<div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">
<script class="js-extraPhrases" type="application/json">
			{
				"lightbox_close": "Close",
				"lightbox_next": "Next",
				"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
				"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
				"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
				"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
				"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
				"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
				"lightbox_download": "Download",
				"lightbox_share": "Share",
				"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
				"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
				"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
			}
			</script>
<div class="bbImageWrapper lazyload js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2F60Rz1IKAVmY92%2Fgiphy.gif&amp;hash=bd86e586e4e9fa296c43c7e19a290e06" title="giphy.gif">
<img alt="giphy.gif" class="bbImage lazyload" data-src="/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2F60Rz1IKAVmY92%2Fgiphy.gif&amp;hash=bd86e586e4e9fa296c43c7e19a290e06" data-url="https://media.giphy.com/media/60Rz1IKAVmY92/giphy.gif" data-zoom-target="1" height="" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" style="" title="" width=""/>
<noscript><img alt="giphy.gif" class="bbImage" data-url="https://media.giphy.com/media/60Rz1IKAVmY92/giphy.gif" data-zoom-target="1" height="" src="/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2F60Rz1IKAVmY92%2Fgiphy.gif&amp;hash=bd86e586e4e9fa296c43c7e19a290e06" style="" title="" width=""/></noscript>
</div>
<br/>
</span></span>​</div><div style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">The sound of the ship’s systems changing startled Sasha awake.  Her green eyes opened in alarm, her heart racing as her brain took a moment to gather its bearings as fear flooded her veins.  She was safe, she reminded herself, though her heart remained in disbelief.  The pod in which she slept felt close, like a coffin, and a feeling of claustrophobia began to creep up her spine.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">“I’m okay,” she whispered, her voice a rasp from hyper-sleep.  It surprised her.  She’d heard of it, but this was her first time experiencing it.  Needle-casting had replaced hyperspace travel centuries ago, but there were still a few who feared the teleportation of their consciousness from one world to another.  They feared being lost.  Sasha, hoped to be. </span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">She scrambled from her bed, her eyes darting about the small cubby that had been her assigned space for the trip from Xantrix to Earth.  She’d heard of it, the place where her great grandparents had been born, but she had never been.  The world that had changed many times over those centuries.  She stood and looked out the window at the passing structures that hovered high above the clouds.  The Meth homes, places where the supremely rich lived above all others, their very own kingdom above the clouds, where they never had to see the reality of the world they lived in.  She would’ve been welcomed there, not for her wealthy in credits but in knowledge.  However, that wasn’t her destination.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">The ship dipped beneath the clouds, a dark grey mist enveloping them for several seconds before they emerged beneath.  There, lit up like a neon Christmas tree, was Bay City – population – too much.  She’d arrived.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">Sasha grabbed her jacket and slipped it over the dark tank top and pants she wore.  She pulled it over her head, the dark green a reminder of the world she’d left behind.  Xantrix was a planet of many trees and flora, most of which no longer existed on Earth.  The world had become a place of metal and glass.  It was a forest of light with predators far worse than those on her home-world.   </span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">Shuffling through the crowd of eagerly departing passengers, Sasha was lost in the madness of the city.  The cries and jeers of protestors filled her ears as she hurried from the landing area into the heart of the city.  She didn’t stop to discover their complaint.  She had more important things to worry about.  Her life, being the top priority.<br/>
<br/>
The soft beeping of a locator soon filled her right ear as the device on her wrist, which looked much like a watch, lit up with a faint red dot.  She was close.  She kept her head down and followed the trail until she stood outside a large stone building, as tall as a skyscraper and lit with a large green cross.  She raped on the door, her breath issuing from her lips as a mist as the coldness of night wrapped around her.<br/>
<br/>
Two large eyes sudden appeared in an envelope shoot in door.  “What’s your pleasure?” the high pitched voice asked with a hiss.<br/>
<br/>
“Pleasure before pain?” she answered.  The response had been given to her before she left her home-world, the promise of safety attached to it was the only hope she had.<br/>
<br/>
The being eyed her suspiciously before opening the door and allowing her to entry.  Sasha didn’t hesitate, she wanted to be off the street and away from any prying eyes.  She checked her watch, the countdown was continuing.  Two days left.  She’d made it in time.<br/>
<br/>
“Where is he?” she asked the synth.  Synthetic beings had become popular three centuries before.  They were commonplace on Earth, and thanks to her work she’d encountered several, but this one was different.  Large eyes set into high cheekbones.  A grin so sweet it should’ve been painted on a doll.  Skin as white as freshly fallen stone.  She was hideously beautiful, an exaggeration of everything one might want.<br/>
<br/>
“This way,” she hissed again and Sasha followed.  Winding corridors led the way to a small door.  There was nothing to hint at what lay behind, but every hair on the back of her neck stood on end at the sight of it.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">“What is this place?”</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">The synth grinned.  “Your destination.”</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">What was that feeling?  The cold tingle running up her spine.  Something wasn’t right.  Dax had promised to be there to meet her.  Where was he?  Why had she been led to this place?  This room?  Something was wrong.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">“Do you have a bathroom?” she asked suddenly.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">The synth blinked.  “You don’t want to keep him waiting.”</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">“I’m sure he’d prefer dry floors as opposed to a puddle,” she answered firmly.  She was trying her best to hide the sickening fear that was growing by the second.  Something was wrong.  Very wrong.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">Sasha thought she knew the risks when she left home, when she ran for her safety and for the lives of billions.  Now, she was wondering if she did.  She knew The Company would come after her.  She had their most prized possession – their serum – coursing through her veins.  Of course they wanted it back and they would do anything to get it she imagined.  Dax had promised to hide her and help extra the elixir that could save so many lives.  The war had caused a portion of Earth’s population to live camps, forever contaminated.  Sasha had found a cure, a way to not only eliminate the infection but protect those to whom it was administered.  Those in the camps could final leave and start their lives over.  A new chance at life.  She checked her watch again.  Forty-eight hours.<br/>
<br/>
“Bathroom?” she repeated.</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">“On the right.”</span></span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px">Sasha turned and walked towards the door as instructed.  She gave the synth one last glance before slipping inside and closing the door behind her.  The moment she did her ears filled with the beat of her heart as she rushed for the nearest window.  She tugged at the frame trying to pry it open, but it wouldn’t budge.  She groaned as she tried again and again to force it open.  Each second longer made her heart beat faster.  She had to get out of there now.  She didn’t know.  She could just feel it.  She wasn’t safe there.  She needed to escape.</span></span><br/>​</div><br/><a class="username" data-user-id="2559" data-username="@Hawk" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/2559/">@Hawk</a>