cook with knowledge of extraterrestrial spices. He was, however, a little awkward around Dajar, who eyed him strange. The others had not seen this, however, and didn't think they should know.

Calventis (called 'Cal' by the others) spent his time checking on the engine room. As the engines were designed by Scyllas, he had an obligation to maintain it for the crew, but despite of all his knowledge about mechanical parts, he wasn't all that experienced in Federation retrofit parts. Dajar helped him understand the parts, and by that point he could basically check them without Dajar's help. The Aquros still help, however, because without his help, there wouldn't be any work for him.

That leaves Capisa with no meaningful job except for substituting for any of the tired pilots. Though Seiryu had no problem driving the ship non-stop, he still wanted to eat something now that he's solid and flesh. Dairyu, however, was the problem. He was over-exerting himself. It was as if he didn't know that his body had weakened in the ten years of his exile, but he kept taking the helm as if it was his job. There was one incident when he talked with Seiryu on the cockpit when the water Orient noticed his tiredness Despite of assuring him that it was okay, he quickly fell unconscious. They realized that he hadn't eat for a whole day after Oberon-231, and Xsatuki didn't know about it.

Now Dairyu was still okay and fine, but Capisa didn't know when he would collapse. He thought he could match Seiryu's supernatural endurance, but he didn't know about his own body. Right now, the Aquros was the one with the communication with St. Vincent, detailing their respective coordinates and position in the sector. He had an experience as a communication officer, back when he was still an As'karan cadet before opting to become a pilot. If he still wanted the comm officer career path, he would not met Dairyu as a struggling trader, but as a full-fledged bridge officer (or smaller ships, if he preferred to be).

So far, nothing's happening in that sector, or anything about St. Vincent that they should be worried about. On the other side of the sub-space communication, St. Vincent_also reported no problems or anomalies. Despite of it being a refitted hospital ship, the ship also had scanning probes scattered around a perimeter of 5 miles around their ship. They had cleared the asteroid belt 2 days ago, but they were trying to always be aware. With a ship designed for intergalactic travel used for a mission to the sector of exploding stars, the size and its capability made it unable to land on a planet's spaceport. Their only way of resupply was through spacedocks, which struggled to hold their ship due to its size. _St. Vincent had tried not to dock too often, but occasional hazards could damage their ship, and they had a limited supply of repair kits, unlike their foods.

Captain Pritchard Belford knew the purpose of that mission, and to ensure that the mission would succeed with minimal casualties. He knew the danger the ghosts posed, and the danger if a war from the past materialized and devastated the sector. This could cause mayhem and could potentially dissolve the Federation. He knew this was a mission to save the Federation, but it was also to ensure that the Pineapple Express, sister ship of St. Vincent that was travelling to the neighboring galaxy at the moment, would have a place to go home.

As for his comm officer, he had one official one, and another one for private purposes. 'Private' as in communicating with Wind of Change over their respective coordinates. All the designated communication officers were too busy to maintain communication with the Federation, nearby planets, nearby space controls, or just using the probes. Atho volunteered to be a comm officer for the Wind of Change due to his relationship with that ship. Also, with four hands, he could do things twice as many as a two-handed race on that ship.

Pritchard was assessing the coordinates with Lunera when a tingling sense came into his mind. He knew this sensation as a 'call' from Atho, as his race could not speak with their tongues. Lunera apparently felt the 'call' too, and nodded with Pritchard. They excused themselves from the bridge and walked into the captain's room, where Atho worked at the secretary desk turned communication station.

"What is it, Atho?" said Pritchard in his mind.

"Dairyu wants to talk to you about the coordinates, saying that he isn't sure about the position you were proposing."

"Hmm? Okay, I'll talk to him."

As he manned the communication station, Lunera said, "I'm not sure why you ask me in here."

Atho then closed the communication way with Pritchard, then opened a personal mind bridge with Lunera. He then said, "I noticed that you're not sure about my information regarding the fifth dimensional being. I presume that you don't trust me?"

"It is impossible to keep a secret from a telepath, huh?" said Lunera with a scratch on the back of his head. "It's not that I don't trust you. I know that's not everything."

"Excuse me?"

"That information you gave us...I don't think those are the important details. You only told us about the fifth dimensional being that's not a ghost possessing that lizardman, but you didn't tell us any detail about that being. I was trying to convince myself that you don't know about it, but I have a feeling you know something we don't."

