Your eyes lull closed, and you lose consciousness.

You awake an unknown time later, lying on the metal operating table. Magos Cern stands over you, washing her implements in a basin of water. She looks at you, her cold, red eyes peering into your soul.

"Ah, you're awake. Good," she says.

"What did you put into me?" you ask.

"The biology of what I did is beyond you, flesh bag."

"Can you dumb it down for me?" you ask.

"Could one reduce concertos to the mumbled grunts of mutants?" Magos Cern asks indignantly.

"Please?"

"Fine. I increased the size of your heart by 40% and lungs  by 12%, and added several veins and arteries leading directly to the brain from the heart. These actions increase the blood flow to your brain, and should hence increase psychic abilities. I added multiple microchips that breed monocytes, other white blood cells, platelets and other helpful things for your body. That was the bulk of my work. Other than that, it was just a medical check-up."

"OK," you say.

"I have a lot of important work to do, now. You should've had enough time to recover."

Two of your massive space marine guards arrive, a roaring face on their thick helmets.

"Here you are," Magos Cern says. "Guards, make sure to walk slow. If at any point the patient starts puking blood, let him sit down for ten, maybe fifteen minutes."

"Shouldn't you keep him hearing for observation, then?" one of the guards ask.

"I have far too much work to do," Magos Cern says. "Don't disturb me. If anything goes wrong, go to Genetor Corivan. He is very experienced with medical matters."

"Yes, sir," the space marine says.

Magos Cern quickly heads off, walking off to a row of elevators. The space marines stare at you, and you climb out of bed with a groan.

"Ah, my head," you say.

"You should have headaches for the next 48 hours," Magos Cern shouts, right before she disappears into an elevator.

You stand, feeling a rush of blood hit your head. You walk after the space marines, along halls and up and down elevators, until you find yourself in the arena. Castus and Olive are there, mid-battle with each other.

"Oh look, it's tweedle-dum and tweedle-fucking idiot," Meliodas says. "Not even a laugh? Oh wait, you didn't grow up with nursery rhymes, you're from a Feral world. My bad."

Castus swings his sword at her, while Olive swings her rifle-axe up at his head. He rolls out of the way, kicking Olive's foot away and sending her to her knee, before booting her in the head. She collapses down, before rolling out of the way to avoid a downward stab by Castus. She grabs Castus' sword handle and punches him. Castus falls backwards, before taking up a fighting stance. Olive begins circling him, her gun-axe at the ready. She spots you, smiling.

"Karth's here," she says.

"Bullshit," Castus says, readying his sword.

"Karth, tell him you're here," Olive says.

"Yeah, I'm here," you say.

Castus turns to look at you, but Olive charges, swinging her gun-axe. She knocks the feet away from Castus, dropping his knee down on Castus stomach. Castus grunts before Olive grabs her gun-axe and holds it to Castus throat.

"Dead," she says.

"No fair, we were supposed to stop when Karth got here," Castus says.

"You're still dead," Olive smiles, standing up.

Castus grabs Olive's wrist, pulling her forward so his sword pokes into her stomach.

"Dead," he smiles.

"Seriously?" Olive says, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'm dead. Are we finished yet? The kid needs training."

"Fine," Castus shrugs. "Let's start it."

Castus draws a dagger from his belt, staring at it. The blade is a bright silver, with an odd pattern etched into it. It's handle is a bright, light blue, with a short, silver horn coming from the end of the handle.

"Now, this is an absolute beauty. I really don't use it enough, so it's yours. Xenos-origin, so even owning it is heresy. The blade is razor sharp, it could cut through flesh and bone easier than it could through air. Here."

Castus turns, tossing the dagger straight at your head.
> You levitate the knife towards you
You raise your hand, pausing the blade in mid-air and levitating it towards you, catching it's handle.

"Impressive party trick, kid," Castus says.

You take a practice stab with the knife.

"What do you think?"

"It's a knife," you say simply.

"Yeah, it is. Do you like it? Does it feel good?" Castus says.

"I don't know anything about knives. Maybe," you say.

"Alright, first, we need to talk. Is anyone watching us? Like, are there cameras?"

"No. Well yes, but they're offline," Olive says, resting her head on the butt of her axe-gun. "What is it?"

"A plan is being formed. We're going to escape."

"Escape?" Olive says, musing. "Who's on our side?"

"We have a large amount of people on our side. Elios, Elizabeth and Durge are bringing the weight of their war-bands, as well as most, if not all, of the Guardsmen here. Then there's the Goliaths and the Tribals, both of whom are with us."

"What...?"

"Because I've done this twice before, I best say. We have no plans yet. They're to be decided. We have literally nothing. We just need to check whether you'll join us. Then, we'll get the leaders together to plan our to take over, and what to do with once we've actually done so."

"Huh. Well, I'm in," Castus says.

"What?" Olive asks, surprised.

"Yeah, I'm in," Castus says.

"We don't know the plan, we don't have any assurances that we won't be back-stabbed as soon as we take over, we..."

"Olive, let's be smart here. If we don't rebel, we'll definitely either be killed fighting Kyros' war, killed trying to put down these fuckers' mutiny, or killed fighting another arena battle for these bastard's amusement."

"If we rebel, we'll almost certainly be killed!"

"Almost certainly is way better than definitely. Plus, we'll get to kill a few of Kyros' bastards before we go down."

"Fine, I'm in, but I... we have a few demands," Olive says.

"Go on," you say.

You know the gladiators will be essential to your plans, so you really need to get them, but still, you don't want to devote to many resources to this issue.

"I want instant freedom once we take-over. No more being locked up under the arena. I want my men to have free reign to travel around the ship. I want pay, do the men and women who fight and work for the ship actually get something from it. I want an increase in food rations, and better equipment than the shit we're given. I want actual medical care, on top of this."

"That it?" you ask, annoyed with her large demands.

It'll probably take a serious amount of resources to fulfill her request. You have a few options here.

"What a fucking greedy bitch. This fucker needs a dick, I tell you that," Meliodas complains.


You successfully hide amongst the refugees, and are transported to a nearby evacuation facility. You're given a cheap meal of Grox Jerky and soup, before being put into a massive fenced off area. Unfortunately, soon you learn that you overestimated how easy this would be.

"Ah, an inquisitor has arrived. We're going to die here." Meliodas says, as you hear his voice for the first time in a while.

You spot an Inquisitor, a heavily armored agent of the Imperium built for rooting out Chaos and Heresy. He stands, tall and heavily armored, a longsword glowing faintly blue clutched in one hand and a bolt pistol in the other. At his side is a grizzled soldier in Carapace armor holding a Flamer and snarling her scarred face as passer-bys, a man in browns robes holding a huge chainsword and a heavily cybernetically-upgraded Tech Priest. You wait patiently, attempting to hide every ounce of your power.

"It's not going to work," Meliodas says. "He's going to find us. You're going to die here. You can get revenge, though. Let me take you. Let me take hold of your body, and open a pathway through the Warp. I can summon endless hordes of daemons to this world, wipe out that inquisitor, gain your vengeance, and allow me power. We have a chance now."

He strolls along, stopping next to you. He looks down, raising an eyebrow.

"Are we experiencing more Warp Storms, Engsineer Low?" he asks.

"No, sir," the tech-priest says in a monotone voice.

The inquisitor rapidly raises a bolt pistol, aiming at you head as he swings the longsword.

"It's Karst! TAKE HIM DOWN!" he screams.

"Now, now! We can crush them! You're already dead. They can be too!" Meliodas howls in your mind.
> You try to fight
You leap up, but the Inquisitor is trained for this. He knocks you back with a pychic blast, and the sword bites into your neck, draining your lifeforce and killing you instantly. You hope to find a peace in death you could never find in sleep.


"No."

"No?" Elios says, taken aback.

"I'm not joining you. He knows what you're planning. I'm not joining your death trap."

"So be it," he says, a sneer forming on his face.

Elios steps forward, knocking on the metal door. The guards open, immediately raising their bolters. Elios waves his hand.

"You didn't see me here. The voice of Slaanesh calls you, and you're his now. Move aside, and tell no one I was her," Elios says, strolling forward, leaving without looking at you.

In the next few weeks, you're quickly proven right. Elios is first. When he's found, he's had his limps slowly sanded off, before being thrown in a pit with mutants who tore him apart. A "mysterious" assassin attempts to kill Elizabeth, but Durge fends her off, only for a "malfunction" to destroy him the next day, incinerating him in a single blast. Elizabeth is killed by one of the ship's macro-cannons, taking out the shuttle they were going on, because of a sensor malfunction identifying it as hostile.

