Chapter 2

Improvisation has never really been one of Ridley's strong suit. Then again he hasn't had much luck with planning things either as they always tend to go a different route. Things seem to be going well for Ridley right now. There have been no guards nor has he located the source of the roaring. To him as long as he didn't encounter it he should be fine. And of course as things progressed he would fine himself in an unfavorable situation. For example, getting lost in a huge quivering building while carrying another person on his shoulders; suddenly meeting the source of the roar.

It was a hell spawn demon dog. Crawling on all fours and roaring at the top of its lungs, if it even had lungs. It was large and hunched over sporting dull white horns across its back. Its fangs protruded from its mouth and its eyes glowed with a yellow light. It was in the center of a drawn circle with numerous strange symbols on the floor, surrounded by several dead bodies. But funny enough there was no blood.

Ridley stood in the darkness watching.

Fuck…he thought. He was lost and he was stuck with an unconscious dead weight and a hell spawn mutt. There had to be another way out. It would take him awhile to sneak pass the hell spawn dog but eventually he would do it. These were all bad signs but that didn't matter, none of this mattered to him, it didn't involve him so why should he care?

As he stepped out into the night he heard the roar of the hell spawn demon dog as the building continued to quake. It was at this moment Ridley suddenly noticed the sky and what odd colors it was and then of course came the bright white light that shot from the clouds and engulfed him and Ellipsis. It wasn't bad. He was caught in the heart of the blast but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Suddenly it was as if he was being carried off the ground and into the sky. He spun around in the air as he desperately tried to hold onto Ellipsis.

"Sentio infirmos." Ellipsis mumbled to herself. Ridley didn't take notice to the strange language as there suddenly was a feeling of weightlessness and then came a rough landing along with some broken glass. Ridley came face to face with a hard metal surface that smelled funny. He couldn't see very much of anything. It all looked very bright to him. He could only assume he was in the Photonic Sphere but where? Then he heard screams and shouting all around him. Suddenly something big with a cold left arm strike him in his face. Ridley saw stars as he was fell back, he suddenly couldn't move. It was as if his whole body had shutdown. Everything faded after that. He didn't remember much. He didn't even know where Ellipsis went.

When Ellipsis had finally woken up she was resting on a soft bed. She sprang up with such energy and terror in her eyes that she spun around and backed herself into a corner. It was a white room. She was dressed in light blue pants and shirt. The room had a large mirror on one side of the wall with a camera looking down on her up in the far left corner. A ventilation system was firmly placed in the center of the ceiling. There was a door on the far side from where Ellipsis stood; it had a tiny window to see through. Ellipsis sunk herself to the floor. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. Her eyes quickly darted around and locked on the security camera. Then she looked at the mirror and saw her reflection. She moved over to the mirror ever so slightly as to not disturb anything. She couldn't help herself. She knew someone was on the other end of that mirror but now is the first time she actually got a good look at herself. To her she looked like she'd been through hell. There were bandages all around her arms and legs and a few small patches on her face and forehead. She looked into her eyes and saw the pain that Allea had told her about. But all things aside she was now in a new place. She was unsure of what happened to Ridley or where exactly she was. The glow from the lights above gave a subtly clue but she wasn't fully sure. It was not long before the door to her white prison suddenly slid open. Ellipsis jerked her head towards the door and moved over to it but was suddenly stopped by a floating brain in a jar.

"Greetings I hope you have enjoyed your stay with us! My name is Joe and I will be your assistant today. Welcome to the Future pre-dawn human. If English is not your main language I am fluent in over 600 different languages whether it is verbal or telepathic." said the floating brain in a jar. Ellipsis stood silently gawking at Joe. She was a bit perplexed.

"Future…?" Ellipsis questioned.

"Ah good, English is your main language. We weren't sure in the beginning. When we found you and throughout your recovery you were speaking in a range of differently languages, everything from old earth Latin, old earth French, old earth English and one other language we were not sure of." Joe said in a cheerful voice. In a way it was comforting but the one question still loomed over Ellipsis's head.

"Where am I?" Ellipsis asked. She took a moment to glance around her surrounding area.

"Never fear pre-dawn, you're in sector 7Z a quarantine zone on the spaceship Void Central. You will be contained here until you are deemed safe to properly communicate with the other personals aboard this ship. Please if you have any questions feel free to ask at any time as I am here to help you." Joe said with a cheerful tone. Ellipsis was dazed from that sentence. If it was all true, then she really is in the future or in the present.