"What should I know more than that? That being is cryptic in a sense, and it only said about the leak being its fault and it is trying to fix the problem."

"Anyone could've done that before it becomes out of control. We lost two ships because they were caught in an ancient battlefield, and Terra is currently facing a Lycanthrope Crisis due to an indefinite eclipse. I think you need to tell me. You don't need to talk to anyone else. Just me. I know that the secret you hold might become a joke, but I'll try not to regard it as one."

Atho seemed unsure about saying that piece of information, about the fact that the leak was not only in their plane, but also on different planes of different universe. But in the end, he relented. Of all the senior crew members on the bridge, Lunera was the only one who was perceptive and tolerant of any information. He was so determined to save the ship and its crew that he didn't care if he became a laughing stock later.

"Okay...this may sound fictional, but the leak did not happen in this plane."

"What are you talking about?"

"Apparently this leak is caused by a rogue fifth dimensional being that opened three consecutive dimensional tears just to confuse the other beings, and that the one contacting me was trying to close the leak in our universe, only for it to become out of control and causing leaks everywhere."

"So you mean we are not the only universe with that problem?"

"He mentioned one with the invasion of hellish forces and another with the Terrans in that world gaining superpowers. If that's not ridiculous I don't know what it is."

To his surprise, Lunera seemed to stay serious and nodded in approval, even if that sounded so grand and impossible that it could be a plot in a science fiction novel.

"You don't seem to think that I was joking."

"Don't get me wrong, Atho, but telepaths like you don't have that much sense of humor," said Lunera. "If it functions like a braincap, then the information you have been giving me can be trusted, at least for now."

"What's a braincap?"

"Someone back in the 20th Terran Century wrote a story about the future he envisioned a thousand years from his time, in the 30th Terran Century. It said that people 600 years from now would not need to study for 5 years just to get a degree. They just need to use a cap that feed information directly into their brain cortex. It was a plot point in the story, as it gave the Terrans time for immediate action against an extraterrestrial threat...well, that being said, that 'threat' was similar to what we're up against."

"And I assume that the 'braincap' is the contraption."

"It is being developed as of now, but I guess he did not think that we would be meeting with the Aqura some hundred years later, in 2089, then the Greys in 2100. Sorry...I was talking in Terran Century. We still used that term back home and we synchronized it with the Federation Calendar."

"Yes...I guess I'll immerse myself with your culture the next time we get the chance," said Atho, but Lunera knew that he was excited to know.

"Well, good to know then."

By that point Pritchard had finished talking with Dairyu, but did not close the communication for Atho to resume his job. Pritchard then said, "They said they needed more time to supply their FTL drive, and they were talking about a ghost station called Oberon-231."

"Isn't that the same one that exploded some years ago?"

"That dimensional tear is getting out of control.... Okay, for now, let's return to our designated..."

A turbulence cut Pritchard off and threw him off balance. Lunera's bigger size was able to hold his balance, but he needed to support Atho, who was thrown towards him. The artificial gravity field inside the ship managed to keep the interior upright, but when Pritchard looked at the ship's stabilizer system, he noticed that it was listing.

"Captain to bridge. What is going on out there?" said Pritchard over the intercom."

"Sir...I think you should see this for yourself."

The three of them rushed out of the room towards the bridge, where they were surprised and left speechless by the scenery given to them by the large bridge window.

"Atho...I'll trust every outrageous detail you held from us," said Lunera. "We are practically experiencing a fiction turned reality."

On the Wind of Change side, Dairyu heard the loud noise as the St. Vincent was experiencing turbulence, right before communication was cut. He desperately tried to re-establish communication, but then nothing happened.

The first who noticed Dairyu's desperation was Xsatuki, who leaned his long body through the bar window and said, "You okay in there, Dairyu?"

"They're...gone."

"Who's gone?"

"The St. Vincent. We lost communication."

Xsatuki wasn't sure if that was a problem, until Dairyu opened the communication door and rushed towards Capisa, who was taking over from him.

"Capisa, where was St. Vincent in?"

"Uh, sector Z60...wait a sec, where is she?"

"Are there any outposts near her last position?"

"There is one on a research planet. Let me get through them."

Capisa then opened communication with the planet and told them about their situation. They were also monitoring the _St. Vincent_some seconds ago before they abruptly closed communication after seeing the situation on the bridge. Their ship was having a turbulence before the communication was cut.

