Sad eyes. Such sad eyes she had. I could barely stand to look into those eyes, filled to the brim with shining, clear liquid that was spilling over her lid and flowing down her soft glowing cheeks. Her eyes pleaded with me; begged me not to go; not to leave her here in this wasteland that we called Briet. A planet once so beautiful it brought a tear to the eye of the beholder. The lands flowed with moisture and food at one time not so long ago, but all that once was has now been destroyed.

I moved my eyes across the face of the planet itself. I remembered just where my own home had been, and where my family grew up. There was nothing now. So many terrible things happened that day, so many lives lost, not only to death, but to suffering and despair.

The day the Jaskans, sworn enemy of the Brietans, launched the missile that would blow our moons to pieces and send those fragments raining down on our planet like fire from the sky, much of the planet was destroyed. Oh, how my heart cried out to the heavens as my home and my land were shattered and burnt to the ground.

I sighed and turned to face my love. She stood a picture of beauty, tall and fair skinned with soft gold hair, not usual for a Brietan. Her white, silky gown shuddered beneath her, blowing in the wind with the sand along the ground.

"Ilmharu," I whispered under my breath, while frantically searching my mind for the words to say to take the sadness from her eyes. "I will return," I told her softly. Pulling her close to me, I whispered, "Everything will be as it once was."

She sighed and moved away from my embrace. The sadness gone from her eyes, her face hardened into an expression of power. I smiled.

"I will rule justly until your return, my King," she said, unwavering. I nodded solemnly.

"Your majesty," a deep voice stated from behind me. "The ship is at full power and we are ready to board." I tore my eyes from Ilmharu's to look at the man who was talking. He was tall, with long gray hair tied behind his back, a sign of aging. His name was Nogothrim and he was the captain of the voyage through space I was about to take. Standing around him was the crew of five. Five crew members was a large number for a journey through space considering the ship itself was programmed to do most of the work, but this mission was different than any a Brietan had ever been on before. This wasn't for testing new equipment or even studying the inhabitants of other planets or testing out new space equipment, this was a chance to put our planet back together.

I nodded to Nogothrim and took a knee in front of my beloved. With her hand in mine, I delivered an ancient prayer from my lips and into the air around me. It blessed the planet and its people until our return.

"Ché lël taln?n sen ent erusën imrama Vedui ghè sen idet. Ché talnon de lin kano finnas o miriel Ghè lasto ele ghèléb Õ envaro mbar sila yen lël Nore anuwel envaro Nemàrie nen kemmen, lël nen kemmen"

"Your majesty," Nogothrim addressed me as the planet Briet faded into the distance behind me. "Allow me to introduce my crew." I glanced around at them. Each was dressed in a silver suit lined with deep red stitching. Seeing them together, I knew I stood out more than I should, wearing the royal robes that I always did; a white satin shirt and pants under a layer of bronze armor. My red cape was made of silk, and swung down an inch below my knees.

Nogothrim pointed to each crew member in turn. "This is Elden, he is the technician that will be keeping the ship up to date during the trip." Elden was a tall, thin male with a serious face and honest eyes. He bowed slightly, not looking me in the eye. "Here, we have Lachlin. She is in charge of retrieving the data samples from the species themselves." The short, middle-aged woman nodded her head. "This is Zarchenor." He signaled to the tall, black-haired man who was staring at me and smiling. Black all Brietans had white hair until old age (200-250 years) when it became a light gray. Only one type of person would have black hair.

"Ashlepian?" I muttered to Nogothrim. The 'Men of Ashlep', as they were often called, were traitors to the Brietan kingdom and generally lived deep in the mountains where they became pale and dark-haired. They had done horrible things to the kingdom in the past, always trying to destroy the crown bearer only because it was not theirs to bear. The ruler of the men of Ashlep was once a prince, but became enraged when he was denied the crown that was given to his brother. It is said that they created a potion that granted them immortality, but it was never proven true.

"Aye," Nogothrim stated back. "Zarchenor is a world class fighter. If we should have any problems, he will take care of them." Then to me, he whispered. "He's been with my crew for years, he is loyal."

I nodded, trusting Nogothrim's word.

The two other crew members were Qeruse and Javil. Qeruse was a young, female scientist assigned to collect data samples from the planet. Javil was an older male. His job was co-captain, and he would be the one monitoring the progress of the ship during the journey.

