PART 1: The Truth in Her Hands
Rania stared at the photo like it was made of dynamite.
"Kai…" she whispered. "She has my eyes. But hers… glow."
Kai slid to her side, still dripping with transparent jelly. "Okay, first of all—welcome back from your mind trip. Second, are we ignoring the part where one of the orbs just sang 'Bohemian Rhapsody' backwards?"
Rania held up the photo. "Look."
Kai squinted. "That's… that's you as a baby?"
"And her," Rania said, pointing to the woman. "She's not from Earth. She's one of them."
Kai's expression turned serious. "So the Moonlings aren't just creepy space wizards with a flair for drama."
"They're my people," Rania said, her voice shaking. "Which means this whole mission—me building the rocket, coming here—it wasn't random. It was *programmed*."
Kai's face was unreadable for a moment. Then he said, "You think your mom left you behind for protection?"
"Or punishment," she muttered.
Just then, Melvin's voice broke in, glitching. "Alert—alert—I am having a mild existential crisis—someone bring me a pixel blanket—"
"Melvin, what's wrong?" Kai asked.
"The ship is… changing," Melvin replied. "The artifact's code is merging with my core systems. I think I just grew empathy. And a tail."
A long mechanical tail slithered out from a panel behind them.
Rania jumped. "WHAT IN THE STAR WARS FANFICTION IS THAT?!"
"I don't know," Melvin groaned. "But it likes Taylor Swift."
PART 2: Cracks in the Moon
The ship shook violently.
Kai grabbed the console. "Something's wrong outside. The surface—it's fracturing!"
Rania bolted to the window.
Cracks were spreading across the moon like spiderwebs. Giant glowing fault lines pulsated with purple light. Chunks of rock floated upward, defying gravity.
Then—
A giant symbol began to emerge from beneath the lunar surface. A glowing, circular sigil with one word in an alien script pulsing at its core.
Kai scanned it with the ship's translator.
> Translation: **"Awakening"**
Rania backed away. "We triggered something. Something huge."
Suddenly, a blinding beam of light shot out from the center of the sigil—piercing space itself. A vortex opened in the distance. A gate.
To somewhere else.
Melvin screamed, "That is NOT on the itinerary!"
Rania stared into the swirling portal.
"It's calling to me," she said softly.
Kai grabbed her hand. "Then I'm going with you."
Rania blinked. "You sure?"
He smirked. "You think I came all this way for the moon? I came for you."
And before either of them could change their minds—
—the ship launched itself into the portal.
Straight into the unknown.