It had all happened so fast. 

Finding Nemesis and Swan, falling through the portal, watching Aron's face grow smaller and smaller as I sunk deeper into the void. I barely understood what was happening, let alone how to fix it. I rose unsteadily from the plated steel floor, surveying the room around us. An inexplicable sense of fatigue washed over me as its identity came slowly back to me like something from another lifetime. 

"W...where are we?" I turned my head to see a questioning look on Swan's face. She, Nemesis, Lillae, Lerrel and Sparrow still sat huddled together on the floor, dazed from their fall. 

"The Module," I replied simply, answering her question and nothing more. At least, now we knew that the portal did in fact work, if only briefly. It led exactly where Sophie said it would lead- a place we had thought no longer supported any life. We had been wrong. This was the home of the Lights, whatever they were, and now we were here, alone, unarmed, and unprepared. If they were capable of killing two innocent students on Lessaenes, who knew what they would do on their home turf? 

Looking into Swan's terrified eyes, I found it difficult to believe that she had orchestrated a plan so risky, and for what gain? With her innocent, trusting nature, it was easy to see how someone could've dragged her into this. My gaze immediately shifted to Nemesis and I noticed for the first time the sinister coolness with which her eyes met mine. 

Of course. 

She was a completely unconnected girl from Middle-Of-Nowhere, Kilaenas, sent to the IAYN on a scholarship no one had ever heard of. How could I not have seen it before? This was all her plan- it had to have been. She used her friendship with my daughter to get inside the palace and urge her and her cousins to enter the Tunnel? 

Only one question remained. How, when it had been constructed with the utmost secrecy and care, did she or whoever she was working for know what the Tunnel contained? And what could she possibly gain from luring half the royal family to an old bunker on an abandoned planet? 

Did she have something to do with the Lights? Could she even be the one behind the Lights? 

Whoever she was, I no longer trusted her, but I couldn't act immediately. If there's anything I learned from nineteen years of Lessaenite politics, it's that you must never let a secretive foe know that you're onto them. 

I looked away from Nemesis, affording her no more than a casual glance.

"Alright, kids," I began with a deep sigh. I ran my fingers absentmindedly over the back of the Module's leather command chair, but the haunting image of Kate's decaying corpse falling out of that very seat flashed at the front of my mind and I jerked my hand away. This place was chock-full of unpleasant memories. It would take everything I had to stay focused. 

"I have no idea what you were trying to do up there, but whatever apology you have planned, whatever story you've concocted for my benefit, save it. Right now, our sole objective is to get back to Lessaenes. My CT receptors are dead, so unless one of us has an Aurascreen, we've got no way to call for help." 

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Swan and Lerrel both turn to look at Lillae, who rolled her eyes as she reached into the pocket of her sweater. We all knew she wouldn't travel far without access to her millions of AuraNet + followers. 

"My portable's fried," the crown princess announced after a few unsuccessful taps on the screen of her portable AuraScreen. "Sorry Aunt Vivi. I guess it wasn't wormhole-compatible. Can we go home now? This dusty floor doesn't go very well with my Kilaenaian pinkie silk pajamas." She gestured to the grime that was beginning to stain the sides of her pants to accentuate her point. I watched her silently, at a loss for words. 

She still thought this was some kind of game! She thought I could just snap my fingers and zap us home! I had no idea how to explain to her that now that the wormhole was gone, there was no direct path back to Lessaenes- this was a very real issue. It was probably the very first real issue she had encountered in her life. 

"The thing is, we can't," I said heavily, subconsciously hoping that slowing down my speech would help my words sink in. "There's no way to reactivate the wormhole- it took weeks to construct, and was completely destroyed when we crashed through it. We could theoretically wait here for the Scientist Clan to rebuild it, but that's assuming they know we're here and we'd starve to death long before they finished." 

"So what do we do?" Swan asked hopefully. 

Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? 

"Well, I have one idea..." It was stupid and dangerous, but as I gazed at the black Program surveillance screens mounted on the far wall of the Command Center, a thought began to form in my mind. "All of you have grown up with stories of this place, the Glitches, and the lives Justin and I led here." I continued, reassured by Swan's affirmative nod. She'd heard about the Program ad nauseam throughout her life. Hopefully, that knowledge would come in handy now. 

"So I'm sure you all remember Amanda Myers. Twenty years ago, she entered the Program as a Glitch, first as an Iceheart spy and then as a double agent for the White Hot Flame. I remember her telling me that she came in a ship, and since she never left Earth, her ship must still be there, floating somewhere in the middle of the Program's code. If my knowledge of old human technology is accurate, I can reboot the Program with a little work on the main computer. As you know, most things in the Program are made of Code and can't be taken out, but Amanda's ship came from the real world. That means, if we can find it in the Program, it can be our ride home." 

Now that I'd explained it out loud, my plan sounded even more far-fetched, but looking at the lost faces of the kids in front of me, I doubted that anyone here had any better ideas. 

"Mom..." Swan trailed off, looking afraid of what I would say next. "How are we going to get into the Program?" 

"Swan," I smiled grimly. "How would you like to be a Glitch?"