Chapter 10: : The Pain of Loss

Scott’s heart leaped as he saw the Trident materialize in a brilliant flash of energy, emerging from the fold of displaced space. His fist shot into the air in triumph. “We did it!”

But his celebration was short-lived. Something was wrong.

The energy field didn’t stabilize. Instead, it began to unravel, spreading out across the valley floor, feeding off both the rift and the electrical storm’s energy. The very ground shuddered beneath Scott’s feet. Cracks spidered across the rock, glowing with an eerie blue-white light.

Scott’s breath hitched. The entire planet was destabilizing.

Back aboard the Trident, alarms blared through the command deck.

“Elysium, locate the Navigator—now!” the Commander shouted.

A second later, the AI’s voice cut through the commotion.

“Navigator detected—northwest quadrant, forty-two miles from central valley.”

“Lock onto him!”

“Acknowledged. Initiating teleportation sequence.”

“Amara, Lirion—scan and archive any and all life you can before this planet is lost! We’ve got one shot at this!”

“Aye, sir!” they both responded, swiftly activating their instruments, desperately working to preserve what little life remained on the collapsing world.

Scott felt the familiar hum of the Trident’s transport field wrapping around him just as the ground beneath him gave way. His body lifted into the air, weightless, as the valley crumbled beneath him.

In that final moment before being pulled away, his eyes locked onto the valley below.

Karen stood in front of her home, looking straight at him.

The land beneath her split apart.

The Shepherds’ home—their legacy—crumbled in an instant, swallowed by the abyss.

Then she was gone.

Scott materialized onto the Trident’s deck, collapsing onto his knees as the ship trembled from the aftershocks of its arrival.

The crew stood frozen, their eyes locked on the main viewport, watching in stunned silence as the planet fragmented before them.

Scott’s voice was barely a whisper. “No...”

He forced himself up, stumbling toward the console.

“Elysium—scan for life signs! The valley—scan the valley!”

A pause.

Then, the AI’s response:

“Negative. No remaining life detected in the valley region.”

The words struck him harder than anything he had ever endured.

Scott’s breath came in uneven gasps, his vision tunneling.

He had escaped.

But they hadn’t.

Karen. Samuel. Their home. Their lives.

The room froze.

The words hung in the air, heavy and final.

Scott’s chest rose and fell sharply, his hands still clenched.

No one spoke.

Until Elysium’s voice broke the silence.

“Genetic archives secured.”

Scott’s head snapped up. “What?”

The AI continued, its tone calm and precise. “Before planetary collapse, Lirion and Amara successfully completed genetic scans of all known life forms, including human-like inhabitants.”

Scott’s heart pounded. “You—” He turned to Lirion, desperate. “Tell me you saved them.”

Lirion’s face was grim. “Scott… we gathered biological samples. DNA, cellular structures—but we didn’t know what we were looking at.”

Scott’s breath caught. “You mean you don’t know if you saved them.”

Lirion shook his head. “We don’t know who those samples belonged to. We scanned everything before the collapse.”

Scott’s chest tightened. It wasn’t the same.

A copy of something wasn’t the thing itself.

“They’re gone forever now. I’ll never see them again,” Scott murmured as he dropped the compass Samuel had given him onto the metal floor of the Trident.

Lirion and Amara stood at his side, watching as the planet’s remains crumbled into the void.

“Scott...” Amara’s voice was soft, uncertain.

But he didn’t look at them.

He couldn’t.

Instead, he turned his gaze to the empty space where the valley had been—where they had once existed.

Amara, recognizing that the Navigator had just gone through a terrible loss, picked up the compass he dropped and took it back to her workstation. She returned a moment later and kneeled down in front of Scott. “As long as you remember them, my Navigator, they will never truly be gone,” she said, placing the compass around his neck in a necklace she had fashioned for him. “They were truly one of a kind in this universe, and on behalf of this entire crew, we thank them for saving our Navigator and bringing him back to us.”

The silence on the bridge was deafening.

Scott finally lifted his head. His expression was unreadable, his breathing still uneven. The rest of the crew watched, waiting for his next action.

His breathing hitched, the weight of loss crashing down on him. Never before had he felt this kind of pain. It was unpredictable. Uncontrollable.

For the first time in his existence, he didn’t know what to do.

No one spoke.

The crew turned toward the viewport. Where the planet once was, there was now only empty space.

The weight of what had just happened sank into their bones.

Amara clutched the console, looking sick. Lirion ran a hand through his hair, his jaw clenched so tightly it might snap. The Commander stood frozen.

Scott, still on his knees, whispered to himself.

“What now, my divine creator? What do we search for now, after we’ve lost something so irreplaceable?”

Then—

A voice.

Not from the ship. Not from the crew. But from everywhere.

A presence filled the bridge. An ethereal, boundless force—gentle, yet powerful.

The Creator.

“The universe is designed to create constantly. New and unique life forms are always emerging. Though the loss of this unique family is a tragedy and can never be re-created, there is always something new and unique waiting to be discovered. I urge you all to continue the mission. Explore what more this vast universe has to offer. Farewell, crew of the Trident. And godspeed.”

A long silence followed.

The crew, heavy with grief, turned to each other.

Scott unlocked his gaze from the viewport, his hands still shaking. But resolve began to settle in his eyes.

He looked up at the Commander, then at Lirion, then Amara.

“…Let’s go,” he said softly.

The Commander gave a small nod.

Scott turned to the viewport, whispering one final goodbye.

“I will never forget you, Karen.”

Then, he activated his navigation console, plotted the next course, and said aloud for all to hear:

“Let’s see what else is out there.”

The Trident then soared back into the endless cosmos.