Human Selene was at a clothing store where she was trying on hats with Pipsqueak.

  Like most places within her dream, it was dark. Whenever there was a light it would be dim, and often flickering ever-so-slightly. And all the colors seemed less saturated than normal.

  Pipsqueak kept smacking Selene with his antennae as she arranged a chullo hat on him. It was fuzzy like a beanie, but with two flaps that went over the ears. Two tassels dangled from them with poofs of fuzz at the ends. It was multicolored, mostly red with two white stripes on the actual hat part.

  "What do you think?" She asked the annoyed flea.

  He shook his head to the side, but the hat was too snug and sat firmly on top of his head.

  "Come on, you need something to make you look less intimidating."

  She took the hat off and patted his head affectionately, and he nuzzled her hand.

  When he did—her dream body suddenly went stiff and her vision changed.

  Instead of the dimly lit clothes store of her dreamscape, it was the interior of a caasiok. Its fleshy halls and insectoid exoskeleton were shown to her.

  Along the center of the hallway's ceiling was a spine archway, each bone segment had a semi-translucent blood vessel passing between them, and orbs of green or cyan light pulsed through it every so often creating a strobing effect. And contributed all the light in the hall. Not that most Zykra needed it to see.

  She turned her head, and the scantid she had taken control of did as well.

  There were voices nearby. Human voices. Weird.

  "Are you showing me this Pipsqueak? Is this you?"

  He couldn't respond, but she sensed his eagerness to serve as an extension of her will.

  "Cool... Let's check out these voices."

  She used Pipsqueaks body to travel the caasiok's halls until she came to a scantid-sized orifice, flaps of flesh acted as a pressurized door. When they approached, the flaps receded automatically for them, revealing a narrow tunnel within.

  It was gross how starkly similar some of these passageways were to human anatomy, but Selene was an adult now and didn't need to make jokes about it.

  Why was she able to do this now? Had their connection become so strong? Whatever it was—it felt liberating to finally see the real world after so long. Even if it was the inside of a caasiok.

  Pipsqueak led them to the source of the voices, through the maze of tunnels between the caasiok halls and various chambers.

  "I'm just saying, why is she holding onto it? It's just a piece of metal."

  It was a woman's voice. Smokey in texture and low.

  Another exit to the tunnels opened up, and they saw who was speaking directly ahead of them. They were sitting beneath the lavender light of a psyphera. Which dangled from the ceiling like a chandelier.

  Multiple infested humans sat there, on tables of chitin. They were warped and deformed, unlike metal or timber furniture would be. The edges rose and flared outwards, while the inner spaces would curve or indent inwards. Plates of smooth exoskeleton held together by tendon and blue muscle.

  Selene let out a sharp exhale upon seeing them.

  "I... Made infested humans?"

  Of course she would. That's the exact kind of evil thing her Zykra self would do.

  The one who had spoken had black hair, with the very ends dyed white. Long but shaved on one side. Everything but her face was adorned in an insectoid exoskeleton, not too dissimilar to her own Zykra form.

  A burly bald man spoke next, with the same armored exoskeleton.

  "We all have quirks left over from before."

  He was sitting with his elbows on his knees. Jade walked over and sat down beside him, draping an arm on his shoulder.

  "It's all she does, whenever we're not fighting. Staring at that fucking cross. I think it might be what's making her... Simpler."

  A korean infested was practicing slashes in the air with his bladed arms, beneath the light. His hair was short and proper, neatly combed and parted on the left side, like a businessman. He stopped and turned towards her, his face calm.

  "I disagree. I believe her faith it is why she is so strong. Each of us believed in something greater than ourselves, which is why our minds break through the noise. The dissonance of the hive. We interpret it's will like we would our God."

  "But I don't believe in God, Jae-Sung." Hensley said, looking up slightly at Jae-Sung. Who had resumed doing his exercises.

  "God is a vague word. It only means something greater than ourselves." He continued speaking as he moved, practicing different strikes.

  "Hm. Then tacos are God." Hensley nodded, as if coming to a realization.

  "You still like food?" Jade asked.

  The bulky bald man nodded. "I like the idea of it... I think we could still eat if we had to."

