"Am I dead?"
The voice seemed to come from everywhere around Tamara, but it had no visible source.
You Live Yet
The Universe Has Need Of You
Tamara took a deep breath. "Oh, well, that's just great."
This Response Is
Unexpected
"Well sorry, but the universe seems to hate me. ...This definitely feels like I'm dead."
The voice did not respond. She continued through the dark for a time.
Reed and the other five were carried up the stairs to the top of the plateau, which was in fact the rim of a shallow valley. At the center was a tremendous bulb, perhaps 200 feet in diameter. It trembled in time with a high, breathy whistling sound that pulsed through the depression. Thick spiral-woven roots punched through the rock and disappeared below the hilltop. At the widest part of the rim was a broad, shallow pool that had a series of what looked like computer readouts flashing on its surface.
At this point they were split up; Reed, Sue, and Farida were taken by Ex Nihilo to one side of the pool. Ben, Johnny, and Harvey were followed by Abyss to the other. They dragged the limp researchers up and onto a wall of blue pods. The pods opened readily at the appearance of the humans.
"Oh, these creatures are delightfully blank canvases," Nihilo steepled his hands as he looked over the wriggling forms of Reed and company. "Abyss, what does the data say?"
"Exactly what you'd expect," she said floating upside down over the pool. "Apes with tools. Threat Level: Low to None. A nuisance species at best."
"They've almost gotten space travel figured out as well," Nihilo laughed. "They'd make an interesting site alongside a Kree or a Shi'ar."
"Kree, now there's a boring genome." She floated up to Johnny. "Be glad you aren't bound by the rigors of their mating process, Mr… Storm, was it?"
"That's right. Though if that's what you're after, you might want to work on your bedside manner. Then again, you have tied me to a wall…"
She put a finger to his lips. "Sorry, but I'm only interested in more… interesting organisms. Nothing we can't fix, though."
"So just what do you intend to do to us?" Ben was losing his patience. "'Fix us?' Make us more 'interesting?' You keep talking but you haven't made sense since we got here."
"As I said, all who come here receive a gift," Ex Nihilo answered him. "What that gift will be, even I can't say. But this will be a lovely test run for the Program."
"You're going to… alter our genes." Reed breathed.
"I'm going to improve you - all of you. Make you stronger, until life once again flourishes in this part of the divine tapestry of the universe."
"Hey pal, my genes are off limits!" Ben shouted.
"We are Gardeners, descended from those who trod the virginal cosmos and imbued it with life. Nothing is beyond our reach."
And before anyone could say anything else, Reed was pulled into his pod. Through the translucent membrane he could see the powerful silhouette of Ex Nihilo watching intently.
He felt his whole body tingle, and he struggled to get a grip on the walls of the pod. It was becoming harder to move his body with every passing moment…
Farida Hussein was conscious of a bright white liquid, like flowing light, filling up around them all. Something seemed familiar about this to her, but she certainly hadn't been in this situation before...
The two Gardeners watched the cocoons writhe as the six Foundation explorers moved inside.
"There are actually a number of fascinating vacant sequences in here," Abyss said looking at the pool. "They're using a considerably small portion of their genetic content."
"Room to grow. How very efficient. How is the treatment taking to them?"
"Well. Very well, in fact."
Sue felt herself grow weaker, as though she was losing her grip on the world. She blinked, and then blinked again, because for a moment she had lost sight of her hand stretched before her…
Abyss turned around at the sound of a sizzle coming from Johnny's pod. The siblings watched, unsure, as drops of the white luminous fluid dripped from the seam in the pod and evaporated as they hit the cool ground of the crater.
Johnny's body temperature had been increasing rapidly - he felt simultaneously feverous and electrified as the heat permeated through him. He looked down at himself, realizing he was starting to smoke...
Harvey Elder's vision was rapidly fading, but above the high, airy whistle pulsing through the pod he could hear Ben Grimm shouting in agony. He could hear - and smell - a number of horrifying things as the breathy sound grew louder and higher, the intervals between each pulse growing ever shorter...
Reed finally found purchase on the opening of the pod, but his bones started to ache. And then he couldn't feel them at all. His outstretched arm was beginning to sag under its own weight, Even his great mind was suddenly flooded with panic at the events unfolding. And all around him he could hear the muffled protests of his colleagues and family.