They all answered to Nogothrim, and Nogothrim answered to me. I could see that the five crew members were slightly reluctant to, even indirectly, take orders from me. It was unusual for a king to go on a journey with a crew, extremely unusual, for he would be needed to rule the people. But I refused to stay behind for this mission, it was far too important to society. And, in the case that something did happen to me, the line of kings would not be destroyed, for Ilmharu was the one with royal blood in her. Her father had no son before he died, and law denied a woman the crown, so she married very young and gave the planet a king. Me. Aratur Calen. The scholar of other word studies.

That is why they questioned my judgment; that is why I was going with them. I was young, and I was determined to prove myself as a ruler. If this mission was successful, I would gain the respect of my people, as well as save future generations from extinction.

The crew went their separate ways after the introduction and I took my place at the head of the ship next to Nogothrim. I look over at him. His face was stern and serious, as it had been for the past ten years that I had worked with him. He had been there on my very first trek to Ashlep to bargain with their leader about releasing a plebian hostage. He was right beside me when I first made communication over satellite with the Jaskans. He was there every time I left the castle and every time I needed an answer that I didn't have.

'Sometimes,' I thought to myself, facing forward and gazing at the billions of miles of stars through the glass. 'I wish he were king, and not I.' A foolish thought, I knew, but I wished it nonetheless. 'He would rule well.'

I turned my head to look out of the right window. There, shattered into as many pieces as there are stars in the heavens, was planet Josk, the Jaskan home world. It had only taken us a few months to create the same weapons they used against us. But we made it ten times as powerful and blasted them to smithereens; eliminating any chance of future attacks. The weapons were destroyed shortly after the planet.

Now no Jaskan was left in the entire universe, for we let none escape. Our civilization was safe for a time, but our planet had been doomed from the beginning. It had been dying for centuries. The immediate solution from the previous king had been to go down with the planet and not let the sacred ground die alone. Most citizens did not agree with this.

Meanwhile, scientists came up with another solution. Evolution. We'd found a planet in the early stages of life. It's atmosphere consisted of a gas called oxygen, and the face of the planet was covered in land and the liquid, water. There was no sentient creature on the planet at all, that is, there wouldn't be until we could successfully inhabit it. We needed a way to live and breathe on the planet, but without life to study if would not be possible. The one night, Ilmharu came to me. She told me of a place she had heard about when she was young. A place with oxygen and H2O surrounding the entire planet. A place with sentient life that we could study and learn maybe even eventually become. If we could evolve to live like they did we could adapt our future generations to the new planet, thus saving out entire civilization and culture from extinction.

The planet was called by its inhabitants, Earth.

It was a long shot, but we decided to try it. Over the course of a few years, scientists made short trips to the planet Earth and taken tiny samples, unnoticeable by the Earthlings call humans. Little by little we studied them, and all of our efforts came down to this one journey. The final samples would be collected and the experiments would be finalized. When we returned, we would begin changing our species, one generation at a time.

Life would be good again on the new planet, I knew. We would go back to being the loving, peaceful race we once were. It seemed only a memory of looking around myself without seeing untrusting eyes and cautious movements of citizens who had been there through our first creation of a weapon. It was a horrible, burning thought that I knew no one would forget about for many years to come.

"Sire." I turned to face Nogothrim. "We will reach the planet Earth in three short hours."

"Very good," I replied. "How are the new engines holding up, Captain?"

"All is going well, sire. A council will be held soon, if your highness wishes it, to retrace the steps and plans that will take place as soon as we arrive within the Earth's atmosphere."

"Very good, Captain. I will be along shortly." Nogothrim bowed his head and left the room silently.

The meeting room was in the West wing of the ship. I made my way through hallway after hallway, all made of a thick, white metal. There were no lights in the hallways for the walls themselves naturally glowed bright enough to see well. The ceiling and floor were solid gray, and every single hallway looked exactly the same as the last did. Luckily, my briefing covered the layout of the ship, so I easily found my way to the correct door.

Straightening my suit, I pushed the large, gray door to the side and walked into the room.

Inside, the crew and Nogothrim all stood around a plain, white rectangular table. The wall apposite the door was made completely of thick glass making the empty space around us very visible.

Everyone watched as I made my way across the room, the sound of my shoes clicking against the floor and echoing off the three bare walls. They were not seated until I was, out of respect.

When everyone was ready, the council began.

