“I know it’s a lot to ask. If you’re not comfortable?—”
“No, it’s okay.” She shifted Ari in her arms, bringing her closer to the disk. “If she wants to do it and it helps us understand what she can do... we need to know.”
Faith held out the disk, and Ari’s fingers closed around its edge.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then light exploded from the artifact.
She gasped, instinctively shielding Ari with her body, but the light wasn’t painful—it was cool and blue, spreading through the room like water filling a glass. When she opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by stars.
Not real stars but a holographic projection so detailed and vivid that it took her breath away. Galaxies spiraled around her, nebulae glowed in impossible colors, and pinpricks of light marked thousands upon thousands of star systems.
“Oh my God,” Faith breathed.
Seven points within the star map pulsed brighter than the others, each a different color—silver, gold, deep crimson, forest green, bright violet, pure white, and an inky blue-black that seemed to absorb the light around it.
Ari cooed, waving her free hand, and the map rotated, zooming in on one of the silver points. The system expanded, showing asun orbited by seven planets, one of which glowed with a soft underwater luminescence.
“That’s Aurelius Prime,” Faith said, her voice hushed. “The silver marker—that’s where the Aurelians came from.”
“And the others?” She watched as Ari babbled and the map shifted again, showing the gold marker over a desert world orbiting a binary star system. “Are those...”
“I think they are the homeworlds of the Seven Key Species.” Faith’s hand trembled as she reached for her datapad, capturing images of the display. “Emma, this is the most complete Precursor star map anyone has ever seen. Some of these systems aren’t on any modern charts. They could lead to artifacts, outposts, maybe even?—”
“The way to open the Vault.”
The voice came from the doorway, and she turned to find Doren standing there, his blue eyes reflecting the holographic starlight. He looked like he’d been there for a while, watching in silence.
“That’s what this is, isn’t it?” He stepped into the room, moving through the swirling stars like he belonged among them. “A map to all seven Keys.”
“Possibly.” Faith was still frantically capturing data. “Homeworlds are only useful if the Key species are still there. But if the markers indicate current Key locations rather than just homeworlds, this could tell us where to find them. All of them.”
Doren stopped next to her, his gaze fixed on the display. His expression was impossible to read—hunger and hope and something that might have been fear all tangled together.
“Seven Keys for seven locks,” he murmured.
“Ari can’t be the only one who can activate Precursor technology,” she said.
“She might be. All of the Keys serve a different function. The Grorn are already hunting for them. If they had this...” His jaw tightened.
The map flickered, and Ari made a sound of protest. Her grip on the disk was loosening, her attention wandering to more immediate concerns like Emma’s braid, which she’d just discovered was within reach.
As her fingers released the artifact, the holographic display faded. The room seemed dimmer without it, ordinary and confined after the vastness of the star map.
Faith caught the disk before it could fall, cradling it carefully. “I need to analyze this data. If I can match the coordinates to known systems, we might be able to identify where the other Keys are located.”
“How long will that take?” Doren asked.
“Days, at minimum. Maybe longer.” Faith was already moving towards the door, her mind clearly elsewhere. “I’ll let you know as soon as I have something concrete.”
She left, and silence settled over the room.
Emma looked down at Ari, who had successfully captured the end of her braid and was attempting to stuff it in her mouth. Such a small thing, this baby, with such an enormous weight of destiny resting on her tiny shoulders.
“You’re thinking too loud.”
She glanced up to find Doren watching her, a faint smile softening his strong features. He’d moved closer while she was distracted, near enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body.
“Sorry. A lot to process.”