With his threats to power gone, the assault on the Imperium is on. The first few worlds fall with ease, as they're unprepared for the level of firepower that Kyros is bringing to the table. Still, issues arise. You're reinforced by those recruited from the conquered realms as well as throngs of war-bands coming to join your invasion. Still, Kyros gets greedy. He attempts to take on a Forge World, a world literally covered with layers of factories, run by the cyborg-engineers that are part of the machine-worshipping cult known as the Mechnicus. Kyros' grand plans to have a Forge World producing endless war machines are ruined when the planet's orbital defenses take out much of your fleet, and in the ensuing battle the factories are leveled. When Kyros finally takes the planet, it's nothing but a smoking rock.

Everything falls apart after that. In a desperate attempt to capture geneseed stores to allow him to take over the home world of a Space Marine chapter known as the Horned Kings. The chapter is wiped out, but again Kyros gains nothing as the last act of the Chapter Master is to detonate their geneseed stores.

At this point, Kyros' forces are a pale shadow of their previous selves. Cain and most of the Goliaths were taken out as their landing pods were wiped out in an attempt to take the Forge World, and the gladiators are wiped out by a suicidal charge by the Iron Kings. They're not the only ones gone. Fay is killed, along with many of the tribals, in the Genesee stores' destruction. It's only at that point that you truly stop caring. Your tribe is gone, only a few faces so grief-stricken you can barely recognize them remaining. You don't care if you reach Terra. You don't care if you live. You don't care if you die. You just don't care, about anything.

You find yourself on some war-stricken world, killing. Scores of refugees are wiped out as your hand waves and warpfire spurts from the earth. Once, you would've have wanted to hurt innocents. You wouldn't have done it. Now, you feel nothing as you smell their cooked flesh. A Space Marine charges towards you, but you stare at him. The Space Marine screams as you force him to tear his own arms off, tossing them aside and having tentacles rapidly grow out of his arm sockets, before his mind is corrupted and he charges, roaring towards his allies as he begins to tear them apart. You  watch as a Dreadnought's legs buckle under your telekinesis, sending it toppling and tumbling down before it explodes. You levitate a Guardsman into the air as he howls in terror, be...

The earth shutters as artillery booms, sending you into the air. Artillery tears through the earth, and you slam into an APC. You hastily stand, to see dozens of refugees piling out of the crippled APC. You see to your surprise Tribals shooting at you and the other refugees, bullets thudding into the metal next to you, before they're killed by bolter fire. You look at your reflection in the half-broken window of a destroyed building, and realize why they were firing. With your now torn clothes and dirt-covered face, you are now indistinguishable from the refugees you've been killing.

You hear a dozen monstrous roars from your allies off towards your right, signifying a charge, before it's answered by the shouts of the Imperial Guard and Space Marine preparing a counter-charge. You could try to escape this. Hide amongst the refugees. Find a way out of this life. But what would be the point? You hear the charge nearing. Damn Kyros, putting you in this situation. Maybe you should be the one to finish his mad invasion? Or maybe you should return to what you know, and fight?
> You just walk into the battlefield and let it end
You stroll forward into the battlefield, watching as dozens of brightly colored and heavily armored Space Marines near you. They raise their weapons and fire, as others attempt to get to your with chainswords. You offer no resistance. You don't attempt to dodge the fire, or to block it, or even move. You feel the shells burst through, your organs being decimated. As you collapse back in a pool of blood, you hope death will give you the peace you could never get from sleep.


"Alright," Cain sleeps. "What else?"

"Nothing else is required," Magos Cern says. "Return to your pod."

Cain nods, before walking back into his pod. The cyro-pod shuts, leaving Cain back to his cold, endless sleep.

"We should continue," Magos Cern says. "I still have to show you the gladiator slaves who you'll take under you command and the Uwais Tribe. The Goliaths will act as your heavy shock troopers, the gladiator-slaves will act as scouts, skirmishers and fill in whatever spare roles you have, and the Uwais tribe will be your main unit. I'll take you to see them."

You begin following Magos Cern out of the cyro-sleep area, and along the hallways. After ten minutes, you reach a large metal door, which opens to reveal a large room filled with bunk beds, with familiar bronze bodies lying in the beds.

"This is Dorm A. We have around sixty soldiers here," Magos Cern says.

Fay walks into the room, and lets ou a shout.

"Gentlemen! Your captain's back!"

The tribals roll out of bed. You recognize a few of them, but strangely you recognize many as men from other various tribes."

"Fay, you're back!" one says.

"How did the fight go? It took far longer than expected," another adds.

"Oh, shit! Is that Karth?" another asks.

The attention immediately goes from Fay to you, as tribals begin appearing. They all appear far more muscular, many bearing fresh scars.

"Karth! How are you even still alive?" someone asks incredulously.

"It's the Uwais shaman!" another asks.

"Karth, how are you? What have they been doing to you?"

You watch as the tribals begin to surround the three of you, although Magos Cern makes sure they keep as least half a dozen feat away from her.

"Stay back. Karth is only here to see you, not talk to you," Magos Cern says, drawing a datapad and letting out an electro-shock that causes the group to let out a pained yelp before they back away.

"Why are there so many men and women from other tribes? I thought it was the Uwais tribe who was kidnapped."

"When we arrived on your planet, we needed to do a lot of work. We drained lakes for water, drilled into the planet's crust to get vast quantities of Promethium, wiped out native species for food. It takes a lot of effort to run a vessel this large, and to do it quickly and efficiently. While we did so, our soldiers went to work. They needed to fight, both to train and to simply shed blood for their own enjoyment. Prisoners were taken in vast quantities, and I used them as I used the Uwais tribe. Now, there's far more from other tribes than there are from Uwais tribe."

"Hmmm... your home world is destroyed. Ambition is the only path forward now, Karth, there is no going back. We will conquer the stars together." Meliodas says.

"I suppose calling them the Uwais tribe is a bit of a failing, then. Tribals would be more suitable."

"As you wish. You are their superior. You can do as you wish with them."

"The average tribal will be be outfitted with combat armor as well as some equipment, such as grenades, gas masks, communications devices, that kind of thing. The stronger ones will get Bolters, the strongest will be equipped with melee weapons; chainswords, chainaxes, power swords, as well as bolt pistols. The weaker ones will be given specialized roles and equipped for as such: meltaguns and missile launchers for anti-armor, snipers with sniper rifles and stealth roles with chameoline cloaks and silenced weapons. We should have a fairly well equipped army that will be able to hold their own when fighting alongside the Guardsmen and Traitor Marines we have under our command."

"We're not fighting for you fucks!" someone shouts.

"Yeah! Fuck you, you kidnapping bastards!"

"Ah, this is an issue," Magos Cern says. "Unfortunately, due to my... failures in work on the brain, Kyros has forbid me to tinker on their minds to ensure loyalty. Fay has only so far failed to do, so it'll be your job now. I need all rebelliousness to be crushed."

"How?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Get it done. I don't care how. I need to go check on the oxygen decks to the macro guns on the starboard side doesn't asphyxiate," Magos says, turning around and walking off.

"Well, that's a bitch," you complain, turning to Fay. "I guess we need to get rid of rebelliousness before Kyros gets pissy and blows our heads clean off."

"Or..." Fay says slyly. "We could just hide the rebelliousness. It would be better if we kept it under wraps until we have a chance to get out of here."

"Oh, choices, choices, choices. Terrify, threaten, talk or trust. Which shall it be, Karth?" Meliodas says.

You walk forward, into the center of the dorm. You have several options here. You could attempt to use some of your psychic powers to show these tribals the true power of the Warp. That would definitely ensure their loyalty, if only out of fear. You could threaten them to ensure their loyalty, once again while out of fear, and you wouldn't have to alienate yourself by making yourself seem like a terrifying psychic being. You could attempt to convince the tribals that loyalty to this place is the only rational choice. You could also take Fay's path, and assure them that they'll have the chance to get revenge, but that for now they should hide all rebelliousness until it's time to strike.
> You convince the tribals that loyalty is the best option
You walk slowly forward, growling.

