The magma began to close in. Lumina could hear her Hover Wings beginning to fail. "Just a little more," she plead to her misfiring Hover Wings. "Please. Just a little further. A little more thrust." The thrusters sputtered, black smoke wafted around Lumina. Lumina's body went rigid, her fingers curled into fists, the knuckles white, her toes curled up inside of her boots, Lumina's teeth grit, her eyes squeezing shut, her lungs stopped, the air fermenting into sickly, unwanted, carbon dioxide.

Then, with one last sputtering squeal of the thrusters, Lumina was in free fall. The muscles in her hands were forced open by rushing air, the oxygen tubes spilled from Lumina's nostrils, the air was knocked clear from her lungs, but her eyes resisted the temptation to open.

Lumina's mind was at the edge, her thoughts, feelings, and the consciousness of reality slipping away. A darkness was slipping over her, suffocating her into oblivion.

Nothing of the outside was heard or felt. Lumina had slipped through the fingers of reality as quick as slime. All that was left was an abundance of memories from the past year.

At least she knew she was still alive, just oblivious to what was going on in the outside world around her.

- August 24th, 2150 -

Lumina stepped through N.A.S.A.'s warehouse door. The spacious room, barren of N.A.S.A. equipment - upon Lumina's request - greeted her. The concrete floor and white washed walls shared a gloominess that lurked inside of Lumina's soul. Lumina swallowed the feeling and walked on, her hand reaching for a brass doorknob on a simple, black door.

Inside, the room smelled of metal, grease, oil and sweat. The aches and pains deep down in her bones reminded her of how hard she labored; of where those lingering smells came from.

Lumina sighed, pulled her Holo from her pocket and placed it down upon her work table among the litter of scraps, screws, and nails. Her eyes, sunk from exhaustion, slid over to the futon and looked dreamily at it, her mind salivating over the thought of sleep. Then, the thought slipped away as her eyes narrowed on the loose board ready to leave her with a restless sleep.

But exhaustion really tugged at her...

Lumina grumbled under her breath. With a backwards sweep of her hand, Lumina grasped the wooden handle of her hammer. She threw it into her other hand and took another sweep of her worktable, her fingertips clawing at a half-opened box of nails. After catching hold a good three or four nails, she strode towards the futon.

Putting the points of the nails in between her lips and throwing the hammer down on the ground, Lumina took a hold of the bottom of the futon and lifted it until the back was lying on the floor.

Lumina wiped a cool hand down her red, hot face. Then, with a loud groan and crack of her knees, got down on the floor. Pulling a nail from between her lips, positioning the loose board, and clutching the hammer within her grasp, she started nailing the piece into place.

After a good three minutes of constant hammering, Lumina put down her hammer. Aches writhed inside of her body. Exhaustion crowned itself upon her. Then, without another finger lifted, Lumina was out upon the cold floor, the futon still laying on its back, the board fixed.

- October 6th -

Lumina's harness dug into her shoulder blades. She had to bite back the pain as she worked in the deep, dark cylinder of DESTINY's shell. Lumina dangled just feet above the bubbling sulfur pits, sucking up what was left to fuel the lasers.

The burning sulfur cropped at Lumina's nose hairs and pierced the walls of her lungs with a scratchy, burning feeling. There was a constant urge to cough, but any sort of sudden noise could be a risk. So, Lumina soothed the cough with a constant swish of water.

A small hiss buzzed in Lumina's ear, telling her that sucking up the sulfur pool was complete. Lumina flipped a switch on the machine strapped to her back along with the harness. The machine quit its low groaning.

With a tug on the harness, Lumina was lifted up and out of the pit. Soal was at the top, helping Lumina perch herself on the edge of the entrance.

"It's finished. All that's left is taking a scrubber and some soapy water down there and scrubbing away the residue."

"Yeah. You have fun with that." Soal said sarcastically.

"Thanks."