  What was this conversation Selene walked into? She had no idea this is what infested would be like. Talking about God and tacos. She left them alone, as the conversation went towards what infested do in place of eating.

  She kind of related to them, though her infestation retained more of her humanity, it seemed.

  "Can you bring me to Aboleth?" Selene asked.

  The scantid returned to the maze of narrow tunnels in the caasiok.

  She couldn't sense the other Zykra she saw from his eyes. Her connection to Pipsqueak felt different from the usual Zykra one, it felt like no matter how far she went they would always be connected.

  Like she was in two places at once. However that was possible, Selene had no idea.

  Eventually they came to a wide open chamber where Aboleth was speaking. To Dr. Bryant.

  "The Evolutionist has made progress with the tremorasque worms. They won't give the infested their typical strength, or ability to transform, but they will be able to stop aging, as well as cure just about any terminal illness."

  He said, standing a distance away. It looked like he hadn't taken a decent shower in days. His white lab-coat torn in places with different colored stains.

  "At last, I would say that is enough to begin turning some to our side, don't you think?"

  "I would say so, General. We could utilize smuggler channels to spread the word that such an opportunity exists, and they will come to us."

  Aboleth shook her head dismissively.

  "Desperate people, you mean."

  "At first. But once what we provide is proven to work, there will be plenty of the kinds of individuals we are looking for. Capable smugglers, who can move cargo to the core worlds undetected. Should I, 'put the word out', so to speak?"

  The Zykra General wore a pensive expression for a quiet moment. Her autonomy was trimmed down to ensure her loyalty, but surely such a decision would benefit the hive.

  "Do it. It would give the resistance all the more reason to return our Queen."

  "Of course General." Dr. Bryant said, he bowed slightly and left the room.

  Selene let go of Pipsqueaks head and took a few steps back in her dreamscape. Her eyes flitted around as she realized numerous things.

  First and foremost, she was captured by the resistance. Huge win.

  Secondly, Dr. Bryant and Aboleth were working with her Zykra self, and helped her do all kinds of evil things. They... Betrayed her.

  She clutched a fist over her chest.

  It hurt.

  There was no way they didn't know she wasn't herself—and they just went along with all of it? Both of them were way too smart for that, so what gives? Didn't they want her back? Did they think she was better this way?

  Pipsqueak chittered softly, looking at Selene worriedly, as a tear dripped from her face. She leaned on the checkout counter, still deep in thought.

  She saw Danny die, and had good reason to believe Zephyr was dead too. But now it was all but certain they were all dead but Aboleth and Dr. Bryant. They trusted her, and one morning she woke up as someone else, and betrayed all of their expectations in the worst way.

  Where the hell was that dream-walker telepath? She could really use an update on what the resistance planned to do with her, what their progress was.

  Images played back in Selene's mind. Memories of before she was trapped here.

  Raymond confronting her about her merciless killing, Aboleth consoling her after she killed that alien... In her own way, at least.

  Danny debating becoming a Zykra with her, and Zephyr pleading for forgiveness and friendship.

  It all came flooding back to her at once.

  Maybe they should just kill her and be done with it. She was too dangerous.

  She tore a shirt from a rack nearby and used it to wipe the wetness from her face.

  "I might have to put you at risk, Pipsqueak. Is that okay with you?"

  Pipsqueak jumped onto the checkout counter, sending the register clattering to the ground.

  He chittered eagerly.

  Across the cosmos, so deep in uncharted space that no human had ever ventured so far, there was an ice world.

  Dunes of snow sparkled in the green and purple light of an aurora which blanketed the horizon.

  Plums of white dust would push themselves across the snow with every gust of wind, which created a howling sound across the great white expanse.

  There was life on this planet, though it was sparse.

  There were trees which had blackened bark as hard as steel, with glowing green veins growing on the outside of it. Stretching upwards to the branches. Which held bioluminescent pine needles, which glowed slightly whenever there was any nearby movement.

  Jagged cliffs of gray stone cropped up occasionally, and lakes of ice could be found as well.

  A variable arctic wonderland, beautiful as it was deadly.

  There was no sun here, but there was a moon orbiting, which experienced constant volcanic eruptions. It looked like hell. Literally. When the smaller world drifted by in the sky, it would add it's dim red light to the aurora's gentle green and purple hues. This was where Zephyr found herself as she awoke.

