1:5:3 Alterations (Part 2)

Sharr’Renn’s quarters were a beautiful continuation of her tent’s maximalist style however lacked a feature they considered key to an individual’s living space. “No bed.” Lore scanned the room again. There was space for one but it was seemingly absent. They shook off the thought. “Anyway, how’ve you been? You managed to sort The Slingshot out, obviously, but what else has happened?”
“Don’t you want to get that checked out first?” Char pulled her sleeve up and over her palm. She moved in close to dab it against Lore’s brow.
Lore moved away. “I’m fine.” They smiled. They touched their hand to the wound then checked their fingers. “See, already dried. I’ll be fine.” Lore rubbed the traces of blood from their fingertips on their trousers before moving in to pat Char’s shoulder. “So, come on, how long has it been for you? I’ve been here about…” They looked at their Breacher. “A day… give or take; so I’m impressed you managed to get The Destiny in so close.”
“Got some last minute calculations from Potts.” Char looked to her wrist. “It’s been a few hours for me. Well, if you don’t include the weird dream thing or the time I spent unconscious…”
“Sorry about that. Time made me do it.” Lore laughed. “I missed you.”
“After a day?” Char started to melt.
Destiny dry heaved. “My gods, I wish I could go home.” She shook her head. “I’ll be outside, knock when you’re ready.” Still feigning sickness, she made a hasty retreat back into the main room of the tent.
“You missed me?” Char spoke seductively. “Fancy showing me or…” She fluttered her eyelashes.
Lore moved in closer; they tapped her shoulder; she instinctively lowered herself to their level. With the delicate touch of a ship in a bottle enthusiast, Lore laid a gentle, yet cathartic kiss on her cheek. Their mouth moved slowly towards her ear. “I appreciate the sentiment but… I still don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Plus… Not our bedroom” They whispered. “You look so pretty right now though.” They felt the heat radiating off of her cheek; thermal equilibrium. Lore slowly backed away. Char’s heat lingered. “We’ve never really been apart. Even though it was only a day, I felt as though a part of me was missing.”
“Same.” Char looked as though the thought she had been searching for had been stolen from the tip of her tongue. “I’ve done things I never thought possible and… other things… I wouldn’t normally do. Just to get back to you.”
Lore was snapped out of the moment. “What ‘other things’?”
“After Destiny nearly killed Crait, I shot them with my regenerator pistol to heal them.” Her feelings were still mixed about the incident, her tone torn and confused between regret and her need to do the right thing. It became slightly more shocked than confused when Lore reacted to hearing Crait’s name.
“You what?” Lore hoped they had misheard her.
“Crait is on The Destiny with Charrlene and The First.” Char spoke quickly.
Lore stood there, blinking, confused and stunned.
“They’ve been surprisingly helpful so far… Well, they’ve not really gotten in the way.” Char shrugged.
“What are they doing anywhere near ‘the way’?” Their tone quickly turned harsh. They shocked themselves. “I’m sorry.” They covered their mouth before quickly retracting their hands. “You must have had a good reason to bring them.” Lore took a deep breath to calm themselves.
“We didn’t really have a choice. Simplicity arrived at around the same time as we got to The Slingshot. Crait forced themselves on us after they realised what had happened to you was because of Loren and Undulia.” She reached out for their hand. “Sorry I kind of sprung that on you. I was planning to break it to you a bit more gently.”
“I suppose it only makes sense.” Lore scoffed. “Didn’t realise they would honour their agreement to this extent but, I guess they might be able to make themselves useful in some way or another.”
“That was something I wanted to talk to you about.” Char gestured for them to sit with her in the bed-less space. “We’re almost out of time. Have you had any ideas on how we’re going to save more than Quatarr?”
Lore sat and pondered the question. “I’ve been too focussed on uniting Quatarr to think about the other planets. I’ve got an idea but I don’t know how it’ll work.” Lore paused. “You thought of anything?”
“Crait.” She smiled.
“Crait?” Lore frowned.
“Crait.” Char repeated. “They were the one that ‘simplified’ the universe and they hold the key to bringing it all back.” Lore nodded for her to continue. “Crait carries with them a souvenir from every planet they simplified. All we need to do is return them and, they’re back.”
“But we’d need some way of protecting them as they developed or else Crait would just ‘simplify’ them again.” Lore had half an idea brewing. “It might help to know why they were ‘simplified’. If there’s a criteria to ‘simplification’ then all we need to do is make sure none of the planets match it once we restore them. What makes Dekk Rekkarvik so special that it gets to live?”
