@#†~¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨~†#@
@¶¶#&††~,¨ ¨,~††&#¶¶@
#@¶#&††~,¨ ¨,~††&#¶@#
#@¶#&††~,¨ ¨,~††&#¶@#
#†††~,¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨,~†††#
@¶##&††~,¨ 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. ¨,~††&##¶¶
¶&†††††~,¨ ¨,~†††††&¶
@##††††~,¨ ¨,~††††##@
@#††,¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨,††#@
¶¶&&†~~~,¨ ¨,~~~†&&¶¶
¶#†~¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨~†#¶