Lumina was handed a pail of water and a scrubber. A lid was placed over the pail. Lumina slipped on a gas mask this time since she was getting up close and personal. Then, with a scuffing of sneaker soles and palms of hands, Lumina was cascading down into the pit, her harness catching and digging into her shoulder blades before she hit the surface with a splat. Her body arched until she dangled horizontally, her fingers prying at the lid of her pail. She threw the soapy contents down onto the surface, unhooked the scrubber from her belt and started to remove leftover sulfur and gooey scum from the pit.

- November 22nd-

Lumina sat, bundled up in hundreds of covers as she worked at erasing all that was left of DESTINY. She had gone from monitor to monitor opening up command prompts, deleting what was there, and resetting the digital motherboard. It was a time-consuming process that left Lumina bored and her teeth gnawing at the inside of her cheek.

Lumina sneezed, plastering the screen of the monitor that she had been working at with yellow, gooey, transparent snot. Lumina swiped a tissue at her runny nose and ran a hand over the screen, streaking the leftover snot across the rest of the surface. Lumina groaned, her stuffy nose not making the process any easier.

Someone thundered into the room, the metal door clanging shut. Heels clopped along the metal floor and echoed off of the metal plated walls. The steps came closer until a coat smacked into Lumina's face.

"Thanks for getting me sick, Hera," Soal growled, pushing a chair out from its spot and flopping into it, the cushion wheezing in protest.

Lumina eased the heavy pea coat from off her face. Her exhausted, droopy-lid, purple - eyed stare was met with a red nosed, droopy - eyed expression of anger.

Lumina screwed up her face to match Soal's expression, a flash of anger igniting in her chest. "Well you don't have to come hanging out with me every day even if I do warn you that I'm feeling a little under the weather."

Soal countered, "Well I come to help you with ALTERNATE."

"But why do you come if I'm not feeling well?"

Soal stuttered, knowing that her answer was not worth being angry about when she put the situation upon herself. "Fine. I do come every day to help you with ALTERNATE, even risking my own health to help you day in and day out. I'm sorry to have flown off the handle. I think the stress of the day is just getting to me."

"What's the matter?"

Soal's hand clapped onto her face and slid down her eyes, nose, lips, and off her chin. "The people are trying to get Ground 1 to reconsider the decision made on Ground 2."

"What's their issue with Ground 2?"

"Most of the ones complaining about Ground 2 seem to be motivated by pride. The things they say to support their argument is 'We don't want that crap heap connected with this luscious paradise.'"

Lumina distantly bobbed her head up and down. "They're not wrong. Ground 2 is a bit of a junkyard to this ruby, but Ground 2's mess is all thanks to a certain someone who endeavored to rule Ground 1."

"Exactly! It seems that the people are still blinded by Soal Si's sick glamour."

Lumina chuckled, then, the vibration of her vocal chords tickling her sore throat, swung an arm around to her mouth and coughed.

- January 31st -

Lumina walked along the rows of chairs and tables to the register in the back. The young woman was there to greet her with a cheery smile. "How are you doing this morning Lumina Si?"

Lumina rubbed at her left eye's eyelid. "Good, Linz. How about you?"

"High on five cups of coffee and itching to take your order."

Lumina looked over the register at Linz's fingers. She watches as the one overly fidgeted with the keyhole to the register's drawer and her whole right hand spasmed at her side. "Wow! Um... I think I'll take a -" Lumina squinted at the board. Red letters lay scratched onto the whiteboard, making it difficult for Lumina to read. "- large hot coffee, black, and a bowl of fruit."

Linz's fingers zoomed over the keys, Lumina's total making an appearance on the small Digipad in a flash. "That'll be five dollars even."

Lumina waved her Holo over the Digipad. After a minute, the Digipad formed a checkered smiley face. Her transaction had been accepted.

Lumina stepped back from the register and crossed her arms as she stared distantly at the red tray laid out on the counter.

Lumina felt the aching in her fingers as she picked up her coffee cup. Before the opening of her cup met her lips, she heaved a frustrated sigh. She gulped down a third of her drink, and then shoveled two strawberries and a grape into her mouth.

Lumina watched people spill in and out of the little cafe. Some ordered one little thing, others a dozen things. There was take out and there were trays laid out for those dining in. Several faces, several agitated looks her way, and several swarming emotions along with expressions of guilt.