  "BLEHK!"

  Zephyr sat up energetically with a sharp inhale, and was surprised by her surroundings.

  And the fact that she wasn't dead.

  "I'm not dead!"

  Zephyr said out-loud, then patted herself down frantically just to make sure she wasn't a ghost. Her silver armor and white leotard were still there, insulating her from the cold.

  "I guess I have you to thank for that... Best clothing choice I ever made. And that's saying something."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  A tall tower of white loomed over her, matching the white expanse around her. An obelisk just like the one where she first retrieved her device from.

  It was the only artificial structure around it seemed.

  Her excitement began to fade as she realized. She was alone. With no ship. Which meant no food. No shelter.

  "Fuck. Fuck."

  She had to get back and rescue Danny at least. Then they could go off and do whatever they want. Screw saving Selene, she would be on her own. Whatever evil Zykra stuff was manipulating her would have to be cured by someone else.

  Okay, Zephyr. Priorities.

  Food. Shelter.

  If she had to bet, the suits energy wouldn't last forever without having a chance to recharge. Could she even breath on this planet without it? Even if she could, the cold would kill her. Did she survive getting beat up by Selene only to die on a desolate frozen tundra?

  Before Zephyr could solve any of her big problems, she needed to survive here, but how?

  'beep'

  The gauntlet device had apparated on her arm, and the sapphire gem in the center beeped, pulsing with blue light.

  "Are you saying something? Wait—can you understand me?"

  'beep'

  "Wow, is that a yes?"

  'beep'

  She waited for a couple seconds silently.

  'beep'

  Great, so it wasn't communicating with her. It was only beeping in a set tempo. But she had an idea, and started walking away from the obelisk. And the beeping slowed slightly. When she returned, it sped back up.

  "So it's like a metal detector..."

  She muttered as she put a hand on the obelisk.

  "But what are you meant to detect?"

  At her touch, the obelisk began into dissolve in blue mist. Starting from the top. Which swirled through the air and went into the sapphire gem at the center of the gauntlet.

  Zephyr watched as the massive structure disappeared into the gauntlet, her eyes wide.

  The beeping stopped.

  "..Did that give me a full battery?"

  A semi-transparent blue holographic image appeared out of the sapphire as soon as she said so.

  A long rectangle started off empty, but filled itself, answering her question.

  "That's nice and all, but without shelter I won't be able to recharge it. Or scratch my nose, which would be nice."

  The hologram changed, showing a floating sphere with a porthole on it.

  "Yes, that looks like it could be a shelter. So what?"

  She tapped it with a finger. And blue mist burst forward from the gauntlet, swirling around and assembling a different structure. A smaller one, about the size of a 2-person tent.

  It was big enough that should could stand inside with a few feet to spare above her, and about a full two meters around her in diameter.

  It looked just like the holographic image. A white sphere supported by two gleaming silver metal beams that swirled around elegantly up from the snow. The circular hatch was silver too, with a glass window in the center. Revealing a hardwood floor interior and firelight.

  "Uh..." she looked down at the gauntlet again. "Is there food in there too? Or is it just shelter?"

  It didn't respond. She would have to find out herself.

  She reached for the hatches silver handle, which flared outwards towards the top then curved back inwards towards the bottom.

  It hissed lightly as the seal was broken, and she felt a gust of wind brush against her from the warm interior.

  Inside it was like a cozy cabin. Hardwood floors, stone fireplace, a tiny coffee table and a twin bed with a plain red blanket on it.

  How was any of this possible? Sure, it was alien technology, but it's not like it was magic. Nanobots maybe? Artificial intelligence that read her mind to find out what she liked?

  She crawled inside and closed the hatch.

  The moment it closed behind her the gauntlet made an 'eep, eep, eep' sound, a holographic silhouette of her in the armor was displayed in hologram form, then showed it dissolving away.

  "I really wish you were this helpful before I was nearly killed."

  The armor disappeared, leaving her in the outfit she wore last. A winter coat with baggie pants and heavy boots. Convenient considering the climate. She shrugged off the coat and tossed it on the bed.

  The air was slightly warmer than what her suit felt like, and it came in waves like a real fire might.

