Luna never screamed.
She once got electrocuted by a Tesla coil and only blinked. She once saw a rat wearing sunglasses ride a skateboard past her lab and just took notes. But that night, under the stars, she screamed.
Julian jolted awake in the back of the food truck they now called home. He fell off the makeshift hammock and landed face-first into a toolbox.
"What happened? Did something explode? Was it me?"
Luna pointed to the sky. No words. Just pointing.
Julian followed her finger.
There was a hole in the sky.
Not a black hole. Not a storm. A literal, jagged tear—like paper being ripped—hovering silently above their rocket.
"What the…" Julian whispered.
Then the tear… blinked.
It closed in on itself with a pop, like someone canceling a Photoshop layer. But not before something fell through.
A book.
It landed at Luna's feet.
She picked it up. Same leather cover as the mysterious notebook from Chapter 11. Same eerie glow.
She flipped it open. This time, there were no names. Just one phrase, over and over:
> "THE TEST HAS BEGUN."
And then:
> "YOU ARE NOT ALONE."
Julian squinted at the handwriting. "Is this… blood?"
Luna sniffed the page. "Nope. Strawberry jam."
Julian: "Better or worse?"
Luna: "Somehow both."
Suddenly, the rocket's internal comms lit up, even though it wasn't plugged into anything.
A voice whispered through the speakers. Garbled. Robotic. Laughing?
> "Player One: Accepted. Player Two: Error. Commence scramble protocol."
Julian stepped back. "Did our rocket just… log into a game?"
"No. Worse," Luna said. "It just got drafted into one."
---
That night, they didn't sleep.
They spent hours tearing apart the rocket, checking wires, sensors, everything for bugs or alien tags. Nothing.
Then, they opened the glove box.
A key was inside. A normal key, except it glowed in the dark and smelled faintly of burnt marshmallows.
Attached was a tag: "FOR THE REAL LAUNCH."
Luna's hands trembled.
Julian: "Wait, we haven't even fake-launched yet."
Luna: "Exactly."
The comms buzzed again.
> "Tick. Tock. Luna Lockhart. Phase Two begins at 04:04."
Julian looked at the time: 4:03 AM.
They both froze.
The rocket shuddered.
Outside, something was standing in the dog park. Tall. Thin. Wearing a spacesuit with no faceplate. Its helmet was cracked… from the inside.
Julian grabbed a wrench.
Luna grabbed her flamethrower.
Then… nothing. The figure vanished.
Julian: "Was that real?"
Luna: "Or a tutorial boss."
The rocket blinked three times.
A new message appeared on the screen:
> "FAILURE TO LAUNCH IS STILL A LAUNCH."
They stared at it.
Julian: "I'm scared."
Luna: "I'm intrigued."
Then in unison: "Let's build faster."