Lumina's eyes veered away from the faces and to the lip of her coffee cup. The thick cardboard was smeared over with a dark brown coffee stain. Lumina ran her tongue over the rough surface of her chapped lips and then captured the slick, pink tip between her teeth. Lumina let out a hiss of breath.

A hand clamped down onto Lumina's shoulder. It was large and rather heavy as it lay there, weighing her shoulder down until the tendons, muscles, and bones all screamed in unison. Lumina's head turned ever so slightly till her peripherals caught sight of the hand. Her eyes traveled upwards, catching on her father's smiling face. She gave a halfhearted smile in return. Lumina's father smirked, removed his hand from her shoulder, and sat opposite of her, focusing on her until she met his gaze.

"What? What do you want, dad?" Lumina asked, perturbed.

Lumina's tone took her father aback. His back straightened against the green, cushioned booth seat. But soon, his spine became supple again and his right palm overlapped his left hand's set of knuckles. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Everything. First, my resolve to change DESTINY into ALTERNATE so that I can bring Ground 2 back. The awful looks that are constantly passed my way, saying all too well that I shouldn't have persuaded Judge Timothy in court to allow Ground 2 back, so Earth could be a whole again. Then -" Lumina groaned. "- having Heinz come over out of the blue telling me that my plan is the stupidest, idiotic idea that could've popped out of my head." Lumina buried her fingers deep within her dark, greasy, brunette curls.

"Humph."

Lumina looked up at her father with a scowl pressed deep into the crease of her lips. The tendons in her neck suggested she was holding back the other, angrier, half of her that was struggling to be kept in.

"Don't look at me like that," Lumina's father said, his tone dismissing the unnecessary anger inside of her. "I was just thinking about how Heinz must not know you that well. He doesn't realize how smart my little button - nosed pumpkin really is."

Lumina straightened a little. "Dad," she said, "you know I don't like to be called that."

"I know, but you don't like to be called Hera either, and that's the name your mother and I gave you."

Lumina turned her gaze to the side. "Don't remind me."

Lumina's father smiled. "Either way, I know you're smart, and if no one sees that, you always show them how wrong they really are."

Lumina's cheeks burned as she gave a bashful grin. "You really think so?"

Lumina's father touched an index finger to the tip of Lumina's nose. "I know so."

Lumina wrapped her hand around the cup that held a lukewarm half of her coffee. She gave a small, pleased smile and replied, "thanks dad. That makes me feel a little better that I at least have two people on my side supporting me."

- February 29th -

Lumina held out an open palm and asked for some needle nose pliers. Heinz Trattle rummaged through her jumble of tools, found the pliers, and handed them, metal steeples first. Lumina grunted a muffled "thank - you" from under the main LapPad monitor that controlled DESTINY.

Heinz leaned back against the monitor, his thumbs hooking into his belt loops. A relaxed sigh departed from his lips.

Lumina focused on the bundle of wires that lay in her wake. It was an electrician's nightmare not knowing whether to remove the green, or replace the blue, cut the red, or connect it to the lavender. Lumina's mind raced, sweat forming on her brow, as if she were figuring out how to diffuse a ticking time bomb. Lumina, lost, unhooked her Holo from her belt. Turning it on, she snapped a picture of the serial code which brought up a diagram of the monitor and its wiring. The color of the wires were easily defined and described in a long, two-page chart.

Lumina's eyes reverted back up to the messy, rainbow jumble. Her lips parted to release a heavy sigh, her eyes squeezing shut to suppress the headache that was forming beneath her skull.

Heinz fidgeted with his belt loop. "This is a really stupid idea, Hera."

Lumina, whose fingers were tugging at a blue wire, let her hands fall away from her work, her palms grasping at the monitor so that she slid out from underneath it. She looked up at Heinz and returned a scowl. "You've said that quite a few times since you've come to work with me, Heinz. I've heard quite enough out of you."

Heels clipped against the concrete floor, and a voice followed quickly after it. "She's right Heinz. Your opinion has been mentioned a little too often for the past so many weeks. It would be appreciated if you could keep it to yourself from now on."

