[leksbronks]

Ok here it is, the fan fiction I've been working on lately. It's not finished, but it's turning out to be pretty big so I'm just going to start posting what I've got and add new chapters as I write them. Of course, helpful feedback is always appreciated. I'm not surewhat the text limit is for a single post, so I may have to make several posts to get them all in, sorry for that - I'm not trying to hammer the site or anything. Also, it does have some strong language and graphic descriptions, so please be forewarned (though since it is Dead Space, I don't think anyone here will really mind). Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter 1

"I love you, Isaac. I've always loved you."

The soft, iridescent glow of the holomonitor bathed the cabin in its eerie blue light as Isaac watched Nicole's final message for the last time. He had seen it so many times before, but now that he had personally witnessed the inevitable outcome of her actions and finally accepted the fact that there was no hope in ever seeing her again, her haunting words now only seemed to reflect his own intense sorrow and became far too much to bear. Unable to watch it any further, Isaac lowered his head and pressed the the 'delete' key. As the grim imagery flickered off the screen and the panel faded off, he once again became blanketed in the infinite blackness of space, with only the stars twinkling in the distance to light his way.

"Nicole... oh, Nicole..."

Inside he was devastated, but still caught in the grip of fear and shock of the scenario he had just barely escaped, he found himself unable to outwardly grieve. He could only sink limply into the pilot's seat, staring disconcertingly out into space, barely breathing. He sat motionless in the deathly silence that surrounded him for a length of time before he became distracted by a quiet scratching sound coming from the back of the cabin. Perturbed, he turned around to see what it was - and without warning was tackled by a necromorph, apparently having managed to escape aboard the vessel with him.

Isaac instinctively jumped to his feet and grappled the vicious creature, trying to force it to the floor. He panicked as he realized he had already removed his helmet, and was now dangerously vulnerable to the necromorph's flailing attacks. In the chaos that ensued, he failed to find his plasma cutter and resigned himself to attempting to kill it with his bare hands. The cabin was nearly pitch black, and he was unable to determine what sort of necromorph it was - was it a Lurker? Would he eventually feel the lethal injection of its spear-tipped tentacles lodged deep into his backside? Would he be decapitated by the razor sharp barbs of a Slasher? Or was it something worse?

Terrified, Isaac gripped the monster by it's disfigured throat and slammed it into the controls, damaging the panel and causing several onboard warning alarms to sound throughout the cabin. He felt the necromorph wrap itself around him and the two toppled to the floor. Isaac tried desperately to wrestle the creature beneath him and immobilize it with his weight, but the creature proved to be far more powerful than he expected, and his strength was waning quickly. He could feel its slimy, mutated hands gripping around him, drawing him closer to its stinking, gaping maw and though he resisted with all his might, Isaac sensed that he was losing. The muscles in his arms, strained and overworked, began to quiver uncontrollably against the force, and he could hear the necromorph's gagging groans getting closer to his ears. The harder he tried to get free, the more the beast tightened its grip, wrapping itself around him like a snake, slowly squeezing the life and resolve out of him.

Just when it seemed he could stand no more and was about to give in, Isaac's left arm gave way beneath him and he rolled to the side, momentarily freeing himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his one chance for survival - a nearby protruding panel had been knocked out of place by the tussle, and it's thin sharp edge gave him an idea. As the necromorph regained ground and lunged at him, he deftly grabbed it by the torso, rolled over with it and slammed it into the panel's edge. The gelatinous, decomposing flesh of the necromorph's shoulder gave way easily, impaling it in place. This caused the creature to emit a deafening shriek that sounded eerily human.

As the immobilized necromorph writhed in pain and tried to break free of it's predicament, it released it's grip on Isaac and he quickly dragged himself to safety on the other side of the cabin. Exhausted, heart racing, Isaac searched all around until he finally managed to locate his cutter. He quickly loaded it, took aim at the necromorph and with a shaking wrist, pulled the trigger and fired. Again the creature emitted a humanistic scream of agony, and it took Isaac a long moment before he came to a horrifying realization - he recognized the voice coming from the necromorph.

"No..."

Frozen with apprehension, he just stared into the dark towards the monster dangling from the steel panel, now bereft of it's right arm and bleeding profusely as a result of Isaac's shot. After a few minutes, it finally stopped screaming and was now just quietly whimpering in agony. Isaac reached up to the sparking control deck and activated the interior cabin lights. As the entire room illuminated, he became sickened and horrified as he could now plainly see who the creature once was.

It was Nicole.

Isaac, stunned, just stared at the bloody abomination across from him, not knowing what he was going to do. Having realized who it was, he no longer had the desire to destroy it, but understood that he could not allow it to live. He was confounded. Against his better judgment, he slowly made his way across the floor on his knees towards the mangled creature, it's weakening condition becoming apparent as it movements became more and more sluggish. Mortified and heartbroken, he focused on the remains of Nicole's face rather than it's deadly, mutated appendage, reached up and gently cupped her head with his hands. In a broken voice he pleaded to the creature, refusing more and more to recognize it's malevolent nature, as it lay gagging and hanging limp from the panel that immobilized it.

"Nicole... why...? Why did you do it? If you would have waited for me..."

He looked deep into her eyes, which were now deep, black pits of decomposed flesh, and slowly, gently touched his forehead to hers. It was all he could do, to hope against hope that Nicole wasn't actually dead; that somehow, somewhere deep down inside the poor, twisted, ravaged creature before him was some small shred, one tiny remnant left of the woman he had loved. The distorted figure began to shake convulsively as blood poured profusely from its severed limb, pooling out across the cabin floor with thick, black tar like viscosity. But Isaac, guilt-stricken, hardly noticed. All he could see was Nicole, writing in agony before him as a result of his own actions. He leaned forward, gently removed the necromorph from off the panel, and holding her in his lap, gently kissed the side of what was once her cheek. In his delusion he didn't feel the charred, blackened flesh on his lips; he only felt the soft, supple skin as he remembered it, burned forever into his memory. As he held her in his embrace, he gently wiped the blood and matted hair from around her face, rocking her back and forth. He could feel the creature's remaining arm touch him, slowly hugging around him in what he imagined was an anemic attempt to reciprocate the affection he felt for her. Gradually, his heart rate slowed, his muscles relaxed and a calm serenity came over him. Caught in the moment of some beautiful memory, Isaac closed his eyes and smiled within himself, glad that he could at least be with her during her final moments as he had always hoped.