"Magos Cern has told me about some rebellious behavior. It needs to end. We are a tiny fraction of the population of our ship. Even if we could somehow get all of our weapons, get everyone together and ready to fight, and we'd fail to get free. What could we do? We're lightyears away from home by now. Even if, by some miracle, we could take this ship, we have no idea how to pilot it, and even then the chances of getting that far is astronomical. If we stay loyal, we'll survive. We'll prosper. Eventually, we'll be rewarded. We'll survive, we'll carve a little place in this hellish galaxy for us. Understood?"

The tribals seem a mixture of disappointed and inspired. You know the see the logic in what you're saying. They won't rebel. They'll follow orders now.

"Tell the other tribals. I don't want anyone doing anything stupid. We need to do what's best," you say to the tribals, before turning to Fay. "We should go."

You walk out of the room, quickly followed by Fay, who walks alongside after you.N

"That was a bit depressing," she admits.

"How so?" you ask.

"You're not seriously happy with a life of service to a guy who kidnapped us? These guys killed Duggin!" she asks.

"We need to be pragmatic. If there was an option for escape, I'd take it. But I'm not dying when there's no real chance of escape."

"Umm... I guess," Fay says, clearly unsure what to do.

You walk outside, where Kyros awaits, smiing.

"Are they convinced?"

You nod eagerly, and he smiles.

"Terrific. Now, we need to visit the last of your soldiers, the gladiator-slaves. They're always an interesting crew. Shall we go?"

You look at Fay, who nods.

"Yes, let's," you reply.


You are sitting in the pilot's chair of the starship Andromeda, on the edge of the Protherus star system, getting ready to make a Light Space Jump to your freighter's next destination. You hear a sound, like someone gasping in surprise, and look up from your console. Your co-pilot, Karl, is looking intently at his console, and doesn't seem to have heard anything unusual. You must have imagined the sound, for you and Karl are the only two people aboard this starship.

"Jump calculations are complete," Karl says to you, sitting in the co-pilots seat beside yours.

Before you, the transparent plasglass windows of the cockpit provide a view of the stars. Space stretches on infinitely before you. Directly in the middle of your foreward view, a star shines brighter than the others - it is your destination, the closest star to the star system you are currently in.

"Preparing to Jump to Light Space," you say, mentally going through your pre-jump checklist, as you press buttons and flick switches to the correct settings. You feel the ship beginning to vibrate as the interstellar propulsion system powers up, ready to activate.

"Activating LSJD," you say, pressing the final button. There is the usual flash of white light, and...
> You not Quite Right
You are sitting in your pilot's chair, in the cockpit of the Andromeda, and something is not quite right. Outside the windows, the darkness of space is gone, there is only light. You raise your arm to cover your eyes, but as you do, the light pales. Instead of searing your eyes like a thousand suns, the endless expanse of white outside the windows gives off a soft light, like looking at a white plaster wall that someone is shining a torch on.

As your eyes adjust to this strange phenomena, you hear a gasping, gurgling sound from behind you. Glancing to one side, you see the strangest thing. The right hand half of the cockpit is stretched out before and behind you. Your co-pilot, his chair and console, are now lines and blobs of horizontal colour, stretching through the room in streaks, like a motion-blurred, time-lapse photograph!

Your head goes dizzy as your eyes and brain try to make sense of what it is you are seeing, then suddenly the strange warping of space stops, and the entire cockpit looks normal and whole once more. However, your co-pilot, his body restored to its correct physical form, sags forward in his chair, held up by his chest-crossing seatbelt buckle. Blood trickles from the corners of his mouth as his head drops forward, staring sightlessly down at his console.

Outside the ship, the pale light - the endless expanse of whiteness instead of the blackness of space - tells you that something is horribly wrong here.
> You examine Karl's body.
You move from your console, over to beside your co-pilot. You lift up his head so you can look in his eyes. His head, fully illuminated by the pale light shining in through the windows, stares back at you, seeing nothing. You release him, letting his head drop back down again.

Looking at his jumpsuit, you examine the body-monitoring device built into the suit. The device is supposed to monitor life signs, as well as the surrounding environment, and it tells you that his heart has stopped. Karl is clearly dead.
> You bring up a ship damage report on your console, and try to find out what is wrong with the ship.
Sitting in your chair, you bring up the ship status display, and look for signs of damage. For a moment you just look at the screen, unable to believe what it is saying. According to the screen, nothing exists behind the ship's cockpit. The rest of the ship is simply gone... vanished... non-existant!

'How can that be?' you think to yourself. After all, the power generators at the rear of the ship must exist, because all the computer systems and life support within the cockpit is functioning just as it always does. The rest of the ship MUST exist!

Frustrated, you turn off the status display.
> You check the ship's sensors, and see what it can detect.
You look at the ship's sensor screen. It shows your ship in the middle of the screen, but shows no signs of planets or stars in the vicinity. In fact, it shows nothing at all, in any direction. You look out the window again, at the vast expanse of whiteness that seems to stretch out endlessly in every direction. There's nothing out there but pale, white light.

What is this place? Is this Light Space, the other dimension, that ships pass through when they jump? Did your ship somehow become stuck in this dimension, half-way through the jump procedure? If so, how are you supposed to get out?
> You open the cockpit door, and look into the central passageway.
Feeling a little uncertain as to what you might find, you nervously walk to the rear of the cockpit, and press the door release button. The rear door slides open and...

The central passageway that runs from the cockpit, through the ship, to the cargo bay at the rear, looks exactly as it always does. Lights in the ceiling illuminate the steel passage. Metal grating panels on the floor allow access to various wires and cables that run through the ship, beneath your feet. Door hatches are set into the passage walls at different points along its length, leading to various rooms aboard the ship. Far at the other end, you see a large hatch, that opens into the cargo bay at the other end of the starship.

Everything looks completely - suddenly there is a shearing of light and form, as a section of wall about half way down the passage blurs outwards into the passage, in an array of colourful streaking lines - then suddenly flattens out again to look like a normal section of wall once more. Perhaps things aren't as completely normal as they seem...

You say a short prayer that the motion blurring phenomena won't happen anywhere near you.
> You start walking down the passageway.
You step out of the cockpit and into the passageway. As you move through the doorway, you feel a strange sensation, like stepping through a thin wall of water.
> You turn around.
Having felt like you stepped through an invisible wall, you turn around to look at the doorway you just came through. The doorway looks as empty as before, the air is clear and invisible as always. However, looking back through the doorway into the cockpit, you can't help but gasp.

Outside the cockpit windows, you see space! Black space! Dotted with stars! You're back in normal space again! In fact... it would seem the ship is exactly where it was before it tried to jump - as you can see the single bright star in the middle of the window, the star you were going to jump to. Then you gasp again, blinking your eyes to be sure you can believe what you are seeing - for there are two people in the cockpit!

On the right sits Karl, your co-pilot, running jump calculations through the computer, and on the left is... it's you! You are in there, sitting in the pilot's chair, preparing the ship for jump! How is that possible?
> You rush back into the cockpit!
As you rush through the doorway, out of the passageway, and back into the cockpit, you feel the strange sensation again, the slight pressure against your body, as if you are passing through a thin wall of water. As your face passes through, the scene before your eyes changes!

Karl's body lies dead in his chair, as you had left him, and your chair is empty again. Outside the windows is the shining expanse of pale, white light. What the heck is happening on your ship? It's almost as if... Yes, it's as if the cockpit and the passageway existed in two different places... Or rather, two different times!

The passage outside the cockpit was somehow before the jump took place, and here in the cockpit is somehow at the current time frame... Actually, you would only be guessing that you were in the current time frame - how would you even know what was the past. For all you know, the cockpit could be somewhere in the distant future, or - or who knows what?
> You start walking down the passageway, again.
You step out of the cockpit and into the passageway. As you move through the doorway, you feel a strange sensation, like stepping through a thin wall of water....
> You turn around, again.
Having felt like you stepped through an invisible wall, you turn around to look at the doorway you just came through. This time, you are prepared for what you see - outside the cockpit windows, you see space again, and both Karl and yourself are sitting in the cockpit chairs. You feel certain that if you tried to step into that cockpit, you would end up back in your version of the cockpit, surrounded by white space.
> You continue down the passageway
You decide to continue down the passageway. A few metres along, you reach door hatches on both sides of the passage. One is your sleeping quarters, the other is Karl's. An image of his dead face, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, flashes before your eyes. You take a deep breath, and calm yourself. You know you will need to keep a level head if you are going to get out of this alive.
> You open the door to your sleeping quarters.
You press the door release button on the wall, and the door to your sleeping quarters slides open. Through the doorway, things look normal. Your bunk is up against one wall, the covers thrown aside - why make a bed if you're the only one who's going to look at it, or use it? Against another wall is a desk unit, with a few personal odds and ends inside and on top of it. A closet containing your clothing is up against a third wall.

