Capal's breakthrough on the teleportation tech was the final piece of the puzzle—sending nanobots up our ship's ass did have a point. What was it about the Elusians and liking that entry angle? Anyhow, our scientists adjusted variables bit-by-bit, after covering the entire hull in negative energy emitters, until they determined the right values for safe transit. We'd had multiple successful tests, and also developed a rough formula to estimate where the wormhole would end up.

The final stage was to put all those pieces together for a manned test, now that safe transit had been ironed out. Knowing that opening the tunnel wasn't a major hazard, this final mission would be open to a public viewing—complete with the handful of camera crews who came to document Caelum and the ESU's ventures. Jetti's interview involved many nonanswers, which wasn't great for the first organic aliens to hit the airwaves in Sol. This could give a better view of our cooperation and achievements.

I had a chance to watch a historic moment in human history, and was glad not to be the test pilot for once. Sofia and I intended to fetch the tin can, since Mikri had yet to show despite it getting within ten minutes of the launch. What was that android doing—sticking his head in an oven because he believed he was a frittata? Meditating on the beauty of frittatas? I walked up to the door to his quarters, admiring the painted drawing that he'd planned to give to his successor. I was so glad we'd been able to halt the memory wipe.

It's weird to think that I ever was surprised that Mikri was a droid. I don't know why I cared; it's wonderful because it makes it so much easier to mess with him!

"Okay, I'm taking bets on what he's holed up doing," I whispered to Sofia. "What's your guess?"

The scientist shrugged. "Painting? You can get lost in thought while working on art, and he might have shut down his exacting instrumentation that would tell him things like…time."

"What a boring guess. I think he's sticking a Zitrae voodoo doll with pins while sitting in a Satanic circle. Wouldn't he look good in a pentagram of blood?"

"He's an android, and you think he'd do cult-like, superstitious rituals?"

"To fuck with us? Totally. Don't rule it out, Fiefs, that self-hating tortellini doesn't know boundaries."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "The Fiefdom of Fifi. I can see where this is going. I sometimes wonder why thoughts even went through your brain."

"I was the first to discover precog. Trust the process, baby, it's all about science for me too."

"Yes, a pseudoscience. Look, if Mikri's doing anything remotely close to an incantation right now, I'll wear a chicken suit around the station for a week."

I wagged my finger. "I'll hold you do that. Let's be really quiet…"

"You're not knocking?"

"Fuck no! Machines don't need privacy. I want to catch that dirty dog in the act."

I inched the door open, to find the Vascar twirling in my hula hoop; his arms were raised in the air. I smirked as I watched him sashay his hips, and heard him beeping with elation. Aha, Mikri secretly loved my gift after all, which I knew he would! The fact that the android had mastered it suggested that he'd invested a lot of practice time. Sofia gave me a disbelieving look, while I arched my eyebrows in a "Told you so" gesture.

Mikri slowly rotated his body within the hula hoop, turning toward us until he spotted his captive audience. The android jumped in alarm, his face falling from a loopy grin to a mortified frown. The hula hoop clattered to the ground, while I doubled over laughing at his expression. Oh, he really didn't want me to know how much he secretly loved it. The Vascar picked the hula hoop up and threw it into the closet, like it was a live grenade.

"I knew it. You love it!" I cackled. "Seeing that lugnut tushie in motion—just wow!"

Mikri whirred in distress. "What are you two doing here?"

"You weren't at the launch viewing. We didn't want you to miss it, and since your tardiness was uncharacteristic, we wanted to make sure you were okay," Sofia answered, with a warning glance at me.

"Oh! Oh no…I am sorry. I must be malfunctioning to seek out such a pointless objective, and to fail to track the data of my chronometric instruments. Forgive me. This is important to you, and I was not present."

"You're a big idiot. I like that." I hugged the android to force the frown off his face, pressing my cheek against that awful…wait, it was fluffy and soft. I snapped away, eyes wide with shock. "Mikri. You changed your mane?"

"Yes! It took days for either of you to notice; organics are not very observant. Do you like it?"

"Hell no. I love it. I love it more than finding pretzels in trail mix and realizing there is one good thing in there! You're that fucking amazing!"

Sofia waltzed up to Mikri, poking her fingers against his mane. "Aw. You're such a goober. I love that you wanted to be snuggly, but you didn't need a new mane for that."