It took him a minute before he came to a growing awareness of a warm, metallic taste becoming prominent on the tip of his tongue. All of a sudden, he found his mouth was filled with blood, quickly followed by a sharp, excruciating pain sliding into his belly from the front to the back. Alarmed, he opened his eyes and saw the sad, mournful gaze was now lost from Nicole's eyes, hastily replaced with intense, growing fury. Her face darkened, her eyes began to glow a deep, dark red. Isaac then looked down to see why he was feeling such terrible pain, and saw the long, spear like talon of her remaining arm buried deep within his abdomen. A cold, tingling sensation across the small of his back suggested that it had emerged through the other side. Unable to speak through the blood, he just mouthed the words.

"What.... what are you doing?"

The necromorph, with returned strength, rapidly withdrew its arm, leaving Isaac wavering briefly on his knees. A large hole, several inches in diameter, now extended all the way through the lower portion of his body, clear enough to see through from one side to the other before it began to expel massive amounts of blood and internal organs. With the flesh, bone and muscle now completely removed, Isaac was no longer able to support his weight, and he toppled over backwards onto the floor. His vision began to dim, but he could almost make out the necromorph as it managed to climb up onto his chest with its one good arm. It stared hard into his quickly dilating eyes for a moment before it's jaw split in two and pushed outward, revealing countless rows of serrated fangs. The creature reared up in preparation to feast, and with his last conscious thought Isaac simply whispered voicelessly through bloodied lips.

"I'm glad it's you."

[leksbronks]

Chapter 2
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"Sir, we have visual on Crew Shuttle USG-09, approaching from the starboard side. Estimated time of contact, 6 minutes."

Lieutenant Chen spotted the distant, shadowy mass of a small boarding vessel, inactive and freefloating, as the USM warship slowly approached it. Captain Sarius and his crew listened to the soft klaxon beep of a distress signal sounding through the communications array, growing louder as they drew closer to the lame vessel. He looked out the front window, then turned to address the pilot.

"Alright, this looks like it. Hail it."

The pilot immediately punched up a few commands on the control panel, staring intently at the response screen, and spoke into the transmitter.

"USG-09, this is the crew of the USM Credence, responding to your distress signal; please reply."

After a few moments, he tried again.

"USG-09, this is the crew of the USM Credence. We are responding to your distress signal; please reply."

The pilot turned around to face the Captain.

"No response sir."

Sarius nodded, his focus fixed on the darkened ship looming larger as they closed in.

"Maybe their comms are down. Lieutenant, run a remote diagnostics scan on their systems. I wanna know what's wrong with that thing."

"Yes, sir."

Chen turned to the control panel and activated a few more systems functions, watching as the orange holoscreens spilled forth nearly endless lines of data for several moments, then finally broke.

"Main engines down... Gravity boosters inoperable... communications functions offline... life support minimal... port boosters unresponsive. Captain, looks like just about the only thing working on board that ship in full capacity is the distress communications line."

Sarius assessed Chen's report, rubbed the scruff of his chin.

"Any life signs detected?"

Chen paused briefly, the orange glow of the control panels bathing his face in its eerie light.

"Not sure. I'm picking up something, but its really faint. It might be someone on board, or we could just be reading transient static from the disruptors."

"OK, people, we're gonna try to dock with it. Lieutenant, I want the autodock prepped immediately. If the systems aboard that ship are down, find a way to remote pilot it."

Chen nodded, and called up the docking command sequence. Within moments, multiple gravity tethers extended from the Credence's hull, suspended in the vast emptiness of space like spider's threads. The pilot then attempted to remote activate the systems of the target vessel, but to no avail.

"... Looks like their autodock operation system is malfunctioning as well. I can't line it up to establish a connection."

The Captain glanced out the window, surveying the events outside the ship and muttering under his breath.

"Shit. Well, looks like we're gonna have to jump it."

"But the vessel's at least 200 feet away. Can't we get a little closer?"

The pilot behind Chen shook his head.

"No... Too risky. If the docking sensors on their ship aren't operating properly, we might slam into them."

The Captain nodded.

"We'll have to jump it. That means you, Chen."

Chen gave an annoyed smirk, donned his helmet, and positioned himself near the decompression hatch.

"Ah, man - I hate this friggin' shit."

The Captain took no amusement in his quandary.

"Don't worry, you'll be tethered to the Credence. Just make a straight jump for it, and you should make it with no problem. We'll be right behind you. Everyone, helmets on."

Chen, along with two other crew members and the Captain, climbed into the decompression chamber, attaching tethers to their suits. The lone remaining pilot at the helm sealed the inside hatch with a few button clicks, and set the outside hatch open sequence.

"Prepare for decompression in five, four, three, two, one..."

The outside hatch soundlessly opened into the vast fold of space, and one by one the Credence crew members drifted out onto the side of the ship. Once they were lined up, with Sarius coming up last, he motioned toward the darkened vessel, now floating directly above their position.

"OK Chen, you first. Secure the tether to the ship, and we'll follow."

Chen took a deep breath - no matter how many times he had been exposed to the dark vacuum of space on these missions, he never could quite get used to the disorientation immediately felt at first. With no sense of direction or depth, the shapeless, endless universe surrounding him always made him feel like a goldfish being sloshed around in a plastic bag. Aiming for the widest area of cover on the target vessel, Chen took aim, bent his knees and pressed off the side of the USM Credence.

It took him longer than he expected to reach the USG-09; in fact at one point he began to worry if he had overshot it, somehow missed it, until he suddenly saw the side of the vessel's hull closing in on him quickly. The Captain's voice cut in on his suit's communications receiver.

"Careful, Chen, you're moving pretty fast."

Chen extended his arms out before him and laxed his elbows a little to absorb the shock as he made contact with the side of the ship. His speed was greater than he had anticipated, and before he could get his gravity boots to lock down on the metal panel properly, he slammed into it and slid down the side a few feet.

"Ah, shit!"

Fumbling, Chen finally managed to attach his grav boots to the ship's skin and stop his sideways descent. Once stabilized, he grabbed the tether still trailing behind him and secured it to a gravity noose protruding from the vessel.

"OK, we're clear. Come on over."

One by one, the Captain and remaining crew sidled along the tether until they reached the ship. Once all were stabilized by grav boots on the side of the vessel, the Captain radioed back to the Credence.

"Alright Corporal, open the hatch."

