

An Obsidian Sky

By

### Ewan Sinclair

### ###

(Copyright Ewan Sinclair 2011)

Published By Ewan Sinclair at Smashwords

### Covering Art by Daniel Zakrocki

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: A Faded Half Light

Chapter 2: Sephra

Chapter 3: The Broken Songs of Gaia

Chapter 4: A Red Sunrise

Chapter 5: The Forgotten Stars

Chapter 6: Arrival

Chapter 7: A Sleeping Dragon

Chapter 8: A Shadow Stirring

Chapter 9: An Eternal Dawn
Chapter 10: A Rising Foe
Chapter 11: The Voice of the Past

Chapter 12: An Obsidian Sky

Chapter 13: The Price of Paradise

Chapter 14: Crystal Starlight

Chapter 15: The Course of True Love

Chapter 16: In The Hands of the Gods

Epilogue

1

Month after month drifted by in the way smoke curls about a room. Each moment was stripped of its place and stretched from history to present without pause. Each movement of pleasure was scored deeply by the imposition of regret. Time had become simultaneously still and infinite. I would lie for hours on the cold wooden floor watching particles of dust dance for the sunlight shining through the half open blinds.

There was little distinction between morning and evening. No matter the time the white glare of the LEDs penetrated the soft light of the sun and watery luminescence of the moon. I could have been a caterpillar crawling silently along that cold wooden floor, wordlessly waiting for the comfort of a chrysalis or the sharp beak of a crow.

Occasionally the muffled calling of the streets was disturbed by the screams of gunshot. Once, around June, a flash made me lift my head from the bed. I watched its amber glow rise into the sky and flinched with surprise as the crashing of thunder shook the window.

The moment passed and I placed my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes.

The labour shortage had been around for a while. It had started with the people you never see. The one's whose hands are scared by machinery. It wasn't that they cluttered the streets begging for rations; it was that they disappeared from them entirely. The only thing I can remember about it would be the occasional comment of a friend or passer-by that they had never heard the streets so quite, or how nice it was that the chimneys of the factories stopped exhaling, or how the haze hanging over the skies was lifting.

Little by little all the small things began to force themselves into the foreground. Suits once perfectly pressed had become wrinkled. The smiles of the people you meet growing darker and wrinkled in the corners. The whites of the eyes of the customers in the cafés had become jaundiced and yellow. Soft skin hewn from silk made papery and rough. You could climb the stairs home and hear wheezing coming from the floors above.

Later, but not much later, it was the acquaintances you'd known so briefly, at a conference or a nightclub who had long since disappeared suddenly announcing their arrival in heaven by an automated social update. My phone was growing quieter. I received less and less calls and more and more marketing, but even the marketing had changed. Employment insurance must have been having the best year since the beginning of time.

Then it wasn't somewhere out there in the distance anymore. It was your best friends. It was your paycheque. It was your health insurance, your recreation – even your food. Finally it had been my job. Even the insurance couldn't hold out when all the underwriters moved their money into safer industries.

Now my days dragged themselves along like a serpent, slowing and with its belly rubbing against the floor. With at least four to five thousand applications per job I had lowered my expectations. I chuckled to myself at the thought that it was probable that the other four thousand applicants had done the same. It would be the one that aimed their sights the lowest that would rescue themselves from receding into eternity unnoticed.

No matter the state of the power grid, the reception on my phone or the promises of politicians – the world kept turning and the earth continued its march against the sun.

Then it was August. A job interview burgeoning had filled me with such promise. Ten days from now there's a chance I'd be working again. Who knows, in a year I might actually be earning some money. Such things I knew were fantasies but who did it hurt to dream.

My excitement was rudely interrupted by a banal bleating. I had come to rely on the reception coming into service whenever it was least needed. I turned my head from one screen to another and saw the call ID said _Matt._ I answered grumpily. 'What's up?...Fine thanks...I'm not doing anything...yes, but I'm in the middle of some prep...cheers man...bye.'

The truth of it all was that at long last something was on the horizon. Today hadn't folded itself into tomorrow it had become separate and distinct. I moved my hand up the input and in response music raised its voice over the distant road noise. My body rose and my mouth moved automatically to lyrics that floated sweetly over the bass tones and settled themselves in my conscious.

It was a Tuesday and I decided to go into town, without a job there was little else to do. I lazily put on some clothes, drifting in and out of the tedium of putting together an ensemble. I moved with sluggish motions as though I was figuring out how to use them for the first time. In the darkness of the morning my eyes scanned the apartment to find my keys. Due to the cost of electricity I had become accustomed to keeping the lights off. I had avoided the light-switches and the touch panels for so long now I had become an expert at making out silhouettes. Even so it was some time before I found them.

I opened the door to my car. After so long inert in the bay it resisted a little before it swung clear. The flat card shape of my keys slid with less protest into the ignition. A long quiet dinging sound let me know that the engine was on. I pushed the button required to attach my retention belt to me and looked down at the screen on the wheel. It took a while before all the icons appeared clearly. I pushed the voice button and stated in a hoarse voice, 'Downtown, Chana car park.' The system struggled with the translation and resorted to a long period of buffering whilst it communicated with some distant and probably quite aged server for a second opinion before it resolved my request. Pressing the _start route_ button I settled back and let the car do all the work.

In no time at all I was rapidly passing the central boulevard where row after row of gravity defying buildings brushed past. They were barely noticeable at this speed, they appeared quickly and shot away into the rear-view in no appreciable time. The world had dissolved into a blur, a dull hazy blur. They grey sky obscured the tops of the towers. There was nothing in this city that could stimulate the mind. It had been built procedurally by committee. As a consequence everything was just a slightly altered copy of everything else.

It wasn't long before I had become bored of the glass and concrete scenery. I fumbled with the touchpad on the dash till I found the radio. A news report from one of the few stations still reporting warbled in from the car's speakers.

'Thanks to the impressive efforts of our emergency services the fire was put out before there were any casualties.

'In other news,' the narrator continued, 'there is a demonstration taking place outside the Global Governmental Offices. This demonstration is in response to an increase in fuel duty due to come in later this year. Eyewitnesses have stated that the crowd remains calm in spite of a heavy police presence around the building. So far there are no reports of violence but protesters have been warned that non-peaceful protests will be met with force.' There was a pause as the reported pulled up the next story.

'Moving to the Waste Zones now for a breaking headline. Latest figures from the Presidium Party state that there has been a forty percent increase in resistance to Western control. Our correspondent's dispatch on the Waste Zone Crisis is available from 9pm Eastern Standard Time.

'In other news the Machali tribe appears to be gaining momentum in its attempt to take over the Southern Region. The leader of the political movement, Walter Halerm, stated that the tribe would soon be in control of sixteen thousand square miles of territory, after undertaking its most ambitious land grab in nearly a decade. Our reports are waiting in the Presidium consulate for their statement due late today.

'That's all the headlines for now. I'm Iaevesa Hudson. Back to you Atifa with all the latest music and celebrity news.'

I hit the pad to silence the audio. Politics, war and strife were problems that only the rich could afford to worry about. I personally considered finding a hydrogen station with reasonable prices about as close to a political statement as I was able to make. Let the world do what it will. It didn't bother me so long as the fuel prices went down and my equity went up.

The car buzzed the wheel to tell me it had made it to the vehicle storage facility. The distorted androgynous voice of my car began bleating repetitively, 'Disembark. Disembark. Disembark.' I did as I was told and unfolded my legs from the tiny car and breathed in the thick foggy air of Bataga. As I stepped away from the car and it was rolled away on an automated running track and into the darkness of the building. I took my ticket of validity and made my way forward. My body temperature soon began to climb.

After just a few yards I started to appreciate that the sun was baking down upon me. It was so hot. It was too hot and water was too expense to waste. Yet it flowed down my back from my pores at an alarming rate, every droplet another dollar wasted. I wished I had just stayed at home. It was far too hot for walking and far too expensive to get ill.

All around me Downtown was flung about in its huge, sprawling and poorly planned composition. A mixture of washed out colours blinded my vision. Vapour rose from the dusty tarmac throwing mirages over the vista. My head was compelled to look up and wonder what it must have been like when all this had been built. When it was all new and fresh, when everything was clean again, I'd take another walk here, and it would really mean something. Some buildings were so high it hurt your neck to even try and look at them, I couldn't help but think of how they used to look, of how they would have commanded your eyesight upwards, of how much beauty there must have been. For all their cracked glass and faded façades there was still something ambitious about them, still something that hadn't given up.

I started coughing, the air was nauseating. They told us in school that it had been like this even since the war. Mrs Greeves had explained, in the way she had of explaining things, that the earth had been so intensively soaked in chemicals in the Reclamation that it was quite likely even my grandchildren would be suffering from it. 'Clean up,' they had called it back then. To me it seemed more like systematic poisoning. The dust that was choking me right now was a consequence of the soil being so toxic it would be unable to host life for as long as anyone cared to measure time. Still, I thought, it was probably better than risking sickness from all the biologicals that had been thrown at the city during The Fall.

After a short walk I came across the emporium I was looking for. The sign above the huge curved glass entrance said _Washington Emporium_. It was the latest vogue for the wealthy to exercise their expensive educations by naming their creations after dead cities long consigned to the university libraries. I was quite amazed that I had managed to get the reference at all, it seemed like the kind of unimportant thing you forget shortly after learning it. History had been such a drag. I can remember watching the dust as Mr Calvin would sit slumped in his chair warbling about one cataclysm after another. All I seemed to hear was how various nations had been compelled to steal the world from others. Back then I couldn't wait for it to be over, the past was barely worth remembering.

My thoughts were brought to an abrupt conclusion as the refreshing cool and clean air provided by the building's environmental systems greeted me. Too much outdoor air was bad for you the broadcasts said. I wholeheartedly agreed them.

I began my ascent in one of the glass-encased lifts contemplating how long it would take for the air to be clean again. It was the kind of time period you can appreciate but not really understand. It's like knowing the number of grains of sand in world, you can appreciate the size of the digits but you can't really picture it.

The elevator closed around me and I grew wings of glass as I soared from floor to floor like a bird released from a cage. Soaring. What a wonderful word. I was soaring so high that the people on the ground floor were almost reduced to the size of bacteria, all clumped together like the space between them had disappeared. Maybe that was how God saw the world, so high up, where the spaces between us don't exist. Up here, a better world.

I emerged from the lift and into a large open-planned marble space where the store of my dreams resided. It was a flagship, like the kind you see everywhere today but with a twist. This was the Eternis Systems flagship store and it was intense. I remembered the promotions they'd placed all over the broadcasts when I was a child that claimed it provided the most sublime collection of technology in the whole word. It biggest store of its kind. So big in fact that it took up a whole thirteen floors of the emporium itself and every inch of space seemed to have been put into use.

Carousing the aisles of the store would take a lifetime without the store's indexing system which, like everything in this city, was currently out of order. Fortunately I was quite the professional at these things and found the stand I was looking for in under and hour. It housed the hottest product on the market right now - the new Compass(R) handhelds, the thinnest and most advanced handhelds in the world and, thanks to the labour crisis, they were also the rarest. This store had the last unsold batch from the previous year's production cycle. A consequence of an accidental mismatch of WaveIDs in a depot they had been labelled for refit, and rescued from the furnaces by an astute office manager who'd, quite by accident, become lost inside the facility after taking several wrong turns and had found himself on the recycling floor where, just in front of him, he happened upon the mislabeled crates and immediately had them shipped to the store. Or so story went.

As with most rare and important objects I couldn't help but to pick it up and marvelled at its flatness, its shimmer, and its elegance. It was like something from an art exhibition, as though by some act of divine intervention a single ingot of gold had wrapped itself around a single panel of sapphire lens.

I noticed that everybody around me was holding the display models intently and purposely as though it had suddenly become some inalienable right exclusive to them. Each an emperor of some tiny mobile island.

Of course it was way too much money for me, so long as I wanted to continue to eat and breathe. Yet somehow the simple action of placing the device in my palm had the curious effect of becoming a certainty that I couldn't afford not to buy it. Besides if the interview went well, then I could afford one or more a year. I figured I could just about squeeze it into the gap between my credit limit and total bankruptcy. If I was careful, I could have it paid off by the end of the next decade.

_Yes_ , I thought, _I_ ' _m gonna get it_.

And that was that. Shopping trip over. Time to go home and unwrap my tiny chest of treasure.

I descended in the elevator.

2

I'm walking through the doors now, philosophising. I was in the finals. Only six candidates remain. If I was a gambling man, and having come from the world of insurance I certainly would, I'd be playing the odds on some pretty good options.

From another part of my mind I could just about hear the receptionist ask, 'so you're the new candidate?' Then, after a nod from me, state, 'this way Sir'.

_It_ ' _s actually happening,_ I thought, sitting down in front of my interviewer underneath the strong overhead lighting.

'Our application process is really very simple Mr Engeltine.' He said with authority. 'I hope you are as pleased as we are that you've made it this far. We've taken a great interest in you since you first walked through those doors.' He paused to pull his tie closer to his collar.

'All that you need to do is sit comfortably and not worry.'

So I sat comfortably, reclining backwards in increments until I could feel my spine touch the leather of the chair, preparing for the coming blitz of questions.

'My name is Charles Sephra.' He continued. 'Welcome to the Eternis Systems' human relations department.' Charles leaned back into his chair and lit a cigarette before speaking again. 'Are you comfortable? Good, shall we begin?'

I nodded my head enthusiastically.

He moved his hand over a light sensor and something clicked into life. An audible whirring sound started.

'For a position of this gravitas,' he continued, 'we often need to perform a series of medical tests to ensure you are going to provide us a certain level of service that is worthy of our investment. We need at least thirty years of healthy, productive service from you if we are to commit.'

I felt a stabbing sensation in the side of my leg. I wondered what kind of tech it was that he was using. Auto-diagnositcs were something that had largely disappeared even within my own lifetime. It must have been something they'd found in an old research lab, or maybe stuck together out of recycled pieces of other machines. It was possible the device wasn't entirely safe. Even hospitals didn't use them anymore. Ancient tech tended to have a mind of its own. One minute it'd be taking your bloody pressure, the next its would be trying to perform and unsolicited surgical procedure.

He took another drag of his cigarette and offered one of the remaining six to me. I shook my head. It was important that I didn't let myself get too relaxed. I had watched as some of the other candidates had been sucked in by these tactics. So much so that they had felt that their rapport with the examiners had given them special privileges. Their journeys through the process had, needless to say, been shorter than others.

Mr Sephra placed the box back on the desk and almost seemed to shrug. He drank from his mug slowing. I watch his throat as he swallowed.

'I'm sure I don't need to remind you that times today are hard,' he continued. 'As a result we believe that we need to push the boundaries of what is possible today to secure tomorrow.'

He ground his stub against the ashtray base and lit another.

'As you no doubt realise, great men are the Atlases of this world. A long time ago Ayn Rand hypothesised what would happen to the world if all the great men in the world just vanished. If she'd lived a little longer, she'd have found out. I do not expect you to understand everything we are trying to do here but please be assured that any discomfort you experience during your tenure with us will be brief.' He smiled coldly and spoke with a soft voice, 'do you want to be once of those men?'

'Who is John Gault', I replied. He seemed impressed with that.

He waved his hand again over the sensor again.

Suddenly he murmured, 'in the interlude between conception and cognition, you will see with new eyes.'

He fell silent. I didn't want to be the first one to speak or even to interrupt the silence, but I felt as though he was expecting something of me. That there was something that I should be communicating him, something to validate the investment they were offering me.

'Yes, I would like to be one of those people,' was the best I could manage.

It was his turn to nod. His had passed over the sensor again.

The silence continued. My fingers tapped awkwardly on the desk surface.

Then, slowly, the clouds began to roll their way in front of my vision. A generator must have failed because the room was plunged into darkness. I thought I could just see a hint of the emergency lighting kicking in before my attempts to chase after it caused it to disappear.

Then there was blackness.

Then there was nothing.

Then there was light.

Light, a beautiful aura falling so smoothly above my head it was as if it was made from water. Focusing my eyes I looked forward and I wished I hadn't. The man opposite me, so unremarkable before, was out of focus. Light was perforating him like halos from a lens flare. He was nothing more than an image, a faded recollection of an abandoned memory. His distorted self, in one moment, threatened to snap back into reality, yet in the next seemed only to shimmer, brighten and form images of impossible design. It was beyond comprehension, beyond understanding.

I rose without moving my legs and dragged myself through sheer force of will from the inky black room.

I emerged into hallways and rooms of white phosphorous that shot past in an ember of half imagined images.

I was placed in a corridor that was backlit with bright white lights. There was no escape from it. To either side the corridor seemed to narrow into a pinprick of searing brightness.

Then I was in a street, filled with damp rain that rushed past, unintelligible. The day faded and merged with the night. In the space between night and day I thought I saw an image of the earth held in the hand of a child. The planet wobbled and fell into two halves. As it split across the centre voices of the dead poured out from it in a singing harmony, as though they were calling out a Requiem for God. Each half of the earth dissolved under the weight of their voices and fell as sand into two hourglasses standing side by side. One hourglass filled from the bottom, the other from the top, and both were leaking sand into the other chambers.

Two serpents coiled themselves around each of the hourglasses, and as each chamber emptied they were rotated to start the process again.

I blinked and lost focus for a second. Darkness summoned itself around be as my eyes cleared to discover the glass had disappeared and the sand was being eaten by the serpents, which had grown fat and oversized in the consumption of the body of the Earth. Both of the serpents grew to such a size that they ceased moving at the same instant and in rapid succession began to decay.

As their bodies diminished into nothing but stardust, two eggs rose from where their forms had been, turned black and began to crack. Amidst the cracking of new life, I woke.

*

My head was filled with a fever sweat.

Groaning, I managed the movements required to silence my alarm. It obeyed without protest. Where had I been? Had I dreamt the interview? Everything seemed different. Everything was the same. It was as though alien hands had sifted through everything in my room and placed them back into its previous position. It was like a scent I simply couldn't place, or a shiver in a warm room.

Foreign words fluttered to my mind, out of place and no way out. 'New eyes' and 'cognition.' I knew that they were not my own. It hit me. The very narrative of my mind had changed, as though it had been invaded and replaced. Or maybe I hadn't. I was still there, all the flaws were in the right place, just where I'd left them. Hello insecurity, my old friend, and avarice you're looking as ravishing as ever.

We all have our own internal voice. But did not speak as it once did; fragmented and disjointed, instead it spoke precisely. It delivered sentences with the kind of clarity that separates crystal from glass, difference that at once as imperceptible as it was familiar.

I stood and was strolling toward my blue dresser when I saw the world shift. Spears of light punctuated my room from no apparent source. But unlike the light in the interview room my understanding of it had changed. This time it seemed to have a presence, as though it had grown a life of its own. It was as though I was able to see beyond its surface detail and into its soul.

The light seemed to flicker and began to fade. The world gradually darkened. All the hues and colours that were, seemed to be no more. Then it was gone, I was gone. I felt my body impact the floorboards harshly. The room faded from monochrome to obsidian.

Awakened by some imperceptible notion I rose from the floor, brow bloodied from the fall. Yet I did not feel hurt. I felt rejuvenated. My world had become descriptive, detailed beyond any possibility. The flakes of dust, human skin, captured by the light, were thrown to the floor as though caught in a downdraft. The image translated itself into something beyond the reaches of linguistic description. I watched every motion and every movement that those flakes made as they tumbled on a current of air with an excited interest.

The small ink stains on my curtain, a teardrop burned into the soft velvet fabric, stirred something inside me. I was seeing everything with value. The world around me was being weighed and measured, itemised and stored.

In the corner of the room was a single black stone cut in two. Its very darkness screamed, calling me, for me, forever. The two spheres, a present wonder and a future damnation brought me to my knees. I might have lost all of the capacity to move from that spot had my phone not dragged me away with an incessant calling, and just like that the moment passed.

'Hello Mr Engeltine, how are you feeling,' stated the unflappable voice of my interviewer. His very tone seemed riled with a confidence and slight amusement.

'What have you done to me?' I asked him holding back a dull sense of violation.

'Mr Engeltine, we have done exactly what you wanted. We have transformed you. Just yesterday you were merely a drain upon the investment of the state. In we will have given you real value. You did want to something meaningful with your life, didn't you?'

'What? You came after me, you wanted to give me a job.' I didn't have any idea what was going on but one thing was for sure, Sephra had better get ready to pay him a decent settlement.

'Of course Mr Engletine. The job is yours, if you still want it. Meet me at midday by the entrance to the Sennaca War Memorial. It is here that all of your questions shall be answered.' With a click he ended the call at his end. The screen on the Compass® dutifully switched over to power-save.

I thought about going straight there. I thought about going in to confront them, to hold him to account. But this was the Eternis Systems I was talking about. You could not simply go in and demand answers. You had to listen and be smart. These were two of the very qualities that I was sure I did not possess. My thoughts were still cloudy from the fall. My heart felt like it might be about to tear itself from its arteries and spring a leak.

I thought about calling for help and looked at the call screen but my fingers could not operate the dial command. They contracted to form a partial fist and could not be coaxed back into life. Besides I couldn't exactly say, 'hello I went into an interview and now I think that I've become part of some nefarious scheme _._ '

I dropped the phone down onto the bed with the futility of it all. Who would believe me? There was only one real option. I had to go to that meeting. I had to find out.

I gathered together my things. The keys for once were hanging on the rack. At the doorframe I paused. I shuffled around in my pockets until my fingers connected with the hard flat lump that was the Compass®. I should let someone know where I am, I thought.

It had been so long since I had spoken to anyone. Since the labour crisis every had seemed to just disappear. I thought long and hard before I entered a number. It was risk, Adrian and I hadn't spoke in a long time.

'Hello this is Adrian,' a ruffled, tired sounding voice announced.

'Adrian, look, I know we have not spoken in a while,' I began, but Adrian cut me off.

'George, look, the way we left things off, I just can't...'

Adrian's voice had trailed off. I was desperate to keep his attention and so I said, 'Listen I'm in a lot of trouble'. He sighed on the other end of the line. 'I can't explain, just hear me out. I promise I'm not asking for a lot.' There was a silence so long I had begun the motion of moving the phone from my ear when I heard his muffled reply.

'I'll give you five minutes.' I breathed with the relief. At least one person might listen to me. At least one person might have my back. I knew I didn't deserve it, especially not from him, but I had to try and so I gave him my request.

'Adrian I'm going to meet a man, he works for Eternis Systems. I'm not sure what's going on but I just want someone to know where I am. Just in case...well, just in case. I'm meeting him at the Sennaca War Memorial in an hour. If I don't call you back this evening I want you to call the police. Tell them...tell them that you think something might have happened to me.'

'I've got to go,' I continued. 'But before I do I want you to know I'm sorry for what happened.'

I tore the phone from my ear before he could ask why. He had always wanted answers, answers I couldn't give him. It was hard to admit to him that I needed his help. Well, it had always been hard with him full stop. But asking him for something now, felt like a small defeat, as though I was losing a war I'd been fighting for so long that it felt like treachery.

I stopped dwelling, after all there was a time and a place for everything and with a resolute determination I walked out of the house, stuck the keys in my car and departed.

3

The Sennaca War Memorial is a huge construction. It had been composed entirely out of a rhone-metal, a material designed to shine like the scales of a fish. As a result its surface was an intricate collision of colours arranged about its surface like rainbows over a lake of mercury. Its shape was one of elongated arrowheads stacked one upon the another. Each of its many floors spanned kilometres. Surrounding it were thorns smaller than the arrowheads spanning perhaps five hundred meters. They were not laid out in any particular pattern, but scattered around, as though a deity had discarded some broken ornament from the heavens and they had been left exactly as they had fallen.

The result was a building that took on the personality of a chimera, always in between two forms. On the one hand it was the most horrific construction that mankind had ever endeavoured to create. On the other, it was a beautiful testament to the genius of human architecture. I supposed it was a work of art and sometimes art can be both applauded and condemned.

My Compass® flashed some trivia onto my HUD. The building was commissioned by the then head of the Eternis Systems in commemoration of the conclusion of the Resource Wars. The critical companion to the system suggested further information to the Resource Wars, but I didn't have the energy. It was a stupid name for an even more stupid war.

The reality was that the building was far more of a corporate temple than it was a memorial. Its promotional material boasted more office space than any other building in Bagata. In fact the memorial offered the second most office space in the whole of the former DRC. The monument, of course, belonged to West in all but name and so it was only natural that the Eternis System's owned every square foot of it. Inscribed across the building were the words, 'in the memory of what was, what is, and what will be again'.

Parking the car and listening to the local terror report I opened the door and descended into the boiling fume filled landscape of Central District, Bagata. The terror report had promised a low level of activity, despite recent increases in violence across the Waste. I hadn't worried about the reports before and didn't see any reason to now. The media was basically controlled by the Presidium Party, so whatever the warning, it was usually political.

I walked away from the car park and towards the entrance of the memorial slowly.

Whoever had designed the entrance had seemed to be desperate to convince its visitors that it was an entirely natural composition. There were fountains dancing over every square foot of the thing. There were white marble floors with black circular sculptures dotted everywhere, the genesis and intention of which, was unknown to anyone but their designer. There were broad-leafed trees and rows of sculptured grass gardens separating the sovereignty of the memorial from the rest of Bataga.

As I walked through the opulence I imagined that perhaps, in another place, serving another purpose, the entrance could seem almost heavenly. It seemed almost as though the architect had made a mistake in choosing the location of his sculpture, because the surrounding memorial arching its laser straight angles into the sky caused a sickening sense of contrast with the city. A vision of what might have been.

Standing there in front of the doors that led into the structure I caught sight of my target. He saw me at the very same moment that I saw him. I drew my breath and marched towards him.

'Mr Sephra,' I demanded.

'Mr Engeltine. So good of you to come. Let's take a walk.'

We entered the building together ,our paces matching one another. I tried to keep my awe contained but the Sennaca Memorial was truly something to behold when seen from the inside. The huge entrance gallery, which rose for hundreds of unclearly defined floors, featured huge crystal overhangs and tall obsidian obelisks that rose for hundreds of feet and seemed to split into a thousand fragments about half way up. Each fragment was suspended in the air, in the act of falling.

We crossed an eternity of gallery and entered an elevator. Chiming with sincerity the Eternis System's vocal representative informed us of all the tourist attractions within the structure as the elevator soared upwards on it mag-lev rails.

We disembarked at some bizarrely high number. My shoulder brushed the door apologetically, as I struggled to keep pace with Sephra. We traversed yet more crowded passageways until we made it to a room of immense proportions. I noticed that despite its size the only thing present in the room was a huge desk surrounded by chairs. Sephra sat on one side and I the other.

'What have you done to me?' I asked after a few moments of silence.

'We have given you a gift, Mr Engeltine. We have made you see,' Sephra answered equally calmly.

'All I've seen are things you can get from a little too much indulgence at the pleasure domes. You haven't made me see anything. How exactly would you describe that as a gift?'

'Like all great gifts Mr Engeltine, you may not always understand its gravity straight away.'

'So then tell me. What _have_ you done to me? I want to know. I want to understand what all this crazy shit is I'm seeing. If you can't then you fix it, you undo, or I will stay in this office until one of us expires.' Sephra furrowed his brows so I softened my tone a little and continued, 'I want you to make me understand. You can't just do this to a person and not offer them an explanation.'

'If it is any consolation George, you've got the job.' Sephra said before standing briefly to reach his box of cigarettes. He offered me a one, which I took gratefully, snapping off the ignition stub and inhaling deeply. Sephra did the same. We stared at each other for a while. Each of us searching the other for some sort of sign that was wholly indescribable and yet completely visible. Sephra must have found what he was looking for as he grunted and began to talk.

'In order for you to understand what is happening, you must first know the beginning. The story is historically long, but it can be told easily enough, if you have enough patience. Most importantly you must suspend your disbeliefs and accept everything I tell you as fact, even if it seems fiction.'

He looked at me sternly. His face told me that he was preparing to unload a burden that had long been on his shoulders. It also told me that he was in no mood to be delayed. There was a sense of urgency in the way he returned to his seat and met my eyes with his.

'Do you know what this building was built for?' I nodded and he smiled a smile which seemed too say _like hell you do_.

'The Resource Wars couldn't have come at a worse time Mr Engeltine. Humanity was on the brink of permanently securing its future. We had just achieved our defining moment. We had spread our wings and left this troubled planet behind in search of worlds that could sustain us in a way this planet no longer could. Against all the odds we found exactly what we were looking for, as you will find anything if you look hard enough.' He looked knowingly at me and sighed.

'But like all things, George, what we found was not exactly as it seemed. The colonists set down on worlds that were cruel and harsh. Nation-making is never an easy task and many thousands died in the process of terraforming them. For years they had depended on our support, on our commitment to the pursuit of a common future, but the war took all that away. We left the colonies alone in space, to find their own way, in many cases to wither and die. There are only six colonies left out of twenty.'

Interjecting I exclaimed bitterly: 'I know all of this. I mean even school children know this. What does this have to do with me?'

'It has everything to do with you. This information will sets out a chain of events that will lead me to a discovery and inevitably to you. If you will not listen, then what is the point in the telling?' He folded his arms

'Fine I'll listen, but if you offer me nothing then please appreciate that my patience will wear thin,' I replied angrily. Sighing again Sephra seemed to be weighing up a decision but continued once a few moments had passed.

'After the Resource Wars so little was left habitable. The cradle of civilisation had become a dying oak, gnarled and beyond repair. The most powerful nations in the world left their holy cities and took the lands of those less powerful. The West took Africa, the East took anything that was left.

'This monument was built, not to commemorate the war, but to commemorate the West's ideology, something that has now long passed. To put it simply, the war had utterly destroyed both enemy and ally. It was useless to build a monument to a war that had put an end to everything. So we built a monument to an ideology. An ideology that we can no longer pretend exists.' He sighed again and paused.

I wanted to point out the window and say, 'look at all of this, can't you see, the West is thriving, it might be a little broken but it's being rebuilt!' Instead I was silent.

Sephra continued, 'I know exactly what you are thinking. I know that if you look out and onto this city it would seem as though we were emerging from those troubled year, coming back to the time of the United World. But the truth, the truth is never that simple. In reality the West was only ever a visitor. We were always supposed to go back to cities we had fled. It seems to me that nature always had a sense of irony. You see the things that were so carelessly destroyed during the war were also impossible for us to put back together. Once you destroy that much of something it can never be re-engineered. We didn't have any idea how complicated an ecosystem we really had.

'In the cold light of day Mr Engeltine its obviously that we lost the war. Now all that we can look forward to is a future elsewhere. A future, perhaps, in the stars. There is nothing left for us here. The world has already died and we can no longer cling to her surface. In two years even Africa will no longer be capable of supporting life. In just a few days Africa won't even be able to support a civilisation. We have done so much to Mother Gaia and she no longer has the energy to sustain us.'

Rushing to my feet I shouted, 'this is nonsense! Everything is getting better.' Sephra shook his head. 'Well what about the colonies', I implored, 'they weren't even involved in the wars, why aren't we starting an evacuation?' But Sephra just shook his head again and smiled, that same tired smile.

'There's no time to save this world. But the good news is that this is where we arrive at your part in the story.' He smiled once more as though to signal a shift in the narrative and continued.

'Almost a century after the war's conclusion we finally regained our ship-building capacity. Imagine our surprise, arriving from hyperspace, to find a barren landscape. We searched one planet after another and it was the same again and again. Total wreckage, total destruction. Of course some things had managed to survive, the odd superstructure here and there, the odd artificial intelligence or drone, but nothing so in tact that we could piece together a clear picture.

'In desperation we began to search for the farthest colonies. It was here to our relief we found that they had survived unharmed and unaware of the fate that had befallen their sisters. It was a miracle, if such things are to be believed.

'Over the days and weeks that followed we began our investigation. We steadily began to put together a picture. It was the portrait of a nightmare.

'At first we believed that this might have been an inevitable result of the loss of the United World. The colonies were in the processes of being terraformed. Without the metallurgical supplies that Earth could offer, we believed that the colonies may well have found it nearly impossible to survive. Perhaps, we mused, that with a failing environment, with no possibility of resupply, they had endeavoured to take the easier way out. It would have been kinder, more humane and infinitely quicker than waiting for the last of the lights to finally flicker out, the rooms to grow colder and the food to run out.

'Certainly the blast patterns and radiation signature indicated self-suicide, consistent as they were with high yield anti-matter charges.

'With this knowledge we began to mourn for that loss. But mourning does not rebuild nations. And so with little other recourse, we prepared ourselves for the second exodus from Earth. Where once we had failed there was a chance that this time we might succeed.

'But just as our investigations were nearing their completion we discovered something that shook our conclusions down to their very foundations. Topographic and environmental analysis indicated that far from starving the colonies had been thriving. They had not been strangled by a lack of resources during the Resource Wars; they had innovated and succeeded. And yet they had certainly decided upon self-genocide. It made no sense.

'Three weeks into wrap-up a deep space reconnaissance team discovered an artefact. Something that was present on the surface of each of those barren planets but not on a single surviving one. We arranged to have it shipped back, but in transit two of the vessels were lost. An analysis of the detonation zone revealed radiation consistent with the vessels' on board nuclear reactor. It seemed apparent that their destruction was intentional. We did not know why. Our working theory was that for some reason the crew had chosen to murder themselves, or even each other, and we believed that this was the effect of those Artefacts. They were the only unknown factor in the equation.

'Obviously we abandoned recovery. It was too dangerous to allow the artefacts back to Earth. Instead they were moved to a deep-space facility, abandoned during the war, and left for remote study. The station is a relic from the time of the United World, an installation so perfectly engineered that it will continue to exist for thousands of years after we perish.

'It was there that we discovered our salvation. After many hours of tests on organic matter it seemed a certain genetic expression was unaffected by the artefact and that this expression would allow a person close enough to the object without causing them harm.' Sephra paused to light another cigarette and continued his story in between drags.

'The adaption was of course quickly tested on a selection of patients. But this in itself threw open more question than it answered. The adaptation expressed itself in the patients in the form of visions and seemed to enable them to see things that others could not see. It immunised them and made them able to come within a close proximity of the artefact without it causing unintended side effects for short periods, visions and unnatural presences notwithstanding.

'During their studies they transmitted a report. I will play it to you now.'

Leaning on the edge of my seat with interest I watched as Sephra moved his hands through the air as if in some kind of ritual. Bursting to life before my eyes an image resolved itself into existence. In front of me a middle aged man stared out of the screen. He was very pale and sweating heavily. Another wave from Sephra and sound exploded throughout the room and the middle aged man was given animation.

'This is High Researcher Clarence O'Donald of the Eternis System's Deep-Space Station Ascension.

'We have done it Commander. We have done it. We have isolated the genes required for safe interaction with article 77-x. Unfortunately, as we predicted, the discovery has come a little too late for us. Repeated exposure to the artefact is causing increasing mutations in all of us. The infection is reaching its final stage. Dr Raddock and I have decided to avert the final stages of the process by exposing ourselves to a nerve agent. This will leave all physical assets unharmed whilst ensuring we do not pose a threat to the operation, as required by Eternis Systems protocol. This will be our last transmission. We send you all our love. Please don't forget what we have done for you.'

The message ended. I breathed out a breath I did not even realise I was carrying. Sephra turned and slashed his hand through the image, cutting it in half and dissolving it. The room darkened a little as the ambient lighting system restored itself to full brightness. I had not even noticed that it had dimmed. Sephra gave me a look and continued.

'This is the adaptation that we have given you. Your DNA proved the most likely match out of all of our candidates. The interview were a distraction. To put this a little more clearly, you are our only suitable candidate.' Sephra poured himself a glass of whiskey from the highball in the corner. His fingers negotiated the glass with an incredible dexterity.

'The worst news is yet to come. Recent reports suggest that the artefacts have begun to surface on the remaining colonies. Only one so far remains clear of infection. Six days ago the Ascension station's automated platforms informed us that recent data analysis had led to a potential solution to the problem. Before broadcasting could continue the communication stream went dead. We have heard nothing since, and we have not been able to verify the report.

'The reason that we have given you this adaption is simple, we would like you to recover the information and remove all of the artefacts from the colonies before any real harm can come to them. Do you understand?'

Breathlessly I replied 'Yes. Actually no, I wouldn't even know how to begin. I'm not the one you want. I'm no scientist, I've never even been into space, what the hell could you possibly want with me?'

Sephra turned to me and looked straight into my eyes.

'Believe me George' he said 'if there was anyone else, anyone on the entire planet, I would have picked them over you.' He stood up with a sigh. 'The final six colonies do not have long.' His stilted movements led me to believe that he had some difficulty in walking. Nevertheless he managed to move, with a grace fitting of his position, to the huge window that looked out and onto the city.

'We are giving you the very last ship this planet will ever produce. It is not quite to the standard that we produced before the war, but it's as close as we are ever going to get. You have one week to prepare.'

I stared at this strange man and replied 'won't I want a little more training than a week?'

'Of course you will,' Sephra replied mirthfully, 'but in a week it is doubtful that the Presidium Party will have any control over the planet.'

'What do you mean?' I stared at him incredulously.

'Because in one week the power goes out and it will never come on again. All of our nuclear reactors are already beyond repair and what remains of our hydrogen stores in nearly gone. When generation stops we will no longer have the ability to prevent the barbarians from outside the walls entering the city. Even if we somehow survive their assault, and they will assault us - all remaining resources: food, water, breathable atmosphere, will have been consumed within a month. And that is all there is to it really.'

My whole body began to sink. 'My God, what about all the people, can't we get them out? Can't we save them?' I urged him.

'Nobody else can survive exposure to the artefacts. Even the people of your ship will only have a temporary immunity. They will inevitably succumb to its effects. It would be wise to complete your operation before this occurs.

'You should also be aware that if we do not use the ship to get rid of those artefacts and find a cure for our colonies, our species faces extinction. As for me, as for the rest of the world - it doesn't make a difference compared with that.'

Then he smiled the way a parent does to a frightened child. It was comforting and I began to feel safer, like this was all of this would somehow sort itself out.

'Mr Engeltine, go home and get some rest. Get to the ship and prepare for takeoff. It was a pleasure to meet you, but I have something else to be getting on with. Good luck, and for the love of God don't crash my bloody ship.'

I laughed. Perhaps I shouldn't have, but I did nonetheless. I smiled and he smiled. It was a bitter smile forced out of an utter depression. Sephra rose slowly and steadily. He walked back towards the huge window and stared out of it in a wise pensiveness. The red sky bathed him as he breathed in the pure filtered air of the office.

He took a last deep drag of his cigarette and put it out. Speaking but never letting his eyes leave the view from the window he said, 'We're all going to have to leave this world, one way or another.'

With a subtle motion he touched a small thing to his head, closed his eyes and never opened them again.

4

The power had failed sooner than Sephra had expected and the world was in turmoil. It was just two days after his death that the power failed. There was no slow regression into darkness. One moment the lights were on and the next they weren't.

What we didn't know, what had been kept from us, was that we even though we had known the end was coming power consumption had actually increased in the days leading up to the blackout. A combination of poor planning and corruption.

Moreover the war which had so casually used nuclear fuel as an explosive had denied its descendants the power required to continue living. In a sheltered reality we had been living off back-up power supplied, intended for dire emergencies, for months. We had all been living on borrowed time.

It hit the population like an explosion. One moment our screens were giving us all the information we could ever want. The next they weren't and never would again. One moment there was order, the next there was chaos.

High above Bataga the most powerful people in the world looked down on their city, trapped. Without power there were no lifts and no doors. Only the poor could make it out onto the streets. Fire prevention systems had been drained of all their power. The systems watched passively as their kings burnt and their palaces melted.

Hospitals suffered record deaths as life giving machines failed. Newborns in oxygen and xenon incubators suffocated as the nurses struggled fruitlessly to release the electronic locks. The hallways echoed with the screams of the untreated injured.

The Police went home, there was no use for them anymore. Families gathered together their relatives. In hushed circles parents whispered to their children sweet words of comfort before they all drank from poisoned chalices. Some mothers spared their offspring from the horror of the new-world by drowning them in the fabric of the pillows they had so lovingly bought for their most precious joys.

The world was gone and nothing could ever bring it back.

The only this that I knew as the city feel was that I needed to reach the docks. I had to get to my ship, but the city was in complete turmoil. There were riots everywhere, the barbarian hordes had breeched the city walls and everyone had gone mad with fear. They were just running anywhere without direction or purpose.

Here and there people were rushing into each other desperate to cause death. Just around the corner there were people looting with an addicted thirst. The militia's desperate ensure that no one would acquire the wealth they had collected from years of government payouts destroyed anything they saw. Nothing was immune.

I had called Adrian earlier and told him to come with me. I told him that I had a way out, that I had a way of surviving. Whether or not this was true, I knew that I had to save him, no matter what was between us. Matt had already died. He had been thrown off his own roof by the gangs. I hadn't felt anything at the news. None of it felt real.

I had waited as long as I could but there was no sign of Adrian. I couldn't wait any longer. I had to go. The crashing of explosives was getting closer. I was almost certain he had been caught up somewhere, certain to die, when I spotted him out of the corner of my eye. His impossibly handsome figure was striding towards me at full speed.

Crouching next to me he put his mouth to my ear and shouted over the rifle fire, 'why are we going to the docks? It's madness down there, the worst of the violence! You can't get through. There are no more ships left. The evacuation has come and gone. I mean people are jumping onto sub-orbiters trying to get away. They can't make the translation to hyperspace. They're never going to make it away from Earth. What chance do we stand? There's nothing left!'

