Volume Seven: The Pit

Episode 3

Episode 3

## Summary

The year is 2518. Three hundred years ago the skies went black, radiation forced humanity underground. In the last remaining refuge of humanity, an underground facility known as the Pit, four citizens must find their way to the highest level of the facility before it's too late.

## Cast Roles

* James "J.R." Reynolds (Mike Ginn) - resident of Sector 10, in training with the Clergy.
* Budwinnie "Buddie" (Kate Elliott) - resident of Sector 7, hacker, forklift driver.
* Sony Packard (Markeia McCarty) - resident of Sector 9, she teaches history to Jenna, one of the children of the elite on Sector 4.
* Braidy Riley (Joshua Ovenshire) - resident of Sector 7, delivery truck driver, son of the head of the security.

 Chapter Summaries

### Prologue

The year is 2518. Three hundred years
ago the skies went black, radiation forced humanity underground. It
is rumored that a great evil drove humankind to their own
destruction. The Pit is not aware of any other holdouts of humanity
left under the scorched Earth. No one has seen the surface for
centuries, it is forbidden. No one knows anything of the surface
world other than stories and wild tales. Even wanting to see the
surface is seen as ludicrous; it is death.
 The Pit has ten Sectors, Sector 1
being nearest the surface and Sector 10 being the deepest. Sector 10
is cold and damp while Sector 1 is warm and rumored to be filled with
vegetation, only the privileged few have access though. Sector 10:
Vermin, the slums. Sector 9: the Hive, general population, the
workforce. Sector 8: the Bread, the market and merchants. Sector 7:
the Iron, specialized workers. Sector 6: the Lock, seed storage, no
one is allowed within. Sector 5: the Couriers. Sector 4: the Temple.
Sector 3: the Bulls, security force. Sector 2: the Voice, housing for
the clergy. Sector 1: the Totem, no one other than the elite knows
exactly what is up there.

 James, Budwinnie, Sony, and Braidy are
attending the funeral of their friend Janus Humes. He was a Courier,
he left his mark on the Pit, bringing a smile to the face of everyone
he encountered. Couriers are the only caste, other than the highest
security detail and those that reign from the Totem, that are allowed
to move between Sectors at will.

 The office they stand in is dark, but
everywhere is dark down in the Pit, a large man sits behind a desk
holding a wooden box. He asks the four of them why Janus wanted them
there and tells them he left a note in his locker along with the box.
The note had all their names on it so the man thought it should go to
them. The box is locked but none of them have the key. Once that is
all taken care of the man dismisses them and asks security to escort
them to the elevator. The security officer reminds them that they may
only travel as high as their living arrangements permit until it is
time for them to return to work.

 They take the wooden box to Sector 10
to decide what to do about unlocking it. The elevators work using a
card scanning system to identify which Sectors the passenger has
access to. As they descend, the four talk to each other about Janus,
who died falling into the Pit, which is a bottomless hole the
facility is built onto the sides of. A Courier falling into the Pit
is an unusual occurrence and Sony talks about the many stories of
people in history who sacrifice themselves to shed light onto
problems.

 James tells the others that he has
recently joined the Clergy. He tells them some of the things that he
has been learning, “We are synonymous with God, and the Kingdom of
Heaven, and we are selected by the Gate...” The Clergy wander the
Sectors in threes, one newbie and two veteran members, they wear long
red robes with hoods that can shadow their faces. James met Janus
when he spoke to him about the word of God, and James mentions that
Janus was always a ray of sunshine even without being embraced by the
Clergy.

 Braidy met Janus through his work,
they were both deliverers and their paths would cross from time to
time when Braidy would take goods for the upper Sectors to the
elevators for a Courier to take onward, the weren't necessarily close
friends but they got on well enough.

 The elevator comes to a stop and the
door opens upon a small park with stone benches, it is quite dirty.
Budwinnie tells the group that she hacked her way into the system of
the Pit and assigned herself the job of forklift driver so she'd like
a crack at figuring out the lock on the box. While she works at it,
Sony talks about her job as a teacher. Budwinnie opens the box and
finds another note within, it reads:

*You four are the key to the Gate,*
the door, and the Lock. This came to me, comes to me, I know my end
is near. All of it wrong. Nothing special about us, our saving just a
matter of proximity. Not like the Devil would burn himself. I
honestly feel bad for you four, as I have mislead you. I befriended
you because you all have special privileges and capabilities that, if
used together, can stop the Synchroneity project from launching. THIS
knows, to close the loop, ignore God. It is no more a god than we are
its passing thoughts. We brought this on ourselves. They will come
for me soon, I know too much. I hid four courier badges for you
inside of my bunk. It is up to you, Braidy, yo get the others up
there. Trust each other, stop the rocket from crossing the Gate and
close the loop.

They
have heard rumors of the Synchroneity project, nothing that has been
confirmed, but the rumors are that the project is a spaceship that
will take them all off of the planet.

Braidy
and James are skeptical of all this, and Sony and Budwinnie buy into
it. An 'old friend' of James' approaches the group, at first James
pretends not to know Ronnie, but then Sony introduces herself to him.
He snatches the letter out of James' hand and reads it, then he asks
about these courier badges the note mentions. He gestures Braidy off
to the side to talk to him and three of Ronnie's goons step out of
the shadows. Ronnie proceeds to attempt to threaten Braidy into
getting the badges for him, things escalate after James comes over to
explain who Ronnie is. Ronnie draws a shiv on Braidy and Braidy
punches him in the throat, the three goons start to advance but
Ronnie waves them off and they all leave, but not before Ronnie draws
a finger across throat while staring at Braidy.

J.R.
reveals that he used to run with these guys before he joined the
Clergy, they are the guys that all the stories about how dangerous
Sector 10 is stem from. They are the crew that the people on the
higher levels employ to get their hands dirty.

They
talk about getting the badges from Janus' bunk on Sector 5, which
Braidy doesn't technically have access to, though he does mention
that he has connections he could talk to at his house on Sector 7.
None of the others have access to Sector 7, so Braidy will have to go
alone. The others give Braidy their address' and workplaces so he can
find them again, Sony's workplace is a school for the bourgeoisie
children of the upper classes.

Without
proper clearance from their security escort, Sony will have to go to
a different elevator that will go to her Sector. Braidy and
Budwinnie, as Iron workers, take the elevator back up to Sector 7.
This sector is called the Iron because this is where the iron mines
are, the workers have been pulling iron ore from the walls from the
inception of the Pit, where all that iron goes once it leaves the
Sector is a mystery. They make their way to Braidy's house, since it
is a Saturday, and the Iron has the weekends off, it's a relatively
uneventful walk.

Braidy's
father is sitting in the main room drinking and reading a book. After
exchanging pleasantries and barbs, including Braidy's father urging
him to accept 'the offer' so that they don't have to continue to live
in this Sector, Braidy says that he has to grab some things from his
room and he goes after his father's access card. Budwinnie provides a
distraction while Braidy sneaks in to the man's room. Mr. Riley
mentions that he remembers her, he is the one who handled the case of
her hacking her way into the forklift team, but he is not the one who
dropped the case against her.

