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The headless corpses arranged in their silent plea

HELP US, they spell

But no one did

Crawling on, she finally pops a grille loose

Drags it inside rather than dropping it forty feet to the floor

I a, close to her skin

As she drops down to a service ladder, her pack slips and I begin to tu her grip, clinging like death to slick iron

She has h Eyes shut and head bowed as she gasps and gasps and gasps Whispering between breaths Willing herself calm

"Get it together, princess …

A sob waits in the wings Not quite ready for its call

"Get it together"

She gathers her frayed edges and descends Blast-scorchedout of the black, she sees nine scarab shapes, ht the afflicted to Alexander, and doom to this fleet

But I see the words reflected in her eyes, just as surely as I saw alphanumeric waterfalls a moment before A question, filled with all the hope she allows herself to hold

What else did they bring?

Moers, she creeps toward the on the bloodstained floor

Seven of nine are already open Doors swinging looselike broken jaws No hope in any of theht, and she pounds on the hatch with her fist

"Hello? Hello, is anyone in there?"

The seal pops and the hatch swings open A dark and empty belly waits beyond

Madness on the walls Teethmarks on the bones

She cannot ss

The sob creeps closer to the edge of the stage

Hope pushes it back into the dark

Not yet, not yet

One shuttle re as another distant screa whatperhaps, which she will become

She pounds on the shuttle hatch

"Hello, is anyone in there?"

No answer

This is the deep breath before the plunge I know she could stay here if she wanted

Hovering on the threshold, hoping her

I wonder if she is the kind to dreaedy The kind to close her eyes and hope, rather than force them open and see the truth, wonderful or terrible as it is

I do not wonder long

She searches the debris Finds a crowbar a hts and I for colowstick quavering as she steps inside

I a to each treht play across her skin as she treads fros scattered on the floor A child’s toy A shoe A dia

"Anyone?"

No bodies

No people

"… Please?"

Nothing

She sags