  ...Was it a real fire?

  She reached out and nearly touched a flickering flame.

  "Ouch... Okay, definitely real fire."

  It burned from a hunk of log that didn't seem to be getting any smaller.

  Zephyr sat cross-legged at the tiny coffee table, then laid her arm across it and observed the gauntlet curiously.

  "Guess we can check shelter off the list. Now I just have to worry about getting off world... Have anything like that?"

  An image of a ship appeared in hologram form.

  The front was pointy, which tapered off from a triangular shape in the back. With 3 different fins. Judging by the seat she could see, it was small... Very small.

  "Probably should've started with that... Okay, let's build!"

  She raised the gauntlet into the air expectantly.

  'beep'

  "Oh no, don't tell me..."

  Zephyr lowered her arm again and looked at the gauntlet.

  The rectangular battery bar showed up again alongside the image of the ship. It grew longer, revealing much more empty space than there was before.

  It probably wasn't that the shelter took so much to make, just that a ship would take so much more.

  "...So I don't have enough alien technology to make one."

  'beep'

  The hologram changed to a series of circular rings laid over a grid.

  An even brighter circle began to expand outwards from the center, gradually disappearing at the edges of the image.

  A dot would appear and gradually fade away each time the ring passed over it, and then it would make the beep sound.

  Alien radar.

  Judging by how much time there was between beeps—it was far away.

  She would have to go there.

  On foot.

  "I'm too thirsty for this, can we make anything to turn some of this snow into drinkable water? Or maybe cook food?"

  She held up the gauntlet expectantly, and sure enough—a new hologram appeared.

  It displayed a boomerang shaped device.

  Might as well give it a shot, it's not as though she had better options. Zephyr tapped her finger through the image and blue mist emerged, constructing the object from thin air.

  Not only was it the shape of the boomerang, it was about the size of one too. About sixteen inches long, with a deep bend in the middle, three inches thick and made of the same silver material much of the preserver technology seemed to use.

  There were grips on either side of the bend that were ribbed, whatever hard white material it used whenever it didn't use the silver metal.

  She waved it.

  "Make water."

  Nothing happened. She noticed a button on one of the grips and pressed it, causing a silver cap to pop open on one end.

  "Oh, then I think..."

  Zephyr quickly equipped her armor and dipped out of the hatch, pushing the exposed end of the boomerang into the snow, and pressing the button. It sucked the white powder inside before closing again.

  Then she leaned back inside the shelter and gripped the opposite end of the boomerang. There was another button there identical to the other.

  When pressed, a cap popped open on the other end that wasn't used to suck up the snow. A bit of steam emerged from it.

  "That was like a little puzzle." She said, taking a sip from it.

  After sending her armor away again.

  "Ah, warm water. How refreshing."

  She lifted her gauntlet and kissed the side of it.

  "What can't you do? Other than beat my friend possessed by her Zykra side?"

  Zephyr smirked, then yawned.

  She'd have to worry about food tomorrow, as well as gathering more of whatever the device needed to do... Whatever it was that it did.

  The following 'morning', Zephyr awoke to find that no sun had risen.

  But there was a dull red light from some fiery moon. Which swirled with black clouds and lakes of lava. It was pretty—in a hellish, chaotic kind of way. She looked at it from within the glass window of the hatch.

  For some reason, it reminded her of Selene.

  Her stomach growled.

  "I hope there's something edible here... I saw trees in the distance, maybe there's something there?"

  She crawled out of her little pod shelter and headed off in the direction of the bioluminescent forest, but stopped. Then turned to face the pod shelter.

  "Why should I leave it behind? There's no reason I can't take it with me, right?"

  It turned to blue mist and went back into her gauntlet.

  "Yay." She said flatly, and resumed her journey.

  If these 'preserver' aliens could make whatever they want, whenever they wanted, why the hell would they ever go anywhere?

  If it were her, she'd just sit around enjoying it. Maybe they had to find materials too, but there had to be a limit to how much you needed to collect to do just about anything.

  Was this how Selene felt? Gathering 'biomass' for her army?

  "Oh."

  Zephyr stopped. She was still a ways away from the forest of black trees, but there was something there. A fluffy white creature was standing still as a statue, looking at her a distance away.

