The Little Klein Bottle carried Dimi as they slipped into a beam of light, and the brothers, linked by Nightstar’s light ribbons, transformed into points of light and leapt in one by one.

  The Little Klein Bottle, wrapping Dimi, quickly found the Calabi-Yau and its shadow within one of the beams. The Little Klein Bottle approached the spot gently, probing, while the brothers arrived shortly after. Dimi slid out from the Klein Bottle and shone its high-dimensional “key” into the Calabi-Yau’s shadow, searching. When a point that differed from the other light patterns quivered slightly, Dimi knew it was the entrance to the Calabi-Yau.

  Following Dimi’s light, everyone entered the Calabi-Yau. Before them was a space of slightly fixed and rigid light and shadow. The space felt neither large nor small, quite different from what they had imagined. Heartstead Star’s starlight flickered as he said, “Logically, this should be a hidden dimension. It’s deeply concealed within the Cygnus X-1 singularity, no longer influenced by the black hole. Its current state seems dull and lifeless, but if we unfold it, perhaps we could see an entirely different scenery. How to unfold it, though, is the question.”

  Starhaven observed carefully and noticed slight undulations in some of the flat corners, pulsing like a heartbeat. Following the rhythm, Starhaven released a sequence of musical notes. Unexpectedly, the notes fell out of sync with the pulse.

  Starhaven was astonished. With his musical training, it should have been impossible to misalign such a simple rhythm. He tried again, and once more, it was off.

  Dawnstar couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “Big brother, how could you not find the correct rhythm? Could it be that the Calabi-Yau is deliberately avoiding us? Or did your musical notes somehow push it off course?”

  Heartstead Star said, “Third brother, your mind is quick and clever as always. Logically, once we enter the Calabi-Yau, we will all be affected. Only Little Starfish’s Little Klein Bottle and Dimi remain unaffected. Dimi just needs to elevate itself to a substance above six dimensions.”

  Starhaven said, “I observed earlier. If the rhythm’s deviation were consistent, it wouldn’t be too difficult to handle, but I see that it’s irregular, without any pattern.”

  The Little Klein Bottle floated over, purple smoke swirling inside it, and the brothers could almost see the Little Demon getting angry.

  The Little Klein Bottle said, “Hmph! This naughty Calabi-Yau, I have to mess with it. I want to see what it’s hiding in there!”

  The Little Klein Bottle spun toward the pulsing point, trying to wrap it inside, shouting as it spun, “Starhaven, use your music to turn it over. Dimi, come control it. I’ll mess it up. Other brothers, help too. Hmph! Let’s see if it can still stay symmetrical!”

  Everyone unleashed their abilities, flustered and scrambling.

  Suddenly, an unbelievably bright light exploded before their eyes, as if the ground itself had quaked. Everyone screamed as they tumbled into a new space.

  Thanks to the light ribbons binding them, the brothers didn’t scatter. The Little Klein Bottle fell and transformed back into Little Starfish, and from fright, instantly became the Little Demon. Only Dimi, moving faster than light, had already slipped into another dimension at the instant of the explosion and reappeared beside everyone.

  The Little Demon shouted and wailed in anger, waving her little fork furiously. Her purple braided hair was completely messy.

  Heartstead Star scooped her up gently, holding her close, and said softly, “Alright, alright, don’t be angry. Look, all the brothers are fine, Dimi is right here, and you’re still the same little purple Little Demon. Even your little horns are intact!”

  The Little Demon let out a snicker and said, “Heartstead Star, you forgot to say ‘logically’!”

  Everyone laughed.

  Once they calmed down, they began to observe their surroundings.

  They were astonished to find themselves in a beautiful environment, with mountains and flowing water, big trees and blooming flowers, and animals and insects fluttering around.

  Nightstar patted his pink belly and said, “Are we on Earth?”

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  Starhaven’s expression grew serious. “No! It seems calm and normal here, but if everyone focuses and really feels it, you’ll notice that something is off.”

  Heartstead Star nodded. “Big brother is right. Logically, we are already in a new dimension. To be precise, we are inside a time-reversing dimension.”

  Everyone froze, afraid that any movement might warp into something strange. Even Dimi floated in the air, motionless.

  After a moment, the Little Demon broke the silence. She jabbed the ground hard with her little fork and said, “Hmph! Time-reversing or not, we’ll just go against it. Let’s see what it can do to us!”

  Suddenly, a small violin appeared in Starhaven’s hands. He quickly drew a melody, and the notes floated through the air, sounding eerie and strange.

  Everyone stared at Starhaven in confusion, and he looked troubled as he said, “That melody just now was reversed, backwards, starting from the last note!”

  Dawnstar couldn’t help but ask, “Then why didn’t the Little Demon’s movements reverse? Why didn’t what you said, Starhaven, reverse? And why isn’t what I’m saying now reversed either?”

  Heartstead Star said, “Dawnstar, that’s the key question. Logically, we should all experience the future first, and then the past. If the notes can reverse, then the words we speak should reverse too. Even Big Brother should have drawn the melody first, and only then manifested the violin…”

  Nightstar jumped in, “If we experience the future first, then we should be at the moment of leaving this dimension already. But we’re still here. Does that mean we can never get out?”

