......^«††                                          ††«^......
.....^«††%                                          %††«^.....
....^«††%#                                          #%††«^....
...^«††%#¶                                          ¶#%††«^...
..^«††%#¶#                                          #¶#%††«^..
.^«††%#¶## 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.              %††«^.....
....^«††%#                                          #%††«^....
...^«††%#¶                                          ¶#%††«^...
..^«††%#¶#                                          #¶#%††«^..
.^«††%#¶##                                          ##¶#%††«^.
..^«††%#¶#                                          #¶#%††«^..