CHAPTER FIVE: Ghost of Gold
The Celestial Arc moved like a shadow between stars.
From a distance, it resembled a celestial creature-enormous and sleek, shaped like twin wings stretching across the void. It was as large as a warship, but its design spoke more of grace than brute force. It didn't roar through space. It glided.
Its power didn't come from engines or fuel-it came from her.
Adele's essence flowed through the entire ship. She was its mind, its control, its pulse.
Every corridor responded to her will. Every light, every shift in gravity, every defense layer—it was all her.
Dave stood alone at the observation glass, arms crossed, staring into the drifting stars.
There was no luxury in the room-just silence, dim lights, and the endless view of a galaxy that didn't impress him anymore.
He lived above wealth now.
He didn't chase status. He avoided it.
To most of the galaxy, Dave was just an unusually successful traveler—a private explorer with his own crew and ship, floating between dead planets and forgotten moons.
No one knew what the Celestial Arc could actually do. No one knew who he really was.
And he planned to keep it that way.
"Third ping this week," Zalen said through the comms. "It's Mira again."
Dave closed his eyes. "Same protocol.
Bounce it back. "No trace."
A pause. Then: "You sure?"
"I'm not ready to lie to her face."
Down in the ship's core, Adele stood silently before the reactor—a suspended orb of glowing blue, swirling with thought-light. Her body was there, but her mind was everywhere
-keeping the ship cloaked from time scans, shielding Dave's energy signature, deflecting every trace Mira might detect.
"You keep hiding from her," she whispered softly, her voice echoing through the system.
Dave appeared behind her.
"She's the Goddess of Time," he said. "If she finds out l've awakened, she'll stop everything before it starts."
Adele turned to face him, calm as always. "Or maybe she'll help you."
Dave didn't answer.
Elsewhere on the ship, chaos was brewing.
Zei and Zyra, the twin engineers, were trying to fix a sonic relay by arguing in circles.
"Zyra, you literally reversed the polarity again."
No, you reversed it last time and blamed me."
"Okay, but mine worked."
"Yours exploded."
Dave walked in just as a small drone flew into the ceiling and short-circuited.
He raised an eyebrow. "Did it just scream before crashing?"
Zyra shrugged. "It's developing a personality."
Zei grinned. "Like you, but louder."
Dave smirked and walked out without another word. Moments later, the door shut behind him and muted another mini explosion.
Back on Earth, Mira stood before a chronogate, its rings spinning slowly in perfect balance. Her eyes narrowed. The timeline was stable-too stable. No ripples.
No fractures. Just silence.
That silence meant something was hiding.
Or someone.
Back on the Celestial Arc, Dave sat alone in his garden chamber, beneath a metal tree whose branches shimmered like mirrored wind. Adele appeared beside him.
"You know you can't keep this up forever," she said.
"I know."
"When she finds out-"
"She'll take everything from me."
"Or guide you."
He stared into space, silent.
Then quietly:
"I just... want more time to decide who I want to be. Before she decides for me."
The ship glided on.
And time held its breath.