The lights are on, and you don't see any strange blurring, bending or stretching of the universe.
> You go inside your sleeping quarters.
You step through the doorway, and instantly feel that sensation again - the feeling of walking through an invisible wall, like passing through a sheet of water. Your sleeping quarters are now quite different to how they had looked an instant ago...

Firstly, the bed is made. You can't remember ever having made your bed. Secondly, and more disturbingly to you, the sheets are bright pink with little white bunny rabbits on them!

You suddenly hear footsteps behind you, and spin around to see a woman wearing a pilot's uniform, standing in the passageway, outside the room. She looks up from a clipboard she was reading, and her jaw drops as she sees you looking back at her. You can see the cogs turning inside her mind, as she tries to find words to say, and her first instinct is to shout, "Get the hell out of my sleeping quarters!"
> You quickly step back out into the passageway!
Blushing furiously, and stunned at whatever is happening - for only yourself and Karl were supposed to be aboard the starship - you step out into the passageway.

As you do, you feel yourself passing through an invisible wall again, and an odd thing happens - as your eyes pass through the wall, she vanishes from in front of you. As you stand in the passageway, looking about, she is nowhere to be seen. Looking back into the sleeping quarters, you see your sleeping quarters, with your personal belongings, and your unmade bed!

The woman in uniform is nowhere to be seen! How very, very strange.
> You slowly step back into your quarters.
Taking a deep breath, you step back through the doorway. As you pass the invisible wall again, you see the room, once more, clean and tidy, with pink bedsheets. Now though, the woman is inside the room with you. She is in the middle of the room, with her back to you. The clipboard lies where she dropped it on the floor, and she has drawn a pistol. She looks left and right, examining her sleeping quarters, holding the gun carefully, ready to fire.
> You say "Please, don't shoot! I'm unarmed!"
"Please, don't shoot! I'm unarmed!" you say, as she swivels quickly to face you, pointing her gun in your face.

"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" she demands.
> You say "Your ship? This is my ship, lady! These are my sleeping quarters!"
"What are you talking about? I've run this ship for six years, now!" she says incredulously, waving the gun about in front of you.

"The Andromeda has been under my command for twelve years," you growl back at her, "It was my father's ship before me, and I don't recall either him, or myself, selling it to anyone else!"

"The Andromeda wasn't your father's ship - it was my father's ship!" she shouts back at you, waving her gun some more. "And it was my grandfather's ship before him, and my great-grandfather's before him!"

Something crazy is going on, and your brain is hurting just trying to work it out. A suspicion is creeping into your mind. "My name is Michael Dobson," you tell her, hoping an introduction, and an attempt at being diplomatic, might stop her waving the gun in your face. If it accidentally went off...

Her jaw drops, "No, it can't be..." She shakes her head in disbelief, "No, that was just a crazy tale, just mad talk - none of it could be true!"

"None of what could be true?" you ask, not sure you like the sudden change in her.

"My... My grandfather's name was Michael... My name is... I'm Susan Dobson," she says, looking you up and down, and inspecting you properly for the first time. She lowers the gun, then drops it forgotten to the floor.

"You're saying you're my granddaughter? That's crazy! That's..." you realise that maybe it is not so crazy after all. Something has happened to your starship. What if something had happened half-way through the jump, and your ship was indeed stranded in the extra-dimension of Light Space. Who knows how your ship, or even you, might be affected. Could this location on your starship actually take you to another moment in time - somewhere into the future?

"Tell me, why would you think you were my granddaughter?" you ask, softly.

Her eyes glaze over, as she loses herself to memories, "My grandfather used to tell wild tales. No one really believed him, and by the time I was born, he wouldn't talk about it. My mother, though, she said that my grandfather was in a starship accident once. He used to say that he met people from the past and the future. Everyone thought he was crazy, but other than that, he was perfectly normal. People said that the starship accident did something to him, and that's why he would make those wild claims. People said he was just dreaming, or drunk. Once though, before he died, he asked me a strange question... 'Remember when we were aboard the Andromeda together?' he asked me. I guess if he was you, then this, here and now, is what he was talking about. He said he would never have made it back if it wasn't for me..."

"So, I obviously get out of here alive then," you say as much to yourself as to her. "Karl and I made a starship jump, but we didn't appear at our destination - I think I'm still trapped inside of Light Space somehow. Strange things are happening as I move about my ship. When I step through that doorway, I'm back aboard my version of the ship, and this is my sleeping quarters, but when I step back in here, it's your sleeping quarters - somewhere in the future..."

Suddenly the ship shudders, and you both grab hold of furniture so you don't fall over.

"What was that?" you both ask at the same time. Suddenly a warning klaxon blares through the ship.

"I've got to get to the bridge!" she shouts, forgetting about you and the whole 'mixed-up time' issue. She rushes out the door and down the passage. Instinctively you rush out the door to follow her, and suddenly pass through that invisible wall again. She vanishes from sight as you step into the passageway - and back into your own time.
> You quickly go back into the sleeping quarters.
You quickly step back into your  - that is, her - sleeping quarters. You can barely make out voices in the distance, probably your granddaughter and her co-pilot talking in the cockpit. You wonder what is going on. Then you hear the ship's computer's voice saying "Intruder Alert! Closing All Doors!"

A light flashes above the door, and you realise that the ship's computer, in her future time era, is about to close and lock all the doors on her ship!
> You stay inside your sleeping quarters.
You decide to stay put. The door slams shut, and clicks as the locking mechanism moves into place. You are now locked inside your granddaughter's sleeping quarters, at some point in the future... It feels weird, mostly because according to her, you died years ago. However, she said you made it out of the starship accident alive.

However... You know many people have tried to understand and hypothesise over how time travel works, and wether there is but one timeline, or many branching off, depending on people's actions. You wonder if it is certain that you will survive, or if perhaps you will die, and your granddaughter will never have existed. Just trying to work out how time works begins to give you a headache, so you decide to focus on the present.

The computer said there were intruders aboard. That must have been what the shuddering of the ship had been - a pirate's starship docking with the Andromeda. If pirates had come aboard, they would try to kill everyone, so they could steal the ship and its cargo.

As you realise that, you also realise that you are now locked inside a room, with no way out unless someone breaks in from the outside, or your granddaughter has the computer unlock and open the doors. Then you notice a gun on the floor - the pistol your granddaughter lost!

You can use it to protect yourself, however, you realise she must now be unarmed, and unable to defend herself against the pirates! If you hadn't appeared out of nowhere and surprised her, she would still have her gun! You curse yourself and the predicament you are in.

(Click on the gun to pick it up.)


You quickly step back into your  - that is, her - sleeping quarters. You can barely make out voices in the distance, probably your granddaughter and her co-pilot talking in the cockpit. You wonder what is going on. Then you hear the ship's computer's voice saying "Intruder Alert! Closing All Doors!"

A light flashes above the door, and you realise that the ship's computer, in her future time era, is about to close and lock all the doors on her ship!
> You head back into the passageway.
You head back out into the passageway. Suddenly, that strange blurring phenomena takes place just in front of the cockpit door! The walls of the passageway around the doorway stretch out in lines of colour, twisting and blurring. Then the strange effect seems to move toward you, down the passage! In a few seconds, it will reach where you stand, beside the doors to your quarters, and Karl's quarters! You had best act fast!
> You dive back into your quarters!
You quickly dive through the doorway into your quarters, emerging through the 'time wall' into the future. You are once more inside your granddaughter's quarters. The intruder alarm is still ringing on her ship, and you hear another explosion as the pirates try to blast their way through the ship's interior hatches.

You are starting to freak out - if you step through the door, you will be back in your own time - but will the spatial warping, the blurring of matter that killed Karl, be waiting for you on the other side of the door? Yet, if you remain where you are, it will only be a matter of time before the pirates find this room. On top of that, what of your granddaughter? Is there some way you can help her? You remember her words - supposedly it is she who saves you, from being stranded in Light Space back in your own time... What can you do?

