[...CHARLIE, TANGO, FIVE, NINER........ACKNOWLEDGE, OVER...]

Though I must be dreaming, have to be dreaming, I can hear these words with stark lucidity. I have the sensation of waves upon the beach, each one exposing a swirling of matter stirred up from the unseen depths. Each speck a dreamy variation of a memory. All are moving in a flurry that confounds focus. These words pierce reality in a frozen moment before the next wave arrives.

[...INITIATE EVACUATION SEQUENCE...ACKNOWLEDGE, OVER...]

Another wave.

Now I am at the place of my earliest days, that where I lingered in warmth and nurturing. I see above me a suspension of pretties, their colors just out of my grasp, gently swaying in the ambient currents. I am aware of someone. I can make out her shape as she approaches. Moreover, I can feel her somehow, via some un-seeable connection. She gently touches me, and I hear her music as she does this. The connection amplifies, warming me from within.

[...CHARLIE, TANGO, FIVE, NINER...PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE, OVER...]

Another wave.

Now I am at the place where I matured, that where I dove head first into the days and nights like one who is starving. This place is different from the one before. All edges are sharper and all things more rigid, yet I have the sense of expansive openness. The entire universe extends outwards in all directions. Again, I am aware of a presence. I have yet to make it known to her, but there is an un-seeable connection. It is like the gravity of a black hole, pulling me into her and into us.

[...REPEAT, DO NOT APPROACH ARTIFACT!...ACKNOWLEDGE, OVER...]

Those words meet me from somewhere far away. The waves have given way to total immersion, a sense of slowly sinking into the depths. How did I get here? How long have I been here? My wish for an answer evaporates. The memories are flowing around me now, their edges blurring one into the next. I am here now. I am....

[....muffled....dear GOD!....]

Now I am at the place where I trained, that where I and my brothers in arms prepared for the great journey. There is an un-seeable connection with them. There is another now, who lingers at the edges of my perception.

[....he's........he's opened it......CHARLIE, TANGO, FIVE, NINER.....INITIATE HIROSHIMA ....]

Now I am at the craft, that which would bear me and my brothers for the impossible journey from our world. There is an un-seeable connection with them, still. There is a also the other, and he is closer now. There is an un-seeable connection to him, like the gravity of a black hole, pulling me into him, into us, and into who I will be.

[.....JOHN!......JOHN!....DO YOU COPY?....INITIATE HIROSHIMA!....muffled......it's......it's......]

Now we are at the place of our birth, that where we began to be what we are and what we will be. This place is different to us now than when we came here. We sense it all now, more fully than before. We can feel the others, too. We feel the un-seeable connections with them all. The entire universe extends outward in all directions, and we will seek them now, so that we will become.

[.....it's...............it's................................alive.........]