T-30 hours — Lunar-shadow Assembly Bay, L2
Three vessels crowded the makeshift dock beneath the tug's belly:
Minuet, gleaming like dew on glass;
the tug, now stripped to its ion heart;
and a newborn craft Maya had christened Contrapunctus—half clear-thread sail, half matte cloak skin, hull lines drawn by Lin Xi's chalk spirals.
Contrapunctus was the answer to Solayna's road-map: a ship that could ride light, shadow, and everything between. And it wasn't finished.
1. Shadow & Spark
Maya dangled waist-deep inside an open conduit run, solder fumes fogging her visor. Nephis crouched opposite, feeding her fiber lines that pulsed indigo. Their shoulders brushed with each hand-off; every accidental spark set cloak threads flickering peach, lanterning his stoic face.
"Your clear-thread bus still hums at harmonic five," he observed."Better than your cloak ground, which forgets beat seven," she shot back—though the words lacked venom.
She pulled back, wiping sweat. "Listen—about last pulse… when Solayna mirrored us. If you're uncomfortable—"Nephis's gloved fingers grazed hers, intentional. "Shadow is only lonely when light refuses to dance."
Heat flooded Maya's cheeks. She almost fumbled the iron. "Careful. You'll melt the bus.""Imperfection is strength," he reminded, and squeezed her hand once before withdrawing.
2. Brother-Knot
On the spine deck Aiden tested the new dual-core cradle. Lin Xi approached, Spiral Stone spinning slow figure-eights.
"Sleep?" Aiden asked."Enough to dream of falling without fear," Lin smiled.
He rested a hand over Dawn-Core. "We taught the Loom to breathe; now it teaches back. Are you ready if the lesson cuts deeper?"
Aiden hesitated. "Back on the farm I'd fix a broken plough before sunrise. But this… I can't pre-plan the unknown."Lin's eyes softened. "That's why cords are braided. One strand tenses, the other relaxes. Titan's dreams might drown us in methane reflections. I'll hold breath while you fix—and switch when time."
Aiden's throat tightened. "Brother-tone," he murmured, and they bound forearms in silent vow.
3. Lantern & Oracle
Cassie floated in the bay's dim corner, lantern open to a low dawn shimmer. Solayna hovered nearby, constellation-face reflecting the lantern's peach halo. The envoy traced circles in the air—maps of Titan, Venus, the comet path—then paused, gaze settling on the bruises beneath Cassie's sleeve.
"These marks echo love for waking pain," Solayna said, voice a many-timbred chord.
Cassie shrugged. "Part of the song. Scars remind me I'm fallible.""Fallible is beautiful," the envoy replied, and the Möbius glyph on her chest spiralled, etching a silver crescent beneath the lantern glow—shadow offered as gift. Cassie felt her arm ease, pain dulling to a memory's warmth.
T-4 hours — Last Prime Lull Countdown
Contrapunctus hovered outside the tug, sails half-furled, cloak panels oscillating to prime beats. Storm-silent anticipation filled every suit channel.
Maya secured the final keel clamp, then toggled ship-wide comm. "All stations—clear-thread drive green. Cloak nodes balanced. Noise generator synced."
Aiden strapped into the central cradle, Dawn-Core nested opposite Minuet's smaller sphere. Between them Solayna took the third seat—living algorithm anchoring the triad.
Lin Xi's voice caressed the cabin. "Prime lull in ten… eight…"
Cassie slipped into the nav alcove, fingertips brushing Nephis's as he folded himself into the shadow well behind her. Their eyes met—electric hush both promise and question.
"Five…"
Outside, the lunar horizon flashed peach-indigo, a dawn forged of dream reflection.
"Three…"
Dawn-Core pulsed 5-11-7; Minuet hummed the 83-second hush; Contrapunctus matched both and invented a fractional echo overhead—new rhythm, still nameless.
"One…"
The sails snapped transparent, cloak seams shimmering antiphase. Ship and crew slid forward, no engine roar, only the shiver of reality giving them permission to leave.
The tug receded; Earth-shine faded. Ahead waited Titan's orange haze, Venus's silver furnace, and a comet weaving its own imperfect cadence around the Sun.
Aiden exhaled into the hush, feeling brother-strength at his flank, spark-warmth in the circuitry, and a lantern of dawn cradled by living shadow. Solayna's voice—soft as unsounded glass—spoke in their minds:
"Let contrast become compass. Where light falters, seek the glorious crack."
Contrapunctus accelerated into the void, sails full of silence and anticipation.