Chapter 89 (2/2)

Dan stood in the wide, empty space beneath his that had previously safeguarded a terrorist organization. The suits and tables and tools were all gone, but at least he still had the room. This room, where Dan might be able to win back some independence for himself. The problem that he needed to solve was simple at its core. He had nothing that Anastasia wanted. He had no position from which to negotiate.

Yet.

His veil poured out of his skin, flowing around his face like a mask. It pooled around his eyes, tinting the world a sapphire blue. Dan could see through it without impediment. Even the change in color did not affect his ability to discern different shades around him. It was as if the color only existed for the sake of Dan's awareness. It was incapable of inconveniencing him. He had always seen past his veil, but now he needed to see into it.

Something inside him lurched at that need. His veil shimmered around his eyes, losing its brilliant gleam. Darkness crept in at the edges, an absolute blackening that devoured light. The absence of color spread outward, until his vision was dyed in grey-scale. Then, it twisted. Stars bloomed in the distance, an empty void yawning out before Dan's very eyes. And there, where the center of the room had been, a smooth, silvery orb.

Dan stared at it in bewilderment, before giving the mental equivalent of a shrug. He had been attempting to find the hidden dimension where the People stored their sensitive items. The fail-safe power that Anastasia had described had seemed remarkably similar to Dan's own, and he had hoped to be able to access whatever had been hidden. It was nice to know that his theory had born fruit, odd as that fruit was. He was expecting to see a hard drive or a box of documents suspended somewhere in the void, but this was just as obvious of a sign. He could imagine the slowly rotating orb protest in his general direction. Nothing suspicious here, no sir!

Dan wasn't buying it. Wherever that thing was, he wanted to be there. It was the first time he'd tried to teleport to a specific location in the Gap, but it came as effortlessly as anything. His veil regained its shimmering glow, and he pulled it away from his face, revealing the orb in all its bizarre glory.

At this distance, it was obvious that there was something off about it. Whatever power that the People used to protect their secrets, there was clearly more to it than simply shifting things into the Gap. The orb's surface bubbled and writhed beneath his gaze, its quicksilver sheen reflecting the false stars in their surroundings.

”That's not normal,” Dan observed to no one in particular. His voice reverberated despite the emptiness of t-space, like speaking underwater, or in a cave, or in an underwater cave. The orb shivered, ripples running across its surface.

Dan decided not to poke the possibly volatile remnant of a foreign power with his hand. He used his veil instead. It sank into the metallic surface with surprising ease, then abruptly stalled after less than an inch. It felt—Dan frowned to himself—an awful lot like the vacuum of space. Just a solid wall of nothing.

He let his veil encircle the orb, sinking his power fully into the object. The drain was... not insurmountable. Within his limits, at least. He just couldn't quite dig into it. Whatever was inside was stonewalling him. It was different from when his veil encountered a living creature. There was usually some give, with things that were alive. They were, for lack of a better term, spongy. This was not. It implied empty space, but why would the orb be empty? He couldn't begin to guess.

Fine. He had other options to solve this mystery. Tugging once more on his veil, just to ensure its stability, Dan willed himself back home.

Dragging the orb alongside him.

It was a clever solution, Dan mentally congratulated himself. The orb was like a safe. Instead of cracking the combination, or drilling through layers of metal, he was simply removing the obstacle entirely. Any contents should survive t-space. It wasn't a hostile environment so much as a nonexistent one. Anything that could remain undamaged in a vacuum would be unaffected by the Gap. Nothing could go wrong.

These thoughts flitted through his brain at about the speed it took for him to make the transition back to reality. He dropped back into his empty lair, glowing silver orb in tow. Dan had maybe half a second to feel incredibly smug about his success, before the orb violently erupted and his world turned white.