With
the perfect distraction underway, Braidy manages to get his father's
badge from his desk drawer without detection. He and Budwinnie leave.

James
has gone to find the Sector 10 contingent of the Clergy, attempting
to avoid Ronnie and his gang. He finds Brother Thomas and has a
discussion of faith and his new direction in life. Brother Thomas
tells him that he needn't worry for much longer for it is almost
time, they'll be joining God soon.

“The
Gate is ready to open, it is almost done, stay strong...None of this
matters. You don't matter, I don't matter.” When James brings up
that his past is haunting him and asks Brother Thomas what he should
do, Thomas tells him, “You must find that answer for yourself.
Follow the path of God, wherever He may take you, is where you are
supposed to be. Stay strong Brother, we'll be leaving soon.”

When
James presses for more, he continues, “In exchange for God's Gate,
we have been blessed with the Iron, our health, and heaven's seed:
the Tree. And we will be returning them to God. If there is anyone in
this sector you care about, get them out soon. Bring them to God and
they can join us.”

On
Sector 9, the most crowded sector but also the most secure, patrolled
by the bulls, dressed all in black with the insignia of a bull upon
their chests and carrying spiked bats, Sony's home is brightly
decorated with colorful chalk on the outside. Sony helps herself
remember things by singing them to herself, and right now she is
singing to herself about the note that Janus left them while moving
amongst the things she has collected and bartered for to decorate the
interior of her home.

A
knock on her door interrupts her, she recognizes her main student's
private helper but she doesn't know his name as he has never
introduced himself to her. He tells her that he has come to collect
her, not for a study session but something more important. She lets
him into her home, where he looks around in a disgusted manner, and
tells her he is there to bring her up to Sector 4, where she will
live from now on. It is Jenna's wish that Sony be brought up to
Sector 4, he quickly loses patience with her questions and tells her
that everyone in this sector will soon be dead. Jenna wants her
favorite teacher alive, she will move into the school on Sector 4,
this is not a debate and he would like to keep this quiet.

Sony
retreats to her room to 'pack a bag', while she does that she writes
out a note to her neighbor '*Run. Something is happening.*
Love, Sony*'. She places the note*
under a stone outside her back door and takes her bag back into the
main room with the man. He makes it clear to her that he does not
actually care about her, that he can tell the people who sent him
that she resisted coming along with him and he did everything he
could. Then the two of them leave.

James,
thinking about what Brother Thomas told him about sending people to
God, goes looking for Ronnie. He arrives at Ronnie's place and is
stopped by some of his gang who tell James that Ronnie is out
investigating what the paper he stole from them means. Brother
Thomas' words about sending people to God ring in James's mind as a
fight breaks out and James charges one of the men who is wielding a
bat wrapped in red tape with nails sticking out of it. James
shoulders the bat wielder to the ground as he winds up to swing and
takes the bat from him. He swings the bat at one of the men charging
him from behind, the nails dig into the man's jaw, ripping it free
from his face, “I send you back to God” James tells the dying
man. James points the bloody bat at the third man, asking him where
Ronnie is. The man answers, trying to keep James from noticing the
gang member behind him with a butterfly knife.

An
alarm rings out across the sector and all the combatants stop in
their tracks, a voice blares over loudspeakers, “Attention all
sectors. Unfortunately, due to a limited supply of oxygen, Sector 10
will no longer be functional. It will be closed off from the Pit,
we're sorry.” They feel a rumble under their feet and, in the pause
afterwards, James recognizes Brother Thomas in one of the elevators
rising out of the sector. James shoves his way passed panicking
throngs of people and leaps, grabbing the bottom of one of the
ascending elevators. Another person grabs onto his waist and he kicks
them off into the open pit below and then wields his bat to keep
others at bay.

He
sees Brother Thomas exit the elevator on Sector 9 and the man in the
elevator he clings to the bottom of tries to stomp on James' fingers
through the grating on the bottom of the lift. James moves his hand
and puts his bat in its place, the man steps onto one of the nails
and James rips open the grating, sending the man plummeting to his
death. James then climbs into the elevator and it opens on Sector 9,
two security guards pull James from the elevator and throw him to the
ground. As they raise their bats, Brother Thomas calls out to them,
stopping them from beating James to death.

“I
sent people to God,” James mutters to Thomas.

“Yes,
we did,” he replies, as a loud rumbling sounds from Sector 10 and
it plummets into the pit.

### Chapter 1

Braidy and Budwinnie didn't hear an
alarm, but they felt the rumble of the sector's plummet. People start
to come out of their homes and look around in confusion. “Please
remain calm, we regret to inform you that Sector 10 is no longer with
us.” the loudspeakers blare, “Due to a faulty oxygen system, to
ensure the survival of the human race, difficult decisions had to be
made. This will conserve oxygen and ensure that the rest of us
continue on. Your lives are not in danger, please remain calm.”
 No one remains calm, and a large mob
heads towards Braidy's father's house. They take Braidy's father's
badge to the elevator, since it is a security badge Braidy can take
Budwinnie along without triggering an alarm. When they reach Sector
5, they are approached by security.

 Two guards approach and Braidy tries
to talk his way past them. They recognize Braidy and tell them that
all is going to plan on this level. On of them takes the badge out of
Braidy's hands and speaks into a comm, “Can we get the Director on
the line?”

 The other guard zipties Budwinnie's
hands behind her back and kicks her to her knees. Getting no response
on his comms, the man smiles a wicked smile at Braidy and calls him a
daddy's boy prick. They've heard about him turning down every
opportunity that privilege offered him and then he gets to deliver
iron. The other guard drives his bat into the back of Braidy's leg,
where a nail pierces the muscle. The man turns the bat around and
clubs Braidy into unconsciousness, then Budwinnie as well.

#### Truths

* History: When she was a child, Sony's father dug deep into the history of the Pit, and of humanity. Then mysteriously disappeared without a trace, this fueled in Sony an obsession for searching out history and truth.
* History: In Braidy's past he used someone in a lower sector that spoke to his heart, or something he doesn't wish to say, that made him hate the lower sectors.
* Feeling: Although he hates it, Braidy is finding himself more and more drawn to Buddy. The more he fights it, the stronger the feelings are. Is it true love, or is he losing his mind. He's not sure, but he does know he can't fight them for long.

### Chapter 2

Sector 4 is an entire sector devoted to
worship, each sector is allowed access at different times to show
their love for God. Sony, on the other hand, has her own private
classrooms here. Jenna, the highest in status of her students, has
asked that she be brought to Sector 4. After the announcement, Sector
4 has remained relatively calm, the Clergy working there don't seem
that affected by what has transpired.
 Sony asks one of them about helping
the members of Sector 10, he tells her that all will be well in due
time, “it is for the greater good.” When Sony pushes for helping
them further, the clergyman tells her, “We were chosen child, we
helped ourselves, no one else. Our descendants earned their rightful
place here and we will earn our place among the stars.”

