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Science fiction gone mad! Seriously, if you had crazy psychic powers. Wouldn't you use them? (I know I would) Remember. With great power. Comes great oppurtunities to ABUSE that power. Muhahahhahhah ha. (My maniacal laugh sounds better outloud T-T)

Now for the usual by reading this sentence you forfeit all rights to complain about it later disclaimer.

This story contains graphic scenes which may make people uncomfortable. Science that should not be attempted by all but the certifiably insane. (The author does not exclude himself from that statement) And various other things which may force you to think and we all know how uncomfortable thinking for ourselves is. Also, may not be suitable for minors. That said. Enjoy! ^-^

_Lunaforte Granz a virus designed to be the ultimate bio-weapon has been released upon an unsuspecting world. Incurable, unstoppable. Mankind will soon undergo a metamorphosis on a global scale.

Without even knowing it. Their world has already begun to change._

Part two: Outbreak.

The waves stood at a stand still as the wind grew quiet and then stopped. Rasler stood on the tip of the Jacob Tower. A soon to be completed space elevator it was a pillar that would serve to connect humanity to the stars.

From his vantage point he could hold the whole of the world in his hands. Truly it was a place where even angels feared to tread.

Angelus errari. Here angels lose their way. He thought as he stepped off. And began the long descent towards the ground.

Closing his eyes he could feel them. The touch of a thousand different minds, a thousand different voices all joined together into a singular chorus. Their eyes were turned upwards, all of them watching in awe as he ran down the side of the tower, the wind rushing past in a wave that stole his breath away.

To call it exhilarating would put the lie to all that it was. It stepped beyond flight, surpassing even the feel of weightlessness. It was an intoxicating mixture of speed and danger, a heady rush that stripped away the senses, leaving only the pure feel of unadulterated elation.

He spread his arms and leapt.

The world fell away as gravity loosed its hold on him. It was the freedom of flight combined with an aerodynamic ballet. His body twisting and turning in free fall. All the while he was rushing headlong towards the ground.

System Chronos. We're on the fast track to the future!

He smiled as he passed by the sign. It had only been a few short months since he and his companions had escaped from the Genetech facility Lost Shinjuku. A few short months that felt like an eternity when compared to the days of horror that were even now growing further and further away from them, fading at long last into a world beyond recall.

Truly. Freedom felt divine.

Koon was busy filtering through the influx of data being received from Rasler's Gravity Gear. The flips, twists and twirls he was performing were sending the readings off the charts. Even calibrated the special bodysuit he was wearing underneath his clothes was having a hard time keeping up with him as he showed off for the crowd.

Air riding had been one of the more experimental technologies Genetech had been developing in its special weapons division. It completely replaced conventional parachutes by generating an artificial gravity well around the wearer, effectively allowing them to ride various air currents in order to modulate their descent velocity.

Rasler had lifted the design specs from its developers and asked Koon to modify them for commercial use. Gravity Gear was System Chronos' hottest new product and the latest fad to sweep the nation. They were already raking in creds by the millions.

Six was standing nearby. She was watching Rasler with a quiet look on her face while stroking her stomach unconsciously. "Come back to us." She said softly. "All of us."

It wouldn't be long before they knew whether she was pregnant or not.

Rasler was rapidly approaching the ground and as if in response to Six's words he performed a death defying spin to a veritable surge of applause. The crowd screaming and cheering his name at the same time.

He came to a sudden halt hovering mere inches above the ground. To everyone watching it looked as if he was standing on a cushion of air. A failsafe that had been included in the Gravity Gear's design that prevented the wearer from sustaining injury due to reckless behavior.

As if jumping off a thirty-thousand foot tower wasn't reckless enough he removed his sunglasses and grinned like a cat. Brazenly displaying his inhuman qualities to pump up the crowd.

Dozens of reporters started taking pictures as hover cams drifted around his head. Soon his face would be plastered across holozines all over the world and marketed as the latest product to come from System Chronos. Cosmetic engineering.

