《Dead Universe.》 Chapter 1 - "Are we alone in the universe?" A lone wanderer. Glass shards were bombarding an oval cocoon of forcefield from a sideways, like a flurry of silver daggers. Rattling thuds accompanied an appearance of annular, cyan ripples on a disturbed surface of the imperishable shield. In a vivid spectacle of violent manifestation and imminent annihilation, crystals dispersed into a fog of shimmering dust, concealing a shallow grave. A dim light of overturned S.O.S. beacon was flickering in a rhythm of astronaut¡¯s slow heartbeat. Beneath a layer of grey dust was a silhouette of a woman in a graphite space suit, just like his. He kneeled and gently removed particles of fine, purplish sand from a screen of her helmet, revealing a decaying skull. Dead. Her oxygen supply ran out days ago. There was nothing left to be done other than burial rites. May your journey continue with us, pilgrim. Male clenched his fist calmly, pressuring a button in the middle of a palm. A triangular blade of plasma beamed in the dark, outlining a contour of a frail skeleton in an orange afterglow. Bon¡¯jira Rhenata After a tiny stripe of cloth was removed and tucked inside a chest pocket, traveler muttered a silent prayer, then raised to admire a barren wasteland for the last time. Dark clouds shrouded the sky, greedily subjugating even the tiniest traces of starlight for themselves and heralding an absolute dominion in an ominous orchestra of thundering, green lightnings which, like a spiderweb, rapidly scattered beneath a raven-black blanket. A range of mountains guarded access to the east, like an array of perfectly aligned titans, frozen in time and stone. Line of giants extended toward a horizon, where a shadow of the white sun was desperately struggling against an ever-present twilight. Resonant roars of destructive moon helped to drown out depression and thoughts of loneliness. The ambiance of a featureless, monotonous desert landscape gradually infiltrated man¡¯s emotional barriers. Blood in his veins cooled, adjusting to a temperature around, as he gave in to embrace melancholy ¨C his only company, an addictive narcotic and an only fuel capable of keeping his scout-ship in the empty sky.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. (¡­) Glass snow was crunching beneath astronaut¡¯s feet. An obsidian shape of his fighter-esque vessel was trembling on its three landing skids, withstanding an assault of unrestrained hailstorm. I forgot to put the stabilizers on, again. Pilot lightly tapped a panel on his forearm three times and ship¡¯s legs were locked in place ¨C at the time, the adamant vehicle was parallel to a rumored widow, who was awaiting the return of her long-lost, drafted husband. (¡­) Decontamination procedures. A warm long shower. A comfy, pink bathrobe. Matching Bunny Slippers. A cup of a bitter, black coffee. An antic radio with music that you can only love. His sixteen date. You must be mad. Will you accept my gift and forgive me? Man situated himself in a cockpit and fondly caressed a frame of the frontal window. ¡°Hey, speak to me, Atala.¡± He put on a sad smile, then fixed his eyes on a turbulent scenery behind the glass. Contrary to the outside, a soundproof cabin was completely noiseless and conveyed a sentiment similar to being entranced with heavy, autumn rain and its cloudy, grey sky, while taking shelter in your personal, secluded room. We still have three hours before the storm. He referred to the time when thunder weather would critically intensify ¨C lightnings would begin to manifest as broad columns of advancing lights, pulverizing any suicidal entity who dared to muster courage and stay in the way. It would be a beautiful, but lethal sight. Not a bad way to go, but a true gentleman is obliged to keep his lady safe. The pilot put down a steaming mug in a cup holder, then extended an arm to a round, steel table behind it, leaning slightly in the process. He removed a leather memento from a uniform that was resting on top of the furniture, then attached it at a panel above-head, next to other hanging souvenirs. Althala V, Asteroids of Undooru, The Belt of Irani, The Clash of Three, Red rivers of Inornia, Palace of Khazan, Flesh Brokers, Obelisk of creation, Nebula on the end, Home of the untouched, The Cube of Anaari ¨C Haha, to think that we¡¯ve never got inside, even with a universal key ¨C ¡­Collapse of Fidjer, Kolmoran, Boharan III¡­ ¡­Earth. He gazed at a tiny vial with a preserved, lifeless root and didn¡¯t speak, or word his mind any further. Instead, he averted sight to watch the chaos ensuing behind the windshield, suppressing a surge of guilt that should¡¯ve never been his, then continued to blankly stare at the desolate painting, contemplating its exquisite nature and yearning to quench the thirst of his hollow soul one day¡­ Are we alone in the universe? No matter how many times he would ask himself, how many marvels he would see and how many new species he would meet and discover. His answer always remained the same. Chapter 2 - The Lost Fragment [ Cling! ] We landed. A metal struck against a metal, transferring resonating vibrations to a colossal framework of an unfinished industrial megastructure. Far on the west, a curved line of an oblique, half-hexagonal grating hanged low above the incandescent ocean of magma, usurping the right to half of the fuchsia sky, then disappeared beyond both horizons. Altocumulus clouds leisurely drifted towards a far unknown, like a flock of candyfloss sheep searching for their lost shepherd. Voracious vortexes of lava failed to devour endless pillars of unevenly stacked maintenance aperture. At the bottom, a horizontal ring of aged, brass cups encompassed a chaotic tower. An ancient turbine sluggishly plodded along the irregular spiral of melted rock. Together with immersed heat-gatherers, it fueled upper levels where bright sparks of electricity lively hopped from one antenna to other. Wanderer confidently stepped outside, placing reinforced soles of his space suit on a hardened layer of spiky, carbon crust, then puffed out a chest and raised a hand in soldier salute. ¡°MAY WILL OF INK¡¯HOKI RESOUND THROUGH AGONIZING SCREAMS OF OUR ENEMIES!¡± It was a potent, guttural war-cry devoid of any weakness. Although uncompromising red goliaths were decimated in the Clash of Three, which eventually led to absolute extinction of a warborn race, pilgrim refused to desecrate a forge of god-ships withany inadequate self-pity. Sentimental litter was locked in a subconscious cage and tossed into oblivion¡­ weeks ago. A Purification. One-track mind. Focus on a goal. Unknown to doubt. Your order becomes my will. Raze or bleed. Conquer or perish. [ ADMINISTRATOR TOKEN REQUIRED: ***************************** ] CORRECT! ----PROCESSING---- Synchronized devices: N/A CAUTION! ¨C Spacesuit should be synchronized with the adaptive shield at all times. Please contact a technician to fix the issue. Access granted. Overriding initiated. SUCCESS. Manual control: ENABLED. Forcefield Status: 100% - FULLY FUNCTIONAL. Forcefield Oxygen Levels: Within the acceptable margin. WARNING: Temperature outside is at CRITICAL levels. Access to life-preserving features will be TEMPORARILY DISABLED to ALL USERS including the SYSTEM until normal perimeters are restored. It is highly recommended to stay in a suit and seek shelter. Traveler raised a visor. A surge of a dry, hot air ran across man¡¯s sweaty cheeks. WARNING: Internal breach detected. THREAT LEVEL CRITICAL. PLEASE RETURN TO A SAFE POINT IMMEDIATELY. A ceaseless stream of recurring yellow-red alerts flooded the retracting screen, but explorer paid it no heed. Dozens of tiny nozzles began to filter air through twin cooling modules at man¡¯s back. Four of vents propelled chill jets of wind inside a helmet, closing the circulation. He had neither any extraterrestrial biological enchantments nor prohibited cybernetic implants. All dishonorable tech was deposited at a convenient, emergency locker adjacent to a gull-wing door of space vessel. A thirty-kilometer long and five-kilometer wide maw in front gave an impression of a steel snake which was about to consume its inadequate, meager prey. Frail human challenger was nothing but an insect or a fly that unwarily flew between jaws of a monster ¨C its insignificant life would vanish in a second and be forever forgotten. On both sides, construction was supported by diagonal pylons, which were like a set of ladders that allowed demons of the fiery underworld to access mortal planes. At the end was wanderer¡¯s destination. Unfinished ¨C in human terms - Atlas-Class dreadnought of dimensions approximately similar to a mighty corridor. Only two were ever produced. Both wreaked havoc, single-handedly annihilating fleets and crushing systems until they burned down in a final showdown. Their cuboid corpus had a simple design,a diameter of its main, cylindrical cannon was half of the vessel¡¯s width. The destructive tool was fused to four auxiliary quarter-sections in shape of a rounded, cut-to-fit square, each having a ship-long gundeck capable of obscuring entire skies with a single barrage of missiles. A narrow niche manifested in 1/3 of the span, separating machinery of a primary weapon from supportive systems, which consisted of engines, auto-kinetic anti-fighter cannons, and layers upon layers of hangars overfilled with interceptors and repair drones.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He awed the multiple generations of builders who sacrificed youth, adulthood and senior years, devoted to nothing but strenuous labor ¨C only to add a small brick to a hungry iron goliath, who would ultimately consume their lives, rendering all lineages and memories forgotten to serve exclusively a name of Ink¡¯hoki. May your journey continue with us, pilgrims. The rite of passage. He wasn¡¯t allowed to fail to upkeep a tradition. A hollow metropolis of souls who waited too long for their voyage. (¡­) A pillar of flame burst in front of an astronaut, spilling thick chunks of infernal matter onto the obsidian bars of a nanofiber. Garnet droplets of blazing fluid rained down on a wayfarer, soon to be evaporated by a violet-brightened surface of spherical protection. Forcefield Status: 41% WARNING: External breach detected. Severity level: 0.004% ENABLING RECOVERY MODE. (1%) [ABORT] RECOVERY MODE ABORTED. CAUTION! UNABLE TO STOP GEN V+ FLUX WEAPONRY. CAUTION! UNABLE TO STOP GEN XI+ KINETIC WEAPONRY. WARNING! UNABLE TO STOP ALL TYPES OF INTHORIAN INTELLIGENT GOO. Please avoid encounters at all cost. CAUTION! UNABLE TO STOP¡­ ¡­ ¡­ The Power Saving Mode will remain at a default configuration. Pilot coughed. A small portion of polluted smoke got into his lungs, irritating its mucous membrane with an itchy, burning sensation. His goal was close. Surrender isn¡¯t a part of red goliaths war heritage. Twelve steps. Thrusters. Flying over a gap. Three hundred more meters. WARNING: Forcefield Status: 28% (¡­) A wall of iron rose before the face of a hermit, its mighty bearing manifested an adamant oath ¨C You shan¡¯t pass any further. ¨C Over thousand years old drones moved by a sealed access gate and continued their Sisyphean flight back and forth. Broad panels of crude steel were occasionally transported above man¡¯s head, casting alleviating shadows. Rows of mechanical arms elegantly shifted along suspended railways and committed to welding in a manner resembling a gargantuan conference of medieval scribes. Asecurity camera in the form of dark bead covered a human silhouette in a grid of green light. ¡°Select Universal Key. Override.¡± The motion of all machinery froze under a second. Disabled bots began to rain down the titan, banging against its massive body in series of echoing clangs, overturning neighboring scaffolding and meeting their lethal fate in a sea of fire. Millions of lamps turned on to illuminate chiseled figure of god-worthy craftmanship. Unexpected. A hijacking countermeasure? ¡°Select everything. Upload.¡± Trillions of names rapidly scrolled down man¡¯s lifted visor. Their birth certificates, education, social history, diseases, criminal activity, marriage videos, pictures of newborns held by grandparents¡­ dreams, nightmares, hopes¡­ analysis of mapped particles¡­ undetermined traces of aether¡­ strands of existence¡­ shards of shattered souls... ( 0.5% - Abort? [Y/N?] ) It all HAD to be uploaded to his memory. ( 1.2% - Abort? [Y/N?] ) Please stop. ( 2.0% - Abort? [Y/N?] ) I¡­ I can¡¯t remember it all. I¡­ please WARNING: Forcefield Status: 17% He couldn¡¯t hold his emotions. Millenniums of meditation under the care of the wisest sages, underground assassin courses in suppressing limits of empathy, three weeks of Tabula Rasa, a forced memory lockdown¡­ The promise had to be broken. He would spoil the soil to save the farmers. Lk¡¯huz Ghuur, Kh¡¯tma Nhaaki, Kirian Ungala, Goruuz Ban, Lokipa Sadam, Conorus Farii, Ruutar Rot¡¯ta, Eris Doo, Khoata Fier, Lorak Baaza, Tyriada Yearr, Pakh¡¯rra Worr, Boris Worr, Dunh¡¯a Fotaa, Belus Belisar, Tahan O, Broda Mh¡¯aar, Vorid Rasha, Munak Cleas, Bes¡¯hur Vorak, Rea Tres, Uyuna Taeri, Ovalla Pos, Zaxcun D¡¯nuvaka, Pogaar Vis, Erta Vore, Huunak Basie, Masaan Doku, Frejilkoaene Indu¡­ You can¡¯t look at their souls and let them be forgotten. Each spirit screaming. ¡®I am here. SEE ME!