After a brief delay, the outside hatch of the USG-09 sprung open, the men detached their tethers and clamored into the decompression chamber. As initiation sequence completed, the inside hatch popped open and the soldiers slowly made their way inside the vessel. The first thing they noticed was that the entire ship was covered in darkness - with the exception of the faded, blinking light of the activated distress beacon, there were no lights or signs of life. Sarius turned on his helmet-mounted flashlight, and prompted the other soldiers to do the same.

"Well, this looks promising."

They peered around the ship, the flashlights and aqueous green glow of their helmets' visors cutting through the layers of freefloating dust as they examined the darkened interior. Chen approached the front of the ship, stopping right behind the back of the pilot's chair and took note of the damage all around.

"Sir, it appears to be empty.. nothing but some moderate damage to the controls..."

Chen was suddenly startled as a hand flopped out from the pilot's seat, brushing his arm. Caught completely off guard, Chen yelped, immediately pulled his arm back and flipped around to face whoever was still in the chair.

"Hey, freeze!"

Chen aimed his flashlight at the pilot's chair, and gasped as the light broke the darkness to reveal a human figure - a man bent over in the seat, lying with his arms strewn across the control panel. He was weak, barely alive. The figure was dressed in a weathered, bloodied CEC engineer's uniform, the RIG unit upon his back critically empty and repetitively blinking with a feint red glow. A dented helmet lay lopsided against the base of the chair on the floor. The man's fingers twitched intermittently, and it was apparent he was drifting in and out of consciousness. Chen's eyes widened.

"Captain! We've got a survivor over here!"

[leksbronks]

Chapter 3, part 1 (sorry, I hit the text limit!)
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A cold, aged hand reached out and activated the transcript recording device in the center of the table, immediately followed by an equally cold, robotically emotionless voice.

"CEC Investigation Committee Meeting, under Galactic Government Section C019 - Interview of CEC Detainee #55613 on the matter of the Kellion / Ishimura Repair Mission, dated 11/25/2356."

The hand slid back across the table and came to rest before a large, decorative grey-veined marble ashtray. The spindly fingers wrapped around a half-smoked cigarette, tapping it gently against the side if the ashtray, and brought it towards the lips of a rather grim looking older woman, dressed in the standard clinical white administrative uniform adorned with the CEC logo embroidered over the chest indicating her role as a senior Administration Counselor. Her dark green eyes, framed in ancient crows' feet and dehydrated, spotted skin appeared colder than the vast darkness of space that was visible through the thin slit windows rounding the interrogation room. The old, almost homely-looking woman took a deep drag of the cigarette through pale, wrinkled lips, paused for a moment to relish it, then exhaled it out in a puff of second-hand smoke that permeated the room. Her ice-cold eyes stared hard across the table at the person she was addressing.

"Let's get started. Please state your name and position for the record."

The addressee, dressed in a drab grey medical patient's uniform and slouching uncomfortably in the chair across the table from the old woman, glanced nervously around at all the empty, unsmiling faces that surrounded him - the faces of various council members and medical staff of the CEC - then drifted back to the Counselor. After a moment of hesitation, he replied.

".....Isaac Clarke... Lead Systems Engineer, Concordance Extraction Corporation."

He couldn't help but notice how his voice echoed off the steel walls of the room, reflecting back upon him with a lifelessness that sent a shiver down his spine, as if he were listening to his own dead body replying to him. The surrounding entourage remained silent and still as stone. There was a long pause, and then the woman continued.

"Now, Mr. Clarke... We just need to ask you some questions regarding your recent dispatch aboard the Kellion repair crew to the USG Ishimura. It has come to our attention that there were some... aberrations... in the discourse of the duty of your crew."

The woman's glare fell to a small stack of papers piled up in front of her. Her eyes scanned through the scrawled, hand-written notes for a minute before looking back up at Isaac.

"So... we understand that the Kellion did in fact make contact with the Ishimura. Tell us about what happened there."

"Well... what do you want to know?"

"Let's start at the beginning. Why don't you tell us who was present with you first?"

"It was myself... Kendra Daniels... Captain Zach Hammond... and two other Corporals, I don't remember who they were. I hadn't met them previous to the mission."

The woman quickly jotted down a scribbled, illegible note in the corner of her paperwork.

"And the USG Ishimura... in what condition did you find it?"

Isaac shifted a little in his seat.

"It was locked in orbit around Aegis7. It appeared to be fine from the outside, but when we tried to hail them, we were unable to receive a response. We assumed their transmitting encoder device was malfunctioning, so we docked with it and got on board to find out what was wrong."

"And did you find out what the problem was?"
"Well, once we got on board, we found there were more problems than we anticipated. Almost every system aboard the ship was either down or suspended."

"And what about the crew? Did you find anyone on board?"

Isaac paused, took a small breath.

"Well, I guess we found the crew, if you could call them that."

The Counselor blinked, not one glance left the pages spread out before her.

"You're referring to the Necromorphs? You believe these creatures were actually the crew members?"

"Something like that."

"Yes... well, we've received some sporadic reports on these... Necromorphs. We're not exactly sure what they are, or where they come from, but it has been suggested by some that they are somehow related to the planet. What do you think?"

Isaac shrugged.

"Seems logical to me. After all, its that Marker they wanted in the first place."

"The Marker..."

The old woman mouthed the words quietly in a way that seemed almost haunting to Isaac. Her mind drifted from the conversation for a moment, then returned.

"You've briefly mentioned the Kendra Daniels situation; that you believe she was... part of some covert plan to use your team in the retrieval of the Marker for the government's purposes. Could you elaborate on that for us?"

Isaac became very aware of a growing discomfort in the back of his mind as she probed deeper. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Look, I've answered your questions two, three times already. You all have been interrogating me for days. I don't understand why I have to keep repeating myself -"

The woman immediately raised her hand in a condescendingly dismissive manner, and with the other hand ground out her finished cigarette in the ashtray.

"Please, Mr. Clarke. Just... indulge us for a moment."

Isaac sighed, knowing he had no choice. The Counselor was not asking politely so much as she was conservatively demanding from him.

"I already told you. Kendra Daniels was apparently some kind of undercover agent, secretly sent with us to retain the Marker. She told me everything once we were on the Colony. Hammond and I were originally under the impression that she was assigned to us as a computer systems specialist, but in the end she was responsible for the deaths of both Hammond and Kyne, who knows who else - as well as a botched attempt to steal the Marker and leave the planet."