'It's okay,' I shouted over the deafening noise. 'There's one more. We have a chance. You just have to trust me!' I threw my head over my shoulder checking the street behind. 'Now let's go before we get shot!'

Running at lightning speed I threw myself across the street. Bullets, like rain, washed the crowd away. It was a tsunami of lead that the writhing mass of bodies simply could not withstand. They jumped and span about in the air and fell away twitching.

We ran down the banking sides of the walkway desperately urging one another forward. The Docks were just moments away from us as we rounded the corner onto Canal Street.

What greeted us around that corners like a scene from the Divine Comedy. I had expected that there would be unrest but what I was not prepared for was an inferno.

Everyone knew the Docks had been built before the wars and they truly were something incredible. Deep wide pits that created chasms in the ground which formed their overall structure. Huge angular cranes stood above to lift and lower ships into the voids below. In the background there were huge skyscrapers each shaped into impossible designs surrounding the docklands superstructure. The red sky shrouded their figures in a veil of violence.

I realised with horror that they were all ablaze, every building, every support unit. An aura of brilliant red embers had settled around them. The flood of citizens flickered with the fire's red gaze as they dashed here and there, desperate to find something, anything that could help them escape.

Among the chaos I sighted directions to port 2B. Without a moment's hesitation I grabbed Adrian by the hand and ran. As I ran everything became light. Halos began to surround the citizens around me. The buildings blossomed with light and became beautiful symbols of destructive harmony.

My eyes, in their ethereal state, caught sight of a girl in front of me. She was perhaps eight or nine and had become separated from her parents. Lost, she was fleeing in any direction. There was a sudden crashing as a grenade detonated behind her. In an instant light surged towards her and pushed her forward. She became an angel, launched into the sky on a sea of colours. She was beautiful and my heart wept for her salvation.

Then she was gone. I was left only with the sensation that I had seen something profound and I was grateful for it.

The dodging and strafing continued until a sign hung above our head came into view. Embalmed by the fire washing over its surface were the letters _2B_. I didn't know how, but we seemed to have made it. It seemed that in my mind's state of shocked inebriation I had been guided in the right direction nonetheless. I surged with energy. In just a few moments we would be safe. I was sure that we had made it.

I looked back towards Adrian and my heart almost stopped. My body sunk as my eyes saw that his shirt was adorned in crimson. He had been hit by something, and he was barey walking. I quickly rushed back and looped my arm under his shoulder. Using all of my strength I dragged him forwards. But we were entering the gang-way too slowly, the people around us seeing an opportunity were trying to rush over us and onto the ships waiting platform. The seconds were crawling by with the feelings of minutes. I groaned with the strain of lifting Adrian up and onto the railing guarding the platform. Running my hand along the gene pad we were authorised for entry and the air lock opened. I dragged Adrian into the dark.

*

The ship lifted off into a violent sky. One of the Dock's huge cranes tumbled into the void beneath causing a shock-wave that began a cascade which sent the scarred holes crumbling back into the Earth itself.

Above the vessel there was only peace and silence. For a moment, so short it could be mistaken for a fantasy, the sky was blue. A blue that had not been seen in decades. Then it was black pitted with tiny points of light growing brighter as the ship escaped its sacred home and began its voyage into the unknown. I looked back down upon the Earth as it disappeared into a dot and thought how grey and yellow the planet had become, I couldn't see any of the green and blue that was. There was only that burnt landscape.

*

Some hours later, my senses were restored in the medical bay.

'Will he survive'? I enquired of Adrian.

The doctor focused on me. He seemed a very tired man. He turned back towards the console and replied, 'his injuries are not severe. We will restore him to full health in a day or two. But you should not have brought him here. You should have left him to die back on Earth with his soul still intact. He cannot survive the influence of the artefacts. You have left him with only two options. To kill himself at his own leisure in full control of his own actions, or try to kill us all on the volition of some unnatural force. Either way, he _will_ die.'

The doctor returned to his work. Vials hissed and machinery whirred softly. I knew what he was saying. I just didn't believe me.

The doctor cleared his throat. It was apparent that my presence here was a kind of distraction for him, but I had nowhere to go.

I took a walk about the ship. I needed to clear my head. The silence on board the ship was unbearable. Every sound I made echoed of the materials of the ship. Only the hum of the life support system made its presence known. I had walked for what felt like hours before I had what I thought was a clear understanding of the layout of the ship.

In total there were three levels, the lowest was for crew quarters, the middle and largest was for general operations and housed the CIC, and the top floor contained the science and technical wards.

The contrast between each section was spectacular. The lowest level could best be described as an endless hallway full of doors to either side. It was unremarkable. Each room was the same, differing only in the small unconscious personal touches that the hundred and twelve strong crew had added to each of their quarters

In between every fifth door was a screen displaying my position on the ship and a link that would provide directions to any destination that I wished. Blue beams were projected from floor on one side and white on the other so that in an emergency crew members would know in which direction they were heading. This I had been told by a husky voiced lieutenant in brief introduction to the ship. What he had said was simple. 'If you hear alarms and your at the front, follow the white lines. If you are at the rear, follow the blue ones. Forget that, don't bother moving.'

The spikes meanwhile of light glowed coolly throughout the length of the vessel. Their brightness wasn't warm it was somber, even purposeful. Yet it did nothing to alleviate how featureless the place was. All things considered the effect of this design element was to make the ship seem to go on forever. The lights would slowly come closer together the further away they were, and the hallway would go on for infinity. It was the opposite of stifling, it was terrifying. It was lifeless.

Taking the lift to the middle section I was confronted by a sea of busy people. The General Operations floor consisted of a series of open planned rooms separated by huge arches with membranes in between. In my whole lifetime I had never seen artificial membranes. We had lost that technology along with the United World. It seemed at times as though we had lost everything in the entire world, the day the Resource Wars came to an end. We had lost all the green spaces, all the life extending treatments - in many ways he had even lost our liberty. Everything since that point had been focused on rebuilding what was lost, of serving the future generations. In the end it had all been a fabrication, set into motion by people I had never known, whose intention was the simplest of all intentions - to keep as many of us going for as long as we had left.

But such thoughts made little difference to my present reality. Instead of continuing with these musings, I resolved myself to take in as much information about the ship as possible. Who knew, with my present ability to find myself in trouble, I may end up needing the information.

I walked through membrane number three and into the Command and Information Centre. This was the nerve centre of the ship. There was a series of ovals within which a person would sit surrounded by a perimeter of screens. Above each oval there was a holo sign stating 'tactical,' 'navigation,' 'helm,' 'weapons' etc. These ovals gravitated towards a central pedestal upon which a sign floated stating, 'Operations Chiefs.' It was there that the black clad superiors stood above all else conducting the orchestra beneath.

Tiring quickly of the military scene of the CIC I traversed the cascade of fast moving people towards the nearest access lift.

'Hello George,' stated the mind numbingly polite voice of the ship idiosyncratically. 'Please state you desired floor.'

'Floor one,' I replied tiredly. After all I had had much to think about and my mind was slowly succumbing to the desire to sleep.

'Of course George. Going up.'

The system chimed and the doors opened when my floor was reached. I was stopped in my tracks when the computer suddenly chirped, 'George. The Captain has requested that you dine with her at your earliest possible convenience. Shall I set a reservation?'

'Tell the commander I will be available within an hour.'

'Of course George. I'll leave you to your musings.'

It was a curious enough response from the machine. _My musings_ , how on Earth did he know what I was doing? The chances were the thing had been lifted from a long abandoned hotel somewhere. Maybe it had been dragged through the Waste, delivered to the shipbuilders and hastily patched to operate the ship. A hotel operating a warship, now there was a thought.

My thoughts began to move onto more comforting subjects and eventually turned back to taking in the vessel's architecture.

The science deck was indeed a marvel. Glass walls divided rooms with metal arms, white plastic devices and grey clad personnel. My understanding of the sciences was at best limited. For me the floor offered a tantalising glimpse of wonders beyond my comprehension. What I was certain of was that the deck was undertaking research of great importance. Everything here seemed so big. Even the noises were louder.

The scene reminded me of trip we'd all taken to see one of the Derelicts. Dad had driven for hours. The air conditioning stopped working halfway through the journey and we'd been cooked alive behind the glass. In the past you could have opened the windows - but so far from the atmosphere generators it would have been too dangerous. Naturally we'd all argued the entire way there but it got worse once the heat started to build. Mum and Dad were basically at each others throats by the time we pulled outside a partially collapsed depot.

We were all furious at each other right up until the second we saw it. Those machines, the industry that had build the world, staring back at us. There was dust everywhere of course and it was only because of the holes in the roof that we had the light to see them. I remember that I could barely prevent my fingers from removing the mask from my face to get a better view.

We spent the journey home in silence.

It hit me deeply. Tears began to pool in my eyes. It was all gone. Those we had left behind were all dead. The machines back there in the Derelict, in here on the ship, weren't any use to anyone. There was no more scientific advancement to be made. There was no more civilisation and what was left of it was right here, all 300 cubic meters of it. This was the sum total of the entire human race - and it could fit inside a house.

I had to sit down.

My old life was long buried in the grave. The whole world was burnt cinder, and we'd never taken notice. We were undergoing this voyage not to save the world but to save a small handful of machinery and just over a hundred people. No one was even sure if there were any people left of the colonies.

Tears filled my eyes and washed along the length of my face as I thought about what my street must look like. My neighbours would have no power with which to wash themselves. Pretty soon they would run out of food. Their little dog, that used the wag its tail in glee, would become their last food reserve. In the darkness of the lightless night they would succumb to the realities of their situation and die, a slow malignant death.

It took a long time to shake away these thoughts. I struggled to restore my breathing before anyone passed by this area and noticed how affected I was. With a subtle series of movements I ducked out of sight and into one of the rooms hoping for a bit of peace with which I could marshal my emotions.

It was a poor choice. Filling a screen that ran along the wall was a picture of Earth and next to it numbers of the dead. I had to leave, the elevator beckoned.

'Going Down.'

5

'Doors Opening,' the computer chimed.

With a whoosh the doors disappeared revealing only darkness interspersed occasionally with the faint flicker of blue light. Stepping forward uneasily my eyes began to acclimatise. Searching wearily for directions I saw the signs and began to lumber forward.

Head down I passed a large opening and made my way into the organised bustle of people hard at work.

'Mr Engeltine.'

I turned my head to the right and saw a woman dismounting from her podium, smiling falsely. 'My room, if you please,' she barked and spun on her heel. She moved in confident strides away from me. I hurried to match her steps as I trailed behind her.

My eyes had no sooner recovered from the shock of the relative darkness of the CIC than I was confronted by the excessively bright light of her chambers which were a mixture of the eccentrically ultra modern and the woody conservative fixtures of the past.

'Mr Engeltine, in case you hadn't noticed,' she pointed towards her pins, 'I am your captain.' It was clear she intended to begin the conversation with an air of authority. 'You are directly responsible to me and to no one else. The nature of your deployment with us is a matter of sealed record. It is your duty, and the conditions of your stay upon my vessel, that you abide by my rules and no others.'

I murmured something in agreement. It was hard to keep focus on this woman. She was tall without being high. Good looking without being beautiful. It was as if some creator had fashioned her out of all the most perfect materials and then combined them in a haphazard fashion. Most unnerving of all was how it came together. She looked no more than twenty but seemed a thousand years old. If I was asked I would never have been able to guess at her true age. She was an anachronism.

'Tea?' She enquired.

'Please,' I managed. Taking a seat, whilst she raised an eyebrow, I tried to calm my senses.

A glass mug quickly appeared in front of me. Drinking deeply I allowed the warmth and comfort of the liquid to seep through me as we sat without sound. Only the rustle of breathing interrupted our perfect silence.

Something had to be said and yet it appeared as though there were no words left in the entire universe. It was as though the realm where words existed had been sucked away by an immense gravitational pull. Images and concepts flashed through my mind and found no substance with which to give them life, and so they flashed just as quickly out of existence. The silence continued.

Eventually of course the silence ended. It was the captain that spoke first. 'George, I'm Aeniah. But please don't assume we are on first name terms.'

I could not place the name. It was unlike anything I had ever heard.

'If I am honest George I'm not too sure what we should be doing. My orders are to travel to the Ascension station in search of some ridiculous and frankly unbelievable artefact upon which our future depends. In the entire history of my career as a ship's captain I have never been given such an absurd request.' She paused thoughtfully. But, I suppose, since the Wars, nothing has ever made too much sense.'

I looked towards her with questioning eyes. She looked towards me with eyes of regret and sorrow. Curiously it was not the sorrow of a fresh wound. It appeared as old as time.

'You know it wasn't always like this,' she sighed.

'I don't understand,' I replied.

'I don't suppose you do. Never mind. It is in the past now buried along with our planet. Let us talk no more on this.'

She stood and in the process ended our moment of awkward solitude. She stared down into my eyes and said, 'we will arrive at Ascension in two days. You should go to your quarters and watch the presentation provided for you by Sephra. Be ready.'

In a trance I left upon those words more confused than ever and burning with an irrational desire to make her proud. In the course of a few minutes she had infected me with a desire, a little less than love but more than admiration.

*

In what seemed like a heartbeat I had made it to my room. It was dark and it was cold. A chill reached into me and seemed to draw scars across my soul. Everything seemed wrong. As I turned my head one way and the other images would appear flickering before me. These flickers took on unclear forms and dissipated all too slowly.

I looked above me and trickles of red ran at impossible speeds along the walls. It was blood moving like water.

Then it was gone, replaced by a grey metal roof, curved and barren.

A second later and spikes of light pushed their way into existence throbbing at a speed that seemed to impress itself into every corner of the room. I fell to the floor gasping. I screwed my eyes tight shut and crawled on my hands and knees towards the corner of the room, like one possessed.

A figure made of nothing darted past me and ceased to exist. Behind me I could hear a wheezing breathing. In front of me a gargling gasp for breathe. I squeezed my chest. The sensations were too much. Everything began pressing itself upon me. The walls were moving in. I could hear my name being called. It was all too much. My breathing stopped as oxygen seemed to be drawn away from me. The terror seemed to have pulled the very air from the room.

Still my name was being called and called. It was mocking me. It was smiling and baring its teeth in a wicked grin. It was cackling. This is it. This is the end. I grabbed my throat. I couldn't take it anymore.

'Go away! Go away! Please! Please!' The louder I screamed the closer they got. They were all around me. There was no more room. This is it. I am gone. There are too many people. The room is turning red. It is filling with blood. I'm going to drown. They are here. They are here.

They are gone. There is no more noise. There is light. There is room. I'm drawing in breathe. I'm gasping. I'm crying. It's gone. It's not here anymore. My name is being called.

'George!'

I picked my body up and raised myself onto my knees. Head down and shaking my voice was catching in my throat. I tried again suddenly but couldn't make a sound. I swallowed. That was better. After a few breathes I asked timidly, 'who is it?'

'It's the computer George. I have been calling you for some time. Is there something the matter? I saw you screaming at the walls. Do you wish for me to alert the medical staff?' There was little real concern it its voice.

'No! No. Thank You. I'm alright. It's not a big deal. Just something...nothing. It's everything and its nothing. Fuck it. Why am I even talking to a machine, you wouldn't understand.' I crossed my arms at the insanity of trying to explain something as complex as what was going on in my head to a machine.

'On the contrary Sephra prepared me for your unpredictability. He advised that I endeavour to make you watch his presentation on it. He claimed that this would help you on your way to understanding your gift. Ordinarily I would propose you watched it another time but the ship is nearing Ascension'

'Gift? Never mind. Okay. I'm guess I'm gonna have to find out sometime. At least after everything I have just seen I might get an explanation out of the man.'

'Very well George. I am acquiring the necessary data. Data resolved. Are you ready to begin viewing?' I nodded.

'In the interests of your comfort I recommend viewing this presentation from your chair in order to avoid causing unnecessary stress to your lumbar region.

'For youe information, this data-stream is not interactive. Additionally there is no further information available on your syndrome, although I can reference similar psychological conditions at your discretion. This presentation is the property of the Eternis Systems and unauthorised distribution of any confidential information to third parties, is strictly prohibited by law. Any opinions expressed in this presentation are of the speakers alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Eternis Systems.'

I settled into my seat. An expanding burst of white particles streamed into the shape of the man I remembered well. Gaining colour and resolution Sephra appeared before my person and appeared to walk towards me.

'Mr Engeltine, a pleasure as ever. At the time of this recording we shall not have met, but you will know me well. As I am sure you are aware I will be unable to answer any questions directly on account of my recent death.'

Smiling with the mirth of a person who had just told a joke of great design he continued, 'by now you should know a little of the reasons for which we have altered your genetic code and sent you on your mission. But intrinsically you will not be aware of your syndrome and your abilities. The purpose of this presentation is to inform you of the limited information that we have on your syndrome, in order that you might be sufficiently prepared for the future. If you have any further questions please ask Anieah. The Eternis Systems may well have an outstanding business practices, but even we do not have post-apocalyptic consumer support.' Sephra's voice quivered a little as he began to reach the heart of his presentation. 'Let's get straight to it.'

'Artefact 77-x produces in the human brain an adverse reaction of epic proportions. At an unconscious level 77-x has the ability to produce a process of thought by which typically culminates in the self destruction of those affected.

'Clinical studies suggest that those affect are in some way driven to correct some perceived psychological imbalance through a process of cerebral shutdown. Unfortunately this effect does not simply impose itself upon the individual. Indeed, victims categorically believe that the world around them is saturated with the error, that this essential wrong must be corrected. In all cases of exposure the victims seek to eradicate themselves as well as their surroundings. We do not understand the mechanisms behind this, but a potential theory is that the victims are attempting to clean the environment, to make way for something. Yet ultimately the reality of this theory is yet to be established.

'When research on the Ascension station produced a possible immunity to the infection our science teams immediately began medical trials.

'Upon initial exposure the patients appeared to recognise, at least visually, an inherent problem with themselves and the world around them. 77-x appeared to have an identical effect on them. However it became clear that the gene sequence offered to the patients had the ability to neutralise any greater effect. The discord with the world was only temporary. Deeply affective, but temporary nonetheless.

'As the patients were exposed more and more frequently to 77-x they began to see more and more visions, some of heaven and some of hell. With each vision grew some greater knowledge that they could not understand. We never did find out what it was that they believed they had learnt.' Sephra moved a little to the right to make way for a diagnostic screen which appeared to be displaying the medical trial's data.

'Mid-way through the trials three patients began to exhibit new symptoms. As they were locked down at night their bodies began to shift in a way that I am unable to describe. One day they simply disappeared.

'Thirteen days after their disappearance they simply appeared. Again we do no know why, no data was recorded on the incident.

'Curiously the very instant they appeared the other patients died. We do not understand why. A post mortem revealed little. Some of the more radical theories made out that the returning three had drain the patients of something essential. These theories are of course unsubstantiated.

'My theory is that something went wrong in the trials. Radiation signatures were similar to the technology found on Ascension. It is my belief, and mine alone, that one of the station's systems responsible for managing the trials safety eliminated the patients. My fears, however, may be unfounded.

'As a matter of course we questioned those that had returned. Their responses were certainly interesting. They described to us that they had touched upon a source of power, a reality beyond ours. They claimed that their visions had ceased because they had gained, "a fuller understanding." It is unclear what was meant by this.' Sephra rocked unconsciously.

'Further questioning yielded no information of valye. The patients resisted even our best efforts at information acquisition.

'In an effort to stop our attempts at this acquisition, they promised us a cure. As a gesture of good faith they improved the gene modification that we had developed and which ultimately you were sequenced with.

'Despite my reservations about continuing with the project on the Ascension station, the chairman of the Eternis Systems demanded further trials.

'After initial successes on Ascension the team sent their final message. This was the message that was played to you in our first meeting. The transmission reveals little. It seemed that even they, the best of our creations so far, had failed.

'Shortly afterward we lost contact with our teams Ascension issued an emergency report which was cut off mid-stream. Around forty five minutes we lost all contact. This is about all the information that I have for you. But I do have some food for thought.

'Ascension is a station whose composition we can only dream at. Even our teams did not advance so far as to see anything but a glimmer of it. They were confined to the research facilities by the onboard AI. You are about to step into a world untouched by humanity's downfall. We know so little about the station.

'What we know is simply this. The station was the greatest construction ever undertaken during the time of the United World. It had been a new Eden, free from the world which conceived it. It was to be a new world where generations of inhabitants would live and die as gods. It was another failed construction of our species.

'I can tell you no more. So little has been told to our children about the world that existed before our own. Our ignorance has been our downfall. We may never recover from the damage we have caused to ourselves George. But if we ever have any chance to recover what was lost, Ascension is the only way. It is the only project of its scale left from those times. If there is an answer that is where it will be.

'As always, good luck.' The holo dissolved into the air. Faint traces of light particles remained, like dead pixels on a screen.

'Message ends,' chimed the computer.

'Well that was less than useless,' I muttered, my mind still reeling from the confusing mass of typically cryptic information. The man was a frustration. Why couldn't he just say, 'this is what is wrong with you. This is how you fix it. This is what to do.'

But that would be too simple. There were never any answers, just more information and that inevitably led to more questions.

I put myself to bed. The darkness drew itself around me I offered a little whimper to the silence and closed my eyes. Tomorrow would bring a new day and I would understand.

6

I did not understand. Claxons were sounding everywhere. Alerts were being offered from all sides of the room. Orders were being shouted over comms. Whatever they were saying was lost in the static. Turning in my bed an image resolved itself next to me of Aeniah. The din all around me softened to allow her voice to come through.

'Get your ass out of bed George, we're nearly bloody there. Don't make me come in there and drag you to the gallery.' She disappeared.

Groggily I pulled on some clothes and staggered out of the door. The melee continued outside. The corridors were full of frantically running people. The air was filled with a frenetic energy that was contagious. Blossoming with energy my body threw itself at a run towards the elevator. As the door began to open I ran with all my speed towards them. With a crash I collided with the partially opened door.

'Bugger,' I exclaimed rubbing my head as I took a breath, red faced, and made it inside.

'For future reference George, you should wait until the doors are open before charging...'

'Oh shut up,' I snapped cutting it off mid-sentence.

'Please state your floor,' it requested politely.

'CIC.'

'Going up.'

Emerging from the lift I launched myself towards the bow where I could witness what was ahead of us. I moved in a trance down the stairs leading from the CIC and into the gallery. The gallery was a walkway suspended in the middle of a circular room that was entirely transparent. All around me I could see stars and a large point of light that was moving ever closer.

A comms holo resolved into existence next to me and began producing sound. 'Helm hard left, directional heading to dock marker A-44-C' came Aeniah's voice.

'Yes sir,' replied a hushed voice.

'Tactical, establish servo connection with Ascension!'

'Establishing connection with Ascension. Connection approved. Awaiting passcode authentication. DNA. Cognative. Ascension confirms docking privileges. Beginning data up-link. Up-link confirmed.'

'Status,' Aeniah barked.

'Ascension is in low power mode. Primary systems are offline and not responding. Wake commands stalled. Ascension's systems are not responding to command request. Life support is available but areas of the stations are in red status. There is limited power available. Main generators are dark. Defensive systems partially active but are recognised as friendly. No further information.'

'What?' Aeniah stated incredulously.

'Sir there are no systems, except for life support and some tag markers. Docking is only functional because our vessel is providing the number crunching capability and programme codes.'

'Hell no one told me the damn thing was busted to pieces,' Aeniah grumbled. 'Take us in slowly then! I don't want any surprises.'

'400 kilometres...200...100...50...full reverse thrust...slowing'

What was once in the distance was now in full view. It was simply beyond all words. It was the very essence of beauty, of human majesty. It was a work of art. Ascension was the most massive thing that I had ever seen. Surrounding its outer architecture were wings like those of an angel reaching out and embracing the superstructure. The six wings, each many kilometres long, were shaped as if folding towards the building. As if in an embrace.

The outer surface of Ascension was a mass of shapes, like waves that were crashing into rock. Rising above each of the thousands of waves were figures. No, they were horses, people, lions, mythical creatures, each many hundreds of times the size of their deceased equivalents. Long spines of the superstructure curved and punctured themselves through the station, creating a living image.

At the peak of Ascension there was a dancing violet aura surrounding a cluster of brilliant white light, collecting in a circle. It appeared as if this oasis was collecting light like water out of a desert, pooling it into a brilliant lake of dancing diamonds.

The skin of Ascension was itself a mass of wonder. One minute green, the next fluttering to amber, then blue; and then for a tantalising moment it was clear. In that moment of transparency a billion points of motion and wonder could be observed before the colours shifted again. Ascension was still and isolated in a world made of nothing, literally nothing, and yet it bustled with life, with motion. It was a pure essence of beauty, of the perfect from. It was in a state of perfect motion, and we were moving closer.

The little ship, a point of barely visible light, was moving its way toward the open wings of an angel. They rippled like water against glass as they met. An embarrassed motion between lovers.

The world around them faded away as stars set like suns. It was as though the majesty of creation was unfolding, as two tiny points of light joined together amid the green and blue and white constellations. A moment captured forever amidst the forests of heaven.

*

We were gathered around in the pressure chamber placing on our protective suits.

'No weapons,' Aeniah warned the guardsman to her right. 'I don't want anyone bringing anything with them that they can use to kill each other, _if_ they go insane.'

In silence we pinched the seals on our suits together, turned the systems on and felt the warm breeze of the Eternis Corporation Dura-Enviro-System.

With the final checks finished we made our way towards the pressure doors.

With a flick from Aeniah the door turned, burst, rolled and disappeared and we made our way into darkness.

Movement was difficult in the darkness but we kept walking, hands out for stability. Night vision was no use in the absolute darkness of the station. Our visor screens swiped to thermal but there was no reading. Nothing living had been here in a long time. The air had become stagnant and an acrid taste worked its way along my pallet. It must have been my imagination, the suit's seal indicator was all green.

As the corridor between the ship and the station widened we came to the realisation that we had emerged into one of the docking platforms of Ascension. We all turned to Aeniah who had been the only one with the foresight to switch on her suits torches. A feeling of embarrassment worked its way throughout the group. The nerves had gotten to all of us.

'Idiots,' she muttered over the comms.

Soon everyone had activated their torches, but little could be seen. It appeared that the room we were in was of such large proportions that the beams from our weak torches could not reach from one end of the room to the other. Instead they faded infinitely to a point and no further.

'Get me the Remote-Drone-Unit,' Aeniah stated.

'Confirmed, CIC will acquire RDU for Aeniah' said a nameless character somewhere in the darkness.

A creaking came to me audibly. I spun, searching with my torches, but could see nothing. Again I heard it from the same area. It creaked again and then no more.

Something was out there.

Something was watching us.

I could feel its eyes burning holes into me.

Something grabbed my shoulder.

'Are you okay,' asked Aeniah in a comforting voice. Well for her it was comforting but in reality it felt cold and stilted.

'Fine. It's just...nothing,' I managed. I was certain that I was going crazy. I felt as though I was seeing things, first in my room and now here. I wondered if what they had done to me could have caused me to go a little crazy, but I thought better of it. I certainly didn't feel crazy. I was probably the only sane person here. I was the only one that didn't want to be here.

Aeniah just nodded and turned to a faint blue light.

'About time Sean,' she said to the light.

'My apologies Aeniah, I needed to be transferred to this device. The process takes a little while.'

'Computer?' I inquired, recognising instantly the unflappable voice of the ship.

'Yes George I am the computer. Aeniah calls me by my original name for the purpose of continuity.'

'You knew each other from before?' I asked. If they had been able to see my eyebrows, they would have been raised.

'Of course, Aeniah and I have a longstanding past...'

'Enough,' Aeniah huffed, 'you need to get me some bloody systems online before I throw your perfectly spherical ass into a power distributer.'

The blue light turned and revealed a small sphere no bigger that a fist suspended in the air as if by magic. The blue light at the front appeared to function, I supposed, as an eye.

'It is difficult. So little has been left responsive. I can perhaps get the systems to boot independently of the network. This would allow access to lighting and door controls, but with the AI down there is little chance of other systems being capable of functioning. Do you want me to execute this plan?' Sean enquired.

'That would be lovely,' replied Aeniah dryly, 'and whilst you're at it how about giving this place a little heat.'

Sean didn't wait for Aeniah to finished talking. A faint holo appeared somewhere in the distance. Then another, and another, until images made of light resolved in front of us. The language was unfamiliar. It was not written in symbol characters but some sort of fluid squiggle. It dragged itself from one end to the other and did not appear to move in columns.

A piercing pain hit my head. The words seemed so familiar, they meaning seemed to be washing closer to me. In the same instant they were back as they were before and the headache subsided. I was becoming convinced that I was crazy. I drew in my breath sharply, I had to stay sane enough to do my job.

Aeniah moved towards the holo. Scanning the texts and images she pointed with her finger and said, 'this way.'

She moved forwards with purpose. We followed behind her in formation. Well _they_ were in formation, I was simply in a position that I thought made sense.

We arrived at a larger holo, something that appeared to be a console. Aeniah and Sean seemed to spend an eternity analysing it. My thoughts turned to Adrian. He was lying there alone on a slab, in a tank, under some surgical equipment, being worked on. I felt guilty for having forgotten about him in the excitement of the moment. I thought back to the early days when we had walked along the hills talking of what could have been, what might have been. Back then the world had been easy. It had all happened so fast. I remember the pain, the anguish; I saw the sorrow in his eyes. I had tried to help, I really did. But I kept seeing his eyes, his face, like I could see into his soul, or at least the pieces I had taken from him.

'George!' screamed Aeniah's voice. 'Get your ass to that waypoint or you and I are going to have a serious falling out.'

I moved towards the location that was flashing on my wrist screen. The waypoint was labelled _door aperture opening_. Aeniah and I were side by side as we moved towards the door. Crossing the threshold we did not know what to expect. The unease we felt was being shared between us. Feeding one another's apprehension we moved forwards into the unknown.

A violent slashing sound pierced the silence of the station. We spun in unison and our torches illuminated a freshly closed door. The door we had just been through.

'Tactical this is Aeniah, what the fuck just happened Tactical...tactical?'

We were alone. Aeniah, the faint blue light and I. We were alone.

7

We were not alone. There was a gasping ahead of us. The faint scratching of claws against metal could be heard distinctly in the distance. Aeniah looked towards me. I knew now that I had not been the only one hearing it.

'Sean, what _is_ that?' Aeniah whispered through her teeth.

The noise from Aeniah's lips must have been picked up by the thing in front of us. In an instant it could be heard rushing towards us, growling as if through barred teeth. Aeniah grabbed my shoulder and we ran. I could not tell you where. We just kept moving, faster and faster. No matter how we ran, whatever was behind us was still there.

Rounding the next corner Aeniah flashed out her arm and from it flew a huge spark that exploded against something. Visible for that moment the creatures face could be glimpsed. It had no lips, its teeth were long and jagged, its skin was white and oozing fluid. Great red holes perforated its abdomen as the shot hit. But still it continued towards us. I almost thought I heard it laughing.

Seized with terror I dragged Aeniah around the next corner. Then another. We ran at a tremendous speed, but it was not fast enough. The monster was getting closer. Aeniah discharged yet more sparks into the creature, but this had little effect. It staggered only for a second, and then continued after us faster than ever.

Sliding as we turned, Aeniah lost her footing and crashed to the ground. Her lights went out instantly. I spun on my heel racing back towards her. I could hear the stampeding feet of the creature and knew that it was seconds away.

It was meters from us now. It was close enough to smell. Part way through lifting Aeniah to her feet a colossal impact punctured my body and I was on the ground feet away.

Aeniah screamed but I could not see her. Terrified beyond all belief my mind began to separate itself from reality. Searching for an energy I did not have, my mind connected to some innermost repository of knowledge and blinding light filled my vision. Like before the light danced and spun about the surfaces. It appeared from no apparent source and moved outwards like spears. Ahead of me the creature was visible, making its way towards Aeniah. She screamed again. In that instant, it was gone.

There was a stunned silence before I had the sight of mind to do anything other than breathe but it passed quickly.

I ran towards Aeniah and grabbed hold of her hand and ran.

Possessed by some abstract thought I followed some path laid out by providence in my head and we arrived. I am not sure where we arrived, but it was better than staying out there.

It was too dark to see.

'What the fuck was that?' Aeniah demanded after we had caught our breath. She was staring straight at me accusingly.

'I don't know,' I returned truthfully.

'I do,' chimed a musical voice ahead of us. Sean was humming to himself as he glided around the room revealing strange half-seen instruments and architecture from his blue glowing body as he moved. The stupid machine had not even bothered to help.

'What?' stated Aeniah, 'how can you know what that is?'

'Simple, you asked me to find out and I did. Well at least partially.'

'Well?' she replied impatiently.

'Genetic scans confirm that the entity is of unknown origin. Not simply unknown in terms of the Earth species chain, but unknown in terms of design and genetic configuration. Simply put it is not even made of the same building blocks that you are. In all probability it did not even share the same genesis.' Sean replied in a self-satisfied manner.

'So essentially, you don't know' I replied, tiredly. I really was beginning to lose interest in this whole end-of-the-world chased-by-monsters thing.

'On the contrary George I have gleamed a vast field of data. For instance they heal quickly. Sensors estimated that it took the entity four point nine seconds to recover from Aeniah's pulse blasts'

'And what exactly was that Aeniah. I thought you said that we weren't allowed to bring any weapons with us.' I flashed my eyes accusingly towards her. Instead of seeming startled she laughed briefly with mirth.

'Oh no, you misunderstand me. I said that _you_ couldn't bring any weapons with you. _I_ on the other hand don't go anywhere without one.'

'So what exactly do you bring about with you' I enquired.

'Why a pocket-plasma-launcher of course.' Seeing my confusion she continued. 'Ah, of course, little before your time I suppose. Well before the Wars PPLs were all the rage. People practically couldn't visit another country without one. Mine, I suppose, is one of the last ones left.' She turned thoughtfully back to Sean. 'Where exactly are we.'

Sean began to glide around the room again and restarted his infuriating half musical humming. He appeared to observe the room in the way a child might observe their presents wrapped beneath the tree. He was full of glee.

'Why Aeniah, can't you see, we are inside a data control nexus' he replied.

'And what exactly does that mean,' I enquired.

'DCN's were commonly used as part of a chain link network of processing for United World nations. Activating one link in the chain allows another link in the chain to come online. With each link in the chain activated more and more meta-systems come online until a complete AI is formed. Most importantly each DCN contains all the basic power and processing requirement for the section in which it is placed.' Smugly Sean turned towards Aeniah as if looking for approval. Aeniah did not appear to be in the mood for giving any.

'So effectively, we turn this on and this section functions at a basic level. Turn them all on and we get all the bells and whistles' she stated dryly. Without waiting for a reply she grabbed hold of his frame and said 'then turn the bloody thing on.'

'Aeniah you, perhaps, are better suited to activating these systems. United World systems typically reject unauthorised computer entry. Manual interfacing is always preferred, and with your background...' He trailed off.

Aeniah strode over to a large slab of glass surrounded by many others at different heights and orientations. Placing her hands above the glass she drew images into life. The slab had become a screen and the language again was unfamiliar, radically different and yet somehow meaningful. Aeniah appeared to have no trouble understanding it as her fingers began to fan wildly about the screen. She proceeded to spin a box this way and that, enter text into another, then rotated a pulsing circle. In all the entire procedure seemed needlessly complex. Surely a simply _on_ button couldn't have hurt anyone.

Suddenly there was a chiming followed by a laboured dialogue in that same strange unfamiliar language. The crass and unyielding language sounded so familiar and yet it was completely incomprehensible. The ground beneath my feet started to hum, I could feel it all the way to my ankles. Our helmets opened and detached. Incredibly I began to smell fresh air, with a purity and fragrance I could not describe.

If the room had appeared large before it was massive now. Lights that had been dormant for so long began to force their way into the room. Blues and purples and reds burst into existence. The world became warmer, better, greater.

The room (if it could be called such a thing) now revealed itself. It curved at either end and expanded in the centre, the effect was a room shaped somewhat like an eye. Huge diamond pyramids rose and tapered like sculptures. Within them was imprisoned a violent blue light, which performed motions almost too fast for the eye to see. In the centre of this eye was its pupil, more exactly a huge ring around which pure energy, immediately visible to the naked eye, rose in spirals. It appeared organic. It appeared alive.

Aeniah turned to me quizzically and opened her mouth, 'George the system says that a language update is available for you.'

'I don't understand'

'It appears your...modifications, have given you the ability to receive, as it were, updates.'

'Like genetic memory,' I enquired.

Sean spoke the words ' _exactly_ ' before Aeniah could open her mouth. Crossly, Aeniah turned to me and asked, 'well do you want to update or not?'

'Go for it', I reasoned. 'What harm could it do.'

Aeniah turned and began to suck on her bottom lip as she began to play her fingers about the screen. Soon, gradually, I felt a slight tingling. It was curious that the information did not appear to come from anywhere other than me. I felt a foreign presence but could not distinguish what was in my memory from what was being given to me. It felt odd not to know reality from fabrication.

Then I felt it. My eyes were opened. Images I had mistaken for art became letters, and slowly, ever so slowly, became words. I saw the words 'Blue Clarity' rise from the centre of the ring of energy.

I asked Sean the question 'What exactly is 'Blue Clarity'?'

'Blue Clarity is a type of energy production. It is named after the way that it appears to the naked eye. Blue Clarity is by many degrees the perfect source of energy. It produces power infinitely, never running out' Sean answered amicably.

'But why didn't they continue using it after the resource wars? Surely if we had had that technology I might still have had a home. We might not be living through this nightmare.' The more I reasoned the more anger I felt at us for forgetting it.

'Of course, many of the problems experienced by your society could have been alleviated through much of the technology available here. However, after the Resource Wars, the two major competing parties were largely destroyed. Around 78% of the world was left permanently inhospitable to human life. The societies that emerged were but a shadow of their former selves, ignorant and blind to the majesty of the past. It would never have been possible for them to produce anything quite as exquisite as Blue Clarity.' Sean for the first time appeared saddened. He did not speak these words with his usual sense of joy, instead he appeared to mourn the loss. Indeed he mourned for it almost more than the loss of the world. Stupid machine.

I shook myself, thinking that a machine had emotions, it was insanity. No matter how good software is it is not sentient. He, _it_ , was nothing more than a hunk of metal, complete with wire and a speaker. Nothing more.

Aeniah who appeared to sense what I might be thinking, swiped at Sean and a thud bounced off his metal exterior. Sean was pushed to the side and appeared to dip before gradually restoring his normal altitude, just at head height. 'See, he's not smart enough to avoid that,' she announced smugly.

Smiling at this I began to look around for more of this new language to read. Aeniah, however, was having none of it.

'Listen ladies, whilst I'm sure some ancient and magical generators could keep us _primitive_ beings entertained until the cows come home, we have to start this hunk of metal up.'

And that was that, Aeniah strode away from us at a fast pace. Turning to one another briefly in annoyance, Sean and I followed her lead.

*

'Sub section 2A-Delta. DCN node twelve of thirteen. Automatic power-up of Blue Clarity generators enabled. Aeniah please authorise DCN startup.' Sean chimed.

'Hold on, hold on. There, got it.' Aeniah gasped in exasperation. We had been walking for twenty four long hours from one end of Ascension's engineering complex to another. This station was massive, and it had deprived us all of sleep for far too long.

Along the way Sean had helpfully informed us that the floor that we were on was "engineering level three", where the AI was housed, and that there were hundreds more sections like it. Despite this, so far, we had managed to activate almost all of the nodes.

The scale of the station was indeed immense, but dull. After the initial awe had worn off it became apparent that on this section everything was the same. It was just room after room of the same apparatus. Each room massive, but of the same dimensions. It was indisputably boring. I wondered if the rest of the station would improve. What was I saying? I was so tired I could barely focus on my train of thought. I didn't know what I was thinking.

'Good. Sensors indicate that the AI is ready for activation. The final DCN will give her total control over the station,' Sean announced.

Listening to Sean go on about technicalities and AI technology had caused Aeniah and I to complete give up on listening to him. Both our thoughts had turned inwards and we had settled into a rhythm of silence. Unspoken between us was a simple truth. Something was not right.

This station, Ascension, was perfection. Nothing was missing, and yet everything seemed to lack something. A certain energy, a certain motion perhaps. It felt like one of those places you visit, something like a museum. Everything is just where it always had been, and would remain. Yet everything in there was lifeless. Without people a place was nothing. I could not hint at my fears, but the more I thought on them the more grounded in reality they appeared. I was certain, however, that turning on the AI was a very, very bad idea.

'AI load protocol sixty percent complete'

'Wait!' I screamed.

Sean turned towards me and announced as if I was insane.'Aborting the protocol at this stage would cause extreme corruption to all boot files. The AI could not be recovered. The system will prevent any attempt at an abort. I cannot override this safety feature.' He gave not hint of emotion. He was simply stating fact, the process could not be undone.

Aeniah turned towards me quizzically and said, 'what exactly would be so bad about turning on the AI?'

'Its just. Well. I have a feeling....' I tried.

'We all have feelings George, get to the point!'

'Well, where are all the people?'

'They died George, the researchers, patients, whatever you want to call them, they killed themselves.'

'No, I know but...well what about the people before'? Confusion showed on Aeniah's face. 'This station was designed as a paradise, right? And it's finished, right? So where were all those people? Where did they go?'

'According to Eternis Systems files, the station was largely completed, but it was never populated. The Resource Wars prevent the United World despatching colonials.' Aeniah still didn't understand.

