To Adam's left was a scepter of ebony. He had never seen such a black man, lean and wiry, the sweat glistened like dew on his skin.

"What you looking at, man," came the defensive cry. Adam looked away, but there was a passion beneath the guarded exterior.

"I'm Adam."

"I don't need no honky for a friend, keep your distance."

John-mark sat silently to Adam's right, taking it all in. Nothing had prepared him for this. What had he gotten himself into?

The doors slammed shut with a finality worse than death.

"All right you pathetic worms, if any one of you wants off this boat, this is your last chance." Georgiana was un-phased. Adam wanted to die. The Urge to kill rose up inside and he bolted.

But a hand held him back. "No, you stupid newbie, don't do it." Georgiana was in Adam's ear, staring straight ahead but hissing out the side of her mouth. "Sit down." She didn't know why, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time.

He tried to get to the door, but she was strong. He glanced at her for a brief moment and her blue eyes held him there. A strength he had never seen, he was embarrassed at being confronted by a woman. It would be so easy to go back home and become a serial killer.

He realized there was no hope for him.

Adam put his butt back on the hard bench. "Thanks," he said, glancing at her name tag. "Georgiana."

The doors were sealed shut. No one left. She could feel the tug of inertia as the compact cylinder slid past the physical dimension, into a depth beyond human understanding.

They were going down into a hell no one knew about. There was no water to swim through, no air to breathe, just a mysterious void with a thousand unanswered questions.

A feeding tube came down, followed by another tube just in case someone had to go. They sat knees in chest, whispering quietly amongst themselves. It must have been days, but there was a scrap of air now. All electronics had ceased to function and their neural implants were down. Many had never been in the cyber-dark like this before. They had been hooked to the Galactic Network since birth and Georgiana could hear some crying like babies.

The hiss of a door signaled the buff Sergeant was approaching.

"You worms think you're going to die, don't worry, we will re-sync your implants once on board. Just so you know, we haven't gone anywhere but up dimension." He paused while they soaked it in. "Listen to what I'm saying. When I say up, it means you're getting younger. When I say down, you're getting the life blood sucked from your mortal flesh. You're aging faster than you ever want to. Any questions? No I didn't think so. This is a time machine we will be living on, but it's not magic and it's surely not god. We do not create miracles here. Every second is a calculated gamble." The officer cleared his throat and ran his speech over in his mind.

"Anything over twenty years can't be reclaimed. We have a time decompression tank back home that will make you young again, but it only gives back twenty years. You will be paid battle fees if you decide to go past that marker. Let me make it clear, we are not traveling through time. This ship exists in another dimension, I don't even know where the hell that is. When time-shift occurs, you will be aging at an accelerated pace. When we pierce the veil back to our own reality you have a limited time to get in the decompression tank before the aging takes a set and becomes permanent. I know every single one of you wants to know what our mission is. Get a clue! I have no idea. Don't ask."

The door hissed open again. They had arrived. No one felt older, but soon they would dive causing time to accelerate, and even Deity had to obey its own laws.

Please feel free to comment!

Don't forget to vote!