The fabricator hummed and whirred in the stern of the ship. The trio of students was gathered again in the cockpit of the Triumvirate. The massive view screen, subtly hologrammed to show the 3-dimensional nature of the asteroid they were studying was lit up in front of them. The glow of the blue and white light bathed each child, making them seem much paler than normal. They were arguing. They rarely argued, but they couldn’t decide who was going down to the surface of the asteroid, and who was staying.

  “I am going,” Riley said again, this time slightly shriller than before. Helos ignored her tone, Auberje shut up.

  “I am going, and that’s final, Riley,” Helos pounded his tiny fist on the armrest of the closest chair. Unfortunately for him, it was her chair.

  Riley swung the chair into Helos and glared at the silent Auberje, who shrugged, zipping his mouth shut and sitting back in his command seat. She put her fists on her hips, “Well, fine. You can come too. But I am in command down there, and I go first.”

  Auberje spoke up, “I protest. You take turns going first. As is only fair.”

  Helos was surprised Aubejre wasn’t fighting Riley on going down, “So what, we are all going?”

  “Auberje will stay on the ship,”

  “I will stay on the ship,” Auberje agreed amiably, hiding a slight smile. It was only fair. He was the one to go down to the planet on their first stop. Now, the other two would get their chance. He was a little sad to have to relingquish the crystal sword. He touched the hilt of it, it was tucked into a scabbard hanging off the back of his chair. It was bound tightly into the scabbard so even an emergency slow down wouldn’t cause it to come out.

  “Yes, well. Okay! It is decided then, let’s go Riley,” Helos ran to Auberje, who helped him take the scabbarded crystal blade then ran to the back of the cockpit to the airlock room. Riley was hot on his heels.

  “You didn’t think I could go down there, did you? Probably think I can’t protect myself or mind my own ship, or pilot us to this hidden asteroid in the middle of literally no space. Stupid Helos, and stupid Auberje.” She stomped and huffed as she followed him.

  “What did I do!?” Auberje asked mildly, looking every part the aggrieved, injured friend he was.

  “You just were!” Riley said.

  “I love you to, Riles, now get down there and open the vault, you two!”

  Twenty minutes later, the pair of suited children stood before a bright red door. The door had a small notch in it. They were on the surface of the asteroid, at the entrance to a large cave system their ship wasn’t able to penetrate fully. The Triumvirate could scan a map of the different hallways or tunnels, but it was impossible to gain information on what was within. The door lead into a large round room which had three branches. Each branching path eventually led to a room in the very center of the asteroid. The asteroid was about an acre wide by ten acres long. It was a tiny rock in a big universe, but, thought Auberje, looking at his companions from a reasonably close, but still far distance, those two children were on a huge rock.

  The asteroid was largely ice, granite, and obsidian, with some nickel, platinum, and gold here and there. The door, though, was something else entirely.

  The scanners found the door to the vault in seconds. It was titanium with depleted uranium at its lead lined core. It was three feet thick and must have weighed dozens of tons. There were no handles, no keypad, as far as the scanners could tell, the asteroid was devoid of power.

  It was all unclear to the children.

  Yet, the door had a slot the perfect size for the crystal sword. Auberje sighed, he wished he was down there, but also wished he made more progress on what the sword was made of. They took only 12 hours to get here. While their were no instructions on where the vault was, on close examination of the sword, there were coordinates in the crystalline structure which corresponded to this nearly empty bit of space.

  So here they were. Besides the numbers, the blade remained an enigma. Every scan came back with differing results on composition, structure, and atomic makeup. In the end, Auberje simply recorded everything he could think of about the weapon and material and gave up.

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  He focused on the two figures HUDs. He was displaying them side by side so he could see as full of picture of their operation as possible. The two were snapping at one another again…

  “Helos, I am going to do it on the count of three,” Riley stated again. Eyeing the door and the keyhole. She reached for the crystal sword the boy held. He moved backward out of reach.

  “No! Auberje gave me the sword, and I’ll put it in. You cover us with those deadly missiles you are packing,” Helos didn’t wait for a response, thrusting the crystal blade into the slot. The sword shone red like the lights around the door, powered by nothing, according to the scanners.

  The vault doors began to open. A bubble of… something, almost soap-like with different oil spill colors showing on its surface pushed out of the door and surrounded the entrance. Auberje watched it all. A shield?

  “Can you guys hear me?” He asked into the mic.