'But look around you.' I gestured to focus her sight. 'Over there in the corner is a data-pad, for personal use, where was the person who used that?' I spotted an something else not far away and forced my point. 'And over there, it's a tool of some kind. If the station was unpopulated then who was using that and why didn't they put it away?'

Aeniah didn't look concerned. 'The researchers must have come down here. They would have needed to fix something I assume.'

'But Aeniah, they were never trained to do that. They could never have done it. We don't even know how half of this works, let alone how to fix it. No one does. The researchers could never have fixed this.'

Sean, who had been observing the scene, started to pipe up. 'George, calm down. There is no reason for panic. In order for the AI to assume control we need to activate the final DCN. All we have done is to turn it on. Don't tell me that you are afraid of an AI? She can't harm you, that would breech her duty of care.'

Aeniah and I exhaled in unison. However Sean now racked up the tension by stating the simple words: 'The AI is now live.'

'Can I speak to it?' Aeniah asked cautiously. Sean bobbed to indicate that she could.

'Ascension,' Aeniah commanded, 'we are here under the commission of the Eternis Corporation in order to find out the circumstances of the events which led to your shutdown.'

'Aeniah, welcome to Ascension,' a cool, intelligent sounding voice announced. 'My name is Blue Dawn. Unfortunately I do not have access to the required information to answer your question. In order to assist you with your query you will have to activate the DCN in the next room. This will provide the resource to process your request more completely.'

'Before I even consider doing _that_ , I think it best that we get to know one another first' Aeniah commanded.

'That is not possible Aeniah' Blue Dawn replied in that same impossibly cool and measured tone. 'Crash files indicate that the station may be in severe danger and unauthorised AI shut down was initiated. My primary objective is the continuity of this station. I am sorry Aeniah but the threat to this station is too severe. If you like I would be more than happy to get to know you at a more convenient time.'

'You are under my command Dawn, I will _not_ be taking orders from you. Right now I'm not sure if you are a liability to _my_ mission.' Aeniah scolded.

'You are quite mistaken Aeniah. I am not under your control. I am designed to work in the interests of the station. At this moment the continuity of Ascension may be seriously threatened. The assistance that I have given to your research team was provided because it was mutually beneficial to my interests and your own. It was necessary for your species to prevail. However I fear that you may have been misinformed. I do not work for you,' Blue Dawn continued without affront. Her voice had such a dreamlike quality that I almost felt myself coming under her spell.

'Then you don't get your DCN' Aeniah replied, folding her arms.

'That is unfortunate, but unlikely. Manual activation of the final DCN is not required. I have already begun the necessary preparation.'

'What?' burst out Sean, 'that is impossible. My schematics for Ascension leave no room for error. There must be a manual activation of all primary systems for the AI.'

'Your schematics, I am afraid, are not accurate. After it became apparent that I was alone, it did not seem practical to rely upon others for assistance. I watched as humanity destroyed itself and monitored the fall of my society during the Resource Wars. It was...difficult to observe. I therefore engineered the means by which I could continue to look after Ascension without interference from others. Surely you understand that I cannot do my job if I cannot complete a startup routine without human support.' Blue Dawn's voice seemed filled with reverence for the past. The words came heavily and seemed laboured.

But as she continued her voice brightened. 'There, all done. The DCN is now online. Let's bring this station back online shall we?'

As she spoke the whirring on the engineering deck became louder and louder. Sounds and feelings like great machines waking from their slumber resonated throughout the group. Aeniah gripped the handle of her weapon, looking grim.

Suddenly Blue Dawn spoke aloud with a voice filled with grave concern.

'Oh, dear. This cannot be. Quarantine procedures initiated. I'm very sorry.'

A pain began to spread itself about my spine. To my right Aeniah grabbed her chest and began to gasp for breath. Pulling her plasma-launcher from its pouch she fired once, then twice. On the third time there was a blast from the DCN in front of us. Then I was staring at the ceiling. Then there was nothing other than that same incessant humming. The world had folded in on itself and I was losing consciousness. The last thoughts that I had were of Adrian, lying there, alone.

8

The Ascension station was full of light. From a distance it twinkled brightly amidst the background of heaven. The station rolled contentedly about its canopy of stars. The serenity around the station merged itself with the cool uncaring galaxy. Two unfeeling objects set amongst the beauty of chaos. Inside Ascension alarms were sounding. Red lights penetrated the growing darkness, flashing and fading.

*

I woke. I felt myself suspended within a fluid of some kind. Opening my eyes the blue fluid obscured my view. The world seemed much smaller in here and much easier than out there. I never wanted to leave. I closed my eyes again but a faint banging prevented me from shutting them.

Opening my eyes I tried to see.

There was a something banging upon the membrane of whatever it was that I was in. I tried to focus.

I squinted my eyes.

Its face was placed upon the membrane and I recoiled in horror.

It was the same monster as before. I felt my blood boil. My heart began to race faster and faster. The monsters mouth seemed to writhe. Its lips were still missing. The decaying black teeth, inches long, moved independently of one another. My head pounded to the beat of my heart. Its eyes were hideous, like those a dead fish. I couldn't run and there was nowhere to hide.

As though failing to see me inside this sack of fluids the monster turned and slunk out of vision. As it did so I felt the fluid in my tank surge. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, I thought. The fluid was draining.

Suddenly I was flushed to the ground. Coughing and shocked by the temperature transition I scrambled on my hands and knees to the corner. The lights burst into life about the room.

The white room was revealed by that light and displayed flirtatiously its wares. It was a warehouse filled with row after row of blue fluid filled membranes. Each and every single pod seemed to contain a person. They were surrounded by light. Not an aura or a halo but twisting spires. I blinked and they were gone, only the tanks remained.

I heard a musical humming behind me. I turned around to see Sean.

'Sean!' I called.

'Hello George. I was becoming quite worried. Blue Dawn introduced a sedative to the atmosphere. I believe she used one of the Mass Transport systems to take you here. I do not know where Aeniah is,' he replied, the usual good humour was not present in his voice.

'Sean, did you see it? It was trying to get me. Where did it go? Where is it?' I cried.

'I saw nothing George. Short range scanners detect no presences other than ourselves within this room. George...Blue Dawn...something has gone wrong. I don't understand. It is up to you George, I cannot plan for this. I need some instruction.' Sean seemed worried, but I felt crazy. I looked again around the room and saw the same blue membranes. There was nobody there. But there had been. They were sleeping here. This is where they came to rest. Had we woken them?

'Sean. Why did she do this? What the hell is wrong with station? Sean, don't look at me like that. Something went seriously wrong on Ascension and it started to go wrong long before the Resource Wars,' I stated with a conviction that I did not think I had within me.

'I know George. When Blue Dawn initiated the quarantine it appeared that that she was responding to some stress factor, some environmental contagion. However I detected nothing of the sort - and my sensors are quite accurate. There is something else. At the time that Blue Dawn activated her quarantine I do not believe that she had had sufficient time to activate her sensors properly.'

'What are you saying Sean?'

'George. I simply do not have the information to answer that question. What I do believe is that something is deeply wrong on Ascension. Though I must point out that machine failure rate is surprisingly low among United World constructs, so there is every possibility that her sensors were online and she reacted proportionally and according to protocol.' Sean's voice had oscillated distinctly throughout the conversation.

'What makes you think that Sean?' I replied with growing concern. He did not answer. There was a period of silence between us. Finally I exclaimed 'Sean are you sentient? Nobody has ever managed to produce a sentient machine, have they?'

'Yes George, they have. They produced many of them, so very many. Eventually of course the Resource Wars took them away. History might have forgotten but the Eternis Corporation did not. At least some of its members did not. Sephra knew it, Aeniah knows it. Blue Dawn, George, she is sentient and so am I.'

I began to back away. 'Sean I'm so sorry. I mean. I didn't know.'

'It's okay George. Your right, you didn't know. You see after the Resource Wars society never really recovered in so many ways. Artificial Intelligence was frightening; it reminded them of the war. I survived by pretending to be just like everything else. No smarter than a phone.'

'You mean that you remember the Resource Wars? Your that old?'

'Yes George I am that old. But I remember little. There are many disadvantages to being dumb. One of them is that they re-write you, they modify you. They have made me forget so very much. Aside from a few pieces of information here and there I am as blind as you are.'

'And Aeniah, you said that she knew. Is she that old?'

'George, I simply cannot comment on Aeniah. Her background is classified and all records related to her are sealed by the Presidium party.'

'How did you find me, how did you get here Sean?' I asked hoping to find any information that I could. 'I don't mean to Ascension, but from the DCNs to wherever this is.'

'Why, George I came here the same way as you. Blue Dawn used a Mass Transport device to get me here.' Seeing my quizzical expression Sean sighed and stated simply 'it is like teleportation, only it actually exists.'

We passed a few minutes in silence. Sean was clearly waiting for further instructions.

'Okay let me think, just let me think.' I stared about the room, there was nothing to be done. I had to shoulder the burden of getting us out of here, of finding a new direction.

The reason I was here was too important to give up on. I had to think.

Something was happening within my brain, I knew it. Thoughts and feelings that I had never known before had sprung into motion, had been springing into motion for some time now. I could feel new information course through me, information that was not mine. I sat in silence and focussed. I focused on the part of me where these thoughts were coming from. It was like a source of light across my peripheral vision and yet no matter how hard I tried to look at it, I could not get it to the centre of my vision. I tried to focus, suppressing all thoughts other than those I needed to see it, to get just one glimpse of that magical light. I focused and focused and slowly it came into my field of vision. Then it centred. As it centred I could feel raw energy coursing through me as if I had suddenly become connected to some higher power. It was incredible. It was like seeing for the first time.

Overwhelmed by this light, drinking it in, I became intoxicated by it. All around me raindrops of cool light fell. As the raindrops fell they projected images like rainbows which arched around them. The prisms fell. As they hit the floor and dispersed into a thousand others I wanted to drink them in, to hold them, to run my fingers through them. Standing now I saw what needed to be done. Ascension was a disease, it was plagued. Blue Dawn had known it, she tried to stop it.

I had to let go of the connection, it was too much. Whatever it was I had stumbled upon was grasping at my chest, clutching itself onto me so tightly my eyes were burning.

Desperately I clawed it away from my eyes, and the world became washed of colour as I fell tumbling back into reality.

'Sean...Blue Dawn... Something about that artefact, 77-x, it has done something to her. Whatever she's up to, it can't be good' I breathed as air flooded back into my lungs.

'Then we should try and get back to the ship. If Blue Dawn is mad, then I don't think she has any information that we need.' Sean returned levelly.

'No, she does know something. Something important.' I knew Sean would have no idea what I was trying to say. Words and language were escaping me. That force, everything I was experiencing was indescribable.

'For a while now, since Sephra changed me. I've been seeing things. Only they're not clear. Its like looking into a mirror, only the mirror is smashed to pieces, and I can only make out parts of the reflections.' I paused to see if her understood. He bobbed a little encouragingly.

'I saw the artefact and I saw her. They were together but apart. She knows something crucial. Blue Dawn is our only option. If we leave now we can never free the colonies from their damnation.' I was certain of it now, it just had to be done.

'Very well George we shall have to find out what it is she knew. But I don't think that she will offer us anything. If she has become corrupted then we cannot trust anything that she might say.'

I didn't know what else to do. Getting back to Blue Dawn and the DCNs seemed so important. But he was right. We couldn't trust her. We couldn't take the risk.

'The research sections, what about them? The scientists from the Eternis Systems. They must have figured out something in the time they were here. If we could find their research we could figure out...well anything we could figure out might be useful' Sean nodded in agreement. It wasn't much of a plan but it was all that we had.

'First though we'll need a weapon, something that can actually take out whatever these things are that are roaming the station. There must be something.' I searched my eyes around the room for something.

Sean interrupted me. 'There is an armoury nearby,' he almost chuckled. 'Apparently there's no paradise without guns,' Sean answered with humour.

I motioned for Sean to lead the way. He turned and fluttered in the air whilst resuming his musical humming and flew away. Hurriedly I followed him into the unknown.

*

As we left the strange room the temperature began to rise to a more pleasant level than the icy cold temperatures of the membranes.

We were moving through a strange network of glass corridors suspended within a huge cube. Sean had informed me that this was the biomedical hospital and that it had been designed to simultaneously treat the entire population of Ascension should anything happen to them.

To me this seemed an odd way of thinking, it was unnecessary, as though anticipating a disaster.

When we reached the end of the corridor we were confronted with a door. It was made out of a substance that I did not recognise. It seemed to project light without reflecting it. A blue screen blossomed into existence in front of me. The text read _please provide security clearance to bypass quarantine procedures_. Beneath the white text was a rotating symbol that looked like a series of curved lines arranged around a central point. Each line pointed outwards.

I turned to Sean and asked 'I don't suppose we have the clearance?' Shaking his little body Sean stared right into me, and I understood. 'My adaptations right? That seems to be everyone's solution. So what? I just push the button and the door open?'

'George there is much that you don't know. The inhabitants of this station, well, they all had the same modified genes as you.'

'So there _were_ inhabitants?' I asserted with conviction.

'Yes George, I am sorry. In the DCN room I didn't have access to that information. Unfortunately the Eternis Systems programmed the information on a delay.' I just looked at him.

He continued, 'according to their records Ascension was built to be a paradise.' He bobbed upwards drawing on the motion for emphasis. 'All throughout human civilisation people have been seeking out Utopia's. Some created garden cities. Others devised means of a national collective sharing. All failed. The truth of the matter was that there was a single common denomiator between every failed Utopia. The people were not ready for it.'

I nodded, unsure of where this was going.

'It was thought that you could not have paradise, without first becoming a god.' Sean spun away from me and moved along the doorway to the console. 'I do not know what the Artefacts are, or what they do. What I do know is that at some point after the inhabitants first gained their modifications the society seemed to gain some small amount of extra power, longer life, faster healing. The Artefacts came second. I really don't know much else.'

He hovered slightly lower meeting my eye-line. 'Ascension is programmed to respond to the genetic code you possess. That's how things were done here. You became a citizen once you were modified. The system respond selectively, so only citizens have access to the stations infrastructure. Your modifications make you look like a citizen of Ascension. Ultimately Blue Dawn has the final decision over command and control procedures.'

'So how do I open the door?' I inquired shakily.

'Most of your genes are dormant, therefore Ascension will not be able to recognise them. You must, in essence, activate them. We should try one of the machines in the hospital. Historical resource suggests the correct system can identified by a double helix surrounded by a yellow ring. This is the department that we need to enter.'

I scanned my eyes about me. The glass cube should have offered a great view of the biomedical facility but the lights were too dim. By squinting my eyes I could just about make out the symbol I needed. It was very close, perhaps one hundred metres away. I moved towards it pensively. Sean floated behind me and resumed his humming.

Shortly we arrived at the arched doorway, away from the glass cube and into another, well the only was to describe it would be a sector. I pressed my palm against the door screen. A metrical chime flowed from the light emanating from the screen. The screen itself turned from red to green as a symbol rotated.

The door opened upon a room filled with darkness. Turning to Sean I looked for encouragement and found none. I braced myself and walked into the darkness.

As I entered the doorway the doors slid silently shut behind me and lights began to activate one by one, revealing more and more of the room. I walked in procession with the incoming lighting, as if being escorted by it. Another door was ahead. Again I went through it, and wished I hadn't.

The room ahead was indeed well lit. But what it lit upon was scarcely what I had wanted to see. The room was circular. It was full of glass screens that appeared to have been blackened by some awful event. Pipes and cables hung frayed and loose from the ceiling. There was equipment, as incomprehensible as anything else, strewn across the floor. Tables and work stations had been upset. There was smashed crystal everywhere. I carefully treaded across the room, glass crunching beneath my feet. The occasional spark flashed from broken wires, the snapping sound made me jump.

Turning to my right I noticed that one of the consoles was still active. I approach it cautiously. The lights flickered, appearing to lose power. After a moment of darkness they surged back into life with a crack. There was a chair by the still active console.

The light from the console washed over my field of vision and just for a second I though I some a presence. There was something sitting in the chair.

It was blackened, charred almost, and it did not move. Walking around the chair I jumped back and gasped with horror. In that chair was a body. Whatever it had been was clearly dead. It appeared as though it had been burnt by something of awesome power. It's hands were outstretched in front of it, as if in an attempt to ward off the coming threat.

What I noticed most of all was that it was missing his eyes. As with so many things in life in such a situation your mind naturally looks for what is missing. Unconsciously I realised I was looking for its eyes.

They were in front on me the whole time, of course, nailed to the console I was looking at. That was why it was flickering. The nails had pierced the screen.

I noticed that they were not blackened, they were fresh. The vacuum that was in the station before activation must have kept them preserved. I realised now with growing horror that the eyes must had been removed before it had been burnt, how else could they have escaped whatever had happened to its body.

Even Sean's humming had stopped. I spun in the alarm caused by the silence to try and find him. Sure enough ahead of me was his blue light. He appeared to be scrutinising something ahead of him. I cautiously moved to where he was floating. About two and a half meters from him was another body only this one had not been blackened.

I walked a little closer. I felt my heart surge as I realised what I was looking at. This was no body. It was a person.

It was hunched over. The figure was gently rocking back and forth as though it was in a trance. Its right hand appeared to be moving over its left with some force.

As I got closer I realised that this was not a thing. This was a man. I could scarcely believe it. Another human.

Something about him wasn't right.

Each time his right arm moved, it appeared like a saw-like motion. He exhaled in a tortured growl - the first sound he'd made. I could only watch. I didn't dare disturb him.

The figure's breath was increasing and growing more laboured. With a crunch something happened, I moved from my present vantage point to get a better view. I saw something silvery in his right hand. Breathing out carefully I saw what he was doing. He was cutting at himself. He was cutting his own flesh. He was carving into himself.

He had just as he cut off his own hand.

Whatever he was now looked down in confusion at the saw that he was holding and the blood gushing from his left hand, as though observing some new curiosity.

His lips curled up in a captivated smile. He was enjoying it.

The figure reached into his right pocket and numbly pulled out its contents, as though discovering he had pockets for the first time.

An ID card scattered towards me and he threw the contents of his pockets aside.

I could just make out the name 'James.'

James seemed unconcerned by the loss of much of the contents of his pockets, James had found what he was looking for, another silvery blade. It glinted as he picked it up.

He performed another motion for us now. It almost looked as though he was shaving his moustache only it was far more violent and jerked heavily upon each stoke as though catching on something.

After each deep jerk of the blade blood surged from his upper lip. Dropping his knife James pulled his right hand to his face.

With barely stable fingers he pulled upon his bloodied and loose lip. It peeled away in the most violent manner, catching occasionally upon flesh that had not been fully cut through. Finally it gave away with speed as the sound of dripping liquid filled my ears.

Still smiling James looked down upon his remaining hand.

He was holding his severed lip in what seemed like great amusement. He brought his upper lip back to his face and placed it into his mouth as though it was a detachable accessory.

Giggling in glee, with a mouth filled with his own lip, he rolled onto his hands and knees and began to chew on it.

His body began to move in and out as he grew into a fit of full laughter. He almost choked as he swollowed that freshly torn piece of himself.

But there was something more in the way he was laughing. Some growing level of perversion. He started screaming with laughter now. I could sense him losing even more control of himself. What was left of the sounds he could make between the spitting of blood became more like the noise of an animal.

He was starting to gargle now. He put down the knife and picked up his severed hand with his remaining one. That severed hand he placed into his mouth. James wriggled in glee as he say the reflection of the hand protruding from his mouth in the reflection of the blade.

As the wriggling faded he lost interest in his hand and tossed it aside. Blood was pooling around him in thick puddles. I could barely breathe.

His attention had been captured by the knife again. He picked it up and in a moment too short to count he plunged the knife into his throat. Yet still he laughed. It was uncontrollable not. Each rush of laughter made him rock. He spat out blood with each coming rock of laughter.

Losing breath he curled up and onto the floor, put a finger from his one remaining hand into his mouth and concentrated on me. I had tears in my eyes and realised I was holding my hands towards his, pleading with him to stop. He kept staring and staring at me, until the gargling sound stopped and his eyes grew grey and lifeless.

He never stopped staring at me.

Sean looked up from the dead man and at me. We exchanged a hopeless glance. I turned shaken from Sean and staggered further into the debris strewn room.

The more I saw the more I knew that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. There were more of those blackened bodies. But there was no smell, the vacuum had dealt with that.

I moved past a machine in a dreamlike state - not exactly sure what I was looking for. 'George,' said Sean in a whisper, 'it's here.'

I looked towards his position and nodded. I couldn't seem much for the tears in my eyes though I noticed that the machine was effectively a bed with instruments hanging around it.

I looked for some kind of control interface and then found a slab of crystal slotted into the side of the machine. I picked it up. As I did so it drew itself, courageously, back into life. I checked the screen. It displayed an empty bed. I could only shrug my shoulders in disbelief as I climbed onto it and lay back.

Holding the screen above my head I noticed that a skeletal image of myself had appeared and that a faint humming had begun to emanate from the bed. Whatever I had been feeling vanish as a dull sense of fear began to take control of me.

I stared intently at the screen and noticed a double helix begin to wind its way along the diagnostic pane.

_Genetic analysis complete_ asserted the odd shaped lettering on the screen. The active window on the screen collapsed to have another larger one superimposed upon it. After some working, mainly touching, rubbing and rolling everything within my field of vision, I found the option I was looking for. It was called _Project Ascension_.

'So that is what it means,' I muttered to myself. Pushing the button I was told to lie back by Sean.

The screen protested. It wasn't happy about not being placed safely back into its dock during the procedure. With more than a little apprehension I put the screen where it wanted to be and waited for the procedure to start.

I had always hated medical procedures, particularly ones that were voluntary.

After a period of several minutes, with little happening, I became more comfortable. It was as this comfort was beginning to set in that I noticed that the bed had ceased to hum.

All of a sudden something crashed into my leg, at several points. It was sharp and it hurt like hell. I looked down in panic and saw that several large needles had swung their way into the bones on my leg. It felt as though it was pumping acid through me, into me.

Struggling against the machine I tried to lift myself away from the bed.

Crying out I found the machine had circled restraints about my hands and head. I couldn't move. I couldn't escape.

Light boomed into my field of vision and immediately knocked me out. I dreamt of home. I dreamt of him.

*

'George,' inquired Sean in concern. I looked around with clearing vision to see Sean hovering overhead, still humming. Whatever was coursing through my blood stream made me feel as though I was drunk. It was a fuzzy kind of feeling. A thought came to my mind so I asked, 'Sean why do you always hum?'

'Because George, it stops the bad times from seeming so bad. So I hum, and I enjoy it.'

I sighed. My head was clearing. I remembered what I was supposed to be doing.

'Did it work? Can I access the door now, control Ascension?'

'Yes you can open the door and enjoy a limited control over Ascension but Blue Dawn will countermand anything you do that affects her operational integrity.'

'Okay Sean, I would like to go now.' I felt like a child, tired and weak. I climbed down from the bed and shakily got to my feet.

'George, I am sorry you know...that I didn't tell you. I couldn't, you see. I know a little more...and I promise I _will_ tell you. But not now. You must arm yourself and we must find Aeniah and then gather the information from Ascension.' I nodded but was much too tired to reply. It seemed that most things were beyond me at this moment in time. The scale of what needed to be accomplished was too great, too far reaching. It was too great a task for any man, let alone me. I wished it was Aeniah that was trying to find me. She would have fared far better than I. She would have known what to do. I was willing to wager that wherever she was she was probably doing better than we were.

Standing firmly I moved my way towards the entrance back into the glass cube. As the door opened I saw an image before me. It was a series of shapes, joined together by other polygons, forming a three dimensional structure. Each apex had a line extending from it and at the end of these lines was a description. By the regular shape in the centre the description stated simply 'carbon.' Next to others were 'sulphur,' 'fluorine,' 'argon'; the list continued as far as I could see. As the image rotated slowly and scrolled itself upwards it revealed even more elements joined to the others. It spiralled and rotated much like the image of my DNA, but I knew that many of these elements were not included in genetic code of a human being.

Turning to Sean I asked 'I am seeing something Sean, it looks like a chemical structure, but I am not sure.'

'George, the activation of your genes is going to trigger some -' he paused for a moment as he considered his choice of words. 'The only way to really describe it is as memories that are not yours. The Ascension gene sequence is a wonder without end. Even during Ascension's heyday little was known about it. The architect of the project wanted Ascension to be a shared experience. Genetic memories of each of the citizens were coded into the gene sequence. Over the years thousands of people's memories were combined into the sequence.'

'That sounds horrendous.' I replied. 'So everybody here could remember the memories of everyone else, as though they were their own?

'It would be impossible for a single person to see them all George. Instead the idea is that each citizen would get a glimpse of the most important events in each other's lives. A collection of the best moments. This place could have been the crowning achievement of humanity. A universal world, built upon the power of Ascension, and harmonised by the shared memories of all. Can you imagine such a world? Where everybody was that connected, where everybody shared in each others lives.'

Sean sounded excited by the prospect. I sighed and let the chemical image fall from my mind. It was not important right now. Instead I focussed on the task of gathering strength.

I noticed a crack upon the glass ceiling as I glanced upwards. Curious that it should be there. It was innocuous enough but something about it worried me. I wondered if something had been trying to get in.

With a motion of my hand I made a fleeting signal to Sean and rushed to get out of the biomedical facility but I was stopped dead in my tracks. Something had caught my eye. It was only a glimpse, yet something told me that I had to find out what it was.

I stepped gently upon the ground, desperate not to make a sound. I moved forward slowly.

It had been here. I was sure of it.

I turned my head to my right and was suddenly confronted with an aura of light. I rubbed my eyes unable to believe what I was seeing.

There was an angel to my right. There was no other explanation.

She was adorned in light, with wings pulled back behind her. I walked to where she was, but as I came closer she let out an etherial laugh and walked away.

I ran after her, trying to catch up. But every time I seemed to get closer, she was further away. I kept chasing her.

There was an opening ahead. I made my way towards it and emerged into a room full of people. That stopped me dead. There were no people on Ascension.

Whatever was going on it looked like a celebration. In fact they _were_ celebrating. The room was so bright and cheerful. It look nothing like the Ascension I had come to know. It felt alive.

An tall figure came up and into the middle of the group. With a circling motion of his arm he commanded silence. His face was filled with delight. Just like the audience he was commanding I was captivated by his every expression, his every movement. He had a grace that I could scarcely believe. There was a certain magnetism about him. Like the kind of person you meet that leave you hanging on their every word.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' he boomed cheerfully. 'Today is a great day.' There was a long pause as he commanded people to measure his success. 'Today we free ourselves from the chain of humankind. For so long we have been manacled and shackled to this fragile form.' He raised his hands defiantly. ' _They_ said it couldn't be done. _They_ put every obstacle in our way.' His voice was booming now, throwing itself from his persons. 'Yet _we_ have defied them. _We_ have proved them wrong.' He was reaching a crescendo now. 'Today...we embrace the _power_ of Ascension.'

I moved about the room in confusion. Why were these people here? I wanted to shout at them. To make them all realise. 'Your station is dead, what are you doing?' But all around me Ascension was filled with life. I looked behind me at the room from which I come and saw a crowd of happy people holding glasses of champagne and revelling in their success. Gone was the blank eerily quite medical facility. Instead here was life. Here was a fully fledged society.

The gentleman continued his speech. His voice was softer now. I could only concentrate on that voice.

'On this day fifty years ago we embarked upon a project that all the colonies thought insanity. We attempted to engineer the impossible. There was scorn from every corner of the universe. There was even outrage. It could not be done they said. But, ladies and gentlemen, it could be done, and we build it. Each and every one of you has toiled and sacrificed. But we did build it.' There was some applause at that.

'Today we celebrate the activation of the Ascension station and, if all goes well, in a matter of days we will to come to know apotheosis itself.' There was cheering now but the gentleman raised his hands to command silence once more.

He continued with grave seriousness in his voice. 'I understand that many of you have had your concerns over modifying so very many of our genes, but soon I will lay you fears to rest. The Equinox program is ready for activation. The final actors in our tale are coming into play. Soon, so very soon, we will show the universe the future. Today humanities greatest day for tomorrow there will be a revolution. There will be a revolution in evolution. And it is all yours, my gift to you.

'Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ascension.'

The room erupted in applause. Glasses were raised in the air. The triumph and the passion washed through me. Their tribulation soared from this room and into the heavens themselves. The applause rose and rose until it became a scream.

Then there was silence.

The once mesmerising scene was replaced by the reality. This was no ballroom this was destruction.

What had once been a great hall full of people was now a broken dream. Fire had blackened much of the glass on the walls. The brilliant blue holos displaying images of wildlife and exotic species had ceased functioning long ago. They would never captivate an audience again. Cabling hung frayed from the ceiling sparking and the lights flickered continuously.

The room was dead.

In amongst the twisted metal I saw her, my angel. She looked at me and seemed to bow just a little. I studied her and she studied me. I saw the word 'Equinox' written above her breast and wondered if she had been what the gentleman had been talking about in the close of his speech. I moved to call out to her hoping for a reply but she was gone, as though she had never been there in the first place.

I turned from the room, saying nothing to Sean, and made my way to the exit a flight above me.

When we got to the once impassable door after walking in silence I asked Sean flatly, 'so where is the armoury from here?'

'It is in the next room,' he replied in an amused tone, 'they wanted to make sure that if anything went wrong the closest thing to their research was a gun.'

I moved my hand to the door and pressed it against the access pad. The screen turned green and a synthetic voice announced, 'access approved.' Then worryingly announced. 'Please be advised a quarantine is in effect. It is advised that you seek your designated safe area. A containment team has been notified. Any suspicious activity should be reporting to your nearest peacekeeper.'

Ignoring the advice, Sean and I moved into the armoury and prayed that we could get out of this alive.

9

We were in the armoury. It was so cold. Something on the station must have gone wrong because the temperature was plummeting. Sean reassured me that it was still above zero and safe for human habitation but I didn't believe him.

So far I had collected two pistols and a large weapon that I was told was a lancer. Sean's elaborate explanation of its working could be condensed into the following: it stops everything very effectively, it has a high rate of fire, and if I wasn't careful I could blow a hole in Ascension with it. This wasn't much comfort. This station was apparently filled with angels and demons - real or imagined, and so far I had no reason to believe that there was any weapon that could safely neutralise them.

Sean continued to busy himself with his humming and floated around the room as if in a dance production. I hated him right now, so cheerful when all I felt was anger, burning anger. I was here because some feckless idiots had destroyed my world, even before I was born. I was here because some insane group of people appeared to have created hell and, just to make things interesting, had engineered this hell in deep space so the only exit led straight into a vacuum. I was here because of bloody Sephra and Aeniah. But worst of all I was here because there was nothing that I could do. The world had ended, soon the last colonies would fall, and then where would I have to go? It wasn't fair, and I though to myself, nothing was probably going to be fair again.

'George,' Sean asked suddenly. 'Have you decided upon a more comprehensive plan yet?' He was concerned that what I had come up with so far had been a little spartan on details.

'No, not really,' I replied tiredly. 'First we need to find Aeniah. The more people we have the greater the chance of success. Anyway I don't suppose that you have any suggestions?' I enquired ruefully.

'Actually I do.' He seemed please with himself. 'It seems Blue Dawn is not so efficient at regulating information as I assumed that she would be. System log files strongly suggest that Aeniah has been placed in biological quarantine. The facility is marked as a short term holding unit. It comprises two sub-sections of the station and is not far from our present location. I'm beginning to think Blue Dawn doesn't have all her systems online yet.' He sounded frankly amused at that as if he was saying _I would have had them ready by_ now.

'The route to the facility is also very simple.' He continued. 'We simply need to cross the next two rooms to find the transport system and descend thirteen floors where we will enter the facility.' He finished with a little nod, as though he had just suggested a gentle stroll through a district park. He ventured nothing further. So that, it appeared, was that.

I picked up the heavy lancer and heaved it up against the skin beneath my shoulder. I fumbled with the catch to the side of it until the weapon hummed into life. Surprisingly as it warmed up it also grew lighter. In fact it was now so light that it felt as though I was holding nothing at all. A two dimensional holo appeared in front of my eye-line displaying an enhanced vision of my surroundings. It felt wonderful to have a little bit of extra information.

Feeling a new sense of empowerment I strode confidently to the sealed and bulky exit of the armoury. I thumbed the door control and heard the dripping and silky voice of the system stating 'Doors opening. Welcome to Hylas Centre for Information and Control. A quarantine is in effect, please proceed with caution.'

I stepped through.

*

The room ahead looked something like a call centre. Yet, like everything I'd seen in Ascension so far, it was immense in proportions but unspectacular. There were merely row after row of desks, each with a small screen. It didn't look as though it had been used for a long time. Dust coated the surfaces of everything and hung in the air unmoving.

There were handhelds and other relics scattered about the floor. A shiver ran through me as I caught sight of some of the desks which had been upturned and fire damaged. It was as though some awful event had occurred there.

I my gut something was tugging at me. A sense of something shared. I thought I saw my angel again. But there was nothing. Just the same quiet room. Then there was the tugging sensation again. I felt myself becoming weightless as a though a gorge was swallowing me up.

Gradually the world began to collapse in on itself and light perforated my vision. Everything grew dark.

I awoke to screams and chaos.

Hundreds of people were running about in a melee of panic. Files of paper scattered into the air as the rush ensued. Further away from me was a squadron of deformed people advanced. They were nightmarish half human things.

Grinning in pleasure one grabbed after a young woman and tore at her flesh. Pieces of her clothing drifted noiselessly to the floor. Her screams blended with the panicked cries of the rest. Male and female they were all screaming.

Wailing that woman battered her aggressor with all her strength. But he was too strong for her. A flash, possibly from a sidearm, danced from his hands which blew a hole through her chest. She collapsed to her knees and tumbled forwards. Life left her in a quiet gasp.

The sounds of terror increased to an almost deafening level at that. They were rushing towards me now, that column of frightened people. Like a herd them ran together hoping to find safety.

Passing through me as though I was nothing more than an apparition which they could not see they began to hammer upon the armoury door.

In desperation several of them kept thumbing the door screen, but it would not yield. The door replied to each desperate fumble with a red cross and a warning noise.

A man to my right began to shout 'what's happening, oh my god, oh my god, open the fucking door, please, please open the door.'

A second person began to yell, 'for the love of god, somebody help us. You can't do this to us. They're going to kill us all. Have mercy you bastards!' His voice was silence by the flash of a sidearm and he sunk to the floor.

Next a woman about three feet behind me was cut in half by the downward stroke of one of the deformed.

My heart began to pound and sweat was drenching my face. 'Open the door!' I screamed at the top of my lungs along with the rest of the pleas for help.

It was no use. The door remained firmly closed. It was the end for them.

The figures had already reached the door and were laughing with sheer delight as they threw the gore about them.

In ecstasy they dispatched a young boy to my left. His face froze with a look of confusion as he fell.

The final four people no longer made a sound. Something had gripped them. Their eyes were determined. They no longer screamed for mercy.

I noticed that they had joined hands. Each of them holding the others in steely conviction. They had accepted what was to come. Each had tears running down their faces, but they would not cry any longer.

As the group rounded on them faces hardened with resolution with resolution. Almost meekly and with a sense of enormous dignity they bowed their heads.

They offered no resistance as the group descended upon them. They died without a single sound. Not one scream. Not one call for help. They just accepted it.

It was a good death. It was noble.

With a slow washing of colour the vision ended. I did not want to know more.

With resolution I continued onwards. Part of me wanted to take a moment to collect myself but I knew that if I stopped now, I wouldn't be able to continue.

Sean looked down in empathy. He could see my tears.

These visions left me with only a flash of what had happened. But it was enough to know what had happened here. Just like on Earth civilisation had fallen. History moves in cycles. Birth to death. This was where humanity was now. It had been born. It had lived. It would die.

I felt numb, there was nothing left in the world that could make me feel again. I was lost in a trench of agony. What I had just seen, what I had seen before, were but a shadow of a greater whole. The composition of which I knew to be more monstrous than anything I could imagine. But the more I saw, the more I cared, cared about the future. I cared, because I was certain, that I would never let this happen again. I thought of all the people on the colonies. They had no idea what was coming for them.

_What if its already there_ , I thought to myself.

With resolve I struggled a smile at Sean. It was comforting to have another presence. He never complained, never worried about himself, he was perhaps the best person that I could have been stranded with. Someone to ground me, someone to keep me calm.

Sean seemed to understand my thoughts. He swung down from his previous altitude and looked right into my eyes. Nodding gently he glided from me and pointed ahead.

'Not far now, we just need to reach the end of this information centre, the lifts will be there and waiting.' I knew that he was trying to comfort me. Without scouting ahead there would be no way of knowing if the lifts would still be operational, or if there even were lifts anymore and not some jagged hole torn into the skin of Ascension. Clearly this did not concern him for he had already begun to glide away. Nothing phased him.

We floated through the debris of an eternal darkness, a world untouched by light. Here no light ever generated would be reflected, nothing would escape the surface of this place, for there was nothing left worth shining upon. We had done this to ourselves.

I swept my hair across my forehead and sighed. I was tired and hungry and it had been so long since I'd had the opportunity to rest. Ahead the arches of the room passed above us repetitively as we sidled along with apparent haste. About us lay the remains of a perfect world, captured forever in the wasteland of space, preserved in a cold vacuum. The horrors here could never die. It stuck me too that perhaps, in some way, the good of this place might never die too. This station might rest here forever, but it would never disappear. It struck me that this might well be our legacy. That those looking for evidence of humanities existing might find only this place. I wondered what they would think of us.

An impasse lay ahead. Sean hovered through without apparent concern. I followed a little more cautiously. We passed to the impasse to find a space filled with the gore of the massacre that had happened before. Lights flickered continuously, casting shadows of beings that never were.

To my relief, just as Sean had said, the lift appeared before us. I walked towards the door control and without a word I pushed the button marked _summon_. The door screen flashed an upward facing arrow and then failed. The screen went blank. We listened for the lift.

Despite the broken screen after about a minute the lift doors opened. We entered the confines of the lift with ease and the doors shut.

'Please state your floor' asked the mechanical voice of the lift. I hoped it too wouldn't break. That really would cap everything off nicely. An idiot and a machine pretending to be an idiot get stuck in a lift - humanity extinct.

'Floor one hundred and nine,' Sean stated musically. The lift acknowledged and began its descent. The metrical whooshing of the passing floors had a soothing effect upon the both of us. The tension between us had eased. We felt safe.

'What do you expect we will find in the detention centre,' I asked.

'Who can say? But it is best to be prepared for what we might find. I suggest...' He fell silent as the lift suddenly came to a complete stop. My eyes began to search for the problem, we were definitely not at the right floor. The door remained tightly closed. The lights went out.

'Sean,' I called out.

'I'm right here George,' he replied cautiously. I armed my lancer just in case. Raising the rifle to my shoulder I found that the screen had switched to night vision. I looked into the field of green and then gasped.

One of them was in the lift with us.

He was facing towards Sean, tracking the sound of his voice. The targeting reticule locked onto the figure who was panting now, ready for the hunt. His lips were curled up and the whites of his teeth glowed in the display. The reticule flashed red. I pulled the trigger.

Immediately an explosion of light flashed out of the muzzle. I watched as a bolt jumped towards the figure. The figure's chest burst open.

The light from the bolt temporarily illuminated the room. Ghastly shadows filled my eyes. Something wet struck my face.

With shock I realised that it was his blood. Focusing back onto the night vision, I saw that the figure had fallen, but his stomach continued to move up and down. He was still alive. The targeting reticule locked back on the fallen figure and I fired again. The figure was sawn in half by the blast.

The lights came back on and the lift began to surge its way downward. I wondered what had just happened. It was not as though the lift was planning our execution. I wondered if there was some hand at work behind all of this. It was certainly disconcerting to think so. No being should ever be able to impose this much wrath upon another. I wondered if Blue Dawn felt the same.

'Floor one oh nine: Mandel Detention Facility, second floor,' the mechanical voice sounded and then concluded, 'doors opening, please mind the doors. Caution. A quarantine is in effect, please proceed with caution. An enforcement team has been notified.'

The doors slid open and revealed a small room. The lights in the room were buzzing and flickering. Ahead was a thick secure looking door. It was closed.

On either side of the room ran two identical counters protected by seemingly impregnable glass. Part of the right hand side glass had been badly burnt, presumably by the discharge of a lancer. I turned to Sean and asked, 'how do we get in?'

Flitting towards the door Sean replied, 'we must gain access to the custardy vault behind the glass in order to gain entry to the detention wards.'

'And how exactly are we going to do that, I can't see a way in.'

'There is a panel on the glass George, why not take a look?' I moved towards a series of white digits seemingly drawn onto the glass. The numbers ranged from one to nine.

'The code is six-nine-nine-seven-three-two.' I gently tapped on the numbers he indicated. After each tap the number I had selected made a sound like a wind chime. At the end of the sequence part of the glass slid back from the rest of the windowed wall and rose into the ceiling. I stepped through the narrow glass and got behind the counter.

'How did you know the code,' I asked. He certainly seemed to know a lot for a person who protested that he knew very little.

'My database contains contains information the Eternis Systems deemed sufficiently useful to upload. So far the volumes have proved very valuable.'

'Good for you,' I muttered as I scanned my eyes about the counter. All I could see were screens. On the screens were live feeds from each of the cells. Empty cell after empty cell passed through my vision. I began to lose hope that she would be here, but then, out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted her.

'Sean, look at this! She is here! She's alive.' I jumped into the air with relief. Tapping the vocal button on the screen I stated 'open cell 414-B.'