¡¯ ¡®Can I stay?¡¯ ¡®Remember us.¡¯ ¡®At least one person¡­ to need me¡­ to walk by my side.¡¯ ¡®Notice us.¡¯ ¡®Know our story... Anybody...¡¯ ¡®Can my voice reach you?¡¯ ¡®Listen! Hear!!¡¯ ¡®¡­a sign that somebody cares ¡­I beg ¡­I plead¡¯ ¡®I wasted my life. Let me go.¡¯ No. I can¡¯t. I WON¡¯T. You were all soincredible, so strong and so admirable. Heavy tears started rolling down wanderer¡¯s cheeks as he dropped on knees and tightly clenched his aching chest with both arms. ¡°I can¡¯t do this. Not alone.¡± ¡°Somebody. HELP ME!¡± ¨C A loud scream on top of his lungs. Cry intensified. At the nadir of mournful hysteria, his throat was tight-shut, incapable of the quietest noise. Presumably, mute person uttered a last, soft whisper. ¡°Speak to me, Atala.¡± ¡­ WARNING: Forcefield Status: 5%. Shutting down the system. CORE: +++++ No matter the amount of weeping, the scalding heat would dry the tears, leaving only dirtied trails of carbon dust. ¡­ WARNING: Forcefield Status: 0.01%. Shutting down the core process. Any form of water would now evaporate instantly, marking skin in saline burns and blisters. ¡­ [Forcefield Status: 0%] The hair inside a helmet ignited, skin momentarily swollen red, plates of astronaut suit started to melt. The sclera of eyeballs liquified to a lumpy, uniform mass. In a few minutes, charred cadaver assumed a pugilistic posture. ¡­ ( 100% - UPLOAD COMPLETE ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ INITIATING PROJECT LAZARUS ] ( RESTORATION: 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999974% ) Error. Error. Error. Unable to restore a soul completely. Process terminated. [ Requesting access to special privileges. ] [ Access granted. ] [ LAUNCHING EDEN ] [ Welcome to EDEN Beta! Resurrection inbound. ] > Weaver failed to restore a soul. Status: 99.99¡­%. > Initiating null fragments. Interlocking complete. > WARNING: Excessive uncertified fiber found. Implementing the subconscious storage area. > Compressing¡­ > Compressing¡­ > Compressing¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ > 7 451 181 387 200.00 / 100% of soul restored! > WARNING: 7 451 181 387 100.00 / 100% of soul infected with ¡®Dead Universe¡¯. > Infected fragments were moved to quarantine. > Operation complete! Chapter 3 - The Weight of Memories Breathe, Unit #431504105. Breathe. [End of flashback] Pilot¡¯s chest propelled from a tank of gluey bio-ooze, his arms blindly flailing in an instinctive attempt to avoid drowning. An abrupt pain in the right wrist signaled the synapses to latch fingers onto a cool rim of the silver bathtub. Male pulled himself over to an edge, then forced residual mucus out of lungs in a series of four sharp, painful coughs. Chunks of yellow discharge soiled sterile tiles of the isolated medical bay. Wide, flawlessly engineered shoulders of the spartan figure were lustering in a dim glaze of a cold lab light emitted by an aligned array of fluorescent tubes. The outwardly potent torso was shivering like an abandoned puppy in the rain. ¡°Aa-ttt-a-ll-a¡­ t-to-ww-e-lll.¡± ¡­ ¡­ No response. ¡­ Dead silence was astronaut¡¯s only companion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An obsidian monolith. An isolated skyscraper so tall that it made an impression of being closer to a starlit firmament than to an emerald-grey coat of gaseous giant below. A red supergiant sun shone brightly, bathing uniform walls of tower in crimson beams of ominous glare. Curly staircase guided a wanderer along its smooth structure, furtively enticing an unmindful client to rest fingers on its round curves in an act parallel to a nubile courtesan, a prodigy fresh out of Khazan academy of erotic arts. A stash. Image of pilgrim¡¯s sleek gloves was reflected in a polished surface of an umbral mirror. Gentle push. Four lines of sapphire light interconnected and scanned a long-lost customer, then faded without