  It had a long white tail, with frills of feathers at the very end. Long ears like a fennec fox, and a body like a red panda, but all white with shiny black eyes. Its face was flat, like a pug. And it was about four feet tall.

  They just stared at each other across the white for a moment. In the dim red, green and purple light that shone down from the starry sky.

  Then it slowly began to crouch down low to the snow, flattening its ears to it's body.

  Was it hunting her? Or hiding?

  She found herself smiling at the cute fluffy panda-fox-pug thing.

  "Where'd it go?" She said, turning around to face away from it.

  "Sure hope the scary monster doesn't get me."

  After a few moments, she turned back around and the creature was far closer—it had covered half the distance in that short time.

  "Oh. You're fast."

  It was looking up at her from the snow, it's beady black eyes glistening in the light. Its fur made it look just like another pile of snow.

  "Who's a cute little guy? Are you friendly?"

  She started walking towards it.

  Once she was only a meter or so away, it stood on its haunches with an angry look. Then, it's face split open.

  Its pink nose belonged to one flap, and each eye belonged to another. And its jaw split down the middle, creating five flaps of white fuzz pulling back, revealing a maw of flesh lined with razor sharp teeth. A tubular tongue lashed around wildly as it made a high-pitched trilling sound.

  'whuuurrRAA-AH-AH-A'

  "Ugh!" Zephyr made a grossed out face.

  It lunged at her, hugging her in an attempt to tackle her to the ground. Razor sharp sickle claws extended from its paws and back legs, scraping across her harmlessly.

  "Guess you're food, then?"

  She raised her gauntlet arm and a white blade of light burst forth, creating an electric explosion of noise.

  It jumped off her and bounded through the snow fast as lightning—fleeing from the sound, she watched it disappear into the forest a hundred meters away.

  "Dammit."

  Zephyr followed after the tracks into the forest, quietly this time. Which meant sheathing her energy blade.

  "Shoot it instead this time. You can shoot, right?" She asked herself, more so than her gauntlet.

  Of course it could. Why would it stop at making structures from thin air?

  The pine needles on the tree nearest her glowed a bit as she approached, so she slowed down until they stopped doing that, and so she made her way slowly through the trees.

  It took her an hour or so to track it down again.

  She wasn't even sure if it was the same one. It probably wasn't.

  But there it was, sniffing about at the base of a tree. Digging through the snow.

  Slowly, she raised her gauntlet and aimed it at the creature.

  'Shoot.' She thought.

  And a bolt of white light fired through the air from the sapphire gem. Directly where she aims. An even louder blast of electricity sounded, like thunder.

  It didn't bother looking at her, the creature ran.

  "Crap!" Zephyr cried out—it was going to miss!

  Or at least so she thought.

  The bolt chased after it like a heat seeking missile.

  Then collided with it, turning its body to red mist and a red pulpy mess. Its white fur wasn't visible any longer, only bits of bone that stuck up through the gore.

  "What!? Why would you shoot it so hard??"

  Zephyr gave an irritated sigh as she walked over to it.

  How would she eat this?

  She shook her head a few times, looking down at the mess. Searching for whatever the biggest, most appetizing piece was.

  In the distance ahead of her, there was a green glow coming closer.

  Tree after tree cluster was coming alight, their pine needles shining brightly as movement passed by them.

  Then she saw it. A massive creature running on all fours like a gorilla at her, almost soundlessly across the snow.

  It had a dark gray face, snarling like a wolf, but hairless. Its sharp teeth hung outside it's mouth, tightly interlocked. The body was clad in the tree bark, tied by what seemed to be their roots. It was wearing armor.

  And like a gorilla, its upper body seemed a fair bit larger than it's lower half.

  With massive biceps and arms.

  A fucking yeti was charging her at 100 kph.

  It roared, causing all the surrounding trees to light up for a moment.

  "Oh damn." She said just as it reached her—she activated her blade and raised her arms to block as it slid to a stop before her.

  After a moment, nothing happened. So she peaked—

  Then it hit her. It swiped her with a forearm as big as her entire body and twice as thick.

  She went flipping across the ground like a skipping stone and collided with a tree which vibrated like a metal pole from the collision.