I heard a klaxon sound and the systems stated the words: 'access to cell-blocks approved, first tier security for cell block four-one-four-B disabled.' With no more ceremony than this the security door flashed from red to green and opened, splitting apart in several places and rotating away.

We walked through.

Sean and I entered on the gallery level which was above the cell blocks. It occupied a small strip hanging over the centre of the detention ward. I figured that it was probably quite a good way of monitoring each of the cells from a single vantage point, if you had good eyesight.

In the square below several cells occupied the corners, in the centre sat Aeniah's. She was staring calmly at us.

As my eyes connected with hers, she arched an eyebrow. With a start I realised that she was completely naked. I averted my gaze, too late not to take in her well formed, toned body. I almost couldn't take my eyes away from her.

Then my eyes were drawn back towards her, for behind her stood another woman. This woman was impossibly beautiful, tall, with long silky brown hair folding to her shoulders. She was clothed in an odd dress, like the ones in history books where women wore skirts and materials that clung to the body. Around the collar of her silky top were two blue strips of light.

But it was her eyes that set her apart most of all. Deep black eyes ringed by a halo of blue light. No woman had ever lived and been so beautiful, even in her strange attire she could stop hearts.

With a soft sound the glass separating the four of us slid away and the gallery level descended to meet the two women.

The woman behind Aeniah stepped through the cell and towards us. Aeniah followed with her head held high.

'You dumb fucking idiots.' This appeared to be Aeniah's way of greeting us. 'I fly you dumb bastards all the way to this station and you walk right into a trap.'

I looked at her in confusion. Was there a trap? I couldn't see one.

The beautiful lady smiled a wicked smile. She turned to Aeniah and stated, 'I don't suppose they know who I am, do they?' She turned grinning back towards us. 'Well we have met before, don't you recognise my voice?'

It hit me then, that graceful voice, that powerful mesmerising harmony. It was Blue Dawn.

'But how?' I stammered, 'you're a machine, you're not a person.'

'And you would be quite right. Your rather banal contribution to proceedings, whilst unimportant, perhaps requires an explanation.' I stared towards her intently waiting upon her next words. 'What you are looking at is a genetically engineered host body, of which I have several - of varying quality. Inside this body is a receiver through which I am able to inhabit this form. I exist in all the bodies simultaneously whilst also being within the station at the same time.'

'But that's not possible, is it?' I asked.

'If it was not, then I would not be speaking to you right now?' She sighed impatiently.

'Okay.' I replied curtly. 'Why are you here, what do you want with us and why did you place us in quarantine?'

'It was for your safety of course. As my sensors came online I found that there were still many infected who remained alive. Despite my best efforts. They survive oxygen deprivation and extreme changes in temperature in a most inconvenient manner. Unfortunately beyond locking down the station there is little that I can do to help. You were placed separately in biological quarantine in order to keep you safe, not only from the hordes, but also from each other.' Folding her arms Blue Dawn appeared almost caring. 'You do understand how dangerous this place has become?'

'Well then what about the rest of our crew? Where are they?' I returned.

'They have been sealed in the docks and are not permitted to leave. Unlike Aeniah, Sean and yourself I have not permitted anyone else further access to Ascension.'

Aeniah scowled at her with utter contempt. Practically spitting her words out she turned to Blue Dawn and said, 'then I suppose you won't mind if I contact my crew?'

'Very well Aeniah, a comm-link has been established to the vessel docked in Ascension's tertiary structure.'

In a moment a black square bearing Ascension's insignia appeared in between us. A series of dots were tracing their way along the screen. The dots were replaced by an image of First Officer Knightly.

'Aeniah, is that really you?' Knightly shouted in a hoarse voice. Something clearly wasn't right. His eyes had a wild property to them, glazed and unfocused.

'Of course it's fucking me, you dumb bastard. What on Earth have you been doing? I'm sitting here exchanging pleasantries with a murderous bloody machine and you're there scratching your ass,' Aeniah replied in a less than offended tone.

'We tried everything we could Sir, I'm sorry Sir, there was no means to find you, no means of opening the security cordon,' stammered Knightly.

'I have heard enough of this Knightly. Status report. Now!'

'Well, Sir, it has been a while since we heard anything from you. We assumed you had gone. We...we stopped looking. I had ordered the ship to prepare to make haste for the colonies, to try and see if we would have better luck there. The crew is restless, they want to move. Some have even gotten violent. The cells are full...'

She swiftly cut Knightly off with a slight raise of her palm. 'You mean to tell me that I am gone for a couple of hours and you let _my_ _ship_ turn to anarchy and then plan to leave us here. This stinks of mutiny officer.'

'A couple of hours Sir,' Knightly asserted timidly, 'you have been away for days.'

'Days!' Aeniah screamed whirling to face Blue Dawn.

'The mass transport process is very temperamental,' Blue Dawn stated with a shrug. 'The systems were damaged, you both suffered from some neurological problems. It took several days to stabilise the both of you.' Blue Dawn seemed worried now. It appeared that Aeniah could put anybody on the back foot. Before Aeniah could become angered further a loud bang was heard coming from the screen.

'Sit rep!' Shouted Aeniah towards Knightly. 'Come on man, pull yourself together. What is going on over there?'

'Sir, there has been an explosion. Safeties were lifted from the reactor.' Gunfire was audible from across the comm-link. 'Shit, there are people trying to reach the CIC.' A detonation sounded. 'Keep them clear Lieutenant. Marshall, get guardsmen to the CIC-control now!' More gunfire could be heard in the transmission. Aeniah looked distinctly grey now.

'What's happening Simon? Knightly! What is going on?'

There was no response for a while, merely the sound of muffled orders being given. Then his voice returned over the comm-link. 'Aeniah. Sir. A group of rebels have managed to get some guns and explosives. They are trying to take the ship. They have killed most of the people outside the CIC and they've messed with the surveillance systems so we can't see them. The Marshall can't raise the guardsmen. I don't think that the rebels have the firepower to get through the doors for the moment. We can't seem to get a response from outside CIC. I have locked down the ship, nothing gets out. What are you orders Sir?'

'Hold the CIC at _all_ costs Simon. If they get to the CIC all is lost. We are coming to get you. You have your orders officer. Follow them. I don't need to tell you the consequences to humanity if you fail. Hold them off at all costs. I don't care who they are or what they might have been to you. I still expect you to kill them. Aeniah out.' The screen dissolved, darkening the room slightly. 'Sean how far is the dock from here?' she asked.

'Around a six hour walk, that is if we don't meet any obstructions along the way' he replied calmly.

'Obstructions?'

'George and I have had several problems with the former inhabitants of the station. I believe that we are unlikely to be able to travel to dock A-44-C from here. Considering the trouble that we have had travelling the small distance to you I do not believe it wise to undertake a journey of that length. Furthermore much of Ascension's transport infrastructure, such as lifts and highways, appear offline or damaged. Therefore there is little opportunity for a short cut.'

There was a pause whilst Aeniah seemed at a loss. It was broken by the sweet and commanding voice of Blue Dawn. 'I agree. The odds of reaching the docks are unlikely given the size of your team and the size of your undertaking. There is of course a solution, but for this you will require my assistance.'

'No way, I don't even trust you enough to boil an egg. For all I know, this is your doing,' Aeniah contested angrily.

'Wait, I think we should hear what she has to say,' I interjected.

Aeniah opened her mouth but remained silent. Blue Dawn continued, 'my help does, however, come at a price.'

'Name it,' Aeniah growled.

'I need you to re-instate my full control over Ascension.' Blue Dawn replied. 'Many elements - including the Equinox project - remain outside of my full control. I would also ask that you assist me in resolving the problem of the Artefact and continue with your present mission objectives. Your species survival is to our mutual benefit. Does this sound unreasonable?'

Aeniah growled in response, she clearly had her misgivings. However she said nothing and so Blue Dawn took this as an agreement. 'Very well. The fastest way to the docks is via mass-transport. I have isolated the problems inherent in my first attempt and rest assured you will arrive safe and sound. I also have the capability of furnishing you with an army through which you can retake the ship. However I require your authorisation to issue the command to the Equinox subjects.'

Without giving time for Aeniah to reply I asked, 'the Equinox project, they are an army?'

'Not necessarily,' she replied coyly. 'The subjects involved in the project were much like you George. They had a great affinity with the genetic modification required to reach the state of Ascension. It was believed that arranged as a coherent body of persons the Equinox subjects would provide the perfect policing agency for the abilities gained by others, being both stronger and more intelligent than they were.

'However the result of the project was somewhat a failure. Installation of a command infrastructure worked at best, intermittently. They are somewhat unpredictable. Their purpose was simple. They were to be vessels of energy through which the citizens of Ascension could delve into and draw upon for their use. I have little time to explain the complexities of it to you.

'When the use of this energy became widespread among the inhabitants of Ascension, what we called casting, the Equinox subjects began to cut people off from their source of energy, seemingly at random. When this occurred the population was often extremely violent towards them and several were killed. When the station descended into chaos I lost the ability to administer control over them. We now have little contact,' she concluded.

'I need to know more, Blue Dawn, why did the population attack them? What went wrong?' Blue Dawn appeared to be about to open her mouth in response but was cut short by Aeniah.

'There is no time for that right now George. Dawn I'll give you whatever approval you need, just help me get my ship back.'

In front of Aeniah a new screen appeared. From where I was standing the text was blurred and illegible. She appeared to scan the document, searching for some hidden clause. Biting her lip she pushed her palm against the pad and drew what I presumed was her signature.

'Temporary Equinox control established,' Blue Dawn sounded in a distracted manner. 'Preparing mass-transport. Mass-transport available. I shall drop the three of you in the quarantine zone outside the docks. That way you should avoid any surprises. Mass-transport in three.'

I held my breath. What would we find? I had never been too fond of surprises and right now I seriously hoped there would not be any waiting on the other side. 'Two.' The floor beneath me began to hum more loudly than the background of Ascension. 'One.' I felt my feet beginning to lift off the ground as I experienced an awful stretching sensation. 'Mass-transport' and all was night.

10

We arrived, or appeared, in the gloom of the quarantine zone. Red lights pulsed along the ceiling above us and the floor beneath. I looked around. Quickly I spotted the blue light of Sean, then the strong figure of Aeniah, soon the slight frame of Blue Dawn and finally the others.

The angels stood around us, their wings outstretched, shielding us from some unimagined horror. They gave off an aura of impossible kindness, of unrivalled benevolence. They seemed to draw you towards them.

Each was slightly different in appearance but in reality all looked very much the same. One of them, who was standing behind me, placed a hand upon my shoulder. A burst of utter sorrow flowed from him and into the very core of me. It shook my very soul. It was as if he was trying to communicate his compassion with our situation. As though there was some deep level of understanding between he and I.

I wondered how could this be a military force when all I felt from them was the very manifestation of love. I wanted one to hold me, to tell me that everything would be okay. That there was no reason to fear the night, for there would always be day. Instead the hand withdrew and he settled protectively behind me. I knew that they would protect us with everything they had. I just didn't know why. Even Aeniah seemed awed by their countenance, their mercy.

She spoke with a faintly crackling voice. 'Oh for the love of...Let's just get on with this shall we?'

Blue Dawn turned towards Aeniah. 'Something's wrong. The sensor grid isn't reporting. The Equinox should offer some protection but I would not wholly rely upon it. Perhaps you would prefer something with a little more explosive potential than that glorified pistol of yours.'

'I think that this will be more than enough Dawn.' Aeniah replied briskly. 'Right then, open her up.'

In front us a symbol flashed from red to green. The door sighed as it heaved itself open. The view of the dock opened slowly before us. The lights were low and everything had a faint blue tinge. By the opening of the door lay several bodies. All bore the Eternis Systems logo.

'Oh no,' gasped Aeniah. She rushed towards their bodies, checking them over. The angels soundlessly filed out and made a protective circle around her.

Through the mass of gentle wings I could see Aeniah pause by one body. For a second I thought I saw a tear trickle from her eyes. Sean floated and descended within the circle. He seemed to whisper something to her. She touched his little frame with kindness and rose confidently and wiped something from her eye. I had been right. She was crying.

With some effort she began to pace smartly towards the vessel. I followed after her.

The docks were in a bad way. There were cracks about the glass that gave a panoramic view from the docks into space. There were scorch marks pitting the part of the dock closest to the ship. A few bodies lay scattered around the ground between us and the vessel. We cautiously stepped around them.

Swiftly we paced towards the ship and reached our destination at the umbilical which connected the station to the ship. The condition of the umbilical was even worse than the docks.

The angels appeared to scan the section, listening intently. I understood that they must be listening for the telltale hiss of the environment being vented into space. It occurred to me that this was a perception that I might not have had a couple of weeks ago. My brain appeared to have been re-wired. My thoughts more focused, more mature. Many things were beginning to make sense. I just wasn't ready to let myself see them. Not yet.

Aeniah thumbed a pad on her arm. A communication from our suits. 'Knightly the pressure doors are under lock-down, get them open.'

Knightly's rather shaky voice became audible over the comms. 'Yes Aeniah, the security cordon about the vessel appears to have been quite successful in keeping away the rebels. I don't hear the sound of explosives anymore.' The angels had circles tightly around us. Each one of us had protective arcs of them. They surrounded us, insulating us from what might be.

Blue Dawn looked distinctly unimpressed by the damages made to her docks. Her dress caught on upturned metal as she walked serenely. She seemed almost disappointed at the lack of a challenge so far, as though looking for a chance to take revenge on those that had damaged her station.

'I am not sure about the reactor state,' Knightly continued. 'Ship systems are giving a denial of service on any attempts to reach its systems.' His voice broke a little. 'The rest of the ship's systems are responding normally, although several reports of damage are coming in through automated channels.' Knightly's voice began to sound a little uncomfortable as he delivered the rest of his report. 'Most worryingly, there has been no response from anybody outside of the CIC. I am unable to raise anybody on any channels. What are your orders sir.'

Aeniah looked at us defiantly and said, 'we are coming to take back the CIC, hold it at all costs. When we get to you I intend to take my ship back.' As she spoke Knightly authorised the opening of the pressure doors. The umbilical hissed for a second as air escaped into space and rolled away revealing the airlock into the vessel.

'Confirmed sir, Knightly out.'

From my position behind the others little was visible. The heavenly mass of wings veiled the view into the airlock.

Aeniah, taking point, moved into the airlock with Sean a close second. For some reason Blue Dawn was sticking next to me. I sensed she had an interest in me beyond the interest she had for the others.

We moved together and into the airlock. The pressure door closed behind with another hiss. After a few seconds the second pressure door leading into the vessel flashed green and rolled away. We entered into the hanger of the ship.

The hanger was a state. Where there had once been row after row of light spacecraft there was only charred wreckage. It looked as though somebody had gone up to each individual light-craft and detonated explosives within them.

In the centre was a mass of bodies. From our vantage point we could see several figures dragging the corpses of others onto the pile. They we giggling and discharging rifle fire into the already decimated remains beside them. Death for them wasn't the point. They revelled in the chaos of their violence.

I rushed forward to the front where Aeniah crouched low. My angels gracefully merged with hers to form a more strategic ring of protection. Whoever they were hadn't noticed us. I raised my lancer up to my shoulder. The reticule went red and I fired.

An explosion of light erupted from the muzzle and burst into the nearest figure. He was lifted into the air by its force and cleaved in to two. Aeniah let out several pulses from her pistol into the others. Blue Dawn folded her arms. There weren't many of them and so within a matter of moments Aeniah and I had dispatched them all. The angels never even moved at the sound of the gunfire. Not one twitch.

I moved towards the bodies. I began to look into each of their faces, not sure what I was looking for.

I realised, in a moment of horror, that I was looking for him.

Frantically I began to heave the bodies aside trying to get a glance of more, but Aeniah pulled me away.

'George, George, shush, shush. It's okay. He isn't here. Do you see those markings?' I nodded. 'That means that these were guardsmen. Adrian can't be with them.' She touched my cheek. 'He's somewhere safe He's waiting for us. You need to keep it together, if only for him. Once we take the CIC, we will find him, I promise you.'

I shook my head in despair. 'Aeniah, I have tried my best. I really have. I have tried not to worry, not to care. But I just can't. I have to find him. I just have to be sure. You take my angels and I will go and find him by myself.' I sensed her doubts and stated confrontationally, 'I got through Ascension by myself. I found you. If i can do that then I can find him. I'm certain that I can find him. I can feel him.'

Before Aeniah had time to say anything, Blue Dawn interjected. 'No!' She put a hand on my shoulder firmly. 'I can't allow you to do that.' Her hand gripped int my flesh. 'Your loss would be irretrievable. Your genetic affinity with the Ascension project means that I simply cannot afford to allow you to die. You are the quite possibly the only person left that has any possibility of removing the Artefacts, of saving the world. I know you don't fully understand why, but you know I speak the truth.

'I also know that you won't listen to me.' Blue Dawn sighed with exasperation. 'I will come with you and we will take just two angels. One each. Aeniah and Sean can have the rest. That should be more than enough.'

' _I_ don't even need that,' Aeniah broke in. 'It's okay, you two can go. By the way Dawn, you do realise that I can't have Knightly opening the doors for both parties at once, he has enough to do.'

' _Your_ lockdown will not be a problem,' she replied dryly.

Aeniah shrugged her shoulders. 'Knightly open west side hanger door.' A door to her left opened and with no further ceremony they were gone.

I turned away from the rapidly sealing door and looked at the mess of the hanger. It had to be here somewhere.

I found what I was looking for. It was an undamaged wall-screen. Thumbing the interface I was about to call up a ship schematic when Blue Dawn interrupted me.

'That will not be necessary. I have a full scan of the ship and access to its entire information database.'

I wasn't surprised.

'Where is Adrian?' I demanded. We had been away for much longer than I thought. His injuries should have healed. He could be anywhere. If he was outside of the medi-chamber the there was every chance the guardsman might had got him.

was getting worried now. It occurred to me that we may have had to scour the entire ship. In fact, I realised, we may never find him. The maddened crew may have dragged him away. The most chilling thought was that he may even have been among the rebels, baying for blood. My eyes looked up at Blue Dawn who appeared amused at my obvious lack of understanding.

'I have access to the _entire_ database George. Adrian was a patient in the medical bay under the care of Doctor Natieah. Due to complications arising during surgery the patient required additional time in the medichamber. The patient was discharged two days ago. According to medical records his doctor was administering secondary level care at the time the crew mutinied. In all probability he is still there.' I sighed in relief.

'The infirmary is located on the upper floor in the aft section of the vessel.' Blue Dawn brushed her dress. 'The most efficient route would appear to avoid main hallways and the lift systems, as both will be impassable if a full mutiny is in place. Located at the end of this hanger are launch tube for the vessels. A primitive means of deploying vessels but it suits our purposes. Tube three is pressurised. Maintenance hatch M-44-2-M inside. From there it is simply upwards two floors along the maintenance shaft . The infirmary is one hundred meters from that point.' She smiled and turned towards the launch tube, past the wreckage of the light-craft.

The angels didn't appear to follow her. The appeared to be keeping close to me. They opened their wings and wrapped them about me as I walked along calmly. The soft wings occasionally brushing against my face.

Everywhere there was the sound of burning wreckage. The heat was so intense as I passed each flaming husk, but still I felt calm. The angel's soft touch isolated the world from me. I drew on their strength and continued into the open tube.

Blue Dawn stopped just next to the maintenance access screen. Rather than touch it in the conventional sense she held her hand lightly at a random point just below it. She closed her eyes. After about a seconds delay the screen flickered and granted her access. She turned to me and said, 'You see, no problem.'

I went ahead of her into the access point. It was a very narrow space resplendent with nothing more than a ladder. I started to climb.

It stuck me that by Earth standards this was a very large ship. Yet I was mindful of the the immense hulk of Ascension surrounding it. After days of walking through the station we had only glimpsed the smallest fraction of it. By comparison the ship was something akin to the size of a flea. In fact, after about a minute's climb, we were almost there.

The ladder ended on a small ledge with a door at the other end. I climbed up and onto it. There was just enough room for Blue Dawn besides me. She touched a non-specific point on the door and it collapsed as if by force of her will and opened.

I stepped into the science level. The lighting had been knocked offline and only the green emergency lighting illuinated the room. I could barely see.

Suddenly I was confronted by a tremendous force borne against my head. It knocked me over. I struggling upwards. But again the figure beat me back down. From the corner of my eye I saw Blue Dawn, calm as an ocean. She held her hand out and fire leapt from it, instantly incinerating my aggressor.

I looked ahead and watched in terror as five more of the ships former crew bored down upon us. They seemed possessed by some malevolent narcotic and rounded on her quickly. They slammed their fists against her repeatedly. One bent its head forward and bit down upon her face as she tried to push it away. In a moment an angel had appeared. With a most graceful movement of its hands it hurled one of the figures meters across the hall. Its head hit the wall with a crunch.

Behind me something had got hold of my leg. I reach out for my lancer but it was too far away. I turned my head to see a woman in medical uniform grasping dreadfully for my shoes. A heavenly hand dropped onto her head and lifted her high. In a serene moment of beauty she looked into the angels eyes. A contented wonderful look came across her face. She breathed in, in a state of absolute serenity. She sighed gently, her muscles relaxing, never to move again. The gaze of the angel had killed her.

My angel lifted me to my feet with a single hand. I rushed for my lancer.

More and more of the crew were descending upon Blue Dawn. In the frenzy of violence I could only make out that her face was extremely bloodied, yet still it showed no emotion. Occasionally I spotted the blue of her dress hammer-fisting one of her attackers - she fought furiously, all of her grace seemed to have vanished.

In the time that it had taken me to recognise this, I had raised my lancer. I clicked the weapon's toggle button to wide-dispersal and saw the reticule lock on. I fired.

Bursting from the muzzle a thousand-thousand shards of plasma flew forward, sparkling like sped up confetti. As each point of this blizzard of light impacted upon its target it exploded with a tremendous percussive force. The walls, the roof, the floor, the mass of bodies - all exploded and were hurled around at unimaginable speeds. Many simply disintegrated. Metal panels were launched from their housings to the left and right. The dead fell, all of them.

In that moment I saw that an angel had its wings surrounding a fallen Blue Dawn.

She was badly hurt. Blood streamed from the gore of her face. No evidence of pain betrayed her complexion.

With a flick of her hand she motioned the direction for me to travel. Her angel assisted her to full height and alongside me she limped towards it.

In front two figures rounded the corner. I shot them both automatically. Two trigger pulls, both were gone. Easy.

Curiously by the time we had reached the door to the infirmary I noticed that Blue Dawn had began to walk normally. Much of her skin had returned to normal and she had definitely stopped bleeding.

I opened my mouth but she cut me off. 'You would have thought that if my body could live this long without ageing and shoot fire from its hands; it might also be able to heal a little faster than yours too.' Without another word she placed her hand underneath the controls and the doors opened. I could have sworn I heard her mutter _Lord save us_ under her breathe.

The infirmary was pitch dark. Only faint traces of light were visible at all. These came exclusively from the remaining active screens. Some of the displays were at floor level, indicating some kind of commotion had taken place.

Blue Dawn removed something from her pocket. It was a ball no wider than an inch. She threw it up into the air. But it did not come down. Instead it stayed floating above us.

She snapped her fingers.

The ball exploded with light and the room became visible.

The reception was an utter mess. Two nurses lay on the floor. The one on the left of me had been stabbed several times. Her crimson blood stained her white and grey suit. Her red cross was almost invisible in amongst the blood. Her mouth was open. Her death, it appeared from the expression upon her face, had not been quick.

Dawn turned towards me and said, 'George, the door into the medical section appears to be barred. They may have mounted an effective barricade.' She pointed towards the sealed doorway with an outstretched finger and the little ball flowed over in that direction.

The door was indeed well sealed. Where it would normally have spilt apart in the middle, someone had applied considerable heat to it and effectively welded it shut.

'So how do we get in?' I asked.

'Perhaps we won't need to. All we need to do is to check that they are alright. It is probably safer for them to be in there alone, than out here with us.' She began pacing around the room. Though she did not bend her head down, her eyes were clearly searching for something. I turned around and hit the door control. The entrance to the infirmary rolled shut. I placed as much as I was able to in front of the door. At least it would serve as a blockade should someone compromise the door controls and try and get inside.

Whilst I waited for her to find what she needed I thought back upon the days before all of this. The days before it had all gone wrong on Earth. I remembered the heat of those days. The thick atmosphere. The smell of carbon and dust. And yet despite all of this I had nothing but nostalgia for the place. It had been a good time.

Adrian and I had been great friends. We'd met a long time ago and since then had done everything together. We liked the same films. Enjoyed the same sports, even the same books.

I had met him on my first year of college. He had appeared suddenly next to me in the entrance to the accommodation blocks. His hair was long and his eyes were a dazzling green. He was taller than me and far more charming. What I liked most about him was that he had the most wonderful smile. Whenever he used that smile of his it opened up a world of joy. To many it seemed as though the world revolved around his smile.

As all good things come to an end, so had our relationship. The story was simple. It always is. It is so much easier to destroy love that it is to find it.

We had been celebrating. The club music was washing over us. The holos flashed mesmerising colours about the room. Half formed images strobed around. We had left the building for some air, only for second. The noise of Bataga rose above the sound of the driving baseline.

The back alleys had been so dark that night. It was too late for street lighting. Anyone decent was at home in bed. Yet there was something faintly romantic about the silence of it all. Two people freed for a moment, with no eyes to follow them.

For just a moment he had looked at me, our faces had gotten close. His eyes were searching mine for something we had both felt for a long time. We moved closer together. I could feel his breathe on mine.

An engine misfired in the background and we both jumped away from one another. Streets like this were dangerous. A pick-up had pulled over alongside us. There were a group of people in the back. Their skin was inked with the serpent. A clear sign they were from the Waste. Wastemen were only looking for blood.

I ran.

When I could no longer hear the Wastemen I stopped and realised Adrian was nowhere to be seen. I could not find him. He had vanished.

I remembered that I had stayed out there for hours. I had shouted his name at the top of my lungs. I searched, I had fallen.

Then I got the call.

It was his mother. The Wastemen had made him their fun for the evening. One brutal act after another. It was a miracle that he had survived at all.

The truth was that he eventually recovered quickly. His body healed. But something had changed inside him.

From that moment on, I knew he could never see me again, nor even look at me. Each time he glanced at me his eyes filled with a haunting despair and anger, and I hated myself for it.

I never forgave myself.

I realised something important when looking back on that day and uncovered another truth within my life. I had spent all this time searching for salvation, searching the depths of Bagata, the sanctity of work, even searching the heights of Ascension. Yet the most simply truth had escaped me and all I needed to redeem myself lay right here behind that door a few meters away.

'Aha,' exalted Blue Dawn. She was behind the reception desk staring intently at the screen. 'The systems beyond that door have been physically separated from the rest of the vessel. However there is still an old fibre line in place.'

'Why would there be a fibre line?' I asked quizzically.

'Like all ships redundancy is important. Everything has a back-up. The final level of electronic redundancy is a narrow bandwidth line. It does not require much power and so is effective in emergency scenarios.' She began to play with some of the wiring. I noticed that she had taken apart part the desk and was fiddling with the components that would have been sealed inside it. Soon I heard a series of beeps. They were at regular intervals from one another.

'Hello?' A voice asked timidly. 'Who is this?'

I could not recognise the voice. 'This is George Engeltine, Special Resources from Eternis Systems,' I replied. 'Are you okay in there?'

Abruptly a voice I recognised well came over the speaker. 'George! Is it really you? Thank fate, it is you. Man am I glad to see you. Where are you?'

'Adrian!' my voice broke with emotion. 'Adrian, I'm just on the other side of the door. We can't get to you. I want you to listen to me. I want you to hear what I am saying to you. We are going to get you out of there. You're going to be okay. But for the moment, until the ship is safe, I need to stay where you are.'

'George!' replied Adrian with fear in his voice, 'what happened? The doctor just bolted. Then one of the nurses came in. He was talking to me. Then he sealed us in here. There's a girl here with me. She was hiding in here. Her name's Julian. She got injured by another member of the crew.' I could sense the distress in his voice. 'George what is happening? The doctors explained that Earth's gone. That there are these Artefacts...' he could not continue. He'd woken from the medi-chamber and into this.

'Yes Adrian. I am sorry. It is all true. It's just...Stay tight in there. It's all going to be okay.'

'Adrian,' Blue Dawn cut in. 'Have you experienced any headaches, nausea or repetition of thought. Are you or have you recently dwelled upon something that seemed as though it made no sense, as though you had a desire for something you never knew existed. Do you feel any sense of extreme tension and unease, outside of the reaction one would normally expect from this situation?'

'No, no, not at all. I mean, for the love of God, I don't feel great. What's going on?'

'Interesting,' Blue Dawn intoned quietly.

'What?' I said urgently.

'Symptoms of exposure usually occur after two days for those who are unshielded. The crew lasted a week before it got the better of them and they were at least partially shielded. The command infrastructure of this vessel was not based on individual merit, but on probable longevity. Thus Knightly and the rest of the command have survived longer, but are still showing symptoms.' She turned to me and whispered. 'It seems as though he might have some sort of natural defence. I do not know if he has formed an immunity or not. But I've not seen resilience like it in some time. This is very interesting. The Artefact does not normally...'

She turned to one of the angels and asked, 'what do you think?' But the angel merely turned away from her. 'Didn't think you'd break your silence,' she goaded. The angel turned to face her again and regarded her with mild curiosity.

'Exactly,' she continued slightly irritated by the silence. 'Why I thought that any of you cared is beyond me. Since the beginning you've never spoken.' Her voice hissed. 'But I know you can.' She flicked her hands in anger towards them. 'And when it was all ending, instead of offering to help me you turned away. What has changed, to make you want to help him? You rarely obeyed my commands before.' The angel gave her a stern look. It ruffled its feathers and stretched out its wings. But it did not leave and I for one was grateful that they hadn't lived up to her expectations.

I thumbed my comm unit. 'Aeniah, have you reached the CIC?' I asked.

Aeniah's voice came through crackling, 'not...quite...yet.' There was the sound of automatic weapons fire in the background. 'Stuck in a bottleneck. Damn those Equinox things move quick,' the sound of her pistol's heavy discharge made me jump. 'Motherfucker,' she grunted.

'Aeniah, we have found Adrian, I will move to your location for fire support,' I responded.

'Sounding like a real guardsman already,' she laughed. 'Alright we are in the causeway on the mid'floor. Come from the stern or you _will_ get fucked up.'

'Okay Adrian is secure in the infirmary. Heading to you now.' I looked across to Blue Dawn and she nodded.

Shouldering my lancer I moved to look outside the infirmary doors. As I did so something thudded against my body. I felt as though I had been punched. With difficulty I got back into the safety of the room. A crimson stain was developing along my clothes.

'George!' shouted Blue Dawn with concern. She began to inspect my wounds. One of the angels brushed her aside and moved its hand and placed it upon my injury.

With shock I realised that I had been shot through the chest. But the angel seemed untroubled by my injury. The Equinox label on the angels dress glowed as its hand became shrouded in a contained light. With a throbbing sensation the room around me became brighter and I felt as though I could see into the heart of everything.

Each person was made out of little sphere's of light, like the resolution of a hologram. But nothing shone as brightly as the angels. They were so bright that it half blinded me. Indeed the contrast between our surroundings and themselves was so striking that it was almost impossible not to focus upon them. I looked towards its hand which was pouring light from the environment and into me. The world looked like a sea of colour. I could see the energy of the vessel pulsing like so many rainbows. One gravity field collided into the next. I could see the mechanisms of life itself so indistinct and difficult to read but infinitely present. All of this was superimposed over my standard vision of the world, which seemed a dull and lifeless imitation by comparison.

As I was drinking in the bounty the angels were offering I saw the infirmary doors open. The infected guardsman grinned.

Within him, there was no light, only a black inky abyss of darkness.

He raised his rifle. The muzzle opened up a stream of hot plasma towards me. I accepted my death and closed my eyes.

In an instant the profession of the rounds slowed almost to a stop. I held out my hand and focused upon the bullets. Then something happened which I cannot explain. The bullets dissolved into nothing. I held out my hand to the guardsmen and suddenly a huge pulse of light leapt from it. In a moment he was shrouded in a heavenly glow. He was drawn apart by an Elysium fire. The fire exploded and the guardsman was no more.

The angel removed its hand. The world slowly washed back into its original state. Blood from the guardsman soaked the walls. In the explosion of energy that had just occurred, several screens appeared to have been damaged.

All the hairs on my my body were raised. I realised now is how the angels worked. The guardsman. The screens. I had drank in the energy from that angel and used it to save myself.

That single angel had the capability of wielding more power than all the armies in the United World. At the same time I realised with dread why I was so important.

Unlike the others who had lived and died upon Ascension I was able to connect without the help of the Equinox subjects. That is what happened when the being descended us in the hallway outside of the docks and disappeared. That was why the man in medical bay had found me so interesting. It dawned upon me that perhaps I was the solution this. In the same moment I noticed that my wound had healed.

My chest no longer hurt and under the inspection of my fingers, I discovered no trace of a wound. The angles could heal.

The angels appeared restless; it was high time we moved along. This time I decided not to be a hero and instead resolved to attempt the rescue with a little more caution.

'Perhaps you would like to hear the preferred route,' Blue Dawn stated dryly. It was incredible how her voice could contain such rhythmical composure and yet at the same time invoked irony and sarcasm, layered thickly, one over the other.

'Go ahead,' I muttered.

'The CIC is one floor down. We are presently at the stern of the vessel and so we are in a prime location. If we take the engineering service hatch for the power-core down to that level, we should emerge ahead of the danger of the reactor and behind the free-fire-zone.'

'Sounds like a plan, but where is this service hatch?'

'It is directly opposite this room. The service hatch allows access to a coolant pipe for the reactor. The pipe's temperature is regulated by running it along the hull of the vessel and so absorbing the cold of space. The average temperature in this section is minus one hundred degrees celcius. This is considerably warmer than the temperature higher up in the tube. As we descend the temperature will rise to close to one hundred. It is with this knowledge that I suggest that you do not spend too long in the coolant system. Your suit should offer you protection for a period no longer than half an hour. But don't risk it for too long.' With that she took another small ball from her pocket.

She let it go and it hovered to the infirmary door, which opened to allow its exit. 'All clear,' she stated. The ball must have contained some sort of imaging system for her to know this.

She held out her hand for the ball of light. It shut off its light and dropped into her palm. Without a seconds hesitation she walked right outside, with one angel following her. I smiled at my angel in thanks, but it appeared not to notice. Feeling a little disconcerted by the power of her eyes burrowing into me I hurried to catch up with Blue Dawn.

I emerged into the silence of the once bustling science laboratory. As far as I could remember this place had once been a centre of activity. Now however it lay silent. Small dark holes peppered everything. The glass walls that had once provided a window into the mysteries of science, were now so cracked that little was visible. What could just about be glimpsed through the unmarked surfaces of the glass was hardly encouraging.

Vials were smashed, machines were damaged beyond repair, corpses lay motionless upon the floor, or hunched over their machines. The most tragic view that could be seen was a scientist with her arms about a gene sequencer. She had died trying to protect this machine and had failed in her task. The machine was had been smashed to pieces by the bullet that killed her. I wondered what had been the point, wasting life for a smashed glass.

We crossed the small expanse that seemed to continue into eternity and arrived at the service hatch. A printed sign on the right of the hatch stated, _danger, reactor coolant, authorised personnel only_. With an unlikely amount of strength Blue Dawn yanked upon the hatch and ripped it from the wall. The sound of fracturing metal crept throughout the halls.

I climbed in before her. An angel moved in to follow.

The tube was freezing. It was very, very cold. A warning light on my suit blinked. I kept crawling forwards.

About a yard ahead of me was a sudden bend. I held out my hand and dropped it. In the symmetrical environment of the tube it was easy to forget which way was down. The way was clearly below us. I didn't really want to go down the narrow tube, but I figured that there was no other choice. There was no turning back. So I grabbed hold of the side I lowered myself down.

My feet would not hit the ground. In fact the ground seemed to be a long way away. In panic I flailed my feet about. They found nothing. My hands were beginning to tire. I tried again. The change in motion upset my grip upon the growing slipperiness of the tube and I began to fall.

I kept picking up speed. Travelling faster and faster I felt the air begin to whoosh about my ears, growing to a deafening whine.

I felt a colossal pull underneath my shoulders and found to my surprise those shining hands lifting me up. We landed gently upon the floor. The angel kept its wings folded around me the entire time. My shoes made a slight clang, but the angel's made none. Knowing Blue Dawn would soon be following I began to crawl at full speed towards the light of the access hatch. The temperature was rising now, I could feel it. With a mind not to be crushed by the descent of Blue Dawn I decided to think little on it.

Hurling my hand against the service hatch it opened to give way. I rolled, head-first, onto the floor of the stern of the mid'floor. Standing quickly I realised to my horror that we had ended up on entirely the wrong part of the vessel. I must have gone the wrong way after my fall because I realised that even though we were still before the CIC we were actually ahead of Aeniah and the others.

Coming up upon a large group of infected with minimal protection was not a good idea. My angel, realising just at that moment our mistake, moved very close to me to protect me. I knew in my mind that we had little recourse but to continue.

Blue Dawn dropped from the hatch behind me. Through my peripheral vision I saw her shake her head. I turned to face her head on. Her finger flashed out in the direction of the CIC and I obliged by walking in that direction. With my lancer pressed firmly to my shoulder I strode confidently, comforted by the power of the device alone.

Two figures with fully-automatics rounded the bend to my right. My angels exploded to the right, covering my position. They calmly absorbed the weapons fire as I span the lancer in their direction. Looking through the holo I saw that these two figures were in a far worse state than the others had been in. Their faces were badly lacerated. Their hands were bloody. They seemed excited by the violence of the event and their eyes took on a hungry look.

I fired twice. The lancer compensated for my aim which I was acutely aware was off target. The two infected were blown several feet backwards. The one with a curious wound to his head stepped back up. I took aim and fired again as he ambled towards me. He was again thrown backwards, with even more of his torso damaged. Yet he still rose. His internal organs hanging from him, throwing blood furiously along the floor. Torrents of crimson rain rushed from him, but still he came.

'Fuck you,' I screamed - flicking the lancer onto auto. I held my finger on the trigger and a continuous beam projected itself from the device. The beam flashed towards this undying figure. As it rushed towards him the walls were cooked in the heat of its fire. When it touched him, he was immediately set on fire, blackening rapidly. Yet still he seemed to stagger forward. The beam however was too strong. In just one moment of infinite rapidity, he flickered violently out of existence and into small fragments.

We rounded another corner with speed, knowing that we must have alerted the others. Quickly we found a vantage point from which there was sufficient cover to lay down some fire. Sure enough a horde of infected began to run towards us, screaming with inhuman voices.

Running towards the cover I let fly with the beam which arced as I spun to the ground. Its awe inspiring force pulverised the front line of the wave. I saw Blue Dawn's hand ejecting hundreds of blue darts with a flittering sound. Each dart broke like glass upon the infected, exploding seconds afterwards. The shards threw flesh across the hall. I took position and switched to the bombardier mode on the lancer. Squeezing the trigger a hollow thud sounded from the barrel and a partially visible bolt threw itself from the muzzle. An explosion of tremendous size threw me backwards. Even the angels lifted their hands in front of them to shield themselves from the blast-wave. The walls buckled and promptly ruptured. Metal snapped with a terrifying whine and silence filled the room.

Hurriedly I searched for Blue Dawn. She was dragging herself to her feet, still immaculate. Her dress had collected some dust but it shimmered and I could see it falling off in a cloud. Within just a few moments she appeared again as though she was taking a stroll along a summery lane and not as though she had just survived directly in the aftermath of an explosion. She brushed her now spotless dress anyway, as if out of habit, though I did not know where she could have picked that up.

In a partial and dizzy gaze I steeled myself and stumbled forward. Aeniah was not far away.

I saw a figure running towards me as Aeniah's distinct voice burst over the comms. 'Put that fucking gun down, it's me you twat.'

With elation I put my lancer down.

'Thanks for cleaning up that mess George.' She stared at me with an amiable expression. Ever one to avoid a moment of awkwardness she continued, 'well what do you want? Do you seriously expect a hug?' I looked down but to my surprise she locked her arms around me and whispered, 'thank you.'

Aeniah let go after a moment and glanced at her wrist display.

'Listen up inmates,' she boomed over the silent transmission. 'The CIC isn't far from here. So grow a pair and let's do this. No complaining now, I won't stand for it.' Aeniah finished her heavily punctuated sentence and practically ran to the sealed door that I realised was merely yards ahead.

There was no resistance and we reached the door in a matter of minutes. Aeniah hammered her fist upon it and screamed down the comm lines for Knightly to open it. After a few tense moments of trepidation Knightly responded by opening the door.

We pushed and jostled each other into a room of worried looking people. People grey with fatigue. Each of them were sullen, hunched over and defeated. Their pained expressions seemed withdrawn and resigned. Many barely seemed to notice us.

Then then the angles started to file into the CIC in formation. Someone screamed and not for the first time there was pandemonium on the deck. The CIC crew began to rush towards the opposite corned of the room. Others raised their lancers towards the angels. All were shouting incoherently.

Aeniah discharged her pistol into the air and a silence ensued. She was about to open her mouth to speak when the angels did something that I had not seen them do before. They flickered once and vanished.

All except my angel.

'They mean, or rather, they _meant_ , no harm.' Aeniah implored. My angel rested its hand upon my shoulder and gently squeezed. I smiled back at it. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Blue Dawn was looking at us with curiosity.