"Joe. Did your people find another person with me, a man? Scruffy beard black hair. Probably looks like he'd take your wallet before he shook your hand kind of guy." Ellipsis said inquisitively. She thought the description matched him perfectly if he was the same Ridley.

"Ah yes the other pre-dawn human. Have no fear he's being taken good care of by another service bot of ours." Joe said. Ellipsis gave a small sigh of relief. Ridley was alive and well. Knowing him, well hopefully knowing him, he's probably taking advantage of the service bot.

"Who is on the other side of that mirror?" Ellipsis said as she turned her head towards the mirror.

"Ah, so you've come from a civilization with two way mirrors. Excellent! On the other side of the mirror are a few scientists, heavily suited for handling biohazard materials, who have been monitoring your recovery. Fear not they mean you no harm pre-dawn human." Joe said cheerfully.

"And why do you keep calling me a 'pre-dawn human'?" Ellipsis asked.

"Well a long time ago the human race had taken the next evolutionary step in order to adapt to living in space. Your brain scans show that you and the other pre-dawn human do not have that trait. Therefore adjusting to life in space will be difficult for you. But fear not we are here to help. If you don't mind me asking, what do your people call you where you are from?" Joe asked in a cheerful tone.

"Ellipsis…" Ellipsis said. She was a little bit nervous of what was Joe going to say next but she had an idea at this point.

"Welcome Ellipsis to the future!" Joe said in an overly dramatic tone. The tone threw her.

"Will it be possible to see the man I came with?" Ellipsis asked. She figured Ridley would know a bit more about what's going on than her on how they got here. Joe stood silent. The silence reached an awkward level.

"Ah yes. I should have known he was your mate." Joe said with a cheerful tone. Ellipsis reeled back in shock. She was dumbfounded. She tried to speak, to say something like 'no' or 'hell no' but nothing came out of her mouth other than a stutter.

"Have no fear Ellipsis; I shall go retrieve your mate right away." Joe said. And with that the floating brain in a jar turned around and left the room. The door closed tightly before Ellipsis could react. That did not go exactly as planned but still some progress was better than no progress. Ellipsis turned towards the mirror and up at the camera. No doubt they people behind the wall were writing vigorously in their little notebooks or space books or whatever they write on. Ellipsis then gave them a small gesture implying that they fuck off. Whether they understood the meaning of the middle finger didn't concern her right now, she felt a little better though. Being stuck in a room like this reminded her of what the soldiers of light did. At least she wasn't an undead vampire so they are not gonna run tests on her like using her as a moving target or test her regenerative abilities by stuffing her in a vat of acid. Being captured by a gang of priests and tortured in the tower of London was a walk in the park compared to what she experienced with the soldiers of light.

It wasn't long before the door opened up again and Ridley came strolling in. He was wearing a smile on his face and he had what looked like a cheap homemade cigar in his mouth. He was also wearing a white bathrobe along with matching slippers.

"Hey kid, ain't this place great?" Ridley said as he took a puff from his cigar. Ellipsis stared at him and the only thing she did was smile and chuckle quietly. This certainly should not have been surprising. Ridley always did seem like his default mood was happy go lucky. The door suddenly slammed shut behind him as he entered the room.

"Too bad you were still asleep when they gave us the bath. That was excellent." Ridley said as he sat down on the bed next to Ellipsis.

"Apparently I missed out on a real party." Ellipsis said as she motioned with her hand to Ridley's new bathrobe and slippers.

"Oh yeah I got these from the one robot. Dumb as rocks but he's alright. Say, what's your name anyway I don't think I got that? You passed out near the stairs." Ridley said as he took another puff of his cigar. He looked like he owned a penthouse suite somewhere in Miami.

"You really don't know, do you?" Ellipsis said as she looked at Ridley. Ridley looked back at her with a surprised look. He squint his eyes and tilted his head. But he came up with nothing more than a shrug.

Ellipsis gave a quiet sigh and turned away. A cloud of disappointment hung over her.

"I guess I really fucked up this time." Ellipsis said as she reached for Ridley's cigar and took a puff herself. She then stared off towards the mirror, Ridley still had his eyes fixed on her, trying to figure out who she was.

"I don't know you, but do you know me?" Ridley asked. Ellipsis blinked for a moment and turned to Ridley.