The crowd was loving it.

Famran stood in stoic silence as the various reporters all pushed forwards, each one of them eager to get the first interview with Earth's latest superstar.

Hidden from the prying eyes of the crowd Gantz took aim with his sniper rifle and said. "I have visual confirmation of the esper prototype and his fellow escapees. Do we proceed with the capture?"

"Negative." Came the response. "There are too many witnesses. We can't afford to spark an international incident and draw attention to ourselves."

His partner Mars kicked a clump of dirt into the air. "Figures. The only time he bothers to come out of hiding is when he announces himself to the whole fucking world. Pretty boys like him piss me off." Mars had already started flipping his favorite knife into the air. A sure sign to those who knew him that he was beginning to lose his temper. "I'd like to ruin his face."

Gantz let him vent some of his fury on an unseen target before he said. "We just got new orders. They've already confirmed a new target."

Mars smiled a truly unwholesome smile. "Looks like this trip won't be a total waste of my time after all."

System Chronos' central facilities were located in the heart of Cyber Tokyo. It was one of the amalgamated super cities that had risen up towards the end the twenty-first century. And with a population of over fifty million people made up of transhuman modernists, would be splicers and various technofreaks it was the perfect place to hide. Especially if you weren't even human to begin with.

From his apartment on the 57th floor Rasler looked out over a skyline that sought to rival the stars in the night. The city lights of Cyber Tokyo were an ever changing display of technological wizardry. Neon dreams often competed with holographic fantasies for the peoples attention. Sometimes hackers even took control of the system just to write their own names in light.

From here they had started a revolution. Finding those infected by the virus and secreting them away before Genetech could capture and dissect them. Though they weren't always successful they had thwarted them enough times to have earned their undying enmity.

It wouldn't be long before Genetech decided to up the ante.

Gentle hands wrapped around him as Six enveloped him in her embrace. Her scent a heady combination of vanilla and musk; it was dark with promises half whispered and a longing for other more intimate desires. "I didn't realize you were still awake." He said.

Nuzzling into his neck she said. "I sleep better when your beside me."

Tracing the gentle curve of her stomach he stared into those eyes he had grown to love so much. "Its funny. I don't feel tired."

Her voice was coy and her smile seductive. "You will be."

As Six led him away towards the bedroom 'Koon Rules!' drifted by the window in fluorescent shades of black and white.

Alice slammed back her stargazer. The faintly glowing liquid slid down her throat like a frozen wave of ice. A hint of frost touching upon her lips she shivered as it hit her bloodstream. Stargazers went down cold before they slowly began warming you up from the inside.

Sighing softly her breathe hung heavy in the air. It was only her second glass and already the potent chemical cocktail of alcohol and sensory enhancers were making her see stars.

She tossed a few creds onto the counter of the bar and drifted towards the dance floor.

Heart pounding music shook the walls and stirred the soul while dancers moved to a rhythm all their own, drifting about the room on floating platforms that pulsed with fluorescent light. It was just another night at the hottest dance club in Cyber Tokyo. Neon Paradise.

This must be what wonderland is like. Thought Alice as she attached various neon strips of cloth to her clothing before letting her self fade into the music. Unbeknownst even to her the colors had already begun spreading across her skin of their own accord, shifting with the music, blending together to create a living riot of color.

The dance floor was kept in semi-darkness so that only the patterns woven by the various neon strips of cloth worn by the dancers could be seen. Because they looked like everyone else, Gantz had managed to sneak an entire Genetech strike team into the club.

Seeded across the dance floor they were slowly closing in around their target Alice.

One of the strike team members broke radio silence. "We've lost sight of the target. Advise."

Mars leaned against the railing overlooking the dance floor. "She's turning into a fucking chameleon! Someone kill the lights. Switch to infrared. Find her before she infects somebody else or I'll have your heads instead of hers!"

