¨:~††%¤### ###¤%††~:¨
¨¨¨:~†††¤# #¤†††~:¨¨¨
¨:~††%¤¤¤# #¤¤¤%††~:¨
¨:~†%¤#### ####¤%†~:¨
¨::~††††%¤ ¤%††††~::¨
¨¨¨~~†%¤¤# 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. ¤%%%††:¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨~~†¤ ¤†~~¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨:~††%¤### ###¤%††~:¨
¨¨¨¨:††%## ##%††:¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨:::††¤ ¤††:::¨¨¨¨
¨:~††%¤### ###¤%††~:¨