 Her handler leads her onward to her
new home, he stops her from approaching anyone else, telling her that
her wishes do not matter, only the wishes of her student. Jenna is
waiting at Son'y new home to speak to her. They arrive at the school,
the man leads her to a small room with a cot, a bible, nine candles,
and that is all. Sitting on the cot is Jenna Anah, about 15 years
old, dressed expensively with long hair. She jumps up and rushes into
Sony's arms. Jenna tells Sony the truth about Sector 10, there was no
malfunction, but she is happy that she got Sony out. Sony talks to
her about all the other people in Sector 10, how she shouldn't be
focused on just one person, and all the people in Sector 9 as well.

 To which Jenna responds, “They'll be
going soon. That's why I had to get you out so fast. We don't need
the workforce anymore, they've done the work. The Synchroneity, it's
finished. In a couple weeks we'll launch it into the Gate and we'll
have a new home. I wanted to make sure you were safe, here, so you
could come with us. My dad doesn't know, I don't think he'd care
really...”

 Sony asks if there wasn't room for
everyone on the Synchroneity, the stories have said that the ark is
large enough for all. Jenna says that sounds something the Voice
would tell people to keep them from causing a ruckus. Sony says they
can't let the people of Sectors 5 through 9 die when they don't have
to.

 “But they have to. What do you think
powers the ship? I mean, I don't really understand how it works, it
all seems pretty mumbo-jumbo-y to me...but there's the thing in the
bottom of the Pit and it is hungry, and if we give it stuff, a lot of
stuff. It will give us enough energy, or power, or whatever it is, to
get us through the Gate.” Jenna tells Sony. Sony objects to the
sheer atrocity of all this. “'God is calling us to the stars' or
whatever. I don't really care, but it's how we survive.” Jenna
says, “I know that this is a lot, I wanted to tell you for a long
time but I wasn't allowed. Things are going to be changing quickly
now and dad says that, ya know, with the help of the Clergy we're all
gonna, ya know, stars and stuff...”

 They argue back and forth about what
was the fault of humanity in the past, the self-caused calamities
that wiped out the rest of humanity. When she mentions her friends
and Janus, Jenna tells her that she assumed Sony would be more
excited that Jenna saved her and then leaves.

 Budwinnie and Braidy come to when
water is splashed into their face, Braidy opens his eyes to see the
bruised face of his father standing over him. He tells them that they
would have been fine in their Sector, then asks where were they
going. “We are disposable to these people,” Braidy's father
speaks softly to him, “but right now we are in their favor and that
gets us a f\*\*\*ing pass. But if you keep rocking the boat, we will
lose that pass. So fall in line. I will get you a security escort to
Sector 5, I cannot have you causing a ruckus right now.” He tells
them that they are free to go and that he never wants to see
Budwinnie's face again.

 The two get up, Braidy with a limp,
and the two of them with their hands tied behind their backs.
Security escort Erik, the man who originally assaulted them, will be
their escort to Sector 5. As they walk through Sector 3, Budwinnie is
surprised at how casual it is, card tables set up all over the place,
but then they will walk by the occasional wall of weaponry. It seems
that very little iron could be spared for weaponry, most of the
weapons on display are homemade.

 They arrive at Sector 5, the Couriers
seem to be back to work, and they make their way to Janus' house.
Erik mentions that Braidy was mumbling Buddwinnie's name when they
were knocked out before. Upon entering Janus' home, Budwinnie starts
up her distraction with Erik as Braidy searches Janus' room for the
passes. He finds them behind a wooden panel on the wall, behind them
are sheaves of very old paper with strange images printed upon them,
some laminated. One of them is the list of symbols that Officer
Decker and Posie Petunia discovered in Kolob. Braidy recognizes some
of theses symbols, they have been used to denote each Sector of the
Pit.

 A low-quality photo depicts a mushroom
cloud from a viewpoint high in the atmosphere, within the cloud is
the shape of long tentacles reaching out into space, Braidy notices
that along the outer edge of the picture are the blue of the sky, and
blue waters below, things he had only heard tales of before now. This
must be the moment that they were destroyed. Scraped into the wall at
the back of the room are the letters THIS, over and over again.
Braidy begins to tear apart one of the larger books to secret some of
these things inside.

 Budwinnie keeps the security officer
busy with her classic barrage of questions and information until
Braidy returns.

 James is talking with Brother Thomas,
he tells James that it is important for them to keep moving up, but
maybe there are some people on this level who need to be returned to
God first. Specifically, Sony, who spreads 'lies' about the church
and their history. Once this is done, Brother Thomas will let the
Voice know their job is done, one day perhaps James will speak with
the cardinal himself, and get access to Sector 2.

 There is no answer when James knocks,
Brother Thomas pulls a device from his pocket that hacks the
electronic keypad. The two men speak of James' relationship with
Sony, James tells Brother Thomas everything and asks him for
guidance. Thomas wanders over to a sketch of Sony's father and asks
James if he knows her relation to the man in the sketch. Brother
Thomas orders James to bring Sony to him alive and able to answer
questions. “Bring her to me in Sector 2 when you find her,”
Thomas orders, still staring at the sketch, as James leaves. James
then uses his job card to go to Sector two.

 Braidy and Budwinnie, along with their
escort Erik, are outside Janus' place and Erik suggest they get back
to the Bulls. Erik's body drops as Ronnie, pressing an air compressor
against the Bull's head from behind, pulls the trigger. Ronnie's
goons frisk Braidy, but don't find the badges. Budwinnie distracts
Ronnie with a question, then elbows the two goons on her and takes
off running. Braidy tries to drive his head into one of the men on
him's face, but he miscalculates and knocks himself for a bit of a
loop before another one grabs him.

 At this time, the siren starts again,
along with the announcement to remain calm. They all hear the sound
of Sector 9, where the majority of the civilians live, tearing free
from the side of the Pit and plunging into darkness.

#### Truths

* History: Buddie's always had a talent for hacking but it doesn't always go as she wants. She thought she was assigning herself as a Courier, not a forklift driver.
* History: Turns out Braidy has more daddy issues than he thinks, that isn't his real father.

* Character: Budwinnie wasn't an only child. She had an older sister, but she disappeared one night when Budwinnie was young. That was when her parents began denying her sister's existence.
* GM: Someone finds a note with the following text. "To find what you seek, you must not look. In a place where everything can be seen."
* Feeling: J.R. hears a voice. It speaks," The God you believe in is not above but below. Meet him. Jump into the Pit."
* Feeling: When JR closes his eyes, he feels a pair a judgmental eyes staring at him.

