Even though that beach trip was relaxing– we’re right back into the action, but the truth is that especially now that I’ve had time to reflect while I was on that beach now… I’ve realized that I myself have been acting too soft about the situation. I know that this isn’t just a trip to the candy store because Fortune WAS an example of that until I realized that’s also how he dealt with his trauma by just not caring on top of being Fortune.

  But now… even though I’m faced with this crushing reality– I know I must keep pushing forward no matter the cost, and I must never give up and train extremely hard so that way I can get through all of these missions.

  I communicate to Xenon, “Don’t you ever think that Zaros is a bit oppressive?”

  Xenon says, “He can be a bit much sometimes, and he’s supposed to be though, but why are you asking that?”

  I complain, “What’s the matter with me asking that?”

  Xenon responds, “You mean that you didn’t know he can see what we see outside of the dream universe?”

  I ask loudly, “He can?! I had literally zero idea, and I have no idea how either, but I guess that doesn’t matter right now… nevermind me asking anything.” I never thought about this until now, but he did somehow know that we forgot the Alpha-Matrix key.

  I finally ask, “shouldn’t we do some sort of training? I mean now that we’re in this mess, but mess isn’t the right word because it’s about saving– 2 entire universes.”

  Xenon concludes, “Yes, and I know this for certain because Zaros demanded it of me and you… what you need to do is get those dream powers under control. The problem is since we're fugitives there’s only one place that we can go that would truly accept us.”

  I say “No… you don’t mean THAT place do you?”

  Xenon repeats, “Yes, I mean that place.”

  At first I couldn’t believe it but the more that I thought about it the more it made sense… on Pluto there is a not so secret cult called “The Infinity Nexus”, and in fact the entire dwarf planet of Pluto is this organization. Even though making nukes bigger than enough to destroy practically anything have been widely banned from ever being made they have made a nuke that could automatically destroy a planet, and worse yet, they would have all of their citizens do an oath and have it be that if any planet no matter which planet comes in their way, they will use their destroying nukes to destroy the nation then themselves…

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  I think “They would choose to give away all of their lives simply to keep their revolution alive. They believe that they are ‘balancing out the world’, and ‘making sure nobody rebels unless it’s against unjust authority’, but at the price and malice of destroying themselves and another planet in the process.” Even still they leave dangerous criminals to join their ranks and escape their imprisonment as a sign that as long as people believe in their ideals, and don’t betray their new nation, then they will allow anyone to join… even us.

  The ship was running low on fuel by the day, and we only have about 3 days left of fuel, but that will be more than double enough to get to Pluto, and it will take about 11 hours but the problem isn’t about how long it should take… It's about accelerating the ship to the max speed of 50% of the speed of light without the G force basically turning us into toothpaste and then incinerating us.

  I tell Xenon, “How in the universe are we supposed to get a ship fast enough to ever even make it to Pluto?”

  Xenon responded, his visor flickering as he accessed the ship's schematics. "The Inertial Dampeners can handle most of it. They're designed to counter standard acceleration up to, say, 5,000 Gs. But reaching 0.5c in minutes? That requires a field strength the ship doesn't have, especially after the rough lift-off."

  I stared at the console, where the acceleration curve was impossibly steep. "So I fail… And we die."

  Xenon looked up at me, his voice calm but expectant. "Your abilities, Xersa. The dream power. You stabilized yourself when you were shot. You teleported the Key across realities. You need to focus on that ability internally. You need to dream-anchor us to a perception of zero acceleration while the ship does the impossible. I will pilot and push the limits of the ship, but you must stabilize our physical forms."

  I walked over to the cockpit, and Xenon walked over to the controls beside me… and I immediately pushed myself down in my seat.

  Xenon announced, "I am overriding the safety protocols. In three seconds, the ship will initiate a continuous acceleration cycle toward Pluto. Target speed: 0.5c. Brace yourself, Xersa."

  Three.

  The ship shuddered, the inertial dampeners whining, doing their best. A crushing pressure began to squeeze my chest.

  Two.

  My vision narrowed. The pressure intensified, a physical weight trying to flatten me. The dampeners failed with a piercing shriek of feedback.

  One.

  I screamed, shoving the dream-power outwards, forcing stability. The bone-crushing pressure instantly vanished. The cockpit around me was still shaking violently, but I felt perfectly normal—weightless, anchored. My eyes were wide, the effort immense, but I was stable.

  I felt the fear, but Zaros's voice—and Fortune's tears—were stronger. No more being soft. I think "Fine. Don’t Tell me when… Let's just get this done– Let’s finish with each mission and save the universe!"

  Xenon whispered, his voice calm now that the danger was past. "Inertial dampeners are offline, but we are stable. You did it. We are traveling at 0.5c."

  The long journey to Pluto began, and time passed by… I know that my dream powers aren’t stagnating now that I’ve activated them, but I hope nothing changes when we have to try to decelerate.

  Xenon stated hours later, "We have crossed the Kuiper belt. Estimated arrival at The Infinity Nexus, Pluto: 32 minutes."

  I waited for what felt like way less long than the other minutes knowing that we were about to get there even though the planet is what it is. I looked at the console. Pluto was a pale, scarred disk filling the viewscreen—a planet that was barely a planet, covered in the ominous metallic sheen of the Nexus infrastructure. I had sacrificed my life, risked my mind, and broken every law of physics to get here. Now, the real danger began.