##@@@††~,. .,~††@@@##
#@@@††~,.. ..,~††@@@#
@@@††~,... ...,~††@@@
@@††~,.... ....,~††@@
@††~,..... .....,~††@
††~,...... 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. ..,~††@@@#
##@@@††~,. .,~††@@@##
#@@@††~,.. ..,~††@@@#
@@@††~,... ...,~††@@@
@@††~,.... ....,~††@@
@††~,..... .....,~††@