However, when Capisa asked if there's another signal, there was none. The St. Vincent disappeared without a trace. There's no in-flight disintegration. It was gone, as if they had initiated FTL. It was possible, but there was no trace of FTL.

Just then, Seiryu gave a possible situation which shook the crew.

"I think they've just crossed our plane...into another," said Seiryu, surprised.

On St. Vincent's side, the bridge control looked at the scenery in front of them that they could only described as 'star-gate'. It wasn't as surprising as one might think, given how they've been in a faster-than-light situation where the stars were stretched and the went into a wormhole of sorts. This one, however, consisted of ray of lights with different patterns and colors swirling in front of them like a light-show. One even commented that it 'dragged on' and goes on 'forever', alerting Pritchard as to their situation.

"Radar control! What's the situation out there?! Where the hell are we?"

"Sir, we don't know either. Nothing seems to register. Everything we can see out there are stars and colorful light streak moving away from us. From what we can say, sir, it's as if we are doing an FTL jump!"

Lunera then contacted the engine division.

"Engine, did you do something to the FTL drive?!"

"No, there's nothing wrong with the engine! That turbulence was not because of the engine acting up and we definitely not turning on the FTL drive! There's no input!"

"Damn it! I need more information. Whatever happens, we can't let this mission goes to hell..."

The star-gate quickly dissolved and they returned to normal space, or at least that's what they thought. They were staring at a scenery full of stars, with no celestial objects around them. There was nothing except stars. Even the proximity indicator did not register any debris or celestial objects like planets or space rocks, just stars.

Lunera was the first to notice something wrong with the star. He noticed that they had even light intensity. Stars around the universe had different intensity of light only some or trained experts would notice immediately, but Lunera saw otherwise. The Orient looked at them and told this to Pritchard.

"But that can't be possible. Unless there's a giant mirror in the sky there's no way stars have the same intensity."

"I can say that we are either thrown into a faraway sector, or we're in an entirely different universe."

"Entirely different universe? Don't you think that's a bit far-fetched? Or maybe...we're in the Fifth Dimension?"

That statement drew other's attention and gave them a possibility that was not far from the truth. Given their current state of affair, it was a possibility that could happen.

But, even if that actually happened, there was one other problem they needed to address.

How were they supposed to get out?

With that realization, they worked relentlessly to find a way to get out of the unknown place in time and space. Since they were in an unknown space sector, they could not rely on coordinates and stars, and without any communication with a Federation sector or any nearby colony, they had no way to pinpoint their time. The scenery never changed even when the helmswoman and the engineers had confirmed that they were indeed moving.

They could only keep track on time with their own chronometer, and one day had passed since they were trapped in the never-ending space. Atho tried to find a way to communicate with telepathy, and even asked fellow Rendloks to amplify the telepathic range, but nothing came up. The space was empty, as if they were the only living being in that space.

On the second day of being stranded, however, Atho felt something that was familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. The other Rendloks currently linked to him also felt it. While still linked, Atho tried to contact that unknown, yet known, entity, and it hailed him.

"I see. Multiple brains," said the being. "That's quite creative for a third-dimension being."

"Tell us where we are."

"Oh my, straight to the questions, are we? To be exact, you're in the Fifth Dimension, but at the same time, you're not."

"That is not answering my question."

"It is, because the answer is not there to begin with. Tell me, have you ever think about going into the Fifth Dimension when all you know is the energy of those who had lost their third dimension link?"

"Anyone can do that if they stumble upon a dimensional tear."

"Yes, but your body will be converted into energy, and your being is no longer a 'being', but an 'energy'. The ghosts retained their form as they cling for their 'being', and some had the will to become solid when they had unfinished business in this world. Right now, you are in a pocket universe, formed by your own 'being' to unconsciously protect yourself from becoming pure energy, hence the stars."

"But why are we here in the first place?"

"You've stumbled upon one of the tears. It opened in front of you, and transported you into this plane."

"Then take us back to our universe."

"Straightforward characters are such a bore," said the being annoyed. "I can do that, but will you be able to face the consequence?"

"Consequence?"

In a sudden flash of thoughts, everything went by him like it was natural, but not for him. It was as if everything felt fast-forwarded, if it was only for a moment in time. He then looked to his side and realized what's wrong.

"Pritchard, you're..."

Pritchard looked at Atho, wondering why he saw his companion in a blur. When he looked down towards his hands, however, he gasped. He then looked towards a nearby reflective object.