### Chapter 3

Sony is in her new room on Sector 4
when she hears the rumble of Sector 9 plummeting into the abyss. A
folded slip of paper slides under her door, the note written on it
says: *To find what you seek, you must not look in a place where*
*everything can be seen*. As Sony
processes all this, she hears the sound of weeping coming from down
the hall, a crowd of distraught civilians from Sector 9, in Sector 4
for their allotted time to worship, are crying out for their loss.
A
member of the Voice, clad in red, whispers to her from his room “It
is not safe for you out there,” and he beckons her in to his room.

The man shows Sony a picture of her on his tablet device, he tells her that the Cardinal wants
her brought in for public execution. He goes on to tell her that she
is of great importance, Sony is shaping the mind of Jenna more than
the Voice ever could. It is important to the Cardinal that Jenna fall
in line with their ideas for the future of mankind.

 “You do not speak the voice of God,
this frightens many,” he tells her, “You are in a position of
great power.”

 The man believes that Jenna is in
danger as well, he says he saw her being followed, that if Jenna is
found dead, Sony would be the prime suspect. He tells her to run to
Sector 1, because if God tells him to kill her, he will do it, but he
won't think it is right. The man gives her a knife from within his
robe and bares his chest to her, “If you value your life, no one
must know that we spoke. You must deliver me to God, or I will be
forced to deliver you.”

 When she tries to dissuade him with
stories of the past, of a man whom God tasked to kill his own son, he
tells her that is why the Cardinal fears her, she does not even speak
of their God. As the man grasps her hands and draws the knife toward
his chest, she sees a back exit to the room. She drops the man's
knife and bolts out the door with the man calling after her that she
should have killed him.

 Sony checks all of Jenna's favorite
haunts of the Sector, each member of the clergy she sees stops to
watch her run past and begin to follow her. She pulls up her scarf
around her face like a hood and attempts to lose her pursuers.

 She ducks through a kitchen area where
she knows the staff well, sending the workers out with food for the
Sector 9 mourners, Sony leaves the kitchen through a side door and
comes to one of Jenna's favorite spots, there is no sign of the girl
but there is a wide trail of blood, as if a body were dragged out of
the courtyard.

 Up in Sector 2, James has made his way
to the living quarters of the clergy here. He goes to the Cadinal's
establishment to seek audience. One of the guards outside his office
stops James to question him. James tells the man that he needs access
to the Sector where the person the clergy is looking for, Sony, might
be. The guard brings James before the Cardinal, through a long
office, almost like the throne room of a king, the Cardinal sits at
his desk lit by two candles. He doesn't look up from the book of
God's word as James approaches, he continues reading and asks what
brings James to him.

 James tells the Cardinal of his
meeting with the others at Janus' funeral, whom the Cardinal reveals
he had ordered the murder of because the Courier was planning
something. “He aimed to keep us from the stars,” the Cardinal
says, “do you aim to keep us from the stars?” James tells him
that he is there looking for guidance, the Cardinal draws a pair of
gloves from a drawer in his desk, and then a sheet of plastic that he
drapes over himself. “Let's have a conversation with God shall we?”
the Cardinal asks, as he stands and gestures across the room.

 The Cardinal leads James over to a
standing closet on the other side of the room from which he draws a
wheeled cart. Upon the cart is a bowl, coming from within it is an
orange/yellow glow. As James looks into the bowl, he sees a leaf
floating upon water, the leaf seems to pulse along with James' heart.
The Cardinal presses James's face into the water and James' world
goes dark.

 In the darkness, a soft voice calls
his name. It tells him to close the loop.

 Another, deeper voice calls his name
and a flash of orange and white light pulses in his brain. James
feels himself move through a void, he sees stars and finds himself
floating in outer space. The voice asks him what he seeks. James
tells the voice that it is what he seeks, it is the voice of God. The
voice laughs, “What is God, James?”

 “Glory, bliss,” he answers.

 “Is that what you want?” the voice
asks, and when he answers in the affirmative, it continues, “So
selfish, this I can work with. Get on the ship, James. Come to the
stars. Is that what you want to hear?”

 “I don't know anymore,” is his
confused reply.

 “James, I don't care about you,
about it, this. It doesn't matter what you, or anyone else, does.”

 “How about the Cardinal, and
everyone in the Pit?” James asks.

 “Fools,” the voice answers, “only
you are special enough to hear me. Only you. Hahaha.”

 As James tries to question the Voice
further, his head is pulled from the bowl and he returns to the
Cardinal's office.

 When the Cardinal asks what he saw,
James tells the Cardinal that the voice told him that it doesn't care
about them. The Cardinal tells James that he knows the voice feels
this way, why would it care about any of them? What are they to it?

 The Cardinal tells James that Sony
must die, she possesses a threat to the clergy and their mission, she
possesses knowledge and uses it to influence those of great power.
“There are those who want different things from the mission that
lies before us. Though Shiloh and I have been through a lot together
over the years, there are certain things on which we do not see eye
to eye.” the Cardinal says.

 James requests full access to all the
floors to hunt down Sony and the Cardinal gives him a specialty
access card. “Bring her to me. Brother Thomas requested she be
brought in alive. Do you know why?” James tells the Cardinal of the
sketch that Brother Thomas saw and the Cardinal reveals that Brother
Thomas was on Sector 9 when it fell into the abyss. James heads to
Sector 5, where the others were supposed to get the Courier badges.

 Braidy is currently being punched in
the stomach by Ronnie's goons on Sector 5. Ronnie questions what
Braidy knows about why Sectors are being dropped into the pit. Braidy
says he knows as much as they do, and Ronnie has one of his goons go
check Janus' house for the badges. He tells Braidy if his man comes
back without the badges, there's only one person who could have them:
Braidy.

 Budwinnie has circled back around and
with all of the men focused on interrogating Braidy, she is able to
scoop up the air compressor and shoot Ronnie in the back of the knee,
exploding it out over Braidy. Ronnie's goons charge toward Budwinnie,
leaving Braidy open to trip up one of the men. As the man falls he
snares one of the other goons, causing him to drop the bat he was
carrying. Braidy scoops it up and bashes the goon in the back of the
head.

 James arrives on the scene as the last
goon is coming at Budwinnie, James takes his bat to the man's skull
as Braidy finishes off the other goons. James and Braidy compare
access cards and Ronnie curses at them until Braidy silences him with
his bat. James awkwardly tries to tell Braidy and Budwinnie about how
Sony is in danger from the Clergy, which he is a part of and how he
decided not to kill them. Budwinnie keeps the air compressor pointed
at James until he disarms himself. They argue for a bit until they
feel the earth start to rumble, and a deep, unearthly sound comes
from the pit. They see an orange glow emitting from the depths of the
pit, James peers over the rail into the pit and sees pulsing veins,
the pulse is very familiar to him.

 The veins do not look fully organic,
there's a randomness, but also a design, like the roots of a tree
spiraling around the pit walls. They grow further along the walls
with each pulse.

 Upon seeing the pulsing orange light,
Sony thinks back to the paintings she has seen of sunsets in her
history books. She looks around for a Bull to steal an access card
from, finding one, she leads him to the bloody courtyard and then
directs his attention to the pulsing light from the pit, using the
distraction to swipe his access card. She leaves with promises to the
Bull to get indoors and heads for the lifts where she finds the
others.

