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I give Tessa my most reassuring smile and promise: “Of course.”

Then, I turn and walk into the bathroom. I slide the door only half-closed – but the moment I finally have privacy, I rip that limp, dead pleasure dress from my sweaty skin like a Band Aid.

The dress falls to the floor. It’s no longer squirming, or gleaming. It’s just another dead thing. Tearing it off felt like peeling a layer of dead skin from my body; and I feel reborn as I stand there in my nakedness.

I step beneath the showerhead, and the sickly warm water starts to rain down on me.

I scrub, but I know it can’t cleanse me.

Being clean won’t change anything – like how I’m still trapped on board this ship.

I reach out telepathically:

Do you have a plan?

I asked in desperation, because I know they don’t. I’d have sensed it through the Bond. Instead, I detect that Marcel, Quint, and Lucius are still in the throne room – still being ordered around by Lord Oblog.

Then, I hear a response.

We will make the next shipment.

He might not have much of a plan, but Marcel sounds certain about it.

Good, I respond.Tessa is too terrified to be of any use. We need to get her to safety. She’s scared – too scared. I’ve seen women like this. They aren’t rational.

Marcel’s voice is deep and reassuring, even though I’m feeling it more than hearing it.

We have saved women from worse, he reassures me.We will get you both off this ship. Trust. Trust me, my Mate. We will take you to a place where you will be safe.

Then, Marcel telepaths an image in my mind.

Atlantis.

It’s as if blueprints of a dream are downloaded instantly into my mind. I suddenly learn what they’ve been working on all these years – what’s driven them to this desperate place and time.

I learn about the safe haven the three of them are building - Atlantis.

It’s a safe haven; the promise of it led to this arrangement with the Toads. It was the reward they were willing to risk so much for.

I sense that this haven is incomplete. Atlantis is an alien-made world the size of a large moon, contrasted with a false atmosphere rich in oxygen, and nitrogen. Trees are growing abundantly on the planet’s surface. They’re just tiny saplings right now, but they’re growing fast.

Then, the image zooms out. I see Atlantis as if from the viewport of a starship. It’s a little, green gem hanging in space, hidden and safe.

I crave it.

Back in the moment, the shower deluges me with warm water – but it still doesn’t make me feel any cleaner. Inside my mind, negative thoughts and pervasive doubts niggle and gnaw at my resolve, eroding my strength. Only the auras of Marcel, Quint, and Lucius – ever present in my mind - keep me from breaking the same way Tessa has.

I sense that the woman I used to be – the old me - is coming back. Ling’s wisdom and teachings have aligned with my new-found strength and speed.

Yet, just like the tiny saplings on Atlantis, this reborn version of the old me needs to grow. The winds beating at her are shaping her and strengthening her, but she’s not ready to face the storm.

And the storm will come – not caring if I’m ready for it, or not.

The shower finally switches off, and then hot air blasts me from the showerhead.

Dried, and more-or-less clean, I step out of the bathroom and find that Tessa hasn’t moved. She’s still sitting on the bed, half-covered with that blanket, and her eyes remain glazed and sightless.

She only snaps out of it when I make eye contact – like coming out of a trance. She shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and then points to another barely-visible doorway.