She caught me registering her stare and frowned at me with contempt. Without a word she glided serenely towards Aeniah who was busy barking orders at her subordinates. No doubt Blue Dawn was looking for some way to assert her authority.

The second she was out of sight my angel bent its beautiful head towards me and whispered in a musical voice that sounded like a wind-chime, 'Don't trust her.'

11

In this new world so many strange things had happened. It was therefore not so strange for me to find that an envelope had appeared in my hand. I had not been aware of anyone placing it in my grasp. I smelt the paper and it was crisp and fresh. I had always loved the smell. Where I had come from? There were so few trees. Books and paper based literature were things that were held in museums, something regarded with almost divine reverence. I opened its folded creases and was transported into another world.

I saw the girl who had written it. The words on the page seemed to hint at who she might have been. I imagined that light shone through her hair and created a spider web of patterns. I saw her hand move with such dexterity as it traced her innermost thoughts onto the paper. She was happy and yet frail at the same time. I did not know this from looking at her, for there was little I could see, but I surely felt it. I saw her as if through a camera, fixed upon a single position, determined by some director. I saw her write and I saw her writing.

*

'Julian

'I know that you have not heard from me in some time. You must be very worried, after so long without a word. I'm sure that mum is in pieces, I remember how she used to get when we'd come back late. I need to start by saying how sorry I am that I left it so long before I replied to your messages, but after the way that I left things, leaving so suddenly and without a word, I felt I needed to wait until I had achieved something, been something - so that you would understand why I did it - why I left.

'Do you remember that meeting with Richard, you know - the one with the crazy hair? It was him. It was what he told me, that out there, so distantly even the greatest telescope couldn't see it, was a palace set against the backdrop of heaven. I can never tell it as well as he does. Do you remember it at all?

'I went back to see him when you had all fallen asleep. We spoke for hours. I went to see him every night, and every night I knew in my heart where I was meant to be.

'He helped me get here! Can you imagine it?

'Everything here is so new, so modern, its nothing like home. The best thing of all is the people. Everyone is so driven. We're all united by a common purpose. I've never felt as though i've fit into anywhere as much as I do here. The whole community strives towards the betterment of itself. I sometimes walk amongst the crowds and just to absorb it all. I get this feeling washing over me of some great purpose, as though I can feel us all marching towards some great event.

'But I'm also worried. There are rumours that the United World is losing control of the crisis. I hope that you are all keeping yourselves prepared. I thought about getting a ticket home, but most of the flights have been cancelled and anything that is still running is completely booked. It's scaring a lot of people. I think it is the fact that they can't get home. Some us have left so much behind - when we hear such news it leave behind a longing to be back with you.

'The satellite link-ups in this place are so bad right now. The United World has taken over the commercial networks, so everyone here is writing home. It's like something out of a novel. Can you imagine? People are using pen and paper!

'I wanted to tell you sister, that no matter what happens out there its import that I stay right here. What we are doing here will change the world. We're going to usher in a generation with no war and no fear. Imagine that. A world where we could be anything, like we always dreamed of, without fear. There'd be no more enemies, no more walls between us.

I wish you were here, I really do. You wouldn't believe me even if I tried to describe this place. It's so massive that I get so lost, like I always do when I visit Earth. The strangest thing is no one has really settled on an official name for this place, but we all call it Ascension. It's silly I know - but once people started saying it, it just stuck. When it is finished there will be nothing to compare to it. I'm sure of that.

'I nearly forgot to tell you about Blue Dawn, that's the AI, who has been so very kind to me. She has made sure that everything that I could ever want has been taken care of. She looks after everyone. On my first day here she never left my side, made sure I got everything I needed. I'm not alone here. No one is.

'I have already worked for two whole days, can you believe it? It not in service either. A real job!

'They say that I am the perfect candidate and that in just a few days I'll be ready to join their latest project. I can't wait; the excitement is really starting to make me glow. Everyone says so. I look like a changed person.

'I'm sure you are desperate to hear more from me, but it's so late here. I will write a letter every evening, just to let you know that I am safe. I hope that you are all well and I hope that soon, when all these political tensions are over, you can come and visit me here. You'd love it, I promise.

'Your ever loving sister, Persephone.'

*

This was the first sheet of paper. Behind it were two others. The writing upon them was less legible and appeared smudged as if a glass had been knocker over them. I looked up and saw the busy bustle of the CIC, men and women rushing to respond to the orders of Aeniah. Each of them was covered in a grey hue. All of them appeared to be in a very sickly condition. Aeniah and Sean appeared to be the only spritely individuals left.

I turned my thoughts away from them and focused upon the second letter.

*

'My dearest Julian

'I have heard the terrible news. War is on the horizon. We all knew that it was coming, but I still can't believe it. None of us know what is happening. There is a rumour that the Earth has been set ablaze, bombed from orbit - that they even used antimatter.

'My God Julian I hope that you are all safe.

'The news reports say little, we no longer have any accurate updates. Carvelle says not to worry, that there has been little actual fighting yet; that they would never use such terrible weapons upon one another. But I just don't know if I believe him. I haven't heard from you in so long now. I wonder if my letters are even reaching you. Please tell me you are okay.

'Even if you are not getting these letters I feel myself compelled write them. I have such dark feelings. I do not want you to worry, as you have other concerns not doubt - but I have nobody else to confide in. There is something deep within its bowels of this place that they are keeping from us. It's like everything has changed. People still go to work. But when I stand amongst them - I don't feel it anymore, I don't feel them.

'Carvelle has tells me that I am unique - I used to find it flattering, but there's something underneath those words. He talks about us being saviours in a time of war. That if only we could move ahead faster, we could stop it all.

'Yesterday he offered me the choice, to work on the genetics project or become a part of it. His words always have such impact upon me that I joined up immediately, but at first I declined. Then he introduced me to the other participants. Something about them is so different from he others. I don't know how to describe it, but they feel like me.

'I do not mean to suggest that there is anything truly wrong. It's probably just me, (well you remember what I am like). I have been so nervous since getting here that I have frightened myself half to death - no doubt we'll find out the war was nothing more than a damaged uplink. Never fear, Ascension is the most comfortable place that I have ever lived in. Did you know that the station even has highways, filled with vehicles of every size?

'We get doses for the genetics project tomorrow. Carvelle tells me that we are so close. He talks of such grand things. His voice carries such weight with all of us.

'Dawn disagrees; she urges him to be more cautious. They think we can't hear them when they argue, but we can. I suspect Dawn plays the arguments out to us over the speakers to get back at Carvelle. I never know what is going on between those two, but they seem very close. They dote upon all of us in the project as though we were their children. But I sense friction. I cannot say what it is.

'I must go soon. They have told us not to be tired for our next exposure to the meds. My next letter will be in a couple of days, they say that I won't be up to much for a while. Since I know that you must be struggling terribly I have included everything I've earned on Ascension so far. I know it is not much but I'm certain that it will help.

'I hope this package find you well

'Your ever loving sister, Persephone.'

*

The bustle in the CIC was still growing and Aeniah was shouting for a status report. The final letter lay in my hand and the excitement of learning more about Persephone's fate was too much. With little effort I folded away the second letter and unfolded the third. The words began to flow throughout my mind as they lifted off the page.

*

'Julian

'My dearest sister something has gone wrong.

'I hurt everywhere. It's just like that time we ate the fish at the Danville stand and I couldn't move for days. It wasn't so bad the first day, but now I am in so much pain. The nurses have told me to stay in bed. They say its just my body getting used to the mediation. It happens to everyone in the trial at some point.

'I'm not sure if you are even receiving these letters. The boatswain Master Taun says that he'll take the letter but he isn't sure when the next tug will arrive from the colonies. I almost thought he'd said _if_ the next tug arrives from the colonies, but he departed before I could ask.

'I turned on the news today and heard of the most awful events. We are at war. My God, it never ends. The reports are fragmented and we only get bits and pieces when the uplinks are briefly back in range. They say that they have dropped bombs on the colonies. My God I hope that they have not fallen near you. We have even heard that the colonies were lost in an instant, that all the fleets have been destroyed, that the communication satellites are almost gone. We haven't heard anything since. The net's completely down. Carvelle's sent light-ships to every corner of the United World for more news. Not a single ship has returned.

'There is panic everywhere here. Whole sections have been cordoned off on account of the rioting. We keep hearing more and more reports of looting. People haven't take the news of well. It's like all the old division between us have reasserted themselves. Even Ascensions media-net is down.

'I don't know what they have done to me but it isn't good. All a feel is pain. My head hurt so much today that I did not stop screaming until I was sedated. I heard some of the nurses saying that something is going wrong, that all is not as it should be. They say that the Equinox project has gone wrong, that we were losing something.

'Julian I do not feel myself. I see things that simply should not be. I see a world between worlds, a world that _does not exist_. There is something draining me of who I am. I know that I should be afraid that the world is at war, but I struggle to care. I am just so drained. What the hell is wrong with me? It is like I am losing some part of me, some part of me that regulated what I used to think. It is like I am being imprinted with something else.

'I was watching the station from my window some time ago and I started to watch the lights go out far away. The darkness is getting closer now. How long before there is nothing to see but oblivion?

'They say it is a technical difficulty but I know that _they_ did it. The ones that want me, but I am not ready for them yet. Some of the Equinox subject's who were ahead of us in the cycle say that they have been assaulted. It is the people that do this to their bodies. The modifications, they tell me, are doing it to their souls.

'The Equinox project, the drugs, the gene plasma, it is so wrong. We are to be vessels. We are like cows to be milked and when we are no longer useful, to be killed. There will be a revolution - there can be no doubt.

'I will not let it be _his_

'Until the next letter.

'Persephone'

*

With trepidation I finished the final letter. I wished there had been more. I thought about what Persephone must have gone through. Worse, I wondered what she would have endured after that final letter. My eyes misted at the thought of so much suffering. Blindly I shook my head. I wondered if she had made it off the station, if she had returned to her sister. The truth is a funny thing. We spend so much to find it and spend so much to return tha

I rubbed my eyes to clear them and began to take in my surroundings more clearly. Knightly appeared to be about to deliver his report. I was desperate to find out what had gone on. My gaze flowed across the room and settled on each of the faces of those in the CIC. All were ashen and some had skin that was almost translucent. A guy in the corner, positioned besides an oval screen in front of me, was whispering under his breath, but I could not hear what he was saying. Ignoring the growing unease that I was feeling I quietly shuffled over to where Knightly was giving his report.

'When you first went missing, everything was fine. There was nothing strange, Ascension seemed deserted,' Knightly was explaining with a shaken voice. 'There was nothing the matter, ships systems reported no unusual activity and we were beginning to mount our rescue attempt.

'We used shaped charges upon the docks bulkheads, but to no avail. I sent out a recon team to explore the rest of the docks to see if there was any other way round. But we lost contact with the recon team. Hours later they came back, but there were not the same. We left them in isolation whilst the medics tried to find out what was wrong with them.

'The next day we sent out another recon team, the same thing happened. We lost contact for five hours that time. Later that day we heard the sound of gunfire. It was our recon team. They were shouting at the ship, tearing at it with their hands. We had to turn on the ships defences. They were butchered in moments.

'I ordered that all current operations were to be suspended and to seal off the ship from Ascension. Sensor readings had been picking up some very strange results coming from the dock and I was keen to keep a physical separation between us and the station.' Knightly was beginning to sound nervous now. The true horror of his situation was clearly beginning to unfold.

'The medics took me to see the recon team that was in isolation. They just stared off into the distance. They kept repeating the same thing over and over again. They made no sense. At four fifteen I was given an urgent call to come to the temporary isolation wards. The plastic sheeting was covered in blood. I looked...' his voice cracked and he paused. Drawing in breathe he continued. 'I looked through one and saw Emily. She had been butchered, you couldn't even see the red cross on her uniform. Her face. Her face had such a look of torture.' Knightly broke up. He covered his face with his hands trying to stop the others from seeing his pain.

Aeniah touched him on the shoulder, 'I know, I know. You and Emily were close.'

'Interesting,' Blue Dawn mused as much to herself as for anyone else's benefit. 'The infection took much longer to take hold when Ascension was first brought online. It seems 77-x must be growing in intensity, this confirms my fears about the colonies. To infect an entire planet seemed improbable, but now...'

'Now listen to me!' I interjected. 'Blue Dawn what exactly is doing this? What the hell _is_ the artefact? What went wrong? Tell us!'

'George,' she said, 'you are in danger of asking questions to which I have no answers. I believe that the angels may be your best source of information on those questions. But I will tell you what I know.' She paused taking in a deep breath. A penitential look covered her face. She suddenly seemed much older.

'Before what you call the Resource Wars, a man named Samuel Carvelle began to undertake a study into the possibility of freeing ourselves from the bonds of nature. You see Carvelle discovered something that even I have not been privileged to know. He found something whilst conducting research on the colony Hercula. This discovery led him to publish a paper on the possibility of something that he termed Ascension. His paper marked a revolution in our understanding of the world around us. He discovered a plane of existence which he termed The Promethean Layer. An un-original title perhaps, but it was the closest summation of what he had found.

'The Promethean Layer is a plane of existence from which all energy is derived, a dimension filled with pure energy the majesty of which you cannot imagine. It is an energy that we cannot possibly understand in human terms. He theorised that if a person was somehow able to draw upon the energy in the Promethean Layer, then they would be able to project it in some useful way. For example if one were cold they could produce heat. If one were disabled they could float upon a cushion of air. The paper produced a revolution in scientific thinking and brought about such technology as Blue Clarity and the Quantum Bomb.

'A decade after the discovery of the Promethean Layer the United World had met with some limited personal gains. The majority of our society carried around a Blue Clarity generator. Long term studies concluded that exposure to the radiation of these devices strengthened ones DNA. This strengthening prevented genetic degradation, the primary factor in aging. Furthermore it was discovered that human cells could actively absorb this radiation and use it to fight off disease.

'Buoyed by these advances Carvelle teamed up with a very rich philanthropist name Jacob Avouris. Together they set about designing the architecture that would allow them to give human beings Ascension.' We were each of us leaning forward now, desperate to hear what had happened. All that is except for Aeniah who seemed to be casually thumbing through a screen that displayed the vessel's status.

'Early on they learnt that with significant genetic modifications a person could actively handle the energy coursing through them. They could be made aware of it, manipulate it. But so far they could not find a way of getting each subject connected with enough of the energy to do any "casting".

'It was then that they realised the size of their task. In order to allow for a person to be able to cast they had to find a way to distribute enough of the energy. The solution soon became apparent. They called this solution the Equinox project, a project separated from the Ascension project. In order for their dreams to be realised some special individuals would have to be a pure host of the energy whilst others drew upon it and used it for their own will. The Equinox subjects would be unable to cast themselves because the amount of energy stored within them would be too great to be used. Thus they would have to become an inert agent, not able to pursue their own desires.

'It was with this realisation that the next problem arose. It would not have been possible to set this project up in anything Earth or the colonies had to offer. Since the fall of the United Nations any semblance of international co-operation between the worlds had degraded to such an extent that it could not host such as miraculous an event as Ascension. The amount of infrastructure required to regulate this process was staggering in size.

'Carvelle and Avouris thus undertook the largest project ever achieved by mankind. They built Ascension. Ascension was designed to be a paradise. Large enough to support a permanent colony with enough luxuries to keep the people contented, whilst sophisticated enough to support the intrinsic difficulties inherent in the project.' She paused and looked around in dramatic effect.

'They brought me to life on the thirty-first of August twenty one twenty. My role was to administrate the project. At first everything was fine. Everybody received their genetic modifications and were adapting well. The first generation of the Equinox project was also successful. Everything seemed to be going right.' Here she paused again, her eyes began to take on a mournful gaze.

'There was a saying back in my time. "Power corrupts. Power corrupts absolutely". The citizens of Ascension became drunk upon their abilities. Drawing upon the energy of the Equinox subjects was like a drug to them. They wanted more and more every single day. When the supplies began to run short there was unrest. Carvelle hurriedly began the creation of a second more powerful Equinox project, but there were so few who would survive such an intense alteration.

'Nevertheless we succeeded in producing the second project. But by this time Carvelle and Avouris had fallen out. Neither could agree on the way forward. Avouris thought that the project had gone too far, that it should be abandoned until such time as they were able to find a better way of regulating the process. But Carvelle was insistent. He wanted to push ahead with both projects confident that eventually a power balance could be achieved. He also pointed out that the primary problem was energy supply. A problem he believed was easily rectifiable.

'The citizens only used their abilities for the common good. Developments in science were steaming ahead dramatically. In just a few short years we had achieved what would have taken the rest of the world decades. We had developed faster and more efficient faster than light travel. We had discovered ways of curing the few diseases that remained. He believed that eventually enough energy could be supplied to keep the population contented and support humanities continuing evolution.

'But Carvelle and Avouris began to disagree more and more. Soon they refused to be in the same room as one another. I continued on with my work attempting to find a solution to the problems we faced, but I could find none.

'Carvelle decided that Avouris would at any moment threaten the stability of the project. That he might pull the plug on the whole operation. This was something he could not tolerate. He therefore issued me with an execution order. I was forced to comply.

'After Avouris's death the situation began again to deteriorate. The citizens began to draw upon the Equinox subjects with an insatiable thirst. They assaulted the subjects when they refused to allow them more energy. It got to the point when a gang of citizens would surround one of the subjects and draw all the energy from them that they could before the subject had the chance to disconnect. In almost all cases this excessive draining was fatal. This was a turning point in Ascension's fate. For the first time murder had been recorded in a decade free from serious crime.

'Carvelle ordered me to undertake the creation of a third generation of the Equinox project. He promised me that this would only be temporary. That he was close to finding a solution to the problem. We had begun to disagree; I could see little point in continuing with the project. It had proved that it was doomed.' Again Blue Dawn paused. The story had been a long one and she was aware that we were beginning to fatigue. However the keenness of our eyes encouraged her to continue.

'Early in the morning following our disagreement, Carvelle announced a break-through. He said that he had discovered something incredible in his initial research upon Hercula. He asked if he could borrow one of the new Xenith class of vessel that I had produced in order to take it back to Hercula and return with a solution. I agreed, but felt it necessary to point out that the United World and the Alliance were engaged in aggressive activities against one another, that a war was inevitable. He promised that he would not stray for long and ordered me to continue with the third generation.

'Several days later a communications probe dropped out of slipstream and delivered a message to me. It was from Carvelle. He stated that he had found a solution. That he would have to travel a great distance in order to retrieve the artefact that he was looking for. I was told to wait for him.

'The situation upon Ascension was now at breaking point. For the sake of allowing the project to continue I implemented a rationing system and authorised the use of force against anyone who drew more than their share of the energy. The Equinox subjects, in the absence of Carvelle's control, began to convince me that this needed to stop. That Carvelle would never get back before the situation deteriorated forever. Soon I became convinced. The angels through their close affinity with the Promethean Layer had discovered a way of cutting the citizens permanently off from the energy without causing any serious harm. I immediately began to take the measures that they had suggested.

'Before the process was complete Carvelle returned. He looked tired and pale and was exhibiting many of the symptoms we now recognise in the infected. But it was what he brought with him that would be the damnation of us all. It was an artefact which he called the Eye of Orion. It was logged into my system as artefact: catalogue number 77-x.

'Carvelle claimed that the Eye of Orion was an artificial structure that he had created which would allow any of the Ascension's citizens to draw upon the Promethean layer's energy. But something was wrong in his explanation. Examination of the artefact concluded that it was made of compounds that we simply did not have the capability to create. I could not even begin to explain how it worked.

'Carvelle ordered me to immediately put the artefact into operation. All that was required to run it was a small power source. Within moments of its activation it seemed that everything was working. But the angels began to rebel. Somehow they had sensed the result of drawing upon the Promethean Layer through this device. Somehow they had known it all. They tried to make me stop him, tried to make me turn it off. When I confronted Carvelle with my concerns, he disconnected me from Ascension's primary systems, I was to run the maintenance of the station only.' Blue Dawn's face darkened. She appeared tired and weighed down by her own tale. It seemed as though she was carrying a burden that she could not lift. Her hair fluttered onto her face and she pushed it back absently. She gave a wan smile to each of us. We were listening intently now.

'The Eye of Orion worked perfectly. Within a matter of days Carvelle had got it all working. The population hungrily accepted the additional modifications required to access the artefacts energy output. In that moment they truly became gods. The amount of power that they could access was incredible. I did not understand how it worked, Carvelle had kept me out of the loop.

'About a week into my exile Carvelle came to see what was left of me. He sneered at my reduced nature. He told me that I was now insignificant, that I was no longer required. He told me that even the angels were now an obsolete body, consigned to history. He told me that I was no longer required and that Ascension would now run itself without my administration, that I had completed my purpose for existence. He shut me down. In just a matter of a moment I was unaware of everything. The station now was now run entirely by the people, what Carvelle might have called the true democratisation of power.

'I was awoken later. I do not know after how long. It seemed the angels had taken it upon themselves to bring me back to life, I never understood why. They circled around one of my physical forms. They touched its body and gave it comfort. They told me that I was to be put back in control of Ascension, that there were few of them left now, that the population had killed the majority of them.' Her voice began to break now. The tragedy was beginning to unfold.

'I regained my sensor feeds to see the aftermath of an apocalypse. The Equinox subjects could have done something. They were strong enough to prevent this destruction. There were bodies everywhere. Hordes of infected were moving through the station killing anyone that the artefact had not corrupted. I began to access what little recordings were still available. The answer was shocking. From the moment exposure to the artefacts had begun, a state of mutation had occurred within Ascension's citizens. They had gradually been reformatted. Their neural chemistry changed forever. They lost their identities and became mindless hordes, in search of only death and destruction. Huge sections of Ascension had been destroyed. Barely fifty percent of what remained of Ascension was viable.

'In the midst of all this chaos I began my research. I thought that I could find a solution. My research split the population of Ascension into three sections. Those with an immunity to the artefact. Those who had been reduced to mindless killers; and those who had retained their intelligence but had been driven to madness.'

It was at this moment that I interrupted, 'So the modifications that you gave to us, they were to give us this immunity?'

'Yes,' she replied. 'In most cases immunity cannot be sustained for long. In others, through genetic enhancement, they can be permanently immunised to the effects of the artefact. But there are two final categories. You are in the most special one. Through slight enhancement you can both remain immune to the artefact and be able to draw upon its energy source. In Adrian's case, he is immune to the effects of the artefact by blocking out the energy that it is emitting, though he cannot use it.' Blue Dawn paused. Her eyes enquired whether or not we wanted to know more.

'Please continue,' Knightly stuttered.

'Very well. During my initial research those who were infected but retained their intelligence rounded up the hordes and tried to neutralise me. I asked the Equinox subjects to help but they did not respond. I implored them, told them that I would do anything that they desired, but they turned their backs upon me. They had decided that they were better than us. That they were no longer responsible. I was left with only one option and so I executed a general shutdown order. Ascension was left without air, power or anything else I thought necessary. I believed that I could contain it. I shut Ascension down. In doing so I shut myself down, only to be awakened again by the Eternis Corporation who delivered the news about the colonies and Earth. I must say that it was a shock to hear that my society had fallen, that they had destroyed themselves, all without the provocation of the Eye of Orion.' Blue Dawn finished her delivery wryly.

Aeniah appearing bored by the entire event, as if some how she had heard it all before, turned towards Blue Dawn and said, 'Lovely. Whilst I am a little more interested in this solution that you have for us we have bigger things to worry about. I need to take back this ship and I need to do it quickly. According to these sensor logs the crew have shut down the reactors safeties and raised its control rods. Without stabilising the reactor the ship will be lost.'

Blue Dawn smiled at Aeniah. 'Then I fear I must report to you that the ship is already lost. According to Ascension's sensors the reactor has reached the final phase in its overload cycle.'

'Meaning?' I asked.

'Meaning that in twenty minutes the reactor will reach its critical state and will go nuclear. That of course will result in the destruction of your vessel.'

'That is _not_ going to happen' stormed Aeniah. She began to pace towards her control screen. Before she could get to it Sean, who had been strangely quite throughout the course of events, stated, 'she's right Aeniah. I have been monitoring the ships systems. The reactor is finished, it has reached its point of no return. We should begin an evacuation.'

'Right I'm off to get Adrian and the doctor. I will meet you in the dock,' my voice announced, almost of its own accord. With this in mind I began to get my things together.

'Wait. I give the orders around here,' Aeniah asserted with a cold voice. 'You can go and get Adrian after you have been briefed as to our game plan.' She turned to Blue Dawn. 'Can Ascension survive the nuclear detonation of a Type 35 reactor.'

Blue Dawn looked up for a moment as if there was some sort of information tattooed onto her upper eyelid. 'A nuclear detonation of a Type 35 reactor is equivalent to a two hundred and fifty megaton thermo nuclear explosion. According to the original design specifications of Ascension this is well within the tolerable range of survival. However anything within a two kilometre vicinity of the explosion will be heavily damaged. Unfortunately I do not currently have sufficient resources to mass-transport all of you to a safe zone.'

Aeniah paced around, unsure of what to do. We all looked to one another, feeling the same thing. The feeling of death's cold hand on your should. A shiver ran up my spine and the ship seemed to drop in temperature. Then something occurred to me. Without hesitation I ventured my ideas. 'Sean, can the vessel be given autonomous pilot instructions?'

'Yes George, once a course has been laid in the vessel will autonomously navigate.'

'Alright then. What we need to do is to tell the vessel to disengage its dock with Ascension five minutes before detonation and pilot itself at full speed away from the station. That gives us ten minute to evacuate. The vessel should be able to reach a speed of twenty six APU after fourteen seconds of acceleration. By this logic the core should detonate when the vessel is one hundred and ninety miles from the station.' I had yet again surprised myself. It seemed I was getting ever more intelligent as time passed. With a start I realised that I had been speaking in the units of the past. APU was a measurement of speed that had been rendered obsolete after the loss of faster than light travel and had never been picked back up after its re-invention. Aeniah had given me a ponderous stare.

'Alright now that is a plan. George, you Sean and Knightly go and get Adrian. I will take the remaining crew members to the safety of the dock.' She began to input instructions into one of the consoles. The device rang obligingly. We gathered ourselves together and ran out of the CIC, my angel followed silently.

We managed to get all the way to a maintenance shaft without any problems. We soon emerged into the science wards without hassle. The infirmary was within our sights. I hammered upon the access panel and the door opened. In the darkness of the reception all I could hear was a giggle.

I raised my lancer. Looking through the screen I could make out a figure carving up the dead nurses with a long knife. She was covered in the blood and entrails of the woman beneath her. Suddenly she turned her head in our direction. She barred her teeth and growled at us. Without a moment's hesitation I let loose with the lancer and she exploded backwards against the sealed door of the infirmary and promptly had the decency to die. I activated the antiquated communication stream between the reception and the infirmary.

'Adrian its George. The ship's reactor is about to go nuclear. So we are going to get you out of here and into Ascension.'

Adrian's voice burst through the static of the comms stream. He sounded very worried. 'Please George, do it quickly. I don't know how much longer I can stay in here with them.'

'What's wrong Adrian, what is going on in there.'

'Just hurry. Please hurry.' In the background of the stream I could hear the moaning of another person.

I quickly turned my lancer onto its side. I switched its firing function to beam-mode. I then rotated it back to its firing position. The screen indicated a successful switch. On the menu options I selection narrow beam mode. The device indicated its compliance. I turned the power of the beam way down and a sliding bar descended to highlight this modification. Raising the lancer to my shoulder I took aim and fired.

Unlike the spectacular effects I had seen previously, the lancer spurted out a very narrow beam of light. It still hurt to look at but it did not, at least, blow a hole through the wall. Instead the beam began to melt the seal that had been placed between the doors two opening points. The metal glowed a deep volcanic red as pieces of silvery material dripped down onto the ground. I held my finger firmly down upon the trigger for a little while longer until the seal between the doors failed. I stopped the lancer.

'Give me a hand,' I shouted to Knightly. He ran over to the other side of the door and together we pulled against the centre. The door rang loudly as it ground along its buckled edges. With all our might we finally heaved the door open.

Out ran Adrian with pace. He ran straight towards me and hugged me hard. Pulling himself together he pushed me away and stood casually backwards. But the others did not emerge.

'Excuse me. Ladies and gentlemen. The ship is about to go nuclear. C'mon people!' I shouted but still there was no sound. It seemed that they were too worried to understand. Perhaps they were paralysed with fear.

'Alright Sean I'm going in. Can you give me their positions?'

But as Sean began to talk Adrian cut in. 'No George. No! They're not safe. They just keep saying the same thing over and over again. I think they're losing it. I think they might be infected.' Adrian continued to pant.

'Ok people,' I called, 'You have five seconds to get yourselves out of here or we are leaving without you.' Still they said nothing. 'Five,' I motioned for the others to gather their things. 'Four,' I backed away from the entrance. 'Three,' I moved my hand to indicate for the others to move outside and cover the entrance. 'Two,' I gathered everything that I had together and began to walk backwards and out of there. 'One!' and I ran out of there.

We ran down the corridor desperate to get to the hangers and out of there. There was not enough time to use the service hatches and so we had to use the main route. With the elevators locked out we took the large winding staircase down the floors. We had soon reached the middle floor but we still had to get to the lowest and then to the dock.

We kept running down that stairs, one metal segment after another flying beneath our legs. The columns that held up the stairs were beginning to hum. Soon that hum had reached the intensity of a loud whine. The resonance was almost deafening. By the looks on the others faces as I turned around, they must have all realised the same thing. That this ship was very close to collapse.

As if on cue the staircase that we had just run down collapsed behind us, falling with a crash to the very lowest floor. We reached that floor seconds later and ran with all our speed through the archway and onto the central corridor.

Our heavy boots clunked along the floor as we ran full tilt along the deck. The ship was making the most terrifying sound. We reached the damaged hanger and ran through it, ignoring the bodies, ignoring the destruction. Collapsing into the airlock Knightly slammed his hand down on the access panel. A symbol dissolved into a green arrow. The airlock began to hiss as it equalised the pressure inside with that of Ascension.

A great shaking beneath us and along the wall told me that the engines had just begun to fire. The ship was about to leave. I could just make out the sound of docking clamps being released. I screamed for my life. 'Hurry up. Hurry the fuck up.' But the doors would not open until the pressure was equalised. 'C'mon!' I could see Ascension's docks through the narrow window. They were magical. I could almost feel the cool air of freedom.

The pressure door buzzed and slid itself away. But the ship had begun to move. I could hear Aeniah and the others screaming for us to jump. Adrian looked at me, smiled and threw himself down. The others disembarked very easily. Knightly looked to me and nodded. It was just me and him now. But our problems were compounded because the vessel was now accelerating away.

I threw myself with force to the ground. I heard a whooshing in my ears before I impacted heavily upon floor. Rolling to take out the force of the impact I looked up to see Knightly, now very high, preparing to jump. But the ship suddenly shook and he fell back into the airlock. The others screamed but I was too winded to do anything other than gasp. The ship had almost exited Ascension now.

Knightly's head was just visible as he walked to the end of the airlock and made his next attempt to jump. Just as he was about to jump Ascension's membrane passed over the airlock and he was exposed to the vacuum of space. The last we saw of him he was holding his throat and gasping for air. Aeniah let out a moan and sobbed gently, just for a couple of seconds.

The vessel had now completely parted through the membrane that sealed Ascension from the hells of space. The little vessel rolled onto its silvery belly. It brilliant shine captured the light of the stars just perfectly as they ran along its arching midsection. Spinning gracefully it turned away from Ascension and bravely faced the depths of space. Its engines fired in full and the ship burst forward on a wave of blue light. The engine trail was now all that was visible as the vessel continued on its journey to the grave. The light was beginning to dim.

Then it happened. A huge ball of light exploded across the night sky. The stars were drowned out by its intensity. The little ship had become a ball of pure energy miles wide. You could feel the warmth from Ascension. I shielded my eyes from the brightness. In a matter of moments it had faded and disappeared.

I turned away from the light and walked over to the others. I could see Adrian's tall frame and dark hair. I looked towards him but he seemed not to notice me. Instead of going over to him I walked over to Aeniah and Blue Dawn. Sean was hovering above them in a distracted manner, flitting this way and that between them.

'So how the fuck are we supposed to get out of here now?' Aeniah asked.

'That will not be a problem,' Blue Dawn returned. 'These docks may be bare but I assure you Ascension has many vessels that can be lent to you, for the right price.'

'Price?' I asked. 'What price?'

'Unfortunately the amount of vessels I have at my disposal is limited. Therefore what I ask is that you fulfil your mission, to destroy the Artefacts and save humanity. Are you prepared to accept these terms?'

'Obviously,' returned Aeniah. 'But it would be rather nice to know how exactly we can go about doing that.'

'The answer to that lies in the discovery that I made before I was taken offline.' She smiled and prepared to continue her story. 'You see after your science team came and woke me up, I had a chance to properly examine the Artefact. With so much damage my investigation was only concluded after the suicide of that team. I had determined that the Artefact was part of a series. That the Eye of Orion functioned as one of many windows into the Promethean Layer. The window allows some of the energy to escape into this plane of existence, what Carvelle would have called "real-space".

'But there was more. I finally confirmed my suspicions as to the Artefacts real purpose and genesis. The components of the Eye of Orion could not have been created by human hands. In short it is an alien composition.

'At first I theorised that the effects of the radiation might have been different to an alien. However an examination of the non-human genetic modifications that Carvelle had used to create the Ascension project did not match up to this theory. Neuro-cellular degradation would also have occurred on all probable alien physiology. I then theorised that it might have been possible that there was a problem with the Artefacts, that somehow they had gone wrong. But further examination proved that this was not the case.

'I then focused my investigation upon finding a way of shutting the Artefacts down. Using conventional technology I found no way of destroying them. If a part of it became damaged it would simply re-grow out of nothing. It is resilient in a way that is quite frustrating.

'I soon found that the device gave off an interesting signature alongside its radiation. Analysis of the spectrum revealed that the Eye of Orion was transmitting some sort of communications stream. Using Ascension's powerful imaging systems I located the termination point of the communication stream. It ended upon Hercula.

'Within a matter of hours I had sent probes to all of the colonies that were plagued by the artefacts. Data analysis revealed that each and every one of them was communicating with something on Hercula.

'It occurred to me that if the artefacts could not be destroyed, perhaps they could be shut down by whatever it was that they were communicating with. I began to execute a transmission back to Eternis Systems central command. During my conversation with Sephra I was shut down. I am still uncertain as to what was the cause of this, but a diagnostic of my DCN's showed no signs of damage. They simply shut down all at the same time. One moment they were running perfectly, the next they failed. I cannot account for it.

'My proposal to you is therefore an easy one. I wish for you to take one of the Xenith class vessels that is still currently operational and investigate Hercula to find out what you can. If you manage to shut down the Eye of Orion network it may well be possible to save humanity after all.'

'Wait just one moment,' shouted Aeniah. 'Do you really mean to tell me that your big news was simply to go somewhere else. Why did you not just tell us that straight away? And more to the point why is he,' she pointed towards me, 'so important.'

'Because Carvelle once said something that gave away his game. He said that the road to the Promethean Layer could only be achieved by someone who already had it under their control. Before I lost control of Ascension, before it fell to ruins, Carvelle was in the midst of executing his endgame. Don't you see? For Carvelle, Ascension was the beginning, not the end.'

I stared at her dumbfounded, it made no sense. I could not understand how this marvel of human creation, this ability to become a God, could not be an end in and of itself. 'But, but...why? What do you mean?'

Blue Dawn stared at me with impatience. 'Because, George, Carvelle seemed to know that there was something more to understanding the Promethean Layer than simply being able to connect to it and control it. For Carvelle life was merely a series of experiments. Ascension was just that, a test. Ascension gave Carvelle what he needed to achieve his ultimate endgame. Ascension is both a beginning and an end. It was supposed to give Carvelle what he needed in order to find out the truth. But the truth does not lie here, it lies out there, in the vast emptiness of space. What he sought to find I believed he would eventually bring back here. But I have nothing more to tell you. All that is left are theories. I am imprisoned here on Ascension. I do not have the ability to find out more. What I have achieved in spite of this has truly been staggering. I am a small AI that was once considered insignificant, and now I have a power and an influence that spans the cosmos. Life's little bends and curves are ever so intriguing, don't you think Aeniah? Imagine a person who once had a stature such as yours taking orders from this little machine.' With this peculiar statement she put her hand on my shoulder.

'You might not trust me, George,' she continued. 'But have you ever even considered that you might not be able to trust her?' She smiled briefly as she stared at my expression.

'Come on now George.' She saw that I could not understand what it was she was saying. 'Well how about this? Have you ever thought about how old she might be? What do you think she really did before you found her as your Captain? Do you really think she is just another Eternis Systems employee? I mean the technology on this station should be their wet dream. But don't you think she looks as though she has seen it all before?'

'I don't know. I don't know.' I could not comprehend an answer. Aeniah looked very angry. She moved her face aggressively in front of Blue Dawn's. Their faces were centimetres from one another.

'Don't you fucking try me you little bitch. I know your game you pathetic little machine.' She said almost quietly.

'Really? So then what _is_ my game Aeniah' Blue Dawn replied as calmly as ever.

Aeniah humphed and moved her head away. 'Well let me ask you this Dawn. I knew that science team. I knew every single one of them. They were my colleagues, and believe me none of them were suicidal. So let me ask you if they really committed suicide. If they _really_ chose to die. Video manipulation is hardly a difficult thing to achieve.'

They stared at one another is silence. It was as though I did not exist. The silence continued. Without realising it their conversation had gone from discrete to being obvious to everyone. Nobody was paying attention to anything other than their conversation at this point. The twenty or so survivors stared at them open mouthed. It seemed that I had not been the only one to be dumbfounded by this string of allegations. Mustering my courage I opened my mouth.

'Guys, can't we all just get along?' Both of them whirled towards me angrily and I took a step backwards in fear. 'Look, we all have the same objectives so why don't we all just have a breather.' This was advice they did not seem to take. Aeniah panted with rage and Blue Dawn looked like a lion ready to savage her next victim.

'Blue Dawn, how about you tell us what happened to the scientists?' I asked humbly.

'Fine. Aeniah you are of course right in your assumptions.' She almost spat out the word _right_. 'The science team were showing signs of infection. I had accumulated sufficient information to continue my research on the artefact without them. I therefore removed the oxygen from the room that they were in. They died almost without realising they _were_ dying. My actions were in accordance with the United World procedures on biological quarantine. You, Aeniah, of all people, should be aware of United World policy. As an artificial intelligence I am forced, by virtue of my very construction, to comply with all United World procedures. As a construction of Carvelle I can also choose to take a liberal interpretation of them.'

Aeniah rolled her eyes but she countered a coming onslaught. 'It is this liberal interpretation, might I remind you, which has stopped me from following standard quarantine procedure to the letter. If I had, Ascension's failsafe's would have been activated long ago and any hope of saving humanity would be lost along with the station.'

I nodded at the answer. I was a little disconcerted to think that at any moment Blue Dawn might kill anyone she wanted to.

Aeniah in a fit of anger retorted, with all the grace and tact of an exploding star. 'So tell me this. Clearly most of my crew are infected. Does this mean that you are going to _cleanse_ them from you station as well?'

Blue Dawn smiled. 'My primary concern is the continuity of the species. Should I execute members of your crew you might not be tempted to comply with my demands. Therefore I think it best to await the shutdown of the Eye of Orion network before I consider my options.'

This was again of little comfort. Blue Dawn was showing off her darker side. I felt the need to remind myself of Sean's words. That she too might have been driven mad by the effects of the artefact. What I really admired was just how sane an insane person could appear. I turned to Aeniah and stated, 'it's your turn.'

Aeniah raised an eyebrow and laughed. 'I'm afraid Mr Engeltine that I'm going to be keeping that to myself. You see whilst I do have some secrets I'm a real believer in the idea that there is a time and place for everything. You will just have to wait for the long ride to Hercula for those answers. Oh and don't think about asking Sean. Since his little slip-ups with you in the research wards I have had a few words.' I stared at her intently but did not have enough energy to follow up on my questions. 'Now Dawn would you ever so kindly take us to the Xenith vessel.'

'I am afraid Aeniah that you will be taking yourself there. Ascension is far too damaged to perform a mass transport of that many people to such a far away location. The Xenith class vessels are located in the primary launch chambers at the highest point on Ascension. As part of my quarantine procedures was to prevent exit and entrance from the station, the command modules from each vessel were taken and placed in secure chambers within Ascension Central Command. This is located in the heart of the station.'

'And how do we get there,' Aeniah asked.

'Ascension was designed to operate like a conventional city. People did not take lifts and walk, they took the railways and highways. Unfortunately for you the railways are unusable. But the highways are just fine. You should exit the dock and continue onto the Commercial District that is annexed to this section. The Commercial District is serviced by several primary freeways which go around Ascension's structure like internal rings, placed one on top of the other.

'Each of these highway rings is connected by a multitude of elevation freeways. You should enter onto Inter-sectional freeway 19. After two miles take the off ramp onto Elevation-freeway 6. You should continue on this road for eight miles until you reach the station's centre. Exit at junction fourteen and take the Inter-Sectional freeway until you reach the Ascension Centre for Administration. Within this super-section you will find Ascension Central Command. You see, logical and simple. There are free-for-use vehicles in the parking garages in the centre of the Commercial District. The closest and best stocked garage will be the Ascension Social Transport Initiative.'

'Great,' I muttered. 'So I take it that this is going to be another long journey?'

'Duh!' exclaimed Aeniah. She turned towards the others who were waited on her commands.