 She tells them about the clergy being
after her. A new announcement is added to the curfew, “If you see
or make any contact with any creatures that appear to be of descent
other than human, you must contact authorities immediately.” They
hear screams of terror from the levels below them, they look over the
side and see several people leaping to their deaths from Sector 8.
They decide to retreat to

Janus' house, and James drags Ronnie's
unconscious form with them. Once they get into Janus' apartment they
tie Ronnie up using bed sheets and whatever else they find.

 The others are still mistrustful of
James so he stays off in a corner. Another announcement sounds
telling people to evacuate Sector 8, “Any individuals accessing the
market area must remove themselves immediately. Anyone who must
remain on Sector 8, God be with you.”

 The lights start to flicker as the
rumble returns, Sector 8 drops into the Pit.

### Chapter 4

Sector 7 is now the bottom Sector of
the Pit. Sony stresses the need to stop all of this, and also to find
her student, whom she believes to be in danger. They discuss the
various reasons why the clergy wants Sony, the public execution for
having knowledge that goes against church doctrine, and some
mysterious connection with her father, Hewlett. James reveals to the
group that the Cardinal had Janus killed for heresy. Braidy suggests
that they check in with his father, leader of the Bulls, perhaps he
can help keep Sony safe.
 They hear someone or something banging
pots and pans around in the kitchen. Budwinnie takes up her bat with
a nail in it and stalks into the kitchen to see Janus pushing himself
out of a cupboard. For two days he'd been in a hidey-hole he'd dug
after faking his death and sending them all a note. He tells them
that they need to stop the rocket that is being built in Sector 1,
the group tells him that they need the rocket to escape whatever is
in the pit. Janus doesn't know or believe anything about these
creatures they tell him about.

 Janus tells them that the Clergy
wanted him dead for the same reason that they killed Hewlett, they
both had the knowledge to free people from the control of the
clergy's doctrine. Sony again brings up the need to stop them from
dropping more people into the pit, rather than focusing on this
supposed ship. Janus tells them that, if they kill Jenna's father,
Jenna will become the leader of the Pit, and with the influence of
her favored teacher, they can get her to stop the ship without more
loss. No one knows anything about Jenna's father, he has never left
Sector 1 and none of them have ever been up that high.

 Janus tells them that he got the page
of translated symbols Braidy found from Hewlett, they were a piece of
the research that he was involved in that got him killed. They
eventually decide to go find Jenna so that they can get up to Sector
1, whatever their ultimate goal may be there. James gives Sony his
red clergy robes to disguise her from his fellow church members, and
as she dons them, he steals and hides a knife.

 Another announcement proceeds the
rumble under their feet as Sector 7 drops into the pit. A bright
light fills the inside of Janus' apartment, followed by an even
stronger pulse. Janus opens the door and sees the orange veins
working their way up the rock walls here as well and Sector 7 drops into the pit.

### Chapter 5

Janus has fallen to his knees, staring
at the pulsing veins in the cavern walls, his face blank and
expressionless. “What is this?” Janus asks. “This is what we
were talking about. From below it devours,” Sony responds. “They're
feeding it...” Janus mutters, placing his hands on his head. “The
stories are true...all of them. We can't destroy the rocket, we need
to get everyone on it and get out of here. When the world went dark,
the Devil showed himself.”
 Calling for them to get into action,
James leaves the apartment and the others follow. They continue to
talk to Janus as they go, James has pressed the button to call for
the elevator and while they wait Janus says, “The visions, I
thought they were a metaphor. This, this, I kept hearing this, To
close the loop of prejudice and violence and pain and torment, we had
to abolish what we knew about the clergy, and about God and the
government. But what's the loop if it's not that?”

 Janus grabs Budwinnie by the
shoulders, looking into her eyes as he tells her, “Listen to THIS,
they knew, I couldn't hear them.” He pushes off of Budwinnie and
casts himself into the pit. The elevator arrives and, through the
grated floor of the elevator, they can see people desperately trying
to scale the elevator shaft, most of them falling into the pit. They
manage to help a few of the people out of the shaft before the
elevator stops, they see several Bulls rounding up the people who
climb out of the elevator shafts and handcuffing them.

 Braidy approaches the line of Bulls,
telling them he is looking for his father, Roger Riley, head of
security. The Bulls let the group through and they head into the
security headquarters. The imagery of bulls with spiraling horns that
line the halls of the building seems strange to them. Some of the
paintings depict bull/human hybrid creatures. Roger beckons them into
his office and tells them to shut up and listen, he can't protect
Braidy anymore “It's happening. We're gonna drop, almost everyone.
I was denied access to the upper floors.” Braidy is thunderstruck
at this news.

 “Dad, you're in charge,” Braidy
pleads.

 “I was only in charge long enough to
get done, what needed to be done. Which was keep the peace. And keep
order.”

 Roger tells them that he has been
ordered to return Braidy to his real father. His job was to protect
Braidy, as is the duty of the Bulls. “Your mother was a vessel,”
he tells Braidy, “On the birth of your sister, her daughter, it has
come to pass and she was no longer...she was a good woman.”

 When pressed as to what happened to
Braidy's mother, Roger tells them that they will have to take that up
with his real father. He cannot accompany them, the Bulls have to
keep people from stopping what needs to happen to save the rest of
humanity. Whatever is in the pit knows that they are trying to leave,
and it is doing everything in its power to stop them. There is only
one hundred and fifty years of oxygen left, which they will pump into
the ship.

 Roger reveals that Jenna is Braidy's
sister, Shiloh apparently wants Braidy back with his sister presumed
missing. The footage that the Bulls have is of clergymen taking
Jenna, Braidy's father and the clergy are apparently at odds.

 Braidy confronts James about what he
knows about this, and James puts forth the plan to have him put his
clergy robes back on and take Sony as a 'prisoner' to the Cardinal on
Sector 2. Roger tells them that Braidy is the replacement for Jenna,
only one of them can get on the ship.

 Roger pulls Braidy aside and tells him
that he ordered the Bulls to stop looking for Jenna as a way to get
his son, Braidy, a ticket on to the ship. Braidy refuses this and
decides to go after his sister to rescue her.

 They return to the others and Roger
confirms reports of the creatures coming out of the pit, the Bulls
don't have the power to stop them. The squad of Bulls that Roger will
send along will buy them the time to get to the Cardinal for some
answers. They all feel a rumble and hear the screams from below as
Sector 6 drops into the pit.

### Chapter 6

The group, and all of the Bulls that
could be spared, travel up in the three freight elevators toward
Sector 2. The group is in one of the elevator cars with Roger Riley,
talking strategy. Roger says they should formulate a plan in case
they can't stop the Sectors from dropping when they get up there,
perhaps Budwinnie could use Jenna's clearance badge to get them
access to Sector 1 and then from there open up access for everyone
who is left in the Pit.
 The orange pulse now illuminates the
entire pit and they hear screams from below, as they look down, dark
shapes can be seen climbing up toward them, the light doesn't seem to
touch these figures, they seem to be shrouded in darkness itself.

