#@¶@*††~,. .,~††*@¶@#
@¶@†~..... .....~†@¶@
¶@†~...... ......~†@¶
#@¶@*††~,. .,~††*@¶@#
#@¶@*††~,. .,~††*@¶@#
@†††††~~,. GRAY SKIES, SWIRLING WITH SOOT. STONY .,~~†††††@
#@¶@*††~,. GROUND WITH NO HINTS OF VEGETATION. .,~††*@¶@#
@@@@*††~,. .,~††*@@@@
@†††,,.... BELOW THE SURFACE ARE THE MINES, ....,,†††@
##@@*††~,. SPIRALING DOWN INTO THE CRUST. SMALL .,~††*@@##
@@¶@*††~,. COMPARED TO THE CAVERNS THEY EVENTUALLY .,~††*@¶@@
@@††~..... REACH AND JOIN WITH. THE TEMPERATURE IS .....~††@@
¶¶@*††~~,. HIGHER DOWN HERE, AND THE VIEW IS NOT .,~~††*@¶¶
@¶¶@*††~,. AS MONOCHROME: A GREEN LIGHT BECKONS .,~††*@¶¶@
@**†~~,,.. FROM BELOW. ..,,~~†**@
@††~~..... .....~~††@
¶@†††,.... LONG AGO, THERE WAS A LIFEFORM HERE. IN ....,†††@¶
@@@†~~~~,. THE CENTER OF THE PLANETOID, SOMETHING .,~~~~†@@@
¶¶@*†,.... DORMANT, WAITING FOR A COLLISION WITH ....,†*@¶¶
#@¶@*††~,. ANOTHER BODY. BUT NO PLANET WAS .,~††*@¶@#
@¶**†††~,. REACHED, AND OVER TIME, THE SEEDLING .,~†††**¶@
#@¶@*††~,. BECAME A SLUDGE. .,~††*@¶@#
¶@*††~~... ...~~††*@¶
@*†††~.... AND ELVES CAME AS MINERS, AND THE ....~†††*@
#@¶@*††~,. SLUDGE WAS BOTTLED. .,~††*@¶@#
##@@*††~,. .,~††*@@##
@@@@*††~,. ######################################## .,~††*@@@@
@@@*†††~,. # # .,~†††*@@@
##@¶*††~,. # #@#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@#@# # .,~††*¶@##
@¶*††~~... # @ @ # ...~~††*¶@
#@¶@*††~,. @ @ @¶¶@†@††††††††††††††††††††@†@¶¶@ @ @ .,~††*@¶@#
#@¶@*††~,. ¶ @ @ @ @ ¶ .,~††*@¶@#
¶*†~...... ¶ @ @ THE CARGO SHIP IS FILLED, @ @ ¶ ......~†*¶
#@¶@*††~,. * @ ¶ PREPARED FOR LAUNCH, ¶ @ * .,~††*@¶@#
##@¶*††~,. † ¶ ¶ IGNITION SEQUENCE STARTED ¶ ¶ † .,~††*¶@##
¶¶¶@*††~,. † @ ¶ HOURS AGO. ELVES IN THE ¶ @ † .,~††*@¶¶¶
¶**††~.... † † @ PASSENGER CABIN, NOT YET @ † † ....~††**¶
#@¶@*††~,. ~ † @ SEATED. BUT SOMETHING IS @ † ~ .,~††*@¶@#
#@¶@*††~,. ~ ~ * WRONG. THERE IS SOMETHING * ~ ~ .,~††*@¶@#
##@¶@*†~,. , , † GREEN AROUND THEIR MOUTHS. † , , .,~†*@¶@##
##@@*††~,. , , † THE SLUDGE HAS BEEN SAMPLED, † , , .,~††*@@##
@¶@**††~,. , , ~ ENTERTAINED, AND THEN ~ , , .,~††**@¶@
#@¶@*††~,. , , , FINALLY BINGED ON. , , , .,~††*@¶@#
¶¶@@*††~,. . . . . . . .,~††*@@¶¶
@††,,,.... . . . THE ENGINES ARE BURNING HOT, . . . ....,,,††@
¶*††††,... AND THE SHIP ACCELERATES ...,††††*¶
#@¶@*††~,. AWAY. THE ELVES HAVE .,~††*@¶@#
@†††,,.... STRAPPED THEMSELVES IN, AND ....,,†††@
##¶@*††~,. ARE LYING COMPLETELY STILL, .,~††*@¶##
#@¶@*††~,. LIKE CORPSES. .,~††*@¶@#
@†~....... .......~†@
¶@*††,.... ....,††*@¶
@@@*††~~,. .,~~††*@@@
#@¶@*††~,. .,~††*@¶@#
@@††~,,... ...,,~††@@