Back in the present, Nova finds himself learning about the Rip first hand as he's being pulled into it! Rich and the WorldMind begin arguing about their lack of ability to escape. Suddenly, a large energy vortex sucks them in and they find themselves surrounded by complete darkness!

Nova emits a passive photon burn from his left hand in order to see where they are. The young hero finds himself inside a spaceship. The WorldMind concludes that the ship is a techno-organic structure and the energy vortex had sent them to the vessel. As Rich explores the ship, he comes around some dark liquid on the walls. The WorldMind confirms that it is alien blood.

As they continue their way down the corridor, Nova discovers alien writing on the wall which the WorldMind begins to analyze. Suddenly, the Earth hero hears someone crying and comes across a woman huddled against the wall muttering that someone is coming. The WorldMind recognizes the woman's uniform markings and is able to identify her as Suspensor. The artificial intelligence further explains that she is a member of the Luminals, the equivalent of the Avengers on the planet Xarth Three.

Nova puts a set of photonic generation light cells in place to illuminate the area since Suspensor seems terrified of the shadows. She claims that its too late and that Abyss is already there. Suddenly, light beams begin streaming out of her body and Suspensor's body decays into a zombie-like state! She begins shooting energetic repulsor beams at Nova! In order to protect himself, Nova fires back with a collimated beam which unintentionally causes Suspensor's body to explode!

The WorldMind warns Rich that he is being approached from behind. Nova turns to find himself facing the more members of the Luminals. The computerized sentience informs his human host that he has identified them as Discharge, Cynosure and Crater. Despite Nova's attempts to explain what happened, the Luminals launch an attack on him. Nova begins to fight back but is forced to flee since he has access to only 17% of the Nova Force due to the Phalanx's techno-virus in his body.

Escaping to another part of the ship, Nova finds himself face to face with...an Earth dog in a Soviet spacesuit! And as Rich quickly learns after the dog stops chewing on his arm, the animal can talk and his name is Cosmo! The two exchange introductions and the WorldMind confirms that Cosmo is an Earth dog with advanced telepathic functions. The WorldMind is stunned when Cosmo reveals that he can hear the computer system talking to Rich! The Russian dog informs Nova that he is in a place called Knowhere. Cosmo opens a pair of giant metal shutters to show his new friend where they are. The WorldMind and Nova are both completely stunned to find that Knowhere is located in the decapitated head of a Celestial!

The telepathic dog reveals that no one knows how or when Knowhere was created but all points in time and space and all dimension can be reached from there. As a result, many different species visit to study the Rip. However, Cosmo estimates that Knowhere will fall into the Rip within a decade. When Rich asks his canine companion where all the Knowhere visitors are, the dog tells him that they are all hiding in a pocket dimension created in one of the labs. Cosmo further explains that the troubles began when the Luminals brought a big box onboard the floating city and soon after people started getting eaten. The WorldMind interrupts to tell the young hero that it's translated the alien markings on the wall. It's a countdown!

Six levels below them, the Luminals meet up with two more members of their group. A woman called Faze informs them that Abyss desperately wants out of its prison. Cynosure tells Abyss that he won't allow him to escape this time. The Luminal realizes that the prisoner is counting down but doesn't know why.

As the countdown reaches zero, a wave of dark energy emerges from the black box and the Luminals are transformed into zombies!