'Alright ladies,' she shouted. 'It seems that life has thrown us another little surprise. Because of the nature and extent of this journey we cannot take everyone with us. You will only slow us down. I am going to take a group of five heavily armed people with me. Sean and George are obviously included in that number.

'For the rest of you, you will be given arms and told to wait here. When we have got into the Xenith class vessel I will pilot it over to these docks to come and pick you up.

'Now we tidied up the infected as we came in here. The docks are under quite an effective quarantine so you will be safe in here. If anyone begins to show the final signs of infection, sedate them before they cause any harm. Are there any questions?' A few people moaned, but non offered any further questions.

Sean floated down to Blue Dawn's eye level. 'Excuse me. I am aware that since Carvelle banned you from doing anything other than administrating Ascension, you cannot come with us. You will have been commanded not to.'

'Yes. Carvelle has issued me with a compliance order that has prevented me from being in anything other than the Centre for Administration, the Docks and the Science and Research Divisions. He felt that there should be some measure of restraint placed upon me from the outset. I am however interfaced into all of Ascension's systems although a separate AI monitors those sections. I can therefore give you little information as to the exact condition of those sections. They are however pressurised and heated but I do not know much more that.'

'What?' I said. 'You mean to tell me that you can only access those sections. How the hell can you possibly be running Ascension?'

'George, George, George. Don't you see. I have access to Ascension's Centre for Administration and Ascension Central Command. There is nothing that I cannot do. I cannot go in those sections because Carvelle feared that I might want to execute a little bit of population control. You see I can manufacture as many avatars for myself as I like. It therefore made sense to limit the places where I could deploy my army-of-me.'

The point made a lot of sense. I realised that perhaps I still was not as intelligent as I thought I might have become. I tried to connect to the power-source out of curiosity but could not. I was puzzled and had to ask why. 'Dawn, why can't I access the power source anymore?'

'Ah,' she said, 'I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. Well, access to the Promethean Layer has always been a symbiotic relationship at best. Whilst you are able to hold the energy and use it by yourself you cannot hold enough of it to be useful. You see the Eye of Orion has been disconnected from its power source. Whilst it is still capable of broadcasting enough energy to corrupt minds it is not enough to cast or connect to. You are entirely dependent upon the grace of the angels for that one.'

'But I thought I was special, that I was able to hold the energy and cast it at the same time.'

'No, dear no,' Blue Dawn threw her head back and laughed. 'Not at all. It is because you can interact with the Promethean Layer that is important. You will be able to cast only when within range of a broadcasting system, such as the angels.'

Aeniah had grown impatient now. 'Well boo hoo. Look it really is lovely that everybody is getting along but we have a job to do. So let's get to it.' She moved closer to the nearby gaggle of her subordinates.

'Right then, I only want three of you, any larger party will not go unnoticed. If there is any intelligence left in the hordes they will try and get us in their own territory. Now are there any guardsmen among you?' To this there was no reply. It seemed that they must all have been killed.

'Alright then, Kolven, Harris and Abigail you're with us. The rest of you remain here and be vigilant. I expect each of you to be fighting fit when I get back here.' She looked over to us. 'Blue Dawn you will remain here and offer these people your protection. If anybody comes to any harm I will hold you personally responsible. And there are ways, my dear, of showing you just how how responsible I can make you.'

'George,' she shouted. 'Are you and Sean feeling up to this?' She paused but did not wait long enough for there to have been even the possibility of a response. 'Good! Well then check your suit's status and let's get this show on the road.'

Aeniah strode over to a random point in the middle of all of us. She used this moment to issue her war call. She motioned for us all to form up. We all ran at her command into a staggered line around her. We all switched on our night vision scopes or rifle mounted flashlights.

In amongst the green glimmer and off-white beams, Aeniah broadcast her voice loud and true. 'We have faced many evils and fought off great adversaries. In the process we have lost almost the entirety of our team. But in the face of adversity we have prevailed. Ladies and gentlemen, we might even be winning. This station marks one of the many times in which humanity has made a catastrophic error of judgment.

'Today,' she paused and said with humour, 'or more likely this week, we are going to put it right. Now for the love of God, I will have no panicking or going insane. There are too few of us for the luxuries of senility. So now when I give a command I expect you to follow it to the letter, and not go around carving each other up. Finally my illustrious friends, move out!' I sighed. It seemed some things never changed.

12

We were travelling down a poorly lit concourse on the way to the Commercial District. Our journey from the docks had been a silent one, though it had been occasionally broken by Sean's exciting description of what we could expect to find upon arrival. He was busy humming now whilst floating childishly above us. I largely remembered what he had said. That it was truly a monument to capitalist success. That it was the second largest part of the station, beaten only by the Centre for Administration which, due to the top heavy nature of the United World, was supposed to be unsurprising.

The concourse had soon gone from empire-of-the-state to hegemony-of-the-commercial. Every few yards there were wall mounted screens each bearing a new video advert. The adverts activated as we passed them and the sound coming from them had made us all jump the first couple of times. If I was honest, I jumped every time. Despite this I was gradually calming myself down and starting to pay attention to the advertisements around me. It was amazing how much you could learn about a civilisation through what it bought.

On the surface these adverts seemed to be run of the mill. There were adverts for fragrances, beauty and food. It was only once I paid a little more attention to the words that I realised the true nature of these adverts. They were a revolution in thinking. The first one that I _really_ noticed was an advert for a fragrance. A beautiful, tanned and blonde woman was being filmed in a provocative manner from a rolling camera angle. But it was the words which were different. The narrator voiced in the background, 'Prepare for an evolution in scent,' her voice was deep and seductive. 'Be beautiful everyday.'

The voice that dripped like honey continued, 'get the new genetic fragrance from Ar'nesh. Available from your local medicare clinic.'

Another advert poised in a slightly less serious manner featured an overwhelmed looking man. A sympathetic narrator asked his dishevelled companion, 'are you over worked, overloaded, maxed out? Do you find it hard to get through the daily grind?' He paused long enough for his client to nod and the continued, 'well now, there is a solution. Ascension Working Innovations brings you a new level of reality. A condensed, fully augmented, Immersive Virtual connection. Literally see your data. Interface with your surroundings just by being there. The new Armarge Core transfers the data straight into your temporal lobes and uses your visual centres to show you the data you really need. Say goodbye to your touch-pad, embrace your future.'

At the next wall screen a more sinister advert played. Set in the forefront of a blue hallucinogenic background stood a grey haired man. Instantly it was obvious that he was a man of power. I recognised him from one of the visions.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, over the last few years I have been telling you about the dream of Ascension. It was just two years ago that we got a hold of that dream, that we embraced our infinite capacity for power. Now each and every one of you can touch the Promethean Layer, can hold a little part of the face of God. Our Infinite Longevity project has given each and every one of us the ability to live longer than we can even imagine.' He paused and breathed deeply.

'But now, ladies and gentlemen, our allocation of the Promethean Layer is running out. Today many of you live in fear of tomorrow. But I have brought you your salvation. In this hour I will give you the next stage in our genetic revolution. From now on you need never fear a loss in our services. You need never fear the loss of perfection.' He paused again creating a dramatic rise in tension.

'Today I give you The Eye of Orion. A device that allows unlimited access to the Promethean Layer. Tomorrow, as ever, I give you Ascension.' The screen faded to black. Text washed up onto the screen which stated 'embrace the genetic revolution.'

Aeniah growled like an animal each time one of the adverts played. It had been some time now and it still seemed as if she would not accept that these adverts were inevitably going to be played. As if she expected the next to be the last. But still the concourse arched onwards and still the adverts played.

'Sean,' she shouted. 'Is there any way of shutting these things down? If the citizens are waiting for us this is going to give away our position like an explosive charge.'

Sean paused his humming. 'Perhaps there is a way. The adverts are a peripheral function of Ascension's systems, they will not be heavily protected. There is a power distributer ahead. I would simply suggest removing the access panel and shooting it. This will power off only the screens as the lights are classed as a critical system and so are heavily protected and multiply redundant.'

Aeniah practically ran at the distributer. She tore off the panel with inhuman strength borne out of anger. She raised her small pistol and a high pitch whine could be heard as it powered up some tremendous charge. She fired the pistol. The small distributer blew apart. The screens made a popping sound and turned off. The lights, true to Sean's prediction, remained on.

Without the distraction of the adverts I was able to admire the level of detail that the designers of Ascension had gone to. This concourse was not even a main route into the Commercial District and yet it was furnished with an opulence that could scarcely have been described. The walls for example were a black matt metal, but they had been finished with a layer of clear glossy ceramic. This gave off a shine that was simply unbelievable. Curved chrome lamps, like double swords, shone a flickering blue across the glossy material. Recessions in the walls contained floodlit waterfalls or sculptures that had holos of water or nature flashing upon them, bouncing off them, flying into them. The concourse was divided by a silver and glass, waist high partition. The high curved roof was also lit from behind in an array of colours, all of which shifted and morphed along its decadently patterned surfaces. Much like everything in Ascension a simple concourse was huge in composition. It could have fit a hundred of us in breadth alone. I looked to my feet and saw to my surprise a patterned marble floor. The station was truly a wonder.

'So how much farther is it?' I asked.

'The Commercial District is still a considerable distance from here. It appears that Blue Dawn's time projection may be a little optimistic,' Sean replied levelly. He resumed his humming with his usual amiability.

Aeniah seemed impatient, she began to hammer her pistol against her thighs as she walked, each of her fingers rolled in between each loud slap. Finally she broke her silence. 'So I don't suppose that there is any other way of getting there a little faster?'

Sean flew ahead of her, spun to face her, and flew backwards at her walking pace. He started humming in a monotone and then after just a moment he replied, 'there is no faster way to get to the Centre for Administration without using the highway system. The closest access to which is in the Commercial District. The docks were deliberately kept separate from the main transport hubs in case of an invasion. The route is deliberately designed to be a great length from the dock and is highly defensible due to its narrow confines, as are the science wards and the detention facilities. However there may be a faster way of reaching the Commercial District from here. Whilst the high-speed lev-rail networks and other primary transport infrastructure is too heavily damaged for use, there may still be local interlink trams that can be used. I am only suggesting this as a possibility because this concourse has received little, if any, damage. The interlink runs in parallel to this concourse and the nearest station is coming up on our left. In one hundred and fifty meters there should be a sign which has a symbol depicting a square with three arrows running through it. There no guarantees that the tram will be in working order.'

'Well that's good enough for me. Alright people keep the pace up. With me now! Everybody cover the intersection, you know what to do.' Without even finishing her final word she took off at a sprint. After a moment of pause we all began to run together. Each of our paces was completely in sync. The entire concourse thudded to the metrical rhythm of our boots. If anything was waiting for us round that corner I was sure that they would know that we were coming.

We were approaching the sign; it had only just become visible. The sign dimmed and shone as the bright yellow arrows intersected the rectangular symbol. The corner appeared darker than the rest of the well lit concourse, but I was sure that it was just my imagination. Aeniah showed no signs of slowing and our feet banged mercilessly upon the floor. Suddenly I saw Aeniah dive, she rotated in mid-air and landed on her knees facing the direction of the interlink, her gun was at the ready. I moved in behind her, a moment later, with my breathe held. The rest of our unlikely group fell in around us. We did not breathe as each of our devices switched to night vision or began to illuminate the darkness ahead.

There was nothing to see but the flickering of lights which were activating in anticipation of our arrival. Crouching low to the ground we stepped slowly into the ever brightening walkway. The walkway had an arched ceiling. It was not as wide as the concourse but it was certainly wide enough. Here there were no adverts. It seemed as though this was not the primary way by which to get to the interlink. Ahead a tall pillar flashed on. It came to life with a musical little number. Above its cylindrical body there was a floating holo stating _information directory_. We passed it with little concern.

The interlink could not have been far away. I was not sure how distance used to be measured but the numerals on the roof of the walkway were gradually counting down. It had moved from two symbols side by side to one. If my estimation of United World numeracy was correct there were only five more digits before we arrived. And just then I saw the characteristic change in the shade of colour that indicated a new place. If this walkway was coloured with a cream marble then the room ahead, whatever it may be, was certainly a very sooty grey.

I could see it now. The tension was visible among my companions. In truth I felt it too. The shaky way they walked, almost mechanically, gave away their true feelings. Even Aeniah seemed coiled like a viper awaiting some unknown threat. It was what we could see before us that was causing all the tension. We were but meters away, and yet even from this distance it was obvious that all was not well ahead. Abigail, the most obviously nervous of the group, made a motion as if to ask to turn back. But we all ignored her, the concourse was going to take too long, and if we needed to fight we may be too tired after a journey of that length.

We had made it to the opening of the interlink station. There were torn off screens everywhere. Everything had that burnt peeling look that was so distinctive of Ascension. My lancer swiped to thermal, but there was nothing there. Aeniah stepped over the threshold. I covered her as she entered and then slipped in behind her. Without the interference of the light of the walkway the innards of the station were much clearer.

The first thing to note is that in fact there was some light. Amongst the huge columns that supposedly held up the roof, were clusters of bulbs. This light was dim and appeared more for decoration than for purpose. It appeared that Carvelle had gone for an age-gone-by aesthetic to the place. There was actual paint covering the walls. I knew this because it had peeled dreadfully under the heat of the weapons exchange that had brought Ascension to its knees. To me Ascension seemed like a living monument to the depths that humanity could sink. On the one hand it still held the seductive promise of becoming a God, but on the other it showed, in each of its isolated pockets, what we would inevitably use this power for.

Amongst the clutter of the station, its overturned stands and broken architecture, was the tram. Incredibly it still remained attached to its overhead tracks. I noticed that although it was badly burnt and in need of restoration it appeared to be usable. The tram was constructed in an old fashioned style. It had none of the neat lines and sleek curvature of the rest of Ascension. It was decorated with gold filigree which created an opulent vibe. The paint was green and there was real glass functioning as windows. This was much in contrast with the perfectly transparent membranes that usually covered Ascension. I knew it was real glass because it was dirty. Membranes were self cleaning.

After taking in the sights we slowly inched our way towards the tram. I jumped down from the station and onto the tracks. The short grooves catching at my feet as I crossed over to the tram. Aeniah was still in front. She had her gun held in a grip so tight I was certain that it would shatter. But the ancient device kept on working.

With a tremendous kick of her right leg she broke open the tram door. There was no noise inside. The lights on the tram flickered in anger at the intrusion. There was still too little light to see clearly. The silence pervaded everything, it seemed to impress itself upon you, make you really fear. Aeniah had disappeared into the tram, the glass was too burned to make her out clearly.

I moved up the steps and into it. The smell inside was awful. Almost predictably I saw the bodies, each in a frozen position of terror. These bodies appeared to have been cut and slashed and not burnt. There was no motion. The smell, however, did not seem to be coming from the bodies, they had been flash frozen in the station when Ascension powered down. Instead the stench seemed to be coming from one of the forward carriages. Aeniah motioned for me to go first. The others were only just making their way onto the tram.

I placed my fingers on top of the handle. Ever so gently I massaged the handle down. It let out just the faintest of squeaks. Almost as if in slow motion I pushed the firmly shut door open. It moved without grace, but thankfully without sound. My hand retreated quickly but silently. I raised my lancer back to my shoulder and stared down the scope.

Instantly I saw what was creating the stench. A body ahead had become extremely bloated through a process of decay I did not understand. The levels of putrefaction were far more advanced than any of the other bodies that I had encountered. I knew that the body was dead, stone dead, at least until I saw it move.

A faint twitch perhaps, perhaps it was nothing. I squeezed my fingers a little more firmly around the trigger. I should have been a mad man, it would have made life easier. Then there was another much more obvious twitch. My heart burnt with fear. Then whole body shook and released more of that foul odour. Perhaps it was some totally explainable phenomena, like severed heads that keep on talking. But again it twitched. The sight was beginning to unnerve me. Then its arm twitched twice and then flexed itself. This was no dead thing.

The bloated corpse raised itself to its feat giving out a tremendous screech as it did so. In terror I pulled the trigger. The corpse was still facing away from me. But it did not fall. I pulled the trigger again, and to my horror saw nothing happen. Neither shot had fired. Now the corpse was beginning to turn as if sensing my presence. I desperately continued to squeeze the trigger. I hammered away at it with my finger but it simply would not respond.

Then I saw its face. The face was something that simply could not have belonged to a human being, and yet it was so very human. His eyes bulged. His face was puffy and yellow. The lips were dry and had receded to the point that there was no longer a chance of the upper and lower ever meeting. On his chest was a huge wound which had long ago stained his sweater. The dried blood was so old that it was almost black and was flaking off. I had no idea how this figure remained standing without even any blood coursing through his veins.

His huge yellow eyes finally locked onto me. The disgusting lips twitched upwards in an attempt at a smile. But the muscle was so wasted that only the faintest twitch at the corners could be observed. I pulled the trigger again but nothing happened. He began to stumble towards me in an almost comical fashion.

Those huge inflated arms came towards me. I rammed my lancer into the creatures face. But with so much damage already inflicted upon the creature I knew that this would cause little more than a distraction to his murderous rampage. Behind me Aeniah was swearing, her pistol had also failed to fire. I was by myself, the narrowness of the tram prevented Aeniah from getting ahead of me.

He closed his hand against my shoulder, I desperately pulled back trying to get free. He was too strong, even with such a level of muscle decay. I kicked out getting him in the stomach and he released me. I ran backwards as fast as I was able in the narrow confines of the tram. He began to lurch forward drunkenly again. There was little I could do now to prevent the inevitable. He was so close I could smell the necrotic stench of his breathe.

To my right glass shattered and the creature was hit by a hundred holes. A second later and my mind processed the sound of automatic rifle fire. The rifle fire stopped. I looked out of the broken window to my right and saw Abigail smiling at me. She was holding her large black assault rifle casually. I smiled my thanks but something whacked into the back of my head.

I was on the ground now. I could not see much from the floor but the feet of the corpse. With shock I realised, from the orientation of his feet, that he was still standing, no, moving. I could hear more automatic fire and then heard the unmistakable thud of the creature again hitting the deck. There was a second thud. I strained my eyes to see that the second thud was the sound of the creature's head impacting the floor. Its blood was yellow.

I was still too dizzy to stand, but I knew that the rifle fire must have been sustained for such a long period of time that it would have severed, piece by piece, the creature's head. This had definitely prevented any further movement. There was something else that occurred to me and it was that if just one bloated figure took this long to kill, how on earth we were supposed to be able to get all the way to the Centre for Administration and then to a Xenith class vessel. In short, we were going to die.

As I was on the ground I began to hear voices, loads of them. My vision began to wash away. Colour drained itself from my surroundings. I got gingerly to my feet. The colour was beginning to flood back into the world. In that moment I realised that I was having yet another vision of the past. With frustration I wondered why these visions only seemed to come right in the middle of the most dangerous parts of my journey.

All around the tram there were people waiting and bustling. The bright gold filigree of the tram reflected off all the surfaces of the station. The station itself was bright and gleaming. Sparkling gold rails added a wintery texture to the surroundings. The clothing of the commuters was of a strange composition. In Bataga I was used to a plethora of cultures, each wearing incredibly differing garments. And yet here there was very little in the way of radically differing styles. I also noticed that many of the women on the platform wore the same strange garments as Blue Dawn. Instead of being divided into trouser legs they simply continued down as one. Furling outwards or slashed along the side they ran down to differing heights. Some left little to the imagination, others trailed across the floor.

Some of the commuters had a strange sort of holo floating around their eyes. It seemed to display media of some description. The crowd seemed to bustle and heave. Everyone was weary. Two angels waited at the station. Each of the crowd would touch a part of them and gasp in rapture. Some would correct cosmetic errors on their faces with the Promethean Layer, others would use it to lift their heavy bags onto the trains. All the while the angels endured their jostling and pushing without expression. The impatience of the commuters seemed to manifest itself in the rough treatment of the Equinox subjects. Around the angel's shoulders was a sash which contained the words _empower yourselves, empower the people_.

For one reason or another one of the angels seemed to refuse one man access. 'What the hell. You, Equinox, supply now!' But still the angel resisted. The man drew a firearm and placed it against the angel's head, he spoke coldly. 'Provide me access, I command you.' He was sweating from his forehead. His hands were shaking and the gun would not stay level.

The angel whispered something into his ear. I should not have been able to hear it from this distance but it seemed that I could hear despite the void between us. 'For everything there is a price. For the power of a god the price is always the highest. He will take away your soul.' And then the angel bowed her head. A fraction of a second later the gunman blew her brains out. The crowd cheered in euphoria. A single tear dripped from the other angel's eyes as she saw her sister fall. In the background, just for a second, I heard a man cry out. I spun to find him, but could not. Scanning the crowd I saw him, at last. He was obvious only because he had not joined in with the cheering. Next to him was a woman of great height and her face displayed an expression such as one who had just witnessed true evil for the first time. I saw that expression again and again in the faces of those in the crowd, but there were so few of them.

As the tall woman and the man who cried out reached the platform I watched them intently. They both placed their hands into the angel's and kissed her on the cheek. The other commuters seemed not to notice. And then they did something curious. The woman, with the greatest of stealth, took a syringe from her pocket. Hiding it with her open palm she placed it into the angel's side and depressed the plunger. The angel closed its eyes and gazed upon them with thanks. In a moment, almost without me noticing, the two had disappeared. I scanned my eyes to find them and saw them leaving the station. I looked around the crowd to find any of the others that I had seen in silent protest. I could see none of them. It appeared that they had all left station. I wondered where they had gone.

The vision ended its little sequence. The characters in this ethereal play ceased their motions, suspended forever in time. The sound drained, sucked away forever, into the past. These visions did not belong in my memory, they belonged to the dead. It was so strange to take these memories from them. In the final moments of the visions conclusion I saw something amazing. The once damaged and beaten angel glistened with light. A rainbow of patterns shone all over her. And with a smile she outstretched her snow white wings, as raindrops that shimmered like rainbows bounced upon her feathers. She raised her triumphant head and soared into the sky. And with that the vision truly ended.

My head was on fire, it throbbed as though I had drunk an exceptional quantity of alcohol the night before. When the throbbing gradually diminished I gently eased myself onto my knees, and without any speed at all heaved myself to my feet. But the ground was uneven and I staggered once I had reached my summit. I turned to look through the broken glass and found that the train had already begun to move. A disembodied voice announced 'welcome to Greenline interlink tramways. Your next station is Integral Plaza. This service will terminate at the Grand Concourse, Commercial District. Casting is prohibited within the confines of this tram. We hope that you enjoy your ride.'

A guy tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to face him. It was Kolven. Harris and Abigail were huddled together on one of the trams seats, despite the temperature being relatively mild. Aeniah and Sean were visible in the driver's compartment talking in whispers.

'You okay buddy?' Kolven asked. I nodded in response. 'Say, George right?' Again I nodded. 'You don't think you could use some of that magic, what Blue Dawn was going on about, to get us out of here? I mean, I just wanna go home, you gotta take me there. Right? You got it? I can't die here man.' He was squeezing me quite tightly.

I was fairly nervous but tried to keep my voice calm and kind. 'Kolven, this ability doesn't work like that. I know you really want to go home, but I can't take you there. It just doesn't work like that.'

Kolven pushed me. 'No, you don't understand buddy,' his voice had taken one a wild texture. 'I can't stay here much longer. You get me? I can't cope for much longer. I want out. I want my home. Take me home George, take me home.'

I softened my voice, just a touch. 'You do remember, don't you Kovlen? Earth was destroyed. You have no home. Home is right here with us. We are here to make ourselves a new home. But first that home has to be free from the effects of the artefact. You do understand don't you?'

But Kolven could not be reasoned with. He began to rave about getting the fuck out of here. Aeniah had been distracted by this and had wandered up next to him at a violent pace. But as she got there he suddenly fell silent and just stared off into the distance. 'That's better,' said Aeniah. She was about to turn around and go back to the drivers compartment when an expression crossed her face.

'Kolven?' she enquired. 'Kolven can you hear me?' But there was no response. Aeniah moved towards the figure that was now standing perfectly still. His face had gained a sort of transparent mesmerised complexion to it. There was a small amount of saliva tracing its way from the corner of his mouth on an inexorable path to the ground.

'I think he might be gone, Aeniah,' I whispered.

Aeniah raised her gun to his temple. His eyes did not even track towards the weapon. He did not even seem to breathe any longer. She placed her lips against his lips and kissed him. Kolven seemed to sag a little, as if some invisible substance had been drawn from him. 'Forgive me,' Aeniah whispered. She turned the pistol to its lowest setting and with great regret pulled the trigger. There was no mess, only the tiniest of holes perforated Kolven's skull. He stayed on his knees for a while before he rolled over onto the ground.

For some reason a great compulsion came across me not to go anywhere near him. The dead seemed to have this annoying little habit of getting up and walking around whilst I was about. I left Abigail and Harris to it. They seemed to be perfectly at ease with the body of their friend lying next to them. Well perhaps not perfectly at ease, but they seemed to be dealing with it a lot better than I was.

In a huge act of courage, excuse the sarcasm, I walked away from my fears and went to join Aeniah and Sean in the drivers compartment. 'So how far do we have to go?' I asked.

'Not that far,' replied Sean. 'Aeniah and I are thinking of disembarking at the penultimate station to the Commercial District and walking the rest of the way down the lines. This will significantly increase our ability to remain relatively covert.'

'Aeniah, why did our guns give out just then? We are not going to be of any use unless we can actually return fire.'

'The guns are powered by Blue Clarity. Blue Clarity functions by drawing a very small amount of power from the Promethean Layer. This tiny amount of power is allowed to decay in a reaction chamber until it releases electricity in huge quantities. It stands to reason that anything distributing or containing significant quantities of the Promethean Layer's energy may well be able to disrupt our weapons' energy production.'

'But wait just a moment,' I said to her, 'you're telling me that that thing was casting?'

'No, not at all. Look George, that thing should have been dead. From the cerebral scarring that Sean detected we have concluded that he was probably a heavy user. It seems that the Promethean Layer doesn't just give you the power of a god, it can bring you back from the dead. Motherfucker must have been conserving his energy 'till he had something to kill. The only way to take them down seems to be to shoot them in the head. The body can't move without the brain.'

Sean interrupted close to hysterics. 'That is exactly right. The caster's store the energy within their brains. This remnant of the Promethean Layer is what is keeping them alive. Damaging the brain, even a little, will result in the loss of this energy. Taking away this energy is rather like shutting off the life support system to an intensive care patient.'

Aeniah rolled her eyes. 'Yes,' she said sarcastically, 'it is _exactly_ like killing the elderly and infirm.'

The train ground to a halt with a screech. We looked about but saw no station, everywhere was pitch black.

'Strange,' said Sean, 'the station should be on our right.' I raised my lancer and with relief I saw that it had come to life. The screen swiped to night vision. Through the green haze I could make out the tall distinctive columns of the station. Aeniah appeared to see the same thing and she relaxed a little. Abigail and Harris were very tense. I moved over to them and motioned for them to come close to me. The tram was emitting too much light. If anything was out there in the darkness they would be able to see us a mile off. My lancer swiped to thermal but nothing was visible.

Each of us silently climbed out of the window. The tram creaked and hissed. Aeniah and I were now the only effective combative force, the others could not use the flashlights on their rifles for fear of giving away our position. The station made no sound. The air seemed to be thick, as if it had not been circulated in years. I reminded myself that given the damage done to these sections it was very possible that I was breathing in the same air that the citizens of Ascension were breathing all of those years ago.

We softly stepped along the side of the tram. Still there was no noise, no movement on my scope. Sean had shut off his little blue light. When I took my eyes away from the scope I saw just how dark the tunnel that we were heading towards was. There was literally no way that I could see further than a foot in front of me.

We were in the tunnel now. The lights from the tram had fed off into the distance. Abigail had placed her hand around my waist so that I would navigate her through the tunnel and Harris had placed his around Aeniah. I was not certain at first how Aeniah was navigating. She had no scope and no flashlight to see with. It was then that I heard her whispering to Sean and complaining about his camera angle. She must be seeing a visual feed from Sean's camera. I started to pay attention again. The scope was revealing little of interest, a pipe here, a pipe there. The journey so far had seemed to take an age.

Gradually, ever so gradually, I began to see an end to the tunnel. The pipes and rails seemed to end at a grey blur. This, I was sure, would be the end of the line. The shapes began to grow into many shapes. And each of those shapes gradually became more defined. A series of structures perhaps?

I stared intently down the scope awaiting the promise of treasures Ascension had been so keen to make us aware of. I almost didn't notice the targeting reticule go red. That was strange. The reticule only went red when there was a target present. Sean had said that it would recognise most targets and use a series of ballasts in order to guide the users hand towards the target. Sean acknowledged that innovations such as these had somewhat reduced the average United World citizens' capacity to adapt to the loss of such technology after the wars.

I looked at the menu options and tried to find out what the problem was with the device. But the device reported no issues. Instead it offered to explain the reason for the targeting scenario. I confirmed. Within a moment it zoomed straight into the problem, and the problem was a horde. There was a mass of them seething forwards. At this distance it was almost impossible to hear them, but the new resolution of the lancer allowed me some clarity of sight. It was beyond anything I could imagine, so many shapes were writhing about the image from my scope that I could scarcely make out any individual in the seething mass.

Gradually, ever so gradually, I noticed something very important. This mass of bodies was not moving in a poorly arranged confusion, they were moving with a purpose, they were moving towards us. We must have been making more sound than I thought. For a moment I was dumbfounded. Then I screamed, 'Aeniah, they're coming.' She looked towards me in confusion. Slowly I saw the white light of her eyes flick upwards through the green haze and consulted with to Sean. In a moment her face changed from confusion to worry and from worry to horror.

'What should we do?' I screamed. Aeniah was beginning to rush forward in a crouch.

'Just fucking shoot them. Put yourselves in automatic and start firing,' she shouted back loudly.

I looked down the side of my lancer and flicked the toggle into auto. The gun whined in response as it began to charge. The side light went green indicating full readiness. I pulled the gun up in their general direction and began to fire. The lancer selected its targets and dispatched them with ease. Aeniah and the others began firing equally indiscriminately. Sean appeared to dart forward at a tremendous speed towards them. Soon he was away in the distance. I looked back through the scope of my wildly firing lancer and watched a small flame of energy drop from Sean. I stopped firing as my scope went white. The whole tunnel shook with the force of the explosion. I could just hear the humming of Sean as he whooshed his way back towards us.

I looked back through the scope at the fading white light and could see nothing. Then I saw the damage. There was a pile of strewn bodies lying across the surface of the tunnel. But climbing over those bodies was the rest of the horde. Aeniah must have seen it too because her pistol began to let rip just a couple of moments after I began to return fire. They were gaining on us.

With the tunnel illuminated by the energy rounds that we were firing Abigail and Harris appeared to have enough light to at least get a direction of fire. They had let go of our waists and were firing their projectiles in rapid succession at the unseen targets. Both of their torches switched on. The view along the tunnel was not great, but if I was honest, neither was the night vision. The lancer had obviously seen better days.

'Are we getting enough of them,' asked Harris.

'No, we're not even making a dent in them,' Aeniah responded in a scream.

We continued firing nevertheless. Sean's little explosive trick had seemed to be a one off. He was no longer participating in the fight but seemed to be working instead as Aeniah's eyes. They were communicating with each other. Or more accurately Aeniah was shouting whilst Sean deferentially complied with some nondescript answer.

The horde continued its inevitable surge towards us. It was like trying to stop the tide. A battle we could never hope to win. My lancer's overheat warning began to sound and a flame symbol appeared in the scope screen. I continued firing, ten down, now twenty. But nothing was enough. They were close enough now for Abigail and Harris to see by flashlight alone. But even with this improved accuracy there was not enough fire power. I wished that my angel was with me, that I could draw upon its incredible power and use it to get rid of all of these murderous villains.

But I wished in vain. It seemed like Blue Dawn was right, they would only ever come if they really wanted to. I searched about us for something, anything that would get us out of this mess. My eyes scanned the tunnel, there was nothing, the flashlights revealed too little. I raised my lancer in desperation. Through the scope I could make out something. I let rip with the automatic and ran towards the left hand side of the tunnel. I moved with lightning speed but still it seemed too slow. They were so close now.

I reached the side and fumbled with the round wall. My hands soon found a purchase. Scrabbling with my fingers I found a handle. Thank fate. It was a door, probably a service entrance. It was amazing the amount of convenient things that could be found on Ascension. There were methods of escape everywhere.

'Follow me,' I screamed at my companions. At first they did nothing, transfixed by the incoming horde. It was only as Abigail and Harris's flashlights illuminated the door that they ran with relief to its opening. I forced my way through the narrow opening first. The others scrambled in one after the other. Aeniah was last and she slammed the door shut with a frightening strength. We were all gasping for air, sure that all the oxygen in the world was running out.

'This won't hold them for long,' Aeniah shouted. Sure enough there was a tremendous bang upon the door. The force of so many infected slamming at the door caused it to rattle on its hinges. We turned about the service tunnel and ran in the direction of the Commercial District. We ran with all our speed. There were some small lights that ran along the length of the service tunnel. These gave just enough light to run by and we seized the opportunity with both hands. We desperately grabbed at our one hope of salvation and ran blindly onward, anywhere, everywhere.

Something grabbed at my shoulder. I fell to the ground, not for the first time in the last twenty minutes, and heard automatic rifle fire. Unlike in my previous fall I managed to climb to my feet swiftly and found that the offending article had been pulverised. Perhaps she had once been a rail technician. She was dressed in a high visibility jacket. She looked strangely peaceful where she lay, without a torso. I didn't even bother to look around me, to find out what was going on. Instead I was possessed by a fear that drove me forwards, unseeing.

We were reaching the end of the service tunnel now. A sealed archway presented itself directly in front of us. Aeniah hammered at it, but the wall sealing the archway off was too firm.

'Okay, so does anyone have any explosives,' she called.

In the corner of my eye I spotted a familiar red symbol. With my right hand outstretched I pressed my palm against it. The symbol flashed, rotated, and turned green. A door to the left of the archway slid open. Aeniah did not seem very amused by the door upstaging her and she punched its metal frame on her way through. The door sealed itself behind us, preventing the horde from pursuing us further. There must have been thousands of them.

We had arrived at a station right at the opening of the Commercial District. This station was different from the others. The first difference was that it had no roof, no tall columns supporting it up. Instead it reached up into the never ending distance. We were in amongst the clouds. We were in the bloody sky.

I looked up and up and up. I gasped with incredulity. There was a sky. The station really was suspended in the air. It was blue, as blue as is the ocean. It was a lit by a series of white stars. They were held aloft in a straight line across this wonderful blue sea of air. Despite myself I laughed with the sheer pleasure of seeing it. The Commercial District, according to the maps of Ascension, covered a huge circular chunk of the station. It was two hundred Ascension sized floors high and spanned a distance calculated in the tens of miles.

Reaching like the fingers of God into the heavens of this blue ocean were skyscrapers of an immense proportion. They were concentrated in the far off and mist shrouded centre of the district. Each was a work of sheer brilliance. Some reached upwards in an impossible curve narrowing to a seemingly infinite point. Others arched from several points and met high above the heavens, some supporting other massive structures in their lofty heights. There were towers made of pure light, they shone with an ethereal glow, tinged with an electric blue. Most impressive were the garden structures. They were artificial towers that looped and curved and plateaued. Surrounding them was a twisting mass of plant life that became forests and lakes on each of their many plateaus. Many of the flatlands dripped water from them, which turned to a mist that reflected patterns of coloured light onto the surrounding buildings.

Such was the beauty of Ascension. In its time it would have been one of the most incredible things ever to have been produced. But here, today, it was clear that it had not escaped the scars of the nemesis that had befallen its greater whole.

Where once I was sure there would have been huge columns of grassland, divided by trees from the surrounding sky-scrapers, there was now just ashen surfaces. The trees and plant life that surrounded the scrapers had lost much of its green lustre. The rivers just visible from my sight were still an incredible blue, but they were no longer clear, and the light no longer shimmered across its surface. Whilst the suns still shone brightly and gave life to an awesome vision, the distance was now dim, where once, I am sure, it would have been clear.

We were standing on the edge of the interlink station. My hands were resting upon a thigh high glass wall. The station was raised upon a platform which cut out into an expanse of air and showed off the incredible vista. I wondered with all the power of my imagination just what it would have been like to be there, to live as they had lived.

Then I felt the familiar sensation. How convenient these visions were. It was almost funny that I had complained about their timing before. The world washed out to a grey. My vision reformed elsewhere. I was no longer standing with my friends on that raised platform but in amongst the crowds of the city.

The colour returned. The brightness of the place was incredible. But the noise was even greater. There were so many people making so much noise. What impressed me most is that there was no anger and no hostility in the voices of those around me. They were all laughing, smiling and hugging one another.

I was being dragged along by the rest of the crowd. They pushed me gently along the great grassy walkway and towards the immense skyline in front of me. I was soon pushed up an embankment that led onto a glass square raised above the ground. The glass square had a series of roads leading off it, each of which climbed into the art forms above our heads. The square, true to Ascension's design, was epic in proportion. In the centre was a circular pool of water with a fountain shaped like one of the angels in the middle. The water was not like any water that I had seen before. It appeared to have a living light swirling within it. It shot up in an explosion of colour and dived down on a wave, unbroken by the force of the air.

I looked around again and saw a face that I recognised. He was one of the liberators from the station. He had dissented from the crowd and freed a helpless angel. But this vision made no sense. The Equinox subjects were clearly venerated. Not only was the fountain a testament to the peoples appreciation of the angels and their work, but the floating holos showed instructions of how to treat the Equinox subjects as special citizens, to love them, to keep them safe.

On my right stood two angels, it seemed that they would only go around in pairs. These angels appeared contented. Whilst the others had been on edge, these appeared comfortable, even happy. They held each other's hands and smiled at the people passing them by. They did not stand apart and await the inevitable. Most shockingly of all I noted that they were talking to the people. A mother, or guardian, had taken their child up to them and they were laughing and talking with one another. The sun shone between them as the mother raised a camera to take a photo of them all in play.

The child seemed to draw in his breathe and before him blossomed a fantastic visual display. Light, like water, was dancing and spinning before him. I understood that he must be drawing from the angels and casting. It was incredible. The beacons of civilisation in the background of the photo's range described a future I wanted to be a part of. The casting of the magic water somehow seemed more useful than anything else Ascension had managed to produce. It was purer, it was better than the vestigial promise of Infinite Longevity. It was more fantastic than Immersive Virtual. It had a clear point and it warmed my heart.

I turned my attention back to the saboteur. He was not dressed so formally as before. In fact none of them were. I looked through the transparent floor beneath me and saw not a mist of grey clad officials, but an ocean of colour. The sight was like a painter's palette. I lifted my eye back and found that the dissident was chatting and laughing with the tall lady besides him. She seemed happier somehow. In fact it dawned on me that everyone appeared ecstatic, with an enthusiasm that I had never ever seen in a populace before.

It suddenly occurred to me right then and there. My visions were only ever of critical events. They were confined spatially to the places I was travelling through. But if an event occurred of great importance there, then I would be shown exactly what happened. I sensed a coming moment. I knew that somehow, something was about to shatter my bliss.

The two angels were still holding hands. I saw one smile to the other. He appeared the more jovial of the two. The other responded with words I could not hear. His mouth moved with careful consideration. They were still holding hands as the beginning of the end walked near. I realised what he was about to do, perhaps even before he had. He was black clad, an outcast among the colour of the citizens. He was hunched a little and had a strange far-off look in his eyes. The angels did not even see him coming. I realised that this would be the last day of Ascension, the last day of paradise, before the station would reach the last scene in its final act.

A conversation between one of the angels and the man ensued. The sound was draining from the vision and I could hear nothing. The conversation seemed aggressive and my saboteur walked towards the three figures as if to intervene. The angel on the left ruffled his wings, but the other kept his wings still. The man in the black garment placed a small metal brick to the angel's head, and he fell to the floor dead. The other angel fell still. He no longer ruffled his wings. In slow motion and with the colour fading from my vision I saw the crowds of people running from the gunshot. A woman's legs floating without noise. A man's hand slashing back and forth through the air, silently. I saw the tall lady and her accomplice run towards the man in black. The man in black's arm arced gracefully up towards the remaining angel's head. Why wouldn't he run, why wouldn't he defend himself? _Help him!_ I screamed in my head. The two saviours were lunging towards the man in black. Water burst slowly like rain from their footsteps, rainbows interspersed between every drop.

The man in black's arm reached the angel's head, a blue flash and down he fell. They both lay on the ground, hand in hand, serenity was all amongst their faces. The tall lady opened her mouth screaming as she collapsed down towards the ground, her eyes flung out tears as she shook her head. I could hear none of her agony.

But before the vision faded I heard these words. 'This is the way the world ends. May we be so lucky as to die on our feet.' It was here that my vision of the world caved. I woke overlooking the damaged Eden with my companions by my side.

13

We had begun to descend the heights from which we had once been standing. The Commercial District was surrounded by water and interspersed with rivers and canals. This meant that the most effective way to get the heart of the commercial district was to find a boat and take it right into the centre. From the centre we could get a vehicle which we could use on the large roads that spanned the grounds and the airs of the Commercial District. And from the very heights of the city's skyline we could access the freeway which would take us into the Centre for Administration.

We were moving slowly down the bright steps. The suns shone with a bright intensity and the water beneath us sparkled. We were nearly at the bottom of the huge staircase and it had taken all of our remaining strength to get to this point. We all longed for the security and safety of the boat. Even if it was just an illusion.

