descended like an endless chute, leading to
progressive or millennia-old catacombs. We will say that here is
where our heroes were timidly and uncertainly clustered, caught in
the midst of a cathedral-like needle in space that had been lowered
down and down.
They descend into the aircraft, which
obviously due to its staggering size was rather like an orbital
colony whose presence here was a mystery that was necessary from
them to unravel.
So, piled in the orbital, bathing in lights
like faded fireflies, the men were searching for any signs of
life.
Their way often collapsed, folded into tin
can walls or it was impossible to extend due to the expiry
radiation or thousand volts of electricity. They made a turn upon
arriving at training rooms that had been paved with carpet and
packed with all kinds of pulleys and benches. Everything there
stood scattered all over like the torn rags of foams. They passed
kitchens where destruction had occurred. The mess had a cold
simplicity about it. They passed through common toilets that even
now, after some time, still emitted a mint flavor thanks to the
hygroscopic-resembling, tiled surface. Eventually they ended up in
game rooms that were lined with psychotronic helmets. They were
outdated and now resembled broken shower cabinets, but they were
still capable of generating such dreams or delirious states that
the strong-willed could live as he pleased. Ultimately, they
circled back to the floor illuminated by elongated bottleneck
corridors.
From time to time, the cockroaches
scrambling in the safety glass that had become as enlarged as golf
balls frightened the men. They cast their giant shadows at you as
if sharpening one of their suckers. Sometimes capes of cobwebs,
heavy like the draperies of the savanna also challenged the
subconscious with horrors that powered all sorts of fantasies about
the ceiling being full of hairy spiders that hissed from being
baited by pokes.
Fortunately, aside from the webs, their
fortitude was entertained by a brief exchange of thoughts and
holidays. They did not indulge in such things because of fatigue
but did so to support the brittle, cracked bit of creamy chocolate
that Takeshi gave them instead of answers.
Yet they were being careful—alpha, beta, and
gamma radiation sure were a lot more dangerous and real enemy than
anything else they had come across. They moved at a sign from
Takeshi; they weren’t loitering a lot.
However, in one of those moments of
relaxation, sitting in a cage as hazy and dark as a cave formation
in space, they found something useful. Perhaps the room had once
been a communication center but no disturbance had come from the
outside or inside in a while.
What they found was the name of the
station.
A nickel-plated piece of metal with bright,
shiny skin, much like snake skin, read “Data Center.” Across its
brownish magnetic bands, clearly written in neon-yellow letters was
the name “Tiamat.”
After the men discovered the name, they
convened a council.
“It is time. From the boiled substance,
called our trip, to resurface any answers. What is this?” Akuma
asked first.
“The story you will hear is unusual because
it is made up of thousands of events merged into one,” Takeshi
said, tinkering with his tattoos that were playing with the eye by
changing imperceptibly as illusions took shape.
“After a long time, more than you can
imagine, humanity will live beyond the heavens, where in the stars
there are facilities like this one.
“I say so with certainty, because I come
from there, from a time when the last had died in battles that even
the imagination finds difficult to reproduce.
“There were only two cities. My own,
‘Marduk,’ and the other one that I saw for the first time,
‘Tiamat,’ as distant ruins that had been burned into starry space
like pieces of metal.
“We had maintained contact, as far as our
strength allowed, but we were too small.
“Then one day, after
progressive or millennia-old catacombs. We will say that here is
where our heroes were timidly and uncertainly clustered, caught in
the midst of a cathedral-like needle in space that had been lowered
down and down.
They descend into the aircraft, which
obviously due to its staggering size was rather like an orbital
colony whose presence here was a mystery that was necessary from
them to unravel.
So, piled in the orbital, bathing in lights
like faded fireflies, the men were searching for any signs of
life.
Their way often collapsed, folded into tin
can walls or it was impossible to extend due to the expiry
radiation or thousand volts of electricity. They made a turn upon
arriving at training rooms that had been paved with carpet and
packed with all kinds of pulleys and benches. Everything there
stood scattered all over like the torn rags of foams. They passed
kitchens where destruction had occurred. The mess had a cold
simplicity about it. They passed through common toilets that even
now, after some time, still emitted a mint flavor thanks to the
hygroscopic-resembling, tiled surface. Eventually they ended up in
game rooms that were lined with psychotronic helmets. They were
outdated and now resembled broken shower cabinets, but they were
still capable of generating such dreams or delirious states that
the strong-willed could live as he pleased. Ultimately, they
circled back to the floor illuminated by elongated bottleneck
corridors.
From time to time, the cockroaches
scrambling in the safety glass that had become as enlarged as golf
balls frightened the men. They cast their giant shadows at you as
if sharpening one of their suckers. Sometimes capes of cobwebs,
heavy like the draperies of the savanna also challenged the
subconscious with horrors that powered all sorts of fantasies about
the ceiling being full of hairy spiders that hissed from being
baited by pokes.
Fortunately, aside from the webs, their
fortitude was entertained by a brief exchange of thoughts and
holidays. They did not indulge in such things because of fatigue
but did so to support the brittle, cracked bit of creamy chocolate
that Takeshi gave them instead of answers.
Yet they were being careful—alpha, beta, and
gamma radiation sure were a lot more dangerous and real enemy than
anything else they had come across. They moved at a sign from
Takeshi; they weren’t loitering a lot.
However, in one of those moments of
relaxation, sitting in a cage as hazy and dark as a cave formation
in space, they found something useful. Perhaps the room had once
been a communication center but no disturbance had come from the
outside or inside in a while.
What they found was the name of the
station.
A nickel-plated piece of metal with bright,
shiny skin, much like snake skin, read “Data Center.” Across its
brownish magnetic bands, clearly written in neon-yellow letters was
the name “Tiamat.”
After the men discovered the name, they
convened a council.
“It is time. From the boiled substance,
called our trip, to resurface any answers. What is this?” Akuma
asked first.
“The story you will hear is unusual because
it is made up of thousands of events merged into one,” Takeshi
said, tinkering with his tattoos that were playing with the eye by
changing imperceptibly as illusions took shape.
“After a long time, more than you can
imagine, humanity will live beyond the heavens, where in the stars
there are facilities like this one.
“I say so with certainty, because I come
from there, from a time when the last had died in battles that even
the imagination finds difficult to reproduce.
“There were only two cities. My own,
‘Marduk,’ and the other one that I saw for the first time,
‘Tiamat,’ as distant ruins that had been burned into starry space
like pieces of metal.
“We had maintained contact, as far as our
strength allowed, but we were too small.
“Then one day, after
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