 One of the shapes leaves the wall,
almost floating through the shaft towards them, a hand reached out
from it as it passes through the bottom of the elevator and touches
Budwinnie. Her world goes dark.

#### Truths

* Discovery: There seems to be something more than being a high born. Braidy discovers there’s something special with his blood in connection to this place.

### Chapter 7

Darkness surrounds Budwinnie, an
emptiness, and a whisper. “Close the loop. THIS. Join the Pit. Do
nothing, do nothing, do nothing.”
 The rest of them see Budwinnie
collapse to the floor of the elevator and start to convulse. Braidy
kneels over her and tries to wake her. When she tells them that she
heard a voice James is happy that someone else had a similar
experience to his with the Entity earlier. When the elevator doors
open, a crowd of red-robed clergy await them. About a hundred
clergymen stand in front of the Cardinal, who is perched atop a small
rock and holds a drugged Jenna hostage.

 “You shall remove yourselves from
our path,” the Cardinal tells them, “We will be taking the
heretic, and our brother, as we ascend.”

 James tells the Cardinal that he has
done his job, he has brought them here, as they planned earlier. For
some reason, Budwinnie punches him in the nose. The Cardinal gestures
at James and thanks him for doing his duty, then gives the others one
chance to join them. “Join us, as we leave t his godforsaken place
and join the Ancient One in the stars. Kill the heretic, and we'll
allow you safe passage.”

 Sony asks if she is the heretic he
refers to.

 “Yes, you are the person who would
bring us down through her own selfish devices.”

 “All I speak is the truth, there are
documents, the truth is there in print...”

 “And you believe what you read. Who
wrote those words? Do you think Shiloh Anah let anything in to this
pit without his supervision? You know nothing of the man who rules
over you, do you? The father of this child.”
 “I know what I
have read, and I know what the people say about him. He is not the
end all of everything, there was society before we had to move
underground and that is the truth I speak of, that I teach Jenna
about.”

 Chief Riley steps forward and tells
the Cardinal that Braidy is Shiloh's son, if they are after Shiloh,
they should take Braidy as well. James confirms this all and suggests
he can also be used as leverage. Budwinnie attempts to bluff that
Sony can be used to control Jenna and Sony also bluffs that the
badges require a conscious bio-signature to be used. The Cardinal
knows, however, that the person does not need to be conscious to use
their bio-signature.

 After more banter about them killing
the heretic, the Cardinal challenges the fact that Shiloh would allow
someone who is spreading lies that could hurt him to his daughter.
“Do you know how long Shiloh has been controlling us? Three hundred
years ago, he built this hole, himself. He's taken the Ancient One
for himself, used it for his own selfish needs. This is being
escalated because he knows I know; he's trying to escape as quickly
as he can and *I* know that
what he needs is his daughter. So I will be taking her to him and
taking the ship.”

Sony
bluffs that there is a keycode that only Jenna's handlers know and
the Cardinal buys it, but he tells his men to grab the heretic and
James complies. Sony shouts “Let those that turn against their
friends be smited!” and clubs James in the head with her bat,
staggering him into the open elevator. With that blow, all hell
breaks loose. A group of clergy advance on the elevator, Sony ducks
back into the elevator, the ten Bulls do their best to hold off the
clergy and Braidy pushes Budwinnie onto the elevator and steps
forward to defend her, “I'll find you,” he tells her.

### Chapter 8

Braidy, his father, and the Bulls fight
against the tide of clergymen. Braidy pushes his way through to
Jenna, telling her to come with him. Jenna pushes herself out of the
Cardinals hands and tells Braidy that she needs to get to her father
or they are all doomed. The Cardinal grabs her again and addresses
Braidy, telling him to come with them to see Shiloh. Jenna tells
Braidy he is not going to like what he sees on Sector 1, then leans
in as she passes him, “First chance you get, you kill this fucker,”
she whispers.
 As they leave, Braidy makes eye
contact with his adopted father just as a nailed bat smashes into the
man's head.

 In the elevator, James tells them all
that the knife he pulls out was for the Cardinal, their plan was for
him to 'turn them in' so they could all get close. Budwinnie hacks
her way into the elevator's systems and gets them all access to
Sector 1. As the elevator rises, they see the people on the sector
they leave behind stop and watch them rise, until the darkness
swallows them and Sector 5 drops into the pit, the orange glow gets
brighter.

 The doors open on a courtyard in
Sector 4, people have dropped to their knees and are praying,
Budwinnie tries to get the elevator to move faster. Braidy, Jenna,
and the Cardinal, holding a knife to Jenna's throat, rise in another
elevator to Sector 1. “I'm going to meet God,” the Cardinal
whispers, as a grin overtakes his face, “I'll head to the stars,
I'll finally fulfill my duty.” Braidy's bat connects with the
Cardinal's face, caving it into his skull, he keeps muttering, “To
see God,” as he slumps to the elevator floor.

 The doors to Sector 1 open as a streak
of warmth hits Braidy, it is nothing he has ever seen or felt, as the
doors open further he sees bright greenery and sunlight. Jenna takes
his hand and pulls Braidy past two guards holding bright, shining
guns with a circular logo on them. Braidy stops Jenna and tells her
that he needs to go after Budwinnie and his other friends. Jenna
tells him that his father will not allow them onto the ship, Braidy
should hear it all from Shiloh. Hearing birdsong for the first time,
Braidy looks up and sees a glass dome overhead, and beyond it the
sky.

 “Don't get too weird on me,” she
says, “we still can't go out there, it's not safe. At least, that's
what dad says.”

 And then Braidy sees the ship. It is
pointed down, thrusters aimed skyward, as people bustle around it,
loading cargo. “Dad didn't want to drop the Seeds but he did. So
you're all that's left,” Jenna tells Braidy, “The only reason you
couldn't stay up here is because you're the wrong chromosome. He's
gonna be excited to see you because he thought he'd failed, that they
were all gone, that the ship was going to the stars with none of his
lineage.”

 Braidy notices pulsing orange veins in
the ground along their path, as Jenna frolics through the foliage,
she's excited to finally share this with someone new. “Dad thought
it was important that I was smart, the smarter I am the more pleased
It will be. The Heart.” The veins they follow are leading to a
tree, “There's your proof, go say hi to dad,” Jenna says.

 As Braidy approaches the tree, a face
appears through the bark, and an arm stretches out towards him. “My
name is Braidy Riley, son of Roger Riley,” Braidy addresses the
face.

 “No,” it answers in a robotic
monotone, “you are *my* son,
Braidy. I am Shiloh Anah. This is my home. You are my lineage. You
were not needed, but now I am glad to see you.”

“Why
are you a tree?”