Then you notice a gun on the floor - your granddaughter had dropped her gun! You quickly pick it up. (Click on it to pick it up)


You head back out into the passageway. Suddenly, that strange blurring phenomena takes place just in front of the cockpit door! The walls of the passageway around the doorway stretch out in lines of colour, twisting and blurring. Then the strange effect seems to move toward you, down the passage! In a few seconds, it will reach where you stand, beside the doors to your quarters, and Karl's quarters! You had best act fast!
> You quickly open the door to Karl's quarters!
You slam the button by Karl's quarters' door with your fist, and the door slides open. On the other side of the doorway, there is no floor, no walls - no room! Just an endless expanse of pale white light... The twisting, stretching, blurring phenomena is almost upon you!


"What are you talking about? I've run this ship for six years, now!" she says incredulously, waving the gun about in front of you.

"The Andromeda has been under my command for twelve years," you growl back at her, "It was my father's ship before me, and I don't recall either him, or myself, selling it to anyone else!"

"The Andromeda wasn't your father's ship - it was my father's ship!" she shouts back at you, waving her gun some more. "And it was my grandfather's ship before him, and my great-grandfather's before him!"

Something crazy is going on, and your brain is hurting just trying to work it out. A suspicion is creeping into your mind. "My name is Michael Dobson," you tell her, hoping an introduction, and an attempt at being diplomatic, might stop her waving the gun in your face. If it accidentally went off...

Her jaw drops, "No, it can't be..." She shakes her head in disbelief, "No, that was just a crazy tale, just mad talk - none of it could be true!"

"None of what could be true?" you ask, not sure you like the sudden change in her.

"My... My grandfather's name was Michael... My name is... I'm Susan Dobson," she says, looking you up and down, and inspecting you properly for the first time. She lowers the gun, then drops it forgotten to the floor.

"You're saying you're my granddaughter? That's crazy! That's..." you realise that maybe it is not so crazy after all. Something has happened to your starship. What if something had happened half-way through the jump, and your ship was indeed stranded in the extra-dimension of Light Space. Who knows how your ship, or even you, might be affected. Could this location on your starship actually take you to another moment in time - somewhere into the future?

"Tell me, why would you think you were my granddaughter?" you ask, softly.

Her eyes glaze over, as she loses herself to memories, "My grandfather used to tell wild tales. No one really believed him, and by the time I was born, he wouldn't talk about it. My mother, though, she said that my grandfather was in a starship accident once. He used to say that he met people from the past and the future. Everyone thought he was crazy, but other than that, he was perfectly normal. People said that the starship accident did something to him, and that's why he would make those wild claims. People said he was just dreaming, or drunk. Once though, before he died, he asked me a strange question... 'Remember when we were aboard the Andromeda together?' he asked me. I guess if he was you, then this, here and now, is what he was talking about. He said he would never have made it back if it wasn't for me..."

"So, I obviously get out of here alive then," you say as much to yourself as to her. "Karl and I made a starship jump, but we didn't appear at our destination - I think I'm still trapped inside of Light Space somehow. Strange things are happening as I move about my ship. When I step through that doorway, I'm back aboard my version of the ship, and this is my sleeping quarters, but when I step back in here, it's your sleeping quarters - somewhere in the future..."

Suddenly the ship shudders, and you both grab hold of furniture so you don't fall over.

"What was that?" you both ask at the same time. Suddenly a warning klaxon blares through the ship.

"I've got to get to the bridge!" she shouts, forgetting about you and the whole 'mixed-up time' issue. She rushes out the door and down the passage. Instinctively you rush out the door to follow her, and suddenly pass through that invisible wall again. She vanishes from sight as you step into the passageway - and back into your own time.
> You open the door to Karl's sleeping quarters
You press the button set into the passage wall, and the door to Karl's sleeping quarters swooshes open. However, you just stand there stunned, looking through the doorway. Even with everything else going on, you did not expect to find this. Or rather, you expected to find at least something.

On the other side of the doorway is nothing - just whiteness. No floor, no walls, no room - just the endless expanse of pale white light that surrounds your starship.
> You close Karl's door.
You quickly press the button again, and watch the door slide shut. The last thing you'd need is to trip and fall outside the ship into that endless nothingness!


You press the button set into the passage wall, and the door to Karl's sleeping quarters swooshes open. However, you just stand there stunned, looking through the doorway. Even with everything else going on, you did not expect to find this. Or rather, you expected to find at least something.

On the other side of the doorway is nothing - just whiteness. No floor, no walls, no room - just the endless expanse of pale white light that surrounds your starship.
> You hope there is something else on the other side of the doorway, and step through...
You stick your foot through the doorway, and it vanishes from sight. You feel it passing through an invisible wall, like sticking your foot through a flowing sheet of water. However, when you pull your foot back to this side of the doorway, you can see it again, and it feels fine. You take a deep breath, and plunge through the doorway...

You stumble to a halt as you pass through. As your face passes the invisible wall in the doorway, the endless white expanse of nothingness vanishes from sight, to be replaced with Karl's sleeping quarters! You look around the room. There's a bunk against one wall, a closet with Karl's clothing against another wall, and a small desk unit with some of his various odds and ends.

Turning to look out the door, you can see the passageway fine. Opposite Karl's open doorway, you can see the door hatch to your own sleeping quarters, and it is closed shut.
> You head back out into the passageway.
Well, you know that this location does exist aboard your starship, and is not, after all, an endless expanse of whiteness. You decide to head back out into the passageway. Stepping through the doorway, you feel yourself passing through an invisible wall again, and then look behind you. Where Karl's room had been was again a vast expanse of endless pale light. Very strange...

You press the button in the wall, and close his door.


You stick your foot through the doorway, and it vanishes from sight. You feel it passing through an invisible wall, like sticking your foot through a flowing sheet of water. However, when you pull your foot back to this side of the doorway, you can see it again, and it feels fine. You take a deep breath, and plunge through the doorway...

You stumble to a halt as you pass through. As your face passes the invisible wall in the doorway, the endless white expanse of nothingness vanishes from sight, to be replaced with Karl's sleeping quarters! You look around the room. There's a bunk against one wall, a closet with Karl's clothing against another wall, and a small desk unit with some of his various odds and ends.

Turning to look out the door, you can see the passageway fine. Opposite Karl's open doorway, you can see the door hatch to your own sleeping quarters, and it is closed shut.
> You wait around, and see if your granddaughter comes past this room.
Perhaps, you think, you might run into your granddaughter again? You sit on the bed, but then you realise that in this room, there is no blaring sound of the intruder alarm. Karl's room must not be in her era of time... Besides which, looking about the room, it looks like it is indeed Karl's room, and not being used by someone else.


Taking a deep breath, you step back through the doorway. As you pass the invisible wall again, you see the room, once more, clean and tidy, with pink bedsheets. Now though, the woman is inside the room with you. She is in the middle of the room, with her back to you. The clipboard lies where she dropped it on the floor, and she has drawn a pistol. She looks left and right, examining her sleeping quarters, holding the gun carefully, ready to fire.
> You tackle her to the ground, trying to get the gun out of her hands!
You dive at her back, and tackle her to the ground. She cries out in rage, as the two of you roll about, struggling for the gun. Suddenly, the gun goes off! It strikes her in the chest!

She goes limp, and you roll off of her, grabbing the gun. Suddenly, as she breathes her last, the gun fades out of existance! It just vanishes from your hands!

Then, before your confused eyes, she slowly fades until she doesn't exist either! What's happening, you wonder, then with horror, notice your own hands turning transparent. Moments before you also vanish from existance, you can't help but wish you at least knew what she had been doing on your ship.

Then you are gone.


You step through the doorway, and instantly feel that sensation again - the feeling of walking through an invisible wall, like passing through a sheet of water. Your sleeping quarters are now quite different to how they had looked an instant ago...

Firstly, the bed is made. You can't remember ever having made your bed. Secondly, and more disturbingly to you, the sheets are bright pink with little white bunny rabbits on them!

You suddenly hear footsteps behind you, and spin around to see a woman wearing a pilot's uniform, standing in the passageway, outside the room. She looks up from a clipboard she was reading, and her jaw drops as she sees you looking back at her. You can see the cogs turning inside her mind, as she tries to find words to say, and her first instinct is to shout, "Get the hell out of my sleeping quarters!"
> You ask what she is doing on your ship - and what did she do to your sleeping quarters?
"What are you doing on my ship? HOW did you get on my ship? And what did you do to my sleeping quarters! I mean - bunny rabbits on the bed?" you growl at her incredulously.

"Your ship? Your ship! What the blazes are you talking about! The Andromeda is my ship! I've run this vessel for six years now!" she growls, stalking into your/her sleeping quarters, and brandishing a pistol, which she proceeds to wave in front of your face!