  It seemed there was an interminable delay, seconds turning into seconds into eternity.

  “Yup, this is some automated airlock. Pressure inside and air inside are showing Terra standard mix. Gravity is now settling to Terra standard. This place has a power plant, and it seems to be working fine.” Riley reported back to the Triumvirate.

  “Likely human-made then,” Auberje commented, noting what they said and checking their various automated scanners.”

  “Can you take a slow step inside, one of you?” Auberje asked. There was some kind of blurring field in the doorway, so even though the door was opening, and the forcefield was creating an atmosphere, the inner chamber was not showing clearly on their camera feeds.

  “We can see clearly into it, Auberje, I see the issue with the feeds, some kind of digital and laser interference system. Inside is a… library, I think. A big, big library.” Riley was breathless with excitement.

  “Movement, two o’clock,” Helos stated hurriedly, his voice cracking slightly. He still had the crystal blade in his hand, and he held it forward. It looked menacing, but Auberje cringed at his companion’s obvious unfamiliarity with the blade.

  “I think it's some kind of drone,” Riley thumbed the controls to her missiles gently. She didn’t want to destroy the tens of thousands of data crystals in the room, but she sure wasn’t going to let a drone quietly destroy her.

  “Hold on, I am getting something on the passive scanners,” Auberje told the pair, “Be safe. This is a ghost of a ship. I am going to investigate. I will be back shortly. Please holler if there is trouble. Better for me to pick you up and get us out, and we can try again than overstay our welcome.”

  “Affirmative,” replied Helos.

  “Good luck, Auberje, come back quick,” Riley said.

  The passive scanners showed a ship trying to be stealthy, getting closer and closer to the asteroid. It had lifted off the far side of the asteroid and was now making its way to the entrance. Auberje didn’t hesitate. He activated Triumvirate’s weapon systems, hit the object with active scanners, and hailed them all at once.

  “Unidentified ship, this space is currently under our jurisdiction; identify yourself or be destroyed,” He used the standard anti-prate language his father’s men taught him.

  “This is the automated vessel Prometheus. Are you Auberje, Helos, and Riley?” The voice sounded a hell of a lot like the headmistress's.

  “We are Auberje, Helos and Riley, headmistress, is that you?” Auberje asked.

  “Come inside, my students, come into the Temple Remnant, and let’s chat. Auberje, you can land the Triumvirate here.” The headmistress forwarded the location of a hangar on the underside of the asteroid.

  “Do we think it’s her?” Auberje tight beamed a message to his companions. He received no response but could still hear them talking to a drone version of the Headmistress inside the library.

  It must be the atmosphere barrier preventing tightbeam, he realized she likely had intercepted the message too. He could confirm one other way, too, “Headmistress, what is my mother’s name?” He knew his mother’s name was not contained in any records the ship had access to, but he also knew the headmistress knew who she was.

  “A good question, Auberje. Your real mother is the sister of Lord de Brocke’s current wife, who has acted as your mother her whole life. So your real mother’s name is Serra de Carre, daughter of Howard de Carre, also known as Howard Decarre or Howard Decker of United Dyson Sphere 37. Howard and your birth mother are currently deceased.”

  A tear escaped from Auberje’s eye, but he didn’t give it pause, “Correct. I will land shortly.”

  “Do not despair, my boy; she loved you very much, as did your grandfather. You know it, and I know it. Come to my Temple Remnant, and let me tell you more about the universe,” the headmistress’s voice was soft and kind. He nodded, though he didn’t think she could see him, and programmed the landing into the ship’s navigation systems. He slipped between two crags of the asteroid, saw a perfectly marked X-shaped landing platform, and landed at its center. The Triumvirate’s sleek form fits neatly in the space. A second landing pad just down from this one was filled with a ship type he wasn’t familiar with.

  A globe of liquid metal in the middle, high squares of white titanium and blue pulsing lights jutted off the globe of liquid metal like they were attached by magnets. “Ah, do you like my ship? It is as old as this galaxy, and I think you’ll learn much more about it in the future. But come, come, my boy, your companions and I await.” The headmistress's voice was over his suit’s headphones now; he was suited up, armed to the teeth, thanks to Riley’s foresight. He slipped out of his ship’s airlock.

  A white pulsing light trail of arrows pointed him to the entrance to the asteroid facility, the Temple Remnant. He followed the lights and entered a bubble like the one he observed his companions in.

  Here they were, and… holy shit!