Alice felt as if she had suddenly contracted a fever and was burning up. To hot to even touch it felt like every cell in her body was on fire. People were even shouting in surprise as they came into contact with her.

"What's happening to me?" She asked as she fell to her knees. The press of bodies was suddenly overwhelming. The sights and sounds twisting into a dread cacophony, paralyzing her even as she tried to sort them all out.

A voice from above her carried over the music. "She turning into a fucking chameleon!" People around her were suddenly being forced out of the way by men in black suits. She looked up to see a man in a suit waving a knife around screaming. "Find her before she infects somebody else!"

Run. Whispered a voice in her mind. You must run if you want to live. Head for the park outside. Hurry!

Alice didn't know where the voice had come from but it was certainly offering her better advice than anything her own mind was coming up with. After all. With the men in suits pulling out guns. Running sounded like a pretty good idea right about now.

The park was suspiciously empty. There were no late night lovers out to enjoy the stars, no traffic on the nearby roads. Only the feel of the hunters on every side and a blood lust that seemed to fill the night.

Even now they were attempting to herd her towards them, trying to close their net.

The voice in her mind was giving her directions on where to go, how to run. Helping her avoid the hunters even as it drew her inexplicably towards it.

Alice narrowly avoided stumbling as she tore the neon strips from her clothes. The last thing she wanted to do was trip and fall down a rabbit hole.

An angel of mercy stood before her with arms wide open as she broke into the clearing. Welcoming her into his arms he soothed her fear even as she held on to him like a drowning man to a rope. "Its alright." He said. "You're safe now."

She couldn't stop trembling in fear as panic gripped her with icy fingers. "They're coming. I don't know who they are but they're coming."

"I know. And I won't let them hurt you." Alice didn't know why but for some reason she believed him.

He touched her forehead and she felt a measure of sanity flow through her. She could think more clearly now.

"How did you."

He placed a finger to her lips. "Just focus on being quiet and staying hidden. I'll do the rest."

The men in black suits were filling the clearing. More than anything else Alice wanted to run but there was no where to hide. They would capture her and then it would be over.

Don't see me. Don't see me. Don't see me. She concentrated on making herself become invisible.

Alice blinked in surprise. She could still feel her body but she couldn't see it.

"That's exactly right." He said.

He was moving with an inhuman grace. His steps confident and self-assured as he went to meet them. Alice bit her lip to keep from crying out from fear. There wasn't anything merciful about him. And then she knew. Merciful to those he chose to protect he may be. But to his enemies. He was an angel of vengeance.

"Where's the girl!" Shouted Mars.

"Gone." Said Rasler. "I sent her to a place where you can't reach her."

Mars drew his knife. With an inarticulate cry of rage he launched himself at Rasler.

Rasler didn't even bother to defend himself. After all. Compared to Famran. He was moving in slow motion.

A crescent shaped flash of silver split even the lengthening shadows in two as Famran struck Mars in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. The force of blow enough to send him flying backwards.

The stillness of the night was shattered by the sound of ribs breaking and branches being torn asunder.

Mars lay in a twisted heap where he had fallen. He had been lucky enough to survive the blow, fortunate enough even, to avoid being impaled by the twisted branches of the tree he had collided with.

Perhaps fate has smiled on him. Thought Rasler as Famran returned his sword to its sheathe with a decisive click. Or perhaps not.

"Fucking . . . bastard." Struggling just to stand Mars spit out the words along with a mouthful of blood. "You should have killed me!"

Rasler dipped his fingers into the blood. Bringing them to his lips he licked them clean. "Such language. But for some reason I don't think you're truly prepared to die." He stole a second taste, all the while looking like a cat who was savoring the taste of cream. His eyes narrowing to obsidian slits he turned to face Gantz. "I suggest you collect your fallen comrades and leave this place with all due haste. Unless you wish to forfeit more than just your lives, but your humanity as well."

Gantz needed no further urging and was already helping Mars to his feet. "Your just going to let us go?"