"Day 12.172 of year 13.95.73. In attendance are Isthur Zarchenor, Telline Elden, Bessthen Javil, Mitrana Qeruse, Tevon Nogothrim, and King Aratur Calen. Current coordinates are 283-398y, 989-234b. The time is 13:76. Council INTJ will now commence."

Nogothrim nodded to me signaling that I should start talking.

I cleared my throat. "I understand that immediately after landing on the planet, we will begin taking samples from the humans first."

"Yes, sire," Javil agreed. "The ship will land in a populated area of the planet during this phase of the mission, ensuring our success of finding the correct data."

"Are the preparations complete for this phase?" I asked.

"Yes, sire, everything is ready for our arrival," Lachlin replied. "Zarchenor and Nogothrim will be accompanying me, in case an emergencies come up. We will find the type of human we need and take a small blood sample that they won't even notice."

"What of the ship?"

"It will remain unseen by any of these humans with a cloaking device I, myself, designed. It will be placed just outside of the city. During the first phase of this mission, Javil, Qeruse, myself, and your majesty will remain in the ship at all times." Elden explained.

"An emergency take-off is prepared in the case that it is needed, your highness." Nogothrim assured me.

"Very good. Phase two?"

Javil began, "The Earth Phase. The ship will be positioned over three areas of the planet. First, the ocean. Then a desert. And finally, a 'rain forest'. Qeruse will collect the sample directly from the ship and transfer them on Bay 12. After that, our final destination is Briet."

"Lachlin and I will conduct most of the experiments on the ship itself," Qeruse stated. "The rest will be done afterwards in the lab in the city of Semptar."

"Excellent," I commented, beginning to rise. "We've gone over the basics and there were no apparent flaws, therefore I see no reason to keep you any longer."

Everyone filed out of the room silently except for Nogothrim.

The captain walked up to me. "This is a large mission," he reminded me. "Its success is very important."

For a moment, I thought he was going to give me some sort of pep talk, or inform me of what to do next.

After a moment, he continued, "With you as its leader, it will be successful."

He smiled and I merely gaped at him. I eventually caught my voice again. "Thank you very much!"

Nodding, he continued. "The people are prepared for our arrival. They have planned a large celebration be thrown in Semptar in your honor. The entire world will be there."

"Everyone?" I gasped. Nogothrim nodded again.

A million thoughts raced through my head. I could hardly believe it. Never before has the world rejoiced together. It would be a large event indeed.

"Be prepared," Nogothrim told me, "For when we return, the world will be waiting."

I spent the last few hours of the journey sitting in the front of the ship, contemplating what Nogothrim meant. He had been the captain to two kings before me. He could not lie, he could not cheat, he could not steal, he was perfect in every way, or else he would not have been the captain for so long. For him to tell me, a young king who did not even have royal blood in his veins, that he was a good leader was absolutely amazing! I knew he understood my need to rule well and to please the people as well as keep them safe. Being accepted in such a way would ! It was as if everything I had done would finally pay off and I would finally be the respected and honored ruler the people deserved.

I glanced down at my left hand. It gripped the arm of the chair strongly, and I could see myself trembling. I needed to calm down, get my mind off the celebration. I needed a distraction.

"Sire?" I jumped a bit in my seat and looked over at Javil. "Earth is just ahead. We will arrive momentarily."

"Very good." I nodded and Javil bowed before leaving the room. Looking out the front window again I saw the blue and white planet floating in space before me. It was a beautiful planet, well maintained compared to many planets we had inspected before, but the population of its inhabitants was mind boggling, and growing quicker than anything we had ever seen. It was a problem we had considered assisting the humans with at one time, but we had decided against interference. We had decided to let nature take its course.

Such a decision was rather contradicting to what we were about to do.

We sailed through the planet's atmosphere smoothly and descended closer and closer to the surface of the planet. The area we were heading for was on the right side of a large continent. The humans called the city 'New York'.

The ship landed in a large area of the city that was covered with concrete rubble. There were large, yellow machines standing nearby, but no humans. Around the rubble, and in the distance, was a whole mess of concrete and glass. They were rectangular buildings standing on end and reaching up to the sky. If I hadn't been so learned in human studies, I would have thought they were giants.

Nogothrim and the crew entered the room as soon as the engines died down. They all bowed and stood before me.

"Phase 1 is ready to commence, sire," Nogothrim stated.

"Is the invisibility shield enabled?"

"Yes, sire," Elden spoke.

"Then let phase 1 begin."