"The Andromeda has been under my command for twelve years," you growl back at her, "It was my father's ship before me, and I don't recall either him, or myself, selling it to anyone else!"

"The Andromeda wasn't your father's ship - it was my father's ship!" she shouts back at you, waving her gun some more. "And it was my grandfather's ship before him, and my great-grandfather's before him!"

Something crazy is going on, and your brain is hurting just trying to work it out. A suspicion is creeping into your mind. "My name is Michael Dobson," you tell her, hoping an introduction, and an attempt at being diplomatic, might stop her waving the gun in your face. If it accidentally went off...

Her jaw drops, "No, it can't be..." She shakes her head in disbelief, "No, that was just a crazy tale, just mad talk - none of it could be true!"

"None of what could be true?" you ask, not sure you like the sudden change in her.

"My... My grandfather's name was Michael... My name is... I'm Susan Dobson," she says, looking you up and down, and inspecting you properly for the first time. She lowers the gun, then drops it forgotten to the floor.

"You're saying you're my granddaughter? That's crazy! That's..." you realise that maybe it is not so crazy after all. Something has happened to your starship. What if something had happened half-way through the jump, and your ship was indeed stranded in the extra-dimension of Light Space. Who knows how your ship, or even you, might be affected. Could this location on your starship actually take you to another moment in time - somewhere into the future?

"Tell me, why would you think you were my granddaughter?" you ask, softly.

Her eyes glaze over, as she loses herself to memories, "My grandfather used to tell wild tales. No one really believed him, and by the time I was born, he wouldn't talk about it. My mother, though, she said that my grandfather was in a starship accident once. He used to say that he met people from the past and the future. Everyone thought he was crazy, but other than that, he was perfectly normal. People said that the starship accident did something to him, and that's why he would make those wild claims. People said he was just dreaming, or drunk. Once though, before he died, he asked me a strange question... 'Remember when we were aboard the Andromeda together?' he asked me. I guess if he was you, then this, here and now, is what he was talking about. He said he would never have made it back if it wasn't for me..."

"So, I obviously get out of here alive then," you say as much to yourself as to her. "Karl and I made a starship jump, but we didn't appear at our destination - I think I'm still trapped inside of Light Space somehow. Strange things are happening as I move about my ship. When I step through that doorway, I'm back aboard my version of the ship, and this is my sleeping quarters, but when I step back in here, it's your sleeping quarters - somewhere in the future..."

Suddenly the ship shudders, and you both grab hold of furniture so you don't fall over.

"What was that?" you both ask at the same time. Suddenly a warning klaxon blares through the ship.

"I've got to get to the bridge!" she shouts, forgetting about you and the whole 'mixed-up time' issue. She rushes out the door and down the passage. Instinctively you rush out the door to follow her, and suddenly pass through that invisible wall again. She vanishes from sight as you step into the passageway - and return to your own time.


Feeling a little uncertain as to what you might find, you nervously walk to the rear of the cockpit, and press the door release button. The rear door slides open and...

The central passageway that runs from the cockpit, through the ship, to the cargo bay at the rear, looks exactly as it always does. Lights in the ceiling illuminate the steel passage. Metal grating panels on the floor allow access to various wires and cables that run through the ship, beneath your feet. Door hatches are set into the passage walls at different points along its length, leading to various rooms aboard the ship. Far at the other end, you see a large hatch, that opens into the cargo bay at the other end of the starship.

Everything looks completely - suddenly there is a shearing of light and form, as a section of wall about half way down the passage blurs outwards into the passage, in an array of colourful streaking lines - then suddenly flattens out again to look like a normal section of wall once more. Perhaps things aren't as completely normal as they seem...

You say a short prayer that the motion blurring phenomena won't happen anywhere near you.
> You remain in the Cockpit for a while, just to be safe - that is, if anywhere on this ship is safe...
After seeing what the strange warping phenomena did to Karl, and seeing the wall bulge in a similar way further down the passage, you are not too sure it would be safe to walk through the starship.

However, as you stand in the Cockpit, wondering what to do, you realise a few things. Firstly, if you stay here, there's no guarantee that the air around you won't warp, and you won't be killed. Secondly, if you are stuck half-way between a Light Space Jump, then the only way out that you can think of, would be to reactivate the Jump Drive, and hope that it finishes the jump, and returns you to normal space.

However, the Jump Drive Chamber is at the rear of the ship, to one side of the Cargo Bay. That means, if it is possible to reactivate the drive, you will have to travel through the ship to get to it... The fact that the rest of the ship doesn't even show on the ship's computer is in no way reassuring to you.


Vampire.

Indeed, that is what Kelso called you. You can still hear his cold, baritone voice explaining it to you. Vampires in the tales of Fantasy are glamorized; nigh-immortal, sexually desirable, powerful. But, while you suppose you are some of those things, in truth, you are not much more than an albino with a lot of health issues. The sun, he said, will damage your skin more than anything else. Any sort of foodstuff can't be digested anymore by your barely functioning bodily systems. He claims to have an idea of what the 'Professor' was trying to do to us, but for whatever reason, he has dodged the questions anytime you ask.

Any information other than that, Kelso hasn't revealed. The irking thing is that it is obvious he knows what's going on, but he consistently acts as if it is in your own good you don't know what went on.

The nights have been hard since your escape from the Facility. Most nights you wake up shivering, after all the nightmares you've been dealing with. It's terrifying, and it only makes you wonder what horrible things were done to you at the Facility. You do know that they must have affected your ability to feel. No, not the wishy washy 'emotional' garbage you'd usually expect, but your sense of touch was dulled. While a lot of your senses have been heightened, that one stands out. You feel very little pain from your feet, which is odd; considering how you spent your time running over cracked glass just two days ago, but it seems to have healed recently.

---

Waiting. It should be sunrise by now. Kelso said you shouldn't get out, as you are a creature of the darkness now. He, on the other hand, has been out for the entire night and then some. You're not sure what Kelso is hunting for, but you know that you're beginning to get thirsty. More and more questions begin to build up, and no doubt the bastard won't answer half of them. Even while you ran with him through the night, running across various landscapes. Most are just a barren dessert, though every once in while you'd pass a half-buried house like this.

"Bright lights up ahead." He said. A city only several miles down. Kelso must have gone there for the clothes he mentioned, but you hope he's safe....
> You continue waiting inside for Kelso
A sigh leaves your lips as you ruffle your hair with your hand. Now scratching, several hairs fall off. Perhaps not too unusal; trivial, even. But things like this interest people in boredom. That, and the twitching of a certain fly beside the table. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

It's annoying. Your nose flares as you continue to sit. Sleep isn't what it used to be either, more like an odd sort of meditating. Besides that, your senses continue to ring as the fly takes to the air around you. It lands, and you feel a faint tickle on your cheek-- And you catch the damned bugger. Nothing but your hand moved, a small action was all it took to take the flies life. You didn't even mean to kill it immediately, though you don't mind it's yellow ooze. Without feeling it, you squished it. Threat destroyed, you put your fingers to your temples and try to meditate.

Almost immediately, your mind begins to drift...

---

Come on, wake up!

"Wuh? What's going on? Who are you?"

We can formally reintroduce ourselves later damnit, the lab is falling apart!

The lab? What lab? Why the hell am I in a lab?

I'll explain everything once we're safe. But we need to go. Now.

It is then when your eyes adjust enough that you can actually view the chaos that surrounds you. The red, flashing lights give you just enough light to make out cracked capsules with smelly liquid pouring out from them and flooding the floor. Looking even slightly up, you can see your own smashed container, as well as the pillars supporting the ceiling riddled with cracks. An odd assortment of humanoids seem to be sprawled out on the floor, with several still writhing and creeping sluggishly.

But besides all this, you don't really feel much, considering. A numbing liquid surrounding and licking at your sides, but not much else. You can't even recognize your own heart beat. Then again, that's quite possibly due to the tension and commotion. Perhaps you were numbed while in that storage container.

The man beside you seems to still shaking you, though it takes you several seconds to notice. Grabbing you by the hand, he begins to force you up and drag you along until your legs begin to feel enough to move. Although still sluggish, your motor controls seem to be working better than whatever you could remember. Finally, you feel like you can resume mumbling out questions, even while hurtling around breaking pillars and stumbling on broken glass.

Where... where are we going?

Out. The Zealots of the Church may come in any moment, so we need to evacuate.

The Church? I... Can you at least tell me your name?

Stop talking. Just run.