"Exactly—he needs a heated chassis. He's colder than Takahashi on Christmas Day."

"How do you know Takahashi is a grinch?"

"Can you imagine the dear general looking at a gingerbread house with joy?"

"No. Point taken. Now let's get our newly-fluffy boy to the viewing deck pronto, before we miss the launch."

The walk back to the spectators' area would be fast at Caelum speeds, but we had to wait for slow, flimsy Mikri to drag his supple tushie along; the sacrifices we made for friendship. Jokes aside, we were cutting it pretty close to the end of the countdown. I noticed the inorganic Vascar by themselves at an alternate viewing angle, except for Capal, who'd somehow gotten himself embedded in their affairs. The Derandi, the Asscar, and humanity were gathered in the main area.

I wonder what's gotten General Kollig so disgruntled today, after all of the kindness we've shown Jorlen. Life for the Asscar has proceeded as normal for the civilians, but without worrying about the nobles' reign of terror. The 'demigods,' as the more religious ones call us, are more merciful. We gotta stop that worship, but…Kollig could afford to show it.

"It should've been a Vascar pilot! The humans get to do everything," Kollig complained to Jetti, loud enough that everyone could hear him. "Your species should be included too."

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The Derandi ambassador looked uncomfortable, not wanting to attract the monsters' wrath. "I…don't think it needs to be Derandi. We didn't want to go first; the humans are the best suited. Kollig, 5D portals drive most organics insane. We don't know if that holds true for 4D wormholes."

"I would've gone through the portal, even knowing that was a chance. It'd be worth it not to be around the Servitors any longer!"

"Mikri said…we're all on the same team, and hasn't been like I expected at all. Maybe you should listen to it, whatever the AI's history. The humans have precog; we'd know before the Servitors tried anything. If they're not attacking anyone, we should just…let that be. No flapping wing chimes around and making noise."

Wing chimes? Is that an instrument?

Kollig scoffed. "The humans delayed it, but the network wants us dead as soon as this project is complete. That day is coming, and I won't let that be. I won't kneel to them!"

"Are you not familiar with the concept of buying time?" Mikri beeped. "That is obviously what the humans are doing, to assess options to prevent us from demanding your subservience or termination. They did not permit your elimination before, and you insult their motives to say they will change in the future."

"No one asked your opinion, silversheen!"

"I apologize. I seem to have missed the queries asking for yours, because it's apparent that you must have data indicating how everyone was itching for your take. Would you like a microphone?"

"Curse you! May the lightning consume you!"

"Thank you. May the lightning in your brain begin to hop between neurons."

Sofia leaned over, as the Asscar fell into a livid silence. "Okay, you took his soul. What happened to being the bigger person?"

"He questioned humans. I will tolerate insults against me, but not you. I would like us to enjoy the launch in peace."

I smirked, amused to hear Mikri sass that general into the silence dimension. It was a genuine question though, whether these interdimensional passageways would be traversable by our organic allies. If Kollig wanted to be the one to find out, he seemed like the perfect sacrifice to me. Was I allowed to volunteer him as tribute? If not, then a human pilot was the closest thing to complying with workplace safety standards.

Like Jetti said in a rare good point, we're the only ones who can for sure come out the other side of the portal with the continued ability to venerate my peachcakes. If I wasn't playing up my best features, I couldn't be all there. The lightning is firing in my neurons, alrighty.

"Do you think the pilot is as nervous as we were, going through The Gap?" I asked.

Sofia shook her head. "Absolutely not. That pilot's got nerves of steel, but they've seen probes come back from this method. We actually know what we're doing and where we're going with this. We rode into the hole that everything disappeared into—"

"Preston's mouth," Mikri decided.

"The hole in the barrier around Sol, Mikri. For all we knew, we'd be zapped and killed instantly. Humanity needed those answers desperately enough—as did I—that we rolled the dice. It was my calling, though I've found that higher calling to be…much more down to Earth than expected."

I wagged a finger at the window. "If the Elusians are down to Earth, it's because we're getting close to them. Building teleportation tech is their challenge to us. We're every bit as capable and worthy as them; there's nothing for that pilot to fear. This is our destiny."

"What is my 'destiny'—a certain future that I am heading for?" Mikri's eyes dimmed with concern, and I knew he was fearing being left out long-term, if we tried to become like the grays. The crowd began to count down, as the timer hit 30 seconds, but I gave the android my full attention. "I do not find surety in this concept. There are still many future occurrences that I fear."