Lachlin, Nogothrim, and Zarchenor left to the right towards the exit, while Qeruse, Javil, and Elden went to the left towards the control center. I decided to follow them and keep an eye on what was going on.

The control room was pretty basic. It had buttons and flashing lights and things you wouldn't think even did anything because there are so many buttons it seems illogical that they all had separate functions. One wall was covered with blank screens. The microcameras that we had aligned with Lachlin's DNA would pick up her signal and we would be able to see what was going on with the mission.

The four of us waited in anticipation, no one saying a word. The screen flickered, then failed. When it finally came on again, the picture was black.

I turned to Elden. "What is the problem?"

Elden quickly crossed the room to a console against the wall. He typed in a few things and watched the screen. I looked back at it as well.

Nothing.

"The camera must be down, sire," Elden stated, sounding confused. He crossed the room and began tapping keys on a new console.

Qeruse and Javil faced my way expectantly. I should give an order, I though. There has to be something that we can do. I considered sending a new microcamera out, but none we had on the ship were programmed with the DNA we needed. I thought I maybe should send out a search party to make sure everything was all right, but it was too dangerous in the case that something was wrong.

I opened my mouth to speak just as Lachlin burst through the doors to the control room.

"Sire!" she gasped. Qeruse and Javil ran over to her and helped her stand up. Her silver hair was scattered all over her shoulders and her face was flushed.

"What is it? What happened?" I demanded.

She gasped for air, a look of shock on her face. Then she passed out.

Qeruse and Javil carried her out the room. I stood and stared at the floor where she stood, and once again, considered my options. Where were Nogothrim and Zarchenor?

As if on cue, Zarchenor trudged through the doorway with a body slung over his shoulder. His eyes were cold and uncomfortable. He walked over to me and sat the body down in front of me. It was Nogothrim.

My eyes widened. "What happened?"

Zarchenor began talking in a deep, calm voice. "We were attacked by many humans at once. They killed Captain Nogothrim."

My head snapped up to his. "You could not defend yourselves against mere humans?"

"They held weapons," He explained. "I managed to gather quite a few of their weapons after destroying all of the humans."

"Destroying them?" It was a law on our planet never to take the life of another creature. We broke that law once, and the entire planet vowed for it to never happen again.

"It was imperative that I protect the remaining crew member," Zarchenor told me. "Trust me, my lord, if there were any other way to go about saving the girl, I would not have acted so harshly."

I stared at Nogothrim's dead body. His face was cold and lifeless. A painful shudder washed through me. Suddenly remembering the mission, I blinked a few times and looked back to Zarchenor.

"Did you collect the samples from the humans?" I asked, my voice breaking slightly.

Zarchenor turned his head slightly, still watching me. "We were unable to retrieve any substantial information on the advanced DNA structure of the humans, but I weapons I gathered will aid our planet much more than any scientific information could."

I watched Zarchenor for a moment, then looked back down to Nogothrim. Nogothrim had told me I could trust this man, but he was suggesting we bring these human weapons along with us back to our planet Briet. Any good king would quickly veto such an idea.

"We cannot bring weaponry to Briet," I said forcefully. "Discard them at once." I turned and walked the other way, then looked back. "Be sure to place the captain's body somewhere safe."

I walked on toward the door on the opposite side of the room, but I heard no movement behind me. What was he doing? I wondered.

I stopped abruptly and looked back. No one was there, but Nogothrim's body still lay on the floor.

CRACK!

I felt an object slam into the back of my head. My eyes fluttered and I fell to my knees. Before losing consciousness, I watched Zarchenor strut out of the room. In his hand was a black metal weapon.

Water splattering together makes such a beautiful sound. A hundred drips falling lightly into a bowl with their family and suddenly becoming apart of the mass. Beautiful smells surrounded the air. It smelled of the lothen flower. I could almost picture pink and white flowers tied around a pole being swung around and filling the air with pure pleasure.

The beauty filling my ears and nose was interrupted by another, slightly more powerful sensation.

Pain.

I moaned at the pain as it all hit me at once. I had regained consciousness again and my head was pounding like the ceremonial quen drums of the north. My hand reached up to touch my head, but something stopped it.

I slowly opened my eyes to see a pleasure more beautiful than anything I have ever, and would ever, hear or smell.

"Ilmharu."

She smiled and nodded, her blond hair shimmering in the sunlight streaming through the window above the bed I was laying in. I gazed at her, and into her eyes, and all my pain left me. It was as if I was a desert wanderer and she was a refreshing spring. I felt energy crawl back into me. I tried to sit up, but Ilmharu lightly touched my chest and pushed me back down.