At his statement, the Counselor finally glanced up from her papers in his direction.

"A plan that was "botched" by you?"

"I had to stop her. It was obvious that whatever lives in that planet wanted the Marker back. I couldn't just let her take it away."

She nodded, digesting the hint of aggravation in his voice, then returned her focus to her paperwork.

"That's quite a bold claim, Mr. Clarke. You're basically accusing Ms. Daniels of treason against the CEC as a conspirator in an intergalactic government plan to take control of a holy relic."

Isaac scoffed under his breath.

"Holy relic."

The Counselor noted the tone of disdain and scribbled another unreadable note next to her previous one, then continued.

"What happened to Ms. Daniels, then?"

Isaac sighed. He was not very fond of where this was going.

"She's dead. She was killed when the... the Hive Mind slammed into her."

Isaac choked the last word short, apprehensive to continue. It felt childishly awkward calling the beast by it's human nickname, almost absurd in how hollow and misleading the title really was. As deep as the terrifying memory was ingrained in his mind's eye, he still couldn't help but feel somewhat foolish, unable to properly express the gravity of the situation with the words and names at his disposal. The Counselor lowered her pen and folded her hands.

"The Hive Mind? Sounds like a lot happened down there, Mr. Clarke. We understand you have been extremely loyal to the CEC, with motive to protect our cause, but we do have the greatest faith in that you are in fact giving us the details... in truth."

Isaac's eyes widened a bit and he sat up in his seat.

"Are you accusing me of something? It didn't happen like that."

The Counselor relaxed at Isaac's suddenly alarmed tone.

"There's no reason to get defensive, Mr. Clarke. We're not accusing you of anything; we are simply making a standard inquiry. We currently have no reason to assume this was in any way your fault."

The Counselor fell silent, and Isaac slowly, hesitantly, relaxed his shoulders. Thrown off by her sudden deviation in questioning, he was now fully on guard against her. The silence was broken as the Counselor's voice sounded again.

"Your commanding officer, Zach Hammond, as you've previously mentioned, was killed on the Colony?"

"No, he died on the Ishimura. By one of those things you folks jovially dub as 'Necromorphs'."

"Ah, yes, that's right. Do you think he had anything to do with this... conspiracy you say Ms. Daniels was involved with?

"No... at least, he didn't seem to be. In fact, it seemed like the two of them were pretty much at odds with each other."

"Do you think he suspected her involvement as well?"

"I have no idea. I didn't really have the chance to ask, you know, what with him being splattered against the wall and all."

The Counselor broke a tiny wry smile at Isaac's facetious remark.

[leksbronks]

Chapter 3, part 2
-----------------------------------

"Well, let's move on to...."

She thumbed through a few more pages and stopped.

"...Nicole Brennan, another name that has come up on your file several times."

Isaac remained silent, sunk a little deeper into his seat and fixed is gaze on a distant, bright star on the horizon of space, twinkling through one of the windows.

"You've told us that part of your personal desire on this mission was to see to her well being. That she was in danger, along with the remaining Ishimura crew."

"Yes."

"You also say that you found her."

Isaac remained silent, withdrawn. The Counselor paused, then switched gears unexpectedly.

"You've referred several times to the mental state of the Ishimura crew; at least the ones you found still intact. The details you describe seem to coincide very closely to the medical records retrieved from both the Colony and the Ishimura. All these records appear to suggest that severe mental disorders, including self mutilation, violent propensities and hallucinations systematically began to be experienced by most, if not all, of those who were either in direct or indirect contact with something on the planet. You have also personally suggested that both yourself and your other crew members may have experienced these symptoms to some degree."

"... I think it's possible, yes."

The old woman paused for a moment, her glare deadlocked on Isaac. She then leaned toward her right and whispered something that was inaudible to the gentleman standing beside her. Without a word, the man nodded, withdrew some papers from his jacket and placed them on the stack already piled in front of Isaac's interrogator. The Counselor glanced down, retrieved a small set of spectacles from her vest pocket, placed them upon the delicate bridge of her nose and began to sift through the papers, licking the tips of her fingers and thumbing through them in an arrogantly erudite manner that sickened Isaac.

"Your personal logs recorded during the mission were retrieved from your RIG after you were brought back. They have been carefully examined, and I would like to take note of a few."

Isaac widened eyes towards the Counselor and swallowed hard. Somehow he had completely forgotten that he recorded all of those journals, let alone recall what the details of any of them were. The Counselor continued to thumb through the pages until she located the desired one.

" '11-7: Nicole keeps on saying "Make us whole again..." What does it mean? This concerns me. But, Nicole is alive and that's what matters.' "

Isaac looked down, trying desperately to recall having written such a message. The Counselor flipped through a few more pages.

" '12-14: I don't know where Nicole went, but she said power needs to be restored."

The Counselor paused, then glanced up to Isaac and removed the spectacles from her face.

"So, Mr. Clarke - would you say it's a fair statement that at the time of this personal entry, you sincerely believed that Nicole Brennan was still alive, and in fact attempting to assist you on your mission?"

He sensed the strategy in her questioning, knowing that every one posed was purposely designed to manipulate him into making specific responses; but confused, frustrated and at a loss for words, he didn't know how to answer tactfully, so he simply responded with the truth.

"... Yes."

"And do you still believe that she is alive?"

"... I don't know."

Prompted by his response, the Counselor reached into her vest pocket, retrieved another cigarette and lit it. Tucking her free arm underneath her elbow and leaning on the table, she took a deep drag and began to speak again. The smoke emitting between her words gave her an almost dragon like appearance that Isaac found quite disturbing.

"Mr Clarke, allow me to say that I truly believe you have been most forthcoming and honest in your statements. I have no reason to doubt that you believe everything you've told us."

She tapped the cigarette against the side of the ashtray.

"However, I also have to say that despite your apparent sense of honesty, I've found many of your responses to be conflicting, to say the least. I'd like to show you something."

She leaned toward the transcript device on the center of the table, punched a few of the buttons. The holo-monitor blipped to life as a pre-recorded video projected onto the screen. It depicted a very distraught and irate Isaac being pulled from a USM vessel by two soldiers and escorted into a crowd of CEC administration and medical personnel onlookers, including the Counselor herself. Isaac watched the footage, confused by what he saw. Though the audio was broken and intermittent, he could barely make out the dialogue in the background.

