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of the writing on the gate itself, and we have deduced that only an Avanian, someone whose heritage is rooted here on Avani, can activate this gate. It is not tuned to respond to my kind, Zahn. It is tuned for yours.”
    A look of shock crept over Zahn’s face. It was as though Zahn was discovering that all fish had been able to fly for centuries but that no one had ever told him about it. It wasn’t a pill he could swallow quickly, or easily.
    “So you want me… to go to the South Pole… with you…”
    “Yes.”
    “To activate an ancient gate that only Avanians can activate.”
    “Yes.”
    “…so you can continue your mission?”
    “Precisely. However, I should inform you that we know very little of this device. Navika and I have heard whispers of a gate network, but little else. Nevertheless, it is our best chance of successfully alerting the Confederation of what has happened. We must reach the outer core, so it is a long journey, as well.”
    “But don’t you have some way to travel faster than light? Otherwise how could you have gotten here without dying of old age long before you arrived?”
    “My apologies. I realize this situation may be unusual to you, so I will restate the situation. Because of the damage to my timespace drive, I am no longer able to travel between star systems—at least not within any reasonable period of time.”
    “Timespace drive. I’d love to know how that works… But wait, even if this gate gets you to where you want to go, how will I get home after we use it?”
    “You will be safely returned home once my ship is repaired.”
    “All right. But wait, why hasn’t Avani been contacted by other ‘people’ in the galaxy before? Surely, we’re not that boring…”
    Oonak paused for a moment. “Your world is significant, but not any more significant than any other hatchling world. Zahn, there is more to this situation than you are permitted to know. What I can say is that you found a fragment of my ship because I was attacked with truly exotic weaponry. In some parts of the galaxy, this would not be entirely surprising. However, this attack occurred while I was in orbit around your planet, which means your world is at great risk.”
    “What risk?”
    “I am not at liberty to say. Telling you would be a further violation of Spacefarer Code, just as I cannot tell you how the timespace drive works. However, I can tell you that this is a matter of urgency. Since both my comm and my timespace drive are damaged, I cannot fulfill my mission under my own power or contact the Confederation directly. Because of the damage, my messages are now limited by the speed of light which means my signal will not reach the Confederation for many years, and by then it may be too late.”
    “What are you saying? That someone nasty followed you here to Avani?”
    “Unknown. What I can say with informed confidence is that before I could identify the source of the attack, it vanished. Either it moved faster than any craft I have ever encountered, or it possessed a cloaking technology that is beyond anything I have ever seen.”
    “So what do we do?”
    “I must alert the Confederation as soon as possible. As I have said, this situation forces me to use the ancient gate on your South Pole to continue onward, which is why I need your help. Will you assist me in this quest?”
    For a moment, Zahn was silent as the memory of his mother pressing the small lens into his hand flashed back to him. He thought about what it meant to truly see and how such a journey would give him insights into the galaxy that no one from Avani could imagine.
    The clarity of that memory had stayed with him, and he wondered what his mother might want him to do in this situation. What if his instincts were right? What if she was somehow still alive?
    “The outer core is near the center of the galaxy itself,” he said. “It would be the journey of a lifetime, maybe two. But this is a lot to process at once, Oon. I’ll