Kraith's fingers glided across the control panel.
A maneuvering thruster at the bow slowly opened, releasing a gentle burst of force that pushed the spacecraft backward. At the same time, he shut down the external lights.
The distance between them and the strange creature gradually widened.
No one dared take their eyes off it.
They were all afraid that the moment they looked away...
there would be no way back.
Kraith made another small movement across the controls, slowly rotating the spacecraft.
"We're leaving."
Velkar's voice trembled.
Even someone as reckless as Kraith understood that remaining here meant certain death.
The passage they had entered through...
was gone.
Completely sealed.
No one understood what had happened.
Velkar stepped backward in disbelief.
"The entrance..."
"Where did it go?"
Nyxara collapsed into her seat, her arms and legs trembling after everything she had just witnessed.
Yet her mind refused to stop.
"Did we get lost?"
"An illusion?"
"Or... were we trapped?"
She forced herself back to her feet.
"Kraith."
"Do you remember the path we took to get here?"
Velkar frowned.
"Why?"
"We may have been sealed inside."
The three of them instinctively looked toward the control panel.
Remaining Energy: 25%
Those words alone were enough to drain the color from their faces.
"We can't take that risk."
Velkar said.
Nyxara immediately shook her head.
"We'll be fine."
"We just need to shut down every unnecessary system."
"A tiny amount of thrust is enough to keep us moving."
One after another, every system that consumed power was shut down.
Kraith even switched off the ship's main lights.
Velkar searched the cabin and found five portable flashlights.
Only one of them was turned on.
Its narrow beam illuminated the darkness ahead.
A small burst of thrust pushed the spacecraft forward once more.
Since Velkar was holding the flashlight, she slowly swept it across their surroundings, making sure nothing drifted into their path.
For the first time in a while...
they had a chance to breathe.
As Velkar looked around, she noticed something strange.
Countless wrecked ships floated through the darkness, each destroyed in a different way.
Yet...
some of them appeared to be resting against a surface that shouldn't have existed.
Nyxara initially thought Kraith had flown in the wrong direction.
But the navigation system showed they had never changed course.
Her expression turned pale.
"I think..."
"...we were never supposed to come here."
"In front of us..."
"...there should have been endless space."
"But now..."
"...there's only a wall of metal."
"As if it had always existed."
---
Silence filled the cabin.
Velkar slowly lowered herself into a seat.
"I should never have followed you."
Kraith immediately snapped back.
"What?"
"I never forced you."
"That was your decision."
Nyxara quickly stepped in.
"Enough."
"We don't even know if we'll ever leave this place."
"So stop making things worse."
Kraith remained silent.
He took a deep breath.
His hands returned to the controls.
Using the maneuvering thrusters mounted on both sides of the spacecraft, he fired the left one with the smallest possible burst.
Little by little...
the ship began turning.
Energy was too precious to waste.
And none of them knew how many creatures like that were hiding deeper inside.
Once the ship reached the proper angle, the opposite thruster fired briefly, canceling the remaining rotational momentum.
Moments later, the rear engine ignited, gently pushing the spacecraft forward once again.
Metal debris continued drifting silently around them.
Kraith made another risky decision.
He disabled the artificial gravity...
and activated the autopilot.
"What happened?"
"Why isn't the gravity system working?"
Velkar asked.
"I turned it off."
Kraith replied.
"I need to save power for the autopilot."
"My flying skills have their limits."
Everything inside the spacecraft began floating weightlessly.
The flashlight became their only remaining source of light.
Darkness swallowed everything else.
Metal fragments repeatedly swept past the hull.
Every time the energy gauge dropped...
the tension inside the cabin grew heavier.
They continued moving deeper into the structure.
The farther they went...
the more strange lights belonging to those mechanical creatures appeared.
The control panel suddenly flickered.
Kraith frowned.
"Probably because the power's almost gone..."
The ship suddenly shut down.
"What the hell?!"
Kraith shouted as he floated helplessly inside the powerless cabin.
"We still have fuel!"
Velkar and Nyxara turned toward him.
Then...
the ship came back to life.
Blue energy raced across the hull.
For a brief instant, the glow illuminated everything around them.
Dozens of bizarre mechanical creatures clung silently to the metallic walls.
Their eyes slowly lowered.
As though...
they had already chosen their prey.
Before anyone could react...
the blue light disappeared.
The spacecraft continued drifting deeper.
More twisted pieces of metal appeared around them.
Somehow...
they looked strangely familiar.
Velkar slowly raised the flashlight.
The beam landed on a ship she would never forget.
"But..."
"Why is only the rear half still here?"
"Where's the front?"
Only then did Kraith and Nyxara notice it.
The ship hadn't been cut cleanly.
Its hull had been torn apart...
as though some enormous creature had tried to rip it open to reach whatever was hiding inside.
BOOM!
The entire spacecraft shook violently.
Something...
had landed on top of their ship.