Sue could see a bright orange flash through the membrane, and heard Ex Nihilo and Abyss begin to shout at each other.
"Disengage! Disengage! They're changing too fast!"
"No, I believe this is the way their species does change. Remarkable. But alarming. I think they're done, brother."
Reed's suit braced his rapidly softening body in an upright position. Through the cracked visor he saw a horrifying sight. The burning form of Johnny, entirely wreathed in orange flame, staggered from his pod. He wheeled around wildly, and then made a break for the Gardeners' liquid computer.
Despite Abyss' pleas against it, Johnny plunged himself into the pool, causing a great burst of steam to overtake the rim of the crater.
Reed quickly lost sight of the others, but he could see vague shapes moving in the cloud. A large mass barrelled in the direction of the Gardeners and the pool, and he saw the telltale shape of Ex Nihilo duck out of the way of the chaotic scene. Then a bright purple flash knocked him off the edge and sent his limp form tumbling down through the deep jungle below…
They were all gone. Well, not all, Abyss thought as she looked at the peculiar shell that had overtaken Farida Hussein's body within the pod. Somehow, in all the confusion, the other five had escaped down the slope of the hill and into the trees beyond.
"I'm concerned with the effects our gifts may have had on their mental state."
"The program must be undisturbed." Aleph responded flatly.
"Indeed," Nihilo nodded. "They may not be in top emotional condition right now. They're upset and we don't want them to do anything rash."
His sister looked at him, then at the robot. This could only go one way if they sent Aleph.
"I will find them, brother," Abyss' body turned into a dark cloud and glided over the rim of their lab. "They will learn the wonders of their gift in time. Or it will kill them."
"I should like the former," Nihilo called after her. "They seem nice. For apes with tools."
"Tell me you have something."
The First Mate paced around the deck of the Beautiful Tomorrow. It had been almost a full day since they lost radio contact with the shuttles.
"A few irregular thermal readings, but not anything to write home about," one of the flight crew members replied."
"I don't like this."
"Protocol still gives them 52 hours to rendezvous before we scrap the mission."
"Yeah, but a lot can go wrong in two days."
"A lot can go right as well," a female officer shrugged.
He sighed. "True. We have our order. Keep a tab on those thermals, and leave all the channels open."
He looked out the window and muttered to himself. "You guys better still be alive down there."
"What a curious flower," Cadmon mused as he and Doctor Frank moved through the underbrush.
"Bah," Frank brushed aside a vine. "If you wanted to stare at weeds all day you should have brought Mr. Garrison or Dr. Beaker."
"Well, if that isn't to your taste," Cadmon said dryly, "There are also some tracks down here."
"Oh?" the older man leaned down. "Magnificent! It looks feline. Or maybe a… mongoose. But there are too many toes for either of those. I wouldn't expect much evolutionary sense up here anyway."
A rustling sound in the bushes drew his attention. "Maybe that's it there."
"Emil, don't wander off too far."
He craned his neck to find where the scientist had run off to. Then he heard a shout.
"Gah!"
"Emil?"
He jogged off after his comrade, not noticing the strange flowers growing into a dense thicket as he went...
I Do Not
Understand
Tamara stopped and turned around, then felt stupid for trying find the speaker. Everything was black forever.
"What? Wait, how long have you been following me?"
Time
Time Is Not
A Concern To Us
But Your Response
The Universe
Capable Of Hate
No
The Beings Within
Yes
Boundless
Unfortunately
But Not The Universe
"Look, I didn't mean it literally. I'm sure it's not personal. It just feels like it most of the time. This is just the latest in a long string of 'screw yous' to yours truly. It's like my life is cursed. And now I'm definitely dead in a weird forrest on Mars. I should have known, even leaving the planet I couldn't escape it. I don't know what I did to deserve this."
Tamara's body suddenly became translucent, and in it she could see a number of familiar memories flash across her skin. Her third birthday party. Her graduation from culinary school. Her wedding. Her husband. A loud horn. A small face…
"What the hell is this?" She grimaced.
What You Do Is
An Extension Of
Who You Are
I Wished To Know
Who You Are
"And who are you exactly? What do you do?"
She felt the blackness pull back, and saw stars and whole galaxies whiz past in an instant. The void kept retreating, getting physically farther away, until it formed the shape of a person.
I Am
Eternity
What I Do
What I Am
Is Everything