"Fuck if I know your grand fate. Decide what you want your destiny to be, and make it happen. Bring it about with a conviction reserved for the final beliefs."

"You believe you create your own destiny?"

"I believe that you can. You were our destiny, Mikri, and you still are. Never forget that. I'll talk about our future together, as soon as this launch is over; I don't want to jinx it."

"Do you truly want that, Preston?"

"With all of my heart. 'A future without you is not one I wish to calculate.'"

Mikri smiled, recognizing his own words. Every spectator watched the teleportation field generator with rapt attention, including myself; it was my first time witnessing what our instantaneous warp back to the hangar would've looked like from the outside. The ESU vessel, with its dim blue paint nearly blending in with the blackness of space, waited in position. In an instant, the ship was gone—like a flame blown out and no longer dancing atop the wick.

Gasps of awe came from the civilian reporters, while the cameras kept rolling. I leaned forward, waiting for the moment of truth on whether we'd successfully figured out this technology. The handful of seconds, waiting for the signal to reach us at Caelum speed, were nail-biting. The very concept of the last adjective would baffle Mikri, with anxious organics inflicting chassis damage with our teeth, intended for eating. Those segmented claws must be good for his creators to gnaw on, or…no pacing back and forth. We had to hear back soon.

"Space Gate, I've arrived safely at Doros, over," came the crackling voice of the pilot, alive and unharmed. "What a ride. Transit was done in the time it took to blink."

Recalling the instantaneous transition away from the drive-through, I found that description to be accurate. Cheers broke out after hearing of our first manned teleportation, which we now knew had gone over without a hitch. There was no doubt the ESU would run more tests before rolling this out on a wide scale, but this was the first time we'd done it! I grinned and raised my fists with pride. The Elusians must be observing us, as they had before we confronted them, and I wondered what they thought of our exponential progress.

This is the start of all of humanity being able to travel everywhere, instantaneously. Space cruises to Caelum, hauling entire Sol asteroids back to Earth in a second, and sending our armies straight to battle from any side of two universes. Everything is going to change?

"Then the project is over," Kollig muttered. "What happens to us?"

Sofia tilted her head. "We all keep working. The project is far from over—we need to make our own bridges between dimensions, like the Elusians do. We still have a lot of work ahead to fully replicate that. This goes through 4D spacetime, not…outside of it."

"To grow your power, where we cannot follow. I see. Very well."

"What a party pooper. That guy's a turd," I told Mikri, with a playful ruffle of his new mane. "Are you happy that this all worked out?"

The Vascar beeped. "I am happy that you are happy. You said you wished to discuss our future upon a successful launch. Please elaborate."

"Remember how awesome it was when we showed you all the human things at the start? How do you feel about visiting Earth, once these warp fields become accessible? I hope Sofia is onboard with this too. I mean, none of us want to be gone from Caelum for long, but with the teleport tech, we don't have to be."

The human scientist chuckled. "I could use a vacation, just to recharge my brain. I miss Earth, and I love explaining aspects about human behavior and culture to Mikri. The question is, does he want to go?"

"Fuck yes!" Mikri exclaimed, drawing several surprised looks from those standing around us. "I would love to spend bonding time with you, and would always choose to devote my life to cherishing and protecting you. Not to mention that Sol's anomalies are captivating and noteworthy."

"You'll be both of those adjectives to a lot of humans on Earth, to whom superpowers and foreign-dimension aliens sound pretty outlandish. You may get a lot of surprised, unpredictable reactions. You understand that, right?"

"Of course I do. You have never had a Vascar visitor, and it'd mean so much to make a good first impression. To return your compassion! I am the ambassador to humanity, and fulfilling this role would be a great honor."

I patted Mikri on the back. "Then it's settled. Pack your lingerie, because the second flights to Earth are up and running, we're going. There's so much about home I can't wait to show you!"

This achievement really was a remarkable feat for all of us. Caelum and Sol could now be much more connected than they would be, with the slowness of our physics. For all of my grand ambitions about impressing the Elusians, teleport technology made one fantasy possible in the here and now. There was nothing that sounded more incredible to me than bringing the first alien visitor to Earth and giving him a tour of the place.

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