"No... you can't do this! She's on the ship... But it's not her! She's become one of those fucking creatures! It attacked me... You've got to seal the ship... You can't bring it back here, or we're all doomed! Listen to me... no! NO! You can't... you've got to destroy it! You've got to..."

Static overtook the imagery. The Counselor pressed a button on the transcript device, and the screen blinked off.

"This is a recording that was captured by the crew members of the USM Credence, the vessel that rescued you. You repeatedly claimed that Nicole, who at that time had been mutated into one of these... Necromorphs, managed to get onto the boarding ship you escaped on, and that she attacked you."

Isaac was still silent and withdrawn, with no recollection of the incident he had just witnessed. The woman continued, undeterred by his lack of response.

"However, the Credence had thoroughly examined your ship, but they found no body or other evidence of this creature you speak of. Nor did they find any evidence upon your person that you had been attacked. On the contrary, there was no evidence to suggest any sort of struggle at all. There was some internal damage to the control system, all of which appeared to be... self-induced."

Isaac glanced up at the Counselor, the growing frustration becoming plainly evident in his eyes. This was something he was not expecting, it had all been too real. Self-induced? The suggestion that he might actually sabotage his own means of escape was too ridiculous to entertain. Why would he do something like that? The Counselor ignored his growing agitation and continued.

"The damage caused is probably what set off your distress signal beacon to begin with, but that was it. There was nothing, no one on board that vessel with you, Mr. Clarke. Furthermore, you also made claims that the planet was destroyed... That the planet cork extracted by the Ishimura had broken free from its gravity tethers and smashed into the planet after atmospheric descent. However, we cannot find any evidence of this occurrence, either. In fact, the only thing that is confirmed at all is that you are very, very lucky the Credence found you."

Isaac's frustration turned into deep bewilderment. Were they lying to him in some attempt to shatter his own sense of cognizance? Or had it all been some nightmarish fabrication of his mind?

"You mean... you've sent others back to the planet?"

"Well, since your escape vessel didn't make it too far from Aegis7, the USM Credence did briefly return to the planet, making some observations from orbit. They never did actually touch down to ground, but from what they reported, the planet was still intact, and certainly not experiencing any sort of cataclysmic devastation that would occur from something as large as that planet cork smashing into the surface. They even managed to pick up signals from the Colony, which wouldn't be possible had it ceased to exist."

Isaac glanced down nervously at his hands.

"What about the Ishimura?"

"It was never found. Of course, they didn't specifically search for it, so it's possible it's orbit had rotated to the other side of the planet by that point. We intend to send another exploration crew out to locate it."

He simply couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all he had been through, after all the horror - they were actually considering sending more people back to Aegis7. Breathing heavily, Isaac ran his hand across the top of his head and huffed, his voice somewhat shaken.

"You can't do this."

The Counselor appeared to be unmoved by his distress, and took another puff of her cigarette.

"Mr. Clarke, I must express my appreciation for your cooperation in this matter; however, it's out of your hands. We will decide what are the appropriate measures to take, and right now we need to find out exactly what's going on down there."

Her expression darkened.

[leksbronks]

Chapter 3, part 3
-----------------------------------

"Quite frankly, while I'm sure there is some truth to what you've told us, we cannot go on the whim of a man whose own depositions conflict themselves. It has become apparent that you have been deeply affected by this experience, so much so that we believe your judgment to be impaired. Your statements, though inferential, appear to be influenced by this epidemic of hallucination, as you yourself have confirmed is quite probable, and therefore cannot be the sole basis of our decision. We are dealing with a situation that has consumed a great deal of the CEC's time and resources, and we simply cannot disregard the entire operation just because you've had a nervous breakdown over a failed mission."

Isaac was aghast in disbelief. His stomach felt twisted in knots, and his skin grew cold. He gripped the arms of his chair and stared hard at the smoking woman across from him, who seemed immovable as a mountain.

"A nervous breakdown? Are you kidding me?? Counselor, people are dying up there! There is something going on that the CEC has started, something that is totally out of control... You can't send more people out there, marching them to their deaths to look for this cursed Marker... This is absolutely insane!"

The Counselor's amusement drained from her face. She had had enough of this. Stamping out her cigarette impatiently, she sighed and looked down from Isaac.

"Mr. Clarke... It is the Council's decision to declare you unfit for performance at this time. You have shown, to a great degree, that you are unable to continue soundly considering your current mental state. We believe that you have been affected by the same rash and incoherent afflictions that have been reported of the crew of the Ishimura, as well as the Colony... I'm sorry Mr. Clarke, but at this time, I must inform you that your flight privileges are hereby suspended for a minimum of one year, pending thorough psychological examination for a period of no less than 6 months. At the end of that duration, you may be placed on restricted clearance, pending a positive evaluation. You are hereby placed under the jurisdiction and quarantine of the CEC Medical Administration, who will take custody of you and begin treatment immediately."

Isaac just scoffed, emitting a curt laughter wrought with anger and disappointment.

"Hahaha... You can't be serious... I'm the only survivor you manage to retrieve from a mess that was the CEC's to begin with, the only one who has some answers... and you declare me unfit?? You know you're going to kill every last one of us, you know that?"

The woman, by this point refusing response to any more of Isaac's statements, simply signaled to the two stone like orderlies standing at Isaac's sides. Isaac suddenly felt hands all over him, gripping his shoulders, his arms, pulling him from the chair. Enraged, Isaac broke free from their grip, slammed his fists on the table, and dashed the paperwork in front the Counselor all over, his voice growing hysterically louder with each passing phrase as the men repeatedly grabbed for him and dragged him towards the chamber doorway.

"Do you know how many people were destroyed out there... How many were tortured, suffered a fate worse than death? For you?? For your fucking MARKER?!? You're killing innocent people.. People who have no idea what kind of pure evil is out there!! You can't do this!!"

Though her expression remained blank, the Counselor's anger became vaguely apparent as the lines in her wrinkled face grew tenser. Glancing to the two orderlies surrounding him, she just muttered under her breath.

"Get him out of here."

The men finally managed to drag a resisting, hysterical Isaac from the room; the Counselor and her entourage just sat there, listening as his voice faded, disappearing down the corridor until no longer heard. Once they were again bathed in silence, the Counselor turned to the agent at her side.

"Dr. Werren, I want you to see to it that everything is done to destroy any and all memory he has of this. Continue the drug regiment, and make sure he forgets. He cannot be allowed to remember what has happened, do you understand?"

The man, cold and unfeeling, simply nodded.