Suddenly, memories began rushing back to me. The mission, phase 1, Lachlin fainting, Nogothrim; dead, Zarchenor and the weapons.

"What happened?" I demanded.

Ilmharu's smile faded and her face grew serious. I gulped.

"I found the ship fifty miles outside of Semptar. I found you lying on the floor. Your head was bleeding. There was blood everywhere." She lowered her head.

I could feel the pain in her words. I sat up and held her in my arms.

"Oh, Ilmharu," I began. "Please, don't cry. I'm fine, thanks to you. I'm fine."

She trembled. "I was so afraid, Aratur."

"Everything is fine. Everything is all right." I repeated those words over and over again until she regained her composure. "I need to know where the other crew members are, Ilmharu." I stated.

She looked up at me curiously. "There were no others in the ship. I assumed they had all gone, or stayed on Earth even. They were not on the ship."

This puzzled me. "There were no others at all? Zarchenor, did you see him? Did you find Nogothrim's body?"

"His body? Nogothrim is dead?" Ilmharu asked. She shook her head. "I did not arrive at the crash site for hours after the ship arrived. No one knew about it. The mission wasn't to be over for another day or so. What happened?"

I sighed. "Nogothrim was killed by human weapons before we even finished Phase 1. Then, Zarchenor, the Ashlepian, he wanted to bring the very weapons that killed Nogothrim back to Briet. He knocked me out. That's all I remember."

Ilmharu pondered this for a moment. "Either Zarchenor is still on Earth terrorizing its inhabitants..or he is here, on this planet, right now."

"How long since we landed?"

"It has been five hours, at least."

"And the people, did you tell them we landed? Did you call of the festival?"

Ilmharu hesitated. "I was by your side the entire time, I didn't have the heart to tell them."

"I must go," I stated, jumping out of bed and racing for the door.

"Aratur, wait!" Ilmharu called after me.

Outside was a small village, the village I grew up in, the one that had been torn to shreds by the Jaskans. Nearby, the castle stood. I knew what was held within the fortress. I knew, and so did Ilmharu.

"Aratur, I'm coming with you!" She said when she caught up with me.

"Do what you please, Ilmharu, as long as you come back," I said. "I have to go get it."

Ilmharu stopped. "You're not serious."

I gave her an assuring look and continued to the castle.

"First, we go to Semptar and explain to the people what is happening," I explained to my queen. We had left the castle and were only part of a mile away from the city of Semptar. I now held a bag over my left shoulder. "The people deserve to know if they will be in any danger, especially from long- time enemies of the kingdom."

Ilmharu nodded. "And then we go to Ashlep."

"Yes," I replied, imagining what would happen after that. The plan was simple. We would go to Ashlep, just outside of the entrance, and set up the last thing anyone would even imagine that we had.

A rocket launcher.

That's what scientists named it when we created it for the Jaskans. There were five different settings on the rocket launcher. The first was the lowest setting and is what we planned to use against Ashlep when we got there. It would blast the mountains that encased their fortress and destroy them forever. As horrible as it was, I saw no other way to protect my people.

We reached Semptar. I noticed it was curiously quiet as we made our way along the streets to the town square. The roads were lined with small shops and houses, mostly made out of wood. I remembered how large the buildings on Earth were and wondered why in the world they would want such large things in the towns?

Focusing back on the task at hand, I whispered to Ilmharu, "Something is wrong. Why doesn't it sounds like a celebration?"

She shook her head and studied her surrounding carefully.

I looked forward again and stopped in my tracks. I couldn't move; couldn't breathe. My throat tightened up and my arms fell to my side. In front of me was the town square. It, apparently, also doubles as a cemetery.

Piled up everywhere I looked and for as far as I could see were bodies; millions of dead, life-less bodies flung around like carpet across the ground. The fountain in the middle of the square was dyed red by gallons of blood that had flowed into it from the bodies piled on and around it.

I felt Ilmharu's hand on my shoulder, but I couldn't say anything; couldn't eve acknowledge her presence. A nightmare was laid before me, one so powerful that my whole reality came crashing down at that moment.

Ilmharu's hand held my arm now, and she pulled it back, away from the massacre. She led me away from it all when I could see nothing else.

She led me back down the street and out of the city altogether. When we were back in the country, I found my voice again.