How do you expect me to trust you if I don't even know who you are?

I'm not sure you know who you are either, right now it's best you trust me and shut the hell up.

And you do. Thinking about it, you really don't remember who you are. Who you were? It's... blank.

The man's hand is outstretched, motioning you to hold on and follow.

---

A sudden crashing noise awakes you from your revelation.
> A uniformed man appears.
Out of nowhere, a humanoid with flashy armor leaps at you. Fearful, you quickly send out a powerful jab, lamely clunking on his armor as he topples on top of you. You expect him to attack, or continue the assault, but he appears to be as dazed you are. Although the metal armor is heavy, you're able to throw him off of yourself, hearing a splintering in the wooden floor as he lands.

"I'm here."

It's Kelso. His striking features resemble an older gentleman. Whitish blonde hair and a gruff voice, though perhaps with a slight German accent-- almost grandfather-like. "Master, where were you? What... is this man doing here?"

"C.E. Agent, member of the Church and Special-Forces Unit for taking care of our kind. You need to kill this filth."

You raise an eyebrow, "What? I dunno... Ugh. No, Kelso. He's just, like, doing his job. I think? No, it doesn't matter! What's going on?"

"His job is to murder Creations, government is after us and the rest of the-- the Professor's creations. We're not safe. Which, is why you need to kill this officer. You need to get used to this before it becomes more common to handle."

The soldier slowly looks up at you, scrambling to get up. "You two... speak? Lord in heaven, the damned speak!"

You can imagine his eyes would be widening right about now, but his entire body is covered in the metal suit, flashing with electric blue lining, his helmet with a black visor. The figure, now up, begins to scramble for a rifle-like object, but Kelso gives a heavy slap to the back of his head, sending the man flying forward, his helmet flying off in a different direction.

"Kelso, Creations? What the hell is going on? Tell me!"

"First, kill him."

"I'm really not sure about this..."

"Kid, I know you're hungry." It's true. "This is the only thing you can feast on."

You just stare in disbelief, shaking your head. Kelso stares at you for a moment before turning around and kicking the operative in the side. You hear a dent and a crack, likely his ribs were smashed along with his armor.

"Let's get your questions over with. Now. You need to decide what you'll do with him."

You take a deep breath, just shocked at everything that's transpiring. After mumbling and scratching your head, you think you know what to ask.
> You say "Why the hell do I need to eat this man?"
Kelso sighs with an apparent annoyance. "You're not eating him. You're going to drink his blood. I've explained this before."

He sort of did, but it doesn't exactly make it better. He told you that you couldn't digest any food, but he never mentioned you'd have to digest blood!

"I... I drink his blood... from the neck?" Your knowledge about supernatural creatures is more or less non-existent, give or take whatever nerdy things you might have dabbled in high-school. Unless you were some sort of jock before then. You don't remember...

"Not necessarily. The wrist works too-- as long as you get a stream of blood in your mouth you'll be satiated. This should be easier as things go along though, since any sort of infirmary should have some blood packs for transfusions, and those are easily broken into. And you can always drink non-human blood... But this is necessary. Oh, and do remember to watch out for the diseased, bad blood isn't good for yor system."

"Ugh... Do we really have to kill him?" You ask with a frown.

"Unless you want him to call upon the rest of the C.E. Crew on our asses, then yes. Either way, you need to be full before we leave this shit hole. We have work to do."


Out of nowhere, a humanoid with flashy armor leaps at you. Fearful, you quickly send out a powerful jab, lamely clunking on his armor as he topples on top of you. You expect him to attack, or continue the assault, but he appears to be as dazed you are. Although the metal armor is heavy, you're able to throw him off of yourself, hearing a splintering in the wooden floor as he lands.

"I'm here."

It's Kelso. His striking features resemble an older gentleman. Whitish blonde hair and a gruff voice, though perhaps with a slight German accent-- almost grandfather-like. "Master, where were you? What... is this man doing here?"

"C.E. Agent, member of the Church and Special-Forces Unit for taking care of our kind. You need to kill this filth."

You raise an eyebrow, "What? I dunno... Ugh. No, Kelso. He's just, like, doing his job. I think? No, it doesn't matter! What's going on?"

"His job is to murder Creations, government is after us and the rest of the-- the Professor's creations. We're not safe. Which, is why you need to kill this officer. You need to get used to this before it becomes more common to handle."

The soldier slowly looks up at you, scrambling to get up. "You two... speak? Lord in heaven, the damned speak!"

You can imagine his eyes would be widening right about now, but his entire body is covered in the metal suit, flashing with electric blue lining, his helmet with a black visor. The figure, now up, begins to scramble for a rifle-like object, but Kelso gives a heavy slap to the back of his head, sending the man flying forward, his helmet flying off in a different direction.

"Kelso, Creations? What the hell is going on? Tell me!"

"First, kill him."

"I'm really not sure about this..."

"Kid, I know you're hungry." It's true. "This is the only thing you can feast on."

You just stare in disbelief, shaking your head. Kelso stares at you for a moment before turning around and kicking the operative in the side. You hear a dent and a crack, likely his ribs were smashed along with his armor.

"Let's get your questions over with. Now. You need to decide what you'll do with him."

You take a deep breath, just shocked at everything that's transpiring. After mumbling and scratching your head, you think you know what to ask.
> You say "Creations? What did the Professor do to us?"
"You and me both. The Professor was a nasty sort, creating freaks of nature to..." His face seems to strain, though for reasons you may or may not realize, "To... for a program, you see. The Government shut the facility down early enough, but he kept the creations up and running for a while longer. When the soldiers came to burn the place down, well, that's where you and I come in. Possibly others."

"There are more like me and you?" You ask, trying to absorb as much as you can before Kelso shuts up again.

"Maybe. I'd be surprised if that much survived the raid. But there are certainly other experiments that the Professor did. Chimera, Were-beasts, you name it. And, of course, 'vampires', like you."

"What about yourself? I thought you were a vampire as well?

"I'm a lot of things."

A pause in the conversation occurs, before you shake your head and continue the questionnaire, "Right... And why are the soldiers trying to kill us?"

"I told you already, the Church, lead by a certain priest named 'Tomas', believes we're demonic mutants created by the Professor. They think they're cleaning the world from us. That's what they've been doing for years, hunting down Creations on some sort of religious-killing spree. The facility which you woke up from was the last one before they destroyed it. Even though we live virtually forever, this is a curse, kid, and they realize that. As Creations, we're biologically forced to do things. We have to drink blood-- it's a necessity. The sunlight burns us, for our skin is too fair. What they don't realize is that we're also sentient beings. We were humans, once.

''And yet, the bastard that made us still lives somewhere out there. And I want you to help me find him. Furthermore, if we make a good enough team, we may even be able to overthrow the Church, for it's reach is strong. They're more or less the only ruling bodies the world has currently... Both of them, the Professor and the Church, are evils that need to be eradicated. We'll stop them both, just stick with me, kid."


Out of nowhere, a humanoid with flashy armor leaps at you. Fearful, you quickly send out a powerful jab, lamely clunking on his armor as he topples on top of you. You expect him to attack, or continue the assault, but he appears to be as dazed you are. Although the metal armor is heavy, you're able to throw him off of yourself, hearing a splintering in the wooden floor as he lands.

"I'm here."

It's Kelso. His striking features resemble an older gentleman. Whitish blonde hair and a gruff voice, though perhaps with a slight German accent-- almost grandfather-like. "Master, where were you? What... is this man doing here?"

"C.E. Agent, member of the Church and Special-Forces Unit for taking care of our kind. You need to kill this filth."

You raise an eyebrow, "What? I dunno... Ugh. No, Kelso. He's just, like, doing his job. I think? No, it doesn't matter! What's going on?"

"His job is to murder Creations, government is after us and the rest of the-- the Professor's creations. We're not safe. Which, is why you need to kill this officer. You need to get used to this before it becomes more common to handle."

The soldier slowly looks up at you, scrambling to get up. "You two... speak? Lord in heaven, the damned speak!"

You can imagine his eyes would be widening right about now, but his entire body is covered in the metal suit, flashing with electric blue lining, his helmet with a black visor. The figure, now up, begins to scramble for a rifle-like object, but Kelso gives a heavy slap to the back of his head, sending the man flying forward, his helmet flying off in a different direction.

"Kelso, Creations? What the hell is going on? Tell me!"

"First, kill him."

"I'm really not sure about this..."