"I have no particular fondness for death. In fact. It even serves my purposes to let you live. Far better to simply erase your minds and let the virus claim you, than add another useless corpse to the pile. However if you do wish for me to kill you." He reached inside their bodies, caressing their hearts with his power ever so slightly. "Surely there are easier ways to commit suicide."

Gantz didn't even flinch. He simply said. "Sheridan was right. You're far more dangerous than Genetech gives you credit for."

Rasler awarded him with a parting smile.

Watching as the men in suits left Alice was left trying to sort out the night's events in her mind. All she had wanted to do was go out for a little dancing, maybe meet a cute guy. And if she did take him home, give him such an orgasm that he wouldn't be able to walk in the morning.

Instead. She had suddenly found herself thrown into the leading role of a science fiction story. Complete with men in bad suits and cheesy dialog.

It has to be a bad dream. She told herself. God just let me wake up with a hangover already. She surprised herself by asking. "What the hell happened back there?"

"You wanted to disappear. I made them think it actually happened.

"Of course, it wouldn't have been half as convincing if it wasn't for your little vanishing act."

"I . . . I really went invisible didn't I?" She could hardly believe it herself.

"You did. Only, its something no human could ever do."

No human. His words struck a chord within her. "That guy Mars. He said I was infected. Infected with what?"

"A psychoreactive virus called Lunaforte Granz. It awakens the fragments of a person's most primal memories. In essence, it transforms them into something closer to that of their latent desires."

Latent desires. She's turning into a fucking chameleon! The two opposing thoughts collided in her mind.

It was impossible. Wasn't it?

Alice wanted to run and hide, to never be seen by anyone or anything again. Her hand turned the color of the grass she was touching. Her body had begun reacting to her unconscious desire to disappear.

She looked at her hand in shock. It was true. Undeniably true. "I didn't." She couldn't hold back the tears. It was to much. To overwhelming to grasp alone. "I didn't want to stop being human!"

He moved to comfort her. "But you did want to disappear."

"Into the music! Not some freaky science fiction fantasy." She was crying. She hadn't cried since she was six. And now in front of a complete stranger, she was breaking down into gasping sobs. This is too much. I just want to wake up and have someone tell me it was all a bad dream.

"If that's really what you want."

Her eyes widened in fear as she realized he had been listening to her thoughts. "You. Your." There was a look of sorrow in his eyes. An unknowable sadness that he alone had felt and yet bore in silence. Alice closed her mouth. The words 'not human' dying upon her lips. If anything, the pain in his eyes made him more human than anyone else.

"I could erase your memories of tonight if you wanted me to. It won't stop them from coming after you again. But when they do capture you. At least you'd still think you were human."

She laughed. The sound was halfway between a gasp and a sob. "No offense." She said. "But that choice really fucking sucks."

"Then perhaps I can offer you another. The same choice as the one I offered to all of them." He stretched out his hand, and when she looked out into the forest she saw the others he had been keeping hidden. The others she could help to save. "Join us."

He offered her his hand to her once more. And be free . . .

With Alice safely secreted away and Famran left to hold down the fort Rasler had felt it was time to take a trip down memory lane.

It felt strange to come back. Even it was only for a moment the memories engraved into the walls of Lost Shinjuku could hardly be called pleasant ones.

This was once a place of pain but now . . .

He wandered past trailing vines and low hanging branches that reached out for him in his passing. Sealed miles beneath the earth the virus had nowhere to go and a limited supply of humans to infect. It seemed only natural that it would adapt itself to infect whatever it could. But this, this was beyond imagining.

Lost Shinjuku had become a second ark. A new eden from which would spring a second coming of man. With this they could turn the world into a paradise for those changed by the virus.

He couldn't help but laugh as the irony of the situation overwhelmed him.

The inmates were going to run the asylum.

Sheridan rubbed the tired circles under her eyes. She had spent the last fourteen hours running an increasingly frustrating battery of tests. Despite even her best efforts she was still no closer to discovering a cure for Lunaforte Granz. And every hour that went by exponentially increased the number of possible infected.