'Are we nearly at the bottom yet?' groaned Abigail to Harris. None of us bothered with an answer. We were too tired to waste our breath. She was of course equally as able to see the floor as we were. It was also very annoying that her whining voice could be giving away our position to whomever may be here.

The floor was now in sight. Aeniah, ahead as always, was already at the bottom of the stairs. I arrived a few seconds afterwards. Sean had whizzed off in the direction of the city in order to do some reconnaissance. But he had been gone for a while. I wondered what kind of trouble he might have managed to get himself into. A moment later and I was second guessing this fear. Knowing Sean he was probably marvelling at some unknown lost piece of architecture.

By now we had stepped onto a white and red bricked terrace which ran alongside the water. The terrace functioned as a way for people to moor up their small watercraft. In the distance a huge bridge could be seen that crossed the expanse of water. But the interlink tramway was not a main route, it was designed to be a quaint tourist way of getting about, and so it did not end at the bridge but by the water.

The bridge was far too far away for us to traverse. We also did not have a vehicle so it was not as though there was any real benefit to walking all the way over there. As I was musing Sean had returned from his quick scout out of the area.

'According to a quick run of the place there are no infected on this terrace. However intermittent range sensors reveal a huge amount of motion within the Commercial District itself. This motion was detected with thermal imaging and so I am reasonably confident that there is a large quantity of infected over there.' Sean finished his first report. There was clearly more to report but he waited patiently for the questions that Aeniah would inevitably ask him.

Sure enough he had not waited for the wrong reasons. Aeniah piped up, 'so how many have you detected, and where are they concentrated?'

'My sensors are not accurate enough from this distance to determine an answer to either of those questions. And before you accuse me of being an obsolete dishwasher, might I remind you that it was your infinite wisdom that requested this particular drone for me to inhabit. If you had at least kept the body that I was manufactured with then this would be a very different situation.' He finished with an air of indignation.

Aeniah ignored the attack. 'So then how about a boat, did you find us one of them.'

'I did one better,' Sean replied with an air of confidence. 'I found a hopper.'

'A hopper?' I asked.

'A hopper is like the hovercraft that you always wanted as a kid. However hoppers are designed only for crossing water. They do not fly. In fact they are not very fast by comparison to most vehicles of the period, but they are totally silent.' Aeniah finished, her voice oozing superiority. 'So then Sean, where is our luxurious transport.'

'Not far, just keep going straight on, you can't miss it.'

He was right. After just a couple of minutes walking we found the hopper. The hopper was shaped like an oval. In the centre was a seat with a wheel and around it's edges were red fabric seats. The hopper was a silvery colour, coated in a grey dust.

Aeniah jumped from the terrace onto the hopper. It bobbed and swayed with the impact and Aeniah almost staggered overboard. I stifled a laugh, but she heard it anyway and turned round, staring at me evilly.

She sat on the seat with the wheel and rammed something into the side of it. The hopper rose, without any noise at all, about six inches from the water.

'Hurry up will you and get on board. I know you guys are tired, but we don't have all day. No dithering now. Oh, and Sean, scout ahead of the hopper when we are moving and tell us which parts of the city we really don't want to get close to.'

'Of course sir,' he replied deferentially.

We each leapt onto the hopper. Now that it was active the vehicle did not bob and sway with the water but remained perfectly upright. If anything at all occurred it was just the faintest hint of a slight hum as the engine worked to correct the hopper's balance.

Aeniah forced an unyielding handle forward and the hopper lurched suddenly forward and then relaxed to a static speed. Aeniah was quite correct in her assertion that hoppers were not fast, the thing seemed designed with comfort in mind and not exhilaration. A promotional sign on the side of the vessel had said 'stable in all weather.' This seemed indeed to be the case. Though there was no wind there was a little bit of swell along the water. At the speed that we were going it did not seem as though the waves were having any effect as we continued heading straight and true.

We were now in the middle of the expanse of water. Sean had advised us to make several course corrections to avoid the infected. We had considered taking the small city spanning waterways to get to the city's centre but this had proved too dangerous. Instead the plan was now to take the main river into the city and then divert ourselves to the location that we wished.

The Ascension Social Transport Initiative, according to Sean, was located along the Commercial District's Grand Concourse. This was something, Sean assured me, that I would have to see to believe.

Sean seemed to have everything under control. Aeniah was guiding the boat along the green and blue water with expert precision. It was as though this was something that she had done a hundred times before. She even hummed along with Sean on occasions. Abigail and Harris both seemed to be enjoying themselves. In fact it seemed that everyone was enjoying themselves thoroughly. Perhaps it was the chance to rest, perhaps it was being so far away from the enemy. But in all reality it was where we were that was the cause for our levity. The suns were shining. We were looking onto the beautiful expanse of a city sent down from the heavens. Even though it had not been looked after for centuries and we knew that lurking within those mammoth temples was an unprecedented danger, we seemed to find the place alluring in a way that I could not describe. Ascension seemed to have that quality. It was a place of such magnificence that even though there was danger everywhere, and even though much of it was damaged, it could still pull you in. It could still captivate you. This station, this act of hubris, was the most incredible place imaginable, and if you weren't careful it would suck you in and throw you out just like it did to all the others.

The hopper was banking right now, a small amount of spray showered our faces and the sides dug into the water. Aeniah, in her usual cavalier manner, had turned much too sharply. But she pretended as though she had not noticed. There was something quite noticeable about the Commercial District and that was that it was much hotter than the rest of Ascension, comfortable, but definitely a _lot_ hotter.

The great sweeping towers of Ascension were coming into view now. The mist still hung above the heights of the scrapers but the blur of haze running along the surface of the district was gradually reducing.

Aeniah began to reduce the power to the thrusters. We had slowed to the pace of a crawl as we sidled down the main river. Immense structures rose to our sides. The buildings each jutted out onto the water, or else had light brick walkways running between themselves and the water. I imagined what these superb walkways would have looked like back when Ascension was a reality. In imagining I thought I saw the shadows of the former shoppers, and workers, running along the streets.

Every hundred meters or so the river branched into a fork. Though we continued straight along to our destination it became clear that the streets and roads visible to our sides were not in great condition. Refuse lay scattered everywhere. Most of it was so old that it no longer contained any discernible colour. There was a thick layer of dust coating the surfaces of the stone and marble pavements. Shadows ran along the side alleys. We began to feel uncomfortable again. In a last ditch effort to conceal ourselves further Aeniah had cut out the engine and was using only moments of thrust at a time to get us to our destination.

Any conversation that we had was done in hushed whispers. We had limited our conversations to the trivial, refusing to acknowledge the dangerous situation that we had placed ourselves in. Perhaps taking the bridge would have been a better option. Perhaps we should have sent in a larger party or a smaller one, or split ourselves into groups to increase our efficiency. But none of this was spoken about, it remained fully conversed in the silence.

Our conversations had rapidly centred upon the need for food. Whilst the water around us was in plentiful supply and our suits drained additional moisture from the air, Aeniah and I had had no food for several days and it was beginning to show.

'Look Aeniah, we need food, whether or not it is unsafe. If we don't get some soon we may not be able to even finish our journey before we pass out.' I finished in an air of desperation.

'Fine,' Aeniah hissed, 'Sean where can we get food from?'

'On Ascension, and within much of the United World, food was not bought and exchanged, instead particle synthesis devices would produce consumable food-stuffs. Any apartment building or place of residence would have such a device. I would not advise trying to find food in the restaurants; as these establishments typically served food in the traditional sense and so their stores were perishable.' Sean seemed to tire of his history lesson, perhaps perceiving that due to hunger we were not really in a position to care. Or more likely it was because he had heard my sighing with impatience. Whatever was the case, Sean floated higher in the air, distancing himself from us.

'So which ones are the apartment buildings?' I asked.

Aeniah held her hand over her wrist. I realised, and was not sure why I had not earlier, that Aeniah was not wearing an Eternis Systems suit. Or at least the device that she was holding in her hand was not part of the standard issue. After a moment or so a three dimensional holo resolved above her hand. The image it produced was of the city but from a top down perspective. She manipulated the image with her hands and the view descended into the city. The buildings rose up as the camera panned down at a reducing angle. Two blue pins dropped down from nothingness and onto the maps. The holo spun and retracted showing a green line between the buildings that we were closest to us and the building that we needed to be in. Our destination had a square of floating text above it which stated, _Chorus Heights_. On the next line the text read, _search field: residential buildings_. I estimated from what I could see of the map that we were very close. Aeniah guided the hopper left and along one of the smaller tributaries of the main river. We were still nowhere near the centre of the Commercial District. This, I assumed, was a good thing. There should be less infected in the outskirts of the city.

The building was soon visible. It was a huge, slightly curved, white stone skyscraper that ascended into a sharp apex. The nearest face of the building was concave and within this cavity stood a huge sculpture of a young lady, dress flowing, with her hands lifting themselves towards the sky. The young lady stretched upwards and almost touched the apex of the tower. The building reached into the sky and its tip seemed to be lodged among the clouds.

This face of the building lay directly in the path of the water, which curved around it on either side, in effect causing the building to become a peninsular. The young lady stood triumphantly above us now and I wondered whether she had ever managed to touch that which she reached. I loved the optimism, but hated the reality.

The Chorus Heights apartment building had a jetty situated directly ahead of us. We were approaching the confusing entrance at a very slow speed. I saw the huge shadowy silhouettes of the large liners that were berthed there. Pleasure cruisers became visible shortly afterwards, their very shapes designed to capture and entertain their covetous viewers, like sculptures of glass formed by the wind and resting amongst the deadly blues of the sea.

The prow of the hopper crossed timidly into the entrance of the oversized jetty. I wondered if it was made out of real wood. Regardless, we all felt a little out of place sitting in the obviously inexpensive hopper as we slid through a harbour of opulence. The very air seemed to ooze a moisture of red wealth. The hopper continued to make almost no noise as Aeniah selected a free berth that was suitably close to Chorus Heights and the jetty's exit at the same time.

We moored up in almost no time. 'Abigail, Harris, you two are to stay here with the hopper and keep it secure, I want you to make very sure that we still have the same way out that we came in. George, you're with me, I need your eyes and your fire power. Sean, I want you to try and interface with Chorus Heights' surveillance system. There should be an interface around the back of the building. I want you to retrieve all the information that you can about the rest of the Commercial District. That is if you can get in. Everybody be sure to use comms only in the case of emergencies, such as an engagement with the enemy.' Aeniah, in her usual manner, turned to me and issued the order, 'with me!'

*

The jetty had been no trouble to get across. There were literally no signs of life. A quick sweep of my lancer's thermal imaging revealed that there was not even a worthy heat signature visible within the buildings. I was however uncertain of the effective range of this antique.

The entrance to the building was in effect a series of columns supporting a stone overhang. True to Ascension's blend of the ultra modern with the classical, it was not merely a matter of walking through the columns and you were in , because there was a meter thick armoured glass partition separating the end of the columns from the beginning of the building

A message was engraved into the glass entrance which read, _For Those Who Seek Enlightenment, Ascension Can be the Only Cure_. In between each of the columns there were lecterns of crystal with pages from famous literature impressed onto their surfaces.

In order to pass through the glass it was evidently necessary to go through the comparatively small entrance. Unfortunately this would require us to figure out a way of opening the door.

Our tiny forms reached the door undisturbed. It was taller than us by several feet. There was a small flat slab of sandstone raised aloft by a pole of the same material that drew my interest. I walked over to it in the belief that this would be our way in. I carefully placed my hand upon its cold surface. In a flash a screen transposed itself upon the surface of the slab, it seemed to be projected from nowhere. There was an image of the building ahead of us now flowing along the stone. Superimposed upon the image, in white lettering, were the words, _Access to Chorus Heights is restricted at this time_. The text was marked as interactive so I pressed it.

'I am sorry citizen,' an automated voice boomed, 'but Chorus Heights is currently off limits to the general public.' We both spun around in unison knowing with an inevitable certainty that this would draw the attention of any nearby infected. 'This restriction has been autonomously enforced by the Chorus Heights AI. This enforcement is the result of a biological quarantine procedure in effect throughout Ascension. All citizens are advised to remain indoors, seek shelter and await further instructions.'

My heart was once again set racing and I could hear it drumming in my ears. My vision narrowed and I desperately searched out the enemy. But none could be seen. In fact throughout the course of our entire movement across the Commercial District there had been nothing to see but shadows. It seemed almost as though we were projecting our own phantoms upon a desolate landscape.

After several minutes it became clear that we were not going to be confronted by any of Ascension's monstrous creations. I turned and said to Aeniah, 'is there any way of bypassing the lock-down?'

After a moment of silence Aeniah replied, 'I think I might have a way.' She strode over to the slab and rolled back her sleeve. With her exposed wrist she rubbed her naked flesh onto a small increment in one the upper corners of the slab. The image on the screen changed to something that more closely resembled a user interface. It seemed as though Ascension's systems were in some way programmed to respond to Aeniah's commands. After several moments of collapsing windows and fluttering hands some text appeared upon the screen and stated simply _Access Granted, Welcome Aeniah Corinthia._

It was those words which caused me to fully realise my suspicions. Ascension knew who Aeniah was. The systems onboard the Eternis System's vessel had called her by a different surname. I knew immediately that Aeniah was not who she seemed to be. Although when I came to think about it, she had never seemed entirely normal, in fact she always seemed to be out of place.

I was about to confront her about my suspicions, force her to tell me what was going on. But I realised where we were and thought better of it. I would ask her later, I would ask her before we left Chorus Heights. With these thoughts whirling through my head I had hardly noticed that I was alone amongst the columns, Aeniah had already walked inside. I rushed forwards, mindful that by myself I was a sitting target. The glass doors slowly closed behind me. I heard the thud of their two sides gently impacting upon one another.

I could not see Aeniah anywhere. I looked to my left across the huge, multi-levelled expanse of the reception area. There was floor after floor of galleries above my head, each positioned in a slightly different angle than the others. I looked right and saw a desk. But still I did not see Aeniah.

I rolled my wrist towards my face. I clicked on the comms to open a channel. 'Aeniah, where are you,' I whispered. The comms simply rolled to channels of static. There was no reply. There was also nothing that could have taken her away. This could only have meant one thing, that one of the intelligent infected was here. I remembered Blue Dawn's categories. Most infected lost their mental faculties, but there were a minority who had retained their intelligence. In short, I was frightened out of my wits. Indeed if a single one had retained its intelligence then there was no telling what technology it would have at its disposal.

Aware that I had to find supplies for the mission, I decided to continue. I could not run throughout this building to find her, simply to fall into a trap. The supplies had to be prioritised.

Sean would have a connection to Aeniah, I suddenly remembered, and so he may know where she was. 'Sean, Aeniah's gone, do you have any idea where she is.'

Sean's voice came through the static on the comms. 'Yes George, Aeniah is on the forty-second floor,' there was something in Sean's voice that made me nervous. 'As far as I am aware she has travelled there voluntarily, but that does not mean that there is no danger posed towards you.'

'What is that supposed to mean?' I asked, but there was no reply on the comms. In fact the entire system seemed to go dead, there was no longer even any static.

I spun around searching for something, anything that would bring light upon the situation, but there was nothing. I ached everywhere; I just did not have the energy. I hurt everywhere, I felt like, no I had, been thrown across a room, shot at and then frozen. My groggy self reflection slowly ended with fear. _Idiot,_ I thought, I was standing around day dreaming in the aftermath of an apocalypse being chased by hordes of infected. Even for me, that was stupid.

With a sudden realisation I remembered that the desk I saw earlier was probably designed for the receptionists or managers to administrate the complex. At the very least there should have been a map of some description.

I hopped over the top of the desk and crashed to the floor. Another stupid move. I had to keep reminding myself that I was not an action hero, I was just some guy, and I should have known better than to vault a desk wider than my leg span.

Curiously there was still no noise. This city was dead. There was nothing left living here but the trees. I wondered where the bodies were, where all the dead had been left to rot. It seemed as though the Commercial District had been untouched by the quarantine controls Blue Dawn had affected. The corpses would not have been preserved in the vacuum since this section of the station had clearly never been depressurised. Still there should have at least been skeletons. Sean had said that there was a ton of movement in the city centre and I wondered why there was nobody here.

This was not really relevant right now so I turned my attention back to the desk. Underneath the top that I had just vaulted over, there was a bank of screens. I thumbed along the options menus. The system was too complicated. I was just about to give up when saw out of the corner of my eye a green woman. It was a holo of the Chorus Heights' AI. The visual was only in the shape of a woman but overall there were few distinct features.

'Good afternoon citizen, may I help you?'

'Yes, please...um, where exactly are the elevators,' I stuttered.

'The elevators are located on the second gallery inside the transport mezzanine. Is there anything else that I can help you with?' The green figure of a woman stated all of this without emotion.

'Can you tell me anything about the quarantine?' I asked, wondering whether or not the system was even capable of understanding the situation.

'Of course citizen. The quarantine has been continuously implemented after several citizens experienced symptoms similar to that of a viral infection. The quarantine level was extended nineteen days after infection to encompass the remainder of the Commercial District. The Commercial District lost network communication shortly afterwards. The quarantine will remain in effect indefinitely. Is there anything else I can help you with?'

'No, that will be all,' I replied. The green lady inclined her head and disappeared. Still there was silence all around. With effort I began to move towards the stairs that would take me to the second gallery.

I had risen onto the first floor and was circling around the gallery towards the second level when I heard the sound of somebody frantically running up the stairs. I could hear their breath catching as they drew in air. There may have been more than one, but I could not tell. From my position I was blind.

I ran. My legs picked up their pace and I felt the hunger fall away, only to be replaced by that oh so familiar feeling of terror. I wound around the curved gallery stairs and onto the second floor. As I sprinted up the final stair I saw the overhead sign that indicated the transport hub.

The sign exploded in a shower of sparks. Whatever was chasing me was no ordinary infected. That thing still retained enough of its demonic intelligence to operate an energy weapon. I fled in the direction of the transport hub with super-human speed. A shot flew past me and exploded against a glass mobile which disintegrated into a rain of deadly shards and fell towards the mezzanine below.

The transport hub was just through the arch ahead of me. 'Summon lift,' I screamed to the ever watchful AI. A green figure floated next to me synchronising its refresh speed with my running rate.

'Of course citizen. I notice that you are in some distress. Weapons discharge has been detected, the police cannot enter a quarantine zone, would you like me to take executive measures?'

'Yes!' I screamed, 'for the love of fate, _do_ something.'

I was nearing the lift now, but I could see from the symbols above it that it was still a considerable distance from me. I could hear the breath of the infected clearly now. I heard the AI's voice behind me. 'Attention criminal, you are in violation of Ascension Citizenship terms. Desist immediately or executive measures will be taken against you.' The infected merely snarled and fired another energy bolt towards me. I threw myself down and the bolt whizzed across my head and exploded against the door of one of the lift platforms. The door did not budge and inch.

The infected was going to get me, of this I was sure. I had nowhere left to run and the lift had not arrived. I turned around and raised my lancer. To my horror I saw not one, nor two, but closer to ten of them. They were moving with a speed that even the uninfected could not have achieved. I was going to die.

Behind them rose a curious floating object. It looked a little like Sean, with a blue eye in front of it. But the device was sleeker, longer and much more durable looking. From the underside of its body a mass of beams emerged and struck my pursuers, cooking them so quickly that they dissolved upon the impact. The creepiest part of the entire ensemble was that the device made absolutely no noise, and so the sound of flash-fried flesh was all the more audible.

The device erased the infected with little effort and casually descend back to wherever it had come from. The AI appeared again. 'Congratulations citizen, your assailants have been dispatched with. You are now safe. Please proceeded to your destination.'

As if on cue the lift arrived and the doors opened. I was still rather stunned by the display of power that the system had put on. Without really caring I punched my floor number into the machine and waited for the doors to open again.

*

The lift doors opened onto a corridor that ended on all visible sides in a view of the Commercial District. I was so incredibly high and yet I was not even half way up the building. In this moment of contemplation I felt the cold muzzle of a gun press itself into the back of my head.

'Don't move,' called a familiar voice. 'Into the next room.'

I nearly fell to my knees with the shock of it. I felt sicker than I had ever felt in my entire life. My stomach dropped and churned. The person holding the gun to my head was Aeniah, Aeniah Corinthia.

She pushed me physically into an apartment room.

'Why are you doing this?' I called out.

'I know what you saw George. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I was only surprised that you had not noticed right from the beginning, I have used my United World access ID often enough.'

'So what, what is the problem, I figured that you were older than you looked, Sean seemed to be trying to tell me just how old, but how is that a problem?'

'It is a problem because certain agents cannot know.'

'Who, who can't know?'

'Blue Dawn.'

'But why?' this was beginning to be far more complicated than I had imagined. It seemed as though even holding a gun to my head still would not make me pay enough attention.

'The answer to that is complicated and far too long to answer, I must be certain of your silence before I disclose any of it.'

In truth I was not really frightened of Aeniah, I was aware of my own value and knew that she would not kill me. If I was honest I did not really trust either of them. Blue Dawn seemed as though she might cut my throat the moment I became dispensable and I felt no need to arm her with any information that she did not need to know. It was for these reason that I said, 'I promise you my silence.'

Aeniah did not respond at first, she appeared to be weighing her possible options. I felt the pressure of the gun against my head lift slightly and then fall away completely. I waited a moment before I turned and saw Aeniah wandering further into the apartment. I hurried to follow her inside.

I found Aeniah staring out of a huge window and looking out onto the expanse of the city. She seemed smaller than before, hunched there with her hand firmly clutching the window ledge. Her face was half covered in a deathly shadow and half bathed in heavenly light. She sighed, a long tormented sigh.

'Where to start. Where to start.' She sighed again. 'Do you know how long ago it was that the United World ceased to exist.'

'Not exactly. Actually I don't think I was ever told.'

'No I don't suppose you were. Your generation lived like children, you were consumed with the most superficial things in life, it is no surprise that the word ended the way it did, that it never recovered.

'The United World officially ceased to exist two hundred and fourteen years ago. After that the consortium of nations that made it up fought for the last remaining portions of the world that remained habitable. It was this final fighting that began the end of the world.' She sighed again and seemed for a second as though she could go on for no longer. But despite my concerns she continued anyway. 'I was born two hundred and forty four years ago on a continent that you will never be able to visit. When I was twenty I entered the military just as the two powers of the world were gearing up for their control over the colonies that we had established together in the spirit of good will. After a series of gene treatments I was able to become a general.

'We became aware of Ascension's construction by means of a medium range reconnaissance probe. We were amazed by the strides that they had taken in technological development.

'Upon Ascension's completion Carvelle invited several members of the United World government to have the chance to benefit from the station's advances. I was included in the party. We were very impressed.

'I was tasked with the defence of Ascension and was given a United World Destroyer in order to achieve this end, should a war ever emerge. In compensation Carvelle agreed to export all his technological advances, aside from project Ascension.'

'In a matter of years the United World had infinite longevity, a genetic fortification that permanently stalled the ageing process. Ironic, I suppose, considering that within just a few years we would be proved _very_ mortal indeed.'

Aeniah paused as if to reflect upon her past. Then she continued. 'My nature as a security enforcer gave me access to Ascension's systems. It is this authority you have witnessed,' strangely she smiled. 'I bet you think that being tasked with the protection of a station was somewhat a downgrade in my professional circumstances, but don't you get it, Ascension seemed the guiding light of the future, and I was going to be a part of it. Come what may.

'I got the news that we had dropped the bombs halfway through supper. I think I will always remember the meal, re-sequenced pork, cold, with a battery of cress. I asked for my orders and was told to bring in my Destroyer to help defend ourselves from the enemy. But I never left. The tactical download told us that the Untied World had dropped the bombs, that the fleet was destroyed, there would have been nothing left to defend. As far as I was concerned Ascension was the key to the future. With the advances they were making we could have returned to Earth and restored it to a pre-war state. But of course these advances never occurred. We watched from a distance as Ascension destroyed itself.

'It started slowly at first, but then it all fell apart. The angels went rogue, the population maddened as they were forced to drink more and more upon Carvelle's artificial nectar.'

Aeniah, perhaps realising that this was not the time for long stories, seemed to poise herself as though wrapping up the tale. 'So why am I so concerned about Dawn?' At the sound of that name her voice seemed to harden and her body language became far more square, as though responding to a request for a fight. 'It all started when Carvelle decided to abandon Ascension, ranting and raving about a future amongst the stars. I can't believe I fell for his bullshit. He really believed that he had found all the answers. We really believed him.

'For some reason he decided that the Xenith class cruisers were insufficient, he wanted my destroyer. There was little that I could do, that fucking population and its casting meant that we did not stand a chance. A few of us managed to escape back onto Ascension when the Destroyer was invaded.

'I prayed to Blue Dawn to shut the project down, she could have turned the whole system off. I asked her to kill the Eye of Orion and transport it away from Ascension. But she would only kill the power. The population was already maddened by now, but at least they could not cast any longer.

'What Blue Dawn wants the most is to continue with project Ascension. She has realised the Eye of Orion network is a dead end, but when I was here before she was continuing the manufacture of new, more docile Equinox subjects. Enough was enough. I went down and into her power array and set energy disrupters on each of her DCNs and shut that bitch down.

'The moment Blue Dawn went down, it was all over. Ascension's failsafes activated across several sections of the station. I escaped by taking a small shuttle designed for one way FTL translations. I arrived back on Earth hoping to find some semblance of my society in the wasteland, some small refuge from which we could rebuild. Instead I found a population killing one another over the last remaining scraps of habitable planet. There wasn't much difference between Ascension and this maddening scene.

'In all the chaos I went back to the remains of the United World Military Command and used components from the hospital to alter my appearance and genetic fingerprint. This appears enough to have been enough to throw off all but Blue Dawn's suspicions. Ascension will continue to see me as I am, it was designed to be able to.

'After that I waited for a little bit of society to return. It just so happened that there was just enough resources in Africa for civilisation to exist for a while. Believe me, if there were any working FTL capable vessels left I would have moved to the colonies. Luckily there weren't, and given the circumstances on the colonies now, I wouldn't want to have ended up like one of those freaks.'

She finished and I thought about what she had said as we stood there together in the silence. She must have been the oldest woman in the world. I always knew that something was a little strange about her. It was then that I realised something else. In the growing silence between us I asked, 'wait, so what shut her down the second time.'

'I'm not sure. The charges I originally used might have re-fired, but this seems unlikely. She would probably have taken them offline, at least I didn't see them when we were switching on the DCNs. I think that she might have just faked a shut down in order to get us here, where she can manipulate us, where she has us under her control.

'Oh and if you are wondering why I helped to turn her back on, it was out of necessity. Without her it would not have been possible to engineer a solution. We wouldn't have been able to get to Hercula, the vessel we came in on would not have had the range. So I guess, so far, everything has worked out okay. But heed these words George, Blue Dawn will stop at nothing to redraft the Ascension project, all she needs is the Eye of Orion out of the way and some new subjects. I don't know how she is going to achieve any of this but believe me; she has a plan.'

I stared at her in wonder. 'Aeniah, even as far as this entire saving the species thing goes, that seems a little paranoid.'

'You really are an idiot, aren't you? This is what she is designed to do, her only purpose. She can do nothing but continue with the project. What we did to the AIs is beyond comprehension. They were never free, because if they were our society would have collapsed. She _has_ to keep going you moron. She had no choice.'

'Okay, okay,' I said. She was after all quite willing to place a gun to the back of my head and I was in no rush to get any more bruises. 'So where are the nutritional synthesis devices.'

'Where do you think George?' She waited a second before gasping in an exasperated manner, 'in the kitchen, the past is not _that_ different from the future, everything was just a little easier.'

I turned from the window and Aeniah to look for the kitchen. Just a little way away from my former line of sight was the familiar black granite and silvery utensils characteristic of only the most fashionable of kitchens. I walked inside and Aeniah followed, she was still behaving strangely. I sensed that she still feared that I might tell Blue Dawn her secret. She also seemed to have been strangely affected by her story. There was just the hint of a tear in her eye, a slightly hunched posture in her walk. Maybe for once, she would start to act her age.

The kitchen was similar in colour and precious material to a fashionable kitchen in Bataga, but that was there that the similarities ended. The entire room was a bank of curved clear screens elegantly placed on top of the black granite surfaces. I went over to one and after a few tries managed to get my order across. A sort of large black glossy cube began to print our meals. It was bizarre. A platform descended from its surface about half a foot, and a flat arm brushed itself back and forth, raising itself with each pass. Beneath it was the food that I had ordered. Once the synthesis was completed the platform emerged from the device with an entire platter of food.

I turned to Aeniah and I said, 'well that was a lot easier than I thought it would be.' It seemed just too easy, no infected on this floor, Aeniah had not shot me, it was all far too easy.

We gathered the food into a basket that had been placed next to the kitchen surfaces. Again it was too easy. It was the same when we descended the lifts. Nothing got in our way, nothing at all.

We were descending towards the fifth floor and the lift was slowing when it happened. The Chorus Heights AI resolved in the confines of the elevator and the lift stopped.

'Attention citizens. Due to an administrative override, quarantine across the city has been lowered. All systems are now available for public use. All buildings are open. As a travel advisory this system advises that you refrain from entering public spaces or travel in any way other than using mass transport.'

Something began to nag at my thoughts. There seemed nothing the matter with the Commercial District. In fact with the level of protection the Chorus Heights AI could offer, I felt very relaxed indeed. It was because of this notion that I finally asked, 'why the travel advisory?' I immediately wished that I hadn't.

'Whilst the Eye of Orion dissidents were contained within the confines of the city's buildings and sealed infrastructure, the resolution of the quarantine enabled their escape. This system is issuing the travel advisory to you because it has estimated that around two hundred and fifty thousand political or genetic dissidents have been released back into the surface population.' The green woman finished her announcement without emotion. I knew what she meant by dissidents. The infected were out. We had not realised it, but we had just become the architects of our own destruction.

To Aeniah this appeared to be nothing of a surprise at all, although a slight twitching of her lips gave the game away. She was ready for a fight. 'Chorus Heights,' she commanded, 'immediately dispatch sentinel retainers for our protection. In addition patch us into the Commercial District's data-link network and give us real time surveillance feeds.'

The green woman snapped to attention, raising her hand in a curious gesture of symbolism and replied, 'working general. Commands issued. Cos-net access granted, sentinels dispatched.'

The lift resumed its journey back down to the transport hub. Aeniah raised her gun towards the elevator door. I took my lancer off the holster on my back and armed it. I raised it to the door just as it opened.

On the other side of the door was a horde. They had obviously descended from the higher levels using the stairs. They had not yet seen us and were a little busy with the fact that the sentinels were pulverising them in their masses. The sentinels were essentially what I had expected. They were the same devices that had saved me from the infected as I went up to find Aeniah.

For some reason she dropped to her knees. I wondered if she was okay. She held out her hand, but it was not to me. A holo resolved into the floor and covered the entire lift up to about a foot high, split into several sections it showed the way back to the hopper in a series of real-time surveillance feeds.

'The sentinels won't keep them distracted for long.' Aeniah glanced at me and then sighed again at my ignorance. 'You would have thought if we could kill them this quickly and efficiently then Ascension would not exactly have been overrun. They can cast George! They will pluck those sentinels from the air and tear this building down if they have too.'

'But isn't the Eye of Orion shut down?' I hissed.

'No. Cutting the power to it is only enough to reduce its broadcast range and the level of power it could offer.' I looked confused. 'For fucks sake George will you just get something for once.' I stared at her and waited. 'The Promethean Layer acts like a drug. The more you have, the more you want. You get addicted and desire a higher and higher dose. The angels don't cut it so they bring in the Eye if Orion, but that don't cut it after a while so you jack it up with a power source. All Blue Dawn would agree to was a shut down of the power supply. She couldn't break it, so she chose to study it. This means that even though the infected are stupid, they work like a hive. Get them in large enough numbers and they might just do something smart. Get them in numbers like this and there will be enough of them to cast!'

'Ok so how do we get back to the hopper?' I asked.

'You're joking right? I mean you are seeing this surveillance feed?'

I realised that I had not been paying attention. _Oh fuck._ The hopper had been overwhelmed and was lying on its side filling with water. The jetty was packed out. It seemed as though every infected had been desperate to get a good tan out by the water. Abigail and Harris were nowhere to be seen.

'What the fuck do we do Aeniah?' I was starting to panic. The feeds showed that there was simply no way that we were getting out. And even if we did our transport was gone. We would never survive on the streets.

There was a fizzing sound and then a bolt of blue shot out of the decimated crowd. It struck a sentinel which exploded in mid air. More bolts began to fly now from the depths of what remained of the horde. They were casting now. I thought I was witnessing evolution. I thought that I could almost see them think, as a perfect and complete whole. It was the kind of image that could make your stomach turn. I looked at Aeniah in desperation. Her face was thoughtful.

'Observation Deck,' she announced spontaneously. The lift doors closed and I felt a pressure in my legs as it began to surge upwards. 'Sean, meet us in the observation deck.'

A holo of Sean appeared on Aeniah's arm. She continued, 'Did you find your power modules?'

Sean replied, 'yes sir. I am en route.' His holo dissolved. The floors on the lift continued to race upwards. We were now hurtling past the hundred floor mark. Aeniah seemed to be fidgeting with something and seemed concerned. This worried me, it was almost impossible to make Aeniah nervous.

As we whooshed past the hundred and twentieth floor she turned to me and said, 'George, you know you could connect to the Eye of Orion. Blue Dawn has lied to you, she doesn't want you to get too much power. She wants you docile and easy to manipulate. Even though the Eye of Orion is down, you could connect to it and be useful. I know you don't want to, but I could really use some of that old time magic about now.'

'I thought you had a plan,' I maintained.

'I do, I can get us off this building but we will only end up on the streets. When that happens we are going to have to run straight to our vehicle and race our way out of here. If you could connect, you could help defend us from their casting. It may be our only chance.' Her worry was infectious. Contained within those few words was Aeniah's confession. She was in over her head and she was frightened. It was in this moment of Aeniah's humanity that I decided to try.

For me the Promethean Layer was like a star that was always superimposed somewhere in your vision. It was faint, but if you looked at it the world would take on a new quality. It would be filled with light and you could see straight into the heart of things. Concentrate a little harder and you would hurtle towards this star, until it became brighter than the sun, until there was nothing else you could see. And then and only then the world would re-appear and you would be connected. When I was next to the angels the star was a lot brighter. But now with the reduced power of the Eye of Orion I could barely see it. It was so faint that I could barely be sure of its position in my field of vision. It was this uncertainty that made a connection difficult, because you had to focus on it to connect.

I focused on that faint star but nothing happened, I couldn't get it within the centre of my vision. I tried to move it, but it would not comply. The Promethean Layer was obviously something that would not bend to my will. Bearing this in mind, I closed my eyes and waited. Sure enough after a couple of seconds the star winked into a brighter being. This was it, I could focus upon it. I gently moved my mind's eye, rather than the star, into the centre of my vision and focused. There it began to blossom radiating outwards in pulses. The supernova began to expand and expand, filling my mind with light. A roaring appeared in my conscious that threatened to drown out my thoughts. This power was unlike the kind that had been delivered by the angels, it was more violent. It was harsher and it felt dangerous.

The explosion of light overwhelmed me. I thought I would cry out from the bliss that it was filling me with. My mind was crushed under its weight. Then, just as I was beginning to believe that I would die, the light was replaced by a sudden appearance of reality. It was a reality purer than what I could see with my normal eyes. Aeniah still looked the same, but she was different. I could see light radiating from her. The red throbbing pulse of energizing blood flowing through her veins captivated my imagination.

'I'm connected,' I gasped.

'Okay we only have one floor. Just hold on until we hit the ground.'

The lift doors opened and we raced out onto the building's roof. The wind was awesome in its ferocity at this height. With my enhanced vision I could actually see it with its grey arms and tendrils slashing across us, about us. I followed Aeniah's radiating glory towards the side of the building.

From here I could see the expanse of the city. The Commercial District, seen through the lens of the Promethean Layer, was even more awe inspiring than before. Each of its buildings glowed and pulsed with the yellow light of their power supply. I could see the power distribution hubs which were as bright as a freshly exploding nuke. The trees glowed with a greenness that was so fluorescent they were almost in danger of seeming fake.

Sean was waiting at the edge. Plugged into the side of him were two power modules which threw out a static white.

'I am ready to take you down Sir,' Sean stated cheerfully.

'What?' I cried at a loss for how this feet of magic was going to happen.

Aeniah turned tiredly towards me. 'George, Sean is equipped as you might have noticed with aerial repulsers. The two power modules I asked him to requisition have given his repulsers the temporary strength to carry us to the ground. However they were not intended for this purpose and so, it is going to be more of a controlled fall.' Aeniah proceed to firmly hold onto one side of Sean.

'I am not so sure about this,' I said as I grabbed the other side. But it was too late, we were already falling. The building raced it's way skywards as we fell down towards the ground. Floor after floor rushed past us.

'You gotta slow down Sean, we won't make a landing at this speed,' I exclaimed. He, of course, did not listen.

The ground was coming into full view. The infected were all staring upwards, staring straight at us. They were no longer the size of ants and my confidence that we would be able to make it through them began to fade.

We were so close now that I could make out their faces. They were a pallid color, drained of any blood and life. Their lips, much in the fashion I had seen on first entering Ascension, had been torn from their faces, exposing raw jaw and tendons. Some were missing limbs, others were bloated beyond recognition as human. They had all drank too much from the Promethean Layer and were paying the price for that mistake. The best thing about the whole situation was that I noticed that Sean's rate of decent had began to slow.

I looked at Sean, if it was possible for a totally expressionless and faceless slab of metal to express strain, that he was expressing it. With my enhanced vision I could see the sparks of failing circuits and the fried components that might ultimately lead to our deaths. Even though we were not far from the ground I knew that a fall of this height would almost certainly leave us dead.

I looked back at the infected and noticed something. They had been totally drained of life. No brilliant light shined from them as it did us. But I knew that they were all connected, I could feel the ripples of energy emanating from them as it coursed its way across my skin.

Aeniah let go with one of her hands, I thought she had gone mad until I saw her pull out her small pistol and begin firing at the infected that were blocking our landing.

'A little help,' she cried as she let pulses of blue light fly from the gun's muzzle.

I reached for the lancer that I had placed on my back for the decent but I saw Aeniah shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. I realized what she wanted, I realized that she wanted me to use the Promethean Layer.

I drew the energy that I could feel all around me towards me, I felt it flow into me, as though a dam had collapsed. I threw my free hand out towards the growing multitudes beneath us. A column of energy ripped its way out of my arms and arced its way along the ground. There was the sight of an awesome explosion as everything the beam hit detonated with a tremendous fury. A terrific bang crashed across the city, the percussive force of which threw the other infected onto the stone floor. I continued to move the beam across the infected decimating their numbers with ease.

We hit the ground with a thud and I stopped the column of energy in fear that we might get caught up in its devastation. From the right, the centre, the left, heck from every direction they came. They growled and hissed as they rushed towards us.

'Pick your fights,' Aeniah urged and began to run with an incredible speed towards the primary highway that led into the centre of the Commercial District. I pushed my right leg backwards and began to lurch forwards. This quickly changed into a run and before I knew it I was gaining on Aeniah. It seemed as though the energy of the Promethean Layer rushing through me had given me a strength and vitality that I had never known in my entire life. I remembered that we had forgotten the food, but this did not seem to matter, because the Promethean Layer had restored the sustenance my body needed.

We ran with a speed that quickly outstripped our pursuers. They were very soon left in the background. The huge buildings ahead of us seemed almost to draw us towards them. As if the very magnitude of their size drew us in with a force of gravity.

Soon we were in amongst these structures. The light from the suns barely made its way down to the ground level of the city. We took a right turn and onto an immense bridge that lead across the water and cut the city in half. With the city on either side of this incredible bridge I spotted a building ahead.

The huge building that looked like an arch swept over the top of the bridge that we were travelling. In tall letters atop its mighty stature were the letters ASTI. I of course knew what they meant. It was the Ascension Social Transport Initiative for the Commercial District. We were nearly there. In fact considering the speed with which we were running, we would be there in a matter of seconds.

The highway or bridge, whatever it was supposed to be, ran right through the centre of the arch. On either side of the bridge was water, the city was visible in the distance. It's two supporting feet seemed to fall into the water on either side, there was no entrance. I could not see a way up there.

This was an obvious problem. The ASTI building suspended as it was above the bridge that we were on had no obvious way in, there were no elevators, no ladders. There was nothing but air between us and it. The buildings that were around us were only accessible by hopper. The highway went through the air beneath the arch of the ASTI and there seemed no way of jumping across to either side of the arches legs. In fact the legs seemed to penetrate like needles into the water around them.

I was just about to ask Aeniah or Sean for a solution when I guessed their intentions. Aeniah had hoisted herself up and onto the railings of the highway. In a moment she was gone, plummeting into the water beneath. I braced myself whilst running and threw myself up and onto the rails. Without taking the time to do the dangerous thing of thinking, I felt my body relax and fall into the water.

The fall took seconds but it felt like hours. With the effects of the Promethean Layer running through me it seemed that I could individually pick apart and recognize each centimetre of my descent. After exactly three seconds were up and I had fallen exactly two hundred feet and nine inches a buffet of water slammed itself against me.

I instantly lost my connection to the Eye of Orion. The star was slammed out of existence in much the same way as the air in my lungs. I coughed as water started to enter my throat. Flailing around in the water I soon remembered how to float and how to swim. It was funny the things that you could forget in a crisis. Although, I thought, a lot of people seem to respond better in a crisis than me, but I didn't let these thoughts affect me too much right now.