"I know your name is Ridley. And if you are the man I think you are; you have a sister name Samantha, you like to steal and play games with people. You have a taste for music, whiskey and tobacco. You carry a deck of cards with you and you can't help yourself but gamble. You have a knack for sneaking around and you're good with machines, not as good as your sister but pretty handy. You have been traveling a lot and all you want to really do is go home and see your sister." Ellipsis said with a smile. She was thinking back to those little moments, however short they were, with Ridley. Ridley sat there wide eyed staring back at Ellipsis. Ridley gave a quiet, soft chuckle and turned away from her.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ridley said as he sat there dumbfounded. Not only did this woman know him but she seems to know a lot more than many of his closest friends.

"So how about you start from the beginning?" Ridley said as he clapped his hands together.

Ellipsis nodded in agreement. She started to tell him the whole story; beginning with her name and her story to meeting up with the wizard of the Umbral Sphere. As she told the story Ridley sat in silence. The story he was hearing was fascinating but nothing really surprising giving the circumstances. By this point the homemade was still burning with an orange glow. They passed that thing back and forth throughout the story.

"Sounds like a hell of an adventure kid." Ridley said as he stood up to stretch. Ellipsis could hear the bones in his knees crack as he stood. Ridley turned towards Ellipsis, his hands in his pockets.

"Say Ellipsis…You up for another adventure? Figured you got a lot of field experience and I could use a traveling buddy." Ridley said with a smile. Ellipsis looked at him; her eyes looked weary from the day.

"I think I've had enough adventures for a dozen lifetimes." Ellipsis said as she stared at the floor. Ridley gave a smile.

"Offer still stands." Ridley said as he turned around and walked to the door. The door slid open and in a flash he was gone. Ellipsis was left all alone. She looked around at her empty white prison and gave a low sigh. She had given up hope of finding anybody here. She could be a thousand miles away from her friends or right next door. It didn't matter to her. She was done with the adventures. Though she did prevent all hell breaking loose thousands of years ago, in the end she was still alone. She sat there wondering to herself if it was worth it. She still had the homemade cigar in her hand as she took another puff the embers burned her fingers. She gave out a high pitch yelp. As the cigar rolled on the ground two words popped out to her. Her eyes widen with hope. It was incredible. It was uncanny. The two words that were written on the cigar were, 'Jane Parker'. Ellipsis jumped to her feet and frantically looked around. She then went up the mirror and shouted, "Jane!"

"Jane Parker I know you're there!" Ellipsis cried out. It was an incredible feeling. She felt like she wasn't alone anymore. Though doubt hung over her head as to whether Jane would be the same or not, it still was better than being alone in this new world.

It has been two days since the arrival of the pre-dawn humans. And with the unexpected death of Dr. Bronsworth people are starting to wonder if digging up those relics from earth was a good idea. It was around quiet hours when Jane began to compile her findings from the past few hours.

"Subject is a pre-dawn human female; approximately five three in height; weighs a hundred and fifty pounds; black hair, brown eyes. Subject seems to have trouble sleeping during quiet hours. Subject during quiet hours has repeatedly asked for alcohol in large amounts. None were given. As subject goes to sleep she almost immediately wakes up screaming. Subject then would sit in the opposite corner of her bed for hours at a time. She has yet to sleep. When questioned about where she came from she laughed and said 'Earth'. Earth is a barren planet and has not been inhabited by other lifeforms for the past hundred years. When asked about her age she again too laughed at the question and said 'Somewhere in the five thousand year category'. Subject is erratic and is now claiming she is from 'the past'. Claims were made about time travel as well as preventing dangerous events from happening. Subject also shows a sign of obsession over one's image. She is noted to be staring at the mirror in the room quite often. When questioned subject says that she hasn't seen her reflection in a very long time. Subject has briefly talked about where she came from calling it, 'A dark a terrible place.' Subject shows no signs of being violent in any way. Nor does she appear to be any biological threat to the men and women of this facility. As the leading psychiatrist I am about to introduce myself to her." Jane finished up writing her notes and began to walk to where Ellipsis was kept. Her desk was usually kept nice and clean however it was littered with dirt from her missing potted plant. Jane ignored this predicament as she already had a pretty good idea where her plant went as well as who was responsible.