“Well, we’ve got Crait.” Char smiled. “They may not want to tell us but… I’m sure we can find a way.” Her face dropped after seeing that Lore’s had too. She evaluated her last sentiment. “Okay, I didn’t mean torture them. We’ve got their Breacher so we can scan when and where it’s been and then we just need to scan the ‘souvenirs’ to put them back where they came from.”
“That could work.” Lore rose. “Now then, Quatarr.”
“I think we should head back to The Destiny.” Char tapped in the Coordinates. “The First and Charrlene are bound to have done this bit before.”
“I don’t doubt it but did they know about the Niwen?” Lore opened their arms. “This is where all of the Niwen went after they were kicked out of the East and West.”
Char stood there, stunned. “This place is real?” An icy jolt shot down her spine, her skin and hair raised in fear. “They don’t look like cannibals.”
“They aren’t…” Lore moved in closer to comfort her. “It’s all a lie they let the whole of Quatarr believe so that they could be left alone. They’re lovely.”
Char readied her wrist. Lore quickly ran over to the door, opened it, grabbed Destiny then retreated back to Char. Together, the three of them vanished.

Light. Floaty. Comfortable. Three thoughts rushed through Lore’s head as they returned to the Earth-like gravity of The Destiny. One of those words immediately left their vocabulary when they felt the daggers that were being stared at them; it was a multi-vectored assault, with attacks coming from both The First and Crait.
Crait flew across the bridge and scooped them up. “I am so glad you’re alright.”
“Why?” Lore managed to squeeze the word out with what little air remained in their lungs.
Crait eased up. “Because if you had died or if you’d been lost to history… Let’s just say I wouldn’t be in the best of humours.”
“Anyway…” The First began. “I assume you’ve been keeping yourself out of trouble. You’ve not changed time have you?”
Lore shook their head. “Don’t think so.”
“Good.” Charrlene lessened the tension with a warming smile.
“Where were you?” The tension returned. “We scanned the whole planet and couldn’t get a lock on you. Destiny managed it somehow; so, where were you?” The First’s tone was calmly sinister.
“I was…” Lore was frightened to answer.
“They were in a hidden settlement. One of the refuges for those who didn’t participate in the war.” Char answered for them. Her half truth appeased The First. “We’re going to need to go back.”
“Why?” Charrlene tapped at the screen in front of her. “We usually don’t talk to Quatarr till after Crait arrives.”
“Well, I’m here!” Crait splayed their fingers and waved their hands in a jazzy manner.
Char and Lore looked at one another. “You what?”
“We wait until Crait has made their offer, then we make ours.” The First looked to Crait. “It’s only polite.”
Crait nodded. “It’s more the fact that they’ve never been able to make it this close for some reason.” They smiled. “Simplicity is a much better time vessel than anything they’ve been able to cobble together and we managed to build her in one take.” Their taunting was far from serious.
“Well, at least we never hired Tadi!” The First retorted.
The two of them continued to trade insults like children on a playground until Charrlene spoke. “Regardless!” She shouted. Silence. “Why do we need to do it now?”
“Because we’ve got a prime opportunity at our fingertips. The leadership of the Eastern, Western and Outcast groups are all in one place. We can tell them all the same thing at the same time. Unite Quatarr and prepare it for the universe it’s soon going to be a part of.” Lore twitched then turned to the viewscreen, their fingers tapping away at the console. “If we succeed at bringing Quatarr back, its going to be to a universe that’s never known Quatarr as anything more than an asteroid belt surrounding a cracked planet. It’s a very different environment to the one the Quatarrians are used to. They’ll no longer be the leader of a massive empire, it’s going to be just them.”
“You what?” Crait stood to attention, their ears pricked up. “You’ve managed to assemble the entire planet’s leadership in one place?”
The First was similarly intrigued. “That’s impossible.”
“Not quite.” Lore smirked. “Turns out you just needed to suddenly and very loudly put a strange ship in orbit.”
Crait nodded in admiration. “Shame I can’t take notes.”
“Why can’t you?” Lore and Char said in unison.
“I’ve already done it.” Crait scoffed. “It happened ages ago for me.”
“In that case, we can’t pass up this opportunity.” Lore looked to Char.
Char continued. “And, if we fail, you can do it again at the normal time anyway.”
The First looked to Charrlene. Charrlene gave them a slight nod. “Fine. But not yet. We’ll give the go-ahead when it’s time. Take us to them then.” They stood then held their arm out to Char. “Crait waits here though.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them.” Thousands of Destiny’s eyes materialised around them.
Unnerved, they became more so when Lore, Char, The First and Charrlene vanished.
“Please stop that.” Crait eked out.