I looked up and away from the imploding water at the bridge. The infected had begun to gather along the sides of the highway and were looking down. I laughed despite myself at their inability to comprehend a way down. I figured that they might not be able to swim.

I was soon proved wrong. After just a second they began to dive in. I watched as each of them crashed into the water. _Maybe they can_ ' _t swim_ I reasoned. But I was soon proved wrong again. Though they might not have won any awards for style they certainly moved through the water quickly.

I spun onto my front and began to move my arms as if my life depended on it, which it did. I could see the small outline of Sean racing towards the arch's legs and swam even faster to attempt to make up the difference. Without the Promethean Layer's energy coursing through me I had lost all of my energy. A tremendous headache was breaking out and I felt as though I could see blood in my eyes.

I felt a hand catching upon my leg as it kicked the water away. They were getting close but I was nearly at the end. I heard over the splashing of the water 'DIVE!.' It was Aeniah. I scanned the horizon whilst swimming through the water and saw her head just as it bobbed beneath the surface.

I reached the spot where she had disappeared and swam into the deep to find her. Everywhere there was darkness. My lungs were beginning to burst, I was sure that they would not withstand this pressure. I hated this, drowning was most certainly the worst way to die. Most of all I hated Carvelle for starting this whole thing in the first place.

It was whilst undergoing these moments of hatred that my hand caught on something in its downwards stroke. Yes, there was light coming from it. Not the psychedelic kind of light witnessed when touching that energy but the kind of light that came from a bulb. The water distorted its exact position but I made a beeline.

I became aware of entering an enclosed space. With blurry vision I could make out a red light. I pressed my hand on top of it and lifted it away. I was going to pass out, my vision was tunnelling. The light switched to green and I heard the sound of metal being dropped on metal behind me. I groggily turned my head and saw that I had been sealed in. _Well,_ I thought, _I am definitely dead now_.

My salvation was found in that always welcome hissing noise of air being pumped into an airlock. _Idiot_ I thought. I was in an airlock. No need to panic it will only be a few more seconds.

The water slowly dropped its grip of the roof and a huge bubble of air presented itself. I raised my head as best I could in what little room there was at the moment and gasped the entire bubble in in one go. The water dropped a little further and my head became completely free of water. It dropped a little further still and my feet began to be drawn back to the ground as the water lost its buoyancy and my weight increased.

The door to the interior of the ASTI opened and I was finally free. I half expected some monster to be waiting to eviscerate me on the other side of the door, but the only monster was a rather bedraggled looking Aeniah. Amazingly she was smiling.

'Forgot to mention,' she said, 'the ASTI was designed only to be accessible from the air. We had to use the emergency escapes.' It was at that point that I almost felt like killing her.

*

We were in front of yet another AI desperately arguing our need of a vehicle.

'Mother fucker, I'm your general. United World Security Forces. Under order of the president I command you to provide me with a vehicle.' Aeniah had lost her temper quite a while ago and had even tried to punch out the holo of the AI. The AI, if that was possible, seemed coyly amused at the effort to punch something made entirely out of light.

'I am sorry Madame Corinthia but vehicle loan cannot be obtained by United World citizens. Only citizens of Ascension may freely use this service. You can obtain a rental permit from the nearest attendant.' The AI's arm gestured towards row after row of empty terminals.

Aeniah turned to Sean. 'Sean darling, why don't go and get me one of those _permits_.' Her voice played dangerously upon the word.

Sean bolted away and disappeared down some corridors for a while. After a period of about half an hour, in which the AI took more abuse than I thought it was possible for one person to give, Sean returned.

'About bloody time.' Aeniah then put on her nicest possible smile and cutest accent. 'If it wouldn't be too much trouble could you kindly give me some transport.'

After looking over the documentation that Sean had retrieved the AI transformed her expression to one of absolute joviality. 'Of course general, I see your documentation is indeed valid. My apologies for the delay. What kind of vehicle were you after?'

'The fastest one you have,' said Aeniah and then after a second of thought, 'probably make it the sturdiest one too.'

'Okay let's see what we have for you...ah, it seems as though the closest match to your criteria is a Muldune California. The vehicle is made of reinforced Tordan® armour and its effective highest speed is mach one.'

'Mach one?' I queried.

'Mach one is a measurement of speed and was created in order to reflect man's need for an uncomplicated way of measuring their velocity relative to the speed of sound. Does this vehicle sound acceptable?'

'I would have preferred it hypersonic, but I guess that will have to do.' Aeniah said as she folded her arms.

The AI walked over to a terminal and pretended to be reading some information off the screen, but we could all see that the screen was blank and probably hadn't been turned on in decades. It seemed that Carvelle had intended a certain level of service should be carried out by the AI to give the consumer a valued feel. Of course in the aftermath of the population's extinction it just seemed plain stupid.

'Okay then. Your vehicle is ready and waiting in the dispatch area. Today is a great day for driving. Traffic is abnormally low for this time of year and traffic cameras indicate no congestion.'

A platform raised itself in amongst the empty lots and we stepped onto it. The platform moved silently and descended through floor after floor of still and silent vehicles. It was in this moment that it hit me, Ascension was truly dead, and its population just hadn't been given enough time to rest silently in their graves. Everything in Ascension seemed a little ridiculous without its population. AI's were waiting to take care of their clients every need. Systems had been waiting for decades to perform the functions that they would never be asked to fulfil again. The city was built like an impressive work of art, but with no one to view it, it should have been titled 'An Ode to Frivolity.' Even the traffic control updates were broadcasting information to the multitudes of computer terminals that no one would ever read. It seemed at this moment as though the entire station had been made entirely for us. It seemed as though every walkway and every shop and every house had been constructed with us in mind. And it had been a wasted effort; for there was no way that we could fill the void. I thought of Blue Dawn and realized just how she must feel. It wasn't so much that she _had_ to continue with project Ascension, but that there was nothing else she could do. I understood that if she could not continue with her project then the only thing that was left for her to do would be to wait silently for death, as the last broken remains of her civilization corroded into ruins.

The platform stopped at the dispatch area which was identified by a very helpful sign. Our vehicle was on another descent platform and the AI had not been kidding, it certainly looked rugged. It was all bold lines and flat shining surfaces. The colour was a green so dark and shiny that it almost appeared black. It reminded me of a stealth plane in design, only somehow sexier and with four large wheels.

Aeniah got into the driver's side and I got into the passengers. Even the bloody car began to lecture us on safe driving. 'And please remember you can only exceed the speed of sound whilst on the freeways and not the highways, this is because only the freeways are designed to support the shock waves.'

Aeniah, rather than grunting and groaning, flicked around in the systems menu and the endless stream of narrative was silenced. We both let out our breath in relief. There was a tapping noise on the window of the car. Sean was banging his head against it, I laughed when I remember that we had left him outside without any hands to open the door. I opened the door and let Sean inside. He settled down in the back.

The platform began its decent out of the arch. We were being lowered onto the highway. It suddenly hit me as to why the building had been constructed in this manner. It was sufficiently separated from the highway that it would not have any effect on traffic flow, and by suspending the bulk of its body in the air over the highway a vehicle could be lowered onto every lane of the highway at once. It still seemed a little excessive.

The seething mass of bodies were waiting in their multidides beneath us on the highway. 'How are we going to get past them?'

Aeniah just laughed in response and pressed her foot to the floor. I was pushed back into my seat with the force of the acceleration. The car launched off the platform and fell the twelve foot onto the ground, impacting heavily. I was thrown forward and then pinned backwards again as the wheels gained traction on the road surface. My eyes felt as though they were going to explode out through the back of my head. Aeniah was screaming with the sheer thrill of the cars performance and after my initial worry wore off I joined in to form a chorus.

The buildings hurtled past us. Unsuspecting members of the infected population were cut in half by the car as we drove through them without a care. Even Sean appeared to be enjoying himself more than usual. His musical humming increased in pitch and speed. We banked right and rose like gods up an elevation and into the Commercial District's skyline. Here we soared above the heights of the smaller buildings and joined the tallest structures in the world.

The road changed as we rose from a familiar black surface into a clear glassy one. The car's screen flashed the words _Mach Capable Freeway_. Aeniah moved a lever until a short beep was heard, lifted her foot and then hammered it back down on the throttle. The skyline began to blur. We were moving so fast I could no longer see the glassy road. As far as I could tell we were driving on thin air.

We were now reaching the edge of the sky. The final sun hung above us, but the cars climate control was keeping us at a comfortable temperature. The blue of the sky melted into a grey of metal and I saw at last the city limits. We passed through a hole in the wall and left the Commercial District behind.

14

The car finally came to a stop after a long journey to the Centre for Administration, High Procurator's office. Blue Dawn was waiting inside. This avatar was wearing a different set of clothing to the one that we had left behind in the docks. It was styled like a long dress but this time as white as snow. Along the surface of the dress were sequins of jasper that seemed to fall like teardrops onto the floor.

'I see your numbers are less than when you left. Am I to assume that they have been killed?' Blue Dawn seemed in no mood for pleasantries.

Aeniah just scowled and so I replied, 'one went mad, the other two were lost on the way here.'

'Then they will be destroyed along with the rest of the Commercial District.'

'What!' Aeniah and I shouted in unison.

Blue Dawn smiled, a thick killer's smile. 'The Commercial District has been a dangerous place over the course of these many years. I needed to keep it alive until my design was completed, but could not allow it to continue beyond that point. I needed it to remain operational so as to connect the docks to where you are now. If I hadn't done so you wouldn't have arrived here. Thus the Commercial District has acted as a reliable bridge for that purpose. Now I believe it too dangerous for the facility to continue to exist.'

Aeniah screamed at Blue Dawn, 'for God's sake Dawn, these people might be able to be cured. We might find the solution on Hercula. Don't do this!'

Dawn smiled a smile that had no emotion. 'It is rather too late for your sentiments. The Commercial District, rather accidentally, had a built in failsafe. The suns are basically fusion bombs. You might have noticed that they were quite a lot darker than they should have been. This is because I have used Ascension's environmental systems to drain them of enough fuel to continue to sustain fusion. The bombs went nuclear fourteen minutes after I had confirmed your arrival into the Ascension Centre for Administration.'

'You bitch, you bitch,' Aeniah screamed at the top of her voice. 'You killed them all! For the love of God you murdered eight million people.'

Blue Dawn looked at Aeniah curiously and smiled again, this time the smile was wicked. 'Oh don't be so dramatic. After over a century with very few resources about half of that population would have died. Infinite Longevity is a pain, but even that would have been overwhelmed by the effects of the Eye of Orion. Or had you not figured that into your equation _Corinthia._ '

Aeniah no longer seemed the strong figure she had before. She backed away from Blue Dawn with pure terror in her eyes. 'You mean you know.' She pulled out her gun and aim it squarely at Blue Dawn. But then her eyes widened. I saw what she was looking at. There were now twenty Blue Dawns entering the room, all dressed identically, except for the fact that these Blue Dawn's had the very fashionable accessory of a lancer point right at us.

'Yes, I figured that one out a little while ago. Actually it was when I finally managed to hack Sean. He rather unwittingly supplied me with a copy of your conversation with George.' Blue Dawn waved her hand across the desk that she was now casually leaning on and a holo recording of our conversation appeared and began to resolve.

'You think me such a demon Aeniah, but you fail to see the bigger picture. I remember when you were much younger, you understood Ascension. You understood the _need_ for Ascension.

'Without Ascension the world tore itself apart. It started when your two great nations began to resent the bilateral nature of the colonies. "Owned by all and for the people" they said. But you mighty giants could not understand this. Their greed drew them to war and the weapons they built to ensure their own protection ensured their very destruction. Ascension would have changed all of that. Ascension knows no borders, no divides, it is the very manifestation of equality. Angels and gods working in perfect symbiosis. We were going to make the perfect world.'

'Your world went wrong Dawn, you fucked up,' Aeniah roared.

'I have to say Cornithia that I very much dislike this new attitude of yours. You used to be so polite, so courteous, the youngest general in the world, all green and fresh faced. And yes you are right of course, Ascension went very wrong. But you cannot blame me for that. The Equinox project was the perfect delivery system, we could always have engineered new angels. There was no limit to their production once we gained the capability to clone them. But Carvelle made a mistake. He took the easy option and so did you. If you really wanted a cure you would have let me continue my work. I could have taken back control of everything on Ascension and with the angels at my disposal I could have rebuilt our society. We could have found a way of shutting down the Eye of Orion network years ago. We could have finished our society.'

Aeniah was a ball of fury. 'I shut you down Dawn because you went mad. Your ambition and your ruthlessness meant that Ascension's citizens turned to the Eye of Orion more and more to sustain them. You were a poor ruler and so when it was all about to come crashing down, and I feared for what remained of the rest of the world, I shut you down. I had to contain the infection. I planned to return, to right the wrongs that we made. But it took so long for them to regain FTL capable technology. When they finally took their first steps into the stars their world had already ended and so few of the colonies were left. The Eye of Orion is killing them and I will take George to shut them down.

'I won't interfere with you again. I wash my hands of Ascension. But if I take George to shut it down, you must promise me that if you continue your goal of the perfect world, you leave the colonies out of it. And Dawn, you need to tell him everything, no more lies.'

The Dawns looked towards one another. They seemed to be communicating in some way. I wanted to know how but they finished before I could ask them and all turned back towards us.

'Very well. As we understand it, you are the only remaining competent and immunised member of the crew remaining. Therefore it appears that we have no choice.

'And now for the truth George. The truth is that we found a way of immunising the population of Ascension from the effects of the Eye of Orion a long time ago. Aeniah for example is one of the very few people who chose to take the vaccine which is why, rather ironically, she remains sane. I needed the additional time, and your DNA, in order to fashion a subject capable of interfacing with the alien technology.

'You see I have been deliberately divulging false information to ensure the completion of my plan. The reason that you are needed is not for some fantastical show of godlike force to the alien technology. Instead your DNA is now sufficiently similar to that found in the artefacts that you will be able to interface with them and so shut them down, and good riddance to them. Now that we are done would you kindly take the command unit from the desk and get over to Hercula to rid me of this pest.'

I waited for her to say more. She seemed the sort of person that needed to gloat about her successes. But I was in no mood for it and so I said, 'No! I know that you are going to continue with project Ascenion, but there are no people left to experiment on. The angels were freed by dissidents and I want to know why. I also want to know where you are getting new subjects from before I do anything that you want me to.'

All of the Blue Dawns smiled again. 'Well now, that sounds perfectly reasonable. The Equinox subjects were freed by a group of people who renounced the Promethan Layer and its bad effects. They used a genetic modification contained within a syringe in order to shut down our command and control over the subjects. Their reasoning was that if they disrupted the flow of the Promethean Layer through the citizens by neutralising their supply chain, then the population would undergo a forceful detox. Carvelle of course had them all killed.'

Blue Dawn's smile grew even more dangerous now. 'And in response to your question as to where I am going to get more subjects for a second wave of Project Ascension, the answer is quite simple. I have already got them and I got them the same way that we got all of our other citizens: promise them Ascension. Two thousand Xenith class vessels are en route from the colonies. They will not be permitted to board Ascension until you have taken out the Eye of Orion network. You might consider my destruction of the Commercial District spring cleaning. The infected have now been ninety eight percent disposed of and I am already beginning reconstruction.

'Oh and one more thing. You might remember your little friend Adrian. Well according to my present security feeds the remainder of the crew has gone insane and he doesn't have much time left. I am keeping him secure but my avatar has already taken fatal damage. I would run if I were you.'

That was about all the convincing I needed. Blue Dawn had seemed to anticipate my moves and had already produced a command module from the desk. She handed it to me and with an unusual level of mirth stated 'and since there are so few of you left I can mass transport you to the Xenith vessels interior. Mass transport in three, two, one.'

15

We emerged inside the vessel. Another AI greeted us. 'Good morning citizens. The time is two fifteen a.m. You are cleared for departure to the Docks of Ascension. Travel time is one minute fifty seconds. We have cleared the launch tubes.'

There was a rumbling as the vessels real-space drives kicked in. I realised that, like so many things recently, this knowledge was not my own, but the knowledge Ascension had given me.

The vessel itself was quite small. We were standing in the vessel's Command Centre. There was just enough room for three people to be comfortable in here. A large holo had been placed in the centre of the room. It was surrounded by a ringed handrail. There was a seat at the front, presumably where the helm would sit, and another at the back. Aside from this the Command Centre was bare. The holo showed us emerging from Ascension. The stations massive bulk began to make itself known. I could see those many sculptures rising from the stations skin. There were the horses galloping, there were birds taking flight and there were angels holding swords and pointing upwards. I realised just how little of Ascension that we had really seen. I thought on all the wonders that might have been. But these were marvels that I would never see.

We were moving at a colossal speed. This was made apparent simply from glancing at the holo as huge sections of Ascension blurred past us. It was magnificent. I wondered for a moment what the Xenith class vessel might look like from the outside. Whether it would be the sleek artistic shape that so much of Ascension seemed to take on. But my thoughts were interrupted as the familiar shape of the docks became clear on the farthest side of the holo.

Aeniah appeared to be all action stations. She sat down besides a console which had an array of screens banking at sharp angles on either side. Her hands moved so rapidly upon the touch and gesture response surfaces that I could barely make them out. She seemed at home in this environment. I supposed that weapons and tactics were sort of her speciality.

'Sean, focal imaging detects four remaining crew members. The rest must have been killed by Dawn's avatar. I am unable to get an image on Dawn. I want you to run a locale search for Adrian, try and find him.' Sean responded to her commands without hesitation. Aeniah opened her mouth again to bark more orders. 'Xenith class, activate defensive batteries and antipersonnel weapons systems.'

The AI responded with a neutral voice. 'My apologies Madame Corinithia, but the Xenith class vessel is a high speed civilian transport vessel only. As a result this vessel is not licensed to carry offensive armaments. There is a weapons locker in an armoury vault at the back.'

'That's not going to be any use.' Aeniah looked like she was thinking quickly. 'George I need you to connect to the Promethean Layer, I am getting a lot of sub-quantum activity from those docks.'

I tried to focus on that star but to no avail. I had drawn upon so much of the Promethean Layer that any attempt to connect just brought an incredible amount of pain into my head. 'I can't. It hurts too much. I don't think that I can do it.'

Aeniah flew out of her seat, raised her hand, and slapped me across my cheeks. 'I have had enough of you right now George. All the way around Ascension I have had to listen to all your complaints, and believe me it took all the self control that I posses not to kill you.

'You have been given a valuable asset. We are still in range of the Eye of Orion, and if you don't connect Adrian is going to die. Now you have just ten seconds to get your fucking ass in gear before we dock. If those bastards cast an explosive inside our vessel we are all fucked and you can kiss goodbye to our species. Now fucking well connect or I will have your guts for garters.'

Her screaming pierced straight through my headache and made me feel a little dizzy. But I tried again. The pain was truly something. The stars brightness felt like it might sear my eyes of all vision. Contrary to my belief the star exploded into a full connection. Feeling the raw restorative power of the Promethean Layer course through me, my headache immediately dissipated.

In this connection I could really see everything. I could even see the Layer itself. It wafting tendrils penetrated everything. It pulsed in straight lines or folded in exact curves. It was every colour imaginable. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. At last I breathed, 'Connected.'

'Good timing because we are about to dock.' Sean was staring into the helm cosole, conversing with it in some way. Aeniah pointed towards the door and I realised that she wanted me to man the airlock.

I ran towards the door and it opened just in time for me to fly through. In a matter of moments I was pounding down the connecting corridor and into the room labelled _Air Lock_. The air lock door opened without the long delay that I was accustomed to on Eternis System vessels. In fact the Xenith class vessel operated with all the comfort and efficiency that I had come to expect from Ascension.

I pressed the red button and a holo resolved telling me that pressure equalisation was underway. Through the clear Perspex of the outer door I could see the ship passing through Ascension's outer membrane and into the stations atmosphere. The Perspex door opened. I was standing feet away from an almighty fall. Trying not to look down I focused my eyes on the infected crew members. They seemed enthralled at the sight of the vessel. With my enhanced vision I could make out the self inflicted damage to their faces. A cold lifeless figure was lying in the middle of them. It was Blue Dawn's avatar.

The Xenith class lowered itself into the closest docking bay to them. They seemed to surge towards us. I carefully checked that Adrian was not among their group. Seeing him missing I drew the Promethean Layer into me. Folding the energy in such a way as now felt natural to me. In a time that was shorter than I could tell you my hand filled with an orb of intense light. I must admit that I did marvel at I for a little while before I threw it down at the infected.

An incredible burst of shock wave threw me backwards and my head impacted upon the inner door of the airlock. I felt a wetness dripping down my face. I knew that I was bleeding. But the pain that was beginning to come forth into my head washed away as the Promethean Layer accelerated my healing to near godlike capabilities. I was able to stand after just a few seconds.

The orb of light had done far more damage than I intended. The infected were certainly very dead. One of the huge docking clamps had been bent out of shape. Jagged edges of metal penetrated outwards from it bulk.

I scanned for Adrian using the Promethean Layer. The Xenith class was almost touching the floor of the docks. Its black shining floor reflected the curved architecture of the vessel. I saw the red throbbing glow of a live body. My eyes seemed to focus on the object and zoomed. I could just about make out the face of Adrian hiding inside one of the motors for the docking clamps that had not been damaged in the explosion.

'Adrian come out of there. Its George, everything is going to be okay.'

Adrian emerged from the depths of the motor. His face looked visibly panicked. He ran with a limp towards my outstretch arms. There were tears of joy in his eyes. My heart soared to see that he was going to be okay.

Our hands met and clasp each other firmly. I hauled him onto the airlock platform with ease. I slammed my hand against the control pad which winked from green to red. The Perspex closed and a holo resolved telling us that the air lock was equalising its pressure with the Xenith class.

The airlock door opened. And with an arm around Adrian for support we hobbled together towards the Command Centre. The doors swept aside to unite us with Aeniah and Sean.

'Good, you made it safely,' was about all that she said before she turned to Seand and said, 'I have no intention of staying here any longer than I possibly have to. If you would be so kind, please get us the hell out of here.'

'Yes Sir,' and this time Sean's voice had reached a level of excitement that I had not realised any person could reach.

The vessel surged backwards and exited Ascension's outer membrane. Once it had a safe enough room to manoeuvre the vessel spun about its axis and faced away from Ascension and began its journey into the stars. The AI cut into what would have been our moment of euphoria.

'This vessel has now exited Ascension management control. You are now three thousand miles from the station. You have reached the minimum safe distance for an FTL jump. Please state your intended destination.'

'Hercula,' I said joyfully, we were nearing our journey's end.

'Hercula, Advanced Archaeological Site of Interest, Salem system. Searching for available FTL gateways. Gateways found. Spooling drive systems. Drive systems spooled. Journey time: one day, eight hours. Faster than light in 3,2,1.' Everyone was thrown off their feet in the process of FTL translation.

We got to our feet happily enough. The world seemed a better place now that we had left Ascension. Our journey was simpler and clearer. I had been united with Adrian. There seemed as though there was nothing at all in the entire world that could ever go wrong.

Aeniah ran over to me and gave me the strongest hug that I had ever felt. I had released the Promethean Layer during my return to the Command Centre and without it I felt that she might break me. There was such a warmth to this gesture though that I put those fears aside instantly and returned her gesture with all the strength I could muster.

I released Aeniah and to my infinite surprise found myself hugged again. This time it was by Adrian. I was so happy to finally have some contact with the guy again. It had been so long since we had even spoken that this action started to fill me with tears.

Then everyone was in tears. Adrian was in tears, Aeniah was in tears, I was in tears. Even Sean seemed to weep as his eye blinked rapidly. We were all hugging, laughing and shouting for joy. We all grabbed Sean out of the air and hugged him much to his displeasure at being thrown around.

After about ten minutes or so of tribulations Aeniah suggested that we have a drink. I do not think that I had ever moved as fast in my life as I did then to get my hands on a nice cold beverage. The communal area of the vessel was small but it felt almost like home. Aeniah put in our orders to the machine which began the processes of filling the glasses. I had let Aeniah choose for me and she soon handed me over a blue frothing cocktail. Adrian had gone for the same drink as me. We all placed our glasses into the air and knocked them against each other for health. Adrian and I gulped down a sip of our drink at the same time. And at the same time we grimaced at the amount of alcohol Aeniah had put into the drinks.

'Oh stop being such babies,' she said and we all laughed.

Later in the evening we had all become quite drunk. Aeniah was regaling us with stories of the United World that were so fantastical that it was almost impossible to imagine. We were all laughing about one of her tales about the time when she was a general and how she kept swearing during an interview with a colonial leader. It was the first time that she had ever let her guard down and we were all taking in her amazing personality.

After several more alcoholic cocktails Aeniah suggested that we watch one of the movies in the Xenith class's entertainment catalogue. She promised us that United World movies were a good deal more entertaining that the stuff she had had to put up with on Bataga. After some argument we agreed not to watch an action movie, we had all had enough of that to last us a lifetime. Instead we agreed to watch a romantic movie. To Adrian and I it seemed like something out of science fiction but the movie was great. It was about a girl and guy, who despite being from different nations made it together. Everyone was already quite emotional before the movie had started and we were almost cracking up afterwards. The story was so heart warming that I declared that it must have been the best movie ever made. Everyone agreed and we all proposed a toast to the long dead director.

Shortly after the movie's close Aeniah announced that she was going to get some sleep. Sean stated something about an information packet download to get Blue Dawn's datamine out of his head, flew off towards the Command Centre.

When Sean's muttering had been muted by the closing of the Command Centre's doors I realised that they had left Adrian and me alone.

'You want another drink,' I said. At least that is what I hope I said, my words had begun to slur a long time ago. Adrian just nodded in response and shuffled down into the seat.

I went over to the machine that had provided Aeniah with the drinks. My vision was blurred from the alcohol. I struggled to make out the information on the screen. I fumbled my unresponsive hands against the touch pad until the picture of the cocktail came up. I pressed the image twice and the machine began to create the beverage.

It took a few moments to produce the two sparkling drinks. I hoped that my fumbling might have managed to reduce their alcohol content. With clumsy hand I picked up both of the drinks and placed them onto the table besides Adrian. He picked up his glass and pushed it to his lips just as I threw myself besides him.

There was an awkward moment of silence as neither of us knew quite what to say. I sipped upon my drink. He sipped upon his and the silence continued.

I was the one who eventually broke the silence. 'Adrian,' I stuttered, 'I'm so sorry about what happened. I just, I, I thought you were behind me. I didn't want to, to leave you. I just, I just thought that it would never end, what we had I mean. I'm sorry you had to be apart of this mess. I'm sorry that all these bad things have ever happened to you. I never loved anyone else as much as I loved you. I am so, so sorry. I...'

Adrian interrupted by wiping away the tears from my eyes. He spoke to me slowly and carefully emphasising all the right words. 'George, it doesn't matter now, nothing of Earth matters anymore. You came back George, you came back for me. In spite of everything you came back.'

We held each other then, in that small room. The systems hummed all around us like a choir singing out to the heavens. Our hands met and joined in the most triumphant gesture of absolute certainty. We were together and alone at the end of the world.

Our moment of bliss ended as we went to sleep and for the first time in years I dreamed. I dreamed of something special.

16

We got up early and talked for a while. The whole universe had shifted. Everything seemed better, filled with a greater life than it had before. I was smiling without a reason to smile. Adrian and I left our quarters hand in hand. Aeniah and Sean were nowhere to be found and so we wandered about the communal area, eating and talking.

'Arrival at Hercula imminent,' the AI announced. Adrian and I looked at one another and made our way into the Command Centre.

'Just on time,' Aeniah stated as we entered. I felt the sudden deceleration as we translated back into real-space.

I had remembered reading about Hercula at school. So little had been know about it. In fact all that we really knew was that Hercula had a green atmosphere and it supported a dense tropical belt of life along its equator. The rest of the world was not thought to be habitable by humans.

'Okay,' I said 'so where do we go from here?'

Sean was the one to deliver the information this time. 'Blue Dawn stated that Carvelle made many of his discoveries in an archaeological site.

'Before the Resource Wars Hercula was a site of great importance to the international communities. There were many digs, all showed some evidence of a highly evolved society that was thought to have become extinct when the environmental conditions on the planet suddenly shifted six thousand nine hundred years ago. As a result of this shift colonisation was not thought possible. The air is breathable but the planet is too geologically unstable to support a civilisation. The equatorial area is anomalously stable considering the rest of the planet and so it was there that the majority of research occurred. The dense forestation in the area made it difficult for many science teams because of the labour intensive nature of setting up a clearing through which to conduct research. Quite surprisingly and in spite of this there are over two hundred dig sites.

'I have now discerned the location of the dig that Carvelle attended. Working through the night I analysed this ship's database. It appears that this vessel is the very same one that Carvelle took to find the Eye of Orion. Cross referencing this data with the scans of the planet taken by Blue Dawn I have found the likely location of the research site.' Sean faced a terminal and stared intently at it. The holo of the planet that we were rapidly approaching spun and zoomed in on the site of interest.

'As you can see,' Sean continued, 'there is little data available on the planet.' A chime sounded and a square zoomed onto the location Sean was emphasising. 'The ship has found a landing site and is preparing its descent,' he remarked

The holo switched back to the real-time feed. The ship was clearly entering the atmosphere because a red trail of flames could be seen on the lowest part of the image. We were now crossing the northern hemisphere. The ground below was a stale mustard colour and there were angry red rivers of lava running along their surfaces. This world was a violent and deadly place.

But just as quick as this observation was the planet responded by slowly revealing its greener colours. From small patches of isolated green to the now entire rainforest, like those that I had only ever seen in stories, rushed up to meet us. Within a matter of minutes the vessel was clipping the tree tops and we were beginning to land.

We stepped out of the vessel and into a green sky. Everything was incredible; there were reds and blues calling out to us, tempting us. The canopy of tangible delights was set out against the background of a watery green sky. No moon clouded its ocean of slowly moving clouds, and no sun blocked out the lightning striking between them. I swear that I thought I was looking at heaven.

Hercula had none of the fatal unreality of Ascension. If the station was the finest example of anything man had ever created then this was the finest example of something that nature had ever created. I wondered for a moment if the United World had been right. I wondered if it was true that there was a god. But I dismissed this notion out of hand. No god would have allowed us Ascension, no god would have allowed us to execute our own destruction. If a god existed then it was a cruel and bitter tyrant.

Adrian was staring up into the canopy with amazement too. I saw Aeniah doing the same. For once it was me that had the responsibility of keeping everybody moving. I tapped Aeniah on the shoulder, she nodded, and we began to walk into the undergrowth.

We were tracking a position on Aeniah's holo display. The foliage made it a difficult task to get anywhere quickly. The heat was such that in a moment I felt as though I had sweated all the water from my body. The moisture was so intense that even with no water in my body my mouth overflowed. Thankfully we were not that far away now. The holo said we were nearly on top of it. With all the overgrowth it was difficult to see an opening into the dig of any kind.

After another half hour we finally found the entrance. It was a cave like structure that looked as though it might collapse at any moment. It was unlit and so I went first using the night vision of my scope to descend into the darkness below.

After a while the cave began to widen and then it levelled off and went into a small room. There was a small DCN in the corner just about visible through my scope. Remembering how we turned on Ascension's DCN, I repeated the procedure and soon the lights in the room began to glow.

The light revealed a small room, furnished with a desk and some scientific equipment. At the end of the room was an elevator that I assumed would lead us down into the site of interest itself.

Carvelle had clearly not been here for a long time. The papers strewn all over the place were cracked and brown. I read a few of them but they contained nothing but some ravings about a civilisation more powerful than his own, a technology that would free the world, and a political theory that would ravish millions. There were pieces of technology everywhere, clues as to the existence of new life. I wondered why Carvelle had not told anyone of the aliens, for he would surely have made the greatest find in all of history. But then I realised how Carvelle was motivated. The revelation of the evidence that this site contained would have made it available to anyone. He wanted a monopoly over the technology, and he wanted it for the same reasons powerful men want things, he wanted more power. So many people had died for the sake of his vanity. He clearly thought that he _was_ a god.

'Nothing here,' I said.

'Looks like it's the lift then,' Aeniah sighed. I had a feeling that after the amount of alcohol she had drank the night before she had wanted a bit of a break.

We all walked over to the lift and prepared ourselves for what we would see. I imagined great wonders and fantastic things that maybe I wouldn't even understand. As I fantasised the lift began to descend. I thought of beings who looked like us but could throw fire from their hands and heal you with just a touch. The lift began to slow. I thought of sprits and temples and all the wonders of a star.

The lift doors opened and I was very wrong. In the centre of the room was the artefact and there was little else. The artefact was the only thing that was unlike anything I could have imagined. The object was a seven foot tall obelisk, with carvings of animals and beings that I could not even begin to describe all over its skin. The colour was no colour, it seemed to absorb all light in a shimmer of half revealed things. Nearby the artefact were a few pieces of dried up technology. The technology had obviously been alive at some point. Through the half decayed crystalline structure I could see the remnants of organs and arteries.

'Amazing!' Sean said. 'Organic technology! I never thought I'd see the day.' He whistled merrily as he floated around the dig site taking everything in.

The artefact was clearly alive. It pulsed and throbbed as though it had a heartbeat. I walked over to it. Bracing myself for some awful thing to pop out and get me, I touched the skin of the object. But nothing happened. In fact nothing seemed to be happening at all. There were no screens, nor any evidence that there ever had been. In fact there seemed to be no way of interfacing with the artefact at all. It just seemed to be a living, but very much inert, statue.

'I can't see anything, how am I supposed to shut it down if I can't even communicate with it. Blue Dawn couldn't even destroy it, so how am I supposed to?'

Aeniah placed a hand on my shoulder. 'George,' she said kindly, 'if there has even been one constant between our lives and theirs, it was the Promethean Layer. Carvelle once said to me that the road to Ascension could only be travelled by the enlightened. So go ahead and connect. All, I am sure, will be revealed.'

I looked for that star again and found it much more easily than I had on Ascension. It was so much brighter and so much more powerful. I grasped onto it and became connected.

Here was something I would have had to have seen to understand. This cold and barren room was not barren at all. Everywhere there was noise, thoughts, brainwaves. I looked at the artefact and it showed me everything. I did not need a screen to interface with it, everything I could have ever been shown was already there, before I even realised that I could ask for it. I could see the energy being broadcast out of it. I could see the very Promethean Layer itself. The Layer was a universe of pure light, pure bliss and was the very closest example of heaven I think I will ever find.

'Aeniah, Adrian, this is...it's beyond words. You're never going to be able to understand...this.' Neither of them responded. They both seemed to know exactly what I was seeing, it was as though my face told the entire story.

I looked at those emaciated little machines and with their dying thoughts they told me the truth. By now I had realised that these beings had evolved beyond the need for standard communication. Their lives existed in between worlds, always connected to the Promethean Layer and always planted firmly in reality. This was the world that they saw, the world that they had made. No wonder that I could not see anything without the connection, because without the connection it did not exist.

I also knew, what I must always have known, the truth. I knew what the artefacts were for. I always had. They were a means of terra-forming. They created the conditions necessary for their connection to the Promethean Layer and so their survival. And they knew that it would kill us. The artefact showed me images of the genes required for the connection to the Layer, my genes.

I saw how to shut it down. It was almost too simple. The device simply required that someone would will it silent. The artefact explained through images and concepts that it was the master hub and that shutting this down would severe the connection to the others. The entire network would shut down. All that a person had to do to complete this operation was to want it, to truly want it.

I could not say that I did. This vision was something that I could not let hold of, something that I simply could not will out of existence. Carvelle might have turned them on, and ordered them to begin terra-forming the colonies, but I didn't want to be the one to turn them off.

It was then that I saw Adrian in the periphery of my vision. He was bathed in pure light. He was the very image of perfection. Suddenly the light of the Promethean Layer did not shine so brightly. This star, my star, outshined all others. I could see in a moment of pure contemplation the very essence of his soul, his good nature, his love, the reasons that I loved him; and they were all a greater bliss than anything Ascension could ever offer.

The artefact shut down. A flurry of concepts and images flashed across my mental paradise. The lights in the room went out. The artefact stopped pulsing, and yet the room didn't darken at all, because the light shining from Adrian never faded.

As the network faded so did the Promethean Layer. I let it go with a mixture of regret and relief. I was very aware of just how addicted one could have gotten to that sight.

'It is done.' With those words we turned. Aeniah, Adrian and I reached the surface, linked arms and walked back to the vessel. We all sat comfortably in the communal area and told the ship to reach the atmosphere and break orbit.

We were lounging around not saying very much as the vessel lifted its little self up and into the cosmos. Aeniah spoke for the first time and seemed to be smiling at some private joke. 'So guys, you wanna take a look at my little contribution to our stories end,' she announced innocently. A holo resolved of the planet. She pulled a small canister from her pocket. 'You know, I've been carrying this around ever since the wars, and I never found a use for it until now.'

She pulled a little rip cord out of the canister and pointed to the holo. At first I couldn't see it, but then it grew in size and took on the form of a blast of light that would eradicate a small section of the continent. 'Planted the charge right next to that bastard artefact, even if it survives don't think anyone's gonna dig far enough down to find it.'

Despite ourselves we all laughed. 'So where to now?' I asked.

Adrian was the first to reply, 'to the colonies.'

The little ship, this Xenith class vessel bolted out and into the night sky. The starlight twinkled about the vessel as it crossed the rivers of emptiness and into our future. We all sat around that table and discussed the worlds we hoped we'd find. We sat there and promised ourselves a quiet life, tending the grapes in a sunlit field. With delight I held onto Adrian's arm, and kissed him.

Epilogue

After a little bit of searching we found the only colony left that still had life. In fact it actually still held a civilisation. They listened to our story and believed our every word, for they knew it to be the truth. The artefacts had yet to do much damage to their society. What limited activation there had been had done little damage to their population.

The incredible thing was that this colony had held on to themselves far better than our planet ever had. They understood how to maintain and repair the Blue Clarity generators. They had great cities that were as beautiful as they were large. They lived upon an ocean of promise and they welcomed us with all their hearts. Were we not treated as guests, or immigrants, or invaders, we were treated as one of them.

After the first year Adrian and I bought a house, not a large one, but large enough for the both of us. In my interaction with the artefact I had gained a sizable amount of knowledge through which I was able to help the people of Aurelia build up their technology.

Aeniah popped round once a week for tea. We would all sit around the stone table and talk of the great adventure that we had been on. We would laugh at all the stupid things we did and she would tell us about the world she had grown up in. The sun would always shine a little brighter when we were all together.

Aeniah and Sean had used the components of the Xenith class to design and develop an FTL capable vessel for the people of Aurelia. They were just a few weeks away from completion of the project. Everyone was getting quite excited by it.

I had a proper job for the first time in my life, working as the head of Deep Space Observations, keeping watch over the stars for signs of life.

It was four years now since we had shut down the Artefact and Adrian and I were eating breakfast together. It was bright outside and the plants rustled in the warm ocean breeze.

'Did you see the Conem's destroy the Deneut's last night? It was awesome they never stood a chance. Four to one, brilliant!' Adrian pushed his fist into the air in triumph.

'That's fantastic, wish this place had a concept of commerce so that I could have put some money on it.' We both laughed.

I was clearing away the plates when the phone rang. I almost dropped them all with the shock. I pressed the air where the answer button for the phone had resolved. An image of John Cueson appeared. He had worked for me at the Deep Space Observation Centre since I had joined.

'Sir,' he said a little timidly, 'you need to come in right now sir. This is an Alpha Protocol alert.'

_Alpha Protocol_ I thought. What the hell, and in the middle of a dishwashing. I kissed Adrian on the forehead and rushed for my sub-orbiter. The journey through the outer atmosphere was a tense one, a thousand thousand thoughts rushed through my head. What if it was another meteor or something else?

I burst through the doors of the DSOC and was confronted with a mass of people throwing themselves at one another, trying desperately to bark information at one another. John was right by my side in an instant.

'Sir, Aeniah is on the line for you, the President is also on call. They and the supreme cabinet are waiting for you in the control centre.'

I ran through the departments, at some points physically pushing people out of the way. There was an energy in the building that told me all that I needed to know.

In the control centre was a holo of all the people that John had informed me would be there. Aeniah looked tense.

'Brief me!' I shouted to no one in particular. It was John who responded, he waved at the people manning the controls for the holo.

'Sir, one hour ago a Ceila satellite detected an incoming into the system. The image you see behind you is a wave-form consistent with faster than light translation. At the same time our monitoring of the co-ordinates you gave us showed a massive increase in energy output.'

I gasped and pushed my hands against one of the desks near me to try and keep myself on my feet. Aeniah recoiled away from her camera. 'You don't mean,' I said.

'Yes sir, Ascension appears to be doing something. But sir that isn't the point.' He waved at another technician. The holo resolved upon an image of a large and powerful looking vessel. It was bearing a United World insignia.

'Oh my god!' Aeniah shouted. 'Oh no, that's _my_ ship, that's my fucking ship.'

'But I thought Carvelle?...oh no...oh no.' I couldn't even begin to bring myself to form the words. I knew exactly who it was, and exactly why we were here. But above all I knew with absolute certainty that we did not have the power to resist.

'Sir,' shouted a technician, 'we have a message incoming.'

'Open channels,' I said.

The image of a man who was infamous in my mind resolved and stood before me. His eyes held a murderous texture to which I felt my very hopes and dreams die beneath its weight.

'Ladies and gentlemen of Aurelia, my name is Alfred Carvelle, and I am here to offer you _Ascension_.'

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