Soal's figure appeared from deep out of the shadows. Lumina fell back onto the floor, a smile creeping onto her face. Soal was always able to shut Heinz up.

Soal's eyes slid over to Lumina and twinkled. Lumina eased herself underneath the computer monitor, feeling an odd sense of awkwardness underneath Soal's stare.

Maybe it was the mischievous twinkle within her eyes.

Or...

The smile that snaked onto her lips, but in an exasperated manner.

Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down Lumina's spine.

Lumina planted the side of her fist against her mouth and coughed. Her eyes skimmed over the bundle of wires, her hand took hold of a green wire and her other, a pair of wire cutters. She clasped the ¼ inch cutter around the wire and squeezed the red, plastic coated handle. The sharp, black blades pierced through the green insulation, and then the thin copper wire.

- April 1st -

Soal nudged Lumina with her opened toe chunks. Holding out a beckoning hand, she plead to Lumina to "please take a break" and "please eat something before your blood sugar drops any further."

Lumina's teeth pierced through her rippling lips as she growled. Jaw firm, teeth gnashed, she murmured, "Just this last circuit!" Sweat dripped from her forehead, down her cheeks, traced her jawline, and collected at the base of her chin. She backhanded the growing droplet and then went back to her work. Her gloves itched, for they stuck to her sweat stained palms and fingers. The tools - needle nose pliers and surgical scissors - wavered over the small, blue, plasma, hexagon circuit. The tips of her pliers grasped a thin, silver, severed wire. Like a skilled seamstress, Lumina cut off the wire like it was a piece of annoying, loose thread. Then, after a hesitant jerk, Lumina tucked her tools in her back jean pocket and slowly lowered the circuit, cramming it into a spot among several green, rectangular plasma circuits.

The rubber of Lumina's gloves scratched as she pulled them off; inside out. She quickly wiped her sweaty palms off on her T-shirt and then wiped a hand down her sweat riddled face. She hunched over the circuit board and blew a relieved sigh.

Vigorous tapping pitter-pattered to Lumina's left. She frowned and looked over at Soal. "What is it?" Lumina grumbled.

Soal pointed directly at Lumina's face. "That! Your attitude."

Lumina craned her neck till her eyes were facing the ceiling and let out an exasperated groan.

Soal took her by the arm and led her to the exit, down the steel walled hall, up the spiral staircase, down numerous corridors, and then out the main entrance/exit.

Lumina's boots clopped against the concrete sidewalk, her torso slumped forwards, arms dangling, hands hovering just above the sidewalk. Soal still drug her along by a ponytail.

A bell clanged against a glass door upon entering Sureless. Soal righted Lumina. Lumina grumbled. Soal shoved Lumina towards the register. Lumina stumbled forwards, the toe of her boot caught on the carpet, her chin hit the registers counter and then the floor. Lumina put her hands beneath her, let out a pain filled whimper, and then got herself up.

Linz was leaning over the register gawking at her. Then, recomposing her shock, she asked Lumina, "Are you alright?"

Lumina rubbed at her swelling jaw. Her tongue writhed inside of her mouth as it dug at a loose tooth. Lumina's face burnt a bright red. "Just peachy," she growled, a lick of sarcasm laced in her tone. Her eyes quickly glanced sideways at Soal, then back to Linz.

Linz cleared her throat and replaced her worry with a cheery smile. "Well, how can I help you Ms. Si?"

"I'll take my usual plus a bacon wrapped omelet and Cookie Crunch Drizzle candy bar."

"Whoa! Going protein, plus saturated fats, plus sugar?"

Lumina looked sideways at Soal. "Yeah. Well. Someone drove me to the no - no's. But then someone shouldn't be complaining about my blood sugar the next few days."

Soal gave an annoying smile.

Lumina directed her gaze to the Digipad, furrowing her brow.

- June 23rd -

Lumina turned over on her futon. Sweat clung to her face like a mask, but shivers ran up her spine. Her legs were curled, her thighs hugged to her chest. her hands tugged at four of the five covers that cloaked her in its warmth. But, yet, they weren't enough. Lumina couldn't stop shivering and chattering her teeth.

Lumina squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. Try to get some rest, she thought. It'll help.