  It didn't hurt, though it seemed like it should have.

  Zephyr picked herself up and took a few steps towards the yeti rampaging her way for round two.

  Even though she had super powers, the sight was a bit scary to say the least.

  She raised the gauntlet shakily.

  "Shoot."

  A tiny fleck of white light launched out and punched through the yeti's arm, sending a spray of glowing green blood onto the snow.

  "NOW YOU SHOOT SMALL!?" She cried out.

  The yeti reached her and yanked her up from the ground by the legs and started smacking her against the tree like it was dusting a rug.

  "Stop-"

  'smack'

  "Hitting-"

  'smack'

  "Me!"

  The yeti dangled her upside down and looked at her inquisitively.

  Then hit her against the tree again.

  'smack'

  "Fuck this!"

  Her energy blade erupted from the gauntlet and she slashed the arm which held her legs pinched together off.

  It roared in fury as Zephyr fell to the ground. It staggered backwards clutching the bleeding stump, gouts of glowing blood splashing the snow around them.

  Its black eyes narrowed on her angrily.

  "SHOOT BIG!" She cried out desperately, pointing the gauntlet directly at the yeti's head.

  A white orb the size of a basketball launched out, disintegrating it's head along with a good deal of it's torso.

  It fell forward and slid to a stop a few feet in front of her, green blood spilling out.

  And like that, it was over.

  "...I probably can't eat you I'm guessing..." She muttered. The flesh had veins of green in it. Similar to what was growing on the bases of the trees.

  "I better get that other things meat before another... Whatever the hell that was shows up.."

  She staggered towards the panda-fox thing. Not from exhaustion, but from the adrenaline. She felt lightheaded and dizzy.

  After a few steps Zephyr heard a squelching sound, as if something was digging out of the yetis corpse.

  "Now what?" She asked, turning around.

  A scraggly, lithe, humanoid thing crawled out. Shiny black skin with two sets of glowing green eyes on it's round beak-shaped head. Two arms, two legs. With muscle tone not dissimilar to a humans, but long sharp fingers and toes.

  It narrowed it's eyes at her, then turned and ran towards the nearest tree.

  It burrowed into the snow and disappeared at the base.

  "...That was weird."

  Zephyr ignored it and gathered what bits of flesh she could from the fox-panda. At least it had red blood.

  Then she left the forest—there was something off about it—and went back to the snow dunes, where she set her shelter back up and set about cooking the flesh over her campfire. The gauntlet even made her a pan.

  When she asked if it was safe to eat, the gauntlet made a checkmark symbol. So... Yes?

  And so she sat down to a plate of fox-panda, which to her surprise, tasted like beef. With her boomerang thermos of water, it was almost like a real lunch.

  As she relaxed and ate, she thought about what the hell that thing was.

  All that glowing green, the way the trees lit up towards movement, the black creature that crawled out of the yeti—it seemed connected somehow. She'd have to be more careful going forward, after all who knew what these aliens were capable of?

  Fighting like that drained her armor quite a bit, it turned out there are two energy bars to fill.

  One meter measured the matter her gauntlet used to build, and the other measured whatever powered the things she built.

  Which was recharging now that her armor wasn't being used.

  Going forward she would have to end fights quickly.

  That short fight took about 15% of her suits energy reserves. Probably because of how many hits she took. The gauntlet seemed like a gift that just kept giving, but it did have a limit.

  She took another greasy bite of fox-panda steak.

  Hopefully Danny was okay.

  And you know what? Hopefully Selene was too. Hopefully she figured out her 'evil Zykra' thing.

  Zephyr was still a bit mad about how she beat her up, but it's not like it was actually Selene who did it. Or kissed her, for that matter.

  That was all Zykra Selene.

  Maybe by some miracle it would all be figured out by the time she managed to get back. Things had a habit of working out for Selene.

  She pushed her white plate aside and held her gauntlet up and checked the 'alien matter' tracking radar. It was unchanged, it still tracked the same location. For a second there she was worried it was moving around.

  "Better get to it then."

  Behind The Chapter...

  'woow, she's alive?' kind of thing where she 'just shows up', but then I figured everyone was expecting that. So I'll just cover her journey from time to time until the reunion with our main group.