.......... ..........
.......... ..........
,......... .........,
-,........ ........,-
†-,....... .......,-†
††-,...... 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. ......,-††
%††-,..... .....,-††%
§%††-,.... ....,-††%§
£§%††-,... ...,-††%§£
#£§%††-,.. ..,-††%§£#
##£§%††-,. .,-††%§£##