The door to the workshop breezed open. Lumina winced as air - doesn't matter if it was hot or cold - hit her.

"...I had found her like this today. I asked her how long she'd been shivering and chattering her teeth, yet have a sweat soaked face. She replied that she's been like this for about a week, doc."

The doctor wore his usual work clothes : dark grey, long sleeve tunic with a triangular notch take out of the turtleneck, robin egg colored scrub pants, and plain, black sneakers. His medical bag, where he stored his medical stuff and holo, was strung to his back.

Sweat traced the doctor's hairline. His crystal green eyes took in every square inch of Lumina before he shrugged off his medical bag and sifted through his tools. The doctor put on some gloves and a mask. he set the bag down on the floor and then started stripping the covers off of Lumina.

Lumina's shivering intensified. She desired to pull the covers back onto herself, but smothered the idea, knowing the doctor needed to examine her.

One by one the doctor flung the covers onto the floor. Then, his fingers gently tugged at the cuff of Lumina's long sleeve. He inched it off of her arm and then he went over to the other arm and pulled that sleeve off. He peeled the long sleeve off, leaving behind a white, sweat stained T-shirt. His eyes immediately fell on the splotch of dried blood that clung to the sleeve's fabric. Gently, the doctor uncovered the wound. His curious eyes inspected the mixture of pus, blood, and grime, eventually concluding it's been infected.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at Lumina and then asked, "What did you do to get this?"

Lumina sucked in a quivering breath. "I think I... no... I... I was working on the computer monitor downstairs. I was peeling off and crimping back metal plates from its control panel. When I was finished and ready to pull myself out from underneath it, I did a great job scraping up my arm on one of the metal plates, as you can see. Then, I simply wrapped a large bandage around it, let it clot up, and that was that."

"Did you clean it up later?"

"When I got a shower later, but even then I let the bandage on because I was worried it'd bleed if I took the bandage off and ran it under some hot water."

"You were right to be cautious, but it needed to obviously be cleansed. The big question is though, if you've been having a fever for about a week, why didn't you call the hospital with this issue?"

"I'm not quite sure. I thought it was just a simple passing illness. Until, of course, I've been confining myself to the futon."

"Well I'm just glad I'm here now."

The doctor opened up his medical bag once more. He pulled out a medical salve "specifically designed for infection in open wounds," said the doctor. Then he pulled out some gauze and bandages. He applied some of the infection cream to Lumina's wound. then, pulling a cloth from his bag and wetting it, he rubbed it in, grime and blood sticking to the thick fibers of the cloth.

Lumina howled in pain, but then occasionally relaxed at the cool relief of the infection cream. The doctor chuckled. "I've never seen a patient respond to the infection cream with such mixed emotions. Usually, they're too focused on the pain when I'm rubbing it in to notice the relief that the cream brings to the infection."

Through the pain and relieved sighing, Lumina was able to squeak, "Well I guess everyone truly is different."

The doctor nodded although his eyes stayed glued to how he worked.

- July 4th: THE THOUGHTS THAT LIE BEYOND LUMINA'S COMMON KNOWLEDGE -

Heinz fiddled with a stylus that stuck behind his ear. His eyes peered down at a blueprint Lumina left with him. It was a 3d outline of DESTINY, and then a detailed rendering of how she was to turn it into ALTERNATE. Heinz's thumbs twisted and magnified the 3d image.

His anger intensified till he imagined flames crackling and spitting around him. All that Soal put into this - he thought. All of it... ruined.

His fingers caressed the HoloPad, picking it up from where it lay. He literally spit on the screen, and then wiped it away, grasping the stylus that lay behind his ear. Bringing up a formatting tool, Heinz erased all of Lumina's changes, creating something better than what Soal could've possible dreamed up.

Oh, just the thought is making the anticipation unbearable!

Heinz's stylus trembled after drawing the final angle to his sketch. His heart filled with glee, his eyes forming tears.

"It's beautiful," he cried, puckering his lips and planting them on the warm screen. Then, with a loud smack, he maneuvered the screen away from his mouth and took in the master pierce before him, grinning like a buffoon.