She was tempted to infect herself in order to study the pathology of the virus on a living subject firsthand.

"That would be a very, very, bad move."

Sheridan spun around. There had been no hiss of rushing air, no comm signal from the rest of the space station. Nothing to signal that the hermetic seal on the lab door had been broken.

"You! Your!" Even without satellite imaging she would have recognized him simply from the way he stood. "Esper zero. Your the one who engineered his own escape from Lost Shinjuku and started this whole mess." She began reaching for the comm in order to alert security.

"Please. Call me Rasler." He lifted his hands in order to placate her. "And I'm not here to hurt you. So there's really no point in calling for help. It would merely shorten the time we have to talk."

Sheridan crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So talk."

"In the past six weeks Genetech's security forces have apprehended over fifty different civilians of varying sex, nationality and ethnicity. All of them had only one thing in common. They were all infected with different strains of the virus Lunaforte Granz.

"Tell me. While you were dissecting them." He took her hand and plunged it deep inside his stomach. He forced her to feel everything inside of him, from the slickness of his intestines to the gentle beating of his heart. When he spoke his words were a consummate hiss. "Did it feel good to stick your hands inside their guts?"

The illusion was so convincing, so real, that Sheridan had to struggle not to vomit. "The soldiers weren't ordered to capture them alive. When they got here, they were just corpses."

He let her go. "A comforting distinction I'm sure. But one entirely besides my point."

Sheridan stared at her hand, half expecting to see blood. He had said he wouldn't hurt her. But apparently playing mind games to get what he wanted was still on the menu.

She looked at him sideways. "Then why are you here?"

"Simple curiosity. You see, I have this overwhelming desire to know things. I suppose it must be from all the cat they put in me." He picked up a data cube from her desk. "Of course I could simply lift the information I want from your mind." The touch of his mind was feather light. He was slipping past all the mental barriers she had created in her mind as if they were simply nonexistent. But I find such methods fail to establish the connections I need to properly utilize the information.

She wasn't even reeling from the psychic contact as he left her mind. All the others espers they had created relied on simple brute force to establish a connection. Force that could be blocked with the proper mental training. Rasler had elevated psychic contact to an art form.

Sheridan had simply never realized that it could be done so subtly. The thought was something she filed away to consider. "The Steinholm effect. Your mind can only copy the information. It can't form the neural pathways associated with adaptive cognition."

He touched her on the nose. "And you even got it on the first try. I'm impressed."

"Telepathic contact, remote viewing, telekinesis and astral projection all at the same time." Her words held a breath of wonder in them. "What's the limit of your range?"

He put the data cube back on her desk. "I don't have one."

"What? But that's impossible."

"No. You only think its impossible. But thoughts aren't limited by distance. They cross even space and time. Even the vacuum of space is no real obstacle." Rasler looked out the window and stared at the endless sea of stars that surrounded them. "What matters is that there is a suitable receiver for the thoughts you transmit. Otherwise you simply drift . . . alone in an endless void with only your own thoughts for company. Its enough to drive you insane."

Sheridan watched Rasler shake himself free of a daze. It was almost as if he had done it to remind himself that he was real.

"Now. I've answered one of your questions. I'd like you to answer one of mine. What are the primary stimuli's for the psychoreactive shifts caused by Lunaforte Granz?"

"How did you?" For a second Sheridan had actually forgotten who she was talking to.

She shifted her skirt as she struggled to regain her composure. "Strong emotions, violent physical trauma or sex. Until triggered by one of these three stimuli Lunaforte Granz remains dormant in the bloodstream, producing sporadic or almost negligible shifts in the phenotype. Once someone is infected though their genotype begins to undergo a radical metamorphosis."

"They become carriers even if they themselves don't transform." I see. So the changes will be passed on through the bloodlines, regardless of whether or not Genetech manages to eradicate the virus. "And of the four strains which is the most common?"

