At World's End
The dark ship crawled through the unending night for the longest time before it came to a halt near the small, red-black world so far away from the crew's home planet.
"What do we know about this system?" the captain asked, looking across the bridge to his science offi cer.
"Nine planets. Third one from the sun is the only one that has had life on it in recent memory." He briefly checked his instruments before continuing. "Nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. High levels of radiation. No plant life to speak of. Surface temperature is negative 100 degrees." If he had been able to, he would have frowned. The new readings didn't make any sense. "High tech level. Population of...six billion?" He cocked his triangular head in confusion. "They all register as comatose, Captain."
A chill fell over the bridge. Every being on the ship had heard the stories about the world where the organic life had been doomed to be nothing more than a power source for the machines. Some of the survivors of the space-faring races their people had conquered had told stories about that planet, and of the people they'd lost when the machines had sent ships after them.
The science officer himself had discounted the stories since he'd first heard them. They were just too fantastic, and, he'd thought, not particularly likely. He'd never in his wildest dreams expected to find that world, let alone in this sector.
"Is there anything coming towards us?" the captain asked. Was that uneasiness in his voice?
"Negative, sir," the communications officer replied, "they haven't detected us yet."
"Make a note that this world is dead," the captain said. "There's no reason for us to be here. Let's go home."
The spidery vessel turned and began to head out of the solar system. For a brief moment, an orange glow lit the darkness. When it faded, the ship was gone.
Meanwhile, on the planet below, the man who would have been Valen stirred within his womb-like prison, but did not awaken.
End
Neither the Shadows, Valen, nor the Matrix belong to me. The Matrix is (c)1999 by the Wachowski Brothers and by Warner Brothers, Inc. Any and all Babylon 5 references are (c)1993-1999 by J. Michael Straczynski and Babylonian Productions, Inc. The story itself is mine.