"Yes, Madam."

[leksbronks]

Chapter 4, part 1
--------------------------------------

Just shy of 18:00 hours, the CEC Main Mess Hall was already packed with a crowd of famished workers converging from all over the station, lining up like cattle as they approached the distribution window to collect their trays of preprocessed dinner rations. It wasn't long before the hall was filled with the endless droning of countless conversations rising from the various tables and blending into each other. A group of several engineers gathered at a long, banquet type table near the end of the hall by the windows, overlooking a view of a distant planet revolving far below. They each greeted each other with chauvinistically joking remarks as they approached to take their seats. One of them looked down at his plate of food with a look of disdain.

"Shit just gets more and more tasteless every time. I mean, are they trying to piss us off, or what?"

He picked up a wedge of tomato, sniffed at it and disgustedly dropped it back onto the plate.

"Organic my ass. This thing probably had testicles on it before they sliced it up."

The man next to him just laughed boorishly and elbowed him, then returned to dragging his greasy, unwashed fingers around in circles on his plate of meatloaf, periodically sticking them in his mouth to suck them clean.

"Eat up, Collins. That shit'll put hair on your chest, and god knows you need some of that."

Collins, annoyed at the provocation, simply ignored him and muttered under his breath.

"Fuck you, Carter. You're an asshole."

Carter just smirked, mocking his friend, and returned to hunt for morsels around his plate, grunting between each breath he took. Collins glanced up to the other engineer sitting across the table from him.

"So White, you guys still on double shifts down in the hangar these days?"

White, who appeared to be physically exhausted and trying his best to digest a dry, nearly stale piece of bread, raised his brows, staring down at his plate.

"Yeah, they got us working round the clock down there. I never saw so many beat-up ships in my life.. pieces of shit, they are. I still don't know what the hell the CEC is thinking, filling their fleet with those friggin' liabilities."

Penopoulis, the man sitting next to White, was listening to his words. He nodded and chimed in when White was finished.

"Yeah, you'd think with as many credits as the CEC pulls in in just one week, they'd be able to buy themselves a classy-ass fleet of rides. I mean, they probably bring in a hundred times my year's salary in one day with just the Peng they peddle around here alone."

Just as he finished, a young woman wearing the garb of a medical practitioner walked by with her tray, and having caught the tail end of his sentence, just curled her lip in abhorrence and continued on, refusing eye contact with any of them. The men, undeterred, all smiled and whistled, sending out crude catcalls and waving their hands in her direction as she passed. Carter vulgarly grabbed his privates, making the gesture obvious to her.

"Speakin' of Peng, hey baby! You busy with those stiffs in the morgue tonight? If not, I got one for ya right here!"

She just tsked, stiffened her shoulders and continued walking away towards her table across the room. The men laughed and returned to their conversation.

"Ah, she's just shy. Probably just been cooped up on this floating dogterd of a station too long."

They all fell silent for a moment and returned to their food, still making nasty remarks to each other about the quality of their meals. Despite their apparent distaste, they all consumed it with gusto, occasionally whacking the hands of their neighbors attempting to steal from the others' plates. After a while, Collins looked back up at White and the others.

"Speaking of being cooped up - you guys heard the news? Guess who's back on board."

Without removing their eyes from their meals, they distractedly responded.

"Yeah, who?"

Collins picked a piece of cornbread out from between his teeth and swallowed.

"Isaac Clarke. He's back from the Ishimura. The Creedence found him somewhere out there. And from what I've heard, they got him in executive lockdown somewhere."

White nodded, looking down as he remembered Isaac, who had been one of his fellow friends and coworkers for several years.

"Yeah, got wind of that. He's been back for a few days now. Heard he's involved in some pretty deep shit about that whole Ishimura thing. They say he saw the Marker, touched it with his bare hands."

White's voice went silent as he fell deep into thought. He was silently lost in admiration of Isaac's experience, secretly having long coveted the chance to see the Marker for himself. Carter, far less sympathetic, just snorted at White's statement, inadvertently ejecting a chunk of saliva-moist cornbread across the table onto Penopoulis's sleeve.

"You gotta be kidding me, you bleeding heart Unitologist dick-sucker. Isaac's a fuckin' nut job now. Word has it that he flipped out, killed a bunch of the crew and ate their brains. Say they found him with one of their heads in his hands, all ritual like.."

Carter tried to hold a serious face at the end of his explanation and with his arms mocked a cradling gesture, but the others just scoffed at him, knowing he was full of it. Carter eventually broke a toothy grin and looked back at White.

"I'd say you two have a lot in common with that Unitology crap. You should get together when he gets out of the Hole and sacrifice some babies for the 'better cause'."

White huffed indignantly, trying his best to ignore Carter's derogatory remarks. Penopoulis, who at this point was plucking the pieces of pre-digested food Carter had launched at him from his sleeve and flicking them back at Carter's plate, shook his head.

"Dude, you're an idiot. You've just been listening to people who got too much time on their hands. Isaac ain't no nut job, they just gotta do their standard debriefing, that's all."

Carter raised an eyebrow in Penopoulis's direction, childishly flicked the morsels back at Penopoulis, and with a baiting tone in his voice responded.

"Ohhhh, yeah? Well if he's so normal, why they got him on executive lockdown, anyway? Only suicidals and real fuck-ups end up there after a mission."

Collins shook his head.

"Nah, it ain't that bad. He's just caught in the system now, seeing what they can get out of him. I heard that Mattock's already looking into filing for an appeal to get him out, so he'll probably be back in a few weeks."

White nodded, downing the remainder of his plate's contents.

"Yeah, well shit - I sure hope he gets back here soon. We could really use an extra hand down there... I need some time off."

[leksbronks]

Chapter 4, part 2
------------------------------------

As the men continued to jabber amongst each other, touching on random, meaningless topics, a man seated alone at a table off in the shadows behind them just sat and listened in silence, repulsed by the level of crudeness in their mannerisms. As their discussion weaved in and out about Isaac Clarke, he discreetly leaned forward in his chair, piqued with interest and listened harder, trying to pick up everything they were saying over the droning hum of the crowd in the mess hall. He remained in his seat as they finished and got up to leave. He stared at them warily as they all walked away, and once they exited, he sat there thinking for a moment, then eventually got up and made his way quietly out of the mess hall and down to the elevator with an apparent urgency in his step.

