I. Detached From The Xenoverse
"Dawn breaks upon
My bewildered soul..."
Sleep count: Unknown
Shrouded in nostalgic fog
A dripping beacon module
De-lulls me from
A colossal dream-state
As I stir from a cockpit seat
From the viewglass:
Elongated stars enshrouded
Twist amongst amorphous loops
Of ghastly effervescence
Synchrotronatedly emitting
From a cylindrical smog
Of pulsar winds
II. Skirmish Above HD 10180h:
Dials scrambled realign
As a battle unfolds
Before my eyes
The colossal fluctuations
Of rippling epochs
Relinquished in my wake
A skirmish seethes
Between two factions
Above a glowing gas giant
I regain control
Just as I am in scope
But tracking grids
Are on me
Comms hailed
In an acoustic package
Transmitted from
A Zoergoric flagship
Cipher-Translator...//Active:
"Unknown craft: Please identify
You are in quarantined
Void-space of the Sagittarius-Carina
Galactic corps
Comply immediately
Or we will blast you!"
(Unworldly Fog Clearing
From Exhaust Tubes: A. Bradley)
With no knowledge
Of the controls
I beam back nothing
Their last fuzzed warning
Of alien vibrons
Sparks from auditory ducts
With haste, I configure
The overhead systems
As my craft zooms
Towards the turmoil
And non-Euclidian
Structural fighters
Drop from their landing bay
I maneuver towards
The asteroid field
And the slimy voice croaks
Through the verbirators
CT:
"Dispatch: Target unknown craft
Quadrant E
[Triangulation grid active]
Sector V-XB982"
(Spherical Alignment: Riley)
Swerving in and out of asteroids
Plasma gun fires blasts
Squadron of spinning terror coordinate
Infrared targeting
Fighters closing fast
Through the abyssal glow
Target locked on
(Slipstream Through Crevasses
In The Lithospheric
Nimbus smog: J. Bradley)
(A Celestial Dance
Through The Gas Giant's
Spewing Ichor: A. Bradley)
(Sputtering Exhaust Fumes
Clinging To The Engine
Nexus Spark: J. Bradley)
Missiles strike the craft
Computations malfunction
Hyperdrive in effect
Scramble syntax to disengage
Steam hisses out
From the scorched bow
Systems lose control
III: Interstellar Lands
(Secluded Howling Of
A Synchronous Awakening: Riley)
(Rolling Hills Of Nebula: J. Bradley)
(Manifested Through
The Shores Of Time: A. Bradley)
(A Ceremony
Of Churning Gravity-Flux
In The Spatio-Temporal
Continuum: A. Bradley)
Drifting sepulcher of iron
Cosmic steel tomb
Adrift
IV: Black Ore
Now absent
From infrared gaze
Ice has exteriorized
Around the controls
And static on the horizon
Punishes my sanity
Drifting for months
Air system leaking
Dripping, soaked
It reeks
Coreating a stench
Of rotting metal
Trapped and cornered
In the walls of my own cruiser
No sign of celestial gait
To latch gravitory sensors
Blank visuals on the display
Auxiliary power routing failed
Compelled to glide
The cresting outerstellar dunes
Of ages
Spheres drip by in the distance
Frozen and battered dregs
Glide by the hull
The remnants of
A long passed marauder
Redoubt?
Blips from the radar
Wail at the presence
Of an incoming object
A ravaged planet emblazoned
With its own lunar debris
Ensnared by a gravity well
My craft flails
Through tectonic abortions
To land at the edge
Of a lunar crevasse
There, clinging to the brink
An industrial complex
Littered in impacts
Catwalk traversed
Blast doors breached
The purple glow
Of outside dims
V: Lair Of The Time-Ghouls
Personnel ascender
Mounting the pale crust
Ahead, arcing Polaris within
The tomb's sepulchral nucleus
Gleaming lunar magma
Spills through gashes
In the lofty cantilever
But skulking shadows
Dominate the pitch canvas
(Scoured Mutation Seekers: A. Bradley)
(Altered Colliding Parallels: J. Bradley)
(Illumined In Cimmerian Shade
The Mirror: A. Bradley)
Progeny potential
Eroded by time
Mutations beyond all form
Time sickness shows
Irradiated cortex
Inharmonious
Clinging to human perception
Enduring echoes flow
Ensconced into the vestibule
Refuge found
In the nuclear sanctum
Behind mangled console wires
And an ogling
Life-starved corpse
Uranium levels
Pushed to maximum
And the surging throng
Of twitching figures
Are swathed in chemical spew
As I make my fleeing retreat
Weeping lanterns
Evac procedure
Forms innumerable
Airlock to airlock
Half-life levels close to zero
Bursting through chambers
Depressurized
(Flung Into
A Vacuous Vacuum: Riley)
VI: Progeny Echoes
Regaining secure footing
Onto pressurized auras
And into an eerie docking bay
Black ore
Steams off the diggers
Any suitable craft derelict
On weird gait, I glimpse upon
An aquatic insectoid
Hissing vapor ridges twinge
A shadow of Enceladus
Escape pod in bay 4
Automatic guiding path
Blocked
Manual disintegration required
To reach escape vectors
Smoke bills from
The towering abyss
As the overreaction
Reaches critical levels
Vapor ions of haze
Disperse from
The geological spill
Draped over the continuum
Destiny pulsating doom's lyre
Time is a circle
Without beginning or end
Moonbelt immolator
The pod clears
From the Lunar Maria
And I meander
Between the two spheres
POD SYS:
"Course plotted
Charge boosters active
Countdown initiated
T-minus 0.024 kiloseconds."
(Distortional Labyrinth
Traversal: J. Bradley)
