Darkness looms at the perimeter of Averroes Camp. The constant rotation of the small asteroid projects a shifting panorama of celestial bodies across the cold, thin layer of gas known to patients as "HuEOS 289's sky". The byproducts of the Kemi-TEc MSG Plant precipitate in an oily, yellowish mist, quickly condensing on Aleph’s REMs frosty exteriors. Indifferent to the weather, cosmic radiation, and the inevitable future, the machines lie in wait for the signal to storm the facility. Lieutenant MMX watches the slick liquid gather and mutters, “I like it when it rains.”
***
Averroes Hospital. Dim lighting. Room 619. Erin O'Nealz’s soft silhouette contrasts against the hard, transparent walls of the tech-coffin where she lies unconscious, suspended in stasis.
