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“The Day of Extinguish, open hall that led out into the screa ship

I trust you to organize and conduct yourselves in a civilized manner in this ti taken to discover the source of these problems and determine a quick and effective solution Do not panic With a little luck and ingenuity, ill all be safely back in our pods in a few days and the next tialaxy in all its wonder and infinite proht

This has been your captain, Qetsi’Olam vas Keelah Si’yah Please remain calm and return to your respective environood luck

The captain’s h and repeated on the hour, every hour, as the longest night in the history of the galaxy wore on

PART 2

KEELAH SE’LAI

12 SYNTHESIS

The Radial had been beautiful in its oay Once

By the tiht their way to the heart of the ship, it was no longer

Now the flower arrangement that had seemed so i journey into the unknown, lay smashed and shredded on the floor of the spacious blue-black hexagon, pollen and juices s environmental zones Glass walls that did little toand arguing and screae—and biotic accidents and biotic attacks sound much the same The pale lerian ferns of Kahje lay torn to pieces, their tiny pods stripped off The red usharet flowers from Rakhana had been pulped and wiped down the alcoves like blood The elcors’ thick onuffri bulbs had been ripped off their stalks and carried off, the batarian spice cones dashed against the bolts between the hexagon’s walls until they shattered Someone had tra boot prints on their petals And the quarian keleven roots had been utterly devoured, leaving only their tough, leathery cores strewn around the Radial

Hello… everyone This is your captain speaking Please remain calm and return to your respective environh acclimatization equipment for everyone, and we must conserve the supplies we have

A volus Anax did not recognize ran screa up out of the fuainst the glass, shrieking in fury: “I’ll kill you both! You did this to me! You did this! It hurts! It hurts so much It huuuuurrrrts—”

There was a sickening pop Blue liquid sprayed against the inside of his yellow eye-goggles The volus sluround

“That is not good,” Anax said

“That’s impossible,” Borbala breathed, her tone more of fascination than disbelief