a trace like their existence was only an illusion. A square section of scratchless marble retracted into an abyss of the dark. Infinite limbo stared at visor of a voyager, filling his mind with an uncanny, eldritch feeling of being examined by an unnatural entity out of our plane of existence. I still get chills down my spine after seeing ¡®The Eye¡¯¡­ ¡­everyone in Krotian guild of thieves mocked me after uncovering it was simply a safety mechanism¡­ ¡­good days of dishonorable past. A fist-sized orb exited a hole. Six coarse oval plates adorned the object, tightly clinging to its sides. A gap twin to a ribbed cylinder ran through its poles, revealing strips of electric blue storage cells which warned its holder to tread carefully with a continuous alarming buzz.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Only one? ¡­ Right. I recall it now. Two lives remaining. (¡­) Welcome Emissary! Access to a full range of merchandise granted. Last visit: 186 711 Days ago Available credits: DISPLAY_ERROR > Search: [Tag] Nanobots Products are unavailable. We apologize for inconveniences. > Search: [Tag] Portal Products are unavailable. We apologize for inconveniences. > Search: [Tag] SI Matrix Products are unavailable. We apologize for inconveniences. ¡­ > Search: [Tag] Shield & [Tag] Amor | Sort: [Price] Listing equipment¡­ (¡­) An unstained, nano-thin mantle of velvet nanofiber coated a flat top of spire like a bride¡¯s veil. Silken cloth rustled in the wind against scarlet dawn, glimmering in the entire spectrum of magenta. Wandered ran his fingers over an elongated white gown, letting himself succumb to memories of past¡­ [ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ] A slap. ¡°Don¡¯t stain a robe of her majesty with your dirty hands, kid!¡± A sky shrouded under a fluctuating golden dome. Blurred images of oriental stalls rapidly shifting, like pictures in a kaleidoscope. People. The pungent odor of luxurious perfumes mixed with a common sweat. People. Hatred. ¡­ Nostalgia. ¡­ Yearning. ¡­ Sharp pull. Aching wrist. A strong gust of refreshing summer wind. Her metallic smell. ¡­ [ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ] A statue of grey granite encompassed by ruffling milky dunes. She rested motionless, in a lotus position, her wavy hair carved in stone and face concealed beneath a blank mask. A trillion years old enigma. Pilgrim bowed deeply, giving his uttermost honors in a manner adequate to a mediating prince. ¡°Lady.¡± Her head rotated by ninety degrees in a fluid yet mechanical motion, like its neck was supported by a steel sphere held in a polished socket. An echoing shockwave of resonating melody smoothened white folds of a gown. ¡°Glad to see you, Daichi. What troubles you, my son?¡± Daichi straightened, continuing a rendezvous at stars. ¡°Forgive me a bold inquiry, but did he visit you, Lady?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°I understand. That was everything.¡± Lady¡¯s head returned to a default position. An act of straightforward meaning ¨C Goodbye. Wanderer obtained all the information that he came for. A confirmation of pointless conversation. A caring voice asked softly as he turned to abandon the place. ¡°How is Atala?¡± But he didn¡¯t respond. A machine concerned about a machine. When did it learn to feel? He could only leave. She could only sing. Forgotten verses haunted the voyager, his heart and soul dictated to run¡­ and never look back. ¡°A black butterfly¡­¡± ¡°¡­dancing high in the sky¡­¡± Intermission WARNING! APPROACHING A MINEFIELD. Scanning¡­ Almost as inconvenient as Undooru. Ostensibly, an extensive void. In truth, an innumerable mass of concealed, pitch-black orbs armed in pointy proximity sensors. Ancient hi-tech relicts of Anaari¡¯s impenetrable fortifications against invaders who tried to salvage results of their remarkable scientific research. No SI assistance available. Classified as an impassable terrain. ¡°¡­so Atala, do you remember our bet?¡± Daichi recalled a single sentence. ¡® Calculative capabilities of biological lifeforms are insufficient to extrapolate collision probabilities from a dynamic data.¡¯ ¡°¡­That¡¯s what she said.