Two more days passed in their journey. Crystal sat reading in the passenger seats when Tigert, the pilot, approached and saluted Colonel Dandridge.

  “Sir,” he said. “We’ve spotted two ships that might be tailing us. They are in separate sectors, however.”

  “Keep me informed,” said Dandridge.

  An hour later, the pilot said, “Colonel, we’re getting a distress signal from a planetoid ahead.”

  Dandridge frowned. “Is it a false signal? Maybe pirates trying to lure us in?”

  “I can’t tell,” said Tigert. “Looks real to me, but I can’t be sure.”

  Dandridge drummed his fingers on his armrest. “Better keep going.”

  “We have to check it out,” said Crystal. “This region is sparsely inhabited. No one else might come by for months.”

  The colonel sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Tigert. Head over there.”

  “Roger, sir.”

  “We’ll just run by, in case it is an ambush,” he said to Crystal.

  The dwarf planet looked dark and moonlike, covered in dust. As they drew near, they could see a space yacht, Ultimate written in bold script along the side.

  “It doesn’t look damaged,” Crystal said.

  “Shall we land, sir?” the pilot asked.

  “Yes.”

  They landed several meters away from the ship. “You should probably stay here,” the colonel said, as Crystal prepared to don her suit to follow him. Before they could open the airlock, the pilot said, “Look, they’re coming out.”

  Through the viewscreen they saw two people emerging from the Ultimate. When they reached the Victorious, Tigert opened the airlock for them.

  They climbed in and removed their helmets, both of them breathing hard. The man, slender and clean-shaven, stuck out his hand to the colonel and said, “Thank God. We were afraid we’d be stuck here forever. Sam Josephson. This is my wife Linda.”

  The woman, a thin blonde, smiled with teary eyes. “Our two children are back in our ship. We just ran out of fuel.”

  “How could that happen?” asked Dandridge. “No one takes off without enough fuel.”

  The woman glanced at her husband, who shook his head. “We had plenty. We just went out for a spin around the system, as we often did. The kids are studying the planets in our system, so we thought . . .but then we ran into the thing.”

  Dr Perthonogis stepped forward. “What thing do you refer to?”

  Linda shrieked and jumped back. “Oh! What—what are you?”

  The doctor made an apologetic bow. “I’m sorry. I’m a glyptodont. My appearance is sometimes startling, I’m told.”

  Sam put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “It’s not you. She’s been jumpy since we ran into that thing.”

  Linda pressed a hand to her heart. “I apologize. I just—I can’t seem to relax.”

  “Sounds like PTSD,” said the glyptodont.

  “What was it you saw?” asked Crystal.

  “It’s hard to describe,” said Sam Josephson. “My wife and I were at the control panel, so our kids saw more of it. Our daughter, Diamond, she hasn’t spoken since. Both of them are having nightmares.”

  “Come and sit down,” Crystal said. “How long have you been stranded here?”

  “Only three days, but it seems like forever,” said Linda, sinking into a couch in the relaxation area. Her husband sat beside her.

  “Anyway,” Sam went on, “we had to get away from it fast, and I’m afraid we used most of our fuel running. We didn’t stop until we were far from it, and only then realized we had just enough to land on this rock. We’ve been conserving our power and sending distress signals ever since.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “We can spare you some fuel,” said Dandridge.

  “But what did it look like?” asked Dr. Perthonogis. He clasped and unclasped his hands.

  Sam frowned. “Well . . .”

  His wife leaned forward. “If a black hole took on a body, it would be immense. It would be terrifying. Dark and malicious and hungry . . .you don’t so much see it as feel it.” She shuddered. “I’m so worried that Diamond might never recover.”

  “Maybe Dr. Perthonogis could go over and take a look at your daughter,” Crystal said. “You are a medical doctor as well, am I right?”

  “Yes. I’d be happy to.”

  “Wonderful.” Linda clasped her hands and smiled for the first time.

  While Tigert was refueling the Ultimate, Crystal, Dandridge and Dr Perthonogis accompanied the Josephsons back to their ship, across the bleak planetoid’s surface.

  The ship reeked of luxury inside, with paneled interiors, mulberry silk-covered couches, and fine art paintings on the walls. The Josephson’s children were teenagers. They introduced their son as Alan, a pale, thin lad who looked visibly relieved to see official-looking people onboard. His sister, Diamond, looked about thirteen. She sat in a corner of the sofa, her long blonde hair half covering her face, and made no acknowledgment to either of her parents.

  “She’s just not talking,” Linda said.

  Dr. Perthonogis nodded gravely. He drew near to her and said, “Hello, Diamond,” to which she made no response. He took her right hand, lifted it, and let go. Her arm remained in the air. He gently replaced it in her lap. “Does she talk at all?” he asked.

