SC...... the Soylent Center, a foundation sponsored by the big commercial conglomorate of Etrenank. It had a good reputation for what it did -- research and scientific discoveries were constantly streaming out of its laboratories, but......

Elly shivered, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. They didn't take recovering patients. Their services were for the terminally ill, based on experimentation as they were. And sometimes...... their services weren't even meant for the living. Word had it they got a steady stream of cadavers and Third-class demi-humans. It was only a rumor from Jugend, but still......

But I should stop listening to rumors from the students there. I couldn't avoid it when I was still attending the classes, but now there's no reason for me to listen to their little fantasies. All that mattered was that she didn't think she would be seeing Jen again. Her lip hurt from so much pressure, and she knew the marks of her teeth were plain, but she still bit down hard, wishing the pain would wash away the more nebulous emotions welling up inside of her.

Elly slowed her walk to a crawling pace, staring down the empty street. It was long past sunset, and even the myriad lights and soft illumination from the moon didn't brighten the place much. She was moving along through a tunnel of shadows, passing the dwellings of her neighbors silently, even though a few waved to her from beyond the gates.

She felt like her entire life had suddenly deepened into twilight. Not the twilight of death, but the deepening shadows of despair...... just like in the books, the movies...... It was almost as if she were living a story, or one of the many ancient, tragic myths of the surface people, and she was trapped on her path......

Just like the characters of the legends were trapped on theirs.

There was a story she remembered from her childhood...... it had been such a sad poem, of a girl who had met her soul mate in the light of dawn. But the girl was an angel, and her time on the earth was very brief; she was confined to the hours of sunlight, and not even true love could break those bonds.

Elly walked through the gates of her home, shuffling across the yard.

When the girl told her soul mate her secret, he had been sure there was some way to breaks her bonds to heaven. But before they had the chance to try, their lives were threatened, and the girl sacrified her earthly body to save his life.

She stopped before the front door, turning back to glance at the full moon.

They say the two lovers still walk the earth, one at night and one during the day...... and they can only see each other just before the sun sets. She opened the door and stepped inside, closing it gently behind her. But just before they can touch...... she disappears......

"Elly, are you busy?"

She looked up from her book, and beckoned for her mother to come in. "Do you need help with something?" Please, give me something to do......

"Not exactly." Her mother nudged the door closed with her heel and sat down at the foot of her bed, hugging a large, rather old volume to her chest. "I know you've been...... depressed...... lately, and I thought a little distraction might not be amiss."

Elly shrugged and set her textbook aside, interest beginning to peek through the layers of shadow that seemed to block out everything pleasant. Besides, she wasn't all that fond of genetics. Why hadn't they forced her through it in Jugend, and not now?

Medena smiled, and took Elly's action as a signal to begin. "While I was straightening the books at the library yesterday I found this old book in the wrong section." She set it on the bed, opening it slightly to count the pages to her marked spot. "It was supposed to be in the back room dedicated to studies about Ignas, but as I began looking through it, I found something I thought you might like." She found her place and opened the book, reversing it so Elly could see it right-side-up.

One of the pages was a caption, written in an archaic toungue she thought she almost recognized, though it wasn't anything she had ever learned in Solaris. She leaned forward to take a closer look, but before she could puzzle it out, the portrait embossed on the opposite page caught her eye.

"I saw this, and naturally I thought of you." Medena smiled. "The shade of her hair is a little different, but she looks just like you......"

It looked like her......? It was like looking into a mirror! The girl in the painting was sitting in a plain chair, hands clasped in her lap, swathed in a white dress, a cross hanging from her neck...... Her smile was positively haunting. Elly took the book from her mother's hands, fascinated.

"She's a saint in Nisan, I think. I haven't studied Ignas in quite awhile. But she was the leader of the rebellion just before the Diabolos Invasion. I think her name is even in official records somewhere....... newspapers, maybe. I can't quite remember it......"

Elly blinked, running her fingers across the paper.

"Why so quiet Lacan? Is the light getting too bad to continue today?"

"No......" Lacan shrugged, grinning nervously, or so it seemed to her. She smiled, and he seemed to become more flustered. "It's just...... uh...... well, isn't it almost time for services? Mother Sophia can't be late......"

"Of course......" His sheepish grin was warming her heart. She broke her pose and stood......

"Yes, I think Mother Sophia is it." Her mother patted her hand. "You must have a better head for history than I do."

Elly tore her eyes away from the portrait, feeling a bit lightheaded. The ghostly, fathomless pain was back, but unlike the feeling the Drive had inflicted, this one was softer, gentler...... bitter, like tears......

"Thank you, Mom." She smiled, placing the book carefully to the side, atop her textbook. "I think I'd like to read through this, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead. It isn't even listed in the computer, so no one'll miss it." Medena leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Be sure to get some sleep tonight. I don't want you to make yourself sick before you even get your command back."

"I will, don't worry."

Her mother departed, discreetly closing the door behind her, and Elly turned back to the book.

Sophia? Where did that come from......?

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