"Too late, the Composium's locked down!"

Wiping his forehead to keep small trickles of blood from obstructing his eyes, Jay scanned the place where they had all come to a halt. Epos was a wreck, the area around his collarbone had taken on dark bluish hues, and he emitted a raucous whistle with each breath he took. Starling was deadly white and listless, panting and constantly slipping from the grip of the formidable man who was holding him. Ananda's tears kept rolling silently and she cast haggard empty looks around her. But the alert giant man opposite him seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

We get out of here. Run for life.

The Arch was showing signs of weakness, and there was no one left there except their small crowd and a few dead, stranded bodies trapped under huge blocks. A deafening growl swept over them. The Station was shattering down and lethal fragments kept falling from the remaining parts of the ceiling. The alarm seemed to have given up on them and had finally receded. The ground relentlessly shook with breathtaking violence. An invisible hungry beast was reclaiming their bodies, pulling them down, pulsating into their insides and drilling their soul.

Jay's and Arende's eyes met.

I'll take the blond rat.

I'll take Starling Kite.

Dodging shards and fragments, stumbling and throwing their last forces into the run, they rushed through the Arch. The Composium's emergency mechanism was still working somehow, and let out an eerie, hashed voice.

Emergency. Emergency. Decamillenial seismic event.

Mr Starling Kite. Mr Epos Meane. Proceed to emergency health pod. Your vitals are critical.

Mr Arende Might. Mr Jay Fleogan. You're reaching excessive bpm rate. Please check out for immediate care.

Ms Ananda Lanciarsi...

A new quivering wave brushed over them and annihilated the female voice, pinning them all down to the ground. In this unprecedented bout of rage, the Arch broke neatly in two while they rolled on their sides and saw the giant structure crumble down. B24's flamboyant technology was being defeated by the whims of its liquid, magnetic core.

"We need... to get... a flying pod," shouted Ananda who was regaining strength and pointing at the area straight in front of them.

A few hundred meters ahead stood long lines of pods of various sizes, all waiting for inhabitants who wouldn't show up. The quivering earth had tossed, rolled and piled them, shattering some of them into smithereens, but in the glow of the last resisting lights, a handful looked intact. Ananda sprinted in the direction the Pod Landing Zone, followed by her companions.

As they were making progress, swirls of fine, airy dust appeared from nowhere, covering their sweaty skin, entering their eyes and filling their nostrils.

Stardust storm! We won't even take off...

Swift, unencumbered and fueled by despair, Ananda sped forward. Seeing only a few inches ahead in the dark orange glimmer of the beacons, her eyes dry and scratchy, she started climbing on vehicles, groping for gate locks, cutting her hands on broken parts. The nervous tears that kept rolling on her cheeks providentially kept her from being momentarily blind. Seconds passed before she found a large pod, fumbled for the opening, and heard the salutary clicking sound.

"I have...found...one... hurry...over here!" She screamed at the top of her voice before slumping into the pod.

Cutting through the howling winds that had raised with the impenetrable swirling mass of dust, Jay reached the embarkation and sank in with Epos. He was soon followed by Arende who carried Starling and laid him carefully on the floor. Ananda sank to her knees and took Starling's hand in hers.

"Looks like we're not dead yet," he whispered with a weak smile.

"We're all gonna be okay," lied Ananda.

Meanwhile, Epos had retreated into a corner and managed to sit. He seemed to be unable to take his eyes off the man who had just saved his life. At that moment, he realized that his hands were empty. He let out a short gasp. Jay swiftly turned around and appreciated the situation.

"My box. What have you done with it?"

"I...I'm... I ... I think I dropped it." Epos didn't dare make the slightest movement, under the potent pressure of Jay's intense black eyes.

"Hey, what are you doing?" shouted Ananda as her friend rushed back through the pod's sliding gate.

"Wait, come back. We need to leave now!" shrieked the gigantic man above the infernal din. But Jay had already thrown himself into the storm, the dancing masses of dust closing in on him.

"Stop this," intervened Ananda as Arende ordered the pod to move away from the Composium premises. "We must wait for him."

"We're gonna croak in here. Look, I'm sorry for your friend, but we must go, or we'll either stifle or get crushed."