"Kid, I know you're hungry." It's true. "This is the only thing you can feast on."

You just stare in disbelief, shaking your head. Kelso stares at you for a moment before turning around and kicking the operative in the side. You hear a dent and a crack, likely his ribs were smashed along with his armor.

"Let's get your questions over with. Now. You need to decide what you'll do with him."

You take a deep breath, just shocked at everything that's transpiring. After mumbling and scratching your head, you think you know what to ask.
> You say "Who am-- was I?"
Kelso stares at you, obviously contemplating how to answer.

"Don't know, don't care. Your new life begins now."

Damn. Well, okay, doesn't seem like he's going to reveal anything...


Out of nowhere, a humanoid with flashy armor leaps at you. Fearful, you quickly send out a powerful jab, lamely clunking on his armor as he topples on top of you. You expect him to attack, or continue the assault, but he appears to be as dazed you are. Although the metal armor is heavy, you're able to throw him off of yourself, hearing a splintering in the wooden floor as he lands.

"I'm here."

It's Kelso. His striking features resemble an older gentleman. Whitish blonde hair and a gruff voice, though perhaps with a slight German accent-- almost grandfather-like. "Master, where were you? What... is this man doing here?"

"C.E. Agent, member of the Church and Special-Forces Unit for taking care of our kind. You need to kill this filth."

You raise an eyebrow, "What? I dunno... Ugh. No, Kelso. He's just, like, doing his job. I think? No, it doesn't matter! What's going on?"

"His job is to murder Creations, government is after us and the rest of the-- the Professor's creations. We're not safe. Which, is why you need to kill this officer. You need to get used to this before it becomes more common to handle."

The soldier slowly looks up at you, scrambling to get up. "You two... speak? Lord in heaven, the damned speak!"

You can imagine his eyes would be widening right about now, but his entire body is covered in the metal suit, flashing with electric blue lining, his helmet with a black visor. The figure, now up, begins to scramble for a rifle-like object, but Kelso gives a heavy slap to the back of his head, sending the man flying forward, his helmet flying off in a different direction.

"Kelso, Creations? What the hell is going on? Tell me!"

"First, kill him."

"I'm really not sure about this..."

"Kid, I know you're hungry." It's true. "This is the only thing you can feast on."

You just stare in disbelief, shaking your head. Kelso stares at you for a moment before turning around and kicking the operative in the side. You hear a dent and a crack, likely his ribs were smashed along with his armor.

"Let's get your questions over with. Now. You need to decide what you'll do with him."

You take a deep breath, just shocked at everything that's transpiring. After mumbling and scratching your head, you think you know what to ask.
> You continue.
After asking all the questions you can think of, you watch the pained man writhe and groan. The domineering Kelso looks at his pitiful state, bends down and puts his index finger to right above where his carotid artery is, obviously sensing for the pulse. "Here, sink your teeth in and drink."

Although you are hesitant, your instincts take over as your mouth begins to water slightly, making it slightly less dry for the first time. As you bend down, you begin to feel... fangs protrude from your upper jaw. Sharp, powerful teeth, ready to satiate your hunger. Hoping to get it over with, instinct and lust takes over as you bring your head down and get your teeth stuck on top of his neck. Rich, red blood squirts with an ugly squishing sound.

"God damnit, on the artery!"

Kelso grabs your neck and, pulling your fangs out of the man, forces it back on the right place. You moan, half in pleasure and the other half in disgust. It tastes... salty, filling. It tasted good, and you don't mind choking on this stuff. It's the first time you've felt such a rush, it's like a drug...

But, on the other hand... This isn't human. This man... He's screaming, begging. Something about children and the forces of evil...

As Kelso let's you have control of your own neck again, the sudden rush ends, and you cough out the other man's blood. "You didn't have to kill him, but he's dead now. Which is actually a good thing, but you really should be less sloppy. You missed." He continues to smile. Kelso begins to strip the Zealot's armor off, and hands it to you. A walkie-talkie falls to the floor and clatters, though it remains undamaged.

"Now we can begin." He tosses you the armor, a hoodie, and some sort of... lotion?

You catch, it reflexively, "Begin what?"

"Our vengeance. Tying up loose ends. Give meaning to your un-life."

"I... I just killed a man!"

"Who was going to kill you. Plus, it was an accident."

You stand there, with bloody hands and a mouth dripping with delectable blood. Kelso... What's he up to? He... You think he's a good person, he saved you. But, this isn't right. Maybe you should get away...

"Snap out of it kid, we have a duty to fulfill. This isn't a blessing what happened to you and me, and that's why we need to kill the man who did this to us, so he can't do this to others."
> You lacking a healthy alternative, join Kelso for your new life.
It's like the first time you remember Kelso. His hand outstretched, asking him to join you... You shake it firmly.

It's crazy, but you trust him. Like a baby chick to the first thing it sees... It's funny. He's become of a master and more like a father. While he may not have the most moral methods, he still knows way more than you and will help you through it. Besides, the Professor no doubt know your origins, before you kill him you might even get that from him. If you stick with Kelso, that is.

As silence consumes the conversation, you attempt at conversing, "So, the lotion..."

"Sun-tan lotion. It wears off after a small while, but it'll protect you when it counts. Spread it on your face, wouldn't want that to peel all the way off. The hoodie and that is the best things I was able to take."

"So you stole it?"

He shrugs. "Took it. We need to hide, remember? Can't have people know about us and our condition. The soldiers are much stronger when they are in control. Also: the Zealot's armor. It's worth equipping, just need to turn off the flashy-light part."

"And now what?"

"You stop asking questions and let me finish." He eyes you with seeming annoyance. "We'll be finding his stronger Creations that no doubt survived this long. They're a violent lot though, which is why having you will be a big help. I figure one of them will know where the Professor is."

As if reading your mind, he continues, "And we find them by trailing the C.E. Division, which have specific DNA trackers on some of us. Not you or myself, thankfully, but a good deal of the Creations were registered to the government. Government program and all... But anyhow, we're going to town soon. I say we wait at the police station, they should have an outpost there. After hearing where they are, we hitch a ride in one of their vans. Not a very elaborate plan, but it'll probably work."

He stares at you, as if expecting resistance. "Unless you have a better idea?"

"Actually...
> No. It seems solid enough. Let's do it."
"It seems solid enough, let's do it."

He nods in return, as if pondering about something. "Then let's go."

"Now? Are you sure I'm ready?"

"Yes now. You're ready." Kelso smiles.

---

Suffice to say, you're pretty confident. You're in full control of your new body, and the armor you looted off the zealot may be bulky, but you'd be damned if you didn't look awesome with it. All this gave your self-esteem a much needed boost before setting off to the City. Kel, as you've come to call him, probably realized that when he offered it to you. Admittedly, it's probably why you haven't pressed him for questions on the plan; he just seems to have everything under control.

Now, on the night of the full moon, Kelso's ambiguous plan will be enacted. Perhaps the full moon was completely planned, or perhaps not. Regardless, the tension can be felt in the air. Regardless, the journey to the flashy city several miles down is uneventful, save for the fascinating landscape and occasional howls that Kelso doesn't seem to hear (you've mentioned this to him; and he took interest but told you to save it for later, as it may be important).

But yes, the landscape changed dramatically from the collection of half-buried houses that you were holed up in with Kelso. From complete, uninhabited desert, to a flashy, futuristic town with strobe lights and a somewhat dense population considering the size of the premises. It's not even that big, but it's... Out of place. Surrounded by desert, it stands as a beacon of light.

Your mentor is garbed with the hoodie he gave you earlier, his older, but surly exterior showing out in the twilight. As he leads you through the sand to the City, he suddenly stops to speak; and you stand at attention.

"So, you're probably all ears to hear what my plan was."

You nod. "Err, yes."

"Then why didn't you ask? Didn't my plan sound ridiculous"

The wind stops blowing. "I know you have everything under control. I trust in you, master."

Kelso turns to face you, his face solemn and grim.

"Then you're not what I need. I want to tame a lion, not a goat." He spits, and before you know it your face has hit the rough sand. You quickly turn to see Kelso jumping up, the moon behind him and his silver claws in front, his eyes now turned red and gleaming. You jump from the ground to the side, but his hand catches your chest. You breathe; it doesn't regenerate.

Another breath. More blood squirts out. His other hand now clawing at your eyes. Aching pain... it's all black, but you're still alive!

You can feel your body spasming, and you turn all your confusion into rage and power, but to no avail...

You have been killed by your mentor.