¡± ¨C The pilot sighed and tightened a grip on manual controls. ¨C Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t scratch you. Jets of azure plasma flared from pulsating rear engines, propelling a dark vehicle to face lands of oblivion. Machine nimbly maneuvered between homing obstacles, spinning and shifting back like an elusive shadow. Approximately five seconds until hostile AI-cluster adjusts its algorithms. Prognosis: Updated trajectories The fun is about to begin. ¨C ¡°Prepare Phase Shift, 13.8 seconds. Error margin ¨C adjust automatically.¡± A tail of artificial comet spiraled behind a runaway space cowboy, unsuccessfully pummeling his last location in successive flurries of accumulating nanocarbon fingers. The pilot pulled a wheel all the way back. A blue quarter-circle flashed across the sky and was immediately engulfed by a cloud of drones. Hammerhead! Two green auxiliary thrusters lightened below a right wing and rotated a spacecraft around its yaw axis by 180 degrees. An obsidian silhouette gently skimmed along the destabilized surface of a tsunamic wave in a process of gradual acceleration, then torpedoed between now towering tendrils of thrashing machinery. Approximately three seconds until hostile AI-cluster adjusts its algorithms. Prognosis: Hive-mind union. Tri-swarm herding. A massive pursue halted. Scattered orbs formed steels petals and, like a closing flower, began to gradually encompass Daichi from all sides.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. You learn from what you see, but what you see is nothing but a crafted mirage. All but one of the stars ¨C Ginkiha ¨C were concealed behind a black curtain of a shrinking sphere. It was a stable system with sixteen unexplored planets, three potentially habitable. Pilot¡¯s sight was fixed on a disappearing destination, engraving its image in mind. His eyelids closed at the same time as the barrier. Phase Shift. A short distortion in local spacetime continuum. For a minuscule fraction of second, a tunnel as narrow as an atom could transport a city. Spacecraft blinked past a wall that should¡¯ve ultimately shatter its fragile frame into pieces and headed toward a distant blue light. Approximately one second until hostile AI-cluster adjusts its algorithms. Prognosis: Phase shift. ¡°What!!!?¡± Implementing polymorphic evaluation of Gaussian Symplectic Ensembles. Initializing Hakii¡¯s Discrete Estimation Chain for Brownian-D¡¯uuran Motion. Establishing Fixed Points. Dynamic Evasion Coordinates available. WARNING: Manual control isn¡¯t advised. Switch to automatic control [Y/N?] Atala¡­ were you just teasing me back then? ¡­You could¡¯ve told me. My onboard AI won¡¯t win the race of numerical analysis. ¡°No. Prepare a direct synchronization via Cascade Deep-Dive, then display records.¡± ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ Learn the tale of chained gamblers Winning against the mechanical tyrants. The king who counteracts against only the highest odds, Forgets that we greedily aim for what seems to be the impossible. Chance becomes an illusion of past Once we find our star among the trillions We do not stray from a path of its light Learn the meaning of hope. ~~ ¡°The fall of flesh brokers¡± ~~ Prohibited technology. Man¡¯s mind had combined with a machine. Detached from all senses, stripped of all emotions and imprisoned in a singular point. Numb. An empty prison where a second was an equivalent of eternity. What was home for cybernetic entities would normally drive anyone else insane. That¡¯s where he could once reach her truest self. Where their souls could become one. A pure warmth that no longer existed. Replaced by an everlasting winter. A raw influx of data. Numbers. Equations. --- Anaarian weaponry successively materialized around a space vessel but no collision was made, not when a pilgrim had eons to foretell the future¡­ Approximately one-tenth of second until hostile AI-cluster adjusts its algorithms. ERROR: Unable to produce a prognosis. Encounter assumed to be fatal. Standing in front of a boundless wall. Streams of symbols falling down like rain. Shifting back and forth until they disappear beyond a horizon. A lone man who could no longer find his star. But it was better to reach at a stray sparkle than at nothing at all. [Warp distortion field absent] [Emergency Jump] An intentional crash during a narrow window of opportunity. Her wings were torn apart, but they were safe.