"We'll wait for him," said Starling, tediously managing to sit up.

"Starling, you're not in a position to decide anything," retorted Arende.

Epos didn't say anything and looked down at the soft shiny ground surface of the pod.

                                                                              **

While his friends and his superior are arguing to decide whether they should leave immediately or not, Jay plunges back into chaos, and darkness swallows him instantly. Everything has turned into mere dust and agitation. It is all but a massive uproar out there, and his eardrums are being torn apart. This dust is so dense and opaque that he can't really see where he is going. But an invisible force is carrying him over debris and pods. Behind the eyelids of his painful eyes, Jay conjures the pendant necklace. The cobalt gem. He remembers. Better and better. Not really the pendant, but the feeling the trinket conveyed. Like the juices from a delicious ripe fruit, the jewel produces an elixir that's running through his body. Nourishing him. Replenishing him. Stumbling, hit by flying decomposed and disintegrated pieces, Jay pushes through. The darker the way is, the more intense the feeling becomes.

There is this small hand. The hand holding the gem. He has seen it before, he knows that. In dreams. At night. While diving. He hears the sweetest laugh. He knows not where it all comes from. Whom it belongs to. But he knows he has always made the right choice. He knows it now. It might all be meaningless for the whole universe. But it holds a meaning for him.

Going all the way back, Jay repeatedly falls down on his knees. He feels a weird sensation high up on his shoulder. His suit is torn. He resents the cold, the wind, the dust gluing to his skin. But there isn't a weak muscle in his body. There is no tiredness in his soul. There is this small hand, and its soft, glowing skin, radiating warmth in his whole being. The mad, joyful race of his heart echoes bliss from another time. He knows it now: there is someone, somewhere. Someone he never wanted to leave. Someone he wants to come back to. In the tangerine dust, he's finding his way. 

He springs to his feet again. It's the owner of this hand, of this laugh, that he wants to find. That voice has guided him all the way to the present moment. He falls down again but doesn't care.

I need this box. I'll find it. He must've dropped it on the way between the Arch and the pod. I must find it.

It is a long way from one's heart 's desire to reality. And reality is now a living hell. Jay has to crawl, as the storm unites with the temblor. But in his mind, the sweetest laugh is reverberating against the walls of his reason. Then he feels it, under his chest. The box is there, right below his rampant body. Grabbing it, he musters all his courage to get up and run madly in the direction of the pod. His instinct takes him right where he was a minute ago. The pod's right in front of him. All lights flickering. It hasn't left yet. In a haze of blue and red, it is beckoning him.

They've started the engines. Please, don't leave without me!

A few instants later, Jay falls down inside the pod and the gate slides right behind him. He feels the gentle vibration announcing take off. The pod hovers. Flip flops. Loses altitude, rises again.

Panting, holding his box very tightly, Jay looks at the people who have waited for him. Ananda. Starling. The big man. The blond scoundrel.

They've saved my life.

Arende touches the keypad, trying to see through the screendow.

"Detection's broken. This is freaking manual control. Damn, I'm no expert. We're gonna crash!"

"Let me fly it," says Jay.

It is an invisible battle with the elements. The pod is pushed aside, kicked down, brushed along something that seems to be a very high wall... Jay focuses on the command panel, giving the pod the gentle directions it requires. Some violent blows against the pod make its passengers clutch the seats. They are all watching the mute dialogue between Jay and the flying vehicle. Finally, after never-ending seconds of rage and tremor, the pod seems to quieten. The trajectory smooths out, a relative silence sets in, and Jay falls back in his seat, closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath. His forehead is shining with sweat.

Epos, in a remote corner, seems to have lost his voice. His breath has turned into a deadly rattle. His eyes are still fixed on Jay. Sitting on the floor right behind Starling and holding him like a mother comforting her child, Ananda looks up to her steering friend, soaking in the aura of his reassuring presence. Starling's eyes are shut and his short breath raises his chest in a quick, broken rhythm.

"If I'd been told a fresh second-born would save my life! Don't know for how long, but for now, we owe you one, boy!"

Arende stands up, reaches Jay in one long stride, and pats him on the shoulder, his eyes traveling from the opaque, vacant screendow to the providential pilot.

Now, what are we going to do?