,,,,,,,-†# #†-,,,,,,,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,
,,,:††§### ###§††:,,,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,
,:-†§##### 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. ####§††-:,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,
,,,,--†§## ##§†--,,,,
,,,,:::†§# #§†:::,,,,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,
,:-††§#### ####§††-:,