The whole room was white with a two way mirror that viewed Ellipsis. There was a man sitting behind a row of computer monitors in a haze mat suit. The tests from the past few days reveal that the subject was not a biological threat and informed the man of such matters. Jane approached the entry point and asked a few guards to assist her for the sake of precaution. She was never one to gamble with her life and she wasn't going to now. Just because the subject has yet to show signs of aggression doesn't mean she won't.

As she entered the room Ellipsis stared at her. There was a tiny smile on Ellipsis's face. Jane approached her, still keeping her distance and held out her hand.

"Please to meet you, my name is-"Before Jane could finish her sentence Ellipsis cut her off almost immediately.

"Jane Parker." Ellipsis said. Jane blinked with surprise. She did not expect that. To her knowledge this is the first time they have ever met.

"Doctor Parker." Jane said with a small sigh. Ellipsis face glowed with surprise.

"Holy shit, you're still a doctor. Cool." Ellipsis said with some glee in her voice. She was happy to find any kind of similarities in this Jane with the Jane she knew. Jane was taken back a bit from this person. This strange person who talks and acts like they have met before. But she couldn't let these eerie feelings get the best of her. Jane just smiled back at Ellipsis.

"Why don't we have a seat?" Jane said as she motioned towards the bed. Ellipsis nodded in agreement.

"Name please?" Jane asked as she pulled out a pen and a small notebook.

"Ellipsis Tannin." Ellipsis said as she looked at Jane writing notes down.

"Damn you look the same. Same clothes, same hairstyle, fuck even your glasses are the same." Ellipsis said with a smile. She was picking up on as many similarities as possible, anything really to give her a sense of comfortability. Jane stopped writing and immediately looked up staring at the mirror. She wasn't looking at Ellipsis but she had a look of a small amount of frustration on her face. She was trying to focus on the list of questions that she had for this subject. Maybe diverting wouldn't be so bad. She figured she could get more out of her.

"I do apologize but have we met somewhere before?" Jane said as she turned to Ellipsis. She had a sour look on her face and Ellipsis caught on to that really fast.

"Aw look at you. You still got that disappointed scowl on your face. Yes we have met in a way." Ellipsis said with a smile. Jane started to get a little curious.

"Alright, tell me. What do you know of me?" Jane asked. This was a loaded question. She normally didn't push new subjects but there was something that got her about this one. Normally, patients wouldn't know their doctors name prior to their first meeting unless someone told them and this one in particular has been isolated.

"Alright, from what I know of you, well sort of you-ish, is that your name is Jane Parker. When you were younger you use to read a lot of books; mostly science fiction and fantasy. You told me that when you were little you always wanted to go on some random adventure much like in your stories. But when you grew up you tossed those ideas out because you learned it was impossible. You studied to be a doctor and we met inside an elevator where Io, another friend of ours, was about to punch you into oblivion. I believe you called Io a 'pugnacious brute'." Ellipsis said. She rubbed her chin trying to think of more things to say. Jane sat frozen. She was in a complete state of shock. Completely overwhelmed by surprise, she continued to sit there. Thousands of questions raced through her mind as to the reasons behind this. Though most of the things the subject had said were false the mentioning of Io and the words 'pugnacious brute' hung over her head. She was about to show the subject how mislead she was until that point.

Jane tried to pull herself together as Ellipsis was now looking at her and waving her hand in front of her face.

"Hey Doc…you alright in there?" Ellipsis said with some concern in her voice. She thought to herself that maybe dumping everything down on Jane like that probably wasn't a good idea but she couldn't help herself. Jane scrambled to reexamine the situation. In the heat of the moment she stood up with haste.

"I am sorry, but we must end our session early today." Jane said in a monotone voice. She appeared to have herself together as she started to walk towards the door.

"Jane wait, you brush your teeth when you're bored!" Ellipsis shouted out. Jane instantly stopped. A cold shiver ran up her spine. She turned around and stared at Ellipsis. Her eyes were wide with fright. She didn't even notice that she dropped her notes and pencil. This was too much for her. She had to leave. As she left there was a bead of sweat running down her back, she has never been this terrified before in her life. Her fear soon swelled to anger. There was only one person who could have known. One person who could have known about her teeth brushing habit and that was Io. She must have gotten to this woman and told her…as a prank of some kind. It wasn't Io's style of childish pranks but it wouldn't surprise her. Io was head of security; she would have had access to the facility.