"Oh my god," said Pritchard. "I'm old!"

Lunera realized what's going on with Pritchard. While he hadn't aged rapidly, he looked like a fit 70 years old human, with all-white hair. He still had the same voice (albeit a little raspy), but he was clearly an old man.

"Lunera, you're also aging," said Atho when he saw Lunera. While he didn't look different, Atho noticed streaks of white hair and pale scales similar to those of Dairyu, but to an extent. Lunera also noticed this when he felt his own magic dwindling.

"So basically, we are being aged rapidly while we are here."

"No, you're not," said the being through Atho (who was still linked with the other Rendloks and briefly with Lunera and Pritchard). "Like I said to this Rendlok here, there is a consequence when you tried to go back to your dimension."

"So we'll rapidly age to dust before we reach the third dimension. Is that it?" said Pritchard.

"What I'm trying to say is, unlike your straightforward dimension, we are moving like a beeline. We don't do something that's pre-determined or having branches of alternate realities. We are your past, present, and future. By the time you got out of this dimension, you can either aged to death, stay like your current self, or not born at all, or even transported back and forth in time. The reality and the chances of those happening is completely randomized."

"Randomized?! Is this some sick joke?"

"This is what we are. You are the one getting into places you shouldn't go in the first place."

"How the hell are we supposed to know that?!"

"A straightforward question coming from a straightforward being. It's typical of your being anyway."

"Hey, don't make us the guilty party here! Help us get out of this place so we can at least try fixing your mess!"

"Then let me give you a hint. Your only way out is the same way you get into this place. I'll leave you here, I need to contact this blind jackal for his own problems."

As the traces of his mind was gone, Atho felt something weird. The minds around him was jumbled and out of sequence. Something was tampering with them and causing problems with his own mental control to the point he needed to shut it down before it overloaded his brain.

Pritchard walked towards Atho after noticing how agitated Atho was. He put his hand on his shoulder and said, "I know you're in anguish because you are a telepath. Take a rest and don't use telepathy."

Atho nodded and silently walked to the lift, trying to go back to his room. Pritchard looked at Lunera and said, "Who or whatever that thing was, it is trying to warn us of trying to get away from this place."

"If we can't get out, we are as good as dead," said Lunera. "We need to know how to counter this aging process, however."

"The entity said that this is not a linear process, so...something might reverse it, but what?"

"The only way out is the same place in...do we need to recreate the moment we come in this dimension in the first place?"

"Isn't that too straightforward? I don't think that fifth dimension being likes that."

Atho then realized something. There would be one moment that they could not replicate.

"Uh...sorry to break you the bad news, but...we actually have one part that we can't replicate."

"And that is?"

"The moment we talked with the Wind of Change."

Back at the Wind of Change...

_ _ "Is that even possible, Seiryu?" said Dairyu. "They can't just cross the dimensional barrier!"

"But it is. Look, you may think that this is a joke, but it isn't. I...didn't tell you guys earlier because of the urgency of the matter, but...Zeta Station exploded because of the same reason."

"You mean they opened that stable wormhole inside a nebula and tried to get into it?" said Rose.

"That is not the cause of the explosion. That place in a past time was a battlefield of two extinct alien empires. For some unknown reason, a tear opened there and the fight destroyed Zeta Station. The death of so many being at once created a tear throughout the galaxy."

"So how is a three dimension being go through the tear to the soul plane?"

"They could've stumbled upon one tear. Once in there, they can't even talk to us."

"Seiryu...why didn't you tell us that this is one of the hazards?" said Dairyu.

"Do you think I know that this is the case?! I'm a ghost, goddamn it, not a fucking fifth dimensional being!"

"Technically, you are."

Seiryu sighed, knowing that he couldn't help his friends with this condition anyway. But, he knew the St. Vincent was not entirely destroyed yet. The fifth dimension may be a different plane of existence, but a third dimension object could still have essence of their own plane in there. He was more concerned as the where and when the ship ended up when they attempted to get out from it.

Just then in the communication room, there was a hail. Xsatuki was the one hearing that, but he had no idea on how to operate Federation stuffs. Only when Calventis helped him did it happened. But when he opened the connection, there was only silence.

But after a while, a voice attracted the rest of the group that was talking at the front of the ship. That was a familiar voice, but then the sentence that came out made them confused.

"This is St. Vincent. We are stuck in the 21st century!"