As the doors slid open he stepped into the elevator, his hands tucked neatly behind his back. The doors closed and the lift immediately began its ascent to the upper decks of the station, home to the executive quarters. Once isolated within the confines of the tiny space, the man raised his let arm and activated the communications device on his sleeve. Within a few seconds, a small holomonitor blipped to life in front of his face and the static imagery revealed an older woman sitting down in a chair to address his call.

"Yes Abbot, what can I do for you?"

The Abbot's face was tightly drawn and tense, appearing agitated. With a dark glare, he curtly replied to the woman's greeting.

"Counselor, there's been a lot of talk going around this place about the Clarke case. Why is that?"

The Counselor paused momentarily; she seemed a little caught off guard by what she interpreted as an indirect accusation.

"... Sir, I don't understand what you mean."

"I've been hearing a lot of the regulars talking about Clarke's arrival back at the station. Regulars, Counselor. You assured me that this would be a discreet operation, with minimal intel spread."

"The Counselor frowned slightly, but didn't seem to be overly concerned.

"We have been very discreet, Abbot. There's nothing to worry about. Of course, there is always a small probability of leakage; it's inevitable that people would eventually find out Isaac's been brought back - he's not exactly an unknown entity within the CEC, sir. His dispatch was pretty high profile. But I do assure you, nothing sensitive has been released. It's all trivial gossip at best. If people talk amongst themselves, that's nothing to concern us, or the Church. "

A brief moment of uncomfortable silence fell between them, which the Counselor broke by lighting one of her cigarettes. The Abbot jumped to another subject.

"What's all this about an appeal on Director Mattock's part? I didn't hear anything about that."

"Mattock? He's started filing papers to have Isaac released back to Engineering. It's well known that Mattock wasn't very supportive of the Ishimura dispatch in the first place... he's just an enthusiast for Isaac's cause, and this is giving him an outlet to smear his Anti-Unitology propaganda around, that's all. But it's nothing you should be worried about. I'm in charge of the appeals committee overhearing the case, so the ball's still in our court."

The Abbot grimaced at her response, suspecting she wasn't being entirely forthcoming with him. However, he took into consideration that there was truth in her words; interesting news of any kind, one way or another, was bound to get around to some degree, especially among such a secluded population with so little to keep them occupied. As such, he felt inclined to be lenient; he had no reason not to trust her.

"Well, Madam - let's make sure that this all stays as 'trivial gossip'. I don't have to remind you we can't afford to have people here realizing that we have a live case on our hands. We're already treading thin waters as it is; the Church cannot keep hiding from these complications. And keep a watchful eye on Mattock; he has quite a mouth on him, from what I've heard."

The Counselor exhaled a blast of smoke that momentarily obscured the holo image.

"Abbot, again I assure you that your concern is unfounded. We have things well under control. The memory reduction procedures are on schedule. We have no reason to suspect that we won't finish our work flawlessly, and perhaps even accommodate Mattock's zealous desires long before the Church or the CEC becomes the center of suspicion. Trust me sir, we're going to come out of this looking like true heroes. Altman be praised."

The Abbot paused, then nodded prudently, just as the elevator stopped is ascent and the doors slid open.

"So be it. Altman be praised."

He flicked a switch on his communicator, the image of the Counselor vanished and he stepped out of the elevator, making his way down the hall to his quarters.

[Pyramid Head]

Very nicely done , i loved the fact how you could co-relate Isaac's exodus from the Ishimura with the whole CEC conspiracy thing. Also its great that someone even though its fan fiction managed to give some CREDIBLE personality to Isaac rather than being the seemingly autistic robot we play on Dead Space , that always kind of irked me...

I must say my favorite part was when the whole "Gestapo" thing the CEC Counselor board comes into play , but overall its a very nice story. I say keep it up , you definately have a reader here!

[leksbronks]

Chapter 5, part 1
--------------------------------------
"Home."

The ancient, blackened Marker stood high and mighty against the bawling winds of Aegis7 as they swept violently over the landscape, perched at the edge of the cliff like an obelisk of darkness and reaching to the sky with its winding, aciculated tips. The carvings scrawled all across its surface pulsated with a sinister red glow in sentient response to its hostile environment, rhythmically influenced by the feint, endless chanting that emanated from it. For weeks the Marker had stood, anchored to the ground by its sheer weight and isolated on the planet. Through the unrelenting clouds of dust that swirled around it, the mutilated figures of several necromorphs could barely be made out circumambulating the base, as if engaged in some barbaric ritualistic ceremony.

Far in the distance a shadow stood in observation, a tiny dark speck that stood out against the fading light of the setting sun. The figure put a hand up to protect his vision from the blinding rays and burning desert winds tearing through the haze, all the while maintaining unbroken eye contact with the Marker. As he stood and watched, entranced by the sight he beheld, another, smaller figure quietly walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Isn't it just perfect, Isaac?"

Startled by her approach, Isaac quickly turned around with a look of surprise that immediately vanished as recognition of the familiar face came to him.

"Yeah... it's really amazing. I had no idea."

The two stood side by side, watching intently as the rays of the dying sun reflected off the Marker's glossy, intricately carved surface with crystalline perfection. The chanting arising from the Marker continued without cessation, vibrating through the air with a majestic dominance that entered their ears and made them slowly forget all else. As Isaac stood there, more and more captivated by this strange, phenomenal masterpiece wrought with unforeseen influence, he felt Nicole slowly step closer and slip her hand into his. Without removing his gaze from the Marker or even breathing, he responded by gently squeezing her hand. She instinctively responded with a warm smile and pointed out across the distance towards the circumambulating necromorphs, an avid onlooker delighted by the extraordinary sight.

"Look at them. Have you ever seen them so happy? It's so pleasing to see someone truly appreciate it, like young children in love. It's just so... perfect."

Isaac stood there silently, listening to Nicole's words with deep affection. But affection for what? For the longest time he had thought it was for her, but the longer he stared at the Marker that stood reaching to him, calling for him... the more he began to reconsider his conclusion. Nicole, sensing his growing consternation, just continued to smile, and still holding his hand, swung it back and forth playfully a few times. Somehow, she seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"It's okay, Isaac. I feel the same way about it. I'm not ashamed."

She stood there for a long moment, smiling at him in the hopes he might notice her, but Isaac was simply lost in fascination. She glanced back across the landscape at the Marker again, pausing to introduce a moment of silence. Her smile began to drift away, the corners of her mouth dropping into an expression of serious gravity as something came to mind. She looked back up to Isaac and spoke again in a lowered voice.