"K-type, though some people can be infected by the B and S-types simultaneously as well. Very few candidates however have the potential to become infected by the E-type. Though not fatal E-type often overloads their minds leaving them completely comatose."

"Not completely comatose." He said. "I can still hear them."

Rasler spread himself throughout the ether, the collective unconsciousness that joined the thoughts of every human being on earth. Through it he could effect their thoughts, their memories, even their very dreams. This world stands on the edge. Pushed there by the very power of science that man sought to command.

Who will be the one to tip the scales? The humans? Or us?

Sheridan grabbed him by the arm. Her voice pleading. "Rasler, we could work together to find a cure. You could help me save them, save everyone."

The moment she touched him he knew the results of her cure would leave the world as nothing more than barren and lifeless husk. "One of my companions is pregnant. Soon I will be her Adam and she my Eve." His words left her shaken to the core. "The birth of a new race is upon us all." He smiled as he let her feel his pride in knowing that he was soon to become a father. "I just thought you should know that."

As Rasler left he placed a glass container on her desk. A parting token of farewell it contained a completely unknown strain of the virus. The infected subject.

Was a plant.

As Sheridan analyzed the newly discovered strain of the virus she came to a disturbing conclusion. The virus had already mutated beyond its original delivery vectors.

For a moment she considered the plant Rasler had left behind. Originally it had begun as a simple fern. A common filicinae. Now however, it was capable of producing bioluminescense. A truly unparalleled leap forward in evolution.

The question was. Just how much more would it continue to evolve if the virus ran unchecked?

"Activate audio journal." The words 'recording' flashed briefly across her computer screen. "According to the original development records Lunaforte Granz had been specifically engineered to be a pathogen capable of adapting itself to its hosts cells in order to be transferred through touch alone. It was specifically designed so that it would only be able to infect humans. This new strain however, is already capable of infecting not just plant life, but animals and even insects as well. Even without being airborne this new strain could render the world uninhabitable to uninfected humans within months.

"In order to build a complete model of the virus' life cycle there's only one choice. I need to see the source of the outbreak for myself."

Time felt Rasler. Was quickly running out. Through the exponential growth of his psychic abilities he had come to grasp the future. His mind traveling amongst its many branches, traversing its unknown flows.

To set the wheels of fate in motion and grasp the future he desired he had gathered them from across the world. The wretched and the damned. The blessed and the cursed. Those who had been irrevocably altered by the virus. Their lives changed forever.

Through no fault of their own Genetech Industries had condemned them to oblivions cold embrace. And he in turn had set out to correct their mistake.

Rasler stood before his people. And though they were of different forms. Some lean as wolves, others with falcons wings. Still their hearts were united as one.

He let his voice roll out over them like rising thunder. "Let us engrave a new dawn upon man's history! Today begins the rise of a new world along with a new race." He sent his words across the world. To every one changed and not. "Neo-Sapiens!"

Sheridan was amazed that Genetech's board of director's had so readily agreed to her request to reopen Lost Shinjuku. Seeing as how they had already begun using the newly completed space elevator to evacuate key members and their families to the various colonies already in orbit. They had even seen fit to provide her with access codes that allowed her to move throughout the facility completely undetected.

Sheridan stumbled as Rasler's words suddenly entered her mind. A terrible realization gripping her soul. "We have to get out of here." She was running for the entrance, ignoring the stares she was receiving from her research colleagues. "Don't you understand. Genetech! They're going to retaliate!"

"Your right about that Doc." Mars had just finished calibrating the blast radius of a Stone Burner. A nuclear warhead capable of burning its way through to the earth's core. "We do need to get out of here."

She stared at the bomb in horror. "Do you have any idea what that thing will do to the Earth? To the environment?"

"Not really our problem now is it. Seeing as how only the infected humans will be killed. While the rest of us are all safe up in space."

Sheridan couldn't believe what she was hearing. Genetech intended to commit genocide. Not just of an entire species. But of an entire world.