  Everyone exchanged panicked looks. Dimi and the Little Demon shared a glance.

  The Little Demon said, “Dimi says everyone don’t panic. It can take us out. But we’ll have to stay here a while. Dimi needs to leave for a bit, to go to Jupiter and absorb the energy of lightning, then it will come back for us. It wants us to have fun on this time-reversing planet in the meantime!”

  Dawnstar shouted first, “Oh! Oh! Fun? Backwards fun? How do we even do that? What if I, Dawnstar, accidentally get sent back to when I was just born? Nightstar, stop twirling your shield and go block Dimi, don’t let it leave!”

  Dimi transformed into a small parrot, mimicking Dawnstar with a playful “Oh! Oh!” before turning into a streak of rainbow light and disappearing.

  The Little Demon giggled and said, “Just now Dimi said that the time on this planet has a pattern. Not everything can reverse.”

  Dawnstar shouted, “Oh! Oh! Look, everyone! I knew Dimi wouldn’t leave us behind. Little Demon sister, stop making the brothers worry, tell us quickly, what else did Dimi say?”

  The Little Demon flapped her purple little wings, a green flame burning at the tip of her tail. Her eyes sparkled with mischievous green light as she leaned close to Dawnstar and said, “Hehe, Dimi said it saw your past, brother! You were a baby little star, clumsy, your light all messy. Once a shooting star even scared you into hiding in the clouds for days! Now, handsome brother, you’re going back to that time!”

  Dawnstar screamed in panic, “Nightstar! Quick! Use your shield to block me! So embarrassing! I don’t want to be that messy little baby! Big Brother, help!”

  Starhaven laughed heartily, “Dawnstar, you’re so clever, don’t you know the Little Demon is just teasing you?” He turned to the Little Demon and asked, “Little Demon sister, did Dimi tell you the truth about this planet and show you how to deal with time reversal?”

  The Little Demon, twirling her little fork and pouting, said, “Hmph, not telling you! You’re all bad brothers!”

  The brothers were baffled, not understanding why she was upset. As they looked at each other, they suddenly heard her crying, “Awoo! Awoo!”

  Heartstead Star rushed forward and hugged the Little Demon, speaking in the gentlest voice, “Little Demon sister, you must be tired, right? Do you want to sleep? I’ll ask Nightstar to turn his shield into a pink little bed for you to rest on.”

  The other brothers gathered around. Starhaven said, “I’ll play a calm and sweet melody. I’ll play it backwards so the music sounds normal here.”

  Dawnstar said, “Oh, Little Demon sister, can I tell you about my baby-time embarrassments?”

  Nightstar puffed up his pink belly and said, “Little Demon sister, come pat my belly and see if it’s bouncy!”

  The Little Demon sobbed softly for a while, “Wuwu, I thought you didn’t like me anymore. You were all together, standing so far apart, and Dimi left… I thought you didn’t want me anymore!”

  Heartstead Star held her tighter and said, “We were careless, but how could we not want you? Even if time reversed or this planet exploded, your second brother would still hold you tight and never let go!”

  The Little Demon curled up in Heartstead Star’s arms, tucked in her little horns, and with a flash of light, transformed into Little Starfish. She peacefully fell asleep.

  The brothers all sat down where they were, and Heartstead Star gently sat with Little Starfish in his arms. Taking this chance, they carefully observed the surroundings.

  When they had landed on this planet, it had been roughly noon. Now it had rolled back to early morning, and soon it would be night, then dusk…

  The trees grew slowly, so it was hard to notice the reversal, but occasionally a leaf floated back up to its branch. The nearby stream, however, was the clearest proof, its water flowing upward.

  Starhaven whispered, “Dimi said the time here has rules, not everything reverses. Can everyone see that?”

  Heartstead Star nodded, “Logically, we are outsiders here. Our actions don’t seem affected, but Big Brother’s music is reversed. If we understand this difference, we can find the way out.”

  Little Starfish stirred in Heartstead Star’s arms and yawned, rubbing her eyes with a sweet smile. “Heartstead Star’s arms are so warm! I’m awake now. I’ll tell you, brothers. Dimi said this planet came from a gap in Calabi-Yau, it should be a parallel world. It’s not three-dimensional, but we are from a three-dimensional universe, so its time can’t affect us, especially it can’t control our thoughts. And the music Starhaven plays isn’t conscious, it’s just music. In three dimensions it’s three-dimensional music, in six dimensions it’s six-dimensional music. Here, it’s the music of this place, that’s why it plays backward.”

  Starhaven’s expression changed to sudden understanding, and Dawnstar was especially delighted. “Oh! Oh! So we’re aliens here! Why didn’t I think of that? That means I won’t turn back into a baby, wonderful!”

  Little Starfish jumped out of Heartstead Star’s arms, looking full of energy. “Dimi will take us away from here soon. Brothers, where else do you want to go? Let’s go meet some aliens!”

  The brothers all shouted, “What?! Meet aliens?!” “Where are we going to meet aliens?!” “What are these aliens like?!” “Are they scary? How many dimensions are they?!”

  Little Starfish laughed heartily at how flustered they all looked.