“In
the great quake of 2018, my temple, storing my body, disconnected
from the Heart that I was born to protect. My people, they knew how
to fix me, they took me to the tree. My body, no longer lifeless,
but, as you can see, immobile. That was five hundred years ago.”

“So,
what's next?”

“Next,
we kill it. We destroy the Ancient One and stop this from ever
happening. I'm sorry that I had to lie to all of you. It was the only
way. It knows, I am part of it. When I awoke after years worshipping
it, protecting its Heart. I now found myself connected to it in a way
that let me see that it cares nothing for us. We are nothing to it.
My life up to that point, had been a lie. We are merely a hill for it
to climb over. It is everlong, undying. We, to it, are nothing. I
kept the Heart with me, closed off, down in the pit. You sister, she
knows what to do.”

“What
does she have to do?” Braidy asks.

“You
wish to know? Let me tell you a story. Syncroneity once my foes, then
falling, now gone, they were close. Close to destroying the Ancient
One. Three hundred years ago using the Blood, the Eyes, and the Arm,
they powered it up but kept it from being whole. It sent out a cry, a
Signal, and the world went dark. An evil like no other spread across
the planet. Driving us all mad. I should have listened, should have
offered my help. The Signal, it tracked it, not just to me and my
collection, but across time and space. The Spine, the Heart, the key
to the Soul. Its home, is two thousand light years away.

Now,
seeing the evil they unleashed, they knew what had to be done. What
only I could do. We must destroy it before the Signal reaches the
Earth two thousand light years ago. Their madness destroyed them. I
saved us, the rest of us, in the shadow of my dark embrace. This
ship, it will take us there, and we will kill it, finally.”

“How
many people are coming with us?”

“The
Shepherds, from birth I have trained them, taught them, educated
them, with all the knowledge that I possess. They will lead and they
will succeed, for I have seen it. And then, none of this will have
happened.”

“Are
you the one that has been dropping all the levels?” Braidy asks.

“Yes,
I must. For power. For the Portal. The Blood, will guide the ship.
The portal needs enough energy to ignite, the Blood
will take it home.”

“Do
all ten levels need to drop?”

“All
but this one, and Jenna. She will ignite the Heart. The Heart will
connect to the Spine. I will create the panic that will ignite the
Portal. The ship, led by the Blood, will drop and the journey will
begin.”

“Sounds
like you need me too,” Braidy says.

“You
are not qualified to run the ship. You are not smart enough. You are
not skilled enough.”

“What
if I told you I knew someone that was?”

“And
who might that be?” the tree asks.

“The
mother of your grandchild,” Braidy lies.

“You
have passed on our seed? Then you must retrieve her at once. Anah
must live on, they are the bringers of the new world.”

“Could
I get some of your soldiers to help?”

“I
will not risk them, they are too important. But there is another
way,” the face recedes into the tree.

“What
did you say?” Jenna walks up to Braidy, “He's excited, he's
calling for them. The darkness.”

Braidy
asks Jenna if she's okay with everything she has to do.

“I
have to be,” she answers, “That's why I was born, this is my
destiny.”

“Good
for you. You're a very strong person, Sad that I just met you today.”
Braidy tells her.

“It's
okay, you're one of *us*.
You'll always be with me then, and I'll be with you. We have a
special...connection to the Ancient One because of our father. He
hates It, you know?”

“I
think our dad is gonna help me find our friends and I think they'll
be able to come with us,” Braidy says.

“With
you,” she corrects, “wait, he let you on the ship?” When he
nods, she hugs him, “That's great news, I'm so happy.”

“I
need to get something done, and I need you to stay here,” he tells
her.

“You're
going back down?”

When
he asks if there's a way to speak to Shiloh again, she tells him that
he might come to Braidy in other ways, now that he knows you're
listening.

“Has
he spoken to you in other ways?” Braidy asks.

“They
all do,” Jenna responds.

“All
who?”

“Did
he tell you about the earthquake? That's when he originally died.
Him, along with the others. They're in the tree too.” She tells
him.

“Could
I get in the tree?” Braidy asks.

“I
mean, you *could*.
But then you couldn't be out here.”

“What
if someone cut the tree down?” Braidy wonders.

“I
don't think you understand how powerful our father is. How do you
think those levels are falling. He just lets them go. [I don't think
anyone could] cut the tree down if they wanted to.”

Budwinnie
sends the elevator they are on up to Sector 1, and then unlocks all
the other freight elevators. Their car stops at Sector 3 and there
are a few Bulls standing there, they tell them that all the elevators
are open and that they should bring the people up to 1 before they
continue their ascent.

As
they ascend, they hear an announcement that people should head to the
elevators and make their way to Sector 1. The elevator doors open on
Sector 2, bodies are scattered on the ground, some of the clergy
members look up at them from moving bodies. James tells them that he
is taking the others prisoner and the clergy tell him it doesn't
matter, the Cardinal is dead. They look over to another elevator.

James
goes over to the elevator that holds the Cardinal's body and kneels
over him, “Every time I close my eyes I see your judgemental eyes,”
he tells the Cardinal's body as begins to gouge out his eyes. Two
other clergy members come over and hold the Cardinal's head steady
for James as he removes the Cardinal's eyes and crushes them, freeing
himself from their judgement.

Braidy
heads over to the elevators on 1 and sees the guards there leveling
their weapons at the doors. “There's someone on one of these
elevators that my father needs,” Braidy tells the guards, he has
them hold their fire until he gives the say so. The doors open and
ten clergy men step out. Braidy sees violence unlike any he has ever
experienced, each round from the guns the guards fire remove the
parts of the body they hit. The clergy are annihilated in a wave of
red and holes are punched in the back of the elevator.

When
the others' elevator arrives, Budwinnie runs out and embraces Braidy,
the guards tell Sony that Jenna has requested her presence. Braidy
tells them of what he has learned, there's a giant beast within the
Pit, there is no surviving for everyone, but maybe some of them can
escape on the ship. He sends Sony on to see Jenna, and takes
Budwinnie to see his father.

James'
elevator arrives on Sector 1 and he feels the brush of sunlight heat
his skin, as his eyes focus, he sees two men pointing weapons at him.
“State your name and business clergymen.” James tells them his
name and they tell him to get on the ground. He does, but the other
two clergy do not, and James feels their blood splash onto him as the
guards light them up. James lets the soldiers know that there are
many more red robes coming up the elevators and offers to join them
in keeping the elevators safe.

As
the next elevator opens, containing red clergy members. James says,
“Brothers, it's going to be okay,” James lies, as he steps
forward and jams his knife into the throat of the first clergymen,
and he continues stabbing as the guards watch him kill the entire
elevator of red robes.

Sony
and Jenna meet up, Jenna tells Sony that she won't be able to get on
the ship, but Jenna would be honored if Sony would join *her.*
“You taught me everything you know, made me more than I was, and I
would be honored if you would join me. We get to save everybody.”

Braidy
wants to talk to Shiloh about getting Sony on the ship, and Sony
agrees with Jenna that helping everyone is a noble goal and she would
be happy to help in whatever way she can. “This is what I taught
you. You always do the right thing, even if it's not the easiest
thing.” Sony says.