"They're trying to stop you, Isaac. They don't want you to remember this place, or about me. They're afraid of you, Isaac. They want it all to themselves, but you alone have been given the power to take what they seek away from them. They don't realize that the Marker doesn't belong to them - it belongs to us, all of us. But you can't let them have it, Isaac. You have to stop them before they stop you. We must remain whole."

A inexplicable sense of dizziness began to wash over him, his vision dimmed and the sky grew dark. He suddenly felt the world all around him pulling away, receding from his consciousness as he became surrounded by vast, empty blackness. His legs began to shake and he suspected they were about to give way beneath him. He sank to his knees, but Nicole kept a reassuring hold of his hand and followed him down, continuing to speak without abatement.

"I'll help you, Isaac. I'll make sure you don't forget about me. Just promise I'll see you again."

Isaac clutched feebly at the darkness around him, desperately trying to reach for her, but was unable to find her. The air became thick and suffocating like the inside of a concrete box, and he began to gasp. Nicole's voice drifted, as if being carried away by the same ethereal wind that claimed the rest of the world around him.

"Isaac... Remember me."

[leksbronks]

Chapter 5, part 2
-----------------------------------

Isaac suddenly jolted awake, gasping for air and trying to see through the darkness surrounding him. As his pupils began to dilate and focus in on his environment, he slowly came to the awareness that he was not on Aegis7 anymore. He was trapped in the confines of small, vapid room, with only the pale moonlight pouring in through a tiny, nondescript barred window off to his right to serve as a light source. Most of the room was invisible due to the impenetrable darkness, but the small portion he could see appeared drab and devoid of any character. A few sparse furnishings accompanied by several humming machines dotted the area around him.

Still disoriented, Isaac tried hard to recognize where he was, but was unable to do so. With his hands he felt the soft, padded mattress of a bed beneath him, and concluded he must have still been in the hospital. He imagined it was some specialized ward due to the small size of the room and isolation from any other patients. Taking a deep breath, he tried to lay back, but the uncomfortable sensation of sweat soaked sheets he felt on his backside drove him back up. Gradually as the haze broke and his external senses began to return to him, he became increasingly aware of a pain that was first felt in his wrists, then detected inch by inch up the length of his arms, into his chest, and down his entire body into his legs, as if ice were being pumped into his veins. As the pain became more obtrusive, his concern for his whereabouts drifted to what was happening to him. He was impelled to look down at the source of the pain - his wrists - and was barely able to see the slender shafts of what appeared to be intravenous needles embedded into them, attached to long, translucent tubes. Isaac followed them with his eyes until he found their sources, protruding from several machines surrounding his bed on all sides.

Isaac frowned in confusion. What the hell was going on? Were these needles taking things out, or putting things in? Were his dreams a result of this madness? Revolted at the possibilities, Isaac began to attempt removing them, but as he started to pull the first one out, it throbbed with an intense pain that prevented him from removing it any further. Frustrated, he let it go and yanked the sheets off of him, now noticing that his entire body was riddled with various needles and extensions, each and every one leading from his skin to one of the random, unrecognizable machines around him. The pain by this point had risen to his head, and a quick examination of his temples revealed it was also pierced several times with similar devices. Overwhelmed by the situation and unable to move, Isaac just huffed and collapsed back into the bed.

Just then a burst of fluorescent light became visible towards his left as a pair of double swing doors he had not noticed before flung open, giving him a brief glimpse of a lit hallway beyond that seemed as drab and nondescript as the room he was in. A dark figure strode in whose features were quickly lost as the doors closed behind and once again left the room covered in darkness and pale moonlight. He could hear the soft scuffle of leather soled shoes on the floor getting louder as they approached his bed. A small, overhead medical lamp flickered on nearby, the light instantly disclosing the figure to be a small young female nurse, neatly dressed and displaying a friendly demeanor.

"Are you alright, Mr. Clarke? I heard you shouting from the other room."

Isaac didn't recognize her; she seemed friendly enough, but the blank insincerity of her smile felt unsettling to him. He looked away towards the window, trying to wipe his forehead with his tethered hands.

"I'm... okay. I just, I had a bad dream, I think."

The nurse tilted her head with apparent concern, but she jumped right into a response that seemed oddly scripted.

"Oh, you poor thing. Would you like to talk about it? Do you remember what is was about? It really would help you feel better if you discussed it."

Isaac hesitated. He wasn't sure if he had truly forgotten what it was, or if he just didn't wish to describe it for her.

"No... I can't remember anything."

"Well, is there anything I can do for you?"

Isaac looked back at her, then held up his wrists with a somewhat confrontational look in his eyes. As he looked at her, the faded, hazy memory of Nicole's warning flooded back into his mind with ferocity.

"Well, can you tell me what these are all about? What's going on?"

The nurse fell silent, blinked a few times, then forced another smile.

"It's okay, Mr. Clarke. You're safe, right here in the CEC Medical Care ward. You're just being given some time to recoup from your experience."

She tried to avoid the explanation of what the needles were for; but prompted several times by Isaac, she eventually responded hesitantly, nonchalantly reaching over towards one of the machines to make some adjustments to the dials.

"Well... Mr. Clarke, you were quite shaken from your ordeal. You were severely dehydrated and malnourished when you were found, so we're... just making sure that you get all the nutrition you need while recuperating."

Isaac became confused, agitated by her evasive response.

"Recuperating? From what? Haven't I been here for a couple of weeks already? How could I still be suffering from dehydration? What are you doing to me?"

The nurse stuttered, as if not quite sure what to say. Suddenly her communications RIG bleeped as an incoming message was received. As she turned away from Isaac to glance down at her wrist, a secretive look of relief briefly touched her features and she tried to feign surprise.

"Oh! I'm sorry Isaac, I've got to go. Look, just relax, get some sleep. I'll have the Doctor talk to you in the morning, he'll answer all of your questions. Until then, just try to get some rest."

Before he could respond, she immediately flipped off the lamp and trotted out of the room quickly, not once looking back in his direction, and made her way out the double doors. They fluttered back and forth on their pivots for a few seconds then eventually came to stillness, once again leaving Isaac lost in the near dark. Frustrated but suddenly becoming too exhausted to think, he just fell back onto the pillow, listening to the quiet humming of the working machines all around him, taunting him with their mechanical whispers.

But in the back of his mind, all he could hear was the distant sound of endless chanting.