Oh, she didn't mind her rank -- she was striving to reach a goal, however out of reach it might be -- but Elly wasn't sure the rank of Element was worth all of this trouble. Vance was bad enough by himself, but the others...... They weren't blatantly disrespectful, but she thought she had a better chance ot being treated fairly down in the Third Class levels.

The way she walked, the long path of the ship she strode through, was dark. Three Solarian Guards flanked her, and two more led her down the path they had chosen, never saying a word to her no matter how hard she tried to make them speak. They might as well have been robots, and all that convinced her they were human was the sound of their breathing.

Corridor after metal corridor went by, looking the same to her eyes. This place she was in...... was it the Ezekiel?...... was worse than Etrenank. It felt so empty...... It was like walking through a tomb, or down the maw of a dead seasnake. Nothing changed, nothing made a sound. Even the lights seemed subdued, in some way.

Why am I here? Elly wondered, trying to ignore her bleak surroundings. What have I done? What do they want from me?

The Gazel Ministry was, as a whole, reclusive. She knew the legend of what had happened in the Diabalos War, though she couldn't imagine quite how they had survived, and she didn't see why they would bother to summon her like this. Why should they care about her? She wasn't the first person to have a hyper-reaction to her first dosage of Drive.

But you're the first one to kill and injure so many people in so little time...... Elly shook her head violently until she managed to dislodge the thought, not caring what the guards might think. It wasn't their job to think -- just to escort her.

Oh, how she envied them......

"Here."

Elly jumped at the harsh, tinny voice that emanated from the Captain's helmet, and stopped dead in her tracks. A large, plain metal door barred her way, unadorned save for the emblem of Solaris, emblazoned across the surface in thin and colorless lines.

The Gazel Ministry...... They're behind this door. An unreasoning fear took root in her soul. I've...... I've been here before.

No, no...... she had never been here before. What was she thinking? Even the command staff of Gebler rarely set foot on this ship, whatever it was; they were never summoned before the Board of Gazel. That was what was creating this fear...... why did they want her? Her, a lowly Captain aspiring to the Element class?

Something was wrong with this picture......

"Enter."

Her head snapped up as the sonorous voice echoed through the hallway from nowhere. The emblem on the door before her began to glow with soft red and white light, each line coming to life until it seemed she was looking at something living, and heavenly. But rather than filling her with warmth, or even pride, as she would have imagined, it only filled her stomach with an icy dread.

I...... have...... been here before......

A black line interposed itself over the symbol and it parted, becoming two massive doors swinging outward with ponderous grace. Deep, fathomless blackness welled out of the room.

Some said 'black' was the absence of light...... but they didn't truly know what they were saying. The room beyond the door was a vast nothingness; and as she stepped inside, she realized in that moment that 'absence of light' was only the beginning.

"Step forward, Elehayym." The soft voice sent a chill down her spine.

The doors closed behind her, leaving her alone in the pitch black of the room. The voice...... She did as she had been told, walking forward a few more steps before stopping, unsure where to go. The silence, even the air in the room pressed down on her with almost tangible force, and she had the fleeting sensation of being pressed into the floor by an oppressive hand......

No, not a hand...... A low, unidentifiable humming had crept up in the silence, so insidious she had not noticed it until now. It...... pulsed, getting louder every second, grinding above her head and echoing throughout the chamber. Something seemed wrong with it, and she wished the voice would speak to her again, so she would know this wasn't a dream.

But it was too strange to be a dream, she had to admit......

"So you have answered our summons, 'Elly'. We had assumed you would evade our presence."

Her eyes darted up, toward what she thought was the source of the voice. She saw nothing; only the sonorous tones, identical to what she had heard outside the door, fell upon her ears. It was all she could grasp to assure herself she had not died, or fallen into the abyss of space.

"I...... I don't understand......" she managed, sensing the speaker wanted an answer from her.

"So you would wish us to believe," another said, its tone only slightly different than the last. "Forgive us if we doubt your word."

Elly raised her head to search the blackness for a sign of who she was speaking to, and blinked rapidly as a diffuse, yet bright spotlight shone down, bathing her in a sphere of illumination. No sign of the speakers.

Doubt my word? What are they talking about?

"You have been called here for your deeds, Elehayym. We require you speak the truth."

"Why have you released your power? Why have you revealed yourself so soon? Your corresponding half is not yet ready."

"What......?" She shook her head, letting her eyes fall. "I...... I'm sorry, but I still don't understand what you want from me......" The sensation of having done this before washed over her again, more strongly this time. What are they talking about? My...... other half? "I...... I have no power."

"It is quite obvious you possess power, 'Elly'. We wish to know why you have released it. Why do you constrain your nature?"

"Three deaths......"

She turned her face to the soft voice, and watched apprehensively as the carrier of the voice revealed himself, by means of another spotlight.

Him...... It's...... him...... He stood on a platform far above her, adorned as always in his simple medical uniform. He gazed down at her expressionlessly, only a small glint in his eyes hinting at his feelings.

Feelings she almost understood......

"Three deaths," Krelian repeated in his quiet voice, "can be laid on your hands. Two fatalities approximately ten seconds after your initial ether burst......"

"Stop!" His form blurred in her vision. He said...... She shook her head again more violently, silently pleading with him to stop. "I didn't do it! I didn't! How could I?" His cold stare did not change, but he fell silent. She lowered her eyes again, staring at her feet, though they were blurred beyond recognition by her tears. "I'm not even all that talented......"

"You do not know your own potential, Elehayym."

"Perhaps we were wrong in our judgement. But be assured that we will watch you, regardless."

Krelian's platform descended, depositing him no more than three yards awa from Elly, only a few feet above the ground. "You will be required to pledge yourself again. It is the procedure, under such circumstances."

A flicker. Just that, and his eyes were mirrors again, letting nothing out, and allowing nothing in. Elly stared for a moment, wondering what it was supposed to mean.

Nothing. I'm just daydreaming...... She nodded once, hesitantly, and lowered herself to one knee to pledge her vows of loyalty.

But she couldn't help feeling a pinprick of...... doubt......


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