###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. GRAY SKIES, SWIRLING WITH SOOT. STONY ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. GROUND WITH NO HINTS OF VEGETATION. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. BELOW THE SURFACE ARE THE MINES, .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. SPIRALING DOWN INTO THE CRUST. SMALL ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. COMPARED TO THE CAVERNS THEY EVENTUALLY .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. REACH AND JOIN WITH. THE TEMPERATURE IS ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. HIGHER DOWN HERE, AND THE VIEW IS NOT .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. AS MONOCHROME: A GREEN LIGHT BECKONS ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. FROM BELOW. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. LONG AGO, THERE WAS A LIFEFORM HERE. IN .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. THE CENTER OF THE PLANETOID, SOMETHING ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. DORMANT, WAITING FOR A COLLISION WITH .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ANOTHER BODY. BUT NO PLANET WAS ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. REACHED, AND OVER TIME, THE SEEDLING .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. BECAME A SLUDGE. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. AND ELVES CAME AS MINERS, AND THE ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. SLUDGE WAS BOTTLED. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. ######################################## .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. # # ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. # #################################### # .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. # # # # ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. # # #@@#†#††††††††††††††††††††#†#@@# # # .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. @ # # # # @ ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. @ # # THE CARGO SHIP IS FILLED, # # @ .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. $ # @ 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. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###
##@$††»^.. ..^»††$@##
###@$††»^. .^»††$@###