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‘What’d it say?’ asked Garovel.

‘It has no idea.’

‘Hah! So it’s not all-knowing, then.’

‘Neither are you, Garovel.’

‘That’s yet to be empirically proven.’

‘Oh yeah? Why is there a spatial distortion on my body, then?’

‘Ooh, man, gosh, y’know. I’d love to tell you, but unfortunately, that’s above your pay grade. Sorry.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Look, I don’t make the rules.’

Hector decided to consult the Core again. ‘What about the Gate itself? Can it, uh... scan this distortion on my body and tell me more about it?’

The Core pulsed again. It told him to check the final function.

Alright, then. Hector stayed up on his platform as he brought the four main spheres back out and grabbed the last one.

And again, the change in the world was not immediately obvious. Even the wavering in his vision was no longer present now, but when he looked through the mirror one more time in order to check the distortion on his body, he saw that it was something different.

It was a little black orb. He had to twist in order to get a good view of it, but it was definitely there, hovering and glowing with an oddly dark light.

The Core began explaining.

The final function was for establishing new connection points. When an existing path was presented to the Gate, it could complete the route by anchoring the path to itself, allowing travel to previously inaccessible locations.

Hector needed a moment to mull that information over.

So... this distortion was a path, then?

‘Where does this distortion lead to?’ he asked.

The only way to find out would be to complete it, the Core informed him.

Great, Hector thought.

He took a deep breath, then sighed, thinking.

Completing it seemed like the impulsive, careless thing to do, but on the other hand, did he really want to just leave the thing alone and try to use the Gate with a distortion literally attached to his body? The Core had just explained how distortions could mess with its functionality. Not to mention, that the Gate would absorb and neutralize such threats to it.

Hector really didn’t feel like getting fused into this rock formation until the end of time.

But on the other other hand, perhaps the Gate would safely neutralize the distortion on his body without harming him at all. Perhaps that was even the preferred method of dealing with it.

Hmm.

He consulted the Core another time, but unfortunately, it did not have any of those answers for him. Nor could it tell him of any other way to remove the distortion.

Well, shit.