They
hear a rumble, as dust rises from beneath the ship. The concrete slab
underneath the ship is opening up, revealing the pit below.

“Who's
controlling that ship?” Budwinnie asks.

“Devina
flies it,” Jenna responds. “The Blood will lead us to the Ancient
One, so that we can kill it.”

“This
is so outside my realm of experience,” Sony mumbles, “What can we
do, right now, to help?”

“Just
take my hand,” Jenna says, as she begins to lead Sony away.

Braidy
tells her to wait, he wants a brother/sister one on one.

“That
ship is pointing down...” Braidy says.

“Yeah,”
Jenna agrees, “to the portal.”

“You
should probably go introduce her to dad, since she's carrying the
seed,” Jenna says as they rejoin the others. Braidy makes the 'go
along with it' motion and Budwinnie agrees. Jenna takes Budwinnie's
hand and says, “Well, it was nice to know you. I'm sorry I'll never
got to see it born,” she continues over Budwinnie's objections,
“Thank you for continuing on what I couldn't. I know you're not
like us, but you seem smart,I think dad will like you.” She turns
to Sony, “Shall we?” The two of them leave.

Braidy
sees the glowing veins guiding them back to the tree and he takes
this opportunity to tell Budwinnie everything, how his father is in a
tree and controls everything, and how Braidy had to tell him that he
had gotten her pregnant to get her here. Shadows and shapes start to
dance around them in their peripheral vision as they approach the
tree, when they look behind them, there is nothing, emptiness; ahead,
only the path leading to the tree, the world around it vanishing into
darkness.

“What
is this?” Shiloh asks.

“Our
future,” Braidy replies.

As
the darkness creeps in, and the tree grows a face, Budwinnie goes
insane as her feet are enveloped by darkenss. Braidy sees her sink
into the ground and vanish into blackness.

“You
lied to me, she carried no seed.” Shiloh said, “There will be
others for you to mate with on the ship. Do not lie to me again, or
the blackness will envelop you.”

“I'm
not going with you on that ship. I'm not letting any of this happen.”
Braidy says defiantly, as the world passes into darkness.

#### Truths

* Feeling: JR seeing the sweeping Darkness over the rest of the previous Sectors, and the strength of his companions' character, a #Truth emerges, a #Feeling of conviction. If he cannot trust in a God who kills its people, then he will believe in Humanity
* GM: J.R watches helplessly as everyone walking through the hallway, is shot by a booby trap. J.R. suddenly finds himself a few moments before triggering the trap. (Zac and Mike edit this one into the elevator scene where JR kills the red robes.)

### Chapter 9

In a flash, Braidy finds himself in a
chair, he looks down at his arms and he is strapped in, his legs as
well. The walls around him are metal, and there are screens on them.
 “Hello,” Devina says, “I am the
pilot. I am the ship. You are a passenger. We will be leaving soon.”

 “Cool, where's Buddy?”

 “Who? She was not on the ship.”

 “We need to find her,” Braidy
says.

 “I'm afraid you cannot do that. It
will be a long trip.”

 Braidy feels cold seeping through his
veins as he looks down and sees the needle stuck into his arm.

 Sony and Jenna stand on the edge of
the pit and watch as Sector 4 drops into the pit.

 “Stand back darling that's a very
long drop,” Sony says.

 “I know, we're gonna make it
together. We're going to ignite the Heart.”

 “Launching yourself into an orange
lit pit does not help anything. This is not what I taught you. This
is not using your brain at all.”

 “I know you taught me everything you
knew. But you didn't know everything. I mean about this, about
everything.”

 “I know about gravity, darling. And
that's a long way down into that pit.”

 “If you knew that you could, take
all of this away. Start over. That thing you see above you in the
blue, at one time *billions* of people looked up and saw that.
You know, when my dad was alive he said that the planet was just on
the brink of destruction, but even then it was beautiful, that there
were people everywhere, living. If you knew *you*
could fix that for everyone, would you do it? And I don't mean
theoretically. If you have proof and no reason to believe that theses
things are not true, would you do it?”

“In
my book, and many of the books I've read, that is suicide darling. It
is not a good route to go down. You have the rest of your life ahead
of you, for instance.” Sony responds.

“I
wanted to do it with you because I respect you, and you're like the
mom I never had.”

“And
I feel like you're the daughter I never had a chance to have.”

“Are
you gonna try and stop me?” Jenna asks.

“Jenna
I can't stand here and let you jump into a pit. What is your proof?
Convince me Jenna, please. If anything, you know me, as your teacher
I respect proof, I respect knowledge, and I love you.”

“Okay,”
Jenna says, looking down, “Dad, can you do this last thing for me.
She just wants to understand.”

Sony
looks down and sees a flood of roaches come out of the ground and
form into a body, “What confuses you?” the robotic voice of
Shiloh asks, “that I need to clarify for my daughter.”

“She
is trying to convince me that her diving into this pit starts some
kind of chain reaction that helps stop a lot of bad things from
happening in the first place. And I asked for proof.”

“I
am your proof. My existence, my connection to God is your proof.”

“Would
this close the loop?” she asks.

“You
speak of THIS. It reached out to you?”

“It
was another person, Janus told me about that...”

“Daughter,
it is time.” Shiloh says.

Jenna
opens her arms wide and falls back into the pit, as she does Sector 2
and 3 fall with her. Sony climbs onto the railing and dives after
Jenna, she reaches out and grabs Jenna's hand, pulling her in tight.
Sony never feels impact, as they are surrounded by white light. Sony
sees Jenna's eyes cloud over and she whispers, “Forever my
darling,” as an emptiness fills her brain and she loses every part
of herself.

Braidy
watches on the screens, as other people are moving in around him,
strapping themselves in, Braidy watches the light grow hotter and
hotter. James is standing at the elevator, surrounded by bodies. The
guards leave their post and he follows them into a field filled with
fauna, the tree bursts into flame.

“So
this is God...” James murmurs. The creatures from below crawl from
the pit and scurry through the weeds toward him, one lunges and he
lets it take him, and he fades into darkness.

### Chapter 10

Braidy
feels the ignition of the ship lighting up, he feels a void in his
chest, a feeling of his father. He looks to his right and sees a man,
“Son, it's happening. Your sister ignited the Heart. I am
destroying the Spine.”
“What's
gonna happen to me?” Braidy asks.

“You're
a shepherd now, you'll live and die on this ship. Many generations
from now, our children will kill this god, this being. And none of
this will have ever happened.”

“Did
you bring my friend?”

“No,
you'll have plenty of time to mourn for your losses.”

A
blue energy starts to form in the center of the pit, a tear in
reality reveals space, the stars.

“That
is your new home. The last of humanity's new home.”

“Are
we human? Am I human?”

“No,
but I suggest you keep that to yourself.”

The ship blasts into darkness and the light fades out.

The End of vol. 7