Earth Orbit. The Archon's Void-Skiff.Time: 10 Minutes Post-Concert.The black ship sailed in the calmness of the upper air. The engines were switched off so that they would not be detected, yet no-one was around to detect them.The breathing was heavy inside the cock-pit.Ethan was in the pilots seat but had his metal hand clapped tighter around the flight stick. He was breathing hard, and the Blue Plasma Core was beating a ragged and unsteady beat. The messenger of the Beacon had burnt out his inner circuitry; his eyes were swamping in snow."Status," Ethan croaked.General Kael examined the rear monitors. "We are clear. The Pale Rider is gone. The Harvester Fleet is... gone... gone....Elena peeped through the viewport. Her hand covered her mouth.Beneath these the Earth was scarred.Huge hole of total darkness sliced through the Pacific Ocean where the beam of the Rider had brushed against the planet. It was not a canyon but a gap in reality. The water did not enter it, it hesitat

Earth Orbit. The Void-Skiff.Time: 01:00 Hours Post-Salvage.integral complete said Lord Gear on the main console. The Singularity Core is fitted into the drive matrix. The production is at one hundred percent.Ethan sat in the pilot's chair. He moved his metal fingers through the controls. The vessel was vibrating with hideous vitality. Progenitor Core violet light leaked through the deck plates to cast the long shadows on the bridge.Set coordinates, Ethan said. "Zenith-Prime."Locked, co-ordinates locked, Gear answered. "Warning. The gravity of the Singularity Core will cause an interim hole in normal spacetime. The transport will be acute but short-term. Secure yourselves."Jarek buckled himself in the gunner seat and laid the Void Scythe on his lap. "Severe is my middle name. Let's punch it."Elena sat beside Ethan in the co-pilot position where she sat, holding tight to the armrests until her interlocked knuckles turned white.The Imposter was motionless in the middle of the bri

Zenith-Prime. The Surface.Time: 01:20 Hours Post-Jump.Jarek struck the cushy earth as a meteor. His Void Scythe whistled and cut a flawless black line of the poisonous atmosphere.He put the lead Antibody right along the middle. The ten-foot skeletal creature of the bone and biomechanical material collapsed, landing on the ground in two heavy and wet slabs."Too easy!" Jarek bellowed, and turned to meet the next danger."Jarek, behind you!" Elena was screaming, on the ramp of the flying Void-Skiff. She fired her sniper rifle. The explosive round hit the chest of a second golem knocking it backward.The two parts of the Antibody which Jarek had just cut were not bleeding. They writhed. The boiled dark grey tissue swelled up, and closed the cuts immediately. In a couple of seconds, the two halves were erect, two complete, full-size, five-foot-tall golems. They were smaller, yet twitchy and hyper-accelerated their movements.They pounced upon Jarek as wild dogs.They multiply, Ethan gr

Zenith-Prime. Inside the Temple of Echoes.Time: 02:00 Hours Post-Jump.Ethan crossed the decadent silver, barrier. The atmosphere of the Temple of Echoes was totally opposite to the one of the cave on the outside. It was physically weighty. It was like that of heavy, waving water. With every breath Ethan drew it shook his ribs and gave his human body a shiver and his White Bio-Steel arm made a sympathetic hum.Next came Jarek, with his metallic-heavy feet falling on the floor. The sound was not echoed in a regular manner. The violet crystal walls consumed it immediately, and swallowed it into the fractal geometry of the old building.The Imposter sailed over them, his chrome body showing the violet light. He gazed with very real awe.Perfect math there, The Imposter said, following a rune of silver that was molten into one finger of the next. "There is no friction. There is no decay. This whole system is a closed thermodynamic system. It will continue up to the end of time.Nothing,

Zenith-Prime. The Temple of Echoes.Time: 02:06 Hours Post-Jump.The rod of expiring starlight fell down to the forehead of Ethan.Time appeared to bend and creeped to a crawl. Ethan could sense the localized seriousness of the weapon the Pale Rider held. Its light was cold with the absolute zero temperature of the deep void. It was not a physical weapon that was meant to mash or slice. It was a tool of erasure. Where the starlight touched, there just was not matter.Ethan was lying on the violet crystal floor. He was shallow breathers and ragged. A pool of black blood lay darkly beneath his left sore shoulder instead of where the White Bio-Steel arm had been. The Blue Plasma Core in his chest sputtered and its disordered beat fell to a low sporadic throb. He attempted to lift his left human arm to protect his face, however his muscles did not fire. His biological nervous system was paralyzed by this necrotic damage of the intense energy feedback.He gazed at the blank mask of porcela