"The whole world." I stuttered in disbelief. "Everyone. They were all there. Everyone in the whole world was there. And now they're dead. Everyone in the whole world is dead. They're all gone. There are no more people."

"Aratur-"

I turned to Ilmharu. "Except you. Just you and I are left. It's only us. We're alone. There is no one else."

"Aratur, please calm down-"

"Just us. Just us and Ashlep. Ashlep. The men of Ashlep. I have to get them. Zarchenor. I have to get Zarchenor. He did this. This is his fault. He brought the weapons back. He let Ashlep have the weapons. He destroyed everyone. Everyone is gone!"

"Aratur!"

I snapped back to reality again. Ilmharu's eyes no longer contained the sadness they once did. They were now consumed completely in fear.

"Aratur, please stop this. What does it matter anymore? Let us live our life together, what we have left of it. We cannot bring our people back, Aratur."

"I have to go do this, Ilmharu. I have to do this, I have no choice."

"Please, just stay with me."

"I have to go," I repeated. Without waiting for a reply, I stood and walked in the direction of the mountains.

"I'm coming with you, Aratur!" Ilmharu called. She walked beside me, all the way to the dark lands of Ashlep.

Shadows. That is the only way to describe what I see and feel when I am in Ashlep. There are shadows everywhere, consuming the very rock that the mountains are made up of. They hide the evil that lurks in the mountains so unknowing visitors don't cast a second glance, but I can feel it. I can feel the hate in the air, thick around me and flowing in my lungs. It was a horrible place.

"Aratur, I cannot go on," Ilmharu panted. We had been climbing for hours now, trying our best to trudge along even in the early hours of morning. Neither of us had eaten for half a day and it was beginning to catch up with us.

"We have to continue on," I informed her. "There, just ahead is the entrance. If we can make it up to there we can set up the rocket launcher and be out of here forever. We can go back to living like we used to. We might even be able to find some survivors who didn't wish to attend the celebration. We will start anew and make our world ten times better!"

She smiled and nodded and continued climbing along.

Suddenly, I heart an earsplitting ricochet just to my left and watched as a few pieces of rock fell down to the ground below. I looked up to see small holes in the side of the mountain and large black tubes sticking out of them and facing us. Another one went off and I felt a sudden sharp pain in my right shoulder.

"Ah!" I gasped. There was blood covering my white shirt now. Ilmharu, next to me, gaped at the wound, not believing it was real.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I-I don't know." I gritted my teeth, compelling the pain to die down. Then it hit me. "I think it's the human weapons!"

"Human weapons make you bleed from so far away?" Ilmharu asked.

"I suppose so. Come, we must hurry!" We began moving faster along the mountainside. A few shots rang every once in awhile, but they all missed. When we were only twenty feet from the entrance, a shot called and Ilmharu screamed. I turned just in time to see her topple over the edge of the mountain. I swung my right hand down, not concentrating on what I was doing, and grabbed her at the wrist.

I gazed down at her and saw that she had been shot in chest. Blood now coated the outer layer of her soft, blue dress. Her eyes stared at the rock in front of her and she didn't move.

I felt nothing. All the sudden all feeling left me and all I knew is that it was all over. My life was over. Everything was finished. I let go of Ilmharu's hand and watched her fall.

I sat on the ledge of the mountain, twenty feet from the door, for hour after hour, staring out at a planet that was nothing anymore. It had no civilization, no culture, no anything. It was nothing. Empty. It might have felt horrible, but I felt nothing. I shed no tears for my people, or my love. I shed no tears for myself. I only sat and wondered why anyone would want to live here. Repeatedly, I reminded myself that no one did live there, but it never went through.

I looked down to my side and saw the bag I had been carrying. Oh, yes, I thought, I was going to blow some people up. I nodded to myself, remembering thinking that I had to do that. Yes, they were not nice. They killed people. People I knew. They upset me very much.

I stood and looked over the edge of the cliff. It was a long way down, further than I could see clearly. It would be a long fall, if someone were to jump.

Ceasing to think at all anymore, I lifted my bag and walked the last twenty feet to the entrance of the mountain. I sat down the bag and took out the rocket launcher. I set it to full power, just enough to blow a planet into 'as many pieces as there are stars in the heavens'. I pushed the Set button and the numbers 1:00. One hour. That was a good number.

Start.

I walked back down to twenty feet away from the entrance and sat. I listened to the ticking of the rocket launcher, and counted the seconds until the end.