"You can't do this! If that thing goes off there won't be a world left!" Sheridan paused as the pieces fell into place. "Its what they want. They'll blame the escaped augments for the destruction. And with the earth in chaos they'll offer themselves up as saviors. Genetech will effectively rule what ever is left."

Mars shrugged as if he really didn't care what Genetech did. As far as he was concerned as long as they let him have his fun they could do whatever they wanted.

"Now. The way I see it. You have two choices." He had begun licking the blade of his knife. "You can either come with me willingly. And we can get to know each other more intimately." Sheridan could feel him undressing her with his eyes, violating her with thought of what he was about to do. "Or I can just leave you here as a corpse. Either way I get to have my fun."

She began to back up slowly. Trying to create some distance between them. "You sick bastard."

He laid the knife against her throat. "You won't be saying that when I start. Instead you'll be telling me how good it feels as I plunge myself into you." He whispered softly in her ear. "Make sure you scream for me."

Mars started to cut away her blouse. Only. The blade didn't stop when he wanted it to. Instead it continued on its way until he was holding it against his own arm.

"What the fuck!" Yelled Mars as he began to cut himself, spilling a line of crimson onto the earth.

"Trash like you." Said a familiar voice. Rasler seemed to appear in front of him as if conjured from out of nowhere. "Doesn't belong in this world."

There was a brief flash of realization in Mars eyes. But it was gone and then forgotten as he slumped to the ground like a puppet who's strings had been cut.

"Rasler you."

"Can teleport? What can I say, its a gift."

He stooped to examine the bomb. Flipping a switch revealed a countdown with exactly two hours left on it. Sheridan's heart skipped a beat when he said. "Should I cut the red wire or the blue wire. I can never remember which it is."

She grabbed him by the arm. "Listen to me. You fiddle with that thing and you could set it off. Not to mention the only one who knows how to disarm it is dead."

"Hmm. Good point. Even I can't lift memories from a dead man. Guess there's no other choice." He lifted the Stone Burner into the air and began to bridge space and time around himself. Smiling as if to say farewell Rasler said. "Don't worry. I'll take it to a place so far away."

"But there could be others. Hundreds if not thousands."

"Show me the areas most likely to be targeted with your mind. I can't promise we'll reach all of them in time. But we'll do the best we can."

"We?"

The comatose espers were awake and teleporting in to stand by his side. "You didn't think I'd try and save the world all by myself did you?"

Together the espers gathered them from across the globe. Taking each of them to a place beyond the reach of mortal men. Leaving them to drift in the space between the Earth and the moon. For they could take them that far, and no further.

Their task completed they returned to safety. And turning their eyes to the heavens, though each of them saw something different, wept for the dying of an age.

The Stone Burners exploded as one, and for a brief shining moment two stellar novas burned with a celestial light. Twin suns there were in the sky, each heralding the dawning of a new day.

The Earth. Had narrowly avoided catastrophe.

This however. Is what they saw . . .

Amidst the endless stars Rasler stood still, watching as a solemn moon gazed softly upon a suffering world. Its surface scarred by the callous cruelty of the unknown few.

As if silently rejecting its own children it turned the fury of its storms upon those who sought to shelter themselves in its embrace.

Instead, those that would survive would be the ones who buried themselves deep. So deep that the anger and sorrow of a world scorned would be unable to reach them.

Humans had sown the wind. And even now they sought to escape it.

From her cabin aboard the space elevator Sheridan watched as the flames of judgment scorched the Earth. It was a cataclysm beyond any that had ever happened in history.

Rasler had succeeded in preventing the complete destruction of the planet. But at a terrible price.

The combined force of the Stone Burner detonations was already pushing the moon into a new orbit. Soon the oceans would shift in their endless slumber, waking those mountains that still dreamed of a world that was no more.

The land itself would change as the elemental forces unleashed by man shaped them anew. The Earth would go on. But to those humans who survived. It would no longer be the world that they knew.