  “Talk at all,” the girl suddenly said. “Don’t talk, don’t look. It’s coming, it’s coming, don’t look!” Her expression was horrified, then abruptly she fell back into a blank stare.

  “Yes,” said the doctor. “It’s very likely she’s suffering from catatonia related to her frightening experience. But you—” he turned to her brother. “You seem to be all right.”

  “I’m okay,” said Alan. “But I don’t want to think about it.” He shook his head as if trying to shake memories out of his head.

  “Yes. Well,” the glyptodont said to their parents, “her condition is easily treated. There are medications. Although she may continue to have PTSD for a long time. I can give her a dose now if you like.”

  “Yes, please,” said her mother.

  Dr Perthonogis took a hypospray from an inner pocket and applied it to the girl’s arm. She did not react to the injection.

  “Where is the thing you saw now?” Crystal asked Sam.

  “No idea. It was huge, filling all of space, but we got out of there so fast, I didn’t even see what became of it.”

  Diamond heaved a sigh and rubbed her eyes. She looked up and saw Linda. “Mom?” she whispered. “What happened?”

  Linda hugged her daughter. “You’re all right! You’ve been sick since . . .“

  “Oh.” Diamond’s eyes widened. “I remember. That was so scary.”

  “Can you tell us what you saw?” asked Crystal. She smiled at the girl. “We’re trying to track it down.”

  Diamond squeezed her eyes shut, thinking. “It was huge,” she said slowly. “You’re falling into it, forever and ever. No light. Cold. Teeth. Were there teeth? I’m not sure.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Wait.” Her brother put up a hand. “Did you say you want to find it? Are you insane?”

  “Hopefully not,” Crystal said. “We want to find a way to stop it. Or at least know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Don’t.” The boy shook his head forcefully. “Just—leave it alone. Get as far away as you can. That’s what we’re going to do. Right, dad?”

  “Yes,” said Sam. “We’re not taking any more chances with that thing, whatever it was.”

  “But what if,” said Dr Perthonogis, “what if you run out of space? And there’s nowhere else to run to?”

  Sam gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, I’m sure that won’t happen. There’s always more space.”

  “Perhaps,” said the glyptodont. “Perhaps in another galaxy.”

  They left the Josephson family preparing to take off from the planetoid, and made their way back to the Victorious.

  Before climbing into the airlock, Crystal looked up at the vast field of space, full of pinpricks of light that were distant stars, and wondered where the entity was that had so terrified the family. And where Long John was. Probably plying his pirate trade, she thought. Time to stop giving him room in her thoughts.

  Long John sat with his boots up on the control panel. Limpet got irritable when he did it, but it helped him think. It was his ship, anyway, which he had to remind the spider occasionally.

  The Don Quixote was following the trail of the Victorious as it headed for the Soaring Dragon Nebula. They stayed mostly out of sight, using asteroids and space debris to mask their ship, but they were only a few hours behind.

  He was just following an impulse, making sure Captain Aris got safely to her destination. For some reason, against his better judgment, he had taken a liking to the tall, serious Bragazza captain. Maybe it was because he had rescued her from a fate worse than death, which was remaining in stasis forever. The thought gave him chills.

  In addition, he didn’t think much of James Dandridge, the captain of the Victorious. Long John hadn’t had any interaction with the colonel, but he didn’t like the look of the fellow.

  “Cap’n,” Limpet said. “’Nother ship following. Getting closer.”

  Long John sat up and looked at the viewscreen. “Where?”

  “See there?”

  It was true. Instruments showed a battle cruiser closing in on the Victorious.

  Long John squinted at the instruments. “Oh no. That’s the Sidewinder. Grimshaw’s ship.”

  “What Sidewinder?” Limpet asked.

  “Well, it’s a kind of snake, but it’s what Grimshaw named his ship, because he’s an evil, devious—never mind. He, Stingray and Patch used to be my crew. They got tired of me and took off on their own, and have been wreaking havoc ever since and blaming it on me. So I hear.”

  “Bad guys, huh?”

  “You got that right.”

  “What we do?”

  “Maintain course.”

  With a few hours left to reach the Danje system, Crystal felt anxious. As she could do nothing else, she paced from her quarters to the control panel and back again.

  “Colonel,” said the pilot. “Ship approaching.”

  “What?” Dandridge came to the control panel. “Why didn’t we see them coming?”

  “Best guess, they were cloaked,” said Tigert. “We’re—”

  The Victorious shook as a laser blast hit her. Crystal grabbed a handhold on the wall.

  “We’ve been hit!” Tigert said.

  “Damage report.” Dandridge snapped.

  “Shields undamaged. Seems to have been a warning shot. We have an incoming transmission.”